The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in (...) the food industry, and the establishment of an official "fair trade" label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a "radical, militant" pole and a "softer, more commercial" one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets. (shrink)

El aumento en la producción y consumo de frutas y hortalizas mínimamente procesadas de los últimos años ha con­tribuido a incrementar las toxiinfecciones alimentarias asociadas al consumo de productos vegetales frescos. Esto es debido a que los tratamientos desinfectantes llevados a cabo actualmente por industria de IV gama son insuficientes para garantizar la seguridad microbiológica de los productos finales, y además estos no reciben ningún tratamiento capaz de eliminar todos los patógenos antes de su consumo. Por lo tanto, es necesario (...) utilizar estrategias al­ternativas para reducir los microorganismos patógenos y alteran­tes en frutas y hortalizas. La bioconservación, mediante el uso de microorganismos o sus metabolitos, es una alternativa que, en combinación con las prácticas habituales, puede reducir o prevenir el crecimiento de patógenos en productos mínimamente procesa­dos, mejorando su calidad microbiológica. En este artículo se pre­sentan los resultados más relevantes sobre la bioconservación de frutas y hortalizas mínimamente procesadas. (shrink)

La industria de alimentos vegetales consume grandes volúmenes de agua de buena calidad y genera grandes cantida­des de agua residual. Uno de los sistemas que se pueden aplicar para reducir el consumo y el vertido de agua es la reutilización del agua de lavado. Para llevar a cabo la reutilización del agua sin comprometer la seguridad microbiológica y química de los alimentos es necesario optimizar el uso de agentes antimicrobia­nos. El cloro ha sido tradicionalmente el tratamiento de desinfec­ción usado por (...) la industria hortofrutícola para el agua de lavado. Sin embargo, su uso tiene la desventaja de la acumulación de subproductos de desinfección, lo que ha impulsado el estudio y el uso de desinfectantes alternativos como el ácido peroxiacéti­co. En cualquier caso, el mantenimiento de la seguridad micro­biológica y química de los alimentos vegetales frescos, en lo que respecta a la etapa de lavado, pasa por la selección de los límites operacionales que deben mantenerse en cuanto a la concentra­ción de desinfectante, así como la monitorización y control de los parámetros críticos relacionados con la desinfección, como es el contenido en materia orgánica. La optimización de la desinfec­ción tiene que tener en cuenta las peculiaridades de cada caso, incluyendo el tipo de producto lavado, el desinfectante usado, y el diseño y manejo de la línea de lavado. (shrink)

This study investigates whether the market valuation of the two summary accounting measures, book value of equity and net income, is higher for firms with reputation for sustainability leadership, when compared to firms that do not enjoy such reputation. The results are interpreted through the lens of a framework combining signalling theory and resource-based theory, according to which firms signal their commitment to sustainability to influence the external perception of reputation. A firm’s reputation for being committed to sustainability is an (...) intangible resource that can increase the value of a firm’s expected cash flows and/or reduce the variability of its cash flows. Our findings are according to expectations and show that the net income of firms with good sustainability reputation has a higher valuation by the market, when compared to their counterparts. (shrink)

This study provides empirical evidence on how corporate sustainability performance (CSP), as proxied by membership of the Dow Jones sustainability index, is reflected in the market value of equity. Using a theoretical framework combining institutional perspectives, stake-holder theory, and resource-based perspectives, we develop a set of hypotheses that relate the market value of equity to CSP. For a sample of North American firms, our preliminary results show that CSP has significant explanatory power for stock prices over the traditional summary accounting (...) measures such as earnings and book value of equity. However, further analyses suggest that we should not focus on corporate sustainability itself. Our findings suggest that what investors really do is to penalize large profitable firms with low level of CSP. Firms with incentives to develop a high level of CSP not engaging on such strategy are, thus, penalized by the market. (shrink)

In this article I shall propose María Zambrano's poetic reason as a suitable method for developing a knowledge of animal being. To do so, I will follow the analyses (Derrida, Coetzee) that place animal thinking in the poetic sphere, thus showing the need for a poetic/literary knowledge to make a philosophical knowledge of the animal possible. Animal writing expresses our nature in relation to animal nature; it discloses our animal interbeingness. Finally, I will point to some of the principles of (...) ecofeminist/animal ethics, like care and empathy, which arise both in what I propose to call animal writing and in Zambranian poetic reason. (shrink)

The multifaceted nature of empathy requires a comprehensive conceptualization of core and related emotional and mindreading processes. Here I argue that new paradigms are needed that allow for a more ecologically valid and parametric assessment of empathy subprocesses and their neuronal correlates. Towards that goal, cognitive neuroscience studies should make use of audiovisual stimuli that more closely approximate real-life settings and include online social interaction paradigms.

En este trabajo se analizan, por una parte, los datos sobre la presencia de las mujeres en los movimientos de derechos de los animales en el estado español; por otro lado, tratamos de encontrar marcos explicativos que aclaren cuál es el vínculo que conecta la sensibilidad feminista con la sensibilidad animalista. Hemos realizado un sondeo sobre el porcentaje de mujeres entre los miembros de las organizaciones animalistas más importantes de España y, con estos resultados, hemos hecho una revisión de los (...) diferentes marcos teóricos que pueden explicar esta significativa orientación de género en la defensa del bienestar animal. Por último, defendemos que hay un vínculo entre la ideología patriarcal y la explotación ecológica, en tanto que ambos comparten la dominación y la opresión de género. En este sentido, la sensibilidad animalista movilizaría sentimientos morales de fraternidad con la naturaleza. (shrink)

Drawing on the self-determination framework, the study examined the effect of coaches’ autonomy support on the leisure experience of young male football players. Specifically, a model was tested analyzing the long-term predictive power of the players’ perception of coach-autonomy support at the beginning of the season on the subjective vitality of young football players at the end of the season through needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, we tested whether the effects of coach-autonomy support on the aforementioned variables (needs satisfaction, (...) intrinsic motivation, and subjective vitality) at the end of the season remained at the beginning of the following season. Because the coach in the second season was not the same one as in the first season, the perception of coach-autonomy support at the beginning of the second season was used as a control variable. Three hundred and sixty football players (M age = 12.60 years; SD = 0.52) completed a questionnaire on the variables of interest at the beginning of the first season (T1), at the end of the first season (T2), and at the beginning of the second season (T3). The results of the path analyses showed that player’ perceptions of coach autonomy support at the beginning of the season (T1) positively predicted needs satisfaction at the end of the first season (T2), which in turn predicted intrinsic motivation at the end of the first season (T2). Additionally, intrinsic motivation significantly and positively predicted subjective vitality at the end of the first season (T2). Finally, needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and subjective vitality at the end of the second season (T2) positively predicted these same variables at the beginning of the second season (T3). Results emphasized the importance of the autonomy support offered by the coach in promoting the quality of young people’s leisure experience playing football and its benefits for their well-being. (shrink)

The first is of a more historical nature, the second of philosophical concern: what was the place occupied by angels in the medieval world-view and what was ...

In this article, we examine the role of several consumers’ cognitive and psychographic traits in their perceptions of retailers’ deceptive practices and the different effects on perceived deception associated with online vis-à-vis in-store shopping. Building on theoretical models of persuasion in consumer behavior, we hypothesize that the antecedents of perceived deception in traditional settings are the same as those on the Internet, while the intensity of the impact of these antecedents differs between the online and the offline environment. Results suggest (...) that the effects of individual’s cognitive traits and risk aversion on perceived deception are more relevant when consumers shop online than when they purchase from traditional stores. Conversely, psychographic traits play a more important role in explaining perceived deception in the traditional shopping context as compared to the online channel. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings. (shrink)

Objective: To analyze the empathic profile and the empathy scores of freshmen of the nursing course. Design and participants: Descriptive study involving 399 freshmen students of two modalities of nursing courses: Bachelor and Bachelor and Teaching Diploma, in the period from 2012 to 2015. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the Empathy Inventory were applied. Ethical considerations: The research received approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing. The students registered their acceptance (...) to participate in the research by signing the Free and Informed Consent Form and anonymity was guaranteed. Findings: The mean age of the participants was 19 years, being 85.5% female. The students were grouped by course modality and all groups presented high empathy scores. A significant difference (p < 0.001) was found, which indicates that students of the Bachelor and Teaching Diploma program presented a higher degree of empathy for the General Score, Domain 2 (Interpersonal Flexibility), and Domain 3 (Altruism) in relation to students in the Bachelor program. Conclusion: Results show that nursing undergraduate freshmen are emphatic, with minimum differences between the two courses. This profile is relevant for the development of future professionals capable to demonstrate a balance between instrumental and expressive competences. (shrink)

People reject ‘paradoxical’ inferences, such as: Luisa didn't play music; therefore, if Luisa played soccer, then she didn't play music. For some theorists, they are invalid for everyday conditionals, but valid in logic. The theory of mental models implies that they are valid, but unacceptable because the conclusion refers to a possibility inconsistent with the premise. Hence, individuals should accept them if the conclusions refer only to possibilities consistent with the premises: Luisa didn't play soccer; therefore, if Luisa played a (...) game then she didn't play soccer. Two experiments corroborated this prediction for three sorts of ‘paradox’, including a disjunctive paradox. (shrink)

This paper analyzes Russian-French philosopher Alexandre Kojève’s dialogue with proponents of Hegelianism and phenomenology in Soviet Russia of the 1920–30s. Considering works by Dmytro Chyzhevsky, Ivan Ilyin, Gustav Shpet, and Alexandre Koyré, I retrace Hegelian themes in Kojève, focusing on the relation between method and time. I argue that original reflections on method played a key role in both Russian Hegelianism and Kojève’s work, from his famous Hegel lectures to the late fragments of a system. As I demonstrate, Kojève’s Hegelianism (...) was significantly shaped by his encounter with Ilyin’s 1918 commentary on Hegel, a detailed study of the relation between method and the experience of time. However, in Kojève’s hands, Ilyin’s ideas were transformed, some radicalized, others abandoned. Comparatively reading texts by these thinkers in their respective contexts, I resituate and evaluate claims that Hegel’s method was less dialectical than phenomenological. I finally argue that early Soviet Hegelian discourses not only shaped the trajectory of Kojève’s Hegelianism but also radically anticipated concepts of time in French post-structuralism. (shrink)

In Brazil, the normative landscape around advertising is complex, not the least because of limitations inherent to dispute resolution mechanisms. Focusing on unhealthy food and beverages, this case study identifies some challenges and opportunities around advertising restrictions, including in relation to freedom of speech.

El hábito es una de las encrucijadas filosóficas en las que el dilema entre naturaleza y libertad se pone de manifiesto. El artículo expone la descripción que Paul Ricoeur ofrece sobre esta noción en Lo voluntario y lo involuntario (1950) y defiende que el hábito constituye una genuina y paradójica forma de libertad, pues ésta se realiza gracias y a través de la necesidad. Se tiene en consideración el difícil punto de partida de Ricoeur, quien, por una parte, rechaza lo (...) que él denomina la explicación cosmológica de Tomás de Aquino y, por otra, acoge la novedad del cogito cartesiano, siendo a la vez consciente de las limitaciones dualistas que el planteamiento conlleva. Inspirándose en Ravaisson, Ricoeur rechaza una interpretación maquinal del hábito y se acerca a la idea clásica de segunda naturaleza. En el artículo se muestran los problemas de Ricoeur en el empleo de este término y se señalan los límites de la propuesta del autor, para quien, al final, no hay sistema entre lo natural y lo libre. (shrink)

The clearly recognized innovation in Galileo’s work on free fall has been a stimulus and a challenge for the history and philosophy of science. This article will analyze the experimental and theoretical aspects of Galileo’s work on free fall. It draws on several authors’ results to justify the claim that the research model established by Galileo remains valid today (Sections 2 and 3). The article draws this parallel with current science by focusing on Galileo’s method, way of considering scientific instruments, (...) and practice of confrontation between theory and experiments. The Galilean mode of investigation can be interpreted from a variety of possible philosophical perspectives: Section 3 examines how relevant the so-called constructivist and conventionalist perspectives are to analysis of Galileo’s innovations. Section 4 discusses Galileo’s contribution to the mathematization of science and the Platonic character of his thought. Finally, the article attempts to show that Galileo’s Platonism also involves experiments, as he conceives them. Keywords: Inclined Plane. Mathematics. Platonism. (shrink)

Consumer distrust is only recently beginning to be perceived as an important e-commerce issue and, unlike online trust, the nature and role of distrust is much less established. This study examines the influence of two important consumer characteristics on consumer’s ethically-based distrust of online retailers. Also, the moderating role of consumer’s need for personal contact with sales staff is tested. Results from 409 online consumers confirm that both relativist-based ethical ideology and risk aversion are strongly and positively related to consumers’ (...) distrust. Interestingly, our findings show that positive effects of relativism and risk aversion on consumer’s distrust are moderated by consumers’ need for personal interaction, which is more pronounced for those consumers with a high need for personal interaction with retail salespeople. (shrink)

Summary This paper discusses the emergence of new medical experimental specialties at the Medical School of Surgery (Escola Médico-Cirúrgica) and the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon University (Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa) between 1897 and 1946, as a result of the activities of Marck Athias's (1875?1946) histophysiology research school. In 1897, Marck Athias, a Portuguese physician who had graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, founded a research school in Lisbon along the lines of Michael Foster's physiology (...) research school in England and Franz Hofmeister's physiological chemistry school in Germany. His research programme was highly innovative in Portugal. Not only did it bring together many disciples and co-workers, but it branched out and created new medical specialties within Portuguese medical science. These new disciplinary areas grew out of the study of the histology of the nervous system but eventually expanded into normal and pathological histophysiology, physiological chemistry and experimental endocrinology. The esprit de corps that existed between research school members ensured the school's success and influence in various fields social and political as well as scientific. Athias's school was strongly influenced by positivist ideals and promoted a teaching and research style that sought inspiration in Humboldt's university model, thus helping to bring about a change in the dominant scientific ethos and to modernize scientific research in Portugal during the first half of the twentieth century. (shrink)

En este artículo se examina la común estrategia metódica de los estudios sobre la discapacidad y la crítica feminista, que sitúa la experiencia de la discapacidad en el contexto de los derechos y las exclusiones. Este modelo social de la discapacidad critica el modelo biomédico que concibe la discapacidad como anormalidad y patología, como error de un orden natural dado. Para deconstruir este sujeto naturalizado se analiza una de las representaciones históricas de la discapacidad: la figura del monstruo. Por último, (...) se propone la discapacidad como ocasión para pensar la vulnerabilidad esencial de todo sujeto. (shrink)

In this paper I examine the figure of the monster, in both its negative and positive aspects, such as the notion of biopolitics. As a negative figure, the monster would represent the dehumanized subject produced by exclusion mechanisms operating in destructive version of biopolitics, resulting in thanatopolitics, and in this sense provokes horror and abjection. Here I will use the analyses of the anthropological machine (Agamben), the device of the person (Esposito) and indefinite detention (Butler). As a positive figure, the (...) monster would represent the new subject trying to articulate productive versions of biopolitics, and is distinguished by its metamorphic and posthuman appearance, and in this sense would be subject and object of joy. Finally, as a project of affirmative biopolitics, I discuss Butler’s proposal of a new way of thinking about the political community that assumes the original vulnerability of the subject. (shrink)

During postembryonic development, all organs of a plant are ultimately derived from a few pluripotent stem cells found in specialized structures called apical meristems. Here we discuss our current knowledge about the regulation of plant stem cells and their environments with main emphasis on the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana. Recent studies suggest that stem cells are localized in specialized niches where signals from surrounding cells maintain their undifferentiated state. In the shoot meristem, initiation of stem cells during embryogenesis, (...) regulation of stem‐cell homeostasis and termination of stem‐cell maintenance during flower development appear to primarily involve regulation of the stem‐cell niche. BioEssays 25:961–970, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The global demand for information has brought in new developments in the publicity of discursive practices of many professional areas. This study takes the professional practice of International Commercial Arbitration, a mechanism to resolve business disputes outside the courts and traditionally considered as private, to explore the process of resemiotization of information, from the strategies used by corporations in their press releases to the news reports published by national and international media. It takes the theoretical concept of interdiscursivity in critical (...) genre analysis to show that texts are the result of a combination of a very complex range of resources brought about by genres, professional practices and professional cultures, which derive not only from the ‘local’ representation of the transnational arbitration process, but also from the different corporate identities and their ways of coping with the increasing publicity of the facts of arbitration. (shrink)

(2000). Disability, Geography and Ethics. Philosophy & Geography: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 80-87.