Family-friendly employment laws (re)assessed: the potential of care ethics

In light of various reforms in recent years, this article provides a (re)assessment of the broad package of family-friendly employment rights and relevant dispute resolution procedure now available to pregnant workers and working carers. It exposes how the realities of working life for many pregnant workers and carers and the long standing desire to promote gender equality in informal care-work remain at odds with the legal framework. An argument is presented in favour of an approach that, based upon the concept of care ethics, better engages with the impact of the provisions upon crucial interdependent care relationships.

A deeper look at ethics within banking corporations: the approach of one of the biggest bank in the world

Existe uma preocupa����o crescente da sociedade com a ��tica, devida em parte aos numerosos esc��ndalos que surgiram no mundo corporativo ultimamente, em particular no setor financeiro em que as repercuss��es de malversa����es t��m geralmente um impacto maior para a sociedade do que podem ter quando acontecem em outro setor de atividade. Outra consequ��ncia �� o interesse cada vez maior dos acad��micos em estudar ��tica dos neg��cios. Por��m, a pesar do uso frequente do termo ��tica e dos conceitos relacionados, n��o existe ainda um consenso sobre uma defini����o comum de ��tica dos neg��cios. Pertence a cada corpora����o definir o que considera ser ��tica dos neg��cios. Portanto, para entender melhor o que tem por tr��s do termo ��tica, �� preciso voltar a sua defini����o, explicar a sua evolu����o, coloc��-lo dentro do nosso contexto contempor��neo, para depois aplic��-lo �� ��rea de interesse. Para o setor banc��rio, ��tica se refere mais ao aspecto legal, mas tamb��m faz refer��ncia ao desenvolvimento da responsabilidade social corporativa dentro das corpora����es atrav��s de diferentes pr��ticas. A literatura a respeito ressalta que a abordagem da ��tica pelas corpora����es banc��rias tradicionais desconecta a ��tica do foco de neg��cio, considerando que n��o pertence ao centro da sua atividade. De fato, as corpora����es respondem aos mesmos mecanismos isomorfos institucionais, os quais as levam a adotar pr��ticas com o objetivo de conseguir legitimidade dentro da sociedade. Ao contr��rio dessas corpora����es banc��rias tradicionais, os bancos qualificados como ��ticos pela literatura, tem em comum o fato de estruturar as suas atividades sobre ou em volta da ��tica, diferenciando-se dos outros bancos por ter como principal objetivo ser ��tico. O banco Brasileiro Ita�� Unibanco, um dos maiores bancos tradicionais do mundo em termos de valor de mercado, foi percebido aos poucos como um banco muito preocupado com a ��tica, e foi recentemente reconhecido como o banco mais sustent��vel do mundo pela revista Financial Times. O Ita�� 5 Unibanco desenhou e implementou um programa de ��tica, o qual junta um componente te��rico (com diretrizes, regras e princ��pios e um c��digo de ��tica), usado como um suporte para o componente pr��tico (estrutura organizacional particular e pr��ticas cotidianas). Esse programa levou o Banco Ita�� a ser campe��o inovador na institucionaliza����o da ��tica dentro do setor banc��rio.

Comparison of the psychological evaluation test and classical psychoanalysis in infertile women

This study aims to compare a psychological evaluation test to classical psychoanalysis in infertile women. Two hundred women were submitted to the Psychological Evaluation Test (PET). The sum of the scores for the responses ranged from 15 to 60 points, with scores 30 points being defined as 'psycho-emotional maladjustment' (cut-off point: median + 25%). For comparison, the patients were simultaneously submitted to a psychological examination by a psychologist, who was unaware of the PET results. of the 200 patients, 66 (33%) presented a test with greater than or equal to30 points ('psycho-emotional maladjustment') and 134 (67%) a test with <30 points (normal). Upon psychological examination, 105 (52.5%) presented an abnormal evaluation and 95 (47.5%) a normal evaluation. For the PET, statistical analysis showed 82% efficiency, 62% sensitivity, 98% positive predictive value, 99% specificity, 70% negative predictive value, likelihood ratio for a positive test result 62, and likelihood ratio for negative test result 0.38. The PET proved to be a useful clinical instrument, being of help in the selection of patients with psychological needs induced by infertility.

Construction of ethics in clinical research - Clinical trials registration

Scientific development that has been achieved through decades finds in clinical research a great possibility of translating findings to human health application. Evidence given by clinical trials allows everyone to have access to the best health services. However, the millionaire world of pharmaceutical industries has stained clinical research with doubt and improbability. Study results (fruits of controlled clinical trials) and scientific publications (selective, manipulated and with wrong conclusions) led to an inappropriate clinical practice, favoring the involved economic aspect. In 2005, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), supported by the World Association of Medical Editors, started demanding as a requisite for publication that all clinical trials be registered at the database ClinicalTrials.gov. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) created the International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP), which gathers several registry centers from all over the world, and required that all researchers and pharmaceutical industries register clinical trials. Such obligatory registration has progressed and will extend to all scientific journals indexed in all worldwide databases. Registration of clinical trials means another step of clinical research towards transparency, ethics and impartiality, resulting in real evidence to the forthcoming changes in clinical practice as well as in the health situation.

Some deviations of form: a little essay on psychoanalysis, art and aesthetics

This work intends to investigate the use of psychoanalytical theory within the aesthetic and critical contemporary art field. To this purpose, it focuses on two philosophers who have become significant in our time: the art critic Hal Foster and the art historian Georges Didi-Huberman. This study aims to show how far the concepts generated in psychoanalytic praxis allowed interpretations that disrupt the traditional aesthetics field. This type of analysis is possible once we abandon the paradigm of ���applied psychoanalysis���, which is still current in non-clinical setting. Finally, the proposal wants to argue that the category of the amorphous may clarify certain aesthetic experiences that range from the modernity of art through postmodernity.

Improving business innovation and research through the application of neuromarketing with ethics: a framework

The objective of this paper is to analyse and to discuss the ethical issues in the field of research known as neuromarketing, a tool used to improve innovation in companies. It uses techniques available to neuroscientists, both newer and more sophisticated ones along with traditional ones, but now for new purposes. From the beginning, this new area has evoked discussions about ethical aspects related to the results presented. Despite the unrestricted controversy surrounding the theme, few studies have discussed ethical issues involved in this line of research in a pragmatic manner. In this sense, this paper seeks to analyse and discuss ethical issues in neuromarketing research through a literature review and the proposal for a framework of ethical mapping. This framework revealed the ethical implications that would be most prominent in certain research situations: the purpose of utilising neuromarketing techniques, organisational type, and industrial sector, among others.

ARISTOTLE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRTUE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE POLITICS AND THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND ITS RELATION TO TODAY

While much of Aristotle's works are preserved in various volumes, two of his famous works are the Nichmachean Ethics and the Politics, both of which contain a rich compilation of ethical and political thought. In the Ethics, Aristotle describes a thorough understanding of ethical and intellectual virtue. By pursuing these virtues, Aristotle argues that a person can achieve a life of fulfilling happiness. The ideal polis as described in the Politics serves as a place where the virtuous life is attained in the best manner.Citizens who pursue virtue make the polis better, and the rulers that guide the polis ensure that the citizens have every opportunity to pursue the virtuous life. In this thesis, I see how relevant Aristotle's theory is by laying out the basic principles of the Ethics and the Politics and the connections between the two works. Indoing so, I found that Aristotle's ideal theory points out a significant flaw in our political system: the fact that we do not share a common moral conception such as the one concerned with the virtuous life as Aristotle proposes. This does not suggest thatAristotle's view was actualized during his time period, but that Aristotle conceives of an ideal life and an ideal polis that could be realized. Certainly there are issues with Aristotle's thesis concerning the inferiority of slaves and women. But what is morepoignant is the impracticality of instituting a shared common conception when today's political system permits various ideas about ethics and morality.