The Multiple Computer Automated Structure Evaluation (MCASE) program was used to evaluate the mutagenic potential of organic compounds. The experimental Ames test mutagenic activities for 2513 chemicals were collected from various literature sources. All chemicals have experimental results in one or more Salmonella tester strains. A general mutagenicity data set and fifteen individual Salmonella test strain data sets were compiled. Analysis of the learning sets by the MCASE program resulted in the derivation of good correlations between chemical structure and mutagenic activity. Significant improvement was obtained as more data was added to the learning databases when compared with the results of our previous reports. Several biophores were identified as being responsible for the mutagenic activity of the majority of active chemicals in each individual mutagenicity module. It was shown that the multiple-database mutagenicity model showed a clear advantage over normally used single-database models. The expertise produced by this analysis can be used to predict the mutagenic potential of new compounds.

A dialect of Tsou, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan, utilizes a pulmonic ingressive airstream in the articulation of at least two phones. This airstream has not previously been known to be a regular feature of any language (Catford: 1968: 313). Tsou is spoken by 3000-3500 people in eight villages on Mt. Ali in Southern Taiwan. Seven of the Tsou villages are in Wufeng Xiang, Chia-yi Prefecture. Tapangu, Nia?ucna (or Nibiei), Savica, and Sinvi comprise the Tapangu dialect area, while the inhabitants of Cayamavana, Dadauya, and Punguu (or Dadangia) speak the Tfuea dialect. The eighth village, Mamahavana, in Xin-yi Xiang, Nan'tou Prefecture, comprises the Duhtu (or Luhtu) dialect area (Li 1979).

The recent scandal over the appropriation of users’ data from the Facebook platform serves to surface wider concerns about ‘big data’, relating inter alia to the ways in which personal data are obtained, stored and used for commercial purposes. This article outlines some of the issues involved, and sketches some of the ways in which theologically inspired reflection and action might begin to address those issues.

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Hopes, fears, and ethical concerns relating to technology are as old as technology itself. When considering the increase in the power of computers, and their ever-more widespread use over recent decades, concerns have been raised about the social impact of computers and about practical issues arising from their use: the manner in which data is harvested, the preservation of confidentiality where people's personal information is concerned, the security of systems in which such data is stored, and so on. With the arrival of "big data" new ethical concerns surrounding computer-based technology arise-concerns connected not only with social issues, and with the generation of data and its security, but also with its interpretation by data scientists, and with the burgeoning trade in personal data. The first aim of this paper is to introduce some of these ethical issues, and the second is to suggest some possible ways in which they might be addressed. The latter includes some explorations of the ways in which insights from religious and theological perspectives might be valuable. It is urged that theology and data science might engage in mutually-beneficial dialogue.