On the Structure of Bioethics as a Pragmatic Discipline

This article analyzes certain aspects of the structure of bioethics as a discipline. It begins by arguing that bioethics is an academic discipline of a pragmatic nature and then puts forward a classification of the main problems, issues, and concerns in bioethics, using this classification as a way to outline the limits and framework of the field. Pushing further, it contends that comprehensive treatment of any topic in bioethics requires that three normative dimensions (the ethical, the moral, and the political) be taken into account. It concludes that the classification of the issues and analysis of each issue's normative dimensions can provide valuable contributions toward understanding the sui generis structure of bioethics as a pragmatic discipline.     

Aggression and commensalism in house mouse: a comparative study across Europe and the near east

Species specific differences of house mouse social behavior compared to its closest relatives (aboriginal species Mus macedonicus, Mus spicilegus, and Mus spretus) have recently been suggested. However, substantial variation of behavioral traits between mouse populations has been also evidenced. Agonistic behavior of laboratory‐born house mice from five commensal populations (Mus musculus musculus: central Czech Republic, Mus musculus domesticus: Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and natural Mus m. musculus/domesticus hybrids from the Czech part of the hybrid zone) and five non‐commensal populations of M. m. domesticus (C. Syria, E. Syria, Jordan, Iran, Libya) was studied. Dyadic interactions in a neutral cage were performed and the effects of sex and population on time spent by agonistic behavior evaluated. In all studied populations, the male‐male interactions were more agonistic than the female‐female ones. Male‐male behavior gradually increased from the least agonistic population of M. m. musculus from Central Europe to the Near East populations of M. m. domesticus exhibiting the highest scores of agonistic behavior. Between‐population differences were even stronger when female‐female encounters were considered. While females of commensal populations belonging to both M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus were tolerant of each other, those coming from non‐commensal populations of M. m. domesticus were highly agonistic, reaching even the level of aggression between the females of some aboriginal mouse species. This phenomenon may be attributed to increased competition for food in non‐commensal populations when compared to commensal ones supplied by superabundant resources. Social behavior of house mice, therefore, appears to be pliable rather than rigid and species specific. It can be changed rapidly according to ecological needs and such adaptability allows house mice to colonize various habitats. Aggr. Behav. 31:283–293, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

ROLES OF EPISTEMOLOGY IN INVESTIGATING KNOWLEDGE: “PHILOSOPHIZING WITH”

Abstract: This article aims at elucidating the ways in which philosophy may engage in cooperation with other disciplines through “philosophy with” ( Hansson 2008 ). An exemplary investigation is undertaken of the roles of epistemology in investigating knowledge, that is, how epistemology may interact with sciences concerned with knowledge. Four possible roles are distinguished: provider of a priori conceptual analyses, clarifier of scientific concepts and their implications, interpreter of scientific results, and dialogue partner with a voice of its own. Each role is illustrated by contemporary texts, and it is argued that the role of dialogue partner is the most fruitful.     

Strategic Planning to Enhance Teaching and Learning with Technology

Abstract. Seminaries across North America are continuing to expand their use of technology for theological education. This article explores eight issues surrounding the strategic planning process when it comes to technology. These have to do with the obstacles to fresh thinking, the current best practices in strategic planning processes, detailed discussions of the impact of various models of technology for theological education on faculty, Information Technology personnel, and students as well as the issues surrounding delivery system models and the issue of sustainability.     

平行竞争还是序列加工?——来自空间关系推理的脑电证据

本研究应用事件相关电位技术探讨推理的双重加工理论中两个系统T1与T2之间的相互作用关系。研究假设逻辑推理者(LR)的推理过程启动T2系统,而非逻辑推理者(IR)在推理过程中会启动T1系统,工作记忆的参与与否作为区分T1与T2系统的指标。研究结果显示空间关系三段论推理可分为识别-对比-推导-保持四个阶段,两类推理者在推导阶段与结果保持阶段存在明显差异。LR的推导与保持阶段需要工作记忆广泛参与,而IR的推导过程主要进行视觉操作,在保持阶段抑制信念冲突,这个过程不依赖工作记忆。这表明LR的推理过程主要启动T2系统,IR的推理过程有T1系统参与,对信念与逻辑冲突的探测不需要T2参与,符合混合模型。     

Why Listen to Philosophers? A Constructive Critique of Disciplinary Philosophy

This article articulates a fundamental crisis of disciplinary philosophy—its lack of disciplinary self‐consciousness and the skeptical problems this generates—and, through that articulation, exemplifies a means of mitigating its force. Disciplinary philosophy organizes itself as a producer of specialized knowledge, with the apparatus of journals, publication requirements, and other professional standards, but it cannot agree on what constitutes knowledge, progress, or value, and evinces ignorance of its history and alternatives. This situation engenders a skepticism that threatens the legitimacy of disciplinary philosophy. The article proposes a response to this skepticism, rooted in the conditions that philosophers evince a specific kind of awareness of their own activity and its professional and cultural location, demonstrate this awareness by articulating it in the practice of philosophy itself, and recognize that precisely such articulation lies at the core of the Socratic idea of philosophy as a form of self‐knowledge.     

Notes on Logics of Metric Spaces

In [14], we studied the computational behaviour of various first-order and modal languages interpreted in metric or weaker distance spaces. [13] gave an axiomatisation of an expressive and decidable metric logic. The main result of this paper is in showing that the technique of representing metric spaces by means of Kripke frames can be extended to cover the modal (hybrid) language that is expressively complete over metric spaces for the (undecidable) two-variable fragment of first-order logic with binary pred-icates interpreting the metric. The frame conditions needed correspond rather directly with a Boolean modal logic that is, again, of the same expressivity as the two-variable fragment. We use this representation to derive an axiomatisation of the modal hybrid variant of the two-variable fragment, discuss the compactness property in distance logics, and derive some results on (the failure of) interpolation in distance logics of various expressive power. Presented by Melvin Fitting     

Web模式下三维装箱问题的一种解决方法

为解决Web模式下多约束三维装箱问题对求解时间和效率的要求,针对混合遗传算法中交叉算子的模式干扰带来的求解速度较慢问题,从优化搜索策略方面入手,引入克隆选择算法(SCA),利用克隆扩增、克隆选择算子完成种群进化,并结合六空间启发式策略对SCA算法加以改进,使两者相辅相成、互相受益。实验表明:本算法对提高Web模式下三维装箱的速度成效显著,且算法效率较高。     

再认研究的ROC理论模型

接受者操作特性曲线（ROC）分析已被广泛运用于再认记忆研究中。文章述及ROC解释记忆结果的三种理论模型,并结合基于项目识别、关联识别、排除任务以及“记得／知道”程序等范式的相关研究文献对此三种模型进行了评价。文献分析表明,相对于阈限模型和信号检测模型,结合信号检测加工和回忆阈限加工的综合模型能更好地拟合研究结果,并佐证再认可能是包含功能相互独立的双结构心理过程。     

Primary school teachers’ perceptions of school children coping with changing family situations – a hybrid Hong Kong experience

The personal beliefs of teachers and the cultural traditions of society can have significant effects on the adjustment of children in changing family situations. This paper explores primary school teachers’ perception of children coping with difficult family situations and family changes in the hybrid context of Hong Kong, where Westernization meets with Chinese culture. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Thirty one teachers of different ages, experience, and roles at school were interviewed. The finding shows that teachers were on the whole quite traditional in their perception of children in difficult family situations despite the co-existence of modern ideas of marriage with traditional family values. Implications of the study for teacher education are discussed.