Reprint. Originally published: Rajini's punchtantra: value statements on business and life management. Chennai: New Horizon Media, 2010.

We investigate the role of social-media-triggered public pressure on corporate social responsibility that includes expectations of transparency and accountability on the firm’s part, and participative/evaluative inputs on the public’s part. Using the date when S&P 500 firms established corporate Twitter accounts, we investigate the impact of corporate social media exposure on CSR outcomes. Results from baseline regressions indicate that firms with Twitter accounts significantly outperform industry peers in CSR rating, after controlling for firm and industry characteristics. To test potential reverse (...) causality, we use a dynamic treatment effect model to explore within firm changes of CSR, and find that firms’ CSR rating improves in year one- and year two after establishing a Twitter account, while no difference emerged in similar comparisons with peers prior to the Twitter account establishment. Additionally, Granger causality tests results show that corporate Twitter presence improves CSR performance; it is also shown that CSR outcomes do not motivate corporations to establish a social media presence on Twitter. Finally, firms with more experience on Twitter, and those with more followers, tweets or Twitter accounts are associated with improved CSR outcomes. We draw on two theories and qualitative interviews with senior CSR executives to explain why social media influences CSR firm behaviors. (shrink)

Description: Originally published in French, The Civilization in Ancient India by Louis Renou deals with various aspects of polity, life and thought in ancient India. Based mainly on the great body of Indian lore supplemented by the data from epigraphical, literary as well as other sources, this work encapsulates vast information about India's ancient past covering the period up to the middle of the seventh century. In the four preliminary chapters in the first part of the book is given a (...) succinct survey of history, literature, religion and philosophical speculations. The second part deals respectively with caste, family, elements of civil law, penal law, the state, politics and war, economics and public and private life. The facts culled from the substantial data marshalled by the author on these different aspects have indeed made this work invaluable alike for the serious student and researcher. A brief chronology of the period and bibliography on different subjects discussed in the book have added to its value. (shrink)

In this study a combination of computer tools for coupling and virtual screening is detailed, in 108 active molecules and 3620 decoys to find stabilizers for G quadruplex. To have more precise results, combinations of coupling programs with fifteen energy scoring functions were applied. The validation and evaluation of the metrics was done with the CompScore genetic algorithm. The results showed an increase in BEDROC and EF of 50% compared to other strategies, as well as reflecting early recognition of active (...) molecules. From these results it is possible to work with the molecules that showed a good early recognition and evaluate their effect as G4 stabilizers. This ensures more efficient and accurate results in the preclinical stage for the development of anticancer drugs. Keywords: Enrichment metrics; telomere; G quadruplex ; CompScore. References [1]M. Porru, P. Zizza, M. Franceschin, C. Leonetti and A. Biroccio. «EMICORON: A multi-targeting G4 ligand with a promising preclinical profile» 2017. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - General Subjects, 1861, 1362–1370. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-018-0836-6. [2]K. Tomita. «How long does telomerase extend telomeres? Regulation of telomerase release and telomere length homeostasis». Current Genetics, 64, 1177–1181. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagen. 2016.11.010. [3]M. Jafri, S. Ansari, M. Alqahtani and J. Shay. «Roles of telomeres and telomerase in cancer, and advances in telomerase-targeted therapies. Genome Medicine., 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020482. [4]J. Huppert and S. Balasubramanian. «G-quadruplexes in promoters throughout the human genome». 35, 406–413. 2007. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbapap.2017.06.012. [5]S. Joy, Vijayakumar, S. Choi and H. Sunhye. «Role of computer-aided drug design in modern drug discovery». Archives of Pharmacal Research. 2015. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-015-0640-5. [6]S. Asamitsu, S. Obata, Z. Yu, T. Bando and H. Sugiyama. «Recent Progress of Targeted G-Quadruplex-Preferred Ligands Toward Cancer Therapy». Molecules, 24, 429. 2019. [En línea]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030429. [7]R. Monsen and J. Trent. «Biochimie G-quadruplex virtual drug screening : A review». Biochimie, 152, 134–148. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1039/c9cc06748e. [8]J. Beauvarlet, P. Bensadoun, E. Darbo, G. Labrunie, E. Richard, I. Draskovic and M. Djavaheri-mergny. «Modulation of the ATM / autophagy pathway by a G-quadruplex ligand tips the balance between senescence and apoptosis in cancer cells». 1–18. 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz095. [9].Z. Crees, J. Girard, Z. Rios, G. Botting, K. Harrington and C. Shearrow. « Oligonucleotides and G-quadruplex stabilizers: targeting telomeres and telomerase in cancer therapy».2014. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.2174/1381612820666140630100702. [10].M. Meier, A. Moya-torres, N. Krahn, M. Mcdougall, L. Orriss, E. Mcrae and T. Patel. «Structure and hydrodynamics of a DNA Gquadruplex with a cytosine bulge»., 1–13. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gky307. (shrink)

This is a well-behaved concept in Newtonian physics. But a center of gravity is not an atom or a subatomic particle or any other physical item in the world. It has no mass; it has no color; it has no physical properties at all, except for spatio-temporal location. It is a fine example of what Hans Reichenbach would call an abstractum. It is a purely abstract object. It is, if you like , a theorist's fiction. It is not one of (...) the real things in the universe in addition to the atoms. But it is a fiction that has nicely defined, well delineated and well behaved role within physics. (shrink)

This article explores three ways in which a cognitively entrenched mindreading (or 'theory of mind') system may bias our thinking as cognitive scientists. One issues in a form of tacit dualism, impacting scientific debates about phenomenal consciousness. Another leads us to think that our own minds are easier to know than they really are, influencing debates about self-knowledge, and about mindreading itself. And the third results in a bias in favour of empiricist over nativist accounts of cognitive development. The discussion (...) throughout is tentative and speculative, and can be regarded as an appeal for caution, as well as a call for further research. (shrink)

This discussion note addresses Caleb Hazelwood’s ‘Practice-Centered Pluralism and a Disjunctive Theory of Art’. Hazelwood advances a disjunctive definition of art on the basis of an analogy with species concept pluralism in the philosophy of biology. We recognize the analogy between species and art, we applaud attention to practice, and we are bullish on pluralism—but it is a mistake to take these as the basis for a disjunctive definition.

The Nuremberg Trials of leading National Socialists established the principle that individuals may be legally punished, even by death, for obeying the laws of their country. Is there then a higher law by which enacted valid positive laws may be judged, so that persons subject to such laws would be duty-bound to defy them? In recent years the theory of natural law has been revived by a number of philosophers and jurists, who however often disagree sharply among themselves about the (...) proper methods for defining and deriving natural law. Howard Kainz surveys the history of natural law from its foreshadowing in ancient Greece down to the most recent controversies. Natural Law both introduces the subject to newcomers and sheds fresh light on such figures as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Veatch, McInerny, Grisez, and Finnis. (shrink)

On his very first page Feldman ascribes to me a claim about the relation expressed by 'is identical with'. Feldman's way of speaking is, as Ryle might say, systematically misleading: for of course I deny that any one relation, even a relative relation, is the relation expressed by 'is identical with'. My whole thesis was that 'is identical with' expressed now one, now another, relation, according to the context of utterance.

The theme of this volume is the multi-faceted 'computational turn' that is occurring through the interaction of the disciplines of philosophy and computing. In computer and information sciences, there are significant conceptual and methodological questions that require reflection and analysis. Moreover, digital, information and communication technologies have had tremendous impact on society, which raises further philosophical questions. This book tries to facilitate the task to continuously work to ensure that its diversity of perspectives and methods proves a source of strength (...) and collaboration rather than a source of instability and disintegration. The first three contributions explore the phenomenon of virtual worlds. The next four focus on robots and artificial agents. Then a group of chapters discusses the relation between human mentality and information processing in computers and the final section covers a broad range of issues at the interface of computers and society. (shrink)

The motivation for adopting reductive and anti-reductive theories of testimonial warrant is considered. Whilst both well-motivated neither position can adequately capture the dynamic aspect of the individual knowers relationship to the wider community of knowledge. A hybrid theory of testimony is proposed that attempts to do just this.

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates. BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observations our ’learner’ discovers an optimal evaporation ramp for BEC production. In contrast to previous work, our learner uses a Gaussian process to develop a statistical model of the (...) relationship between the parameters it controls and the quality of the BEC produced. We demonstrate that the Gaussian process machine learner is able to discover a ramp that produces high quality BECs in 10 times fewer iterations than a previously used online optimization technique. Furthermore, we show the internal model developed can be used to determine which parameters are essential in BEC creation and which are unimportant, providing insight into the optimization process of the system. (shrink)