Universidad del Norte, Colombia

About: Universidad del Norte, Colombia is a education organization based out in Barranquilla, Colombia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 3562 authors who have published 4355 publications receiving 37861 citations. The organization is also known as: University of the North, Colombia & Uninorte.

Reconsidering the 'Decline' of Dental Student Empathy within the Course in Latin America.

Abstract: Introduction: The controversy over the presence of empathic decline within the course in students of medicine, dentistry and health sciences in general, has not fully been studied. This controversy could be partially solved if massive studies of empathy levels are made in similar cultural, social and economic contexts. Material and Methods: Empathy levels within the course were studied in eighteen dental schools from six countries in Latin America (2013). The mean of the empathy levels were used to study the behavior between first and fifth academic years. The values of empathy levels within the course were observed by applying the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Spanish version. All these studies were cross-sectional. The value of means observed, were subjected to regression studies and further adjustment curves were obtained and the coefficient of determination were calculated. Results: Six different models of behavior were observed, which found that five of them suffer empathic decline within the course, but with different final results: in some the decline persists until the fifth academic year and in others, this decline ‘recovers’ persistently until the fifth academic year. The sixth model is characterized by a constant and persistent increase of levels of empathy within the course until the last academic year. Discussion: There are six different models for the behavior of means of levels of empathy within the course evaluated by a common methodology in eighteen dental schools from six countries of Latin America. These findings support the existence of variability of empathic response and a comprehensive approach is needed to find the causes that give rise to this variability. Conclusion: In dental students of Latin America, there is variability in the behavior of the distribution in means between the academic years of the dentistry schools examined in this study.

A simultaneous blow-up problem arising in tumor modeling

Abstract: Although macrophages are part of the human immune system, it has been remarkably observed in laboratory experiments that decreasing its number can slow down the tumor progression. We analyze through a recently mathematical model proposed in the literature, necessary conditions for aggregation of tumor cells and macrophages. In order to do so, we prove the possibility of having blow-up in finite time. Next, we study if the aggregation of macrophages can occur when having a low density of tumor cells, and vice versa. With this purpose, we consider the problem of analyzing the existence or not of a simultaneous blow-up. We achieve this goal thanks to a novel process that allows us to compare the entropy functional associated with the density of each population, which turns out to be also a method to find enough conditions for having a simultaneous blow-up.

Paleoclimate support for a persistent dry island effect in the Colombian Andes during the last 4700 years

Abstract: We investigated middle- and late-Holocene hydroclimate patterns in the Colombian Andes using indicators of watershed erosion (lithic abundance), precipitation intensity (% silt), lake-level variabi...

Assessment of the risk of failure of high voltage substations due to environmental conditions and pollution on insulators.

Abstract: Pollution on electrical insulators is one of the greatest causes of failure of substations subjected to high levels of salinity and environmental pollution. Considering leakage current as the main indicator of pollution on insulators, this paper focuses on establishing the effect of the environmental conditions on the risk of failure due to pollution on insulators and determining the significant change in the magnitude of the pollution on the insulators during dry and humid periods. Hierarchical segmentation analysis was used to establish the effect of environmental conditions on the risk of failure due to pollution on insulators. The Kruskal-Wallis test was utilized to determine the significant changes in the magnitude of the pollution due to climate periods. An important result was the discovery that leakage current was more common on insulators during dry periods than humid ones. There was also a higher risk of failure due to pollution during dry periods. During the humid period, various temperatures and wind directions produced a small change in the risk of failure. As a technical result, operators of electrical substations can now identify the cause of an increase in risk of failure due to pollution in the area. The research provides a contribution towards the behaviour of the leakage current under conditions similar to those of the Colombian Caribbean coast and how they affect the risk of failure of the substation due to pollution.

Bahía de Cartagena (Colombia): distribución de sedimentos superficiales y ambientes sedimentarios

Abstract: We studied the spatial distribution and textural characteristics of 234 surface sediment samples from the Bay of Cartagena, Colombia, to understand sedimentation processes over the last few decades. We used three discriminant functions to characterize depositional environments and to differentiate among: (i) beach deposits and sediments of high-energy, shallow marine environments, (ii) fluvial deposits and sediments of shallow marine environments, and (iii) fluvial deposits influenced by turbidity currents. The predominant sediment type is a medium-size (5.35 ± 1.2 φ), poorly sorted (σ = 1.63 ± 0.8) mud, with a noticeable asymmetry (Sk = -0.052 ± 0.2) and kurtosis (k) of 0.84 ± 0.4. There were two main superficial sediments types in the Bay of Cartagena: (1) sediments of high-energy, shallow marine environments with high fluvial influence, and (2) turbidity current deposits with high fluvial influence. Sediments with the lowest sand content (<5%) are located along a latitudinal axis running from the Dike Channel prodelta to the western end of Tierrabomba Island. The CaCO3 content of the sediments is <10%. Autogenous calcareous sediments are covered by fine terrigenous sediment transported through the Dike Canal, which has a more active and dominant role in the Bay’s sediment deposition than previously reported.