The history of maternal-fetal therapy is a complex and compelling one. It can be argued that the science and ethics underpinning this field evolved together, with emerging technology spurring on th...

For some American voters, the news of Mr. Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election caused recurrent emotions that were negative, persistent, and intense enough to elicit repeated attempts...

Patristic scholars have commented on the early church’s common practice of drawing catechetical instructions from the creation account in Genesis. One of the recurring motifs in such discussions is the fathers’ use of the Adam-Christ typology with its soteriological and sacramental implications. The present study briefly explores this theme in John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria with particular reference to the baptism of Jesus and the theological challenge it posed to the early church: Did Jesus the Lord receive the Spirit (...) at his baptism? Why did he need to be baptized? What is the relationship between the baptism of Jesus and Christian baptism? Both Cyril and Chrysostom make insightful use of the Adamic typology in this context as they discuss how Christ’s work restores fallen humanity from corruption and death that followed Adam’s sin. First, the study examines how the aforementioned fathers from two distinct traditions view the baptism of Jesus in the recovery of God’s grace that was lost in Adam’s fall. Second, the study will demonstrate that both Chrysostom and Cyril had much in common in their understanding of the transforming grace and work of the Spirit in refashioning the believer into a new creation at baptism. And third, it will be shown that there was a consensus on soteriological and sacramental perspectives among the Alexandrians and the Antiochenes. (shrink)

Purpose Online education can facilitate inclusive societal development. In emerging countries with low investment per capita in school and universities, it helps students overcome infrastructure constraints to continue their learning and reach their full potential, and it helps educational institutes to save costs and improve quality of learning. This study aims to develop and empirically evaluate a conceptual model for predicting digital loyalty (DL) among participants in online accounting courses, as a key lever to execute an inclusive societal development agenda (...) and ensure sustainability of education in an emerging country. Design/methodology/approach The study used quantitative primary data collected from survey questionnaires administered to 167 respondents in India and employed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS SEM) to analyse the data. Findings We observed that perceived learning (PL) significantly mediated the relationship between learning performance (LP) and digital loyalty to an online accounting programme. Research limitations/implications Students’ attitudes and preferences have changed remarkably in recent years. Online education encourages participants to complete their courses, learn new and relevant skills, improve their quality of life and recommend online education to others. This facilitates an inclusive, open society with opportunities for all. The results of this study have certain implications. First, as a novel extension of Abrantes et al.’s (2007) work, the DL construct added a new key dimension to the model. Second, the use of PLS Predict introduced methodological rigour to measures such as R2 and blindfolding processes, improving the understanding of the PLS Predict algorithm’s application to prediction studies. Practical implications The study established PL as a mediating variable in the associations between LP and DL and between pedagogical affect (PA) and DL. These findings have practical implications for course design and execution programmes in educational institutes, especially those aiming to democratise education and ensure inclusivity. Online education service providers should focus on equipping students with updated, cross-functional and integrated skills. Originality/value Online education can foster an inclusive and open society by overcoming the twin limitations of geographical distance and infrastructure constraints resulting from scarce learning resources, especially in emerging markets, such as India. The study makes an original contribution by collecting participant data for online accounting courses in India to establish clearly the antecedents of DL. This study empirically demonstrates the role of LP as the most significant antecedent of PL and DL. (shrink)

Given the comprehensive influence of mindfulness on human thought and behavior, and the importance of moral reasoning in business decisions, we examine the role of mindfulness as an antecedent to moral reasoning through two studies. In Study 1, we propose and test a theoretically derived model that links mindfulness and moral reasoning, mediated by compassion and egocentric bias using a survey design. In Study 2, we examine whether mindfulness training enhances moral reasoning using an experimental design with graduate students of (...) business management. The findings of Study 1 substantiate the positive association of mindfulness with moral reasoning. We found that this relationship is fully mediated by compassion and egocentric bias. The results of Study 2 suggest that mindfulness meditation training has a positive impact on individuals' states of mindfulness, compassion, and moral reasoning, and decreases egocentric bias. We relate the findings of the study with contemporary neurological research and discuss the theoretical, pedagogical, and managerial implications. (shrink)

Individuals across organizations and roles are increasingly seeking a meaningful and fulfilling experience in their activities. Towards that, the Bhagavad Gita advises the practice of Karma Yoga. However, the conceptualization of Karma Yoga in extant management literature is shrouded in confusion with little agreement on its dimensionalities. In this article, employing qualitative method, we offer an alternative conceptualization of the construct. Accordingly, we define Karma Yoga as a persistent positive state of mind that is characterized by absorption and service consciousness. (...) Furthermore, the findings also suggest the importance of sense control and equanimity as the necessary prerequisites for individuals to practise Karma Yoga. (shrink)

This study examines the notion of ‹spirituality’ as a dimension of human self, and its relevance and role in management. Major thesis of this research is that spirituality of employees is reflected in work climate. This may in turn affect the employees’ service to the customers. In the first part of the study a Spiritual Climate Inventory is developed and validated with the data from manufacturing and service sector employees. In the later part, hypothesis of positive impact of spiritual climate (...) on customers’ experience of employees’ service is examined and found to be substantiated empirically. (shrink)

The article discusses the meaning of consciousness and presents a collective consciousness view of business organizations and their development. It proposes an integrative hierarchical framework of three levels of organizational consciousness: material, social and spiritual. The concepts of excellence, ethical and moral temperament of organizations at different levels of consciousness are also discussed. The article describes the features of social and spiritually conscious business organizations, taking some examples from secondary sources. Overall, it is an attempt to link the ideals of (...) human evolution with the potential behaviour of business corporations. (shrink)

This study examines the notion of 'spirituality' as a dimension of human self, and its relevance and role in management. Major thesis of this research is that spirituality of employees is reflected in work climate. This may in turn affect the employees' service to the customers. In the first part of the study a Spiritual Climate Inventory is developed and validated with the data from manufacturing and service sector employees. In the later part, hypothesis of positive impact of spiritual climate (...) on customers' experience of employees' service is examined and found to be substantiated empirically. (shrink)

Media trials, also known as trial by media or media-frenzy, refer to the phenomenon of media outlets conducting a trial of an accused individual or organization in the court of public opinion befor...

Rather than advance novel strategies for achieving the objectives of conservation, Sandler suggests that we change the goals of conservation itself, emphasizing ecological processes through...

Broader outlook, ethics, and social responsibility have been long-standing concerns in business practices and management. In this regard, an effective management education would play a pivotal role in instilling an ethical grounding among management students, who represent the future management practitioners. Therefore, going beyond the self-oriented perspective and promoting altruistic behavior among them would be significant in establishing broader, socially responsible considerations in organizations. However, little research has investigated how to increase altruistic behavior. To address this need, we propose that (...) Yoga-based practices (YBP) can build-up altruistic behavior by enhancing subjective vitality (SV), self-transcendence (ST), and psychological capital (PsyCap). We report two studies to test this hypothesis. In Study 1, a survey-based study (n = 342), we examine the impact of SV and ST on altruistic behavior mediated by PsyCap. The results from structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized model. In study 2, we examine the impact of YBP on SV and ST using longitudinal randomized controlled experiment design (n = 109). The findings of study 2 suggest that YBP enhanced both SV and ST and that YBP are effective, efficient, and sustainable training tools for building altruistic behavior among management students. We discuss the significance and implications of these findings for organizations, management education, and leadership development. We consider the limitations of our study and suggest directions for future research. (shrink)

Viral diffusion of fake news is very significant in India with its 1.38 billion population, because it impacts how the public receives information required to make responsible, informed decisions a...

A number of conditioning experiments utilize food as a reward. Hunger is considered to be a critical factor governing the animal's behavior in these experiments. Despite its significance, most theories of animal conditioning fail to take hunger into consideration while analyzing the behavioral data. In this paper, we analyze the neuroscientific data supporting the hypothesis that hunger and food consumption affect the brain's dopamine system, which in turn governs the animal's behavior. According to this hypothesis, chronic hunger results in a (...) decrease in the extra-cellular dopamine levels in the animal's brain. This decrease is believed to trigger a series of reactions that increase the responsivity of the phasic dopamine system. A direct consequence of this is an increased vigor of all dopamine-dependent behaviors. The level of extra-cellular dopamine is also modulated by the process of food consumption via the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine. Food consumption raises the dopamine above the baseline level. This rise depends on the animals' hunger, which when satisfied increases the level of Acetylcholine, which causes the dopamine level to fall back to the baseline. Thus, extra-cellular dopamine governs the response vigor, with an increase in dopamine resulting in a more vigorous response. This paper makes two primary contributions. Firstly, we present an abstract mathematical model based on the above hypothesis. Our mathematical model is able to provide a simple explanation for a number of behavioral findings. Another contribution of this paper is the development of a neurocomputational Leabra model of dopamine and acetylcholine activity in the basal ganglia to incorporate hunger and satiation. The experimental results obtained from this neural model are also largely in agreement with behavioral findings. (shrink)

We present a characterization of confluence for term rewriting systems, which is then refined for special classes of rewriting systems. The refined characterization is used to obtain a polynomial time algorithm for deciding the confluence of ground term rewrite systems. The same approach also shows the decidability of confluence for shallow and linear term rewriting systems. The decision procedure has a polynomial time complexity under the assumption that the maximum arity of a function symbol in the signature is a constant.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been employed to investigate the glass transition activation energy E g, thermal stability and glass-forming ability (GFA) of Se90In10− x Sb x (x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) chalcogenide glasses. DSC runs were performed at six different heating rates. Well-defined endothermic and exothermic peaks were obtained at glass transition and crystallization temperature. The dependence of glass transition temperature T g on heating rate (α), as well as composition of Sb, has been studied. From (...) the dependence of glass transition temperature on heating rate, the E g has been calculated on the basis of the Kissinger [Anal. Chem. 29 (1957) p.1702] and Moynihan [J. Phys. Chem. 78 (1974) p.267] models. Thermal stability has been monitored through the calculation of temperature differences T c–T g, the stability parameter S, and the enthalpy released during crystallization H c. The GFA has been investigated on the basis of the Hruby parameter H r, which is strong indicator of GFA. Results for GFA are in good agreement with fragility index F i calculations, indicating that Se90In6Sb4 is an excellent glass-former. (shrink)

Researchers advocate that workplace spirituality has the potential to increase “constructive deviant behavior” among employees across different types of organizations and professions by engaging individuals in meaningful ways. This research examines the link between workplace spirituality and constructive deviant behavior. Literature on the issue of workplace spirituality suggests that meaningful work has the potential to increase positive organizational outcomes. This study was carried out on a purposively selected sample of 152 managers from the oil and gas industry in India. The (...) paper investigates the relationship between workplace spirituality and constructive deviance with the help of a wide range of statistical tools including mean, factor analysis, correlation, and regression. Six Indian constructs of workplace spirituality were examined to assess the relationship between workplace spirituality and constructive deviance. (shrink)

Pharmaceutical advertising is one of the most important kinds of advertising that can have a direct impact on the health of a consumer. Hence, this necessitates the fact that it is essential for advertisers of such products to take special care and additional responsibility when devising the promotional strategies of these products. In reality, it has been observed that pharmaceutical product advertisers often promoted their products to achieve their own goals at the potential risk of having an adverse effect on (...) the consumerÕs health. This type of advertising is most often seen in over-the-counter drug product advertisements, and not as often in the case of prescription drug advertisements, which is relatively new. This article analyzes various purposes of advertising pharmaceutical products and also the potential problems that arise from the way pharmaceutical products have quite frequently been promoted. (shrink)

Nature contact has associations with emotional ill-being and well-being. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. We hypothesised that increased adaptive and decreased maladaptive emotion regulation strategies would be a pathway linking nature contact to ill-being and well-being. Using data from a survey of 600 U.S.-based adults administered online in 2022, we conducted structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. We found that (1) frequency of nature contact was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional (...) well-being, (2) effective emotion regulation was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, and (3) the associations of higher frequency of nature contact with these benefits were partly explained via emotion regulation. Moreover, we found a nonlinear relationship for the associations of duration of nature contact with some outcomes, with a rise in benefits up to certain amounts of time, and a levelling off after these points. These findings support and extend previous work that demonstrates that the associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being may be partly explained by changes in emotion regulation. (shrink)

Ensuring that countries have adequate research capacities is essential for an effective and efficient response to infectious disease outbreaks. The need for ethical principles and values embodied in international research ethics guidelines to be upheld during public health emergencies is widely recognized. Public health officials, researchers and other concerned stakeholders also have to carefully balance time and resources allocated to immediate treatment and control activities, with an approach that integrates research as part of the outbreak response. Under such circumstances, research (...) “ethics preparedness” constitutes an important foundation for an effective response to infectious disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. A two-day workshop was convened in March 2018 by the World Health Organisation Global Health Ethics Team and the African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training, with representatives of National Ethics Committees, to identify practical processes and procedures related to ethics review preparedness. The workshop considered five areas where work might be undertaken to facilitate rapid and sound ethics review: preparing national ethics committees for outbreak response; pre-review of protocols; multi-country review; coordination between national ethics committees and other key stakeholders; data and benefit sharing; and export of samples to third countries. In this paper, we present the recommendations that resulted from the workshop. In particular, the participants recommended that Ethics Committees would develop a formal national standard operating procedure for emergency response ethical review; that there is a need to clarify the terminology and expectations of pre-review of generic protocols and agree upon specific terminology; that there is a need to explore mechanisms for multi-country emergency ethical consultation, and to establish procedures for communication between national ethics committees and other oversight bodies and public health authorities. In addition, it was suggested that ethics committees should request from researchers, at a minimum, a preliminary data sharing and sample sharing plan that outlines the benefit to the population from which data and samples are to be drawn. This should be followed in due time by a full plan. It is hoped that the national ethics committees, supported by the WHO, relevant collaborative research consortia and external funding agencies, will work towards bringing these recommendations into practice, for supporting the conduct of effective research during outbreaks. (shrink)

'ā no bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvato ' Let good thoughts come from all around; inspired by this timeless epic of Rigveda. India has presented an excellent model of Multiculturalism to the world. The multiculturalist model of the West, as established by contemporary thinkers like Wilkymalika, is based on the separate political existence of different cultural classes. been made for thousands of years. India has maintained Multiculturalism not only at the socio-cultural level but also at the political level. Through federal structure, (...) universal suffrage, constitutionally guaranteed civil rights, with other constitutional institutions and provisions, multiculturalism is being addressed at the political level for a population of 13 million people .Thus in India , multiculturalism is not only is not only a political tool for diversity but also a socio-political concept. Therefore, Indian multiculturalism presents a comprehensive, effective, and more sustainable model which have to be discussed. (shrink)

In 2016, following pandemic influenza threats and the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreaks, the WHO developed a guidance document for managing ethical issues in infectious disease outbreaks. In this article, we analyse some ethical issues that have had a predominant role in decision making in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic but were absent or not addressed in the same ways in the 2016 guidance document. A pandemic results in a health crisis and social and political crises both nationally and (...) globally. The ethical implications of these global effects should be properly identified so that appropriate actions can be taken globally and not just in national isolation. Our analysis, which is a starting point to test the broader relevance of the 2016 WHO document that remains the only available guidance document applicable globally, concludes that the WHO guidance should be updated to provide reasoned and thoughtful comprehensive ethics advice for the sound management of the current and future pandemics. (shrink)

ā no bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvato ' Let good thoughts come from all around; inspired by this timeless epic of Rigveda. India has presented an excellent model of Multiculturalism to the world. The multiculturalist model of the West, as established by contemporary thinkers like Will kymlicka, is based on the separate political existence of different cultural classes. However, India's cultural nationalism has shown how diverse cultures can co-exist with a common socio-political thought over the centuries. Sakas, Huns, Kushans, Turks, Afghan, (...) Iranians, and Mughals all got absorbed in sanatan Indian culture. Not only this , it also gave place to the different cultures to come, and made the model, of coexistence alive. In the name of nationalities like French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and German, Europe got divided into many nation states, but in India Gujarati, Marathi,, Telugu Oriya, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam nationalities were not divided into nation states. Instead coexistence has been made for thousands of years. India has maintained multiculturalism not only at the socio-cultural level but also at the political level. Through federal structure, universal suffrage, constitutionally guaranteed civil rights, with other constitutional, institutions and provisions, multiculturalism is being addressed at the political level for population of 13 million people. Thus, in India, multiculturalism is not only a political tool for diversity but also a socio-political concept. Therefore, Indian multiculturalism presents a comprehensive, effective and more sustainable model which have to be discussed. (shrink)

The two theories of verbal cognition, namely abhihitānvaya and anvitābhidhāna, first put forth by the Bhāṭṭa and Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas respectively in the second half of the first millennium C.E., can be considered as being foundational as all subsequent thinkers of the Sanskritic intellectual tradition engaged with and elaborated upon these while debating the nature of language and meaning. In this paper, I focus on the first chapter of Śālikanātha’s Vākyārthamātṛkā and outline the process of anvitābhidhāna described therein. Śālikanātha explains this (...) as comprising three steps, and thereafter discusses each of these three to elaborate upon and philosophically defend this conception of how one cognizes sentential meaning. The aim of this paper is to present Śālikanātha’s three-step model, and thus demonstrate especially the distinct conception of abhidhāna for the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas as complex and chronologically extended as contrasted with the Bhāṭṭa conception of abhidhāna as non-complex and instantaneous. Such an understanding of the disparate semantic contents with which the Bhāṭṭas and Prābhākaras use the identical term abhidhāna is crucial for any correct study of their respective doctrines. (shrink)

Hegel's treatment of the Sublime is both self-consistent and distinctive. He not only defines sublimity, but discovers and ranks its types or stages from one select point of view—the viewpoint of God-world relation; and the way he does this, on the one hand, distinguishes him from many others who have contributed to an understanding of the concept, and, on the other hand, enables him to suggest, if but implicitly, a criterion for distinguishing the sublime from allied concepts. Besides, he discusses (...) the matter in the wide context of diverse cultures, making quite a few insightful references to Eastern literature; and, consistently with his own conception of philosophy, also from the viewpoint of historical necessity, so that the sublime appears, in his Aesthetik, as a specific stage which the evolving story of art must in fact traverse. (shrink)

This essay seeks to clarify Gandhi's logic of self-suffering. Its inner accents have not received the attention they deserve. So I propose to emphasize them, though the context of such suffering and its impact on men too must be given due regard.

In controlled human infection studies (CHIs), participants are deliberately exposed to infectious agents in order to better understand the mechanism of infection or disease and test therapies or vaccines. While most CHIs have been conducted in high‐income countries, CHIs have recently been expanding into low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). One potential ethical concern about this expansion is the challenge of obtaining the voluntary informed consent of participants, especially those who may not be literate or have limited education. In some CHIs (...) in LMICs, researchers have attempted to address this potential concern by limiting access to literate or educated populations. In this paper, we argue that this practice is unjustified, as it does not increase the chances of obtaining valid informed consent and therefore unfairly excludes illiterate populations and populations with lower education. Instead, we recommend that investigators improve the informed consent process by drawing on existing data on obtaining informed consent in these populations and interventions aimed at improving their understanding. Based on a literature review, we provide concrete suggestions for how to follow this recommendation and ensure that populations with lower literacy or education are given a fair opportunity to protect their rights and interests in the informed consent process. (shrink)

Using different quantum states (e.g., two mode squeezed-state, multipartite GHZ-like-states) as quantum resources, two protocols for "continuous variable (CV) controlled quantum conference" are proposed. These CV protocols for controlled quantum conferences (CQCs) are the first of their kind and can be reduced to CV protocols for various other cryptographic tasks. In the proposed protocols, Charlie is considered the controller, having the power to terminate the protocol at any time and to control the flow of information among the other users by (...) using a parameterised control switch. Based on the information shared by Charlie with the participants of the conference, the control power of Charlie is evaluated and compared to the proposed protocols. The comparison of the efficiency of the proposed protocols has revealed that, under certain constraints, the 4-mode GHZ state-based protocol is more efficient than the two-mode squeezed state-based protocol. The control power Charlie is evaluated for the proposed protocols under certain constraints. A security analysis is also performed, and it is observed that the proposed protocols are secure against a variety of attacks, including but not limited to disturbance attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, Trojan horse attacks, laser seeding attacks, cloning attacks, beam splitter attacks, and malicious user(s) attacks. (shrink)