50 research outputs found
Frequentist probability and choice under uncertainty
No full textThe paper is concerned with the question of the impossibility of a theory of expected utility within the context of a frequentist theory of probability. In so doing I focus on John Venn's and Francis Y. Edgeworth's work. Both authors underline that the strong division between probability and theory of decision derives from the impossibility to apply cogently probability values to single events. According to the author, this question is exemplified in reference to St. Petersburg paradox. The results of the work suggest that the applicability of the theory of probability to choice under uncertainty depend by semantical characterization of probability. Finally the author maintain a possible interpretation of the historical development of the expected utility model that contrast with the consolidated view
CCA: An R Package to Extend Canonical Correlation Analysis
No full textCanonical correlations analysis (CCA) is an exploratory statistical method to highlight correlations between two data sets acquired on the same experimental units. The cancor() function in R (R Development Core Team 2007) performs the core of computations but further work was required to provide the user with additional tools to facilitate the interpretation of the results. We implemented an R package, CCA, freely available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN, http://CRAN.R-project.org/), to develop numerical and graphical outputs and to enable the user to handle missing values. The CCA package also includes a regularized version of CCA to deal with data sets with more variables than units. Illustrations are given through the analysis of a data set coming from a nutrigenomic study in the mouse.
Training a generation of «educational virgins». Il romanzo d’una maestra (1901) by Ida Baccini between autobiografy and the relaunch of «female teaching vocation»
No full textThrough a detailed study of the important but little known Il romanzo di una maestra (1901) by the writer for children Ida Baccini, the author dwells on the evolution of the image of the literary school teacher in Italy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, showing how the narrative of Baccini constitutes a real change from works of the same kind that appeared in previous decades. In particular, the story published in 1901 by the Florentine writer was trying to represent and give voice to a world of female teachers that is very different from that which characterized the denunciation novels of Matilde Serao and Edmondo De Amicis
COSÌ PARLA LA BUONA GIOVINETTA: QUESTIONI DI MORALE E DI LINGUA IN “COME VORREI UNA FANCIULLA” DI IDA BACCINI
No full textIl periodo postunitario è un momento determinante nella storia linguistica italiana, nel quale si assiste al progressivo e faticoso superamento di una realtà quasi totalmente dialettofona tramite la diffusione dell’italiano di base tosco-fiorentina a strati via via più ampi di popolazione, grazie all’azione sinergica della lessicografia, della manualistica educativa, della letteratura per l’infanzia.
Il presente contributo si sofferma su una figura di primo piano nel processo di italianizzazione linguistica e culturale della nazione, la scrittrice e giornalista Ida Baccini (1850-1911), autrice di opere pedagogiche per l’infanzia tra le quali primeggia per notorietà Le memorie di un pulcino (1875).
Il focus è su uno dei manuali indirizzati dalla Baccini all’educazione delle giovinette, settore particolarmente gravido di contributi nel secondo Ottocento: Come vorrei una fanciulla (1884), che come tutti gli scritti pedagogici del tempo proponeva un modello comportamentale esplicito e veicolava al contempo implicitamente un tipo linguistico all’utenza femminile.
Si fornirà quindi una descrizione delle soluzioni linguistiche del testo - con particolare attenzione al rapporto con le scelte manzoniane - opportunamente messe in relazione con l’impostazione pedagogica conservatrice manifestata dalla Baccini, che appare ancora ben lontana dalle idee emancipazioniste abbracciate in seguito.
Thus speaks the good damsel: morals and language in “Come vorrei una fanciulla” by Ida Baccini
The post-unification period was a decisive moment in Italian linguistic history, characterized by the gradual and difficult replacement of local dialects with Tuscan-Florentine Italian used by increasingly large numbers of the population, thanks to the synergistic actions of lexicography, educational manuals and children's literature. This paper focuses on a prominent figure in the linguistic and cultural Italianization process: the writer and journalist Ida Baccini (1850-1911). She was the author of pedagogical works for children, among which stands out Le memorie di un pulcino (1875). The paper focuses on one of Baccini’s manuals for the education of young women, a sector which counts numerous late nineteenth century contributions. Come vorrei una fanciulla (1884), like all pedagogical writings of the time, proposed an explicit behavioral model and implicitly conveyed at the same time a specific linguistic style for females. Descriptions of the linguistic solutions in the text - with particular attention on the relationship to Manzonian choices - linked toBaccini’s conservative pedagogical approach, appears very distant from the ideas later embraced by emancipationists
The Shiji chapter "Guji liezhuan" (Traditions of Witty Remonstrants): A Source to Look for Rhetorical Strategiesinn Early China
No full textThe “Guji liezhuan” 滑稽列傳, found at the chapter 126 of Sima Qian 司馬遷’s (c. 145–c. 90 BC) Shiji 史記, in modern times has been considered the starting point to discuss the topic of “humour” in ancient China (Chen Wenxin), and the word guji 滑稽sometimes has been translated as “humorist” (Knechtges), someone who entertains by making people laugh. At the same time, this chapter has also been considered an historical source to analyse the figure of the court jester (Feng Yuanjun, Wang Guowei); however, the Great Historian constructed the anecdotes in a way in which the focal point of the stories had to be identified in the speeches of the characters presented. Those speeches, performed by low class individuals (mostly jesters), were linked by the author to the Six Disciplines (Liuyi 六藝) as they were conceived as important for the government of the state, and they can be classified as examples of indirect remonstrance (fengjian 諷諫) (Schaberg). The crucial point and what makes this chapter peculiar is that the remonstrances pronounced by the characters are expressed in a “humorous” way, which means they make the addressee of the rhetorical discourse laugh. This quality is identified by the word guji, then an adjective, in the title of the chapter. My paper aims to stress how Sima Qian made the term guji meaningful (a feature already pointed out by Timoteus Pokora) constructing anecdotes in which the protagonists express their issues in an entertaining way of speech and behaviour; so as to say, “humorous” here is a rhetorical quality of their speeches. My aim is also to point out that term guji so understood is peculiar only to the part supposedly written by Sima Qian. In fact, Chu Shaosun褚少孫 (c. 105–c. 30 BC), the only contributor to the Shiji who reveals himself, adding some anecdotes at the end of the chapter, understood guji more as an “humorous”-entertaining features of the characters and stories
Citation gaming induced by bibliometric evaluation: a country-level comparative analysis
No full textIt is several years since national research evaluation systems around the
globe started making use of quantitative indicators to measure the performance
of researchers. Nevertheless, the effects on these systems on the behavior of
the evaluated researchers are still largely unknown. We attempt to shed light
on this topic by investigating how Italian researchers reacted to the
introduction in 2011 of national regulations in which key passages of
professional careers are governed by bibliometric indicators. A new inwardness
measure, able to gauge the degree of scientific self-referentiality of a
country, is defined as the proportion of citations coming from the country
itself compared to the total number of citations gathered by the country.
Compared to the trends of the other G10 countries in the period 2000-2016,
Italy's inwardness shows a net increase after the introduction of the new
evaluation rules. Indeed, globally and also for a large majority of the
research fields, Italy became the European country with the highest inwardness.
Possible explanations are proposed and discussed, concluding that the observed
trends are strongly suggestive of a generalized strategic use of citations,
both in the form of author self-citations and of citation clubs. We argue that
the Italian case offers crucial insights on the constitutive effects of
evaluation systems. As such, it could become a paradigmatic case in the debate
about the use of indicators in science-policy contexts
Citation gaming induced by bibliometric evaluation: A country-level comparative analysis
No full textIt is several years since national research evaluation systems around the globe started making use of quantitative indicators to measure the performance of researchers. Nevertheless, the effects on these systems on the behavior of the evaluated researchers are still largely unknown. For investigating this topic, we propose a new inwardness indicator able to gauge the degree of scientific self-referentiality of a country. Inwardness is defined as the proportion of citations coming from the country over the total number of citations gathered by the country. A comparative analysis of the trends for the G10 countries in the years 2000-2016 reveals a net increase of the Italian inwardness. Italy became, both globally and for a large majority of the research fields, the country with the highest inwardness and the lowest rate of international collaborations. The change in the Italian trend occurs in the years following the introduction in 2011 of national regulations in which key passages of professional careers are governed by bibliometric indicators. A most likely explanation of the peculiar Italian trend is a generalized strategic use of citations in the Italian scientific community, both in the form of strategic author self-citations and of citation clubs. We argue that the Italian case offers crucial insights on the constitutive effects of evaluation systems. As such, it could become a paradigmatic case in the debate about the use of indicators in science-policy contexts
Così parla la buona giovinetta : questioni di morale e di lingua in “Come vorrei una fanciulla” di Ida Baccini
No full textIl periodo postunitario è un momento determinante nella storia linguistica italiana, nel quale si assiste al progressivo e faticoso superamento di una realtà quasi totalmente dialettofona tramite la diffusione dell’italiano di base tosco-fiorentina a strati via via più ampi di popolazione, grazie all’azione sinergica della lessicografia, della manualistica educativa, della letteratura per l’infanzia. Il presente contributo si sofferma su una figura di primo piano nel processo di italianizzazione linguistica e culturale della nazione, la scrittrice e giornalista Ida Baccini (1850-1911), autrice di opere pedagogiche per l’infanzia tra le quali primeggia per notorietà Le memorie di un pulcino (1875). Il focus è su uno dei manuali indirizzati dalla Baccini all’educazione delle giovinette, settore particolarmente gravido di contributi nel secondo Ottocento: Come vorrei una fanciulla (1884), che come tutti gli scritti pedagogici del tempo proponeva un modello comportamentale esplicito e veicolava al contempo implicitamente un tipo linguistico all’utenza femminile. Si fornirà quindi una descrizione delle soluzioni linguistiche del testo - con particolare attenzione al rapporto con le scelte manzoniane - opportunamente messe in relazione con l’impostazione pedagogica conservatrice manifestata dalla Baccini, che appare ancora ben lontana dalle idee emancipazioniste abbracciate in seguito.The post-unification period was a decisive moment in Italian linguistic history, characterized by the gradual and difficult replacement of local dialects with Tuscan-Florentine Italian used by increasingly large numbers of the population, thanks to the synergistic actions of lexicography, educational manuals and children's literature. This paper focuses on a prominent figure in the linguistic and cultural Italianization process: the writer and journalist Ida Baccini (1850-1911). She was the author of pedagogical works for children, among which stands out Le memorie di un pulcino (1875). The paper focuses on one of Baccini’s manuals for the education of young women, a sector which counts numerous late nineteenth century contributions. Come vorrei una fanciulla (1884), like all pedagogical writings of the time, proposed an explicit behavioral model and implicitly conveyed at the same time a specific linguistic style for females. Descriptions of the linguistic solutions in the text - with particular attention on the relationship to Manzonian choices - linked toBaccini’s conservative pedagogical approach, appears very distant from the ideas later embraced by emancipationists
