The sociology of pharmaceuticals: progress and prospects

This paper takes a critical look at progress and prospects regarding the sociology of pharmaceuticals over the years. Key themes examined include: (i) medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation; (ii) regulation; (iii) consumption and consumerism; (iv) expectations and innovation. Papers in the monograph are also introduced and discussed in relation to these themes. The paper concludes with some further comments and reflections on progress and prospects in this field, emphasising the continuing importance of sociological engagement with these personal and political issues in the 21st century

A model for nuclear matter fragmentation: phase diagram and cluster distributions

We develop a model in the framework of nuclear fragmentation at thermodynamic equilibrium which can be mapped onto an Ising model with constant magnetization. We work out the thermodynamic properties of the model as well as the properties of the fragment size distributions. We show that two types of phase transitions can be found for high density systems. They merge into a unique transition at low density. An analysis of the critical exponents which characterize observables for different densities in the thermodynamic limit shows that these transitions look like continuous second order transitions.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; comments on microcanonical approach and other minor corrections added; references added; 1 figure change

Producing Intellectual Labor In The Classroom: The Utilization Of A Critical Thinking Model To Help Students Take Command Of Their Thinking

A review of the literature reveals that although the teaching of critical thinking skills is a significant aim of post-secondary pedagogy, much ambiguity exists regarding the topic.  In fact, due to the lack of faculty familiarity with the concept compounded by student   resistance to put forth the intellectual labor to take charge of their own thinking, matriculates are mainly exposed to didactic instruction that does not prepare them with real-world problem solving skills.  This manuscript addresses these problems in the following way. First, it outlines a foundational conception of critical thinking as articulated by the Foundation for Critical Thinking.  In doing so, it comments on the importance of student-centered instruction as key to fostering critical thinking skills and dispositions in the classroom.  Second, it canvasses an example of what critical thinking instruction and learning can look like

Pathological anatomy and self-portraiture

Why should an artist look to anatomical or pathological specimens as a reservoir of images with which to facilitate an articulation of his or her own artistic or personal identity? This is the starting point of a reflection on the disappearance of the artist and its transformation into a passive object. As a result, it is also a reflection into the blurring lines between subject and object. On the grounds of the work elaborated by the artist Lisa Temple-Cox and the critical look and comments made by the observer Harcourt, this paper is a first-hand attempt to understand the configuration of the self and the influence of the artistic intervention in the generation and representation of anatomical knowledge, resulting in an exploration into the intertwined processes that create both historical subjects and historical objects

Towards an audiovisual media services directive: an analysis of the Commission's proposal. Egmont European Affairs Publication, 2006

The current “Television without frontiers” (TVWF) Directive constitutes the basic regulation of the European Community’s broadcasting policy. Adopted in 1989, the Directive provides for the free movement of television broadcasting services in the Union as it requires Member States to guarantee the freedom of reception and transmission on their territory of television programmes which originate from other Member States. Consequently, the Directive harmonized certain national programming and advertising rules. With the aim of protecting the European TV market, it also introduced broadcasting quota for European and independent works. In the light of the rapid developments in the television sector, a revision of the Directive took place in 1997. Since 2002, the Commission is engaged in a new revision process in order to modernise the rules on televised services. It has also examined the possibility to extend the scope of these rules to cover all services which have an audiovisual content, including new media services delivered by Internet, email, mobile communication, etc. On 13 December 2005, the Commission eventually adopted the legislative proposal for the revision of the Directive. The aim of this paper is to analyse the Commission’s strategy in reviewing the regulatory framework. First, we will shortly discuss and evaluate the underlying principles of the present Directive. We will subsequently take a look at the elements which require a revision of the Directive. Third, we will examine the Commission’s proposal and we will conclude with some critical comments

Reflection and COVID-19: How Students and a Professor Made the Best of Remote Education in a Service-Learning Capstone Course

This paper will provide a critical reflection of a professor’s response to the Pandemic of 2020 and its impact on her service-learning course. The paper will discuss the changes that were made by the professor once the course format changed to remote education. Throughout, comments and reflections from the students as it applies to the assignments they had to complete remotely will be provided, challenges that both the professor and students overcame will be discussed followed by a description of takeaways that were gain from this experience. The paper will end with a message of hope for college professors who do community engaged scholarship in the midst of uncertainty about what the fall semester will look like for institutions of higher education

Philophobia. From post-critical to neo-critical pedagogy through art critique (and a pinch of hate)

While post-critical pedagogy urges to educate out of and toward love for the world, in this article the author argues against the privileged status of love in educational discourse. The author holds that renewing the world is impossible without critique, indeed without a pinch of hatred. He suggests, therefore, moving from post to neo-critique, to renewing the world by renewing critique. The author starts with discussing some good reasons for hating the world, and then turn to the concept of critique, which post-critical pedagogy is by no means the first to attack. A look at the thorough analysis of the modern concept of critique offered by German historian Reinhart Koselleck uncovers the deep contradictions inherent to its totalizing, rationalistic presuppositions that see nothing but absolute good and absolute evil. Koselleck\u27s comments on premodern critique point the way to a more complex concept of critique, which transcends such binary divisions. In the last section of this article, the author takes some steps in this direction, fleshing out the concept of neo-critical pedagogy by thinking of art criticism. (DIPF/Orig.

Cognitive Case Studies of Chinese in Discourse Analysis and Classroom Teaching

In the first case study, a piece of recent BBC news reported on Chinese netizens leaving random but funny comments on a Western website attracted people’s attention. A closer look at those comments reveals that understanding the Chinese netizens’ comments requires metaphorical and cultural knowledge. This study starts with theoretical explanations on metaphor from different perspectives and then presents cultural variations in Western and Eastern metaphors. With theories and cultures grounded, a detailed analysis was done to show people without Chinese cultural background how to understand the Chinese Internet metaphors that drew people’s attention. The second case study takes a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate metaphors in political discourses in Chinese. Five pieces of Chinese government reports were studied. Metaphor, revealing how we think about the world, encompasses cultural and social factors. It functions differently for different communication purpose. The current study proves the persuasive role of metaphor in political discourse which can evoke people’s emotional response, for the governing group to have an ideological influence on how people conceptualize things. The third case study applies word recognition as part of the classroom instruction in the form of meaning, character and pronunciation, to investigate whether training on either two of the three constituents can improve students’ vocabulary acquisition. The results showed that, for new learners, the bond between characters and either pronunciation or meaning is weak. Training in either character with meaning or character with pronunciation has positive effects and training to enhance the relation between character and pronunciation also retrieve meaning, which brings a three-way benefit

From guest worker to cultural cosmopolitan : evolving identities in Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s short story cycle Der Hof im Spiegel

The title story of Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s ‘Der Hof im Spiegel’ has received the most critical attention of any piece from the collection, leading to the neglect of the composition of the collection as a whole. Reading it as a short story cycle and examining the connections between the texts reveals that they track developments in migration and integration from before German unification into the 1990s. Through her narrator Özdamar comments on developments in social initiatives to promote integration and mutual understanding, as well as advocating direct individual contact as the basis for intercultural understanding. She also explores possibilities of identification for those with a diasporic background which look beyond social models such as multiculturalism and transcend national borders and citizenship. In particular, Özdamar explores the potential of an adaptive cultural cosmopolitanism for establishing new lattices of identification as the basis for a re-orientated subjectivity in migration

Legitimacy, Selectivity, and the Disunitary Executive: A Reply to Sally Katzen

This reply addresses the thoughtful comments that former OIRA Administrator Sally Katzen has provided on our Article, Inside the Administrative State: A Critical Look at the Practice of Presidential Control. Our Article is the first to investigate the agency perspective on White House involvement in agency rule-making. We interviewed 30 of the 35 top political officials in the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) during the George H.W. Bush ( Bush I ) and the William J. Clinton Administrations during 1989-2001. Prior to our study, empirical studies of White House involvement in agency rule-making had focused almost exclusively on the White House side, mainly analyzing White House documents and interviewing White House officials. While these studies could describe how the White House exercises control of agency rule-making, they could not speak to how agencies experience such control. We began to remedy the imbalance and paint a more complete picture of presidential control