Humans are experiencing the inclusion of artificial agents in their lives,such as unmanned vehicles,service robots,voice assistants,and intelligent medical care.If the artificial agents cannot align with social values...Humans are experiencing the inclusion of artificial agents in their lives,such as unmanned vehicles,service robots,voice assistants,and intelligent medical care.If the artificial agents cannot align with social values or make ethical decisions,they may not meet the expectations of humans.Traditionally,an ethical decision-making framework is constructed by rule-based or statistical approaches.In this paper,we propose an ethical decision-making framework based on incremental ILP(Inductive Logic Programming),which can overcome the brittleness of rule-based approaches and little interpretability of statistical approaches.As the current incremental ILP makes it difficult to solve conflicts,we propose a novel ethical decision-making framework considering conflicts in this paper,which adopts our proposed incremental ILP system.The framework consists of two processes:the learning process and the deduction process.The first process records bottom clauses with their score functions and learns rules guided by the entailment and the score function.The second process obtains an ethical decision based on the rules.In an ethical scenario about chatbots for teenagers’mental health,we verify that our framework can learn ethical rules and make ethical decisions.Besides,we extract incremental ILP from the framework and compare it with the state-of-the-art ILP systems based on ASP(Answer Set Programming)focusing on conflict resolution.The results of comparisons show that our proposed system can generate better-quality rules than most other systems.展开更多
Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate and promote the skill of critical emancipatory reflection through reflecting on a nursing practice-based ethical issue about nurses' paternalistic decision-making for pat...Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate and promote the skill of critical emancipatory reflection through reflecting on a nursing practice-based ethical issue about nurses' paternalistic decision-making for patients. Meanwhile, critical awareness will be developed and the underlying issues of paternalism in nursing decision-making will be analyzed. Then, by applying the procedure, improvement in nursing decision-making practice will be expected.Methods: Taylor's model of emancipatory reflection with four steps, including construction, deconstruction, confrontation, and reconstruction, is utilized to guide the author's reflection.Results: Guided by the socialization theory, the author's personal and professional socialization is seen to be associated with the formation of the value of paternalism. The theory of reflexivity is applied to unearth the related issues, including deeper personal value,work environment, as well as historical and cultural contexts. Moreover, the power derived from policy, work relationship, and nursing administration, which could induce paternalism in the author's nursing decision-making practice, was critically debated using the hegemony theory. Finally, new insights into paternalism will be achieved, which enable change in terms of how to facilitate patients' autonomous decision-making.Conclusions: The process of refection makes it clear that respecting patients' right and performing patient-centered caring are the bases to change the paternalism existing in the nursing decision-making practice currently. The reconstruction step assists the author in terms of how to value the patients' autonomy and balance patients' safety and choice, rather than being overprotective; carry out risk assessment, and search for strong evidence to counterbalance the positive and negative aspects of risk-taking; communicate with patients appropriately in a manner that they can comprehend; spend more time to explore patients' preference and choice; make every effort to elevate the patients' decision-making capacity; implement patient-centered care and shared decision-making in nursing practice; consult with other colleagues and obtain the required support when limitations or challenges exist; try to justify and avoid hidden paternalism behind policy or guidelines; deal with the power in hand well and fairly; and also positively face the powers that constrain the author.展开更多
The extensive research on public ethics in the local administration is more than necessary. This paper identifies the basic values of and the challenges to Macedonian Legal System in this area, and explains the key et...The extensive research on public ethics in the local administration is more than necessary. This paper identifies the basic values of and the challenges to Macedonian Legal System in this area, and explains the key ethical aspects, which should be implemented in practice by civil servants, who increasingly have to learn how to perform in accordance with ethical values. In this paper I will analyze the ethical values of civil servants laid down by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development （OECD） and the Civil Servants Agency in Macedonia, upon which the ethical principles for civil servants in the local administration units are intended to be set. This paper deals with the ethics of civil servants, assessment of best practices, and evaluation of positive and negative indicators. The paper concludes with a few recommendations for the next steps in this process; and some criteria for the consideration of future developments are suggested.展开更多
Case description:Withdrawal of treatment is a common practice in critical care settings,perticularly when treatment is considered futile.The case study demonstrates an ethical dilemma,in which Danny is unlikely to mak...Case description:Withdrawal of treatment is a common practice in critical care settings,perticularly when treatment is considered futile.The case study demonstrates an ethical dilemma,in which Danny is unlikely to make a functional recovery because of multiple organ dysfunction syndromes.Under such a circumstance,withdrawal of treatment will inevitably be considered,although his family refused to do so.Consequently,acritical question must be answered:Who should make the decision?Ethical dilemma identification:Danny decided to withdraw the use of life-support,whilst his wife and adult children refused to do so.The ethical dilemma is illustrated by the following question:Who decides the withdrawal of treatment in a critical care setting?Analysis:To provide an opotional solution to this case and make the best moral decision,the current study will critically discuss this issue in conjunction with ethical principles,philosophical theories and the values statement of the European and Chinese nurses'codes of ethics.Additionally,the associated literature relative to this case are analysed before the decision-making.Ethical decision-making:The best ethical decision is Danny can decide whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.If his family is involved in the discussion,the medical staff should balance the ethical principles when they make the decision and allocate reasonable resources for patients.Results:In Danny's case,health professionals opted to respect his decision to withdraw treatment.The medical staff maintained an effective communication with the family involved,and provided the appropriate intervention to collaborate with other health care professionals to perfect further care.展开更多
The use of Al may give rise to substantial benefits but also significant risks for revenue authorities.This paper provides a brief outline of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of Al and potential use of Al in tax...The use of Al may give rise to substantial benefits but also significant risks for revenue authorities.This paper provides a brief outline of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of Al and potential use of Al in tax administration.These include the use of Al in risk assessment such as the selection of taxpayers for review or audit,the detection of fraud,nearest neighbour guidance,predictive analysis,anticipating changes in behaviours,improving revenue authorities'internal efficiency including transfer pricing benchmarking,and providing support and guidance to taxpayers through chatbots.Revenue authorities are strong candidates for the use of Al given that data is central to what they do.The paper postulates more than 20principles which could form the basis of an ethical framework for revenue authorities including policies on transparency,communication,traceability,explainability,human supervision,processes for the rectification of errors,data protection,privacy and cyber-security.We believe that the adoption of these policies will reduce risks to revenue authorities and build trust in tax systems.We also believe that sharing best practices amongst revenue authorities should be a clear BRITACOM initiative consistent with its aims and objectives.展开更多
Background:Mass drug administration(MDA)of medications to entire at-risk communities or populations has shown promise in the control and elimination of global infectious diseases.MDA of the broad-spectrum antibiotic a...Background:Mass drug administration(MDA)of medications to entire at-risk communities or populations has shown promise in the control and elimination of global infectious diseases.MDA of the broad-spectrum antibiotic azithromycin has demonstrated the potential to reduce childhood mortality in children at risk of premature death in some global settings.However,MDA of antibiotics raises complex ethical challenges,including weighing near-term benefts against longer-term risks—particularly the development of antimicrobial resistance that could diminish antibiotic efectiveness for current or future generations.The aim of this study was to understand how key actors involved in MDA perceive the ethical challenges of MDA.Methods:We conducted 35 semi-structured interviews from December 2020–February 2022 with investigators,funders,bioethicists,research ethics committee members,industry representatives,and others from both highincome countries(HICs)and low-and middle-income countries(LMICs).Interview participants were identifed via one of seven MDA studies purposively chosen to represent diversity in terms of use of the antibiotic azithromycin;use of a primary mortality endpoint;and whether the study occurred in a high child mortality country.Data were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory methodology.Results:The most frequently discussed ethical challenges related to meaningful community engagement,how to weigh risks and benefts,and the need to target MDA We developed a concept map of how participants considered ethical issues in MDA for child mortality;it emphasizes MDA’s place alongside other public health interventions,empowerment,and equity.Concerns over an ethical double standard in weighing risks and benefts emerged as a unifying theme,albeit one that participants interpreted in radically diferent ways.Some thought MDA for reducing child mortality was ethically obligatory;others suggested it was impermissible.Conclusions:Ethical challenges raised by MDA of antibiotics for childhood mortality-which span socio-cultural issues,the environment,and efects on future generations-require consideration beyond traditional clinical trial review.The appropriate role of MDA also requires attention to concerns over ethical double standards and power dynamics in global health that afect how we view antibiotic use in HICs versus LMICs.Our fndings suggest the need to develop additional,comprehensive guidance on managing ethical challenges in MDA.展开更多
基金This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Nos.U22A2099,61966009,62006057the Graduate Innovation Program No.YCSW2022286.
文摘Humans are experiencing the inclusion of artificial agents in their lives,such as unmanned vehicles,service robots,voice assistants,and intelligent medical care.If the artificial agents cannot align with social values or make ethical decisions,they may not meet the expectations of humans.Traditionally,an ethical decision-making framework is constructed by rule-based or statistical approaches.In this paper,we propose an ethical decision-making framework based on incremental ILP(Inductive Logic Programming),which can overcome the brittleness of rule-based approaches and little interpretability of statistical approaches.As the current incremental ILP makes it difficult to solve conflicts,we propose a novel ethical decision-making framework considering conflicts in this paper,which adopts our proposed incremental ILP system.The framework consists of two processes:the learning process and the deduction process.The first process records bottom clauses with their score functions and learns rules guided by the entailment and the score function.The second process obtains an ethical decision based on the rules.In an ethical scenario about chatbots for teenagers’mental health,we verify that our framework can learn ethical rules and make ethical decisions.Besides,we extract incremental ILP from the framework and compare it with the state-of-the-art ILP systems based on ASP(Answer Set Programming)focusing on conflict resolution.The results of comparisons show that our proposed system can generate better-quality rules than most other systems.
文摘Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate and promote the skill of critical emancipatory reflection through reflecting on a nursing practice-based ethical issue about nurses' paternalistic decision-making for patients. Meanwhile, critical awareness will be developed and the underlying issues of paternalism in nursing decision-making will be analyzed. Then, by applying the procedure, improvement in nursing decision-making practice will be expected.Methods: Taylor's model of emancipatory reflection with four steps, including construction, deconstruction, confrontation, and reconstruction, is utilized to guide the author's reflection.Results: Guided by the socialization theory, the author's personal and professional socialization is seen to be associated with the formation of the value of paternalism. The theory of reflexivity is applied to unearth the related issues, including deeper personal value,work environment, as well as historical and cultural contexts. Moreover, the power derived from policy, work relationship, and nursing administration, which could induce paternalism in the author's nursing decision-making practice, was critically debated using the hegemony theory. Finally, new insights into paternalism will be achieved, which enable change in terms of how to facilitate patients' autonomous decision-making.Conclusions: The process of refection makes it clear that respecting patients' right and performing patient-centered caring are the bases to change the paternalism existing in the nursing decision-making practice currently. The reconstruction step assists the author in terms of how to value the patients' autonomy and balance patients' safety and choice, rather than being overprotective; carry out risk assessment, and search for strong evidence to counterbalance the positive and negative aspects of risk-taking; communicate with patients appropriately in a manner that they can comprehend; spend more time to explore patients' preference and choice; make every effort to elevate the patients' decision-making capacity; implement patient-centered care and shared decision-making in nursing practice; consult with other colleagues and obtain the required support when limitations or challenges exist; try to justify and avoid hidden paternalism behind policy or guidelines; deal with the power in hand well and fairly; and also positively face the powers that constrain the author.
文摘The extensive research on public ethics in the local administration is more than necessary. This paper identifies the basic values of and the challenges to Macedonian Legal System in this area, and explains the key ethical aspects, which should be implemented in practice by civil servants, who increasingly have to learn how to perform in accordance with ethical values. In this paper I will analyze the ethical values of civil servants laid down by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development （OECD） and the Civil Servants Agency in Macedonia, upon which the ethical principles for civil servants in the local administration units are intended to be set. This paper deals with the ethics of civil servants, assessment of best practices, and evaluation of positive and negative indicators. The paper concludes with a few recommendations for the next steps in this process; and some criteria for the consideration of future developments are suggested.
文摘Case description:Withdrawal of treatment is a common practice in critical care settings,perticularly when treatment is considered futile.The case study demonstrates an ethical dilemma,in which Danny is unlikely to make a functional recovery because of multiple organ dysfunction syndromes.Under such a circumstance,withdrawal of treatment will inevitably be considered,although his family refused to do so.Consequently,acritical question must be answered:Who should make the decision?Ethical dilemma identification:Danny decided to withdraw the use of life-support,whilst his wife and adult children refused to do so.The ethical dilemma is illustrated by the following question:Who decides the withdrawal of treatment in a critical care setting?Analysis:To provide an opotional solution to this case and make the best moral decision,the current study will critically discuss this issue in conjunction with ethical principles,philosophical theories and the values statement of the European and Chinese nurses'codes of ethics.Additionally,the associated literature relative to this case are analysed before the decision-making.Ethical decision-making:The best ethical decision is Danny can decide whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.If his family is involved in the discussion,the medical staff should balance the ethical principles when they make the decision and allocate reasonable resources for patients.Results:In Danny's case,health professionals opted to respect his decision to withdraw treatment.The medical staff maintained an effective communication with the family involved,and provided the appropriate intervention to collaborate with other health care professionals to perfect further care.
文摘The use of Al may give rise to substantial benefits but also significant risks for revenue authorities.This paper provides a brief outline of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of Al and potential use of Al in tax administration.These include the use of Al in risk assessment such as the selection of taxpayers for review or audit,the detection of fraud,nearest neighbour guidance,predictive analysis,anticipating changes in behaviours,improving revenue authorities'internal efficiency including transfer pricing benchmarking,and providing support and guidance to taxpayers through chatbots.Revenue authorities are strong candidates for the use of Al given that data is central to what they do.The paper postulates more than 20principles which could form the basis of an ethical framework for revenue authorities including policies on transparency,communication,traceability,explainability,human supervision,processes for the rectification of errors,data protection,privacy and cyber-security.We believe that the adoption of these policies will reduce risks to revenue authorities and build trust in tax systems.We also believe that sharing best practices amongst revenue authorities should be a clear BRITACOM initiative consistent with its aims and objectives.
文摘Background:Mass drug administration(MDA)of medications to entire at-risk communities or populations has shown promise in the control and elimination of global infectious diseases.MDA of the broad-spectrum antibiotic azithromycin has demonstrated the potential to reduce childhood mortality in children at risk of premature death in some global settings.However,MDA of antibiotics raises complex ethical challenges,including weighing near-term benefts against longer-term risks—particularly the development of antimicrobial resistance that could diminish antibiotic efectiveness for current or future generations.The aim of this study was to understand how key actors involved in MDA perceive the ethical challenges of MDA.Methods:We conducted 35 semi-structured interviews from December 2020–February 2022 with investigators,funders,bioethicists,research ethics committee members,industry representatives,and others from both highincome countries(HICs)and low-and middle-income countries(LMICs).Interview participants were identifed via one of seven MDA studies purposively chosen to represent diversity in terms of use of the antibiotic azithromycin;use of a primary mortality endpoint;and whether the study occurred in a high child mortality country.Data were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory methodology.Results:The most frequently discussed ethical challenges related to meaningful community engagement,how to weigh risks and benefts,and the need to target MDA We developed a concept map of how participants considered ethical issues in MDA for child mortality;it emphasizes MDA’s place alongside other public health interventions,empowerment,and equity.Concerns over an ethical double standard in weighing risks and benefts emerged as a unifying theme,albeit one that participants interpreted in radically diferent ways.Some thought MDA for reducing child mortality was ethically obligatory;others suggested it was impermissible.Conclusions:Ethical challenges raised by MDA of antibiotics for childhood mortality-which span socio-cultural issues,the environment,and efects on future generations-require consideration beyond traditional clinical trial review.The appropriate role of MDA also requires attention to concerns over ethical double standards and power dynamics in global health that afect how we view antibiotic use in HICs versus LMICs.Our fndings suggest the need to develop additional,comprehensive guidance on managing ethical challenges in MDA.
