The binarization of Swarm intelligence continuous metaheuristics is an area of great interest in operations research . This interest is mainly due to the application of binarized metaheuristics to combinatorial problems . In this article we propose a general binarization algorithm called K-means Transition Algorithm (KMTA). KMTA uses K-means clustering technique as learning strategy to perform the binarization process. In particular we apply this mechanism to Cuckoo Search and Black Hole metaheuristics to solve the Set Covering Problem (SCP). A methodology is developed to perform the tuning of parameters. We provide necessary experiments to investigate the role of key ingredients of the algorithm. In addition, with the intention of evaluating the behavior of the binarizations while the algorithms are executed, we use the Page's trend test. Finally to demonstrate the efficiency of our proposal, Set Covering benchmark instances of the literature show that KMTA competes clearly with the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Despite the importance of the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing and growing economies, little is known regarding the use of management control tools in them. In management control in SMEs, a holistic system needs to be modeled to enable a careful study of how each lever (belief systems, boundary systems, interactive control systems, and diagnostic control systems) affects the organizational performance of SMEs. In this article, a fuzzy logic approach is proposed for the decision-making system in management control in small and medium enterprises. C. Mamdani fuzzy inference system (MFIS) was applied as a decision-making technique to explore the influence of the use of management control tools on the organizational performance of SMEs. Perceptions data analysis is obtained through empirical research.

Motivated by the fact that Chile is one of the most seismically active countries in the world (located over the 'Pacific Ring of Fire'), we define a methodology for estimating the cost of housing reconstruction by modelling the occurrence of natural disasters as a Markov chain.Specifically, the states of the chain correspond to the different possible conditions of the housing infrastructure and the transition probabilities represent the possibility of change from one condition to another once the disaster has occurred.We prove that for the case of the 2010 Chilean earthquake, the matrix representing the process admits a stationary state vector.Using this vector, which we interpreted as the portion of time that the chain spends in each state in the long term, we define a cost function associated with total reconstruction.If this cost function is continuous, then this methodology allows policymakers to make decisions when facing the trade-off between current partial reconstruction and future total reconstruction.

The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the impact of the different effects of entropy states over the high-frequency trade of the cryptocurrency market, especially in Bitcoin, using and selecting optimal parameters of the Bayesian approach, specifically through approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). ABC corresponds to a class of computational methods rooted in Bayesian statistics that could be used to estimate the posterior distributions of model parameters. For this research, ABC was applied to estimate the daily prices of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency from May 2013 to December 2021. The findings suggest that the behaviour of the parameters for our tested trading algorithms, in which sudden jumps are observed, can be interpreted as changes in states of the generated time series. Additionally, it is possible to identify and model the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the series analysed in the research. Finally, the main contribution of this research is that we have characterised the relationship between entropy and the evolution of parameters defining the optimal selection of trading algorithms in the financial industry.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and measure the impact of the variables affecting the increase in the number of patents as a way to advance the development of policies in countries in terms of sustainable development based on innovation. An econometric estimation of a mixed model was used to measure the impact of patent development on the countries analyzed in this research. The findings suggest that economies that have some relevance in research and development have increasing numbers of patents. Thus, the empirical findings relate to the theoretical models that state that comparative advantages may be dynamic due to technological innovation. Finally, this paper shows that innovation is a central parameter to engage in research and develop a knowledge-based economy.

El envejecimiento poblacional a nivel global y local es una realidad que desafía a todas las disciplinas, incluyendo al diseño. La Región de Valparaíso posee la mayor proporción de personas ≥ de 60 años o Adultos Mayores (AM) del país. Entre las situacionesproblema que enfrenta este grupo poblacional, en especial aquellos que se encuentran en un entorno social con múltiples carencias y vulnerabilidades, está la malnutrición. Chile cuentacon un programa de alimentación complementaria orientado a los AM, sin embargo, no ha dado el resultado esperado. Este artículo describe y analiza una experiencia de diseño llevada a cabo en Valparaíso, en el contexto de un proyecto social que busca mejorar la eficacia del programa público de alimentación. La experiencia, metodológicamente, consistió en el diseño participativo de un sistema de preparaciones alimentarias saludables paraadultos mayores autovalentes, contemplando, por una parte, la caracterización sociodemográfica, de salud, hábitos y preferencias alimentarias de un grupo de adultos mayores autovalentes y vulnerables socioeconómicamente y, por otra, la realización de talleres de diseño participativo, para construir colaborativamente el sistema de comunicación del proyecto: marca y etiqueta de los alimentos. Se entregaron, además, preparaciones alimentariaspara ser degustadas y valoradas por los AM durante tres meses. La participación fue voluntaria con firma de consentimiento informado. Resultados: los atributos positivos de la marca y las etiquetas que más destacan los AM son los siguientes: el diseño novedoso, el nombre, los dibujos, los colores llamativos; complementariamente, los aspectos que se debieran ajustar, desde la perspectiva de los AM, son: letras más grandes y claras. Desde el análisis de la experiencia se identifican tres factores críticos para este nivel de diseño social: 1. El rol del diseñador en un “modelo social” de intervención profesional, 2. El rol del usuario-participante en el proceso de co-diseño, y 3. El rol del diseño en el contexto social.

The estuaries of the Aconcagua and Maipo Rivers of central Chile are receptors of residues that contain metals from anthropic activities including agriculture, mining and smelters, which have different levels in the two basins. This study postulates that the exposition to metals is different in the two estuaries and that their sediments contain bioavailable chemical agents that produce oxidative stress. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of estuarine sediments on the polychaete Perinereis gualpensis using oxidative stress biomarkers and to determine the metal concentrations in sediments and their accumulation in P. gualpensis . Sediments and organisms were collected in December 2015 and January 2016 in the estuaries. The Catapilco estuary was used as control, since its basin has little anthropic activity. The metal concentrations of Fe Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd were determined in tissues of the organisms and in sediments. The granulometry, conductivity, redox potential, pH and organic matter in sediments were determined, as well as catalase activity and lipid peroxidation. The results show that the concentrations of metals in sediments were higher in the estuary of the Aconcagua River: Cu: 48 ± 2 μg g −1 ; Fe: 154 ± 19 mg g −1 , Pb: 20 ± 3 μg g −1 and Zn: 143 ± 20 μg g −1 . In tissues, Pb and Fe were higher in the estuary of the Maipo River, while Cd was detected only in the Catapilco River mouth. Catalase activity was greater in the estuary of the Aconcagua River and lipid peroxidation in the estuary of the Catapilco River. Significant regressions were found between biomarkers of oxidative stress and metal concentrations in tissues of P. gualpensis . In conclusion, the sediments of the studied estuaries contain bioavailable chemical agents that provoke oxidative stress in P. gualpensis , which may be a risk for the benthic communities of these ecosystems. This species is proposed to monitor metals bioavailability and oxidative stress in estuarine sediments.

The Eastern South Pacific coastal zone is characterized by seasonal and interannual variability, driven by upwelling and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), respectively. These oceanographical conditions influence microbial communities and their contribution to nutrient and greenhouse gases recycling, especially in bottom waters due to oxygenation. This article addresses the seasonal hydrographic and biogeochemical conditions in the water and sediments during El Niño 2015. Bottom water active microbial communities, including nitrifiers, were studied using amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA (cDNA) and RT-qPCR, respectively. The results of the hydrographic analysis showed changes in the water column associated with the predominance of sub-Antarctic Waters characterized by warmed and low nutrients in the surface and more oxygenated conditions at the bottom in comparison with El Niño 2014. The organic matter quantity and quality decreased during fall and winter. The bottom water active microbial assemblages were dominated by archaea (Ca. Poseidoniales) and putative ammonia oxidizing archaea. Active bacteria affiliated to SAR11, Marinimicrobia and Nitrospina, and oxygen deficient realms (Desulfobacterales, SUP05 clade and anammox) suffered variations, possibly associated with oxygen and redox conditions in the benthic boundary layer. Nitrifying functional groups contributed significantly more during late fall and winter which was consistent with higher bottom water oxygenation. Relationships between apparent oxygen utilization nitrate and nitrous oxide in the water support the contribution of nitrification to this greenhouse gas distribution in the water. In general, our study suggests that seasonal oceanographic variability during an El Niño year influences the microbial community and thus remineralization potential, which supports the need to carry out longer time series to identify the relevance of seasonality under ENSO in Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS) areas.

In this research, statistical models are formulated to study the effect of the health crisis arising from COVID-19 in global markets. Breakpoints in the price series of stock indexes are considered. Such indexes are used as an approximation of the stock markets in different countries, taking into account that they are indicative of these markets because of their composition. The main results obtained in this investigation highlight that countries with better institutional and economic conditions are less affected by the pandemic. In addition, the effect of the health index in the models is associated with their non-significant parameters. This is due to that the health index used in the modeling would not determine the different capacities of the countries analyzed to respond efficiently to the pandemic effect. Therefore, the contagion is the preponderant factor when analyzing the structural breakdown that occurred in the world economy.

The bridges reinforcement is an expensive activity. In this line, new cheap ways to fix bridges have been developed. One of them is the bridges reinforcement through conversion of the cable-stayed arch. The main aim is minimizing the distances between the tensions of each lengthwise position between the original bridge and the bridge with the reinforcement by the cable-stayed arch. For that, it is necessary to know the order that the tension must be applied. In this paper, we resolve this problem by using a recent metaheuristic called Crow Search Algorithm which is based on the intelligent behavior of crows, this approach is inspired by the feature of crows to hide their excess food. The obtained results are compared other approximate techniques by using a well-known statistical test. Promising results reveal that this new algorithm is competitive to solve the proposed problem.

Este artículo analiza el documental de viaje sobre Chile del realizador norteamericano James FitzPatrick, titulado Chile, tierra de encanto (1937). A partir de él se comprenden los alcances de la imagen turística sobre Chile en la década de 1930. Las investigaciones sobre los distintos registros narrativos en torno a la experiencia del viaje y del turismo han tenido un importante desarrollo en las últimas décadas en el marco de los estudios culturales y de las representaciones. Los tradicionales diarios de viaje, pasando por las fotografías y postales como herramientas de registro y de promoción, hasta el cine como medio para acercar los destinos turísticos a públicos de distintas regiones del mundo, se han transformado en un excelente material para comprender cómo determinados destinos son presentados y el tipo de imagen que se construye sobre ellos.

To progress towards sustainable development, more companies are voluntarily committing to move from a linear economy to a circular economy (CE), mitigating resource consumption and waste generation. Despite the commitment of companies, there is a lack of understanding of how stakeholders view reduction, reuse, and recycling (3R), and the social aspects related to them. Stakeholders were asked how they perceive CE strategies, and more specifically, how they perceive that these strategies, observed in the practice of the 3Rs, transcend into social aspects. The objective of this research is to analyse stakeholders’ perception of CE strategies using the 3Rs framework and stakeholder theory. Using a qualitative methodology, we conducted a case study for Green Glass, a company that uses glass as an input to manufacture its products. By analysing the content of 20 interviews, 23 videos, and 24 news items related to the company, we found that Green Glass stakeholders perceive the contribution of the 3Rs towards CE and that these have social implications, such as supplier evaluation with social impact, responsibility for the product, and decent work.

The aim of this research is to relate clean energies, CO2 emissions, and economic variables. Relationships can be generated that characterize countries that manage to relate the use of clean energy with GDP, economic openness, and economic growth. We employ a quantitative methodology that utilizes clustering techniques to identify distinct groups of countries based on their susceptibility to climate change impacts. Subsequently, we employ a generalized linear model approach to estimate the investment behaviors of these country groups in alternative energy sources in relation to CO2 emissions and macroeconomic variables. The clusters reveal that the countries grouped in each cluster exhibit significantly distinct behaviors among the clusters. This differentiation is grounded in the countries under analysis, showing the evolution of the countries in terms of the use of clean energy and the emission of CO2 in relation to macroeconomic variables. According to the conducted research, there are different groups with differentiated behavior in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, which implies the implementation of policies consistent with the development characteristics of the countries and how they cope with climate risk. Moreover, as a result of this research, a recommendation for policy makers could be that sustainable and clean development countries are based in three different sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic, and social.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index Chile (DJSI Chile) is made up of leading sustainability companies that are investing great effort into sustainable management. This study correlates the DJSI Chile with the financial indices (return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), market value, earnings, and leverage) of companies that belong to the General Stock Price Index (IGPA) in Chile. The methodology used was quantitative, considering Chilean companies in the IGPA, including companies belonging to the DJSI Chile, applying a normality and correlation test based on the results. In conclusion, the study shows that in the results for the ROE, ROA, and leverage variables, there is no positive correlation with the DJSI Chile. However, the DJSI Chile is correlated with market value (for approximately 80% of the companies), and with earnings, there is a slightly higher correlation for the companies that belong to the DJSI Chile than for the remaining companies in the IGPA, thus if there exists a correlation between the DJSI Chile index and the variables market value and earnings, the index enables the prediction of those financial variables or predicts the finance indices (value market and earnings) of the companies that make up the DJSI Chile basing in the DJSI Chile index.

Sharpe’s ratio is the most widely used index for establishing an order of priority for the portfolios to which the investor has access, and the purpose of this investigation is to verify that Sharpe’s ratio allows decisions to be made in investment portfolios considering different financial market conditions. The research is carried out by autoregressive model (AR) of the financial series of returns using Sharpe’s ratio for evaluations looking over the priority of financial assets which the investor can access while observing the effects that can cause autocorrelated series in evaluation measures for financial assets. The results presented in this study confirm the hypothesis proposed in which Sharpe’s ratio allows decisions to be made in the selection of investment portfolios under normal conditions thanks to the definition of a robustness function, whose empirical estimation shows an average 73% explanation of the variance in the degradation of the Spearman coefficient for each of the performance measures; however, given the presence of autocorrelation in the financial series of returns, this similarity is broken.

The purpose of this research is to develop a theoretical model of the entrepreneurial decision of individuals and to measure the effect of a group of variables on this decision. The effects of variables such as income, age, gender, level of education, and entrepreneurial skills are studied. The results show that innovation and entrepreneurship are linked to the personal characteristics of individuals and the social context in which they develop, thus making it possible to guide social policies for the development of the economy. Logit and probit functions were used to measure the effect of the variables on the entrepreneurship phenomenon. The main findings of this research indicate that the variables with a significant impact on the success of entrepreneurship and innovation are income, age, gender, skill, and the interaction between the opportunity and education variables.

Este artículo analiza los orígenes y desarrollo del Departamento de Turismo, creado durante la administración de Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (1927-1931). Dependiente del Ministerio de Fomento y originado en el marco de la Ley de Fomento al Turismo de 1929, sus competencias se orientaron a la promoción e inspección de las actividades turísticas. Se argumenta que la creación de dicho departamento se enmarca en una visión estratégica del Estado de Chile en cuanto a comprender el turismo como una actividad económica fundamental, vehículo de la modernización del país y fuente de ingresos para el fisco.

When we face real problems using computational resources, we understand that it is common to find combinatorial problems in binary domains. Moreover, we have to take into account a large number of possible candidate solutions, since these can be numerous and make it complicated for classical algorithmic techniques to address them. When this happens, in most cases, it becomes a problem due to the high resource cost they generate, so it is of utmost importance to solve these problems efficiently. To cope with this problem, we can apply other methods, such as metaheuristics. There are some metaheuristics that allow operation in discrete search spaces; however, in the case of continuous swarm intelligence metaheuristics, it is necessary to adapt them to operate in discrete domains. To perform this adaptation, it is necessary to use a binary scheme to take advantage of the original moves of the metaheuristics designed for continuous problems. In this work, we propose to hybridize the whale optimization algorithm metaheuristic with the Q-learning reinforcement learning technique, which we call (the QBWOA). By using this technique, we are able to realize an smart and fully online binarization scheme selector, the results have been statistically promising thanks to the respective tables and graphs.

The subfamily Exogoninae was studied from samples collected in shallow waters of the fjords and channels of the Patagonian region of Chile. Two new species are described: Exogone yagan n. sp. and Erinaceusyllis carrascoi n. sp. The species Exogone heterosetoides, Erinaceusyllis bidentata and Erinaceusyllis perspicax are newly reported to Chile, as well as the genus Erinaceusyllis San Martín, 2005. Parapionosyllis brevicirra, Sphaerosyllis hirsuta and Salvatoria rhopalophora, n. comb., are also reported, with the latter redescribed. Finally, we redescribe Exogone anomalochaeta from Antarctica. Most of the species were found inside tubes of Chaetopterus cf. variopedatus; this habitat is new for Exogoninae. This research is a new taxonomic account of Syllidae in Chile and improves the knowledge of Exogoninae of the Patagonian region.

Despite substantial progress in understanding global biodiversity loss, major taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps remain. Decision makers often rely on expert judgement to fill knowledge gaps, but are rarely able to engage with sufficiently large and diverse groups of specialists. To improve understanding of the perspectives of thousands of biodiversity experts worldwide, we conducted a survey and asked experts to focus on the taxa and freshwater, terrestrial, or marine ecosystem with which they are most familiar. We found several points of overwhelming consensus (for instance, multiple drivers of biodiversity loss interact synergistically) and important demographic and geographic differences in specialists’ perspectives and estimates. Experts from groups that are underrepresented in biodiversity science, including women and those from the Global South, recommended different priorities for conservation solutions, with less emphasis on acquiring new protected areas, and provided higher estimates of biodiversity loss and its impacts. This may in part be because they disproportionately study the most highly threatened taxa and habitats. Front Ecol Environ 2022;