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Value Free (value + free)
Selected AbstractsA Normativist Account of Language-Based Learning Disability1,2LEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 1 2006J. Bruce Tomblin Research on learning disabilities (LD) depends upon a conceptual framework that specifies what it should explain, what kinds of data are needed, and how these data are to be arranged in order to provide a meaningful explanation. An argument is made that LD are no different in this respect than any other form of human illness. In this article, a theory of LD based on weak normativism drawn from the philosophy of medicine is presented. This theory emphasizes that cultural values (norms) determine which aspects of human experience and function are instances of ill health. Thus, ill health is fundamentally normative. However, the experiences and behaviors themselves arise out of the natural world and therefore can be explained by a culturally neutral natural science. Data from a longitudinal study of specific language impairment are used to show that academic achievement is culturally evaluated, that low achievement is disvalued, and that therefore actions are taken to help the poor achiever. Spoken language abilities in kindergarten are associated with judgments of the adequacy of fourth grade academic achievement and are mediated by reading prior to fourth grade and also via a path that is independent of reading. It is argued that poor academic achievement may be viewed as a disvalued state consistent with an illness, whereas language and reading skills can be viewed as basic causal systems that can explain the child's learning performance. Properties of this causal system are value free, except that they can inherit disvalue by their association with poor achievement. It remains to be determined whether the notion of LD is to be equated with poor achievement and therefore serve as a type of illness or whether it is to be viewed as a particular cause of poor achievement and thus functions as a type of disease associated with poor achievement. The conceptual framework lays out the alternative meanings for LD and the choice between these alternatives will ultimately depend on how it is used in the LD research community. [source] Null-field approach for Laplace problems with circular boundaries using degenerate kernelsNUMERICAL METHODS FOR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, Issue 1 2009Jeng-Tzong Chen Abstract In this article, a semi-analytical method for solving the Laplace problems with circular boundaries using the null-field integral equation is proposed. The main gain of using the degenerate kernels is to avoid calculating the principal values. To fully utilize the geometry of circular boundary, degenerate kernels for the fundamental solution and Fourier series for boundary densities are incorporated into the null-field integral equation. An adaptive observer system is considered to fully employ the property of degenerate kernels in the polar coordinates. A linear algebraic system is obtained without boundary discretization. By matching the boundary condition, the unknown coefficients can be determined. The present method can be seen as one kind of semianalytical approaches since error only attributes to the truncated Fourier series. For the eccentric case, vector decomposition technique for the normal and tangential directions is carefully considered in implementing the hypersingular equation in mathematical essence although we transform it to summability to divergent series. The five advantages, well-posed linear algebraic system, principal value free, elimination of boundary-layer effect, exponential convergence, and mesh free, are achieved. Several examples involving infinite, half-plane, and bounded domains with circular boundaries are given to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2009 [source] How to be a Value-Free Advocate of Laissez FaireAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Ludwig von Mises's Solution Ludwig von Mises is often regarded as a "champion" of laissez faire. This characterization seems to contradict Mises's clear statement that economics is value free. The aim of this paper is to resolve this apparent contradiction. We accomplish this by distinguishing, as Mises did, between the advocacy of specific laissez-faire policies and the advocacy of a laissez-faire ideology vis-à-vis the alternative ideologies of socialism and interventionism. Mises argued that the logic of a value-free economics could be used to show that socialist and interventionist policies would not achieve a goal that the socialists and interventionists implicitly or explicitly aim to achieve, that of progress in terms of material wealth for the members of society. Thus, Mises resolved the contradiction by shifting the debate from the welfare analysis of particular policies to a logical analysis of the ends of a particular ideology and the means available to achieve those ends. In a seminal paper in neo-Austrian economics, Murray Rothbard criticized Mises. We analyze Rothbard's argument partly as a means of elucidating Mises's views and argue that Rothbard misinterpreted Mises and quoted him out of context. Rothbard failed to adequately support his claim that Mises held the beliefs that Rothbard attributed to him. Moreover, Rothbard's paper undermined the value freedom that Mises regarded as a crucial characteristic of economics. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 24, Number 2.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 2 2008April 200 Front cover and back cover caption, volume 24 issue 2 Front cover Front cover: Front cover The front cover of this issue illustrates Peter Loizois' article on the work of filmmaker Robert Gardner. The Hamar woman in the photo bears marks of whipping, a subject which raised the first divisions between Gardner and anthropologists Ivo Strecker and Jean Lydall, as Gardner was inclined to see the practice as a facet of female subordination and male cruelty. The Streckers, after many years of research, took a different view, which can be grasped in Jean Lydall's article ,Beating around the bush' (see http://www.uni-mainz.de/organisationen/SORC/fileadmin/texte/lydall/Beating) Gardner makes clear his feelings in this note, highlighted in his book The impulse to preserve: ,Editing the Rivers of sand imagery made a huge impression on me. I kept being reminded that I especially disliked Hamar man and I don't think I would have felt differently had there been no Women's Movement. I don't see how anyone can escape feeling the same way once they see the film. It was a painful life for both sexes. So why not say so? I don't think anthropology is doing its job by being value free. I do think it should accept responsibility to look for larger truths.' (Robert Gardner 2006, The impulse to preserve: Reflections of a filmmaker, New York: Other Press, p. 158) Back cover Back cover: UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES The back cover illustrates Paul Oldham and Miriam Anne Frank's article in this issue on the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration sets the minimum international standards for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples' rights. The display boards capture the historic moment on 13 September 2007, when UN member states overwhelmingly supported the adoption of the Declaration at the General Assembly's 61st session. Votes in favour of the Declaration are shown in green (143 + 1 not shown), abstentions in orange (11) and votes against in red (4). With the exception of Montenegro, whose vote in favour did not register on screen, absent or non-voting states are blank. Such overwhelming support within the General Assembly was by no means guaranteed , it was the outcome of lengthy and delicate behind-the-scenes negotiations. Expectations that the Declaration would be adopted in December 2006 were dashed when the African Group of countries blocked it, claiming that, despite 23 years of negotiations, more time was needed for consultation. In the ensuing period, Mexico, Peru and Guatemala, as co-sponsors of the Declaration, took the lead in negotiating an agreement with the African Group that they would support a Declaration with three main amendments, and would block other amendments or delays put forward by Australia, Canada, the US and New Zealand. The co-sponsors then sought agreement to this amended Declaration from the Global Indigenous Peoples' Caucus, who engaged in their own worldwide consultation process with indigenous peoples' organizations. The outcome remained uncertain, however, until these giant screens in the UN General Assembly Hall finally flashed green, to spontaneous applause from the delegates and their supporters. Since anthropologists work with indigenous peoples worldwide, this historic vote raises the challenge of how they, individually and as a discipline, position themselves in relation to the new Declaration. [source] Internal electrolyte temperatures for polymer and fused-silica capillaries used in capillary electrophoresisELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 22 2005Christopher J. Evenhuis Abstract Polymers are important as materials for manufacturing microfluidic devices for electrodriven separations, in which Joule heating is an unavoidable phenomenon. Heating effects were investigated in polymer capillaries using a CE setup. This study is the first step toward the longer-term objective of the study of heating effects occurring in polymeric microfluidic devices. The thermal conductivity of polymers is much smaller than that of fused silica (FS), resulting in less efficient dissipation of heat in polymeric capillaries. This study used conductance measurements as a temperature probe to determine the mean electrolyte temperatures in CE capillaries of different materials. Values for mean electrolyte temperatures in capillaries made of New Generation FluoroPolymer (NGFP), poly-(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA), and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) capillaries were compared with those obtained for FS capillaries. Extrapolation of plots of conductance versus power per unit length (P/L) to zero power was used to obtain conductance values free of Joule heating effects. The ratio of the measured conductance values at different power levels to the conductance at zero power was used to determine the mean temperature of the electrolyte. For each type of capillary material, it was found that the average increase in the mean temperature of the electrolyte (,TMean) was directly proportional to P/L and inversely proportional to the thermal conductivity (,) of the capillary material. At 7.5,W/m, values for ,TMean for NGFP, PMMA, and PEEK were determined to be 36.6, 33.8, and 30.7°C, respectively. Under identical conditions, ,TMean for FS capillaries was 20.4°C. 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