Human-Computer Interaction and games set a new domain in understanding people’s motivations in gaming, behavioral implications of game play, game adaptation to player preferences and needs for increased engaging experiences in the context of HCI serious games. When the latter relate with people’s health status, they can become a part of their daily life as assistive health status monitoring/enhancement systems. Co-designing HCI-SGs can be seen as a combination of art and science that involves a meticulous collaborative process. The design elements (...) in assistive HCI-SGs for Parkinson’s Disease patients, in particular, are explored in the present work. Within this context, the Game-Based Learning design framework is adopted here and its main game-design parameters are explored for the Exergames, Dietarygames, Emotional games, Handwriting games, and Voice games design, drawn from the PD-related i-PROGNOSIS Personalized Game Suite holistic approach. Two main data sources were involved in the study. In particular, the first one includes qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, involving 10 PD patients and four clinicians in the co-creation process of the game design, whereas the second one relates with data from an online questionnaire addressed by 104 participants spanning the whole related spectrum, i.e., PD patients, physicians, software/game developers. Linear regression analysis was employed to identify an adapted GBL framework with the most significant game-design parameters, which efficiently predict the transferability of the PGS beneficial effect to real-life, addressing functional PD symptoms. The findings of this work can assist HCI-SG designers for designing PD-related HCI-SGs, as the most significant game-design factors were identified, in terms of adding value to the role of HCI-SGs in increasing PD patients’ quality of life, optimizing the interaction with personalized HCI-SGs and, hence, fostering a collaborative human-computer symbiosis. (shrink)

This volume, a companion to the author's earlier book Current English, comprehensively covers points of structure, style, and usage in the English language. An invaluable guide, it explains issues of grammar that baffle the non-native speaker and pose problems even for native speakers, in a witty and accessible manner.

We argue that developing a human ethics application is an effective method for refining the intent and design of research studies. Our study aimed to investigate the delivery of end-of-life and palliative care nursing to residents of an aged care unit in a Multi-purpose Service/centre in rural Victoria. We used the ethics application process as a strategy to focus the study, and to refine the data collection and analysis techniques. It is our contention that the process of completing the application (...) and gaining ethics approval is laborious; however, the intellectualising that occurs provides researchers with an opportunity to reflect upon and refine their studies, thus ensuring the ultimate success and timely completion of research investigations. (shrink)

Theobjectification processes of religionsusuallybe-ginwiththe transfer of personalexperience of thefounderorprophet. Thus, personalreligiousexperiencebecomes an objectiveworld, thanksto a community of believers. However, not allreligiousexperiences of theprophet can be objectified. Thecase in which Abraham attemptedtosacrifice his son is one of them. Inotherwords, this event is an individualandsubjectivereligiousexperiencepeculiarto Abraham. Therefore, actually it cannot be expectedto be socialized. But when it comestoreligiouspersonalities, society can find a waytosociali-zeexceptionalexperiences. In the case of sacrifice, the community uses one of these ways. Theclaim of thisstudy is this: Abraham'sexperience is not (...) only a subjectivecasespecifictohim, but also an incidentthat has nopositivecounter-part in socialmemory in terms of itsappearance. However, he is seenbybelie-vers as a hero of faithand an indisputableexample, especiallythankstothi-sexperience. So, how has his extraordinaryexperience, seeminglypus-hingtheboundaries of reasonableness, turnedinto a greatreference of he-roismforsociety? Here society'sabilitytorecreatecomesintoplay, and it workslikethis: What is depicted in words is actuallythescene of a child'ssacrifice. However, socialmemoryrecodesthisscene, andthis time, eventhoughtherearethesamevisuals, appear on thestagethefatherand son, whohaveturnedtowardsGodwith a purefaith, not a dramaticvictimscene. Afterall, societydoes not turninto a gigantic Abraham tounderstandhim, but can managetomake a wonderfulreplica of his greatnessand put it in front of everyone. The aim of the study is to determine the socialization process of the case of sacrifice with an analytical approach. (shrink)

In his paper “Scientific research is a moral duty”, John Harris argues that individuals have a moral duty to participate in biomedical research by volunteering as research subjects. He supports his claim with reference to what he calls the principle of beneficence as embodied in the “rule of rescue” , and the principle of fairness embodied in the prohibition on “free riding” . His view that biomedical research is an important social good is agreed upon, but it is argued that (...) Harris succeeds only in showing that such participation and support is a moral good, among many other moral goods, while failing to show that there is a moral duty to participate in biomedical research in particular. The flaws in Harris’s arguments are detailed here, and it is shown that the principles of beneficence and fairness yield only a weaker discretionary or imperfect obligation to help others in need and to reciprocate for sacrifices that others have made for the public good. This obligation is discretionary in the sense that the individuals are free to choose when, where, and how to help others in need and reciprocate for earlier sacrifices. That Harris has not succeeded in claiming a special status for biomedical research among all other social goods is shown here. (shrink)

As lifestyle diseases put a heavy burden on health care expenditures, voices are raised and win in sound to hold people responsible for their unhealthy lifestyle. Most of the arguments in favour of responsibility are backward-looking. In this article, we describe the distributional consequences of these backward-looking measures and show that they are very harsh on those who regret a past unhealthy lifestyle. We demonstrate that it is possible to take policy measures which respect individual responsibility but which are at (...) the same time able to grant fresh starts to individuals who regret their past unhealthy lifestyle (which is an application of Fleurbaey (2005)). This ‘forgiving’ policy is confronted with a moral hazard problem, however. In general the regulator does not observe whether individuals really regret their past choices or they just pretend to have changed preferences in order to enjoy the compensatory measures for regretful people. In this article, we argue that the health setting offers interesting opportunities to move beyond this moral hazard problem and offer a solution through the use of redistributive instruments that are conditional on lifestyle changes. (shrink)

CITATION: Ewuoso, C., Hall, S. & Dierickx, K. 2017. How do healthcare professionals manage ethical challenges regarding information in healthcare professional/patient clinical interactions? a review of concept- or argument-based articles and case analyses. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 10:75-82, doi:10.7196/SAJBL.2017.v10i2.610.

In this study, the preface and introduction of Ibn Juzay’s book at-Tasheel li ‘ulȗmi’t-tanzeel, have been examined in terms of his approach to style and methodology problems in commentary.Ibn Juzay, whose first works included useful topics and ashes; wrote two loyalties, a lexicon, later in which the meanings of the words frequently mentioned in the Qur'an were compiled; thus, he gave information about his style and methodology; In introduction of his book, he explained the underlying reasons to write his book (...) at-Tasheel. That his intention to do so, first of all is to reveal the importance of style and methodology in commentary and then to guide the reader on how to be read this concise work. In this context, he suggested some of the works of the classical commentary corpus, sometimes by giving a name, but in a more uncharacterized and criticism of how to overcome these suggestions about the problematic, so that he wanted to give a healthy perspective for those interested in academic commentary and plain readers. The importance of the article is also due here. In the article, a descriptive language is used in a style that is turned from the scientific personality to the conclusions of commentary; then a general evaluation has been made with an analysis-critic-axis approach. As a result, it has been determined that some commentators, especially the general principles regulating the science of commentary relations with other sciences, have some style and procedural errors. (shrink)

Court (Shar’iyya) recordings are at the forefront of primary written sources, which contain important documents related to Turkish history, sociology and culture. The court records shed light on city history of the period concerned with rich information and documents. These records are important books in which the documents related to the judicial, administrative, economic, architectural and social structure of a city as well as diplomatic correspondence between the center and the province were recorded. The purpose of this study is to (...) prepare a detailed catalog in addition to the catalog which was made in 1963 and contained only 119 books specifying only the dates covered by the book number. As we have seen in this study, all of the 119 notebooks in the records do not consist of the court registers in the known form. They are the books that include the records of court proceedings, which are different from those of the court, especially after the Tanzimat e.g. Qassam, Enkiha, Zabt al-Da’wa, Permission and so on. The microfilms of the books were presented to the service of researchers in Sivas Ziya Bey Library of Ancient Works. The originals of the books are in the Prime Ministry State Archives.SummaryShar’iyyaregisters are one of the primary written sources about Turkish history, sociology, and culture relevant to our life. Registry records shed light on the history of city in the relevant period by containing rich information and documents. They are important notebooks, which are related to the judicial, administrative, economic, architectural and social structure of a city, and also in the form of diplomatic correspondence between the central and provincial posts.After the Anatolian Selçuk (Saljūq) State, which collapsed under the pressure and domination of the Iranian Mongols in the last half of the XIIIth century, a state was established in the Selçuk-Byzantine border in the north-west of Anatolia in XIVth century, which did not even lasted a hundred years and had a reign in three continents. In the Bursa inscription, which dated to 1337/8, the second Ottoman Sultan (Sulṭān) Orhan was titled as the mujahedeen (warrior), the sultan of the veterans, son of veteran of veteran. The fact that Orhan carring these titles shows that since the earliest times, the Ottoman sultans considered themselves as the leader of the religious war against the infidels. Since the first years of the establishment of the Ottoman State, the Sharīʿa ruled on the establishment of administration and for this reason, they established institution of the Shaykh al-Islām(the chief juristconsult). Firstly, by appointing a subaşı(subashi, an Ottoman gubernatorial title) to the conquered places, then it gradually began to establish judicial courts from the smallest areas.In the XVth century, the number of qāḍī increased in parallel with the increase in their jurisdiction as a result of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, and the proliferation of the administrative units called sancak, (sanjaq, division of a province) and so the failure of oneqāḍīto satisfy court affairs of an entire sanjaq. New districts arose from some of the former large districts. As a result of this in the XVIth century, the administrative system of the sanjaq's Tımar system and at the same time a geographical integrity of the districts/provinces to see the legal work of a qāḍī to pass by the districts and sub-district as a legal caused to occur two legal definitions that is legal and military administrative. Records of qāḍīs, which is called as sicilemerged because it was their duty to record their works and orders issued to them and the answers and the provisions given to them.The courts of Shar’iyyaserved as primary general courts (maḥākim-i ʿumūmiye) until the declaration of the Tanẓīmāt in the Ottoman Empire and heard the suit at legal, criminal, administrative, military, financial and all kinds of cases. Tanẓīmāt period, or rather Maḥmūd II and the period following him, the judicial organs in terms of reorganization was a circuit that was on the scene.In this way, which was occurred in the judicial system, records which were kept in the Meşihat (Mashīkhat) began to diversify depending on this change. Since in the registry books, which we call classical, all correspondence between the central and provincial offices were recorded. Records such as pleas, letters of patent, verdicts, order of the high, bonds etc. could be found in these documents.These records, which are one of the most important sources of an Ottoman city history, were kept in the museums and libraries of the cities until recently. A few years ago, these records, with a correct decision, were collected in the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives and it was preserved and presented to the use of researchers by transferring them into digital. The Sivas Court building as it is known in history is now in the Pāshābeg quarter and known as the Court Bazaar in these days. There is no clear information about when the court was built in Sivas. In time, changes have occurred in cities and we are losing the historical side of them. In addition, the fact that people acted in an unconscious manner that would harm the historical texture was the biggest factor in disappearance of material remains. With the remaining physical materials available, we can only access crumb information and we can only make predictions. In this evaluation, the biggest materials are the documents and notebooks, which are the memory of city dates. However, it is understood from the records that there is a foundation belonging to this court and some of the court's repair and maintenance works were carried out by this foundation. As it is understood from a document dated 14 August 1798, one of the repairs was sponsored by Ḥüseyin Efendī. In an inscription dated 1906, which was found during the renovation of the basement of an apartment building owned by the General Directorate of Foundations in May 2018, the location of the building was previously known as the Sivas Muftī 's Office.In this study, a total of 240 registry books belonging to Sivas were prepared as in a catalog system. In this study, we have seen that a great deal of records have been lost, burnt or destroyed in a certain way through history. The burn marks in the records of 79 is a striking example in this regard. The book number 139, which is not shown in Osman Ersoy's work, is a record book in classical form. An important case in this study is that the register number 206, which is registered to Sivas, belongs to the province of Burdur and it is also a registry book in classical form. This book covers the dates of 18 M. 1248/23 N.1250 - 1832-1835. (shrink)

The increasing demand for horticultural products for nutritional and economic purposes by lesser developed countries (LDC's) is well-documented. Technological demands of the LDC's producing horticultural products is also increasing. Pesticide use is an integral component of most agricultural production, yet chemicals are often supplied without supplemental information vital for their safe and efficient implementation. Illiteracy rates in developing countries are high, making pesticide education even more challenging. For women, who perform a significant share of agricultural tasks, illiteracy rates are even (...) higher than for men. The dilemma exists of how a developing country can improve its nutritional and economic situation without giving consideration to social and environmental consequences. (shrink)

Suppose COVID-19 is the runaway tram in the famous moral thought experiment, known as the “Bystander at the Switch.” Consider the two differentiated responses of governments around the world to this new threat, namely the option of quarantine/lockdown and herd immunity. Can we contrast the hypothetical with the real scenario? What do the institutional decisions and strategies for dealing with the virus, in the beginning of 2020, signify in a normative moral framework? This paper investigates these possibilities in order to (...) highlight the similarities and, more importantly, the differences that exist between utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Analysis shows that the hypothetical scenario can never be fully compared to the complex multifactorial nature of the real world. But if a comparison is attempted, the most obvious difference between the two governmental strategies is the concept of duty within the Kantian perspective. Ultimately, it is a matter of comparing freedom and life. Attributing a moral “priority ticket” to one or the other can be analysed through interpersonal aggregation. (shrink)

In this essay we argue that the current social and ethical structure in the Open Source Software Community stem from its roots in academia. The individual developers experience a level of autonomy similar to that of a faculty member. Furthermore, we assert that the Open Source Software Community’s social structure demands benevolent leadership. We argue that it is difficult to pass off low quality open source software as high quality software and that the Open Source development model offers strong accountability. (...) Finally, we argue that Open Source Software introduces ethical challenges for universities and the software development community. (shrink)

Uses connectionism (neural networks) to extract the "gist" of a story in order to represent a context going forward for the disambiguation of incoming words as a text is processed.

What can well-meaning people do about terror and genocide? The more we fight against systems of violence, the further we seem to sink into them. This book explores the lives and letters of ordinary and intellectual Germans who faced the ethical challenges of the Third Reich. Trained in history, literary criticism, philosophy, and theology, its four authors look at the role of myths, lies, non-conformity, irony, and modeling in cultivating a self. They explain how we might use these ordinary strategies (...) of selfhood to bear the burden of historical responsibility and be happy doing so.". (shrink)

In the present commentary we expand on two concepts relevant to understanding affliliative bonding. Differences and similarities between the functions and actions of oxytocin and vasopressin are difficult to study but may be critical to an understanding of mechanisms for social bonding. What is termed here a “trait of affiliation” may reflect in part the capacity of these same peptides to program the developing nervous system.