Middle to Late Miocene Contractional Deformation in Costa Rica Triggered by Plate Geodynamics

Contractional deformation in Costa Rica is usually attributed to the subduction of the aseismic Cocos Ridge. In this work, we review the evidences for contraction in the middle to late Miocene, prior to the arrival of the Cocos Ridge at the Middle America Trench. We find that the Miocene phase of contractional deformation is found in all of Costa Rica, probably extending to Nicaragua as well. The widespread distribution of this event requires a regional or plate geodynamic trigger. We analyze the possible mechanisms that could produce the onset of contractional deformation, using the better known case of subduction orogeny, the Andes, as an analog. We propose that a change in the direction of the Cocos plate since ∼19 Ma led to a change from oblique to orthogonal convergence, producing contractional deformation of the upper plate.Fil: Mescua, Jose Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Porras, Hernan. Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Duran, Patrick. Universidad de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Giambiagi, Laura Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: de Moor, Maerten. Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Cascante, Monserrat. Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Salazar, Esteban. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; ChileFil: Protti, Marino. Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Poblete, Fernando. Universidad de O’Higgins; Chil

Digital educational games & phonological awareness

O presente artigo expõe os resultados de uma investigação centrada na validação de «Jogos Educativos Digitais», recorrendo ao programa PowerPoint da Microsoft, os quais visam o desenvolvimento da consciência fonológica, em crianças em idade pré-escolar com necessidades educativas especiais. A investigação é de caráter qualitativo exploratório, constituindo um estudo de casos múltiplos, numa perspetiva de investigação-ação. Durante o processo investigativo realizaram-se sessões práticas de implementação dos «Jogos Educativos Digitais» com duas crianças, efetuando-se a recolha de dados através de duas grelhas de observação. Paralelamente entrevistaram-se dois especialistas em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação e um especialista em Educação Especial, que analisaram e avaliaram os jogos. Na recolha, tratamento e análise dos dados aferiu-se que as crianças obtiveram bons resultados na aquisição das competências de consciência fonológica, registando se uma acentuada melhoria ao nível da aprendizagem, participação, envolvimento, interesse, colaboração e persistência, o que conduziu a uma melhoria gradual no seu desempenho. Os resultados obtidos foram ao encontro das expectativas dos especialistas, tal como se tornou evidente na análise de conteúdo das respetivas entrevistas, tendo estes apreciado positivamente a construção global dos jogos, considerando-os uma mais-valia no processo de ensino/aprendizagemThis article presents the results of an investigation focused on the validation of "Digital Educational Games", using the Microsoft PowerPoint programme, aimed at the development of phonological awareness in pre-school children with special educational needs. The research is qualitative and exploratory, constituting a multiple case study, from an action-research perspective. During the investigative process, were carried out practical sessions to implement the "Digital Educational Games" with two children, and the data was collected using two observation grids. At the same time, were interviewed two specialists in Information and Communication Technologies and a Special Education specialist, who analysed and evaluated the games. In the collection, treatment and analysis of the data, it was verified that the children obtained good results in the acquisition of the phonological awareness skills, registering a marked improvement in learning, participation, involvement, interest, collaboration and persistence that led to a gradual improvement in their performance. The results obtained were within the expectations of the experts, as evidenced by the analysis of the content of the respective interviews, having these ones positively appreciated the overall construction of the games, considering them valuable in the teaching / learning processinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The four faces of information visualization: A conceptual framework for a postgraduate program

The multidisciplinary nature of information visualization is today fairly consensual in both professional and academic communities: data analysis, information design, storytelling, among other subjects, are common drivers in this field. The systematic study of this cross-fertilization, patent in the way the concept's definition varies according to the perspective being adopted, represents an important and needed addition to the critical mass of a relatively recent area of knowledge. The proposal of a single unified definition of information visualisation being beyond the scope of this paper, it instead summons and discusses its multiple viewpoints to help designing a postgraduate program on the topic, aiming to simultaneously start an open debate as its implementation phase goes on and new questions are subsequently raised.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Aplicación de la Teoría Situacional de los Públicos al primer proceso de voto en el exterior para Costa Rica: Lecciones para las relaciones públicas internacionales y la diplomacia pública

Using information gathered from 40 interviews with Costa Ricans who live abroad (some who decided to vote in the newly granted external voting right and others who did not vote in the Costa Rican National Elections of 2014), the variables that impacted the voting intention and/or behaviour of these Costa Rican diaspora members were categorized using the independent variables presented by the Situational Theory of Publics: problem recognition, constraint recognition (internal and external constraints), and level of involvement. This theory was used to better understand what is moving these potential external voters to vote or not, in order to suggest what kinds of efforts should the Costa Rican government undertake to increase the number of external voters. The implications for public diplomacy and international public relations are explored

Unequal and Divided: The Middle Classes in Contemporary Brazil

The middle class, or rather middle classes, to do justice to their heterogeneity, have been and continue to be at the centre of the long political and economic crisis that has been ravaging Brazil since 2014. Available interpretations that try to explain the positions taken by different political authors are biased by structural, ideological, or cultural determinism. To escape these determinisms, I draw on Stuart Hall’s political sociology in order to understand the link between the class situation of the middle classes and their constitution as political subjects of various shades as contingent intersectional articulations. The emphasis on contingency obviously does not imply a belief that political developments are fortuitous and detached from social structures. Nor does it ignore the existence of groups with deeply held ideological or cultural convictions who consistently adopt, over long periods of time, political attitudes compatible with these beliefs. However, taken as a whole, the middle classes have shown a very heterogeneous and changing political trajectory over time. They adhere to discourses - both right-wing or more egalitarian ones - and make political choices based on the power of these narratives to capture, in given circumstances, their anxieties, expectations, claims and aspirations

Plagiarism detection using information retrieval and similarity measures based on image processing techniques

This paper describes the Barcelona Media Innovation Center participation in the 2nd International Competition on Plagiarism Detection. Particularly, our system focused on the external plagiarism detection task, which assumes the source documents are available. We present a two-step a approach. In the first step of our method, we build an information retrieval system based on Solr/Lucene, segmenting both suspicious and source documents into smaller texts.We perform a search based on bag-of-words which provides a first selection of potentially plagiarized texts. In the second step, each promising pair is further investigated. We implemented a sliding window approach that computes cosine distances between overlapping text segments from both the source and suspicious documents on a pair wise basis. As a result, a similarity matrix between text segments is obtained, which is smoothed by means of low-pass 2-D filtering. From the smoothed similarity matrix, plagiarized segments are identified by using image processing techniques. Our results were placed in the middle of the official ranking, which considered together two types of plagiarism: intrinsic and external.Postprint (published version

Niche breadth and overlap of Sphagnum species in Costa Rica

Niche breadth and overlap values of Sphagnum species in Costa Rica are similar to those reported for Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in North America. Sphagnum magellanicum Brid. and S. sparsum Hampe have the broadest niche breadth of the common species in Costa Rica. Although S. sancto-josephense Crum & Crosby has a relatively narrow niche breadth, it is one of the most common species along with S. magellancium and S. sparsum in the Sphagnum habitats of Costa Rica. Niche overlap is high among species with the exception of S. platyphyllum (Braithw.) Warnst. which is found in habitats that are rich in iron. The pH, conductivity, and concentrations of Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, K, and P of Sphagnum habitats in Costa Rica are similar to those reported for páramo habitats in South America

Trade liberalization and foreign direct investment: an applied general equilibrium model for Costa Rica

This paper quantifies the welfare impact of unilateral trade liberalization and computes the optimal tariff structure for Costa Rica in the presence of trade-policy-induced international capital flows and foreign capital taxation. For this, an applied general equilibrium model integrating trade, capital flows and international capital income taxation is used. The model has been calibrated to a 1990-91 data set for the economies of Costa Rica and a group of OECD countries. In the model, foreign capital income is taxed by host countries and the tax-credit system operates in foreign investors home countries. Results for Costa Rica show that complete trade liberalization ends up being welfare-reducing, as it leads to an outflow of capital and loss of tax revenue which more than offset the efficiency gains from an enhanced resource allocation. The optimal tariff structure for the Costa Rican economy turns out to be a mixture of import tariffs and subsidies, though of a relatively small level

Metallurgy In Costa-Rica

Anthropolog

Winter 2019 BUCK-I-SERV to Costa Rica

STEP Category: Service-Learning and Community ServiceThe Buck-I-Serv and Outdoor Adventure Center service trip to Costa Rica was a 10-day fully immersive experience into Costa Rica's rich culture through providing meaningful service to the town of Brujo, Costa Rica, interacting with homestay families, and participating in various high-adventure activities. The trip is part of the Service Learning and Community Service category. While in Costa Rica we worked with the organization Autentico Adventures to help improve the Brujo community, working 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. building a new fence, mixing concrete, doing stucco, and much more. The housing during the trip included a home stay, cabins, beach home, and even a cave! The trips total cost was $3,250 and included all transportation, meals, and activities (such as waterfall repelling, white water rafting, hiking, cliff jumping, and surfing).The Ohio State University Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP)Academic Major: Neuroscienc