Escritura colaborativa e individual: Efectos en el desarrollo de la precisión y fluidez

The present study investigates the differential effects of collaborative vs. individual writing approaches on the development of fluency and accuracy among male and female EFL learners. The study is unprecedented in terms of investigating the effect of these two approaches on fluency and accuracy development in the long-run through a delayed posttest. Additionally, the study examines the development of fluency and accuracy over seven successive sessions longitudinally. The written outputs, produced by the participants, were scored for fluency and accuracy according to the method applied by Wigglesworth and Storch (2009). The Data, analyzed through MANCOVA and ANOVA analyses, revealed that collaborative writing led to more fluent texts for both males and females in the short and the long run. Also, the collaboratively written compositions were more accurate in comparison to those written individually for males and females in the short and long run.Este estudio investiga los efectos diferenciales de la redacción colaborativa versus la versión individual y sus acercamientos del desarrollo de la precisión y fluencia entre los aprendices varones y mujeres EFL. El estudio no tiene precedente alguno en término de investigación de los efectos de estos dos acercamientos en un largo manejo a través de post prueba (posttest) dilatada. Además, el estudio comprueba el desarrollo de la precisión y fluencia en siete sesiones sucesivas longitudinalmente. Las producciones escritas hechas por los participantes fueron apuntadas para la fluencia y precisión en concordancia con el método aplicado por Wigglesworth and Storch (2009). Este dato analizado a través de la Mancova y Anova y sus análisis revela que la redacción colaborativa dirigida a más textos fluentes para ambos, varones y mujeres, en un manejo largo y un manejo corto. También las composiciones escritas eran más precisas en comparación con aquellas escritas individualmente para los aprendices varones y mujeres en el manejo largo y el corto

On Income, Democracy, Political Stability, and Internal Armed Conflicts

Whether or not a country is likely to encounter an internal armed conflict is considered in the literature to depend, among other things, on its extent of economic and political development. Using a dataset covering 139 countries over the 1961-2011 period, we find that a country’s per capita income has an unambiguously negative effect on the probability that it encounters an armed conflict as long as it does not suffer from a severe political instability. In contrast, countries that experience severe political instability are more likely to encounter an armed conflict the higher is their per capita income. The policy implication of our result is clear: safeguarding political stability during hard times is essential – and should take precedence over enhancing democracy and economic growth – for reducing the risk of internal armed conflicts. Our findings do not undermine the importance of protecting democratic institution or accountability, but underscore the importance of collaboration across opposing parties to progress while preserving the political stabilit

Two-level Robust State Estimation for Multi-Area Power Systems Under Bounded Uncertainties

This paper introduces a two-level robust approach to estimate the unknown states of a large-scale power system while the measurements and network parameters are subjected to uncertainties. The bounded data uncertainty (BDU) considered in the power network is a structured uncertainty which is inevitable in practical systems due to error in transmission lines, inaccurate modelling, unmodeled dynamics, parameter variations, and other various reasons. In the proposed approach, the corresponding network is first decomposed into smaller subsystems (areas), and then a two-level algorithm is presented for state estimation. In this algorithm, at the first level, each area uses a weighted least squares (WLS) technique to estimate its own states based on a robust hybrid estimation utilizing phasor measurement units (PMUs), and at the second level, the central coordinator processes all the results from the subareas and gives a robust estimation of the entire system. The simulation results for IEEE 30-bus test system verifies the accuracy and performance of the proposed multi-area robust estimator

Climate Change Induced Inter-Province Migration in Iran

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Escritura colaborativa e individual: Efectos en el desarrollo de la precisión y fluidez

The present study investigates the differential effects of collaborative vs. individual writing approaches on the development of fluency and accuracy among male and female EFL learners. The study is unprecedented in terms of investigating the effect of these two approaches on fluency and accuracy development in the long-run through a delayed posttest. Additionally, the study examines the development of fluency and accuracy over seven successive sessions longitudinally. The written outputs, produced by the participants, were scored for fluency and accuracy according to the method applied by Wigglesworth and Storch (2009). The Data, analyzed through MANCOVA and ANOVA analyses, revealed that collaborative writing led to more fluent texts for both males and females in the short and the long run. Also, the collaboratively written compositions were more accurate in comparison to those written individually for males and females in the short and long run.Este estudio investiga los efectos diferenciales de la redacción colaborativa versus la versión individual y sus acercamientos del desarrollo de la precisión y fluencia entre los aprendices varones y mujeres EFL. El estudio no tiene precedente alguno en término de investigación de los efectos de estos dos acercamientos en un largo manejo a través de post prueba (posttest) dilatada. Además, el estudio comprueba el desarrollo de la precisión y fluencia en siete sesiones sucesivas longitudinalmente. Las producciones escritas hechas por los participantes fueron apuntadas para la fluencia y precisión en concordancia con el método aplicado por Wigglesworth and Storch (2009). Este dato analizado a través de la Mancova y Anova y sus análisis revela que la redacción colaborativa dirigida a más textos fluentes para ambos, varones y mujeres, en un manejo largo y un manejo corto. También las composiciones escritas eran más precisas en comparación con aquellas escritas individualmente para los aprendices varones y mujeres en el manejo largo y el corto

Irrational antibiotic prescribing: a local issue or global concern?

Resistance to antibiotics is a major public-health concern and antibiotic use is being ever more recognized as the main discriminatory pressure driving this resistance. The aim was to assess the outpatient usage of antibiotics in teaching hospitals in various parts of capital city of Iran, Tehran and its association with resistance. 600 outpatient antibiotic prescriptions between December 2011 and May 2012 were reviewed in our teaching hospitals. All prescriptions were scrutinized in order to evaluate the antibiotic prescribing. The medical doctors from all grades were asked to note the chief complaints and the most possible diagnosis on each prescription. Clinical data, patient demographic and ultimately the total quantities of antibiotics were recorded. Our data was then compared against the major antibiotic guidelines and similar studies in other countries. The most common prescribed antibiotics are Penicillins (Penicillin, Co-Amoxiclav and Amoxicillin) (40 %), Cephalosporins (Cefixime, Cephalexin and Ceftriaxone) (24.5 %) and Macrolides (particularly Azithromycin) (15.3 %). In total, 18.2 % of cases were combinational antibacterial therapies (≥ 2). The most common diagnosis was upper respiratory tract infections as common cold (29.2 %) and sore throat (11.8 %). Directions (instructions for use) of 58 % of selected antibiotics were acceptable. Parenteral administration remains the common route of administration with 22 % of all reviewed prescriptions. Based on Cochrane reviews the antibiotic prescribing was unjustified in 42.7 % of the cases. The prescribing habit, correct diagnosis and the use of antibiotics need instant consideration. These data can provide useful information for assessing public-health policy that aims to reduce the antibiotic use and resistance levels

Information and communications technology offices: A solution for economic and social development of villages (A case study on rural district of Khosrow Shirin, Abadeh, Iran)

Information technology is considered as one of the major criteria for economic and industrial development and progress, and it is one of the most important bases for rural development. Information technology is setting the stage for social and economic development by appropriate decision-making to achieve national objectives and to meet needs of rural communities. In the present study, through a rural development approach, an attempt was made to get a general conclusion about the roles of technology and information in economic growth and development of villages and effects of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) offices on rural development and its problems in village Khosrow Shirin were addressed in various aspects