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

This article examines the discourses in the novel Retahílas, by Carmen Martín Gaite, with the aim of analyzing the processes of construction of identity and otherness between the two protagonists. The study answers the research question: How are the discourses of identity and otherness described, how are they connected and what is their purpose? A discourse analysis has been carried out at two semiotic-communicative levels based on the theories of Lotman and Bakhtin. The results show certain semiotic elements, analysing the novel as a discourse, that construct the identity of the characters. The protagonists of the novel, moreover, build their own identity on the similarities and differences between them and with other characters, which are included in their discourses through their memories or as a result of the present interaction. The analysis shows that the author manages to reflect through the novel the discursive tensions of identity and otherness that occur in a real relationship between two people.

This article wants to make use of the semiotics of culture methodology to address fame as a key phenomenon of our media semiosphere, and in particular, its link to religious discourse and the construction of idols and icons in highly mediated environments. Historically linked to the problem of the sacred image and its regulation, they are presented to us today as states of superlative fame and as elements that continue to speak of the attitude we maintain with the images we create. We will therefore observe in a macro perspective, what remains, what has disappeared and what has been incorporated into our conception of current idols and icons, poor relatives of culture, with respect to the regimes of meaning established by their religious namesakes.  

In M. Bakhtin's theory of the novel, the concept of chronotope serves to express the aesthetic articulation of time, space and the "human image". This conception can be extrapolated to audiovisual narratives and film analysis. And it can also be complemented with the application of the concepts of image, diagram and metaphor proposed by Ch. S. Peirce. A reading of the well-known film Rashomon, by A. Kurosawa, is proposed as an experimental and didactic example  of this theoretical-methodological attempt.  That affects, more generally, the study of symbolic mediation in modern artistic production.

The paper focuses on the photographs that accompany the offer of accommodation via Airbnb in the territory of Siena, in order to study the semiotic action of the touristification of the territory triggered and accelerated by the platforms, a process of construction and management of the sense of the room, the house and the city in terms of object of tourist consumption. The analysis aims at investigating the discursive opacity of the platform, its specific forms of constructing views and points of view on places and making them objects of knowledge and desire, tracing images and imaginaries in which individualising and standardising tensions collide, the dynamics that structure the Airnbnb semiosphere.

Presentación del número

A procedure for the design of agro-industrial processes considering product quality is proposed. It is exemplified with a case study to produce non-centrifugal cane sugar at the artisanal level. Modeling and simulation are valuable tools for the adequate selection of operating parameters. For this purpose, cane juice with 5.35 pH and 12.55 °Brix were considered as process limits. For concentration, random values of pH 5.5 - 7, °Brix 89 - 93, and concentration time of 20 - 30 minutes were generated. In crystallization, random values of pH 5.5 - 7, °Brix 90 - 94, agitation time of 10 - 20 minutes, and temperature of 40 - 60 °C were generated. Ten batches equivalent to one day, 120 batches equivalent to one month, and 1560 batches equivalent to one year were simulated. The inclusion of quality attributes in the process design allowed reducing defective products, a Sigma level higher than 3 was obtained, the economic and financial indicators are positive when the color in ICUMSA units fluctuates between 9000 - 11000.

The following article shows the impact generated in RENAULT-Sofasa for the design or redesign of production processes applied to the vehicle assembly plant and its local suppliers due to the development of a new vehicle focused on the Latin American market, allowing the consolidation of a product and process innovation. The vehicle´s design seeks to meet the safety and quality requirements demanded by end users. Therefore, the production processes in the assembly plant and the parts suppliers had to be transformed. The methodological section describes the incorporation of robots and process automation to optimize the assembly, ensure quality, and improve the security and ergonomic conditions for employees of the assembly factory, among other features that significantly modified the production process in the plant. In the case of parts suppliers, RENAULT-Sofasa provided support processes, technology transfer, and direct advice. Thus, it secured the acquisition of capabilities that would guarantee the quality of parts for the new vehicle. The results obtained showed that the development of parts with local suppliers and the new processes in the assembly line are effective in producing a vehicle of high quality. The article contributes to the Colombian engineering community about its own developments that have been completed in the country and the possibility of contributing to the automotive industry.

The Covid19 era, with all its restrictions and conditions, has put challenges in all spheres of society and education has not been the exception, especially for teaching engineers who are trained as engineers but work as teachers and who share their knowledge in engineering programs. One of those challenges is the conception, design and performance of evaluations through virtual means. This article addresses some reflections in this regard and proposes a conceptual and practical methodology to be successful in this new environment mediated by ICT. The results raise the need to reconceptualize the evaluation in the disciplinary subjects of engineering. It is concluded that it is possible to achieve even greater learning, if a series of strategies are used that allow the teacher to evaluate fairly, within a coherent framework and making evaluation an instrument for learning.