In the framework of population dynamics, we start from the logistic equation describing the evolution of one species with limited food supply. A split device allows us to consider the population as two sub-populations x and y evolving analogously. The dynamical system has a one-parameter family of equilibria which is structurally unstable. Then small perturbations of the system (describing functional or ethological differentiations between the sub-species) lead in general to a new system involving a fast and a slow dynamics with (...) a finite number of equilibria. In simple situations where the differentiation is clearly either an advantage or an inconvenience for one of the subspecies, the stable equilibrium amounts to extinction of the disadvantaged subspecies (elementary Darwinism). Oppositely more complex differentiations (involving both advantages and inconveniences) often lead to stable equilibria with well-defined non zero proportions of the sub-populations (preservation of the biodiversity). Other examples are concerned with symbiosis-like differentiations, leading to preservation, whereas the opposite case (mutual nuisances) has an unstable equilibrium and lead to extinction of one or the other subspecies according to the initial conditions. The case of a scission into three subspecies is more rich in consequences. In certain cases, predator-prey relations lead to auto-organization phenomena with stable diversity-preserving diversity. Cases of instability are also possible, leading to orbits tending towards a poly-cycle.This implies some kind of pseudo-extinction: this amounts to “pseudo-periodic-like” orbits with “pseudo-periods” larger and larger, tending to infinity; each pseudo-period contains parts where one of the sub-populations practically vanish. Other non-linear perturbations lead to stable orbits. (shrink)

We propose a mathematical model for a class of predator–prey systems more complex than the usual one, involving a commensalism effect consisting in an influence of the predator on the sustainability of the prey. This effect induces interesting new features, including bi-stability. The question of the possibility of reaching a certain attractor starting from initial conditions with a small population of predators, which presents an interest from the vewpoint of the onset of the predator in evolution, is addressed. We propose (...) two possibilities: the classical one involving adapted conditions in the far past and a new one using biodiversity, specifically the presence of another predator which operates as a starter, being displaced in the sequel. (shrink)

This is an interdisciplinary work product of reflection on the challenges today presented by a biological vision of the world regarding questions, concepts and notions of cosmology. Based on and in dialogue with the current state of biological research, this work deals with certain cosmological problems such as that between the living and the inert, the traditional division between the soul or the vital vegetative principle, sensitive or intellective; the problem of individuation and the concept of species, among others; the (...) solution found within classical philosophy in this paper takes into account the latest discoveries findings of modern biology. (shrink)

We address the biological dynamics problem of the persistence of several species in conditions of non-existence of an equilibrium, including an example of stabilization by predation and the very controversial “competitive exclusion”. We give normal forms for various examples of such persistence and comments on the involved topology, which implies the presence of exceptional heteroclinic connections binding equilibria on the boundary.

Claiming that individuals and communities get their choices, rhythms and practices biopolitically choreographed by temporal mechanisms that dictate which human experiences are included or excluded, Elizabeth Freeman states that those ‘whose activities do not show up on the official time line, whose own time lines do not synchronize with it, are variously and often simultaneously black, female, queer’. The narrative subject of Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other is black, female and queer in her design of a polyphonic text featuring twelve (...) black women moving through the world in different decades and occupying a temporal dimension that deviates from the linear and teleological modes. I draw on Edelman ; Freeman and Ahmed to analyse Evaristo's novel as a text informed by feminist queer temporality and thus explore these characters’ resistance to chrononormative assumptions like ‘the straight time of domesticated gender, capital accumulation, and national coherence’. In this light, I address her cast of ‘time abjects’ –lesbians, transgender women, feminist killjoys and menopausal females—as characterized ‘chronotopically’ as their racialized and gendered subjectivities coalesce temporally and spatially seeing their pasts and futures interact in a typically transpositional, queer and diasporic continuum. By invoking Freeman's notion of ‘erotohistoriography’ as a distinctive mode of queer time that not only recognizes non-linear chronopolitics, but decidedly prioritizes bodies and pleasures in self-representation, I contend that Evaristo depicts bodies as likewise performing this encounter between past and present in hybrid, carnal and trans-temporal terms. I conclude that in her joining temporality and corporeality, memory and desire, she suggests alternative ways of representing contemporary black British womanhood. (shrink)

El objetivo del artículo consiste en iluminar el pensamiento aristotélico acerca de la catarsis a través del estudio crítico de los conceptos fundamentales que figuran en la definición de la tragedia de la Poética : mimesis, acción, y temor y compasión; mostrando que el efecto catártico procede de la intelección—condición teórica de posibilidad del valor práctico— por la vía indirecta del arte, de la realidad humana imitada por el poeta.The article’s purpose is the meaning of Aristotle’s thought about the katharsis (...) that tragedy accomplishes, throught a critical study on the mains concepts wich involved the definition of íragedyin the Poetics : imitation, action, and pity and fear; trying to show that the condition of this effect is the intelection, throught the indirect way of Arts, of the human reality imitated by the poet. (shrink)

A la croisée des chemins de la vulgarisation, de l'histoire et de la philosophie des sciences, l'auteur explore la nature de la connaissance et de la recherche via un mode d'exposition faisant largement appel à l'analogie. [extrait de la 4è de couv.].

The literature on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises concerns that these technologies may affect personality, mood, and behavior. We conducted semi-structured interviews with researchers (n = 23) involved in developing next-generation DBS systems, exploring their perspectives on ethics and policy topics including whether DBS/aDBS can cause such changes. The majority of researchers reported being aware of personality, mood, or behavioral (PMB) changes in recipients of DBS/aDBS. Researchers offered varying estimates of the frequency of PMB changes. A (...) smaller majority reported changes in personality specifically. Some expressed reservations about the scientific status of the term ‘personality,’ while others used it freely. Most researchers discussed negative PMB changes, but a majority said that DBS/aDBS can also result in positive changes. Several researchers viewed positive PMB changes as part of the therapeutic goal in psychiatric applications of DBS/aDBS. Finally, several discussed potential causes of PMB changes other than the device itself. (shrink)

The present work is a contribution to the understanding of the sempiternal problem of the “burden of factor two” implied by sexual reproduction versus asexual one, as males are energy consumers not contributing to the production of offspring. We construct a deterministic mathematical model in population dynamics where a species enjoys both sexual and parthenogenetic capabilities of reproduction and lives on a limited resource. We then show how polygamy implies instability of a parthenogenetic population with a small number of sexually (...) born males. This instability implies evolution of the system towards an attractor involving both populations. We also exhibit the analogy with a parasite/host system. (shrink)

In the last decades, proportionality has become increasingly influential in human rights adjudication. Even in the United States, a country with its own tradition of constitutional review, proporti...

David Estlund and Massimo Renzo argue that, given the right background conditions, combatants are obligated to obey orders to fight in unjust wars, a thesis they put forward even as they recognize that this involves committing serious moral wrongs. Their views, then, fall between traditionalism and revisionism in the theory of just war. We argue that both Estlund and Renzo fail to adequately distinguish between binding and nonbinding serious morally wrong orders, that their views are incompatible with their assumed fact‐relative (...) understanding of morality, and that they fail to establish that combatants are obligated to obey orders to fight in unjust wars. We conclude that just as untenable as these two middle‐ground positions is the traditionalist view. (shrink)

Introduction Currently, The nature and scope of Clinical Ethics Protocols in Madrid are not well understood.Objectives The main objective is to describe the features of ‘guideline/recommendation’ type CEPs that have been or are being developed by existing Clinical Ethics Committees in Madrid. Secondary objectives include characterisation of those CECs that have been the most prolific in reference to CEP creation and implementation and identification of any trends in future CEP development.Methods We collected CEPs produced and in process by CECs accredited (...) in the public hospitals in Madrid, Spain, from 1996 to 2008.Results CECs developed 30 CEPs, with 10 more in process. The most common topic is refusal of treatment . If CEPs addressing terminal illness, Do-Not-Resuscitate orders and advance directives are placed into a separate ‘ethical problems at the end of life’ category, this CEP subject emerges as the most common . There is a relationship between the age of the CEC and the development of CEPs . CECs now seem to be more likely to engage in CEP development.Conclusions The CECs in Madrid, Spain, have developed a significant number of CEPs and there is a trend towards continued development. The most frequent topics are ethical problems at the end of life and refusal of treatment by the patient. (shrink)

The expansion of research on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises important neuroethics and policy questions related to data sharing. However, there has been little empirical research on the perspectives of experts developing these technologies. We conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with aDBS researchers regarding their data sharing practices and their perspectives on ethical and policy issues related to sharing. Researchers expressed support for and a commitment to sharing, with most saying that they were either sharing their data (...) or would share in the future and that doing so was important for advancing the field. However, those who are sharing reported a variety of sharing partners, suggesting heterogeneity in sharing practices and lack of the broad sharing that would reflect principles of open science. Researchers described several concerns and barriers related to sharing, including privacy and confidentiality, the usability of shared data by others, ownership and control of data (including potential commercialization), and limited resources for sharing. They also suggested potential solutions to these challenges, including additional safeguards to address privacy issues, standardization and transparency in analysis to address issues of data usability, professional norms and heightened cooperation to address issues of ownership and control, and streamlining of data transmission to address resource limitations. Researchers also offered a range of views on the sensitivity of neural activity data (NAD) and data related to mental health in the context of sharing. These findings are an important input to deliberations by researchers, policymakers, neuroethicists, and other stakeholders as they navigate ethics and policy questions related to aDBS research. (shrink)

_In this symposium, Roberto A. Carleo III, Gregory Doukas and Imogen M. Sullivan think alongside Carlos Alberto Sánchez about the contingency of human existence as it is understood in Mexican existentialism. They ask: Should the notion of a metaphysical substance be discarded altogether due to its misuse in the history of European philosophy? Or are there philosophical reasons to avoid ontological uncertainty by, for example, postulating the notion of a non-discrete substance? And if attempts to define human substantiality merely seek (...) to defy this accidentality, should scholars with deviant identities deliberately engage in a wandering beyond dominant frameworks to evade the material and hermeneutical hostility of these frameworks? How should they work alongside others to best take up their responsibility? In his reply, Sánchez considers what the project of accidentalization would imply for each of these carefully-crafted interventions._. (shrink)

In Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Neural Networks are very accurate models in tasks such as classification and regression in the study of natural phenomena, but they are considered “black boxes” because they do not allow direct explanation of what they address. This paper reviews the possibility of scientific explanation from these models and concludes that other efforts are required to understand their inner workings. This poses challenges to access scientific explanation through their use, since the nature of Artificial Neural Networks makes (...) it difficult at first instance the scientific understanding that can be extracted from them. (shrink)

Drawing on sixteenth-century Protestant discourse on marriage and sexuality, this essay examines the anxieties permeating Spenser’s two poetical celebrations of his courtship and wedding with Elizabeth Boyle. Though the Reformers’ departure from Rome included an embrace of clerical marriage and an advocacy for the virtues of companionate marriage, revulsion at the sinfulness of sex remained. Through the sonnets of the Amoretti and the stanzas of the Epithalamion, an idea of mutual love is disrupted by a Protestant-tinged sense of innate and (...) pervasive depravity. Special attention is given to sonnets #58 and #84, and to the Epithalamion passages on Maia and Alcema. (shrink)

This paper presents an axiomatic characterization of the Owen set of transportation games. In the characterization we use six properties including consistency (CONS2) and splitting and merging (SM) which are firstly proposed and defined for this setup in the present paper.

The preparation of teachers is a key process in the development of effective teachers, however, initial training always seems insufficient and outdated to produce the expected teaching profile and respond to the dynamic character of today's society. This article reports part of the research "teachers in the process of initial training" (2020-2021), developed in the context of a Faculty of Education Sciences, Chile. Based on a qualitative methodology and a case study research strategy, we worked with 120 pedagogy students in (...) the process of training, who offered their representations regarding the theory-practice relationship in the context of the Chilean educational system. In a complementary way, 5 focus groups were administered with the intention of enriching ideas and perspectives. The criteria to choose them were to be studying a pedagogy program, with experience of practices in schools and that they accepted to participate voluntarily, after signing consent. The results show that the theory-practice relationship can be understood in various ways: dependence, disagreement and integration which influence the way teaching is understood and its exercise. In terms of projections, the need arises to think of a training that in a bidirectional way manages to theorize the practice and experience the theory. (shrink)

El presente texto busca desarrollar una reflexión filosófica respecto de las posibles relaciones entre la noción de identidad y las formas de gobierno contemporáneas. A partir de un breve análisis sobre los principales desarrollos de la noción, se busca tensionar el campo de comprensión habitual y plantear un determinado modo en que esta puede pensarse como un engranaje epistemológico-ético respecto de los modos en que los individuos son llamados a nombrarse y reconocerse dentro de los límites impuestos por una cartografía (...) política. La tesis que sostiene este escrito dice relación con que la categoría de individuo moderno no es sostenible sin una adscripción a un orden de los nombres que tiende al autogobierno en base a la apelación de un ideal ético de correspondencia consigo mismo. (shrink)

Nos hemos acostumbrado a considerar como normales una serie de situaciones de injusticia extrema que son fuente de miseria y esterilización de las posibilidades humanas de vastos sectores de la población mundial. El presente artículo trata de mostrar que tales situaciones no resultan de la violación de principios éticos fundamentales por parte de algunos individuos u organizaciones aisladas, sino, justamente, de la aplicación de los criterios éticos que prevalecen hoy en la práctica económica y política. La vigencia de éstos se (...) debe a que convienen a los intereses de los países y grupos económicos que dominan el escenario global, quienes los aprovechan de manera ideológica para mantener su poder, al margen del perjuicio que causan al desarrollo de las sociedades menos avanzadas económicamente. El texto concluye haciendo énfasis en la necesidad de replantear los criterios éticos que sirven para sustentar las decisiones económicas en el marco de la globalización actual. (shrink)

This article is part of a For-Discussion-Section of Methods of Information in Medicine about the paper "Biomedical Informatics: We Are What We Publish", written by Peter L. Elkin, Steven H. Brown, and Graham Wright. It is introduced by an editorial. This article contains the combined commentaries invited to independently comment on the Elkin et al. paper. In subsequent issues the discussion can continue through letters to the editor.

The development of information and communication technologies offers innovative opportunities to establish business strategies focused on customer value co-creation. This situation is especially notable in the banking industry. e-Banking activities can support competitive advantages. However, the adoption of e-banking is not yet well-established among consumers. In this sense, the technology acceptance model is considered essential in studying consumer behavior applied to adopt a particular technology. According to the TAM model, this study analyses the factors which influence bank customers to adopt (...) e-banking to facilitate their banking services and support the process of value co-creation. Consequently, the authors examine five main aspects of the technology adoption model to provide a broad understanding of bank customers’ consumption of e-banking. A partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis is conducted to evaluate proposed relationships between factors and customers’ e-banking adoption. (shrink)

O período medieval é longo e de grande efervescência. Nele o saber foi se desenvolvendo e organizando aos poucos, acentuando-se sempre mais a importância da natureza. A partir do século XII, organizam-se escolas, no século XIII, as universidades. Nas "Siete Partidas" o rei Alfonso X idealiza e define o que seria o studi.um generale.

El origen de la idea moderna de Historia está relacionada con la crítica del mito de la Fortuna que tiene lugar especialmente en el Renacimiento español. Analizamos desde el sistema del materialismo filosófico de Gustavo Bueno una serie de obras en donde aparece esta crítica.