This essay identifies two legal lineages underlying the common heritage concept, and applies each to the human genome. The essay notes some advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and argues that patenting of human genes would be allowable under either approach.

Information from forensic genetic tests of crime scene samples has been used to make claims about suspects' race and appearance. This article discusses and critiques the techniques used to make such claims, and raises policy concerns about them.

The question thus formulated is inscribed in the purest philosophical tradition: it actualizes the scope of wonder, that Greek sentiment that awakens not before the extraordinary, but precisely before the most ordinary and obvious, before the fact of being there; wonder that is particular to the first thinkers of the dawn of the West and from which philosophy and science are born.

The claim of this paper is to argue contra Waluchow’s and Raz’s versions of legal positivism – as main representatives of the inclusive and exclusive variants – that legal interpretation always requires an appeal to law’s rea- son or purpose. The main thesis could be expressed as follows: one technique of legal interpretation (the author labels it as systematical), one that demands that the interpreter interprets the law through its general pur- poses in legal practice, is not one technique amongst (...) many, it is necessary in all legal interpretation.The second purpose of the paper is to argue that this systematic approach towards legal interpretation enables an evaluative role on the part of the interpreter that may be called “interpretative creativity”. Due to this, the creative role in legal interpretation is not an exception, but a necessary element in all interpretation. This creative role is not a defect or an inevitable evil in law, but is functional and instrumental to law’s coordinating activity of citizen’s conducts in a reasonable manner.Resumen:Este trabajo se propone mostrar, en contraposición al positivismo jurídico de Wilfrid Waluchow y Joseph Raz —como representantes, respectiva- mente, de la versión incluyente y excluyente del positivismo contemporáneo—, que la interpretación jurídica supone atender siempre, y no de modo excepcional o recortado, a las razones o fines del derecho. La expresión metodológica de esta tesis podría enunciarse diciendo que la interpretación teleológica-sistemática, mediante la cual el intérprete determina el sentido de las normas a la luz de los fines globales de la práctica jurídica, no es un método interpretativo más, sino el modo necesario de toda interpretación jurídica.El segundo propósito de este trabajo es argumentar que la dimensión teleológica sistemática de la interpretación abre un espacio para la valoración por parte del intérprete que podría denominarse, “creatividad interpretativa”. Por esto mismo, la creatividad en la interpretación jurídica no es una excepción, sino una nota general y necesaria de toda interpretación. Se intentará mostrar, por último, que esta creatividad interpretativa no es un defecto o un mal inevitable del derecho, sino que es funcional o instrumental a la función del derecho de coordinar conductas de modo razonable. (shrink)

This article argues that current data for the safety and efficacy of fecal microbiota transplants as a treatment for any indication, including recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, is low-quality. It develops a governance proposal that encourages production of high-quality evidence by incentivizing well-designed RCTs of stool and stoolderived microbial products. The proposal would require that FDA change its current enforcement approach, but it would not require any change in statutes or regulations.

The present global financial crisis has revived the notion that competitive markets may lead some directors and executives to behave in opportunistic ways considered unethical and even illegal, through the pursuit of self-interest. This article proposes and tests an integrated model that offers new insights into the relationship between board structure, independence and firm value. By incorporating the proportion of independent directors on the board as a moderating factor in this relationship, this study contributes to a better understanding of the (...) entrenchment and convergence-of-interests hypotheses. Using empirical data obtained from 114 Spanish listed companies in a context of economic crisis, from 2007 to 2010, we conclude that having a board with a greater proportion of independent directors reduces the negative association existing between firm value and a large board size and significant board share ownership. (shrink)

In the opening years of the 21st century, it became fashionable to describe the human genome as belonging to the common heritage of humanity. The United Nations, in its Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, now identifies the human genome as part of the common heritage, as does the international Human Genome Organization and the Council of Europe. The common heritage concept has played a prominent role in arguments against patenting the human genome or portions thereof. This (...) essay considers whether the common heritage designation will advance the political and legal goals of its proponents. (shrink)

The flowers of the primitive angiosperm plants were radially symmetrical (actinomorphic). Flowers with bilateral symmetry (zygomorphic) evolved in several clades independently as an adaptation to specialized methods of pollination and played an important role in the diversification of flowering plants. In the model species Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon), the related genes CYCLOIDEA (CYC) and DICHOTOMA (DICH) are key in the development of this trait. This raises the question of whether they played a role in the evolution of floral bilateral symmetry. To (...) address this, the evolution of CYC in relation to the evolution of zygomorphy is being investigated. Phylogenetic and functional analyses of CYC‐like genes are being carried out in groups either closely related to Antirhinum or in families where zygomorphy evolved as an independent event. In addition, the origin of zygomorphy is being studied by comparing the function of CYC‐like genes in species with zygomorphic flowers with their function in species with radially symmetrical flowers. BioEssays 26:1175–1184, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

El presente artículo se propone pensar las consideraciones sobre el olvido que Nietzsche lleva a cabo, principalmente en su Segunda consideración intempestiva, desde una perspectiva ontológica, lo cual implicará llevar a cabo esta tarea tomando como guía la lectura heideggeriana de Nietzsche. Ésta supone, por un lado, reconocer la polisemia del fenómeno del olvido y por el otro, reflexionar en la íntima relación que existe entre conceptos fundamentales de la filosofía nietzscheana tales como: vida, olvido y voluntad de poder. Comprender (...) dichos términos desde una perspectiva ontológica implicará retrotraerlos hasta su estatuto originario. (shrink)

When addressing the first principles of the science of the being and physics, Aristotle presents a special kind of proof in favor of the principle of non-contradiction and the principle of movement. This paper explores the nature of such proofs and tries to show important parallels between them. Indeed, in both cases Aristotle makes use of dialectical arguments which aim to demonstrate that whoever denies these principles necessarily assumes a series of commitments related to language that involve the very principles (...) in question. It is thus shown to what extent the principles which are discussed are a condition of possibility of the discourse itself. Thus, both series of arguments exhibit transcendental aspects, which, especially regarding disputes with the monist, have been often overlooked, and which illustrate the scope of dialectics when it comes to opening the way towards the first principles. (shrink)

ABSTRACT My aim in this paper is to present a pluralist thesis about the inferential role of logical constants, which embraces classical, relevant, linear and ordered logic. That is, I defend that a logical constant c has more than one correct inferential role. The thesis depends on a particular interpretation of substructural logics' vocabulary, according to which classical logic captures the literal meaning of logical constants and substructural logics encode a pragmatically enriched sense of those connectives. The paper is divided (...) into four parts: first, I introduce the motivation for the pluralist thesis of the paper; second I introduce the calculus for the different logics endorsed in the pluralist thesis; third, I motivate how the different behaviors of the logical vocabulary of these logics can be pragmatically interpreted, and fourth, I motivate how the different inferential roles that each substructural logic attribute to logical constants can coexist, and how we should reason with a logical constant c given this plurality. (shrink)

The stream on political corporate social responsibility argues that companies have recently assumed state-like roles to influence global governance. However, following emerging calls for greater contextualization of CSR, we trace the historic evolution of PCSR in the case of Colombia and argue that such political engagement by firms is not new. Looking beyond a linear chronological account, we reveal the sedimentation process behind PCSR by exploring the archetypical political roles businesses have taken on in providing public goods and acting as (...) regulators, and chart their transformation. Our findings allow us to make two main contributions. First, by unearthing different strata of business and society relations, we enrich the research on PCSR, highlighting its historical sedimentation dynamics. By integrating institutional and historical perspectives, we respond to calls for complementary accounts of one of the premises found in the literature that considers globalization as the starting point of PCSR. Second, our exploration of the past and present of PCSR in Colombia provides scholars and practitioners with an overview of the complex state and stakes of CSR in that country. We also discuss the implications of sedimentation for PCSR theory and future research directions. (shrink)

En esta artículo se defiende que el cosmos no es un todo (una sustantividad) que se articule en meras partes, sino un agregado formado por distintos todos. Se introduce el tema partiendo de la teoría gestáltica de Wolfgang Köhler, para entrar a continuación en un terreno propiamente ontológico. En él se propone una reconstrucción de la ontología de Xavier Zubiri eliminando la tesis de la sustantividad del cosmos. El cosmos no es una magna cosa, sino un agregado de cosas; pero (...) esto no supone disgregarlo en una multiplicidad de sustancias aisladas -con relaciones meramente accidentales-, pues se trata de un agregado de sustantividades abiertas unas a otras en respectividad externa. En efecto, la sustantividad en tanto que real posee una "respectividad constituyente" (interna) que, como apertura de suyo mundanal, funda la "respectividad externa" (remitente) entre las distintas sustantividades del mundo, y el mundo en el nivel talitativo es el cosmos. (shrink)

La tesis defendida en este trabajo es que la “diferencia ontológica” de Martin Heidegger encubre un anti-humanismo nihilista, que disuelve la antropología filosófica como ciencia. Se justifica así la necesidad de ir más atrás de Heidegger, para recuperar la noción de subjetividad propuesta por el fundador de la fenomenología, Edmund Husserl, y por el fundador de la antropología filosófica, Max Scheler. Ellos mostraron que el sujeto ocupa un lugar privilegiado en la totalidad de lo real, como aquél en el que (...) se produce el “aparecer” del ser, la “manifestación” del ser. Esto permite construir una antropología filosófica y no abandonar el humanismo, que ha caracterizado a la filosofía propia de la cultura occidental. (shrink)

As Social Economy financial institutions, credit unions have traditionally been considered less efficient than traditional banking entities. However, like banks and savings banks, they have to be as efficient and competitive as possible to survive in today’s business environment, especially at times of crisis. To date, there have been very few studies on their efficiency and practically none for the crisis period. Moreover, almost all the existing studies assess only financial efficiency, without considering their social function. This study examines the (...) levels of both financial and social efficiency in Spanish credit unions as well as their main determinants during the recent crisis. We apply the two-stage double bootstrap data envelopment analysis methodology based on panel data corresponding to all the credit unions active in Spain between 2008 and 2013. The empirical results indicate that financial and social efficiency achieved an acceptable level, although on average the former was slightly greater than the latter. We also find that both age and merger and acquisition activity were positively influential on the financial efficiency of credit unions but had a significant negative effect on their social efficiency. Moreover, the regional location of such entities and the financial crisis were also crucial determinants of both types of efficiency. Our findings are therefore useful for all the stakeholders of credit unions to know if these entities have been efficient according to a double bottom line accounting in the crisis period and hence to maintain successful social management that is compatible with satisfactory financial efficiency. (shrink)

In this paper we mainly study preservation theorems for two fragments of the infinitary languagesLκκ, withκregular, without the equality symbol: the universal Horn fragment and the universal strict Horn fragment. In particular, whenκisω, we obtain the corresponding theorems for the first-order case.The universal Horn fragment of first-order logic (with equality) has been extensively studied; for references see [10], [7] and [8]. But the universal Horn fragment without equality, used frequently in logic programming, has received much less attention from the model (...) theoretic point of view. At least to our knowledge, the problem of obtaining preservation results for it has not been studied before by model theorists. In spite of this, in the field of abstract algebraic logic we find a theorem which, properly translated, is a preservation result for the strict universal Horn fragment of infinitary languages without equality which, apart from function symbols, have only a unary relation symbol. This theorem is due to J. Czelakowski; see [5], Theorem 6.1, and [6], Theorem 5.1. A. Torrens [12] also has an unpublished result dealing with matrices of sequent calculi which, properly translated, is a preservation result for the strict universal Horn fragment of a first-order language. And in [2] of W. J. Blok and D. Pigozzi we find Corollary 6.3 which properly translated corresponds to our Corollary 19, but for the case of a first-order language that apart from its function symbols has only oneκ-ary relation symbol, and for strict universal Horn sentences. The study of these results is the basis for the present work. In the last part of the paper, Section 4, we will make these connections clear and obtain some of these results from our theorems. In this way we hope to make clear two things: (1) The field of abstract algebraic logic can be seen, in part, as a disguised study of universal Horn logic without equality and so has an added interest. (2) A general study of universal Horn logic without equality from a model theoretic point of view can be of help in the field of abstract algebraic logic. (shrink)

Critical aspects in the field of education are currently related to low levels of socioemotional competences and high rates of school dropouts. However, there are no standard practices or guidelines for helping countries to assess and train social and emotional competences. To overcome this limitation, the project Learning to be (L2B) aims to propose a comprehensive model of the assessment and development of social and emotional competences that bring together policymakers, researchers, teachers, school authorities and learners from different participating countries: (...) Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. The project attempts to create an international framework for regulating activities and supporting teachers working on the social and emotional competences of the students and to provide tools which can be used across countries. The aim of the paper is to describe how L2B has been developed in Spain by analyzing the contributions of the international framework and extracting the specific needs in the Spanish context. Specifically, we describe two products of the project: a) the process for creating a toolkit, a tool focused on creating activities and materials for helping teachers develop social and emotional competences of students and b) the results of an exploratory study in Spain in which social and emotional competences are assessed and compared to the international framework. First, we explain the definition of social and emotional competences used for creating the toolkit. Second, we analyze responses of Spanish students to questionnaires administered before applying the toolkit in the schools. The paper describes social and emotional competences in Spain and evaluates the overlap between relevant variables in Spain and those used for developing the toolkit, the international tool. Specific needs in Spain are discussed, as well as the contribution of the project for promoting the improved development of students’ social and emotional competences, improving learning outcomes and stronger social cohesion in schools and local communities, as well as the utility of the results for creating new educational policies. (shrink)

Partiendo de la constatación husserliana de la crisis filosófica como crisis vital de una humanidad que se ha desviado de su _télos_ al implantar el modelo tecno-científico del dominio del mundo, el artículo investiga el lugar de la filosofía en el sistema educativo, explorando las reformas propuestas en Baviera y Prusia por Niethammer y Humboldt a principios del siglo XIX y que plantean, cada una a su modo, la necesaria incorporación de la filosofía a una educación de Estado que, frente (...) a las pretensiones utilitarias del filantropismo, logre elevar al hombre a su humanidad. En este sentido, retorna al concepto humanista de formación (_Bildung_) al que se consagran ambas reformas y que Gadamer recupera precisamente en _Verdad y método_ como un ideal para enfrentar la pretensión de universalidad de la ciencia moderna en relación a las nociones de conocimiento y de verdad, así como para pensar el horizonte ontológico de la experiencia hermenéutica. Es precisamente este ideal el que permite localizar el lugar de la filosofía en el conjunto del saber y conducir al hombre a su humanidad. (shrink)

The dialectic exhibited in Plato’s dialogues assumes different characters throughout the corpus. Nevertheless, it remains always linked to refutation. In this way, like dialectic, refutation assumes different characteristics. The aim of this work is to show how refutation takes a key role in the Sophist, even with unique features: far from facing an opponent of flesh and blood as in Socratic dialogues, the Eleatic Stranger faces hypotheses, and instead of examining consistence within the opponent’s beliefs, he draws upon a radical (...) mechanism that focuses in the conditions of possibility of the discourse. (shrink)

Las frutas y hortalizas han sido siempre noticia debido principalmente a sus propiedades beneficiosas para la salud. Sin embargo, cada vez más ocupan titulares debido a su implicación en toxiinfecciones alimentarias. Por este motivo, desde 2008, las frutas y hortalizas frescas son consideradas por muchos organismos internacionales como un alimento de riesgo. Uno de los principales problemas microbiológicos de las hortalizas de hojas son las bacte­rias entéricas que pueden adherirse rápidamente al tejido durante el cultivo, coexistir con las bacterias epífitas (...) y persistir por largos periodos de tiempo. La prevalencia de microorganismos patógenos en las frutas y hortalizas es baja y la cuantificación de las bac­terias patógenas o de microorganismos indicadores generalmente muestra niveles muy bajos, lo que no justificaría el elevado número de alertas microbiológicas asociadas a este tipo de productos. Sin embargo, existen dudas sobre si los recuentos obtenidos utilizan­do las técnicas convencionales son capaces de reflejar realmente todos los microorganismos presentes en el producto vegetal, así como en el agua de riego y en el suelo. Varios estudios han demos­trado que cuando las bacterias son sometidas a distintos factores de estrés entran en un estado temporal de baja actividad metabóli­ca en el cual las células pueden persistir durante largos periodos de tiempo sin división celular, llamado estado de latencia o viable pero no cultivable. La relevancia que el estado fisiológico de las bacterias puede tener en el desarrollo de toxiinfecciones alimenta­rias causadas por las frutas y hortalizas es un tema de gran interés que está atrayendo más y más la atención de los investigadores. (shrink)

Este artículo esboza una ontología pluralista que, partiendo de una teoría de todos y partes, busca una clasificación de los todos reales en la que se evite la desmesura del idealismo, pero sin caer en posiciones materialistas, que minusvaloran la importancia de la subjetividad. Tras deslindar lo real, tanto de lo ideal como de lo irreal, se articula la realidad en cuatro tipos de todos materiales, completando para ello el esquema propuesto por el filósofo español X. Zubiri. A continuación, se (...) insiste, frente a Zubiri, en elcarácter peculiar del hombre, que en tanto que dotado de lo que Husserl denominaba un “yo” trascendental, constituye un todo no exclusivamente material. En línea con esta recuperación de lo propiamente subjetivo,se introducen los todos con “realidad en relación”, para dar cuenta del ámbito propio del “mundo de la vida”, donde encontramos la “cosa sentido”, especialmente la “cosa sensible”. Y se plantea finalmente el problema de una ontología del valor al introducir los “todos valiosos”. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar que el marco conceptual que reduce la psiquiatría a una ciencia empírica, dejando al margen a la filosofía, es claramente insuficiente. Para ello se recupera la propuesta del psiquiatra Kurt Schneider y se muesran sus paralelos con fenomenólogos como Edmund Husserl o Max Scheler. El artículo se centra en la distinción entre motivo y causa, que es fundamental en la definición de neurosis y psicosis, y que es también el núcleo de la argumentación (...) de Husserl cuando aboga por la “actitud personalista”, frente a la “actitud naturalista”. (shrink)