ADULTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CHILD GUIDANCE

Decades of research studies suggest that the quality of parenting skills and parenting knowledge about children’s development have profound effects on children’s development. Studies to date show that most adults lack knowledge of child development and developmentally-appropriate child guidance. These studies, however have focused on white, middle-class, well-educated women and are limited in the range of issues addressed. The purpose of this study was to gain a more accurate understanding about adults’ knowledge of child development and child guidance by assessing female and male adults using an ethnically diverse population. Data from 705 adult participants showed that adults knew more than expected about child development, but lacked knowledge about developmentally-appropriate child guidance. Knowledge also varied by the amount of child development coursework taken. Results also showed that females were more knowledgeable than males, and knowledge varied somewhat by ethnicity with European-Americans being more knowledgeable in both child development and child guidance than other ethnic groups. These findings suggest that more work needs to be done to disseminate research- and evidence-based findings about child development and child guidance as the implications of this knowledge for child well-being are profound. The results of this study help to inform the design and content of parent education classes and related interventions to address gaps in knowledge and skills

Accretion disks around black holes in modified strong gravity

Stellar-mass black holes offer what is perhaps the best scenario to test theories of gravity in the strong-field regime. In particular, f(R) theories, which have been widely discuss in a cosmological context, can be constrained through realistic astrophysical models of phenomena around black holes. We aim at building radiative models of thin accretion disks for both Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes in f(R) gravity. We study particle motion in f(R)-Schwarzschild and Kerr space-times. We present the spectral energy distribution of the accretion disk around constant Ricci scalar f(R) black holes, and constrain specific f(R) prescriptions using features of these systems. A precise determination of both the spin and accretion rate onto black holes along with X-ray observations of their thermal spectrum might allow to identify deviations of gravity from General Relativity. We use recent data on the high-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-1 to restrict the values of the parameters of a class of f(R) models.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Selection for conspicuous visual signals in a fiddler crab

Sexual selection has an undeniable influence in the evolution of the spectacular diversity of courtship signals in the animal kingdom. A long history of study has pointed to mechanisms through which sexual selection can act: it can favor signals that are reliable indicators of species identity or effectively transfer mate quality information. In some species, these mechanisms have the potential to shape signal evolution. This is the case in fiddler crabs. Males court females by waving their sexually dimorphic claw. Females recognize conspecific males by the species-specific display, while intraspecific variants of the display appear to be indicators of male quality. We investigated which of these mechanisms prevail by using robotics to test female responses to waves of different heights in the fiddler crab, Austruca mjoebergi. We reveal that, although the studied species shares a sympatric habitat, females did not significantly more often approach the species’ average signal. We found evidence that more conspicuous, higher signals were more likely to attract females, although the effect was not particularly strong. We discuss our results in the light of other possible scenarios from which sexual selection can act in the evolution of signals.This study was funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP160100316) to P.R.Y.B

Master of Arts

thesisThis study offers a test of the cognitive mediation model (CMM) within a low-income, Spanish-speaking population in the state of Indiana. A survey study was conducted to test whether participants (N = 150) who consumed ethnic newspapers, namely La Raza, were more likely to have greater cancer prevention knowledge and more likely to comply with cancer prevention behaviors. The interaction between La Raza readership and health motivation was not significantly related to either screening or knowledge; however, individuals with high health motivation were more likely to report screening. Notably, two of the relationships posited by the CMM were absent, surveillance motivation and elaboration were not related to knowledge. Further, our test of the model did not yield any significant results in its original form or the modified version used to test an ethnic subsample in a health news learning context. However, once elaboration was removed from the model, there was an indirect relationship between surveillance motivation and cancer prevention knowledge through attention. Future research should focus on finding ways in which models such as the CMM can be modified to explain news learning in ethnic and linguistic subpopulations

An analysis of a regular black hole interior model

We analyze the thermodynamical properties of the regular static and spherically symmetric black hole interior model presented by Mboyne and Kazanas. Equations for the thermodynamical quantities valid for an arbitrary density profile are deduced, and from them we show that the model is thermodynamically unstable. Evidence is also presented pointing to its dynamical instability. The gravitational entropy of this solution based on the Weyl curvature conjecture is calculated, following the recipe given by Rudjord, Gr$\varnothing$n and Sigbj$\varnothing$rn, and it is shown to have the expected behavior.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in International Journal of Theoretical Physic

Lessons from Chile: protesting the state of education

On the second day of industrial action, as staff and students from UK universities participate in record numbers, Daniela Perez Aguilar and Cristóbal Villalobos Dintrans shed light on the Chilean approach to resistance drawing important comparisons between the participants and strategies for protest in the two countries

Estudio de susceptibilidad a antibioticos de cepas de Pseudomonas aeruginosa aisladas de pacientes de los Hospitales de Curico, Talca y Linares

50 p.Pseudomonas aeruginosa es un patógeno nosocomial frecuente que presenta elevada resistencia a los antimicrobianos y causa infecciones graves cuando hay alteración de los mecanismos defensivos del paciente. Así, conocer los patrones de sensibilidad y resistencia es importante para la elección del tratamiento antimicrobiano adecuado en cada recinto hospitalario. En este trabajo se determinará la susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de cepas de P. aeruginosa aisladas desde pacientes hospitalizados en el Hospital de Curicó, Talca y Linares. Las muestras fueron recolectadas durante un período de cinco meses. Posteriormente a su identificación se les determinó la susceptibilidad frente a 9 antibióticos usando el método difusión en agar (antibiograma) y la Concentración Mínima Inhibitoria (CMI) por el método de Dilución en caldo para azlocilina. La cepa control utilizada para P. aeruginosa fue ATCC 27853. La mayoría de las muestras de los pacientes provenían de los servicios de Unidad de cuidados Intensivos (UCI), del Servicio Atención Intermedia Quirúrgica (SAIQ) y de la Atención Pública en los centros hospitalarios estudiados. Las cepas mostraron menor resistencia a los antimicrobianos que lo reportado en trabajos nacionales previos. Las cepas fueron altamente resistentes a Ciprofloxacino (31,4%), Levofloxacino (29,5%) y Gentamicina (27,6%), moderadamente resistentes a Tobramicina (25%), Ceftazidima (14,1%) y Amikacina (7,7%) mientras que eran escasamente resistentes a Imipenem (6,4%), Aztreonam (5,8%) y Piperacilina/Tazobactam (4,5%). Además se observó una alta resistencia a la Azlocilina en las cepas estudiadas (55,1%). Este es el primer trabajo, realizado en la región, que estudia la susceptibilidad de P. aeruginosa frente a distintos grupos de antimicrobianos utilizados en clínica

Black hole in asymmetric cosmological bounce

We determine the causal structure of the McVittie spacetime for a cosmological model with an asymmetric bounce. The analysis includes the computation of trapping horizons; regular, trapped, and antitrapped regions; and the integration of the trajectories of radial null geodesics before, during, and after the bounce. We find a trapped region since the beginning of the contracting phase up to shortly before the bounce, thus showing the existence of a black hole. When the universe reaches a certain minimum scale in the contracting phase, the trapping horizons disappear, and the central singularity becomes naked. These results suggest that neither a contracting nor an expanding universe can accommodate a black hole at all times.Fil: Pérez, Daniela. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Perez Bergliaffa, Santiago Esteban. Universidade do Estado de Rio do Janeiro; BrasilFil: Romero, Gustavo Esteban. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentin

Dynamical black hole in a bouncing universe

We analyze the causal structure of McVittie spacetime for a classical bouncing cosmological model. In particular, we compute the trapping horizons of the metric and integrate the trajectories of radial null geodesics before, during, and after the bounce takes place. In the contracting phase up to the occurrence of the bounce, a dynamical black hole is present. When the universe reaches a certain minimum scale, the trapping horizons disappear and the black hole ceases to exist. After the bounce, the central weak singularity becomes naked. In the expanding phase, for large positive values of the cosmic time, the behavior of null geodesics indicates that the solution contains a black hole. These results suggest that neither a contracting nor an expanding universe can accommodate a black hole at all times.Fil: Pérez, Daniela. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Perez Bergliaffa, Santiago Esteban. Universidade do Estado de Rio do Janeiro; BrasilFil: Romero, Gustavo Esteban. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentin