Processes and consequences in business ethical dilemmas: The oil industry and climate changes

This paper proposes a framework to examine business ethical dilemmas and business attitudes towards such dilemmas. Business ethical dilemmas can be understood as reflecting a contradiction between a socially detrimental process and a self-interested profitable consequence. This representation allows us to distinguish two forms of behavior differing by whether priority is put on consequences or on processes. We argue that these forms imply very different business attitudes towards society: controversial or competitive for the former and aligned or cooperative for the latter. These attitudes are then analyzed at the discursive level in order to address the question of good faith in business argumentation, i.e. to which extent are these attitudes consistent with actual business behaviors. We argue that consequential attitudes mostly involve communication and lobbying actions aiming at eluding the dilemma. Therefore, the question of good faith for consequential attitudes lies in the consistency between beliefs and discourse. On the other hand, procedural attitudes acknowledge the dilemma and claim a change of the process of behavior. They thus raise the question of the consistency between discourses and actual behavior. We apply this processes/consequences framework to the case of the oil industry’s climate change ethical dilemma which comes forth as a dilemma between ‘emitting greenhouse gases’ and ‘making more profits’. And we examine the different attitudes of two oil corporations-BP Amoco and ExxonMobil-towards the dilemma.Business ethical dilemma, procedural rationality, consequential rationality, oil industry, climate change, Kyoto protocol

Adequate and anticipatory research on the potential hazards of emerging technologies: a case of myopia and inertia?

History confirms that while technological innovations can bring many benefits, they can also cause much human suffering, environmental degradation and economic costs. But are we repeating history with new and emerging chemical and technological products? In preparation for volume 2 of ‘Late Lessons from Early Warnings’ (European Environment Agency, 2013), two analyses were carried out to help answer this question. A bibliometric analysis of research articles in 78 environmental, health and safety (EHS) journals revealed that most focused on well-known rather than on newly emerging chemicals. We suggest that this ‘scientific inertia’ is due to the scientific requirement for high levels of proof via well replicated studies; the need to publish quickly; the use of existing intellectual and technological resources; and the conservative approach of many reviewers and research funders. The second analysis found that since 1996 the funding of EHS research represented just 0.6% of the overall funding of research and technological development (RTD). Compared with RTD funding, EHS research funding for information and communication technologies, nanotechnology and biotechnology was 0.09%, 2.3% and 4% of total research, respectively. The low EHS research ratio seems to be an unintended consequence of disparate funding decisions; technological optimism; a priori assertions of safety; collective hubris; and myopia. In light of the history of past technological risks, where EHS research was too little and too late, we suggest that it would be prudent to devote some 5–15% of RTD on EHS research to anticipate and minimise potential hazards while maximising the commercial longevity of emerging technologies

Pompe disease diagnosis and management guideline

ACMG standards and guidelines are designed primarily as an educational resource for physicians and other health care providers to help them provide quality medical genetic services. Adherence to these standards and guidelines does not necessarily ensure a successful medical outcome. These standards and guidelines should not be considered inclusive of all proper procedures and tests or exclusive of other procedures and tests that are reasonably directed to obtaining the same results. in determining the propriety of any specific procedure or test, the geneticist should apply his or her own professional judgment to the specific clinical circumstances presented by the individual patient or specimen. It may be prudent, however, to document in the patient's record the rationale for any significant deviation from these standards and guidelines.Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27706 USAOregon Hlth Sci Univ, Portland, OR 97201 USANYU, Sch Med, New York, NY USAUniv Florida, Coll Med, Powell Gene Therapy Ctr, Gainesville, FL 32611 USAIndiana Univ, Bloomington, in 47405 USAUniv Miami, Miller Sch Med, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USAHarvard Univ, Childrens Hosp, Sch Med, Cambridge, MA 02138 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilColumbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USANYU, Bellevue Hosp, Sch Med, New York, NY USAColumbia Univ, Med Ctr, New York, NY 10027 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced via vector boson fusion in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced via vector boson fusion (VBF) has been performed with 101  fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ =13  TeV and collected by the CMS detector in 2017 and 2018. The sensitivity to the VBF production mechanism is enhanced by constructing two analysis categories, one based on missing transverse momentum and a second based on the properties of jets. In addition to control regions with Z and W boson candidate events, a highly populated control region, based on the production of a photon in association with jets, is used to constrain the dominant irreducible background from the invisible decay of a Z boson produced in association with jets. The results of this search are combined with all previous measurements in the VBF topology, based on data collected in 2012 (at $\sqrt{s}$ =8  TeV), 2015, and 2016, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7, 2.3, and 36.3  fb$^{-1}$, respectively. The observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction of the Higgs boson is found to be 0.18 (0.10) at the 95% confidence level, assuming the standard model production cross section. The results are also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal models

Measurement of the Dependence of the Hadron Production Fraction Ratios fs/fuf_s / f_u and fd/fuf_d / f_u on BB Meson Kinematic Variables in Proton-Proton Collisions at s=13TeV\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

The dependence of the ratio between the $B^0_s$ and $B^+$ hadron production fractions, $f_s/f_u$, on the transverse momentum $(p_T)$ and rapidity of the $B$ mesons is studied using the decay channels $B^0_s→J/ψϕ$ and $B^+→J/ψK^+$. The analysis uses a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment in 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $61.6  fb^{−1}$. The $f_s/f_u$ ratio is observed to depend on the $B$ $p_T$ and to be consistent with becoming asymptotically constant at large $p_T$. No rapidity dependence is observed. The ratio of the $B^0$ to $B^+$ meson production fractions, $f_d/f_u$, is also measured, for the first time in proton-proton collisions, using the $B^0→J/ψK^{*0}$ decay channel. The result is found to be within 1 standard deviation of unity and independent of $pT$ and rapidity, as expected from isospin invariance