Home education policies in Puerto Rico: Towards the uniformity of management processes

En los últimos años, la educación puertorriqueña ha evolucionado y con ello ha tomado auge la modalidad de educación en el hogar. La presente investigación tiene como propósito determinar cuáles son las políticas administrativas y gerenciales por las cuales se rigen las organizaciones que agrupan a las familias que educan a sus hijos en el hogar en Puerto Rico. La investigación fue de carácter cualitativo con un enfoque etnográfico-estudio de caso. Para la misma participaron siete directivos y dieciséis administradoras del hogar. Los datos fueron recopilados mediante dos instrumentos de entrevista diseñados por la investigadora; uno dirigido a los directivos y otro a los administradores del hogar. La información sociodemográfica fue analizada mediante estadística descriptiva. Se utilizó la técnica de triangulación para determinar la divergencia y convergencia de los datos recopilados. Se encontró que las familias que educan en el hogar en Puerto Rico tienen un perfil variado (académico, religioso y socioeconómico), las madres se dedican a enseñar en el hogar y utilizan diversas metodologías de enseñanza para educar a sus hijos en el hogar. Según los resultados, se concluyó que no existen uniformidad en las políticas administrativas y gerenciales de las organizaciones de educación en el hogar, el currículo es atractivo y flexible, la individualidad, valores morales y religiosos han creado que esta modalidad sea adopta por muchas familias puertorriqueñasIn recent years, Puerto Rican education has evolved and with this the home education modality has taken hold. The purpose of this research is to determine the administrative and management policies that govern the organizations that bring together the families that educate their children at home in Puerto Rico. The research used a qualitative focus, ethnographic, and case study approach. For the same participated seven managers and sixteen household. The data were collected through two interview instruments designed by the researcher; one for managers and the other for administrators of the household. The sociodemographic information was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The triangulation technique was used to determine the divergence and convergence of the data collected. It was found that families that practice home-schooling in Puerto Rico have a varied profile (academic, religious and socioeconomic), mothers are dedicated to teaching at home and use various teaching methodologies to educate their children at home. According to the results, it was concluded that there is no uniformity in the administrative and management policies of Home Education Organizations, the curriculum is attractive and flexible; individuality, moral and religious values have created that this modality is adopted by many Puerto Rican familie

Chaotic dynamics of electric-field domains in periodically driven superlattices

Self-sustained time-dependent current oscillations under dc voltage bias have been observed in recent experiments on n-doped semiconductor superlattices with sequential resonant tunneling. The current oscillations are caused by the motion and recycling of the domain wall separating low- and high-electric- field regions of the superlattice, as the analysis of a discrete drift model shows and experimental evidence supports. Numerical simulation shows that different nonlinear dynamical regimes of the domain wall appear when an external microwave signal is superimposed on the dc bias and its driving frequency and driving amplitude vary. On the frequency - amplitude parameter plane, there are regions of entrainment and quasiperiodicity forming Arnol'd tongues. Chaos is demonstrated to appear at the boundaries of the tongues and in the regions where they overlap. Coexistence of up to four electric-field domains randomly nucleated in space is detected under ac+dc driving.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, RevTex. 12 uuencoded figures (1.8M) should be requested by e-mail from the autho

Symmetric hyperbolic systems for a large class of fields in arbitrary dimension

Symmetric hyperbolic systems of equations are explicitly constructed for a general class of tensor fields by considering their structure as r-fold forms. The hyperbolizations depend on 2r-1 arbitrary timelike vectors. The importance of the so-called "superenergy" tensors, which provide the necessary symmetric positive matrices, is emphasized and made explicit. Thereby, a unified treatment of many physical systems is achieved, as well as of the sometimes called "higher order" systems. The characteristics of these symmetric hyperbolic systems are always physical, and directly related to the null directions of the superenergy tensor, which are in particular principal null directions of the tensor field solutions. Generic energy estimates and inequalities are presented too.Comment: 24 pages, no figure

Els nivells magdalenians de la Cova de les Cendres (Teulada, Moraira) : resultats del sondeig del quadre A-17

Villaverde Bonilla, Valentin - [email protected] Badal Garcia, Ernestina - [email protected]

Adsorption of emerging pollutants on lignin-based activated carbon: Analysis of adsorption mechanism via characterization, kinetics and equilibrium studies

Lignin has been employed as a precursor to synthesize activated carbons with the aim of lignin-biomass revalorization. The properties of these activated carbons were compared, and the best adsorbent was employed to remove two emerging pollutants from water, acetaminophen and acetamiprid. The adsorption mechanisms of pharmaceutical and pesticide compounds were analyzed, modeled and interpreted via statistical physics models. In particular, adsorption kinetics and isotherms of acetaminophen and acetamiprid at temperatures between 20 and 60 ◦C were quantified experimentally. Equilibrium data were fitted to different statistical physics-based isotherm models to establish the corresponding adsorption mechanism. A double layer adsorption model with one type of functional group was the best to correlate and explain the removal of these organic molecules. Steric parameters for the adsorption of these organic compounds were also calculated thus determining that their adsorption was multi-molecular. At tested operating conditions, acetaminophen adsorption was endothermic, while acetamiprid removal was exothermic. Physical adsorption forces were expected to be responsible for the removal of both compounds. This study reports new insights on the adsorption mechanisms of relevant emerging pollutants commonly found in water worldwid

A randomized open-labeled study to examine the effects of creatine monohydrate and combined training on jump and scoring performance in young basketball players

BACKGROUND: Creatine monohydrate (CrM) supplementation has been shown to be an effective and safe nutritional supplement to improve performance; however, the impact of CrM supplementation in young basketball players is less clear. This study evaluated the effects of CrM supplementation during a strength and conditioning training (SCT) program on lower-limb strength parameters and performance in under-16 (U16) basketball players. METHODS: Twenty-three male U16 basketball players participated in this study (14.3 ± 0.4 years; BMI: 20.7 ± 2.2 kg∙m(−2)). The players were randomly assigned to either a CrM group (n = 12) that ingested 0.1 g·kg(−1)·day(−1) of CrM or to a non-supplemented control group (n = 11, CON). The athletes participated in an 8-week SCT program consisting of two lower-limb resistance-training sessions and two plyometric sessions per week. Squat jump (SJ), drop jump (DP), countermovement jump (CMJ), and Abalakov (ABK) jump power tests as well as basketball performance (points and minutes per game) were measured before, during and/or after the intervention. Data were analyzed using a general linear model with repeated measures with independent Student’s t-test pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: The results (95% confidence interval for mean change from baseline) show that there were significant differences for all variables for CrM and CON, respectively: SJ (cm): 2.6 – 6.4, P < 0.01 and 2.2–5.1 P < 0.01; DJ (cm): 2.5–5.6, P < 0.01, and 1.8–4.4, P < 0.01; CMJ (cm): 0.3–0.8, P < 0.01, and 0.2–0.5, P < 0.01; ABK (cm): 2.8–5.5, P < 0.01 and 0.7–2.6, P = 0.003. A significant group x time interaction (p = 0.003, η(p)(2) = 0.342) was observed in ABK performance. No significant group x time effects were seen in squat jump (p = 0.449, η(p)(2) = 0.028), drop jump (p = 0.143, η(p)(2) = 0.099), or counter movement jump (p = 0.304, η(p)(2) = 0.05). A significant interaction effect was also observed in points per game (p = 0.049, η(p)(2) = 0.149), while a non-significant but medium effect was seen in minutes per game (p = 0.166, η(p)(2) = 0.094). CONCLUSIONS: CrM supplementation in conjunction with resistance and plyometric training increased the lower-limb ABK power and scoring performance in U16 basketball players

Efficacy of progressive versus severe energy restriction on body composition and strength in concurrent trained women

Purpose This study evaluated the concurrent training (CT) effect in combination with either progressive energy restriction (PER) or severe energy restriction (SER) on body composition and strength-related variables in resistance-trained women. Methods Fourteen women (29.5 ± 3.8 years; 23.8 ± 2.8 kg·m −2 ) were randomly assigned to a PER (n = 7) or SER (n = 7) group. Participants performed an 8-week CT program. Pre- and post-intervention measures of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) were assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and strength-related variables were assessed through 1-repetition maximum (in the squat and bench press) and countermovement jump. Results Significant reductions in FM were observed in PER and SER (Δ = − 1.7 ± 0.4 kg; P = < 0.001; ES = − 0.39 and Δ = − 1.2 ± 0.6 kg; P = 0.002; ES = − 0.20, respectively). After correcting FFM for fat-free adipose tissue (FFAT), no signifi- cant differences for this variable were found either in PER (Δ = − 0.3 ± 0.1; P = 0.071; ES = − 0.06) or in SER (Δ = − 0.2 ± 0.1; P = 0.578; ES = − 0.04). There were no significant changes in the strength-related variables. No between-group differences were found in any of the variables. Conclusion A PER has similar effects to a SER on body composition and strength in resistance-trained women performing a CT program. Given that PER is more flexible and thus may enhance dietary adherence, it might be a better alternative for FM reduction compared to SER.Funding for open access publishing: Universidad Málaga/ CBUA. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Didactic itineraries in the Spanish scientific scene

Introducción: En este artículo realizamos un estado de la cuestión sobre los trabajos publicados en España desde las últimas décadas del siglo XX hasta la actualidad sobre el itinerario didáctico. Con ello pretendemos averiguar cuál ha sido el enfoque utilizado por docentes e investigadores y cómo éste ha ido variando para adaptarse a las necesidades e inquietudes de cada momento. Método: Análisis del repositorio bibliográfico de Dialnet; selección de obras más relevantes para nuestra investigación desde los años 80 hasta la actualidad; ordenación cronológica y temática de las diferentes aportaciones sobre el tema objeto de estudio; establecimiento de líneas generales o tendencias en el empleo de los itinerarios didácticos a lo largo del periodo estudiado. Resultados: Hemos podido comprobar cómo el empleo del itinerario didáctico ha gozado de una larga trayectoria en nuestro país que puede remontarse a los inicios del siglo XX; ha sido empleado por los docentes en un amplio abanico de disciplinas, entre las que destacan la Geografía, la Geología y la Botánica, por una parte, y la Historia, Historia del Arte y Educación Patrimonial por otra. No obstante, los enfoques y recursos asociados a dicha estrategia han ido variando a lo largo del tiempo, por ejemplo, incorporando inquietudes relacionadas con la educación ambiental -en el caso de su empleo en las Ciencias de la Naturaleza-, o con las herramientas digitales -en el caso de las Ciencias Sociales-. Conclusiones: Se ha puesto de manifiesto la continuidad en el empleo de esta estrategia metodológica. A pesar de su larga trayectoria y del mantenimiento de determinadas tendencias, se comprueba una evolución no solo en cuanto a las materias abordadas, sino también en lo que atañe a la incorporación de nuevas cuestiones y problemáticas de gran calado en la sociedad actual, así como a los recursos didácticos empleados (TIC), acordes con las necesidades e inquietudes del presente.Introduction: In this article we carry out a state of the question on the works published in Spain from the last decades of the 20th century to the present on the didactic itinerary as a methodological strategy, in order to verify which has been the approach used by teachers and researchers to over time and how it has changed to adapt to the needs and concerns of today's society. Method: We have based ourselves on the main bibliographic compilation databases in order to order the different contributions on the subject under study chronologically and thematically. Results: We have been able to verify how the use of the didactic itinerary has enjoyed a long history in our country that can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century; It has been used by teachers in a wide range of disciplines, among which Geography, Geology and Botany stand out, on the one hand, and History, Art History, and Heritage Education -in recent years- on the other, although the approaches and resources associated with said strategy have varied over time, for example, incorporating concerns related to environmental education -in the case of its use in Natural Sciences-, or with digital tools -in the case of the Social Sciences. Conclusions: The continuity in the use of this methodological strategy has been revealed. Despite its long history and the maintenance of certain trends, an evolution is verified not only in terms of the subjects addressed, but also in regard to the incorporation of new issues and problems of great importance in today's society, as well as to the didactic resources used, according to the needs and concerns of the present

The effect of excess weight on circulating inflammatory cytokines in drug-naïve first-episode psychosis individuals

Background: Low-grade inflammation has been repeatedly associated with both excess weight and psychosis. However, no previous studies have addressed the direct effect of body mass index (BMI) on basal serum cytokines in individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of BMI on basal serum cytokine levels in FEP patients and control subjects, separating the total sample into two groups: normal-weight and overweight individuals. Methods: This is a prospective and open-label study. We selected 75 FEP patients and 75 healthy controls with similar characteristics to patients according to the following variables: sex, age, and cannabis and tobacco consumption. Both controls and patients were separated into two groups according to their BMI: subjects with a BMI under 25 were considered as normal weight and those with a BMI equal to or more than 25 were considered as overweight. Serum levels of 21 cytokines/chemokines were measured at baseline using the Human High Sensitivity T Cell Magnetic Bead Panel protocol from the Milliplex® Map Kit. We compared the basal serum levels of the 21 cytokines between control and patient groups according to their BMI. Results: In the normal-weight group, IL-8 was the only cytokine that was higher in patients than in the control group (p = 0.001), whereas in the overweight group, serum levels of two pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, p = 0.000; IL-1?, p = 0.003), two chemokines (IL-8, p = 0.001; MIP-1?, p = 0.001), four Th-1 and Th-2 cytokines (IL-13, p = 0.009; IL-2, p = 0.001; IL-7, p = 0.001; IL-12p70, p = 0.010), and one Type-3 cytokine (IL-23, p = 0.010) were higher in patients than in controls. Conclusions: Most differences in the basal serum cytokine levels between patients and healthy volunteers were found in the overweight group. These findings suggest that excess weight can alter the homeostasis of the immune system and therefore may have an additive pro-inflammatory effect on the one produced by psychosis in the central nervous system.Funding: The present study was carried out at the Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain, under the following grant support from MINECO SAF2013-46292-R, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla. No pharmaceutical company has participated in the study concept and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of the results, and drafting of the manuscript. We thank the Valdecilla Biobank for blood sampling handling and storage. We also wish to thank the participants and their families for enrolling in this study. The study, designed and directed by B C-F, conformed to international standards for research ethics and was approved by the local institutional review board