Patients' right to information: a review of the regulatory and ethical framework

[eng] Aim: The paper examines the current situation of recognition of patients' right to information in international standards and in the national laws of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain (and Catalonia), Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Methodology: International standards, laws and codes of ethics of physicians and librarians that are currently in force were identified and analyzed with regard to patients' right to information and the ownership of this right. The related subjects of access to clinical history, advance directives and informed consent were not taken into account.Results: All the standards, laws and codes analyzed deal with guaranteeing access to information. The codes of ethics of both physicians and librarians establish the duty to inform.Conclusions: Librarians must collaborate with physicians in the process of informing patients.

Kitcher's Revolutionary Reasoning Inversion in Ethics

This paper examines three specific issues raised by The Ethical Project. First, I discuss the varieties of altruism and spell out the differences between the definitions proposed by Kitcher and the ways altruism is usually conceived in biology, philosophy, psychology, and economics literature. Second, with the example of Kitcher's account, I take a critical look at evolutionary stories of the emergence of human ethical practices. Third, I point to the revolutionary implications of the Darwinian methodology when it is thoughtfully applied to ethics.

Measuring researchers' use of scholarly information through social bookmarking data: a case study of BibSonomy

This paper explores the possibility of using data from social bookmarking services to measure the use of information by academic researchers. Social bookmarking data can be used to augment participative methods (e.g. interviews and surveys) and other, non-participative methods (e.g. citation analysis and transaction logs) to measure the use of scholarly information. We use BibSonomy, a free resource-sharing system, as a case study. Results show that published journal articles are by far the most popular type of source bookmarked, followed by conference proceedings and books. Commercial journal publisher platforms are the most popular type of information resource bookmarked, followed by websites, records in databases and digital repositories. Usage of open access information resources is low in comparison with toll access journals. In the case of open access repositories, there is a marked preference for the use of subject-based repositories over institutional repositories. The results are consistent with those observed in related studies based on surveys and citation analysis, confirming the possible use of bookmarking data in studies of information behaviour in academic settings. The main advantages of using social bookmarking data are that is an unobtrusive approach, it captures the reading habits of researchers who are not necessarily authors, and data are readily available. The main limitation is that a significant amount of human resources is required in cleaning and standardizing the data.

Quality coding by neural populations in the early olfactory pathway: analysis using information theory

In this article, we analyze the ability of the early olfactory system to detect and discriminate different odors by means of information theory measurements applied to olfactory bulb activity images. We have studied the role that the diversity and number of receptor neuron types play in encoding chemical information. Our results show that the olfactory receptors of the biological system are low correlated and present good coverage of the input space. The coding capacity of ensembles of olfactory receptors with the same receptive range is maximized when the receptors cover half of the odor input space - a configuration that corresponds to receptors that are not particularly selective. However, the ensemble's performance slightly increases when mixing uncorrelated receptors of different receptive ranges. Our results confirm that the low correlation between sensors could be more significant than the sensor selectivity for general purpose chemo-sensory systems, whether these are biological or biomimetic.

Ein Instrument der parlamentarischen Mitwirkung im Bereich der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik : die Information und Konsultation gemäss Art. 152 Parlamentsgesetz

Dass der Weg der parlamentarischen Mitwirkung im Bereich der Aussenpolitik steinig werden sollte, widerspiegelte sich bereits in der Entstehungsgeschichte der Aussenpolitischen Kommissionen (APK). Diese haben zum heutigen Zeitpunkt unter anderem dafür zu sorgen, dass das Parlament seine Mitwirkungsrechte in auswärtigen Angelegenheiten frühzeitig und wirk¬sam wahrnehmen kann. Nebst verschiedensten Instrumenten auf Verfassungs- und Gesetzesebene steht den APK ein wichtiges Mitwirkungsinstrument zur Verfügung: die Information und Konsultation gemäss Art. 152 Parlamentsgesetz (ParlG). Seit Inkrafttreten dieser Bestimmung im Dezember 2003 offenbart sich jedoch, dass sich die praktische Umsetzung des Gesetzesartikels mit den damaligen Vorstellungen des Gesetzgebers anlässlich der Erarbeitung dieses parlamentarischen Instrumentes nicht deckt. Der Gesetzgeber wies seiner¬zeit auf das für die Umsetzung bedeutende Vertrauensverhältnis zwischen Bundesrat und Parlament hin. Allerdings beeinflussen nun Spannungen und Konkurrenz zwischen der Exekutive und der Legislative die Umsetzung von Art. 152 ParlG. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht, die geschichtlichen Hintergründe, die Entstehung, den Sinn und Zweck sowie die Praxis von Art. 152 ParlG vor dem Hintergrund des erwähnten Spannungsfelds und im Zusammenspiel mit den weiteren Mitwirkungsinstrumenten im Bereich der Aussenpolitik darzulegen. Comme le montre déjà l'historique des Commissions de politique extérieure (CPE), la participation du Parlement à la politique extérieure n'est pas dénuée d'obstacles. A l'heure actuelle, les CPE doivent notamment faire en sorte que le Parlement puisse faire valoir, en amont et avec efficacité, son droit de participation dans le domaine de la politique étrangère de la Suisse. Outre divers instruments figurant dans la Constitution et les lois, les CPE disposent d'un important moyen de participation: l'information et la consultation au sens de l'art. 152 de la loi sur le Parlement (LParl). Depuis l'entrée en vigueur de cette disposition en décembre 2003, il s'avère toutefois que l'application concrète de cet article de loi ne ré¬pond pas entièrement aux attentes du législateur lors de l'élaboration de cet instrument parlementaire. En effet, le législateur s'était alors basé sur la relation de confiance entre le Conseil fédéral et le Parlement, relation essentielle à la mise en oeuvre de cet article. La pratique montre cependant que la mise en oeuvre de l'art. 152 LParl est influencée par des tensions et par une relation de concurrence existant entre l'exécutif et le législatif. Le présent travail entend exposer le contexte historique de l'art. 152 LParl, son élaboration, son but et sa mise en oeuvre, tout en tenant compte des éléments de tension et des autres instruments permettant la participation en matière de politique extérieure.

Highway Program Summary, 2012 to 2016

The Iowa Transportation Commission (Commission) and the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) develop Iowa’s Five Year Highway Program to inform Iowans of planned investments in our state’s primary highway system. This brochure summarizes the 2012-2016 Iowa Highway Program (Program) and provides information about long-term highway programming issues, through the year 2020. The Program is typically updated and approved each year in June.

When information can save lives: the duty to warn relatives about sudden cardiac death and environmental risks.

In certain cases of sudden death, forensic experts may discover during an investigation or autopsy that family members of the deceased are also at risk of harm-from genetic disease, for instance. But do they have a duty to warn them? Looking at similar duties of physicians and researchers to warn third parties of risk suggests they do.

Department of Administrative Services Four Year Strategic Plan, FY 2012-2015

Through the strategic initiatives outlined in this plan, and incorporation of those initiatives into the department’s business plans, DAS believes other departments will be able to concentrate their resources on core missions and rely on DAS for the administrative expertise for their operations. This realignment of effort will result in both an increase in efficiency and a reduction in overall cost to State government. Areas of human resources, information technology, financial services, and general services will be provided statewide in a comprehensive, cohesive, and manageable form with opportunity to make those services available to other public entities outside of state government where efficiency and economics support that cooperation.

Heart to Heart, January 2012

Heart to Heart is a publication on new heart disease and stroke information and other related topics by the Department of Public Health.

The Update, January 9, 2012

The Update is a bi-weekly web newsletter published by the Iowa Department of Public Health's Bureau of Family Health. It is posted the second and fourth week of every month, and provides useful job resource information for departmental health care professionals, information on training opportunities, interdepartmental reports and meetings, and additional information pertinent to health care professionals.

The Update, January 23, 2012

The Update is a bi-weekly web newsletter published by the Iowa Department of Public Health's Bureau of Family Health. It is posted the second and fourth week of every month, and provides useful job resource information for departmental health care professionals, information on training opportunities, interdepartmental reports and meetings, and additional information pertinent to health care professionals.

Sustainable Concrete Pavements: A Manual of Practice, January 2012

Sustainable Concrete Pavements: A Manual of Practice is a product of the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University’s Institute for Transportation, with funding from the Federal Highway Administration (DTFH61-06-H-00011, Work Plan 23). Developed as a more detailed follow-up to a 2009 briefing document, Building Sustainable Pavement with Concrete, this guide provides a clear, concise, and cohesive discussion of pavement sustainability concepts and of recommended practices for maximizing the sustainability of concrete pavements. The intended audience includes decision makers and practitioners in both owner-agencies and supply, manufacturing, consulting, and contractor businesses. Readers will find individual chapters with the most recent technical information and best practices related to concrete pavement design, materials, construction, use/operations, renewal, and recycling. In addition, they will find chapters addressing issues specific to pavement sustainability in the urban environment and to the evaluation of pavement sustainability. Development of this guide satisfies a critical need identified in the Sustainability Track (Track 12) of the Long-Term Plan for Concrete Pavement Research and Technology (CP Road Map). The CP Road Map is a national research plan jointly developed by the concrete pavement stakeholder community, including Federal Highway Administration, academic institutions, state departments of transportation, and concrete pavement–related industries. It outlines 12 tracks of priority research needs related to concrete pavements. CP Road Map publications and other operations support services are provided by the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University. For details about the CP Road Map, see www.cproadmap. org/index.cfm.