The National Spatial Planning System and the Good Living in Ecuador

After coming into force in 2008, the new Constitution of Ecuador mandated Ecuador ́s rst national planning system. A key innovation of this system is the in- troduction of government spatial planning (ordenamiento territorial) as State policy something which now is mandatory to all levels of the political – administrative juris- dictions. This article analyzes three political concepts that contextualize the embe- dding of spatial planning as a State policy: the idea of Good Living (Buen Vivir), the transformation of the national production matrix and decentralization. Secondly, the results of the implementation of the National System of Decentralized Participatory Planning are analyzed including the responses of the sub-national governments and civil society. A central point of discussion concerns the implementation of the national government ́s strategic projects through the spatial planning at local levels. A raíz de la vigencia de la última Constitución en el Ecuador, desde 2008, se desarrolla el primer sistema nacional de planificación. Este, de manera pionera en el país, incorpora el ordenamiento territorial como política de Estado a aplicarse de manera coordenada en todas las unidades de administración territorial. En este contexto, el artículo expone los fundamentos políticos que han servido para introducir al ordenamiento territorial en la planificación del desarrollo: el Buen Vivir, la transformación de la matriz productiva y la descentralización. En una segunda parte, se presentan algunos resultados de la implementación del Sistema Nacional Descentralizado de Planificación Participativa y las respuestas desde los gobiernos subnacionales a los procesos de planificación y ordenamiento territorial impulsados desde el gobierno central. Uno de los aspectos de mayor discusión es el de la implementación de los proyectos estratégicos a través de la gestión territorial en espacios locales. Se hace una síntesis sobre el rol del ordenamiento territorial instrumentalizado como estrategia de los estados nacionales

Emociones, espacio público e imágenes urbanas en el contexto de COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, confinement and mobility restrictions gave rise to different questionsregarding the use and perceptions on public space, where the relational and contextual properties of thisspace may cause a diversity of emotions. We use machine learning and social network analysis to exploreemotions in relation to the public space, based on attributes extracted from photos of the city of Quito,Ecuador, taken between April and June 2020. Our results show that an attribute of the urban landscapecan be associated with positive and negative emotions, and that opposite attributes of the images (i.e.,glossy and dirty) can both influence positive emotions regarding public space. This research inauguratesa new field of study in Latin America regarding urban emotions, and also supports a better understandingof citizen perceptions of the public space during the pandemic crisis.El confinamiento y las restricciones de movilidad durante la pandemia de COVID-19 han dado lugar auna serie de dilemas sobre el uso y percepción del espacio público, donde sus propiedades relacionalesy contextuales pueden dar lugar a una diversidad de emociones. Con la aplicación de herramientas machinelearning y social network analysis, exploramos emociones sobre el espacio público basadas enatributos de imágenes fotográficas en la ciudad de Quito, Ecuador, tomadas entre abril y junio de 2020.Los resultados muestran emociones positivas y negativas asociadas a un mismo atributo del paisajeurbano, mientras que atributos que pueden considerarse opuestos (como “brillante” y “sucio”) podríantener mayor influencia en los sentimientos positivos sobre dicho espacio. Esta investigación abre unnuevo campo de estudio en la región sobre las emociones urbanas, y ofrece un mejor entendimiento delas percepciones de los ciudadanos sobre el espacio público durante la crisis de la pandemia

Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador — Patterns and Drivers

In the megadiverse tropical mountain forest in the Andes of southern Ecuador, a global biodiversity hotspot, the use of fire to clear land for cattle ranching is leading to the invasion of an aggressive weed, the bracken fern, which is threatening diversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services. To find sustainable land use options adapted to the local situation, a profound knowledge of the long-term spatiotemporal patterns of land cover change and its drivers is necessary, but hitherto lacking. The complex topography and the high cloud frequency make the use of remote sensing in this area a challenge. To deal with these conditions, we pursued specific pre-processing steps before classifying five Landsat scenes from 1975 to 2001. Then, we quantified land cover changes and habitat fragmentation, and we investigated landscape changes in relation to key spatial elements (altitude, slope, and distance from roads). Good classification results were obtained with overall accuracies ranging from 94.5% to 98.5% and Kappa statistics between 0.75 and 0.98. Forest was strongly fragmented due to the rapid expansion of the arable frontier and the even more rapid invasion by bracken. Unexpectedly, more bracken-infested areas were converted to pastures than vice versa, a practice that could alleviate pressure on forests if promoted. Road proximity was the most important spatial element determining forest loss, while for bracken the altitudinal range conditioned the degree of invasion in deforested areas. The annual deforestation rate changed notably between periods: ~1.5% from 1975 to 1987, ~0.8% from 1987 to 2000, and finally a very high rate of ~7.5% between 2000 and 2001. We explained these inconstant rates through some specific interrelated local and national political and socioeconomic drivers, namely land use policies, credit and tenure incentives, demography, and in particular, a severe national economic and bank crisis

Emociones, espacio público e imágenes urbanas en el contexto de COVID-19

El confinamiento y las restricciones de movilidad durante la pandemia de COVID-19 han dado lugar a una serie de dilemas sobre el uso y percepción del espacio público, donde sus propiedades relacionales y contextuales pueden dar lugar a una diversidad de emociones. Con la aplicación de herramientas machine learning y social network analysis, exploramos emociones sobre el espacio público basadas en atributos de imágenes fotográficas en la ciudad de Quito, Ecuador, tomadas entre abril y junio de 2020. Los resultados muestran emociones positivas y negativas asociadas a un mismo atributo del paisaje urbano, mientras que atributos que pueden considerarse opuestos (como “brillante” y “sucio”) podrían tener mayor influencia en los sentimientos positivos sobre dicho espacio. Esta investigación abre un nuevo campo de estudio en la región sobre las emociones urbanas, y ofrece un mejor entendimiento de las percepciones de los ciudadanos sobre el espacio público durante la crisis de la pandemia.//During the COVID-19 pandemic, confinement and mobility restrictions gave rise to different questions regarding the use and perceptions on public space, where the relational and contextual properties of this space may cause a diversity of emotions. We use machine learning and social network analysis to explore emotions in relation to the public space, based on attributes extracted from photos of the city of Quito, Ecuador, taken between April and June 2020. Our results show that an attribute of the urban landscape can be associated with positive and negative emotions, and that opposite attributes of the images (i.e., glossy and dirty) can both influence positive emotions regarding public space. This research inaugurates a new field of study in Latin America regarding urban emotions, and also supports a better understanding of citizen perceptions of the public space during the pandemic crisis

Aves del departamento del Cauca - Colombia

The Cauca department with its biogeographic diversity is one of the most diverse departments in bird species of Colombia. Looking for quantify the richness reported to the date and look at their geographical distribution, we made a information compilation about bird records in the department of Cauca by reviewing publications and ornithological collections in several world museums. We obtained a list of 1,102 species, including 18 endemic spp., 96 north migratory spp. and 41 nationally endangered spp.. This check list is a suitable tool for bird study in Cauca and is a reference to understand different bird topics in southwestern Colombia

Food insecurity was negatively associated with adherence to the “fruits, vegetables, and foods rich in animal protein” dietary pattern among university students’ households: the 2018 Mexican National Household Survey

Background: University students are often affected by food insecurity (FI) and this situation has been associated with low consumption of fruit/vegetables and high intake of added sugars and sweet drinks. However, there needs to be more evidence on the association between FI and dietary patterns (DPs), assessing the overall diet and allowing analysis of commonly consumed food combinations. We aimed to analyze the association between FI and DPs in university students’ households. Methods: We used data from 7659 university student households from the 2018 Mexican National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH, for its acronym in Spanish). We obtained FI levels (mild, moderate, and severe) using the validated Mexican Food Security Scale (EMSA, Spanish acronym). Two DPs were identified by principal component analysis based on the weekly frequency of consumption of 12 food groups. Multivariate logistic regression adjusted by university student and household’s characteristics was applied. Results: Compared to food security, households with mild-FI (OR:0.34; 95%CI:0.30, 0.40), moderate-FI (OR:0.20; 95%CI:0.16, 0.24) or severe-FI (OR:0.14; 95%CI:0.11, 0.19) were less likely to adhere to the dietary pattern “Fruits, vegetables and foods rich in animal protein” (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish or seafood, dairy products, and starchy vegetables). In addition, people with severe-FI (OR:0.51; 95% CI:0.34, 0.76) were also less likely to adhere to the dietary pattern “Traditional-Westernized” (pulses, oils or fats, sugar, sweets, industrialized drinks, foods made from corn/maize, wheat, rice, oats or bran, coffee, tea and eggs). Conclusions: In these households FI impairs the ability to consume a healthy dietary pattern (fruits/vegetables and foods rich in animal protein). In addition, the intake of foods typical of the Mexican food culture reflecting the local Western dietary pattern is compromised in households with severe-FI

Antimicrobial Consumption in Latin American Countries: First Steps of a Long Road Ahead

Background: Irrational antimicrobial consumption (AMC) became one of the main global health problems in recent decades. Objective: In order to understand AMC in Latin-American Region, we performed the present research in 6 countries. Methods: Antimicrobial consumption (J01, A07A, P01AB groups) was registered in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Peru. Source of information, AMC type, DDD (Defined Daily Doses), DID (DDD/1000 inhabitants/day), population were variables explored. Data was analyzed using the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) tool. Results: Source of information included data from global, public, and private sectors. Total AMC was highly variable (range 1.91-36.26 DID). Penicillin was the most consumed group in all countries except in Paraguay, while macrolides and lincosamides were ranked second. In terms of type of AMC according to the WHO-AWaRe classification, it was found that for certain groups like “Reserve,” there are similarities among all countries. Conclusion and Relevance: This paper shows the progress that 6 Latin-American countries made toward AMC surveillance. The study provides a standardized approach for building a national surveillance system for AMC data analysis. These steps will contribute to the inclusion of Latin-America among the regions of the world that have periodic, regular, and quality data of AMC.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

INNOVA Research Journal

La clase de matemáticas está en un proceso de evolución, las clases tradicionales centradas en el profesor van perdiendo vigencia en la educación ecuatoriana, dando paso a clases que priorizan al estudiante y sus aprendizajes. Tradicionalmente el docente de matemáticas ha tenido formación profesional en áreas técnicas y poca capacitación en aspectos pedagógicos que le den habilidades para llevar adelante una clase fundada en paradigmas constructivistas del aprendizaje, centrados en el estudiante y la calidad de sus aprendizajes. Una clase constructivista de matemáticas implica tener un estudiante con una visión diferente a su formación tradicional, debe estar motivado por alcanzar aprendizajes significativos, para esto debe ser capaz de investigar, analizar, reflexionar, plantear soluciones creativas, resolver situaciones del contexto, formado en valores y que aporta al crecimiento de la sociedad

Gestión del conocimiento. Perspectiva multidisciplinaria. Volumen 7

El libro “Gestión del Conocimiento. Perspectiva Multidisciplinaria”, volumen 7, de la Colección Unión Global, es resultado de investigaciones. Los capítulos del libro, son resultados de investigaciones desarrolladas por sus autores. El libro es una publicación internacional, seriada, continua, arbitrada de acceso abierto a todas las áreas del conocimiento, que cuenta con el esfuerzo de investigadores de varios países del mundo, orientada a contribuir con procesos de gestión del conocimiento científico, tecnológico y humanístico que consoliden la transformación del conocimiento en diferentes escenarios, tanto organizacionales como universitarios, para el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas del quehacer diario. La gestión del conocimiento es un camino para consolidar una plataforma en las empresas públicas o privadas, entidades educativas, organizaciones no gubernamentales, ya sea generando políticas para todas las jerarquías o un modelo de gestión para la administración, donde es fundamental articular el conocimiento, los trabajadores, directivos, el espacio de trabajo, hacia la creación de ambientes propicios para el desarrollo integral de las instituciones