Re-thinking the Legacy 2012: The Olympics as commodity and gift

This paper opens discussion about the nature of Olympic ‘legacy’ and articulates a contradiction in the way ‘legacy’ is conceived - between ’gift’ and ’commodity’ (Mauss 1954).The The paper argues that establishing working definitions and parameters for ‘legacy’ is a difficult task. Defining ‘legacy’ is problematic especially if conceived as an entirely predictable or measurable set of objectives. Indeed, the definition of ‘legacy’ is partly constitutive of the legacy itself, a component of achievements that the city might make. Such a ‘legacy definition’ will become a functional term in the complex planning and evolving conceptions underpinning urban change for some time—if successfully negotiated and if governable. As such, ‘legacy’, and the activities and values entailed to it, can come to provide a catalytic ‘vocabulary of motives’ and a legitimating discourse enabling politicians, communities and their individual representatives to justify investments, evolving strategies and activities connected to and connecting developmental gains in a more or less healthy fashion. It is because of this that legacy and its various meanings come to matter

Tendencias en la vida y el pensamiento alemán desde 1870

Tal com manifestàrem en el número anterior, volem que la secció d'Història Intel·lectual de Digithum serveixi per rescatar el llegat d’aquells autors que han estat el nostre suport i amb els quals hem ampliat la nostra perspectiva. En aquesta ocasió oferim una traducció al castellà del text de Georg Simmel “Tendencies in German life and thought since 1870.” La traducció al català la seguirà ben aviat.Aquest és l’únic text de Simmel del qual no tenim la versió original en alemany, que es va extraviar. Així, avui dia disposem únicament de la versió en l'anglès, a càrrec de  W. D. Briggs, professor de la Western Reserve University d’Ohio. Aquesta versió fou publicada l’any 1902 a la revista The international monthly. A magazine of contemporary thought. Simmel n’era membre del comitè assessor en l’area de sociologia.Considerem aquest text una peça valuosíssima atès que Simmel hi exhibeix la seva agudesa analítica i el seu marcat relacionisme, en ocupar-se de les diverses formes en les quals es manifestava la vida social alemanya a l’inici del segle XX i combinar-les amb la seva particular lectura d'autors com Kant, Schopenhauer o Nietzsche. A més, en el text afloren diversos temes que ocuparen Simmel durant tota la seva trajectòria, com ara la filosofia de la cultura, la cultura femenina, la religió o el materialisme històric, entre d’altres.  Esperem que aquest text resulti útil per complementar i relacionar idees d'altres escrits de Simmel que ja han estat traduïts al castellà i que s'ocupen dels mateixos temes.Per acabar, agraïm al professor emèrit Otthein Rammstedt, editor de les Obres Completes de Georg Simmel (Georg Simmel Gesamtausgabe), que ens hagi permès la publicació d'aquesta traducció.Einer Mosquera Acevedo, Universitat d’Antioquia (Colòmbia)Co-editor de la revistaAs expressed in our previous issue, we intend this subsection on Intellectual History to advocate the legacy of those authors who have been our support and with whom we have enhanced our perspective. This time, we offer a translation into Spanish of Georg Simmel’s essay “Tendencies in German life and thought since 1870”.The original version in German is lost and currently the only available version is the English one for which Professor W. D. Briggs of the Western Reserve University of Ohio was in charge. That essay was published in 1902 in The international monthly. A magazine of contemporary thought, where Georg Simmel was a member of the advisory board for the sociology section.We consider this an invaluable piece in which Simmel sets forth his analytical acuity and his characteristic relationism when dealing with the diverse forms in which German life in the early 20th century was manifested and when presenting his particular reading of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. In addition, a variety of issues which occupied him throughout his intellectual path such as the philosophy of culture, the feminine culture, religion, and historical materialism among others are present. We also expect this text to be useful in order to complement and relate ideas from other similar essays by Simmel already translated into Spanish.To end, we would like to thank Emeritus Professor Otthein Rammstedt, editor of the Georg Simmel Gesamtausgabe, for allowing us to publish this translation.Einer Mosquera (Editor), University of Antioquia (Colombia)Coeditor of Digithum Según se había manifestado en nuestro número anterior, queremos que la sección de Historia Intelectual de Digithum sirva para rescatar el legado de aquellos autores que han sido nuestro apoyo y con los que hemos ampliado nuestra perspectiva. En esta ocasión ofrecemos una traducción al castellano del texto de Georg Simmel “Tendencies in German life and thought since 1870”.La versión original en alemán del texto se extravió y solo se cuenta actualmente con la versión al inglés a cargo de  W. D. Briggs, profesor de la Western Reserve University de Ohio,  publicada en 1902 en la revista The international monthly. A magazine of contemporary thought, de cuyo comité asesor del área de sociología fue miembro el propio Simmel.Consideramos este texto una pieza invaluable dado que Simmel exhibe aquí su agudeza analítica y marcado relacionismo, al ocuparse de las diversas formas en las que se manifestaba la vida social alemana a inicios del siglo XX y su particular lectura de autores como Kant, Schopenhauer o Nietzsche; además, se hacen presentes diversidad de temas que a lo largo de su trayectoria lo ocuparon como la filosofía de la cultura, la cultura femenina, la religión o el materialismo histórico, entre otros. Igualmente esperamos que este escrito sea útil para complementar y relacionar ideas de otros escritos de Simmel que ya han sido traducidos al castellano y que se ocupan de los mismos temas.Para terminar, agradecemos al profesor emérito Otthein Rammstedt, editor de las Obras Completas de Georg Simmel (Georg Simmel Gesamtausgabe), que nos haya permitido la publicación de esta traducción. Por Einer Mosquera Acevedo, Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia)Co-editor de la revist

Numerical solution of the stochastic collection equation: comparison of the linear discrete method and the method of moments

The Linear Discrete Method (LDM; SIMMEL 2000; SIMMEL ET AL. 2000) is used to solve the Stochastic Collection Equation (SCE) numerically. Comparisons are made to the Method of Moments (MOM; TzIVION ET AL. 1999) which is suggested as a reference for numerical solutions of the SCE. Simulations for both methods are shown for the GoLOVIN kernel (for which an analytical solution is available) and the hydrodynamic kernel after LONG (1974) as it is used by TZIVION ET AL. (1999). Different bin resolutions are investigated and the simulation times are compared. In addition, LDM simulations using the hydrodynamic kernel after BÖHM (1992b) are presented. The results show that for the GoLOVIN kernel, LDM is slightly closer to the analytic solution than MOM. For the LONG kernel, the low resolution results of LDM and MOM are of similar quality compared to the reference solution. For the BÖHM kernel, only LDM simulations were carried out which show good correspondence between low and high resolution results.Die lineare diskrete Methode (LDM; SIMMEL 2000; SIMMEL ET AL. 2000) wird dazu benutzt, die Gleichung für stochastisches Einsammeln (stochastic collection equation, SCE) numerisch zu lösen. Dabei werden Vergleiche gezogen zur Methode der Momente (Method of Moments, MOM; TzIVION ET AL. 1999), die als Referenz für numerische Lösungen der SCE vorgeschlagen wurde. Simulationsrechnungen für beide Methoden werden für die Koaleszenzfunktion nach GoLOVIN (für die eine analytische Lösung existiert) und die hydrodynamische Koaleszenzfunktion nach LONG (1974) wie sie von TZIVION ET AL. (1999) verwendet wird, gezeigt. Verschiedene Klassenauflösungen werden untersucht und die Simulationszeiten verglichen. Zusätzlich werden LDM-Simulationen mit der hydrodynamischen Koaleszenzfunktion nach BÖHM (1992b) gezeigt. Die Ergebnisse für die Koaleszenzfunktion nach GoLOVIN zeigen, daß die LDM der analytischen Lösung etwas näher kommt als MOM. Für die Koaleszenzfunktion nach LONG sind die Ergebnisse von LDM und MOM mit niedriger Auflösung von ähnlicher Qualität verglichen mit der Referenzlösung. Für die Koaleszenzfunktion nach BÖHM wurden nur Simulationen mit der LDM durchgeführt, die eine gute Übereinstimmung der Ergebnisse mit niedriger und hoher Auflösung zeigen

Weber and Simmel’s philosophical and political stances : a dialogue in three acts

This article is an imagined dialogue between Weber and Simmel which makes a modest use of some of the resources of theatrical play in order to provide an overall portrait of both thinkers and to bring their thought to bear on our present. The dialogue consists of three acts focused on three central problematics in as many critical moments in Weber and Simmel’s lives: Act I takes place during the preparations for the first conference of the German Sociological Association and thus deals with the constitution of sociology as a socio-cultural science. Act II takes place amidst the First World War and its theme is evidently politics. Finally, Act III, where our two characters correspond instead of maintaining a face-to-face dialogue, is situated towards the end of the war and focuses on the attitude to life and indeed to death, as Simmel’s tragic yet admirable death takes place then. A brief introduction explains how we tried to use the possibilities of the dialogical form to expound Weber’s and Simmel’s thought, to compel them to confront their own blind spots and ‘unthoughts’, as well as to explore new ways of teaching the classics and transmitting their thought

Fashion, Novelty and Optimality: An application from Physics

We apply a physical based model to describe the clothes fashion market. Every time a new outlet appears on the market, it can invade the market under certain specific conditions. Hence, the "old'' outlet can be completely dominated and disappears. Each creator competes for a finite population of agents. Fashion phenomena are shown to result from a collective phenomenon produced by local individual imitation effects. We assume that, in each step of the imitation process, agents only interact with a subset rather than with the whole set of agents. People are actually more likely to influence (and be influenced by) their close ''neighbours''. Accordingly we discuss which strategy is best fitted for new producers when people are either simply organised into anonymous reference groups or when they are organised in social groups hierarchically ordered. While counterfeits are shown to reinforce the first strategy, creating social leaders can permit to avoid them.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

Clustering in complex networks. I. General formalism

We develop a full theoretical approach to clustering in complex networks. A key concept is introduced, the edge multiplicity, that measures the number of triangles passing through an edge. This quantity extends the clustering coefficient in that it involves the properties of two --and not just one-- vertices. The formalism is completed with the definition of a three-vertex correlation function, which is the fundamental quantity describing the properties of clustered networks. The formalism suggests new metrics that are able to thoroughly characterize transitive relations. A rigorous analysis of several real networks, which makes use of the new formalism and the new metrics, is also provided. It is also found that clustered networks can be classified into two main groups: the {\it weak} and the {\it strong transitivity} classes. In the first class, edge multiplicity is small, with triangles being disjoint. In the second class, edge multiplicity is high and so triangles share many edges. As we shall see in the following paper, the class a network belongs to has strong implications in its percolation properties

Covalently Binding the Photosystem I to Carbon Nanotubes

We present a chemical route to covalently couple the photosystem I (PS I) to carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Small linker molecules are used to connect the PS I to the CNTs. Hybrid systems, consisting of CNTs and the PS I, promise new photo-induced transport phenomena due to the outstanding optoelectronic properties of the robust cyanobacteria membrane protein PS I

Sobre una psicología de la vergüenza

El text «Zur Psychologie der Scham», que es tradueix aquí amb el títol «Sobre una psicologia de la vergonya», el va escriure Simmel el 1901 per al diari Die Zeit de Viena. Té la peculiaritat de ser un escrit que, a diferència d’alguns ja coneguts en castellà del pensador berlinès, ressenya i qüestiona explícitament el treball i les recerques d’un altre autor coetani: Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), metge i sexòleg les explicacions del qual sobre l’origen del sentiment de vergonya o pudor van suscitar —en aquell moment— un debat a l’entorn d’aquest tema. És, alhora, la resposta i l’aportació de Simmel a aquesta discussió, qui es va basar per a això en una perspectiva que recorre tant a elements psicològics com sociològics. Es tracta així d’un treball no circumscrit únicament als límits d’una simple ressenya crítica, fet que el converteix en la contribució del mateix Simmel a la temàtica específica de la vergonya; contribució, per cert, relacionada estretament amb aquella part de la seva obra que s’ocupa de les emocions, els sentiments i els afectes entre els éssers humans.“Zur Psychologie der Scham”, which translates as “On the Psychology of Shame”, was written by Simmel in 1901 for the Vienna newspaper Die Zeit. Unlike other articles by the German philosopher, in this one he reviews and explicitly questions the work and research of one his contemporaries: Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), the physician and sexologist whose explanations of the origin of the feeling of shame and embarrassment gave rise – at the time – to debate on the matter. It is, in turn, Simmel’s response and contribution to this debate, from a perspective that draws on both psychological and sociological elements. It is thus not confined to a merely critical review, making it Simmel’s own contribution to the specific issue of shame; a contribution which, incidentally, is closely related to the part of his work concerned with emotions, feelings and attachments between humans.El texto «Zur Psychologie der Scham», que se traduce aquí con el título «Sobre una psicología de la vergüenza», fue escrito por Simmel en 1901 para el periódico Die Zeit de Viena. Tiene la peculiaridad de ser un escrito que, a diferencia de algunos ya conocidos en castellano del pensador berlinés, reseña y cuestiona explícitamente el trabajo y las investigaciones de otro autor coetáneo: Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), médico y sexólogo cuyas explicaciones sobre el origen del sentimiento de vergüenza o pudor suscitaron —en su momento— un debate en torno a dicho tema. Es, a su vez, la respuesta y el aporte de Simmel a tal discusión, quien se basó para ello en una perspectiva que echa mano tanto de elementos psicológicos como sociológicos. Se trata así de un trabajo no circunscrito únicamente a los límites de una mera reseña crítica, hecho que lo convierte en la contribución del mismo Simmel a la temática específica de la vergüenza; contribución, por cierto, estrechamente relacionada con aquella parte de su obra que se ocupa de las emociones, los sentimientos y los afectos entre los seres humanos