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The purpose of this paper is to characterize a new structural bi-material (scaffold and filler).

The bi-material has been obtained by means of an additive manufacturing system consisting of a fused filament fabrication extruder head and an epoxy resin depositor head. The new bi-material will consist of a thermoplastic material that will serve as the main structure and an epoxy resin that will serve as a filler and adhesion between layers. The creation of this new bi-material will improve the physical–chemical and mechanical properties with respect to the thermoplastic material. This paper will focus on the impact behavior of IZOD and the impact behavior of punctures.

The new polylactic acid (PLA) and epoxy bi-material allow improvements in toughness and puncture impact resistance compared to the PLA thermoplastic. This increase in toughness is between 20% and 30% depending on the orientation of the print. In the same way, the energy absorbed in the puncture impact test has been increased by 42%–48%.

The improvement in the impact absorption capacity of this new bi-material makes it ideal for the manufacture of medical parts in which customization, lightness and impact resistance are their main characteristics such as sports protection systems.

The originality of creating parts through additive manufacturing that combines a material generated with cold extrusion, such as epoxy resin and a material generated with hot extrusion, such as thermoplastics, lies in the unique synergy that this mixed and simultaneous technique offers. By uniting these two manufacturing methods, it allows the exploration of new physical and chemical properties in the resulting parts, taking advantage of the individual advantages of each material. This combination opens the door to the creation of components with a wider range of characteristics, from strength and durability to flexibility and temperature resistance, thus offering innovative and versatile solutions for various applications in fields such as engineering, medicine and design.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the aerodynamic improvements obtained in a wing section with a NACA 0018 airfoil manufactured using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique with regard to a smooth surface made by milling. The creation of micro-riblets on the surface of the airfoil, due to the deposition of the material layer by layer, improves the general aerodynamic performance of the parts, provided that the riblets are parallel to the flow line. The incidence of the thickness of the thread deposited in each layer – to be the variable on which the geometry of the riblets is based – was studied.

The wing section was designed using 3D software. Three different models were designed by rapid prototyping, using additive and subtractive manufacturing. Two of the profiles were manufactured using FDM varying the thickness of the layer to be able to compare the aerodynamic improvements. The third model was manufactured using a subtractive rapid prototyping machine generating a smooth surface profile. These three models were tested inside the wind tunnel to be able to quantify the aerodynamic efficiency according to the geometry and the riblets size.

The manufacture of an aerodynamic profile using FDM provides, in addition to the lightness and the ability to design parts with complex geometries, an improvement in the aerodynamic efficiency of 10 per cent compared with profiles with a smooth surface.

With the aerodynamic advantage gained through the use of FDM positions, the additive manufacturing serves as an excellent alternative for the manufacture of lightweight aerodynamic parts, with low structural loading and with low Reynolds number (∼5·105). This technological advantage would be applied to the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) industry.

The study carried out in this article demonstrates that the use of FDM as a manufacture process of end-used parts that are subject to movement generates an additional advantage that had not been considered. The additive manufacturing allows us to directly manufacture riblets by creating the necessary surface so as to reduce the aerodynamic drag.

Following the recommendation of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations in agricultural innovation, for taking advantage of emerging technologies, in benefit of small-farmers, the present study explores one of the most ancient crops in the world that privileging the application of tacit knowledge, to become a succulent plant called agave, into the so-called drink of the gods, the mezcal. For this, the purpose of this study is to discover innovation opportunities and reconfiguring knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production of agave-mezcal from Oaxaca, Mexico, using emerging technologies

Following a qualitative-quantitative approach, the study was carried out with 44 mezcal producers from Oaxaca, Mexico, through face-to-face session, questionaries’ application and field visits, based on the model of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (SECI) through Likert-scale questions, combining the non-parametric statistical analysis and digital compass, for the detection of technological opportunities

Basing on artisanal process, context-knowledge place, technological resources and SECIs model results, the opportunities must go in the route of labour in the logic of digital performance. In this sense, becomes relevant to develop an easy-use mobile application for improving the interaction of mezcaleros with external agents and another’s producers., A second proposal is the creation of mezcal-tech-hub, thinking as collaborative space, for promoting the interaction producer-to-producer and producer-to-external agent.

The value of the present study is the empirical description of knowledge dynamics interaction contained in the agricultural artisan production of agave-mezcal through SECI model; the identification of problems, failure or barriers contained in the knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production agave-mezcal; the proposal of innovation opportunities for reconfiguring the knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production agave-mezcal from a developing economy, using emerging technologies.

To analyse the degree to which elite student athletes acquire different soft skills (resilience, creativity, proactivity and problem solving) and the role they play in their perceived employability.

The study assessed 163 elite Spanish student athletes. A validated survey to measure perceived employability and the degree of acquisition of soft skills was employed. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to analyse the data.

Students and athletes perceived a high degree of development of these skills and employability. Six solutions accounting for 64% of the cases were identified for achieving high employability levels. Three profiles emphasised combinations of elevated resilience with either creativity or problem-solving skills. Education and competition levels differed depending on the skill combination. Identifying and promoting the transferability of student athletes’ sports skills to the labour market was important for enhancing their employability. Collaboration with academic institutions and increased awareness of social media can facilitate the successful integration of elite athletes into the labour market.

The development and analysis of soft skills in the context of sports provide a foundation for future research in the field of athlete employability. This paper provides important information for academic institutions, through a novel method in the field, on the development and transfer of student-athlete soft skills from sports to the labour market.

COVID-19 has spread so quickly and uninterruptedly that it has put great pressure on the capacities of emerging countries, especially the Latin America area. Its impacts that will have on businesses and entrepreneurs, it can be inferred that the duration of this crisis is still uncertain; thus, the aim on this chapter is to aggregate the current knowledge on how COVID-19 has impacted the entrepreneurship, and their expectations in the short and medium term. We examined 37 articles published between 2020 and 2021. To develop the discussion, we conducted descriptive review including year, affiliation of the first author, type of study, research methods in reviewed papers, and the origin of the empirical sample. We follow our thematic analysis within four broad categories: (1) crisis; (2) digitalization; (3) education; and (4) employment. Our results show that the call to address grand challenges, particularly relate to digitalization, public policies focused on supporting entrepreneurs and education in entrepreneurship in the Latin America context.

On 1 January 1929, Augusto César Sandino wrote his now famous declaration that aptly summarizes both the Sandino and the Frente Sandinista de Liberatión Nacional (FSLN, the Sandinista National Liberation Front) positions on the issue of foreign domination. He issued the statement in response to a letter from the officer commanding American forces in Nicaragua, Admiral D. F. Sellers. When Sellers suggested that Sandino's resistance would serve “no useful purpose,” Sandino replied:

In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of international markets, quality and food safety systems have become widespread among companies in the agri-food sector. This has led to a transformation of the agri-food sector that has also been detrimental for companies seeking to adopt such standards. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define the determining factors that affect the process of adopting quality and food safety standards in agri–food companies, from the implementation of standards in company quality management systems to the process of certification of these standards.

To this end, a literature review is carried out in which the motivations, benefits, barriers and contingency factors are identified, analyzing and delimiting the scope and contribution of each of them to the company’s quality management.

The results show that the most important benefits and motivations are access to new markets and compliance with legislation, while the most important barrier is the high cost of adopting QFS systems within the company. Finally, the most relevant contingency factor when adopting these systems is the size of the company. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the results are closely interrelated. In conclusion, the consideration of the determinants identified in the paper contributes to a better implementation of agri-food quality and safety standards by companies.

This paper combines an analysis of the determining factors for the adoption of quality systems in the agri-food industry with the identification of contingency factors that, despite their importance throughout the process, are scarcely analysed in the rest of the literature. Finally, the work points out future lines of research that are still underexplored, such as the relationship between quality assurance and financial development; the role of contingency factors in the process of adopting these systems and the analysis of HACCP systems in the agri-food sector.

This paper aims to report on the status and the development of education for sustainable development (ESD) and sustainability literacy (SL) in three Latin American (LA) higher education institutions (HEIs) business programs in Peru, Brazil and Colombia. The paper examines institutional efforts to both introduce and implement ESD curricula and provide SL.

The methods used in this paper included reviews of university Web pages and course materials. Structured interviews were also conducted with program leaders, to examine the level of ESD, as input affecting the business programs curricula of the universities concerned.

Initial findings suggest that, in the three HEIs surveyed, there is still a tendency to talk about issues related to ESD but actions that confirm this interest are not sufficiently advanced. The authors surveys a sample of business programs curricula and interviewed its leaders and a mixed and dated picture emerged. When compared to other regions particularly the USA and Europe, the findings show that the HEIs surveyed still have not developed enough work to distinguish conceptually between sustainable development, ESD and SL making the embedment of these concepts in the curriculum not fully developed.

In LA HEIs, the ESD message seems to be slowly taking ground, equipping HEIs to respond to SL concerns. Implementation and practice in some HEIs are still at an embryonic and conceptually confused stage with regard to LA HEIs SL. This paper sheds light to help ESD delivery. It offers some strategies for moving on from this inception phase to a more structured SL provision and ESD outlook.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the bioavailability of the Ilex paraguariensis polyphenols due to total polyphenols and changes in antioxidant capacity (AOC) in human plasma after an acute intake of 300 ml of an infusion of yerba maté (YM) for 120 minutes. Also, we evaluated the variation of plasma protein or plasma uric acid after the acute intake of YM infusion.

Seventeen healthy young volunteers participated in the determining plasma of total polyphenols concentration (TPC, Folin-Ciocalteu method), plasma AOC for ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid diammonium salt [ABTS] methods), plasmatic uric acid and plasma total protein over the 120 minutes test.

It was found that the bioavailability of YM polyphenols during 120 minutes was 49.3 ± 11.9 per cent, the TPC was increased to 6.0 ± 1.5 per cent, the plasma AOC was increased by FRAP 8.3 ± 3.3 per cent and by ABTS 6.0 ± 2.0 per cent and no significant variation of plasma protein or plasma uric acid was found.

Maté polyphenols has a thrifty effect on the natural antioxidant defenses of the body, which are beneficial to human health.

There was no information on the bioavailability of polyphenols in YM infusions prepared in its traditional form as “hot mate”.