Objective: To explore the relationship between the presentation of suffering and support for euthanasia in the British news media.Method: Data was retrieved by searching the British newspaper database LexisNexis from 1996 to 2000. Twenty-nine articles covering three cases of family assisted suicide were found. Presentations of suffering were analysed employing Heidegger’s distinction between technological ordering and poetic revealing.Findings: With few exceptions, the press constructed the complex terrain of FAS as an orderly or orderable performance. This was enabled by containing the (...) contradictions of FAS through a number of journalistic strategies: treating degenerative dying as an aberrant condition, smoothing over botched attempts, locating the object of ethical evaluation in persons, not contexts, abbreviating the decision making process, constructing community consensus and marginalising opposing views.Conclusion: The findings of this study support the view that news reporting of FAS is not neutral or inconsequential. In particular, those reports presenting FAS as an orderly, rational performance were biased in favor of technical solutions by way of the legalisation of euthanasia and/or the involvement of medical professionals. In contrast, while news reports sensitive to contradiction did not necessarily oppose euthanasia, they were less inclined to overtly support technical solutions, recognising the importance of a trial to address the complexity of FAS. (shrink)

The newest innovation in assisted reproduction is oocyte cryopreservation, more commonly known as egg freezing, which has been developed as a method of fertility preservation. Studies emerging from around the world show that highly educated professional women are turning to egg freezing in their late thirties to early forties, because they are still searching for a male partner with whom to have children. For these women, egg freezing may be a new “hope technology” for future romance; but it may also (...) be a “technology of despair,” as women navigate the ends of a failing relationship. Based on the largest ethnographic study to date, undertaken with 150 women who froze their eggs for nonmedical reasons in the United States and Israel, we examine egg freezing at the end of romance. Relationship dissolution—involving divorce, separation, broken engagements, and relationship breakups from men who are unfaithful, controlling, rejecting, uncommitted, or unready for fatherhood—is one of the major pathways to egg freezing. When such relationship dissolution ruptures a woman’s reproductive life course, egg freezing may become a “technology of repair,” allowing women to find new strengths and opportunities as well as new visions for the future. (shrink)

The age of maturity of children to consent for medical research is under debate, as different authorities regard the capacity of young teenagers as either satisfactory or not to grant consent without parental participation in the process. The present paper contrasts the generally accepted guideline for ethics in paediatric research in Canada with what the same children are allowed and expected to be able to do as babysitters. This comparison reveals deep incongruences in the way the maturity of the same (...) children is appreciated for two different tasks. (shrink)

After the end of their time as a caregiver, former caregivers have needs and feelings that have been subject to little study to date. The aim of the study is to determine and analyse the feelings, perceptions and practices of former caregivers in the reconstruction of their daily lives. This is a qualitative study based on the Grounded Theory developed by Charmaz. The study involved 14 former caregivers who had cared for their relative for more than 2 years and who (...) had stopped caring for them more than 2 years previously. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted and data were collected over 13 months between 2015 and 2017. Data were analysed using the Grounded Theory Method. In addition, this study was approved by the ethics committee of the Institut Universitari d’Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol. The former caregiver experiences a transition, which begins in the days before the death of their relative and may continue for more than 3 years. Three critical moments in the post-caring transition were found: the post-caring emptiness; the end of the period as a caregiver; and the movement towards a new life. Family and professional support is needed during this transition. Former caregivers experience a transition in the rebuilding of their daily lives; furthermore, former caregivers may be a source of support for other caregivers, which is linked to positive mental health factors. Healthcare organisations need to acknowledge the emotional, psychosocial and psychological health of former caregivers. (shrink)

Homeri Ilias. Scholarum in usum edidit Paulus Cauer. Pars I. Carm. I.—XII. Editio Maior. Vienna, Tempsky; Leipzig, Freytag. 3m. Ditto. Ditto. Editio Minor, 1m. 75. The First Three Books of Homer's Iliad, with Introduction, Commentary, and Vocabulary for the use of schools. By Thomas D. Seymour, Hillhouse Professor of Greek in Yale College. Boston, Ginn. Homer's Ilias in Verkürzter Ausgabe. Für den Schulgebrauch von A. Th. Christ. Mit 9 Abbildungen und 2 Karten. Vienna, Tempsky. 1 fl. 30kr.

Las teorías clásicas de estratificación social se bao basado en la familia como unidad de estratificación, utilizándose la ocupación del hombre como medida de clase social. Estas teorías fueron criticadas sobre todo desde el feminismo, reclamando la visualización de las mujeres en el análisis de la estratificación social. Este artículo describe el concepto de clase social, debate sobre la medida de la clase social en las mujeres y revisa el impacto de las distintas medidas en las desigualdades en salud según (...) clase social en las mujeres. (shrink)

Presents a study of mythology based on the analysis of nonlinear form, the self's confrontation with its world, and the nature of mythic truth. Drawing on texts world-wide and on many theorists, including Cassirer, Eliade, Jung, Levi-Strauss, and Buber, the book develops a complex view of the relation between consciousness and culture.

As a discourse genre, statements of purpose are characterized by their occluded status in the academy and by their hybrid nature. Statements of purpose are required in applications for a place in a postgraduate course, and they are requested to obtain information about the academic and professional background and skills of each applicant. A study of the genre’s linguistic and textual features is needed in Spanish to discover and understand writers’ and readers’ perception of this genre. A corpus of 50 (...) motivation letters in Spanish is analyzed here. We study the distinguishing macro- and microtextual features of this particular genre and co-occurrences between both kinds of features. At the macrotextual level, statements of purpose display prototypical rhetorical moves, which can be classified as writers’ moves and readers’ moves. On the microtextual level, modalization resources and discourse markers are discussed. This multiple perspectives analysis of the corpus shows evidence of significant co-occurrences among modalization, discourse markers, and rhetorical moves. Writers’ ideal representations of this discourse genre, which spans the academic and professional fields, can also be deduced. (shrink)

En este artículo trabajamos dentro del campo de la música tradicional, vinculándola con la perspectiva de género a través del análisis de los roles establecidos tanto en la tradición como en la actualidad. Para ello establecemos una metodología basada en la realización de entrevistas como medio para suplir la falta de referencias bibliográficas. Nuestros resultados se centran en la continuidad de los roles de género y su distribución a través de relaciones de poder, independientemente de los cambios de contexto acaecidos (...) entre la tradición y la actualidad. Por último reflejaremos el interés actual y las posibilidades didácticas sobre el tema. (shrink)

In attempting to learn more about the relationship between social structure and behavior, this chapter identifies the transforming conditions that promote an actor's acquisition of a noninstitutionalized role. The role concept is modified to be seen not only as an aspect of social structure, but connected to the life situation of a performer, constituting a person-role formula. Being defined according to the degree of involvement an actor will have with the proffered role, a person-role formula may be based on embracement, (...) integration, downgrading, or avoidance. Roles are transformed into one of these possible relationships through three stages (1) role discrepancy, (2) role typification, and (3) role validation. (shrink)

En este artículo tratamos el “romance do Comandante Moreno” como parte de la música de tradición oral gallega y de la memoria histórica en relación a la Guerra Civil española. Metodológicamente trabajamos con análisis de corte etnomusicológico que se centran en parámetros musicales, literarios y de contexto, además de trabajar con referencias bibliográficas y audiovisuales. Así, nos encontramos con características propias de la música de tradición gallega y una descripción concisa de los hechos, siendo este romance un testigo fidedigno de (...) los asesinatos ocurridos en 1937 y, por ello, un elemento con oportunidades didácticas para la creación de proyectos interdisciplinares. (shrink)

Joint attention is a social-cognitive phenomenon in which two or more agents direct their attention together towards the same object. Definitions range from this rather broad conception to more specific definitions which require that, in addition, attention be directed to the same aspect of that object and that agents need to be mutually aware of their jointly attending. Joint attention is an important coordination mechanism in joint action. The capacity for engaging in joint attention, in particular in the sense of (...) this narrower definition, is frequently taken to indicate the presence of theory of mind in the participating agents, and is also implicated in the development of theory of mind. However, the prominence of sensorimotor components in establishing and sustaining episodes of joint attention — e.g., eye and head movements, pointing and vocalizations — suggests that sensorimotor approaches to social interaction may be well-placed to account for important parts of joint attention without invoking theory-of-mind abilities, and may therefore provide a valuable alternative to approaches emphasizing theory of mind. In particular, sensorimotor accounts may explain aspects of joint attention through the dynamics and regularities in the sensorimotor processes that coordinate the activities of the agents. (shrink)

Convencida de que con un deseo profundo de verdad y una atención sin límites se puede alcanzar la verdad, Simone Weil emprende un camino interior de búsqueda de la verdad, que tiene a la realidad como principal referente. La atención a lo real en su experiencia de trabajo como obrera, en su participación en los dramas de la guerra de España y la Segunda guerra mundial, durante el trabajo como profesora de filosofía, y a lo largo de tantos acontecimientos y (...) encuentros, supusieron para la filósofa un camino personal de hallazgo de lo sobrenatural, que generó una orientación metafísica en su concepción del mundo. Sin embargo, aunque tanto vital como intelectualmente Simone Weil atravesó varios umbrales, en su pensamiento permanece un mismo hilo conductor; esto puede comprobarse leyendo algunos escritos de juventud. El presente trabajo muestra etapas significativas de la vida y el pensamiento de Simone Weil, y considera igualmente vivencias de carácter místico al final de su vida, fruto de la irrupción en ella de lo sobrenatural como una dimensión de lo real. (shrink)

This article deals with the form and use of reformulation markers in research papers written in English, Spanish and Catalan. Considering the form and frequency of the markers, English papers tend to prefer simple fixed markers and include fewer reformulators than Spanish and Catalan. On the contrary, formal Catalan and Spanish papers include more markers, some of which are complex and allow for some structural variability. As for use, reformulation markers establish dynamic relationships between portions of discourse which can be (...) identified in our corpus with expansion, reduction and permutation. The analysis of the corpus shows that English authors usually reformulate to add more information to the concept, whereas Catalan and Spanish authors reduce the contents or the implicatures of the previous formulation more frequently than English. (shrink)

This article deals with interactions between citizenship and political ecology by examining the ‘pulp mills conflict’ in Gualeguaychú, Argentina. The conflict burst in 2003 when the Uruguayan authorities announced the construction of a cellulose plant on the shore of the Uruguay River. The citizens of Gualeguaychú, a city right across the border, initiated a movement of protest that soon transcended the local dimension. I argue that this protest was a battle over sovereignty and an environmental conflict between different conceptions of (...) development and diverse views of the use of a common resource, the river. The notion of ecological citizenship formed in this process is assessed by examining how this concept was constructed by local stakeholders and by unveiling the motivations informing citizens’ engagement. (shrink)

While studies have investigated the moral issue associated with downsizing, little research attention has been directed to leaders’ behaviors that result in organizational decline and eventually lead them to make a downsizing decision. This study tests a sequence-based model to assess (1) the impact of leaders’ risk-aversion and self-centeredness on organizational decline and downsizing and (2) the impact of organizational and industry decline on organizational downsizing. We address a gap in the decline literature that has only implicitly alluded to leadership (...) characteristics as forerunners of decline. Data collected from 85 firms indicate that both leadership risk-aversion and self-centeredness are significantly related to organizational decline. This results in intensified organizational downsizing. However, industry decline affects downsizing more significantly. (shrink)

In this important study D. M. Armstrong offers a comprehensive system of analytical metaphysics that synthesises but also develops his thinking over the last twenty years. Armstrong's analysis, which acknowledges the 'logical atomism' of Russell and Wittgenstein, makes facts the fundamental constituents of the world, examining properties, relations, numbers, classes, possibility and necessity, dispositions, causes and laws. All these, it is argued, find their place and can be understood inside a scheme of states of affairs. This is a comprehensive and (...) rigorously this-worldly account of the most general features of reality, argued from a distinctive philosophical perspective, and it will appeal to a wide readership in analytical philosophy. (shrink)

Recently we presented a new special relativity theory for cosmology in which it was assumed that gravitation can be neglected and thus the bubble constant can be taken as a constant. The theory was presented in a six-dimensional hvperspace. three for the ordinary space and three for the velocities. In this paper we reduce our hyperspace to four dimensions by assuming that the three-dimensional space expands only radially, thus one is left with the three dimensions of ordinary space and one (...) dimension of the radial velocity. (shrink)

The relation between noise and disturbance is investigated within the general framework of Galois connections. Within this framework, we introduce the notion of leak of information, mathematically defined as one of the two closure maps arising from the observable-channel compatibility relation. We provide a physical interpretation for it, and we give a comparison with the analogous closure maps associated with joint measurability and simulability for quantum observables.

The legal risks associated with health research involving human subjects have been highlighted recently by a number of lawsuits launched against those involved in conducting and evaluating the research. Some of these cases have been fully addressed by the legal system, resulting in judgments that provide some guidance. The vast majority of cases have either settled before going to trial, or have not yet been addressed by the courts, leaving us to wonder what might have been and what guidance future (...) cases may bring. What is striking about the lawsuits that have been commenced is the broad range of individuals/institutions that are named as defendants and the broad range of allegations that are made. The research community should take this early experience as a warning and should reflect carefully on practices where research involving human subjects is concerned. (shrink)

This study of internal auditors and auditees, who engage in both financial and operational internal audits in Israel, extends theory and research on internal audits in organizational units. It develops and tests a model that examines the role of top management and internal auditors in facilitating learning from internal audits and driving perceived performance improvement. We argue that support from the top management for the internal audit as well as the auditor’s capacity facilitate learning from audits and help audited units (...) to improve ethicality, efficiency, and effectiveness in organizations. The results of time-lagged survey data provide general support for the hypothesized indirect relationships between auditor capacity, auditor–auditee relational exchanges, learning from audits, and three different perceived performance measures: ethical behavior, efficiency, and effectiveness. We discuss the implications for research on internal audits, proactive learning, ethics, and performance improvement of organizational units in the public sector. (shrink)

This book describes Carmeli's cosmological general and special relativity theory, along with Einstein's general and special relativity. These theories are discussed in the context of Moshe Carmeli's original research, in which velocity is introduced as an additional independent dimension. Four- and five-dimensional spaces are considered, and the five-dimensional braneworld theory is presented. The Tully-Fisher law is obtained directly from the theory, and thus it is found that there is no necessity to assume the existence of dark matter in (...) the halo of galaxies, nor in galaxy clusters.The book gives the derivation of the Lorentz transformation, which is used in both Einstein's special relativity and Carmeli's cosmological special relativity theory. The text also provides the mathematical theory of curved space?time geometry, which is necessary to describe both Einstein's general relativity and Carmeli's cosmological general relativity. A comparison between the dynamical and kinematic aspects of the expansion of the universe is made. Comparison is also made between the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker theory and the Carmeli theory. And neither is it necessary to assume the existence of dark matter to correctly describe the expansion of the cosmos. (shrink)

This paper reviews recent applications of the Einstein- Rosen type space-times to some problems of modern cosmology. An extensive overview of inhomogeneous universes filled with gravitational waves, classical fields, and relativistic fluids is given. The dynamics of primordial inhomogeneities, such as gravitational and matter waves and shocks, their interactions, and the global evolution of the models considered, is presented in detail.

Si Edith Stein est aujourd'hui connue pour son parcours exceptionnel d'intellectuelle allemande, née juive, devenue chrétienne et carmélite, morte à Auschwitz, ce livre entend combler un manque : celui d'une introduction générale à sa philosophie, et relever un double défi : rendre abordable une pensée réputée difficile, tout en montrant sa vigueur et son actualité, à travers l'approche renouvelée qu'elle propose de la notion d'âme.00Dans un XXe siècle où l'âme a été considérée comme une notion désuète, inappropriée même pour penser (...) l'humain, où la philosophie, les sciences humaines, et la théologie ont cru pouvoir s'en passer, Edith Stein montre au contraire que renoncer à l'âme, c'est s'empêcher de considérer certains aspects fondamentaux de la vie humaine.00À travers une démarche qui allie phénoménologie, métaphysique et mystique, et par ses talents descriptifs, elle nous rend attentifs à l'expérience vécue de l'âme, mais aussi au tragique d'une vie qui en est dénuée. Elle réveille ainsi en nous le désir de ce ± supplément d'âme?, qui donne à notre existence sa profondeur, sa vitalité, sa couleur et sa saveur... telle l'âme du violon qui, bien qu'à peine visible, assure l'unité de l'instrument et en déploie les résonances à tout le corps. (shrink)

We describe a particular class of pairs of quantum observables which are extremal in the convex set of all pairs of compatible quantum observables. The pairs in this class are constructed as uniformly noisy versions of two mutually unbiased bases with possibly different noise intensities affecting each basis. We show that not all pairs of MUB can be used in this construction, and we provide a criterion for determining those MUB that actually do yield extremal compatible observables. We apply our (...) criterion to all pairs of Fourier conjugate MUB, and we prove that in this case extremality is achieved if and only if the quantum system Hilbert space is odd-dimensional. Remarkably, this fact is no longer true for general non-Fourier conjugate MUB, as we show in an example. Therefore, the presence or the absence of extremality is a concrete geometric manifestation of MUB inequivalence, that already materializes by comparing sets of no more than two bases at a time. (shrink)

The article asserts that verses 124–130 in the second sūrah of the Qurʾān (al-Baqara/“the Cow”) alludes to the biblical precept (Genesis 17) but presents the practice as a custom that has no special virtues, and certainly not those the Jews ascribed to it. It then claims that circumcision is identified as one of Abraham’s trials, which are mentioned in the Qurʾān and thus part of early Islam, and that this idea did not arise in the Middle Ages.

We present a mathematically precise derivation of some generalized orthogonality relations for the discrete series representations of SU(1,1). These orthogonality relations are applied to derive tomographical reconstruction formulas. Their physical interpretation is also discussed.