The aim of this paper is to explore the ethical dimension of hawala, an ancient informal financial practice rooted in Islamic moral traditions. Widely used in countries with an Islamic background and their diasporas, hawala is considered an important vehicle for the financial and economic development of some less developed countries. Nevertheless, in Western countries, hawala is regarded with suspicion due its controversial ethical nature. Unlike other Islamic financial institutions, the controversial questions are not the legitimacy of profit sources or (...) the interest charged, but rather the lack of transparency that surrounds hawala transactions. Yet, the literature on hawala has neglected its ethical perspective. Our study delves into this dimension with a critical approach, using the Triple Font Theory, grounded on virtue ethics. We conclude that if hawala transactions are carried out with honesty, and fairness, this practice deserves a positive ethical appraisal. However, it is necessary to implement efficient regulatory measures to guarantee that the system is not abused by money launders and criminals. In practice, it becomes imperative to bring over a change in the regulatory approach to hawala toward a more ethically, culturally, and economically sensitive strategy. Thus, future research should focus on how “hyper-norms” or fundamental principles inherent to humanity, which are common to both “formal” and “informal,” “Western” and “non-Western” financial practices, could run the new AML/ctf regulation agenda. (shrink)

Este artigo busca ampliar a reflexão a respeito da escolha profissional de jovens, assentado na premissa de que novos sentidos e compreensões heurísticas se descortinam com a consideração do conceito de identificação, conforme sua formulação em Freud e em Lacan. Considerando a adolescência, período ..

Desde la Revista “Derechos y Libertades” se nos convoca a dar nuestra opinión sobre los desafíos a los que se enfrenta el actual discurso de los derechos humanos. La cuestión planteada nos remite a la historicidad del propio concepto de derechos humanos, que no puede sustentarse sobre una razón abstracta, sino sobre una concepción evolutiva, diversa e intercultural del ser humano y de la sociedad. Desafíos han existido siempre y son amplios, pero quizá ahora estamos en un momento de importantes (...) cambios tecnológicos y transiciones energéticas, que demandan un enfoque ético, político y jurídico, para poder intervenir sobre los nuevos conflictos sociales que se derivan de su aplicación. (shrink)

Toda poesía es fundamentalmente imagen, ésta surge del poema como un instrumento incantatorio. Indudablemente, el poeta tiene con el mundo una relación de privilegio, de la que la experiencia poética es la revelación. Esa relación permite sentir como próximos y conexos, elementos que son considerados aislados y heterogéneos. La tendencia metafórica es algo inherente al ser humano, no una actitud privativa del poeta: en cierto modo, el lenguaje íntegro es metafórico y refrenda la tendencia humana a la concepción analógica del (...) mundo y el ingreso de las analogías en las formas del lenguaje. La poesía hace de la imagen su eje estructural, su instrumento poético por excelencia. Por medio de imágenes y metáforas, Raúl Aceves expresa su ser, sus angustias personales, su percepción del mundo y su ansia de comunión con lo exterior para participar de ello, para ser eso. El poeta, "pasajero de la irrealidad", como el loco, ordena su universo de acuerdo con su propio ritmo interior. (shrink)

Of all the different types of public buildings, hospitals are the biggest energy consumers. Cooling systems for air conditioning and healthcare uses are particularly energy intensive. Forecasting hospital thermal-cooling demand is a remarkable and innovative method capable of improving the overall energy efficiency of an entire cooling system. Predictive models allow users to forecast the activity of water-cooled generators and adapt power generation to the real demand expected for the day ahead, while avoiding inefficient subcooling. In addition, the maintenance costs (...) related to unnecessary starts and stops and power-generator breakdowns occurring over the long term can be reduced. This study is based on the operations of a real hospital facility and details the steps taken to develop an optimal and efficient model based on a genetic methodology that searches for low-complexity models through feature selection, parameter tuning and parsimonious model selection. The methodology, called GAparsimony, has been tested with neural networks, support vector machines and gradient boosting techniques. Finally, a weighted combination of the three best models was created. The new operational method employed herein can be replicated in similar buildings with similar water-cooled generators. (shrink)

This research characterizes and compares the job satisfaction of fitness professionals in Portugal between genders, ages, professional experience, professional title, and educational qualifications. A total of 401 fitness professionals answered the online questionnaire Job Satisfaction Scale, which has 16 factors rated on a Likert scale with seven levels. The statistical analysis comprises descriptive and statistical tests to compare the results of two or more groups. Overall, the results demonstrated that fitness professionals were moderately satisfied with their work. The lower degrees (...) of job satisfaction were concerning salary, opportunities for promotion, and stability at work. The highest levels of job satisfaction were related to the freedom to choose their work method, their work colleagues, the physical conditions of their workplace, and the opportunity to use their competencies. There were no differences in job satisfaction in terms of gender and a few differences between professional title and between educational levels. Regarding age and professional experience, the results showed significant differences in almost all factors, suggesting that, as fitness professionals get older and more experienced, their job satisfaction is greater. The results of this study suggest that even though fitness professionals are, in general, moderately satisfied with their work, some aspects can be improved by employers to increase their satisfaction levels. Such findings would assist employers in guiding the job satisfaction of their employees with consequent enhancements in the services provided by fitness professionals, which can increase participants’ retention in exercise fitness activities. (shrink)

Kant entendió su tarea filosófica como un intento por responder a tres preguntas humanas fundamentales - qué puedo saber, qué debo hacer y qué me es lícito esperar. Esta pretensión kantiana puede tomarse como el hilo conductor que recorre los siete estudios reunidos en este libro.

One of theprincipaI tush of the philosoher is educution, thut is, rhe formation of other human beings. mis is so related with moral discourse that it could be said that dhere is no dzyerence with the discome of educa- ?ion, und the latter is ackieved through quesfions and a critica1 attiíude...

The aim of this article is to clarify the grounds of Kant’s practical postulate of the immortality of the soul. In order to do that, I discuss some passages of the Critique of Pure Reason, in which Kant explains the nature of antinomies and the reasons why these cannot be theoretically solved. After that, my next step will be to elucidate the connection in Kant’s philosophy between the moral law and the intelligible world. By doing so, I explore the arguments (...) in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason that prove that there is a practical access to the intelligible world, which is banned to those who consider the problems of antinomies –specially, the problem of human freedom– solely from a theoretical standpoint. I then reconstruct Kant’s view about the nature of practical postulates. In this regard, my analysis will focus on the notion of moral progress, which is, according to Kant, the actual motive that prompts us human beings to suppose legitimately our enduring existence after death. Lastly, I discuss the problematic nature of the notion of moral progress –which implies temporality–, and try to provide some reasonable grounds as to why it is nevertheless sound and cogent within Kant’s system. (shrink)

Na fronteira hispano-portuguesa, a criação de lugares e atividades culturais dedicadas ao poeta Miguel Hernández configura uma «comunidade de partilha», que envolveu a produção de um público definido pela perceção e nomeação de injustiças atrozes, a que o poeta serve de interlocutor. As palavras do poeta trazem à experiência sensível vozes e testemunhos da repressão franquista, até então não reconhecidos na comunidade. Neste texto interrogo as formas de consenso e de dissenso expressas em processos de subjetivação política, do que significa (...) ser interlocutor num mundo comum, considerando que o poder da exemplaridade política alcançada pelas práticas artísticas, em detrimento das narrativas da experiência e dos discursos históricos em geral, parecem indicar que é no terreno estético que prossegue uma batalha, anteriormente centrada nas ilusões e desilusões da história. (shrink)

This article reports on an empirical investigation of long-term use of a groupware system in a spatially and massively distributed network of educators. It is a case study based investigation aimed at understanding the impacts of collaboration technology in supporting social interaction. The paradigm of social constructivism and the perspective of structuration are proposed as frameworks for understanding the impacts of technology on mediating social interaction. Utilizing these perspectives in an empirical investigation, the case study findings demonstrate how collaboration technology (...) can serve as a change agent in transforming the culture and structure of social interaction. This is enacted in two ways: through the various meanings which people construct when interacting with technology and in benefiting from the structural properties of a system through its technical affordances. (shrink)

The compliance-based approach and the integrity approach have been the mainstream responses to corporate scandals. This paper proposes that, despite each approach comprising necessary elements, neither offers a comprehensive solution. Compliance and integrity, far from being mutually exclusive, reinforce each other. Working together, in a correct relationship, they build a harmonized system that yields positive synergies and which also advocates prudence. It enables the generation of a culture of compliance that tends to minimize the technical and ethical errors in decision (...) making. In order to explore an applied harmonized approach, we analyze the audit committee, a specific and broadly accepted regulatory instrument. Formed by non-executive members, regulation requires these members to be dedicated, qualified, and independent as a guarantee of efficiency. We show how the compound of those elements produces positive effects in a context of solid governance. We conclude that it is the strong relationship between efficiency and prudence, in the creation of a culture of compliance, which enables the minimization of errors. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kant-Studien Jahrgang: 106 Heft: 1 Seiten: 165-168.

Para tratar la cuestión de los Fundamentos prepolíticos del Estado cons-titucional democrático, Habermas y Ratzinger coinciden en el punto de partida: abordarlo mediante el análisis de las relaciones entre razón y fe, análisis en el cual ambos reconocen su necesaria correlación. Además de este importante punto de acuerdo, los dos pensadores, que proceden de tradiciones intelectuales muy diferentes, suscriben el mismo punto de llega-da: la conclusión de que es el diálogo público, tolerante y plural, la alternativa a las posiciones radicales (...) y excluyentes que padecen las sociedades actuales. (shrink)

Around the world, many schools were closed as one of the measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. School closure brought about important challenges to the students' learning process. This context requires strong self-regulatory competences and agency for autonomous learning. Moreover, online remote learning was the main alternative response to classroom learning, which increased the inequalities between students with and without access to technological resources or for those with low digital literacy. All considered, to level the playing field (...) for students without digital resources, there is an urgent need to promote self-regulatory competences through offline intervention solutions. The current paper describes a project with this purpose, using radio broadcasting and letters to reach elementary students without digital resources. Moreover, potential reach and participants' perspectives of the project implementation are presented and discussed. The project draws on a prior evidence-based story-tool intervention grounded on a self-regulated learning framework. The original intervention was set previous to the COVID-19 pandemic and was implemented in the classroom context (N= 1,103 students). Once the schools had been closed down, the mode of intervention was adapted with the collaboration of the community. Alternative solutions were developed as follows: (i) story chapters were read on the radio and students received to their homes a printed script, prompting reflection, and suggesting related activities; (ii) students were provided with the story-tool to read autonomously and received letters from the main characters of the story which included, for example, suggestions for activities and reflection. These two alternative modes of intervention delivery potentially reached 394 elementary students, including students with digital resources. Interviews conducted with a group of students were provided information about the positive aspects of these two modes of intervention delivery, perceived learning (e.g., planning), constraints, and suggestions to improve the project. The current work is likely to merit attention from researchers and educational practitioners, given the need to use offline alternatives to provide support for students without digital resources to engage in autonomous learning during the pandemic period. This project may also be used as an alternative or a complementary solution to online modality. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to show how a MacIntyre-inspired business school could contribute to developing practical wisdom in students through its curriculum, methods, faculty, student selection criteria, and governance. Despite MacIntyre's critiques, management can be presented, in MacIntyrean terms, as a second-order, domain-relative practice, with practical wisdom as corresponding virtue. Management education consists in developing practical wisdom. How? Primarily by initiating students and enabling them to participate in communal traditions of inquiry focused on, although not limited to, the (...) purposes and ends of business. The transmission of objective knowledge, analytical skills, and techniques is subordinated to the end goal. We consider traditions centered on shareholder value maximization, the balancing of stakeholder interests, and the fulfillment of the common good of firms. Each gives rise to a particular kind of business school. A MacIntyrean business school is one that seeks the common good of firms. (shrink)

We examine Van Wynsberghe and Robbins (JAMA 25:719-735, 2019) critique of the need for Artificial Moral Agents (AMAs) and its rebuttal by Formosa and Ryan (JAMA 10.1007/s00146-020-01089-6, 2020) set against a neo-Aristotelian ethical background. Neither Van Wynsberghe and Robbins (JAMA 25:719-735, 2019) essay nor Formosa and Ryan’s (JAMA 10.1007/s00146-020-01089-6, 2020) is explicitly framed within the teachings of a specific ethical school. The former appeals to the lack of “both empirical and intuitive support” (Van Wynsberghe and Robbins 2019, p. 721) for (...) AMAs, and the latter opts for “argumentative breadth over depth”, meaning to provide “the essential groundwork for making an all things considered judgment regarding the moral case for building AMAs” (Formosa and Ryan 2019, pp. 1–2). Although this strategy may benefit their acceptability, it may also detract from their ethical rootedness, coherence, and persuasiveness, characteristics often associated with consolidated ethical traditions. Neo-Aristotelian ethics, backed by a distinctive philosophical anthropology and worldview, is summoned to fill this gap as a standard to test these two opposing claims. It provides a substantive account of moral agency through the theory of voluntary action; it explains how voluntary action is tied to intelligent and autonomous human life; and it distinguishes machine operations from voluntary actions through the categories of poiesis and praxis respectively. This standpoint reveals that while Van Wynsberghe and Robbins may be right in rejecting the need for AMAs, there are deeper, more fundamental reasons. In addition, despite disagreeing with Formosa and Ryan’s defense of AMAs, their call for a more nuanced and context-dependent approach, similar to neo-Aristotelian practical wisdom, becomes expedient. (shrink)