Advances in DNA technology and the discovery of DNA polymorphisms have permitted the creation of DNA databases of individuals for the purpose of criminal investigation.Many ethical and legal problems arise in the preparation of a DNA database, and these problems are especially important when one analyses the legal regulations on the subject.In this paper three main groups of possibilities, three systems, are analysed in relation to databases. The first system is based on a general analysis of the population; the second (...) one is based on the taking of samples for a particular list of crimes, and a third is based only on the specific analysis of each case. The advantages and disadvantages of each system are compared and controversial issues are then examined. We found the second system to be the best choice for Spain and other European countries with a similar tradition when we weighed the rights of an individual against the public's interest in the prosecution of a crime. (shrink)

In nearly all aspects of life, humans are crossing lines of no return. Modern science is leading us into vast uncharted territory—far beyond the invention of nuclear weapons or taking us to the moon.Today, in labs all over the world, scientists are performing experiments that threaten to fundamentally alter the practical character and ethical color of our everyday lives. In The End of Life as We Know It, bestselling author Michael Guillen takes a penetrating look at how the scientific community (...) is pushing the boundaries of morality, including: • Scientists who detached the head of a Russian man from his crippled, diseased body, and stitching it onto a healthy new donated body. • Fertility experiments aimed at allowing designer babies to be conceived with the DNA from three or more biological parents. • The unprecedented politicization of science – for example, in the global discussion about climate change that is pitting “deniers” against “alarmists” and inspiring Draconian legislation, censorship, and legal prosecutions. • The integration of Artificial Intelligence into communications and the economy. The End of Life as We Know It takes us into labratories and boardrooms where these troubling advances are taking place and asks the question no scientists seem to be asking: What does this mean for the future of humanity? (shrink)

Critical thinking is crucial in today’s environments, yet university students show low levels, requiring targeted interventions. The Socratic method is recognized for critical thinking development, while Internet memes offer a promising approach to enhancing this skill and promoting evidence-based argumentation. Previous studies suggest that professors perceive both positively in higher education. Nevertheless, the literature lacks insight into professors' willingness, enablers, and barriers for adopting them together. Therefore, this qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with eleven Mexican university professors, explores their willingness (...) to incorporate a combination of the Socratic method and Internet memes to enhance critical thinking, and examines their underlying enablers and barriers. The study found that professors are familiar with both tools and willing to using them together to foster critical thinking, citing enablers like students' affinity for memes and the method's reflective power. However, they also identified barriers such as limited curriculum time, restrictive classroom layouts, and a generational gap affecting mutual understanding of memes. This study concludes that the research agenda of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) could include the combined use of memes and the Socratic method to leverage the benefits of both, which include the Socratic method's reflective depth, and the innovative engagement offered by Internet memes. (shrink)

In recent years, a great deal of evidence has accumulated on the health risks and environmental impacts of some herbicides. Both conventional agriculture and agroecology are searching for alternatives to address the challenges posed by the consequences of herbicide use. In this search, peasant and indigenous agroecosystems have much to contribute since their crops evolved thousands of years ago together with diverse communities of weeds, and farmers have carried out sophisticated strategies to manage them. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, free (...) lists, and botanical collection, we document a milpa design that integrates and manages spontaneous vegetation to take advantage of its presence and minimize risks of crop loss. The objective of this article is to critically contrast agroecological mechanisms in this milpa design which matches the prevention principle with a set of recommendations recognized as preventive in conventional weed science. (shrink)

Best of both worlds: objective truth exists -- Beyond circular reasoning: time is linear -- I am who I am: an entity can have contradictory natures -- Seeing in the dark: significant parts of reality are hidden from us -- Not of this world: light is unearthly -- An egg-straordinary event: the universe was created Ex Nihilo -- The certainty of uncertainty: truth is bigger than proof -- La vida loca: cause and effect can be disproportional -- The cosmic grapevine: (...) instantaneous communication is possible -- Beyond fleas and grapes: humans are unique. (shrink)

Depth perception -- The difference is in the SQ -- What's the problem? -- The gift that keeps on giving -- Turning a blind eye -- Faith by any other name -- Hope springs eternal -- Can a smart person believe in God? -- What's your SQ? -- Key to the SQ test.

Reumen. Se describen las bases del muestreo conglomerado y muestreo sistemático. Se presentan lasecuaciones pertinentes y aquellas para la estimación del tamaño óptimo de muestreo para cada tipo demuestreo. Se demuestra la aplicación práctica de éstos clases de muestreo por medio de ejemplosreales.Palabras claves. Muestreo conglomerado, muestreo sistemático, tamaño óptimo de la muestra.. Cluster sampling and systematic sampling are described and their equations are provided.Real examples are given in order to show the applications of these types of samplings. Equations toestimate (...) optimal sample sizes are also noted.Keywords. Cluster sampling, optimal sample size, systematic sampling. (shrink)

En estas páginas se reúnen tres trabajos elaborados en diferentes fechas, pero estrechamente interrelacionados bajo la intención global de aportar algunos elementos a la evaluación de las opciones metodológicas y epistemológicas en el campo de la investigación en Ciencias Sociales. Esos tres escritos nacen de la preocupación por los riesgos a que se ven expuestos los procesos de producción de conocimientos en el área social, sobre todo si consideramos que, dadas ciertas circunstancias del debate epistemológico actual, casi a diario aparecen (...) ofertas bajo la con?signa del nuevo paradigma o del paradigma emergente. Ante estas ofertas suele ocurrir que unos se muestran entusiasmados y otros incrédulos, pero muy pocos, relativamente, se dedican a evaluarlas. Así, sin evaluar las distintas opciones, la investigación social podría llegar a extremos de li?bertinaje académico, inoperancia y descrédito, incumpliendo de ese modo con el delicado compromiso que tienen los investigadores -tesistas, tuto?res y profesores- con respecto a las necesidades de la sociedad actual. En general, el supuesto inicial más importante aquí es que no pode?mos asumir ciegamente una determinada oferta metodológica y epistemo?lógica, por atractiva que parezca, si previamente no la sometemos a una crítica dura, desinteresada y honesta. Bajo esos términos, tomando en cuenta el predominio y la creciente influencia que han llegado a ejercer las propuestas del «paradigma emergente» sobre noveles investigadores sin que éstos dispongan de un cuerpo amplio de contrargumentaciones y señalamientos divergentes, los trabajos aquí presentados se orientan a deslindar aspectos que parecen significativos para una crítica severa y puntual. Esto es aun más urgente si consideramos que, apartando el caso de muchos investigadores respetables y serios que trabajan bajo la óptica del paradigma emergente, recientemente han pululado las posiciones anárqui?cas y descabelladas que también se declaran bajo esa misma óptica. Y, según parece, es aquí donde late un importante peligro para la investiga?ción social. Esperamos que de los trabajos aquí recogidos puedan también deducirse esas diferencias. (shrink)

Justificatory liberalism is liberal in an abstract and foundational sense: it respects each as free and equal, and so insists that coercive laws must be justified to all members of the public. In this essay I consider how this fundamental liberal principle relates to disputes within the liberal tradition on “the extent of the state.” It is widely thought today that this core liberal principle of respect requires that the state regulates the distribution of resources or well-being to conform to (...) principles of fairness, that all citizens be assured of employment and health care, that no one be burdened by mere brute bad luck, and that citizens' economic activities must be regulated to insure that they do not endanger the “fair value” of rights to determine political outcomes. I argue in this essay: a large family of liberal views are consistent with the justificatory liberals project, from classical to egalitarian formulations ; overall, the justificatory project tilts in the direction of classical formulations. (shrink)

Kant argues that the “discipline” of reason holds us to public argument and reflective thought. When we speak the language of reasoned judgment, Kant maintains, we “speak with a universal voice,” expecting and claiming the assent of all other rational beings. This language carries with it a discipline requiring us to submit our judgments to the forum of our rational peers. Remarkably, Kant does not restrict this thought to the realm of politics, but rather treats politics as the model for (...) reason's authority in all the provinces that rational beings inhabit. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of school principal trustworthiness components (i.e., ability, integrity, benevolence) in helping shape teacher trust and affective commitment within schools. Using data from 1,026 teachers in Spain and structural equation modeling (via EQS 6.3), this study establishes how a principal’s integrity and benevolence are key in determining, both directly and indirectly (via trust in the principal), teachers’ affective commitment to their school. It also reveals that the perceived ability of a principal (...) is not effective in generating trust or affective commitment to the school in teachers. As a contribution to the literature, these findings reveal that the ethical trustworthiness (benevolence, integrity) of principals is key in engendering trust and affective commitment to schools. Thus, to shape work environments that are high in trust and commitment, principals should focus on behaving in ways that make their integrity and benevolence manifest to their teachers. (shrink)

Having laid the groundwork in his critically acclaimed books Neural Darwinism (Basic Books, 1987) and Topobiology (Basic Books, 1988), Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman now proposes a comprehensive theory of consciousness in The Remembered ...

Resumen. Se analizan de forma detallada las bases del muestreo multietápico, la estimación de submuestreo y el muestreo de respuesta aleatoria. Se presentan las ecuaciones pertinentes ejemplificando por medio de casos reales. También se argumentan las situaciones en donde se debe utilizar estos casos específicos. Palabras claves. Caso multietápico, muestreo de respuesta aleatoria, submuestreo.. The basics of multi-stage sampling, sub-sampling and random response sampling are analyzed. Detailed equations regarding these types of sampling are provided. The applications of these types of (...) samplings are denoted by means of real case studies. Keywords. Multi-stage sampling, sub-sampling, random response sampling. (shrink)

Resumen. Se presentan los conceptos básicos de muestreo secuencial en sus cinco modalidades,incluyendo muestreo secuencial de tipo estándar, usando solo una densidad crítica, por una precisiónfija, por medio de presencia-ausencia y finalmente de tipo temporal. Se notan un ejemplo real para cadacaso. Se nota y se explica la importancia de la distribución de los datos y los pertinentes ecuaciones. Sepresentan a través de ejemplos reales las ecuaciones para estimar el tamaño óptimo de la muestra paracada uno de las cinco modalidades (...) del muestreo secuencial. Se enfatiza la ventaja económica de estetipo de muestreo.Palabras clave: Distribución de los datos, muestreo secuencial, tamaño óptimo de la muestra. Fundamental concepts of sequential sampling in all its types including standard sequentialsampling, sequential sampling using only one critical density, fixed precision sequential sampling,presence-absence sequential sampling, and time sequential sampling are highlighted. A real caseexample for each of the five sequential samplings is given. The relevance of data distribution forsequential sampling along with corresponding equations is provided and explained. Equations to assessthe optimal sample size for each case are noted and exemplified. The economic advantages of sequentialsampling in stressedKeywords: Data distribution, sample size, sequential sampling. (shrink)

Palabras claves. Métodos estadísticos, pruebas de hipótesisResumen. Se presentan de forma simple, breve y por medios de los ejemplos prácticos, los métodos estadísticos que sirven para demostrar la representatividad de una, dos o varias muestras basada en los parámetros poblacionales. Se indican la manera de reducir el tamaño del error experimental para aclarar el efecto significativo de los grupos o muestras bajo el interés. Además, se demuestran la forma de eliminar el efecto de las variables auxiliares o colaterales causante del (...) ruido o error en la estadística. También se nota el uso del modelo ANOVA Anidada para indicar la forma de segmentar la ANOVA en varias partes y de esta manera poder contestar preguntas más complejas. Finalmente, se describen e explican la forma de optimizar los recursos en la conducción de los experimentos y descubrir el efecto de la interacción entre las variables.Keywords. Hypothesis testing, statistical methods. Statistical methods that serve to represent, based upon population parameters of mean and variance, for one, tow or various samples taken from study populations are discussed. Ways to reduce the amount of experimental error in order to clarify the real effect of the treatments are demonstrated. The use of Covariance Analysis to show the pure effect of treatment free from the effect of collateral variables is also indicated. Nested ANOVA that allows division of ANOVA in several parts in order to answer complex questions is described and explained. Finally, the utility of Factorial Analysis for optimization of resource use as well as the illustration of interaction effects are noted and analyzed. (shrink)

In his provocative new book, The Tyranny of the Ideal, Gerald Gaus lays out a vision for how we should theorize about justice in a diverse society. Gaus shows how free and equal people, faced with intractable struggles and irreconcilable conflicts, might share a common moral life shaped by a just framework. He argues that if we are to take diversity seriously and if moral inquiry is sincere about shaping the world, then the pursuit of idealized and perfect theories (...) of justice--essentially, the entire production of theories of justice that has dominated political philosophy for the past forty years--needs to change. Drawing on recent work in social science and philosophy, Gaus points to an important paradox: only those in a heterogeneous society--with its various religious, moral, and political perspectives--have a reasonable hope of understanding what an ideally just society would be like. However, due to its very nature, this world could never be collectively devoted to any single ideal. Gaus defends the moral constitution of this pluralistic, open society, where the very clash and disagreement of ideals spurs all to better understand what their personal ideals of justice happen to be. Presenting an original framework for how we should think about morality, The Tyranny of the Ideal rigorously analyzes a theory of ideal justice more suitable for contemporary times. (shrink)

In this innovative and important work, Gerald Gaus advances a revised and more realistic account of public reason liberalism, showing how, in the midst of fundamental disagreement about values and moral beliefs, we can achieve a moral and political order that treats all as free and equal moral persons. The first part of this work analyzes social morality as a system of authoritative moral rules. Drawing on an earlier generation of moral philosophers such as Kurt Baier and Peter Strawson (...) as well as current work in the social sciences, Gaus argues that our social morality is an evolved social fact, which is the necessary foundation of a mutually beneficial social order. The second part considers how this system of social moral authority can be justified to all moral persons. Drawing on the tools of game theory, social choice theory, experimental psychology and evolutionary theory, Gaus shows how a free society can secure a moral equilibrium that is endorsed by all, and how a just state respects, and develops, such an equilibrium. (shrink)

From 1968 until his death in 2003, Gerald Hanratty was professor of philosophy at University College Dublin. In this volume to his memory, Fran O'Rourke has assembled twenty-six essays reflecting Hanratty's broad philosophical interests, dealing with central questions of human existence and the ultimate meaning of the universe. Whether engaged in historical investigations into Gnosticism or the Enlightenment, Hanratty was concerned with fundamental themes in the philosophy of religion and philosophical anthropology. _Human Destinies_ brings together a wide range of (...) approaches to central questions of human nature and destiny. Included are historical studies of classical thinkers of the ancient and medieval periods and of modern authors. "This volume offers a significant contribution to the various fields within philosophy addressed by its authors. Many of the essays have an intrinsic contemporary appeal to scholars and intellectuals concerned with matters touching on both philosophical and theological issues of significance." —_Glenn Hughes, St. Mary's University, San Antonio_. (shrink)

This collection of original essays on Yoga in honour of Professor Gerald James Larson provides fascinating new insights into the yoga traditions of India as a ...

The author takes the reader on a tour that covers such topics as computers, evolution, Descartes, Schrodinger, and the nature of perception, language, and invididuality. He argues that biology provides the key to understanding the brain. Underlying his argument is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history. This book ponders connections between psychology and physics, medicine, philosophy, and more. Frequently contentious, Edelman attacks cognitive and behavioral approaches, which leave biology out of the picture, as (...) well as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer. (shrink)

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist and a leading brain researcher show how the brain creates conscious experience.

Many people, including many egalitarian political philosophers, professa belief in equality while enjoying high incomes of which they devotevery little to egalitarian purposes. The article critically examinesways of resolving the putative inconsistency in the stance of thesepeople, in particular, that favouring an egalitarian society has noimplications for behaviour in an unequal one; that what''s bad aboutinequality is a social division that philanthropy cannot reduce; thatprivate action cannot ensure that others have good lives; that privateaction can only achieve a ``drop in (...) the ocean''''; that private effortis not called for, since justice is a matter for the state to enforce;that private effort cannot remove the fundamental injustice, whichis inequality of power; and that private effort involves an unreasonablylarge psychological burden. (shrink)

Gerald L. Bruns. the spell of another, to liberate the language imprisoned in a work in his recreation of that work" (p. 80). The notion of a pure language, a language uncontaminated by mere speech, may be one of modernity's great unkillable...