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Ground Penetrating Radar is a multidisciplinary Nondestructive Evaluation technique that requires knowledge of electromagnetic wave propagation, material properties and antenna theory. Under some circumstances this tool may require auxiliary algorithms to improve the interpretation of the collected data. Detection, location and definition of target’s geometrical and physical properties with a low false alarm rate are the objectives of these signal post-processing methods. Basic approaches are focused in the first two objectives while more robust and complex techniques deal with all objectives at once. This work reviews the use of Artificial Neural Networks and Machine Learning for data interpretation of Ground Penetrating Radar surveys. We show that these computational techniques have progressed GPR forward from locating and testing to imaging and diagnosis approaches.

The improper disposal of potentially harmful products is a problem that affects both developed and emerging countries. Using the Values-Beliefs-Norms (VBN) theory, this research attempts to uncover the key differences and similarities between both contexts and to extend the theory to include trust-in-government (TIG) as a moderating variable.

The data used in this study were drawn from two samples: Mexicans and Americans by administering a paper and pencil survey. To test the conceptual model and to contrast the results, partial least squares (PLS-SEM) and multigroup analysis were used.

This research finds that consumers in emerging countries like Mexico are less likely to act on their beliefs to engage in protesting behaviors when confronted with an environmental problem such as the improper disposal of potentially harmful products. Consumers on both sides of the border are more likely to engage in consumer activism behaviors if social economic norms (SEN) are considered. Furthermore, the multi-group analysis revealed that US consumers' TIG moderates the relationship between awareness of consequences (AC) and consumer activism intention (CAI) contrasting with Mexican consumers where such moderating relationship does not exist.

This research makes a significant contribution to the literature by evaluating TIG as an important predictor of consumer activism behaviors. TIG can significantly affect consumer activism behaviors in the United States, but not in Mexico. It also demonstrates that SEN rather than social benefit norms (SBN) can trigger CAI in both samples.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

Education systems are currently being affected by COVID-19, given the suspension of academic and administrative on-site activities. This has hampered people’s access to connectivity services to continue their class sessions, in turn affecting the mental health of many students. The purpose of this study is to validate the scale used to measure the relationship between the various stress factors and academic activities performed by students in a teleworking environment in situations of isolation or confinement. A 36-item online questionnaire was designed and applied during the month of May 2020, obtaining 320 responses. According to the results of the survey, it is important to highlight that the teleworking scale is statistically valid and reliable for use in other contexts, and it is hoped that the results obtained can be used to develop strategies to strengthen the teaching-learning process and the teleworking modality.

The authors propose a conceptual model that explains how interorganizational relations in public-private IT outsourcing (ITO) may enhance public value in public administrations through process improvement.

The research design is based on the development of a theoretical framework based on the integration of transaction cost theory (TCT) and the resource-based view (RBV), and empirical interview data from IT managers in state and local governments in Mexico.

First, public-private ITO does produce specific process improvements in Mexico's public administration given its specific institutional context. Second, public value depends on the alignment between the characteristics of IT project activities and the attributes of outsourcing as a mode of governance. Third, process improvements moderate this relation. Fourth, relevant process improvements are identified on an empirical basis, showing the importance of institutional conditions in the determination of public value through interorganizational relationships in the public sector.

The authors suggest new roles for public managers as orchestrators of interorganizational relations, and specify the orientation relevant process improvements could take in a specific institutional context.

Through this study, it is possible to gain both theoretical and practical understanding of process improvements in public administrations to enhance public value.

This article introduces a model of knowledge creation in consciousness, the creation of explicit knowledge in six forms and its register and organisation in documents.

Assuming the premise of three realms of reference to knowledge and two forms of reference to entities, this article, through a phenomenological perspective, deduces a model of the creation of knowledge in consciousness and the creation of explicit knowledge in six forms and its register in documents.

Two basic types of knowledge are introduced: situated knowledge and theoretical/normative knowledge. Considering three realms of reference of knowledge – the space–time realm, subjectivity realm and linguistic realm – six general types of knowledge are deduced. Finally, three layers of knowledge organisation are presented: classification and mapping documents, theoretical/normative documents and documents of situations.

This article can contribute to the development of more efficient forms of creation of explicit knowledge, its register in documents and the development of more efficient knowledge organisation and management systems.

Relying on established perspectives of the realms where subjectivity is immersed, this article discusses how knowledge is created in consciousness and registered in documents. It also presents a novel perspective of types of knowledge through the combination of dimensions, realms of reference and forms of reference to entities.

This paper aims to find the incidence of university sustainability, as sustainability practices, in university performance at private universities.

Quantitative research using structural equation modelling. Data collection and analysis followed sustainability and performance scales from previous research. The scales were validated by surveying students, teachers and administrative staff of five private universities in Medellin, Colombia. The responses (i.e. 5,344 useful answers) were collected between April 2019 and December 2020 and analysed using the Smart partial least square (PLS) software and the PLS calculation methodology.

The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the sustainability and performance university measurement models and validated the dimensions proposed to determine sustainability and performance holistically in private universities. The results confirmed that universities implementing sustainability holistically in their system positively impact their performance as higher education institutions. The university sustainability is forecasting the University Performance in about 60% of the universities analysed, with a considerable contribution from sustainability in outreach and strategic management.

This study was cross-sectional and empirically validated the model of sustainability and performance at five private universities in a single period and territory. A broader validation from longitudinal studies considering other universities in Colombia and Latin America is suggested to understand local and regional trends better.

Results provided a model for better understanding the incidence of sustainability in performance holistically at private universities in developing countries such as Colombia. In addition, the proposed dimensions and model could help regional decision-making on higher education.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts relating a structural equation model and inter-university research on the incidence of sustainability in private university performance. This work contributes to a local consensus on sustainability and performance models at private universities. Furthermore, from this research emerged a joint policy framework for incorporating sustainability holistically and regionally as an effective strategy for universities and their commitment to sustainable development.

This paper aims to analyze how Colombian Universities have incorporated the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their missions and visions.

The study used a documentary design to analyze the content of the missions and visions of the 86 Colombian Universities registered with the Ministry of National Education (MEN).

The study shows that universities are primarily aligned with Goal 13 as follows: climate action and this alignment is carried out to a great extent by the university’s governance, culture and activities. In contrast, there was a predominance of intentions to address the social dimension of sustainable development (SD).

The study focused on examining universities’ missions and visions, which leaves out other sources of information that could account for university practices linked to the SDGs and sustainability.

The study’s results reveal the degree to which the universities are aligned with the SDGs in Colombia, which serves as a basis for the formulation of guidelines by the MEN and other organizations to strengthen the processes that contribute to the 2030 Agenda.

Research on how universities align with the SDGs is not a new topic, but it is scarce in the Colombian context. This research contributes to this gap by addressing the topic from a holistic and comparative perspective of SD education.

This chapter presents the historical process of the Urban Agriculture (UA) at Rosario, in search of a socio-productive model with a high component of social inclusivity. It considers the first glimpses in 1987 through the conformation of the first Urban Group Farm until the present day where UA has become a public policy. This process has created its own dynamics under the different organisational structures of the municipality, by successfully integrating the production, the circulation and the consumerism of healthy products through fairs and community-based organisations; also incorporating the different suburbs of the city. Agroecology is presented as the conceptual and methodological framework. The systematisation of this experience aims to make visible the course pursued by the UA in Rosario offering a description which allows to understand its processes and to obtain more specific details of the bases and principles of Agroecology. The main results that are highlighted from this process are (1) Consolidation of a municipal public policy of urban agriculture, which guarantees democratisation and access to means of production for agroecological food cultivation, its commercialisation and distribution in the different districts of the city; (2) Social transformation of neighbours who found in the horticultural identity a personal and collective life project, consolidated as reference in the city, the country and the region; (3) Presence of a critical citizenship that is identified as a protagonist, through different roles on sustainability of the Urban Agriculture Programme.