Getting More out of Biomedical Documents with GATE's Full Lifecycle Open Source Text Analytics.

This software article describes the GATE family of open source text analysis tools and processes. GATE is one of the most widely used systems of its type with yearly download rates of tens of thousands and many active users in both academic and industrial contexts. In this paper we report three examples of GATE-based systems operating in the life sciences and in medicine. First, in genome-wide association studies which have contributed to discovery of a head and neck cancer mutation association. Second, medical records analysis which has significantly increased the statistical power of treatment/ outcome models in the UK’s largest psychiatric patient cohort. Third, richer constructs in drug-related searching. We also explore the ways in which the GATE family supports the various stages of the lifecycle present in our examples. We conclude that the deployment of text mining for document abstraction or rich search and navigation is best thought of as a process, and that with the right computational tools and data collection strategies this process can be made defined and repeatable. The GATE research programme is now 20 years old and has grown from its roots as a specialist development tool for text processing to become a rather comprehensive ecosystem, bringing together software developers, language engineers and research staff from diverse fields. GATE now has a strong claim to cover a uniquely wide range of the lifecycle of text analysis systems. It forms a focal point for the integration and reuse of advances that have been made by many people (the majority outside of the authors’ own group) who work in text processing for biomedicine and other areas. GATE is available online ,1. under GNU open source licences and runs on all major operating systems. Support is available from an active user and developer community and also on a commercial basis

Virtue Ethics and Meaningful Work: A Contemporary Buddhist Approach

This study adds to the existing literature on meaningful work by presenting a contemporary virtue-focused Buddhist view. While a virtue-ethics interpretation of Buddhism is now widely accepted and has been applied to several issues, not much has been written about meaningful work using a Buddhist-Aristotelian comparative framework. To develop a Buddhist approach, I draw heavily on the works of Buddhist scholars, particularly in the West who use a virtue framework in interpreting Buddhism. The aims of my essay are dual. The first is to articulate a straightforward application of Buddhism to the contemporary ethical discussion of meaningful work. The second is to discuss the similarities, clarify the differences, and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses relative to each other of the Buddhist and the Western virtue theories. In my analysis, I argue that while Buddhism is not an alternative to Western virtue theory, it offers significant contributions to the latter’s approach to meaningful work and even corrective to some of its limitations. Integration of Buddhism in our theorizing of meaningful work from a virtue-ethics perspective helps us to better understand ourselves and the virtues that we cultivate in the workplace and develop a holistic and cross-cultural conceptualization that is relevant to our global economy

Human Alienation and Fulfillment in Work: Insights from the Catholic Social Teachings

This paper is about the modern-day problem of human alienation and fulfillment in work from the perspective of the Catholic social thought. It analyses the symptoms and causes of work alienation, the meaning of work and its significance in the individual’s quest for fulfillment, and how the Catholic social teachings can shed light on the problems involved in transforming the world of work. Alienation in work affects one’s subjective and psychological fulfillment, but it is not ultimately dependent on material culture or economic models. The problem of alienation in work cannot be dealt with by simply modifying the production process or the wage system, although these are factors that alienate people even more. Social problems cannot be solved without light of faith and the recognition of the moral order that is rooted in God. In the final analysis, alienation is not simply the loss of meaning in human activities. It is the loss of life’s meaning and man’s estrangement from his own authentic nature, including his reason for being and final end, that results from the rejection of God and His teachings. What Catholicism provides is a combination of economic, psychological, moral, social, and spiritual motives for work that will make it personally fulfilling

Ethical Implications of Catholic Social Teachings on Human Work for the Service Industry

This study examines from an ethical framework the circumstances of workers who are engaged in non-professional services that are offered through corporations that are organized to serve high volume of costumers. Drawing on the relevant ethical teachings of the Catholic social tradition (CST), it explores some practices, strategies, and policies that could address the problems experienced by many service providers in the United States today. CST refers to a wide variety of documents of the magisterium of the Catholic Church which respond to the changing social and economic challenges of the modern world. The study argues that the primacy of the person, love and subsidiarity, sense of community, and respect for worker’s rights and unionism in CST are not only moral principles that uphold intrinsic human goods, they are likewise instrumental to operational effectivity because they promote job satisfaction, smooth interpersonal relationship, and long-term commitment with the company. They enable service providers to work efficiently, deliver exceptional service, and act as conduit between the customers and the business establishment, rather than simply being caught between their conflicting demands

The Common Good in Catholic Social Teaching and The Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide

The legalization of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in several states in the U.S. and the growing social approval of euthanasia have created confusion, pastoral challenges, and conflicts between Catholic and non-Catholic healthcare institutions. For many of its supporters, the legal and moral legitimacy of PAS is grounded on the right to autonomy. I concur with Callahan that the right to autonomy, while may be pertinent when it comes to moral debate on suicide, does not justify PAS. Unlike suicide, PAS is not a private matter. It involves the medical institution represented by the physician who is given authority to legitimize the termination of human life, and the society that will give it an imprimatur. If autonomy per se is the basis of this so-called dignity of PAS from the viewpoint of its proponents, they will not hesitate to declare suicide as more dignified than any other way of dying. But current laws in the U.S. on PAS are silent with regard to legal rights to suicide or assisted suicide in general. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the legislature is the venue for the legalization of PAS, not the court, for PAS is about social approval of assisted suicide. Therefore, the debate concerning the legalization of PAS should shift from individual rights to common good, from autonomy to collective harms and benefits, and from justifying individual cases of PAS to legitimizing it as a social policy

Big Data Ethics through the Lens of Catholic Social Teaching: Upholding Stewardship

'Big Data' refers to extensive, interconnected datasets that are continuously generated and updated, encompassing a wide variety of sources, formats, and applications. It includes a significant portion of anonymized personal data as well as non-human data, such as derived datasets and by-products produced through everyday digital activities and human-machine interactions. These data points include traces from online shopping, browsing history, search queries, system logs, sensor readings, weather data, and aggregated location data. For the purposes of this study, the term ‘Big Data’ specifically denotes this broad spectrum of data categories, explicitly excluding any personally identifying or legally protected data. By concentrating on these datasets, the study argues that certain forms of Big Data can be governed as shared resources or a ‘common heritage of humanity,’ supporting initiatives like data commons, open data movements, open government data, and data cooperatives, and emphasizing the potential for collaborative stewardship and equitable access for the public good. However, ethical considerations surrounding Big Data are complex due to novel dilemmas arising within the evolving cyberworld. In response, this study draws on the concept of stewardship within Catholic Social Teaching, with particular focus on “Laudato Si’,” and presents it as a guiding ethical principle for responsible data custodianship, upholding human dignity, ensuring accountability, and harnessing Big Data’s potential for the common good. Just as “Laudato Si'” highlights our interconnectedness within the biosphere, this parallels our interconnectedness within the datasphere—the digital ecosystem—underscoring the necessity of stewardship in both domains

Challenges to Private Sector Unionism in the United States and Catholic Social Teaching

This paper tackles the current challenges to private sector unionism in the United States in light of Catholic social teaching (CST). The focus of the study is unionism in the private sector where the fall-off in membership is observed. CST is contained in a wide variety of official documents of the Catholic Church, in particular papal encyclicals, which present ethical norms for economic life in response to the changing realities of the modern world. The study begins with an analysis of the concrete situation: the causes of decline in union membership. It is followed by an ethical reflection on CST’s perspectives and exploration of practices, strategies, and policies that can help reverse the ongoing trend of union decline and revitalize the labor movement in the country. The paper argues that unions are good in themselves as an expression of the workers’ right to associate and instrumentally good as they invoke such values as the dignity of work, solidarity, subsidiarity, common good, and economic equality. While it has been proven that workers and society as a whole gain material benefits from effective unionization, focus on intangible benefits and moral principles offered by CST may give labor organizing a new impetus and inspiration

Interreligious Spirituality of Work: Bhagavadgita and Catholic Social Teaching

This essay is an interreligious study of spirituality of work. It considers the normative/doctrinal teachings on work in Bhagavadgita and Catholic Social Teaching. It will begin by exploring a Hindu spirituality of work based on Bhagavadgita. The paper will analyze salient ideas and relevant passages in the text that tackle the religio-spiritual significance of our daily engagement in the world through paid work from a Hindu perspective. A discussion on major themes in Catholic Social Teaching that resonate with Bhagavadgita’s tenets on spirituality of work will follow. These themes will serve as analytical elements that will frame an interreligious spirituality of work from the two points of view. This study will demonstrate that, as far as spirituality of work is concerned, there is more convergence than divergence between Catholicism and Hinduism. Spirituality of work can be a unifying force, a locus for cross-cultural dialogue, and a bridge between different beliefs in the workplace

Filipino Virtue Ethics and Meaningful Work

A number of paradigms have been proposed to understand the sources of meaningful work, but a non-Western approach has attracted little attention. This study aims to make a theoretical contribution toward an understanding of meaningful work from a virtue-ethics framework that is culturally meaningful and relevant to Filipino realities and their distinct cultural heritage. It develops a paradigm for a Filipino view of meaningful work that could guide both researchers and practitioners in business ethics by defining what is meaningful work, explaining why it is important, and presenting some examples of concrete measures that management can utilize to promote meaningful work in the Philippine workplace