Listening to Life’s Lessons: Using music Lyrics and Poetry to Face Issues of Aging in the Classroom

The use of poetry and music in college courses on aging is discussed. The format can help instructors reach their students in new ways. Poetry and music can be used to engage students in material that may be emotionally charged. In addition, poetry and music can be used to help students confront stereotypes about the elderly

Safeguarding El Salvador’s Transition To Peace And Democracy: A View From The Cultural And Political Magazine Tendencias (1991-2000)

This article examines the role that the cultural and political magazine Tendencias (1991-2000) played in El Salvador’s transition to peace. Specifically, it studies how Tendencias’s contributors tackled some of the key issues of the transition—the failure to reform the economy, the undermining of the peace process by economic and political elites, and the inability of the FMLN to respond to the new political situation—and argues that the magazine served as a counter to El Salvador’s culture of ideological entrenchment. By fostering democratic and rational-critical discussion, Tendencias opened up a new “public sphere” for El Salvador and gave voice to a vibrant and tenacious intellectual culture that has often been overlooked

It\u27s for the Birds

Non-fiction by Nanci Golte

Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s El Material Humano And The Labyrinth Of Postwar Guatemala: On Ethics, Truth, And Justice

Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s El material humano (2009) grapples with the consequences of Guatemala’s violent past by probing into a once-secret police archive that brings into the present the sufferings of the past. This article demonstrates how the novel unsettles our easy assumptions regarding the relation between documentary truth and the notions of justice and reconciliation. By charting the protagonist’s intellectual and emotional conflicts, I argue that his crisis ultimately serves a homeopathic function that makes possible a special mode of ethical engagement, one which brings into fruitful tension two distinct modes of cognition—thought and affect—and is thus able to register the contradictions and nuances of the human reality of postwar Guatemala. By implication, I claim that the novel shows that an ethics based solely on documentary truths and simplistic conceptions of justice and reconciliation is insufficient, for it loses sight of the fact that such truths are always embedded in an ever-changing matrix of traumas, regrets, compassions, and enmities. El material humano, then, posits an ethics based not on historical truth but on the larger, more redemptive truth of the human predicament

Early Competitive Game Playing in Same- and Mixed-Gender Peer Groups

Sixty-four kindergarten children participated in a bead-collecting game. Their competitive, noncompetitive, and other moves were measured. Gender and gender composition of the group affected competition in the context of playing this game with known peers. The boys were more competitive than the girls. Girls in the same-gender groups, but not mixed-gender groups, had low levels of competitive moves overall. Similar rates of strategic moves and game understanding suggest that the noted gender differences were not due to lack of game skill. However, the experience of playing the game can differ for boys and girls, and this difference may be emphasized when girls are playing exclusively with other girls

Young Children’s Access and Use of Computers in Family Child Care and Child Care Centers

Forty eight family child care providers and 37 center-based providers completed surveys about the availability and use of computers for children in their care. In addition, the providers were asked about their attitudes towards technology and their own computer skills. The impact of setting type on computer placement and rules about their use did not differ very much by setting type. Several factors were associated with the amount of time children were reported to use the computers. Overall, it appears that child care providers had developmentally sensitive guidelines for fostering computer use in both child care settings

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 12: An initial investigation into the production and use of Scientific and Technical Information (STI) at five NASA centers: Results of a telephone survey

A study was conducted to provide NASA management with an 'initial' look at the production and use of scientific and technical information (STI) at five NASA centers (Ames, Goddard, Langley, Lewis, and Marshall). The 550 respondents who were interviewed by telephone held favorable views regarding the NASA STI system. About 65 percent of the respondents stated that it is either very or somewhat important for them to publish their work through the NASA STI system. About 10 percent of those respondents encountered problems using the NASA STI system services for publication. The most frequently reported problem was 'the process is too time consuming' (8.6 percent). Overall, those respondents using the NASA STI system to publish their work rated the system as excellent (24.6 percent) or good (37.6 percent). About 79 percent of the respondents stated that it is either very or somewhat important for them to use the NASA STI system to access information. The most frequently reported problems were 'the time and effort it takes to locate and obtain information through the system' (14.4 percent). Overall, about 83 percent of the respondents stated that the NASA STI system is important to performing their work. Overall, about 73 percent of the respondents stated that the NASA STI system meets their information needs

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 13: Source selection and information use by US aerospace engineers and scientists: Results of a telephone survey

A telephone survey of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists belonging to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) was conducted between December 4, 1991 and January 5, 1992. The survey was undertaken to (1) validate the telephone survey as an appropriate technique for collecting data from U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists; (2) collect information about how the results of NASA/DoD aerospace research are used in the R&D process; (3) identify those selection criteria which affect the use of federally-funded aerospace R&D; and (4) obtain information that could be used to develop a self-administered mail questionnaire for use with the same population. The average rating of importance of U.S. government technical reports was 2.5 (on a 4-point scale); The mean/median number of times U.S. government technical reports were used per 6 months was 8/2. Factors scoring highest for U.S. government technical reports were technical accuracy (2.9), reliable data and technical information (2.8), and contains comprehensive data and information (2.7) on a 4-point system. The factors scoring highest for influencing the use of U.S. government technical reports were relevance (3.1), technical accuracy (3.06), and reliable data/information (3.02). Ease of use, familiarity, technical accuracy, and relevance correlated with use of U.S. government technical reports. Survey demographics, survey questionnaire, and the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project publications list are included

Children’s Use of Retreats in Family Child Care Homes

The use of retreat spaces by 65 children in 9 family child care homes was assessed in this study. Family child care providers used daily diaries to collect information about children’s retreat frequency and associated behavior. The findings revealed that nearly half of the children used informal, readily available retreats during the research period. Playing with toys was the most frequent and stable retreat activity across age groups. Yet the number of passive and engaged behaviors varied based on child characteristics such as age, gender, and child’s mood for the day. Retreat use can be viewed as a potentially adaptive environmental strategy that children apply as their needs change in a given day and from one developmental period to the next. Thus, it is recommended that child care professionals provide access to retreats and support children’s varied use of retreat space

Studio fitochimico di Joannesia princeps Vell. (Euphorbiaceae)

Oggetto della presente tesi è lo studio fitochimico delle foglie di Joannesia princeps Vell., albero deciduo con una folta chioma, alto 10-30 metri, appartenente alla famiglia delle Euphorbiaceae, endemico delle regioni subtropicali e costiere del Brasile, ma coltivato anche in Asia e Africa. Le foglie della pianta sono lunghe 10-12 cm, disposte all’estremità dei rami, persistenti, digitate e composte, costituite da 5 foglie oblunghe, un po’ scavate alla base e cuoriformi, acuminate in cima, intere, glabre, lungamente picciolate. Tale studio si inserisce in un progetto di ricerca volto alla caratterizzazione fitochimica di diverse specie botaniche provenienti dall’El Zoharia Research Garden del Cairo, utilizzate nella medicina tradizionale dei paesi di provenienza, ma fino ad oggi poco studiate. Infatti, in letteratura sono presenti alcuni studi sulla composizione chimica della corteccia della radice e sui semi di J. princeps ed un solo lavoro sulle foglie della pianta; pertanto questo lavoro di tesi rappresenta la prima analisi approfondita sulla composizione chimica delle foglie di questa specie. L’isolamento e la caratterizzazione chimica dei metaboliti secondari sono state effettuate secondo le modalità qui di seguito descritte: le foglie sono state essiccate all’aria, macinate e sottoposte a successiva estrazione a temperatura ambiente con solventi a polarità crescente. I solventi, usati in successione per tale scopo, sono stati i seguenti: n-esano, cloroformio, una miscela cloroformio-metanolo (9:1) e metanolo. Sono stati presi in considerazione e analizzati gli estratti cloroformio-metanolo (RCM) e metanolico (RM). Il residuo cloroformio-metanolo è stato sottoposto a cromatografia su colonna Sephadex LH-20 a esclusione molecolare. Successivamente le frazioni di interesse sono state separate mediante cromatografia ad alta pressione su fase inversa (RP-HPLC), giungendo alla purificazione di 3 flavonoidi (composti 2, 4, e 6), 1 gallotannino (5), 1 monoterpene glicosidico (1) e un ulteriore composto ancora in fase di caratterizzazione (3). Il residuo metanolico è stato ripartito in una frazione acquosa (RW) e in una n-butanolica (RBu); da quest’ultima, stata sottoposta a cromatografia su colonna Sephadex LH-20 ad esclusione molecolare, sono stati purificati due gallotannini (8 e 9). Successivamente le frazioni di interesse sono state separate mediante RP-HPLC, giungendo alla purificazione di 9 flavonoidi (12, 13, 16-19, 21-23), 5 gallotannini (8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 20, 23), e un lignano (10). La determinazione strutturale dei composti isolati è stata possibile grazie a tecniche spettroscopiche NMR mono- e bidimensionali (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, HSQC, HMBC, 1D-TOCSY, DQF-COSY) e di spettrometria di massa ESI-MS