Territorially unequal rural development: the cases of the LEADER Initiative and the PRODER Programme in Andalusia (Spain)

This paper studies the territorial effects of the LEADER approach in Southern Europe, by analysing the region of Andalusia (Spain). Our research has revealed that, in many cases, projects were concentrated in the most dynamic, most populated areas, with a well-established business network with the financial and organizational capacity required to access European funding. In these areas, the economic leadership of the most dynamic municipalities has been reinforced at the expense of more depressed areas with little social capital and few businesses. These programmes have not, therefore, helped to mitigate territorial imbalances. In a minority of rural areas, however, this trend was not observed, which shows that although territorial inequality is a widespread problem in the practice of neo-endogenous rural development, it does not affect all areas to the same degree.     

Unofficial Road Building in the Amazon: Socioeconomic and Biophysical Explanations

Roads have manifold social and environmental impacts, including regional development, social conflicts and habitat fragmentation. ‘Road ecology’ has emerged as an approach to evaluate the various ecological and hydrological impacts of roads. This article aims to complement road ecology by examining the socio‐spatial processes of road building itself. Focusing on the Brazilian Amazon, a heavily‐studied context due to forest fragmentation by roads, the authors consider non‐state social actors who build ‘unofficial roads’ for the purpose of gaining access to natural resources to support livelihoods and community development. They examine four case studies of roads with distinct histories in order to explain the socio‐spatial processes behind road building in terms of profit maximization, land tenure claims, co‐operative and conflictive political ecologies, and constraints as well as opportunities afforded by the biophysical environment. The study cases illustrate the need for a multi‐pronged theoretical approach to understanding road building, and call for more attention to the role of non‐state actors in road construction.     

What is in a word? Neuron: Early usage and evolution in antiquity to its long-lasting current significance

Neuron, a Greek term with a rustic background, made much of its way to its current significance since antiquity, when full recognition was achieved that sensory and motor signals travel through the animal body along nerves (neura, plural). Drawing from classic and recent historical scholarship, this study identifies the successive steps toward such a major breakthrough, starting from the usage of the expression in archaic times and continuing up to the much later transference of a mature theory into the modern world. It is shown that four main consecutive stages may be distinguished in the process: (a) incorporation of the word into early anatomical terminology; (b) theorizing on material composition, origin, properties, and role of the neura in animal bodies; (c) functional association of the neura with a transmitting vehicle; (d) identification of true anatomical and physiological correspondences. Upon this over 2000-year-old foundation is still being built one of the most relevant and fascinating scientific adventures of all time.     

Sigmund Freud's contribution to the history of the neuronal cytoskeleton

In the summers of 1879 and 1881, while Freud was a research student in Ernst von Brücke's laboratory at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Vienna, he carried out an important though seldom remembered investigation on the internal structure of nerve fibers and cells. His contribution to this field is here examined in the context of the 19th-century debate regarding the existence of neurofibrils and of present views on the cytoskeleton. Freud was able to discern separate fine fibrils following straight courses within the nerve fibers, as well as concentric loops of striae surrounding the nuclei and converging towards the processes of the cell bodies in crayfish nervous tissue. He thus confirmed and extended observations made by Robert Remak almost 40 years earlier, which had remained controversial. Electron microscopy of the crustacean nervous system confirmed Freud's main points, which in turn vindicated those of Remak. Both researchers were looking at small bundles of microtubules, and thus they were among the first to picture the lacy intracellular framework that future cell biologists would call the cytoskeleton.     

Citizenship and religion in the Italian constitutions, 1796-1849

This article explores the link between religion and politics, religious liberty and the rights of religious minorities, by focusing on the constitutions which Italian states adopted and discarded from 1796 to 1849. It concerns questions about the ‘national character’ and the rights and duties of the citizen, and argues that - far from being ‘an outlet’ for material discontent - questions of religious identity and pluralism were integral to the Risorgimento definition of liberty. In this context, the author explores also the Mazzinian vision of a democratic republic inspired by an acephalous and non-hierarchical civil religion, similar to the Unitarian Transcendentalism practiced by some of his New York admirers - a far cry from the ‘religions of politics’ inspired by Saint Simon and Auguste Comte.     

Sigmund Freud's Contribution to the History of the Neuronal Cytoskeleton

In the summers of 1879 and 1881, while Freud was a research student in Ernst von Brücke's laboratory at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Vienna, he carried out an important though seldom remembered investigation on the internal structure of nerve fibers and cells. His contribution to this field is here examined in the context of the 19th-century debate regarding the existence of neurofibrils and of present views on the cytoskeleton. Freud was able to discern separate fine fibrils following straight courses within the nerve fibers, as well as concentric loops of striae surrounding the nuclei and converging towards the processes of the cell bodies in crayfish nervous tissue. He thus confirmed and extended observations made by Robert Remak almost 40 years earlier, which had remained controversial. Electron microscopy of the crustacean nervous system confirmed Freud's main points, which in turn vindicated those of Remak. Both researchers were looking at small bundles of microtubules, and thus they were among the first to picture the lacy intracellular framework that future cell biologists would call the cytoskeleton.