No abstract

Purpose Smart cities can be understood as an inclusive space for each and everyone to achieve their best options, within the framework of sustainable development, where institutions boost information and technology environments that help achieve the highest individual and social well-being with the aim of improving the lives of citizens. The youth group (between 15 and 24 years) was severely affected by the crisis. In this paper, youth employability, in relation to the new challenges of smart cities, is analyzed in the EU with the aim of assessing the influence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) skills on youth employability. Design/methodology/approach By means of a mean analysis and structural equation modeling, the differences between the Eurozone and the other countries in the EU is analyzed, as well as the importance of information technologies and the computer skills for increasing youth employability. Findings The results indicate that awareness of the importance of IT skills is greater in the Eurozone and that computer skills are highly significant to explain the employability of young people. Practical implications The achieved conclusions point out to the training on computers skills as a key factor for boosting youth employment. Social implications This work could provide some tools to help policymakers design instruments for increasing youth employment, as well as to provide training mechanisms to obtain the skilled workforce needed for the enterprises that emerged in the environment of smart cities. Originality/value The main original value of this work is to relate computers skills and the employment rates for youth in the framework of the European Union.

No abstract

Introducción. El consumo de sustancias psicoactivas e ilegales es un problema que muestra frecuencias crecientes de hasta 30% en estudiantes universitarios.Objetivo. Determinar la frecuencia y los factores asociados al consumo de sustancias psicoactivas e ilegales en los estudiantes de una universidad colombiana.Materiales y métodos. Se realizó un estudio de corte transversal. La población fue una muestra representativa de 343 estudiantes. Se utilizó una encuesta anónima sobre el consumo de sustancias psicoactivas en población universitaria y sus factores asociados.Resultados. El 31.5% de los encuestdaos manifestaron haber consumido alguna sustancia psicoactiva ilegal en algún momento de los últimos 12 meses. El promedio de edad del primer consumo fue 17±2.1 años, teniendo en cuenta que 61.1% correspondió a marihuana. Todos los factores asociados que se consideraron mostraron una relación significativa con el consumo en los últimos 30 días, un año y alguna vez en la vida. Asimismo, los problemas familiares fueron el factor asociado con mayor razón de prevalencia (RP=15.467, consumo último año), seguido de presión de amigos (RP=7.847).Conclusiones. El consumo de sustancias psicoactivas ilegales en la población estudiantil de la universidad analizada parece ser considerable, lo que sugiere una intervención con énfasis en los programas más involucrados.

Biological soil crusts (BSC) are complex biotic aggregates comprised of lichens, cyanobacteria, algae and other micro‐organism that are known to differently affect plant development along life cycle by selecting plant functional traits based on species‐specific effects. In addition, functional differences between interacting species should modulate their response ability to other environmental factors. Thus, it should be expected that the effects of the BSC on plants will be significantly determined by the own functional diversity in the community. To understand the multiple effects of BSC and the extent to which the functional diversity of interacting plant species can modulate their effects on the development of coexisting species, we applied an experimental approach by manipulating the initial functional diversity of the entire annual plant community and BSC conditions in a common garden trial. We crossed three sorts of assemblages built on the basis of plant stature (combinations of only large, or only small, or diverse sized plant species in pots) with three lichen‐dominated BSC disturbance scenarios (intact, or tiny mechanically disaggregated, or absent portions of BSC). BSC strongly affected the establishment and development of gypsophilous annual plants in a complex, multifaceted manner, which shifted throughout the plant life cycle. We demonstrated that lichen‐dominated BSC could act as a major physical barrier to the establishment of annual plants at a heterogeneous fine spatial scale. Such a restrictive effect was particularly marked in the presence of intact BSC. However, after annual plants overcame the restrictions imposed by BSC, the same biotic layer facilitated plant growth and fitness, regardless of its physical integrity, resulting in larger plants producing more fruits. Importantly, our results suggest that the functional diversity structure of the community may also drive growth and fitness of coexisting species by activating alternative coexistence mechanisms such as niche partitioning or competition symmetry. This study highlights the importance of plant neighbourhood features for the performance of interacting species, and confirms a novel, experimental way to explore the effects of community diversity on plants for the interpretation of assembly mechanisms. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.