Malaysian corporations have to disclose corporate social responsibility, and a typical genre for disclosure is CSR reports. These reports incorporate other discourses which indicate the presence of interdiscursivity. The article examines interdiscursivity in Malaysian CSR reports. It selects the CSR reports of 10 major corporations and pursues an interdiscursive analysis which involves four sequential stages. CSR reports contain discourses of public relations, sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting. Although the discourses are often multisemiotic, language maintains primacy in content, while (...) image tends to exemplify or simplify content. These discourses constitute an interdiscursive profile, and it has central and auxiliary discourses. The central discourse is public relations discourse, and it promotes corporations helping and not harming society. The auxiliary discourses are sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting discourses, and these discourses mitigate the promotional focus. Interdiscursivity enables the primarily promotional CSR reports to not seem overtly promotional. The choice of discourses is probably influenced by coercive, mimetic and normative reasons. These discourses enhance the reliability of CSR reports because their disclosure is anchored to various CSR aspects, international or reporting practices and professional domains. Interdiscursivity helps to build stakeholders’ confidence in disclosure and, therefore, in corporations. It joins other functions in CSR reports to convey corporations as agents of positive social change. The article also probes the relationship between interdiscursivity and intertextuality and advances a matrix of intertextual–interdiscursive use. (shrink)

Industrial animal agriculture is a significant driver of climate change, habitat loss, and the ongoing extinction crisis, all of which will continue to accelerate as global demand for animal products grows. Plant-based alternatives to animal products, which have existed for over a thousand years, offer a potential solution to this problem, as the intersection of recent technological innovation and shifting capital investment trends have ushered in a new era of alternative proteins that are redefining food categories like meat, eggs, and (...) milk. To better understand these evolving food forms, their attendant technologies, and the opportunities they afford for ameliorating the impacts of industrial animal farming, this article provides a genealogy of plant-based alternative proteins, with a particular focus on the current era and the role that design principles like biomimicry and skeuomorphism play in reproducing the organoleptic properties (the sensorial, experiential aspects) of animal products. Comparing the alternative protein market to other markets in which more sustainable foods and energy have failed to displace their environmentally destructive counterparts, it concludes by considering if whether creating novel new protein forms, rather than imitating conventional animal products, may afford a more promising path toward transformation of the food system. (shrink)

What is Understanding? This is the first of a series of Chats with OpenAI’s ChatGPT (Chat). The main goal is to obtain Chat’s response to a series of questions about the concept of ’understand- ing’. The approach is a conversational approach where the author (labeled as user) asks (prompts) Chat, obtains a response, and then uses the response to formulate followup questions. David Deutsch’s assertion of the primality of the process / capability of understanding is used as the starting point. (...) Understanding is posited as a major step in the Big Picture description of emergence in the Universe. Understanding follows the emergence of Brains and Minds, culminating in Power Over the Universe. My evaluation suggests that Chat does indeed offer utility, but also has limitations manifested by overly general responses that do not focus tightly on the questions asked. Chat does yield some gems that could be easily missed. The approach used here includes creating Metaprompts, wherein Chat is asked to create more efficient prompts based on initial promptsThis approach appears to hold significant promise, and will likely be of benefit to those exploring various facets of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Large Language Models (LLMs) and designers of Advanced General Intelligence (AGI). Other findings include the need for creating new metrics and ways of discussing intelligence, and various adjacent areas and subprocesses associated with intelligence. Discussions of future directions is also included. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é examinar a noção de ‘existência’ na crítica de Gassendi à prova ontológica cartesiana da Quinta Meditação, a fim de tentar avaliar que pressupostos lógicos e metafísicos estão implicados tanto na afirmação de Gassendi segundo a qual a existência não é uma perfeição, como em sua outra objeção adicional, na qual ele utiliza a lógica dos predicáveis para combater a tese cartesiana de que a existência é uma propriedade.

In this paper, I investigate whether the pursuit of group-based social equality should constitute a political goal or not. I explain that social equality refers to the mechanism for horizontal presentation of opportunities to individuals in a given society to express their abilities. It could also mean the right to vie, contest, compete or take advantage of certain opportunities or even to the freedom to pursue or obtain certain opportunities among free citizens in any society. I argue that the position (...) of the mainstream European South African population seems to be that this should be an individual-based exercise since the sectional policy of apartheid has been disestablished. However, the majority of native South Africans appear to hold that since the post-apartheid South African society is heavily lopsided that the pursuit of social equality, especially by the natives who experience great economic disadvantage as a political goal, should be group-based in order to address comprehensively the social and economic ills of apartheid. This groupbased approach is challenged by European South Africans who argue that it introduces another form of inequality that places them at a disadvantage. I will analyze the arguments on both sides and attempt to justify the group-based approach in the light of the post-apartheid peculiar circumstances of native South Africans. Keywords: social equality, political goal, individual, group, South African society, apartheid. (shrink)

Aperfeiçoar a formação de professores de Química, por meio do desenvolvimento de projetos e ações que pudessem fortalecer o campo da prática, e conduzir o licenciando para o exercício reflexivo da relação entre teoria e prática profissional docente, utilizando, para isso, atividades diversas sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem escolar, entre outras didáticas e metodologias, imersos de forma continua, sistematizada, orientada e coordenada, foram os alvos do projeto da residência pedagógica em Química do curso de Licenciatura em Química da Universidade (...) Federal de Mato Grosso – Brasil, desenvolvido no período de agosto de 2018 a janeiro de 2020. Neste artigo, apresentamos e dicutimos essa experiência, com foco na transformação da noção de processo formativo, tanto para o licenciando, quanto para a instituição formadora, que se fundamentou na epistemologia da prática para transformar o conhecimento produzido através do estágio supervisionado. A realidade profissional gritou suas necessidades e estas puderam ser tratadas, discutidas, teorizadas, problematizadas a partir do programa da residência. Ao que tudo indica, o sucesso de uma formação inicial exitosa está no ambiente profissional e não necessariamente na universidade. (shrink)

Recently the Principia Cybernetica Project undertook a computer‐based collaborative effort to develop a unified system of philosophy. The philosophy and its implementation are explicitly based on evolutionary principles of variation and natural selection (VNS) and a fundamental type of emergence called MetaSystem Transition (MST) which increases the overall freedom and adaptivity of systems. MST, conceived and articulated by Turchin (1977), occurs when a control subsystem is replicated and integrated into a whole through a higher level VNS generated control subsystem. Turchin (...) also articulated the concept of “the will to immortality” which led to Heylighen's (1991) formulation of cybernetic immortality (CI) contingent on immortal meme systems, metarational consciousness, and limitless knowledge. A possible direction of future evolution is the emergence of further levels of organization realized in "superbeing/metabeings.” The precise configuration of these “beings” is still open; an aspect or totality of which may be viewed as "cybernetic immortality.” In this paper, I review aspects of memes and MST as the basis for cybernetic immortality, discuss the potential for further MetaSystem Transitions in humans and human culture (trans‐sapiens and trans‐culture) , generalized CI constructs and interactions between cybernetically immortal constructs. Finally, some reflections are offered concerning the role of CI constructs in future evolution and the evolution of the future. (shrink)

Memetic Science is the name of a new field that deals with the quantitativeanalysis of cultural transfer.The units of cultural transfer are entities called "memes". In a nutshell, memes are to cultural and mental constructs as genesare to biological organisms. Examplesof memesare ideas,tunes, fashions, and virtuallyany culturaland behavioral unit that gets copiedwitha certaindegree of fidelity. It is arguedthat the under standing of memes is of similar importance and consequence as the understanding of processes involving DNA and RNA in molecular biology.Thispaperpresentsa (...) rigorousfoundation fordiscussion ofmemes and approaches to quantifying relevantaspects of memegenesis, inter action, mutation, growth,deathand spreadingprocesses. It is also argued inthispaper that recombinant memetics is possible incomplete analogy to recombinant DNA/ genetic engineering. Special attention is paid to memes in written modern English. (shrink)

In this paper we focus on conversational thinking to demonstrate the value of public reasoning in building a decent world and true democracies. We shall take into account the views of selected scholars, especially John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas, on law and democratic practice, to explain why post-colonial Africa is weighed down by sociopolitical hegemonies that have aversion to their opposition and eliminate room for strong institutions, rule of law and human rights. In light of conversational thinking, this eliminates any (...) chance for “creative struggle,” i.e. a philosophers struggle against the post-colonial imaginary/social agents to dethrone strong individuals and create strong institutions. In the absence of these indices which a conversational orientation may engender, it is difficult to transform bogus democracy into true democracy and thus to create a decent society. Post-colonial Africa mired in social regression, political crisis and economic stagnation urgently needs conversational tonics to overcome the ineffectiveness of bogus democracy. We postulate a thesis about three structural transformations forming what we call Democratic Transformational Programme. (shrink)

The Fundamentals of Care Framework is an evidence‐based, theory‐informed framework that conceptualises high‐quality fundamental care. The Framework places the nurse–patient relationship at the centre of care provision and outlines the nurse behaviours required for relationship development. Numerous instruments exist to measure behavioural aspects of the nurse–patient relationship; however, the literature offers little guidance on which instruments are psychometrically sound and best measure the core relationship elements of the Fundamentals of Care Framework. This study evaluated the quality of nurse–patient relationship instruments (...) by (1) assessing their content development and measurement properties (e.g. dimensionality, targeting, reliability, validity) and (2) mapping instrument content to the Framework's core relationship elements: trust, focus, anticipate, know, and evaluate. Twenty‐seven instruments were evaluated. Findings demonstrated that patients and nurses were rarely involved in item development. Most instruments exhibited poor measurement properties, with only one instrument having complete information on all quality indicators. Instrument content focused primarily on nurses getting to know patients and earning their trust, with only 54, 18, and 1 item(s), respectively, measuring ‘focus’, ‘anticipate’ and ‘evaluate’. Hence, there does not appear to be a robust instrument measuring behavioural aspects of nurse–patient relationships, nor one capturing the relationship elements of the Fundamentals of Care Framework. (shrink)

The ongoing debate among African philosophers on the relation of the individual and the community has spawned radical, moderate, and limited communitarian views. In this paper we will insert the question of interpersonal communication into the individual-community conundrum and raise the discourse to the level of cross-cultural engagement. We will highlight the dominant perspectives in Afro-communitarianism with particular emphasis on the Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye and the Nigerian philosopher Ifeanyi Menkiti. Expanding the discourse into the domain of intercultural/comparative philosophy, this (...) paper will engage Gyekye and Menkiti’s Afro-communitarianism and Jean-Paul Sartre’s radical individualism and the resulting conflictual presentation of interpersonal relation. The paper adopts the conversational method. Keywords: Ifeanyi Menkiti, Kwame Gyekye, Afro-communitarianism, community, individual, Jean-Paul Sartre. (shrink)

The ongoing debate among African philosophers on the relation of the individual and the community has spawned radical, moderate, and limited communitarian views. In this paper we will insert the question of interpersonal communication into the individual-community conundrum and raise the discourse to the level of cross-cultural engagement. We will highlight the dominant perspectives in Afro-communitarianism with particular emphasis on the Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye and the Nigerian philosopher Ifeanyi Menkiti. Expanding the discourse into the domain of intercultural/comparative philosophy, this (...) paper will engage Gyekye and Menkiti’s Afro-communitarianism and Jean-Paul Sartre’s radical individualism and the resulting conflictual presentation of interpersonal relation. The paper adopts the conversational method. (shrink)

Comparative study of Sankhya and Nyaya Schools of Hindu philosophy with special reference of causation.

At the height of the Great Debate about the existence or otherwise of African philosophy, Kwasi Wiredu bemoaned the dearth of originality in the practice of African philosophy. For him, African philosophers should now go beyond talking about African philosophy and get down to actually doing it. But what does it mean to do African philosophy? And what is the importance of actually doing African philosophy? In this paper, I will argue that doing African philosophy should involve, among other things, (...) system-building. I will argue that the growth of the discipline and the advancement of Africa’s intellectual history constitute strong reasons for African philosophers to aim at building systems in this era. I will highlight existing attempts at system-building in African philosophy and show their weaknesses in order to project conversational thinking as a better framework. I will conclude by arguing that systembuilding is part of the overall goal of conversational philosophy, which has been demonstrated in some quarters as the future direction of African philosophy. Keywords : African philosophy, system-building, conversational thinking, conversational philosophy. (shrink)

This book introduces concepts in philosophy of mind and neurophilosophy. Inside, three scholars offer approaches to the problems of identity, consciousness, and the mind. In the process, they open new vistas for thought and raise fresh controversies to some of the oldest problems in philosophy. The first chapter focuses on the identity problem. The author employs an explanatory model he christened sense-phenomenalism to defend the thesis that personal identity is something or a phenomenon that pertains to the observable/perceptible aspect of (...) the human person. The next chapter explores the problem of consciousness. It deploys the new concept equiphenomenalism as a model to show that mental properties are not by-products but necessary products of consciousness. Herein, the notion of qualia is a fundamental and necessary product that must be experienced simultaneously with neural activities for consciousness to be possible. The last chapter addresses the mind/body problem. It adopts the new concept proto-phenomenalism as an alternative explanatory model. This model eliminates the idea of a mind. As such, it approaches the mind-body problem from a materialistic point of view with many implications such as, the meaning of our existence, the possibility of thought engineering as well as religious implications. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

ḥeleḳ 1. Liḳuṭ ʻinyanim niflaʼim ʻal godel ḳedushat ha-Shabat -- ḥeleḳ 2. Liḳuṭ ʻinyanim niflaʼim ʻal tefilot u-seʻudot Shabat.

Buildings are constructed for accommodating living and industrial needs. Floor cleaning robots have been developed to cater to the demand of these buildings. Area coverage and coverage time are crucial performance factors of a floor cleaning robot. Reconfigurable tiling robots have been introduced over fixed shape robots to improve area coverage in floor cleaning applications compared to robots with fixed morphologies. However, area coverage and coverage time of a tiling robot compromised one another. This study proposes a novel concept that (...) considers the ability of a tiling robot to configure both its morphology and size according to the environment. This concept is inspired by the pleomorphism that could be seen in bacteria. In this regard, P-hTetro, a pleomorphic tiling robot that can reconfigure its morphology and size, is considered. A novel coverage strategy for realizing the size reconfiguration is also proposed. According to this strategy, the robot covers obstacle-free areas with its maximum size, while an obstacle cluster is covered after shrinking to an optimum size. The optimum size for reconfiguration is determined by the genetic algorithm based on the arrangement of the environment. The performance and behavior of the proposed P-hTetro have been compared against that of an existing tiling robot which has a fixed size. According to the statistical outcomes, a tiling robot with the ability to reconfigure its size can significantly improve the performance in the aspects of area coverage and coverage time compared to a tiling robot with no ability to reconfigure its size. (shrink)