There is currently a strong focus on responsible research in relation to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This study presents a series of conversations with nanoresearchers, with the ‘European Commission recommendation on a code of conduct for responsible nanosciences and nanotechnologies research’ (EC-CoC) as its point of departure. Six types of reactions to the document are developed, illustrating the diversity existing within the scientific community in responses towards this kind of new approaches to governance. Three broad notions of responsible (...) nanoresearch are presented. The article concludes by arguing that while the suggestion put forward in the EC-CoC brings the concept of responsible nanoresearch a long way, one crucial element is to be wanted, namely responsible nanoresearch as increased awareness of moral choices. (shrink)

Public participation is a prominent issue in the nanoethics literature. This paper analyses the emerging awareness of nanoscience and nanotechnology (nano S&T) in the Norwegian public sphere, as evidenced by newspaper coverage. In particular, attention is on representations of nano S&T and their relation to public participation. Three dominant representations are found; nano S&T as positive, nano S&T as important for the future and nano S&T as under control. It is argued that the prominence of these representations is unfortunate because (...) they can discourage public participation. The paper concludes by pointing to some broader questions about public participation as an instrument for governance of nano S&T. (shrink)

In research and teaching on ethical aspects of emerging sciences and technologies, the structure of working environments, spaces and relationships play a significant role. Many of the routines and standard practices of academic life, however, do little to actively explore and experiment with these elements. They do even less to address the importance of contextual and embodied dimensions of thinking. To engage these dimensions, we have benefitted significantly from practices that take us out of seminar rooms, offices and laboratories as (...) well as beyond traditional ways of working and interacting. We have called one such practice the ‘walkshop’. Through walkshops, we have spent several days walking together with our colleagues and students in open outdoor spaces, keeping a sustained intellectual discussion on ethical aspects of science, technology and innovation while moving through these landscapes. For us, this has generated useful opportunities to escape established hierarchies, roles and patterns of thought and to rethink conceptual and philosophical issues from new perspectives, under new attitudes and with renewed energy. In this paper we wish to highlight the potential benefits of the walkshop approach by sharing some of our experiences and describing how we have prepared for and carried out these events. We share this information in the hope that we may encourage others to both experiment with the walkshop approach and exchange information on their own innovative processes for research and teaching in science and engineering ethics. (shrink)

There is a rapidly expanding field of research on social and ethical interactions with nano-scaled sciences and technologies. An important question is: What does social and ethical research actually mean when it is focussed on technological applications that are largely hypothetical, and a field of science spread out across multiple disciplines and lacking unification? This paper maps early literature in the field of research as a way of answering this question. Our aim is to describe how this field is developing (...) in response to its difficult task, and particularly, to comment on the topics of focus and where there is potential for future development. We present four topical categories, labelled Governance, Perception, Science and Philosophy, and use these as a tool to both map the field and to analyse its development. We find a majority of literature currently focused on issues of governance and perception, and offer suggestions for why this might be so. We then discuss cross-category themes of definition, novelty and interdisciplinarity, highlighting diverse positions and a problematic lack of direct debate. Our conclusion is that the field would benefit from more interaction, cross-referencing and creative research across traditional fields of inquiry. (shrink)

BackgroundResistance training can offer beneficial physiological and psychological effects. The regular continuation of this exercise can be accomplished by improving the recovery and mood after a workout. Frequency-specific microcurrent might offer a solution here as it has been shown to improve physical injuries, mood state, and sleep. However, knowledge is lacking about the impact of microstimulation after RT on said parameters. The present study aimed to test the effects of RT and muscle-microstimulation on mood and physical recovery in healthy men (...) after performing conventional deadlifts, which is a type of RT.MethodsThe study was conducted according to a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, and two-way crossover study. Twenty participants naïve to microstimulation engaged in RT twice on separate days. They were randomized to receive MS on 1 day and no microstimulation on another day. Before and after the workout and after their treatment, participants self-rated their mood state and mental and physical exhaustion levels.ResultsFindings showed that MS increased the self-ratings of well-rested and sociable and, most importantly, reduced the feeling of exercise-induced exhaustion. There were no MS effects on ratings of feeling sad, happy, or exhausted, although the workout, independent of MS, negatively influenced the level of exhaustion.ConclusionThe combination of enhanced sociableness, reduced fatigue, and exercise-induced exhaustion after a workout, followed by microstimulation, has important implications for professional sporters and nonprofessionals who try to get the best result after a workout. Future studies using a double-blind approach including different types of exercises, different durations of programs, and both sexes can shed more light on the full potential of microstimulation after a workout on mood state and exercise-induced exhaustion. (shrink)

Diese anonyme Schrift, lange Cicero zugeschrieben, ist das wohl älteste Handbuch der Rhetorik in lateinischer Sprache. Sie bietet ein vollständiges, in sich geschlossenes System der Rhetorik, wie sie sich bis dahin vor allem in Griechenland entwickelt hatte. In der nüchternen, sprachlich oft spröden und formalistischen Schrift wird das recht verzweigte und teilweise komplizierte System der antiken Redekunst übersichtlich dargestellt. Die Kenntnis dieses Textes, der z.B. im Mittelalter eine wichtige Rolle spielte, ist für jeden wichtig, der antike Rhetorik genauer kennenlernen möchte. (...) Einführung, Register und Anmerkungen sind in diesem Fall von besonderer Wichtigkeit: sie tragen dazu bei, dass dieses Dokument der Rhetorik auch Lesern außerhalb des Bereich der Altphilologie zugänglich und verständlich wird. (shrink)

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois, houses a trove of invaluable historical resources concerning all aspects of the Prairie State’s past. Treasures of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library commemorates the institution’s 125-year history, as well as its contributions to scholarship and education by highlighting a selection of eighty-five treasures from among more than twelve million items in the library’s collections. After opening with a historical overview and extensive chronology of the Library, the volume organizes the treasures by various (...) topics, including items that illustrate various locations and materials relating to business, the mid-nineteenth century and the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the oldest items, unusual treasures, ethnicity, and art. From the Gettysburg Address, Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s letters, and Governor Dan Walker’s boots to a Deering Harvester Company catalog, WPA publications, and an Adlai Stevenson I campaign hat, each entry includes a thorough description of the item, one or more images, and a discussion of its history and how the library acquired it, if known. Other treasures include the Thomas Yates General Store daybook, Dubin Pullman car materials, Civil War newspapers, a Lincoln coffin photograph, the Mary Lincoln insanity verdict, the Directory of Sangamon County’s Colored Citizens, andLincoln’s stovepipe hat. To highlight the academic importance of the Library, nineteen researchers share how study in the Library’s collections proved essential to their projects. Although these treasures only scrape the surface of the vast holdings of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, together they epitomize the rich, varied, and sometimes quirky resources available to both serious scholars and curious tourists alike at this valuable cultural institution. 2015 ISHS Superior Achievement Award. (shrink)

Despite the fact that Norway is considered to be one of the most gender equal countries in the world, the proportion of women in philosophy is still low. In this article, we reflect on women's presence in Norwegian philosophy, partly based on interviews with Norwegian women philosophers from different universities. -/- We discuss the low proportion of women among students and staff in the field, investigate whether gender perspectives and feminist philosophy are present in the study of philosophy today. We (...) also identify some characteristics of the Norwegian postwar philosophy, such as diversity and openness, power struggles and gender blindness. Our material also shows that measures to improve gender balance in philosophy, has met fierce resistance. We discuss how the features of Norwegian postwar philosophy, together with direct and indirect stereotypes on gender, rationality and natural properties, has contributed to the fact that women still are a minority in Norwegian philosophy. -/- We also argue that the study of feminist philosophy and the integration of gender perspective is necessary in order to achieve gender equality in the discipline, to pave way for a new development in Norwegian philosophy, and to ensure the quality of higher education. (shrink)

This article presents and argues for love as part of philosophy of education, more specifically the pedagogical relationship. In light of the concept of an ethics of rhythm, inspired by Roland Barthes, it is argued that the concept of rhythms sheds critical light on the asymmetrical and oppressive potential of the pedagogical relationship, but also on the liberating one. Furthermore, this argument is put into a broader debate about the role of academia as hospitable, inviting and inclusive, which in turn (...) accentuate counter-forces originating from the pedagogical relationship. (shrink)

Bokanmeldelse av DeGrazia, D., & Millum, J. (2021). _A Theory of Bioethics_. Cambridge University Press. 316 sider. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009026710.

Professionalʹnai︠a︡ kulʹtura zhurnalista kak obʺekt issledovaniĭ v Rossii i za rubezhom -- Metody analiza i sravnenii︠a︡ zhurnalistskikh kulʹtur -- Professionalʹnai︠a︡ zhurnalistskai︠a︡ kulʹtura v Rossii: fragmentat︠s︡ii︠a︡ i putʹ k garmonizat︠s︡ii.

Volume 20, Issue 5, June 2020, Page W1-W3.

The COVID-19 pandemic is global and affects all countries in the world. The difference in the financial impact assessment of its outbreak concerns, inter alia, the state of preparation of the public sector in the previous period. The article assumes that countries which coordinated the structure of sovereign assets and liabilities before 2020 were less exposed to the negative effects of financial risks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses data and methodology of the International Monetary Fund and the (...) authors’ measures dedicated to the public sector to assess the sovereign asset and liability management (SALM). As part of the results, the negative value of net worth and the national net welfare index for the studied countries, including Poland in the period before the pandemic crisis, were indicated. In addition, the level of the loans mismatch on the public balance sheet and the scale of the increase in financial risk in the first year of COVID-19 are presented. Conclusions of research make it possible to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Sovereign Asset and Liability Management. (shrink)

The aim of this research was to describe the dependence between the need for and sense of belonging and symptoms of depression vs. one’s capacity to cope effectively. Using path analysis of our data, we found direct patterns, in which both depression symptoms and life satisfaction depend to a considerable degree on the sense of belonging. The belonging need influences, in a direct way, the coping focused on the search for social support. Undertaking active techniques of coping, including confrontation with (...) a stressful situation and its negative controlling impact, depends on having a high level of the sense of belonging. In contrast, individuals who cope by means of taking psychoactive drugs show the symptoms of depression. (shrink)

The lack of consistency between people’s engagement in ethical issues and their food choices has received considerable attention. Consumption as “choice” dominates this discourse, understood as decision-making at the point of purchase. But ideas concentrating on individual choice are problematic when trying to understand how social and ethical issues emerge and are dealt with in the practices of buying and eating food. I argue in this paper that “consumer choice” is better understood as a political ideology addressing a particular way (...) in which everyday practices can be directed so as to solve social problems. It is a way that makes questions of power particularly challenging. Some assume consumer sovereignty, emphasizing consumer choice as a reflection of neoliberal deregulation and commercialization. Others worry that ongoing changes increase consumers’ powerlessness. None of these seem to capture that there is active regulation, where public as well as commercial and civil actors are making strong efforts to make people do the right thing—voluntarily. Labeling is the key measure. In practice, the individualized and rationalized model of responsibility depends not only on market opportunities, but even political and social expectations and trust. People may lack concrete capabilities and power to follow up on moral calls, but they may also have a different understanding of who is responsible and what is a “good deed,” or their actions may, in a Foucauldian sense, represent resistance. The paper will, with examples from European empirical studies, discuss how mobilization as well as inertia and disinterest emerge within specific political constellations and practical contexts. (shrink)