Embedded EthiCS: Integrating ethics broadly across computer science education

Computing technologies have become pervasive in daily life, sometimes bringing unintended but harmful consequences. Forstudents to learn to think not only about what technology they could create, but also about what technology they shouldcreate, computer science curricula must expand to include ethical reasoning about the societal value and impact of these technologies. This paper presents Embedded EthiCS, a novel approachto integrating ethics into computer science education that incorporates ethical reasoning throughout courses in the standard computer science curriculum. It thus changes existing courses rather than requiring wholly new courses. The paperdescribes a pilot Embedded EthiCS program that embeds philosophers teaching ethical reasoning directly into computer science courses. It discusses lessons learned and challenges to implementing such a program across different types of academic institution

Uganda's "EID Systems Strengthening" model produces significant gains in testing, linkage, and retention of HIV-exposed and infected infants: An impact evaluation.

IntroductionA review of Uganda's HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) program in 2010 revealed poor retention outcomes for HIV-exposed infants (HEI) after testing. The review informed development of the 'EID Systems Strengthening' model: a set of integrated initiatives at health facilities to improve testing, retention, and clinical care of HIV-exposed and infected infants. The program model was piloted at several facilities and later scaled countrywide. This mixed-methods study evaluates the program's impact and assesses its implementation.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study at 12 health facilities in Uganda, comprising all HEI tested by DNA PCR from June 2011 to May 2014 (n = 707). Cohort data were collected manually at the health facilities and analyzed. To assess impact, retention outcomes were statistically compared to the baseline study's cohort outcomes. We conducted a cross-sectional qualitative assessment of program implementation through 1) structured clinic observation and 2) key informant interviews with health workers, district officials, NGO technical managers, and EID trainers (n = 51).ResultsThe evaluation cohort comprised 707 HEI (67 HIV+). The baseline study cohort contained 1268 HEI (244 HIV+). Among infants testing HIV+, retention in care at an ART clinic increased from 23% (57/244) to 66% (44/67) (p DiscussionUganda's 'EID Systems Strengthening' model has produced significant gains in testing and retention of HEI and HIV+ infants, yet the country still faces major challenges. The 3 core concepts of Uganda's model are applicable to any country: establish a central service point for HEI, equip it to provide high-quality care and tracking, and develop systems to link HEI to the service point. Uganda's experience has shown the importance of intensively targeting systemic bottlenecks to HEI retention at facility level, a necessary complement to deploying rapidly scalable technologies and other higher-level initiatives

Olafur Eliasson : Surroundings Surrounded : Essays on Space and Science

"This dense text sourcebook was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Surroundings surrounded at Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, Austria, 2000, curated by Christa Steinle and Peter Weibel, which travelled to the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2001. It also presents a broad range of the artist’s works through image sequences. The texts, selected by Eliasson and Weibel, are organised under headlines or themes, made up of titles of Eliasson’s artworks. Rather than being collected in chapters, the texts for each theme run through the book in parallel movements to emphasise their interconnectedness. None of the essays focuses on Eliasson’s work directly, the aim of the publication being to offer a rich scientific context for the exhibition." -- Author's website

Uganda's new national laboratory sample transport system: a successful model for improving access to diagnostic services for Early Infant HIV Diagnosis and other programs.

INTRODUCTION: Uganda scaled-up Early HIV Infant Diagnosis (EID) when simplified methods for testing of infants using dried blood spots (DBS) were adopted in 2006 and sample transport and management was therefore made feasible in rural settings. Before this time only 35% of the facilities that were providing EID services were reached through the national postal courier system, Posta Uganda. The transportation of samples during this scale-up, therefore, quickly became a challenge and varied from facility to facility as different methods were used to transport the samples. This study evaluates a novel specimen transport network system for EID testing. METHODS: A retrospective study was done in mid-2012 on 19 pilot hubs serving 616 health facilities in Uganda. The effect on sample-result turnaround time (TAT) and the cost of DBS sample transport on 876 sample-results was analyzed. RESULTS: The HUB network system provided increased access to EID services ranging from 36% to 51%, drastically reduced transportation costs by 62%, reduced turn-around times by 46.9% and by a further 46.2% through introduction of SMS printers. CONCLUSIONS: The HUB model provides a functional, reliable and efficient national referral network against which other health system strengthening initiatives can be built to increase access to critical diagnostic and treatment monitoring services, improve the quality of laboratory and diagnostic services, with reduced turn-around times and improved quality of prevention and treatment programs thereby reducing long-term costs

Estimated costs different aspects of sample analysis.

<p>Estimated costs different aspects of sample analysis.</p

The cost in 2010 before the network was started compared to when additional costs for start up of the transport network were added.

<p>The cost in 2010 before the network was started compared to when additional costs for start up of the transport network were added.</p

The projected 4 year costs once the transport network is established.

<p>The projected 4 year costs once the transport network is established.</p