The recent exchange between Glenn Yago and James W. Brock over the junk?bond buyouts of the 1980s missed the mark on a number of points. In reality, neither the buyouts nor their sudden near?cessation contributed materially to the recession of 1990?91. The buyout wave did not end primarily because of new restrictive regulations. The buyouts had no appreciable effect on real capital formation. And the increased rate of bankruptcies resulting from the buyouts left the economy's overall efficiency unimpaired.

Patients and family members (N = 671) were surveyed in five Mid-Atlantic U.S. hospitals to ascertain the number and kinds of ethical concerns they are presently experiencing or have previously experienced while being sick or receiving medical care. Seventy percent of participants had at least one (range 0–14) type of ethical concern or question. The most commonly experienced concerns pertained to being unsure how to plan ahead or complete an advance directive (29.4%), being unsure whether someone in the family was (...) able to make their own decisions (29.2%), deciding about limiting life-sustaining treatments (28.6%), wondering about disclosing personal medical information to others in the family (26.4%) and not being sure whether to undergo treatment because of cost (26.2%). Most were interested to some degree in getting help from ethics consultants in the future (76.6%). Given this prevalence, common concerns might usefully be addressed systematically, rather than exclusively on a case-by-case basis. (shrink)

Scientific uncertainty puzzles many people. The puzzlement arises when scientists have more than one answer, and disagree among themselves. This book helps people find their way through this maze of scientific contradiction and uncertainty. By acquainting them with the ways that uncertainty arises in science, how scientists accommodate and make use of uncertainty, and how they reach conclusions in the face of uncertainty, the book enables readers to confidently evaluate uncertainty from their own perspectives, in terms of their own experiences.

Mors Hamilcaris peropportuna et pueritia Hannibalis distulerunt bellum. Medius Hasdrubal inter patrem ac filium octo ferme annos imperium obtinuit, flore aetatis, uti ferunt, primo Hamilcari conciliatus, gener inde ob aliam indolem profecto animi adscitus et, quia gener erat, factionis Barcinae opibus, quae apud milites plebemque plus quam modicae erant, haud sane uoluntate principum, in imperio positus.

J. Phys. A, to appear, quant-ph/0506173.

in Stochastic Processes, Physics and Geometry II, edited by S. Albeverio, U. Cattaneo, D. Merlini (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995) pp. 221-232.

The robust design and conduct of pragmatic cluster randomised trials may be in tension with the ethical requirement to obtain written informed consent from prospective research participants. In our experience, researchers tend to focus on whether a waiver of consent is appropriate for their studies. However, pragmatic cluster randomised trials raise other important questions that have direct implications for determining when an alteration or waiver of consent is permissible. To assist those involved in the design, conduct and review of pragmatic (...) cluster randomised trials, we outline four critical questions to consider: (1) What is the nature of the intervention being evaluated? (2) Is the choice to use cluster randomisation justified? (3) Can the risk of recruitment bias be addressed? and (4) Is an alteration or waiver of consent appropriately justified? We recommend that researchers and research ethics committees conduct a stepwise analysis of a planned cluster randomised trial using these questions. To illustrate the application of this stepwise analysis, we use three pragmatic cluster randomised trials in the haemodialysis setting as case studies. (shrink)

Hastings Center Report, Volume 52, Issue 5, Page 32-42, September–October 2022.

Acting classes and theatre education have long been framed as activities during which children can learn skills that transfer outside the acting classroom. A growing empirical literature provides evidence for acting classes’ efficacy in teaching vocabulary, narrative, empathy, theory of mind, and emotional control. Yet these studies have not been based in what is actually happening in the acting classroom, nor on what acting teachers report as their pedagogical strategies. Instead, previous work has been unsystematic and fragmented in its measured (...) transfer outcomes, and absent mechanistic explanation. Expanding research on this topic requires more grounding in teachers’ beliefs about the acting classes they teach, as well as observation of the classes themselves. As a first step, we surveyed 173 acting teachers online, asking them about the activities within acting classes they believed caused change in their students, as well as which outcomes they believed were changed as a result of acting classes. Teachers taught across educational levels (elementary to professional) and had a variety of training in teaching acting. Overall, teachers rated almost every activity within classes as important for and causing impact on students, and almost every outcome as being positively influenced as a result of acting class. When forced to rank order outcomes, teachers focused on collaboration, communication, creativity, confidence, and empathy as most likely to change. Teachers rated importance of class activities and outcomes differently depending on what level they taught. This study shows the difficulty of surveying highly motivated teachers, given the globally high rankings, but also proposes candidate psychological skills likely to change as a result of acting classes, and the mechanistic behaviors that may cause change. (shrink)

This paper explores the salient features of Chinese social and workplace values in offering an alternative to the established Western approach to the notion and practice of organizational devel opment. The authors argue that the emphasis of the Chinese traditional values on trust, fidelity, altruism and unspecified obligations of reciprocity norms is an important source of strategic advantage which gives a Chinese firm its resilience and flexibility to cope with change. The paper thus goes on to examine the cultural disposition (...) of the Chinese mentality as it applies in the context of such East Asian economies as Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the organization of the workplace and its 'reformation'. With the help of organizational data the authors trace out a corporate approach to 'national harmony' in the Confucian domain in the big Chinese enterprises. The paper also reflects on the organizational practices in the small Chinese firms and explores the 'nexus' of informality and personalized trust in these firms. Finally, the authors contend that the propensities of the Chinese communities to transfer the features of traditional governance within the family milieu to the domain of business organizations have instigated a Western academic consciousness to search for Oriental inspiration in order to overcome the sterility of their post-industrial syndrome. (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.

George Herbert Mead, one of America’s most important and influential philosophers, a founder of pragmatism, social psychology, and symbolic interactionism, was also a keen observer of American culture and early modernism. In the period from the 1870s to 1895, Henry Northrup Castle maintained a correspondence with family members and with Mead—his best friend at Oberlin College and brother-in-law—that reveals many of the intellectual, economic, and cultural forces that shaped American thought in that complex era. Close friends of John Dewey, (...) Jane Addams, and other leading Chicago Progressives, the author of these often intimate letters comments frankly on pivotal events affecting higher education, developments at Oberlin College, Hawaii, progressivism, and the general angst that many young intellectuals were experiencing in early modern America. The letters, drawn from the Mead-Castle collection at the University of Chicago, were collected and edited by Mead after the tragic death of Henry Castle in a shipping accident in the North Sea. Working with his wife Helen Castle, he privately published fifty copies of the letters to record an important relationship and as an intellectual history of two progressive thinkers at the end of the nineteenth century. American historians, such as Robert Crunden and Gary Cook, have noted the importance of the letters to historians of the late nineteenth century. The letters are made available here using the basic Mead text of 1902. Additional insights into the connection between Mead, John Dewey, Henry and Harriet Castle, and Hawaii’s progressive kindergarten system are provided by the foundation’s executive director Alfred L. Castle. Marvin Krislov, president of Oberlin College, has added additional comments on the importance of the letters to understanding the intellectual relationship that flourished at Oberlin College. Published with the support of the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation. (shrink)

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need (...) to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent. (shrink)

Chapter One The Karaite Community of Jerusalem in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries: Background and Development A time of intellectual change The eighth and ninth centuries were a time of great political and intellectual change for Jews ...

The legacy of apartheid spatial planning can still be seen in the dynamics of spaces in South Africa today. The elite (according to research is racialised and mostly white people) lives in well-located city areas, close to economic activity and rule social life that defines cities as stated in 2016 by the Socio Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI). Alternatively, mostly black South Africans are confined to urban margins in densified and poorly serviced areas, with low rates of home (...) ownership. The effects of these policies extend beyond the urban nature, as spaces on the margin by design tend to have fewer opportunities for education compared to urban areas, and there are spatial limits to black business ownership. This article seeks to discuss a case study on a church’s use of space during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), to show an inclusionary spatial dynamic that may be used in South African spaces. Firstly, it presents an overview of the unequal spatial dynamics in South Africa, particularly Cape Town, and dynamics during COVID-19. Secondly, it provides a historical overview of the Church of the Nazarene and its foundational beliefs. Moreover, it discusses a case study of renewed spatial dynamic in church using the Church of the Nazarene in Khayelitsha. Furthermore, the case study will be used to show the innovative way they reached their community during this time. The final part will discuss how this inclusive spatial dynamic reveals an innovative dynamic in the concept of the missional church, one that goes beyond the going out contextually, but allowing the outside in as well. Contribution: This article discusses the new spatial dynamic of the missional church which inspires inclusivity. The article uses literature around space, COVID-19, mission studies and church history. Furthermore, a semi-structured interview with a church leader at the Church of the Nazarene in Khayelitsha is used for a contextual case study. (shrink)