Léxico románico I. La penetración de hispanismos en la Italia meridional

Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado (TFG) pretende realizar, a través del estudio del léxico, un análisis de la influencia de la cultura española en los territorios italianos que estuvieron bajo el dominio de la corona, concretamente en Sicilia y Nápoles. Partiendo de la historia que comparten ambas regiones, revelaremos la importancia de conocer las relaciones políticas, económicas y culturales para entender la difusión de numerosos préstamos del catalán y del castellano en los dialectos del sur de Italia; a continuación, presentaremos las diferencias y similitudes que caracterizaron el contacto lingüístico que se produjo a lo largo de los años, y finalizaremos con la exposición de las conclusiones y reflexiones finales en torno al tema, a raíz de los resultados obtenidos en el estudio individual de los términos: el léxico en la isla de Sicilia se enriqueció gracias al contacto lingüístico de sus hablantes con el catalán y el castellano; el primero generó un bilingüismo que alcanzó todos los estratos sociales, aunque la mayoría de los préstamos que se introdujeron en el dialecto italiano fueron los referidos al campo de la marina y el comercio; los préstamos del castellano, por otro lado, quedaron restringidos principalmente al ámbito administrativo y militar, y con la decadencia del imperio, revelaron la debilidad del influjo español. El contacto lingüístico en Nápoles se produjo en la época de mayor esplendor de la lengua española, de modo que podemos encontrar un elevado número de hispanismos en el dialecto que afectan a todo tipo de campos semánticos; no obstante, desde principios del siglo XVI el español había sido la lengua de moda en Europa, por lo que muchos de esos préstamos se introdujeron en el napolitano a través del italiano y no directamente

Léxico románico I. La penetración de hispanismos en la Italia meridional

Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado (TFG) pretende realizar, a través del estudio del léxico, un análisis de la influencia de la cultura española en los territorios italianos que estuvieron bajo el dominio de la corona, concretamente en Sicilia y Nápoles. Partiendo de la historia que comparten ambas regiones, revelaremos la importancia de conocer las relaciones políticas, económicas y culturales para entender la difusión de numerosos préstamos del catalán y del castellano en los dialectos del sur de Italia; a continuación, presentaremos las diferencias y similitudes que caracterizaron el contacto lingüístico que se produjo a lo largo de los años, y finalizaremos con la exposición de las conclusiones y reflexiones finales en torno al tema, a raíz de los resultados obtenidos en el estudio individual de los términos: el léxico en la isla de Sicilia se enriqueció gracias al contacto lingüístico de sus hablantes con el catalán y el castellano; el primero generó un bilingüismo que alcanzó todos los estratos sociales, aunque la mayoría de los préstamos que se introdujeron en el dialecto italiano fueron los referidos al campo de la marina y el comercio; los préstamos del castellano, por otro lado, quedaron restringidos principalmente al ámbito administrativo y militar, y con la decadencia del imperio, revelaron la debilidad del influjo español. El contacto lingüístico en Nápoles se produjo en la época de mayor esplendor de la lengua española, de modo que podemos encontrar un elevado número de hispanismos en el dialecto que afectan a todo tipo de campos semánticos; no obstante, desde principios del siglo XVI el español había sido la lengua de moda en Europa, por lo que muchos de esos préstamos se introdujeron en el napolitano a través del italiano y no directamente

Artificial Nourishment in the catalan coast

La proliferació dels ports i espigons artificials ha provocat que el transport longitudinal quedi barrat i que la sorra s’acumuli asimètricament impedint, en molts casos, la recuperació posterior als grans temporals. Aquest fet sumat a la disminució dels aportaments fluvials, degut a les obres de provisionament hídric i de producció elèctrica ha fet disminuïr sensiblement la disponibilitat de sediment de les platges. Amés a més des dels anys 60 i amb l’ascens de l’indústria turística, els assentaments costaners s’han multiplicat de forma espectacular, augmentant dramàticament la potencialitat d’impacte sobre el litoral. Els efectes negatius derivats d’aquests tipus d’assentaments són múltiples i complexos, ja que habitualment l’urbanització costanera sol venir acompanyada d’altres obres auxiliars que satisfaguin les demandes turístiques: vies de comunicació (carreteres, estacionaments,..), ports esportius, passejos marítims, etc. Tots aquests assentaments es solen ubicar el més pròxim possible a la línia de costa, ocupant la franja costanera interna i augmentant així les possibilitats de veure’s afectats pels processos físics litorals de caràcter destructiu (temporals, innundacions, etc..)

Uncertain research country rankings. Should we continue producing uncertain rankings?

Citation based country rankings consistently categorize Japan as a developing country, even in those from the most reputed institutions. This categorization challenges the credibility of such rankings, considering Japan elevated scientific standing. In most cases, these rankings use percentile indicators and are accurate if country citations fit an ideal model of distribution, but they can be misleading in cases of deviations. The ideal model implies a lognormal citation distribution and a power law citation based double rank: in the global and country lists. This report conducts a systematic examination of deviations from the ideal model and their consequential impact on evaluations. The study evaluates six selected countries across three scientifically relevant topics and utilizes Leiden Ranking assessments of over 300 universities. The findings reveal three types of deviations from the lognormal citation distribution: i deviations in the extreme upper tail; ii inflated lower tails; and iii deflated lower part of the distributions. These deviations stem from structural differences among research systems that are prevalent and have the potential to mislead evaluations across all research levels. Consequently, reliable evaluations must consider these deviations. Otherwise, while some countries and institutions will be correctly evaluated, failure to identify deviations in each specific country or institution will render uncertain evaluations. For reliable assessments, future research evaluations of countries and institutions must identify deviations from the ideal model.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, 5 table

Countries pushing the boundaries of knowledge: the US dominance, China rise, and the EU stagnation

Knowing which countries contribute the most to pushing the boundaries of knowledge in science and technology has social and political importance. However, common citation metrics do not adequately measure this contribution. This measure requires more stringent metrics appropriate for the highly influential breakthrough papers that push the boundaries of knowledge, which are very highly cited but very rare. Here I used the recently described Rk index, specifically designed to address this issue. I applied this index to 25 countries and the EU across 10 key research topics, five technological and five biomedical, studying domestic and international collaborative papers independently. In technological topics, the Rk indices of domestic papers show that overall, the USA, China, and the EU are leaders; other countries are clearly behind. The USA is notably ahead of China, and the EU is far behind China. The same approach to biomedical topics shows an overwhelming dominance of the USA and that the EU is ahead of China. The analysis of internationally collaborative papers further demonstrates the US dominance. These results conflict with current country rankings based on less stringent indicators.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure, 6 table

A Simple Index for the High-Citation Tail of Citation Distribution to Quantify Research Performance in Countries and Institutions

Conventional scientometric predictors of research performance such as the number of papers, citations, and papers in the top 1% of highly cited papers cannot be validated in terms of the number of Nobel Prize achievements across countries and institutions. The purpose of this paper is to find a bibliometric indicator that correlates with the number of Nobel Prize achievements.-index has superior features as compared to the other two parameters. Nobel Prize achievements are low frequency events and their number is an imprecise indicator, which in addition is zero in most institutions; the evaluation of research making use of the number of publications in prestigious journals is not advised.-index is a simple and precise indicator for high research performance

Design strategies in facades for the reduction of housing energy consumption

This article analyzes the energy-saving potential of various facade design strategies from a life cycle perspective, including the energy needed in the use stage and the embodied energy of materials. The results provide reference data on the behaviour of these systems in Spain and make it possible to identify the best strategies for reducing energy consumption in a wide variety of potential situations that may arise in both new construction and in the rehabilitation of existing facades. The impact categories studied are fossil fuel depletion and climate change, and design strategies are linked to climate data, orientation, air change rate, facade materials and wall composition. Exchanges between the interior and exterior environments take place through the building envelope, some of whose key design parameters include lighting, ventilation and heat flux. Improving this envelope can greatly reduce environmental impact, ensuring indoor environmental quality. This analysis confirms the need to consider the interactions among the parameters studied, as it shows that there are several design solutions with similar impacts, which can be adapted to project requirements. In both new construction and rehabilitation, some of these parameters may be determined by other design decisions not necessarily aimed at reducing environmental impact, so it can be very useful to be aware of a variety of design alternatives that can be implemented in specific projects

Toxicity and Neuropharmacological Effects of Elenine

Elenine is the aglycone of elenoside, a cytotoxic arylnaphthalene lignan (NSC 644013-W/1) derived from Justicia hyssopifolia. (Family: Acanthaceae). Elenoside is a β-D-glucoside, with a similar chemical structure to etoposide, exhibiting central depressant activity. In the present study, elenine was given to mice and rats at doses of 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg. Acute toxicity (24 h) and general behaviour in mice was studied as well as its effects on muscular relaxant activity, locomotor activity (Varimex test), and the open-field test and were compared with 10 mg/kg of chlorpromazine. Elenine produced a reduction in the permanence time in muscular relaxant activity (traction test). Spontaneous activity was lower in the Varimex test. The ambulation and rearing were lower compared with the control group, and an increase in boluses was observed in the open-field test. Thus, it can be concluded that elenine has central sedative effects at lower doses than those used with elenoside and has a possible application in conditions of anxiety