Digital Social Innovation in Latin America: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research in Progress

Governments are under increasing pressure to meet the Social Development Goals (SDG) by 2030. Digital social innovation has been perceived as an important strategy to address several of the social and environmental needs of developing countries, especially Latin America. Digital social innovation results from the digitalization of resources, capabilities, processes, products, services, and business models with the goal of addressing a social or environmental need. Little is known about the factors that promote the success of these business initiatives in Latin America. In this paper, we analyzed 100 companies that developed and commercialized these initiatives and identified 4 general factors that might influence the success of these initiatives. Applying fsQCA and as preliminary results, we found that the prominence of the company, the type of technology used in the service or product offered, and funds raised are key factors to promote digital social innovation initiatives that are financially sustainable and socially scalable

Efficient dynamic simulation of pH in processes associated to biofiltration of volatile inorganic pollutants

This work proposes a generic methodology to include the pH as a state variable in mathematical models of bioreactors. An ordinary differential equation for pH is stated and introduced into the general model structure of a biotrickling filter. All chemical equilibriums were considered and included into the model framework. A preliminary evaluation was performed by comparing results predicted by the model with experimental data obtained from the oxidation of thiosulfate by sulfide-oxidizing bacteria under alkaline conditions. The model was able to describe adequately the evolution of the main state variables including the pH for the initial complete oxidation of thiosulfate. The methodology presented here can be easily adapted to other mathematical models dealing with biological waste treatment processes in which pH appears as a key factor.Postprint (published version

Non-Abelian Vortices on the Torus

We study periodic arrays of non-Abelian vortices in an $SU(N) \times U(1)$ gauge theory with $N_f$ flavors of fundamental matter multiplets. We carefully discuss the corresponding twisted boundary conditions on the torus and propose an ansatz to solve the first order Bogomolnyi equations which we find by looking to a bound of the energy. We solve the equations numerically and construct explicit vortex solutions

Two-loop critical mass for Wilson fermions

We have redone a recent two-loop computation of the critical mass for Wilson fermions in lattice QCD by evaluating Feynman integrals with the coordinate-space method. We present the results for different types of infrared regularization. We confirm both the previous numerical estimates and the power of the coordinate-space method whenever high accuracy is needed.Comment: 13 LaTeX2e pages, 2 ps figures include

Environmentally friendly, but behaviorally complex? A systematic review of e-scooter riders' psychosocial risk features

Introduction E-scooters have made a place for themselves on urban roads as an affordable, easy-to-use and environmentally friendly method of transportation. However, and partly because of their road behaviors and safety outcomes, e-scooter users have started to represent a focus of attention for transport planners and policymakers. Aim The present systematic review aims to target and analyze the existing studies investigating the psychosocial characteristics of e-scooter riders, focusing on their behavioral and risk- related features. Methods For this systematic review, the PRISMA methodology was used, which allows for the selec- tion of suitable papers based on the study topic, in accordance with a set of pre-defined cri- teria and a search algorithm. A total of 417 indexed articles were filtered, resulting in only 32 eligible original articles directly addressing the issue. WOS, Scopus, NCBI, Google Scholar, and APA databases were used to create and test search techniques. Results At the literature level, most of the existing studies are distributed in a few regions of the globe. At the user's level, results show how e-scooters are most commonly used by young, highly educated, urban-dwelling males, usually for short trips. In regard to road behavior, individuals with the lowest degrees of risk perception remain more prone to engaging in risky road behaviors likely to increase their crash involvement. This might be worsened by the lack of normative e-scooter regulations (and their enforcement) in many countries, plus the marked absence of road training processes. As common limitations, it can be mentioned that 87.5% of these studies used self-report methods, while 59.4% had local coverage. Conclusions The findings of this systematic review endorse the growing need to develop and enforce traf- fic laws and training processes for e-scooter users. In addition, road safety education and training programs are highlighted by existing studies as potentially pertinent alternatives to increase risk perception, and reduce risky behaviors, road conflicts and crash likelihood among e-scooter riders

Organic Dairy Sheep Production Management

Organic production systems are based on natural processes, the use of local feed resources, and the maintenance of biodiversity in all senses. Several studies have noted the positive effects of organic sheep milk production systems on animal welfare, animal health, product quality, and environmental impact. On the other hand, it has been reported that dairy sheep organic farms show lower milk yields and increase the susceptibility to environmental impacts compared with conventional farms. The standards that regulate feeding management in organic systems are one of the most critical factors that influence milk production performance. Lower milk production is also associated with poor ability to adapt specialized dairy breeds to organic management, low genetic potential for milk production in native and local breeds, and elevated dependence on environmental conditions. However, the aim of organic dairy production is not to reach maximum dairy productivity but rather to integrate animal and crop production and to develop a symbiotic relationship between recyclable and renewable resources; furthermore, organic production positively affects the employment rate and quality of life in rural communities. Organic dairy sheep production is one means of improving the balance between society’s demand for food and the ecological impact of the agro-alimentary industry

Perfil del ingeniero comercial requerido por los bancos para desempenarse en el area comercial.

75 p.A lo largo de nuestra carrera pudimos observar que muchos de nuestros compañeros y amigos deseaban, una vez terminada la universidad, trabajar en el sector financiero, específicamente en algún banco. Este deseo mayoritario se traduce en la percepción de una oferta significativa de Ingenieros Comerciales que pretenden ingresar a este sector. A su vez los bancos manifiestan una demanda considerable por estos profesionales ; sin embargo, en la práctica muchos de los postulantes son rechazados por no cumplir con los requisitos requeridos. Este hecho nos motivo a investigar este tema y lograr determinar cuales son los requisitos que debe reunir el postulante para desempeñarse en el área comercial de un banco, es por esto que nuestro objetivo general es "Identificar el perfil del Ingeniero “ Comercial requerido por los Bancos para desempeñarse en el área comercial". De esta forma, en un primer paso comenzamos a contactarnos con algunos profesionales del área de recursos humanos y comercial, quienes libremente nos mencionaron varias características o requisitos que debían tener los profesionales que pretenden ingresar al área comercial bancaria

Behavioral Health at School: Do Three Competences in Road Safety Education Impact the Protective Road Behaviors of Spanish Children?

Background: Education in road safety (also known as Road Safety Education¿RSE) constitutes, nowadays, an emergent approach for improving present and future road behaviors, aiming at taking action against the current, and concerning, state-of-affairs of traffic crashes, through a behavioral perspective. In the case of children, and despite their overrepresentation in traffic injury figures, RSE-based strategies for behavioral health in transportation remain a 'new' approach, whose impact still needs to be empirically tested. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the impact of three key road safety skills of the Positive Attitudes, Risk perception and Knowledge of norms (PARK) model, addressed in RSE-based interventions, on the safe road behavior of Spanish children. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 1930 (50.4% males and 49.6% females) Spanish children attending primary school, with a mean age of 10.1 (SD = 1.6) years, was gathered from 70 educational centers across all Spanish regions, through a national study on RSE and road safety. Results: Road safety skills show a positive relationship with children's self-reported safe behaviors on the road. However, the knowledge of traffic norms alone does not predict safe behaviors: it needs to be combined with risk perception and positive attitudes towards road safety. Furthermore, the degree of exposure to previous RSE interventions was shown to have an effect on the score obtained by children in each road safety skill; on the other hand, road misbehaviors observed in parents and peers had a negative impact on them. Conclusion: The outcomes of this study suggest that education in road safety is still a key process for the acquisition of safe habits, patterns and behaviors among young road user

Assessing the Effect of Drivers' Gender on Their Intention to Use Fully Automated Vehicles

Although fully automated vehicles (SAE level 5) are expected to acquire a major relevance for transportation dynamics by the next few years, the number of studies addressing their perceived benefits from the perspective of human factors remains substantially limited. This study aimed, firstly, to assess the relationships among drivers' demographic factors, their assessment of five key features of automated vehicles (i.e., increased connectivity, reduced driving demands, fuel and trip-related efficiency, and safety improvements), and their intention to use them, and secondly, to test the predictive role of the feature' valuations over usage intention, focusing on gender as a key differentiating factor. For this cross-sectional research, the data gathered from a sample of 856 licensed drivers (49.4% females, 50.6% males; M = 40.05 years), responding to an electronic survey, was analyzed. Demographic, driving-related data, and attitudinal factors were comparatively analyzed through robust tests and a bias-corrected Multi-Group Structural Equation Modeling (MGSEM) approach. Findings from this work suggest that drivers' assessment of these AV features keep a significant set of multivariate relationships to their usage intention in the future. Additionally, and even though there are some few structural similarities, drivers' intention to use an AV can be differentially explained according to their gender. So far, this research constitutes a first approximation to the intention of using AVs from a MGSEM gender-based approach, being these results of potential interest for researchers and practitioners from different fields, including automotive design, transport planning and road safety