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Recent Submissions
Flood risk method for scarce-data catchments and municipalities
(2025) Quesada Román, Adolfo; Picado Monge, Armando; Rivera Solís, Jaime; Hernández, Miguel; Torres Berhard, Lidia; Ruiz Álvarez, Maynor
Floods pose significant challenges in regions with limited resources and data, requiring simplified methodologies for effective risk assessment. This study presents a flexible framework for analyzing flood hazard, exposure, and vulnerability at the municipal level in data-scarce or developing countries. By integrating diverse data sources and employing statistical validation, the methodology ensures reliable results, even with minimal baseline information. It supports regional planning by facilitating flood risk calculations and extrapolations to watershed scales. While based on experiences in Central America, this approach is applicable globally, offering a systematic tool for flood risk assessments and environmental zoning in resource-constrained settings.
Repurposed drugs and their combinations prevent morbidity-inducing dermonecrosis caused by diverse cytotoxic snake venoms
(2023-12-14) Hall, Steven; Rasmussen, Sean; Crittenden, Edouard; Dawson, Charlotte; Bartlett, Keirah; Westhorpe, Adam; Albulescu, Laura Oana; Kool, Jeroen; Gutiérrez, José María; Casewell, Nicholas R.
Morbidity from snakebite envenoming affects approximately 400,000 people annually. Tissue damage at the bite-site often leaves victims with catastrophic life-long injuries and is largely untreatable by current antivenoms. Repurposed small molecule drugs that inhibit specific snake venom toxins show considerable promise for tackling this neglected tropical disease. Using human skin cell assays as an initial model for snakebite-induced dermonecrosis, we show that the drugs 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS), marimastat, and varespladib, alone or in combination, inhibit the cytotoxicity of a broad range of medically important snake venoms. Thereafter, using preclinical mouse models of dermonecrosis, we demonstrate that the dual therapeutic combinations of DMPS or marimastat with varespladib significantly inhibit the dermonecrotic activity of geographically distinct and medically important snake venoms, even when the drug combinations are delivered one hour after envenoming. These findings strongly support the future translation of repurposed drug combinations as broad-spectrum therapeutics for preventing morbidity caused by snakebite.
Modelo Fay-Herriot Para La Estimación Del Empleo Informal En Costa Rica Por Cantón, 2019
(2025-11-24) Zúñiga Madrigal, Alejandro; Arias Salazar, Alejandra María
La informalidad laboral en Costa Rica constituye un reto para el desarrollo económico y social al limitar el acceso a la seguridad social, al crédito y a condiciones laborales dignas. Para abordar la escasez de datos desagregados, este estudio aplica modelos de áreas pequeñas Fay-Herriot (estándar, espacial y con transformación arcoseno), combinando información de la Encuesta Continua de Empleo con variables censales y administrativas. Se evaluaron tres métodos de estimación de varianza (linearización de Taylor, bootstrap y función generalizada de varianza), encontrándose que la informalidad se asocia negativamente con los encadenamientos productivos y positivamente con la actividad en los sectores primario y secundario, la delincuencia, la participación masculina y la infraestructura tecnológica. El modelo Fay- Herriot estándar con varianza FGV resultó el más adecuado, al ofrecer estimaciones más precisas y consistentes, constituyéndose en una herramienta útil para orientar políticas públicas que reduzcan la informalidad laboral a nivel cantonal.
Glacial and periglacial Landscapes in Costa Rica
(2024-10-04) Quesada Román, Adolfo
Tropical regions in the Americas retain evidence of past glacial activity, offering insights into historical climate conditions, particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Focusing on Costa Rica's higher summits, especially the Cordillera de Talamanca, this study identifies distinct features such as glacial cirques, polished bedrock, moraine and till deposits, and glacial-origin lakes. These remnants serve as invaluable indicators of past climatic conditions and contribute to understanding the maximum extent of tropical glaciation during the LGM in Costa Rica and broader tropical America. The Cordillera de Talamanca reveals areas significantly influenced by colder climates during the LGM. This research enhances our ability to reconstruct the interplay between climate and landscape evolution, deepening our understanding of the LGM in Costa Rica. The documented evidence forms a comprehensive narrative of the region's
paleoclimatic history, providing a foundation for comparative studies in tropical America. This study advances comprehension of tropical glacial landscapes by revealing nuanced features left by ancient glacial processes. The Cordillera de Talamanca emerges as a key repository of valuable information about past climatic conditions. Navigating through the glacial remnants of Costa Rica's higher summits unravels the mysteries of the LGM and its lasting impact on tropical American landscapes.
Geoheritage, geoconservation, and geotourism promotion in Costa Rica
(2024-10-04) Pérez Umaña, Dennis; Quesada Román, Adolfo
Tourism became one of the most important sectors of the economy in Costa Rica since the end of the 1980s. It is from the massive arrival of international tourists attracted by the ecotourism offer based on a robust national system of conservation areas as well as from a rapid adaptation of both public and private sectors that investments in projects to improve the conditions of access, dissemination, and diversification of tourist attractions throughout the country have been increasing steadily. This work shows the main geoheritage and geodiversity characteristics of Costa Rica and focus on an evaluation of the 28 national parks (NP) of the total protected areas of the National System of Conservation
Areas (SINAC) for a landscape and aesthetic, cultural, didactic, scientific, and tourism evaluation as potential geoparks. The evaluation determined that 13 of the NPs obtained a high rating, 11 were catalogued as medium, whilst four obtained a low rating. This initiative is an original and novel contribution for Costa Rica since it determines a baseline in the study of geosites and geoparks in the country. In addition, it shows the weaknesses and strengths of each national park in its objective to attract more visitors in the future.