After a brief review of the field formulations and the relativistic non-instantaneous action-at-a-distance formulations of some well known classical theories, we study Rivacoba’s generalization of a theory with a linearly rising potential as a relativistic non-instantaneous action-at-a-distance theory. For this case we construct the corresponding field theory, which turns out to coincide with a model proposed by Kiskis to describe strong interactions. We construct the action functional for this field theory. Although this model belongs to the class of Lagrangian theories (...) with higher derivatives, it is shown that its action-at-a-distance counterpart has a much simpler form. A proposal to construct an action-at-a-distance description of Yang-Mills interactions is also presented. (shrink)

Depuis une vingtaine d'annees, on assiste un peu partout a un regain d'interet pour les ecrits socratiques de Xenophon. Que Xenophon ne nous donne pas davantage que Platon un portrait historiquement fiable de Socrate peut etre considere comme un acquis de la critique du XXe siecle. Laissant transparaitre dans son temoignage des options profondement differentes de celles de Platon, Xenophon temoigne par la meme, cependant, des tensions, voire des oppositions qui traversaient le milieu socratique autour du souvenir et de la (...) comprehension de la personne de Socrate: cette seule consideration suffit a faire de Xenophon une source essentielle pour notre connaissance de l'immediat apres Socrate et, par dela, pour notre intelligence de l'histoire de la reception de Socrate dans les siecles ulterieurs. Le colloque dont sont issues les etudes rassemblees dans ce volume, organise a l'Universite de Provence (Aix-Marseille I) du 6 au 9 novembre 2003, s'inscrit dans cette perspective. Plus qu'un bilan de la nouvelle orientation des etudes xenophontiennes, qu'il est encore trop tot pour etablir, on y verra l'illustration de la diversite d'approches dont est susceptible le temoignage de Xenophon sur Socrate. Due a Louis-Andre Dorion, une bibliographie des etudes sur les ecrits socratiques de Xenophon publiees dans le dernier quart de siecle temoigne de la vitalite retrouvee de ce domaine de recherche. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the clarification of concepts usually found in books on quantum mechanics, aided by knowledge from the field of the theory of operators in Hilbert space. Frequently the basic distinction between bounded and unbounded operators is not established in books on quantum mechanics. It is repeatedly overlooked that the condition for an unbounded operator to be symmetric (Hermitian) is not sufficient to make it self-adjoint. To make things worse, nearly all operators in (...) quantum mechanics are unbounded. Often one finds statements such as: For any linear operator A we can write a Hermitian operator HA=(A+A+)/2, where Hermitian is thought to mean self-adjoint. Along these lines, self-adjointness of the momentum operator in generalized coordinates, taken from that expression, is questioned. In particular, the redescription in terms of spherical polar coordinates and its implications for the eventual loss of self-adjointness of the momenta conjugate to them are studied. (shrink)

The construction of the quantum-mechanical Hamiltonian by canonical quantization is examined. The results are used to enlighten examples taken from slow nuclear collective motion. Hamiltonians, obtained by a thoroughly quantal method (generator-coordinate method) and by the canonical quantization of the semiclassical Hamiltonian, are compared. The resulting simplicity in the physics of a system constrained to lie in a curved space by the introduction of local Riemannian coordinates is emphasized. In conclusion, a parallel is established between the result for various coordinates (...) and a proposed procedure for quantizing the semiclassical Hamiltonian for a single coordinate. (shrink)

In recent decades, the expansion of economic activity has been accompanied by negative environmental impacts. In response, there have been dramatic changes worldwide in terms of an increased demand for environmentally friendly products and services. To achieve these eco-innovations, firms have sought to acquire knowledge and implement operational flexibility by cooperating with different agents such as universities through a value cocreation system that is also expected to enhance firms’ performance. Using a sample of 250 companies, the present paper examines the (...) role of cooperation with universities in the development of diverse environmental innovations and building operational flexibility and, through this, improving firm performance. Results show that firms that value cooperation with universities develop a wider range of environmental innovations and increase their sales and benefits. (shrink)

Galatians is a clear witness to a basic conviction of Paul: the gospel is not about human movement into blessedness, but about God's liberating invasion of the cosmos. Christ's love enacted in the cross has the power to change the world because it is embodied in the new community of mutual service.

Background Providing understandable information to patients is necessary to achieve the aims of the Informed Consent process: respecting and promoting patients’ autonomy and protecting patients from harm. In recent decades, new, primarily digital technologies have been used to apply and test innovative formats of Informed Consent. We conducted a systematic review to explore the impact of using digital tools for Informed Consent in both clinical research and in clinical practice. Understanding, satisfaction and participation were compared for digital tools versus the (...) non-digital Informed Consent process. Methods We searched for studies on available electronic databases, including Pubmed, EMBASE, and Cochrane. Studies were identified using specific Mesh-terms/keywords. We included studies, published from January 2012 to October 2020, that focused on the use of digital Informed Consent tools for clinical research, or clinical procedures. Digital interventions were defined as interventions that used multimedia or audio–video to provide information to patients. We classified the interventions into 3 different categories: video only, non-interactive multimedia, and interactive multimedia. Results Our search yielded 19,579 publications. After title and abstract screening 100 studies were retained for full-text analysis, of which 73 publications were included. Studies examined interactive multimedia, non-interactive multimedia, and videos, and most studies were conducted on adults. Innovations in consent were tested for clinical/surgical procedures and clinical research. For research IC, 21 outcomes were explored, with a positive effect on at least one of the studied outcomes being observed in 8/12 studies. For clinical/surgical procedures 49 outcomes were explored, and 21/26 studies reported a positive effect on at least one of the studied outcomes. Conclusions Digital technologies for informed consent were not found to negatively affect any of the outcomes, and overall, multimedia tools seem desirable. Multimedia tools indicated a higher impact than videos only. Presence of a researcher may potentially enhance efficacy of different outcomes in research IC processes. Studies were heterogeneous in design, making evaluation of impact challenging. Robust study design including standardization is needed to conclusively assess impact. (shrink)

Cells are the fundamental building blocks of organisms and their organization holds the key to our understanding of the processes that control Development and Physiology as well as the mechanisms that underlie disease. Traditional methods of analysis of subcellular structure have relied on the purification of organelles and the painstaking biochemical description of their components. The arrival of high‐throughput genomic and, more significantly, proteomic technologies has opened hereto unforeseen possibilities for this task. Recently two reports(1,2) show how much can be (...) gleaned from the combination of analytical centrifugation, mass spectrometry and advanced statistical techniques focused on a high‐throughput analysis of the content and organization of plant and animal cells. The results reveal intriguing possibilities for the future and the possibility of mapping much of the known proteome onto our current map of the cell. BioEssays 28: 780–784, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, Volume 31, Issue 1, Page 192-208, January 2022.

Este trabajo trata de la importancia que tienen los estudiantes de medicina para responder a las demandas de atención médica en México; alude al proceso histórico que determina esta situación y la construcción de la categoría “médicos en formación”; refiere las condiciones laborales, educativas y de salud de los estudiantes de medicina en las unidades médicas, y su impacto sobre la calidad de la atención médica. Desde la perspectiva ética y de los derechos humanos se plantea que los programas de (...) educación médica, y en particular la categoría de “médicos en formación”, pueden, paradójicamente, violentar tanto el derecho a la educación como el derecho a la atención médica, y dañar tanto la salud de los estudiantes como la de la población por ellos atendida. Se concluye que debe desarrollarse un nuevo respaldo ético docente asistencial para educación médica en las unidades de atención médica. (shrink)

Since the mid-20th century, the study of Self-Regulated Learning has aimed to identify the distinctive characteristics that enable individuals to acquire new knowledge and skills under their control. The theory of Internal Self-Regulation vs. External-Regulation in Learning has postulated that a large number of self-regulatory variables are mediated by regulated/non-regulated or dysregulated features of the context. After signing their informed consent, a total of 616 university students completed validated instruments of SRL vs. ERL, behavioral regulation, regulatory teaching, and metacognitive study (...) control strategies. Using an ex-post facto design and correlation, regression, structural equation model and mediation analyses, the present research aimed to establish multicausal predictive relationships among the analyzed variables. Results indicated positive predictive effects between the external regulation variables on the self-regulation variables in learning [regulation /non-regulation /dysregulation ]; as well as positive predictive effects between SRL on SRB, RT and metacognitive SRS. Additionally, external regulation not only predicted but mediated numerous relations among the variables studied. Other findings and important considerations for future research in the field of self-regulation are discussed. (shrink)

La Exhortación postsinodal Sacramentum caritatis es algo más que un documento parenético del Magisterio. La amplia temática eucarística que contempla y expone ordenadamente da pie para intuir -y probar- que la verdad sacramental de la Cena cristiana puede servir de eje central sobre el que articular una exposición integral e integradora del misterio cristiano y del poliédrico discurso de la fe.El artículo presentado, además de efectuar un recorrido sistemático por las tres perspectivas eucarísticas presentadas en el texto pontificio -como fe (...) creída, como fe celebrada, como fe vivida en el mundo- y de sopesar críticamente sus contenidos, apuesta por una conclusión que el documento apenas esboza: la verdad eucarística como clave interpretativa de la fe y de la identidad cristianas. (shrink)

BackgroundThe H2020 i-CONSENT project has developed a set of guidelines that offer ethical recommendations and practical tools aimed at making the informed consent process in clinical studies more comprehensive, tailored, and inclusive. An analysis of the appropriateness of some of its novel recommendations was carried out by a group of experts representing different stakeholders.MethodsAn adaptation of the RAND/ucla Appropriateness Method was used to assess the level of agreement on the recommendations among 14 representatives of different stakeholders, including patients, regulators, investigators, (...) ethics experts, and the pharmaceutical industry. The process included two rounds of rating and a virtual meeting.ResultsFifty-three recommendations were evaluated. After the first round, 34 recommendations were judged “appropriate”; 19 were judged “uncertain”; and none was judged “inappropriate”. After the second round, 9 “uncertains” changed to “appropriate”. All recommendations rated medians of 6.5–9 on a 1–9 scale (1 = “extremely inappropriate”, 5 = “uncertain”, 9 = “extremely appropriate”). The sections “General recommendations” and “Gender perspective during the consent process for clinical studies” showed the highest “uncertainty” rating. The four keys to improving the understanding of the ICP in clinical studies are to: (1) consider consent a two-way continuous interaction that begins at the first contact with the potential participant and continues until the end of the study; (2) improve investigators’ communication skills; (3) co-create the information; and (4) use a layered approach, including information to compensate for the potential participant’s possible lack of health literacy and a glossary of terms.ConclusionsThe RAND/ucla method has demonstrated validity for assessing the appropriateness of recommendations in ethical guidelines. The recommendations of the i-CONSENT guidelines were mostly judged “appropriate” by all stakeholders involved in the informed consent process. (shrink)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is the self-proclaimed inventor of the binary system and is considered as such by most historians of mathematics and/or mathematicians. Really though, we owe the groundwork of today’s computing not to Leibniz but to the Englishman Thomas Harriot and the Spaniard Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz, whom Leibniz plagiarized. This plagiarism has been identified on the basis of several facts: Caramuel’s work on the binary system is earlier than Leibniz’s, Leibniz was acquainted—both directly and indirectly—with Caramuel’s work and (...) Leibniz had a natural tendency to plagiarize scientific works. (shrink)

This paper presents two formation tracking control strategies for a combined set of single and double integrator agents with an arbitrary undirected communication topology. The first approach is based on the design of distance-based potential functions with interagent collision avoidance using local information about the distance and orientation between agents and the desired trajectory. The second approach adds signed area constraints to the desired formation specification and a control strategy that uses distance as well as area terms is designed to (...) achieve tracking convergence. Numerical simulations show the performance from both control laws. (shrink)

En su prolijo discurso sobre “La Palabra de Dios en la vida y la misión de la Iglesia” la XIIª Asamblea General de los Obispos no abordó de una forma expresa la índole sacramental de la Palabra. Y, sin embargo, en una de sus Conclusiones-Propuestas finales demanda que se abra una reflexión sobre la misma. El presente trabajo se sitúa en esa perspectiva. Tras sopesar los límites de los apuntes sugeridos por el propio Sínodo, un tanto marcados por la indefinición (...) y una cierta perplejidad, se ofrecen, como un avance de ensayo provisional, una serie de elementos reflexivos que deberán ser integrados, con la organicidad propia del caso, en una visión complexiva de esa sacramentalidad. (shrink)

La Exhortación postsinodal Sacramentum caritatis es algo más que un documento parenético del Magisterio. La amplia temática eucarística que contempla y expone ordenadamente da pie para intuir -y probar- que la verdad sacramental de la Cena cristiana puede servir de eje central sobre el que articular una exposición integral e integradora del misterio cristiano y del poliédrico discurso de la fe.El artículo presentado, además de efectuar un recorrido sistemático por las tres perspectivas eucarísticas presentadas en el texto pontificio -como fe (...) creída, como fe celebrada, como fe vivida en el mundo- y de sopesar críticamente sus contenidos, apuesta por una conclusión que el documento apenas esboza: la verdad eucarística como clave interpretativa de la fe y de la identidad cristianas. (shrink)

En una de sus Proposiciones finales, la n. 7, el Sínodo de los Obispos de 2008, había sugerido – y, en cierta forma - demandado abrir una seria reflexión sobre la sacramentalidad de la Palabra. El material aportado por la Asamblea era más que sugerente. La Exhortación VD, aunque no formal y explícitamente, pero sí desde puntos de vista diversos y precisados de una seria articulación, ofrece una gama de aportes del máximo interés para ello. El trabajo presente intenta desglosar (...) y ensamblar ese caudal de asertos y perspectivas a tener en cuenta en la reflexión sistemática del futuro.In one of its final proposals, n. 7, the Synod of bishops, 2008, had suggested, and in some way, claimed a serious reflection on the sacredness of the word. The material provided for the assembly was more than suggestive. VD Exhortation offers a range of extremely interesting contributions that, although not formal and explicit, they are different viewpoints in need of a serious articulation. This work attempts to break down and assemble that amount of statements and perspectives to consider in a systematic reflection of the future. (shrink)

El "lenguaje formal" usado en distintos pasajes por la Exhortación 'Sacramentum caritatis' hablando, entre otros asertos, de una "forma eucarística de la vida cristiana", da pie a una relectura, en cierta medida "nueva", de todo el discurso sistemático sobre la Eucaristía. Y más aún, si a la categoría de la "forma" se le supone toda la connotación entativa y especificadora del lenguaje escolar, se significa con ello que la verdad sacramental es la que mejor define la singularidad de "lo cristiano".Sobre (...) esa base "ontológica", el presente trabajo, en una línea de continuidad con otros precedentes, además de clarificar y comprobar las incidencias "formalizadoras" de la Eucaristía en el complejo hecho cristiano, avanza una hipótesis plausible y razonable: considerar el sacramento como una clave fundamental de la hermenéutica de la fe y modelo de referencia de un nuevo estilo de discurso teológico entendido como poética de esa fe. (shrink)