Search results for "Spite"
showing 10 items of 104 documents
The mathematics-physics analogy
1995
The basic goal of this chapter is to delve deeply into Godel’s second great strategy in the philosophy of mathematics: the analogy between deductive and empirical sciences. Moreover, I shall try to explore the holistic, and even conventionalist implications of the analogy, such as it appears in some contemporary philosophers of mathematics who have defended the analogy to some extent. To do this, it has been necessary to present an overview of the most important precedents in the use of the analogy, such as Russell, Hilbert, Carnap, Tarski, Quine. After that, I shall present Godel’s views on the analogy, in both his published and unpublished writings. Surprisingly, most of these authors mai…
Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language: Evidence from Those Who Approach and Those Who Avoid L2 Communication
2014
It is still unclear why some learners are willing to communicate in a foreign language while others are disinclined to do so. One of the most promising paths of inquiry in this respect is the study of willingness to communicate (WTC), focusing on the volitional process of initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication. That is the reason why the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the testimonials of Polish students with persistently low or high L2 WTC scores obtained during their 3-year secondary grammar school experience. The qualitative results of the study appear to demonstrate that, independently from the individual’s general predilections towards communication in the …
Quality of Life in Argentina
2011
This chapter describes results of several research projects developed by the author studying the changes in the level of satisfaction with quality of life of people in Argentina. The research was conducted from 2002 to 2010. The chapter begins with the results of the first research project developed immediately after the national political, economic, and social crisis that besieged the whole country in 2001, and extends to the last survey that took place in 2010. In 2002, 2003, and 2005, the survey applied the Well-Being Index (Cummins et al. 2001). When politics and social conditions began to change in a positive way, another survey was conducted to capture quality of life in relation to h…
Two Cases from Central America: Attitudes of Political Elites in Panama and Guatemala
2020
Panama and Guatemala represent two very different political experiences in the Central American region. Also their political elites show different patterns. The disparities in their recent histories, their economies, and their formal and informal institutions have impacted on their representation and composition of their elites. Both countries are characterized by the influence of economy on politics. However, while in Panama the wealth of the canal has contributed to political stability, in Guatemala the old oligarchies have preserved its power by preventing the strengthening of institutions. Nonetheless, in spite of the issues that affect each country, there may be some similarities. One …
Giving up Farming as a Precarious Decision
2015
‘Precarity’ is a novel noun that is widely recognized and applied in timely political discourses and socioeconomic diagnoses of the present. It refers to fixed-term, temporary, low-paid, insecure, unpredictable, and often risky work. The occupational position of precarious people has been characterized as flexible or flexploitative, informal, casual, intermittent, non-standard, exceptional, often outsourced, or subcontracted. ‘Precarity’ is typically seen to characterize young people, women, immigrants, and service sector workers; but particular segments of creative and immaterial ‘new labour’ are also identified with the ‘precariat’. However, in spite of all these groupings, lists, and clu…
Efficacy and Obligation
1995
In spite of their differences, most modern legal theories seem to accept a common necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the existence of a legal system (LS). A system of rules is an LS only if it is generally efficacious and performs certain social functions. There is, however, no agreement on the definition of efficacy or on the nature of relevant social functions.
A Prioritisation Model Aiding for the Solution of Illegal Buildings Problem
2016
In Italia, in particolare nelle aree del Sud, la costruzione di edifici e insediamenti abusivi è un problema importante e annoso che rimane irrisolto a dispetto di tre condoni edilizi. Ne deriva che le autorità pubbliche si trovano ad affrontare il problema della demolizione di un ingente numero di edifici, come prescritto dalla legislazione in materia. Ragioni di natura sociale e finanziaria impongono tuttavia l’esecuzione degli ordini di demolizione in maniera poco concentrata nel tempo, evidenziando il problema decisionale di stabilire un ordine di priorità relativo agli edifici interessati. Questa situazione preoccupante è divenuta oggetto di uno specifico disegno di legge che propone e…
T cell-independent joint destruction
1998
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disorder of unknown etiology. Although, early and late stages of the disease may be driven by different processes, affected joints are characterized by inflammation, synovial hyperplasia, and abnormal immune responses [1]. The abundance of T cells within the rheumatoid synovium as well as the association of certain major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules with RA [2] implied a central role for T cells in the pathophysiology of the disease. However, recent advances in molecular biology have fostered new concepts for the pathogenesis of RA. Specifically, the investigation of early stages of disease, the development of novel anim…
Gender Peer Effects in University: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
2010
Recent studies for primary and secondary education find positive effects of the share of girls in the classroom on achievement of boys and girls. This study examines whether these results can be extrapolated to post-secondary education. We conduct an experiment in which the shares of girls in workgroups for first year students in economics and business are manipulated and students are randomly assigned to these groups. Boys tend to postpone their dropout decision when surrounded by more girls, and there is also a modest reduction in early absenteeism. On the other hand, boys perform worse on courses with high math content when assigned to a group with many girls. Overall, however, we fail t…
A parental voice: parents as equal and dependent – rhetoric about parents, teachers, and their conversations
2009
This study analyses texts from the National Parents’ Committee for Primary and Lower Secondary Education in Norway and addresses how parents describe their own role, the teachers’ role, and their conversations. The theoretical perspective employed is Koselleck’s conceptual theory. The findings show that, despite having formal legal rights, parents must constantly legitimize these rights in school. Parents are expected to assume a passive role, while the teachers’ role is held to be active. Furthermore, the diversity among parents is not discussed. Parents moreover resign their own involvement in their children’s education in spite of the fact that teachers and parents may have different per…