The interaction of humans, cholera bacteria, the zooplankton host of the bacterium , and the environment in the case of cholera can be employed to make reasonable predictions about this climate-driven disease. The issues are truly international and represent those that comprise a global scientific enterprise and encompass many other infectious diseases.

The use of robots had already been proven to encourage the promotion of social interaction and skills lacking in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, who typically have difficulties in recognizing facial expressions and emotions. The main goal of this research is to study the influence of a humanoid robot to develop socio-emotional skills in children with ASD. The children’s performance in game scenarios aiming to develop facial expressions recognition skills is presented. Along the sessions, children who performed the game scenarios (...) with the robot and the experimenter had a significantly better performance than the children who performed the game scenarios without the robot. The main conclusions of this research support that a humanoid robot is a useful tool to develop socio-emotional skills in the intervention of children with ASD, due to the engagement and positive learning outcome observed. (shrink)

This co-edited volume compares Chinese and Western experiences of engineering, technology, and development. In doing so, it builds a bridge between the East and West and advances a dialogue in the philosophy of engineering. Divided into three parts, the book starts with studies on epistemological and ontological issues, with a special focus on engineering design, creativity, management, feasibility, and sustainability. Part II considers relationships between the history and philosophy of engineering, and includes a general argument for the necessity of dialogue (...) between history and philosophy. It continues with a general introduction to traditional Chinese attitudes toward engineering and technology, and philosophical case studies of the Chinese steel industry, railroads, and cybernetics in the Soviet Union. Part III focuses on engineering, ethics, and society, with chapters on engineering education and practice in China and the West. The book’s analyses of the interactions of science, engineering, ethics, politics, and policy in different societal contexts are of special interest. The volume as a whole marks a new stage in the emergence of the philosophy of engineering as a new regionalization of philosophy. This carefully edited interdisciplinary volume grew out of an international conference on the philosophy of engineering hosted by the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. It includes 30 contributions by leading philosophers, social scientists, and engineers from Australia, China, Europe, and the United States. (shrink)

RESUMO O presente artigo toma como objeto de investigação a relação entre literatura e educação. Nossa posição hiante de professor-pesquisador é aquela que nos autoriza a recolher testemunhos de experiência docente, bem como extrair elementos interrogantes de ambas as margens, arriscando pensar a respeito da potência deste encontro entre “experiência estética da literatura” e “discurso pedagógico”. Alguns estudos tem nos apontado que a relação intrigante entre literatura e educação convida os protagonistas e espectadores da cena escolar cotidiana a inaugurarem outros (...) modos de existência, produzindo assim um reposicionamento do lugar de narratividade e de enunciação dos discursos que os constituem. Em companhia de autores como Giorgio Agambem, Walter Benjamin, Clarice Lispector e Roland Barthes, desafiamo-nos a percorrer alguns temas como linguagem, infância e alteridade, dedicando-nos a pensar a elaboração simbólica da experiência existencial através da literatura. Em nossa pesquisa, assumimos, por excelência, um compromisso com o lugar da formação, entendendo esta última como um contínuo e ininterrupto trabalho sobre si mesmo, efeito de certo modo de tomar a linguagem como criação, escritura poética. Nossa hipótese é de que a presença da literatura no cenário escolar produz um deslocamento do lugar e da função docente, inscrevendo modificações importantes, alterando os contornos que formam a suposta postura pedagógica investida de saber-poder. Inclinamo-nos a pensar que quando nos entregamos às práticas de escrita, leitura e narração de histórias algo acontece e este “algo” traz contribuições importantes para refazer os contornos do campo pedagógico instituído. Palavras-chave: 1. Linguagem. 2. Formação. 3. Alteridade. RESUMEN: El presente artigo tiene como objeto de investigación la relación entre literatura y educación. Nuestra posición abierta de profesor/investigador es la que nos autoriza a recoger testimonios de experiencia docente, así como extraer elementos interrogantes de ambas las márgenes, arriesgando pensar con respecto de la potencia de este encuentro entre “experiencia estética de la literatura” y “discurso pedagógico”. Algunos estudios están señalándonos que la relación intrigante entre literatura y educación invita a los protagonistas y espectadores de la escena escolar cotidiana para que inauguren otros modos de existencia, produciendo así un reposicionamiento de la posición de narratividad y de enunciación de los discursos que los constituyen. En compañía de autores como Giorgio Agambem, Walter Benjamin, Clarice Lispector e Roland Barthes, nos desafiamos a recorrer algunos temas como lenguaje, infancia y alteridad dedicándonos a pensar la elaboración simbólica de la experiencia existencial a través de la literatura. En nuestra investigación, asumimos, por excelencia, un compromiso con el lugar de la formación, entendiendo ésta última como un continuo e ininterrumpido trabajo sobre sí mismo, efecto de cierto modo de tomar el lenguaje como creación, escritura poética. Nuestra hipótesis es que la presencia de la literatura en el escenario escolar produce un desplazamiento del lugar y de la función docente, inscribiendo modificaciones importantes, alterando los contornos que forman la presunta postura pedagógica investida de saber/poder. Nos inclinamos a pensar que cuando nos entregamos a las prácticas de escrita, lectura y narración de historias algo acontece y este “algo” trae aportes importantes para rehacer los contornos del campo pedagógico instituido. Palabras clave: 1. Lenguaje. 2. Formación. 3. Alteridad. ABSTRACT: This article's research object is the relationship between literature and education. Our position of teacher-researcher is one that authorizes us to collect testimonies of the teaching experience, as well as extract interrogative elements from all of the margins, challenging us to think about the power of the encounter between "the aesthetic experience of literature" and "pedagogical discourse". Some studies have pointed us to the intriguing relationship between literature and education inviting the protagonists and viewers of the everyday school scene to begin with other modes of existence, thus producing a repositioning of narratives and the enunciation of the discourses that constitute them. In the company of authors such as Giorgio Agambem, Walter Benjamin, Clarice Lispector and Roland Barthes, we challenge ourselves to explore topics such as language, childhood and otherness that push us to think of the symbolic framing of existential experience through literature. We assume a pure commitment to the place of educational development in our research, understanding it as a continuous and uninterrupted work on oneself, the effect of a certain language of creation, a poetic writing. Our hypothesis is that the presence of literature in the school setting serves to decenter the role of the teacher, applying important modifications that alter the contours that form the supposed pedagogical stance invested in the knowledge-power relationship. We are led to believe that when we open ourselves up to the practices of writing, reading and storytelling something happens and this "something" brings important contributions to remaking the contours of the pedagogical field we are inserted in. Key words: 1. Language. 2. Educational Development. 3. Otherness. (shrink)

The article proposes to analyse whether the current configuration of national migration legislation from Arendt's perspective on the universalization of human rights and Agamben's reflections on bare life and the state of exception demonstrates its capacity to protect the human rights of people undergoing forced migration. To this end, a literature review of a bibliographical nature was used, using the historical procedure method. In order to interpret the effectiveness of the current configuration of the human rights of this vulnerable group, (...) an analysis of international and national legislation on migration was carried out, focusing mainly on the case of the New Brazilian Migration Law. To this end, a theoretical discussion was built to understand how human rights are framed considering the situation of migration and statelessness in the face of an increasingly prevalent state of exception. It was noted that the constitutive fragility of forced migrants is a perennial situation, aggravated by the political inaction of nation states. It has also been noted that there is a need for states and international organizations to adopt new practices to promote the human dignity of forced migrants. (shrink)

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults’ decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies) (...) and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies). From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (± 25.9). We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response towards immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift towards more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size) and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size). These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making. (shrink)

O presente trabalho examina uma perspectiva hermenêutica do político presente no pensamento de Chantal Mouffe, cujo empreendimento se dá com o seu postulado em torno do que denomina por democracia radical e plural e da resultante desse postulado dentro de uma ordem cosmopolita da política e o reflexo do empreendimento dos direitos nesse sentido. A chave de leitura que orienta esta perspectiva advém da concepção do político realizada pela autora, em que o antagonismo é nuclear na formação da identidade plural (...) como forma de radicalização do político no contexto das diferenças entre o Eu e o Outro no plano político global. Aqui, os direitos devem ser considerados não do ponto de vista universal, mas das relações que são e devem ser sempre ressignificadas. Neste sentido, o político assume um caráter plural, inerente a condição mesma do social e se contrapõe ao projeto liberal de caráter universalista, racionalista e individualista, que não alcança as diferenças e com isso impossibilita uma leitura aberta do social enquanto modo de ressignificação do político. Por conseguinte, a possibilidade de sua ressignificação quanto à reinterpretação do social e também dos direitos, a partir das novas posições de sujeitos, está sempre aberta. Esse propósito tem o sentido de refletir o debate democrático em torno da relação entre o sujeito político do ponto de vista da universalidade dos direitos e a importância das diferenças nesta perspectiva. Tem-se em vista a proposta do projeto multipolar de Mouffe na construção das posições de sujeitos no âmbito cosmopolita, que não pode ser encarado de modo universal, mas da compreensão quanto a importância do antagonismo constitutivo das novas identidades. (shrink)

Background : An enhancement in recall of simple instructions is found when actions are performed in comparison to when they are verbally presented – the subject-performed task effect. This enhancement has also been found with older adults. However, the reason why older adults, known to present a deficit in episodic memory, have a better performance for this type of information remains unclear. In this article, we explored this effect by comparing the performance on the SPT task with the performance on (...) other tasks, in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that may explain this effect. Objective : We hypothesized that both young and older adult groups should show higher recall in SPT compared with the verbal learning condition, and that the differences between age groups should be lower in the SPT condition. We aimed to explore the correlations between these tasks and known neuropsychological tests, and we also measured source memory for the encoding condition. Design : A mixed design was used with 30 healthy older adults, comparing their performance with 30 healthy younger adults. Each participant was asked to perform 16 simple instructions and to only read the other 16 instructions. The test phase included a free recall task. Participants were also tested with a set of neuropsychological measures. Results : The SPT effect was found for both age groups; but even for SPT materials, group differences in recall persisted. Source memory was found to be preserved for the two groups. Simple correlations suggested differences in correlates of SPT performance between the two groups. However, when controlling for age, the SPT and VT tasks correlate with each other, and a measure of episodic memory correlated moderately with both SPT and VT performance. Conclusions : A strong effect of SPT was observed for all but one, which still displayed the expected aging deficit. The correlations and source memory data suggest that the SPT and VT are possibly related in respect to their underlying processes, and SPT, instead of being an isolated process, is in connection with both the episodic memory and executive function processes. Under these circumstances, the SPT seems to contribute to an enhancement of the episodic memory trace, presumably from the multimodality it provides, without involving a separated set of cognitive mechanisms. Future research using more pure measures of other cognitive processes that could be related to SPT is necessary. Keywords : aging; subject performed task; memory for actions; episodic memory Responsible Editor: Mathieu Hainselin, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France. (shrink)

O presente artigo examina a relação entre as noções de direitos humanos e a política democrática em face de sua fundamentação filosófica, tendo em vista a noção do que se convencionou chamar de Nova Ordem Mundial. Nesta perspectiva, apresenta-se, pelas lentes da teoria da Democracia radical e plural, postulada por Chantal Mouffe, as condições para se pensar uma ordem baseada na concepção chave do pluralismo. Para tanto, problematiza-se os principais argumentos da versão cosmopolita diante do pressuposto de pretensões de validade (...) universal, marcadamente presentes no pensamento de Jürgen Habermas enquanto obstáculo a uma política legítima dos direitos humanos. Esta leitura contribui para compreender as possibilidades dos avanços teóricos proporcionados pelo projeto multipolar proposto por Chantal Mouffe e identifica os principais obstáculos e meios possíveis para pensar uma política dos direitos humanos. (shrink)

Pretende-se centrar um argumento em torno da constituição do sujeito político a partir da reflexão desenvolvida por Rousseau impressa na vontade geral. A leitura que aqui se faz é no sentido da incorporação das noções traçadas pelo filósofo que permitem um delineamento da subjetividade enquanto elemento essencial à formação do político numa perspectiva da relação do ‘Eu’ com o ‘Outro’. Perspectiva que perpassa pelo entendimento que o autor expõe acerca da razão e dos sentimentos de humanidade e virtude em contraposição (...) à conjugação restrita entre razão e individualidade. De modo que, o desenvolvimento desta discussão vem corroborar e potencializar um entendimento sobre a vontade geral não consubstanciada numa unidade substancial do sujeito, mas no reconhecimento da existência de um ‘Outro’ materializado numa vontade reciprocamente expressa e, portanto, reconhecida enquanto vontade política. (shrink)

Cultural routines, such as reading and writing direction (script direction), channel attention orientation. Depending on one's native language habit, attention is biased from left‐to‐right (LR) or from right‐to‐left (RL). Here, we further document this bias, as it interacts with the spatial directionality that grounds time concepts. We used a spatial cueing task to test whether script direction and the grounding of time in Portuguese (LR, Exp. 1) and Arabic (RL, Exp. 2) shape visuomotor performance in target discrimination. Temporal words (e.g., (...) tomorrow, yesterday) were presented as cues in two modalities: visual (Exp. 1–2) and auditory (Exp. 1). Gaze movement (Exp. 1) and speed of discrimination decisions (Exp. 1–2) of targets presented to the left or right sides of the screen were assessed. As predicted, the interaction between target location and time concepts was significant across both modalities and linguistic communities. Additionally, LR participants detected the target on the right side of the screen faster after a future word than the target on the left side of the screen after a past word cue. In contrast, RL participants detected the target on the left side of the screen faster when the cue word was a future word than the target on the right side of the screen cued by a past word. In both modalities, the initial eye‐gaze movement (Exp. 1) was responsive to the cue's time referent, further confirming that time orients attention. An additional bias was observed for the first fixation onset, which landed earlier on the target set that matched habitualized spatial routines. We conclude that scanning regularities are shaped by writing habits and bodily grounded categorical features. (shrink)

Casual sexual relationships are frequent relationship experiences in young adulthood that provide opportunities for many to explore sexual relationships and to construct their sexual identity. Empirical research on casual sex is still lacking outside North-American countries, despite evidence pointing to the need to contextualize sexual interactions in their own sociocultural context. In order to better understand casual sexual relationships, these should be examined in with novel samples in other countries where a “hookup culture” as it is described in the North-American (...) university campus is apparently absent. Through a qualitative study, we explored what casual sexual relationships consist of according to the perceptions of Portuguese college students. The thematic analysis of eight focus group interviews resulted in the generation of six themes, three of which are presented here: What CSRs are, regarding features and types of CSRs, Why individuals engage in CSRs, focusing on positive and negative motivations, and What one gets from CSRs, focusing on positive and negative outcomes of CSRs. Our findings showed that Portuguese emerging adults are familiarized with CSRs, particularly with one-night stand, friends with benefits and “curte”/hookup. Sexual interactions associated with other CSRs, such as booty call or fuck buddies, were mentioned but rarely associated with a distinctive label and established characteristics. Participants described the CSRs in a partially overlapping manner presenting some areas of ambiguity, such as with regard to sexual exclusivity and still-unlabeled sexual interactions. CSRs are generally evaluated as positively motivated and mainly beneficial. This study adds to the literature around casual sexual relationships by exploring and describing CSRs in a different sociocultural context, as well as indicating directions for future research in order to better prepare and empower young adults in their sexual and relational trajectories. (shrink)

This essential new text is designed for courses in contemporary moral issues, applied ethics, and leadership. Emphasizing personal choice in the study of ethics, the authors take the reader on a journey of self-discovery rather than a mere academic survey of the field of ethics.A Practical Guide to Ethics: Living and Leading with Integrity helps students develop their skills in ethical decision-making and put those decisions into effective practice. Its unique focus on leadership, especially the moral dimensions of understanding one's (...) own values, teaches students to understand and, through dialog and negotiation, communicate their own beliefs as a step to building coalitions with those who may hold different views. It is also distinctive in combining ethical theory with both multicultural ethics and a practical orientation to moral decision-making and leadership. (shrink)

O presente estudo se propõe a discutir a relação entre a identidade política coletiva (populista) e a crise de representatividade das instituições de poder que consiste no paradoxo do poder constituinte, em sua estrutura conceitual, inspirada nas leituras de Jacques Rancière (1940) e Chantal Mouffe (1943).

The focus of this paper is one of James Prescott Joule’s scientific contributions: the laws of heat production by electric currents in conductors. In 1841, the 22 years old Joule published a paper with the title “On the heat evolved by metallic conductors of electricity, and in the cells of a battery during electrolysis” where he presented an experimental study of that phenomenon and proposed two laws that were allegedly supported by his trials. On closer inspection, both his laboratory work (...) and his inferences can be challenged. The emphasis of this article is an attempt to understand Joule’s experimental undertaking, its highpoints and shortcomings, by a detailed analysis of this specific episode and by studying the precedents of his work and subsequent advancements. It is possible to point out several serious deficiencies of that investigation, and Joule’s contemporaries, such as Edmond Becquerel and Heinrich Lenz, did criticize some of his flaws and undertook new experiments to provide a sound basis for those laws. Besides providing a historical examination of that specific episode, this article uses this case study to tackle some features of the nature of science that may contribute to scientific education. (shrink)

Making research data readily accessible during a public health emergency can have profound effects on our response capabilities. The moral milieu of this data sharing has not yet been adequately explored. This article explores the foundation and nature of a duty, if any, that researchers have to share data, specifically in the context of public health emergencies. There are three notable reasons that stand in opposition to a duty to share one’s data, relating to: (i) data property and ownership, (ii) (...) just distribution of benefits and burdens and (iii) the contemporary ethos of science. We argue each reason can be successfully met with corresponding rationale in favour of data sharing. Further support for data sharing has been echoed in policies of health agencies, funding bodies and academic institutions; in documents on the ethical conduct of biomedical research; and in discussions on the nature of public health. From this, we ascertain that sharing data is the morally sound default position. This article then highlights the key roles reciprocity and solidarity play in supporting the practice of data sharing. We conclude with recommendations to regard public health research data as a common-pool resource in order to build a framework for stable data sharing management. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

The distinction between propositional and doxastic justification has been of undisputed theoretical importance in a wide range of contemporary epistemological debates. Yet there are a host of intimately related issues that have rarely been discussed in connection with this distinction. For instance, the distinction not only applies to an individual’s beliefs, but also to group beliefs and to various other attitudes that both groups and individuals can take: credence, commitment, suspension, faith, and hope. Moreover, discussions of propositional and doxastic justification (...) have rarely focused on broader meta-epistemological issues, and yet meta-epistemological positions can have important implications for first-order views about this distinction. This volume addresses these and other issues by bringing together 16 essays that advance the state-of-the-art thinking on propositional and doxastic justification and explore how such thinking shapes and is shaped by a range of issues previously neglected in contemporary epistemology. (shrink)

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees’ job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated, of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online (...) survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources, job resources, job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Background: Demand for organisational ethics capacity is growing in health organisations, particularly among managers. The role of clinical ethicists in, and perspective on, organisational ethics has not been well described or documented in the literature. Objective: To describe clinical ethicists’ perspectives on organisational ethics issues in their hospitals, their institutional role in relation to organisational ethics, and their perceived effectiveness in helping to address organisational ethics issues. Design and Setting: Qualitative case study involving semi-structured interviews with 18 clinical ethicists across (...) 13 health organisations in Toronto, Canada. Results: From the clinical ethicists’ perspective, the most pressing organisational ethics issues in their organisations are: resource allocation, staff moral distress linked to the organisation’s moral climate, conflicts of interest, and clinical issues with a significant organisational dimension. Clinical ethicists were consulted in particular on issues related to staff moral distress and clinical issues with an organisational dimension. Some ethicists described being increasingly consulted on resource allocation, conflicts of interest, and other corporate decisions. Many clinical ethicists felt they lacked sufficient knowledge and understanding of organisational decision-making processes, training in organisational ethics, and access to organisational ethics tools to deal effectively with the increasing demand for organisational ethics support. Conclusion: Growing demand for organisational ethics expertise in healthcare institutions is reshaping the role of clinical ethicists. Effectiveness in organisational ethics entails a re-evaluation of clinical ethics training to include capacity building in organisational ethics and organisational decision-making processes as a complement to traditional clinical ethics education. (shrink)