Future Debate Research Articles

Our sea: Music therapy in dementia and end-of-life care in the Mediterranean region

Our sea: Music therapy in dementia and end-of-life care in the Mediterranean region

Ser criança indígena terena no espaço da cidade: cultura, escola e brincadeira

Com o objetivo de apresentar as crianças indígenas Terena de duas aldeias indígenas urbanas da cidade de Campo Grande/MS, mostrando os lugares por onde circulam, as culturas que produzem e ressignificam, as brincadeiras que realizam, os conflitos e as tensões no espaço urbano (aldeias urbanas e escola), o artigo que parte das experiências de pesquisas dos autores, elabora reflexões em uma temática que ainda desperta pouco interesse, apesar de nos últimos anos se verificar um crescimento tímido sobre produções desse outro espaço de vivência de criança indígenas. Nesse sentido, o estudo que está marcado pelo pensamento de autores que se situam na convergência entre os estudos da Antropologia da Criança, das teorias pós-coloniais e dos estudos de Cultura, pretende criar visibilidade para futuros debates envolvendo uma temática, ainda vista como marginalizada, subordinada e silenciada no espaço da academia.

Ireland's Working-Class Literature: Neglected Themes, Amphibian Academics, and the Challenges Ahead

Irish working-class history, culture, and literature are attracting increasing academic interest. With the publication of A History of Irish Working-Class Writing (2017), Declan Kiberd could write that its focus on ‘an astonishing range of writing – from work-songs and political rhymes to poetry and government reports, from novels and plays to biographies by or about working people’, would ‘set many of the terms of cultural debate in the decade to come’. This essay asks a number of timely questions in that regard: What is the likely shape of that future debate, in terms of class and culture in Ireland, and what are the lacunae that will guide research and publishing priorities for those who engage with it in academia and the arts? What has been achieved in terms of the recent scholarly inquiry into working-class writing and what are that inquiry's blindspots and limitations? The international contexts, historical breadth, categorical limitations, and institutional and societal challenges are all surveyed in this necessarily short sketch of some of the major issues.

Managing the super-shark: Recommendations to improve communication and debate about chondrichthyans

Sharks are high-profile taxa and often polarise communities and stakeholders. However, constructive debate around shark issues has been stymied by the many stakeholders with conflicting or unclear objectives: Government Agencies with multiple objectives (sustainable management, conservation, public safety); fishers (commercial and recreational) that target certain species of sharks, or try to avoid interactions; tourism operators; indigenous peoples with cultural links; conservation groups; other ocean-users and members of the general public who may be shark-conservationists or shark-cull advocates. The confusion appears partly due to various stakeholder groups using the collective noun ‘sharks’ when discussing issues. The use of ‘sharks’ confuses debates in a way similar to other totemic taxa (e.g. whales) where unique attributes of multiple species have been combined. In the case of ‘sharks’ the situation is exacerbated by the large number of species (globally >500), the diversity of values attributed to species and the ability of stakeholders to have multiple values (e.g. fishers who regard sharks as desirable target species and as depredators of target species). We argue that ‘sharks’ extend the super-species concept, reducing clarity and hindering the development of more broadly acceptable policies. To improve this discourse we suggest that stakeholders define ‘sharks’ in discussions and reports with species-by-area descriptors (e.g. white-sharks in Western Australia); or as a minimum, on a defined group-by-area basis (e.g. sharks that support eco-tourism in South Africa; commercially important species of sharks in southern Australia), so the species in focus is (are) clearly defined, allowing future debates to be more constructive and support the development of more widely-acceptable policies.

Rhinology Future Debates 2018, a EUFOREA Report.

The third Rhinology Future Debates was organized by the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airways diseases (EUFOREA) in 2018 in Brussels. Experts from different specialties and countries, alongside patients, health policy makers and industry representatives discussed relevant topics in Rhinology, in an attempt to improve current clinical practices, through implementation of precision medicine, by empowering patients' participation and the use of eHealth tools. The debates which are available on-line (www.rhinology-future.com) dealt with 5 topics in Rhinology: the adoption of allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) by implementing change management strategies, the needs and obstacles in care delivery in respiratory diseases, 3D technology in nose and sinus surgery, ambulatory nasal surgery, and clinical evidence for efficacy of biologicals in CRSwNP and asthma. This report summarizes the outcomes of the brainstorming sessions highlighting novel approaches and unmet needs in the field of respiratory diseases by focusing on integrated care pathways.

The Ins and Outs of 'Schizophrenia': Considering Diagnostic Terms as Ordinary Linguistic Expressions.

Diagnostic terms in psychiatry like 'schizophrenia' and 'bipolar disorder' are deeply contested in the professional community, by mental health activists and the public. In this paper, we provide a theoretical framework for considering diagnostic terms as ordinary linguistic expressions and illustrate this approach by a corpus linguistic analysis of 'schizophrenia.' Our aim is to show how a focus on language itself can inform current and future debates about psychiatric terminology and provide new insights on relevant processes concerning their actual usage and change over time. We hope that this contributes to enhancing mutual understanding between different discourse spheres and stakeholders.

Constitutional Legislative Proposal for Life Protection

In April 2019, the Constitutional Court's decision on abortions left challenges in our society about addressing the value of life and the rights and safety of pregnant women. This paper examines the implication of and problems with the decision of the Constitutional Court - affecting the meaning and understanding of a fetus’s right to life versus a pregnant woman’s right to self-determination, the determinable period, and the independent viability of the fetus. As for the legislative guidelines, the text of the related bill included the following consideration: the fetus’ right to life and the biological father’s responsibilities; institutional guarantees to support pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing by pregnant women as a social security approach; exclusion of socioeconomic reasons and careful consideration; and the provisions of Fetal Life Protection Counseling, guaranteeing the right of veto participating the operation of abortions and government's supervision of abortions. In this paper, the Bill entitled “Act for Expanding Pregnancy Support and Preventing and Overcoming Pregnancy Conflict” may be used as a reference for future parliamentary debates, and may be a stepping stone for legislation that can save fetus’ lives, women's lives, and the future.

A biographical study of Neolithic hoarding

The tradition of hoarding axeheads is a well-known phenomenon within the first agrarian societies on the North European Plain. Unfortunately, the majority of known hoards have been found as stray finds or under circumstances with poor or no documentation, leading to considerable source critical issues. However, in this paper we analyze four hoards that have either been professionally excavated or have had their find circumstances recorded and are all found within the same geographical area along the southern Limfjord region of Denmark. The detailed contextual information of these hoards is used as a foundation for interpreting these hoards and question the oft-repeated dualistic categorization of hoards as wetland or dryland phenomena. The analytical method employed in this study uses micro- and macroscopic observations to create biographies for the axeheads and to so shed new light on hoarding practices. This approach challenges the previous macro-scale approaches. The results in the study provide a detailed insight on production, use-life, exchange and deposition of axeheads in hoards within the TRB. The aim of the paper is to forward this analytical approach and to offer a fresh perspective on the TRB hoards. In concluding, avenues for future research and debate are sketched out.

Is There Any Role for Device Therapies in Resistant Hypertension? PRO

In the text to follow, I focus on the role of renal-denervation therapies to address the debate topic. This is because so much of the data accumulated on resistant hypertension, at least in the last 10 years, have centered on this approach. I acknowledge there are studies of other device therapies such as baroreflex amplification (1) and barostimulation (2) in this space, but in the interest of maximally using my word allotment I am deferring discussion of these areas to (hopefully) future debates. The presence of drug-resistant hypertension represents a public health hazard (3). When BPs persist in an elevated state despite prescription of—and adherence to—a reasonable antihypertensive regimen consisting of diuretic, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker, and a calcium channel blocker, the likelihood of target organ damage is magnified by the persistent increase in BP (4,5). When faced with a patient on a multitude of hypertensive agents, who has persistent elevations of BP, what options are available? A standard recommendation is to reduce sodium intake, which can have impressive reductions in BP, but is challenging to implement outside the confines of a research study where the meals are provided for the patient by a clinical research center kitchen (6). Additional medication is typically recommended; for instance in the PATHWAY-2 study, investigators observed that when adding either a β -blocker or an α -blocker or spironolactone to a standardized triple-therapy regimen, spironolactone had the greatest additional BP-lowering effect (7). Sermons are a means to persuade an audience (or congregation) to either amend or reinforce a particular behavior. Sermons typically have three points. A good preacher typically starts their sermon by stating all three points, developing each one, and then reviewing all three again in the summary. This is my intent for this topic. The …

Platform Ad Archives: Promises and Pitfalls

This paper discusses the new phenomenon of platform ad archives. Over the past year, leading social media platforms have installed publicly accessible databases documenting their political advertisements, and several countries have moved to regulate them. If designed and implemented properly, ad archives can correct for structural informational asymmetries in the online advertising industry, and thereby improve accountability through litigation and through publicity. However, present implementations leave much to be desired. We discuss key criticisms, suggest several improvements and identify areas for future research and debate.

Ownership of Personal Data in the Internet of Things

This article analyses, defines, and refines the concepts of ownership and personal data. It critically examines the traditional dividing line between personal and non-personal data and argues for a strict conceptual separation of personal data from personal information. The article also considers whether, and to what extent, the concept of ownership can be applied to personal data in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). This consideration is framed around two main approaches shaping all ownership theories: a bottom-up and top-down approach. Via these dual lenses, the article reviews existing debates relating to four elements supporting introduction of ownership of personal data, namely the elements of control, protection, valuation, and allocation of personal data. It then explores the explanatory advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches in relation to each of these elements as well as to ownership of personal data in IoT at large. Lastly, the article outlines a revised approach to ownership of personal data in IoT that may serve as a blueprint for future regulatory and policy debates in the context of EU law and beyond.

Psychological factors influencing laypersons’ acceptance of climate engineering, climate change mitigation and business as usual scenarios

In the past two decades, research on so-called climate engineering approaches has increased. These technologies are considered to be potential substitutes for mitigation strategies in combating climate change. The ongoing process of layperson acceptance and resultant opinion formation can be expected to play a crucial role in future public debate about field experiments or the actual deployment of climate engineering.In July 2017, we assessed public reactions from the German population in a representative online survey. Participants were given a brief text informing them about climate change and one of four different scenarios in a between-subject design (N = 678). Two of the scenarios described the use of climate engineering technologies - stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) and bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) - one of them covered conventional mitigation strategies and the fourth group was given an outline of the business-as-usual (BAU) approach.The mitigation scenario (willingness for individual behaviour changes) showed the highest acceptance rate (M = 74.23), which was significantly higher than acceptance of the other scenarios (p < .001). Acceptance of BECCS (M = 53.15) was higher than acceptance of SAI (M = 46.25, p = .043) and BAU (M = 42.94; p = .006). We undertook a relative-importance analysis to investigate the influence of multiple predictor variables on acceptance formation for each scenario; the variance thus explained ranged from 80.3% to 86.8%. The results point up the influence of perceived risks, subjective norms and affective responses on the acceptance of climate engineering technologies. By contrast, person-specific and relatively stable variables, such as environmental attitudes and wishful thinking, are particularly relevant in the evaluation of the mitigation scenario.

In‐Work Credits in the UK and the US

AbstractIn‐work credits grew in popularity worldwide during the late 1990s and 2000s as a means of reforming welfare systems in ways that could both encourage work and reduce poverty. This paper reviews the role of in‐work tax credits in the UK and the US, what is known and remains to be known about their impacts and distributional consequences, and the possibilities for reform. Evidence is clear that in‐work credits reduce poverty and can encourage lone parents to work, but have minimal impacts, in aggregate, on second earners. Spending on in‐work credits has grown in the UK, but there have been two major overhauls of the way these are structured so that, on current plans, the UK will not have an identifiable in‐work credit by 2023. In the US, in‐work assistance has grown in generosity and reach since the 1980s, thanks to broad political support for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the (less‐targeted) Child Tax Credit. Future debates in the UK should focus on the rise of in‐work poverty, particularly amongst couples, with some needed focus on the design of in‐work benefits, a debate where economic analysis and evidence should have a major role to play. In the US, the policy discussion should be about whether to increase substantially the EITC for those without children, and how best to maintain or expand the credit's generosity for those with children.

Moral Values Related to Autonomous Weapon Systems: An Empirical Survey that Reveals Common Ground for the Ethical Debate

In the political debate on Autonomous Weapon Systems strong views and opinions are voiced, but empirical research to support these opinions is lacking. Insight into which moral values are related to the deployment of Autonomous Weapon Systems is missing. We describe the empirical results of two studies on moral values regarding Autonomous Weapon Systems that aim to understand the perception of people pertaining to the introduction of Autonomous Weapon Systems. One study consists of a sample of military personnel of the Dutch Ministry of Defense and the second study contains a sample of civilians. The results indicate both groups are more anxious about the deployment of Autonomous Weapon Systems than about the deployment of Human Operated drones, and that they perceive Autonomous Weapon Systems to have less respect for the dignity of human life. The concerns for Autonomous Weapon Systems creating new kinds of psychological and moral harm is very present in the public debate, and this is in our opinion one element that deserves to be carefully considered in future debates on the ethics of the design and deployment of Autonomous Weapon Systems. The results of these studies reveal a common ground regarding the moral values of human dignity and anxiety pertaining the introduction of Autonomous Weapon Systems which could further the ethical debate.

‘Eugenics is Back’? Historic References in Current Discussions of Germline Gene Editing

Comparisons between germline gene editing using CRISPR technology and a renewal of eugenics are evident in the current bioethical discussions. This article examines the different roles of such references to the past. In the first part, the alleged parallels between gene editing of the germline and eugenics are addressed from three perspectives: First, the historical adequacy of such comparisons is questioned. Second, it is asked whether the evils of the past can in fact be attributed to (future) practices of germline gene editing. Third, it is discussed whether the alleged hazards of eugenics should in fact universally be condemned from a moral perspective. The article attempts to show that references to the eugenic past to rebut gene editing are highly selective and should be abandoned to allow for a more transparent ethical discourse. While the comparison with a eugenic past is frequently drawn by opponents of germline gene editing, the remaining part of this article investigates historic references from the proponents of germline gene editing. It is argued that they also employ different narratives of the past to justify their own liberal position. While such references are equally problematic, some lessons from the history of eugenics will be spelled out that can inform future debates on germline gene editing.

Defining “Social Sustainability”: Towards a Sustainable Solution to the Conceptual Confusion

The interest in "social sustainability" has recently increased in the field of urban development. We want societies, cities, and neighborhoods to be economically and environmentally sustainable, but we also want urban areas that are safe, diverse, walkable, and relaxing, just to mention a few examples. Strikingly, however, there is no consensus regarding what definition of "social sustainability" should be employed. Additionally, some people are skeptical about the prospect of finding a useful definition at all and claim it is impossible to satisfactorily define the concept for various reasons, such as its complexity. A potential first step towards navigating this conceptual maze is to provide desiderata for a definition of social sustainability. We defend a list of nine desiderata and thereby create a theoretical framework for analyzing and constructing a definition of "social sustainability". We also examine the skeptical arguments and find that it is premature to conclude that the goal of finding a useful definition is hopeless. With the criteria in place, the future debate can proceed by assessing definitions of "social sustainability" in a more structured and transparent manner. This activity is of upmost importance if we want to create just cities.&#x0D; Keywords: Social Sustainability, Definition, Purposes and Aims, Conditions of Adequacy

What is (not) asymmetric conflict? From conceptual stretching to conceptual structuring

ABSTRACTIn the second half of the 1990s, the label “asymmetric” conflict rose to prominence among scholars and strategists, as a term for capturing the rising challenge that violent non-state actors posed to the liberal world order. However, the concept soon became a catch-phrase for a range of disparate phenomena, and other buzzwords arose to describe the threats of concern to decision-makers. Conceptual confusion beset the field. This article dissects the notion of asymmetric conflicts, and distinguishes between asymmetries involving differences in (1) status, (2) capabilities, or (3) strategies between belligerents. It argues that “asymmetric” conflicts can take numerous forms depending on the combination of differences present, and offers a blue-print for keeping track of the meaning of this concept in the hope of bringing greater precision to future debates.

Platform ad archives: promises and pitfalls

This paper discusses the new phenomenon of platform ad archives. Over the past year, leading social media platforms have installed publicly accessible databases documenting their political advertisements, and several countries have moved to regulate them. If designed and implemented properly, ad archives can correct for structural informational asymmetries in the online advertising industry, and thereby improve accountability through litigation and through publicity. However, present implementations leave much to be desired. We discuss key criticisms, suggest several improvements and identify areas for future research and debate.

Preparedness of Swiss Citizens for the Future Energy Debate: How Political Predispositions Influence Factual and Perceived Knowledge

A common understanding in public opinion studies is that we, the public, often turn to mental short-cuts to form an opinion on important policy issues: in particular, we reflexively adopt the positions of the political parties with which we identify. The use of political heuristics is prevalent especially when the topic is highly politicized or technical (i.e., cognitively demanding), such as is the case in climate and energy policy. However, recent research on climate beliefs has shown that not only opinions but even our supposedly objective knowledge about the topic correlates with our political ideology. Moreover, research shows that these innocent and natural mental short-cuts may lead us to think we know (subjective knowledge) more than we do. Much of existing research in sustainability transitions has focused on the effect of policy-related information or its framing on public support for a hypothetical policy that is designed to achieve climate and sustainability goals. In reality, however, the amount and type of relevant information people seek is not exogenous as it is assumed in many of these studies. Instead, as marketing research has shown in the context of people's product choice, our objective and subjective knowledge influence how much and what type of information we seek. This is why we argue that the potential effect of political heuristics on our knowledge-building is concerning whether or not our political parties espouse accurate information. In this paper, we investigate whether and under what conditions our perceived or factual knowledge might be influenced by our ideological predispositions.To this end, we rely on two original surveys asking Swiss citizens about energy technologies: deep geothermal energy (domestically nascent and not highly politicized) and hydro power (mature and politicized). Both technologies are currently being considered as clean energy to partially replace nuclear power. We find multiple paths through which political predispositions can affect citizens' knowledge.First, we show evidence that subjective and objective knowledge scores are not highly correlated. That is, respondents typically think they know more (or less) than they do. Second, to our surprise, we found a more prominent effect of political heuristics on knowledge in the case of DGE, a politically nascent and less politicized topic in Switzerland compared to HP. Finally, when we probed objective knowledge more deeply and analyzed each knowledge item, we found that respondents' answers to survey items that included trigger words (i.e., words that might elicit political feelings) exhibited political patterning.

The (in)coherence in accounting for goodwill

PurposeIn the process of harmonizing International Accounting Standards (IAS/IFRS), scholars and standard setters still need to overcome unresolved issues related to both goodwill duration and accounting recognition. This paper aims to compare the academic background on goodwill with current IAS. Specifically, the goal is to criticize existing practices and advance a revision of accounting for goodwill.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a review of the relevant literature on notions, theories and accounting approaches on goodwill and on an investigation of IAS/IFRS on accounting for goodwill. By critically integrating literature and practices, the authors provide implications for a revision of IAS.FindingsThe findings show the two main internally coherent theoretical approaches and the incoherence in current goodwill accounting standards. The paper contributes to the debate on accounting for goodwill by suggesting new conceptual arguments in relation to the controversies related to its accounting treatment.Practical implicationsThe findings offer insights and guidelines that can help standard setters revise current accounting standards. Inter alia, standards setters should revisit issues related to goodwill evaluation and record limitations in future debates to find better solutions.Originality/valueThis study shows the incoherence of current accounting standards. Furthermore, the findings contradict the general opinion that, in current IAS, goodwill can be recognized only if acquired in business combinations and not if internally generated. Thereby, the authors suggest to shift the international accounting standards board focus from the preference between amortization and impairment to the coherence of goodwill accounting approaches.