In the study of human learning, there is broad evidence that our ability to retain a piece of information improves with repeated exposure, and that it decays with delay since the last exposure. This plays a crucial role in the design of educational software, leading to a trade-off between teaching new material and reviewing what has already been taught. A common way to balance this trade-off is via spaced repetition — using periodic review of content to improve long-term retention. Though widely used in practice, there is little formal understanding of the design of these systems. This paper addresses this gap.

The current social reality is characterized by all-encompassing change, which disrupts existing social structures at all levels. Yet the prevailing view of society is based on the ontological primacy of stable hierarchical structures, which is no longer adequate. We propose a conceptual framework for thinking about a dynamically changing social system: the Living Cognitive Society. Importantly, we show how it follows from a much broader philosophical framework, guided by the theory of individuation, which emphasizes the importance of relationships and interactive processes in the evolution of a system. The framework addresses society as a living cognitive system — an ecology of interacting social subsystems — each of which is also a living cognitive system.

In this paper we present a kinetic model with stochastic game-type interactions, analyzing the relationship between the level of political competition in a society and the degree of economic liberalization. The above issue regards the complex interactions between economy and institutional policies intended to introduce technological innovations in a society, where technological innovations are intended in a broad sense comprehending reforms critical to production. A special focus is placed on the political replacement effect described in a macroscopic model by Acemoglu and Robinson (AR-model, henceforth), which can determine the phenomenon of innovation ‘blocking’, possibly leading to economic backwardness.

This is a translation of a classic paper in German showing that the apparent power in an AC arc is larger than the active power although no phase shift exists between the voltage and the current, indicating that the reactive power vanishes. The phenomenon studied in this paper gave rise to a variety of mutually conflicting “power triangle” models relating the active, reactive, and apparent powers P, Q, and S whose merits are still under debate today.

Eleazar Díaz Rangel  28/02/16. En pocos meses (nov-feb) el proceso de cambios avanzados en América Latina ha recibido tres golpes certeros, dos de ellos sorpresivos. Comenzó en Argentina donde se perdieron las elecciones presidenciales, aunque por una mínima diferencia de votos, contra los pronósticos de las encuestas que daban amplia ventaja a quien, finalmente, obtuvo la apretada victorias; […]

Luis Britto García  28/02/2016. Se reúnen los delincuentes, y resuelven: No serán sancionados los autores de los siguientes crímenes, delitos, faltas o infracciones: Instigación a la desobediencia de las leyes, instigación al odio y apología del delito, Instigación a delinquir, Lesiones, Violencia o resistencia a la autoridad, Desobediencia a la autoridad, Causar pánico en la […]

Muchos de los gobiernos de los países en desarrollo no aprendieron las lecciones de las crisis anteriores, mismas que deberían haber incentivado que se adopten reglas e impuestos que restrinjan y desalienten exposiciones a riesgos ligados a las divisas. Ahora, los gobiernos deben tomar medidas rápidas para evitar ser responsables de estas exposiciones. Los procedimientos de quiebra expeditos y amigables con los deudores podrían garantizar una rápida reestructuración y podrían proporcionar un marco para la renegociación de las deudas.

This article probes the question of what interpretations of quantum mechanics actually accomplish. In other domains, which are briefly considered, interpretations serve to make alien systematizations intelligible to us. This often involves clarifying the status of their implicit ontology. A survey of interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics supports the evaluation that these interpretations make a contribution to philosophy, but not to physics. Interpretations of quantum field theory are polarized by the divergence between the Lagrangian field theory, which leads to the Standard Model of Particle physics and the Algebraic quantum field theory that discounts an ontology of particles. Ruetsche’s interpretation offers a potential for loosening the sharp polarization that presently obtains. A brief evaluation focuses on the functional ontology of quantum field theory considered as an effective theory.

Complexity and related phenomena exist as at least as “objective” and primary aspects/elements of the world as matter, space, and time. On the other hand, space, time, and matter become more and more subjective in modern physics. Complexity causes “something new” to emerge at the level of the whole complex system, which is not present at the level of the elements of this system and cannot be fully reduced to the interactions between these elements. This fact concerns both simple systems, such as atoms composed of a nucleus and electrons or (macro)molecules composed of atoms, as well as very complex systems such as living individuals built of (macro)molecules, organelles, cells, and organs, and conscious brains composed of networks of neurons. In other words, the dynamic complexity consisting of a special concrete spatiotemporal organisation of matter/ energy is as real as space, time, and matter themselves. Therefore, one can speak about the “objective” existence of such a “subjective” phenomenon as (self-)consciousness.

Hildegard Rondón de Sansó 25 febrero 2016. En un curso para expertos sobre el régimen de los hidrocarburos en la materia de Arbitraje Internacional de Inversión me preguntaban quiénes tienen responsabilidades en el campo de las inversiones, cómo eludir la presión de los inversionistas que consideran que la única seguridad real que puedan obtener en […]