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This essay is meant as a form of philosophical exorcism. The goal is to dispel the view that there are general secular grounds for holding human germline genetic engineering to be intrinsically wrong, a malum in se, or a morally culpable violation of human nature. The essay endorses the view that major obligations of prudence and care attend the development of this technology. However, these justifiable moral concerns can be seen more clearly when one has dispelled what must, from a secular perspective, be regarded as pseudo-issues.

AbstractThe social model of disability is predicated upon the dichotomy of disability and impairment, which proves vulnerable to objections. Phenomenological approaches to disability in particular found this sharp distinction contrived, and accordingly implausible. Moreover, the social model ignores lived body of individuals and the inside-out perspective on disability. A phenomenological approach thus places the emphasis on the embodied nature of being-in-the-world. Yet, when it comes to the role of technology in disabled people's life, and in particular assistive technologies, it does not do justice to the role they play, and as a result, technology is treated predominantly as instrumental. In this article, I suggest taking a more systematic approach to technology in disability studies and bringing its role into an interrogation. To that purpose, I will draw from the postphenomenology movement to show how technology may actively mediate individuals' life and, perhaps more importantly, how disability is technologically mediated.

Computer technology is being introduced into social service programs to perform a variety of tasks, including therapy. Many practitioners question its effectiveness, primarily because technologically mediated therapy disregards the ways in which language defines persons' lives and environment.

AbstractFour key words, 'technology,' 'environment,' 'nonlinear,' and 'field,' are defined with special reference to management in high‐technology environments. Evolving system‐environment interrelationships are described in terms of several systems theories, and a number of laws and principles, useful as heuristics, are presented. Some assumptions of 'linear' management are summarized. The consequences of applying linear thinking to nonlinear situations is discussed in considerable detail. Particular attention is paid to the continued use of a Machine Model of Humanity and to the decline of American competitiveness. A concluding section presents some difficulties involved in helping American top management. Especially, the logic of the American management system is questioned.

The contribution addresses the problem of the use of educational technologies for inclusive purposes at school in the Italian context. Inclusive education is implemented in different ways in different contexts and varies with national policies and priorities, which in turn are influenced by a whole range of social, cultural, historical and political issues. Technologies have considerable potential that helps teachers to support pupils with disabilities and inclusion processes at school. The opportunity for interaction, collaboration and mediation offered by assistive technologies benefits the fragile student, but also the entire class, which can be supported in some learning processes through the adoption of specific devices. The article also emphasizes the use of ICT facilitators for pupils with special needs with the aim of implementing the principles of equality, diversity and inclusive education. Article visualizations:

Purpose—to determine student attitudes towards authenticity and the interrelation between authenticity and the use of ICT in the ESP learning context. Design/methodology/approach—the research conducted in autumn 2011 was aimed at comparative analysis of students of two study modes—full-time and part-time. It followed research focusing on Bachelor study programme student attitudes (Business Informatics and Finance Economics) to authentic resources carried out in spring of 2010. The survey participants were Bachelor study cycle first year students from several faculties of MRU (Law, Politics and Management, Economics and Finance Management, Social Informatics, Social Policy). The paper discusses the ESP learning experience at Mykolas Romeris University and presents research findings obtained through the questionnaire survey. Findings—comparative analysis between full-time and part-time study mode student responses reveals similar learning patterns; however, certain differences can also be observed. The full-time students are motivated by more advanced authentic learning materials and they are more computer literate and able to access these materials, whereas the respondents from the part-time study mode appreciate more traditional Internet-based language learning tools. Research limitations/implications—the research sample was composed of first year Bachelor study programme students, therefore the results cannot be generalised and applied to Master level students. Practical implications—awareness of student needs and problems encountered in authentic learning environment may help improve ESP teaching methods. Originality/Value—gaining insight into student perception of authenticity in learning process and technological proficiency to access authentic resources. ; Straipsnyje analizuojama autentiškumo bei informacinių komunikacinių technologijų (IKT) sąveika anglų kalbos specialiems tikslams mokymosi kontekste. Autentiškumo sąvoka ir jos taikymas kalbos mokymosi kontekste yra kontroversiška diskusijų tema. Autentiškumo sąvokos atsiradimą nulėmė trys sritys: antrosios kalbos įgijimas, pedagoginiai aspektai ir IKT įtaka. Autentiškos veiklos sukuria galimybes nagrinėti užduotį įvairiais teoriniais ir praktiniais požiūriais, taip pat naudojant platų šaltinių spektrą, šiame procese taikyti gebėjimus atskirti svarbią informaciją nuo nereikšmingos. Savarankiškumas ir autentiškumas sąveikauja tarpusavyje mokantis kalbos, todėl savarankiškas studentas, siekdamas savo tikslų, naudojasi plačia autentiškų šaltinių įvairove. Atitinkamai, autentiškumas skatina savarankiškumą. Sąveikaudami su autentiškais šaltiniais formaliojo mokymosi kontekste studentai įgyja ypač daug naudos. Straipsnyje yra akcentuojamos technologijos, kurios skatina studentus nagrinėti autentišką, su studijuojamu dalyku susijusią medžiagą, plėtoti bendravimą ir kritinio mąstymo gebėjimus, tapti savarankiškais ir atsakingais už savo mokymąsi studentais. Šiame darbe pateikti tyrimų duomenys, gauti taikant apklausos metodą. Apklausoje, vykdytoje 2010 metais, dalyvavo Mykolo Romerio universiteto kelių fakultetų bakalauro studijų programos pirmo kurso studentai. Straipsnyje pristatoma lyginamoji dviejų studijų formų (nuolatinės ir ištęstinės) studentų požiūrių į autentiškumą profesinės anglų kalbos mokymosi kontekste, technologines priemones, naudojamas pratybose, jų privalumus bei patiriamas mokymosi problemas studijų procese analizė. Be to, naudodami IKT priemones autentiškų šaltinių paieškai, studentai tampa labiau motyvuoti ir savarankiški. Studentai suvokia pridėtinę autentiškumo vertę profesinės anglų kalbos studijose. Lyginamoji analizė ryškių skirtumų tarp nuolatinių ir ištęstinių studijų respondentų neatskleidė. Pastebėta, kad nuolatinių studijų studentams labiau stinga kompiuterinio raštingumo gebėjimų, viena didesnių problemų abiejų studijų formų studentams yra informacijos perkrova, specifinis žodynas bei tekstų sudėtingumas, todėl dauguma apklaustųjų studentų pirmenybę teikia vadovėliui. Gauti tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad technologijomis papildyta mokymosi aplinka skatina domėtis studijų dalyku, plėtoja mokymąsi ir ugdo poreikį naujiems informacijos paieškos mokymosi tikslais būdams.

This paper is an attempt to build an integrated model of the role of politics in technologically related organizational change. A first key variable envisaged is the distribution of power, either centripetal or centrifugal. But empirical evidence suggests that the way in which change process itself is managed probably plays a more crucial role. ; Peer reviewed

Because of the Depression's place in both the popular and academic imagination, and the repeated and justifiable emphasis on output that was not produced, income that was not earned, and expenditure that did not take place, it will seem startling to propose the following hypothesis: the years 1929–1941 were, in the aggregate, the most technologically progressive of any comparable period in U.S. economic history.1 The hypothesis entails two primary claims: that during this period businesses and government contractors implemented or adopted on a more widespread basis a wide range of new technologies and practices, resulting in the highest rate of measured peacetime peak-to-peak multifactor productivity growth in the century, and secondly, that the Depression years produced advances that replenished and expanded the larder of unexploited or only partially exploited techniques, thus providing the basis for much of the labor and multifactor productivity improvement of the 1950's and 1960's.