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Introduction: the present paper sets out to characterize the publication dynamics of collaborative research partnerships between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (EULAC) region in the last forty years. Objective: we adopt two approaches when analyzing data based on the following assumptions: 1) collaboration is characterized by a central relationship established between researchers from one LAC and one EU institution, 2) bi-regional collaboration is characterized by a series of scientific publications forged with different scientists and institutions. Our hypothesis is to find out if the bi-regional scientific relations between the EULAC countries through international collaboration have been strengthened in recent years thanks to the institutional and investigative efforts to internationalize their research. Materials and methods: we offer a literature review that involves co-publications from EULAC institutions published from 1991 to 2016 to study bi-regional research collaboration in different areas. We evaluate the temporal evolution of EULAC collaboration, the leadership of the publications, and the type of research domain covered. We have found 43 research papers that comply with our criteria. We have divided these into three main horizontal categories: EULAC collaboration, Ibero-American collaboration, and Specific EULAC countries collaboration. Each category has been divided into vertical categories: All disciplines, and Specific disciplines. Results: from this review, it is possible to have a map of the EULAC bi-regional co-publications divided into key areas of knowledge and the countries with more straight or weak scientific collaboration. Conclusions: we have observed how many studies are focused only on a particular area like Biotechnology or Nanotechnology, with a lack of scientific literature in Social Science and Humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of new knowledge is configured as one of the main objectives of the implementation of Science, Technology and Innovation policies. At the level of Latin America and Caribbean, the policies that govern and administer science and technology are controlled by secretariats, councils or ministries, who through a budget allocation (investment in P&D) build an STI agenda that seeks, as said, enhance the production of new knowledge. However, there is an important absence in the purposes of implementation, while the conceptual elements of ownership are not considered. This paper analyzes the influence of STI policies on the production and appropriation of STI. The results show the evolution in these two areas in the last 5 years, indicating that, although the production of new knowledge has increased, its appropriation is reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact on total factor productivity (TFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and in other developing countries of trade-related technology diffusion from the North (denoted by NRD), education, and governance. The NRD of developing countries is defined as a weighted sum of R&D stocks in the North, with weights related to openness with the North's trading partners. Industryspecific NRD is based on the North's industry-specific R&D stocks, North-South trade patterns, and input-output relations in the South. The main findings are that: i) the impact of education and governance on TFP is significantly larger in LAC than in other developing countries, while the opposite holds for NRD; ii) education, governance and NRD have additional effects on TFP in LAC's R&D-intensive industries through their interaction with the other two variables; and iii) since NRD increases with openness to the North and with the North's R&D stocks, both variables raise the South's TFP directly as well as through interaction with education and governance. These interaction effects imply that increasing the level of any of the three policy variables — education, governance or openness — results in virtuous growth cycles. These are smallest for an increase in one of these variables, stronger for an increase in two of them, and strongest for an increase in all three variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is said that the current global population could be included as living at present with an "international average economic level", when the prevailing interest and performance is to satisfy the spiritual, cultural needs; towards scientific, artistic and ethical creation. Only then, we will create the possibility of enjoying a more human world, where the transmission, the appropriation of knowledge and its application will be the "advanced education" in its highest expression. In Latin American and the Caribbean, higher education grew sixty times in the last six decades, a trend that will continue the enhancement of the multiplication and diversification of its organizations, by increasing offers; modifying the student composition and those of the new academic environments. In our region, it goes from the most legitimate government universalization of higher education to the multiple variants of the hybrid assembly determined by privatization, by the marketing costs. In an equivalent time, by walking through the ways of equity, the Cuban higher education shows at present significant achievements, both in consolidating its links and commitments with it social, political and economic life, as being oriented to excellence, of its process and results. According to the formerly stated, now this paper orders its contents through the following groups: 01- Universalization of the university: equity-quality in higher education. 02- Elite Model , Mass Model, Universal Model.03- Tertiary Coverage Rates in the Current World: Statistical Reliability and Calculus Difficulties. 04- Cuba in figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To identify validated information available on the relationship between social capital (SC) and health in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Methods. A systematic search for papers published from January 1990-June 2007 was conducted on the Medline, SciELO, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library databases. All of the research and review articles published by scientific journals that evaluated CS and its relationship to health in LAC were included in the analysis. Results. Fifteen articles were found (11 original research and 4 reviews). The health topics examined by the research articles were: (a) mortality and life expectancy, (b) mental health, (c) injuries, (d) nutritional status, and (e) immunization. The validity of these works, the results, and the principal conclusions were analyzed in depth. Conclusions. Despite limitations inherent to the CS concept and the studies identified, it was confirmed that scientific evidence exists to support the possible association between CS and health in LAC. CS could play a protective role in certain health areas, such as injury prevention and mental health; not withstanding, the relationship between CS and health could vary according to CS subtype and socioeconomic context and culture. It is therefore imperative to continue social epidemiology research that thoroughly investigates the relationship between social determinants and specific aspects of health in LAC context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of environmental health indicators for assessing the adverse effects of environmental changes on the population's health and quality of life is, as yet, a goal that has not been fully reached in Latin America and the Caribbean. As such, the United Nations Environment Program and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) have convened Region's institutions and experts to develop a comprehensive method for assessing environmental health. This paper evaluates several methodologies, comprehensive or otherwise, for assessing health and the environment, and describes the frameworks that have historically undergirded the key methods that have either structured or generated the environmental health indicators being used in Latin America and the Caribbean. The recurring, methodological limitations were identified: (a) relying heavily on secondary data, which points out the need for technological infrastructure that is rarely available in Latin America and the Caribbean today; and (b) a lack of clear criteria for developing inclusive tools that would facilitate the discussion of environmental health issues at the grass-roots level. Despite the progress made by the field of environmental health with regard to understanding its interdisciplinary complexities, intersectoral operations must be improved to favor open communication and implementation of integrated policies on environmental and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May of 2004, the "3rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union" was held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Simultaneously, civil society organizations met in the same city, where they carried out several activities, among them, a unitary pacific demonstration that resulted in several riots. This paper shows the Mexican government's efforts to criminalise the social altermundista movement; as well as the role played by the Catholic Church, the entrepreneurial upper elite and local media. Despite the electoral legitimacy discourse and the political re-democratization, there are some signs of returning to authoritarianism but also a return to the struggle for defence and the widening of civil rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]