American Context Research Articles

Tutorial action models in universities of Latin America: A systematic review

Introduction: University tutorial action is a process of student intervention framed within educational orientation, and inherent to teaching action, increasingly considered in Latin America, as an effective strategy that reduces student dropout, and increases. the completion of university studies.Objective: Identify the main characteristics of the tutorial action models implemented in universities in Latin America.Methods: A systematic exploratory review of the existing updated literature, published in the last five years in the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases, referring to the Latin American context, was carried out.Results: A total of 21 studies considered relevant to the research were analyzed.Conclusions: It is evident that in the region there are different positions regarding the conception, organization and implementation of the tutorial action. The terms models, project and tutorial action plan are used interchangeably to represent the tutorial action as an object. just as the declared foundations appear imprecisely.

Innovative collaboration among developing countries: the role of national innovation systems in Latin America

PurposeBuilding on current debates on innovation, knowledge diffusion, and institutional dynamics, we explore the influence of national innovation systems (NISs) on international innovation collaborations in Latin America, focusing on intellectual property rights (IPR), access to scientific knowledge and regulatory quality.Design/methodology/approachWe analyze data from 17 Latin American countries from 2002–2015 using time-series panel analysis to evaluate how different NIS elements affect regional cooperation for innovation.FindingsRegulatory quality can improve international collaboration by compensating for weaker IPR and scientific knowledge bases. Interestingly, while both IPR and scientific knowledge inherently promote cooperation, stronger regulatory environments may diminish the effectiveness of IPR protections, suggesting a potential substitution effect.Practical implicationsThe study offers actionable insights for policymakers in developing regions to help them craft more effective policies for collaboration in innovation that consider the balancing act between regulatory quality and other NIS elements.Originality/valueThis research shifts focus from the conventional analysis of how developing countries attract collaboration from developed nations to how they can foster innovation among themselves, providing a unique perspective on the interaction between institutional factors and innovation capabilities within the Latin American context.

Human Capital Attraction and Retention in Cities: An Analysis in the Brazilian Context

Objective: To analyze how factors of human capital attraction and retention manifest in a Brazilian city, considering that most empirical studies on the topic focus on European, Asian, and North American contexts. Theoretical Framework: The research is grounded in concepts and theories on the role of cities in the knowledge-based, creative, and innovative economy, as well as human capital mobility, providing a solid foundation for the investigation. Method: A qualitative approach was adopted, utilizing a case study in the city of Florianópolis. Data collection involved secondary sources and 17 semi-structured interviews with qualified professionals in the technology sector, academics, and local public managers. Results and Discussion: Factors of human capital attraction and retention observed in cities of advanced countries, such as social tolerance, quality of life, entrepreneurial and innovation environment, and education, are also applicable to a Brazilian city. The factors of effective public policies and sense of community emerged as relevant. An interdependence between factors was observed, with the entrepreneurial and innovation environment being the most significant. Research Implications: This research offers theoretical and practical insights for administration and public policy, particularly for highly qualified professionals, entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive sectors, and public managers of cities in emerging countries. Originality/Value: The study highlights how factors of human capital attraction and retention manifest in a Brazilian city, potentially guiding decisions by entrepreneurs and public managers interested in promoting local development.

‘I was afraid of being incapable of explaining things to them’: Ecuadorian parents’ perceptions of sex and sexuality education for their children

ABSTRACT The role of parents as primary educators about sexuality has been emphasised in the literature. However, parents’ perceptions regarding the provision of sex and sexuality education to children aged between 6 and 12 years have been relatively ignored, especially in Latin American contexts and particularly in Ecuador. Nevertheless, providing contextually relevant sex and sexuality education has been recognised as fostering healthy sexuality in children at different developmental stages. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand parents’ perceptions of the importance of the sex and sexuality education provided to children in Cuenca, Ecuador aged 6–12 years using a qualitative approach. Five focus groups were held with 39 participants whose children attend five different public educational schools in the city. The findings indicate that although parents recognised the importance of sex and sexuality education, they had limited knowledge of sex and sexuality, both in general and in children, and had an inadequate grasp of sexuality education, which made approaching the topic difficult. Moreover, parents’ personal beliefs hindered the provision of sex and sexuality education to their children. These findings provide a baseline for the development of more comprehensive forms of sexuality education and training for parents.

Navigating justice: Examining the intersection of procedural and distributive justice in environmental impact assessment in Puerto Rico

Recognizing that centuries of mistreatment of low-income and minority communities by governments and corporations have resulted in widespread exposure to environmental harms, academics and policymakers are seeking ways to improve environmental justice. While it is commonly assumed that improved procedural justice (meaningful participation in decision making) should improve distributive justice (equitable distribution of environmental harms and benefits), empirical evidence of this link is nascent. This paper evaluates whether differing approaches to procedural justice shape recognition of distributive injustices by policymakers, focusing on implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in Puerto Rico. NEPA requires federal agencies to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of projects they implement, fund, or permit; this review commonly includes an assessment of the project's impacts on distributive justice. Drawing on document analysis and interviews with project developers, regulators, and community organizations, we explore how and why four NEPA reviews consider distributional impacts. In all four cases, the community mobilized to voice concerns about the proposed projects' impacts, but the lead agencies and project developers did not always create the space for those voices to collaboratively shape the review. This demonstrates the role of the project developer in how distributive justice considerations are treated, as project leads have discretion on whether and when to provide space for community groups to participate in the process. This research makes two primary contributions. First, by linking features of the decision-making process with environmental justice-related outputs, this research provides practical understanding of ways to support distributive justice and expands knowledge about how participatory governance works within the context of US environmental policy. Second, by studying NEPA's implementation in Puerto Rico, we assess challenges associated with implementing Environmental Impact Assessment in a territorial setting, where the demographics and intensity of environmental problems are distinct from the 'traditional' American context the policies were designed to protect.

Exploring risk factors of food loss and waste: A comprehensive framework using root cause analysis tools

Food loss and waste occurring early in the food supply chain leads to increased resource wastage, including land, water, fertilisers, pesticides, energy, and labour. Targeting food loss and waste prevention benefits various aspects such as food security, productivity, economic growth, climate change mitigation, resource conservation, and waste management. Understanding the causes of food loss and waste is crucial for the design of effective solutions and their prioritisation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors and underlying causes of FLW in leafy vegetables, spanning from agricultural production to retail. To achieve this, the research methodology encompassed a case study conducted among small-scale producers and retailers. A comprehensive approach was adopted by integrating a systematic literature review of global food loss and waste causes and those specific to the Latin American context. This approach was complemented by exploratory research, involving interviews with various stakeholders, coupled with root-cause analysis. A methodology was developed for the creation of a causal map, incorporating the 'Five Whys' technique, the current reality tree, and an interrelationship diagram. The study's findings underscore the critical role of retailer-supplier dynamics in the management and flow of products, identifying a significant research gap in the development of comprehensive strategies for waste reduction. By exploring these dynamics, particularly in the context of take-back agreements and the lack of public policies incentivizing food loss and waste reduction, the research reveals the multifaceted nature of food loss and waste and the necessity for collaborative efforts across the supply chain to mitigate its impacts. The application of the structured methodology provides valuable insights into the root causes and critical risk factors of FLW, offering a foundation for the development of integrated strategies aimed at reducing food loss and waste and advancing towards global sustainability goals.

A Systematic Review on Impact of Political Crisis and Election on Capital Market Returns

The capital markets worldwide are vastly impacted by market sentiments and investors tend to react and rebalance their portfolios time to time due to such changes in market sentiments from political events. This systematic review examines the impact of political crisis and election on the capital market returns worldwide. It employs a systematic review research method and has gone through 4573 articles, out of which 62 articles published in reputed journals between 1970 and 2023 were considered for review. Of the methodology of the studies reviewed, 43.5% is quantitative, 27.4% is mixed, 17.7% is qualitative, and the rest is conceptual. Researches published in the context of Asian countries contributed 40% of this reviewed study, followed by Europe, Africa, and North America, each with 10%, South America with 3%, Australia with 1%, and allied countries within unions or agreements with 26%. The results show that political crises significantly impact capital market returns in Asia. Studies in North American context indicate that before elections and during political crises, the capital market volatility significantly rises with decreased capital market returns. In Australia, political events cause financial market fluctuation. In Africa, political instability hinders long-term capital accumulation. Additionally, informal political instability in South America directly affects economic growth, while formal instability indirectly affects economic vulnerability. The outcomes of such research hold practical implications for policymakers in formulating portfolio strategies and, therefore, delineate avenues for research exploring the integrated effects of political events on capital market returns by amalgamating trading information from stock exchanges worldwide.

Platform politics in Latin America: Equalizers, normalizers, laggards, and marginals

How has the adoption of internet-based platform politics impacted Latin American party systems? This paper fills an important gap by creating novel categories and tracing patterns for understanding how political parties of 18 Central and South American countries practice politics online. Our work is informed by the equalization versus normalization debate between that sees the Internet as either consolidating institutional parties’ strength or giving strategic advantage to new and smaller parties. Our analysis takes a four-step approach to address the initial question. First, we conceptualize platform politics in a Latin American context and generate hypotheses. Second, we create a dataset to map online and offline national party systems across Latin America. Third, we introduce four categories (equalizers, normalizers, laggards, marginals) to capture different parties’ online positioning. Last, we explore platform politics by comparing four parties belonging to the different categories – FMLN in El Salvador, Novo in Brazil, PPC in Peru, and MORENA in Mexico – and showing how they use social media to overcome their structural limits. Overall, this work finds great regional variation to extend the validity of the cyclical nature of equalization and normalization to the Latin American context.

Operational LCA of a street with active mobility strategies in northern México

Active mobility (AM) is a fundamental part of a sustainable mobility system that generates environmental and social advantages; however, its use and operation are understudied using quantitative tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA), especially in the Latin American context. This study aimed to analyze the use stage of a street located in Northern Mexico. Two real scenarios were compared, one conventional (CO-SC-2020) and another sustainable (SU-SC-2022), which incorporated the concept of “complete streets” through a bicycle lane and the improvement of pedestrian spaces. Available data from the “Vía Libre” project and PIMUS, as well as SIMAPRO and Ecoinvent, were used for the LCA. The results indicated that the environmental impacts derived from transportation could be reduced through strategies such as active mobility (6.55%) and carpooling (77%), favoring the conversion of cities that consider the automobile as the guiding axis to more sustainable, inclusive, and safe cities.

Functional linguistics in life: an embodied approach in teacher education

Abstract Pedagogies developed from systemic functional linguistics are seen as valuable in supporting diverse students in both mainstream and language classrooms. Over the past decade, SFL also became a crucial component in teacher education programs particularly in the North American context, as it advances teachers’ knowledge of language and curriculum design focusing on the development of disciplinary literacy of minoritized multilingual learners. Drawing from data collected in a year-long classroom ethnographic study in the Southeastern U.S., this paper explores (1) how a range of embodied inquiry activities were designed as an integral part of a teacher education curriculum and (2) how these activities created entry points for diverse pre-service teachers and the teacher educator to grapple with functional linguistics and critically engage with their language use in everyday lives. Data analysis includes theory-informed thematic analysis and a mediated approach towards participants’ material-discursive trajectories across spatial and historical contexts. Findings show the affordances of using embodied activities to support teachers in making sense of key constructs from SFL in relation to their own lived experiences and cultural epistemologies. Implications point to the significance of innovative, culturally sustaining approaches toward both the teaching and use of SFL as well as the need for continued critical reflections and actions in changing classroom contexts.

First-trimester medication abortion via telemedicine: A retrospective cohort study

BackgroundFollowing the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia and amidst a global health crisis due to COVID-19, Profamilia implemented a telemedicine-assisted first-trimester Medication Abortion (MAB) program. This is an opportunity to reduce inequalities in access and to promote empowerment and sexual and reproductive rights. This study aims to describe socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of users and to assess its effectiveness and safety. Study designA retrospective cohort study. MethodsThe study analyzed data from users who received Profamilia's telemedicine abortion services between August 2021 and August 2022 (n = 3073). A descriptive analysis of their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics was performed, grouping, and comparing them according to follow-up status and abortion outcome. Effectiveness was assessed by the percentage of complete abortions without surgical intervention, and safety by the incidence of complications, potential adverse events, and potentially dangerous signs. ResultsMost of the users were less than 8 weeks gestation at the start of treatment (88.3 %), from low socioeconomic strata (84.8 %), affiliated to the subsidized healthcare system (87.6 %), with educational levels up to secondary school (81.6 %), between 18 and 35 years (87.4 %), from urban areas (97.8 %) and singles (90,8 %). 94.9 % of users had a complete abortion using medication, and 0.3 % of cases reported complications. ConclusionsFirst-trimester MAB through telemedicine in the Latin American context is an effective and safe choice. Telehealth is an important strategy to expand access to safe abortion care, especially for those with limited financial means or educational backgrounds. Rural and marginalized populations need more attention to improve access.

GRAMSCI AND SAVIANI

This article explores the contributions of Antonio Gramsci and Dermeval Saviani to the critical theory of education, highlighting its distinct views on the role of education in social transformation. While Gramsci emphasizes cultural hegemony and the formation of organic intellectuals, Saviani develops historical-critical pedagogy, focusing on concrete educational practice and material conditions of education in Latin America. This study investigates the theoretical contributions of Antonio Gramsci and Dermeval Saviani to education, exploring its complementary and distinct perspectives on how education can be an instrument of social transformation. Gramsci, influenced by Western Marxism, highlights cultural hegemony and the formation of organic intellectuals as strategies to challenge the ideological domination of the ruling classes. In contrast, Saviani, with his historical-critical pedagogy, focuses on concrete educational practice and educational policies, especially in the Latin American context, proposing an education that promotes critical awareness and the emancipation of the oppressed.

Rousseau, American Laicite, and the Future of Religious Liberty in America

Abstract There is a growing cultural tension between religious orthodoxy and the prevailing form of progressivism which centers the modern self in such a way that would please the eighteenth-century Romantic Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But Rousseau’s priority of the self led him to embrace a particular view of church and state as well as religious liberty, which, if implemented, would be a new experiment in the American context. What are the implications of this ascendant version of progressivism for religious liberty as it has been understood in the American context, vacillating as it has in the past between strict separation or accommodation? What would the emerging progressivism do with religious liberty given its philosophical commitments to a this-worldly immanent frame and rise of the psychologized self (expressive individualism)? I argue that religious liberty, in its robust paradigmatic American form, cannot survive any of these outcomes without undergoing radical redefinition, and instead a new paradigm of religious liberty, which I call American Laïcité, must replace the older version. With American Laïcité, as Rousseau would have it, though religion is a rather fixed aspect of human nature, only religion that sacralizes the immanent, one centered on self-expression and never practices or teaches any form of exclusivism or inequality can expect to be either accommodated or tolerated within society.

Attrition rates and predictor factors for follow-up in an Ecuadorian birth cohort study: Strengthening validity in the Latin American context

Attrition rates and predictor factors for follow-up in an Ecuadorian birth cohort study: Strengthening validity in the Latin American context

Local Public Policies in the Field of Sports: A Systematic Review of the Literature from the SDG

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate public policies on sports at the local level, with the aim of highlighting the importance of sports as a tool for social development, inclusion, and community well-being. Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises a systematic review of the literature. The study design followed the PRISMA guidelines and included an analysis of articles found in the Web of Sciences, Scopus, Wiley, and EBSCO databases. Data collection was carried out through the compilation and analysis of key studies, focusing on trends, approaches, and challenges in research on state intervention in local sports. Results and Discussion: The results obtained revealed significant trends in the importance of sports as a tool for social development, inclusion, and community well-being. The review identified various approaches and challenges present in the research on state intervention in local sports. Specifically, the studies conducted in Latin American contexts provided a critical and regional perspective on the subject. In the discussion section, these results are contextualized in light of the theoretical framework, highlighting the implications and relationships identified. Possible discrepancies and limitations of the study are also considered in this section. Research Implications: The practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed, providing insights into how the results can be applied or influence practices in the field of local sports policies. These implications could encompass the enhancement of social inclusion, the promotion of community well-being, and the development of effective public policies on sports. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by providing a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines, highlighting the originality of the research through its comprehensive analysis of key studies. The relevance and value of this research are evidenced by its critical and regional perspective on public policies on sports in Latin America, offering new discoveries and practical contributions that may impact the area of study or professional practice. The systematic analysis identifies areas of opportunity and gaps in current research, providing a solid foundation for future studies in the field of local sports policies.

Subjective healthy aging indicators in a the Mediterranean and Latin American context. A comparison by gender and age in older adults of lifelong educational programs

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to compare a series of subjective indicators of healthy aging. We analyzed two samples of people 60 years or older enrolled in university courses in two public universities, the National University (Costa Rica, N = 206) and the University of Valencia (Spain, N = 857). The subjective indicators of successful aging analyzed were social support (social network and functional social support), perceived health, spirituality, and subjective well-being (life satisfaction and psychological well-being), all variables conditioned by country, age, and gender. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) or Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was estimated, depending on the number of dependent variables analyzed. Overall, relatively high subjective indicators of healthy aging have been achieved in both samples. We found group differences in both samples by comparing age and gender, but not by country in these healthy aging indicators, suggesting invariant comparison evidence in both cultures compared. This study found that the subjective successful aging indicators analyzed in both cultures were similar. These findings are discussed within the cross-cultural emphasis and successful aging models.

Community of Learning as a World-Building Environment

AbstractIn this article, we present what we believe to be the fundamental problem of production systems in Colombia: the domination relationships inherited from colonial structures. We introduce the theoretical foundations of the Community of Learning approach, which we have been developing over the past decades as an option to overcome this issue. We argue that, in the contemporary Latin American context, these relationships are intertwined with the training of individuals for integration into the productive system and its close association with technological tools. This results in the establishment of a domineering sociotechnical system linked to coloniality which some authors associate with modernity. The theoretical foundation of the learning communities approach stems from a philosophical tradition that seeks to examine from a systemic point of view the relationships of domination that produce the alienation of the subject. Our proposal is to establish a pedagogical space for transcending relations of domination, where individuals can explore their identities through interactions with others. In this approach, we aim to foster spaces for collective world-building by affirming one’s own subjectivity within interactions with the environment. We view the technical dimension as inherently linked to these interactions. We term this approach the Community of Learning model, wherein we collectively shape the world through practices that are seen as meaningful actions transforming relationships into learning processes. This approach can be regarded as a means to transcend the domineering aspects of technological practices while concurrently engaging in learning and world-building endeavors. We present, as an example, the results obtained in several cases applying this approach and some proposals that can contribute to effective practices when implementing the Community of Learning approach.

Genomic Medicine: Perspective of the Challenges for the Implementation of Preventive, Predictive, and Personalized Medicine in Latin America

: Genomic information plays an essential role in personalized medicine, with the main objective of determining risk and predisposition to disease, as well as guiding diagnosis, selection, and prioritization of therapeutic options, and even predicting prognosis. Research in the second half of the 20th century allowed genomics to move from the laboratory to clinical practice. The Human Genome Project showed the structure of the genome, the genes, and several of their regulatory pathways, which allowed obtaining exact knowledge about the molecular origin of a growing number of diseases and the development of next-generation sequencing technologies. In the second decade of the 21st century, the decrease in testing costs has allowed genomic medicine to begin to be applied in hospital institutions and outpatient services with a positive impact on public health. However, it has been evidenced that these potential benefits have not been experienced equitably throughout the world. This commentary explores the main challenges and obstacles to the implementation of genomic medicine services in order to expand their use as part of clinical practice in the Latin American context. Finally, six main barriers have been identified: i) high costs and poor access, ii) lack of trained personnel in the genomic field, iii) negative personal and social beliefs, iv) lack of representation of Latin American populations in genomic databases, v) scarce evidence of impact on clinical practice, and vi) lack of understanding of genomic test results by patients and clinicians.

Adaptation as cultural and medial transfer: George Tabori’s short story and radio play Weissmann und Rotgesicht

George Tabori (1914–2007), a Hungarian-born British playwright of Jewish decent, is closely associated with German Holocaust theatre. Less well-known is his prolific career in German radio drama. This contribution traces the trajectory of Tabori’s short story ‘Weissmann und Rotgesicht’ and its adaptation for German radio in 1978. The overall theme of its narrative can be identified as the issue of competing minoritized groups (Jews and Indigenous Americans), their respective identity politics and mechanisms of ‘othering’. My analysis first asks how the short story presents these questions, as it was written in a North American context primarily shaped by the popular cultural format of the western movie. Secondly, I ask how the topic is culturally and medially transferred to the radio play form, considering the production’s West German context of the late 1970s. My interest is guided by the question whether and how we can read this 1978 radio play as an intervention in the debate on the representation of the ‘Indian’ in popular German culture and its simultaneous erasure, several decades after the Holocaust, of the Jew.

Production costs and their effect on the profitability of the SMES in Latin America

Background The micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in the Latin America economy, creating jobs, boosting local economic activity and contribute to the socio-economic development of the region. The purpose is to reflect on the current costs management prices, the common challenges faced by SMEs in the region, and effective strategies to improve the profitability and sustainability of these companies. Methods it is addressed as a review study of type reflective, which used the dialectic as a method for the construction of the speech, based on techniques of triangulation of information. Result in order to obtain the results, these study topics were pre-selected: (a) determinants of the costs of production in the SMES, b) strategies for the reduction and control of production costs, and c) impact of production costs on the profitability of SMES. Conclusion the present research article delves into the pivotal factors influencing production costs within microenterprises and small businesses situated in the Latin American context. This study posits that the determinants underpinning these costs encompass a spectrum of elements including but not limited to labor, raw materials and supplies, energy and utilities, infrastructure and logistics, regulatory frameworks, and administrative intricacies. Furthermore, the intricate interplay of technology adoption and innovative capabilities is also recognized as a crucial facet in this cost determination paradigm. The overarching understanding underscores the direct and substantial influence of these multifaceted determinants on the operational expenditure of microenterprises and small businesses.