The Connection Principle and the Classificatory Scheme of Reality

Searle's Connection Principle says that "the ascription of an unconscious intentional phenomenon to a system implies that the phenomenon is in principle accessible to consciousness". In this paper I want to defend the thesis that Searle's theory of mind, and especially the Connection Principle, does not offer a coherent picture of unconscious mental states and, a fortiori, of the intentional life generally

Factors driving semi-aquatic predator occurrence in traditional cattle drinking pools : conservation issues

In several cases, human impact on water bodies and on their freshwater communities is detrimental, but in some cases the human activity may favour and enhance the biodiversity of small water bodies, as traditional cattle drinking pools. Despite their small size, small water bodies may constitute hot spot of biodiversity often representing the only lentic aquatic biotope in landscapes where superficial water lacks or flows in lotic environments like creeks and streams. Predators are good indicators of biodiversity in ponds and give information of food chain web complexity. In particular, semi-aquatic predators like amphibians and dragonflies may account for a substantial percentage of energy flow between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated the conservation value of traditional cattle drinking pools building by assessing the factors determining the occurrence and distribution of the semiaquatic predators. From April to August 2015, we investigated 30 distinct pools recording several abiotic and biotic environmental variables. We detected 4 semi-aquatic predators: Salamandra salamandra larvae, Triturus carnifex, Aeshna sp. larvae and Libellula sp. larvae. Abiotic features played a major role in shaping the predator community that resulted linked to stable, with no dryness period, and large drinking pools. Invertebrate prey biomass was not particularly important, while vegetation cover and occurrence of unpalatable tadpoles were the most important biotic features of the pools. Our study provides novel evidence on the importance of cattle drinking pools management to preserve biodiversity especially in areas where traditional pastoral activity is disappearing

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and associated caregiver stress in geriatric patients with Parkinson’s disease

Objectives: In Parkinson´s disease, researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to include the assessment of behavioural and psychological symptoms as important outcome measures in clinical trials. Besides, clinicians are starting to recognise the need to identify and manage these symptoms in addition to the motor ones. Our objective is to explore the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in geriatric patients with Parkinson and the associated distress in their caregivers. Methods: 100 patients with PD ageing 75 years old or more (50 PD without dementia and 50 PD Dementia (PDD) were assessed using the 10-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory-questionnaire (NPI-Q), and the NPI Caregiver Distress Scale (NPI-D). Results: The mean total NPI score was 12.9. At least one neuropsychiatric symptom was present in more than 80% of participants. Within PDD patients about 89% suffered at least one NPI symptom, 70% suffered at least 2 symptoms and one of those symptoms had an intensity scoring 4 of higher in more than 50%. Numbers in PD patients without dementia were significantly lower, though more than 50% of patients had at least 2 symptoms. The most frequent symptom was depression, followed by apathy, anxiety, depression and hallucinations. Antiparkinsonian agents can exacerbate psychotic symptoms. Nearly 60% of caregivers reported suffering a moderate to severe level of stress due to these symptoms. Symptoms causing more stress were agitation/aggression followed by hallucinations and irritability/lability. Conclusions: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are frequent in geriatric patients with PD –specially in patients with PDD– and lead to moderate to severe caregiver distress

Wage inequality, segregation by skill and the price of capital in an assignment model

Some pieces of empirical evidence suggest that in the U.S., over the last few decades, (i) wage inequality between-plants has risen much more than wage inequality within-plants and (ii) there has been an increase in the segregation of workers by skill into separate plants. This paper presents a frictionless assignment model in which these two features can be explained simultaneously as the result of the decline in the relative price of capital. Additional implications of the model regarding the skill premium and the dispersion in labor productivity across plants are also consistent with the empirical evidence. [resumen de autor

The labor market effects of technology shocks

We analyze the effects of neutral and investment-specific technology shocks on hours worked and unemployment. We characterize the response of unemployment in terms of job separation and job finding rates. We find that job separation rates mainly account for the impact response of unemployment while job finding rates for movements along its adjustment path. Neutral shocks increase unemployment and explain a substantial portion of unemployment and output volatilityinvestment-specific shocks expand employment and hours worked and mostly contribute to hours worked volatility. We show that this evidence is consistent with the view that neutral technological progress prompts Schumpeterian creative destruction, while investment specific technological progress has standard neoclassical feature