The aim of this study was to explore ethically problematic situations in the long-term nursing care of elderly people. It was assumed that greater awareness of ethical problems in caring for elderly people helps to ensure ethically high standards of nursing care. To obtain a broad perspective on the current situation, the data for this study were collected among elderly patients, their relatives and nurses in one long-term care institution in Finland. The patients (n=10) were interviewed, while the relatives (n=17) (...) and nurses (n=9) wrote an essay. Interpretation of the data was based on qualitative content analysis. Problematic experiences were divided into three categories concerning patients’ psychological, physical and social integrity. In the case of psychological integrity, the problems were seen as being related to treatment, self-determination and obtaining information; for physical integrity, they were related to physical abuse and lack of individualized care; and for social integrity, to loneliness and social isolation. This study provided no information on the prevalence of ethical problems. However, it is clear from the results that patient integrity warrants more attention in the nursing care of elderly patients. (shrink)

With a focus on hormone treatments, this article contributes to recent problematizations of the ontology of bodies, illnesses and medication. Hormone treatment is conventionally understood to comprise preparations like pills, patches or injections, and following from this understanding, the materiality of risk is perceived as potential adverse effects of pharmaceuticals within individual bodies. By discussing Finnish trans persons’ experiences of hormone treatments, and drawing from material feminisms and trans/feminist studies, this article rethinks what ‘hormone treatments’ and their risks materially entail. (...) Stressing the importance of accounting for the relationality of risks, the article suggests that hormone treatment risks can be seen as Baradian ‘phenomena’ that materialize contextually within specific ‘treatment apparatuses’ and the power relations that saturate them. This process of materialization includes the gendering of risks and how the gender binary itself may at times constitute a risk. (shrink)

This article focuses on religiousness and spirituality in the art works of psychiatric patients of Nikkilä Hospital, Finland. The pictures analysed here belong to a collection held at the Helsinki City Museum and they were made during the twentieth century. The theoretical frame of the study is a cultural study of mental health. The collection is approached as presenting a specific kind of imagery which has connections not only to the personal history and diagnoses of the patients; their cultural context (...) and hospital environment is also taken into account. The religiousness and spirituality of the Nikkilä collection are also compared with outsider art and examples of art history internationally. (shrink)

Bilinguals have been shown to perform worse than monolinguals in a variety of verbal tasks. This study investigated this bilingual verbal cost in a large-scale picture-naming study conducted in Spanish. We explored how individual characteristics of the participants and the linguistic properties of the words being spoken influence this performance cost. In particular, we focused on the contributions of lexical frequency and phonological similarity across translations. The naming performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals speaking in their dominant and non-dominant language was compared (...) to that of Spanish monolinguals. Single trial naming latencies were analyzed by means of linear mixed models accounting for individual effects at the participant and item level. While decreasing lexical frequency was shown to increase naming latencies in all groups, this variable by itself did not account for the bilingual cost. In turn, our results showed that the bilingual cost disappeared when naming words with high phonological similarity across translations. In short, our results show that frequency of use can play a role in the emergence of the bilingual cost, but that phonological similarity across translations should be regarded as one of the most important variables that determine the bilingual cost in speech production. Low phonological similarity across translations yields worse performance in bilinguals and promotes the bilingual cost in naming performance. The implications of our results for the effect of phonological similarity across translations within the bilingual speech production system are discussed. (shrink)

In this dissertation, I undertake a critical analysis of the conception of community at work in what is termed “identity-based politics.” Working with Hannah Arendt’s implicit argument about place and visibility, I develop a theory of recognition in order to rethink the nature of community. The ultimate aim of my project develops a recognitive politics, a two-tiered theory of recognition, which takes into account social identities as the condition of possibility for the free political action that so animated Arendt. If (...) we require a place to act freely, in other words, we are visible to one another in that place. My theory of recognition aims to illustrate that traditional philosophical accounts of self-disclosure in political action (including those of Hegel, Marx, and Arendt) do not aim to offer a pure political agency stripped of social identities. Such an understanding of the political as the self-disclosure of our unique identities is possible only if social identities are granted visibility and the possibility of being heard in the first place. Claims such as Arendt’s “right to have rights” consequently understate this vital condition of visibility. In turn, I argue that the condition of “artificial equality” arises from its spatial aspect. The link between visibility and the “right to have rights” is crucial in establishing the conditions of a non-violent and non-identity-based politics. On my view, ‘recognitive politics’ is based on epistemic responsibility in political judgment, which becomes a reflection of our responsibility to affirm plural human existence in the world. (shrink)

In Waartoe Wetenschap? onderzoekt Frans W. Saris de wetenschap in evolutionair perspectief en hij bepleit een radical enlightenment in een dertiental essays en een toneeltekst waarin zulke uiteenlopende wetenschappers verschijnen als ...

This essay is based on a double perspective provided by literary reading and philosophy for approaching the problem of evil through a critical analysis of certain texts and characters constructed and represented in them, particularly Kant’s theodicy essay and its most important pre-text, the Book of Job. This methodology yields a novel approach to the familiar issue of theodicy vs. anti-theodicy. Our methodology differs from the more standard ways of examining philosophical ideas expressed in literature. In the case discussed here, (...) the use of literary figures... (shrink)

Cancer care has transitioned from clinical-based to home-based care to support longterm care in a more familiar and comfortable environment. This care transition has put family caregivers (FCGs) in a strategic position as care providers. Cancer care at home involves psychological and emotional treatment at some point, making FCGs deal with the stress of cancer patients frequently. Due to their limited care competencies, they need supportive care from healthcare professionals in cancer stress management. This study aims to examine how types (...) of demanded healthcare information affect the FCG’s role in reducing the stress of female cancer patients. The mindsponge theory was used in conceptual development and interpretation. Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics were used for statistical analysis on a dataset of 48 spouses (husbands) and 12 other family members in five congested communities of Surabaya, Indonesia. Results showed that among the six types of healthcare information, FCGs with higher demand for cancer-specific information were more likely to need support in reducing the stress of female cancer patients. Meanwhile, FCGs with a higher demand for information about support services were less likely to need support to reduce cancer patients’ stress. Other types of healthcare information have ambiguous effects on the need for support in reducing cancer-induced stress. This study reveals that the demanded cancer-specific information, e.g., cancer prognosis or likely outcome, must be prioritized to assist FCG’s role in managing cancer stress. (shrink)

We argue that the pratyabhijñā system of Kaśmir Śaivism holds an inconsistent position. On the one hand, the Pratyabhijñā regards Śiva as an impersonal mechanism and the universe, including persons, as not having agency; call this the Impersonal Component. On the other hand, it considers Śiva himself as a person, and individual persons as having agency sufficient to respond to Śiva; call this the Personal Component. We maintain that the Personal Component should be affirmed and the Impersonal Component rejected. The (...) Impersonal Component’s claim that Śiva is unaware of and unaffected by his manifestation should be rejected, and the doctrine of satkāryavāda should be modified. The universe is Śiva’s manifestation, in the first instance, but it also has a relative autonomy from him. Moreover, humans have agency and freedom. Their actions effect Śiva. He grows and develops in response to his manifestation. (shrink)

This article analyses the discussion about the ‘new materialism’ or ‘material feminisms’ as an interplay between transdisciplinarity – moving beyond canons and disciplines – and affective interdisciplinary encounters. The previous discussion is taken in a slightly different direction, by arguing that a politics of materiality is at work in the debate, which is implied in affective interdisciplinary encounters. It is argued that despite the transdisciplinarity, the relations of natural science engagements to both social science and humanities feminisms are pivotal. Two (...) specific cases are analysed: the politics of definition, where ‘materiality’ tends to be equated with ‘natural science matters’, and the matter and politics of race. In the latter, race ‘sticks’ to the materiality of materialist feminism, which tends to be left out of the sphere of the presumably new and exciting material feminisms. (shrink)

This study aimed to describe and compare the views of nurses and older patients' relatives on factors restricting the maintenance of patient integrity in long-term care. The purposive sample comprised 222 nurses and 213 relatives of older patients in four Finnish long-term care institutions. The data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire addressing five sets of factors relating to patients, relatives, nurses, the organization and society. The maintenance of patient integrity was restricted by: (1) social factors, including lack of respect (...) for long-term geriatric care and lack of adequate resources; (2) patient factors relating to forgetfulness; and (3) factors relating to nurses and relatives in maintaining patient integrity. Better maintenance of patient integrity requires that more consideration is paid to issues of social respect and to the availability of adequate resources. Closer attention must be given to patients who are forgetful and unable to take part in decision making. (shrink)

In this article, I offer a politico-philosophical perspective to reassess the much-contested role of truth in politics to put forth a principle of political action that will make sense of a “right to unmanipulated factual information,” which Hannah Arendt understands as crucial for establishing freedom of opinion. In developing a principle of epistemic responsibility, I will show that “factual truth” plays a key role in Arendt’s account of political action and provides a normative order that can extricate her account from (...) charges of immoralism. The article will be divided into three sections: section 1 deals with the distinction between rational truths and factual truths, and the question of their validity, section 2 deals with what a principle of political action is, and lastly, section 3 proposes a principle of “epistemic responsibility” that becomes action-guiding in the political sphere, in order to shed new light on the 2013 Gezi Park protest, one of the recent democratic uprisings of our century. (shrink)

Coastal environments are widely recognized as valuable public health resources and therapeutic landscapes. However, limited research has examined how specific coastal interactions that foster close connections with nature influence health outcomes. This study investigates the relationship between the frequency of engaging in high-nature-interaction coastal activities―e.g., beach walking, wildlife spotting, water sports, mountain biking, spending time on the beach, beach sports, watching the sunset, seagoing, and shell collecting― and health outcomes among visitors to the Belgian coast. Using a dataset of 1,939 (...) responses, we analyze how the frequencies of these activities over the past year are associated with self-reported mental and general health. Grounded in the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) and employing Bayesian GITT Framework analytics, the study identifies distinct patterns in these associations. While frequent engagement in activities, e.g., beach walking and beach sports, is positively linked to both mental and general health, spending time on the beach and shell collecting are unexpectedly associated with negative health outcomes. Watching the sunset is negatively associated with general health, while mountain biking and water sports show negative associations with mental health. In contrast, wildlife spotting exhibits a positive association with mental well-being. These findings highlight the complex interplay of environmental factors, visitor perceptions, and biophysical-psychological interactions in shaping health outcomes. The study emphasizes the need for targeted coastal management strategies to enhance the therapeutic benefits of blue spaces and calls for further research to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these associations. (shrink)

Neuroconstructivism, Vol. 1: How the Brain Constructs Cognition implies that brain functioning depends on biofeedback and ecological trajectories. Using the building blocks of Boolean algebra known as logic gates and models of distributed control systems, I suggest that levels of regulatory states are responsible for optimal, pathological, and developmental processes. I include the impact of regulatory and nonregulatory functions on structural development.

As urbanization accelerates, diminishing green spaces pose growing public health challenges, exacerbating pollution exposure, stress, and chronic illnesses. This narrative review synthesizes research on the biological and psychological pathways through which urban plants promote human health. Biologically, urban greenery enhances air quality by filtering pollutants, strengthens immune function by increasing microbial diversity, and regulates stress physiology via endocrine mechanisms. Psychologically, nature exposure restores cognitive function, reduces stress, and fosters emotional resilience, as evidenced by neuroimaging and epidemiological studies. The findings suggest (...) that integrating green infrastructure into urban environments yields measurable public health benefits, including lower mortality rates, reduced cardiovascular and respiratory disease prevalence, and improved mental well-being. However, critical research gaps remain regarding the optimal “doses” of nature for health, cultural differences in nature perception, and the potential role of incorporating insights from quantum and informational theories to study cognitive-environment interactions (e.g., Granular Interaction Thinking Theory). Addressing these gaps through interdisciplinary collaboration, artificial intelligence integration, and data-driven urban planning can help cities evolve into healthier, more sustainable ecosystems. (shrink)

French scientist Henri Poincaré is one of the leading thinkers in the field of philosophy of science with his determinations on science and scientific activity. Poincare's understanding of science is expressed as conventionalist because he asserts that all sciences, including mathematics, consist of conventions and definitions. In this article, Poincare's views on how scientists should evaluate the data obtained from observation and experiment in their studies and the hypotheses that describe the relationships between these data are discussed. In the article, (...) it is also thought that especially Poincare's claims about the structure of science and the nature of scientific activity are important in terms of understanding some scientific views that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. (shrink)

This article analyzes the way in which the Israeli military exercises control over life in Gaza by regulating who and what may enter or leave. Using primary source documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act proceedings, the article details a military bureaucracy that micro-manages requests to move people and goods through Gaza’s crossings. For example, the transfer of chickpea paste requires approval from a senior military official holding the rank of major general, and soldiers evaluate the quality of care (...) offered to an orphan by his or her surviving parent, as a condition of authorizing the child’s passage to his parent’s home. The article discusses the effects of such control on the lives of those inside Gaza, including their exercise of rights and their social and economic choices. It then explores the motivations behind the restrictions, relying on statements and actions by Israeli officials. The article extends the current literature on deliberately nonrational bureaucracies in the context of rule by a foreign power by showing how the Israeli military bureaucracy maintains some functions of control over the local population in Gaza, despite its withdrawal and dismantling of its military government. It concludes by noting that the effects of the travel restrictions and their purpose are relevant to the normative debate over their legitimacy and suggests areas for further research. (shrink)

Biofeedback mechanisms (a) between individuals, (b) between the individual and the society structures which shape individual cognitions, and (c) within the individual genetic biochemical circulation, may explain the diversity of trustworthiness potential and the option of mutual trust for every individual in any given society.

La defensa humanista de la Retórica y la poesía a menudo toman la forma de ataques al lenguaje escolástico[...].Epistolae obscurorum virorum(1515-1517) representa, en la figura de los hombres oscuros, el iletrado monstruo escolástico, cuyo lenguaje está plagado de vicios retóricos y gramaticales y de una total falta de gusto. La poética del texto reside en la violación de las reglas retóricas e ideales formales que se les transmitieron en epistolarios antiguos y humanísticos y en manuales de Retórica[...].El presente estudio ilustra (...) [esta] retórica, examina aspectos morales del estilo y muestra la fecundidad de los vicios retóricos en la elaboración literaria. (shrink)

This collection of essays takes as its starting point Arthur Ripstein's Force and Freedom: Kant's Legal and Political Philosophy, a seminal work on Kant's thinking about law, which also treats many of the contemporary issues of legal and political philosophy. The essays offer readings and elucidations of Ripstein's thought, dispute some of his claims and extend some of his themes within broader philosophical contexts, thus developing the significance of Ripstein's ideas for contemporary legal and political philosophy. -/- All of the (...) essays are contributions to normative philosophy in a broadly Kantian spirit. Prominent themes include rights in the body, the relation between morality and law, the nature of coercion and its role in legal obligation, the role of indeterminacy in law, the nature and justification of political society and the theory of the state. This volume will be of interest to a wide audience, including legal scholars, Kant scholars, and philosophers with an interest in Kant or in legal and political philosophy. (shrink)

This paper examines the legitimacy of the US government’s argument that it must “balance liberty and security” with regard to its policy of trying enemy belligerents in military commissions rather than federal courts. I distinguish between three senses of “balance,” and argue that the policy is ambiguous between the second (internal) and third (emergency external) senses of balance. Neither line of reasoning justifies the policy, however. On the second sense, it is unjustified because it constitutes an arbitrary limitation of the (...) rights of some for the sake of the security of others. It thus violates the government’s duty to decide questions of policy in accordance with accepted legal procedures. Alternately, if the policy is intended to be an exercise of emergency powers, then it violates what I call the government’s juridical duty to serve as a guardian of justice. I offer an alternative justification for emergency measures, one that is based on the model of self-defense. I conclude that although the exercise of military commissions in times of emergency can be justified, the current exercise is illegitimate. (shrink)

In recent years, many Small Island Developing State governments have worked to increase openness and transparency of their transactions as a means to enhance efficiency and reduce corruption in their economies. In order to achieve a cost-effective and efficient strategy to implement a transparent government, Information Communication Technologies offer an opportunity of virtualization by deploying e-government services to promote transparency, accountability and consistency in the public sector and to minimize corruption. This paper explores the potential impact of government virtualization by (...) SIDS and against corruption by comparing the corruption perception index rates of 15 SIDS countries. The CPI relates to the degree by which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians by business people and country analysts. In order to reveal the long-term impact of virtual deployment and its consequences on corruption, an in-depth case analysis based on the CPI index rates was conducted on the deployment of the e-government system in Cyprus. (shrink)

Working with Hannah Arendt’s implicit argument about place and visibility, this article develops an account of recognition in order to rethink the nature of community. I argue for an Arendtian recognitive politics, a two-tiered account of recognition, which takes into account social identities as the condition of possibility for the free political action that so animated Arendt. If we require a place to act freely, in other words, we are visible to another in that place. Claims such as Arendt’s “right (...) to have rights” consequently understate the vital conditions of visibility and the role such visibility plays in the political sphere where agents are recognized as equals. The two-tiered account of recognition developed in this article allows me to argue that (1) the performance of visibility in relation to the recognition of one’s social identity is what in turn allows for (2) the possibility of recognizing one’s unique political identity in the political space. (shrink)

Publication date: 30 November 2016 Source: Author: Akram Sadat Hosseini, Esmaeil Zohdi Racism is a worldwide matter that is based on the physical characteristics of people's division into different categories on which some people become superior and some inferior. Racism and ethnicity are usually considered as the same concepts while in fact ethnicity is a sub-class of racism. In every nation, there are some ethnic groups with the same origin and similar customs that may or may not be judged (...) equally by the power-handler ethnic groups. An example of such country is Afghanistan which is severely an ethnic country. This study explores the social, cultural, and scientific investigations done on the people's races and ethnical characteristics by using Afghan types as examples. Racism is not the result of scientific observation, but it is due to the human differences that happened between 16th and 19th century when people began differentiating among themselves. This aspect of racism is well expressed by the American sociologist "Feagin". In his view, the natural superiority of some people over others is rejected. The novel The Kite Runner depicts the two major Afghan ethnical populations, Pashtun and Hazara, and their social, cultural, and religious conflicts. Accordingly, this article will try to examine the root of ethnic prejudices and oppression among the Afghan people in the novel and the reasons for their ethnic conducts are explained and analyzed based on the Feagin’s denial of human difference. Moreover, by providing some evidence it is proved that the biological difference is just some excuses for the powerful section to gain their egotistic goals. (shrink)

Automated software engineering has attracted a large amount of research efforts. The use of object-oriented methods for software systems development has made it necessary to develop approaches that automate the construction of different Unified Modeling Language models in a semiautomated approach from textual user requirements. UML use case models represent an essential artifact that provides a perspective of the system under analysis or development. The development of such use case models is very crucial in an object-oriented development method. The main (...) principles used in obtaining these models are described. A natural language processing tool is used to parse different statements of the user requirements written in Arabic to obtain lists of nouns, noun phrases, verbs, verb phrases, etc., that aid in finding potential actors and use cases. A set of steps that represent our approach for constructing a use case model are presented. Finally, the proposed approach is validated using an experiment involving a group of graduate students who are familiar with use case modeling. (shrink)