Search

It documents that the average teacher in LAC loses the equivalent of one day of instructional time per week because of inadequate preparation, excessive time on administration (taking attendance, passing out papers) and a surprisingly high share of time physically absent from the classrooms where they should be teaching. Teachers also make limited use of available learning materials, espcially those using information and communications technology (ICT), and are unable to keep the majority of their students engaged. The book sets out the three priority lines of reform needed to produce great teachers in LAC: policies to recruit better teachers; programs to groom teachers and improve their skills once they are in service; and stronger incentives to motivate teachers to perform their best throughout their career.

Con la idea del meridiano como eje vertebrador, en este libro se aborda la singladura horaria de un día cualquiera, y la huella de la experiencia mientras lo protagonizamos. De esta manera, a través de las horas y minutos con que se titulan los poemas de Greenwich, vemos al personaje poético, mientras transcurre la jornada y sus quehaceres, relacionarse en sociedad, sumirse en hondas meditaciones, reconciliarse con los fantasmas de su pasado, y celebrar la presencia -o lamentar la ausencia- de sus seres queridos. Pero, sobre todo, percibimos el valor excepcional con que pueden afrontarse los hechos corrientes, cuando son mirados según la propia memoria personal y espiritual, para participar de su insólita vibración ordinaria. Así como la capacidad privilegiada de la palabra poética, aquí desplegada con belleza, sensibilidad e imaginación admirables, para nombrar esta extraordinaria singularidad cotidiana.

This book aims to provide scientists with information about a series of techniques that can be used with a view to facilitating the transformation of the sample to an appropriate state for subsequent detection or quantitation of its components of interest. The techniques dealt with range from the very simple ones (e.g. freeze-drying) to other more complex ones (e.g. glow discharge and laser-induced breakdown sampling). This is the first compilation ever on the subjects of acceleration of solid sample pretreatment; automation of solid sample pretreatment; and integration of solid sample pretreatment and detection. Readers will find here the information required to compare and select the best choice for each sample treatment need and ways to facilitate or automate the most complex and time-consuming step of the analytical process when solid samples are involved.

This book offers insights into how international investment law (IIL) has frustrated states’ protection of human rights in Latin America, and IIL has generally abstained from dealing with inter-regime frictions. In these circumstances, this study not only argues that IIL should be an object of contention and debate (‘politicisation’). It also contends that Latin American countries have traditionally been the frontrunners in the politicisation of international legal instruments protecting foreign investment, questioning whether the paradigms informing their claims’ articulation are adequate to frame this debate. It demonstrates that the so-called ‘right to regulate’ is the paradigm now prevalently used to challenge IIL, but that it is inadequate from a human rights perspective. Hence, the book calls for a re-politicisation of IIL in Latin America through a re-conceptualization of how states’ regulation of foreign investment is understood under international human rights law, which entails viewing it as an international duty. After determining what the ‘duty to regulate’ constitutes in relation to the right to water and indigenous peoples’ right to lands based on human rights doctrine, the book analyses the extent to which Latin American countries are currently re-politicising IIL through an articulation of this international duty, and arbitral tribunals’ responses to their argumentative strategies. Based on these findings, the book not only proposes investment treaties’ reform to anchor the ‘duty to regulate’ paradigm in IIL, and in the process, to induce tribunals’ engagement with human rights arguments when they come to underpin respondent states’ defences in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). In addition, drawing upon the (now likely defunct) idea of creating a regional ISDS tribunal, the book briefly reflects on options available to such a tribunal in terms of dealing with troubling normative/institutional interactions between regimes during ISDS proceedings.

The first major global economic contraction of the 21st century, or the 'Great Recession', as it is more commonly known, began in December of 2007, and would prove to be one of the most catastrophic economic events in postmodern history. The bursting of the American housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis that followed are widely attributed as being the primary causes for this economic downturn.The content of this book presents an in-depth analysis of several of the leading causes of the subprime crisis, as well as the subsequent measures that were used to contain a widespread economic recession. It is the aim of this book to provide adequate information and tools for readers to gain insight on how we can prevent the same mistakes from happening again. This analysis also explores an interesting question when considering public policy; was the economic disaster, that ensued, caused by overzealous consumers who borrowed more than they could afford, or was it caused by institutional entities that gambled away the American economy?

Years ago, while listening to the radio, Rosa decided to dictate her memoirs into a tape recorder, and she did it as a game, thinking that what she recorded would never be anything more than a handful of tapes that someone, friend or acquaintance, would listen to while laughing. I have been one of the few lucky ones who have been able, until today, to know the narration of a life lived in the kitchen, seasoned with juicy recipes and full of love affairs, which shows us, with little intention on his part, the small history of Spain for more than fifty years. Years of struggle, heartaches and small pleasures that, if, as it happens to me, your gray hair has adorned you for too long, it will reflect you as in an old, somewhat distorting, fairground mirror. And if you are lucky enough to have a very long and happy life ahead of you, they will show you a society that may surprise you with a naïve vivacity and tolerance that many today insist on denying. This book -my poor transcription of his words- intends to correct that unjust oblivion, that of his life and that of many others, making his memoirs full of passion and irony available to everyone. Ah, don't forget to enjoy the recipes.

Over the past 15 years, Brazil has introduced a consistent program of reforms of its education system, progressively aligning the educational attainment of its labor force with that of other middle income countries and introducing advanced student assessment and monitoring systems.

Many large-scale projects for detecting gravitational radiation are currently being developed, all with the aim of opening a new window onto the observable Universe. As a result, numerical relativity has recently become a major field of research, and Elements of Numerical Relativity and Relativistic Hydrodynamics is a valuable primer for both graduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter the field. A revised and significantly enlarged edition of LNP 673 Elements of Numerical Relativity, this book starts with the most basic insights and aspects of numerical relativity before it develops coherent guidelines for the reliable and convenient selection of each of the following key aspects: evolution formalism; gauge, initial, and boundary conditions; and various numerical algorithms. And in addition to many revisions, it includes new, convenient damping terms for numerical implementations, a presentation of the recently-developed harmonic formalism, and an extensive, new chapter on matter space-times, containing a thorough introduction to relativistic hydrodynamics. While proper reference is given to advanced applications requiring large computational resources, most tests and applications in this book can be performed on a standard PC.

This textbook provides readers a comprehensive introduction to numerical methods, using MATLAB®. The authors discuss the theory and application of the most often used numerical methods, using MATLAB as a computational tool. The book is designed to be accessible to readers of varying backgrounds, so the presentation focuses more on the description, implementation, and application of the methods and less on the mathematical details. This book not only covers the most important methods and techniques of scientific computation, but also contains a great amount of code and implementations, facilitating the process of learning and application.

In every city in the world there are dens where the light does not enter out of shame, like El Homgon. There, darkness envelops the trickery of the customers, the hands that grope the bodies and the filth that accumulates in the corners. A few years ago, my friend Mejuto and I came up with the idea that El Hormigón deserved to be more than the occasional and changing scenario of one of his stories, and that my inseparable Browning would fit like a finger up... sorry, like a glove to the toxic atmosphere of the place. We discussed it and, by the third drink, came to the conclusion that he could do whatever he wanted as long as I didn't expect anything from him beyond some witty one-liners: it was too much effort. If the content is not to his liking, blame him for encouraging me and leaving me stranded.