1,721,315 research outputs found
A Greek-Byzantine musical island inside an Italian island: the Byzantine chant of the Arbëresh of Sicily
No full textThe Albanians (the Arbëresh) constitute the largest linguistic ethnic “minority” in Sicily. The community is made up of around 20,000 people living in 5 towns, all of which are in the province of Palermo. The most important of these villages is Piana degli Albanesi, where the Bishop (whose Greek name is Eparca) of the Diocese (the Eparchìa) of the Albanians of Sicily has is seat. The cultural identity of the Albanians of Sicily is basically expressed by the Arbëresh language and the Byzantine rite. The chant is a fundamental element of the Arbëresh-Byzantine Liturgies and Offices (Matins, Vespers, Hours). The liturgical repertoire is very wide and accompanies the entire liturgical year. The origin of the Arbëresh musical tradition traces back to the period between the end of the XV century, when - after the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks in 1453 - a great exodus of Albanian and Greek populations occurred from Albania and Morea towards Sicily and other southern Italian regions. Since that time the Arbëresh-Byzantine chant has been handed down only orally: therefore in the Mediterranean area it represents one of the very few “local” Byzantine oral traditions surviving to the present day. Until few decades ago songs were sung only in Greek; translations into Arbëresh were used only recently. Musical and poetic forms still used today belong to the Byzantine hymnals. The musical system of the Sicilian-Albanian liturgical repertoire is modal and follows the Byzantine theory of oktòichos. In the musical tradition of the Arbëresh of Sicily there are also important devotional and para-liturgical repertoires. During the year, on the occasions of several holidays, ancient melodies alternate with more modern ones; Arbëresh or Sicilian dialect texts alternate with Greek or Latin compositions; signs of Eastern tradition are interwoven with western practices. The religious musical traditions (both the Byzantine-liturgical and the para-liturgical ones), along with the Arbëresh language, the Greek rite, the female costume for weddings and feasts, and the icons, represent a fundamental element of the cultural identity of the Arbëresh of Sicily
Revealing environmental synchronicity that enhances anchovy recruitment in the Mediterranean Sea
No full textSmall pelagic fishes in the Mediterranean Sea constitute about half of the total landings, of which almost one-third is European anchovy. Anchovy abundance mainly depends on early life stage and juvenile survival and growth, which are susceptible to shifts in environmental processes. Due to the commercial importance of this species, it is necessary to elucidate the processes affecting recruitment strength for effective fishery management, using environmental indices to set more appropriate harvesting limits. Here, we constructed a simple index to capture synchronicity between enrichment and retention/concentration processes, which are known to affect anchovy abundance, during the first year of life. Three ecosystems in the Mediterranean were examined: Gulf of Lions, Adriatic Sea, and Strait of Sicily. The synchronicity index (SI) represented the synergic evolution over time of the chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL, enrichment process) and mixed layer depth (MLD, concentration/retention processes), and was related with the abundance of anchovy recruits obtained from published survey reports. Considering different ecosystems, when the SI was significantly higher, anchovy recruitment was promoted. This result indicated SI is consistent across ecosystems in explaining anchovy abundance fluctuations and thus could be used to enhance fisheries management and extended to assess the impact of projected environmental changes
Influence of colour on object motor representation
No full textColour conveys specific information about the status/quality of an object; whereas its role in object recognition has been widely studied, little is known about its role in sensorimotor processes. We performed three experiments to assess whether colour influences the motor representation of graspable objects. In Experiment 1, we used a grasp compatibility task, in which participants categorized each object as natural or artifact, by performing reach-to-grasp movements. Response grasps could be compatible or incompatible with the ones normally used to manipulate the objects. Results showed faster reaction times for natural objects displayed in the correct colour compared with both opposite colour and correct colour artifact objects. In Experiment 2, to directly assess the effect of colour on object motor representation, we used an interference task in which an irrelevant object was shown while performing a pre-specified reach-to-grasp movement (i.e., verbal cues: small vs. large). Results highlighted a reversed compatibility effect when objects were shown in their correct colour, but only at the beginning of the movement (10 ms SOA). Finally, we run a third experiment using the same task as in Experiment 2. In this experiment, we compared the grasp compatibility effect driven by natural objects with the grasp compatibility effect driven by dangerous natural objects (e.g., cactus), which are objects that should not elicit a grasping program. The results of Experiment 3 confirm those of Experiment 2, highlighting also specific processes related to dangerous objects. Taken together, these results revealed that colour can be significant for the motor system, highlighting the close link between colour and shape, and also specific processes related to dangerous objects
Más difícil que la propia ley. Indicadores de complejidad textual en el corpus ComTClar
No full textEste estudio analiza un corpus de documentos tributarios (corpus ComTClar o "Comunicación Tributaria Clara") objeto del proyecto de investigación I+D+i "El derecho entender la comunicación tributaria. Análisis y clarificación del discurso empleado en los procedimientos de recaudación", financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (PID2020-114308RB-I00). En concreto, se analizan las familias de géneros implicadas en el discurso sobre la recaudación tributaria en España y se destacan las fuertes relaciones intertextuales entre dichas familias. A continuación, el análisis se enfoca en algunos índices lexicométricos de lecturabilidad de los textos (relación Type/Token, longitud de las oraciones, densidad léxica), para luego centrarse en la distribución de algunas formas no personales del verbo (gerundio y participio), como indicadores de complejidad estructural, en el corpus de estudio y en la Ley General Tributaria, evidenciando la mayor complejidad de los textos dirigidos a la ciudadanía con respecto a las normas generales tributarias
International Technology Gap and Technology Transmission: The Policy Implications.
No full textIncome per capita differences have increased dramatically over the last fifty years. Many economists seem to recognize knowledge differences as the main factor in this worldwide economic performance divergence. Developing countries suffer significantly from lagging labour productivity and managerial efficiency related in part to the failure to adopt the latest technology or to update their labour force, and such an evidence has recently led to a huge debate about which channel is most effective in stimulating technology transfer and acquisition. In this paper we will review the policy tools that have been effective in reducing the international knowledge-gap between Developed and Developing countries, and the role played by institutional factors in accomplishing such an issu
Interazione tra autorità monetarie e fiscali e definizione dell'assetto istituzionale nell'Ume. Una applicazione di teoria dei giochi.
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Thumb troubles in rheumatoid arthritis
No full textThumb involvement may play a relevant role in inducing a severe functional impairment in rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this sonographic vignette is to show the value of sonography in detailing anatomic changes involving the thumb during a phase of active synovitis. The patient was a 50-year old man who presented with a 3-year history of rheumatoid arthritis. He complained of a 4-week history of a marked recrudescence inflammatory thumb involvement associated with clinical signs of carpal tunnel syndrome. Sonographic images were obtained with a real-time ultrasound system equipped with a 13 MHz linear transducer. Sonographic examination on longitudinal dorsal scan of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb showed a moderate joint cavity widening with two evident bone erosions, one at the metacarpal head and the other one at the basis of the proximal phalanx. The longitudinal volar scan of the first metacarpophalangeal joint confirmed the presence of synovitis detecting a marked joint cavity widening, with aspect of synovial proliferation. The flexor pollicis longus tendon was severely involved (marked tendon sheath widening, synovial proliferation, loss of the normal homogeneous fibrillar echotexture, and a large intratendinous tear). Sonography allowed the depiction of a wide range of otherwise undetectable pathologic changes in the standard clinical setting
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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