ISLAMIC MODERNITY AND THE CHALLENGES FOR SECULAR LIBERALISM

In his recent book Islam Evolving: Radicalism, Reformation, and the Uneasy Relationship with the Secular West, Taner Edis discusses Islamic responses to the modern world and how the West deals and should deal with them. He argues convincingly that the biggest threat to secular liberalism is not fundamentalism but an Islamic form of modernity. He attributes some of the latter's success to Western neoliberalism and to the failure of secular liberals to come up with persuasive arguments. He thus puts part of the blame on the West. However, although self‐criticism is an essential aspect of a well‐functioning democracy, we should not take it too far. Instead, there exist convincing reasons why a secular liberal society is strongly preferable to a religious conservative one.     

Articles of Faith: Freedom of Expression and Religious Freedom in Contemporary Multiculture

ABSTRACT

This article examines the relationship between freedom of religion and freedom of speech and expression within contemporary multicultural liberal democracies. These two fundamental human rights have increasingly been seen, in public and political discourse, in terms of tension if not outright opposition, a view reinforced by the Charlie Hebdo killings in January 2015. And yet in every human rights charter they are proximate to one another. This essay argues that this adjacency is not coincidental, that it has a history and that, in illuminating this history, it is possible to explore how the contemporary framing of these two rights as being in opposition has come about. Looking back to the framing of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the essay offers an historical perspective that, in turn, facilitates a reappraisal and re-evaluation of these two liberties that is the necessary, albeit insufficient, predicate to the task of addressing the problematic of multicultural ‘crisis' in the contemporary liberal democracies of Western Europe, North America and Australasia, in which the presence of certain religious communities (Muslims, in particular) and the role of religion in public and political life more generally (and, conversely, of secularism) has assumed a central importance.     

Testing a conceptual model of patient and family predictors of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms

Path analysis was used to test a model linking family member's attributions, criticism, hostility, emotional overinvolvement (EOI) that focused on intrusiveness, and family accommodation to severity of obsessive compulsive symptoms. This study draws upon previous expressed emotion (EE) research by including separate components of EE assessed in relatives and patients, as well as family accommodation measures to build a model of family influences on OCD symptoms. Measures of patient- and relative-perceived criticism, family accommodation, EOI intrusiveness and OCD symptom severity were collected on a single occasion from 50 patients and 50 relatives whom the patient had daily contact with. Novel self-report scales for the three EE components of criticism, hostility and EOI derived from existing instruments showed good to excellent internal consistency. Confirmatory path analyses were used to demonstrate that the data provided an adequate fit to the hypothesized path model. The patient-rated data suggested that patients who perceived their relatives as either critical or hostile were likely to have more severe OCD symptoms. For relative-rated EE, hostility proved to be a better determinant than criticism in the path model. Implications of this model for interventions and for future research are discussed. The measures employed may prove to be a cost-effective alternative to the labor intensive Camberwell Family Interview.     

英汉双语者二语口语产生中音韵编码过程的同化机制

本研究运用事件相关电位技术,结合时空微态分割分析法,考察英汉双语者二语口语产生过程中音韵编码过程的同化与顺应机制。研究中采用图词干扰即时命名任务,比较英汉双语者的汉语产生过程中音韵编码的加工单元与汉语母语者的汉语产生过程还是与英语母语者的英语产生过程的特点类似。反应时结果发现汉汉组、英汉组与英英组都出现显著的音节效应。事件相关电位的结果发现英汉双语者的汉语产生过程中出现了音素效应,与其英语产生过程的特点类似,音素效应在英语和汉语的产生过程中都出现在图画呈现后的200～250 ms之间,而汉语母语者的汉语产生过程中仅发现了音节效应,出现在250～300 ms之间。时空微态分割分析发现英汉双语者在汉语产生的音韵编码过程与英语母语者在英语产生过程所对应的脑电微态成分相同,仅在持续时间上存在显著差异;其微态成分不同于汉语母语者的汉语产生过程。上述结果表明英汉双语者汉语产生的音韵编码过程与英语作为母语时的产生过程相似,而与汉语作为母语时的产生过程不同。英汉双语者的汉语产生过程采用了母语同化机制。     

Visual ergonomics of head-mounted displays

Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are increasingly used in the field and in the laboratory. Prolonged use of HMDs requires their ergonomics to be optimized in order to reduce discomfort. Among factors causing visual load are the physical/optical properties of eyepieces used in HMDs. Many HMD eyepieces are adjusted manually to fit the individual requirements of the user. Proper adjustment of the eyepieces requires some knowledge of visual ergonomics. Additionally, in order to enable comfortable viewing, restrictions on the visual information presented in HMDs, such as the motion of objects in virtual depth, must be considered. Visual performance and therefore visual load depends on the display technology used in HMDs.     

The Engagement of French Protestantism in Solidarism

It is conventional to think of modernity as being characterised by the irremediable separation of philosophy and theology, of reason and faith. Failing to reconsider the idea of such a divorce, post-modernity has pushed this postulate to its very limits by attempting to abolish all types of normativity whether on the grounds of reason or any other basis. Against these prevailing conceptions, we argue that there exist, within philosophy and theology, processes of differentiation as well as original combinations. To illustrate the possibility of mutually enriching exchanges between the philosophical and the theological ethical traditions we will call upon the historical example of solidarism. This will enable us to show that the two traditions are not so heterogeneous as may be first thought by those who underestimate the importance of identifying the conditions, both pragmatic and ideological, that govern practical in situation ethical judgements.     

如何实现慢性乙型肝炎的理性治疗

慢性乙型肝炎是一种常见的、严重危害人类健康的传染病。为了合理治疗慢性乙型肝炎病人,必须把握慢性乙型肝炎的治疗目标、治疗原则和恰当的治疗时机,明确如何选择恰当的药物。     

论老年人长期照护机构安全保障义务

老年人长期照护机构安全保障义务纠纷存在法律适用偏差,部分案件以公平责任原则替代过错责任原则、合理限度不清晰、第三人侵权下机构承担责任方式和是否享有追偿权有不同认识。安全保障义务属于法定的危险防免义务。合理限度取决于对危险源的控制能力、因危险源收益大小、避免损失的成本、经营专业性、受害人特殊信赖关系及对危险规避能力等。长期照护安全保障事故诱发因素多、因果关系复杂、当事人举证能力弱、过度关怀的长期照护预期与服务有效供给不足的矛盾突出。长期照护机构应“以人为本”,提高设施环境安全性、服务队伍专业性、安全保障措施有效性。

     

An exploration of potential pressures to engage in parenting accommodation of PTSD symptoms for military couples

In the context of service member posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, intimate partners may experience pressure to take over parenting roles and run interference between the service member and the children; that is, to engage in partner accommodation focal to parenting. The current study quantitatively assessed potential pressures to engage in parenting accommodation (PPEPA) in a sample of 207 female partners married to male service members with at least one child in the home and the convergence of PPEPA with service member PTSD symptoms, general partner accommodation, couple functioning, parenting, and child functioning. Partners' reports of PPEPA were associated with higher levels of service member PTSD symptoms and partners' general accommodation of PTSD symptoms. When controlling for service member PTSD symptoms and general partner accommodation, partner reports of PPEPA still accounted for unique variance in lower parenting alliance (as reported by both service member and partner), lower levels of service members' reports of closeness with children in the home, higher levels of harsh parenting by both the service member and partner, and greater child behavioral difficulties. Findings support PPEPA as related to partners' accommodative responses to PTSD but demonstrating unique associations with parenting alliance, parenting, and child outcomes. Parenting interventions in the context of PTSD may benefit from conjoint or family approaches that attend to the intersection of PTSD and broader family functioning, including pressures to engage in accommodation focal to the parenting domain.     

“临床路径”服务模式对于推进合理用药的伦理价值

药品是治病救人的物质基础,但要真正达到健康的目的,合理用药才是关键。从医学伦理学的视角来看采取临床路径服务模式推进临床合理用药,体现着“人本主义”的伦理原则,有利于患者“知情同意”原则的实现,有利于降低不合理的医药费用,有利于监测治疗效果,减少药物不良反应。