Childhood temperament and its effects on adjustment to college

The purpose of this study was to determine whether temperaments seen in early childhood would have an effect on adjustment throughout life, especially during adjustment to college. Specifically, the researcher hypothesized that children with easy temperaments would have an easier time adjusting to college; whereas, children with slow-to-warm-up or difficult temperaments would have a more difficult time adjusting to college. A self-created survey was distributed to 30 undergraduate psychology students at Rowan University. The survey consisted of temperament and adjustment measures. Correlations were run using SPSS in order to determine the effects of temperament on adjustment to college. While the data did not yield significant results, some interesting trends were uncovered

Anaí, una forma de publicación en la web

El presente artículo presenta la estrategia de creación de contenidos para la web desarrollada en la Universidad de Navarra. El objetivo de esta estrategia es lograr un sistema de creación de contenidos descentralizado, gracias al cual un profesor o una persona de administración o servicios, con conocimientos informáticos medios e incluso escasos pueda desarrollar contenidos de calidad

Repensar la enseñanza universitaria desde las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Algunas experiencias de universidades de los Estados Unidos

Se ofrecen aquí algunas experiencias de Universidades de los Estados Unidos que puedan ayudar a repensar la enseñanza universitaria desde las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación

Posibilidades didácticas de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en la docencia presencial

El presente trabajo recoge algunas de las experiencias desarrolladas por profesores de la Universidad de Navarra que, convencidos de las posibilidades de las tic para generar contextos de aprendizaje activos, cooperativos y autónomos, han decidido renovar sus estrategias didácticas. Estas prácticas vienen precedidas por una larga experiencia en esta universidad en la línea de apoyar y reforzar la enseñanza, prioritariamente presencial, con la utilización de las tic

Correlation, Network and Multifractal Analysis of Global Financial Indices

We apply RMT, Network and MF-DFA methods to investigate correlation, network and multifractal properties of 20 global financial indices. We compare results before and during the financial crisis of 2008 respectively. We find that the network method gives more useful information about the formation of clusters as compared to results obtained from eigenvectors corresponding to second largest eigenvalue and these sectors are formed on the basis of geographical location of indices. At threshold 0.6, indices corresponding to Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific disconnect and form different clusters before the crisis but during the crisis, indices corresponding to Americas and Europe are combined together to form a cluster while the Asia/Pacific indices forms another cluster. By further increasing the value of threshold to 0.9, European countries France, Germany and UK constitute the most tightly linked markets. We study multifractal properties of global financial indices and find that financial indices corresponding to Americas and Europe almost lie in the same range of degree of multifractality as compared to other indices. India, South Korea, Hong Kong are found to be near the degree of multifractality of indices corresponding to Americas and Europe. A large variation in the degree of multifractality in Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore may be a reason that when we increase the threshold in financial network these countries first start getting disconnected at low threshold from the correlation network of financial indices. We fit Binomial Multifractal Model (BMFM) to these financial markets.Comment: 32 pages, 25 figures, 1 tabl

Scalar--flat K\"ahler metrics with conformal Bianchi V symmetry

We provide an affirmative answer to a question posed by Tod \cite{Tod:1995b}, and construct all four-dimensional Kahler metrics with vanishing scalar curvature which are invariant under the conformal action of Bianchi V group. The construction is based on the combination of twistor theory and the isomonodromic problem with two double poles. The resulting metrics are non-diagonal in the left-invariant basis and are explicitly given in terms of Bessel functions and their integrals. We also make a connection with the LeBrun ansatz, and characterise the associated solutions of the SU(\infty) Toda equation by the existence a non-abelian two-dimensional group of point symmetries.Comment: Dedicated to Maciej Przanowski on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Minor corrections. To appear in CQ

Biomechanical signals and the C-type natriuretic peptide counteract catabolic activities induced by IL-1β in chondrocyte/agarose constructs

Introduction: The present study examined the effect of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) on the anabolic and catabolic activities in chondrocyte/agarose constructs subjected to dynamic compression. Methods: Constructs were cultured under free-swelling conditions or subjected to dynamic compression with low (0.1 to 100 pM) or high concentrations (1 to 1,000 nM) of CNP, interleukin-1? (IL-1?), and/or KT-5823 (inhibits cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase II (PKGII)). Anabolic and catabolic activities were assessed as follows: nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release, and [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation were quantified by using biochemical assays. Gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), aggrecan, and collagen type II were assessed with real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Two-way ANOVA and the post hoc Bonferroni-corrected t tests were used to examine data. Results: CNP reduced NO and PGE2 release and partially restored [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation in constructs cultured with IL-1?. The response was dependent on the concentration of CNP, such that 100 pM increased [3H]-thymidine incorporation (P &lt; 0.001). This is in contrast to 35SO4 incorporation, which was enhanced with 100 or 1000 nM CNP in the presence and absence of IL-1? (P &lt; 0.001). Stimulation by both dynamic compression and CNP and/or the PKGII inhibitor further reduced NO and PGE2 release and restored [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation. In the presence and absence of IL-1?, the magnitude of stimulation for [3H]-thymidine and 35SO4 incorporation by dynamic compression was dependent on the concentration of CNP and the response was inhibited with the PKGII inhibitor. In addition, stimulation by CNP and/or dynamic compression reduced IL-1?-induced iNOS and COX-2 expression and restored aggrecan and collagen type II expression. The catabolic response was not further influenced with the PKGII inhibitor in IL-1?-treated constructs. Conclusions: Treatment with CNP and dynamic compression increased anabolic activities and blocked catabolic effects induced by IL-1?. The anabolic response was PKGII mediated and raises important questions about the molecular mechanisms of CNP with mechanical signals in cartilage. Therapeutic agents like CNP could be administered in conjunction with controlled exercise therapy to slow the OA disease progression and to repair damaged cartilage. The findings from this research provide the potential for developing novel agents to slow the pathophysiologic mechanisms and to treat OA in the young and old. <br/

Promoción del uso del web docente en la Universidad de Navarra: estrategia seguida y evaluación

This paper presents the strategy adopted by the University of Navarre in school year 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 to promote the use of websites for academic purposes. Data on the outcome of the project implementation are also provided. The project implementation had several components. First, we developed an e-content creation tool called Anai that is user-friendly. This allows people with very few computer skills to develop high-quality websites that have versatile features like weblogs, assessment systems, discussion tools, etc. Second, we organized several training sessions on the use of these tools. Today, the number of professors using websites for academic purposes has increased significantly. At least 60% of the courses offered in the University of Navarre have a website. Nevertheless, among the professors, the level and extent of the use of the web vary considerably. 1) The content of most websites is limited to providing basic information about a course, such as course description, objectives, syllabus, criteria of evaluation, etc. 2) Some websites contain teaching notes, handouts and ideas to support students. The content is presented using a variety of formats such as Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF and Microsoft PowerPoint. 3) Very few courses use tools like forums, weblogs, assessment systems or digital video. The key elements to ensure the effective implementation of the project include the following: user-friendly tools, institutional support and sustained efforts to train the users

Balancing Minimum Spanning and Shortest Path Trees

This paper give a simple linear-time algorithm that, given a weighted digraph, finds a spanning tree that simultaneously approximates a shortest-path tree and a minimum spanning tree. The algorithm provides a continuous trade-off: given the two trees and epsilon > 0, the algorithm returns a spanning tree in which the distance between any vertex and the root of the shortest-path tree is at most 1+epsilon times the shortest-path distance, and yet the total weight of the tree is at most 1+2/epsilon times the weight of a minimum spanning tree. This is the best tradeoff possible. The paper also describes a fast parallel implementation.Comment: conference version: ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (1993

Long and short paths in uniform random recursive dags

In a uniform random recursive k-dag, there is a root, 0, and each node in turn, from 1 to n, chooses k uniform random parents from among the nodes of smaller index. If S_n is the shortest path distance from node n to the root, then we determine the constant \sigma such that S_n/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability as n tends to infinity. We also show that max_{1 \le i \le n} S_i/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability.Comment: 16 page