Search results

This paper seeks to optimize a multiplex PCR in order to detect the incidence of Salmonella and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in chicken carcasses, eliminating a pre‐culture enrichment step and the pathogen isolation.

A total of 30 chicken rinse carcasses were analysed by standard microbiological methods, and the isolates were identified by biochemical and serological tests. The results were compared with those obtained by a multiplex PCR using validated primers targeting for invA and lamB genes of Salmonella and E. coli, respectively.

Microbiological analysis showed the prevalence of Salmonella in 14 out of 30 chicken carcasses. The same rinse samples were also analysed by multiplex PCR, which allowed the simultaneous detection of both bacteria directly from the chicken rinse water microbial community.

The optimized mPCR detected enterobacteria directly from the rinse samples, a complex matrix food, in one workday. There was 100 per cent agreement of the conventional microbiological analysis with those results obtained by multiplex PCR.

This study contributes to the understanding of the health effects of pesticides exposure and of how pesticides have been and should be regulated.

This study presents literature reviews for the period 2000–2013 on (i) the health effects of pesticides and on (ii) preference valuation of health risks related to pesticides, as well as a discussion of the role of benefit-cost analysis applied to pesticide regulatory measures.

This study indicates that the health literature has focused on individuals with direct exposure to pesticides, i.e. farmers, while the literature on preference valuation has focused on those with indirect exposure, i.e. consumers. The discussion highlights the need to clarify the rationale for regulating pesticides, the role of risk perceptions in benefit-cost analysis, and the importance of inter-disciplinary research in this area.

This study relates findings of different disciplines (health, economics, public policy) regarding pesticides, and identifies gaps for future research.

In a pandemic framework (COVID-19), this chapter explores the impact of the global economy and socio-cultures concerning three axes: recreational, tourism, and hospitality. Although we slowly see an economic revival, it is well known that this sector of study is very susceptible to being affected by the context of nations. Following restrictions and measures taken by governments around the world to reduce the number of cases of coronavirus infections, many nations closed their borders, affecting international travel and by 2020 tourism had been reduced to the near cessation of operations due to the imminent fear of this poorly studied disease, and the service sector was negatively affected. It should be added that, according to the World Tourism Organization's projections, a decrease of between 20 and 30% is forecast for 2020 compared to the previous year.

It is essential to understand how the countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals have managed to recover or not based on the competitiveness of the tourism industry during the pandemic stage. It is necessary to evaluate the policies implemented by each government to maintain the competitive performance of their industries. This chapter proposes a comprehensive review of the policies implemented in the 10 most visited countries according to UNWTO data. Most of these policies are geared toward economic and financial flexibility strategies for companies and individuals in the industry under study. The effectiveness of these policies is evaluated with statistical information extracted from a unified UNWTO database to reduce biases in the effectiveness analysis. Finally, concluding remarks are offered on the effectiveness of the policies and their contribution to the sector's recovery.

Food insecurity in the Latin American region has become a complex problem that significantly impacts people's physical and mental well-being. The factors causing food insecurity are varied, ranging from social, political, and economic causes. Ensuring access to food is not a task with limited responsibilities; on the contrary, both public and private institutions must contribute to creating sustainable and innovative solutions. In general, it is necessary to ensure that the food system flows correctly, ensuring the availability of balanced and nutritious food for the diet of the inhabitants of a given nation. Alternative solutions apart from the government's help include sustainable cultivation, finger millet, and close cooperation with the farmers from the agriculture sector. The present research aims to consolidate theoretical information on the Latin American situation and seek the leading solutions of the parties involved.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, its importance, and its difficulties have been defined. This chapter seeks to present the digital tools that have been used during the pandemic period and that have been focused on promoting STEM education at different levels. The efforts made by educational organizations worldwide are mentioned. Different regions are shown presenting the best experiences of digital tools that enhance the elements of STEM and can be extended to different levels of education from elementary school to university. On the other hand, successful experiences of the use of technological tools from the teachers' point of view are shown, depicting the tools that have worked the most during the process of adapting to online classes to devise a much better educational plan that continues to take advantage of digital tools for STEM education.

This chapter is designed with the aim to determine the influence of sociodemographic variables on the capacity to generate social enterprises, such as sex, the student’s country, if only they study or if they study and work, as well as if they participate or direct a social enterprise in university students of Latin American business schools. This research adopted an inductive quantitative approach using a questionnaire. The participants were university students of business schools from Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Second-generation structural equation method (SEM-PLS) was used to analyse the results, using the SmartPLS 3.2.7 software applied to data on 3,739 university students. The results suggest that the entrepreneur role, labour situation, country and sex have a moderating effect in the relation between entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intention. Also, by using resampling technique Bootstrapping (5,000 times,p < 0.01), significance of the trajectory coefficients (beta) and effect size of the coefficients (beta) were measured to demonstrate significance. Finally, with this research the authors ascertain that entrepreneurial orientation positively influences entrepreneurial intention. thus explaining 42.4% of its variance. This chapter is the first attempt on investigating in university students of Latin American business schools about factors of entrepreneurship orientation and entrepreneurship intention, and has strong potential to contribute to development of policies and strategies to promote the growth of entrepreneurship activities in the universities.

This chapter explains how smart cities can be resilient in pandemic times through small business continuity strategies. A review of definitions of smart cities and urban and business resilience is presented to understand smart cities' resilience. The City Resilience Index is introduced as a tool that cities can use to measure and monitor their resilience in which the economy and social dimension highlight business continuity as a factor in promoting a sustainable economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses, as the engine of smart cities, have made their vulnerability to crises more evident and lack a roadmap or guideline to help them become resilient; for this reason, some business continuity strategies are proposed based on business paper reviews.

The higher education after the pandemic has put the entire university education system to test, bringing to light the need to build a genuinely sustainable academic system composed of administrative, pedagogical, and governance processes with a social and environmental scope and oriented to the training of resilient professionals, with the ability to manage a sustainable future. Seen from a management perspective, the actors of this system have begun to work focusing on rebuilding the postpandemic world into a sustainable planet for the continuity of humanity. Regarding students, the most affected individuals by the health crisis, UNESCO indicates that the impact of the temporary cessation of on-site activities has affected them in various dimensions in terms of student stability, bringing with it more significant evidence of crises due to social, emotional, cultural, and familiar problems, among others. In that sense, the change of means of interaction in student environments represents a negative turning point in the future of professionals who are now receiving education. This allows us to reflect on the high risks involved in achieving the acquisition of not only technical and specific skills and competencies of the professional specialties but also social, ethical, and citizenship skills that take much greater relevance, especially in this context.

Business models are constantly innovating to adopt international trends. Business models are shifting toward sustainable practices to meet expectations and standards and keep on with the rest of the competitors in their industries. Recently, sustainability took a greater emphasis, and this chapter seeks to describe the main sustainability initiatives generated in international markets. Through a qualitative study made of secondary sources, strategies aligned to different sustainability initiatives are shown. Interestingly, adopting technology, digital transformation, and blockchain can enhance sustainable development.