Reciprocity, Exchange and Redistribution. An experimental investigation inspired by Karl Polanyi’s The Economy as Instituted Process

Inspired by Karl Polanyi’s writings on three allocation modes, namely reciprocity, exchange and redistribution, we first tested a reciprocity ring with ten players. The baseline treatment, with no possibility of socialisation, displayed very low levels of allocative efficiency. Consistently with the Polanyian approach to reciprocity, we found that inducing the notion of symmetry among the players increased efficiency levels significantly. We then simulated a market exchange, with significant allocative efficiency gains. We conclude that indirect-reciprocity rings among anonymous players can seldom function in the absence of definite institutional refinements, promoting forms of symmetry-acknowledgement.Reciprocity, Redistribution, Exchange, Comparative Institutional Analysis.

Evidence for a Massive Dark Object in NGC 4350

In this work we build a detailed dynamic model for a S0 galaxy possibly hosting a central massive dark object (MDO). We show that the photometric profiles and the kinematics along the major and minor axes, including the h3 and h4 profiles, imply the presence of a central MDO of mass M = 1.5 - 9.7 10^8 solar masses, i.e. 0.3-2.8% of the mass derived for the stellar spheroidal component. Models without MDO are unable to reproduce the kinematic properties of the inner stars and of the rapidly rotating nuclear gas. The stellar population comprise of an exponential disc (27% of the light) and a diffuse spheroidal component (73% of the light) that cannot be represented by a simple de Vaucouleurs profile at any radius. The M/L ratios we found for the stellar components (respectively 3.3 and 6.6) are typical of those of disc and elliptical galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 4 encapsulated postscript figures. Requires mn.sty, psfig.sty. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Mass function of dormant black holes and the evolution of the Active Galactic Nuclei

We derive the mass function of the relic black holes and compared with that of the Massive Dark Objects in galaxies. Under the assumption that accretion onto massive BH's powers the Active Galactic Nuclei, the mass function of the BH responsibile for the past activity of QSO/AGN is computed. Our results support the scenario in which the QSO phase has exclusively occurred in every proto-elliptical.Comment: 10 pages, 8 Figures. Version improved with referee comments. J. Accepted on MNRA

L'estetica dell'androgino e il buio della profezia. Rifrazioni filmiche del mito classico in Tiresia di Bertrand Bonello

Bertrand Bonello riscrive cinematograficamente il mito di Tiresia nell’omonimo film uscito nel 2003. L’azione è ambientata nella Parigi contemporanea. Tiresia è un affascinante transessuale brasiliano che vive le sue notti tra le ombre del Bois de Boulogne, mentre Terranova è uno strano esteta, in cerca della bellezza perfetta e ideale, che rapisce e poi acceca Tiresia. Nella seconda parte del film Tiresia, interpretato da un attore diverso, viene accudito da una ragazza di campagna muta; egli sviluppa a poco a poco il dono della preveggenza, ma è perseguitato da un prete cattolico, interpretato dallo stesso attore a cui era stato afidato il ruolo di Terranova. Il mito antico diventa un modello complesso sul quale Bonello costruisce il suo racconto cinematografico, tra l’altro basato su importanti richiami fra elementi della fotografia, del montaggio, frequenti allusioni ad altri “testi” cinematografici e così via. Le fonti letterarie del mito si mescolano con tematiche del Simposio di Platone, per arrivare ad una originale costruzione narrativa. Le duplicazioni di ruoli ed attori rappresentano invece la diverse vite del vate tebano, fino alla sua morte. La colonna sonora, infine, è intensa, significativa e strettamente legata alle immagini: vi si trovano musiche originali, temi dalla Settima Sinfonia di Beethoven, gospels interpretati da Odetta. Bertrand Bonello retells the myhtical story of Tiresia in a movie released in 2003 called Tiresia. The action is set in contemporary Paris. Tiresia is a fascinating brazilian transexual, who spends his nights among the shadows of the Bois de Boulogne. Terranova is a curious aesthete, looking for the perfect and ideal beauty, who kidnaps and blinds Tiresia. In the second part of the movie, Tiresia, performed by a different actor, received some care by a dumb country girl. Then he slowly developes the gift of premonition and he is persecuted by a catholic priest, performed by the same actor who played the role of Terranova first. The ancient myth becomes a complex pattern on which Bonello builds a filmic story also based upon important connections among elements of cinematography, editing, frequent hints to other cinematic “texts” and so on. The literary sources of the myth are blended with themes from Plato’s Symposium up to an original narrative recostruction. Duplications of roles and actors represent the various lives of the Theban vate until his death. The sountrack is intense, meaningful and closely related to images: it includes original music, themes from the 7th Symphony of Beethoven, gospels sung by Odetta

Semantic and inferencing abilities in children with communication disorders

Background: Semantic and inferencing abilities have not been fully examined in children with communication difficulties. Aims: To investigate the inferential and semantic abilities of children with communication difficulties using newly designed tasks. Methods & Procedures: Children with different types of communication disorder were compared with each other and with three groups of typically developing children: those of the same chronological age and two groups of younger children. In total, 25 children aged 11 years with specific language impairment and 22 children, also 11 years of age, with primary pragmatic difficulties were recruited. Typically developing groups aged 11 (n = 35; age‐match), and those aged 9 (n = 40) and 7 (n = 37; language similar) also participated as comparisons. Outcomes & Results: For Semantic Choices, children with specific language impairment performed significantly more poorly than 9‐ and 11‐year‐olds, whilst the pragmatic difficulties group scored significantly lower than all the typically developing groups. Borderline differences between specific language impairment and pragmatic difficulties groups were found. For inferencing, children with communication impairments performed significantly below the 11‐year‐old peers, but not poorer than 9‐ and 7‐year‐olds, suggesting that this skill is in line with language ability. Six children in the pragmatic difficulties group who met diagnosis for autism performed more poorly than the other two clinical groups on both tasks, but not statistically significantly so. Conclusions: Both tasks were more difficult for those with communication impairments compared with peers. Semantic but not inferencing abilities showed a non‐significant trend for differences between the two clinical groups and children with pragmatic difficulties performed more poorly than all typically developing groups. The tasks may relate to each other in varying ways according to type of communication difficulty

Joint formation of bright quasars and elliptical galaxies in the young Universe

We show that the mass function of black holes expected from the past quasar activity (both visible and obscured) is consistent with the number of dormant black holes found in the bulges of nearby galaxies. The joint formation of quasars and bulges is addressed by means of an analytical model for galaxy formation, based on the hierarchical clustering of cold dark matter halos. The model is able to reproduce the main statistical properties of both populations under the hypotheses that (i) star formation and quasar shining follow an anti-hierarchical order, and (ii) galaxy morphology and final black hole mass are determined by the same physical process.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figures included, proceedings of the IGRAP meeting "Clustering at high redshift", Marseille, June 199