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Alternative Paradigm (alternative + paradigm)
Selected AbstractsGLOBAL HEALTH ETHICS FOR STUDENTSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2009ANDREW D. PINTO ABSTRACT As a result of increased interest in global health, more and more medical students and trainees from the ,developed world' are working and studying in the ,developing world'. However, while opportunities to do this important work increase, there has been insufficient development of ethical guidelines for students. It is often assumed that ethics training in developed world situations is applicable to health experiences globally. However, fundamental differences in both clinical and research settings necessitate an alternative paradigm of analysis. This article is intended for teachers who are responsible for preparing students prior to such experiences. A review of major ethical issues is presented, how they pertain to students, and a framework is outlined to help guide students in their work. [source] Spatial viability analysis of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica in the Russian Far East: the role of protected areas and landscape matrix in population persistenceJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2006CARLOS CARROLL Summary 1The Amur or Siberian tiger Panthera tigris altaica forms a relatively small and disjunct population of less than 600 individuals in the Russian Far East. Because tigers in this region require large territories to acquire sufficient prey, current strictly protected areas, comprising 3·4% (10 300 km2) of the region, are unlikely to prevent extirpation of the subspecies in the face of expanding forestry and external demand for tiger parts. 2We used resource selection function models and spatially explicit population models to analyse the distribution and predict the demographic structure of the population to identify policy options that may enhance population viability. 3A resource selection function model developed from track distribution data predicted that tigers were most likely to occur in lower altitude valley bottoms with Korean pine forest and low human impacts. 4The results from the spatially explicit population model suggested that current tiger distribution is highly dependent on de facto refugia with low human impacts but without statutory protection, and that small increases in mortality in these areas will result in range fragmentation. Although an expanded reserve network only marginally increases tiger viability under current conditions, it dramatically enhances distribution under potential future scenarios, preventing regional extirpation despite a more hostile landscape matrix. 5The portion of tiger range most resistant to extirpation connects a large coastal reserve in the central portion of the region with largely unprotected watersheds to the north. A southern block of habitat is also important but more severely threatened with anthropogenic disturbances. The results suggest that preserving source habitat in these two zones and ensuring linkages are retained between blocks of habitat in the north and south will be critical to the survival of the tiger population. 6Synthesis and applications. Conservation priorities identified in this analysis differ from those suggested by a conservation paradigm focusing only on sustaining and connecting existing protected areas that has been applied to tiger conservation in more developed landscapes with higher prey densities. An alternative paradigm that assesses population viability in a whole-landscape context and develops priorities for both protected area expansion and increasing survival rates in the landscape matrix may be more appropriate in areas where tigers and other large carnivores coexist with low-density human populations. Although landscape connectivity merits increased emphasis in conservation planning, identification of landscape linkages should be tied to broad-scale recommendations resulting from spatial viability analyses in order to prevent misdirection of resources towards protecting corridors that add little to population persistence. [source] Where is the wisdom?JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 6 2009A conceptual history of evidence-based medicine Abstract Rationale, Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been acclaimed as a major advance in medical science, but criticized as a proposed alternative model for the practice and teaching of medicine. Ambiguity regarding the proper role of the contributions of EBM within the fabric of medicine and health care has contributed to this discrepancy. Aims and objectives, We undertook a critical review of the history of the EBM movement, beginning with its origins in the 1970s and continuing through this century. We drew upon the results of an independent project that rationalized the EBM domain from the perspective of educational evaluation and assessment. We considered the content of EBM in relationship to the propositions and promises embodied in advocacy publications. Results, EBM emerged in the context of the explosion of biomedical information in the decade preceding public access to the Internet in the mid-1990s and drew upon the independently derived ,information literacy' formula developed by information scientists during the 1980s. The critically important content and achievements of EBM are fully explained within the confines of the information literacy model. The thesis that EBM offers an alternative paradigm for individualized health care, asserted in the advocacy literature, is not supported by published models of evidence-based clinical practice. Conclusion, A critical historical review of the origins, content and development of the EBM movement proposes that full integration of the fruits of the movement into routine clinical care remains a conceptual and practical challenge. [source] Bayeswatch: an overview of Bayesian statisticsJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2 2002Peter C. Austin PhD Abstract Increasingly, clinical research is evaluated on the quality of its statistical analysis. Traditionally, statistical analyses in clinical research have been carried out from a ,frequentist' perspective. The presence of an alternative paradigm , the Bayesian paradigm , has been relatively unknown in clinical research until recently. There is currently a growing interest in the use of Bayesian statistics in health care research. This is due both to a growing realization of the limitations of frequentist methods and to the ability of Bayesian methods explicitly to incorporate prior expert knowledge and belief into the analyses. This is in contrast to frequentist methods, where prior experience and beliefs tend to be incorporated into the analyses in an ad hoc fashion. This paper outlines the frequentist and Bayesian paradigms. Acute myocardial infarction mortality data are then analysed from both a Bayesian and a frequentist perspective. In some analyses, the two methods are seen to produce comparable results; in others, they produce different results. It is noted that in this example, there are clinically relevant questions that are more easily addressed from a Bayesian perspective. Finally, areas in clinical research where Bayesian ideas are increasingly common are highlighted. [source] DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR ARTICLE Rethinking women's sexual orientation: An interdisciplinary, relationship-focused approachPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2001LETITIA ANNE PEPLAU What leads some women to form romantic and sexual relationships with men, and other women to form intimate relationships with women? This article presents a new conceptual paradigm for understanding women's sexual orientation that is emerging from research in such diverse fields as social psychology, sex research, evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience. This approach acknowledges the potential plasticity of women's sexuality and the emphasis that women place on close relationships as a context for sexuality. Research also raises the possibility that for women the biological determinants of sexual desire, attraction, and attachment are not inherently linked to a partner's gender. This article begins with a brief survey of research on women's same-sex romantic and sexual relationships not only in the United States today but also in other cultures and historical periods. These and other findings are used to critique prevailing conceptual models of women's sexual orientation. Finally, key elements in an alternative paradigm are described. [source] From moral theory to penal attitudes and back: a theoretically integrated modeling approach,BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 4 2002Jan W. de Keijser Ph.D. From a moral standpoint, we would expect the practice of punishment to reflect a solid and commonly shared legitimizing framework. Several moral legal theories explicitly aim to provide such frameworks. Based on the theories of Retributivism, Utilitarianism, and Restorative Justice, this article first sets out to develop a theoretically integrated model of penal attitudes and then explores the extent to which Dutch judges' attitudes to punishment fit the model. Results indicate that penal attitudes can be measured in a meaningful way that is consistent with an integrated approach to moral theory. The general structure of penal attitudes among Dutch judges suggests a streamlined and pragmatic approach to legal punishment that is identifiably founded on the separate concepts central to moral theories of punishment. While Restorative Justice is frequently presented as an alternative paradigm, results show it to be smoothly incorporated within the streamlined approach. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ecological limits and diversification rate: alternative paradigms to explain the variation in species richness among clades and regionsECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 8 2009Daniel L. Rabosky Abstract Diversification rate is one of the most important metrics in macroecological and macroevolutionary studies. Here I demonstrate that diversification analyses can be misleading when researchers assume that diversity increases unbounded through time, as is typical in molecular phylogenetic studies. If clade diversity is regulated by ecological factors, then species richness may be independent of clade age and it may not be possible to infer the rate at which diversity arose. This has substantial consequences for the interpretation of many studies that have contrasted rates of diversification among clades and regions. Often, it is possible to estimate the total diversification experienced by a clade but not diversification rate itself. I show that the evidence for ecological limits on diversity in higher taxa is widespread. Finally, I explore the implications of ecological limits for a variety of ecological and evolutionary questions that involve inferences about speciation and extinction rates from phylogenetic data. [source] Models of reproductive skew: A review and synthesis (Invited Article)ETHOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Rufus A. Johnstone Animal societies vary markedly in reproductive skew, the extent to which breeding is monopolised by dominant individuals. In the last few years, a large number of different models have been developed to explain this variation. Here, I review existing models of reproductive skew, distinguishing between two basic types. Transactional models focus on group stability and the constraints this places on the division of reproduction. Compromise models, by contrast, ignore issues of group stability and view the division of reproduction as the outcome of a conflict in which each group member has a limited or partial ability to enforce its own optimum. I go on to show, however, that the division between transactional and compromise models is somewhat artificial, and that both approaches may be combined in a single, synthetic treatment. Different models of reproductive skew are thus better seen as special cases of a general underlying theory, rather than alternative paradigms. I conclude with a brief discussion of the possibilities and problems of empirically testing this unified theory of skew, and the prospects for future theoretical advances. [source] A paradigmatic and methodological examination of information systems research from 1991 to 2001INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 3 2004WenShin Chen Abstract., The field of information systems (IS) has evolved for more than three decades. Although many schools of thought have emerged and even become well established, few historical analyses of research paradigms and methodologies have been undertaken. One of the rare exceptions is Orlikowski & Baroudi (1991). Yet, the IS research community has evolved substantially since 1991 in many aspects. A variety of journal outlets have emerged and become well established. More attention has been paid to paradigmatic and methodological issues. Political and professional contexts have also changed noticeably. Therefore, it should be an opportune time for the field to ask: ,What changes are manifested in journal publications?',Is the field making progress regarding pluralism in IS research?',How will the field's publications practices change in the future?' The purpose of this paper is to investigate these questions and, in turn, reflect on the paradigmatic and methodological progress made since 1991. We examined 1893 articles published in eight major IS publication outlets between 1991 and 2001. Our findings suggest that the long-term endeavours of interpretivist researchers might need to continue because the paradigmatic progress appears somewhat inconsequential; positivist research still dominates 81% of published empirical research. In particular, US journals, as opposed to European journals, tend to be more positivist, quantitative, cross-sectional and survey oriented. With respect to research design, survey research is still the most widely used method (41%), although case studies have gained substantial recognition (36%). Further, the increase of qualitative research (30%), empirical studies (61%) and longitudinal cases (33%) at the expense of laboratory experiments (18%) might suggest that IS researchers have become more interested in obtaining scientific knowledge in real world settings. In summary, we suggest that the field has been dominated by the positivist paradigm, despite calls to the contrary. Indeed, if the field was to truly embrace pluralism, it would have to find ways to fundamentally change the publication practices of the journal system, including the current tenure and promotion system, which pose considerable obstacles for the acceptance of alternative paradigms. [source] | |||||||||||||