Business Ethics: The Promise of Neuroscience

Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research portend well for furthering understanding of many of the fundamental questions in the field of business ethics, both normative and empirical. This article provides an overview of neuroscience methodology and brain structures, and explores the areas in which neuroscience research has contributed findings of value to business ethics, as well as suggesting areas for future research. Neuroscience research is especially capable of providing insight into individual reactions to ethical issues, while also raising challenging normative questions about the nature of moral responsibility, autonomy, intent, and free will. This article also provides a brief summary of the papers included in this special issue, attesting to the richness of scholarly inquiry linking neuroscience and business ethics. We conclude that neuroscience offers considerable promise to the field of business ethics, but we caution against overpromise

Aggression, anxiety and vocalizations in animals: GABA A and 5-HT anxiolytics

A continuing challenge for preclinical research on anxiolytic drugs is to capture the affective dimension that characterizes anxiety and aggression, either in their adaptive forms or when they become of clinical concern. Experimental protocols for the preclinical study of anxiolytic drugs typically involve the suppression of conditioned or unconditioned social and exploratory behavior (e.g., punished drinking or social interactions) and demonstrate the reversal of this behavioral suppression by drugs acting on the benzodiazepine-GABA A complex. Less frequently, aversive events engender increases in conditioned or unconditioned behavior that are reversed by anxiolytic drugs (e.g., fear-potentiated startle). More recently, putative anxiolytics which target 5-HT receptor subtypes produced effects in these traditional protocols that often are not systematic and robust. We propose ethological studies of vocal expressions in rodents and primates during social confrontations, separation from social companions, or exposure to aversive environmental events as promising sources of information on the affective features of behavior. This approach focusses on vocal and other display behavior with clear functional validity and homology. Drugs with anxiolytic effects that act on the benzodiazepine-GABA A receptor complex and on 5-HT 1A receptors systematically and potently alter specific vocalizations in rodents and primates in a pharmacologically reversible manner; the specificity of these effects on vocalizations is evident due to the effectiveness of low doses that do not compromise other physiological and behavioral processes. Antagonists at the benzodiazepine receptor reverse the effects of full agonists on vocalizations, particularly when these occur in threatening, startling and distressing contexts. With the development of antagonists at 5-HT receptor subtypes, it can be anticipated that similar receptor-specificity can be established for the effects of 5-HT anxiolytics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46351/1/213_2005_Article_BF02245590.pd

Narrow temporal therapeutic window for NMDA antagonist protection against focal cerebral ischaemia

N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists have been shown to protect against focal cerebral ischaemia when administered either before or soon after the onset of ischaemia. However, the precise therapeutic window for protection using these drugs remains to be defined. We studied dextrorphan administration delayed for 2 or 4 h after transient middle cerebral focal ischaemia in a rabbit model. With a 2h delay, the mid (12.5 mg kg−1h−1) and high doses (17.5 mg kg−1h−1) provided significant cortical neuroprotection (50% and 58% reduction, respectively), and the low dose (7.5 mg kg−1h−1) protected against ischaemic damage in the basal ganglia (52% reduction). Animals having steady-state serum dextrorphan concentrations greater than 2000 ng ml−1showed 50% cortical neuroprotection for the 2-h-delay group. No significant neuroprotection was seen in the 4-h-delay group, and the 4 h delay animals with dextrorphan levels greater than 2000 ng ml−1had more severe ischaemic oedema than the saline controls. These results suggest a narrow temporal therapeutic window for neuroprotection, where delivery of drug delayed by 2 h was efficacious but treatment at 4 h after ischaemia onset was not beneficial and possibly harmful. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of clinical stroke

Television's transition to the Internet: Disability accessibility and broadband-based TV in Australia

Whereas entertainment has featured negatively in the broader NBN debate currently occurring in Australia, within the disability sector it has been recognised as revolutionary. Government, industry and technical analysts describe digital television, particularly that delivered via broadband, as potentially enabling to people with vision and hearing impairments through the more widespread provision of accessibility features such as audio description and closed captions. This article interrogates the approach to accessibility taken by two case studies of broadband-based television: Netflix and catch-up TV. Netflix, which is not officially available in Australia, is often presented as the future of television, while catch-up services provide an example of the current broadband-based television paradigm in this country. Although accessibility features may be available on broadcast television or DVD release, each of these forms of broadband-based television has either previously (Netflix) or currently (catch-up) stripped accessible functions to stream online. The discussion reflects on both activist interventions of people with disability and the industry standards

Equal treatment and corporate criminal liability : need for EU intervention in public procurement?

A comparison of the different EU criminal justice systems reveals a significant diversity in the legal frameworks surrounding corporate criminal liability. There are differences in the typology of legal persons that can be held reliable, differences in the attribution mechanisms and differences in the offences in general and more specifically the offences legal persons can be held criminally liable for. Academic debate on this diversity is far from new. The novelty of this contribution consists of the combination of two totally different branches of law; it combines corporate criminal liability with the functioning of the EU’s internal market. Using the equal treatment requirement in public procurement procedures as a case study, it is demonstrated that diversity in the legal frameworks surrounding corporate criminal liability is not a mere theoretical and practical obstacle, but gives way for profound and complex legal questions. It is unclear whether—in light of the diversity in corporate criminal liability—it is feasible to ensure equal treatment of all participating procurement candidates. This contribution elaborates on possible interpretations of “equal treatment” in light if the principles underlying the proper functioning of the internal market and more specifically the functioning of public procurement given the diversity in the legal framework surrounding corporate criminal liability to substantiate the need for EU intervention