It has long been thought that by using morphine to alleviate the pain of a dying patient, a doctor runs the risk of causing his death. In all countries this kind of killing is explicitly or silently permitted by the law. That permission is usually explained by appealing to the doctrine of double effect: If the use of morphine shortens life, that is only an unintended side effect. The paper evaluates this view, finding it flawed beyond repair and proposing an alternative explanation. It is not the intention of the doctor that counts, but the availability of an “objective” palliative justification. 相似文献
Little is known about overall psychological distress in paedophiles who are not formally involved with the criminal justice system. Since knowledge in this context could help to optimise intervention efforts, this study aimed to examine the association between distress as measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and preference- and offence-related variables in a sample of N?=?455 men self-reporting sexual interest in children, of whom 402 were diagnosed as paedophiles. Results showed that 59% reported clinically relevant levels of distress, with paedophiles being significantly more distressed than teleiophiles. A regression analysis revealed that a paedophilic preference and prior detection were relevant predictors for distress. However, past offending behaviour had no impact and the major part of variance could not be explained. The results suggest that paedophilia is associated with distress, but other factors influence whether a paedophilic man is distressed on a clinically significant level. 相似文献
An international project called PADS promoted participatory learning and action research with inland valley rainfed rice farmers in West Africa. All countries received the same training, similar funding, and the same leadership. Although the staff in Ghana were conscientious and gave much training to the farmer beneficiaries, the Mali staff explicitly encouraged farmers to experiment. Farmers in Mali responded to this favourable attitude by experimenting more than those in Ghana, and in qualitatively more interesting ways. Long-term engagement with grassroots organisations may be as conducive to changing public servants' attitudes as the actual participatory approach promoted on the ground.
L'attitude compte: travail avec des riziculteurs en Afrique de l'Ouest
Un projet international appelé PADS a favorisé l'apprentissage participatif et la recherche-action avec des riziculteurs pratiquant la culture pluviale dans les vallées de l'intérieur des terres en Afrique de l'Ouest. Tous les pays ont reçu la même formation, un financement similaire et le même leadership. Alors que les membres du personnel du Ghana étaient consciencieux et dispensaient une formation considérable aux agriculteurs bénéficiaires, le personnel du Mali encourageait expressément les riziculteurs à faire des expériences. Les riziculteurs du mali ont réagi à cette attitude favorable en faisant plus d'expériences que ceux du Ghana, et ce de manières plus intéressantes sur le plan qualitatif. L'engagement à long terme avec les organisations de la base populaire peut être tout aussi propice à la modification des attitudes des fonctionnaires que l'approche participative même promue sur le terrain.
As atitudes contam: Engajamento com produtores de arroz na África Ocidental
Um projeto internacional chamado PADS promoveu uma pesquisa sobre aprendizado e ação participativa com produtores de arroz irrigado com água da chuva no interior do vale na África Ocidental. Todos os países receberam o mesmo treinamento, financiamento semelhante e a mesma liderança. Embora os funcionários de Gana estivessem cientes e oferecessem bastante treinamento aos produtores beneficiários, os funcionários de Mali incentivaram explicitamente os produtores a experimentar. Os produtores de Mali responderam a esta atitude favorável experimentando mais do que aqueles de Gana e de maneiras mais interessantes em termos qualitativos. O engajamento de longo prazo com organizações de base pode contribuir para mudar as atitudes dos servidores públicos tanto quanto a abordagem participativa real promovida na base.
La actitud cuenta: el trato personal con campesinos arroceros de África Occidental
Un proyecto internacional llamado PADS promovió el aprendizaje participativo y la investigación-acción entre campesinos que cultivaban arroz de secano en los valles centrales de África Occidental. Todos los países participantes recibieron la misma capacitación, un financiamiento similar y las mismas orientaciones. Si bien el personal de Ghana era muy diligente y transmitió muchos conocimientos a los campesinos beneficiarios en capacitaciones, el personal de Malí se centró más explícitamente en animarlos para que experimentaran. Los campesinos de Malí respondieron a esta actitud estimuladora realizando más experimentos y de maneras cualitativamente más interesantes que los campesinos de Ghana. El compromiso de largo plazo con organizaciones de base puede ser tan importante para lograr un cambio en la actitud del servidor público como el método participativo que se promueve en la actualidad sobre el terreno. 相似文献
After decades of refinement, DNA testing methods have become essential tools in forensic sciences. They are essentially based on likelihood ratio test principle, which is utilized specifically, by using as prior knowledge the allele frequencies in the population, to confirm or refute a given kinship hypothesis made on two genotypes. This makes these methods ill suited when allele frequencies or kinship hypotheses are unavailable. In this paper, we introduce DNAc, a new clustering methodology for DNA testing based on a new similarity measure that allows an accurate retrieval of the degree of relatedness among two or more genotypes, without relying on kinship hypotheses or allele frequencies in the population. We used DNAc in analyzing microsatellite DNA sequences distributed among 12 genotypes from normal individuals from two distinct families. The results show that DNAc accurately determines kinship among genotypes and further gathers them in the appropriate kinship groups. 相似文献
Establishing ancestry from a skeleton for forensic purposes has been shown to be difficult. The purpose of this paper is to address the application of thirteen non-metric traits to estimate ancestry in three South African groups, namely White, Black and "Coloured". In doing so, the frequency distribution of thirteen non-metric traits among South Africans are presented; the relationship of these non-metric traits with ancestry, sex, age at death are evaluated; and Kappa statistics are utilized to assess the inter and intra-rater reliability. Crania of 520 known individuals were obtained from four skeletal samples in South Africa: the Pretoria Bone Collection, the Raymond A. Dart Collection, the Kirsten Collection and the Student Bone Collection from the University of the Free State. Average age at death was 51, with an age range between 18 and 90. Thirteen commonly used non-metric traits from the face and jaw were scored; definition and illustrations were taken from Hefner, Bass and Hauser and De Stephano. Frequency distributions, ordinal regression and Cohen's Kappa statistics were performed as a means to assess population variation and repeatability. Frequency distributions were highly variable among South Africans. Twelve of the 13 variables had a statistically significant relationship with ancestry. Sex significantly affected only one variable, inter-orbital breadth, and age at death affected two (anterior nasal spine and alveolar prognathism). The interaction of ancestry and sex independently affected three variables (nasal bone contour, nasal breadth, and interorbital breadth). Seven traits had moderate to excellent repeatability, while poor scoring consistency was noted for six variables. Difficulties in repeating several of the trait scores may require either a need for refinement of the definitions, or these character states may not adequately describe the observable morphology in the population. The application of the traditional experience-based approach for estimating ancestry in forensic case work is problematic. 相似文献
ARPA-E offers a new innovation institutional model to meet energy technology challenges. Because it is explicitly based on DARPA, this article reviews the noted DARPA approach in detail. Briefly citing well-known features of DARPA, it explores a number of important features that have not been well discussed in the policy literature on DARPA. These include DARPA??s ability to undertake multigenerational technology thrusts, the synergies it has been able to create through complementary strategic technologies, its ability to build an advocate community, and connections it has built to larger innovation elements downstream from DARPA. It has also taken on incumbent technologies within both DOD and in the private sector, used ties to DOD leadership to press its advances, and supported initial market creation. The article then reviews the new ARPA-E model in detail, commenting first on how ARPA-E has adopted key DARPA approaches. It then discusses new features ARPA-E is adopting, driven by the unique demands of the complex, established energy sector. These include new ways: (1) to sharpen the research visioning, selection and support processes, (2) to build a community of support, important to its political survival, and (3) to implement technologies it supports. In addition, the further DARPA features enumerated above provide potentially useful future guideposts to ARPA-E. The paper closes with a discussion of the difficult technology implementation problems on the ??back end?? of the innovation system??including demonstrations, test beds, and initial markets. The article posits that both agencies must further address these implementation issues by fostering additional downstream partnerships, including between government and private sector. 相似文献
Parametric insurance is a promising alternative to traditional insurance when it comes to addressing catastrophic weather events and their impact on developing nations. Where available, traditional insurance is expensive and can involve protracted claim adjustment. Parametric insurance, on the other hand, provides coverage monies automatically upon the existence of certain objective weather-related parameters based upon a set formula. This model has been shown to work in the Caribbean Basin, but requires international cooperation in pooling, measuring, and managing risk. The immediate availability of emergency-response funds can be crucial in mitigating the impacts of climate change and related severe weather events. 相似文献
What is the role of stipends as an institutional facilitator in volunteer civic service? By examining the relationship of stipend receipt to volunteer diversity, time commitment, and perceived benefits from a longitudinal study of older adults serving in Experience Corps, this article assesses stipend status relative to volunteer sociodemographic characteristics, motivations, intensity and duration of time served, and volunteers’ self‐reported benefits. The findings underscore how stipends may promote participant diversity. In particular, stipended older adult volunteers serve for longer periods of time, but their motivations for serving do not differ. Stipended volunteers report higher perceived benefits than nonstipended volunteers. The results suggest that stipends may leverage wider inclusion, increase retention, and contribute to other benefits, but additional research is needed using more controlled and comparative designs.相似文献
Abstract: In the present study, ultrastructural analysis of mitochondrial deposits (black dots within mitochondria) as a method for the detection of early acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was evaluated. In 24 patients with AMI and six controls, analysis was performed in the heart of infarcted patients and noninfarcted controls. In the infarction area in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)‐diagnosed AMI, the percentage of positive mitochondria was significantly higher compared to corresponding heart tissue in control patients and compared to noninfarcted areas within these patients. Also in patients with a clinically diagnosed AMI but no LDH decoloration, a significant higher percentage of positive mitochondria was found in the left ventricle compared to controls and noninfarcted areas. In patients with AMI, an increase in mitochondria with deposits was found in the infarction area compared to controls and noninfarcted tissue within the same patient, suggesting that electron microscopical changes in mitochondria can be used for the diagnosis of AMI less than 3 h old. 相似文献
Abstract: An online forensic dental identification exercise was conducted involving 24 antemortem–postmortem (AM–PM) dental radiograph pairs from actual forensic identification cases. Images had been digitally cropped to remove coronal tooth structure and dental restorations. Volunteer forensic odontologists were passively recruited to compare the AM–PM dental radiographs online and conclude identification status using the guidelines for identification from the American Board of Forensic Odontology. The mean accuracy rate for identification was 86.0% (standard deviation 9.2%). The same radiograph pairs were compared using a digital imaging software algorithm, which generated a normalized coefficient of similarity for each pair. Twenty of the radiograph pairs generated a mean accuracy of 85.0%. Four of the pairs could not be used to generate a coefficient of similarity. Receiver operator curve and area under the curve statistical analysis confirmed good discrimination abilities of both methods (online exercise = 0.978; UT‐ID index = 0.923) and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient analysis (0.683) indicated good correlation between the results of both methods. Computer‐aided dental identification allows for an objective comparison of AM–PM radiographs and can be a useful tool to support a forensic dental identification conclusion. 相似文献