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

La Coordinación de Investigación le presenta la más reciente publicación de la Revista Pensamiento Actual, volumen 19 número 33, con un total de catorce artículos de diferentes disciplinas. Todos ellos constituyen aportessignificativos a la comunidad académica.

The specific effect of aerobic exercise on balance is unclear. This meta-analysis examined the effect of aerobic exercise on balance in older adults. The systematic search was conducted on academic scientific bases: Academic Complete Search, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct and Sport Discuss, using the Boolean phrase: (aerobic exercise OR aerobic training) AND (adult* OR aging* OR senior* OR older adult*) AND (balance*) NO (diet or nutrition) NO (Animal) And random*. The inclusion criteria were publications in English or Spanish, full text, older adult (people and women), people over 50 years, experimental and quasi-experimental studies, treatment focused on aerobic exercise, and dynamic or static balance indistinctly of the type of test. We analyzed 4496 studies, and only 11 met the inclusion criteria, obtaining 56 effect sizes (TE) in 590 subjects. The moderator variables were age, sex, level of physical activity, health condition, N per study, duration of the session and exercise modality. The overall effect size for the experimental conditions was TE= 1.083, (p ≤ 0.05) (95% CI: 0.63 - 1.53, Q= 679.07, p= 0.00, I2= 99.55); the effect size of the control group was TE= 0.056, (p = 0.685) (95% CI: -0.14, .25, Q= 11.48, p=0.009, I2= 73.88). There were no differences in scores between the control groups of TE (n=16) and experimental group (n=40) (F= 2.73, p= .104). Aerobic exercise (AE) exerts a positive effect on the balance of older adults; therefore, AE training is a valid strategy to counteract the loss of balance in thisspecific group.

Ethnobotanical research has acquired significance due to the accelerated loss of traditional knowledge and the decrease of useful species as a consequence of natural habitat degradation. This research rescues the ethnobotanical knowledge of popular specialists and identifies the plants with the highest cultural importance in two communities from the buffer zone of the Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve. The qualitative ethnobotanical research was conducted with folk culture specialists through the application of in-depth interviews, free lists and ethnobotanical walks. The Cultural Importance Index allowed the identification of the most relevant species for these communities. The use of 214 species or taxonomic groups from 75 botanical families was recorded. The family with the largest number of useful species, Asteraceae, includes mainly herbaceous species used as a medicinal resource, followed by Orchids (Orchidaceae) used to decorate the exteriors of houses or gardens. The most important cultural species was Ciprés, Cupressus lusitanica, with multiple uses and secondly, the medicinal plants Neurolaena lobata (Gavilana), Chenopodium acuminatum (Apazote), Salvia rosmarinus and the multi-use tree Acnistus arborescens (Güitite).

The objective of this study is to compare the motivational factors for the practice of physical exercise in two projects for adults andelderly adults with different methodologies. The study is correlational, with an intentional sampling of 100 people (25 men and 75women), aged 50 to 73, belonging to two projects developed at the University of Costa Rica, Western Branch, which are offered twice aweek. To measure the motivational factors, the scale of the Measure of the Motives for Physical Activity-Revised (MPAM-R) was used.According to the Mann-Whitney test, the projects show significant differences in the Music, Movement and Health project (1), with respect to the Movement and Health project (2), in the dimensions: Enjoyment (Z = -2.76 / DS = 0.56), Fitness / Health (Z = -3.12 / DS = 0.28) and Competition (Z = -3.29 / DS = 0.78) (p <0.05), while in the Appearance dimensions (Z = -1.38 / DS = 1.24) and Social (Z = -1.93 / DS = 0.99) statistically significant differences were not found (p> 0.05). The differences in the reasons for the practice of physical exercise are based mainly on the methodology of project 1, the most accepted being mainly the use of music, which functions as an extrinsic motivational factor. In addition, the participants report a greater enjoyment, a better relationship between fitness, health and a positive contribution with the competition factor, in the physical exercise with dance music.

This article contains the results of an analysis based on experiences and educational strategies. The aim of this research is focused on the search for initiatives that involved Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the development of “computational thinking” in Iberoamerica. First, the definitions given by experts are reviewed, conceptualizing the term “computational thinking”. Then, they are contrasted to identify common and particular aspects in order to choose a concept as the basis for this research. Second, the competences related to computational thinking are examined, which are discussed in the analysis of the proposals. Subsequently, the experiences found, regarding the teaching of programming or related topics, are analyzed according to predefined parameters that allowed describing them uniformly. The analysis showed that most of the experiences found took place in Argentina, Chile and Spain. It was also found that the area of application is institutional, both at university and secondary level, through educational proposals of outreach and articulation between the institutions. Also, it is known that the tools and materials used are mostly self-developed and the use of non-paid and free material is promoted. The approach of the experiences seeks to solve problems from diverse areas. This analysis revealed that most of the proposals manage to develop all the knowledge, skills and attitudes taken as a basis, including: problem solving, information abstraction, algorithm design, modularization, simulation, implementation, generalization and transfer, persistence and teamwork.

El estudio consistió en observar las fenofases de C. brenesii, de caída de follaje, aparición de brotes foliares, floración y fructificación,durante 14 meses en el bosque tropical húmedo de la Reserva Biológica Alberto Manuel Brenes, así como el grado de asociación delas fenofases con la humedad relativa, precipitación y temperatura ambiental. La investigación se llevó a cabo desde agosto 2014hasta octubre 2015. Se escogió por orden de aparición una muestra de diez individuos, a los cuales se le hicieron observacionesfenológicas a simple vista, gracias a la altura de estos arbustos (7 m máximo) una vez al mes. Tanto la caída de follaje (n=10;r=-0,44; ˂ 0,005%) como los brotes foliares estuvieron inversamente correlacionados con la precipitación. La floración tuvo dosperíodos, el primero de agosto 2014 a marzo 2015 y el segundo de junio a setiembre 2015, por lo que se clasificó como subanualy la fructificación ocurrió de setiembre 2014 a marzo 2015 y luego de abril a octubre 2015. La máxima producción de frutos fueen diciembre 2014.

Language teaching, and particularly English teaching, have constantly evolved in terms of the methods and techniques used in the classroom. Language teachers have implemented a series of strategies seeking to innovate the teaching and learning process. In this article, scenic arts are presented as a possibility to diversify and enhance English learning. This article systematizes the experience of one of the activities developed within the project ED-3091: Strengthening English Teaching and Learning. This is an outreach program on the Pacific Campus of the University of Costa Rica. The experience of the English cultural-artistic gathering that organized the aforementioned project, in which 105 students from 4 schools of the Puntarenas region participated, is described. The article includes a reference to the project, a description of the activity itself, the dynamics as well as the participants’ perceptions about the academic potential of this type of activities. The opinions of the participants were very favorable and generated an interesting discussion around alternative teaching methods.

A detailed examination of the reasons why the famous singer and actor Carlos Gardel represents an emblematic instance in the reception and the dissemination processes of tango in Latin-America makes evident the need to emphasize the media and commercial function that the cultural industry (cinema and radio) performed in the construction and dissemination of the Gardelian myth. Nonetheless, such reasoning is insufficient to understand the ideological impact that the Gardelian figure had on Latin American sociocultural discourse and subjectivity and still does. Based on one of the main theses of Karl Marx related tothe so-called “fetishistic character of merchandise and its secret” (Der Fetischcharacter der Ware und sein Geheimnis), as well as the theoretical notion of the “Star System” created by Edmond Cros and the socio-critic studies, the main objective of this article is focused on the reflection about the specific aesthetic-ideological role that Carlos Gardel has fulfilled as a form of social consciousness, which shapes an ideological representation of the Latin American cultural subject framed in the modernization, economic crisis and cultural industrialization processes during the 1930’s and 1940’s in the Costa Rican urban context.

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación desarrollada en la Sede de Occidente, Universidad de Costa Rica, bajo el método Teoría Fundamentada. Esta analiza procesos organizativos comunitarios tendientes a la reproducción de las condiciones de vida en pequeñas comunidades de la Región de Occidente, Alajuela, Costa Rica. La unidad analítica básica de la investigación es la diada desarrollo-potencial endógeno.

Second Treatise como primer texto de la tradición occidental, a través de la consolidación de la teoría política como una disciplina independiente de la ciencia política, esto a partir del método contextualista de la Escuela de Cambridge. Así se desprende que Locke no fue estipulado como un autor liberal en Inglaterra antes de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y, para John Gunnell, no fue canonizado como padre del liberalismo antes de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Esto debido al valor de una interpretación analítica de su teoría de la propiedad y la relación amigo/enemigo, planteada en el Second Treatise, en el contexto de la Guerra Fría y la consolidación del bloque occidental.