This book explains how to teach better and presents the latest research on processing educational data and presents traditional statistical techniques as well as probabilistic, interval, and fuzzy approaches. Teaching is a very rewarding activity; it is also a very difficult one - because it is largely an art. There is a lot of advice on teaching available, but it is usually informal and is not easy to follow. To remedy this situation, it is reasonable to use techniques specifically designed to handle such imprecise knowledge: the fuzzy logic techniques. Since there are a large number of statistical studies of different teaching techniques, the authors combined statistical and fuzzy approaches to process the educational data in order to provide insights into improving all the stages of the education process: from forming a curriculum to deciding in which order to present the material to grading the assignments and exams. The authors do not claim to have solved all the problems of education. Instead they show, using numerous examples, that an innovative combination of different uncertainty techniques can improve teaching. The book offers teachers and instructors valuable advice and provides researchers in pedagogical and fuzzy areas with techniques to further advance teaching.

This volume explores some of the most exciting recent advances in basic research on nanoparticles in translational science and medicine and how this knowledge is leading to advances in the various fields.
* This series provides a forum for discussion of new discoveries, approaches, and ideas
* Contributions from leading scholars and industry experts
* Reference guide for researchers involved in molecular biology and related fields

This book addresses a number of vital economic convergence issues in the European Union. These are both general and specific issues relating to financial and monetary matters as well as social and labour market concerns. The book opens with a discussion of problems of a general nature. Questions posed include: What is the convergence record in the EU so far? Is there a sign of Baumol and Quah's 'convergence clubs' and 'twin peaks'? Have the 'structural funds' of the European Commission made any difference? The authors then analyse questions of a fiscal and monetary nature: Can we expect the monetary policy of the ECB to have similar effects in the EMU member-states, or is it in itself a source of asymmetric shocks? Has EU membership made any difference, with respect to the initial differences in tax revenue structures? Finally the book focuses on questions regarding social and labour markets: Is global economic convergence compatible with sustainable differences in national social protection levels? Does European globalisation force labour markets to 'de-institutionalise' and do European labour markets converge to a 'Third Way' model? Academics and researchers of European studies and economic policy will find this up-to-date book of great interest, as will policymakers and business leaders both affected by and from within the EU.

In today's developed world, much of what people believe about religious toleration has evolved from crucial innovations in toleration theory developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thinkers from that period have been rightly celebrated for creating influential, liberating concepts and ideas that have enabled many of us to live in peace. However, their work was certainly not perfect. In this enlightening volume, John Christian Laursen and Maria Jose Villaverde have gathered contributors to focus on the paradoxes, blindspots, unexpected flaws, or ambiguities in early modern toleration theories and practices. Each chapter explores the complexities, complications, and inconsistencies that came up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as people grappled with the idea of toleration. In understanding the weaknesses, contradictions, and ambivalences in other theories, they hope to provoke thought about the defects in ways of thinking about toleration in order to help in overcoming similar problems in contemporary toleration theories.

In today's developed world, much of what people believe about religious toleration has evolved from crucial innovations in toleration theory developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thinkers from that period have been rightly celebrated for creating influential, liberating concepts and ideas that have enabled many of us to live in peace. However, their work was certainly not perfect. In this enlightening volume, John Christian Laursen and Maria Jose Villaverde have gathered contributors to focus on the paradoxes, blindspots, unexpected flaws, or ambiguities in early modern toleration theories and practices. Each chapter explores the complexities, complications, and inconsistencies that came up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as people grappled with the idea of toleration. In understanding the weaknesses, contradictions, and ambivalences in other theories, they hope to provoke thought about the defects in ways of thinking about toleration in order to help in overcoming similar problems in contemporary toleration theories.

Well-referenced clinical resource for canine and feline nutrition, with expansions throughout and two new chapters covering birds and small mammals. Fully revised to reflect new advances and information throughout, the Second Edition of Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition presents current, authoritative information on all aspects of small companion animal nutrition. The book provides clinically oriented solutions for integrating nutrition into clinical practice, with introductory chapters covering the foundation and science behind the recommendations and extensive references for further reading in every chapter. With contributions from more than 25 leading veterinary nutritionists, Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition covers topics such as: Integration of nutrition into clinical practice, basic nutrition, energy requirements, and pet food regulations in North America and Europe that also apply to many other regions Using and reviewing pet food labels and product guides, feeding the healthy dog and cat, and abridged clinical nutrition topics for companion avian species & small mammals Commercial and home-prepared diets, and nutritional management of body weight and orthopedic, skin, and gastrointestinal diseases Nutritional management of exocrine, hepatobiliary, kidney, lower urinary tract, endocrine, cardiovascular, and oncological diseases as well as enteral and parenteral nutrition A valuable resource on the principles of small animal nutrition and feeding practices in health or disease, Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition is a widely trusted and practical daily reference for veterinary practitioners including specialists, residents, and students seeking expert information on feeding their canine, feline, avian, and small mammalian patients.

A broad survey of secondary schools and their historical origins and present-day goals, intentions, and practices in educating adolescents. Schools have changed greatly since the days of reading and writing and 'rithmetic taught to the tune of a hickory stick. Now there are student rights, magnet schools, standardized tests, computers, and even corporate sponsorships. But are students really getting a better education today? Secondary Schools: A Reference Handbook charts the planning, designing, and administration of the various types of secondary schools in the U.S. and their goals. It maps the historical foundation of the school system, examines important social and cultural movements in education, analyzes legislation and policy issues, looks at standardization and discusses reform. Always keeping the needs of students in close focus, this book examines public and private institutions, vocational curricula, schools within schools, as well as target audiences for specific institutions, educational standards, accessibility, admission policies, student assistance, and other important subjects.

Cirilo Villaverde (1812-1894). Cuba. Estudio en La Habana en el Seminario de San Carlos donde se graduo de Bachiller en Leyes, mas tarde practico la docencia y el periodismo. En La Habana asistio a la Tertulia de Domingo Delmonte y publico en la Gaceta Cubana su novela La joven de la Flecha de Oro. El 20 de octubre de 1848 fue condenado por una comision militar, un ano despues escapo de la prision y viajo a los Estados Unidos. Poco despues fue nombrado redactor en jefe de La Verdad, periodico de Nueva York;aunque en 1858 fue amnistiado y pudo regresar a La Habana. En 1861 regreso a los Estados Unidos y trabajo en el periodico La America, de Nueva York. Termino de escribir Cecilia Valdes en 1884 y murio el 24 de octubre de 1894 en dicha ciudad.

Cecilia Valdes es la mas importante novela del siglo XIX cubano, una especie de tragedia del mestizaje imprescindible en una reflexion sobre los conflictos etnicos de la nacion cubana. Es tambien un relato de la seduccion y de como es practicada en diferentes culturas. El texto esta lleno de comentarios sobre los diferentes tipos sociales y los ordenes economicos y religiosos de la epoca.

This book explains how to teach better and presents the latest research on processing educational data and presents traditional statistical techniques as well as probabilistic, interval, and fuzzy approaches. Teaching is a very rewarding activity; it is also a very difficult one - because it is largely an art. There is a lot of advice on teaching available, but it is usually informal and is not easy to follow. To remedy this situation, it is reasonable to use techniques specifically designed to handle such imprecise knowledge: the fuzzy logic techniques. Since there are a large number of statistical studies of different teaching techniques, the authors combined statistical and fuzzy approaches to process the educational data in order to provide insights into improving all the stages of the education process: from forming a curriculum to deciding in which order to present the material to grading the assignments and exams. The authors do not claim to have solved all the problems of education. Instead they show, using numerous examples, that an innovative combination of different uncertainty techniques can improve teaching. The book offers teachers and instructors valuable advice and provides researchers in pedagogical and fuzzy areas with techniques to further advance teaching.

While successfully preventing earthquakes may still be beyond the capacity of modern engineering, the ability to mitigate damages with strong structural designs and other mitigation measures are well within the purview of science. Fundamental Concepts of Earthquake Engineering presents the concepts, procedures, and code provisions that are currently being used to make structures as earthquake-resistant as is presently feasible.

The book begins by describing the purpose, main aspects, and historical development of earthquake engineering and provides an overview of the type and extent of damage an earthquake can produce. It then introduces the concepts of seismology, the mechanisms of earthquake generation and propagation, and the difference between the various scales used to quantify the size of an earthquake and its potential to cause damage. The book also discusses the response spectrum and the different ways earthquake ground motions may be characterized and how local soil conditions may affect ground motion characteristics. Later chapters examine the design spectrum, conventional methods used to calculate the response of structures, soil-structure systems, and nonstructural components to earthquake ground motions.

This comprehensive resource is certain to advance the knowledge of those tasked with taking preemptive action against the devastating effects of major, catastrophic earthquakes.

Cecilia Valdes is arguably the most important novel of 19th century Cuba. Originally published in New York City in 1882, Cirilo Villaverde's novel has fascinated readers inside and outside Cuba since the late 19th century. In this new English translation, a vast landscape emerges of the moral, political, and sexual depravity caused by slavery and colonialism. Set in the Havana of the 1830s, the novel introduces us to Cecilia, a beautiful light-skinned mulatta, who is being pursued by the son of a Spanish slave trader, named Leonardo. Unbeknownst to the two, they are the children of the same father. Eventually Cecilia gives in to Leonardo's advances; she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. When Leonardo, who gets bored with Cecilia after a while, agrees to marry a white upper class woman, Cecilia vows revenge. A mulatto friend and suitor of hers kills Leonardo, and Cecilia is thrown into prison as an accessory to the crime.
For the contemporary reader Helen Lane's masterful translation of Cecilia Valdes opens a new window into the intricate problems of race relations in Cuba and the Caribbean. There are the elite social circles of European and New World Whites, the rich culture of the free people of color, the class to which Cecilia herself belonged, and then the slaves, divided among themselves between those who were born in Africa and those who were born in the New World, and those who worked on the sugar plantation and those who worked in the households of the rich people in Havana. Cecilia Valdes thus presents a vast portrait of sexual, social, and racial oppression, and the lived experience of Spanish colonialism in Cuba.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfangen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen fur die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfugung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden mussen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.