Research examining firm and industry effects on performance has primarily focused on the financial aspects of firm performance. Corporate social performance is a major aspect of firm performance that has been under-examined empirically in the literature to date. Adding to the fundamental debate regarding firm versus industry effects on performance, this study uses data drawn from the Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. database to examine the degree to which CSP is related to firm, industry, and temporal factors. The results of (...) these analyses suggest that CSP tends to change in a linear manner over time; however, the slope of this line varies across firms and industries. These findings are supported by several robustness checks accounting for autocorrelation, alternative measures of industry, different samples commonly used when using KLD data to measure CSP, and alternative measures of CSP when using the KLD database. The authors also directly compare firm, industry, and temporal effects between CSP and financial performance. (shrink)

Mediation is a process in which two parties agree to resolve their dispute by negotiating over alternative solutions presented by a mediator. In order to construct such solutions, the mediator brings more information and knowledge, and, if possible, resources to the negotiation table. In order to do so, the mediator faces the challenge of determining which information is relevant to the current problem, given a vast database of knowledge. The contribution of this paper is the automated mediation machinery to resolve (...) this issue. We define the concept of a Mediation Problem and show how it can be described in Game Description Language. Furthermore, we present an algorithm that allows the mediator to efficiently determine which information is relevant to the problem and collect this information from the negotiating agents. We show with several experiments that this algorithm is much more efficient than the naive solution that simply takes all available knowledge into account. (shrink)

Corruption in higher education has raised concern among governments, citizens, and the education community worldwide. However, few papers have sought to explore the students’ willingness to engage in corrupt practices at the university level. The present study aimed to examine the influence of different corrupt behaviours and perceived corruption among peers on the corrupt intention of university students. 120 undergraduate students participated in a quasi-experimental design divided in 3 treatments to rate their willingness to engage in favouritism and embezzlement behaviours. (...) Results pointed out that students were more prone to committing a non-monetary behaviour favouritism– than a monetary behaviour –embezzlement–. Furthermore, there were not significant differences between the groups of control and high-corruption acceptance; while only the group of low-corruption acceptance showed significant lower rates when compared to the control and the high-corruption acceptance’s group. Practical recommendations need to address students’ perceptions of different corrupt practices, focusing on designing ethical training programmes aimed to raise awareness on the negative consequences of non-monetary activities. Future research directions could generate empirical support to prove if students are able to recognize the underlying mechanisms of subtle corrupt practices. (shrink)

This article analyses 1,073 e-mails that were hacked from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in November 2009. The incident was popularly dubbed 'Climategate', indicating that the e-mails reveal a scientific scandal. Here we analyse them differently. Rather than objecting to the exchanges based on some idea about proper scientific conduct, we see them as a rare glimpse into a situation where scientists collectively prepare for participation in heated controversy, with much focus on methodology. This allows (...) us to study how scientists communicate informally about framing propositions of facts in the best possible way. Through the eyes of science and technology studies, the e-mails provide an opportunity to study communication as part of science in the making across disciplines and laboratories. Analysed as 'written conversation' the e-mails provide information about processes of consensus formation through 'agonistic evaluations' of other scientists' work and persuasion of others to support one's own work. Also, the e-mails contain judgements about other groups and individual scientists. Consensus-forming appeared as a precarious activity. Controversies could be quite resilient in the course of this decade-long exchange, probably reflecting the complexity of the methodological challenges involved. (shrink)

This article includes a study about the preface of Moreh ha-Moreh, a philosophical commentary on Guide for the Perplexed written by Sem Tob ibn Falaquera at the end of XIIIth century. In this introduction Sem Tob ibn Falaquera defends Maimonides and his works. In addition, he exposes his opinion about different subjects, like the nature, the determining factors and limits of philosophical labour or the harmony between reason and faith.

Una filosofía crítica de la historia se enfrenta a las injusticias del pasado y, por tanto, pone en duda la legitimidad toda institución que esté en deuda con ellas. De ahí que esa filosofía de la memoria sea, por lo mismo, un pensamiento utópico abierto a nuevas posibilidades de futuro de acuerdo con las esperanzas fracasadas del pasado. En el pasado y en el presente hay un común e indeleble anhelo de humanidad futura.

The literature on listening and daily discourse often describes an overly romanticized conception of listening, meaning what it should be in its ideal form. However, at most, this ideal is realized through the ‘masks’ that listeners ‘carry’ during their performance of listening. The ideal version that is being projected through the performance of listening is not cognruent with what actually happens behind the mask and performance. Individuals do not have the cognitive capacities to realize this unrealistic and unattainable ideal, but (...) they have the capacity to act as if they do. Using Goffman’s (1959) dramaturgical account this paper reveals the psychological and social world that hides behind the mask and performance of listening in order to ground the theorizing of listening in a more realistic perspective. This account gives rise to novel and indispensable listening concepts: the definition of the situation, the sincere and cynical listener, undercurrent listening, and misrepresentations of listening. These concepts demonstrate that the study of interpersonal listening cannot be isolated from the dramaturgy of listening as (expressed) manners of listening are intricately and inherently embedded in social structure. This account also strongly contests the psychocentric and simplistic definition of listening as proposed by Kluger, A. N., & Mizrahi, M. (2023). Defining Listening: Can We Get Rid of the Adjectives? Current Opinion in Psychology, 101639.). (shrink)

We provide a brief overview of the shift toward the intrinsic view of brain activity, describing in particular the structural and functional connectivity patterns of the “Default mode network”. We then consider the Default mode network in a specifically cognitive setting and ask what changes the focus on the Default mode network and other sorts of intrinsic activity require from models put forward by cognitive neuroscientists.

In this article we investigate infinitary propositional logics from the perspective of their completeness properties in abstract algebraic logic. It is well-known that every finitary logic is complete with respect to its relatively subdirectly irreducible models. We identify two syntactical notions formulated in terms of intersection-prime theories that follow from finitarity and are sufficient conditions for the aforementioned completeness properties. We construct all the necessary counterexamples to show that all these properties define pairwise different classes of logics. Consequently, we obtain (...) a new hierarchy of logics going beyond the scope of finitarity. (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper explores the links between the competing scientific, disciplinary, and institutional identifications of social scientists working for international organizations and the nature of the work produced in these establishments. By examining the case of UNESCO's Social Science Department from 1946 to 1955, the paper shows how the initial lack of organizational identification diminished the efficiency and productivity of the Department and slowed down the creation of an international system for research in the social sciences. It then examines how the (...) elaboration of such identification resulted from a period of trial and error during which several national, academic, and scientific models were explored. The paper concludes that only the discourse of “moral sensitivity” kept the Department together at a time when disillusions regarding internationalism, the destabilization of the meaning of nation, and suspicion towards some Western disciplines rendered unacceptable the universalization of a single international social scientific identification. (shrink)

Purpose of the article: Most regional macroeconomic processes may not be adequately analyzed without accounting for their spatial nature: regional distances, interactions between neighbors, spill-over effects and interdependencies. This contribution focuses on various factors ruling unemployment dynamics in the Visegrad Group countries and their major economic partners: Germany and Austria. The analysis is performed at the NUTS2 level. Methodology/methods: Spatial econometrics is a unique tool for a broad range of quantitative analyses and evaluations. Spatial econometric models are based on geo-coded (...) data. Spatial econometrics and regional competitiveness paradigms are combined into different types of regression model specifications describing unemployment dynamics. Alternative spatial structures are used for verification of stability in estimated model properties. Scientific aim: We aim to provide a detailed empirical evaluation of spatially determined factors of regional unemployment dynamics, along with insight into the robustness of such approach. Both conceptually and parametrically varying neighbor definitions are used to provide evidence for model evaluation. Findings: We find strong positive spatial dependence patterns in the estimated models, robust against varying neighborhood definitions. Our results strongly support the importance of regional and potentially cross-border cooperation in macroeconomic policies addressing unemployment. The estimated models also underline the importance of using spatial models, by pointing out the bias in OLS-estimated models. Conclusions and limits: Spatial approach to econometric analysis provides important insight and robustness to a broad range of unemployment analyses that may be carried out using regional data. At the same time, it should be noted that this article focuses mostly on the spatial and stability aspects of model estimation, while leaving out other interesting topics such as spill-over effects calculations as based on estimated models. Also, estimations provided in this article might benefit from spatial panel data-based methods - once data availability issues are sorted. (shrink)

_ This scholarly article delves into the significance of international collaboration in mitigating global environmental challenges. By examining case studies and collaborative efforts, the paper underscores the necessity of unified action, shared responsibility, and global partnerships in safeguarding the planet's ecological integrity._.

Neuropeptides are key modulators of adult neurocircuits, balancing their sensitivity to both excitation and inhibition, and fine‐tuning fast neurotransmitter action under physiological conditions. Here, we reason that transient increases in neuropeptide availability and action exist during brain development for synapse maturation, selection, and maintenance. We discuss fundamental concepts of neuropeptide signaling at G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs), with a particular focus on how signaling at neuropeptide GPCRs could underpin neuronal morphogenesis. We use galanin, a 29/30 amino acid‐long neuropeptide, as an example (...) for its retrograde release from the dendrites of thalamic neurons to impact the selection and wiring of sensory afferents originating at the trigeminal nucleus through galanin receptor 1 (GalR1) engagement. Thus, we suggest novel roles for neuropeptides, expressed transiently or permanently during both pre‐ and postnatal neuronal circuit development, with potentially life‐long effects on circuit layout and ensuing behavioral operations. (shrink)

In the half-century that elapsed between 1830 and 1880, the city of Barcelona, while industrializing and tripling its population, saw how rich scientific collections (mainly naturalistic, archeological, and anatomical) could be created or lost, opened to the public or forgotten. The complexity and variety of the movements of these collections go beyond the narrow historiographical framework defined by a supposedly linear evolution towards greater accumulation and openness to the public. On the contrary, the examples examined in this article reveal a (...) variety of paths and vicissitudes. (shrink)

Vrcholným dílem celoživotní teoretické činnosti Karla Engliše měla být Velká logika, která se zachovala v podobě obsáhlého rukopisu (cca 2500 stran) a dosud nebyla publikována. Prvním průběžným výsledkem snahy o publikaci rukopisu je zveřejnění studie "Kritika Schopenhauera". Autoři textu předkládají přepis části rukopisu opatřený poznámkami ke zpřístupnění jeho obsahu. Schopenhauerova filosofie poznání tvoří jednu ze stěžejních inspirací pro Englišovu teorii myšlenkových řádů. Englišova kritika Schopenhauera tak poskytuje vodítko k hlubšímu porozumění vztahu Englišovy teorie a transcendentální filosofie.

E. Dussel builds an ethics involved in the liberation of the victims of a world-system increasingly global. In this paper the contributions that this ethics of liberation does to the necessary project of an intercultural dialogue are studied. This dialogue must begin with a critic of modern reason, which is eurocentric and violent, and it has to be based on a «transmodern» rationality, whose starting point is the afirmation and the recognition of the reason of the Other (the excluded human (...) being). (shrink)

Partial commentaries of Gomez Davila’s epigraphs in Scholia to an Implicit Text have been put forward by several scholars. Nevertheless, none of them has yet attempted a systematic study of their meaning and their relation to the rest of the book or the literary sources to which they allude. This article is aimed to present such a systematic analysis, thus revealing two things: first, a number of essential premises of Gómez Dávila’s thought; second, the importance of intertextuality for a thorough (...) understanding of this work: the epigraphs need an hors du texte and the scholia to be interpreted, just as the scholia need the epigraphs and an “out of the text” to be deciphered. In other words, neither is autonomous: their meaning is to be found in intertextuality. (shrink)

La discusión acerca de la capacidad de nuestra inteligencia de acceder al conocimiento de la realidad en sí es y sigue siendo una de las más antiguas y apasionantes de la filosofía. Piaget revolucionó la historia de la psicología y la pedagogía a partir de sus descubrimientos científicos relativos al modo en que el ser humano conoce. Sin embargo, por su misma inclinación filosófica, su constructivismo pedagógico quedó fuertemente arraigado en tradiciones filosóficas inmanentistas, a punto tal que la asociación entre (...) constructivismo pedagógico y antirrealismo constituye una suerte de lugar común y un cierto presupuesto dogmático. Lo cierto es que esta asociación no constituye la única alternativa posible y, hasta cierto punto, ni siquiera parece responder cabalmente a los principios o consecuencias últimas de los hallazgos del constructivismo de Piaget. Es posible justificar el constructivismo pedagógico desde posiciones realistas, siempre y cuando se revisen algunos supuestos que la modernidad ha instalado de manera no muy crítica en los círculos educativos y filosóficos. La revisión de la noción de representación, concebida según la tradición aristotélica y aggiornada por los aportes del constructivismo, permite abrir un camino de conciliación entre el constructivismo pedagógico y un tipo de realismo que sea, a la vez, robusto y plural. (shrink)

Principialismo, bioética personalista y principios de acción en medicina y en servicios de salud Principialismo, bioética personalista e princípios de ação em medicina e serviços de saúde Since there is a gap and differences between bioethical concepts and other principles of action arising from the practice of modern medicine, their comparison is reasonable. Modern medicine has created principles of action based on evidence and principles of quality in medicine, and bioethical argumentation frequently resorts to principlism or personalist bioethics. This article (...) intends to illustrate the characteristics of the relationships between these concepts and their potential mutual enrichment. A simple, practical comparison matrix is proposed to compare the relationship between principles. These concepts have a significant overlap; however, both in the history of ideas and in their formulation, they are very dissimilar. Emphasis is placed on the contextual value of this analysis given by global health trends and some implications for medicine from personalist bioethics. Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo Insua JT. Principialismo, bioética personalista y principios de acción en medicina y en servicios de salud. pers. bioét. 2018; 22: 223-246. DOI: 10.5294/pebi.2018.22.2.3. (shrink)

AI arrival promises to solve the needs of personalization in education. The following paragraphs aim to shed light on the concept of personalization by providing a philosophical conceptualization that enables an analysis of its scope and applications within the framework of the digital transformation of higher education. The paper explains the reasons why the goal of personalization is so deeply rooted in the digital transformation. It also describes the five meanings attributable to the concept and details their philosophical underpinnings. This (...) helps clarify the distinction between the extrinsic and intrinsic orientations of personalization, which, in turn, allows to apply this distinction within the framework of the digital transformation of education. (shrink)

This paper aims to analyze Jürgen Habermas’s critique of liberal eugenics and why it should be stopped. For this purpose, the concept of liberal eugenics, its features and goals, postmetaphysics in Habermas’s philosophy, will be exposed, as well as the notions of Körper and Leib, which are three key elements that the philosopher presents to articulate his critique. Next, the importance of the naturalness of birth and reciprocal relations between individuals, and how they can be affected by genetic modifications, will (...) be explored to finally expose the measurements that Habermas proposes against the effects and consequences of genetic engineering. (shrink)

The article describes the obstacles to the emancipation of Roma women in the family and Czech society. The theoretical side deals with the recent changes in gender roles in the Roma family, changes in the position of Roma women and their discrimination as well as the concept of emancipation. The article aims to describe the obstacles a Roma woman must overcome in the course of emancipation. The data are based on qualitative socio-ethnographic research conducted through narrative interviews with 30 women (...) of different ages and classes who identify as Roma and live in three Czech regional capitals. The research sample was compiled using the snowball method. The data collected in the field research were analyzed in Atlas.ti using anchored theory. We identified five main obstacles to the emancipation of Roma woman. They include obstacles emanating from the family and the majority society as well as obstacles caused by the hegemony of masculinity and those emanating from the woman. By gaining an understanding of relations in Roma families, the situation regarding the emancipation of Roma women and the associated barriers may help those who come into daily contact with the Roma minority to take appropriate actions and apply the right interventions. (shrink)