This paper examines Romanian bioethics regulations for biomedical sciences, looking in particular at the genetics area as a source for conflict of interest. The analysis is focused on the organizational level, national regulations, the sources for generating conflicts of interest, and management of conflicts. Modern biotechnology and gene technology are among the key technologies of the twenty-first century. The application of gene technology for medical and pharmaceutical purposes is widely accepted by society, but the same cannot be said of the (...) development and application of gene technology in agriculture and food processing. Because the use of a technology in the production and processing of food is regarded more sceptically than in the production of biomedical products, there can be areas of conflict in many cases when communication is undertaken about gene technology in the agro-food sector. Ethical concerns play an important factor in this, but a society’s attitude to a developing technology is an amalgam of many effects which are beyond ethics as such. (shrink)

The pedagogical research constitutes a critical, dynamic, intentional, active process oriented towards the investigation of the educaional reality under all its aspects. The present paper brings in the forefront the effort of pedagogy to crystalize its own methodology of research in its demarche of affirmation and consolidation of its scientifical status. The complexity and the high number of inter-depedent variables present in the study of the human condition foiled the effort to apply a model of scientific research underlain on the (...) method of natural sciences in the field of social-human sciences. In this context, the pedagogy was bound to shade its methods of research in order to surprise as truthful as possible the complexity and diversity of the educational processes. Thus, besides the empirical-experimental method, the pedagogy was enriched with new methods of research such as the hermeneutic method, the historical method, the rhetorical method, the descriptive method, the problematization method. (shrink)

Three polemical exchanges between Bertrand Russell and F. H. Bradley, F. C. S. Schiller, and the prosecutor in Russell's trial for violating the Defence of the Realm Act in 1916 are examined in order to bring to light some paradigms of informal reasoning, with a view to encouraging research into the logic of natural language. Ten such paradigms are expressed, e.g., Agree with the contention but not for the reasons given; Agree that the criticism is valid and report that one (...) has modified the criticized doctrine but not in the manner suggested. (shrink)

Gender researchers have only recently begun to identify how women perceive and explain the costs and benefits associated with different femininities. Yet status hierarchies among historically white college sororities are explicit and cannot be ignored, forcing sorority women to grapple with constructions of feminine worth. Drawing on interviews with women in these sororities, we are able to capture college women’s attitudes toward status rankings that prioritize adherence to narrow models of gender complementarity. Sorority chapters were ranked according to women’s perceived (...) heterosexual appeal to elite men. Women believed that top-ranked sororities conferred social power whereas middle- and bottom-ranked sororities offered greater freedom from policing over members’ bodies, fashion, and socializing. However, middle- and bottom-ranked sororities sometimes sought to rise in the rankings. When this occurred, existing members were marginalized, and a new pledge class with a greater tolerance for socializing with high-status “rapey” fraternities was sought. Women’s discussions of sorority rankings show evidence of a hybrid femininity that fuses practices from traditional models of gender complementarity and more recent models of women’s empowerment. (shrink)

_'Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few find it difficult to admit the impossibility.'_ - _Bertrand Russell_ From 1931-1935 Bertrand Russell was one of the regular contributors to the literary pages of the _New York American_, together with other distinguished authors, such as Aldous Huxley and Vita Sackville-West. _Mortals and Others Volume II_ presents a further selection of his essays, ranging from the politically correct, to the perfectly obscure: from _The Prospects of Democracy_ to (...) _Men Versus Insects_. Even though written in the politically heated climate of the 1930s, these essays are surprisingly topical and engaging for the present day reader. Volume II of _Mortals and Others_ serves as a splendid, fresh introduction to the compassionate eclecticism of Bertrand Russell's mind. (shrink)

Since the seventeenth century, when Descartes divided the universe into two realms, the distinctive character of one of which being its spatiality or extendedness, philosophers have been increasingly concerned with the analysis of the category of Space. Scientists, too, have been interested in the concepts of Space and Time, especially since the promulgation of the theory of relativity.

Researchers have highlighted how gendered associations of femininity with emotional labor can complicate professional women’s attempts to exercise managerial authority. However, current understandings of how race and gender intersect in professional women’s emotional labor remain limited. We draw on 132 interviews from eight white women and 13 women of color who are novice principals. White women began the principalship wanting to establish themselves as emotionally supportive leaders who were open to others’ influence. They viewed emotional labor as existing in tension (...) with showing authority as a leader. Over time, however, most white women reported adopting more directive practices. By contrast, women of color reported beginning the principalship with a more directive, take-charge leadership style. They viewed emotional labor and authority as part of a blended project and did not talk about these two aspects of leadership as existing in tension. Over time, their self-reported leadership style changed little. We analyze our findings in light of recent theorizing about gender and intersectionality. (shrink)

From 1895, the year he published his first signed article, to four days before his death in 1970 when he wrote his last, Bertrand Russell was a powerful force in the world of mathematics, philosophy, human rights and the struggle for peace. During those years he published 70 books, almost as many pamphlets and over 2,000 articles, he also contributed pieces to some 200 books. The availability of the Bertrand Russell Archives at McMaster University since 1968 has made it possible (...) for the first time to compile a full, descriptive bibliography of his writings. The Collected Papers are based on it. Fully annotated, the Bibliography is textually oriented and will guide the scholar, collector and general reader to the authoritative editions of Russell's works. It includes references to the locations of all known speeches and interviews, and reproductions of the dust-jackets of Russell's books. Blackwell, Ruja and Turcon have cooperated for nearly 20 years on the new Bibliography. Lord Russell saw the extensive additions for it near the end of his life and declared: `I am impressed.'. (shrink)

Corruption involves greed, money, and risky decision-making. We explore the love of money, pay satisfaction, probability of risk, and dishonesty across cultures. Avaricious monetary aspiration breeds unethicality. Prospect theory frames decisions in the gains-losses domain and high-low probability. Pay dissatisfaction (in the losses domain) incites dishonesty in the name of justice at the individual level. The Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI, signals a high-low probability of getting caught for dishonesty at the country level. We theorize that decision-makers adopt avaricious love-of-money aspiration (...) as a lens and frame dishonesty in the gains-losses domain (pay satisfaction-dissatisfaction, Level 1) and high-low probability (CPI, Level 2) to maximize expected utility and ultimate serenity. We challenge the myth: Pay satisfaction mitigates dishonesty across nations consistently. Based on 6500 managers in 32 countries, our cross-level three-dimensional visualization offers the following discoveries. Under high aspiration conditions, pay dissatisfaction excites the highest- (third-highest) avaricious justice-seeking dishonesty in high (medium) CPI nations, supporting the certainty effect. However, pay satisfaction provokes the second-highest avaricious opportunity-seizing dishonesty in low CPI entities, sustaining the possibility effect—maximizing expected utility. Under low aspiration conditions, high pay satisfaction consistently leads to low dishonesty, demonstrating risk aversion—achieving ultimate serenity. We expand prospect theory from a micro and individual-level theory to a cross-level theory of monetary wisdom across 32 nations. We enhance the S-shaped Curve to three 3-D corruption surfaces across three levels of the global economic pyramid, providing novel insights into behavioral economics, business ethics, the environment, and responsibility. (shrink)