Stage 1 Registered Report: Testing mediumship accuracy with a triple-blind protocol

Even if mediumship is a practice that probably originated at the outset of human history and is embedded in many cultural and religious traditions, scientific investigations into mediumship are quite recent. In this study, we aim to investigate if self-defined mediums can retrieve information about specific deceased persons in an unconventional way, that is, without retrieving the information from the parents or friends of the deceased person or by other conventional means. To our knowledge, this is the first registered report related to this phenomenon. Our experimental design will be triple-blinded: the mediums and their interviewer will only know the first name of the deceased person and of the requesting person. The parents or the close friends of the deceased person will not interact in any way with the medium. Furthermore, they will be blind about which of two lists of information (readings) paired with deceased persons of the same gender is related to their parents or friend. Accuracy of information will be analysed by three criteria: (1) percentage of correct identification of the readings related to the requested person; (2) comparison of the global scores (on a scale 1 to 6) assigned to the intended readings with that of control readings; and (3) comparison of the difference between the percentage of correct minus incorrect information identified in the intended readings with that of the control readings

The Death and Rebirth of a Party System, Peru 1978-2001

This article evaluates structural, institutional, and actor-centered explanations of the collapse of the Peruvian party system around 1990 and its surprising partial recovery in 2001. It begins by describing the changes in the dependent variable, the emergence, collapse, and partial resurrection of the 1980s Peruvian party system. The next section examines the argument that the large size and rapid growth of the informal sector undermined the party system and led to its collapse. The author shows that the evidence does not support this argument. The article then examines changes in the electoral system. The author demonstrates that, contrary to theoretical expectations, the changes in the electoral system do not correlate with the observed changes in the party system. The final section shows that performance failure by political elites, including corruption in government, was more important than social cleavages or electoral institutions in the collapse and partial recovery of the party system.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Stage 2 Registered Report: Testing mediumship accuracy with a triple-blind protocol

In this study, we investigated if self-defined mediums could retrieve information about specific deceased persons in an unconventional way, that is, without retrieving the information from the parents or friends of the deceased person or by other conventional means. To our knowledge, this is the first registered report related to this phenomenon. Our experimental design is triple-blinded: the mediums and their interviewer will only know the first name of the deceased person and the requesting person. The deceased person's parents or close friends will not interact in any way with the medium. Furthermore, they will be blind about which of two lists of information (readings) paired with deceased persons of the same gender is related to their parents or friends. Accuracy of information has been analyzed by three criteria: (1) percentage of correct identification of the readings related to the requested person; (2) comparison of the global scores (on a scale of 1 to 6) assigned to the intended readings with that of control readings; and (3) comparison of the difference between the percentage of correct minus incorrect information identified in the intended readings with that of the control readings. Results: Only criteria 2, was confirmed. This registered report can be an example of how it is possible to study a controversial phenomenon, such as mediumship, with the best methodological scientific tools

Is there someone in the hereafter? Mediumship accuracy of 100 readings obtained with a triple level blinding protocol

The accuracy of information obtained by 28 self-claimant mediums related to 100 readings obtained with a triple level of blinding was examined across three indices: percentage of correct reading identified by the sitters, global score of readings and percentage of difference between correct and incorrect information. All three indices showed statistical differences of the intended versus the control readings: correct identification 65%; global score: intended readings, mean = 2.4, SD= 1.5; control readings, mean = 1.7, SD =1.2; percentage difference between correct and incorrect information: intended readings, mean = -7.9%, SD = 38.7%; control readings, mean = -27.3%, SD = 38%. Our results using this large sample confirm previous results, supporting the hypothesis that self-claimant mediums are able to retrieve correct information about deceased people without knowing and interacting with the sitters, having access with only to the deceased persons’s first name

Who answered the questions? Testing the source of the channeled information

This study aims to investigate the sources of information some people consider to be provided by external discarnate spiritual entities (SEs). Specifically, we aimed to test whether the information derives from conscious or unconscious sources of channelers or real discarnate SEs. Previous research has used surveys and interviews to gather information about purported sources of channeled information. This study used a new experimental design to test the reality of SEs as the source of channelers' information. In Experiment 1, four selected mediums were asked to connect with a specific spiritual or discarnate SEs to channel the responses to identical questions. In Experiment 2, five different mediums were asked to channel the responses to five questions from a single discarnate SE. All responses were recorded, transformed into text files, and analyzed with an AI chatbot, a specific software for the quantitative analyses of text content, and by two experts in qualitative text analyses (only in Experiment 2). Both the algorithmic and human experts in the text analysis results did not support the fact that the content similarity of the responses derived from an SE. The only more parsimonious alternative interpretation is that the content of the responses derives from the mediums themselves in a particular state of non-pathological dissociativ

Dreaming similar contents intentionally: an empirical evidence

The aim of this study was to verify, for the first time, whether it was possible to intentionally share the contents of dreams in a selected group of people following specific training. The results obtained by the five participants in this study in three series of five sessions of three days each, for a total of 45 days, demonstrate that it is possible to achieve this result. The number of common contents observed through self-assessment and two AI software was on average 5.5 items, with a range from 2 to 10. Even a choice between five options of the image that contained the most common elements with dreams revealed a 60% agreement between the participants' choices and those of two independent judges. Finally, the comparison between the number of common contents among the dreams collected on the fifteen nights of the third series, compared to those observed in the same number of control nights (different among the participants), highlighted an average of 1.4 more common content on the first. The findings of this study suggest that participants were able to activate a condition of mental connection in the dream state by intentionally managing to share similar content

Nanostructured Lipid Systems as a Strategy to Improve the in Vitro Cytotoxicity of Ruthenium(II) Compounds

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease that is still present as a global public health problem. Our group has been investigating new molecules with anti-TB activity. In this context, inorganic chemistry has been a quite promising source of such molecules, with excellent results seen with ruthenium compounds. Nanostructured lipid systems may potentiate the action of drugs by reducing the required dosage and side effects and improving the antimicrobial effects. The aim of this study was to develop a nanostructured lipid system and then characterize and apply these encapsulated compounds (SCARs 1, 2 and 4) with the goal of improving their activity by decreasing the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC90) and reducing the cytotoxicity (IC50). The nanostructured system was composed of 10% phase oil (cholesterol), 10% surfactant (soy oleate, soy phosphatidylcholine and Eumulgin (R)) and 80% aqueous phase (phosphate buffer pH = 7.4). Good activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis was maintained after the incorporation of the compounds into the nanostructured lipid system, while the cytotoxicity decreased dramatically, in some cases up to 20 times less toxic than the unencapsulated drug.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Antología del pensamiento crítico peruano contemporáneo

En un contexto de creciente especialización, profesionalización y despolitización en el ejercicio de las ciencias sociales, en el que es cada vez mayor la influencia de corrientes intelectuales originadas en los países centrales nor occidentales, es importante redescubrir para las nuevas generaciones nuestra tradición intelectual, con su preocupación por los temas sustantivos que afectan el presente y el futuro de nuestras sociedades, con su compromiso político y público, con su cuestionamiento al statu quo, con su identificación con los sectores subordinados de nuestras sociedades. Ya empieza a ocurrir que estudiantes o investigadores jóvenes en nuestros países caen en el error de considerar como nuevas algunas ideas producidas por académicos en el norte que en realidad tienen un largo linaje en el sur, o que se desaproveche un valioso arsenal de ideas, conceptos, mecanismos causales, pertinentes para entender realidades actuales por el desconocimiento de nuestra tradición. Esperamos haber podido reflejar en esta antología la vitalidad de la tradición y la vigencia del pensamiento social crítico en el Perú, con sus particularidades, continuidades y cambios