Islamic Medical Ethics in Brunei Darussalam Hospitals

In Islam, issues and concerns that arise in Muslim societies are addressed and often resolved by issuing fatāwā, or religious rulings, derived from the ‘ulamā's reasonings that are based on the Qur'ān and the Sunnah. In Brunei Darussalam, its State Mufti provides religious verdicts on various issues, including healthcare. Thus, this chapter seeks to analyse whether Brunei Darussalam's health professionals handle medical ethical cases in a manner that is congruent to the State Mufti's fatāwā. There are many issues pertaining to ethics in medical healthcare, however, only three contentious ones will be discussed: euthanasia, organ transplantation, and abortion. A semi-structured e-mail interview was sent to several hospital nurses under relevant departments. The findings demonstrate a certain degree of congruity, with the exception of abortion cases. The State Mufti declared that abortion in rape cases is not sinful, but legally, it would still be considered as a crime, as the Brunei law states that abortion is permissible only if the pregnancy is detrimental to the mother's health.

Medical Social Networks, Epidemiology and Health Systems

The increasing use of medical software as an interface between patients and medical staff has raised alarming questions on the safety of data privacy and assurance of patients' rights. This issue has reached a new level with the emergent use of medical social networks in Health Information Systems. Medical networks, which work as an interface between the patient medical data and geographical and/or social connections, as well as between the patient individual needs and the attending medical doctor, can allow feasible and fast visualization/information systems. As new models for medical social networks and health data visualization and information systems are planned and presented, the need for protocols regarding data privacy in this context is becoming a subject of analysis and discussion. This chapter reviews the evolution and status quo of prospective medical social networks within data privacy and patients' rights, and discusses the ideal model and its future venues and interaction with ethics in the areas of Law, Health Policies, and Human Rights.

A Regulatory and Safety Perspective on Medical Devices

In the European Union (EU), medical devices (MD) industry is a representative employer, with the MD sales accounting for EUR 100 billion. This chapter presents the classification and give some examples of MD in EU and describes and analyzes all safety alerts on MD of a member state of EU in 2017. International laws were used to define MD. Examples and safety alerts of MD of the Portuguese medicine agency were considered. MD are not medicines, but they have a medicinal application. MD are classified in Classes I-III. Only 32 safety alerts were identified in Portugal, none related to serious adverse events, and 6 related to devices voluntarily withdrawal from the market, for example, counterfeit products. The concept of MD is clearly defined in regulations. Although alerts on MD are limited, falsified products were identified in EU market, which is extremely regulated. For instance, future development of safety, traceable, and economic devices is very important to assure, patients' safety and access.

Protocol Development in Clinical Trials for Healthcare Management

Clinical trial is a part of clinical research. It is a systematic experimental biomedical study. They are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of medications or medical devices or biologics. Trials are conducted to check safety and efficacy of new drug. It includes four phases as phase I, II, III, and IV. The study is carried out according to study protocol and standard operating procedures as per good clinical practices guidelines. The study protocol is developed by the researchers and approved by an independent committee called as Institutional Review Board. Protocol is a roadmap for team of healthcare professionals involved in investigation work. It should explain the significance of research trial, location, detail procedure, methods, activities, time allotment, financial estimate and any other information required. The content of protocol are title, objective, background, eligibility criteria, study methodology, risks or adverse effects, benefits, alternative treatment, data collection, statistical treatment, regulatory guidance, and other information.

A Primer on Q-Method and the Study of Technology

Qualitative methods are under-represented in the articles published by the main journals in Information Systems, which seem to privilege quantitative studies and statistical representativity of results, following the R logic. This chapter provides an in-depth description of Q-method and demonstrates how its use could be beneficial to studies of technology and could reinforce the transparency and validity of other qualitative methods. The focus of this chapter lies in explaining how Q-method works, so that readers are equipped to set up their own Q-studies. It is based on prior literature and ongoing reflections being held by Q-methodologists online.

ICT Investments on Economic Sectors With International Comparative Advantage and the Diffusion of Prosperity

The authors show how information communication and technologies (ICTs) can be used to boost the economy of a country that emerges from a deep crisis. In particular, they discuss how the economy can change by incorporating ICTS in all areas of economic activity. In addition, they examine how Greece, which is a typical example of a country thar emerges from a long crisis, can be benefited by such an incorporation. Also, they discuss how primary and secondary schools should adapt their curricula so that their graduates have a certain understanding of key technologies and have the required knowledge to tackle a number of problems.

Software Literacy as a Vital Digital Literacy in a Software-Saturated World

Software mediates almost every aspect of everyday life. None of these tools are ‘neutral'. They embody social and cultural assumptions about their use and all have particular values embedded in their interfaces and affordances. This article proposes the notion of ‘software literacy' to highlight a neglected aspect of digital literacies, and a key means of conceptualising the skills and understandings needed for people to be critical and creative users of software in today's software saturated culture. This contribution argues for the relevancy of software literacy as deeply intertwined with people's engagement with software and how it influences the way people come to understand, represent, generate, and critique knowledge.

Technology and the Theory of Apocalypse

This chapter ignites an interesting discussion around the idea of apocalypse or at the best to the role of technology by slicing humanity from nature. In terms of the British anthropologist Tim Ingold, one of the conceptual limitations of “dwelling perspective” as a project is the clear-cut division of humans from the natural environment. Unlike hunters and gatherers who have developed “relational” ties with the sensual world, we are educated to imagine ourselves as administrators of natural world. In view of this, the eco-friendly projects (as conservation parks) often exclude the presence of humans. The employment of technology denotes certain rationality which while sorting the environment according to our needs it creates a sentiment of culprit, which is expressed in the bottom-days´ narratives. Mankind, as outstanding specie, is the only one gifted by Gods to administer nature, but failed. Moved by greed and speculations, men governed with energy in backs to God and for that, they should be heavily punished.

Overview of Solid Waste Management of Healthcare and Related Organisations

This chapter provides information on the quantities and properties of healthcare wastes in various types of facilities located in developing countries, as well as in some industrialized countries. Most of the information has been obtained from the literature, while some information has been collected by the authors and from reports available to the authors. The range of hospital waste generation varies from 0.016 to 3.23 kg/bed-day. The relatively wide variation is due to the fact that some of the facilities surveyed may include out-patient services and district health clinics; these facilities essentially provide basic services and thus the quantities of waste generated are relatively small. On the other hand, the reported amount of infectious waste varied from 0.01 to 0.65 kg/bed-day. The characteristics of the components of healthcare wastes, such as the bulk density and the calorific value, have substantial variability. It was concluded that the world has made only slow progress in proper medical in past decades, with dramatic differences among countries and regions.

Digital Tools Aimed to Represent Urban Survey

Since the affirmation, in the Sixties, of urban survey as a discipline in the field of drawing disciplines, it aimed to represent on a plan a set of three-dimensional data. Digital revolution allows representing urban tissues by 3D models that can collect a lot of information related to the buildings, becoming real data base. Today, these models fulfill the need for update representations of urban settings, aimed both to critical studies on historical city and to manage the ongoing transformations. Moreover, these representations could become the urban scenarios for simulations and checks of master plans and architectural designs in their relationships with the built environment. Several new tools of urban procedural modeling, BIM modeling and web resources allow generating urban 3D models. The authors of this proposal will compare the knowledge and informative capabilities of different new technologies for urban modeling, through an overview of international researches, case studies, and also some experiences personally conducted.