Nāmarūpa; a Linguistic Perspective

Nāmarūpa (literally “name and form”) is widely known as a Buddhist concept, relevant in the context of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), and the skandhas. Yet, the compound is also found in the early Upaniṣads and a closer look at the Vedic corpus reveals that nāman and rūpa also appear closely related to each other in earlier texts. Generally, textual scholars explain nāmarūpa—both in Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts—as a designation of “individuality” or “empirical reality,” whereby nāman and rūpa tend to be regarded as counterparts. In this paper I consider the “non-Buddhist” use of the term from a linguistic perspective. Inspired on a 1987 article by Edward S. Small, I intend to explore to what extent modern theories on the linguistic sign—such as Saussure’s bipartite model of signifier and signified, and the triangle of reference of Ogden and Richards (1923)—may shed light on the relationship between nāman and rūpa and help us establish finer nuances in the meaning of the compound. The purpose of this analysis is to challenge tacit assumptions about language in recent interpretations of nāmarūpa and thus contribute to a better understanding of its usage in Buddhist texts prior to the systematization of the Abhidharma

Usos y alcance del concepto de evolución en la investigación sobre adquisición de la lengua

El uso del término evolución conduce a la falta de profundidad en la explicación de los fenómenos del desarrollo. En éste trabajo se explica un uso valioso del término evolución para incrementar la riqueza de las investigaciones en adquisición de la lengua. Además se propone un nuevo uso para los términos relativos a la evolución, en específico la adaptación.The term evolution leads to a lack of depth in the explanation of development phenomena. This paper explains a valuable use of the term evolution to increase the wealth of research in language acquisition. It also suggests a new use for the terms on developments in specific adaptation

Tres problemas epistémicos en el estudio de la evolución del lenguaje

This work is a critique to the studies on the evolution of language by means of the identification of three epistemic problems. The epistemic critics starts with the definition of language and the unit of evolution. The result is to refer us from the question about the origin of language to the question about the origin of the human being which are the other two epistemic problems. The up-per limit in the study on language evolution is how to know what is to be human. In this way, we understand that the studies on the evolution of language are about the process of how we recognize ourselves as humans. The lack of the definition of language to have the unit of evolution, with the confusion about the origin of language and humans points that the evolution of language is still at the level of a taxonomy, far to be a systematic explanation of language or evolution.Este trabajo es una crítica a los estudios sobre la evolución del lenguaje mediante la identificación de tres problemas epistémicos. La crítica epistémica parte de la definición del lenguaje y la unidad de evolución. El resultado es remitirnos de la pregunta por el origen del lenguaje a la pregunta por el origen del ser humano que son los otros dos problemas epistémicos. El límite superior en el estudio de la evolución del lenguaje es cómo saber qué es ser humano. De esta manera, entendemos que los estudios sobre la evolución del lenguaje se refieren al proceso de cómo nos reconocemos como humanos. La falta de la definición de lenguaje para tener la unidad de evolución, con la confusión sobre el origen del lenguaje y los humanos apunta que la evolución del lenguaje aún está al nivel de una taxonomía, lejos de ser una explicación sistemática del lenguaje o la evolución. Palabras clave: Lengua; Evolución; Origen; Ser humano; Lingüística

The Systemic Theory of Living Systems and Relevance to CAM: The Theory (Part II)

This theory stems from observing the universe's ‘omniscient’ nature, manifested in flows of energy and information of its life plethora. A notorious example is the living cell's intelligent nature, which guides its basic goal: to maximize survival. This last motivated me to address the living system's intelligence, which constitutes a vital and controversial topic, its relationship with ‘incurable’ disease in general, including cancer, and to propose golden rules for therapeutics, as well as a definition of ideal medicine. The scientific confirmation of these findings is embedded in discoveries in cybernetics, biological theory of information and modern thermodynamic concepts, concerning energy and information exchange, within a living system. This approach's practical application, denominated Systemic Medicine, has been substantiated by treatment and results obtained in >300 000 patients suffering from chronic degenerative diseases

The Systemic Theory of Living Systems and Relevance to CAM: Part I: The Theory

The Systemic Theory of Living Systems is being published in several parts in eCAM. The theory is axiomatic. It originates from the phenomenological idea that physiological health is based on three factors: integrity of its structure or organization, O, functional organic energy reserve, E, and level of active biological intelligence, I. From the theory is derived a treatment strategy called Systemic Medicine (SM). This is based on identifying and prescribing phytomedicines and/or other medications that strengthen each factor. Energy-stimulating phytomedicines increase available energy and decrease total entropy of an open biological system by providing negative entropy. The same occurs with phytomedicines that act as biological intelligence modulators. They should be used as the first line of treatment in all ailments, since all pathologies, by definition, imply a higher than normal organic entropy. SM postulates that the state of health, H, of an individual, is effectively equal to the product of the strength of each factor H = O × E × I. SM observes that when all three factors are brought back to ideal levels, patients' conditions begin the recovery to normal health

Análisis del Síndrome Metabólico desde una mirada social, en un Centro de salud en Chimalhuacán, Estado de México

El síndrome metabólico es un factor de riesgo cardiovascular y cerebrovascular, compromete a diferentes órganos y sistemas, en el sector salud es manejado y tratado desde la óptica clínica y no es considerado el aspecto social, por tal motivo esta investigación se realizó con el objetivo de destacar la importancia de considerar los aspectos sociales que contribuyen al diagnóstico de síndrome metabólico obtenidos de literatura, comparados con los resultados de enfermedades crónicas que dan diagnóstico de síndrome metabólico de las tarjetas de enfermedades crónicas de un Centro de Salud en Chimalhuacán Estado de México; es una investigación cualitativa, analítica y descriptiva sustentada con la teoría sociológica de Emile Durkheim. Los resultados obtenidos fueron una prevalencia elevada en los diferentes componentes de síndrome metabólico, así como una prevalencia de 22 por ciento de SM.La maestrante Maricela Sánchez Olalde estuvo becada por el CONACY

Indicators needed to design a student dashboard from lecturers’ perspectives: a qualitative study

The number of students’ enrolled in Higher Education online courses is increasing, and as a result, more data about their learning process is generated. The data produced can be displayed on a dashboard and help students in their learning process. However, lecturers’ perspective should be taken into account to define the indicators of the dashboard as the design of the courses could impact on the elements included on it. And that is precisely the aim of this paper: to define the indicators needed to design a student dashboard in online courses taking into account lecturers' perspectives. This study was carried out with 10 lecturers from the Faculty of Humanities and Education from Mondragon Unibertsitatea. Online qualitative questionnaires were used to gather participants’ perceptions. Results show that most of the lecturers participating in the research study identified four indicators to design a student dashboard: number of times students access the course forum, amount of contributions in the forum, number of times students consult the information booklet, and number of times each student has accessed the course in a week time. Conclusions drawn from this study highlight the importance of training lecturers and students on the pedagogical use of data visualization

Conceptual framework for process-oriented feedback through Learning Analytics Dashboards

The number of students enrolled in online higher education courses is increasing, and as a result, more data on their learning process is being generated. By exploring this student behavior data through learning analytics, both student and teacher can be provided with process-oriented feedback in the form of dashboards. However, little is known about the typology of relevant feedback in the dashboard to different learning objectives, students and teachers. Although most dashboards and the feedback they provide are based solely on student performance indicators, research shows that such feedback is not sufficient. This article attempts to define a conceptual model that visualizes the relationships between the design of a Learning Analytics Dashboard (LAD) and the concepts of learning science in order to provide process-oriented feedback that supports the regulation of learning. The aim of the work is not to propose a specific design of the LAD to provide feedback, but rather a conceptual framework for the choice of concepts for that design, and therefore to help understand future data needs as a basis for the educational feedback of the dashboards. As a conclusion of our research, we can say that having LADs adapted to any profile (student, teacher, etc.) can improve decision-making processes by showing each user the information that interests them most in the way that best enables them to understand it