It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred (...) to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed. (shrink)

In a cultural setting in which the imitation of nature continues to be regulated by the ambitious project to cancel the dividing line between the natural and the artificial, man continues to find space for his replicative fantasies, even at the cost of breaking cultural boundaries and taboos. On the other hand, as shown in the historical analogy, this ambition, aimed not only at a partial reproduction but a true replication, seems to exhibit developmental contours that lead to the same (...) final results in terms of disillusionment and subsequent abandonment. (shrink)

Although robots are largely designed with industrial, scientific or military aims in mind, many designers seek to endow them with anthropomorphic forms, even at the risk of compromising their functionality. Why do they not content themselves with constructing useful machines, rather than also incorporating human-like features? What drives them to cover their machines with a latex coating to simulate human skin? The utopia of the creation of a double appears also in the world of art, the history of which shows, (...) above all, an outcome that coincides with the abandonment of the naturalistic imperative, and the inauguration of various periods of exploration and innovation. That is why a possible roboaesthetics—i.e. robotics and aesthetics combined could give rise to a new scenario. This view would acknowledges the radical novelty of these ‘species’ and induce the adoption of a new observation level, constructed on the basis of a common project. (shrink)

The role of cultural models in the process of adaptation to the new technologies is very different according to different civilizations. Some basic cultural items seem to be particularly crucial, such as, for example, the levels of pragmatism or rationalism which characterize a civilization or some periods of its history. This paper presents a sketch aimed at setting up a comparison between Western and Eastern cultures facing the problem of adapting to new technologies. The concept ofcold utilitarianism is introduced. It (...) allows a way of defining adaptation which is only partial and contradictory in Western culture, while it completely describes, though perhaps provisionally, the Eastern way of making and using technology. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo nos proponemos trazar la distinción entre la subjetividad preteórica y el sujeto cognoscente en las lecciones tempranas de Friburgo de Martin Heidegger desde el punto de vista de la función metodológica y el carácter ontológico de la reflexión, en vistas a pensar si se puede hablar de una noción de subjetividad no egológica en el planteo heideggeriano. Entendemos por «subjetividad no egológica», el dominio subjetivo originario de la existencia humana, previo a la constitución del ego. Para (...) nuestro propósito abordamos, en una primera instancia, las nociones de discurso originario y discurso derivado para, en un segundo momento, distinguir la subjetividad preteórica de la subjetividad originaria y analizar, finalmente, si se puede hablar de la presencia de una subjetividad no egológica en Heidegger a partir del análisis del estatus metodológico y ontológico de la reflexión. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing interest in science exhibitions, there has been hardly any work on mobile science exhibitions and their role within science diplomacy – a gap this thematic issue is meant to fill. Atomic mobile exhibitions are seen here not only as cultural sites but as multifaceted strategic processes of transnational nuclear history. We move beyond the bipolar Cold War history that portrays propagandist science exhibitions as instances of a one-way communication employed to promote the virtues of the two (...) major and conflicting political powers. Instead, Science Diplomacy on Display follows mobile atomic exhibitions as they move across national borders and around the world, functioning as spaces for diplomatic encounters. Exhibitions play a vital role not only in the production of knowledge and the formation of political worldviews but also as assets in diplomatic negotiations and as promoters of a new worldview in which nuclear stands at the centre. They are powerful iconic diplomatic devices, that is systems of representations that capture the diplomatic processes in action and make the nitty-gritty details of international relations visible. This issue seeks to trace the multiple and often contradictory meanings that mobile exhibitions took on for various actors. (shrink)

The organization of the mobile atomic exhibition, Mostra Atomica, designed by the United States Information Service to travel through Italy in 1954–55, had to meet technical, scientific, artistic, and political challenges. The head of the group in charge of the exhibition was architect Peter G. Harnden whose pedigree in the intelligence and training in architecture were an ideal match for leading the unit dedicated to exhibitions. The political sensitivity of the Mostra Atomica also required the intervention of the Italian Ministry (...) of the Interior to guarantee safe mobility and secure shows. In every major town, American and British diplomats attended the local opening ceremony, while the very symbol of science diplomacy was Enrico Fermi, whose recorded message praised international cooperation. All in all, the USIS campaign promoting peaceful applications of nuclear physics was successful in reaching and involving Italian society. Visual and spatial aesthetics were particularly relevant: the geometrical design of the exposition rooms conveyed a strong sense of modernity that contrasted with the artistic heritage of Italian cities. The present article is based on archival files, newspaper reports, and photographs that document who was responsible for planning, setting up, and reporting this Cold War propaganda event. (shrink)

El artículo ofrece un análisis, desde la epistemología feminista, del Juicio a la Justicia Patriarcal, proceso feminista y latinoamericano llevado adelante por la organización Feministas de Abya Yala. La hipótesis es que esta experiencia constituyó un foco de resistencia epistémica al conjunto de injusticias epistémicas que padecen las mujeres, lesbianas, travestis y trans de América Latina, y que actúan como barreras de acceso a la justicia.

Ofrecemos un análisis de los aspectos ontoepistemológicos de los debates actuales sobre el cuerpo sexogenerizado en Argentina. Con herramientas teóricas de la fenomenología feminista, la epistemología feminista y los nuevos materialismos feministas analizamos, por un lado, la manera en que el Estado argentino comprende el cuerpo sexogenerizado y, por el otro, una serie de afirmaciones en los discursos transexcluyentes que conflictúan estas discusiones. Buscamos despejar el terreno conceptual del debate feminista para determinar qué posturas nos permiten avanzar y cuáles nos (...) hacen retroceder. Concluimos que, mientras que las nociones en la ley de identidad de género están amparadas por el conocimiento feminista actual, los discursos transexcluyentes que cuestionan su contenido representan un marco de comprensión ontoepistemológico patriarcal. (shrink)

El artículo presenta una reconstrucción del método del psicoanálisis existencial sartriano especificando su finalidad, campo de aplicación, y provee un análisis interpretativo de su necesidad dentro del desarrollo de la ontología sartriana. Se defenderá que la meta del psicoanálisis existencial es el acaecimiento de la reflexión pura, la cual abre la posibilidad del reconocimiento del proyecto fundamental y la conversión existencial. El análisis se basa en una lectura de El ser y la nada que toma como concepto central a la (...) noción de “deseo”. (shrink)

В учебном пособии изложены методы расчета различных средств непрерывного транспорта, основанные на рассмотрении напряженно-деформированного состояния сыпучих грузов с позиций статистической теории предельного равновесия Кулона – Мора, а напряженно-деформированного состояния конвейерных лент – по теории первоначально-напряженных движущихся ортотропных оболочек.Книга рассчитана на студентов и аспирантов вузов, обучающихся по специальности «Подъемно-транспортные, строительные, дорожные машины и оборудование». Может быть использована научными и инженерно-техническими работниками горнодобывающей, машиностроительной, химической и других отраслей промышленности.

A Associação Brasileira de Famílias Homotransafetivas (Abrafh) é uma entidade que luta pelo reconhecimento das populações cujo núcleo é formado por sujeitos LGBTQIA+. A instituição busca representar os anseios e expectativas dessas famílias em diferentes âmbitos sociais, assim como combater os desrespeitos e preconceitos advindos de um sistema heterossexista. Este trabalho busca compreender como a Abrafh mobiliza as dimensões do afeto e da solidariedade na luta política. Para isso, entrevistamos quatro representantes do primeiro conselho diretor. Por meio de uma análise (...) qualitativa de conteúdo discursivo, pudemos compreender que a Abrafh, segundo os diretores, surge para acolher, defender e representar as famílias homoafetivas no sentido de tornar estes cidadãos emancipados e com direitos reconhecidos. Conclui-se que a instituição atua principalmente a partir da possibilidade de responder satisfatoriamente à necessidade que os sujeitos têm de desenvolverem conexões baseadas na confiança afetiva na continuidade da dedicação mútua. (shrink)

Ensayo -- Palabras finales -- Selección de textos.

El propósito de este artículo es presentar una interpretación de la subjetividad en L’Être et le Néant de Jean-Paul Sartre centrada en su carácter prerreflexivo y no egológico. En vistas a ello, me propongo elucidar la concepción de “subjetivi-dad no egológica” que opera en la ontofenomenología existencial de Sartre, mediante un análisis minucioso de las nociones de autoconciencia prerreflexiva, presencia a sí, proyecto fundamental y circuito de la ipseidad. A partir de este análisis, argumento que Sartre logra dar cuenta de (...) la subjetividad como una experiencia fenoménica individualizada sin necesidad de recurrir al “Yo”.In this paper I try to articulate an interpretation of subjectivity in Sartre's L’Être et le Néant focusing on its pre-reflective and non egological features. In order to do this, I suggest to elucidate the notion of "non-egological subjectivity" that takes place in Sartre's existential ontological phenomenology, through a meticulous analysis of the notions of pre-reflective self-consciousness, presence to self, fundamental project and circuit of selfness. I argue that in L’Être et le Néant Sartre manages to deliver an account of subjectivity as a singularized phenomenal experience whithout having to resort to the notion of "Self". (shrink)

Background: Advances in biomedical sciences, technologies and care practices have resulted in an increase in ethical problems and a resulting growth of difficulties encountered by health workers in their professional activity. Objective: The main objective of this study was to analyse knowledge in the ethical field and experience with and the propensity for using ethics consultations by nurses and physicians. Methods: Between March and June 2014, a cross-sectional observational study was conducted on a sample of 351 nurses and 128 physicians (...) in four central Italian hospitals. For data collection, a semi-structured questionnaire was used, consisting of 21 items divided into four sections exploring demographic and occupational characteristics, knowledge in the ethics field, experience with ethical issues and the propensity to use ethics consultation. Ethical considerations: Research ethics approval was obtained from the Italian Nurses Professional Board. Results: The results show that both nurses and physicians are faced with ethically sensitive situations. Nurses were found to have better judgement concerning their own knowledge than physicians, but more physicians were found to have a deeper level of specific training in ethics issues. The propensity to ask for ethics consultations to address ethical issues was found to be significantly associated with the degree to which ethical issues have deepened. Conclusion: The presence of a consulting service that can lead to shared choices may represent, together with basic and continuing education, a valid support for professional growth in the ethical field for both physicians and nurses. (shrink)

Although remote working can involve positive outcomes both for employees and organizations, in the case of the sudden and forced remote working situation that came into place during the COVID-19 crisis there have also been reports of negative aspects, one of which is technostress. In this context of crisis, leadership is crucial in sustainably managing and supporting employees, especially employees with workaholic tendencies who are more prone to developing negative work and health outcomes. However, while research on the role of (...) the positive aspects of leadership during crises does exist, the negative aspects of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis have not yet been studied. The present study aimed to explore the role of authoritarian leadership in a sample of 339 administrative university employees who worked either completely from home or from home and the workplace. The study examined the moderating effect of a manager on this relationship and the connections between workaholism and technostress through conditional process analysis. Results pointed out that high authoritarian leadership had an enhancing effect, whereas low authoritarian leadership had a protective effect on the relationship between workaholism and technostress, only in the group of complete remote workers. Thus, authoritarian leadership should be avoided and training leaders to be aware of its effect appears to be essential. Limitations, future directions for the study, and practical implications are also discussed. (shrink)

The bi-polar confrontation between the Soviet Union and the USA involved many leading game theorists from both sides of the Iron Curtain: Oskar Morgenstern, John von Neumann, Michael Intriligator, John Nash, Thomas Schelling and Steven Brams from the United States and Nikolay Vorob’ev, Leon A. Petrosyan, Elena B. Yanovskaya and Olga N. Bondareva from the Soviet Union. The formalization of game theory took place prior to the Cold War but the geopolitical confrontation hastened and shaped its evolution. In our article (...) we outline four similarities and differences between Western GT and Soviet GT: 1) the Iron Curtain resulted in a lagged evolution of GT in the Soviet Union; 2) Soviet GT focused more on operations research and issues of centralized planning; 3) the contemporary Western view on Soviet GT was biased and Soviet contributions, including works on dynamic stability, non-emptiness of the core and many refinements, suggest that Soviet GT was able to catch up to the Western level relatively fast; 4) international conferences, including Vilnius, 1971, fostered interaction between Soviet game theorists and their Western colleagues. In general, we consider the Cold War to be a positive environment for GT in the West and in the Soviet Union. (shrink)

The present study investigated the associations between social media use integration and Technological Intimate Partner Violence (TIPV) while also exploring the mediating role of the three dimensions of jealousy and the moderating role of moral absolutism. Our sample consisted of 404 adults aged 18 to 59. The results indicated a significant positive effect of social media use integration on cognitive jealousy and TIPV. Social media use integration was correlated with behavioral jealousy and TIPV, while TIPV was positively associated with all (...) three dimensions of jealousy. The moderated mediation analysis suggested that behavioral jealousy fully mediated the effect of social media use integration toward TIPV at all levels of moral absolutism, while cognitive jealousy had a partial mediating effect only at medium and high levels of moral absolutism. We discuss our findings by pointing out that (a) various dimensions of jealousy might be influenced differently by social media use integration, and (b) individuals with high levels of moral absolutism might be more prone to cognitive jealousy after being exposed to prolonged social media use. We acknowledge that our results may have limited generalizability as our sample was primarily female. Research involving larger portions of male participants would be important to pursue. (shrink)

When more scientists describe independently the same species under different valid Latin names, a case of synonymy occurs. In such a case, the international nomenclature rules stipulate that the first name to appear on a peer-reviewed publication has priority over the others. Based on a recent episode involving priority determination between two competing names of the same fungal plant pathogen, this letter wishes to open a discussion on the ethics of scientific publications and points out the necessity of a correct (...) management of the information provided through personal communications, whose traceability would prevent their fraudulent or accidental manipulation. (shrink)

En este breve comentario discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación de la epistemología de Davidson que sugiere Willian Duica en su reciente libro. Luego de una presentación somera del libro me centro en tres asuntos centrales de la interpretación de Duica. En primer lugar, argumento que su lectura de la crítica de Davidson al dualismo esquema/contenido es muy restrictiva y deja abierta la posibilidad de un realismo directo empirista. En segundo lugar, argumento que en su lectura el propio Duica se (...) compromete inadvertidamente con un empirismo de este tipo y, de este modo, su interpretación entra en tensión con el coherentismo de Davidson. Finalmente, discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación que hace Duica de la tesis davidsoniana de la triangulación. In this short comment I discuss some aspects of William Duica's interpretation of Davidson's epistemology in a recent book. After a brief review of the book, I focus on three central issues of Duica's interpretation. First, I argue that his reading of Davidson's criticism of the scheme/content dualism is too restrictive and leaves open the possibility of an empiricist direct realism. Second, I argue in his reading Duica inadvertently commits himself to an empiricism of this sort and, as a result, his interpretation is in tension with Davidson's own coherentism. Finally, I discuss some aspects of Duica's interpretation of Davidsonian triangulation. (shrink)

The author presents an intellectual profile of an Italian philosopher, Danilo Zolo, one of the most interesting thinkers on the contemporary philosophical scene. In his works, Zolo submits an analysis of the contemporary world. The paramount objective he pursues, however, is an attempt at answering questions from the domain of the philosophy of law and the philosophy of politics, including, primarily, the philosophy of global politics. The issues he subjects to scrutiny include the universal character of human rights, the equality (...) of individuals and societies and the sovereignty of states in the era of globalisation, the issue of a choice of a concept of justice, and a definition of the concept of war and terrorism as seen against the background of global structures and the events of recent decades. (shrink)

The spiritual geography of Russian cosmism. General characteristics ; Recent definitions of cosmism -- Forerunners of Russian cosmism. Vasily Nazarovich Karazin (1773-1842) ; Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1749-1802) ; Poets: Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, (1711-1765) and Gavriila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743-1816) ; Prince Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky (1803-1869) ; Aleksander Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817-1903) -- The Russian philosophical context. Philosophy as a passion ; The destiny of Russia ; Thought as a call for action ; The totalitarian cast of mind -- The religious and spiritual (...) context. The kingdom of god on earth ; Hesychasm: two great Russian saints ; The Third Rome ; Pre-Christian antecedents -- The Russian esoteric context. Early searches for "deep wisdom" ; Popular magic ; Higher magic in the time of Peter the Great ; Esotericism after Peter the Great ; Theosophy and anthroposophy -- Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov (1829-1903), the philosopher of the common task ; The one idea ; The unacknowledged prince ; The village teacher ; First disciple: Dostoevsky and Tolstoy ; The Moscow librarian ; Last years: Askhabad: the only portrait -- The "common task" ; Esoteric dimensions of the "common task" ; Fedorov's legacy: projectivism, delo, regulation -- The religious cosmists. Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853-1900) ; Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (1871-1944) ; Pavel Aleksandrovich Florensky (1882-1937) ; Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev (1874-1948) -- The scientific cosmists. Konstantin Edouardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) ; Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945) ; Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky (1897-1964) ; Vasily Feofilovich Kuprevich (1897-1969) -- Promethean theurgy. Life-creation ; Cultural immortalism ; God-building ; Re-aiming the arrows of Eros ; Technological utopianism ; Occultism -- Fedorov's twentieth century followers. Nikolai Pavlovich Peterson (1844-1919) and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov (1852-1917) ; Svyatogor and the biocosmists ; New wine and the universal task ; Alexander Konstantinovich Gorsky (1886-1943) and Nikolai Alexandrovich Setnitsky (1888-1937) ; Valerian Nikolaevich Muravyov (1885-1932) ; Vasily Nikolaevich Chekrygin (1897-1922) -- Cosmism and its offshoots today. The N.F. Fedorov museum-library ; The Tsiolkovsky museum and Chizhevsky center ; ISRICA - Institute for Scientific Research in Cosmic Anthropoecology ; Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev (1912-1992) and neo-eurasianism ; The hyperboreans ; Scientific immortalism: Igor Vishev, Danila Medvedev ; Conclusions about the Russian cosmists. (shrink)