Abraham Hernández

In a variety of synaesthesia, photisms result from affect-laden stimuli as emotional words, or faces of familiar people. For R, who participated in this study, the sight of a familiar person triggers a mental image of "a human silhouette filled with colour". Subjective descriptions of synaesthetic experiences induced by the visual perception of people's figures and faces show similarities with the reports of those who claim to possess the ability to see the aura. It has been proposed that the purported auric perception may be easily explained by the presence of a specific subtype of cross-modal perception. We analyse the subjective reports of four synaesthetes who experience colours in response to human faces and figures. These reports are compared with descriptions of alleged auric phenomena found in the literature and with claims made by experts in esoteric spheres. The discrepancies found suggest that both phenomena are phenomenologically and behaviourally dissimilar

Different approaches have been proposed in order to achieve knowledge integration for coronary care monitoring applications, usually in the form of expert systems. The clinical impact of these expert systems, which are based only on "shallow" knowledge, has not been remarkable due to the difficulties associated with the construction and maintenance of a complete knowledge base. Model-based systems represent an alternative to these problems because they allow efficient integration of the "deep" knowledge on the underlying physiological phenomena being monitored. In this work, a brief review of existing model-based systems for cardiac rhythm interpretation is presented, followed by the description of a new system forCardiac Arrhythmia Recognition by Model-Based ECG Matching (CARMEM). Fundamental characteristics of CARMEM are presented; in particular, its ability to provide on-line parameter adaptation to simulate complex rhythms and to match observed ECG signals. The proposed model can be useful for the explanation of the origin of cardiac arrhythmias and contribute towards their robust characterization in the context of coronary care units.

Democracies offer a true prospect for freedom to flourish, as long as people hold a correct understanding of what freedom entails. For Alexis de Tocqueville, the relationship between democracy and liberalism is hopefully inseparable, and potentially beneficial. But liberalism would have to be properly understood, in order for democracy to deliver on its genuine salutary potential. Not only would a liberal perspective promote the separation of powers, but it would also need to favor an idea of freedom that is more than a mere affirmation of individual autonomy. Unless a civic component is attached to the notion of freedom, any other conception would eventually result in self-enclosed citizens prone to succumb to new forms of tyranny in the shape, mainly, of administrative centralization. The true meaning and value of freedom, therefore, would have to be learned. Facilitating the conditions for freedom of association to develop is essential to doing so. Taking Tocqueville’s proposal as a starting point, I explore the role that administrative moderation plays in stimulating civic involvement at the most local levels. The latter, along with a committed safeguard of freedom of association, could begin to animate a revival of real sovereignty of the people. And with it, the development of functional pluralistic contemporary societies could be a reality.

Whether public or private, management decision-making within any institution has intrinsically positive or negative externalities. Hence, it is sought that the choice is made at the margin of a more significant benefit and retribution for the institutional body and the exterior. In the university field, assertive leadership is required. It is the ideal feature to work and achieve a balance within the institution that protects the human rights of students, professors and administrative staff. The objective of this chapter is to review the decisions taken by some faculties of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León for the promotion, protection, defence and dissemination of human rights with a gender perspective and inclusion, as well as identifying the assertive decisions that have been taken to generate a culture of human rights protection with a gender and inclusion perspective and their legal linkage to the General Law on Higher Education. The most analysed topics in this chapter were the detailed analyses of press releases and advertising spots published on the official websites of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and its social networks and the documentary and hermeneutic review of the General Law of Higher Education. A qualitative study was conducted through participatory research in the proactive management of assertive leadership. A brief comparative documentary analysis of scientific publications in Latin America was also made. The main results were significant successes and advances in defending and promoting human rights with a gender perspective and inclusion.

Whether in everyday disagreements, bargaining episodes, or high-stakes disputes, people typically see a spectrum of possible responses to dealing with differences with others, ranging from avoidance and accommodation to competition and aggression. When coming across such circumstances, it is crucial to advocate for oneself –our positions, to achieve personal goals, overcome difficulties, and be determined- but control aggressive impulses without harming the rights and interests of others. This book addresses assertiveness from a human rights perspective, using a mixed methods approach. It explores how assertiveness as a human right promotes human dignity and helps build more just, equitable, peaceful, and inclusive societies. With interdisciplinary contributors working in diverse fields, the collection brings together theoretical and applied research evidence on assertive rights. The collection examines assertive rights as critical factors for developing assertive behavior and as a virtue for personal development, empowerment, and thriving.

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was convinced that without a new possibility for transcendence, democracies would be ill-prepared to allow for actual freedom. In Democracy in America, his study of the United States, he explained that when self-interest was enlightened, individuals would tend to identify their personal benefits with the well-being of the community. By transcending their individualistic tendency to self-enclose, they would contribute to forming and maintaining a real sovereignty of the people. However, unless the “doctrine of self-interest well understood” was aided by a higher ideal, by itself it would eventually fall short, thus paving the way for new forms of despotism. Religion, and more specifically, reformed versions of Christianity, seemed to effectively elevate the outlook of the early Americans. As I will argue, however, Tocqueville ultimately held that those versions lacked the profundity and stability required to resist the strong materialistic and individualistic tendencies of people living in a democracy. Tocqueville’s apparent, if anxious-ridden, preference for Catholicism as the more adequate civil religion resonates with important aspects of Augustine’s theory of the Two Cities, the earthly and the heavenly city. For both Tocqueville and Augustine, the Roman Church’s stable doctrine was what could more successfully teach mankind the truth about their limited condition, hence making them more capable of learning the “art of being free.”

This paper deals with an (otherwise classical) two-(non-interacting) particle system immersed in a common stochastic zero-point radiation field. The treatment is an extension of the one-particle case for which it has been shown that the quantum properties of the particle emerge from its interaction with the background field under stationary and ergodic conditions. In the present case we show that non-classical correlations—describable only in terms of entanglement—arise between the (nearby) particles whenever both of them resonate to a common frequency of the field. For identical particles the entanglement becomes maximum and must be described by totally (anti)symmetric states

En este trabajo pretendemos comparar y poner en conexión la crítica de Hamann a la Ilustración y la crítica a la tecnología de Anders. La bomba atómica, entendida como paradigma tecnológico, se presenta como un punto de no retorno. Los orígenes de la lógica destructiva que la hace posible pueden ser rastreados hasta la Ilustración. En el periodo de las luces, Hamann aparece como un foco de resistencia frente a las sombras de un sistema que idealizó la racionalidad. A través de estos dos autores trazamos el recorrido del debate sobre el nihilismo desde su origen en la modernidad hasta el momento presente.