Cheng and Gadamer: Daoist Phenomenology

Two immense influences on my work originate from the seminal philosophers Hans-Georg Gadamer and Chung-ying Cheng. My academic career begins with personal interactions with the hermeneutics philosopher Gadamer at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada whose guiding hand shapes my vision around the idea of merging horizons; Cheng enhances this rich and most provocative beginning with a unique East-West phenomenology of onto-generative hermeneutics. Both scholars provide fresh eyes for Martin Heidegger’s engagement with Daoism in what I call Daoist Phenomenology, and the forgotten “o”: the move from the saying of the Da of Da-sein to the waying of Da(o).

Krešimir Krnjević (1927–2021) and GABAergic inhibition: a lifetime dedication

After over seven decades of neuroscience research, it is now well established that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. In this paper dedicated to Krešimir Krnjević (1927–2021), a pioneer and leader in neuroscience, we briefly highlight the fundamental contributions he made in identifying GABA as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and our personal interactions with him. Of note, between 1972 and 1978 Dr. Krnjević was a highly reputed Chief Editor of the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology.

A new mechanism for purchasing through personal interactions: fairness, trust and social influence in online group buying

PurposeThe purpose of this article was to explore the influence of individual perception and social climate on consumer-initiated group-buying purchase decisions. An extended cross-level research model was used to explain how a new mechanism for purchasing through personal interactions could work.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilised a questionnaire survey for data gathering. The subjects of the investigation were group-buying initiators. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) was used to experimentally examine the research hypotheses.FindingsThe empirical results of the study indicate that the social influence of critical mass can effectively promote positive attitudes and intentions towards consumer-initiated online group buying. An individuals' perception of an initiator's fairness influences their trust in the initiator. In addition, trust in the initiator can positively and significantly influence buyers' attitudes and intentions to online group buying.Originality/valueMost previous studies on online group-buying focus on how social media influences group-buying behaviours. This study extends social media research by introducing an extended cross-level model to provide a comprehensive investigation into online-shopping. It is a preliminary attempt to systematically verify relationships at the individual and aggregate levels. The decision to group buying requires a relationship of trust to be formed before any transaction takes place, thereby increasing the intention to make a purchase. As a result, group buying is perceived as positive when interpersonal communication is very efficient, or when social influence is high.

Addictive Law

Law, broadly defined to include group-directed rulemaking and coercion, has plainly grown over time. There are many explanations for this growth, and the evolution from self-help to law. This Article develops the idea that an important contributor to the growth of law has been the fact that law begets law, and it seeks to combine this new explanation with both traditional and more intuitive explanations for law’s expansion. That law brings on more law in an addictive way means that a society finds itself with laws, rather than personal interactions, in ways that it would have wished to avoid had it known earlier in time that law’s spectacular growth was in the making. The growth of law is thus much more than a product of specialization or wealth effects. For a variety of reasons, people prefer to avoid personal confrontation and to outsource their means of social control. This Article suggests that much of this addictive growth is inefficient and otherwise undesirable. The addiction might be controlled by rewarding some kinds of personal involvement in order to overcome the inclination to outsource.

Management options for self-harm scars: non-surgical and surgical modalities

Deliberate self-harm scarring is an increasingly common presentation in dermatology and plastic surgery settings. Most patients seek help with requests to ameliorate the stigmatising pattern of scarring, which can have a detrimental effect on social and personal interactions. This article aims to provide a summary of different management approaches for scar resurfacing, with particular focus on non-surgical interventions.

Meeting report of the 17th Spanish Society for Developmental Biology Meeting (SEBD2020)

The Spanish Society for Developmental Biology (SEBD) organized its 17th meeting in November 2020 (herein referred to as SEBD2020). This meeting, originally programmed to take place in the city of Bilbao, was forced onto an online format due to the SARS-CoV2, COVID-19 pandemic. Although, we missed the live personal interactions and missed out on the Bilbao social scene, we were able to meet online to present our work and discuss our latest results. An overview off the activities that took place around the meeting, the different scientific sessions and the speakers involved are presented here. The pros and cons of virtual meetings are discussed.

Perspektiven einer Qualitativen Stilometrie am Beispiel stilschichtig abgesenkter Lexeme

Here we outline an approach to stylometry, which intends to be more comprehensive compared to classical stylistic metrics and its commonly used lexical frequency counts. As a prerequisite, such an approach needs language data as a basis for its stylistic analyses. In this paper, we describe the acquisition of two relevant resources: First, we depict collecting and preparing CodE Alltag, a German-language email corpus, which contains formal expressions as well as informal and personal interactions, and thus possesses a high stylistic variability. Envisaging the analysis of the vulgar, rough or obscene dimensions of style, we then detail inducing VulGer, a lexical resource covering the lower end of the German language register.

Personal Discernment and Dialogue. Learning from ‘the Other’

This article considers the theme of discernment in the tradition of Ignatian spirituality emanating from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). After a brief introduction which addresses the central problematic of bad influences that manifest themselves as good, the article turns to the life and work of two Jesuits, the 16th C English missionary to India, Thomas Stephens and the 20th C French historian and cultural critic, Michel de Certeau. Both kept up a constant dialogue with local culture in which they sought authenticity in their response to ‘events’, whether a hideous massacre which shaped the pastoral commitment and writing of Stephens in the south of the Portuguese enclave of Goa or the 1968 student-led protests in Paris that so much affected the thinking of de Certeau. Very different in terms of personal background and contemporary experience, they both share in a tradition of discernment as a virtuous response to what both would understand as the ‘wisdom of the Spirit’ revealed in their personal interactions with ‘the other’.

Knowledge sharing among academics: why organizational narcissism in higher education matters?

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the effects of organizational narcissism on four knowledge-sharing aspects among academics: publications, personal interactions, organizational communication and network interaction. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a sample of 288 research groups from public and private universities in Colombia. The study used structural equations by the partial least squares method (PLS). Findings The results indicate that organizational narcissism has a positive and significant influence on the four knowledge-sharing aspects analysed. The greatest effect of organizational narcissism is generated in organizational communication, followed by personal interactions, network interaction and publications. Originality/value This work contributes to developing the emerging theoretical perspective which gives greater attention to the analysis of organizational behaviours considered strategic given their potential to dynamize knowledge sharing as opposed to focusing on how publications are affected by fragments or specific aspects of organizational culture. The findings show organizational narcissism is one of such strategic behaviours. Moreover, the study sheds light on the controversy between positions for and against organizational narcissism, and the results contradict previous studies that highlight the negative repercussions of this organizational behaviour on publications. In addition, our work provides a perspective that allows for a broader view in evaluating the actual extent of the impact of organizational narcissism, which is not exclusively limited to the publication dimension. In this way, the research horizons of organizational narcissism are also expanded, as regrettably it was long seen as a phenomenon that occurred almost exclusively in the business context.