The use of wireless sensor networks and the Internet of things to detect forest fire outbreaks may help to reduce the response time and avoid natural disasters. This work proposes the deployment of WSN to enhance the real-time monitoring of dynamic variables such as polluting gases, temperature or the presence of fire flames by infrared. In addition, the activation of forest fire alerts if environmental status may involve evidence of a recent fire outbreak. A fuzzy-based controller is implemented to manage (...) the uncertainty related to estimating forest fire occurrence and dynamic update of fuzzy sets is developed to distinguish usual and unusual environmental conditions of every monitored forest area. Merkle trees, AES and hash functions are considered to protect the integrity of environmental data. (shrink)

Huge losses and serious threats to ecosystems are common consequences of forest fires. This work describes a forest fire controller based on fuzzy logic and decision-making methods aiming at enhancing forest fire prevention, detection, and fighting systems. In the proposal, the environmental monitoring of several dynamic risk factors is performed with wireless sensor networks and analysed with the proposed fuzzy-based controller. With respect to this, meteorological variables, polluting gases and the oxygen level are measured in real time to estimate the (...) existence of forest fire risks in the short-term and to detect the recent occurrence of fire outbreaks over different forest areas. Besides, the Analytic Hierarchy Process method is used to determine the level of fire spread, and, when necessary, environmental alerts are sent by a Web service and received by a mobile application. For this purpose, integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of environmental information and alerts are protected with implementations of Lamport’s authentication scheme, Diffie-Lamport signature, and AES-CBC block cipher. (shrink)

El manual escolar sigue siendo un recurso didáctico clave en la enseñanza de la historia. En Educación Primaria y Secundaria pervive su uso, a pesar de las numerosas reformas educativas llevadas a cabo desde hace siglo y medio. Este trabajo pretende analizar su vigencia, estructura y cambios a lo largo del tiempo. Los cada vez más numerosos estudios se han escrito desde una perspectiva española o portuguesa, así que interesa conocer la evolución paralela y establecer comparaciones. Se analizan las escuelas (...) historiográficas y pedagógicas que han influido en la evolución de los currículos educativos. Además, se reflexiona sobre los contenidos históricos de los manuales, especialmente las narrativas nacionales. (shrink)

This article captures and critiques a recurring and prominent political argument against animal welfare improvements in Switzerland which we term the “ranking argument”. This states that Swiss animal welfare law ranks among the strictest in the world, therefore no improvements are called for. This argument was advanced three times by Swiss government authorities in 2022 alone, but also in a case dating back to 1984, to advise the electorate on popular initiatives aiming at animal welfare improvements. We argue that, while (...) the argument commits a fallacy of relative privation and is ethically dubious, it can be deployed to great effect by agents opposed to norm change in animal welfare regulation. We conclude with some thoughts on how the ranking argument can and should be challenged in public discourse. (shrink)

The present article intends to analyze the repercussions that neuroethics, as a growing discipline of neurosciences, has in the field of philosophy and moral education. These repercussions concern the evidence of a biological or neuronal support that determines both ethical behavior and moral reasoning. Faced with this situation, there are two main opposing positions: on the one hand, that which conceives that morality has to become a matter of sociobiologists; from another, the one that maintains that morality is irreducible to (...) neuronal chemistry, so it continues to demand a philosophical commitment. (shrink)

The removal of water from mines was one of the key issues that former miners had to deal with. Roman colonists brought new technology to the Iberian Peninsula that addressed this problem. However, they did not invent this technology because it had already been applied to the growth of other endeavours in the Hellenistic society throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. In the mine, the Archimedes screw, waterwheels, bucket pulleys, and Ctesibius pumps were the primary drainage systems. In this essay, the primary (...) characteristics, and modes of operation of machines are examined. Without leaving out the most significant finds made in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, one of the regions with the longest history of mining exploitation. To serve as a foundation for future research in this field, this work compares the primary mining mechanisms in ancient Huelva on a qualitative and quantitative level by the implementation of a TOPSIS methodology, a multi-criteria decision analysis method. (shrink)

La transgresión que supone la asociación de la violencia con las mujeres se revela en el tratamiento político y mediático que han recibido las mujeres de ETA, frecuentemente asociadas con una feminidad pervertida. Este artículo analiza la identificación del cuerpo de la mujer de ETA con la sexualidad desviada de los modelos normativos nacionalistas, explora las conflictivas relaciones de las mujeres con la violencia y se detiene en las figuras políticas y el liderazgo de Yoyes y de Idoia López Riaño. (...) En el primer caso se analiza la transgresión representada por la presencia inasimilable de una líder de ETA tras su abandono de la actividad terrorista y tras su maternidad. En el segundo se explora su representación y la negociación política y mediática de su identidad. Si Yoyes ocupa un espacio simbólico en el imaginario político vasco, López Riaño constituye un testimonio vivo en el proceso de esta militancia femenina en ETA. (shrink)

Civility is formed by social norms that guide our behavior and allow us to interact appropriately with others. These norms affect everyone and are learned through the socialization process. However, in the same process, people also learn gender norms that dictate how men and women should behave, leading to gender stereotypes and differentiated behavioral characteristics. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between gender and civility, and how we react to those who behave uncivilly given their gender. (...) The results of Study 1 showed that even in a fictional and gender-neutral society, uncivil behaviors were associated with stereotypically masculine characteristics, and those who behaved uncivilly were dehumanized. In Study 2, gender differences were observed in incivility. Women were harsher when facing uncivil transgressors than men, especially if the transgressor was another woman. Our findings support the notion that gender norms are applied to civility, leading those supposedly equal social norms to unequal perceptions and evaluations. (shrink)

The ethics of deceased organ procurement (OP) is supposedly based on individual consent to donate, either explicit (opt-in) or presumed (opt-out). However, in many cases, individuals fail to express any preference regarding donation after death. When this happens, the decision to remove or not to remove their organs depends on the policy’s default option or on family preferences. Several studies show that in most countries the family plays a significant and often decisive role in the process of decision-making for OP. (...) Depending on the country, the family may be allowed to take different kinds of actions in different situations, and this may be granted either by law or by clinical practice only. This adds much complexity to the usual classification of consent policies in two categories: opt-in and opt-out. Here we propose a novel and comprehensive taxonomy of the models of consent for OP according to three variables: (1) the deceased’s wishes, if any, (2) family wishes, if any, and (3) default policies. By analysing these models of consent, we show that they rely on at least three different concepts of autonomy: individual autonomy, relational autonomy, and family autonomy. In light of this analysis, we discuss the ethical debates surrounding two policy approaches: presumed consent and family veto. (shrink)

Background: Several countries have recently changed their model of consent for organ donation from opt-in to opt-out. We undertook a systematic review to determine public knowledge and attitudes towards these models in Europe. Methods: Six databases were explored between 1 January 2008 and 15 December 2017. We selected empirical studies addressing either knowledge or attitudes towards the systems of consent for deceased organ donation by lay people in Europe, including students. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were conducted by (...) two or more reviewers independently. Findings: Awareness of the consent model was lower in opt-out countries than in opt-in countries. A majority of the public agrees with opt-in, regardless of the law in their own country. There are ambivalent attitudes regarding the opt-out system. The public tend to prefer opt-in and mandatory choice over opt-out when several options are offered. Interpretation: The assumption that people in opt-out countries are aware of the legal requirements to be excluded from the pool of potential donors is not supported by the results of this review. This is a concern, since ignorance hinders people's autonomy regarding organ donation decision-making. Higher awareness of consent model in opt-in countries may reflect greater efforts to inform the public through campaigns to motivate donation. Legal moves towards opt-out are at odds with people's expressed preferences. Main limitations of this review are the lack of data from some countries, study population heterogeneity, and methodological shortcomings. (shrink)

Introducción: Los cambios biológicos, sicológicos, económicos y sociales que se observan durante el envejecimiento conllevan a pensar que en los ancianos existe una serie de factores que favorecen la aparición de una depresión. Objetivo: evaluar la efectividad de una intervención sicológica para disminuir la depresión en adultos mayores de la Casa de abuelos "Dr. Diego Tamayo Figueredo", de Puerto Padre, en el período de noviembre de 2013 - mayo de 2014. Material y métodos: se realizó un estudio de intervención sicológica (...) en una muestra de 12 adultos mayores de la casa de abuelos. Se aplicó un programa de intervención sicológica, así como la Escala de Depresión Geriátrica para realizar la valoración antes y después de la intervención. Se empleó el modelo Cognitivo- Conductual de Beck. Los datos fueron tratados según la estadística descriptiva. Resultados: el porciento más elevado de pacientes correspondió al grupo de ancianos con edades entre los 60 y 90 años de edad. Respecto al sexo, el más frecuente es el masculino. El asma bronquial, la hipertensión arterial y la diabetes Mellitus representaron el mayor porciento de antecedentes patológicos personales. Conclusión: la intervención sicológica resultó efectiva pues se logró disminuir a leve los niveles iniciales de depresión establecida y los considerados con leve a no depresión, por lo tanto se afirma que con su aplicación fue modificado el estado emocional de los adultos mayores que se implicaron en la muestra. Introduction: Biological, psychological, financial and social changes observed during aging lead to think that there is a series of factors that favor the appearance of depression in senior citizens. Objective: Assessing the effectiveness of a psychological intervention in order to reduce depression in senior citizens from "Dr. Diego Tamayo Figueredo" Senior Citizens' House, Puerto Padre, from November 2013 to May 2014. Material and methods: A psychological intervention study was conducted on a sample of 12 senior citizens from the house. A psychological intervention program as well as the Geriatrics Depression Scale were applied before and after the intervention in order to make the assessment. The Beck's cognitive-behavior model was used. Data was processed according to descriptive statistics. Results: The highest percentage of patients corresponded to a group of seniors between 60 and 90 years of age. Regarding sex, males are more common. Bronchial asthma, arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus represented the highest percentage of personal pathological history. Conclusion: The psychological intervention proved to be effective since initial established depression levels were reduced to minor and those considered as minor were reduced to no depression ; therefore, it is stated that its application modified the state of mind of the senior citizens involved in the sample. (shrink)

La acción de los medios de prensa de construir y representar realidades socioculturales genera --en reiteradas ocasiones-- relaciones desiguales, promoviendo e institucionalizando unas identidades en desmedro de otras. La situación se complejiza cuando se trata de países vecinos, con sus respectivas tradiciones socio-histórico-culturales, pasados comunes y límites bisagra. Bajo este escenario se analizaron las producciones noticiosas de cobertura nacional publicadas en los periódicos de mayor tirada de dos países limítrofes: “El Mercurio” de Chile y “El Comercio” de Perú. De este (...) modo, y por medio de una herramienta metodológica ligada al Análisis Crítico y Complejo del Discurso, esta investigación busca comprender los procesos de construcciones noticiosas y representaciones que los medios de prensa chilenos y peruanos hacen en torno a los “discursos de la diferencia” que se institucionalizan en la relación entre ambas naciones. The action of the press media of constructing and representing socio-cultural realities generates --on numerous occasions-- unequal relationships, which promote and institutionalize certain identities in detriment of others. The situation becomes more complex when it deals with neighboring countries and their corresponding socio-historical-cultural traditions, shared pasts, and “hinge-like” borders. Under this scenario, the production of national news by two nationwide press media of the neighboring countries will be analyzed: “El Mercurio” of Chile and “El Comercio” of Perú. In this manner, and using a methodological tool based on the Critical and Complex Analysis of the Discourse, the main objective of this research is to understand processes of construction of news and representations that the Chilean and Peruvian press make linked to the “discourse of the differences” which have been institutionalized in the relationship between them both. (shrink)

El artículo tiene por objeto analizar la construcción del conocimiento mapuche según el discurso de kimches. Sostenemos que en la educación familiar existe un proceso de construcción de conocimientos propios como un sistema de saberes y contenidos educativos para la formación de personas. La metodología empleada es la investigación educativa. Los resultados parciales muestran una descripción acerca de la lógica de los conocimientos educativos propios, para contextualizar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las ciencias en el medio escolar, desde la (...) educación intercultural en contexto mapuche. The aim of this article is to analyze the construction of Mapuche knowledge based on the kimches speech. We argue that within family education, there exists a process of constructing their own knowledge, as a system of knowledge and educational contents for forming individuals. The research methodology applied corresponds to education research. Preliminary results describe the logic of individual educational knowledge from intercultural education in the Mapuche context, so as to contextualize the teaching and learning of Science in schools. (shrink)

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo comentar algunas prohibiciones del padre Miguel Ángel de Tamburini y del padre Francisco Retz explicando los conceptos fundamentales de dichas prohibiciones a través de un método analítico y relacionándolos posteriormente bajo un método sintético con los argumentos presentados. Esto último permitirá realizar una reconstrucción de las prohibiciones cuyo ensamble se consolidará en argumentos breves. Asimismo, evaluar cuáles pueden ser las causas o los fundamentos que subyacen en las prohibiciones mismas, es decir, evaluar las causas de (...) su veto. Finalmente, determinar las implicaciones filosóficas de las prohibiciones desde Descartes, Leibniz y Spinoza y sus correspondientes visiones de la Creación, la voluntad, el determinismo y el principio de individuación. (shrink)

Since 1968, the irreversible loss of functioning of the whole brain, called brain death, is assimilated to individual’s death. The almost universal acceptance of this neurological criterion of death had decisive consequences for the contemporary medicine, such as the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation in these patients and organ retrieval for transplantation. The new criterion was successfully accepted in part because the assimilation of brain death state to death was presented by medicine --and acritically assumed by most of societies-- as a (...) scientific and objective fact. Nevertheless, many people do not think that the patients suffering brain death are actually dead. We show here that those people are not necessarily wrong. It can be argued that, in fact, the justification of the neurological criterion is not scientific but moral. We outline the thesis that the problem surrounding the vital status of brain dead patients is due to a confusion between factual and normative questions. Furthermore, we claim that the donation of organs and the withdrawal of life-support could be ethically acceptable even if the patients suffering brain death are considered as alive. As an alternative to the dead donor rule, we propose a justification for organ donation of brain-dead patients based on the (moral) concepts of harm and consent : what truly justifies the procurement of organs on those patients is not that they are dead, but that they wish to donate their organs and that, since they have irreversibly lost their brain, they cannot be harmed. (shrink)

Objectives To increase postmortem organ donation rates, several countries are adopting an opt-out (presumed consent) policy, meaning that individuals are deemed donors unless they expressly refused so. Although opt-out countries tend to have higher donation rates, there is no conclusive evidence that this is caused by the policy itself. The main objective of this study is to better assess the direct impact of consent policy defaults per se on deceased organ recovery rates when considering the role of the family in (...) the decision-making process. This study does not take into account any indirect effects of defaults, such as potential psychological and behavioural effects on individuals and their relatives. -/- Design Based on previous work regarding consent policies, we created a conceptual model of the decision-making process for deceased organ recovery that included any scenario that could be directly influenced by opt-in or opt-out policies. We then applied this model to internationally published data of the consent process to determine how frequently policy defaults could apply. -/- Main outcome measures We measure the direct impact that opt-in and opt-out policies have per se on deceased organ recovery. -/- Results Our analysis shows that opt-in and opt-out have strictly identical outcomes in eight out of nine situations. They only differ when neither the deceased nor the family have expressed a preference and defaults therefore apply. The direct impact of consent policy defaults is typically circumscribed to a range of 0%–5% of all opportunities for organ recovery. Our study also shows that the intervention of the family improves organ retrieval under opt-in but hinders it under opt-out. -/- Conclusions This study may warn policy makers that, by emphasising the need to introduce presumed consent to increase organ recovery rates, they might be overestimating the influence of the default and underestimating the power granted to families. (shrink)

Se realizó un estudio cuali-cuantitativo en la Comunidad Rural "El León" de la provincia de Camagüey. Se utilizó el método etnográfico y la evaluación del Análisis de la Situación de Salud en el periodo 2007-2015 con el objetivo de describir las características socio históricas y de salud de esta población, conjuntamente con profesionales de enfermería comunitaria. Se crearon instrumentos validados por expertos. Se aplicaron grupos focales, observación participante, entrevistas en profundidad a informantes clave, socioculturales, estructuradas abiertas y la cerrada para (...) combinarla con los resultados del Análisis de la Situación de Salud en el proceder cuantitativo. Se triangularon sus resultados. Se evidenció: falta de sentido de pertenencia de los pobladores, indisciplinas sociales que perjudican la comunidad y su salud, deterioro de las relaciones interpersonales, sistema eco cultural deficiente, y se identificó la necesidad de emprender otras acciones comunitarias que provoquen el cambio y modifiquen el cuadro de salud comunitaria. The quantitative and qualitative in the Community Rural accomplished a study itself "The Lion" of Camagüey's province. The 2007-2015 for the sake of describing the characteristics utilized the ethnographic method and the evaluation of Health's Analysis of the Situation in the period itself member historic and of health of this population together with nursing professionals, communal. They created instruments validated by experts. They applied focal groups, participating observation, you interview key, socio cultural to informants in depth, structured open and the closed to combine it with the results of Health's Analysis of the Situation in the quantitative action. They triangulated his results. It became evident: The inhabitants's pointlessness of possession, social indiscipline that the community and his health, deterioration of personal relations, system harm cultural deficient echo, and the need to undertake another communal actions was identified that they provoke the change and modify the picture of communal health. (shrink)

Se realizó una intervención comunitaria en el asentamiento rural "El León" de Camagüey basada en los resultados de un estudio anterior. Su objetivo fue implementar un sistema de acciones socio-sanitarias colectadas en un manual que organizó contenidos de antropología socio cultural, psicología y sociología de la salud, fue conducida por profesionales de enfermería cuyo encargo social les asigna una mayor permanencia e intercambio con los pobladores. Se potenció el trabajo comunitario a partir de febrero de 2010. La investigación constituyó un (...) diseño mixto, con un estudio cuasi experimental sin grupo control combinado con métodos cualitativos. La evaluación final efectuada en el periodo 2013-2015 exhibió modificaciones positivas en indicadores del Análisis de la Situación de Salud y el entorno comunitario. Se demostró la importancia de la aplicación de las acciones comunitarias por el personal de enfermería como agente de cambio de desarrollo local y protagonista de sostenibilidad. A community intervention was carried out at the rural settlement "El León". Its objective was to implement a system of actions led by nursing professionals whose social role assigns them longer permanence and interchange with the inhabitants of the community. Community work was fostered from February 2010 with social and sanitary actions based on socio-cultural anthropology, psychology and health sociology knowledge. The investigation had a mixed design, being a quasi-experimental study without control group combined with qualitative methods. The final evaluation, which took place from 2013-2015, showed positive modifications in Health Analysis indicators and community environment. The importance of the application of community actions by nursing personnel as agents of change for local development and sustainability leaders was demonstrated. (shrink)

El artículo muestra una estrategia metodológica para garantizar la dirección del proceso educativo para el desarrollo de la habilidad intelectual modelación en los estudiantes; devela sus principales fundamentos epistémicos, sus etapas y acciones esenciales. Para ello se aplicaron métodos científicos de investigación. La constatación de los resultados brinda evidencias positivas acerca de su pertinencia, al considerar el carácter coparticipativo y coprotagónico que adquieren las influencias educativas en el contexto institucional en la dirección de un proceso educativo único. The article shows (...) a methodological strategy to ensure the teaching process direction in order develop intellectual skill modeling in students; It reveals its main epistemic foundations, its stages and essential actions. That is the reason for which different research scientific methods were applied. Verification of results provides positive evidence of its pertinence when considering the collaborative nature of the educational influences within the institutional context in the direction of a unique educational process. (shrink)

The study here is a qualitative research based on multiple case studies of banking service providers to analyze the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the definition of the corporate identity of these kinds of organizations. The results show that, although companies increasingly integrate CSR into their business strategies, there are some aspects of its management such as its communication or the measurement of its results that detract from its success. These results have important implications for those managers pursuing (...) an effective management of CSR policies and strategies in their organizations, especially as the information comes from 6 of the biggest and most important banking institutions in a European country, with a declared assets (loans) volume which represents 62.75% of the total assets in the national banking industry, and thus largely representing the possible heterogeneity of the market in terms of company size, location, legal status, and management styles. (shrink)

La noche de piedra and Los días de Mercurio are, until today, the two novels published of the trilogy La Iniquidad by Alexis Ravelo. They present two different stories and settings in the line of hard boiled and noir and in the best tradition of the Spanish thriller from the 70s and 80s, whose social and philosophical dimensions are recovered through an interesting treatment of the space and the reconstruction of historical memory. Ravelo reformulates the genre with narrative techniques typical (...) of postmodernism. His writing is close to the neopolicial genre in our cultural sphere and moves away from the new crime novel that succeeds in the publishing market. (shrink)

Resumen Aunque Carlos Arturo Truque sigue siendo poco conocido, no podemos hablar de literatura afrocolombiana, ni colombiana, sin su aporte. Con una producción literaria dispersa en publicaciones periódicas, el chocoano apuesta por el cuento cuando este no era suficientemente valorado en su país. Vivan los compañeros recoge todos sus cuentos, en los que se acerca tanto a los personajes excluidos de la sociedad como a los episodios de la historia colombiana más “vergonzosos”, desde un lenguaje que se aleja de todo (...) academicismo. Su obra, calificada en la época de “literatura sucia”, y ubicada concretamente en el Chocó y el puerto de Buenaventura, no es ajena a cualquier injusticia humana. Además, la necesidad de Truque de plasmar el habla de su comunidad no le impide contemplar las nuevas técnicas narrativas que llegaban entonces de Norteamérica. Así, renueva el cuento colombiano desde el plano formal y de contenido.Although Carlos Arturo Truque is still not well known, we cannot talk about Afro-Colombian, or Colombian literature, without mentioning his contribution. With an unfocused literary production in periodic publications, the “chocoano” bets on the short story when this genre was not highly valued in his country. Vivan los compañeros collects all his short stories, where he approaches the excluded characters of society as well as the more “shameful” episodes of Colombian history, from a language that distances itself from all academic art. His work, described at the time as “dirty literature” and specifically located in Chocó and the port of Buenaventura, is not alien to any human injustice. Besides, the need for Truque to express the speech of his community does not prevent him from contemplating new narrative techniques coming from North America. Thus, he renews the Colombian short story from the formal level and its content. (shrink)

Because previous scholars have offered few comprehensive models to understand the benefits of corporate social responsibility image in terms of customer behaviour, the authors of this paper propose a hierarchy of effects model to study how customer perceptions of the social responsibility of companies influence customer affective and conative responses in a service context. The authors test a structural equation model using information collected directly from 1,124 customers of banking services in Spain. The findings demonstrate that corporate social responsibility image (...) influences customer identification with the company, the emotions evoked by the company and satisfaction positively. Identification also influences the emotions generated by the service performance and customer satisfaction determines loyalty behaviour. The findings have significant implications for service managers because they demonstrate that there are two paths to explain the satisfaction and loyalty of service customers. The first path is composed of the beliefs and emotions generated by the company at the institutional level. The second path is composed of the thoughts, attitudes, emotions and feelings generated by the company’s services. (shrink)

Although research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimension of corporate image has notably increased in recent years, the definition and measurement of the concept for academic purposes still concern researchers. In this article, literature regarding the measurement of CSR image from a customer viewpoint is revised and areas of improvement are identified. A multistage method is implemented to develop and to validate a reliable scale based on stakeholder theory. Results demonstrate the reliability and validity of this new scale for (...) measuring customer perceptions regarding the CSR performance of their service providers. With regard to this, CSR includes corporate responsibilities towards customers, shareholders, employees and society. The scale is consistent among diverse customer cohorts with different gender, age and level of education. Furthermore, results also confirm the applicability of this new scale to structural equation modelling. (shrink)

How should automated vehicles react in emergency circumstances? Most research projects and scientific literature deal with this question from a moral perspective. In particular, it is customary to treat emergencies involving AVs as instances of moral dilemmas and to use the trolley problem as a framework to address such alleged dilemmas. Some critics have pointed out some shortcomings of this strategy and have urged to focus on mundane traffic situations instead of trolley cases involving AVs. Besides, these authors rightly point (...) out the political nature of the most interesting debates involving AVs. However, in our view, they do not offer an adequate account of the distinction between ethics and politics and still see their proposals as contributions to the ethics of AVs. We argue that many of the interesting questions about how AVs should behave, both in emergency and other situations, are of political, and not moral, nature. This view is based on a conception of politics and political normativity that we have developed elsewhere and that we call “political minimalism.” Additionally, we show that this proposed perspective has significant consequences for the design, management, and regulation of transport systems. (shrink)

The multiobjective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis method captures diverse features such as the criteria and alternatives of appraising a multiple criteria decision-making problem. At the same time, the multiple criteria problem includes a set of decision makers with diverse expertise and preferences. In fact, the literature lists numerous approaches to aid in this problematic task of choosing the best alternative. Nevertheless, in the MCDM field, there is a challenge regarding intangible information which is commonly involved in multiple (...) criteria decision-making problem; hence, it is substantial in order to advance beyond the research related to this field. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present a fused method between multiobjective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis and Pythagorean fuzzy sets for the choice of an alternative. Besides, multiobjective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis is utilized to choose the best alternatives. Finally, two decision-making problems are applied to illustrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed method. (shrink)

The debate over the determination of death has been raging for more than fifty years. Since then, objections against the diagnosis of brain death from family members of those diagnosed as dead-have been increasing and are causing some countries to take novel steps to accommodate people’s beliefs and preferences in the determination of death. This, coupled with criticism by some academics of the brain death criterion, raises some questions about the issues surrounding the determination of death. In this paper, we (...) discuss some of the main approaches to death determination that have been theoretically proposed or currently put into practice and propose a new approach to death determination called "weak pluralism" as a reasonable ethical and political alternative to respect diversity in death determination. (shrink)

Fundamentación: el desarrollo de la cultura profesional docente colaborativo se sustenta en los postulados vigotskianos, donde se concibe al profesor como un sujeto comprometido con las demandas y exigencias de la sociedad. Objetivo: socializar las categorías de análisis que se deben tener en cuenta en un colectivo docente para el desarrollo de una cultura profesional colaborativa en el proceso de formación del profesional de la educación superior. Método: se realizó un estudio etnográfico en la Universidad José Martí Pérez, de (...) Sancti Spíritus, apoyada en la metodología cualitativa y un grupo de técnicas posibilitó la recogida de la información. Resultados: se obtuvieron las categorías de análisis que están estrechamente asociadas al deber ser de un docente universitario, portador de esta cultura. Conclusiones: a partir de la coincidencia de criterios sobre los aspectos teóricos y la reflexión colectiva emergieron elementos indispensables en un colectivo para lograr la cultura profesional docente colaborativa a la cual se aspira, elaborados al tener en cuenta su estructura de contenido y forma. Background: the development of collaborative professional teaching culture is based on Vigotskian statements, where the teacher is seen as an individual compromised with the demanding and needs of the society. Objective: Socialize the analytical categories that should be taken into consideration in a teaching staff for the development of collaborative professional teaching culture in the process formation of the professional of higher education. Method: an ethnographic study was carried out in the University José Marti Pérez, from Sancti Spiritus, based on a qualitative methodology and a group of techniques that make data collection possible. Results: The analytical categories obtained were closely linked to the requirements of a university teacher that has this culture. Conclusions: starting from common criteria about theoretical aspects and group reflection, vital elements emerged in the teaching staff to get the collaborative professional teaching culture that is needed, elaborated taking into account its structure of content and form. (shrink)

Families play an essential role in deceased organ procurement. As the person cannot directly communicate his or her wishes regarding donation, the family is often the only source of information regarding consent or refusal. We provide a systematic description and analysis of the different roles the family can play, and actions the family can take, in the organ procurement process across different jurisdictions and consent systems. First, families can inform or update healthcare professionals about a person’s donation wishes. Second, families (...) can authorize organ procurement in the absence of deceased’s preferences and the default is not to remove organs, and oppose donation where there is no evidence of preference but the default is to presume consent; in both cases, the decision could be based on their own wishes or what they think the deceased would have wanted. Finally, families can overrule the known wishes of the deceased, which can mean preventing donation, or permitting donation when the deceased refused it. We propose a schema of 4 levels on which to map these possible family roles: no role, witness, surrogate, and full decisional authority. We conclude by mapping different jurisdictions onto this schema to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the consent system for organ donation and some important nuances about the role of families. This classificatory model aims to account for the majority of the world’s consent systems. It provides conceptual and methodological guidance that can be useful to researchers, professionals, and policymakers involved in organ procurement. (shrink)

Goal: To assess public knowledge and attitudes towards the family’s role in deceased organ donation in Europe. -/- Methods: A systematic search was conducted in CINHAL, MEDLINE, PAIS Index, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science on December 15th, 2017. Eligibility criteria were socio-empirical studies conducted in Europe from 2008 to 2017 addressing either knowledge or attitudes by the public towards the consent system, including the involvement of the family in the decision-making process, for post-mortem organ retrieval. Screening and data collection (...) were performed by two or more independent reviewers for each record. -/- Results: Of the 1482 results, 467 studies were assessed in full-text form, and 33 were included in this synthesis. When the deceased has not expressed any preference, a majority of the public support the family's role as a surrogate decision-maker. When the deceased expressly consented, the respondents' answers depend on whether they see themselves as potential donors or as a deceased's next-of-kin. Answers also depend on the relationship between the deceased and the decision-maker(s) within the family, and on their ethnic or cultural background. -/- Conclusions: Public views on the authority of the family in organ donation decision-making require further research. A common conceptual framework and validated well-designed questionnaires are needed for future studies. The findings should be considered in the development of Government policy and guidance regarding the role of families in deceased organ donation. (shrink)

Background Consent policies for post-mortem organ procurement (OP) vary throughout Europe, and yet no studies have empirically evaluated the ethical implications of contrasting consent models. To fill this gap, we introduce a novel indicator of governance quality based on the ideal of informed support, and examine national differences on this measure through a quantitative survey of OP policy informedness and preferences in seven European countries. -/- Methods Between 2017–2019, we conducted a convenience sample survey of students (n = 2006) in (...) Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Greece (GR), Slovenia (SI) and Spain (ES), asking participants about their donation preferences, as well as their beliefs and views about the policy in place. From these measures, we computed indices of informedness, policy support, and fulfilment of unexpressed preferences, which we compared across countries and consent systems. -/- Results Our study introduces a tool for analyzing policy governance in the context of OP. Wide variation in policy awareness was observed: Most respondents in DK, DE, AT and BE correctly identified the policy in place, while those in SI, GR and ES did not. Respondents in opt-out countries (AT, BE, ES and GR) tended to support the policy in place (with one exception, i.e., SI), whereas those in opt-in countries (DE and DK) overwhelmingly opposed it. These results reveal stark differences in governance quality across countries and consent policies: We found a preponderance of informed opposition in opt-in countries and a general tendency towards support–either informed or uninformed–in opt-out countries. We also found informed divergence in opt-in countries and a tendency for convergence–either informed or uninformed–among opt-out countries. -/- Conclusion Our study offers a novel tool for analyzing governance quality and illustrates, in the context of OP, how the strengths and weaknesses of different policy implementations can be estimated and compared using quantitative survey data. (shrink)

A la hora de plantearse la realización de actividades relacionadas con la enseñanza de los aspectos astronómicos, se presentan problemas prácticos evidentes que no ayudan a desarrollar una adecuada actividad científica escolar. Las TIC son un instrumento de gran utilidad para sortear estas dificultades, dado que permiten reproducir los fenómenos celestes y experimentar con ellos. El objetivo de este artículo es, en concreto, reflexionar sobre la utilidad de las simulaciones informáticas para la enseñanza de los aspectos histórico-astronómicos. Como muestra de (...) sus posibilidades se presentan simulaciones que pueden realizarse para visualizar diversos fenómenos astronómicos descubiertos por Galileo Galilei. (shrink)

The consideration of racial differences in the biology of disease and treatment options is a hallmark of modern medicine. However, this time-honored medical tradition has no scientific basis, and the premise itself, that is, the existence of biological differences between the commonly known races, is false inasmuch as races are only sociocultural constructions. It is time to rid medical research of the highly damaging exercise of searching for supposed racial differences in the biological manifestations of disease. The practice not only (...) condoned but required by the National Institutes of Health of utilizing racial identification as a demographic characteristic with assumed biological implications is at best badly flawed, and at worst unintentionally contributes to perpetuating the fallacy of natural differences between persons of different skin color, which has been used in the past to advance the cause of racial discrimination. (shrink)