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

Existe uma preocupação crescente da sociedade com a ética, devida em parte aos numerosos escândalos que surgiram no mundo corporativo ultimamente, em particular no setor financeiro em que as repercussões de malversações têm geralmente um impacto maior para a sociedade do que podem ter quando acontecem em outro setor de atividade. Outra consequência é o interesse cada vez maior dos acadêmicos em estudar ética dos negócios. Porém, a pesar do uso frequente do termo ética e dos conceitos relacionados, não existe ainda um consenso sobre uma definição comum de ética dos negócios. Pertence a cada corporação definir o que considera ser ética dos negócios. Portanto, para entender melhor o que tem por trás do termo ética, é preciso voltar a sua definição, explicar a sua evolução, colocá-lo dentro do nosso contexto contemporâneo, para depois aplicá-lo à área de interesse. Para o setor bancário, ética se refere mais ao aspecto legal, mas também faz referência ao desenvolvimento da responsabilidade social corporativa dentro das corporações através de diferentes práticas. A literatura a respeito ressalta que a abordagem da ética pelas corporações bancárias tradicionais desconecta a ética do foco de negócio, considerando que não pertence ao centro da sua atividade. De fato, as corporações respondem aos mesmos mecanismos isomorfos institucionais, os quais as levam a adotar práticas com o objetivo de conseguir legitimidade dentro da sociedade. Ao contrário dessas corporações bancárias tradicionais, os bancos qualificados como éticos pela literatura, tem em comum o fato de estruturar as suas atividades sobre ou em volta da ética, diferenciando-se dos outros bancos por ter como principal objetivo ser ético. O banco Brasileiro Itaú 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 ética, e foi recentemente reconhecido como o banco mais sustentável do mundo pela revista Financial Times. O Itaú 5 Unibanco desenhou e implementou um programa de ética, o qual junta um componente teórico (com diretrizes, regras e princípios e um código de ética), usado como um suporte para o componente prático (estrutura organizacional particular e práticas cotidianas). Esse programa levou o Banco Itaú a ser campeão inovador na institucionalização da ética dentro do setor bancário.

The ethics of gender in Milton's paradise lost

ERICKSON, Sandra S.Fernandes. The ethics of gender in Milton's paradise lost. Principios: revista de filosofia. Natal (RN). v. 5, n. 6, p. 155-170. 1998. ISSN 1983-2109. Disponivel em: . Acesso em: 04 out. 2010.

Educação em saúde em hanseníase: estratégia na educação básica, Parnamirim/RN

Leprosy is an ancient disease that still stands as a public health problem worldwide, especially in the considered developing countries. Of these, Brazil still has large areas of endemicity. The disease remains high among those younger than 15 years old. In this group, the national index achieves 0.6 every 10 000 inhabitants and reaches 2 in the North and Midwest of Brazil. Therefore, the plan of the Ministry of Health is to prioritize the fight against disease in critical areas, providing early diagnosis and timely treatment, especially for patients under 15 years old. This research aimed to: identify the knowledge of students from three schools of basic education in Parnamirim/RN about the risk of getting ill in leprosy; conduct them health education on this topic. An exploratory-descriptive study with quantitative and qualitative nature. Data collection consists of two steps: questionnaire and health education on leprosy. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) of UFRN through the opinion nº 204/2009. Quantitative data obtained were organized, categorized, typed and submitted to the Microsoft Office - Excel for quantitative analysis with simple percentage. Qualitative data were subjected to a content analysis according to Bardin. The sample consisted of 164 students of basic education, most of which is: 1st year of high school, from 11 to 15 years, in the afternoon shift, female gender, skin color white and residents in the municipality of Parnamirim/RN. Still, each student living with four people curiously did not respond in relation to occupation of the father. But the same answered their mother as a housewife and a family income of one to less than four minimum wages. There have been significant results compared the performance of health education in leprosy. Initially, students possessed little knowledge about leprosy. Subsequent to health education, most knew the answer about the disease, transmission, cause, where to get help in case of suspicion of leprosy and the need for the people who lives with leprosy patients to also seek for help, the understanding about if it is treatable or not. Content analysis has established the following themes: axis I, what I do not know about leprosy: cure, fear and prejudice. Axis II, what I know about leprosy, we identified: cure, effectiveness of health education and social exclusion in the past. It is considered the scope of the proposed objectives by matching the effectiveness of health education on leprosy in basic education in Parnamirim/RN; emphasizes, therefore, the importance of understanding the knowledge of public school students. It is expected of them to detect early cases of leprosy in their communities; encourage adherence to treatment as quickly as possible; prevent disability; reduce the stigma surrounding the disease.

A falta de ética e de espírito público na política brasileira

Unfortunately, the Brazilian politics has been characterized by lack of ethics. In a few exceptions, our representatives often behave in the exercise of power as if they were there to care for their own interests and not public affairs. Despite the dissatisfaction that the situation seems to trigger to society, the electorate does not get to transform their anger into effective gesture in order to withdraw from the public setting people who can not fulfill their mandate at the polls. Instead, the re-election of bad politicians has become commonplace fact. In this study, we proposed to discuss the matter in light of traditional philosophical theories, by selecting exponents of ethical thought from the Ancient Period to the Modern. We put special emphasis on behalf of amorality in Florentine thinker's ideas, to Machiavelli s political doctrine.

A retórica em Aristóteles: da orientação das paixões ao aprimoramento da eupraxia

This research brings into focus the relationship between the work Rhetoric, from Aristotle, and the conceptions of ethics and practical wisdom of the philosopher from Stageira. Accordingly, it attempts to show that Aristotle's Rhetoric was produced to guide the construction and orientation of oratory passions of the Greek man, setting it as a reference for practices aimed at social ordering of the polis. In other words, the Aristotelian Rhetoric, designed by the author as the study of what is persuasive in every speech, is not composed with the meaning of persuasion at any cost, in another sense it is conceived by Aristotle as a useful knowledge for the improvement eupraxic (the good act in accordance with the fair and true). This research finds that such work has been prepared by Stagirite a time of strong social transformations and upheavals in ancient Greece: The skepticism expanded, with each person wanting to live their own businesses, and especially in Athens, a city that served as intellectual and political reference, there was a lack of collective spirit. In this tumultuous social environment, Aristotle, with a culture of Greeks eager Trusted reviews and socially shareable in the field of verisimilitude, sought with his Rhetoric, contributing to the development of ethics and political science; referrals for legal and organization of inter-social relations in varied environments, including seeking to provide knowledge about human passions and emotional status of active citizens in deliberative meetings

Stroke in ancient times - a reinterpretation of Psalms 137 : 5,6

Stroke was probably first described in Psalms 136: 5-6 of the Catholic Bible, and Psalms 137:5-6 of the Evangelical Bible. Based on the Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, Dutch, Russian, Greek, and original Hebrew Bible, the significance of this Psalm is the invocation of a punishment, of which the final result would be a stroke of the left middle cerebral artery, causing motor aphasia and right hemiparesis.

Morphological and physiological specialization for digging in amphisbaenians, an ancient lineage of fossorial vertebrates

Amphisbaenians are legless reptiles that differ significantly from other vertebrate lineages. Most species dig underground galleries of similar diameter to that of the animal. We studied the muscle physiology and morphological attributes of digging effort in the Brazilian amphisbaenid Leposternon microcephalum (Squamata; Amphisbaenia), which burrows by compressing soil against the upper wall of the tunnel by means of upward strokes of the head. The individuals tested (<72 g) exerted forces on the soil of up to 24 N. These forces were possible because the fibres of the longissimus dorsi, the main muscle associated with burrowing, are highly pennated, thus increasing effective muscle cross-sectional area. The muscle is characterized by a metabolic transition along its length: proximal, medial and distal fibres are fast contracting and moderately oxidative, but fibres closer to the head are richer in citrate synthase and more aerobic in nature. Distal fibres, then, might be active mainly at the final step of the compression stroke, which requires more power. For animals greater than a given diameter, the work required to compress soil increases exponentially with body diameter. Leposternon microcephalum, and probably some other highly specialized amphisbaenids, are most likely constrained to small diameters and can increase muscle mass and effective muscle cross-sectional area by increasing body length, not body diameter.

Cytogenetic Mapping of 5S and 18S rRNAs and H3 Histone Genes in 4 Ancient Proscopiidae Grasshopper Species: Contribution to Understanding the Evolutionary Dynamics of Multigene Families

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Leishmanial antigens in the diagnosis of active lesions and ancient scars of American tegumentary leishmaniasis patients

Cutaneous biopsies (n = 94) obtained from 88 patients with American tegumentary leishmaniasis were studied by conventional and immunohistochemical techniques. Specimens were distributed as active lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 53) (Group I), cicatricial lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 35) (Group II) and suggestive scars of healed mucosal leishmaniasis patients (n = 6) (Group III). In addition, active cutaneous lesions of other etiology (n = 24) (Group C1) and cutaneous scars not related to leishmaniasis (n = 10) (Group C2) were also included in the protocol. Amastigotes in Group I biopsies were detected by routine histopathological exam (30.2%), imprint (28.2%), culture (43.4%), immunofluorescence (41.4%) and immunoperoxidase (58.5%) techniques; and by the five methods together (79.3%). In Group II, 5.7% of cultures were positive. Leishmanial antigen was also seen in the cytoplasm of macrophages and giant cells (cellular pattern), vessel walls (vascular pattern) and dermal nerves (neural pattern). Positive reaction was detected in 49 (92.5%), 20 (57%) and 4 (67%) biopsies of Groups I, II and III, respectively. Antigen persistency in cicatricial tissue may be related to immunoprotection or, on the contrary, to the development of late lesions. We suggest that the cellular, vascular and neural patterns could be applied in the immunodiagnosis of active and cicatricial lesions in which leishmaniasis is suspected.

Myths and facts in the chronicles of the conquest of Ancient Peru

The chronicles of historical sources are difficult because they are a mix of myths and facts experienced by their authors. Starting from this premise, this study analyzes some of the Spanish and indigenous sources on the conquest of the Inca people and the description of this world and people who were so different. Among the chroniclers chosen, the article highlights the reports by Jose de Acosta on the Mundus Novus and by Cieza de Leon and Garcilaso de la Vega on the myths of the first Inca chief; finally, Francisco de Xerez, Juan de Betanzos, among others, on the event of the imprisonment and murder of Atahualpa, which resulted in the conquest of the "Tahuantinsuyu" by the Spanish.