Drugs, Thugs, and the Diablos Rojos: Perils and Progress in Panama
In many ways, Panama has come into its own. Its running of the Panama Canal is indisputably successful, its post-Noriega elections appear to be relatively corruption free, the multibillion dollar expansion of the Canal and the modernization of its transportation system are in full swing—all ostensibly signs of a developed country, but appearances can be deceiving. Dig deeper, and perils emerge: an increase in gangs and drug trafficking, a huge disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and an emerging threat to democracy. Examining these perils and progress demonstrates that Panamanians do not yet enjoy full citizenship; instead, “client-ship” still dominates.
Procedural Justice and the Discursive Construction of Narratives at Trial: Global Perspectives
The structure and practices of justice systems in many parts of the world are undergoing what can be seen as a kind of revolution – and one not merely of professional interest to lawyers and judges. What we are seeing in nation after nation is a move from inquisitorial models of legal adjudication toward adversarial models. The discourses of adjudication in these contrasting types of trials are changing the ways in which lawyers, judges, and witnesses come to see their role in the process. The change has implications that extend far beyond the courtrooms in which trials play out, however. Because the shift from inquisitorial to adversarial justice models determines how legal narratives are created and deployed in trials, this change has the potential to impact popular perceptions of legal legitimacy, which in turn has implications for the relationship of citizens to their government and justice systems. This article will detail the global character of this change in the nature of the discourse used in legal adjudication and will explore its potential ramifications for legal professionals and for society more
DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS OF SEVERAL VARIABLES WITH MATHEMATICA OR MAPLE
The use of Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) in Mathematical Laboratories at Engineering Schools is increasing. Therefore, it has become necessary to undertake a new educational approach in the teaching of many mathematical topics. Obviously it is not possible to give the same lectures as in the 1950,s. The CAS allows us to experiment and teach in “a different way”. The students' mathematical knowledge at the beginning of their studies in the University is completely different. Moreover we have fewer credits assigned to Mathematical topics in engineering curriculum. The objective of he authors, professors of different Spanish Universities, is to try to demonstrate a new way to use the CAS, concretely Maple and Mathematica, as a support in the teaching of Differential Calculus of Several Variables. They take advantage of the computer's graphical capacities to sketch the graphs of surfaces defined in explicit, parametric or implicit form. They survey the general topics: limits, partial derivatives, differentiability, chain rule, implicit functions and extreme values. For each topic, they give a few basic instructions of the CAS used; afterwards they give several examples, in increasing order of difficulty, and finally the students must solve exercises and try to establish a general procedure for a quite general problem. In this paper we have included several examples used in this survey.