Learning and knowledge accumulation's processes in the argentinian auto parts firms

From the early 1990, there is a process of modernization of the automotive industry in Argentina that modifies both the required skills and methods of learning processes in the automakers and auto parts suppliers. The local automakers permanently cease its efforts to launch new models using the adaptive design procedure on the basis of models discontinued in developed countries and begin to introduce models of cars from the latest technology completely designed and developed in the laboratories of their headquarters. This modernization process was accompanied and underpinned by a sharp decline in the national minimum required components for the automobile to be considered as national. Thus, the automakers had large margins of freedom to replace with foreign suppliers by increasing the local supply is not suited to their demands in terms of design, technological complexity, quality, price, etc.. In this context, the ability to design and adaptation of products - it was a very important competitive asset for auto parts companies until the early 1980 - was no longer relevant. The companies failed to design the products they made, and went on to produce goods according to the plans of the automakers. They did not allow local suppliers to make changes, however small these were. In return, the need to reduce costs, improve quality and reduce delivery times to avoid being displaced by internal or external competition, pressure generated hitherto unknown in the auto parts producers to make more efficient production processes and change their traditional organizational forms, it they required the completion of a major effort which appealed to both external sources of knowledge as cumulative competence within the companies themselves In addition, the nineties were characterized by entry into the country of major international auto parts, through direct investment or joint ventures with domestic firms. As a result of these changes in the automotive and auto parts increased the importance of technology transfer from abroad as a source of knowledge for productive modernization. This scenario is extended, albeit with some changes to the current decade. On the one hand, the automotive industry crisis that manifested itself in all its harshness in 2001 and 2002 sharply reduced production volumes as auto parts companies had to adapt its structure to the new situation. Success in this task was strongly related to the existence of internal powers to enable them to cut costs, reduce production scales, introducing new products, find new customers, etc. Companies were not able to implement these changes, a situation that included several subsidiaries of major international companies, had to leave the market. For its part, the new macroeconomic scenario in the country installed after the 2002 devaluation led to renewed interest in the terminals to increase the degree of national integration, vehicle manufacturing, opening up new possibilities and new demands for local producers. They also began to develop some experience, but emerging patterns of delegation and participation of local auto parts makers in international design projects. Framed in this picture, the overall objective of this work is to investigate in an exploratory way, sources and forms of learning and the accumulation of productive knowledge of auto parts companies in Argentina. The paper is structured as follows. The section II describes the theoretical framework underlying the analysis and presents the hypotheses guiding the research. Section III mentions the sources of information used, and the next section describes the behavior of firms in relation to the analysis of key variables, namely: technical assistance or technology transfer, internal and external efforts made to enable or facilitate the introduction of innovations, the level of endogenous capabilities and innovative performance. Section V presents the main results of the analysis, that shows 5 groups that differ according to the characteristics of firms that adopt the processes of learning and knowledge accumulation and the related innovation performance. Finally, we present the main conclusions.Learning Process; Knowlegde's Accumulation; Innovation; Automotive Production Network; Argentina

Procesos de aprendizaje y de acumulación de conocimiento en las empresas autopartistas argentinas

From the early 1990, there is a process of modernization of the automotive industry in Argentina that modifies both the required skills and methods of learning processes in the automakers and auto parts suppliers. The local automakers permanently cease its efforts to launch new models using the adaptive design procedure on the basis of models discontinued in developed countries and begin to introduce models of cars from the latest technology completely designed and developed in the laboratories of their headquarters. This modernization process was accompanied and underpinned by a sharp decline in the national minimum required components for the automobile to be considered as national. Thus, the automakers had large margins of freedom to replace with foreign suppliers by increasing the local supply is not suited to their demands in terms of design, technological complexity, quality, price, etc.. In this context, the ability to design and adaptation of products - it was a very important competitive asset for auto parts companies until the early 1980 - was no longer relevant. The companies failed to design the products they made, and went on to produce goods according to the plans of the automakers. They did not allow local suppliers to make changes, however small these were. In return, the need to reduce costs, improve quality and reduce delivery times to avoid being displaced by internal or external competition, pressure generated hitherto unknown in the auto parts producers to make more efficient production processes and change their traditional organizational forms, it they required the completion of a major effort which appealed to both external sources of knowledge as cumulative competence within the companies themselves In addition, the nineties were characterized by entry into the country of major international auto parts, through direct investment or joint ventures with domestic firms. As a result of these changes in the automotive and auto parts increased the importance of technology transfer from abroad as a source of knowledge for productive modernization. This scenario is extended, albeit with some changes to the current decade. On the one hand, the automotive industry crisis that manifested itself in all its harshness in 2001 and 2002 sharply reduced production volumes as auto parts companies had to adapt its structure to the new situation. Success in this task was strongly related to the existence of internal powers to enable them to cut costs, reduce production scales, introducing new products, find new customers, etc. Companies were not able to implement these changes, a situation that included several subsidiaries of major international companies, had to leave the market. For its part, the new macroeconomic scenario in the country installed after the 2002 devaluation led to renewed interest in the terminals to increase the degree of national integration, vehicle manufacturing, opening up new possibilities and new demands for local producers. They also began to develop some experience, but emerging patterns of delegation and participation of local auto parts makers in international design projects. Framed in this picture, the overall objective of this work is to investigate in an exploratory way, sources and forms of learning and the accumulation of productive knowledge of auto parts companies in Argentina. The paper is structured as follows. The section II describes the theoretical framework underlying the analysis and presents the hypotheses guiding the research. Section III mentions the sources of information used, and the next section describes the behavior of firms in relation to the analysis of key variables, namely: technical assistance or technology transfer, internal and external efforts made to enable or facilitate the introduction of innovations, the level of endogenous capabilities and innovative performance. Section V presents the main results of the analysis, that shows 5 groups that differ according to the characteristics of firms that adopt the processes of learning and knowledge accumulation and the related innovation performance. Finally, we present the main conclusions

Innovation processes and competences of human resources in the software industry of Argentina

El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir al análisis de los factores que influyen en el proceso de innovación de las empresas de software y servicios informáticos de Argentina en base a información proveniente de una encuesta a una muestra de 257 empresas de Buenos Aires, Córdoba y la Provincia de Santa Fe. A través del análisis factorial de correspondencias múltiples y del análisis de cluster, se demuestra la existencia de una asociación directa entre los indicadores de producto innovador y un conjunto de variables que miden los Esfuerzos de innovación encarados por las firmas, las Vinculaciones establecidas con otros agentes del sistema, el nivel de Competencias Tecnológicas acumuladas y ciertas características del Proceso de Trabajo. Adicionalmente, se intentó demostrar que la capacidad de introducir innovaciones está fuertemente relacionada con el nivel de educación formal de la mano de obra, pero el análisis efectuado no encontró evidencia que respalde esa hipótesis.http://www.revistacts.net/files/Volumen%208%20-%20N%C3%BAmero%2024/FINAL/NumerocompletoenbajaCORREG.pdfpublishedVersionFil: Motta, Jorge José. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Zavaleta, Leticia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Llinás, Irene. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Luque, Ana Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Organización Industria

Occupational Nursing Intervention in cardiovascular assessment in health professionals in the Spanish Mediterranean area

Introducción: Las enfermedades cardiovasculares son la primera causa de muerte en el mundo y guardan una estrecha relación con diferentes factores de riesgo modificables a través de un cambio en el estilo de vida de las personas. Los profesionales sanitarios presentan riesgo para su salud por ser una profesión ejercida bajo estrés y desgaste profesional. Objetivo: Identificar el nivel de riesgo cardiovascular según el grupo de profesional sanitario. Materiales y métodos: Estudio retrospectivo y transversal en 8475 profesionales sanitarios (6645 mujeres y 1830 varones) del área mediterránea española. Se valoran variables antropométricas relacionadas con riesgo cardiovascular, índices aterogénicos, síndrome metabólico, escalas de riesgo cardiovascular y escalas de riesgo de diabetes tipo 2. Se realiza análisis multivariante mediante regresión logística y se determinan las odss ratio. Resultados: La mayor prevalencia de riesgo cardiovascular se obtiene en auxiliares y la menor en Enfermería. Los varones presentan mayor riesgo que las mujeres en todos los parámetros analizados. El hábito tabáquico, consumo de alcohol y obesidad afectan negativamente al riesgo cardiovascular. La realización de ejercicio y una alimentación saludable afectan de manera positiva. Discusión: La existencia de diferentes factores de riesgo cardiovasculares en personas aparentemente sanas muestra la necesidad de más estudios para proporcionar las medidas preventivas más adecuadas. Es importante la figura del especialista en Enfermería del Trabajo, crucial para realizar una adecuada vigilancia de la salud de los trabajadores y detectar posibles patologías y alteraciones desconocidas en ese momento.Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world and are closely related to different modifiable risk factors through a change in people’s lifestyle. Health professionals are in risk for their health because it is a profession exercised under stress and professional wear. Objective: To identify the level of cardiovascular risk according to the group of health professionals. Methods: Retrospective and transversal study of 8475 health professionals (6645 women and 1830 men) in the Spanish Mediterranean area. Anthropometric variables related to cardiovascular risk, atherogenic indexes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk scales and risk scales of developing type 2 diabetes are evaluated. A multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression and odss ratios were estimated. Results: The highest prevalence of cardiovascular risk is obtained in auxiliaries and the lowest in Nursing. Males are at higher risk than females in all parameters analyzed. Smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity negatively affect cardiovascular risk negatively. Physical exercise and healthy eating affect positively. Discussion: The existence of different cardiovascular risk factors in apparently healthy individuals shows the need for more studies to provide the most appropriate preventive measures. It is important the figure of the specialist in Occupational Nursing, essential to develop an adequate monitoring of the health of the workers and to detect possible pathologies unknown at that moment

Procesos de innovación y competencias de los recursos humanos en la industria del software en Argentina

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the analysis of the factors that have an influence in the process of innovation in the software sector in Argentina. The study was based on a survey applied to a sample of 257 firms of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe. Through a multiple factor analysis and a cluster analysis, it can be showed that there is a direct association between an innovative product and a set of variables that measure the efforts of innovation invested by the firms, the links to other agents of the system, the level of cumulative technological competences, and some characteristics of the working process. Additionally, we tried to demonstrate that the capacity of introducing innovations by a firm is strongly related to the level of formal education of its labor force, though the test that was carried out did not fully support this hypothesis.El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir al análisis de los factores que influyen en el proceso de innovación de las empresas de software y servicios informáticos de Argentina en base a información proveniente de una encuesta a una muestra de 257 empresas de Buenos Aires, Córdoba y la Provincia de Santa Fe. A través del análisis factorial de correspondencias múltiples y del análisis de cluster, se demuestra la existencia de una asociación directa entre los indicadores de producto innovador y un conjunto de variables que miden los Esfuerzos de innovación encarados por las firmas, las Vinculaciones establecidas con otros agentes del sistema, el nivel de Competencias Tecnológicas acumuladas y ciertas características del Proceso de Trabajo. Adicionalmente, se intentó demostrar que la capacidad de introducir innovaciones está fuertemente relacionada con el nivel de educación formal de la mano de obra, pero el análisis efectuado no encontró evidencia que respalde esa hipótesis

Utilidad en enfermería de diferentes índices antropométricos y analíticos para valorar la existencia de síndrome metabólico con los criterios NCEP ATPIII e IDF en población mediterránea española

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a set of metabolic disorders related to lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Objective: Determine the usefulness of different indices related to cardiovascular risk in predicting MS. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study in 61283 workers in the Mediterranean area. The indices studied are: body mass index, ponderal index, waist to height ratio, waist to hip ratio, abdominal volume index, body adiposity index, visceral adiposity index, body shape index, body roundness index, conicity index, cholindex, lipid accumulation product and atherogenic indices. The MS is determined by the NCEP ATP III and IDF criteria. ROC curves and cutoff points of each of the indices that best predict SM are determined. Results: The indices that best predict the MS with the NCEP ATP III criteria are the atherogenic index triglycerides / HDL, visceral adiposity index and lipid accumulation product, whereas if we use the IDF criteria the best results are obtained with body roundness index, waist to height ratio, abdominal volume index and lipid accumulation product. The worst results are obtained with the body shape index. Conclusions: The analyzed indices are useful in predicting the onset of MS and could be an alternative to calculate MS. Being easy to get and cheap they are especially useful in the primary care levels.Introducción: El síndrome metabólico (SM) es un conjunto de alteraciones metabólicas relacionadas con el estilo de vida, factores genéticos y ambientales que aumentan el riesgo padecer una enfermedad cardiovascular. Objetivos: Determinar la utilidad de diferentes índices relacionados con el riesgo cardiovascular en la predicción de SM. Material y métodos: Estudio descriptivo transversal en 61283 trabajadores del área mediterránea. Los índices estudiados son: índice de masa corporal, índice ponderal, índice cintura/altura, índice cintura/cadera, índice de volumen abdominal, índice de adiposidad corporal, índice de adiposidad visceral, índice de forma del cuerpo, índice de redondez del cuerpo, índice de conicidad, cholindex, producto de acumulación de lípidos e índices aterogénicos. El SM se determina con los criterios NCEP ATP III e IDF. Se determinan las curvas ROC y los puntos de corte de cada uno de los índices que mejor predicen el SM. Resultados: Los índices que mejor predicen el SM con los criterios NCEP ATPIII son el índice aterogénico triglicéridos/HDL, índice de adiposidad visceral y producto de acumulación de lípidos, mientras que si empleamos los criterios IDF los mejores resultados se obtienen con índice de redondez del cuerpo, índice cintura altura, índice de volumen abdominal y producto de acumulación de lípidos. Los peores resultados se obtienen con el índice de forma del cuerpo. Conclusiones: Los índices analizados son útiles para predecir la aparición de SM y podrían ser una alternativa para calcular SM. Al ser fáciles de obtener y baratos son especialmente útiles en los niveles asistenciales primarios

Intervención de Enfermería del Trabajo en la valoración cardiovascular en profesionales de la salud del área mediterránea española

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world and are closely related to different modifiable risk factors through a change in people’s lifestyle. Health professionals are in risk for their health because it is a profession exercised under stress and professional wear. Objective: To identify the level of cardiovascular risk according to the group of health professionals. Methods: Retrospective and transversal study of 8475 health professionals (6645 women and 1830 men) in the Spanish Mediterranean area. Anthropometric variables related to cardiovascular risk, atherogenic indexes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk scales and risk scales of developing type 2 diabetes are evaluated. A multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression and odss ratios were estimated. Results: The highest prevalence of cardiovascular risk is obtained in auxiliaries and the lowest in Nursing. Males are at higher risk than females in all parameters analyzed. Smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity negatively affect cardiovascular risk negatively. Physical exercise and healthy eating affect positively. Discussion: The existence of different cardiovascular risk factors in apparently healthy individuals shows the need for more studies to provide the most appropriate preventive measures. It is important the figure of the specialist in Occupational Nursing, essential to develop an adequate monitoring of the health of the workers and to detect possible pathologies unknown at that moment.Introducción: Las enfermedades cardiovasculares son la primera causa de muerte en el mundo y guardan una estrecha relación con diferentes factores de riesgo modificables a través de un cambio en el estilo de vida de las personas. Los profesionales sanitarios presentan riesgo para su salud por ser una profesión ejercida bajo estrés y desgaste profesional. Objetivo: Identificar el nivel de riesgo cardiovascular según el grupo de profesional sanitario. Materiales y métodos: Estudio retrospectivo y transversal en 8475 profesionales sanitarios (6645 mujeres y 1830 varones) del área mediterránea española. Se valoran variables antropométricas relacionadas con riesgo cardiovascular, índices aterogénicos, síndrome metabólico, escalas de riesgo cardiovascular y escalas de riesgo de diabetes tipo 2. Se realiza análisis multivariante mediante regresión logística y se determinan las odss ratio. Resultados: La mayor prevalencia de riesgo cardiovascular se obtiene en auxiliares y la menor en Enfermería. Los varones presentan mayor riesgo que las mujeres en todos los parámetros analizados. El hábito tabáquico, consumo de alcohol y obesidad afectan negativamente al riesgo cardiovascular. La realización de ejercicio y una alimentación saludable afectan de manera positiva. Discusión: La existencia de diferentes factores de riesgo cardiovasculares en personas aparentemente sanas muestra la necesidad de más estudios para proporcionar las medidas preventivas más adecuadas. Es importante la figura del especialista en Enfermería del Trabajo, crucial para realizar una adecuada vigilancia de la salud de los trabajadores y detectar posibles patologías y alteraciones desconocidas en ese momento

Inhibitors of ApiAP2 protein DNA binding exhibit multistage activity against <i>Plasmodium </i>parasites

Plasmodium parasites are reliant on the Apicomplexan AP2 (ApiAP2) transcription factor family to regulate gene expression programs. AP2 DNA binding domains have no homologs in the human or mosquito host genomes, making them potential antimalarial drug targets. Using an in-silico screen to dock thousands of small molecules into the crystal structure of the AP2-EXP (Pf3D7_1466400) AP2 domain (PDB:3IGM), we identified putative AP2-EXP interacting compounds. Four compounds were found to block DNA binding by AP2-EXP and at least one additional ApiAP2 protein. Our top ApiAP2 competitor compound perturbs the transcriptome of P. falciparum trophozoites and results in a decrease in abundance of log(2) fold change > 2 for 50% (46/93) of AP2-EXP target genes. Additionally, two ApiAP2 competitor compounds have multi-stage anti-Plasmodium activity against blood and mosquito stage parasites. In summary, we describe a novel set of antimalarial compounds that interact with AP2 DNA binding domains. These compounds may be used for future chemical genetic interrogation of ApiAP2 proteins or serve as starting points for a new class of antimalarial therapeutics

Tendencias nacionales e internacionales en la formación de abogados

Desde hace mucho tiempo, la Educación en Latinoamérica se encuentra en crisis. Por ello, las Instituciones de Educación Superior, las entidades del Estado y los organismos internacionales han asumido la responsabilidad de establecer una cultura de educar en y para lo superior en términos de calidad, lo cual ha permitido realizar programas, proyectos, convenciones y demás, que contribuyan al mejoramiento de la educación. Igualmente, en las facultades de Derecho también se observa latente esta situación, evidenciándose, en su gran mayoría, en los profesionales que al salir de la academia se encuentran con un mundo diferente al aprendido. Es por esto que se reflexiona –por parte de los estudiosos del Derecho e investigadores en el área de la formación de abogados– sobre los principales inconvenientes en el proceso educativo de futuros jurídicos, hasta replantear el paradigma para la enseñanza del Derecho, y así responder a la dinámica social con un currículo flexible y transdisciplinar

Espacios y destinos turísticos en tiempos de globalización y crisis

2 volúmenesXII Coloquio de Geografía del Turismo, Ocio y Recreación de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles. Colmenarejo (Madrid), del 17 al 19 de junio de 2010.Este libro ha sido editado con la colaboración económica del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (ref. CS02010-10416-E)