The role of academic mentors for Latino/a adolescents exposed to community violence

AimsWe examined the protective role of academic mentors for Latino/a youth exposed to community violence. We tested whether the mentor facilitation of positive growth and mentor school involvement moderated the relations between exposure to violence and Latino/a youth’s educational values, school effort, and academic efficacy.MethodsWe used hierarchical linear regressions to examine these relations among 210 Latino/a high school students.ResultsWitnessing violence and personal victimization was negatively related to all three educational outcomes. Mentor school involvement was positively related to all three educational outcomes, whereas mentor facilitation of growth was positively related to educational values only. A significant interaction between witnessing violence and mentor school involvement indicated that the negative relation between witnessing violence and educational values weakened at high levels of mentor school involvement.ConclusionWe discuss the benefits of academic mentoring and exploring effective mentoring characteristics with Latino/a youth exposed to violence.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150558/1/jcop22189_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150558/2/jcop22189.pd

Small is fast: astrocytic glucose and lactate metabolism at cellular resolution

Brain tissue is highly dynamic in terms of electrical activity and energy demand. Relevant energy metabolites have turnover times ranging from milliseconds to seconds and are rapidly exchanged between cells and within cells. Until recently these fast metabolic events were inaccessible, because standard isotopic techniques require use of populations of cells and/or involve integration times of tens of minutes. Thanks to fluorescent probes and recently available genetically-encoded optical nanosensors, this Technology Report shows how it is now possible to monitor the concentration of metabolites in real-time and in single cells. In combination with ad hoc inhibitor-stop protocols, these probes have revealed a key role for K(+) in the acute stimulation of astrocytic glycolysis by synaptic activity. They have also permitted detection of the Warburg effect in single cancer cells. Genetically-encoded nanosensors currently exist for glucose, lactate, NADH and ATP, and it is envisaged that other metabolite nanosensors will soon be available. These optical tools together with improved expression systems and in vivo imaging, herald an exciting era of single-cell metabolic analysis

Neighborhood Influences on Perceived Social Support Among Parents: Findings from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Background: Social support is frequently linked to positive parenting behavior. Similarly, studies increasingly show a link between neighborhood residential environment and positive parenting behavior. However, less is known about how the residential environment influences parental social support. To address this gap, we examine the relationship between neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and collective efficacy and the level and change in parental caregiver perceptions of non-familial social support. Methodology/Principal Findings: The data for this study came from three data sources, the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Study's Longitudinal Cohort Survey of caregivers and their offspring, a Community Survey of adult residents in these same neighborhoods and the 1990 Census. Social support is measured at Wave 1 and Wave 3 and neighborhood characteristics are measured at Wave 1. Multilevel linear regression models are fit. The results show that neighborhood collective efficacy is a significant ($\beta$ = .04; SE = .02; p = .03), predictor of the positive change in perceived social support over a 7 year period, however, not of the level of social support, adjusting for key compositional variables and neighborhood concentrated disadvantage. In contrast concentrated neighborhood disadvantage is not a significant predictor of either the level or change in social support. Conclusion: Our finding suggests that neighborhood collective efficacy may be important for inducing the perception of support from friends in parental caregivers over time

Parents’ Promotion of Psychological Autonomy, Psychological Control, and Mexican–American Adolescents’ Adjustment

Mexican–American adolescents are at an elevated risk for adjustment difficulties. In an effort to identify parenting practices that can affect the adjustment of Mexican–American youth, the current study examined parents’ promotion of psychological autonomy and parents’ psychological control as perceived by Mexican–American early adolescents, and explored their associations with adolescents’ adjustment in the context of acculturation. In 5th grade, 134 (54.5% female) Mexican–American adolescents reported on their acculturation level and the parenting practices of their mothers and fathers. In 5th and 7th grade, adolescents also reported on their depressive symptoms, number of delinquent friends, and self-worth. Perceptions of promotion of psychological autonomy and of psychological control were positively correlated. However, perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy and of less psychological control predicted fewer depressive symptoms 2 years later. Perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy also predicted fewer delinquent friends two years later. Finally, perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy predicted higher self-worth only among less acculturated adolescents. The study underscores the roles that promotion of psychological autonomy and psychological control may play in Mexican–American children’s well-being during early adolescence

Single Parenting and Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten

Two waves of data from a sample of 89 poor and near-poor single black mothers and their preschool children were used to study the influences of parenting stress, physical discipline practices, and nonresident fathers’ relations with their children on behavior problems in kindergarten. The results indicate that higher levels of parent stress, more frequent spanking, and less frequent father–child contact at time 1 were associated with increased teacher-reported behavior problems at time 2. In addition, more frequent contact between nonresident biological fathers and their children moderated the negative effect of harsh discipline by mothers on subsequent child behavior problems. Specifically, when contact with the father was low, maternal spanking resulted in elevated levels of behavior problems; with average contact, this negative effect of spanking was muted; and with high contact, spanking was not associated with increased behavior problems in kindergarten. The implications of these findings for future research and policy are discussed

CSP y Bases de Datos Restrictivas

Las Bases de Datos Restrictivas se originaron ante la necesidad de representar de forma más compacta y modular datos de gran tamaño. De esta forma, y como medio para tratar datos continuos como es el caso de los espacio-temporales, se opto por tratar la información como restricciones almacenadas en una base de datos. Gracias a esta forma de tratar las restricciones, se facilita la construcción y el modelado de problemas de satisfacción de restricciones (CSP) y su posterior resolución. En este artículo, se realiza un recorrido por las distintas razones, metodologías y herramientas que han ayudado al desarrollo de las Bases de Datos Restrictivas. Junto a dicho estudio, se lleva a cabo un análisis de sus deficiencias y de los posibles aspectos a mejorar. Para aumentar la habilidad en la construcción de modelos, y ayudando a la resolución de problemas de satisfacción de restricciones (CSP), se ofrece una arquitectura de implementación modular, con las ventajas que eso conlleva. Para finalizar, se presenta un ejemplo que aclara las razones que han movido al desarrollo de nuestra propuesta

CSP aplicados a la diagnosis basada en modelos

En las ultimas décadas, parte de la comunidad cientíifica ha dedicado sus esfuerzos al desarrollo de una metodologia para la diagnosis de sistemas desde el campo de la Inteligencia Artificial. Dicha metodologia se denomina diagnosis basada en modelos, y cubre un amplio abanico de posibilidades. Se parte de un modelo explicito del sistema a diagnosticar y a partir de el se razona sobre la identificacion de los subsistemas que generan fallos, utilizando para ello los valores de las entradas proporcionadas y las salidas captadas del sistema. En cualquier proceso de produccion o desarrollo es importante tener un control sobre los fallos en componentes o procesos. La diagnosis permite controlar estas irregularidades, lo que conlleva a los sistemas que la incorporan una mayor seguridad y reduccion de costos. Algunos modelos utilizados en ingenieria se han basado en la programacion logica con restricciones (CLP) para obtener la diagnosis de un sistema. En este articulo proponemos la metodologia necesaria para poder plantear la diagnosis de un sistema como un problema de satisfaccion de restricciones (CSP). De esta forma, sera posible incorporar al proceso de generacion de la diagnosis de un sistema, los avances y optimizaciones que se han alcanzado en el campo de la busqueda de soluciones para problemas CSP. Plantear un problema de diagnosis de esta forma abre tambien la posibilidad de aplicar la diagnosis a otros campos, como por ejemplo la diagnosis del software. La diagnosis del software permite identificar y localizar el origen de los errores de un desarrollo software. Un programa tendría un error si no existe concordancia entre los resultados especificados como correctos y los resultados observados tras la ejecución

Data from: Context-dependent signaling of coincident auditory and visual events in primary visual cortex

Detecting rapid, coincident changes across sensory modalities is essential for recognition of sudden threats or events. Using two-photon calcium imaging in identified cell types in awake, head-fixed mice, we show that, among the basic features of a sound envelope, loud sound onsets are a dominant feature coded by the auditory cortex neurons projecting to primary visual cortex (V1). In V1, a small number of layer 1 interneurons gates this cross-modal information flow in a context-dependent manner. In dark conditions, auditory cortex inputs lead to suppression of the V1 population. However, when sound input coincides with a visual stimulus, visual responses are boosted in V1, most strongly after loud sound onsets. Thus, a dynamic, asymmetric circuit connecting AC and V1 contributes to the encoding of visual events that are coincident with sounds

A1V1Data

Auditory cortex data and Matlab script for Figure