The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 requires company executives to certify financial statements and internal controls as a means of reducing fraud. Many companies have operationalized this by instituting a sub-certification process and requiring lower-level managers to sign certification statements. These lower-level organizational members are often the individuals who are aware of fraud and are in the best position to provide information on the fraudulent act. However, the sub-certification process may have the effect of reducing employees’ intentions to report wrongdoing. We (...) suggest that subordinates with knowledge of a superior who committed a fraudulent act and certified that there is no fraud will feel less personal responsibility to report the act, thus, decreasing reporting intentions. Additionally, we suggest that if the fraud is discovered subsequent to the reports being filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, employees will perceive lower management responsiveness to investigate the fraud, which will reduce intentions to report. Using an experimental approach, we manipulate two between-participant variables: the presence or absence of sub-certification by the transgressor and the timing of fraud discovery, either before or after the reports have been filed with the SEC. We find that when sub-certification is present, perceived personal responsibility and intentions to report were diminished compared to when sub-certification is absent. Timing of the discovery of the fraudulent act did not influence perceived management responsiveness or reporting intentions. Supplemental analysis shows that personal responsibility partially mediates the relationship between sub-certification and reporting intentions. Our findings suggest that audit committees and senior executives may want to carefully consider the costs and benefits of the sub-certification process. (shrink)

This paper examines some ethical issues arising from whole-genome association studies for multigenic diseases, focusing on the case of autism. Events occurring following the announcement of a genetic test for autism in France (2005–2009) are described to exemplify the ethical controversies that can arise when genetic testing for autism is applied prematurely and inappropriately promoted by biotech companies. The authors argue that genetic tests assessing one or a few genes involved in highly multigenic disorders can only be useful if: (1) (...) the genetic linkage found in the scientific study must be statistically convincing, reproducible and also applicable to the population to which the individual considered belongs (scientific validity); (2) the relative risk conferred by the ‘high-risk’ allele should be high enough to be significant to the patient (significant impact); (3) use of the test should lead to some improvement of outcome for the patient, resulting from adapted treatment if available, or at least from adjustment of lifestyle (or life goals) prompted by the new knowledge generated (clinical utility). Decisions concerning genetic testing for autism involve scientific judgement, value judgement and good knowledge of a constantly evolving therapeutic environment. The implementation of genetic tests for highly multigenic diseases thus requires strong mechanisms to ensure that they are used in a fashion that can benefit patients, and these mechanisms must be able to cope with rapid progress in scientific knowledge and therapeutic intervention. (shrink)

This study suggests a new approach to EEG data classification by exploring the idea of using evolutionary computation to both select useful discriminative EEG features and optimise the topology of Artificial Neural Networks. An evolutionary algorithm is applied to select the most informative features from an initial set of 2550 EEG statistical features. Optimisation of a Multilayer Perceptron is performed with an evolutionary approach before classification to estimate the best hyperparameters of the network. Deep learning and tuning with Long Short-Term (...) Memory are also explored, and Adaptive Boosting of the two types of models is tested for each problem. Three experiments are provided for comparison using different classifiers: one for attention state classification, one for emotional sentiment classification, and a third experiment in which the goal is to guess the number a subject is thinking of. The obtained results show that an Adaptive Boosted LSTM can achieve an accuracy of 84.44%, 97.06%, and 9.94% on the attentional, emotional, and number datasets, respectively. An evolutionary-optimised MLP achieves results close to the Adaptive Boosted LSTM for the two first experiments and significantly higher for the number-guessing experiment with an Adaptive Boosted DEvo MLP reaching 31.35%, while being significantly quicker to train and classify. In particular, the accuracy of the nonboosted DEvo MLP was of 79.81%, 96.11%, and 27.07% in the same benchmarks. Two datasets for the experiments were gathered using a Muse EEG headband with four electrodes corresponding to TP9, AF7, AF8, and TP10 locations of the international EEG placement standard. The EEG MindBigData digits dataset was gathered from the TP9, FP1, FP2, and TP10 locations. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:A Lex Sacra from SelinousBorimir JordanMichael H. Jameson, David R. Jordan, and Roy D. Kotansky. A Lex Sacra from Selinous. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Monographs, 1993. xii + 171 pp. 3 figs. 19 pls.The sacred law receiving its editio princeps in this monograph was a gift to the Getty Museum whose curator asked the authors to publish it. Since the Museum does not exhibit material of chiefly (...) historical interest, it donated the inscription to the Republic of Italy in 1992. The law is inscribed on the largest lead tablet known to the authors (0.597 x 0.23 x 0.002 m.). The tablet is broken on all sides; its text is written in two columns, A and B, upside down to one another. From the letter forms, and the mention of Zeus Meilichios and the proper name Myskos the authors infer Selinous as the place of provenience. A comparison of the letter forms with those of other inscriptions from the region suggests the mid–fifth century B.C. or slightly earlier as the date of the document. The dialect is a variety of West Greek, agreeing with the language of Megara Nisaia and its colonies. All this is set forth in exemplary fashion in Chapters I and II, along with a transcription and translation of the text accompanied by an extensive commentary with thorough and generally very enlightening discussion of all aspects of the law.The inscription is unlike most sacred laws in that it sets out proper ritual procedure rather than regulating cult finances or the perquisites of officials. The two parts, A and B, share a concern with purification, with A concentrating on sacrifice and giving instructions to a group, while B addresses one person seeking purification. Other rituals mentioned include libations, aspersions, anointing, turning around, and setting out a table and couch, which last the authors interpret as a θεοξενία. These matters and much more are expounded with acuity and a wealth of supporting evidence in Chapters III–VIII, which form the bulk of the book and contain much interesting information more or less closely related to the law. A summary of the evidence assembled in the commentary is followed by a close study of the various rituals (III, IV). After a survey of the supernatural figures, including helpful lists of the cults of Zeus Meilichios, the Tritopatores, et al. (V), the authors investigate the influence of Punic religion on the cult of Zeus Meilichios, and possible connections between the law and curse tablets from Selinous (VII, IX). Overviews of the history of Selinous and of the archaeology of Meilichios' precinct round out the book (VI, VIII).In column A, certain, a new word interpreted by the authors as members of an, are to perform sacrifices to Zeus Eumenes (a new by-name), Meilichios, and the Eumenides before the festival of the Kotytia and the Olympic truce. The most remarkable feature in A is the transformation of "impure" into "pure"Tritopatores. The "impure" receive sacrifices "as heroes"; after purification with wine poured through the roof of a (subterranean?) structure, "as gods." A group's collective ancestors and patrons of procreation, the Tritopatores elsewhere had both national and gentilitial cults without shrines and images. [End Page 326] At Selinous they were the spirits of family members only, not of the citizens as a whole, and had a shrine which is undiscovered as yet. Closely connected with the cult of the Selinountine Tritopatores was that of Zeus Meilichios, a god of purification associated with underworld figures, and usually worshipped in precincts without temples by individuals and groups below the level of the polis. The Selinous text locates Meilichios "in Myskos' " and "in Euthydamos' " which the authors, probably correctly, interpret as "in the plots of."They stress the private, gentilitial aspects of the law in A, drawing a rather sharp distinction between public and private cult. Since the state clearly had an interest in the proper performance of the rites, the authors are at pains to explain the connections between the public and private aspects of the regulations: Myskos and Euthydamos were historical figures and founders of clans having charge of cults which later came to... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:A Lex Sacra from SelinousBorimir JordanMichael H. Jameson, David R. Jordan, and Roy D. Kotansky. A Lex Sacra from Selinous. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Monographs, 1993. xii + 171 pp. 3 figs. 19 pls.The sacred law receiving its editio princeps in this monograph was a gift to the Getty Museum whose curator asked the authors to publish it. Since the Museum does not exhibit material of chiefly (...) historical interest, it donated the inscription to the Republic of Italy in 1992. The law is inscribed on the largest lead tablet known to the authors (0.597 x 0.23 x 0.002 m.). The tablet is broken on all sides; its text is written in two columns, A and B, upside down to one another. From the letter forms, and the mention of Zeus Meilichios and the proper name Myskos the authors infer Selinous as the place of provenience. A comparison of the letter forms with those of other inscriptions from the region suggests the mid–fifth century B.C. or slightly earlier as the date of the document. The dialect is a variety of West Greek, agreeing with the language of Megara Nisaia and its colonies. All this is set forth in exemplary fashion in Chapters I and II, along with a transcription and translation of the text accompanied by an extensive commentary with thorough and generally very enlightening discussion of all aspects of the law.The inscription is unlike most sacred laws in that it sets out proper ritual procedure rather than regulating cult finances or the perquisites of officials. The two parts, A and B, share a concern with purification, with A concentrating on sacrifice and giving instructions to a group, while B addresses one person seeking purification. Other rituals mentioned include libations, aspersions, anointing, turning around, and setting out a table and couch, which last the authors interpret as a θεοξενία. These matters and much more are expounded with acuity and a wealth of supporting evidence in Chapters III–VIII, which form the bulk of the book and contain much interesting information more or less closely related to the law. A summary of the evidence assembled in the commentary is followed by a close study of the various rituals (III, IV). After a survey of the supernatural figures, including helpful lists of the cults of Zeus Meilichios, the Tritopatores, et al. (V), the authors investigate the influence of Punic religion on the cult of Zeus Meilichios, and possible connections between the law and curse tablets from Selinous (VII, IX). Overviews of the history of Selinous and of the archaeology of Meilichios' precinct round out the book (VI, VIII).In column A, certain, a new word interpreted by the authors as members of an, are to perform sacrifices to Zeus Eumenes (a new by-name), Meilichios, and the Eumenides before the festival of the Kotytia and the Olympic truce. The most remarkable feature in A is the transformation of "impure" into "pure"Tritopatores. The "impure" receive sacrifices "as heroes"; after purification with wine poured through the roof of a (subterranean?) structure, "as gods." A group's collective ancestors and patrons of procreation, the Tritopatores elsewhere had both national and gentilitial cults without shrines and images. [End Page 326] At Selinous they were the spirits of family members only, not of the citizens as a whole, and had a shrine which is undiscovered as yet. Closely connected with the cult of the Selinountine Tritopatores was that of Zeus Meilichios, a god of purification associated with underworld figures, and usually worshipped in precincts without temples by individuals and groups below the level of the polis. The Selinous text locates Meilichios "in Myskos' " and "in Euthydamos' " which the authors, probably correctly, interpret as "in the plots of."They stress the private, gentilitial aspects of the law in A, drawing a rather sharp distinction between public and private cult. Since the state clearly had an interest in the proper performance of the rites, the authors are at pains to explain the connections between the public and private aspects of the regulations: Myskos and Euthydamos were historical figures and founders of clans having charge of cults which later came to... (shrink)

Introduction, by R. A. Markus.--St. Augustine and Christian Platonism, by A. H. Armstrong.--Action and contemplation, by F. R. J. O'Connell.--St. Augustine on signs, by R. A. Markus.--The theory of signs in St. Augustine's De doctrina Christiana, by B. D. Jackson.--Si fallor, sum, by G. B. Matthews.--Augustine on speaking from memory, by G. B. Matthews.--The inner man, by G. B. Matthews.--On Augustine's concept of a person, by A. C. Lloyd.--Augustine on foreknowledge and free will, by W. L. Rowe.--Augustine on free will (...) and predestination, by J. M. Rist.--Time and contingency in St. Augustine, by R. Jordan.--Empiricism and Augustine's problems about time, by H. M. Lacey.--Political society, by P. R. L. Brown.--The development of Augustine's ideas on society before the Donatist controversy, by F. E. Cranz.--De Civitate Dei, XV, 2, and Augustine's idea of the Christian society, by F. E. Cranz.--Chronological table.--Note on further reading (p. [422]-423). (shrink)

Reck has rendered the philosophical community an invaluable service in providing these lucid, systematic and faithful expositions of the thought of the ten men he has selected: R. B. Perry, W. E. Hocking, G. H. Mead, J. E. Boodin, W. M. Urban, D. H. Parker, R. W. Sellars, A. O. Lovejoy, E. Jordan and E. S. Brightman. Included is a general introduction in which Reck offers a brief perspective upon the extra ordinary diversity and richness characteristic of the period (...) in American philosophy which these men represent. Bibliographical notes are given at the end of each chapter.—E. A. R. (shrink)

Under the careful editorship of R. A. Markus, this book appears to be one of the very finest anthologies of critical essays dedicated to the elucidation of the thought of St. Augustine. Those familiar with Markus’ contribution to The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy will readily attest to the depth as well as to the breadth of understanding which Markus brings to Augustine scholarship. Three of the essays appear for the first time: "Action and Contemplation," by (...) Robert J. O’Connell; "Si Fallor, Sum," by Gareth B. Matthews; "On Augustine’s Concept of a Person," by A. C. Boyd. The remaining articles have appeared either as separate pieces or as journal articles: "St. Augustine and Christian Platonism," by A. H. Armstrong; "St. Augustine on Signs," by R. A. Markus; "The Theory of Signs of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana," by B. Darrell Jackson; "Augustine on Speaking from Memory" and "The Inner Man," by Gareth B. Matthews; "Augustine on Foreknowledge and Free Will," by William L. Rowe; "Augustine on Free Will and Predestination," by John M. Rist; "Time and Contingency in St. Augustine," by Robert Jordan; "Empiricism and Augustine’s Problems about Time," by Hugh M. Lacey; "Political Society," by P. R. L. Brown; "The Development of Augustine’s Ideas on Society before the Donatist Controversy" and "De Civitate Dei, XV, 2, and Augustine’s Idea of the Christian Society," The essays display scholarly depth as well as concern for contemporary philosophical problems. It is an excellent addition to Augustine scholarship and to contemporary philosophizing. This book is part of the Doubleday Anchor Modern Studies in Philosophy Series, under the general editorship of Amelie O. Rorty.—D. A. C. (shrink)

"By combining recent advances in the physical sciences with some of the novel ideas, techniques, and data of modern biology, this book attempts to achieve a new and different kind of evolutionary synthesis. I found it to be challenging, fascinating, infuriating, and provocative, but certainly not dull."--James H, Brown, University of New Mexico "This book is unquestionably mandatory reading not only for every living biologist but for generations of biologists to come."--Jack P. Hailman, Animal Behaviour , review of the first (...) edition "An important contribution to modern evolutionary thinking. It fortifies the place of Evolutionary Theory among the other well-established natural laws."--R.Gessink, TAXON. (shrink)

In his article ‘A Cavalry Unit in the Army of Antigonus Monophthalmus: Asthippoi’, N. G. L. Hammond argues that the reading of the manuscript R at Diodorus 19. 29. 2 should be retained and that we should read ⋯π⋯ π⋯σι δ⋯ το⋯ς τε ⋯σθ⋯ππους ⋯νομαζομ⋯νους κα⋯ τοὺς ⋯κ τ⋯ν ἄνω κατοικο⋯ντων ⋯κτακοσιο⋯ς. The readings of F and its copy X, ⋯νθ⋯ππους, and the commonly accepted conjecture of Wesseling ⋯μɸ⋯ππους, should both be abandoned. Hammond's arguments for retaining this reading are that (...) between the variant readings of R and F, R ‘is the more often correct’ ; ⋯σθ⋯ππους, the reading of R, is preferable to F's ⋯νθ⋯ππους on the principle of ‘lectio difficilior’; the ‘difficulty’ of his lectio difficilior is made less by the arguments presented by A. B. Bosworth, 245 ff.), for the restoration at several places in the text of Arrian's Anabasis the word ⋯σθ⋯ταιροι, in place of the editorial emendation of πεζ⋯ταιροι. ‘For just as asthetairoi meant an élite group of Macedonian infantrymen,’ says Hammond, ‘so asthippoi should mean an élite group of Macedonian cavalrymen.’ He then proceeds to examine the passage and its context in an attempt to find confirmation of this proposition and comes to the conclusion that Diodorus' text says that there were 800 cavalrymen, broken into two groups, the asthippoi and ‘the men from the up-country settlers’; these, though having different names, had a close relationship to each other, as is shown by their being brigaded together. Following his derivation of asthetairoi as meaning ‘townsmen-companions’, i.e. companions recruited from the towns of Upper Macedonia, he argues that asthippoi were cavalry recruited from the towns of Upper Macedonia and that τοὺς ⋯κ τ⋯ν ἄνω κατοικο⋯ντων means ‘the sons of settlers in up-country Macedonia’. These 800, says Hammond, were both among Antigonus' best troops and ‘were Macedonians from Europe’. We thus appear, on Hammond's interpretation, to have here a group of 800 Macedonian élite cavalrymen, all of whom were recruited in Upper Macedonia's townships, but of whom some were chosen to be the cavalry-equivalent of the élite ‘townsmen-companions’ by their title of ‘townsmen-cavalry’, whilst the others, similarly recruited – but perhaps of a younger generation? – had no particular distinguishing title beyond ‘sons of settlers in up-country Macedonia’.Now, while it would be exciting to be able to add another one, possibly two Macedonian cavalry units to the Macedonian army of Philip, Alexander and the Successors, there are several aspects of Hammond's arguments that, it seems to me, are less than convincing. Thus, whilst it seems beyond reasonable doubt that ⋯σθ⋯ταιροι should be retained in the text of Arrian, appearing, as it does, six times, this is not an argument that ⋯σθ⋯ππους should be read in Diodorus' text. Both it and F's reading of ⋯νθ⋯ππους are hapax legomena and it is possible that both readings are wrong. But even if we retain ⋯σθ⋯ππους as the correct reading, Hammond's explanation of its meaning is open to objection on several counts. (shrink)

The general thesis which I should wish to sustain on this topic is by no means new. It is, briefly, that even in the Republic , where the views on art which Plato propounds are notoriously unsatisfactory to the modern mind, this unsatisfactoriness is not due to any lack of aesthetic sympathy on Plato's part, but on the contrary to what is almost an excess of it. The position as far as I can understand it is this: the true artist (...) is the philosopher, and true artistic insight is episteme . The work of art par excellence is primarily the philosopher's own life-that is, the philosopher himself. (shrink)

In the world today, human beings are confronted with a number of problems due ultimately to the apparent conflicts among the different religions (religious faiths). Religious attitudes, ideas, and practices differ and even seem to be incompatible with one another. I argue, however, that these faiths do not contradict. To see this, we need to engage in the comparative study of religion. This will show that the ultimate aim of all the world's religions is to establish unity among people, and (...) will thereby provide a basis for tolerance and understanding on the part of the followers of every religion towards other religions. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Exploring the Depth of Dream Experience: The Enactive Framework and Methods for Neurophenomenological Research” by Elizaveta Solomonova & Xin Wei Sha. Upshot: A neurophenomenological approach to the enactive account of consciousness in general is supported by an account of how the brain functions in creating imagery of non-present objects and situations. Three types of non-sensory imagery are needed to ground our consciousness of sensory imagery: proprioceptive imagery, motor imagery, and what Eugene Gendlin calls the (...) “felt sense” of a situation. Dreams show clearly how we image situations without sensory input, a process that is clearly enactive rather than reactive. This enactive account of imagery then supports Gendlin’s method of interpreting dreams by comparing their “felt sense” to the felt sense of waking situations. (shrink)

D. R. Bell; XI—Imperatives and the Will, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 66, Issue 1, 1 June 1966, Pages 129–148, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristo.

One of the arguments against conducting human subject trials in the Third World adopts a distributive justice principle found in a commentary of the CIOM'S Eighth Guideline for international research on human subjects. Critics argue that non-participant members of the community in which the trials are conducted are exploited because sponsoring agencies do not ensure that the products developed have been made reasonably available to these individuals. I argue that the distributive principle's wording is too vague and ambiguous to be (...) used to criticize any trial. Furthermore, the mere fact that an experiment does not fulfill this particular distributive justice principle does not entail that it is unethical. (shrink)