Utility maximization is a key element of a number of theoretical approaches to explaining human behavior. Among these approaches are rational analysis, ideal observer theory, and signal detection theory. While some examples of these approaches define the utility maximization problem with little reference to the bounds imposed by the organism, others start with, and emphasize approaches in which bounds imposed by the information processing architecture are considered as an explicit part of the utility maximization problem. These latter approaches are the (...) topic of this issue of the journal. (shrink)

If there is one question that has perplexed the best minds in every society, it is how to raise the individuals from their present state to a higher state of existence and perfection? The answers have been tried using different formulations in history: religious, scientific and political. The common factor in all these historical formulations was that they were designed in opposition to each other and therefore left many things unaccounted. The aim of this paper is to explore the idea (...) of self-perfection as a continuous streak of infinite vertical ascension. The paper has elaborated the idea of ‘Verticality’, propounded by Peter Sloterdijk for looking in to the domains of self-perfection and the stages of vertical ascension. For our purpose, we have relied on the example of discipline of Management that has progressively theorized about different aspects and stages of existence. (shrink)

This paper aims to investigate the effect of gamification in engaging and motivating consumers for online shopping and also the use of gamification to enhance sales. Moreover, this study has also explored the ethical concerns in gamified marketing. This is a qualitative study to investigate the effect of gamification during online shopping and the ethical issues involved in gamified marketing. Semi-structured interviews with ten gamification experts are conducted and analyzed through NVivo. The themes that emerged from qualitative analysis are the (...) applicability of gamification in online retail, consumer experiences in gamified retail, and ethics and challenges in gamification. Semantic analysis is performed, and as per the viewpoint of the gamification experts, it was found that the perception of ethics in gamification is negative, which shows that there are many unethical practices in gamified marketing. This paper shows that by focusing on every relational aspect of consumer engagement, retailers can build trust and retain their most valuable stakeholders — the customers, thereby addressing the crucial negative concerns of gamified marketing. This research is one of its types to explore the significant ethical issues that affect consumers in the retail context. The undertaking of this study in an emerging economy adds further insight into gamified retail literature by generalizing the applicability of gamified studies across geographic contexts. (shrink)

Flap EndoNuclease‐1 (FEN‐1) is a multifunctional and structure‐specific nuclease involved in nucleic acid processing pathways. It plays a critical role in maintaining human genome stability through RNA primer removal, long‐patch base excision repair and resolution of dinucleotide and trinucleotide repeat secondary structures. In addition to its flap endonuclease (FEN) and nick exonuclease (EXO) activities, a new gap endonuclease (GEN) activity has been characterized. This activity may be important in apoptotic DNA fragmentation and in resolving stalled DNA replication forks. The multiple (...) functions of FEN‐1 are regulated via several means, including formation of complexes with different protein partners, nuclear localization in response to cell cycle or DNA damage and post‐translational modifications. Its functional deficiency is predicted to cause genetic diseases, including Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy and cancers. This review summarizes the knowledge gained through efforts in the past decade to define its structural elements for specific activities and possible pathological consequences of altered functions of this multirole player. BioEssays 27:717–729, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The guiding inspiration of this book is the attraction and distance that mark the relation between anthropology and philosophy. This theme is explored through encounters between individual anthropologists and particular regions of philosophy. Several of the most basic concepts of the discipline—including notions of ethics, politics, temporality, self and other, and the nature of human life—are products of a dialogue, both implicit and explicit, between anthropology and philosophy. These philosophical undercurrents in anthropology also speak to the question of what it (...) is to experience our being in a world marked by radical difference and otherness. In The Ground Between, twelve leading anthropologists offer intimate reflections on the influence of particular philosophers on their way of seeing the world, and on what ethnography has taught them about philosophy. Ethnographies of the mundane and the everyday raise fundamental issues that the contributors grapple with in both their lives and their thinking. With directness and honesty, they relate particular philosophers to matters such as how to respond to the suffering of the other, how concepts arise in the give and take of everyday life, and how to be attuned to the world through the senses. Their essays challenge the idea that philosophy is solely the province of professional philosophers, and suggest that certain modalities of being in the world might be construed as ways of doing philosophy. Contributors. João Biehl, Steven C. Caton, Vincent Crapanzano, Veena Das, Didier Fassin, Michael M. J. Fischer, Ghassan Hage, Clara Han, Michael Jackson, Arthur Kleinman, Michael Puett, Bhrigupati Singh. (shrink)

These Two Volumes Are Expected To Be Of Great Value To Students And Scholars Of Religion And Philosophy.

These Two Volumes Are Expected To Be Of Great Value To Students And Scholars Of Religion And Philosophy.

This book portrays the Supreme Reality in five facets, discusses the issues of Divine Ordinance and Grace, humanism and peace, suffering and death from Sikh perspective.

This is the first definitive graduate and advanced undergraduate level treatment of behavioral economics that describes the cutting edge of the subject. It carefully outlines the evidence, describes the relevant theory, and provides interesting and economically relevant applications of the theory. Behavioral economics is not only the fastest growing area in economics but it is rapidly going mainstream, and it is most likely to be the future of economics. The field has lacked a definitive treatment- this is it. The book (...) covers most areas in economics, which accounts for its length. Behavioral economics not only explains the evidence much better, it is fun to do relative to the dismal science of traditional economics; this book conveys both these aspects. (shrink)

This research examined whether youth's forecasted risk taking is best predicted by a compensatory (namely, subjective expected utility) or non-compensatory (e.g., single-factor) model. Ninety youth assessed the importance of perceived benefits, importance of perceived drawbacks, subjective probability of benefits, and subjective probability of drawbacks for 16 risky behaviors clustered evenly into recreational and health/safety domains. In both domains, there was strong support for a noncompensatory model in which only the perceived importance of the benefits of engaging in a risky behavior (...) predicted youths' forecasted engagement in risky behavior. The study overcomes earlier methodological weaknesses by fully decomposing participants' assessments into importance and probability aspects for both benefits and drawbacks. As such, the findings provide clear evidence in support of a boundedrationality perspective on youth decision making regarding risk taking. (shrink)

Our concern in this paper lies with a common argument from racial discrimination to realism about races: some people are discriminated against for being members of a particular race (i.e., racial discrimination exists), so some people must be members of that race (i.e., races exist). Error theorists have long responded that we can explain racial discrimination in terms of racial attitudes alone, so we need not explain it in terms of race itself. But to date there has been little detailed (...) discussion of whether it is better to explain racial discrimination in terms of race or in terms of racial attitudes alone. Our goal is to offer a novel and detailed argument in defense of explaining racial discrimination in terms of racial attitudes alone, by attending to the neglected phenomenon of misperception discrimination, which involves differential treatment due to misperceived race. We argue that the discriminatory action in misperception cases must be explained in the same way as cases where (according to the realist) the victim’s race is accurately perceived. Thus, the victim’s actual race cannot provide the best explanation. The main upshot of our argument is that explanatory arguments from racial discrimination to realism about race fail. (shrink)

Written in a simple and easily understandable style, Concentration is a classic among books on the art of meditation. Published, as it was, before our fascination with things New Agey, it dispels many of the myths and misconceptions that have arisen and been promoted out of that movement. And for this reason alone, for the preservation of the truth, it is worth its weight in gold. First and foremost among the myths it dispels is the idea that developing concentration is (...) really of no consequence in the practical application of the art of meditation, as some so-called New Age gurus would have people believe. This is like saying that for an automobile to function properly it doesnt need gasoline! Without the ability to concentrate, our efforts at meditation will result only in going nowhere, in spinning our wheels in an unending rut. (shrink)

This book has no equal in the literature that deals with the true philosophy and not with mental inventions, of no use to the true seeker. The subject matter is considered from all points of view, Eastern and Western alike. It is as attainable in a Manhattan apartment as in an Indian Ashram. The book can be strongly recommended to all those who want to find the true sense and fulfillment of their lives and to depart into the other world (...) fearlessly and with peace. (shrink)

In this article I focus on the `Mother' image in Sikh scripture, and explore her as the source of creation and wisdom. My re-imagining of the divine in Sikhism will offer a counter-balance to the prevailing androcentric attitudes and interpretations of malestream scholarship, and I also hope it will be a step towards counteracting the sexism festering within Sikh homes and the larger society.

Principles of Behavioral Economics, written by an acknowledged leader in the field, provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most exciting areas of modern economics. It demonstrates how models of economic theory can be enriched by using interdisciplinary insights from psychology, sociology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience to build the basis for a more empirically supported set of economic principles. Unique in its level of rigor and lucidity, the book highlights the important link between theoretical and empirical economics by demonstrating (...) the usefulness of a range of data sources such as observational data, lab data, survey data, and neuroeconomic data. This field-defining textbook argues that behavioral economics is not just a supplement to mainstream economics. Taking behavioral economics seriously requires a total rethink, and eventual transformation, of every area of economics. (shrink)

For purposes of initial discussion, technology may be taken to mean applied science, thereby drawing attention to the practical applications of researches and discoveries made by science. This gives technology an importance which is not always fully recognised. Technology entails an enlargement of the apparatus with which man shapes, and is shaped by, his environment. This in turn leads to a modification of the behaviour-pattern defined by an earlier, if cruder, technology.