Challenges in the Teaching Profession: A Look at Current Realities

The teacher personifies in himself a core edge in the entire educational framework, even when his work may go unnoticed, misunderstood, or undervalued. On him falls the inescapable responsibility of training in aspects, such as the scientific; but also the human, in order to progressively build a better society. Despite this, this profession involves a myriad of speculations and myths that distort the perception of the teacher’s work, condescending conjectures that little or nothing are adapted to the reality involved in practice. In this regard, this research aims to delve into and reveal the most significant realities that circumscribe the teaching profession, as an activity that goes beyond just teaching in classrooms. Teaching has endless activities, challenges, complexities, and realities that cannot be superimposed only with the staging that allows the transfer of knowledge. Thus, the study was approached under a qualitative-non-interactive methodological approach, with an exploratory scope and documentary research design. From this perspective, taking into account references related to the subject and conversations with teachers from different educational institutions in Latin American countries, eight premises were identified and discussed as realities of the teaching profession: Teaching profession and social recognition, Erosion of the positive perception of the profession, values vs. society, teaching and the media, precarious salaries, stress and work overload, decreasing role of the teacher, and silence of the teachers. The present investigation concluded, among other things, that there is a need to know in depth the specific elements that surround the realities of the teaching profession, thus avoiding the generation of epistemological conceptions that distort the appreciations of this job. In addition, it is important to highlight that the contribution of this research lies in explicitly collecting the realities of the teaching profession; making the caveat that until now no study with these characteristics have been found in the scientific literature. Keywords: teaching profession, education, teaching myths, teaching realities, teaching challenges. Resumen El docente personifica en sí mismo una arista medular en todo el entramado educativo, aun cuando su labor pueda pasar desapercibida, incomprendida o infravalorada en la particularidad. obre él recae la ineludible responsabilidad de formar en aspectos, como el científico; pero también el humano, con la finalidad de construir progresivamente una mejor sociedad. A pesar de esto, S esta profesión envuelve un sinnúmero de especulaciones y mitos que distorsionan la percepción de labor del docente, condescendiendo conjeturas que poco o nada se adecuan a la realidad envuelta en la práctica. A este respecto, el propósito de esta investigación consistió en ahondar y develar las realidades −más significativas− que circunscriben la profesión docente, como una actividad que va más allá de sólo impartir clases en las aulas. La docencia, lejos de ser encasillada únicamente de esta manera, tiene un sinfín de actividades, retos, complejidades y realidades que no pueden ser superpuestas tan solo con la puesta en escena que permite la transferencia de conocimientos. Así, el estudio fue abordado bajo un enfoque metodológico cualitativo-no interactivo, con alcance de tipo exploratorio y diseño de investigación documental. Bajo esta perspectiva, tomando en cuenta referencias relacionadas con la temática y conversaciones con docentes de diferentes instituciones educativas en países de Latinoamérica, se identificaron y discutieron 8 premisas como realidades de la profesión docente: Profesión docente y reconocimiento social, Erosión de la percepción positiva de la profesión, Valores vs. Sociedad, Docencia y medios de comunicación, Precariedad de los salarios, Estrés y sobrecarga laboral, Protagonismo decreciente del docente, y silencio de los profesores. La presente investigación concluyó entre otras cosas, que existe la necesidad de conocer a profundidad los elementos concretos que envuelven las realidades de la profesión docente, evitando así la generación de concepciones epistemológicas que distorsionan las apreciaciones sobre esta labor. Además, resulta importante resaltar que, el aporte de la presente investigación radica en recoger de forma explícita las realidades de la profesión docente; haciendo la salvedad que en la literatura científica no se encuentra hasta el momento un estudio con estas características. Palabras Clave: profesión docente, educación, mitos docentes, realidades docentes, desafíos docentes

The mental and subjective skin: Emotion, empathy, feelings and thermography

[EN]We applied thermography to investigate the cognitive neuropsychology of emotions, using it as a somatic marker of subjective experience during emotional tasks. We obtained results that showed significant correlations between changes in facial temperature and mental set. The main result was the change in the temperature of the nose, which tended to decrease with negative valence stimuli but to increase with positive emotions and arousal patterns. However, temperature change was identified not only in the nose, but also in the forehead, the oro-facial area, the cheeks and in the face taken as a whole. Nevertheless, thermic facial changes, mostly nasal temperature changes, correlated positively with participants’ empathy scores and their performance. We found that temperature changes in the face may reveal maps of bodily sensations associated with different emotions and feelings like love

Charge separation relative to the reaction plane in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 2.76 TeV

Measurements of charge dependent azimuthal correlations with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV. Two- and three-particle charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta| < 0.8$ are presented as a function of the collision centrality, particle separation in pseudo-rapidity, and transverse momentum. A clear signal compatible with a charge-dependent separation relative to the reaction plane is observed, which shows little or no collision energy dependence when compared to measurements at RHIC energies. This provides a new insight for understanding the nature of the charge dependent azimuthal correlations observed at RHIC and LHC energies.Comment: 12 pages, 3 captioned figures, authors from page 2 to 6, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/286

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186