The medical cannabis industry in Colombia is recognized as an emerging industry, and the development of the regulatory framework stimulated the interest of entrepreneurs in creating companies for medicinal purposes. The objective of the work was to examine the key components of the sustainability of the therapeutic cannabis sector in Colombia. In this sense, the study with a mixed approach and analytical scope included a review of the theoretical aspects and regulatory framework. A statistical analysis was carried out to determine (...) the perception of potential clients of the medicinal cannabis industry. A downward projection was found in the number of licenses granted. In conclusion, the therapeutic cannabis sector in Colombia shows promising potential, and its long-term sustainability requires addressing the gaps identified in the implementation of policies, improving social inclusion, promoting innovation for the development of high value-added products, and ensuring environmentally sustainable practices. From a social perspective, the industry promises to generate employment and boost rural development. Environmentally, the industry could contribute to reducing deforestation associated with illicit crops. The sustainability of the sector is an achievable goal, but it will require coordinated efforts in the regulatory, economic, social and environmental spheres to materialize its potential. (shrink)

Spain’s Roma community has its own cultural and moral values. These values influence the way in which end-of-life decision-making is confronted. The objective of this study was to explore the perspective of Roma women on end-of-life decision-making. It was a qualitative study involving thirty-three Roma women belonging to groups for training and social development in two municipalities. We brought together five focus groups between February and December 2012. Six mediators each recruited five to six participants. We considered age and care (...) role to be the variables that can have the most influence on opinion regarding end-of-life decision-making. We considered the discussion saturated when the ideas expressed were repeated. Data analysis was carried out according to five steps: describing, organizing, connecting, corroborating/legitimating, and representing the account. The main ideas gleaned from the data were as follows: the important role of the family in end-of-life care, especially the role of women; the large influence of community opinion over personal or family decisions, typical of closed societies; the different preferences women had for themselves compared to that for others regarding desired end-of-life care; unawareness or rejection of advance directives. Roma women wish for their healthcare preferences to be taken into account, but “not in writing.” The study concluded that the success of end-of-life healthcare in Roma families and of their involvement in the making of healthcare decisions depends upon considering and respecting their idiosyncrasy. (shrink)

Background: Frailty is a common syndrome among older adults and patients with several comorbidities. Grip strength is a representative parameter of frailty because it is a valid indicator of current and long-term physical conditions in the general population and patients with severe mental illnesses. Physical and cognitive capacities of people with SMIs are usually impaired; however, their relationship with frailty or social functioning have not been studied to date. The current study aimed to determine if GS is a valid predictor (...) of changes in cognitive performance and social functioning in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus and SMIs. Methods: Assessments of social functioning, cognitive performance, and GS were conducted in 30 outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, 35 with major depressive disorder, 42 with bipolar disorder, 30 with schizophrenia, and 28 healthy controls, twice during 1-year, follow-up period. Descriptive analyses were conducted using a one-way analysis of variance for continuous variables and the chi-squared test for categorical variables. Differences between groups for the motor, cognitive, and social variables at T1 and T2 were assessed using a one-way analysis of covariance, with sex and age as co-variates. To test the predictive capacity of GS at baseline to explain the variance in cognitive performance and social functioning at T2, a linear regression analysis was performed. Results: Predictive relationships were found among GS when implicated with clinical, cognitive, and social variables. These relationships explained changes in cognitive performance after one year of follow-up; the variability percentage was 67.7%, in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus and 89.1% in patients with schizophrenia. Baseline GS along with other variables, also predicted changes in social functioning in major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, with variability percentages of 67.3, 36, and 59%, respectively. Conclusion: GS combined with other variables significantly predicted changes in cognitive performance and social functioning in people with SMIs or type-2 diabetes mellitus. Interventions aimed to improve the overall physical conditions of patients who have poor GS could be a therapeutic option that confers positive effects on cognitive performance and social functioning. (shrink)

This study analyzes Portuguese seniors’ Internet activity and determine their reasons, benefits, and motivations for web use as well as the obstacles faced by non-users. Results were derived from a questionnaire completed by 189 seniors enrolled in universities for seniors. 68.1% defined themselves as Internet users. The seniors asked principally go online to check e-mail and gather information. They state that the Internet is useful, helps them to stay up-to-date, and to preserve relationships. Non-user status is not attributed to old (...) age or health reasons. According to the technology acceptance model, ease of use and perception of utility were related to both Internet use and its intensity of use. Family influence also played a key role. Gender differences were not found in Internet use, intensity of use, or in use motivations. (shrink)

Recently, organizational identity is being given more attention than ever before in the business world. This notion has grown substantially in importance in the hospitality industry. Facing increased competition, hospitality companies are driven to project a positive image to their stakeholders. Therefore, these organizations have begun to develop new organizational identity programs as part of their strategies to achieve their desired identities. This study analyzes the role of corporate social responsibility in the definition of the Organizational Identity of these organizations, (...) employing a qualitative research methodology based on an illustrative case study. Particularly, the authors analyze the case of Meliá Hotels International, a leading hotel company in Spain with a presence in 27 countries. The findings indicate that the company has formally integrated CSR into its strategy to align its actual identity with its desired and conceived identity in view of the critics in its local community. Moreover, the interest of the firm toward its stakeholders suggests that the company understands its conceived identity as an important link in understanding its organizational identity. This paper demonstrates that firm’s organizational identity is a set of several elements. When analyzing Meliá Hotels International’s identity, we see that the firm defines this concept as that which is most central, enduring, and distinctive about the organization. In this sense, the company appears to follow the vision-driven approach by referring to the organizational mission and vision statements, organizational philosophy, and core values as the basis of organizational identity. (shrink)

Este artículo examina las diferentes conceptualizaciones del sistema cognitivo de los docentes, desde la perspectiva socioconstructivista. Aborda la cognición como una base conceptual, personal, subjetiva y dinámica que tiene un impacto significativo en la actuación docente y en el proceso de cambio en educación. El proceso de exploración de la cognición docente puede ayudar a enriquecer la conceptualización sobre el proceso didáctico, y, además, puede servir como base para la autoevaluación docente, componente importante del desarrollo profesional en la Educación Superior.

Rare neuromuscular diseases are a group of pathologies characterized by a progressive loss of muscular strength, atrophy, fatigue, and other muscle-related symptoms, which affect quality of life levels. The low prevalence, high geographical dispersion and disability of these individuals involve difficulties in accessing health and social care services. Teleassistance is presented as a useful tool to perform psychosocial interventions in these situations. The main aim of this research is to assess the effects of a teleassistance psychosocial program on the QoL (...) levels of people with RNMDs who have different levels of disability. A sample of 73 participants was divided into an experimental group, which participated in the intervention, and a control wait list group. QoL was evaluated through the SIP and the SF-36, and disability through the WHO-DAS II. The participants with a moderate to severe level of disability were those who most benefited from the intervention. The results also revealed that the psychosocial teleassistance program was suitable to improve physical and psychosocial aspects of people suffering from a rare neuromuscular disease with a moderate level of disability, but just psychosocial aspects in those with a severe level of disability. (shrink)

¿El conflicto armado ha transformado los roles de la mujer en Colombia? En este artículo se quiere evaluar la diversidad de escenarios y roles que las mujeres adquirieron durante el conflicto armado en Colombia. Para dirigir el rumbo de esta investigación y la posibilidad de evaluar alguno escenarios de posacuerdo, este texto se propone: realizar una consideración epistemológica por parte del feminismo latinoamericano que tenga en cuenta la pluralidad de relatos violentos en Latinoamérica analizar relatos de mujeres partícipes en la (...) guerra que permitan evaluar el rol de la mujer más allá de su simple victimización; examinar la situación de la mujer dentro de los conflictos bélicos colombianos y presentar cómo se diferencia de las situaciones de guerra ocurridas en Europa. Todos estos puntos permiten evaluar cómo la guerra en Colombia ha sido fundamental para contemplar los roles de las mujeres más allá del de víctima, como, por ejemplo, las mujeres activistas que han participado en la reconciliación y el ejercicio de memoria histórica durante el acuerdo de paz y el posacuerdo. Dicho logro promueve un porvenir del feminismo que abre nuevos espacios de acción para la mujer, los cuales, debido a la limitación de este trabajo, quedan aún por explorar. (shrink)

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 7, Page 17-19, July 2012.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to analyse how stereotypes towards older people moderate the relationship between burnout and quality of life of professionals working in nursing homes.MethodA total of 312 professionals were asked to complete questionnaires of burnout Maslach Burnout Inventory quality of Life and aging stereotypes. The moderation effects were tested using linear regression models.ResultsA negative association was observed between burnout and QoL. It was also found a statistically significant moderator effect of the total score of stereotypes and the health stereotypes, (...) besides a marginally statistically significant moderator effect for motivational stereotypes. The moderator effects were different for people with low and high negative stereotypes. QoL was more affected under conditions of high burnout, in which people with more negative stereotypes tended to present higher QoL than people with lower negative stereotypes.ConclusionHighly burned-out professionals in nursing homes may avoid their negative feelings projecting them to residents through stereotypes, as a way of coping with burnout and increasing their QoL. However, this mechanism is an “aggressive reaction” and may have negative effects for both the older adult and the professional. The comprehension of these variables is essential for developing adequate intervention programs. (shrink)

Strong evidence shows that exposure and engagement with the natural world not only improve human wellbeing but can also help promote environmentally friendly behaviors. Human-nature relationships are at the heart of global agendas promoted by international organizations including the World Health Organization’s “One Health” and the United Nations “Ocean Decade.” These agendas demand collaborative multisector interdisciplinary efforts at local, national, and global levels. However, while global agendas highlight global goals for a sustainable world, developing science that directly addresses these agendas (...) from design through to delivery and outputs does not come without its challenges. In this article, we present the outcomes of international meetings between researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers from the United Kingdom and Brazil. We propose a model for interdisciplinary work under such global agendas, particularly the interface between One Health and the UN Ocean Decade and identify three priority research areas closely linked to each other: human-nature connection, conservation-human behavior, and implementation strategies. We also discuss a number of recommendations for moving forward. (shrink)

Objective: To measure the stability of life-sustaining treatment preferences amongst older people and analyse the factors that influence stability. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Primary care centres, Granada (Spain). Eighty-five persons age 65 years or older. Participants filled out a questionnaire with six contexts of illness (LSPQ-e). They had to decide whether or not to receive treatment. Participants completed the questionnaire at baseline and 18 months later. Results: 86 percent of the patients did not change preferences. Sex, age, marital status, (...) hospitalisation, and self-perception of health and pain did not affect preferences. Morbidity and the death of a relative did. Conclusion: Stability of preferences of older persons in relation to end-of-life decisions seems to be more probable than instability. Some factors, such as the death of a relative or the increase in morbidity, can change preferences. These findings have implications for advance directives (ADs) and advance care planning. (shrink)

Social network sites are a new communication channel to convey CSR information. They are interactive channels that let users participate, spread content and generate positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth about companies that can dramatically affect their reputation and future business. To identify the factors behind this behaviour, we designed a causal model to explain the intention to both comment on and share a negative corporate social responsibility news posted on Facebook. We included the following as explanatory variables: social consciousness, environmental (...) consciousness, information usefulness, corporate image and attitude towards sharing and commenting on CSR news. We surveyed 208 Facebook users who evaluated a fictitious news item about an environmental issue. We observed that social and environmental consciousness influences the usefulness of information and the attitude towards behaviour, which may explain the eWOM intention of the specific news. However, corporate image can cause people to refrain from generating eWOM and spreading the news on their friend social network. (shrink)

La comunicación de la verdad ética pasa históricamente por modelos, pero sus propuestas se discuten cuando no favorecen la belleza ética en la persona.El estudio refleja un análisis a modelos éticos en la cultura, para proponer la importancia de enfocar la educación ética valorando los paradigmas de una ética integradora y practica en un currículo global.Se infiere por el relativismo, una dialéctica que permanece sobre las certezas éticas; sobre lo justo, lo bueno, lo verdadero; sobre lo legal y lo ético; (...) para continuar divulgándose un discurso ético no de tipo vinculante, sin despertar pasión por la verdad. (shrink)

Imagining Dewey' features productive (re)interpretations of 21st century experience using the lens of John Dewey's 'Art as Experience', through the doubled task of putting an array of international philosophers, educators, and artists-researchers in transactional dialogue and on equal footing in an academic text. This book is a pragmatic attempt to encourage application of aesthetic learning and living, ekphrasic interpretation, critical art and agonist pluralism.0There are two foci: (a) Deweyan philosophy and educational themes with (b) analysis and examples of how educators, (...) artists, and researchers envision and enact artful meaning making. This structure meets the needs of university and high school audiences, who are accustomed to learning about challenging ideas through multimedia and aesthetic experience.00Contributors are: James M. Albrecht, Adam I. Attwood, John Baldacchino, Carolyn L. Berenato, M. Cristina Di Gregori, Holly Fairbank, Jim Garrison, Amanda Gulla, Bethany Henning, Jessica Heybach, David L. Hildebrand, Ellyn Lyle, Livio Mattarollo, Christy McConnell Moroye, Maria-Isabel Moreno-Montoro, Maria Martinez Morales, Stephen M. Noonan, Louise G. Phillips, Scott L. Pratt, Joaquin Roldan, Leopoldo Rueda, Tadd Ruetenik, Leisa Sasso, Bruce Uhrmacher, David Vessey, Ricardo Marin Viadel, Sean Wiebe, Li Xu and Martha Patricia Espiritu Zavalza. (shrink)

Se describe una propuesta de intervención comunitaria en convivencia escolar, a partir de los resultados obtenidos en una investigación previa (Rodríguez, Vaca, Hewitt & Martínez, 2009) que buscaba caracterizar las formas de interacción en un contexto escolar. Si bien el punto de partida lo constitu..

En este artículo se estudia la aparición, auge y colapso de la inédita experiencia de democracia liberal partitocrática en Bolivia (1985-2006), a través de la trayectoria de dos movimientos autoidentificados como izquierdistas, el Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (1971), de Jaime Paz Zamora, última y más grande manifestación de la «izquierda patricia» boliviana, y el Movimiento al Socialismo (1997), de Evo Morales, vehículo político de la renacida oposición sindical rural al sistema vigente. También se exploran las causas de su colapso; (...) a saber: el crecimiento de las expectativas y el malestar de los sectores urbanos; la reactivación de la tradición sindical militante, en una versión más dinámica y mejor organizada, y, en el plano de la cultura política, la difusión y generalización del katarismo y sus variaciones indianistas. (shrink)

Bergson reconoce a Kant el mérito de haber caracterizado al espacio y al tiempo homogéneos como actos del espíritu distintos de todo contenido sensible. Le reprocha no haber advertido que su función no es especulativa sino práctica. De ahí la posibilidad de la metafísica como conocimiento de la duración, una vez superado el mecanismo espacializante de la inteligencia.

This article identifies philosophical tensions and limitations within contemporary intersectionality theory which, it will be argued, have hindered its ability to explain how positioning in multiple social categories can affect life chances and influence the reproduction of inequality. We draw upon critical realism to propose an augmented conceptual framework and novel methodological approach that offers the potential to move beyond these debates, so as to better enable intersectionality to provide causal explanatory accounts of the ‘lived experiences’ of social privilege and (...) disadvantage. (shrink)

Habit and Embodiment in Merleau-PontyIntroductionMerleau-Ponty (French phenomenological philosopher, born in 1908 and deceased in 1961) refers to habit in various passages of his Phenomenology of Perception as a relevant issue in his philosophical and phenomenological position. Through his exploration of this issue he explains both the pre-reflexive character that our original linkage with the world has, as well as the kind of “understanding” that our body develops with regard to the world. These two characteristics of human existence bear a close (...) relation with the vision of an embodied mind sustained by Gallagher and Zahavi in their work The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. Merleau-Ponty uses concepts like those of the lived or own body and of lived space in order to emphasize, from a first-person perspective, the co-penetration that exists between subject and world.Gallagher and Zahavi have regained the experience of phenomenology, especially that of Merleau-Ponty and Sartre, to contribute to the development of the cognitive sciences. Via the phenomenological approach to the reality of habit, a new understanding of the body becomes possible for us, such that it becomes characterized “as subject, as experiencer, as agent”, and at the same time we can understand “the way the body structures our experience” (Gallagher and Zahavi, 2008). Additionally, the idea of a pre-reflexive understanding is conceived of by these authors... (shrink)

En este trabajo se analiza el problema de la reducción en el contexto de la actual ciencia cognitiva y también, otros conceptos asociados como los de leyes especiales, relaciones interteóricas, análisis funcional, interdisciplinariedad, etc. Se pone de relieve el carácter paradigmático que para la filosofía de la ciencia ba de tener la ciencia cognitiva a la hora de elaborar un enfoque adecuado de los mismos. En este sentido, la concepción estructuralista de la ciencia encontraría algunas de sus más serias limitaciones.

Realiza la autora un esbozo que recorre el cúmulo de limitaciones y propuestas para la sustentabilidad desde un abordaje transdisciplinar, para pasar a ofrecernos reflexiones culturales y emocionales. Sugiere que no es más fácil fingir que cambiamos -abrazando discursos de cambio- que verdaderamente hacerlo, y que no podremos forjar sociedades sustentables y solidarias, si no nos cambiamos a nosotros mismos. El éxito o fracaso en la construcción de la sustentabilidad –concluye- tendrá que ver también con nuestras emociones, con la forma (...) en que nos paramos frente al mundo y establecemos relaciones con otros. (shrink)

Aunque con cierta frecuencia se ha hablado de la influencia del «Tratado sobre la libertad»de Schelling sobre la metafísica de Schopenhauer, la tradición apenas ha prestado atención a losnumerosos pero muy dispersos materiales, publicados e inéditos, que conciernen a la relación y lapolémica de Schopenhauer con dicho tratado. El artículo ofrece una exposición ordenada de talesmateriales, mostrando cuáles fueron las objeciones fundamentales de Schopenhauer al escrito y tratandode determinar la motivación última de la polémica. Asimismo, se comentan las declaraciones del (...) propioSchopenhauer con respecto a la supuesta influencia, ofreciendo claves para una interpretación de lasmismas distinta a la usual. (shrink)

Una concepción algebraica de la realidad social es una idea que escandalizaría a muchos de mis colegas. ¿Qué tiene que ver el álgebra con una ideología política? ¿Qué dice una fórmula de la historia, disciplina multicausal y reacia a las reducciones lineales? ¿Qué podría decir, siquiera, de la antropología y su proceder? Nótese que ni siquiera me molesto en incluir a la filosofía. Defender una visión formal del quehacer filosófico es una misión aún más ingrata. La tarea en la que (...) se embarca el profesor Fonseca Martínez en su libro Belief and Sociey: Making Ranking Theory Useful for the Social World es, en ese preciso sentido, realmente una missio; funge como enviado de una tradición en gran medida foránea para la ciencia social – y mejor sería decir ciencias sociales – en América Latina. (shrink)

Young children often treat robots as social agents after they have witnessed interactions that can be interpreted as social. We studied in three experiments whether four-year-olds from three cultures and adults from two cultures will attribute ownership of objects to a robot that engages in social gaze with a human. Participants watched videos of robot-human interactions, in which objects were possessed or new objects were created. Children and adults applied the same ownership rules to humans and robots – irrespective of (...) whether the robot engaged in social gaze or not. However, there was cultural variation in the types of ownership rules used. In Experiment 3, we removed further social cues, finding that just showing a pair of self-propelled robot-arms elicited ownership attributions. The role of social gaze in social attributions to robots and cross-cultural differences in ownership understanding are discussed. (shrink)

La Meditacion. Luis Mojica Sandoz. Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico 1979, Apartado de Correos X, Rio Piedras, P. R. 00931.

En este artículo se investiga la índole y supuestos filosóficos básicos de dos perspectivas metafísicas y epistemológicas contrapuestas en torno a la célebre prueba ontológica de la existencia de Dios. Tales perspectivas son, por un lado, la esencia lista o realista fenomenológica, para la que, por admitir la objetividad y trascendencia de las llamadas "cualidades eidéticas necesarias", la prueba es válida y concluyente; por otro, la perspectiva existencialista o conceptualista, que, al negar tal objetividad y trascendencia, rechaza la validez de (...) la prueba. De este modo, la posición ante este problema metafísico fundamental puede constituir un criterio básico de diferenciación entre defensores y detractores del célebre argumento anselmiano. (shrink)

El concepto de Cassirer de autorreflexión del hombre como forma elemental de conocimiento y la teoría del concepto de contemplación de Warburg, coinciden en su orientación hacia la comprensión del mundo. Ésta puede ser entendida a través de la manifestación de la espiritualidad artística en los símbolos y su función mnémica.Cassirer’s concept of human self-reflection as an elemental form of knowledge and Warburg’s theory of contemplation, coincide in their orientation towards the comprehension of the world. This orientation can be understood (...) through the manifestation of artistic spirituality in symbols and their mnemic function. (shrink)