Luis Velazquez

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Verified

Luis verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• ScD
• Senior Researcher at University of Sonora

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the adoption of participatory science principles in a Mexican higher education Sustainability Graduate program to comply with a novel General Law of Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). Design/methodology/approach Through exploratory qua...

Universities, as hubs for educating future leaders and decision-makers, hold a crucial role in advancing sustainable development. However, the challenge of effectively integrating sustainability into university practices and student behavior remains significant. The Ecological Footprint, subjective well-being, and academic performance are three cri...

Attempts to implement sustainable development in industry are hampered by the fact that production processes are often not environmentally sound. Therefore, there is a need for innovation processes that are sustainable. This means that they need to be durable on the one hand, but also with reduced materials consumption and a low carbon footprint, o...

Research is a substantive function of higher education institutions, through which they encourage undergraduate and graduate students to master research methods to solve fundamental societal problems. Given the nature of distance education programs, the use of digital technologies is an invaluable competitive advantage in training new scientists in...

Many of the energy systems functioning across the developing world are poorly designed and largely inadequate to meet a country's commercial and domestic energy needs. This is especially so in Latin America, where poverty trends have been exacerbated by limited access to energy, which could be used towards supporting industrial and small-scale comm...

This chapter analyses the fundamental concepts within Sustainable Development Goal 9’s (SDG 9’s) targets to explore in-depth the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in supporting the industry in developing inclusive and sustainable industrialisation. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was constituted by the U.N. General Assembly i...

The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the life of millions of people around the world and brought changes in many contexts. In higher education institutions, teaching staff had to quickly adapt their teaching and research practices and revisit learning and student engagement strategies. In this context, this paper aimed to report on how the lock...

In 2013, the Mexican Constitution was amended to allow private firms to participate in the energy sector market. Consequently, the energy reform opened the energy market to private investors, ending the state monopoly of PEMEX and CFE. This article aims to assess the impact of the 2013 Mexican Energy Reform on energy household consumption and, if p...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many social and economic problems in Hispanic America, a region with fragile health and economic systems and many inequalities. The pandemic has negatively influenced various aspects of life and led to changes in various habits and behaviours, including consumption. However, the extent to which the pandemic has infl...

Plastics are used widely, and modern civilization would have to behave differently without them. However, plastics pose a threat to sustainable life. This paper focuses on some of the provisions being made for sustainable production to date and focuses on one key sector-plastic manufacturing-where sustainable production patterns are urgently needed...

In the scientific literature, academics and practitioners have advocated the interconnection between Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) and composting. However, despite the importance of separating organic waste at home and this activity's contribution to producing quality compost, relatively few scholars have explored its interconnection with...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in the work of hundreds of millions of people around the world. One of the groups affected is the academic staff at higher education institutions, whose original business model, i.e., presence teaching, suddenly changed to online learning. This has, in turn, exacerbated pre-existing problems such...

Impact and Implications This research highlights insights of sustainability scholars and activists within diverse Global South settings, whose accounts rarely inform psychological science and global discourses of sustainable development. Participants emphasize the role of poverty in sustainability efforts within the Global South, and note the exten...

Purpose The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 is at the core of many sustainability initiatives on Mexican higher education institutions (HEIs). Yet, progress to SDG 13 and the entire 2030 Agenda might today appear unlikely to meet. To change this situation, it is necessary to form professionals aware of the impacts of climate change and compet...

For decades, sustainability researchers have tenaciously insisted on transforming higher education institutions into more sustainable and inclusive campuses. Yet, as the 2030 agenda seems unlikely to be achieved, universities are struggling to meet the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) before the 2030 deadline. In addition, the post-COVID...

Objetivo: Evaluar si la actividad pesquera artesanal de jaiba se realiza con criterios de desarrollo sustentable en Bahía de Kino, México. Metodología: Modelo bioeconómico de Gordon-Schaefer. Resultados: Los incrementos del esfuerzo pesquero no están generando niveles de producción que maximicen beneficios, debido a fuertes presiones sobre esta e...

Purpose Students play an unequivocal role in sustainable universities as they are theorized to embody the mission of a sustainable university through a sustainable lifestyle and spread sustainability practices during their professional careers. Despite this, it is not well known how or why students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. This study...

The objective of this paper is to assess the sustainability of the agricultural production chain of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Brazil and Cuba, using a conceptual model that considers five sectors of sustainability supported in the Goals Programming philosophy as multicriteria analysis tools. A synthetic sustainability indicator is constructed to su...

Many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world are involved in a variety of sustainability initiatives. These are acknowledged to be important elements in fostering the cause of sustainability in HEIs, in further developing the organizations’ culture and in acting as enablers in the institutional embedding of sustainability. But despite...

The COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly disrupted progress toward many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Accordingly, the UN has underscored the need to design short-term responses to halt and reverse the adverse effects of the current COVID-19 crisis. However, some researchers have scrutinized the feasibility and note the potential counterpro...

For Ecuador, transforming its Productive Matrix from an exporting primary model to a diversified economy represents a challenge to achieve economic development in equilibrium with the environment and society, fundamental pillars of sustainable development and the 17 objectives of United Nations Agenda 2030. The objective of this paper is assess the...

Electronic waste (e-waste) has become an increasingly pressing problem worldwide because of the increase in the volume of waste, without a corresponding increase in the recycling rate. E-waste recycling models show a low percentage of reuse, at around 17.4% in the world, 11% in Latin America, and 3% in São Paulo City, Brazil. The sources of conflic...

In this paper, a switching fuzzy logic controller (SFLC) was proposed to reduce formaldehyde (FA) concentrations in a gross anatomy laboratory. At large vapor levels a hasty fuzzy logic controller (HFLC) first is activated to decrease the hazardous concentration. A switching criterion enables a second precise fuzzy logic controller (PFLC) that smoo...

International Sustainability Stories: Enhancing Good Practices

Este libro presenta un diagnóstico que da cuenta del potencial natural mexicano para impulsar el estudio, formulación y ejecución de proyectos sustentables en el ámbito energético y transferir conocimiento no sólo en áreas de amplio desarrollo, sino también en zonas de vulnerabilidad socioeconómica. Se exponen las nuevas formas de generar energías...

The COVID-19 pandemic was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in January 2020. As of November 2020, over 54 million cases and over 1 million deaths have been reported globally. The sudden coronavirus global pandemic has also pointed to the importance of tackling the global climate crisis even more urgently. This arti...

Aim: This paper presents a waste stream exploratory study with the purpose of identifying opportunity gaps to reduce environmental and health risks within the household waste stream in a small rural population in Northwestern Mexico by following the waste management hierarchy. Design / Research methods: The study consisted of three phases. Firstly,...

It has been widely contended that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an ambiguous concept that fails to strike the right balance between corporate economic interests and social demands. The present article argues that energy efficient principles can be used as a CSR tool to fulfill the sustainable development goals in the UN’s agenda 2030, so...

In the original publication, there is a mistake in the order of all figures. The correct version is given in this article.

Physical activity is a priority to improve health. However, a sedentary lifestyle is increasingly becoming the norm. For example, in Mexico, sedentarism has increased, especially among older women. This study evaluated the effects of aquafitness on the health of older women in Mexico. Healthy older women performed aquafitness exercise and were comp...

Within the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the Agenda 2030, this article aims to explain and understand the usefulness of energy audits and their potential to reveal energy efficiency opportunities in a small public building located in northwestern Mexico. The methodological structure was adopted from the Cleaner Production–Ener...

In recent years, the transnational movement of people has resulted in increasing tension and debates about national identity. The present research utilized a discourse analytic approach to examine accounts of national identity in the U.S. among native-born U.S. residents, Mexicans living in Mexico, and Mexicans living in the U.S. Our analysis focus...

To battle climate change, the search for sustainable solutions and the reduction of environmental impacts are activities that must be pursued in all areas of human life. This study aimed to conduct a Life Cycle Evaluation of the environmental aspects and potential benefits associated with two different innovative adaptations to a sauna bath. The fi...

College laboratories are generally perceived to be low-risk environments in comparison to industrial laboratories and plant operations. However, accidents in college chemistry laboratories have revealed the safety conditions to which both students and staff may be exposed. Improving the effectiveness of laboratory safety training programs and chemi...

Agricultural activity has been identified as causing environmental impacts, responsible for numerous types of pollution that effect water, soil, air and human health. However, changes in agricultural models would allow agriculture to reduce its emissions. To analyze the environmental impacts caused by maize production, a life cycle assessment was c...

Education is key to the advancement of environmental sustainability. Climate change education is a complex topic where a number of factors play key roles. One such factor, namely the ongoing debate around whether climate change is real poses a significant challenge to the delivery of a climate change curriculum. This factor and others suggest the n...

This chapter shows an interesting unsustainability case study in the transportation sector at the City of Mexico called “HOY NO CIRCULA”, been translated into English as the NO DRIVING DAY PROGRAM. For more than two decades, this program has failed in reducing air pollution and in protecting public human health. In other words, the program has crea...

Inadequate water management stresses water resources, impacting not only economic but also social and environmental sectors. Its consequences negatively impact the gross domestic product of affected countries by limiting economic growth. Arid coastal regions are the most severely affected due to the confluence of periods of greater demand and perio...

Climate change is a complex and multifaceted issue. It is one that must concern all people and takes the work of the entire globalized world to eradicate. Consequently, a globally connected solution is paramount to sustainability. This chapter considers the potential and significance of embedding intercultural experiences and globally networked lea...

Much of the energy used in the world is associated with the construction sector, and one of the ways to reduce that energy consumption is to do each constructive process in an energetically efficient way. The aim of this paper is to present results from an energy efficiency program in the construction of a business complex in Hermosillo, Mexico, pa...

In 2015, the United Nations defined sustainable industrialization as one of seventeen sustainable development goals. In this article, an analysis is performed to assess the opportunities for ergonomics to contribute toward sustainability in the manufacturing industry. To that effect, a case study was carried out in a maquiladora of electronic compo...

Energy efficient policies and the appropriate management of energy supplies have become essential in developing and keeping competitiveness across all industries and forms of industrial production. The scientific contribution of this article is the presentation of competitive advantages that can be developed from efficient management of energy reso...

Traditional market research about the vermicompost includes cost-benefit analysis without considering environmental variables. Thus, they do not represent the real value of the impacts generated in these processes. The elaboration of vermicompost may affect the environment if during its production process it consumes more resources than their provi...

Se presentan los resultados de los análisis microbiológico, huevos de helminto y químico elemental de los lodos que son depositados en el suelo de un campo deportivo y que provienen de una planta de tratamiento de aguas residuales ubicada en la ciudad de Hermosillo, Sonora. Usando diferentes técnicas se analizaron los parámetros de coliformes total...

Purpose At the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris, 195 governments reached an agreement pivotal not only for countries but also for companies. The Paris Agreement makes it impossible to practice business as usual. The transition to a low-carbon coffee industry could be achieved by fo...

Over the last decades, Sustainable Development (SD) has been a focal point in a large number of international political and academic settings. In order to encourage this change, education needs to evolve into an education committed with the sustainability, particularly higher education (Lambrechts, et al. 2013). This paper aims to describe experien...

Objective To identify the presence of environmental factors linked to the onset of allergies and asthma in the homes of children participating in an early detection program that were identified with sensitivity to common allergens in the region of Sonora, Mexico. MethodsA walkthrough assessment was carried out in the homes of sensitized children; t...

El presente escrito muestra los resultados obtenidos con el cálculo de indicadores para conocer la contribución que ha tenido la Universidad de Sonora, Unidad Centro, a la Educación para la Sustentabilidad, de acuerdo con los principios del Decenio de las Naciones Unidas de la Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible, establecido por la UNESCO del 2...

Nail care salons have become a profitable, familiar business around the world; however, this service business has been linked to occupational exposures and, occasionally, to air pollution. Despite these alleged links, there is currently no scientific evidence to conclude whether activities in nail salons affect the health of workers or the environm...

This article provides relevant results of a cleaner production program conducted into a company dedicated to remanufacturing air compressors in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The overall study design was based on an integration of acknowledged cleaner production and pollution prevention programs. Although this kind of program also involves...

La industria de la construccion es la que presenta mayor riesgo de generar un desorden musculo esqueletico como resultado de traumatismos pequenos y repetidos en los trabajadores. El objetivo de esta investigacion es prevenir, reducir y/o eliminar los riesgos ergonomicos de las actividades manuales en el area de la construccion de obra civil en una...

The meat processing industry, due to its high energy consumption, needs to be assessed in an energy usage basis. This paper reports the results and implications of an energy audit in a meat processing industry. In addition, this work provides a comprehensive and practical approach to energy saving measures in the assessed company to recognize facto...

Universities play a crucial role in promoting sustainability principles and should contribute to a paradigm shift towards a more sustainable society. They are essential drivers of education for sustainable development (ESD) and constitute fundamental vehicles to explore, test, develop and communicate conditions for transformative change (Disterheft...

Hablar de minería y sustentabilidad suena contradictorio, ya que es bien sabido el impacto ambiental que se genera por la extracción de recursos. Sin embargo, existen empresas mineras que están trabajando para ser seguras y amigables con el ambiente. Un ejemplo de lo anterior se presenta en este estudio, cuyo objetivo fue identificar los riesgos oc...

Although traditionally the maquiladora industry had succeeded in strengthening the Mexican economic growth, this has been also criticized because their collateral effects not only on environment but also on working conditions of the maquiladora workers. This study has the purpose of deepening the actual understanding of the diverging occupational a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify research priorities to guide transportation stakeholders in their practice, education, and research. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review of published, conference proceedings, agency reports, books, and web site documents was conducted, aiming at the identification of the diverging st...

This article reports on the curriculum design of a distance learning sustainability bachelor’s degree in order to broaden the coverage and increase the quality of education for sustainable development in Mexican higher education. The goal of this case study was to describe the useful of the competence-based curriculum design to increase the actual...

This paper aims to present the relevant results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study conducted on printed matter under a sheet-fed offset printing process by a company located in northwestern Mexico. Different scenarios were simulated in order to support decisions related to the improvement of environmental performance along the production proces...

In the search for renewable energy sources, solar energy appears, among others, as a powerful alternative; mainly for those countries located at Earth’s equatorial region. This is the case of a Fresnel device that uses solar radiation to warm-up the air; for instance, within saunas. Authors coined the term sustainable technological innovation to re...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the deepening understanding of the diverging pollution prevention (PP) and occupational and safety practices undertaken in the Mexican maquiladora industry. Design/methodology/approach – This study was outlined by a modified version of the PP Program based on a continuous improvement cycle, which i...

The healthcare sector is an important contributor to mercury (Hg) pollution because of the potential presence of mercury in thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, amalgams, etc. There are also other potential sources of mercury in this sector which are used frequently and in high volumes where the presence of the metal is not obvious and which might b...

A ray tracing model of a solar tower heliostat field was developed using SolTrace software. The optical performance of the Heliostat field was evaluated as function of the total number of heliostats, the time and date, and the aiming errors. The calibration of the simulated data was made by taking into account the results of measured experimental t...

Indoor occupational exposure to hazardous concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) at small workshops could have impact in the health of the workers, resulting in severe intoxication, respiratory diseases or even cancer. Therefore, controlling the concentration of (VOCs) in indoors is necessary to avoid injuries of the workers. In this ma...

Sustainable consumption of water is nowadays vital around the world because water shortages have prevented economic growth in many regions. This article reports the strategy in the University of Sonora for conserving this natural resource by presenting a case study constructed through direct participation in the design, operation, and maintenance o...

The waste derived from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is of interest now worldwide, in some countries due to the rapid technological development and in others due to technological dependence through the acquisition of second hand equipment. Therefore it is necessary to implement strategies for the sustainable management of electrical an...

Education for sustainable development (ESD) has emerged during last years as a way to promote a better culture of respect, balance and justice for the environment and society. This document aims to describe relevant results of a study conducted in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico, about sustainability programs in secondary technical schools. The stud...

The United Nations have been promoted sustainable development with the vision of the twenty-first century challenges and, within business sector, every day there are more organizations considering to adopt this paradigm of development. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are awaiting proven practices consistent with their size and resource...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to debate how companies may better become a sustainable learning organization by offering the most used and insightful concepts of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – Through literature review, learning organization and sustainability perspectives are explored and compared. Findings – Learning sust...

Purpose The purpose of this article is to explore the pollution prevention practices performed by workers in the Mexican auto refinishing industry as well as their implications on the occupational, safety and environmental health of workers and community. Design/methodology/approach Interviewer‐administered questionnaires were conducted with shop...

Industrial engineering is one of the five main fields of engineering that endeavour to improve the quality of life in society; ironically, actual production and services patterns have created unintended side effects such as environmental pollution and human health problems. This chapter seeks to provide an introduction to the early developments in...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has been present in the literature for more than a decade. This concept encourages corporations to make substantial commitments to society by taking into account their social, environmental and economic impacts on the environment and society. At a first glance, CSR programmmes would benefit bo...

This paper is aimed at describing the evolutive strategy that the University of Sonora is following to promote regional sustainable development initiatives in Northwest Mexico as well as debating the challenges in implementing it effectively. The institutional partnership and outreach efforts with local industries, community groups, governmental ag...

Purpose The concepts of sustainable development (SD) and management systems (MS) are finding increasing acceptance in a variety of fields, including academy, politics, and non‐governmental organizations. These concepts are also being used by the general population. This paper aims to describe the perception of different experts by discussing the us...

The automotive repair and refinishing industry has been studied intensively in industrialized countries, in part due to use of hazardous chemicals such as isocyanates and solvents, but little is known about industry practices in the developing world. The main objective of this paper was to investigate environmental and occupational work practices o...

This paper is aimed at describing the evolutive strategy in which the University of Sonora is following for optimizing the organic and inorganic material life cycle in the products used on campus. The institutional strategy has be oriented towards new patterns of behaviors in order to integrate the principles of sustainability as a guideline for pr...

This article presents a comprehensive managerial model for a sustainable university created by D.Sc. L. Velazquez with empirical data collected from about 80 higher education institutions around the world. The sustainable university model offers a clear perspective about how people responsible for sustainability initiatives achieve their initial mo...

Purpose The goal of this study is to further the existing understanding of the diverging pollution prevention and occupational and safety practices undertaken in the Mexican maquiladora industry in order to promote the creation of a sustainable production system. Design/methodology/approach This study explores in detail the occupational health, sa...

Purpose To explore some of the factors that could obstruct the implementation of the sustainability initiatives in higher education institutions as a way for assisting key players to improve the effectiveness of their potential or current sustainability initiatives and being ready for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Developme...

This paper describes the relationship between the Work Environment Department of the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the United States and the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Sonora in Mexico to promote P2 practices in northwest Mexico. The relationship is an example of how international collaborations can be fostered b...