Author: Robert Klitzman File Type: pdf Research on human beings saves countless lives, but has at times harmed the participants. To what degree then should government regulate science, and how? The horrors of Nazi concentration camp experiments and the egregious Tuskegee syphilis study led the US government, in 1974, to establish Research Ethics Committees, known as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to oversee research on humans. The US now has over 4,000 IRBs, which examine yearly tens of billions of dollars of research -- all studies on people involving diseases, from cancer to autism, and behavior. Yet ethical violations persist. At the same time, critics have increasingly attacked these committees for delaying or blocking important studies. Partly, science is changing, and the current system has not kept up. Since the regulations were first conceived 40 years ago, research has burgeoned 30-fold. Studies often now include not a single university, but multiple institutions, and 40 separate IRBs thus need to approve a single project. One committee might approve a study quickly, while others require major changes, altering the scientific design, and making the comparison of data between sites difficult. Crucial dilemmas thus emerge of whether the current system should be changed, and if so, how. Yet we must first understand the status quo to know how to improve it. Unfortunately, these committees operate behind closed doors, and have received relatively little in-depth investigation. Robert Klitzman thus interviewed 45 IRB leaders and members about how they make decisions. What he heard consistently surprised him. This book reveals what Klitzman learned, providing rare glimpses into the conflicts and complexities these individuals face, defining science, assessing possible future risks and benefits of studies, and deciding how much to trust researchers -- illuminating, more broadly, how we view and interpret ethics in our lives today, and perceive and use power. These committees reflect many of the most vital tensions of our time - concerning science and human values, individual freedom, government control, and industry greed. Ultimately, as patients, scientists, or subjects, the decisions of these men and women affect us all. **

Author: Jacob Mundy File Type: epub Libya is teetering on the edge of collapse, having become a new haven for terrorist organizations and an epicenter of the refugee crisis. Few could have imagined that the uprising against the longstanding regime of Muammar Al-Gaddafi would expose a polity deeply fractured by internal divisions. Fewer still could have predicted the intractability of the conflicts that emerged in the wake of this revolution. Jacob Mundys Libyais the first book to explain the political, security, and humanitarian crises that have engulfed Libya Africas largest oil-exporting country since the Arab Spring of 2011. Examining the roots of the anti-Gaddafi revolution and the failures that resulted in the countrys descent into chaos, Mundy identifies new centers of power that coalesced in the wake of the regimes collapse. The more these rival coalitions vied for political authority and control over Libyas vast oil wealth, the more they reached out to external actors who were playing their own great game in Libya and across the region. In the face of such a multifaceted crisis, the future looks grim as the international community seems unable to bring peace to this divided and conflict-ridden nation. **Review Libyas tragic disintegration into a bloody civil war has been poorly understood by both scholars and students. Mundys clear-eyed and deeply informed book provides the kind of complex analysis and empathetic perspective hitherto absent from the study of the Libyan quagmire. John P. Entelis, Fordham University While Western military intervention achieved its objective of regime change, it has failed to bring peace and stability to Libya. In this timely and superbly well-written book, Mundy explains why the post-conflict reconstruction has been more daunting than anticipated. Indispensable reading for non-specialists and experts alike. Yahia Zoubir, Kedge Business School About the Author Jacob Mundy is an Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University.

Author: BADco. File Type: pdf

Author: Walter J. Ong File Type: pdf This classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures offering a very clear account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing, print and electronic technology. In the course of his study, Walter J. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. He considers the impact of orality-literacy studies not only on literary criticism and theory but on our very understanding of what it is to be a human being, conscious of self and other.This is a book no reader, writer or speaker should be without. **