Propuesta de didactización de contenidos de historia de la traducción para la formación del traductor

La formación humanística inherente al traductor tiene uno de sus pilares en el conocimiento de la historia de la disciplina. En el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, el futuro traductor tiene la oportunidad de ampliar su cosmovisión y aprender a manejar la lanzadera del telar de conocimiento enciclopédico que le permitirá tramar sus textos con artesanal y artística destreza, siendo éste uno de los objetivos de nuestra propuesta. Para ello, optamos por una didactización de contenidos, cuya metodología permita un aprendizaje constructivo en el que, en primer lugar, tras unas pinceladas presentadas a través de una selección de imágenes que hacen visible la actividad traductora, se propone una distribución cronológica por grandes periodos históricos, basándose en conocimientos culturales previos. En cada uno de dichos periodos, se analizan los contextos histórico-sociales y políticos a través de los textos; para adentrarse después en las biografías, sacando a la luz a los actores del proceso traductor; y, por último, se lleva a cabo el análisis, debate y comentario de los textos de los traductores, bien producto de la reflexión sobre su quehacer o bien de la reescritura y recepción de su obra. Así, pues, proponemos una visión circular y constructivista de la historia de la traducción que hace el recorrido mencionado por contexto, actor y texto tejiéndolos en un telar común, donde el hilo conductor de la historia de la traducción forma la trama del tapiz.

Data analysis using circular causality in networks

Complex systems in causal relationships are known to be circular rather than linear; this means that a particular result is not produced by a single cause, but rather that both positive and negative feedback processes are involved. However, although interpreting systemic interrelationships requires a language formed by circles, this has only been developed at the diagram level, and not from an axiomatic point of view. The first difficulty encountered when analysing any complex system is that usually the only data available relate to the various variables, so the first objective was to transform these data into cause-and-effect relationships. Once this initial step was taken, our discrete chaos theory could be applied by finding the causal circles that will form part of the system attractor and allow their behavior to be interpreted. As an application of the technique presented, we analyzed the system associated with the transcription factors of inflammatory diseases.

Shaking-table tests of flat-bottom circular silos containing grain-like material

According to Eurocode 8, the seismic design of flat-bottom circular silos containing grain-like material is based on a rough estimate of the inertial force imposed on the structure by the ensiled content during an earthquake: 80% of the mass of the content multiplied by the peak ground acceleration. A recent analytical consideration of the horizontal shear force mobilised within the ensiled material during an earthquake proposed by some of the authors has resulted in a radically reduced estimate of this load suggesting that, in practice, the effective mass of the content is significantly less than that specified. This paper describes a series of laboratory tests that featured shaking table and a silo model, which were conducted in order to obtain some experimental data to verify the proposed theoretical formulations and to compare with the established code provisions. Several tests have been performed with different heights of ensiled material – about 0.5 mm diameter Ballotini glass – and different magnitudes of grain–wall friction. The results indicate that in all cases, the effective mass is indeed lower than the Eurocode specification, suggesting that the specification is overly conservative, and that the wall–grain friction coefficient strongly affects the overturning moment at the silo base. At peak ground accelerations up to around 0.35 g, the proposed analytical formulation provides an improved estimate of the inertial force imposed on such structures by their contents.

The deterioration of Circular Mausoleum, Roman Necropolis of Carmona, Spain

The Circular Mausoleum tomb in the Roman Necropolis of Carmona was carved on a calcarenite sequence in an ancient quarry located in the town of Carmona, Southern Spain. This rock-cut tomb, representative of Roman burial practices, currently suffers from serious deterioration. A detailed survey over several years permitted the identification of the main tomb's pathologies and damaging processes, which include loss of material (scaling, flaking, granular disintegration), surface modifications (efflorescences, crusts and deposits) and extensive biological colonization. The results obtained in this study indicated that anthropogenic changes were largely responsible and enhanced the main alteration mechanisms observed in the Circular Mausoleum. Based on the deterioration diagnosis, effective corrective actions were proposed. This study shows that any conservative intervention in the interior of the tomb should be preceded by accurate in situ measurements and laboratory analyses to ascribe the source of the deterioration damages and thus designing effective treatments.