Acculturative Stress and Depressive Symptomatology Among Mexican and Mexican American Students in the U.S.: Examining Associations with Cultural Incongruity and Intragroup Marginalization

This study examined associations of intragroup marginalization and cultural incongruity with acculturative stress and depressive symptoms among 155 undergraduate U.S. college students of Mexican heritage. Findings indicate that perceived interpersonal distancing by the family (intragroup marginalization) and perceived lack of cultural fit between the respondent and academic institution (cultural incongruity) had statistically significant direct and indirect effects on depressive symptoms via acculturative stress. Results also show that 39.7 % of the variance corresponding with depressive symptoms was accounted for by intragroup marginalization, cultural incongruity, acculturative stress, and other exogenous variables.     

The relation between morphological awareness and reading and spelling in Greek: a longitudinal study

The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine the contribution of morphological awareness to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The target group (N = 404) consisted of children, aged 6–9 years at the start of the project, who learn literacy in Cyprus. Because there are no standardized measures of morphological awareness for Greek Cypriot children, morphological awareness measures were developed and validated. A concurrent analysis of the first wave of data collection showed that morphological awareness made a unique contribution to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The longitudinal analyses showed that morphological awareness predicted performance in reading eight months later, even after partialling out grade level, verbal intelligence, phonological awareness and initial scores in reading and spelling. This study makes theoretical, empirical and practical educational contributions. It shows the long term and specific relation of morphological awareness with reading in Greek and establishes the plausibility of a causal link between morphological awareness and reading, which must be tested in further research using intervention methods. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological awareness in Greek as well as a new measure of spelling skill.     

Student Reciprocal Peer Teaching as a Method for Active Learning: An Experience in an Electrotechnical Laboratory

Active learning is one of the most efficient mechanisms for learning, according to the psychology of learning. When students act as teachers for other students, the communication is more fluent and knowledge is transferred easier than in a traditional classroom. This teaching method is referred to in the literature as reciprocal peer teaching. In this study, the method is applied to laboratory sessions of a higher education institution course, and the students who act as teachers are referred to as “laboratory monitors.” A particular way to select the monitors and its impact in the final marks is proposed. A total of 181 students participated in the experiment, experiences with laboratory monitors are discussed, and methods for motivating and training laboratory monitors and regular students are proposed. The types of laboratory sessions that can be led by classmates are discussed. This work is related to the changes in teaching methods in the Spanish higher education system, prompted by the Bologna Process for the construction of the European Higher Education Area     

Establishment of higher education institutions and new firm entry

The presence of universities has generally been associated with technological entrepreneurship. But what is the real impact of new universities on the levels of firm creation in a region? The present paper uses policy evaluation methodologies and longitudinal data on the establishment of higher education institutions in Portuguese municipalities for the period 1992-2002 to examine its effect on entry rates of new firms in different sectors. We find that the establishment of a new university has a positive and significant effect on subsequent levels of knowledge based firm entry in municipalities, and a negative effect on the levels of entry in other sectors, such as low-tech manufacturing.     

Research possibilities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup is the world’s biggest soccer tournament and is one of the largest international sporting events. In 2014, Brazil will host the quadrennial FIFA World Cup for the second time in its history. Since this premier global mega-event involves much of the world and Brazil is a major nation that seeks to assert its position internationally, the situation is optimal for exploring various issues. Scholars have examined various aspects of the ongoing preparations. Researchers have several options worthy of exploration including, but not limited to, relevant social phenomena, the social, cultural, economic and educational impact, as well as the cultural practices related to this mega-event. The aim of this literature review is to present some key areas that should be considered in regards to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.     

From Hand to Eye: a Meta-Analysis of the Benefit from Handwriting Training in Visual Graph Recognition

Educational Psychology Review - Handwriting (HW) training seems to boost recognition of visual graphs and learning to read more than other learning experiences. However, effects across studies...     

On metaphors in thinking about preparing mathematics for teaching

Educational Studies in Mathematics - This paper explores how different schools of thought in mathematics education think and speak about preparing mathematics for teaching by introducing and...     

Electronic circuit implementation of the chaotic Rulkov neuron model

Numerical integration is the most common and straightforward approach in computational neuroscience for the study of biological neuron models based on ordinary differential equations. For some purposes, numerical simulations are not enough due to the multiple bottlenecks in computer architectures. However, when electronic circuits are used to simulate in real time large arrays of coupled neurons, the simulations are much faster than the computer simulations. We present here an electronic implementation of a map-based neuron model, a chaotic Rulkov neuron model, that can be easily transferred on a large scale integration circuit and thus provide a framework for the simulation of large networks of neurons. The Rulkov model is a map-based neuron model that has a surprising abundance of features, such as periodic and chaotic spiking and bursting. The discrete time dynamics allows to tune the time scale of the circuit to the needs of the specific application. Since the circuit described here only uses 18 MOS transistors, it offers new perspectives for building large networks of neurons in a single device. This is very relevant for the analysis of large networks of coupled neurons in order to investigate its dynamics over the network and its synchronization properties.     

Active relatives and health-related physical fitness in European adolescents: The HELENA Study

Abstract

High physical fitness in childhood and adolescence is positively associated with favourable health-related outcomes. Our aim was to examine the relationship between relatives’ (father, mother, brother, sister, and best friend) physical activity engagement and encouragement on adolescents’ physical fitness. Adolescents were part of the HELENA study, a multi-centre study conducted in 10 cities from nine European countries in 2006–2008. Participants were 3288 adolescents (48% boys, 52% girls) aged 12.5–17.5 years with valid data on at least one of the three fitness variables studied: muscular strength (standing long jump), speed/agility (4×10 m shuttle run), and cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle run). The adolescents reported their relatives’ physical activity engagement and encouragement. Analysis of covariance showed that relatives’ physical activity engagement (father, mother, brother, and best friend) was positively related to cardiorespiratory fitness (P < 0.05); and mother's and sisters’ physical activity engagement were positively associated with higher muscular strength in adolescents (P < 0.05). Furthermore, father's physical activity encouragement was positively linked to physical fitness (all fitness components) in adolescents (P < 0.05). Interventions aimed at improving physical fitness in young people might be more successful when family members, particularly mothers and fathers, are encouraged to engage in physical activity and support adolescents’ physical activity.