The merchant of Venice.

Incluye el texto completo de la obra de teatro y se acompaña de una explicación detallada de palabras, frases y pasajes difíciles de entender, resúmenes al comienzo de las escenas individuales y notas sobre los personajes principales. Todo ello para ayudar a los estudiantes a una mejor comprensión del texto. Además, contiene actividades para el aula, prácticas de examen e información sobre la Inglaterra isabelina como apoyo adicional.

Sailing through stone. Carved ships and the rockface at Revheim, southwest Norway

The relationship between rock art and the material qualities of the rock surface on which it is executed is investigated. The case study of Revheim, Rogaland, Southwest Norway, is the starting-point for a discussion on the way in which the contours of the rock, quartz outcrops and the flow of water across the rock surface affect the placement of images on the rock. It is argued that a fuller examination of the interrelationship between rock and rock art provides a more coherent interpretation of rock art images.

Accounts of the English Crown with Italian merchant societies, 1272-1345

The credit arrangements between the three Edwards and Italian merchants were crucial for financing England’s ambitious foreign policies and ensuring the smooth running of governmental administration. The functioning of this credit system can be followed in detail through the well-kept but mostly unpublished records of the English Exchequer. This volume combines a transcription of the most important surviving accounts between the merchants and the Crown, with a parallel abstract presenting the core data in a double-entry format as credits to or debits from the king's account. This dual format was chosen to facilitate the interpretation of the source while still retaining the language and, as far as possible, the structure of the original documents. The wealth of evidence presented here has much value to add to our understanding of the financing of medieval government and the early development of banking services provided by Italian merchant societies. In particular, although the relationship between king and banker was, for the most part, mutually profitable, the English kings also acquired a reputation for defaulting on their debts and thus 'breaking' a succession of merchant societies. These documents provide an essential basis for a re-examination of the 'credit rating' of the medieval English Crown.

Drugs, ships and containers : how anti-terrorism benefits shipping security

Using ships to transport illicit drugs is not new; nor is the practice of concealing them
in shipping containers decreasing – or is it? This article questions whether recent container security initiatives created to stop terrorism have also achieved a decrease in the use of containers for smuggling illicit drugs. Or, are these maritime security regimes creating a false sense of achievement, being too limited in scope to be truly useful in this secondary role? Logically, improved detection of illicit drugs in containers shipped by sea is more likely when port personnel are better trained, x-ray scanners installed, port fencing improved and official collaboration encouraged. However, since the number of containers being electronically screened and physically searched has only marginally improved, the question is, is it enough?

Ships, planes and automobiles – the perils and pluses of place - making in an outer Melbourne suburb

Building a new suburb is increasingly seen as creating a “place” as well as a set of houses and neighbourhoods. Developers view “place-making” as a way to differentiate one estate from another and to capture a market segment; planners see the practice as the basis of good master planning. Local governments too support the concept to give residents a sense of pride and identity. While usually seen as a contemporary exercise, imprinted on the blank slate of greenfield sites, the experience of at least one outer suburb suggests that place-making is as much historical as contemporary and may be both a welcome element of a community and a focus of disaffection. The example of Point Cook in Melbourne’s west offers a range of iconic “places” – historical and contemporary markers of identity and difference – which have formed both the basis of local pride but also tension. Thus the RAAF base, Point Cook Homestead and Werribee Mansion long pre-dated the expansion of the city but they have been embraced as centres of pride, historical achievement and as tourist attractions. In contrast, a massive pirate-ship playground built in the centre of a park by a developer as a marker of difference and centre of community attraction was widely appreciated before being burned to the ground! This paper will report on a sample of resident experiences of place-making in outer suburban Melbourne which highlights some of the local complexities of place-making.

Oficiais da Marinha Mercante: um estudo sobre os fatores contribuintes para a evasão nos anos iniciais da carreira embarcada

A indústria de transporte marítimo brasileira passa por um momento de forte expansão decorrente, entre outros fatores, de políticas governamentais que incentivam a construção, nos estaleiros nacionais, de navios para serem utilizados em apoio às atividades da indústria de óleo e gás. Ao mesmo tempo, para complementar a frota brasileira, as empresas petroleiras demandam a contratação de grande quantidade de navios estrangeiros para apoiar as suas operações. Este quadro de crescimento da frota, observado, particularmente, nos últimos 10 anos, contrasta com a escassez de mão de obra qualificada para tripular as embarcações, de modo especial dos Oficiais da Marinha Mercante (OMM). Acentuando o contraste, o Conselho Nacional de Imigração editou a Resolução Normativa n° 72/2006, determinando às empresas de navegação, que operam barcos de bandeira estrangeira, a contratação de proporções mínimas de tripulantes brasileiros, após 90 dias contínuos de operação no país. Além disso, estudos encomendados pelo Sindicato dos Armadores, SYNDARMA, apontam que a taxa de evasão dos OMM, nos anos iniciais da carreira embarcada, é de cerca de trinta por cento. Assim, o presente estudo, a partir de uma revisão bibliográfica acerca da história da Marinha Mercante brasileira, da cultura brasileira, da motivação, dos conflitos família-trabalho, do trabalho em espaço confinado e da rotatividade, se desenvolveu em uma pesquisa exploratória e de campo, por meio de entrevistas pessoais, analisadas à luz da técnica da análise de conteúdo, com profissionais de reconhecida experiência com o tema, além de OMM, com o objetivo de identificar os fatores contribuintes para a evasão dos OMM nos anos iniciais da carreira embarcada. Como resultado, o estudo mostrou que os agentes motivadores intrínsecos e extrínsecos agem continuamente direcionando o comportamento dos OMM para a permanência ou saída da carreira embarcada. Nessa alternância de forças psicológicas e comportamentais, associadas à motivação, influenciam no processo decisório as alternativas existentes representadas pelas oportunidades de emprego oferecidas aos OMM, os conflitos trabalho-família e a dificuldade de adaptação ao trabalho em ambiente confinado. No caso dos OMM, do gênero feminino, a situação é ainda mais sensível, pois enfrentam dificuldades para conciliar a vida embarcada com o papel de mãe e esposa. Portanto, a motivação para a permanência ou saída da carreira embarcada está fortemente relacionada à busca pela realização das expectativas pessoais e ao desejo de equilibrar vida pessoal com a profissional.

Aprendizagem da língua japonesa apoiada por ferramentas computacionais: estudo e desenvolvimento do jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders

The use of technology tools for teaching and learning has grown increasingly in our daily life. In this context, a branch that has had tremendous growth is the area of teaching and learning language through computational tools. The study of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), accomplished in this research, aims to evaluate existing tools in this context, focused specifically on the Japanese language; and from this study, accomplish the development of a new computational tool that can assist teaching/learning of the Japanese language. As results, we present a wide survey on the subject in various technologies/devices, as well as the complete development process of a new tool, the Karuchā Ships Invaders game, that proposes to teach basic concepts of the language, blended with entertainment, and still, focusing on the Brazilian students of Japanese language audience. We will present all the concept phases of the game and its evolution through the research, as well as an interface evaluation. Still, we present proposal and validation of a method to evaluate motivational aspects of computational tools with educational focus, and results extracted from an experiment accomplished with prospective users