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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 24, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 58
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía Seguridad Pública
photo
Here is Santa Muerte protecting
a brick of cocaine.Maybe the time
has come
to get a new drug saint By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Santa Muerte must have been sleeping at the scythe because anti-drug police and their dogs managed to find the 83 kilos of cocaine that the saint of smugglers was suppose to be protecting. The discovery is an embarrassment for operators of a well-known public bus line because the cocaine was found in the floor of the bus. The bus had 39 passengers and was headed to El Salvador from San José. Anti-drug agents did not make any arrests in the case. Hiding the drug required significant access to the bus and a lot of work. Many of the kilo blocks of cocaine contained a photo of a blue Santa Muerte. This is the figure of a cult that developed among the drug cartels in México, and now is widespread. Like Roman Catholic saints, Santa Muerte, sometimes called Santísima Muerte or Niña Blanca, is supposed to grant favors to the faithful. Statues of the saint can be found in the various local commercial centers. They are not toys. Santa Muerte is a representation of death, although the saint is much more. In her hands she holds a scythe and a globe. The scythe can be the instrument of death, and it has a long reach. But it also can be the instrument of the harvest, meaning prosperity. The globe shows the saint's dominance over the world. The saint developed long before the drug trade, but smugglers and cartel lords have adopted her for protection. Most probably they figure they will not reach old age, so the saint of the good death could be helpful. Various colors are associated with the saint. She can be found in white, black and red gowns. The blue color found with the bricks of cocaine do not seem to be traditional. New Museo Nacional exhibit covers centuries of music By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Museo Nacional is taking visitors on a sensory-driven trip through the rich musical history in Latin America with its newest exhibition, "A Tres Bandas." The display that premieres Wednesday will use sound clips, visual recreations, and written narration to show how the former Spanish colonies expressed themselves through music of mixed influences. Spanning four centuries, from the 16th to the 20th, the display aims to analyze the impact of a cultural fusion between African and Hispanic cultures in the region. It will also highlight how this diversity of languages and beliefs created significant trends in the era's music. Thanks to recent insights in areas of musicology and anthropology, the fascinating history of early American music can now be retold, the museum said. Musicologist Albert Recasens will curate the exhibition that started in Colombia in 2010. It has also been featured in museums throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Spain. "A Tres Bandas" will run until Aug. 31 in the Sala de Exhibiciones Temporales at Museo Nacional, which presents the gallery with the support of the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud and the Centro Cultural de España en Costa Rica. Avery Gerald Patterson, 78, to be buried in Ciudad Colón By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Avery Gerald Patterson will be buried at his home of 17 years, the David and Julia White Artist Colony in Ciudad Colon, where a memorial garden will be developed in his name. Patterson, 78, died at the James H. Quillen Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, March 15. A memorial service was scheduled in the Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, Tennessee Saturday. Patterson was born Dec. 6, 1935, in Coker Creek, Tennessee. He enlisted and served active duty in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War for three years and then served in the Naval Reserves for another nine years. During his career he worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority, L&N Railway, First Investors, and Southern Railway, the family said. The family said he was survived by his brother, Harold Patterson, and Harold’s wife, Maxine, and Louise Patterson, the wife of his late brother Ray. Other survivors are Jean Patterson, mother, and Vivian Neill, grandmother, of his two sons, Dennis Patterson with his wife Dawn, and Nelson Patterson with his wife, Wendy; five grand children and three great grandchildren: His family said he looked at life with optimism and was always ready for an adventure and that he loved nature, beautiful scenery, orchids and gardening. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Avery G. Patterson Memorial Garden fund at 1649 Dutch Valley Road, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. The family may be contacted at npatterson218781@comcast.net. Book donations sought for sale By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Community Action Alliance of San Ramón plans another book sale March 24 and 25th. This will be the fourth annual event. The community service organization has set up 16 points where book donations can be made. Although most are in San Ramón, donations also can be left at the four locations of the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano. More information is available at booksale@actionalliancecr.com
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 24, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 58 | |
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| Goal of immigration policy is to regulate and support new
arrivals |
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By
Michael Krumholtz
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Government officials have initiated the country's first ever migratory policy that they say should enable a better system of regulating and supporting immigrants into Costa Rica. Freddy Montero, head of the relatively new Consejo Nacional de Migración presented the plan on Friday to Vice President Alfio Piva and the deputy minister of the Gobernación y Policía. Involving a more detailed framework than similar measures before, the 82-page outline promises to more effectively manage migrant populations and allow them a fluid transition. Costa Rican officials backing the new policy say it has provisions to involve immigrants in positively contributing to the country's economic and social landscapes. Montero said that immigration has had an influence on the country's development for the past 40 years, but admitted that the government has failed to confront migration in a useful way. The proposed 10-year guideline is designed to attract participation |
from a variety of
domestic and international agencies. This emphasis on cooperation was
evident by the diversity of boards and groups represented at the Hotel
Radisson conference room for the policy's unveiling. Since it's
beginning in 2010, the migration board has stated that it wants to
strengthen the link between migration and national policy and that it
looks to ensure the human rights of immigrants. One of the three essential parts of the policy says that the participating institutions shall give support to vulnerable groups like human trafficking victims, refugees, minors, and marginalized groups. Officials are calling upon both private and public institutions whose functions overlap with migration to see any potential challenges as opportunities that can enhance their respective industries. They said they believe policy can directly help in fields of education, public health, and overall culture by bringing in more diversity and support. Montero, an official in the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, said the United Nations was also involved in the project's incorporation. At the end of Friday's ceremony he thanked officials there for their contribution, as well as the support of President Chinchilla and Mario Zamora, security minister. |
| Chinchilla
administration moves into history with paper chase By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Behind the scenes the Laura Chinchilla administration is being converted into history. Costa Rica law requires the executive branch to deposit all its paperwork and audio visual materials with the Archivo Nacional for safekeeping. The Archivo will safeguard every scrap for 20 years until there is a review of historic value or the material and some will be discarded. This is not a spur of the moment event. The Archivo has been instructing executive branch workers on what to do for several years. Many agencies already had deposited the bulk of their paperwork for the last four years. That has been going on since January. So far the Archivo in Zapote has taken custody of the documents from the administrations of Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier, José María Figueres Olsen, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella and Oscar Arias Sánchez. The effort also signals a reduction in the work at the various ministries. Costa Rica has a civil service system, so only the top managers will be looking for jobs. The political appointees are members of the Partido Liberación Nacional, whose presidential nominee has halted campaigning. That's a pretty good indication that the winner of the April 6 runoff vote will be Luis Guillermo Solís of the Partido Acción Ciudadana. |
 Archivo Naconal photo
Archivo workers, masked and
gloved to protect the documents, sort incoming material. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 24, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 58 | |||||
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| Ability to taste seems to be related to cognitive decline in
the elderly |
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By
the International & American Associations
for Dental Research news staff The sense of taste is related to cognitive abilities in the elderly, researchers hypothesized and seemed to confirm that concept with a study. The aim of this study was to examine association of cognitive function with tactile and taste perceptions in independently-living 80 years-old elderly. The participants were 956 community-dwelling and independently-living elderly, excluding those with dementia. Cognitive function was measured using the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that was the assessment tool of mild cognitive impairment. Oral tactile perception was tested by oral |
stereognostic
ability with the test pieces comprised of six shaped forms. Subjects
were told they should use their tongue and palate to identify the
shape. The correct identification of the shape was scored. Taste
perception was evaluated by the whole mouth gustatory test with a
milliliter of water solution which included the four basic tastes
(sweet, sour, salty and bitter). The concentration that produced the
taste correctly was taken as the recognition threshold. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine relationships between tactile and taste perceptions and cognitive function after controlling for gender and number of teeth were considered to be statistically significant. These results suggest that the decline of cognitive function was related to tactile and taste perceptions in independently-living octogenarians without dementia. Kazunori Ikebe, from Osaka University, Japan, was the researcher. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 24, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 58 | |||||
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| More items in Indian ocean reported by searching crew By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Chinese media say an aircraft searching for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane has spotted what it described as suspicious objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that two relatively big floating objects and several smaller white ones were scattered over several kilometers. Authorities plan to search the area to see if the debris may have come from the missing Boeing 777, which disappeared more than two weeks ago. In another development, the U.S. Navy announced it is sending a black box detector to aid in the search for the plane. The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement Monday that the Towed Pinger Locator has highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck is located, it can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 6,100 meters. Black box is the common term for a plane's flight recorders, which contain detailed information about what takes place on an aircraft. The search for the missing Malaysian passenger jet proved futile again Monday, despite a new French report of possible debris from the plane's wreckage floating in the Indian Ocean. Planes and ships from several countries searched the remote waters 2,500 kilometers southwest of Australia for a fourth day Sunday, but found nothing of significance. France reported picking up satellite-generated radar echoes of possible debris in the southern Indian Ocean, similar to earlier satellite photo images collected by Australia and China. That led Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to voice the hope that a breakthrough is possible to find the Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard. A search plane spotted debris on Saturday, including a wooden shipping pallet, although it was not clear whether the pallet came from the aircraft or a passing ship. A New Zealand military plane that diverted to the location found only seaweed. The plane disappeared while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There has been no evidence so far of what happened to the jet. Investigators are not ruling out anything, including catastrophic mechanical failure, pilot sabotage and terrorism. They say it is possible someone with knowledge of planes diverted it far off course. Twenty-six nations have been hunting for the plane across an area covering more than seven million square kilometers, from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean. Mrs. Obama promotes learning in China's capital By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama says she would not have accomplished what she has if it were not for her parents' investment in her education. Mrs. Obama, who is a Harvard-educated lawyer, made her comments in Beijing Sunday where she hosted a discussion on education. "I wouldn't be where I am today without my parents investing and pushing me to get a good education. And my parents were not educated themselves, but one of the things they understood was that my brother and I needed that foundation. So the president and I have made education a key focus of our work over the coming years, because we want to make sure that as many young people in the United States, and around the world, quite frankly, have access to education." Mrs. Obama held the discussion at the American Embassy in the Chinese capital on the third day of her visit to the country. The U.S. first lady is also scheduled to visit the Great Wall and have lunch with her daughters and her mother at a restaurant in a former school near a section of the wall. On the second day of her trip, Mrs. Obama told American and other students that freedom of expression and worship, and having open access to information are universal rights. The first lady stopped short Saturday of calling on China's ruling Communist Party to loosen constraints on those very rights. China is among the most repressive nations in the world concerning free speech, cracking down on dissent, blocking many news and online sites, and censoring Internet news that Beijing considers objectionable. White House officials have said Mrs. Obama's trip will focus on education and will steer clear of more contentious issues between the United States and China, such as human rights and trade. Washington State slide kills at least three, officials say By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A massive landslide in the western U.S. state of Washington has killed three people and left 18 others unaccounted for. Authorities say a wall of mud, trees and rocks cascaded down a mountainside in a rural area north of the major city of Seattle on Saturday, demolishing as many as 30 houses in its path. Eight people were injured. Rescue workers heard voices crying for help and searched through the night into Sunday for survivors. But authorities said the rescuers were unable to reach some areas because the mud was still moving and was like quicksand. One motorist described seeing the mudslide. "I was the third car behind a truck with a boat. I saw the darkness washing everything off the road. I am not sure that truck made it through." Officials blamed the mudslide on groundwater saturation after recent heavy rainfalls. Afghan reporter became part of a tragic event with family By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
On Thursday evening the news came out that Kabul's Serena Hotel had come under insurgent attack and Afghan National Security Forces were battling four gunmen inside the luxurious hotel in the center of the city. Humayoon Shoib, a Kabul-based Afghan journalist who works for Voice of America’s Afghan service, picked up his phone and called Sardar Ahmad, an Agence France-Presse reporter, to cover the developing story. For the first time, Ahmad did not answer, said Shoib. Shoib worked with Ahmad for many years. Their history dates back to 2003, when both covered International Security Assistance Force press conferences for their respective news organizations at Bagram Airfield. He said it was very unusual to not receive a phone call from Sardar Ahmad on occasions like the Serena Hotel attack, because they would always tip each other off about major events in the capital and around the country. “The first call that I made was to Sardar at around 9 p.m., Shoib said. "I continued to call him until 9:55 with no luck, and unfortunately in the morning we learned that he, along with his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl, had been killed in the attack and his 3-year-old son has been severely injured,” Shoib said. March 21st coincided with the Afghan New Year and the beginning of spring in Afghanistan. Afghan families traditionally go out for dinner or visit a relative’s home to celebrate on New Year's Eve. Waheed Masood, who worked with Ahmad in Agence France-Presse’s Kabul bureau for many years, said that Sardar had promised his wife and kids that they would celebrate the New Year out this year. “Unfortunately Sardar, along with his two young children aged 4 and 6 years old and his wife, were targeted by the insurgents and killed,” said Masood, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the U.S. Masood said Ahmad's 3-year-old son is struggling to survive the injuries he sustained in the attack. Reports suggest that Ahmad and his family were shot at point blank range by the insurgents. A survivor account indicated that the mother pleaded with the insurgents to spare her children and take her life instead, but the attackers shot her and then turned their guns on the children. Afghan officials said nine civilians were killed in Thursday’s attack, including four foreigners dining at the hotel. The insurgents also died in the attack. "The attackers were killed in three hours by the Afghan security forces," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. Sediqi said Afghan authorities are investigating how the gunmen entered the premises of the hotel despite its tight security. Surveillance camera footage revealed that attackers passed through personal search and metal detectors with pistols hidden in their shoes. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said about 20 people were killed inside the hotel before their attackers were gunned down. Sediqi said recent attacks, including the one at the Serena Hotel, are part of the Taliban campaign to disrupt the Afghan elections. Afghans will vote on April 5th to choose a new leader for the country. The elections are considered crucial for the future stability of the country, as it will mark the first democratic transfer of political power from one elected president to another. Shoib said Ahmad was a dedicated husband and father in addition to being a committed journalist who worked tirelessly to give a human face to the conflict in Afghanistan and be objective in his reporting. “Whenever I would cover an event in Kabul or elsewhere where there would be innocent lives lost because of an explosion or a suicide attack, I would be very angry and emotional about it," he said. "Sardar always told me that we were journalists and our job was to tell the world about what’s going on in Afghanistan and be as objective in our work as possible.” The United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan issued a statement condemning the attack on Serena Hotel, saying the targeting of civilians installations is considered a direct attack on civilians. As fighting escalated between the government and insurgents across the country, the war took an increasing toll on Afghan civilians in 2013, with a 14 percent increase in the total civilian casualties. A recent U.N. report attributes three quarters of the civilian death toll to Taliban attacks. Wireless security systems vulnerable, academics say By
the Inderscience news staff
There are various ways to protect a wireless network. Some are generally considered to be more secure than others. Some, such as Wired Equivalent Privacy, known as WEP, were broken several years ago and are not recommended as a way to keep intruders away from private networks. Now, a new study published in the International Journal of Information and Computer Security, reveals that one of the previously strongest wireless security systems, Wi-Fi protected access 2 (WPA2) can also be easily broken into on wireless local area networks. Achilleas Tsitroulis of Brunel University, Dimitris Lampoudis of the University of Macedonia, Greece and Emmanuel Tsekleves of Lancaster University, have investigated the vulnerabilities in WPA2 and present its weakness. They say that this wireless security system might now be breached with relative ease by a malicious attack on a network. They suggest that it is now a matter of urgency that security experts and programmers work together to remove the vulnerabilities in WPA2 in order to bolster its security or to develop alternative protocols to keep wireless networks safe from hackers and malware. WPA2 is frequently the security system on routers used in Costa Rica. The convenience of wireless network connectivity of mobile communications devices, such as smart phones, tablet PCs and laptops, televisions, personal computers and other equipment, is offset by the inherent security vulnerability. The potential for a third party to eavesdrop on the broadcast signals between devices is ever present. By contrast a wired network is intrinsically more secure because it requires a physical connection to the system in order to intercept packets of data. For the sake of convenience, however, many people are prepared to compromise on security. Until now, the assumption was that the risk of an intruder breaching a wireless network secured by the WPA2 system was unlikely. Tsitroulis and colleagues have now shown this not to be the case. The researchers have shown that a brute force attack on the WPA2 password is possible and that it can be exploited, although the time taken to break into a system rises with longer and longer passwords. However, it is the de-authentication step in the wireless setup that represents a much more accessible entry point for an intruder with the appropriate hacking tools. As part of their purported security protocols routers using WPA2 must reconnect and re-authenticate devices periodically and share a new key each time. The team points out that the de-authentication step essentially leaves a backdoor unlocked albeit temporarily. Temporarily is long enough for a fast-wireless scanner and a determined intruder. They also point out that while restricting network access to specific devices with a given identifier, their media access control address, these can be spoofed. There are thus various entry points for the WPA2 protocol, which the team details in their paper. In the meantime, users should continue to use the strongest encryption protocol available with the most complex password and to limit access to known devices via MAC address. Obama and tech chiefs meet to discuss privacy concerns By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. President Barack Obama met Friday with executives from some of the largest Internet and technology companies to discuss their concerns about privacy and government surveillance programs. White House officials say Obama met in the oval Office with six Internet and tech executives, including Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a statement, the White House said "the president reiterated his administration's commitment to taking steps that can give people greater confidence that their rights are being protected while preserving important tools that keep us safe." The executive did not speak to reporters after the meeting. But last week, Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page that he called Obama to express his frustration over the government's secret spying tactics. In January, the president outlined a series of reforms for how the National Security Agency conducts data surveillance. The recommendations included changes to the NSA's collection of so-called metadata from communications links worldwide, as well as the direct surveillance of foreign leaders. The president also proposed changes in the use of National Security Letters, which allow the government to seek information from persons or companies pertaining to national security. He also endorsed creation of a panel of outside advocates to represent privacy and civil liberty concerns. Ability of human nose equated to that of a dog By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
One trillion. That’s the number of scents researchers have determined humans can detect through their sense of smell. Scientists say the figure is probably a conservative estimate. Popular and scientific literature since the 1920's has put the number of odors detectable by humans at around 10,000. But, in a new study published in the journal Science, researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller Institute in New York City calculated the number of odors detectable by humans as much, much higher. Andreas Keller was co-author of the study which challenged volunteers to sniff scents in three tiny bottles. The researchers mixed 128 odor molecules in combinations of 10, 20 and 30 molecules. The resulting subtle odors were both pleasant, including grass and citrus, and distasteful, such as sweaty socks. Two of the bottles were an identical blend. The third bottle was altered slightly. Extrapolating from how often the volunteers could identify the different scent, the scientists calculated humans could discriminate at least one trillion odors. Ms. Keller said she believes the human nose is sensitive enough to detect more than that. “Obviously in reality there are many more than 128 molecules that you can mix up and you can mix them in mixtures of more than 30,” he said. How does that compare to dogs, which are held up as the gold standard of scent identification? Keller says the human sense of smell is probably at least as good as a canine’s. Human noses are just higher than a dog's. “In my opinion, the main difference between you and your dog when you go for a walk is that the dog’s nose during walking is always very close to the ground, which is where the interesting smells are," Ms. Keller said. "So, the reason the dog picks up all those interesting smells and you don’t isn’t that the dog’s nose is better than you. It’s that the dog’s nose is closer to where the action is,” Ms. Keller said. Researchers hope to use their findings to shed light on how the brain processes sensory information. Genes reported to play a major parenting role By
the Michigan State University news service
Scientists have presented the most conclusive evidence yet that genes play a significant role in parenting. A study by two Michigan State University psychologists refutes the popular theory that how adults parent their children is strictly a function of the way they were themselves parented when they were children. While environmental factors do play a role in parenting, so do a person’s genes, said S. Alexandra Burt, associate professor of psychology and co-author of a study led by doctoral student Ashlea M. Klahr. “The way we parent is not solely a function of the way we were parented as children,” Burt said. “There also appears to be genetic influences on parenting.” Ms. Klahr and Professor Burt conducted a statistical analysis of 56 scientific studies from around the world on the origins of parenting behavior, including some of their own. The comprehensive analysis, involving more than 20,000 families from Australia to Japan to the United States, found that genetic influences in the parents account for 23 percent to 40 percent of parental warmth, control and negativity towards their children. “What’s still not clear, however, is whether genes directly influence parenting or do so indirectly, through parent personality for example,” Ms. Klahr said. The study sheds light on another misconception: that parenting is solely a top-down process from parent to child. While parents certainly seem to shape child behavior, parenting also is influenced by the child’s behavior – in other words, parenting is both a cause and a consequence of child behavior. “One of the most consistent and striking findings to emerge from this study was the important role that children’s characteristics play in shaping all aspects of parenting,” the authors write. Ultimately, parenting styles stem from many factors. “Parents have their own experiences when they were children, their own personalities, their own genes. On top of that, they are also responding to their child’s behaviors and stage of development,” Professor Burt said. “Basically, there are a lot of influences happening simultaneously. Long story short, though, we need to be sensitive to the fact that this is a two-way process between parent and child that is both environmental and genetic.” The study is published in Psychological Bulletin, a research journal of the American Psychological Association. Terror of math just might be within the genetic makeup By
The Ohio State University news service
A new study of math anxiety shows how some people may be at greater risk to fear math not only because of negative experiences, but also because of genetic risks related to both general anxiety and math skills. The study, which examined how fraternal and identical twins differ on measures of math anxiety, provides a revised view on why some children – and adults – may develop a fear of math that makes it more difficult for them to solve math problems and succeed in school. “We found that math anxiety taps into genetic predispositions in two ways: people’s cognitive performance on math and their tendency toward anxiety,” said Zhe Wang, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher in psychology at The Ohio State University. The results don’t mean that math anxiety can be blamed solely or even mostly on genetic factors, the researchers emphasized. In this study, genetic factors explained about 40 percent of the individual differences in math anxiety. Much of the rest was explained by the different environments -- in the school, in the home and elsewhere -- that the twins experienced. But the findings do suggest that classroom quality, aspects of the home, or other environmental factors are not the only reasons why people differ in how they experience math “Genetic factors may exacerbate or reduce the risk of doing poorly at math,” said Stephen Petrill, professor of psychology at Ohio State, and the principal investigator of the study. “If you have these genetic risk factors for math anxiety and then you have negative experiences in math classes, it may make learning that much harder. It is something we need to account for when we’re considering interventions for those who need help in math.” The study appears online in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and will be published in a future print edition. The study included 216 identical twins and 298 same-sex fraternal twins who participated in the Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects, an ongoing long-term study of twins in Ohio. Children entered the project in kindergarten or first grade and were assessed in up to eight home visits. This study included data from the last two home visits, when the twins were between about 9 and 15 years old. All of the twins completed assessments of math anxiety, general anxiety, math problem solving and reading comprehension. The researchers used statistical tools to see how these various measures of anxiety and math and reading ability were related between fraternal twins and between identical twins. That allowed them to make conclusions about how differences in math anxiety could be explained by genetic factors and how much could be explained by differences in the environments the twins encountered at home, at school and elsewhere. Petrill said it is important to study anxiety as it applies to how well children learn math. “You say the word math and some people actually cringe,” he said. “It is not like learning how to read, in which people don’t normally have any general anxiety unless they have some kind of difficulty.” And anxiety can have a profound effect on learning, Wang added. Fear can make it difficult for people to further develop even the math skills that they already have. “If you’re anxious, it is often harder to solve problems. The anxiety response actually inhibits some people’s ability. We have to help children learn to regulate their emotions so that the anxiety doesn’t keep them from achieving their best in math,” Wang said. But one issue was that, before this study, researchers didn’t have a clear idea of how important the genetic component of math anxiety is in children and how it originates: Is it because of a lack of actual math skills -- such as problem solving and ability to do calculations -- or is it related to a person’s predisposition to anxiety? “We found here that it is both: Math anxiety is related to both the cognitive side and the affective side of general anxiety,” Petrill said. This may result in a downward spiraling process in which these genetic risks to anxiety and poor math performance work with environmental influences to lead to math anxiety. This may leads to further problems in math performance, which exacerbates the math anxiety symptoms. Petrill said interventions to help people suffering from math anxiety may have to account for both genetic and environmental factors. He said his research group is currently using EEGs to measure real-time brain activity associated with the anxiety responses during math and non-math problem solving. “If we can get a better idea of what provokes this anxiety response, we may be able to develop a better intervention for those with math anxiety,” he said. |
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| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 24, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 58 | |||||||||
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Visit to see his
friend proves fatal in Bagaces By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A man who dropped by to visit a friend was swept up as one of the victims in a double murder Saturday in Bagaces in Guanacaste. The dead visitor was identified by the last name of Guido by the Judicial Investigating Organization. He was 71, agents said. The apparent target of what investigators are characterizing as a robbery and murder was a 62-year-old man with the last name of Valverde. He was shot five times, agents said. That includes one bullet in the head. Guido was tied up and then murdered with a sharp instrument, agents added. They said he had five wounds in his head. Valverde lived at the location but also had a business there extracting fish oil. He was described as a hard worker. Investigators said that an employee appears to have been jumped outside the building and then tied up while the crime was committed. The crime was discovered when another employee reported for night shift work. The two bodies were found outside the buildings about 45 feet apart. Winds will continue, weather institute says By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The windy weather of the weekend is predicted to continue today, and skies in the metro area and on the Pacific coast are expected to have few clouds. That means the temperature will soar. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that gusts will continue at 50 to 70 kph. That is up to 43 mph. This was the condition Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, mainly in the Central Valley and the northern Pacific. The weather institute said the cause was a nearby high-pressure area. For the Caribbean coast, the institute predicts a cloudy morning with the possibility of rain. However, the clouds should diminish by afternoon, the forecast said. |
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| From Page 7: Costa Rica holding its own on exports By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica has posted a half point increase in exports over the 12 months ending in February, the Promotora del Comercio Exterior has reported. That's good news because the 12 months started up with a dip in exports due to economic conditions, the organization said. Agricultural products, including yuca, watermelon, eggs, cheese and fresh fruits all showed strong increases. There also was an increase in exportation of all goods to European counties. Sugar with total exports of more than $12 million showed an incredible 1,104 percent increase. Some industrial products also show increases, according to the report. The principal recipient of Costa Rican products was North America with 41 percent of the total. Europe received 18 percent and Asia, 13.2 percent, the promotional organization said. |
