Continuous sedation at the end of life is the practice whereby a physician uses sedatives to reduce or take away a patient's consciousness until death. Although the incidence of CS is rising, as of yet little research has been conducted on how the administration of CS is experienced by medical practitioners. Existing research shows that many differences exist between medical practitioners regarding how and how often they perform CS. We conducted a focus group study to find out which factors may (...) facilitate or constrain the use of continuous sedation by physicians and nurses. The participants often had clear ideas on what could affect the likelihood that sedation would be used. The physicians and nurses in the focus groups testified that the use of continuous sedation was facilitated in cases where a patient has a very limited life expectancy, suffers intensely, makes an explicit request and has family members who can cope with the stress that accompanies sedation. However, this ‘paradigm case’ was considered to occur only rarely. Furthermore, deviations from the paradigm case were said to be sometimes due to physicians initiating the discussion on CS too late or not initiating it at all for fear of inducing the patient. Deviations from the paradigm case may also occur when sedation proves to be too difficult for family members who are said to sometimes pressure the medical practitioners to increase dosages and speed up the sedation. (shrink)

Did Chinese mysticism vanish after its first appearance in ancient Taoist philosophy, to surface only after a thousand years had passed, when the Chinese had adapted Buddhism to their own culture? This first integrated survey of the mystical dimension of Taoism disputes the commonly accepted idea of such a hiatus. Covering the period from the Daode jing to the end of the Tang, Livia Kohn reveals an often misunderstood Chinese mystical tradition that continued through the ages. Influenced by but (...) ultimately independent of Buddhism, it took forms more various than the quietistic withdrawal of Laozi or the sudden enlightenment of the Chan Buddhists. On the basis of a new theoretical evaluation of mysticism, this study analyzes the relationship between philosophical and religious Taoism and between Buddhism and the native Chinese tradition. Kohn shows how the quietistic and socially oriented Daode jing was combined with the ecstatic and individualistic mysticism of the Zhuangzi, with immortality beliefs and practices, and with Buddhist insight meditation, mind analysis, and doctrines of karma and retribution. She goes on to demonstrate that Chinese mysticism, a complex synthesis by the late Six Dynasties, reached its zenith in the Tang, laying the foundations for later developments in the Song traditions of Inner Alchemy, Chan Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism. (shrink)

O artigo apresentar os resultados de uma pesquisa em rede, dados do estado da Paraíba, a qual procurou rastrear a produção do conhecimento dos mestres e doutores que atuam nos cursos de educação física nesse estado e as condições para a sua realização. Para tanto, foi preciso resgatar o processo histórico e articular os elementos epistemológicos e políticos que sustentam os programas da pós-graduação no Brasil, com o objetivo de revelar as instituições do estado da Paraíba que oferecem o curso (...) de Educação Física, seu nome, siglas; o total de docentes que atuam nas instituições, suas titulações; a localização e caracterização das produções oriundas das regiões do Brasil e do exterior. (shrink)

Time plays a major role in classical Daoist thought, explored through different lenses in this powerful volume that brings together both established and rising scholars in the field. It discusses cosmic, seasonal, human, and mystical dimensions of time, linking Daoists to ancient astrologers, exploring universal origins (based on excavated manuscripts), examining issues of permanence and transience, and questioning notions of self and personal identity in a temporal light. Beyond this, the book also looks at classical Daoist visions of matching human (...) activities to seasonal cycles, notions of timeliness in connection with ethical issues, ways of overcoming temporal limitations through self-cultivation, and concepts of vital energy as expressed in art and music. The book is full of fascinating and stimulating contributions, opening new horizons in our understanding both of classical Chinese thought and dimensions of time. (shrink)

The latest academic discussion has focused on the potential and risks associated with technological systems. In this perspective, defining a set of legal rules could be the priority but this action appears extremely difficult at the European level and, therefore, in the last years, a set of ethical principles contained in many different documents has been published. The need to develop trustworthy and human-centric AI technologies is accomplished by creating these two types of rule sets: legal and ethical. The paper (...) aims to critically analyse and compare these rule sets in order to understand their possible relationships in the regulation of legal problems, not only theoretically but also, where present, in some practical applications of AI, such as self-driving cars, smart toys, smart contracts and legal design. Indeed, the purpose is to identify how legal rules and ethical principles can interact for adequate regulation of AI, with particular regard to the fields of application that will be analysed. (shrink)

Drawing on the similarity-attraction perspective and social identity theory, we argue that male versus female interlocking directors are likely to have different experiences when they work alongside female board directors of other firms. The theorized source of such experiences for male interlocking directors is in-group favoritism and/or a social identity threat-related discomfort. Interlocking female directors are theorized to be ambivalent between desiring social support versus experiencing identity threat-based career concerns. These experiences are predicted to motivate male versus female interlocking directors (...) in different ways to reduce or, conversely, to potentially facilitate female representation on focal boards. We additionally predict that economic crisis reduces the biases of male directors against appointing female directors to boards. We test our hypotheses based on a novel data set that includes 25,460 directors in Chinese A-share public companies with a sample of 27,058 firm-quarter observations for 1635 firms between 2006 and 2010 and find most of our hypotheses supported. (shrink)

Obesity is a widespread and broadly consequential health condition associated with numerous medical complications that could increase mortality rates. As personality concerned individual’s patterns of feeling, behavior, and thinking, it may help in understanding how people with obesity differ from people with normal-weight status in their typical weight-relevant behavior. So far, studies about personality and BMI associations have mainly focused on broad personality traits. The main purpose of this study was to explore the personality and health associations among a clinical (...) group composed of 46 outpatients with overweight/obesity in comparison to a healthy control group that included 46 subjects. Both the clinical and control groups were composed of 14 males and 32 females. Several personality and psychopathological aspects were assessed with the Personality Assessment Inventory. The results of the analysis of variance of aligned rank transformed showed that patients with overweight/obesity reported higher scores for Somatic Complaints, Depression, and Borderline Features than the control group. Logistic regression highlighted specifically that the subscales of the Borderline Features assessing the Negative Relationship contributed to the increased risk of belonging to the clinical group. For the purpose of this study, the role of gender was considered. The present findings highlight the importance of focusing on assessing personality functioning in the health context and on specific characteristics of interpersonal relationships to promote more tailored treatments. (shrink)

Drawing on the status characteristic theory, we investigate the effect of gender on board directors’ status ranking and find that all else being equal, female directors’ status ranking is 81.48% of one position lower than that of male directors, a discrepancy that is attributable to gender. We theorize on the mechanism that determines the ways in which the status value of gender on a board affects board interactions, and we predict how this mechanism influences firm outcomes, including excessive managerial spending, (...) social responsibility performance, and firm risk. We test our hypotheses in Chinese firms using an unbalanced panel that includes 5396 firm-year observations for a period of 6 years and find them supported. (shrink)

Ethical considerations arise when individuals who were contracted and paid to conduct a research study and write it up for publication, are denied authorship on a scholarly publication on the grounds that their work was contracted and paid for. Each of the various stakeholders should be considered. Researchers need to make sure that the contract recognizes their intellectual contribution and their right to be named as authors if and when the contracted study is published. If authorship disputes of published works (...) arise, journal editors should have mechanisms in place for addressing such disputes. They should be able to see the contract and have all disputing parties agree to any changes in authorship. If the dispute cannot be resolved, the manuscript should be retracted. Contractors should develop a publication plan and include in the contract stipulations ensuring transparent and unambiguous authorship on any publication ensuing from contracted work. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the Committee for Publication Ethics should update their guidance for authors to include advice regarding researchers involved in contracted work and how to resolve an authorship disputes around it. (shrink)

I argue for the role of trust and cooperation as part of the foundation of digital commerce by expanding the reach of the Integrative Social Contract Theory of Donaldson and Dunfee. I propose that a digital business community can be a community in the morally relevant ways that Donaldson and Dunfee describe, and that the basic framework of ISCT can apply to the digital business world similarly to its application in the offline business world. I then analyze the roles of (...) trust and cooperation in e-commerce, showing how they are important to the digital business community and explaining their moral relevance under a digital form of ISCT. I use the ISCT framework to show that trust and cooperation are an instantiation of the hypernorm of necessary social efficiency, and that authentic microsocial norms developed for the ends of trust and cooperation carry moral responsibility. (shrink)

El objetivo de este texto es proponer una reflexión sobre las teorías sobre la cultura o de la literatura originaria en los diferentes países del Caribe y su presencia en los estudios literarios y culturales del continente. Dibujado con amplias pinceladas, tiene el objetivo de poner en claro el ensayo titulado La isla que se repite (1998) del cubano Antonio Benítez Rojo y, a partir de su lectura, nos aproximamos de la canción Haití, de Caetano Veloso y Gilberto Gil, grabada (...) originalmente en el CD Tropicalia II, de 1993.Los planteos de Benítez Rojo traen elementos que se encuentran en la base de nuestra cultura, marcada por la presencia de los negros y de su cultura por toda América. De cada área y de cada región brotó un tipo de música y ritmo que tiene como rasgo común constituirse en una voz contra la tiranía. El negro spiritual, entonado en las iglesias de América del norte, el jazz, el blues, el samba, el son, el tango, la rumba, la salsa, el merengue, la cumbia, prácticamente todas las expresiones musicales de América, están relacionadas con la música y el ritmo producido por los negros desde que, por primera vez, pusieron los pies en nuestro continente. (shrink)

New Visions of the Zhuangzi is a collection of thirteen essays on the ancient Daoist philosophical work, presenting new angles and approaches. It overcomes the traditional division of schools in favor of topics, sheds new light on key philosophical notions, examines Zhuangzi's use of language, and explores issues of his use of language. In addition, it also applies modern neuroscience to its instructions, explores its vision of the ideal mind, and connects Zhuangzi's teachings to issues of education and community relevant (...) in contemporary society. (shrink)

Esta pesquisa visa contribuir com a análise da trajetória e das tendências das pesquisas desenvolvidas na região Nordeste, apresentando como objetivos: identificar as produções dos docentes/pesquisadores que atuam na região Nordeste do Brasil, com ênfase no Estado da Paraíba; identificar as tendências temáticas e teórico-metodológicas; identificar as contribuições dessa produção na formação profissional e na consolidação da pesquisa nas instituições formadoras da região.

Neste artigo, investigamos práticas de citação de literatura científica na escrita reflexiva do gênero relatório de estágio supervisionado, produzido por professores em formação, em disciplinas de estágio obrigatório em Ensino de Língua Inglesa numa Licenciatura em Letras. Analisaremos, especificamente, como esses professores se representam a partir de citações de literatura científica, e caracterizaremos algumas funções exercidas pelas citações na escrita reflexiva emergente na esfera acadêmica. Utilizamos a abordagem dialógica da linguagem dos estudos bakhtinianos como referencial teórico de base, além de (...) aportes teórico-metodológicos acerca de tipos de sequência e de discurso propostos por Adam e Bronckart. Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que a prática de citação da literatura científica é uma invocação de autoridade com função de erudição, amplificação e ornamentação do discurso produzido, podendo orientar a ação pedagógica desenvolvida pelo professor em formação no estágio supervisionado.In this paper we investigate citation practices of scientific literature in reflexive writing from the genre of supervised pre-service training report produced by pre-service teachers enrolled in the mandatory pre-service training subject of English Language Teaching, at an undergraduate language teaching course. The aim of this research is to analyze how these pre-services teacher represent themselves based on citation practices of scientific literature, and characterize some of the functions deployed by the citations in the reflexive writing emerging in the academic sphere. We use the dialogic approach to language from Bakhtinian studies as a theoretical base, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions regarding types of sequences and of discourse proposed by Adam and Bronckart. The results of this research show that the practice of citation of scientific literature is an invocation of authority as a form of erudition, amplification and ornamentation of the discourse produced. This practice can also guide pedagogical action developed by pre-service teachers in their supervised training. (shrink)

Establishing effective pharmaceutical governance is a challenge for government agencies, private enterprises, and professionals working on the ground, demanding complex ethical decisions from the actors involved, especially in a lower-middle-income country like Ghana. This letter aims to share the author’s perspectives and additional considerations on the analyses of the reports in the paper “It is very difficult in this business if you want to have a good conscience”: pharmaceutical governance and on-the-ground ethical labor in Ghana by Hampshire et al. The (...) letter's authors discuss the need to advance universal health coverage in Ghana, the everyday ethics, and the disparities between the collective and individual moral consciousness of the participants, as well as other aspects of governance in the pharmaceutical sector. (shrink)

Este artigo evidencia algumas breves fotografias de uma dissertação de mestrado realizada entre 2020 e 2022 na Universidade Federal de São Paulo. A pesquisa objetivou buscar traços da produção de significado de alunos de um curso de licenciatura em matemática em relação às questões de gênero e apresentar uma leitura plausível dos documentos oficiais desta mesma licenciatura de uma instituição pública do estado de São Paulo. Para a produção de dados realizamos conversas com dois alunos e uma aluna da respectiva (...) licenciatura e, também, desenvolvemos uma análise documental deste curso através da grade de disciplinas, ementas e projeto político pedagógico. Para este artigo apresentaremos uma síntese da discussão teórica entre gênero, educação matemática e formação de professores; um pequeno recorte das conversas que realizamos com os três estudantes e algumas conclusões; a leitura dessas conversas foi realizada por meio do Modelo dos Campos Semânticos e este trecho será apresentado no formato de narrativas, assim como consta na pesquisa original. (shrink)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a childhood prevalence of 5%. In about two-thirds of the cases, ADHD symptoms persist into adulthood and often cause significant functional impairment. Based on the results of family and twin studies, the estimated heritability of ADHD approximates 80%, suggests a significant genetic component in the etiological background of the disorder; however, the potential genetic effects on disease risk, symptom severity, and persistence are unclear. This article provides a brief review of the genome-wide and (...) candidate gene association studies with a focus on the clinical aspects, summarizing findings of ADHD disease risk, ADHD core symptoms as dimensional traits, and other traits frequently associated with ADHD, which may contribute to the susceptibility to other comorbid psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, neuropsychological impairment and measures from neuroimaging and electrophysiological paradigms, emerging as potential biomarkers, also provide a prominent target for molecular genetic studies, since they lie in the pathway from genes to behavior; therefore, they can contribute to the understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms and the interindividual heterogeneity of clinical symptoms. Beyond the aforementioned aspects, throughout the review, we also give a brief summary of the genetic results, including polygenic risk scores that can potentially predict individual response to different treatment options and may offer a possibility for personalized treatment for the therapy of ADHD in the future. (shrink)

Ljudski se mozak polako otvara znanstvenoj spoznaji. Novi uvidi u način rada ovog vrhunski sofisticiranog ljudskog/digitalnog »stroja« bacaju povratno svjetlo na načine »aktiviranja « ljudske osjetilnosti, načine doživljavanja i spoznavanja svijeta.Cilj je ovog rada istražiti moguću povezanost tehničkih naprava kao ljudskih ekstenzija i procesa u mozgu koji povratno određuju načine percepcije svijeta. Istovremeno riječ je o promišljanju zanimljive i u znanosti prisutne teze o podijeljenosti hemisfera ljudskoga mozga kao oblika podijeljenosti temeljnih ljudskih sposobnosti.U tom kontekstu želimo propitati bioetičku dimenziju McLuhanovog (...) razmišljanja o paraleli podijeljenosti hemisfera ljudskoga mozga i hemisfera civilizacija nastanjenih na istočnoj odnosno zapadnoj strani zemaljske kugle.Područja istraživanja su dakle sljedeća: tehnologije kao ekstenzije i ljudski mozak; lijeva i desna hemisfera mozga; tehnologije, kultura, mozak; ekstenzije jezika i pisma u predjezičkom i predpismenom; »digitalno« ustrojstvo mozga; mozak kao krajnji korektiv tehnocivilizacijskih zabluda.Postoje poveznice između neurolingvističkih, teoloških, filozofijskih i biologijskih stavova o mozgu. Tragajući za svojim odgovorima o izvorima jezika, o determiniranosti ljudskoga mišljenja, o odnosu potencijalnoga i realiziranoga, o sukobima u čovjeku između utilitarnog i empatije… u konačnici promišljanje želi odgovoriti na pitanje regulativnog karaktera ljudskog mozga u uspostavljanju balansa moći kako pojedinih ljudi tako i civilizacija.Science is slowly revealing secrets of the human brain. Latest discoveries on the functioning of this digital, highly sophisticated human “device” reflect the ways how sensations, experience and understanding of the world are “activated”.The aim of this study is to investigate the eventual link between technical devices as human extensions and brain processes that in return determine the ways of the perception of the world. At the same time it is a reflection on interesting thesis which exists in the science on the split of the human brain hemispheres as a form of a division between basic human abilities.In this context we want to investigate the bioethical dimension of McLuhan’s thought on the parallel between two hemispheres of the human brain and civilisations which exists on Eastern and Western hemisphere of our planet.The areas of investigation are the following: technologies as extensions and human brain; left and right hemisphere of the brain; technologies, culture, brain; extensions of spoken and written language in pre-linguistic and pre-literacy; “digital” configuration of the brain; brain as the final corrective of the techno-civilisations delusions.There are links between neurolinguistical, theological, philosophical and biological standpoints on human brain. Research into the origins of language, determination of human thoughts, relation between potential and realised, the internal conflict between utilitarian and human empathy… at the end the contemplation tries to answer the question on the regulatory nature of the human brain in establishing the balance of power of both individuals and civilizations. (shrink)

This paper presents some reflections about an approach in work psychology: the Activity Clinic. After a brief introduction to the conceptual background of the “Activity Clinic”, it covers three deeply interconnected themes. The first concerns the meaning attributed to the development of the affects present in the work situation under analysis; the second discusses the reasons for the conflicts that are ultimately due to these affects; the third considers how a method of co-analysis of the activity can lead towards transformation (...) of those conflicts. Our reflections refer to the process engendered by this methodological approach as one of “transferential activity”. The paper explains this process by empirically describing the “transport” of affects involved in the conflicts. The personal interpretation of the cause of problems gives way to the understanding that they are due to organizational dysfunction rather than to individual personalities. Measures can then be taken to break the deadlocks experienced both at the personal and collective level. (shrink)

A amizade é concebida neste estudo como tendo um sentido político, pois uma condição necessária do exercício político é aquela de considerar a opinião do outro. Em seu sentido político, a amizade favorece o questionamento de pontos de vista fixos e a irrupção de ações inovadoras. A experimentação política da amizade constitui uma relação agonística, de abertura ao outro na qual os corpos estão dispostos a afetar e serem afetados, implicados em contribuir com o aumento da capacidade de reflexão e (...) ação do amigo. Este artigo tem como objetivo discutir a experimentação política da amizade a partir da teoria dos afetos de Baruch Espinosa: o corpo é essencialmente relacional e é na relação com seus outros, na maneira como afeta e é afetado por elesque se dá a condição de possibilidade da resistência à tristeza e afirmação da alegria – compreendida como aumento da potência de pensar e agir. (shrink)

Este artigo analisa a questão da enunciação literária em alguns dos escritos teóricos de Rousseau, em particular a Carta a D’Alembert, Do contrato social e o Ensaio sobre a origem das línguas, além do prefácio da Nova Heloísa. Neles, atenta-se ao modo como a literatura está intimamente relacionada à problemática da voz e do ordenamento das enunciações e dos corpos no pensamento político do autor, configurando assim uma política / polícia da literatura, conforme a distinção feita por Jacques Rancière.

This is a second major text on ancient Daoism, one with multiple aspects and dimensions.