How did meat emerge to become such an important feature in Western society? In both popular and academic literatures, biophysical and political-economic factors are often cited as the reason for meat’s preeminent status. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive investigation of these claims by reviewing the available evidence on the political-economic and biophysical features of meat over the long arc of Western history. We specifically focus on nine critical epochs: the Paleolithic, early to late Neolithic, antiquity, ancient Israel and (...) early Christian societies, medieval Europe, early modern Europe, colonial America, the American frontier, and the modern industrial era. We find that except under conditions of environmental scarcity, the meaning and value of meat cannot be attributed to intrinsic biophysical value or to the political-economic actors who materially benefit from it. Rather, meat’s status reflects the myriad cultural contexts in which it is socially constructed in people’s everyday lives, particularly with respect to religious, gender, communal, racial, national, and class identity. By deconstructing the normalized/naturalized materialist assumptions circling around meat consumption, this paper clears a space for a more nuanced appreciation of the role that culture has played in the legitimation of meat, and by extension, the possibility of change. (shrink)

The animal advocacy movement(s) -- Sport hunting : environmental stewardship, cultural ritual, or blood sport? -- Zoos and aquaria : species conservation, education, or unethical imprisonment? -- Fur : "green" or irredeemably cruel product? -- Industrial animal agriculture: injustice writ large -- Reconciliation and the way forward.

In this article, we examine the link between board composition and an enterprise strategy outcome, stakeholder relations. Because a firm’s enterprise strategy is set at the highest level of the organization, we expect the presence of stakeholder directors (suppliers, customers, employees, and community representatives) to be positively associated with stakeholder performance.Results from an analysis of 3,268 board members representing 250 firms are discussed in the context of both corporate governance and stakeholder management literatures.

This essay provides a critical overview of the debate about corporate moral responsibility. Parties to the debate address whether corporations are the kinds of entities that can be blamed when they cause unjustified harm. Proponents of CMR argue that corporations satisfy the conditions for moral agency and so they are fit for blame. Their opponents respond that corporations lack one or more of the capacities necessary for moral agency. I review the arguments on both sides and conclude ultimately that what (...) divides the two is not so much competing conceptions of the corporation as it is disagreement about what moral agency requires. Homing in on the real site of contention will, it is hoped, allow future participants in the debate to focus their efforts more productively. (shrink)

This study focuses on the determinants of political strategies used by U.S. multinationals (MNCs) in Europe. Empirical support is found for Hillman and Hitt’s taxonomy of political decisions—that is, approach, participation level, and strategy. The role of institutional- versus firm-level variable determinants of these choices is explored as are the relative effects of firm versus industry variables within differing political contexts. Results based on a survey sample of 169 U.S. MNC subsidiaries within 14 European countries support the finding that both (...) institutional- and firm-level variables are important determinants of political strategy approach, participation level, and strategy. (shrink)

Scholars addressing the moral status of corporations are motivated by a pair of conflicting anxieties: If corporations are not moral agents, we will be unable to blame them for their wrongs. But if corporations are moral agents, we will have to recognize corporate moral rights, and the legal rights that flow therefrom. In early and under-appreciated work, Tom Donaldson sought to allay both concerns at once: Corporations, he argued, are not moral persons, and so are not eligible for many of (...) the rights that persons enjoy; but they are moral agents, and so ought to bear responsibility in many of the ways that persons do. This article offers a sympathetic critique of the Donaldsonian strategy. I argue that, as it has been elaborated, the strategy necessarily fails. Nonetheless the strategy embodies a worthy aim and so I seek to provide an alternative way to vindicate it. (shrink)

This article incorporates two emotion-based psychology theories into the study of whistleblowing. Particularly, it studies how one's predicted regret may differ when one is cued in to possible regret effects associated with either blowing the whistle or staying silent. Ethical scenarios with two moral intensity levels and two wrongdoing types were manipulated. Analysis of variance results based on subjects' predicted regret scores as well as subjects' descriptions of what the regret would be related to indicate several significant interactions. Findings suggest (...) that individuals think about regret differently in a whistleblowing context as opposed to a silent observer context. (shrink)

The first part of this essay argues that the specification of rationality operating in Manifest Rationality does not allow for the inclusion of the dialectical tier as a necessary component of a rational product. It next considers Perelman's conception of "reasonableness" as an alternative to Johnson's structural sense of rationality. Adopting a contextually rich conception of rationality, like that of Perelman, allows Johnson to insist that a rational product must consist of both an illative core and a dialectical tier.

The definition and measurement of filial piety in existing research primarily focuses on the narrow conceptualizations of Asian filial piety, which would inflate cultural differences and undermine cultural universals in how people approach caring for their elderly parents. Employing the Dual Filial Piety Model, this study aimed to examine the relationship between filial piety and attitude toward caring for elderly parents beyond the Asian context. In our study, we found that reciprocal filial piety does not differ across cultures while authoritarian (...) filial piety does. We also found that collectivism, rather than ethnicity, predicted RFP and AFP, which in turn predicted positive attitude toward caring for elderly parents. Our work demonstrates the cross-cultural applicability of the DFPM and highlights the universal and culture-specific aspects of filial piety. (shrink)

IntroductionIntensive care units are places where technologically advanced and aggressive treatment is the norm. End-of-life decision making for children in pediatric intensive care units is a complex process both medically and ethically. The author examined providers’ decision-making processes that influence both the technique of conversations and the recommendations given to parents regarding limitation or withdrawal of life sustaining treatments.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted in a large PICU. Interview data were analyzed by coding all transcripts and identifying concepts and themes that (...) were then used in the formation of a conceptual framework. This analysis was validated with peer review sessions.ResultsThe author identified four major themes regarding decision-making. They are: Expectations and Perspectives, Communication Enhancers and Inhibitors, Decision Enablers and Barriers, and Conversation Mechanics.DiscussionAdditional research is needed to fully understand the complex decisi... (shrink)

This case study focuses on decision-making for minors who are permanently unconscious and dependent on life-sustaining therapies. Cases of this type often cause anguish and angst for health care providers and caregivers and can lead to mistrust, moral distress, and communication problems. After presenting a particular case, an ethical analysis is applied to determine whether there is an apparent course of action or an ethical dilemma. The ethical analysis focuses on the currently accepted guidance principle for surrogate decision-making for minors (...) and applies them to the case. The conclusion drawn shows that the case was not, in fact, an ethical dilemma by definition and that there is a reasonable course of action to be taken. (shrink)

Industry analysts estimate that Internet pharmacies will generate $1.4 billion in prescription drug sales by 2001 and over $15 billion by 2004. The recent rush by traditional brick and mortar pharmacies either to partner with existing Internet pharmacies or to create their own web counterparts illustrates the increasing importance of business on the Internet. Last summer, retail pharmacy giant CVS acquired the Internet pharmacy soma.com and changed its name to reflect the new ownership. Early this year, in another key industry (...) move, Walgreen's launched an upgraded, full-service Internet pharmacy in order to compete more successfully in the pharmacy industry. (shrink)

Industry analysts estimate that Internet pharmacies will generate $1.4 billion in prescription drug sales by 2001 and over $15 billion by 2004. The recent rush by traditional brick and mortar pharmacies either to partner with existing Internet pharmacies or to create their own web counterparts illustrates the increasing importance of business on the Internet. Last summer, retail pharmacy giant CVS acquired the Internet pharmacy soma.com and changed its name to reflect the new ownership. Early this year, in another key industry (...) move, Walgreen's launched an upgraded, full-service Internet pharmacy in order to compete more successfully in the pharmacy industry. (shrink)

Many mergers and acquisitions stumble due to the postmerger integration process. The authors examine the relationship between organizational tolerance and market reaction to merger announcements. Tolerant organizations are those that value plurality and diversity and because of these values may have easier merger integration. The authors test this hypothesis with a sample of 200 acquiring firms and find evidence that organizational tolerance explains a significant portion of the variance in market reactions to merger announcements.

Despite rich theoretical development, empirical research on stakeholder management is scant, save its relationship with financial performance. Recent research shows significant intrafirm variability in stakeholder management across time. This study seeks to explain why firms would experience significant changes in stakeholder management. Adapting Wood’s framework to discuss three principles of stakeholder management, the authors identify antecedents of change at the institutional, organizational, and executive levels. Pressures for legitimacy at the institutional level suggest that firm age and size, along with industry (...) shifts in stakeholder management, will increase the likelihood of changes in stakeholder management for the focal firm. The authors posit that organizational risk and performance will also affect the likelihood of change, as will managerial discretion, ownership, and succession. The authors test their predictions using a longitudinal sample of stakeholder management data and discuss the implications of the findings for research and practice. (shrink)

Member States of the United Nations proposed Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, emphasizing the well-being of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. Countries are expected to work diligently to achieve these goals by the year 2030. The paths chosen to achieve the SDGs depend on each country’s specific needs, challenges, and opportunities. This contribution conducts a bibliometric study of selected SDG research related to hunger and climate change among countries of the North Asia Pacific region. A review of (...) literature related to the seventeen SDGs is provided to update the current research in SDGs as a background for the regional bibliometric search. The academic published literature related to this work were collected and text mined to create a research database for trend analysis. In this research, the natural language model KeyBERT and a text mining algorithm for normalized term frequency were used to extract key terminologies for bibliometric analysis. The study provides an overview of the seventeen SDGs in the literature review and then focuses on SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 13 (climate action) publication trends. These two SDGs are in close alignment with sustainable food systems and agricultural development. The conclusion indicates that greater cooperation (SDG 17) is critical to improving the quality of life within the region and in building an ethical framework that restricts external exploitation of resources that benefit newly developed economies over developing economies. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Language and Cognition - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language and Cognitive Science Jahrgang: 5 Heft: 4 Seiten: 345-373.

Natural language processing is a critical part of the digital transformation. NLP enables user-friendly interactions between machine and human by making computers understand human languages. Intelligent chatbot is an essential application of NLP to allow understanding of users’ utterance and responding in understandable sentences for specific applications simulating human-to-human conversations and interactions for problem solving or Q&As. This research studies emerging technologies for NLP-enabled intelligent chatbot development using a systematic patent analytic approach. Some intelligent text-mining techniques are applied, including document (...) term frequency analysis for key terminology extractions, clustering method for identifying the subdomains, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation for finding the key topics of patent set. This research utilizes the Derwent Innovation database as the main source for global intelligent chatbot patent retrievals. (shrink)

During public health crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, resource scarcity and contagion risks may require health systems to shift—to some degree—from a usual clinical ethic, focused on the well-being of individual patients, to a public health ethic, focused on population health. Many triage policies exist that fall under the legal protections afforded by “crisis standards of care,” but they have key differences. We critically appraise one of the most fundamental differences among policies, namely the use of criteria to categorically exclude (...) certain patients from eligibility for otherwise standard medical services. We examine these categorical exclusion criteria from ethical, legal, disability, and implementation perspectives. Focusing our analysis on the most common type of exclusion criteria, which are disease-specific, we conclude that optimal policies for critical care resource allocation and the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should not use categorical exclusions. We argue that the avoidance of categorical exclusions is often practically feasible, consistent with public health norms, and mitigates discrimination against persons with disabilities. (shrink)

The use of Big Data—however the term is defined—involves a wide array of issues and stakeholders, thereby increasing numbers of complex decisions around issues including data acquisition, use, and sharing. Big Data is becoming a significant component of practice in an ever-increasing range of disciplines; however, since it is not a coherent “discipline” itself, specific codes of conduct for Big Data users and researchers do not exist. While many institutions have created, or will create, training opportunities to prepare people to (...) work in and around Big Data, insufficient time, space, and thought have been dedicated to training these people to engage with the ethical, legal, and social issues in this new domain. Since Big Data practitioners come from, and work in, diverse contexts, neither a relevant professional code of conduct nor specific formal ethics training are likely to be readily available. This normative paper describes an approach to conceptualizing ethical reasoning and integrating it into training for Big Data use and research. Our approach is based on a published framework that emphasizes ethical reasoning rather than topical knowledge. We describe the formation of professional community norms from two key disciplines that contribute to the emergent field of Big Data: computer science and statistics. Historical analogies from these professions suggest strategies for introducing trainees and orienting practitioners both to ethical reasoning and to a code of professional conduct itself. We include two semester course syllabi to strengthen our thesis that codes of conduct can be harnessed to support the development of ethical reasoning in, and a sense of professional identity among, Big Data practitioners. (shrink)

In this essay I argue that Albert would reject the need for a separate fourth mode of common personal supposition, and that his view of merely confused supposition has not been fully explicated by modern scholars. I first examine the various examples of conjunct descent given by modern scholars from his Perutilis logica , and show that Albert clearly adopts it in resolving the sophistic examples involved. Second, I explicate the view of merely confused supposition that Albert defends in his (...) Sophismata , and then attempt to answer the question: which view of merely confused supposition was his final view, the view articulated in the Perutilis logica or the view in the Sophismata ? I conclude that based upon his Sophismata view of merely confused supposition, Albert came to realize the logical strength his revised theory of personal supposition afforded, and consequently, that he is one of the earliest 14th-century logicians to adopt conjunct terminal descent to resolve various sophisms, a move which gave his theory of personal supposition a logical symmetry having two sorts of propositional descents to singulars, and two sorts of terminal descents to singulars. (shrink)

Electric-mechanical equipment manufacturing industries focus on the implementation of intelligent manufacturing systems in order to enhance customer services for highly customized machines with high-profit margins such as electric power transformers. Intelligent manufacturing consists in using supply chain data that are integrated for smart decision making during the production life cycle. This research, in cooperation with a large electric power transformer manufacturer, provides an overview of critical intelligent manufacturing technologies. An ontology schema forms the terminology relationships needed to build two intelligent (...) supply chain management modules for the IM system demonstration. The two core modules proposed in this research are the intelligent supplier selection and component ordering module and the product quality prediction module. The intelligent supplier selection and component ordering module dispatches orders that match the best options of suppliers based on combined analytic hierarchy process analysis and multiobjective integer optimization. In the case study, the intelligent supplier selection and component ordering module demonstrates several acceptable Pareto solutions based on strict constraints, which is a very challenging task for decision makers without assistance. The second module is the product quality prediction module which uses multivariate regression and ARIMA to predict the quality of the finished products. Results show that the R square values are very close to 1. The module shortens the time for the company to accurately judge whether the two semifinished iron cores for the product meet the quality requirements. The component supplier selection module and the finished product quality prediction module developed in this research can be extended to other IM systems for general high-end equipment manufacturers using mass customization. (shrink)

Institutional Review Boards have expressed concern that research into sensitive topics such as mental disorder will cause participants undue distress. This study investigated the emotional responses of 5,220 Australians to a survey on mental-health-related discrimination. Participants were interviewed about their mental health and experiences of discrimination across 10 life domains and then the emotional impacts of the survey. Results suggested that a minority experienced a negative reaction in contrast to 88% reporting positive experiences. A mental health problem was associated with (...) both negative and positive reactions. (shrink)

Albert of Saxony was one of the great logicians of the Middle Ages, on a par with William Ockham and John Buridan. The Twenty-Five Disputed Questions on Logic treat of central issues in logic, both then and now, such as the nature of meaning, of universals, of truth, and of tense and modality; and the quality and quantity of propositions, the role of negation, and the relations of contradiction and equivalence between them. Dr. Fitzgerald has studied Albert's work extensively, (...) and previously edited the Twenty-Five Disputed Questions from the original manuscripts. This translation makes available for the first time in English this careful and exemplary examination of logical notions by an outstanding medieval thinker.-Stephen Read, University of St. Andrews. (shrink)

Human languages vary in many ways but also show striking cross-linguistic universals. Why do these universals exist? Recent theoretical results demonstrate that Bayesian learners transmitting language to each other through iterated learning will converge on a distribution of languages that depends only on their prior biases about language and the quantity of data transmitted at each point; the structure of the world being communicated about plays no role (Griffiths & Kalish, , ). We revisit these findings and show that when (...) certain assumptions about the relationship between language and the world are abandoned, learners will converge to languages that depend on the structure of the world as well as their prior biases. These theoretical results are supported with a series of experiments showing that when human learners acquire language through iterated learning, the ultimate structure of those languages is shaped by the structure of the meanings to be communicated. (shrink)