Alien gosd in the new epics: Noah remythologised through the ancient astronaut hypothesis in Abel's Montagut's "La gesta d'Utnoa"

Modern scientific world-view has undermined traditional myths, the functional survival of which seems to depend today in the West on a positivist justification. This would place them in the field of real History, through their study and revitalization by pseudoscientific disciplines such as the Atlantis and the ancient astronaut hypotheses. These have inspired new epic poems in (regular) verse that combine classic and/or biblical myths with a (pseudo)scientific modern world-view. For example, the critical rewriting of Noah’s myth by using the ancient astronaut hypothesis as a fictional device to produce a contemporary kind of plausibility allowed Abel Montagut to renew epic poetry, updating it also by adopting science fiction chronotopes in order to structure his fictional construction and to generate a high ethical sense for our time. Thus, his Poemo de Utnoa (1993) / La gesta d’Utnoa (1996), which has become a major classic of the literature in Esperanto thanks to its original version in this language, is a landmark of both science fiction and neo-biblical epics. This poem is written from a secular and purely literary perspective.

El diagnóstico de la crisis de la cultura en España: del recorte público a la crisis sistémica

Desde su invención en los años cincuenta, la política cultural ha sido objeto de análisis y reflexión por parte de las ciencias sociales. No obstante, en España presenta una serie de características diferenciadoras frente a las democracias occidentales europeas como consecuencia del periodo franquista. Con la recuperación de la democracia España adquiere el paradigma dominante de una política cultural democrática basada en la libertad, el pluralismo y el derecho a la cultura. Sin embargo, tras décadas de gobiernos democráticos el diagnóstico de la política cultural en España presenta rasgos de crisis sistémica, además de los efectos de la crisis global financiera de inicios del siglo XXI. En este contexto, los autores diagnostican, aplicando la metodología Delphi y recurriendo a fuentes secundarias, un conjunto de discursos sociales y narrativas que parecen funcionar como recursos cognitivos solucionistas en la esfera artística y cultural y que no están exentos de contradicciones y aporías, fruto de su contraste empírico.

New Irish speakers and the ‘gaelicisation’ of Belfast

New Irish speakers in Belfast play a crucial, complex part in the revitalization and change of both the city and Irish within Northern Ireland. This paper examines the role of new Irish speakers in transforming Belfast, whose emergence from a post-conflict period involves a reassessment of communal cultural expressions. Markers of ethno-national identity are bitterly contentious locally, and yet increasingly celebrated, in line with international trends, as high status cultural forms and potentially profitable tourist attractions. Irish in Belfast currently occupies an ambiguous position: divisive enough for a sign reading ‘Happy Christmas’ in Irish to be experienced as an insult by some city councillors, yet a secure enough part of the establishment for a neighbourhood to be officially rebranded as the Gaeltacht Quarter.
When, how and where new Irish speakers use the language in Belfast has implications for the relationship of Irishness to the Northern Irish state and for the place of Belfast within regional frameworks across the UK, Ireland and Europe. Adult learners and young people exiting Irish medium education have an impact on life in Belfast beyond its small population of Irish speakers. Urbanisation fuelled by new speakers, which shifts the balance of Irish language resources and speakers away from traditional rural Gaeltacht areas and towards cities, also has implications for the language itself. Recent increase in new Irish speakers in Belfast is due to expansion in the Irish-medium sector as well as to adult learners, whose decisions contribute to the school expansion.
Urbanisation, multilingualism and intergenerational shift combine in Belfast to produce new linguistic norms. Moreover, in a minority language community where hierarchies of ‘authenticity’ are weighted towards the rural and the native speaker, where the rural and the native have traditionally been conflated, and where indigeneity is a central concept to contested nationalisms, the emergence of a self-confident, youthful Irish speaking community in Northern Ireland’s biggest city involves a recalibration of the qualities signifying ‘gaelicness’. As students, professionals, hobbyists and activists, new Irish speakers in Belfast occupy a vital position at the crux of changing ideas about place, language and identity.

An R-matrix approach for plasma modelling and the interpretation of astrophysical observation

Over the last decade an Auburn-Rollins-Strathclyde consortium has developed several suites of parallel R-matrix codes [1, 2, 3] that can meet the fundamental data needs required for the interpretation of astrophysical observation and/or plasma experiments. Traditionally our collisional work on light fusion-related atoms has been focused towards spectroscopy and impurity transport for magnetically confined fusion devices. Our approach has been to provide a comprehensive data set for the excitation/ionization for every ion stage of a particular element. As we progress towards a burning fusion plasma, there is a demand for the collisional processes involving tungsten, which has required a revitalization of the relativistic R-matrix approach. The implementation of these codes on massively parallel supercomputers has facilitated the progression to models involving thousands of levels in the close-coupling expansion required by the open d and f sub-shell systems of mid Z tungsten. This work also complements the electron-impact excitation of Fe-Peak elements required by astrophysics, in particular the near neutral species, which offer similar atomic structure challenges. Although electron-impact excitation work is our primary focus in terms of fusion application, the single photon photoionisation codes are also being developed in tandem, and benefit greatly from this ongoing work.

O planeamento comercial em Portugal : os projectos especiais de urbanismo comercial

Tese de doutoramento, Geografia (Planeamento Regional e Urbano), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território, 2015

Negritude e literatura de cordel: uma épica da interculturalidade ante o supranacional

Escrever é um dos mais poderosos instrumentos usados pela mídia para levar informações vitais. Nesse sentido, o efeito das “novas ideologias”, para valorização da identidade afro-brasileira, incidem diretamente sobre a produção literária como uma mensagem rigorosamente direcionada a um público menos especializado como receptor. O presente artigo discute a relação entre o gênero cordel e algumas das políticas culturais aplicadas no nordeste do Brasil. Tal estratégia vem comprovar não apenas o processo ativo de negociação entre os grupos subalternizados e os discursos dos poderes hegemônicos, mas também a reatualização do gênero literário do cordel, com o aparecimento de novos narradores e temáticas. Como se observa estes narradores estão plenamente conscientes dos seus papéis políticos ante a comunidade de que, fazem parte. Circulando em um espaço geográfico urbano, a produção não depende da condição econômica de seus leitores para sua aquisição, uma vez que sua distribuição centraliza-se na informação gratuita. Ao contrário da literatura “tradicional”, o real e o verossímil possuem objetivos definidos como informar e ensinar o destinatário sobre a nova lei em vigor. Nesse caso, a literatura cumpre de imediato um de seus papéis clássicos, o de ser útil, revestindo-se de funções igualmente nobres, provocando a “catarse social” de indivíduos pela aquisição de um saber inerente `a sua condição de cidadão.

Portuguese newspapers’ front-page and the coverage of European Cultural Capital: Porto 2001 and Guimarães 2012

Portugal hosted in the last thirteen years, two editions of the event European Cultural Capital; this paper intends to illustrate the coverage that Portuguese newspapers (daily newspapers Público, Diário de Notícias, Correio da Manhã and Jornal de Notícias, a weekly newsmagazine Visão and a weekly newspaper Expresso) made, through referrals in front-page and respective developments within the editions, to each of the events and that allows us to define the main moments that marked each of them, patterns of action, the major players, planning and programming types. The European Cultural Capital project elects, from year to year, cities of different EU member states with the main goal of “contributing to bring together the Europe´s people" (words of Mélina Mercouri, Greek Minister of Culture who, in 1985, proposed the launch of this initiative) and encouraging the elected urban space to present new cultural paradigms. In the genesis of this model is the cultural decentralization’s vector, a possibility to medium-sized cities of funding public works, restoring heritage and promoting themselves in touristic terms, of giving visibility to cities away from cultural and creative industries’ major distribution centers. A crucial factor to achieve this goal is media coverage. This paper outline the information that the Portuguese press ran over the two years that elapsed the latest editions of the European Cultural Capital in Portugal, namely that media coverage have deviated from the disclosure of the events’ schedule to suggest itineraries of visit and little or not even question the role that cities, promoting such initiatives, have as places of innovation in terms of cultural policies, artistic production and innovation, in urban and environmental regeneration, in economic revitalization, in training and creating new artists and new audiences and in boosting the confidence of local communities. The content analysis performed to articles shows how press is essential to the promotion of cities as cultural/touristic destinations as it stimulates consumption among residents and attracts visitors, with the possible dire consequence of turning the cultural journalist into an agent of touristic instead of cultural promotion.

Newspaper coverage impact on cultural events: Porto 2001 and Guimarães 2012: European Cultural Capitals

Artigo baseado na comunicação proferida no 1st International Symposium on Media Studies, realizado na Akdeniz Universitesi Yayınları, Antalya, Turquia, 21-23 de novembro de 2013

Dimensionamento de redes hidráulicas prediais

Relatório de Estágio para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia na Área de Especializção em Edificações

Implementação de ações estratégicas: participação dos alunos na vida da escola

O presente trabalho de projeto resulta de um estudo dos espaços de participação, dos alunos dos 2.º e 3.º ciclo do ensino básico, na vida da escola, permitindo a construção de um dispositivo de intervenção, que pretende implementar ações estratégicas que visem a ampliação desses espaços de participação. O seu desenvolvimento teórico assenta na necessidade da revitalização da cultura democrática participativa, através de uma maior e melhor participação. Neste campo, a escola, como lugar de interação quotidiana dos seus alunos, tem um papel importante a desempenhar na capacitação de uma participação ativa. Para tal urge a necessidade de implementação de ações estratégicas, em coerência com os documentos estruturantes da organização e de todos os seus órgãos de administração e gestão, de forma a instituir a mudança e a inovação na cultura de trabalho como um dos aspetos chave para o sucesso organizacional da escola. O trabalho de projeto foi realizado numa escola pública dos 2.º e 3.º ciclos e a amostra do estudo, foi composta por 401 alunos dos 2.º e 3.º ciclos e 31 professores Diretores de Turma. Os instrumentos de recolha de dados foram dois inquéritos por questionário, um para aplicar aos alunos, e outro aos Diretores de Turma, e a análise de conteúdo dos documentos orientadores da escola. Os resultados mostraram que os alunos possuem uma débil participação na vida da escola, quer ao nível dos documentos orientadores, quer na sua representação nos diferentes órgãos. No plano de ação, é apresentado um conjunto de propostas, que pretendem constituir-se como um dispositivo para colmatar esta debilidade.

Depois da morte. O restauro imaterial da encomendação das almas

A Encomendação das Almas é um ritual do culto dos mortos praticado no tempo da Quaresma, realizado por grupos de pessoas, em geral mulheres, que se reúnem, à noite, para cantar e rezar pelas/às almas dos mortos no Purgatório e pelas/dos que, ainda vivos, já se encontram em agonias de morte. No ritual, as encomendadoras apelam aos que as escutam para se recordarem das almas dos que já não são vivos. Na atualidade, a Encomendação das Almas tem sido revitalizada em várias localidades da Beira Baixa, um trabalho protagonizado por migrantes de ‘regresso-­‐à-­‐terra’. Este projeto questiona o modo como o ritual tem contribuído para a re-­‐agregação e o reforço dos laços de sociabilidade entre elementos da comunidade, mas é também usado como um bem patrimonial imaterial de valoração de identidades locais. Questiona-­‐se, também, sobre as sensações, percepções e concepções ontológicas que poderão ser restauradas na performance da Encomendação das Almas, para quem a corporaliza e para os que a ouvem.

Processo especial de revitalização

The following report aims to present the internship developed under the Master in Legal Sciences Business in the Legal Affairs management of Caixa Geral de Depósitos S.A. Activities were developed in the field of Banking Law, focusing on the Special Revitalization Process. The aim of these activities was to promote the construction of a study that, apart from its doctrinal and jurisprudential research, also excels in the practical adequacy of the regime lectured. The revitalizing effectiveness of the Special Revitalization Process is erected in the Article 17-E, nº 1, which establishes a series of procedural – stand still effects - which aim to allow the debtor "breathing space", ie, a period during which creditors are prevented from setting up "actions for debt collection" against him, suspending the pending actions with identical purposes. Therefore, this report essentially studies these effects, considering "actions in debt collection" executive actions that are intended to recover a debt of any kind, including anticipatory precautionary procedures of an action of this nature. In addition, it is necessary to set boundaries temporally and subjectively to the standstill period, understanding that this period should be extended beyond the legally established period, in order to preserve the ratio of the process, concretely, until the recovery plan effects. In turn, we understand that the standstill effects only apply to the established material in connection with the debtor, remaining the rights of creditors unaffected over the ones of the guarantors and debtors.

Indigenous Language Reclamation: The Learners Perspective

ABSTRACT This study explored the link between learning an Indigenous language and the meanings second language learners attach to their language recovery experiences. The study delves into the factors that motivate, enhance and serve as barriers to individual language revitalization efforts. With the goal of reasserting an Indigenous world view, the traditional teachings of the Ojibwe medicine wheel were combined with the lessons of the seven Grandfathers to provide a methodological basis for conducting ethical research with and for the benefit of First Nations people. Within the context of our relationships with self, community, spirit and environment, the pairing of Indigenous theory with the practical community experiences of Indigenous second language learners, demonstrates how Indigenous systems of thought and ontology lend themselves well to the critical understanding necessary to enhance the recovery our own endangered languages. These research findings indicate that there is a definite link between ancestral language reclamation and increased levels of self-esteem, a sense of grounded cultural identity and resilience, an overall sense of healing and the social responsibility that comes with receiving the gift of language. The barriers associated with learning an ancestral language intersect on multiple and often simultaneous levels making it difficult for the language learners to discover their origin.This research found that it was important for language learners to identify that they often carry a collective sense of shame associated with an internalized attachment to the modality of Indigeneity. Once the origin of this shame was acknowledged – as resulting from settler/assimilation logics, it was often possible for people to move forward in their language recovery journeys, while at the same time considering more broadly the structural barriers that make individual learning so difficult.

Transforming Downtown St. Catharines into a Creative Cluster

The City of St. Catharines, located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, is Niagara Region's only major urban node. Like many small/medium-sized cities in Canada and abroad, the city experienced a rapid decline of large-scale manufacturing in the 1990s. In a renewed attempt to recover from this economic depression, and spurred by Provincial policy, the City implemented the Downtown Creative Cluster Master Plan (DCCMP) in 2008. In this thesis I conduct a discourse analysis of the DCCMP. My analysis indicates that DCCMP is shaped by neoliberal economic development paradigms. As such it is designed to restructure the downtown into a creative cluster by attracting developers/investors and appealing to the interests, tastes, and desires of middle-class consumers and creatives. I illustrate that this competitive city approach to urban planning has a questionable track record, and has been shown to result in retail and residential gentrification and displacement.

Entre politique et thérapeutique : usages du rituel de la tente à sudation dans le cadre de la revitalisation culturelle amérindienne au Québec

Depuis la fin des années 1980, le phénomène de revitalisation culturelle amérindienne observé à l’échelle continentale s’est enraciné au Québec. Ce phénomène panindien, qui se définit entre autres par un mouvement de guérison dit communautaire – c’est- à-dire qui s’organise à l’intérieur-même des communautés (par opposition à ce qui vient de l’extérieur) – est caractérisé par la prise en charge des problèmes sociaux rencontrés par les populations amérindiennes. Par l’analyse du rite de la tente à sudation, une pratique emblématique de la spiritualité panindienne et du mouvement de guérison, ce mémoire explore la dualité des stratégies de relation d’aide qui y sont déployées. Pour ce faire, l’expérience en milieu carcéral et en communauté d’aînés et d’intervenants autochtones a été prise à témoin. L’enquête de terrain révèle ainsi qu’en parallèle avec la fonction de mobilisation sociale et politique associée à la revitalisation culturelle amérindienne, on assiste à une instrumentation du rituel à des fins psychothérapeutiques. Tout en s’inscrivant dans la structure cosmologique commune à plusieurs traditions orales algonquiennes, cet usage particulier de la symbolique du rituel met à jour une vision plus clinique, plus individualisée et plus dépolitisée de la guérison autochtone habituellement revendiqué dans le discours panindien.