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

The preparation of reports and the measurement of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) present a challenge, as there are numerous approaches and indicators that can be used. The main objective is to demonstrate that CSR practices have a positive impact on profitability and corporate reputation, encouraging organizations to implement these strategies. It also seeks to identify useful metrics to measure such impact, given the lack of consensus on the indicators used to evaluate CSR. The methodology followed was as follows: identification of the field of study and the period to be analyzed, selection of information sources, execution of the search and refinement of results, and analysis of the findings. Two inclusion criteria were also applied: (1) the study conducted empirical research to examine the relationship between two or more variables, and (2) it explored the relationship between variables such as sustainable practices, profitability, and reputation. Eighty-three percent of the reviewed articles report a positive relationship between CSR and financial profitability, while only 7% indicate negative results. Sustainable practices generate direct benefits, such as greater resource efficiency, and indirect benefits, such as improved corporate reputation. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) were the most commonly used financial metrics to assess this impact. However, a lack of uniformity in CSR measurement methods was noted, making comparisons across studies challenging. Additionally, greenwashing (misleading sustainability practices) can undermine trust in responsible initiatives.

Welding is a fundamental process in the fabrication of structures in various engineering fields. However, imperfections caused by the process can compromise the structural integrity and service life of the components. During the fabrications of structures by welding, tacks welds are applied to avoid over-constraint of the structures. However, the lack of standards for this process could cause an increase in angular deformation. This study focuses on investigating the effect of tack welding on structural stiffeners. A Thermo-Elasto-Plastic Analysis (TEPA) using the Finite Element Method (FEM) is employed to simulate the shielded metal arc welding process applied on S355J2 steel structural stiffeners used in the bow and stern of small steel ships, for which different dimensions and sequences of tack welding are considered. On the other hand, a parametric analysis of the finite element size in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) is carry out, to determine an optimal model for this study. The results show that the angular deformation, considering the recommended dimensions and sequences of tack welds, increases by 8% compared to the model that does not consider tack welds. Based on the results, dimensions and sequences of tack weld are recommended that can be applied in the field, which could mitigate the angular deformation on the structural stiffeners.

Intrinsic factors, climatic scenarios, and anthropogenic activities are fundamental characteristics of landslides and floods annually in the Tierras Altas district, the study focuses on soil degradation as the main trigger of these events. The research focuses on the analysis of the influence of vegetation cover on sediment transport and slope stability. The methodology consists of monitoring two sections of equal length on a slope: with and without vegetation, capturing the detached material caused by extreme climate events. The fieldwork focuses on the classification of soils for strategic points, determining the material's properties, and extracting predominant vegetation for the sizing of the roots. The incorporation of a local meteorological station makes it possible to identify meteorological triggers and correlate the parameters employing a code in the R language. A long period is necessary to identify episodes of greater or lesser detachment of material and analyze the volumetric variation of the eroded material between both experimental sections of the slope, where the present data shows the influence of soil cover and critical precipitation events of 60 mm for consecutive rainy days as important elements of soil degradation.

In the context of Higher Education, there are rites of passage that mark important moments in a student's career. The Helmets Imposition Ceremony emerges as a pedagogical practice to motivate, retain, and identify participants within their engineering programs. This study was conducted to measure the perception of participants in the latest version held at the UTP Regional Center of Veraguas, assessing their opinions on aspects such as the feelings generated, the symbols used, as well as when and who should participate. A Likert-type survey was administered to the 35 participants; the results showed the symbolic effectiveness of the event, its impact on the students involved, and the tendency to include other disciplines that use helmets in their professional practice in the future, in addition to holding the ceremony midway through their degree programs. To this end, studies are expected to be undertaken to measure the benefits of this event in HEIs on a larger scale.

In this experimental research, the driving cycle for motorcycles in the city of Esmeraldas is determined, since this means of transport presents an exponential growth, giving rise to an increase in the generation of emissions and noise pollution. For the construction of the cycle, the direct method and the On Board technique are defined for the acquisition of GPS, distance, time and speed values, defined as variables based on the World Motorcycle Test Cycle (WMTC). Fuel consumption was calculated by applying DIN 70030-1 Standard, obtaining 2.846 l/50 km as fuel consumption on an Urban Route carried out in the city center. For data acquisition, the Torque Pro software is used, which generates a file (.csv) that must be imported into data analysis software. Tests are carried out on urban, rural and highway routes, where the urban route has an average speed of 26.44 km/h, over a distance of 5023.40 m, in a time of 600 seconds, being 98% similar, compared to the WMTC cycle designed by UNECE. This case study meets the conditions of repeatability of research carried out by the authors.

Electric induction motors are the most used today to carry out industrial processes, so keeping them in optimal conditions guarantees their efficiency. Maintaining a predictive maintenance plan guarantees us to prevent major damages and avoid stopping production lines or normal operations in common faults such as in bearings, stator and rotor. The purpose of this project is to create a prototype using a convolutional neural network (CNN) with supervised learning that processes its layers imitating the visual cortex of the human eye to identify different punctual characteristics of an image, this methodology is based on the "pre-processing" of data. With this, the idea arises of creating an APP from the cell phone to detect engine failures through the audio spectrogram collected with the microphone of a mobile device so that a prediction can be made in a practical way at any moment.

The increasing amount of nonlinear loads in industrial electrical distribution systems has generated harmonic loads that affect power quality. In this study, a Weighted Least Squares based WLS algorithm has been developed for the location and identification of harmonic load parameters. While employing the IP following the Interior Point or IP method to solve the optimization, real models validated the accuracy of the algorithm. With analysis in additional case studies, the algorithm has demonstrated high accuracy in parameter estimation. This allowed the best modeling of loads for understanding the electrical behavior of the industry. Even a poor estimation of one or more of the initial points has mainly affected the efficiency and convergence of our algorithm.