This edited volume presents a systematic analysis of conceptual, methodological and applied aspects related to the validation of educational tests used in Latin American countries. Inspired by international standards on educational measurement and evaluation, this book illustrates efforts that have been made in several countries to validate different types of educational assessments, including student learning assessments, measurements of non-cognitive aspects in students, teacher evaluations, and tests for certification and selection. It gathers the experience of validity studies from the main international assessments in Latin America (PISA, TIMSS, ERCE, and ICCS). Additionally, it shows the challenges that must be taken into account when evaluations are used to compare countries, groups or trends of achievement over time. The book builds on the premise that measurements in the educational field should not be used if there are no studies that support the validity of the interpretation of their scores, or the use made of such tests. It shows that, despite the recognition given to validity, relatively few educational measurement assessments have accumulated enough evidence to support their interpretation and use. In doing so, this volume increases awareness about the relevance of validity, especially when assessments are key component of educational policies.

To Hell and Back: The Life Story of an Austrian World War II Survivor is a unique, one-of-a-kind memoir. Author Maria Rosa takes us on a journey through time and history as she tells the true story of her harrowing experiences before, during, & after World War 2. Her adventures span the globe as Maria describes life as a little girl, a student, an adult, & finally as a grandmother. Emotionally charged drama alternates with historical narrative & comical anecdotes in Maria's extraordinary & entertaining narrative. Topics include: World War II - Anschluss or Nazi takeover of Austria - A child's view of the Holocaust - Salzburg & Mozart - Hitler's Eagle's Nest - Castles & cathedrals - Manhattan Freemasons - Motherhood, family, & education - Abusive marriage - Cuban Missile Crisis - Assassination of JFK - Apollo Moon Landing - Vietnam War - Major California earthquakes - Berlin Wall - Ronald Reagan Presidential Library ...and much more Compelling & educational, this eye opening book is a must read for all ages

Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations - that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms - has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.

This book presents some of the leading technical, professional, and political challenges associated with the development and implementation of teacher evaluation systems, along with characterizing some of these systems in different countries around the world. The book promotes a broader comprehension of the complexities associated with this kind of initiatives, which have gained relevance in the last two decades, especially in the context of policies aimed at improving the quality of education. The first section of the book includes conceptual chapters that will detail some of the central debates around teacher evaluation, such as a) performance evaluation versus teaching effectiveness; b) tensions between formative and summative uses of evaluation; c) relationship between evaluation and teacher professionalization; and d) political tensions around teacher evaluation. In the second section, the book addresses specific examples of national or state-wide initiatives in the field of teacher evaluation. For this section, the authors have invited contributions that reflect experiences in North America, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and Latin America. In each chapter, a teacher evaluation system is presented, including their main results and validity evidence, as well as the main challenges associated with its design and implementation. This wide-ranging presentation of teacher evaluation systems around the world is a valuable reference to understand the diverse challenges for the implementation of teacher evaluation programs. The presence of conceptual chapters with others that illustrate how teacher evaluation has been implemented in different contexts gives the reader a comprehensive view of the complex nature of teacher evaluation, considering their technical and political underpinnings. It is a valuable source for anyone interested in the design, improvement, and implementation of teacher evaluation systems.

Smart Polymers and Their Applications, Second Edition presents an up-to-date resource of information on the synthesis and properties of different types of smart polymers, including temperature, pH, electro, magnetic and photo-responsive polymers, amongst others. It is an ideal introduction to this field, as well as a review of the latest research in this area. Shape memory polymers, smart polymer hydrogels, and self-healing polymer systems are also explored. In addition, a very strong focus on applications of smart polymers is included for tissue engineering, smart polymer nanocarriers for drug delivery, and the use of smart polymers in medical devices. Additionally, the book covers the use of smart polymers for textile applications, packaging, energy storage, optical data storage, environmental protection, and more. This book is an ideal, technical resource for chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, mechanical engineers and other professionals in a range of industries.

Emmaus movement transnational movement ideas in different socio-political, economic, historical and linguistic contexts. sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

This book presents case studies to analyse the relationship between sustainability - environmental, social, institutional and economic - and digital innovation. The respective contributions offer a contextualisation of the main present and future trends concerning these two elements, and present analyses from economic, technical, managerial, and social perspectives alike. The individual sections of the book focus on interactions between sustainability and digital innovation in existing organisations and highlight the new opportunities, challenges and threats that may emerge as a result. The contributions are mainly based on case studies and research conducted in Europe and Africa, with a few focusing on Southeast Asia and Central America, and were prepared by experts in the fields of Information Systems, Computer Science, Social Development, and Economics.

Emmaus movement transnational movement ideas in different socio-political, economic, historical and linguistic contexts. sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Smart polymers are polymers that respond to different stimuli or changes in the environment. "Smart Polymers and their Applications "reviews the types, synthesis, properties, and applications of smart polymers.

Chapters in part one focus on types of polymers, including temperature-, pH-, photo-, and enzyme-responsive polymers. Shape memory polymers, smart polymer hydrogels, and self-healing polymer systems are also explored. Part two highlights applications of smart polymers, including smart instructive polymer substrates for tissue engineering; smart polymer nanocarriers for drug delivery; the use of smart polymers in medical devices for minimally invasive surgery, diagnosis, and other applications; and smart polymers for bioseparation and other biotechnology applications. Further chapters discuss the use of smart polymers for textile and packaging applications, and for optical data storage.

"Smart Polymers and their Applications" is a technical resource for chemists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, and other professionals in the polymer industry; manufacturers in such sectors as medical, automotive, and aerospace engineering; and academic researchers in polymer science.
Reviews the different types of smart polymer, discussing their properties, structure, design, and characterizationReviews applications of smart polymers in such areas as biomedical engineering, textiles, and food packaging

The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: The Literature of Al-Andalus explores the culture of Iberia from the eighth to the thirteenth century, and to the centuries following the Christian conquest, when Arabic continued to be used. While the focus is on literature, the study extends to the related fields of philosophy, art, architecture and music. Edited by an Arabist, a Hebraist and a Romance scholar, with individual chapters by a team of the world's leading experts in the field, this is a truly interdisciplinary and comparative work offering a radical new approach.

The extraordinary breadth and depth of Leibniz's intellectual vision commands ever increasing attention. As more texts gradually emerge from seemingly bottomless archives, new facets of his contribution to an astonishing variety of fields come to light. This volume provides a uniquely comprehensive, systematic, and up-to-date appraisal of Leibniz's thought thematically organized around its diverse but interrelated aspects. Discussion of his philosophical system naturally takes place of pride. A cluster of original essays revisit his logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of nature, moral and political philosophy, and philosophy of religion. The scope of the volume, however, goes beyond that of a philosophical collection to embrace all the main features of Leibniz's thought and activity. Contributions are offered on Leibniz as a mathematician (including not only his calculus but also determinant theory, symmetric functions, the dyadic, the analysis situs, probability and statistics); on Leibniz as a scientist (physics and also optics, cosmology, geology, physiology, medicine, and chemistry); on his technical innovations (the calculating machine and the technology of mining, as well as other discoveries); on his work as an 'intelligencer' and cultural networker, as jurist, historian, editor of sources and librarian; on his views on Europe's political future, religious toleration, and ecclesiastical reunification; on his proposals for political, administrative, economic, and social reform. In so doing, the volume serves as a unique cross-disciplinary point of contact for the many domains to which Leibniz contributed. By assembling leading specialists on all these topics, it offers the most rounded picture of Leibniz's endeavors currently available.

Of all the thinkers of the century of genius that inaugurated modern philosophy, none lived an intellectual life more rich and varied than Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Maria Rosa Antognazza's pioneering biography provides a unified portrait of this unique thinker and the world from which he came. At the centre of the huge range of Leibniz's apparently miscellaneous endeavours, Antognazza reveals a single master project lending unity to his extraordinarily multifaceted life's work. Throughout the vicissitudes of his long life, Leibniz tenaciously pursued the dream of a systematic reform and advancement of all the sciences. As well as tracing the threads of continuity that bound these theoretical and practical activities to this all-embracing plan, this illuminating study also traces these threads back into the intellectual traditions of the Holy Roman Empire in which Leibniz lived and throughout the broader intellectual networks that linked him to patrons in countries as distant as Russia and to correspondents as far afield as China.

L’esperienza mediante esplorazione e la familiarità con l’ambiente migliorano la capacità di muoversi competentemente nel mondo. Questo libro intende potenziare il senso dell’orientamento fin dalla prima infanzia, proponendo esercizi eseguibili a scuola e a casa. La prima parte illustra le teorie sulla capacità navigazionale e sull’acquisizione di tale competenza, seguita da un’indagine sperimentale condotta su bambini di 4-7 anni per indagare lo sviluppo di differenti tipi di memoria implicati nell’orientamento. La seconda parte ha come protagonista un piccolo alieno “Kosmos� che si è perso sul nostro pianeta e ha bisogno di aiuto per imparare ad usare i prerequisiti di percezione visuo-spaziale, il linguaggio spaziale, la memoria di posizioni nell’ambiente, le rotazioni mentali e il riconoscimento di luoghi e oggetti da diverse prospettive. I bambini dovranno inoltre aiutare Kosmos a consultare delle mappe e a riprodurre dei percorsi all’interno di un ambiente virtuale.

A fascinating history of a brilliant lost civilization with powerful lessons for the modern world.

"Once upon a time in the mid-eighth century, an intrepid young man named Abd al-Rahman abandoned his home in Damascus, the Near Eastern heartland of Islam, and set out across the North African desert in search of a place of refuge. Damascus had become a slaughterhouse for his family, the ruling Umayyads, who had first led the Muslims out of the desert of Arabia.... This sole survivor was undoubtedly too young—he was in his late teens or early twenties—to be terrified at the odds against him, nor was his flight westward, toward what was the farthest frontier of the Islamic territories, as arbitrary or hopeless as it might have seemed....

"This book tells the story of how this remarkable turn of events... powerfully affected the course of European history and civilization. Many aspects of the story are largely unknown and the extent of their continuing effects on the world around us is scarcely understood...."
-From The Ornament of the World

A portrait of the vibrant civilization of medieval Spain, The Ornament of the World is the story of an extraordinary place and time. Both history and literature often depict the Middle Ages as a dark and barbaric period, characterized by intellectual backwardness and religious persecution. Now María Rosa Menocal brings us an altogether different vision of medieval Europe, where tolerance was often the rule and literature, science, and art flourished in a climate of cultural openness.

The story begins as a young prince in exile—the last heir to a glorious Islamic dynasty—flees the massacre of his family and founds a new kingdom on the Iberian peninsula: al-Andalus. Combining the best of what Muslims, Jews, and Christians had to offer, al-Andalus and its successors influenced the rest of Europe in dramatic ways, giving it the first translations of Plato and Aristotle, the tradition of love songs and secular poetry, advances in mathematics, and outstanding feats of architecture and technology.

In a series of captivating vignettes, Menocal travels through time and space to reveal the often paradoxical events that shaped the Andalusian world and continue to affect our own. Along the way, we meet a host of intriguing characters: the brilliant and dedicated Jewish vizier of a powerful Muslim city-state; the Christian abbot who commissions the first translation of the Quran; the converted Jew who, under a Christian name, brings a first taste of Arabic scholarship and storytelling to northern Europe.

This rich and complex culture shared by the three faiths thrived, sometimes in the face of enmity and bigotry, for nearly seven hundred years. Ironically, it was on the eve of the Renaissance that puritanical forces finally triumphed over Spain's long-standing traditions of tolerance, ushering in a period of religious repression. In the centuries since, even the memory of the vital and sophisticated culture in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians once lived and worked side by side has largely been overlooked or obscured.

In this remarkable book, we can at last uncover and explore the lost history whose legacy is still with us in countless ways and whose lessons—both inspirational and cautionary-have a powerful resonance in today's world.

From Comfort Woman: "We began the day with breakfast, after which we swept and cleaned our rooms. Then we went to the bathroom downstairs to wash the only dress we had and to bathe. The bathroom did not even have a door, so the soldiers watched us. We were all naked, and they laughed at us, especially me and the other young girl who did not have any pubic hair. "At two, the soldiers came. My work began, and I lay down as one by one the soldiers raped me. Every day, anywhere from twelve to over twenty soldiers assaulted me. There were times when there were as many as thirty; they came to the garrison in truckloads." "I lay on the bed with my knees up and my feet on the mat, as if I were giving birth. Whenever the soldiers did not feel satisfied, they vented their anger on me. Every day, there were incidents of violence and humiliation. When the soldiers raped me, I felt like a pig. Sometimes they tied up my right leg with a waist band or a belt and hung it on a nail in the wall as they violated me. "I shook all over. I felt my blood turn white. I heard that there was a group called the Task Force on Filipino Comfort Women looking for women like me. I could not forget the words that blared out of the radio that day: 'Don't be ashamed, being a sex slave is not your fault. It is the responsibility of the Japanese Imperial Army. Stand up and fight for your rights.'" In April 1943, fifteen-year-old Maria Rosa Henson was taken by Japanese soldiers occupying the Philippines and forced into prostitution as a "comfort woman." In this simply told yet powerfully moving autobiography, Rosa recalls her childhood as the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy landowner, her work for Huk guerrillas, her wartime ordeal, and her marriage to a rebel leader who left her to raise their children alone. Her triumph against all odds is embodied by her decision to go public with the secret she had held close for fifty years. Now in a second edition with a new introduction and foreword that bring the ongoing controversy over the comfort women to the present, this powerful memoir will be essential reading for all those concerned with violence against women.

From Comfort Woman: "We began the day with breakfast, after which we swept and cleaned our rooms. Then we went to the bathroom downstairs to wash the only dress we had and to bathe. The bathroom did not even have a door, so the soldiers watched us. We were all naked, and they laughed at us, especially me and the other young girl who did not have any pubic hair. "At two, the soldiers came. My work began, and I lay down as one by one the soldiers raped me. Every day, anywhere from twelve to over twenty soldiers assaulted me. There were times when there were as many as thirty; they came to the garrison in truckloads." "I lay on the bed with my knees up and my feet on the mat, as if I were giving birth. Whenever the soldiers did not feel satisfied, they vented their anger on me. Every day, there were incidents of violence and humiliation. When the soldiers raped me, I felt like a pig. Sometimes they tied up my right leg with a waist band or a belt and hung it on a nail in the wall as they violated me. "I shook all over. I felt my blood turn white. I heard that there was a group called the Task Force on Filipino Comfort Women looking for women like me. I could not forget the words that blared out of the radio that day: 'Don't be ashamed, being a sex slave is not your fault. It is the responsibility of the Japanese Imperial Army. Stand up and fight for your rights.'" In April 1943, fifteen-year-old Maria Rosa Henson was taken by Japanese soldiers occupying the Philippines and forced into prostitution as a "comfort woman." In this simply told yet powerfully moving autobiography, Rosa recalls her childhood as the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy landowner, her work for Huk guerrillas, her wartime ordeal, and her marriage to a rebel leader who left her to raise their children alone. Her triumph against all odds is embodied by her decision to go public with the secret she had held close for fifty years. Now in a second edition with a new introduction and foreword that bring the ongoing controversy over the comfort women to the present, this powerful memoir will be essential reading for all those concerned with violence against women.

hombres que ame y se fueron. Como dijo Campoamor: El amor se transforma y no varia, un mismo amor puede tener mil nombres.

One of the finest of epic poems, and the only one to have survived from medieval Spain, "The Song of the Cid" recounts the adventures of the warlord and nobleman Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar both - 'Mio Cid'. A forceful combination of heroic fiction and historical fact, the tale seethes with the restless, adventurous spirit of Castile, telling of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre - the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.

This book sheds new light on an amazing history, only partially known in the west: Russian cosmonautics and its spectacular record. From Laika, the cosmonaut dog, to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, to the first spacewalk, the Soviets set many goals that they subsequently achieved. But there are shadows behind these headline moments, moments involving human loss, some of which are known, others only rumored. Questions remain, such as: * What was the "flying coffin"? * What secrets are still hidden inside the Russian archives, despite two rounds of declassification? * Why didn't Marina Popovich ("Madame Mig") become a cosmonaut? * What problems made it necessary to film Valentina Tereshkova's return? * What (scientific) hypotheses exist concerning Gagarin's mysterious disappearance? The author addresses all of these issues, with help from the documents now available. This book will benefit a broad readership, from interested laypersons to graduate and undergraduate students to those who merely enjoy good history-based stories.

This edited volume presents a systematic analysis of conceptual, methodological and applied aspects related to the validation of educational tests used in Latin American countries. Inspired by international standards on educational measurement and evaluation, this book illustrates efforts that have been made in several countries to validate different types of educational assessments, including student learning assessments, measurements of non-cognitive aspects in students, teacher evaluations, and tests for certification and selection. It gathers the experience of validity studies from the main international assessments in Latin America (PISA, TIMSS, ERCE, and ICCS). Additionally, it shows the challenges that must be taken into account when evaluations are used to compare countries, groups or trends of achievement over time. The book builds on the premise that measurements in the educational field should not be used if there are no studies that support the validity of the interpretation of their scores, or the use made of such tests. It shows that, despite the recognition given to validity, relatively few educational measurement assessments have accumulated enough evidence to support their interpretation and use. In doing so, this volume increases awareness about the relevance of validity, especially when assessments are key component of educational policies.

The extraordinary breadth and depth of Leibniz's intellectual vision commands ever increasing attention. As more texts gradually emerge from seemingly bottomless archives, new facets of his contribution to an astonishing variety of fields come to light. This volume provides a uniquely comprehensive, systematic, and up-to-date appraisal of Leibniz's thought thematically organized around its diverse but interrelated aspects. Discussion of his philosophical system naturally takes place of pride. A cluster of original essays revisit his logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of nature, moral and political philosophy, and philosophy of religion. The scope of the volume, however, goes beyond that of a philosophical collection to embrace all the main features of Leibniz's thought and activity. Contributions are offered on Leibniz as a mathematician (including not only his calculus but also determinant theory, symmetric functions, the dyadic, the analysis situs, probability and statistics); on Leibniz as a scientist (physics and also optics, cosmology, geology, physiology, medicine, and chemistry); on his technical innovations (the calculating machine and the technology of mining, as well as other discoveries); on his work as an 'intelligencer' and cultural networker, as jurist, historian, editor of sources and librarian; on his views on Europe's political future, religious toleration, and ecclesiastical reunification; on his proposals for political, administrative, economic, and social reform. In so doing, the volume serves as a unique cross-disciplinary point of contact for the many domains to which Leibniz contributed. By assembling leading specialists on all these topics, it offers the most rounded picture of Leibniz's endeavors currently available.

A dynamic vision of medieval Castilian culture and the Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin strands that are woven into its fabric Named a Book of the Year by the Times Literary Supplement, this lavishly illustrated work explores the vibrant interaction among different and sometimes opposing cultures, and how their contacts with one another transformed them all. It chronicles the tumultuous history of Castile in the wake of the Christian capture of the Islamic city of Tulaytula, now Toledo, in the eleventh century and traces the development of Castilian culture as it was forged in the new intimacy of Christians with the Muslims and Jews they had overcome. The authors paint a portrait of the culture through its arts, architecture, poetry and prose, uniquely combining literary and visual arts. Concentrating on the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the book reveals the extent to which Castilian identity is deeply rooted in the experience of confrontation, interaction, and at times union with Hebrew and Arabic cultures during the first centuries of its creation. Abundantly illustrated, the volume serves as a splendid souvenir of southern Spain; beautifully written, it illuminates a culture deeply enriched by others.