Objectives: We investigated how often journal articles reporting on human HIV research in four developing world countries mention any institutional review boards (IRBs) or research ethics committees (RECs), and what factors are involved.Methods: We examined all such articles published in 2007 from India, Nigeria, Thailand and Uganda, and coded these for several ethical and other characteristics.Results: Of 221 articles meeting inclusion criteria, 32.1% did not mention IRB approval. Mention of IRB approval was associated with: biomedical (versus psychosocial) research (P = (...) 0.001), more sponsor-country authors (P = 0.003), sponsor-country corresponding author (P = 0.047), mention of funding (P < 0.001), particular host-country involved (P = 0.002), journals having sponsor-country editors (P < 0.001), and journal stated compliance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines (P = 0.003). Logistic regression identified 3 significant factors: mention of funding, journal having sponsor-country editors and research being biomedical.Conclusions: One-third of articles still do not mention IRB approval. Mention varied by country, and was associated with biomedical research, and more sponsor country involvement. Recently, some journals have required mention of IRB approval, but allow authors to do so in cover letters to editors, not in the article itself. Instead, these data suggest, journals should require that articles document adherence to ethical standards. (shrink)

In this article, the authors consider the use of a “Playlist of My Life Assignment” in helping social studies (SS) and English language arts (ELA) teacher candidates (TCs) conceptualize multimodal and humanizing SS and ELA curricula. The Playlist Assignment asked teacher candidates to center the music, texts, land, spaces, and places that are most important to them, and potentially relate these back to their own pedagogies as SS and ELA teachers. Taken from two qualitative studies of two teacher education courses (...) at two separate, large research universities in the U.S. Southwest, this article examines teacher candidates’ understandings of their disciplines as humanizing and multimodal, and as centered in their and their students’ communities, through the Playlist Assignment. Data included the Playlist Assignment, curated by TCs in each methods course, and TCs’ class response journals. TCs offered profound texts they carried within them throughout their lives, demonstrating (1) their multimodal disruptions of the definition of a “text” and (2) the empowering and limiting effect of life texts for humanizing curricula. This work has implications for SS and ELA teacher educators interested in supporting teacher candidates as they conceptualize multimodal and humanizing curricula with and for their future students. (shrink)

Recent evidence shows that dynamic instability is the dominant mechanism for the assembly of pure tubulin in vitro and for the great majority of microtubules in the mitotic spindle and the interphase cytoplasmic microtubule complex. The basic concepts of this model provide a framework for future characterization of the molecular basis of spatial and temporal regulation of microtubule dynamics in the cell and the function of microtubule dynamics in motile processes such as chromosome movement.

Hypnotic responding might be due to attenuated frontal lobe functioning after the hypnotic induction. Little is known about whether personality traits linked with frontal functioning are associated with responsiveness to hypnotic suggestions. We assessed whether hypnotic suggestibility is related to the traits of self-control and impulsivity in 154 participants who completed the Brief Self-Control Scale, the Self-Regulation Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale , and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility . BIS-11 non-planning impulsivity correlated positively with HGSHS:A . Furthermore, (...) in the best model emerging from a stepwise multiple regression, both non-planning impulsivity and self-control positively predicted hypnotic suggestibility, and there was an interaction of BIS-11 motor impulsivity with gender. For men only, motor impulsivity tended to predict hypnotic suggestibility. Hypnotic suggestibility is associated with personality traits linked with frontal functioning, and hypnotic responding in men and women might differ. (shrink)

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 每當我們提及生命倫理學時，不可避免要提及的話題：生命倫理的終極指徵是什麼？是從道德的層面教導人類向善？還是要從技術的維度延長人類的壽命？是要規範人類的行為準則？亦或是要恪守人類的道德底線？誠然，從不同 的學科分野下，對於生命倫理學的探究一直未曾停止，但是Joseph Tham “Bioethics: Cross-Cultural Explorations”一文：卻從更為原初的層面向我們闡釋了生命或者説是理念的價值所在。(撮要取自內文首段) Emerging developments in science and technology have changed the “relationships” between people in the traditional sense, and life has been carved more and more rounded, but at the same time, it has smoothed out the “edges” of life. Science and technology have begun to erode bioethics under the guise of reason, as the standards for “good” or “evil” are no longer defined by human morality, (...) but by data. We seem to have forgotten our most original pursuit and neglected to ponder the original meaning of life. Through his work, “Bioethics: Cross-Cultural Explorations,” Tham hopes to make people stop, re-examine, and look at the values and attributes of bioethics from multiple dimensions, such as religion, history, and culture, and reawaken human beings' interest in beauty and moral cognition. (shrink)

" Tous les hommes désirent être heureux " et " nul ne saurait être heureux sans être vertueux " ; tels sont les principes de départ de l'éthique aristotélicienne. Mais comment les articuler? Et qu'entend exactement Aristote par " bonheur "? Les vertus sont des modes de comportement, comme le courage, la justice et l'amitié, et des activités de la raison, telles la prudence et la contemplation. Mais quel est précisément leur statut par rapport au bonheur? Ces questions correspondent aux (...) problématiques centrales de l'éthique d'Aristote ainsi qu'aux multiples interprétations et débats qu'elles suscitent depuis l'Antiquité. Les contributions de ce recueil se proposent d'en thématiser les enjeux. Contributions de Richard Bodéüs, Pierre Destrée, Jean-Louis Labarrière, David Lefebvre, Pierre Rodrigo, Gerd Van Riel, Marco Zingano. (shrink)

This book highlights some of the most pressing safety, ethical, legal and societal issues related to the diverse contexts in which robotic technologies apply. Focusing on the essential concept of well-being, it addresses topics that are fundamental not only for research, but also for industry and end-users, discussing the challenges in a wide variety of applications, including domestic robots, autonomous manufacturing, personal care robots and drones.

Mounting evidence suggests that endorsement of psychological continuity and the afterlife increases with age. This developmental change raises questions about the cognitive biases, social representations, and cultural input that may support afterlife beliefs. To what extent is there similarity versus diversity across cultures in how people reason about what happens after death? The objective of this study was to compare beliefs about the continuation of biological and psychological functions after death in Tanna, Vanuatu, and the United States. Children, adolescents, and (...) adults were primed with a story that contained either natural or supernatural cues. Participants were then asked whether or not different biological and psychological processes continue to function after death. We predicted that across cultures individuals would be more likely to endorse the continuation of psychological processes over biological processes and that a theistic prime would increase continuation responses regarding both types of process. Results largely supported predictions; U.S. participants provided more continuation responses for psychological than biological processes following both the theistic and non-theistic primes. Participants in Vanuatu, however, provided more continuation responses for biological than psychological processes following the theistic prime. The data provide evidence for both cultural similarity and variability in afterlife beliefs and demonstrate that individuals use both natural and supernatural explanations to interpret the same events. (shrink)

Drawing on a landscape analysis of existing data-sharing initiatives, in-depth interviews with expert stakeholders, and public deliberations with community advisory panels across the U.S., we describe features of the evolving medical information commons. We identify participant-centricity and trustworthiness as the most important features of an MIC and discuss the implications for those seeking to create a sustainable, useful, and widely available collection of linked resources for research and other purposes.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on December 13, 2006, and entered into force on May 3, 2008, constitutes a key landmark in the emerging field of global health law and a critical milestone in the development of international law on the rights of persons with disabilities. At the time of its adoption, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights heralded the CRPD as a rejection of the understanding of persons with disabilities “as objects (...) of charity, medical treatment and social protection” and an embrace of disabled people as “subjects of rights.”The text of the Convention itself, and the highly participatory process by which it was negotiated, signal a definitive break from previous international approaches that focused on disability within a medical model framework. In contrast to traditional approaches, the CRPD embraces a social model of disability, concentrating the disability experience not in individual deficiency, but in the socially constructed environment and the barriers that impede the participation of persons with disabilities in society. (shrink)

The say-on-pay regulation in the Dodd-Frank Act requires publicly-traded U.S. firms to hold a nonbinding, advisory shareholder vote on executive compensation. Advocates claim that SOP voting gives shareholders a mechanism to hold managers and boards more accountable. Critics contend that SOP votes may simplistically reflect shareholders’ reactions to the overall value of CEO compensation or the firm’s net income. However, based on prior research, we contend that market participants’ SOP votes are likely to consider current income attributes. For example, the (...) market punishes firms that do not meet or beat benchmarks such as analyst earnings expectations, and that shareholders scrutinize the quality of the income sources of firms that consistently meet/beat analyst expectations. We thus expect that more shareholders will provide ‘agree’ SOP votes for a firm that consistently meets/beats analyst forecasts and does so when net income does not include nonrecurring gains. Further, we consider whether perceptions about the fairness of CEO compensation play a mediating role in the relationship between the interaction of these two current income attributes and SOP votes. Results from an experiment using evening MBA students as participants indicates that the two current income attributes significantly interact with respect to the percentage of agree SOP votes, and that compensation fairness perceptions fully mediate this relationship. Further, the mediating effect of compensation fairness perceptions is robust to including CEO-level and other determinants found in prior research. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and their implications for public policy and research. (shrink)

This article reviews the contributions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the progressive development of both international human rights law and global health law and governance. It provides a summary of the global situation of persons with disabilities and outlines the progressive development of international disability standards, noting the salience of the shift from a medical model of disability to a rights-based social model reflected in the CRPD. Thereafter, the article considers the Convention's structure (...) and substantive content, and then analyzes in specific detail the particular contributions of the Convention to health and human rights law and global health governance. It concludes with an exploration of the potential implications of the CRPD's innovations for some of the most pressing issues in global health governance, including the Convention's contributions to the principle of participation in decision-making. (shrink)

This study builds on prior research investigating the antecedents of firm supererogation. Examining vehicle recalls in the U.S. automobile industry from 1966 to 2010 reveals that surveillance-based government enforcement programs can have widespread industry effects on a specific type of supererogatory action, firm volunteerism. Specifically, increases in government surveillance are associated with firms going beyond what is legally required of them by initiating voluntary product recalls for defects not covered in existing government regulation. Such effects are shown to be unique (...) among surveillance efforts as other government enforcement activities, such as standards-based regulation, are revealed to have a negative association with firm supererogation. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the 1986 Amendments to the False Claims Act of 1863, which offers whistle-blowers financial rewards for disclosing fraud committed against the U.S. government. This law provides an opportunity to examine underlying assumptions about the morality of whistle-blowing and to consider the merits of increased reliance on whistle-blowing to protect the public interest. The law seems open to a number of moral objections, most notably that it exerts a morally corrupting influence on whistle-blowers. We answer these objections (...) and argue that the law is not objectionable on these grounds. Since there are no compelling moral objections to the law, it is appropriate and acceptable to judge the law in terms of its economic costs and benefits. We assess the most salient of these and conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs. We suggest that a mechanism similar to the Act should be considered for protecting stockholders’ interests in the private sector. We conclude by making several proposals for improving the existing legislation. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the 1986 Amendments to the False Claims Act of 1863, which offers whistle-blowers financial rewards for disclosing fraud committed against the U.S. government. This law provides an opportunity to examine underlying assumptions about the morality of whistle-blowing and to consider the merits of increased reliance on whistle-blowing to protect the public interest. The law seems open to a number of moral objections, most notably that it exerts a morally corrupting influence on whistle-blowers. We answer these objections (...) and argue that the law is not objectionable on these grounds. Since there are no compelling moral objections to the law, it is appropriate and acceptable to judge the law in terms of its economic costs and benefits. We assess the most salient of these and conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs. We suggest that a mechanism similar to the Act should be considered for protecting stockholders' interests in the private sector. We conclude by making several proposals for improving the existing legislation. (shrink)

삶은 상처이자 치유의 과정이다! 일상으로 소환한 인문학에서 찾은 삶과 행복의 기본과 원칙 ◎ 도서 소개 인문학의 두 번째 질문, “어떻게 살 것인가?” 고은, 용타, 김상근, 최인철, 차드 멩 탄… 최고의 지성 12인의 상처를 극복하고 공생하는 방법! 존재의 본질에 대한 논의를 잇는 근원적 물음, 어떻게 살 것인가. 삶의 황폐화와 사회 가치의 퇴색, 현실 문제에 대한 근원적인 해결책의 부재로 현대인들은 인간과 삶, 죽음에 대한 근원적인 물음을 품기 시작했다. 그 물음 끝에 탄생한 『어떻게 살 것인가』는 2014년 가을 플라톤 아카데미가 주최한 동명의 대중강연을 엮은 (...) 것으로, 누적 6만 명 이상 청중들의 열광적인 호응을 불러일으켰다. 1부에서 김상근, 한명기, 조성택, 석영중, 황현산, 고은은 인류의 역사 속에 우리 삶의 이정표를 세우는 작업을 통해 너를 살피고 나를 다스리는 지혜를 설파한다. 2부에서 손봉호, 박승찬, 차드 멩 탄, 최인철, 용타, 이강호는 상처를 견디며 행복하게 살아가기 위한 고민을 통해 삶은 상처를 치유하는 과정이라고 역설한다. 삶과 행복의 기본과 원칙이 현실에 닥친 슬픔과 혼란을 극복하고 함께 앞으로 나아갈 수 있는 힘이며, 황폐해진 개인의 삶과 희미해진 사회적 가치를 극복할 수 있는 해답임을 역사와 철학, 종교와 문학 등 인문학 여러 분야를 넘나들며 증명한다. ◎ 출판사 서평 상처 입은 사회, 우리는 어떻게 살아야 할까? 공생하는 삶에 대한 12가지 실천적 철학 나는 누구인가, 어떻게 살 것인가, 어떻게 죽을 것인가. 현대인들이 잊고 살지만, 인생에서 가장 중요한 질문이다. 개인의 삶이 점점 황폐해지고 사회 가치가 희미해지는 요즘, 이러한 근원적인 물음은 우리 삶에 더욱 중요해졌다. ‘인간’을 탐구하고 ‘인생’을 공부하는 학문인 인문학 열풍이 거세진 것도 이와 같은 이유다. 그 물음 끝에 탄생한 『어떻게 살 것인가』는 2014년 가을 플라톤 아카데미가 주최한 동명의 대중강연을 엮은 것으로, 누적 6만 명 이상 청중들의 열광적인 호응을 불러일으켰다. 마치 눈앞에서 듣는 것처럼 고은, 용타, 김상근, 최인철, 차드 멩 탄 등 이 시대를 대표하는 지성 12인이 전하는 삶의 지혜와 인문학적 통찰이 뜨거운 감동과 함께 생생하게 전달된다. 우리 일상에 맞닿은 사례들을 중심으로 삶의 본질을 탐구하며, 위대한 고전과 사상가들의 핵심 메시지를 깊이 있고 흥미롭게 분석했다. 독자들은 이 책을 통해 ‘어떻게 살 것인가’라는 삶의 근원적인 물음에 명쾌한 해답을 얻을 수 있을 것이며, 흔들리고 방황하는 삶에 용기와 철학을 정립할 수 있을 것이다. 행복한 삶을 향한 역사, 철학, 종교, 문학의 성찰 어떻게 살 것인가에 관한 질문은 반드시 ‘행복’이라는 대답으로 이어진다. 역사, 철학, 종교, 문학 등 다양한 시각으로 삶의 방법을 분석한 우리 시대 최고 지성 12인이 상처를 극복하고 함께 행복하게 살아갈 수 있는 방법을 이야기한다. 개인과 사회가 서로 신뢰할 때 우리의 삶은 여유로워지고 사회는 안전해진다. 1부에서는 인류의 역사 속에 우리 삶의 이정표를 세우는 작업을 통해 너를 살피고 나를 다스리는 지혜를 배운다. 대한민국 사회를 ‘아포리아’ 시대로 규정하며 위기를 극복할 수 있는 지혜를 고대 그리스에서 찾은 김상근, 『징비록』에 담긴 역사적 기록을 통해 세계 격변의 시기에 우리가 취해야 할 자세를 고민하는 한명기, 원효의 화쟁사상을 통해 시민의 지혜와 대화의 중요성을 강조한 조성택, 톨스토이의 『안나 카레니나』를 바탕으로 몰입, 소통, 죽음 세 단계의 성장하는 삶을 이야기한 석영중, 주체로서의 나와 타자로서의 나를 소통시키는 시(詩)의 힘을 통해 잘 사는 법을 전한 황현산, 극심한 갈등 속 자기중심적 삶에서 벗어나 세계사적 의미의 통합을 이룰 것을 주장한 고은 시인을 통해 산다는 문제가 공생에 관한 논의로 확장되는 것을 경험한다. 2부에서는 상처를 견디며 행복하게 살아가기 위한 고민을 통해 삶은 상처를 치유하는 과정이라고 역설한다. 우리가 행복하지 않은 이유로 지나친 경쟁심과 불공정한 규칙을 꼽으며 정직하게 나와 타인의 행복과 이익을 함께 추구하는 것이 우리가 지켜야 할 자존심이자 원칙이라고 전하는 손봉호, 나의 ‘홀로서기’와 타인과의 ‘함께 걷기’를 통해서 고통을 넘어서는 희망을 찾을 수 있다는 대안을 제시한 박승찬, 감성지능을 개발하기 위한 세 단계인 주의력 집중, 자기 인식, 정신 습관을 통해 행복의 비법을 전한 차드 멩 탄, 행복을 마음이 아닌 몸과 연결 지어 일상에서 행복을 느낄 수 있는 방법을 찾아나가는 최인철, ‘나, 모두의 행복, 마음 천국, 관계 천국, 세상 천국’이라는 다섯 가지 원리를 통해 나를 이해하는 것에서부터 세계 평화가 시작함을 이야기한 용타, 준비하고 실행하는 삶, 주인공이 되는 삶, 기본과 원칙을 중시하고 만남을 소중히 하는 삶이라는 삶의 다섯 가지 실천을 제시한 이강호를 통해 우리는 어떻게 사는 삶이 행복한 삶인지 다시 한번 숙고하게 된다. 인문학의 목소리로 전하는 인간의 삶과 행복, 기본과 원칙은 현실에 닥친 슬픔과 혼란을 극복하고 함께 앞으로 나아갈 수 있는 힘을 전한다. 황폐해진 개인의 삶과 희미해진 사회적 가치를 극복할 해답을 인문학에서 찾았다. ◎ 본문 중에서 만약 인문학적 성찰이 ‘나는 누구인가’에만 머무른다면 그것은 매우 이기적인 일일지도 모르겠습니다. 인문학은 자기 성찰에서 출발해 이웃과 세상 사람들, 그리고 사회 속에서 행동하고 실천하는 작업까지 이어져야 합니다. 그렇기에 인문학은 반드시 두 번째 질문인 ‘어떻게 살 것인가’로 나아가야 합니다. (14쪽) 『징비록』은 조선 선조 때 영의정을 지낸 서애(西厓) 류성룡이 집필한 임진왜란(壬辰倭亂)의 전란사입니다. 제목인 징비(懲毖)는 『시경(詩經)』 「소비편(小毖篇)」의 “예기징 이비후환(豫基懲 而毖後患)”, 즉 내가 경계함은 후환을 삼가기 위함이라는 구절에서 한 글자씩 따왔습니다. (…) 그는 임진왜란 당시의 참담한 상황을 기록하면서, 동시에 난이 일어나기 이전의 일도 기록해 그 원인이 어디에 있었는지를 밝히려고 했습니다. (31~32쪽) 세상의 중심에 서서 세상을 이어주는 것이 바로 인문 정신이며 시민의 지혜라고 생각합니다. 시민의 지혜로 세상을 바라볼 때, 논쟁이 화쟁적 대화로 이어질 때, 갈등과 분쟁은 더 이상 문제 상황이 아니라 더 큰 진리가 드러나는 에너지요, 기회가 될 것입니다. (97쪽) 톨스토이는 ‘어떻게 살 것인가’라는 질문에 대한 답을 작품을 통해 보여주게 되는데요, 그 답은 바로 ‘성장’입니다. 성장이란 인간이 끊임없는 성찰과 학습을 통해 자기완성에 도달하는 과정입니다. 톨스토이는 성장에 대해 “끊임없이 보다 나은 사람이 되어가는 것”이라고 이야기합니다. (99~100쪽) 개인의 사소한 사정은 더더욱 표현하기 어렵습니다. 사회적인 문제들을 표현하기 위해서는 연대도 가능하고 협력도 가능합니다. 그러나 자기 안에 있는 문제는, 실제로 모든 사람들이 똑같이 느끼고 있음에도 불구하고 연대가 불가능하고 협력도 어렵습니다. 바로 그 사이에 다리를 놓고 협력할 수 있도록 해주는 것이 문학입니다. 또한 그것들을 표현할 말을 만들어내고, 그것들을 표현하기 위해 어떤 특별한 세계를 개발하고 또 그것들을 전파할 수 있도록 약속하는 것이 문학입니다. 그리고 그 문학의 전위가 바로 시(詩)이며, 시가 바로 그 일을 합니다. (135쪽) 아내가 “삶은 상처다”라고 아주 멋진 말을 하더군요. 그리고 삶은 상처를 치유하는 과정이라고 덧붙였습니다. 일상은 늘 상처를 만들고 상처와 만나고 그 상처를 조금씩 치유해주고 가라앉혀주는 것이라고요. 진짜 삶은 누구에 의해 혹은 누구의 규범과 교훈에 종속되어 노예로 사는 것이 아니라 자기 자신으로 살아가는 것입니다. (…) 실존의 존엄성을 우주의 그 누구도 모독할 수 없습니다. (154~155쪽) 우리는 우리의 행동이 어떤 경로를 거쳐 어떤 결과를 가져올지 알아야 하고, 그 결과에 따른 책임도 져야 합니다. 그것이 오늘날 우리에게 필요한 윤리입니다. 그러려면 선한 동기만이 아니라 지식도 있어야 하고, 능력도 있어야 합니다. (185쪽) 고통을 극복하기 위해서는 누구도 자신의 고통을 이해해주지 못한다는 사실을 받아들여야 합니다. 기대할수록 상처는 더욱 커집니다. 고통은 홀로 맞서야만 하는 주관적인 체험입니다. 그렇더라도 고통에 빠진 사람 옆에서 함께 걸어주십시오. 그러면 내가 고통스러울 때 그 사람도 나와 함께 걸어줄 것입니다. 이런 홀로서기와 함께 걷기를 통해서 우리는 고통을 넘어서는 희망을 찾을 수 있습니다. (219쪽) 행복의 비법은 바로 이것입니다. 먼저 마음을 고요하게 해보세요. 그러면 에너지가 필요 없는 기쁨의 세계로 나아갈 수 있습니다. 그리고 자기 인식 능력을 발전시켜서 번뇌로부터 벗어나세요. 마지막으로 친절과 자비를 베풀고 이를 습관화합니다. 이 모든 과정이 훈련을 통해 얼마든지 가능합니다. (238쪽) 단백질, 탄수화물, 지방이 몸을 움직이는 3대 영양소라면, 자유와 유능감과 관계는 영혼을 숨 쉬게 하는 3대 영양소입니다. 그러므로 행복한 삶을 산다는 것은 이 세 가지 에너지를 지속적으로 공급받는 것이라 할 수 있습니다. 그리고 이런 에너지는 당연히 마음 관리에서 나옵니다. 저는 신체활동이나 일상의 여러 활동을 통해 얼마든지 영혼에 에너지를 공급할 수 있다는 이야기를 하려 합니다. (248쪽) 행복한 삶을 위한 원리를 정리하면 ‘나는 모두의 행복을 위해 수심하여 마음 천국 이루고, 화합하여 관계 천국 이루고, 작선하여 세상 천국 이루리라’입니다. 우리 모두가 이 원리만 지키고 살아도 가정의 평화, 세계의 평화, 우주의 평화를 이룰 수 있습니다. (273쪽) 매일 아침, 우리에게는 똑같은 태양이 떠오릅니다. 그리고 똑같은 시간이 주어지지요. 태양과 시간을 어떻게 자기 것으로 만들어가느냐에 따라 각자의 삶이 달라질 것입니다. ‘Every dawn is a new beginning.’ 매일마다의 아침은 또 하나의 새로운 시작입니다. 여러분은 어떤 삶을 원하십니까? (297쪽). (shrink)

After decades of single issue movements and identity politics on the U.S. left, the series of large demonstrations beginning in 1999 in Seattle have led many to wonder if activist politics can now come together around a common theme of global justice. This book pursues the prospects for progressive political movements in the 21st century with case studies of ten representative movements, including the anti-globalization forces, environmental interest groups, and new takes on the peace movement.

The attempt to find usable diagrams fornterms of the sort devised by John Venn seems to have originated with Venn himself, who published diagrams for up to five classes (the fifth class, however, was shaped like a doughnut, and contained an area outside itself — like the hole in the doughnut). Venn then suggested that “if we wanted to use a diagram forsixterms (x, y, z, w, v, u) the best plan would probably be to taketwofive-term figures, one for theupart (...) and one for the non-upart of all the other combinations …” Such a method would, as Venn admits, be somewhat confusing to the eye, and thus fail to fulfil one of the major purposes of the diagram; nevertheless, it is a method which could be extended to covernclasses.Venn also suggests (but without illustration) another method for drawing diagrams fornterms: “… the rule of formation would be very simple. We should merely have to begin by drawing any closed figure, and then proceed to draw others subject to the one condition that each intersect once, and once only, all the existing subdivisions produced by those which had gone before.” Then, in a rather surprising footnote, he adds: “It will be found that when we adhere to continuous figures, instead of the discontinuous five-term figure given above, there is a tendency for the resultant outlines thus successively drawn to assume a comb-like shape after the first four or five. If we begin by circles or other rounded figures the teeth are curved, if by parallelograms then they are straight. (shrink)

BackgroundThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration traditionally has kept confidential significant amounts of information relevant to the approval or non-approval of specific drugs, devices, and biologics and about the regulatory status of such medical products in FDA’s pipeline.ObjectiveTo develop practical recommendations for FDA to improve its transparency to the public that FDA could implement by rulemaking or other regulatory processes without further congressional authorization. These recommendations would build on the work of FDA’s Transparency Task Force in 2010.MethodsIn 2016-2017, we convened (...) a team of academic faculty from Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Yale Medical School, Yale Law School, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to develop recommendations through an iterative process of reviewing FDA’s practices, considering the legal and policy constraints on FDA in expanding transparency, and obtaining insights from independent observers of FDA.ResultsThe team developed 18 specific recommendations for improving FDA’s transparency to the public. FDA could adopt all these recommendations without further congressional action.FundingThe development of the Blueprint for Transparency at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. (shrink)

A short time ago the idea of sustainable agriculture was accepted only at the extreme margins of the U. S. agricultural systems. Although sustainability has now become a major theme of many U. S. agricultural groups, there remains much under-explored terrain in the meaning of sustainable agriculture. A thorough examination of who and what we want to sustain and how we can sustain them is critical if sustainable agriculture is to be a practical improvement over conventional agriculture. In order to (...) begin this effort, this article analyzes contemporary sustainable agriculture discourse and suggests alternatives for reconceptualizing sustainable agriculture. In particular we look at three arenas of sustainable discourse-family farm/rural community preservation, food safety, and agricultural science-and address issues of class, race/ethnicity, and gender found in current sustainability positions. We find that while advocates of sustainability have succeeded in pushing agricultural researchers and policy makers to address environmental issues, we need to go much farther both in theory and practice in order to deal with equally important issues of social equity. © 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers. (shrink)

A recursive enumerator for a function h is an algorithm f which enumerates for an input x finitely many elements including h(x), f is a k(n)-enumerator if for every input x of length n, h(x) is among the first k(n) elements enumerated by f. If there is a k(n)-enumerator for h then h is called k(n)-enumerable. We also consider enumerators which are only A-recursive for some oracle A. We determine exactly how hard it is to enumerate the Kolmogorov function, which (...) assigns to each string x its Kolmogorov complexity: • For every underlying universal machine U, there is a constant a such that C is k(n)-enumerable only if k(n) ≥ n/a for almost all n. • For any given constant k, the Kolmogorov function is k-enumerable relative to an oracle A if and only if A is at least as hard as the halting problem. • There exists an r.e., Turing-incomplete set A such for every non-decreasing and unbounded recursive function k, the Kolmogorov function is k(n)-enumerable relative to A. The last result is obtained by using a relativizable construction for a nonrecursive set A relative to which the prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity differs only by a constant from the unrelativized prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity. Although every 2-enumerator for C is Turing hard for K, we show that reductions must depend on the specific choice of the 2-enumerator and there is no bound on the quantity of their queries. We show our negative results even for strong 2-enumerators as an oracle where the querying machine for any x gets directly an explicit list of all hypotheses of the enumerator for this input. The limitations are very general and we show them for any recursively bounded function g: • For every Turing reduction M and every non-recursive set B, there is a strong 2-enumerator f for g such that M does not Turing reduce B to f. • For every non-recursive set B, there is a strong 2-enumerator f for g such that B is not wtt-reducible to f. Furthermore, we deal with the resource-bounded case and give characterizations for the class ${\rm S}_{2}^{{\rm P}}$ introduced by Canetti and independently Russell and Sundaram and the classes PSPACE, EXP. • ${\rm S}_{2}^{{\rm P}}$ is the class of all sets A for which there is a polynomially bounded function g such that there is a polynomial time tt-reduction which reduces A to every strong 2-enumerator for g. • PSPACE is the class of all sets A for which there is a polynomially bounded function g such that there is a polynomial time Turing reduction which reduces A to every strong 2-enumerator for g. Interestingly, g can be taken to be the Kolmogorov function for the conditional space bounded Kolmogorov complexity. • EXP is the class of all sets A for which there is a polynomially bounded function g and a machine M which witnesses A ∈ PSPACEf for all strong 2-enumerators f for g. Finally, we show that any strong O(log n)-enumerator for the conditional space bounded Kolmogorov function must be PSPACE-hard if P = NP. (shrink)