Prior research has consistently established the pragmatic nature of literature regarding occupational injuries and accidental happenings faced by nursing professionals. However, current realities require a subjective approach to identify preventative measures that could influence occupational health and safety in healthcare sectors. A qualitative design followed a descriptive approach to assess unbiased opinions towards occupational obstructions that lead to accidental happenings. This study used the social capital framework in particular as a support resource to eliminate its detrimental effects on nurse's capacity (...) to serve their patients. The findings extended the fundamental understanding of social capital from social ties to workplace and personal ties as potential mechanisms of support. Healthcare organizations need to redefine their control policies to provide the ultimate support to their care agents. A social capital model offers nursing practitioners and nursing managers an approach for building evidence‐based policies with implications for nurse's safety, education and training. (shrink)

Given the dearth of research examining the distinctions across various facets of employee knowledge-hiding (KH) behaviors, there is little known about why and when leadership negatively influences playing dumb and evasive hiding but positively influences rationalized hiding. The present study fills this void by hypothesizing that employee justice orientation (JO) acts as a mediator of the associations of ethical leadership (EL) with different facets of employee KH behaviors. We also propose employee conscientiousness moderates the relationship of EL with JO and (...) the indirect relationships of ethical leadership with distinct variants of employee KH behaviors. The results based on time-lagged data from 387 employees provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Together, our research provides a more nuanced account of the influence of leadership on employee KH behaviors that can facilitate the development of more appropriate interventions to deal with the intricate problems related to employee KH behaviors. (shrink)

This study concerned validating academic integrity survey, a measure developed in 2010 to investigate academic integrity practices in a Malaysian university. It also examined the usefulness of the measure across gender and nationality of the participants. The sample size comprised 450 students selected via quota sampling technique. The findings supported the multidimensionality of academic dishonesty. Also, strong evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, and construct reliability were generated for the revised AIS. The testing of moderating effects yielded two outcomes. While (...) the gender invariant analysis produced evidence that the three-dimensional model was not moderated by gender; the nationality effect was inconclusive, probably due to a noticeable imbalance in respondent distribution for the nationality group. The significance of this study lies not only in the rigorous statistical methods deployed to validate the dimension and psychometric properties of the AIS; but establishing the gender invariance of the model. It is understood from the findings that although male and female students may vary in their academic misconducts, the underlying factors for these conducts are the same and can be addressed effectively using a non-discriminating approach. (shrink)

This study examined the influence of ethical leadership on knowledge sharing, the mediating role of psychological ownership, and the moderating effect of professional commitment between ethical leadership and knowledge sharing. Data were collected from 307 public listed Pakistani companies’ employees. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS Version 25 and AMOS version 22. The findings indicate a positive relationship between EL and KS behavior. Additionally, the impact of EL on KS was partially mediated by psychological ownership. Furthermore, professional commitment buffers (...) the link between EL and KS. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of leadership by confirming the role of ethics. The results show that ethical leaders develop employee attitudes that contribute to employee KS behavior. Ethical leaders create and encourage a learning culture to enhance organizational performance. This study adds to the little data on the positive impact of EL on listed company’s employees and addresses the gaps in previous studies on the role of EL in changing environments. In addition, professional commitment as a moderator has not been previously investigated with ethical leadership antecedents. (shrink)

This article provides an introduction to plagiarism and the numerous negative aspects associated with it. Some examples from history have also been provided along with their outcomes. There are different types of plagiarism with varying legal and social aspects. The taxonomy of plagiarism is built by classifying it, with respect to the method involved in plagiarism, the form in which it happens or the intention of the plagiarist. The strategies suggested in the literature to avoid plagiarism are organized into individual (...) and organizational levels. Individuals can adopt strategies to build habits of avoiding plagiarism and focus on their original and innovative way of thinking. Similarly, institutions can make policies to cope with plagiarism and hence maintain their reputation. In this paper, the focus is not on mentioning the plagiarism detection methods; rather we believe that building awareness in the people about plagiarism outcomes is more important than teaching them about the different methodologies used for detection. Some students avoid plagiarism detection as if playing a game and it can be only avoided by educating them in ethics. (shrink)

Background The world is urbanizing rapidly; more than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas, leading to significant transition in lifestyles and social behaviours globally. While offering many advantages, urban environments also concentrate health risks and introduce health hazards for the poor. In Bangladesh, although many public policies are directed towards equity and protecting people’s rights, these are not comprehensively and inclusively applied in ways that prioritize the health rights of citizens. The country is thus facing many issues (...) that raise moral and ethical concerns. Methods A narrative literature review was conducted between October 2016 and November 2017 on issues related to social justice, health, and human rights in urban Bangladesh. The key questions discussed here are: i) ethical dilemmas and inclusion of the urban poor to pursue social justice; and ii) the ethical obligations and moral responsibilities of the state and non-state sectors in serving Bangladesh’s urban poor. Using a Rawlsian theory of equality of opportunity to ensure social justice, we identified key health-related ethical issues in the country’s rapidly changing urban landscape, especially among the poor. Results We examined ethical dilemmas in Bangladesh’s health system through the rural–urban divide and the lack of coordination among implementing agencies. The unregulated profusion of the private sector and immoral practices of service providers result in high out-of-pocket expenditures for urban poor, leading to debt and further impoverishment. We also highlight policy and programmatic gaps, as well as entry points for safeguarding the right to health for Bangladeshi citizens. Conclusions The urban health system in Bangladesh needs a reform in which state and non-state actors should work together, understanding and acknowledging their moral responsibilities for improving the health of the urban poor by engaging multiple sectors. The social determinants of health should be taken into account when formulating policies and programs to achieve universal health coverage and ensure social justice for the urban poor in Bangladesh. (shrink)

In the area of machine learning, different techniques are used to train machines and perform different tasks like computer vision, data analysis, natural language processing, and speech recognition. Computer vision is one of the main branches where machine learning and deep learning techniques are being applied. Optical character recognition is the ability of a machine to recognize the character of a language. Pashto is one of the most ancient and historical languages of the world, spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. OCR (...) application has been developed for various cursive languages like Urdu, Chinese, and Japanese, but very little work is done for the recognition of the Pashto language. When it comes to handwritten character recognition, it becomes more difficult for OCR to recognize the characters as every handwritten character’s shape is influenced by the writer’s hand motion dynamics. The reason for the lack of research in Pashto handwritten character data as compared to other languages is because there is no benchmark dataset available for experimental purposes. This study focuses on the creation of such a dataset, and then for the evaluation purpose, a machine is trained to correctly recognize unseen Pashto handwritten characters. To achieve this objective, a dataset of 43000 images was created. Three Feed Forward Neural Network models with backpropagation algorithm using different Rectified Linear Unit layer configurations were trained and tested with this dataset. The simulation shows that Model 1 achieved accuracy up to 87.6% on unseen data while Model 2 achieved an accuracy of 81.60% and 3% accuracy, respectively. Similarly, loss was the lowest for Model 1 with 0.15 and 3.17 for training and testing, followed by Model 2 with 0.7 and 4.2 for training and testing, while Model 3 was the last with loss values of 6.4 and 3.69. The precision, recall, and f-measure values of Model 1 were better than those of both Model 2 and Model 3. Based on results, Model 1 is found to be the most efficient as compared to the other two models in terms of accuracy to recognize Pashto handwritten characters. (shrink)

In this paper, we presented antoher concept of neutrosophic open sets called neutrosophic semi-α-open sets and studied their fundamental poperties in neutrosophic topological spaces. We also present neutrospohic semi-α-interior and neutrosophic semi-α-closure and study some of their fundamental properties.

Önceki semavi kitapların tahrifi, Kur’an’ın mevsûkiyeti konusunda Müslümanları daha hassas davranma psikolojisine sevk etmiştir. Kur’an’ın Hz. Peygamber tarafından yazdırılması ve sahabeler tarafından ezberlenilmesi ve sonraki süreçlerde; korunması, doğru okunması, lafızlarının muhafazası ve Mushaf üzerine yapılan ve yine sahih okumaya yönelik tasarrufların hepsi önemli addedilmiştir. Kur’an’ın cem’i, istinsahı, noktalama ve harekeleme işlemleri, yaşanmakta olan sosyal, kültürel ve ilmî sürecin bir gereği olarak ihtiyaca mebni gayretler olduğu görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada, Kur’an’ın noktalanması ve harekelenmesi; tarihi seyri, sosyo-kültürel, ilmî ve siyasi saikleri ile ele (...) alınmıştır. Ayrıca ehl-i ilim olmayanların nakt ve i’cam olmadan Kur’an’ın okumasının imkânı meselesi örnekler vermek suretiyle değerlendirilmiş ve Dânî’nin bu konu üzerine yazmış olduğu başyapıtlardan sayılabilecek üç eseri bu bağlamda tanıtılmıştır. Bu araştırmada, Hz. Peygamber tarafından noktalama ve harekeleme yapılmadığı halde ümmet-i Muhammed’in böyle bir tasarrufa gitmesinin tahrif değil, Kur’an’ın doğru ve sahih/kolay okunmasına bir hizmet olduğu zımnen ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. (shrink)

Peaceful protests and strikes are a basic human right as stated in the United Nations’ universal declaration on human rights. But for doctors, their proximity to life and death and the social contract between a doctor and a patient are stated as the reasons why doctors are valued more than the ordinary beings. In Pakistan, strikes by doctors were carried out to protest against lack of service structure, security and low pay. This paper discusses the moral and ethical concerns pertaining (...) to the strikes by medical doctors in the context of Pakistan. The author has carefully tried to balance the discussion about moral repercussions of strikes on patients versus the circumstances of doctors working in public sector hospitals of a developing country that may lead to strikes. (shrink)

Young academics have been facing a problem of high turnover rate due to missing links between the institutions’ policies and the performance. This study explores the effect of job embeddedness and community embeddedness on creative work performance and intentions to leave of young teaching staff in academic institutions in Pakistan. In this study, 300 qualified young academics from public and private universities were selected as subjects and asked to complete a questionnaire. Data were collected via mail-survey. A variance-based structural equation (...) model is employed to measure the path model. The results show that the fit-dimension of organizational- and community-embeddedness, along with the moderating effect of organization size and the availability of nearby alternative jobs have a significant impact on improving perceived creative performance and reducing staff turnover intentions. This study suggests that organizations should focus on organizational-fit and community-fit constructs in their nurturing strategies to embed young teachers in their academic institutions. This study also suggests that monetary rewards only are relatively ineffective to improve retention. Hence, public and private sector universities should facilitate meaningful contributions from young teachers in creative work and provide opportunities for social interactions and personal development. (shrink)

Los gināns son un corpus de literatura religiosa ismailí del sur de Asia. Su temática es muy variada e incluye cuestiones como el amor divino, la cosmología, la meditación, la práctica ritual, la escatología y el comportamiento ético. La palabra ‘ginān’ deriva en última instancia de la raíz sánscrita ‘ŷñāna’ y está relacionada etimológicamente con la palabra griega ‘γνῶσις’, o ‘gnôsis’, que tiene derivados en muchas lenguas. Varios estudiosos han señalado el doble significado del término ‘ginān’ entre los ismailíes, ya (...) que se refiere tanto a su literatura sagrada como a la gnosis. Este estudio exhaustivo explora el significado y el uso de la palabra ‘ginān’ en la propia tradición ginān. Como la mayoría de los gināns se recitan en melodías particulares, este estudio de la tradición ginān se inspira en la organización de la sinfonía tradicional. Al igual que una sinfonía, composición extensa en la música clásica occidental, suele estar dividida en cuatro movimientos, este estudio de la Sinfonía de la Gnosis se compone de cuatro secciones, cada una de las cuales explora diferentes aspectos acerca de cómo se define la tradición ginān. (shrink)

In this research, we advance the behavioral ethics literature by explaining the underlying mechanism and conditions under which employee creativity relates to unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Grounded in the self-interest motivation perspective of UPB and drawing from self-enhancement theory, we propose that employee creativity fosters psychological entitlement, which, in turn, motivates UPB. Furthermore, we propose that symmetrical internal communication (SIC) acts as a key contextual factor that moderates the mediating effect of psychological entitlement in the creativity–UPB relationship. Results from two (...) field studies involving supervisor–employee dyads provide empirical support for our hypothesized model. Overall, our research not only contributes to the literature on UPB antecedents but also offers a novel counterproductive perspective on SIC. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and offer interesting directions for future research. (shrink)

This article discusses ethical guidelines from the viewpoint of the teachings of Islam and, although not ostensibly different, finds parallels in the manner in which ethics could be conceptualised in the context of research in education. It seeks an alignment between ethics from the perspective of being a professional engaged in educational research with a personal significance based on one’s belief, which takes a holistic notion of life. The aims of being ethical researchers seem to be shared in many ways: (...) protection, honesty and integrity. However, there is an added dimension of being accountable to God. The article first locates research within the wider context of Higher Education. Thereafter, to facilitate an understanding of ethics, as viewed from the framework of the Qur’ān, it proceeds to consider the ethical requirements of a university in the West Midlands, England, as a case study to examine the congruence, if any, with some of the ethical teachings of Islam. Based on the preliminary research, this article argues that Muslim researchers in education should be cognisant that their responsibilities are wider. Firstly, they are stewards meaning that the care and well-being of others comes first. Stewardship is both a Biblical and Qur’ānic concept meaning to be guardians. Secondly, by conducting their research in ethical ways, it will mean that they will be performing good deeds. These are meritorious actions rewarded by God. It also clarifies to supervisors and ethics review committees the key principles which might inform the thinking of some researchers from the Muslim community and how their motivations would be ethical. (shrink)

Synthesizing theories of ethical leadership, psychological climate, pro-environmental behavior, and gender, first, we proposed and tested a model linking supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior via green psychological climate. Then we tested the moderating effect of gender on the indirect (via green psychological environment) relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data were collected from 447 employees in various manufacturing and service sector firms operating in China. Data were (...) analyzed using structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and multi-group technique to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed a positive relationship between employee ratings of supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Moreover, green psychological climate mediates the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Importantly, the multi-group analysis revealed that gender moderates the indirect relationship (via green psychological climate) between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. The study carries useful practical implications for policymakers and managers concerned about environmental sustainability. (shrink)

This study examines the process of knowledge transfer between a pair of social enterprises, organizations that are embedded in competing social and economic logics. Drawing on a longitudinal case study of the interaction between social enterprises operating in emerging economy settings, it uncovers factors which influence the transfer of a social innovation from a dense, population-rich setting to one where beneficiaries are geographically dispersed and the costs of service delivery are correspondingly elevated. Evidence from the case study suggests that institutional (...) bricolage—the crafting of improvised solutions in resource-constrained settings—can serve as potent driving force in driving innovation transfer, and that this process of re-combining available resources may be facilitated by the extent to which the values between partner social enterprises are aligned. With such alignment, social enterprise partners may be able to increase trust, develop a smoother knowledge-transfer process, and find practical solutions which facilitate the transfer of life-enhancing social innovations to neglected rural settings. (shrink)

In this study, we examine the equity premium of seventeen nonfinancial sectors covering sample 306 firms using monthly data from January 2002 to December 2018. Two-stage least square method is applied to estimate the macro-based multifactor model. It is found that the market premium and the interest rate factors are significantly affecting the industry equity premium of all the nonfinancial sectors. However, there exists a positive effect of other macroeconomic variables such as money supply, foreign direct investment, and industrial production (...) which is different for the different sectors based on its nature of product and services they offered. The industries based on their product development which are linked to particular macroeconomic variables have more effect than others such as increase in money supply which cannot increase the sale of pharmaceutical products until needed. Similarly, an interesting insight reveals that industries producing seasonal goods, e.g., food producing, are not very much affected by macroeconomic variables but the change in seasons and similar results also revealed for tobacco industry. (shrink)

The relationship between psychology and mysticism has gained a great deal of currency over the years. Various psychological models have provided theoretical foundations allowing the researchers to grasp profound varieties and nuances in mystical experiences across cultures and religious traditions. This has, in fact, broadened the canvass for mystical studies. The current paper attempts to carry out a psychological analysis of mystical experience of a character named Kimya in Muriel Maufroy’s novel “Rumi’s Daughter”. The study carries out an analysis of (...) how the mystic’s experience of the Divine can be translated in terms of a psychological process of personality disintegration initiated by a conflict, deconstruction of preconceived notions and beliefs and ultimately leading towards secondary integration of personality. Kazimierz Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration is employed as a framework to analyse her spiritual encounter. Through a minute textual analysis of the novel, the research reveals certain parallels between the process of personality development and mystical experience. It confirms the contention that the culmination of mystical union underlies psychological wellbeing and serenity on the part of mystic. The study also shows that mystics are those rare individuals who are capable of reaching the final level of personality development characterised by self-autonomy and higher level of consciousness. (shrink)

The Good Regulator Theorem and the Internal Model Principle are sometimes cited as mathematical proofs that an agent needs an internal model of the world in order to have an optimal policy. However, these principles rely on a definition of “internal model" that is far too permissive, applying even to cases of systems that do not use an internal model. As a result, these principles do not provide evidence (let alone a proof) that internal models are necessary. The paper also (...) diagnoses what is missing in the GRT and IMP definitions of internal model, which is that models need to make predictions that represent variables in the target system (and these representations need to be usable by an agent so as to guide behavior). (shrink)

Many Muslims take the position that religious doubts constitute a serious problem for anyone who regards himself or herself as a Muslim, arguing that such a predicament may even result in apostasy. According to this position, the main problem with a Muslim who harbours religious doubts, a ‘Sceptical Muslim’, is that he or she is culpable for failing to respond appropriately to epistemic certainty about fundamental Islamic doctrine, primarily the existence of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad. I shall argue (...) that, contrary to what many Muslims have asserted, the position of the ‘Sceptical Muslim’ is a viable one in an Islamic context. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The discourse on honesty and dishonesty in academic work has seen considerable growth over the past two decades. This study empirically analyses the shifts in the literature over the past two decades in the research focus and most prolific authors, institutions, countries, and journals. A broad list of terms was employed from the Glossary of Academic Integrity to shortlist journal articles (n = 782) from Scopus. A bibliometric analysis was conducted for each decade and the results were compared. Research (...) outputs and number of clusters were over two-fold in the second compared to the first decade indicating an increase in volume and complexity. The study found a continued focus on plagiarism and academic misconduct research, though academic integrity and contract cheating emerged in the second decade. Shifts were evident in the output signifying a diversification of the research base and perspectives. Further research and action are needed to develop integrity as the broadest defense against dishonesty in all spheres of academia. (shrink)

How is the burden of proof to be distributed among individuals who are involved in resolving a particular issue? Under what conditions should the burden of proof be distributed unevenly? We distinguish attitudinal from dialectical burdens and argue that these questions should be answered differently, depending on which is in play. One has an attitudinal burden with respect to some proposition when one is required to possess sufficient evidence for it. One has a dialectical burden with respect to some proposition (...) when one is required to provide supporting arguments for it as part of a deliberative process. We show that the attitudinal burden with respect to certain propositions is unevenly distributed in some deliberative contexts, but in all of these contexts, establishing the degree of support for the proposition is merely a means to some other deliberative end, such as action guidance, or persuasion. By contrast, uneven distributions of the dialectical burden regularly further the aims of deliberation, even in contexts where the quest for truth is the sole deliberative aim, rather than merely a means to some different deliberative end. We argue that our distinction between these two burdens resolves puzzles about unevenness that have been raised in the literature. (shrink)

J.L. Schellenberg’s Argument from Divine Hiddenness maintains that if a perfectly loving God exists, then there is no non-resistant non-belief. Given that such nonbelief exists, however, it follows that there is no perfectly loving God. To support the conditional claim, Schellenberg presents conceptual and analogical considerations, which we subject to critical scrutiny. We also evaluate Schellenberg’s claim that the belief that God exists is logically necessary for entering into a relationship with the Divine. Finally, we turn to possible variants of (...) Schellenberg’s case, and argue that the modifications necessary to accommodate our criticismas leave those variants with much less of a sting than originally suggested by his provocative formulation. (shrink)

Bowel necrosis is a commonly observed condition in elderly patients with longstanding diabetes. In such condition, intestinal resection is usually performed for the removal of the gangrenous part. Post-surgical dietary management after bowel resection poses several challenges for the health care team. The case presented in this study is that of an elderly diabetic male who developed acute renal failure as a result of neglect in post-surgical feeding after intestinal resection. After the intervention by a trained dietitian, a transitional diet (...) was planned and successfully executed, resulting in reversal of acute renal failure, dehydration, and post-surgical stress. Several complications including hepatic dysfunction and mouth ulcers were resolved through well-planned transitional diet. The patient was finally discharged in a stable health condition and was regularly followed up for any nutritional or medical issues. Neglects in nutritional care of patients can have severe implications including development of medical complications, resulting in increased length of hospital stay, augmenting the disease stress of the patient and family, and finally the preventable drainage of several human and monetary resources. Therefore, recognition of nutritional intervention as an important part of in-hospital health care may have social as well as economic impacts. (shrink)

In this paper, I give an account and critique of what I call ‘Traditional Islamic Exclusivism’ – a specific Islamic interpretation of religious exclusivism. This Islamic version of religious exclusivism rests on exclusivist attitudes towards truth, epistemic justification and salvation. After giving an account of Traditional Islamic Exclusivism by explaining its theological roots in the Qur’an and ahadith, I proceed to critique it. I do so by arguing that Islamic epistemic exclusivism, which forms the main core of Traditional Islamic Exclusivism, (...) is implausible. This criticism subsequently opens up further lines of criticism and discussion of both salvific and alethic exclusivism in an Islamic context. I conclude with some remarks about the implications and significance of my criticisms of Traditional Islamic Exclusivism. (shrink)

In a previous work, I argue that traditional Islamic theism's understanding of the world, when juxtaposed with key facts of our world's religious diversity, is implausible. On this understanding, roughly, the truth of tawḥīd (Islamic monotheism) is universally evident, as is belief in its truth. Faithful Muslims act appropriately on knowledge of tawḥīd and are rewarded with heaven, whereas non-Muslims culpably refuse to do so and are eternally punished in hell. Such a view of the world, I argue, is not (...) borne out by empirical observation and philosophical reflection. In a recent article, Ayşenur Ünügür Tabur criticizes this argument, presenting a number of objections to it. In this rejoinder, I argue that her objections, which primarily consist of misstatements and irrelevancies, fail to refute my argument. Since traditional Islamic theism's understanding of the world includes the view that some people will be eternally punished in hell, Tabur augments her discussion of my argument by attempting to solve the Problem of Hell. In my rejoinder to Tabur, I further argue that her proffered solution to this problem is woefully inadequate. (shrink)

Building on the modified theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examined the underlying psychological motives for academic dishonesty in a sample of 250 undergraduates drawn from three selected Malaysian public universities. The results yielded additional supports for usefulness of modified TPB model in predicting academic misconduct. All components of the model exerted statistically significant effects on intention towards academic misconduct, and intention itself exerted a statistically significant impact on academic dishonesty. This suggests that students’ academic misconducts could be addressed (...) effectively if proper attention is given to the underpinning factors. Further, the findings revealed that the hypothesized relationships among variables of the modified model were all statistically significant. The uniqueness of this study lies in the large amount of variance (69 % and 75 %) explained by components of the model (in the prediction of intention and academic dishonesty respectively). These variances have rarely been accounted for in the previous studies. Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions advanced for future studies. (shrink)

In response to Pascal's famous wager argument for adopting Christian belief, Denis Diderot noted that ‘An Imam could just as well reason this way’. In this article, I will show how Diderot's observation about Pascal's argument can legitimately be made about Alvin Plantinga's Reformed Epistemology (RE) and its use in defending the rationality of Christian belief. Plantinga's RE can, with some minor adjustments, easily be adopted by Muslims. I shall argue that an Islamic analogue of Plantinga's Christian RE presents an (...) undercutting rationality defeater for Christian belief for those reflective Christians who adopt Plantinga-style religious epistemology. I call this defeater the ‘Diderot Objection’ to Plantinga's RE. As part of my discussion, I will consider how Plantinga attempts to respond to this sort of objection and will show why his response runs into difficulties. (shrink)

This cross-sectional study investigated the efficacy of an extended theory of planned behavior in predicting academic dishonesty among students of higher education. The participants comprised 328 undergraduates drawn from Nigerian and Malaysian public universities. Existing measures were adapted and validated using Cronbach’s alpha statistics and confirmatory factor analysis approach. The fit statistics of the extended model (χ2/df = 2.08, CFI =.926, and RMSEA =.057) were adequate. Findings revealed that academic dishonesty, especially cheating, was common in the sampled population. The key (...) psychological factors contributing to this problem were positive attitude towards the conducts, lack of strict sanctions against the conducts, and a perceived self-confidence of some students to cheat successfully. Another strong factor was the belief that intellectual material is “public property.” The modified model was not gender-bias, suggesting that the underpinning factors were similar irrespective of the gender-type of the students. Hence, a unified, non-gender discriminating approach will be effective in planned actions towards reversing the trend. (shrink)

Islam as a religion and a way of life guides millions of people around the world and has a significant impact on worldly affairs. To many Muslims, however, a philosophical understanding or assessment of Islamic belief is seen as a feeble and religiously inappropriate attempt to understand matters that are beyond rational comprehension. Islam: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation explores this issue in detail, by guiding readers through a careful study of the relationship between faith and reason in Islam. In particular, (...) it pays close attention to religious objections to philosophizing about Islam, arguments for and against Islamic belief, and the rationality of Islamic belief in light of contemporary philosophical issues, such as problems of religious diversity, evil and religious doubt. (shrink)

This paper investigates the process through which firms and non-profit organizations reconcile divergent worldviews in the development of firm–NPO partnerships. Drawing on data from two long-lived firm–NPO partnerships, this study suggests that the dynamics of reconciliation in situations of institutional complexity can be better understood by examining how firms and NPOs manage the interplay of both market and social logics in an inter-organizational context. We have found that during the initial stages of collaboration, partners manage differences by engaging in joint (...) pilot projects and by demonstrating management’s commitment to the partnerships. Subsequently, after firms and NPOs sign a formal partnership agreement, they seek to maintain a sustainable mode of interaction by adopting three distinct mechanisms for managing tensions arising from the partnership: negotiating activity scope, monitoring and learning, and modifying organizational practices. Our research findings contribute to the literature on cross-sector partnership and institutional complexity by highlighting the means by which organizations reduce tensions associated with divergent institutional logics and maintain successful partnerships. (shrink)

Khalafzai, Rida Usman; Hameed, Imran Obstetric fistula is the most devastating complication of parturition. The impact of this ailment extends beyond physical morbidity, with immense social repercussions for the women who suffer from it.

Traditional Islamic theism gives us a certain picture of the world, in which the concepts of belief, providence and eschatology are involved. According to the traditional picture, belief in God is a universal phenomenon. This is because God has providentially arranged the world in such a manner that the signs of God are everywhere and which lead to knowledge of His existence. And, because the world is ‘providentially unambiguous’, those who do not have faith in God are culpable for their (...) lack of it, and therefore deserve eternal punishment in hell. In this paper, I argue that this traditional picture is simply false, or at the very least seriously contestable. I also explore the implications of my argument for those who might be interested in assessing the viability of some form of (Islamic) ‘revisionary theism’, in which the concepts of belief, providence and eschatology feature. (shrink)

This study investigates the impact of economic uncertainty on information asymmetry and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) controversies within companies, while exploring the moderating role of digital integration. By analyzing a panel of 1303 companies across 20 European countries from 2016 to 2023, and employing the two-stage generalized method of moments (GMM) and two-stage least squares (2SLS) for robustness tests, the research reveals that economic uncertainty, as measured by the Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) index, exacerbates information asymmetry and heightens ESG (...) controversies. However, the adoption of digital technologies mitigates these adverse effects by enhancing transparency and reducing the likelihood of opportunistic behavior. Theoretically, this research contributes to the understanding of how digitalization can reinforce corporate governance and sustainability in uncertain times. Practically, the findings suggest that companies should accelerate their digitalization efforts to safeguard against the destabilizing effects of economic uncertainty, while bolstering their governance and social responsibility performance. (shrink)

This research drew on the authors’ long experience in the implementation of the “_Hikmah_ Pedagogy” which is based on the Philosophy for Children’s teaching method. Specifically, the study examined the influence of the pedagogy on the participants’ perceptions of and feelings about their thinking and reasoning skills. The sample comprised 188 Malaysian and international students from an international secondary school in Malaysia. This consisted of students in four Grade levels, ranging from Grades 7 to 10. An instrument named “_Hikmah_ Feedback (...) Survey - HFS” was employed for data collection. The findings were supportive of the positive influence of the pedagogy on students’ abilities to think and reason better after experiencing the programme. Furthermore, the participants demonstrated a considerable improvement in their cognitive and social-communicative skills, as evidenced in the scores obtained for the post-programme’s test. This affirms the fact that the _ḥikmah_ pedagogy is highly recommended in Malaysia’s march towards its Vision 2020 developmental goals. Implications of the study were discussed and suggestions were proposed to educators and stakeholders in secondary school education. (shrink)

Since its first delivery in 1993, J.L. Schellenberg’s atheistic argument from divine hiddenness keeps generating lively debate in various quarters in the philosophy of religion. Over time, the author has responded to many criticisms of his argument, both in its original evidentialist version and in its subsequent conceptualist version. One central problem that has gone undetected in these exchanges to date, we argue, is how Schellenberg’s explicit-recognition criterion for revelation contains discriminatory tendencies against mentally handicapped persons. Viewed from this angle, (...) our present critique imparts Schellenberg’s position with a philosophical dilemma: (1) endorsing divine discrimination to the effect that God does not love ‘cognitive-affective outsiders’ or (2) giving up on explicit recognition. Either way, the hiddenness argument does not succeed. (shrink)

In this article, I will examine Aristotle’s protreptic argument for the necessity of philosophy as it was deployed by Al-Kindi. I will show how a Muslim critic of philosophy, primarily one who is aligned with the theological outlook of Ibn Hanbal, can reasonably reject the protreptic argument as Al-Kindi presents it. The argument can, however, be reworked in a way to circumvent common criticisms of it presented by Hanbalī-style opponents of philosophy. Indeed, I will argue that, once the argument is (...) properly clarified with reference to what constitutes ‘philosophy’, its soundness is incontrovertible. In closing, I will briefly discuss why Muslim critics of philosophy need not see the protreptic argument as threatening, as the inevitability of philosophy does not necessitate a commitment to all sorts of philosophical positions, however problematic these may be for Islamic doctrine. (shrink)

U ovom ću članku razmotriti Aristotelov protreptički argument za nužnost filozofije kako ga je postavio Al-Kindi. Pokazat ću kako muslimanski kritičar filozofije, prvenstveno onaj koji je usklađen s teološkim stajalištima Ibn Hanbala, može s razlogom odbaciti protreptički argument kako ga predstavlja Al-Kindi. Međutim, argument se može preraditi na način da se zaobiđu uobičajene kritike koje iznose protivnici filozofije u stilu Hanbalīja. Dapače, tvrdit ću da je njegova ispravnost neupitna jednom kad se argument pravilno razjasni s obzirom na to kako se (...) treba shvatiti 'filozofiju'. Na kraju ću ukratko raspravljati o tome zašto muslimanski kritičari filozofije ne moraju smatrati protreptički argument problematičnim, budući da neizbježnost filozofije ne zahtijeva privrženost svim vrstama filozofskih pozicija, koliko god one bile problematične za islamsku doktrinu. (shrink)