Policy Considerations. Is there a more equitable, predictable, easily-administered alternative to DAs? • Monitoring • Demonstrate ‘good faith compliance’ annually; recoup costs for staff time • Transparency, maintain community trust in process
Policy Considerations. The ethical analysis of automated cars offers a number of conclusions and recommendations for policy makers: Beside issues of safety and reliability testing, regulations and challenges concerning the human factor, it is important to look at how automated cars affect and/or interact with social norms and moral values. This is undermined so far. Ethical issues of automation go beyond “no win scenarios” presented in the literature. Which values are given priority in the design of these cars? What are the tradeoffs between, say, safety, efficiency and comfort? An analysis of values at stake is needed at this stage of technological development in order to make informed choices on preferable designs and policies. In the study of “human factors”, empirical studies should also engage in qualitative descriptions of how automated driving mediates the users’ understanding of and agency in the world. This is important for example in order to design systems in which responsibilities and roles are optimally distributed among human actors and technologies. Several critical issues have been highlighted: safety vs comfort, safety vs freedom, efficiency vs privacy and accessibility vs equality. These issues show that some values are competing within the very discourses of promoters of automated cars and should be addressed well in advance in order to avoid the polarization of the ethical debate in the future. These conclusions suggest that an attention to the values at stake needs to accompany current attempts to design appropriate policies, technologies and regulations. For each issue and context, the relevant and conflicting values will need to be elicited and acknowledged. This can be done in different contexts including the developmental process involving the technology as well as at the policy and regulatory level. This attention to values is important in order to guarantee that different social and moral concerns are explicitly addressed and choices are justified, avoiding to paint the entire situation with the same “safety” colour and only implicitly dealing with the other issues. Technology and society shape accepted morals as well as existing regulation based on this normative background. Existing laws against reckless driving that require drivers to be attentive and vigilant, for example, are grounded on the value of “safety” for road users. However, new technologies change our perspectives on what is safe. Automated cars’ proponents suggest that it is saf...
Policy Considerations. The ethical analysis of the da Vinci suggests a number of recommendations for policy makers. Even though da Vinci is already in use, surgical robotics is a new field that we should be open to. Technological progress proceeds at a rapid pace and can often be perceived as threatening. It is, however, the basis for the future welfare of society and should thus be allowed to progress, if this is done responsibly. This said, there are a number of ethical concerns, which need to be addressed. Firstly, we would like to reemphasize that stakes are high and that it is thus incumbent upon us to learn from past experience. There have been a number of surgical robotic systems (e.g. ROBODOC and CASPAR) that were applied and tested in the past. Some of the tests have come out negative and we should not repeat the mistakes that were made here. The second point to be made is that overly enthusiastic reactions to da Vinci are not advisable. If the system performs well it should be used – but not, we believe, as a replacement of current surgical practice. Instead, it should be used when appropriate and as an augmentation of the status quo. Adequate policy making will have to address and factor in various perspectives from various fields (e.g. medical professionals, developers, legal experts, ethicists, patients, etc.). For this reason, it is advisable to establish a standing committee that discusses the ethical, legal and technical issues surrounding da Vinci and to ensure that there will be an adequate platform for debate. It should be stressed, in particular, that a patients’ association will need to partake in this process of discourse at every step of the way. The possible use of the black box system will have to be investigated further in order to address issues to do with responsibility and safety as well as privacy. Our investigation furthermore yielded the finding that marketing messages are often to be taken with a pinch of salt. They do not always convey fully accurate information but are naturally biased in favour of developers of innovative surgical systems. Hence, it is advisable to analyse which types of regulation may have to be imposed on marketing, journalism as well as the media as a whole. The positive impact of da Vinci on the training of young surgical professionals should be stressed once more. It is certainly advisable to trace how the system may be used in medical training in order to harness the whole potential of medical personnel. Fi...
Policy Considerations. 5.1 The Council has a number of statutory rehousing duties. This Contract will support the Council to ensure a sufficient supply of accommodation to meet its statutory rehousing duties as a statutory landlord.
Policy Considerations. Arguably there is a need for higher standards of fairness in relationships between the NCAA and student athletes, and NCAA rules fail to separate the interests of student athletes from the interests of their universities.124 “Comparable bargaining power does not exist at the core of the student-athlete/university relationship.”125 That observation can be extended to the athletic scholarship and how it structures the relationship between the NCAA, the university and the student athlete, limiting the term to renewable annual contracts, at the option of the university.126 “As it exists today, the athletic scholarship contract is an unconscionable contract of adhesion, inconsistent with the important NCAA principles of student-athlete welfare and amateurism.”127 Further, it is questionable whether or not the educational pursuit is indeed less important than the exploitation of the young person’s athletic ability for financial gain.128 A 1995 study of the decisional structures of the NCAA revealed seven characteristics that cast a degree of doubt upon whether or not the process accurately promotes the notion that one’s status as a student should take precedence over one’s status as an athlete.129 As a result of such concerns, reforms have been proposed to re-focus collegiate athletics on the education not the exploitation of the student athlete.130 Recent cases and commentaries have questioned another alleged form of exploitation by the NCAA and its members, that of the student-athlete’s common law right of publicity.131 For example, Hall of Fame basketball player Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx is among three former college athletes who filed suit against the NCAA this year for the alleged illegal use of their images.132 Certainly the recruitment of high school athletes is a competitive process that does not necessarily center upon what is in the best interest of the student-athlete.133 In fact, issues concerning the recruiting of high school athletes have been a focal point of controversy over the life of the NCAA.134 The recruiting of high school athletes is crucial for the success of the institution’s athletic programs, the commensurate financial revenue stream for the institution, as well as for the success of the coaching staff, both financially and professionally.135 The amount of revenue produced by intercollegiate athletics is substantial136 and accompanied by the benefits of “money and support for the university; enthusiasm and cohesion to the university community; a...
Policy Considerations. The XxXxxxxx Village project was approved on April 29, 2014 and found to be consistent with the City’s General Plan. Providing parks and recreation facilities is also consistent with the City’s strategic plan to enhance livability in Sacramento’s neighborhoods by expanding park, recreation, and trail facilities throughout the City.
Policy Considerations. A discussion of extraterritorial immigration to Europe necessitates a related discussion of its concomitant economic and policy issues. Unfortunately, ethics is not the only field guiding contemporary immigration policies. Economics and politics are subsumed in the practical – as opposed to theoretical – study of immigration policy creation. With a view towards the supranationalization of the European Union, certain economic and political considerations become especially important. Which political atmospheres guide immigration policies in certain directions? And which are more politically feasible for states to adopt? Xxxxx Xxxxxx, in his article, International Immigration Policy: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis, sheds light on the mechanisms that control the creation of international immigration restrictions. According to Xxxxxx, immigration policy is largely shaped by the current state of the economy and the prevailing ideology of the native population. His discussion of the effects that supranationalization has on policy creation is also particularly relevant to an analysis of the Schengen acquis. And economic considerations, as an analysis of the economic forces that mold public opinion and influence policy, complement this analysis (Xxxxxx 1992). The economic health of a nation is by far the most influential factor guiding extraterritorial immigration policy. Interestingly, the state of the economy seems to have more effect on the supply and demand of immigration than any other factor. Thus while immigration undoubtedly affects the economy by expanding the supply and makeup of labor, it is directly controlled by the actual demand of the economy. Unemployment has been found to directly control and limit influxes of immigrants when native workers feel threatened and insecure due to an influx of immigrants (Xxxxxx 2007). However, as it relates to actual legislation implemented by states, when the economy is prosperous, the general population is accepting, even encouraging, of immigrants, whereas in times of economic malaise, workers and employers alike prevent immigration (Xxxxxx 1992). And while there is some lag between these phenomena, they do indeed directly affect one another. In times of economic recession, workers and employers alike pool their resources and political sway to restrict immigration, whereas in times of relative economic affluence, they, especially employers, will act in the opposite direction. Governments, to varying degrees,...
Policy Considerations. The following policy considerations provide general guidance for the establishment, use and operation of mitigation banks. It is the agencies’ intent that this guidance be applied to mitigation bank proposals submitted for approval on or after the effective date of this guidance and to those in early stages of planning or development. It is not intended that this policy be retroactive for mitigation banks that have already received agency approval. While it is recognized that individual mitigation banking proposals may vary, it is the intent of this guidance that the fundamental precepts be applicable to future mitigation banks. For the purposes of Section 10/104, and consistent with the CEQ regulations, the Guidelines, and the Memorandum of Agreement Between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army Concerning the Determination of Mitigation under the Clean Water Act Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines, mitigation means sequentially avoiding impacts, minimizing impacts, and compensating for remaining unavoidable impacts. Compensatory mitigation, under Section 10/404, is the restoration, creation, enhancement, or in exceptional circumstances, preservation of wetlands and/or other aquatic resources for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable adverse impacts. A site where wetlands and/or other aquatic resources are restored, created, enhanced, or in exceptional circumstances, preserved expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in advance of authorized impacts to similar resources is a mitigation bank.
Policy Considerations. The Department has elected to apply Government Code Section 14012 authority only in rare circumstances, such as Xxxxxx Basin. The policy guidance currently in development is summarized as follows:
Policy Considerations. In developing this policy for how to best undertake snow and ice control activities in the Town, the Board has to balance a number of factors including, but not limited to public safety, the cost effective allocation of resources, maintaining an efficient transportation system, facilitating the delivery of emergency services, protecting the environment and minimizing damage to real and personal property.
