In the thirteenth-century Bibles moralisées there appears a new iconographical type in which God the Father, and figures depicted in moralising illustrations, are shown with a compass. This article argues that these images throw light on the medieval concept of reason and its role in the Divine Economy. In these French Capetian Bibles, the compass is the symbol of divine or human reason, depending on the context where it occurs. When depicted in the scene of Creation in the frontispieces, the (...) compass is the instrument of Christ-Logos as Divine Reason, used to impose God’s rational order on formless matter, but also to initiate the Divine Economy. The compass is depicted again, in the same sense, at the beginning of the New Testament, as a ‘dynamic sign’ which links the start of God’s plan for humankind salvation during Creation with the re-enactment of the Divine Economy through the Incarnation. When a compass occurs elsewhere, in a moralised image for a biblical story which takes place in the earthly realm, the instrument becomes the tool used by human reason to discern between good and evil. The analysis which leads to this interpretation is borne out by an examination of related themes in the Bibles moralisées: those of the sleep of mortal reason, and of the endurance of Divine Reason as a guide to true knowledge. (shrink)

Background In August 2017, Chile lifted its complete ban on abortion by permitting abortion in three limited circumstances: 1) to save a woman’s life, 2) lethal fetal anomaly, and 3) rape. The new law allows regulated use of conscientious objection in abortion care, including allowing institutions to register as objectors. This study assesses medical and midwifery students’ support for CO, following legal reform. Methods From October 2017 to May 2018, we surveyed medical and midwifery students from seven universities located in (...) Santiago, Chile. Universities included 4 secular and 3 private religiously-affiliated universities; all offering medical degrees with a specialization in obstetrics and gynecology and five offering midwifery degrees. We used generalized estimating equations to identify characteristics associated with student support for CO, intentions to use CO to refuse to care for someone seeking abortion, and support for CO at the institutional level. Results 333 of the 413 eligible students who opened the survey, completed the questions on conscientious objection; 26% were seeking medical degrees with an ob-gyn specialty, 25% were seeking midwifery degrees, and 49% were seeking medical degrees and had not yet decided their specialty. While nearly all endorse requirements for conscientious objecting clinicians to inform and refer abortion-seeking patients, a minority would personally use conscientious objection to avoid caring for a patient seeking abortion. About half of religious-university students and one-fifth of secular-university students support objections at the institutional level. Conclusions Most students support the regulated use of CO which preserves patients’ access to abortion care. Religious-university student views on the use of conscientious objection in abortion care are discordant with those of their institutions which currently support institutional-level objections. (shrink)

La evaluación constituye un elemento curricular decisivo para mejorar el aprendizaje del alumnado, siempre que se utilice de modo continuo y con carácter formativo. La evaluación formativa evalúa procesos, ofreciendo datos permanentes acerca de cómo se produce paso a paso ese aprendizaje, permitiendo así detectar las dificultades que se presentan y los talentos del alumnado y adoptar las medidas adecuadas de modo inmediato. Este planteamiento favorece la personalización de la evaluación y, con ello, la atención a cada estudiante en función (...) de sus peculiaridades, garantizando la inclusión educativa de calidad para todos. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se analizan las características de la epigrafía oficial almohade de Marruecos, en tanto que elemento de gran importancia dentro del sistema propagandístico diseñado por la dinastía mu’miní. El estudio se centra en los rasgos caligráficos y en el contenido textual de las inscripciones oficiales, así como en la difusión y la influencia de los mismos en la epigrafía del Magreb y de al-Andalus desde finales del siglo XII.

It has become almost commonplace to recognise that teaching is an embodied practice. Most analyses of teaching as embodied practice focus on the embodied nature of the teacher as subject. Here, we use Butler's concept of performativity to analyse the reiterated acts that are intelligible as—performatively constitute—teaching, rather of the teacher as subject. We suggest that this simultaneously helps explain the persistence of teaching as a narrow repertoire of actions recognisable as ‘teaching’, and the policing of conformity to teaching thus (...) embodied. However, like performatively accomplished subjectivity, this repertoire is unstable and ambiguous, and thus open to change and disruption. Moreover, teacher subjectivities may lead them to mobilise these possibilities of disruption. (shrink)

Feature selection is a widely studied technique whose goal is to reduce the dimensionality of the problem by removing irrelevant features. It has multiple benefits, such as improved efficacy, efficiency and interpretability of almost any type of machine learning model. Feature selection techniques may be divided into three main categories, depending on the process used to remove the features known as Filter, Wrapper and Embedded. Embedded methods are usually the preferred feature selection method that efficiently obtains a selection of the (...) most relevant features of the model. However, not all models support an embedded feature selection that forces the use of a different method, reducing the efficiency and reliability of the selection. Neural networks are an example of a model that does not support embedded feature selection. As neural networks have shown to provide remarkable results in multiple scenarios such as classification and regression, sometimes in an ensemble with a model that includes an embedded feature selection, we attempt to embed a feature selection process with a general-purpose methodology. In this work, we propose a novel general-purpose layer for neural networks that removes the influence of irrelevant features. The Feature-Aware Drop Layer is included at the top of the neural network and trained during the backpropagation process without any additional parameters. Our methodology is tested with 17 datasets for classification and regression tasks, including data from different fields such as Health, Economic and Environment, among others. The results show remarkable improvements compared to three different feature selection approaches, with reliable, efficient and effective results. (shrink)

La pandemia del Covid-19 provocó un cambio forzoso en la enseñanza universitaria, tanto a nivel metodológico como práctico. La Universidad de Granada ha creado un triple modelo basado en tres escenarios diferentes: virtual (e-learning), semipresencial (b-learning) y presencial. Los objetivos que pretendemos alcanzar consisten en presentar, analizar y difundir este modelo pedagógico creado para hacer frente a los desafíos futuros que puedan surgir. Para el proceso de análisis, se evaluarán la experiencia en el aula y los resultados obtenidos durante los (...) tres cursos académicos en los que se ha implantado este nuevo modelo en uno o varios de sus escenarios. (shrink)

En este trabajo se defiende la existencia de un lugar específico para las decisiones de política educativa. Las decisiones de política educativa se presentan como un tipo de decisión ubicado entre la decisión técnica y la decisión moral. La racionalidad política, situada entre la racionalidad moral y la racionalidad científico-tecnológica, tiene una especial relevancia en el ámbito de la educación. Las decisiones de política educativa que no se confunden con la teoría interpretativa denominada Política de la Educación, ni con la (...) teoría práctica denominada Política Pedagógica, usan el conocimiento de la educación. En el trabajo se analiza con detenimiento la posibilidad de los hechos y las decisiones pedagógicas. El carácter axiológico de los hechos hace posible hablar de la orientación de la acción con fundamento en el conocimiento del propio proceso. Se mantiene que la decisión técnica es específica de la Pedagogía y su techo superior es el ámbito de la decisión moral. A su vez, las decisiones de política educativa se estudian en su especificidad y se concluye que los dos grandes errores en la polémica "ciencia-moral-política" son el reduccionismo del proceso al ciencismo o la subsunción de toda decisión en la decisión moral. El trabajo concluye que las peculiaridades de la decisión de política educativa, obligan a considerar que las finalidades no son criterios de decisión externos al sistema, sino constantes aceptadas provisionalmente en los procesos de planificación. Esta posición va más allá del esquema causal medios-fines y de la concepción taylorista de la organización, para defender frente a las largas cadenas de derivación de fines la formación de subsistemas de toma de decisiones. /// This article is engaged in upholding the appropiate place for decisions in Educational Politics and Policy. All that inside the knowledge of Education. Political decision making in the educational arena has got a place between technical decisions and moral decisions. That one has increasedy its relevance in educational forum. On the other point of view, this kind of decision must mot be understood as a result of the discipline "Politics of Education" or as a consequence of practical theories which are known like "Politica Pedag6gica" (Pedagogy into Politics). Decisions in educational policy are applied knowledge of Education but they are not made only with pedagogical facts and technical decisions. It's posible to think of technical decisions as the ones which come not only from the process, but from the knowledge of the process in its own. Pedagogy as a discipline of education let you make technical decisions. Upper these ones, we find the moral decision. To study the special characteristics of political decisions shows two bigs mistakes into the controversy "Science-Moral-Politics": scientism and moral subsunction of Political decision in that. In the last pages, this work goes beyond the causal relation between "means-ends". The authors suggest, for the field of goals, to make subsystem levels for decision making, in stead of using the taylorist model in order to organize several stages of goals. (shrink)

La educación es un ámbito de realidad susceptible de ser conocido. En el conocimiento de la educación se utilizan actualmente, teorías filosóficas, teorias prácticas, investigaciones aplicadas y se han generado ya términos propios con significación intrínseca a la educación. El conocimiento de la educación ha crecido a través dei tiempo. Se ha convertido en un conocimiento especializado. En este trabajo se aborda la distinción entre los conocimientos especializados de cada área cultural que se enseña y el conocimiento específico dei estúdio (...) de la educación como objeto de conocimiento. Además, se estudian diversos modelos de evolución dei conocimiento de la educación, enfatizando el interés y utilidad dei modelo de crecimiento. El trabajo insiste en la importancia del estudio de la relación teoría-práctica para obtener el conocimiento especializado y específico de la educación: el conocimiento pedagógico. Por último se establece una relación entre significación y conocimiento de la educación por medio de la capacidad de resolución de problemas para la intervención, y se debate su estructura y utilidad para la intervención a través de la relación teoría-práctica en cada mentalidad pedagógica (marginal, subalternada y autónoma). /// Education is a real area that people can know in a differents ways. Several types of knowledge and rationality are usefull for making knowledge of education. Philosophical theories, Practical theories, Applied research, let them built it. Even more, Knowledge of education has already made particular and specific concepts. Along the historical events, knowledge of education has grown. Actualy this knowledge is a specialized and specific one. Discusion wether education is a discipline, as Fisics or History has been not closed yet. This article set the state of art in that question in a different position: every way of getting knowledge of education has the same posibility for problem solving in pedagogical intervention? what kind of relation are there among the three following items: theory-practice conection; knowledge of education; pedagogic intervention?. This study stablish differences between knowledge of education and knowledge of disciplines which are used in teaching process. Besides, it enphasizes and upholds the "Educational Knowledge Growth Model". The second half of this work is carrying on to explain the different possibilities that each type of Knowledge of Education has in order to solve the problems which arise in the pedagogical intervention. All that has been maden by focussing the discussion about the theory-practice conection in three differents pedagogical mentalitys (Weltanschaaung or backgrounds): marginal, subalternated and autonomons one. (shrink)

Background Voluntary post-mortem donation to science (PDS) is the most appropriate source for body dissection in medical education and training, and highly useful for biomedical research. In Mexico, unclaimed bodies are no longer a legal source, but PDS is legally possible, although scarcely facilitated, and mostly ignored by the general population. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the attitude and willingness for PDS and to identify a sociodemographic profile of people with willingness toward PDS. Methods A validated on-line survey was distributed (...) by the convenience method via the social networks of a Catholicism-inspired, private university in northern Mexico. Frequency analyses of all variables and coded free comments were complemented with association studies. Results Although the responder cohort (n = 143) was too small and biased to be representative of the university community (n = 13,500), willingness to post-mortem organ donation was 90.7% and to PDS 70.7%. In this cohort, PDS willingness had the strongest association with mature age (> 40 years old; P, 0.0008). Among young adults, willingness to PDS was the lowest among volunteers from technical and business schools and the highest among those from the social sciences (P, 0.009). Respondents from the social sciences were also the most consistent between attitude and behavior with respect to organ donation. A free comment option revealed respondents were interested in the unusual taboo topic. Conclusions A small, but sufficiently large proportion expressed willingness toward PDS. In our university cohort, which was biased in higher education and altruism, mature age and social interest were associated with PDS willingness. (shrink)

El presente texto realiza una comparación metafórica entre La Cuidad Letrada descrita por Ángel Rama y la realidad de la Universidad española en la actualidad con un trasfondo de igual reivindicación: «la democratización de las funciones intelectuales». Para ello, recurrimos a una metodología auto-etnográfica y a la narración de nuestro acontecer dentro de la academia. Prestamos especial atención a las crecientes lógicas mercantilistas de la institución y a «los nuevos letrados» —agencias de control de la calidad del conocimiento— y reflexionamos (...) sobre algunas categorías sociales como las de edad y género en tanto constructoras de diferencia y mantenedoras de estructuras de poder y desigualdad. (shrink)

Research on adolescent-to-parent violence associates specific psychosocial characteristics with adolescents who assault their parents, whether they are within or outside the juvenile justice system, or whether these characteristics are shared by other adolescents convicted of other crimes. The aim of this paper is to compare three groups of adolescents. Those who have been sentenced for APV are compared with adolescents who have committed other crimes, and with a group who have not been involved in the justice system. The sample used (...) consists of 148 male participants between the ages of 14 and 21. A comparison is made regarding type of self-reported behavior, frequency of drug use, academic performance, exposure to violence, self-concept, and parents’ conflict resolution tactics. The results obtained indicate that adolescents with judicial measures, regardless of the crime committed, differ from those who have not been in trouble with the justice system in terms of them having suffered violence in the street, the frequency with which they use drugs and in their academic achievement. Likewise, adolescents convicted of APV differ from the other two groups in the frequency with which they are victims of violence at home, in that their mothers use the tactic of asking somebody else for help as a way of solving marital conflicts, and in having a more negative family self-concept. The results are discussed highlighting the importance of taking into account whether a sample is judicial, clinical, or community, and the specific APV behaviors which are measured. (shrink)

In this paper we describe a test for Nijhout's hypothesis that the eyespot patterns on butterfly wings are the result of a threshold reaction of the epidermal cells to a concentration gradient of a diffusing degradable morphogen produced by focal cells at the centre of the future eyespot. The wings of the nymphalid butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, have a series of eyespots, each composed of a white pupil, a black disc and a gold outer ring. In earlier extirpation and transplantation experiments (...) it has been established that these eyespots are indeed organised around groups of signalling cells active during the first hours of pupal development. If these cells were to supply the positional information for eyespot formation in accordance with Nijhout's diffusion-degradation gradient model, then, when two foci are close together, the signals should sum, and this effect should be apparent in the detailed shape of the resulting pigment pattern. We give an equation for the form of the contours that would be obtained in this manner. We use this to test the morphogen gradient hypothesis on measurements of the outlines of fused eyespots obtained either by grafting focal cells close together, or by using a mutation that produces adjacent fused eyespots. The contours of the fused patterns were found to satisfy our equation, thus corroborating Nijhout's hypothesis to the extent possible with this particular type of experiment. (shrink)

In this paper I introduce the theory of gift giving as a possible means to reconcile the contradictions inherent in accountability measures of ‘faculty productivity’ in the American university. In this paper I sketch the theory of gift economies to show how, given the historical ideals that characterize the faculty‐student relationship, a theory of gift giving could help us better judge the labor of the faculty. I suggest that it is the relational character of teaching that frustrates accountability measures and (...) that perhaps if viewed as a gift economy—and in particular an economy with ‘reproductive’ ends—we could better grasp the effectiveness of these relationships. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una retrospectiva de 15 años (2004-2019) sobre la evolución de las propuestas de trabajo, líneas de investigación y docencia que, con respecto a la enseñanza de las Ciencias Sociales con perspectiva de género, se ha desarrollado en nuestro contexto y su transferencia a las aulas de educación obligatoria, bachillerato y universidad. Se reflexiona sobre el trabajo realizado, el contexto actual y las líneas futuras.

Neuroconstructivism postulates the progressive complexity of mental representation over the course of cognitive development and the role of the graphic representation of movement in the transformation of mental schemas, cognitive flexibility, and representational complexity. This study aims to: understand children’s resources in the drawing of movement ; and verify whether there are differences in the graphic representation of movement as an indicator of cognitive flexibility. The participants were N = 240 children aged 5–8 years; 1,440 drawings were collected representing 2,880 (...) characters from six stories. The analysis consisted: data quality control, using the kappa coefficient, and Generalizability Theory to test the instrument’s validity and reliability; Multivariate General Analysis and Mixed Linear Analysis of the factors ; Multivariate General Analysis of the graphic components: categories and microcategories, as well as the elements that make up the macrocategories: “Static,” “Indication,” and “Movement”; and calculation of the generalizability coefficient. The results show that: age best explains variability, with a high effect size across all components, thus increasing its complexity and at ages 6 and 7, “Indication” appears as a modulator of “Static” toward “Movement”. The generalizability coefficient is optimal. It is concluded that changes in the initial graphic representation of movement may interactively transform mental representation, thus increasing cognitive flexibility and prompting teaching applications to optimize such changes. (shrink)

The notion of sovereignty plays an important part in various areas of law, such as constitutional law and international public law. Though the concept of sovereignty as applied in constitutional law differs from that used in international public law, there is no true consensus on the meaning of “sovereignty” within these respective fields, either. Is sovereignty about factual power, or only about legal equality? Do only democracies have sovereignty, because they have legitimacy, or is there no connection between democracy, legitimacy (...) and sovereignty? Has the European Union encroached upon the sovereignty of the Member States, or is transferring competences to the European Union an expression and exercise of the very sovereignty some claim is under attack? Is it about states, or is it about peoples having a right to self-determination, and if the latter, does this represent popular sovereignty or something else? In order to answer these and related questions, we need a clear grasp of what “sovereignty” means. This book provides an analytical and conceptual framework for “sovereignty” in the context of law. The book does not seek to describe how the term “sovereignty” is used in the different contexts and discourses in which it is employed, but rather distinguishes between two possible meanings of sovereignty that allow the reader to use the term with specificity and clarity. In this way, this book hopes to offer valuable analytical tools for politicians, constitutional and international lawyers and legal theorists that help them be clear about what they mean when they speak of “sovereignty.”. (shrink)

Imagination has received a great deal of attention in different fields such as psychology, philosophy and the cognitive sciences, in which some works provide a detailed account of the mechanisms involved in the creation and elaboration of imaginary worlds. Although imagination has also been formalized using different logical systems, none of them captures those dynamic mechanisms. In this work, we take inspiration from the Common Frame for Imagination Acts, that identifies the different processes involved in the creation of imaginary worlds, (...) and we use it to define a dynamic formal system called the Logic of Imagination Acts. We build our logic by using a possible-worlds semantics, together with a new set of static and dynamic modal operators. The role of the new dynamic operators is to call different algorithms that encode how the formal model is expanded in order to capture the different mechanisms involved in the creation and development of imaginary worlds. We provide the definitions of the language, the semantics and the algorithms, together with an example that shows how the model is expanded. By the end, we discuss some interesting features of our system, and we point out to possible lines of future work. (shrink)

Imagination has received a great deal of attention in different fields such as psychology, philosophy and the cognitive sciences, in which some works provide a detailed account of the mechanisms involved in the creation and elaboration of imaginary worlds. Although imagination has also been formalized using different logical systems, none of them captures those dynamic mechanisms. In this work, we take inspiration from the Common Frame for Imagination Acts, that identifies the different processes involved in the creation of imaginary worlds, (...) and we use it to define a dynamic formal system called the Logic of Imagination Acts. We build our logic by using a possible-worlds semantics, together with a new set of static and dynamic modal operators. The role of the new dynamic operators is to call different algorithms that encode how the formal model is expanded in order to capture the different mechanisms involved in the creation and development of imaginary worlds. We provide the definitions of the language, the semantics and the algorithms, together with an example that shows how the model is expanded. By the end, we discuss some interesting features of our system, and we point out to possible lines of future work. (shrink)

Natural Law is considered by many jurists an ambiguous concept. In this article we offer a concise history of ancient and mediaeval Natural Law as well as how it is present in the modern Bills of Human Rights. In the Natural Law it is convenient to distinguish what is caducous from that still valid.

In this paper, we review three influential theories of imagination in order to understand how the dynamics of imagination acts could be modeled using formal languages. While reviewing them, we notice that they are not detailed enough to account for all the mechanisms involved in creating and developing imaginary worlds. We claim those theories could be further refined into what we call the Common Frame for Imagination Acts, which defines a framework that can be used to study the dynamics of (...) imagination using formal languages, and we support our claim by showing how the framework allows to model certain imagination acts step by step. Then, we introduce the Rhombus of Imagination, which is a visual tool that can be used in conjunction with our framework to study the procedural structure of different kinds of imagination acts and identify their dynamic properties. (shrink)

This article explores the question of how scientific uncertainty can be managed in medical decision making using the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as a case study. It concludes that where a high degree of technical consensus exists about the evidence and data, decision makers act according to a clear decision rule. If a high degree of technical consensus does not exist and uncertainty abounds, the decision will be based on a variety of criteria, including readily available resources, decision-process constraints, (...) and the available knowledge base, among other things. Decision makers employ a variety of heuristic devices and techniques, thereby employing a pragmatic approach to uncertainty in medical decision making. The article concludes with recommendations for managing scientific uncertainty in medical decision making. (shrink)

Using narrative descriptions of the author's own lived-experience of her ethnic heritage, Martinez offers a systematic interrogation of the social and cultural norms by which certain aspects of her Mexican-American cultural heritage are both retained and lost over generations of assimilation. Combining semiotic and existential phenomenology with Chicana feminism, the author charts new terrain where anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic work may be pursued.

La idea de «naturaleza humana» que Ortega y Gasset defiende es tan novedosa como opuesta a lo que habitualmente se entiende. Estamos en un error si el punto de partida es concebir al hombre como un ser vivo entre otros. Ni la ciencia ni la filosofía, mientras se mantenga en la tradición eleática, pueden dar una explicación clara. La ciencia, porque si contemplamos al hombre, tal y como se nos presenta, es imposible distinguir en él lo material de lo espiritual, (...) su cuerpo y su psique. La filosofía, porque el concepto de «naturaleza humana» es una invención de nuestra razón, una fantasía. No existe tal naturaleza porque el ser del hombre es de tal modo extraño y diferente al resto de seres que su «consistencia» está precisamente en ir siendo lo que nunca acaba de ser. Por tanto, es un acontecer, un camino, una historia que se va ejecutando en una circunstancia. Esto es, mi vida, la de cada cual. (shrink)

The aims of this research were twofold: first, to compare the levels of organisational harmony between family and non-family firms and, second, to study the influence of organisational harmony on family firms’ performance (profitability, longevity and group cohesion). Starting from a definition of organisational harmony as a value and considering the importance of the management of organisational values, we use the main topics indicated by the general literature (organisational climate, trust and participation) to analyse organisational harmony, as well as three (...) other topics for performance (profitability, survival and group cohesion). Results indicate that family firms have higher levels of these three qualities than non-family firms, and that the levels of trust, participation and organisational climate have a positive and significant influence on the performance of family firms. These results can be understood as a consequence of the influence of family social capital on organisational social capital and so on the performance of family businesses. From the perspective of institutionalism, the higher levels of harmony existing in family businesses are a reflection of the pressures that the owning family as an institution exercises on the organisational social capital in its companies. (shrink)

In this paper, we review three influential theories of imagination in order to understand how the dynamics of imagination acts could be modeled using formal languages. While reviewing them, we notice that they are not detailed enough to account for all the mechanisms involved in creating and developing imaginary worlds. We claim those theories could be further refined into what we call the Common Frame for Imagination Acts, which defines a framework that can be used to study the dynamics of (...) imagination using formal languages, and we support our claim by showing how the framework allows to model certain imagination acts step by step. Then, we introduce the Rhombus of Imagination, which is a visual tool that can be used in conjunction with our framework to study the procedural structure of different kinds of imagination acts and identify their dynamic properties. (shrink)

It has become almost commonplace to recognise that teaching is an embodied practice. Most analyses of teaching as embodied practice focus on the embodied nature of the teacher as subject. Here, we use Butler's concept of performativity to analyse the reiterated acts that are intelligible as—performatively constitute—teaching, rather of the teacher as subject. We suggest that this simultaneously helps explain the persistence of teaching as a narrow repertoire of actions recognisable as ‘teaching’, and the policing of conformity to teaching thus (...) embodied. However, like performatively accomplished subjectivity, this repertoire is unstable and ambiguous, and thus open to change and disruption. Moreover, teacher subjectivities may lead them to mobilise these possibilities of disruption. (shrink)

We study the intersection number of families of tall ideals. We show that the intersection number of the class of analytic P-ideals is equal to the bounding number ${\mathfrak{b}}$ , the intersection number of the class of all meager ideals is equal to ${\mathfrak{h}}$ and the intersection number of the class of all F σ ideals is between ${\mathfrak{h}}$ and ${\mathfrak{b}}$ , consistently different from both.

Quotatives have been studied extensively in the language of teenagers in recent years as they present distinctive features of their own that make them different in part from those used by adults in mainstream English and Spanish. However, zero quoting has not received all the attention it certainly deserves as it has not been fully probed in terms of its discourse and pragmatic functions. This corpus-based study is focused on the strategies used by British and Spanish teenagers to introduce constructed (...) dialogue without the use of a particular marked and an explicit quotative form. The results indicate that the absence of quotatives is not casual; there are some linguistic contexts that favor the existence of this type of quotatives, namely non-lexicalized and sound words, and the dramatic recreation of situations where the speaker perform new voices. The lack of quotatives also serves to involve the interlocutor more directly and in a higher degree in what is being told, and gives more self-assurance to the narrator. These tendencies apply equally to English and Spanish. The study of null/zero quotatives should go then beyond the simple reporting of an absence of a verbal mark, and should address pragmatic and interpersonal factors closely associated with the context where they occur and with the speaker’s attitude and communicative intention and purpose. (shrink)

In this paper, we review three influential theories of imagination in order to understand how the dynamics of imagination acts could be modeled using formal languages. While reviewing them, we notice that they are not detailed enough to account for all the mechanisms involved in creating and developing imaginary worlds. We claim those theories could be further refined into what we call the Common Frame for Imagination Acts, which defines a framework that can be used to study the dynamics of (...) imagination using formal languages, and we support our claim by showing how the framework allows to model certain imagination acts step by step. Then, we introduce the Rhombus of Imagination, which is a visual tool that can be used in conjunction with our framework to study the procedural structure of different kinds of imagination acts and identify their dynamic properties. (shrink)

The strict lockdown experienced in Spain during March–June 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis has led to strong negative emotions. Music can contribute to enhancing wellbeing, but the extent of this effect may be modulated by both personal and context-related variables. This study aimed to analyze the impact of the two types of variables on the perceived efficacy of musical behaviors to fulfill adults’ emotional wellbeing-related goals during the lockdown established in Spain. Personal variables included age, gender, musical (...) training, personality, resilience, and perception of music’s importance. Contextual variables referred to living in a region with a high COVID-19 impact, perception of belonging to a risk group, being alone, having caring responsibilities during confinement, and amount of time of music listening as compared to prior to the crisis. The study was conducted retrospectively during August–December 2020, when the strict lockdown was over in Spain. An online survey was disseminated among the general population and groups of musicians, and the answers of 507 adults were analyzed. Only personal, but not COVID-19 context-related variables, showed an impact on music’s efficacy. The youngest age group of adults and those with musical training reported the highest efficacy of music for wellbeing enhancement, and music’s importance was found to be the main significant predictor of music’s perceived efficacy. Our findings suggest that the people who have been reported to be emotionally more vulnerable during the lockdown, due to either a strong impact on their daily lives or their lower resilience, perceive a higher benefit from musical behaviors. Being musically trained, even for a small number of years, also leads to a perception of higher efficacy of music for the achievement of emotional wellbeing goals. However, this effect is explained by the musically trained individuals’ higher perception of music’s importance. Although musical behaviors can be generally considered as important for wellbeing enhancement, our study highlights who are the potential individuals who could benefit the most from music-related activities for obtaining better levels of wellbeing, at least within the current context of the COVID-19 crisis. (shrink)