Internet e-ethics in confrontation with an activists' agenda: Yahoo! on trial

A prolonged confrontation between Yahoo! Inc. and French anti-racismactivists who ask for the removal of Nazi items from auction sitesas well as restricted access to neo-Nazis sites is analyzed. We presentthe case and its development up to the decision of Yahoo! Inc. to removethe items from yahoo.com following a French court s verdict against thefirm. Using a business ethics approach, we distinguish the legal,technical, philosophical and managerial issues involved in the case andtheir management by Yahoo! We conclude on the difficulty of governingrelations with society from corporate and legal affairs departments atthe headquarters level, and on the clash of two visions over theregulation of social freedom.

Market institutions and judicial rulemaking

Assuming that the degree of discretion granted to judges was the main distinguishing feature between common and civil law until the 19th century, we argue that constraining judicial discretion was instrumental in protecting freedom of contract and developing the market order in civil law. We test this hypothesis by analyzing the history of Western law. In England, a unique institutional balance between the Crown and the Parliament guaranteed private property and prompted the gradual evolution towards a legal framework that facilitated market relationships, a process that was supported by the English judiciary. On the Continent, however, legal constraints on the market were suppressed in a top-down fashion by the founders of the liberal state, often against the will of the incumbent judiciary. Constraining judicial discretion there was essential for enforcing freedom of contract and establishing the legal order of the market economy. In line with this evidence, our selection hypothesis casts doubts on the normative interpretation of empirical results that proclaim the superiority of one legal system over another, disregarding the local conditions and institutional interdependencies on which each legal system was grounded.

El Derecho a la informaci��n del ni��o hospitalizado

Esta comunicaci��n presenta un estado de la cuesti��n sobre experiencias virtuales relacionadas con el derecho de los ni��os hospitalizados a recibir una informaci��n adecuada sobre su enfermedad y el tratamiento a seguir. Se parte de un marco legal y normativo (Patient��s Bill of Rights, Declaraci��n sobre la promoci��n de los derechos para los pacientes en Europa, Carta europea de los derechos del ni��o hospitalizado, Manifiesto de la Unesco para bibliotecas p��blicas, Pautas para bibliotecas al servicio de pacientes de hospital, ancianos y discapacitados en centros de atenci��n de larga duraci��n) que reconoce que hay que garantizar el derecho de los enfermos a disfrutar de una vida plena porque un paciente no es s��lo un enfermo sino una persona con derechos. La metodolog��a seguida se basa en una b��squeda exhaustiva en Internet condicionada por factores geogr��ficos, idiom��ticos, terminol��gicos y de silencio informativo. Se ha obviado intencionadamente la descripci��n del contexto espa��ol. Los casos presentados, fruto de una selecci��n, se han analizado teniendo en cuenta cuatro aspectos: descripci��n, objetivos, ��mbito de aplicaci��n y puntos fuertes. As�� mismo, los resultados se estructuran en funci��n de las caracter��sticas de los productos o servicios y de su dependencia institucional: elaborados por hospitales, por organizaciones externas que crean productos o servicios y portales de informaci��n. Del an��lisis se deduce que existen numerosos recursos virtuales pero pocos son los que informan al paciente infantil, siendo m��s frecuentes los dirigidos a adolescentes. La mayor��a de las veces la informaci��n proporcionada no va m��s all�� de los t��picos o no es adecuada. Predominan las comunidades virtuales frente a la informaci��n directa sobre la enfermedad. Se trata de productos o proyectos normalmente desvinculados de las bibliotecas hospitalarias o de las bibliotecas para pacientes y de sus profesionales. Se concluye que el canal m��s adecuado para facilitar el acceso no s��lo a la informaci��n sino a una informaci��n de calidad, es a trav��s de la biblioteca del hospital, en la que el ��bibliotecario de cabecera�� se constituye en un referente constante para el personal sanitario, los pacientes y sus familiares.

Chiral unitary approach to eta'N scattering at low energies

We study the eta'N interaction within a chiral unitary approach which includes piN , etaN and related pseudoscalar meson-baryon coupled channels. Since the SU(3) singlet does not contribute to the standard interaction and the eta' is mostly a singlet, the resulting scattering amplitude is very small and inconsistent with experimental estimations of the eta' N scattering length. The additional consideration of vector meson-baryon states into the coupled channel scheme, via normal and anomalous couplings of pseudoscalar to vector mesons, enhances substantially the eta' N amplitude. We also exploit the freedom of adding to the Lagrangian a new term, allowed by the symmetries of QCD, which couples baryons to the singlet meson of SU(3). Adjusting the unknown strength to the eta' N scattering length, we obtain predictions for the elastic eta'N -> etaN and inelastic eta' N -> etaN , piN , KLambda, KEpsilon cross sections at low eta' energies, and discuss their significance.

Vacuum decay in quantum field theory

We study the contribution to vacuum decay in field theory due to the interaction between the long- and short-wavelength modes of the field. The field model considered consists of a scalar field of mass M with a cubic term in the potential. The dynamics of the long-wavelength modes becomes diffusive in this interaction. The diffusive behavior is described by the reduced Wigner function that characterizes the state of the long-wavelength modes. This function is obtained from the whole Wigner function by integration of the degrees of freedom of the short-wavelength modes. The dynamical equation for the reduced Wigner function becomes a kind of Fokker-Planck equation which is solved with suitable boundary conditions enforcing an initial metastable vacuum state trapped in the potential well. As a result a finite activation rate is found, even at zero temperature, for the formation of true vacuum bubbles of size M-1. This effect makes a substantial contribution to the total decay rate.

Moderata Fonte y Mar��a Zambrano: por cuenta propia

In this paper, Rosa Rius thinks about feminine identity and its history, based on the expressions of freedom of two authors living four centuries apart: the Venetian humanist Moderata Fonte (1555-1592) and the Malagan philosopher Mar��a Zambrano (1904-1991). The fact that these women��s freedom is taken as one of their main identifying elements, and straining the historical action of this freedom, unforeseen by the establishment, does not at all imply that the undeniable discrimination inflicted upon women throughout centuries is forgotten or goes on without protest.

Foreword (2004)

This is the first issue of Geologica Acta dedicated to the memory of Professor Francesc Calvet, whose life was cut short in January 2002 when he was only 54. Francesc was a man with great human qualities, a distinguished scientist and an inspiring teacher who was held in high esteem by all those who knew him. His academic achievements, talent and friendly personality attracted numerous colleagues and students. Unfailingly courteous and polite, he was passionately committed to social justice and was a staunch defender of freedom of conscience and tolerance.

Moderata Fonte y Mar��a Zambrano: por cuenta propia

In this paper, Rosa Rius thinks about feminine identity and its history, based on the expressions of freedom of two authors living four centuries apart: the Venetian humanist Moderata Fonte (1555-1592) and the Malagan philosopher Mar��a Zambrano (1904-1991). The fact that these women��s freedom is taken as one of their main identifying elements, and straining the historical action of this freedom, unforeseen by the establishment, does not at all imply that the undeniable discrimination inflicted upon women throughout centuries is forgotten or goes on without protest.

Libertad de c��tedra del profesor universitario. Contenido y amenazas en el contexto actual de reforma del modelo de universidad p��blica

[spa] Asistimos, desde hace algunos a��os, a un proceso de profundos cambios en la Universidad. Reformas que no s��lo est��n afectando, entre otros, a su financiaci��n, a su gobierno y gesti��n o a la estructura de las ense��anzas que en ella se imparten. Tambi��n, y de forma muy especial e intensa, se est��n proyectando en su profesorado modificando su proceso de selecci��n y transformando su funci��n docente. Precisamente, en relaci��n con ��sta ��ltima, el papel que est�� llamado a desempe��ar el docente est�� garantizado por la Constituci��n que les reconoce el derecho fundamental a la libertad de c��tedra. La proclamaci��n al m��s alto nivel normativo de este derecho del profesor ha obligado a conjugarla con otros derechos, igualmente fundamentales, presentes en el sistema educativo, en especial, el de la educaci��n, y con otras potestades que se encomiendan a poderes p��blicos y universidades derivadas de la concepci��n de la educaci��n como un servicio p��blico. No obstante, en la actualidad las amenazas que plantean las nuevas exigencias derivadas del EEES pueden suponer un paso m��s all�� actuando en la misma esencia de contenido de la libertad de c��tedra perdiendo su sentido originario y condicionando su ejercicio a l��mites no permitidos por el propio texto constitucional.

El Land-Art a l'educaci�� 0-3: l'expressi�� lliure i la comprensi�� del medi a trav��s de l'art i la natura

Actualment el Land ��� Art ��s un moviment poc conegut i dif��s en la vessant educativa. Aquest treball pret��n treure a la llum i transmetre l���ess��ncia d���aquest moviment enriquidor cap als infants. Tant ��s aix��, que el Land ��� Art esdev�� una eina d���aprenentatge innovadora en el primer cicle d���Educaci�� Infantil a trav��s d���una metodologia constructivista que involucra a tota la comunitat educativa: professionals, fam��lia i alumnes. L���objectiu del present projecte ��s l�����s d���aquest moviment com instrument d���aprenentatge per tal d���observar i analitzar uns resultats que s���han anat construint a partir d���una hip��tesi: ���El Land ��� Art a l���Educaci�� 0-3 fomenta l���expressi�� lliure i la comprensi�� del medi���. En aquest treball trobarem, en primer lloc, el marc te��ric del projecte; en segon lloc, el seu m��tode d���investigaci��; en tercer lloc, la vessant pr��ctica del projecte; i, en quart i darrer lloc, les conclusions que reflecteixen la part comparativa entre el marc te��ric i la part pr��ctica, on es finalitzar�� amb les reflexions finals.

A non-linear VAD for noisy environments

This paper deals with non-linear transformations for improving the performance of an entropy-based voice activity detector (VAD). The idea to use a non-linear transformation has already been applied in the field of speech linear prediction, or linear predictive coding (LPC), based on source separation techniques, where a score function is added to classical equations in order to take into account the true distribution of the signal. We explore the possibility of estimating the entropy of frames after calculating its score function, instead of using original frames. We observe that if the signal is clean, the estimated entropy is essentially the same; if the signal is noisy, however, the frames transformed using the score function may give entropy that is different in voiced frames as compared to nonvoiced ones. Experimental evidence is given to show that this fact enables voice activity detection under high noise, where the simple entropy method fails.

EsPal: One-stop shopping for Spanish word properties

This article introduces EsPal: a Web-accessible repository containing a comprehensive set of properties of Spanish words. EsPal is based on an extensible set of data sources, beginning with a 300 million token written database and a 460 million token subtitle database. Properties available include word frequency, orthographic structure and neighborhoods, phonological structure and neighborhoods, and subjective ratings such as imageability. Subword structure properties are also available in terms of bigrams and trigrams, bi-phones, and bi-syllables. Lemma and part-of-speech information and their corresponding frequencies are also indexed. The website enables users to either upload a set of words to receive their properties, or to receive a set of words matching constraints on the properties. The properties themselves are easily extensible and will be added over time as they become available. It is freely available from the following website: http://www.bcbl.eu/databases/espal

La introducci��n del delito de "atti persecutori" en el C��digo penal italiano: La tipificaci��n del stalking en Italia

El presente estudio expone la regulaci��n del nuevo delito de "atti persecutori" introducido en el C��digo Penal italiano. El Decreto Legge 11/2009, de 23 de febrero, convalidado por el Parlamento italiano mediante la Ley 28/2009, ha incluido un nuevo art. 612 bis al CP italiano. Con la inclusi��n de dicho delito entre los que protegen la libertad del individuo Italia se incorpora a la corriente pol��tico-criminal que propugna la criminalizaci��n del stalking. La incriminaci��n de dichas conductas de acoso constituye una orientaci��n iniciada en Estados Unidos a principios de los 90, que ha colonizado otros pa��ses del Common Law y que finalmente ha llegado a la Europa continental. En este trabajo se analizan b��sicamente los elementos del tipo del nuevo delito italiano. Sin embargo, no se deja de atender ni a la previa conceptuaci��n de este fen��meno ni a otras medidas protectoras de la v��ctima del stalking que se incorporan al ordenamiento italiano mediante la presente Ley.

La democratizaci��n de la investigaci��n biom��dica

La tecnociencia biom��dica debe abrir sus puertas a la democracia. El poder pol��tico y el derecho deben redefinir sus relaciones con la tecnociencia para que los cient��ficos, expertos y ejecutivos de las empresas tecnocient��ficas no sigan teniendo s��lo en sus manos las decisiones sobre la orientaci��n de las investigaciones y las prioridades cient��fico-tecnol��gicas. La pol��tica de la ciencia y sus aplicaciones t��cnicas deben abrirse a la participaci��n ciudadana, pasar a formar parte de la opini��n p��blica y a ser tratados como asuntos transversales de las pol��ticas p��blicas. Para ello es necesario que el principio democr��tico se instale en el seno de la tecnociencia. La libertad de investigaci��n no es incompatible con el hecho de que las decisiones sobre la pol��tica cient��fica sean, adem��s de responsables, participativas y transparentes.

Teaching how to learn with a wiki in Primary Education: what classroom interaction can tell us

Understanding how wikis are used to support collaborative learning is an important concern for researchers and teachers. Adopting a discourse analytic approach, this paper attempts to understand the teaching processes when a wiki is embedded in a science project in primary education to foster collaborative learning. Through studying interaction between the teacher and students, our findings identify ways in which the teacher prompts collaborative learning but also shed light on the difficulties for the teacher in supporting student collective collaboration. It is argued that technological wiki features supporting collaborative learning can only be realized if teacher talk and pedagogy are aligned with the characteristics of wiki collaborative work: the freedom of students to organize and participate by themselves, creating dialogic space and promoting student participation. We argue that a dialogic approach for examining interaction can be used to help to design a more effective pedagogic approach in the use of wikis in education, to shift into Web 2.0 learning paradigm and to equip learners with the competences they need to participate in knowledge co-construction.