Constantino y su relación personal con el cristianismo: de la piedad tradicional a la conversión

Constantine’s adherence to Christianity was a long process conditioned by personal motivations, as well as cultural and political factors. He observed the heathen cults and he did not recognize himself as a christian until the year 314, in his letter to the bishops met in Arelate. Since 324, after the defeat of Licinius, he declared his faith in the One and Only True God in different official texts. He resolved to receive the baptism a few days before his death, in 337, perhaps in the hope of healing fromhis illness. His concept of Christianity was the one of an utilitarian religion, that offered him protection in war and guaranteed his authority in peace with the support of the Church.La adhesión de Constantino al cristianismo fue un largo proceso en el que mediaron motivaciones personales, además de factores culturales y políticos. Observó los cultos tradicionales y no se reconoció cristiano hasta el año 314, en la carta dirigida a los obispos reunidos enArelate.Apartir del año 324, después de la derrota de Licinio, manifestó su fe en un solo Dios verdadero en distintos textos oficiales. Decidió recibir el bautismo poco antes de morir, en 337, parece que buscando la curación de su enfermedad. Su concepción del cristianismo fue la de una religión utilitaria, que le ofreció protección en la guerra y garantizó su autoridad en tiempos de paz con el apoyo de la Iglesia

Internationalisation, cultural distance and country characteristics: a Bayesian analysis of SME's financial performance

Relying on the accounting data of a panel of 403 Italian manufacturing SMEs collected over a period of 5 years, we find results suggesting that multinationality per se does not impact on the economic performance of international small and medium sized firms. It is the characteristics of the country selected i.e. the political hazard, the financial stability and the economic performance that significantly influence SMEs financial performance. The management implication for small and medium sized firms selecting and entering new geographic markets is significant, since our results show that for SMEs it is the market selection process that really matters and not the degree of multinationality

Pre-colonial institutions and socioeconomic development: The case of Latin America

We study the effects of pre-colonial institutions on present-day socioeconomic outcomes for Latin America. Our thesis is that more advanced pre-colonial institutions relate to better socioeconomic outcomes today. We advance that pre-colonial institutions survived to our days thanks to the existence of largely self-governed Amerindian communities in rural Latin America. Amerindians groups with more advanced institutional capacity would have been able to organize and defend their interests in front of national governments; leading to better development outcomes for themselves and for the population at large. We test our thesis with a dataset of 324 sub-national administrative units covering all mainland Latin American countries. Our extensive range of controls covers factors such as climate, location, natural resources, colonial activities and pre-colonial characteristics – plus country fixed effects. Results strongly support our thesis

Semantic web learning technology design: addressing pedagogical challenges and precarious futures

Semantic web technologies have the potential to extend and transform teaching and learning, particularly in those educational settings in which learners are encouraged to engage with ‘authentic’ data from multiple sources. In the course of the ‘Ensemble’ project, teachers and learners in different disciplinary contexts in UK Higher Education worked with educational researchers and technologists to explore the potential of such technologies through participatory design and rapid prototyping. These activities exposed some of the barriers to the development and adoption of emergent learning technologies, but also highlighted the wide range of factors, not all of them technological or pedagogical, that might contribute to enthusiasm for and adoption of such technologies. This suggests that the scope and purpose of research and design activities may need to be broadened and the paper concludes with a discussion of how the tradition of operaismo or ‘workers’ enquiry’ may help to frame such activities. This is particularly relevant in a period when the both educational institutions and the working environments for which learners are being prepared are becoming increasingly fractured, and some measure of ‘precarity’ is increasingly the norm

The Effect of External Pressures on Sentencing Judges

Aldoupolis v. Commonwealth illustrates three potential types of pressure on a sentencing judge: public opinion, opinions voiced by influential political figures, and opinions expressed by the press. This Comment explores the question of whether a sentencing judge may consider any of these pressures without violating the constitutional principles of procedural due process, the proscription against cruel and unusual punishment, equal protection, double jeopardy, and the common law-statutory proscription against abuse of discretion. Emphasis will be placed on public opinion, which often parallels the voices of those least heard by the criminal justice system: the victims

Education and political behaviour : evidence from the Catalan linguistic reform

This paper studies the relationship between schooling and political behaviour in ethnically divided societies. It draws on survey data from Catalonia to investigate how the introduction in 1983 of a bilingual education system affects political behaviour. Using within and between cohort variation in exposure to Catalan language at school, we find that individuals who have experienced greater exposure to teaching in Catalan are more likely to declare to have voted in 1999 regional elections and to have chosen a Catalanist party

Thinking beyond the hybrid:“actually-existing” cities “after neoliberalism” in Boyle <i>et al.</i>

In their article, ‘The spatialities of actually existing neoliberalism in Glasgow, 1977 to present’, Mark Boyle, Christopher McWilliams and Gareth Rice (2008) usefully problematise our current understanding of neoliberal urbanism. Our response is aimed at developing a sympathetic but critical approach to Boyle et al's understanding of neoliberal urbanism as illustrated by the Glasgow example. In particular, the counterposing by Boyle et al of a 'hybrid, mutant' model to a 'pure' model of neoliberalism for us misrepresents existing models of neoliberalism as a perfectly finished object rather than a roughly mottled process. That they do not identify any ‘pure’ model leads them to create a straw construct against which they can claim a more sophisticated, refined approach to the messiness of neoliberal urbanism. In contrast, we view neoliberalism as a contested and unstable response to accumulation crises at various scales of analysis

Politics and Strategy in Judicial Decision-Making: Evidence from federal human trafficking sentencing

This thesis investigates the effects of judicial ideology and judge characteristics on sentencing in human trafficking cases. Despite research on federal prosecutions of human trafficking, almost nothing is known about sentencing for federal human trafficking offenders. Previous research on sentencing has been limited by the lack of data linking judges to specific sentencing decisions. Using new data that matches judges to defendants convicted of federal human trafficking offenses, I observe that judicial ideology has an effect on overall sentence length—but only for district court judges appointed by Democratic presidents. I also find that partisan composition of the circuit court, rather than ideology of the sentencing judge, affects the likelihood of downward departures from the Sentencing Guidelines. When Democrat-appointed judges make up a majority of the circuit court, district court judges are 2.1 times as likely to depart below the Sentencing Guidelines. These findings confirm positive political theories of sentencing that model judges as strategic decision makers within a "judicial hierarchy."Undergraduate Research ScholarshipNo embargoAcademic Major: PhilosophyAcademic Major: Political Scienc

Case Notes

Constitutional Law- Freedom of Speech- Dismissal of Public School Teacher for Symbolic Expression of Political Opinion in the Classroom Held Unconstitutional. This case note discusses the first amendment issue in James v. Board of Education, 461 F.2d 566 (2d Cir. 1972), and the extent to which schools may limit a teacher\u27s freedom of expression in the classroom. The note reviews the various tests used to analyze freedom of expression in general and then analyzes case law in the school context to infer that a court may permit state or local governments to control classroom expression when a teacher uses his or her captive audience, an unbalanced presentation of information, or the threat of sanctions to teach his or her political views to the students. Environmental Law- Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act- Private Persons May Not Sue Qui Tam Without Explicit Legislative Grant of Permission For Citizen Suits. This case note explores the attempts to use qui tam actions as a private right of action to enforce compliance with anti-pollution laws such as the Refuse Act by evaluating Action Now, Inc. v. Roberts Plating Co., 457 F.2d 81 (2d Cir. 1972), and other related cases. It then analyzes the impact of the amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act on the availability of private rights of action and the Refuse Act of 1899 and suggests a need for further legislative reform to ensure adherence to environmental standards and involve citizens in the process. Landlord-Tenant Law- Summary Proceedings to Oust- Tenant Has No Seventh Amendment Right to Jury Trial When Counter-claiming for Breach of Implied Warranty of Habitability. This case note evaluates Pernell v. Southall Realty, 294 A.2d 490 (D.C. Ct. App. 1972), denying the right to a jury trial for breach of warranty of habitability actions. The Plaintiff argued, inter alia, that the action was the common law action for ejectment and should therefore afford the right to a jury. This note reviews the history of the seventh amendment right to a jury trial for common law actions and its evolution from English common law, arguing that viewing United States common law as the English common law of 1791 is contrary to the purpose of the seventh amendment despite the court\u27s justification for excluding the warranty of habitability under the theory of waiver. Welfare Law- Retroactivity of Benefits- Federal Court-Ordered State Retroactive Payments of Federally-Supported Public Assistance Funds (AABD and AFDC) Precluded by Economic Realities of Welfare Program Goals and Eleventh Amendment. This case note analyzes the Rothstein v. Wyman, 467 F.2d 226 (2d Cir. 1972), case challenging the New York Social Services Law providing for welfare payments to New York City recipients at a higher rate than set for residents of other New York counties. Recognizing the Supreme Court\u27s nonaction in the area of retroactive welfare payments, the court denyed retroactive welfare payments on the basis of public policy and eleventh amendment concerns. Zoning Law- Growth Restrictions- Town Ordinance Conditioning Approval of Residential Subdivision Plan on the Availability of Necessary Municipal Services Held Valid. This case note analyzes Golden v. Planning Board, 30 N.Y.2d 359 (1972), upholding the town of Ramapo\u27s amendment to its zoning policy. The note discusses the methods of zoning available in New York of district zoning and submission and approval of town plats to a town planning board before permits allowing subdivision development will be approved in conjunction with relevant case law regarding zoning ordinances. It also addresses the impact of zoning ordinances on communities and open questions remaining after the Golden case