Performance of bimanual motor actions requires coordinated and integrated bilateral communication, but in some bimanual tasks, neural interactions and crosstalk might cause bilateral interference. The level of interference probably depends on the proportions of bilateral interneurons connecting homologous areas of the motor cortex in the two hemispheres. The neuromuscular system for proximal muscles has a higher number of bilateral interneurons connecting homologous areas of the motor cortex compared to distal muscles. Based on the differences in neurophysiological organization for proximal vs. (...) distal effectors in the upper extremities, the purpose of the present experiment was to evaluate how the level of bilateral interference depends on whether the bilateral interference task is performed with homologous or non-homologous effectors as the primary task. Fourteen participants first performed a unilateral primary motor task with the dominant arm with proximal and distal controlled joysticks. Performance in the unilateral condition with the dominant arm was compared to the same effector’s performance when two different bilateral interference tasks were performed simultaneously with the non-dominant arm. The two different bilateral interference tasks were subdivided into homologous and non-homologous effectors. The results showed a significant decrease in performance for both proximal and distal controlled joysticks, and this effect was independent of whether the bilateral interference tasks were introduced with homologous or non-homologous effectors. The overall performance decrease as a result of bilateral interference was larger for proximal compared to distal controlled joysticks. Furthermore, a proximal bilateral interference caused a larger performance decrement independent of whether the primary motor task was controlled by a proximal or distal joystick. A novel finding was that the distal joystick performance equally interfered with either homologous or non-homologous interference tasks performed simultaneously. The results indicate that the proximal–distal distinction is an important organismic constraint on motor control and for understanding bilateral communication and interference in general and, in particular, how bilateral interference caused by homologous vs. non-homologous effectors impacts motor performance for proximal and distal effectors. The results seem to map neuroanatomical and neurophysiological differences for these effectors. (shrink)

Individual soccer performance is notoriously difficult to measure due to the many contributing sub-variables and the variety of contexts within which skills must be utilised. Furthermore, performance differs across rather specialised playing positions. In research, soccer performance is often measured using combinations of, or even single, sub-variables. All too often these variables have not been validated against actual performance. Another approach is the use of proxies. In sports research, the age of athletes when winning championship medals has been used as (...) a proxy for determining their age of peak performance. In soccer, studies have used the average age of players in top European leagues or in the Champions League to determine the age of individual peak performance. Such approaches have methodological shortcomings and may underestimate the peak. We explore the use of a new proxy, the age at nomination for major individual awards, to determine the average age at peak individual soccer performance. A total of 1,981 players nominated for major awards from 1956 to 2019 were included, and a subset of 653 retired players was extracted, thus including players’ complete careers. Players’ average ages at nomination, at their first nomination, and at their last ever nomination were calculated, and differences across playing positions were calculated together with changes over time in the average age at peak. Based on our proxy, the age of individual peak soccer performance occurs around 27–28 years, varying across playing positions from 26 to 31 years. A player’s first peak, on average, seems to coincide with known peaks of physiological variables; their last-ever peak occurs long after physiological performance has started to decline, indicating that the decline can be compensated for by other variables. The peak age is higher than previously reported for soccer; however, it is similar to those in other team ball sports. The average age at peak performance has increased over time, especially in the last decade. Our approach of using proxies for unearthing information about hidden features of otherwise immeasurable complex performance appears to be viable, and such proxies may be used to validate sub-variables that measure complex behaviour. (shrink)

The paper problematises the reliability and ethics of using social media data, such as sourced from Twitter or Instagram, to carry out health-related research. As in many other domains, the opportunity to mine social media for information has been hailed as transformative for research on well-being and disease. Considerations around the fairness, responsibilities and accountabilities relating to using such data have often been set aside, on the understanding that as long as data were anonymised, no real ethical or scientific issue (...) would arise. We first counter this perception by emphasising that the use of social media data in health research can yield problematic and unethical results. We then provide a conceptualisation of methodological data fairness that can complement data management principles such as FAIR by enhancing the actionability of social media data for future research. We highlight the forms that methodological data fairness can take at different stages of the research process and identify practical steps through which researchers can ensure that their practices and outcomes are scientifically sound as well as fair to society at large. We conclude that making research data fair as well as FAIR is inextricably linked to concerns around the adequacy of data practices. The failure to act on those concerns raises serious ethical, methodological and epistemic issues with the knowledge and evidence that are being produced. (shrink)

This study provides evidence supporting the operation of a novel cognitive process of a somatic seat of attention, or ego-center, whose somatic location is under voluntary control and that provides access to differential emotional resources. Attention has typically been studied in terms of what it is directed toward, but it can also be associated with a localized representation in the body image that is experienced as the source or seat of attention—an aspect that has previously only been studied by subjective (...) techniques. Published studies of this phenomenon under terms such as egocenter or self-location suggest that the seat of attention can be situated in various ways within the experienced body, resulting in what are here referred to as different attentional stances. These studies also provide evidence that changes in attentional stance are associated with differences in cognitive skill, emotional temperament, self-construal, and social and moral attitudes, as well as with access to certain states of consciousness. In the present study, EEG results from multiple trials of each of 11 specific attentional stances confirmed that patterns of neural activity associated with the voluntarily control of attentional stances can be reliably measured, providing evidence for a differential neural substrate underlying the subjective location of the seat of attention. Additionally, brain activation patterns for the attentional stances showed strong correlations with EEG signatures associated with specific positive emotional states and with arousal, confirming that differential locations of the seat of attention can be objectively associated with different emotion states, as implied in previous literature. The ability to directly manage the seat of attention into various attentional stances holds substantial potential for facilitating access to specific cognitive and emotional resources in a new way. (shrink)

À partir de la reconstitution d’un contexte polémique divisant, dans le dernier quart du ve siècle, les tenants d’une conception traditionnelle de la religion et des savoirs d’une part, et les partisans d’une curiosité nouvelle pour l’étude des « choses d’en haut » (meteora) d’autre part, cet article se propose d’examiner la manière dont l’élément aérien a été investi par les seconds pour devenir le support matériel de l’« invisible » et se substituer ainsi à la divinité. L’analyse des caractéristiques (...) précises que certains philosophes et médecins ont associées à l’air permettra de mettre en évidence le rôle de puissance cosmologique et biologique qui a pu lui être reconnu dans cette tradition de pensée « aérienne ». (shrink)

This paper questions the conceptual and pragmatic worth of the category of relational values. Combining philosophical reasoning with ethnographic field-work in Wallmapu/Chile, I analyse a variety of ways in which people think about, value and behave toward the land. I thereby demonstrate that relational-ity is inherent to held, instrumental and intrinsic values. This means that there is no meaningful way in which to distinguish relational values from more familiar types of values. Yet, to be able to argue that a distinct (...) class of relational values exists, those who have proposed the term have been compelled to silence or downplay the relational natures of those other values. This has the perverse effect of confining, rather than promoting, relational thinking. (shrink)

This manuscript describes the responses and correlates of outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders to a tool designed to measure comprehension before obtaining informed consent for research participation. We used the Evaluation to Sign Consent form to document comprehension in 100 outpatients as part of their consent to participate in an ongoing study of an exercise intervention. The findings suggest that using this form is a feasible and acceptable approach to documenting comprehension of research procedures prior to obtaining informed consent. Age (...) 49 years and older and the receipt of intramuscular antipsychotic medication predicted the need for additional assistance to complete the Evaluation to Sign Consent form successfully (χ2 = 8.29, P = 0.016). Nurse researchers should consider documenting comprehension with this tool owing to its availability, time efficiency and utility. (shrink)

Current economic conditions have coincided with the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and forced public health officials to consider how to ethically incorporate compliance into their already strained budgets, while maintaining the integrity and intent of the legislation.As of April 14, 2003, the HIPAA Privacy Rule provides a new federal floor of protections for personal health information. The Privacy Rule establishes standards for the protection of health information held by many physicians’ offices, health plans, and health (...) care clearinghouses. The Rule protects personal health information by establishing conditions regulating the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information by these entities, also referred to as covered entities. The Rule does not prevent the daily operations of health care establishments. (shrink)

L’almanacco di corte e la guida della città – nota anche come «guida dei forestieri» – rappresentano due delle derivazioni più notevoli degli almanacchi europei del diciottesimo secolo per la loro varietà e consolidamento nel tempo. Questa ricerca si propone di indagare le origini europee di questo particolare segmento editoriale, ponendo l’accento sulle sue derivazioni nel contesto dell’Europa meridionale, in particolare in Spagna, Portogallo e negli stati italiani. L’obiettivo principale è quello di evidenziare le somiglianze tra la produzione spagnola, portoghese (...) e italiana nel Settecento, tenendo conto dei criteri editoriali e testuali. Allo stesso tempo, però, questo studio intende anche mettere in evidenza le caratteristiche specifiche dell’almanacco di corte e della guida della città in ciascuno degli stati, al fine di tracciare un ritratto il più completo possibile di questo oggetto tipografico. (shrink)

La humildad copernicana establece que el Universo es un lugar homogéneo en el que las leyes aplican indistintamente en cualquier lugar, es decir, no existe un centro o lugar privilegiado. En ese sentido el lugar que ocupa la Tierra en el Universo es como cualquier otro, nada especial y mucho menos relacionado al favor de un Dios omnipotente cuya creación favorita sea el ser humano. Siendo esto así, sería entonces factible pensar la existencia de muchos otros planetas que como la (...) Tierra alberguen vida y sustenten civilizaciones tan o más avanzadas como la nuestra. Sin embargo, ¿por qué aún no hemos contactado con otras civilizaciones? Esto último se conoce como la paradoja de Fermi. ¿Por qué si la Tierra es solo un punto más en el Universo parece que no hay otras Tierras y otros seres inteligentes con quienes contactar? Una posible solución que intentamos discutir en el presente texto es la Hipótesis de la Tierra Rara, según la cual, en efecto, el planeta Tierra es una cosa extraordinaria en el universo. Más allá de discutir la plausibilidad de esta hipótesis frente a otras, interesa puntualizar algunos corolarios que se siguen de la misma, y su implicación para el copernicanismo desde un punto de vista filosófico. (shrink)

This article discusses the specifics of social and philosophic approach to studying society in the context of two basic tendencies in modern social researches: interdisciplinary studies and commitment to search of meaning/sense. Both tendencies point to a special subject of this research – text. The authors believe that social philosophy has a particular characteristic that should be preserved and an introduction of the concept “public text” will help the preservation. Publicity of social text is determined as its special status in (...) the society consisting in creation of socially meaningful senses. Among public texts the authors single out publicistic texts that are of special format and possess expressed socially transforming potential. This article proposes valuative model as a method of analytically clear and reflexive reading of such text. It is being established that sociocultural research of modern days will have broader perspective in regards to specificity and thingness if it is involved with studying (analysis and interpretation) of namely texts. Social and philosophic research itself becomes text as well – mainly author’s and intentionally published, that preserves special features of philosophical text in general. The concept of “social text” loses virtual status at that, philologism as a regular consequence of modern interdisciplinary studies is being overcome and the subject of social and philosophical reflection is obtained from the area of text creation. The authors note two main research options of social philosophy – generalization of work results from experts in cultural studies, social studies, political studies, etc. (critical and methodological); determination and comprehension of socially important intents (reflexive and textological). (shrink)

In this paper, we provide a new framework for understanding infant-feeding-related maternal guilt and shame, placing these in the context of feminist theoretical and psychological accounts of the emotions of self-assessment. Whereas breastfeeding advocacy has been critiqued for its perceived role in inducing maternal guilt, we argue that the emotion women often feel surrounding infant feeding may be better conceptualized as shame in its tendency to involve a negative self-assessment—a failure to achieve an idealized notion of good motherhood. Further, we (...) suggest, both formula-feeding and breastfeeding mothers experience shame: the former report feeling that they fail to live up to ideals of womanhood and motherhood, and the latter transgress cultural expectations regarding feminine modesty. The problem, then, is the degree to which mothers are vulnerable to shame generally, regardless of infant feeding practices. As an emotion that is less adaptive and potentially more damaging than guilt, shame ought to be the focus of resistance for both feminists and breastfeeding advocates, who need to work in conjunction with women to oppose this shame by assisting them in constructing their own ideals of good motherhood that incorporate a sense of self-concern. (shrink)

The so-called uncontrolled donation after circulatory determination of death (uDCDD) have been implemented in several countries, including Spain and France, to increase the availability of organs for transplantation. These protocols allow obtaining kidneys, livers and lungs of patients who do not survive cardio-pulmonary resuscitation performed in out-of-hospital settings. Simultaneously with the development and recent proliferation of these protocols, some emergency teams have begun to employ unconventional methods of CPR, with still uncertain but promising results. The coexistence of these two possibilities (...) raises some questions: At what point should attempts to save a patient with circulatory arrest be abandoned so that this individual can begin to be considered as a potential organ donor? How to manage potential conflicts of loyalties that may arise within emergency and procurement teams? How should the information to the families of those patients and potential organ donors be managed? This article gathers the conclusions of a workshop in which an interdisciplinary working group addressed these and other questions related to DCDD and non-conventional CPR. (shrink)

Resumen: El artículo establece paralelos entre el Concilio Vaticano II (1962-1965) y la Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano (Medellín, 1968), bajo la perspectiva común de la historicidade del “mistério de la Iglesia”. Un paralelismo fundamental: la creación del CELAM (1955) anticipa en la práctica la doctrina de la colegialidad episcopal, promulgada por el Concilio ( Lumem Gentium 22). Bajo el foco de la colegialidade eclesial, toda la intensa actividad de preparación de la Conferencia de Medellín, así como su realización y (...) su documento final, se construye “a la luz del Concilio”. Desde la autocomprensión de la Iglesia inserida en la historia –expresada y compartida en los dos acontecimentos- se formulan los grandes temas y compromisos de la Iglesia latino-americana: la opción evangélica por los pobres; la nueva manera de ser Iglesia que se concreta en las comunidades eclesiales de base; y la dimensión teológica de las aspiraciones y exigências de liberación, formulada posteriormente por la teologia de la liberación. Leídos en clave teológica, el Concilio y Medellín fueron un signo de los tiempos, un kairós en el caminar histórico de la Iglesia hacia el Reino. La reflexiópn se refiere también a un actual “tiempo de exilio” de la Iglesia, que se caracteriza por la distancia de las grandes y exigentes convocaciones del Concilio y de Medellín. En el exilio, voces proféticas conclaman a superar el olvido de la historia. Palabras-clave : Iglesia. Concilio Vaticano II. CELAM. Conferencia de MedellíThis article draws parallels between the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965) and the Second General Conference of Latin American Bishops (Medellín, 1968), under the common view of the historicity of the “mystery of the Church”. A basic parallel arises: the creation of CELAM (1955) anticipates the doctrine of episcopal collegiality, promulgated by the Council (Lumen Gentium 22). Under the focus of the ecclesial collegiate, all the intensive activity of preparation for the Conference of Medellin, its realization and its final document, were made through the Council inspiration. By comprehending the Church as inserted in history the major themes and commitments of the Latin American Church are formulated: the evangelical option for the poor, the new way of being church founded in ecclesial communities, the theological dimensions of the aspirations and demands for liberation later formulated in Liberation Theology. Seen with theological eyes, the Council and the Conference of Medellín were a sign of the times, a historical movement of the Church towards the Kingdom of God. This discussion also refers to the current time of the Church as a “time in exile”. The present time is characterized by its detachment from the demands of the Council and of Medellín. In exile, prophetic voices call on to overcome the forgetting of history. Keywords: Church. Vatican Council II. CELAM. Conference of Medellín. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1233. (shrink)

Investigating the theoretical and empirical relationships between transparency and trust in the context of surveillance, this volume argues that neither transparency nor trust provides a simple and self-evident path for mitigating the negative political and social consequences of state surveillance practices. Dominant in both the scholarly literature and public debate is the conviction that transparency can promote better-informed decisions, greater oversight, and restore trust damaged by the secrecy of surveillance. The contributions to this volume challenge this conventional wisdom by considering (...) how relations of trust and policies of transparency are modulated by underlying power asymmetries, socio-historical legacies, economic structures, and institutional constraints. They study trust and transparency as embedded in specific socio-political contexts to show how, under certain conditions, transparency can become a tool of social control that erodes trust, while mistrust-rather than trust-can sometimes offer the most promising approach to safeguarding rights and freedom in an age of surveillance. The first book addressing the inter-relationship of trust, transparency, and surveillance practices, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students of surveillance studies as well as appeal to an interdisciplinary audience given the contributions come from political science, sociology, philosophy, law, and civil society. (shrink)

This article introduces a new scale to measure executive servant leadership, situating the need for this scale within the context of ethical leadership and its impacts on followers, organizations and the greater society. The literature on servant leadership is reviewed and servant leadership is compared to other concepts that share dimensions of ethical leadership (e.g., transformational, authentic, and spiritual leadership). Next, the Executive Servant Leadership Scale (ESLS) is introduced, and its contributions and limitations discussed. We conclude with an agenda for (...) future research, describing ways the measure can be used to test hypotheses about organizational moral climate, ethical organizational culture, corporate responsibility, and institutional theory. (shrink)

The purpose of the paper is to investigate into the peculiarities of the reflection of sense as the main idea of modern European philosophy. This idea refers to self-consciousness, about which modern empirical philosophy speaks in the language of reflection (J. Locke), and rationalism - in the language of Cogito (R. Descartes). For Kant, Cogito is a transcendental condition for the formation of concepts, and therefore reflection should be transcendental. According to Husserl, the main task of phenomenological reflection was to (...) obtain essences of processes, to build things from the acts of Cogito. In Husserl's words, reflection "carries the world as a meaningful sense". Such a sense (smysl) becomes a problem escaping both from analysis and interpretation. Its peculiarity lies in the deontological status of sense: the phrase "a sense should be" connects the sense with a realm of duty, and duty provides a correlation between Ego and integrity of the world, language and culture. Reflection of sense (smysl) becomes the process of comprehension, the mechanism of formation of the whole set of meanings in the culture. (shrink)

Drugs used to provide improvement of cognitive functioning have been shown to be effective in healthy individuals. It is sometimes assumed that the use of these drugs constitutes cheating in an academic context. We examine whether this assumption is ethically sound. Beyond providing the most up-to-date discussion of modafinil use in an academic context, this contribution includes an overview of the safety of modafinil use in greater depth than previous studies addressing the issue of cheating. Secondly, we emphasize two crucial, (...) but hitherto nearly overlooked, nuances to the issues: the potential for modafinil to decrease inequality and disadvantage in academic settings, and the fact that how modafinil is used dramatically impacts its effects on health, coercion, fairness, authenticity and effort. Finally, we explicitly defend the position that there are no qualitatively morally relevant differences between modafinil use and other enhancement modalities; any such differences are in degree,... (shrink)

The essays chosen for this anthology were taken from a conference held April 20–21, 2018, in Florence, Italy, at the Dutch University Institute of Art. All concern themselves with what editor Guy H...

There currently is sufficient scientific evidence directly linking acquisition, exposure and prevalence of the human papillomavirus to cervical cancer. The article addresses HPV in women by taking NaProTechnology into account, which makes it posible to combine scientific evidence with ethical approaches. It looks at both the biological aspect of sexuality and the ability to become a person within one’s sexual nucleus. There is an analysis of sex education programs based on preventive health and on the anthropology of sexuality, and supported (...) by family institutions, that have demonstrated better acceptance in dealing with the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV infection. (shrink)

La presente investigación aborda los distintos modelos urbanísticos que propuso Le Corbusier a lo largo de toda su trayectoria. Estos modelos principales, cuantificándose hasta cuatro, además de otros de menor entidad, muestran la evolución en la conceptualización y las características que propuso para la ciudad del siglo XX. Su aplicación a las diferentes ciudades, tanto interiores como litorales, evidencian tanto la diversidad de su urbanismo como la adaptabilidad de los mencionados modelos a casos reales. De este modo, se procura superar (...) las visiones parciales que habitualmente se hacen sobre toda su obra urbana. (shrink)

Volume 25, Issue 7-8, November - December 2020, Page 891-893.

Peter Mack asserts a truism in the Preface of Reading Old Books: Writing with Tradition. He argues from the first paragraph that “literary tradition provides essential imaginative resources for wri...

Volume 25, Issue 7-8, November - December 2020, Page 893-896.