Neuropsychological studies suggest the existence of lateralized networks that represent categorical and coordinate types of spatial information. In addition, studies with neural networks have shown that they encode more effectively categorical spatial judgments or coordinate spatial judgments, if their input is based, respectively, on units with relatively small, nonoverlapping receptive fields, as opposed to units with relatively large, overlapping receptive fields. These findings leave open the question of whether interactive processes between spatial detectors and types of spatial relations can be (...) modulated by spatial attention. We hypothesized that spreading the attention window to encompass an area that includes two objects promotes coordinate spatial relations, based on coarse coding by large, overlapping, receptive fields. In contrast, narrowing attention to encompass an area that includes only one of the objects benefits categorical spatial relations, by effectively parsing space. By use of a cueing procedure, the spatial attention window was manipulated to select regions of differing areas. As predicted, when the attention window was large, coordinate spatial transformations were noticed faster than categorical transformations; in contrast, when the attention window was relatively smaller, categorical spatial transformations were noticed faster than coordinate transformations. Another novel finding was that coordinate changes were noticed faster when cueing an area that included both objects as well as the empty space between them than when simultaneously cueing both areas including the objects while leaving the gap between them uncued. (shrink)
This paper presents a new algorithm to find an appropriate similarityunder which we apply legal rules analogically. Since there may exist a lotof similarities between the premises of rule and a case in inquiry, we haveto select an appropriate similarity that is relevant to both thelegal rule and a top goal of our legal reasoning. For this purpose, a newcriterion to distinguish the appropriate similarities from the others isproposed and tested. The criterion is based on Goal-DependentAbstraction (GDA) to select a (...) similarity such that an abstraction basedon the similarity never loses the necessary information to prove the ground (purpose of legislation) of the legal rule. In order to cope withour huge space of similarities, our GDA algorithm uses some constraintsto prune useless similarities. (shrink)
Complex systems can be characterized by classes of equivalency of their elements defined according to system specific rules. We propose a generalized preferential attachment model to describe the class size distribution. The model postulates preferential growth of the existing classes and the steady influx of new classes. According to the model, the distribution changes from a pure exponential form for zero influx of new classes to a power law with an exponential cut-off form when the influx of new classes is (...) substantial. Predictions of the model are tested through the analysis of a unique industrial database, which covers both elementary units (products) and classes (markets, firms) in a given industry (pharmaceuticals), covering the entire size distribution. The model's predictions are in good agreement with the data. The paper sheds light on the emergence of the exponent tau approximately 2 observed as a universal feature of many biological, social and economic problems. (shrink)
There is a longstanding debate in the stakeholder literature as to who and what really counts as the stakeholders of the firm. Likewise, there have been discussions on whether nature should be considered a stakeholder of the firm. However, one seldom encounters any definitions of the key concepts, that is of nature or the natural environment . We seek to contribute to the debate by taking a closer look at what this thing called nature actually is. In addition, we discuss (...) the implications of this conceptual refinement for the stakeholder model. In order to reinforce the status of the natural environment in the stakeholder model, we propose that any visualisation of a stakeholder network should be embedded in the natural environment. (shrink)
En El constructivismo ético, C.S. Nino sostuvo que "la discusión y la decisión intersubjetiva es el procedimiento más confiable de acceso a la verdad moral". Esta tesis epistémica sobre el conocimiento moral posee claramente un costado político: a los fines de atender imparcialmente los intereses de todos los integrantes de una comunidad, "el intercambio de ideas y la necesidad de justificarse frente a los demás" acrecientan las posibilidades de éxito. Por el contrario, bastante menos claro resulta determinar en la obra (...) de Nino las derivaciones de semejante tesis en lo tocante a la dimensión autorreferencial de la moralidad. Intentando llenar este vacío, exploraré en el presente trabajo las relaciones que deberían mediar entre la práctica social del discurso moral y el descubrimiento y la justificación de los ideales de conducta autorreferenciales. In El constructivismo ético, C.S. Nino pointed out that "discussion and inter-subjective decision is the most trustable procedure when trying to arrive to moral truth". This epistemic thesis about moral knowledge clearly embraces a political assessment: in order to succeed at impartially satisfying the interests of everyone in a community, "the interchange of ideas and each person's necessity to justify in the face of the others" play a pivotal role. On the contrary, when the task in question is related to the auto-referential dimension of morality, the derivations of that thesis in Nino's work become certainly unclear. By attempting to overstep this bound, I will explore in the present paper the connection that is supposed to exist between the social practice of moral communication and the discovery and justification of the auto-referential principles of behavior. (shrink)
This paper looks at the current state-of-the-art and at potential changes in CSR thinking in a developing country: Romania. It seeks to understand what kind oftransformations are emerging in this field and what are the reasons behind them. The analysis is interpretative, using discourse analysis and focuses on the articles of the weekly Romanian business publication Capital. The results indicate that the local business environment features the characteristics of wild capitalism, largely contradicting the idea of responsibility. However, foreign actors have (...) recently entered the local environment, acting as travelling vehicles of Western ideas and inducing positive developments in business social behaviour. This study upholds that emerging trends in the business social thinking in Romania are not an outcome of local societal expectations but, rather, are brought from abroad and sold to the local community. (shrink)
The popularity of Fair Trade is increasing swiftly in many parts of the World. However, there is still a paucity of research analysing the northern fair trade actors outside the Anglo-American communities. This paper contributes by presenting a qualitative study of how the Finnish World Shop movements’ key actors understand the movement’s role and position in the rapidly changing operating environment. The study depicts the polyphonic nature of this particular democratic social movement and discusses how success, public trust and the (...) importance of different stakeholders become constructed in various ways within it. (shrink)
The study analyses how the corporate rhetoric of sustainability has developed in Finland during 1985-2005. The dataset consisting of the disclosures of four leading Finnish companies has been analyzed through discourse analytic methods. The findings question whether the ever-increasing popularity of sustainability-related concepts actually means that society is moving forward on the road towards sustainability.
The study provides insights on why large Finnish municipalities are engaging in sustainability reporting. The dataset consists of the sustainability disclosures of five large Finnish cities and of a set of interviews conducted with the personnel responsible for composing the sustainability reports in these cities. Preliminary findings suggest that this rising practice is again an example of a fad, arising as the public sector organizations mimic the corporate sector without anyone really pondering whether the municipalities and the public sector as (...) a whole truly need a similar practice the corporations have. We maintain that there are better ways to use a municipality’s scarce resources than imitating the corporate sustainability reporting practices through producing a sustainability report, the main task of which seems to be to exist. (shrink)
Este trabajo esboza una forma de justificar el principio estructurador central de una teoría veritista de la evaluación epistémica, en respuesta a críticas planteadas por Eleonora Cresto a mi defensa del veritismo frente a una serie de objeciones en el sentido de que no es capaz de explicar la naturaleza y el valor del entendimiento. La primera sección presenta el esbozo de justificación del núcleo de una teoría veritista; la segunda responde a críticas más específicas de Cresto. This paper sketches (...) a way to justify the central tenet of a veritistic theory of epistemic evaluation, in response to problems raised by Eleonora Cresto concerning my defense of veritism, against a series of objetions to the effect that veritistic epistemology is uncapable of explaining the nature and value of understanding. The first section presents the sketch of justification of the nucleus of a veritistic theory, the second responds to some of Cresto's more specific criticisms. (shrink)
