Caracteritació de models funcionals d'àmfores romanes mitjançant Finite Element Analysis

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada al Laboratory of Archaeometry del National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos” d’Atenes, Grècia, entre juny i setembre 2006. Aquest estudi s’emmarca dins d’un context més ampli d’estudi del canvi tecnològic que es documenta en la producció d’àmfores de tipologia romana durant els segles I aC i I dC en els territoris costaners de Catalunya. Una part d’aquest estudi contempla el càlcul de les propietats mecàniques d’aquestes àmfores i la seva avaluació en funció de la tipologia amforal, a partir de l’Anàlisi d’Elements Finits (AEF). L’AEF és una aproximació numèrica que té el seu origen en les ciències d’enginyeria i que ha estat emprada per estimar el comportament mecànic d’un model en termes, per exemple, de deformació i estrès. Així, un objecte, o millor dit el seu model, es dividit en sub-dominis anomenats elements finits, als quals se’ls atribueixen les propietats mecàniques del material en estudi. Aquests elements finits estan connectats formant una xarxa amb constriccions que pot ser definida. En el cas d’aplicar una força determinada a un model, el comportament de l’objecte pot ser estimat mitjançant el conjunt d’equacions lineals que defineixen el rendiment dels elements finits, proporcionant una bona aproximació per a la descripció de la deformació estructural. Així, aquesta simulació per ordinador suposa una important eina per entendre la funcionalitat de ceràmiques arqueològiques. Aquest procediment representa un model quantitatiu per predir el trencament de l’objecte ceràmic quan aquest és sotmès a diferents condicions de pressió. Aquest model ha estat aplicat a diferents tipologies amforals. Els resultats preliminars mostren diferències significatives entre la tipologia pre-romana i les tipologies romanes, així com entre els mateixos dissenys amforals romans, d’importants implicacions arqueològiques.

Greece and Platonic Love in E. M. Forster's Maurice, or the greatness and limits of Antiquity as a source of inspiration.

The aim of this article is to show how, although the evident idealization of Greece and Platonic love throughout the Victorian-Edwardian England, both also show their limits. In order to make it clear the author refers constantly to the implicit Greek texts such as Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus and perhaps even to Plutarch¿s Eroticus in search of a Classical Tradition which is highly significant in order to understand that England at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Viatjant a Grècia en cerca de l'ideal hel·lènic

Aquest és un article de síntesi que analitza sobretot l'anomenat Grand Tour i la cerca de l'ideal hel·lenic per part de tot un llarg seguit de personatges. Ells i els seus llibres i textos, anomenats aquí i dels quals se'n recullen nombrosos passatges, han estat veritablement significatius en la història del redescobriment europeu de Grècia: George Wheler, Jacob Spon, marquès de Nointel, James Stuart, Nicholas Revett, Robert Wood, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Antiquities of Athens, Antiquities of Ionia, Richard Chandler, Lord Elgin, Lord Byron, Konstantinos P. Kavafis, etc.

Viajando a Grecia en busca del ideal helénico

Este es un artículo de síntesis que analiza sobre todo el llamado Grand Tour y la búsqueda del ideal helénico por parte de una larga serie de personajes. Ellos y sus libros y textos, ciados aquí y de los cuales se recogen numerosos pasajes, han sido verdaderamente significativos en la historia del redescubrimiento europeo de Grecia: George Wheler, Jacob Spon, marquès de Nointel, James Stuart, Nicholas Revett, Robert Wood, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Antiquities of Athens, Antiquities of Ionia, Richard Chandler, Lord Elgin, Lord Byron, Konstantinos P. Kavafis, etc.

A Spanish version of the athens insomnia scale

Objectives To develop and validate a Spanish version of the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Methods The AIS is designed to assess sleep difficulty and comprises eight items: the first five refer to the sleep disturbance and the last three to the daytime consequences. Either the full eight-item scale (AIS-8) or the brief form (AIS-5) can be administered. The adaptation used a backtranslation design. The validation process was based on a sample of 323 participants (undergraduates, community sample and psychiatric outpatients), which completed the AIS and other questionnaires: anxiety (BAI), depression (BDI) and psychological well-being (GHQ-12) scales. Results The internal consistency coefficients for both versions were above 0.80. The study of dimensionality revealed a single factor with high loadings and a percentage of explained variance above 50% in both versions. Test-retest reliability was above 0.70 (AIS-5) and over 0.80 (AIS-8) at a one-month interval. The correlation between the AIS and the previously mentioned scales was for both the AIS-5 and the AIS-8 above 0.40 and 0.50, respectively.

Technology transfer at the periphery of the Mycenaean world: the cases of Mycenaean pottery found in central Macedonia (Greece) and the Plain of Sybaris (Italy)

The study of technology transfer in pottery production to the periphery of the Mycenaean world has been addressed by considering two different areas, southern Italy and central Macedonia. Technological features such as ceramic paste, decoration and firing have been determined for different ceramic groups established according to provenance criteria. The studies of technology and provenance have been performed following an archaeometric approach, using neutron activation analysis, petrographic analysis, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results have revealed the existence of two different models. On the one hand, southern Italy seems to exhibit a more organized pottery production, which follows a Mycenaean-like technology, while in central Macedonia production is probably more varied, being based in part on the technology of the local tradition.

Olympic cities and communication

Article published in Greek in the special issue "The Olympic Games: the mega sports and media event" of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens journal Communication Issues (2004, no.1), discussing the need for establishing a communication model for city-games relations.

La mujer y los Juegos Olímpicos: análisis a través de los medios de comunicación: retos para Beijing 2008

Después de un recorrido por la historia de los Juegos Olímpicos, el documento analiza el papel de la mujer en los Juegos de Sydney 2000 y Atenas 2004 , y elabora una serie de retos para los futuros Juegos de Beijing 2008. Este trabajo fue presentado por la autora en la Academia Olímpica Española, en la convocatoria 2005.

Unstable equilibrium: young adult women in family and career formation in Southern Europe

The paper examines the relationship between family formation (i.e., living with a partner and having children) and women’s occupational career in southern Europe (i.e., Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain). The relationship is explored by analysing the impact that different family structures and male [nvolvement in caring activities have on women’s early occupational trajectories (i.e., remaining in the same occupational status, experiencing downward or upward mobility, or withdrawing from paid work). This research shows that male involvement in caring activities does not really push women ahead in their career, but the absolute lack of male support seems to negatively affect women’s permanence in paid work. These results apply to all southern European countries except Portugal, where the absolute absence of the partners’ support in caring activities does not seem to alter women’s determination to remain in paid work. The methodology applied consists of the estimation of multinomial logit regression models and the analysis is based on eight waves (1994-2001) of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP).

The evolution of adult height in Europe: A brief note

This paper presents new evidence on the evolution of adult height in 10 Europeancountries for cohorts born between 1950 and 1980 using the European CommunityHousehold Panel (ECHP), which collects height data from Austria, Belgium, Denmark,Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Our findings show agradual increase in adult height across all countries. However, countries from SouthernEurope (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) experienced higher gains in stature than thoselocated in Northern Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden).

Reprisals remembered: German-Greek conflict and car sales during the Euro crisis

During the Greek debt crisis after 2010, the German government insisted on harshausterity measures. This led to a rapid cooling of relations between the Greekand German governments. We compile a new index of public acrimony betweenGermany and Greece based on newspaper reports and internet search terms. Thisinformation is combined with historical maps on German war crimes during theoccupation between 1941 and 1944. During months of open conflict between Germanand Greek politicians, German car sales fell markedly more than those of cars fromother countries. This was especially true in areas affected by German reprisals duringWorldWar II: areas where German troops committed massacres and destroyed entirevillages curtailed their purchases of German cars to a greater extent during conflictmonths than other parts of Greece. We conclude that cultural aversion was a keydeterminant of purchasing behavior, and that memories of past conflict can affecteconomic choices in a time-varying fashion. These findings are compatible withbehavioral models emphasizing the importance of salience for individual decision-making.

El tiempo de la matemática

Since the Old Order of the Time was subverted in Greece by establishing a New Order of the Space, the conjugation of Mathematics with temporality has been extremely problematic. Those have escaped from the temporary obligation both as delimiting their objects as assigning them their truth or falsehood. Nevertheless, the History of Mathematics seems to indicate that where truths of this science try to lead an independent existence apart from their creators, that is to say, in the context of their justification, time exerts its retaliations upon this escape.

Philo of Alexandria's De opificio mundi (LIII-LXI): discovering the essential features of Greek and Western Misogyny in a Platonising Jewish Text

The aim of this article is to show the Western centuries-old misogynist tradition from its origins in Greece by analysing a text by the allegorical interpreter of the Bible Philo of Alexandria, his De opifico mundi, which on many occasions is read by him from a Platonic point of view. The accurate analysis of the chapters devoted to the creation of the woman by God proves to what extent it is not possible to understand this text if one does not take into account a Greek philosophical tradition which was already centuries-old.

Algunas reflexiones críticas sobre la lectura de Michel Foucault del Erótico (Amatorius) de Plutarco

El objetivo de este artículo es reflexionar sobre la lectura de M. Foucault del Erótico de Plutarco en su Histoire de la sexualité, poniendo especial énfasis en el hecho de que, en contra de lo que afirma el pensador francés, el centro del debate no es, en opinión del autor, el tema del verdadero placer, el obtenido por el erastés de su erómenos o el obtenido por el marido de su mujer, sino la necesidad de atribuir también eros y amistad (éros kaì philia) al amor matrimonial.

Algunes reflexions crítiques al voltant de la lectura de Michel Foucault de L'Eròtic (Amatorius) de Plutarc

L'objectiu d'aquest article és fer una reflexió crítica de la lectura de M. Fouccault de l'Eròtic de Plutarc en la seva Histoire de la sexualité, posant especial èmfasi en el fet que, en contra del que afirma el pensador francès, el centre del debat no és, en opinió de l'autor, el tema del veritable plaer, l'obtingut per l'erastés del seu erómenos o l'obtingut pel marit de la muller, sinó la necessitat d'atribuir també éros i amistat (éros kaì philia) a l'amor matrimonial.