Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming increasingly common in people’s lives. The educational field is one of the most reflective on the importance of its adoption. Universities have made great efforts to integrate these new technologies into their classrooms, considering that every future professional will need AI skills and competencies. This article examines the importance of student perception and acceptance in adopting AI tools in higher education effectively. It highlights how students’ positive perceptions can significantly influence their motivation and commitment to learning. This research emphasizes that to integrate AI into university curricula successfully, it is essential to include its technologies in all areas of study and foster positivity among students regarding their use and training. This study’s methodology applied the validated instrument “Perception of Adoption and Training in the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools in the Profession” to a sample of Mexican students. This exploratory analysis highlights the need for educational institutions to understand and address student perceptions of AI to design educational strategies that incorporate technological advances, are pedagogically relevant, and align with the students’ aspirations and needs.
Introduction: inequality in access to healthcare is a significant issue globally, with disparities in access to health services, health outcomes, and health-related behaviors. Latin America is known for its income and wealth inequality, and perceptions of inequality in health services during the COVID-19 pandemic are crucial to consider in formulating public policies in this sector. Objective: to determine the factors associated with the perception of inequality and access to health services in Latin America in 2020. Methods: the study uses data from the 2020 Latinobarómetro and focuses on socio-demographic, perception, and access to health services factors. Three supervised learning algorithms were used: logit regression with Lasso regularization algorithm, decision tree, and random forests. Results: the study found that the factors associated with the perception of inequality and access to health services in Latin America in 2020 include age, education, income, health insurance, and type of healthcare facility used. Conclusions: the study provides valuable insights into the perception of inequality associated with access to health systems in Latin America, one of the world's most unequal regions. Public policies addressing this issue would positively influence Latin Americans' objective and subjective quality of life. However, there is a need for more consensus on appropriate indicators for measuring access to health, and more studies analyzing access to health services during the pandemic and users' perception are necessary
2 January 2024 in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Water is a fundamental aspect of achieving sustainable industries, and it is essential for firms to make efficient use of it. However, not all companies have sustainable water management practices in place. In this study, we aim to answer the research question: What factors influenced the efficient use and saving of water in the Colombian manufacturing industry in 2020? We used data from the Annual Manufacturing Survey and the Industrial Environmental Survey conducted by DANE to investigate this question. Our study grouped the variables into four categories: Environmental commitment, Risk mitigation, Innovation, and Location. We used two supervised learning machine-learning algorithms—decision tree and logit regression with LASSO regularization—to analyze the data. The results underscore those investments in wastewater treatment, total water consumption, and commitments to air and climate protection emerge as pivotal drivers for embracing sustainable practices. Moreover, the geographical location of companies significantly influences the likelihood of implementing water conservation initiatives. To enhance efficient water use and conservation in the Colombian manufacturing sector, several targeted public policies are recommended. These include offering fiscal and financial incentives to encourage investments in advanced wastewater treatment and reuse technologies. Additionally, advocating for specialized training and environmental education programs tailored for corporate personnel is crucial. Moreover, establishing initiatives for environmental certification and eco-labeling within the corporate sector can significantly promote sustainable water practices. Lastly, enforcing more stringent environmental regulations and standards, especially for industries like Textile, Metallurgy, and Manufacturing of rubber and plastic products, is essential to ensure responsible water management across the sector.
This article is intended to establish the variables that explain the behavior of the CiteScore metrics from 2014 to 2016, for journals indexed in Scopus in 2017. With this purpose, journals with a CiteScore value greater than 11 were selected in any of the periods, that is to say, 133 journals. For the data analysis, a model of standard corrected errors for panel was used, from which a coefficient of determination of 77% was obtained. From the results, it was possible to state that journals of arts and humanities; business; administration and accounting; economics, econometrics, and finance; immunology and microbiology; medicine and social sciences, have the greatest impact.
Despite the growing focus of educational institutions on students’ practical abilities beyond theoretical knowledge, the perception that students have of their competencies is crucial for their effective application in professional contexts. Accordingly, this paper reports a study of 435 university students attending ten universities in eight countries in the Americas (Chile, Colombia, Mexico), Asia (Pakistan and the Philippines), and Europe (Spain, Finland, and Serbia). The goal was to measure their perceptions of their achievement of complex thinking competency and its sub-competencies. The intention was to identify how cultural, educational, and socioeconomic differences among countries account for the variances in the students’ self-assessment of competencies, impacting their professional preparedness. The study focused on the competency of complex thinking, considering its critical importance in solving current environmental problems. The analysis employed the non-parametric Brown–Forsythe statistical test and Bonferroni correction, given the non-normality and heteroscedasticity of the data. It was found that (i) there is no statistically significant difference by gender; (ii) there are statistically significant differences in all types of thinking per country, geographical area (continent), and Human Development Index (HDI).