Schools of Faith represents a diversity of essays from scholars in several continents. The contributors, all leading theologians and ethicists, offer reflections on historical and contemporary themes which are significant for wider debates in theological education and church life in today's world. The range of contributor and content provides a fitting tribute to the work of Iain R. Torrance over many years. Amid the numerous subjects discussed, the authors focus on liturgy, textual criticism, public theology, the ethics of war, (...) Christian doctrine, divine action, ecumenism, inter-faith dialogue, spiritual formation, the office of the minister, and the interface between religion and literature. The multi-faceted nature of this collection signifies its importance for historical, systematic and practical theology. (shrink)

Chemokines (chemotactic cytokines) drive and direct leukocyte traffic. New evidence suggests that the unusual CCR6/CCL20 chemokine receptor/ligand axis provides key homing signals for recently identified cells of the adaptive immune system, recruiting both pro‐inflammatory and suppressive T cell subsets. Thus CCR6 and CCL20 have been recently implicated in various human pathologies, particularly in autoimmune disease. These studies have revealed that targeting CCR6/CCL20 can enhance or inhibit autoimmune disease depending on the cellular basis of pathogenesis and the cell subtype most affected (...) through different CCR6/CCL20 manipulations. Here, we discuss the significance of this chemokine receptor/ligand axis in immune and inflammatory functions, consider the potential for targeting CCR6/CCL20 in human autoimmunity and propose that the shared evolutionary origins of pro‐inflammatory and regulatory T cells may contribute to the reason why both immune activation and regulation might be controlled through the same chemokine pathway. (shrink)

Directed cell migration is a fundamental component of numerous biological systems and is critical to the pathology of many diseases. Although the importance of secreted chemoattractant factors in providing navigational cues to migrating cells bearing specific chemoattractant receptors is now well‐established, how the function of these factors is regulated is not so well understood and may be of key importance to the design of new therapeutics for numerous human diseases. While regulation of migration clearly takes place on a number of (...) different levels, it is becoming clear that so‐called ‘atypical’ receptors play a role in scavenging, or altering the localisation of, chemoattractant molecules such as chemokines and complement components. These receptors do this through binding and/or internalising their chemoattractant ligands without activating signal transduction cascades leading to cell migration. The atypical chemokine receptor family currently comprises the receptors D6, DARC and CCX‐CKR. In this review, we discuss the evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies that these receptors play a role in regulating cell migration, and speculate that other orphan receptors may also belong to this family. Furthermore, with the advent of gene therapy on the horizon, the therapeutic potential of these receptors in human disease is also considered. BioEssays 29: 237–247, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

El objetivo del trabajo consiste en revisar dos versiones del argumento que concibe a la averiguación de la verdad como un factor que confi ere legitimidad al ejercicio de la función jurisdiccional penal: la de Ferrajoli y la de Laudan. Se sostiene que su estudio minucioso puede proporcionar bases racionales para decidir sobre la conveniencia de suscribir un garantismo extremo o uno de carácter más mesurado. Esta decisión cobra relevancia en el contexto de la discusión acerca de cuáles son las (...) características más apropiadas de los modelos teóricos del proceso penal. (shrink)

El artículo revisa las aportaciones más trascendentes que Jordi Ferrer ha hecho a la tradición racionalista de la prueba jurídica y evalúa críticamente el limitado papel que, desde su óptica, le corresponde desempeñar a la epistemología en la discusión general sobre los estándares de prueba apropiados para las distintas ramas del derecho. Más específicamente, se analiza la irrelevancia que Ferrer parece atribuir a dicha disciplina –o el silencio que debe guardar–, respecto del establecimiento del estándar de prueba deseable en materia (...) penal. Se concede que, en efecto, le corresponde al pueblo tomar la decisión de qué estándar implementar. No obstante, se sostiene, ello no impide que la epistemología incida en el proceso de formación de dicha decisión mediante la realización de observaciones, el ofrecimiento de argumentos y la propuesta de metodologías adecuadas, con miras a que aquella se tome en un contexto mejor informado y sea lo más racional posible. Se ilustra esta posición haciendo referencia al proyecto de epistemología jurídica de Larry Laudan. (shrink)

Band 9 der Schriftenreihe Beitrage zur Angewandten Ethik versammelt Arbeiten zu aktuellen Problemen sowie zu Grundlagenfragen der Medizinischen Ethik. Es handelt sich dabei zum Teil um Beitrage zu wissenschaftlichen Symposien, die das Interuniversitare Institut fur Angewandte Ethik in den Jahren 2008-2011 veranstaltet hat, und zum anderen Teil um Forschungsarbeiten, die im Rahmen von Projekten dieses Instituts entstanden sind. Zu den aktuellen Problemen der Medizinischen Ethik, die in den einzelnen Beitragen angeschnitten werden, gehoren Fragen der Stammzellenforschung und der Praimplantationsdiagnostik ebenso wie (...) Fragen, die sich im Zusammenhang mit den bei der In-Vitro-Fertilisation entstehenden 'uberzahligen' Embryonen ergeben, sowie Fragen bezuglich der neuen Patientenverfugungen - also durchwegs Fragen von hochster Aktualitat und Brisanz. (shrink)

Machine learning algorithms may radically improve our ability to diagnose and treat disease. For moral, legal, and scientific reasons, it is essential that doctors and patients be able to understand and explain the predictions of these models. Scalable, customisable, and ethical solutions can be achieved by working together with relevant stakeholders, including patients, data scientists, and policy makers.

Two important debates have characterized mainstream epistemology in recent years. The first is the debate between foundationalists and anti-foundationalists. The second is the debate over the details of a naturalized epistemology. Both debates have meant that traditional concepts of rationality and justification are now understood in a new light. Both debates have helped focus attention on the future direction of epistemology, its goals and its limitations.

Pioneering work in the 1940s and 1950s suggested that the concept of chunking might be important in many processes of perception, learning and cognition in humans and animals. We summarize here the major sources of evidence for chunking mechanisms, and consider how such mechanisms have been implemented in computational models of the learning process. We distinguish two forms of chunking: the first deliberate, under strategic control, and goal-oriented; the second automatic, continuous, and linked to perceptual processes. Recent work with discrimination-network (...) computational models of long- and short-term memory (EPAM/CHREST) has produced a diverse range of applications of perceptual chunking. We focus on recent successes in verbal learning, expert memory, language acquisition and learning multiple representations, to illustrate the implementation and use of chunking mechanisms within contemporary models of human learning. (shrink)

Manigk, A. Die Idee des Naturrechts.--Emge, C. A. Über die Idee (Das regulative Prinzip).--Calker, F. van. Das Problem der richtigen Politik.--Diehl, K. Die Wert- und Preislehre in nationalökonomischer und juristischer Betrachtungsweise.--Hesse, A. Gegenstand und Aufgabe der Nationalökonomie.--Heymann, E. Recht und Wirtschaft in ihrer Bedeutung für die Ausbildung der Juristen, Nationalökonomen und Techniker.--Fehr, H. Gottesurteil und Folter.--Dohna, A. graf zu. Der neueste Strafgesetzentwurf im Lichte des "richtigen Rechts".--Reichel, H. Zu den Einleitungsartikeln des schweizerischen Zivilgesetzbuches.--Kipp, T. Zur Reform des Rechts der unehelichen (...) Kinder.--Haymann, F. Die Mehrheitsentscheidung. Ihr Sinn und ihre Schranke.--Tatarin-Tarnheyden, E. Staat und Recht in ihrem begrifflichen Verhältnis. (shrink)

Bernard Bolzano's most fruitful invention was his method of variation. He used it in defining such fundamental logical concepts as logical consequence, analyticity and probability. The following three puzzles concerning this method of variation seem particularly worth considering, (i) How can we define the range of variation of an idea or the categorial conformity of two ideas without already using the concept of variation? This question was raised by Mark Siebel in his M. A. thesis, (ii) Why must we define (...) analyticity by means of (simultaneous or successive) variation of several ideas rather than by means of replacing a single idea? This problem is suggested by an example due to W.V.O. Quine, John R. Myhill and Benson Mates, (iii) Must every 'there is...' sentence be synthetic for Bolzano, as his pupil Franz Příhonský claims in his booklet Neuer Anti-Kant, or can a 'there is...' sentence be logically analytic? (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many issues that can occur due to lack of translation between the spheres of bioethics and clinical practice. In this paper, we examine how mothers and newborn infants were inappropriately separated during the initial stages of the pandemic due to inconsistent application of ethical principles in determining policy. One of the significant challenges that translational bioethics face is the complexity regarding its implementation into the health service environment. As outlined in the literature, it may be postulated (...) that responsibility for translating bioethics from philosophical concepts into practice is the duty of those training in philosophical theory and reasoning. However, the use of bioethics in informing clinical practice is not just the case of needing a translator but rather requires an interpreter in the widest sense: professionals attuned to both bioethics and clinical practice, who can communicate with both groups effectively. A two-way dialogue needs to be more cohesively established to ensure clinical practice is guided by ethical principles and to focus academic debate towards the pragmatic issues that require ethical exploration. Utilising the translational bioethics model described by Bærøe and applying it to our perinatal COVID case study, we examine how an integrated translational bioethics approach could have prevented the harm and disruption to mother–infant dyads during the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020. (shrink)

Governing bodies in golf, in particular the R&A and USGA, are proposing to introduce an elite golf ball for their tournaments (the Open and the US Open) in 2026 (see https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/gol...

The main objective of this research is to identify the current panorama of scientific production associated with governance in university institutions. A bibliometric analysis was developed in Scopus using R Core Team 2022-Bibliometrix and Vosviewer software. The results highlight the countries with the highest productivity in the topic of study, with the most representative authors favoring the understanding of governance. The main thematic clusters stand out. It recognizes the role of university governance and its migration to direct spaces and the (...) transition from a face-to-face model. (shrink)