Social and cultural contexts influence power dynamics and shape gender perceptions, roles, and decisions regarding the management of agrobiodiversity for dealing with and adapting to climate change. Based on a feminist political ecology framework and a mixed method approach, this research performs an empirical analysis of two case studies in the northern of India, one in the Himalayan Mountains and another in the Indian-Gangetic plains. It explores context-specific influence of gender roles and responsibilities on on-farm agrobiodiversity management gendered expertise and (...) knowledge related to agrobiodiversity and gendered preferences for practices and institutional arrangements for agrobiodiversity conservation linked to adaptation to climate change. In the Himalayan mountains women actively participate in crop and seed management decisions and tasks, and maintain informal institutions for seed and services exchanges in the case of crisis, which simultaneously favours high levels of agrobiodiversity and enhances women’s social status. By contrast, in the Indio-Gangetic plains, where women from better-off households are socially secluded and women from poorer households work mainly as labourer to respond to high out-migration of men, they exercise less public control over agrobiodiversity, with their role being mainly invisible at the homestead and related to post-production tasks. We finally discuss as improved understanding of the links between gendered spaces, crops, tasks, social status, and agrobiodiversity management can facilitate the design of gender-sensitive policy interventions for conservation and adaptation to climate change. (shrink)

En el presente artículo, se explicará la noción de ‘ciencia’ plasmada en las obras del antropólogo francés René Girard. Esta ciencia se entiende como método de investigación principalmente inductivo en el que el concepto central de ‘hipótesis’ no refleja una tentativa de respuesta a un problema dado, sino que resulta la propia conclusión del proceso de búsqueda intelectual que, en el caso de este autor, tiene por objeto al ser humano. El proyecto de Girard se cifra en construir una antropología (...) realmente científico-evolucionista que no elimine las especificidades humanas, sino que trate de entenderlas radicalmente desde el mundo de la biología animal, sin apriorismos filosóficos o semejantes. La idea en torno a la cual se irá forjando esta antropología será la ‘mímesis’, que es un elemento que, por su naturaleza y evolución, está asimismo vinculado con el ‘deseo’ y el ‘sacrificio’. Sin embargo, paradójicamente, Girard acabará declarando que su ‘hipótesis’ revela que los estudios religiosos son el ámbito donde, en definitiva, adquieren todo su sentido la Antropología e, incluso, la Metafísica. En suma: la ‘hipótesis’ de Girard erige la teoría de la religión como una especie de “ciencia primera” y referencia de las demás disciplinas del saber humano. Tal ciencia primera es llamada también ‘Teoría Mimética’ y está marcada por un claro carácter crítico y apofático, solo templado por la aportación positiva de la revelación del Dios bíblico en los ritos y mitos de la cultura judeocristiana. (shrink)

En los estudios sobre el pensamiento de René Girard, suele darse por supuesto que el deseo mimético es la concepción girardiana original sobre el deseo humano, de tal modo que el deseo mimético sería, cronológicamente, el primer descubrimiento de Girard. Asimismo, se asume que de tal hallazgo primigenio se derivarían posteriormente su antropología y su teoría sobre la religión. Sin embargo, mediante el presente estudio se ofrece una interpretación alternativa, que es la siguiente: en realidad, lo que finalmente Girard perfiló (...) como ‘deseo mimético’ fue hallado en un segundo momento, desde la antropología y los estudios sobre las religiones arcaicas. Así pues, se sostiene que el deseo mimético no es la concepción girardiana original sobre la órexis humana, sino el resultado de una desapercibida metamorfosis de las intuiciones primitivas de Girard al respecto (abandonadas finalmente por él) y que fueron expresadas en su primer libro, Mentira romántica y verdad novelesca. (shrink)

The traditional sporting games correspond to a set of signs full of meanings, which come to life through the motor behaviors of the players as they participate in its semiotic semantics. As a result of this exchange, interpersonal conflicts may emerge because of each person’s semiotic interpretation of the sociomotor dynamics of the game. This research aimed to analyze the comments of intense negative emotions that arise in conflicts of a praxical nature in a TSG, in its different parts, and (...) in the motor interventions of its protagonists. A total of 160 university students participated in a competitive sociomotor traditional sporting game of cooperation-opposition: the Marro. At the end of the practice, all answered the validated GES-II questionnaire. Subsequently, a content analysis of 480 comments was performed using ATLAS.ti 8.4 software. The conclusion of this work verifies the existence of different levels of meaning in the semiotic experience that originate interpersonal conflicts in traditional sporting games. Considering the multidimensional network of signs and meanings that emerge in any game will help to understand the meaning of the protagonists’ conflictive motor conducts. (shrink)

A cognitive assessment strategy that is not limited to examining a set of summary test scores may be more helpful for early detection of emergent illness such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may permit a better understanding of cognitive functions and dysfunctions in those with AD and other dementia disorders. A revisit of the work already undertaken by Kaplan and colleagues using the Boston Process-Approach provides a solid basis for identifying new opportunities to capture data on neurocognitive processes, test-taking strategies (...) and response styles. Thus, this critical review will combine traditional process-based assessment strategies with support provided or offered by newer technologies that have the potential to add value to data collection and interpretation. There is now considerable interest in neuropsychological test administration using computer/digital technology, both in research and in clinical settings. To add value, any computerized version of an existing cognitive test should respect the administration procedure for which normative data were obtained, should be time-saving in terms of scoring and interpretation, and should, we argue, facilitate gathering information about the processes and strategies followed in test completion. This article will offer an overview of the steps needed when implementing computerization of neuropsychological tests using a Process-Based Approach (PBA) to these technology-based adaptations and will discuss further developments in this area by linking it to future technological developments that may be possible in the area of neuropsychological assessment. Additionally, an overview of neuropsychological tests that may benefit from computerization will be presented, together with suggestions on the specific processes, strategies and features that may be captured with the aid of such computerization. Finally, hypotheses on how virtual reality could be an asset for the future of the PBA to neuropsychological assessment will also be discussed. (shrink)

A proliferation of tests exists for the assessment of auditory-verbal memory processes. However, from a clinical practice perspective, the situation is less clear when it comes to the ready availability of reliable and valid tests for the evaluation of visual/visuo-spatial memory processes. While, at face value, there appear to be a wide range of available tests of visual/visuo-spatial memory, utilizing different types of materials and assessment strategies, a number of criticisms have been, and arguably should be, leveled at the majority (...) of these tests. The criticisms that have been directed toward what are typically considered to be visual/visuo-spatial memory tests, such as the potential for verbal mediation, over-abstraction of stimuli, the requirement of a drawing response, and the lack of sensitivity to unilateral brain lesions, mean that, in reality, the number of readily available valid tests of visual/visuo-spatial memory is, at best, limited. This article offers a critical, historical review on the existing measures and resources for the neuropsychological assessment of visual/visuo-spatial memory, and it showcases some examples of newer tests that have aimed to overcome the challenges of assessing these important aspects of memory. The article also identifies new trends and examples of how technological advances such as virtual reality may add value to overcome previous obstacles to assessment, thereby offering professionals more reliable, accurate means to evaluate visual/visuo-spatial memory in clinical practice. (shrink)

En el presente artículo, se estudia el concepto de «sacrificio» en el antropólogo René Girard. Para éste, el sacrificio es el cimiento mismo de la existencia social del hombre y de él brotan nuestra capacidad simbólica y cultural, así como todo lo que tiene que ver con el desarrollo de nuestra especie. A su vez, el sacrificio es el núcleo de la religión y de sus ritos y ceremonias. La religión y la sociabilidad humana tienen como núcleo compartido el sacrificio (...) y son dos ámbitos inseparables; la indisolubilidad de esta relación brota de la necesidad de controlar la violencia humana surgida del deseo mimético, que es la característica distintiva del hombre frente al reino animal. El sacrificio no es una respuesta a la trascendencia divina, sino un recurso humano no-consciente para sobrevivir. El sacrificio es término de llegada de una crisis social derivada de la dinámica del deseo mimético y es, igualmente, comienzo de la institucionalización social de esa resolución. (shrink)

The issue of growth of Social and Solidarity Economy organizations has become a focus of analysis in response to the extensive case studies documented which recount processes of degeneration (or loss of original values) of the organizations in question. In this article, the case study of a non-profit cooperative (Agintzari S. Coop.) in the field of social services in the Basque Country (Spain) demonstrates the possibility of activating ecosystemic scaling processes, by way of inter-cooperative strategies, which do not result in (...) the growth of the organization itself. The research question seeks to inquire to what extent inter-cooperation strategies, understood as ecosystemic scaling models, help to strengthen cooperative entities without weakening the maintenance of cooperative principles. The article aims to advance some results regarding the theoretical relationships between scaling strategies, the foundational motivations (or “interest orientation”) of the organizations, and the ecosystemic structures adopted to sustain these scaling processes. (shrink)

Do firms gain environmental legitimacy when they conform to external expectations regarding the natural environment? Drawing on institutional logic and signaling theory, we investigate sources of heterogeneity in the impacts of environmental actions on environmental legitimacy. Longitudinal data about 325 publicly traded U.S. firms in polluting industries support the notion that environmental actions help firms gain environmental legitimacy. However, some actions instead can harm this legitimacy if environmental performance deteriorates and the firm is subject to intense scrutiny from nongovernmental organizations. (...) Thus, an important contribution of this research is to identify conditions under which greenwashing can backfire. (shrink)

In this article, we empirically assess the impact of corporate ethical identity (CEI) on a firm's financial performance. Drawing on formulations of normative and instrumental stakeholder theory, we argue that firms with a strong ethical identity achieve a greater degree of stakeholder satisfaction (SS), which, in turn, positively influences a firm's financial performance. We analyze two dimensions of the CEI of firms: corporate revealed ethics and corporate applied ethics. Our results indicate that revealed ethics has informational worth and enhances shareholder (...) value, whereas applied ethics has a positive impact through the improvement of SS. However, revealed ethics by itself (i.e. decoupled from ethical initiatives) is not sufficient to boost economic performance. (shrink)

This paper examines the association between board characteristics and the ethical reputation of financial institutions. Given the pivotal governance role of the board of directors and the value-relevance of ethical corporate behavior, we postulate a positive relationship between ethical reputation and board features that foster more effective monitoring and oversight. Using a sample of large financial institutions from 13 different countries, we run several alternative panel regressions of ethical reputation on board characteristics and firm-specific controls. Our results demonstrate that the (...) ethical reputation of financial institutions is positively associated with board size, gender diversity, and CEO duality, while being negatively related to the busyness of the board members and a composite index reflecting poor monitoring. Nevertheless, inconsistent with our hypothesis, we also document that financial institutions with less frequent board meetings have better ethical reputation. Overall, our empirical findings suggest that stronger board oversight may promote ethical behavior in the financial industry. (shrink)

This edited volume brings together the latest research on fictive interaction, that is the use of the frame of ordinary conversation as a means to structure cognition (talking to oneself), discourse (monologues organized as dialogues), and grammar (“why me? attitude”). This follows prior work on the subject by Esther Pascual and other authors, most of whom are also contributors to this volume. The 17 chapters in the volume explore fictive interaction as a fundamental cognitive phenomenon, as a ubiquitous discourse-structuring (...) device, as a possibly universal linguistic construction, and as an effective communicative strategy in persuasion and language pathology. The data discussed involve a wide variety of unrelated languages (spoken and signed) and modes of communication (oral, written, visual), across cultural contexts and historical time. The research presented combines linguistics and cognitive science, while bridging the gap between core grammatical studies and modern conversation and discourse analysis. The volume further reaches across what may be the most basic divide in linguistics: that between descriptive, theoretical, and applied linguistics. (shrink)

Autism is characterized by repetitive behavior and difficulties in adopting the viewpoint of others. We examine a communicative phenomenon resulting from these symptoms: non-prototypical direct speech for non-reports involving an actual utterance from previously produced discourse (e.g. quoting somebody’s words to refer to them,Pascual 2014). We video-recorded the naturalistic speech of five Brazilian children with autism, five typically developing children of the same mental age, and five of the same chronological age. They all used so-calledfictive speech(Pascual 2014,Dornelas & (...) Pascual 2016) for narration, expressing needs, and referring to individuals and events (e.g. sayingGoal!for ‘playing soccer’). Such verbatim fictive speech originated in specific prior interactions or in socio-communicative or socio-cultural knowledge. We found considerable differences in the three groups in the frequency and degree of creativeness of fictive speech as opposed to it representing standard linguistic formulae or echoing previously produced speech word by word. (shrink)

In Scotland, residents have fought open-net salmon farms and their toll on human and nonhuman bodies for decades. This paper recollects seven years of work in Skye and Raasay, two islands off the northwest coast of the country, developing strategies to divest away from salmon aquaculture. Addressing the contemporary wave of underwater clearances created by UK’s top food export industry, it unpacks the implementation of a transition into alternative horizons by embracing the legacies of toxicity inherited from salmon extractivist industries. (...) CLIMAVORE, a framework developed as a research-led artistic practice by the authors, investigates how to eat in the new seasons of the climate crisis. In a season of marine dead zones, it facilitates new approaches to aquaecology and coastal care that cultivate coastal livelihoods. CLIMAVORE began with a new public forum, shaped as a multispecies intertidal table, established in Skye in 2017 to envision environmentally regenerative and socially reparative forms of food production based on metabolic interactions between humans and depleted landscapes that benefit a plethora of species. CLIMAVORE’s site responsive methodology relies on a socially-engaged art practice, consisting of fieldwork, interviews, working groups, oral histories, performative meals, cooking and building apprenticeships, tidal gardening, material testing and public art installations. Ongoing collaboration with residents, scientists, and policymakers critically explores ways of living not only on but with the coast. This new holistic approach to coastal nourishment provides methodologies for ecological praxis as well as a platform for researchers and the general public to imagine an alternative ecological future: the tidal commons. (shrink)

La questione sulla verità del cristianesimo è fondamentale e ineludibile. In essa si trova uno dei filoni fondamentali del pensiero di Joseph Ratzinger – Benedetto XVI. In fondo si trovano coinvolti una serie di argomenti che si possono riassumere nel rapporto tra fede e ragione, tra il Dio della fede e il Dio dei filosofi. Nella visione cristiana ambedue non si contrappongono, ma s’incontrano. La “distinzione mosaica” s’incontra con la “distinzione socratica” . La pretesa di verità del cristianesimo conduce a (...) delle conseguenze sia nell’ambito della religione, sia in quello della filosofia e della morale. Per superare la crisi del cristianesimo abbiamo bisogno di recuperare la fiducia nela ragione e tornare alla ricerca della verità. (shrink)

A significant and important ethical tension in resource allocation and public health ethics is between utility and equity. We explore this tension between utility and equity in the context of health AI through an examination of a diagnostic AI screening tool for diabetic retinopathy developed by a team of researchers at Duke-NUS in Singapore. While this tool was found to be effective, it was not equally effective across every ethnic group in Singapore, being less effective for the minority Malay population (...) than for the Chinese majority. We discuss the problematic normative nature of bias in health AI and explore the ways in which bias can interact with various forms of social inequalities. From there, we examine the specifics of the diabetic retinopathy case and weigh up specific trade-offs between utility and equity. Ultimately, we conclude that it is ethically permissible to prioritise utility over equity where certain criteria hold. Given that any medical AI is more likely than not to have lingering bias due to bias in the training data that may reflect other social inequalities, we argue that it is permissible to implement an AI tool with residual bias where: (1) its introduction reduces the influence of biases (even if overall inequality is worsened), and/or (2) where the utility gained is significant enough and shared across groups (even if unevenly). (shrink)

¿Llegarán los ordenadores a sustituir a los seres humanos? Lo que hasta hace unas décadas parecía una pregunta de ciencia-ficción, es ahora defendido con seriedad por algunos especialistas en inteligencia artificial. El presente articulo dibuja las más importantes líneas de investigación en este campo y las posiciones más relevantes respecto de la relación hombre-maquina pensante. La conclusión que propone el autor supone una decidida apuesta por un humanismo en el que quepa integrar el desarrollo tecnológico sin perder de vista sus (...) innegables implicaciones éticas. (shrink)

RESUMENTras analizar sucintamente las conseciencias científicas y filosóficas de la identidad mente-cerebro, se señalan argumentos a favor y en contra de mantener el debate mente.cerebro. En particular se consideran las nuevas técnicas de exploración del cerebro como argumento en contra de tal debate. las deficiencias e insuficiencias de tales técnicas aconsejan mantener el debate mente-cerebro y no asumir el materialismo. PALABRAS CLAVEMENTE-CEREBRO - EXPLORACIÓN DEL CEREBRO- RMF-TEPABSTRACTAfcter a brief analysis of the scientific and philosophical consequences of the mind-brain identify thesis, (...) arguments for and against the maintenance of the mind.brain debate are pointed out. Particularly the recent techniques to explore the brain are considered as an argument against this maintenance. the shortcomings and lacks found in theses techniques recommend the maintenance of the mind.brain debate and not to assume materialism.KEYWORDSMIND-BRAIN - BRAIN IMAGING- FMR- PET. (shrink)

Social-media platforms have become a global phenomenon of communication, where users publish content in text, images, video, audio or a combination of them to convey opinions, report facts that are happening or show current situations of interest. Smart-city applications can benefit from social media and digital participatory platforms when citizens become active social sensors of the problems that occur in their communities. Indeed, systems that analyse and interpret user-generated content can extract actionable information from the digital world to improve citizens’ (...) quality of life. This article aims to model the knowledge required for automatic problem detection to reproduce citizens’ awareness of problems from the analysis of text-based user-generated content items. Therefore, this research focuses on two primary goals. On the one hand, we present the underpinnings of the ontological model that categorises the types of problems affecting citizens’ quality of life in society. In this regard, this study contributes significantly to developing an ontology based on the social-sensing paradigm to support the advance of smart societies. On the other hand, we describe the architecture of the text-processing module that relies on such an ontology to perform problem detection, which involves the tasks of topic categorisation and keyword recognition. (shrink)

RESUMEN: Según las normas de derecho internacional los Estados, frente a los crímenes mas graves, tienen una obligación ineludible, para con sus propios ciudadanos, pero también para con la comunidad internacional, de investigar, perseguir y castigar a los responsables. El desarrollo del derecho penal internacional y el carácter taxativo de las obligaciones de los Estados no ha evitado, sin embargo, que el procesamiento a los perpetradores de crímenes masivos sea considerado a menudo como una tarea imposible, irrealizable e incluso no (...) siempre deseable. En este artículo se analizan las críticas al instrumento jurídico-penal como el mecanismo adecuado para enfrentar la violencia colectiva en el ámbito de la justicia transicional.ABSTRACT: According to the rules of international law, States, in the face of the most serious crimes, have an inescapable obligation, to their own citizens, but also to the international community, to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible. The development of international criminal law and the binding character of States' obligations have not, however, prevented the prosecution of perpetrators of mass crimes from being often considered an impossible, unrealizable and even not always desirable task. This article will focus on such criticism against criminal law as an appropriate tool in the field of transitional justice. (shrink)

We now know that the evolution of multidomain proteins has frequently involved genetic duplication events. These, however, are sometimes difficult to trace because of low sequence similarity between duplicated segments. Spectrin, the major component of the membrane skeleton that provides elasticity to the cell, contains tandemly repeated sequences of 106 amino acid residues. The same repeats are also present in α‐actinin, dystrophin and utrophin. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees of these domains allow us to interpret the evolutionary relationship between these (...) proteins, concluding that spectrin evolved from α‐actinin by an elongation process that included two duplications of a block of seven repeats. This analysis shows how a modular protein unit can be used in the evolution of large cytoskeletal structures. (shrink)

We question memory reconsolidation and emotional arousal as sufficient determinants of therapeutic change. Generating new feelings and meanings must be contrasted with activating and stabilizing the evolving memories that reflect those novel experiences. Some therapeutic changes are not attributable to a memory model alone. “Emotional processing” is also needed and is often an undeclared form of complex executive problem solving.

RESUMEN: El debate sobre el velo islámico, en sus múltiples formas, se mantiene en Europa desde hace décadas y parece estar lejos de poder darse por concluido. Sobre el modo en que van vestidas algunas mujeres musulmanas se extrae una consecuencia clara: una mujer velada es una mujer sometida, sumisa y controlada en el marco de un modelo patriarcal especialmente duro. Pero ¿es esto así? ¿la indumentaria de las mujeres nos ofrece toda esa información? o más aun ¿nos indica sin (...) lugar a dudas una situación de sometimiento tal que justifique la intervención del legislador, que exija prohibiciones y sanciones, o incluso que los más altos tribunales europeos sienten jurisprudencia sobre esas formas de vestir? Responder a estás preguntas es el objetivo de este artículo. ABSTRACT The debate on the Islamic headscarf, in its many forms, has been an on-going source of controversy in Europe and will continue to be so for many years to come. The inevitable conclusion to which one comes on the subject of Muslim women’s attire is somehow that she must be submissive and under the control of a particularly harsh patriarchal model. But is this so? Is women’s choice of clothing so enlightening and self-explanatory so as to give us all this information? Moreover, is it really an undeniable indicator of subordination? If it were, would it justify a legal interference, that is to say the enforcement of prohibitions and sanctions, and to what degree? Do the highest European courts have legitimacy in order to dictate jurisprudence on the matter? Answering these questions is the essential aim of this article. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to clarify the epistemic status of the Intelligent Design proposal. We can consider it as an updated version of the classical ways of demonstrating the existence of God, in particular of the so-called “fifth way”. As such, it seems to be neither scientific nor properly theological, but rather a proposal at a rational-philosophical level. At the same time, it must also be made clear that the negation of purpose in evolutionary biological processes is similarly (...) a philosophical position, not a scientific one. I propose to acknowledge this state of affairs and to reframe the debate at its proper level. On the argumentative level, it is just as wrong to neglect the controversy as it is to discredit one’s opponent. On the epistemic level, it is a mistake to present Intelligent Design as a scientific replacement for the scientific theory of evolution; it should be considered instead to be a genuine and serious alternative to the quasi-philosophical ideology of evolutionism. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende elucidar las insuficiencias de la denominada economía del bienestar a partir del enfoque de las capacidades de Amartya Sen y Martha C. Nussbaum. En el primer bloque presentamos los lineamientos fundamentales de ambas propuestas con el fin de concretar y dotar de autonomía sus respectivos modelos basados en el enfoque de las capacidades, contrastándolos con los modelos convencionales de medición de la calidad de vida relativa de la ciudadanía. En el segundo bloque incidimos en la justificación (...) de sus aportaciones para profundizar en la perspectiva de la capacidad desde una vertiente comparada, esto es, desde dos áreas de estudio (Sen desde el ámbito económico y Nussbaum desde el filosófico) que han aunado sus fuerzas e intereses bajo este paradigma. (shrink)

In this interview, James L. McClelland responds to questions regarding connectionist models of cognition, a theory inspired by information processing in the brain. McClelland explains the distinction between symbolic and non-symbolic processing for a better understanding of mental processes. He argues that connectionist models can perform the computations which we know the brain can perform. In addition, he responds to several general questions on the perspectives of computational models of cognition.