Gabriel Ferrater : a Note on Science, Ideas, and Poetry

This paper discusses the relationship between the theory of art and the philosophy of science. In particular, it explores Catalan poet and critic Gabriel Ferrater's theory of ideas in poetry and specifically his critique of social or realist poetry. The paper shows, on the one hand, that Ferrater's theory is both antiexpressionist and anti-inductivist, and on the other, that his way of approaching both poetry and criticism can be integrated into the falsationist theoretical framework developed by philosopher of science Karl Popper to understand the process of scientific discovery

Children immigration in the catalan parliamentary debate : the empty set

Catalonia has received an unprecedented number of unaccompanied foreign children throughout the past decades, most of them from Morocco. This new form of migration has had a significant effect on the way that Children Welfare Services in Catalonia have been rearranged at different levels. Yet, the administrative reforms were not matched by a parallel substantive debate in Parliament. By analyzing a textual corpus of parliamentary texts, the article concludes that the set of parliamentary activities covering the issue of unaccompanied children contains no elements to ground a substantial political debate around it.Cataluña ha recibido un número sin precedentes de menores no acompañados durante las últimas décadas, la mayoría de ellos procedentes de Marruecos. Esta nueva forma de migración ha tenido un impacto significativo en la posterior reorganización de los Servicios de Atención a la Infancia en Cataluña. Sin embargo, las reformas administrativas se llevaron a cabo sin un debate paralelo de fondo en el Parlamento. Mediante el análisis de un corpus textual de los textos parlamentarios, el artículo concluye que el conjunto de las actividades parlamentarias relacionadas con la llegada de menores no acompañados carece de los elementos que permiten generar un debate político de fondo

Les eleccions del 21D. Algunes regularitats empíriques

Aquest article fa una anàlisi d’algunes de les principals regularitats empíriques al voltant del comportament electoral en les eleccions al Parlament de Catalunya del 21 de desembre de 2017. Aquelles eleccions foren excepcionals tant per les causes que les propiciaren (la intervenció del Govern de la Generalitat per part del Govern espanyol, que fou seguida d’una dissolució del Parlament de Catalunya) com per alguns dels elements del seu funcionament (la participació) i els seus resultats. Per presentar una anàlisi ordenada, l’article segueix una estratègia d’anàlisi que comença amb dades agregades i va baixant d’unitat d’observació (passant pels resultats a nivell municipal) fins a acabar en l’anàlisi de dades individuals. La principal conclusió de l’article és que, malgrat aquest context, el comportament electoral dels catalans entre les eleccions de 2015 i les de 2017 no ha canviat. Tanmateix, l’augment de la participació va tenir un impacte notable sobre els resultats electorals. Finalment, l’article constata una forta activació de la clivella d’origen, que té com a conseqüència un alineament quasi perfecte respecte del tipus de candidatura a la qual voten els electors catalans

Exogenous and endogenous determinants of Spanish mayors’ notions of democracy: a multilevel regression analysis

A common ground in the literature on elite’s notions of democracy is (1) that leaders’ notions of democracy can be successfully captured by a representative-participatory dimension, and (2) that the way leaders view democracy is paramount to understand their behavior. Taking on an institutional perspective, the most common model combines an endogenous and exogenous origin of leaders’ notions of democracy. The theory assumes that both local institutional arrangements and personal characteristics may have an impact on the way local leaders perceive democracy and behave. However, while some evidence has been found to support the exogenous aspect of this theory (leaders’ ideology influence their notions of democracy), the impact of local institutional arrangements on leaders’ notions of democracy has received more limited empirical support. In this paper we provide a model of endogenous and exogenous factors on local elite’s notions of democracy. In particular, we show that local leaders’ political experience endogenizes the effect of ideology on their notions of democracy and on their support to democratic reforms. We test our model using survey data from a sample of mayors in Spanish municipalities and find empirical support for our model. One of our main findings is that the effect of ideology on mayors’ support for particular views of democracy decreases with political experience.</p

Copyright's impact on data mining in academic research

With the proliferation of digital data, data mining (DM)¿in the sense of the discoveryof valuable structures in large sets of data¿is expected to increase the productivityof many types of research. This paper discusses how copyright affects DM by aca-demic researchers. In some territories, academic DM is lawful if researchers havelawful access to input works. In other territories such as the European Union, lawfulDM additionally requires specific consent by rights holders. Based on bibliometricdata and quasi-experimental research designs, we show that where academic DMrequires specific rights holder consent: (1) DM publications make up a significantlylower share of total research output, and (2) stronger rule of law is associated withless DM research. To our knowledge, this study is the first to empirically documentan adverse effect of intellectual property (IP) on innovation under particular circum-stances. There is strong evidence that copyright exceptions or limitations promotethe adoption of DM research

Foreigner’s Pre-removal Detention: What Can We Learn from Data? Analysis of Pre-Removal Files Processed in the Province of Barcelona in 2015

This paper contains the most important findings of an empirical research on the detention files of undocumented migrants for the purpose of removal processed in the province of Barcelona in 2015. The analysis of 575 files with an innovative methodology offers relevant information about the profiles of deportable migrants and the way in which all involved actors (police, state prosecutors, lawyers and judges) behave. The study gives also information about the detention that precedes all files, as well as about the deportation order that should be executed thanks to pre-removal detention. All these figures show which is the way in which pre-removal detention works and which are the criteria that are used in the implementation of the legal rules that govern preremoval detention of undocumented migrants

Knocking on heaven's door: user preferences on digital cultural distribution

This paper explores the social, demographic and attitudinal basis of consumer support of a Copyright Compensation System (CCS), which, for a small monthly fee would legalise currently infringing online social practices such as private copying from illegal sources and online sharing of copyrighted works. We do this by first identifying how different online and offline, legal and illegal, free and paying content acquisition channels are used in the media market using a cluster-based classification of respondents. Second, we assess the effect of cultural consumption on the support for a shift from the status quo towards alternative, CCS-based forms of digital cultural content distribution. Finally, we link these two analyses to identify the factors that drive the dynamics of change in digital cultural consumption habits. Our study shows significant support to a CCS compared to the status quo by both occasional and frequent buyers of cultural goods, despite the widespread adoption of legal free and paying online services by consumers. The nature of these preferences are also explored with the inclusion of consumer preference intensities regarding certain CCS attributes. Our results have relevant policy implications, for they outline CCS as a reform option. In particular, they point evidence-based copyright reform away from its current direction in the EU of stronger enforcement measures, additional exclusive rights, and increased liability and duties of care for online platforms. This work shows that CCS may be an apt policy tool to hinder piracy and potentially increase right holder revenues, while respecting fundamental rights and promoting technological development

RegulationRoom: Field-Testing An Online Public Participation Platform During USA Agency Rulemakings

Rulemaking is one of the U.S. government\u27s most important policymaking methods. Although broad transparency and participation rights are part of its legal structure, significant barriers prevent effective engagement by many groups of interested citizens. RegulationRoom, an experimental open-government partnership between academic researchers and government agencies, is a socio-technical participation system that uses multiple methods to alert and effectively engage new voices in rulemaking. Initial results give cause for optimism but also caution that successful use of new technologies to increase participation in complex government policy decisions is more difficult and resource-intensive than many proponents expect

El internamiento de extranjeros: ¿Qué nos dicen los datos? Análisis de los expedientos de internamiento tramitados en la provincia de Barcelona en 2015

El trabajo presenta las principales conclusiones de una investigación empírica sobre los expedientes de internamiento tramitados en la provincia de Barcelona en el año 2015. A partir del análisis de 575 expedientes y del uso de una metodología innovadora, se arroja luz sobre el perfil de las personas extranjeras afectadas por el internamiento, así como sobre los criterios que emplean los diversos agentes que intervienen en esta decisión: policías, fiscales, abogados y jueces de instrucción. También se ofrece información sobre la detención que precede a la solicitud de internamiento y sobre las órdenes de salida obligatoria que se pretende garantizar mediante esta forma de privación de libertad. Todos estos datos permiten poner de relieve cuál es el funcionamiento real del internamiento y los criterios que se emplean en la aplicación de la normativa vigent

Iuriservice : ontologies per a la representació del coneixement jurídic

En filosofia, l'ontologia és l'estudi o investigació d'allò que existeix, de l'ésser, de les seves categories o propietats fonamentals. Aquest concepte ha estat traslladat als àmbits de la computació i la intel·ligència artificial per a fer referència als intents de formulació d'esquemes conceptuals per a la representació del coneixement. La finalitat de la construcció d'aquests esquemes conceptuals, de les ontologies, és la de facilitar la comunicació i la comprensió entre home i màquina, introduint així significat en l'intercanvi d'informació, és a dir, el Web Semàntic. En el camp del dret, aquests tipus de representacions han pres importància en els últims anys davant la necessitat urgent d'organitzar la gran quantitat d'informació jurídica desestructurada que existeix. L'ontologia de coneixement professional judicial (OPJK) que presentem conceptualitza coneixement pràctic judicial per facilitar la cerca d'informació experta en Iuriservice, un sistema basat en web que ofereix una base de dades experta per a resoldre dubtes de jutges durant els seus primers anys d'incorporació a la professi