Universidad Estatal a Distancia

La desigualdad y la injusticia social han destruido la confianza en la naturaleza humana creando brechas vergonzosas que afectan a aspectos socioculturales, económicos, medioambientales, espirituales y políticos que, sin duda, repercuten en los procesos de aprendizaje. El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar aspectos significativos de la globalización, la desigualdad y la injusticia social y su impacto en la educación y en la educación de adultos. Enmarcado en un marco cualitativo general, este trabajo ha adoptado una metodología exploratoria que pretende proporcionar una comprensión en profundidad del fenómeno. Este trabajo ofrece una posición crítica y reflexiva con el objetivo de crear un nivel de conciencia significativo en un intento de promover y generar espacios de reflexión que ayuden a la disminución de las injusticias y desigualdades sociales en nuestras sociedades globalizadas desde una perspectiva educativa. En primer lugar, se aborda la globalización. Obviamente, la globalización ha unido al mundo en una espiral de conocimiento, tecnología e información. A continuación, se explora la desigualdad en la educación: las escuelas residenciales, la prevalencia del racismo y la invisibilidad sistemática de los grupos minoritarios. Además, también se consideran la injusticia social y los movimientos en la educación de adultos: el movimiento Antigonish, el colegio fronterizo y el movimiento del no contra el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Centro América (TLC). Es una conclusión inevitable que la desigualdad y la injusticia social han tenido un tremendo impacto en las sociedades y también en los entornos de aprendizaje. Por último, las políticas neoliberales han promovido un darwinismo económico salvaje muy notorio que privilegia la mercantilización, la privatización y una pedagogía pública centrada en personas emprendedoras.

Este artículo busca demostrar el valor formativo del movimiento corporal en los procesos de la mediación pedagógica de las habilidades matemáticas del estudiantado de educación primaria, el cual constituye un proceso investigativo realizado con la población docente del Sistema Educativo Sancti Spíritus, ubicado en el cantón de Esparza, de la provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica. La investigación parte de principios teóricos que evidencian que el movimiento corporal constituye un elemento central del aprendizaje en la infancia y contribuye al fortalecimiento integral de las capacidades y habilidades cognitivas, psicomotoras y sociales. El enfoque cualitativo utilizado en la selección de los instrumentos y análisis de la información recolectada permite concluir que, en el grupo de participantes, el movimiento corporal como recurso para la mediación de las habilidades matemáticas es poco frecuente; por lo que se plantea la necesidad de abandonar la concentración del aprendizaje en las capacidades de memorización y el replanteamiento en las formas como se asume la mediación pedagógica de la asignatura desde un currículo abierto, dinámico, creativo, eficaz y de calidad. Esto con un enfoque pedagógico innovador que responda a los principios de una educación transformadora, la cual, desde el movimiento corporal (entendido como las capacidades naturales de saltar, dar vueltas, caminar, correr, mantener el equilibrio, la coordinación y la habilidad para concentrarse), convierta a cada estudiante en protagonista de su aprendizaje, posibilitando su unificación física, emocional y cognitiva.

Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites that function mostly as a general stress-induced protective mechanism. Polyphenols have also gained interest due to their beneficial properties for human health. Strawberry leaves represent an agro-industrial waste material with relevant bioactive polyphenol content, which could be incorporated into circular economy strategies. However, due to the low quantities of polyphenols in plants, their production needs to be improved for cost-effective applications. The objective of this research was to compare polyphenol production in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa cv. Festival) leaves in plants grown in greenhouse conditions and plants grown in vitro, using three possible elicitor treatments (UV irradiation, cold exposure, and cysteine). General vegetative effects were morphologically evaluated, and specific polyphenolic compounds were quantified by UHPLC-DAD-MS/MS. Gallic acid was the most abundant polyphenol found in the leaves, both in vivo and in vitro. The results showed higher amounts and faster accumulation of polyphenols in the in vitro regenerated plants, highlighting the relevance of in vitro tissue culture strategies for producing compounds such as polyphenols in this species and cultivar.

The beans’ protein and slow-digesting carbohydrate content make it an appealing choice for healthy food development. However, its properties are influenced by the flour extraction processes. This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of particle size and three pretreatments—drying (D), soaking+cooking+dehydrating 3 h (SCD3), and soaking+cooking+dehydrating 24 h (SCD24)—on the estimated glycemic index (eGI) compared with raw bean flour (R). The methodology covered water absorption (WAI), water solubility (WSI), amylose content, starch digestibility, eGI, phenolic quantification, and rheology. The results showed that WAI correlated negatively with WSI and amylose, varying among pretreatments and sizes. WAI increased as D<SCD24<SCD3<R. Glucose release (HI) differed between fine (125 μm) and coarse fractions (242 μm), with SCD24 and R showing the lowest eGI (22.8–24.2). SCD3 had the highest flavonoid concentration, while R and D had more quercetin-3-glucoside. SCD24 displayed higher elastic/viscous moduli than R. Bean flours from all treatments had low GI and contained bioactive polyphenols (catechin, epicatechin, ferulic acid, quercetin). The optimal treatment was SCD24, particularly in the coarse fraction, showing potential for functional food development and novel applications such as precision nutrition.

En este artículo se da a conocer una investigación realizada sobre la inclusión educativa del alumnado en situación de discapacidad que asiste regularmente a las universidades públicas de la región centroamericana y el Caribe. El estudio es parte de un proyecto más amplio que busca generar apoyos hacia este colectivo en la Educación Superior. Se utilizó un enfoque cualitativo con un diseño descriptivo exploratorio. Participaron 10 jefes académicos, coordinadores, miembros de instancias universitarias de atención a estudiantes en situación de discapacidad y profesores. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría de los establecimientos de Enseñanza instauraron políticas institucionales en los últimos años. Asimismo, los programas de atención estudiantil representan uno de los mayores mecanismos de apoyo. Finalmente, los participantes mencionaron que la falta de recursos económicos, el escaso personal capacitado y la poca formación de los docentes acerca de esta temática son los principales obstáculos para crear entornos educativos inclusivos.

Plant–hummingbird interactions are considered a classic example of coevolution, a process in which mutually dependent species influence each other’s evolution. Plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination, whereas hummingbirds rely on nectar for food. As a step towards understanding coevolution, this review focuses on the macroevolutionary consequencesof plant–hummingbird interactions, a relatively underexplored area in the current literature. We synthesize prior studies,illustrating the origins and dynamics of hummingbird pollination across different angiosperm clades previouslypollinated by insects (mostly bees), bats, and passerine birds. In some cases, the crown age of hummingbirds pre-datesthe plants they pollinate. In other cases, plant groups transitioned to hummingbird pollination early in the establishmentof this bird group in the Americas, with the build-up of both diversities coinciding temporally, and hence suggestingco-diversification. Determining what triggers shifts to and away from hummingbird pollination remains a major openchallenge. The impact of hummingbirds on plant diversification is complex, with many tropical plant lineages experienc-ing increased diversification after acquiringflowers that attract hummingbirds, and others experiencing no change oreven a decrease in diversification rates. This mixed evidence suggests that other extrinsic or intrinsic factors, such as localclimate and isolation, are important covariables driving the diversification of plants adapted to hummingbird pollination.To guide future studies, we discuss the mechanisms and contexts under which hummingbirds, as a clade and as individualspecies (e.g. traits, foraging behaviour, degree of specialization), could influence plant evolution. We conclude bycommenting on how macroevolutionary signals of the mutualism could relate to coevolution, highlighting theunbalanced focus on the plant side of the interaction, and advocating for the use of species-level interaction data inmacroevolutionary studies.

Kaon physics is at a turning point – while the rare-kaon experiments NA62 and KOTO are in full swing, the end of their lifetime is approaching and the future experimental landscape needs to be defined. With HIKE, KOTO-II and LHCb-Phase-II on the table and under scrutiny, it is a very good moment in time to take stock and contemplate about the opportunities these experiments and theoretical developments provide for particle physics in the coming decade and beyond. This paper provides a compact summary of talks and discussions from the Kaons@CERN 2023 workshop, held in September 2023 at CERN.

This article aims to compare the perspectives of university professors on the entry of logic and market values in the educational field with education as a human right. To this end, interviews and a focus group have been used, with the participation of 20 university professors from the areas of education and social sciences of the University of Costa Rica and the State Distance University of Costa Rica. Using a grounded theory approach and the affordability and accessibility categories provided by Tomasevski (2004), it is concluded that teachers agree with exposing an anti-hegemonic position regarding the role that the State should play in education and that the SARS CoV-2 pandemic has fostered conditions capable of lifting the veil (alétheia effect and rupture of the promise of education), which until then had kept the educational gap partially hidden that the Neoliberal State has not been able to solve with its vision and management of educational policy.

In the last 20 years, inclusion and digital exclusion in education have undergone significant changes in a country like Costa Rica. To address this, various strategies have been implemented by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MICITT), and non-governmental organizations. Their objectives have been to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas nationwide, promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICT’s) and digital skills in education, and facilitate digital inclusion. The results have varied across different regions of Costa Rica. This chapter first presents the concepts of digital inclusion and exclusion, then describes the specificities of digital exclusion in the country. Through a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol and consulting databases such as Scopus, Web of Sciences (WoS), and official documents from MEP and MICIT, the most successful forms of digital inclusion in the last two decades in Costa Rica are identified. This review of public policies for promoting ICTs requires considering the education system's role, is playing, or could play in the future to address these challenges and contribute to reducing digital gaps and fostering digital inclusion nationwide.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses a global threat to both human health and environmental well-being. Our study delved into Costa Rican wildlife reserves, uncovering a substantial human impact on these ecosystems and underscoring the imperative to pinpoint AMR hotspots. Embracing a One Health perspective, we advocated for a comprehensive landscape analysis that intricately intertwined geographic, climatic, forest, and human factors. This study illuminated the link between laboratory results and observed patterns of antimicrobial use, thereby paving the way for sustainable solutions. Our innovative methodology involved deploying open-ended questions to explore antimicrobial usage across livestock activities, contributing to establishing a comprehensive methodology. Non-invasive sampling in wildlife emerged as a critical aspect, shedding light on areas contaminated by AMR. Feline species, positioned at the apex of the food chain, acted as sentinels for environmental health due to heightened exposure to improperly disposed waste. Regarding laboratory findings, each sample revealed the presence of at least one antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG). Notably, genes encoding resistance to tetracyclines dominated (94.9%), followed by beta-lactams (75.6%), sulfonamides (53.8%), aminoglycosides (51.3%), quinolones (44.9%), phenicols (25.6%), and macrolides (20.5%). Genes encoding polymyxins were not detected. Moreover, 66% of samples carried a multi-resistant microbiome, with 15% exhibiting resistance to three antimicrobial families and 51% to four. The absence of a correlation between forest coverage and ARG presence underscored the profound human impact on wildlife reserves, surpassing previous estimations. This environmental pressure could potentially modify microbiomes and resistomes in unknown ways. As not all antimicrobial families encoding ARGs were utilized by farmers, our next step involved evaluating other human activities to identify the primary sources of contamination. This comprehensive study contributed crucial insights into the intricate dynamics of AMR in natural ecosystems, paving the way for targeted interventions and sustainable coexistence.

Con el fin de estudiar los impactos psicosociales que genera la desaparición de personas en las dinámicas de las familias en América Latina; se realizó una aproximación de tipo exploratoria y cualitativa, mediante revisión y análisis bibliográfico y documental sobre la materia. Para ello, primeramente, se retomaron elementos históricos desde la década de 1930, principalmente de países como México, Argentina y Colombia, donde se identificó mayor producción académica en el tema, debido a sus propios procesos políticos e históricos nacionales; que permiten recuperar la historicidad del fenómeno e identificar nuevos actores y determinaciones que circunscriben actualmente la desaparición humana en la región. Finalmente, se planteó una discusión sobre los impactos psicosociales que generan los hechos estudiados, en las dinámicas de los hogares que atraviesan estas situaciones, desde ámbitos psíquicos, económicos y relacionales.

El presente documento es parte de la tesis doctoral que se está desarrollando sobre el arte drag queen en Costa Rica como representación artística disidente y de resistencia. El planteamiento que aquí se hace es de un análisis de estudio de caso desde la transculturación como método de interpretación sociocultural histórica y del barroco americano como estilo artístico y método de interpretación, afianzado durante los procesos de formación de la identidad en Latinoamérica en la colonia española de los siglos XVI y XVIII que para algunas personas autoras continuó en su versión de neobarroco del siglo XIX y XX, influenciando la estética posmoderna con la cual se pueden interpretar las representaciones artísticas drag queen de la Costa Rica del siglo XXI.

El propósito de este artículo es brindar recomendaciones metodológicas para la reconstrucción de la memoria colectiva en organizaciones sociales, esto permite comprender la historia y la identidad de estas organizaciones, preservando su legado y fortaleciendo su representatividad. La investigación en la que se basa este artículo se llevó a cabo en colaboración con sindicatos campesinos en Costa Rica, utilizando un enfoque mixto. Entre las recomendaciones clave están cultivar confianza y empatía con las personas participantes, mantener registros reflexivos para enriquecer la comprensión del fenómeno social y facilitar la replicación de la metodología. Además, es crucial mantener un equilibrio entre flexibilidad y rigurosidad para garantizar la adaptabilidad a diferentes contextos y permitir la extrapolación de la metodología a grupos similares, facilitando así la generación de información comparable.

At Cerro de la Muerte, mosses and lichens are extracted for commercial use, and despite their socioeconomic and ecological importance in the high-altitude towns and ecosystems of Costa Rica, few studies have been assess their biological importance. In this study, some of the biological characteristics of mosses and lichens were evaluated to improve their conservation in Cerro de la Muerte. Two sites were selected, one disturbed (pasture) and one not disturbed (protected area), where transects and subplots were established to determine the diversity of species in both sites. In these same transects, samples of mosses and lichens were collected to determine the relative growth rate (TCR) and water retention capacity. A dominance of the moss Leptodontium sp. for the distrubed site, while in protected site the dominant moss is Sphagnum sp. The highest TCR and water retention capacity was found in Sphagnum sp. with 70%, and 26% Leptodontium sp. Therefore, to conserve the mosses and lichens in the highlands of Cerro de la Muerte and the ecosystems that depend on these organisms, it is important to keep harvesting mosses of the genus Leptodontium sp. for commercialization, since this will control its dominance in the disturbed site, and the second in dominance in the protected site. This species has a high five-month TCR and a low water retention capacity.

Introducción : La formación en habilidades de liderazgo por parte del estudiantado de Medicina es un tema cada vez más abordado en virtud de la necesidad de que este profesional responda a las cambiantes circunstancias de su entorno. Objetivo : Analizar las tendencias investigativas sobre el desarrollo de habilidades de liderazgo en la formación de grado y posgrado de la persona estudiante de Medicina durante los años 2018 y 2023. Método : Se realiza una revisión sistemática utilizando la metodología PRISMA, de modo que cumplan con una serie de indicadores para las publicaciones de este tipo, dicha revisión, con un alcance mundial, utilizó las bases de datos electrónicas Scopus, Education Research Complete, PubMed y Web of Science. Discusión : A partir del cribado y respectivo análisis se concluye que existe un interés científico en tres áreas investigativas: desarrollo de habilidades de liderazgo en el estudiantado, desarrollo de programas y proyectos educativos y, por último, estudios por género.

Educational remote laboratories are tools that allow students to access physical equipment from any location, online. There are different systems and tools created over the years to this end both in academia and industry. One of the fields where this technology has been applied most often is the teaching of analog electronics, taught in most Engineering programs. Within this type of remote laboratories, the most popular is probably VISIR, designed at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, and which has been the source of an entire movement in the field of remote laboratories, used by many research groups worldwide. The focus of this paper is to present a novel remote laboratory called LabsLand Electronics Laboratory, which is focused on scalability through multiple copies worldwide, explaining its advantages and disadvantages.

Mutualistic interactions, such as plant–mycorrhizal or plant–pollinator interactions, are widespread in ecological communities and frequently exploited by cheaters, species that profit from interactions without providing benefits in return. Cheating usually negatively affects the fitness of the individuals that are cheated on, but the effects of cheating at the community level remains poorly understood. Here, we describe 2 different kinds of cheating in mutualistic networks and use a generalized Lotka–Volterra model to show that they have very different consequences for the persistence of the community. Conservative cheating, where a species cheats on its mutualistic partners to escape the cost of mutualistic interactions, negatively affects community persistence. In contrast, innovative cheating occurs with species with whom legitimate interactions are not possible, because of a physiological or morphological barrier. Innovative cheating can enhance community persistence under some conditions: when cheaters have few mutualistic partners, cheat at low or intermediate frequency and the cost associated with mutualism is not too high. Under these conditions, the negative effects of cheating on partner persistence are overcompensated at the community level by the positive feedback loops that arise in diverse mutualistic communities. Using an empirical dataset of plant–bird interactions (hummingbirds and flowerpiercers), we found that observed cheating patterns are highly consistent with theoretical cheating patterns found to increase community persistence. This result suggests that the cheating patterns observed in nature could contribute to promote species coexistence in mutualistic communities, instead of necessarily destabilizing them.

Introducción. La educación inclusiva es una responsabilidad de todos los agentes intervinientes del proceso educativo, donde cobra especial relevancia el papel de las personas directoras, quienes tienen, dentro de sus funciones, mediante prácticas de gestión, la promoción de centros educativos que velen por los principios de justicia, igualdad y equidad desde una perspectiva holística. Objetivo. El objetivo del estudio es analizar el perfil personal y profesional que caracteriza a las personas directivas de escuelas públicas costarricenses de primaria. Metodología. La investigación, de corte cualitativo, se ha desarrollado a través del estudio de caso múltiples aplicado a seis personas directivas de centros educativos. La técnica de recogida de datos ha sido la entrevista en profundidad y semiestructurada, los datos fueron procesados mediante el software Atlas.ti v.8 y se realizó una codificación mixta para el respectivo análisis. Resultados. Los resultados evidencian que el perfil de las personas directoras se conforma de dos áreas: una primera relacionada con factores de formación, desarrollo profesional y estabilidad laboral; y la segunda, con factores intrínsecos a la persona como vocación, valores, figuras mentoras y experiencia. Discusión. Destaca el escaso o nulo desarrollo profesional, producto de las limitaciones del sistema educativo en cuanto a procesos de actualización sobre educación inclusiva. En la segunda área del perfil quedan asociados a valores y experiencias que fortalecen las prácticas de inclusión en la gestión educativa del centro. Los hallazgos son útiles, pues permiten una toma de decisiones, a nivel del centro educativo, para el fortalecimiento de acciones que, desde la gestión educativa, promuevan la educación inclusiva mediante una escuela para todos y todas.

The development of actions by school principals to promote spaces for strengthening the inclusive culture is a challenge involving the educational community's participation. To be able to attend to diversity, institutions require the recognition of different strategies and the involvement of the educational community in promoting an inclusive culture. This study aims to analyze the culture of inclusive education immersed in educational institutions from principals’ perspectives in Costa Rican public establishments. The study was conducted using a quantitative methodology with an ex post facto and cross-sectional design. Data were collected through an online questionnaire administered to a simple probabilistic sample of 146 principals. The findings showed an adequate inclusive culture in educational centers. High scores were obtained for both community building and inclusive values. However, there were low percentages that require further training on the subject. Significant differences were also found depending on the training received on inclusive education.