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The objective of this study is to identify how risk and social variables are likely to be impacted by an increase in private sector participation in health insurance provision. The study focuses on the Chilean health insurance industry, traditionally dominated by the public sector.

Predictive risk modelling is conducted using a database containing over 250,000 health insurance policy records provided by the Superintendence of Health of Chile.

Although perceived with suspicion in some circles, risk segmentation serves as a rational approach to risk management from a resource perspective. The variables that have considerable impact on insurance claims include the number of dependents, gender, wages and the duration a claimant has been a customer.

As shown in the case study, to ensure that social benefits are realised, increased private sector participation in health insurance must be augmented by regulatory oversight and vigilance.

As it is clear that a “community-rated” health insurance provision philosophy impacts on insurance firm's ability to charge “market” prices for insurance provision, the authors explore whether risk segmentation is a feasible means of predicting insurance claim behaviour in Chile's private health insurance industry.

This article aims to describe the process of application of the technique of Observational Drift for prospection in three territories of Catalonia and to present recommendations for its application in research and socio-educational action with young people.

Observational Drift is a qualitative research technique that has proven effective as a practice for community prospection. The process of design and application in the pilot implementation of this technique is presented together with a reflection on the outcome.

The pilot implementation of the technique has made it possible, within the framework of the research project, to identify methodological recommendations such as the edition of an observation manual; the training of the research team; the identification of supporting computer applications and registration questionnaires. Records of youth dynamics have been obtained in the 3 communities studied: the town of Celrà, the western district of the city of Girona and the “Ciutat Vella” district of Barcelona, 3 environments of different sizes located in Catalonia, Spain.

Observational drift is a qualitative technique that shows, with methodological rigour, the observation of relational dynamics together with the relevant facilities and places, presenting a situational reality. The information obtained must be contrasted with other qualitative methodologies to be transferable. It is a methodological technique that requires a large team and a significant amount of work.

This technique provides the opportunity to carry out prospections, and introduce researchers and professionals to specific realities with a critical perspective. We recommend its use in qualitative research and socio-educational care to improve the design of socio-educational youth care programs and policies.

The use of this technique (Observational Drift) has been provided initial qualitative data to understand youth dynamics in three communities in Catalonia, Spain. This is interesting because helping research to improve community services addressing youth.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a 15-week dietary intake of cactus flour on metabolic parameters, body weight and dietary intake of rats.

Male Wistar rats were divided into four experimental groups (n = 8-10): control or westernized diets added or not of cactus flour. The following parameters were evaluated during the period of dietary manipulation: body weight, food intake, glycemic and lipid profile (oral glucose tolerance test, metabolic parameters, hepatic and muscular glycogen dosage), visceral and body fat (relative weight to body weight). Data were analyzed using Graphpad Prism®5, p = 0.05.

Animals fed on a Western-style diet together with flour cactus presented lower weight gain (335.7 ± 20.0, p = 0.05) over the evaluated period, even when the volume of food intake was not different among the groups. The addition of cactus flour to a Western-style diet appears to lower glucose levels at 30 and 60 min (p = 0.05), as shown in the glucose tolerance curve. There was a downward trend does fat stores, cholesterol levels and triglycerides. Therefore, it was concluded that this addition cactus flour is effective even when the diet is hyperlipidic, demonstrating its ability to attenuate risk parameters for the occurrence of metabolic syndromes such as sub fraction high cholesterol levels and glucose tolerance.

The addition of functional foods to diets may work to improve the harmful effects of this type of diet. Opuntia ficus indica has high nutritional value and has hypoglycemic and hypolipemic properties besides being antioxidant.

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 is to analyze to what extent the strategic actions implemented by the libraries contribute to the containment of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, without compromising the quality of library services for their learning communities.

The research has a mixed methodology: qualitative and quantitative with a technique of documentary review and statistical analysis of data through FanPage Karma software. The documents are public and are part of the teaching programs of the universities, webinars and courses given through accounts and official sites of the Mexican Federal Government, social networks, as well as groups of experts in national and international librarianship.

The research documents and describes the library services that have emerged in libraries since the quarantine and isolation period established by the Ministry of Public Education. It also shows the strategic actions adopted by universities (their advantages and disadvantages) and the digital competencies of the library professionals to meet the information demands of their communities. Additionally, actions implemented to provide a rapid response are discussed so that they can later be improved to have a comprehensive framework for improving quality in the remote library service.

This research contributes value to the field by critically analyzing libraries’ distance services, their innovations and the necessary professional competences required to achieve the institutional academic goals. Additionally, relevant services in the digital context are described.

The purpose of this paper is to report and to regulate the users’ documentary necessities of six Mexican universities involved, in a cooperative manner and during the period of confinement by SARS-CoV-2, through the Document Delivery Service (DDS).

A diagnostic was conducted within the participating institutions that considered the information resources and sources, documents requested and the number of users per institution, which were counted daily for one month. This research used documentary and quantitative methods.

The authors determined that DDS is a reliable service for information supply although it is going to be necessary to adjust legal schemes and interlibrary loan policies to develop a process and to adapt this one to the current information services in the future or “in our new normality”; DDS will have a high impact on the conformation of networks of librarian cooperation.

This study exposed the importance of DDS as a relevant service to provide information on demand by using information and communication technologies, which is a safe way to operate, avoiding exposure to physical contact, ensuring the continuity of research processes in the communities and always monitoring and promoting the copyright.

This paper aims to focus on the evolution of nonprofit cultural institutions in Mexico and their relationship with Spain, regarding the four traditional elements of a marketing mix. Specifically, this paper examines marketing advancements in the digital environment, placing emphasis on the virtual exhibition Códices de México: Memorias y Saberes, as well as the marketing activities related to prehispanic and novohispanic codices between 2010 and 2022.

The first part of the present study provides a chronological framework based on the four components of a marketing mix, illustrating the transition of Mexican and Spanish public cultural institutions from their foundations to current times. It particularly provides insight into their recent accomplishments in the digital environment, underscoring potential networking areas. The second part offers an in-depth examination of the exhibition Códices de México: Memorias y Saberes (INAH 2015) and a review of digital sources from Mexican government entities to investigate marketing activities related to prehispanic and novohispanic codices.

Due to the historical approach used to document the transition of nonprofit cultural institutions in Mexico and Spain to the digital era, this article sheds lights on co-joint efforts in the digital marketing domain around prehispanic and novohispanic codices. Additionally, it illustrates the activities used by Mexican cultural institutions during the past two decades to disseminate knowledge on codices.

Regarding the methodological aspects of using historical resources through digital archives, this study solely comprised marketing activities reported in the records available on the official portal of cultural institutions.

This study argues for the utility of the four components rooted in a traditional marketing mix as a tool to illustrate the evolution of marketing practices within the cultural heritage domain. It also highlights the role played by cultural institutions in Mexico and Spain in the digital environment to strategically network around cultural heritage. Additionally, it sheds light on the implementation of methods for presenting Mexican codices grounded in virtual terrain.

Pulque is a fundamental piece in the Mexican gastronomy and identifying consumers’ perception could help promote it and generate new opportunities of commercialization. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore the underlying factors that influence consumers’ perception toward pulque, and second, to identify groups of consumers according to their perception.

A questionnaire was designed and applied to 220 consumers within points of sales. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was undertaken and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used to identify different groups of consumers.

By means of EFA three factors were obtained: traditionality, bad reputation of pulquerías and functional beverage. In order to identify different consumption patterns among consumers, HCA was performed and three groups were identified: traditional, neo-consumers and neo-consumers in transition. The groups identified showed significant differences in their perception.

Pulque has recently gained interest in various consumer sectors, mainly among young consumers, who are consuming and promoting the beverage these days. In this sense, the results of this work could be used for its promotion and consumption in order to attract more consumers and make a contribution to the development of local economies.

This is the first work in Mexico to explore the perception of consumers toward pulque: the most important traditional fermented beverage in Central México. Results of this research suggest the appearance of a revaluation process among young consumers, more informed and with greater sensitivity toward traditional Mexican food, particularly in the case of pulque. Likewise, these results could be useful for producers and sellers to carry out commercial strategies and promote the drink.