Singapore, a highly affluent island city-state located in Southeast Asia, has increasingly leveraged new assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to overcome its dismal fertility rates in recent years. A new frontier in ART is preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for polygenic risk scores (PRS) to predict complex multifactorial traits in IVF (in vitro fertilisation) embryos, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and various other characteristics like height, intelligence quotient (IQ), hair and eye colour. Unlike well-known safety risks with human genome editing, (...) there are negligible risks with PGT-P, because there are no man-made genetic modifications that can be transmitted to future generations. Nevertheless, the current efficacy of using PGT-P to select IVF embryos for either increased or decreased probability of developing specific polygenic traits is still far from certain. Hence, the regulatory safeguards proposed here will be based on the assumption that the efficacy of this new technology platform has already been validated. These include: (1) restricting the application of PGT-P only for prevention of clinically relevant polygenic disease traits, (2) securely blocking patients’ access to the raw genomic DNA sequencing data of their IVF embryos, (3) validating diagnosis of polygenic disease traits in the prospective parents/grandparents of IVF embryos, and restricting PGT-P only for preventing specifically diagnosed polygenic disease traits and (4) mandating rigorous and comprehensive genetic counselling for IVF patients considering PGT-P. There is an urgent and dire need to prevent abuse of the PGT-P technique, as well as protect the interests and welfare of patients if its clinical application is to be permitted in the country. (shrink)

Today’s organizations are operating in a highly competitive and changing environment that pushes them to continuously adapt their organizational structures to such environment. However, the success of change initiatives may face a barrier in the response of employees, especially when they lack readiness to change. While leadership can shape the culture of an organization and a culture of effectiveness can help increase employees’ readiness to change, ethical leaders, who serve as a guide and offer support, can also make a difference (...) by reducing uncertainty. Yet existing research on the role of ethical leadership in the enhancement of the employees’ readiness to change is practically non-existent. Far less is the research that analyses the mechanisms that ethical leadership can use to foster employees’ readiness to change. This study aims to investigate whether the ethical leadership of middle-lower echelons influences on employees’ readiness to change positively (H1) and if this relationship is mediated through shaping an organizational culture of effectiveness (H2). Using data from 270 direct reports of middle–lower managers in public foreign trade Egyptian companies, the findings reveal that ethical leadership enhances employees’ readiness to change and that this impact is partially mediated by an organizational culture of effectiveness. Thus, with these findings, new light is shed on the positive role of ethical leadership and the mechanisms it uses to enhance employees’ readiness to change. (shrink)

Background The nursing profession requires ethical and legal regulations to guide nurses’ performance. Ethical climate plays a part in shaping nurses’ ethical practice. Therefore, ethico-legal aspects and ethical climate contribute to improving nurses’ ethical practice and competencies with reducing medical errors in hospital settings. Objective This study examined the effect of ethico-legal aspects and ethical climate on managing safe patient care and medical errors among nurses. Materials and methods A cross-sectional correlational study was carried out on 548 nurses. Data were (...) collected through self-administered questionnaires about nurses’ knowledge in both ethical and legal aspects, ethical practice, competencies, ethical climate and experience with medical error. Results The main sources of nurses’ knowledge of ethical and legal aspects were undergraduate lectures, job experience and colleagues. Nurses’ knowledge in both ethical and legal aspects, nurses’ ethical practice and competencies were insufficient. Nurses fairly perceived their ethical climate. Also, nurses experienced medical errors about 22.6% in their units. Nurses’ knowledge of ethical and legal aspects, as well as the ethical climate were positive predictors of inadequate nurses’ ethical practice and competencies. Additionally, nurses’ knowledge in both ethical and legal aspects, ethical climate and practice had a negative influence on the occurrence of medical errors. Conclusion Enhancing nurses’ knowledge in both ethical and legal aspects as well as ethical climate could significantly influence improving nurses’ ethical practice, competencies and reducing medical errors in the study units. Therefore, planning for enhancing the nurses’ ethico-legal learning and ethical climate seems to be mandatory. (shrink)

Predatory journals and conferences are an emerging problem in scientific literature as they have financial motives, without guaranteeing scientific quality and exposure. The main objective of the ASGLOS project is to investigate the predatory e‐email characteristics, management, and possible consequences and to analyse the extent of the current problem at each academic level. To collect the personal experiences of physicians’ mailboxes on predatory publishing, a Google Form® survey was designed and disseminated from September 2021 to April 2022. A total of (...) 978 responses were analysed from 58 countries around the world. A total of 64.8% of participants indicated the need for 3 or fewer emails to acquire a criticality view in distinguishing a real invitation from a spam, while 11.5% still have doubt regardless of how many emails they get. The AGLOS Study clearly highlights the problem of academic e‐mail spam by predatory journals and conferences. Our findings signify the importance of providing academic career‐oriented advice and organising training sessions to increase awareness of predatory publishing for those conducting scientific research. (shrink)

The current study seeks to establish how teachers in the Jubail Governorate of Saudi Arabia promote critical thinking in their kindergarten students using specific classroom teaching tactics. This applies especially to the ongoing investigation. Although preschool is the developmental stage during which a child's personality emerges, little study has been conducted on the development of critical thinking skills in this age range. Current research seeks to address this issue. The study sample consisted of 78 educators from Jubail Kindergarten in Saudi (...) Arabia, accounting for 85% of the original community. The study's descriptive technique was appropriate for reaching its objectives. The researchers employed a questionnaire to assess teaching approaches that encourage pupils to think critically.To accomplish these broadcasting goals, this study used an associated descriptive technique. (shrink)

With a view to developing a vision for the development and activation of digital professional interventions for social work, the research paper will analyze the reality of professional intervention for digital social service at both minor and major practice levels, along with its most significant challenges. This is necessary given the rapid digital transformation that has permeated all spheres of life and necessitates that the humanitarian assistance professions, including the social work profession, keep up with it in order to provide (...) higher-quality and more effective services. (shrink)

The field of artistic works is witnessing continuous changes and developments in new sciences and modern technologies. This is due to the community’s need for these works of art, and as a result of the colored papers remaining from paper manufacturing factories that are not used. The idea of the research was to use these remains to enrich the artwork and give it a contemporary appearance by using colored paper draping techniques to enrich the aesthetic aspect of the artwork.The research (...) aims to achieve three basic axes: an axis to demonstrate the plastic possibilities of the art of colored paper quilling in its various forms, an axis to show the aesthetics of contemporary artwork from the remains of colored paper, and an axis concerned with the implementation of innovative artistic works that achieve sustainable development by linking them to create contemporary designs for use in the artistic work.. Collage style to enrich the field of artistic works among home economics students.Through these entries, the concept of collage art, its types, and its various plastic possibilities were clarified, and the different plastic possibilities of this art were identified. The research also relied on the experimental descriptive approach, through the experiment on fifth-level female students in home economics at King Khalid University. One of the most important results we reached. The hypotheses have been verified and it has been proven that experimenting with the remains of colored paper used in paper mills can achieve various plastic and tangible artistic values that enrich the artistic work of home economics students and achieve sustainable development. The current research recommends experimenting with the aesthetics of collage art using other materials. (shrink)

The left ventricular assist device was originally designed to be surgically implanted as a bridge to transplantation for patients with chronic end-stage heart failure. On the basis of the REMATCH trial, the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved permanent implantation of the left ventricular assist device as a destination therapy in Medicare beneficiaries who are not candidates for heart transplantation. The use of the left ventricular assist device as a destination therapy (...) raises certain ethical challenges. Left ventricular assist devices can prolong the survival of average recipients compared with optimal medical management of chronic end-stage heart failure. However, the overall quality of life can be adversely affected in some recipients because of serious infections, neurologic complications, and device malfunction. Left ventricular assist devices alter end-of-life trajectories. The caregivers of recipients may experience significant burden (e.g., poor physical health, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder) from destination therapy with left ventricular assist devices. There are also social and financial ramifications for recipients and their families. We advocate early utilization of a palliative care approach and outline prerequisite conditions so that consenting for the use of a left ventricular assist device as a destination therapy is a well informed process. These conditions include: (1) direct participation of a multidisciplinary care team, including palliative care specialists, (2) a concise plan of care for anticipated device-related complications, (3) careful surveillance and counseling for caregiver burden, (4) advance-care planning for anticipated end-of-life trajectories and timing of device deactivation, and (5) a plan to address the long-term financial burden on patients, families, and caregivers. Short-term mechanical circulatory devices (e.g. percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass, percutaneous ventricular assist devices, etc.) can be initiated in emergency situations as a bridge to permanent implantation of ventricular assist devices in chronic end-stage heart failure. In the absence of first-person (patient) consent, presumed consent or surrogate consent should be used cautiously for the initiation of short-term mechanical circulatory devices in emergency situations as a bridge to permanent implantation of left ventricular assist devices. Future clinical studies of destination therapy with left ventricular assist devices should include measures of recipients' quality of end-of-life care and caregivers' burden. (shrink)

This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to one of the most significant Arab thinkers of the late 20th century and the early 21st century: the Moroccan philosopher and social theorist Mohammed Abed al-Jabri. With his intellectual and political engagement, al-Jabri has influenced the development of a modern reading of the Islamic tradition in the broad Arab-Islamic world and has been, in recent years, subject to an increasing interest among Muslims and non-Muslim scholars, social activists and lay men. The contributors (...) to this volume read al-Jabri with reference to prominent past Arab-Muslim scholars, such as Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali, al-Shatibi, and Ibn Khaldun, as well as contemporary Arab philosophers, like Hassan Hanafi, Abdellah Laroui, George Tarabishi, Taha Abderrahmane; they engage with various aspects of his intellectual project, and trace his influence in non-Arab-Islamic lands, like Indonesia, as well. His analysis of Arab thought since the 1970s as a harbinger analysis of the ongoing “Arab Spring uprising” remains relevant for today's political challenges in the region. (shrink)

The transfer of dual-use technologies, which can be used for both civilian and military applications, has become a critical issue for national and international security. In response, the Strategic Trade Act 2010 (STA 2010) was enacted in Malaysia to regulate the export, transit, and transshipment of strategic items, including dual-use goods and technologies. However, despite its importance, researchers in Malaysia’s Higher Learning Institutions exhibit lack of awareness and understanding of the Act, potentially placing national security at risk through unintended breaches (...) of export control regulations. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of the STA 2010 among researchers in Malaysia, focusing specifically on their understanding of tangible and intangible technology transfers (ITT) and the associated risks of dual-use items. Questionnaires were distributed to a purposive sample of researchers, and the data were analyzed using the Rasch Measurement Model to assess levels of knowledge. The results indicate a significant knowledge gap among the research community, with most respondents demonstrating insufficient awareness of STA 2010 provisions, despite the Act being in place for over a decade. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted educational programs and outreach initiatives to improve compliance and mitigate potential risks. Policymakers and key stakeholders must strengthen efforts to raise awareness and ensure researchers are adequately informed about the legal frameworks governing dual-use technology transfers, thus safeguarding both national and international security. (shrink)

During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, stress and anxiety were pervasive among the masses due to high morbidity and mortality. Besides the fear of coronavirus was also particularly driven by social media. Many people started to look for faith and spiritual connections to gain comfort. The role of spiritual ties and religious beliefs in relation to coping with pandemic stress gained the attention of researchers in some parts of the world. This cross-sectional survey aimed at assessing the intensity (...) of stress and anxiety symptoms experienced by people and how much they were alleviated by employing spiritual connections. The study sample comprises 795 respondents with 52% males and 48% females living in Saudi Arabia. The brief online study questionnaire collected data about background variables, anxiety and stress scale from DASS-21, and items from the WHOQOL instrument assessed the use of spiritual beliefs to cope. Multiple regression models were tested to determine the role of spiritual connections after adjusting demographic variables. Results illustrated that after adjusting for gender and age, participants' anxiety symptoms decreased by units with each unit increase in the use of spiritual connections, and participants’ stress symptoms reduce by units with each unit increase in coping with spirituality. Additionally, females’ risk to experience anxiety and stress symptoms was more than males and, respectively. An increase in age decreases the likelihood of experiencing anxiety symptoms and stress symptoms by and units respectively. Findings support the protective role of spiritual connections despite small beta coefficients. The social and cultural context in Saudi Arabia favors deep-rooted connections with spirituality and faith. Our findings support that the reliance on spiritual connections helped older people to deal with exaggerated fear during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduces the risk of experiencing anxiety and stress symptoms. Females and younger participants were relatively vulnerable to developing these symptoms. We discussed these findings considering some recent studies that reported similar relationships and made recommendations for future research. (shrink)

BackgroundOrgan donation has become one of the most effective ways to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies have investigated the preferences for the different consenting options for organ donation in Egypt. This study aims to assess Egyptians’ preferences regarding consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure their awareness and acceptance of the Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted among 2743 participants over two years. (...) Each participant was required to rank eleven consenting options from 1 to 11, and to report his awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of the Egyptian law of organ donation.Results47% of the participants expressed willingness to donate their organs after death. This percentage increased to 78% when consenting options were explained to participants. “Informed consent by donor only” was the most preferred type of consent for one third of respondents. Awareness of the law articles regulating organ donation was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%.ConclusionCurrently, around half of the Egyptian population agree to posthumous organ donation. This percentage could be increased significantly by raising the awareness about how the process of donation could be regulated and how the patient’s right of decision could be protected. (shrink)

Islamic bioethics is in good health, this article argues. During the twentieth century, academic researchers had to deal with a number of difficulties including the scarcity of available Islamic sources. However, the twenty-first century witnessed significant breakthroughs in the field of Islamic bioethics. A growing number of normative works authored by Muslim religious scholars and studies conducted by academic researchers have been published. This nascent field also proved to be appealing for research-funding institutions in the Muslim world and also in (...) the West, such as the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). On the other hand, the article argues that contemporary Islamic bioethics is in need of addressing news issues and adopting new approaches for the sake of maintaining and improving this good health in the future. (shrink)

The study aimed to find out the impact of fees imposed on escorts on the consumer behavior of expatriate families in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by studying purchase motives, sources of purchase decisions, economic factors and social factors when purchasing products. The study concluded that there was no effect of these factors on changing the consumption habits of expatriate families. Rather, factors intervened that led to the increasing control of most of these factors and their impact, especially with the (...) deterioration of the economic and security conditions in the countries of arrivals, and the preference of most families to stay in the Kingdom. (shrink)

The earlier volume in this series dealt with two religions of Indian origin, namely, Buddhism and Jainism. The Indian religious scene, however, is characterized by not only religions which originated in India but also by religions which entered India from outside India and made their home here. Thus religious life in India has been enlivened throughout its history by the presence of religions of foreign origin on its soil almost from the very time they came into existence. This volume covers (...) three such religions—Zoraoastrianism, Judaism, and Islam. In the case of Zoraostianism, even its very beginnings are intertwined with India, as Zoroastrianism reformed a preexisting religion which had strong links to the Vedic heritage of India. This relationship took on a new dimension when a Zoroastrian community, fearing persecution in Persia after its Arab conquest, sought shelter in western India and ultimately went on to produce India’s pioneering nationalist in the figure of Dadabhai Naoroji ( 1825-1917), also known as the Grand Old Man of India. Jews found refuge in south India after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E. and have remained a part of the Indian religious scene since then, some even returning to Israel after it was founded in 1948. Islam arrived in Kerala as soon as it was founded and one of the earliest mosques in the history of Islam is found in India. Islam differs from the previously mentioned religions inasmuch as it went on to gain political hegemony over parts of the country for considerable periods of time, which meant that its impact on the religious life of the subcontinent has been greater compared to the other religions. It has also meant that Islam has existed in a religiously plural environment in India for a longer period than elsewhere in the world so that not only has Islam left a mark on India, India has also left its mark on it. Indeed all the three religions covered in this volume share this dual feature, that they have profoundly influenced Indian religious life and have also in turn been profoundly influenced by their presence in India. (shrink)

Education for sustainable development aims to develop students' awareness of sustainability issues and foster their attitudes towards environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The study aimed to identify the role of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in promoting environmental sustainability among its students, in line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. A descriptive analytical approach was used, with a sample of 341 university students. The study found that faculty members ranked first in promoting sustainability, followed by curricula, student activities, and university administration. (...) The most important ways to activate the university's role in promoting sustainability from students' perspectives were rated as very important. Statistically significant differences were found between the sample's responses, with females expressing more support in university administration. Academic specialization also influenced responses, with scientific specializations showing more favor in university administration, faculty members, and curricula. The researchers made several recommendations based on the findings. (shrink)

Normativity is assessed as we evaluate and compare the environmental reporting practices of a sample of French and Canadian companies through the lens of institutional legitimacy. More specifically, we examine how French and Canadian firms changed their reporting practices in reaction to the promulgation of laws and regulations in their respective countries, i.e., the NER and Grenelle II Acts in France, and National Instrument 51-102 and CSA Staff Notice NR 51-333, issued by the Canadian Securities Administrators. The firms’ voluntary disclosures (...) according to GRI guidelines are also investigated. Substantive legitimacy theory is used to explore the level of substantive disclosures provided by Canadian and French firms. The findings reveal that the French parliamentary regime is more successful than the Canadian stock exchange regulation in triggering environmental reporting, and that the GRI combined with local regimes prompts environmental disclosures. Notwithstanding the improvements in environmental reporting under all three regimes, a very low level of substantive disclosure is noted in both countries. (shrink)

This article discusses the career of Joseph Moses Juran. He is described as being an astute observer, attentive listener, brilliant synthesizer, and prescient prognosticator. Juran has been called the father of quality, a quality guru, and the man who taught quality to the Japanese. One of his stellar contributions is the Juran trilogy of the three quality processes: quality control, quality planning, and quality improvement. Juran summarized the following three features of quality control activities in Japan that created the revolution (...) in quality: a massive quality-related education and training program; an annual program of quality improvement; and upper-management leadership of the quality function. (shrink)

In this essay, Mohammed Albakry discusses the notion of accommodating cultural differences in translation and the need to respect these differences without compromising or emphasizing them. First, Albakry reflects on translation as an act of interpretation in light of Terence's famous saying “nothing human can be foreign to me.” Second, he comments on the place of drama in translation and translation studies in order to contextualize his project — translating a number of critically acclaimed contemporary Egyptian plays. He then reviews (...) and critiques the binary model of foreignization/domestication, drawing on some concrete examples of the cultural challenges of translating Arabic drama for the American stage. Albakry concludes by conceptualizing an alternative translational space of dialogical encounters between the human/familiar and the foreign in translation, and by considering the relevance of the Terentian maxim to the negotiation of maintaining sameness while preserving difference. (shrink)

The ethical climate in Turkey is beset by ethical problems. Bribery, environmental pollution, tax frauds, deceptive advertising, production of unsafe products, and the ethical violations that involved politicians and business professionals are just a few examples. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the ethical beliefs of American and Turkish consumers using the Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) of Forsyth (1980), the Machiavellianism scale, and the Consumer Ethical Practices of Muncy and Vitell questionnaire (MVQ). A sample of 376 (...) subjects that consists of American consumers (n = 188) and Turkish consumers (n = 199) was used to compare the ethical beliefs and practices of the two samples. The MANOVA results for the two nationality groups found that five out of six criterion variables differed between the two groups. The implications of this study are intended to assist marketers to develop strategies that suit a particular market and lessen their risk of entry. (shrink)

Mit diesem Band wendet sich der Philosoph Mohamed Turki gegen die Behauptung, dass geisteswissenschaftliche Debatten in der arabisch-islamischen Welt ausschliesslich vom Diskurs des Glaubens beherrscht werden. In fundierter und zugleich überblickender Manier wird zunächst der historische Wandel von Bestimmungen des Rationalitätsbegriffs nachgezeichnet und verständlich gemacht, um anschliessend einzelne Diskurse der Gegenwart darzustellen. Deutlich wird dabei das Ineinandergreifen von Konzepten wie Glaube, Vernunft, Offenbarung und Interkulturalität, aber auch Konfliktlinien innerhalb der Diskussion. Die beziehungsreichen Aufsätze des Bandes vereinen Themen wie Pluralität, (...) Toleranz, Frieden und Menschenrechte aus dem Blickwinkel des arabisch-islamischen Denkens und verdeutlichen, dass eine Verbindung zum klassischen Kanon der abendländischen Geistestradition immer schon bestand und keinesfalls dazu im Widerspruch steht"-- Back cover. (shrink)

In assisted dying, the end-of-life trajectory is shortened to relieve unbearable suffering. Unbearable suffering is defined broadly enough to include cognitive (early dementia), psychosocial or existential distress. It can include old-age afflictions that are neither life-threatening nor fatal in the “vulnerable elderly”. The voluntary refusal of food and fluids (VRFF) combined with continuous deep sedation (CDS) for assisted dying is legal. Scientific understanding of awareness of internal and external nociceptive stimuli under CDS is rudimentary. CDS may blunt the wakefulness component (...) of human consciousness without eradicating internal affective awareness of thirst and hunger. Patients may suffer because of the slow dying process following dehydration and starvation. The difficulty to adequately control distress, without bringing the dying process to a rapid conclusion by lethal pharmacological interventions, can cause feelings of guilt among hospice and medical staff. Furthermore, the double-effect principle is not applicable in these situations because the primary objective of VRFF is to hasten death. Legal and societal debate should focus on sharpening the boundaries between assisted dying and palliative care. This separation is necessary to: 1) uphold trust in the patient-phyician relationship, and 2) preserve integrity and ethics of the medical profession. (shrink)

Medical futility is often defined as providing inappropriate treatments that will not improve disease prognosis, alleviate physiological symptoms, or prolong survival. This understanding of medical futility is problematic because it rests on the final outcomes of procedures that are narrow and medically defined. In this article, Walker's `expressivecollaborative' model of morality is used to examine how certain critical care interventions that are considered futile actually have broader social functions surrounding death and dying. By examining cardiopulmonary resuscitation and life-sustaining intensive care (...) measures as moral practices, we show how so-called futile interventions offer ritualistic benefit to patients, families, and health care providers, helping to facilitate the process of dying. This work offers a new perspective on the ethical debate concerning medical futility and provides a means to explore how the social value of treatments may be as important in determining futility as medical scientific criteria. (shrink)

. In the wake of the February 1997 announcement that Dolly the sheep had been cloned, Muslim religious scholars together with Muslim scientists held two conferences to discuss cloning from an Islamic perspective. They were organized by two influential Islamic international religioscientific institutions: the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy. Both institutions comprise a large number of prominent religious scholars and well‐known scientists who participated in the discussions at the conferences. This article gives a comprehensive (...) analysis of these conferences, the relation between science and religion as reflected in the discussions there, and the further influence of these discussions on Muslims living in the West. Modern discussions on Islamic bioethics show that formulating an Islamic perspective on these issues is not the exclusive prerogative of religious scholars. Formulating such perspectives has become a collective process in which scientists play an essential role. Such a collective approach strengthens the religious authority of Muslim scholars and makes it more influential rather than undermining it. (shrink)

Using a worldwide sample, we examine whether corporate social responsibility performance has an impact on the value of cash holdings. We find that investors assign a higher value to cash held by firms that have a high CSR rating. This result is consistent with the idea that CSR policies are a means for managers to act in the shareholders’ interests by mitigating conflicts with stakeholders. Finally, we reveal that CSR performance has a positive impact on the value of cash holdings (...) only for firms which operate in countries where shareholders are well protected from expropriation by managers and in countries where the institutional quality is high. (shrink)

In this paper, we present a domain-specific, open access, reference ontology (ROMAIN) for the maintenance management domain. We use a hybrid approach, based on a top-down alignment to an open sourc...

In this paper, I review and compare major literature on goals in argumentation scholarship, aiming to answer the question of how to take the different goals of arguers into account when analysing and evaluating public political arguments. On the basis of the review, I suggest to differentiate between the different goals along two important distinctions: first, distinguish between goals which are intrinsic to argumentation and goals which are extrinsic to it and second distinguish between goals of the act of arguing (...) and goals of argumentative interactions. Furthermore, I propose to analyse public political arguments as multi-purposive activity types and reconstruct the argumentative exchanges as a series of simultaneous discussions. This enables us to examine public political arguments from a perspective in which the intrinsic goals of argumentation are in principle instrumental for the achievement of the socio-political purposes of argumentation, and consequently, it makes our assessment of the argumentative quality of the argument also indicative of the quality of the socio-political processes to which the arguments contribute. (shrink)

This paper critically reviews Ken Binmore’s non- utilitarian and game theoretic solution to the Arrow problem. Binmore’s solution belongs to the same family as Rawls’ maximin criterion and requires the use of Nash bargaining theory, empathetic preferences, and results in evolutionary game theory. Harsanyi has earlier presented a solution that relies on utilitarianism, which requires some exogenous valuation criterion and is therefore incompatible with liberalism. Binmore’s rigorous demonstration of the maximin principle for the first time presents a real alternative to (...) a utilitarian solution. (shrink)

Extropy, as a complementary dual of entropy, has been discussed in many works of literature, where it is declared for other measures as an extension of extropy. In this article, we obtain the extropy of generalized order statistics via its dual and give some examples from well-known distributions. Furthermore, we study the residual and past extropy for such models. On the other hand, based on Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern distribution, we consider the residual extropy of concomitants of m-generalized order statistics and present this (...) measure with some additional features. In addition, we provide the upper bound and stochastic orders of it. Finally, nonparametric estimation of the residual extropy of concomitants of m-generalized order statistics is included using simulated and real data connected with COVID-19 virus. (shrink)

For researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand who intend to conduct research with people, it is common practice to first ensure that their proposals are approved by a Human Research Ethics Committee. HRECs take the role of reviewing, approving or rejecting research proposals and deciding on whether the intended research will be completed in the ‘right’, rather than the ‘wrong’ way. Such decisions are based upon a system which is guided by universal ethical principles – principles that assume there is universal (...) agreement about the ethically right way to conduct research. Increasingly, Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming more culturally diverse. Actions that are assumed as ‘right’ in reference to ethical norms endorsed in one culture or society may not always be considered ‘right’ in reference to ethical norms in another culture or society. In this article we first set out what is already known in the literature about the origins and applications of universal ethics in a research context. Next, we analyse how... (shrink)

This paper reports the responses of 251 mental health care practitioners to a mail survey examining their views concerning ethical conflicts and practices within their work environments. Besides identifying the sources and types of conflicts they experience, respondents were asked how ethical standards have changed over the last 10 years as well as the factors influencing these changes. Conclusions and implications are outlined and future research needs are described.

L'auteur analyse les contributions de quatre penseurs arabes ayant travaillé sur le rapport au Turâth (tradition) et à la modernité : Abdallah Laroui, Mohamed Abed Al Jabri, Georges Tarabishi et Taha Abderrahmane. L'analyse tente de montrer que les apports divergents de ces quatre penseurs, quant à la manière d'assimiler le Turâth et la modernité occidentale afin d'échapper à leur emprise dans le but de façonner sa propre modernité, pourraient constituer le point de départ pour un nouveau rapport à la (...) tradition et à la modernité. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the question of commitment transmissibility in public political arguments. I explore the idea that under certain conditions, arguers become accountable for the commitments of their “argumentative associates” (Mohammed 2019a ). I present cases where arguers make discursive effort to distance themselves from an undesirable associate in order to avoid acquiring the associate’s commitments, as well as cases where arguers fail to do so and face the consequences. I discuss the concept of commitment in argumentation (e.g. (...) Hamblin 1970, Walton & Krabbe 1995 ), and I build on the scheme of guilt and honour by association (Groarke and Tindale 2004 ). The result is a nuanced normative view of arguments by association: the transmissibility of commitments between argumentative associates is a way to hold arguers accountable for the argumentative potential (Mohammed 2019b ; see also Kjeldsen 2017 ; Serafis 2022 ) of their discourse, and yet, commitment transmissibility remains defeasible to avoid the over-attribution of commitment by association. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that the criterion of valuation in neoclassical economics is flawed because it is not an invariant measure of value. It is invariant only when unrealistically restrictive conditions are imposed on the class of admissible utility functions, which in fact makes it a special case. The only sensible alternative is to turn to classical value theory based on real sacrifices or opportunity costs.

In the midst of available studies on the relation between technology or science and religion, one of the vital and early episodes of this relation within the Islamic tradition did not receive the due attention from modern researchers. This episode has to do with the discussions of Muslim scholars on using the then emerging technology of printing to reproduce the sacred scripture of Muslims, namely, the Qur'an. The main discussions among the ‘ulama on this issue took place in the eighteenth (...) and nineteenth centuries when the Ottoman Empire was an important power in the Islamic world. The main question raised here is: what are the juristic arguments used by the ‘Ulama to justify their objection to print the Qur'an? At the end, this article argues that these arguments have not been the sole agent in this issue. Social reality also played an important role and was ultimately, at least partially, responsible for a considerable shift in the standpoints of the ‘Ulama towards this issue especially from the nineteenth century onwards. (shrink)

"Not but by the spirit understood" : Milton's plain style and present-day Messianism -- Areopagitica and the ethics of reading -- Liberty before and after liberalism : Milton's politics and the post-secular state -- Samson, the peacemaker : enlightened slaughter in Samson Agonistes -- Can the suicide bomber speak?

This article presents a kind of unconventional attempt to show the logical and philosophical defect faced by any attempt of criticizing or even questioning the principle of causality. The main focus in this article is the attempt of David Hume, regarding its broad impact on atheists and materialists, and because it summarized all that has been said or is said about the apparent criticisms of this principle and its implications like the rejection and doubt in the proofs of divine existence. (...) It has been shown in the article that the application of the principle of causality is a basis not only for the knowledge but also for the skepticism and for being aware of the ignorance. So, whoever apparently and verbally claims that he does not believe in this principle could never doubt or say that he doesn't know, and even such a recognition would be impossible without employing the principle. Therefore, the atheistic and agnostic stances are logically invalid. (shrink)