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

This article has as a configuration framework wich concerns the environmental damage from the different forms of legitimacy. The aim is to uncover the constitutional and doctrinal context of damage related with the environment according to their legal and anti-legal nature; it can be seen as a determinate or indeterminate victim, which is the owner of environmental rights. The epistemological approach is hermeneutical, in this sense, the normative postulates of "being" and "should be" of the regulations are outlined through the documentary analysis technique. To do this, it is understood that the damage, more than a legal construction, has a social definition, which in turn determines the criteria of legality. It is concluded that this criterion of legality does not serve only to judgments of a State’s reasonableness, strength and power through its rules. On the other hand, they are established by consensus and social re-significances. Relying on the coercion of law and its arbitrary force, leads to the discrediting of the State’s legal proceedings, accentuating the gap between the normative reality and social realities.

To simultaneously achieve development and equity results from human beings’ generation of capabilities on equal terms; you cannot speak of social development when few receive the utility of the joint effort of many. In Costa Rica the social protection systems are being threatened by the sustainability of public funds, due to low tax burdens, impoverished collections, tax evasion and structurally fixed costs, condemning our economy to social instability and thus the widening the income gap, education, health, ethnicity, services and other elements of development. The errors of inclusion and exclusion are much of the corruption and cronyism that have historically been taking over our democratic systems, issue that confronts us with an inescapable and urgent necessity; improving the skills and abilities of public employees in assertive selection of public policies to mitigate the effects of a globalized and polarized world in the social, political and economic areas.

This paper discusses the evolutionary definition of the concept of journalist through a diachronic study using hemerographic and bibliographic research, together with evidence from interviews applied to well-known figures in the sector. The evolutionary scale proposed is from larval journalism to cyber-journalism. The research results show a dynamic concept depending on historical and cultural context that accompanies it. At first (before the nineteenth century) the journalist term is linked to a person who publishes periodically primarily through written press. However, since the nineties, and in view of the widespread use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), somehow everyone can be a communicator now through media such as the Internet. In conclusion, the debate on the figure of the journalist is especially complex and denotes the exaltation of ethical and moral values, imperative for the work of a journalist.

This text wants to compare the main differences between the Faults Code and Coexistence Code of the Province of Córdoba (Argentina) taking young people as empirical subjects of reflection, which are the most affected by the regulations. From the content analysis and critical discourse analysis, the differences between the two standards were found. Here are detailed only some of them that allow us to infer changes in the penal system maintaining the violation of rights of young people.

This study shows the validation process for the determination of total trace concentration of lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and mercury (Hg) in cement matrix using analytical techniques FAAS, GFAAS and CVAAS. The proposed digestion method consisted in a multistage microwave digestion, which showed the capability to dissolve all the sample (0,5 g) in 3,5 h without the presence of particles or remain solid. The linearity of the methods FAAS, GFAAS and CVAAS were corroborated using ordinary least square model (OLS) and using a graphical interpretation of the residuals from the calibration curve. The homoscedasticity of the variance was demonstrated using the Bartlett test. The results show a good agreement and excellent results in terms of linearity of the methods. The sensitivity of the calibration curves remained invariant over the time. The methods showed a small increase of the repeatability and intermediate repeatability comparing with the obtained for aqueous matrix. However, the repeatability components are less than 4 % and 6 %, respectively. The results also showed how the matrix effect, as a source of error in the determination of Cr and Pb by FAAS, was reduced using deuterium lamp as a background correction. The recoveries obtained for FAAS methods were 106.5 % for Pb and 90.5 % for Cr. The Pb and Hg were measured using GFAAS and CVAAS. These methods obtainded a 100% of recovery of the element tested. The LOD obtained in this validation show reach levels of 0.016 mg kg-1 for Cr (FAAS), 0.064 mg kg-1 for Pb (AAS), 8.72 μg kg-1 for Pb (GFAAS) and 0.43 μg kg-1 for Hg (CVAAS). Finally, the uncertainty of these methods had a low impact in the measurement, having in relative terms a level of 3.95 %, 2.28 % y 13.27 % for Pb, Cr and Hg, respectively. It is concluded that these methods show a good performance to measure metals, specifically Pb, Cr and Hg in the cement matrix, if some factors such as proper digestion of the samples and systematic effects correction will be consider.

Bridge Weigh-In-Motion (BWIM) systems have been used successfully to identify some of the properties of the trucks that travel over a highway. However, is not always easy to control the sources of uncertainty and therefore the reliability of the results might be affected. In this research, the effect of possible experimental difficulties on the BWIM method based on strain measurements was studied. In particular, three effects were analyzed: the noise level present on the signal, the location of the sensors on the bridge and the sampling rate used for data acquisition. These effects were modeled numerically by adding synthetic noise to an idealized wave response. The results are discussed with focus on the possible consequences on the estimation of velocities and gross vehicle weight of truck during field tests.

The Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica (INTECO) was created in 1987 in response to a Costa Rican need for technical standardization. INTECO has greatly evolved over the years developing a very wide range of regulations with around 30 technical committees and more than 500 published standards. Within these committees is the "CTN 04 bituminous mixtures and asphalts binders” which belongs to the category of Asphalt Mixtures, developed in 2004 thanks to the efforts of LanammeUCR. This document includes a summary of each INTECO standard related to asphalt mixes, with illustrative images of equipment and professional LanammeUCR recommendations to ensure the correct application of these processes. This summary also includes three comparative tables wth the most important differences present in: equipment, procedures and precision and bias between the latest AASHTO and ASTM bituminous mixtures standards and their equivalent to INTECO standard. These methods have not being updated in Costa Rica in more than seven years, so the former members of the technical committee as well as anyone in the field are invited to be part of a new team to not only update these rules but also create new ones.

In a multilayer system, as a pavement with layers of different materials, movements between layers are an important source of cracks. When the adhesion between layers is poor, often cracking appear early with increasing deformation at the loads of traffic due to consumption of internal energy of the material, causing problems fatigue cracks from top to bottom (top- down). In this context the study of adherence between different substrates (base concrete and asphalt base), interposing different geosynthetic materials, using as a bonding agent a modified asphalt emulsion, and placing thereon a layer of conventional asphalt CAC D20, acting as reinforcement in rehabilitating deteriorated of pavements was proposed. It is considered as a reference intercoat adhesion without placing any geosynthetic material. To quantify the adhesion it was used strength test cut LCB (Laboratorio de Caminos de Barcelona), and the adhesion test traction implemented in the LEMaC, Highway Research Center of the National Technological University of La Plata is used. The load and deformation at the interfase of materials, were tested and a result it was observed that adhesion is favorably or unfavorably affected, depending on the type of geosynthetic material and the substrate where it is applied.

This paper presents the results of an off-line vibration based monitoring of a simply-supported, prestressed concrete box girder bridge. The structure evaluated was the Tenorio River Bridge in National Route 1, Costa Rica, which was built in 2014. The purpose of the study was to register the dynamic response of the bridge under operational conditions and to identify its vibration modes using the covariance driven stochastic subspace identification method (SSI – COV). The ambient vibration test was carried out using a hybrid monitoring system developed by LanammeUCR. Uniaxial accelerometers were used to register the accelerations at 25 different locations on the bridge for approximately 40 minutes. Through the analysis of the data, nine vibration modes were identified in the frequency range of 0 to 25 Hz, including vertical bending modes, torsional modes and one transverse bending mode.

In Costa Rica, the prefabricated system of columns and horizontal tiles is one of the most used options in social housing projects developed by the BAHNVI. The BAHNVI is the mortgage housing bank of Costa Rica, it is in charge of assigning housing credits financed by the Government of Costa Rica to vulnerable sectors of the population in order to fulfill their housing needs. As a direct consequence, the supply of this product has increased considerably in recent years by small and medium-sized companies distributed throughout the national territory. As a way to ensure the good quality of these products the Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica, INTECO, has developed a standard for prefabricated concrete elements for the construction of single-family housing using the system of columns and horizontal tiles. The first edition of this standard was published in 2013 and in February 2017 the second edition was published. This last edition exposes changes in normative aspects, experimental methods and sampling methods. Since the publication of the first edition of the standard, there has been a significant increase in the quality of the verification of this products and a great develop in research work on the subject. This paper describes the main national researches developed in the field and its relation with the evolution of technical regulations.