Does the board of directors influence cost of debt financing? This study of a sample of Spanish listed companies during the period 2004-2007 provides some evidence about the question. The results suggest that two board attributes - director ownership and board activity - appear to influence in the risk assessment of debtholders because of their ability to reduce agency cost and information asymmetry. We also find a non-linear relationship between board size and cost of debt, suggesting that from certain levels (...) the benefits of large boards may be outweighed by the cost of poorer communication and increased decision-making time. (shrink)

La autora se pregunta por la medida en que los problemas que se identificaban como actuales en el primer número de Derechos y Libertades se mantienen como desafíos al discurso de los derechos humanos. La conclusión a la que llega es que todavía hoy es necesario discutir sobre la universalidad, la participación,las desigualdades, la degradación de los derechos sociales, el papel de los derechos en las relaciones internacionales y el medio ambiente. Además, a los anteriores, se suman la amenaza del (...) terrorismo y la respuesta a esta amenaza, así como el auge de los populismos de extrema derecha, y el impacto de la revolución tecnológica.En la actualidad, un contexto marcado por el Antropoceno, el cambio climático y el impacto de las nuevas tecnologías convierte en perentorio el discurso de los derechos y, sobre todo, la extensión de este más allá de los entornos académicos a través de la educación en derechos. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to examine how and when employees' attributions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) affect their extra-role service behaviors. The research analyses the mediating role of work meaningfulness in the employees' CSR attributions–extra-role behaviors relationships. The moderating role of employees' attitudes toward CSR in both the relationships between CSR attributions and work meaningfulness and in the mediated relationship is also studied. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 204 frontline employees of four- and five-star hotels (...) in Spain using structural equations and the PROCESS macro. The results indicate that only substantive CSR attributions positively influenced employees' extra-role service behaviors and that the relationship occurs through the work meaningfulness experienced by employees. While substantive CSR attributions boosted work meaningfulness and subsequent extra-role service behavior regardless of personal attitudes toward CSR, the link between symbolic CSR attributions and work meaningfulness as well as the mediated relationship with extra-role service behaviors were found to be moderated by employees' personal attitudes toward CSR. When employees had lower personal attitudes toward CSR, symbolic CSR attributions positively affected work meaningfulness and extra-role service behavior; when attitudes toward CSR were higher, the relationships were not significant. Interesting theoretical contributions and practical insights follow from these findings. (shrink)

Background: Concern has been growing in the academic literature and popular media about the licensing, introduction and adoption of surgical devices before full effectiveness and safety evidence is available to inform clinical practice. Our research will seek empirical survey evidence about the roles, responsibilities, and information and policy needs of the key stakeholders in the introduction into clinical practice of new surgical devices for pelvic floor surgery, in terms of the underlying ethical principals involved in the economic decision-making process, using (...) the example of pelvic floor procedures.Methods/DesignOur study involves three linked case studies using, as examples, selected pelvic floor surgery devices representing Health Canada device safety risk classes: low, medium and high risk. Data collection will focus on stakeholder roles and responsibilities, information and policy needs, and perceptions of those of other key stakeholders, in seeking and using evidence about new surgical devices when licensing and adopting them into practice. For each class of device, interviews will be used to seek the opinions of stakeholders. The following stakeholders and ethical and economic principles provide the theoretical framework for the study:Stakeholders - federal regulatory body, device manufacturers, clinicians, patients, health care institutions, provincial health departments, and professional societies. Clinical settings in two centres (in different provinces) will be included.Ethics - beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice.Economics - scarcity of resources, choices, opportunity costs.For each class of device, responses will be analysed to compare and contrast between stakeholders. Applied ethics and economic theory, analysis and critical interpretation will be used to further illuminate the case study material.DiscussionThe significance of our research in this new area of ethics will lie in providing recommendations for regulatory bodies, device manufacturers, clinicians, health care institutions, policy makers and professional societies, to ensure surgical patients receive sufficient information before providing consent for pelvic floor surgery. In addition, we shall provide a wealth of information for future study in other areas of surgery and clinical management, and provide suggestions for changes to health policy. (shrink)

This article presents a description and a critical reflection of some methodological issues involved in a number of participative planning projects that have been carried out in several cities and/or communities in Mexico and other Latin-American countries since 1994. The projects involved the design of regional development plans based on a vision shared by the corresponding communities. The projects include the participation of a large number of people, representing the various sectors of the populations concerned as well as the leading (...) opinion groups of those communities. The methodological approach of the projects is based on prospective and participative planning techniques. (shrink)

In the present work we explore the effects that an H impurity produces upon the geometry and electronic structure of the CaTiO 3 crystal considering the cubic and orthorhombic crystallographic lattices of the material. A quantum-chemical method based on the Hartree-Fock formalism and the periodic large-unit-cell model is used throughout the work. The analysis of the results shows that the interstitial H impurity binds to one of the O atoms forming the so-called O-H group. At equilibrium, the O-H distances are (...) found to be equal to 0.89 and 1.04 Å for cubic and orthorhombic lattices respectively. Atomic displacements and relaxation energies are analysed comparing the obtained results in the cubic lattice with those in the orthorhombic lattice. In the cubic phase the computed relaxation energy of vicinity of the O-H group is found to be equal to 1.1 eV and the atomic displacements generally obey the Coulomb law. So, the negatively charged O atoms move outwards from the defective region by about 0.09 Å while the positively charged Ti and Ca atoms move towards the defective region by about 0.05 and 0.01 Å respectively. A similar effect is observed in the orthorhombic lattice of CaTiO 3 doped with an H atom. It is necessary to mention that different O positions in the orthorhombic structure are considered for the O-H bond creation. The computed relaxation energies of the atomic displacements in this structure are found to be equal to 2.3 and 2.1 eV depending on the crystallographic type of the bonding O atom. (shrink)

The tenascins are a growing family of extracellular matrix proteins of typical multidomain structure. The prototype to be discovered was tenascin‐C. It shows a highly regulated expression pattern during embryonic development and is often transiently associated with morphogenetic tissue interactions during organogenesis. In the adult organism reexpression of tenascin‐C occurs in tumors and many other pathological conditions. Tenascin‐C expression can be regulated by many different growth factors and hormones. Furthermore, mechanical strain exerted by fibroblasts seems to induce the expression of (...) tenascin‐C. This could represent a mechanism of translating mechanical forces into protein patterns, a step of potential relevance in the organization of embryogenesis. Tenascin‐C as well as tenascin‐R are believed to counteract the cell adhesion and spreading activity of fibronectin, thereby facilitating cell movement. (shrink)

Thymidylate synthase plays a central role in the biosynthesis of thymidylate, an essential precursor for DNA biosynthesis. In addition to its role in catalysis and cellular metabolism, it is now appreciated that thymidylate synthase functons as an RNA binding protein. Specifically, thymidylate synthase binds with high affinity to its own mRNA, resulting in translational repression. An extensive series of experiments has been performed to elucidate the molecular elements underlying the interaction between thymidylate synthase and its own mRNA. In addition to (...) characterization of the underlying cis‐ and trans‐acting elements, recent studies have shown that thymidylate synthase has the capacity to bind specifically to other cellular RNA species. While the biological significance of these other RNA/thymidylate synthase interactions remains to be defined, this work suggests a potential role for TS in coordinately regulating several critical aspects of cellular metabolism. (shrink)

No. 93: PAPELES SEMÁNTICOS Estudio de los papeles semánticos a partir de un enfoque tipológico, intentando unificar las distintas propuestas y analizar en profundidad el significado y la utilidad de esta etiqueta.

RESUMEN. El presente trabajo trata de mostrar cómo algunos de los presupuestos teóricos de una concepción tradicional de los derechos, como el modo en el que operan la autonomía y la racionalidad y la forma en la que se articula la separación entre lo público y lo privado, han permitido que resulte fácilmente justificable que las corporaciones y, entre ellas, las empresas transnacionales, sean titulares de derechos humanos, pero también han operado como obstáculos para atribuirles obligaciones. Tales presupuestos han de (...) revisarse para que los derechos humanos sirvan efectivamente para proteger a los seres humanos y no tanto a las ‘personas’ en el sentido jurídico. ABSTRACT. This work is aimed to show how some of the theoretical premises of a traditional conception of rights (such as autonomy, rationality or the public/private separation) have allowed an easy justification of the human rights for corporations, and for transnational enterprises as corporations. However, these assumptions have also hampered the justification of human rights duties for these entities. These ideas should be reviewed to make human rights protect human beings over ‘legal persons’. (shrink)

Este artículo toma como punto de partida la colaboración artística entre Rainer Maria Rilke y Balthazar Klossowski –Balthus– que vio la luz en la publicación del libro titulado Mitsou. Historia de un gato, con ilustraciones del joven pintor y prólogo del poeta. Este caso de estudio sirve como hilo conductor de un análisis de mayor calado sobre el problema de lo “Abierto”, concepto de orden nouménico que Rilke acuña en su intercambio creativo con Balthus, y que fue motivo concreto de (...) reflexión por parte de Martin Heidegger. El presente trabajo pretende abordar las implicaciones de afinidad y enfrentamiento entre Rilke y Heidegger, y profundizar en la figura del gato como imagen metafórica de la animalidad presente en el develamiento que acontece en el Da-sein. Para ello será necesario considerar aportaciones teóricas clave de Ortega y Gasset y Schopenhauer, así como posturas críticas de Giorgio Agamben y Jacques Derrida, específicamente relevantes en este debate, que se inclinan hacia una ontología animal de la alétheia. (shrink)

Research on deviant organizational practices has demonstrated that normative and cognitive institutional forces contribute to making deviance acceptable. Data from a survey of 3,751 Chinese firms were applied to test the idea that a clearly articulated alternative identity is necessary if a firm is to resist the normalization of deviance. Widespread acceptance of delinquency in repaying loans was shown to make it more likely that a firm adopts that practice, but this normalization process is less likely for firms with a (...) stronger anti-deviance identity. (shrink)

Although gains in generational intelligence test scores have been widely demonstrated around the world, researchers still do not know what has caused them. The cognitive stimulation and nutritional hypotheses summarize the several diverse potential causes that have been considered. This article analyses data for a sample of 499 children tested in 1930 and one equivalent sample of 710 children tested 72 years later, the largest gap ever considered. Both samples comprised children aged between 7 and 11 who were assessed by (...) the Draw-a-Man test in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Further, one additional sample of 132 children was assessed in 2004 in a rural area very similar in several diverse factors to the 1930 urban sample. The results are consistent with both the cognitive stimulation and the nutritional hypotheses. (shrink)

Managing the relationship with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is a key capability for most companies, because dialogue with stakeholders is a requested feature of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This paper analyses the relationship between businesses and NGOs in Spain. By applying grounded theory, the authors summarize this relationship in the dynamics of conflict and cooperation. NGOs' strategies vis-à-vis companies are categorized and the variables explaining different approaches on both companies' and NGOs' side are examined. The paper concludes by placing the private (...) relationship with NGOs in a wider context (the public arena), dominated by the approach-withdrawal dynamics between firms and NGOs. Finally, this paper presents the theory that results from this research. (shrink)

By reading mainly Heidegger’s “What Is Metaphysics?,” the aim of this paper is to illuminate the ontological revelatory function of the nothing that occurs in anxiety. The two parts of this paper describe the same night of anxiety. While the first part shows this night from the point of view of the movement or sweep of anxiety, the second studies this same night from the point of view of the ontological revelatory role of the nothing and its negative logic of (...) disclosure. It is crucial for my analysis to keep apart two different meanings of the nothing. There is the nothing as being’s totally other (nihil negativum), on the one hand, and the nothing as Being, on the other. While with this second meaning one dwells in the realm of the ontological, it is the first meaning-which is the focus of this paper-that secures our access to it. Resumen Mediante la lectura principalmente del texto “¿Qué es metafísica?” de Heidegger, el objetivo de este artículo es iluminar la función reveladora ontológica de la nada que ocurre en la angustia. Las dos secciones de este artículo describen la misma noche de la angustia. Mientras que la primera sección muestra esta noche desde el punto de vista del movimiento o vaivén de la angustia, la segunda estudia esta misma noche desde el punto de vista del papel revelador ontológico de la nada y su lógica negativa de desvelamiento. Para nuestro análisis es crucial mantener separados dos sentidos distintos del concepto de nada: por un lado, está la nada como lo totalmente otro con respecto al ente (nihil negativum); y por el otro lado, la nada como Ser. Si bien con este segundo significado uno habita en el ámbito de lo ontológico, es el primer significado, el cual es el tema central de este artículo, el que asegura nuestro acceso a él. (shrink)

En el primer tercio del siglo XX, Carmen de Burgos realizó una notable tarea para lograr el conocimiento de la literatura extranjera en España y tradujo más de treinta obras de autores tan variados como Ruskin, Renan, Moebius, Salgari o Rachilde. Se ha elegido ordenar sus traducciones de acuerdo con las editoriales que las publicaron para distinguir la línea editorial de cada una de ellas.

Gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR, are being heralded as powerful new tools for delivering agricultural products and foods with a variety of beneficial traits quickly, easily, and cheaply. Proponents are concerned, however, about whether the public will accept the new technology and that excessive regulatory oversight could limit the technology’s potential. In this paper, we draw on the sociotechnical imaginaries literature to examine how proponents are imagining the potential benefits and risks of gene editing technologies within agriculture. We derive (...) our data from a content analysis of public comments submitted to the Food and Drug Administration’s 2017 docket titled “Genome Editing in New Plant Varieties Used for Food.” Our sample frame consists of 26 comments representing 30 agriculture and biotech companies, organizations, and trade associations. Our findings reveal three key sociotechnical imaginaries, including that gene editing technologies in agriculture: are not GMO but instead equivalent to traditional plant breeding; have the potential to usher in a new Green Revolution; and could facilitate the democratization of agricultural biotechnologies. We argue that forming and projecting these collective interpretations of the potential of gene editing technologies for crops and foods plays an important role in efforts by proponents to influence regulatory oversight, modes of governance, and build public acceptance. This research contributes to calls by science and technology studies scholars to investigate emergent concerns and imaginaries for novel technoscientific advances to help inform upstream models of public engagement and governance decisions. (shrink)

Drawing on stakeholder theory and the evolutionary approach to institutions, this paper investigates the channels through which corporate social responsibility (CSR) is developed in post-communist economies by focusing on the employee background factors that shape the employees' expectations with regard to corporate socially responsible behaviour. We identify three channels through which exogenous and endogenous CSR are developed: employees with work experience in multinational enterprises (MNEs) (leading to exogenous CSR), employees with CSR knowledge (leading to exogenous CSR) and employees with experience (...) of the socialist system (leading to endogenous CSR). Furthermore, we argue that the interactions between these channels lead to hybrid CSR in transition economies. We use a questionnaire-based survey with employees of domestic and MNEs in Romania and we conduct regression analysis. We find that employees with work experience in MNEs act as channels for exogenous CSR, while employees with experience of the socialist system act as channels for endogenous CSR. Furthermore, employees with experience of the socialist system and CSR knowledge or work experience in an MNE act as channels for hybrid CSR in transition economies. Based on our results, we put forward implications for theory, managers and policy makers. (shrink)

Este artículo describe tres usos del concepto de la nada. Primero, en el ámbito de la mística cristiana, analizamos el tratamiento que de esta categoría hace el monje dominico del siglo XIII Meister Eckhart; luego, dentro del ámbito filosófico-político, revisamos los usos que de esta noción hacen el filósofo de la liberación argentino Enrique Dussel y el poeta y teórico cultural norteamericano Fred Moten. Nuestra intención es investigar posibles influencias del empleo de la nada en la mística cristiana sobre el (...) ámbito filosófico-político. Postulamos que en los tres casos se da una dinámica de la nada que concluye con una inversión, en la cual se pasa desde la experiencia de la nada como defecto o privación hacia la nada como exceso, es decir, de lo sub-ontológico a lo trans-ontológico. Consideramos que estos tres usos de la nada están en función del rédito que esta inversión posibilita. (shrink)

The recently published book Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology 1 has had quite an impact on the ongoing debate about the existence of God.

This paper considers Cicero’s political and legal philosophy, focussing on the ciceronian concepts of republic, law and virtue, on which Cicero’s systematic construction of the State and the Right rests.

"La democracia neopopulista es incluyente de la plebe, de los de abajo", mientras que, en tiempos de globalización, la democracia liberal tiende a conformar "la fachada gestional de las políticas del gran capital internacional", sostiene Roberto Follari, pensando en el presente latinoamericano. Doct..

Sick and Blamed: Criminal Law in the Chilean Response to COVID-19 The Chilean government called upon ideas of social solidarity to fight the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 and it relied heavily on the criminal law in order to secure compliance with sanitary restrictions. However, because restrictions and prosecutorial policy did not take into account social background and people’s ability to comply with the law, prosecutions soon created groups of people who were being both over-exposed to disease and death, and over-exposed to (...) control, blame and punishment. The configuration of this overpoliced and underprotected group became so visibly unjust that appealing to social solidarity to justify the criminal enforcement of sanitary restrictions became almost insulting. This forced the Fiscal Nacional to develop a ‘socially sensitive’ prosecutorial strategy, something that we have not often seen despite Chile’s inequalities. The changes in policy by the Fiscal Nacional suggest that perhaps, at times, penal institutions can be made accountable for acting in ways that create estrangement rather than cohesion. (shrink)

El pensamiento ético de Averroes apenas ha sido estudiado y ello a pesar de que es el único filósofo islámico medieval del que se conserva un Comentario a la principal obra aristotélica sobre el tema, la Ética nicomáquea. El eje del presente trabajo es precisamente un nuevo análisis de ese Comentario a través de los conceptos de eudaimonía o felicidad, philía o amistad y tò díkaion o justicia.