The interest of assigning homework is frequently discussed due to its alleged low impact on student achievement. One of the current lines of research is to emphasize the quality of student homework engagement rather than the amount of time spent on homework. The aim of this study was to determine (a) the extent to which students’ prior achievement affects their homework engagement (i.e., time spent, time management, and amount of teacher-assigned homework done), and (b) how students’ intrinsic motivation towards homework (...) may mediate or moderate the relationship between prior achievement and the homework engagement variables. A large sample of students from the first four years of Secondary Education (N = 1899) completed questionnaires. The results showed that intrinsic motivation partially mediates, but does not moderate, the effect of prior achievement on the three variables related to homework engagement (time spent, time management, and amount of teacher-assigned homework done). These results highlight the importance of considering both students’ current level of achievement and their motivation towards homework engagement when assigning homework. (shrink)

The article presents a critical discussion between the conventional and ultranominalistic interpretations as opposed to the idea of truth discussed by Thomas Hobbes. The alternative offered to these points of view has to do with the defense of a moderate nominalism linked with materialistic commitments. It describes the criterion of truth from a double procedure having in mind the linguistic analysis of the statements as well as its empiric verification. It is hoped to make a contribution to the understanding of (...) the connections between the words and things according with the Hobbes’ perspective. (shrink)

This article points out that the great theses formulated by the analytic philosophy of the XX century, were anticipated in the XVII century by Thomas Hobbes. In The Leviathan, the author states the existing relationship between science and language. He had in mind the need of discerning between the sensible propositions and the absurd ones. Language is what provides the conditions for the construction of scientific thought and discovery of the truth. It also can be a source of error, absurdity (...) and nonsense. To avoid this danger, the philosopher must employ a method of analytic character that allows him to distill clearly the meaning of the expressions he uses, always appealing to an attitude of rigor, precision and exactitude. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes has normally been considered a political philosopher. The bibliographic exploration that is presented below makes up an unfailing testimony of two things: first of all, the outstanding place of language in the thought of Hobbes; second, the fundamental value that Hobbes’ thinking provides for the later development of the philosophy of language, and specially, of the analytic tendencies.

Esta investigación describe el papel de la retórica y la historia en la construcción de conceptos en la ciencia civil, tomando como marco de referencia los escritos juveniles de Thomas Hobbes. Para ello, fue necesario identificar la relación entre retórica y ciencia civil en The Brief Art of Rhetoric, analizar la génesis de la ciencia civil en el Horae Subsecivae (Three Discourses) y comprender la influencia de la Historia de la Guerra del Peloponeso de Tucídides, en la formación del concepto (...) estado de naturaleza. Como perspectiva metodológica se asumió un análisis genético de categorías en virtud del cual fue posible plantear interrelaciones entre los textos de juventud y las obras de madurez del autor. La investigación fue financiada por la Universidad de La Salle y constituye un resultado adscrito al grupo Estudios Hobbesianos (Categoría C) de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. (shrink)

BackgroundThis study analyzed the difference in psychological distress of the healthcare workers in three different periods of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Argentina. Specifically, from the third week of the mandatory quarantine through the two following weeks.MethodsAnalysis of the responses of 1,458 members of the health personnel was done on a questionnaire on healthcare workers concerns regarding the care of patients with coronavirus, indicators of depression, anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and coping.ResultsThe psychological indicators that were considered presented differences (...) between the evaluated periods. Perceived concerns about the possibility of infecting loved ones and infecting themselves were greatest in the periods after the onset of the pandemic. In addition, the perception of how the work environment worsened and how lack of sleep interfered with their work was also higher in periods 2 and 3. The same results were found in the indicators of depression, anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty. Finally, the indicators of high tension and concurrent lack of emotional control, which was greater in the last periods evaluated, were also expressed in the coping strategies (showing emotional lability, only contained by hypercontrol).ConclusionThe differences found in the psychological indicators between the evaluated periods support the need for early psychological care of health personnel which should be a priority of public health and a fundamental fact to increase its immediate effectiveness in the care of infected patients. (shrink)

Induced abortion is a worldwide practice and its legalisation is a persistent demand of the women’s movement. Although in the academic literature there are numerous studies that address the study of fertility, nowhere near as much attention has been given to the analysis of induced abortion and its determining factors, and even less to the consideration of gender equality as a variable through which to understand it. This article focuses on the influence of gender equality on the rate of induced (...) abortion in different European countries. To that end the authors have constructed an econometric panel data model with information from 26 European countries for the period 2006–2011. They have analysed comparative indicators of the gender gap in terms of education, employment and wages. In addition, they have taken into account sociodemographic covariables such as the average age of motherhood, the migration rate and the percentage of births to unmarried mothers in each country. Also, as contextual factors the authors used the Human Development Index and an indicator of the legislation on abortion in the countries studied, as well as the percentage of the population who identify as having religious beliefs. The results show that the induced abortion rate is conditioned not only by national legislation on abortion, but also by gender equalities, specifically that as gender inequality decreases, so too does the frequency of induced abortions. These findings have clear political implications, showing as they do how improvements in the status of women, particularly with respect to their social and economic rights, impact on women’s reproductive decisions. (shrink)

Business knowledge management is a crucial element and a quality differentiator in the services provided by organizations. However, despite their knowledge, due to the lack of strategic knowledge management, reinsurance companies in Colombia limit their organizational development, their strategies to respond to competition, and the generation of opportunities for expansion into other markets. This issue may converge in an inadequate and non-harmonic organizational culture. This paper analyzes and interprets the study categories: prevention, mitigation, transfer, acceptance, research, and appropriation of knowledge (...) on management carried out by reinsurance organizations in Bogota, Colombia. The aim is to establish indicators that respond to the potential effects of reinsurance. The study uses a qualitative approach, descriptive scope, and case study design. From the formulation of improvement guidelines, it has been possible to establish that the companies in the reinsurance sector, taken as a unit of study, have been made aware of the importance and role of adequate knowledge management in the progress and the business projection. (shrink)

The pandemic had serious implications for university education, specifically due to the transition from face-to-face teaching to online methodologies. This article analyzes the perception of students undergoing speech therapy from a Chilean University about the E-portfolio incorporation as an evaluative tool during the emergency virtual teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From quantitative research, a survey of 38 questions based on Likert scales was applied to 108 penultimate year undergraduate students. The survey demonstrated that there is an improvement in the (...) methodology and teaching support, as well as in the creativity and professionalism of the students. (shrink)

In many schools of architecture worldwide, design studios are frequently isolated from everyday life and tend to focus on theory without experience. In countries with complex social problems, such as Colombia, experiential learning can offer valuable opportunities for architectural education to become an agency for social reconstruction and peace building. This works proposes a teaching method which centres on the promotion of significant learning, through live projects as a complement to studio-based projects. Bloom’s revised taxonomy and Fink’s taxonomy for levels (...) of knowledge were used as references. In order to develop and test this method, 15 different live projects were designed, built and analysed over the course of four years. These involved the participation of 170 undergraduate learners, various national and international teachers, six sponsors from the construction industry and 12 children’s foundations. The findings reveal valuable insights into the development of intellectual, physical and em... (shrink)

Quillagua es un pequeño oasis junto al río Loa. La etnohistoria registra la convivencia de poblaciones indígenas de distinta tradición cultural. Picas tenían derechos territoriales hacia abajo de un poste de madera pintado y cepillado, mientras Atacamas hacia arriba. Estas categorías no eran geográficas sino indicaciones de una organización social dual. Aquí, indagamos en las expresiones materiales y visuales de esta tensa ocupación intercultural. Ponemos atención al registro arqueológico posterior al 900 d. C., época en que los actores desarrollaron numerosos (...) ejercicios político-sociales, mediante la construcción de un paisaje visual. (shrink)

Understanding the causes of maize landrace loss in farmers’ field is essential to design effective conservation strategies. These strategies are necessary to ensure that genetic resources are available in the future. Previous studies have shown that this loss is caused by multiple factors. In this longitudinal study, we used a collection of 93 maize landrace accessions from Morelos, Mexico, and stored at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Maize Germplasm Bank, to trace back to the original 66 donor (...) families after 50 years and explore the causes for why they abandoned or conserved their seed lots. We used an actor-centered approach, based on interviews and focus group discussions. We adopt a Multi-Level Perspective framework to examine loss as a process, accommodating multiple causes and the interactions among them. We found that the importance of maize landrace cultivation had diminished over the last 50 years in the study area. By 2017, 13 families had conserved a total of 14 seed lots directly descended from the 1967 collection. Focus group participants identified 60 accessions that could still be found in the surrounding municipalities. Our findings showed that multiple interconnected changes in maize cultivation technologies, as well as in maize markets, other crop markets, agricultural and land policies, cultural preferences, urbanization and climate change, have created an unfavorable environment for the conservation of maize landraces. Many of these processes were location- and landrace-specific, and often led to landrace abandonment during the shift from one farmer generation to the next. (shrink)

Review of the book: Rossetti, L.. Un altro Parmenide. Diogene Multimedia.

While there is significant consensus that undergraduate medical education should include bioethics training, there is widespread debate about how to teach bioethics to medical students. Educators disagree about course methods and approaches, the topics that should be covered, and the effectiveness and metrics for UME ethics training. One issue that has received scant attention is the timing of bioethics education during medical training. The existing literature suggests that most medical ethics education occurs in the pre-clinical years. Follow-up studies indicate that (...) medical students in their clinical rotations have little recall or ability to apply ethics concepts that were learned in their pre-clinical training. Trainees also report a desire for medical ethics to be taught in the context of practical application, which would suggest that the timing of pre-clinical ethics education is flawed. However, moving bioethics training to the clinical years should not be assumed to be the solution to the problems of recall and theory application. We argue that the effectiveness of timing bioethics education will depend on when medical students witness or experience particular categories of ethical dilemmas during their training. Our overarching hypothesis is that ethics education will be most effective when the bioethics training on a particular topic correlates to experiential exposure to that ethical issue. The purpose of our current study was to describe medical students exposure to particular categories of ethical conflicts, dilemmas, or issues. Our results may help bioethics educators better strategize about the most effective timing of medical ethics training in UME. (shrink)

En este artículo se presentan algunas variaciones del problema del regreso epistémico de la justificación. Con base en las distinciones entre justificación proposicional y justificación doxástica, por un lado, y la diferencia entre actividad de justificar y estatus de justificación, por otro, se distinguen cuatro formas de entender el problema del regreso epistémico. El objetivo es mostrar cómo pueden surgir distintas clases de teorías sobre la estructura de la justificación epistémica en función del modo como se entienda el problema del (...) regreso en alguno de esos cuatro modos. Se sostiene que, al haber por lo menos cuatro modos de regreso y, por lo menos, cuatro formas generales de enfrentarlo, habría a lo sumo dieciséis subclases posibles para lidiar con el problema. (shrink)

This paper aims to offer a definition of excessive profit for cases of exploitation. Most of the literature that aims to identify cases of exploitation focus on determining a fixed price, and suggests that profit is excessive when individuals deviate from this price. More recently, Joe Horton has proposed an indifferent benchmark between transacting with a vulnerable party and not transacting with her. After arguing against the existing focus on prices, the paper proposes an alternative approach to exploitation which focuses (...) on the profit made by the purported exploiter party. It suggests that profit is excessive when an agent makes more profit than the profit that a non-vulnerable purported exploiter would have made when transacting with a non-vulnerable second party. The focus on profit leads to the conclusion that different prices may be non-exploitative depending on the situation of the agents involved. (shrink)

It is sometimes claimed that we perceive people’s mental states in their expressive features. This paper clarifies the claim by contrasting two possible readings, depending on whether expression is conceived relationally or non-relationally. A crucial difference between both readings is that only a non-relational conception of expression ensures direct access to other minds. The paper offers an argument for a non-relational conception of expression, and therefore for the view that we directly perceive people’s mental states in their expressive features.

El objetivo de este trabajo es dar una mirada a la manera en que Roig opera en los ámbitos categoriales. Nuestro propósito es observar cómo el autor critica, confecciona, articula, utiliza, crea y entrelaza categorías, es decir, hemos querido hacer un alto en los procedimientos estructurales de su filosofar, en sus operaciones. Sostenemos como hipótesis que el rearme categorial al que Roig apela en múltiples pasajes de su obra implica, como operación de base, un cambio en el reconocimiento del lugar (...) de enunciación, y que éste se juega en parte importante en el empadronamiento de las categorías. Distinguimos al menos cinco operaciones categoriales en su trabajo reflexivo, las cuales pueden rastrearse a lo largo de toda su obra: (1) rescate, (2) crítica (3) reemplazo, (4) reelaboración e (5) invención. The aim of this work is to give a glance to the way in which Roig operates at categorical levels. Our intention is to observe how the author criticizes, makes, articulates, uses, creates and interlaces categories, that is to say, we wanted to take a break in the structural procedures of his philosophising, in his processes. We support as hypothesis that the categorical rearmament to that Roig appeals in multiple passages of his work involves, as a base operation, a change in the recognition of the place of enunciation, and that it plays an important part in the registration of the categories. We distinguish at least five categorical operations in his reflective work, which can be traced back throughout all his work: (1) rescue, (2) critique, (3) replacement, (4) re-elaboration and (5) invention. (shrink)

The use of wireless sensor networks and the Internet of things to detect forest fire outbreaks may help to reduce the response time and avoid natural disasters. This work proposes the deployment of WSN to enhance the real-time monitoring of dynamic variables such as polluting gases, temperature or the presence of fire flames by infrared. In addition, the activation of forest fire alerts if environmental status may involve evidence of a recent fire outbreak. A fuzzy-based controller is implemented to manage (...) the uncertainty related to estimating forest fire occurrence and dynamic update of fuzzy sets is developed to distinguish usual and unusual environmental conditions of every monitored forest area. Merkle trees, AES and hash functions are considered to protect the integrity of environmental data. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta un análisis de las imágenes- agenciamiento en la Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno de Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala y el estudio de los conceptos-acontecimientos en A queda do céu, palavras de um xamã Yanomami de Kopenawa y Albert. Con el objetivo de indicar el potencial conceptual, poético y cosmopolítico de la traducción nativa.

To maximize brain plasticity after stroke, several rehabilitation strategies have been explored, including the use of intensive motor training, motor imagery, and action observation. Growing evidence of the positive impact of virtual reality (VR) techniques on recovery following stroke has been shown. However, most VR tools are designed to exploit active movement, and hence patients with low level of motor control cannot fully benefit from them. Consequently, the idea of directly training the central nervous system has been promoted by utilizing (...) motor-imagery (MI) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). To date, detailed information on which VR strategies lead to successful functional recovery is still largely missing, and very little is known about how to optimally integrate BCI and VR paradigms for stroke rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a BCI-VR system using a MI paradigm for post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation on functional assessments, and related changes in MI ability and brain imaging. To achieve this, a 60 years old male chronic stroke patient was recruited. The patient underwent a 3-week intervention in a clinical environment, resulting in 10 BCI-VR training sessions. The patient was assessed before and after intervention, as well as on a one-month follow-up, in terms of clinical scales and brain imaging using functional MRI (fMRI). Consistent with prior research, we found important improvements in upper extremity scores (Fugl-Meyer) and identified increases in brain activation measured by fMRI that suggest neuroplastic changes in brain motor networks. This study expands on the current body of evidence as more data are needed on the effect of this type of interventions not only on functional improvement but also through brain imaging to study the effect of the intervention on plasticity. (shrink)

Sport is an emotional experience. Studies have shown that high emotional intelligence (EI) is associated with better sports performance, though different aspects of sports experience and their relationship with EI are still unclear. This study examined the possible relationships between sports experience and EI dimensions of undergraduate athletes. Likewise, according to the differences described in the literature between men and women, the secondary aim was to identify the possible relationship between EI and sports experience in both subgroups. A total of (...) 1784 [712 men (39.9%), 1072 women (60.1%); mean age = 21.3 years, SD = 4.2)] undergraduate athletes completed the Trait Meta Mood Scale and a sports experience questionnaire. Comparisons between groups were performed using Mann–Whitney-Uand H-Kruskal–Wallis tests and correlations between variables were analyzed using Spearman correlation. We found that the number of different sports practiced and the number of years practicing sports were positively associated with emotional repair (ER). However, the number of years practicing sports was negatively associated with emotional attention (EA). Male athletes who trained more and had a higher competitive level were more likely to show higher ER. In any case, it is necessary to take into account that all the associations were weak. Our study suggested that athletes tend to attend to and value their feelings and use positive thinking to repair their negative moods. (shrink)

The teacher of the University of Salamanca Pedro de Osma wrote a comment on the Nichomachean Ethics, following the Latin Tanslation by Leonardo Bruni, and despising the text used by St. Thomas. Due to the respect with what Pedro de Osma himself quotes the "Theological Summa" and the "Comment on the Sentences", it is about to verify how far he has also taken on account the Aquinas' Comment on the "Ethics". The comparison of the introductions written by both authors to (...) their respective comments shows such a divergence, both on the structure and method as well as on the planning and contents, that they lead us to think of the independence of the Salmantinian respect to the Aquinas. His introduction stands out for the exegetical exercise applied to the aristotelian texts; for the opening to the rest of the work by the Philosopher; for the planning of the difficulties and the discussion of different opinions. Comparatively, the text of the Angelicus is offered to us more concise and dogmatic, without dialectical eagerness and with a certain touch of theoretical elevation. (shrink)