589 research outputs found

    Informing Low-Income Parents about Financial Aid

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    Many parents of low-income families have little or no access to information about how to pay for college for their children. When parents are unaware of how to pay for college, their children may be less encouraged to attend college and may see college as an unnecessary luxury. Informed parents may provide better support for getting monetary aid and, in turn, encourage them to attend college. To address the lack of access to financial resource information, I have created a one-day workshop for low-income parents and adults of the San Andreas housing community in Watsonville, California

    Raising intercultural awareness through speaking tasks in fifth graders classroom project

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    In recent years the intercultural communicative competence has been regarded as an important element in EFL education around the world, being the subject of study of many authors such as Byram (2002), Kramsch (2002), Meyer (1991), Gomez (2010), Barletta (2009), and Alvarez & Bonilla (2009). Intercultural education has started to be considered along with linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competences, as mentioned by the “guía 22” in the Colombian context as an integral part of teaching the English language. The purpose of this study was to raise intercultural awareness through speaking tasks in young learners, in a primary public school in Pereira, Colombia. The project involved 35 fifth graders whose ages ranged from 8 to 10. Data was gathered through the use of classroom observations, and journals, then it was analyzed in and on action reflection to draw the conclusions. The results revealed that it was possible to foster intercultural awareness in young learners, however, authentic material needed to be adapted or created, a careful lesson planning considered, and appropriate content for the age of learners to fit their cognitive processes, in order to develop the skill of recognizing similarities and differences between cultures presented in specific pieces of language. As a conclusion, including contents related to cultural aspects are highly engaging and motivating for learners, besides it generates a sense of tolerance and respect towards others’ ways to express themselves. Furthermore, the use of Spanish in the EFL classroom is not necessary for students to understand and interpret meaning. The reported results can help in future research on how to develop the intercultural competence

    Una política pública para la protección de las víctimas de agresión con agentes químicos

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    Gina Potes, es la primera víctima de agresiones con agentes químicos en Colombia; pese a que, para la época de los hechos, no se denominaba de esta manera. Nació en Bogotá, vivía con su familia conformada por padres y hermanos; a los 16 años tuvo su primer hijo, a los 19 años segundo hijo, en ese momento se casó. Su pareja cuidaba los niños y ella trabajaba con su mamá en un taller de costura; le gustaba estudiar diseño de modas y estética; era una joven alegre, con una belleza natural. Sin embargo, el lunes 28 de octubre de 1996a las 7:00 de la noche, l e cambio la vida para siempre; pues, alguien llamó a la puerta de su casa, en el barrio San Vicente (sur de Bogotá), cuando Gina salió a atender el llamado, en compañía de su hermana menor Angie y su hijo mayor de tan solo tres años, encontró una señora robusta que le preguntó en dónde quedaba un jardín infantil. Aprovechando su estado de indefensión y concentración en dicho requerimiento, un hombre pasó corriendo y, le gritó “Quien la manda a ser tan bonita” y lanzó una sustancia, que sin saber que era, Gina solo le sentía su temperatura tibia, textura viscosa y un olor nauseabundo.Universidad Libre – Facultad de Derecho -- Maestría en Derecho AdministrativoGina Potes is the first victim of attacks with chemical agents in Colombia; although, at the time of the events, it was not named in this way. Born in Bogotá, she lived with her family made up of parents and siblings; at the age of 16 she had his first child, at the age of 19 her second child, at which time she married. Her partner took care of the children and she worked with her mother in a sewing workshop; she liked to study fashion design and aesthetics; she was a cheerful young woman with a natural beauty. However, on Monday, 28 October 1996, at 7:00 p.m., her life changed forever. Someone knocked at the door of her house, in the San Vicente neighborhood (south of Bogotá), when Gina went out to answer the call, In the company of her younger sister Angie and her eldest son, just three years old, she found a sturdy lady who asked her where a kindergarten was. Taking advantage of her helplessness and concentration on that requirement, a man ran by and yelled at her, "Who sends her to be so pretty," and threw out a substance, which without knowing what it was, Gina only felt its warm temperature, viscous texture and a nauseating odor

    Unraveling Heterogeneities in Mindfulness Profiles: a Review and Latent Profile Analysis of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short‑Form (FFMQ‑SF) in the Spanish Population.

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    Objectives The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is one of the most common self-report instruments used in scientific literature to assess mindfulness. However, mixed evidence has been provided regarding its psychometric properties. Among them, the FFMQ seems to present latent classes or profiles with specific patterns in its facets, which might explain said mixed evidence. This study explores mindfulness profiles in the Spanish population using the short form of the FFMQ (FFMQ-SF) and its relations with relevant constructs (i.e., decentering, self-compassion, psychological well-being, psychopathology, positive and negative states). Methods A general population sample of 826 participants completed instruments measuring mindfulness and related constructs. Latent profile analyses were applied to the FFMQ-SF facets, and profile membership of participants was estimated for relations with related constructs. Results Three latent profiles were found: General Mindfulness, Judgmentally Observing, and Non-judgmentally Aware. General Mindfulness showed expected relations with other constructs, but the other two profiles showed some relations opposite to prior literature: The Judgmentally Observing profile displayed functional behaviors while the Non-judgmentally Aware profile showed an inverse mitigated pattern. Results could not be explained by gender, age, level of studies, or minimum experience with meditation. Conclusions Most people (68%) fall into mindfulness profiles that can be regarded as a continuum (e.g., an overall mindfulness factor). However, the FFMQ-SF shows heterogeneities in its facets due to two unique latent profiles, namely “Judgmentally Observing” (7.4%) and “Non-judgmentally Aware” (24.8%). While the structure of these profiles was replicated, relations with relevant psychological constructs contradicted previous literature. Implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed.post-print1029 K

    Distinct fos-expressing neuronal ensembles in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex mediate food reward and extinction memories

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    In operant learning, initial reward-associated memories are thought to be distinct from subsequent extinction-associated memories. Memories formed during operant learning are thought to be stored in “neuronal ensembles.” Thus, we hypothesize that different neuronal ensembles encode reward- and extinction-associated memories. Here, we examined prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles involved in the recall of reward and extinction memories of food self-administration.Wefirst trained rats to lever press for palatable food pellets for 7 d (1 h/d) and then exposed them to 0, 2, or 7 daily extinction sessions in which lever presses were not reinforced. Twenty-four hours after the last training or extinction session, we exposed the rats to either a short 15 min extinction test session or left them in their homecage (a control condition). We found maximal Fos (a neuronal activity marker) immunoreactivity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex of rats that previously received 2 extinction sessions, suggesting that neuronal ensembles in this area encode extinction memories. We then used the Daun02 inactivation procedure to selectively disrupt ventral medial prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles that were activated during the 15 min extinction session following 0 (no extinction) or 2 prior extinction sessions to determine the effects of inactivating the putative food reward and extinction ensembles, respectively, on subsequent nonreinforced food seeking 2 d later. Inactivation of the food reward ensembles decreased food seeking, whereas inactivation of the extinction ensembles increased food seeking. Our results indicate that distinct neuronal ensembles encoding operant reward and extinction memories intermingle within the same cortical area

    La eficacia a largo plazo de un programa de intervención basada en la atención plena (MBI) para la tartamudez: un estudio de caso

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    A mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) to address emotional factors that may negatively impact the fluency of the subjects was implemented. A MBI consisting of 5 weekly 2-h sessions was designed and applied to two stuttering cases. The goals were to lower stuttering and to reduce anxiety through the acquisition of mindfulness skills. Participants were asked to video-record a speaking task and to fill out anxiety and mindfulness skills self-reports pre and post-intervention. Both participants diminished stuttering error rates from severe (participant 1) and moderate (participant 2) to mild. Participant 2, who showed high pre-treatment anxiety, showed a significant reduction. A year-follow-up revealed that therapeutic gains in anxiety, mindfulness skills, and stuttering were successfully maintained in both participants. This is the first study focused on emotional aspects of stuttering showing long-term improvements through a MBI. MBI programs could serve as a promising complement for stuttering treatments.Se utilizó una intervención basada en mindfulness (MBI) para abordar los factores emocionales que pueden afectar negativamente a la fluidez de los sujetos a través de un estudio de caso. Se diseñó un MBI que constaba de 5 sesiones semanales de 2 horas y se aplicó a dos casos de tartamudez. Los objetivos eran dismunuir la tartamudez y reducir los síntomas de ansiedad mediante la adquisición de habilidades de atención plena. Se pidió a los participantes que grabaran en video una tarea oral y que cumplimentaran los autoinformes de ansiedad y de habilidades de atención plena antes y después de la intervención. En ambos participantes disminuyó el índice de errores de tartamudeo de grave (participante 1) y moderado (participante 2) a leve. El participante 2, que mostró una elevada ansiedad previa al tratamiento, mostró una reducción significativa. Al año de seguimiento los beneficios terapéuticos en ansiedad, habilidades de atención plena y tartamudeo se mantuvieron con éxito en ambos participantes. Se trata del primer estudio centrado en los aspectos emocionales de la tartamudez que muestra mejoras a largo plazo a través de un MBI. Por lo tanto, los programas MBI podrían servir como complemento prometedor a los tratamientos de tartamudezJennifer E. Moreno-Jiménez was granted a predoctoral fellowship, FPI-UAM 2017 of the Universidad Autónoma de Madri
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