The basic premise of this paper originates from the contention that the hegemony of the West is unsustainable because of its grounding on a way of life and life vision not in conformity with the eternal laws of Mother Nature. It is losing its sheen under the impact of unsustainable lifestyle and consumerist culture and the resultant ecological hazards, violence, wars, racial animosity, and religion-induced extremism. These trends are giving way to the emergence of a new humane civilization, and the (...) new civilization shall evolve out of the wisdom accumulated over the past several centuries of human efforts to achieve prosperity and happiness. It should be inclusive and should respect all cultures by providing appropriate space to grow and develop in conformity with the laws of Mother Nature. Santhigiri movement grounded on the revelatory spirituality of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru offers hope for ushering in of a humane civilization ensuring solidarity beyond religion, race, caste, and region. The view that the academic hegemony of the West has been stifling the voices of varied cultural and religious traditions in other parts of the world and denying due space in the mainstream is examined in the larger context of the unalterable law of cyclical view of history. A historical examination of the hitherto civilizations shows that they have grown in particular directions in parts instead of the whole. A civilization on achieving maximum efficiency in particular directions starts decaying and disintegrating giving way to the shifting of creativity, power, and wealth to another region or continent. This shifting of power, creativity, and wealth from one place to another, one civilization to another has been an unavoidable law of human history. A new civilization that will foster the total efficiency of whole segments of humanity instead of maximum efficiency of parts in particular directions alone can offer human sustainability. The rising Santhigiri Parampara exemplifies the possibility to achieve the goal of human harmony based on the living guidance of wisdom of an Atmajnani Guru. If we can shed our biases and feeling of superiority on any counts and realize our limitations and come out of our unsustainable world view structured by modern science, technology, and instrumental rationality and seek the whole, we all can enjoin in this global mission of raising human consciousness into higher levels of attainment which can lead to an egalitarian and enlightened culture. (shrink)

This paper proposes a causal model of sexual activity among a randomly selected sample of 305 Junior secondary school girls in Zambia. The results indicate that liberal sexual attitudes influence romantic involvement with boys. Emotional involvement is likely to result in sexual activity. Traditional courtship forms are slowly being replaced by modern patterns of courtship behaviour. Policy and programme implications are discussed.

Incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity are non‐Mendelian phenomena resulting in the lack of correlation between genotype and phenotype. Not withstanding the diversity in mechanisms, differential expression of homologous alleles within cells manifests as variations in penetrance and expressivity of mutations between individuals of the same genotype. These phenomena are seen most often in dominantly inherited diseases, implying that they are sensitive to concentration of the gene product. In this framework and the advances in understanding the role of microRNA (miRNA) in (...) fine‐tuning gene expression at translational level, we propose miRNA‐mediated regulation as a mechanism for incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. The presence of miRNA binding sites at 3′ UTR, co‐expression of target gene–miRNA pairs for genes showing incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity derived from available data lend support to our hypothesis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the miRNA target site facilitate the implied differential targeting of the transcripts from homologous alleles. (shrink)

A personal view made in light of the recent news article regarding a husband wanting to sue Addenbrooke's hospital over a Do Not Attempt Resuscitation decision. This article aims to highlight how the rolling out of cross boundary palliative care registers may be more at risk of infringing human rights.

This personal view draws attention to the lack of regard, given by the BMA in its new guidance, to the symptomatic benefit of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration in patients who are not imminently dying. This article aims to identify how ignoring symptomatic benefit is a serious oversight and cause for concern given that this document, endorsed by the General Medical Council and courts, is created with the purpose of providing a framework for best interests decision-making. The new BMA guidance (...) on CANH, which is endorsed by the GMC,1 follows up on the Supreme Court case of An NHS Trust v Y,2 that any removal of CANH from a patient in prolonged disorder of consciousness no longer requires the approval of the court unless there is disagreement or the decision is finely balanced. The decision in …. (shrink)

This is the story of a man who had it all – looks, wealth, culture, fame, travel, career – and gave it all up to find for himself the answer to his burning ...

This article compares the colonial and contemporary canvas of the hegemonic discourse of White Western writers and their portrayal of Malaysia and her people. The first half of the discussion will focus on the figurative elements of classical colonialist discourse through an exploration of The Soul of Malaya (1931) a text written by Henri Fauconnier, a French planter of Colonial Malaya. Here, cultural hegemony is revealed mostly through the employment of the Manichean allegory, of what we see as “ideological allegory”. (...) The second half of the discussion adopts a more linguistic oriented framework, as it reveals patterns in linguistic selection in the novel , Borneo Fire (1995)by contemporary white writer, William Riviere. This latter is what we term “ideological stylistics”. The main objective of the article is to compare the underlying ideological constructs of the discursive landscape of the two texts and to determine whether white western superiority manifested in the discourse of the contemporary text has evolved from that seen in its colonial predecessor. The paper concludes that time changes little in terms of the location of the other, for despite its being published in 1995, the discourse of Borneo Fire has not moved away from the approach and conventions of the colonial text, The Soul of Malaya. (shrink)

This article investigates the effect of perceived uncertainty on two types of screening strategies – exclusion and inclusion. Results from five studies showed that perceived uncertainty inc...

The certainty that blasts everything -- Hope is for tomorrow, not today -- Not knowing is your natural state -- There is nothing to understand -- We have created this jungle society -- The body as a crucible.

This book is an invaluable roadside companion for all those on the path or thinking of setting out on it.

A no-nonsense book about that truth which many spiritual seekers are seeking, what gurus call "enlightenment," and what UG Krishnamurthi calls the "natural state." In this selection from his conversations, UG maintains that the so-called enlightenment is a purely biological phenomenon – that only when one is completely free of cultural conditioning, religious thinking, and intellect, can the body, with its own extraordinary intelligence, get free to be in the 'natural' state. This book is an invaluable roadside companion for all (...) those on the path or thinking of setting out on it. (shrink)

How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls "your hitchhiker's guide to the present" -- it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work A Secular Age and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times. Taylor's landmark book A Secular Age (2007) provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present -- a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a (...) compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular, making that very significant but daunting work accessible to a wide array of readers. Even more, though, Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular is a practical philosophical guidebook, a kind of how-to manual on how to live in our secular age. It ultimately offers us an adventure in self-understanding and maps out a way to get our bearings in today's secular culture, no matter who "we" are -- whether believers or skeptics, devout or doubting, self-assured or puzzled and confused. This is a book for any thinking person to chew on. (shrink)

Practical deliberation often involves conditional judgements about what will (likely) happen if certain alternatives are pursued. It is widely assumed that the conditionals useful in deliberation are counterfactual or subjunctive conditionals. Against this, I argue that the conditionals of deliberation are indicatives. Key to the argument is an account of the relation between 'straightforward' future-directed conditionals like ' If the house is not painted, it will soon look quite shabby' and * "w e r e ' ' e d F (...) D C s like ' If the house were not to be painted, it would soon look quite shabby': an account on which both of these types of FDCs are grouped with the indicatives for semantic treatment and on which, while conditionals of both types are properly used in means/ends deliberations, those of the ' were'ed-up variety are especially well suited for that purpose. (shrink)

Given the adverse consequences of destructive leadership at work, we examine leader favoritism prevalent in contemporary organizations. Our study builds on previous research on unethical leadership behaviors and extends social exchange theory by assessing whether leader favoritism contributes to employee psychological withdrawal behavior at work and whether perceived unfairness explains this link, addressing a gap in the literature on this topic. In addition, we investigate the condition of perceived employability to seek whether the influence of perceived unfairness due to leader (...) favoritism on psychological withdrawal behavior at work is strengthened when employees think they can secure alternative employment elsewhere. The study utilizes a two-wave data collection approach to gather responses from 206 front end customer service employees working in the hospitality and tourism firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study findings offer empirical support for the proposed mediated moderation model. Specifically, the results demonstrate that leader favoritism directly, indirectly (via perceived unfairness), and positively influence employee withdrawal behaviors. This influence is stronger among employees who believe they can easily find alternative employment options. Our findings highlight the relevance of incorporating social exchange theory into the unethical leadership behaviors and withdrawal behaviors literature and provide valuable insights for managers into how to mitigate the practice of leader favoritism because of its adverse consequences on employees' work attitudes and behavior. (shrink)

This article explores the enduring mysteries of consciousness and the afterlife, two enigmatic topics that have fascinated humanity for ages. Despite extensive scientific efforts, the existence of an afterlife remains unproven, and understanding consciousness remains a significant challenge. The research introduces innovative hypotheses through simple thought experiments with empirical evidence and robust theoretical foundations. It delves into the complexities of consciousness, its relationship with the brain, and the need for interdisciplinary approaches encompassing physics, psychology, and philosophy. Boldly contemplating the probability (...) of a continuous consciousness after death, the study argues that existing evidence strongly supports this idea. Beyond theoretical implications, it envisions practical outcomes, suggesting that insights into these mysteries could enhance human well-being and contribute to a more harmonious world. In summary, this article embarks on a quest to shed light on age-old questions about consciousness and the afterlife. Through fresh methodologies, it aims to provide new perspectives that could reshape our understanding of existence and inspire intellectuals to positive individual and societal advancements. -/- . (shrink)

are ambiguous. In the mouth of someone who cannot remember whether it was Michael, or rather someone else, who was top scorer, can express the epistemic possibility that Michael led the league in scoring. But from someone who knows that Michael did not even play last season, but is wondering what would have happened if he had, means something quite different. Now where it has this quite different meaning, may still turn out to be the expression of some epistemic possibility. (...) Perhaps where does not express the epistemic possibility of ‘Michael led the league in scoring’, it expresses the epistemic possibility of ‘Michael would have led the league in scoring’. Analysis of this ‘would have’ statement, together with an exploration of the suspicion that the ‘might have’ statement is ambiguous between these two epistemic possibilities, will have to await another occasion. The important point for present purposes is that is ambiguous between an expression of the epistemic possibility of ‘Michael led the league in scoring’ and some quite different reading. (shrink)

What are the criteria for reasonable clinical judgements? The reasonableness of macro-level decision-making has been much discussed, but little attention has been paid to the reasonableness of applying guidelines generated at a macro-level to individual cases. This paper considers a framework for reasonable clinical decision-making that will capture cases where relevant guidelines cannot reasonably be followed. There are three main sections. (1) Individual claims on healthcare from the point of view of concerns about equity are analysed. (2) The demands of (...) responsibility and equity on professional clinical performance are discussed, and how the combination of these demands emerges into seven requirements that constitute the framework is explored. Since this framework is developed to assist in reasonable clinical decision-making, practical implications of all these requirements are also suggested. (3) Challenges concerning the framework are discussed. First, a crucial presumption that the framework relies upon is considered—namely, clinicians’ willingness to justify their decisions as requested. Then how public deliberation may influence clinical decision-making is discussed. Next is a consideration of how clinicians’ need to have confidence in their own judgements in order to perform in a manner worthy of trust would be compatible with adherence to the framework supported by public deliberation. It is concluded that fair distribution in the interplay between macro- and micro-level considerations can be secured by legitimising procedures on each level, by ensuring well-organised and continuing public debate and by basing individual clinical judgements upon well-justified and principled normative bases. (shrink)

Trust is a key component in delivering quality and respectful care within health care systems. However, a growing lack of confidence in health care, particularly among specific subgroups of the population in the United States, could further widen health disparities. In this essay, we explore one approach to building trust and reaching diverse communities to promote health: engaging community‐based organizations (CBOs) as trusted community messengers. We present case studies of partnerships in health promotion, community education, and outreach that showcase how (...) CBOs’ programs build and leverage trust in health care systems through their workforce, services, and engagement with the community. (shrink)

It is only when mixing two or more pure substances along a reversible path that the entropy of the mixing can be made physically manifest. It is not, in this case, a mere mathematical artifact. This mixing requires a process of successive stages. In any finite number of stages, the external manifestation of the entropy change, as a definite and measurable quantity of heat, isa fully continuous function of the relevant variables. It is only at an infinite and unattainable limit (...) thata non-uniform convergence occurs. And this occurs when considered in terms of the number of stages together with a distinguishability parameter appropriate to the particular device which is used to achieve reversibility. These considerations, which are of technological interest to chemical engineers, resolve a paradox derived in chemical theory called Gibbs'' Paradox. (shrink)