The Student Journal of Latin American Studies: Avenue for Student Research

Latin American Studie

Reading, Writing, and Technology: Preliminary Results from a Bilingual Reading and Computer Literacy Program in Lincoln, Neb.

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (8th : 2010 : St. Louis, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.Latino students' academic performance has long been a concern for schools across the nation. In 2008, the Latino high school graduation rate in Lincoln, Neb., was 55.7 percent compared with an Anglo graduation rate of 81.7 percent (Lincoln Public Schools 2008). Spanish-speaking Latino students in particular are prone to dropping out, experiencing little-to-no academic achievement and scoring significantly lower on standardized test scores in all subjects than their English speaking counterparts (Lopez, et al, 2007). Although there exists numerous remedial programs that seek to address this alarming trend among students in high school, educational research indicates that the most effective strategies for addressing poor high school performance and high school incompletion begin in the preschool and elementary school years (Balfanz, et al, 2007; Lehr, et al, 2004). Some common antecedents to poor academic performance in high school and high school incompletion can be traced back to elementary school and include: limited family resources, inadequate early literacy experiences and inconsistent elementary and middle-school attendance (Lopez, et al, 2007). Interestingly, early literacy experiences appear to affect all of the other content areas in school, including math and science (Shaw, et al, 2001; Lopez, et al, 2007). Recent educational research with low-income, ethnic minority, at-risk students indicates that parental involvement in elementary school and supportive parent and child relationships in middle and high school are strong predictors of unexpected graduation of at-risk students from high school (Englund, et al, 2008). In light of this research, El Centro de las Américas, a nonprofit community center serving the needs of Latinos in Lincoln, has piloted a family literacy program that integrates reading and computer literacy. In this age of digitalized education, parents who have no understanding of basic computer skills are at a significant disadvantage when trying to encourage academic involvement and achievement in their children (Duran, et al, 2001). This is due partly to their children's extensive exposure to, and use of, technology in school. By integrating bilingual reading activities with computer instruction, the program enhances literacy levels in Spanish-speaking immigrant families and success among Latino students. El Centro's literacy program centers not only on the student but also on the entire family. In an attempt to encourage parent participation in the student's education, the program seeks to fuse the cultural importance of family in the Latino community with an increased emphasis on academic achievement. El Centro's program uses a combination of informal discussion groups with the parents, a bilingual reading liaison and instruction in basic computer skills in the school's computer lab. The reading discussion groups serve to infuse the parents with the concept that their children's education is a family activity that necessitates participation from all, while the computer instruction provides them with an essential tool for enhancing academic success. Students participate in bilingual reading clubs with a bilingual reading specialist to work on oral and written fluency. They also receive a new book to read at home each week. Preliminary results indicate increased literacy behaviors at home and at school

Stochastic travelling waves driven by one-dimensional Wiener processes

In this thesis we aim to show the existence of a stationary travelling wave of a generalised stochastic KPP equation driven by a one dimensional Wiener process. Chapter 1 discusses the background of the deterministic KPP equation and some interesting properties when consider Stratonovich noise and convert to the Itˆo noise. Chapter 2 covers preliminaries and background information that will be required throughout the entire thesis. Chapter 3 defines stretching, an important concept throughout this thesis. We show that for any two initial conditions, one more stretched than the other, stretching is preserved with time. We also show that stretching defines a pre-order on our solution space and that the solution started from the Heaviside initial condition converges. In Chapter 4 we show that the limiting law lives on a suitable measurable subset of our solution space. We conclude Chapter 4 by proving that the limiting law is invariant for the process viewed from the wavefront and hence a stationary travelling wave. Chapter 5 discusses domains of attraction and an implicit wave speed formula is shown. Using this framework we extend our previous results, which have concentrated upon Heaviside initial conditions, to that of initial conditions that can be trapped between two Heaviside functions. We show that for these “trapped” initial conditions, the laws converge (in a suitable sense) to the same law as that for the Heaviside initial condition (up to translation). Chapter 6 discusses phase-plane analysis for our equation and we restate the stretching concept within this framework

A forensically tested tool for identification of notebook computers to aid recovery: LIARS phase 1 proof of concept

The LIARS tool was designed to enable identification, and potentially the return, to the rightful owner of stolen laptop or notebook computers. Many laptops are discovered by Police, but time constraints prevent recovered devices from being identified. This project has produced a proof of concept tool which can be used by virtually any police officer, or other investigator, which does not alter the hard drive in any fashion. The tool uses a modified version of the chntpw software, and is based on a forensically tested live Linux CD. The tool examines registry hives for known location of keys which may provide information about the owner of the laptop. This paper outlines the successful first phase of the project and looks at future directions

Testing of the LSST's photometric calibration strategy at the CTIO 0.9 meter telescope

The calibration hardware system of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is designed to measure two quantities: a telescope's instrumental response and atmospheric transmission, both as a function of wavelength. First of all, a "collimated beam projector" is designed to measure the instrumental response function by projecting monochromatic light through a mask and a collimating optic onto the telescope. During the measurement, the light level is monitored with a NIST-traceable photodiode. This method does not suffer from stray light effects or the reflections (known as ghosting) present when using a flat-field screen illumination, which has a systematic source of uncertainty from uncontrolled reflections. It allows for an independent measurement of the throughput of the telescope's optical train as well as each filter's transmission as a function of position on the primary mirror. Second, CALSPEC stars can be used as calibrated light sources to illuminate the atmosphere and measure its transmission. To measure the atmosphere's transfer function, we use the telescope's imager with a Ronchi grating in place of a filter to configure it as a low resolution slitless spectrograph. In this paper, we describe this calibration strategy, focusing on results from a prototype system at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 0.9 meter telescope. We compare the instrumental throughput measurements to nominal values measured using a laboratory spectrophotometer, and we describe measurements of the atmosphere made via CALSPEC standard stars during the same run

Mapear las memorias : caracterización de los impactos inmateriales del conflicto armado en los Montes de María

Este documento describe un proyecto de investigación cuyo objetivo era desarrollar una tipología de los impactos inmateriales de la violencia asociada al conflicto armado colombiano en la subregión de Montes de María, en la región Caribe colombiana. Primero ofrece una categorización de los conceptos de impactos inmateriales de diferentes disciplinas, agrupándolos en conceptos institucionales, psicológicos y antropológicos. Luego describe la metodología etnográfica empleada durante el trabajo de campo que se realizó en dos pequeños pueblos de la subregión, Zambrano y Guaymaral, ambos en departamento de Bolívar. A continuación, ofrece una tipología de los impactos en estas ciudades en función del marco de impactos proporcionados por el Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica. Finalmente, luego de identificar algunos de los problemas con la tipología proporcionada, ofrece un modelo para mapear las formas en que las personas describen sus recuerdos, experiencias e impactos como individuos, colectivos, regionales, nacionales y universales.gráficos.Incluye referencias bibliográficas (página 155-157)

Encontrar un terreno común : memoria cultural en la Unidad Comunera de Gobierno 6 (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia) /

El objetivo de este documento es proporcionar una asesoría de la primera etapa de un proyecto de la regional Cartagena de la Fundación Social que pretende indagar la memoria cultural en la Unidad Comunera de Gobierno 6 (UCG 6) en Cartagena, con el fin de generar insumos estratégicos para una propuesta colectiva para el desarrollo en el territorio. En este documento, se describen el marco teórico/epistemológico y la metodología original en que se basa la iniciativa de la Fundación Social, y luego el proceso de su implementación en el territorio de intervención. A la luz de esa experiencia, se sugieren algunos ajustes en el marco y la metodología original, de modo que el marco es más apropiado para el contexto de UCG 6, incluyendo cambios en el concepto de la memoria cultural del marco original, su postura posmoderna, y su dependencia de los líderes de la comunidad como investigadores. También se recomienda la recogida de testimonios de los residentes de la zona como una técnica que se debe añadir a la metodología. A continuación, se analizan los primeros resultados sobre la memoria cultural en UCG 6 y se propone la agencia como una categoría de análisis que puede guiar a las próximas etapas del proyecto

Assessing the continuity of the blue ice climate record at Patriot Hills, Horseshoe Valley, West Antarctica

We use high resolution Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to assess the continuity of the Blue Ice Area (BIA) horizontal climate record at Patriot Hills, Horseshoe Valley, West Antarctica. The sequence contains three pronounced changes in deuterium isotopic values at ~18 cal ka, ~12 cal ka and ~8 cal ka. GPR surveys along the climate sequence reveal continuous, conformable dipping isochrones, separated by two unconformities in the isochrone layers, which correlate with the two older deuterium shifts. We interpret these incursions as discontinuities in the sequence, rather than direct measures of climate change. Ice-sheet models and Internal Layer Continuity Index plots suggest that the unconformities represent periods of erosion occurring as the former ice surface was scoured by katabatic winds in front of mountains at the head of Horseshoe Valley. This study demonstrates the importance of high resolution GPR surveys for investigating both paleo-flow dynamics and interpreting BIA climate records

Stochastic travelling waves driven by one-dimensional Wiener processes

In this thesis we aim to show the existence of a stationary travelling wave of a generalised stochastic KPP equation driven by a one dimensional Wiener process. Chapter 1 discusses the background of the deterministic KPP equation and some interesting properties when consider Stratonovich noise and convert to the Itˆo noise. Chapter 2 covers preliminaries and background information that will be required throughout the entire thesis. Chapter 3 defines stretching, an important concept throughout this thesis. We show that for any two initial conditions, one more stretched than the other, stretching is preserved with time. We also show that stretching defines a pre-order on our solution space and that the solution started from the Heaviside initial condition converges. In Chapter 4 we show that the limiting law lives on a suitable measurable subset of our solution space. We conclude Chapter 4 by proving that the limiting law is invariant for the process viewed from the wavefront and hence a stationary travelling wave. Chapter 5 discusses domains of attraction and an implicit wave speed formula is shown. Using this framework we extend our previous results, which have concentrated upon Heaviside initial conditions, to that of initial conditions that can be trapped between two Heaviside functions. We show that for these “trapped” initial conditions, the laws converge (in a suitable sense) to the same law as that for the Heaviside initial condition (up to translation). Chapter 6 discusses phase-plane analysis for our equation and we restate the stretching concept within this framework.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo