This paper examines the ethical issues of the inclusion of workers with disabilities in the workplace with a cross-fertilization approach between organization studies, the ethics of care, and a movement from the field of architecture and design that is called Universal Design (UD). It explores how organizations can use UD to develop more inclusive workplaces, first by applying UD principles to workspaces and second by showing how UD implies an integrative understanding of inclusion from the workspace to (...) the workplace. Moreover, this paper discusses the ethical challenges and complexities that this design practice faces in regard to its applicability to diverse organizations and industries. Finally, this paper demonstrates that inclusion requires abandoning any notion of a perfect, productive body and, therefore, recognizing our shared vulnerability and fundamental interdependence in the workplace. (shrink)

Many philosophers and scientists believe that we need an explanation as to why the laws of physics and the initial conditions of the universe are fine-tuned for life. The standard two options are: theism and the multiverse hypothesis. Both of these theories are extravagant and arguably have false predictions. Drawing on contemporary philosophy of mind, I outline a form of panpsychism that I believe offers a more parsimonious and less problematic explanation of cosmological fine-tuning.

This article examines the intersection of two drivers in the contemporary higher education environment. First, the increase in blended learning, propelled by advances in computing technology and the drive towards student-centred, active learning pedagogies influenced by social constructivism. Second, the need for university curriculum to become more inclusive as the sector continues to respond to the social justice and business aspects of the widening participation agenda. In response to this need for effectively designed blended pedagogies in technology-rich physical and online (...) environments and the need to design for inclusion, this article argues for the adoption of the principles of Universal Design for Learning to be used in curriculum design and development. Not only is an implementation of Universal Design for Learning easier in a technology-rich learning environment, it is the ethical responsibility of universities to provide accessible curriculum as they seek to attract and retain more students through pathways and equity programs. (shrink)

The Universal Design for Learning guidelines were extensively studied to understand inclusive learning and teaching in higher education. However, to date, there have been few studies that approached UDL-based asynchronous university courses from the needs satisfaction perspective in self-determination theory. To address this gap, researchers designed and implemented two 15-week asynchronous online courses based on UDL. They then tested their effectiveness with college freshmen by adopting a sequential explanatory mixed method. The study aimed to examine whether asynchronous instruction (...) based on UDL catered to inclusion and diversity across gender and academic background and whether the instructional design supported learner engagement and needs satisfaction. The findings showed that both male and female students as well as Arts and Sciences students equally engaged in the courses and perceived the needs support from the course design. However, the study also found that although universal design supported autonomy and competence, it nonetheless failed to fully satisfy learners’ relatedness needs. The researchers concluded by discussing empirical and theoretical implications. (shrink)

Person‐centred care, with its central focus on the patient in partnership with healthcare practitioners, is considered to be the contemporary gold standard of care. This type of care implies effective communication from and by both the patient and the healthcare practitioner. This is often problematic in the case of the paediatric population, because of the many communicative challenges that may arise due to the child's developmental level, illness and distress, linguistic competency and disabilities. The principle of universal design (...) put forth in conventions and legislation means that the design of products and services should be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible. Augmentative and alternative communication encompasses strategies, for example pictures and apps, that are typically used with people with communication disability. In this position paper, we argue for the universal use of augmentative and alternative communication to support person‐centred communication and care for children, regardless of age or potential disability. Clinical examples are shared from three different paediatric care settings where pictorial supports were applied universally. Interviews were conducted with children and adolescents (with and without disabilities), parents and healthcare practitioners, and the principles of universal design were used as a framework to demonstrate how person‐centred communication is supported in paediatric care. (shrink)

Studies in astrophysical cosmology have served to reveal the incomprehensible fine-tuning of the fundamental constants and cosmological quantities which must obtain if a universe like ours is to be life-permitting. Traditionally, such fine-tuning of the universe for life would have been taken as evidence of divine design. William Dembski’s ’generic chance elimination argument’ provides a framework for evaluating the hypothesis of design with respect to the fine-tuning of the universe. On Dembski’s model the key to a design (...) inference is the elimination of the competing alternatives of physical necessity and chance. In debates over fine-tuning, the former is represented by a ’theory of everything’, which would eliminate or significantly reduce the improbabilities of fine-tuning. The latter takes the shape of the ’many worlds hypothesis’, according to which a ’world ensemble’ of universes exist, thus providing purchase for the ’anthropic principle’. This paper assesses the relative merit. (shrink)

To reach the conclusion that the universe is infinite, physicists (a) make some observations; (b) fit those observations to some mathematical model; (c) find that the neatest model that accommodates the data extrapolates to an infinite universe; (d) conclude that the universe is infinite. In my presentation I will examine the logic by which physicists reach this conclusion. Specifically, I will show that there is no way to empirically justify the move from (b) to (c). An infinite universe should therefore (...) properly be viewed as a metaphysical hypothesis consistent with certain physical theories but hardly mandated by them. By contrast, I will argue that the hypothesis of intelligent design—that a designing intelligence has left clear marks of intelligence in the biophysical universe—is not a metaphysical hypothesis at all but a fully scientific one. In particular, I will argue that whereas an infinite universe does not (and indeed cannot) admit empirical evidence, intelligent design can. Finally, I will indicate why an infinite universe, though sometimes introduced to get around the problem of design, in fact cannot get around it. (shrink)

How are inferences to design affected when one makes the (plausible) assumption that the universe is spatially infinite? I will show that arguments for the existence of God based on the improbable development of life don’t go through. I will also show that the model of design inferences promulgated by William Dembski is flawed. My model for design inferences has the (desirable) consequence that there are circumstances where a seeming miracle can count as evidence for the existence (...) of God, even if one would expect that type of event to naturalistically occur in a spatially infinite universe. (shrink)

In his essay, "Fine-Tuning and Multiple Universes", Roger White examines the extent to which a multiple-universe hypothesis lessens the ’surprisingness’ that our universe should be life-sustaining. White offers two main conclusions. His first conclusion -- that the existence of our world is not itself evidence for the existence of multiple universes -- is sound. However, his second conclusion is that, on the hypothesis that multiple universes exist, the further hypothesis of an intelligent designer does not lesson the surprisingness that our (...) universe should be life-permitting. This second conclusion, which would undercut most design arguments, is shown to rest on a mistake. (shrink)

Marc Hauser puts forth the theory that humans have evolved a universal moral instinct, unconsciously propelling us to deliver judgments of right and wrong independent of gender, education, and religion. Combining his cutting-edge research with the latest findings in cognitive psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, economics, and anthropology, Hauser explores the startling implications of his provocative theory vis-à-vis contemporary bioethics, religion, the law, and our everyday lives.

Obtaining a sufficient amount of measurable and reliable results of student surveys has always posed a challenge for university teams tasked with the provision of the quality of education. This is especially visible at faculties where education is based on the classic classroom-based model, which then transfers to clinical units, hospital wards, and specialist laboratories. The highly unpredictable pandemic situation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus raises the bar for the evaluation of didactics. Fortunately, the continuous technological progress in the area (...) of Artificial Intelligence makes it possible to design the implementation of tools that would improve the position of systems for the management of courses of studies. The evaluation survey for didactic classes, as one of the last output data obtained during the process, may finally become a fully recognized source of information about the conducted classes and the teachers themselves. On the other hand, it may become a tool for those surveyed to influence the quality of classes, express their opinion, present suggestions and propositions generally pertaining to changes in the process of education. New information technologies not only make it possible to improve the effectiveness of reaching the recipients, but also provide completely new, very reliable methods of acquisition of credible behaviour, used as integration data in solutions based on machine communication. Using Artificial Intelligence coupled with data may make it possible to use intelligent communication for effective management of the process of surveying – a solution that has so far been used in business, in the form of the so-called bots. As a result, this would lead to an ongoing, fully quantitative and qualitative, assessment of classes. (shrink)

This paper addresses two main questions. How does one determine that something has the features it does as a result of design, as opposed to for example chance? How are inferences to design affected when one makes the assumption that the universe is spatially infinite? I will show that arguments for the existence of God based on the improbable development of life don’t go through under the supposition that the universe is spatially infinite. I will also show that (...) the model of design inferences promulgated by William Dembski is flawed, because it has the consequence that one can never infer design in a spatially infinite universe. My model for design inferences has the consequence that there are circumstances where a seeming miracle can count as evidence for the existence of God, even if one would expect that type of event to naturalistically occur in a spatially infinite universe. (shrink)

Historically, land grant universities and their colleges of agriculture have been discipline driven in both their curricula and research agendas. Critics call for interdisciplinary approaches to undergraduate curriculum. Concomitantly, sustainable agriculture (SA) education is beginning to emerge as a way to address many complex social and environmental problems. University of California at Davis faculty, staff, and students are developing an undergraduate SA major. To inform this process, a web-based Delphi survey of academics working in fields related to SA was conducted. (...) Faculty from colleges and universities across the US were surveyed. Participants suggested that students needed knowledge of natural and social science disciplines relating to the agri-food system. In addition, stakeholders suggested students learn through experiences that link the classroom to field work, engaging a broad range of actors within applied settings. Stakeholders also emphasized the need for interdisciplinary and applied scholarship. Additionally, they proposed a range of teaching and learning approaches, including many practical experiences. Given the diverse suggestions of content knowledge and means of producing knowledge, the survey presented unique challenges and called into question the epistemological and pedagogical norms currently found in land grant colleges of agriculture. This study has implications for land grant universities seeking to develop undergraduate curriculum appropriate to the field of SA. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: * The Fitness of the Environment * The Chemical Composition of the Cosmos * The Birth of the Elements * Epilogue: Planetary Habitats * Notes.

Did God create life? Or did life arise via naturalistic processes, along the lines of random mutation and natural selection as suggested by Darwin? Intelligent design proponents attempt to use William Dembski’s design inference to argue that the existence of intelligent life is due to design. I will argue that the design inference is flawed, because it does not take into account the fact that the universe is spatially infinite.

Structuralism can be defined as an important concept of using “units” as elements of form and space-giving, where the whole form is made not only up of a “texture”, a certain flexible grid, or an algorithm of shape-giving, but it depends also on the relationships created and how people use it. The hypothesis of this study is that “Modular Construction” can also have an aesthetically pleasing outlook and that modular housing can definitely have increasing importance in the future. Modular housing (...) due to its cheap, and manufactural way of construction can be replicable in various locations. Structuralism and Modular Construction have been at the core of the Modernist movement. Although postmodernism marked the decline of modular construction adopting methods known for a more close sense of place, vernacular, and locality, which differs from the ubiquitous model of modernism, it is the universality of space and habitation seen since the times of Hippodamus Grid, Japanese Tattami systems, and rational universal space in housing known in Europe that make grid and modular design an excellent system in obtaining, rationality, functionality, flexibility, and energy efficiency, including quick construction and possibility for replication. In this regard, modular construction has a future, especially in times of crisis and economic instability. (shrink)

It is known that the Big Bang theory was based on the concept of creation ex nihilo, after ancient Greek philosophers. In this paper, we will make few remark on the concept of creatio ex nihilo (as a commentary to a recent paper by Kalachanis, Athanasios Anastasiou, Ioannis Kostikas, Efstratios Theodossious and Мilan S. Dimitrijevi), as well as two other approaches, i.e. Intelligent Design and Emergence Theory by Clayton/Yong. As continuation of our recent paper to appear in forthcoming issue (...) of J. Asia Mathematika, we argue that beside the above three approaches, a new concept called creatio ex-rotatione offers a resolution to the long standing disputes between beginning and eternity of the Universe. In other words, in this respect we agree with Vaas, i.e. it can be shown: “how a conceptual and perhaps physical solution of the temporal aspect of Immanuel Kant’s „first antinomy of pure reason“ is possible, i.e. how our universe in some respect could have both a beginning and an eternal existence. Therefore, paradoxically, there might have been a time before time or a beginning of time in time.” By the help of computational simulation, we also show how a model of early Universe with rotation can fit this new picture. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to test the pedagogical potential of design and research activities in the context of the formation of research independence of cadets of a military higher educational institution through experimental work. The article reveals the technological aspect of the implementation of design and research activities by cadets of a military university. Scientific novelty lies in the identification and verification of the effectiveness of the pedagogical conditions that contribute to the formation of research independence (...) of cadets of a military higher educational institution. The article presents the author's edition of the thematic focus and content of the design and research assignments. As a result of the study, the empirical method proved the effectiveness of the revealed pedagogical conditions on the process of forming the research independence of cadets of a military higher educational institution. (shrink)

This Element analyzes the various forms that design arguments for the existence of God can take, but the main focus is on two such arguments. The first concerns the complex adaptive features that organisms have. Creationists who advance this argument contend that evolution by natural selection cannot be the right explanation. The second design argument - the argument from fine-tuning - begins with the fact that life could not exist in our universe if the constants found in the (...) laws of physics had values that differed more than a little from their actual values. Since probability is the main analytical tool used, the book provides a primer on probability theory. (shrink)

New plans are continually arising, of which the latest sometimes turns out to be only a resuscitation of the old, nor in the future will there ever be a dearth of even more definitive projects.

Richard Dawkins's classic remains the definitive argument for our modern understanding of evolution.

Inclusive design prescribes addressing the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences. Taking differences seriously, however, may imply severely restricting “the widest possible audience”. In confronting this paradox, we investigate to what extent Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness applies to design. By converting the paradox into the question of how design can be fair, we show that the demand for equitability shifts from the design output to the design process. (...) We conclude that the two main questions about justice find application in design: the question about the standards of justice and the question about its metrics. We endorse a Rawlsian approach to the former, while some revision may be due regarding the latter. (shrink)

The purpose of the study was to solve the problem of the mismatching between the supply and demand of the talents that universities provide for society, whose major is communication design. The correlations between social post demand and university cultivation, as well as between social post demand and the demand indexes of enterprises for posts, are explored under the guidance of University-Industrial Research Collaboration. The backpropagation neural network is used, and the advantages of the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (...) model model are combined to design the SARIMA-BPNN model after the relevant parameters are adjusted. Through the experimental analysis, it is found that the error of the root mean square of the designed SARIMA-BP model in post prediction is 7.523 and that of the BPNN model is 16.122. The effect of the prediction model that was designed based on deep learning is smaller than that of the previous model based on the neural network, and it can predict future posts more accurately for colleges and universities. Guided by the “University-Industrial Research Collaboration,” students will have more practice in the teaching process in response to social needs. “University-Industrial Research Collaboration” guides the teaching direction for communication design majors and can help to cultivate communication design talents who are competent for the post provided. (shrink)