Is the West really that different?

Hungary and Poland have both faced accusations of violating the EU’s democratic values. András Sajó argues that while it has become common to portray these states as implementing distinct forms of illiberal democracy, they share more in common with ‘western’ democracies than is commonly recognised. The actions of the Hungarian and Polish governments should be viewed as an abuse of constitutionalism and the rule of law, not as a different conception of these ideas

Imago Veritatis. La circulación de la imagen simbólica entre fábula y emblema

The emblem book, from its very inception and deriving directly from certain editorial practices, is closely related to other illustrated book traditions. One of these is the fable book. This study examines the theoretical premises of the relationship between the fable and the symbolic image in order to understand better the causes of their progressive similarity to emblematic illustration. A secondary focus of this study centers on the specifically Baroque theorizing on the symbolic image, with Jesuit texts given a privileged consideration, since they are so central to this nexus of ideas. The study concludes with an analysis of a concrete example of the mutual influences between one fable (that of the eagle and the beetle) and some of its emblematic representations.Desde su nacimiento, derivado directamente de determinadas prácticas editoriales, el libro de emblemas entra en estrecha comunicación con otros impresos ilustrados. Uno de ellos es el libro de fábulas. Este estudio rastrea los presupuestos teóricos de la relación entre la fábula y la imagen simbólica para entender mejor las causas de su progresiva aproximación a la serie emblemática. En un segundo paso se centra en la teorización específicamente barroca sobre la imagen simbólica, atendiendo de manera privilegiada a los textos jesuíticos, tan centrales en este conjunto de ideas. La investigación concluye observando un ejemplo concreto de interinfluencias entre una fábula (la del águila y el escarabajo) y algunas de sus representaciones emblemáticas

Effect of particle size on the surface properties and morphology of ground flax

Flax fibers were ground with a ball-mill and four fractions with different size ranges were collected by sieving. These were tested for water sorption, degree of polymerization (DP), copper number, hydroxyl number and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and inverse gas chromatography (IGC). Significant differences were found between the properties of the flax fiber and those of the ground versions, including fragmentation of fibers, increase of water sorption, copper number, hydroxyl number and surface O/C ratio, and decrease of DP, crystallite size and dispersive component of surface energy (gammasd). Some parameters depended on the particle size: O/C ratio and hydroxyl number had local maxima at 315-630 μm, while gammasd increased steadily with the decrease of particle size. These relationships were explained by fiber disintegration, destruction of waxy surface layer, exposure of cellulosic components, increase of surface area and crystalline imperfections