Search

The goal of this small-scale qualitative study was to investigate the reasons and factors that may demotivate a group of university EFL students from participating in class, in the context of a school of language in the central part of the state of Veracruz in Mexico. While previous studies conducted, in this same setting, have focused on factors that affect classroom participation in general, this study involved interviews and observations to gain a comprehensive overview of the demotivating factors that impact these EFL students' participation levels in terms of oral production. The study focuses on the participation habits of the interviewed students, their perceptions of the factors that may inhibit them, that discourage them from participating fully in class, and that affect learning. The findings suggest that the participants' perceptions of what participation means, and their self-esteem and confidence affect their level of involvement. They also indicate that the teacher's role is an important variable in why students decide to remain silent.

PurposeThis study explores links among marianismo, girls' mobility and sexuality, and child marriage among adolescent girls in rural areas of Honduras.MethodsWe analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2008-2016 for a longitudinal cohort study of rural Honduran adolescent girls. These data include interviews (n = 10 married before age 18) and surveys (n = 563; 155 married early). We also use qualitative data from focus groups in 2016 that included students, parents, teachers, and community members (n = 120).ResultsWe find that girls who scored higher on a scale of traditional gender norms were more likely to marry early. Furthermore, our qualitative findings indicate that girls experienced control over their mobility and their sexuality because of rigid gender norms prevalent in their communities. The control girls experience clashes with undergoing psychosocial changes that are associated with increased desire for autonomy and intimacy as well as increased awareness of their sexuality. In some cases, girls believed that marriage was better than staying in their restrictive households, and/or they viewed marriage as the only way to have a romantic relationship.DiscussionRigid gender norms that promote excessive regulation of girls' behavior and sexuality influence girls' decision-making processes to enter child marriage. Educational initiatives that challenge sexist gender norms and explain and normalize attraction and intimacy during adolescence should be a central component of child marriage prevention programming for adolescents, parents, and community members.

In the present work, we find the Lie point symmetries of the Ricci flow on an n-dimensional manifold, and we introduce a method in order to reutilize these symmetries to obtain the Lie point symmetries of particular metrics. We apply this method to retrieve the Lie point symmetries of the Einstein equations (seen as a “static” Ricci flow) and of some particular types of metrics of interest, such as, on warped products of manifolds. Finally, we use the symmetries found to obtain invariant solutions of the Ricci flow for the particular families of metrics considered.

This paper examines the perception undergraduate students have, regarding the attributes they have developed in terms of transferable and communicative skills. The goal was to shed light on how undergraduate students, in the context of this research, perceive their graduate profile. This study was carried out at a university school of foreign languages in southeast Mexico over the course of a year, from August 2016 to July 2017. Thirty male and female students participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 21 to 30 years old. They all were about to complete the last term of the BA program at the time the data were collected. The data collection tools used for this inquiry were interviews and surveys. The interviews were used to get an insight, in general terms, into the participants' perceptions whereas the surveys provided richer information about the students' perceived competences and skills. Content analysis was used to process the data, which were coded classified, summarized. The data suggest that students perceived gains in critical thinking skills, research skills, language skills, autonomy, and motivation as part of the attributes they developed within the program. However, attributes regarding teaching skills, learning strategies, technology skills, teamwork and ability to develop new projects and ideas are perceived as poorly developed or not acquired at all.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a critical air pollutant that has significant health and environmental impacts. Tropospheric NO2 refers specifically to the vertical column density of NO2, which is measured by satellites and serves as an indicator of anthropogenic NO2 sources. This pollutant is frequently assessed using satellite data owing to limitations in local monitoring. This investigation employs the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), a geometric machine-learning model, given its advantages in simplicity and computational efficiency, and OMI satellite measurements to carry out spatially supervised classification of tropospheric NO2 global patterns from 2005 to 2021. This study identifies four typical trends across developed urban centers, examining correlations with population growth, economic factors, and air quality policies. The results demonstrated regional variations, with a general downward trend in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, underscoring the efficacy of stricter emission controls. However, upward trends persist in some Asian regions, reflecting varying policy implementations. This study revealed a pivotal inflection point around 2013, marking a shift in global NO2 dynamics. Although policies have led to improved air quality in some regions, achieving absolute decoupling of economic growth from NO2 emissions remains challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exerted a significant influence, temporarily reducing emissions due to economic slowdowns. Overall, the SAM model effectively delineated NO2 patterns and provided insights for future policy and emission control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the main determinants of family violence is presented, according to the contextual ecological approach, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for the presence of this phenomenon in the municipalities of Quintana Roo, Mexico, are identified through comparative qualitative analysis for clear data (csQCA) complemented with information theory techniques for comparative analysis. A brief documentary review is offered about the concept and epistemic approach to family violence, its consequences and the magnitude of the problem, to later apply the QCA methodology and discuss the results. It has been found that there are four variables whose combination can generate high rates of family violence in municipalities, namely: a population majority without religious affiliation, high rates of family disruption, a population majority that is not Protestant or evangelical, and a majority urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Similar rates of remission from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have been documented between ethnic groups in response to antidepressant treatment. However, ethnic differences in functional outcomes, including patient-reported quality of life (QOL) and functioning, have not been well-characterized. We compared symptomatic and functional outcomes of antidepressant treatment in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with MDD. METHODS: We analyzed 2280 nonpsychotic treatment-seeking adults with MDD who received citalopram monotherapy in Level 1 of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression study. All subjects (239 Hispanic, 2041 non-Hispanic) completed QOL, functioning, and depressive symptom severity measures at entry and exit. RESULTS: Hispanic participants had significantly worse QOL scores at entry and exit (p < 0.01). However, after controlling for baseline QOL, there was no difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients QOL at exit (p = 0.21). There were no significant between-group differences at entry or at exit for depressive symptom severity or functioning. Both groups had significant improvements in depressive symptom severity, QOL, and functioning from entry to exit (all p values < 0.01). Patients with private insurance had lower depressive symptom severity, greater QOL, and better functioning at exit compared to patients without private insurance. LIMITATIONS: This study was a retrospective data analysis, and the Hispanic group was relatively small compared to the non-Hispanic group. CONCLUSIONS: Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants with MDD had similar responses to antidepressant treatment as measured by depressive symptom severity scores, quality of life, and functioning. Nevertheless, Hispanic patients reported significantly worse quality of life at entry.

Given that neurocognitive impairment is a frequent complication of HIV-1 infection in Spanish-speaking adults, the limited number of studies assessing HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) in this population raises serious clinical concern. In addition to being appropriately translated, instruments need to be modified, normed, and validated accordingly. The purpose of the current study was to examine the diagnostic utility of the HIV Dementia Scale (HDS) and International HIV Dementia Scale (IHDS) to screen for HAND in Spanish-speaking adults living with HIV infection. Participants were classified as either HAND (N = 47) or No-HAND (N = 53) after completing a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Receiver operating characteristic analyses found the HDS (AUC = .706) was more sensitive to detecting HAND than the IHDS (AUC = .600). Optimal cutoff scores were 9.5 for the HDS (PPV = 65.2%, NPV = 71.4%) and 9.0 for the IHDS (PPV = 59.4%, NPV = 59.1%). Canonical Correlation Analysis found the HDS converged with attention and executive functioning. Findings suggest that while the IHDS may not be an appropriate screening instrument with this population, the HDS retains sufficient statistical validity and clinical utility to screen for HAND in Spanish-speaking adults as a time-efficient and cost-effective measure in clinical settings with limited resources.