ABSTRACT In Mexico informed consent is a legal requirement that ensures that patients who are invited to participate in clinical trials are provided with all the information needed to decide whether to participate, or not, in a research protocol. To improve our understanding of the problems physicians in developing countries encounter, when obtaining informed consent (IC), we examined their opinion on the importance of IC in clinical research, the quantity and quality of the information provided to the participant, and the (...) conditions in which the IC is obtained. Investigators considered that IC was useful to the patients, providing information that helped the patient to make a decision about his/her participation. Nevertheless, they felt that for some aspects of the research, like drug development in general, the use of placebos, and the randomization process, many of the patients were not capable of fully understanding the information provided, referring to the complexity of the information and illiteracy as the main reasons. Many investigators were not acquainted with some of the guidelines established in the Mexican General Law of Health,1 36% of them admitting to not having completed their IC letters. Most investigators gave only minutes to the patient to make a decision and 20% of ICs were obtained while the patient was hospitalized. Except for one investigator, all of them considered that specific training in medical ethics would be useful for the daily clinical work. (shrink)

The notion of “bounded rationality” was introduced by Simon as an appropriate framework for explaining how agents reason and make decisions in accordance with their computational limitations and the characteristics of the environments in which they exist (seen metaphorically as two complementary scissor blades).We elaborate on how bounded rationality is usually conceived in psychology and on its relationship with logic. We focus on the relationship between heuristics and some non-monotonic logical systems. These two categories of cognitive tools share fundamental (...) features. As a step further, we show that in some cases heuristics themselves can be formalized from this logic perspective. We have therefore two main aims: on the one hand, to demonstrate the relationship between the bounded rationality programme and logic, understood in a broad sense; on the other hand, to provide logical tools of analysis of already known heuristics. This may lead to results such as the characterization of fast and frugal binary trees in terms of their associated logic program here provided. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that the intentionality at play in skilled performance is not only inherently normative but also inherently affective. We take a radically embodied approach to the mind in which we conceive of cognitive agents as sensorimotor systems moved to maintain their biological and sociocultural identity, whose perception is direct and occurs in terms of affordances. Within this framework, we define skilled performance as the enactment of action and perception patterns in which the agent is intentionally oriented (...) towards specific features in the environment. We propose that skillful intentionality is guided by normative constraints involving the material and social conditions of the agent but is ultimately determined by the intrinsic purpose of maintaining the agent’s identity, and skilled intentionality is inherently affective because it is a specific occurrence arising from a general sense of care to maintain one’s identity which is realized by orienting oneself towards the right aspects of the environment in the right way. Skilled performance thus requires agents to establish a normative and affective intentionality towards aspects of their material environment. We show that, since sociocultural practices shape human identities, sociocultural practices play a crucial role in shaping human intentionality of skilled performance both in their normative and affective dimensions. Maintaining a human identity, we argue, amounts to routinely carrying out activities that form a historical pattern which is shared with and recognized by others. (shrink)

It is assumed that social bonds in humans have consequences for virtually all aspects of behavior. Social touch-based contact, particularly hand caressing, plays an important role in social bonding. Pre-programmed neural circuits likely support actions (or predispositions to act) towards caressing contacts. We searched for pre-set motor substrates towards caressing by exposing volunteers to bonding cues and having them gently stroke a very soft cloth, a caress-like movement. The bonding cues were pictures with interacting dyads and the control pictures presented (...) non-interacting dyads. We focused on the readiness potential, an electroencephalographic marker of motor preparation that precedes movement execution. The amplitude of the readiness potential preceding the grasping of pleasant emotional-laden stimuli was previously shown to be reduced compared with neutral ones. Fingers flexor electromyography measured action output. The rationale here is that stroking the soft cloth when previously exposed to bonding cues, a compatible context, would result in smaller amplitudes of readiness potentials, as compared to the context with no such cues. Exposure to the bonding pictures increased subjective feelings of sociability and decreased feelings of isolation. Participants who more frequently engage in mutual caress/groom a “significant other” in daily life initiated the motor preparation earlier, reinforcing the caress-like nature of the task. As hypothesized, readiness potentials preceding the caressing of the soft cloth were significantly reduced under exposure to bonding as compared to control pictures. Furthermore, an increased fingers flexor electromyographic activity was identified under exposure to the former as compared to the latter pictures. The facilitatory effects are likely due to the recruitment of pre-set cortical motor repertoires related to caress-like movements, emphasizing the distinctiveness of neural signatures for caress-like movements. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to understand institutional violence (IV) in the relationships between health professionals, hospitalized children, and family members. This is a qualitative study developed at the pediatric inpatient unit of a university hospital in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The research participants consisted of 39 health professionals who specialized in pediatrics and 10 family members of hospitalized children. Semi‐structured interviews were the method used for data collection. Using discourse analysis as a basis and taking a (...) Foucauldian perspective, the researchers observed that the expressions of IV could be traced to abusive power relations within the system. We found four discursive forms within the data set: communication problems as IV, violence through inattention and neglect, violence as an action and consequent materialization on the body, and psychological violence as a submission mechanism. Based on these findings, we argue that professionals, managers, the scientific community, and users might be able to better guarantee the safety of children by recognizing IV and effectively intervening in it. (shrink)

Today’s exponential advancement of information and communication technologies is reconfiguring participatory urban development practices. The use of digital technology implies new forms of decentralised governance, collaborative knowledge production, and social activism. The digital transformation has the potential to overcome shortcomings in citizen participation, make participatory processes more deliberative, and enable collaborative approaches for making cities. While digital tools such as digital mapping, e‐participation platforms, location‐based games, and social media offer new opportunities for the various actors and may act as a (...) catalyst for renegotiating urban space and collective goods, digitalisation can also perpetuate or even attenuate existing inequalities and exclusion. This editorial introduces the thematic issue “Citizen Participation, Digital Agency, and Urban Development” which focuses on the trajectories and (dis)continuities of citizen participation through digitalisation and elaborates this with examples from Europe and Asia on how the digital transformation impacts, challenges, or reproduces hegemonic power relations in urban development. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

Entre 1822 et 1824, Micaela Mutis, nièce de Don José Celestino Mutis, mène une intense bataille juridique contre son mari pour obtenir la garde de son enfant illégitime et revendiquer ses droits de citoyenne dans la nouvelle République de Colombie ; paradoxalement, elle est condamnée par le nouvel État en vertu des lois de l’Empire espagnol récemment abandonné. Ce cas, découvert et analysé par l’historienne Aída Martínez Carreño, souligne la nécessité de réinterpréter le rôle des femmes dans l’historiographie colombienne ainsi (...) que la relation entre la vie privée et la vie publique et politique de nombre d’entre elles, qui ont été encouragées à devenir citoyennes grâce à leur engagement pour la cause patriotique. Ces dernières années, des chercheuses tels que Judith González et Martha Lux ont contribué à l’histoire des femmes en Colombie avec des résultats qui discutent et démontrent une fois de plus que le rôle joué par les femmes à cette époque est loin du rôle passif que l’historiographie traditionnelle, majoritairement masculine, leur avait accordé. (shrink)

Aristotle examines the role of leisure in the optimal life of the citizen. In the quest for the most desirable life understood as the proper combination of political and contemplative elements Aristotle ascribes an important role to leisure. Varga explores the two books in terms of the notion of schole and shows the inadequacy of previous interpretations of Aristotle s proposed design for the commonwealth.".

Este escrito supone una defensa y un argumento en favor de la filosofía científica. Conceptos como naturalismo y cientificismo serán contrastados a la luz de la investigación filosófica, defendiendo un cientificismo crítico que, más que sostener que la ciencia es la única fuente de conocimiento fiable, sostiene que la actividad científica es una excelente creación cultural humana para adquirir conocimiento y que la filosofía que la desprecia o ignora, no es productiva. Se defiende que el diálogo entre la ciencia y (...) la filosofía es fructífero y necesario si es que la meta es una reflexión filosófica consistente, informada y crítica. (shrink)

Due to the difficulty in solving combinatorial optimization problems, it is necessary to improve the performance of the algorithms by improving techniques to deal with complex optimizations. This research addresses the metaheuristics of marriage in honey-bees optimization based on the behavior of bees. The current study proposes a technique for solving combinatorial optimization problems within proper computation times. The purpose of this study focuses on the travelling salesperson problem and the application of chaotic methods in important sections of the MBO (...) metaheuristic. Three experiments were conducted to measure the efficiency and quality of the solutions: MBO with chaos to generate initial solutions ; MBO with chaos in the workers ; and MBO with chaos to generate initial solutions and the workers. The application of chaotic functions in MBO was significantly better at solving the travelling salesperson problem. (shrink)

The focus of the study is the understanding of self-sufficiency [αὐτάρϰεια] in early cynicism. A focused approach reveals that autarky in this context is a multidimensional concept that cannot be limited to the classical understanding of the physical or external renunciation of goods but goes beyond it. At least five dimensions can be named: (i) self-sufficiency due to physical depletion, (ii) self-sufficiency due to external reduction of goods, (iii) self-sufficiency through socio-cultural asset relativization, (iv) self-sufficiency through political relevance and ultimately (...) (v) self-sufficiency through educational and scientific relativization. The thesis of this study is that this multidimensional understanding of self-sufficiency can be seen, firstly, as the constitutive pivot of the practical-political approaches of the early cynicism, but secondly, has a further aim and is translated into a broader term: ἐγκράτεια, understood as the all-encompassing rule of man over himself. (shrink)

In Aristotelian understanding, political autarky does not imply individual isolation, but the order of all human relationships within the community. The final aim is not ‘not-needing-anybody-else-anymore’, the independent identity, but the collective-cooperative shaping and ordering of life in the immediate forms of community. This includes in a special way basic social-anthropological elements, economic activities, civic organization, social-ethical reflection and friendship. These core elements of Aristotle’s specific political autarky make it clear that man is not only a zōon politikon but also (...) a zōon koinonikon and that he can only realize this ‘political autarky’ in community. (shrink)

Neste artigo, nosso objetivo é mergulhar no caráter político da educação escolar a partir de uma discussão pedagógica-filosófica. Buscamos repensar as noções de política e skholé, nos distanciando das abordagens mais comuns da política em relação à educação escolar: não apenas evitando, por um lado, a redução da política a uma questão de dinâmicas de poder, uma arena para discutir e resolver problemas sociais ou uma questão de governamentalidade; mas também evitando a redução da escola a um instrumento a favor (...) delas. Acreditamos que uma leitura meticulosa do trabalho político do filósofo francês Jacques Rancière oferece um caminho para articular as relações entre política e educação escolar sem cair nessas reduções. Sugerimos que, a partir dessa abordagem rancèriana, se torna possível explorar o aspecto transformador e emancipatório da educação escolar sem negar seu caráter político e sem reduzi-la a um mero instrumento de política governamental. Portanto, depois de revisar o que acreditamos serem algumas noções-chave do conceito de política de Rancière, propomos discutir o caráter político da educação escolar abordando dois aspectos pedagógicos cruciais: a formalização da skholé (ou seja, a maneira pela qual a skholé toma forma) e a formação escolar (o tipo de formação possibilitada pela educação escolar). Nosso objetivo é contribuir para os debates pedagógicos sobre a educação escolar, possibilitando um diálogo com uma leitura de Ranciére que vá além de O mestre ignorante. (shrink)

Scholars have debated the role that altruistic considerations play—and should play—in recruitment and decision-making processes for clinical trials. Little empirical data are available to support their various perspectives. We analyzed 140 audiotaped pediatric informed consent sessions, of which 95 (68%) included at least one discussion of how participation in a cancer clinical trial might benefit: 1) the pursuit of scientific knowledge generally; 2) other children with cancer specifically; and 3) “the future” and other vaguely defined recipients. Clinicians initiated most (80%) (...) of these discussions of altruism. The enrollment rate of children in the clinical trial was high (83%) overall, but not higher among children whose parents were involved in an altruism-oriented discussion. These findings suggest that: (1) clinicians invoke a spectrum of altruistic considerations rather than a single monothematic notion of altruism, and (2) the effect of altruistic considerations on subsequent enrollment decisions is marginal. While further research on this topic is warranted, bioethical debate should strive to reflect the diversity of altruistic discourse in clinical research encounters and to place this discourse in the context of other, including nonaltruistic, considerations. (shrink)

Despite increasing popularity and intensive worldwide use, few studies have assessed the validity and factorial structure of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale. However, scientific literature showed that the original factorial structure of the HFS was not fully replicated and—in addition—the Italian translation is still lacking. To fill this gap, this study aims to extend evidence about the original HFS factorial validity by analyzing the Italian version. The final sample was composed of 523 randomly enrolled participants [139 males, 384 females ] aged (...) from 18 to 82 years who completed the Italian version of the HFS. The confirmatory factor analysis showed good fit indices for the original hierarchical factor solution and a significant decrease in model fit was found for all of the competing models. Also, the Italian version of the HFS revealed good reliability and very good psychometrical properties. Findings suggest that the Italian version of the HFS can be considered a reliable and good psychometrically based instrument for the assessment of dispositional forgiveness of the Self, Other, and Situation. (shrink)

In Neutrality and the Academic Ethic, distinguished philosopher Robert L. Simon explores the claim that universities can and should be politically neutral. He examines conceptual questions about the meaning of neutrality, distinguishes different conceptions of what neutrality involves, and considers in what sense, if any, institutional neutrality is both possible and desirable. In Part II, a collection of original and previously published essays provides different views on these and related issues.

Background Genomic research is challenging the tradition of informed consent. Genomic researchers in the USA, Canada and parts of Europe are encouraged to use informed consent to address the prospect of disclosing individual research results (IRRs) to study participants. In the USA, no national policy exists to direct this use of informed consent, and it is unclear how local institutional review boards (IRBs) may want researchers to respond. Objective and methods To explore publicly accessible IRB websites for guidance in this (...) area, using summative content analysis. Findings Three types of research results were addressed in 45 informed consent templates and instructions from 20 IRBs based at centres conducting genomic research: (1) IRRs in general, (2) incidental findings (IFs) and (3) a broad and unspecified category of ‘significant new findings’ (SNFs). IRRs were more frequently referenced than IFs or SNFs. Most documents stated that access to IRRs would not be an option for research participants. These non-disclosure statements were found to coexist in some documents with statements that SNFs would be disclosed to participants if related to their willingness to participate in research. The median readability of template language on IRRs, IFs and SNFs exceeded a ninth-grade level. Conclusion IRB guidance may downplay the possibility of IFs and contain conflicting messages on IRR non-disclosure and SNF disclosure. IRBs may need to clarify why separate IRR and SNF language should appear in the same consent document. The extent of these issues, nationally and internationally, needs to be determined. (shrink)

How does Creating Shared Value (CSV) differ from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? How can universities teach CSV to students? The aim of this study is to present the case of the Shared Value Living Lab (SVLL) recently carried out at the University of Torino (UniTo), a large Italian public university. Specifically, the paper analyzes CSV related arguments such as building ecosystems and collective impact, and by questioning the role of experiential learning in adult education. The transformative learning theory of Mezirow (...) (2000) assists the discussion and interpretation of the results derived from this research from an intrinsic perspective, as the researchers “interacted” with the participants. The risks and opportunities of teaching CSV concepts are presented side by side with the strengths and weaknesses of innovative learning tools that have already been adopted by universities and business schools. The study contributes to the current literature by showing how students can reframe the problem of CSV, escaping from ordinary meaning schemes. The interaction between the researchers, the students, and the local actors is atypical of a generalist public university. It is also a good example of a triple helix collaboration that can be implemented in other areas of education research. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence is supposed to perform tasks autonomously, make competent decisions, and interact socially with people. From a psychological perspective, AI can thus be expected to impact users’ three Basic Psychological Needs, namely autonomy, competence, and relatedness to others. While research highlights the fulfillment of these needs as central to human motivation and well-being, their role in the acceptance of AI applications has hitherto received little consideration. Addressing this research gap, our study examined the influence of BPN Satisfaction on Intention (...) to Use an AI assistant for personal banking. In a 2×2 factorial online experiment, 282 participants watched a video of an AI finance coach with a female or male synthetic voice that exhibited either high or low agency. In combination, these factors resulted either in AI assistants conforming to traditional gender stereotypes or in non-conforming conditions. Although the experimental manipulations had no significant influence on participants’ relatedness and competence satisfaction, a strong effect on autonomy satisfaction was found. As further analyses revealed, this effect was attributable only to male participants, who felt their autonomy need significantly more satisfied by the low-agency female assistant, consistent with stereotypical images of women, than by the high-agency female assistant. A significant indirect effects model showed that the greater autonomy satisfaction that men, unlike women, experienced from the low-agency female assistant led to higher ITU. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical relevance and the risk of reproducing traditional gender stereotypes through technology design. (shrink)