scholarly journals The scientific study of consciousness cannot, and should not, be morally neutral

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matan Mazor ◽  
Athena Demertzi ◽  
Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort ◽  
Nathan Faivre ◽  
Jolien Francken ◽  
...  

Normative decisions about moral status are strongly coupled with beliefs and assumptions about consciousness. Whether an individual is able to experience their environment, feel pain and pleasure or reflect on their own experiences, have all been judged at some point as relevant to the moral question of whether they should be protected by law. The scientific study of consciousness has advanced our understanding of some of these empirical questions by revealing the capacities and limits of these dimensions of consciousness in different states and animal species. In light of the tight link with moral status, scientific discoveries in this field have direct implications on law and ethics. Furthermore, this link with ethics may place implicit pressure on the scientific community studying consciousness to justify current societal norms, rather than challenge them. Finally, given the important role of consciousness in determining moral standing, the use of non-human animals in the scientific study of consciousness introduces a direct conflict between scientific relevance and ethics – the more scientifically valuable an animal model is for studying consciousness, the more difficult it becomes to ethically justify compromises to its well-being for consciousness research. Here we call for a discussion of the immediate ethical corollaries of the body of knowledge that has been accumulated, and for a more explicit consideration of the role of ideology and ethics in the scientific study of consciousness, including the question of animal models of consciousness.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Carmen Bălan

The academic literature on consumer engagement and sustainable consumption has developed gradually over the last two decades. The body of knowledge related to the role of food and non-food retailers in this context, however, is only beginning to develop. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyse the existing literature on how retailers fulfil their role in engaging consumers in sustainable consumption. The need for a study with this purpose is proven by the fact that academic literature lacks a systematic review on this topic, despite the ascending trend in the number of published articles in the field. This systematic review is based on a five-step process to ensure quality, replicability, transparency, and reliable conclusions. The reviewed articles were published relatively recently in academic journals from different domains. This review identified seven distinct types of retail marketing interventions (involvement of retailers in marketing actions with the aim to engage consumers in sustainable consumption), 30 types of retail marketing mechanisms (consisting in marketing strategies, techniques, tools, and channels used by retailers), and 14 distinct types of consumer engagement in sustainable consumption patterns. The review suggests an agenda for further research and identifies practical implications for retail management.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zia-ur-Rehman ◽  
Khalid Latif ◽  
Muhammad Mohsin ◽  
Zahid Hussain ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad Baig ◽  
...  

PurposeThe basic intention of this research is to investigate the role of information transparency of financial institutions and psychological attitude of the individuals toward their attention to saving and borrowing. This study also tries to know how an individual's psychological factor affects a person's attitude to motivate them to save or borrow and contribute to well-being by giving them confidence that they can face financial challenges. So, the main concern of this study is to explore different factors that ultimately contribute to the financial well-being (FWB) of individual.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted by using a well-structured questionnaire to collect data and test the developed hypotheses by using SmartPLS. Data were collected from 120 customers of seven different commercial banks in Pakistan.FindingsThe findings of this study show that perceived information transparency positively affects FWB. It is also because transparent shared information creates positive change in individuals' perceived self-efficacy and leads to FWB. Furthermore, an individual's psychological attitude toward borrowing and saving did not contribute to the FWB of people who belong to Pakistan.Research limitations/implicationsThe research area is limited to one city of Pakistan and analysis is done with small numbers of sample, it can be increased and more areas can be explored.Practical implicationsThis research provides significant implications for people and economists by providing awareness about the antecedents of FWB. The policymakers or managers who work in financial institutions should provide more transparent information and create less risky opportunities to improve the individual's well-being. If person, manager and financial institution can properly utilize the information of this study, then they are able to improve their FWB. By providing more transparent services and favorable experience with your dealings, it could help to obtain and retain more loyal internal (employees) and external customers. The loyal customers and sincere employees can increase the productivity level of organization. The more productive organizations in countries means better society and progress in the economy.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the body of knowledge that how perceived information transparency and psychological attitude of borrowing create improvement and upward changes in the FWB of a person.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binwu Hu ◽  
Qiang Zheng ◽  
Jie Wu ◽  
Zhibin Tang ◽  
Jianchun Zhu ◽  
...  

Farmers have been very precious for societies for ages. Their active experiments, valuable knowledge about their surroundings, environment, and crops’ requirements have been a vital part of society. However, the psychological perspectives have been a hole in the loop of farming. Hence, this study has investigated the antecedents of entrepreneurial behaviors of farmers with the mediating risk of their entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). The population chosen for this study was the farming community of suburbs of China, and a sample size of 300 was selected for the data collection. This is a survey study, where a structured questionnaire was adapted on a five-point Likert scale. The data were collected from the farming community to know their psychological and behavioral preferences about their profession. This study has produced interesting results that education, training, and intrinsic motivation play a vital role in farmers’ ESE, affecting their entrepreneurial behaviors. This study will add to the body of knowledge and provide an eminent path for emerging entrepreneurs to find more mentorship opportunities to overcome the limitations in upcoming endeavors influencing education and training.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 989-992
Author(s):  
Mula Ram Suthar ◽  
◽  
Manjry Anshumala Barla ◽  
Rakesh Roushan ◽  
◽  
...  

The Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has affected people's lives globally, since first case was detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world’s attention to the immune system, the body’s defense mechanism against disease. Concept of Ojas is well explained in all ayurvedic classics, in modern perspective it is considered as immunity (Vyadhikshamatava). Ojas is necessary for well-being of the body, and mind. In Ayurveda textbook, the epidemics and along with their management are discussed under the term of Janapadodhvansa. The preventive and curative treatments for communicable diseases of the Janapadodhvansa (epidemics) are Panchkarma (five bio-purification therapies), Rasayana Chikitsa (rejuvenation treatment), Achara Rasayana (good conducts), and migrate to the place, free from communicable diseases. The intake of all types Rasayanas leads to increase of Ojas and reduce all psychological (mainly stress and emotional) disorder, thereby causes increase immunity responses and help to fight against covid-19. Key Words: Ayurveda, Covid-19, Immunity, Janapadodhvansa, Ojas, Rasayana Chikitsa.


Author(s):  
Josiline Phiri Chigwada

The open science movement enables the accessibility and reusability of research output across the globe. Researchers and other stakeholders in the research process can now easily collaborate to add to the body of knowledge. This chapter documents how open science is impacting the role of libraries, publishers, and authors in the digital era. A structured document analysis and web analysis were done to find out how authors, publishers, and librarians are affected by open science. It was found that librarians are taking advantage of open science to provide various information sources to patrons, the publishers are now charging article processing fees to make the journal articles open access upon publishing, and authors are now able to access many information sources during the research process and enjoy greater visibility of their research output. The author recommends the adoption of open science especially in the developing countries and the enactment of policies that support open science at national, regional, and international levels.


Author(s):  
Chipo Mukonza ◽  
Ilze Swarts

This chapter examines the role of green transformational leadership on promoting green organizational behavior. Green transformational leadership has been found to be influencing green organizational behavior. The study uses content analysis and website analysis. Nedbank is used in the chapter as an archetype of an organization with a green transformational leadership which has influenced green organizational behavior. Four characteristics of green transformational leadership namely idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration were used. The leadership engages its customer and rewards them for green behavior which is important for intellectual stimulation and motivating their employees. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on green transformational behavior by confirming the relationship. The chapter recommends that more trainings and educational awareness on green values be provided to the management so that ultimately this are emulated and practiced by their employees.


2020 ◽  
pp. 429-442
Author(s):  
Devi Megawati

This study aims to understand the role of Sharia Supervisors in the private Zakat Institution (LAZ) as well as other aspects of sharia compliance, such as Zakat fatwa on the perspective of Zakat officers. According to Decree of the Minister of Religion Number 333 / 2015 that LAZ as register must have a sharia supervisor. Sharia compliance of an institution could rely on the role of the sharia supervisory board (SSB). Some literature discussing this topic is still dominated study on Islamic financial institutions (IFIs), especially in Islamic Banks. Therefore this article will contribute to the body of knowledge, especially in the zakat literature. Data were gathered from five presiding officers of private zakat institutions in one province in Indonesia which consists of three presiding officers from provincial LAZ representative and two presiding officers from LAZ district. The study found that Sharia compliance in LAZ had many weaknesses such as lack of sharia control by sharia supervisors, a member of the sharia supervisory board who does not follow the latest issues about Zakat or the absence of competency requirements to be a sharia supervisor at LAZ and also did not make Zakat fatwa issued by MUI as the primary reference by zakat officer. This information will be useful for stakeholders, including supervisory authorities and regulators.


Author(s):  
R.Todd Stephens

This chapter examines the critical task of governing the Web application environment with enterprise metadata methodologies. As organizations move to higher levels of maturity, the ability to manage and understand the entire environment is one of the most critical aspects of the architecture. Metadata can be defined as information pertaining to the Web application environment that the organization defines as critical to the business. Successful metadata management requires a comprehensive strategy and framework which will be presented through historical, current-state, and future perspectives The author expects that by understanding the role of metadata within the Web application environment, researchers will continue to expand the body of knowledge around asset management and overall architecture governance.


Author(s):  
Khaliq Ur Rehman ◽  
Farhan Aslam ◽  
Qamar Uddin Maitlo

Main aim of this research was to investigate the protagonist of individual‟s resilience to build up organizational resilience. Individual‟s resilience is much needed at the time of crises, restructuring, transformation, turbulent and unfavorable conditions. Second objective of this research is to test the mediating role of compassion between the relationships of individual‟s resilience and organizational resilience. This research contributed in the body of knowledge while bring new concepts together and the main contribution is testing the role of compassion between the relationships. Empirical test like correlation, regression and Sobel test was run to test the hypothesis. Test of the correlation and regression analysis demonstrate that there exist a positive and momentous association Employee‟s Resilience and Organizational Resilience. Sobel test was used to test the mediating role on compassion and results show that there is a partial mediation, but results are significant.


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