Slavoj Zizek is no ordinary philosopher. Approaching critical theory and psychoanalysis in a recklessly entertaining fashion, Zizek's critical eye alights upon a bewildering and exhilarating range of subjects, from the political apathy of contemporary life, to a joke about the man who thinks he's a chicken, from the ethicial heroism of Keanu Reeves in speed , to what toilet designs reveal about the national psyche. Tony Myers provides a clear and engaging guide to Zizek's key ideas, explaining the main influences (...) on Zizek's thought, most crucially his engagement with Lacanian psychoanalysis, using examples drawn from popular culture and everyday life. Myers outlines the key issues that Zizek's work has tackled, including: * What is a Subject and why is it so important? * The Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real * What is so terrible about Postmodernity? * How can we distinguish reality from ideology? * What is the relationship between men and women? * Why is Racism always a fantasy? Slavoj Zizek is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the thought of the critic whom Terry Eagleton has described as "the most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in Europe for some decades.". (shrink)

We advance a model of human probability judgment and apply it to the design of an extrapolation algorithm. Such an algorithm examines a person's judgment about the likelihood of various statements and is then able to predict the same person's judgments about new statements. The algorithm is tested against judgments produced by thirty undergraduates asked to assign probabilities to statements about mammals.

In June 1993, conjoined twins Amy and Angela Lakeberg became the focus of national attention. They shared a complex six‐chambered heart and one liver; only one could survive separation surgery, and even her chances were slim. The medical challenge was great and the ethical challenges were even greater.

In this paper, we extend Michel Foucault’s final works on the ‘care of the self’ to an empirical examination of research practice in community-based research (CBR). We use Foucault’s ‘morality of behaviors’ to analyze interview data from a national sample of Canadian CBR practitioners working with communities affected by HIV. Despite claims in the literature that ethics review is overly burdensome for non-traditional forms of research, our findings suggest that many researchers using CBR have an ambivalent but ultimately productive relationship (...) with institutional research ethics review requirements. They understand and use prescribed codes, but adapt them in practice to account for the needs of participating community members, members of their research teams and the larger communities with whom they work. Complying with ethics protocols was seen as only the beginning, a minimum standard; our research suggests that the real ethical work happens in the field, where CBR practitioners encounter community members in diverse public roles and must forge ethical consensus across communities. CBR represents an ethical terrain in which practitioners challenge themselves to work differently, and as a result they care for themselves—and others—in ways that often resist the propensity for domination through public health research.‘…there are different ways to “conduct oneself” morally, different ways for the acting individual to operate, not just as an agent, but as an ethical subject of action.’ (Foucault, 1985: 26). (shrink)

The emergence of new obstetrical and neonatal technologies, as well as more aggressive clinical management, has significantly improved the survival of extremely low birth weight infants. This development has heightened concerns about the limits of viability. ELBW infants, weighing less than 1,000 grams and no larger than the palm of one's hand, are often described as of late twentieth century technology. Improved survivability of ELBW infants has provided opportunities for long-term follow-up. Information on their physical and emotional development contributes to (...) developing standards of practice regarding their care. (shrink)

This mixed methods study investigates whether technology mediated collaborative practices during a professional development (PD) session led to growth in the collective efficacy of 21 special education teachers at an independent 1-12 school in Southeastern Virginia. This school specializes in individualized instruction for students with learning differences not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Learning Disability, and their comorbidities. Teacher collective efficacy, which subsumes cohesive perceptions of classroom learning and behavior management, has been shown as strongly (...) related to student achievement and healthy school culture. Mastery experiences with specific tasks related to teaching and learning can spur collective efficacy. Cutting-edge technologies (Vibe and Newline collaborative all-in-one hardware and software interfaces) were used to engage teachers in an interdisciplinary vision boarding activity to outline academic, social, and technological goals within and across subject areas. Teachers also engaged in a behavior management reflection exercise. Pre- and post-survey analysis was conducted using a paired samples t-test, showing overall growth in collective efficacy after the brief PD session. Regression analyses revealed that technology savvy teachers grew most in collective efficacy. Network analysis of vision board output and a descriptive analysis of the behavior management surveys showed that teachers became united in interdisciplinary goals for learning, and in strategies for behavior management through conversational practices. (shrink)

Academic integrity is one of the significant issues facing assessments in higher education. While there are a plethora of papers addressing this problem in certain locales, very little research has been published regarding tertiary institutions in the Caribbean. This paper satisfies this paucity in the literature and present findings which will help benchmark it against other comparable populations. This mixed-methods case study examines first-year students’ perceptions of plagiarism definitions, its seriousness, reasons for plagiarising, and its prevalence in a General Chemistry (...) lab course at a Jamaican university. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and triangulated using a questionnaire and document analysis to understand the complexity of participants’ views. The results show that students largely define plagiarism as copying portions of text and not citing someone else’s work. While accepting that copying large and small portions of text are serious offences, students are less inclined to perceive copying a picture and self-plagiarism as problematic. Although students believe plagiarism is prevalent, they oppose harsh consequences, citing lack of understanding, course difficulty, time management issues, lack of motivation, and fear of failure as understandable reasons. Institutional recommendations to mitigate this growing concern include implementing strategies that would broaden students’ knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism, employing pedagogic strategies that aim to increase students’ self-efficacy, creating a more supportive academic environment, and reducing participation in plagiaristic behaviour. (shrink)