Vascular Contributions to Brain Health: Cross-Cutting Themes

As life expectancy grows, brain health is increasingly seen as central to what we mean by successful aging—and vascular brain health as central to overall brain health. Cerebrovascular pathologies are highly prevalent independent contributors to age-related cognitive impairment and at least partly modifiable with available treatments. The current Focused Update addresses vascular brain health from multiple angles, ranging from pathophysiologic mechanisms and neuroimaging features to epidemiologic risk factors, social determinants, and candidate treatments. Here we highlight some of the shared themes that cut across these distinct perspectives: 1) the lifetime course of vascular brain injury pathogenesis and progression; 2) the scientific and ethical imperative to extend vascular brain health research in non-White and non-affluent populations; 3) the need for improved tools to study the cerebral small vessels themselves; 4) the potential role for brain recovery mechanisms in determining vascular brain health and resilience; and 5) the cross-pathway mechanisms by which vascular and neurodegenerative processes may interact. The diverse perspectives featured in this Focused Update offer a sense of the multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations that will be required to launch our populations towards improved brain health and successful aging.

The economic entity and accounting for labour: Insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)

<p>This thesis offers an alternative to conventional accounting in the conceptualisation of the economic entity. Framed by the principles of philosophical hermeneutics, the writings of the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) are explored in order to provide an alternative conceptualisation of the economic entity. This thesis then examines the implications of this conceptualisation for accounting for labour, beyond the confines of conventional accounting. The most widely accepted conceptualisation of the economic entity in business disciplines, including conventional accounting, is the nexus-of-contract perspective. The nexus-of-contract perspective conceptualises the entity as an atomised, ahistorical and artificial fiction that serves as a nexus for contracting relationships among various parties. Because it is merely a nexus, the entity cannot be construed as an actor with ethical responsibility. The normative behaviour of the nexus-of-contract entity is profit and shareholder wealth maximisation. Despite the dominance of this approach, this perspective is limited in addressing the ethical controversies that economic entities currently face. As an alternative, the conceptualisation of the entity as “responsible collective person” – based on Bonhoeffer‟s concept of mandates and his concept of the collective person – is provided to address the limitations of the nexus-of-contract approach. The “responsible collective person” has two features. The first feature is the positioning of the entity amidst various spheres of life, called “mandates”. The “mandates” exist in relations of “being-with”, “being-for” and “being-against” each other. The second feature is the delineation of the boundary of the entity through the notion of influence. The ethical imperative of the “responsible collective person” is based on Bonhoeffer‟s ethic of responsible action. Any conceptualisation of the entity has implications for how various stakeholders are perceived and accounted for by the entity. In regards to labour as a major stakeholder, the nexus-of-contract approach views labour as an equal, contracting partner that has a “fixed claim” from the entity in the form of agreed-upon remuneration. Following this perspective, conventional accounting characterises labour as a cost to the entity, with the assumption that remuneration to labour is adequate compensation for their services. While there have been attempts at recognising labour as assets, the strong adherence towards the principles of conventional accounting have thwarted these efforts. There are several ethical limitations to these approaches. Firstly, the categorisation of labour as cost leads to the commodification of human beings in the pursuit of profits. Secondly, the adherence towards the “hard” and calculative nature of conventional accounting means that the goal of accounting for the worth of labour cannot come to fruition. Thirdly, conventional accounting for labour is mostly from the perspective of the entity, silencing labour‟s own voices. In contrast, the “responsible collective person” approach argues that “the labourer” cannot be separated from “the human”, and that any debate on labour necessarily entails a debate on humanity. To this end, it is proposed that accounting, via its communicative function, can act as a discourse that provides the “responsible collective person” with a wide array of information – information that will be helpful in enabling the entity to become an ethical and responsible agent. In regards to accounting for labour, it is argued that labour should not be negatively ascribed as an expense, but as a significant and important contributor to the entity. Space should be given for multiple forms of accounting from multiple perspectives, ranging from the “hard” financial representations to the “soft” narrative and visual approaches. Three approaches to accounting for labour are explored: the Statement of Redistribution of Income; Self-Accountings from Labour; and Accounting for Labour from Others.</p>

The economic entity and accounting for labour: Insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)

<p>This thesis offers an alternative to conventional accounting in the conceptualisation of the economic entity. Framed by the principles of philosophical hermeneutics, the writings of the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) are explored in order to provide an alternative conceptualisation of the economic entity. This thesis then examines the implications of this conceptualisation for accounting for labour, beyond the confines of conventional accounting. The most widely accepted conceptualisation of the economic entity in business disciplines, including conventional accounting, is the nexus-of-contract perspective. The nexus-of-contract perspective conceptualises the entity as an atomised, ahistorical and artificial fiction that serves as a nexus for contracting relationships among various parties. Because it is merely a nexus, the entity cannot be construed as an actor with ethical responsibility. The normative behaviour of the nexus-of-contract entity is profit and shareholder wealth maximisation. Despite the dominance of this approach, this perspective is limited in addressing the ethical controversies that economic entities currently face. As an alternative, the conceptualisation of the entity as “responsible collective person” – based on Bonhoeffer‟s concept of mandates and his concept of the collective person – is provided to address the limitations of the nexus-of-contract approach. The “responsible collective person” has two features. The first feature is the positioning of the entity amidst various spheres of life, called “mandates”. The “mandates” exist in relations of “being-with”, “being-for” and “being-against” each other. The second feature is the delineation of the boundary of the entity through the notion of influence. The ethical imperative of the “responsible collective person” is based on Bonhoeffer‟s ethic of responsible action. Any conceptualisation of the entity has implications for how various stakeholders are perceived and accounted for by the entity. In regards to labour as a major stakeholder, the nexus-of-contract approach views labour as an equal, contracting partner that has a “fixed claim” from the entity in the form of agreed-upon remuneration. Following this perspective, conventional accounting characterises labour as a cost to the entity, with the assumption that remuneration to labour is adequate compensation for their services. While there have been attempts at recognising labour as assets, the strong adherence towards the principles of conventional accounting have thwarted these efforts. There are several ethical limitations to these approaches. Firstly, the categorisation of labour as cost leads to the commodification of human beings in the pursuit of profits. Secondly, the adherence towards the “hard” and calculative nature of conventional accounting means that the goal of accounting for the worth of labour cannot come to fruition. Thirdly, conventional accounting for labour is mostly from the perspective of the entity, silencing labour‟s own voices. In contrast, the “responsible collective person” approach argues that “the labourer” cannot be separated from “the human”, and that any debate on labour necessarily entails a debate on humanity. To this end, it is proposed that accounting, via its communicative function, can act as a discourse that provides the “responsible collective person” with a wide array of information – information that will be helpful in enabling the entity to become an ethical and responsible agent. In regards to accounting for labour, it is argued that labour should not be negatively ascribed as an expense, but as a significant and important contributor to the entity. Space should be given for multiple forms of accounting from multiple perspectives, ranging from the “hard” financial representations to the “soft” narrative and visual approaches. Three approaches to accounting for labour are explored: the Statement of Redistribution of Income; Self-Accountings from Labour; and Accounting for Labour from Others.</p>

Recommendations for Virtual Qualitative Health Research During a Pandemic

Qualitative health research has been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Various public health directives will likely remain in place until this pandemic is fully controlled, creating long-lasting impacts on the design and conduct of qualitative health research. Virtual qualitative research provides an alternative to traditional interviews or focus groups and can help researchers adhere to public health directives. In this commentary, we respond to methodological needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we explore unique elements of, and recommendations for, the design and conduct of obtrusive virtual qualitative research (online interviews, online focus groups, and email interviews) and demonstrate crucial ethical, recruitment, analytical, and interpretive considerations. Researchers are currently faced with an ethical imperative to advance virtual qualitative research methods and ensure that rigorous qualitative health research continues during this pandemic and beyond. Our discussions provide a starting point for researchers to explore the potential of virtual qualitative research.

Narrative transparency and credibility: First–person process statements in video news

Journalism critics have argued that transparency about the reporting process is an ethical imperative. Convergence offers news organizations opportunities for changed writing styles that may foster more transparency, especially as they embrace video storytelling. This project used two experiments to investigate the impact of transparent language on the way online news consumers perceive the credibility of video news reports. The study operationalized transparency in narrative as the use of first-person statements and references to the newsgathering process. Subjects noticed transparency statements but this had no significant effect on their assessment of the credibility of a story or reporter. The results suggest that transparency is a distinct variable with a complicated relationship to other audience effects.

Designing-With/In World Politics

Why is the praxis of the International Social Sciences (iss) so limited? Why are word counts and abstracts so much more integral to our quotidian workday than datasheets or color palettes? Why do we do little more than write texts and give lectures with – perhaps – the odd foray into photography or film-making? Why are we so reluctant to practically (and so not simply conceptually) engage with the full gamut of material, aesthetic, and technological making? This essay addresses these questions by advocating for the emergence of an International Political Design. It begins from the intuition that conceptual and empirical shifts across iss towards embracing the material-entanglements of world politics, the centrality of affect and emotion to human praxis, and relational ontologies of emergence, prefiguration, and complexity, all logically demand a radical re-thinking of our praxis. Specifically, we argue that limiting our activities to the alphabetical (or visual) mediation of knowledge about world politics constrains our politicality and impoverishes our conceptual and empirical vitality. Considered in conjunction with the contemporary prevalence of global violence, injustice, and oppression, we suggest that integrating a far broader range of material-aesthetic practices into iss is now an ethical imperative. Without taking up that responsibility, we abdicate the possibility of a more worldly and socially-embedded social science. Based on these core contentions, our discussion elaborates on how we might imagine an International Political Design: a conceptually rich, empirically-grounded, and ‘applied’ material-aesthetic approach to iss. We do so in the form of a manifesto or – rather – collage of manifestos that each militates, in one way or another, towards the necessity of designing-with/in world politics.

Os percursos escolares das crianças e jovens em acolhimento residencial na escola pública portuguesa

By principles established in LBSE, the Portuguese public school commits itself to ensure the inclusion of all children and youth; however, when we look at the pathways of those in residential care, under measures of promotion and protection, we realize that this is one of the most vulnerable populations in education. The data analysis of their school pathways presents conceptual problems arising from the organization of age groups. Through the collection of data about the school pathways of children and youth in residential care who receive basic education from three groups of schools in Portugal, we seek to understand information about school success and failure. Based on an interpretative phenomenological paradigm, this study portrays one of the most problematic situations of the Portuguese educational system. When comparing school failure rates of these children and youth with Portuguese national rates, we realize that the failure rate in the first cycle is 13 times higher, the second cycle is 11 times higher, and the third cycle is six times higher than the national average. We conclude that it is urgent to think about education policies in which inclusion, in addition to being a technical-pedagogical issue, is assumed as an ethical imperative.