We analyse Irish managers' perceptions about the degree of wrongness of ten types of unethical conduct. In-person interviews with 348 managing directors of Irish-owned businesses who report their perceptions of the degree of wrongness of ten business ethics problems (the dependent variables) yield the data for our study. Predictors of managers' ratings include the existence of a business code of ethics, perceived frequency of occurrence of the given acts, company size and sector, union membership, Irish business ownership and independence (the (...) independent variables). Results indicate that approximately 75% of those sampled are independent Irish owned businesses but few (only 22% of this sample) have a formal business code. Regression analyses reveal that small firms with a code of ethics predict higher wrongness ratings for managers in regard to the practices of unfair pricing and delayed payments (unethical behavior involving firms) but managers also consider such acts the least wrong overall. Wrongness ratings on the eight remaining unethical acts are explained by the manufacturing sector. However, manufacturing firms in Ireland also have a high percentage of unionised workers indicating that unions influence managerial thinking about social and employee ethics (e.g., discrimination, insider trading). The traditional adversarial Industrial Relations model is useful in noting that unions are important in setting ethical standards for indigenous Irish-owned businesses. Given this reality, management in small, manufacturing firms should work with unions to create a more formal ethics code in order to guard against corruption and to remain competitive in the international marketplace. Those without strong unions might articulate their own organisational values. (shrink)

Indirect observation is a recent concept in systematic observation. It largely involves analyzing textual material generated either indirectly from transcriptions of audio recordings of verbal behavior in natural settings (e.g., conversation, group discussions) or directly from narratives (e.g., letters of complaint, tweets, forum posts). It may also feature seemingly unobtrusive objects that can provide relevant insights into daily routines. All these materials constitute an extremely rich source of information for studying everyday life, and they are continuously growing with the burgeoning (...) of new technologies for data recording, dissemination, and storage. Narratives are an excellent vehicle for studying everyday life, and quantitization is proposed as a means of integrating qualitative and quantitative elements. However, this analysis requires a structured system that enables researchers to analyze varying forms and sources of information objectively. In this paper, we present a methodological framework detailing the steps and decisions required to quantitatively analyze a set of data that was originally qualitative. We provide guidelines on study dimensions, text segmentation criteria, ad hoc observation instruments, data quality controls, and coding and preparation of text for quantitative analysis. The quality control stage is essential to ensure that the code matrices generated from the qualitative data are reliable. We provide examples of how an indirect observation study can produce data for quantitative analysis and also describe the different software tools available for the various stages of the process. The proposed method is framed within a specific mixed methods approach that involves collecting qualitative data and subsequently transforming these into matrices of codes (not frequencies) for quantitative analysis to detect underlying structures and behavioral patterns. The data collection and quality control procedures fully meet the requirement of flexibility and provide new perspectives on data integration in the study of biopsychosocial aspects in everyday contexts. (shrink)

Temporal binding refers to a phenomenon whereby the time interval between a cause and its effect is perceived as shorter than the same interval separating two unrelated events. We examined the developmental profile of this phenomenon by comparing the performance of groups of children (aged 6-7-, 7-8-, and 9-10- years) and adults on a novel interval estimation task. In Experiment 1, participants made judgments about the time interval between i) their button press and a rocket launch, and ii) a non-causal (...) predictive signal and rocket launch. In Experiment 2, an additional causal condition was included in which participants made judgments about the interval between an experimenter’s button press and the launch of a rocket. Temporal binding was demonstrated consistently and did not change in magnitude with age: estimates of delay were shorter in causal contexts for both adults and children. Additionally, the magnitude of the binding effect was greater when participants themselves were the cause of an outcome compared to when they were mere spectators. This suggests that although causality underlies the binding effect, intentional action may modulate its magnitude. Again, this was true of both adults and children. Taken together, these results are the first to suggest that the binding effect is present and developmentally constant from childhood into adulthood. (shrink)

Several groups of large DNA viruses successfully utilise the rich resource provided by insect hosts. Defining the mechanisms that enable these pathogens to optimise their relationships with their hosts is of considerable scientific and practical importance, but our understanding of the processes involved is, as yet, rudimentary. Here we describe an informatics-based approach that uses comparison of viral genomic sequences to identify candidate genes likely to be specifically involved in this process. We hypothesise that such genes should satisfy two essential (...) criteria, namely, that they should be (i) present in those members of a virus family that infect insects, but absent from those that infect other hosts, and (ii) found in at least two unrelated taxa of insect viruses. These criteria currently identify six groups of viral genes, including one that encodes the fusolin/gp37 proteins. Demonstration that the fusolin/gp37 proteins can enhance oral infectivity of insect viruses provides a primary validation of this approach to the examination of insectvirus relationships. BioEssays 23:184–193, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

Background Nurses experience moral distress when they cannot do what they believe is right or when they must do what they believe is wrong. Given the limited mechanisms for managing ethical issues for nurses in Japan, an Online Ethics Consultation on mental health (OEC) was established open to anyone seeking anonymous consultation on mental health practice. Research objective To report the establishment of the Online Ethics Consultation and describe and evaluate its effectiveness. Ethical considerations The research was conducted in accordance (...) with the Declaration of Helsinki. Research design This evaluation describes the outcomes of 5 years of operation of the Online Ethics Consultation on mental health in Japan Participants The Online Ethics Consultation received 12 emails requesting consultation. Consultees included mental health nurses, psychiatrists, and service users. Findings The most common questions directed to the service were about seclusion and physical restraint. Response time from receipt of email to sending a reply was between 1 and 14 days. Despite the disappointing number of consultations, feedback has been positive. Discussion The Online Ethics Consultation was established to assist morally sensitive nurses in resolving their ethical problems through provision of unbiased and encouraging advice. Mental health care in Japan has been less than ideal: long-term social hospitalization, seclusion, and restraint are common practices that often lead to moral distress in nurses and the questions received reflected this. The head of the Online Ethics Consultation sent a supportive, facilitative response summarizing the opinions of several consultants. Conclusion This study provides key information for the establishment of an online ethics resource the adoption of which has the potential to improve the experience of nurses, allied health and clients of mental health services. This paper has implications for services concerned with improving patient care, managing nurses’ moral distress, building ethics into decision-making. (shrink)

Using a prototype approach, we assessed people’s lay conceptions of intuition and analysis. Open-ended descriptions of intuition and analysis were generated by participants (Study 1) and resulting exemplars were sorted into features subsequently rated in centrality by independent participants (Study 2). Feature centrality was validated by showing that participants were quicker and more accurate in classifying central (as compared to peripheral) features (Study 3). Centrality ratings suggested a single-factor structure describing analysis but revealed that participants held lay conceptions of intuition (...) as involving two different types of processes: (1) as an automatic, affective, and non-logical processing, and (2) as a holistic processing that can assist in problem-solving. Additional analyses showed that the centrality ratings of intuition’s facets were predicted by participants’ self-reported intuitive style, suggesting intuition is differently perceived by intuitive and non-intuitive people. We discuss the implications of these results for the study of intuition and analysis. (shrink)

Natural deduction systems for classical, intuitionistic and modal logics were deeply investigated by Prawitz [D. Prawitz, Natural Deduction: A Proof-theoretical Study, in: Stockholm Studies in Philosophy, vol. 3, Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm, 1965. Reprinted at: Dover Publications, Dover Books on Mathematics, 2006] from a proof-theoretical perspective. Prawitz proved weak normalization for classical logic only for a language without logical or, there exists and with a restricted application of reduction ad absurdum. Reduction steps related to logical or, there exists and classical (...) negation bring about many problems solved only rather recently. For classical S5 modal logic, Prawitz defined a normalizable system, but for a language without logical or, there exists, ◊ and, for a propositional language without ◊, Medeiros [M.da P.N. Medeiros, A new S4 classical modal logic in natural deduction, Journal of Symbolic Logic 71 799–809] presented a normalizable system for classical S4. We can mention many cut-free Gentzen systems for S4, S5 and K45/K45D, some normalizable natural deduction systems for intuitionistic modal logics and one more for full classical S4, but not for full classical S5. Here our focus is on the definition of a classical and normalizable natural deduction system for S5, taking not only □ and ◊ as primitive symbols, but also all connectives and quantifiers, including classical negation, disjunction and the existential quantifier. The normalization procedure is based on the strategy proposed by Massi [C.D.B. Massi, Provas de normalizaçaõ para a lógica clássica, Ph.D. Thesis, Departamento de Filosofia, UNICAMP, Campinas, 1990] and Pereira and Massi [L.C. Pereira, C.D.B. Massi, Normalização para a lógica clássica, in: O que nos faz pensar, Cadernos de Filosofia da PUC-RJ, vol. 2, 1990, pp. 49–53] for first-order classical logic to cope with the combined use of classical negation, disjunction and the existential quantifier. Here we extend such results to deal with □ and ◊ too. The elimination rule for ◊ uses the notions of connection and of essentially modal formulas already proposed by Prawitz for the introduction of □. Beyond weak normalization, we also prove the subformula property for full S5. (shrink)

Summary In the period between the two World Wars, the Portuguese Geological Survey (Serviços Geológicos de Portugal: PGS) was legally dependent on the General Directorate of Mines and Geological Survey (Direcção Geral de Minas e Serviços Geológicos: GDMGS). Portugal was then living through troubled times, and the PGS struggled with financial problems and a lack of technical personnel. This situation did not allow the PGS to work properly as a scientific institution, and achieve its main function: the making and publication (...) of geological maps and research papers. (shrink)

El artículo ofrece un análisis exploratorio respecto a los límites y obstáculos que presentan los reduccionismos metodológicos en la investigación psicoclínica respecto a la espiritualidad. Por reduccionismo metodológico se entiende el proceso de simplificación y operatividad que exige el mismo diseño experimental adoptado en la investigación psicoclínica. El trabajo se limita a señalar un absurdo que se sigue de la misma implementación de ciertos recortes metodológicos: a saber, aquel diseño metodológico que debería garantizar el abordaje racional de los fenómenos espirituales (...) y religiosos opera muchas veces como facilitador de comprensiones erróneas e incompletas del fenómeno. En este sentido quizás podamos repensar estos diseños de la investigación psicoclínica incorporando o atendiendo en sus formulaciones teóricas al bagaje cognoscitivo de las tradiciones teológicas y espirituales –elementos y principios aparentemente ajenos a la racionalidad científica–. Pues ellas pueden significar un camino posible para que las demostraciones científicas de la salud mental adquieran mayor fuerza explicativa. (shrink)

A pergunta pelo ser do homem é a origem da antropologia tanto filosófica quanto pedagógica. Neste horizonte, pode-se resumir a resposta à pergunta dizendo: o ser humano não só é efeito do diálogo, mas humaniza e se humaniza por meio do diálogo. Quando se planeja ambientes orientados a desenvolver as potências anímicas do diálogo em todos, e em cada um dos participantes da cena pedagógica, igualmente se está tanto em meio a uma antropologia pedagógica quanto a uma didática antropológica. Esta (...) foi a tradição que Christoph Wulf, na segunda metade do século XX e no começo do século XXI, sistematizou. Dentro desta corrente de pensamento se enquadra a investigação intitulada Diálogo: condição de formação. Assim, pode-se afirmar que este projeto se baseia na tradição alemã que põe a Bildung no centro, como uma categoria que, ao mesmo tempo, tem uma fundamentação filosófica e alguns efeitos tanto na concepção quanto na ação pedagógica. Palavras-chave: Diálogo. Antropologia pedagógica. Christoph Wulf. Gadamer. (shrink)

La distribución ha sido un tema de reflexión de la economía desde el comienzo de esta disciplina; sin embargo, las tendencias recientes de la filosofía política originadas por la obra de Rawls y su teoría de la justicia presentan una visión alternativa de la justicia distributiva en una sociedad regida por la justicia antes que por la eficiencia. Tal alternativa redunda en una concepción diferente del papel del Estado y, en general, de la política económica.

For this study, I especially have centred myself on the work of the doctor in psychiatry and professor of the University of Tehran, Javad Nurbakhsh. He was a Master of the Order of Sufi Shah Nematollah Wali and died a year ago. This work, which appeared in 1999, is titled ‘Sufi Women’ and in it, the author compiled the brief biographies, which were sometimes only slight glimpses of existence, of 136 women. I will focus on three principle questions: the women (...) themselves, their relationships with their surroundings, and their relationships with God. I conclude that female Sufi Mystics’ bodies were soaked in tears and their souls in flames. They shed tears because of their distance from God and for being stuck in bodies and because of their desire for transcendence, to drown in Oneness. Since their bodies impeded this desire, they mortified them impiously with fasts and vigils and became unsightly to all who saw them. They did not take care of others, and they did not take care of themselves, they renounced all care. (shrink)

Grodzinsky's Tree-Pruning Hypothesis can be extended to explain agrammatic comprehension disorders. Although agrammatism is evidence for syntactic modularity, there is no evidence for its anatomical modularity or for its localization in the frontal lobe. Agrammatism results from diffuse left hemisphere damage – allowing the emergence of the limited right hemisphere linguistic competence – rather than from damage to an anatomic module in the left hemisphere.

In accepting the constituent character of the languageand, with this, the mediation that it supposes for our relationship with theworld, is outlined a problem: How to reconcile the decisive and contingentcharacter of this sense constitution transmitted with and by the language, bythe differents natu..

La lectura de obras literarias constituye una herramienta para contribuir al desarrollo cognoscitivo, valorativo y empático del estudiante, así como a la aprehensión y transformación de la realidad. Por lo que el objetivo consistió en valorar la importancia de los talleres de apreciación literaria como contribución a la praxis humana en la Educación Médica mediante el criterio de especialistas. Reading literary works is a tool to contribute to students' cognitive, assessable and empathetic development as well as to capture and transform (...) reality. Therefore, the objective is to assess the importance of literary appreciation as a contribution to human praxis in the educational context of a medical university. (shrink)

Resumen Como toda actividad social, la investigación en el campo de las ciencias sociales se institucionaliza por la acción de los individuos, instaurando ciertos mecanismos que regulan -a través de pautas organizacionales definidas- su quehacer social e institucional. Es así que la investigación social desarrollada en las instituciones de educación superior es experimentada por sus actores como una realidad establecida y objetiva que antecede al individuo actual, una realidad sujeta a una clara definición de roles, situaciones y comportamientos. Desde una (...) perspectiva sociológica, y ante a la injerencia de las actuales tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, en este trabajo se exploran los obstáculos y las posibilidades que enfrenta la condición institucionalizada de la investigación social y la de sus actores en sociedades con distintos tipos de desarrollo. Con tal propósito nos detenemos en el enlace de cuatro dimensiones del problema: la expansión y dispersión de las ciencias humanas y sociales; la institución como marco normativo de la organización de la actividad de investigación; el académico-investigador como principal actor y, por último, la función del "par académico" como árbitro de una competencia más institucional que cognitiva.As any social activity, research in social sciences is institutionalized by the action of individuals, establishing certain mechanisms that regulate -through defined organizational patterns- its social and institutional activities. In this way, the social research developed in higher education institutions is experienced by their actors as an established and objective reality that precedes the actual individual; a reality attached to a clear definition of roles, situations and behaviors. From a sociological perspective, and confronting the interference of the current information and communications technologies, in this paper are explored the obstacles and opportunities facing the institutionalized condition of social research, and their actors in societies with different types of development. For that purpose, we look into the connection of four dimensions of the problem: the expansion and dispersion of human and social sciences; the institution as a regulatory structure for the organization of the research activity; the academic researcher as the main actor, and finally, the role of "academic peer" as an arbiter of a competition more institutional than cognitive. (shrink)

Three experiments examined whether children and adults would use temporal information as a cue to the causal structure of a three-variable system, and also whether their judgements about the effects of interventions on the system would be affected by the temporal properties of the event sequence. Participants were shown a system in which two events B and C occurred either simultaneously (synchronous condition) or in a temporal sequence (sequential condition) following an initial event A. The causal judgements of adults and (...) 6-7-year-olds differed between the conditions, but this was not the case for 4-year-olds' judgements. However, unlike those of adults, 6-7-year-olds' intervention judgements were not affected by condition, and causal and intervention judgements were not reliably consistent in this age group. The findings support the claim that temporal information provides an important cue to causal structure, at least in older children. However, they raise important issues about the relationship between causal and intervention judgements. (shrink)