Recent research showed the potential benefits of robot-assisted therapy in treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. These children often have some form of Intellectual Disability too, but this has mainly been neglected by previous robotics research. This article presents an empirical evaluation of robot-assisted imitation training, where the child imitated the robot, integrated into the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children program. The sample included six hospitalized children with different levels of ID, from mild to profound. (...) We applied mixed methods to assess their progress, during treatment and three months later. Results show increased Gross Motor Imitation skills in the children, except for those with profound ID and the therapists’ positive attitude towards the humanoid robot. Furthermore, the therapists suggest how a robot could be used to autonomously collect and analyze the information obtained in the rehabilitation training for a continuous evaluation of the participants. (shrink)

The ontogeny of the vertebrate retina has been a topic of interest to developmental biologists and human geneticists for many decades. Understanding the unfolding of the genetic program that transforms a field of progenitors cells into a functionally complex and multi‐layered sensory organ is a formidable challenge. Although classical genetic studies succeeded in identifying the key regulators of retina specification, understanding the architecture of their gene network and predicting their behavior are still a distant hope. The emergence of next‐generation sequencing (...) platforms revolutionized the field unlocking the access to genome‐wide datasets. Emerging techniques such as RNA‐seq, ChIP‐seq, ATAC‐seq, or single cell RNA‐seq are used to characterize eye developmental programs. These studies provide valuable information on the transcriptional and cis‐regulatory profiles of precursors and differentiated cells, outlining the trajectories that connect each intermediate state. Here, recent systems biology efforts are reviewed to understand the genetic programs shaping the vertebrate retina. (shrink)

L’Autrice si propone di tracciare la genealogia della posizione neoliberale, partendo soprattutto dai testi di Gary Becker. Il pensiero economico neoliberale è posto in relazione con la rivoluzione scientifica e l’operazione di matematizzazione della natura che da essa scaturisce. Questo percorso porterà poi a Jeremy Bentham, il cui sistema è spesso visto come antesignano degli studiosi neoliberali. Secondo la tesi sostenuta dall’Autrice, il neoliberalismo presenta il proprio sguardo come una neutra e scientifica descrizione del reale, sennonché in tale mossa si (...) annida pur sempre una tendenza normativa. È così che gli economisti neoliberali elaborano un sistema che è altresì prescrittivo, proponendo un modello che si pone sul piano politico; modello il quale viene qui designato con il nome di «utopia economica». (shrink)

The workshop – presented by the director of a new center and the coordinator of an alliance intended to amplify and extend the influence of an established center – focused on the challenges involved in founding, growing, and sustaining centers for business ethics within university business schools. The discussion draws on experience at the Center for Business and Society, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, and the Center for Business Ethics, Bentley College and Bentley’s Alliance for Ethics & Social (...) Responsibility. (shrink)

The current study aims at examining the relationship between the perfectionism two-factor model and burnout dimensions measured by using the BAT through a longitudinal study. A two-wave cross-lagged study was conducted using path analysis in SEM of 191 workers. Results confirmed the predictive role of perfectionistic concerns on the burnout dimensions, whereas perfectionistic strivings were not significantly related, suggesting that perfectionism should be monitored by employers and clinicians to prevent employee burnout. Limitations and future research directions are envisaged.

Institutionalization occurs when organizations adopt policies and practices in an attempt to increase their legitimacy and competitive position. This process assumes that an organization's formal policies (macro‐level) are translated into organizational practices (micro‐level). This translation, however, can fail to occur, resulting in organizational decoupling and de‐institutionalization. Drawing on an institutionalization typology based on different levels of legitimacy (macro) and taken‐for‐grantedness (micro), the article draws on data from an assessment of theUnitedNations Global CompactLEADinitiative, assessing the extent to which this initiative is (...) being institutionalized in the member firms and examining the implications for theLEADinitiative and our thinking about institutionalization. (shrink)

Today’s business students are tomorrow’s business leaders. To ensure they have skills in creating profitable, pro-social, ethical organizations, we need to consider alternative methods of teaching CSR. In this proposed symposium, we will present different approaches to international CSR/Service-Learning.

This research aims to examine access to medical treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic for people living with disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the practical and ethical problems of allocating limited medical resources such as intensive care unit beds and ventilators became critical. Although different countries have proposed different guidelines to manage this emergency, these proposed criteria do not sufficiently consider people living with disabilities. People living with disabilities are therefore at a higher risk of exclusion from medical treatments as physicians (...) tend to assume they have poor quality of life, whereas access to medical treatment should be based on several parameters, including clinical data and prognosis. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shifts the medical paradigm from person-centred medicine to community-centred medicine, challenging the main ethical theories. We reviewed the main guidelines and recommendations for resources allocation and examined their position toward persons with disabilities. Based on our findings, we propose criteria for not discriminating against people with disabilities in allocating resources. The shift from person-centred to community-centred medicine offers opportunities but also risks sacrificing the most vulnerable people. The principle of reasonable accommodation must always be considered to guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities. (shrink)

This paper is the first phase of a longitudinal study of the class of 2014 on the effectiveness of ethics education at a business university. This phase of the project establishes the baseline attributes of incoming college freshmen with a pretest of the students’ ethical proclivity as measured by Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) scores. The relationship between the students’ ethical reasoning and their behavior in experimental stock trading sessions is then examined. In the trading simulations, randomly selected students were provided (...) with the option of receiving privileged insider information about the final payoff of several stocks. The students could either accept or reject such information, with acceptance considered illegal insider trading. The results of the pretest indicate that moral reasoning as measured by the DIT-2 is related to insider trading behavior, with students with higher DIT-2 scores being less likely to accept insider information. The paper also presents demographic differences across DIT-2 scores and trading behavior as a foundation for the longitudinal examination of changes in students’ moral cognition characteristics and behavior during their undergraduate career. (shrink)

There is growing interest in the use of technology to enhance the tracking and quality of clinical information available for patients in disaster settings. This paper describes the design and evaluation of the Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in Disasters (WIISARD).

Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo. Disambiguare il naturalismo di Quine - Quine’s ‘epistemology naturalised’ has been profoundly influential, but it is also highly ambiguous. Quine seems at times to claim only that epistemology is not a purely a priori enterprise but an empirical study, continuous with the sciences of cognition; at others, that epistemological questions can be turned over to the sciences to resolve; and on other occasions, that epistemological questions are misconceived and should be replaced by (...) scientific investigation into cognition. What is argued here is that the first and most modest version of Quine’s epistemological naturalism is potentially fruitful, the second and more ambitious indefensible, and the third and most ambitious not only false but disastrous. (shrink)

Nel Corpus Galenicum sono molte le citazioni del nome di Dioscoride e della sua opera, il De materia medica, talvolta con minime differenze nel contenuto o con commenti eruditi di Galeno. Oltre a queste riprese più esplicite, ci sono anche alcuni passaggi degli scritti galenici che potrebbero avere come fonte il De materia medica. Questo anche sulla base di alcuni n-grams che ricorrono in entrambi gli autori, l’uno source text e l’altro target text. Esaminando le citazioni più o meno esplicite (...) dell’opera dioscoridea in Galeno, questo contributo si propone di mostrare l’influenza de il buono accoglitor del quale negli scritti del medico di Pergamo e il suo rapporto con il modello dioscorideo. (shrink)

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Nell’Ottocento era comune considerare il bello, il buono e il vero come i valori costitutivi della scienza. Oggi si sta facendo strada la tesi che i fatti e i valori siano connessi e che la bellezza sia una proprietà richiesta dagli scienziati per accettare una teoria. In termini più generali si afferma che il bello, il buono e il vero sono tutti elementi essenziali per comprendere le attività che caratterizzano la scienza. Si tratta di questioni importanti culturalmente e (...) politicamente. Capirle sino in fondo significa comprendere la natura della scienza e il suo ruolo nel mondo d’oggi. (shrink)

--- abstract not requested by the Editor.