Advance directives as autonomy enhancers: reality or myth?

In the last few decades there has been a wealth of literature and legislation on advance directives. As you all know, it is an instrument by which a person can express their wishes as regards what treatmentthey should be given or, more to the point, not to be given, when he is in a situation when he can not do so himself.Regulations in the western world seem to promote advance directives as a way to enhance patient¿s autonomy in thecontext of human rights, and the media has presented advance directives as another milestone in this era of selfdetermination.However, if we look closely at some of thoseregulations we will see that there are a few elements which may undermine their efficacy, shattering this nicely presentedpicture. I will focus on two elements. First, formal requirements, and secondly, certain limits or what I like to call "escape clauses".

Gauge group and reality conditions in Ashtekar's complex formulation of canonical gravity

We discuss reality conditions and the relation between spacetime diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations in Ashtekars complex formulation of general relativity. We produce a general theoretical framework for the stabilization algorithm for the reality conditions, which is different from Diracs method of stabilization of constraints. We solve the problem of the projectability of the diffeomorphism transformations from configuration-velocity space to phase space, linking them to the reality conditions. We construct the complete set of canonical generators of the gauge group in the phase space which includes all the gauge variables. This result proves that the canonical formalism has all the gauge structure of the Lagrangian theory, including the time diffeomorphisms.

Luis Cernuda: platonic emotiveness versus presocratic-aristotelian mind

The aim of this article is to show how, although the poet finds himself materialist or both Presocratic and Aristotelian, his poetic emotiveness is truly Platonic or idealist, so that that tension between reality and desire with the help of which his poetry has always been defined becomes once more confirmed thanks to the analysis of his poems from a philosophical rather than a literary point of view.

La caverna de Josep Palau i Fabre (1952-1969): teatre versus al·legoria filosòfica per a representar i impedir el final tràgic i fosc del lluminós art de pensar.

What is the use of performing the myth of the cave from book VII of the Republic by Plato? Josep Palau i Fabre, considers that, in Plato's dialogues, the speakers are mere instruments at the service of his dialectical goal. The aim of this article is to show how, by turning the myth into a tragedy and also by relying on Heraclitus's conflict or war of opposites, the playwright succeeds in favoring a sort of thought which is not one-sided or univocal. On the contrary, in Palau i Fabre's La Caverna, the tragic hero, that is, the released prisoner transformed by the light of Reality and finally killed by his "cavemates" -after having been imprisoned again and having tried to rescue them from their ignorance or shadows-, still leaves to them his powerful experience of the agonistikos thought, which might bear fruit in their life to come.

La caverna de Josep Palau i Fabre (1952-1969): teatro versus alegoría filosófica para representar e impedir el final trágico y sombrío del luminoso arte de pensar.

What is the use of performing the myth of the cave from book VII of the Republic by Plato? Josep Palau i Fabre, considers that, in Plato's dialogues, the speakers are mere instruments at the service of his dialectical goal. The aim of this article is to show how, by turning the myth into a tragedy and also by relying on Heraclitus's conflict or war of opposites, the playwright succeeds in favoring a sort of thought which is not one-sided or univocal. On the contrary, in Palau i Fabre's La Caverna, the tragic hero, that is, the released prisoner transformed by the light of Reality and finally killed by his "cavemates" -after having been imprisoned again and having tried to rescue them from their ignorance or shadows-, still leaves to them his powerful experience of the agonistikos thought, which might bear fruit in their life to come.

Platonic shadows and lights in Luis Cernuda's poetry: their didactic use

The aim of this article is to show a wide range of lights and shadows in Luis Cernuda's poetry as images which have a specific reference -in spite of not being mentioned-, that is, the Platonic image of the cave. It is thanks to the images that the poet shows us his ideal world, in which shadows symbolize the beautiful, perfect and everlasting world in which Luis Cenuda needs to believe. Once more, it deals with that well-known tension between reality and desire which defines the essence of his poetry.

Assessment of emotional reactivity produced by exposure to virtual environments in patients with eating disorders

The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of virtual environments representing situations that are emotionally significant to subjects with eating disorders (ED). These environments may be applied with both evaluative and therapeutic aims and in simulation procedures to carry out a range of experimental studies. This paper is part of a wider research project analyzing the influence of the situation to which subjects are exposed on their performance on body image estimation tasks. Thirty female patients with eating disorders were exposed to six virtual environments: a living-room (neutral situation), a kitchen with highcalorie food, a kitchen with low-calorie food, a restaurant with high-calorie food, a restaurant with low-calorie food, and a swimming-pool. After exposure to each environment the STAI-S (a measurement of state anxiety) and the CDB (a measurement of depression) were administered to all subjects. The results show that virtual reality instruments are particularly useful for simulating everyday situations that may provoke emotional reactions such as anxiety and depression, in patients with ED. Virtual environments in which subjects are obliged to ingest high-calorie food provoke the highest levels of state anxiety and depression.

The cave (La caverna -1952-1969) by Josep Palau i Fabre: theatre versus philosophical allegory in order both to perform and stop the tragic and dark end of the bright art of thinking

What is the use of representing in performance the image of the cave from book VII of Plato’s Republic? Josep Palau i Fabre considers that in Plato’s dialogues the speakers are mere instruments at the service of his dialectical purpose. The aim of this article is to show how, by turning the myth into a tragedy and relying on Heraclitus’s conflict or war of opposites, the playwright succeeds in favouring a sort of thought which is not one-sided or univocal. On the contrary, in Palau i Fabre’s La Caverna, the tragic hero, the released prisoner transformed by the light of Reality and finally killed by his “cavemates” –after having been imprisoned again and having tried to rescue them from their ignorance or shadows– still leaves them his powerful experience of the agonistikós thought, which might bear fruit in their life to come.

La teràpia assistida amb gossos: una eina terapèutica en el tractament de la fisioteràpia en ens amb paràlisi cerebral espàstica

La Teràpia Assistida amb Animals (TAA) mostra antecedents des del segle XX utilitzant diversos animals amb finalitats terapèutiques, però en realitat, hi ha pocs estudis sobre els beneficis de la TAA. Si partim de que hi ha poca informació i recerca en la globalitat d‟aquest tipus de teràpia s‟ha de dir que la recerca clínica de La Teràpia Assistida amb Gossos en l‟àmbit de Rehabilitació Pediàtrica en Fisioteràpia és un món per descobrir. L‟estudi i investigació de “La Teràpia Assistida amb gossos: una eina terapèutica en el tractament de Fisioteràpia en nens amb Lesió Cerebral Espàstica” v ol mostrar de manera qualitativa els beneficis que pot duu a terme aquesta tipologia de treball mitjançant el gos com a eina motivadora en el tractament de Fisioteràpia. L‟estudi consta d‟un grup mostra de 4 nens amb Lesió Cerebral Espàstica que realitzaran un tractament amb Teràpia Assistida amb Gossos d‟un curs de durada, realitzant una sessió per setmana de manera individual on l‟objectiu serà treballar la Rehabilitació Física mitjançant diverses tipologies d‟exercicis enfocades a millorar el control cefàlic, fomentar el control del to muscular , afavorir la bipedestació i/o marxa i estimular la motricitat fina. El recull es farà qualitativament mitjançant diari de camp i visionats d‟imatges.

Estudi sociològic del lleure al món rural de Catalunya i Guatemala. L'oci a la població de 50 a 70 anys de Malla i San Juan la Laguna, semblances i diferències

L’estudi que es presenta a continuació té l’objectiu de comprendre quina és la realitat ociosa de les persones de 50 a 70 anys als municipis de Malla (Catalunya, Espanya) i de San Juan la Laguna (Sololá, Guatemala) des de la perspectiva humanista en termes de concepció i pràctica, i veure quina és la influència i la força que prenen les característiques de la societat en la qual es desenvolupa. Per tal de dur-ho a terme, primerament s’ha realitzat un procés d’aproximació respecte el concepte de l’oci, i una recerca concreta vers l’oci humanista. A partir d’aquí, s’ha fet l’estudi amb una mostra formada per deu persones del municipi de Malla i deu membres de San Juan la Laguna que es troben entre els 50 i 70 anys, i amb unes condicions econòmiques i uns estils de vida diferents. Per tal de realitzar la recerca i l’anàlisi de l’oci humanista en els contexts de Malla i San Juan la Laguna s’ha emprat una metodologia qualitativa, i s’ha utilitzat l’instrument corresponent a l’entrevista. Aquesta ha estat elaborada prenent com a marc de referència la metodologia de la Grounded Theory (Glaser y Strauss, 1967). El projecte també compte amb una vessant d’etnografia. Els resultats que s’han obtingut demostren que hi ha una presència significativa de l’oci humanista en els contexts analitzats, però que en el cas de San Juan la Laguna aquest esdevé un element en construcció.

Tourism destination zoning in rural regions: a consumer-based approach in Terres de l’Ebre

This document puts into question the conventional way of delineating tourism destinations. It intends to show a model of spatial analysis, to find new interpretations of the reality, more balanced and more optimized, in comparison with other territorial views most of them based on administrative boundaries. This paper portrays a methodological exercise that aims to structure tourism geographies into new tourism areas on the basis of visitor’s consumption patterns, which would be better fitted to the needs of tourist demand

Beaming into the rat world: enabling real-time intereaction between rat and human each at their own scale

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) typically generates the illusion in participants that they are in the displayed virtual scene where they can experience and interact in events as if they were really happening. Teleoperator (TO) systems place people at a remote physical destination embodied as a robotic device, and where typically participants have the sensation of being at the destination, with the ability to interact with entities there. In this paper, we show how to combine IVR and TO to allow a new class of application. The participant in the IVR is represented in the destination by a physical robot (TO) and simultaneously the remote place and entities within it are represented to the participant in the IVR. Hence, the IVR participant has a normal virtual reality experience, but where his or her actions and behaviour control the remote robot and can therefore have physical consequences. Here, we show how such a system can be deployed to allow a human and a rat to operate together, but the human interacting with the rat on a human scale, and the rat interacting with the human on the rat scale. The human is represented in a rat arena by a small robot that is slaved to the human"s movements, whereas the tracked rat is represented to the human in the virtual reality by a humanoid avatar. We describe the system and also a study that was designed to test whether humans can successfully play a game with the rat. The results show that the system functioned well and that the humans were able to interact with the rat to fulfil the tasks of the game. This system opens up the possibility of new applications in the life sciences involving participant observation of and interaction with animals but at human scale.

The relationship between virtual body ownership and temperature sensitivity.

In the rubber hand illusion tactile stimulation seen on a rubber hand, that is synchronous with tactile stimulation felt on the hidden real hand, can lead to an illusion of ownership over the rubber hand. This illusion has been shown to produce a temperature decrease in the hidden hand, suggesting that such illusory ownership produces disownership of the real hand. Here we apply immersive virtual reality (VR) to experimentally investigate this with respect to sensitivity to temperature change. Forty participants experienced immersion in a VR with a virtual body (VB) seen from a first person perspective. For half the participants the VB was consistent in posture and movement with their own body, and in the other half there was inconsistency. Temperature sensitivity on the palm of the hand was measured before and during the virtual experience. The results show that temperature sensitivity decreased in the consistent compared to the inconsistent condition. Moreover, the change in sensitivity was significantly correlated with the subjective illusion of virtual arm ownership but modulated by the illusion of ownership over the full virtual body. This suggests that a full body ownership illusion results in a unification of the virtual and real bodies into one overall entity - with proprioception and tactile sensations on the real body integrated with the visual presence of the virtual body. The results are interpreted in the framework of a"body matrix" recently introduced into the literature.

The effect of virtual reality on visual vertigo symptoms in patients with peripheral vestibular dysfunction: a pilot study.

Individuals with vestibular dysfunction may experience visual vertigo (VV), in which symptoms are provoked or exacerbated by excessive or disorientating visual stimuli (e.g. supermarkets). VV can significantly improve when customized vestibular rehabilitation exercises are combined with exposure to optokinetic stimuli. Virtual reality (VR), which immerses patients in realistic, visually challenging environments, has also been suggested as an adjunct to VR to improve VV symptoms. This pilot study compared the responses of sixteen patients with unilateral peripheral vestibular disorder randomly allocated to a VR regime incorporating exposure to a static (Group S) or dynamic (Group D) VR environment. Participants practiced vestibular exercises, twice weekly for four weeks, inside a static (Group S) or dynamic (Group D) virtual crowded square environment, presented in an immersive projection theatre (IPT), and received a vestibular exercise program to practice on days not attending clinic. A third Group D1 completed both the static and dynamic VR training. Treatment response was assessed with the Dynamic Gait Index and questionnaires concerning symptom triggers and psychological state. At final assessment, significant betweengroup differences were noted between Groups D (p = 0.001) and D1 (p = 0.03) compared to Group S for VV symptoms with the former two showing a significant 59.2% and 25.8% improvement respectively compared to 1.6% for the latter. Depression scores improved only for Group S (p = 0.01) while a trend towards significance was noted for Group D regarding anxiety scores (p = 0.07). Conclusion: Exposure to dynamic VR environments should be considered as a useful adjunct to vestibular rehabilitation programs for patients with peripheral vestibular disorders and VV symptoms.

Reinforcement learning utilizes proxemics: an avatar learns to manipulate the position of people in immersive virtual reality

A reinforcement learning (RL) method was used to train a virtual character to move participants to a specified location. The virtual environment depicted an alleyway displayed through a wide field-of-view head-tracked stereo head-mounted display. Based on proxemics theory, we predicted that when the character approached within a personal or intimate distance to the participants, they would be inclined to move backwards out of the way. We carried out a between-groups experiment with 30 female participants, with 10 assigned arbitrarily to each of the following three groups: In the Intimate condition the character could approach within 0.38m and in the Social condition no nearer than 1.2m. In the Random condition the actions of the virtual character were chosen randomly from among the same set as in the RL method, and the virtual character could approach within 0.38m. The experiment continued in each case until the participant either reached the target or 7 minutes had elapsed. The distributions of the times taken to reach the target showed significant differences between the three groups, with 9 out of 10 in the Intimate condition reaching the target significantly faster than the 6 out of 10 who reached the target in the Social condition. Only 1 out of 10 in the Random condition reached the target. The experiment is an example of applied presence theory: we rely on the many findings that people tend to respond realistically in immersive virtual environments, and use this to get people to achieve a task of which they had been unaware. This method opens up the door for many such applications where the virtual environment adapts to the responses of the human participants with the aim of achieving particular goals.