T. Johnson

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent, global threat to public health. The development and implementation of effective measures to address AMR is vitally important but presents important ethical questions. This is a policy area requiring further sustained attention to ensure that policies proposed in National Action Plans on AMR are ethically acceptable and preferable to alternatives that might be fairer or more effective, for instance. By ethically analysing case studies of coercive actions to address AMR across countries, we can better inform policy in a context-specific manner. In this article, I consider an example of coercive antimicrobial stewardship policy in Canada, namely restrictions on livestock farmers' access to certain antibiotics for animal use without a vet's prescription. I introduce and analyse two ethical arguments that might plausibly justify coercive action in this case: the harm principle and a duty of collective easy rescue. In addition, I consider the factors that might generally limit the application of those ethical concepts, such as challenges in establishing causation or evidencing the scale of the harm to be averted. I also consider specifics of the Canadian context in contrast to the UK and Botswana as example settings, to demonstrate how context-specific factors might mean a coercive policy that is ethically justified in one country is not so in another.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been declared one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity. To address AMR, coercive antimicrobial stewardship policies are being enacted in some settings. These policies, like all in public health, require ethical justification. Here, I introduce a framework for ethically evaluating coercive antimicrobial stewardship policies on the basis of ethical justifications (and their limitations). I consider arguments from effectiveness; duty of easy rescue; tragedy of the commons; responsibility-tracking; the harm principle; paternalism; justice and development; a precautionary approach; and professional duties. I consider how these justifications might form the basis for developing a comprehensive ethical framework, and the need for this to be context-specific and aligned with the priorities, evidence and needs of the particular jurisdictions in which a policy is to be enacted. I demonstrate how the ethical justifications might be used by reference to an example policy of the EU ban on the use of certain human-critical antibiotics for livestock, before concluding with challenges for further development of the framework.

Actions to prepare for and prevent pandemics are a common topic for bioethical analysis. However, little attention has been paid to global catastrophic biological risks more broadly, including pandemics with artificial origins, the creation of agents for biological warfare, and harmful outcomes of human genome editing. What’s more, international policy discussions often focus on economic arguments for state action, ignoring a key potential set of reasons for states to mitigate global catastrophic biological risks: moral reasons. In this paper, I frame the mitigation of such risks as a global public good, and I explore three possible categories of moral reasons that might motivate states to provide this global public good: nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and interstate obligations. Whilst there are strong objections to moral nationalism as a reason for states to act, moral cosmopolitanism may provide a broad reason which is further supplemented for individual states through the elaboration of interstate moral obligations. The obligations I consider are moral leadership, fairness, and reciprocity. Moral reasons for individual states action may more effectively or more appropriately motivate states to mitigate global catastrophic biological risks.

Este artigo apresenta um mapeamento sobre estágios e variações em formatos e conteúdos de websites jornalísticos em interfaces móveis. Examinou-se estruturas e modelos de navegação, bem como design, linguagem e relação espacial, do ponto de vista da experiência do usuário, em 10 home pages de jornais impressos brasileiros publicados em versões para smartphones, entre novembro de 2014 e março de 2015. A partir de noções de experiência, percepção e affordances em tempos de convergência midiática, combinou-se recursos metodológicos qualiquantitativos, envolvendo testes humanos e de máquina. Uma das principais conclusões é que os veículos jornalísticos negligenciam, em seus formatos e conteúdos móveis, recomendações internacionais de melhores práticas para a interação de usuários.

This article re-reads John 17:1–26 with a focus on the theme of oneness within the micronarrative. A multilayered and polyvalent analysis of the text reveals that the theme of oneness holds the prayer together to suggest a new way forward for the Johannine community. The vision and the missio-praxis expressed in the prayer align the thought patterns of Jesus, the narrator, and the community of John. The interactions and the resultant wider perichōrētic relationships between Father and Jesus, Jesus and believers, Father and believers, believer(s) and believer(s), Father–Jesus–believers and Paraklētos and Father–Son– Paraklētos –believers and the World exist as a paradigm for today’s ecclesiastical bodies and theological institutions and organisations for wider ecumenism and dialogue. Contribution: This article discusses the theme of oneness in John 17:1–26 as a paradigm for wider ecumenism and dialogue. As HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies emphasises biblical, ecumenical and dialogical engagements in theological discussions, this article fits well within the scope of the journal.

The story of the man born blind is constructed within a grand irony of ability and disability. The Johannine narrator develops the characterisation of the man born blind as a progressive, seeing and missional personality, whereas all others in the story appear as people without proper understanding and vision and those with lower perspectives. Although the world conceived the man as a sinner, Jesus understands him as a means for divine glorification; though the Jews are widely considered able people in the socioreligious terms, Jesus considers them as sinful. The article argues that people can overcome their physical disabilities with the help of spiritual foresight and mental stability; people's physical abilities are not guarantees for their wholistic stability. In that sense, John 9:1-41 can be considered a paradigmatic narrative which demonstrates the experiences of the disabled and marginal sections of the 1st-century CE context. CONTRIBUTION: This article presents the irony of ability and disability within John 9:1-41 and suggests a new way forward in interpreting the fourth gospel by taking into consideration the existential struggles of people with disabilities. As a theological interpretation of the fourth gospel, this article fits well within the scope of HTS Theological Studies.

In May 2021, the UK National Health Service (NHS) proposed a scheme—called General Practice Data for Planning Research (GPDPR)—for sharing patients’ data. Under that system, a patient who does not wish to participate must actively opt out of their data being shared with third parties for research and other purposes. In this paper, we analyse the lessons that can be learned for the responsible and ethical governance of health data from the NHS’ new scheme. More specifically, we explore the extent to which the opt-out within the planned scheme complies with the requirements stemming from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), particularly in relation to the principles of lawfulness and transparency. We then evaluate, from an ethical perspective, this opt-out ‘nudge’ and whether it is sufficiently resistible, reversible, and has appropriate goals. In light of the above, we then propose improvements for the scheme’s legal and ethical acceptability.

This article re-reads John 20:1-29 to foreground the normal, the post-normal and the new normal realities within the Johannine resurrection narrative. The narrator of John demonstrates the normal situational aspects by taking into consideration the setting, characterisation, thematic development, point of view and plot development of the story in closer relationship with the temporal and spatial mechanisms. The ordinary, local and existent realities are expressed to reveal the colourless human experiences in relation to the divine aspects within the narrative framework. The resurrection of Jesus introduces a post-normal situation within the Sitz im Leben Jesu and the Sitz im Leben Kirche. The post-normal situation was introduced by placing the story of Lazarus at a strategic place (Jn 11:1-45) and thereafter by unfolding the essentials such as speed, scope, scale and spontaneity. The unfolding of the divine within the existential human realities created a post-normal situation where the Johannine community had to undergo expulsion and persecution from the side of the dominant structures. The narrator gives the reader a hope about a new normal situation above and beyond the existent struggles of the Johannine community. CONTRIBUTION: This article presents a new perspective concerning the normal, the post-normal and the new normal realities and dynamism within John 20:1-29 and suggests a new way forward in interpreting the Fourth Gospel by taking into consideration the existential aspects of the COVID-19 and Omicron pandemic situations. As a contextual and theological interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, this article fits well within the scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

As we combat the COVID-19 pandemic, both the prescription of antimicrobials and the use of biocidal agents have increased in many countries. Although these measures can be expected to benefit existing people by, to some extent, mitigating the pandemic's effects, they may threaten long-term well-being of existing and future people, where they contribute to the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). A trade-off dilemma thus presents itself: combat COVID-19 using these measures, or stop using them in order to protect against AMR. Currently, I argue, we are choosing to continue with these measures, and thus to prioritize combatting COVID-19, without adequate ethical reflection on the AMR-associated costs of these measures. I discuss the magnitude of the possible costs and benefits involved in making the trade-off in favour of COVID-19, and their distribution. I highlight two salient aspects of distribution that can help determine whether combatting COVID-19 whilst exacerbating AMR produces justly distributed costs and benefits: distribution between current and future populations, and distribution between existing geographical populations. Adopting this account, I argue that based on the magnitude and distribution of costs and benefits of combatting COVID-19, we have good reason to rethink this trade-off, and instead consider prioritizing protecting current and future people against AMR, but jettisoning measures against COVID-19 that also exacerbate AMR.

This article is an attempt to explore the theme of 'humanhood' in the Fourth Gospel. The most important questions to be posed at the outset are the following: who is the model human presented in the gospel as per the Johannine community standards? How can a person acquire humanhood status according to the Johannine community? The divine and human interaction in the life and ministry of Jesus dynamically introduces the life ethics and mission aspects of the Johannine community. According to the Johannine community standards, people can achieve 'humanhood' status exclusively in relation to Jesus. As the community of John emphasises humanhood in relation to Jesus, a person can overcome all sorts of human-made boundaries, including the sexual, racial and class-oriented boundaries through the mediation of Jesus. This further means that the all-inclusive mission of Jesus foregrounds a new criterion for 'humanhood' in the Johannine community context. The article concludes by stating that the Johannine understanding of humanhood can be considered as a paradigm in the contemporary global scenario.CONTRIBUTION: This article contributes to the reader a wider hermeneutical framework and a new way forward in interpreting the gospel according to John by taking into consideration the humanhood aspects. As a theological and contextual interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, the article fits well within the scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic situation persuades a reader of the Fourth Gospel to interpret the Scripture in new lights. In the contemporary context, the gospel of John has the potential to attune the attention of the reader towards the existential struggles of the people with myriad interpretative possibilities. The Jews often twinned sinfulness and sickness together, and in that light, they considered Jesus as a social sinner and his followers as a diseased community. The Johannine narrator realigns the struggles of the Sitz im Leben Kirche dynamically within the Sitz im Leben Jesu to present his defensive rhetoric. The Johannine community was composed of those who suffered quarantine, social isolation, sicknesses, resource deficiencies and continuous cleansing processes in the socio-religious and politico-cultural setting of their life. Jesus as the creator of the universe and the giver of life provides them hope in the midst of suffering and liberates them from the clutches of dehumanisation and marginalisation. A realignment of the Sitz im Leben COVID-19 within the framework of the Sitz im Leben Jesu/Sitz im Leben Kirche would guide us during the difficult times.Contribution: This article contributes to the reader a wider hermeneutical framework and a new way forward in interpreting the Fourth Gospel by taking into consideration the ongoing struggle of humanity across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. As a narrative, contextual and theological interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, the current article fits well within the scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

Over the last decade, iterated learning studies have provided compelling evidence for the claim that linguistic structure can emerge from non‐structured input, through the process of transmission. However, it is unclear whether individuals differ in their tendency to add structure, an issue with implications for understanding who are the agents of change. Here, we identify and test two contrasting predictions: The first sees learning as a pre‐requisite for structure addition, and predicts a positive correlation between learning accuracy and structure addition, whereas the second maintains that it is those learners who struggle with learning and reproducing their input who add structure to it. This prediction is hard to test in standard iterated learning paradigms since each learner is exposed to a different input, and since structure and accuracy are computed using the same test items. Here, we test these contrasting predictions in two experiments using a one‐generation artificial language learning paradigm designed to provide independent measures of learning accuracy and structure addition. Adults (N = 48 in each study) were exposed to a semi‐regular language (with probabilistic structure) and had to learn it: Learning was assessed using seen items, whereas structure addition was calculated over unseen items. In both studies, we find a strong positive correlation between individuals' ability to learn the language and their tendency to add structure to it: Better learners also produced more structured languages. These findings suggest a strong link between learning and generalization. We discuss the implications of these findings for iterated language models and theories of language change more generally.

Traditionally, industrial robots have needed complete segregation from people in manufacturing environments to mitigate the significant risk of injury posed by their high operational speeds and heavy payloads. However, advances in technology now not only enable the application of smaller force-limited robotics for lighter industrial tasks but also wider collaborative deployment of large-scale robots. Such applications will be critical to future manufacturing but present a design and integration challenge as we do not yet know how closer proximity and interactions will impact on workers’ psychological safety and well-being. There is a need to define new ethical and safety standards for putting people and robots together in manufacturing, but to do this we need empirical data to identify requirements. This chapter provides a summary of the current state, explaining why the success of augmenting human–robot collaboration in manufacturing relies on better consideration of human requirements, and describing current research work in the European A4BLUE project to identify this knowledge. Initial findings confirm that ethical and psychological requirements that may be crucial to industrial human–robot applications are not yet being addressed in safety standards or by the manufacturing sector.

Thomas appears four times within the narrative framework of the Fourth Gospel. His presence in the Gospel introduces some of the strategic transitions within the macro-narrative structure. The following are some of the crucial moments that are introduced through the entry of Thomas: firstly, Thomas' character is brought to the foreground towards the end of Jesus' public ministry, where a transition is underway through Lazarus' death and raising to Jesus' death and resurrection ; secondly, he appears as a significant interlocutor engaged in dialogue so that Jesus' identity as 'the way, the truth, and the life' may be revealed to the disciples during his private ministry ; thirdly, Thomas' character appears towards the climax of the Book of Glory as he is instrumental in revealing the identity of Jesus as 'Lord' and 'God' ; and fourthly, he appears as one of the seven disciples during the post-resurrection context in Galilee. The unique placement of Thomas communicates something significant about the character and his development within the narrative.