Trust, discrimination and acculturation Experimental evidence on Asian international and Australian domestic university students

ntercultural relations between Australia and Asia are pivotal to the economic prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region. However, there appears to be tension between Australian domestic and Asian international students at universities in Australia. To measure the degree of trust and patterns of discrimination between these groups, the Berg, Dickhaut and McCabe (1995) trust game and a series of control games were used in framework where each participant played each game against several partners. Controlling for individual heterogeneity, domestic students significantly discriminated against international students in the trust game, and individual discrimination was preference-based rather than based on beliefs towards international students’ trustworthiness. Moreover, the degree of in-group favouritism shown by domestic students was negatively correlated with the Big Five personality trait of Openness. Intercultural patterns across the games also pointed to a willingness of international students to build relations with domestic students. However, the average amount that they sent in the trust game was negatively related with the number of semesters studied at university in Australia, which may partly reflect cultural adjustment but also institutional disadvantages faced specifically by international students. The study furthers understanding of the patterns of discrimi-nation between domestic and international university students, the nature of this discrimination, and illustrates the extent of challenges faced by the Australian tertiary education sector

Chaotic image encryption using hopfield and hindmarsh–rose neurons implemented on FPGA

Chaotic systems implemented by artificial neural networks are good candidates for data encryption. In this manner, this paper introduces the cryptographic application of the Hopfield and the Hindmarsh–Rose neurons. The contribution is focused on finding suitable coefficient values of the neurons to generate robust random binary sequences that can be used in image encryption. This task is performed by evaluating the bifurcation diagrams from which one chooses appropriate coefficient values of the mathematical models that produce high positive Lyapunov exponent and Kaplan–Yorke dimension values, which are computed using TISEAN. The randomness of both the Hopfield and the Hindmarsh–Rose neurons is evaluated from chaotic time series data by performing National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) tests. The implementation of both neurons is done using field-programmable gate arrays whose architectures are used to develop an encryption system for RGB images. The success of the encryption system is confirmed by performing correlation, histogram, variance, entropy, and Number of Pixel Change Rate (NPCR) tests

La realidad virtual como recurso y herramienta útil para la docencia y la investigación

La realidad virtual actualmente supone un recurso de primer orden en cuanto a la docencia, la investigación y el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje se refiere. De hecho son numerosos los campos en los que se lleva utilizando durante años con gran éxito. Y esto sucede por dos motivos fundamentales: los conceptos que la estructuran y las características de los sistemas que utiliza. De modo que este artículo plantea la realidad virtual como una tecnología actual necesaria de ser utilizada en determinados supuestos y que aporta una serie de beneficios como pocas tecnologías lo han hecho a lo largo de la historia.Facultad de Informátic

A structure-preserving upwind DG scheme for a degenerate phase-field tumor model

In this work, we present a modification of the phase-field tumor growth model given in [26] that leads to bounded, more physically meaningful, volume fraction variables. In addition, we develop an upwind discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme preserving the mass conservation, pointwise bounds and energy stability of the continuous model. Finally, some computational tests in accordance with the theoretical results are introduced. In the first test, we compare our DG scheme with the finite element (FE) scheme related to the same time approximation. The DG scheme shows a well-behavior even for strong cross-diffusion effects in contrast with FE where numerical spurious oscillations appear. Moreover, the second test exhibits the behavior of the tumor-growth model under different choices of parameters and also of mobility and proliferation functions.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figure

Variación del perímetro cefálico en prematuros menores de 34 semanas expuestos a corioamnionitis histológica

Objective: To analyze the variations of head circumference (HC) in preterm infants, born with less than 34 weeks of gestation, exposed to histologic chorioamnionitis (CAH), and observed until 2 years of corrected age. Materials and methods: This is a cohort study derived from two prospective studies. The analyzed data corresponded to HC measures obtained from the subjects at three points: birth, 40 weeks, and 2 years of corrected age. The subjects were classified in two groups: exposed and not exposed to CAH. Preterm infants with CAH were divided according to its subtype in chorioamnionitis, subchorionitis and chorioamnionitis plus funisitis. Results: Out of 91 preterm infants included in the study. 41.8% (38/91) presented CAH. At birth, the average measure of HC in exposed infants was 27.7 cm (31,2 percentile), while in not exposed infants it was 28.3 cm. (42,1 percentile). At 40 weeks and at 2 years, the average measures were similar. The CAH chorioamnionitis subtype was found to be associated with PC growth retardation (p<0,05). A lesser gestational age (p=0.005) was related with greater cranial growth speed. Conclusions: Newborns younger than 34 weeks exposed to CAH had lower HC percentile at birth. We observed a recovery of HC at 40 weeks. The chorioamnionitis subtype was related to lower HC at 2 years of corrected age. Intrauterine growth  restriction (IUGR) enhanced this association at these three points, while sepsis did so only at 40 weeks. Further research is required to confirm these findingsObjetivo: Analizar las variaciones del perímetro cefálico (PC) en prematuros menores de 34 semanas expuestos a corioamnionitis histológica (CAH), y observados hasta los 2 años de edad corregida. Material y métodos: Estudio de cohorte secundaria de dos estudios prospectivos. Los datos correspondieron a mediciones del PC al nacimiento, a las 40 semanas y a los 2 años de edad corregida. La variación del PC se analizó en los prematuros con y sin exposición a CAH. La CAH se analizó de acuerdo con los subtipos subcorionitis/corionitis, corioamnionitis y corioamnionitis más funisitis. Resultados: De 91 prematuros incluidos, el 41,8 % (38/91) tuvo CAH. El promedio del PC al nacimiento fue de 27,7 cm (percentil 31,2) en los expuestos y de 28,3 cm (percentil 42,1) en los no expuestos (p = 0,039); a las 40 semanas y a los 2 años, los promedios fueron similares. El subtipo corioamnionitis estuvo asociado con un menor PC (p < 0,05). La menor edad gestacional al nacer (p < 0,005) se relacionó con una mayor velocidad de crecimiento craneal. La CAH y el retardo de crecimiento intrauterino (RCIU) fueron los factores determinantes del menor PC en las tres edades evaluadas, y la sepsis confirmada solo tuvo lugar a las 40 semanas. Conclusiones: Los prematuros menores de 34 semanas expuestos a la CAH tuvieron menor percentil de PC al nacimiento; se observó recuperación del percentil de PC a las 40 semanas; y, finalmente, el subtipo corioamnionitisse relacionó con un menor PC a los 2 años de edad corregida. El factor RCIU potencia esta asociación en las tres edades y la sepsis solo a las 40 semanas. Se recomienda realizar futuros estudios para confirmar estos hallazgo