This study suggests a conceptual proposal to analyse the ethics of resistance in organisations, drawing on Foucault’s practising self as a refusal and Schaffer’s ethics of freedom in opposition to the legitimacy of managerial control and the ethics of compliance. We argue that ethics is already part of such politics in the form of ethico-politics on the basis of participation in political action in organisations. Hence, the practising self as resistance in the face of the status quo of managerial power (...) in an ongoing dialectical process with others and for others comprises our conceptual proposal as an ethics of resistance. Acknowledging dialectics as the driver of the continuous reconstruction and co-construction of politics and praxis, we propose an ethics from the bottom up with a critical and radical perspective. Our contribution is based on opening up an ethico-political space for those who are ignored or suppressed in the ethics and organisations literature. (shrink)

This paper explores how women workers in Bangladeshi garment factories are misrecognised and not represented in the apparel industry through focussing on two enacted collective compliance measure agreements adopted by global brands to improve safety and working conditions. Our paper draws on Amartya Sen’s rights-based approach to capabilities as a means of explaining the narratives of women trade union leaders and the experiences of women factory workers’ status in their workplace and in the industry. Specifically, we examine how a strategy (...) of misrepresentation and nonrecognition of the women factory workers is being played out in the multi-stakeholder initiatives of compliance codes which leads to a lack of consideration for the basic human rights of the women workers. Our paper contributes to the discussion regarding how the politics of ethical procurement becomes visible through an exclusionary approach in managing the apparel global production network despite the favourable consensus regarding the compliance codes. (shrink)

This study aims to explore the positive psychological effects of culinary experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown days. Qualitative research methods adopted to provide a deeper understanding. Data was collected through a structured online survey from 30 participants in Turkey. This occurred between April 10th and June 3rd, 2020 when the strict confinement measures were applied. Content analysis was deductively applied according to the Stebbins’s Theory of Casual vs. Serious Leisure which classifies the well-being according to characteristics of leisure experiences. The (...) results revealed that at the first stage people went into the kitchen with the motivation of pure happiness and relaxation indicating hedonic well-being. However, people who intended to spend time with culinary activities with the expectations of pure happiness left the kitchen with eudaimonic outcomes by gaining special skills and knowledge, self-actualization and self-enrichment. When these outcomes are evaluated based on the Stebbins’s theoretical framework, culinary activities have both casual and serious leisure experience characteristics in terms of psychological well-being. It is understood that culinary activities have versatile leisure characteristics. Thanks to the culinary activities, people do not only obtain pure happiness and relaxation but can draw wider inferences about their life by realizing their own potential during the psychologically challenging COVID-19 lockdown days. (shrink)

There is an explicit belief – evident in jurisprudential literature – that developments in behavioural genetics in the very near future will necessitate a dramatic revolution in common law criminal justice systems. This paper considers what is truly shown by behavioural genetics in relation to free will, and the effect of such conclusions on criminal justice systems which rely upon the concept of free will as a foundation element. This paper ultimately concludes that it is unlikely that criminal justice systems (...) will be shaken – or indeed substantially influenced – by past or future discoveries in genetics. Three major arguments are employed: that theses connecting genetic traits with criminal free will exhibit a naïve conception of partial genetic determinism; that theses connecting genetic traits with criminal free will have been unduly motivated by discoveries in behavioural genetics which are disreputable or misleading; and that even should an unexpected discovery be made exhibiting a strong causal connection between genetics and criminal behaviour, this will not prove to be an intolerable novelty for any criminal justice system which otherwise assumes free will to exist. (shrink)

El trabajo constituye un homenaje a Leopoldo Zea, preparado a instancias de su colega y amigo Arturo Roig, con el propósito de resaltar la metodología y hábitos de trabajo de Leopoldo, relacionando su labor intelectual con su vida cotidiana. En este sentido se destacan su memoria prodigiosa y el hecho de que su trabajo estuviera condicionado por su personalidad. Era un intelectual intuitivo, con gran capacidad de síntesis e ingeniosa réplica para contestar en las numerosas polémicas en que participó. A (...) través de sus libros y de una intensa actividad desplegada en numerosísimos viajes, logró que el interés por América Latina se extendiera por todo el mundo. Siguiendo a Gaos y a Ortega y Gasset, consideraba que es a partir de la propia circunstancia que se puede dar la tarea de entender al mundo. Comprender y comunicar son según Zea, las dos acepciones del término logos, que sirven de fundamento a la filosofía.This work is homage to Leopoldo Zea and was written at the request of his friend and colleague, Arturo Roig, with the purpose of emphasizing Leopoldo's methodology and work habits as an intellectual as well as in his daily life. We can point out his prodigious memory and the consistency of his work with his personality. He was an intuitive intellectual, with a great ability to synthesize and a talent for the witty reply in the numerous debates he took part in. Through his books and travels he extended the interest in Latin America all over the world. Following Gaos and Ortega y Gasset, he believed that understanding one's own circumstances enabled one to understand the world. To understand and to communicate were, according to Zea, the two meanings of logos that serve as a foundation to Philosophy. (shrink)

The quality of arm movements typically improves in the sub-acute phase of stroke affecting the upper extremity. Here, we used whole arm kinematic analysis during reaching movements to distinguish whether these improvements are due to true recovery or to compensation. Fifty-three participants with post-acute stroke performed ∼80 reaching movement tests during 4 weeks of training with the ArmeoSpring exoskeleton. All participants showed improvements in end-effector performance, as measured by movement smoothness. Four ArmeoSpring angles, shoulder horizontal rotation, shoulder elevation, elbow rotation, (...) and forearm rotation, were recorded and analyzed. We first characterized healthy joint coordination patterns by performing a sparse principal component analysis on these four joint velocities recorded during reaching tests performed by young control participants. We found that two dominant joint correlations [SH with elbow rotation and SE with forearm rotation] explained over 95% of variance of joint velocity data. We identified two clusters of stroke participants by comparing the evolution of these two correlations in all tests. In the “Recoverer” cluster, both joint correlations converged toward the respective correlations for control participants. Thus, Recoverers relearned how to generate smooth end-effector movements while developing joint movement patterns similar to those of control participants. In the “Compensator” cluster, at least one of the two joint correlations diverged from the corresponding correlation of control participants. Compensators relearned how to generate smooth end-effector movements by discovering various new compensatory movement patterns dissimilar to those of control participants. New compensatory patterns included atypical decoupling of the SE and forearm joints, and atypical coupling of the SH rotation and elbow joints. There was no difference in clinical impairment level between the two groups either at the onset or at the end of training as assessed with the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer scale. However, at the start of training, the Recoverers showed significantly faster improvements in end-effector movement smoothness than the Compensators. Our analysis can be used to inform neurorehabilitation clinicians on how to provide movement feedback during practice and suggest avenues for refining exoskeleton robot therapy to reduce compensatory patterns. (shrink)

System image is an extension of multiplicative linear logic with the rules mix, nullary mix, and a self-dual, noncommutative logical operator, called seq. While the rules mix and nullary mix extend the deductive system, the operator seq extends the language of image. Due to the operator seq, system image extends the applications of image to those where the sequential composition is crucial, e.g., concurrency theory. System image is an extension of image with the rules mix and nullary mix. In this (...) paper, by relying on the fact that system image is a conservative extension of system image, I show that system image is NP-complete by encoding the 3-Partition problem in image. I provide a simple completeness proof of this encoding by resorting to a novel proof theoretical method for reducing nondeterminism in proof search, which is also of independent interest. (shrink)

In this paper, my main aim is to analyse Mao’s conception of Marxist theory and his Marxist subjectivity in theory construction in his three articles. While doing so, I will use two main approaches, first is the idea that Karl Marx’s method in understanding social relations and his theory of knowledge is in many aspects compatible and in continuation with an epistemological reading of Hegel’s subjectivity, and the second is the general structure about the relationship between the object and subject’s (...) process of knowing is similar in all three thinkers. While doing so, I will advocate the position that Mao’s epistemology is compatible with the Marxist understanding of Hegelian epistemology, and that from such an epistemological understanding it is possible to investigate Mao’s three texts in a way that yields, not an orthodox or “end result” Marxism, but instead a more general, meta epistemological understanding of Marx, that is understood better structurally. Eventually, I will claim that while using “scientific” or “orthodox” Marxism as a method to understand society, Mao further uses the subjective element in the same way as Hegel and Marx used it, although eventually he diverts the Marxist subjective manoeuvre to another direction. (shrink)

This article examines the concept of the “education of desire,” which undergirds literary utopian studies’ response to postmodernism’s challenge to the modern utopian impulse. The analysis returns to two classic utopian texts—the work of Miguel Abensour, who coined the term “education of desire,” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel about ecological sustainability, “The Dispossessed”—to argue that the education of desire involves a more intimate relationship between desire and domination than literary utopian studies has allowed. This article not only transforms our (...) understanding of a mainstay of utopian studies; it relates this discussion to utopian strains in environmental thought, tracing the tension between the desire for ecological sustainability and the social, political, and economic prescriptions this would entail. (shrink)

İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti’nin Meşrutiyet’in yeniden ilanı için II. Abdülhamid’e karşı yürüttükleri muhalefete dönemin bazı ulema ve İslamcı aydınlarının da katıldığı bilinmektedir. İslamcıların bu muhalefete katılmalarının en önemli nedeni, ulema sınıfının geleneksel gücünü kaybetmesinin yarattığı endişelerden kaynaklanmış ve buna bağlı olarak da modernleşmeyle beraber devletin giderek laikleşen yapısına bir müdahale olarak düşünülmüştür. İslamcı aydınların muhalefete katılmasıyla beraber hem dindar halk kesiminin Meşrutiyet’e bakışı değişmiş, hem de Abdülhamid karşıtı muhalefet güçlenip artan bir toplumsal desteğe sahip olmuştur. Sultan Abdülhamid’in tahttan indirilmesinden sonra (...) iktidarı ele geçiren İttihatçıların devlet yönetimindeki tecrübesizlikleri ve Meşrutiyetten beklentileri gerçekleşmeyen İslamcı aydınların önceki döneme yönelik eleştirilerini yeniden gözden geçirmelerine yol açmıştır. Bu yeni değerlendirme ve özeleştiriler Abdülhamid dönemini tamamen olumlayan bir çerçevede olmamakla birlikte, hata ve yanılgıların itirafı olmaları açısından önemlidir. Osmanlı tarihinde adı İttihad-ı İslamla nerdeyse özdeşleşmiş bir padişaha İslamcıların hangi gerekçelerle muhalefet ettiği ve bunun hangi argümanlarla savunduğu, kendilerinin sınıfsal bir mirasçısı olarak görülebilecek olan ulema sınıfıyla medreselerin Abdülhamid’le sorunlu ilişkilerinin bu muhalefeti ne derece etkilediği önem arz etmektedir. Bu makalede İslamcıların; Sultan Abdülhamid’e muhalefetinin sebepleri deşilmekte, İttihat ve Terakki deneyimi ve sonraki dönemde yaşadıkları tecrübelerden yola çıkılarak uzun süreli iktidarda kalan bu padişah ile ilgili yanılgı, pişmanlık ve itirafları değerlendirilmektedir. (shrink)

The authors of the book believe that utopia is a multidimensional concept, hence best understood with a multidisciplinary perspective. The book seeks utopian thinking in political theory, international law, populism, Turkish Islamism, and it dilates on the themes of modernism and classless society in the selected utopias.

Este estudo tem por objetivo conhecer a estrutura e a dinâmica de funcionamento de famílias de nível sociocultural médio-alto, com casais de dupla carreira e filhos em idade escolar. Para tanto, realizou-se um Estudo de Casos Múltiplos (Yin, 1993) com quatro famílias. Para a coleta de dados, foi uti..

Social dimension of moral responsibility has started to gain more attention in moral philosophy, be it within the network of action theory, or any other meta-ethical domain. Although there are many social acts and therefore social dimensions of responsibility, I aim to indicate one aspect of sociality in our thinking and practice, particularly in our moral thinking, that is the thick concepts. In this work, I consider Vargas’s concept moral ecology (2015, 2018) as a tool to understand certain social aspects (...) of moral responsibility, while claiming to extend his line of thinking in moral ecology by giving a more active role to the individual agent within the ecology that she is engaged in. I claim that when we understand the relationships between the agent and her surrounding ecology in a more complex, and under certain circumstances in a rather reciprocal way, we can have a better and more nuanced understanding of non-ideal moral landscapes that we are engaged in, while maintaining a certain kind of responsibility to the agents in their social environments. I will use the term niche construction and niche selection – concept that are already at use within the similar biological line of thought within action – to refer to such situations where agents are actively shaping their environments. (shrink)

In this paper, I will briefly summarize the history and current accounts of Evolutionary Medicine (EM). I will show that EM, in its current forms, is using an evolutionary understanding that carries the explanatory framework, as well as explanatory limits, of the Modern Synthesis (MS). I will then point out some essential elements that need to be seen as limiting factors within EM and analyze the limitations that are brought about by the MS understanding of it. On this basis, I (...) will argue that if the latest developments in evolutionary theory are considered – in particular, those pertaining to the inheritance mechanisms highlighted by the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), and the newly introduced evolutionary entities – EM will have a much broader explanatory scope and increased explanatory power in addition to greater relevance, which will enable its application in medical explanations. (shrink)

Staphylococcus aureus ST45 is a major global MRSA lineage with huge strain diversity and a high clinical impact. It is one of the most prevalent carrier lineages but also frequently causes severe invasive disease, such as bacteremia. Little is known about its evolutionary history. In this study, we used whole-genome sequencing to analyze a large collection of 451 diverse ST45 isolates from 6 continents and 26 countries. De novo-assembled genomes were used to understand genomic plasticity and to perform coalescent analyses. (...) The ST45 population contained two distinct sublineages, which correlated with the isolates’ geographical origins. One sublineage primarily consisted of European/North American isolates, while the second sublineage primarily consisted of African and Australian isolates. Bayesian analysis predicted ST45 originated in northwestern Europe about 500 years ago. Isolation time, host, and clinical symptoms did not correlate with phylogenetic groups. Our phylogenetic analyses suggest multiple acquisitions of the SCCmec element and key virulence factors throughout the evolution of the ST45 lineage. (shrink)

Research in infection biology aims to understand the complex nature of host–pathogen interactions. While this knowledge facilitates strategies for preventing and treating diseases, it can also be intentionally misused to cause harm. Such dual-use risk is potentially high for highly pathogenic microbes such as Risk Group-3 (RG3) bacteria and RG4 viruses, which could be used in bioterrorism attacks. However, other pathogens such as influenza virus (IV) and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), usually classified as RG2 pathogens, also demonstrate high dual-use risk. (...) As the currently approved therapeutics against these pathogens are not satisfactorily effective, previous outbreaks of these pathogens caused enormous public fear, media attention and economic burden. In this interdisciplinary review, we summarize the current perspectives of dual-use research on IV and EHEC, and further highlight the dual-use risk associated with evolutionary experiments with these infectious pathogens. We support the need to carry out experiments pertaining to pathogen evolution, including to gain predictive insights on their evolutionary trajectories, which cannot be otherwise achieved with stand-alone theoretical models and epidemiological data. However, we also advocate for increased awareness and assessment strategies to better quantify the risks-versus-benefits associated with such evolutionary experiments. In addition to building public trust in dual-use research, we propose that these approaches can be extended to other pathogens currently classified as low risk, but bearing high dual-use potential, given the particular pressing nature of their rapid evolutionary potential. (shrink)

This book analyses the concept of disease, as defined in the context of evolutionary medicine. Upon introducing the reader to evolutionary medicine in its current form and describing its approach to disease instances, the book leverages thoughts and instruments of knowledge of epistemology, social sciences, and ethics to answer the question: “How can we build a timely and appropriate concept of disease?” At first, it looks at the social concerns of medicalization, for example focusing on the suffering of people who (...) have not been diagnosed, or whose suffering is not caused by certain elements that falls under the definitions of disease. In turn, it merges different, both conceptual and empirical considerations in one comprehensive analysis, with the aim of fostering a multidisciplinary understanding of the phenomenon of disease. This book also highlights certain kinds of epistemic injustices that are taking place in the healthcare system, as this is currently conceived in post-industrial societies, thus offering a timely contribution to the current debate around social justice in healthcare. (shrink)

ObjectivePreviously Mindfulness-Based Swinging Technique 's immediate efficacy for overcoming psychological concerns has recently received empirical support, yet its longer-term efficacy needed to be evaluated among women with breast cancer. The objective of this study was to assess and report the efficacy of MBST intervention among breast cancer patients for hopelessness, anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, oxygen intensity, and heart rate-beats per minute at an 8-week period.MethodThe State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, The Emotion Thermometer, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease, and (...) Beck's Hopelessness Scale were used for assessing the intervention's outcome; 149 BC patients were randomly assigned into two groups. The participants in the control group received Cognitive Behavioural Therapy -Cognitive-Disputation for 20 min, and intervention group received MBST intervention. No additional psychological interventions were given between week-1 and week-8.ResultOutcomes of the 8-week post-treatment follow-up exhibited significantly higher improvements in all evaluated-measurements for CG, and some for IG with large effect size in the following: anxiety and depression levels. It increased self-efficacy for managing disease and hopefulness, and saturation levels measured by pulse-meter/oximeter.ConclusionsBoth CBT-CD and MBST have been found to be efficacious interventions to shorten the psychotherapy duration for reducing clinical anxiety and hopelessness as well as increase self-efficacy for BC women. This may have a distinct clinical importance for supporting BC patient's adherence-to-treatment since CBT-CD could be an alternative technique to MBST as a brief intervention. In future studies, the effectiveness of MBST through adapting to virtual reality and other online delivery methods should be examined. (shrink)

The most important reason underlying the success of the Crusaders taking Antakya from Muslims and entering the Syrian and Palestinian territories is undoubtedly the division among the Muslims. This division was not only among the dynasties, but also the cities. The Muslim rulers of Damascus have sat up alliances with the Crusaders to protect themselves from neighboring Muslim rulers. Of course, this alliance was more of a role for the Crusaders, making it easier for them to hold on to the (...) region, and strengthening them by acquiring new lands. Damascus's opposition posture caused power and time loosing to Muslim rulers, which served the Crusaders and to take the advantage of this controversy. Damascus continued its opponent position after Saladin (d. 589/1193), and quarrels within the dynasty caused the Crusaders to breathe deeply and as well as Jerusalem to fall into the hands of the Crusaders for a while again. During the Mamluks period, Damascus, who showed his opposing face for a short period of time, but afterwards he attained peace and obedience and also occupied comply with Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī (d. 676/1277). In this article we will analyze the opposing stance of Damascus and his role in the Crusades. Summary: Pearl of Syria, Damascus has a rebellious and oppositional aspect as well. This feature of the city came into prominence further with the coming of the Crusaders to the region. Its oppositional stance and uncompromising aspect sometimes played into the hands of the Crusaders unintentionally. When the Crusaders first came to the surrounding of Antakya, the governor of Damascus, Duqāq did not provide the necessary support to Yaghisiyan who was encircled in Antakya by the Crusaders, due to his inexperience, jealousy and his hostile competition with his brother, Ridvan who is emir of Aleppo. Thus, the Crusaders used this opportunity.Atabeg of Duqāq, Tughtakīn who started to command the city after the death of Duqāq did not support especially Mawdūd who struggled against the Crusaders in Urfa, adequately. Besides, he was accused of getting Mawdūd killed by another separatist power of the region, the Assassins in the great mosque of the city. On top of it, he allied with the Crusaders, because he was troubled with the commander Porsuk sent to the region by the Sultan of Great Saljūq Empire, Mohammed Tapar. He caused the heroic warrior, Porsuk to be defeated near Tel-Dānis by the Crusaders and to die in Al Jazīrah after a short time.Soon after the above events, ‘Imāduddīn Zengī focused on Damascus and tried to establish the Islamic unity. The son of the ruler Böri, called Ismail became isolated because of the poor administration in the city. He resorted to inviting Zangī to the city. However, Ismail was killed by the opponents before the arrival of Zangī, so no result could be accomplished. Later, Zangī focused on the city again. Although he mercilessly treated the resisters in Ba’lebek after occupying there to demotivate the community of Damascus, he faced the serious resistance of the forces of Damascus. While Zangī spent all his energy to Damascus, the king of Jerusalem, Foulque improved his policy for Syria to some extent and could reestablish communication with the states of the Crusaders. The community Damascus helped the Crusaders and eased their work unintentionally once more.The Mamlūk called Uner began to govern Damascus on behalf of the forces of Bori who lost their influence in the city. Uner who developed a close relationship with the Crusaders to prevent the dominance of Zangī in the city did not hesitate to send an envoy to them. He promised to give Banyas to the Crusaders in return for moving Zangī away from Damascus. After the Franks accepted the proposal of Uner, Zangī remained in between the forces of Damascus and the Crusaders and was obliged to recede to Aleppo. In this way, the Crusaders occupied the castle of Banyas. Several locations until Buzaa were seized by the Crusaders in Antakya who found the opportunity.Zangī was martyred in front of Jaabar castle in 541/1146, so his son Nūr al-dīn became the new ruler of Damascus. Nevertheless, the following incidents caused Nūr al-dīn and Uner to get closer to each other, and the Crusaders had to move away from Damascus. First, the administrator of Havran under the control of Uner rose against his governor and turned to the Crusaders. Besides, the Second Crusade in Damascus contributed to the association of Damascus and Aleppo for a while. Following the elimination of both endangers, the association of Damascus and Aleppo resumed. Uner established a close contact with the Crusaders and made a two-year agreement with them to prevent Nūr al-dīn from seizing the city. Uner died after some time, but almost nothing changed. The new governor of the city Mucīruddin ‘Abaq kept the association of the Crusaders. An operation of Nūr al-dīn against the city was averted with the help of the Crusaders again. Mucīruddin got closer to the Crusaders after their help. Their close relationship was strengthened with the mutual visits of the committees of the Crusaders and Damascus. The Artuquid governor Timurtāsh decided to organize a military expedition to Jerusalem after a little while. However, Mucīruddin who worried about the possible dissolution of their association with the Crusaders stopped supporting him, so Timurtāsh failed in his expedition. Mucīruddin improved his relations with the Crusaders further and started to pay tribute to them following their invasion of ‘Asqalān’s in 548/1153. Even, ‘Abaq offered officially his commitment to Jerusalem. Even though the spoilt Crusaders plundered and destroyed the surrounding of Damascus, they kept the administrators of Damascus with them. Moreover, they went further and offered them to give Ba’lebek to them in return for moving Nūr al-dīn away from Damascus. Such acts provoked the community of Damascus who opposed to the dynasty of Bori in the city afterward. Nūr al-dīn welcomed this opportunity and seized Damascus in 549/1154 by means of the public without giving any chance to coming of the Crusaders. Damascus was governed by Nūr al-dīn for approximately twenty years. A disagreement arose among the community of Zangī in the city after the decease of Nūr al-dīn in 569/1174, thus leading to the dominance of Ṣalādīn Ayyubi in the city. The Ayyubids began to govern Damascus, but internal conflicts started among them with the death of Ṣalādīn in 589/1193. Similarly, Damascus was the focus of these conflicts. The Ayyubids in Egypt were the other party of the disagreement. Unfortunately, the Crusaders benefited from such rivalries. When the senior member of the family al-Adil dominated Damascus in 592/1196, the Crusaders who increased their domain had seized Beirut. Egypt and Damascus got closed temporarily during the Fifth Crusade. After the Crusaders withdrew from Damietta, two brothers, al-Muazzam and al-Kᾱmil fought with each other again. Damascus and Egypt chose the Khwarezmian dynasty and Friedrich in Sicilia as ally, respectively. Unexpected death of al-Muazzam during the preparations for the Sixth Crusade resulted in the siege of Damascus by the forces of Egypt. Friedrich reached Akkā over the course of the siege. al-Kᾱmil who played for time to seize Damascus delivered Jerusalem to the Crusaders. Later, the internal conflicts about the new dynasty which arose in Damascus weakened the Ayyubids and made the Crusaders advantageous. Finally, Damascus found tranquility with the dominance of Baybars in the city. (shrink)

Analytical study of philosophy; includes comparative study of world-renowned philosophers and their ideologies.

Mobile health research involving pervasive sensors, mobile apps and other novel data collection tools and methods present new ethical, legal, and social challenges specific to informed consent, data management and bystander rights. To address these challenges, a participatory design approach was deployed whereby stakeholders contributed to the development of a web-based commons to support the mHealth research community including researchers and ethics board members. The CORE platform now features a community forum, a resource library and a network of nearly 600 (...) global members. The utility of the participatory design process was evaluated by analyzing activities carried out over an 8-month design phase consisting of 86 distinct events including iterative design deliberations and social media engagement. This article describes how participatory design yielded 55 new features directly mapped to community needs and discusses relationships to user engagement as demonstrated by a steady increase in CORE member activity and followers on Twitter. (shrink)

The ideological impact of Émile Durkheim on Turkish political and social thought has long been analyzed within the framework of Ziya Gökalp’s nationalist thought. This article seeks to show that there were also liberal followers of Durkheim as seen in the works of particularly Ahmet Ağaoğlu. Ağaoğlu’s social liberalism carried Durkheimian motifs as we see in his constant emphasis on division of labor and functional differentiation as integral elements of the modern liberal mentalité, and in the importance he imputed to (...) intermediary groups to protect the rights of the individual. (shrink)

In this article, the relation between the Westernization experience and the radical Islamists reaction in Egypt is examined. It is argued that it is necessary to focus on the historical imagination of Westernization to understand the Egyptian reaction as manifested in Islamist religious educational discourse. The historical imagination appears to be based on a traumatic experience which was triggered by a traumatic event, namely British colonialism. The religious educational discourse in Egypt, an opportune case to observe radical Islamist response to (...) the trauma experience, is found to be a mediating structure between the historical experience and the Islamist reaction. The study indicates that emic categories and societal emotions play a significant role in this mediation. (shrink)

Minkoff, Vullikanti, and Marshall (2024) worry that assumptions about fetal personhood used to justify states’ restrictions on a pregnant person’s right to request certain interventions (i.e. abort...

The University of Michigan conference “Where Religion, Policy, and Bioethics Meet: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Islamic Bioethics and End-of-Life Care” in April 2011 addressed the issue of brain death as the prototype for a discourse that would reflect the emergence of Islamic bioethics as a formal field of study. In considering the issue of brain death, various Muslim legal experts have raised concerns over the lack of certainty in the scientific criteria as applied to the definition and diagnosis of brain (...) death by the medical community. In contrast, the medical community at large has not required absolute certainty in its process, but has sought to eliminate doubt through cumulative diagnostic modalities and supportive scientific evidence. This has recently become a principal model, with increased interest in data analysis and evidence-based medicine with the intent to analyze and ultimately improve outcomes. Islamic law has also long employed a systematic methodology with the goal of eliminating doubt from rulings regarding the question of certainty. While ample criticism of the scientific criteria of brain death (Harvard criteria) by traditional legal sources now exists, an analysis of the legal process in assessing brain death, geared toward informing the clinician’s perspective on the issue, is lacking. In this article, we explore the role of certainty in the diagnostic modalities used to establish diagnoses of brain death in current medical practice. We further examine the Islamic jurisprudential approach vis-à-vis the concept of certainty (yaqīn). Finally, we contrast the two at times divergent philosophies and consider what each perspective may contribute to the global discourse on brain death, understanding that the interdependence that exists between the theological, juridical, ethical, and medical/scientific fields necessitates an open discussion and active collaboration between all parties. We hope that this article serves to continue the discourse that was successfully begun by this initial interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Michigan. (shrink)

The exact process that leads to the eruption of autoimmune reactions against β cells and the evolution of diabetes is not fully understood. Macrophages and T cells may launch an initial immune reaction against the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, provoking inflammation and destructive insulitis. The information on the molecular mechanisms of the emergence of β cell injury is controversial and points to possibly important roles for the perforin–granzyme, Fas–Fas-ligand (FasL) and tumor-necrosis-factor-mediated apoptotic pathways. FasL has several unique features that make (...) it a potentially ideal immunomodulatory tool. Most important, FasL is selectively toxic to cytotoxic T cells and less harmful to regulatory T cells. This review discusses the intrinsic sensitivity of β cells to FasL-mediated apoptosis, the conditions that underlie this β cell sensitivity, and the feasibility of using FasL to arrest autoimmunity and prevent islet allograft rejection. In both the autoimmune and transplant settings, it is imperative to progress from the administration of nonspecific immunosuppressive therapy to the concept of β-cell-specific immunomodulation. FasL evolves as a prime candidate for antigen-specific immunomodulation. BioEssays 28: 211–222, 2006. © 2006 Wiley periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The exact process that leads to the eruption of autoimmune reactions against β cells and the evolution of diabetes is not fully understood. Macrophages and T cells may launch an initial immune reaction against the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, provoking inflammation and destructive insulitis. The information on the molecular mechanisms of the emergence of β cell injury is controversial and points to possibly important roles for the perforin–granzyme, Fas–Fas-ligand (FasL) and tumor-necrosis-factor-mediated apoptotic pathways. FasL has several unique features that make (...) it a potentially ideal immunomodulatory tool. Most important, FasL is selectively toxic to cytotoxic T cells and less harmful to regulatory T cells. This review discusses the intrinsic sensitivity of β cells to FasL-mediated apoptosis, the conditions that underlie this β cell sensitivity, and the feasibility of using FasL to arrest autoimmunity and prevent islet allograft rejection. In both the autoimmune and transplant settings, it is imperative to progress from the administration of nonspecific immunosuppressive therapy to the concept of β-cell-specific immunomodulation. FasL evolves as a prime candidate for antigen-specific immunomodulation. BioEssays 28: 211–222, 2006. © 2006 Wiley periodicals, Inc. (shrink)