El Niño resilience farming on the north coast of Peru.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation has been treated as a disruptor of environmental and socioeconomic equilibrium both in ancient times and in modern-day Peru. Recent work in the coastal desert plain, known as the Pampa de Mocan, challenges this view by demonstrating that prehispanic irrigation systems were designed to incorporate floods and convert them into productive waters. Archaeological investigations in this landscape reveal a 2,000-y history of floodwater farming embedded in conventional canal systems. Together with a pollen record recovered from a prehispanic well, these data suggest that the Pampa de Mocan was a flexible landscape, capable of taking advantage of El Niño floodwaters as well as river water. In sharp contrast to modern-day flood mitigation efforts, ancient farmers used floodwaters to develop otherwise marginal landscapes, such as the Pampa de Mocan, which in turn mitigated risk during El Niño years. These archaeological data speak to contemporary policy debates in the face of increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters and question whether El Niño Southern Oscillation events should be approached as a form of temporary disorder or as a form of periodic abundance.

Evidence for maize (Zea mays) in the Late Archaic (3000-1800 B.C.) in the Norte Chico region of Peru.

For more than 40 y, there has been an active discussion over the presence and economic importance of maize (Zea mays) during the Late Archaic period (3000-1800 B.C.) in ancient Peru. The evidence for Late Archaic maize has been limited, leading to the interpretation that it was present but used primarily for ceremonial purposes. Archaeological testing at a number of sites in the Norte Chico region of the north central coast provides a broad range of empirical data on the production, processing, and consumption of maize. New data drawn from coprolites, pollen records, and stone tool residues, combined with 126 radiocarbon dates, demonstrate that maize was widely grown, intensively processed, and constituted a primary component of the diet throughout the period from 3000 to 1800 B.C.

Agrupamiento según conocimientos previos y ciclo propedéutico. ¿Son herramientas útiles para mejorar el rendimiento académico de los alumnos universitarios? El caso de biología para alumnos de odontología / Grouping according to knowledge preparatory course before and cycle. Are useful tools to improve student academic performance university? The case of biology for dental students

Esta investigación evaluó, de manera independiente, la influencia de dos herramientas académicas sobre el porcentaje de alumnos aprobados en la asignatura de Biología General: la clasificación según rendimiento en la prueba diagnóstica y la nivelación ejercida por un ciclo propedéutico previo. Se estudió el rendimiento académico en esta asignatura de los alumnos el año 2007, los cuales fueron clasificados en tres aulas según las notas que obtuvieron en una prueba diagnóstica aplicada previamente, comparándolo con el de los alumnos que cursaron el año 2006. También se comparó el rendimiento académico de los alumnos que cursaron un ciclo propedéutico el año 2008, con los alumnos del año 2006. En ambos casos se utilizó el coeficiente de correlación de Spearman. Se encontró correlación de las notas finales obtenidas en la asignatura con las notas del ciclo propedéutico (r=0,71) y con las notas de la prueba diagnóstica aplicada al inicio de la asignatura (r=0,51). La correlación entre notas obtenidas en el ciclo propedéutico y prueba diagnóstica fue más baja (r=0,47). Las notas del propedéutico corresponden casi con exactitud con las notas finales de la asignatura, lo cual no siempre ocurre con las notas de la prueba diagnóstica. Se concluye sobre la importancia de la prueba diagnóstica como evaluación inicial, las ventajas y desventajas del agrupamiento homogéneo en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, y respecto al rol del ciclo propedéutico como mecanismo para proporcionar herramientas a los alumnos que faciliten su aprendizaje durante la etapa de formación universitaria, que incluyen: métodos de estudio, habilidades para utilizar la tecnología e informática, competencias en inglés, entre otros.

This research evaluated, in an independent way, the influence of two academic tools on the percentage of students who passed the General Biology course; the classification by performance in the diagnostic test and the leveling performed in a previous propedeutic cycle. The academic performance was studied in 2007 students of this course, which were distributed in three classrooms, depending on the grades they obtained in a previous diagnostic test, and compared to students who took the course in 2006. The academic performance of students who took a propedeutic cycle in 2008 was also compared to 2006 students. In both cases, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used. It was found a correlation of the final grades of the courses with the grades obtained in the propedeutic cycle, (r=0.71) and with the grades obtained in the diagnostic tets applied at the beginning of the course (r=0.51). The correlation between the grades obtained in the propedeutic cycle and the diagnostic test was low (r=0.47). The grades obtained in the propedeutic cycle match almost exactly with the final grades of the course, which not always happens with the grades of the diagnostic test. It is concluded the importance of the diagnostic test as an initial evaluation, the advantages and disadvantages of the homogeneous grouping in the process of teaching-learning and with respect to the role of the propedeutic cycle as a mechanism to give tools to the students that will make easier their learning during the university formation stage, that include: methods of study, skills for the use of technology and informatics, English competencies, among others.