Un clàssic del feminisme en català: La condició de la dona de Juliet Mitchell

Aquest article estudia la recepció a Catalunya d’una de les fundadores del pensament feminista contemporani: Juliet Mitchell. Les contribucions d’aquesta autora van ser fonamentals per a establir els límits de la relació entre el feminisme, el socialisme i la psicoanàlisi als anys setanta. Un dels seus llibres més importants, Woman’s State, es va publicar l’any 1971. En disposem d’una traducció catalana realitzada per Josep Vallverdú, sis anys després: La condició de la dona; el mateix any es va publicar La condición de la mujer, amb traducció de Julieta Diéguez Garza (es tracta d’una reedició per a la península d’una primera edició realitzada a Mèxic l’any 1974). En aquest estudi s’analitza la traducció catalana i es reflexiona sobre la seva importància en un context en què calia abastir de clàssics l’incipient teixit associatiu feminista.

Distribució espacial de la població immigrant a Osona. Una aproximació quantitativa

Un fet clau pel coneixement de la població immigrant i el disseny de polítiques d’acollida és la seva distribució territorial. Els indicadors de segregació residencial són una eina molt útil. En aquest article es proposen mesures contrastades internacionalment i s’apliquen al cas osonenc considerant Osona com a conjunt i també estudiant per separat el casos de Vic i Manlleu. Tot i ser una comarca amb un percentatge rellevant de població immigrant no es donen situacions segregatives que sí es troben en l’àmbit metropolità.

Bach després de Bach : ressonàncies bachianes en obres posteriors de Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Britten i Villa-Lobos

L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és estudiar la recepció de l’obra de Bach des de la seva vida fins l’actualitat. Es pretén, d’una banda, esbrinar quins són els motius que van produir que cada època històrica jutjés l’obra de Bach de diferent manera, quins van ser els mitjans de conservació de la seva obra així com quins canvis va patir la seva obra per tal d’encaixar amb cada època. D’altra banda pretén exemplificar aquesta diferència en la posició que cada època va atorgar a l’obra de Bach mitjançant obres de compositors posteriors (Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Britten i Villa-Lobos) que, cadascuna de manera diferent, contenen alguna reminiscència de Bach. La metodologia utilitzada ha consistit en la seva major part en la recerca bibliogràfica però també en la comparació de versions d’obres musicals en partitures i gravacions. La conclusió principal que es pot extreure d’aquest treball és que cadascú és producte de la seva època amb el seu context particular i per tant, qualsevol interpretació que pugui fer d’una obra musical amb el seu estil compositiu ve fortament determinat per la ideologia del context que l’envolta. És normal, doncs, que el segle XVIII la decadència del pensament religiós comportés un rebuig per l’obra de Bach la qual és majoritàriament de caràcter religiós, mentre que el segle XIX amb l’emergència de la burgesia i els seus valors romàntics s’elevés la figura de Bach com l’heroi del poble alemany.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

Marcadores Pragmáticos en lasTraducciones Rusas de la novela de P.G.Wodhouse “Right Ho, Jeeves”

Este trabajo se enfoca en la traslación de los marcadores pragmáticos en las traducciones rusas de "Right Ho, Jeeves" de P.G. Wodehouse. Aún siendo vacíos semánticamente y opcionales gramaticalmente, estas unidades son indispensables desde el punto de vista pragmático ya que desempeñan muchas funciones en los ámbitos textual e interpersonal. Como son multifuncionales y polisémicos, las equivalencias dadas en los diccionarios bilingües no alcanzan todas las situaciones comunicativas en que se utilizan. Son buenos indicadores que permiten observar la transferencia tanto de las peculiaridades discursivas como del retrato de la relación interpersonal de los protagonistas, dos componentes clave del humor de la novela analizada. El grado de conservación de la carga pragmática y del nivel de formalidad repecute en la construcción del caracter del personaje y en este caso en la representación de la pareja del señor y su criado — un constructo literario que varía según la cultura.

Marcadores pragmáticos en las traducciones rusas de la novela de P.G. Wodehouse "Right Ho, Jeeves"

Este trabajo se enfoca en la traslación de los marcadores pragmáticos en las traducciones rusas de "Right Ho, Jeeves" de P.G. Wodehouse. Aún siendo vacíos semánticamente y opcionales gramaticalmente, estas unidades son indispensables desde el punto de vista pragmático ya que desempeñan muchas funciones en los ámbitos textual e interpersonal. Como son multifuncionales y polisémicos, las equivalencias dadas en los diccionarios bilingües no alcanzan todas las situaciones comunicativas en que se utilizan. Son buenos indicadores que permiten observar la transferencia tanto de las peculiaridades discursivas como del retrato de la relación interpersonal de los protagonistas, dos componentes clave del humor de la novela analizada. El grado de conservación de la carga pragmática y del nivel de formalidad repecute en la construcción del caracter del personaje y en este caso en la representación de la pareja del señor y su criado — un constructo literario que varía según la cultura.

Els joves de l'aula d'acollida de l'institut : Integració i relacions

Aquest treball neix de la voluntat de saber si les les aules d'acollida estan en la bona direcció per assolir o facilitar la integració o inclusió social dels joves immigrats que hi assisteixen. Tot i partir d'un objectiu molt agosarat i sabent que la integració o inclusió social no la determina un sol factor, l'estudi es centra en analitzar les relacions socials dels joves assistents a l'aula d'acollida, tant dins de l'àmbit escolar com fora d'aquest, intentant vincular aquesta xarxa de relacions amb el grau d'inclusió a la comunitat on habiten, i en concret, dins del centre educatiu.

High-SNR analytical performance of spatial multiplexing MIMO systems with CSI

In this paper, we investigate the average andoutage performance of spatial multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with channel state information at both sides of the link. Such systems result, for example, from exploiting the channel eigenmodes in multiantenna systems. Dueto the complexity of obtaining the exact expression for the average bit error rate (BER) and the outage probability, we deriveapproximations in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime assuming an uncorrelated Rayleigh flat-fading channel. Moreexactly, capitalizing on previous work by Wang and Giannakis, the average BER and outage probability versus SNR curves ofspatial multiplexing MIMO systems are characterized in terms of two key parameters: the array gain and the diversity gain. Finally, these results are applied to analyze the performance of a variety of linear MIMO transceiver designs available in the literature.

Joint physical-MAC layer design of the broadcast channel protocol in adhoc networks

Broadcast transmission mode in ad hoc networks is critical to manage multihop routing or providing medium accesscontrol (MAC)-layer fairness. In this paper, it is shown that ahigher capacity to exchange information among neighbors may beobtained through a physical-MAC cross-layer design of the broadcastprotocol exploiting signal separation principles. Coherentdetection and separation of contending nodes is possible throughtraining sequences which are selected at random from a reducedset. Guidelines for the design of this set are derived for a lowimpact on the network performance and the receiver complexity.

Spatial filtering for pilot-aided WCDMA systems: a semi-blind subspace approach

This paper proposes a spatial filtering technique forthe reception of pilot-aided multirate multicode direct-sequencecode division multiple access (DS/CDMA) systems such as widebandCDMA (WCDMA). These systems introduce a code-multiplexedpilot sequence that can be used for the estimation of thefilter weights, but the presence of the traffic signal (transmittedat the same time as the pilot sequence) corrupts that estimationand degrades the performance of the filter significantly. This iscaused by the fact that although the traffic and pilot signals areusually designed to be orthogonal, the frequency selectivity of thechannel degrades this orthogonality at hte receiving end. Here,we propose a semi-blind technique that eliminates the self-noisecaused by the code-multiplexing of the pilot. We derive analyticallythe asymptotic performance of both the training-only andthe semi-blind techniques and compare them with the actual simulatedperformance. It is shown, both analytically and via simulation,that high gains can be achieved with respect to training-onlybasedtechniques.

Enhanced MDIR receiver for space-time dispersive channels

A particular property of the matched desiredimpulse response receiver is introduced in this paper, namely,the fact that full exploitation of the diversity is obtained withmultiple beamformers when the channel is spatially and timelydispersive. This particularity makes the receiver specially suitablefor mobile and underwater communications. The new structureprovides better performance than conventional and weightedVRAKE receivers, and a diversity gain with no needs of additionalradio frequency equipment. The baseband hardware neededfor this new receiver may be obtained through reconfigurabilityof the RAKE architectures available at the base station. Theproposed receiver is tested through simulations assuming UTRAfrequency-division-duplexing mode.

The IST METRA Project

This article summarizes the main achievementsof the Multi-Element Transmit andReceive Antennas (METRA) Project, an ISTresearch and technological development project carried out between January 2000 and June 2001 by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Center for Personkommunikation of Aalborg University, Nokia Networks, Nokia Mobile Phones, and Vodafone Group Research and Development.The main objective of METRA was the performanceevaluation of multi-antenna terminals incombination with adaptive antennas at the basestation in UMTS communication systems. 1 AMIMO channel sounder was developed that providedrealistic multi-antenna channel measurements.Using these measured data, stochasticchannel models were developed and properly validated.These models were also evaluated inorder to estimate their corresponding channelcapacity. Different MIMO configurations andprocessing schemes were developed for both theFDD and TDD modes of UTRA, and their linkperformance was assessed. Performance evaluationwas completed by system simulations thatillustrated the benefits of MIMO configurationsto the network operator. Implementation cost vs.performance improvement was also covered bythe project, including the base station and terminalmanufacturer and network operator viewpoints.Finally, significant standards contributionswere generated by the project and presented to the pertinent 3GPP working groups.

Joint array combining and MLSE for single-user receivers in multipath Gaussian multiuser channels

The well-known structure of an array combiner along with a maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) receiveris the basis for the derivation of a space-time processor presentinggood properties in terms of co-channel and intersymbol interferencerejection. The use of spatial diversity at the receiver front-endtogether with a scalar MLSE implies a joint design of the spatialcombiner and the impulse response for the sequence detector. Thisis faced using the MMSE criterion under the constraint that thedesired user signal power is not cancelled, yielding an impulse responsefor the sequence detector that is matched to the channel andcombiner response. The procedure maximizes the signal-to-noiseratio at the input of the detector and exhibits excellent performancein realistic multipath channels.

Spatial processing for frequency diversity schemes

A novel technique to obtain optimum blind spatialprocessing for frequency diversity spread spectrum (FDSS) communicationsystems is introduced. The sufficient statistics for alinear combiner, which prove ineffective due to the interferers frequencycharacteristics, are modified to yield improved detectionunder partial jamming in the spectral domain. Robustness to partialtime jamming is achieved by extending the notion of replicasover the frequency axis to a repetition over the time variable. Analysisand simulations are provided, showing the advantages of usingFDSS with spatial diversity to combat the interference when it isconfined to a narrow frequency band or short time interval relativeto the desired signal extent in either domain.