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Background: Ioannidis et al. (2020) reported a standardized estimate of scientific productivity obtained from a worldwide database of 6,880,389 scientists who published at least 5 papers picked up by the Scopus database, and elaborated a ranking of ca. 120,000 scientists by both whole trajectory (career-long) impact and their current impact at year 2019. The goal of our paper is to contextualize Latin American ecologists' contribution at the world level based on the four most scientifically productive countries in the region. Methods and findings: Ioannidis et al. (2020) proposed a composite index that is the sum of six scientometric indicators: (1) The number of allocites, (2) the h index, (3) a per capita corrected version of h, (4) the allocites received as single author, (5) those received as single + first author, and (6) those as single + first + last author. We selected data for ecologists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico and comparatively analyzed their productivity according to the proposed index. We also compared these data with those obtained from a global sample of the top ecologists worldwide. Conclusions: Based on Ioannidis et al.'s proposition to evaluate scientific productivity we extract three lessons: (1) It does not pay to publish many papers; what counts is the number of allocites (i.e., self-citations do not add up). (2) Either be single, first, or last author; it does not pay to be in the middle of an authorship line. (3) Even worse it is to be among many co-authors because the proposed index allocates credits on a per capita basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argentina and Brazil report the highest incidence of the fear of crime across Latin America. Although the spread of crime and victimization may explain these trends initially, the focus in this paper is on the significance of non-criminal factors in explaining the fear of crime, such as socio-economic vulnerability, educational level and trust in people and institutions, as well as exposure to violence at one's place of residence. Using a subset of data from the 2017 edition of the Latinobarómetro survey (n = 2400), a regression analysis was conducted showing that the fear of crime is radically different between the two countries. In Argentina, as in certain European countries, people's fears of crime are positively associated with socio-economic vulnerability and in turn negatively associated with state-driven violence. The latter has a protective effect on Argentinians' feelings of insecurity, while in Brazil the fear of crime is to a greater extent a consequence of previous victimization and a general distrust in other people. Despite this key difference, our results shed light on the problem of social cohesion in both countries, suggesting that the fear of crime is a social rather than criminal issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1970s, gated housing areas of the privileged have been spreading in Latin American cities. They have to be seen as a visible consequence of the deepening social disparities within Latin American societies and the resulting fragmentation of urban space. Condomínios fechados (Brazil) or barrios cerrados (Argentina) can be typified following different criteria, such as formation, location, size, fittings, construction typology, as well as social structure. Three groups of actors influence the process of their expansion: the real estate companies, for which the new form of living offers an attractive market segment, the target groups, whose increasing expectations regarding security and living comfort need to be met, and the public authorities, who have to find adequate responses concerning the further orientation of urban development. Based on case studies from Brazil, the paper will discuss the different phases of gated community expansion and the reasons why this is happening. Their internal structure and differentiation, as well as consequences for socio-spatial development and urban planning will also be dealt with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the status of Corporate Ethical Policies (CEP) in large companies in Argentina, Brazil and Spain, with a special emphasis on Corporate Ethics Statements (CES), documents that define the firms' philosophy, values and norms of conduct. It is based on a survey of the 500 largest companies in these nations. The findings reveal many similarities between these countries. Among other things, it emerges that most companies give consideration to ethics in business and have adopted some kind of formal or informal ethical policies. Regardless of whether or not they have a CES, companies agree that ethical conduct must be taken into account when selecting, appraising and promoting personnel as an important ethical policy. There is a growing tendency to draw up formal corporate ethics documents. These documents are perceived, first and foremost, as supporting the development of corporate culture. Most respondents believe that primary responsibility for ethical issues in the company rests with the CEO. Finally, the findings indicate that most companies that devote more resources to communicating and implementing CESs have two or more formal ethics documents. The main differences between the countries included in the study concern the emphasis given to specific aspects, such as avoiding misconduct or taking ethical criteria into account when selecting personnel. The emphasis is greatest in countries where corruption seems most prevalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using regional gross product data for Argentina and Brazil over the period 1961–2000, we find that business cycle synchronization within countries is substantially larger than across them. Factors such as monetary policy and large country-specific shocks play a significant role in explaining this observed border effect. Furthermore, our GMM single and multiple equation estimates based on Brazilian states and Argentinean national data provide indicative evidence that the higher level of trade among regions within a country is an important factor that accounts for differences in output correlations across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS) pathogens and dry bean root-rot pathogens were studied taxonomically, phylogenetically, and pathologically. Detailed phenotypic comparisons of macro- and microscopic features and phylogenetic analyses of multilocus DNA sequence data, including those on the nuclear ribosomal intergenic spacer region and the single copy nuclear gene translation elongation factor 1-a, indicated that they comprised five distinct species of Fusarium. Two new species causing soybean SDS in Brazil, F. brasiliense and F. cuneirostrum, are formally described. Fusarium cuneirostrum is responsible for soybean SDS in Brazil and dry bean or mung bean root-rot in the United States, Canada, and Japan. Strains of each species, including F. cuneirostrum isolates from dry bean and mung bean and F. phaseoli isolates from dry bean, were inoculated on soybean cultivar Pioneer 9492RR to determine their pathogenicity. Although intraspecific variation in pathogenicity was observed, all the species were able to induce typical SDS symptoms on soybean plants in the artificial inoculation tests. Comparisons of the key diagnostic morphological features reveal that all five species can be diagnosed using conidial morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opheliid polychaetes belonging to the genera Armandia, Ophelia, Ophelina, and Travisia, collected along the Southwestern Atlantic coast off Brazil and Argentina, are recorded or given extended descriptions. Travisia amadoi sp. n., Ophelina gaucha sp. n. and Ophelina alata sp. n. are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]