Decisional Capacity to Consent to Clinical Research Involving Placebo in Psychiatric Patients

Evidence from a few studies indicates the existence of several issues related to psychiatric patients' decisional capacity to give informed consent to clinical research. Clinicians often face difficulties in acquiring valid informed consent in clinical practice and even more so in drug trials. Participants often fail to fully understand or retain information regarding the actual implications of research protocols. The Brief Assessment for Consent to Clinical Research (BACO) was developed to investigate capacity to consent to clinical trials and further compare patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparisons' decisional capacity. A method to avoid possible confounding effects of choosing a treatment regarding a current disease was applied. The study groups were administered the BACO and the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research. Psychiatric patients performed poorer in comprehending, appreciating, and reasoning abilities, than their healthy counterparts. Impaired cognitive functioning and psychiatric symptoms severity were associated with reduced capacity to consent.     

The Meaning of Students’ Personal Belief in a Just World for Positive and Negative Aspects of School-Specific Well-Being

In two cross-sectional questionnaire studies with N = 1792 German and Indian students, aged between 12 and 17 years, we investigated the relation between personal belief in a just world (BJW) and positive as well as negative dimensions of school-specific well-being. Furthermore, we considered students’ personal experience of teacher justice as possible mediator in this relation and controlled for confounding effects of gender, neuroticism, and locus of control. In Study 1, we used multilevel modeling to analyze the German data and to control for class-level effects. In accordance with our hypotheses, Study 1 showed that the more students believed in a personal just world, the better their positive attitudes toward school, their academic self-esteem, and their enjoyment in school were, and the less somatic complaints in school, social problems in school, and worries toward school they experienced. These associations partly differed between classes, but generally persisted when controlled for sex, neuroticism, and locus of control. Finally, the association between personal BJW and well-being was at least partly mediated by students’ personal experience of teacher justice. In Study 2, we focused on the generalizability of the pattern of results across different cultural contexts. However, we did not aim to carry out comparative research. Results from bootstrap mediation analyses were predominantly the same as in Study 1. The adaptive functions of BJW and implications for future school research are discussed.     

True and false memories in middle childhood: the relationship with cognitive functioning

This study was designed to investigate developmental changes in true and false memories and to detect links among them in middle childhood. Participants were 372 Italian children (from 6 to 11 years, 174 males) divided into two age groups. After hearing a story, children provided a free-recall and their true and false retrieved information was measured. Then children were repeatedly asked some true and misleading questions about the story and their cued-recall and interrogative suggestibility were measured. Finally, children again recalled the story to assess the post-event misinformation effect of the suggested information. Individual differences in fluid intelligence, working memory and executive functions were also assessed to investigate their relationships with true and false memories. Typical age effects were found in memory recall and interrogative suggestibility. Interesting links among true, spontaneous and suggested false memories were found. Finally, analyses did not reveal the existence of a relationship between suggestibility and cognitive functioning.     

Germany's ‘Right to be forgotten’ – between the freedom of expression and the right to informational self-determination

Although never having defined it explicitly, German law and jurisprudence imparted a right to be forgotten which could be described as a right to delete long ago. Its basis can be found in the constitution where it is torn between the freedom of expression and the right to informational self-determination. Also, German legislature introduced non-constitutional provisions ensuring the deletion of personal data in specific cases that are applied regularly. This article aims to give an overview of the “German” right to be forgotten, its legal framework and its application in court.     

Verfassungsvergleichung durch den Verfassungsgerichtshof

Der VfGH zieht nach anfänglicher Zurückhaltung in seiner jüngeren Judikatur in bestimmtem Umfang auch rechtsvergleichende Erwägungen zur Entscheidungsbegründung heran. Der Blick über die Grenze dient dem Gerichtshof überwiegend zu dem Zweck, seine verfassungsrechtliche Beurteilung durch zusätzliche Argumente abzustützen, aber auch dazu, Hilfestellung bei der Inhaltsermittlung von Verfassungsnormen zu erlangen. Der Beitrag untersucht die Rechtsprechungspraxis des VfGH und widmet sich anhand dieser auch grundsätzlichen Fragestellungen der Zulässigkeit und Leistungsfähigkeit der Komparatistik in der verfassungsgerichtlichen Judikatur sowie ihren Einsatzbedingungen.     

Gender and transition in Southeast Asia: conceptual travel?

Theories and concepts of political transition have been influenced to a great deal by Western theoretical and conceptual reflection. The parameters of transition are usually based on two assumptions or expectations: The goal of transition is democracy or a democratic system, and both actors and affected persons are perceived as gender-neutral beings, i.e., there is no distinction made between male or female actors and persons concerned. This article problematizes the conventional concept of transition and attempts a gendered conceptualization. Empirically, it draws from studies and fieldwork during the periods of political transition in Indonesia (mostly accomplished) and Malaysia (ongoing). It addresses the impacts of transition on women in particular. The core argument is that conceptual reflections of transition need to integrate a gender-sensitive perspective, but at the same time attend to the fact that “women” is not an exhausting analytical category. As illustrated by the examples of Indonesia and Malaysia, a gender-sensitive approach thus requires to also take the pluralism and heterogeneity of “women” (as well as “men”) into account.     

Searching for sustainable competitive advantage --From tangibles to intangibles

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize on the growing importance of the intangible assets for a firm＇s sustainable competitive advantage--by considering both the features that a strategic asset must meet and the high potential of the intangible assets to fulfill those features. First, we outline the changing environment finns are operating in--at global and industry＇s level as well; second, we emphasize on the evolving theory of the resource-based view of the firm--as the main framework integrating all the assets of a firm and its relationships with the environment; third, we underline the need for organizational and managerial change and development by making the shift from tangibles to intangibles. We find that the theory in the field evolved within last years, but the conceptual framework is far from being exhaustive and unitary. The paper may be continued with the developing of a conceptual framework which is able to identify the specific intangible assets that may become strategic, their determinants, the interconnections between them, and their integration into successful competitive strategies. The practical implications of the paper consist in offering some guidelines for firms in the search of global competitiveness through the valorization of there intangible assets. The paper emphasizes that, in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, strategic management must develop a comprehensive, dynamic and innovative resource-based model--unique for each firm.