For the last 15 years, companies have extensively increased their environmental disclosure relative to their environmental strategy in response to institutional pressures. Based on a computerized content analysis of the annual reports of the 55 largest French industrial companies, we describe environmental disclosure with respect to the different strategies implemented by companies over a period of 6 years. The results show that environmental disclosure becomes more and more technical and precise for all the companies. Environmental innovations are presented as (...) a means of increasing energy efficiency and of obtaining a competitive advantage in green market products. The environmental management system implemented by proactive companies allows them to improve their environmental performance. However, the results show that the economic situation significantly influences the way environmental issues are addressed. (shrink)

Abstract On the basis of Professor Ayer's The Problem of Knowledge, Mr. Stigen criticizes Ayer for defending a position which the sceptic does not attack. Ayer's ?descriptive analysis?, which is his answer to the sceptic, consists in an analysis of statements about, e.g. material objects or other minds into verifiable propositions. In other words, Ayer points to the fact that our statements are shown to be true by verification. However, according to Stigen, this analysis does not (...) remove the sceptic's doubts, for the sceptic does not doubt that our statements are true; his attack is directed against the validity of those of my present beliefs for which I claim knowledge?status. The sceptic asks me to justify my claim that the statement is not only true, but that I have also good grounds now for being sure of it, i.e. that my present belief amounts to knowledge in virtue of its credibility. On this point, according to Stigen, Ayer offers no satisfactory solution. (shrink)

Objective: The field of clinical ethics is relatively new and expanding. Best practices in clinical ethics against which one can benchmark performance have not been clearly articulated. The first step in developing benchmarks of clinical ethics services is to identify and understand current practices.Design and setting: Using a retrospective case study approach, the structure, activities, and resources of nine clinical ethics services in a large metropolitan centre are described, compared, and contrasted.Results: The data yielded a unique and detailed account of (...) the nature and scope of clinical ethics services across a spectrum of facilities. General themes emerged in four areas—variability, visibility, accountability, and complexity. There was a high degree of variability in the structures, activities, and resources across the clinical ethics services. Increasing visibility was identified as a significant challenge within organisations and externally. Although each service had a formal system for maintaining accountability and measuring performance, differences in the type, frequency, and content of reporting impacted service delivery. One of the most salient findings was the complexity inherent in the provision of clinical ethics services, which requires of clinical ethicists a broad and varied skill set and knowledge base. Benchmarks including the average number of consults/ethicist per year and the hospital beds/ethicist ratio are presented.Conclusion: The findings will be of interest to clinical ethicists locally, nationally, and internationally as they provide a preliminary framework from which further benchmarking measures and best practices in clinical ethics can be identified, developed, and evaluated. (shrink)

When academic research in any branch of science reaches a certain number in terms of quantity, analyzes are made on these studies. Thanks to these analyses, it is visible with a panoramic view in which direction field research is expanding and in which direction the trend of scientific interest is moving. In this respect, such analyzes also provide some suggestions to the younger generation of researchers. One of the most emphasized names in Turkish academia is Said Nursi. It is seen (...) that many academics, especially in various departments of theology faculties, have written articles specifically about Nursi. Apparently, intellectual interest in Nursi and his works will continue at a certain level. This study aims to conduct a descriptive analysis of these academic articles. Articles written about Nursi; authors, number of authors, year and journal published, subjects, etc. It was analyzed according to the parameters. As a method, quantitative data of 210 articles obtained from the scanning of Isam and Dergipark databases with certain keywords were interpreted. In this regard, a mixed method was applied in the research. As a result, it was observed that articles on Nursi peaked in terms of quantity in 2016 and 2017, there was only one researcher with a large number of articles specializing in Nursi, the authors adopted a descriptive method far from being critical about Nursi, very few articles were published in theology faculty journals compared to the total number of publications and most importantly, the publications were quite clearly concentrated in a few journals. (shrink)

Mozambique has seen remarkable growth in biomedical research over the last decade. To meet a growing need, the National Committee for Bioethics in Health of Mozambique encouraged the development of ethical review processes at institutions that regularly conduct medical and social science research. In 2012, the Faculty of Medicine of University Eduardo Mondlane and the Maputo Central Hospital established a joint Institutional Committee on Bioethics for Health. This study examines the experience of the first 4 years of the CIBS FM (...) & MCH. This study provides a descriptive, retrospective analysis of research protocols submitted to and approved by the CIBS FM & MCH between March 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016, together with an analysis of the Committee’s respective reviews and actions. A total of 356 protocols were submitted for review during the period under analysis, with 309 protocols approved. Sixty-four percent were submitted by students, faculty, and researchers from UEM, mainly related to Master’s degree research. Descriptive cross-sectional studies were the most frequently reviewed research. The majority were prospective and used quantitative methodologies. The Departments of Internal Medicine at MCH and Community Health at the FM submitted the most protocols from their respective institutions, with 38 and 53% respectively. The CIBS’s average time to final approval for all protocols was 56 days, rising to 161 for the 40 protocols that required subsequent national-level review by the CNBS. Our results show that over its first 4 years, the CIBS FM & MCH has been successful in managing a constant demand for protocol review and that several broad quality improvement initiatives, such as investigator mentoring and an electronic protocol submission platform have improved efficiency in the review process and the overall quality of the protocols submitted. Beyond Maputo, long-term investments in training and ethical capacity building for CIBS across the country continue to be needed, as Mozambique develops greater capacity for research and makes progress toward improving the health of all its citizens. (shrink)

This is an analysis of the shift in educational emphasis at the first state supported Black institution of higher education in Louisiana during its first three decades. The national emphasis on Agricultural and Mechanical training with the expanded Morrill Act of 1890 was embraced by the University. Thus it qualified and received the Land Grant funding and developed a progressive, well-attended program in Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. This article closely reviews and describes its inner workings, facilities, curriculum, and funding.

Employing Constructive Type Theory Constructive Type Theory, we provide a logical analysis of[aut]Ibn SīnāIbn Sīnā’sIbn Sīnā descriptional propositions. Compared to its rivals, our analysis is more faithful to the grammatical subject-predicate structure of propositions and can better reflect the morphological features of the verbs that extend time to intervals. We also study briefly the logical structure of some fallacious inferences that are discussed by Ibn Sīnā. The CTT-framework makes the fallacious nature of these inferences apparent.

A three dimensional hypercube representing all of the 4,096 dyadic computations in a standard bivalent system has been created. It has been constructed from the 16 functions arrayed in a table of functional completeness that can compute a dyadic relationship. Each component of the dyad is an operator as well as a function, such as “implication” being a result, as well as an operation. Every function in the hypercube has been color keyed to enhance the display of emerging patterns. At (...) the minimum, the hypercube is a “multiplication table” of dyadic computations and produces values in a way that shortens the time to do operations that normally would take longer using conventional truth table methods. It also can serve as a theorem prover and creator. With the hypercube comes a deductive system without the need for axioms. The main significance of the 3-D hypercube at this point is that it is the most fundamental way of displaying all dyadic computations in binary space, thus serving as a way of normalizing the rendition of uninterpreted, or raw, binary space. The hypercube is a dimensionless entity, a standard by which in binary spaces can be measured and classified, analogous to a meter stick. (shrink)

The event of the pandemic that started in 2020 fed an affective phenomenon known as pandemic fatigue, medically near to “chronic fatigue syndrome”. Psychologi- cal explanation of the phenomenon provides a first approach that is enriched with phenomenological description and analysis of it as existential feeling in the present. This term stresses the bodily reference of the kind of existential moods displayed by Heidegger and contributes to a better description of the fatigue phenomenon relying on Levinas’ study. Present and (...) profound fatigue is therefore shown as a feeling of tiredness that ties existence to a no-being-possible or no-being-able for oneself to do what it was possible before, i.e. in the pre-pandemic past. Besides the description, phenomenological analysis of the bond between profound boredom —as studied by Heidegger— and pandemic existential fatigue stresses different levels in the ontological understanding of this last one and its harmful feature. (shrink)

I. Descriptions in Predicative Position The predicative analysis and Russell’s theory part company when it comes to the argument structure assigned to sentences like (1). (1) Washington is the greatest French soldier. On a standard Russellian analysis, (1) has the following (a) logical form and (b) truth conditions.

This paper contains an attempt at constructing a semantic framework for the field of health enhancement. The latter is here conceived as an extremely general category covering the whole area of health care and health promotion. With this framework as a basis I attempt to define the place of medicine within the enterprise of health enhancement. I finally indicate some normative issues for the future, in particular problems and possible developments for medicine as a species of health enhancement.

The German packaging ordinance is an example of legislated extended producer responsibility (also known as product take-back). Consumers can leave packaging with retailers, and packagers are required to pay for their recycling and disposal. It can be considered to be successful in reducing waste, spurring the redesign of packaging to be more environmentally sustainable, and increasing refilling and recycling. The exception is waste packaging made of plastics, which faces the problems of export due to lack of markets for recycled products (...) within Germany, the lack of capacity for recycling, the allowance for energy recovery within the ordinance, and the manufacturers’ focus on back-to-feedstock rather than back-to-plastics as a solution. This article looks at the ordinance and its effects to consider why this take-back program worked better than others. (shrink)

A clarification of the role of the existential quantifier in russell's controversial 14.02. how should the existential quantifier be read? the starting point of the argument is one of the issues covered by woods. a look at russell's methods of deriving propositions from functions is a necessary preliminary. the first method involves substituting constants for variables, but the second involves the use of quantifiers. for russell's analysis of definite descriptions, it is preferable to read the existential quantifier as 'is (...) sometimes true' because this reveals the way in which 14.02 was intended to be a definition of 'exists' and also makes explicit russell's crucial use of functions in dispensing with definite descriptions as subjects of propositions. (shrink)

This article proposes using structural description for graphical objects to solve an urgent task of trajectory analysis. A range of modern trajectory analysis approaches were analyzed and the best that is based on Graph Convolutional Neural Networks and Suffix Tree Clustering algorithm was chosen. Descripted ways to reduce computational sources for this neural network approach. This neural network was adapted to analyze structural description and advantages of this approach are shown.

Scholars increasingly point toward schools as meaningful contexts in which to provide psychosocial care for refugee children. Collaborative mental health care in school forms a particular practice of school-based mental health care provision. Developed in Canada and inspired by systemic intervention approaches, collaborative mental health care in schools involves the formation of an interdisciplinary care network, in which mental health care providers and school partners collaborate with each other and the refugee family in a joint assessment of child development and (...) mental health, as well as joint intervention planning and provision. It aims to move away from an individual perspective on refugee children’s development, toward an engagement with refugee families’ perspectives on their migration histories, cultural background and social condition in shaping assessment and intervention, as such fostering refugee empowerment, equality, and participation in the host society. Relating to the first stage of van Yperen’s four-stage model for establishing evidence-based youth care, this article aims to engage in an initial exploration of the effectiveness of a developing school-based collaborative mental health care practice in Leuven, Belgium. First, we propose a detailed description, co-developed through reflection on case documents, written process reflections, intervision, an initial identification of intervention themes, and articulating interconnections with scholarly literature on transcultural and systemic refugee trauma care. Second, we engage in an in-depth exploration of processes and working mechanisms, obtained through co-constructed clinical case analysis of case work collected through our practice in schools in Leuven, Belgium. Our descriptive analysis indicates the role of central processes that may operate as working mechanisms in school-based collaborative mental health care and points to how collaborative mental health care may mobilize the school and the family-school interaction as a vehicle of restoring safety and stability in the aftermath of cumulative traumatization. Our analysis furthermore forms an important starting point for reflections on future research opportunities, and central clinical dynamics touching upon power disparities and low-threshold access to mental health care for refugee families. (shrink)

Husserl and Frege on the analysis of the concept of number and primitive logical concepts.

The article considers possibility of applying the concept of descriptive metaphysics to the project of Kant's transcendental philosophy. According to analytical philosophy, descriptive metaphysics is the description of structures of thinking about the world. The basis for describing acts of thinking about the world from Kant's point of view is the description of forms of intuition. Transcendental (descriptive) analysis of understanding must be preceded by transcendental (descriptive) aesthetics as an investigation of pure intuitions of space (...) and time. Phenomenon of time is considered as a condition for determining the concepts "judgment", "category of understanding", "pure understanding" and "object of knowledge". (shrink)

Heritage values are basic in conservation, nevertheless there is not a methodology to analyze their variation over time and how it has affected the conservation of heritage assets. Therefore, a methodology that allows us to determine their variation in written descriptions about a specific heritage site was needed. In this article we have addressed the concept of heritage values and stressed their importance and their variability over time, but also analyzed different methods from the field of linguistics that would better (...) adapt to determine heritage values variation and their application in the heritage field. (shrink)

In this paper, I will describe how Brentano was able to integrate descriptive philosophy and logical analysis fruitfully by pointing out Brentano’s concept of philosophy as a rigorous science. First I will clarify how Brentano attempted to turn philosophy into a rigorous descriptive science by applying scientific methods to philosophical questions. After spelling out the implications of such a descriptive understanding of philosophy, I will contrast this descriptive view of philosophy with a semantic-analytic understanding of (...) philosophy as proposed by Frege. After having thus set the stage I will argue that the current separation of philosophy into the seemingly antithetical strands of phenomenology and analytic philosophy may be seen as a consequence of how the term ‘rigorous science’ in ‘philosophy as a rigorous science’ is interpreted: Does a rigorous science grasp its object with as much exactitude as possible? Or is a science rigorous when its theories are expressed unambiguously, and their implications are drawn with precision? In the course of this investigation I will also point out how Brentano’s integrative use of descriptive philosophy and analysis can provide a suitable starting point for an equally successful integration of these methods in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

This paper distinguishes between five different approaches to social discount rates in climate change economics, criticizes two of these, and explains how the other three are to some degree mutually compatible. It aims to shed some new light on a longstanding debate in climate change economics between so-called “descriptivists” and “prescriptivists” about social discounting. The ultimate goal is to offer a sketch of the conceptual landscape that makes visible some important facets of the debate that very often go unacknowledged.

A sentence containing a number of definite descriptions, each lying within the scope of its predecessor, is naturally read as asserting the uniqueness of a sequence of objects satisfying the descriptions. The project of providing a general uniform procedure for eliminating embedded definite descriptions that gets this and other logical forms right is impeded by several puzzles.

This article reconsiders Kripke’s ( 1977 , in: French, Uehling & Wettstein (eds) Contemporary perspectives in the philosophy of language, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis) pragmatic, univocal account of the attributive-referential distinction in terms of a metalinguistic apparatus consisting of semantic reference and speaker reference. It is argued that Kripke’s strongest methodological argument supporting the pragmatic account, the parallel applicability of the apparatus to both names and definite descriptions, is successful only if descriptions are treated as designators in both attributive (...) and referential uses. It is not successful if descriptions are treated à la Russell, contrary to what is often assumed. Thus a third theoretical option for the semantic analysis of definite descriptions arises, neglected by both supporters and opponents of Russell: a univocal, referentialist analysis of descriptions in conjunction with a pragmatic account of the attributive-referential distinction. Contrary to Kripke, and to much of the literature, it is noted that not all so-called referential uses involve implicatures. In the course of the argument Kripke’s innovative apparatus is subjected to improvements and fine-tunings. Also, some general critical comments are made about analogical reasoning, on which Kripke’s argument is partly based. This leads to a clarification of the fundamental notion of speaker reference. The paper concludes with reflections on the challenge to and need of systematic empirical evidence in this field, a desideratum noted by Kripke and still not met. (shrink)

IN this note I propose to make some general remarks concerning the analytical forays carried out into moral discourse by some leading figures in the modern ‘linguistic’ tradition. The philosophers I am going to speak of, may all be said to be attempting some sort of ‘descriptive’ analysis, but my thesis is that philosophers such as Toulmin and Baier are attempting something that is significantly different from what a philosopher such as Nowell-Smith is attempting. I will suggest, in (...) the following section, that the expression—‘the logic of moral discourse’—seems to be understood by these two groups of linguistic philosophers in two different ways and that one of these ways involves a more ambitious claim, than does the other, on behalf of the philosopher embarking upon a conceptual analysis of moral discourse. The manner in which, it seems to me, Toulmin and Baier understand this expression is the one that involves the more ambitious claim. In the final section of this paper I suggest that the more ambitious claim involves overloading the so-called Linguistic method to force it do a job that it seems at least not suited to perform. (shrink)