Relación del fraude académico con situaciones personales que enfrentan los estudiantes en la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad de Cartagena (Colombia)

Introducción: El fraude académico es una práctica deshonesta muy frecuente, difundida en el ambiente universitario, en el que se encuentran afectados los valores y el sentido de responsabilidad con la academia y su formación profesional, el cual se verá reflejado en una posible mal praxis. Objetivos: Identificar las situaciones personales que hace a los estudiantes propensos a cometer fraude académico y establecer si tienen conocimiento sobre las consecuencias que puede traer para su calidad como profesional.Materiales y métodos: Se efectuó un estudio descriptivo de enfoque cualitativo. El mues­­treo utilizado fue en avalancha, que consiste en pedirles a los participantes que sugirieran otros posibles informantes, a los cuales se realizó entrevistas individuales en profundidad, entrevistas estructuradas y entrevistas a grupos focales. Posteriormente se realizó el análisis de los resultados a partir de triangulación de datos. Resultados: El fraude académico afecta comúnmente a la población estudiantil que es propensa a problemas familiares y personales, lo que los hace incurrir en esta opción como la única alternativa para lograr los objetivos académicos, al encontrar que no existe aparente solución ante sus problemas personales y familiares, confrontados a la situación académica.Conclusión: Los estudiantes que cometen acciones fraudulentas justifican sus actos al explicar los principales motivos resaltando la importancia de la familia y de su entorno social, a la vez aceptan que esto afecta su calidad como profesional, pero aun así lo siguen realizando, porque el único objetivo es aprobar la asignatura o el semestre.Palabras clave: Fraude, ética, mala conducta científica, educación en odontología.AbstractIntroduction: Academic fraud is a frequent dishonest practice in the college environment which affects traditional values, the sense of responsibility with academia and professional attitudes which eventually, could become a possible reason for malpractice. Objectives: To identify the personal situations that make students prone to fraud and to establish if they have knowledge of the consequences on their professional development. Materials and methods: A descriptive qualitative analysis was done. The sample was taken by the method of avalanche which consisted in asking the participants to suggest other possible informants who answered individually in depth interviews, structured in­­terviews and interviews to focal groups. The results were then analyzed by means of data triangulation. Results: Academic fraud affects more frequently the student population prone to personal and family problems, which in turn, makes them predisposed to fraud as the only alterna­­tive to achieve their academic objectives when they find that there is no solution for their personal and family problems, when faced to academic conditions. Conclusion: The students that commit fraud justify their acts by explaining the motives that relate to the importance of their family and their social environment, in turn, they ac­­cept that this affects their professional quality, but still keep on doing it because their only objective is to approve the academic period or the semester. Key words: Fraud, ethical, motivation, feelings, students dental

Full Tilt: Universal Constructors for General Shapes with Uniform External Forces

We investigate the problem of assembling general shapes and patterns in a model in which particles move based on uniform external forces until they encounter an obstacle. In this model, corresponding particles may bond when adjacent with one another. Succinctly, this model considers a 2D grid of “open” and “blocked” spaces, along with a set of slidable polyominoes placed at open locations on the board. The board may be tilted in any of the 4 cardinal directions, causing all slidable polyominoes to move maximally in the specified direction until blocked. By successively applying a sequence of such tilts, along with allowing different polyominoes to stick when adjacent, tilt sequences provide a method to reconfigure an initial board configuration so as to assemble a collection of previous separate polyominoes into a larger shape. While previous work within this model of assembly has focused on designing a specific board configuration for the assembly of a specific given shape, we propose the problem of designing universal configurations that are capable of constructing a large class of shapes and patterns. For these constructions, we present the notions of weak and strong universality which indicate the presence of “excess” polyominoes after the shape is constructed. In particular, for given integers h, w, we show that there exists a weakly universal configuration with O(hw) 1 × 1 slidable particles that can be reconfigured to build any h × w patterned rectangle. We then expand this result to show that there exists a weakly universal configuration that can build any h × w-bounded size connected shape. Following these results, which require an admittedly relaxed assembly definition, we go on to show the existence of a strongly universal configuration (no excess particles) which can assemble any shape within a previously studied “drop” class, while using quadratically less space than previous results. Finally, we include a study of the complexity of deciding if a particle within a configuration may be relocated to another position, and deciding if a given configuration may be transformed into a second given configuration. We show both problems to be PSPACE-complete even when no particles stick to one another and movable particles are restricted to 1 × 1 tiles and a single 2 × 2 polyomino

Visual thinking como habilidad potenciadora de la gerencia creativa en equipos innovadores

The research focused on designing a visual thinking-based competency model as an enhancer skill of creative management in innovative teams. It can be classified as part of the positivist paradigm with a quantitative focus; it is also explanatory with a non-experimental, cross-cutting, field design. The population was integrated by twelve (12) innovative team members. An 87-item survey was applied, with scale-like response alternatives. This instrument was validated by experts, reliability was determined by a pilot test applied to a fraction of reporting units. The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics building frequency tables, including arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as well as inferential statistics for calculating variance. To establish the degree of association between variables, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used. The results showed that there is an association between visual thinking and creative management, reflecting a considerable correlative coefficient. A management skills model was established based on an emerging theory, which is why we propose that innovative teams must La investigación se orientó a diseñar un modelo de competencias basado en el visual thinking como habilidad potenciadora de la gerencia creativa en equipos innovadores. La investigación se enmarca dentro del paradigma positivista con enfoque cuantitativo. Asimismo, es explicativa con un diseño no experimental, transversal, de campo. La población se integró con doce (12) miembros de equipos innovadores. Se aplicó una encuesta de 87 ítems, con alternativas de respuestas tipo escala. Dicho instrumento fue validado por expertos, la confiabilidad se determinó con una prueba piloto aplicada a una fracción de unidades informantes. Los resultados fueron analizados con estadística descriptiva construyendo tablas de frecuencia, incluyendo media aritmética y desviación estándar, asi como estadística inferencial para calcular la varianza. Para establecer el grado de asociación entre las variables, se utilizó el Coeficiente de Correlación de Pearson. Los resultados arrojaron que existe asociación entre el visual thinking y la gerencia creativa, reflejando un coeficiente correlativo considerable. Se estableció un modelo de competencias gerenciales en base a una teoría emergente, motivo por el cual los equipos innovadores deben trabajar en el fortalecimiento de ambas variables a fin de optimizar la toma de decisiones en los distintos niveles jerárquicos promoviendo la solución de problemas

Optimizing Safety Stock Levels in Modular Production Systems Using Component Commonality and Group Technology Philosophy: A Study Based on Simulation

Modular production and component commonality are two widely used strategies in the manufacturing industry to meet customers growing needs for customized products. Using these strategies, companies can enhance their performance to achieve optimal safety stock levels. Despite the importance of safety stocks in business competition, little attention has been paid to the way to reduce them without affecting the customer service levels. This paper develops a mathematical model to reduce safety stock levels in organizations that employ modular production. To construct the model, we take advantage of the benefits of aggregate inventories, standardization of components, component commonality, and Group Technology philosophy in regard to stock levels. The model is tested through the simulation of three years of operation of two modular product systems. For each system, we calculated and compared the safety stock levels for two cases: (1) under the only presence of component commonality and (2) under the presence of both component commonality and Group Technology philosophy. The results show a reduction in safety stock levels when we linked the component commonality with the Group Technology philosophy. The paper presents a discussion of the implications of each case, features of the model, and suggestions for future research

Capacitated vehicle routing problem model for carriers

Background: The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is one of the most important transportation problems in logistics and supply chain management. The standard CVRP considers a fleet of vehicles with homogeneous capacity that depart from a warehouse, collect products from (or deliver products to) a set of customer locations (points) and return to the same warehouse. However, the operation of carrier companies and third-party transportation providers may follow a different network flow for collection and delivery. This may lead to non-optimal route planning through the use of the standard CVRP. Objective: To propose a model for carrier companies to obtain optimal route planning. Method: A Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem for Carriers (CVRPfC) model is used to consider the distribution scenario where a fleet of vehicles depart from a vehicle storage depot, collect products from a set of customer points and deliver them to a specific warehouse before returning to the vehicle storage depot. Validation of the model’s functionality was performed with adapted CVRP test problems from the Vehicle Routing Problem LIBrary. Following this, an assessment of the model’s economic impact was performed and validated with data from a real carrier (real instance) with the previously described distribution scenario. Results: The route planning obtained through the CVRPfC model accurately described the network flow of the real instance and significantly reduced its distribution costs. Conclusion: The CVRPfC model can thus improve the competitiveness of the carriers by providing better fares to their customers, reducing their distribution costs in the process