Access to legal information is fundamental to access to justice. Yet accessibility refers not only to making legal documents available to the public, but also rendering legal information comprehensible to them. A vexing problem in bringing legal information to the public is how to turn formal legal documents such as legislation and judgments, which are often highly technical, to easily navigable and comprehensible knowledge to those without legal education. In this study, we formulate a three-step approach for bringing legal knowledge (...) to laypersons, tackling the issues of navigability and comprehensibility. First, we translate selected sections of the law into snippets (called CLIC-pages), each being a small piece of article that focuses on explaining certain technical legal concept in layperson’s terms. Second, we construct a Legal Question Bank, which is a collection of legal questions whose answers can be found in the CLIC-pages. Third, we design an interactive CLIC Recommender. Given a user’s verbal description of a legal situation that requires a legal solution, CRec interprets the user’s input and shortlists questions from the question bank that are most likely relevant to the given legal situation and recommends their corresponding CLIC pages where relevant legal knowledge can be found. In this paper we focus on the technical aspects of creating an LQB. We show how large-scale pre-trained language models, such as GPT-3, can be used to generate legal questions. We compare machine-generated questions against human-composed questions and find that MGQs are more scalable, cost-effective, and more diversified, while HCQs are more precise. We also show a prototype of CRec and illustrate through an example how our 3-step approach effectively brings relevant legal knowledge to the public. (shrink)

The growing prevalence of health care ethics consultation (HCEC) services in the U.S. has been accompanied by an increase in calls for accountability and quality assurance, and for the debates surrounding why and how HCEC is evaluated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of HCEC as indicated by several novel outcome measurements in East Asian medical encounters.

Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation has been introduced to clinical practice for several decades. It is unclear how internet and newspapers portray the use of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation. This study were: (1) to quantify the coverage of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation use in newspapers and on the Internet; (2) to describe the characteristics of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation users presented in newspaper articles and the Internet web pages in comparison with those shown in extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation studies in Taiwan; and (3) to examine the (...) survival rates of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation users presented in newspaper articles and the Internet web pages in comparison with those in Taiwan and in the Extracorporeal Life Support Registry Report International Summary for January 2014. (shrink)

Most studies have examined the outcomes of patients supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a life-sustaining treatment. It is unclear whether significant social events are associated with the use of life-sustaining treatment. This study aimed to compare the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan with that in the world, and to examine the influence of significant social events on the trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan.

We argue that analogical reasoning, particularly Gentner's structure-mapping theory, provides an integrative theoretical framework through which we can better understand the development of symbol use. Analogical reasoning can contribute both to the understanding of others’ intentions and the establishment of correspondences between symbols and their referents, two crucial components of symbolic understanding. We review relevant research on the development of symbolic representations, intentionality, comparison, and similarity, and demonstrate how structure-mapping theory can shed light on several ostensibly disparate findings in the (...) literature. Focusing on visual symbols, we argue that analogy underlies and supports the understanding of both intention and correspondence, which may enter into a reciprocal bootstrapping process that leads children to gain the prodigious human capacity of symbol use. (shrink)

The RecA family proteins mediate homologous recombination, a ubiquitous mechanism for repairing DNA double‐strand breaks (DSBs) and stalled replication forks. Members of this family include bacterial RecA, archaeal RadA and Rad51, and eukaryotic Rad51 and Dmc1. These proteins bind to single‐stranded DNA at a DSB site to form a presynaptic nucleoprotein filament, align this presynaptic filament with homologous sequences in another double‐stranded DNA segment, promote DNA strand exchange and then dissociate. It was generally accepted that RecA family proteins function throughout (...) their catalytic cycles as right‐handed helical filaments with six protomers per helical turn. However, we recently reported that archaeal RadA proteins can also form an extended right‐handed filament with three monomers per helical turn and a left‐handed protein filament with four monomers per helical turn. Subsequent structural and functional analyses suggest that RecA family protein filaments, similar to the F1‐ATPase rotary motor, perform ATP‐dependent clockwise axial rotation during their catalytic cycles. This new hypothesis has opened a new avenue for understanding the molecular mechanism of RecA family proteins in homologous recombination. BioEssays 30:48–56, 2008. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The relationships between age and the life-supporting treatments use, and between gender and the life-supporting treatments use are still controversial. Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an example of life-supporting treatments, the objectives of this study were: to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; and to deliberate the ethical and societal implications of age and gender disparities in the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This (...) is a population-based, retrospective cohort study. Taiwan’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cases from 2000 to 2010 were collected. The annual incidence rate of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use adjusting for both age and gender distribution for each year from 2000 to 2010 was derived using the population of 2000 as the reference population. The trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use was examined using time-series linear regression analysis. We conducted joinpoint regression for estimating the trend change of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use. The trends of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use both for different gender groups, and for different age groups have been significantly increasing over time. Men were more likely to be supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation than women. Women’s perspectives toward life and death, and women’s perception of well-being may be associated with the phenomenon. In addition, the patients at the age of 65 or older were more likely to be supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation than those younger than 65. Family autonomy/family-determination, and the Confucian tradition of filial piety and respecting elders may account for this phenomenon. This study showed gender and age disparities in the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan, which may be accounted for by the cultural and societal values in Taiwan. For a healthcare professional who deals with patients’/family members’ medical decision-making to initiate life-supporting treatments, he/she should be sensitive not only to the legality, but also the societal and ethical issues involved. (shrink)

Ensuring adequate informed consent for surgery in a trauma setting is challenging. We developed and pilot tested an educational video containing information regarding the informed consent process for surgery in trauma patients and a knowledge measure instrument and evaluated whether the audiovisual presentation improved the patients’ knowledge regarding their procedure and aftercare and their satisfaction with the informed consent process. A modified Delphi technique in which a panel of experts participated in successive rounds of shared scoring of items to forecast (...) outcomes was applied to reach a consensus among the experts. The resulting consensus was used to develop the video content and questions for measuring the understanding of the informed consent for debridement surgery in limb trauma patients. The expert panel included experienced patients. The participants in this pilot study were enrolled as a convenience sample of adult trauma patients scheduled to receive surgery. The modified Delphi technique comprised three rounds over a 4-month period. The items given higher scores by the experts in several categories were chosen for the subsequent rounds until consensus was reached. The experts reached a consensus on each item after the three-round process. The final knowledge measure comprising 10 questions was developed and validated. Thirty eligible trauma patients presenting to the Emergency Department were approached and completed the questionnaires in this pilot study. The participants exhibited significantly higher mean knowledge and satisfaction scores after watching the educational video than before watching the video. Our process is promising for developing procedure-specific informed consent and audiovisual aids in medical and surgical specialties. The educational video was developed using a scientific method that integrated the opinions of different stakeholders, particularly patients. This video is a useful tool for improving the knowledge and satisfaction of trauma patients in the ED. The modified Delphi technique is an effective method for collecting experts’ opinions and reaching a consensus on the content of educational materials for informed consent. Institutions should prioritize patient-centered health care and develop a structured informed consent process to improve the quality of care. The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT01338480. The date of registration was April 18, 2011. (shrink)

Background Ensuring adequate informed consent for surgery in a trauma setting is challenging. We developed and pilot tested an educational video containing information regarding the informed consent process for surgery in trauma patients and a knowledge measure instrument and evaluated whether the audiovisual presentation improved the patients’ knowledge regarding their procedure and aftercare and their satisfaction with the informed consent process. Methods A modified Delphi technique in which a panel of experts participated in successive rounds of shared scoring of items (...) to forecast outcomes was applied to reach a consensus among the experts. The resulting consensus was used to develop the video content and questions for measuring the understanding of the informed consent for debridement surgery in limb trauma patients. The expert panel included experienced patients. The participants in this pilot study were enrolled as a convenience sample of adult trauma patients scheduled to receive surgery. Results The modified Delphi technique comprised three rounds over a 4-month period. The items given higher scores by the experts in several categories were chosen for the subsequent rounds until consensus was reached. The experts reached a consensus on each item after the three-round process. The final knowledge measure comprising 10 questions was developed and validated. Thirty eligible trauma patients presenting to the Emergency Department were approached and completed the questionnaires in this pilot study. The participants exhibited significantly higher mean knowledge and satisfaction scores after watching the educational video than before watching the video. Conclusions Our process is promising for developing procedure-specific informed consent and audiovisual aids in medical and surgical specialties. The educational video was developed using a scientific method that integrated the opinions of different stakeholders, particularly patients. This video is a useful tool for improving the knowledge and satisfaction of trauma patients in the ED. The modified Delphi technique is an effective method for collecting experts’ opinions and reaching a consensus on the content of educational materials for informed consent. Institutions should prioritize patient-centered health care and develop a structured informed consent process to improve the quality of care. Trial registration The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT01338480. The date of registration was April 18, 2011. (shrink)

This book is a collection of translations of recent work by contemporary Chinese aestheticians. Because of the relative isolation of China until recently, little is known of this rich and ongoing aesthetics tradition in China. Although some of the articles are concerned with the traditional ancient Chinese theories of art and beauty, many are inspired by Western aesthetics, including Marxism, and all are involved in cross-cultural comparisons of Chinese and Western aesthetic traditions.

We investigated whether, in the emergency department, educational video-assisted informed consent is superior to the conventional consent process, to inform trauma patients undergoing surgery about the procedure, benefits, risks, alternatives, and postoperative care. We conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial, with superiority study design. All trauma patients scheduled to receive trauma-related debridement surgery in the ED of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital were included. Patients were assigned to one of two education protocols. Participants in the intervention group watched an educational video (...) illustrating informed consent information, whereas those in the control group read an informed consent document. The primary outcome was knowledge scores and the secondary outcome was assessment of patient satisfaction. A multivariable regression model, with predefined covariates, was used to analyze differences in knowledge scores and patient satisfaction levels between the groups. A total of 142 patients were enrolled, with 70 and 72 assigned to the intervention and control groups, respectively. Mean knowledge scores were higher in the intervention ) than in the control group. By multivariate analysis, the intervention group had significantly greater differences in knowledge scores. Age, injury severity score, and baseline knowledge score significantly affected the differences in knowledge scores. Significant improvements were observed in patients’ perception of statements addressing comprehension of the information provided, helpfulness of the supplied information for decision making, and satisfaction with the informed consent process. Multivariate analysis showed significant correlations between video education and patient satisfaction. Both the educational approach and severity of injury may have an impact on patient understanding during the informed consent process in an emergency environment. Video-assisted informed consent may improve the understanding of surgery and satisfaction with the informed consent process for trauma patients in the ED. Institutions should develop structured methods and other strategies to better inform trauma patients, facilitate treatment decisions, and improve patient satisfaction. The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT01338480. The date of registration was April 18, 2011. (shrink)

This study investigated the differences between past and future temporal discounting in terms of neural activity in relation to temporal distance. Results show that brain regions are engaged differently in past and future temporal discounting. This is likely because past temporal discounting requires memory reconstruction, whereas future temporal discounting requires the processing of uncertainty about the future. In past temporal discounting, neural activity differed only when preferences were made between rewards received one hour prior and rewards received further in the (...) past. The peak amplitudes of P2 and P3 varied as the temporal distance increased from 2 weeks to 50 years. In future temporal discounting, neural activity differed only when preferences were evaluated between two delayed rewards. The delay conditions and had a significant influence on P2 and N2. Findings indicate the existence of different decision-making systems operating in past and future temporal discounting. (shrink)

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of emotional labor on job performance and satisfaction, as well as to examine the mediating effect of sleep problems and the moderating effects of personality traits. A time-lagged study was conducted on 864 health professionals. Scales for emotional labor, sleep, personality traits, and job satisfaction were used and job performance data was obtained from records maintained by human resources. Structural equation modeling was performed to investigate the relations. Sleep problems only (...) partially mediated the relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction but completely mediated the relationship between surface acting and job performance. Several personality traits were shown to moderate the relationship between surface acting and sleep problems. The effects were stronger for people with low agreeableness and high neuroticism. The relationship between high levels of deep acting and low levels of sleep problems was more pronounced in individuals with low extraversion. Supervisors should be conscious of emotional labor in the work context and provide necessary deep acting training to facilitate emotional regulation. (shrink)

This study explored the effect of learning strategies in a student organization on cake art creativity. The participants were 27 student members of a cake decorating art club from one central university in Taiwan. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was adopted, with 90 h of experimental teaching over 16 weeks. The results, which included the use of a questionnaire, classroom observation, and in-depth interviews, suggest that in terms of creativity, the group participating in flipped classroom learning significantly outperformed the group using (...) traditional learning strategies. Furthermore, flipped classroom learning promoted learner motivation and satisfaction. (shrink)

Consacré à la naissance du féminisme chinois, ce livre rend compte des recherches effectuées aux États-Unis dans le cadre du programme « Repenser la Chine et le monde à la fin de la dynastie Qing (fin du xixe et début du xxe siècle) ». Parties à la recherche des voix féministes chinoises de l’époque dans leur diversité, les directrices du volume offrent aux lecteurs, outre une longue introduction, un ensemble de sources primaires traduites en anglais : six articles que la (...) féministe He-Yin Zhe... (shrink)

El presente trabajo gira en torno a dos lecturas realistas del "segundo Wittgenstein", una de carácter no metafísico surgida en The Realistic Spirit de Cora Diamond y otra lectura "realista metafísica", presentada a partir de la interpretación de H. Mounce en "Wittgenstein and Classical Realism". A partir de la confrontación de ambas posiciones, el hilo de lectura crítica que conducirá nuestro trabajo será que no podemos sostener ninguna posición realista "metafísica" en relación con las tesis del segundo Wittgenstein. El trasfondo (...) práctico sobre el que se apoyan las descripciones de este autor muestra ese fundamento no metafísico sino contingente sobre el que basamos nuestros hechos, conceptos y objetividad. Esto nos acerca a una noción de realismo en el que conceptos y realidad ya cuentan con significado de antemano en tanto la praxisen la que se enraízan garantiza nuestro trato con lo que nos rodea. El fundamento no es la razón, la conciencia, la correspondencia o adecuación a una realidad "desnuda"; es la praxis, el lugar común y el equilibrio entre los seres humanos y mundo. (shrink)

Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: An Annotated Translation of Tsung-mi's Yuan-jen lun with a Modern Commentary. Peter N. Gregory. A Kuroda Institute Book. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 1995, xv, 264 pp. Cloth $46.00, pbk $17.95.

La presente investigación tiene como meta el tratamiento del espacio y del tiempo como objetos de la imaginación en el pensamiento de Leonardo Polo. El tratamiento del espacio imaginado es oportuno en un estudio sobre su filosofía jurídica toda vez que Polo sostiene que es el “lugar” en donde se elabora lo técnico. Así pues, ahí tendría su origen todo ars humano, dentro de los cuales ocuparía un lugar destacado el ars iuris. Los juristas romanos entendían el ius como el (...) “ars boni et aequi”, lo cual indicaría que la jurisprudencia desde antiguo era considerada un arte o técnica. (shrink)

Leonardo Polo sostiene que “en cuanto dianoética la prudencia tiene tres dimensiones: la memoria, la solertia y el consejo. Si falta alguna de estas propiedades la prudencia es imperfecta”. “Esto deja claro el papel de la memoria en la ética y la necesidad de profundizar en sus objetos, pues la memoria es muy importante en el hombre, porque el hombre depende de su pasado y su modo de captar la realidad presente es imposible si no se tiene en cuenta el (...) pasado”. Para acometer esta empresa el presente estudio analiza la teoría de la memoria en el pensamiento de Polo, particularmente sus objetos. Se busca con esto completar otros estudios sobre el conocimiento sensible encaminados a elaborar una reflexión filosófica sobre lo jurídico, lo cual es indudablemente un quehacer ético. (shrink)

El paradigma hermenéutico ha abierto un horizonte amplio a la hora de interpretar y comprender textos, pero ha cerrado las posibilidades existenciales que ya en Ser y tiempo abriera Heidegger. Lo que se intenta aquí es señalar esos presupuestos ontológico-existenciales que indicara acertadamente el filósofo alemán en su momento. El avance que se presenta hace parte del proyecto de investigación “Ontología en América Latina” que lidera el Grupo de Investigación Tlamatinime. La primera parte tiene como objetivo fijar cuatro lineamientos que (...) estructuran la propuesta de una hermenéutica existencial: 1. La disposición afectiva como afectación y responsabilidad. 2. El comprender afectivo. 3. El comprender como interpretación. 4. El sentido. La segunda parte, consiste en presentar lo que se vislumbra por hermenéutica existencial y cuál sería su propósito. (shrink)

Le sage antique, par E. Bréhier.--L'idéal chrétien, par H. Delacroix.--L'honnête homme, par D. Parodi.--Le citoyen moderne, par C. Bouglé.

This is a fine exposition of the view of Mädhyamika Buddhism established by Indian pandit Nägärjuna and its subsequent transmission to China. The teaching of Emptiness, the central doctrine of the Mädhyamika, was first brought to China in detail by Kumärajiva. A number of documents written within fifteen years of Kumaräjiva's arrival in China are analyzed to determine the aspects that were and were not understood by those students. Writings of Hui-Yuan, Seng-jui, and Seng-chao serve as the basis of (...) the investigation; they are first treated individually in order to investigate their views and terminology and then are compared in a short summary chapter. The end of the book consists of fifty-eight pages of their writings, either question and answer tracts on Emptiness, introductions to Indian translations, or short treatises on Emptiness or the lack of own-being. The book is a must for those who wish to understand either the Mädhyamika or the transmission of it to China. Though it is well written and the chapters on China read easily, the subject matter of the chapter on the philosophy of Nägärjuna makes the going rougher.--P. J. H. (shrink)

Cải tiến phương pháp lượng giá tài nguyên và di sản sử dụng nguyên lý bán dẫn giá trị và hệ xử lý thông tin SM3D. Lý thuyết sử dụng trong bài: • Total economic value (Adger et al., 1995) • Mindsponge theory (Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2023) và khung ra quyết định mindspongeconomics (Khuc, 2022) • Tháp văn hóa (Khuc, 2023) • Lý thuyết nguyên lý bán dẫn giá trị (Q.-H. Vuong, 2021) • Hệ xử lý thông tin (lý thuyết quản (...) trị tri thức) SM3D (Nguyen, 2023; Q. H. Vuong et al., 2022) . (shrink)

The immemorial and recollection -- The reserve of forgetting -- The unforgettable -- The sudden and the unhoped for -- Retrospection.

We provide new findings that add to the growing body of empirical evidence that important epistemic intuitions converge across cultures. Specifically, we selected three recent studies conducted in the US that reported surprising effects of knowledge attribution among English speakers. We translated the vignettes used in those studies into Mandarin Chinese and Korean and then ran the studies with participants in Mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea. We found that, strikingly, all three of the effects first obtained in the US (...) also emerged in the East Asian cultures we studied. Our findings not only cohere with but also provide—at least moderate—support for the existence of extensive convergences of important epistemic intuitions across cultures. (shrink)

A leading philosopher and theologian, Jean-Louis Chrétien uses poetry and painting to explore a theme that runs through all of his work: how human life is shaped by the experience of call and response. For Chrétien, we live by responding to the call of experience with words, gestures, expressions, and silence. In luminous meditations on Rembrandt, Delacroix, Manet, Verlaine, Keats, and other artists, Chrétien shows how “talking hands of painters” and the “secretly lucid” voices of poets confront the finitude of (...) the human body. Hand to Hand is a deeply cultured renewal of art in all its provocative, transforming, spiritual presence. (shrink)

We explore the possibility of using quantum mechanical principles for hypercomputation through the consideration of a quantum algorithm for computing the Turing halting problem. The mathematical noncomputability is compensated by the measurability of the values of quantum observables and of the probability distributions for these values. Some previous no-go claims against quantum hypercomputation are then reviewed in the light of this new positive proposal.