1,722,596 research outputs found
Women’s Voices Between Russia and Poland: Myths, Nature, and the Creation of a New Identity
No full textMyths have long shaped the way societies understand identity, gender roles, and power structures. Given their regulatory function, it is then important to reflect upon what values old and new myths (still) generate in contemporary societies. What happens when these ancient narratives are reimagined? This research question guides the essays included in this collection, which explores how the rewriting of myths can challenge – or even overturn – deeply entrenched gender paradigms that have dominated cultures for centuries. Focusing on literature, visual culture, music, and performance, the contributors reveal how Nature acts as a powerful catalyst for this shift, offering alternative perspectives that reshape our understanding of identity and social values. By weaving together myth studies, cultural theory, and gender narratives, this volume highlights the need to reposition the feminine within the broader landscape of literary and cultural discourse. Notably, the exploration of space too plays a pivotal role in this study. By examining how space interacts with myth and nature, the authors uncover strategies and frameworks that offer vital insights for contemporary Russia and Poland. In fact, in these post-Soviet countries, myth rewriting serves as a powerful tool for addressing the traumas of the past and forging new, collective identities. Drawing from research conducted for the National Research Project PRIN “Myth (De)construction in Contemporary Women’s Literature in Russia and Poland: A Comparative Study” (2015), this volume demonstrates the powerful role that Nature plays in myth retelling. The investigation continues within the framework of the subsequent PRIN project, “From Post-Trauma to Ecology: Contemporary Gender Narratives in Slavic Cultural Texts”, under which this publication is produced. In a world characterized by uncertainty, this volume underscores the transformative power of narratives, a power that is key to understanding cultural shifts, challenging outdated values, and building more sustainable, resilient societies
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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Analysis of the damage caused by natural and anthropogenic sinkholes in Italy, on the basis of a nation-wide chronological catalogue
Full text linkSinkholes of both natural or anthropogenic origin are widespread phenomena in Italy, and locally constitute the
main hazard. Notwithstanding the potential threat they represent to the built-up environment, sinkholes are rarely
considered in the assessment of the geological hazards, and are generally underrated when compared to other
hazards such as floods and landslides.
Using a variety of information sources we have recently compiled a chronological catalogue of about 700 events
that occurred in Italy. Mandatory for including a sinkhole in the catalogue is the knowledge of the date of
occurrence. This is considered to be complete when hour/day/month/year of the event are all available, which
corresponds to high accuracy of the record. When the information about time of occurrence is more limited
(for instance, comprising only month and year, or a few generic information), the accuracy is considered of
progressively lower degree (medium, medium-low or low). The documented sinkholes in the catalogue cover a
time span from 276 B.C. to the present day. For any event the location (precise or approximate) is also included,
ranked in different levels of certainty, according to the information provided by the sources or derived from our
direct surveys.
More than 50 % of the sinkholes in the catalogue are related to man-made cavities, excavated in different rock
types, including limestones, calcarenites, and volcanic rocks. This is due to the complex history of the country,
and the many phases of underground constructions that had occurred during the different epochs, with a variety of
purposes (working places, rupestrian settlements, hydraulic works, quarries, worship sites, etc.). Location of these
cavities often got lost in time, so that they were later on included in the expansion of newly developed towns, thus
increasing the related risk. Natural sinkholes, on the other hand, are generally located in areas where soluble rocks
(carbonates, evaporites) crop out, or where alluvial sediments are present; they definitely have a lower impact on
the built-up environment, mostly affecting rural areas.
Trigger of the sinkholes can be due to rainfall or seismic events, or to man-made works (realization and/or
maintenance of pipelines, quarrying activities, etc.). Further, other important features of sinkholes are shown in
the catalogue, covering morphometric characters (width and depth), lithologies involved, and occurrence as first
collapse or as a re-activation of a former sinkhole. The regions with the highest number of documented sinkholes
are: Campania (246), Sicily (117), Latium (107) and Apulia (88). Only two Italian regions (Molise and Valle
d’Aosta) so far are not present in the catalogue with any documented sinkhole.
Sinkholes have repeatedly caused in Italy heavy damage to the society.Water supply systems, sewer systems, roads
and other communication routes were often damaged; in addition, damage and/or collapse of buildings, with the
deriving casualties, had also to be registered in several circumstances. In the time span covered by the catalogue,
casualties (which include deaths, missing persons, and injured people) are reported in 3.5 % of the events, whilst
damage are documented in 32.6 % of the cases. The numbers above are underestimated, because most of the
sources typically provide generic information, that often simply refer to the occurrence of an unspecified number
of deaths and injured people (especially as regards the oldest reports). This, together with the ancient date of
many events, is at the origin of the difficulty in precisely quantifying the intensity of the sinkholes, in terms
of their effects on the society. Most of the damage was registered in central-southern Italy, and in particular in
the aforementioned regions. This is partly due to the geological setting of these territories, and to availability of
specific studies on sinkholes carried out in these regions (especially in the towns of Palermo, Naples and Rome) as
well. The documented damage are described in this work, subdivided in different categories, according to the type
of damage, number of casualties, geographic distribution, recurrence time of the sinkhole events in the different
regions. Eventually, some preliminary considerations on the quality of the used sources is also provided
Preliminary outcomes from a catalogue of natural and anthropogenic sinkholes in Italy, and analysis of the related damage
No full textIl presente lavoro illustra i primi risultati derivanti dalla raccolta di
dati su eventi di sprofondamento (sia di origine naturale che antropica)
sul territorio italiano. Un catalogo cronologico è stato strutturato e
popolato a tale scopo, con il preciso obiettivo di raccogliere
informazioni sulle date di occorrenza degli sprofondamenti, come
primo e fondamentale elemento di conoscenza per la definizione della
pericolosità connessa a questo tipo di fenomeni, ai quali non sempre
viene dato il giusto risalto nella valutazione dei rischi geologici in
Italia. I dati sinora raccolti (consistenti in circa 700 eventi, distribuiti
sull’intero territorio italiano) evidenziano una particolare
concentrazione in alcune regioni, che però è anche derivante dalla
maggiore attenzione rivolta agli sprofondamenti in alcune zone
(significativi, in tal senso, gli esempi delle città di Roma, Napoli e
Palermo)
Sinkholes inclusion in a geodatabase about geo-hydrological hazards in Apulia, southern Italy
Full text linkThekarstnatureoflargesectorsofApulia,combinedwiththehighdiffusionofdifferenttypesofartificialcavities, make sinkholes among the most widespread geo-hydrological hazards in the region. They have caused several damage to infrastructures, building and population. Sinkholes represent a widespread problem in Apulia, and therefore they must necessarily be considered in studies concerning the regional geo-hydrological hazards and the related risks. With this aim we included sinkholes in a regional geodatabase concerning floods and landslides in Apulia, as a fundamental step for the susceptibility and hazard study of sinkhole occurrence on the specific territory. At these aims, it is necessary that the database is rigorously built, based on reliable information and data, including all those elements necessary for the subsequent analysis. Here we present a geodatabase about geo-hydrological hazards, developed by the geomorphology group at the Institute of Research for the Geo-Hydrological Protection of the National Research Council of Italy (IRPI-CNR), now modified to take into account the geomorphological characteristics of Apulia, namely the sinkhole phenomena. A sinkhole is considered as a “phenomenon”, belongs to an “event” that represent the ensemble of the phenomena (landslides, floods, sinkholes) caused by a “trigger” (of meteorological, seismic, or anthropogenic origin). In the database are included all the sinkholes for which the connection with an underground cavity, either of natural or anthropogenic origin, is certain. In addition, the information on occurrence time of the sinkhole, and knowledge of its location, are fundamental. The geodatabase allows to collect information about different types of geo-hazard (landslide, flood, sinkhole), to record with different geometry (point, line, polygon) both the location of the phenomena and of the damaged objects/mitigation works, to report data in format compliant with the EU Flood Directive (2010), even in the specific format required by the Department of the Italian Civil Protection
Esperienze di rilevamento e determinazione dei caratteri granulometrici di alvei ghiaiosi.
No full textIl presente studio analizza e mette a confronto alcuni metodi di campionamennto tradizionale dei sedimenti d'alveo, applicati nell'ambito di una campagna di rilevamento geomorfologico-sedimentario del torrente Virginio presso Baccaiano, nel comune di Montespertoli (FI). Viene, inoltre, introdotto un metodo sperimentale di acquisizione ed elaborazione di immagini digitali per l'analisi delle granulometrie a video. Tale valutazione, effettuata tramite l'ausilio di metodi quantitativi riportati in letteratura, ha evidenziato che la tecnica di campionamento tramite griglia (grid by number) può essere considerata una valida alternativa al metodo volumetrico, soprattutto se applicata ad alvei ghiaiosi, analoghi al torrente Virginio, caratterizzati da depositi alquanto grossolani. Infatti il grid by number, oltre a presentare evidenti vantaggi dal punto di vista pratico, è meno soggetto a problemi inerenti la significatività del campionamento che possono rendere estremamente difficoltoso il metodo volumetrico. Il metodo fotografico, sebbene necessiti di essere testato ulteriormente, ha fornito risultati molto incoraggianti. Pertanto è possibile ipotizzare un suo utilizzo per tutti quei casi in cui le risorse a disposizione non consentono di effettuare costose e lunghe campagne di campionamento "hand sampling"
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