Pengembangan Aplikasi Komputer untuk Membantu Guru dalam Menilai Peta Konsep Siswa pada Bidang Studi Biologi

This research aim to developing an computer application which can assist teacher in assesing biological concept map of student easily and quickly and also formulated assessment order by gowin and novak (1984). This Research method use development and research with sampling purposive technique. Population in this research is all biological teacher of eleven grade in Bandung. Antecedent study is done two Senior High School in Bandung by using instrument interview. While product test-drive is done by five Senior High School in Bandung by using instrument in the form of observation sheet and enquette. From antecedent study obtained an information that during the time assessment of map conception only pursuant to perception of each teacher. Teacher do not have clear assessment order, as a result assessment of done concept map during the time tend to do not consistence. Result of test-drive limited to some teacher indicate that developed application can assess map conception student easily, quickly and correctness. Application is also greeted either by teacher because giving amenity in assessing biological concept map of student. Thereby teacher earn more focus at exploiting result of assessment as guidance in design activity of next study. This Application development at the same time invite student and teacher to be more close to technology which also become the target of curriculum 2013

Teacher Unionization and the Quality of Education in Peru: An Empirical Evaluation Using Survey Data

This paper analyzes the evolution and current profile of teacher unionization and estimate the impact of unionization on the quality of public education in Peru. The research uses data from a 1999 household survey (ENAHO) and from a recent evaluation of a public program oriented to improve the quality of Peruvian public education. Regarding the evolution of unionization, there is evidence compatible with the hypothesis that the rate of teacher unionization has dropped during the last three decades, but especially during the 1990s, due basically to the hiring of temporary teachers. With respect to the profile of unionization, it is found that unionized teachers are older and more experienced, and that males are more common in the union membership. There is no empirical evidence that unionized teachers enjoy better access to educational infrastructure at the polidocente (larger) schools, but they do have better access at the multigrado (intermediate) schools. For the impact of unionization on quality, Hoxby’s production function model was adapted to the Peruvian case, in which public education is centralized and in which teachers do not have major influence on the education budget at the school or district levels. The model is estimated to test whether unionization has an impact on teachers’ effort and student achievement, but there is no empirical support for these hypotheses. The data indicate that unionization does not currently seem to be a major factor affecting the quality of educational services in the Peruvian public education system.

What Do Outside Directors Know? Evidence From Outsider Trading

Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory reform have advocated to put more outsiders on the board. The rationale of this measure is that outsiders are more independent, while a potential drawback is that they might not know enough about the firm to be effective monitors. Having information about the firm is a necassary condition to be an effective monitor. This paper investigates whether outside directors have information about the firm and its conditions. Using a comprehensive sample of executives' and board of directors' transactions from 1986 to 2003 in U.S. companies, we compare the trading profits of three types of individuals: (i) insiders (executives of the firm), (ii) non executive directors who are large blockholders, and (iii) directors who are neither employees of the firm, nor large blockholders (outside directors). Insiders and outside directors earn higher abnormal returns than the market. Insiders generally perform better than outsiders in purchases transactions. These results suggest that outside directors do have substantial inside information about the firm, even though they know less than the executives. We also find that in better governed firms the difference in performance between outsiders' and insiders' returns is lower, suggesting that firms with better governance structure may have better mechanism in place that allows outsiders to receive more informationEmpirical Corporate Governance; Monitoring; Insider Trading

What Do Independent Directors Know? Evidence from Their Trading

We compare the trading performance of independent directors and other officers of the firm. We find that independent directors earn positive and substantial abnormal returns when they purchase their company stock, and that the difference with the same firm's officers is relatively small at most horizons. The results are robust to controlling for firm fixed effects and to using a variety of alternative specifications. Executive officers and independent directors make higher returns in firms with weaker governance and the gap between these two groups widens in such firms. Independent directors who sit in audit committees earn higher return than other independent directors at the same firm. Finally, independent directors earn significantly higher returns than the market when they sell the company stock in a window before bad news and around a restatement announcement.

Habit Persistence and Keeping Up with the Joneses:Evidence from Micro Data

This paper provides evidence that habit persistence is an important determinant of household consumption choices, in a setting that allows for heterogeneity and household-specific interest rates. By estimating Euler equations for a representative sample of U.S. credit-card account holders, I find that the strength of external habit, captured by the fraction of the consumption of the reference group that enters the utility function, is 0.290, and that the strength of internal habit, represented by household past consumption, is 0.503. My results are robust to the inclusion of various measures of economic activity in the regression, tests for the presence of aggregate shocks, liquidity constraints, precautionary saving motives, and learning. Aggregation of the Euler equations as a weighted average of individual marginal rates of substitution accounts for heterogeneity and market incompleteness and preserves the results

Massive Data and Digital History: Teaching with Mark Ravina

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Development and application of a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of global and local emissions of energy systems

The energy sector is a source of economic and social progress, but it is also the main responsible of air pollution resulting from human activity, mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels and bioenergy. The impacts on atmosphere may be divided into global effects, due to change in concentration of greenhouse gases, and regional/local effects, due to the dispersion of SO2, NOx, particulates and other gases. The aim of this thesis is the development and application of a methodology for calculating the emissions in atmosphere associated with energy management interventions. The methodology aims to characterize and quantify the environmental impacts affecting both the local and global scale. The pollutants involving local effects considered in this study are nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Globally, the emission of greenhouse gases is considered, by quantifying the equivalent CO2 (CO2eq) emitted. The environmental impact of an energy option is quantified in terms of its emission balance, i.e. by comparing the present situation with one (or more) future scenarios. The study at the local scale also considers the dispersion of pollutants using modelling tools. The methodology is applied to two case studies located in the Italian Metropolitan City of Turin, characterized by different application contexts and different scales of operation. The first case study is represented by a system for the production and conversion of biogas and biomethane. The analysis of global emissions considers four different operating scenarios. The results show a CO2 reduction of 1426 t/y for biogas combustion in full cogeneration mode (generation of both heat and electricity). Biomethane for transports scenario provides a similar result (1379 t/y). If biogas combustion with partial cogeneration is considered (generation of electricity only), the CO2 balance approaches to zero. The evaluation of local impacts is made with two different dispersion models. The application of an Octave-based Gaussian model provides an average increase of concentration both for NOx and TSP, in the order of units of g/m3. The results of CALPUFF model simulations show a slight decrease of concentration in the order of 10-2 g/m3. The second case study consists of a potential extension of the district heating network in the urban area of Turin. The production of local emissions is calculated considering the operation of the main power plants in response to the estimated heat demand. Avoided emissions are calculated simulating the heat production of centralized residential heaters. The results of CALPUFF model simulations show a potential reduction of NOx average concentration between 1 and 6 g/m3. The results of global emissions show an unfavorable balance in the order of 104 t/y of CO2, that varies depending on the assumptions on the emission factors of the power units. A comprehensive final discussion is reported after the analysis of the two case studies. The calculation of two indicators (the “thermal benefit vs. local emission indicator” and the “local to global emission ratio”) is also included to discuss a possible standardization of the proposed methodology. This study provides important information on the effects on air quality resulting from the modification of the energetic management of an area or settlement. The employed methodology is consistent and comprehensive in identifying the potential optimal solutions for energy production and management, as well as identifying the consequences to a given scenario under an environmental point of view

Cuestión social y reforma política : a cien años de la ley Saenz Peña

Los festejos del centenario de Mayo, que en 1910 celebraron con talante panegírico a la Argentina moderna, alcanzaron apenas para atenuar brevemente las sombras que contrastaban el panorama de esplendor con que se procuró presentar al país en tan señalada ocasión. El cambio poblacional producto de la inmigración masiva, que desde hacía tres décadas llegaba al país en busca de una vida mejor, configuró un proceso complejo de modificación de la dinámica social, que puso en primer plano un juego de tensiones en clave de conflicto de clases, alimentado por los problemas propios del crecimiento urbano y por la aparición y expansión de las novedades ideológicas que acompañaron al fenómeno inmigratorio. A partir de entonces, la llamada “cuestión social" constituiría uno de los ejes de los desvelos de la dirigencia política, de quien reclamaban soluciones tanto los inmigrantes que luchaban por insertarse en una sociedad receptora no exenta de reacciones xenófobas, como de esa sociedad que resistía los cambios y expresaba el temor ante costumbres, lenguajes, ideas y prácticas gremiales y políticas que les eran extrañas y sentían como una amenaza.Fil: Ravina, Aurora. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica

Mental Health and Well-being among Canadian University Students: Review and Recommendations

Mental health and well-being among Canadian university students have been declining over the past few decades (Durand-Bush, McNeill, Harding, & Dobransky 2015; Mahmoud, Staten, Hall, & Lennie, 2012; Markoulakis & Kirsh, 2013; Nunes et al., 2014). A number of studies demonstrate a positive association between academic success and optimal mental health (Durand-Bush et al., 2015; Markoulakis & Kirsh, 2013; Nunes et al., 2014). Research shows there is a greater prevalence of psychological distress in university students compared to young adults in the general population (Durand-Bush et al., 2015). This literature review examines a few explanations for this decline in mental health and some potential stressors that may have contributed to this problem. The literature reveals the following factors as the most prevalent in the decline of Canadian students’ mental health: academic pressure, financial stress, and increased competition in higher education. Finally, the paper suggests recommendations for future research and strategies to be employed by higher educational institutions to increase psychological well-being. This paper is modeled using Keyes’s dual-factor model of mental health