This study provides current data on key questions about retraction of scientific articles. Findings confirm that the rate of retractions remains low but is increasing. The most commonly cited reason for retraction was research error or inability to reproduce results; the rate from research misconduct is an underestimate, since some retractions necessitated by research misconduct were reported as being due to inability to reproduce. Retraction by parties other than authors is increasing, especially for research misconduct. Although retractions are on average (...) occurring sooner after publication than in the past, citation analysis shows that they are not being recognised by subsequent users of the work. Findings suggest that editors and institutional officials are taking more responsibility for correcting the scientific record but that reasons published in the retraction notice are not always reliable. More aggressive means of notification to the scientific community appear to be necessary. (shrink)

The social ecological model (SEM) is a conceptual framework that recognizes individuals function within multiple interactive systems and contextual environments that influence their health. Medical Legal Partnerships (MLPs) address the social determinants of health through partnerships between health providers and civil legal services. This paper explores how the conceptual framework of SEM can be applied to the MLP model, which also uses a multidimensional approach to address an individual’s social determinants of health.

Humanitarian healthcare work presents a range of ethical challenges for expatriate healthcare professionals, including tragic choices requiring the selection of a least-worst option. In this paper we examine a particular set of tragic choices related to the prioritization of care and allocation of scarce resources between individuals in situations of widespread and urgent health needs. Drawing on qualitative interviews with clinicians, we examine the nature of these choices. We offer recommendations to clinical teams and aid organizations for preparing and supporting (...) frontline clinicians in their efforts to determine the least-worst option, and in their responsibility for making such choices. (shrink)

Frustration in traffic is one of the causes of aggressive driving. Knowledge whether a driver is frustrated may be utilized by future advanced driver assistance systems to counteract this source of crashes. One possibility to achieve this is to automatically recognize facial expressions of drivers. However, only little is known about the facial expressions of frustrated drivers. Here, we report the results of a driving simulator study investigating the facial muscle activity that comes along with frustration. Twenty-eight participants were video-taped (...) during frustrated and non-frustrated driving situations. Their facial muscle activity was manually coded according to the Facial Action Coding System. Participants showed significantly more facial muscle activity in the mouth region. Thus, recording facial muscle behavior potentially provides traffic researchers and assistance system developers with the possibility to recognize frustration while driving. (shrink)

Unter Off-Label-Use versteht man den zulassungsüberschreitenden Einsatz eines Arzneimittels außerhalb der von Zulassungsbehörden genehmigten Anwendungsgebiete. Er ist in der medizinischen Praxis weit verbreitet und fächerübergreifend zu beobachten. Der Beitrag gibt eine Einschätzung der Off-Label-Anwendung aus ethischer Sicht. Dazu wird die Off- Label-Anwendung zunächst von anderen, sachlich verwandten Anwendungsweisen abgegrenzt. Danach wird über die aktuelle Verbreitung des Off-Label- Use informiert. Sodann wird gezeigt, dass sich bekannte Problemlagen aus der Medizinethik bei der Off-Label-Anwendung in spezifischer Weise verschärfen. Schließlich wird diskutiert, wie eine (...) ethisch akzeptable Off-Label-Anwendung von Arzneimitteln ausgestaltet werden könnte und auf welchen Ebenen sie ansetzen müsste. (shrink)

Human rights defenders (HRDs) fight for various human rights and address concerns related to corruption, employment, the environment, and other issues. They also challenge powerful state and private stakeholders and seek justice for human rights abuses. Therefore, HRDs are increasingly becoming targets of violent attacks and abuse with the aim of silencing them. This article begins by providing a brief definition of HRDs and then proceeds to outline the risks associated with their work in defending human rights. It also identifies (...) the perpetrators responsible for these violations. The article categorises the types of abuses against HRDs into two main categories, with a particular focus on the widespread tactic of using the legal system to target and silence defenders in Europe, which is also emerging globally. It introduces a taxonomy of various types of violations through the legal system. By categorising the types of violations against HRDs and establishing a taxonomy to aid in identifying these tactics, the article seeks to deepen understanding and awareness of the varied abuses experienced by HRDs, as well as their deviation from human rights standards, providing a valuable resource for academics, practitioners, and defenders. (shrink)

Die allogene Transplantation von Blutstammzellen aus dem Körper von Kindern, die der Spende nicht selbst zustimmen können, in den Körper eines kranken Geschwisterkindes wirft schwierige ethische Fragen auf. Wie kann ein risikobehafteter, fremdnütziger medizinischer Eingriff ethisch gerechtfertigt werden? In dieser Arbeit werden Argumente kritisch untersucht, nach denen das Spenderkind eine Pflicht habe, bei der Transplantation mitzumachen. Die Idee der Pflicht ist nachvollziehbar aus der Perspektive der Eltern, die zwar in einem Fürsorgekonflikt sind (ein Kind zu Gunsten der Rettung des anderen (...) verletzen zu müssen), aber selbst eine Pflicht haben, für das Leben des kranken Kindes zu kämpfen. Eine Analyse des Pflichtbegriffs zeigt jedoch, dass die Erfüllung einer Pflicht daran gebunden ist, entscheidungskompetent zu sein. Drei Wege werden untersucht, eine solche Pflicht dennochzuzuschreiben: i) die Eltern übertragenihre Pflicht auf das Kind; ii) die Interessen des Spenderkindes implizieren eine Pflicht; iii) Geschwisterkinder haben aufgrund ihrer vertrauten Familienbeziehungen Pflichten untereinander, die auch die Pflicht zu spenden beinhalten. Alle drei Zuschreibungsstrategien werden als unhaltbar kritisiert. Das Ergebnis lautet, dass die Pflicht, einem Geschwisterkind Körpergewebe zu spenden, einem nicht-einwilligungsfähigen Kind nicht zugeschrieben werden kann. Andere philosophische Ansätze zur Stammzellspende von Kindern an Familienangehörige müssten entwickelt und geprüft werden. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a health threat that has dominated media coverage. However, not much is known about individual media use to acquire knowledge about COVID-19. To address this open research question, this study investigated how the perceived threat is linked to media use and how media use is associated with perceived and actual knowledge about COVID-19. In a German online survey conducted between April 16 and April 27, 2020, N = 952 participants provided information on their perceived threat and (...) media use to inform themselves about COVID-19. In this process, they indicated how well they were informed about COVID-19 and subsequently completed a COVID-19 knowledge test. Results indicated that individuals who felt more threatened by COVID-19 used media more often to inform themselves but focused on fewer different media channels. Further, frequent media use was associated with higher perceived knowledge, but not with higher actual knowledge about COVID-19, reflecting an illusion of knowledge. Additionally, using fewer media channels was linked to higher perceived and actual knowledge. Finally, explorative analyses on the use of different media channels revealed that an illusion of knowledge emerged for using social media, public television, and newspapers. Potential explanations for the findings and implications for future research are discussed. (shrink)

Project funding rarely demands much change on behalf of the recipient. In contrast, cross-sectoral mobility funding requires recipients to change their environment and often some aspects of their research. There is a need to understand the impact on the researchers’ experiences as knowledge producers within such programs, as part of the broader potential and significance of cross-sectoral mobility funding. This study draws on interviews with participants of the Swedish ‘Flexit’ program in order to develop a framework for assessing the dynamics (...) and efficacy of such funding instruments. To do this, we develop a framework for understanding their cognitive effects; especially their ‘immersive’ potential, i.e., their ability to naturally involve the participant in their new setting. It proposes two dimensions along which such an assessment can take place: how the instrument challenges participants’ knowledge production practices, and the level of immersion that participants are subject to as part of the program. (shrink)

Centred on the diaries of Violet Thompson and Betty Whitla-Lucas, this exploratory paper self-reflexively plots key feminist problematics of integrating the personal with scholarship, while also enacting and working them through. By addressing my own familial connection to the archive, I explore the experience of using personal material within scholarship. Considering the increased incorporation of personal narrative into feminist scholarship, I question what is at stake in the production and reception of women’s life-writing. I propose a model of motivation and (...) desire for the process of reading and writing of women’s life-narratives, probing the relationship of desire that exists between women. Returning to the archive, Violet’s and Betty’s records of pregnancy are read as sites of power relations, examining the existence of inter-discursive networks of empowerment that disrupt the dominant cultural precepts on female sexuality. In closing, I reflect upon the interplay of private fantasy with public history and imagine the potential for the disparate forms of women’s life-writing, not only as feminist interventions in the cultural field but as contributions to discussions on the nature of feminine inscriptions. (shrink)

Migrating Minds contributes to the prominent interdisciplinary domain of Cosmopolitan Studies with twenty innovative essays by humanities scholars from all over the world that re-examine theories and practices of cosmopolitanism from a variety of perspectives.

Platão, ao tratar da negação no diálogo Sofista, afirma que sempre que enunciamos o que não é, não enunciamos algo contrário ao que é, mas algo diferente. A negação significa cada parte da natureza da diferença em antítese ao que é. Tal tratamento da negação resulta da necessidade de resolver alguns problemas colocados pelo eleatismo. Propõe-se indicar esses problemas e examinar o tratamento que Platão dá ao nãoser como diferença.

No Teeteto, em uma tentativa de denir o conhecimento, Platão trata da unidade e da complexidade segundo um modelo de análise dos complexos em elementos simples não analisáveis. Wittgenstein, no parágrafo 46 das Investigações Filosócas, cita esse argumento do Teeteto, introduzindo uma crítica à sua própria noção de objeto, no Tractatus. Nosso tema será um exame das noções de elemento e composto, apresentadas no Teeteto e retomadas no Sosta, tendo como horizonte a aproximação, feita por Wittgenstein, entre o objeto do (...) Tractatus e o elemento do Teeteto. (shrink)

The Parmenides is known as the dialogue in which Plato makes a criticism of his theory of forms. Through paradoxes, the character Parmenides criticizes the theory of forms presented by Socrates in the dialogue, targeting the relation they have with sensibles and with each other, call for participation, and the discoursive consequences of this relation. I present a reading of the Parmenides that suggests that the self-criticism points out inconsistencies in the Platonic theory of participation as it is presented in (...) the Parmenides, and that will be corrected later in the Sophist. (shrink)

Between 1993 and 2002, 39 clinical trial staff were investigated for scientific misconduct by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Analysis of ORI case records reveals practices regarding workload, training and supervision that enable misconduct. Considering the potential effects on human subjects protection, quality and reliability of data, and the trustworthiness of the clinical research enterprise, regulations or guidance on use of clinical trial staff ought to be available. Current ORI regulations do not hold investigators or institutions responsible for supervision (...) and training of clinical trial staff. Given the important issues at stake, the definition of research misconduct should encompass the intentional or negligent mismanagement of scientific projects. Individual institutions and professional associations not only can but should adopt stricter standards of conduct than those reflected in federal regulations. (shrink)

The Congress on Information and Communication during the 2000 World Engineers’ Convention in Hannover, Germany, passed a document on trends, challenges, and tasks of information and communication technologies as a set of proposals and guidelines for engineers and society which assumes validity worldwide. In 2002, the Executive Board of the Association of Engineers VDI (Germany) passed the new document Fundamentals of Engineering Ethics, which also claims universal validity, on how to deal with conflicting professional responsibilities. Thus the global validity of (...) ethics, under the impact of new technologies, has become visible as an issue widely discussed within engineering, philosophy, and society. It increasingly requires the awareness of our own responsibility towards all humans, as well as towards the natural environment and future generations. Thus the questions of how to decide and how to act challenge the interdisciplinary research field of ethics more than ever. In this paper, these elements of decisions and ethics are discussed in some detail. Subsequently they are illustrated by selected examples of ethical rules. (shrink)

Using a queer theory and disrupting heteronormativity framework, we applied a model lesson in the elementary methods course to understand preservice teachers’ experiences with LGBTQ individuals and families and their beliefs about utilizing children׳s literature portraying LGBTQ families in the elementary classroom. Participants reported a range of personal experiences with LGBTQ individuals and families and relatively positive responses to the family text set presented but wavered on LGBTQ themed books due to perceived conflict, religious beliefs, and ideas about what is (...) appropriate content for young learners. A discussion of the findings also includes preservice teachers’ intentions for future teaching related to LGBTQ topics. Implications for teacher education and social studies education are explored. (shrink)

As digital media becomes more central to the lives of adolescents, it also becomes increasingly relevant for their sexual communication. Sexting as an important image-based digital medium provides opportunities for self-determined digital communication, but also carries specific risks for boundary violations. Accordingly, sexting is understood either as an everyday, or as risky and deviant behavior among adolescents. In the affectedness of boundary violations gender plays an important role. However, it is still unclear to what extent digital sexual communication restores stereotypical (...) gender roles and restrictive sexuality norms or, alternatively, enables new spaces of possibility. In this sense, current research points to a desideratum regarding adolescents’ orientations toward sexting as a practice between spaces of possibility and boundary violations. This paper discusses the possibilities, but also the risks, of intimate digital communication among adolescents. The main question is, how adolescents themselves perceive sexting practices and how they position themselves between both spaces for possibility and for the exchange of unwanted sexual content. For this purpose, orientations toward normalities and gender of students are reconstructed. To answer these questions, twelve single-sex, group discussions were carried out with students aged 16 and 17 at five different secondary schools in northern Germany. A total of 20 boys and 22 girls took part. The group discussions were structured by a narrative generating guideline. The analysis draws its methodology from the Documentary Method, regarding implicit and explicit forms of knowledge and discourse. It results in a typology of three types with different orientations. The study shows, that most of the students consider sexting to be a risky practice; only one type shows normality in the use of sexting. At the same time, some of the young people are interested in experimenting with image-based intimate digital communication. Further, gender differences in use and affectedness are also documented. In this way, orientations toward gender stereotypes “favor” both the attribution of responsibility to girls, and overlook the responsibility of students who perpetrated the boundary violation. The orientations of adolescents should be taken more into account in research as well as in educational programs for the prevention of sexual violence. (shrink)

'Wessen Wissen?' ist einerseits eine Frage nach Akteur-innen, Körpern, Materialien und Technologien, die in künstlerischen Produktions- und Wissensprozessen miteinander interagieren. Diese lassen sich als Übersetzungen und Transformationen beschreiben, in denen Künstler-nnen längst nicht mehr die einzigen Subjekte des Wissens sind. Denn in den künstlerischen Praktiken des Entwerfens, Skizzierens, Modellierens, Probens und Experimentierens entfalten Medien und Materialien ihre je eigene agentielle Kraft. 'Wessen Wissen?' ist andererseits eine Frage nach der Heterogenität von Wissensformationen in ihren partikularen und partialen Perspektiven, also nach situated (...) knowledges. Damit wird die Vorstellung einer allgemeingültigen, körperlosen, neutralen Objektivität bestritten. Im Gegenzug nimmt das situierte Wissen der Künste für sich in Anspruch, Erkenntnisse hervorzubringen und zur Verfügung zu stellen. Es steht demnach für verkörperte Kenntnisse, die in das Feld des zugelassenen und legitimen Wissens kritisch intervenieren. (shrink)

In this article, we suggest an alternate approach to interpreting the US Constitution, using founding-era translations. We demonstrate how both symmetries and asymmetries in structure and vocabulary of the languages involved can help in deciding nowadays’ problems of constitutional interpretation. We select seven controversial passages of the US constitution to illustrate our approach: Art. I, § 8, cl. 3 ; Art. II, § 1, cl. 5 ; Art. II, § 2, cl. 3 ; Art. I, § 6, cl. 1/Art. I, (...) § 8, cl. 10/Art. IV, § 2 ; and Art. IV, § 2, cl. 1. Since these passages have recently been debated by constitutional scholars, reassessing them using our method can establish the additional value of our approach to constitutional practice. We presume that our approach is not limited to interpreting the US constitution, but suggest that constitutional hermeneutics in general could profit from adding a translation approach to the toolkit. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to explore the relational aspects of the consent process for HPV vaccination as experienced by school nurses, based on the assumption that individuals have interests related to persons close to them, which is not necessarily to be apprehended as a restriction of autonomy; rather as a voluntary and emotionally preferred involvement of their close ones. Thirty Swedish school nurses were interviewed in five focus groups, before the school based vaccination program had started in Sweden. (...) The empirical results were discussed in light of theories on relational autonomy. The school nurses were convinced that parental consent was needed for HPV vaccination of 11-year-old girls, but problems identified were the difficulty to judge when a young person is to be regarded as autonomous and what to do when children and parents do not agree on the decision. A solution suggested was that obtaining informed consent in school nursing is to be seen as a deliberative process, including the child, the parents and the nurse. The nurses described how they were willing strive for a dialogue with the parents and negotiate with them in the consent process. Seeing autonomy as relational might allow for a more dialogical approach towards how consent is obtained in school based vaccination programs. Through such an approach, conflicts of interests can be made visible and become possible to deal with in a negotiating dialogue. If the school nurses do not focus exclusively on accepting the individual parent’s choice, but strive to engage in a process of communication and deliberation, the autonomy of the child might increase and power inequalities might be reduced. (shrink)

On 14 January 1999, the woman theologian Christina Landman published an article in the religious column, Godsdiens Aktueel, of the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld under the heading ‘Poligamie, ditsem!’ (Yes, for polygamy!). In the article, Landman pondered whether polygamy – which is allowed in South Africa for indigenous cultures – would not be an advantage for the Afrikaans society where extra-marital affairs were allegedly high. There was an immediate and long-running reaction to this article in the Afrikaans, as well (...) as in the English media, nationally and internationally, in the printed media, as well as on radio and television. This article will isolate themes in the responding letters of Afrikaans readers. The rejection of polygamy by Afrikaans readers rests on arguments that it is unbiblical, dehumanising to women and impractical. On the other hand, those Afrikaans readers who opt for polygamy argue that multiple-partner-relationships can save marriages from ending in divorce because of extra-marital affairs and can lighten the burden on overworked women. Contribution: This article contributes to the debate on polygamy and in particular from the Afrikaans population in South Africa whose culture and religion forbid polygamy. The discussion and findings as thematised in this article contribute to a body of knowledge not been dealt with in academic research. (shrink)

Dr. McGee presents a cogent argument for the patentability of the diagnosis of gene forms that are found to be associated with disease or other phenotypic manifestations. We're convinced he's wrong. An analogy will help explain why.

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by William Blackwood and Sons in Edinburgh and London, 1904.

BackgroundFor over 35 years, Africa has continued to host HIV vaccine trials geared towards overturning the HIV/aids pandemic in the continent. However, the methods of sharing the vaccines, when available remain less certain. Therefore, the study aims to explore stakeholders’ perspectives in the global South, in this case, Tanzania, on how HIV vaccines ought to be fairly shared.MethodsThe study deployed a qualitative case study design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with a total of 37 purposively (...) selected participants. This included researchers, institutional review board members, a policymaker, HIV/aids advocates, and community advisory board members. The data obtained were inductively and deductively analyzed.Results Findings indicate that HIV vaccines can be shared fairly under the principles of distributive justice (contribution, need and equality). Thus, contribution-based sharing ought to be utilized upon the necessity to prioritize vaccine access or subsidized trial benefits to host communities. Need-based sharing ought to be considered for non-host communities that are at an increased risk of HIV infection. Lastly, equal-based sharing would be useful at later stages of vaccine distribution or when the aforementioned principles are deemed morally inappropriate. However, none of the benefit-sharing approaches is free of limitations and a counterbalancing sense of unfairness.ConclusionFair sharing of HIV vaccines, when available, ought to be informed by the contribution, need and equality principles of distributive justice. Countries in the global south including Tanzania are likely to be prioritized during the distribution of the HIV vaccines due to their participation in HIV vaccine trials and due to the disproportionate HIV burden evident in the region. (shrink)

Freedom and the subject in Jean-Paul Sartre -- Freedom and necessity in Jacques Derrida -- Freedom and the subject in contemporary philosophy and theory -- Theorizing pathologies and therapeutics of freedom.

This article explores some of the classed dynamics of doing digital feminist activism. Based on 30 qualitative in-depth interviews with feminist activists, who are based in Germany and the UK, the article examines the ways in which class background and class inequalities shape feminists’ experiences of being politically active on Instagram. Taking Instagram’s visual focus as a starting point for analysis, the article demonstrates the know-how and editorial skills required to produce visually appealing content. Access to this form of expertise (...) is not equally available, however, and class background affects —though does not determine— who feels confident and at ease in producing visually engaging content. Shifting to a different set of knowledges, the second part of the article homes in on a widely shared sense amongst the activists that they had to know and say the “right” things when taking part in activism online. Self-education was deemed an important feature of doing digital feminist activism, and this article critically explores the classed, but also racialised politics of digital “learning cultures”, and the ways in which the apparent requirement “to know” may have exclusionary effects. (shrink)