Tutorial on Computing: Technological Advances, Social Implications, Ethical and Legal Issues

Computing and information technology have made significant advances. The use of computing and technology is a major aspect of our lives, and this use will only continue to increase in our lifetime. Electronic digital computers and high performance communication networks are central to contemporary information technology. The computing applications in a wide range of areas including business, communications, medical research, transportation, entertainments, and education are transforming local and global societies around the globe. The rapid changes in the fields of computing and information technology also make the study of ethics exciting and challenging, as nearly every day, the media report on a new invention, controversy, or court ruling. This tutorial will explore a broad overview on the scientific foundations, technological advances, social implications, and ethical and legal issues related to computing. It will provide the milestones in computing and in networking, social context of computing, professional and ethical responsibilities, philosophical frameworks, and social, ethical, historical, and political implications of computer and information technology. It will outline the impact of the tremendous growth of computer and information technology on people, ethics and law. Political and legal implications will become clear when we analyze how technology has outpaced the legal and political arenas.

Women’s Entrepreneurship: closing the gender gap in access to financial and other services and in social entrepreneurship

This study explores differences between men and women entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. It explores the barriers and discriminatory effects that hinder women’s entrepreneurship, including access to finance in the European Union. The study includes four case studies covering the situation in the Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The role of law and ethics in developing business management as a profession

Currently, business management is far from being recognised as a profession. This paper suggests that a professional spirit should be developed which could function as a filter of commercial reasoning. Broadly, management will not be organised within the framework of a well-established profession unless formal knowledge, licensing, professional autonomy and professional codes of conduct are developed sufficiently. In developing business management as a profession, law may play a key role. Where the idea is that business management should be more professsionalised, managers must show that they are willing to adopt ethical values, while arriving at business decisions. The paper argues that ethics cannot survive without legal regulation, which, in turn, will not be supported by law unless lawyers can find alternative solutions to the large mechanisms of the official society, secured by the monopolised coercion of the nation state. From a micro perspective of law and business ethics, communities can be developed with their own conventions, rules and standards that are generated and sanctioned within the boundaries of the communities themselves.

Trichloroethylene fate and transport studies and biodegradation kinetics in the saturated zone

Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) are constructed from soil solid amendments to support the growth of bacteria that are capable of degrading organic contaminants. The objective of this study was to identify low-cost soil solid amendments that could retard the movement of trichloroethylene (TCE) while serving as long-lived carbon sources to foster its biodegradation in shallow groundwater through the use of a PRB. The natural amendments high in organic carbon content such as eucalyptus mulch, compost, wetland peat, organic humus were compared based on their geophysical characteristics, such as pHw, porosity and total organic carbon (TOC), and as well as TCE sorption potentials. The pHw values were within neutral range except for pine bark mulch and wetland peat. All other geophysical characteristics of the amendments showed suitability for use in a PRB. While the Freundlich model showed better fit for compost and pine bark mulch, the linear sorption model was adequate for eucalyptus mulch, wetland peat and Everglades muck within the concentration range studied (0.2-0.8 mg/L TCE). According to these results, two composts and eucalyptus mulch were selected for laboratory column experiments to evaluate their effectiveness at creating and maintaining conditions suitable for TCE anaerobic dechlorination. The columns were monitored for pH, ORP, TCE degradation, longevity of nutrients and soluble TOC to support TCE dechlorination. Native bacteria in the columns had the ability to convert TCE to DCEs; however, the inoculation with the TCE-degrading culture greatly increased the rate of biodegradation. This caused a significant increase in by-product concentration, mostly in the form of DCEs and VC followed by a slow degradation to ethylene. Of the tested amendments eucalyptus mulch was the most effective at supporting the TCE dechlorination. The experimental results of TCE sequential dechlorination took place in eucalyptus mulch and commercial compost from Savannah River Site columns were then simulated using the Hydrus-1D model. The simulations showed good fit with the experimental data. The results suggested that sorption and degradation were the dominant fate and transport mechanisms for TCE and DCEs in the column, supporting the use of these amendments in a permeable reactive barrier to remediate the TCE.

Otras mitologías (Other Mythologies) and Catch and Release , Book Presentation by Author Reina María Rodríguez

This flyer promotes the event "Otras mitologías (Other Mythologies) and Catch and Release : Book Presentation by Author Reina María Rodríguez" cosponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs and the Department of Modern Languages and Florida International University. The event was held and Books & Books in Coral Gables.

An Institutional, Socio-economic, and Legal Analysis of Fisheries Co-management and Regulation in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica

Marine Areas for Responsible Artisanal Fishing (AMPR) have emerged as a new model for co-managing small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica, one that involves collaboration between fishers, government agencies and NGOs. This thesis aims to examine the context for collective action and co-management by small-scale fishers; evaluate the design, implementation, and enforcement of AMPRs; and conduct a linguistic analysis of fisheries legislation. The present work relies on the analysis of several types of qualitative data, including interviews with 23 key informants, rapid rural assessments, and legal documents. Findings demonstrate the strong influence of economic factors for sustaining collective action, as well as the importance of certain types of external organizations for community development and co-management. Additionally, significant enforcement gaps and institutional deficiencies were identified in the work of regulating agencies. Legal analysis suggests that mechanisms for government accountability are unavailable and that legal discourse reflects some of the most salient problems in management.

Risk and benefits in lifestyle sports: parkour, law and social value

This paper examines the interrelationship between law and lifestyle sports, viewed through the lens of parkour. We argue that the literature relating to legal approaches to lifestyle sport is currently underdeveloped and so seek to partially fill this lacuna. Hitherto, we argue, the law has been viewed as a largely negative presence, seen particularly in terms of the ways in which counter-cultural activities are policed and regulated, and where such activities are viewed as transgressive or undesirable. We argue that this is a somewhat unsophisticated take on how the law can operate, with law constructed as an outcome of constraints to behaviour (where the law authorises or prohibits), distinct from the legal contexts, environments and spaces in which these relationships occur. We argue that the distinctive settings in which lifestyle sports are practiced needs a more fine-grained analysis as they are settings which bear, and bring to life, laws and regulations that shape how space is to be experienced. We examine specifically the interrelationship between risk and benefit and how the law recognises issues of social utility or value, particularly within the context of lifestyle sport. We seek to move from user-centred constructions of law as an imposition, to a more nuanced position that looks at parkour at the intersections of law, space and lifestyle sport, in order to reveal how law can be used to support and extend claims to space.

Floristic And Ethnobotanical Studies Of Medicinal Plants Of The City Of El -Jadida (MOROCCO)

Abstract: BRIGUICHE. H, ZIDANE. L. Floristic And Ethnobotanical Studies Of Medicinal Plants Of The City Of El -Jadida (MOROCCO). In the framework of the ethnobotanical studies on medicinal plants undertaken by the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Natural Resources of the Faculty of Sciences of Kenitra (Morocco), we are interested in the area of El Jadida which presents a rather important floristic richness thanks to changes in its ecological conditions By using 204 questionnaire, the ethnobotanical surveys were conducted in the field during the years 2012-2013. The location of the different sampling sites was determined by the stratified sampling method. The analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaires and forms using statistical processing allowed us to identify 70 plant species distributed in 69 genera and 37 families. These results also show that most of these species are mainly used in the care of the digestive system and respiratory system. The seed is the most used part in local traditional medicines and the decoction is the most frequent mode with a rate of 31%. The species Origanum compactum is the most used by the population of the city of El Jadida 47 quotes.  

Law and Original Contract in the Republican Thought of Immanuel Kant

This article discusses the concept of right and its identification with the power to coerce, to show a reciprocity between the original contract and the right, as a manifestation of the reciprocity between moral law and freedom, as Kant states in its Second Critique. The demonstration of this view will allow a republican stance evident in the legal and political thought of Kant, since the right of a people can only exist while the town itself is unified to enact.

Report on a special investigation of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University, for the period April 1, 2009 through December 15, 2015

Report on a special investigation of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University, for the period April 1, 2009 through December 15, 2015

Law and Literature – a Meaningful Connection

The connection between law and (imaginative) literature can still affect surprisingly. The theme of the present article is to summarize some of the basic features of the movement, which is called „Law and Literature” and to suggest some starting-points with which it is associated. These starting points include, for instance linguistic conception of law, narratology in law or the relations between law and culture. The article offers an overview of the classical approaches connecting law and literature and mentions the reasons for this connection: e.g. cultivation of law and lawyers, improvement of judicial decisions or improvement of legal interpretation. Some of the findings resulting from the joint of law and literature can be used in practice and goes beyond „mere” theory. The article is to be seen as an introduction to the movement of „Law and Literature”, presentation of ideas on which this movement is based and offering the possibility of its further development.

DOCUMENT CONTROL OF NATIONAL MAPPING AND METRIC STUDIES CHARACTERIZING NATIONAL IDENTITY AND INDIVIDUAL. I STAGE

This is a project of the School of Library, Documentation and Information of the National University, is performed to support the initiative of UNESCO to build the Memory of the World (UNESCO, 1995) and to help provide universal access to documentation. To this end, the School of Library Science students has promoted the realization of final graduation work on documentary control of domestic production. This project has the following objectives:Objectives1. Conduct mapping national documentary through the identification, analysis, organization and access to documentary heritage of Costa Rica, to contribute to the Memory of the World.2. Perform bibliometric analysis of documentary records contained in the integrated databases.This project seeks to bring undergraduate students graduating from the school, in making final graduation work on document control. Students have the opportunity to make final graduation work on the documentary production of Costa Rica on a specific theme or on a country's geographical area.Desk audits aimed at identifying the document using access points and indicate its contents to allow recovery by the user.The result is the production of a new document, other than the original, a secondary document: the bibliography. The records in the database each control documentation completed work will be integrated into a single database to be placed on the website of EBDI, for consultation of researchers and interested users.

Evaluating health policy and legal responses : how to reduce barriers and improve access to orphan drugs for rare diseases in Canada

Abstract : Rare diseases are debilitating conditions often leading to severe clinical manifestations for affected patients. Orphan drugs have been developed to treat these rare diseases affecting a small number of individuals. Incentives in the legal framework aimed to recoup the research and development cost of orphan drugs for pharmaceutical companies have been implemented in the United States and the European Union. At the present time, Canada is still lacking a legal and policy framework for orphan drugs. Several problems at the federal and provincial levels remain: lack of research funds for rare diseases, discrepancies on orphan drug policies between provinces, difficulties to access and reimburse these high price drugs. Recommendations and measures are proposed, such as a pan-Canadian (national) scientific committee to establish evidence-based guidelines for patients to access orphan drugs uniformly in all provinces with a disease specific registry, a formal agreement for a centralized Canadian public funding reimbursement procedure, and increasing the role of “guardian” for prices by the Patented Medicines Review Board in Canada. These recommendations and measures will be beneficial for the implementation of a policy framework for orphan drugs in Canada.