Social robots have the potential to support autistic school children with their wellbeing. This research reveals how a co-design approach with autistic children and their teachers was undertaken. Focus groups with autistic children and teachers collaboratively identified user requirements for the social robot and robot behaviours within the school ecosystem in order to improve student wellbeing. The results reveal the importance of including autistic children in the co-design process to ensure their voices are heard and also that the role of (...) the robot is appropriate and targeted to the users’ needs and requirements. Autistic children and their teachers report multiple potential benefits for social robots supporting emotional wellbeing in the school. Autistic children were supportive of the introduction of a social robot in their school, mostly expressing positive attitudes towards the robot. The research is significant in revealing how a user-centred co-design approach involving autistic children and social robots may support emotional wellbeing. (shrink)

Rice crop diversity hasdecreased dramatically in the recent past.Understanding the causes that underlie theevident genetic erosion is critical for thefood security of subsistence rice farmers andbiodiversity. Our study shows that farmers inthe northeastern Philippines had a markedreduction in rice diversity from 1996 to 1998.The ultimate causes were a drought resultingfrom the El Niño phenomenon in 1997 andflooding due to two successive typhoons in1998. The proximate causes, however, includedlocal water control factors, limitations in thehousehold and village-level seedinfrastructure, farm (...) location in relation tothe goods and services necessary to obtainseeds, policies and programs of the Departmentof Agriculture, and the characteristics of therice varieties themselves. The implications ofour study are that genetic erosion is notalways the result of purposeful acts by farmersnor is it necessarily gradual. Improvingon-farm seed technology will stabilize the seedproduction, distribution, and use system andthereby enhance household food security.Ultimately, rice diversity will be improvedonly if diversity is a safe and viable optionfor farmers. Therefore, public policy thatsupports farmers who maintain a diverse set ofcultivars is critical for any on-farmconservation strategy. (shrink)

No point of John C.Calhoun's political thought has been more disputed than exactly where it is situated in the theoretical landscape. Calhoun has been treated as the �Marx of the master class� by Richard Hofstadter; a �reactionary conservative� arguing eclectically from liberal premises by Louis Hartz; an authentic conservative by Russell Kirk, Clinton Rossiter and August Spain; and a precursor to the pluralist vision of politics by Peter Drucker. Two of the most engaging treatments of Calhoun's thought are Darryl (...) Baskin's and Peter Steinberger's, both of relatively recent vintage. Baskin argues that despite Calhoun's use of vocabulary borrowed from organic conservatism he is essentially a classical liberal and, as such, is engaged in the typically liberal �flight from community�. He has no true notion of civic virtue and his concept of the public interest is only a mechanistic sum of private interests. Steinberger agrees that Calhoun is a liberal, but argues that his contribution to American liberalism is precisely to sublate selfishness to an authentic civic virtue. These disputes are interesting, but I suggest that in the efforts to contain Calhoun within the conservative/liberal scheme of categorization some of the subtlety of his thought is lost. Too often an appreciation of his thought is sacrificed to an underlying agenda of attacking or defending one ideology or another. In the present critique I attempt to recover some insights that have been submerged in other treatments. Calhoun's constitutional theory of concurrent majoritarianism, rather than his liberal or conservative bent, is the focal point of sections III and IV. I argue that Calhoun's theory exposes -- sometimes unwittingly -- the stern limits of what constitutions can accomplish. In section V I suggest that insofar as Calhoun is generally a liberal (as Hartz, Baskin and Steinberger contend) an internal contradiction within his theory points to a paradox at the very heart of liberalism. (shrink)

In June 2009, the Chinese mediasphere was abuzz with the announcement that the octogenarian writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha) was slated to join the Chinese Writers' Association (Zhongguo zuojia xiehui, CWA). Jin Yong is a beloved martial arts fiction writer who made his career in the freewheeling ex-British colony of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s.1 His joining the association known for its stodgy conformism struck many as ironic, or at least as blog-worthy. Indeed, just a few years (...) ago, the playwright Sha Yexin had quipped: “How can you ask a writer like Louis Cha to write martial arts…. (shrink)

The founding premise of this book is that the nimbus of prestige which once surrounded the idea of justice has now been dimmed to such a degree that it is no longer sufficient to secure the possibility of a good conscience for those who undertake, in good faith, to make the world a better place in the spheres of politics and law. The many decent human beings who have noticed and experienced this diminishment of justice’s prestige find themselves in a (...) thoroughly disenchanted_ _existential situation. For them the attempt to do justice without the illusion of being grounded in something beyond the sheer facticity of their own performances is a distinctly ethical theme which cries out to be investigated in its own right. Heeding the cry, this book asks and attempts to answer the following fundamental ethical question_: Is a life in the law – even one spent in the pursuit of justice – worth living, and if so, how can a disenchanted person come to bear the living of it without constantly having to engage in self-deception?_ If Nietzsche is right that living without illusions is impossible for human beings, then the most important ethical implication of this essentially anthropological fact goes far beyond the question of what illusions we ought to choose. It must also include the question whether we should succumb to that most seductive and pernicious of all illusions: namely, the belief that exercising great care and responsibility in choosing our illusions – which we might then call our ‘principles of justice’ – excuses us ethically for what we do to others in their name. The culmination of a 10 year legal-philosophical project, this book will appeal to graduate students, scholars and curious non-academic intellectuals interested in continental philosophy, critical legal theory, postmodern theology, the philosophy of human rights, and the study of individual ethics in the context of law. (shrink)

Research on justice climate demonstrates a consistent effect on workgroup outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment, and performance. However, little research considers how justice climate affects these outcomes and when the relationship is stronger or weaker. In an effort to extend the literature on justice climate, we draw on research on other types of organizational climate to suggest justice climate influences the fair behavior of coworkers. Specifically, we propose fair coworker behavior mediates the relationship between justice climate and outcomes. Further, (...) we examine the influence of workgroup structure on this mediated relationship. We examine these relationships in two studies and find support for the mediating effect of fair coworker behavior and the proposed moderated mediation model. Implications of these results for justice and climate research are considered. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:G. E STOUT AND THE THEORY OF DESCRIPTIONS ALASDAIR URQUHART Philosophy / Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada M5S rAr R ussell's famous essay "On Denoting" is rightly considered one of the fundamental sources of modern analytic philosophy. The literature of commentary and exegesis devoted to this one short paper is vast. The present note discusses the background ~6 the writing of the paper, and some questions connected with its reception.l (...) I. HOW "ON DENOTING" WAS WRITTEN We know more about the writing of OD than about most of the other short works from the early period of Russell's career. Russell chronicled his progress on the paper very clearly in his manuscripts and correspondence. The first indication ofthe new theory is in the unpublished manuscript "On Fundamentals" (Papers 4: 359-413). This manuscript is dated 1905, to which the note "Begun June 7" has been added; a marginal note on the first leafof the manuscript reads: "Pp. 18ff. contain the reasons for the new theory ofdenoting." This note refers to the series of numbered paragraphs beginning on folio 18, in which the new theory gradually emerges (Papers 4: 369£). On 13 June, Russell wrote Lucy Donnelly about his newideas, and presented her with the famous puzzle about George IV and the author of waverley (Auto. I: 177). The article itselfwas written at the end ofJuly 1905, under peculiarly trying circumstances. On 23 July 1905, Russell wrote in a letter to Louis 1 I would like to thank the Editor ofRussellfor very useful suggestions and for supplying historical information, and Sheila Turcon for correcting my transcription of Stout's letter. russell: the Journal of the Bertrand Russdl Archives McMaster University Library Press n.s. 14 (wimer 1994-95): 163-71 ism 0036-01631 164 ALASDAIR URQUHART Couturat: "As for existence, I shall be able to explain my opinion better when I have written my article (On Denoting Phrases'." On 3August he reported to Lucy Donnelly that she would be able to find the answer to the puzzle in his new paper: "I have written an article on George N for Mind, which will appear in due course; there you will find the (answer' " (Auto. I: 178). We can conclude from this that the article was written within a twelve-day period towards the end oOuly. This is not surprising in itself, given Russell's facility in writing. It becomes surprising if we put it together with the other events in Russell's life at that time. On Tuesday 25 July, one of Russell's closest friends, Theodore Llewelyn Davies, drowned in a pool on the fells near Kirkby Lonsdale, where his father was vicar. He had apparently struck his head on diving in, while on his way to the railway station. He was thirty-four years old. His brother Crompton, who had been particularly close to Theodore, sent the news to Russell in a note dated 27 July 1905 (Auto. 1: 195)· Theodore and Crompton were among the nrst friends Russell made at Cambridge; his reminiscences of the two brothers overflow with admiration and affection (Auto. I: 57-63). Russell had intended to visit Ireland for two weeks with AIys, where they had planned a visit with the Monteagles. 2 On 27 July, Russell wrote in a letter to Louis Couturat that he and Alys would be in Ireland from 29 July to 10 August. The news ofTheodore's death altered these plans. After accompanying AIys to Ireland, Russell returned to London to be·with Crompton. In his note of 27July, Crompton had told Russell: "I shall be back in London on Monday. Let me see you some time soon." On Tuesday, 1 August, Russell wrote again to Couturat from I, Barton Street,3 the quiet out-of-the-way street near Westminster Abbey where Crompton had lived with Theodore: "I just received your letter and postcard (in 1 Thomas Spring-Rice (1849-1926), 2nd Baron Monteagle, had literary and political interests and was the brother-in-law ofthe historian, Sir George Prothero, whom Russdl also knew. The next year The Limerick Chronicle for 28 August noted the Russells' presence at a house party given by the Monteagles and attended by... (shrink)

Uncertainty about the acceptability of the forest industry and its practices to the citizens of Mississippi provided the impetus for a study of the attitudes and perceptions of eight constituency groups toward the forest industry in the state. This study examines attitudes and perceptions of two of those groups, loggers and two environmentalists/conservationists, and finds similarities and differences. Survey data analysis finds that all groups hold similar perceptions of themes defining the forest industry and forest industry occupations but differ concerning (...) activities the industry does or does not perform well and environmental problems associated with the forest industry. Mississippi Loggers Association members hold more positive attitudes/perceptions, similar to those of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation. Attitudes/perceptions of Mississippi 2020, a small grassroots organization, differ from Mississippi Loggers Association members in all instances and from Mississippi Wildlife Federation members on some issues. (shrink)

Among the problems of ancient history of which no solution has yet been generally recognized as definitive is that of the battle-field where the struggle between Pompey and Caesar was decided. Colonel Leake's exposition was rejected by von Göler and Sir William Napier; and the paper in which he endeavoured to vindicate it produced little effect. Napier and von Göler constructed theories which were vitiated by the misleading maps on which they worked. M. Léon Heuzey, the chief of the Macedonian (...) mission which collected information for the contemplated final volume of Napoleon the Third's Histoire de Jules César, performed a valuable service by preparing, with the aid of an engineer officer, M. Laloy, the first trustworthy survey of the Pharsalian region; but his dissertation on the battle, published in 1886, was bitterly derided by Colonel Stoffel, who, however, appropriated his predecessor's maps without acknowledgment. About the same time Mr. Perrin published in the American Journal of Philology a valuable article, which, although it convinced many that the battle had been fought, as von Göler, Napier, and Long maintained, on the northern bank of the Enipeus, was necessarily written without any knowledge of the works of Heuzey and Stoffel. (shrink)

Excerpt from Pasteur Et le Transformisme Il avait constaté que les racemates étaient formés d'un mélange de cristaux hémiédriques droits et gauches et, les ayant triés à la pince, il put isoler les hémiédriques gauches (qui étaient alors inconnus), et vérifier, ce qu'il prévoyait, qu'ils devaient dévier à gauche. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art (...) technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)