Ana Perez

Taxonomies about the natural world reflect or reinforce ways of thinking about the world structure. Almost a century ago, Nikolai Vavilov emphasized the importance of domestication gradients as a taxonomy to encompass agrobiodiversity within centers of origin of agriculture, such as the Mesoamerican one. To date, domestication gradients in Latin America prevail with different cultivated plant species that exist as semiwild or semidomesticated forms, subject to diverse management systems by peasant (campesino) communities. Agroecology and Ethnobotany have highlighted the socio-cultural relevance of arvense plants (plants associated to tillage). This category encompasses useful plants for peasant economies and indigenous cultures as well as weeds whose control involves other types of peasant management practices. Evolutionary biology recognizes the key role played by domestication and management gradients in crop plant evolution. Nevertheless, the term weed (“maleza” in Spanish) is widespread in the scientific literature published in English and it refers to all plants that have not been intentionally cultivated. In the present work we review the scientific literature and reflect on the concepts that underlie terms such as “semi-wild”, “weed” or “tolerated plant”. We propose that a conceptual flattening and concealment occurs when, through language, scientific literature in English reduces the current domestication stages and the plants under diverse management systems to mere “weeds”. We also explore how this categorization could be a case of epistemic injustice within agriculture, one that is aligned with agro-industrial production models. In this context, we posit the question, does the use of the term “weed” in scientific literature and the agro-industrial model of speech, as a broad category that homogenizes nuances of management and valuation, contribute to oppressing perspectives and perpetuates epistemic injustices.

This paper proposes an intermediate account of personhood, based on the capacity to participate in intersubjective interactions. We articulate our proposal as a reply to liberal and restrictive accounts, taking Mark Rowlands’ and Stephen Darwall’s proposals as contemporary representatives of each view, respectively. We argue that both accounts fall short of dealing with borderline cases and defend our intermediate view: The criteria of personhood based on the second-person perspective of mental state attribution. According to it, a person should be able to participate in intersubjective interactions. We apply our proposal to the borderline cases of non-human primates and human infants.

Scholars have recently claimed that heritage values are not fixed, but culturally created and historically specific. This article will analyze this statement by looking at how the concept and perception of heritage values themselves have been transformed in the last two centuries. The consequences of these changes will be examined in terms of decisions regarding what constitutes heritage and what should be preserved, the institutions related to new values that have been established and how this has impacted on national legislation and international agreements. It will be argued that there has been a steady growth in the number of heritage value categories taken into account by experts and that this has been accompanied by a displacement in the centrality of some that were previously regarded as the only ones. The main values considered in the article will be historical, aesthetic, natural, anthropological, symbolic, social, and economic. In contrast to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, recent decades have seen a shift in focus from the material to the immaterial or intangible aspects of heritage, and from historical to social and economic values. Today, it is difficult to find agreement among professionals on a valid typology of heritage values, as preferences for the sets of categories used for value assessment depend on the country and the experts’ professional background, as well as on the type of heritage and context. The latest shift is linked to a global emphasis on social inclusivity, cultural sustainability and significance. Although this article focuses mainly on Europe, and to a lesser extent on the United States, much of what it is explained can be applied to other areas of the world.

Introduction: Cryoablation is an acceptable treatment option for small renal cortical neoplasms. Unlike extirpative interventions, intraoperative needle biopsy is the only pathologic data for ablated tumors. It is imperative that sampled tissue accurately captures pathology. We studied the optimal intraoperativeneedle core biopsy protocol for small RCN during laparoscopic renal cryoablation. Methods: Patients with RCN<4cm underwent intraoperative biopsy during LCA. Four biopsy cores were taken per tumor, 2 before and 2 after LCA by using both a standard and modified technique. Standard technique: needle biopsy device was deployed after insertion into therenal tissue at a depth of 5mm. Modified technique: needle biopsy device was deployed 1mm outside of the renal tissue. Biopsies were examined and compared with reference standard pathology. Percentage agreement was calculated across biopsy types and time points. Logistic regression was used to identify factors impacting biopsy accuracy. Results: Thirty patients with 33 RCNs underwent LCA. The mean patient age was 69.1±8.0yrs, and mean tumor size was 2.3±0.7cm. No significant bleeding resulted from biopsies. A definitive diagnosis was made in 31/33 RCNs. Ten tumors were benign, 21 were malignant, and 2 were nondiagnostic. Biopsy length was significantly longer using the standard vs. modified technique with mean lengths of 9.3mm vs. 7.0mm, respectively. Highest agreement was seen in preablation biopsies. A significant association with agreement was seen for younger age and larger tumor size. Conclusions: Younger age and larger tumor size were associated with improved accuracy. Preoperative sampling resulted in superior accuracy and the standard technique resulted in significantly longer cores. Use of preablation standard biopsy technique may result in the most accurate pathologic diagnosis for patients undergoing cryoablation for small RCNs. © 2011 by JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons.

En este artículo nos proponemos discutir el problema de las relaciones interteóricas desde la perspectiva de un pluralismo ontológico que adopta un realismo de raigambre kantiana. Para ello comenzamos por recordar el concepto tradicional de reducción y sus limitaciones, poniendo el énfasis en los supuestos metafísicos que conlleva tal concepción. A continuación, analizamos otra difundida postura que concibe las relaciones interteóricas en términos de relaciones funcionales, a fin de poner al descubierto ciertas conclusiones inadecuadas que suelen inferirse de tal interpretación. Esta tarea nos conduce a señalar un problema generalmente ignorado en las discusiones sobre el tema, el cual se refiere al modo como se define el sistema bajo estudio. Finalmente, presentamos una caracterización general de nuestro pluralismo ontológico de filiación kantiana, e intentamos poner de manifiesto cómo, en su versión sincrónica, tal pluralismo nos permite afrontar el problema de las relaciones interteóricas de un modo filosóficamente fecundo.

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.

Jane Addams (1860-1935), activista y pensadora feminista estadounidense, nos permite reencontrarnos con una perspectiva del feminismo de antaño. Su trabajo intelectual como escritora y filósofa pragmatista fue muy influyente para el sufragio en Estados Unidos y la creación de leyes que buscaban mejorar las condiciones laborales de las mujeres y poblaciones afrodescendientes. También fue cofundadora de la primera residencia social de Estados Unidos que apoyó la población inmigrante europea, conocida como la Hull-House. Además de ser la primera mujer en la Universidad de Yale en recibir un Master of Arts honorario, también fue la primera mujer ganadora del premio Nobel de la Paz en 1931. El presente texto es el primer capítulo de su libro titulado A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil, el cual trata sobre el trabajo sexual y el arduo camino hacia su abolición. Jane Addams es relevante actualmente porque puede sumarse a las voces que configuran el diálogo sobre la prostitución.

Este comentario se centra en el primer capítulo de Abductive Reasoning (2006), donde Aliseda ofrece nuevas herramien-tas conceptuales para examinar los modelos metodológicos que trazan una distinción de contextos en la investigación científica. Elucidamos la posición de Popper frente al problema del descubrimiento y distinguimos dos sentidos en que deliberadamente utiliza ‘discovery’ en su LSD (1959), distinción que permite reforzar la heterodoxa interpretación que hace Aliseda de la metodología popperiana. Por último, nos detenemos en la comparación entre Popper y Simon frente a la “lógica del descubrimiento”, ya que condensa las razones por las que Aliseda considera que la dicotomía descubrimiento-justificación está destinada al fracaso.This brief commentary focuses on the first chapter of Abductive Reasoning (2006), where Aliseda offers new conceptual tools for examining the methodological models in which a distinction between contexts of scientific research is traced. In particular, we analyze Popper’s position with respect to the problem of discovery and distinguish two different senses in which he deliberately uses the term ‘discovery’ in LSD (1959); this, in turn, lends support to Aliseda’s heterodox interpretation of the Popperian methodology. Last, we examine the comparison the author makes between Popper and Simon as it contains the primary reasons for asserting that the discovery-justification dichotomy is doomed to failure.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo revelar el verdadero nombre de Finlay y la trascendencia de su firma a fin de salvaguardar cómo llega hasta hoy la autenticidad denominativa del científico. Para ello fue necesaria la revisión bibliográfica de diversas fuentes documentales. Destacan las Obras Completas del médico, artículos científicos de revistas indexadas de la nación y el exterior: Educación Médica Superior, Cuadernos de Historia de la Salud Pública, Biomédica, Acimed, Asclepio, entre otras; periódicos, así como entrevistas a especialistas de la Casa Natal de Carlos J. Finlay. This work aims to real the true name of Finlay and the significance of his signature in order to safeguard its authenticity in present times. To this end, the bibliographic revision of several documentary sources was necessary. Revisions were made of his Complete Works, scientific articles indexed in national and foreign scientific journals, newspaper articles and interviews with specialists from the Carlos J. Finlay Birth House Museum.

Based on Newton’s laws reformulated in the Hamiltonian dynamics combined with statistical mechanics, we formulate a statistical mechanical theory supporting the hypothesis of a closed universe oscillating in phase-space. We find that the behavior of this universe as a whole can be represented by a free entropic oscillator whose lifespan is nonhomogeneous, thus implying that time is shorter or longer according to the state of this universe given through its entropy. We conclude that time reduces to the entropy production of this universe and that a nonzero entropy production means that local fluctuations could exist giving rise to the appearance of masses and to the curvature of the space

El presente artículo ahonda en la vulnerabilidad de las y los migrantes en México, ya sean en tránsito o de destino, haciendo énfasis en la falta de políticas públicas al respecto, las cuales si las hay, no contemplan la perspectiva de género, categoría de análisis imprescindible. La llamada “feminización de las migraciones” está aumentando, adquiriendo especial importancia en la Frontera Sur. La violación sistemática de los derechos humanos hacia las mujeres migrantes y su situación de indefensión, hace que sean objeto de vejaciones que ni si quiera pueden denunciar por su condición irregular, así como por sus factores sociales y culturales (género, clase, etnia…), lo que les hace estar desprovistas de los recursos necesarios de empoderamiento y acción. Se analiza la desprotección de las migrantes centroamericanas en Chiapas así como los Convenios nacionales e internacionales en defensa de sus derechos, acabando el artículo con propuestas específicas, relativas a las políticas públicas para el caso estudiado.

This article reflects on the school's role in the building of citizenship, especially in socially vulnerable contexts. We argue, and try to show, that effective participation in decision-making processes is a key tool to promote conditions that help in social transformation and the formation of active citizenship. We offer a brief description of the current socio-educational scene, characterised by poverty and school failure, both emerging from the profound social, economic and cultural crises that affected Argentina in 2001. The resulting need for social integration, links between State and civil society, people's empowerment and political development make it necessary for the school to become an institution of community development, promoting opportunities for political socialisation and moral education. We describe a two-year action-research project in a secondary school in the north east of Argentina that aimed to enhance the bond between the school and the community and to democratise relationships in the school. Based on that experience, we critically analyse the way in which the school offers or denies opportunities for genuine participation and, as a consequence, the way in which the formation of citizenship is managed, and make some recommendations for rethinking the school from a social and political point of view