To its proponents the ultrasound scanner is a safe reliable and indispensable aid to diagnosis Its detractors on the other hand argue that its development and use are driven by the technological enthusiasms of doctors and engineers and the commercial interests of manufacturers and not by concern to improve the clinical care of women In some US states an ultrasound scan is now required by legislation before a woman can obtain an abortion adding a new dimension to an already controversial practice Imaging and Imagining the Fetus engages both the development of a modern medical technology and the concerted critique of that technology Malcolm Nicolson and John Fleming relate the technical and social history of ultrasound imagingfrom early experiments in Glasgow in 1956 through wide deployment in the British hospital system by 1975 to its ubiquitous use in maternity clinics throughout the developed world by the end of the twentieth century Obstetrician Ian Donald and engineer Tom Brown created ultrasound technology in Glasgow where their prototypes were based on the industrial flaw detector an instrument readily available to them in the shipbuilding city As a physician Donald supported the use of ultrasound for clinical purposes and as a devout High Anglican he imbued the images with moral significance He opposed abortiondecisions about which were increasingly guided by the ultrasound technology he pioneeredand he occasionally used ultrasound images to convince pregnant women not to abort the fetuses they could now see Imaging and Imagining the Fetus explores why earlier innovators failed where Donald and Brown succeeded It also shows how ultrasound developed into a black box technology whose users can fully appreciate the images they produce but do not and have no need to understand the technology any more than do users of computers These images of the fetus may be produced by machines the authors write but they live vividly in the human imagination

Author: Robert D. Cooter Lawyers, judges, and scholars have long debated whether incentives in tort, contract, and restitution law effectively promote the welfare of society. If these incentives were ideal, tort law would reduce the cost and frequency of accidents, contract law would lubricate transactions, and restitution law would encourage people to benefit others. Unfortunately, the incentives in these laws lead to too many injuries, too little contractual cooperation, and too few unrequested benefits. Getting Incentives Right explains how law might better serve the social good. In tort law, Robert Cooter and Ariel Porat propose that all foreseeable risks should be included when setting standards of care and awarding damages. Failure to do so causes accidents that better legal incentives would avoid. In contract law, they show that making a promise often causes the person who receives it to change behavior and undermine the cooperation between the parties. They recommend several solutions, including a novel contract called anti-insurance. In restitution law, people who convey unrequested benefits to others are seldom entitled to compensation. Restitution law should compensate them more than it currently does, so that they will provide more unrequested benefits. In these three areas of law, Getting Incentives Right demonstrates that better law can promote the well-being of people by providing better incentives for the private regulation of conduct.

Author: Heather K. Gerken Despite howls for reform, the only thing separating us from another election disaster of the kind that hit Florida in 2000, and that almost struck again in Ohio in 2004, may simply be another close vote. In this lucid and lively book, Heather Gerken diagnoses what is wrong with our elections and proposes a radically new and simple solution: a Democracy Index that would rate the performance of state and local election systems. A rough equivalent to the U.S. News and World Report ranking of colleges and universities, the Index would focus on problems that matter to all voters: How long does it take to vote? How many ballots get discarded? How often do voting machines break down? And it should work for a simple reason: no one wants to be at the bottom of the list. For a process that is supposed to be all about counting, U.S. elections yield few reliable numbers about anything--least of all how well the voting system is managed. The Democracy Index would change this with a blueprint for quantifying election performance and reform results, replacing anecdotes and rhetoric with hard data and verifiable outcomes. A fresh vision of reform, this book shows how to drive improvements by creating incentives for politicians, parties, and election officials to join the cause of change and to come up with creative solutions--all without Congress issuing a single regulation. In clear and energetic terms, The Democracy Index explains how to realize the full potential of the Index while avoiding potential pitfalls. Election reform will never be the same again.

Author: Pierre Bibeau Entre 2002 et 2005, des recherches archeologiques preventives y ont ete menees dans le cadre des etudes environnementales initiees par la Societe denergie de la Baie James et dun programme sur larcheologie et le patrimoine culturel prevu par une convention avec le peuple cri. Elles ont ete realisees par des equipes darcheologues, geographes et ethnologues grace a une collaboration remarquable entre des chercheurs dArkeos inc., le consultant retenu, et de lAdministration regionale crie.Outre des volets denregistrement du savoir traditionnel, de formation de jeunes Cris et de diffusion des connaissances acquises, les recherches aux abords de la riviere Eastmain ont mene a la mise au jour de 158 sites couvrant cinq millenaires doccupation humaine.Les 18 contributions de cet ouvrage abordent autant dangles de discussion relatifs au milieu naturel et a lhistoire culturelle quaux vestiges immobiliers et mobiliers.