BackgroundAlthough gait patterns disturbances are known to be related to cognitive decline, there is no consensus on the possibility of predicting one from the other. It is necessary to find the optimal gait features, experimental protocols, and computational algorithms to achieve this purpose.PurposesTo assess the efficacy of the Stable Sparse Classifiers procedure for discriminating young and healthy older adults, as well as healthy and cognitively impaired elderly groups from their gait patterns. To identify the walking tasks or combinations of tasks (...) and specific spatio-temporal gait features that allow the best prediction with SSC.MethodsA sample of 125 participants was studied. They underwent assessment with five neuropsychological tests that explore different cognitive domains. A summarized cognitive index, based on the Mahalanobis distance from normative data, was calculated. The sample was divided into three groups using k-means clustering of MDCog in addition to Age. The participants executed four walking tasks and their gait patterns, measured with a body-fixed Inertial Measurement Unit, were used to calculate 16 STGF and dual-task costs. SSC was then employed to predict which group the participants belonged to. The classification's performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating curves and the stable biomarkers were identified.ResultsThe discrimination HE vs. MCI-E revealed that the combination of the easy dual-task and the fast walking task had the best prediction performance. The features related to gait variability and to the amplitude of vertical acceleration had the largest predictive power. SSC prediction accuracy was better than the accuracies obtained with linear discriminant analysis and support vector machine classifiers.ConclusionsThe study corroborated that the changes in gait patterns can be used to discriminate between young and healthy older adults and more importantly between healthy and cognitively impaired adults. A subset of gait tasks and STGF optimal for achieving this goal with SSC were identified, with the latter method superior to other classification techniques. (shrink)

Automated legal reasoning and its application in smart contracts and automated decisions are increasingly attracting interest. In this context, ethical and legal concerns make it necessary for automated reasoners to justify in human-understandable terms the advice given. Logic Programming, specially Answer Set Programming, has a rich semantics and has been used to very concisely express complex knowledge. However, modelling discretionality to act and other vague concepts such as ambiguity cannot be expressed in top-down execution models based on Prolog, and in (...) bottom-up execution models based on ASP the justifications are incomplete and/or not scalable. We propose to use s(CASP), a top-down execution model for predicate ASP, to model vague concepts following a set of patterns. We have implemented a framework, called s(LAW), to model, reason, and justify the applicable legislation and validate it by translating (and benchmarking) a representative use case, the criteria for the admission of students in the “Comunidad de Madrid”. (shrink)

Social network sites are a new communication channel to convey CSR information. They are interactive channels that let users participate, spread content and generate positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth about companies that can dramatically affect their reputation and future business. To identify the factors behind this behaviour, we designed a causal model to explain the intention to both comment on and share a negative corporate social responsibility news posted on Facebook. We included the following as explanatory variables: social consciousness, environmental (...) consciousness, information usefulness, corporate image and attitude towards sharing and commenting on CSR news. We surveyed 208 Facebook users who evaluated a fictitious news item about an environmental issue. We observed that social and environmental consciousness influences the usefulness of information and the attitude towards behaviour, which may explain the eWOM intention of the specific news. However, corporate image can cause people to refrain from generating eWOM and spreading the news on their friend social network. (shrink)

The study of corporate social responsibility has been the object of much research in recent decades, although there is a need to continue investigating its benefits as a marketing tool. In the current work we adopt a multi-dimensional perspective of social responsibility, and we carry out market research to determine the perceptions of users of mobile telephone services about economic, legal, ethical and social aspects of their operating companies. With these data we determine the structure and components of the concept (...) of social responsibility. Subsequently, this is related with the overall evaluation of the service and loyalty by means of a model of structural equations, in order to determine the influence of corporate social responsibility on these concepts, and hence its benefits as a commercial tool. (shrink)

This article explores the maternal experiences of a heterogeneous group of 26 mothers from Granada. The aim is to analyse the needs and demands that these women express with regard to childrearing, using a qualitative methodology. The authors conducted in-depth interviews and analysed the discourses of the mothers following the hermeneutical method. The variables used for sample selection and the themes that emerged during the interviews revealed that the discourses of the mothers revolve around three dimensions: indifference, demands and resignation (...) regarding support for childrearing. The lack of paternal involvement in childrearing appears as a transversal dimension. This article shows that the material conditions of existence marked the differences in the responses of the women regarding support for childrearing, while the sexual division of labour and gender inequalities unified their discourses. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

The authors describe the intensity and orientation of the corporate social responsibility reporting in four Spanish industries and explore the relationship that exists between both concepts and an independent measurement of reputation for CSR. The results demonstrate that the CSR reporting is especially relevant and useful in the finance industry. Finance companies report significantly more CSR information than most industries in Spain, and this reporting is more closely linked to their CSRR than the CSR reporting of basic, consumer goods and (...) services industries. (shrink)

The concept of corporate social responsibility is becoming integral to effective corporate brand management. This study adopts a multidimensional and cross-country perspective of the concept and analyses consumer perceptions of behaviour of four leading consumer products manufacturers. Data was collected from consumers in two countries – Spain and the UK. The study analyses consumers’ degree of interest in corporate responsibility and its impact on their perception about the company. The findings here suggest a weak impact of company-specific communication on consumers’ (...) perception. The implications of this study are relevant to companies for strengthening their social responsibility associations with the consumers. (shrink)

En este artículo se revisan los conceptos de género y sexo, su papel como determinantes de la salud, y su relación con la desigualdad. Se analizan los diferentes modelos explicativos que se proponen en la bibliografía para comprender las relaciones entre género y situación de salud y cómo recientemente se ha evolucionado desde el campo de la salud de las mujeres hacia el enfoque de género en salud. Por último se presentan las aplicaciones del análiis de género en salud y (...) su utilidad en la planificación y evaluación de los sistemas de atención sanitaria. (shrink)

Agreement technologies refer to a novel paradigm for the construction of distributed intelligent systems, where autonomous software agents negotiate to reach agreements on behalf of their human users. Smart Cities are a key application domain for agreement technologies. While several proofs of concept and prototypes exist, such systems are still far from ready for being deployed in the real-world. In this paper we focus on a novel method for managing elements of smart road infrastructures of the future, namely the case (...) of auction-based road intersections. We show that, even though the key technological elements for such methods are already available, there are multiple non-technical issues that need to be tackled before they can be applied in practice. For this purpose, we analyse legal and ethical implications of auction-based road intersections in the context of international regulations and from the standpoint of the Spanish legislation. From this exercise, we extract a set of required modifications, of both technical and legal nature, which need to be addressed so as to pave the way for the potential real-world deployment of such systems in a future that may not be too far away. (shrink)

The concept of corporate social responsibility is becoming integral to effective corporate brand management. This study adopts a multidimensional and cross-country perspective of the concept and analyses consumer perceptions of behaviour of four leading consumer products manufacturers. Data was collected from consumers in two countries – Spain and the UK. The study analyses consumers’ degree of interest in corporate responsibility and its impact on their perception about the company. The findings here suggest a weak impact of company-specific communication on consumers’ (...) perception. The implications of this study are relevant to companies for strengthening their social responsibility associations with the consumers. (shrink)

With this study, we aim to test the predictive relationships between determinants of major choice and academic expectations and to analyze gender differences, using six items of the Determinants of Major Choice Scale and the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire to assess AEs. A convenience sample of Portuguese and Spanish first-year students, mostly composed of women, was selected from two public universities. The invariance of the multivariate regression model with latent variables of the effect of DMC on AEs, with determinants linked to (...) Personal Characteristics and Mediating Agents as AE predictors, was tested across gender with LISREL. The invariance test of the multivariate regression model across gender fit the data well and revealed an equivalence of slopes between women and men, which allows a unique interpretation of the model’s predictive relationships for both genders. We also found statistically significant predictive relationships of PCs for six AE factors and MAs for five AE factors. The results showed theoretical relationships with the self-determination theory. At a practical level, they indicated the importance of PCs and MAs to design AE intervention programs in Higher Education institutions. (shrink)

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the presence and current situation of the game of skittles throughout the northern route of the Camino de Santiago. Thus, we considered its current practice, modalities, where it is played, and its different manifestations as an informal and formal game, comparing it with other traditional games on this pilgrimage route. To do this, a mixed qualitative-quantitative study was designed with 89 participants, constituting an informant for each municipality through which the Northern (...) Way passes. An ad hoc questionnaire was used for the data collection, which was processed through content analysis by expert judges and by using the IBM-SPSS statistical package. The results of the study show notable skittles activity on the Northern Camino, reflected in the number of skittles alleys, the number of clubs, associations, and peñas participating in federated leagues, and the wide range of varieties of skittles currently active on the Camino. The relationship between skittles and local culture, both symbols of identity in these northern Spanish regions, made it possible to preserve the traditional heritage in these places, keeping it alive today, despite the push toward new and more attractive leisure and sport trends. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to develop accurate forecasting models for chlorophyll-α concentrations at various depths in El Mar Menor, Spain. Chlorophyll-α plays a crucial role in assessing eutrophication in this vulnerable ecosystem. To achieve this objective, various deep learning forecasting techniques, including long short-term memory, bidirectional long short-term memory and gated recurrent uni networks, were utilized. The models were designed to forecast the chlorophyll-α levels with a 2-week prediction horizon. To enhance the models’ accuracy, a sliding window method (...) combined with a blocked cross-validation procedure for time series was also applied to these techniques. Two input strategies were also tested in this approach: using only chlorophyll-α time series and incorporating exogenous variables. The proposed approach significantly improved the accuracy of the predictive models, no matter the forecasting technique employed. Results were remarkable, with |$\overline{\sigma}$| values reaching approximately 0.90 for the 0.5-m depth level and 0.80 for deeper levels. The proposed forecasting models and methodologies have great potential for predicting eutrophication episodes and acting as decision-making tools for environmental agencies. Accurate prediction of eutrophication episodes through these models could allow for proactive measures to be implemented, resulting in improved environmental management and the preservation of the ecosystem. (shrink)

El estudio de las presas y embalses históricos es un campo desigualmente abordado desde la historiografía, la arqueología, la arquitectura o la ingeniería civil. En la península ibérica su estudio ha estado centrado en obras de grandes dimensiones que, en general son romanas, renacentistas o posteriores. Sin embargo, pocas veces se consideran las infraestructuras andalusíes, sus formas de implantación, cómo fue la transmisión del conocimiento de su tecnología o el ámbito social y cultural en el que se desarrollaron. Suelen ser (...) vestigios que se encuentran aislados y dispersos en el ámbito rural con el que dibujan un paisaje único. Esta circunstancia dificulta su documentación e impide el estudio a fondo de estas obras como condición, previa e imprescindible, para su conocimiento. La contribución de este trabajo es el resultado de una investigación realizada sobre el paisaje generado por uno de los pocos ejemplos de presa de contención conocidos en al-Andalus de los que aún se conservan restos. Se trata de una barrera fluvial levantada, a mediados del siglo XII, en la cuenca del río Trujala en el municipio de Segura de la Sierra (Jaén); un dique que transformó un campo en un pequeño mar o albuhera. (shrink)

El encargo que recibe la escuela de gestionar las emociones para producir indicadores, mejorar la convivencia o desarrollar las competencias, es solo una de las aristas que tiene la educación escolarizada. En este artículo, y a partir de las vivencias en algunas instituciones educativas de la ciudad de Medellín, se busca indicar otra ruta posible para las emociones en la escuela; aquella que está referida no a su gestión, sino a la comprensión de su componente cognitivo para, por la vía (...) de la formación, contribuir a la transformación creativa de sí. * Este artículo recoge algunas reflexiones del proyecto de investigación Educación global/pedagogía planetaria y espacio social. Una relación colaborativa entre Suiza y Colombia, que desarrollamos en convenio con la Universidad Pedagógica de Berna, con un equipo binacional. En Berna: Angela Stienen y Katryn Oester; en Colombia: Jesús Alberto Echeverri, Juan Camilo Estrada, Juan Carlos Vásquez García. (shrink)

What is a thing? What is an object? Tristan Garcia decisively overturns 100 years of Heideggerian orthodoxy about the supposedly derivative nature of objects to put forward a new theory of ontology that gives us deep insights into the world and our place in it."e.

Online Public Shaming is a form of norm enforcement that involves collectively imposing reputational costs on a person for having a certain kind of moral character. OPS actions aim to disqualify her from public discussion and certain normal human relations. We argue that this constitutes an informal collective punishment that it is presumptively wrong to impose on others. OPS functions as a form of ostracism that fails to show equal basic respect to its targets. Additionally, in seeking to mobilise unconstrained (...) collective power with potentially serious punitive consequences, OPS is incompatible with due process values. (shrink)

In this book Strawson is again considering topics as the existence of the exterior world, the moral attitudes, the universal... The novelty is not so in his original ideas as in the fact that these are useful to keep on completing the doctrine of a "descriptive" and "naturalist" metaphy-sick against "revisionism" such as the scepticism in its different modalities.

Sr. Rector de la Universidad BolivarianaIlustrísimas autoridadesProfesores de la UniversidadMiembros de la Comunidad universitariaRepresentantes de las organizaciones solidariasSeñoras y señoresMe siento profundamente feliz y conmovido. Feliz por haberme abierto las puertas de esta universidad y concederme esta alta distinción que no sólo culmina una amistad sino que inicia un camino de estrecha colaboración y de esperanzas entretejidas. Me honráis compañeros con vuestra acogida a este claust..

Truthlikeness is a property of a theory or a proposition that represents its closeness to the truth. According to Niiniluoto, truthlikeness for quantitative deterministic laws can be defined by the Minkowski metric. I present some counterexamples to the definition and argue that it fails because it considers truthlikeness for quantitative deterministic laws to be just a function of accuracy, but an accurate law can be wrong about the actual ‘structure’ or ‘behaviour’ of the system it intends to describe. I develop (...) a modification of Niiniluoto’s proposal that defines truthlikeness for quantitative deterministic laws according to two parameters: accuracy and nomicity. The presented proposal solves the counterexamples and defines a new way of understanding scientific progress. (shrink)

Logic: Techniques of Formal Reasoning, 2/e is an introductory volume that teaches students to recognize and construct correct deductions. It takes students through all logical steps--from premise to conclusion--and presents appropriate symbols and terms, while giving examples to clarify principles. Logic, 2/e uses models to establish the invalidity of arguments, and includes exercise sets throughout, ranging from easy to challenging. Solutions are provided to selected exercises, and historical remarks discuss major contributions to the theories covered.

The dialectic of light and darkness studied in this collection of essays reveals itself as a primal factor of life as well as the essential element of the specifically human world. From its borderline position between physis and psyche, natural growth and techne, bios and ethos, it functions as the essential factor in all the sectors of life at large. We see its crucial role in all sectors of life while, prompted by man's creative imagination, it enhances and spurs his (...) vital as well as societal and spiritual life. This rare collection contains studies by Thomas Ryba, Krystina Górniak-Kocikowska, Lois Oppenheim, Sydney Feshback, Eldon van Lieve, Sitansu Ray, Theodore Litman, Peter Morgan, Colette Michael, Christopher Lalonde, L. Findlay, Christopher Eykman, Beverly Schlack Randles, Jorge García-Gómez, William Haney, Sherilyn Abdoo, David Brottman, Alan Pratt, Hans Rudnick, George Scheper, Freema Gottlieb, Marlies Kronegger. (shrink)

The point of departure of this article is the distinction established by Giuseppe Duso between governo and potere , between the old politics focused on the forms of government and the modern politics based on sovereignty and legitimate representation. Contemporary liberal democracies fundamentally coincide with semiotic representation, which, if we agree with Ackerman, makes its first major appearance with the North American Federalists. However, we consider that authentic democracy is that which is rarer, to be found beyond government and power, (...) where the nobodies, those who do not need any titles in order to participate in the public sphere, question –as Rancière explains– the continuity between the natural or social order and the constitutional or political order. (shrink)

En principio, la poesía considerada como génesis del arte árabe, y, más tarde, la prosa de adab surgieron con la idea de ciencia que destacaba el dominio de la belleza, idea que se proyectaría después sobre la música. Por otra parte, la aportación griega al legado filosófico y científico árabe clásico, cuya sombra aparece reflejada sobre los primeros tratados de los filósofos y teóricos musicales, entre los que se encuentran al-Kindi (s. IX)y al-Farabi (s. X), germinó en la concepción de (...) un nuevo sentido sobre la "belleza". De esta forma, y desde un observatorio que tiene como punto de referencia el mundo clásico griego, los nuevos parámetros surgirían como consecuencia de su propia identidad e idiosincrasia, en los que el patrimonio poético y musical, unido al pensamiento religioso y filosófico, complementarían la taracea de un nuevo concepto, "estética musical". El estudio de la música medieval árabe revela que la armonía entre el contenido poético, lingüístico, rítmico y melódico caminaron en paralelo, produciéndose un equilibrio, una relación armónica, y, en definitiva cósmica que les llevó a acuñar un cierto ideal estético basado en la belleza y la emoción artística que despertaba como reflejo de una armonía entre cuerpo y alma, y que facilitaría la unión con lo infinito y la divinidad. (shrink)

Review of: José Ferreirós. 2016. Mathematical knowledge and the interplay of practices. Princeton: Princeton University Press.