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)

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)

Body image has been associated with self-care and the assumption of either healthy habits or poor diets and eating disorders. As a vital element in the formation of a positive body image, the role of the family in childhood has been highlighted by a few studies. This study aimed to assess whether children’s body dissatisfaction could be predicted by their parents’ body dissatisfaction, body mass index, and approach to change. The sample consisted of 581 participants. The following instruments were used: (...) anthropometric data, the Brief Scale of Body Dissatisfaction for Children, the IMAGE questionnaire, and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The results indicated that 19% of children, 22.8% of mothers, and 70.2% of fathers were overweight or obese. The multiple regression models developed for boys and girls explained 60 and 57% of the variance in body dissatisfaction, respectively. Several variables attributable to the mother and to the boys themselves predicted a higher level of body dissatisfaction. For girls, only variables regarding themselves explained their body dissatisfaction. Relationships with the traits of the father were not detected for both models. The influence of sociocultural factors on the construction of gender and the negative consequences of mothers’ dieting for aesthetic purposes, on the development of children’s body image, are discussed. (shrink)

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of two intervention programs, high-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity training, on anxiety, depression, stress, and resilience during the confinement caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 in healthy adults.Methods: A total of 67 adults who participated were randomly assigned to two groups: HIIT and MIT groups. The MIT group had to perform a home-based intervention based on aerobic exercises, whereas the HIIT group had to perform a home-based intervention based on HIIT exercises. The (...) two groups had to complete the same physical exercise volume, 40 min per session during the confinement period. Depression, anxiety, stress, and resilience were assessed before and after the intervention.Results: Results showed that HIIT and MIT significantly reduced the stress, anxiety, and depression as well as increase the resilience. Moreover, the improvements obtained in the HIIT group seem to be greater than those of the MIT group in depression.Conclusions: HIIT and MIT decreased anxiety, stress, and depression as well as increased resilience during the COVID-19 confinement. In addition, the HIIT intervention seemed to be more beneficial to reduce depression than the MIT intervention. (shrink)

Agreement technologies refer to a novel paradigm for the construction of distributed intelligent systems, where autonomous software agents negotiate to reach agreements on behalf of their human users. Smart Cities are a key application domain for agreement technologies. While several proofs of concept and prototypes exist, such systems are still far from ready for being deployed in the real-world. In this paper we focus on a novel method for managing elements of smart road infrastructures of the future, namely the case (...) of auction-based road intersections. We show that, even though the key technological elements for such methods are already available, there are multiple non-technical issues that need to be tackled before they can be applied in practice. For this purpose, we analyse legal and ethical implications of auction-based road intersections in the context of international regulations and from the standpoint of the Spanish legislation. From this exercise, we extract a set of required modifications, of both technical and legal nature, which need to be addressed so as to pave the way for the potential real-world deployment of such systems in a future that may not be too far away. (shrink)

An important topic in evolutionary art is the development of systems that can mimic the aesthetics decisions made by human begins, e.g., fitness evaluations made by humans using interactive evolution in generative art. This paper focuses on the analysis of several datasets used for aesthetic prediction based on ratings from photography websites and psychological experiments. Since these datasets present problems, we proposed a new dataset that is a subset of DPChallenge.com. Subsequently, three different evaluation methods were considered, one derived from (...) the ratings available at DPChallenge.com and two obtained under experimental conditions related to the aesthetics and quality of images. We observed different criteria in the DPChallenge.com ratings, which had more to do with the photographic quality than with the aesthetic value. Finally, we explored learning systems other than state-of-the-art ones, in order to predict these three values. The obtained results were similar to those using state-of-the-art procedures. (shrink)

This article presents an analysis of the answer given by the Spanish State to violence against women through the “Integral Law for Protection from Gender Violence”. There is recognition of violence as a crime against an - other person in unfavorable conditions which can seriously affect their emoti..

This review presents a state of the art in artificial intelligence applied to urban planning and particularly to land-use predictions. In this review, different articles after the year 2016 are analyzed mostly focusing on those that are not mentioned in earlier publications. Most of the articles analyzed used a combination of Markov chains and cellular automata to predict the growth of urban areas and metropolitan regions. We noticed that most of these simulations were applied in various areas of China. An (...) analysis of the publication of articles in the area over time is included. (shrink)

Adaptive optics are techniques used for processing the spatial resolution of astronomical images taken from large ground-based telescopes. In this work, computational results are presented for a modified curvature sensor, the tomographic pupil image wavefront sensor, which measures the turbulence of the atmosphere, expressed in terms of an expansion over Zernike polynomials. Convolutional neural networks are presented as an alternative to the TPI-WFS reconstruction. This technique is a machine learning model of the family of artificial neural networks, which are widely (...) known for its performance as modeling and prediction technique in complex systems. Results obtained from the reconstruction of the networks are compared with the TPI-WFS reconstruction by estimating errors and optical measurements. The reconstructed wavefronts from both techniques are compared for wavefronts of 153 Zernike modes. For this case, a detailed comparison and grid search to find the most suitable neural network is performed, searching between multi-layer perceptron, CNN and recurrent networks topologies. In general, the best network was a CNN trained for TPI-WFS reconstruction, achieving better performance than the reconstruction software from TPI-WFS in most of the turbulent profiles, but the most significant improvements were found for higher turbulent profiles that have the lowest r0 values. (shrink)

En esta exposición se comparan dos textos-fuente: Comentario a la Política de Aristóteles,de Santo Tomás, y los tres primeros libros de la Política, de Aristóteles. Primero seidentifican los textos a comparar, pero como los contextos históricos, políticos y culturalesde cada uno de estos dos filósofos son tan distintos, se hace una presentación de losmismos, para ayudar a comprender desde qué experiencias están reflexionando. Desdeuna perspectiva más filosófica se presentan los puntos de vista y métodos utilizados porlos autores en los textos (...) y, en algunos casos, a partir de los ejemplos que utiliza SantoTomás, se trata de mostrar la diferencia en la comprensión de las categorías del discursopolítico. (shrink)

Partiendo de una reflexión sobre los distintos modos de nombrar el seguimiento de Cristo y de algunas de las principales formas en que se ha concretado en el Ife del cristiano a lo largo de la historia (martirio, vida monástica, vida contemplativa, vida activa, etc.), llegamos a las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica, como un camino original y genuino, cuya primera manfestación se encuentra en el Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. En las dos notas siguientes (pp. 579-602 y 603-618) se hace (...) una breve descripción histórica sobre este peculiar santo, señalando, al mismo tiempo, los rasgos más distintivos de su espiritualidad y de su obra. (shrink)

AQUINO, Orlando Fernandez; PUENTES, Roberto Valdéz. Trabalho didático na Universidade: estratégias de formação. Campinas: Alínea, 2011. 146p. Um dos mais novos trabalhos publicados pelos professores Orlando Fernández Aquino e Roberto Valdéz Puentes intitula-se Trabalho Didático na Universidade: estratégias de formação e apresenta como proposta a estratégia de trabalho metodológico para formação do docente universitário no contexto do desenvolvimento em serviço. O trabalho metodológico é, segundo os autores, além de um processo dinâmico e complexo, processo que pode ser utilizado com (...) outras finalidades tais como: a gestão estratégica do processo de ensino-aprendizagem-pesquisa e a elevação da qualidade da formação dos futuros profissionais e dos profissionais em serviço. [...] Na introdução, os autores destacam a importância da atuação docente na Universidade e apresentam a visão atual a respeito da educação superior e suas instituições. Destacam a inserção das instituições de educação superior na sociedade do conhecimento. O esgotamento do paradigma predominante impede de ver o global e o essencial. Em seu lugar, ganha força o conhecimento interdisciplinar e politransdisciplinar; surge um novo paradigma sociocultural, pós-moderno que busca a organização do saber e a democratização do conhecimento por meio de uma reforma do pensamento. Citam ainda o amparo do trabalho metodológico para os processos de gestão universitária; ensino aprendizagem; pesquisa; produção científica e extensão universitária. Segundo os autores, “sem instituições de educação superior e de pesquisa capazes de formar um corpo crítico de profissionais, qualificado e culto, a sociedade moderna não poderá garantir um desenvolvimento autêntico e sustentável”. Data de registro:29/04/2012 Data de aceite:08/02/2013. (shrink)

En este artículo se estudia la transformación del concepto de Belleza en la obra de Agostino Nifo. Para ello compararemos las princiales tesis defendidas por Nifo con las que defiende Santo Tomás de Aquino en esta materia. El resultado es el siguiente: los aspectos referidos a la Belleza en la obra de Nifo, están presentes en la tradición, pero vacíos de contenido. Como quiera que la Belleza es reducida al ámbito sensible, por eso pierde el carácter transcendental.

Se realiza una valoración crítica de la aportación de Joan Poinsot, más conocido como Juan de Santo Tomas (1589-1655), raíz de la publicación de La naturaleza y las causas a cargo del destacado académico Juan Cruz Cruz. A pesar de que se trata de la edición de una pequeña parte de la Philosophia Naturalis, más conocida como Cursus Philosophicus, de Juan de Santo Tomás, concretamente de las “cuestiones” IX a XIII. Se establece un semblante de Juan de Santo Tomas y (...) de su obra, tratando de centrar el personaje en el contexto de su época y las posiciones que mantenía y denunciando las interpretaciones interesadas que pretenden hacer pasar por moderno un pensamiento que antepone lo religioso a la razón, en la vieja estrategia eclesiástica de hacer pasar por filosofía a la teología y viceversa. (shrink)

Los tratados de Santo Tomás sobre la ley y sobre el derecho están desarrollados desde metodologías distintas y en un plano epistemológico diverso. No obstante, la tradición tomista con frecuencia los ha mezclado y confundido, desvirtuando su significado y valor doctrinal. Es frecuente que se recurra a la doctrina sobre el mundo de lo jurídico usando su exposición sobre las cuestiones "de iure". Pero no se repara en que dio un significado novedoso al "ius" de los jurisconsultos romanos, al identificarlo (...) con los contenidos de comportamientos justos y no con lo que hoy denominamos el mundo jurídico. Se trata, por tanto, de un tema especifico de la moral. Por otra parte, los moralistas recurren con frecuencia a estas doctrinas para demostrar la objetividad del derecho natural, pero esto no es correcto, pues las acciones justas pueden serlo sólo por estar legisladas y no porque expresen valores inmutables de la naturaleza. El autor trata de explicar ambos tratados resaltando su originalidad y peculiaridad, sin fáciles concordismos ni improcedentes generalizaciones. (shrink)

El bien común como fin absoluto de la persona implica una totalidad de bienes humanos que pueden englobarse bajo la razón de felicidad humana plena. Como el bien común es la razón justificativa de todo uso recto del poder político, de toda motivación de las leyes que rigen un pueblo y de todos los procesos de creación y reparto de bienes económicos, cabe decir que la felicidad humana es término final de todo gobierno, de todo el orden jurídico y del (...) económico. Sto. Tomás aplicó la concepción eudemónica aristotélica a la filosofía política, a la jurídica y a la económica. Y, además, se sirvió de esta doctrina para explicar teológicamente el tema de la felicidad eterna sobrenatural. En la edad moderna el pensamiento liberal se ha separado de esta teoría, pues no conoce otra promoción de la felicidad que la subjetiva del individuo. Esto se comprueba por la exposición de dos teóricos de la filosofía liberal política: N. Nozick, y Michael Novak. Aunque a veces se haya querido dar una interpretación liberal a la filosofía política de Santo Tomás, sus presupuestos son radicalmente distintos. (shrink)

La fundación de la revista La Ciencia Tomista se debe a los superiores de la Provincia dominicana de España. Con ella pretendían hacerse presentes en el mundo de la cultura española, a semejanza con otras revistas entonces publicadas por las instituciones religiosas renovadas tras el Concordato de 1851. Y también pretendían integrarse en el tomismo renovado bajo los auspicios de León XIII. El primer director de la revista fue el Fr. Alonso-Getino, quien le confirió su carácter de revista de alta (...) divulgación científica, filosófica y teológica y de atalaya de los movimientos culturales en España. El director de la revista fue elegido contando con sus méritos de joven profesor e investigador en el área de la historia de la teología española. Esos méritos se acrecentaron con los años y se convirtió en adalid de la investigación histórica dominicana. Su brillante carrera quedó, sin embargo, truncada por los acontecimientos de la guerra civil española y por la condenación por la S. C. del Santo Oficio de una obra suya en la que había puesto sus mejores sentimientos.La Ciencia Tomista journal was created by the religious superiors of the Province of Spain. They tried with it to be present in the world of the Spanish culture, as other journals published then by religious institutions renewed after the 1851 concordat did. They also tried to integrate into an updated Thomism sponsored by Leo XIII. Fr Alonso-Getino was the Director of the journal and the one who gave it the character of a high popular scientific, philosophical and theological journal, being a watchtower of the cultural movements in Spain. The journal director was chosen taking in account his merits as a young professor and researcher into the history of the Spanish theology. Those merits increased year after year and he became a leader of the Dominican historical investigation. However, his brilliant career was cut short by the Spanish war and the censure by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office of one of his books in which he had set his best feelings. (shrink)

La edición Leonina de las obras de Santo Tomás ha cumplido 125 años de existencia. Lo que hoy representa es diferente de lo que fue el propósito de León XIII, quien la diseñó y organizó como un servicio a la renovación de la filosofía y la teología tomistas, pero no como un estudio crítico de toda la tradición manuscrita. La historia de los volúmenes publicados hasta hoy -35 de los 50 programados- es un índice expresivo de los progresos efectuados en (...) la ecdótica durante este tiempo. La misma Comisión ha tenido que revisar algunos de sus primeros volúmenes.En este trabajo se hace una historia detallada de cada uno de los volúmenes publicados y de los principios y técnicas con que fueron elaborados. Se divide la historia en cuatro períodos que corresponden a cuatro generaciones de investigadores y de técnicas usadas para acercarse a los autógrafos del autor. Al final, se hace una descripción de los notables méritos de esta edición y del trabajo todavía pendiente. (shrink)

El presente artículo realiza una lectura de la Visión Deleytable de Alfonso de la Torre cuyo objetivo es poner de manifi esto los distintos planos intelectuales que en ella se superponen. Entre ellos destaca la presencia de una forma de racionalidad “más allá de los límites de lo racional”, que es analizada críticamente desde un diálogo comparativo de la obra con el pensamiento de las dos autoridades fundamentales cuya referencia exige: Maimónides, de cuya Guía de perplejos es en gran medida (...) deudora; Santo Tomás de Aquino, cuya articulación de las relaciones fe-razón ignora de modo premeditado o substituye. (shrink)

Hacemos en el presente trabajo un pequeño recorrido a propósito de las manifestaciones o expresiones de ateísmo y materialismo, popular y culto, a fines del siglo XVIII y dos primeras décadas del siglo XIX, a partir, sobre todo, de los archivos inquisitoriales del Tribunal de Santiago de Compostela o Galicia. empleando una metodología mixta (historia conceptual, antropología cultural, historia de las ideologías, historia de la filosofía, etc.) y en base a fuentes documentales del siglo XIX tomadas del Archivo Histórico de (...) la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (poco conocidas) o del Archivo Histórico Nacional de Madrid (inéditas), arqueológicamente, intentamos reconstruir 25 agitados años de la historia de la cultura gallega, centrándonos muy especialmente en la historia del pensamiento filosófico. (shrink)

Jesús Fernández Santos (1926-1988) es un escritor que atiende al fenómeno religioso como determinante de la vida íntima de los individuos y de sus relaciones sociales. Este trabajo analiza una de sus novelas más significativas que tiene como referencia a un grupo cristiano evangelista, ajeno a la tradición católica española, del cual se relaciona su historia y la evolución de algunos personajes individualizados. Incluye el autor una parte de su experiencia personal y una mirada a la historia de (...) España como aspectos de una ficción que ofrece una visión problemática de la existencia humana. (shrink)

Como objetivo se determinó la relación entre los factores motivacionales y el rendimiento académico. La investigación fue cuantitativa de diseño correlacional con corte transversal. La muestra fueron 315 estudiantes de en dos Facultades de la Universidad Central del Ecuador. Se aplicó un cuestionario de 27 preguntas con escala de Likert. Para los análisis estadísticos se utilizó el software SPSS V25. El resultado principal dio una correlación de Pearson de 0,827, siendo fuerte positiva entre las dos variables. Además, se analizó la (...) relación con las diferentes dimensiones de cada variable. En conclusión, la motivación mejora el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes. (shrink)