La autoestima profesional: una competencia mediadora para la innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas

El propósito de esta investigación es contrastar un modelo de análisis que permita aproximarse a los aspectos que la formación permanente aporta a los docentes en términos profesionales. Para ello se analiza, por un lado, el impacto provocado por el Programa de Becas en el Exterior (PBE) sobre la autoestima profesional y la innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas de los docentes beneficiados y, por otro, la relación que se presenta entre estas dos últimas variables. Se optó por un diseño cuasi-experimental con pretest y postest que articula procedimientos cualitativos y cuantitativos. A una muestra de 352 profesores de nivel básico se aplicaron cuatro instrumentos destinados a evaluar la autoestima profesional y la percepción-acción respecto de la innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas. Los resultados revelaron: a) diferencias significativas entre el perfil de autoestima profesional percibido antes del PBE y posterior a éste en las dimensiones Yo Soy, Yo Siento y Yo Hago, exceptuando los factores de Autocriticidad y Vocación; b) la presencia de cinco dimensiones de innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas importantes en la muestra Proceso de Aprendizaje en el Alumno, Contenidos, Metodología, Evaluación y Estilo de Enseñanza; c) diferencias significativas entre el perfil de innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas percibido antes del PBE y el posterior a éste en la dimensión Proceso de Aprendizaje en el Alumno; e) relaciones positivas y significativas entre las dimensiones de autoestima Yo Soy y los factores de innovación en las prácticas pedagógicas Proceso de Aprendizaje en el Alumno, Contenidos, Metodología y Estilo de Enseñanza; y, f) las relaciones percibidas entre las variables permitieron la clarificación de un modelo evaluativo que evidencia el impacto del PBE sobre tales constructos y da cuenta del rol mediador de la autoestima profesional en el proceso de innovación educativa. A partir de estos resultados, se postularon una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar las instancias de formación

High-Powered LED Assembly as Replacement for Conventional HBO Lamps in High Resolution, High Magnification Microscopy System

Through decades, fluorescence microscopy has relied on mercury vapor lamps as its main light source due to their high power, broad spectrum, and bright bands generated. The use of mercury vapor lamps has remained fundamentally associated with the required lighting equipment of research laboratories. However, as time progresses, mercury vapor lamps have been slowly replaced with technologies that offered longer lifetimes, less hazardous waste, and output light at similar intensities. LED technology has been actively used in biological research, but was limited by price, lower intensities, and stability. The recent development of LED technology has allowed for further understanding and implementation in the fluorescence microscopy area. We developed a system capable of fully replacing conventional mercury-based lamps with high-power LED technology suited to yield specific spectra, and sufficient power output to produce quality results. Moreover, this system provides a cost-effective, less hazardous alternative without the need for modifying conventional fluorescence microscopy system

Suelos volcanicos endurecidos

The degree of fragmentation and irregularity of tepetate areas can be measured with fractal parameters. A lot of different empirical fractal dimensions can be used with this purposed. Some of these dimensions were estimated and compared in the present work. The tepetates lineal and mass fractal dimensions were independent of the scale of measurement. These data indicate the near ideal fractal dimensionality of tepetate areas. The doble value of lineal fractal dimension was similar to the mass fractal dimension. The tepetate surface fractal dimensions indicate the considerable irregularities of tepetate areas boundaries related with advanced erosion in the studied area. (Résumé d'auteur

The Effect of Teachers` Language Proficiency on Teaching Methodology at Institute Benjamin Zeledón of Managua

Knowledge of English language represents one of the essential requirements of today´s society. Besides other skills, it is considered as one of the most influential factors when applying for a job or maintaining a particular work position, which is often conditional to the advancement of a language level. Since the ability to communicate in English has become a necessity in human life, people take advantage of different opportunities to acquire it. The best and most natural way to learn this language is to study it in an English peaking country. Being exposed to a foreign language abroad without no interference of a mother tongue is undoubtedly the most beneficial and fastest way to improve language skills. However, not everyone is provided with such an opportunity. Therefore, the only chance most of people have is learning English in Secondary school, and taking in account the factor that the Nicaraguan Educational System does not include in its curriculum teaching English during the first years in school, that is preschool and primary school, as a result the transition to secondary school is affected by the inclusion of teaching a language in students` curriculum, this can be overwhelming and intimidating for students; therefore some teacher try to engage the students in the class by speaking and communicating in the mother tongue, in our case in Spanish, they consider student are more eager to learn the language if they use Spanish than using a language they cannot pronounce or understand. This research intends to analyze how this decision affects the learning process and if it is more effective than using English to motivate the students to produce the target language

Exponential distribution of financial returns at mesoscopic time lags: a new stylized fact

We study the probability distribution of stock returns at mesoscopic time lags (return horizons) ranging from about an hour to about a month. While at shorter microscopic time lags the distribution has power-law tails, for mesoscopic times the bulk of the distribution (more than 99% of the probability) follows an exponential law. The slope of the exponential function is determined by the variance of returns, which increases proportionally to the time lag. At longer times, the exponential law continuously evolves into Gaussian distribution. The exponential-to-Gaussian crossover is well described by the analytical solution of the Heston model with stochastic volatility.Comment: 7 pages, 12 plots, elsart.cls, submitted to the Proceedings of APFA-4. V.2: updated reference

A 26-Year-Old Man with Sternoclavicular Arthritis

A 26-year-old man presented to a hospital in Lima, Peru, with a two-week history of fever, myalgias, and arthralgia of the left hip and right sternoclavicular joint. The authors discuss the work up, diagnosis, and management

El sentido de la investigación aplicada en la formación de profesionales de postgraduacion: alcances y desafíos para un debate en curso

Uno de los rasgos más persistentes del actual estado de la opinión de nuestras comunidades académicas iberoamericanas, como se sabe, es la crítica que enfrentan las reformas a la educación superior presentados por nuestros gobernantes de turno. Como pocas veces antes, las sociedades civiles, clases políticas y comunidades académicas - sean brasileñas, chilenas, mexicanas o portuguesas -, de manera transversal, han manifestado que las reformas no están a la altura de las expectativas que todos han cifrado en ellas. Así, la calidad de la investigación aplicada es el tema abordado en este texto, con el argumento de que éste es reconocido pero poco explorado en este tipo de investigación y en contextos de postgrado

Electrical characterization and modeling of pulse-based forming techniques in RRAM arrays

The forming process, which corresponds to the activation of the switching filament in Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) arrays, has a strong impact on the cells’ performances. In this paper we characterize and compare different pulse forming techniques in terms of forming time, yield and cell-to-cell variability on 4 kbits RRAM arrays. Moreover, post-forming modeling during Reset operation of correctly working and over formed cells has been performed. An incremental form and verify technique, based on a sequence of trapezoidal waveforms with increasing voltages followed by a verify operation that terminates when the expected switching behavior has been achieved, showed the best results. This procedure narrows the post-forming current distribution whereas reducing the Reset switching voltage and the operative current. These advantages materialize in a better control of the cell-to-cell variability and in an overall time and energy saving at the system level

Relationship among Current Fluctuations during Forming, Cell-To-Cell Variability and Reliability in RRAM Arrays

In this work, cells behavior during forming is monitored through an incremental pulse and verify algorithm on 4kbit RRAM arrays. This technique allows recognising different cell behaviors in terms of read-verify current oscillation: the impact of these oscillations on reliability and cell-to-cell variability has been investigated during 1k endurance cycles and 100k pulse stress under a variety of cycling conditions. Conductance histograms for the post-forming current reveal the nanosized nature of the filamentary paths across the dielectric film