Assessing the Effects of Workplace Aggression and Normative Unethical Behaviors on Counselors\u27 Perceptions of Ethicality using an Integrative Understanding of Morality

Acting ethically is a core facet of the counseling profession\u27s identity, safeguarding clients from undue harm (ACA, 2005). Through an increased understanding of both detrimental and positive factors that can influence counselors\u27 perceptions of ethical behaviors, the counseling profession can intervene accordingly; this knowledge may assist in managing the problem related to unethical infractions. However, ethical behavior is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, leaving many factors to be explored and examined. Workplace aggression, exposure to normative unethical behaviors, and an integrated modal of morality constitute some of these factors that warrant further investigation. A dearth of research currently exists within the counseling profession that examines the effects of workplace aggression and exposure to normative unethical behavior on counselors\u27 perceptions of ethicality. Additionally, mediating variables in the context of acting ethically have scantly been researched within the counseling profession, including moral development and the moral foundations of care, fairness, and justice (integrated modal of morality). The present study investigated these various variables and the subsequent affects/relationships that ensued on counselors\u27 perceptions of ethicality. Two phases of research were conducted: a pilot study (n = 166) that assisted in the development a Perceived Ethical Perceptions Instrument and a main study (n = 76) that assessed perceived ethicality contingent on the variables of workplace aggression, normative unethical behaviors, and the integrated modal of morality. Results from this study substantiated the complexity inherent within perceptions of ethicality, indicating that certain contextual factors may affect facets of perceived ethicality differently. of particular interest, the current study indicated that workplace aggression and the occurrence of unethical infractions by work supervisors/bosses and peers necessitated further investigation.;Keywords: ethical perceptions, workplace aggression, integrative modal of morality

“Free Will and Affirmation: Assessing Honderich’s Third Way”

In the third and final part of his A Theory of Determinism (TD) Ted Honderich addresses the fundamental question concerning “the consequences of determinism.” The critical question he aims to answer is what follows if determinism is true? This question is, of course, intimately bound up with the problem of free will and, in particular, with the question of whether or not the truth of determinism is compatible or incompatible with the sort of freedom required for moral responsibility. It is Honderich’s aim to provide a solution to “the problem of the consequences of determinism” and a key element of this is his articulation and defence of an alternative response to the implications of determinism that collapses the familiar Compatibilist/Incompatibilist dichotomy. Honderich offers us a third way – the response of “Affirmation” (HFY 125-6). Although his account of Affirmation has application and relevance to issues and features beyond freedom and responsibility, my primary concern in this essay will be to examine Honderich’s theory of “Affirmation” as it concerns the free will problem

The Implications of Free Will Skepticism for Establishing Criminal Liability

Postprin

Barriers to Applying Guidelines for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in the Rio Grande Valley

Background: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus affects 29.6% of adults in the Rio Grande Valley and 54% are estimated to be uncontrolled. Established and new pharmacotherapy agents are available, and guidelines exist in individualization of glycemic targets and agent selection. We present a case facing various barriers in applying these guidelines. Case Presentation: A 54-year-old uninsured woman with past medical history of uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic kidney disease stage 3, peripheral artery disease and bilateral below knee amputations presents for follow-up. She denies polyuria, polydipsia and weight changes. She reports compliance with medications and a fasting glucose range of 180-195. Current diabetes medications are insulin glargine, lispro, and dapagliflozin-metformin. Prior intolerance to dulaglutide with gastrointestinal upset. On exam, she had had a recent amputation with signs of infection. Data showed A1C this month at 9.4% from 13.7% 3 months ago and 14.8% 1 year ago. GFR stable at 58 and electrolytes normal. Urine protein creatinine ratio elevated at 1,865. Determined A1C goal to be below 8.0% based on multiple factors and reviewed benefits and risks of pharmacotherapy options. We increased the glargine and dapagliflozin-metformin. Conclusion: Though patient has a relatively young age, multiple factors suggest we have a less stringent target such as 8% including established vascular complications, limited resources as patient is uninsured, and patient self-care capabilities including health literacy. We will review the benefits, risks, and challenges in using sodium-glucose-cotransporter inhibitors and glucagon-like-peptide agonists and how the evidence applies to our patient

A Reply to Richard Wolin on Suicide Bombings

A reply to Professor Richard Wolin on his views on suicide bombings is presented. Professor Wolin refused to acknowledge any cause of misery in the poor world. He elevated Osama Bin Ladin to the rank of a god. The article considers these views as literally, wholly, and absolutely false. The article proposes that avoidance, falsehood, implication, and omission are not a proper response to moral inquiry

Semantic Transformation of Web Services

Web services have become the predominant paradigm for the development of distributed software systems. Web services provide the means to modularize software in a way that functionality can be described, discovered and deployed in a platform independent manner over a network (e.g., intranets, extranets and the Internet). The representation of web services by current industrial practice is predominantly syntactic in nature lacking the fundamental semantic underpinnings required to fulfill the goals of the emerging Semantic Web. This paper proposes a framework aimed at (1) modeling the semantics of syntactically defined web services through a process of interpretation, (2) scop-ing the derived concepts within domain ontologies, and (3) harmonizing the semantic web services with the domain ontologies. The framework was vali-dated through its application to web services developed for a large financial system. The worked example presented in this paper is extracted from the se-mantic modeling of these financial web services

Private Revenge and its Relation to Punishment

In contrast to the vast literature on retributive theories of punishment, discussions of private revenge are rare in moral philosophy. This paper reviews some examples, from both classical and recent writers. It detects, both in the philosophical tradition and in contemporary moral discourse, uncertainty and equivocation over the ethical significance of acts of revenge, and in particular over their possible resemblances, in motive, purpose or justification, to acts of lawful punishment. A key problem for the coherence of our ethical conception of revenge, it suggests, is the consideration that certain acts of revenge may be just (at least in the minimal sense that the victim of revenge has no grounds for complaint against the revenger) and yet be generally agreed to be morally wrong. It argues that the challenge of explaining adequately why private revenge is morally wrong poses particular difficulty for purely retributive theories of punishment, since without invoking consequentialist reasons it does not seem possible adequately to motivate an objection to just and proportionate acts of revenge. The paper concludes by identifying some of the directions in which further reflection on the moral and political significance of revenge might proceed

Towards Principles-Based Approaches to Governance of Health-Related Research Using Personal Data

Technological advances in the quality, availability and linkage potential of health data for research make the need to develop robust and effective information governance mechanisms more pressing than ever before; they also lead us to question the utility of governance devices used hitherto such as consent and anonymisation. This article assesses and advocates a principles-based approach, contrasting this with traditional rule-based approaches, and proposes a model of principled proportionate governance. It is suggested that the approach not only serves as the basis for good governance in contemporary data linkage but also that it provides a platform to assess legal reforms such as the draft Data Protection Regulation

A framework for deriving semantic web services

Web service-based development represents an emerging approach for the development of distributed information systems. Web services have been mainly applied by software practitioners as a means to modularize system functionality that can be offered across a network (e.g., intranet and/or the Internet). Although web services have been predominantly developed as a technical solution for integrating software systems, there is a more business-oriented aspect that developers and enterprises need to deal with in order to benefit from the full potential of web services in an electronic market. This ‘ignored’ aspect is the representation of the semantics underlying the services themselves as well as the ‘things’ that the services manage. Currently languages like the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) provide the syntactic means to describe web services, but lack in providing a semantic underpinning. In order to harvest all the benefits of web services technology, a framework has been developed for deriving business semantics from syntactic descriptions of web services. The benefits of such a framework are two-fold. Firstly, the framework provides a way to gradually construct domain ontologies from previously defined technical services. Secondly, the framework enables the migration of syntactically defined web services toward semantic web services. The study follows a design research approach which (1) identifies the problem area and its relevance from an industrial case study and previous research, (2) develops the framework as a design artifact and (3) evaluates the application of the framework through a relevant scenario