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This paper is about the difference between the classical industrial city and the contemporary communicational metropolis. The process favours a new subject (multividual) who is going to change his/her vision of the world and to transform the urban scenaries in fragmentary and floating musical spaces (soundscape). Such a mutation is possible through a performatic appropriation of interstitial urban places, where soundscapes and bodyscapes interact and develop into new meanings and new sense of politics. In Rome, different locations have been used in recent years to enact such kind of sonic performances connected to a temporary change of the urban sensorial experience. This paper will focus three performatic events: Dissonanze (2006), La notte Bianca (2006), Pan Sonic (2004) selected as sonic graffiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater collection for domestic uses represents an interesting practice from the economical and environmental point of view. However, this solution is adopted due to the threat of the scarcity of water resources; it is not neutral from a sanitary perspective. This paper presents an analysis of the economical and technical viability of the its use as an alternative for irrigation purposes, as well as cleaning of facades and hard areas in the campus of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia). Three main aspects are developed in the paper: (i) estimation of the available rainwater volumes and the possible collection points; (ii) preliminary quality analysis of the collected rainwater; (iii) estimation of the construction costs for the basic infrastructure required to collect rainwater and estimation of the monetary savings obtained with the proposed solution. The results suggest that the use of rainwater is economically and technically viable, and that it may contribute with a sustainable management and development of the University's campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the elements that constitute critical thinking starting from the humanization of the human being in search of emancipation. The concepts of humanization and emancipation are elaborated from the starting point of a world conceived ever more as secular and at our disposal, where humanizing is freeing the human being of its bonds, and freedom is freedom from the bonds, therefore, critical thinking has to say what those bonds are. The paper proposes the development of a categorical frame for critical thinking or critical theory, centered on three elements: the ethic of emancipation, justice as guide of the emancipation process, and the relation between the subject and common good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a methodology which examines the perceptions of stakeholders, including policy-makers, health care professionals and community members, this paper details a preliminary evaluation of the impact thus far of the Basic Integrated Health System (SIBASI) program on quality of health- care in El Salvador. The paper gives a brief overview of health systems reform in El Salvador, outlines the logic behind the SIBASI and presents theoretical perspectives on quality in health care. The study found that although the SIBASI was "good on paper" and had definite potential, it had not met with a great deal of success. Additionally, existing barriers in the health system in El Salvador- extreme poverty, ineffective governance, politicization, poor financing, and contention in the reform process- severely limited the success of the SIBASI program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a methodology which examines the perceptions of stakeholders, including policy-makers, health care professionals and community members, this paper details a preliminary evaluation of the impact thus far of the Basic Integrated Health System (SIBASI) program on quality of health- care in El Salvador. The paper gives a brief overview of health systems reform in El Salvador, outlines the logic behind the sibasi and presents theoretical perspectives on quality in health care. The study found that although the sibasi was "good on paper" and had definite potential, it had not met with a great deal of success. Additionally, existing barriers in the health system in El Salvador-extreme poverty, ineffective governance, politicization, poor financing, and contention in the reform process- severely limited the success of the SIBASI program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warnings against addictive products inform the public about potential health and behavioral risks caused by the use and abuse of such products, in order to minimize such risks. This paper analyzes the aspects of information processing, emotional responses, and possible changes of attitude due to variations in two important conditions for such communications: the threat in the message contents and the nature of the issuer. To do so, this paper offers a conceptual review of diverse aspects that affect the efficacy of the warnings, it examines the persuasive role of the threat in the communication and of the issuer of the message and, finally, it discusses the weight of some personal variables that affect information processing. Such arguments give rise to a set of propositions for research on the cognitive process of interiorization that such messages have and on how a person's attitude may be affected. The conceptual basis for this paper is a combination of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and of the protection motivation theory (PMT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have evaluated the psychographic characteristics that influence product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty. Notwithstanding, none of them has evaluated the psychographic characteristics of both constructs together. Questions such as "Why do consumers develop different buying attitudes and habits regarding different supermarkets and regarding different product brands?" have gone unanswered. To answer them, the paper propose and tests a model that evaluates the similarities and differences between the psychographic causes of product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty. This research has predicted and proven that consumers' psychographic characteristics influence product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty in different ways and in different intensities. From the psychographic characteristics analyzed in this research, the paper shows that aversion to risk and product quality awareness increase product brand loyalty whereas the search for variety and price awareness decrease it. On the other hand, only aversion to risk influences supermarket loyalty (positively). The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of such results on supermarket owners and on producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are more and more airline carrier alliances used as a strategy to reduce company costs and increase profits. However, this form of organization may reduce well being as well, and particularly the service users' well being. This paper measures variations in well being that the Avianca, Sam, and Aces airline passengers experienced on the Medellín - Bogotá route, during the operations integration process that took place in Alianza Summa, process that ultimately led to the liquidation of Aces and to Avianca remaining the number one Colombian airline. The use of a contingent valuation methodology and a logistic model led to finding that the main decrease in well being was seen in attributes related to service quality. The paper highlights the importance of studying alliances in distinct markets because distinct social costs (consumer well being and unrecoverable losses in efficiency) must be taken into account in such processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of the second half of the past century, operations areas began to be acknowledged as strategic areas for organizational competitiveness, whether the firms were industrial companies or service companies. A fundamental question arose from that acknowledgement, "Is the operations area really supporting the company in meeting its objectives?" For manufacturing companies, present-day competitive pressures demand multi-factor performance and developing a manufacturing strategy that is coherent with the business strategy becomes a must. This paper presents a general procedure for evaluating the structural coherence of the manufacturing strategy, taking three main elements into consideration: competitive priorities, production systems, and manufacturing gearing. This procedure was given to a set of thirteen companies in the metalwork industry for them to apply. It revealed some structural gaps. That was particularly concerning in cases where the company sought to attend highly demanding export markets. The paper suggests future actions related to searching for new market niches that can be immediately attended and simultaneously undertaking projects to strengthen these companies' competitive capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a methodology which examines the perceptions of stakeholders, including policy-makers, healthcare professionals and community members, this paper details a preliminary evaluation of the impact thus far of the Basic Integrated Health System (SIBASI) program on quality of healthcare in El Salvador. The paper gives a brief overview of health systems reform in El Salvador, outlines the logic behind the sibasi and presents theoretical perspectives on quality in healthcare. The study found that although the sibasi was "good on paper" and had definite potential, it had not met with a great deal of success. Additionally, existing barriers in the health system in El Salvador- extreme poverty, ineffective governance, politicization, poor financing, and contention in the reform process- severely limited the success of the Sibasi program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a methodology which examines the perceptions of stakeholders, including policy-makers, healthcare professionals and community members, this paper details a preliminary evaluation of the impact thus far of the Basic Integrated Health System (SIBASI) program on quality of healthcare in El Salvador. The paper gives a brief overview of health systems reform in El Salvador, outlines the logic behind the sibasi and presents theoretical perspectives on quality in healthcare. The study found that although the sibasi was "good on paper" and had definite potential, it had not met with a great deal of success. Additionally, existing barriers in the health system in El Salvador- extreme poverty, ineffective governance, politicization, poor financing, and contention in the reform process- severely limited the success of the SIBASI program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centered in the New Testament, this paper presents a biblical and theological reflection, in order to give a content to the keyword «communion» and to show its impact on exegesis and theology, on ecclesiology, spirituality and pastoral work, on the life and actions of pastoral agents. After an approach to the different meanings of the term «communion» in Latin America and in some documents of the papal Magisterium, the author directs his attention to a syntactical and semantic reflection on the terms «community» and «communion» and on their pragmatic implications. This paper focuses on a theme of great importance for the Church of the present time and its implications in a globalized world, and especially for the Church of the American continent, which, faithful to this inheritance of communion, prepares itself for the 5th General Conference of CELAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the current status of the use of diffuse set theory applications and diffuse inference systems in solving financial problems, specifically in the areas of company portfolio theory, project assessment, credit analysis, technical analysis, and financial analysis. They enables incorporating uncertainty into the analysis in a different manner from the one used in the theory of probabilities. The paper also includes a critique of traditional financial decision-making models, which do not clearly capture market behavior dynamics. Using this new approach, it is possible to gather economic and financial phenomena along with all of their inaccuracies and treat them mathematically. Furthermore, expert criteria may be incorporated into the analysis, thus making the models developed true support tools for decision making. However, present-day theoretical developments tend to merge knowledge-based technologies to solve many engineering problems and that opens a whole new area of research to apply them to Social Sciences and Economic Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper covers some basic concepts of anthropology and of interpretive anthropology/hermeneutics. It is based on three books by Clifford Geertz, the main representative of interpretive anthropology: Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, The Interpretation of Cultures, and Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics. Reading those works led to reflecting on the question, is Geertz's theoretical - methodological reference approach for understanding culture relevant to studying culture in hospital organizations? The authors of this paper consider that, according to Geertz's thought, studying culture consists of understanding the subjects' interpretation of their social world and of the kinds of thinking that they observe directly in their experiences built, according to the meaning that they give to shared ethnographical symbols. The authors conclude that this view enables understanding the structure of the relations inside hospital organizations, which, in turn, favors issues regarding workers, management and, consequently, users and the society at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes some national accounting and full cost accounting proposals for designing a sustainable income account to evaluate a company's environmental (and social) performance. Such an account implies including external elements and events into the company's accounting system, which may be controversial as it decreases company benefits and negatively affects the shareholders' dividends at a short term. The paper argues that, in spite of its methodological limitations, using methods to calculate external elements and events and implementing them into the accounting information system enables better knowledge of company operations and a change in manners of doing business, which have always been taken for granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populism is a matter diversely studied in Colombia, particularly associated with the political figure of the assassinated leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitén. This paper first evaluates the meaning of populism in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico parallel to similar Colombian factors. With these arguments, the paper makes some critical assertions on the "populist" adjective that have accompanied the public profile of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, focused on the populist parameters of the Cono Sur's populism, and his government programs designed and proposed during the 30s and 40s of the 20th century. Finally, the paper observes the personal character of Gaitan, asking first if the leader was at least rather a pale popular than a real populist leader, as can be concluded by checking Iris relationships with the paradigmatical labor unions of Antioquia. The second part evaluates the contradictions of his personal low-class condition, which made him a person with a clear proclivity to climb into the Colombian "little bourgeoisie". As a central matter, this paper works around diverse expositions from the Colombian researcher Marco Palacios, so it does not focus on the analysis of the Latin-American populism as a whole or the diverse political-electoral perspectives of "Gaitan's phenomena" in Colombia, which almost all are concerned with his obscure assassination in 1948. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an introduction to some problems of the contemporary Philosophy of Mind. The thesis is that a conceptual study of the psychological expressions in ordinary language could be relevant in our scientific-oriented times. The scientific point of view in psychology could lead us to forget the value of understanding the mental for every person in his or her daily life, beside the scientific explanations that a theorist could provide. The first part of the paper is an exposition of some epistemological and ontological debates in the Philosophy of Psychology in which we offer many quotations and references to introduce the reader directly, by him or herself, into the study of the issues. The second part exposes an interpretation of Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind. In the third part, we raise the question about the value of the Wittgenstein's ideas in the context of theoretical psychology debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we checked the principal researches and theories to explain the attention system functioning. We are going to start reviewing along time about the concept of attention, from filter theories and resources distributor theories, to the current theories in which attention is conceived as a control system. From this last point of view, we will emphasize on the attentional networks theory of Posner, that proposes different systems to explain diverse aspects of attention, but they are related to each other. At last in this paper, we will mention experimental results that have been important to characterize the selective attentional mechanisms of the human visual system, using the attentional spotlight model for this aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I review the prevention and intervention efforts addressing youth homelessness in the field of psychology between 1994 and 2004. Analyses of the literature revealed that the majority of papers including homeless youth as a population for study have focused on issues other than homelessness. These issues include HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention. Eleven journal articles addressing youth homelessness were reviewed. These articles focused on outcomes, interventions, and recommendations for clinical practice. Literature findings revealed that demographic variables did not predict outcomes for homeless youth; youth returning home with their parents have more positive outcomes than youth moving into other locations, emergency shelter services improve youth's mental health and social condition, and services should be comprehensive and move beyond the individuals. Implications for community psychology, policy makers, and shelters are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the interests and association group's relevance on health systems and reforms during the last 25 years. It this doing across several explicative theories like Pluralism, Corporativism, the new corporativism and Pluralism, the new institutionalism, the rational choice, the mix approaches and the net policies. The paper shows the interest groups raid, becoming with raising importance, since the parties and welfare state crisis is ongoing; however it phenomena is relatively unknown. These processes derived to reforms resting over the trade and economic unions, and delimited citizen's groups, waiting their actions will be to public interest defense. ¿Is this an Illusion?. It's possible, nevertheless that's a real change that requires more research, and enforce to best the government and management regimes; also at the health systems and reform frame, going to transparence and power equity exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain strategic information about the different actors in the bio-industrial cluster in western Colombia, related to decision making and interventions that lead to the competitive development of the cluster and the region, a model based on technological innovation in similar schemes was designed to measure the critical fields and factors of competition. The paper presents: (i) the fields and factors that have an impact on development and competition in the cluster, and (ii) an analysis of evaluation and measuring schemes that have been developed for similar cases at an international, national and regional level. The paper presents a proposal for evaluating and tracking the fields and factors, based on constructing an theoretic framework, identifying tracking and evaluation systems, structuring the monitoring system, and defining and adapting the measuring model. The importance of some factors on development and competition is evidenced, as is the need to measure them and generate strategic information that will support decision making and public policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the social and cultural factors that influence the consolidation of business conglomerates. A neo-institutional theoretical perspective is used, combined with the social camp concept, to study the institutional distance and dominant relationships in the conglomerates. These aspects are qualitatively applied to 39 direct interviews with micro-cluster tool-making businesses, retailers and support agencies. The paper concludes that there is an asymmetrical accumulation of specific capital, a variety of organizational subcultures, and a predominance of commercial relationships characterized by subordination and domination, rather than the cooperation and interaction that are vital to a cluster's success. The results help understand the dynamics and function of clusters, and open a line of socio-cultural investigation of business conglomerates that goes beyond traditional economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the application of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in the Colombian capital market. To construct optimal portfolios, CAPM optimization techniques were used that were based on the monthly performance of shares on the Colombian Stock Exchange between 1993 and 2003. The optimum portfolios were then valued, and their profitability was compared with the Colombian market average. Comparing this profitability with the market portfolio for different samples and periods gave uncertain results. It was also found that the optimum portfolio model is little used in Colombia. The paper concludes that improving the application of the optimum portfolio model depends on a higher level of profundización and efficiency in the Colombian capital market. Similarly, the proper use of optimizers by portfolio administrators, added to their experience and intuition, will improve their performance in the capital market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the behavior of high-tech firms, located in technological parks of the Basque Country, concerning the management of knowledge, the kind of strategic alliances they enter, and the effect of such behavior on their performance. The paper is theoretically supported by the resource--based approach (RBA) and the different views on strategic alliances and knowledge management (KM) reviewed and included in the references section. The field work included interviewing more than 66 managers and later work consisted in carrying out statistical analysis on different variables identified. Different tests prove that intangible assets related to human capital (I+D instruction and experience) contribute to the growth of business, that firms tend to enter formal I+D alliances with universities and technological centers rather than other firms, and that these agreements also contribute to the growth of firm business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objectives of this paper are to develop a conceptual and theoretical framework to evaluate the cost of protectionism in the Brazilian automobile industry, and present a scheme to compare different studies. A standard partial equilibrium model was developed, and applied to the sub-compact vehicle segment of the Brazilian automobile industry. Two important aspects were analyzed: (1) economic indicators, and (2) supply and demand curves. Four economic indicators were used: (1) domestic consumption, (2) domestic production, (3) domestic prices, and (4) world prices. A supply and demand sketch was generated to determine price elasticity, using values obtained from a multiple regression model. The sub-compact vehicle segment was chosen because it represents more than 70% of the Brazilian domestic market. 2000 was chosen as the year to examine because this was when an import tariff of 35% was imposed on the automobile industry. This trade barrier provided an interesting case study for the cost of protectionism model. The paper concludes that the model clearly demonstrates protectionist polices' adverse effects on the Brazilian economy, which experienced a welfare loss borne by consumers, producers and the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies advances in science, technology and innovation (STI) in Colombia between 1990 and 2005, and then explores: (i) the successes and failures of policies designed to stimulate advances, and (ii) the challenges facing the country when converting knowledge and, especially, innovation into primary sources of development and competition. The paper reviews neoclassical and evolutional contributions in terms of their relationship with technological change, growth and development, and looks at the literature on recent experiences of successful industrialization and national innovation systems. It then moves on to the implications for STI policy, using official information, domestic and international publications and a number of the authors' investigations to evaluate some of the efforts and results indicators related to innovation, production capacity, and scientific divulgation and articulation between actors in the scientific, technological and productive fields. The results show notable advances in science, but precarious results for technology and the links between actors in these fields. The paper then examines the political challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the tax income consequences for the government of creating a tax reduction system based on investments. This type of policy is usually applied with a view to improving the general conditions of the economy, or as a model of investment for the future, but the net effect on tax collection for the government depends on the performance of businesses benefiting from the deductions. This investigation used economic, mathematical, statistical and dynamic tools to describe the optimization problems for businesses and the government (related to fiscal problems) within a neo-classical framework. The practical application is related to Colombia, and uses a calibration of the author's proposed variables. The paper concludes that it is convenient to apply this instrument, given the need to accelerate economic growth and solve a difficult fiscal situation at the same time. Furthermore, it establishes that tax benefits are unlikely to generate excessive levels of investment that would reduce tax collection at current values. However, measures may need to be introduced to control how benefits are granted and avoid opportunistic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper it is proven that the entrepreneurial stance on SMEs has a positive influence on export performance. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database from 2011 is used for a sample of 320 exporting SMEs. Using structural equation modeling, a positive effect is proven of entrepreneurial characteristics, internal and external, and access to government resources on entrepreneurial stance. With these results, the SMEs can recognize their weaknesses and strengths on internal resources and their environment, and take steps to improve their export performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the main determinants of sovereign bonds spreads, considering the German and US government bonds as benchmarks, for countries within the European Union and the European Monetary Union, from 2004 to 2011. The econometric methodology of panel data with fixed effects is applied, and the results indicate high adjustments in the face of the different benchmarks. The financial crisis shows a higher impact in those countries within the Eurozone. Future lines of research could contemplate a broader period of study, include more macroeconomic variables and group the countries according to the similarity of their fundamentals to conduct a more exhaustive analysis of the debt markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computed tomography (CT) allows the three-dimensional internal structure reconstruction of an object illuminated with X-ray light. In CT, a set of two-dimensional projections are taken to reconstruct the underlying object structure. The number of projections needed for sensing a CT scene is determined by the Nyquist limit. In some cases, the imposed projections number is excessive. Compressive sensing (CS) has emerged as a new sampling technique requiring fewer projections than those specified by the Nyquist criterion. Instead of measuring the samples directly, they are encoded before being integrated into the detector. This paper describes a CS system for CT based on coded apertures. An optimized value of transmittance and an aperture distribution are selected such that the quality of reconstruction is maximized. Simulations show that results in reconstruction with 50% of measurements are comparable with the traditional CT method based on Nyquist criterion. Similarly, results indicate that the PSNR of reconstructed images can be controlled according to the number of projections taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows a modification of the traditional 'perturb and observe' algorithm used to the maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic systems. The proposal is justified by the need of algorithms to track the global maximum power point in solar panels connected in series under partially shaded conditions. The proposal tracks the global maximum power point avoiding the previous iterative search in local maximums. The algorithm performance is evaluated by simulations in the software PSIM and its behavior is compared with the traditional perturb and observe algorithm. The results show the outstanding performance of the modified algorithm in the tracking of the global maximum power point under different non uniform conditions of temperature and irradiance in the solar array. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operations of companies have become over-dependent on their supporting enterprise software applications. This situation has placed a heavy burden onto software maintenance teams who are expected to keep these applications up and running optimally in varying execution conditions. However, this high human intervention drives up the overall costs of software ownership. In addition, the current dynamic nature of enterprise applications constitutes challenges with respect to their architectural design and development, and the guarantee of the agreed quality requirements at runtime. Efficiently and effectively achieving the adaptation of enterprise applications requires an autonomic solution. In this paper, we present SHIFT, a framework that provides (i) facilities and mechanisms for managing self-adaptive enterprise applications using an autonomic infrastructure, and (ii) automated derivation of self-adaptive enterprise applications and their respective monitoring infrastructure. Along with the framework, our work led us to propose a reference specification and architectural design for implementing self-adaptation autonomic infrastructures. We developed a reference implementation of SHIFT; our contribution includes the development of monitoring infrastructures, and dynamic adaptation planning and automated derivation strategies. SHIFT, along with its autonomic infrastructure and derived enterprise application, can provide a cost-effective mean to fulfill the agreed quality in these types of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Profanity is the use of offensive, obscene, or abusive vocables or expressions in public conversations. A big source of conversations in text format nowadays are digital media such as forums, blogs, or social networks where malicious users are taking advantage of their ample worldwide coverage to disseminate undesired profanity aimed at insulting or denigrating opinions, names, or trademarks. Lexicon-based exact comparisons are the most common filters used to prevent such attacks in these media; however, ingenious users are disguising profanity using transliteration or masking of the original vocable while still conveying its intended semantic (e.g. by writing piss as P!55 or p.i.s.s), hence defeating the filter. Recent approaches to this problem, inspired in the sequence alignment methods from comparative genomics in bioinformatics, have shown promise in unmasking such guises. Building upon those techniques we have developed an experimental Web forum (ForumForte) where user comments are cleaned of disguised profanity. In this paper we discuss briefly the techniques and main engineering artefacts obtained during the developing of the software. Empirical evidence reveals filtering effectiveness between 84% and 97% at vocable level depending on the length of the profanity (with more than four letters), and 86% at sentence level when tested in two sets of real user-generated-comments written in Spanish and Portuguese. These results suggest the suitability of the software as a language-independent tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a home energy management model called GEDE, outlined in the Colombian Law 1715/2014. Different operation ways that can be applied in the proposed residential energy system are presented. The system has a variable topology, so that it is fed by distributed generation sources or by the interconnected system, and they are related to a control system. Three scenarios were analyzed: (1) Distributed generation during peak hours and the user manually activates the system; (2) the user decides to connect several loads that require high power levels in peak hours, and then the service of distributed generation is reserved until this hour to supply the high power, thus this scenario is semiautomatic, and (3) the system saves energy in an autonomous way through intelligent infrastructure controlling the appliances and lighting utilization. This proposal allows providing new energy consumption patterns through mechanisms that make a significant contribution to the efficient energy by utilizing monitoring, control, and supervision techniques together with distributed generation. In the proposal household users participate making decisions related to energy consumption and generation, through the incentives provided by Law 1715. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from an empirical study undertaken by the author at two National Museums in Mexico, this paper examines the interactions of the museums' visitors, as agents that use their capacity and resources to interact with one another as well as with the knowledges and narratives displayed at the museums. Grounded in contemporary debates in the social sciences, the analysis aims at elucidating the dynamics and the experience of power relations as social processes; it presents the different forms in which history and other knowledge, as well skills and abilities, interplay in such processes. The study reveals the social nature of the construction of historical knowledge and its usage —or lack thereof — in the teaching of history and in the formation of national and cultural identities in state institutions such as museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the communicative practices of a Colombian trans-woman scientist, biologist Brigitte Baptiste, when she speaks publicly about environmental issues on different media platforms. In the analysis, I explore the implications of Baptiste's public presence for the imaginaries of readers and journalists regarding science, scientists, and trans-people in Colombia. Leaning on certain feminist critiques of science, I analyze communicative practices as matters of care. Throughout the analysis, I find that care in Baptiste's public presence is performed through the ways in which she connects biodiversity and sexual diversity, thinking with trans-women's experiences to transgress the borders of science and connect it to activism and public service. I conclude that Baptiste's public presence in Colombia is an exceptional example of gender diversity acceptance in the present, though it does represent a speculative commitment towards embracing diversity in general in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cuban National System faces an important challenge, which is to consolidate the improvement programs of their institutions; consequently, there are considered key objectives like: fostering creativity and innovation; promoting continuous training; and ensuring the efficiency seeking, the application of best practices and permanent processes evaluation. These objectives are commonly assumed when organizations adopted managerial approaches based on quality, efficiency, effectiveness and service to clients. Hence, this paper shows the results of experiences in business process management, being conceived as a work setting of improvement in health institutions. To seek such goal, it is conducted a bibliography study of 70 methodological procedures, resulting in a new approach that is applied to five hospitals in a Cuban province in order to prove its efficacy for performance improvement, which is illustrated by progress being obtained in service and processes functioning with consequent extension to other hospital of the province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of the Scale of sexual harassment and social interaction of sexual content at the University, a questionnaire of 38 items that was administered to 1693 people (1521 students and 172 staff members) of a Spanish university. The results indicate that the questionnaire used consists of four factors explaining 61.81% of the total variance and evaluate sexual blackmail behaviors (Scale 1), sexual harassment verbal component (Scale 2) and physical (Scale 3) and social interaction of sexual content (Scale 4) in academia with a favourable reliability data (a between 0.962 and 0.775). Based on the results is recommended the use of the scale in future research on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychometric properties of the Security in the Family System scale (SIFS) (Davies & Forman, 2005) are analyzed in this paper. SIFS measures children's perceived security in the family system grounded on Emotional Security theory (Cummings & Davies, 2010). Particpants were 845 Spanish adolescents and youth, 180 of whom were institutionalized (mean age 15.67 years) while 665 lived with their families (mean age 14.9 years). Confirmatory factor analyses and configural, metric,scalar and strict invariance analyses were performed. Results showed that the instrument is adequate to evaluate Spanish adolescents' and youth's security in the family whether they live with their families or they are institutionalized. The three dimensions predicted by the theory were identified (security, preoccupation and disengagement) with a good internal consistency and comparable punctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The female sociocultural beauty ideal is ultra-thin, while the male beauty ideal is related with a muscular body. In this paper it is argued that these differences may be explained by the gender ideology that men and women have. Data obtained from 615 female students (with a Body Mass Index between 18 and 30) revealed that participants high in a gender ideology scale reported greater drive for thinness and less pursuit of muscularity. In addition, women with low scores in a gender ideology scale showed the opposite pattern: high scores on pursuit of muscularity and low in drive for thinness. Finally, it is discussed why men and women adopt different strategies to deal with these beauty ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to show the adaptation and validation process of the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale questionnaire (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk, 2001) in a sample selection of 544 Chilean teachers. This was done using the back translation procedure. For construct validity, the exploratory factor analysis statistic method was applied, which resulted in one additional factor to the three, which were in the original instrument. Secondly, a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. The latter corroborated the four-dimension solution with appropriate index adjustments. Finally, the internal consistency was analyzed by using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which showed satisfactory rates for each factor and the entire instrument. All these findings support the claim that the adapted version of the questionnaire is valid, reliable and explanatory of the self-efficacy theory for the reality of Chilean teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translational research represents an effort to integrate the results derived from basic research in order to approach them to the applied field. This paper sets out the area of research in regards to the Differential Outcomes Effect (DOE) as a case of translational research, characterized by its contribution to conditional discrimination learning. A revision starting from several germinal works with laboratory animals and that moves into the first studies with humans. Afterwards, some studies that highlight the potential of the application of the Differential Outcomes Procedures (DOP) are revised as a tool for the treatment of persons with several ailments related to learning and memory deficits, as well as their application to the educational field under situations that involve conditional discrimination learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology to validate an instrument for the assessment of competencies associated to a psychology students' profile. Using a quantitative non- experimental- correlational design, with the participation of the school of psychology faculty, a tool was developed based on a group of selected competencies. The validation process was conducted by applying the instrument to second year psychology students. Results demonstrate its validity and contribute to the research on the development and validation of instruments designed to determine whether teaching - learning strategies are achieving the proposed competencies in students' education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role exerted by the organizational climate as a modulator of communication between leadership and role conflict. To do this, the study involved 315 workers of cooperatives in horticulture. The overall results showed that the weather is an element modulator of communication regarding leadership and role conflict. Specifically, the data indicated that the negative influence of communication in leadership on role conflict increases with increasing perceived supportive climate, weather and climate innovation orientation rules, although with lower modulation effects the first two. We discuss the practical implications of the study, along with the limitations and suggestions for future research arising therefrom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to study the factorial invariance of Cognitive Emotional Regulation questionnarie (CERQ) among college students from Lima (Peru) and Cordoba (Argentina), to perform a cross-cultural comparison of cognitive emotion regulation strategies. 345 college students from Lima (men = 26.4%; women = 73.6%) and 358 college students from Córdoba (men = 49.7%; women = 49.7%) were examined. Progressive assessment of the factorial invariance (configural, metric, strong and strict) was performed. The results indicate regarding to configural invariance, the structure invariance of nine oblique factors was verified, and although a detailed analysis identifies a non-invariant functioning in some reactive and intercepts. We conclude that the collected evidence is not enough to develop a model to explain the observed differences, whereupon could ask about it in a future study whether the use of these strategies are relate to specific ideologies and values of each culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic literature review on the Rorschach test and the psychobiology of personality. Rorschach remains one of the worldwide reference psychological tests, about to be a hundred hears since its inception. Moreover, in recent years there are processes of deep transformation in models, theories, diagnostic criteria and types of interventions in clinical psychology and psychiatry. In this process neurosciences occupy a central role. It is therefore essential to assess relevance and validity of the Rorschach in that new landscape. After analyzing concerning literature, there are findings that claim that relevance and validity, but even more questions and research trends to explore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews corporate political activity (CPA) research articles published between 2004 and 2015 in different journals. A surprising finding is that a low number of articles have dealt with CPA in Latin American cases. To promote research on CPA in these contexts, a research program is presented with the following three-phase structure: basic questions, combination of topics and other subjects of interest. This agenda can outline a path for CPA research that not only supports practices with a contextualized administrative knowledge but also evidences the political actions of enterprises that can promote the control of wrongful corporate behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the competition between Peruvian microfinance institutions (MFIs) using the Boone indicator, from 2003 to 2009. The findings suggest that microfinance has been developing in a more competitive environment that promotes financial inclusion and the development of efficient institutions. In turn, it places on the authorities' agenda the responsibility for monitoring and preventing questionable practices in the provision of credit that can lead to over-indebtedness of clients with the deterioration of the loan portfolio of MFIs. For further research, it is suggested to extend the period of analysis and/or to study the relationship between competition, financial results of institutions and the level of indebtedness of customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a set of rectangular pieces and a fixed width with infinite length, the strip-packing problem (SPP) of two dimensions (2D), with a rotation of pieces in 90° consists of orthogonally placing all the pieces on the strip, without overlapping them, minimizing the height of the strip used. Several algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem, being Genetic Algorithms one of the most popular approach due to it effectiveness solving NP-Hard problems. In this paper, three binary representations, and classic crossover and mutation operators are introduced. A comparison of the three binary representations on a subset of benchmarking instances is performed. The representation R2 outperforms the results obtained by representation R1 and R3. Indeed, some of the bestknown results found by previous published approaches are improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the acceptability of the implementation of a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in the north of Bogota (Colombia), a strategy that is compatible with the policies of the mobility master plan of the city. Although the idea of using HOV lanes dates back to the 70's, it is still a valid alternative which is widely documented that produces positive impacts on travel times, accident rates, greenhouse emissions, among others. The study is based on discrete choice survey experiments which allowed calibrating a multinomial logit model. The calibrated model indicated that the acceptability of the HOV lane is very sensitive to travel times experienced by current car users. The model also identified the segment of the population with the highest acceptability for the proposal, which would consist of women over 31 years old, who travel for purposes related to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]