Should EFL Teachers Present Vocabulary in Semantically Related Sets?

[EN] Teaching vocabulary in semantically related sets is common practice among EFL teachers. The present study tests the effectiveness of this method by comparing it to the alternative technique: presenting vocabulary in an unrelated way. In the study two intact classes of Spanish learners of English in high-school were presented with a set of unrelated and related words and were then asked to complete a post-test to measure the impact of both techniques on learning. The results indicate that, while both techniques successfully help the learners to acquire new words, presenting words in unrelated sets seems to be more effective.

La crítica de Ortega y Gasset a la modernidad y su lugar en la filosofía contemporánea. Problemas onto-epistemológicos

361 p.

Results on proximal and generalized weak proximal contractions including the case of iteration-dependent range sets

This paper presents some further results on proximal and asymptotic proximal contractions and on a class of generalized weak proximal contractions in metric spaces. The generalizations are stated for non-self-mappings of the forms for and , or , subject to and , such that converges uniformly to T, and the distances are iteration-dependent, where , , and are non-empty subsets of X, for , where is a metric space, provided that the set-theoretic limit of the sequences of closed sets and exist as and that the countable infinite unions of the closed sets are closed. The convergence of the sequences in the domain and the image sets of the non-self-mapping, as well as the existence and uniqueness of the best proximity points, are also investigated if the metric space is complete. Two application examples are also given, being concerned, respectively, with the solutions through pseudo-inverses of both compatible and incompatible linear algebraic systems and with the parametrical

No Brasil, quem não é canalha na véspera, é canalha no dia seguinte, ou, A figura do canalha nas tragédias cariocas de Nelson Rodrigues

A presente dissertação de mestrado analisa a figura do canalha enquanto um tipo social inevitavelmente associado à estrutura cultural brasileira e, como diz seu título, no interior de um ciclo específico da obra dramatúrgica de Nelson Rodrigues: as ditas tragédias cariocas. De fato, ela divide-se em duas partes. Na primeira, põem-se em questão os méritos deste rótulo, tragédias cariocas, apontando, assim, para as implicações ditadas menos por motivos exegéticos do que editoriais de tal classificação. Também nesta primeira parte, figura a tese de que foi Nelson Rodrigues, a partir de A falecida (1953) sua primeira peça a receber esta classificação , um introdutor sui generis dos motivos do nacional-populismo no gênero dramático do país. Tal posição vai de encontro ao que afirma uma quase hegemônica corrente de opinião crítica que busca canonizar a versão de que o pioneirismo da tipificação social dos segmentos populares no drama nacional é patrimônio da geração politizada que capitaneada pelo Teatro de Arena quando do lançamento de Eles não usam black-tie, de Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, em 1958 viria a conferir um conteúdo programático e eivado de implicações ideológicas a este teatro que priorizaria sobretudo a cor local da vida brasileira. A segunda parte enfoca propriamente o objeto que a dissertação se propõe a analisar: o canalha. Nela, a trágica relação dialética entre sujeito e objeto, segundo Georg Simmel, e a problemática da divergência, em Robert Merton, fornecem o suporte teórico necessário para o viés sociológico aqui adotado. A abordagem mais detida sobre a tragédia carioca Otto Lara Resende ou Bonitinha, mas ordinária (1963), acaba por ganhar o estatuto de um autêntico estudo de caso, por situar em primeiro plano questões referentes ao problema ético. Ainda na segunda parte, uma distinção entre os projetos dramáticos rodrigueano e o da geração engajada que se distinguiu no Brasil a partir do final dos anos 1950, no que tange à caracterização de personagens que primam pela falta de escrúpulos, faz-se necessária para a compreensão da concepção de cada qual a respeito da índole do brasileiro médio, no que isto tem de revelador quanto às perspectivas assumidas com relação a nossa identidade nacional

The Spanish Pension System: Overview and Long-Term Projections

In the middle of the so-called pension crisis, the ageing of population and the sharp decrease in affiliations to Social Security are threatening the well-functioning of the Spanish public pension system. The purpose of this paper is to present the main challenges to be faced by the Spanish pension system, as well as to shed light on the main determinants that will condition the evolution of pension expenditure over GDP along the following decades. This quantitative analysis, which considers the 2011 and 2013 pension reforms, uses the latest data on the Spanish demographic, labor market and institutional factors in order to project the evolution of the system from the expenditure side up to 2060. For the purpose of analyzing the dynamics and the underlying drivers of pension expenditure, the so-called aggregate accounting approach will be utilized. The alternative scenarios proposed allow for exploring the robustness of the results within the baseline scenario, which constitutes the reference point of projections in the exercise. The analysis concludes that, by the end of the projected period, Spain will count on a similar public pension expenditure ratio as the current one.

Duration of unassisted swimming activity for spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) calves: implications for mother-calf separation during tuna purse-seine sets

Size-related differences in power production and swim speed duration may contribute to the observed deficit of nursing calves in relation to lactating females killed in sets by tuna purse-seiners in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP). Power production and swim-speed duration were estimated for northeastern spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata), the species (neonate through adult) most often captured by the fishery. Power required by neonates to swim unassisted was 3.6 times that required of an adult to swim the same speed. Estimated unassisted burst speed for neonates is only about 3 m/s compared to about 6 m/s for adults. Estimated long-term sustainable speed is about 1 m/s for neonates compared to about 2.5 m/s for adults. Weight-specific power requirements decrease as dolphin calves increase in size, but power estimates for 2-year-old spotted dolphin calves are still about 40% higher than power estimates for adults, to maintain the same speed. These estimated differences between calves and adults are conservative because the calculations do not include accommodation for reduced aerobic capacity in dolphin calves compared to adults. Discrepancies in power production are probably ameliorated under normal circumstances by calves drafting next to their mothers, and by employing burst-coast or leap-burst-coast swimming, but the relatively high speeds associated with evasion behaviors during and after tuna sets likely diminish use of these energy-saving strategies by calves.

Length-weight relationships of fishes from tributaries of the Volta River, Ghana Part 1: Analysis of pooled data sets

The parameters a and b of length-weight relationships of the form W = a L super(b) were estimated for 45 fish species sampled in the Oti, Pru and Black Volta rivers, Ghana. Also, the slope and intercepts of regressional enabling standard to total length conversions were estimated for each of these same species. The estimates of b, which ranged from 2.35 to 3.27 have a mean of 2.98, with a s.e. of 0.036. These results are complemented with a brief discussion of the need for data summaries such as presented in this article.