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

Reseña del libro de Eugenio Coseriu, La semántica en la lingüística del siglo XX: tendencias y escuelas. Prólogo de Gregorio Salvador, edición e introducción de Maximiliano Trapero. (Madrid, Arco/Libros, 2016. 246 págs.)

Discurso: La innovación como clave del desarrollo productivo

Prólogo

The lignocellulosic biomass residues generated in the pineapple cultivation of the Northern Huetar Region were physicochemicallycharacterized in order to evaluate its potential as a culture medium for the mycelial growth of shiitake mushroom(Lentinula edodes). Dry matter contents varied between 11.4 and 28.2% and ash content between 2.96 and 6.44%, ona dry basis. The proportion of water-soluble material was 53.7% and extracts showed a pH of 4.05 ± 0.42, for an acidity of3,48% expressed as lactic acid. The content of reducing sugars was 6.6 ± 1.3% for the leaf biomass, although much lowerin the root system. Cobalt, copper, nickel, zinc, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and calcium were also determined.In total, nine plant pigments were isolated by extraction with acetone and characterized by visible spectrophotometry.Acid hydrolysis led to a maximum production of free amino acids at pH 3 and 20°C, while the generation of aldehydesunder those conditions was little significant; hence, no antagonistic effects are expected for the mycelial growth underthe extraction conditions. Preliminary microbiological assays showed a remarkable ability of the extracts to supportthe mycelial growth in vitro of shiitake mushroom.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of using comic books with a group of pre-intermediate languagestudents for reading comprehension and vocabulary recognition. For this research, 12 volunteer students from apublic university participated in a six-session itinerary. A pre-test and post-test applied to the 12 participants wherethey solved reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises using a comic book. In four more sessions, a groupof 6 participants worked on the exercises using a comic while the other 6 volunteers did the same using only thetranscription of the comic’s text. When the pilot study finished, those students were interviewed about their experienceduring the project and the effects on their performance. The results of the quantitative and qualitative dataanalysis showed that all the participants that used comics, regardless of proficiency and text level, performed betteron reading comprehension and vocabulary recognition than the ones using the transcripts. The findings of the studyconfirm that comics can be a motivation for reluctant readers and an effective tool for literacy and language learning.The results of the study are discussed along with the existing literature on the use of visuals for developing readingskills. Implications for language teachers and some suggestions for further research are also provided.

The Protective Area of the Escazú Hills (ZPCE, Spanish acronym) is an area designated as a pollution sink within theWestern Central Valley (VCO, Spanish acronym), in Costa Rica. For this study, the total deposition characteristicsobtained in the ZPCE during 2015’s rainy season were analyzed. The pH parameters and field conductivity wereassessed. The Cl-, SO4-2 and NO3- anions were determined by ion exchange chromatography while the Ca+2 andMg+2 cations were analyzed by atomic absorption. It was possible to identify acid rain (pH less than 5.6) in 90%of the ZPCE samples. There is more acidic pH distribution in the northwest part of ZPCE. The pH, as H+ concentration,presents a moderate conductivity correlation (0.585), according to Kolhraush’s law. The most abundant rainions collected are as follows, in decreasing order: CO3-2 > Cl- > SO4-2> NO3-. The ion correlations were high(more than 0.7) between Cl- and Mg + 2, between Ca+ 2 and CO3-2 and moderate (more than 0.4) between SO4-2and NO3-.

This article reflects the different uses of the word innovation, in the Costa Rican written press, the emphasis is onits association with a specific context, seeking to identify legitimizing and delegitimizing uses. The discussion it isbased on the collection of news in two media (digital version), namely the newspapers: La Nación y El Financiero,during the first three months of 2015, 2016 and 2017. This reflection is positioned from the Critical DiscourseAnalysis approach, specifically, it is a pragmatic analysis of the various news, because the interest of knowledge is inthe relationship between innovation and context, within the text. The document presents that strategic, tendentiousand polysemic use with which the word innovation is used in the different news, showing that more than a perspectiveof innovation that is to be promoted, this is the concept that allows supporting proposals or concerns about thenational reality.

The paper presents the proposal for the generation of a mathematical indicator linked to the measurement and managementof the customer´s commercial conduct, presenting this model from an evaluative and practical perspective.The proposed model presents the measurement of the impact of the advertising message, followed by the contactfactor between customers, as well as the advertising motivational coefficient generated on the basis of real sales.Once these three indicator´s conformant elements are explained, they are merge into a single equation called theBehavioral Advertising Indicator, which allows the correct evaluation of the advertising campaigns as well as thebusiness decision making process.

This article makes a theorical review about the form of writing and his intertextual way, after that focus on therestructure of the myths like a strategy in the literary innovation, to make this, it takes the classical passage of thesirens on Odyssey and tracks the use that it has been giving through the XX and XXI century, and to present someesthetic differences. It finishes making an emphasis on the restructure of the passage based on the characteristics ofthe postmodern era. Postulates undermine the principles of originality and the authorship of the writter, by showingonce more the intertextual condition and innovative way of the process reading-writing.

One of the most relevant contemporary challenges for Governments is to achieve a successful regionalization ofpublic politics. Two of the guiding principles of universities should be the search for equity and social inclusion.To be able to fulfill this, universities should eagerly foster the transfer of programs and legal authority to the regions,instead of favoring centralism to the so called “university metropolis”, such has been the tendency in Latin Americaand Costa Rica. The search for an integral regional development must be strengthened by means of a social agreementamong different social figures. In Costa Rica in the last decades, public universities have been able to increasethe educational coverage, the quota, and the allocated budget to the regional headquarters. In spite of these efforts,the investment in the university regional headquarters continues being insufficient and contrasting against the oneallocated to the central headquarters.