I intend to show some of the limits of the decision-theoretic model in connection with the analysis of cognitive agency. Although the concept of maximum expected utility can be helpful for explaining the decision-making process, it is certainly not the primary motor that moves agents to action. Moreover, it has been noticed elsewhere that this model is inadequate to the analysis of single cases of practical reasoning. A theory is proposed that introduces a plan-structure as a basic idea. In order (...) to know its very conceptual scope, we need to accommodate that theory to a cognitive architecture whereby the rational and autonomous agent makes choices and deliberates between courses of action to achieve specific goals that are of its interest. The paper endeavours also to clarify the relationship between the different modules that should constitute the architecture of an agent to accomplish the requisites of efficiency and autonomy in a changeable and dynamic world. (shrink)

We present the system SUBSEXPL used for simulating and comparing explicit substitutions calculi. The system allows the manipulation of expressions of the λ-calculus and of three different styles of explicit substitutions: the λσ, the λse and the suspension calculus. A variation of the suspension calculus, which allows for combination of steps of β-contraction is included too. Implementations of the η-reduction are provided for each style. Other explicit substitutions calculi can be easily incorporated into the system due to its modular structure. (...) The uses of the system include: the visualization of the contractions of the λ-calculus in de Bruijn notation, and of guided one-step reductions as well as normalization via each of the associated substitution calculi. Many useful facilities are included: reductions can be easily recorded as text files, LATEX outputs can be generated and several examples for dealing with arithmetic operations and computational operators such as conditionals and repetitions in the λ-calculus are available. The system can be executed over Emacs using the x-symbol mode in such a way that λ-terms and terms of the explicit substitutions calculi are represented in its natural syntax avoiding the necessity of repeatedly generating LATEX outputs. The system has been of great help for systematically comparing explicit substitutions calculi, as well as for understanding properties of explicit substitutions such as the Preservation of Strong Normalization. In addition, it has been used for teaching basic properties of the λ-calculus such as: computational adequacy, the usefulness of de Bruijn's notation and of making explicit substitutions in real implementations. (shrink)

Lower extremity non-contact soft tissue injuries are prevalent in elite futsal. The purpose of this study was to develop robust screening models based on pre-season measures obtained from questionnaires and field-based tests to prospectively predict LE-ST injuries after having applied a range of supervised Machine Learning techniques. One hundred and thirty-nine elite futsal players underwent a pre-season screening evaluation that included individual characteristics; measures related to sleep quality, athlete burnout, psychological characteristics related to sport performance and self-reported perception of chronic (...) ankle instability. A number of neuromuscular performance measures obtained through three field-based tests [isometric hip strength, dynamic postural control and lower extremity joints range of motion ] were also recorded. Injury incidence was monitored over one competitive season. There were 25 LE-ST injuries. Only those groups of measures from two of the field-based tests, as independent data sets, were able to build robust models [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve score ≥0.7] to identify elite futsal players at risk of sustaining a LE-ST injury. Unlike the measures obtained from the five questionnaires selected, the neuromuscular performance measures did build robust prediction models. The inclusion in the same data set of the measures recorded from all the questionnaires and field-based tests did not result in models with significantly higher performance scores. The model generated by the UnderBagging technique with a cost-sensitive SMO as the base classifier and using only four ROM measures reported the best prediction performance scores. The models developed might help coaches, physical trainers and medical practitioners in the decision-making process for injury prevention in futsal. (shrink)

Este artículo propone una revisión crítica sobre los alcances del transhumanismo en la esfera de la Psicología. Para ello, se expondrán antecedentes y se definirá lo que se entiende por transhumanismo y el resultado de éste, denominado poshumanismo. A través de características humanas tan básicas y diversas como la cognición, el sufrimiento y la identidad, se discute sobre los inéditos cambios que la ejecución y logro de las propuestas transhumanistas significarían para la sociedad, el cómo la psicología podría prever y (...) anticipar un escenario así de radical, y la necesidad y urgencia de nuevas teorías éticas que ayuden a comprender los fenómenos en cuestión. (shrink)

The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) provides that “an individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead.” We show that the UDDA contains two conflicting interpretations of the phrase “cessation of functions.” By one interpretation, what matters for the determination of death is the cessation of spontaneous functions only, regardless of their generation by artificial means. By the (...) other, what matters is the cessation of both spontaneous and artificially supported functions. Because each UDDA criterion uses a different interpretation, the law is conceptually inconsistent. A single consistent interpretation would lead to the conclusion that conscious individuals whose respiratory and circulatory functions are artificially supported are actually dead, or that individuals whose brain is entirely and irreversibly destroyed may be alive. We explore solutions to mitigate the inconsistency. (shrink)

The past decade has seen an explosion of work on calculi of explicit substitutions. Numerous works have illustrated the usefulness of these calculi for practical notions like the implementation of typed functional programming languages and higher order proof assistants. It has also been shown that eta-reduction is useful for adapting substitution calculi for practical problems like higher order unification. This paper concentrates on rewrite rules for eta-reduction in three different styles of explicit substitution calculi: λσ, λse and the suspension calculus. (...) Both λσ and λse when extended with eta-reduction rules, have proved useful for solving higher order unification. We enlarge the suspension calculus with an adequate eta-reduction rule which we show to preserve termination and confluence of the associated substitution calculus and to correspond to the eta rules of the other two calculi. We prove that λσ and λse as well as λσ and the suspension calculus are non-comparable while λse is more adequate than the suspension calculus in simulating one-step beta-reduction. After defining the eta-reduction rule in the suspension calculus, and after comparing these three calculi of explicit substitutions , we then concentrate on the implementation of the rewrite rules of eta-reduction in these calculi. We note that it is usual practice when implementing the eta rule for substitution calculi, to mix isolated applications of eta-reduction with the application of other rules of the corresponding substitution calculi. The main disadvantage of this practice is that the eta rewrite rules so obtained are unclean because they have an operational semantics different from that of the eta-reduction of the λ-calculus. For the three calculi in question enlarged with adequate eta rules we show how to implement these eta rules. For the λse we build a clean implementation of the eta rule and we prove that it is not possible to follow the same approach for the λσ and λsusp. (shrink)

How might artificial neural networks (ANNs) inform cognitive science? Often cognitive scientists use ANNs but do not examine their internal structures. In this paper, we use ANNs to explore how cognition might represent musical properties. We train ANNs to classify musical chords, and we interpret network structure to determine what representations ANNs discover and use. We find connection weights between input units and hidden units can be described using Fourier phase spaces, a representation studied in musical set theory. We find (...) the total signal coming through these weighted connection weights is a measure of the similarity between two Fourier structures: the structure of the hidden unit's weights and the structure of the stimulus. This is surprising because neither of these Fourier structures is computed by the hidden unit. We then show how output units use such similarity measures to classify chords. However, we also find different types of units—units that use different activation functions—use this similarity measure very differently. This result, combined with other findings, indicates that while our networks are related to the Fourier analysis of musical sets, they do not perform Fourier analyses of the kind usually described in musical set theory. Our results show Fourier representations of music are not limited to musical set theory. Our results also suggest how cognitive psychologists might explore Fourier representations in musical cognition. Critically, such theoretical and empirical implications require researchers to understand how network structure converts stimuli into responses. (shrink)

Alternatives to convenience sampling (CS) are needed for HIV/STI surveillance of most-at-risk populations in Latin America. We compared CS, time space sampling (TSS), and respondent driven sampling (RDS) for recruitment of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TW) in Lima, Peru. During concurrent 60-day periods from June-August, 2011, we recruited MSM/TW for epidemiologic surveillance using CS, TSS, and RDS. A total of 748 participants were recruited through CS, 233 through TSS, and 127 through RDS. The TSS (...) sample included the largest proportion of TW (30.7 %) and the lowest percentage of subjects who had previously participated in HIV/STI research (14.9 %). The prevalence of newly diagnosed HIV infection, according to participants' self-reported previous HIV diagnosis, was highest among TSS recruits (17.9 %) compared with RDS (12.6 %) and CS (10.2 %). TSS identified diverse populations of MSM/TW with higher prevalences of HIV/STIs not accessed by other methods. (shrink)

‘You mean to say we’re not the only people in the world with the problem of a national park?’ This question was raised during a focus group discussion held with an indigenous community whose ancestral domain overlaps entirely with a national park in the Philippine Cordillera. The question encapsulates an experience shared across the Philippines, particularly in spaces where both the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and the National Integrated Protected Areas System are implemented. This paper examines recent developments in indigenous (...) leaders’ participation in, and critique of, the implementation of these two laws and the development of environmental policies. It follows an emerging, multi-sectoral movement calling for the recognition of Indigenous Communities Conserved Areas and Territories, which has led to the crafting of a draft law. The ICCA bill is envisioned as a law that will resolve indigenous peoples’ problems with national parks, while meeting biodiversity conservation targets. The authors direct attention to how indigenous leaders campaigning for the ICCA bill are asserting their right to delineate space and make decisions in the contexts of policy-making and implementation. It is argued here that their articulations are registers of indigenous critique. Taking these critiques seriously has the potential to drive conservation policy-making past the stewardship stalemate, where conservation goals are pursued at the cost of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and indigenous peoples are expected to perform harmony with nature. (shrink)

En este trabajo se define formamente el concepto de representacion en química utilizando homomorfismos desde estructuras algebraicas, que llamamos sistemas de tipo C, en otras estructuras especiales de símbolos muy relacionados con los que son habituales en la qímica experimental. Para la definicion de los sistemas de tipo C se ha seleccionado un conjunto minimo de relaciones y funciones, que son necesarias para expresar proposiciones significativas en química. Tambien se define un lenguaje formal de primer orden adecuado a los sistemas (...) de tipo C, que llamamos L. EI resultado principal que se demuestra es que toda representación que verifica las mismas sentencias de L que un sistema de tipo C, es necesariamente isomorfo a él. Se concluye por lo tanto que puede existir un problema linguístico subyacente en la aplicacion que de la mecaníca cuántica se hace en la química teórica.The concept of representation in chemistry bas been formallv defined by means of homomorphisms from algebraical structures, which we call type-C systems, to some special sets of symbols which can be related to the symbols ordinarily used in experimental chemistry. A minimum number of relations and functions, which would suffice to express significant propositions in chemistry, have been chosen to define type-C systems. A first order formal language L adequate to type-C systems has been defined. It has been shown that each representation that verifies the same sentences of L as a type-C system is necessarily isomorphic to it. It is concluded that a systematic study of the representation problem in chemistry is in order because a deep language problem underlies the application of quantum mechanies to chemical problems. (shrink)

The evolutionary implications of environmental change due to organismic action remain a controversial issue, after a decades—long debate on the subject. Much of this debate has been conducted in qualitative fashion, despite the availability of mathematical models for organism–environment interactions, and for gene frequencies when allele fitness can be related to exploitation of a particular environmental resource. In this article we focus on representative models dealing with niche construction, ecosystem engineering, the Gaia Hypothesis and community interactions of Lotka–Volterra type, and (...) show that their quantitative character helps bring into sharper focus the similarities and differences among their respective theoretical contexts. (shrink)

En este trabajo se define formamente el concepto de representacion en química utilizando homomorfismos desde estructuras algebraicas, que llamamos sistemas de tipo C, en otras estructuras especiales de símbolos muy relacionados con los que son habituales en la qímica experimental. Para la definicion de los sistemas de tipo C se ha seleccionado un conjunto minimo de relaciones y funciones, que son necesarias para expresar proposiciones significativas en química. Tambien se define un lenguaje formal de primer orden adecuado a los sistemas (...) de tipo C, que llamamos L(C). EI resultado principal que se demuestra es que toda representación que verifica las mismas sentencias de L(C) que un sistema de tipo C, es necesariamente isomorfo a él. Se concluye por lo tanto que puede existir un problema linguístico subyacente en la aplicacion que de la mecaníca cuántica se hace en la química teórica.The concept of representation in chemistry bas been formallv defined by means of homomorphisms from algebraical structures, which we call type-C systems, to some special sets of symbols which can be related to the symbols ordinarily used in experimental chemistry. A minimum number of relations and functions, which would suffice to express significant propositions in chemistry, have been chosen to define type-C systems. A first order formal language L(C) adequate to type-C systems has been defined. It has been shown that each representation that verifies the same sentences of L(C) as a type-C system is necessarily isomorphic to it. It is concluded that a systematic study of the representation problem in chemistry is in order because a deep language problem underlies the application of quantum mechanies to chemical problems. (shrink)

Symposium on Christopher Bennet's The Apology Ritual. A Philosophical Theory of Punishment [Cambridge University Press, 2008].

In this paper I analyze the use of the concepts of «God» and «Sovereign» in the Later Middle Age. I try to show the analogies between the properties of both concepts. On the other hand I analyze: 1 o the epistemological problems of the relation God-World and State-Law; 2° the analogy between the miracle and the original constitutive power; 3° the resemblance between the pope infallibility and the sentence of a supreme tribunal. At the end I make reference to the (...) legitimatory role of these analogies to enhance the institution of the sovereign in these historical context. (shrink)

Le but de cet article est d'interroger les transformations culturelles qui accompagnent la commercialisation des inventions, phénomène majeur de l'essor marchand et consumériste au XVIIIe siècle. Les stratégies commerciales des inventeurs sont fondées sur une médiatisation croissante, mêlant rhétoriques visuelles (démonstrations, spectacles, expositions) et recours à l'imprimé: annonces de presse, affiches, prospectus, modes d'emploi, livrets d'utilisation. L'information et le savoir techniques jouent un rôle clef dans la construction de marchés pour les inventions. Cette dimension a rarement été prise en compte (...) dans l'histoire de la consommation et dans l'histoire des techniques. Pourtant, la littérature d'usage, qui postule l'autonomie et la capacité participative de l'acheteur comme argument de vente, exprime la montée en puissance des savoirs d'action, opératoires, prescriptifs, où priment le verbe et le geste, l'intention et le projet. Si la technologie des Lumières se déploie dans les traités et les dictionnaires, elle se manifeste aussi dans cette littérature éphémère, pratique et commerciale, source d'appropriations. (shrink)

The closure of schools as a result of COVID-19 has been a critical global incident from which to rethink how education works in all our countries. Among the many changes generated by this crisis, all teaching became mediated by digital technologies. This paper intends to analyze the activities carried out during this time through digital technologies and the conceptions of teaching and learning that they reflect. We designed a Likert-type online questionnaire to measure the frequency of teaching activities. It was (...) answered by 1,403 teachers from Spain. The proposed activities varied depending on the learning promoted, the learning outcomes, the type of assessment to which the activities were directed, and the presence of cooperative activities. The major result of this study was that teachers used reproductive activities more frequently than constructive ones. We also found that most activities were those favoring verbal and attitudinal learning. The cooperative activities were the least frequent. Finally, through a cluster analysis, we identified four teaching profiles depending on the frequency and type of digital technologies use: Passive, Active, Reproductive, and Interpretative. The variable that produced the most consistent differences was previous digital technologies use These results show that Information and Communication Technologies uses are reproductive rather than constructive, which impedes effective digital technologies integration into the curriculum so that students gain 21st-century competencies. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se aborda el pensamiento de E.M. Cioran desde la perspectiva de un sinsabor vital denominado sentimiento de muerte. El término, aunque aparece solo en su primer escrito, es transversal a toda su obra, puesto que para el autor los seres humanos nos intuimos como posesos de la muerte en cada momento de nuestra existencia. Esto cambia el tono normal de la vida, al poner frente a la persona una realidad carente de sentido y dominada por circunstancias radicales y limitantes (...) como el dolor y la agonía, que culmina en una atmósfera gobernada por la intuición trágica de la vida. ABSTRACT The article addresses the thought of E.M. Cioran from the perspective of that vital uneasiness known as the sentiment of death. Although the term appears only in his first book, the idea cuts across his entire work given that, for Cioran, human beings intuit themselves as possessed by death at every moment of their lives. When persons are faced with a meaningless reality, dominated by radical and limiting circumstances such as pain and agony, the whole tenor of life changes until it becomes a tragic intuition of life. (shrink)

8 March, now known as International Women’s Day, is a day for feminist claims where demonstrations are organized in over 150 countries, with the participation of millions of women all around the world. These demonstrations can be viewed as collective rituals and thus focus attention on the processes that facilitate different psychosocial effects. This work aims to explore the mechanisms involved in participation in the demonstrations of 8 March 2020, collective and ritualized feminist actions, and their correlates associated with personal (...) well-being and collective well-being, collective efficacy and collective growth, and behavioral intention to support the fight for women’s rights. To this end, a cross-cultural study was conducted with the participation of 2,854 people from countries in Latin America and Europe, with a retrospective correlational cross-sectional design and a convenience sample. Participants were divided between demonstration participants and non-demonstrators or followers who monitored participants through the media and social networks. Compared with non-demonstrators and with males, female and non-binary gender respondents had greater scores in mechanisms and criterion variables. Further random-effects model meta-analyses revealed that the perceived emotional synchrony was consistently associated with more proximal mechanisms, as well as with criterion variables. Finally, sequential moderation analyses showed that proposed mechanisms successfully mediated the effects of participation on every criterion variable. These results indicate that participation in 8M marches and demonstrations can be analyzed through the literature on collective rituals. As such, collective participation implies positive outcomes both individually and collectively, which are further reinforced through key psychological mechanisms, in line with a Durkheimian approach to collective rituals. (shrink)

Le titre de cette étude suggère de traiter trois termes, à premier vue, sans aucun lien. En effet, quel peut être le lien entre l’homosexualité et la Bible? Ou celui entre l’homosexualité et les sciences cognitives? Et finalement, quel lien peut-il y avoir entre ces trois termes à première vue juxtaposés? Il y a une réponse à chacune de ces trois questions et nous proposons d’explorer ces réponses dans le cadre de cette étude. Notre thèse consiste à défendre que les (...) sciences et plus précisément les sciences cognitives peuvent contribuer à la discussion sur l’homosexualité dans un cadre théologique (et/ou ecclésial). (shrink)

Ce volume reprend quelques-uns des articles que Joseph Pérez a publiés au cours d'une carrière consacrée à l'étude de la civilisation de l'Espagne et de l'Amérique latine. L'Espagne s'affirme comme puissance mondiale dans le dernier tiers du XVe siècle ; elle est alors confrontée à deux événements qui auront des conséquences considérables dans son évolution. D'une part, la découverte et la conquête d'un nouveau monde posent des problèmes philosophiques, politiques et moraux : de quel droit un peuple qui se (...) croit supérieur peut-il imposer sa tutelle à un peuple qu'il juge inférieur? D'autre part, l'avènement de la dynastie des Habsbourg oblige l'Espagne à intervenir - souvent à contrecœur - dans les querelles politiques et idéologiques de l'époque. Littérature et société dans l'Espagne moderne, humanisme et Renaissance, l'Amérique espagnole de la découverte à l'émancipation : autour de ces trois rubriques ont été regroupés des travaux qui cherchent à établir des jalons significatifs sur la voie qui conduit l'Espagne du Moyen Âge à l'époque contemporaine, de l'humanisme aux Lumières. (shrink)

Dans cette étude nous nous proposons d’étudier la présence du Christ dans l’Eucharistie dans une perspective métaphysique et ontologique. Dans les deux premières sections nous définirons et montrerons qu’il faut distinguer: le problème de l’Eucharistie et la question fondamentale de l’Eucharistie. Nous défendrons la thèse selon laquelle le problème de l’Eucharistie en est vraiment un seulement pour ceux qui acceptent l’ontologie de l’aristotélisme, plus précisément celle de la transsubstantiation. Or, nous montrerons que l’ontologie de la transsubstantiation suppose des problèmes théoriques (...) insurmontables et nous suggérerons que nous devons nous intéresser plutôt à la question fondamentale de l’Eucharistie. Afin de montrer qu’il est possible de donner une réponse à la question fondamentale de l’Eucharistie, nous esquisserons une solution à partir d’une ontologie des tropes. (shrink)

Résumé La sous-traitance dans les métiers londoniens est un phénomène massif au XVIIIe siècle qui transforme l’économie et la culture technique artisanales. Elle est liée à la recherche de producteurs qualifiés capables de répondre à la demande en nombre d’articles hautement composites, censés varier les effets visuels et fonctionnels des objets de consommation. L’économie de la variété, appliquée à une production importante, favorise l’extension des circuits entre producteurs et l’essor des marchés de production, c’est-à-dire une organisation ramifiée complexe fondée sur (...) la mobilisation d’opérateurs externes spécialisés, sous l’égide d’artisans-entrepreneurs. Nous nous proposons d’examiner l’impact de cette organisation du travail sur la culture technique et les identités professionnelles en milieu artisanal. On abordera cette question d’une part à travers l’écrit économique, d’autre part à partir d’actes de la pratique. (shrink)

L’impasse dans laquelle se trouve aujourd’hui le Venezuela ne peut être abordée sans une prise en compte préalable du chemin démocratique que le pays a parcouru jusqu’à la situation qu’il connaît de nos jours. Cette situation est l’expression d’une division radicale de la population en deux parties, « chavistas » et « anti-chavistas »1. En effet, comment expliquer ce paradoxe..