Mobility, migration and networking within the Cuban scientific community: developing scientific capital in the digital age

Since 1959 Cuba has developed a strong base of higher education and has used this as a foundation for an active scientific research sector to support the national economy. Following the global political changes of the early 1990s the country has maintained this trajectory. These influences have impacted on the normal processes of mobility, migration and networking in the scientific community. This paper reports on a programme of investigation which will study the influence of changes in the global scientific community and the impact of emerging digital communication technologies on the development of the Cuban scientific community. The main historical influences and the contemporary context are reviewed, a pilot study using bibliometric analysis is reported and some key propositions examined which will be used to guide future studies and define investigative questions

Evaluating patterns of national and international collaboration in Cuban science using bibliometric tools

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that collaboration was a key characteristic of Cuban science to maintain their scientific capacity during a period of economic restrictions and an important feature of Cuban science policy and practice for the benefit of society. Design/methodology/approach -- Collaboration was studied through Cuban scientific publications listed in PubMed for the period 1990-2010. The search was carried out using the advanced search engine of PubMed indicating oCubaW in the affiliation field. To identify participating institutions a second search was performed to find the affiliations of all authors per article through the link to the electronic journal. A data set was created to identify institutional publication patterns for the surveyed period. Institutions were classified in three categories according to their scientific production as Central, Middle or Distal: the pattern of collaboration between these categories was analysed. Findings -- Results indicate that collaboration between scientifically advanced institutions (Central) and a wide range of national institutions is a consequence of the social character of science in Cuba in which cooperation prevails. Although this finding comes from a limited field of biomedical science it is likely to reflect Cuban science policy in general. Originality/value -- Using bibliometric tools the study suggests that Cuban science policy and practice ensure the application of science for social needs by harnessing human resources through national and international collaboration, building in this way stronger scientific capacity

Diseño y programación de un software de transformación de matrices para el análisis de redes

For many professionals linked to Social Network Analysis (SNA), it is important to transform their data for further studies. Often, the data of systems where exist ties are stored in elementary matrices, and not in full matrices, frequently used in SNA software. The objective of this paper was to design and program a modifiable software with the potential to transform three columns matrices [A (group 1), B (group 2) and C (ties between groups nodes)] to full and symmetric matrices, and to analyze the advantages of software regarding storage and data processing problems. To perform the necessary operations was developed a transformation matrix method and an algorithm (pseudocode) of this method. The algorithm was programmed in wxBasic to improve the compatibility between operating systems and to make the user modification easier, obtaining stable and easy-to-use software.Para muchos profesionales vinculados al Análisis de Redes Sociales (ARS), es de importancia transformar sus datos para realizar estudios posteriores. Es frecuente que los datos de sistemas donde intervienen conexiones se almacenen en matrices más elementales que las matrices completas o “full matrix”, frecuentemente utilizadas en programas de ARS. El objetivo principal de este trabajo fue diseñar y programar un software modificable para transformar matrices de tres columnas [A (grupo 1), B (grupo 2) y C (conexiones entre nodos de ambos grupos)] a matrices completas y simétricas, y analizar las ventajas del software con respecto a los problemas de almacenamiento y transformación de datos. Para ello se desarrolló un método de transformación de matrices y se diseñó un algoritmo (pseudocódigo) para realizar las operaciones necesarias. El algoritmo fue programado usando el lenguaje wxBasic para aumentar la compatibilidad entre sistemas operativos y facilitar su modificación por el usuario, obteniéndose un software estable y de fácil uso

Expression and Activity Patterns of Nitric Oxide Synthases and Antioxidant Enzymes Reveal a Substantial Heterogeneity Between Cardiac and Vascular Aging in the Rat

We investigated the effects of aging and ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury on the expression and activity of nitric oxide (•NO) synthases and superoxide dismutase (SOD) isoforms. To this end we perfused excised hearts from young (6months old) and old (31-34months old) rats according to the Langendorff technique. The isolated hearts were, after baseline perfusion for 30min, either subjected to 20min of global no-flow ischemia followed by 40min of reperfusion or were control-perfused (60min normoxic perfusion). Both MnSOD and Cu,ZnSOD expression remained unchanged with increasing age and remained unaltered by I/R. However, SOD activity decreased from 7.55 ± 0.1U/mg protein in young hearts to 5.94 ± 0.44 in old hearts (P<0.05). Furthermore, I/R led to a further decrease in enzyme activity (to 6.35 ± 0.41U/mg protein; P<0.05) in myocardium of young, but not in that of old animals. No changes in myocardial protein-bound 3-nitrotyrosine levels could be detected. Endothelial NOS (eNOS) expression and activity remained unchanged in aged left ventricles, irrespective of I/R injury. This was in steep contrast to peripheral (renal and femoral) arteries obtained from the same animals where a marked age-associated increase of eNOS protein expression could be demonstrated. Inducible NOS expression was undetectable either in the peripheral arteries or in the left ventricle, irrespective of age. In particular when associated with an acute pathology, which is furthermore limited to a certain time frame, changes in the aged myocardium with respect to enzymes crucially involved in maintaining the redox homeostasis, seem to be much less pronounced or even absent compared to the vascular aging process. This may point to heterogeneity in the molecular regulation of the cardiovascular aging proces

Expression and Activity Patterns of Nitric Oxide Synthases and Antioxidant Enzymes Reveal a Substantial Heterogeneity Between Cardiac and Vascular Aging in the Rat

We investigated the effects of aging and ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury on the expression and activity of nitric oxide (•NO) synthases and superoxide dismutase (SOD) isoforms. To this end we perfused excised hearts from young (6months old) and old (31-34months old) rats according to the Langendorff technique. The isolated hearts were, after baseline perfusion for 30min, either subjected to 20min of global no-flow ischemia followed by 40min of reperfusion or were control-perfused (60min normoxic perfusion). Both MnSOD and Cu,ZnSOD expression remained unchanged with increasing age and remained unaltered by I/R. However, SOD activity decreased from 7.55 ± 0.1U/mg protein in young hearts to 5.94 ± 0.44 in old hearts (P<0.05). Furthermore, I/R led to a further decrease in enzyme activity (to 6.35 ± 0.41U/mg protein; P<0.05) in myocardium of young, but not in that of old animals. No changes in myocardial protein-bound 3-nitrotyrosine levels could be detected. Endothelial NOS (eNOS) expression and activity remained unchanged in aged left ventricles, irrespective of I/R injury. This was in steep contrast to peripheral (renal and femoral) arteries obtained from the same animals where a marked age-associated increase of eNOS protein expression could be demonstrated. Inducible NOS expression was undetectable either in the peripheral arteries or in the left ventricle, irrespective of age. In particular when associated with an acute pathology, which is furthermore limited to a certain time frame, changes in the aged myocardium with respect to enzymes crucially involved in maintaining the redox homeostasis, seem to be much less pronounced or even absent compared to the vascular aging process. This may point to heterogeneity in the molecular regulation of the cardiovascular aging proces

Mobility, migration and networking of Cubans working in European science and technology: building capacity through Transnational Knowledge Networks

Developing countries are facing the loss of their talents due to high levels of migration towards the developed world. To counter this they are creating mechanisms and policies in science and technology to benefit from those national talents further developed abroad. This study of Cuba explores the value of Cuban scientists and engineers in Europe and reviews their potential for contributing to Cuban science through Transnational Knowledge Networks (TKNs). This empirical investigation examines two essential conditions for the development of TKNs: first, it provides a demonstration of the scientific capacity in Cuba as a sending country, and second, profiles the Cuban expatriate scientists in Europe as active researchers (CRiE). Both investigations were carried out through bibliometric methods using bibliographic databases such as PubMed and Scopus. Cuban expatriate scientists were identified through a systematic search in professional social networks such as LinkedIn, ResearchGate and Academia.edu before compiling their scientific records for bibliometric evaluation. Cuban researchers in Cuba (CRiC) were the also evaluated as a cohort group. The empirical investigation covered the period between 1995 and 2014. The main contribution of this investigation is to support the idea that TKNs are embedded in the global network of international scientific collaboration and this feature would enable expatriates to function as instruments for development of Cuban science. The primary dataset was created using the scientific publications of expatriate scientists obtained from the Scopus database in the period between 1995 and 2014. Records in Scopus also include affiliations of all authors in each publication allowing the creation of another dataset of expatriate research links with other institutions. Network analysis using UCINET software was also used to study the degree of connectivity of the expatriate scientists. Results show the demography, performance and connectivity of a scientific community (Cuban researchers in Europe) and demonstrate their potential to strengthen the networking capacity of the home country

Scientific collaboration of Cuban researchers working in Europe: understanding relations between origin and destination countries

The global network of scientific collaboration created by researchers opens new opportunities for developing countries to engage in the process of knowledge creation historically lead by institutions in the developed world. The results discussed here explore how Cubans working in European science and technology might contribute to extending the scientific collaboration of the country through their ties with Cuban institutions mainly in the academic sector. A bibliometric method was used to explore the pattern of collaboration of Cuban researchers in Europe using the institutional affiliation of authors and collaborators. The records of scientific publications of the defined sample were obtained from Scopus database for the period between 1995 and 2014. The network of collaboration was generated using the affiliations of Cuban authors in Europe and co-authors with worldwide affiliations shown in the records of publications of each Cuban researcher of the study. The analysis of aggregate values of the output of Cuban researchers in Europe (1995–2014) reveals that their collaboration with Cuba correlates moderately with their performance in Europe. However, when taking into account their time publishing in Europe, the collaboration with Cuba decreases the longer they remain away from home. The network of collaborating Cuban researchers in Europe comprises 991 different affiliations from 58 countries: 698 from Europe, 118 from North America, 96 from Latin America and 79 from the rest of the world. K-core analysis of centrality shows two Cuban universities sharing the central position with another 24 institutions worldwide of which 18 belong to higher education