Research ethics consultation services (RECS), which function as an advisory service to facilitate the resolution of complex ethical issues in clinical research, have been proliferating over the last decade. However, the qualification of an individual who provides RECS, or “a research ethics consultant,” has not been thoroughly investigated, in contrast to healthcare ethics consultants, whose core competencies have been discussed and clarified to a great extent. In this study, we investigated core competencies necessary for research ethics consultants, referring to the (...) core competency models of ethics consultants developed in the healthcare practice context, and propose a competency model for research ethics consultants. (shrink)

Progress in artificial intelligence technological innovation raises questions about the role of medical staff and the meaning of medical specialization. This study involved a qualitative survey of medical professionals and ordinary citizens to expand knowledge of this topic. A combination of Neo-Socratic Dialogue and Transfer Dialogue techniques, was used to acquire knowledge related to emerging forms of medical care and changing work demands after the implementation of AI, qualitatively analyzing the TD transcript only. Eleven subjects participated in two surveys. The (...) main points raised during TD were classified into five categories: i) Functions which AI could perform/would find difficult to perform, ii) Changes in medicine caused by AI, iii) Necessary preparations for the application of AI to medicine, iv) Concerns about AI, and v) Others. The survey findings suggest that initiatives to promote the acceptance of each individual in society and appropriate technological development are essential to the process of preparing for the changes in medicine following the implementation of AI. These preparatory conditions cannot be limited to medical professionals, and must extend to workers across all disciplines and to society as a whole. (shrink)

This article studies the treatment effect models in which individuals are classified into unobserved groups based on heterogeneous treatment rules. By using a finite mixture approach, we propose a marginal treatment effect framework in which the treatment choice and outcome equations can be heterogeneous across groups. Under the availability of instrumental variables specific to each group, we show that the MTE for each group can be separately identified. On the basis of our identification result, we propose a two-step semiparametric procedure (...) for estimating the group-wise MTE. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed method with an application to economic returns to college education. (shrink)

In recent years, ethical questions related to the development of artificial intelligence are being increasingly discussed. However, there has not been enough corresponding increase in the research and development associated with AI technology that incorporates with ethical discussion. We therefore implemented an organic and dynamic tool for use with knowledge base of AI ethics for engineers to promote engineers’ practice of ethical AI design to realize further social values. Here, “organic” means that the tool deals with complex relationships among different (...) AI ethics. “Dynamic” means that the tool dynamically adopts new issues and helps engineers think in their own contexts. Data in the knowledge base of the tool is standardized based on the ethical design theory that consists of an extension of the hierarchical representation of artifacts to understand ethical considerations from the perspective of engineering, and a description method to express the design ideas. In addition, we apply the dynamic knowledge management model called knowledge liquidization and crystallization. To discuss the effects, we introduce three cases: a case for the clarification of differences in the structures among AI ethics and design ideas, a case for the presentation of semantic distance among them, and a case for the recommendation of the scenario paths that allow engineers to seamlessly use AI ethics in their own contexts. We discuss the effectiveness of the tool. We also show the probability that engineers can reconstruct AI ethics as a more practical one with professional ethicists. (shrink)

When we examine the quality of life for each individual, several specific dimensions need to be considered. Health conditions and quality of family relationships are critical. When the individual in question is married, his/her marital quality is important. When he/she has a job, subjective assessment of that job is important. Social relationships regarding friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives, etc. may be critical also. Although the quality of life is more than the sum of qualities of these specific areas of one's life, (...) it is still determined to a great extent by the qualities of these sub-areas, including marital and family relationships. (shrink)

When Sasaki Sokei-an founded his First Zen Institute of North America in 1930 he suggested that bringing Zen Buddhism to America was like "holding a lotus against a rock and waiting for it to set down roots." Today, Buddhism is part of the cultural and religious mainstream. Flowers on the Rock examines the dramatic growth of Buddhism in Canada and questions some of the underlying assumptions about how this tradition has changed in the West. Using historical, ethnographic, and biographical approaches, (...) contributors illuminate local expressions of Buddhism found throughout Canada and relate the growth of Buddhism in Canada to global networks. A global perspective allows the volume to overcome the stereotype that Asia and the West are in opposition to each other and recognizes the continuities between Buddhist movements in Asia and the West that are shaped by the same influences of modernity and globalization. Flowers on the Rock studies the fascinating and ingenious changes, inflections, and adaptations that Buddhists make when they set down roots in a local culture. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism, religious life in Canada, and the broader issues of multiculturalism and immigration. Contributors include Michihiro Ama, D. Mitra Barua, Paul Crowe, Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, Mavis Fenn, Kory Goldberg, Sarah F. Haynes, Jackie Larm, Paul McIvor, James Placzek, and Angela Sumegi. (shrink)

Ethical aspects in engineering design have become increasingly important in recent years. A typical example is the recent rise of artificial intelligence ethics. This paper applies user studies of a design support tool to empirically verify that our ethical framework improves the creativity of an engineer’s design activity. The design support tool provides an environment for the promotion of ethical design perspectives and description. The experiments focus on two functionalities: semi-automatic generation and scenario path recommendation. These functions are designed around (...) the application of ethical design theory, which extends the hierarchical representation of artifacts. Doing this enables users to reconsider their themes at the highest level of the hierarchy and to apply a wider conceptual space of design solutions. For example, by reconsidering the positions of their research themes in the space of the representation field, users can semi-automatically edit them and identify focal areas. Using the scenario path recommendation, designers can update their research themes after considering the ethical impacts of those themes on stakeholders. Both functions are realized by exploiting a knowledge base of ethical and technological discourses. Finally, the ethical design theory is updated based on some unexpected results of our user studies with regards to the cyclic relationship among theory, tools, and observed data. For example, temporal dimensional aspects were confirmed as important. (shrink)

The growing scholarship on the Kyoto School of Japanese Buddhist philosophy has brought it to the attention of more and more people in the West, but in the process, the Kyoto School has acquired a fixed identity. It is usually depicted as centered around three main figures—Nishida Kitarō, Tanabe Hajime and Nishitani Keiji—and concerned with the philosophy of nothingness. In fact, however, as the thirteen scholars in this volume show, the Kyoto School included several other members beside the inner circle (...) of three, and these members were concerned with a wide range of philosophical issues beyond the philosophy of nothingness. The range and variety of these essays give a much more realistic picture of the many fronts on which the Japanese encountered Western philosophy. (shrink)

While empathy is considered a critical determinant of the quality of medical care, growing evidence suggests it may be associated with both one’s own positive and negative moods among healthcare professionals. Meanwhile, sense of coherence plays an essential role in the improvement of both psychological and physical health. Reportedly, individual SOC reaches full stability after around age 30. The aim of this study was first to evaluate the mediatory role of SOC on the association between empathy and individual moods among (...) 114 healthcare professionals in a general hospital, and then to examine the moderating effect of age on this association. Participants completed a range of self-report demographic questionnaires, Empathy Process Scale, the 13-item Antonovsky’s SOC, and Profile of Mood States. Findings showed that SOC mediated the relations between empathy and both POMS-Vigor and POMS-Depression. Notably, moderated mediation analysis revealed that there was a significant interaction on self-vigor mood in healthcare professionals. The indirect effect of empathy on self-vigor mood through SOC was significant at over mean age “32.83.” Although there was no significant interaction with age regarding the indirect effect of empathy on self-depression mood, in the sub-category level analysis of empathy, we found a significant interaction item [age × empathy for other’s negative affect ] on SOC. This indirect effect was also significant at over mean age “32.83.” Taken, together, the current study highlighted the significant mediator of SOC on that empathy amplifies self-vigor mood and attenuates self-depression mood as a protective factor among the Japanese healthcare professionals. Some components of these processes may depend on the moderating role of age, indicating that we may need to consider the SOC development with age for more effective empathy performance interventions among healthcare professionals. (shrink)