The application of metacognitive strategies is considered a basic skill of the student at any educational level. In the present study, we evaluate the reduced version of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory in Spanish, a self-report instrument designed to measure the metacognitive awareness of students and their perception of the strategies that they use while they are reading school materials. MARSI-R is formed by three subscales: global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, and strategies to support reading. We conducted a (...) confirmatory factor analysis in a Spanish student sample and the results shown relative inadequate fit for the proposed theoretical three-factor model. More important, the three subscales presented a high level of inter-correlation, which raises the need to assess to what extent the construct should be considered as unidimensional. We conducted two additional CFA models: a unidimensional model and a bifactor S-1 model, and the results indicated the presence of a strong general factor related to the GRS subscale. These results have important implications, since they imply that it is more appropriate to use the total score of the instrument derived of the S-1 model instead of the scores derived from each subscale. The bifactor S-1 model has allowed us to develop a closer approximation between the psychometric model and the theoretical model. (shrink)

Plagiarism is a serious, yet widespread type of research misconduct, and is often neglected in developing countries. Despite its far-reaching implications, plagiarism is poorly acknowledged and discussed in the academic setting, and insufficient evidence exists in Latin America and developing countries to inform the development of preventive strategies. In this context, we present a longitudinal case study of seven instances of plagiarism and cheating arising in four consecutive classes of an Epidemiology Masters program in Lima, Peru, and describes the implementation (...) and outcomes of a multifaceted, “zero-tolerance” policy aimed at introducing research integrity. Two cases involved cheating in graded assignments, and five cases correspond to plagiarism in the thesis protocol. Cases revealed poor awareness of high tolerance to plagiarism, poor academic performance, and widespread writing deficiencies, compensated with patchwriting and copy-pasting. Depending on the events’ severity, penalties included course failure and separation from the program. Students at fault did not engage in further plagiarism. Between 2011 and 2013, the Masters program sequentially introduced a preventive policy consisting of: intensified research integrity and scientific writing education, a stepwise, cumulative writing process; honor codes; active search for plagiarism in all academic products; and a “zero-tolerance” policy in response to documented cases. No cases were detected in 2014. In conclusion, plagiarism seems to be widespread in resource-limited settings and a greater response with educational and zero-tolerance components is needed to prevent it. (shrink)

Analyzing Mediumistic Mentation - Alvarado Proposal for Short List of Best Papers in Parapsychology - Levin Kauffman Stokes.

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar enunciados conversacionales con humor fallido producido en conversaciones entre mujeres, entre hombres, y entre hombres y mujeres para comprobar si utilizan las mismas estrategias conversacionales cuando se trata de evitar la descortesía. El humor fallido se produce cuando los interlocutores, si bien reconocen la presencia de un enunciado humorístico, no lo continúan para así evitar ataques hacia la imagen de algunos de los participantes. Para llevar a cabo nuestro objetivo, nos basaremos en (...) la Teoría General del Humor Verbal propuesta por Attardo y Raskin ed: Joke similarity and joke representation model. En HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research : pp. 293-347) y, en especial, Attardo, en la Teoría de la Cortesía que proponen Brown y Levinson, en tanto que analizaremos ejemplos extraídos del Corpus de conversaciones coloquiales de Briz y grupo Val.Es.Co. y del corpus de los mismos autores en proceso de digitalización. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI)-3 test to evaluate eating disorders in young Chilean population. Methods: The sample consisted of 1,091 Chilean adolescents and young people (i.e., 476 men and 615 women) between 15 and 28 years old, from the metropolitan region, and four regions from the coast and south-central zone of the country. The reliability and factorial structure of the instrument were analyzed, replicating the confirmatory factor analyses ofBrookings (...) et al. (2020), evaluating four additional models that included bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), bifactor, and two-bifactor. Results: A majority of the subscales presented alphas and omegas equal to or greater than 0.70, with the exception of asceticism (α = 0.543, ω = 0.552) and interpersonal alienation (α = 0.684, ω = 0.695) scales, which are consistent with the values of the Spanish and Mexican non-clinical samples. The best fit indices were obtained by the ESEM two-bifactor model, with twelve specific factors corresponding to the EDI-3 subscales and two general orthogonal factors (i.e., risk subscales and psychological subscales), consistently with the theoretical basis. (shrink)

Cette étude met en confrontation Michel Henry avec Paul Ricoeur sur la question de la lecture de S. Freud. Il y est donc question de la psyché et de l’affectivité. L’auteur de l’étude rappelle combien le projet de la rationalité contemporaine conjoint des thèses philosophiques sur le statut du sujet et sur celui des schèmes perceptifs de la conscience, au gré d’une relation complexe entre l’étant et le phénomène. L’auteur rappelle les analyses husserliennes relatives à la psyché entendue comme « (...) vie » et ses effets de co-implication. Chez M. Henry, l’inconscient est toutefois compris, soit comme un « inconscient de la représentation », mais cela dans une perspective critique, soit comme cet autre nom de la « vie », spécifiquement dans ses structures d’auto-révélation et d’auto-affectivité. En reprenant la nature du débat entre M. Henry et P. Ricoeur, l’auteur montre que tout l’enjeu réside dans la place que l’on confère aux effets et opérations de la dialectique et de la réflexivité. (shrink)

La pandemia del COVID-19 ha cambiado las formas de morir, gestionar y ritualizar las muertes. Este trabajo problematiza el dilema ético de dignificar la muerte, dando espacio a la singularidad en los ritos fúnebres, desde la perspectiva kantiana; versus su tecnificación que, desde el utilitarismo, homogeniza estos rituales para proteger las vidas. La pregunta es si, efectivamente, la protección sanitaria de la vida mediante la protocolización de los rituales fúnebres puede ser puesta en valor, en un momento tan determinante como (...) la muerte. Como conclusión, se considera la importancia de que estas medidas integren la diversidad cultural del país en la forma de afrontar las muertes. En este trabajo se expone, analiza y reflexiona sobre el dilema ético de la muerte digna, a partir de su simbolización expresada en los ritos fúnebres, desde un punto de vista kantiano; versus su afrontamiento pragmático que, desde el utilitarismo, produce una tecnificación de la muerte, que homogeniza y limita su expresión ritual para proteger las vidas de los sobrevivientes. La pregunta que se desprende de este problema ético-político es si, efectivamente, la protección sanitaria de la vida impuesta por la protocolización que restringe y homogeniza la realización de rituales fúnebres es algo que pueda ser puesto en valor, en un momento tan determinante como la muerte de un ser querido. A partir del análisis realizado y considerando la necesidad de tomar las medidas necesarias para evitar los contagios, se concluye la importancia de que estas medidas consideren fórmulas compensatorias que permitan a los deudos y a la sociedad, procesar las pérdidas humanas producto de la pandemia. (shrink)

Ethics support staff help others to deal with moral challenges. However, they themselves can also experience moral challenges such as issues regarding (breaching) confidentiality when practicing ethics support. Currently there is no insight in these confidentiality issues and also no professional guidance for dealing with them. To gain insight into moral challenges related to Moral Case Deliberation (MCD), we studied a) beliefs and experiences of MCD facilitators regarding breaching confidentiality, b) considerations for (not) breaching confidentiality, and c) needs for an (...) ethics support tool. Data collection consisted of qualitative research methods: six semi-structured interviews; analyses of a) two recorded MCD sessions, and b) a focus group with MCD facilitators. Findings: MCD facilitators mention different conceptions and interpretations of confidentiality and various moral challenges. Questions concerning confidentiality ultimately cause reflections on roles and responsibilities of facilitators. Needs for ethics support vary from seeking advice to procedural and sometimes normative guidance for MCD facilitators. Education for MCD facilitators should focus on developing a concrete tool that stimulates awareness and reflection(skills). (shrink)

This content analysis examines the ways that genocide is included in the high school world history content standards of eleven states with legislative mandates requiring genocide education, as well as if the content standards in those states differ from those of states without mandated genocide education. The null curriculum theorizes that the content that is not taught may be as important as what is taught; this lens allows for a nuanced analysis of the ways that genocide is included and excluded (...) in state standards. The findings suggest that states with legislative mandates requiring genocide education do not necessarily have high school world history content standards that require genocide education. The content standards in states with legislative mandates often omit acts of genocide, refrain from using the term “genocide,” and frame genocides as less important than the Holocaust, perpetuating the null curriculum of genocides. (shrink)

This article undertakes a deconstructive reading of astrobiology’s search for extraterrestrial life. Taking its lead from Derrida’s ‘White Mythology’, it explores ‘metaphor in the text of astrobiology’—and includes within the astrobiological ‘text’ not only scientific publications and work on astrobiology in the philosophy of science, but also ‘life detection technologies’. I situate astrobiology in the tradition of a metaphysical analogy that goes back through the enlightenment and early modern astronomy to the ancient Atomists’ notion of the ‘plurality of worlds’. This (...) analogy, which constitutes an identification of life with being and therefore serves as the conceptual basis for the notion that life must exist on other worlds, experiences a mutation in the middle of the twentieth century when molecular biology refigures life in terms of a scriptural metaphor as text. The result is an aporia whose logic Derrida formalised in ‘White Mythology’. (shrink)

Given a rich environment, how do we decide on what information to use? A view of a single entity (e.g., a group of birds) affords many distinct interpretations, including their number, average size, and spatial extent. An enduring challenge for cognition, therefore, is to focus resources on the most relevant evidence for any particular decision. In the present study, subjects completed three tasks—number discrimination, surface area discrimination, and convex hull discrimination—with the same stimulus set, where these three features were orthogonalized. (...) Therefore, only the relevant feature provided consistent evidence for decisions in each task. This allowed us to determine how well humans discriminate each feature dimension and what evidence they relied on to do so. We introduce a novel computational approach that fits both feature precision and feature use. We found that the most relevant feature for each decision is extracted and relied on, with minor contributions from competing features. These results suggest that multiple feature dimensions are separately represented for each attended ensemble of many items and that cognition is efficient at selecting the appropriate evidence for a decision. (shrink)

In this introduction to part 3 of the Common Knowledge symposium “Antipolitics,” the journal's editor argues that, apart from sortition, the best guarantees of safety in a democracy are, first, to augment judicial oversight of all political processes and, second, to exclude politicians from the process of selecting judges. “There can never be too much judicial interference,” he writes, “in what politicians regard as their domain.” The author reached this conclusion during attempts by the newly elected Israeli government, in the (...) spring of 2023, to make itself absolute by eliminating checks on its conduct that the Supreme Court had been developing and applying since the 1950s. Traditional Jewry and Judaism being notoriously hypernomian, the resistance to legality on the part of the ruling coalition has conveyed an aura of antinomian heresy. The choice in Israel appears to be between antipolitics and antinomianism, rather than between Left and Right politically—and the antipolitical model in Israel of a superintendent judiciary and an autonomous attorney general is arguably superior to the American prototype, even from the perspective (“all men are created equal..., endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”) that we have come to regard as quintessentially American. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:Psychedelic substances have great promise for the treatment of many conditions, and they are the subject of intensive research. As with other medical treatments, both research and clinical use of psychedelics depend on our ability to ensure informed consent by patients and research participants. However, some have argued that informed consent for psychedelic use may be impossible, because psychedelic experiences can be transformative in the sense articulated by L. A. Paul (2014). For Paul, transformative experiences involve either the acquisition of (...) knowledge that cannot be obtained in any other way or changes in the self. Either of these characteristics may appear to undermine informed consent. This article argues, however, that there is limited evidence that psychedelic experiences are transformative in Paul's sense, and that they may not differ in their transformative features from other common medical experiences for which informed consent is clearly possible. Further, even if psychedelic experiences can be transformative, informed consent is still possible. Because psychedelic experiences are importantly different in several respects from other medical experiences, this article closes with recommendations for how these differences should be reflected in informed consent processes. (shrink)

In this paper, I propose that Derrida’s writing on the impossibility of justice has the potential for fruitful dialogue with Ruth Chang’s contemporary account of practical rationality. For Derrida, making a just decision must always come with a moment of undecidability, a “leap” into the unknown with an experience of doubt and anxiety that continues to “haunt” the decision-maker. By contrast, in her work on rationality, Chang proposes that hard decisions are difficult to make because the alternatives are “on a (...) par,” such that there are no rational differences between the alternatives that would contribute to choosing one over the other. Hard decisions are made by expressing one’s own rational agency, generating will-based reasons to commit to or “drift” into one of the alternatives. Derrida writes of anxiety, doubt, and impossibility, yet Chang writes of commitment, agency, and rationality. Despite these differences, there are important comparisons and connections between the two accounts that are worth exploring. I suggest that the moment of the decision which Derrida describes as heterogeneous to knowledge can be understood as a moment of parity in which there is a lack of given reasons, as explained by Chang. Chang’s account of rational agency provides an interpretation of how decision-making is possible despite the undecidability as described by Derrida. This notion of commitment and agency as explained by Chang is not incompatible with Derrida’s insistence that the responsible decision is haunted by anxiety and doubt. Instead, I suggest that Derrida’s writing highlights uncertainty as central to understanding the nature of hard choices and how to navigate the demands of justice. (shrink)

Our new issue brings unlikely philosophers into dialogue (for example, Adorno and Krishnamurti) for the first time as well as reconsiders some of the most important figures (for example, Nietzsche...

Two kinds of claims of responsibility arise in regard to health and medical care. Claims of one kind are obligation-limiting claims about individuals’ responsibility for coming to need health care. It may be argued, for example, that individuals have no claim to state-sponsored care for injuries they suffer as a result of risky activities such as mountain climbing, sky diving, or smoking. The claim is that because they are responsible for what has happened to them, others are not obligated to (...) pay for their care. In a different context, it is claimed that because patients are, or should be, responsible for the kind of treatment they receive. They therefore need to be informed about the treatment options available to them so that they can decide which of these treatments, if any, they will undergo. The lecture provides an account of responsibility that fits claims of both of these kinds and explains how they are related. (shrink)

A vital step to successfully orienting Deleuze with biosemiotics (and theories of biological complexity overall) is to discover a coherent scientific throughline in his work that also accounts for the aesthetic/creative dimension of his philosophy. This requires the heterodox move (from a Deleuzean point of view) of giving priority to the organism. I argue that Deleuze’s treatment of the organism does more than signal a superficial relation to biological complexity theory that, as a result of his nuanced take on the (...) matter, undermines the value of the organic body to his system. Instead, we can recognize a working theory of autopoiesis in the early Deleuze that scaffolds as well as substantiates his later ethological and biosemiotic observations and reveals a definite, albeit minimal, notion of subjectivity in his work. Most importantly, reorienting his logic of sense as a logic of sense-making, or the context-dependent signification between system and environment (Thompson, 2007), allows us to begin the work of mining a scientific throughline in Deleuze’s work akin to biological complexity theory that is of value to both Deleuze studies and biosemiotics. (shrink)

Multi-Task Learning tries to improve the learning process of different tasks by solving them simultaneously. A popular Multi-Task Learning formulation for SVM is to combine common and task-specific parts. Other approaches rely on using a Graph Laplacian regularizer. Here we propose a combination of these two approaches that can be applied to L1, L2 and LS-SVMs. We also propose an algorithm to iteratively learn the graph adjacency matrix used in the Laplacian regularization. We test our proposal with synthetic and real (...) problems, both in regression and classification settings. When the task structure is present, we show that our model is able to detect it, which leads to better results, and we also show it to be competitive even when this structure is not present. (shrink)

Supporting children to successfully transition from primary to secondary school is of utmost importance for several reasons, including to prevent future emotional and behavioural problems. Level Up is a novel, UK-based intervention consisting of five online group sessions, straddling the summer holidays, and providing at-risk children and their parents/carers with skills to manage their behaviour, emotions, and relationships to support their transition to secondary school. A prior evaluation of Level Up reported a need to better describe the mechanisms of change. (...) This study therefore evaluated the experiences of children and their parents/carers regarding the facilitators and barriers to engagement and change, and the perceived impact. Fourteen children and 17 parents/carers were interviewed. Identified barriers and facilitators were: (1) Having a safe, supportive, and fun space, (2) Learning through connection, (3) A family approach, (4) Problematic group dynamics, and (5) Connecting through video calls. Perceived impact was described as: (1) Empowering children, (2) Supporting children socially, (3) Supporting parents and carers in their parenting role, and (4) Supporting a successful transition to secondary school. Another theme (5) describes some families’ experiences of limited impact. These findings can be used to better understand how to support children in their school transition. (shrink)

Two kinds of claims of responsibility arise in regard to health and medical care. Claims of one kind are obligation-limiting claims about individuals’ responsibility for coming to need health care. It may be argued, for example, that individuals have no claim to state-sponsored care for injuries they suffer as a result of risky activities such as mountain climbing, sky diving, or smoking. The claim is that because these individuals are responsible for what has happened to them, others are not obligated (...) to pay for their care. In a different context, it is claimed that because patients are, or should be, responsible for the kind of treatment they receive. They therefore need to be informed about the treatment options available to them so that they can decide which of these treatments, if any, they will undergo. The lecture provides an account of responsibility that explains claims of both of these kinds and explains how they are related. There follows a response to comments by Peter Chau, dealing in particular with “libertarian paternalism” and with the adequacy of my value of choice account of responsibility. (shrink)

The alienation of labour is both classical and contemporary. In its classical form, it speaks to the potential dehumanisation of workers in capitalist societies. In its contemporary form, it manifests itself in the disenfranchisement of the individual because of changes in organised global workplaces. Over the years, Africa’s labour transition from traditional spirituality to contemporary organised global workplaces has fuelled new forms of public labour alienation. Civil servants, in some African countries, experience labour alienation reminiscent of work under capitalism. This (...) is in contradiction to the pre-colonial and traditional view of work as a vocation. Zimbabwe is undergoing negative economic, social, and political growth that has resulted in the alienation of civil servants. The government reneges on its public role of providing space for individual growth and well-being in preference for ‘public capitalism’ and cultural alienation. The potential for an effective public service lies in changing the work culture. Contribution: This article interrogates the impacts of the work culture within the public service in Zimbabwe in an attempt to proffer a return to the African traditional spirituality of work that was founded on the principles of ubuntu. It recognises the traditional symbiotic relationship between being and doing among the indigenous African communities as the panacea for the continent’s human capital development. (shrink)

In their article “The Bioethics of Environmental Injustice: Ethical, Legal, and Clinical Implications of Unhealthy Environments,” Ray and Cooper (2024) invite us to prioritize environmental health...

The ineffectiveness of some elders and deacons of Maranatha Reformed Church of Christ to implement their functions and duties contributed to the deterioration of the spiritual and material sustainability of the church. To counteract this corrosion, the church established a training team that instituted an informal programme as a means of revitalising elders and deacons. After running a pilot project to test the training programme, the team presented its report to the General Church Assembly. A selective interpretation of informal education (...) can contribute to a misguided and limited perception of informal knowledge and acquisition as uncivilised and unsustainable. In this article, the researcher seeks to articulate the formal and informal dynamics of informal education. He employed an exploratory concurrent design of mixed methods research within an indigenous paradigm to analyse the report on training of elders and deacons. The researcher used a convenience sampling strategy to select the authors of the report, namely four trainers and four trainees, with whom he conducted a focus group discussion. Although strategically formulated, the learning activities and resources were continuously innovated in the informal programme for elders and deacons. The conclusion reached is that the learning process in informal education is flexible and mutually edifying for educators and trainees.Contribution: Education for the proclamation of the gospel and church governance is not intended exclusively for ministers or theologians. Despite their diversity, elders and deacons need to be educated on the proclamation of the gospel according to the teachings of their church, using their respective contexts. Informal education, which comprises formal and informal dynamics, can contribute towards addressing the problem of untrained elders and deacons. (shrink)

Human social interaction is varied, complex and always changing. How we perceive each other and ourselves, how individuals interact within groups, and how groups are structured--all these are the domain of social psychology. Many have doubted, however, that a full-fledged social psychology textbook can successfully be written from a Christian perspective. Inevitably, some say, when attempting to integrate theology and social psychology, one discipline must suffer at the expense of the other. Angela Sabates counters that thinking by demonstrating how these (...) two disciplines can indeed be brought together in a fruitful way. She crisply covers key topics in social psychology, utilizing research that is well grounded in the empirical and theoretical literature, while demonstrating how a distinctively Christian approach can offer fresh ideas and understandings. Why doesn t our behavior always match what we say we believe? How and when are we most likely to be persuaded? What is the social psychology of violence? How reliable are eyewitness testimonies? Are racism and prejudice on the decline or are we just better at hiding them? Sabates draws out the implications of a Christian view of human persons on these and other central subjects within the well-established framework of social psychological study. This volume is for those looking for a core text that makes use of a Christian theological perspective to explore what the science of psychology suggests to us about the nature of human social interaction. (shrink)

The following essay considers Luis de Losada’s thinking with respect to the scholastic dispute between univocity and analogy. Noteworthy is the fact that the conclusions he reaches are at odds with those of Francisco Suarez, whom the younger Jesuit otherwise regards with unmitigated filial devotion. Though Losada differs from his master regarding analogy, the position he puts forth capitalizes upon a distinction between a logico-semantic perspective and a metaphysical perspective. The result is an irenic balance among all the schools (Thomistic, (...) Scotist, and Jesuit) regarding univocity and analogy. Nevertheless, Losada goes beyond the discussions dividing proponents of analogy and those of univocity when he inquires whether any kind of analogical community obtains between real being and beings of reason. Remarkably, he answers that there is a univocal community, thereby embracing the scholastic notion of supertranscendentality. (shrink)