Public Policy Guidelines Research Articles

Monetary evaluation of marine reserve ecosystem services in the Caribbean

The paper presents the findings of an evaluation of the total economic value (TEV) of marine ecosystems of a planned marine reserve in Precheur, North of Martinique, Caribbean. Almost 95% of the TEV, estimated at EUR 58 million annually, derives from non-use values, while about 5% are from Direct use values with a predominance of leisure values, and less than 1% percent comes from the Indirect use values despite the high biodiversity interest of the location. In that regards, estimates made in the context of this study are to be considered as orders of magnitude intended to feed the strategic dialogue for the development of the future marine reserve on one hand, and budgetary decisions of public policy guidelines on the other. It is therefore essential to adopt a collaborative approach between all actors involved on the coast. Moreover, public policies must take into account the protection of marine ecosystems and even more of their enhancement in a perspective that combines economic utilitarianism and selflessness. The marine ecosystems of Le Precheur have indeed emerged as elements of the identity of the coastal population of Le Precheur but also of Martinique as a whole and, as such, must be highlighted.

Bibliometric Analysis for Pattern Exploration in Worldwide Digital Soil Mapping Publications.

Bibliometric analyses provide a clear understanding of the scientific performance and relate them with standards of the global scientific production. Soil science is an outstanding and developing field among environmental sciences. Knowledge about soil characteristics and their distribution in the environment has been enriched by the use of new geotechnologies, resulting in what is known as digital soil mapping. Thus, the objective of this work was to characterize the scientific production in digital soil mapping in Brazil and in the world, in the period from 1996 to 2017, in databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. In the general context of increasing numbers of papers, the journal Geoderma published the highest number of related papers. Among the 10 with most published papers, the Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo is the only open access journal. Although there are countries at the cutting edge of digital soil mapping such as the United States and Australia, the position of Brazil in the number of papers and authors cannot be overlooked, showing the importance of the nation's participation in digital soil mapping, as a field of science that can provide guidelines for public policies for the development of agriculture in the country.

Empregabilidade e formação profissional: O que acontece depois da formatura? Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, 26(96).

O presente artigo centra a discussão no sentido da formação universitária que se almeja nos dias atuais, identificando seu papel e princípios norteadores. Tomando como referenciais de análise as diretrizes das políticas públicas para o ensino superior, reflexões de autores e pesquisa realizada com 1.798 egressos de 61 cursos de graduação de uma Universidade no Sul do Brasil, busca-se indagar o papel da universidade hoje em face do dilema que se coloca como sua responsabilidade: empregabilidade e formação profissional, direcionado para a análise das congruências e incongruências entre formação profissional universitária e as expectativas de atuação no mercado de trabalho. As reflexões aqui empreendidas fundamentam-se na crença de que cabe à universidade o papel ativo da crítica acerca dos seus processos de formação, sobretudo pela oferta de ensino de qualidade que permita ao estudante refletir sobre a sociedade que aí está e seu papel no mundo enquanto sujeito da, e na história.

Innovation in Companies operating in the Foodstuffs Sector of Colombia. An analysis from the perspective of open innovation

his study explores the characteristics of open innovation within the foodstuffs industry in Colombia, contrasting the importance recognized by its actors of this way of generating innovations with the spontaneous and incipient nature of the process, in a sector of vital importance for the economy and a valuable growth potential in line with the new dynamics and trends of the globalized world with highly demanding consumers in terms of health, well-being and improvement of quality of life and in a highly competitive environment (Traill and Meulenberg, 2002; Costa and Jongen, 2006; Trienekens and Zuurbier, 2008; Schiefer and Deiters, 2016). As a paradigm, open innovation is determined by the complex interaction of actors whose synergy projects the innovation system onto a given region. This context makes it essential to identify the main actors involved in the process and their form of interaction. By developing the proposed qualitative analysis exercise, the characteristics of the actors and their relationships in four production lines of the foodstuffs sector in Colombia (the meat sector, the dairy sector, the milling sector and the confectionery sector) are investigated. These sub-sectors were selected according to their degree of participation in domestic production. Through in-depth interviews, some companies in the Colombian food sector fall under the initial stage of open innovation. Additionally, the results suggest that companies acknowledge the importance of developing strategies with external actors, oriented according to public policy guidelines on innovation in Colombia.

An Examination of the Evidence-Base of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Through Two Quality Appraisal Processes

Thousands of schools across the United States, and worldwide, implement School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). SWPBIS provides a framework whereby teams of educators engage in data-based decision making to select, implement, and monitor a continuum of behavioral supports and build sustainable systems to promote implementation fidelity among school staff. To date, a large body of research supports both the essential practices included in a SWPBIS framework as well as the larger systemic approach. Recently public policy and professional organization guidelines have outlined clear appraisal processes to review the extant literature in an effort to designate interventions as “evidence-based.” This review applied both the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards to evaluate existing group experimental design studies of SWPBIS. Results identified five unique, group design studies conducted by four separate research teams. Four of the studies met the WWC design standards “without reservations” and findings from three of those studies were characterized as positive. Outcomes from the reviewed studies indicated that when provided with training in components of SWPBIS, school teams met minimal implementation standards. In addition, schools that met implementation criteria also saw positive changes in school climate, staff perceptions, and/or student behaviors. However, application of the CEC standards resulted with a rating of “insufficient evidence” because none of the five studies met all CEC quality indicators. These studies lacked report of implementation fidelity for the SWPBIS training provided, which was the independent variable. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Brazilian Network on Plant-Pollinator Interactions: an update on the initiative of a standard for plant-pollinator interactions data

The Brazilian Plant-Pollinator Interactions Network*1 (REBIPP) aims to develop scientific and teaching activities in plant-pollinator interaction. The main goals of the network are to: generate a diagnosis of plant-pollinator interactions in Brazil; integrate knowledge in pollination of natural, agricultural, urban and restored areas; identify knowledge gaps; support public policy guidelines aimed at the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services for pollination and food production; and encourage collaborative studies among REBIPP participants. To achieve these goals the group has resumed and built on previous works in data standard definition done under the auspices of the IABIN-PTN (Etienne Américo et al. 2007) and FAO (Saraiva et al. 2010) projects (Saraiva et al. 2017). The ultimate goal is to standardize the ways data on plant-pollinator interactions are digitized, to facilitate data sharing and aggregation. A database will be built with standardized data from Brazilian researchers members of the network to be used by the national community, and to allow sharing data with data aggregators. To achieve those goals three task groups of specialists with similar interests and background (e.g botanists, zoologists, pollination biologists) have been created. Each group is working on the definition of the terms to describe plants, pollinators and their interactions. The glossary created explains their meaning, trying to map the suggested terms into Darwin Core (DwC) terms, and following the TDWG Standards Documentation Standard*2 in definition. Reaching a consensus on terms and their meaning among members of each group is challenging, since researchers have different views and concerns about which data are important to be included into a standard. That reflects the variety of research questions that underlie different projects and the data they collect. Thus, we ended up having a long list of terms, many of them useful only in very specialized research protocols and experiments, sometimes rarely collected or measured. Nevertheless we opted to maintain a very comprehensive set of terms, so that a large number of researchers feel that the standard meets their needs and that the databases based on it are a suitable place to store their data, thus encouraging the adoption of the data standard. An update of the work will soon be available at REBIPP website and will be open for comments and contributions. This proposal of a data standard is also being discussed within the TDWG Biological Interaction Data Interest Group*3 in order to propose an international standard for species interaction data. The importance of interaction data for guiding conservation practices and ecosystem services provision management has led to the proposal of defining Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) related to biological interactions. Essential Biodiversity Variables (Pereira et al. 2013) were developed to identify key measurements that are required to monitoring biodiversity change. EBVs act as intermediate abstract layer between primary observations (raw data) and indicators (Niemeijer 2002). Five EBV classes have been defined in an initial stage: genetic composition, species populations, species traits, community composition, ecosystem function and ecosystem structure. Each EBV class defines a list of candidate EBVs for biodiversity change monitoring (Fig. 1). Consequently, digitalization of such data and making them available online are essential. Differences in sampling protocols may affect data scalability across space and time, hence imposing barriers to the full use of primary data and EBVs calculation (Henry et al. 2008). Thus, common protocols and methods should be adopted as the most straightforward approach to promote integration of collected data and to allow calculation of EBVs (Jürgens et al. 2011). Recently a Workshop was held by GLOBIS B*4 (GLOBal Infrastructures for Supporting Biodiversity research) to discuss Species Interactions EBVs (February, 26-28, Bari, Italy). Plant-pollinator interactions deserved a lot of attention and REBIPP's work was presented there. As an outcome we expect to define specific EBVs for interactions, and use plant-pollinators as an example, considering pairwise interactions as well as interaction network related variables. The terms in the plant-pollinator data standard under discussion at REBIPP will provide information not only on EBV related with interactions, but also on other four EBV classes: species populations, species traits, community composition, ecosystem function and ecosystem structure. As we said, some EBVs for specific ecosystem functions (e.g. pollination) lay beyond interactions network structures. The EBV 'Species interactions' (EBV class 'Community composition') should incorporate other aspects such as frequency (Vázquez et al. 2005), duration and empirical estimates of interaction strengths (Berlow et al. 2004). Overall, we think the proposed plant-pollinator interaction data standard which is currently being developed by REBIPP will contribute to data aggregation, filling many data gaps and can also provide indicators for long-term monitoring, being an essential source of data for EBVs.

Highlights from the International Summit on Intellectual Disability and Dementia Implications for Brazil.

ABSTRACTIn October of 2016, an interdisciplinary group representing North and South American and European countries met in Glasgow, Scotland, to scrutinize universal issues regarding adults with intellectual disability (ID) affected by dementia and to produce recommendations and guidelines for public policy, practice, and further research. The aim of this paper is to apprise relevant outcomes of the Summit targeting Brazilian researchers, clinicians, and nongovernmental organizations in the field of ageing and dementia that are committed to developing the Brazilian national dementia plan. Three core themes were covered by the Summit: i) human rights and personal resources, ii) personalized services and caregiver support, and iii) advocacy and public impact. The exploration of the themes highlighted variations across countries, and revealed consensual views on matters such as international networks, guidance for practices, and advocacy on behalf of both people with ID affected by dementia, and their families. The authors outline the challenges Brazil must confront regarding ageing and dementia and proffer recommendations to address the needs of adults with ID affected by dementia within this scenario; both of which would help in developing the Brazilian national dementia plan.

Characterization of the clientele and evaluation of health care service of the person with elimination stoma

Objectives: To characterize clientele with elimination stoma and to analyze the degree of implementation of the Health Care Policy of Ostomized Person in Diamantina/MG. Method: Descriptive and cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 107 people with elimination stoma registered in the period from October 2013 to August 2015. The study involved two stages in which the profile of the clientele was characterized and the entire structure of the Health Care Policy of Ostomized Person was analyzed according to validated questionnaires. Results: It was found that most of the participants were men, elderly, with a recent stoma, white colour, married, employed by a farmer and retired, schooling from 1 to 5 years and salary range of 1 to 2 minimum wages. The precursor disease of the stomas was colorectal cancer. The Health Care Policy of Ostomized Person in Diamantina can be characterized as level II, with satisfactory, but not full implantation. Conclusion: It is expected that these discoveries may support guidelines for multidisciplinary orientation and public policies.

CORRUPTION, CHARACTER, AND INSTITUTIONS

Abstract:Is corruption merely a flaw of character, or is it more fundamentally related to the institutional environment? Scholars from various disciplines mainly side with the narrative that, ultimately, corruption is a problem of character flaws. Policy prescriptions around the world are designed based on this understanding. In this essay, I challenge this understanding, arguing that it is at best incomplete, and misleading at worst. I argue that we should focus instead on three aspects of how the prevalence of virtuous acts is profoundly tied to people’s institutional environment and the incentive structure that derives from it. First, I observe that there is a difference between virtue and acting virtuously, and that even with the aid of moral education and coercion, virtue itself is hard to come by. Second, I discuss how formal institutions and social norms influence people’s propensity to perform virtuous acts rather than engage in corruption. Finally, I explore how institutions that increase the transaction costs associated with everyday life also increase the prevalence of corruption. Based on these three explorations I derive some public policy guidelines that, if followed, might increase the probability of success of anticorruption programs.

Our Baby, Her Choices: The Need for Enforcement of Gestational Surrogate Contracts

Many women in the Unites States have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a baby to term. As a result, many couples turn to gestational surrogacy. Surrogacy became public in the United States in the late 1970s. In the mid 1980s, disputes began to arise and are still prevalent today. Courts first attempted to resolve these disputes by looking for public policy guidelines. However, the results were inconsistent. Still today, there is no uniform law. Even in states where surrogate contracts are legal, courts have refused to order specific performance to enforce abortion or reduction provisions. However, courts should not shy away from this. This Note proposes a federal statute mandating that gestational surrogate contracts be enforced thus protecting the rights of intended parents.

Nutrition from the Inside Out.

Nearly 50 years ago, I set out to investigate the clinical problem of hypoglycemia in children with illnesses that limited their food intake. My goal was to gather accurate and precise measurable data. At the time, I wasn't interested in nutrition as a discipline defined in its more general or popular sense. To address the specific problem that interested me required development of entirely new methods based on stable, nonradioactive tracers that satisfied the conditions of accuracy and precision. At the time, I had no inclination of the various theoretical and practical problems that would have to be solved to achieve this goal. Some are briefly described here. Nor did I have the slightest idea that developing the field would result in a fundamental change in how human clinical investigation was conducted, with the eventual replacement of radiotracers with stable isotopically labeled ones, even for adult clinical investigation. Additionally, I had no inclination that the original questions would open avenues to much broader questions of practical nutritional relevance. Moreover, only much later as the editor of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition did I appreciate the policy implications of how nutritional data are presented in the scientific literature. At least in part, less accurate and precise measurements and less than full transparency in reporting nutritional data have resulted in widespread debate about the public policy recommendations and guidelines that are the intended result of collecting the data in the first place. This article provides a personal recollection (with all the known faults of self-reporting and retrospective memory) of the journey that starts with measurement certainty and ends with policy uncertainty.

Risaralda, descripción de los avances recientes en desarrollo humano

Este trabajo responde al interés de revisar los avances recientes del departamento de Risaralda en la oferta de oportunidades de desarrollo para su población. Para ello se parte del enfoque de desarrollo humano del PNUD y se asume una perspectiva degénero en el análisis de los indicadores.Se concluye que, en materia de desarrollo humano en el departamento, las mayores dificultades se concentran en el debilitamiento de la dinámica de crecimiento económico y en la inequidad territorial y de género en el acceso a las oportunidades. Frente a esa problemática, el documento avanza en el planteamiento preliminar de recomendaciones y lineamientos de política pública.

Investigación educativa en Argentina: impacto de las políticas de ciencia y tecnología en dos agencias del Estado, ANPCYT y CONICET

El artículo pretende realizar una descripción sobre la incidencia en la investigación educativa en Argentina, a partir del análisis de dos agencias del Estado, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCYT) y el Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). El periodo estudiado abarca de 2000 a 2015, y se analizan algunos lineamientos de las políticas públicas de ciencia y tecnología, y su incidencia en la investigación educativa, considerando la base profesional de investigadores y becarios, así como los proyectos financiados. A tal fin, se han consultado normativas de ambas agencias, bases de datos, informes de gestión y demás indicadores estadísticos oficiales. Se observan cambios importantes en los marcos jurídicos que regulan ambas instituciones, además de un importante incremento en el financiamiento de diversas líneas de investigación, como así también en el número de investigadores y becarios. Sin embargo, el impacto sobre la investigación educativa en particular, presenta resultados discordantes respecto de los niveles de producción científica y consolidación y expansión de una base de especialistas en el área.

Subjectivity, mental health and neoliberalism in public health politics in Colombia

The investigation is held in a psychoanalytic logic, the first step is the emergence of three significant: subjectivity, mental health and neoliberalism. In a second step, intersect as reflected in Decree 3039 of 2007 by which the public health national plan 2007/2010 is adopted, and the document Guidelines for Public Policy in Mental Health, and its relationship with neoliberalism.

New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW-CDS): an Australian multiagency, multigenerational, longitudinal record linkage study

PurposeThe initial aim of this multiagency, multigenerational record linkage study is to identify childhood profiles of developmental vulnerability and resilience, and to identify the determinants of these profiles. The eventual...

Male and Female Differences in Health Benefits Derived from Physical Activity: Implications for Exercise Prescription

Males are consistently reported as more physically active than females regardless of age or measure. Often, this difference results in females identified as under active and at risk of longterm poor health outcomes. In this paper a different perspective drawing on evidence from many sources is offered. Males and females gain different health benefits according to the level, mode and intensity of the physical activity. Some potential ramifications of these gender differences in health benefits are evident in the prevalence of hypokinetic diseases across the life span and the interpretation of measured physical activity levels and intensities. By focusing on these differences, this papers highlights the need to take a more divergent view of what exercise really means, and how it provides health needs differently for males and females. We identified important implications for public policy and physical activity guidelines.

The restructuring and privatisation trajectory in South Africa: tracing the historical public policy origins, purpose, methods and guidelines in the pre-1994 epoch

Many perspectives have been propounded and written about the restructuring and privatisation reform. However, this paper endeavours to give a South African approach to the reform profoundly delving into its historical approach on the original definition, methods, factors, criteria and goals of the reform. This paper seeks to demonstrate that this reform has its origins in the apartheid government policy which was intended at strengthening and revitalising the apartheid political economy in the 1980s. The thinking that the private sector runs enterprises in a more efficient, effective, competitive and profitable way and that such an approach may be applied to the State Owned Enterprises with success in an effort to reduce government debt and improving the operational performance, attracted the then South African government into adopting this neoliberal trajectory. State Owned Enterprises compared to their private counterparts performed poorly and suffered heavy losses and ultimately drained government financially. The then South African government initiated a white paper on privatisation and deregulation in 1987 which culminated in the implementation of the restructuring and privatisation reform in South Africa. Thus, this paper posits that the privatisation and restructuring reform originated from the then South African government policy initiatives in the 1980s.

Does luck egalitarianism lose its appeal in the face of genetic engineering?

It has been suggested that the era of genetic interventions will sound the death knell for luck egalitarianism, as it will blur the line between chance and choice, on which theories of distributive justice often rest. By examining the threats posed to these theories, a crucial assumption is exposed; it is assumed that a commitment to the neutralisation of the effects of luck implies the endorsement of even the most morally controversial enhancements. In antithesis, I argue that an attractive theory of luck egalitarianism, Dworkinian liberal equality, enables us to deduce plausible implications for genetic engineering. By focusing on the abstract moral commitments at the heart of Dworkin’s theory, a twofold purpose is served. First, they reveal in what ways the criticisms misfire, thereby safeguarding luck egalitarianism. Second, Dworkinian luck egalitarianism is further strengthened, as it produces plausible guidelines for public policy on genetic engineering in liberal societies.

El sentido de la formación universitaria en psicología

Objetivo: reflexionar de manera crítica sobre la formación universitaria en Psicología. Metodología: el análisis deriva de investigación documental sobre los proyectos educativos institucionales (PEI) y los proyectos educativos (PEP) de 36 programas de pregrado en Psicología, del sector oficial y privado, y documentos oficiales de las agencias internacionales que orientan lineamientos para la formulación de políticas públicas en Colombia y América Latina. Conclusiones: el concepto de formación ha sido significado por entrenamiento y capacitación, orientado desde el enfoque de las competencias laborales. De esta manera, la propuesta de formación se sustenta en la teoría del capital humano, agenciada por organismos multilaterales de tipo financiero. Así, el sentido último de la formación está en función de las exigencias cambiantes del mercado de trabajo.

ICT, innovation, and firm productivity: New evidence from small local firms

This study analyzes new co-innovative sources of labor productivity (i.e., ICT use, human capital and training, and new forms of work organization) in small firms that produce for local markets. The study presents an application of structural equation modeling (SEM) to 2009 survey data for a representative sample of 464 SMEs in the province of Girona (Spain). Results show that wage is the main determinant of labor productivity. Furthermore, in contrast to evidence regarding larger firms, co-innovation does not directly affect small local firms' productivity. The study establishes an indirect relationship between co-innovation and productivity in firms that initiate international expansion. The study also identifies guidelines for public policy to improve productivity in small local firms.