U.S. Citizenship : Test with DVD.

McGraw Hill´s U.S. es un programa de preparación de ciudadanos completamente actualizado que asegura el éxito en los estudios. Con variedad de actividades y un dvd interactivo, es ideal para el auto estudio. El DVD también prepara para las entrevistas y existen 100 preguntas sobre historia y gobierno. El libro está formado por doce partes que incluye ejercicios y tests sobre pasos para la ciudadanía, colonias del nuevo mundo, el desarrollo de una nueva nación, la guerra civil y la expansión, historia reciente de los EEUU, la constitución, datos sobre como está formado el gobierno y geografía de los EEUU.

Construcción de una batería de tests computerizados de inteligencia espacial.

Diseñar, construir y validar dos tests computerizados para medir las aptitudes de relaciones espaciales y de visualización espacial. 333 alumnos de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad de Salamanca, matriculados en el curso tercero. Construcción de los tests mediante el programa Hypercard para ser administrados y puntuados por ordenadores personales Macintosh. Estos aportan estimaciones del nivel aptitudinal de los sujetos en el modelo clásico de tests y en el de Rasch. La pruebas permiten también puntuar a los sujetos en la rapidez de ejecución de cada ítem y al test en su conjunto. Las pruebas computerizadas construidas son la visualización espacial y las aptitudes espaciales, que fueron administradas a turnos de 9 sujetos. Anteriormente a éstos, se pasaron varios tests de papel y lápiz. Para el análisis de los correlatos cognitivos se utilizaron dos tests de la aptitud espacial: test PMA-E para la aptitud de las relaciones espaciales y el DAT-SR para la aptitud de visualización. Además, se administró una adaptación del test DAT-CSA de Bennet, Seashore y Wesman como definidor operacional de la atención selectiva a través de tareas de búsqueda visual. Para la aptitud de relaciones espaciales y orientación espacial se administró el Test de rotación de figuras macizas. Referidos al test de R.E: a) el modelo de procesamiento propuesto por Cooper y Shepard se ajusta a las tareas definidas en el test; b) el proceso de rotación mental de las figuras es el que determina las diferencias individuales en esta habilidad y constituye, en función de la disparidad angular, el punto de referencia de la dificultad de los ítems de relaciones espaciales; c) las relaciones establecidas entre el test RE y el resto de tests especiales en general y el PMA-E en particular, aportan evidencia correlacional convergente sobre la validez del constructo del test computerizado. Respecto al test VZ: la validez del constructo de la prueba es muy satisfactoria.

Exploring young students' functional thinking

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Utilizaci??n del patrimonio para el aprendizaje de la historia en educaci??n infantil : experiencia educativa "Esta clase es un Museo!"

Incluye anexos

Isomerism and C-H, C-C, O-O, C-O bond activation studies by transition metals

Aquesta tesi és el reflex que de la cooperació entre grups experimentals i grups teòrics s'aconsegueix l'assoliment d'objectius inassolibles de forma individual. A partir de la DFT s'expliquen processos inorgànics i organometàl·lics de gran valor biològic i/o industrial. La tesi està enfocada especialment a l'estudi de complexos mononuclears i binuclears de coure, on té lloc l'activació d'enllaços C-H, C-C, i O-O. L'estudi de complexos octaèdrics de ruteni ha permès dur a terme extensos estudis isomèrics i racionalitzar les propietats espectroscòpiques dels mateixos. A més a més, estudis més puntuals respecte clusters de coure, l'estudi de la reacció de Pawson-Khand, l'estudi d'enllaços Pt-Pt en complexos trimèrics de platí, a més a més de l'estudi de la isomeria de complexos de Ni i Pt.

A influência da confiança organizacional na estratégia comportamental negligência tendo como variável moderadora o comprometimento organizacional

O problema que se circunscreve no presente estudo é o sistema de relações entre a confiança organizacional, o comprometimento organizacional e a estratégia comportamental negligência. As principais hipóteses são de que o Construto Confiança influencia a estratégia Comportamental Negligência e que esta relação é mediada pelo Comprometimento Organizacional perspetivado no Modelo das Três Componentes de Allen e Meyer (1991). Foi elaborado um questionário com base em três escalas – Escala de Confiança de Robinson (1996), Escala de Comprometimento Organizacional desenvolvida por Allen e Meyer (1997) e validada para a população portuguesa por Nascimento, Lopes e Salgueiro (2008) e a Escala do Modelo EVLN com plataforma de construção em três escalas utilizadas: uma por Rusbult et al (1998), outra por Withey e Cooper (1989) e outra por Hagedoorn et al (1999), que foi aplicado a uma amostra aleatória. A revisão de literatura do presente artigo teve base em artigos e livros da área organizacional. Identificaram-se como principais evidências que a Confiança influencia a Negligência e de que o Comprometimento Afetivo é moderador desta relação.

Dialogue journal writing: an effective method of improving the writing skills of hearing-impaired children?

This paper discusses a study to determine if dialogue journal writing can improve the writing skills of hearing impaired children.

Evaluating the Small Population Paradigm for Rare Large-Bodied Woodpeckers, with Implications for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Six large-bodied, ≥ 120 g, woodpecker species are listed as near-threatened to critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The small population paradigm assumes that these populations are likely to become extinct without an increase in numbers, but the combined influences of initial population size and demographic rates, i.e., annual adult survival and fecundity, may drive population persistence for these species. We applied a stochastic, stage-based single-population model to available demographic rates for Dryocopus and Campephilus woodpeckers. In particular, we determined the change in predicted extinction rate, i.e., proportion of simulated populations that went extinct within 100 yr, to concomitant changes in six input parameters. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the combined importance of initial population size and demographic rates for the persistence of large-bodied woodpeckers. Under a worse-case scenario, the median time to extinction was 7 yr (range: 1–32). Across the combinations of other input values, increasing initial population size by one female induced, on average, 0.4%–3.2% (range: 0%–28%) reduction in extinction rate. Increasing initial population size from 5–30 resulted in extinction rates < 0.05 under limited conditions: (1) all input values were intermediate, or (2) Allee effect present and annual adult survival ≥ 0.8. Based on our model, these species can persist as rare, as few as five females, and thus difficult-to-detect, populations provided they maintain ≥ 1.1 recruited females annually per adult female and an annual adult survival rate ≥ 0.8. Athough a demographic-based population viability analysis (PVA) is useful to predict how extinction rate changes across scenarios for life-history attributes, the next step for modeling these populations should incorporate more easily acquired data on changes in patch occupancy to make predictions about patch colonization and extinction rates.

Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) response to variation in the extent of burns conducted during the nesting season

Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis), an endemic North American passerine, requires frequent (≤ 3 yr) prescribed fires to maintain preferred habitat conditions. Prescribed fires that coincide with the sparrow’s nesting season are increasingly used to manage sparrow habitat, but concerns exist regarding the effects that nesting-season fires may pose to this understory-dwelling species. Previous studies suggested that threats posed by fires might be lessened by reducing the extent of prescribed fires, thereby providing unburned areas close to the areas where fires eliminate ground-cover vegetation. To assess this hypothesis, we monitored color-marked male Bachman’s Sparrows on 2 sites where the extent of nesting-season fires differed 5-fold (> 70 ha vs. < 15 ha). Monthly survival for males did not differ between the large- and small-extent treatments, and survival rates exceeded 90% for all months except one during the second year of our study when fires were applied later in the season. Male densities also did not differ between treatments, but treatment-by-year interactions pointed to effects relating to the specific time that fires were applied. The distances separating observations of marked males before and after burns were smaller on small-extent treatments in the first year of study but larger on the small-extent treatments in the second year of study. Burn extents also had no consistent effect on postburn reproductive status. The largest extent we examined could have been too small to affect sparrow populations, but responses may also reflect sustainable metapopulation dynamics in a setting where a large sparrow population is maintained at a regional scale (> 100,000 ha) using frequent prescribed fire (≤ 2-yr return intervals). Additional research is needed regarding the effects that nesting-season fires may have on small, isolated populations as well as sites where much larger burn extents (> 100 ha) or longer burn intervals (> 2 yr) are used.

POST-MIDDENISM: DEPOSITIONAL HISTORIES ON LATER BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENTS AT BROOM, BEDFORDSHIRE

This paper considers recent discussions of 'deliberate', 'formal', 'placed', 'special', 'structured', or 'token' deposits on later prehistoric settlements in Britain. It argues that while these concepts have certainly been very important in raising and forefronting the interpretative possibilities that depositional practices might offer, the idea of structured deposition has, at times, been adopted and applied somewhat simplistically. In such instances, exploration of the potential complexity and interpretative scope of depositional histories on later prehistoric settlements has been substantially curtailed. Current understandings of depositional practices involving pottery and burnt human bone are examined, and alternative interpretations offered, through a case study of the evidence recovered from a series of later Bronze Age settlements at Broom Quarry, Bedfordshire.

On the development of horizontal CEN standards supporting the implementation of EU directives on sludge, soil and biowaste - Project HORIZONTAL

We give an overview on the development of "horizontal" European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) standards for characterising soils, sludges and biowaste in the context of environmental legislation in the European Union (EU). We discuss the various steps in the development of a horizontal standard (i.e. assessment of the possibility of such a standard, review of existing normative documents, pre-normative testing and validation) and related problems. We also provide a synopsis of European and international standards covered by the so-called Project HORIZONTAL. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Supporting Computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) in conceptual design

In order to gain a better understanding of online conceptual collaborative design processes this paper investigates how student designers make use of a shared virtual synchronous environment when engaged in conceptual design. The software enables users to talk to each other and share sketches when they are remotely located. The paper describes a novel methodology for observing and analysing collaborative design processes by adapting the concepts of grounded theory. Rather than concentrating on narrow aspects of the final artefacts, emerging “themes” are generated that provide a broader picture of collaborative design process and context descriptions. Findings on the themes of “grounding – mutual understanding” and “support creativity” complement findings from other research, while important themes associated with “near-synchrony” have not been emphasised in other research. From the study, a series of design recommendations are made for the development of tools to support online computer-supported collaborative work in design using a shared virtual environment.