Interculturalidad y Escuela EIB: Concepciones y Creencias de Docentes EIB de Apurímac y Puno

La interculturalidad es una condición necesaria para el desarrollo del proyecto democrático en un país postcolonial como el Perú, y la escuela, en cuanto espacio de construcción democrática y ciudadana, juega un papel importante. En particular, en este proceso se configuran como actores fundamentales los docentes, que son el epicentro del sistema educativo y cuyas concepciones y creencias influyen en su práctica pedagógica. Por este motivo, el objetivo de esta investigación es comprender las concepciones y creencias de docentes EIB sobre la interculturalidad y sobre el propósito de la escuela EIB. Para ello, se empleó una metodología de tipo cualitativo con un diseño de análisis temático. Se realizaron entrevistas semi-estructuradas a 4 docentes de escuelas EIB de los departamentos de Puno y Apurímac, que tuvieran al menos dos años de experiencia enseñando en contexto EIB. Se concluye que los docentes participantes conciben la interculturalidad, por un lado, como práctica de afirmación identitaria e intracultural, emergiendo en sus concepciones puntos en común con el multiculturalismo y con el enfoque educativo bicultural, o, por otro lado, conciben la interculturalidad de una forma instrumental, donde la presencia en la escuela de elementos de la cultura indígena es un medio para poder trabajar a través del enfoque por proyectos, sin que haya un mayor reconocimiento de la diversidad cultural. Se formulan recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones y su posible impacto en la práctica docente.Interculturality is a necessary condition for the development of democracy in a postcolonial country such as Perú, and the schoolplace, as a citizenship-building place, plays an important role. In particular, teachers become the key actors in this process as the epicenter of the educational system whose beliefs and conceptions influence their pedagogical practice. For this reason, the purpose of this research is to understand the beliefs and conceptions EIB teachers hold in relation to interculturality and the purpose of EIB schools. In order to do so, a qualitative type methodology was applied with a thematic analysis design. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted on four EIB school teachers in the departments of Puno and Apurimac, each having at least two years of teaching experience in the context of EIB. It was concluded that the participant teachers conceive of interculturality, on the one hand, as an identity and intracultural affirmation practice, emerging in their conceptions points in common with multiculturalism and with bicultural educational approach, or, on the other hand, they concibe interculturality in an instrumental way, where the presence in school of indigenous culture’s elements is a médium that allows them to work in school with a project oriented approach, without any significant recognition of cultural diversity. A series of recommendations for future research projects and their possible impact on teacher’s practice are formulated in this paper

Circle time for social and emotional learning in primary school

This paper discusses the findings and implications of a semi-randomised control trial study on the effectiveness of circle time (CT) on primary school students’ social and emotional learning, as well as classroom teachers’ and students’ experience of CT. A social and emotional learning programme was delivered through CT by trained classroom teachers across the years in one primary school, with other classrooms serving as control groups. The classroom teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at pre- and post-intervention, while the CT teachers also completed a questionnaire on their experience of implementing CT in the classroom. The CT students also completed a questionnaire on their own experience of CT. The SDQ scores suggest that CT students showed less internalised difficulties when compared to their control peers, while the qualitative data from both teachers and students suggest that the CT students also exhibited less behaviour problems and more prosocial behaviour. The study identifies various strengths and weaknesses of the programme and makes recommendations on how it could be organised more effectively in the classroom. The paper concludes that rather than taking CT as the default option for nurturing such values as student empowerment, inclusion and equity, there is a need for further rigorous studies on the impact of CT not only on students’ social and emotional learning and behaviour but also on the classroom relationships and climate.peer-reviewe

Drug eluting stents are superior to bare metal stents to reduce clinical outcome and stent-related complications in CKD patients, a systematic review, meta-analysis and network meta-analysis.

AimsTo compare clinical outcome in Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients receiving coronary stents according to stent type BMS versus DES and 1st generation versus 2nd generation DES.Methods and ResultsPubMed, Cinhal, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science were searched for studies including CKD patients. CKD was defined as eGFR < 60 mL/min. We selected n = 35 articles leading to 376 169 patients, of which 76 557 CKD patients receiving BMS n = 35,807, 1st generation DES n = 37,650, or 2nd generation DES n = 3100. Patient receiving DES, compared to BMS, had a 18% lower all‐cause mortality (RR 0.82, 95%CI 0.71‐0.94). The composite of death or myocardial infarction (MI) was lower in DES patients (RR 0.78, 95%CI 0.67‐0.91), as was stent thrombosis (ST) (RR 0.57, 95%CI 0.34‐0.95), target vessel/lesion revascularization (TVR/TLR) (RR 0.69, 95%CI 0.57‐0.84) and death for cardiovascular cause (RR 0.43, 95%CI 0.25‐0.74). We also found a gradient between 1st and 2nd generation DES, through BMS. Second, compared to 1st generation DES, were associated with further relative risk (RR) reduction of −18% in of all‐cause death, and lower incidence of stent‐related clinical events: −39% RR of ST risk; −27 RR of TVR/TLR risk.ConclusionsDES in CKD patients undergoing PCI were superior to BMS in reducing major adverse clinical events. This was possibly explained, by a lower risk of stent‐related events as ST and TVR or TLR. Second, compared to 1st generation DES may furtherly reduce clinical events

Effects of a treated sewage effluent on behavioural traits in Diamesa cinerella and Daphnia magna

Recently, the use of Daphnia magna has been proposed in on-line and real-time biomonitoring programmes as an early warning system for evaluating the effluent quality of sewage treatment plants (STPs). These systems are based on recording behavioural changes in the test organism resulting from the stress caused by the effluents. Indeed, altered behavioural signals could be induced at sublethal concentrations that are significantly lower than the corresponding EC50. However, at present, it is unknown whether the sensitivity of D. magna can be representative of that of other aquatic organisms, particularly benthic macroinvertebrates. An experiment was designed to verify whether D. magna can be employed in biomonitoring programmes for STPs located in alpine areas as a surrogate for cold freshwater best-adapted species. The responses of survival and behaviour alteration to exposure to the effluent of the Tonale Pass plant (Trentino, Italian Alps, 46°N, 10°E; 1799 m a.s.l.) were compared in a laboratory population of D. magna and a wild population of the chironomid Diamesa cinerella. These larvae were collected from the Vermigliana stream 50 metres upstream of the effluent input. Both organisms were exposed for 24 and 48 hrs to the effluent as it is and to three dilutions (/10, /100, /1000). The mortality rate and behavioural responses (using video tracking systems) were recorded. No significant mortality or change in behaviour was observed in the two species when exposed to the undiluted effluent. Exposure to serial dilutions of the treated effluent did not affect the survival of either species but notably altered their behaviour at both exposure times (e.g., the time spent in activity in D. magna and the average speed of movement and the cumulative distance travelled in both), especially when exposed to the ten-times-diluted effluent. Overall, the findings of this study emphasize that even though D. magna and D. cinerella use different behavioural strategies to cope with adverse environmental conditions, their overall sensitivity to treated effluents is similar. Accordingly, the use of D. magna in biological early warning systems protocols seems to also be sufficiently protective for local, cold-adapted species of alpine freshwater ecosystems

Implementation of a Commercial Deep Learning-Based Auto Segmentation Software in Radiotherapy: Evaluation of Effectiveness and Impact on Workflow

Proper delineation of both target volumes and organs at risk is a crucial step in the radiation therapy workflow. This process is normally carried out manually by medical doctors, hence demanding timewise. To improve efficiency, auto-contouring methods have been proposed. We assessed a specific commercial software to investigate its impact on the radiotherapy workflow on four specific disease sites: head and neck, prostate, breast, and rectum. For the present study, we used a commercial deep learning-based auto-segmentation software, namely Limbus Contour (LC), Version 1.5.0 (Limbus AI Inc., Regina, SK, Canada). The software uses deep convolutional neural network models based on a U-net architecture, specific for each structure. Manual and automatic segmentation were compared on disease-specific organs at risk. Contouring time, geometrical performance (volume variation, Dice Similarity Coefficient-DSC, and center of mass shift), and dosimetric impact (DVH differences) were evaluated. With respect to time savings, the maximum advantage was seen in the setting of head and neck cancer with a 65%-time reduction. The average DSC was 0.72. The best agreement was found for lungs. Good results were highlighted for bladder, heart, and femoral heads. The most relevant dosimetric difference was in the rectal cancer case, where the mean volume covered by the 45 Gy isodose was 10.4 cm(3) for manual contouring and 289.4 cm(3) for automatic segmentation. Automatic contouring was able to significantly reduce the time required in the procedure, simplifying the workflow, and reducing interobserver variability. Its implementation was able to improve the radiation therapy workflow in our department

Stochastic background of gravitational waves emitted by magnetars

Two classes of high energy sources in our galaxy are believed to host magnetars, neutron stars whose emission results from the dissipation of their magnetic field. The extremely high magnetic field of magnetars distorts their shape, and causes the emission of a conspicuous gravitational waves signal if rotation is fast and takes place around a different axis than the symmetry axis of the magnetic distortion. Based on a numerical model of the cosmic star formation history, we derive the cosmological background of gravitational waves produced by magnetars, when they are very young and fast spinning. We adopt different models for the configuration and strength of the internal magnetic field (which determines the distortion) as well as different values of the external dipole field strength (which governs the spin evolution of magnetars over a wide range of parameters). We find that the expected gravitational wave background differs considerably from one model to another. The strongest signals are generated for magnetars with very intense toroidal internal fields ($\sim 10^{16}$ G range) and external dipole fields of $\sim 10^{14}$, as envisaged in models aimed at explaining the properties of the Dec 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20. Such signals should be easily detectable with third generation ground based interferometers such as the Einstein Telescope.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

There You Are! Automated Detection of Indris’ Songs on Features Extracted from Passive Acoustic Recordings

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2022-12-07, rev-recd 2022-12-21, accepted 2022-12-28, collection 2023-01, epub 2023-01-09Peer reviewed: TrueAcknowledgements: Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the local field guides and the assistants that helped during the data collection. We also wish to thank the GERP (Groupe d’Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar) for their unfailing support during the research activities and to the Parco Natura Viva for the financial and technical assistance. Data collection was carried out under research permits No. 118/19/MEDD/SG/DGEF/DSAP/DGRNE, 284/19/MEDD/SG/DGEF/DSAP/DGRNE, and 338/19/MEDD/G/DGEF/DSAP/DGRNE issued by the Ministère de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable (MEDD). Data collection in 2021 did not require a permit because it was only performed by Malagasy citizens.Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: University of TorinoFunder: Parco Natura Viva—Garda Zoological ParksFunder: UIZA—the Italian Association of Zoos and AquariaSimple Summary: Identifying vocalisations of given species from passive acoustic recordings is a common step in bioacoustics. While manual labelling and identification are widespread, this approach is time-consuming, prone to errors, and unsustainable in the long term, given the vast amount of data collected through passive monitoring. We developed an automated classifier based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) for passive acoustic data collected via an in situ monitoring protocol. In particular, we aimed to detect the vocalisations of the only singing lemur, Indri indri. Our network achieved a very high performance (accuracy >90% and recall >80%) in song detection. Our study contributes significantly to the automated wildlife detection research field because it represents a first attempt to combine a CNN and acoustic features based on a third-octave band system for song detection. Moreover, the automated detection provided insights that will improve field data collection and fine-tune conservation practices. Abstract: The growing concern for the ongoing biodiversity loss drives researchers towards practical and large-scale automated systems to monitor wild animal populations. Primates, with most species threatened by extinction, face substantial risks. We focused on the vocal activity of the indri (Indri indri) recorded in Maromizaha Forest (Madagascar) from 2019 to 2021 via passive acoustics, a method increasingly used for monitoring activities in different environments. We first used indris’ songs, loud distinctive vocal sequences, to detect the species’ presence. We processed the raw data (66,443 10-min recordings) and extracted acoustic features based on the third-octave band system. We then analysed the features extracted from three datasets, divided according to sampling year, site, and recorder type, with a convolutional neural network that was able to generalise to recording sites and previously unsampled periods via data augmentation and transfer learning. For the three datasets, our network detected the song presence with high accuracy (>90%) and recall (>80%) values. Once provided the model with the time and day of recording, the high-performance values ensured that the classification process could accurately depict both daily and annual habits of indris‘ singing pattern, critical information to optimise field data collection. Overall, using this easy-to-implement species-specific detection workflow as a preprocessing method allows researchers to reduce the time dedicated to manual classification

Roadmap on thermoelectricity

The increasing energy demand and the ever more pressing need for clean technologies of energy conversion pose one of the most urgent and complicated issues of our age. Thermoelectricity, namely the direct conversion of waste heat into electricity, is a promising technique based on a long-standing physical phenomenon, which still has not fully developed its potential, mainly due to the low efficiency of the process. In order to improve the thermoelectric performance, a huge effort is being made by physicists, materials scientists and engineers, with the primary aims of better understanding the fundamental issues ruling the improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit, and finally building the most efficient thermoelectric devices. In this Roadmap an overview is given about the most recent experimental and computational results obtained within the Italian research community on the optimization of composition and morphology of some thermoelectric materials, as well as on the design of thermoelectric and hybrid thermoelectric/photovoltaic devices