It-tentattiv tar-ridefinizzjoni tal-Jien f'Fl-isem tal-Missier (u tal-Iben) ta' Immanuel Mifsud : adattament ta' bixra dekostruzzjonista

This paper seeks to analyse the strategies adopted by Immanuel Mifsud in 'In the name of the father (and the son)' in order to explore, and possibly widen, what Alan Thiher identifies as 'the coordinates of self'. The challenge suggested in Helene Cixous's statement that 'one can confess all one wants, the unconfessable remains unconfessed' is taken as a point of departure from which the text takes its cue. The dilemma which very likely crops up in an autobiographical work (ie. the fear that one might confess what is deemed unconfessable) is transformed into a strategy which permits several key elements in the text to lose the certainty in their definition. By applying Derrida's concept of 'differance' Mifsud manages to deconstruct certain concepts by dislocating their meaning from a fixed position to continuous deferral. This radicalization is made possible thanks to the Hamletian encounter which Mifsud experiences with the spectral figure of his father. In realizing what, since then, had been unrealizable, the author manages to come to terms with what had been disturbing him since childhood. In the process, concepts such as masculinity and paternity, which the author finds utterly problematic to embrace in his attempt to redefine himself, have their definition radically altered. In the case of masculinity, the binary opposition which differentiates it from the concept of femininity is weakened to such an extent that its definition stops excluding the other.When it comes to paternity the deferral in the meaning of such concepts as father and son helps the author to relieve the pain which fatherhood inflicts on his soul.peer-reviewe

An Automatic Intelligent System for Document Processing and Fruition

With the increasing amount of documents available on-line, the need for intelligent digital libraries, that allow to automatize the document processing tasks and to suitably organize and make available the documents so as to provide personalized and focused access, becomes more and more pressing. This paper proposes an integrated system that merges intelligent modules covering all the phases involved in a document lifecycle, from acquisition, to processing, to information extraction, to personalized fruition for final users. The role and possible cooperation of Machine Learning and Data Mining techniques in the system is highlighted and discussed, along with their importance to provide effective support to both the building and the fruition of the Digital Library and the underlying knowledge base

Ontology-based data access: a survey

We present the framework of ontology-based data access, a semantic paradigm for providing a convenient and user-friendly access to data repositories, which has been actively developed and studied in the past decade. Focusing on relational data sources, we discuss the main ingredients of ontology-based data access, key theoretical results, techniques, applications and future challenges

Simulating Language Dynamics by Means of Concept Reasoning

A problem in the phenomenological reconstruction of Complex Systems (CS) is the extraction of the knowledge that elements playing in CS use during its evolution. This problem is important because such a knowledge would allow the researcher to understand the global behavior of the system [1,2]. In this paper an approach to partially solve this problem by means of Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) is described in a particular case, namely Language Dynamics. The main idea lies in the fact that global knowledge in CS is naturally built by local interactions among agents, and FCA could be useful to represent their own knowledge. In this way it is possible to represent the effect of interactions on individual knowledge as well as the dynamics of global knowledge. Experiments in order to show this approach are given using WordNet.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009-09492Junta de Andalucía TIC-606

Mis on relatsiooniline võimukäsitlus?

There are at least two major understandings of relational approach to power that seldom if ever enter dialogue with each other. The aim of this paper is to bring out the differences and potentials for a dialogue of these perspectives by untangling the ontological underpinnings and methodological consequences of each. First, a perspective I call “Anglo-American relationalism”. Compared to traditional approaches that overwhelmingly focus on the powerful (the As) this perspective highlights the importance of considering also the contribution of the powerless (the Bs) to creating and upholding power relations. Second, an approach to power I call “Continental relationalism” presumes the primacy of relations over entities. The identities of the elements of power relations are viewed not as being “given” prior to those relations, but as being constituted within them

My Ideal School: A Personal Construct Psychology Approach to Understanding the School Constructs of Children Described as Anxious

This research explores the school constructs of children described as anxious. Little research exists that looks at understanding children’s school-related anxiety through the lens of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP). This qualitative research design includes semi-structured interviews that followed a PCP theoretical framework. The interviews were carried out with five children aged between 7 and 11, who attended state schools in Malta, and who were experiencing school-related anxiety. Participants were asked to comment and produce drawings about the kind of school they would like to attend (their ideal school), and the kind of school they would not like to attend. The children’s constructs were organised according to whether they related to adults in school, their peers, the school and classroom environment, and the participants themselves in each of these two imaginary schools. Participants were also asked to think of how the school they currently attend can become more like their ideal school. Findings indicate the importance of relationships between teachers and pupils, relationships amongst pupils themselves, a positive learning environment within the classroom and the belongingness to a common value system and school ethos to which anxious children can relate. This research aims to shed light on the responsibility of professionals working with children with school-related anxiety to look beyond within-child factors and understand possible stressors in the child’s environment as potentially contributing to heightening their anxiety

Virtual Research Environment for Regional Climatic Processes Analysis: Ontological Approach to Spatial Data Systematization

his paper describes a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) based on a web GIS platform ‘Climate+’, which provides an access to analytic instruments processing 19 collections of meteorological and climate data of several international organizations. This environment provides systematization of spatial data and related climate information and allows a user getting analysis results using geoinformation technologies. The ontology approach to this systematization is described, making it possible to match semantics of meteorological and climate parameters presented in different collections and used in solving various applied problems

On the history of logic in the Russian Empire (1850–1917)

In 1850 a very important decision for the whole history of humanities and social sciences in Russia was made by Nicholas I, the Emperor of Russia: to eliminate the teaching of philosophy in public universities in order to protect the regime from the Enlightenment ideas. Only logic and experimental psychology were permitted, but only if taught by theology professors. On the one hand, this decision caused the development of the Russian theistic philosophy enhanced by modern methodology represented by logic and psychology of that time. On the other hand, investigations in symbolic logic performed mainly at the Kazan University and the Odessa University were a bit marginal. Because of the theistic nature of general logic, from 1850 to 1917 in Russia there was a gap between philosophical and mathematical logics