La cibernética como lógica de la vida

Los precedentes de la cibernética se encuentran claramente en Aristóteles, quien distingue entre operaciones vitales —-praxis— y movimientos físicos —kinesis—, y habla de la información como modificación de un estado de equilibrio y de la retroalimentaáón como el modo de controlar la información. Desde ahí se descubre que en Aristóteles el modelo morfotélico es superior al modelo hilemórfic

Ética socrática y moral cristiana

This article compares certain aspects of Socratic ethics and of Christian morality. It stresses what Christian morality adds to Socratic ethics on the basis of Revelation, and surveys certain versions of Christian ethics which its author considers to be misguiding. In particular, the author notes defects in Luther’s, Kant’s and Fenelon’s ethical views, and in certain other views which stand in clear opposition to Christian ethics, such ad that of Nietzsche and other postmodern authors

Evidence-based medicine and values-based medicine : partners in clinical education as well as in clinical practice

The best clinical decisions are based on both evidence and values in what is known as the ‘twofeet principle’. Anecdotally, educationalists find teaching clinicians to become more evidence based is relatively simple in comparison to encouraging them to become more values based. One reason is likely to be the importance of values awareness. As valuesbased practice is premised on a mutual respect for the diversity of values, clinicians need to develop the skills to ascertain patient values and to get in touch with their own beliefs and preferences in order to understand those at play in any consultation. Only then can shared decision-making processes take place within a shared framework of values. In a research article published in BMC Medicine, AltamiranoBustamante and colleagues highlight difficulties that clinicians face in getting in touch with their own values. Despite finding that healthcare personnel’s core values were honesty and respect, autonomy was initially low ranked by participants. One significant aspect of this work is that this group has demonstrated that the extent to which clinicians value ‘autonomy’ and ‘openness to change’ can both be positively influenced by well designed education

Poblaciones y comunidades de algas bentónicas en la costa catalana

Las poblaciones de algas bentónicas forman comunidades que en unos lugares están poco diferenciadas y en otros constituyen comunidades definidas de un cierto valor indicativo. En este trabajo se comentan diversos perfiles de la costa catalana, confeccionadas según esquemas tomados sobre el terreno y auxiliados por fotografías submarinas.Los perfiles, tomados en varias localidades de la costa, revelan algunos horizontes y facies característicos del Mediterráneo occidental, lo que nos permite a modo de síntesis, tabular según su exposición al oleaje y a la luz, las facies más conspicuas y mejor caracterizadas.The populations of benthic algae form communities which are little differenciated in some spots while in others they constitute definite communities with some indicative value. Several profiles of the catalan coast are treated in this paper they have been drawn in accordance with outlines taken on the ground and with the aid of submarine pictures.The profiles, taken at several spots of the coast, reveal some horizonts and facieswhich are characteristic of the west Mediterranean, this allows us to tabulate the facies more evidents and better characterized according to their exposure to the swell and to the light

Customer equity drivers, customer experience quality, and customer profitability in banking services: the moderating role of social influence

Financial service organizations are increasingly interested in ways to improve the service experience quality for customers, while customers progressively perceive the commoditization of banking services. This is no easy task, as factors outside the control of the service firm can influence customers’ perceptions of their experience. This study builds on the customer equity framework to understand the linkages between what the firm does (customer equity drivers: value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity), the social environment (social influence), the customer experience quality, and its ultimate impact on profitability. Using perceptual and transactional data for a sample of customers of financial services, we demonstrate the central role played by factors under the control of the firm (value, brand, and relationship equity) and those outside its control (social influence) in shaping customers’ perceptions of the quality of their experience. We offer new insights into the moderating role of social influence in the linkages between the customer equity drivers and the customer experience quality. The managerial takeaway is that the impact of customer equity drivers on the customer experience quality is contingent on the influence exerted by other people and that enhancing customer experience quality can be a way to increase monetary returns

Antecedents and consequences of stress in retailing: environmental expectations and promoter scoring

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the disconfirmation of expectations of crowding and mall accessibility, on stress and two marketing outcomes, satisfaction and promoter scoring. Design/methodology/approach: Data were obtained through two face-to-face surveys from mall shoppers that answered them at two different moments of their shopping experience, before entering the mall and before leaving it. Results are obtained from 230 customers that answered the two questionnaires. Findings: The findings suggest that stress indirectly influences customer promoter scoring through satisfaction, while disconfirmation of expectations influences it directly and indirectly. Practical implications: These results also suggest that stress and disconfirmation of expectations about crowding and accessibility are important in determining promoter scoring. To reduce stress and increase satisfaction and promoter scoring, managers should focus on exceeding customers'' expectations about mall accessibility and on ensuring that customers experience a lower level of crowding than they expected. Originality/value: The article examines Net Promoter Scoring, an outcome that has attracted managers'' attention but little is known about its antecedents. The paper provides evidence of the effect of disconfirmation of expectations and negative emotions on promoter scoring

An extension of SPARQL for expressing qualitative preferences

In this paper we present SPREFQL, an extension of the SPARQL language that allows appending a PREFER clause that expresses "soft" preferences over the query results obtained by the main body of the query. The extension does not add expressivity and any SPREFQL query can be transformed to an equivalent standard SPARQL query. However, clearly separating preferences from the "hard" patterns and filters in the WHERE clause gives queries where the intention of the client is more cleanly expressed, an advantage for both human readability and machine optimization. In the paper we formally define the syntax and the semantics of the extension and we also provide empirical evidence that optimizations specific to SPREFQL improve run-time efficiency by comparison to the usually applied optimizations on the equivalent standard SPARQL query.Comment: Accepted to the 2017 International Semantic Web Conference, Vienna, October 201

Atmospheric excitement, customers’ moods and gender: A study of young shoppers

This paper aims to demonstrate how both incidental moods and gender can moderate the relationship between the level of excitement triggered by a mall environment and shopping behaviour. Our method is based on a 4 × 2 between subjects experiment with a final sample of 377 Spanish undergraduates. The study analyses four incidental moods that differ in the dimensions of valence and arousal, and their interaction effects with two atmospheric scenarios in a mall (exciting versus non-exciting atmospheres). Our findings support mood regulation theory for positive low-arousal individuals, and reject this theory for the rest of mood conditions. Additionally, arousal reduces customers’ cognitive capabilities, confirming previous research. This means that high-arousal shoppers are not influenced by a mall environment. Finally, gender differences are only found within more frequent shoppers and for negative low-arousal (NLA) shoppers. Managerial implications are provided regarding the creation of relaxing areas or the stimulation of shoppers