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The term 'mash-up' refers to websites that weave data from different sources into new Web services. The key to a successful Web service is to gather and use large datasets and harness the scale of the Internet through what is known as network effects. This means that data sources are just as important as the software that 'mashes' them, and one of the most profound pieces of data that a user has at any one time is his or her location. In the past this was a somewhat fuzzy concept, perhaps as vague as a verbal reference to being in a particular shop or café or an actual street address. Recent events, however, have changed this. In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton's policy decision to open up military GPS satellite technology for 'dual-use' (military and civilian) resulted in a whole new generation of location-aware devices. Around the same time, cartography and GIScience were also undergoing dramatic, Internet-induced changes. Traditional, resource intensive processes and established organizations, in both the public and private sectors, were being challenged by new, lightweight methods. The upshot has been that map making, geospatial analysis and related activities are undergoing a process of profound change. New players have entered established markets and disrupted routes to knowledge and, as we have already seen with Web 2.0, newly empowered amateurs are part of these processes. Volunteers are quite literally grabbing a GPS unit and hitting the streets of their local town to help create crowdsourced datasets that are uploaded to both open source and proprietary databases. The upshot is an evolving landscape which Tim O'Reilly, proponent of Web 2.0 and always ready with a handy moniker, has labelled Where 2.0. Others prefer the GeoWeb, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Location Infrastructure, or perhaps just location based services. Whatever one might call it, there are a number of reasons why its development should be of interest to those in higher and further education. Firstly, since a person's location is such a profound unit of information and of such value to, for example, the process of targeting advertising, there has been considerable investment in Web 2.0-style services that make use of it. Understanding these developments may provide useful insights for how other forms of data might be used. Secondly, education, particularly research, is beginning to realize the huge potential of the data mash-up concept. As Government, too, begins to get involved, it is likely that education will be expected to take advantage of, and indeed come to relish, the new opportunities for working with data. This TechWatch report describes the context for the changes that are taking place and explains why the education community needs to understand the issues around how to open up data, how to create mash-ups that do not compromise accuracy and quality and how to deal with issues such as privacy and working with commercial and non-profit third parties. It also shows how data mash-ups in education and research are part of an emerging, richer information environment with greater integration of mobile applications, sensor platforms, e-science, mixed reality, and semantic, machine-computable data and speculates on how this is likely to develop in the future.

In times of global migration flows and ever increasing mobility of the workforce in the world, the necessity for constant deepening of theoretical knowledge is imposed as a basis for understanding main determinants of this phenomenon, and with an aim of directing the focus of migration researches towards more efficient overcoming of challenges and making use of the advantages which international migrations could bring both to origin, destination and transit countries. The main goal of this paper is to give a critical review on the development of the economic migrations theory, to state the main similarities and differences between various approaches and to point out to the main drawbacks and problems which the theoretical perspective is facing when studying the determinants of contemporary international labor migrations. The focus of the study refers to voluntary labor migrations with reference to migrations of the highly educated population, while the stress is on economic theories, although some of them are closely connected to sociological, geographical and anthropological theories. The development of the theory on international migrations has been started by micro theoretical models, namely, through the conceptualization of theories which place the individual in the focal point of research, who estimates the positive, namely negative sides of moving from one location to another. Economic models on the micro theoretical level cede more space to models of macro structure which research the social and economic structure within and between countries. There are many theoretical models which offer possible answers to the question on what are the main determinants of international migrations on the macro analytical level. Although every one of them tries to give an answer to the same question, they use different concepts, assumptions and frameworks of research. The reasons which bring about the initiation of international migrations can be significantly different from those which lead to their stabilization in time and space. Although differences in the income height, risks, employment possibilities, market expansion can all influence the continuation of spatial movement of population, new conditions which arise during migration begin to act as independent factors: development of migratory networks, institutionalized support to the development of trans-national activities, as well as changing the social context of work in countries of destination. Therefore, in the analysis of contemporary international migrations the necessity arises for a systematic approach, namely dynamic perspective of research - from recognition to a detailed insight in changeable trends and forms of contemporary migratory movements in the world. In addition, at the same time with the development of new markets, regional economies and technology centers, there has been a 'trans-national turnabout' in the last fifteen years or so in researching migrations, namely a significant development in the approach which stresses the relations which migrants maintain with their families, communities and cultures which are out of the country in which they migrated in. The final part of the paper calls for the requirement of the following: coordination of theoretical concepts with new social conditions, post-industrial world and global processes of transformations in which migrations have an important role; overcoming inadequate coordination and isolation in studying migrations within special scientific disciplines, as well as poor connections of certain aspects of migration study; research of the causes and consequences of migrations as an inseparable part of the general process of social development. .

The World Trade Centre terror attack in 2001 changed the world and with it the conditions for logistics worldwide. The aftermath of the attack brought needed attention to the vulnerability of modern supply chains. This thesis addresses the antagonistic threats that exploit the vulnerability in a supply chain. Antagonistic threats are a limited array of risks and uncertainties and can be addressed with risk management tools and strategies. There are three key demarcations between antagonistic threats and other risks and uncertainties: deliberate (caused), illegal (defined by law), and hostile (negative impact, in this thesis, for transport network activities). This thesis makes a theoretical contribution to the usage of theories from criminology in supply chain risk management to handle antagonistic threats against the transport network. The recognition that antagonistic threats toward the transport network are a problem leads to verification of the research questions from the background and the theoretical framework. This is done to place or relate the research questions closer to the context. Furthermore, it leads to the conclusion that the answers may or may not contain competing and/or incompatible parts which differ depending on the perspective or viewpoint at the moment. One of the most important things to understand is that antagonistic threats toward freight always have been a feature in both business and politics. The different functions and goals for all stakeholders mean that all stakeholders and actors may use similar methods to manage antagonistic threats but the effects and consequences will change according to the circumstances.The system approach in this thesis is a soft-system thinking where reality is described in subjective terms and the whole system has the distinctive trait of vague or undefined boundaries between system components and the surrounding environment. Therefore, this thesis uses a complex system approach in which paradoxes and bounded rationality describes the system's behaviour. This thesis defines the legal descriptions and criminal threats against and within supply chain management activities that entail both the systems context and boundaries. Managing of the antagonistic threats through the risk management perspective is separated into two sides, pre-event and post-event measures, which means the system needs to be robust and resilient, using logistics terms. It should be robust to automatically handle small risks (normally with high likelihood and low impact). The system also needs resilience in order to adapt, improvise, and overcome any disturbance greater than the system's robustness can handle. Both robustness and its resilience can constitute of the full range of prevention, mitigation, and transferring tools and methods. Regardless of which perspective or viewpoint is chosen for analysing the problem, the same basic set of tools and methods are valid, but in practical use they need to be adapted to the actors' needs and wants for managing their exposure to antagonistic threats. ; Thesis to be defended in public at 8 May 2009 at 13.00 in Vasa A, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Avhandlingen har tilldelats den prestigefyllda utmärkelsen "The 2011 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards". The thesis has been awarded with the prestigious honor of "The 2011 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards" Sponsorship : VINNOVA

Within the European Union, the integrated project NEEDS (New Energy Externalities Developments for Sustainability), addresses sustainable energy systems and socio-economic tools and concepts for energy strategies. Its ultimate objective is to evaluate the full costs and benefits of energy policies and future energy systems, both at the level of individual countries and for the expanded European Union as a whole. For the evaluation of full costs and benefits, different efforts have to be made. For example a distinction between direct and external costs and the evaluation of entire energy chains. While purchasers pay the direct costs of energy systems monetarily, the indirect costs cannot easily be expressed in monetary terms. By using the specification "external costs", we refer to the ExternE project, which defines external costs as "…an externality, which arises when the social or economic activities of one group of persons have an impact on another group and when that impact is not fully accounted, or compensated for, by the first group." This description of external costs shows that the concept is broadly applicable. External costs of energy systems can affect economic, ecological or social impacts. They can be credited to such diverse issues as CO² emissions, qualitative risk perception or number of newly created job opportunities. Within this wide range of external costs this report addresses the social impact of energy systems. Therefore this report provides insight into the establishment and measurement of social indicators for the assessment of energy systems. The emphasis will be placed on the measurement of the social indicators and the analysis of results. The social indicators within the NEEDS project were developed on the basis of literature research, surveys and a participative procedure involving multiple stakeholders' opinions. By using this multiple step procedure 26 indicators were developed. In a further step these 26 indicators had to be measured. As one of the purposes of NEEDS is to provide input for future energy policies, the indicators were measured for the year 2050. The measurement of social indicators was predominantly carried out via expert phone interviews. Scientific experts were contacted and asked to provide judgments on social indicators to assess different energy systems. The expert interviews were conducted on the basis of a questionnaire, which was sent to the respondents in advance and covered a total of 14 item batteries each pertaining to different indicators and one open ended question focusing citizens perception of renewable and fossil fuels today and in the future. The expert survey was carried out in four sample countries: France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. These countries were selected since each country is characterised by a specific energy resource and supply situation. The indicators were not only measured within the four selected countries but also for 16 sample technologies Energy system descriptions were provided which informed the interviewee about the main characteristics of each technology. This report provides an overview of the expert telephone interview results for each indicator, emphasizing a) technologies that deviate from the mean evaluations b) differences in evaluations of indicators between experts from the four different countries. These topics are covered: • Development of social indicators • Measurement of social indicators used within the NEEDS project • Empirical results of the research • Conclusion – Summary of the most important results

En el presente informe analizo críticamente el posible uso de la información genética individual y sus implicancias en la distribución de recursos en salud. Para ello, comienzo con el argumento de la "equidad actuarial" de los seguros privados de salud, ficción histórica y estructural. Si bien considero que debe apoyarse la moratoria o prohibición del acceso a la información genética para los seguros privados -en razón de que el determinismo genético imperante profundizará aún más las desigualdades que se encuentran en su estructura-; dicha moratoria no constituye la solución definitiva al problema de fondo. Es preciso reconocer que la salud/enfermedad, en tanto definamos a la misma de forma integral y no unicausal, es el bien que debe protegerse (no discriminación por razones de salud), no pudiéndose reducirse la persona a sus genes. Los seguros de salud no pueden compararse con cualquier otra empresa comercial, debido a que su accionar tiene consecuencias políticas y sociales, impidiendo el desarrollo del plan de vida y la participación política. Por lo tanto, constituye una responsabilidad social el acceso universal a la salud, compartiendo riesgos. Y esto implica ampliar el principio de no discriminación existente en la legislación internacional2 con el fin de que el mismo no se base exclusivamente en la eliminación de barreras legales (derechos civiles y políticos), informales (sexo, raza, clase, religión, etc) o genéticas (patrimonio genético); sino en una concepción de fuerte igualdad de oportunidades que garantice el cumplimiento de los derechos sociales y humanos, como lo son el derecho al acceso a la salud y a la tecnología genética. ; In the present report, I critically analyze the possible use of individual genetic information and its implications in the distribution of health resources. For this, I start with the argument of "actuarial equity" of private health insurance, historical and structural fiction. Although I believe that the moratorium or prohibition of access to genetic information for private insurance should be supported - because the prevailing genetic determinism will further deepen the inequalities found in its structure-; This moratorium does not constitute the definitive solution to the underlying problem. It is necessary to recognize that health / disease, as long as we define it in an integral and not unicausal way, is the good that must be protected (non-discrimination for health reasons), and the person can not be reduced to their genes. Health insurance can not be compared with any other commercial company, because its actions have political and social consequences, preventing the development of the life plan and political participation. Therefore, social responsibility is universal access to health, sharing risks. And this implies extending the principle of non-discrimination existing in international legislation so that it is not based exclusively on the elimination of legal barriers (civil and political rights), informal (sex, race, class, religion, etc.) or genetic (genetic heritage); but in a conception of strong equality of opportunities that guarantees the fulfillment of social and human rights, such as the right to access to health and genetic technology. ; Fil: de Ortúzar, María Graciela. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.

En el presente informe analizo críticamente el posible uso de la información genética individual y sus implicancias en la distribución de recursos en salud. Para ello, comienzo con el argumento de la "equidad actuarial" de los seguros privados de salud, ficción histórica y estructural. Si bien considero que debe apoyarse la moratoria o prohibición del acceso a la información genética para los seguros privados -en razón de que el determinismo genético imperante profundizará aún más las desigualdades que se encuentran en su estructura-; dicha moratoria no constituye la solución definitiva al problema de fondo. Es preciso reconocer que la salud/enfermedad, en tanto definamos a la misma de forma integral y no unicausal, es el bien que debe protegerse (no discriminación por razones de salud), no pudiéndose reducirse la persona a sus genes. Los seguros de salud no pueden compararse con cualquier otra empresa comercial, debido a que su accionar tiene consecuencias políticas y sociales, impidiendo el desarrollo del plan de vida y la participación política. Por lo tanto, constituye una responsabilidad social el acceso universal a la salud, compartiendo riesgos. Y esto implica ampliar el principio de no discriminación existente en la legislación internacional2 con el fin de que el mismo no se base exclusivamente en la eliminación de barreras legales (derechos civiles y políticos), informales (sexo, raza, clase, religión, etc) o genéticas (patrimonio genético); sino en una concepción de fuerte igualdad de oportunidades que garantice el cumplimiento de los derechos sociales y humanos, como lo son el derecho al acceso a la salud y a la tecnología genética. ; In the present report, I critically analyze the possible use of individual genetic information and its implications in the distribution of health resources. For this, I start with the argument of "actuarial equity" of private health insurance, historical and structural fiction. Although I believe that the moratorium or prohibition of access to genetic information for private insurance should be supported - because the prevailing genetic determinism will further deepen the inequalities found in its structure-; This moratorium does not constitute the definitive solution to the underlying problem. It is necessary to recognize that health / disease, as long as we define it in an integral and not unicausal way, is the good that must be protected (non-discrimination for health reasons), and the person can not be reduced to their genes. Health insurance can not be compared with any other commercial company, because its actions have political and social consequences, preventing the development of the life plan and political participation. Therefore, social responsibility is universal access to health, sharing risks. And this implies extending the principle of non-discrimination existing in international legislation so that it is not based exclusively on the elimination of legal barriers (civil and political rights), informal (sex, race, class, religion, etc.) or genetic (genetic heritage); but in a conception of strong equality of opportunities that guarantees the fulfillment of social and human rights, such as the right to access to health and genetic technology. ; Fil: De Ortúzar, María Graciela. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.

El presente estudio, buscó identificar elementos que posibilitaran la construcción de perfiles educativos funcionales, que permitieran analizar y avanzar en los procesos de inclusión educativa de algunos niños y jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual, principalmente en las etapas de ingreso, permanencia y promoción en la secundaria. Se utilizó la CIF-NJ como referente para el diseño de una herramienta de valoración que permitiera obtener dichos perfiles para su utilización en contextos educativos regulares. La presente investigación además, incluyó importantes reflexiones conceptuales en relación con la utilización de herramientas de clasificación, desde el punto de vista político, investigativo y social. Cabe anotar que el uso de la CIF-NJ en los contextos educativos favorece el uso de un lenguaje común entre los sectores clínico y educativo y apunta a brindar una visión integral de los procesos de inclusión educativa de los estudiantes. Se realizó un abordaje a partir del capítulo de actividades y participación de la CIF-NJ, esto sugiere la comprensión de la discapacidad como un fenómeno dinámico, cambiante y multidimensional que lejos de situarse en el cuerpo del individuo, resulta de la interacción del individuo con su entorno (Brandt and Pope, 1997). De igual forma, se abordó desde los estudios en capacidad humana y tecnología, que es una de las perspectivas de comprensión de la discapacidad planteadas por el Modelo Colombiano de la Discapacidad (Cuervo, Trujillo y Pérez, 2008). Dicha perspectiva tiene que ver con las ciencias del desarrollo humano, que se interesan por la forma como los individuos adquieren y mejoran diferentes capacidades. Además, el presente trabajo se encuentra inscrito dentro del Grupo de Investigación de Colciencias categoría A: Oralidad, escritura y otros lenguajes, en la línea de Lenguaje en la educación para necesidades educativas especiales. Se realiza el pilotaje de la herramienta, en miras a su perfeccionamiento con tres estudiantes en situación de discapacidad intelectual de 12 a 16 años, quienes se encuentran en secundaria, en colegios de educación regular de la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia. / Abstract. The present study, seeks to identify elements that make possible the construction of educational functional profiles, which allow to analyze and to advance in the processes of educational incorporation of some children and youth people with Intellectual Disability, principally in the start, permanency and promotion' stages in the high school. The ICF-CY was a model for the design an evaluation instrument to obtain the mentioned profiles for his utilization in educational regular contexts. The present research includes important conceptual reflections in relation with the utilization of classification instruments, from the political, research and socially view point. It is an approached from the studies in human capacity and technology, in the perspectives of comprehension of disability raised by the Disability Colombian Model (Raven, Trujillo and Perez, 2008). That mentioned the perspective to see with the sciences of the human development, which are interested for the form as the individuals they acquire and improve different capacities. The present work is registered in Colciencias's Research Group, category: Orality, writing and other languages, in the Language line, Education for Educational Special Needs. The Pilot instrument was realized, in three high school students in intellectual disability situation between 12 and 16 years, of regular education in Bogota, Colombia. ; Maestría

This introduction to the January 2008 special edition of PORTAL engages with the processes by which, in the early 21st century—an information age of hypertechnology, post-nationalism, post-Fordism, and dominating transnational media—culture and economy have become fused, and globalizations tend towards the mercantilization, commodification, and privatization of human experience. We recognize that access to the technologies of globalizations is uneven. Although cyberspace and other hypertechnologies have become an integral part of workspaces, and of the domestic space in most households, across Western industrialized societies, and for the middle and upper-classes everywhere, this is not a reality for most people in the world, including the Latin American underclasses, the majority of the continent's population. But we also agree with pundits who note how that limited access has not prevented a 'techno-virtual spillover' into the historical-material world. More and more people are increasingly touched by the techno-virtual realm and its logics, with a resultant transformation of global imaginaries in response to, for instance, the global spread of privatised entertainment and news via TV, satellites and the internet, and virtualized military operations (wars on terror, drugs, and rogue regimes). Under these hyperworldizing conditions, we asked, how might we talk about language, culture and history in Latin America, especially since language has an obvious, enduring importance as a tool for communication, and as the means to define culture and give narrative shape to our histories and power struggles?

Our central term 'hyperworld(s)' presents us with numerous conceptual and epistemological challenges, not least because, whether unintended or not, it evokes cyberspace, thus gesturing toward either the seamless integration of physical and virtual reality, or its converse, a false opposition between the material and the virtual. The term may also evoke unresolved contradictions between discourses of technophobia and technophilia and, by extension, lead to dichotomized readings of the age in terms of the limits to, and capacities for, political resistance. In our conception, however, hyperworld(s) is not contained by the term virtuality; it encompasses, exceeds, challenges, and devours it. The production of hyperworld(s), or hyperworldization, connotes acceleration and hyperactivity on social, economic and financial levels, the intensified commodification of human life, the time-space compression of communication and much cultural production, the re-ordering of social relations themselves over-determined by technology wedded to capitalist market values, and, as a result, the re-ordering of daily life, cultural expression, and political activism for individuals and communities across the planet. These processes and intensities mean that new modes of reading the interactive and contradictory discursive fragmentations of the current epoch are required. Thus, rather than regarding cyberspace simply as the technological hallmark or dominant trope of our epoch, we might make deeper sense of hyperworld(s)—the bracketed plural implying myriad intersecting worlds within 'the' world—by identifying interactive entry points into contemporary lived historical-material and imagined complexities in the Latin American world(s).

This article has been cited in the following:

Duarte Alonso, Abel, and Yi Liu. "Changing Visitor Perceptions of a Capital City: The Case of Wellington, New Zealand." City Tourism: National Capital Perspectives, ed. Robert Maitland and Brent W. Richie. Wallingford, UK: CABI, 2010, 110-24.

Die Arbeit folgt dem Frontier-Mythos, einer Narration, die für die US-amerikanische Kultur von grundlegender Bedeutung ist. Der Gang von Ost nach West, den die Erschließung und Kultivierung des Kontinents beinhaltete, formierte auf verschiedenen Feldern eine mythologische Erzählung: in der Literatur- und Politikgeschichte und in einer Unterhaltungskultur, die um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts in Form von Groschenromanen oder Wild-West-Shows entstand. Die thematischen Hauptaspekte der Arbeit richten sich auf Geographie, Technologie und Verkehr. Buffalo Bill''s Wild-West-Show, die die Geschichte der frontier als Kampf zwischen Zivilisation und Natur, also modernen Amerikanern und indianischen Ureinwohnern, erzählt, stellt dazu den Cowboy, personifiziert durch den Show-Impresario William F. Cody, in den Mittelpunkt. Der selbst in Bewegung befindliche Showbetrieb korrespondiert dabei der Geschichte, die er erzählt. Mehrere Tourneen nach Europa leisten zudem einen Mythentransport zwischen Alter und Neuer Welt. Dabei geht es insbesondere um die Betonung einer Differenz zwischen zeitlicher Vertikale und räumlicher Horizontale: also zwischen der statisch organisierten Ordnung des europäischen Königshofes (Ahnentafel) und der dynamisch verfassten sowie auf Brüderlichkeit gegründeten amerikanischen Demokratie (moving frontier). Dieses Muster diskutiert die Arbeit anhand von Mark Twains Roman "A Yankee from Connecticut on King Arthur''s Court" und Herman Melvilles "Moby Dick". Letzterer belegt, wie die phantasmatische Energie des Frontier-Mythos auch dann noch insistiert, als der Kontinent erschlossen und der Pazifik erreicht ist: als Kreiselbewegung um den Globus selbst. Hier scheint bereits ein imperialistisches Muster auf, das die USA im Zentrum einer neuen Weltordnung sieht. "Als ob sich die Welt gerade in Amerika gerundet hätte", dieses titelgebende Diktum entstammt Deleuze/Guattaris "Mille Plateaux", das im Hinblick auf seine psychogeographischen Implikationen eine Rahmentheorie der Arbeit bildet. Wie sehr die grundlegende mythische Narration vom Wilden Westen weltpolitische Konsequenzen zeitigt, belegt exemplarisch der letzte Teil der Arbeit, der den Einsatz des Hollywoodregisseurs und Westernspezialisten John Ford in Diensten des Auslandsgeheimdienstes OSS während des Zweiten Weltkriegs zum Thema hat. ; The study examines the frontier myth, a narration that is of fundamental importance for the culture of the United States. The path from East to West, which includes the conquering and cultivation of the continent, forms on various levels a mythological narration: in literary and political history as well as in the entertainment culture that arose in the middle of the nineteenth century through penny novels and Wild West shows. The study's main thematic areas focus on geography, technology, and transportation. In Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which narrates the history of the frontier as the battle between civilization and nature (i.e., between modern Americans and Native Americans), the cowboy as personified by the show's impresario William F. Cody takes center stage. American show business, which was literally underway, thus corresponded with the story/history it told. Several tours to Europe additionally succeeded in transporting the myth from the new to the old world. In particular, this myth-transportation emphasizes a difference between temporally vertical and spatially horizontal planes, i.e., between the static order of the European royal court (family tree) and the dynamically conceptualized American democracy founded on fraternity (moving frontier). The study discusses this model through Mark Twain's novel A Yankee from Connecticut on King Arthur's Court and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The latter novel evinces how the phantasmagoric energy of the frontier myth even persists when the continent has been conquered and the Pacific Ocean reached – persists as the circular movement around the globe itself. An imperial model thus comes to light that sees the USA at the center of a new world order. The title of this study – "As if the world first became round in America" – comes from Deleuze and Guattari's Mille Plateaux and its psycho-global implications offers a guiding theory for the work. The extent to which the foundational, mythical narration of the Wild West bears world-political consequences is demonstrated in the last part of the study, which investigates the deployment of the Hollywood director and Western specialist John Ford in the foreign secret service (OSS) during the Second World War.

Throughout s. VI B. C., the first Ionic investigators of the nature chose as way of expression a procedure practically unexplored at that time: the writing in prose. This technology had been only proved previously in the field of the cities written legislation, which liked to use enormous stone inscriptions to show or advertise the laws and community regulations. This publicity was also good to reinforce with the strenght of the lasting thing the civic authority, from which emanated a compulsory law to be carried out. In this work, we try to show that the production and publication ways of the laws were good in certain extent to the first philosophers as reference models for the publication of their own treatises in prose (συγγραφή). That publication existed without a doubt, but it was not claimed by a demand reader mainly, but rather it pursued to reinforce the message locked in the papyrus roll with the authority associated to the written promulgation of the laws. It was, threrefore, a question of symbolic mediation between the philosopher and the city: comparing their work to the law of the city, he claimed the normative and universal force from the cosmos described in the treatise in prose, that enunciated valid laws for all the men and everywhere. In this work, we will explore this hypothesis studying the sociopolitical background that is outlined after the publication of the treatises of Anaximander, Anaximenes and, mainly, Heraclitus. The offering of Heraclitus book to the temple of Artemis in Ephesus can be interpreted from this new perspective. ; A lo largo del s. VI a. C., los primeros investigadores jonios de la naturaleza escogieron como medio de expresión un procedimiento hasta entonces prácticamente inexplorado: la escritura en prosa. Esta tecnología se había probado antes sólo en el terreno de la legislación escrita de las ciudades, que recurría a enormes inscripciones en piedra para dar publicidad a las leyes y normativas de la comunidad. Esta publicidad servía además para sancionar con la firmeza de lo perdurable la autoridad cívica de la que emanaba una ley de obligado cumplimiento. En este trabajo, intentamos mostrar que los modos de producción y publicación de las leyes sirvieron en cierta medida a los primeros filósofos como modelos de referencia para la publicación de sus propios tratados en prosa (συγγραφή). Esa publicación existió sin duda, pero no fue exigida principalmente por una demanda lectora, sino que perseguía revestir el mensaje encerrado en el rollo de papiro con la autoridad asociada a la promulgación escrita de las leyes. Se trataba, pues, de un gesto simbólico de mediación entre el filósofo y la ciudad: al equiparar su obra a la ley de la ciudad, aquél reivindicaba la fuerza normativa y universal del cosmos descrito en el tratado en prosa, que enunciaba leyes válidas para todos los hombres y en todas partes. En este trabajo, exploraremos esta hipótesis estudiando el trasfondo sociopolítico que se perfila tras la publicación de los tratados de Anaximandro, Anaxímenes y, sobre todo, Heráclito. La ofrenda del libro de Heráclito al templo de Ártemis en Éfeso puede ser interpretada desde esta nueva perspectiva.

The paper deals with the legal situation in Japan in the field of biomedicine and considers the democratic legitimacy of the legislative procedures in this area. After giving an overview of the existing laws and regulations and a short introduction to the notion of democratic legitimacy the main actors of Japanese legislation in biomedical issues are described. Apart from two acts, the Law on Organ Transplantation (1997) and the Law Concerning Regulation Relating to Human Cloning Techniques and Other Similar Techniques (2001) and one legally binding guideline based on the Cloning Law, the legal situation is mainly characterized by legally non-binding ministerial guidelines. Examples are the Guidelines for Derivation and Utilization of Human Embryonic Stem Cells of the MEXT and the Ethical Guideline for Human Genome and Gene Analysis Research of the departments MEXT, MHLW and MITI. In addition, professional societies play an important role in setting standards for treatment in ethically problematic areas such as artificial fertilisation. The Japanese Parliament on the other hand refrains widely from regulating biomedical issues and leaves the field to the expert committees (shingi-kai) of the ministerial departments. They are the main actors in the law-making process in this field by drafting, reforming and reporting on guidelines. In the drafting process, Japanese citizens can participate in a consultation procedure by commenting on the drafts via the internet (public comments procedure). In addition, the Expert Panel on Bioethics of the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) is designed to discuss broad ethical topics such as the status of the human embryo and to advise the expert committees in the drafting of guidelines. Its role as a national ethics commission is, however, threatened by its dependence on and weak position in the CSTP which is by purpose research-friendly. On the other hand, expert or ethics committees in Japan are widely regarded not as fora for ethical debate but rather as sources of expert-knowledge and a means for the efficient and proper development of legal instruments. This observation relates with the rare use of ethical or religious arguments in the Japanese bioethics debate which tends to be utilitarian, pragmatic and result-oriented. Other features of the Japanese society that influence the decision-making in biomedical issues are its consensus-driven discussion culture, its hierarchical structure and the eminent power of bureaucrats in the political process. On the whole, the democratic legitimacy of Japanese legislation in the field of biomedicine is more output- than input-oriented in that it does not qualify as action o f the people but rather as action f o r the people. The only factor of input-legitimacy in the drafting process of guidelines is the right of citizens to comment on the draft and thus a slim chance of influencing its contents. In order to improve the input-legitimacy it would be advisable to strengthen publicity of biomedical issues as well as the role of Parliament in this field. Output-legitimacy in the Japanese legal situation in the field of biomedicine can be derived from the presumed quality of the guidelines as they are designed by "experts". However, the criteria for and the process of eligibility to these committees lack transparency and therefore reduce the legitimacy of the committees.

This introduction to the January 2008 special edition of PORTAL engages with the processes by which, in the early 21st century—an information age of hypertechnology, post-nationalism, post-Fordism, and dominating transnational media—culture and economy have become fused, and globalizations tend towards the mercantilization, commodification, and privatization of human experience. We recognize that access to the technologies of globalizations is uneven. Although cyberspace and other hypertechnologies have become an integral part of workspaces, and of the domestic space in most households, across Western industrialized societies, and for the middle and upper-classes everywhere, this is not a reality for most people in the world, including the Latin American underclasses, the majority of the continent's population. But we also agree with pundits who note how that limited access has not prevented a 'techno-virtual spillover' into the historical-material world. More and more people are increasingly touched by the techno-virtual realm and its logics, with a resultant transformation of global imaginaries in response to, for instance, the global spread of privatised entertainment and news via TV, satellites and the internet, and virtualized military operations (wars on terror, drugs, and rogue regimes). Under these hyperworldizing conditions, we asked, how might we talk about language, culture and history in Latin America, especially since language has an obvious, enduring importance as a tool for communication, and as the means to define culture and give narrative shape to our histories and power struggles? Our central term 'hyperworld(s)' presents us with numerous conceptual and epistemological challenges, not least because, whether unintended or not, it evokes cyberspace, thus gesturing toward either the seamless integration of physical and virtual reality, or its converse, a false opposition between the material and the virtual. The term may also evoke unresolved contradictions between discourses of technophobia and technophilia and, by extension, lead to dichotomized readings of the age in terms of the limits to, and capacities for, political resistance. In our conception, however, hyperworld(s) is not contained by the term virtuality; it encompasses, exceeds, challenges, and devours it. The production of hyperworld(s), or hyperworldization, connotes acceleration and hyperactivity on social, economic and financial levels, the intensified commodification of human life, the time-space compression of communication and much cultural production, the re-ordering of social relations themselves over-determined by technology wedded to capitalist market values, and, as a result, the re-ordering of daily life, cultural expression, and political activism for individuals and communities across the planet. These processes and intensities mean that new modes of reading the interactive and contradictory discursive fragmentations of the current epoch are required. Thus, rather than regarding cyberspace simply as the technological hallmark or dominant trope of our epoch, we might make deeper sense of hyperworld(s)—the bracketed plural implying myriad intersecting worlds within 'the' world—by identifying interactive entry points into contemporary lived historical-material and imagined complexities in the Latin American world(s). This article has been cited in the following: Duarte Alonso, Abel, and Yi Liu. "Changing Visitor Perceptions of a Capital City: The Case of Wellington, New Zealand." City Tourism: National Capital Perspectives, ed. Robert Maitland and Brent W. Richie. Wallingford, UK: CABI, 2010, 110-24.

Este paper es la versión completa (incluyendo una extensa recopilación bibliográfica) de la ponencia presentada en el Simposio internacional «Eugenesia en Ética y Tecnociencia», Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (México D.F., 21-22 de agosto de 2007), de la cual aparece una versión reducida en L. Sagols (coord.) Horizontes bioéticos de la tecnociencia y la eugenesia. México, UNAM/Fontamara, 2009: 53-90. ; El intenso debate entre partidarios y detractores de la 'eugenesia liberal' ha revitalizado cuestiones que suponen un verdadero desafío para la reflexión filosófica. Las limitaciones de los enfoques científicos que inspiraron los movimientos eugenésicos populares a comienzos del siglo XX reaparecen hoy en un marco cultural, científico, tecnológico y social muy diferente, pero igualmente proclive a convertir en cultura popular algunas de las especulaciones delirantes difundidas por algunos partidarios de lo que confusamente se ha dado en llamar 'eugenesia liberal'. Por primera vez la humanidad tiene a su alcance las herramientas necesarias para rediseñar a los seres humanos y dominar, en un salto cualitativo sin precedentes, el curso de su futura evolución. Sin embargo, las biotecnologías reproductivas y las técnicas de ingeniería genética no parecen estar todavía en un estadio de desarrollo del que pueda esperarse el arsenal de tecnologías estandarizadas, fiables y seguras para su uso cabal con fines de rediseño y mejora humana. Una aproximación reflexiva y detallada a las cuatro áreas de desarrollo científico-tecnológico más dinámicas (nanotecnologías, biotecnologías, tecnologías de la información y ciencias cognitivas) invita a la cautela, cuando no al escepticismo, sobre el potencial combinado de sus aplicaciones con fines de mejora humana, al menos en el corto plazo. En términos prospectivos, es previsible que la combinación de progresos científico-tecnológicos en múltiples campos de las disciplinas aludidas pueda contribuir a reducir de manera radical la vulnerabilidad y limitaciones tradicionalmente asociadas a la naturaleza de la especie humana. Lo cual plantea desafíos culturales, políticos y económicos inéditos, de complejidad equiparable a su viabilidad científico-técnica. ; The heated debate between supporters and opponents of the 'liberal eugenics' has revitalized issues that pose a real challenge for philosophical reflection. Well known deficiencies of scientific approaches that inspired popular eugenics movements in the early twentieth century reappear today in a different cultural, scientific, technological, and social context, but equally prone to convert into popular culture some delirious speculations spread by supporters of 'liberal eugenics'. For the first time humanity has the necessary tools to redesign humans and dominate, in a unprecedented qualitative leap, the course of its evolution. However, reproductive biotechnologies and genetic engineering techniques seem not yet sufficiently developed to provide the arsenal of standardized, reliable and safe technologies useable --in a responsible manner-- for the purpose of human enhancement and redesigning. A thoughtful approach to the most dynamic areas of scientific and technological development (nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive sciences) suggests caution, if not skepticism, about the combined potential of their applications for human enhancement in the short term. In prospective terms, the combination of scientific and technological progress in several fields of those disciplines could contribute to radically reduce the vulnerability and limitations traditionally associated with the nature of the human species. Such scenario will pose unprecedented cultural, political and economic challenges.

Within development and feminist discourse, ICTs are increasingly presented as a solution to Africa's problems of poverty, conflict, corruption and gender inequality issues amongst other problems. However this study questions these promised benefits, specifically the extent to which ICTs can actually lead to women's empowerment as often claimed by development and feminist discourse. Empowerment is considered a problematic concept because the concept itself is not clearly defined nor are parameters by which to identify and measure empowerment specified within development/empowerment projects. I argue for a need to go beyond the usual focus on project outcomes but identify and question the underlying contradictions in women's empowerment and relational issues of power at both the individual and institutional level. This thesis uses an African feminist perspective as the overarching approach to challenge dominant discourses to recognise 'voices of others' in the construction of knowledge and move away from the hegemonic approaches that are mostly informed by Western perspectives. The argument here is that experiences are context specific and there is a need to recognize the socio-cultural, political and economic diversity that exists when implementing empowerment projects because these elements influence the way individuals respond to a situation. By taking diversity into consideration, this study endeavours to avoid reproducing stereotype images about rural women in Africa and their experiences of technologies, because women have different identities and experiences. It is important to note that women are not merely recipients of technology but also play a role in reshaping the direction of technologies. A predominantly qualitative approach, supplemented by a limited amount of quantitative approach was employed to examine a case study of an ICT for women's economic empowerment project in Uganda. Using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observation and a review of documents, this study established that the way women experience technological change is influenced by the context in which the ICT is introduced. The findings revealed that women's exposure to ICTs may result in some changes and redefine how they view themselves and relate with those around them but these changes are not always synonymous with empowerment. The study found that the adoption of ICTs is affected by a number of factors that may favour or hinder women's empowerment. Interaction with ICTs sometimes produced negative impacts rather than the promised benefits. It could also be argued that these challenges could just be experienced at the beginning of women's relationship with ICTs but as people get more acquainted with the technologies they could negotiate ways out of oppressive circumstance by further changing behaviour. Findings from the empirical work imply that empowerment is a circular process and not a linear hierarchical process as Longwe (1991) seems to suggest. It was found for instance that sometimes women had a high level of awareness and participated in political processes but their welfare and access situation was still wanting. In other cases women had political power and control over resources but still seemed unaware of their rights or did nothing to change the oppressive situations they lived in. This study therefore contributes to feminist scholarship by providing insights into the unique experiences of women living in rural Uganda in relation to ICTs and its potential for women's empowerment.

An abyss exists between academic endeavour and Puerto Rican society, especially concerning the social sciences. This is most remarkable given the deterioration and stagnation of Puerto Rico's economy and society. At present no social strategy, either of the Statate or alternative, makes use of the intense activity of the human sciences. The author maintains that intellectual activity ought to be 'organically' intertwined with society in order to provide the latter with unity and coherence and for a project to exist. No such organic relationship, however, exists in Puerto Rico, and neither exists a strategy of the island to create a project of its own. The University of Puerto Rico keeps academic activity relatively isolated from the country's main social and national needs, despite the great talent shown by teachers, researchers, and students. The UPR participates in the government's concept that Puerto Rico must present the big foreign investments on high technology and bio-science with a local infrastructure, instead of promoting the currents which could begin a social and economic development of Puerto Rico. An aspect of the question is the lack of democracy within the University. A 'century-old dictatorship' exists in the UPR, the author maintains. The hierarchical structure preventing the academic community from participating is a part of colonial rule of the United States in Puerto Rico. Intellectuals face the challenge of organising their activity in new forms, so their ability to understand and analyse society could intervene not only in the internal debates of the UPR, but in the country as a whole. ; Existe un abismo entre la actividad universitaria y la sociedad puertorriqueña, que se manifiesta sobre todo en las ciencias sociales, algo que se hace más notable con el deterioro y estancamiento de la economía y la sociedad en la Isla. En el presente ningún proyecto social, ni estatal ni alternativo, hace uso de la intensa actividad de las ciencias sociales. El autor indica que la actividad intelectual debería estar 'orgánicamente' vinculada a la sociedad para impartir a la misma unidad y coherencia y formar algún proyecto, pero en la Isla hay una grave ausencia de esta relación orgánica, así como de proyecto de desarrollo propio. La Universidad de Puerto Rico mantiene la actividad intelectual relativamente aislada de las necesidades sociales y nacionales del país, a pesar del talento abundante de investigadores, profesores y estudiantes. La Universidad se inserta en el concepto del Estado de que la Isla monte una infraestructura al servicio de grandes inversiones extranjeras de investigación y desarrollo científico y alta tecnología, sin estimular las fuerzas que podrían iniciar un desarrollo socioeconómico de Puerto Rico. Un aspecto de la cuestión es la falta de democracia en la Universidad de Puerto Rico. El autor sugiere que en la Universidad existe una 'dictadura centenaria'. La estructura jerárquica que niega participación a la comunidad universitaria es parte de la dominación colonial norteamericana en la Isla. A los intelectuales se les plantea el reto de organizar su actividad de otros modos, para que su capacidad de analizar y comprender la sociedad pueda intervenir no sólo en los debates internos de la Universidad, sino en el país.