This article deals with a modern disease of academic science that consists of an enormous increase in the number of scientific publications without a corresponding advance of knowledge. Findings are sliced as thin as salami and submitted to different journals to produce more papers. If we consider academic papers as a kind of scientific ‘currency’ that is backed by gold bullion in the central bank of ‘true’ science, then we are witnessing an article-inflation phenomenon, a scientometric bubble that is most (...) harmful for science and promotes an unethical and antiscientific culture among researchers. The main problem behind the scenes is that the impact factor is used as a proxy for quality. Therefore, not only for convenience, but also based on ethical principles of scientific research, we adhere to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment when it emphasizes “the need to eliminate the use of journal-based metrics in funding, appointment and promotion considerations; and the need to assess research on its own merits rather on the journal in which the research is published”. Our message is mainly addressed to the funding agencies and universities that award tenures or grants and manage research programmes, especially in developing countries. The message is also addressed to well-established scientists who have the power to change things when they participate in committees for grants and jobs. (shrink)

Among the various contemporary schools of moral thinking, consequence-based ethics, as opposed to rule-based, seems to have a good acceptance among professionals such as software engineers. But naïve consequentialism is intellectually too weak to serve as a practical guide in the profession. Besides, the complexity of software systems makes it very hard to know in advance the consequences that will derive from professional activities in the production of software. Therefore, following the spirit of well-known codes of ethics such as the (...) ACM/IEEE’s, we advocate for a more solid position in the ethical education of software engineers, which we call ‘moderate deontologism’, that takes into account both rules and consequences to assess the goodness of actions, and at the same time pays an adequate consideration to the absolute values of human dignity. In order to educate responsible professionals, however, this position should be complemented with a pedagogical approach to virtue ethics. (shrink)

The Man is a relational being influenced by the environment and by others. A relationship that can be positive since it allows dialogue, fraternity, affection and care or negative, because it can generate overprotection, destruction and even violence. In this sense, in this work we will delve into the understanding of precisely what is different. For this, we will focus on the case of rare diseases and the mechanisms to minimize the exclusion processes suffered by this group of people, the (...) relationship with medical professionals and aspects related to the world of work, among others. A series of aspects that, due to the low prevalence of these diseases, are little studied so that progress in the knowledge of these diseases is greatly reduced. All this entails serious consequences for the people affected, finding themselves unprotected in areas such as social and labor. (shrink)

Desde os anos 1960, muitos educadores populares atuaram no Brasil com “objetivos políticos”, buscando construir uma hegemonia popular alcançada “antes de conquistar o poder governamental”. Pretende-se pesquisar a contribuição dessa síntese fecunda entre educação e política nos movimentos populares para o declínio do regime autoritário e para o fortalecimento de um projeto popular de democracia, que disputou a hegemonia política nos anos 1978-1989, bem como analisar os desdobramentos, limites e possibilidades atuais desse projeto, através da consulta a documentos e fontes (...) bibliográficas, além de entrevistas. (shrink)

‘Thinking liquid thoughts’ is an essay aiming at the aggregation of ideas and concepts which emerge and float when enquiring if there are characteristics related with the research of fields that artists could explore as new poetic venues for further works. Nanosciences and nanotechnologies will affect almost all features of everybody’s lives in the near future. What are the issues, either desirable or undesirable, we should try to point to considering the specific view related with art, architecture and design. We (...) also have to ask, which are the skills and tools that artists, architects and designers will need for developing research and creating work in these new fields. Opening with the idea of thinking liquid thoughts the essay also speculates about the possibility of creating interactive responsive works of art, extremely sensitive, exploring poetic possibilities for the creation of material products aiming a bi-univocal relationship between the computer simulation and the material realm. There is also research related with educational games and the programming of poetic journeys using virtual reality technologies, pointing to the convergence of silicon with carbon, which will bring about deep implications in the mode of production of things, thoughts ands processes.modelling, animation and VRML, Java Script and Java 3D languages. (shrink)

De acuerdo con la ley israelí los hijos de trabajadores extranjerossin visa de trabajo no gozan de estatus civil, con todo lo queesto implica. A principio de los 2000, el Gobierno israelí amenazó condeportar a todos los trabajadores sin visa de trabajo y a sus familias.Esta decisión llevó a la sociedad civil israelí y a las ONG a demandarque el gobierno israelí otorgara estatus civil a los hijos de trabajadoresextranjeros. Después de una ardua lucha el Gobierno decidió en el 2006y (...) 2010 de forma excepcional otorgar estatus civil a los hijos de trabajadoresextranjeros y a sus familias, alrededor de 500 niños y jóvenes deorigen latinoamericano. Tras esta decisión, el presente estudio exploracómo se han construido y reconstruido las experiencias de vida de estosniños desde el inicio de su nuevo estatus civil. La metodología combinamétodos de investigación cualitativos y cuantitativos. Según loshallazgos, estos niños revelan un alto grado de pertenencia a la sociedadisraelí y se definen a sí mismos como israelíes. Se sienten integrados enla sociedad israelí y tienen buenas expectativas de su futuro en Israel. (shrink)

Se evaluó la autorregulación en estudiantes de nuevo ingreso en una licenciatura en psicología en línea. Se adaptó y aplicó el Inventario de Estilos de Aprendizaje y Orientación Motivacional de Castañeda y Ortega a una muestra de 204 estudiantes encontrando que la edad se relaciona con la eficacia percibida, la aprobación externa y el manejo de materiales de estudio. Palabras clave: autorregulación, educación en línea, educación superior, estrategias de aprendizaje, motivación.

La literatura juvenil y la comida se interrelacionan frecuentemente. Así, todos sabemos qué es una comida "pantagruélica" o recordamos la ceremonia del té en casa del sombrerero loco de Alicia y podemos identificar al personaje glotón y distinguirlo del sibarita por ejemplo. Alrededor de una buena mesa se pueden fraguar conspiraciones y motines.

El bebé desde que nace, presenta unas necesidades y unas habilidades que quienes están a su cargo han de fomentar y fortalecer. La salud física es fundamental, por supuesto, pero no podemos olvidar la salud afectiva y la salud emocional que permite crear un vínculo entre los bebés y sus cuidadores. Uno de estos aspectos es la lectura.

Una escueta visión histórica de la filosofía política analizada desde el punto de vista de la teoría del derecho y de la sociedad, nos permite ver cómo ha ido desarrollándose, desde Ockham, y actualmente hasta filósofos liberales como Rawls, una concepción de la justicia fundada en el hecho contractual, dispositivo mediante el cual se establece un determinado orden en la sociedad, orden basado en una noción artificial (construida) de la justicia. Hobbes se constituye en el momento clave del giro copernicano (...) de la cuestión, con su idea convencional de justicia. Luego el utilitarista Hume elabora las llamadas ¿circunstancias de la justicia¿, también convencionales, argumentación que influirá finalmente en Rawls en su idea de ¿sociedad bien ordenada¿. (shrink)

Escribir sobre Gloria Fuertes (1918-1998) es hacerlo de la infancia de un buen grupo de españoles quienes recordamos a esta poeta con alegría y agradecimiento porque ella fue la primera en abrirnos las puertas a la literatura y a la alegría de vivir. Gloria Fuertes no nos hablaba ni de ogros ni de brujas ni de niños malos, sino de animales curiosos, de aventuras estrambóticas, de la bondad, de la paz y de la dignidad humana. Mucho debemos a gloria Fuertes (...) los cuarentones y cuarentonas de ahora. No obstante, con ella se cometió una injusticia: se la arrinconó de los círculos más intelectuales, más de elite por considerarla poca cosa, porque se le achacaba un descuido en el estilo, una facilidad en las rimas, una claridad que, para algunos, no debe tener la poesía. (shrink)

Escribir acerca de la muerte en la literatura trata de responder a una de las preguntas que, desde siempre, se ha hecho el hombre de cualquier cultura, época o creencia. Vida y muerte son las dos caras de la misma moneda y no podemos ignorar que todo lo que nace acaba pereciendo. El Oráculo en La llamada de los muertos, de Laura Gallego, nos recuerda que la vida por sí misma no es nada, si no va acompañada por la muerte, (...) su compañera: "No comprendes que cada cosa tiene su tiempo y su edad, y que si bien la vida es algo maravilloso, también la muerte es necesaria para toda criatura" (pág. 31). En El coleccionista de relojes extraordinarios es la propia muerte quien le da este consejo a Jonathan Hadley: "Limítate a vivir, eses es tu trabajo. Cuando llegue tu hora, yo vendré a buscarte. Ese es mi trabajo. Nos veremos entonces�" Jonathan Hadley (pág. 154). Y es que no se puede huir de la Muerte por mucho que nos empeñemos. (shrink)

The negative zombie argument concludes that physicalism is false from the premises that p ∧¬q is ideally negatively conceivable and that what is ideally negatively conceivable is possible, where p is the conjunction of the fundamental physical truths and laws and q is a phenomenal truth (Chalmers 2002; 2010). A sentence φ is ideally negatively conceivable iff φ is not ruled out a priori on ideal rational reflection. In this paper, I argue that the negative zombie argument is neither a (...) priori nor conclusive. First, I argue that the premises of the argument are true only if there exists an adequate finite ideal reasoner R that believes ◊(p ∧ ¬q) on the basis of not believing p→q on a priori basis. Roughly, a finite reasoner is a reasoner with cognitive limitations (e.g. finite memory). I argue that R is finite only if R reasons nonmonotonically and only approach ideal reflection at the limit of a reasoning sequence. This would render the argument nonconclusive. Finally, I argue that, for some q, R does not believe ◊(p ∧ ¬q) on the basis of not believing p→q on a priori basis (e.g. for q =‘something is conscious’). This would render the choice of an adequate q dependent on empirical information (and the argument a posteriori). I conclude that the negative zombie argument (and, maybe, all zombie arguments) is neither a priori nor conclusive. (shrink)

We performed an EEG graph analysis on data from 31 typical readers (22.27 ± 2.53 y/o) and 24 dyslexics (22.99 ± 2.29 y/o), recorded while they were engaged in an audiovisual task and during resting-state. The task simulates reading acquisition as participants learned new letter-sound mappings via feedback. EEG data was filtered for the delta (0.5–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), and beta (13–30 Hz) bands. We computed the Phase Lag Index (PLI) to provide an estimate of the (...) functional connectivity between all pairs of electrodes per band. Then, networks were constructed using a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST), a unique sub-graph connecting all nodes (electrodes) without loops, aimed at minimizing bias in between groups and conditions comparisons. Both groups showed a comparable accuracy increase during task blocks, indicating that they correctly learned the new associations. The EEG results revealed lower task-specific theta connectivity, and lower theta degree correlation over both rest and task recordings, indicating less network integration in dyslexics compared to typical readers. This pattern suggests a role of theta oscillations in dyslexia and may reflect differences in task engagement between the groups, although robust correlations between MST metrics and performance indices were lacking. (shrink)

Se comprende por "contractualismo" la teona por la cual se explica y justifica el fundamento y la posibilidad de la sociedad a partir de un pacto entre sus miembros y que es desarrollado en toda su expresión en la Modemidad.

Tras una breve semblanza del autor y de su obra, se incluye la traducción de un pasaje del Libro de los animales en el que al-Yâhiz alude a la versión de una lengua a otra y se comentan algunas cuestiones planteadas por la moderna teoría de la traducción en relación al mismo.

The emotional connotation of words is known to affect word and sentence processing. However, the when and how of the interaction between emotion and grammar are still up for debate. In this behavioural experiment, 35 female university students read noun phrases (NPs) composed by a determiner and a noun in their L1 (Spanish), and were asked to indicate if the NPs were grammatically correct (elmasc camareromasc) or not (*lafem tornillomasc; i.e. a gender agreement task). The type of gender (arbitrary/natural), the (...) emotionality (unpleasant/neutral), and the gender class (feminine/masculine) of the nouns were manipulated. We found an overall grammaticality effect, responses being faster in grammatically correct trials than in incorrect ones. However, the effects of emotionality and gender class varied depending on gender type. For arbitrary gender, the grammaticality effect was greater in feminine nouns than in masculine nouns and independent of emotionality. For natural gender, the grammaticality effect interacted with gender class and emotionality, this effect only emerging in unpleasant stimuli for feminine nouns. Our results reveal that it is possible to find emotional effects at the behavioural level in an intrinsically grammatical task. Yet, these effects depend on gender properties like the type of gender and the gender class. (shrink)

The notion of an ideal reasoner has several uses in epistemology. Often, ideal reasoners are used as a parameter of (maximum) rationality for finite reasoners (e.g. humans). However, the notion of an ideal reasoner is normally construed in such a high degree of idealization (e.g. infinite/unbounded memory) that this use is unadvised. In this dissertation, I investigate the conditions under which an ideal reasoner may be used as a parameter of rationality for finite reasoners. In addition, I present and justify (...) the research program of computational epistemology, which investigates the parameter of maximum rationality for finite reasoners using computer simulations. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo se analizan los conceptos hegelianos de sociedad civil y Estado, ámbitos donde el hombre —burgués y ciudadano— desarrolla los diversos aspectos de su singularidad y su vocación por lo universal. Se tratará de ahondar en la vertiente ética que abarca la vida del hombre como individuo y como ciudadano, y que, dadas las condiciones del mundo moderno, participa de la vida típica de un sujeto que goza de su libertad esencial y originaria en dos esferas complementarias, (...) a la vez que necesarias, para poder desenvolver su libertad en plenitud: las actividades que como particular lleva a cabo en la “sociedad civil” y las que también ejerce como un sujeto comunitario, dotado de capacidades éticas, con participación en la vida política de su Estado. (shrink)

Starting from David Hume's analysis on the notion of justice in his main work on the topic, his 'Treatise of Human Nature', the author sets out, firstly, to comment on Hume's explanation on the notion of justice as a nonarbitrary artifice resulting from men's conventions, and then to outline the value system which determines the theory of justice of the Scottish philosopher. Finally, a criticism is presented on Hume's supposedly "nonarbitrary" conception of justice and the existing link between his empirical (...) deduction and the nominalist explanation of justice. (shrink)