Fernando García

Las conjunciones coordinantes adversativas son estructuras coordinantes que conllevan necesariamente un contraste entre dos elementos relacionados con los enunciados que unen. El contraste es un concepto heterogéneo, ya que podemos identificar tres tipos de contraste (que corresponden a tres significados diferentes de las conjunciones coordinantes adversativas): restrictivo, correctivo y aditivo. Propondremos una interpretación semántica para cada tipo de contraste, y defenderemos el carácter presuposicional del contraste restrictivo. Con ello, pondremos de relieve que el discurso en el que se insertan las conjunciones coordinantes adversativas debe plantear alternativas que, cuando el tipo de contraste no está univocamente lexicalizado, guían la interpretación de las conjunciones coordinantes adversativas.Adversative coordinative conjunctions necessarily involve a contrast between two elements related to the utterances they coordinate. Contrast is a heterogeneous concept. In this article, three types of contrast are identified: restrictive, corrective and additive. These types give rise to three different readings of the adversative coordinative conjunctions. In this work, a semantic function for each type of contrast is proposed, and the presuppositional character of restrictive contrast is defended. These hypotheses lead us towards the discourses in which the coordinative adversative conjuncts are inserted. The discourse has to contain alternatives such that when the type of contrast is not univocally lexicalized, the alternatives will guide the interpretation of the conjunction.

A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances or relationships that create the risk that professional judgment or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest. Secondary interests may be internal, meaning limited to the personal sphere, or external, linked to the interests of third parties or institutions. Internal interests are related to individual identity and personality, and tend to be perfectly aligned with the primary professional interest. Therefore, we usually only speak of a conflict of interest when external secondary interests, usually of a financial nature, are opposed to the primary professional interest (preserving the health of the population in the case of public health). In addition, biases due to internal interests are bidirectional and difficult to quantify, while those deriving from financial conflicts of interest are predictable, unidirectional and large-scale. Although they are different phenomena, they are often mixed up with one another to create confusion and divert attention from financial conflicts of interest. In public health, conflicts of interest can arise in the field of research when studies are conducted on the health effects of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, tobacco, alcohol or food and in decision-making regarding policies related to these same products. In this chapter we present several examples of conflicts of interest in public health and a series of recommendations for their management, beyond their public declaration, which is necessary but insufficient. All public health organizations should adopt standards to avoid, detect, eliminate or minimize the impact of conflicts of interest and ensure that these are put into practice.

A new approach to landscape ecology involves the application of the eco-field hypothesis and the General Theory of Resources. In this study, we describe the putative eco-field of bark beetles as a spatial configuration with a specific meaning-carrier for every organism-resource interaction. Bark beetles are insects with key roles in matter and energy cycles in coniferous forests, which cause significant changes to forestry landscapes when outbreaks occur. Bark beetles are guided towards host trees by the recognition of semiotic signals using a specific eco-field. These signals mainly comprise a group of scents, which are called the odourtope. Their interactions with other organisms occur by sharing relevant information from the eco-field networks in the forest ecosystem. The eco-field networks modulate the expansion of the realized semiotic niche of the bark beetle towards the potential semiotic niche. Moreover, the niche construction process can be initiated by interchanging signals among species living in the same place, where these signals allow the exploitation of the required resources. If different organisms are interdependent on signals in eco-field networks, then this process may result in the establishment of mutualistic relationships. This is an example of how evolutionary processes are initiated by the recognition of signals in a network of eco-fields.