Objetivo. Verificar si el procesamiento semántico de estímulos visuales complejos, como la repetición, la identidad, el orden y la doble incongruencia, es recursivo o computable. Sujetos y métodos. Veintisiete universitarios respondieron a un paradigma adaptado N400 con cinco condiciones, cada una con 80 tareas, mientras se registraba su actividad cerebral con un gorro de 64 electrodos. Resultados. Dos ventanas temporales de 400 a 550 ms y de 550 a 800 ms se analizaron mediante un contraste ANOVA del factor condición por (...) regiones de interés. Además, se calculó la solución inversa de las ventanas mediante tomografía electromagnética de baja resolución para identificar las fuentes corticales subyacentes a los potenciales eléctricos. Se corroboran diferencias significativas (p< 0, 05) en los potenciales N400 y P600 en áreas frontales y centroparietales asociadas a los operadores lógicos estudiados. Conclusión. Se confirma que el procesamiento cerebral de imágenes complejas (congruentes/incongruentes) es modulado por la repetición, la identidad y el orden, pero no por la negación. Por consiguiente, se puede decir que el procesamiento semántico de imágenes complejas es semicomputable. (shrink)

Electrical brain activity modulation in terms of changes in its intensity and spatial distribution is a function of age and task demand. However, the dynamics of brain modulation is unknown when it depends on external factors such as training. The aim of this research is to verify the effect of deductive reasoning training on the modulation in the brain activity of healthy younger and older adults ( (mean age of 21 ± 3.39) and (mean age of 68.92 ± 5.72)). The (...) analysis reveals the benefits of training, showing that it lowers cerebral activation while increasing the number of correct responses in the trained reasoning task (). The brain source generators were identified by time-averaging low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) current density images. In both groups, a bilateral overactivation associated with the task and not with age was identified. However, while the profile of bilateral activation in younger adults was symmetrical in anterior areas, in the older ones, the profile was located asymmetrically in anterior and posterior areas. Consequently, bilaterality may be a marker of how the brain adapts to maintain cognitive function in demanding tasks in both age groups. However, the differential bilateral locations across age groups indicate that the tendency to brain modulation is determined by age. (shrink)

Hay doble pulsión en el centro de la discusión del razonamiento deductivo. Una conduce aparentemente a la abstracción y dominios arbitrarios, mientras que la otra conduce a la concreción y la dependencia del contenido. El objetivo de esta investigación es diseñar, aplicar y validar un instrumento de evaluación que nos permita corroborar si el razonamiento deductivo maneja reglas lógicas o contenidos. La muestra de estudio se compuso de 80 participantes (edad 18-77 años). El test consta de 60 ítems categorizados en: (...) formalidad, integrabilidad, complejidad y modalidad. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la fiabilidad del test de razonamiento deductivo con un alpha de Cronbach. 775 y con un índice de validación. 850 para el índice de inteligencia no verbal (INV) del RIAS. Cómo conclusión inferimos que el razonador deductivo no dispone de un cuerpo preciso de reglas generales deductivas, sino que usa colecciones de reglas heurísticas cada vez menos abstractas. (shrink)

“Our Tyrannies. Tocqueville on Democratic Despotism”. Although thelexicon of “tyranny” and “despotism” is subject to historical changes in meaning,we still keep on using those terms to refer to some types of illegitimate, unjust orindecent political regimes. So does Tocqueville, when he describes the new waysof despotism emerging from modern democratic revolution. In this article, weexplore the uses of “tyranny” and “despotism” in Tocqueville’s thought, and wealso try to discover the concrete models or social prototypes which could inspireTocqueville’s prognosis concerning a (...) tutelary democratic despotism. (shrink)

La idealización del diálogo es un gesto característico no sólo del pensamiento filosófico contemporáneo, sino también de las ciencias humanas y de los procedimientos de intervención pedagógica, terapéutica y organizacional. En este artículo revisaremos críticamente ese mito fundacional del diálogo socrático, mediante un análisis conversacional de los movimientos y las funciones discursivas que en él se desarrollan. Además, exploraremos la evolución moderna del género del diálogo filosófico.

The demonstrations of monks in Tibet and Myanmar (Burma) in recent times as well as the age-old conflict between a predominantly Buddhist population and a Hindu minority in Sri Lanka raise the question of how the issues of human rights and Buddhism are related. The question applies both to the violation of basic rights in Buddhist countries and to the defence of those rights which are well-grounded in Buddhist teachings. The volume provides academic essays that reflect this up to now (...) rather neglected issue from the point of view of the three main Buddhist traditions, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. It provides multi-faceted and surprising insights into a rather unlikely relationship. (shrink)

Data are lacking with regard to participants' perspectives on return of genetic research results to relatives, including after the participant's death. This paper reports descriptive results from 3,630 survey respondents: 464 participants in a pancreatic cancer biobank, 1,439 family registry participants, and 1,727 healthy individuals. Our findings indicate that most participants would feel obligated to share their results with blood relatives while alive and would want results to be shared with relatives after their death.

Shared Decision-Making is a widely accepted model of the physician–patient relationship providing an ethical environment in which physician beneficence and patient autonomy are respected. It acknowledges the moral responsibility of physician and patient by promoting a deliberative collaboration in which their individual expertise—complementary in nature, equal in importance—is emphasized, and personal values and preferences respected. Its goal coincides with Pellegrino and Thomasma’s proximate end of medicine, that is, a technically correct and morally good healing decision for and with a particular (...) patient. We argue that by perfecting the intellectual ability to apprehend the complexity of clinical situations, and through a perfection of the application of the first principles of practical reason, prudence is able to point toward the right and good shared medical decision. A prudent shared medical decision is therefore always in keeping with the kind of person the physician and the patient have chosen to be. (shrink)

_Fish, Justice, and Society_ is a novel scholarly work that goes in depth into the fishing industry, fish, and aquatic environments. This book delves past the façade of what may be known by the average fisherman, bringing to the surface new information about numerous species and aquatic habitats.

The purpose of this study is exposition on the themes of method and mysticism in the work of Simone Weil. Nearly a decade before the onset of her first mystical experience, Weil developed a method to be rigorously applied in daily philosophical reflection. She outlines this method in her dissertation on Descartes (1929-1930). I examine the question of how Weil applied method to philosophical reflection on her mystical experiences (onset 1938-1939). I analyze Weil’s mystical experiences as a type of transformative (...) experience in L. A. Paul’s strict sense of the term. On Paul’s view, an experience is transformative if it is both epistemically and personally transformative. An experience is epistemically transformative if the only way to know what it is like to have it is to have it yourself. An experience is personally transformative if it changes your point of view, including your core preferences (Paul, 2014). I present a thought experiment and textual evidence to motivate the claim that Weil’s mystical experiences meet Paul’s conditions for transformative experience. I then propose two epistemological facts that can be revealed by philosophical reflection on mystical experience. First, it is possible to read meaning erroneously in the appearances of things. Second, it is possible to come to hold to the certainty of a conviction for reasons that elude the intellect. My findings suggest that Weil’s late views on philosophy accommodate these two epistemological constraints, thereby demonstrating a possible connection between Weil’s mystical experiences and her mature views on the nature, scope, and proper method of philosophy. However, my preliminary findings also suggest that Weil’s early work on method may have anticipated these epistemological obstacles prior to the onset of her first mystical experience. Thus, further exposition of Weil’s method is needed to support or elucidate the claim (Rozelle-Stone and Davis, 2021) that Weil’s epistemology underwent significant changes because of her mystical experiences. (shrink)

Gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR, are being heralded as powerful new tools for delivering agricultural products and foods with a variety of beneficial traits quickly, easily, and cheaply. Proponents are concerned, however, about whether the public will accept the new technology and that excessive regulatory oversight could limit the technology’s potential. In this paper, we draw on the sociotechnical imaginaries literature to examine how proponents are imagining the potential benefits and risks of gene editing technologies within agriculture. We derive (...) our data from a content analysis of public comments submitted to the Food and Drug Administration’s 2017 docket titled “Genome Editing in New Plant Varieties Used for Food.” Our sample frame consists of 26 comments representing 30 agriculture and biotech companies, organizations, and trade associations. Our findings reveal three key sociotechnical imaginaries, including that gene editing technologies in agriculture: are not GMO but instead equivalent to traditional plant breeding; have the potential to usher in a new Green Revolution; and could facilitate the democratization of agricultural biotechnologies. We argue that forming and projecting these collective interpretations of the potential of gene editing technologies for crops and foods plays an important role in efforts by proponents to influence regulatory oversight, modes of governance, and build public acceptance. This research contributes to calls by science and technology studies scholars to investigate emergent concerns and imaginaries for novel technoscientific advances to help inform upstream models of public engagement and governance decisions. (shrink)

The perception of sensory effects generated by one’s own actions is typically attenuated compared to the same effects generated externally. However, it is unclear whether this specifically relates to self-generation. Recent studies showed that sensory attenuation mainly relies on action preparation, not actual action execution. Hence, an attenuation of sensory effects generated by another person might occur if these actions can be anticipated and thus be prepared for.Here, we compared the perceived loudness of sounds generated by one’s own actions and (...) actions of another person that either could or could not be anticipated. We found an attenuation of the perceived loudness for self- as compared to other-generated sounds. This difference was independent of whether the sound-eliciting actions of the other person could be anticipated or not. Thus, sensory attenuation seems to be specifically tied to self-generation instead of being a secondary effect of agent-independent preparation for an upcoming action. (shrink)

Given the crucial role of the mass media in influencing public discourse, this study examines the discourses around climate change within the Brazilian press, covering the time period of 2003–2013. Survey evidence has shown that Brazilians’ degree of concern about climate change is higher than almost anywhere else, with nine out of 10 Brazilians considering climate change a serious problem. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how the press engendered Brazilians’ striking level of climate change concern, with (...) special attention to how the discourse developed over time. To this end, I undertake a corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the most dominant linguistic patterns in the discourse, presenting evidence on an unprecedented scale and with considerable depth. The corpus consists of 19,686 newspaper texts published by 12 Brazilian broadsheet papers. The results are interpreted in the light of available opinion polls on the public’s perception of climate change as well as Brazil’s national context and environmental governance. (shrink)

This article turns to Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem in order to illustrate the difficulties involved in approaching the (formerly) metaphysical concept of evil as a secular phenomenon. It asks how the advocate of plurality, natality and forgiveness could also vouch for the death sentence of Eichmann based on a rhetoric of retribution and revenge. It then shows that Arendt's surprisingly consistent view of evil is based on a quasi-ontological understanding of the human condition that allowed her to negate Eichmann's (...) humanity. Rather than simply unmasking a metaphysical account in disguise, however, the article develops an alternative perspective that emerges from the conversation between Arendt and Jaspers. It argues that Jaspers's interpretation of Kant offers a way to defend the idea of secular evil and judge Eichmann on the basis of his thoughtlessness. (shrink)

As English Studies researchers and teachers, our experience has shown that there continues to exist an urgent need to incorporate gender as a reading tool of literary texts to foster a non-discriminatory and equality perspective. Given the many advances in gender equality that have been achieved as well as the rising backlash against such progressive moves that spread through Europe, our proposal is based on the “queerification of the classroom”, a notion defined as a transgressive initiative that effectively and systematically (...) incorporates the deconstruction of normativity and fosters resistance to socially constructed assumptions about normativity and deviance. (shrink)

What paths are taken by post-posi tiv ist so - cial the ory?. Be yond the three ba sic types of contemporarty the o ries stud ied in this pa per, the pre sup po si tions of which com bine struc ture and agent, the study of so ci ety in which ac knowl - edge ment of the prop er ties of dis tinct..

The moral debate on living-donor organ transplantation historically focused on how to overcome the problem of the mutilation inherent in such a medical operation. In time, theologians began proposing justifications of LDOT that assumed that “mere removals” did not constitute mutilation. The example of mutilation as an “intrinsically evil act” in Veritatis splendor would seem to have closed the debate. Nevertheless, many theologians continue to address LDOT as a question of justifying a mutilation. The authors provide a brief summary of (...) the major contributors before and after Veritatis splendor to show that confusion still exists, and then propose new approaches to help resolve this important bioethical issue. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13.3 : 427–436. (shrink)

The use of sedation at the end of life is proving a difficult topic of bioethical debate. In spite of efforts to reach agreement on definitions and guidelines, the practice most commonly known as palliative, or terminal, sedation remains a source of ambiguity and confusion. The goal of this article is to offer the reader a primer on the topic of palliative sedation. Two specific objectives are proposed: first, to orient the reader to some of the principal elements of the (...) clinical and bioethical literature on palliative sedation; and second, to describe what we believe to be some of the principal sources for a theological understanding and evaluation of the use of sedation at the end of life. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 12.2 (Summer 2012): 263–281. (shrink)

In this article, we review the Agrarian Question focusing on dairy farms. We have the dual aim of adding to the debate surrounding the economic profitability of small and large dairy farms and increasing what is known about the decline of dairy farms. The agrarian question at the heart of our research centres on the paradoxical endurance of family farms, despite predictions from both liberal and Marxist perspectives that they would diminish in number over time. By addressing these complex issues, (...) we hope to shed light on the challenges and opportunities facing the dairy industry today. We focus on analysing dairy farms in the European Union countries, using panel regressions from 2008 to 2018 to define the relationship between the average number of cows per farm, profit margins and Farm Net Income. The most important results show that (i) paradoxically, profits were higher on smaller farms; (ii) however, empirical data show that small dairy farms are disappearing; (iii) this is because when including subsidies, farms with a higher number of cows are more profitable than smaller farms. (shrink)

Resumen Las enfermedades raras o poco frecuentes constituyen un tema muy complejo desde el punto de vista socio-sanitario y también desde el punto de vista comunicativo. Afectan a menos de 5 por 10.000 personas y suelen ser graves y crónicas. La mayor parte son de origen genético por lo que, con frecuencia, se manifiestan en la etapa infantil. Apenas un diez por ciento tiene tratamientos efectivos. Son pocos los estudios que han abordado el discurso sobre estas patologías. Las ER constituyen (...) aún un tópico que podríamos denominar ‘emergente’ para los profesionales de los medios de comunicación. En este artículo vamos a analizar la representación de las enfermedades raras y de sus principales protagonistas en un corpus de 436 piezas informativas correspondientes a enero de 2014. Desde las premisas del Análisis Crítico del Discurso, estudiaremos los aspectos más relevantes tanto desde el punto de vista macroestructural, como microestructural. (shrink)

Clinical ethics refers to an emerging field in clinical medicine that focuses on the process of ethical decision-making in a clinicalsetting. It has developed as a result of a growing awareness that modern medicine – characterized by technological progress, culturaldiversity and social challenges – is posing a range of new “ethical dilemmas” that medical science alone cannot solve. For thisreason, clinical ethics is often linked to “ethics consultation,” which consists of services provided by an individual ethicist, ethicsteam or committee to (...) address the ethical issues involved in a specific clinical case. Although clinical ethics developed in the beginningmainly as a methodological analysis to arrive at a justification for clinical ethical decisions, it quickly has become clear thatthe difficulty in clinical decision-making is only one aspect of wider ethical problems pertaining to the doctor-patient relationshipas a whole and, most likely, to the core value of the medical profession. The principles method is usually presented as the mostpopular methodological approach to an analysis of clinical cases. However, strong criticism of this model has been voiced, and otheralternative approaches are referred to, such as the casuistry model. Recently, significant contributions have been made by narrativemedicine and virtue ethics. According to these methodologies, sound anthropology and a good relationship with the sick person arekey elements required of any person engaged in medical practice who aims to be genuinely appropriate from an ethical perspective. DOI: 10.5294/pebi.2016.20.1.3. (shrink)

Dienes & Perner argue that the explicit representation of an individual to which a property is attributed requires explicit representation of the attributed property. The reasons for this conclusion are similar to the reasons why another of their conclusions may be considered suspect: A property may be explicit without an explicit representation of an individual or the predication of the property to an individual. We question the latter conclusion and draw connections to neurophysiological and cognitive evidence.

Since 2010, demand for non-GMO food products has grown dramatically. Two non-GMO labels dominate the market: USDA Organic and the Non-GMO Project Verified. However, the non-GMO status of Organic is not obvious from the label and many consumers are unaware of this. As sales of products carrying the Project’s non-GMO label have exploded, concern has increased among some Organic proponents that demand for non-GMO threatens the organic market. In response, both sides are seeking to build legitimacy and authority for their (...) label by emphasizing the value of their standards for determining a food product’s non-GMO status within a GMO contaminated agrifood system. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key informants with knowledge of non-GMO standards and labels, we examine the knowledge systems, discourses and actors that proponents of the Project and USDA Organic privilege in their effort to legitimize their standards. Here, the Project emphasizes its application of technoscientific norms, especially thresholds and testing, which they argue provide the best means for preventing GMO contamination and helping consumers find non-GMO ‘purity’. In contrast, proponents of Organic favor a process standard that excludes GMOs, arguing that non-GMO ‘purity’ is unrealistic in today’s agrifood system that is widely contaminated by GMOs and where mandatory testing would unnecessarily harm organic producers. We conclude that tensions between the two groups are unlikely to be easily reconciled since these two distinct marketing labels rely on different knowledge and verification claims to vie for consumers and increase market share. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Doxxing is a form of online abuse where doxxers deliberately seek and publish their targets’ personal information without consent, often with malicious intent such as ruining their reputation. Despite its prevalence, doxxing has received little scholarly attention compared to other forms of online aggression, and almost no study has approached doxxing from a language and discourse perspective. This exploratory study analyzes 464 online forum posts and comments related to doxxing during the on-going pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, addressing the (...) overarching question: In what ways is doxxing a discursive action? More specifically, how is doxxing realized intertextually? What are the discourse strategies that forum participants employ to legitimize doxxing? Informed by Critical Discourse Analysis, the analysis begins by illustrating doxxing as an intertextual and recontextualized social practice, focusing on a forum thread that discloses a police officer’s personal information. The core part of the paper discusses four key legitimation strategies of doxxing identified in the data, rationalization, definition, construction of negative-Other, and victimizing ‘Us’. The paper concludes by considering the role of doxxing in the Hong Kong social movement, and outlining some directions for future research. (shrink)

Recent research exposing environmental and social externalities of biofuels has undermined the earlier national consensus that they would provide climate mitigation and rural development benefits, but support for ethanol remains strong in Iowa. The objective of this paper is to understand how stakeholder groups in Iowa have framed the benefits and risks associated with ethanol’s impact on the local economy and environment. Our case study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants from agricultural organizations, environmental organizations, and government (...) departments in the state. We find that in Iowa, widespread support for ethanol production exists among government, energy, and farm groups, and that they frame ethanol production as economically beneficial to rural communities and agriculture, while minimizing the possibility of associated environmental risks. Although participants from environmental organizations in Iowa express apprehension about the environmental impacts of expanded corn ethanol production, their unease is muted in relation to economic benefits and in relation to other environmental issues, and few have publicly voiced their concerns. To understand these findings, we draw from the environmental sociology literature that examines the role of powerful natural resource interests in framing the importance of resource extraction and commodity production to community identity and economy and in delegitimizing and naturalizing associated environmental issues and problems. We argue that powerful natural resource interests in Iowa both naturalize environmental problems related to ethanol production and engage in diversionary reframing to emphasize the economic benefits while minimizing or rejecting the potential environmental risks. (shrink)

This article analyzes the legacy of the idea of an Axial Age with a particular focus on Habermas, Taylor, Assmann, and Jaspers. I ask what has motivated the use of the concept and illustrate the ways in which it is situated in the twentieth-century debate on myth. I then respond to the limitations of the concept’s legacy and turn to two overlooked elements of Jaspers’s initial intervention: In contrast to the dominant discourse, he argued that myth changed its form and (...) was not replaced by logos; he also argued that the Axial Age failed rather than succeeded. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the presence of Pascal’s thought in the work of the Spanish writer José Jiménez Lozano (1930-2020). In fact, it could be considered that this writer is almost a kind of Pascal come alive, especially in terms of understanding and experiencing Christianity, since, for both Pascal and Jiménez Lozano, the orientation of the human soul towards God is not only a part of the essence of man but also is his most (...) definitory anthropological constituent. (shrink)

For over a century modern scholars have passionately debated whether Augustine’s conversion narrative from Confessions 8 is an accurate description of what ‘has really happened’ in 386 in a garden in Milan without reaching so far a consensus. However, long before modern scholars disputed the historicity of his conversion account Augustine was already confronted with the mistrust of his contemporaries who doubted the authenticity of his conversion and compelled to deal with their accusations. This article intends to show how in (...) the Confessions Augustine defends the truth of his narrative while admitting to his incredulous readers his inability to offer an exact picture of his past life, by looking at his views on memory, language and cognition, as presented mainly in the last non-narrative books of this work. (shrink)

El artículo trata sobre la antropología de la masculinidad y de la feminidad, a partir de la experiencia del cuerpo y de la experiencia de la soledad originaria, tal como Juan Pablo II las analizó en sus Catequesis sobre el amor humano. Así, a partir de la experiencia del propio cuerpo sexuado, podemos llegar a la comprensión de la estructura comunional de la diferencia sexual. Varón y mujer son y existen en una «comunión de personas», y constituyen la estructura central (...) que articula y sostiene el orden personal. (shrink)

La Biblia ocupa un lugar central en la historia de Israel. Este ensayo estudia la evolución de las apelaciones a la Biblia y su instrumentalización en el proceso de construcción nacional israelí, tanto en el periodo preestatal como en las primeras décadas del estado. Las tensiones teóricas y prácticas que se derivan de la utilización secular de un texto religioso trascienden el caso concreto de la Biblia e Israel y reenvían a los debates políticos y religiosos que están en el (...) origen de la construcción de los estados modernos y del concepto de soberanía nacional y democracia parlamentaria y que siguen presentes en la actualidad. (shrink)

Cuba's National Food Program aims to assure its population a minimum degree of food security during the current period of transition from dependency upon the ex-Socialist trading bloc. A number of important elements of the Food Program, however, were conceived before the demise of COMECON in an effort to deepen food import substitution. This paper reviews the degree of Cuba's food import dependence before the breakup of the Socialist bloc, the initial targets of the National Food Program, and how these (...) have been modified due to the severe reduction in Cuba's normal level of imports of petroleum and other agricultural inputs. It is argued that Cuba's reliance upon scientific advances combined with a return to traditional, ecologically-benign agricultural practices and large-scale labor mobilizations have allowed it to overcome a drastic shortfall in production as a result of the reduced level of imports of modern agricultural inputs. At the same time, it has been exceedingly difficult for the country to maintain production levels at the trend of the late 1980s or to continue to aspire to meet the ambitious targets of the initial Food Program plan. (shrink)

We compare two approaches given to the parallelogram law as a fundamental notion in eighteenth century mechanics. The authors we study are Kant and d’Alembert and we use the context created by Newton’s Principia as our point of departure.En este artículo comparamos dos caminos seguidos en el tratamiento de la ley del paralelogramo como noción fundamental en la mecánica del siglo XVIII. Los autores que estudiamos son Kant y d’Alembert y utilizamos el contexto creado por los Principia de Newton como (...) nuestro punto de partida. (shrink)