MLA: International Bibliography

This article explores the problem of widespread use of Gothic motifs in Late Baroque churches in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its aim is to identify the abstract organizing principles common to both architectural languages, in order to move from a formal analysis to the possible motivations behind this phenomenon. Current research explains the influence of Gothic through two opposing tendencies: local tradition and the impact of the Borrominian language. The article argues that, in both cases, the choice reflects a conceptual motivation. It specifically focuses on the principles of integration and structural unity associated with Gothic architecture. A similar principle became relevant again in the eighteenth century. According to architectural phenomenologists, architecture can be understood through layers of meaning, and this article explores how such principles align with the medieval world-view that persisted in the mid-eighteenth century. The principle of unity is most clearly articulated through vertical connection, symbolizing the dependence of the earthly world on the heavens – an idea central to both scholasticism and the Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophical system.

Gli indici di leggibilità stabiliscono il livello di preparazione scolastica che un lettore deve avere per comprendere un testo e trovano applicazione in numerosi ambiti, dalle scuole alle aziende, ma anche negli ambienti militari. Si tratta di formule che, analizzando un testo, ne ricavano il grado di leggibilità. Occorre infatti conoscere il livello di difficoltà di un testo prima di somministrarlo a un lettore, se si vuole che esso venga compreso. Gli indici aiutano chi realizza i testi a trovare il giusto compromesso tra la leggibilità e la preparazione scolastica dei lettori. In alcuni paesi, come gli Stati Uniti, in alcune istituzioni scolastiche prima di fornire un testo agli studenti si richiede il valore di uno o più indici di leggibilità. Nelle aziende gli indici aiutano a redigere testi comprensibili a una folta platea di clienti, mentre in ambito militare da molti anni danno supporto a chi scrive manuali sull’uso degli armamenti. In questo articolo si descrive la realizzazione di un nuovo indice di leggibilità per l’italiano derivato dall’indice Rix-Pavan, a sua volta derivazione degli indici Rix e Lix. Sebbene l’IA sia in grado di stabilire la leggibilità di un testo, la frequenza di errori e inesattezze non consente, al momento, di ottenere risultati apprezzabili. Il nuovo indice, denominato Rix-Pavan-it, è molto più preciso del Rix-Pavan poiché utilizza il Nuovo Vocabolario di Base o NVdB edito da Tullio de Mauro (2016), al quale sono state aggiunte le principali forme flesse. Una nuova tabella di valutazione è stata redatta comparando i risultati dell’indice (realizzato al computer in una versione scritta in linguaggio Javascript) con una serie cospicua di testi letterari e articoli, scelti anche in base alle letture consigliate dai docenti dei vari ordini di scuola. I risultati sono molto incoraggianti e vengono qui proposti alcuni esempi di testi letterari analizzati e comparati con l’indice Rix-Pavan. Il nuovo indice consente di analizzare, nella versione al computer, testi di qualsiasi tipo, da quelli letterari agli articoli dei giornali. Può essere adottato dalle scuole e dalle pubbliche amministrazioni al fine di creare testi che abbiano un alto grado di leggibilità. Inoltre il codice Javascript consente la creazione di un file contenente le parole del testo che non appartengono al NVdB: questa caratteristica è un valido supporto per revisionare il testo, cercando i sinonimi adatti per le parole ritenute difficili.

The article explores the principle of bilateral symmetry and its expression in Baroque architecture. The symmetrical composition is linked to the fundamental artistic principles of the Baroque and it is argued that symmetry became the new architectural norm, replacing Renaissance harmony. The axis of symmetry is analyzed as an expression of Baroque contradictory harmony, with its qualities of open unity. The axis in the Baroque becomes a physical and symbolic axis of movement. In the second part of the article, the theoretical propositions are analyzed in the examples of Baroque churches of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A distinction is made between closed and open symmetrical ensembles. Different fields of meaning acquired by the axis of symmetry are recognized. The axis of symmetry in Baroque architecture is associated with contradictory qualities of unity and openness, which take their most pronounced forms in the period of Late Baroque.

The first Catholic parochial school in the USA was established as early as the mid-eighteenth century in Philadelphia, while general Catholic education peaked in the 1960s, when more than 4.5 million schoolchildren were taught in Catholic schools. This represented 12 percent of the total number of elementary school pupils in the USA.1 Although a few dozen Lithuanian Catholic parochial schools with a few thousand pupils made up just a tiny part of this phenomenon, it is believed that a case study may reveal general valuable characteristics common to the American Catholic architectural heritage. The results of this study are expected to be of relevance to the researchers of other ethnic groups and Catholic heritage, as most of these groups have gone through similar periods of development.

This review is dedicated to presenting Stasys Samalavičius' book 'Urban Culture and Everyday Life in Lithuania in the 17th and 18th Centuries'.

Šnipiškės is one of the most important suburbs of Vilnius. It was densely covered by wooden and masonry buildings. The territory was subjected to essential changes during the Soviet period when private property was nationalized and new projects of urban development were introduced. Later in the twentieth century, large scale reconstruction was started that changed the structure and character of the area. The article examines these changes.

The article describes the use of software, written by the author, to analyze some Italian literature works from the last century by using sentiment analysis. The software is lexicon-based, with a sentiment Italian dictionary including about 30,000 positive and negative words. To set the sentiment of each word, a scale of points ranging from 0 to 100 was introduced. To check the overall sentiment in literary works, the software makes use of a new parameter, the index of positivity. It is found that sentiment analysis is an efficient way to detect the tendency of opinions (positive or negative) in literature works. The results of this analysis coincide with the critics on the classification of authors’ tendencies. The index of positivity could be useful also for bookstores: the customers, checking the index, would expect in advance, which is the overall tendency in a literary work. In this case, it would be easier to select a certain kind of work, according to the taste or the wish of customers.