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Regular and chaotic dynamics in a 2D discontinuous financial market model with heterogeneous traders
No full textWe develop a financial market model where three types of traders operate simultaneously: fundamentalists and chartists of two types, namely, trend followers and contrarians. The dynamics of this model is described by a two-dimensional discontinuous map defined by two linear functions, where one acts in the partition between two (parallel) discontinuity lines and the other one acts outside this partition. Our analysis shows that despite the linearity of the map components, its dynamics can be quite complex, with various, possibly coexisting attracting cycles and chaotic attractors. As a first step towards the understanding how the overall bifurcation structure observed in the parameter space of the map is organized, we obtain analytically the boundaries of periodicity regions related to the simplest attracting period-n cycles, n larger or equal to 3, with one point in the middle partition and
n-1 points outside it. These boundaries can be related to border-collision bifurcations (when a point of the cycle collides with a discontinuity line) as well as to degenerate bifurcations (associated with eigenvalues on the unit circle). We show also some elements of period-adding and period-incrementing bifurcation structures for which the cycles mentioned above are basic. From an economic point of view, our study confirms that a fairly simple financial market model with heterogeneous agents is able to produce complicated boom-bust dynamics typical of real financial markets
Emerging Marine Nematodes as Model Organisms: Which Species for Which Question?
No full textMarine nematodes possess all the prerequisites to serve as “simpler models” for investigating biological phenomena and are gaining attention as emerging model organisms. This review evaluates their potential to address diverse biological questions regarding ecosystem functioning, climate change adaptation, host–microbe interactions, ecotoxicology, and biotechnological applications. Among the reviewed taxa, Litoditis marina and select Monhysteridae species, such as Diplolaimella dievengatensis, Halomonhystera disjuncta, and Diplolaimelloides spp., emerge as leading candidates due to their manageable life cycles, adaptability to laboratory conditions, and available genomic resources. These tiny organisms provide valuable insights into phenomena such as developmental plasticity, epigenetic regulation, and adaptive responses to environmental stress. Symbiotic relationships in Stilbonematinae and Astomonematinae, alongside the antimicrobial properties of the Oncholaimidae species, offer unique opportunities to explore mutualistic evolution and resilience in extreme environments. Despite challenges in culturing these species, recent advances in culturing other meiofaunal organisms with chemosynthetic symbionts have opened up promising opportunities. The roles of marine nematodes as ethical and versatile models position them to address pressing challenges in biological and biomedical research, highlighting their significant potential for future studies
The Persistence of the Old Regime and its Culture: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Aristocratic-Bourgeois Bloc
No full textThe recent English edition of Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel has reopened the debate on the re-rereading of Nietzsche proposed by Domenico Losurdo in 2002. When dealing with the German philosopher, two opposite errors are to be avoided: interpreting him as directly paving the way for Nazism culturally, or making him athe prophet of ultra-individualism and anarcho-libertarianism whothat anticipates the postmodern turn. The point is to understand Nietzsche in his time and hence to proceed on the basis of a precise historical and political reconnaissance surveythat explains his reception and fortune. Following the line of research suggested by Arno J. Mayer and Charles Maier, this article challenges the idea of a Sonderweg that supposedly led German modernization inexorably to Nazism. It then defines the sociological and cultural characteristics of the aristocratic-bourgeois bloc that furnished the ruling classes of Europe between the late Nnineteenth century and the First World War. Finally, it shows how Nietzsche gave consummate expression to this bloc culturally and philosophically, in a (vain) attempt to rejuvenate its hegemony
Second Language Phonolexical Representations in Italian First-Grade Children Enrolled in an English Immersion Program: Effects of Receptive Vocabulary and Environmental Factors
No full textThe study investigated whether Italian child learners of English as a second language (L2) in a partial immersion program show accurate phonological representations of L2 words including challenging non-native vowels, and whether performance is related to age of onset and richness of L2 exposure, receptive L2 vocabulary, and parents’ skills in the L2. Twenty-eight children in first grade (mean age = 6;7 years; SD = 0;3) participated in an experiment in which they had to judge whether an English auditory stimulus matched its accompanying picture. In the target condition, picture and word were minimal pairs including the challenging /iː/–/ɪ/or/ʌ/–/æ/contrasts (e.g. sheep-ship). Receptive vocabulary in the L2 was assessed using a standardized test. Information on age of onset and current richness of L2 exposure and parents’ skills in the L2 was collected using a questionnaire. Results revealed that children were building lexical representations in the L2 but did not readily distinguish between minimal pairs. Analyses suggested that having underspecified phonolexical presentations in the L2 was potentially related to amount of L2 exposure outside school, presumably due to exposure to accented input
Dark tourism e turismo cimiteriale: status e prospettive
No full textIl dark tourism e il turismo cimiteriale rappresentano fenomeni in crescita nel panorama turistico contemporaneo, suscitando interesse per la loro capacità di combinare memoria, storia e cultura. Questo capitolo esplora l’evoluzione del turismo legato ai luoghi della morte “Dark Tourism”, analizzando le motivazioni dei visitatori e le tipologie di esperienze offerte. In particolare, il turismo cimiteriale emerge come una forma peculiare di Dark Tourism, con cimiteri monumentali e storici che si trasformano in attrattori culturali. Attraverso modelli teorici e casi studio, il capitolo indaga il ruolo di questi spazi nel contesto del turismo esperienziale. Infine viene sollevata una riflessione sulla gestione di cimiteri, come quello di Pesaro, interrogandosi sulle potenzialità di valorizzazione di questi luoghi, sia come attrazioni principali che come esperienze di supporto in un’offerta turistica più ampia
Indifferent, Dogmatic or Pragmatic: A Multi-Country Analysis of How Scientists View the Public and Public Engagement
Get PDFHow do scientists view the public and think about public engagement? In this article, weanalyze interview data from 205 scientists in the fields of biology and physics from fourcountries — India, Italy, UK, and the USA — to show that scientists do not perceivethe public as a monolithic entity. Three distinct kinds of publics were described by sci-entists, which we analytically characterize as “indifferent”, “dogmatic”, and “pragmatic”,and discuss in relation to major trends in extant literature. Our analysis showed that the re-spondents in our sample represented advanced and nuanced understandings of the public.Even though the deficit model still persists, and the preferred mode of public engagementremains science education and mostly (one-way) science communication, the purpose andfocusofeducationandcommunicationdifferaccordingtoscientists’orientations. Wealsoidentify discipline- and country-specific variations that warrant further investigation
The Trade Deficit Delusion: Why Tariffs Will Not Make America Great Again.
Get PDFThis study analyses the protectionist trade policies of the Trump Administration, focusing
on tariffs’ impact on the US trade deficit and broader economic consequences for its trade
partners. By highlighting five stylised facts characterising the US economy, the analysis
shows that the trade deficit primarily arises from the persistent gap between national saving
and domestic investment, rather than unfair foreign trade practices. Using open economy
accounting, the study demonstrates that tariff policies are ineffective for correcting trade
imbalances and could exacerbate them, negatively affecting both US and European economies
through disrupted trade flows, increased economic uncertainty, and instability in financial
markets. The study also explores several possible scenarios resulting from these policies and
suggests that protectionist measures represent an “impossible theorem” for rebalancing trade
deficits and pose significant risks also for the economic stability of US trade partners
