through analysis of within-country

causal influences on educational achievemen

Construction Management and Design-Build/Fast Track Construction From the Perspective of a Generla Contractor

In the accompanying paper a method for blind (i.e., no calibration needed) estimation and compensation of the time errors in a time interleaved ADC system was presented. In this paper we evaluate this method. The Cramer-Rao bound is calculated, both for additive noise and random clock jitter. Monte-Carlo simulations have also been done to compare to the CRB. Finally, the estimation method is validated on measurements from areal time interleaved ADC system with 16 ADCs

El sujeto entre la interpelación y el 'Yo'

[Resumen] El propósito de esta ponencia es discutir unas posibilidades, o propuestas, teóricas concernientes a la problemática de la relación entre sujeto y discurso. Asimismo, se intentará aplicar o ejemplificar esta propuesta en un breve análisis de un momento de una película del director cubano Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. La propuesta teórica girará en torno a dos conceptos pertenecientes a dos tradiciones semióticas (o parasemióticas) distintas: el de la interpelación, frecuentemente utilizada en la tradición postestructuralista y posteriores (cf. Althusser 1971, Laclau & Mouffe 1985, Zizek 1989, Laclau 2005) por un lado y, el de la deixis por otro, discutida por varios lingüistas y semióticos (cf. Jacobson 1971, Benveniste 1971). Ambos fenómenos —interpelación y deixis— tienen en común el ser mecanismos de relación entre el sujeto —individual y colectivo— y el mundo de los signos, visto como lengua y discurso. El discurso (o la ideología) interpela al individuo, convirtiéndolo así en sujeto socializado y semiotizado mientras que, mediante la deixis —sobre todo al decir o pensar ‘yo’— el individuo, y sujeto, entra al lenguaje y así al discurso y la semiosfera. Se propone ver estos dos fenómenos como mecanismos opuestos a la vez que interdependientes. La interpelación es un recurso de poder del discurso sin el cual este no tendría razón de ser, pero la interpelación solo resulta cuando la respuesta es un ‘yo’, o sea la aceptación de la interpelación mediante la deixis. Esta, a su vez, es un signo ‘vacío’, que solo logra su sentido (significado/interpretante) en contacto con el lenguaje ‘real’, o sea los signos, textos y discursos sociales y cargados de sentido que se mueven en la(s) semiosfera(s). Al entrar en los estudios de identidades (culturales etc.) se complica aun más la relación entre ambos fenómenos, sobre todo porque la interpelación discursiva utiliza como recurso de imposición la deixis, en la forma de un inauténtico ‘nosotros’ identitario (por ejemplo nacional), con el que el ‘yo’ se identifica más fácilmente por confundirse con la deixis auténtica. Mediante el análisis de la relación entre el sujetonarrador ‘Sergio’ y el discurso nacional-revolucionario en la película ‘Memorias del subdesarrollo’ (Gutiérrez Alea, 1968) se pretenderá ejemplificar la relación entre interpelación y deixis

El cronotopo cultural, el estereotipo y la frontera del tiempo: la preterización como estrategia de representación del «Otro»

The notion of the stereotype is categorized as a semiotic and ideological construction in the representation of the Other, whose articulation consists of locating it in the area of a distant space and time. The semiotic deictic categories associated with the opposition between the present and the post tenses and the personal pronouns «I», «we» / «they», «them», are representative of the distinction between periphery and center, which is at the root of the gulf existing between cultures that interact asymmetrically. The cultural subjects exerting a symbolic dominance place themselves in the centre / present, indicating progress and civilization, while positioning the Other in the post /periphery, implying primitivism and underdevelopment. Bringing to the fore the internal semiotic mechanisms with which the stereotype presents specific views of the world as naturalised versions of reality, i.e. binary oppositions and static borders, may help explain the ideological role of the stereotype in the perpetuation of certain dominant discourses

The relation between fluid intelligence and the general factor as a function of cultural background: a test of Cattell's investment theory

According to Cattell’s (1987) Investment theory individual differences in acquisition of knowledge and skills are partly the result of investment of Fluid Intelligence (Gf) in learning situations demanding insights in complex relations. If this theory holds true Gf will be a factor of General Intelligence (g) because it is involved in all domains of learning. The purpose of the current study was to test the Investment theory, through investigating effects on the relation between Gf and g of differential learning opportunities for different subsets of a population. A second-order model was fitted with confirmatory factor analysis to a battery of 17 tests hypothesized to measure four broad cognitive abilities The model was estimated for three groups with different learning opportunities (N = 2358 Swedes, N = 620 European immigrants, N = 591 non-European immigrants), as well as for the total group. For this group the g Gf relationship was 0.83, while it was close to unity within each of the three subgroups. These results support the Investment theory.Structure of intelligence; Cattell’s Investment theory; fluid Intelligence; general Intelligence

La imagen, lo real y lo ficcional: fotografía y narrativa (reflexiones teóricas)

The aim of this article is to study the complex relation between photography and narrative fiction in relation to the use of the former in novels or short stories. As a first hypothesis, I claim that the photographic medium is completely different from other sign-forms or representational vehicles. It is so, due to the consequences of the basic photographic technique: it is, by force, a representation of the “real” and, contrary to most other representations, it “freezes” its object in time. Due to this, the photographic media is directly opposed to narrative fiction, which is, probably, a main reason for the relatively scarce use of photography in narrative literature. However, I suggest that exactly these oppositional features may add a tension to the verbal fiction text and create a metafictional level very attractive for contemporary narrative. These reflections are followed by a discussion of the use of photography in three twenieth-century authors

Irrupción y ficcionalización de lo real: El uso de fotografías en Marías, Brizuela y Vásquez

The object of this article is the use of photographs in contemporary Hispanic narrative fiction. More specifically, I analyze the use of photographs in three recent novels, Así empieza lo malo, by Javier Marías, Una misma noche, by Leopoldo Brizuelas, and, La forma de las ruinas, by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. In the introduction, I suggest some elements of theory and give a very brief state of the art regarding the use of photography in contemporary fiction in Spanish as well as of the academic discussion of the subject. My results show important similarities, but also differences in the use of photography in these works of fiction. A main effect of the use of a photographic image in a narrative text is metafictional: “reality” bursts into the fiction, but is also absorbed by it. Furthermore, the photographs serve to stress the importance of the central themes of these novels: evil and violence