A fuzzy logic model for the analysis of social corporate responsibility

Introduction: Critical public opinion, based on information that is made available to the public through different systems, has led companies that operate in the environment to continually improve their social, environmental, and ethical performance. Objectives: This paper aims to propose a fuzzy-logic-based model for the analysis of social corporate responsibility in cases of environmental accidents. Methods: Our study employs techniques derived from social network analysis. The data was collected from the online database of The New York Times for the timespan from March 24, 1989, to September 1, 2017. Results: The results show that the proposed model can be replicated, after some adjustments. Conclusion: We conclude that, despite the complexity of an analysis of this kind in which the model is applied considering isolated words in the text and not the semantic aspects, the proposed model based on fuzzy logic is adequate for the analysis of social corporate responsibility.We would like to thank professors Mariana Claudia Broens, Jose Arthur Quilici Gonzalez and Maria Eunice Quilici Gonzalez for the helpful supervision and indications during the fundamental stages of this research. This paper was supported by the "Understanding opinion and language dynamics using massive data", funded by The São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP (reference: 2016/50256-0) (Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities, Digging into Data Challenges). We would like to thank the whole team of this project for their discussion and feedback. Ana Claudia Golzio also received support by FAPESP (process number: 2019/08442-9) during the development of this paper, and Mirelys Puerta-Díaz received funding from Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) - Financial Code 001

Un viajero en tierras salvajes: La resignificación de la raza y la otredad en el filme Get out de Jordan Peele

From the transdisciplinary position of Visual Studies and Decolonial Studies, an intratextual analysis of the ideological discourse of the film Get Out (2017) by Jordan Peele is presented. Through a reading focused on the intentio operis of the work, which uses the narrative analysis models of Zavala (2014), Žižek (2009) and Yepez (Yepez, 2020), it is proposed that Peele's work appropriates the generic conventions of western horror cinema, to emit an allegory where an inversion of the representation of otherness is made (Quijano, 2014; Smith, 2017). Throughout this text, it is argued that —within the film— whiteness (Echeverría, 2010; Frankenberg, 1993; Morrison, 1992) and the values ​​of American liberal society are the sources of terror and threat for the African-American protagonist. Such resignification of otherness is opposed to the canonical structure of homogeneous cinematography, where the plot presents the main characters entering the threatening world of racialized populations. Such a structure is represented by the film Cannibal Holocaust  (Deodato, 1980) and literary antecedents such as Conrad's Heart of Darkness (2013). In this sense, it is possible to affirm that historically horror cinema has produced cultural representations where racialized people are shown as dangerous and abject bodies (Montes, 2017). Peele's aesthetic proposal, which marks a distance from hegemonic discourses, can only be explained from the historical conjuncture and the racial tensions that currently occur in the United States and that have a historical trajectory in social movements around racialization processes in that country.A partir de la postura transdisciplinar de los Estudios Visuales y los Estudios Decoloniales, se presenta un análisis intratextual del discurso ideológico del filme Get Out (2017) de Jordan Peele. Por medio de una lectura enfocada en el intentio operis de la obra, la cual recurre a los modelos de análisis narrativo de Zavala (2014), Žižek (2009) y Yepez (2020), se propone que la obra de Peele se apropia de las convenciones genéricas del cine de terror occidental, para emitir una alegoresis donde se realiza una inversión de la representación de la otredad (Quijano, 2014; Smith, 2017). A lo largo de este texto, se argumenta que —dentro del filme— la blanquitud (Echeverría, 2010; Frankenberg, 1993; Morrison, 1992) y los valores de la sociedad liberal americana son las fuentes del terror y amenaza para el protagonista afroamericano. Tal resignificación de la otredad se contrapone a la estructura canónica de la cinematografía homogénica, donde la trama presenta a los personajes principales internándose al mundo amenazante de las poblaciones racializadas. Tal estructura tiene como representante a la película Holocausto Caníbal (Deodato, 1980) y antecedentes literarios como Corazón de las tinieblas de Conrad (2013). En ese sentido, es posible afirmar que históricamente el cine de terror ha producido representaciones culturales donde las personas racializadas se muestran como cuerpos peligrosos y abyectos (Montes, 2017). La propuesta estética de Peele, que marca una distancia con los discursos hegemónicos, sólo es posible explicarse desde la coyuntura histórica y las tensiones raciales que actualmente ocurren en Estados Unidos y que tienen una trayectoria histórica en los movimientos sociales en torno a los procesos de racialización en dicho país

Diseño de un plan estratégico de marketing turístico para el departamento de Bolívar

El Departamento de Bolívar, uno de los 32 Departamentos que componen el territorio Colombiano, limita por el norte con el mar Caribe, por el sur con el departamento de Antioquia, por el oriente con los departamentos de Atlántico, Magdalena, Cesar y Santander, y por el occidente con los departamentos de Antioquia, Córdoba y Sucre. Se encuentra dividido en treinta y nueve (39) municipios: Cartagena, ciudad capital, Altos del Rosario, Achí, Arjona, Barranco de Loba, Calamar, Cantagallo, Cicuco, Clemencia, Córdoba, El Carmen de Bolívar, El Guamo, Hatillo de Loba, Magangué, Mahates, Margarita, María la Baja, Montecristo, Mompós, Morales, Pinillos, Rioviejo, San Estanislao, San Fernando, San Jacinto, San Juan Nepomuceno, San Martín de Loba, San Pablo, Santa Catalina, Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa del Sur, Simití, Soplaviento, Talaigua Nuevo, Tiquisio, Turbaco, Turbana, Villanueva y Zambrano. La cultura del Departamento, el cual ha sido dividido en zodes, es muy variada y en él se encuentran sitios de interés cultural, histórico y recreativo, que bien merecen sean incluidos dentro de programas de desarrollo turístico, lo que conllevaría a una reactivación de la economía, tanto local, como departamental. El turismo del Departamento se ha centrado en la promoción de su capital, Cartagena de Indias, como sitio histórico, pero principalmente con una promoción agresiva de “Sol y playa”, olvidándose del resto del departamento, el cual posee municipios de interés, tanto para el turismo de negocios, descanso, recreación y también municipios, en los cuales se pueden establecer ruedas de negocios por sus riquezas agrícolas, mineras y artesanales

Effect of trade and regulatory policies on level users satisfaction of mobile phone service in Colombia

En esta investigación se identificó y cuantificó el efecto de las políticas legislativas, normativas y de comercio en el nivel de satisfacción de los usuarios del servicio de telefonía móvil en Colombia. Para ello se realizó un análisis de mercado y comercio de la telefonía móvil, así como de las políticas legislativas, normativas y de calidad y satisfacción de los usuarios del servicio en Colombia, para el periodo 2000-2012. Como resultado se formularon siete modelos matemáticos del nivel de satisfacción en el país y del segmento prepago y postpago de los tres operadores con mayor participación en el mercado, a través de tres factores como son las cifras de importaciones de teléfonos móviles, la cantidad de teléfonos homologados y la distribución del mercado entre operadores, y se estimaron los niveles no reportados por el regulador para el periodo 2010-2012, encontrando una tendencia constante cercana al 70%. Se concluye que en el mercado de la telefonía móvil existen efectos regulatorios adicionales a los medidos y declarados por regulador, los cuales limitan la garantía de un nivel mínimo de calidad del servicio como requisito de operación dentro del mercado. La presencia del factor de importación en todos los modelos refleja los efectos de la evolución del mercado sobre la satisfacción de los usuarios del servicio de telefonía móvil, dados por la implementación de nuevas tecnologías, la oferta de nuevos servicios y la participación de nuevos operadores.This research characterized and quantified the effect of the legislative policy, regulations, and trade policies in the level users satisfaction of the mobile phone service in Colombia. For this, we conducted a market and commerce analysis of mobile telephone, as well as legislative, regulatory, quality and satisfaction policies of service users in Colombia, for the period 2000-2012. As a result seven mathematical models were formulated of the level users satisfaction in Colombia and prepaid and postpaid segment of the three operators with greater market share, through three factors like value of importation of mobile phones, quantity of phones approved and market sharing between operators, levels not reported by regulator were estimated for the period 2010-2012 and a consistent trend of about 70% was discovered. We conclude that in the mobile phone market there are regulatory effects additional to the measured and reported by the regulator, which limit the guarantee of a minimum level of quality of service as an operational requirement within the market. The presence of the importation factor in all models reflects the effects of market evolution on the user satisfaction of mobile phone service, given by the implementation of new technologies, new services offers and the participation of new mobile phone operators

The consumption of two new probiotic strains, Lactobacillus gasseri CECT 5714 and Lactobacillus coryniformis CECT 5711, boosts the immune system of healthy humans

Orally ingested probiotic bacteria are able to modulate the immune system. However, differences exist in the immunomodulatory effects of different probiotic strains. Moreover, different regulatory effects, which depend on the health status of the consumer, have been identified. This work describes a randomized, doubleblind, placebo-controlled human clinical trial to investigate the immune effects on healthy people of a fermented product containing two new probiotic strains, Lactobacillus gasseri CECT 5714 and Lactobacillus coryniformis CECT 5711, which was compared with another fermented product, a standard yogurt. Consumption of either the new product or yogurt increased the proportion of phagocytic cells, including monocytes and neutrophils, as well as their phagocytic activity. However, combination of the product containing the strains L. gasseri CECT 5714 and L. coryniformis CECT 5711 also induced an increase in the proportion of natural killer (NK) cells and in IgA concentrations. The effects were higher after two weeks of treatment than after 4 weeks, which suggests regulation of the immune system. In addition, the new product enhanced immunity in the participants to a greater extent than did the control standard yogurt.This work was supported by Puleva Biotech SA. Federico Lara-Villoslada and Saleta Sierra are recipients of a fellowship from the Fundación Universidad-Empresa, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Rocío Martín is recipient of a grant from the Comunidad de Madrid, Spain

SDSS-IV MaNGA : the MaNGA dwarf galaxy sample presentation

M.C.D. acknowledges support from CONACYT "Ciencia de Frontera" grant 320199. M.C.D. and H.M.H.T. acknowledge support from UC MEXUS-CONACYT grant CN-17-128. A.R.P. acknowledges support from the CONACyT "Ciencia Basica" grant 285721. E.A.O. acknowledges support from the SECTEI (Secretaría de Educación, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la Ciudad de México) under the Postdoctoral Fellowship SECTEI/170/2021 and CM-SECTEI/303/2021. Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions.We present the MaNGA Dwarf galaxy (MaNDala) Value Added Catalog (VAC), from the final release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV program. MaNDala consists of 136 randomly selected bright dwarf galaxies with M* −18.5, making it the largest integral field spectroscopy homogeneous sample of dwarf galaxies. We release a photometric analysis of the g, r, and z broadband imaging based on the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, as well as a spectroscopic analysis based on the Pipe3D SDSS-IV VAC. Our release includes the surface brightness (SB), geometric parameters, and color profiles, Sérsic fits as well as stellar population properties (such as stellar ages, metallicities, and star formation histories), and emission lines' fluxes within the FOV and the effective radii of the galaxies. We find that the majority of the MaNDala galaxies are star-forming late-type galaxies with 〈nSersic,r〉∼1.6 that are centrals (central/satellite dichotomy). MaNDala covers a large range of SB values (we find 11 candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies and three compact ones), filling the gap between classical dwarfs and low-mass galaxies in the Kormendy Diagram and in the size–mass/luminosity relation, which seems to flatten at 108 2, while the last 20% was at 〈z〉 < 0.3. Finally, a bending of the sSFR-M * relation at M* ∼ 109 M⊙ for the main-sequence galaxies seems to be supported by MaNDala.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

General Microbiota of the Soft Tick Ornithodoros turicata Parasitizing the Bolson Tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus) in the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

The general bacterial microbiota of the soft tick Ornithodoros turicata found on Bolson tortoises (Gopherus flavomarginatus) were analyzed using next generation sequencing. The main aims of the study were to establish the relative abundance of bacterial taxa in the tick, and to document the presence of potentially pathogenic species for this tortoise, other animals, and humans. The study was carried-out in the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve in the northern-arid part of Mexico. Bolson tortoises (n = 45) were inspected for the presence of soft ticks, from which 11 tortoises (24.4%) had ticks in low loads (1–3 ticks per individual). Tick pools (five adult ticks each) were analyzed through 16S rRNA V3–V4 region amplification in a MiSeq Illumina, using EzBioCloud as a taxonomical reference. The operational taxonomic units (OTUs) revealed 28 phyla, 84 classes, 165 orders, 342 families, 1013 genera, and 1326 species. The high number of taxa registered for O. turicata may be the result of the variety of hosts that this tick parasitizes as they live inside G. flavomarginatus burrows. While the most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes, the most abundant species were two endosymbionts of ticks (Midichloria-like and Coxiella-like). Two bacteria documented as pathogenic to Gopherus spp. were registered (Mycoplasma spp. and Pasteurella testudinis). The bovine and ovine tick-borne pathogens A. marginale and A. ovis, respectively, were recorded, as well as the zoonotic bacteria A. phagocytophilum,Coxiella burnetii, and Neoehrlichia sp. Tortoises parasitized with O. turicata did not show evident signs of disease, which could indicate a possible ecological role as a reservoir that has yet to be demonstrated. In fact, the defense mechanisms of this tortoise against the microorganisms transmitted by ticks during their feeding process are still unknown. Future studies on soft ticks should expand our knowledge about what components of the microbiota are notable across multiple host–microbe dynamics. Likewise, studies are required to better understand the host competence of this tortoise, considered the largest terrestrial reptile in North America distributed throughout the Chihuahuan Desert since the late Pleistocene

Trichuris vulpis (Froelich, 1789) Infection in a Child: A Case Report

We present a human infection with the canine whipworm, Trichuris vulpis, in a child suffering from rhinitis with a diagnosis of rhinitis. T. vulpis eggs resemble those of T. trichiura but they can be differentiated based on their morphological features and egg size, using micrometry with an ocular micrometer. T. vulpis eggs measured an average of 90 µm by 44 µm (range 86-99 µm by 38-47 µm). Prevalence of hookworms (28.1%), Toxocara canis (11.8%), and Trichuris vulpis (3.5%) was found in 292 fecal samples of dogs collected at the peri-domicile, which showed that the risk of infection was not only fortuitous. The treatment of canine whipworm infections is similar to that of T. trichiura infection. We recommend differentiation of the 2 species for their epidemiological and prevention implications