We present an OWL 2 ontology, called SaintGall, representing the Saint Gall plan, one of the most ancient documents arrived intact to us. The Saint Gall plan describes the ideal model of a Benedictine monastic complex that inspired the design of many European monasteries. The structural, functional, and architectural specification of an ideal Benedectine monastery is modeled by the SaintGall ontology, which allows one to analyse and model the Monastery architectural type. This work started with the purpose of relating Catania’s (...) San Nicolò l’Arena Benedectine Monastery with the abstract notion of Benedectine monastery, in the ambit of an ontological model based on the renovation works carried out by the architect Giancarlo De Carlo and developed by the same authors. The SaintGall ontology opens a research path aiming at comparing different monastic architectures that can be useful in any intervention of refurbishment or design for a monastery. (shrink)

All humans share a universal, evolutionarily ancient approximate number system (ANS) that estimates and combines the numbers of objects in sets with ratio-limited precision. Interindividual variability in the acuity of the ANS correlates with mathematical achievement, but the causes of this correlation have never been established. We acquired psychophysical measures of ANS acuity in child and adult members of an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucú, who have a very restricted numerical lexicon and highly variable access to mathematics education. (...) By comparing Mundurucú subjects with and without access to schooling, we found that education significantly enhances the acuity with which sets of concrete objects are estimated. These results indicate that culture and education have an important effect on basic number perception. We hypothesize that symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical thinking mutually enhance one another over the course of mathematics instruction. (shrink)

El objeto de estudio de la presente investigación está constituido por las discriminaciones legales sufridas por las mujeres migrantes trabajadoras del hogar en España. Específicamente, aborda las discriminaciones que resultan de la intersección entre las diferentes relaciones de poder que afectan a este sector, con la finalidad de contribuir a la visibilización de las problemáticas existentes y de las demandas respectivas. Para ello, además de los estudios disponibles, se han tomado en consideración las voces de las propias trabajadoras a partir (...) de la observación participante en el sindicato de mujeres trabajadoras del hogar Sindihogar. (shrink)

The paper tackles the controversial question of the affinities between the work of Aby Warburg and Carl Gustav Jung. Instead of focussing her interest exclusively on the concepts of collective memory and primordial images, though, the author critically compares the different ways Warburg and Jung looked at the renaissance of ancient practices of Paganism at the beginning of the Twentieth century, and questions the extent to which the cultural crisis heralded by Modernity, and the challenges brought about by secularisation influenced (...) their reading of the revivals. (shrink)

In recent decades, philosophers of science have become increasingly concerned with the social dimensions of scientific knowledge. Philosophers such as Helen Longino, Philip Kitcher, Miriam Solomon, Heather Douglas, and Janet Kourany have sought to incorporate the social aspects of science, while retaining the normative commitments of philosophy of science. Some of the major theoretical approaches in social epistemology of science, however, tend to ignore or underestimate the role that the current state of science organization plays in the production of scientific (...) knowledge.1 The world has changed significantly in recent decades, and science has changed with it. The.. (shrink)

The aim of this essay is to return to the genesis of the American agrarian myth in the eighteenth century, as a path to investigate the origins of the American national identity. This will be done by means of a comprehensive reassessment of St. John de Crèvecoeur, the Norman noble whose name is bound to the success of Letters from an American Farmer. His work contains the origins of the agrarian ideal as a peculiarly American phenomenon, prior to independence and (...) before Republican ideology placed agrarian democracy at its foundations, making the project of agrarian development and democratic participation inseparable one from another. A Frenchman who became American and then, after 25 years, French again, Crèvecoeur represents an ideal lens through which to analyse the hitherto insufficiently explored contribution of French economic culture to the creation of American national identity. As a multi-faceted figure whose richness has been dominated by his image as the author of a best-selling autobiographical novel, Crèvecoeur is here also seen as an agronomist who was no stranger to physiocracy and as a diplomat and French intellectual who always felt profoundly American. It was precisely this attachment to the land, seen as fundamental to the vision of a new and distinct form of peaceful cohabitation and democratic partnership, that became a political theme and an economic development project of the new nation and, as such, was a main plank of the agrarian ideology of Thomas Jefferson's Republicans. (shrink)

Secondary lymphoid organs form in utero through an inherited and well‐established developmental program. However, maternal non‐heritable features can have a major impact on the gene expression of the embryo, hence influencing the future health of the offspring. Recently, maternal retinoids were shown to regulate the formation of immune structures, shedding light on the role of maternal nutrition in the genetic signature of emergent immune cells. Here we highlight evidence showing how the maternal diet influences the establishment of the immune system, (...) and we also discuss how unbalanced maternal diets may set the response to infection and vaccination in the progeny. (shrink)

In their first weeks of life preterm infants are deprived of developmentally appropriate stimuli, including their mother’s voice. The current study explores the immediate association of two preterm infant behaviours (open eyes or smiling) with the quality of a mother’s infant-directed speech and singing. Participants are 20 mothers who are asked to speak and sing to their medically stable infants placed in incubators. Eighty-four vocal samples are extracted when they occur in the presence of an infant’s behavioural display and compared (...) with random selections during periods of absence of target behavioural display. The results show that infant-directed maternal voice presents more marked emotional qualities when infants display a behavioural change than when infants are passive and expressionless. Specifically, higher values of mean pitch and maximum sound pressure level, as well as greater variability of these parameters are associated with a behavioural display. (shrink)

El concepto de generación, con casi dos siglos de presencia en las Humanidades y las Ciencias Sociales, si bien conserva todo su vigor para la construcción de imaginarios, o simples imágenes, con las que captar la atención, y por tanto reaparece de tanto en tanto, sigue planteando no obstante serios problemas conceptuales, epistemológicos y sobre todo metodológicos, cuando intentamos aplicarlo desde presupuestos positivos en la Sociología, más allá del colorismo de los “estudios culturales”, los “estudios de juventud” o el marketing. (...) El presente trabajo parte expone justamente parte de los problemas encontrados, a nivel teórico, a la hora de intentar una operatividad del concepto en el marco de una investigación, en curso, sobre valores y actitudes medioambientales entre distintas --según se mire-- generaciones, cohortes, momentos del ciclo vital o periodos del curso de vida. (shrink)

Resumen: Este trabajo tiene como objetivo mostrar que el análisis sistémico aplicado a los espacios locales facilita la generación de propuestas para su desarrollo integral en el ámbito de la sostenibilidad. Los territorios están compuestos por elementos físicos y sociales que se interrelacionan y generan productos que los benefician o perjudican. Estos recursos pueden ser explotados o encontrarse ociosos por falta de actores que los desarrollen. Reaccionan ante las acciones internas y externas tanto humanas como naturales, entre las que se (...) encuentran las políticas para el desarrollo local. Para que estas políticas sean eficientes, necesitan estudios integrales que contengan una información que muestre las deficiencias estructurales, relacionales y funcionales del territorio y, con esta información, adoptar las medidas que las corrijan. Este estudio muestra que el análisis sistémico es una herramienta útil para la elaboración de estas políticas.This paper shows how system analysis applied to local spaces facilitate the generation of proposals for integral development in the field of sustainability. Regions are composed of physical and social components generating products that benefit or harm themselves. These resources can be exploited or remained idle for lack of actors to develop them. They react to internal and external actions, both human and natural. Among these actions are the policies for local development. For these policies to be efficient, they need comprehensive studies that contain information that shows the structural, relational and functional deficiencies of the territory and, with this information, adopt the necessary political actions to correct them. This study supports system analysis as an information tool for policy-making. (shrink)

We previously showed that owner personality and human-dog relationship predicted the performance of a human-dog dyad in a practical task. Based on the same data set we presently investigate the effects of individual and social factors on the social attraction of dogs to their owners. Twenty-two male and female owners and their intact male dogs were observed during a “picture viewing” test, where we diverted the owner's attention away from their dog whilst it was permitted to move freely around the (...) room. Owner personality axis “neuroticism” and dog personality axis “vocal and aggressive” were, respectively, positively and negatively related to the time the dog stayed in proximity to the owner. Quality of relationship and attachment also had significant effects on this proximity. We conclude that personality and the nature of the human-dog relationship may all influence dogs' social attraction to their owners. (shrink)

ExcerptThe French political theorist George Sorel repeatedly prophesied that Europe would provide the future soil of armed cataclysms.1 Furthermore, he claimed that the catalyzing factors for the conflicts of political power that lay behind such eruptions of violence and anarchy were myths, conceived not in the anthropological sense but as a series of images formed into a dramatic narrative capable of mobilizing social movements and inspiring violence to change the status quo. Thomas Mann lent weight to such an analysis when (...) he predicted that “in the era of the masses, parliamentary discussion would necessarily prove utterly inadequate as a means of shaping political will.” Thus, “in the future what was needed in its place were mythic fictions, which would be fed to the masses as the primitive battle cries necessary for unleashing and activating political energies.” Henceforth “popular myths, or better, myths trimmed for the masses, would be the vehicle of political action—fables, chimeras, phantasms that needed to have nothing whatever to do with truth, reason, or science in order to be productive nonetheless.”. (shrink)

In parallel with a process that has characterised modern history and in accordance with the constitutive features of utopian literature, utopian discourses have expunged fear – even fear of death or illness – from their theoretical universe. However, while describing in detail ideal places, utopias also reveal, wordlessly, the lengthy list of fears troubling a given historical age. On the contrary, the many-sided universe of negative utopias, embracing dystopian as well as ant-utopian narratives, has brought the attention back on fear, (...) putting it at the centre of human experience. (shrink)

Observations on Two Mural Paintings from Early Medieval Rome. Fresco of St Agatha and an Unknown Painting with a Bust of the Saint Little is known about the two fragments of early medieval Roman paintings with female saints considered here. One was first exhibited in 2016; the other remained totally obscure until it came onto the antiquarian art market 2019. The goal of this study is to provide context for these two pieces by attempting to reconstruct their original art historical (...) environment. The study also aims, through archival and documentary research, to offer plausible dates by means of stylistic comparisons (e.g., frescoes in Santa Maria Antiqua, in the Catacombs of Generosa, in the narthex of Santa Sabina etc.) and to explore the fragments’ possible original provenance. For the painting with the bust of St Agatha, the study proposes a date around the late seventh-early eighth centuries; for the other, the first half of the eighth century. For both paintings, a Roman context is assumed. (shrink)

The concern for the role of emotion in argumentative encounters has rested upon the concept of emotion as arguments, emotions to obtain the adherence of the audience and reflect the virtues of a good arguer. In this paper, we focus on understanding emotion and argumentation based on cognitive approaches that identify the relationship between the two elements, to propose the use of emotion regulation strategies in deliberative dialogue. Bearing in mind that the intensity of emotional responses may, in some cases, (...) hamper one’s capacity to solve problems during a practical argument, we suggest that the use of emotion regulation strategies may favor deliberative dialogue, leading to more adaptive emotional responses and, in turn, better argumentative encounters, rendering decision-making more efficient. This article conceptualizes argumentation, revealing the historical path of emotion in studies on argumentation. It presents the concepts of emotion and emotion regulation, followed by the function of emotion regulation in argumentative encounters, illustrating this in two different situations. We conclude with the contribution made by the use of strategies for emotion regulation during deliberative dialogue. (shrink)

As scientific research moves increasingly to the private sector, the social organization of science undergoes important transformations. Focusing on the production of ignorance, agnotology has been a fruitful approach to understanding the social and epistemic consequences of the recent commercialization of scientific research. Despite their important contributions, scholars working on agnotology seem to hold implicit normative commitments that are in tension with their descriptive accounts of ignorance-constructive practices. The main aim of this article is to uncover these commitments and to (...) expose the emerging tensions. Thus, this article begins an exploration into normative aspects of the studies of ignorance. In particular, it shows that agnotology still needs the support of a well-articulated normative approach capable of identifying and evaluating the epistemic and social concerns raised by the private funding and performance of science. (shrink)

Résumé L’association entre industrie de la construction et sous-traitance est une évidence à la fin du XIXe siècle, tout comme aujourd’hui. Pourtant l’histoire des mutations du statut du sous-traitant et des formes du travail au forfait dans le bâtiment au début du XXe siècle est encore peu étudiée. Pour aborder cette question, cet article prend pour objet un virement institutionnel majeur dans la définition du « tâcheron » en France : la réforme sur les abus du marchandage dans la seconde (...) moitié des années 1930. Ce dispositif classifie et ordonne les relations entre les acteurs économiques aux intérêts divergents impliqués dans la chaîne de la sous-traitance : maître d’ouvrage, maître d’œuvre, sous-traitant, ouvriers travaillant pour le sous-traitant. Formalisant l’état des lieux de la jurisprudence et détaillant les modalités de la mise en œuvre du marchandage, il permet ainsi de s’interroger sur les caractères marquants d’une forme clé d’organisation du travail de la deuxième industrialisation. (shrink)