This papers presents δ-resolution, a dual resolution calculus. It is based on standard resolution, and used appropriate formulae equivalent to disjunctive normal forms, instead of conjunctive normal ones, as it is the case for resolution. This duality is then useful to create a calculus for abductive process, as a way to construct a set of abductive solutions. The proposed calculus is compared to semantic tableaux, an standard logical framework, aslo illuminating when studying abduction.δ-resolution calculus is a contribution to logic programming, (...) and it further suggests new possibilities to explore abduction at a first order level, in the lines of those proposed in [9]. (shrink)

Vaccines represent preventative interventions amenable to immunogenetic prediction of how human variability will influence their safety and efficacy. The genetic polymorphism among individuals within any population can render possible that the immunity elicited by a vaccine is variable in length and strength. The same immune challenge (virus and/or vaccine) could provoke partial, complete or even failed protection for some individuals treated under the same conditions. We review genetic variants and mechanistic relationships among chemokines, chemokine receptors, interleukins, interferons, interferon receptors, toll‐like (...) receptors, histocompatibility antigens, various immunoglobulins and major histocompatibility complex antigens. These are the targets for variation among macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, T‐ and B‐lymphocytes, and complement. The technology platforms (mRNA, viral vectors, proteins) utilized to produce vaccines against SARS‐CoV‐2 infections may each trigger genetically distinct immune reactogenic profiles. With DNA biobanking and immunoprofiling of recipients, global COVID‐19 vaccinations could launch a new era of personalized healthcare. (shrink)

Patients’ beliefs about the effectiveness of their treatments are key to the success of any intervention. However, since these beliefs are usually formed by sequentially accumulating evidence in the form of the covariation between the treatment use and the symptoms, it is not always easy to detect when a treatment is actually working. In Experiments 1 and 2, we presented participants with a contingency learning task in which a fictitious treatment was actually effective to reduce the symptoms of fictitious patients. (...) However, the base-rate of the symptoms was manipulated so that, for half of participants, the symptoms were very frequent before the treatment, whereas for the rest of participants, the symptoms were less frequently observed. Although the treatment was equally effective in all cases according to the objective contingency between the treatment and healings, the participants’ beliefs on the effectiveness of the treatment were influenced by the base-rate of the symptoms, so that those who observed frequent symptoms before the treatment tended to produce lower judgments of effectiveness. Experiment 3 showed that participants were probably basing their judgments on an estimate of effectiveness relative to the symptom base-rate, rather than on contingency in absolute terms. Data, materials, and R scripts to reproduce the figures are publicly available at the Open Science Framework. (shrink)

In this work we define, in a general way, an algebraic semantics for the logics of the hierarchy InPk. This semantics is defined by means of an alternative construction, with respect to the usual algebraic semantics, and it is known in the literature as Twist-structures semantics. Besides that, we modify such construction, defining the so-called ω-Twist-structures here. This adaptation allows us to prove adequacy theorems for every logic of the hierarchy InPk.

The purpose of this study is to examine how workgroup diversity can be managed through specific strategic human resource management systems. Our review shows that ‘affirmative action’ and traditional ‘diversity management’ approaches have failed to simultaneously achieve business and social justice outcomes of diversity. As previous literature has shown, the benefits of diversity cannot be achieved with isolated interventions. To the contrary, a complete organizational culture change is required, in order to promote appreciation of individual differences. The paper contributes to (...) this discussion by exploring the implications of this change for human resource management, and explaining how the systems of practices should be changed when they are directed to diverse groups. The model designed to test this notion includes: (1) demographic and human capital diversity as independent variables, (2) group performance (measured as innovation outcomes) as the dependent variable and, (3) the orientation of the strategic human resource management system as a potential moderator of this relationship. The main conclusion of the empirical analysis developed is that different patterns of human resource management practices can be used, depending on the type of diversity that the organization faces, and the specific effects that it wishes to manage. Concretely, three alternative management systems are identified in this paper, with different moderating effects. This result has interesting implications for human resource management professionals, explained in the last section. The limitations of this study are also discussed, as well as some issues that future research in this field should address. (shrink)

The formalization of abductive reasoning has received increasing attention from logicians. However, few work is found beyond abduction in propositional logic, given that in a first order formalism, the undecidability problem naturally appears, and therefore an abductive problem cannot even be appropriately formulated. Still, many applications in artificial intelligence allow finite domains to work with, and this gives an opportunity to apply abduction in first order logic with restricted domains. In this paper, we present an approach to abductive reasoning in (...) C-structures, first order structures with a finite domain in which each of its elements has a corresponding constant representing its interpretation. By using semantic tableaux with bounded depth, that is, C-tableaux (a modification of N-tableaux, introduced by the authors in previous papers) and δ-resolution calculus, we build an effective procedure for the searching of minimal abductive solutions within the proposed semantics. (shrink)

IntroductionThis study aimed to evaluate, in adults with mild cognitive impairment, the brain atrophy that may distinguish between three AT biomarker-based profiles, and to determine its clinical value.MethodsStructural MRI was employed to evaluate the volume and cortical thickness differences in MCI patients with different AT profiles, namely, A−T−−: normal AD biomarkers; A+T−−: AD pathologic change; and A+T++: prodromal AD. Sensitivity and specificity of these changes were also estimated.ResultsAn initial atrophy in medial temporal lobe areas was found in the A+T−− and (...) A+T++ groups, spreading toward the parietal and frontal regions in A+T++ patients. These structural changes allowed distinguishing AT profiles within the AD continuum; however, the profiles and their pattern of neurodegeneration were unsuccessful to determine the current clinical status.ConclusionsMRI is useful in the determination of the specific brain structural changes of AT profiles along the AD continuum, allowing differentiation between MCI adults with or without pathological AD biomarkers. (shrink)

We present a framework for understanding abduction within modal logic and Kripke semantics; worlds of a Kripke frame will represent possible theories, and a change in theory will be understood as a passage from one world to an adjacent possible world. Further, these steps may agree with the accessibility relation or may ‘backtrack’, accordingly as new information refutes or reinforces our present theory. Our formalism can be used to model not only abduction, but also to talk about the inner structure (...) of theories as well as relations between them, allowing us to interpret many ideas from philosophy of science within the well-understood framework of modal logic. (shrink)

El transhumanismo como filosofía e ideología tecnologicista tiene cada vez más adeptos y se coloca en los ámbitos académicos como una posición positiva, posible y deseable. Su implementación aparece solapada en una vida cotidiana que depende, como nunca antes, de los avances tecnológicos. La posición que manejaremos es que esta ideología, que sobredimensiona el papel de la tecnología en la sociedad, tiene una visión limitada respecto con los conflictos éticos, económicos y sociales que dimanan de sus presupuestos. El problema no (...) es negar la tecnología sino qué rol juega en la construcción de la sociedad. El transhumanismo puede estar vendiendo un falso sueño de libertad, donde la uniformidad, la ausencia de crítica, la discriminación y la separación radical entre pobres y ricos definan ese mundo paradisíaco que propone. (shrink)

Establecer algún tipo de relación entre libertad y seguridad supone darle a cada una un contenido específico. En nuestro caso, hablaremos de la seguridad en el ámbito público y de la libertad como libertad política y civil. Partiendo de ahí se reflexionará sobre la seguridad y la libertad en relación al monopolio legítimo de la violencia (coaccion física) por parte del Estado moderno y su vinculación con la teoría democrática moderna. Y lo haremos siguiendo la disyuntiva existente entre política y (...) ética característica de las sociedades modernas. (shrink)

Our main hypothesis is that an extended moral agent cannot fulfill their expectation of “extendedness” without a dynamical and evolutionary ecosystem where the agent develops and behave properly. It is important to establish a bridge between extended moral agents and ecosystems for two reasons: first, because there is not an enough direct theoretical reflection about this link. The scholars focus has been independently in improving the “extended agent theory”, the concepts of “ecosystem” or “ecosystem of innovation”. Second, if we want (...) to understand the wide scope of the decentered ethics in design of mobile robots and AI these two theoretical frames cannot be seen separately but in join interdependency. (shrink)

Starting from Proust’s distinction between the self-attributive and self-evaluative views on metacognition, this paper presents a third view: self-mindshaping. Based on the notion of mindshaping as the core of social cognition, the self-mindshaping view contends that mindshaping abilities can be turned on one’s own mind. Against the self-attributive view, metacognition is not a matter of accessing representations to metarepresent them but of giving shape to those representations themselves. Against the self-evaluative view, metacognition is not blind to content but relies heavily (...) on it. We characterize our view in terms of four issues that, according to Proust, distinguish the previous approaches, namely, whether metacognitive mechanisms are the same as those employed to access other minds, whether metacognitive control requires conceptual representation, whether metacognition is propositional, and whether metacognitive access is linked to mental action. After describing some of the mechanisms for self-mindshaping, we show how this view regards metacognition as grounded on social interaction mechanisms, conceptually driven, possibly, but not necessarily, propositional, and engaged in the practical regulation of mental states. Finally, we examine the prospects for the primacy of self-mindshaping as the primary metacognitive function. We argue that self-attributive processes typically subserve the practical goals emphasized by the mindshaping view, and that the evaluative role played by procedural metacognition can be grounded on social cues rather than on experiential feelings. Even if this is not enough to claim the primacy of self-mindshaping, it still appears as a third kind of metacognition, not reducible to the other two. (shrink)

Background: Serious games have shown positive results in increasing motivation, adherence to treatment and strengthening the therapeutic alliance in multiple psychiatric disorders. In particular, patients with impulse control disorders and other disorders in which the patient suffers from inhibitory control deficits have been shown to benefit from serious games.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and to evaluate the usability of a new serious videogame, e-Estesia. This serious videogame was designed to improve emotion regulation in patients (...) with gambling disorder. Preliminary results from a pilot sample are also reported.Method: A pilot sample of 26 patients undergoing treatment for GD was recruited. Participants used e-Estesia on a tablet, which was connected to a thoracic band that sent heart rate and heart rate variability data to the videogame platform in order to provide biofeedback. The System Usability Scale was completed by patients to determine the usability of e-Estesia.Results and Discussion: e-Estesia performed comparatively well for all the explored groups. Around 84.6% of the patients endorsed that it was easy to use. Female patients with GD presented higher HRV during the use of the serious videogame compared to men. (shrink)

Mediante un lenguaje paradojal, la obra de Miguel de Unamuno plantea de modo recurrente la cuestión de Dios, especialmente en el libro Del sentimiento trágico de la vida. Lo plantea bajo dos perspectivas: la del Dios pensado y la del Dios sentido. En ambos casos se trata de un Dios personal cuyo encuentro tiene lugar por vía de la intuición vivencial y el recogimiento. Se reconocen allí coincidencias con San Juan de la Cruz, y en general, con la mística al (...) privilegiar el sentimiento frente al entendimiento, la vivencia frente a la racionalidad. (shrink)

Vocation is an ethical category, that alludes to the perspective in which we view our lives and the preferences that guide it in quotidian praxis. In an ethical sense, vocation consists of four defining keys: Daily decisions, prudence, the effective grasp of a fundamental project and the personal/communal commitment to a line of work. A fifth key would have to be added: the religious or transcendental. This moral task hinges on becoming what we can be with what we are, having (...) as a result that our true destiny is our own Self. A vocation, more than a call, is an ethos of fidelity to oneself, a life project, a yearning for being responsible and taking life seriously in search of authenticity and plenitud. (shrink)

Mediante un lenguaje paradojal, la obra de Miguel de Unamuno plantea de modo recurrente la cuestión de Dios, especialmente en el libro Del sentimiento trágico de la vida. Lo plantea bajo dos perspectivas: la del Dios pensado y la del Dios sentido. En ambos casos se trata de un Dios personal cuyo encuentro tiene lugar por vía de la intuición vivencial y el recogimiento. Se reconocen allí coincidencias con San Juan de la Cruz, y en general, con la mística al (...) privilegiar el sentimiento frente al entendimiento, la vivencia frente a la racionalidad. (shrink)

In this essay we explain some of the problems of the Venezuelan criminal justice sub-system and, in general, the criminal law enforcement. That is to say, that which is expressed in the persecutory actions of the investigating authorities and the criminal courts, after having established in Venezuela a Carl Schmitt concept of Dual State with the purpose of eliminating “bourgeois” democracy and implanting the model of so-called Socialism of the XXI Century. In this sense, it is a question of identifying (...) the flagrant persecution and violation of human rights of those who do not have the capacity to resist the attacks emanating from the State in the abusive use of coercion and legal violence. With the Dual State want to impose an utopia by force, which leads to dystopia, due to the division and polarization of society with the dichotomous politics of friend-enemy, In a process of etiquette and "demonization" of the enemy. (shrink)

En este trabajo se analiza cómo el desarrollo de los men´s studies ha supuesto una aproximación a la cuestión de los géneros con la intención de problematizar y pluralizar la construcción de la identidad masculina hegemónica; identidad que se encuentra por detrás de ciertas consideraciones y comportamientos sexistas, entre los que se encuentra la violencia contra las mujeres. Ahondar críticamente en lo que se conoce como el estereotipo moderno de la masculinidad supone profundizar por ese camino, señalando como éste tiene (...) efectos negativos hacia las mujeres, y hacia algunos hombres, pero también hacia los hombres que lo reproducen pues el estereotipo no sólo genera privilegios para éstos sino que también puede ser fuente de dolor para ellos mismos. Finalmente, se plantea que la tradición retórica de la política supone una manera satisfactoria de aproximarnos a esta problemática. (shrink)

En los tiempos que corren parece ser que se ha ido gestando un nuevo tipo de sociedad en la que el consumismo es el núcleo moral de la vida. Todo hoy está sometido a la lógica de un mercado que tiene como nota preponderante la seducción; de ahí que lo lúdico y lo estético pretendan operar hoy en día como ejes integradores de la cultura. Embellecerse exteriormente y divertirse han devenido deberes, tanto que la gente suele sentirse avergonzada de trabajar (...) mucho y no gozar más, de no disponer de más tiempo libre para disfrutar más, con lo cual resulta evidente que seguimos viviendo bajo el signo de la desmesura: en la Modernidad vivimos para trabajar, hoy trabajamos para consumir. (shrink)

Vocación es una categoría ética, que alude a la perspectiva en que ponemos nuestra vida y a las preferencias que la van orientando en la praxis cotidiana. En sentido ético, la vocación tiene cuatro notas definitorias: Las elecciones cotidianas, la prudencia, la realización efectiva del proyecto fundamental y la entrega personal y comunitaria a un quehacer, y a éstas hay que adicionarles la vertiente religiosa o trascendente. La tarea moral, consiste en llegar a ser lo que se puede ser, con (...) lo que se es, de donde resulta que el verdadero destino es nuestro ser mismo: «Llega a ser el que eres». La vocación más que un llamado es «un êthos de fidelidad a sí mismo», un programa de vida, un afán de ser responsable y «tomarse en serio la vida», buscando que sea auténtica y plena. (shrink)