We study conditions for a topological space to be metrizable, properties of metrizable spaces, and the role the axiom of choice plays in these matters.

This is a continuation of [2]. We study the Tychonoff Compactness Theorem for various definitions of compactness and for various types of spaces . We also study well ordered Tychonoff products and the effect that the multiple choice axiom has on such products.

We study the relationships between definitions of compactness in topological spaces and the roll the axiom of choice plays in these relationships.

We investigate, within the framework of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory ZF, the interrelations between weak forms of the Axiom of Choice AC restricted to sets of reals.

We study statements about countable and well-ordered unions and their relation to each other and to countable and well-ordered forms of the axiom of choice. Using WO as an abbreviation for “well-orderable”, here are two typical results: The assertion that every WO family of countable sets has a WO union does not imply that every countable family of WO sets has a WO union; the axiom of choice for WO families of WO sets does not imply that the countable union (...) of countable sets is WO. (shrink)

To survive and be successful in today's setting of globalisation and complexity, companies are obliged to think in wider strategic terms, developing active and enterprising strategies that include social, political and ecological elements, besides the economic ones. The analysis of the relationship between companies and society is especially interesting when these companies operate in international markets. Countries demand that large corporations contribute to local, regional and national development in such a way that their resources are exchanged for a significant increase (...) in their citizens' quality of life. Faced with that fact, the aim of this work is to establish what actions the subsidiaries will take in order to offer a response to the needs of their stakeholders in the host countries. Secondly, we attempt to identify the factors explaining the different levels of social response of the subsidiaries established in a particular country by different parent companies. The empirical study was carried out on a sample of Spanish subsidiaries in the two manufacturing industries with most foreign investment (the chemical and automobile industries) and the results obtained both confirmed the validity of the tool used to measure social response and permitted us to determine which factors influence the institutionalisation of social responsiveness. (shrink)

El presente artículo expone la crítica de Putnam sobre la noción de "referencia" en Fodor. Tal noción supone analizar el uso de condicionales contrafácticos y el uso de relaciones de dependencia asimétrica que realiza Fodor en Psico-semántica. De acuerdo con la concepción de Putnam, lo que se propone Fodor es naturalizar el discurso semántico-intencional; esto es, de lo que se trata es de ofrecer una reducción de la relación de referencia que no recurra a términos semántico-intencionales. Putnam concluye que no (...) es posible definir el léxico intencional en términos de un léxico no intencional porque el mero hecho de intentar tal reducción supone ya ejercitar un interés: la intención reductora. This article talks about the Putnam¿s critique to Fodor¿s reference notion. This notion means analysing counter factuals conditionals and the use of asymmetric dependence relations which Fodor translates into psycho semantic. According to Putnam¿s view, what Fodor¿s wants is to naturalize the semantic-intentional language. More precisely, Fodor offers a reduction of the reference relation that doesn¿t resort to semantic-intentional notions. Putnam concludes that it¿s not possible to define the intentional language in terms of a non intentional language because the simple fact of trying such a reduction implies the exercise of an intention: the reducer intention. (shrink)

La religiosidad popular es una de las manifestaciones más patentes en la cultura de los pueblos y una importante y recurrente forma de expresión del patrimonio cultural intangible. Se transforma y evoluciona a la par del desarrollo social y juega un importante papel en la trasmisión de conocimientos culturales. Es a su vez un cardinal instrumento didáctico en la enseñanza de la historia y el patrimonio vinculado a ella. El objetivo del presente artículo es demostrar el valor educativo e importancia (...) del patrimonio cultural inmaterial, de la necesidad de su estudio, preservación y difusión de los exponentes materiales que le son inherentes, a través de un acontecimiento vinculado a la religiosidad popular, de gran significación y sin precedentes en la cultura matancera. (shrink)

This study offers a proposal about which competencies should be fostered in organizations to promote a culture in favor of sustainability in line with Pope Francis' encyclical letter Laudato Si. As a result, seven main competencies are proposed, with their interpretation in the light of the encyclical letter, and some suggestions on how to implement them in organizations are presented. The competencies are systemic vision, critical thinking, capacity for dialog, inclusion, proper use of goods, creativity, and spirituality. In addition, the (...) study offers a discussion of the relevance of these competencies in today's business context. This study offers a novelty with respect to other theoretical proposals on competencies for sustainability since it includes competencies that require an authentic concern for other people and for a vision of the human being open to transcendence, thus breaking with instrumentalism and technocratic paradigm that underlies other proposals. In this way, it also offers a new key to interpreting the integral ecology proposed by Pope Francis, which goes beyond other approaches to sustainability in that it includes not only the person–nature relationship but also the person–person and person–transcendence or person–God relationships. The conclusions of this theoretical research can be especially useful for those who intend to promote a culture of sustainability inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching, also making use of the knowledge and good practices of competency-based management. (shrink)

The author explores the views of two famous philosophers and one-time lovers about the self-other relation, particularly in the context of romantic love. In Being and nothingness , Jean-Paul Sartre famously wrote that any mode of relation between two subjectivities is doomed to fail. One of these modes is love, which is the desire to possess another freedom without altering its fundamental characteristic as a freedom. In contrast to Sartre, meanwhile, Simone de Beauvoir hints at the possibility of non-possessive reciprocal (...) relations in her philosophical novel, She came to stay . In light of such considerations as the relationship between love and the construction of self, and that between love and freedom, Dela Cruz evaluates the respective merits of the two thinkers’ views. She concludes the paper with a brief analysis of the lyrics of a contemporary song performed by Seal, entitled “Love’s Divine.” The song has an existential theme as it links love with the naming of another subjectivity: “Give me love, love is what I need to help me know my name.”. (shrink)

Durante su desarrollo el niño se enfrenta a eventos que plantean demandas difíciles de satisfacer como la enfermedad y la hospitalización. La Organización Mundial de Salud define la salud como un estado de completo bienestar físico, mental y social, pero no existe consenso en la literatura sobre el término bienestar. El objetivo del artículo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica acerca del concepto bienestar en niños, asociado al proceso salud - enfermedad y a la hospitalización. Los niños experimentan bienestar cuando predominan (...) sus emociones positivas, estas favorecen la salud, las negativas, pueden provocar estados patológicos y son frecuentes en la hospitalización. Esa realidad amerita ser transformada. El bienestar en niños hospitalizados constituye un reto para las ciencias médicas para penetrar las bases del nivel secundario de atención. Throughout their development, children face events that pose hard-to-satisfy demands for them such as illness and hospitalization. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, or social well-being; however, there is no consensus in literature about the term "well-being". The objective of the article is to do a bibliographic review on the concept of children well-being associated to the health-illness process and to hospitalization. Children experience the state of well-being when positive emotions, which favor health, prevail. Negative feelings, on the other hand, can cause pathological states and they are common in hospitalization. That reality merits transformation. Hospitalized children's well-being presents a challenge for medical sciences in order to get inside the basis of secondary health care attention. (shrink)

We study the Tychonoff Compactness Theorem for several different definitions of a compact space.

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el concepto de responsabilidad y los procesos para su institucionalización promovidos por las universidades jesuitas subrayando su singularidad y valor frente a otros modelos y estrategias de responsabilidad social universitaria. Ese enfoque de responsabilidad está cimentado en una noción de justicia pensada en términos globales y fundada en la solidaridad, que pone de manifiesto la insuficiencia del enfoque de la responsabilidad como obligación. Su énfasis lo dirige hacia una responsabilidad política compartida que aspira (...) a la transformación de las injusticias estructurales. Este es uno de los rasgos propios de la Identidad y Misión de las universidades jesuitas. En el artículo se identifican los contornos de esa propuesta de responsabilidad encarnada en el ámbito social y se examina su carácter diferenciador frente a otras propuestas impulsadas desde las universidades para definir su compromiso con el entorno. (shrink)

La filosofía moral de Adam Smith se fundamenta en el papel de la imaginación para explicar el orden social en un nivel macro, y como mecanismo de identificación afectiva en un nivel micro. En ambos casos, el rol de la imaginación en nuestra psicología moral refuta la tesis de un homo economicus, o de que el ser humano está motivado a entrar en sociedad por su interés personal. Esto sirve de premisa para refutar la posición hobbesiana de un estado de (...) naturaleza histórico que está en la base de nuestros juicios morales que fundan la sociedad civil y la necesidad del magistrado. Adam Smith's moral philosophy is grounded in the role of the imagination in explaining the social order at a macro level and as a mechanism for affective identification at the micro level. In both cases, the role of the imagination in our moral psychology refutes the homo economicus thesis according to which human beings are motivated to enter into society due to personal interests. This premise serves to refute the Hobbesian position of a historical state of nature that underlies the moral judgments grounding civil society and the need for a magistrate. (shrink)

In this paper we defend structural representations, more specifically neural structural representation. We are not alone in this, many are currently engaged in this endeavor. The direction we take, however, diverges from the main road, a road paved by the mathematical theory of measure that, in the 1970s, established homomorphism as the way to map empirical domains of things in the world to the codomain of numbers. By adopting the mind as codomain, this mapping became a boon for all those (...) convinced that a representation system should bear similarities with what was being represented, but struggled to find a precise account of what such similarities mean. The euforia was brief, however, and soon homomorphism revealed itself to be affected by serious weaknesses, the primary one being that it included systems embarrassingly alien to representations. We find that the defense attempts that have followed, adopt strategies that share a common format: valid structural representations come as “homomorphism plus X”, with various “X”, provided in descriptive format only. Our alternative direction stems from the observation of the overlooked departure from homomorphism as used in the theory of measure and its later use in mental representations. In the former case, the codomain or the realm of numbers, is the most suited for developing theorems detailing the existence and uniqueness of homomorphism for a wide range of empirical domains. In the latter case, the codomain is the realm of the mind, possibly more vague and more ill-defined than the empirical domain itself. The time is ripe for articulating the mapping between represented domains and the mind in formal terms, by exploiting what is currently known about coding mechanisms in the brain. We provide a sketch of a possible development in this direction, one that adopts the theory of neural population coding as codomain. We will show that our framework is not only not in disagreement with the “plus X” proposals, but can lead to natural derivation of several of the “X”. (shrink)

Breves notas sobre los estudios de la germanística en Cuba.

Gervain et al. discuss both behavioral and neurophysiological AGL studies that investigate rule and structure learning processes in infants. The paper provides an overview of all the major AGL paradigms used to date to investigate infant learning abilities at the level of morpho‐phonology and syntax from a very early age onwards. Gervain et al. also discuss the implications of the results for a general theory of natural language acquisition.

Despite the economic relevance and distinctiveness of family firms, little attention has been devoted to researching their nature and functioning. Traditionally, family firms have been associated both to positive and negative features in their relationships with the stakeholders. This can be linked to different orientations toward corporate social responsibility. Thus, this research aims to identify the approaches that Spanish family firms maintain about social responsibility, based on the model developed by Quazi and O' Brien Journal of Business Ethics 25, 33-51 (...) (2000). An empirical study carried out for 112 Spanish family firms gives support to our initial assumption about these organizations not being a homogeneous group in terms of their orientation towards corporate social responsibility. The differences in perceptions do not seem to be associated to biographical characteristics. These results lead to some relevant academic and practical implications that suggest interesting lines for future research. (shrink)

Este estudio pretende demostrar el origen metodológico común del concepto de soberanía popular de Rousseau y Carl Schmitt, entendido como aquella autoridad política cuya legitimidad descansa en un principio democrático verdaderamente sustantivo. En primer lugar, se intentará probar cómo ambas obras serían la expresión de una común reacción al formalismo de una dogmática liberal que identifica metodológicamente la legalidad formal con la legitimidad política. Así, Rousseau critica un enunciado de la ley natural procedente de Locke que legitima la desigualdad social (...) y política y justifica el gobierno burgués de los propietarios y Schmitt cuestiona un positivismo jurídico cuyo normativismo habría ocultado el auténtico valor sociológico del poder y la soberanía. En segundo lugar, una vez avanzada una crítica de las representaciones políticas que niegan el carácter sustantivo del pueblo soberano, se estudia el modo en que ambos formulan una propuesta metodológica alternativa. Aquí se prestará especial atención al modo en que la elaboración schmittiana incorpora, en un contexto de crisis de las formas liberales, una reelaboración de la crítica de Rousseau. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to analyse the ethical problems of Community-Based Tourism. CBT is a novel form of tourism that has appeared in recent decades in different parts of the world, especially in areas with large indigenous populations. The investigations until now have primarily highlighted the virtues of this type of tourism, and the few criticisms that have appeared against cbt were related to its functional shortcomings and the benefits that sometimes do not reach the communities. While the (...) ethical complications associated with the cbt have not gone unnoticed, in this article we address some ethical problems of the cbt that have not received as much attention so far —such as those related to the field of indigenous ethics—, that demand a deep reflection on the commercial use of communities. (shrink)

En este documento se parte de la resiliencia como componente que influye de manera positiva para el éxito escolar, se describen los elementos que la configuran, y se discuten con los rasgos particulares de jóvenes que asisten a una escuela secundaria inserta en un contexto considerado de alto riesgo social en México. Se trata de un trabajo cualitativo de perspectiva fenomenológica. El análisis de los datos permitió identificar que los estudiantes responden positivamente a algunos de los atributos que se necesitan (...) para el desarrollo de la resiliencia, mientras que la familia y escuela se convierten en espacios de tensión. (shrink)

This book examines the concept of “ Neurosemantics”, a term currently used in two different senses: the informational meaning of the physical processes in the neural circuits, and semantics in its classical sense, as the meaning of language, explained in terms of neural processes. The book explores this second sense of neurosemantics, yet in doing so, it addresses much of the first meaning as well. Divided into two parts, the book starts with a description and analysis of the mathematics of (...) the brain, including computational units, representational mechanisms and algorithmic principles. This first part pays special attention to the neural architecture which has been used in developing models of neurosemantics. The second part of the book presents a collection of models, and describes each model reproducing specific aspects of the semantics of language. Some of these models target one of the core problems of semantics, the reference of nouns, and in particular of nouns with a strong perceptual characterization. Others address the semantics of predicates, with a detailed analysis of colour attributes. While this book represents a radical shift from traditional semantics, it still pursues a line of continuity that is based on the idea that meaning can be captured, and explained, by a sort of computation. (shrink)

La filosofía moral de Adam Smith se fundamenta en el papel de la imaginación para explicar el orden social en un nivel macro, y como mecanismo de identificación afec tiva en un nivel micro. En ambos casos, el rol de la imaginación en nuestra psicología moral refuta la tesis de un _homo economicus_, o de que el ser humano está motiva do a entrar en sociedad por su interés personal. Esto sirve de premisa para refutar la posición hobbesiana de un (...) estado de naturaleza histórico que está en la base de nuestros juicios morales que fundan la sociedad civil y la necesidad del magistrado. (shrink)

El antropocentrismo determina nuestra percepción sobre el mundo y nuestra relación con él, teniendo un efecto material en tanto que impregna nuestros discursos, pensamiento, sensibilidades y prácticas. Este artículo trata de explorar cómo una reformulación ontológica que busque salir de los presupuestos antropocéntricos puede suponer un cambio material efectivo en nuestra percepción, generando cambios en nuestras sensibilidades y disponibilidades. Comprender los límites ontológicos desde el dinamismo y como zona de contacto nos permite acceder o materializar otro tipo de realidades aún (...) por conocer. Poniendo en juego algunas ideas de Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, Karen Barad y Alfred Whitehead se busca un desarrollo conceptual y una reformulación ontológica como un intento de comprendernos en un mundo más-que-humano. (shrink)

Tras Ser y Tiempo, el papel de los estados afectivos cobra una especiel relevancia en la obra heideggeriana: por un lado, y frente al método cosificador de las ciencias, Heidegger propone fundamentar la filosofía sobre un estado afectivo profundo; por otro, analiza su sociedad a partir de los estados afectivos imperantes. Ambas intenciones coinciden de forma paradigmática en Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik. Al hilo de esta obra expondremos la relevancia de un estado afectivo como el aburrimiento en las sociedades actuales, (...) y su relación con el tiempo contemporáneo caracterizado por su tecnificación. (shrink)

An experimental breast-feeding education programme conducted at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila demonstrated that women could be motivated to improve their breast-feeding practices and lengthen their period of lactational amenorrhoea in comparison to a control group. Mothers who participated in the programme breast-fed their babies more frequently, delayed the introduction of regular supplements, used fewer bottles and pacifiers and maintained night feeding longer than mothers who were not exposed to the positive breast-feeding messages. The programme was successful in lengthening (...) the period of amenorrhoea among women with elementary, high school, or technical school education, but not among college-educated women. Different educational approaches may be necessary for women of different education levels. (shrink)

The goal of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of family firms in the normative attention to their non-family stakeholders. With this aim, we suggest that the psychological process of top family managers in terms of individual affective commitment to their firms is a key variable to explain that heterogeneity. However, we also suggest a moderator effect of the family stakeholder salience in the relationship between the managers' affective commitment to the firm and the establishment of firm goals toward (...) non-family stakeholders. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis on data obtained from 207 family executives show a significant positive influence of managers' affective commitment on the establishment of goals related both to internal and external non-family stakeholders. In addition, we can observe a negative moderator effect of the family utilitarian power—as an indicator of the family stakeholder salience—on the relationship between the family managers' affective commitment and the goals related to non-family employees. (shrink)

This book examines the concept of “ Neurosemantics”, a term currently used in two different senses: the informational meaning of the physical processes in the neural circuits, and semantics in its classical sense, as the meaning of language, explained in terms of neural processes. The book explores this second sense of neurosemantics, yet in doing so, it addresses much of the first meaning as well. Divided into two parts, the book starts with a description and analysis of the mathematics of (...) the brain, including computational units, representational mechanisms and algorithmic principles. This first part pays special attention to the neural architecture which has been used in developing models of neurosemantics. The second part of the book presents a collection of models, and describes each model reproducing specific aspects of the semantics of language. Some of these models target one of the core problems of semantics, the reference of nouns, and in particular of nouns with a strong perceptual characterization. Others address the semantics of predicates, with a detailed analysis of colour attributes. While this book represents a radical shift from traditional semantics, it still pursues a line of continuity that is based on the idea that meaning can be captured, and explained, by a sort of computation. (shrink)

In recent years, a number of different disciplines have begun to investigate the fundamental role context appears to play in a number of cognitive phenomena. Traditionally, linguistics, and the fields of communication and pragmatics in particular, have been the areas that have focused the most on contextual effects. Context has increasingly been studied for its role in influencing mental concepts, for some scholars being considered constitutive for most – if not all – concepts. Cognitive neuroscience is now starting to consider (...) in a systematic way how context interacts with neural responses, although this research is still scattered and concentrated in a small number of specific cases only. In this chapter, we attempt to tie these three levels together, since only from their integration can a comprehensive explanation of how context affects cognition be constructed. The way context drives language comprehension depends on the effects of context on the conceptual scaffolding of the listener, which in turn, is the result of his neural responses in combination to context. These neural responses derive from learning throughout the history of experiences of the individual, and the association between possible contexts and heard utterances. The road we take to accomplishing the multi-level integration between what appear to be distant domains, is a computational one. This approach meets with the mechanistic framework of explanation, which is currently held as the most appropriate way of approaching cognitive phenomena that is often characterized by a multiplicity of levels, as is the case with context. The core underlying concept of the neurocomputational framework here proposed, is an account of neural representation, based on structural similarity. Structural representations are still the best option on the market in cognitive science, but in their traditional form, derived from classical measurement theory, are affected by a number of serious drawbacks, including not being able to account for context. We suggest a different account of structural similarity, one informed by current neuroscience, where the homomorphic relations required for structural similarity are derived from neural population coding. In a preliminary mathematical sketch, we indicate how this approach can construct neural aggegations that are sensitive to context. (shrink)