Autocracies draw their political power from cronyism and organized repression. The opacity of business information protects these regimes and their crony firms from any opposition. However, autocracies might also desire to eliminate cronyism because it dampens economic growth. Autocracies survive through repression that engenders tensions, as evident in the Spanish newspaper industry during the Francoist dictatorship. State control over this industry was important because the press disseminated news to the public. From 1939 to 1957, the autocracy institutionalized both cronyism and (...) the opacity of circulation figures to sustain the political powers of Franco and the single party state. Opacity concealed the economic performance of newspapers owned by sole legal party and any distribution of resources in its favor. Franco authorized voluntary disclosure of reliable circulation figures in 1964, after eliminating cronyism in favor of a freer market. Repression guaranteed support for this industry until Franco's death. (shrink)

La oveja (Ovis aries) es el primer animal domesticado para consumo en un hito histórico que marca el inicio de la sedentarización de las comunidades humanas al comienzo del Neolítico. Durante milenios, fueron semejantes al muflón asiático (Ovis orientalis), su ancestro salvaje. Las razas primitivas supervivientes en el norte de Europa son oscuras, mudan el pelo estacionalmente, tienen cuernos en ambos sexos y apenas producen lana. Los ancestros de las modernas surgieron hace unos 3.500 años. Se seleccionaron para producir lana (...) blanca, que crece indefinidamente y se colecta anualmente. Este proceso coincide con la invención de las tijeras de esquilar y con el descubrimiento de tintes como la púrpura. Solo la lana blanca puede teñirse de cualquier color, permitiendo trasladar al tejido las mismas señales que quizá antes nos pintábamos con ocre sobre el cuerpo. La oveja, un herbívoro social muy manejable, sumaba al suministro de alimento el de una fibra abrigada y modificable en su color distintiva de quienes la visten. Un lienzo en blanco donde trasponer las expresiones estéticas antes restringidas al cuerpo, al arte rupestre y al mobiliar. De ahí que diversas mitologías contemplen una relación simbólica especial con ellas. La revolución estética propiciada por las ovejas blancas zozobra en el siglo XX con la aparición de nuevas fibras y el abaratamiento de otras. Hoy, los arquetípicos y blancos rebaños característicos de la iconografía occidental tienden a una coloración mixta al devaluarse la lana. Otras especies domésticas con fibras que solo recientemente se han apreciado comercialmente, como las cabras de angora (Capra hircus) o las llamas (Lama glama), siguen un proceso idéntico al emprendido con las ovejas hace milenios para tornarse blancas. Presentamos las implicaciones estéticas que han estimulado la selección artificial de ovejas con lanas blancas desde un punto de vista transdisciplinar. Siguiendo la corriente bioevolutiva, que entiende nuestra conducta estética y sus manifestaciones como parte de nuestra etología, veremos cómo ese largo proceso estuvo incentivado por nuestro deseo de teñir los tejidos para expresar un fenotipo extendido creando una nueva señal social. Esa nueva señalización, operante en el plano de la selección sexual, se va complicando al desarrollarse nuestras capacidades simbólicas y tecnológicas, siendo sintomática del entorno causal en el que se produce. (shrink)

The relationship between ethics and performance has previously been addressed in the literature, although there are still some gaps, for example, the relationship of ethical ideologies to student performance. This work aims to contribute to the literature with a statistical evaluation using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) regarding whether university students’ ethical ideologies and moral meaningfulness influence their level of student performance and academic achievement. Results indicate that the ideologies of justice and deontology increase moral meaningfulness, moral meaningfulness in (...) turn increase student’s citizenship behaviours and student’s in-role performance, and finally, student’s in-role performance positively influences academic achievement. This research provides resources applicable to the fields of pedagogy and ethics to encourage performance during the study and highlight the value of the ideologies of justice and deontology. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Patient Health Questionnaire-9 is the most well-known self-report measure to screen for depressive symptomatology, although discerning which is the factor structure that represents the best fit remains a challenge.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the Spanish version of the PHQ-9 in a large sample of Ecuadorian college students.MethodsA total of 5,394 students from three Ecuadorian universities were surveyed using a computerized questionnaire within a 4-week assessment period. The PHQ-9 was tested (...) for factorial structure, reliability, and correlations with other mental health-related measures.ResultsThe hierarchical model that included a general factor and three nested factors had a better fit, and such a hierarchical structure remained invariant across sex and age. Total omega value was 0.90 for the total scale and hierarchical omega values were 0.68 for the general factor, as well as 0.34, 0.38, and 0.44 for the respective nested factors. Moreover, PHQ-9 scores were significantly higher among women, although effect sizes of comparison of those sex differences were very small. Finally, the PHQ-9 scores correlated with multiple mental health indicators.DiscussionThe Spanish version of the PHQ-9 showed good psychometric properties among Ecuadorian college students. The hierarchical structure showed the best fit for the data, including not only a dominant general factor, but also the somatic, cognitive/affective and concentration/motor subcomponents. In conclusion, the PHQ-9 tool seems to represent an easy-to-implement screening questionnaire to design preventive programs for those Ecuadorian college students at risk of developing depressive disorders. (shrink)

A descriptive-exploratory analysis of assurance practices is presented in this paper, by analysing the patterns of sustainability assurance reporting in two national contexts with different levels of assurance activity over a period of 11 years. The study is based on theoretical insights drawn from institutional sociology and normativity production. It is framed both in the Italian situation, where assurance statements consistently include a narrow set of formal and procedural communications, and in an unsettled situation in the U.S., where assurance activity (...) is more incipient, but where experimentation in substantial assurance disclosure practices has more room to develop. Its main implication is that the diffusion of sustainability assurance and the creation of sustainability assurance disclosure norms are not without its cost: information quality does not increase with patterned practice. The results also point towards the noteworthy role of specific professionals in the earlier and later stages of assurance practice norms. They reveal a significant influence of non-Big4 firms in the diffusion of sustainability assurance disclosure norms. In contrast, the Big4 firms appear to be positively associated with the narrowing down of the assurance focus to a selected subset of this activity in later stages of the development of the assurance norm. In this regard, this study provides insight into the circumstantial—but relevant—carrier role of the Big4 firms in determining what “assurance” means. (shrink)

Digital competencies were part of online education and now when returning to the classroom what will happen or what we expect for the future in education. The objective is to analyze and describe the perspectives of the level of digital competence, the non-experimental descriptive quantitative methodology is used with 1987 university students. Resulting that the instrument adapted to the Peruvian version is adequate according to statistics such as Cronbach's Alpha. Concluding that the digital competences improved the academic quality and have (...) a good level. Society is waiting for the next step to know what is presented to us in education. (shrink)

The original article was published without open access and with the copyright notice indicating © Springer Nature B.V. The article is now open access with the copyright residing with the authors.

This study explores the rationality behind firms’ decision to admit or deny their involvement in bribery when responding to confidential surveys conducted by international agencies. Specifically, we posit that firms’ reluctance to provide accurate information about their engagement in bribery is at least to some extent contingent on certain situational factors. In other words, we claim that this behavior is context dependent. The paper uses the notions provided by the theory of planned behavior to understand the way in which the (...) corruption of the legal environment, the intensity of market competition, and identification risk influence firms’ decision to lie about their involvement in bribery. To test these notions, we use databases from the fifth wave of the EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey, country-level data from the Kauffman Foundation and macroeconomic information from the World Bank database. We run ordinary least squares with geographic region-clustered standard errors on data from 30 countries and 6122 individual firms during the period 2012–2013. Consistent with our expectations, the results indicate that firms operating within more corrupt legal environments, facing more competition, and bearing a higher risk of being identified are less likely to deny their involvement in bribery. We conclude that not all firms have the same incentives to lie about their participation in bribery, and therefore, identifying the drivers of this heterogeneity may help policymakers better assess the reliability of bribery information collected through confidential surveys. (shrink)

Rare neuromuscular diseases are a group of pathologies characterized by a progressive loss of muscular strength, atrophy, fatigue, and other muscle-related symptoms, which affect quality of life levels. The low prevalence, high geographical dispersion and disability of these individuals involve difficulties in accessing health and social care services. Teleassistance is presented as a useful tool to perform psychosocial interventions in these situations. The main aim of this research is to assess the effects of a teleassistance psychosocial program on the QoL (...) levels of people with RNMDs who have different levels of disability. A sample of 73 participants was divided into an experimental group, which participated in the intervention, and a control wait list group. QoL was evaluated through the SIP and the SF-36, and disability through the WHO-DAS II. The participants with a moderate to severe level of disability were those who most benefited from the intervention. The results also revealed that the psychosocial teleassistance program was suitable to improve physical and psychosocial aspects of people suffering from a rare neuromuscular disease with a moderate level of disability, but just psychosocial aspects in those with a severe level of disability. (shrink)

Many faces of consciousness -- Ethics, religion, and the identity of self -- States of mind -- Why hearts don't love and brains don't pump -- EEG : a window on the mind -- Dynamic patterns as shadows of thought -- Networks, waves, and resonant binding -- The limits of science : What do we really know? -- Modern physics, cosmology, and consciousness -- The weird behavior of quantum systems -- Ontological interpretations of quantum mechanics -- Does the brain create (...) the mind? (shrink)

Do plants represent according to Kant? This is closely connected to the question of whether he held plants are alive, because he explains life in terms of the faculty to act on one’s own representations. He also explains life as having an immaterial principle of self-motion, and as a body’s interaction with a supersensible soul. I argue that because of the way plants move themselves, Kant is committed to their being alive, to their having a supersensible ground of their self-activity, (...) and to their having desires (although these are not conscious). This has important ramifications for Kant’s teleology and philosophy of mind. (shrink)

In this essay I examine Kant's analogy with life from §65 of the Critique of the power of Judgment. I argue that this analogy is central for understanding his notion of a natural end, for his account of the formative power of organisms in the third Critique, and for situating Kant's account of this power in relation to the Lebenskräfte of the vitalists.

Este proyecto de innovación tiene como objetivo subsanar las dificultades del alumnado del Grado en Historia y Ciencias de la Música para utilizar las herramientas de análisis musical. Está orientada a las competencias curriculares de la asignatura Música y pensamiento en el siglo de las luces (s. XVIII), que requiere un trabajo analítico del repertorio de música tonal Centroeuropea en conexión con las corrientes estilísticas y de pensamiento de la época. Se han desarrollado una serie de estrategias didácticas que conectan (...) la experiencia emocional del discente con la significación de los tópicos musicales según el principio de la topic theory. (shrink)

Este trabajo realiza un estudio metafísico sobre la noción de contacto en términos de límites a partir de una ontología de objetos materiales. Dos cosas están en contacto cuando sus límites (o partes de ellos) se topan espacialmente. Las tesis relacionista y la substantivista sobre la naturaleza del espacio son evaluadas en sus compromisos respecto a la idea de contacto. Sin embargo, puesto que considerando algunos descubrimientos de la física cuántica es posible descartar la idea de contacto físico, la discusión (...) requiere ser trasladada a un espacio topológicamente continuo. Aquí la idea de contacto requiere solucionar la compatibilidad entre la existencia de un espacio continuo y la existencia de límites como un tipo de discontinuidad. Cuatro tesis son evaluadas: clásica, superposición, brecha, y coincidencia. Esta última es defendida puesto que, a diferencia de las otras, no renuncia a características ontológicas fundamentales de un límite y es la menos arbitraria sobre su pertenencia. (shrink)

Cuestiones referentes a la naturaleza de saber-cómo han sido a menudo olvidadas y desatendidas dentro de la epistemología contemporánea. Este artículo es un intento por recuperar parte de un debate que parece haber concluido con la tácita asunción de que saber-cómo es reducible a las versiones preposicionales del saber; para ello propone un diagnóstico sobre las cuestiones implicadas en el análisis epistémico del saber-cómo. El enfrentamiento entre "disposicionalistas" y "proposicionalistas" pasa a ser entendido como una disputa acerca de dos modos (...) diferentes de explicar la normatividad del conocimiento de las reglas. De manera general, saber-cómo consiste en captar aquellas reglas que explicarían el éxito al hacer algo. Finalmente, proporciono una crítica de las versiones reductivas tradicionales del saber-cómo a conocimiento de proposiciones y ofrezco una propuesta para aclarar la naturaleza de la "captación práctica" de reglas en términos de aquellas capacidades y competencias que son identificadas subjetivamente por un agente y guían prácticamente su conducta. /// Questions about the nature of knowing-how have often been disregarded in contemporary epistemology. It is easily assumed that know-how can be reduced to propositional accounts of knowledge. In this paper, I offer a diagnosis of the issues involved in the analysis of knowing-how. The confrontation between "dispositionalists" and "propositionalists" is considered as a dispute about different ways of explaining the normativity in the knowledge of rules. Knowing-how consists in grasping those rules that would explain the success in doing something. Finally, I provide a criticism of traditional reductive accounts of knowing-how to knowledge of propositions and advance a proposal to elucídate the nature of "practical grasping" of rules in terms of those capacities and competences that are subjectively identified by an agent and guide practically her performance. (shrink)

La explotación egoísta de la tierra es un pecado, pues «un crimen contra la naturaleza es un crimen contra nosotros mismos y un pecado contra Dios»1 Por lo tanto, el Papa Francisco invita a abrazar la conversión ecológica y a implorar «la misericordia de Dios por los pecados cometidos contra la creación, que hasta ahora no hemos sabido reconocer ni confesar»2. Teniendo en cuenta las enseñanzas papales, este artículo subraya la necesidad de hacer más evidente la dimensión ecológica en el (...) sacramento de la Penitencia. (shrink)

El artículo es un esbozo de una estética de los signos de los tiempos, el cual propone en base a la categoría nietzscheana de metáfora, una heurística de los signos de los tiempos en la historia latinoamericana. Este esbozo pretende una lectura de Latinoamérica desde una nueva base epistemológica ‘dejando sin habla’ los supuestos metafísicos mediante una retirada a la metáfora de los signos de los tiempos en su emergencia original. Para lo cual se exponen las metáforas de la infancia (...) como emergencia de una nueva era, entendida como inversión cósmica y epistemológica, las metáforas relativas al martirio y a la señal de Jonás, y finalmente, exponemos metáforas que relacionan revelación y signos de los tiempos, para esto estudiamos las metáforas del ‘pasar a la otra orilla’ y las del ‘enigma’ y la interrogación. The artick is an outüne of an aesthetic of the signs of the times, which proposes the category based on Nietzschean metaphor, a heuristic of the signs of the times in Latín American history. This sketch of an aesthetic seeks a ¿¡/¡constructiva reading that produces a new epistemological basis ‘left speechkss'metaphysical assumptions by a withdrawal to the metaphor of the signs of the times in its original emergency. We describe the metaphors of childhood as emergence of a new era, and understood as cosmic investment epistemohgical metaphors relating to martyrdom and the sign of Jonah, and finally, we present disclosure relate metaphors and signs of the times, for which we study metaphors of pass to the other side’ and the ‘enigma’ and interrogation. (shrink)

Despite recent research showing that children rapidly interpret human action in terms of intention, a long tradition of empirical research on moral development and recent conceptual analyses of the deontic domain suggest that children do not apply their understanding of intention to the deontic domain. However, two experiments are described showing that children do make that connection. Preschool children heard stories in which a protagonist was obliged to meet a particular condition if an action was to be taken (e.g. obliged (...) to wear a coat if playing outside). When shown four pictures depicting each possible combination of: (1) the protagonist either performing the action or not, and (2) deliberately or accidentally failing to meet the obligation, children appropriately identified the protagonist as naughty when he or she was depicted as deliberately not meeting the obligation while performing the action. The findings proved to be robust across two different cultural settings. Implications for research on children’s developing theory of mind and their understanding of deontic concepts are discussed. (shrink)

In this paper we prove that the free algebras in a subvariety equation image of the variety equation image of semi-Heyting algebras are directly decomposable if and only if equation image satisfies the Stone identity.

Cacao cultivation is one of the most important livelihoods for rural households in Colombia, where it is promoted as a substitute for the illegal cultivation of coca. To strengthen Colombian cacao farming, it is important to understand the livelihood strategies associated with cacao cultivation and the impact of these different strategies on the well-being of Colombian rural households. We analyzed the impact of cacao cultivation on the livelihood strategies and well-being of rural households in western Colombia. Research with 92 rural (...) cacao-growing households produced a typology of household livelihood strategies derived from their approach to cacao production. Indicators of each household capital and level of well-being were identified for each type of households. Correlations between the capitals and the capitals of greater importance in shaping the well-being of rural households were analyzed. Three types of rural households were identified: Cacao Farmers, Diversified Farmers with Cacao, and New Cacao Farmers. Cacao farmers have the highest capitals endowments and level of well-being, followed by Diversified Farmers with Cacao, and New Cacao Farmers. The conditions of cacao cultivation in rural households result in differentiated access to resources from capitals; households with better development of the crop have consolidated greater well-being where human capital has been its major driving factor. Success of the cacao crop and its relationship with well-being of rural households depends on the convergence of different capital resources. Thus, institutional efforts to strengthen the cacao sector in Colombia must go beyond investment to establish new hectares and consider aspects such as: Strengthening the skills and knowledge of producers to improve crop management practices, Promoting the participation of household members in associations, Stimulating sensitivity to the rooting and sustainable management of the crop, and Promoting processes of technification and adaptation of the infrastructure of fermenters and dryers, which will make it possible to guarantee an adequate quality of the cacao bean. (shrink)

Introduction to mind and brain -- The science and philosophy of mind -- A brief look into brain structure and function -- States of mind -- Signatures of consciousness -- Rhythms of the brain -- Brain synchrony, coherence, and resonance -- Networks of the brain -- Introduction to the hard problem -- Multiscale speculations on the hard problem -- Glossary.

La dimensión ética respecto al uso de la inteligencia artificial es hoy un debate obligado en diversas áreas del conocimiento. Los beneficios de la IA en la educación son innegables, sin embargo, invitan a los educadores a una reflexión profunda respecto a los objetivos que se espera alcanzar en los aprendizajes, así como a los riesgos que este tipo de tecnología presenta. A través de una revisión bibliográfica sobre los alcances éticos en educación, se constata la existencia de diversas regulaciones (...) que, desde la perspectiva humanista, apuntan a un uso responsable, sin perder de vista que el fin último es la persona y su dignidad. La ética corre tras los avances tecnológicos, pues la reflexión sobre el uso adecuado de ellas no logra anticiparse a su rápida implementación. Unesco y el Consenso de Beijing señalan que la IA debe estar al servicio de la educación y que es crucial promover una utilización equitativa e inclusiva, transparente y responsable. Generar confianza debe ser el pilar fundamental de esta construcción ética, por ello exige que los líderes escolares y los docentes reflexionen la finalidad del uso; se promueva una adecuada capacitación; se identifiquen beneficios y riesgos y se incorpore a toda la comunidad educativa. (shrink)

The central aim of the present investigation is to shed light on Nietzsche’s understanding of happiness and a good life, starting from Nietzsche’s appropriation of Plato’s and Aristotle’s doctrine of a hierarchy of human beings and forms of life.

The rise of foundational dualism and the eclipse of the body -- "Body am I entirely, and nothing else": non-reductive materialism and the struggle against dualism -- Toward a materialist phenomenology of religion -- The phenomenology of embodiment and the study of religion -- Religious bodies as social artifacts -- Holding social constructionism in check: the recovery of the active, lived body -- A cultural neurophenomenology of religion: enter the embodied mind -- The eclipse of practice: textualism at large -- (...) "Ceci n'est pas un texte": from textualism to practice -- Expanding the conversation on emplaced religion -- Mobility, networks, and ecology. (shrink)

Despite recent research showing that children rapidly interpret human action in terms of intention, a long tradition of empirical research on moral development and recent conceptual analyses of the deontic domain suggest that children do not apply their understanding of intention to the deontic domain. However, two experiments are described showing that children do make that connection. Preschool children heard stories in which a protagonist was obliged to meet a particular condition if an action was to be taken (e.g. obliged (...) to wear a coat if playing outside). When shown four pictures depicting each possible combination of: (1) the protagonist either performing the action or not, and (2) deliberately or accidentally failing to meet the obligation, children appropriately identified the protagonist as naughty when he or she was depicted as deliberately not meeting the obligation while performing the action. The findings proved to be robust across two different cultural settings. Implications for research on children’s developing theory of mind and their understanding of deontic concepts are discussed. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the so-called disjunctive views on hallucinations. I argue that neither of the options open to the disjunctivist is capable of accommodating basic phenomenological facts about hallucinatory experiences and the explanatory demands behind the classical argument from hallucination. A positive characterization of the hallucinatory case is not attractive to a disjunctivist once she is disposed to accept certain commonalities with veridical experiences. Negative disjunctivism glosses the hallucinatory disjunct in terms of indiscriminability. I will argue that this (...) move either renounces to characterize phenomenally the hallucinatory experience or does not take seriously questions about why indiscriminability is possible in the phenomenal realm. (shrink)

In this paper, it is argued that both the informer and the hearer in a testimonial situation deserve epistemic merit insofar as they contribute to the collaborative achievement of sharing knowledge. The paper introduces a distinction between the ideals of self-sufficiency and epistemic autonomy. The autonomous exercise of our epistemic agency is very often carried out under strong conditions of epistemic dependence. Testimony exhibits a kind of social dependence that does not threaten the autonomy of the subjects that need to (...) consider their own epistemic capacities. When involved in a testimonial situation, both speaker and hearer declare, at least implicitly, the standings they occupy in an epistemic space and are obliged to recognise certain epistemic requirements. (shrink)

La pena natural es una situación paradójica que se puede presentar cuando el autor de un delito, al cometerlo o a causa de éste, ha sufrido un daño igual o mayor al que padecería si el juez de la causa le aplicara la pena estatal prevista para tal conducta. Se da con frecuencia al juzgar ciertos accidentes viales, cuando el acusado ya carga el peso de ser quien, por imprudencia, mató a su pareja o familiar cercano, por ejemplo. Pero ¿en (...) qué situaciones y cómo cabe recurrir a la pena natural? En esta investigación, Manuel Serrano explora las diversas aristas y posturas en pugna que atraviesan este tema, donde se cruzan cuestiones como la idea de la “culpa compensada”, la prohibición de aplicar castigo doble por un mismo hecho (non bis in idem) y la clemencia judicial. El autor desmonta la estructura conceptual de la pena natural, estudia jurisprudencia argentina y recorre producciones teóricas de juristas que se han preocupado por este asunto complejo, profundo y poco abordado del derecho penal. (shrink)