A Model for Detection and Prevention of Unbalanced Bid in the Public Work Procurement Process in India

Indian Public procurement works contribute almost 30% of the total GDP, most of the large and massively funded projects are public-funded, utilizing the tax collected from the citizens of the country. Hence, any discrepancies associated with such projects have direct implications on the taxpayers. The public procurement process, due to legal bindings and ethics is prone to various malpractices, that affect the overall performance of the system. Hence, it becomes imperative to prevent anomalies associated with the public procurement process. One of the anomalies associated with public procurement is an Unbalanced bid, a method of redistributing the project cost such that it varies from the Engineer’s Estimate. The ethics related to Unbalanced bid varies, contractors state that unbalanced bidding is moral and find its application beneficial to the project performance while clients and officials opine that an unbalanced bid is an unethical practice to jeopardize project progress and client’s money. The unbalanced bid can be of four types – Quantity Error Exploitation, Front-loaded Bid, Back loaded Bid, and Collusive bid. The research intends to propose a model to detect and prevent unbalanced bids respecting the constraints of the public procurement process in India, enhancing project performance, and protecting tax payer’s money.

Godaan Versus Integritas Seorang Hakim dalam Cerpen “Yang Mulia” Karya Insan Budi Maulana (Pendekatan Psikoanalisis Sigmund Freud)

This research is based on the short story "Yang Mulia" by Insan Budi Maulana, indicated to reflect the reality of law enforcement practices. There are unethical practices carried out by law enforcers (judges). This unethical practice becomes biased because it is done by many people and becomes collective knowledge. Therefore, the problem in this study is how the inner turmoil of the characters (id, ego, superego) in the short story. Does Hakim Subakti work to have integrity or is he hesitant to face temptation. This study aims to reveal the id, ego, superego of the characters in the short story. The research approach used was Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. The qualitative descriptive research method was used to analyze the data. The words, phrases and sentences in the short stories are interpreted with a literary psychology approach. The results showed that Hakim Subakti's inner turmoil when he was rewarded by party litigants. Money (reward) is able to change a judge who initially has integrity (superego dominant), becomes doubtful and tempted (toward the id and dominant ego).

Too Good To Be True: Influencing Credibility Perceptions with Signaling Reference Explicitness and Assurance Depth

We investigate how the selection of assurance topics and the format of their communication influence the credibility perception of sustainability report readers. This is important because misleading communication may discredit ethical sustainability assurance practices. Based on signaling theory and using an experimental approach, we are the first to examine false credibility signals in the context of sustainability assurance. We find that two variables related to sustainability assurance, reference explicitness and assurance depth, jointly influence the assurance signal and the perceived credibility of a sustainability report. Our findings indicate that readers are not at risk of false signaling but can make incorrect interpretations of the assurance signal and might respond negatively to well-intentioned signals. The main implications of our findings are that firms should refrain from increasing reference explicitness and should select only the most material topics. Taken together, our results provide new insights on the unethical practice of false signaling and provide an example of an incorrect signal interpretation by readers.

Reflexiones sobre el plagio académico

Esta investigación centra la expresión del “plagio académico” concebida como un factor que afecta a los derechos de los autores e impacta de forma negativa a nivel académico y profesional. Es una investigación de corte cualitativo, donde se analizan y describen a detalle las desventajas de este concepto a través de la técnica de revisión bibliográfica. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que, el plagio es un obstáculo en el proceso formativo de los estudiantes que limita la capacidad crítica, con causantes principales como el déficit de conocimiento en redacción académica, falta de ética, carencia de sistemas anti-plagio en las instituciones. El plagio es una práctica deshonesta que limita la capacidad de pensamiento crítico, creatividad y ética, tanto en el ámbito académico como en el profesional. El auge de la tecnología ha sido un aliciente para acrecentar las estadísticas de plagio, sin embargo, esto no es un contratiempo reciente, puesto que desde la antigüedad se ha llevado a cabo este tipo de práctica desleal y antiética. Palabras clave: plagio académico, proceso formativo, ética, transgresión de derechos, ejercicio profesional. ABSTRACT This research focuses on the expression of "academic plagiarism" conceived as a factor affecting authors' rights and negatively impacts academically and professionally. It is a qualitative investigation, where the disadvantages of this concept are analyzed and described in detail through the technique of bibliographic review. The results showed that plagiarism is an obstacle in the student process that limits critical ability, with major causes such as the knowledge deficit in academic writing, lack of ethics, and lack of anti-plagiarism systems in institutions. Plagiarism is a dishonest practice that limits critical thinking creativity and ethics, both academically and professionally. The rise of technology has been an incentive to increase plagiarism statistics, however, this is not a recent setback, because this kind of unfair and unethical practice has been carried out since ancient times. Keywords: academic plagiarism, formative process, ethics, transgression of rights, professional exercise.

Corruption in the Media: Implications for Ethical and Socially Responsible Journalism

Corruption is an important problem affecting every strata of the Nigerian society. Its impact on Nigerian media is no exemption. Corruption in relation to media is popularly tied to brown envelope which ultimately affects journalist sense of news judgment. Hence, this paper took a theoretical approach to examining the relationship between the issue of brown envelope syndrome and unethical practice within the Nigerian media system and its implications on ethical and socially responsible journalism. Surprisingly, result of the literature reviewed revealed that poor journalistic training and lack of professionalism is responsible for unethical practice in Nigerian media. It further revealed loss of credibility, loss of watchdog roles and decline in news quality, values and public trust of journalists as its implications on ethical and socially responsible journalism. The paper recommend among others, that sound education in form of regular seminars, workshops and professional trainings be given to would-be journalists where legal framework and media regulatory bodies served their responsibilities by regularly checkmating the excesses of journalists to confirm strict adherence to ethical codes.

An investigation into ethical issues in occupational therapists in adult with physical disabilities: Using the qualitative approach

Background Occupational therapists may be encountered with a variety of ethical issues. The aim of this study was to explore ethical issues of Occupational therapist’s practice in adult physical dysfunction field. Methods Ten graduated Occupational therapists were selected by purposive sampling method. Data were gathered by semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed by content analysis approach. Results Data analysis ultimately leads to the emergence of three themes which reflects Ethical issues in Occupational Therapy. These themes include: unethical practice of Occupational therapists, factors influencing ethical practice and Strategies to improving ethical practice. Conclusion The findings show that occupational therapists have various ethical problems related to client’s rights in addition to their clinical practice, that according to the participants in this study, lack of awareness about professional ethics related to the occupational therapy and also lack of comprehensive monitoring rules in this field are the major causes of unethical practice.

Unconsented acknowledgments as a form of authorship abuse: What can be done about it?

Unwelcome or unconsented acknowledgments is an unethical practice seldom addressed. It constitutes a form of authorship abuse perpetrated in the acknowledgments section of published research, where the victim is credited as having made a contribution to the paper, without having given their consent, and often without having seen a draft of the paper. The acknowledgment may be written in such a way as to imply endorsement of the study’s data and conclusions. Through a real-life case, this paper explores the issue of unconsented acknowledgments and makes recommendations to prevent its occurrence, thereby promoting research integrity.