Populism: What Is and Why We Need A Multidimensional Approach to Understand it

Populism is the 'new big thing' in western politics. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, populist leaders, movements and parties are obtaining a growing political consent. Staring from this empirical evidence, the article reconstructs the three main strands that constitute the scientific reflexion on populism showing the limits that every single strand have and proposing a new definition of populism based on a multidimensional and syncretic approach that can account for the complexity of the normative common roots that link populism to democratic theory

Interpreting symbolic statements as texts: an exploratory study

This paper is devoted to the problem of the interpretation of mathematical texts . Some ideas on mathematical language are shortly discussed with the help of some constructs from functional linguistics. Some evidence regarding the interpretation processes of a symbolic text by groups of 10-graders, including both written answers and the transcriptions of spoken interactions is presented and discussed. The outcomes of this study show that students often try to interpret mathematical statements according to everyday-life schemes. This suggests that in school practice mathematical expressions should be dealt with as texts (rather than as abbreviations or local conventions) and that metalinguistic awareness should become one of the the goals of both linguistic and mathematical education

A review of the benefits of electronic detonators

Computerized drilling and the electronic timing of detonations are two technological breakthroughs which have had an important role in updating drilling and blasting excavation methods, although the electronic timing of detonators is still a comparatively infrequent technical solution to precision blasting problems. On the basis of an extensive collection of published cases, this paper reviews the successes achieved and the main expected advantages from the electronic ignition devices. After describing the primary characteristics of these detonators, some elements will be considered, in order to better understand their applications in different conditions, both in open pit and underground sites: extension of the time delay number, freedom in the choice of time intervals between detonations, timing accuracy, reduction of vibrations, control of back-break and fragmentation. The results are compared to those obtained by pyrotechnical timing devices, and summarized in the concluding remarks

Comparison of xenon triple point realizations

It is widely recognized that the Mercury triple point (MTP) being situated very close to the Water triple point (WTP) constitutes a weakness in the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90), in addition to safety concerns related to the use and transportation of Mercury. As such, a substitution for a safer, high-quality fixed point about half way between the Argon and Water triple points would be highly desirable. Now, a direct comparison is described of a Xenon cell filled in 2005 by the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and a more recently produced cell of the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM). The present paper discusses the INRiM 2017 measurements on both the INRiM and NRC cells, with a follow-up measurement at NRC, and presents the difference between the two cells, (0.17 ± 0.08) mK with the uncertainties of each cell’s realization of the Xenon triple point (XeTP), 0.11 mK for the INRiM cell and 0.07 mK for the NRC cell (k = 1). In addition, the effect of substituting Mercury with Xenon on Type 1 non-uniqueness (‘SRI’, subrange inconsistency), Type 3 non-uniqueness (‘NU3’, cSPRT variability) and propagation of fixed point realization uncertainty is shown and discussed

Propuesta de diseño de un índice espacio-temporal vinculado a redes móviles

Nuestra investigación consistió en proveer la manera en que dada una red, total o parcialmente conocida, modelada como un grafo geométrico, sobre la que se ubican objetos en movimiento, sea posible encontrar una ruta desde una posición origen a una posición destino mediante diversas heurísticas, basadas en conocimientos parciales de la red subyacente, con la característica principal de considerar la definición de la red según el índice espacio-temporal I+MON-Tree. Proponemos un posible diseño de extensión a la estructura I+MON-Tree en relación a las redes móviles. De este modo, se pretende mantener registro de los objetos en movimiento que exploran su ambiente de trabajo a medida que van descubriendo la ruta hacia su destino, basándose en diversas heurísticas de búsqueda que están delineadas en función de las poligonales (rutas) definidas sobre la red. Presentamos una primera versión de diseño que permitiría considerar dichas redes. A esta propuesta la hemos llamado I+MON-Tree-RM. En esta parte, nos abocaremos a una propuesta de diseño, y dejamos de lado el desarrollo su correspondiente refinamiento, implementación y evaluación experimental del buen desempeño de la estructura

Humans and Water in Desert “Refugium” Areas: Palynological Evidence of Climate Oscillations and Cultural Developments in Early and Mid-Holocene Saharan Edges

Saharan anthropic deposits from archaeological sites, located along wadis or close to lakes, and sedimentary sequences from permanent and dried basins demonstrate that water has always been an attractive environmental feature, especially during periods of drought. This paper reports on two very different examples of Holocene sites where “humans and water” coexisted during dry periods, as observed by stratigraphic, archaeological and palynological evidence. Independent research was carried out on the Jefara Plain (Libya, 32°N) and the Gobero area (Niger, 17°N), at the extreme northern and southern limits of the Sahara, respectively. The histories of the Jefara and Gobero areas, as revealed by the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, suggest that these areas were likely to have been visited and exploited for a long time, acting as anthropic refugia, and therefore they have been profoundly transformed. Human presence and actions have conditioned the local growing of plants and selected a more or less synanthropic flora. Today, modern conservation strategies should take into consideration that water reservoirs, which are crucial for the long-term conservation of biodiversity, have provided refugia in the past just as they presently do under global warming conditions