Search results

There is a growing mismatch between the skill demands of the industry and the offerings of academia. One way of reducing this mismatch is by improving collaborations between practitioners and instructors using web-networking platforms. However, it is important to understand practitioners’ considerations while collaborating with instructors. Therefore, this study identified these considerations in order to infer inputs for the design of the graphical user interface (GUI) of a web-based platform for connecting instructors and practitioners.

A mixed method was adopted through a survey and focus group. A survey was used to capture practitioners’ considerations while collaborating with instructors for student development, and a focus group helped uncover an in-depth understanding of the study phenomena. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and thematic analysis.

The results show the willingness of practitioners to collaborate with instructors for student development, the ways by which practitioners are willing to meet instructors' course-support needs and their considerations in deciding to do so. Slight differences were observed between the results of the survey and the focus group regarding the ranking of the practitioners’ considerations. The study highlighted demographic differences in practitioners’ considerations when deciding on meeting instructors' course-support needs. The results provide a basis to deduce the GUI inputs of web-networking platforms for connecting instructors and practitioners.

This study revealed practitioners’ design needs and GUI inputs to facilitate the design of web-networking platforms for connecting instructors and practitioners. This study also contributes to user interface design principles, theories on individual differences and practitioners’ involvement in student professional development.

Uncertainty is one of the principal features of public administration in Colombia. Therefore, presenting a clear and consistent analysis is difficult. This uncertainty exists alongside interesting efforts to modernize institutions. Among the challenges faced by public administration in Colombia, we find corruption, illegal bands of drug traffickers, and the lack of trust between critical actors involved in governance. The aim of this chapter is to share an analysis that illustrates the difficulties and contradictions faced by those working in the public sector.

“Colombia is a legal social state organized in the form of a unitary republic, decentralized, with the autonomy of its territorial units, democratic, participatory, and pluralistic, based on respect of human dignity, on the work and solidarity of the individuals who belong to it, and the predominance of the general interest” (National Constitution, 1^st Article).

“Colombia is a legal social state organized in the form of a unitary republic, decentralized, with the autonomy of its territorial units, democratic, participatory, and pluralistic, based on respect of human dignity, on the work and solidarity of the individuals who belong to it, and the predominance of the general interest” (National Constitution, 1^st Article).

This paper aims to analyze the influences of context and methodological differences in how universities confront, report and manage carbon neutrality in selected Andean universities, contrasted with a university in the USA.

A sequential, mixed-methods design, using quantitative and qualitative approaches was applied. The data analysis is based on a systematic literature review with bibliometric analysis to identify how carbon neutrality in universities is understood and applied. Informed by the quantitative analysis, the qualitative phase compared the assessment methodologies, opportunities and obstacles in three Andean universities – EAFIT in Colombia, EPN in Ecuador and the UC in Chile – contrasted with MIT (USA) for comparative purposes beyond the region.

The bibliometric analysis points to the evolution of carbon management and carbon neutrality in universities and indicates how universities have applied methodologies and defined opportunities and obstacles. In this comparative experience, the contextual issues are brought to the fore. The conclusions highlight the importance of context in carbon neutrality assessment and argue against crude comparative metrics. While carbon assessment protocols provide data on which actions may be taken, the phase of carbon management development and the specifics of context – based on local institutional, geographical, climatic, cultural, socioeconomic and national policy conditions – are far more relevant for identifying actions.

This study only considered four universities, and the findings are not generalizable. The argument highlights the point that contextual factors generate important differences that may complicate simple comparisons based on the university's type or size. It also highlights the differences in the carbon calculation methodologies used by the institutions.

Results build on the recent publications that document the Latin American context. The article contributes to knowledge about Andean university commitments and actions relating to climate change and carbon neutrality. This knowledge can contribute to how universities in the region seek to apply different methodologies, set targets and the timing of actions and consider their contextual opportunities and obstacles.

Comparing university carbon footprints and carbon neutrality plans is an emerging topic, presenting methodological and institutional difficulties. This paper reveals some of these difficulties by comparing parameters, actions and implementation processes against contextual factors. While there is a drive for international and national comparisons and systematization of data on university carbon performance, significant methodological gaps still need to be resolved to account for these contextual factors.

This study aims to identify sustainability indicators in the energy sector through a literature review and validate them from the perspective and context of professionals working in the sector in an emerging economy country, Brazil, considering the relationship of these indicators with the achievement of the targets set by the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

To accomplish this, a literature review on sustainability indicators specific to the energy sector was conducted. Subsequently, a research instrument (questionnaire) based on the identified indicators was developed and a survey was administered to professionals in the field. The collected data were analyzed using the Lawshe method.

The results revealed 20 indicators, distributed across environmental, economic and social dimensions. Among these, nine indicators were validated, including global impacts, local impacts, renewable energy production as a percentage of total production, greenhouse gas emissions, access to electricity, investment in the energy sector, installed capacity in the electricity sector, energy prices in the end-use sector and energy distribution and conversion efficiency.

Consequently, it was possible to determine which SDGs are directly impacted and provide a foundation for future actions that can contribute to the sustainable advancement of the energy sector in emerging countries.

In a country where judicial institutions are known to be inefficient and where activists have traditionally not engaged in legal mobilization, what explains the emergence of NGO strategic litigation? The author argues that a change in the legal opportunity structure impacts how activists interact with the legal system. Comparing two states in Mexico, the author demonstrates that the introduction of private prosecution rights opened the door for activists to litigate femicide cases. The emergence of strategic litigation has helped improve compliance with international human rights law and has had a demonstration effect on how to use the law to press for accountability.