La técnica de reproducción asistida trae consigo un número de embriones sobrantes. Se propone una revisión del estado de la cuestión de estos embriones en el Perú. Se revisa desde las perspectivas biológica, ética y jurídica. Se profundiza en el ordenamiento jurídico peruano, sobre el estado de desprotección de estos embriones y se contrasta con una posible solución: la adopción embrionaria. Se constata el estado de incertidumbre de la situación de estos embriones y se concluye como ilegítima la práctica de (...) la adopción embrionaria, por vulnerar la dignidad y condición de sujeto de derecho del embrión sobrante. (shrink)

Se presenta una reflexión acerca de la importancia de la labor docente ante los cambios curriculares y las demandas educativas contemporáneas. El profesor debe ser capaz de encaminar sus esfuerzos en el proceso de aprendizaje de sus estudiantes, tomando como base sus propias experiencias y movilizándolas hacia el desarrollo de la consciencia colectiva, que haga frente a los desafíos actuales. Palabras clave: educación, docencia, educación centrada en el estudiante, aprendizaje signfiicativo.

Autism has been defined as a disorder of social cognition, interaction and communication where ritualistic, repetitive behaviors are commonly observed. But how should we understand the behavioral and cognitive differences that have been the main focus of so much autism research? Can high-level cognitive processes and behaviors be identified as the core issues people with autism face, or do these characteristics perhaps often rather reflect individual attempts to cope with underlying physiological issues? Much research presented in this volume will point (...) to the latter possibility, i.e. that people on the autism spectrum cope with issues at much lower physiological levels pertaining not only to Central Nervous Systems (CNS) function, but also to peripheral and autonomic systems (PNS, ANS) (Torres, Brincker, et al. 2013). The question that we pursue in this chapter is what might be fruitful ways of gaining objective measures of the large-scale systemic and heterogeneous effects of early atypical neurodevelopment; how to track their evolution over time and how to identify critical changes along the continuum of human development and aging. We suggest that the study of movement variability—very broadly conceived as including all minute fluctuations in bodily rhythms and their rates of change over time (coined micro-movements (Figure 1A-B) (Torres, Brincker, et al. 2013))—offers a uniquely valuable and entirely objectively quantifiable lens to better assess, understand and track not only autism but cognitive development and degeneration in general. This chapter presents the rationale firstly behind this focus on micro-movements and secondly behind the choice of specific kinds of data collection and statistical metrics as tools of analysis (Figure 1C). In brief the proposal is that the micro-movements (defined in Part I – Chapter 1), obtained using various time scales applied to different physiological data-types (Figure 1), contain information about layered influences and temporal adaptations, transformations and integrations across anatomically semi-independent subsystems that crosstalk and interact. Further, the notion of sensorimotor re-afference is used to highlight the fact that these layered micro-motions are sensed and that this sensory feedback plays a crucial role in the generation and control of movements in the first place. In other words, the measurements of various motoric and rhythmic variations provide an access point not only to the “motor systems”, but also access to much broader central and peripheral sensorimotor and regulatory systems. Lastly, we posit that this new lens can also be used to capture influences from systems of multiple entry points or collaborative control and regulation, such as those that emerge during dyadic social interactions. (shrink)

O presente texto explora a possibilida de de articular os vários elementos do corpus sartreano segundo um eixo por nós denominado realismo. Vale notar que aqui, realismo, igualmente problema, diz respeito à tendência estrutural das letras ocidentais para a “representação da realidade”. Entretanto, o sentido manifesto do artigo é menos definir este “realismo” e mais articular os elementos especulativos, críticos e literários sartreanos “por dent ro”, de modo a tornar evidente, contra as aparências e contra alguns críticos, a integridade do (...) projeto sartreano, a despeito das mais variadas frentes que explorou. (shrink)

O ensaio “Transcendência do ego – esboço de uma descrição fenomenológica” pode ser considerado o marco zero da identidade filosófica de Sartre. Tal afirmacão, como é de se imaginar, não se deve apenas às razões cronológicas – o primeiro texto propriamente filosófico e de larga visada escrito pelo autor.

A partir de la crítica de Michael Ruse a la concepción etiológica de la función biológica desarrollada por Larry Wright, según la cual esta explicación resulta incompleta dado que no aborda el trasfondo cultural y valorativo que hace posible la explicación teleológica, me propongo responder a una objeción a la concepción etiológica según la cual el cambio de función constituye una anomalía para ella. Mi argumento une las ideas de Ruse acerca de la relevancia de los valores en la explicación (...) teleológica con una reinterpretación, en un contexto filogenético hipotético, de un contra-ejemplo putativo para la función como efecto seleccionado. Mi conclusión es que no hay razones para abandonar, al menos para este caso, la concepción etiológica sobre la base de objeciones acerca de su poder explicativo del cambio de función. (shrink)

The article aims to base the presence of a reconceptualization of the political in Michel Foucault's thought, taking as the reading key ethhopolitics as a conceptual proposal. There, we can find a concept completely opposed to the way in which both modern governmentality and the tradition of political thought have understood the meaning of politics in the West. Following this purpose, the hypothesis is proposed and developed, according to which the analytical gesture that persists in Michel Foucault's thought is a (...) concept of the political that affirms life in its radical exuberance and unfoundedness. In this statement, we recognize the signatures of a triangular conceptual structure made up of the fold between life, ethics and power. After exposing the problem and clearing some methodological difficulties for its approach, we examine in detail the investigations that comprise the archeology of ethical life in the French philosopher. It is argued that the very textuality of ethhopolitics is formulated as politicity rather than as a specific policy, that is, it is presented as a politics of life, since it is implied as a singular modulation of existence. The article concludes with a scriptural threshold composed of five theses that attempt to expand and project the philosophical-political returns of the analysis developed towards a research program. (shrink)

El presente artículo es producto de un trabajo etnográfico que se realizó durante más de un año en una escuela primaria pública que contaba con apoyo de un servicio de Educación Especial. Los principales hallazgos versan sobre cotidianeidad de los procesos de evaluación de estudiantes con discapacidad. El trabajo es un llamado a humanizar las prácticas docentes.

The aim of this article is to determine the representation of persons with disabilities in the print media advertisements of Costa Rica during the period 2014-2016. In the first place, we analyze the advertisements on disability that have appeared in the three most widely circulated newspapers in Costa Rica, following the Fairclough’s budgets about the representation of social actors, inclusion and exclusion strategies, legitimization and explanation that are made of the PCD in the ads. We determine the actions performed by (...) the PDC in the analyzed texts, the relationships with other people that appear in the announcements. Finally, from a multimodal perspective of Kress and Van Leeuwen, through the visual analysis and its relation with the linguistic one, we analyzed the congruent or incongruent images that are promoted in the advertising discourse. It is concluded that there is an invisibility of this population; since the number of ads on disability is less than 0.0015% and that the speech reproduces stigmas and stereotypes from a social- assistance perspective of the PCD, even though it is the State the main advertiser of the ads. (shrink)

Science is a dynamic process in which the assimilation of new phenomena, perspectives, and hypotheses into the scientific corpus takes place slowly. The apparent disunity of the sciences is the unavoidable consequence of this gradual integration process. Some thinkers label this dynamical circumstance a ‘crisis’. However, a retrospective view of the practical results of the scientific enterprise and of science itself, grants us a clear view of the unity of the human knowledge seeking enterprise. This book provides many arguments, case (...) studies and examples in favor of the unity of science. These contributions touch upon various scientific perspectives and disciplines such as: Physics, Computer Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Economics. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that a rich phenomenological description of ?sweet tension? is an important step to understanding how and why sport is a meaningful human endeavour. We introduce the phenomenological concepts of intersubjectivity and horizon and elaborate how they inform the study and understanding of human experience. In the process, we establish that intersubjectivity is always embodied, developing and ethically committed. Likewise, we establish that our horizons are experienced from an embodied, developing and ethically committed perspective that serves (...) as the possibility for new intersubjective engagement. What follows is a discussion of the explanatory role of intersubjectivity and horizon in elucidating experiences of sweet tension in and through sport. The phenomenological account of sweet tension provides insights into the significance of our sporting experiences. Indeed, taking phenomenology seriously represents a commitment to descriptively elucidate what makes such experiences of sport significant and why we long for them. Recognising that sweet tension is a form of intersubjective horizon opens up new avenues for addressing ethical issues in sport as well as in crafting well-balanced games. (shrink)

August Weismann proposed that genetic changes in somatic cells cannot pass to germ cells and hence to next generations. Nevertheless, evidence is accumulating that some environmental effects can promote heritable changes in the DNA of germ cells, which implies that some somatic influence on germ line is possible. This influence is mostly detrimental and related to the presence of oxidative stress, which induces mutations and epigenetic changes. This effect should be stronger in males due to the particular characteristics of sperm. (...) Here, we propose the hypothesis that females are able to avoid males with oxidatively damaged DNA in the germ line by using oxidative‐dependent (pre‐ and post‐mating) signals. This new hypothesis may shed light on unsolved questions in evolutionary biology, such as the benefits of polyandry, the lek paradox, or the role of sexual selection on the evolution of aging. BioEssays 30:1212–1219, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

No two individuals with the autism diagnosis are ever the same—yet many practitioners and parents can recognize signs of ASD very rapidly with the naked eye. What, then, is this phenotype of autism that shows itself across such distinct clinical presentations and heterogeneous developments? The “signs” seem notoriously slippery and resistant to the behavioral threshold categories that make up current assessment tools. Part of the problem is that cognitive and behavioral “abilities” typically are theorized as high-level disembodied and modular functions—that (...) are assessed discretely (impaired, normal, enhanced) to define a spectral syndrome. Even as biology reminds us that organic developing bodies are not made up of independent switches, we remain often seduced by the simplicity of mechanistic and cognitive models. Developmental disorders such as autism have accordingly been theorized as due to different modular dysfunctions—typically of cortical origin, i.e., failures of “theory of mind” (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985), of the “mirror neuron system” (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006), of “weak central coherence” (Happe and Frith, 2006) or of the balance of “empathizing” and “systemizing” (Baron-Cohen, 2009), just to list a few. -/- The broad array of autonomic (Ming et al., 2005; Cheshire, 2012) and sensorimotor (Damasio and Maurer, 1978; Maurer and Damasio, 1982; Donnellan and Leary, 1995; Leary and Hill, 1996; Donnellan and Leary, 2012; Donnellan et al., 2012) differences experienced and reported by people with autism have by such theories typically been sidelined as “co-morbidities,” possibly sharing genetic causes, but rendered as incidental and decisively behaviorally irrelevant symptoms—surely disconnected from cognition. But what if the development of cortically based mental processes and autonomous control relies on the complexities and proper function of the peripheral nervous systems? Through such an “embodied” lens the heterogeneous symptoms of autism invites new interpretations. We propose here that many behavioral-level findings can be re-defined as downstream effects of how developing nervous systems attempt to cope and adapt to the challenges of having various noisy, unpredictable, and unreliable peripheral inputs. (shrink)

El presente estudio se basa en las colecciones de los manuscritos árabes que se conservan actualmente en España. Para ello se hace un análisis de las colecciones existentes. A continuación se lleva a cabo un estudio de los catálogos e inventarios aparecidos, desde los primeros en el siglo XVI hasta la actualidad, deteniéndose en los más destacados. La segunda parte del estudio se centra en la técnica del análisis documental, que engloba los trabajos de catalogación y descripción bibliográfica. Se repasa (...) la normativa vigente, para terminar con reflexiones personales de los datos que deben aparecer en los catálogos y cómo deben aparecer. (shrink)

Cholinergic-rich grafts have been shown to be effective in restoring maze-learning deficits in rats with lesions of the forebrain cholinergic projection system. However, the relevance of those studies to developing novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease is questioned.

Heidegger reflects on technology, language, and tradition, and he guides us into rethinking the common conceptions of technology and language. He argues that the anthropological-instrumental conception of modem technology is correct but not true, as it does not capture what is most peculiar to technology: the demand to challenge nature. The common conception of language as a mere means for exchange and understanding, on the other hand, is taken to its extremes in the technological interpretation of language as information. Heidegger (...) also argues that the technological transformation of language represents an attack on what is peculiar to language as saying, i.e., as letting-appear. Such attack constitutes a threat to our very essence. The traditional or non-technologized everyday language, however, preserves what is original and contains new possibilities. The opposition between traditional language and technological language thus concerns our essence, our world-relation and world-living. (shrink)

Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWs) are robotic weapons systems, primarily of value to the military, that could engage in offensive or defensive actions without human intervention. This paper assesses and engages the current arguments for and against the use of LAWs through the lens of achieving more ethical warfare. Specific interest is given particularly to ethical LAWs, which are artificially intelligent weapons systems that make decisions within the bounds of their ethics-based code. To ensure that a wide, but not exhaustive, survey (...) of the implications of employing such ethical devices to replace humans in warfare is taken into account, this paper will engage on matters related to current scholarship on the rejection or acceptance of LAWs—including contemporary technological shortcomings of LAWs to differentiate between targets and the behavioral and psychological volatility of humans—and current and proposed regulatory infrastructures for developing and using such devices. After careful consideration of these factors, this paper will conclude that only ethical LAWs should be used to replace human involvement in war, and, by extension of their consistent abilities, should remove humans from war until a more formidable discovery is made in conducting ethical warfare. (shrink)

Por la educación recibida, por sus convicciones personales y por el “devenir” de su vida José Filgueira Varlverde llegó a ser el paradigma del profesor humanista. Su trayectoria y su praxis docente, encuadrada en el humanismo cristiano, se desarrolló en beneficio del Instituto de la ciudad de Pontevedra (1939-1976), ciudad en la que llegó a ser toda una institución.Por sus influencias familiares, las de sus maestros y amigos, José Filgueira Valverde (1906-1996) fue encaminado a una formación humanística que luego desarrollaría (...) en su dilatada función docente como profesor y catedrático de instituto de Lengua y Literatura Española (1928-1976). (shrink)

As we have discussed elsewhere, Franz Boas and John Dewey were intellectual and political allies at Columbia University for over thirty years.1 Dewey advocated for an increased role of anthropology for philosophical insight, and he often used anthropological knowledge as a starting point for his ethics and politics, including such knowledge as learned from Boas. We hold that Boas and Dewey shared a common core understanding of human global and evolutionary diversity, and that this shared understanding itself forms a core (...) component of their progressive projects.However, with regard to the problem of racism in the United States, Boas and Dewey had different engagements. Boas made the questioning... (shrink)

Los metalenguajes —lenguajes que tratan de otros lenguajes— tienen algunas propiedades interesantes. En el esfuerzo de crear lenguajes de segundo orden —tales como lenguajes puente entre dos idiomas o dos disciplinas— se pone de relieve la manera particular que tiene un lenguaje de abordar el mundo, así como su materialidad e historicidad. Esta perspectiva facilita la comprensión de las dificultades que entrañan tanto la colaboración entre disciplinas científicas como la traducción literaria. Un aspecto importante del trabajo en humanidades es la (...) creación de metalenguajes, en el contexto de lo que Heidegger llama el “desocultar”; esto es, el constituir el mundo según cierta ontología —al tener esta constitución un peso ético, o sea, que impacta profundamente la forma de vida de la comunidad que desoculta de esta o esta otra manera—. Si se comprende lo que hacen las humanidades respecto a los lenguajes humanos, se comprende mejor su papel y su importancia en la educación, la forma en que facilitan el diálogo entre disciplinas y entre visiones de mundo, la forma en que empoderan a los individuos y las sociedades para articular nuevas formas de desocultar nuevas respuestas a la antiquísima pregunta filosófica: “¿cómo se debe vivir?”. (shrink)

The goal of this study is analyse the influence of perceived supervisor support (PSS) by employees at a micro level and the role of the cultural values of “power distance” and “masculinity” at a macro level on direct employee participation in decision making (PDM). Furthermore, the influence of the gender of managers and employees is taken into account. The analysis is based upon the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey carried out by Eurofound in 2016. The results of a Hierarchical linear (...) model indicate that all predictors significantly influenced PDM and PSS positively and cultural values negatively. When the gender of managers and employees is considered, the findings suggest that PSS has a larger impact on PDM when male managers address female employees. Regarding the moderating effect of PSS on cultural values, it is shown that masculinity and power distance lose importance when employees have the support of their supervisors. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene el propósito de reflexionar sobre las luchas que las mujeres mexicanas emprendieron desde los años sesenta y hasta la actualidad para alcanzar su liberación y el reconocimiento de sus derechos y, por tanto, de su ciudadanía largamente negada, clausurada. En una primera parte del artículo se revisan brevemente los postulados teóricos desarrollados por Betty Friedan, una autora norteamericana que influyó de manera determinante en los movimientos feministas de los años sesenta. En un segundo momento, el artículo (...) aborda las distintas luchas que el movimiento feminista y de mujeres desarrolló en México de 1968 hasta los años dos mil. (shrink)

Teaching various scientific disciplines involves both hands-on and theoretical methods aimed at sparking students' curiosity in learning concepts. Students enhance their comprehension by actively engaging in direct activities rather than solely relying on explanations provided by teachers. The development of a research project carried out by 12th grade students during the semester allowed them to develop scientific or technological research to understand nature and act on it. The research project involved taking soil samples of natural protected area “Estero El Soldado” (...) and analyzing it using a microscope, increasing student’s self-efficacy using the microscope. Self-efficacy was measured before and after the proposed research project using the General Self-Efficacy Scale instrument (Baessler and Schwarzer, 1996), which consists of 10 items and measures a person's perception when facing a variety of stressful situations. The participation of 43 12th grade students was analyzed. After the completion of the research project students, the results from the pre-test (M = 66.89, SD = 19.52) and post-test (M = 80.34, SD = 19.84) self-efficacy evaluation indicate that carrying out the research project resulted in an improvement in self-efficacy, t(84) = 2.01, p = 0.0008. We can conclude that integrating hands-on research projects like soil analysis using different laboratory equipment boosts 12th-grade students' scientific self-efficacy, as evidenced by improved scores on the General Self-Efficacy Scale. These findings underscore the value of experiential learning in nurturing both scientific skills and confidence in students. (shrink)

European firms are currently in a process of transition toward a circular economy, which is expected to guarantee sustainable growth over time. Developing eco-efficient practices is a necessary step in this transition. This study analyzes the impact of stakeholder engagement in a circular business ecosystem on the development of these circular eco-efficient practices. Past literature has evidenced the impact of stakeholder environmental pressure on firm strategic decisions and outcomes. We adopt the stakeholder theory from a more recent vision, arguing that (...) “shaking stakeholders up” within a circular ecosystem is a more advanced strategy than the traditional approach of reacting to stakeholder pressure. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the data of 14,726 European firms and their relationships with five primary stakeholder groups. The results offer theoretical and empirical support for the idea that firms can go further in adopting eco-efficient circular practices by shaking stakeholders up, selecting them, and managing relationships with them. (shrink)

El artículo se refiere a los estudios sociales que han tratado a la ciencia como institución social. Para ello recurre a los marcos de análisis de la sociología institucional, tanto en su versión clásica como en el llamado nuevo institucionalismo sociológico. Con este bagaje se pasa revista a la discusión que en la sociología de la ciencia se ha producido sobre el conjunto de reglas, valores, pautas de comportamiento y rasgos organizativos que caracterizan a la ciencia como actividad social. En (...) el análisis de la perspectiva clásica se establecen los límites del esquema normativo de los CUDEOS establecido por Robert Merton y se le despoja del sobrepeso funcionalista. La aproximación a las corrientes actuales del institucionalismo no sólo consigue una nueva reinterpretación de la estructura normativa de la ciencia, sino que también permite integrar en el análisis la nueva configuración de la I+D que se deriva de la influencia del entorno y de la dinámica de cambio intrínseco de la institución científica en las sociedades contemporáneas avanzadas. El corolario que se alcanza apunta la existencia en estos momentos de un “giro institucional” en la sociología de la ciencia que sustituye al “giro cognitivo” que se produjo en las dos últimas décadas del siglo pasado. (shrink)

The work of Chandra and Harel contained in Chandra and Harel 156–178) can be considered as the beginning of the construction of a theoretical framework in which the computability and the complexity of queries to relational databases could be studied. In the definition of the class CQ of computable queries, the authors included untyped queries , that is, queries whose answers are relations of possibly different arities on different relational structures or databases. However, it seems that in the quite wide (...) and important work which followed on the subject, untyped queries were not considered at all, neither in the abstract machines side , nor in the logic framework. We propose to re-introduce these queries in the study of query computability and complexity without the need to leave the relational model. One important application which we consider in the theoretical setting is the computation of numerical queries, that is, queries which range over the naturals. Numerical queries do not fit in the current state of the theory regarding the two formalisms referenced above, since they can result in numerical values which are not necessarily in the domain of the given structure. We define an extension of the reflective relational machine of Abiteboul et al. , which we call untyped reflective relational machine , and we prove that this model is complete considering the whole class CQ . In the logic framework, we define a new quantifier, which we call conditional quantifier , and we build with it an infinitary logic which we denote by L ω 1 ω c . The difference between this logic and the well-known infinitary logic L ω 1 ω is that a formula of our logic can induce relations of different arities on different structures or databases. Then we prove that L ω 1 ω c strictly includes the whole sub-class of the total computable queries, including untyped queries. Finally, we define a fragment of L ω 1 ω c which we prove that exactly captures the sub-class of the total computable queries, but which is undecidable. We also define an undecidable fragment of L ω 1 ω which exactly captures the sub-class of the total and typed computable queries. (shrink)

The Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup are large international mega-events that demonstrate how highly valued sport is around the world. However, alongside the celebrations of sporting excellences is the opportunity to reflect upon and criticize the International Olympic Committee, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and the host cities for ethical concerns that often accompany these events. One recent example is FIFA’s decision to ban women’s soccer players from wearing hijabs. Yet the IOC has encoded in its own (...) charter ethical and axiological mandates that it terms Olympism. This Olympic philosophy can be fruitfully understood as an intersubjective moral approach to sport and sport governance. So conceived, it can be used to gain clarity on FIFA’s decision, both in terms of its ethical decision-making process and its conclusions. While FIFA recently lifted the ban, concerns about the process are still evident. (shrink)

Resumen. Las familias regiomontanas viven una situación particular dada la violencia que se vive en la ciudad. Aunado a ello, los conflictos familiares se hacen presentes. El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo, conocer el sesgo que hay en la perspectiva de los jóvenes universitarios sobre los conflictos que se viven en las familias regiomontanas. Sujetos. Participaron 250 jóvenes universitarios cuyas edades comprendían de los 16 a los 28 años, 29% de hombres y 71% de mujeres. Instrumento. Se utilizó un cuestionario (...) de autoaplicación de 36 preguntas que analizaba las categorías de: comunicación, reglas, respeto, violencia, consumo de alcohol y economía, buscando la atribución endogrupal o exogrupal al grupo familiar del encuestado. El tiempo promedio de aplicación fue de 15 minutos. Resultados. Se encontró la presencia de deseabilidad social en las respuestas referentes hacia sus propias familias en cada una de las dimensiones. La distancia euclidiana mostró una diferencia significativa entre la percepción de conflictos dentro de las familias de la comunidad y en las familias de los encuestados. Esta distancia fue del 50% aproximadamente en cada una de las dimensiones analizadas. Estos resultados proveen datos empíricos que demuestran la deseabilidad social en la percepción de los jóvenes universitarios respecto de los problemas familiares. Palabras claves. Conflictos familiares, deseabilidad social, jóvenes universitarios, percepción, sesgo.. The families in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey live in a particular situation given the violence that is lived in the city. Combined to it, the familiar conflicts become present. The present study had like objective, to know the bias that there is in the perspective of college students on the conflicts that are lived in the Regiomontanus families. Subjects. The sample was composed by 250 college students, 29% of men and 71% of women, whose ages oscillated between 16 to the 28 years,. Instrument. A self-report questionnaire of 36 questions was used to analyze the categories of: communication, rules, respect, violence, alcohol consumption and economy, looking for the endogroup or exogroup attribution to the familiar group of the participants. The time average of application was of 15 minutes. Results. The presence of social desirability in the referring answers was towards the families of the participants in each one of the dimensions. The Euclidian distance showed a significant difference between the perceptions of conflicts within the families of the community and in the families of the survey ones. This distance was of approximately 50% in each one of the analyzed dimensions. These results provide empirical data that demonstrate social desirability in the perception of the college students with respect to the familiar problems. Keywords. College students, familiar conflicts, perception, social desirability, bias. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

In this paper, I explore a new type of semiotic translation in the context of Audiovisual Translation Studies (AVTS). To that end, a set of formulaic sequencesbestowed of pragmalinguistic value (hedging strings) is analysed. It is argued that the semiotic analysis of conversational features in English may contribute to facilitate their pedagogical exploitation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. This analysis builds theoretically on a semiotic translational framework termed Semiosic Translation (and its subset, Semiosic Subtitling) predicated upon three (...) types of translation: (i) Metaleptic translation; (ii) indexical translation; and (iii) translation as dynamic discontinuity. Th e translational rationale thus arrived at is deemed to account for what it is that binds together linguistic signs with other sign systems. (shrink)

Practice theory has lately taken a turn towards modelling the evolution of practices, which appear situated at the centre of the study of social action. I argue in this paper, following previous criticisms, that such centrality can be revised in order to better incorporate elements of agency and normativity, which are much determinant of the emergence and development of practices. The aim of this paper is to propose an alternative heuristic which advances on lefebvrean trialectics, in order to better account (...) for process in the study of practices. For this I rely on previous concepts from anthropology and sociology, such as fetishisation, ritualisation and bricolage. A relevant case study is merely outlined in order to illustrate how such a conceptual framework can identify agencies and situate practices in relation to power structures and performance at an early stage within the research process. (shrink)