What Drives Voluntary Eco-Certification in Mexico?

Advocates claim that voluntary programs can help shore up poorly performing command-and-control environmental regulation in developing countries. Although literature on this issue is quite thin, research on voluntary environmental programs in industrialized countries suggests that they are often ineffective because they mainly attract relatively clean plants free-riding on prior pollution control investments. We use plant-level data on some 59,000 facilities to identify the drivers of participation in the ISO 14001 certification program in Mexico. We find that regulatory fines spur certification: on average, a fine roughly doubles the likelihood of certification for three years. Hence, the program attracts dirty firms and at least has the potential to improve environmental performance. We also find that plants that sold their goods in overseas markets, used imported inputs, were relatively large, and were in certain sectors and states were more likely to be certified.voluntary environmental regulation, duration analysis, Mexico

What is …?: a research ethics jeopardy" game to help community partners understand human subjects protections and their importance.

Although community partners in participatory research need to understand basic principles of research ethics and human subjects protections, few tools have been designed with these partners in mind. To assist in this process, and help engage youth community partners in learning this critical material, a game was developed based on the popular television program Jeopardy(TM). Piloted with a group of 18 Mexican- American adolescents as part of a broader community-based participatory research(CBPR) project, the game begins with small group study of infamous cases of research ethics violations (eg. the Tuskegee Syphilis Study) and of the human subjects protections that resulted. The participants then play the Jeopardy game in teams, responding to “What is . . . ?” questions concerning the five infamous research studies and corresponding human subjects protections. Although observational findings revealed substantial learning and active engagement in the process, as well as strong retention of the material several months later, the tool requires further evaluation. Based on this pilot experience, however, we believe the Research Ethics Jeopardy™ Game offers promise in helping youth and other community partners in CBPR master critical information about human subjects protections and their importance in an accessible and lively manner

Constructing an Incidence Model for Dengue Fever applied to Paraguayan communities

Comidenco aims at constructing a predictive model, focused on (but not restricted to) incidence as response variable. The model would take local variables including anti-dengue actions, evaluate the probability of spread of the disease, and predict incidence. This will identify communities with greater danger of an increase in infection rate, helping to decide where to put resources into action.CONACYT - Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y TecnologíaPROCIENCI

Using ITC in order to improve chemistry learning at the university degrees.

Introduction. The teaching of chemistry has several difficulties for several reasons: the lack of interest and motivation in students and little connection between the curriculum of compulsory education and university. This causes a negative idea about Chemistry. For these reasons, it was thought that the use of ICTs could be very beneficial for chemistry teaching and learning. In general, ICT can help us to increase participation of students in the area and would improve the direct intervention of the students which motivates their learning. On the other hand, every students have smartphone and internet access, therefore they are able to take photos, search on internet and download videos. One experience consists of developing a blog, where the students are responsible for the design, development and inclusion of material in the blog. Thus, they are developing the blog and are enhanced since they are looking for materials to include in the blog. On the other hand, it was identified student misconceptions and misinterpretation for Mechanical Engineering students as they are attempting to interpret and explain the chemical processes. Oxidation-reduction reactions were identified the most difficult concept. The objective has been to carry out a proposal for teaching contents of chemistry using didactic resources for virtual environment, the use of a simulation that lets students to construct useful mental models. Experimental – The first experience was based in a comparative test of 10 questions related with the topics of the subject. Two groups of 60 students of Science education have participated. A group of students, who participated, designed and entered the blog and another group that was not involved in the blog. And the second experience, the survey technique was used. The sample consisted of 50 volunteer students from the first course of Mechanical Engineer degree. Both experiences took place during the course 2013/14. Results. The blog study demonstrated that developing blogs by students significantly increased the number scientifically acceptable ideas in student´s conceptions of science. The use of animation has been demonstrated that showing animations to students, allows them to practise, so significantly increased the number of scientifically acceptable ideas in student’s conceptions of redox reactions. Conclusion. The use of either the blog or the simulation can be helpful in improving problem solving. This encourages students to develop new ideas about science, and allow them to create a memory from viewing animations, leading to confirmation or modification of the existing mental model.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Influencia del capital humano en el proceso de aprendizaje de prueba y error en un juego de recursos de uso común (CPR)

[EN] This paper presents a study regarding the behavior of Pacific-Colombian fishers in a Common Pool Resource game. Results show that decision-making depends on human capital accumulation and the learning process. Specifically, through trial and error, those players with more human capital adjust their decisions on the basis of a cooperative-collusive solution by following the feedback of their own most successful strategies in past rounds. Notably, fishers with the higher levels of formal schooling tend to harvest less because they have a better understanding of dilemma-type games and the higher benefits involved when they cooperate.[ES] Este estudio presenta resultados sobre el comportamiento de los pescadores del Pacífico colombiano en un juego de recursos de uso común. Los resultados muestran que la toma de decisiones depende del capital humano y del proceso de aprendizaje. A través de prueba y error, aquellos jugadores con más capital humano ajustan sus decisiones hacia una solución cooperativa-colusoria siguiendo la retroalimentación de sus propias estrategias más exitosas en rondas pasadas. Particularmente, los pescadores con niveles mayores de educación formal tienden a extraer menos unidades debido a mejor comprensión de los juegos tipo dilema social y los mayores beneficios obtenidos al cooperar.This research was conducted within the project BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION OF UTRIA NATIONAL PARK THROUGH THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF BUFFER ZONES, executed by MarViva in cooperation with Word Wildlife Fund (WWF Colombia), Natural Heritage (Fund for Biodiversity and Protected Areas) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project aims at defining activities for artisanal fishing management agreements in the Gulf of Tribuga, Colombia. Results of this research contribute to the design of programs for sustainable fishing in the area and for strengthening governance in local communities.Guerrero, D.; Rosell, J.; Arroyo, JS. (2021). Influence of human capital on the trial and error learning process in a common pool resource (CPR) game. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 21(2):47-77. https://doi.org/10.7201/earn.2021.02.03OJS477721

Anthologies as Tools of Literary Hospitality: The Case of Edgar Allan Poe in Spain (1850–1936)

Producción CientíficaPublished with license by Koninklijke Brill nvThis article examines the presence of Poe’s fiction in Spain, focusing on the reception of his anthologized short stories in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, and taking this as a case of literary hospitality that helped to develop the fantasy genre in the country. In the early decades of publication, collections of Poe’s short stories were generally introduced into Spain as translations of anthologies of Baudelaire’s French versions. These anthologies appealed to a broad readership and sold well, being published by both large, professional houses and smaller, family-run presses. Poe came to form part of the literary canon that was being shaped in the final decades of the nineteenth century in Spain, and was thus published alongside major literary figures, which attests to the kind of literary hospitality he enjoyed in Spain’s cultural world in the decades following his introduction into the country.Universidad de Almería. Project CEI PatrimonioMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación. Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2019-108754GB-100” (10.13039/501100011033