In this paper, we use Saaty's Eigenvector Method and the Power Method as well as Ω=1, 2, ⋯ , 9, 1/2, 1/3, ⋯ , 1/9} and Ω-={1,2, ⋯ ,9,1, 1/2, ⋯ ,1/9} as the sets from which the pairwise comparison judgments are assigned at random to examine the variation in the values determined for the mean random consistency index. By extensive simulation analysis, we found that both methods produce the same values for the mean random consistency random index. Also, we (...) found that the reason for producing two different sets of values is the use of Ω vs. Ω- and not the selection of the Power Method vs. Saaty's Eigenvector Method. (shrink)

The crystallization behaviour of Fe 70.8 Nb 3.7 Cu 1 Al 2.7 Mn 0.7 Si 13.5 B 7.6 alloy prepared in the form of amorphous ribbons by melt-spinning technique was studied using differential scanning calorimetry and the temperature variation in resistivity. An X-ray diffaction and transmission electron microscopy study showed the formation of f -Fe and/or Fe 3 nanoparticles after the first stage of crystallization. The activation energy for this nanophase formation was 68 kcal mol m 1 . The brittleness (...) of the alloy increased with the formation of nanoparticles after heat treatment. Superior soft magnetic properties were achieved when the material was heat treated at 790 K for 15 min. The particle size at the optimum heat treatment condition for superior soft magnetic properties was found to be 6.0 - 0.5 nm which was less compared than for the Fe-Nb-Cu-Si-B system. The observed coercivity value at the optimum heat treatment condition was found to be 0.32 A m m 1 . The presence of Al in the alloy reduced the particle size and the magnetic anisotropy energy of the system, which resulted in superior soft magnetic properties of the heat-treated materials. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to explore the existence of moral distress among nurses in Lilongwe District of Malawi. Qualitative research was conducted in selected health institutions of Lilongwe District in Malawi to assess knowledge and causes of moral distress among nurses and coping mechanisms and sources of support that are used by morally distressed nurses. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 20 nurses through in-depth interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was (...) used. The results show that nurses, irrespective of age, work experience and tribe, experienced moral distress related to patient/nursing care. The major distressing factors were inadequate resources and lack of respect from patients, guardians, peers and bosses. Nurses desire teamwork and ethics committees in their health institutions as a means of controlling and preventing moral distress. There is a need for creation of awareness for nurses to recognize and manage moral distress, thus optimizing their ability to provide quality and uncompromised nursing care. (shrink)

This study compares Australian marketers with those in the United States along lines that are particular to the study of ethics. The test measured two different moral philosophies, idealism and relativism, and compared perceptions of ethical problems, ethical intentions, and corporate ethical values. According to Hofstede''s cultural typologies, there should be little difference between American and Australian marketers, but the study did find significant differences. Australians tended to be more idealistic and more relativistic than Americans and the other results were (...) mixed, making it difficult to generalize about the effects of moral philosophies on the components of ethical decision-making measured here. This is an important finding; as firms become increasingly more globalized, marketers will more often be involved in cross-cultural ethical dilemmas and it seems natural to assume that similar cultures will have similar ethical orientations. That assumption may well prove erroneous. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to examine developmental differences in autobiographical memory using a novel test that assesses its semantic and episodic subcomponents. Forty-two children aged 7–13 years were asked to recall semantic information and episodic events from three different time periods. For the recalls of all events, sense of remembering or sense of just knowing was measured via the Remember/Know paradigm. Age-related differences were observed for episodic autobiographical memory whereas semantic autobiographical memory was characterized by a relative developmental (...) invariance. The increase with age was also found in the number of “Remember” responses and their justification in terms of the actual contextual information retrieved—factual, spatial, and, more especially, temporal details. These findings highlight developmental differences between the episodic and semantic subcomponents of autobiographical memory and support the view that mental ‘time travel’ through subjective time, which allows one to re-experience the past through self-awareness, is the last feature of autobiographical memory to become fully operational. (shrink)

The fifth edition of the Philosophical Dictionary leaves a very favorable impression. It is a useful mass edition. It has been considerably enlarged—by almost one hundred fifty pages compared with the fourth edition. The dictionary now contains many new articles: "Acceleration of socioeconomic development," "The human factor," "The meaning of life," "Discipline," "Social conflict," "Understanding," "Computerization," "Informatics," "Philosophy of science," "The logic of scientific cognition," "Sociobiology," "Egoconception," "Scientific materialism," "Humanity," "Ethology," etc. Many of these terms were previously not found at (...) all in our philosophical reference literature, including the Philosophical Encyclopedia [Filosofskaia entsiklopediia] and the Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary [Filosofskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar']. (shrink)

The experience of the use of applied containerized biomedical software tools in cloud environment is summarized. The reproducibility of scientific computing in relation with modern technologies of scientific calculations is discussed. The main approaches to biomedical data preprocessing and integration in the framework of the intelligent analytical system are described. At the conditions of pandemic, the success of health care system depends significantly on the regular implementation of effective research tools and population monitoring. The earlier the risks of disease can (...) be identified, the more effective process of preventive measures or treatments can be. This publication is about the creation of a prototype for such a tool within the project «Development of methods, algorithms and intelligent analytical system for processing and analysis of heterogeneous clinical and biomedical data to improve the diagnosis of complex diseases», implementted by the V.M. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, together with the United Institute of Informatics Problems, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The insurers, entering the market, can insure mostly low risks by facilitating more frequent changes of insurers by consumers and mixing the overall health insurance market. Socio-demographic variables can be risk adjusters. Since age and gender have a relatively small explanatory power, other socio-demographic variables were studied – marital status, retirement status, disability status, educational level, income level. Because insurers have an interest in beneficial diagnoses for their policyholders, they are also interested in the ability to interpret relevant information – upcoding: insurers can encourage their policyholders to consult with doctors more often to select as many diagnoses as possible. Many countries and health care systems use diagnostic information to determine the reimbursement to a service provider, revealing the necessary data. For processing and analysis of these data, software implementations of construction for classifiers, allocation of informative features, processing of heterogeneous medical and biological variables for carrying out scientific research in the field of clinical medicine are developed. The experience of the use of applied containerized biomedical software tools in cloud environment is summarized. The reproducibility of scientific computing in relation with modern technologies of scientific calculations is discussed. Particularly, attention is paid to containerization of biomedical applications, this permits to get reproducibility of the conditions in which the calculations took place, technologies of software pipelining of calculations, that allows to organize flow calculations, and technologies for parameterization of software environment, that allows to reproduce, if necessary, an identical computing environment. The main approaches to biomedical data preprocessing and integration in the framework of the intelligent analytical system are described. The experience of using the developed linear classifier, gained during its testing on artificial and real data, allows us to conclude about several advantages provided by the containerized form of the created application: it permits to provide access to real data located in cloud environment; it is possible to perform calculations to solve research problems on cloud resources both with the help of developed tools and with the help of cloud services; such a form of research organization makes numerical experiments reproducible, i.e. any other researcher can compare the results of their developments on specific data that have already been studied by others, in order to verify the conclusions and technical feasibility of new results; there exists a universal opportunity to use the developed tools on technical devices of various classes from a personal computer to powerful cluster. (shrink)

The level of medical care to patients and the success of the implementation of the national project "Health" depend on the health status and doctor's professionalism. Modern healthcare reform is being implemented by optimizing costs, merging medical organizations, closing ineffective hospitals, expanding the use of high-tech care and informatization of the doctor's activities. All this makes it necessary to assess the health of doctors. Scientists have studied the quality of life and identified the professional burnout of doctors in children's clinics (...) in different age groups. Primary care pediatricians have a higher quality of life score when compared to the standard [1]. However, all groups have a high level of professional burnout. The pre-retirement group of doctors has more unfavorable profile. They are highly professional specialists but may experience emotional discomfort because the pension system has been reformed. This situation requires the introduction of preventive work with doctors of this age as a group with great potential and capable of professional longevity. (shrink)

In the literature three mechanisms are commonly distinguished to make decisions about the care of incompetent patients: A living will, a substituted judgment by a surrogate, and a best interest judgment. Almost universally, the third mechanism is deemed the worst possible of the three, to be invoked only when the former two are unavailable. In this article, I argue in favor of best interest judgments. The evermore common aversion of best interest judgments entails a risk that health care providers withdraw (...) from the decision-making process, abandoning patients to these most difficult of decisions about life and death. My approach in this article is primarily negative, that is, I criticize the alleged superiority of the living will and substituted judgment. The latter two mechanisms gain their alleged superiority because they are supposedly morally neutral, whereas the best interest judgment entails a value judgment on behalf of the patient. I argue that on closer inspection living wills and substituted judgments are not morally neutral; indeed, they generally rely on best interest judgments, even if those are not made explicit. (shrink)