Africa has a colonial past that renders it a linguistic melting pot, where language is not only important for communication but is inextricably related to cultural identity. In Africa, there are over 2000 languages that are still being used and spoken. Language diversity coupled with cultural diversity may affect the process of obtaining informed consent in data-intensive research. We explore some of the challenges and opportunities of multilingualism in handling informed consent in the context of data-intensive research. In multilingual contexts, (...) as in most African countries, language is exceptionally central, and translation has potential cultural, social, historical, functional and scientific importance. However, it is recognised that terminological and translation activities may not always be cost-effective or feasible. We consider alternative mechanisms of harmonisation of data-related terminology and concepts in multilingual contexts, such as iconography, graphic elicitation and other multimedia formats of information sharing. The inclusion of visual or multimedia explanations in informed consent forms can improve comprehension, enhance information transfer and learning, reduce potential vulnerabilities associated with low literacy levels or the inability to interpret technical language associated with data-intensive research, build trust with participants and their communities, and promote autonomy of potential participants. We recognise that the inclusion of visual or multimedia content to facilitate information transfer is only one component of the informed consent process for data-intensive research. Research ethics committees (RECs) should be mindful of other key considerations and challenges of informed consent for data-intensive research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and to explore whether these alternative forms of consent are ethical and effective in multilingual contexts. (shrink)

Decision-making regarding treatment for newborns with disabilities in resource-poor settings is a difficult process that can put parents and caregivers in conflict. Despite several guidelines that have helped to clarify some of the medical decision-making in Ghana, there is still no clear consensus on the specific moral criteria to be used. This article presents the case of a mother who expressed her wish that her child with Down syndrome should not have been resuscitated at birth. It explores the ethical issues (...) at stake in both her misgivings about the resuscitation and her unwillingness to consider surgical repair of an atrioventricular (AV) canal defect. Knowing that children born with Down syndrome are able to pursue life’s goals, should our treatment of complete AV canal defect in such children be considered morally obligatory, even in resource-poor settings like Ghana? (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and (...) made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

We have begun a theory of measurement in which an experimenter and his or her experimental procedure are modeled by algorithms that interact with physical equipment through a simple abstract interface. The theory is based upon using models of physical equipment as oracles to Turing machines. This allows us to investigate the computability and computational complexity of measurement processes. We examine eight different experiments that make measurements and, by introducing the idea of an observable indicator, we identify three distinct forms (...) of measurement process and three types of measurement algorithm. We give axiomatic specifications of three forms of interfaces that enable the three types of experiment to be used as oracles to Turing machines, and lemmas that help certify an experiment satisfies the axiomatic specifications. For experiments that satisfy our axiomatic specifications, we give lower bounds on the computational power of Turing machines in polynomial time using nonuniform complexity classes. These lower bounds break the barrier defined by the Church-Turing Thesis. (shrink)

Collaboration on the First Edition of Spacetime Physics began in the mid-1960s when Edwin Taylor took a junior faculty sabbatical at Princeton University where John Wheeler was a professor. The resulting text emphasized the unity of spacetime and those quantities (such as proper time, proper distance, mass) that are invariant, the same for all observers, rather than those quantities (such as space and time separations) that are relative, different for different observers. The book has become a standard introduction to (...) relativity. The Second Edition of Spacetime Physics embodies what the authors have learned during an additional quarter century of teaching and research. They have updated the text to reflect the immense strides in physics during the same period and modernized and increased the number of exercises, for which the First Edition was famous. Enrichment boxes provide expanded coverage of intriguing topics. An enlarged final chapter on general relativity includes new material on gravity waves, black holes, and cosmology. The Second Edition of Spacetime Physics provides a new generation of readers with a deep and simple overview of the principles of relativity. (shrink)

Dieser Sammelband vereint Schriften, Artikel und Essays von Brigadier Mag. Dr. Edwin Rudiger Micewski. Die Kompilation wurdigt sein Wirken als Offizier und Philosoph und stellt einem an militarphilosophischen Fragen und humanistischen Aspekten der militarischen Lebenswelt interessierten Leserkreis eine zusammenfassende Gesamtschau deutscher wie englischer Veroffentlichungen des Autors zur Verfugung. Die philosophisch und grundwissenschaftlich orientierten Beitrage behandeln Grundfragen von Sicherheitspolitik und Militarphilosophie und sind aufgrund ihres zeitlosen Charakters auch fur aktuelle Herausforderungen von Relevanz. Infolge der thematischen Bezuge des publizistischen OEvres des (...) Autors gliedert sich die Arbeit in drei Kapitel, die den philosophischen und ethischen Schriften, den Beitragen zur Sicherheitspolitik und politisch-militarischen Beziehungen sowie den Fragen von Fuhrung, Bildung und militarischem Professionalismus gewidmet sind. Ein einleitender Abschnitt beinhaltet Reflexionen zu Person, Werk und Wirken von Edwin Rudiger Micewski, die von vier herausragenden Personlichkeiten des internationalen akademisch-sicherheitspolitischen Diskurses verfasst wurden.". (shrink)