Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A term often applied to a physician, nurse, or dentist whose field of special training, experience, and, usually, practice is a subdivision of a broader specialty. For example, a cardiologist is a physician who has narrowed his field from the specialty of all of internal medicine to the subspecialty concerned with just the diseases of…

Information which is organized in such a fashion that it deals with a single field or branch of knowledge, in contrast with problem-oriented information, which bears directly on a specific question asked or on a specific problem for which a solution is sought. A standard textbook or a descriptive book provide subject-oriented information, such as…

Strategic planning is based on the principle that, with goals and objectives specified, strategies can be developed for achieving them, resources can be generated to implement the strategies, and progress can be continually monitored. The concept behing strategic positioning is that it is often more important for an organization to expend its energy on being…

A term applied to each “product line” of an organization employing product line management (PLM). An SBU is a more or less distinct line of business (for example, in a hospital, knee replacement surgery or alcoholism rehabilitation) which has a specific market, resource requirements, and management demands. The hospital operating under PLM acts as though…

Making a person unable to reproduce. Sterilization may be undertaken simply to prevent conception (“contraceptive sterilization”), to prevent inheritance of a mental or physical disability or disease (“eugenic sterilization”), or because bearing children would be harmful to the individual (“therapeutic sterilization”). To prevent inappropriate sterilizations, especially of those unable to give voluntary consent, there are…

The process of treating an object in such a manner that all living microorganisms are destroyed. Surgical instruments and dressings, for example, must be sterilized so that they do not transmit infections. Sterilization may be accomplished by heat, certain chemicals, radiation, ultraviolet light, or other means.  

Without capacity to produce offspring, a condition which may or may not be reversible. Sterile is a more positive term than “infertile”, which is used when there is felt to be a greater possibility of correcting the condition. Sterility may be natural or the result of having undergone sterilization (contraceptive), a procedure intended to remove…

Free from all living bacteria, viruses, and other living organisms and their spores (resistant forms of such life).  

A generic term for a committee set up to provide broad guidance for a program, project, or activity.  

A statute which limits potential liability by limiting the time in which a suit can be brought. A statute of limitation is a statute of repose. Generally, the purpose is to prevent stale claims that would substantially prejudice the defendant. Legal protection from prosecution or damages that result from the failure of a project completed…