How to address the ethics of reproductive travel to developing countries: a comparison of national self-sufficiency and regulated market approaches

One of the areas of concern raised by cross-border reproductive travelregards the treatment of women who are solicited to provide their ova orsurrogacy services to foreign consumers. This is particularly troublesome inthe context of developing countries where endemic poverty and low standardsfor both medical care and informed consent may place these womenat risk of exploitation and harm. We explore two contrasting proposals forpolicy development regarding the industry, both of which seek to promoteethical outcomes and social justice: While one proposal advocates efforts tominimize cross-border demand for female reproductive resources throughthe pursuit of national self-sufficiency, the other defends cross-border tradeas a means for meeting the needs of vulnerable groups. Despite theconflicting objectives of the proposed strategies, the paper identifiescommon values and points of agreement between the two, including theimportance of regulations to safeguard those providing ova or surrogacyservices.

Family centred care before and during life-sustaining treatment withdrawal in intensive care: a survey of information provided to families by Australasian critical care nurses

BACKGROUND: A core component of family-centred nursing care during the provision of end-of-life care in intensive care settings is information sharing with families. Yet little is known about information provided in these circumstances.

OBJECTIVE: To identify information most frequently given by critical care nurses to families in preparation for and during withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.

DESIGN: An online cross-sectional survey.

METHODS: During May 2015, critical care nurses in Australia and New Zealand were invited to complete the Preparing Families for Treatment Withdrawal questionnaire. Data analysis included descriptive statistics to identify areas of information most and least frequently shared with families. Cross tabulations with demographic data were used to explore any associations in the data.

RESULTS: From the responses of 159 critical care nurses, information related to the emotional care and support of the family was most frequently provided to families in preparation for and during withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Variation was noted in the frequency of provision of information across body systems and their associated physical changes during the dying process. Significant associations (p<0.05) were identified between the variables gender, nursing experience and critical care experiences and some of the information items most and least frequently provided.

CONCLUSIONS: The provision of information during end-of-life care reflects a family-centred care approach by critical care nurses with information pertaining to emotional care and support of the family paramount. The findings of this study provide a useful framework for the development of interventions to improve practice and support nurses in communicating with families at this time.

Pedagogical Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by West African Educators = Appropriation pédagogique des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) par les éducateurs ouest-africains

Œuvre dédiée à Alioune Camara; merci au Prof. Denis Dougnon de l’Université de Bamako pour le parrainage

Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country Survey

Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. This work aimed at studying the sources of information about DF, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. The results showed that mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but the participants recognize that television might be a most suitable way to disseminate information about DF. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet, the preferred source of information, got highest scores for Hungary, for urban areas, for university level of education and for female gender. The radio, the least scored source of information, was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). As a conclusion, people get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centers and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

The role of information literacy competence and higher order thinking skills to develop academic writing in science and engineering students

This article discusses a study organized to develop academic writing skills in undergraduate students pursuing engineering courses. The target group consisted of 30 students pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in their third year. The classroom observations regarding teaching writing revealed that writing proficiency for most of the students was at a very low level. Followed by this, an intervention program was organized in one college, where the researcher taught academic writing to the students. Units comprising tasks that focused on raising awareness of the academic texts and involving the students in the cognitive processes of writing were designed. The study focused on raising student awareness regarding the nature and characteristics of academic texts in order to develop academic writing skills. The study also emphasized that involving the students in the cognitive processes of writing (e.g., defining the rhetorical problem, identifying the rhetorical situation, determining the audience, setting goals for writing, planning for the text by generating, and organizing ideas) is necessary. The study further suggests that discussions between students and teachers regarding the construction of a text and the way language works in various text types facilitates better writing.

Book review. becoming two in love: Kierkegaard, Irigaray, and the ethics of sexual difference

Book review of Roland J. De Vries, Becoming Two in Love: Kierkegaard, Irigaray, and the Ethics of Sexual Difference. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2013 (ISBN 978-1-61097-517-9)

Exploring differences between smaller and large organizations' corporate governance of information technology

Corporate governance of information technology (CGIT) is targeted at maximizing IT investment to achieve business objectives and value. Yet there is little empirical evidence about organizations' attitudes to and use of CGIT to deliver such value, or the role of related policies, practices, frameworks and methodologies. This study explored the views of Chief Information Officers and executive managers of smaller and large, primarily Australian organizations, regarding governance of IT. Through a survey, we investigated their views regarding the perc eived relevance, influential drivers, challenges and perceived benefits from the use of CGIT. Regardless of organizational size, our findings demonstrate substantially the same benefits, influences and challenges. Further, besides the widely acknowledged importance of strategic alignment of business and IT, risk management was found to be significant both in influencing the decision to adopt CGIT and as a perceived key capability for delivering improved organizational performance and resource-based value. As such, the study contributes new knowledge related to delivering business value through governing IT.

On the race of worms and patches: modeling the spread of information in wireless sensor networks

Sensor networks are a branch of distributed ad hoc networks with a broad range of applications in surveillance and environment monitoring. In these networks, message exchanges are carried out in a multi-hop manner. Due to resource constraints, security professionals often use lightweight protocols, which do not provide adequate security. Even in the absence of constraints, designing a foolproof set of protocols and codes is almost impossible. This leaves the door open to the worms that take advantage of the vulnerabilities to propagate via exploiting the multi-hop message exchange mechanism. This issue has drawn the attention of security researchers recently. In this paper, we investigate the propagation pattern of information in wireless sensor networks based on an extended theory of epidemiology. We develop a geographical susceptible-infective model for this purpose and analytically derive the dynamics of information propagation. Compared with the previous models, ours is more realistic and is distinguished by two key factors that had been neglected before: 1) the proposed model does not purely rely on epidemic theory but rather binds it with geometrical and spatial constraints of real-world sensor networks and 2) it extends to also model the spread dynamics of conflicting information (e.g., a worm and its patch). We do extensive simulations to show the accuracy of our model and compare it with the previous ones. The findings show the common intuition that the infection source is the best location to start patching from, which is not necessarily right. We show that this depends on many factors, including the time it takes for the patch to be developed, worm/patch characteristics as well as the shape of the network.

Debating food production at dinner time: Mainstream audiences are invited to debate the ethics of agricultural practices in Brazil

In the rural areas of Brazil, a farmer runs his agricultural empire with a fierce hand: he exploits his workers and the land to their limits. Lack of sustainable land management leads to the pollution of rivers, changes in rain patterns, and exhaustion of the soil.

Pedagogical Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by West African Educators = Appropriation pédagogique des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) par les éducateurs ouest-africains

Œuvre dédiée à Alioune Camara; merci au Prof. Denis Dougnon de l’Université de Bamako pour le parrainage

Project RAILS: Lessons Learned about Collaborative Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

Link to article on publisher site: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/portal_pre_print/articles/belanger.pdf

The Economic and Aesthetic Axis of Information Organization Frameworks

This paper argues that in order to systematically comprehend the diversity of information organization frameworks, we must look at how aesthetic concerns and economic concerns manifest in decisions made about designing and deploying work practices, structures, and discourse. In order to do this I construct an analytical rubric borne by a definition of aesthetic and economics pertinent to indexing regimes. I take the position that we need to move into a more descriptive stance on practices of knowledge organization, not only in documentary heritage institutions (libraries, archives, and museums), but also into the cultural and artistic realms. By expanding the scope of inquiry we can interrogate the integrity of my assertion above, namely, that a chief concern in systematically understanding information organization frameworks, lies in understanding how such frameworks wrestle with, and manifest along a spectrum drawn from economic to aesthetic decision-making.

Modeling the Aesthetic Axis of Information Organization Frameworks, Part 1: Theoretical Basis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework, based on contemporary philosophical aesthetics, from which principled assessments of the aesthetic value of information organization frameworks may be conducted.Design/methodology/approach – This paper identifies appropriate discourses within the field of philosophical aesthetics, constructs from them a framework for assessing aesthetic properties of information organization frameworks. This framework is then applied in two case studies examining the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and Sexual Nomenclature: A Thesaurus. Findings – In both information organization frameworks studied, the aesthetic analysis was useful in identifying judgments of the frameworks as aesthetic judgments, in promoting discovery of further areas of aesthetic judgments, and in prompting reflection on the nature of these aesthetic judgments. Research limitations/implications – This study provides proof-of-concept for the aesthetic evaluation of information organization frameworks. Areas of future research are identified as the role of cultural relativism in such aesthetic evaluation and identification of appropriate aesthetic properties of information organization frameworks.Practical implications – By identifying a subset of judgments of information organization frameworks as aesthetic judgments, aesthetic evaluation of such frameworks can be made explicit and principled. Aesthetic judgments can be separated from questions of economic feasibility, functional requirements, and user-orientation. Design and maintenance of information organization frameworks can be based on these principles.Originality/value – This study introduces a new evaluative axis for information organization frameworks based on philosophical aesthetics. By improving the evaluation of such novel frameworks, design and maintenance can be guided by these principles.Keywords Evaluation, Research methods, Analysis, Bibliographic systems, Indexes, Retrieval languages

Modeling the Aesthetic Axis of Information Organization Frameworks, Part 2: Case Studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework, based on contemporary philosophical aesthetics, from which principled assessments of the aesthetic value of information organization frameworks may be conducted.Design/methodology/approach – This paper identifies appropriate discourses within the field of philosophical aesthetics, constructs from them a framework for assessing aesthetic properties of information organization frameworks. This framework is then applied in two case studies examining the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and Sexual Nomenclature: A Thesaurus. Findings – In both information organization frameworks studied, the aesthetic analysis was useful in identifying judgments of the frameworks as aesthetic judgments, in promoting discovery of further areas of aesthetic judgments, and in prompting reflection on the nature of these aesthetic judgments. Research limitations/implications – This study provides proof-of-concept for the aesthetic evaluation of information organization frameworks. Areas of future research are identified as the role of cultural relativism in such aesthetic evaluation and identification of appropriate aesthetic properties of information organization frameworks.Practical implications – By identifying a subset of judgments of information organization frameworks as aesthetic judgments, aesthetic evaluation of such frameworks can be made explicit and principled. Aesthetic judgments can be separated from questions of economic feasibility, functional requirements, and user-orientation. Design and maintenance of information organization frameworks can be based on these principles.Originality/value – This study introduces a new evaluative axis for information organization frameworks based on philosophical aesthetics. By improving the evaluation of such novel frameworks, design and maintenance can be guided by these principles.Keywords Evaluation, Analysis, Bibliographic systems, Indexes, Retrieval languages, Philosophy

Facets of Access: a Typology of Information Dissemination Systems

In this poster, we describe a new way of conceptualizing relationships between systems for information dissemination throughout history, based on a set of basic attributes or facets. This poster illustrates one way in which these attribute-based relationships might be visualized, as a step toward illuminating novel perspectives on and comparisons between these phenomena.