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Is it possible to measure how critical soft skills like leadership or teamwork are from the viewpoint of graduate studies offerings? This paper provides a conceptual and methodological framework that introduces the concept of a bipartite network as a practical way to estimate the importance of soft skills as socio-emotional abilities trained in graduate studies. We examined 230 graduate programs offered by 49 higher education institutions in Colombia to estimate the empirical importance of soft skills from the viewpoint of graduate studies offerings. The results show that: (a) graduate programs in Colombia share 31 soft skills in their intended learning outcomes; (b) the centrality of these skills varies as a function of the graduate pro- gram, although this variation was not statistically significant; and (c) while most central soft skills tend to be those related to creativity (i.e. creation or generation of ideas or projects), leadership (to lead or teamwork), and analytical orientation (e.g. evaluating situations and solving problems), less central were those related to empathy (i.e. understanding others and acknowledgment of others), ethical thinking, and critical thinking, posing the question if too much emphasis on most visible skills might imply an unbalance in the opportunities to enhancing other soft skills such as ethical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer's trust in vendors' reputation is a key factor that facilitates economic transactions in e-commerce platforms. Although the trust-sales relationship is assumed robust and consistent, its empirical evidence remains neglected for Latin American countries. This work aims to provide a data-driven comprehensive framework for extracting valuable knowledge from public data available in the leading Latin American e-commerce platform with commercial operations in 18 countries. Only Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela showed the highest trust indexes among all nations analyzed. The trust-sales relationship was statistically inconsistent across nations but worked as the most important predictor of sales, followed by purchase intention and price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing global warming effects without jeopardizing economic prosperity demands the analysis of the link between these factors. Environmental degradation and economic growth are thought to be related in a non-linear manner, following an inverted-U pattern called the 'Environmental Kuznets Curve' (EKC). Despite the many studies seeking empirical support for this relationship, the literature does not provide conclusive findings. By presenting the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) as an explanatory variable, this paper aims at providing a comprehensive analysis of EKC from 86 countries with different development levels, covering the period between 1971 and 2014. Different statistical estimation techniques were used, including an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model, dynamic panel data techniques, and the Sasabuchi–Lind–Mehlum (SLM) test. The results show no clear evidence supporting the idea of EKC, neither for production volumes nor for production sophistication, as captured by ECI. Nonetheless, when ECI increases, pollution levels drop monotonously only for developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We examined asthma risk factors among 274 Puerto Rican children born in New York to atopic mothers. Methods. We prospectively followed the cohort to measure aeroallergens in their homes and assess allergic sensitization. Baseline data are presented. Results. Maternal smoking was significantly higher among women born on the continental United States (25%) vs. those born elsewhere (11%). Cat ownership was more frequent among mainland-born women (15%) compared with those born in Puerto Rico (4%). While some aeroallergens were prevalent, few dust samples contained detectable dust mite allergens. Conclusions. By following this cohort, we hope to identify the roles that socio-cultural factors play in the process of allergic sensitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]