The community representative plays a very important role in an institutional review board but there is sparse data about their understanding of their role in an IRB. This study was conducted to assess perceptions of community members serving on IRBs of one region in India. A validated questionnaire was administered to community members of IRBs in a prospective cross-sectional study. The questions related to demography, perceptions of their role in the IRB, experiences while serving on the IRBs, difficulties faced by (...) them, and suggestions to improve their contributions. Of the 56 IRBs contacted, all 15 of the public institutions shared details of their community members, while only 26 of the 41 IRBs of private institutions responded. When questioned about why they joined the IRB, one third of the respondents said either that there was “no specific reason” for joining or that they accepted the invitation to serve on the insistence of other members of the IRBs or the head of their institution. All except one felt that community members were needed for optimal functioning. Six participants said that they did not review informed consent documents, and 10 were unaware that their presence was vital for quorum to be met. Twenty-eight said they participated actively in meetings and did not feel intimidated by the presence of clinicians. Twelve reported difficulties in understanding medical terminologies in ICDs. Although the majority of participants were aware about their role in an IRB, some did not review important documents such as ICDs. Restricted participation by private hospital IRBs was a striking observation in our study. There is a need to define eligibility criteria and develop targeted training modules for community members to ensure their effective contribution to effective oversight of clinical research. (shrink)

The limitation of act by potency, central in the metaphysics of Thom as Aquinas, has its origins in Plotinus. He transforms Aristotle ’s horizontal causality of change into a vertical causality of participation. Potency and infinity are not just un intelligible lack of limit, but productive power. Form determines matter but is limited by recepti on into matter. The experience of unity begins with sensible things, which always have parts, so what is really one is incorporeal, without division and separation. (...) Unity is like the esse of Thomas, since it is the act that makes a thing what it is and has its fullness in God. (shrink)

Among Plato's works, the Statesman is usually seen as transitional between the Republic and the Laws. This book argues that the dialogue deserves a special place of its own. Whereas Plato is usually thought of as defending unchanging knowledge, Dr Lane demonstrates how, by placing change at the heart of political affairs, Plato reconceives the link between knowledge and authority. The statesman is shown to master the timing of affairs of state, and to use this expertise in managing the conflict (...) of opposed civic factions. To this political argument corresponds a methodological approach which is seen to rely not only on the familiar method of 'division', but equally on the unfamiliar centrality of the use of 'example'. The demonstration that method and politics are interrelated transforms our understanding of the Statesman and its fellow dialogues. (shrink)

This article compares James M. Buchanan's and John Rawls's theories of democratic governance. In particular it compares their positions on the characteristics of a legitimate social contract. Where Buchanan argues that additional police force can be used to quell political demonstrations, Rawls argues for a social contract that meets the difference principle.

BACKGROUND -/- The importance of ontologies in the biomedical domain is generally recognized. However, their quality is often too poor for large-scale use in critical applications, at least partially due to insufficient training of ontology developers. -/- OBJECTIVE -/- To show the efficacy of guideline-based ontology development training on the performance of ontology developers. The hypothesis was that students who received training on top-level ontologies and design patterns perform better than those who only received training in the basic principles of (...) formal ontology engineering. -/- METHODS -/- A curriculum was implemented based on a guideline for ontology design. A randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of this curriculum was performed with 24 students from bioinformatics and related fields. After joint training on the fundamentals of ontology development the students were randomly allocated to two groups. During the intervention, each group received training on different topics in ontology development. In the assessment phase, all students were asked to solve modeling problems on topics taught differentially in the intervention phase. Primary outcome was the similarity of the students’ ontology artefacts compared with gold standard ontologies developed by the authors before the experiment; secondary outcome was the intra-group similarity of group members’ ontologies. -/- RESULTS -/- The experiment showed no significant effect of the guideline-based training on the performance of ontology developers (a) the ontologies developed after specific training were only slightly but not significantly closer to the gold standard ontologies than the ontologies developed without prior specific training; (b) although significant differences for certain ontologies were detected, the intra-group similarity was not consistently influenced in one direction by the differential training. -/- CONCLUSION -/- Methodologically limited, this study cannot be interpreted as a general failure of a guideline-based approach to ontology development. Further research is needed to increase insight into whether specific development guidelines and practices in ontology design are effective. (shrink)

The Greek original of Galen's is lost, nor has a copy of the complete translation into Arabic, made by Hunayn b. Ishāq in the first half of the ninth century, come down to us, though some passages of it are quoted by various Arab authors. A summary of the translation, however, was discovered by P. Kraus in a miscellaneous manuscript in Cairo and published by him in the Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Egypt, vol. v/i.

‘It is supposed’, declared the poet Wordsworth in 1802, ‘that by the act of writing in verse an author makes a formal engagement that he will gratify certain known habits of association; that he not only thus apprizes the reader that certain classes of ideas and expressions will be found in his book, but that others will be carefully excluded. This exponent or symbol held forth by metrical language must in different eras of literature have excited very different expectations.’ For (...) his own era of literature Wordsworth proposed a language derived from the ‘simple and unelaborated expressions’ of the ‘language really spoken by men’, at the expense of ‘devices to elevate the style’ and ‘what is usually called poetic diction’. (shrink)

s This paper reports studies designed to examine perceptions of preferential selection. Subjects evaluated the fairness of hypothetical cases of selection decisions based on either candidate sex or ethnic origin. A within-subjects design and a between-subjects design yielded convergent results showing that (1) preferential selection was perceived as unfair, irrespective of respondent sex or the basis for the preferential treatment (i.e., candidate sex or ethnic origin), (2) the level of perceived injustice was directly related to the discrepancy in merits between (...) the successful minority candidate and the more qualified yet unsuccessful majority candidate, and (3) the provision of either an ethical or legislative justification for the selection decisions further exacerbated feelings of injustice. Possible interpretations for the findings and practical implications of the study were then discussed. (shrink)

Historically the emergence of a precise technical meaning for probability, as distinct from its vague popular useage, has taken time; and confusion still arises from the concept of probability having different meanings in different flelds of discourse. Its technical meaning and appropriate rules are surveyed in the flelds of logic , mathematics , and science , and the relation between these three aspects of probability theory discussed. ‐. M. S. B.

Zhizneopisanie -- Kniga znanii︠a︡ -- Ukazanii︠a︡ i nastavlenii︠a︡ -- Kniga o dushe.

Business is a representative institution of our times; it represents the spirit of our age. Modern business in general has displaced a remarkable ability to change. But the change yet to come will be something unprecedented. What is the nature of this change? What is the type of vision and sirategy that will help business as a social institution, and the organizations that are part of it, to navigate this evolutionary transition successfully? Or, in other words, what is the nature (...) of the paradigm shift needed to manage future change? These are the main questions business leaders and managers will be facing in the future. This article examines these questions in the light of Sri Aurobindo's vision. (shrink)

One of the main events of our modern age is the emergence of the professional class or the knowledge-worker as a powerful and influential section of the society. The technocrat, manager, banker, entre-preneur and the finance-pro are some of the dominant types of these professional elite of our age. This brings us to the question, what are the values which can lead to quality and excellence in professional work? Professional excellence is normally associated with knowledge and skill. A professional is (...) a knowledge-worker and therefore knowledge and skill are undoubtedly some of the important values of professional work. But for excellence, knowledge and skill alone are not enough. Something more is needed. This article examines the guiding values of professional work in the modern corporate context. (shrink)

t. 1. Problemy obshcheĭ teorii prava -- t. 2. Garantii prav lichnosti v ugolovnom sudoproizvodstve -- t. 3. Teorii︠a︡ sudebnykh dokazatelʹstv.

t. 1. A-D -- t. 2. E-M -- t. 3. N-S -- t.4. T-I︠A︡.

Although it is common in liberal and progressive circles to scoff at the idea that the Unites States is “exceptional”—a derision driven by an admirable suspicion of the chauvinistic connotations of the exceptionalist view—doing so obscures a significant reality. The United States is different, or at least rather unusual, in its social, cultural, and geo-strategic circumstances, especially when compared to the nations of Europe from which it draws the core of its intellectual traditions. What's more, the critique of American exceptionalism (...) has acquired its own troublesome politics. “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever…. (shrink)

A lecture about the troublesome questions of identity, authenticity and trust.

Motivation holds the key for harnessing the human potential in an organization. However, in modern management, motivation is used mainly as a strategy for enhancing the efficiency, productivity and performance of the employee. But for a more integral and effective realization of the human potential in an organization, motivation has to be used as a lever for human evolution and development, with enhanced performance as a spontaneous result. This article provides a comprehensive framework for evolving a motivational strategy, which will (...) lead to the progressive evolution of human potential in an organization. The article tries to integrate modern theories of motivation with ancient Indian perspectives, based on an integral psychology. (shrink)