Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Purpose: To establish a strategy to develop a three-stage university schedule through mathematical programming taking into account the problems faced by most public higher education centers in Mexico which includes hiring professors on a temporary basis in each school cycle.Methodology: The strategy involved the breakdown of the original problem into three mathematical models considering the binary variables of two indexes: the use of both subsets in modeling and heuristics. Results: Compact class schedules were generated for students taking advantage of classroom space and efficiently employing university professors. The strategy achieved the automation of the process in the elaboration of schedules. Limitations: The work presented only analyses the case of the National Technological Institute of Mexico in Celaya. For the moment, neither the use of laboratories nor the aleatory demand for groups and subjects are considered.Findings: The strategy presented generated a reduction of at least 98.34% of the number of variables allowing the exact branch and bound technique to achieve efficient times in the search for a solution in a problem classified as NP-hard.

Purpose: To analyze construct validity and reliability of the instrument, “Evaluation for Training in Sustainability in Higher Education” composed of 27 items and four dimensions (Knowledge appropriation, University relationship, University education and Socioeconomic impact). Methodology: Through the application of the instrument to 498 undergraduate students, an exploratory factor analysis was carried out to analyze the validity of the construct. Reliability was estimated using Cronbach's Alpha. Results: The representation of all the items within the factorial model was found; however, differences were observed with respect to the theoretical proposal since the items were represented in six dimensions (University education, University relationship, Linkage and socioeconomic impact, Appropriation of knowledge, Application and social impact of sustainability and Evaluation of university sustainability) that explained more than 68 % of the variance. Overall reliability was optimal (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.903) as well as for each factor. Limitations: The elements that make up the instrument restrict its application exclusively to higher education institutions. Findings: A valid and reliable instrument is presented in which the elements that integrate it are related and represent the proposed construct.

Purpose: To know the causes of the government's boost to production in greenhouses in Zacatecas, Mexico during the 2000-2012 period and the decrease in incentives which this area had in subsequent public administrations. The aforementioned to evaluate, from the perspective of public policy cycles, the expectations of encouragement from the government towards growth in this important type of agricultural production through the correction of errors in the design of the implementation of the public policy in question.Methodology: Based on the perspective of public policy cycles, official information, academic research and interviews with key figures, the number of greenhouses and active and inactive areas were analyzed dividing them according to their size in hectares.Results: Green house policy in Mexico was designed for a producer's profile of a corporate type whose success depends on capital, capacities and abilities before government support. Such a profile was taken as a model when the federal government decided to encourage economic growth based on the corporate sector. Nonetheless, there are producers who suffered difficulties to remain in this type of agriculture. Limitations: A part of the statistical data utilized does not include the year to which it corresponds which makes it difficult to have precision in the analysis.Findings: In the state of Zacatecas, a surge in the number of greehouses can be observed but also a high proportion in a state of inactivity with a prevalence of units lower than a hectare.

Purpose: To evaluate tree-vigor and the natural regeneration of the sacred fir in the eastern part of the State of Mexico (México) considering topographic and forest variables.Methodology: Systematic sampling was applied with sites every 100 m a. s. l. between 2900 and 3600 m a. s. l. Through the SAS program the following were conducted: statistical tests of normality, frequency tables and analysis of variance tests to study the relationship between altitude and the vigor and regeneration of Abies religiosa (Kunth) Schltdl. et Cham.Results: There is a relationship between altitude and vigor and tree-density. Regeneration is null in low altitudes and it increases with altitude peaking at 3 400 m a. s. l., without great reduction at higher levels. Tree-density in stratum A (DBH ≥12.5 cm) and B (DBH <12.5 cm and >1 m height) increases with altitude; higher tree-densities were recorded at 3 400 m a. s. l. Limitations: Research is required on other factors involved in the distribution of the studied species. Findings: Regeneration is more successful in mid and high areas, and tree vigor tends to be better there also. It is evidenced that the sacred fir migrates to higher areas because of global warming.

Purpose: To evaluate the differential effect of acute social stress on IL-6 using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).Methodology: Seventeen normotensive university students whose mean arterial pressure was recorded in three moments, 10 min before, pre and post TSST participated. A sample of salivary IL-6 pre-post TSST was also collected.                       Results: There was an increase in mean arterial pressure only when the TSST was present (p<0.001). The level of IL-6 pre-post TSST showed no statistically significant changes (p> 0.05). However, a thorough analysis of the effects of TSST on IL-6 revealed that 53 % of the sample increased their concentration of IL-6 (p <0.001) while 47 % of the participants decreased their IL-6 level (p <0.01); there is a statistically significant difference between these two subgroups (p<0.05).                       Limitations: It is recommended to establish normative parameters of salivary IL-6.Findings: The preliminary data we present suggests that acute social stress increases blood pressure, but that this effect induces a differential expression of IL-6 in all participants. In participants with a low concentration of IL-6, it increases after acute stress, while for those with a previous high level of IL-6, the test tends to decrease it.

Purpose: To analyze the evolution of competitors in the market of Retirement Fund Administrators (Afores in its Spanish acronym) in Mexico identifying the determinants of permanence in the market.Methodology: We analyze Afores’ exit rates from the beginning of market functions (December 1997) using the Cox model of proportional survival risks to estimate the contribution of cofactors such as size, relative importance in the market. We also use Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) to identify the overall efficiency of the industry and the particular efficiency of each institution.Results: The factors that determine survival are the global technological efficiency of the market, the absolute size of Afores and if the market exit is by liquidation.Limitations: The study only considers observed factors related to the technological efficiency of each Afore and does not have access to internal information that could help to better identify the determinants of efficiency.Findings: Absolute size and overall market efficiency predominate to explain the permanence of an Afore in the market over other determinants such as its relative participation, association with a bank, relative participation in the industry, type of entry, or the system reform implemented in 2008.

Purpose: To explain the mechanisms of institutional coordination between the creation of knowledge and its mobilization towards its application in the field of catalytic nanomedicine to resolve chronic wounds of patients with diabetes.Methodology: The simple-exploratory case study is used as a research strategy. The case is the research group of the UAM-X Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology Laboratory; the unit of analysis is the “catalytic nanomedicine” project aimed at developing medical devices to treat chronic wounds caused by diabetes.Results: There is a structural tension between the informal rule system created in the multidisciplinary research group working under mode 2 and the formal rule system that has been designed at the macro level for a mode 1-based scientific paradigm.Limitations: The conclusions are drawn from a single case, but this case is emblematic as it is unique in Mexico.Findings: In emerging fields such as catalytic nanomedicine, there are gaps and rigidities in the institutional coordination mechanisms that, from a meso level, affect the micro level for the creation of knowledge (“mode 2” by Gibbons) and its mobilization towards a field of concrete application (type 1 translation).

Purpose: to establish and review the current status of nanotechnologies applied to the energy sector in Mexico, from Research and Development (R&S) to patents and devices available in the market.Methodology: a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications was carried out, data on research groups on the subject were collected, a patent catalog was conformed and, finally, a description of the Mexican companies that produce instruments and devices to generate, store, or make efficient final use of energy, was made.Results: there are 82 publications between 2000 and 2019 and there are research projects in more than 50 public centers; there are also national and international companies that patent and offer nano-enabled products for energy generation, storage and distribution.Limitations: at the time of this research there is still no national strategy on nanotechnologies in the country. The information was collected and systematized from different sources, documents and official reports.Findings: this is a first exercise that allows us to visualize disarticulation between what is researched, patented and produced in terms of nanotechnologies applied to the Mexican energy sector.

Purpose: To determine the psychometric and discriminant properties of the leadership scale in micro, small and medium enterprises of the bakery and tortilla shop economic branch in order to contribute to the identification of their dissolution and permanence factors in Hermosillo, Sonora. Methodology: Through a non-experimental design of a correlational descriptive type and a stratified random sample of 180 participants from the study population, an exploratory factor analysis with Oblimin rotation, a multiple discriminating analysis and hypothesis testing was performed. Results: A multidimensional structure for the leadership construct was corroborated with reliability and discriminatory validity. The analysis showed equality of covariance matrices between groups, with high significance and differences between tortilla shop and bakery populations. Limitations: Results show validity and reliability for the specific economic branch of the food industry. However, these may be different in other populations or economic sectors. Findings: This research contributes a valid and reliable scale of leadership for SMEs and a typology of these populations in the food industry.

The implementation and evaluation of processes directed towards sustainability is a complex and diverse situation. In Mexico, the National Network for Sustainable Rural Development (RENDRUS by its acronym in Spanish) is an instrument of public policy created in 1996,whose principal aim is to promote economic development in rural areas. This paper examines this Network under assessment methodologies in sustainability. It is seen as a conclusion, that the effort is remarkable because the network produced a sustained and institutionalized learning; but our examination reveals areas of opportunity which can improve its functionality, such as the incorporation of an integral model of assesment of the projects involved in RENDRUS that includes the definition of specific indicators and monitoring of rural development projects.