Background: The rapid pace of progress in medical research, the consequent need for the timely transfer of new knowledge into practice, and the increasing need for ethics support, is making the work of Ethics Committees (ECs) ever more complex and demanding. As a response, ECs in many countries exhibit large variation in number, mandate, organization and member competences. This cross-sectional study aims to give an overview of the different types of activities of Italian ECs and favour discussion at a European (...) level.Methods: A questionnaire was emailed to all Italian Ethics Committees contained in the national Registry of the Ministry of Health, enquiring whether the EC was conducting, or planning to conduct, 4 specific activities. A telephone interview was conducted to determine reasons for failure to respond.Results: Response rate was 53% (101 respondents out of 191). 20% of ECs restrict their responsibilities to research protocol review, 25% also offer ethical consultation to institutions, support on individual health care decisions and promotes educational initiatives, while the remaining 50% conduct a few of the examined activities to varying degrees. Large variation was observed across different types of hosting institutions and geographical locations.Conclusions: A common European model should be developed, defining EC functions, member selection modalities, necessary member competences, decision-making criteria and measures for work verification. In the absence of sound empirical evidence, it would be interesting to study the effectiveness and efficiency of the different existing models. (shrink)

As interest in women’s roles in agriculture increases, research on women livestock-keepers remains limited. Advances in feminist scholarship highlight farming women’s dual roles in agricultural production and biological and socio-cultural reproduction, including women’s uncompensated labor in child-bearing, child-rearing and home-making. To expand knowledge about women pastoralists’ lived experiences, we conducted life-history interviews with 25 herder women in two regions of Mongolia, following-up with participatory workshops in each region. As mothering and carework emerged as key themes, we drew on feminist care (...) ethics and the anthropology of mothering and motherhood to analyze interview data and co-interpret results with workshop participants. Our findings reveal three caring conflicts experienced by Mongolian herder women: between caring for _nutag_ (homeland) and caring for herds, between caring for herds and caring for children, and between caring for family, herd and _nutag_ and caring for self. These conflicts highlight contradictions between normative Mongolian motherhood as depicted in cultural images and narratives, and the lived reality of herder mothers, and between public valorization of and incentives for motherhood and the lack of sufficient public support for mothers and carework in rural Mongolia. Unmet needs for care, resulting risks to maternal and child health, and the extraordinary workload associated with mothers’ multiple caring tasks likely contribute to rural–urban migration and increasing masculinization of the Mongolian countryside. Although Mongolian culture frames mothers as leaders who unify their communities through their wisdom, many herder-mothers today live isolated lives where their multiple caring responsibilities preclude active participation in community development and governance. (shrink)

This book describes Carmeli's cosmological general and special relativity theory, along with Einstein's general and special relativity. These theories are discussed in the context of Moshe Carmeli's original research, in which velocity is introduced as an additional independent dimension. Four- and five-dimensional spaces are considered, and the five-dimensional braneworld theory is presented. The Tully-Fisher law is obtained directly from the theory, and thus it is found that there is no necessity to assume the existence of dark matter in the halo (...) of galaxies, nor in galaxy clusters.The book gives the derivation of the Lorentz transformation, which is used in both Einstein's special relativity and Carmeli's cosmological special relativity theory. The text also provides the mathematical theory of curved space?time geometry, which is necessary to describe both Einstein's general relativity and Carmeli's cosmological general relativity. A comparison between the dynamical and kinematic aspects of the expansion of the universe is made. Comparison is also made between the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker theory and the Carmeli theory. And neither is it necessary to assume the existence of dark matter to correctly describe the expansion of the cosmos. (shrink)

This article deals with the form and use of reformulation markers in research papers written in English, Spanish and Catalan. Considering the form and frequency of the markers, English papers tend to prefer simple fixed markers and include fewer reformulators than Spanish and Catalan. On the contrary, formal Catalan and Spanish papers include more markers, some of which are complex and allow for some structural variability. As for use, reformulation markers establish dynamic relationships between portions of discourse which can be (...) identified in our corpus with expansion, reduction and permutation. The analysis of the corpus shows that English authors usually reformulate to add more information to the concept, whereas Catalan and Spanish authors reduce the contents or the implicatures of the previous formulation more frequently than English. (shrink)

Las teorías clásicas de estratificación social se bao basado en la familia como unidad de estratificación, utilizándose la ocupación del hombre como medida de clase social. Estas teorías fueron criticadas sobre todo desde el feminismo, reclamando la visualización de las mujeres en el análisis de la estratificación social. Este artículo describe el concepto de clase social, debate sobre la medida de la clase social en las mujeres y revisa el impacto de las distintas medidas en las desigualdades en salud según (...) clase social en las mujeres. (shrink)

This article deals with interactions between citizenship and political ecology by examining the ‘pulp mills conflict’ in Gualeguaychú, Argentina. The conflict burst in 2003 when the Uruguayan authorities announced the construction of a cellulose plant on the shore of the Uruguay River. The citizens of Gualeguaychú, a city right across the border, initiated a movement of protest that soon transcended the local dimension. I argue that this protest was a battle over sovereignty and an environmental conflict between different conceptions of (...) development and diverse views of the use of a common resource, the river. The notion of ecological citizenship formed in this process is assessed by examining how this concept was constructed by local stakeholders and by unveiling the motivations informing citizens’ engagement. (shrink)

Plato’s characterization of philia in Lysis, on one hand, as one-sided belonging to the ultimate object of our desire and, on the other, as interpersonal reciprocal belonging appears problematic. Yonesawa has recently claimed that one can make sense of both uses of “belonging” if we assume that one is the other’s friend when each one coincides in being the ultimate object of the other’s desire. This paper proposes instead that Lysis’ ‘reciprocity’ of friendship results from friends’ right wanting, which presupposes (...) their souls are well-disposed to a true object of desire. To prove this, I will argue that (i) the action and the argument of the dialogue exhibit this kind of reciprocity, (ii) there is a ‘unique’ ultimate object of desire (‘teleological monism’), that consists of a ‘knowledge about the good life’ and (iii) only the common longing for such knowledge can make possible friends’ reciprocal belonging. (shrink)

Die Platonforschung hat sich immer wieder mit den interpretatorischen Schwierigkeiten des Philebos befasst. Wahrscheinlich besteht die ernsthafteste Schwierigkeit dieses Dialogs darin, die Vielfalt der Themen, die hier behandelt werden, miteinander zu verbinden. Im Philebos wird die Frage nach dem guten Leben als Hauptthema vorgestellt, aber im Laufe des Dialogs werden sowohl dialektische Überlegungen über das Problem des Einen und Vielen als auch eine Klassifikation der ontologischen Gattungen des Kosmos eingeführt. Angesichts dieser Situation haben sich viele Interpreten ausschließlich auf die theoretischen (...) Fragen konzentriert, ohne den Zusammenhang zwischen diesen Fragen und der ethischen Fragestellung zu berücksichtigen. Dieser Beitrag versucht zu erklären, wie die Frage nach dem guten Leben mithilfe der Begriffsanalyse behandelt werden soll, sodass die dialektische Reflexion über die Bedingungen der Sprache durch die Sachorientierung der ethischen Fragestellung erforderlich wird. Der Philebos kann demnach nur als eine kompositorische Einheit betrachtet werden, sofern man zunächst die hier vorliegende Verbindung von Ethik und Dialektik versteht. (shrink)

A pesar de desarrollar una teoría del placer que incorpora elementos de tradiciones filosóficas posteriores, Damascio defiende en su Comentario al Filebo la concepción platónica del placer como un "proceso de repleción". Este trabajo pretende mostrar que Damascio no solo respeta la letra del Filebo, sino también el espíritu de la comprensión platónica del placer y, en particular, de los placeres intelectuales. Suponiendo la polaridad entre el deseo y su satisfacción, Damascio propone entender la experiencia de placer intelectual como aquella (...) en la que el deseo es efectivamente realizado, de modo que tanto el proceso como el resultado del conocer producen placer. Contra lo que inicialmente se podría pensar, la exégesis del filósofo neoplatónico permite poner de relieve supuestos fundamentales de la concepción platónica del placer, a saber, la conexión entre el placer y la experiencia humana de la temporalidad como su dependencia con respecto a la estructura del deseo. In spite of developing a theory of pleasure that incorporates elements from subsequent philosophical traditions, Damascius defends, in his Commentary on the Philebus, the Platonic conception of pleasure as a "process of filling". This paper aims to show that Damascius respects not only the letter of the Philebus, but also the spirit of Plato’s understanding of the nature of pleasure and, in particular, that of intellectual pleasures. Having assumed the polarity between desire and its satisfaction, Damascius proposes to understand the experience of intellectual pleasure as the experience where desire is fully achieved, so that both the process and the result of knowing produce pleasure. Contrary to what one may initially expect, the exegesis of the Neoplatonic Philosopher allows to highlighting some of Plato’s underlying assumptions about the nature of pleasure, namely: the connection between pleasure and the human experience of temporality, and the dependence of pleasure on the structure of desire. (shrink)

La cifra sobre desplazamiento forzoso en el mundo alcanzamáximos históricos, y se verá incrementada en el futuro debido aldesplazamiento humano que provoca el calentamiento del planeta y ladegradación ecológica que caracteriza la actual era del Antropoceno. Laprotección internacional que otorga el derecho a las personas que huyende sus tierras y buscan refugio está relacionada con la exposición a peligros,la vulnerabilidad y la dificultad de estas personas para ejercer susderechos humanos. La movilidad por causas ambientales provoca nuevosmotivos de protección jurídica no (...) previstos en la Convención sobreel estatuto de los refugiados, pero a la que hay que dar respuesta y solución.En el siglo xxi Naciones Unidas consolida un nuevo enfoque delos derechos humanos con relación al cambio climático y las migraciones,y este paradigma debe resolver el vacío de la doctrina jurídica tradicionalpara abordar el problema de las migraciones climáticas. Tambiénse encuentran en situación de vulnerabilidad, junto a las mujeres y los menores, que sí son reconocidas y protegidas por el derecho, ylos jóvenes varones refugiados, muchos de los cuales se ven abocadosa ejercer la prostitución para sobrevivir. A la reflexión sobre los conceptosde refugiado/migración y al análisis de los nuevos motivos devulnerabilidad por razones del cambio climático se dedica el presentetrabajo, para evidenciar que el actual modelo migratorio de defensa defrontera actúa en sentido opuesto a la solución real de un movimientocreciente de personas vulnerables que deambula por el mundo en buscade refugio. (shrink)

El propósito de nuestro estudio tiene dos objetivos, el primero es identificar la lógica de la propuesta misionera del Papa Francisco, derivada del sujeto que debe llevarla a cabo: el discípulo misionero; y en segundo lugar mostrar los elementos ontológicos que estructuran la persona llamada a evangelizar. Descubrimos en el Papa Francisco la influencia de la lógica del humanismo de Nicolás de Cusa, así como la categoría principal de la ontología antropológica que lo sostiene: la paradoja.

As a discourse genre, statements of purpose are characterized by their occluded status in the academy and by their hybrid nature. Statements of purpose are required in applications for a place in a postgraduate course, and they are requested to obtain information about the academic and professional background and skills of each applicant. A study of the genre’s linguistic and textual features is needed in Spanish to discover and understand writers’ and readers’ perception of this genre. A corpus of 50 (...) motivation letters in Spanish is analyzed here. We study the distinguishing macro- and microtextual features of this particular genre and co-occurrences between both kinds of features. At the macrotextual level, statements of purpose display prototypical rhetorical moves, which can be classified as writers’ moves and readers’ moves. On the microtextual level, modalization resources and discourse markers are discussed. This multiple perspectives analysis of the corpus shows evidence of significant co-occurrences among modalization, discourse markers, and rhetorical moves. Writers’ ideal representations of this discourse genre, which spans the academic and professional fields, can also be deduced. (shrink)

We describe a particular class of pairs of quantum observables which are extremal in the convex set of all pairs of compatible quantum observables. The pairs in this class are constructed as uniformly noisy versions of two mutually unbiased bases with possibly different noise intensities affecting each basis. We show that not all pairs of MUB can be used in this construction, and we provide a criterion for determining those MUB that actually do yield extremal compatible observables. We apply our (...) criterion to all pairs of Fourier conjugate MUB, and we prove that in this case extremality is achieved if and only if the quantum system Hilbert space is odd-dimensional. Remarkably, this fact is no longer true for general non-Fourier conjugate MUB, as we show in an example. Therefore, the presence or the absence of extremality is a concrete geometric manifestation of MUB inequivalence, that already materializes by comparing sets of no more than two bases at a time. (shrink)

A theory of relativity, along with its appropriate group of Lorentz-type transformations, is presented. The theory is developed on a metric withR×S 3 topology as compared to ordinary relativity defined on the familiar Minkowskian metric. The proposed theory is neither the ordinary special theory of relativity (since it deals with noninertial coordinate systems) nor the general theory of relativity (since it is not a dynamical theory of gravitation). The theory predicts, among other things, that finite-mass particles in nature have maximum (...) rotational velocities, a prediction highly supported by recent experiments on 14 nuclei, such as 159 Yb that survives fission with angular velocities of up to 0.9 of the predicted value but does not reach it. (shrink)

Convencida de que con un deseo profundo de verdad y una atención sin límites se puede alcanzar la verdad, Simone Weil emprende un camino interior de búsqueda de la verdad, que tiene a la realidad como principal referente. La atención a lo real en su experiencia de trabajo como obrera, en su participación en los dramas de la guerra de España y la Segunda guerra mundial, durante el trabajo como profesora de filosofía, y a lo largo de tantos acontecimientos y (...) encuentros, supusieron para la filósofa un camino personal de hallazgo de lo sobrenatural, que generó una orientación metafísica en su concepción del mundo. Sin embargo, aunque tanto vital como intelectualmente Simone Weil atravesó varios umbrales, en su pensamiento permanece un mismo hilo conductor; esto puede comprobarse leyendo algunos escritos de juventud. El presente trabajo muestra etapas significativas de la vida y el pensamiento de Simone Weil, y considera igualmente vivencias de carácter místico al final de su vida, fruto de la irrupción en ella de lo sobrenatural como una dimensión de lo real. (shrink)

This article analyzes the Arabisms and other lexical devices that are used to characterize the Native American in the Relación de la jornada de Cíbola by Pedro de Castañeda, a text that deals with the expedition that Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led to the present-day Southwestern United States from 1540 to 1542. After a general presentation of the text, the work focuses on the analysis of seven Arabisms along with other words, including nicknames, to disentangle the meanings and sociolinguistic implications (...) of the use of these words to refer to the American reality. In order to do so, great use is made of information garnered from documentary and lexical sources. We depart from the premise that in the conquest and colonization of New Spain, the models from the previous conquests of Granada and North Africa are followed. And through this perspective of continuity, we identify parallel political measures, identical discursive traditions, as well as a shared attitude and linguistic awareness. From a lexical point of view, this attempt to explain the New World is transmitted by various processes, including the use of lexical Arabisms to plastically illustrate an unknown and pagan culture through codes that are familiar, and equally pagan, to the reader. This contribution helps to expand our understanding about the presence of Arabisms in the history of the Spanish language. (shrink)

This article outlines a middle-range theory of pastoralist/rancher identity, offering a framework for analyzing the meanings, symbols, and practices associated with four interrelated dimensions of pastoralist identity: identification with livestock, place, family and community, and occupation. Poetic analysis of interviews from pastoral systems in transition in Mongolia’s Khangai and Gobi regions, the Spanish Pyrenees, and Colorado, USA shows how theorizing pastoralist identity, animated by place-based knowledge and emotion, may support deeper understanding of livestock-keepers’ social conflicts and responses to change. Even (...) in capitalist systems, livestock-keepers are often primarily motivated by maintaining identities and lifeways rather than by profit maximization. (shrink)

The article asserts that verses 124–130 in the second sūrah of the Qurʾān (al-Baqara/“the Cow”) alludes to the biblical precept (Genesis 17) but presents the practice as a custom that has no special virtues, and certainly not those the Jews ascribed to it. It then claims that circumcision is identified as one of Abraham’s trials, which are mentioned in the Qurʾān and thus part of early Islam, and that this idea did not arise in the Middle Ages.

We present a mathematically precise derivation of some generalized orthogonality relations for the discrete series representations of SU(1,1). These orthogonality relations are applied to derive tomographical reconstruction formulas. Their physical interpretation is also discussed.

Neste artigo, realiza-se uma discussão sobre as atividades políticas de María de Molina, regente do trono castelhano após a morte do esposo e rei Sancho IV, em 1295, durante a minoridade do filho Fernando IV, de 1295 a 1301, assim como no decurso da minoridade do neto Alfonso XI, de 1212 a 1325. Nesses quase vinte e seis anos na condução política do reino, María de Molina constitui-se o principal baluarte da resistência e das negociações dos assuntos do reino diante (...) dos interesses das principiais facções nobiliárias, que aproveitavam períodos de debilidade do poder régio para obter relevância política e dividendos. Não menos importante foi seu desempenho em relação à política externa ao celebrar diversos acordos com outros reinos e com o papado no desígnio de alcançar apoio para sequência da sua linhagem ao comando da coroa castelhana. (shrink)

While studies have investigated the moral issue associated with downsizing, little research attention has been directed to leaders’ behaviors that result in organizational decline and eventually lead them to make a downsizing decision. This study tests a sequence-based model to assess (1) the impact of leaders’ risk-aversion and self-centeredness on organizational decline and downsizing and (2) the impact of organizational and industry decline on organizational downsizing. We address a gap in the decline literature that has only implicitly alluded to leadership (...) characteristics as forerunners of decline. Data collected from 85 firms indicate that both leadership risk-aversion and self-centeredness are significantly related to organizational decline. This results in intensified organizational downsizing. However, industry decline affects downsizing more significantly. (shrink)

In Book v of Plato’s Laws, he defends that a virtuous life is better than a vicious one, based on the idea that the former involves more pleasure than the latter (733a-734e). The use of this kind of argumentation seems to contradict other passages of the Laws, in which it will be objected that pleasure can work as a criterion of election. This essay aims to show that this recourse does not presuppose any kind of hedonism. In order to prove (...) this, I hold that in the Laws (i) education tries to integrate our natural tendencies in the good life; (ii) this integration is possible because some pleasures can be pursued for their own sake because they are harmless. Based on these principles, I argue that (iii) the argument of Book v appeals to the possibility of choosing pleasure if they are not involved in other criteria of election. (shrink)

Children aged 7 and 11 years were interviewed about death in the context of two different narratives. Each narrative described the death of a grandparent but one narrative provided a secular context whereas the other provided a religious context. Following each narrative, children were asked to judge whether various bodily and mental processes continue to function after death, and to justify their judgment. Children displayed two different conceptions of death. They often acknowledged that functioning ceases at death and offered appropriate (...) biological justifications for that judgment. However, they also claimed that functioning continues after death and offered appropriate religious justifications. The tendency to claim that functioning continues after death was more frequent among older children than younger children, more frequent in the context of the religious narrative as opposed to the secular narrative and more frequent with respect to mental processes than bodily processes. Particularly among older children, two distinct conceptions of death appear to co-exist: a biological conception in which death implies the cessation of living processes and a metaphysical conception in which death marks the beginning of the afterlife. (shrink)

En este artículo tratamos el “romance do Comandante Moreno” como parte de la música de tradición oral gallega y de la memoria histórica en relación a la Guerra Civil española. Metodológicamente trabajamos con análisis de corte etnomusicológico que se centran en parámetros musicales, literarios y de contexto, además de trabajar con referencias bibliográficas y audiovisuales. Así, nos encontramos con características propias de la música de tradición gallega y una descripción concisa de los hechos, siendo este romance un testigo fidedigno de (...) los asesinatos ocurridos en 1937 y, por ello, un elemento con oportunidades didácticas para la creación de proyectos interdisciplinares. (shrink)

En este artículo trabajamos dentro del campo de la música tradicional, vinculándola con la perspectiva de género a través del análisis de los roles establecidos tanto en la tradición como en la actualidad. Para ello establecemos una metodología basada en la realización de entrevistas como medio para suplir la falta de referencias bibliográficas. Nuestros resultados se centran en la continuidad de los roles de género y su distribución a través de relaciones de poder, independientemente de los cambios de contexto acaecidos (...) entre la tradición y la actualidad. Por último reflejaremos el interés actual y las posibilidades didácticas sobre el tema. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda la visión del ser humano presente en la filosofía de Emmanuel Levinas, quien vivió de cerca los acontecimientos históricos del siglo XX en Europa y centró su reflexión en la comprensión del ser humano. Levinas critica el humanismo occidental y propone el humanismo del otro, que se fundamenta en la responsabilidad absoluta por el otro. Este trabajo pretende examinar la tesis del filósofo lituano-francés según la cual la subjetividad se construye desde la alteridad, como ser-para-el-otro, es decir (...) que el yo adquiere su identidad desde la responsabilidad por el otro hombre. La subjetividad es sensibilidad, exposición a los otros, vulnerabilidad y responsabilidad en la proximidad de los otros. Sólo a partir de esta pasividad cabe pensar la subjetividad, de la cual es su principio constitutivo. Este nuevo humanismo tiene como noción clave el Rostro, entendido como verdadera categoría metafísica. (shrink)

La interpretación evolutiva y unitaria que hace Gadamer de los escritos de Platón supone en sus fundamentos una comprensión bastante particular sobre la ‘estructura pregunta-respuesta' característica de los diálogos platónicos. Este trabajo intenta mostrar la radicalidad del planteamiento gadamereano de la dialéctica platónica, así como la conexión esencial entre esta estructura y el fenómeno central de la hermenéutica, a saber, el fenómeno de la comprensión. De esta manera, ambos elementos se presentarán bajo una mutua dependencia, en cuanto que la filosofía (...) hermenéutica se reconoce reflexivamente a sí misma en la ejecución del diálogo platónico. Gadamer's evolutionary and unitary interpretation of Plato's writings assumes a rather particular understanding of the ‘question-and-answer form' . This work intends to show the radicalism of Gadamer's views about the Platonic dialectic, as well as the essential connection between that structure and the central phenomenon of hermeneutics, i.e. the phenomenon of comprehending . In this way, both elements are shown to depend on each other, as Hermeneutic philosophy recognizes itself through the realization of the Platonic dialogue. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene tres partes. La primera se centra en la santidad de Dios desde los textos bíblicos, siendo esta fuente de toda otra santidad, la cual se manifiesta en su belleza, su verdad y su bondad. La segunda desarrolla la invitación divina al hombre de vivir esta santidad en el proyecto original de la creación, así como la pobre respuesta del ser humano. La tercera mira al futuro en el que Dios ha prometido llevar a cabo la santificación (...) de los hombres. (shrink)