bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trust and Missed Opportunities in International Relations
Authors: Larson Deborah Welch
Published: March 2003

With the end of the Cold War, we must wonder whether there were missed opportunities to regulate the arms race and global competition, which nearly bankrupted the United States and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. A missed opportunity for agreement is a situation where there was at least one alternative that the parties to a conflict preferred or would have preferred to nonagreement. Hard‐core Realists argue that states compete for territory, arms, and influence because they have conflicting national interests. Soft‐core Realists maintain that such conflicts are effects of international anarchy and uncertainty, and that states can cooperate contingent on reciprocity. I argue that states often fail to cooperate even when they have compatible preferences because policy‐makers make incorrect inferences about the opponent's motives and intentions, a process that can be illuminated by social psychology. I present three alternative explanations of trust and distrust in international relations—rational choice, domestic structures, and social psychology. If policy‐makers are prudent, they will assess the other's interests in observing an agreement as well as its reputation. Often, domestic political structures encourage leaders to promote distrust of an external enemy to legitimize their internal rule or foreign policy. Finally, distrust may lead policy‐makers to dismiss the other side's cooperative signals or proposals. Distrust can be overcome by making a series of step‐by‐step agreements in which each side can test the other's good faith at limited cost, or through unilateral concessions as part of a consistent policy.
Popular Politics and the Clinton/Lewinsky Affair: The Implications for Leadership
Authors: Owen Diana
Published: March 2003

The Clinton/Lewinsky scandal unfolded in an era of “new media” politics that presented fresh and often unanticipated challenges for presidential leadership. New media actors, such as call‐in talk radio and TV hosts, tabloid journalists, and Internet gossip columnists, played a significant role in scandal politics. They influenced the framework within which stories were reported and perceived by the public. New media channels, in particular, framed the events leading up to the presidential impeachment in terms of dramatic, prime time–style entertainment. This entertainment news frame allowed citizens to compartmentalize their perceptions of President Clinton as a leader versus a private individual involved in a sex scandal. Media Politics can explain, at least in part, President Clinton's strong job performance evaluations in the midst of one of the most publicized political scandals of the century.
Compassionate Politics: Support for Old‐Age Programs Among the Non Elderly
Authors: Huddy Leonie , Jones Jeffrey M. , Chard Richard E.
Published: March 2003

This study examines the existence of compassionate support for old‐age programs such as Social Security and Medicare among the non‐elderly. Past research has focused on merit and equality as a basis for support of social welfare programs by examining views of recipients’ deservingness; in contrast, this study considers the extent of program support based on recipients’ perceived need. Analysis of data from the 1984 National Election Study and from a local survey (Suffolk County, New York, 1989) shows that non‐elderly individuals who view older people as financially impoverished are more likely to support government benefits for the aged. Moreover, compassionate support for old‐age programs is distinct from liberal ideology; indeed, political conservatives, not liberals, are most likely to support such programs out of compassion for older people, a finding at odds with Sniderman’s (Sniderman & Carmines, 1997) notion of principled conservatism. The analysis also revealed that response to elderly need does not convey the effects of long‐term and family‐based interests; this result substantiates that support of old‐age programs can be considered as other‐regarding (i.e., reflecting a concern for individuals that is unrelated to one’s personal circumstances). Short‐term and long‐term interests tend to eclipse rather than promote compassionate support of old‐age programs, consistent with the findings of traditional research on self‐interest.
Two Reagans? Genre Imperatives, Ghostwriters, and Presidential Personality Profiling
Authors: Sigelman Lee
Published: March 2003

Attempts to gauge presidential personality on the basis of speeches and other public statements are subject to several potential validity threats. This paper presents a test of the genre imperative of the tendency to make the president sound “presidential,” in combination with the fact that most presidential addresses are drafted by ghostwriters. The test involves comparing the “activity” and “positivity” levels of 235 syndicated radio commentaries that Ronald Reagan wrote and delivered during the years immediately before he became president and 299 weekly radio addresses that he delivered while he was president. The two Reagans were by no means fundamentally different, but the differences between them nonetheless sound a note of caution about basing personality assessments on presidents’ public statements.
Notes on Cultures of Violence, Cultures of Caring and Peace, and the Fulfillment of Basic Human Needs
Authors: Staub Ervin
Published: March 2003

Some conditions in the lives of children, adults, and groups can be construed as fulfilling universal human psychological needs. The constructive fulfillment of these basic needs promotes caring and positive, helpful relations; their frustration creates an inclination toward hostility and aggression. The article describes diverse influences that can lead to violence between individuals, groups, and societies, as well as ways to halt and prevent genocide, mass killing, and other intergroup violence, including terrorism, in part by fostering culture changes that promote harmony and peace. Ideally such culture change would involve healing from past wounds, the creation of positive (rather than destructive) ideologies, supportive communities, reconciliation and the creation of a shared collective memory, education that promotes peace, and the development of inclusive caring in children. The article also refers to work in Rwanda that aims to foster healing and reconciliation, in part by helping people understand the roots of violence and its implication for prevention. Societies and families that help to fulfill basic needs promote goodness as well as optimal human functioning—the continued growth and development of individuals.
Can I Make a Difference? Efficacy, Employment, and Disability
Authors: Schur Lisa , Shields Todd , Schriner Kay
Published: March 2003

Political efficacy is a widely studied phenomenon and an important predictor of political participation, but little is known about the political efficacy of the millions of people with disabilities in the United States. This paper reports the results of a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,240 people—stratified to include 700 people with disabilities—following the November 1998 elections. Several measures of efficacy that help predict political activity were found to be significantly lower among people with disabilities than among otherwise similar people without disabilities. Although lower levels of internal efficacy and civic skills could largely be explained by educational and employment gaps, lower levels of other variables (external efficacy, perceived influence of people with disabilities, and perceived treatment of people with disabilities) remained after applying a wide range of controls, indicating that people with disabilities are less likely to see the political system as responsive to them. This perception is concentrated among non–employed people with disabilities. The lower efficacy levels linked to “disability gaps” in employment, income, education, and group attendance appear to account for as much as half of the disability political participation gap; hence, policies intended to increase employment and educational opportunities for people with disabilities have potentially important political effects.
The Quality of Stakeholder‐Based Decisions
Authors: Beierle Thomas C.
Published: March 2003

The increased use of stakeholder processes in environmental decision making has raised concerns about the quality of decisions these processes produce. Some claim that stakeholders make inadequate use of scientific information and analysis and are all too ready to sacrifice technical quality for political expediency. This article looks to the case study record to examine the quality of the decisions from stakeholder‐based processes. The data for the analysis come from a “case survey,” in which researchers coded information from 239 published case studies of stakeholder involvement in environmental decision making. These cases reflect a diversity of planning, management, and implementation activities carried out by environmental and natural resource agencies at many levels of government. Overall, the case‐study record suggests that there should be little concern that stakeholder processes are resulting in low‐quality decisions. The majority of cases contain evidence of stakeholders improving decisions over the status quo; adding new information, ideas, and analysis; and having adequate access to technical and scientific resources. Indeed, data suggest that it is the more intensive stakeholder processes—precisely those that have aroused recent concern—that are more likely to result in higher‐quality decisions.
Priorities in Information Desire about Unknown Risks
Authors: Lion René , Meertens Ree M. , Bot Ilja
Published: March 2003

Research on risk perception aims to explain how people perceive risks in order to better communicate about them. Most of this research has tended to view people as passive risk perceivers. However, if confronted with an unknown risk, people can also actively seek information. The main purpose of this study was to investigate what kind of risk information people desire when confronted with an unknown risk and how this desire for information relates to the main dimensions underlying risk perception. Nine focus‐group interviews were conducted. The main results of the focus groups were backed up by a paper‐and‐pencil questionnaire that was distributed among a random sample of 500 households in the Netherlands. Overall, people desire information with which they can determine the personal relevance of the risk confronting them. This pattern is similar to appraisal steps described by health behavior models. The focus‐group results provide a dynamic picture of the way risk aspects might interact to create a final risk judgment.
An Integrated Risk Model of a Drinking‐Water – Borne Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak
Authors: Casman Elizabeth A. , Fischhoff Baruch , Palmgren Claire , Small Mitchell J. , Wu Felicia
Published: March 2003

A dynamic risk model is developed to track the occurrence and evolution of a drinking‐water–borne cryptosporidiosis outbreak. The model characterizes and integrates the various environmental, medical, institutional, and behavioral factors that determine outbreak development and outcome. These include contaminant delivery and detection, water treatment efficiency, the timing of interventions, and the choices that people make when confronted with a known or suspected risk. The model is used to evaluate the efficacy of alternative strategies for improving risk management during an outbreak, and to identify priorities for improvements in the public health system. Modeling results indicate that the greatest opportunity for curtailing a large outbreak is realized by minimizing delays in identifying and correcting a drinking‐water problem. If these delays cannot be reduced, then the effectiveness of risk communication in preemptively reaching and persuading target populations to avoid exposure becomes important.
Child Passenger Safety: Decisions about Seating Location, Airbag Exposure, and Restraint Use
Authors: Glass Roberta J. , Segui‐Gomez Maria , Graham John D.
Published: March 2003

The installation of passenger‐side airbags in new vehicles complicates efforts to maximize child safety in motor vehicle crashes. It has been recommended by both public and private organizations that children sit in the rear seat with proper restraint to achieve maximum safety. Drivers now need to decide whether a child should be restrained, where the child should be seated (front versus rear), and whether the child should be seated in front of a passenger‐side airbag. This research was undertaken to determine which choice minimizes the risk of fatality to children. Using data from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System for calendar years 1989 to 1998, fatal vehicle crashes with child passengers younger than 13 years were analyzed. The effectiveness of passenger‐side airbags and rear seating for children, by age category and restraint use, was estimated using the double‐pair comparison method. For each of four age categories, the fatality risk of each possible combination of restraint use, seating location, and airbag presence was also estimated using logistic regression. Passenger airbags were associated with an increase in child fatality risk of 31% for restrained children, and 84% for unrestrained children. Passenger airbags did appear to offer protection to restrained 9‐ to 12‐year‐old children. Restraint use and rear seating were associated with statistically significant reductions in the odds of a child dying in a crash. In order to minimize child fatality risk, parents should seat children in the rear of the vehicle while using the proper child restraint system, especially in vehicles with passenger airbags. These findings support current public education efforts in the United States.
Disparity in Quantitative Risk Assessment: A Review of Input Distributions
Authors: Binkowitz Bruce S. , Wartenberg Daniel
Published: March 2003

Monte Carlo simulations are commonplace in quantitative risk assessments (QRAs). Designed to propagate the variability and uncertainty associated with each individual exposure input parameter in a quantitative risk assessment, Monte Carlo methods statistically combine the individual parameter distributions to yield a single, overall distribution. Critical to such an assessment is the representativeness of each individual input distribution. The authors performed a literature review to collect and compare the distributions used in published QRAs for the parameters of body weight, food consumption, soil ingestion rates, breathing rates, and fluid intake. To provide a basis for comparison, all estimated exposure parameter distributions were evaluated with respect to four properties: consistency, accuracy, precision, and specificity. The results varied depending on the exposure parameter. Even where extensive, well‐collected data exist, investigators used a variety of different distributional shapes to approximate these data. Where such data do not exist, investigators have collected their own data, often leading to substantial disparity in parameter estimates and subsequent choice of distribution. The present findings indicate that more attention must be paid to the data underlying these distributional choices. More emphasis should be placed on sensitivity analyses, quantifying the impact of assumptions, and on discussion of sources of variation as part of the presentation of any risk assessment results. If such practices and disclosures are followed, it is believed that Monte Carlo simulations can greatly enhance the accuracy and appropriateness of specific risk assessments. Without such disclosures, researchers will be increasing the size of the risk assessment “black box,” a concern already raised by many critics of more traditional risk assessments.
Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling of the Lactational Transfer of Methylmercury
Authors: Byczkowski Janusz Z. , Lipscomb John C.
Published: March 2003

The developmental neurotoxicity of methylmercury (MeHg) in humans has been described following catastrophic events in Minamata Bay, Japan and in Iraq, and following the exposure to lower doses elsewhere in the world. The most common route of MeHg exposure in humans is through the intake of contaminated food, especially fish. Although the precautions against the ingestion of potentially contaminated food during pregnancy are well recognized, precautions against the ingestion of MeHg during lactation are not so uniformly recognized. However, the continued development of the central nervous system during the early postnatal period serves to prolong the period during which this critical system is susceptible to the toxic insult of MeHg. Because no direct method is available to quantitatively assess the lactational transfer of MeHg to humans, a computer‐aided simulation method was developed. An available gestational physiologically based pharmacokinetic model was refined and expanded to include parameters and algorithms specific for the elimination of MeHg in breast milk. The predictions of the completed model were compared with experimental data obtained from rodents, and the model parameters were allometrically scaled to humans. Finally, the model was validated by comparing its predictions against the available clinical data for MeHg distribution and elimination in mothers and their nursing infants. This model incorporated current and previous maternal exposures to MeHg to accurately predict the kinetics of MeHg excretion in breast milk and the daily intake by the nursing infant. This model may be used to quantify MeHg intake by the nursing infant, under different rates of maternal MeHg ingestion.
Application of Monitoring Data forGiardia andCryptosporidium to Boil Water Advisories
Authors: Wallis Peter M. , Matson Darrell , Jones Michael , Jamieson John
Published: March 2003

Despite the problems associated with analyzing water samples forGiardia cysts andCryptosporidium oocysts, the data can be very useful if their strengths and weaknesses are understood. Two municipalities in northern Ontario, Temagami and Thunder Bay, both issued boil water advisories forGiardia contamination. Data from these two cities are compared to show that only one municipality experienced a real outbreak, whereas the other did not. The concentration ofGiardia cysts was much higher than background during the outbreak at Temagami, and the postoutbreak concentrations of cysts were very similar to the long‐term average cyst concentration at Thunder Bay. The waterborne outbreak of giardiasis at Temagami was characterized by consistent positive results from water samples, concentrations two to three orders of magnitude higher than normal, and an obvious increase in the number of cases of giardiasis in the population. No outbreak was experienced at Thunder Bay, but a boil water advisory (BWA) was set in place for more than a year on the basis of a single sample from Loch Lomond in which only two cysts were detected but the sample equivalent volume was low. This gave the impression of a sudden increase in concentration, but 39 of 41 subsequent samples were negative. Additional factors that led to a BWA at Thunder Bay are described, and recommendations are presented to help determine when a BWA is necessary and when it should be rescinded.
Importance of Transparency and Traceability in Building a Safety Case for High‐Level Nuclear Waste Repositories
Authors: Mohanty Sitakanta , Sagar Budhi
Published: March 2003

The complexity of the safety case for a high‐level nuclear waste repository makes it imperative that deliberate and significant effort be made to incorporate in it a high level of transparency and traceability. Diverse audiences, from interested members of the public to highly trained subject matter experts, make this task difficult. A systematic study of the meaning of transparency and traceability and the implementation of the associated principles in preparing the safety case is, therefore, required. In this article, we review the existing knowledge and propose topics for further investigation.
Absolute Risk or Relative Risk? A Study of Intraspecies and Interspecies Extrapolation of Chemical‐Induced Cancer Risk
Authors: Kuo Jeanne , Linkov Igor , Rhomberg Lorenz , Polkanov Michael , Gray George , Wilson Richard
Published: March 2003

We have used the CBDS database of the National Toxicology Program to study the difference between absolute risk and relative risk models for interspecies and intersex predictions of cancer risk. For no combination (class) of tumor and site is the prediction good for all chemicals. The variation in predicted risk between chemicals exceeds the difference in risks resulting from application of these two models. On the whole, it appears that relative risk is a better model.
Designing a Property Tax Reform Strategy for Sub‐Saharan Africa: An Analytical Framework Applied to Kenya
Authors: Kelly Roy
Published: March 2003

Countries throughout Sub‐Saharan Africa are exploring options to improve local property taxation. Using the case of Kenya, this article provides an analytical framework for designing an effective property tax reform strategy. The first section presents a general conceptual model of property tax revenues, identifying four critical ratios that ultimately determine the effectiveness of any property tax system—namely, the coverage ratio, the valuation ratio, the tax ratio, and the collection ratio. The second section applies this conceptual framework to the property tax system in Kenya, focusing on the status of these four ratios and outlining possibilities for improving each ratio. The article concludes by summarizing five basic lessons from the Kenyan analysis that can assist in the development of appropriate property tax reforms in other developing countries in Sub‐Saharan Africa.
Aquinas's Replication of the Acquired Moral Virtues:
Authors: Inglis John
Published: March 2003

Aquinas is often presented as following Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics when treating moral virtue. Less often do philosophers consider that Aquinas's conception of the highest good and its relation to the functional character of human activity led him to break with Aristotle by replicating each of the acquired moral virtues on an infused level. The author suggests that we can discern reasons for this move by examining Aquinas's commentary on the Sententiae of Peter the Lombard and the Summa theologiae within their historical context. The author's thesis is that Dominican pastoral and intellectual concerns led Aquinas to argue that moral virtue must necessarily be ordered toward the highest good. Understanding this purpose helps to explain his presentation of moral virtue and its implications for standard philosophical interpretations of his work.
Rolston, Lonergan, and the Intrinsic Value of Nature
Authors: Nunez Theodore W.
Published: March 2003

In recent metaethical debate over ways to justify the notion of intrinsic natural value, some neopragmatists have challenged realist conceptions of scientific and moral truth. Holmes Rolston defends a critical‐realist epistemology as the basis for a metaphysics of “projective nature” and a cosmological narrative—both of which set up a historical ontology of objective natural value. Pure ecological science informs the wilderness experience of Rolston's ideal epistemic subject, the “sensitive naturalist.” The author argues that Rolston's account of the relation between knowing and valuing can be clarified and strengthened by appropriating Bernard Lonergan's transcendental method. Conversely, Lonergan's view of moral self‐transcendence can be developed further in light of Rolston's virtue epistemology, which is embodied in the figure of the sensitive naturalist.
Saving Them From Yourself: AnInquiry into the South Asian Gift of Fearlessness
Authors: Hibbets Maria
Published: March 2003

This article considers the importance of indigenous classifications in the study of comparative ethics. Specifically, it explores medieval South Asian gift discourses from Jain, Theravada, and Hindu Dharmasastra sources, which list and discuss a variety of prescribed gifts. Such lists generally include a category of gift known as the “gift of fearlessness”(abhayadana), wherein refraining from harming others is considered a species of gift giving. This type of gift and the discussions concerning it unite generosity and nonviolence in a way that is suggestive for understanding how some medieval South Asian theorists conceived of the gift, human nature, and altruism.
Humanitarian Intervention, Altruism, and the Limits of Casuistry
Authors: Miller Richard B.
Published: March 2003

This essay argues that the ethics of humanitarian intervention cannot be readily subsumed by the ethics of just war without due attention to matters of political and moral motivation. In the modern era, a just war draws directly from self‐benefitting motives in wars of self‐defense, or indirectly in wars that enforce international law or promote the global common good. Humanitarian interventions, in contrast, are intuitively admirable insofar as they are other‐regarding. That difference poses a challenge to the casuistry of humanitarian intervention because it makes it difficult to reason by analogy from the case of war to the case of humanitarian intervention. The author develops this point in dialogue with Michael Walzer, the U.S. Catholic bishops, and President Clinton. He concludes by showing how a casuistry of intervention is possible, developing a motivational rationale that draws on the Golden Rule.
The “Ethical Anthropic Principle” and the Religious Ethics of Levinas
Authors: Nuyen A. T.
Published: March 2003

Why did Levinas choose Isaiah 45:7 (“I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all that”) as a superscription of his essay on evil? This article explores the role of evil in Levinas's religious ethics. The author discusses the structure of evil as revealed phenomenologically and juxtaposes it to the structure of subjectivity found in the writings of Levinas. The idea of the “ethical anthropic principle”, modeled upon the cosmic anthropic principle, is then used to link evil to the responsibility of the subject. The link is subsequently extended to God. This is proposed as one way of understanding the meaning of Isaiah 45:7.
“Total Altruism” in Levinas’s “Ethics of The Welcome”
Authors: Ferreira M. Jamie
Published: March 2003

Levinas’s ethics of other‐centered service has been criticized at the theoretical level for failing to offer a conception of moral agency adequate to ground its imperative and at the practical level for encouraging self‐ hatred. Levinas’s explicit resistance to the incorporation of the phrase ”as yourself“ in the Judaeo‐Christian love command might seem to validate the critics’ complaints. The author argues, on the contrary, that Levinas does offer a strong and compelling conception of moral agency and that his ethics, properly understood, does not entail self‐abnegation. Levinas’s attempt to counter excessive and manipulative self‐concern and self‐inflation by insisting on the dependent and situational position of the self has been wrongly overinterpreted as an abandonment of the self and its just claims. The author seeks to establish a more balanced understanding by focusing attention on the “ethics of welcome”, on Levinas’s distinctive conception of passivity, and on the role of the “third” in all human relations.
“Mind” as Humanizing the Brain: Toward a Neurotheology of Meaning
Authors: Ashbrook James B.
Published: March 2003

The concept “mind” refers to the human and humanlike features of the brain. A historical review of thinking about the mind contextualizes humanity's search to understand itself by sketching biblical and philosophical perspectives from the Hebrew scriptures through the Greeks and Descartes to the German philosophers Goethe, Kant, and Hegel. These provide an enlarged context for an analytic approach to mind as focusing on the interface between physical signals and experiential symbolic expressions. Drawing on a holistic paradigm, several features are discernible: empathic rationality, imaginative intentionality, meaningful memory, and adaptability. These reflect the evolutionary development of uncommitted cortex that contributes to the brain's explosive capacity for order, complexity, and novelty. The basic issue continues, namely, how are the distributed modules of information‐processing integrated into the meaning‐making reality of human beings?
Revising Process Metaphysics in Response to Ian Barbour's Critique
Authors: Bracken Joseph A.
Published: March 2003

In Religion in an Age of Science, Ian Barbour concludes that the contemporary evolutionary worldview with its emphasis on the interplay of law and chance, relationality and autonomy, can be properly accounted for only by something like the process‐relational metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. At the same time, he expresses serious reservations about certain features of Whitehead's scheme, notably, his perceived inability to account for the ongoing identity of the human self and for the fact of multilevel organization within organisms and in the world of inanimate compounds. In this article, I suggest that both of these difficulties can be resolved if one adopts a revisionist understanding of the Whiteheadian category of society according to which democratically organized societies possess an ontological unity and exercise a corporate agency proper to their own level of existence and activity. Furthermore, if one applies this revisionist understanding of societies to the Whiteheadian doctrine of God, a Trinitarian understanding of God becomes possible within the overall parameters of process‐relational metaphysics. In this way, traditional belief in the doctrine of the Trinity can be reconciled with a scientifically credible worldview.
Sex, Aggression, and Pain: Sociobiological Implicatios for Theological Anthropology
Authors: Nessan Craig L.
Published: March 2003

Theological anthropology can be enriched by paying attention to insights into human behavior taken from sociobiology. The capacity for reflective self‐consciousness enables the human animal to respond to basic instincts and drives in unprecedented ways. Humans follow gender‐specific sexual strategies, display aggressive behavior, and respond to physical pain as do other animals. Yet human beings have the intellectual ability to express these tendencies uniquely in either destructive or constructive ways. The human being, unlike any other animal, must reckon with sexual ethics, the problem of violence, and the meaning of suffering. In developing the basic concepts of theological anthropology—good creation, natural evil, fall, sin, and image of God—sociobiological research can lead to more adequate understanding of the human.
Burhoe's Legacy: Lessons for Europeans
Authors: Drees Willem B.
Published: March 2003

Ralph Burhoe's ideas have not been well received in European Protestant theology. His approach has been at odds with the dominant resistance to natural theology on the Continent, and it has not fit well with reconciling attempts from the United Kingdom either. However, Burhoe's interest in the role of religions in the emergence of human nature and culture, including the interest in noncognitive functions of religion, should be taken to heart. Besides, he has set an example for Europeans with respect to method in dealing with first‐rate science.
Can Science Help Construct a New Global Ethic? The Development and Implications of Moral Transformation Theory
Authors: Loye David
Published: March 2003

This paper reports the results of a ten‐year search for consensus among scientific findings on the nature of the origin and development of moral sensitivity and morality. Significant agreement on six underlying factors was found. Based on these foundations, a new theory of moral transformation and a scientific “global ethic” relating to the global ethic of Hans Kung and the Parliament of the World's Religions is proposed. Fields surveyed include psychology, sociology, political science, economics, history, and gender and feminist studies in social science; physics and biology in natural science; and brain research, archaeology, and both old and new evolutionary studies and theory, including chaos, self‐organizing, and other nonlinear theories, in systems science.
Chaos Theology: A New Approach to the Science‐Theology Dialogue
Authors: Bonting Sjoerd L.
Published: March 2003

Comparison of the concepts of creation from chaos and creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) leads me to reject the latter for several reasons: it is not the biblical concept, and it presents serious conceptual, scientific, and theological problems. Chaos theology is outlined under the headings creation from chaos; chaos and contingency; chaos, evil, and creativity; chaos and incarnation; chaos and eschatology. It is shown to be well suited for the science‐theology dialogue by some examples of its application to aspects of cosmic and biological evolution: initial mystery, separation and ordering; chaos and entropy; contingency and fine‐tuning of the universe; purpose and progressiveness in evolution; and complexity theory and chaos events.
Reifying Analogy in Natural Theology
Authors: Larson Duane H.
Published: March 2003

Karl Schmitz‐Moormann argues that the doctrines of God and Creation, usually explicated in Roman Catholic theology by using the analogy of being, must rather be conceived in light of evolution and an analogy of becoming. God the Trinity, characterized by unity, information, and freedom, provides the image toward which the creation tends in its evolutionary processes. Informed by Teilhard and others, the author hereby provides more of a new research program for theology's engagement with natural science than a fully developed theology.
Nancey Murphy's Nonreductive Physicalism
Authors: Bielfeldt Dennis
Published: March 2003

This essay examines Nancey Murphy's commitment to downward causation and develops a critique of that notion based upon the distinction between the causal relevance of a higher‐level event and its causal efficacy. I suggest the following: (1) nonreductive physicalism lacks adequate resources upon which to base an assertion of real causal power at the emergent, supervenient level; (2) supervenience's nonreductive nature ought not obscure the fact that it affirms an ontological determination of higher‐level properties by those at the lower level; and (3) the notion of divine self‐renunciation, while consonant with Murphy's claim of supervenient, divine action, is nonetheless problematic. Throughout, I claim that the question of the causal efficacy of a level is logically independent from the assertion of its conceptual or nomological nonreducibility.
Does “Intelligent Design” Have a Chance? An Essay Review
Authors: Van Till Howard J.
Published: March 2003

A number of authors have agued the case that there is empirical evidence that the universe (or particular configurations within it) must be the outcome of intelligent design. Recent books by William Dembski and Dean Overman, though different in style and level of argumentation, reach a similar conclusion: the universe, or certain forms within it, cannot be explained without appeal to design as a mode of causation. But exactly what is the operative definition for intelligent design in these works? And how convincing is their case for the necessity of appealing to this type of design in causal explanations?
Can a Darwinian be a Christian? Sociobiological Issues
Authors: Ruse Michael
Published: March 2003

This essay looks at the Darwinian sociobiological account of morality, arguing that in major respects this philosophy should prove congenial to theChristian. It is shown how modern‐day Darwinism, starting from a ‘selfish gene’ perspective, nevertheless argues that a genuine moral sense is part of our evolutionary heritage. This moral sense yields directives much in tune with Christian prescriptions. It is argued also that Darwinian sociobiology can itself offer no metaethical foundations for morality, but the Christianwanting to appeal to God's will can nicely and smoothly mesh the religious intent with the scientific and philosophical implications of Darwinian moral inquiry.
Postfoundationalism and Interdisciplinarity: A Response to Jerome Stone
Authors: Van Huyssteen J. Wentzel
Published: March 2003

Abstract. In my recent work I argued that the religion and sciencedialogue is most successful when done locally and contextually. However, I also argued against theology's epistemic isolation in a pluralist, postmodern world, and for a postfoundationalist notion of human rationality that reveals the interdisciplinary, public nature of all theological reflection. I now want to explore the possibility that, when we look at what the prehistory of thehuman mind reveals about the biological roots of all human rationality, some forms of contemporary evolutionary epistemology may actually hold the key to understanding the kind of cognitive fluidity that enables true interdisciplinary reflection. Philosophically the religion and science dialogue benefits from this move when a postfoundationalist notion of rationality redescribes the dynamic interaction of our various disciplinary dialogues with one another as aform of transversal reasoning. Transversality in this sense justifies and urges an acknowledgment of multiple patterns of interpretation as one moves across the borders and boundaries of different disciplines.
Moral Outrage: Territoriality in Human Guise
Authors: Goodenough Ward H.
Published: March 2003

Moral outrage is a response to the behavior of others, never one's own. It is a response to infringements or transgressions on what people perceive to be the immunities they, or others with whom they identify, can expect on the basis of their rights and privileges and what they understand to be their reasonable expectations regarding the behavior of others. A person's culturally defined social identities and the rights and privileges that go with them in relationships to which those identities can be party make up the contents of that person's social persona and also constitute that person's social territory. Infringements of rights and privileges in the social and symbolic worlds in which humans live are the equivalent of encroachments on territory among animals, and moral outrage can be understood as the human expression of what we perceive as territorial behavior in animals. As emotion, outrage is affected by such clinical processes as displacement, rationalization, projection, and reaction formation. Outrage has an essential role in the maintenance of viable social groups, but it also exacerbates conflict among people who perceive one another as “others.”
Psychological Realism, Morality, and Chimpanzees
Authors: Harnden‐Warwick David
Published: March 2003

The parsimonious consideration of research into food sharing among chimpanzees suggests that the type of social regulation found among our closest genetic relatives can best be understood as a form of morality. Morality is here defined from a naturalistic perspective as a system in which self‐aware individuals interact through socially prescribed, psychologically realistic rules of conduct which provide these individuals with an awareness of how one ought to behave. The empirical markers of morality within chimpanzee communities and the traditional moral traits to which they correspond are (1) self‐awareness/agency; (2) calculated reciprocity/obligation; (3) moralistic aggression/blame; and (4) consolation/empathy.
Literature, Religion, and Science: A Personal and Professional Trajectory
Authors: Schaible Robert
Published: March 2003

By tracing the trajectory of his own personal and professional life, the author provides a perspective on how intellectual and religious or spiritual growth, while often seemingly at odds with each other, can nonetheless advance in a mutually enhancing manner. The historical conflict between literature and science is briefly outlined as a parallel to that between religion and science, and the importance of metaphor as a common element in all three fields is explored. Emphasis is placed on metaphor as a means of challenging absolutism, encouraging humility, and promoting a sense of wonder about the universe.
Theorizing Meaning Construction in Social Movements: Symbolic Structures and Interpretation during the Irish Land War, 1879–1882
Authors: Kane Anne E.
Published: March 2003

Though the process of meaning construction is widely recognized to be a crucial factor in the mobilization, unfolding, and outcomes of social movements, the conditions and mechanisms that allow meaning construction and cultural transformation are often misconceptualized and/or underanalyzed. Following a “tool kit” perspective on culture, dominant social movement theory locates meaning only as it is embodied in concrete social practices. Meaning construction from this perspective is a matter of manipulating static symbols and meaning to achieve goals. I argue instead that meaning is located in the structure of culture, and that the condition and mechanism of meaning construction and transformation are, respectively, the metaphoric nature of symbolic systems, and individual and collective interpretation of those systems in the face of concrete events. This theory is demonstrated by analyzing, through textual anlaysis, meaning construction during the Irish Land War, 1879–1882, showing how diverse social groups constructed new and emergent symbolic meanings and how transformed collective understandings contributed to specific, yet unpredictable, political action and movement outcomes. The theoretical model and empirical case demonstrates that social movement analysis must examine the metaphoric logic of symbolic systems and the interpretive process by which people construct meaning in order to fully explain the role of culture in social movements, the agency of movement participants, and the contingency of the course and outcomes of social movements.
Toward a Sociology of the Person
Authors: Cahill Spencer E.
Published: March 2003

This paper proposes a sociology of the person that focuses upon the socially defined, publicly visible beings of intersubjective experience. I argue that the sociology of the person proposed by Durkheim and Mauss is more accurately described as a sociology of institutions of the person and neglects both folk or ethnopsychologies of personhood and the interactional production of persons. I draw upon the work of Goffman to develop a sociology of the person concerned with means, processes, and relations of person production. I also propose that the work of Goffman, Foucault, and others provides insights into the contemporary technology of person production and into how its control and use affects relations of person production. I conclude with a brief outline of the theoretical connections among institutions of the person, folk psychologies, the social constitution of the person, and the prospect of a distinctively sociological psychology.
Du Bois and Diasporic Identity: The Veil and the Unveiling Project
Authors: Blau Judith R. , Brown Eric S.
Published: March 2003

Positioning Du Bois's arguments in The Souls of Black Folk (1903) within social theory enhances our understanding of the phenomenological dimensions of racial oppression and of how oppressed groups build on members' differences, as well as on what they share, to construct a cosmopolitan and richly textured community. Du Bois wrote Souls just at the beginning of the Great Migration but indicated that geographical dispersion would deepen racial solidarity, enhance the meaningfulness of community, and emancipate individual group members through participation in mainstream society while maintaining their black identity. Du Bois's writings have powerful implications for understanding how to promote racial justice, and contemporary readers might consider that they have implications for social justice more generally. An analysis of black newspapers that were published during the period of 1900 to 1935 illustrates how Du Bois's conceptions were woven into discourse and everyday practices.
Welding Robots for Steel Frame Structures
Authors: Yoshikawa Kaoru , Tanaka Kazuo
Published: March 2003

It is difficult to automate the fabrication of steel frames because steel frames are generally nonuniform in size and shape and are composed of many kinds of members. However, robots have been introduced to a certain extent in the welding process.

This paper consists of the following two parts: First, a description is given of the development of welding robots that carry out multilayer welding of thick diaphragms on box columns. We tried many welding experiments for various thicknesses of plates combined with different welding root gaps in order to determine appropriate welding conditions. In designing the system, we examined efficiency and various problems associated with welding operations. As a result, we obtained welding that was satisfactory in terms of both quality and cost–effectiveness. Second, the plates used on the connections of steel columns are very thick in comparison with the short welding line length. It is therefore difficult to introduce complete automation for welding these connections. We developed a welding system applicable in such a case using some six axis articulated welding robots. The robots operated well, permitting continuous and automated welding in practice.
Distributed Object–Oriented Blackboard Model for Integrated Design of Steel Structures
Authors: Kao Wei–Ming , Adeli Hojjat
Published: March 2003

Distributed computing on a cluster of workstations connected via a local area network provides a cost–effective approach to high–performance computing. The goal of this research is to lay the foundation for developing maintainable, extendable, and reusable programmer–defined object–oriented software systems on a cluster of networked workstations. A distributed object–oriented blackboard model (OOBM) is presented for integrated design of large structures on a cluster of workstations. The model includes an object–oriented alternative to model the functions of message passing and process control required in a distributed processing environment. The operational idea behind the distributed OOBM is to perform two missions iteratively until the desired solution is found. The first mission is to pass and monitor data messages through network communication using a network file server. The second mission is to generate a number of processes at heterogeneous workstations using appropriate process–generating models and techniques. The models and concepts developed in this research are applied to the problem of integrated design of steel structures.
A Systematic Approach for Product and Process Data Modeling Based on the Step Standard
Authors: Ghodous Parisa , Vandorpe Denis
Published: March 2003

Today a modern engineering environment is considered as one that emphasizes communication and involves not only many designers but also many people concerned with manufacturing, quality control, marketing, and so on working concurrently on different subparts of a more global design project. The emphasis of this paper is on the representation of product development. The current research on engineering product standards, as well as current work on databases, leads to the definition of an integrated database model for product data. However, to facilitate the integration of CAX/CAY systems and adequately support engineering and managerial activities, it is not sufficient to represent only the data between the processes, but it is also necessary to represent the processes. This paper presents an approach for simultaneous modeling of products and their development processes. This approach also provides a framework to represent the normalized product data and process data using the STEP data models.