The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri–food systems. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as agroecology, to broader scales, thus reconfiguring the dominant socio-technical regimes. Additionally, emergent ‘hybrid forums’ can provide a space between niche and regime where niche innovators can become important (...) actors in scaling up and out emergent innovations. In this paper, we examine a university training program, to better understand its role as a ‘hybrid forum’. Our analysis focuses especially on how the program, as an example of a hybrid forum, worked to reconfigure practices, concepts, and tools of local development practitioners. We also assess to what extent the program contributed to transitioning local development institutions toward agroecology. An online survey and in-depth interviews were carried out to determine how the training program has impacted the student’s opinions and their respective institutions. The results show that most of the students consider that they have acquired new theoretical frameworks and useful methods to re-framing their local development projects, that new alliances with multi-actor networks have been perceived, and that some internal changes of the local development practices have taken place. We conclude that the training program, as a hybrid forum, is capable of outscaling niche innovations through linkages with different kind of actors both from the niche and the regime. Political changes in the socio-technical landscape level offer an opportunity to amplify the impact of the innovations which are being generated by those multi-actor networks, but with a limited multi-level impact as far as institutional regime-actors not aligned with agroecological transition keep the most of the competencies on agri–food systems. (shrink)

Citizen science is growing quickly, given its potential to enhance knowledge coproduction by diverse participants, generating large and global data sets. However, uneven participation in CS is still an important concern. This work aims to understand participation dynamics in CS and how they are shaped by participation barriers and drivers. We do so by examining participation in CONECT-e, a CS project that uses a wiki-like platform to document traditional ecological knowledge. More precisely, we analyze quantitative data on participants’ profile and (...) activity patterns and qualitative data on barriers and drivers of participation. Our findings suggest that overcoming the education, age, and residence participation barriers is challenging even in cocreated CS projects. This is potentially due to issues of perceived self-illegitimacy and low access to information and communication technologies. Our results also point out that participants’ alliance with the project’s objectives and trust relationships with the project team are important drivers of participation in CS projects. Finally, we also highlight the need to think beyond participation as single actions and rather consider participation diversity in CS as functional diversity in ecosystems, with participants performing a diverse set of interconnected tasks or functions. (shrink)

Understanding how the chordate body plan originated and evolved is still controversial. The discovery by Spemann and Mangold in 1924 of the vertebrate organizer and its inductive properties in patterning the AP and DV axis was followed by a long gap until the 1960s when scientists started characterizing the molecular events responsible for such inductions. However, the evolutionary origin of the organizer itself remained obscure until very recently; did it appear together with the origin and radiation of vertebrates, or was (...) it a chordate affair? A recent study by Yu and collaborators,1 which analyses the expression of several organizer‐specific genes in amphioxus together with recent phylogenetic data that reversed the position of invertebrate extant chordates (e.g. urochordates and cephalochordates), indicates that the organizer probably appeared in early chordates. It likely had separate signalling centres generating BMP and Wnt signalling gradients along the DV and AP axis. The organizer was then lost in the urochordate lineage, most probably as an adaptation to a rapid and determinate development. BioEssays 29:619–624, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The origin of chordates and the consequent genesis of vertebrates were major events in natural history. The amphioxus (lancelet) is now recognised as the closest extant relative to the stem chordate and is the only living invertebrate that retains a vertebrate‐like development and body plan through its lifespan, despite more than 500 million years of independent evolution from the stem vertebrate. The inspiring data coming from its recently sequenced genome confirms that amphioxus has a prototypical chordate genome with respect to (...) gene content and structure, and even chromosomal organisation. Pushed by joint efforts of amphioxus researchers, amphioxus is now entering a new era, namely its maturation as a laboratory model, through the availability of a large amount of molecular data and the advent of experimental manipulation of the embryo. These two facts may well serve to illuminate the hidden secrets of the genetic changes that generated, among other vertebrates, ourselves. (shrink)

Learning institutions can work in very different manners, but they all share many common and regularly repeated processes. The unambiguous specification of both the processes involved in educationa...

La professionnalisation des enseignants comme facteur contribuant à la qualité de l’éducation répond, en partie, à la formation qu’ils ont reçue. Dans le système pédagogique de l’alternance, en raison de la diversité des éléments et des acteurs qui interviennent, l’enseignant se pose une série de difficultés liées à la pratique de ses fonctions qui en affectent la qualité. Dans cet article, à travers les résultats obtenus à partir d’entretiens semi-dirigés, une étude est présentée qui analyse le point de vue d’experts (...) dans le domaine de la formation des formateurs des centres d’alternance. (shrink)

The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri–food systems. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as agroecology, to broader scales (e.g., regional, national, international), thus reconfiguring the dominant socio-technical regimes. Additionally, emergent ‘hybrid forums’ can provide a space between niche and regime where niche (...) innovators can become important actors in scaling up and out emergent innovations. In this paper, we examine a university training program (Postgraduate Diploma in Local Agroecological Dynamization at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), to better understand its role as a ‘hybrid forum’. Our analysis focuses especially on how the program, as an example of a hybrid forum, worked to reconfigure practices, concepts, and tools of local development practitioners. We also assess to what extent the program contributed to transitioning local development institutions toward agroecology. An online survey (n = 46) and in-depth interviews (n = 16) were carried out to determine how the training program has impacted the student’s opinions and their respective institutions. The results show that most of the students consider that they have acquired new theoretical frameworks and useful methods to re-framing their local development projects, that new alliances with multi-actor networks have been perceived, and that some internal changes of the local development practices have taken place. We conclude that the training program, as a hybrid forum, is capable of outscaling niche innovations through linkages with different kind of actors both from the niche and the regime. Political changes in the socio-technical landscape level offer an opportunity to amplify the impact of the innovations which are being generated by those multi-actor networks, but with a limited multi-level impact as far as institutional regime-actors not aligned with agroecological transition keep the most of the competencies on agri–food systems. (shrink)

Alternative splicing (AS) is a widespread mechanism with an important role in increasing transcriptome and proteome diversity by generating multiple different products from the same gene. Evolutionary studies of AS have focused primarily on the conservation of alternatively spliced sequences or of the AS pattern of those sequences itself. Less is known about the evolution of the regulation of AS, but several studies, working from different perspectives, have recently made significant progress. Here, we categorize the different levels of AS evolution, (...) and summarize the studies on evolution of AS regulation, which point to a high level of evolutionary conservation of the regulation of AS events conserved between related species. This suggests that the quantitative regulation of AS is an intrinsic part of AS function. We discuss the potential role of changes in developmental regulation of AS as an additional layer in complex gene regulatory networks and in the emergence of genetic novelties. (shrink)

El artículo revisa las aportaciones más trascendentes que Jordi Ferrer ha hecho a la tradición racionalista de la prueba jurídica y evalúa críticamente el limitado papel que, desde su óptica, le corresponde desempeñar a la epistemología en la discusión general sobre los estándares de prueba apropiados para las distintas ramas del derecho. Más específicamente, se analiza la irrelevancia que Ferrer parece atribuir a dicha disciplina –o el silencio que debe guardar–, respecto del establecimiento del estándar de prueba deseable en (...) materia penal. Se concede que, en efecto, le corresponde al pueblo tomar la decisión de qué estándar implementar. No obstante, se sostiene, ello no impide que la epistemología incida en el proceso de formación de dicha decisión mediante la realización de observaciones, el ofrecimiento de argumentos y la propuesta de metodologías adecuadas, con miras a que aquella se tome en un contexto mejor informado y sea lo más racional posible. Se ilustra esta posición haciendo referencia al proyecto de epistemología jurídica de Larry Laudan. (shrink)

In this introduction, I consider different problems posed by the use of singular terms in fiction (section 1), paying especial attention to proper names and, in particular, to names of real people, places, etc. As we will see (section 2), descriptivist and Millian theories of reference face different kinds of problems in explaining the use of fictional names in fiction-related contexts. Moreover, the task of advancing a uniform account of names in these contexts—an account which deals not only with fictional (...) names but also with “real” names—will prove to be very hard no matter whether we favour realist or antirealist intuitions about fictional discourse (section 3). Section 4 offers an overview of the content of this volume, with emphasis on the discussion between Manuel García-Carpintero and Stacie Friend about the meaning of “real” names in fiction-related contexts, the main topic of the Third Blasco Disputatio. (shrink)

Review: M. GARCÍA-CARPINTERO & M. KÖLBEL (eds.), Relative Truth. London: Oxford University Press, 2008.

After the end of their time as a caregiver, former caregivers have needs and feelings that have been subject to little study to date. The aim of the study is to determine and analyse the feelings, perceptions and practices of former caregivers in the reconstruction of their daily lives. This is a qualitative study based on the Grounded Theory developed by Charmaz. The study involved 14 former caregivers who had cared for their relative for more than 2 years and who (...) had stopped caring for them more than 2 years previously. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted and data were collected over 13 months between 2015 and 2017. Data were analysed using the Grounded Theory Method. In addition, this study was approved by the ethics committee of the Institut Universitari d’Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol. The former caregiver experiences a transition, which begins in the days before the death of their relative and may continue for more than 3 years. Three critical moments in the post-caring transition were found: the post-caring emptiness; the end of the period as a caregiver; and the movement towards a new life. Family and professional support is needed during this transition. Former caregivers experience a transition in the rebuilding of their daily lives; furthermore, former caregivers may be a source of support for other caregivers, which is linked to positive mental health factors. Healthcare organisations need to acknowledge the emotional, psychosocial and psychological health of former caregivers. (shrink)

Charles Taylor es comúnmente identificado como uno de los padres fundadores del comunitarismo teórico, pero tal identificación no da cuenta de la amplitud del pensamiento del filósofo canadiense. A través de este trabajo de investigación pretendemos articular la filosofía de Taylor partiendo del proyecto filosófico que explícitamente inicia en sus primeros trabajos, a saber, la configuración de una antropología filosófica, a través de la cual abordaremos los grandes temas que han ocupado su vida -ética, política y religión- en la puesta (...) en marcha de una filosofía con intenciones puramente prácticas.Charles Taylor is commonly identified as one of the founding fathers of theoretical communitarianism, but such identification does not realize the extent of his thinking. Through this research, we try to articulate the Taylor's philosophy from his philosophical project, that he explicitly started in his early work, namely, the configuration of a philosophical anthropology, through which we will address the major issues that have occupied his life - ethics, politics and religion- in the implementation of a philosophy with purely practical intentions. (shrink)

The papers in this volume are drawn from a workshop on delusion and self-deception, held at Macquarie University in November of 2004. Our aim was to bring together theorists working on delusions and self-deception with an eye towards identifying and fostering connections—at both empirical and conceptual levels—between these domains. As the contributions to this volume testify, there are multiple points of contact between delusion and self-deception. This introduction charts the conceptual space in which these points of contact can be located (...) and introduces the reader to some of the general issues that frame the discussion of subsequent chapters. (shrink)

In the valley of the Trujala, Hornos and Guadalimar rivers in the Sierra de Segura, northeast of the province of Jaén, is an articulated system of preserved Andalusi structures that configure a landscape. To orient in a landscape, one needs a map that accurately represents the elements involved in its formation. The objective of this work is to reveal these points and to draw a chart that serves to understand and read into the palimpsest of the landscape. To achieve this, (...) an intensive prospecting of the territory is carried out to document the existing remains and an evaluation model based on Geographic Information Systems is elaborated. This process allowed for quantifying variables, obtaining statistically relevant data and classifying the information obtained in places where there is some Andalusi preexistence. The results supply useful parameters in the analytical reading of the landscape, provide quantitative knowledge about factors that connect the sites, and allow for the determination of settlement patterns. The results also reveal the mode of occupation in a territory -the ancientʿamal Šaqūra- as a reflection of the Andalusi organization in the rural world and the anthropic role that these settlements, which are associated with structures built of rammed-earth during the 12th century, have had in the landscape’s configuration. (shrink)

The empirical relationship between a firm’s social performance and its financial performance is still not well established in the literature. Despite more than 30 years of research and more than 100 empirical studies on the issue, the results are still mixed. We argue that the heterogeneous results found in previous studies are not due exclusively to problems related with the measurement instruments or the samples used. Instead, we posit that a more fundamental problem related with the endogeneity of social strategic (...) decisions could be driving most of the empirical findings. We show that, using a panel data of 658 firms from 1991 to 2005, how some of the results found in previous research change, and some are even reversed when endogeneity is properly taken into account. (shrink)

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) are an essential element of transport in industry 4.0. Although they may seem simple systems in terms of their kinematics, their dynamics is very complex, and it requires robust and efficient controllers for their routes in the workspaces. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of an intelligent controller of a hybrid AGV based on fuzzy logic. In addition, genetic algorithms have been used to optimize the speed control strategy, aiming at improving efficiency and (...) saving energy. The control architecture includes a fuzzy controller for trajectory tracking that has been enhanced with genetic algorithms. The cost function first maximizes the time in the circuit and then minimizes the guiding error. It has been validated on the mathematical model of a commercial hybrid AGV that merges tricycle and differential robot components. This model not only considers the kinematics and dynamics equations of the vehicle but also the impact of friction. The performance of the intelligent control strategy is compared with an optimized PID controller. Four paths were simulated to test the approach validity. (shrink)

En el primer apartado del artículo nos ocupamos de la relación que Karl Korsch mantuvo con el Instituto de Investigación Social y con sus figuras más representativas, desde sus primeros años de funcionamiento en Frankfurt hasta el exilio en los Estados Unidos (1). En la segunda parte se lleva a cabo un contraste entre lo que Korsch y la primera Teoría Crítica entendían por ‘realización de la filosofía’ (2). Se añade un apéndice estructurado en tres temáticas suplementarias: la recepción del (...) positivismo en la obra de Korsch (a), su vinculación con el leninismo (b) y sus críticas a la ‘teoría del colapso’ (Zusammenbruchstheorie) (c). (shrink)

El presente trabajo se propone determinar un criterio con que interpretar de modo global el desarrollo del pensamiento de Giovanni Gentile. Su caracterización como pensador neohegeliano no da razón del sentido global de su filosofía ni de sus efectivos puntos de partida ni de los pensadores con los que directamente se midió. El trabajo hace ver que, con Donato Jaja, su maestro universitario, la tradición idealista iniciada por Bertrando Spaventa se separa definitivamente de la interpretación de Hegel y se constituye (...) como tradición autónoma. En ese sentido, buscamos precisar los rasgos característicos de la personalidad filosófica de Gentile dentro de dicha tradición y concluimos que Vico ocupó un papel nuclear en ella. (shrink)

El crecimiento y el desarrollo de la complejidad cultural a lo largo de la historia humana, poseen la forma de una espiral en movimiento que se abre a las posibilidades; desde un punto se extienden una serie de círculos concéntricos que amplían el espectro cultural. Esta apertura la podemos percibir desde un concepto clave en la obra wittgensteineana, a saber, la noción de ver aspectos. Por otra parte, con ella también podemos distinguir y entender otro punto clave en esa dinámica (...) cultural, ello es: la idea de cambio y conflicto social. Así pues, la idea del presente trabajo es mostrar las estructuras epistémicas con las que operan los conflictos y los cambios socioculturales -tan relevantes para el desarrollo social y la teoría antropológica-, tomando como fondo la idea wittgensteineana de visión de aspectos. Con lo que encontramos, que el presente artículo además de ser una contribución al “estudio cultural” con base en un interés epistemológico, pretende vincular la filosofía wittgensteineana con la antropología científica.Palabras clave: Visión de aspectos, conflicto, cambio social, Wittgenstein, epistemología.The growth and development of cultural complexity throughout human history has had the form of a moving spiral that opens to possibilities; from one point, a series of concentric circles is extended that expand the cultural spectrum. This opening can be perceived from a key concept in Wittgenstein’s thought, namely, the notion of seeing aspects. On the other hand, with this concept we can also identify and understand another key point in that cultural dynamic: the idea of change and social conflict. Thus, the idea of this paper is to show the epistemic structures through which conflicts and socio-cultural changes operate, which are so relevant to social development and the anthropological theory, taking the Wittgensteinian idea of seeing aspects as a background. This article is not only a contribution to “cultural study” based on an epistemological interest, but it also tries to link Wittgenstein’s philosophy with scientific anthropology.Key words: Vision of aspects, conflict, social change, Wittgenstein, epistemology. (shrink)

En principio, la poesía considerada como génesis del arte árabe, y, más tarde, la prosa de adab surgieron con la idea de ciencia que destacaba el dominio de la belleza, idea que se proyectaría después sobre la música. Por otra parte, la aportación griega al legado filosófico y científico árabe clásico, cuya sombra aparece reflejada sobre los primeros tratados de los filósofos y teóricos musicales, entre los que se encuentran al-Kindi (s. IX)y al-Farabi (s. X), germinó en la concepción de (...) un nuevo sentido sobre la "belleza". De esta forma, y desde un observatorio que tiene como punto de referencia el mundo clásico griego, los nuevos parámetros surgirían como consecuencia de su propia identidad e idiosincrasia, en los que el patrimonio poético y musical, unido al pensamiento religioso y filosófico, complementarían la taracea de un nuevo concepto, "estética musical". El estudio de la música medieval árabe revela que la armonía entre el contenido poético, lingüístico, rítmico y melódico caminaron en paralelo, produciéndose un equilibrio, una relación armónica, y, en definitiva cósmica que les llevó a acuñar un cierto ideal estético basado en la belleza y la emoción artística que despertaba como reflejo de una armonía entre cuerpo y alma, y que facilitaría la unión con lo infinito y la divinidad. (shrink)

In this paper we analyze some particular characteristics of evo-devo scientific modeling, starting from a brief analysis of the Polypterus model, which is put forward as an explanatory model of the role of developmental plasticity in the evolutionary origin of tetrapods. Evo-devo has brought about an interesting change in the way we understand evolution and it is also posing new challenges for understanding scientific explanation, modeling, experimentation, and the ontological commitments that scientists take on when making theoretical generalizations. Specially in (...) biology, it is necessary to take into account some relevant aspects of modeling that go beyond representation, explanation and the stress on causal relations between phenomena. We approach this type of explanation by accounting for understanding and its relationship to modeling in biology. Thus, our main aim is to elaborate some minimum criteria required to this kind of evo-devo models, so they provide us with effective understanding. (shrink)

En la antropología cultural contemporánea cada vez son más frecuentes las cuestiones ontológicas. Bajo el lema “tomarse en serio al otro”, ya no se habla de las culturas como representaciones del mismo mundo, sino de mundos ontológicamente distintos. Los antropólogos de este giro ontológico tratan de derribar las asunciones representativas de la antropología cultural, consideradas como metafísica tácita. En este movimiento metodológico, la ontología ha dejado el ámbito filosófico para ser considerada un campo de comparación etnográfica. En este artículo presento (...) la contradicción interna de este movimiento, indicando que el giro ontológico de la antropología contemporánea no es sólo una contribución metodológica, sino un régimen de pensamiento que no abandona el viejo sueño de una metafísica no representativa. (shrink)

'Psicanálise, Política e Lógica' são três condições para o exercício de uma certa atividade intelectual, de uma determinada prática psicanalítica, conseqüentemente, de um tipo de leitura e escrita engajada. Na verdade, são condições que nos fazem capazes de enfrentar a opressão seja ao nível de instituições, seja a nível das relações interpessoais, de dar seqüência à análise dos acontecimentos só a partir de então nomeados, finalmente de manter rigor epistemológico que nos foi deixado por Freud, por Lacan, uma vez estabelecida (...) a descoberta do Inconsciente. (shrink)

(2001). Disability: Societal Responses to Difference and Interdisciplinary Interventions by Bioethicists. The American Journal of Bioethics: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 62-63.

ABSTRACTPrior research has found a relationship between perceived facial attractiveness and perceived personal trustworthiness. We examined the time course of attractiveness relative to trustworthiness evaluation of emotional and neutral faces. This served to explore whether attractiveness might be used as an easily accessible cue and a quick shortcut for judging trustworthiness. Detection thresholds and judgment latencies as a function of expressive intensity were measured. Significant correlations between attractiveness and trustworthiness consistently held for six emotional expressions at four intensities, and neutral (...) faces. Importantly, perceived attractiveness preceded perceived trustworthiness, with lower detection thresholds and shorter decision latencies. This reveals a time course advantage for attractiveness, and suggests that earlier attractiveness impressions could bias trustworthiness inferences. A heuristic cognitive mechanism is hypothesised to ease processing demands by relying on simple a... (shrink)