Creativity and Imagination in the Practice of Philosophy

This paper argues that the exercise of the imagination requires us 1) to attempt to describe features of a certain practice that appear, at first blush, natural and obvious; 2) to understand that that which appears natural and obvious could be otherwise; and 3) to be open to the introduction of changes to that which appears natural and obvious. Imagination, in this sense, is quite different to creativity. The latter works on the basis of the introduction of variations to settled phenomena. This exercise of creativity is important, but ultimately, it contributes principally to the stability and identity of a community and reinforces its most firmly established features. Imagination, on the other hand, is more difficult, for it strikes at the very heart of that which is settled. Changes to that which is settled may not only be resisted, but may also be violently opposed. And yet, it is precisely the very ability and willingness to be open to such changes that may be of the most ethical and political significance. These differences between creativity and imagination are illustrated in the context of the practice of philosophy

Improving prescribing practices in primary care: A randomised trial and economic analysis of a multicomponent intervention showed small, but important, gains

Del Mar discusses the implications of the RaPP trial, a cluster RCT of a multi-component intervention to improve prescribing of antihypertensive and cholesterol-lowering drugs in primary care

Urban sign. The polis furnished

Just as the linguistic sign, defined by Saussure, is like a double-sided coin: significant + meaning, so the city can be defined by this dichotomy, that is, on the one hand is composed of matter and, second, to function or content. We travel the city as the baudelairean flâneur as untimely affiliates walkers to the Situationist International, and so we wear away the tread on the asphalt. Politics, associations and media are responsible for our public space is constantly bombarded by private interests with the consequent impact on the development of citizen relations in semi-privatized public space. The Art brings significant strategies of non-urban places and does so through the Public Art as artistic intervention appropriation of public space by the affirmation of ordinary citizens living there, i.e. by an art to the city and citizenship. Exploring the current state of the contemporary city gives us the framework to review part of urban artistic poetics emerged in recent decades.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The capital gains from trade are not enough: Evidence from the environmental accounts of Venezuela and Mexico

In principle, a country can not endure negative genuine savings for long periods of time without experiencing declining consumption. Nevertheless, theoreticians envisage two alternatives to explain how an exporter of non-renewable natural resources could experience permanent negative genuine savings and still ensure sustainability. The first one alleges that the capital gains arising from the expected improvement in the terms of trade would suffice to compensate for the negative savings of the resource exporter. The second alternative points at technological change as a way to avoid economic collapse. This paper uses the data of Venezuela and Mexico to empirically test the first of these two hypotheses. The results presented here prove that the terms of trade do not suffice to compensate the depletion of oil reserves in these two open economies.Exhaustive resources, environmental accounts, net national product, genuine savings, foreign trade

Analysis of Sociodemographic and Psychological Variables Involved in Sleep Quality in Nurses

Background: Sleep quality is related to health and quality of life and can lead to the development of related disorders. This study analyzed the sociodemographic and psychological factors related to sleep quality in nurses. Methods: The sample comprised 1094 nurses who were assessed according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Questionnaire, the Goal Content for Exercise Questionnaire, the Brief Emotional Intelligence Inventory, and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18. Results: The results confirm the impacts of diet, motivation for physical exercise, emotional intelligence, and overall self-esteem on sleep quality in nurses. Conclusions: Sleep quality in healthcare professionals is vitally important for performance at work; therefore, appropriate strategies should be applied to improve it

Optimal educational choice and redistribution when cultural background matters

Higher education plays an important role in determining lifetime earnings. In turn, the decision to become educated depends to a large extent on family characteristics, such as wealth and cultural background. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between fiscal policies and educational choices when cultural background matters. We derive optimality conditions for a linear income tax and a lump-sum subsidy for education in a dynamic framework in which generations are linked by cultural background. The factors that determine their sign and magnitude include concerns for redistribution, efficiency, and the educational externality on future generationsOptimal linear income tax, Subsidies, Higher education, Educational background

A guide to performing a peer review of randomised controlled trials

Peer review of journal articles is an important step in the research process. Editors rely on the expertise of peer reviewers to properly assess submissions. Yet, peer review quality varies widely and few receive training or guidance in how to approach the task. This paper describes some of the main steps that peer reviewers in general and, in particular, those performing reviewes of randomised controlled trials (RCT), can use when carrying out a review. It can be helpful to begin with a brief read to acquaint yourself with the study, followed by a detailed read and a careful check for flaws. These can be divided into ‘major’ (problems that must be resolved before publication can be considered) and ‘minor’ (suggested improvements that are discretionary) flaws. Being aware of the appropriate reporting checklist for the study being reviewed (such as CONSORT and its extensions for RCTs) can also be valuable. Competing interests or prejudices might corrode the review, so ensuring transparency about them is important. Finally, ensuring that the paper’s strengths are acknowledged along with a dissection of the weaknesses provides balance and perspective to both authors and editors. Helpful reviews are constructive and improve the quality of the paper. The proper conduct of a peer review is the responsibility of all who accept the role

Protectionist but globalised? Latin American custom duties and trade during the pre-1914 belle époque

While it is true that Latin American republics had no rival on maximising revenues from custom collection during the belle époque, this paper shows that Latin American countries were also generous importers, only behind the larger commercial countries of Western Europe in terms of imports per capita. Latin American citizens were much more linked to international trade than citizens of most regions of the world. Their relation to the world economy was tighter both via their imports and their exports relative to their population and income levels. This paper comes to show that there is no contradiction between the high custom collection by the Latin American republics and their high level of interaction with the global economy in the pre-1914 belle époque, although large country differences can be observed when descending from the regional to the national level.First globalisation, Imports, Exports, Custom duties, Protectionism, Latin America

Value and depreciation of mineral resources over the very long run: An empirical contrast of different methods

The paper contrasts empirically the results of alternative methods for estimating the value and the depreciation of mineral resources. The historical data of Mexico and Venezuela, covering the period 1920s-1980s, is used to contrast the results of several methods. These are the present value, the net price method, the user cost method and the imputed income method. The paper establishes that the net price and the user cost are not competing methods as such, but alternative adjustments to different scenarios of closed and open economies. The results prove that the biases of the methods, as commonly described in the theoretical literature, only hold under the most restricted scenario of constant rents over time. It is argued that the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually did happen is for the most part due to a missing variable, namely technological change. This is an important caveat to the recommendations made based on these models.Value, depreciation, mineral assets, net price, user costs, imputed income, environmental accounts