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)

The increasing costs of healthcare delivery led to different political and administrative approaches trying to preserve the core values of the welfare state. This approach has well documented weaknesses namely with regard to healthcare rationing. The objective of this paper is to evaluate if independent healthcare regulation is an important tool with regard to the construction of fair processes for setting limits to healthcare. Methodologically the authors depart from Norman Daniels’ and James Sabin’s theory of accountability for reasonableness and try (...) to determine if new regulatory models—namely independent agencies—perform better with regard to the public disclosure of the reasons and rationales of healthcare rationing. In publicly financed healthcare systems independent regulation is an important tool to assure fair and reasonable procedures of prioritising services. In accordance with the principle of public accountability, independent regulatory agencies are particularly well suited to assure publicity of the decision-making processes, relevance of the rationale involved and particularly mechanisms for challenge and dispute resolution regarding limit setting decisions. It follows that independent healthcare regulation could be regarded not only as an instrument for performance improvement but also as a tool of social justice. The authors conclude by stating that accountability for reasonableness should be regarded as a landmark of any healthcare reform. And therefore regulators have the social task of assuring that the rationales for limit-setting decisions are clearly accessible to the public. (shrink)

The lack of economic sustainability of most healthcare systems and a higher demand for quality and safety has contributed to the development of regulation as a decisive factor for modernisation, innovation and competitiveness in the health sector. The aim of this paper is to determine the importance of the principle of public accountability in healthcare regulation, stressing the fact that sunshine regulation—as a direct and transparent control over health activities—is vital for an effective regulatory activity, for an appropriate supervision of (...) the different agents, to avoid quality shading problems and for healthy competition in this sector. Methodologically, the authors depart from Kieran Walshe’s regulatory theory that foresees healthcare regulation as an instrument of performance improvement and they articulate this theory with the different regulatory strategies. The authors conclude that sunshine regulation takes on a special relevance as, by promoting publicity of the performance indicators, it contributes directly and indirectly to an overall improvement of the healthcare services, namely in countries were citizens are more critical with regard to the overall performance of the system. Indeed, sunshine regulation contributes to the achievement of high levels of transparency, which are fundamental to overcoming some of the market failures that are inevitable in the transformation of a vertical and integrated public system into a decentralised network where entrepreneurialism appears to be the predominant culture. (shrink)

Changes in modern societies originate the perception that ethical behaviour is essential in organization’s practices especially in the way they deal with aspects such as human rights. These issues are usually under the umbrella of the concept of social responsibility. Recently the Report of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO on Social Responsibility and Health has addressed this concept of social responsibility in the context of health care delivery suggesting a new paradigm in hospital governance. The objective of this paper (...) is to address the issue of corporate social responsibility in health care, namely in the hospital setting, emphasising the special governance arrangements of such complex organisations and to evaluate if new models of hospital management (entrepreneurism) will need robust mechanisms of corporate governance to fulfil its social responsiveness. The scope of this responsible behaviour requires hospitals to fulfil its social and market objectives, in accordance to the law and general ethical standards. Social responsibility includes aspects like abstention of harm to the environment or the protection of the interests of all the stakeholders enrolled in the deliverance of health care. In conclusion, adequate corporate governance and corporate strategy are the gold standard of social responsibility. In a competitive market hospital governance will be optimised if the organization culture is reframed to meet stakeholders’ demands for unequivocal assurances on ethical behaviour. Health care organizations should abide to this new governance approach that is to create organisation value through performance, conformance and responsibility. (shrink)

In most western countries, there is a 'human organ shortage' with waiting lists for the performance of transplantation. In a recent report of the UNOS Ethics Committee it is stated that there are approximately 31,000 potential recipients on waiting lists, but only one fourth of potential donors give their specific consent. Xenotransplantation--defined as the transplantation of animal cells, tissues or organs into human beings--is associated with particular ethical dilemmas, namely the problems of efficiency and safety of this medical procedure. The (...) objective of this study is to analyse the ethical dilemmas in xenotransplantation with the background of a personal view of moral life. Also, xenotransplantation will be evaluated as far as the legal regulation of transplantation is concerned. In particular, we will consider patients rights in accordance with existing laws on organ and tissue transplantation, animal research and clinical trials. (shrink)

In all countries where health care access is considered a social right, regulation is both a tool of performance improvement as well as an instrument of social justice. Both social (equity in access) and economical (promoting competition) regulation are at stake due to the nature of the good itself. Different modalities of regulation do exist and usually new regulatory cycles include the creation of stronger regulatory agencies. Indeed, health care regulation is rising steadily in most developed countries as a consequence (...) of the introduction of the New Public Management perspective to provide essential public goods.Health care is delivered by different organisations with very different cultural backgrounds—public and private (profit and non-profit)—that should be accountable for their decisions. Control by regulatory agencies is instrumental to accomplish this goal. However, there is some dispute with regards the degree of regulatory autonomy. The objective of this paper is to determine if independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) are effective in carrying out health care regulation. The authors apply Walshe’s analytical framework to the Regulatory Authority of Health (Portugal) to answer the question if independent regulation works.In conclusion, the two year experience of the Regulatory Authority of Health is important not only because the primary goals of independent regulation were achieved but also because this authority is now a full partner in the health care sector. However, independent agencies need to develop strong mechanisms of accountability because good regulatory governance is the paradigm of this institutional innovation. (shrink)

In most western countries, there is a ‘human organ shortage’ with waiting lists for the performance of transplantation. In a recent report of the UNOS Ethics Committee it is stated that there are approximately 31,000 potential recipients on waiting lists, but only one fourth of potential donors gave their specific consent.Xenotransplantation – defined as the transplantation of animal cells, tissues or organs into human beings – is associated with particular ethical dilemmas, namely the problems of efficiency and safety of this (...) medical procedure. The objective of this study is to analyse the ethical dilemmas in xenotransplantation with the background of a personal view of moral life. Also, xenotransplantation will be evaluated as far as the legal regulation of transplantation is concerned. In particular, we will consider patients rights in accordance with existing laws on organ and tissue transplantation, animal research and clinical trials. (shrink)

Introduction: All countries face the issue of choice in healthcare. Allocation of healthcare resources is clearly associated with the concept of distributive justice and to the existence of a right to healthcare. Nevertheless, there is still the question of whether this right should include all types of healthcare services or if it should be limited to selected types. It follows that choices must be made, priorities must be set and that efficiency of healthcare services should be maximum.

The term sustainability has become one of the most significant in the current era. It seems to be ubiquitous amongst academics, politicians, business leaders, media personnel and even the general public. It is no exaggeration to state that it is considered all over the world to be the most pressing issue to be addressed for the long-term future of the planet and its inhabitants. The topic is of course complex, and the issue of sustainability is under much debate as to (...) what it actually is and how it can be achieved, but it is completely certain that the resources of the planet are fixed in quantity and, once used, cannot be reused except through being reused in one form or another. At present, much of the discourse of sustainability has focused upon the environment and in particular upon climate change and the effects that this is having. Thus, the discourse has tended to be about mitigation. Sustainability of course requires all three pillars of the triple bottom line—economic, environmental and social—to be addressed. Indeed, it might be considered that the effects upon the social, and how we choose to live our lives, might well be the most profound effect of achieving sustainability. This book therefore focuses upon some of the many aspects of the social and how we can adapt our lives to accommodate the requirements of sustainability. it therefore takes a very different approach to addressing the issues of sustainability, while of course not ignoring the other pillars. This book therefore sets out to examine various aspects of the changes to personal, corporate and institutional behaviour which may have to come about in our search for sustainability. It is tended to address some of the issues and how they are being dealt with in various parts of the world. As always, our concept is to share best practice and thereby enrich both the discourse and our progress towards sustainability. Thus, we focus upon the current situation while also considering the extent to which the focus is changing so much that we need to think about new approaches to our understanding of behaviour and differing effects in practice. The international origins of the contributors to this book make this an original contribution taking some of the best ideas from around the world. This book therefore addresses these issues from a perspective not generally addressed by researchers, or even by politicians and the press. It therefore provides fresh perspectives upon the important issue of our common future. As always, this approach is based on the tradition of the Social Responsibility Research Network srrnet.org (a worldwide body of scholars with membership of several thousand), which in its 20-year history has sought to broaden the discourse and to treat all research as inter-related and relevant to business. This tradition has always been to explore the subject widely and to seek relevant solutions, while also sharing best practice. This book is based primarily upon some of the contributions from the network at our recent conference and shows both commonality and diversity in approaches and effects. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This text reflects on the representativeness of the kinky hair (or afro-textured hair) as an element of racial belonging in children’s literature, based on the book Hair Love, by the African American director, producer, and writer Matthew A. Cherry. To do so, it investigates how the illustrations by Vashti Harrison, also an African American, align with the text to express a vision of black individuals and of their family without usual stereotypes. Drawing on bell hooks’ notion of love, this (...) analysis undertakes a reading that runs through both thematic and structural aspects of the narrative, hypothesizing that the book, without making direct allusions, serves as a counter-discourse to the racism that originated during slavery, the effects of which can still be felt today. From a theoretical perspective, in addition to hooks, this reading is grounded on a conceptual framework guided by the studies of Eliane Debus, Grada Kilomba and Nilma Lina Gomes. (shrink)

:This essay investigates the relationships among scripts, schemata, and social norms. The authors examine how social norms are triggered by particular schemata and are grounded in scripts. Just as schemata are embedded in a network, so too are social norms, and they can be primed through spreading activation. Moreover, the expectations that allow a social norm’s existence are inherently grounded in particular scripts and schemata. Using interventions that have targeted gender norms, open defecation, female genital cutting, and other collective issues (...) as examples, the authors argue that ignoring the cognitive underpinnings of a social norm can hamper the effectiveness of behavioral interventions. (shrink)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of communicative intention on action. In Experiment 1 participants were requested to reach towards an object, grasp it, and either simply lift it or lift it with the intent to communicate a meaning to a partner . Movement kinematics were recorded using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. The results indicate that kinematics was sensitive to communicative intention. Although the to-be-grasped object remained the same, movements performed for the ‘communicative’ condition (...) were characterized by a kinematic pattern which differed from those obtained for the ‘individual’ condition. These findings were confirmed in a subsequent experiment in which the communicative condition was compared to a control condition, in which the communicative exchange was prevented. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive pragmatics and current knowledge on how social behavior shapes action kinematics. (shrink)

Sumário. Apresentação. PARTE I. 1. O legado filosófico de P. F. Strawson, Itamar Luís Gelain e Jaimir Conte; 2 . Strawson e o caso dos metafísicos descritivos, Itamar Luís Gelain; 3. Metafísica e linguagem comum: sobre uma conturbada herança wittgensteiniana de Strawson, Jônadas Techio; 4. Strawson e Descartes, Albertinho Luiz Gallina; 5. Strawson: sobre Kant e Berkeley, Robert Calabria; 6. O empirismo pós-kantiano de Strawson, Wenceslao J. González; 7. Reabilitando Strawson, Marco Antonio Franciotti; 8. Strawson e o ceticismo em Individuals, (...) Plínio Junqueira Smith; 9. Strawson e a causação visível, João Paulo Monteiro; 10. A verdade dos fatos, Susana Badiola; 11. Estabelecer limites: implicações epistemológicas da lógica, Roberta Corvi; 12. Referência e termos singulares, Carlos E. Caorsi; 13. Strawson: da experiência possível para a ação possível, Márlon Henrique Teixeira; 14. Atitudes reativas e responsabilidade moral, Cristina de Moraes Nunes; 15. Strawson e Hume: uma comparação a propósito de “Moralidade social e ideal individual”, Amán Rosales Rodríguez; PARTE II. 16. Liberdade e ressentimento, P. F. Strawson. Tradução: Jaimir Conte; 17. Moralidade social e ideal individual, P. F. Strawson, Tradução: Jaimir Conte. Seleção bibliográfica. (shrink)

Coletânea de textos: 1.Idealismo transcendental, naturalismo e um pouco de história, Adriano Naves de Brito; 2. Ceticismo e a reconstrução de P.F. Strawson da dedução kantiana das categorias, Pedro Stepanenko; 3. Dedução Transcendental e Ceticismo, Marco Antonio Franciotti; 4. Strawson e Kant sobre a dualidade entre intuições e conceitos, Roberto Horácio de Sá Pereira; 5. Princípio de significatividade em Kant e Strawson, Cristina de Moraes Nunes; 6. Strawson e Kant sobre a Liberdade, Albertinho Luiz Gallina e Cecília Rearte (...) Terrosa; 7. Argumentos Transcendentais e Metafísica Descritiva em P. F. Strawson, Itamar Luís Gelain; 8. Breve consideração sobre o problema da tese da aprioridade do espaço e do tempo, Juan Adolfo Bonaccini; 9. Os novos fundamentos da metafísica estabelecidos por Kant, Peter F. Strawson, Trad. Jaimir Conte; 10. Imaginação e percepção, Peter F. Strawson, Trad. Ítalo Lins Lemos. (shrink)

This special issue brings to the attention of the scholarly community some of the common features and some of the subtle, but important, differences between Francis Bacon's and Giovan Battista Della Porta's ways of dealing with the reading, selecting, enacting, and recording of recipes. Focusing on questions of genre, intellectual and material context, strategies of research, and strategies of performing recipes, the four papers of this special issue address two major issues. First, they shed new light on the relationship between (...) Della Porta's Magia naturalis and Francis Bacon's Sylva sylvarum. Second, they show that in the recording of their experimental practices, Bacon and Della Porta depart from the traditional “recipe format” and discover new avenues of experimental research. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the biography of a passionate 20th century Romanian tourist who lived in Bucharest and travelled across Europe, bringing his (subjective) travel experiences of Western countries to private and public audiences curious about the unknown “abroad” during the 1980s. This case study is about the life and travel experiences of Vasile A. Marinescu, and deals with their visibility and interpretation during the communist era. The research is based on unpublished sources – (...) visual and audio sources, as well as manuscripts (between 1970 and 1980), interviews – and other already published archive materials. The research describes, in particular, how the West was perceived and presented in those semi-private shows, and how (and which of) those unofficial sources influenced the imagination of Romanians, aside the official propaganda. (shrink)

This article will contribute to a synthetic understanding of the factors that influence the subject’s experience with digital data, in the presence of a new kind of ‘materiality’ that is formed in the confluence of physical matter and Information and Communication Technologies that I call Material-ict. The aim is to offer society a critical and creative way to deal with the process in which the electronic and physical dimensions of reality merge and enhance the awareness of the paradigm change that (...) the Internet of Things is bringing to our experience. The article can contribute to the development of a new cognitive paradigm to challenge the current view that objects and environments are inanimate, and the shaping of a framework from which to reconsider interactions between people, social processes, things and environments in the society of knowledge. This framework offers insights into educative, technological developments and cultural programmes to integrate actants (actor–network theory) and citizens in the hybrid experience in which Internet, social processes and matter merge. The objective is to construct the first steps of an analysis framework to understand a few of the most important features that support the emergent model of representation that is impacting the subject’s experience with digital data. In order to construct this framework, this research is grounded in the intersection of art, media and experience. The main dimensions analysed in the article are (1) the merging of digital and analogue forms of experience; (2) new actors and forms of interaction; (3) forms of heterogeneous knowledge construction; (4) lively interfaces and animated environments; and (5) biotechnological convergence. The article will show how the outcome of this confluence is taking shape in different forms of (1) indexation, (2) simulation, (3) translation of matter into data and (4) ubiquitous hybrid networks (social+matter/nature). (shrink)

(2009). Transitions to democracy: the role of moral and citizenship education in Latin America. Journal of Moral Education: Vol. 38, Moral and Citizenship Education in Latin America: Towards Reconciliation, Community Development and Democracy, pp. 391-406.

This article examines the conditions of internet access and uses by children and young people from socially disadvantaged environments in Portugal. Adapting the EU Kids Online questionnaire, a sample of 279 participants in an intervention program on digital inclusion was interviewed in order to analyze their online experiences, bearing in mind the EU Kids Online results and the wider debate on digital inclusion. This issue was examined at two levels: access, and practices and uses. Although economic deprivation, parents’ low educational (...) attainment and children’s age and gender seem to matter in terms of access, reported uses were analogous to the average Portuguese and EU Kids Online data. However, with these children apparently being more oriented towards entertainment and having less informational skills, it is questionable if policies that merely assure access are entirely sufficient. Nevertheless, one cannot say straightforwardly that ‘social exclusion’ equates ‘digital exclusion’. (shrink)

El artículo tiene como objetivo fundamental presentar el concepto de repetición bajo tres aspectos. El primero es su ubicación en el contexto de la existencia individual; el segundo, su carácter de exigencia de búsqueda de la libertad; y, finalmente, la consideración de la repetición como acontecimiento de la existencia. El recorrido del artículo revela así el tránsito que se emprende desde la importancia de la figura del lector en su profunda soledad; lector de la vida, de la prueba, de la (...) circunstancia, de lo ineludible; hasta la revelación de la existencia revestida en un acto mimético. Este recorrido aparece evidenciado porque se pone de relieve la preocupación humana no sólo por la existencia, sino por el sentido que ella adquiere frente a la posibilidad del mal desde lo particular, desde lo individual. En este orden de ideas, tras un seguimiento del concepto de repetición se pretende hacer evidente un interés que puede llamarse interés existencial y por ello filosófico: volver la cara hacia el individuo. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar como se estabelecem os estudos do filósofo húngaro Georg Lukács sobre a origem do complexo da arte a partir das formas abstratas do reflexo estético da realidade, a saber: ritmo, simetria e proporção e ornamentística. Tais categorias configuram-se, conforme os estudos de Lukács, em princípios; em elementos estruturais da produção artística, os quais são diversos, orientados por funções as mais variadas e já bastante evoluídas e que, de forma excepcional, no caso da ornamentística, mantiveram (...) sua independência, ainda que não tenham garantido o mesmo grau de importância de tempos remotos. Trata-se de um estudo teórico-bibliográfico, apoiado em uma base onto-histórica. O filósofo húngaro considera a dificuldade de revelar a procedência do complexo da arte. Atentamos ao método, considerando que devemos partir do já esteticamente formado, procedendo a tempos remotos, numa relação dialética. Podemos então nos aproximar da origem quando entendemos o mais desenvolvido. Nossas considerações vão ao encontro da compreensão de que qualquer nível de atividade humana deve implicar o trabalho como categoria fundante, na relação de transformação da natureza e do próprio homem. A arte, portanto, tem sua gênese no trabalho e, enquanto complexo tardio no mundo dos homens, tem o seu desprendimento do solo cotidiano, alcançando um processo de autoconsciência humana. Nesse sentido, a relevância do estudo consiste em contribuir com o projeto coletivo para o entendimento do papel da atividade criadora-receptora no aprimoramento dos sentidos, abrindo possibilidades de elevadas expressões no processo de humanização, com vistas à superação da sociabilidade regida pelo capital. (shrink)

The development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of the best documented examples of contemporary biological evolution. Variability in the mechanisms of resistance depends on the diversity of genotypes in the huge bacterial populations, and also on the diversity of selective pressures that are produced along the antibiotic concentration gradients formed in the highly compartmentalized human body during therapy. These antibiotic gradients can be conceived as comprising selective compartments, each one of them defined as the concentration able to select (...) a particular genetic variant.In vitroexperimental models confirm that some antibiotic resistant variants are selected only at certain selective concentrations of antibiotics. The correspondence between selective compartments and selectable variants could offer a way of describing more accurately the antibiotic selective landscapes and for taking measures to prevent the development of a major threat to the future of modern medicine. (shrink)

Trata-se de abordar a concepção dworkiniana de dignidade humana a partir de sua obra Domínio da Vida. O intuito deste texto é delimitar conceitualmente sua concepção de dignidade humana para, posteriormente, analisar a importância dessa concepção para a solução de problemas de ordem prática, tais como o aborto e a eutanásia.

La realización de homenajes a figuras apreciadas del mundo académico impone el reto de seleccionar cuál sea el contenido de lo presentado en el evento para que éste se constituya en una auténtica muestra de reconocimiento de sus méritos.En ocasión de la mesa de homenaje a Gregorio Klimovsky, organizada por la Universidad Torcuato Di Tella a instancias de Guillermo Ranea, y convocada en el seno de las XX Jornadas de Epistemología e Historia de la Ciencia, el 26 de noviembre de (...) 2009, en La Falda (Córdoba), Alberto Moretti y Alejandro Cassini, plasmaron la mejor opción. Ambos eligieron analizar tesis filosóficas defendidas por el recordado y querido maestro, tanto en su obra como en las distintas ocasiones de diálogo que mantuvo con pares y discípulos. Se trató de la mejor elección porque de este modo no sólo ambos contribuyen a la difusión de las ideas de Klimovsky sino también, y con gran cuidado analítico, las conjugan con otras doctrinas presentes en el escenario filosófico contemporáneo, destacando así su actualidad y valía. (shrink)

PRINCÍPIO DA COMPLEMENTARIDADE RECURSAL APÓS DECISÃO DOS EMBARGOS DE DECLARAÇÃO: GARANTIA DO CONTRADITÓRIO EM OPOSIÇÃO À PRECLUSÃO CONSUMATIVA.

O presente artigo, resultado de pesquisa bibliográfica, tem como finalidade demonstrar o cinema como choque da realidade e como uma ferramenta filosófica, e não apenas como entretenimento, possibilitando a contribuição não linguística para o pensamento em detrimento à realidade. Por conseguinte, analisando as formas de poderes no âmbito social e escolar em uma relação de microfísica do poder difundida no processo educacional. Além de ressaltar a ambiguidade do papel da educação, onde a mesma pode ser ao mesmo tempo libertadora e (...) propagadora de ideologias, no olhar acrítico sobre sua realidade social e de alienação durante o processo de formação do sujeito. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el concepto de responsabilidad y los procesos para su institucionalización promovidos por las universidades jesuitas subrayando su singularidad y valor frente a otros modelos y estrategias de responsabilidad social universitaria. Ese enfoque de responsabilidad está cimentado en una noción de justicia pensada en términos globales y fundada en la solidaridad, que pone de manifiesto la insuficiencia del enfoque de la responsabilidad como obligación. Su énfasis lo dirige hacia una responsabilidad política compartida que aspira (...) a la transformación de las injusticias estructurales. Este es uno de los rasgos propios de la Identidad y Misión de las universidades jesuitas. En el artículo se identifican los contornos de esa propuesta de responsabilidad encarnada en el ámbito social y se examina su carácter diferenciador frente a otras propuestas impulsadas desde las universidades para definir su compromiso con el entorno. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta reflexões acerca das afinidades eletivas entre os Estudos Sociais da Ciência e a Bibliometria, a Cientometria, campos de estudo voltados, respectivamente, para a análise das práticas e dinâmicas das comunidades científicas e da avaliação da produção científica e tecnológica produzidas pelos cientistas no interior das áreas de conhecimento.