A political sociology of adult education : a research agenda

With the publication of the Southam Report in Canada (1987) showing the widespread functional illiteracy of vast sectors of the Canadian population, and the renewed discussion on the shortcomings of literacy training programmes in the U.S. (Kozol, 1985; Gee, 1986), adult education has become again a priority for policy makers in industrial advanced societies. This article challenges some of the bask assumptions of conventional mainstream adult education, taking advantage of the experience and theories mainly developed in dependent-development societies of Latin America. A political sociology of adult education takes as a starting point the relationships between the capitalist state and adult education. Therefore, the notion of the State should be considered central to any attempt to understand the "new" rationale for policy formation in this field. Some questions and queries on adult education policy formation are advanced here, and a new agenda for research is advocated.peer-reviewe

Non-paraxial Talbot effect in one-dimensional gratings with period comparable to the wavelength

The Talbot effect is a diffractive phenomenon which was found since its inception in the Gaussian optics, but when the period of the object is comparable with the wavelength is considered entering its non-paraxial regime. There, it has attracted interest for its applications related to the design of objects and their restorative effects posing in damaged gratings on this scale. In this contribution a study of this phenomenon at level non-paraxial (metaxial) is presented by using scalar diffraction theory in plane waves representation for periodic transversal fields. To this end, a one-dimensional amplitude grating of period p is used which is illuminated by a monochromatic plane wave of wavelength λ where p ranges between 1,5 λ and 4,2 λ.Fil: Arrieta, E.. Universidad Popular del Cesar; ColombiaFil: Bolognini, Nestor Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas; ArgentinaFil: Torres, C.O.. Universidad Popular del Cesar; Colombi

Tropidophis celiae

Number of pages: 8Geological SciencesIntegrative Biolog

Developing Allometric Equations for Teak Plantations Located in the Coastal Region of Ecuador from Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data

Traditional studies aimed at developing allometric models to estimate dry above-ground biomass (AGB) and other tree-level variables, such as tree stem commercial volume (TSCV) or tree stem volume (TSV), usually involves cutting down the trees. Although this method has low uncertainty, it is quite costly and inefficient since it requires a very time-consuming field work. In order to assist in data collection and processing, remote sensing is allowing the application of non-destructive sampling methods such as that based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). In this work, TLS-derived point clouds were used to digitally reconstruct the tree stem of a set of teak trees (Tectona grandis Linn. F.) from 58 circular reference plots of 18 m radius belonging to three different plantations located in the Coastal Region of Ecuador. After manually selecting the appropriate trees from the entire sample, semi-automatic data processing was performed to provide measurements of TSCV and TSV, together with estimates of AGB values at tree level. These observed values were used to develop allometric models, based on diameter at breast height (DBH), total tree height (h), or the metric DBH2 × h, by applying a robust regression method to remove likely outliers. Results showed that the developed allometric models performed reasonably well, especially those based on the metric DBH2 × h, providing low bias estimates and relative RMSE values of 21.60% and 16.41% for TSCV and TSV, respectively. Allometric models only based on tree height were derived from replacing DBH by h in the expression DBH2 x h, according to adjusted expressions depending on DBH classes (ranges of DBH). This finding can facilitate the obtaining of variables such as AGB (carbon stock) and commercial volume of wood over teak plantations in the Coastal Region of Ecuador from only knowing the tree height, constituting a promising method to address large-scale teak plantations monitoring from the canopy height models derived from digital aerial stereophotogrammetry

Neoliberalism, globalization agendas and banking educational policy : is popular education an answer?

Discussing the tensions between the global and the local, this paper offers a description of cosmopolitan and local competing globalization agendas. Three agendas, as ideal types, are highlighted: the Hyper-Globalizers, Skeptics and Transformationists. After explaining the competing agendas for globalization and some of their potential impacts in education, three main claims are made in this paper. The first one is that the dominant technocratic rationale in policy making, which is part and parcel of a neoliberal regime, constitutes a form of banking education so brilliantly criticized by Paulo Freire. This technocratic rationality is based on instrumental rationality discussed by Max Weber, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas. A second claim is that there is a great potential for challenging the intellectual narratives and praxis of neoliberal education in the new approach of a global citizenship education portrayed in the First Global Educational Initiative announced by the U.N. General Secretary and currently being implemented by UNESCO. The final claim is a question: could popular education be an answer to the growing inequality, poverty, and lack of solidarity in the contemporary world? The basic premise of this paper is that neoliberalism, emerging as the dominant face of globalization may be conducive to what has been termed banking education. The distinguished tradition of popular education in Latin America is considered as a possible alternative.peer-reviewe

Tracking de puntos para un sistema de control visual embebido en FPGA

Los sistemas de control visual obtienen la información de control a partir de una cámara. La imagen proporciona la referencia de control que permite guiar a un robot manipulador desde cualquier posición hasta una posición deseada en su entorno. El objetivo de este proyecto consiste en la detección de un patrón de cuatro puntos característicos que posibilite el tracking o seguimiento mientras permanezcan en el campo de visión de la cámara para facilitar el control visual aplicado sobre un robot. Para la captura de imágenes se ha empleado una cámara que se conecta a una Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (1). La ventaja que se consigue al utilizar la FPGA frente a un procesador de propósito general secuencial es realizar un procesamiento en paralelo, lo que permite reducir los tiempos de respuesta con la información visual en el instante de capturar la imagen y realizar las operaciones necesarias en el control visual. La implementación software se ha desarrollado mediante el lenguaje de descripción VHDL y la herramienta ISE Design 14.7, permitiendo la portabilidad a cualquier FPGA. Se ha tenido en cuenta optimizar el consumo de recursos trabajando a la máxima frecuencia de reloj posible. El hardware empleado para el proyecto es la placa KC705 Eval Board que contiene una FPGA Kintex7 de Xilinx [7] y la cámara MV-D752-CL CMOS CameraLink de Photonfocus. El resultado de este tracking permitirá desarrollar aplicaciones de control visual embebido en FPGA