Using 16 in-depth interviews drawn from a larger sample of Black/white biracial individuals, this article explores how gender shapes the microlevel process of racial identity construction. Skin color stratification within the Black community, combined with a low rate of marriageable men and high rates of interracial marriages among the most educated and affluent Black men, has created a social context that differentiates the interactional experiences of biracial men and women. The findings highlight the need for more complex theoretical conceptualizations of (...) how gender shapes the way that women negotiate their racial identities in post-Civil Rights America. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne The National Health and Medical Research Council released a new set of dietary guidelines on 18 February 2013, to help ensure that Australians continue to make healthy food choices based on the best available scientific evidence. Unlike the 2003 guidelines which were based on nutrients, these guidelines are based on food and food groups. The guidelines encourage the consumption of a varied diet and physical exercise. They also encourage the limiting of energy-dense nutrient-poor food. By making (...) these food choices, we can help to reduce our risk of diet-related disease. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne On 29 November 2012, one of the Standing Committees of the Commonwealth House of Representatives released a report on the prevention, diagnosis and management of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Australia. This article explores the findings and recommendations of this report. The Commonwealth parliamentary committee noted that FASD is a serious health issue in Australia. It therefore called for a National Plan of Action, education for health professionals, and public awareness campaigns to encourage women not to (...) drink when pregnant or when planning a pregnancy. Other recommendations included better management of FASD within education, disability services, and the criminal justice system. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne The selection of the sex of an unborn child brings to mind many thoughts: playing God, gender discrimination, imbalance in the male:female gender ratio, and a slippery slope that could lead to designer babies. Sex selection also raises the question of reproduction autonomy. These and other issues are explored in this article.

Brussen, Kerri Anne This article briefly examines the history and genetics of Down syndrome. Contemporary prenatal testing practices are described as is the effect of testing on the birth prevalence of children with Down syndrome. The analysis of a series of articles on families with a child with Down syndrome provides a touching insight into these families. It demonstrates that each person - including those with Down syndrome - make a unique and valuable contribution to their family and the (...) world. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne In February 2009, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) issued revised guidelines to help reduce the health risks from alcohol consumption. This report summarises these guidelines. Above all, it discusses the change of thought in these guidelines based on a greater understanding of the need to reduce both the immediate as well as the lifetime risks of alcohol consumption.

Brussen, Kerri Anne This article begins with a fictionalised account of a teenage party to celebrate a sporting club's end of season achievements. It then looks at some of the potential outcomes of the behaviours displayed and the longer term consequences.

Brussen, Kerri Anne Sex Cells, written by Rene Almeling, describes the commercial market that has emerged in the United States for human eggs and sperm. Almeling examines how agendas that are economically, biologically and culturally driven have lead to distinctly different practices within egg agencies and sperm banks. Further, she observes how these practices subsequently shape an individual's perception of the commodification of human gametes.

Brussen, Kerri Anne Ethically compromised vaccines are vaccines where the virus used in the manufacture of the vaccine has been cultured in a cell line developed from tissue grown from an aborted foetus. In Australia, an ethically compromised vaccine is the only vaccine available for Chicken pox (varicella), shingles (zoster), Hepatitis A, and Rubella (which is part of the MMR - measles, mumps, rubella - vaccine). The poliovirus vaccine component of Quadracel, available in Western Australia, is ethically compromised. However, (...) the poliovirus component of Infanrix-IPV is not ethically compromised and is used in all other Australian States and Territories. The rabies vaccine, Rabipur, is not ethically compromised and is the preferred option to Merieux Inactivated Rabies Vaccine (MIRV) which is an ethically compromised vaccine. This article lists the ethically compromised vaccines available in the various Australian States and Territories, and explains why they are ethically compromised. It also explains when and why vaccination should still be accepted even when the only available vaccine is ethically compromised. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne Children born through gamete donation can be genetically linked to one or neither parent. This article examines the practice of gamete donation, seeking to establish if there is cause for concern.

Brussen, Kerri Anne A patent provides the exclusive legal right to a person or company to regulate the distribution, manufacture or use of their invention. This paper examines some of the issues surrounding Gene Patents. Although there is a drive to abolish Gene Patents, we argue that refined and clearly defined regulation would continue to support medical research, avoid exploitation, and be of benefit to public health.

Brussen, Kerri Anne This paper is a brief history of suicide, euthanasia, and physician assisted suicide in the United States of America which aims to provide an understanding of the continued and persistent effort in the USA to legalise physician assisted suicide. Oregon and Washington State Dying with Dignity Laws are reviewed as examples of legalised physician assisted suicide.

Brussen, Kerri Anne Adolescence and young adulthood are a time of change. It is also a time where there is an increased chance of being diagnosed with a mental illness. Professor Patrick McGorry has driven the agenda to transform the approach to youth mental health. This article is a review of the recommendations of McGorry and others within the mental health field on how best to care for our youth with a mental illness. We also briefly look at some (...) of the services offered by a Catholic agency. (shrink)

Brussen, Kerri Anne In 2002, euthanasia became legal in the Netherlands. Since then, the Groningen Protocol has been endorsed, allowing infanticide for disabled babies. More recently, a citizen's initiative is being prepared to propose to the Dutch government that people should be allowed to legally terminate their life if they consider it completed. The slippery slope in the Netherlands appears to be well lubricated.

Occupying a space in-between conventional scholarship and imaginative storytelling, The University in Crumbs: A Register of Things Seen and Heard is an experimental work that dramatizes the everyday life of the academy.

It is often overlooked that, in addition to the integrity of protein‐coding sequences (PCSs), human health is crucially linked to the normal expression of genes by cis‐regulatory sequences (CRSs). These CRSs often lie at some considerable distance from the PCSs whose expression they control and often within other genes. The resulting gene interdigitation can make long‐range CRS identification and characterisation difficult. We propose that the need to conserve long‐range CRSs in cis with their target PCSs through evolution, in combination with (...) gene interdigitation and co‐regulation of many genes by individual CRSs, has contributed to the persistence of conserved synteny blocks between diverse species. We further hypothesise that examination of the varying extents of synteny blocks between multiple species in combination with phylogenetic footprinting to find CRSs might provide important clues to the existence of crucial functional CRS–PCS linkages. Identifying CRS–PCS linkages crucial to human health will lead to a better understanding of how their disruption by CRS mutation or chromosome translocation might contribute to many distressing human diseases. BioEssays 26:1217–1224, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Moral imagination is a central component of moral agency and person‐centred care. Becoming moral agents who can sustain attention on patients and their families through their illness and suffering involves imagining the other, what moral possibilities are available, what choices to make, and how one wants to be. This relationship between moral agency, moral imagination, and personhood can be effaced by a focus on task‐driven technical rationality within the multifaceted challenges of contemporary healthcare. Similarly, facilitating students' moral agency can also (...) be obscured by the task‐driven technical rationality of teaching. The development of moral agency requires deliberate attention across the trajectory of nursing education. To prepare nursing students for one practice challenge, workplace violence, we developed a multimodal education intervention which included a simulated learning experience (SLE). To enhance the realism and consistency of the educational experience, 11 nursing students were trained as simulated participants (SP). As part of a larger study to examine knowledge acquisition and practice confidence of learners who completed the SLE, we explored the experience of being the SP through interviews and a focus group with the SP students. The SP described how their multiple performances contributed to imagining the situation ‘on both sides’ prompting empathy, a reconsideration of their moral agency, and the potential to prevent violence in the workplace beyond technical rational techniques, such as verbal de‐escalation scripts. The empirical findings from the SP prompted a philosophical exploration into moral imagination. We summarise the multimodal educational intervention and relevant findings, and then, using Johnson's conception of moral imagination and relevant nursing literature, we discuss the significance of the SP embodied experiences and their professional formation. We suggest that SLEs offer a unique avenue to create pedagogical spaces which promote moral imagination, thereby teaching for moral agency and person‐centred care. (shrink)

There couldn't be a more appropriate method for illustrating the dynamics of psychoanalysis than the vehicle of story. In this book, Kerry L. Malawista, Anne J. Adelman, and Catherine L. Anderson share amusing, poignant, and sometimes difficult stories from their personal and professional lives, inviting readers to explore the complex underpinnings of the psychoanalytic profession and its esoteric theories. Through their narratives, these practicing analysts show how to incorporate psychodynamic concepts and identify common truths at the root of (...) shared experience. Their approach demystifies dense material and the emotional consequences of deep clinical work. The book covers psychodynamic theory, the development of ideas, various techniques, the challenges of treatment, and the experiences of trauma and loss. Each section begins with a brief memoir by one of the authors and leads into a discussion of related concepts. Overall the text follows a developmental trajectory, opening with stories from early childhood and concluding with present encounters. The result is a unique approach enabling the absorption of psychodynamic concepts as they unfold across the life span. (shrink)

This article addresses the sacredness of Ayahuasca from the perspective of the global shamanic vocation. If encounters with Ayahuasca are said to revitalize forms of sacredness in contemporary societies, this is perhaps clearest in cases where individuals understand themselves to be called to lead ceremonies. Recognizing the global scale of Ayahuasca shamanism, we compare facilitators of ceremonies in two societies to discern differences and similarities in how Ayahuasca vocations exist in differently modernized societies: Peru, a predominantly Catholic society with a (...) substantial Indigenous Amazonian population and an active Ayahuasca shamanism tourism sector, and Denmark, a secular society in Northern Europe, where Ayahuasca is illegal. Building on recent reappraisals of Weber’s reflection on vocation and Durkheim’s theory of the sacred, we argue that being called by Ayahuasca to follow shamanic vocations in contemporary societies leads to tensions around the need to both justify and resist the rationalization of Ayahuasca. (shrink)

This book brings together a unique combination of experts in the area of conflict resolution and focuses on the role forgiveness can play in the process. It deals with the theology, public policy, psychological and social theory, and social policy implementation of forgiveness. The first section of the book explores how ideas like "forgiveness" and "reconciliation" are moving out from the seminary and academy into the world of public policy, and how these terms have been used and defined in the (...) past. One of the contributors, Miroslav Volf, speaks to the Christian contribution of a more peaceful environment. The second section looks at forgiveness and public policy. One of the chapters, by Donald W. Shriver Jr., addresses forgiveness in a secular political forum. The third section of the book draws us to a more particular analysis of the relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation from voices in the academic and theological community. John Paul Lederach presents five qualities of practice in support of the reconciliation process. John Dawson gives hope for peace-making in a new century. The final section highlights the work of practitioners currently working with religion, public policy, and conflict transformation, particularly in areas such as Ireland and Africa. This book will be an essential for libraries, scholars, conflict negotiators, and all people who hope to understand the role of forgiveness in the peace process. Contributors include: Desmond M. Tutu, Rodney L. Petersen, Miroslav Volf, Stanley S. Harakas, Raymond G. Helmick, SJ, Joseph V. Montville, Douglas M. Johnston, Donna Hicks, Donald W. Shriver, Jr., Everett L. Worthington, Jr., John Paul Lederach, Ervin Staub, Laurie Anne Pearlman, John Dawson, Audrey R. Chapman, Olga Botcharova, Anthony da Silva, SJ, Geraldine Smythe, OP, Andrea Bartoli, Ofelia Ortega, and George F. R. Ellis. (shrink)

Frames, i.e., recursive attribute-value structures, are a general format for the decomposition of lexical concepts. Attributes assign unique values to objects and thus describe functional relations. Concepts can be classified into four groups: sortal, individual, relational and functional concepts. The classification is reflected by different grammatical roles of the corresponding nouns. The paper aims at a cognitively adequate decomposition, particularly, of sortal concepts by means of frames. Using typed feature structures, an explicit formalism for the characterization of cognitive frames is (...) developed. The frame model can be extended to account for typicality effects. Applying the paradigm of object-related neural synchronization, furthermore, a biologically motivated model for the cortical implementation of frames is developed. Cortically distributed synchronization patterns may be regarded as the fingerprints of concepts. (shrink)

Certainly I am in no way opposed to philosophy, or metaphysics in the sense that Wm. James defined it as a particularly intense effort to think clearly. Indeed, Klein would like to say that what I am talking about is nothing but metaphysics. But the kind of philosophy/metaphysics that is needed here is of a particular kind: a kind that does not separate philosophy/metaphysics and physics into two disjoint realms. It is of the kind that seeks to construct useful testable (...) physical theories that are adequately connected to what we can know. (shrink)

Inquiry is an aim-directed activity, and as such governed by instrumental normativity. If you have reason to figure out a question, you have reason to take means to figuring it out. Beliefs are governed by epistemic normativity. On a certain pervasive understanding, this means that you are permitted – maybe required – to believe what you have sufficient evidence for. The norms of inquiry and epistemic norms both govern us as agents in pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and, on the (...) surface, they do so in harmony. Recently, however, Jane Friedman (2020) has pointed out that they are in tension with each other. In this paper, I aim to resolve this tension by showing that reasons for acts of inquiry – zetetic reasons – and epistemic reasons for belief can both be understood as flowing from the same general normative principle: the transmission principle for instrumental reasons. The resulting account is a version of epistemic instrumentalism that offers an attractive unity between zetetic and epistemic normativity. (shrink)

Body checking, characterized by the repeated visual or physical inspection of particular parts of one’s own body (e.g. thighs, waist, or upper arms) is one of the most prominent behaviors associated with eating disorders, particularly Anorexia Nervosa (AN). In this paper, we explore the explanatory potential of the Recalcitrant Fear Model of AN (RFM) in relation to body checking. We argue that RFM, when combined with certain plausible auxiliary hypotheses about the cognitive and epistemic roles of emotions, is able to (...) explain key characteristics of body checking, including how body checking behavior becomes habitual and compulsive. (shrink)

Anthropology of Consciousness, EarlyView.

In a recent paper in this journal, Carter and Peterson raise two distinctly epistemological puzzles that arise for anyone aspiring to defend the precautionary principle. The first puzzle trades on an application of epistemic contextualism to the precautionary principle; the second puzzle concerns the compatibility of the precautionary principle with the de minimis rule. In this note, I argue that neither puzzle should worry defenders of the precautionary principle. The first puzzle can be shown to be an instance of the (...) familiar but conceptually harmless challenge of adjudicating between relevant interests to reach assessments of threats when applying the precautionary principle. The second puzzle can be shown to rely on a subtle but crucial misrepresentation of the relevant probabilities at play when applying the precautionary principle. (shrink)

Dans la genese de sa constitution, la philosophie n'a pu faire l'economie d'une confrontation avec la musique qui fournissait aux anciens Grecs les schemes fondamentaux de la culture. De cette confrontation Platon est le temoin. Scindant la musique, il privilegie l'Harmonique, qui en est la partie theorique, sans toutefois lui reconnaitre la titre de science supreme. Correlativement, il condamne comme dysharmonie, tumulte fracassant et perturbateur de l'ordre cosmique, l'harmonie chromaticiste dont il s'emploie, non sans paradoxe, a decrire le detail. Par (...) cette lecture en filigrane des Dialogues de Platon, l'auteur se propose de reconstruire la pensee qui procede de l'harmonie chromaticiste et de montrer son importance dans l'elaboration de la philosophie fondatrice. Au carrefour des disciplines du savoir antique, ce livre s'adresse non seulement aux philosophes, mais aussi a tous ceux qui, musiciens ou stylisticiens, s'interessent a la forme musicale. (shrink)

Much of the neuroimaging research has focused on how mathematical operations are performed. Although this body of research has provided insight for the refinement of pedagogy, there are very few neuroimaging studies on how mathematical operations should be taught. In this article, we describe the teaching of algebra in Singapore schools and the imperatives that led us to develop two neuroimaging studies that examined questions of curricular concerns. One of the challenges was to condense issues from classrooms into tasks suitable (...) for neuroimaging studies. Another challenge, not particular to the neuroimaging method, was to draw suitable inferences from the findings and translate them into pedagogical practices. We describe our efforts and outline some continuing challenges. (shrink)