中国应对全球气候变化的伦理责任评估

应对气候变化是一项全球性的任务,中国承担着不可推卸的责任。从《伦理维度应对气候的变化》（EDCC）白皮书提出的八个伦理维度分析了中国应对全球气候变化需承担的伦理责任,指出了中国特例下履行责任所面临的赔偿责任、开发新技术与新能源、国际国内参与、程序公平与正义等重大挑战,构建了中国政府、国内其他参与者及境外参与机构组成的多层次气候治理框架,提供了决策参考和建议。     

Are Private Interests Clouding the Peer-Review Process of the WHO Bulletin? A Case Study

Readers’ trust on the medical literature has been eroded, and journal editors and some editorial boards are taking measures to ensure that authors fully and accurately report research findings and disclose conflicts of interest. This article describes a case study in which the papers editor of the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin influenced the content of an article that had been approved by the external reviewers. The editor objected to the publication of the large price differentials of the new molecular entities (NMEs) across the Latin American countries where they had been tested and the limited added therapeutic value of the NMEs that had been assessed by independent drug bulletins. This article summarizes the exchanges with WHO staff and posits the hypothesis that the WHO Bulletin might be affected by the shifts in WHO financing. Several authors have raised concern about the impact of financial conflicts of interest in WHO activities in the field of nutrition, intellectual property, and in the emergency response to the flu pandemic. Moreover, it has been reported that powerful WHO contributors pressured WHO into revising its publication policy. This is the first time that authors question if these conflicts of interest are also affecting the editorial independence of the WHO Bulletin.     

“过日子”与农民家庭经济模式——基于关中Z村调查

关中农民以家庭为中心安排生产生活;崇尚低成本、勤劳节俭的生活方式;生活意义来源于人的现实生活。其家庭经济模式不同于黄宗智所概括的"半工半耕",而是依然保持着传统小农的生活逻辑,即"过日子"。基于关中经验,笔者在阐释"过日子"内涵的基础上,讨论农民家庭经济的特性,并分析其对社会转型的影响。     

The Boric Acid Powder Treatment of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis

Abstract

This double blind comparison of fourteen daily intravaginal gelatin capsules containing 600 mg of boric acid powder versus identical capsules containing 100,000 units of nystatin diluted to volume with cornstarch found vulvovaginal candidiasis albicans cure rates for boric acid to be 92% seven to ten days after treatment and 72% at thirty days, whereas the nystatin cure rates were 64% at seven to ten days and 53% at thirty days. Speed of alleviation of signs and sumptoms was similar with both drugs. There were no untoward side effects, and cervical cytology was not affected. In vitro studies found boric acid to be fungistatic and its effectiveness to be unrelated to pH. Blood boron analyses indicated little absorption from the vagina and a half life of less than 12 hours. A 30% follow-up of 2,030 nonstudy patients revealed wet mount and symptom cure rates of 93% within two weeks and 88% within four weeks. Patient acceptance was better than with “messy” vaginal creams, and self-made boric acid powder capsules are inexpensive, 31¢ for fourteen, compared with costly, commonly prescribed medication.     

“政策性离婚”的伦理考量

“政策性离婚”是指因国家政策的变化而出现的离婚现象,其实质是通过假离婚等非常规方式规避政策的限制,以实现个人或家庭利益的最大化。诱发“政策性离婚”的伦理因素包括：经济利益至上导致的婚姻伦理关系的淡化、道德监督缺失带来的婚姻主体道德责任的弱化以及制度伦理失范引发的社会道德环境的恶化。为了减少“政策性离婚”等类似社会现象的发生,必须强化个体道德自律,坚守婚姻的道德底线;健全道德监督机制,促进社会生活的规范化;推进制度伦理建设,维护社会的正义与和谐。     

Economic growth and welfare: How Foreign Direct Investment contributes to improving social order in less developed countries

Abstract

Does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) promote development? And does it change social order? The attempt to answer these questions will always be controversial, because, first, the effects differ from context to context, and second, it is highly difficult to measure the (positive) spillovers of know-how and technology etc., as well as of contributions to enhancing social responsibility and improving the standards of living in the host country. The outcome will very much depend on how state governments, international bodies, the business world and non-governmental organizations collaborate. Likewise, interdisciplinary collaboration is required to research the issue, between well-trained economists, investment theory specialists, sociologists and ethicists. For this, our article combines a large number of arguments on market and investment theory, business ethics, John H. Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, etc. It examines whether there is practical evidence to support the assumption that doing business through FDI improves social conditions in less developed countries, and whether the logic for this to happen is rooted in ethical theory. The article contributes to insights from the appropriate sub-stream of the development, FDI and poverty/bottom of the pyramid literature, and to highlighting which trends should be followed in academic research. However, there are limitations to the article, which lie with the limitations of ethics frameworks, as these are often only constructed based on certain moral appeal, and only very few of them examine the incentive compatibility of such constructs.     

On the Need for an Ethical Understanding of Health-Care Accountability

Abstract

In Sweden, as in many other Western countries, public health care is challenged by increasing demands for care and continuing budget deficits. Person-centred care (PCC) has been introduced as a new strategy to ameliorate the perceived fragmentation in care and is expected to decrease treatment time, reduce the need for return visits, as well as increase patient satisfaction. However, the changing clinical practices necessary for the PCC approach are assumed to require new accountability practices. This article is primarily an attempt to provide a conceptual analysis of ethical accountability, i.e. a type of accountability that takes into account the human relational responsibility, partial incoherence, and power of reflection. On the grounds of this characterisation, the article aims to provide a basis, among other things, for a discussion of the possibilities of identifying and empirically studying the multimodal expressions in communication that are relevant for this type of accountability. After an initial discussion of the debate on the limits of viewing accountability as transparency, we then turn to our methodological approach and introduce a conceptual analysis of accountability. Next, we discuss some additional features of accountability. Finally, we discuss the possibilities of empirically studying the institutionalisation of ethically informed accountability within person-centred health care.     

Integrating Spirituality,Faith, and Social Justice in Social Work Practice and Education: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Significant progress has been made toward incorporating spiritual and religious diversity into professional discourse. The extent to which the profession is complying with its ethical standards that address religion, however, remains largely unexamined. Consequently, this study explores the relationship between conceptualizations of (1) spirituality, (2) religion, and (3) the nature of the relationship between spirituality and religion, and perceptions of the profession's level of ethical compliance. The results of this exploratory study indicate that perceptions of ethical compliance are generally unrelated to how respondents conceptualized either spirituality or the nature of the relationship between spirituality and religion. A more nuanced picture emerged with religion, with respondents who defined religion in personally constructed terms, without reference to the transcendent, reporting higher levels of ethical compliance, while those who defined religion in terms of community, reported lower levels of ethical compliance.     

Integrity and Transparency

Abstract

The author offers commentary concerning the importance of an evaluator'S disclosure of prior or current relationships with custody litigants; of diligence in the creation and maintenance of records; and of cooperation with those wishing to scrutinize one'S work. The position is advanced that all information considered by an evaluator must be preserved, as must audio or video tape recordings of interviews and evaluative sessions. The author opines that where a thorough exploration of the bases for an evaluator'S opinions is impeded by deficient records or by the unavailability of certain records, the risk is increased that evaluator errors will go undetected.