Riflessioni sull'insegnamento linguistico del Greco antico e del Latino nella scuola italiana

Criticism of the teaching of ancient Greek and Latin languages in Italian classical high schools has remote origins, if one is aware that one of the most famous exponents of this current is even Pascoli; over the last twenty years, however, the extensive querelle that has arisen around classical studies has led a large number of intellectuals not only to question the usefulness and relevance of tradere and declensions, but also to reflect on the possibility of questioning the teaching methods, attempting to overcome the secular paradigm of the so-called “traditional” method by adopting innovative techniques and assumptions: this is the case, for example, of the “natura” method, devised by the Danish latinist Ørberg in the 1950s.The fervent reflections conducted on Latin and Greek have so far led to a polarisation of positions around “traditionalism”, among whose ranks one can count those who persist in teaching the classical languages by maintaining as a reference the antiquated modus docendi overflowing with philology and devoid of glottodidactics, and to “naturalism”, a trend born of the insights of Ørberg, and before him Berlitz, based on the paradoxical principle of teaching the ghlóssai in the same way as English, French, or any other living language. The present study is entrusted with the task of synthesising both factiones, highlighting the strengths of both methods, with the aim of providing a rationalised, objective and fruitful fi eld of investigation for the continuation of the intellectual debate on Greek and Latin, in the hope of reaching a unanimous consensus on the indispensable importance of classical studies, particularly linguistic and literary studies, for the construction of a critical and aware democratic society.Criticism of the teaching of ancient Greek and Latin languages in Italian classical high schools has remote origins, if one is aware that one of the most famous exponents of this current is even Pascoli; over the last twenty years, however, the extensive querelle that has arisen around classical studies has led a large number of intellectuals not only to question the usefulness and relevance of tradere and declensions, but also to reflect on the possibility of questioning the teaching methods, attempting to overcome the secular paradigm of the so-called “traditional” method by adopting innovative techniques and assumptions: this is the case, for example, of the “natura” method, devised by the Danish latinist Ørberg in the 1950s. The fervent reflections conducted on Latin and Greek have so far led to a polarisation of positions around “traditionalism”, among whose ranks one can count those who persist in teaching the classical languages by maintaining as a reference the antiquated modus docendi overflowing with philology and devoid of glottodidactics, and to “naturalism”, a trend born of the insights of Ørberg, and before him Berlitz, based on the paradoxical principle of teaching the ghlóssai in the same way as English, French, or any other living language. The present study is entrusted with the task of synthesising both factiones, highlighting the strengths of both methods, with the aim of providing a rationalised, objective and fruitful field of investigation for the continuation of the intellectual debate on Greek and Latin, in the hope of reaching a unanimous consensus on the indispensable importance of classical studies, particularly linguistic and literary studies, for the construction of a critical and aware democratic society

Unoriented Quivers with Flavour

We discuss unoriented quivers with flavour that arise from D3-branes at local orbifold singularities, in the presence of Omega-planes and non-compact D7-branes. We produce a wide class of unoriented quiver gauge theories, including new instances of N=1 superconformal theories. We then consider unoriented D-brane instanton corrections of both `gauge' and `exotic' kinds. In particular, we show that conformal symmetry can be dynamically broken via the generation of exotic superpotentials. Finally we discuss aspects of the recently proposed N=1 remnant of N=4 S-duality. We identify new candidate dual pairs for the C^3/Z_n series of unoriented quiver gauge theories with n odd.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables. v2: typos corrected, added one extra model to table 2, matches published version on JHE

Riflessioni sull'insegnamento letterario del greco antico e del latino nella scuola italiana

The provision of literature teaching in Italy, strongly conditioned by a twentieth-century matrix treatment based on the principle of acculturation, has led to the progressive crystallisation of the idea of literary teaching currently in force in schools of all levels, consisting in the identification of the discipline with an aseptic vivisection of textual material to be broken down and analysed in a mechanical and procedural way; such rigidity and short-sightedness of teaching practice has led to the inevitable impoverishment of the literary offer, deprived of the most strictly human component: literature does not convey skills, it does not stimulate the critical sense, it does not broaden horizons. In order to remedy this problem, it is essential to rethink the very foundations of the teaching of literature, in particular by paying attention to Greek and Latin literary histories and researching how to transform literary teaching into true literary education.L’erogazione della didattica della letteratura in Italia, fortemente condizionata da un trattamento di matrice novecentesca basato sul principio dell’acculturamento, ha comportato la progressiva cristallizzazione dell’idea stessa di insegnamento letterario attualmente vigente nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado, consistente nell’identificazione della disciplina con un’asettica vivisezione di materiale testuale da scomporre ed analizzare in modo meccanico e procedurale; tale rigidità e miopia della prassi didattica ha portato all’inevitabile impoverimento dell’offerta letteraria, privata della componente più strettamente humana: la letteratura non veicola competenze, non stimola il senso critico, non amplia gli orizzonti. Per rimediare a questo problema, è fondamentale ripensare le fondamente stesse della didattica della letteratura, in particolare prestando attenzione alle storie letterarie greca e latina e ricercando come trasformare l’insegnamento letterario in vera e propria educazione letteraria

Palliative care and covid-19 pandemic between hospital-centric based approach and decentralisation of health services: a valuable opportunity to turn the corner?

Italy was the first Western EU country to have dealt with the severe effects of the widespread Covid-19 virus since the pandemic began. Many healthcare services were negatively affected, and the delivery of palliative care has been no exception. The Italian healthcare system has suffered more than others due to public spending cuts. The hospital-based approach has not allowed all patients to receive appropriate care. This situation was brought about not only by the pandemic emergency but mainly by pre-existing shortages due to the cut in financial resources before the Covid-19 pandemic. For countries similar to Italy, it is necessary to develop territorialised health care, decongestion hospitals, and strengthen the Third Sector, particularly the voluntary sector

From Chirps to Random-FM Excitations in Pulse Compression Ultrasound Systems

Pulse compression is often practiced in ultrasound Non Destructive Testing (NDT) systems using chirps. However, chirps are inadequate for setups where multiple probes need to operate concurrently in Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) arrangements. Conversely, many coded excitation systems designed for MIMO miss some chirp advantages (constant envelope excitation, easiness of bandwidth control, etc.) and may not be easily implemented on hardware originally conceived for chirp excitations. Here, we propose a system based on random-FM excitations, capable of enabling MIMO with minimal changes with respect to a chirp-based setup. Following recent results, we show that random-FM excitations retain many advantages of chirps and provide the ability to frequency-shape the excitations matching the transducers features.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Post-print from conference proceedings. Note that paper in conference proceedings at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2012.0117 has some rendering issue

Dolphins Stranded along the Tuscan Coastline (Central Italy) of the “Pelagos Sanctuary”: A Parasitological Investigation

Parasite monitoring is considered a necessary step for cetacean management and conservation. Between February 2013 and July 2015, 26 dolphins (15 Stenella coeruleoalba, 10 Tursiops truncatus, and one Grampus griseus) stranded along the Tuscan coastline of the protected marine area “Pelagos Sanctuary”, were examined. Organs, tissues, and faecal and blood samples taken from all animals were analysed by parasitological, immunological, and molecular techniques. Twenty-one out of 26 dolphins (80.77%) tested positive for at least one parasite species, and 13/15 (86.7%) S. coeruleoalba, 7/10 (70%) T. truncatus, and the single G. griseus were found positive. Identified parasites included the nematodes Skrjabinalius guevarai (7.69%, 2/26), Halocercus lagenorhynchi (3.85%, 1/26), Halocercus delphini (7.69%, 2/26), Stenurus ovatus (7.69%, 2/26), Crassicauda spp. (7.69%, 2/26); the trematodes Pholeter gastrophilus (26.92%, 7/26), Campula palliata (3.85%, 1/26); the cestodes Phyllobothrium delphini (42.31%, 11/26), Monorygma grimaldii (23.08%, 6/26), Tetrabothrium forsteri (7.69%, 2/26), Strobilocephalus triangularis (7.69%, 2/26), and the acanthocephalan Bolbosoma vasculosum (7.69%, 2/26). Moreover, 6/26 (23%) animals scored positive to Toxoplasma gondii at serology, but PCR confirmed the infection (T. gondii Type II genotype) in a single animal. In examined dolphins, obtained results showed a high prevalence of endoparasites, which included species considered as a cause of severe debilitation or deat

Environmental Engagement and Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence From the European Banking Industry

This paper investigates the impact of banks’ environmental engagement on their future stock price crash risk. Given the strong commitment of European institutions towards a low carbon economy, we focus on European banks, who are expected to be crucial actors in driving this challenge. Using a sample of 447 bank-year observations across 22 European countries from 2015 to 2021, we find a negative relationship between banks’ environmental engagement and future stock price crash risk, by the signalling theory, suggesting that a high level of environmental engagement corresponds to high ethical standards of bank managers and high levels of financial transparency. ESG, Environmental, Crash risk, Europe, Financial Institutions

Der Einfluss des Englischen auf den Deutscherwerb bei italophonen Schullernenden und Universitätsstudierenden

Numerous studies highlight the role of English as an important bridge language, i.e. a language that facilitates the access to third language acquisition. However, the influence of English can also lead to negative transfer while learning a second or third foreign language. Focusing on this assumption, this paper presents the results of an empirical study on Italian-speaking learners of English and German as a foreign language, in order to observe (i) how English – as first or second foreign language – actually influences the acquisition of German, (ii) whether English-based transfer is more or less frequent than L1 transfer and (iii) which factors determine transfer in German production: typological proximity, longer duration of studies, foreign language status.Zahlreiche Studien haben die Rolle des Englischen als wichtige Brückensprache hervorgehoben, d.h. als Sprache, die den Zugang zum Erwerb einer weiteren Fremdsprache erleichtert. Der Einfluss des Englischen kann jedoch beim Erwerb einer zweiten oder dritten Fremdsprache auch zu negativem Transfer führen. Ausgehend von dieser Annahme stellt der vorliegende Beitrag die Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie über italophone Lernende des Englischen und Deutschen als Fremdsprache vor, um der Frage nachzugehen, (i) wie das Englische – als erste oder zweite Fremdsprache – den Deutscherwerb beeinflusst, (ii) ob der Transfer aus dem Englischen mehr oder weniger häufiger als der L1-Transfer ist und (iii) welche Faktoren den Transfer in der Deutsch-Produktion bestimmen: Sprachverwandtschaft, längere Studiendauer, Fremdsprachenstatus