El teatre i la literatura infantil : reflexions a l'entorn d'un festival de titelles

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Quan la ???Bildung??? esdev?? ???Kultur??? : consideracions sobre el ???Sonderweg??? alemany

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Festival matem??tico

Se describe una experiencia llevada a cabo en el CEIP Almanzor (Navalmoral de la Mata, C??ceres) con la que se pretend??a a trav??s de juegos, fomentar el aprendizaje de las matem??ticas, retando a los participantes con pruebas adaptadas, tanto grupales como individuales y mostrando una visi??n m??s pr??ctica de la utilidad de esta materia

Customer satisfaction in the banking industry: a comparative study of Ghana and Spain

La satisfacció és una preocupació crucial pels clients i per les organitzacions, incloent els bancs. L'estudi examina la satisfacció global dels clients dels bancs a Ghana i Espanya. Així s'analitzen aspectes com la relació entre satisfacció global i les dimensions de qualitat dels serveis bancari, així com les pròpies dimensions principals de la qualitat d'aquests serveis. Finalment, les percepcions sobre aquestes dimensions son comparades entre els bancs de Ghana i Espanya. S'han analitzat els clients de 819 bancs de Ghana i Espanya, els resultats van mostrar que els clients espanyols estaven més descontents respecte les dimensions tangibles i empatia metre que els clients de Ghana puntuaven pitjar la dimensió conveniència. En general, els clients de Ghana estaven força més descontents amb els serveis bancaris que els d'Espanya. La fiabilitat, l'empatia i la conveniència son els predictors de satisfacció global en Ghana, mentres que la fiabilitat és la única dimensió que explica la satisfacció global a Espanya.

On the use of headline indices to link environmental quality and income at the level of the nation state

This paper deconstructs the relationship between the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) and national income. The ESI attempts to provide a single figure which encapsulates environmental sustainability' for each country included in the analysis, and this allied with a 'league table' format so as to name and shame bad performers, has resulted in widespread reporting within the popular presses of a number of countries. In essence, the higher the value of the ESI then the more 'environmentally sustainable' a country is deemed to be. A logical progression beyond the use of the ESI to publicise environmental sustainability is its use within a more analytical context. Thus an index designed to simplify in order to have an impact on policy is used to try and understand causes of good and bad performance in environmental sustainability. For example the creators of the ESI claim that ESI is related to GDP/capita (adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity) such that the ESI increases linearly with wealth. While this may in a sense be a comforting picture, do the variables within the ESI allow for alternatives to the story, and if they do then what are the repercussions for those producing such indices for broad consumption amongst the policy makers, mangers, the press, etc.? The latter point is especially important given the appetite for such indices amongst non-specialists, and for all their weaknesses the ESI and other such aggregated indices will not go away. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Making 'dirty' nations look clean? The nation state and the problem of selecting and weighting indices as tools for measuring progress towards sustainability

Pressing global environmental problems highlight the need to develop tools to measure progress towards "sustainability." However, some argue that any such attempt inevitably reflects the views of those creating such tools and only produce highly contested notions of "reality." To explore this tension, we critically assesses the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), a well-publicized product of the World Economic Forum that is designed to measure 'sustainability' by ranking nations on league tables based on extensive databases of environmental indicators. By recreating this index, and then using statistical tools (principal components analysis) to test relations between various components of the index, we challenge ways in which countries are ranked in the ESI. Based on this analysis, we suggest (1) that the approach taken to aggregate, interpret and present the ESI creates a misleading impression that Western countries are more sustainable than the developing world; (2) that unaccounted methodological biases allowed the authors of the ESI to over-generalize the relative 'sustainability' of different countries; and, (3) that this has resulted in simplistic conclusions on the relation between economic growth and environmental sustainability. This criticism should not be interpreted as a call for the abandonment of efforts to create standardized comparable data. Instead, this paper proposes that indicator selection and data collection should draw on a range of voices, including local stakeholders as well as international experts. We also propose that aggregating data into final league ranking tables is too prone to error and creates the illusion of absolute and categorical interpretations. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trace element geochemistry from the Birrimian metasediments of the Northern Region of Ghana

Trace element distributions in rock, soil and groundwater from of the Birrimian metasediments and granites located in the Northern Region of Ghana are described. High positive correlations are observed between selected major elements and trace metals (e.g. K2O and Rb, Al2O3 and V, Fe2O3 and V, and K2O and Y) in rocks and soils, and attributed to the presence of major source minerals. Ca and Sr were strongly correlated in groundwater, suggesting greater water-rock interaction. Low association of V with Fe is explained by (i) relatively higher mobility of V as against Fe; (ii) low Fe content in the parent rocks and (iii) variable sources of Fe and V.

Free-range village chickens on the Accra plains, Ghana: Their contribution to households

A cross-sectional survey investigating the contribution of free-range village chickens to household economies was carried out in four administrative districts within 60km of Accra. Answers were provided by 101 men and 99 women. Nearly all respondents claimed to keep chickens for meat, with a far smaller percentage claiming to keep them for egg production. Over 80% of respondents kept chickens to supplement their incomes. The proportion of the flock eaten varied between administrative areas (p=0.009 and p=0.027), although this was possibly a consequence of differences in consumption patterns between occupation of the respondent, land area cultivated and flock size. The proportion of chickens sold varied as a result of differences in flock size (p=0.013), the proportion sold increasing with number of birds in the flock. Respondents generally agreed that chickens could be sold without difficulty. A majority of chicken sales were from the farm gate, directly to consumers or traders. Sales were on demand or when the owner needed money. Money from the sale was kept by the owner of the chicken and the money was spent on personal needs. The proportion of the flock sold varied between administrative areas (p=0.025) and occupation of the respondent (p=0.040). Respondents describing animal production as their main occupation tended to have greater reliance on chicken sales for their income. Consideration is given to estimating the offtake from the flock and the financial contribution to the household.

Introducing improved cultivars: Understanding farmers' seed drying and storage practices in central Ghana

Improved upland rice cultivars introduced in Volta Region, Ghana, have been perceived to store poorly compared to farmers' traditional cultivars. A survey was conducted in 2003 in the Hohoc district of this region, where a participatory Varietal Selection programme had started in 1997, to gain insight into fanners' seed production and storage practices that are likely to affect seed quality in storage. Farmers rated keeping quality (p < 0.001), tolerance to storage pests (p < 0.001), seed quality (p < 0.001) and establishment of their local cultivars Kawomo, Viono and Wuwulili as much better than the improved cultivar IDSA 85. Initial seed moisture content ranged from 12.8 to 18% and germination from 0 to 82%. There was a significant relationship between seed moisture content and duration of drying prior to storage (p < 0.001) and storage method (p = 0.015). Germination loss in storage was rapid at high moisture content and slow at low moisture content. Between 60 and 80% of seeds germinated after six Months storage at 12.8% moisture content. The viability equation predicted accurately germination of farmer-saved seed stored under ambient temperature in Ghana. Except for the japonica rice cultivar WAB 126-18-HB, the traditional cultivars Kawomo, Viono and Wuwulili survived better in storage than improved cultivars. There is a need to improve seed quality of improved cultivars if farmers are to benefit from their higher yields and grain quality and to improve storage practices.