BackgroundCommunity Advisory Boards (CAB) have become essential organs of involving communities in HIV clinical trials especially in developing countries. However, limited empirical evidence exists on the role of CABs in low and middle-income countries including Tanzania. This study aims at exploring the role of CABs in community-based HIV clinical trials conducted in Tanzania.MethodologyWe adopted a phenomenological approach to purposefully select HIV clinical trial stakeholders. These included CAB members, researchers and Institutional Review Board (IRB) members in Tanzania. We conducted In-depth Interviews (...) (IDIs) with ten participants and three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with eighteen participants. The data were thematically analyzed with the aid of MAXQDA software version 20.2.1.ResultsThe findings indicate that at every stage of implementation of a community-based HIV clinical trial, a functioning CAB is important for its success. This importance is based on contextualization of the informed consent process and protocol, managing rumours in the community, weighing trial risks and benefits, sensitizing the community, assisting participant recruitment, tracing and retention. However, being perceived as financial beneficiaries than community representatives emerged as a challenge to CAB members. ConclusionThe study empirically indicates the need for functioning CABs in every stage of implementation of community-based HIV clinical trials. The roles of which are interwoven in serving research goals and protecting the interests of the community and that of trial participants. (shrink)

Archon or the Future of Government Hamilton Fyfe Originally published in 1927 "This is a good essay on the nature of government, or politics." Economic Review "Writes with a wide experience and an intimate knowledge". Daily Herald. This volume surveys the methods of government in the past and considers the conditions of government in the world of the early twentieth century. It predicts a system under which the affairs of communities will be managed by people specially trained for the job. (...) 90pp Cain, or the Future of Crime George Godwin Originally published in 1928. "Compels the reader to think…" Saturday Review "…makes out a strong case against the stupidity and cruelty of our present dealings with crime." Evening Standard In this volume the criminal is considered as curable and incurable; and the duty of Society to cure, in the one case and its right to destroy in the other, is discussed. Arguing that psychology is the rational instrument in the treatment of delinquency the volume then envisages criminal courts divested of power of punishment. 102pp. Solon or the Price of Justice C P Harvey Originally published in 1931. This volume calls attention to the exorbitant expense of civil actions. A scholarly review of the historical causes of this is followed by examination of the various solutions that have been proposed. 100pp Lycurgus or the Future of Law E S P Haynes Originally published in 1925 "A thoughtful book – deserves careful reading…" Law Times "A humane and conscientious investigation." T P’s Weekly This volume provides an analysis of the Law in England of the 1920s?? and deals with legislation, the law courts, criminal law, family law, land-laws, costs, international law, and individual liberty. 80pp. Fortuna Or Chance and Design Norwood Young Originally published in 1929 "Ingenious. His study of the "laws of chance" are not meant for those who wish to acquire sudden fortunes." T P’s Weekly. A philosophical essay on the subject of chance which is illustrated with examples from evolution, religion, economics and gambling. (shrink)

In Kant’s Groundwork II, the Formula of Universal Law (FUL) seems to be the argumentative link between the notion of a categorical imperative and later formulae (e.g. of humanity), its function as this link dependent on its equivalence to both. Some commentators have denied this equivalence and read the section as a failure. Others have abandoned its expository development by reading later formulae into the FUL. I argue that we need do neither if we distinguish the universality of the FUL (...) from that of the will of all and read Groundwork II as extracting the latter from common moral cognition. (shrink)

Paternalist policies in public health often aim to improve people’s well-being by reducing their options, regulating smoking offering a prime example. The well-being challenge is to show that people really are better off for having their options reduced. The distribution challenge is to show how the policies are justified since they produce losers as well as winners. If we start from these challenges, we can understand the importance of the empirical evidence that a very high proportion of smokers regret smoking. (...) In short, it is important that they regret it and important that the proportion is so high. This paper explains how, philosophically, regret can relate to well-being and it considers some of the strengths and weakness in the empirical research that the explanation brings out. The regret case for regulating smoking is indeed strong, although not as strong as the empirical researchers think. It is much weaker for paternalistic intervention in other public health problems, such as obesity and binge drinking. (shrink)

Social theory remains puzzled by the relation between practices and structures, or the link between ‘micro’ and ‘macro’. Grand theorists including Giddens and Bourdieu have gained distinction for their writings on these questions, trying to marry insights and concerns of a ‘micro’ sociological nature with traditional ‘macro’ structural questions including inequality, power relations, and social reproduction. These theorists arguably fail, however, in their attempts to move social theory beyond traditional dualisms. Relevant but neglected contributions from ethnomethodology are introduced and compared (...) to the work of Giddens and Bourdieu in an attempt to identify and outline an approach to practices and structures that more reliably avoids problems of dualism and reification, and at the same time offers an understanding of structures and their relations to practices that can be much more closely grounded in empirical studies. Key Words: micro-macro link • reification • ethnomethodology • Pierre Bourdieu • Jeff Coulter. (shrink)

Methods developed in a previous paper are employed to define an exact correspondence between the states of a deterministic cellular automaton in 1+1 dimensions and those of a bosonic quantum field theory. The result may be used to argue that quantum field theories may be much closer related to deterministic automata than what is usually thought possible.

We consider the relation between versions of Ramsey’s Theorem and König’s Infinity Lemma, in the absence of the axiom of choice.

As ethical attitudinists say, ethical statements cannot be strictly true or false, since they express wishes or attitudes, not beliefs. However, the wishes expressed by basic moral judgments about human rights are such that it is a necessary truth that those who know what human beings are have them, and those who do not acknowledge these rights show their lack of a living sense of human reality. The same goes for basic judgments about the rights of animals, and it is (...) blindness about the ontology of animal reality which lies behind the cruelty to animals inherent in vivisection and factory farming. One current source of this blindness may be the physicalist metaphysics which is typical of our day, and which should be sharply distinguished from metaphysical naturalism. (shrink)

Supercommentary on Sāṅkhyakārikā of Iśvarakr̥ṣṇa, with Kalā Hindi commentary by Kedāranātha Tripāṭhī, on Sankhya philosophy.

On Visishtadvaita vedanta philosophy of Rāmānuja, 1017-1137, Hindu philosopher.

Mill's On Liberty is centrally concerned with avoiding social tyranny. But Mill's Principle of Liberty defines interfering, in the context of social pressure, as intentionally punishing and it seems to allow speech and actions that critics have thought would conflict with liberty in self-regarding matters. To critics, Mill draws distinctions among social influences where no genuine difference is to be found and he permits more social pressure than can be accepted by someone who values liberty highly. In this article, I (...) explain where and why Mill draws the line he does between permitted and forbidden influences and show the line is coherent and tracks a genuine difference. I also show that although the Principle leaves residual social pressure, Mill has resources besides the Principle that can prevent social influences that threaten individuality while retaining beneficial social influences. (shrink)

Constant changes in the economic, social and political life of the people of the nations force the Church to enter into a dialogue with the world. The object of her attention is culture, politics, science, dealing with human problems. Church leadership of various Christian denominations sees the possibility of applying their socio-political guides in a wide socio-cultural space - personal and family circles, political and public activities, social life in general.

On philosophical and historical perspectives of education : with special reference to Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian philosopher and John Dewey, 1859-1952, an American philosopher and educational reformer.