40 CFR 160.120 - Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... system. (8) A description of the experimental design, including methods for the control of bias. (9... being conducted. (4) The proposed experimental start and termination dates. (5) Justification for...

[How are the hypothesis and the objectives established in a Radiology research project?].

PubMed

Alústiza Echeverría, J M; Salvador Pardo, E; Castiella Eguzkiza, A

2012-01-01

Research is a systematic process designed to answer a question. This is the starting point of the whole project and specifically formulates a problem observed in the analysis of the reality. The answer to this attempts to clarify an uncertainty in our knowledge. The conceptual hypothesis is the theoretical answer to the question set out. The operational hypothesis is the particular form that which sets out to demonstrate the conceptual hypothesis. The objectives are the justification for conducting the research. They help to define what it attempts to obtain, and what answers it will give to the formulated questions. It must show a clear and consistent relationship with the description of the problem and, specifically, with the questions and/or hypothesis that are to be resolved. Copyright © 2011 SERAM. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Escalation of Commitment in the Surgical ICU.

PubMed

Braxton, Carla C; Robinson, Celia N; Awad, Samir S

2017-04-01

Escalation of commitment is a business term that describes the continued investment of resources into a project even after there is objective evidence of the project's impending failure. Escalation of commitment may be a contributor to high healthcare costs associated with critically ill patients as it has been shown that, despite almost certain futility, most ICU costs are incurred in the last week of life. Our objective was to determine if escalation of commitment occurs in healthcare settings, specifically in the surgical ICU. We hypothesize that factors previously identified in business and organizational psychology literature including self-justification, accountability, sunk costs, and cognitive dissonance result in escalation of commitment behavior in the surgical ICU setting resulting in increased utilization of resources and cost. A descriptive case study that illustrates common ICU narratives in which escalation of commitment can occur. In addition, we describe factors that are thought to contribute to escalation of commitment behaviors. Escalation of commitment behavior was observed with self-justification, accountability, and cognitive dissonance accounting for the majority of the behavior. Unlike in business decisions, sunk costs was not as evident. In addition, modulating factors such as personality, individual experience, culture, and gender were identified as contributors to escalation of commitment. Escalation of commitment occurs in the surgical ICU, resulting in significant expenditure of resources despite a predicted and often known poor outcome. Recognition of this phenomenon may lead to actions aimed at more rational decision making and may contribute to lowering healthcare costs. Investigation of objective measures that can help aid decision making in the surgical ICU is warranted.

45 CFR 154.215 - Submission of rate filing justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...) Historical and projected claims experience. (2) Trend projections related to utilization, and service or unit... increases reported in the rate increase summary. (2) Brief description of the overall experience of the...

45 CFR 154.215 - Submission of rate filing justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...) Historical and projected claims experience. (2) Trend projections related to utilization, and service or unit... increases reported in the rate increase summary. (2) Brief description of the overall experience of the...

Complementary and alternative medicine: the challenges of ethical justification. A philosophical analysis and evaluation of ethical reasons for the offer, use and promotion of complementary and alternative medicine.

PubMed

Mertz, Marcel

2007-09-01

With the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) increasing in western societies, questions of the ethical justification of these alternative health care approaches and practices have to be addressed. In order to evaluate philosophical reasoning on this subject, it is of paramount importance to identify and analyse possible arguments for the ethical justification of CAM considering contemporary biomedical ethics as well as more fundamental philosophical aspects. Moreover, it is vital to provide adequate analytical instruments for this task, such as separating 'CAM as belief system' and 'CAM as practice'. Findings show that beneficence and non-maleficence are central issues for an ethical justification of CAM as practice, while freedom of thought and religion are central to CAM as belief system. Many justification strategies have limitations and qualifications that have to be taken into account. Singularly descriptive premises in an argument often prove to be more problematic than universal ethical principles. Thus, non-ethical issues related to a general philosophical underpinning--e.g. epistemology, semantics, and ontology--are highly relevant for determining a justification strategy, especially when strong metaphysical assumptions are involved. Even if some values are shared with traditional biomedicine, axiological differences have to be considered as well. Further research should be done about specific CAM positions. These could be combined with applied qualitative social research methods.

Who is entitled to double effect?

PubMed

Boyle, J

1991-10-01

The doctrine of double effect continues to be an important tool in bioethical casuistry. Its role within the Catholic moral tradition continues, and there is considerable interest in it by contemporary moral philosophers. But problems of justification and correct application remain. I argue that if the traditional Catholic conviction that there are exceptionless norms prohibiting inflicting some kinds of harms on people is correct, then double effect is justified and necessary. The objection that double effect is superfluous is a rejection of that normative conviction, not a refutation of double effect itself. This justification suggests the correct way of applying double effect to controversial cases. But versions of double effect which dispense with the absolutism of the Catholic tradition lack justification and fall to the objection that double effect is an unnecessary complication.

The challenge of recreation planning: methodology and factors to consider

Treesearch

Ronald B. Uleck

1971-01-01

The proposed methodology of planning is a description, explanation, and justification of the methods or techniques that a planner should use in preparing outdoor recreation development plans. The sequence of steps required is described

Ultimate justification: Wittgenstein and medical ethics.

PubMed

Hughes, J

1995-02-01

Decisions must be justified. In medical ethics various grounds are given to justify decisions, but ultimate justification seems illusory and little considered. The philosopher Wittgenstein discusses the problem of ultimate justification in the context of general philosophy. His comments, nevertheless, are pertinent to ethics. From a discussion of Wittgensteinian notions, such as 'bedrock', the idea that 'ultimate' justification is grounded in human nature as such is derived. This discussion is relevant to medical ethics in at least five ways: it shows generally what type of certainty there is in practical ethics; it seems to imply some objective foundation to our ethical judgements; it squares with our experience of making ethical decisions; it shows something of the nature of moral arguments; and, finally, it has implications for teaching medicine and ethics.

Ultimate justification: Wittgenstein and medical ethics.

PubMed Central

Hughes, J

1995-01-01

Decisions must be justified. In medical ethics various grounds are given to justify decisions, but ultimate justification seems illusory and little considered. The philosopher Wittgenstein discusses the problem of ultimate justification in the context of general philosophy. His comments, nevertheless, are pertinent to ethics. From a discussion of Wittgensteinian notions, such as 'bedrock', the idea that 'ultimate' justification is grounded in human nature as such is derived. This discussion is relevant to medical ethics in at least five ways: it shows generally what type of certainty there is in practical ethics; it seems to imply some objective foundation to our ethical judgements; it squares with our experience of making ethical decisions; it shows something of the nature of moral arguments; and, finally, it has implications for teaching medicine and ethics. PMID:7776343

A thematic analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of manufacturers' submissions to the NICE Single Technology Assessment (STA) process.

PubMed

Carroll, Christopher; Kaltenthaler, Eva; FitzGerald, Patrick; Boland, Angela; Dickson, Rumona

2011-10-01

The NICE Single Technology Appraisal (STA) process in the UK has been underway for five years. Evidence Review Groups (ERGs) critically appraise submissions from manufacturers on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new technologies. This study analysed the ERGs' assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of 30 manufacturers' submissions to the STA process. Thematic analysis was performed on the textual descriptions of the strengths and weakness of manufacturer submissions, as outlined by the ERGs in their reports. Various themes emerged from the data. These themes related to the processes applied in the submissions; the content of the submission (e.g. the amount and quality of evidence); the reporting of the submissions' review and analysis processes; the reliability and validity of the submissions' findings; and how far the submission had satisfied the STA process objectives. STA submissions could be improved if attention were paid to transparency in the reporting, conduct and justification of review and modelling processes and analyses, as well as greater robustness in the choice of data and closer adherence to the scope or decision problem. Where this adherence is not possible, more detailed justification of the choice of evidence or data is required. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Important issues in the justification of a control treatment in paediatric drug trials.

PubMed

Kelly, Lauren E; Davies, Elin Haf; Saint-Raymond, Agnes; Tomasi, Paolo; Offringa, Martin

2016-10-01

The value of comparative effectiveness trials in informing clinical and policy decisions depends heavily on the choice of control arm (comparator). Our objective is to identify challenges in comparator reasoning and to determine justification criteria for selecting a control arm in paediatric clinical trials. A literature search was completed to identify existing sources of guidance on comparator selection. Subsequently, we reviewed a randomly selected sample of comparators selected for paediatric investigation plans (PIPs) adopted by the Paediatric Committee of the European Medicines Agency in 2013. We gathered descriptive information and evaluated their review process to identify challenges and compromises between regulators and sponsors with regard to the selection of the comparator. A tool to help investigators justify the selection of active controls and placebo arms was developed using the existing literature and empirical data. Justifying comparator selection was a challenge in 28% of PIPs. The following challenging paediatric issues in the decision-making process were identified: use of off-label medications as comparators, ethical and safe use of placebo, duration of placebo use, an undefined optimal dosing strategy, lack of age-appropriate safety and efficacy data, and drug dosing not supported by extrapolation of safety/efficacy evidence from other populations. In order to generate trials that will inform clinical decision-making and support marketing authorisations, researchers must systemically and transparently justify their selection of the comparator arm for their study. This report highlights key areas for justification in the choice of comparator in paediatric clinical trials. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Curriculum Development for Life Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morse, Betty R.; And Others

Developed by several colleges in California, this guide contains a curriculum for a course in Life Management (usually taught in the home economics area). The introductory sections of the guide contain the following information: recommendations from the pilot test teachers, rationale, course description, goals, justification for including the…

South Florida freight advanced traveler information system : architecture and implementation as built documentation report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-05-01

The primary purpose of the As Built Documentation is to provide a description of any modifications made to the original architecture along with justification as to why the architecture was changed. In addition, this documentation provides the followi...

48 CFR 6.303-2 - Content.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... full and open competition, such as: (i) Explanation of why technical data packages, specifications... COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.303-2 Content. (a) Each justification shall... than full and open competition.” (2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved. (3) A...

Department of the Navy Justification of Estimates FY 1991 Budget Estimates Submitted to Congress January 1990: Military Construction & Family Housing Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

76,951,000 shall be available for study , planning, design, architect and engineer services, as authorized by law, unless the Secretary of Defense...FROM OTHER APPROPRIATIONS - (NCN-ADD) ( 0) 10. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION This is a public private venture project using 10 U.S.C. 2809...FROM OTHER APPROPRIATIONS - - (NDN-ADD) ( 0) 10. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION This is a public/private venture project using 10 U.S.C. 2809

[Nurses' knowledge about Nursing Care Systematization: from theory to practice].

PubMed

Silva, Elisama Gomes Correia; de Oliveira, Viviane Carla; Neves, Giselda Bezerra Correia; Guimarães, Tânia Maria Rocha

2011-12-01

The objective of this study is to analyze the knowledge that nurses from a large hospital in Recife, Pernambuco, have about Nursing Care Systematization (NCS). This is a descriptive, exploratory, quantitative study. The study population consisted of 107 clinical nurses, with a sample of 73 (68%). Data collection was performed in June 2008, using a semi-structured questionnaire that was filled out by the subjects. We found that 50 (69%) nurses had no knowledge about NCS, especially about nursing diagnoses. We identified the absence of forms in most hospitalization units. The nurses gave several justifications for their not working with NCS, including work overload and the scarcity of forms. We concluded that there is a need for more incentives by the institution and through policies, so as to permit nurses a greater autonomy in their practice.

42 CFR 23.4 - How must an entity apply for assignment?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... applicant's overall organizational structure; (2) A justification of the request for the assignment of personnel based upon the needs of the health manpower shortage area; (3) A description of the applicant's..., equipment and supplies; (4) A list of the proposed fees and discounted fees to be charged for the provision...

Young Chinese Children's Justifications of Plants as Living Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tao, Ying

2016-01-01

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to explore how Chinese preschool children categorize plants into either living or nonliving things. The research was framed within the interpretive paradigm and was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Participants were children 4 to 6 years of age from 3 kindergartens in Jiangsu…

Tokunaga self-similarity arises naturally from time invariance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovchegov, Yevgeniy; Zaliapin, Ilya

2018-04-01

The Tokunaga condition is an algebraic rule that provides a detailed description of the branching structure in a self-similar tree. Despite a solid empirical validation and practical convenience, the Tokunaga condition lacks a theoretical justification. Such a justification is suggested in this work. We define a geometric branching process G (s ) that generates self-similar rooted trees. The main result establishes the equivalence between the invariance of G (s ) with respect to a time shift and a one-parametric version of the Tokunaga condition. In the parameter region where the process satisfies the Tokunaga condition (and hence is time invariant), G (s ) enjoys many of the symmetries observed in a critical binary Galton-Watson branching process and reproduces the latter for a particular parameter value.

Investigation of Prognostic Ability of Novel Imaging Markers for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-01

testing None of the above Psychological / Sociological ID: VIEW4514342955C00Name: Type of Research View: Lay Summary 1 * Provide a summary of the...best describe the current clinical status of the patient and which markers best predict a patient’s outcome status. ID: VIEW475E142D4E000Name: Lay ... Summary View: Justification, Objective, & Research Design 1 * Provide context, justification, and scientific/scholarly rationale for the study: Currently

Non-inferiority trials: are they inferior? A systematic review of reporting in major medical journals

PubMed Central

Morris, Tim P; Fielding, Katherine; Carpenter, James R; Phillips, Patrick P J

2016-01-01

Objective To assess the adequacy of reporting of non-inferiority trials alongside the consistency and utility of current recommended analyses and guidelines. Design Review of randomised clinical trials that used a non-inferiority design published between January 2010 and May 2015 in medical journals that had an impact factor >10 (JAMA Internal Medicine, Archives Internal Medicine, PLOS Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine). Data sources Ovid (MEDLINE). Methods We searched for non-inferiority trials and assessed the following: choice of non-inferiority margin and justification of margin; power and significance level for sample size; patient population used and how this was defined; any missing data methods used and assumptions declared and any sensitivity analyses used. Results A total of 168 trial publications were included. Most trials concluded non-inferiority (132; 79%). The non-inferiority margin was reported for 98% (164), but less than half reported any justification for the margin (77; 46%). While most chose two different analyses (91; 54%) the most common being intention-to-treat (ITT) or modified ITT and per-protocol, a large number of articles only chose to conduct and report one analysis (65; 39%), most commonly the ITT analysis. There was lack of clarity or inconsistency between the type I error rate and corresponding CIs for 73 (43%) articles. Missing data were rarely considered with (99; 59%) not declaring whether imputation techniques were used. Conclusions Reporting and conduct of non-inferiority trials is inconsistent and does not follow the recommendations in available statistical guidelines, which are not wholly consistent themselves. Authors should clearly describe the methods used and provide clear descriptions of and justifications for their design and primary analysis. Failure to do this risks misleading conclusions being drawn, with consequent effects on clinical practice. PMID:27855102

Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 571: Area 9 Yucca Flat Plutonium Dispersion Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matthews, Patrick

2014-08-01

The purpose of this CADD/CR is to provide documentation and justification that no further corrective action is needed for the closure of CAU 571 based on the implementation of corrective actions. This includes a description of investigation activities, an evaluation of the data, and a description of corrective actions that were performed. The CAIP provides information relating to the scope and planning of the investigation. Therefore, that information will not be repeated in this document.

Who Attends Summer Credit Recovery Classes, and Who Benefits from Doing So?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pareja, Amber Stitziel; Stachel, Suzanne

2013-01-01

This current paper uses data collected as part of an efficacy trial funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Research (NCER) (See Symposium Justification and Paper #1 for a more complete description of the focus of the broader study). Since participation in the study was voluntary, students…

Cryogenic Orbital Nitrogen Experiment (CONE): Phase A/B design study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, William J.; Weiner, Stephen P.; Beekman, Douglas H.

1991-01-01

Subcritical cryogenic fluid management (CFM) has long been recognized as an enabling technology for future space missions. Subcritical liquid storage and supply are two of the five CFM technology areas that need to be studied in the low gravity on-orbit environment. The Cryogenic Orbital Nitrogen Experiment (CONE) is a LN2 cryogenic storage and supply system demonstration placed in orbit by the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) Orbiter and operated as an in-bay payload. In-space demonstration of CFM using LN2 with a few well defined areas of focus would provide the confidence level required to implement subcritical cryogen use and is the first step towards the more far reaching issue of cryogen transfer and tankage resupply. A conceptual approach for CONE was developed and an overview of the program is described including the following: (1) a description of the background and scope of the technology objectives; (2) a description of the payload design and operation; and (3) the justification for CONE relating to potential near term benefits and risk mitigation for future systems. Data and criteria is provided to correlate in-space performance with analytical and numerical modeling of CFM systems.

Men's response to their wives' participation in microfinance: perpetration and justification of intimate partner violence in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Murshid, N S

2016-12-01

The present study adds to extant literature on the association between microfinance participation and intimate partner violence (IPV) by assessing a national sample of men married to microfinance participants. The key objective was to assess whether there was a positive association between wives' microfinance participation and men's perpetration and justification of IPV in urban areas of Bangladesh. This study is based on a population-based secondary data analysis. In this cross-sectional study, data from a national sample of men from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were analysed using logistic regression analyses. IPV perpetration was measured using a modified Conflict Tactics Scale and justification of IPV was measured based on 'justification of wife beating' statements with which men agreed or disagreed. Men married to microfinance participants were not significantly different from men married to non-participants of microfinance in terms of IPV perpetration in both urban and rural areas. However, the interaction effect of wives' microfinance participation and urban living on men's justification of IPV revealed a significant and positive beta coefficient. Specifically, wives' participation in microfinance was positively associated with men's justification of IPV in urban areas (β = 0.51, P < 0.05). Microfinance organizations in urban areas should bundle microfinancial services with IPV screening and intervention geared toward men and women. Copyright © 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Importance and Justifications for Astronomy Teaching: A Look at the Researches on the Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soler, D. R.; Leite, C.

2013-08-01

Many researchers in Astronomy Teaching often refer to Astronomy as an object of great curiosity. In this paper, we will present a survey concerning the importance and justifications researchers have given to Astronomy Teaching. In a universe of 180 papers about Astronomy Teaching, found in periodicals from the areas of Science, Physics and Astronomy Teaching in the last decade, in 29 of them, discussions about the importance or justifications to Astronomy Teaching were found. As the main result of this work, all the elements related to the importance and the justification for the Astronomy Teaching were organized and grouped in four categories of analysis, which indicate the nature of the justifications presented by the authors: Awakening of feelings and curiosities; Socio-historic-cultural relevance; World view and awareness expansion and Interdisciplinarity. In each category, related elements were grouped. By doing so, we could produce an articulation among the elements taken from different papers, matching them in a way that enabled us to obtain new inferences not individually present in any of the papers. Furthermore, when all the research was analyzed, it was also revealed that there were no papers that aimed at the investigation of the importance and justifications for Astronomy Teaching. It was still noticed that, in general, when researchers invoke the interdisciplinary character of Astronomy, they make it superficially. Since the researches do not show how they get the idea presented to the justifications for teaching Astronomy, some questions could have surfaced, such as: would it be possible to exist a kind of “common sense” for teaching and disseminating Astronomy that would make researchers understand Astronomy as a differential science? Would the "born interest" in Astronomy - pointed by some people - be something real? Does Astronomy really differ from other sciences?

Predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students using an augmented Theory of Planned Behavior

PubMed Central

Rajah-Kanagasabai, Camilla J.; Roberts, Lynne D.

2015-01-01

This study examined the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior model, augmented by descriptive norms and justifications, for predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students. A convenience sample of 205 research active Western Australian university students (47 male, 158 female, ages 18–53 years, M = 22, SD = 4.78) completed an online survey. There was a low level of engagement in research misconduct, with approximately one in seven students reporting data fabrication and one in eight data falsification. Path analysis and model testing in LISREL supported a parsimonious two step mediation model, providing good fit to the data. After controlling for social desirability, the effect of attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms and perceived behavioral control on student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices was mediated by justifications and then intention. This revised augmented model accounted for a substantial 40.8% of the variance in student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices, demonstrating its predictive utility. The model can be used to target interventions aimed at reducing student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices. PMID:25983709

Predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students using an augmented Theory of Planned Behavior.

PubMed

Rajah-Kanagasabai, Camilla J; Roberts, Lynne D

2015-01-01

This study examined the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior model, augmented by descriptive norms and justifications, for predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students. A convenience sample of 205 research active Western Australian university students (47 male, 158 female, ages 18-53 years, M = 22, SD = 4.78) completed an online survey. There was a low level of engagement in research misconduct, with approximately one in seven students reporting data fabrication and one in eight data falsification. Path analysis and model testing in LISREL supported a parsimonious two step mediation model, providing good fit to the data. After controlling for social desirability, the effect of attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms and perceived behavioral control on student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices was mediated by justifications and then intention. This revised augmented model accounted for a substantial 40.8% of the variance in student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices, demonstrating its predictive utility. The model can be used to target interventions aimed at reducing student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices.

Description Of Scoliotic Deformity Pattern By Harmonic Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drerup, Burkhard; Hierholzer, Eberhard

1989-04-01

Frontal radiographs of scoliotic deformity of the spine reveal a characteristic pattern of lateral deviation, lateral tilt and axial rotation of vertebrae. In order to study interrelations between deformation parameters 478 radiographs of idiopathic scolioses, 23 of scolioses after Wilms-tumor treatment and 18 of scolioses following poliomyelitis were digitized. From these the curves of lateral deviation, tilt and rotation are calculated and fitted by Fourier series. By restriction to the first harmonic, analysis reduces to the analysis of a single phase and amplitude for each curve. Justification of this simplification will be discussed. Results provide a general geometric description of scoliotic deformity.

Rocket engine numerical simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidian, Ken

1993-01-01

The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: a rocket engine numerical simulator (RENS) definition; objectives; justification; approach; potential applications; potential users; RENS work flowchart; RENS prototype; and conclusion.

Justification of diagnostic medical exposures: some practical issues. Report of an International Atomic Energy Agency Consultation

PubMed Central

Malone, J; Guleria, R; Craven, C; Horton, P; Järvinen, H; Mayo, J; O’reilly, G; Picano, E; Remedios, D; Le Heron, J; Rehani, M; Holmberg, O; Czarwinski, R

2012-01-01

Objectives The Radiation Protection of Patients Unit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about the effectiveness of justification of diagnostic medical exposures. Recent published work and the report of an initial IAEA consultation in the area gave grounds for such concerns. There is a significant level of inappropriate usage, and, in some cases, a poor level of awareness of dose and risk among some key groups involved. This article aims to address this. Methods The IAEA convened a second group of experts in November 2008 to review practical and achievable actions that might lead to more effective justification. Results This report summarises the matters that this group considered and the outcome of their deliberations. There is a need for improved communication, both within professions and between professionals on one hand, and between professionals and the patients/public on the other. Coupled with this, the issue of consent to imaging procedures was revisited. The need for good evidence-based referral guidelines or criteria of acceptability was emphasised, as was the need for their global adaptation and dissemination. Conclusion Clinical audit was regarded as a key tool in ensuring that justification becomes an effective, transparent and accountable part of normal radiological practice. In summary, justification would be facilitated by the “3 As”: awareness, appropriateness and audit. PMID:21343316

Rocket engine numerical simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidian, Ken

1993-12-01

The topics are presented in view graph form and include the following: a definition of the rocket engine numerical simulator (RENS); objectives; justification; approach; potential applications; potential users; RENS work flowchart; RENS prototype; and conclusions.

Rocket engine numerical simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidian, Ken

1993-01-01

The topics are presented in view graph form and include the following: a definition of the rocket engine numerical simulator (RENS); objectives; justification; approach; potential applications; potential users; RENS work flowchart; RENS prototype; and conclusions.

CVISN business case (commercial vehicle information systems and networks)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-10-15

The objective was to evaluate economic justifications and institutional issues affecting motor carriers and State transportation agencies regarding the deployment of CVISN technologies. CVISN (Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks) incl...

The Physics of Extrasolar Gaseous Planets : from Theory to Observable Signatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chabrier, G.; Allard, F.; Baraffe, I.; Barman, T.; Hauschildt, P. H.

2004-12-01

We review our present understanding of the physical properties of substellar objects, brown dwarfs and irradiated or non-irradiated gaseous exoplanets. This includes a description of their internal properties, mechanical structure and heat content, their atmospheric properties, thermal profile and emergent spectrum, and their evolution, in particular as irradiated companions of a close parent star. The general theory can be used to make predictions in term of detectability for the future observational projects. Special attention is devoted to the evolution of the two presently detected transit planets, HD 209458b and OGLE-TR-56B. For this latter, we present a consistent evolution for its recently revised mass and show that we reproduce the observed radius within its error bars. We briefly discuss differences between brown dwarfs and gaseous planets, both in terms of mass function and formation process. We outline several arguments to show that the minimum mass for deuterium burning, recently adopted officially as the limit to distinguish the two types of objects, is unlikely to play any specific role in star formation, so that such a limit is of purely semantic nature and is not supported by a physical justification.

Maximum entropy production, carbon assimilation, and the spatial organization of vegetation in river basins

PubMed Central

del Jesus, Manuel; Foti, Romano; Rinaldo, Andrea; Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio

2012-01-01

The spatial organization of functional vegetation types in river basins is a major determinant of their runoff production, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The optimization of different objective functions has been suggested to control the adaptive behavior of plants and ecosystems, often without a compelling justification. Maximum entropy production (MEP), rooted in thermodynamics principles, provides a tool to justify the choice of the objective function controlling vegetation organization. The application of MEP at the ecosystem scale results in maximum productivity (i.e., maximum canopy photosynthesis) as the thermodynamic limit toward which the organization of vegetation appears to evolve. Maximum productivity, which incorporates complex hydrologic feedbacks, allows us to reproduce the spatial macroscopic organization of functional types of vegetation in a thoroughly monitored river basin, without the need for a reductionist description of the underlying microscopic dynamics. The methodology incorporates the stochastic characteristics of precipitation and the associated soil moisture on a spatially disaggregated framework. Our results suggest that the spatial organization of functional vegetation types in river basins naturally evolves toward configurations corresponding to dynamically accessible local maxima of the maximum productivity of the ecosystem. PMID:23213227

Palaeo-sea-level and palaeo-ice-sheet databases: problems, strategies, and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Düsterhus, André; Rovere, Alessio; Carlson, Anders E.; Horton, Benjamin P.; Klemann, Volker; Tarasov, Lev; Barlow, Natasha L. M.; Bradwell, Tom; Clark, Jorie; Dutton, Andrea; Gehrels, W. Roland; Hibbert, Fiona D.; Hijma, Marc P.; Khan, Nicole; Kopp, Robert E.; Sivan, Dorit; Törnqvist, Torbjörn E.

2016-04-01

Sea-level and ice-sheet databases have driven numerous advances in understanding the Earth system. We describe the challenges and offer best strategies that can be adopted to build self-consistent and standardised databases of geological and geochemical information used to archive palaeo-sea-levels and palaeo-ice-sheets. There are three phases in the development of a database: (i) measurement, (ii) interpretation, and (iii) database creation. Measurement should include the objective description of the position and age of a sample, description of associated geological features, and quantification of uncertainties. Interpretation of the sample may have a subjective component, but it should always include uncertainties and alternative or contrasting interpretations, with any exclusion of existing interpretations requiring a full justification. During the creation of a database, an approach based on accessibility, transparency, trust, availability, continuity, completeness, and communication of content (ATTAC3) must be adopted. It is essential to consider the community that creates and benefits from a database. We conclude that funding agencies should not only consider the creation of original data in specific research-question-oriented projects, but also include the possibility of using part of the funding for IT-related and database creation tasks, which are essential to guarantee accessibility and maintenance of the collected data.

Should the Gross Motor Function Classification System be used for children who do not have cerebral palsy?

PubMed

Towns, Megan; Rosenbaum, Peter; Palisano, Robert; Wright, F Virginia

2018-02-01

This literature review addressed four questions. (1) In which populations other than cerebral palsy (CP) has the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) been applied? (2) In what types of study, and why was it used? (3) How was it modified to facilitate these applications? (4) What justifications and evidence of psychometric adequacy were used to support its application? A search of PubMed, MEDLINE, and Embase databases (January 1997 to April 2017) using the terms: 'GMFCS' OR 'Gross Motor Function Classification System' yielded 2499 articles. 118 met inclusion criteria and reported children/adults with 133 health conditions/clinical descriptions other than CP. Three broad GMFCS applications were observed: as a categorization tool, independent variable, or outcome measure. While the GMFCS is widely used for children with health conditions/clinical description other than CP, researchers rarely provided adequate justification for these uses. We offer recommendations for development/validation of other condition-specific classification systems and discuss the potential need for a generic gross motor function classification system. The Gross Motor Function Classification System should not be used outside cerebral palsy or as an outcome measure. The authors provide recommendations for development and validation of condition-specific or generic classification systems. © 2017 Mac Keith Press.

[Teaching performance assessment in Public Health employing three different strategies].

PubMed

Martínez-González, Adrián; Moreno-Altamirano, Laura; Ponce-Rosas, Efrén Raúl; Martínez-Franco, Adrián Israel; Urrutia-Aguilar, María Esther

2011-01-01

The educational system depends upon the quality and performance of their faculty and should therefore be process of continuous improvement. To assess the teaching performance of the Public Health professors, at the Faculty of Medicine, UNAM through three strategies. Justification study. The evaluation was conducted under a mediational model through three strategies: students' opinion assessment, self-assessment and students' academic achievement. We applied descriptive statistics, Student t test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Twenty professors were evaluated from the Public Health department, representing 57% of all them who teach the subject. The professor's performance was highly valued self-assessment compared with assessment of student opinion, was confirmed by statistical analysis the difference was significant. The difference amongst the three evaluation strategies became more evident between self-assessment and the scores obtained by students in their academic achievement. The integration of these three strategies offers a more complete view of the teacher's performance quality. Academic achievement appears to be a more objective strategy for teaching performance assessment than students' opinion and self-assessment.

Observing Planetary Rings and Small Satellites with the James Webb Space Telescope: Science Justification and Observation Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tiscareno, Matthew S.; Showalter, Mark R.; French, Richard G.; Burns, Joseph A.; Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; de Pater, Imke; Hamilton, Douglas P.; Hedman, Matthew M.; Nicholson, Philip D.; Tamayo, Daniel;

Objections still fail: a response to Faria.

PubMed

Arnason, Gardar

2018-05-01

In her reply to my critical assessment of objections to the Weatherall report's justification of non-human primate (NHP) research, Catia Faria focuses on three objections which she entitles 'the disanalogy', 'the utilitarian calculus' and 'species overlap'. Faria finds my assessment unconvincing, butI argue that the objections still fail. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The Exploration Ethic: Its Historical-Intellectual Basis. Outlook for Space (1980 - 2000)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Priscoli, J. D.; Marney, M.

1975-01-01

Principle components of the exploration ethic are discussed. Attempts were made to justify both the historical and intellectual aspects of the concept. It was noted that intellectual justification is strongly grounded on: (1) the complementarity of objective and normative inquiry as to method, and (2) interdisciplinary alliance of ethics of adaptive systems with contemporary decision sciences, as a theoretical basis. Historical exploration justification was associated with: (1) periods of civilization transition, (2) changes in the process of exploration which cause change in types of rationals used, sponsors involved, and explorers interest, and (3) the incorrectness of proven prior cost/benefit calculations.

Amended FY 1988/1989 Biennial Budget Justification of Estimates Submitted to Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-02-01

will be installed in order to provide privacy for network data traffic. - Distributed systems technology will continue to be explored, including...techniques and geophysical and satellite data bases to make relevant information rapidly available to the ".fi /./ P ... . C / AMENDED FY 1988/1989...semantic model of available functions and data , %. AMENDED FV 1988/1989 BIENNIAL BUDGET RDT&E DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY Program Element: fQ1Q0j, Title

Models of Anisotropic Creep in Integral Wing Panel Forming Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oleinikov, A. I.; Oleinikov, A. A.

2016-08-01

For a sufficiently wide range of stresses the titanic and aluminummagnesium alloys, as a rule, strained differently in the process of creep under tension and compression along a fixed direction. There are suggested constitutive relations for the description of the steady-state creep of transversely isotropic materials with different tension and compression characteristics. Experimental justification is given to the proposed constitutive equations. Modeling of forming of wing panels of the aircraft are considered.

The Effects of Familism and Cultural Justification on the Mental and Physical Health of Family Caregivers

PubMed Central

Knight, Bob G.

2011-01-01

Objectives. We aimed to examine the effects of 2 factors of familism (Familial Obligations and Expected Support from the Family) and Cultural Justification on caregivers’ mental and physical health as mediated by coping style. Methods. We used a probability sample of 95 African American and 65 White family caregivers for people with dementia to test hypotheses based on the updated sociocultural stress and coping model using path analysis. Main outcome measures included depressive symptomatology, various psychological symptoms, and subjective physical health. Results. Both Familial Obligations and Cultural Justification had an indirect effect on poor mental health and subjective physical health via avoidant coping. Expected Support from the Family had no effect on caregivers’ health outcomes. Discussion. These findings suggest that feelings of obligation may be accounting for a significant proportion of the negative effects of familism on caregivers’ mental and subjective physical health. Expectations of familial social support may be relatively inconsequential in this process. PMID:20797972

Wide reflective equilibrium as a method of justification in bioethics.

PubMed

Nichols, Peter

2012-10-01

Carson Strong has recently argued that wide reflective equilibrium (WRE) is an unacceptable method of justification in bioethics. In its place, Strong recommends a methodology in which certain foundational moral judgments play a central role in the justification of moral beliefs, and coherence plays a limited justificatory role in that the rest of our judgments are made to cohere with these foundational judgments. In this paper, I argue that Strong's chief criticisms of WRE are unsuccessful and that his proposed alternative is in fact just another version of WRE. In the course of doing so, I specify which theses are central to WRE and which are not, and thus, provide a response to an additional objection, advanced by Peter Singer, that WRE is vacuous. I conclude by arguing that there may be better prospects for advancing the debate regarding methodology in bioethics if we focus on restricted epistemic and methodological theses rather than broad approaches, such as WRE, that come in many different varieties.

Economic Analysis and Business Case for Motor Carrier Industry Support of CVISN (Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-10-02

The objective was to evaluate economic justifications for motor carriers to participate in CVISN deployment. CVISN (Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks) includes: interstate credentials administration (registration and permitting), el...

Department of the Air Force Supporting Data for FY 1991 Budget Estimates Submitted to Congress January 1990. Descriptive Summaries, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-16

Redondo Beach. CA. Civilian subcontractors are ITEK (cameras). Lexington. MA; Contraves Georz (telescopes), Pittsburgh. PA; and Kentron (operations and...Improvements include a higher maximum takeoff weight , improved air-to-air gun sight algorithms, digital flight controls, and improved pilot interface...ambient propagation loss , significant penetration of sea water, and good performance in a nuclear environment. C. (U) JUSTIFICATION FOR PROJECTS LESS

Department of the Air Force Supporting Data for Fiscal Year 1992/1993 Budget Estimates Submitted to Congress February 1991: Descriptive Summaries, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-02-01

of selected heat shield materials in a plasma arc. - (U) Identify technology requirements for rapid characterization of the geophysical parameters of...NY; Analytical Systems Engineering Corporation, Burlington, MA; Earth Technology Corporation, Seattle, WA; and the Electromagnetic Compatibility...and 1800 nautical miles . The radar system will provide surveillance coverage of the east and west approaches to North America. C. (U) JUSTIFICATION

Is the Non-rivalrousness of Intellectual Objects a Problem for the Moral Justification of Economic Rights to Intellectual Property?

PubMed

Varelius, Jukka

2015-08-01

It is often argued that the fact that intellectual objects-objects like ideas, inventions, concepts, and melodies-can be used by several people simultaneously makes intellectual property rights impossible or particularly difficult to morally justify. In this article, I assess the line of criticism of intellectual ownership in connection with a central category of intellectual property rights, economic rights to intellectual property. I maintain that it is unconvincing.

A Self-Help Inservice-Guide for the Improvement of Teaching. A North Dakota Adaptation of the Utah Skills Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Dakota Univ., Grand Forks. Coll. of Education.

The purpose of this manual is to identify teaching skills and their justification and objectives in a learning situation and to suggest a few of a wide selection of professional activities and services which meet these objectives and satisfy learner needs. The manual is designed for inservice teacher education activities or supervisory programs.…

A problem-oriented approach to journal selection for hospital libraries.

PubMed Central

Delman, B S

1982-01-01

This paper describes a problem-oriented approach to journal selection (PAJS), including general methodology, theoretical terms, and a brief description of results when the system was applied in three different hospitals. The PAJS system relates the objective information which the MEDLARS data base offers about the universe of biomedical literature to objective, problem-oriented information supplied by the hospital's medical records. The results were manipulated quantitatively to determine (1) the relevance of various journals to each of the hospital's defined significant information problems and (2) the overall utility of each journal to the institution as a whole. The utility information was plotted on a graph to identify the collection of journal titles which would be most useful to the given hospital. Attempts made to verify certain aspects of the whole process are also described. The results suggest that the methodology is generally able to provide an effective library response. The system optimizes resources vis-a-vis information and can be used for both budget allocation and justification. It offers an algorithm to which operations researchers can apply any one of a variety of mathematical programming methods. Although originally intended for librarians in the community hospital environment, the PAJS system is generalizable and has application potential in a variety of special library settings. PMID:6758893

Exploring how nurses assess, monitor and manage acute pain for adult critically ill patients in the emergency department: protocol for a mixed methods study.

PubMed

Varndell, Wayne; Fry, Margaret; Elliott, Doug

2017-08-01

Many critically ill patients experience moderate to severe acute pain that is frequently undetected and/or undertreated. Acute pain in this patient cohort not only derives from their injury and/or illness, but also as a consequence of delivering care whilst stabilising the patient. Emergency nurses are increasingly responsible for the safety and wellbeing of critically ill patients, which includes assessing, monitoring and managing acute pain. How emergency nurses manage acute pain in critically ill adult patients is unknown. The objective of this study is to explore how emergency nurses manage acute pain in critically ill patients in the Emergency Department. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of the methods and protocol for a multiphase sequential mixed methods study, exploring how emergency nurses assess, monitor and manage acute pain in critically ill adult patients. The objective, method, data collection and analysis of each phase are explained. Justification of each method and data integration is described. Synthesis of findings will generate a comprehensive picture of how emergency nurses' perceive and manage acute pain in critically ill adult patients. The results of this study will form a knowledge base to expand theory and inform research and practice.

Interactive application of quadratic expansion of chi-square statistic to nonlinear curve fitting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badavi, F. F.; Everhart, Joel L.

1987-01-01

This report contains a detailed theoretical description of an all-purpose, interactive curve-fitting routine that is based on P. R. Bevington's description of the quadratic expansion of the Chi-Square statistic. The method is implemented in the associated interactive, graphics-based computer program. Taylor's expansion of Chi-Square is first introduced, and justifications for retaining only the first term are presented. From the expansion, a set of n simultaneous linear equations is derived, then solved by matrix algebra. A brief description of the code is presented along with a limited number of changes that are required to customize the program of a particular task. To evaluate the performance of the method and the goodness of nonlinear curve fitting, two typical engineering problems are examined and the graphical and tabular output of each is discussed. A complete listing of the entire package is included as an appendix.

BISA/Bibliographic Information on Southeast Asia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sydney Univ. (Australia).

This document outlines the Bibliographic Information on Southeast Asia data bases (BISA), a project that has been established to provide greater access to and utilization of Australian library resources on Southeast Asia. The nine sections of the report cover BISA's objectives; the project's justification, which considers Australian holdings,…

Improving nitrogen management for corn in southern Idaho and southwest Oregon

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Funding is being sought from multiple sources to update nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for irrigated corn in southern Idaho and southwest Oregon. This paper summarizes the justifications and main objectives of this proposed research. Nitrogen needs to be correctly managed in corn production sys...

A Course of Study in Acting Fundamentals for Junior College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greening, Ruth Patricia Browne

A complete and comprehensive course of study in acting fundamentals for the junior college is presented. Its overall goals are to develop individual sensitivity and creativity, without neglecting essential skills and traditional theatrical and academic values. Justification of major course objectives in the junior college curriculum, presentation…

Dimensions of Oppositionality in a Brazilian Community Sample: Testing the "DSM-5" Proposal and Etiological Links

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krieger, Fernanda Valle.; Polanczyk, Guilherme Vanoni; Goodman, Robert; Rohde, Luis Augusto; Graeff-Martins, Ana Soledade; Salum, Giovanni; Gadelha, Ary; Pan, Pedro; Stahl, Daniel; Stringaris, Argyris

2013-01-01

Objective: Investigating dimensions of oppositional symptoms may help to explain heterogeneity of etiology and outcomes for mental disorders across development and provide further empirical justification for the "DSM-5"-proposed modifications of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). However, dimensions of oppositionality have not…

The Irrelevant English Teacher.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morse, J. Mitchell

A justification is offered of a professor's belief in the importance of teaching the art of being articulate and the contention that a person who cannot express himself clearly in speech or writing cannot think clearly. The difference between good and bad writing is objectively demonstrable and not dependent upon sociology, morality, or relevance.…

Information Resources on Microcomputers in Libraries: Public Services. A Selected ERIC Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources, Syracuse, NY.

Twelve articles published between 1982 and 1984 and cited in "Current Index to Journals in Education" are listed in this bibliography on public service applications of microcomputers in libraries. Topics include provision of free public access to microcomputers (justification, objectives, equipment specifications, uses and software,…

77 FR 58921 - Presidential Determination With Respect to Foreign Governments' Efforts Regarding Trafficking in...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-24

... the multilateral development banks; or (3) is complementary to or has similar policy objectives to... investigate and prosecute trafficking cases or otherwise improve implementation of its anti-trafficking policy... Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela memoranda of justification, under section 706 of the FRAA, to the Congress...

Seclusion as a necessary intervention: the relationship between burnout, job satisfaction and therapeutic optimism and justification for the use of seclusion.

PubMed

Happell, Brenda; Koehn, Stefan

2011-06-01

This paper is a report of the study of nurses' attitudes to the use of seclusion. More specifically, the aim was to address the relationship between burnout, job satisfaction and therapeutic optimism and justification of the use of seclusion. Research findings demonstrate that nurses continue to view seclusion as a necessary intervention. Factors that might be associated with attitudes have not been examined. Questionnaires were distributed to nurses employed in inpatient units across eight mental health services in Queensland in 2008. Heyman Attitudes to Seclusion Survey, Elsom Therapeutic Optimism Scale, Maslach's Burnout Inventory and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaires were completed (N = 123). Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. Most participants considered certain behaviours particularly those involving harm to self, others or to property as appropriate reasons for the use of seclusion and were consistent with their perceptions of the likely practice on their unit. An association was found between therapeutic optimism and emotional exhaustion (burnout) and justifications for the use of seclusion. Participants with higher optimism scores and lower scores for emotional exhaustion were significantly less likely to support the use of seclusion in specific situations. The relationship between therapeutic optimism and emotional exhaustion gives new information that might influence strategies and approaches taken with the aim of reducing seclusion use. Further research is warranted to explore these relationships and their implications. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Epistemic Beliefs about Justification Employed by Physics Students and Faculty in Two Different Problem Contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Çağlayan Mercan, Fatih

2012-06-01

This study examines the epistemic beliefs about justification employed by physics undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the context of solving a standard classical physics problem and a frontier physics problem. Data were collected by a think-aloud problem solving session followed by a semi-structured interview conducted with 50 participants, 10 participants at freshmen, seniors, masters, PhD, and faculty levels. Seven modes of justification were identified and used for exploring the relationships between each justification mode and problem context, and expertise level. The data showed that justification modes were not mutually exclusive and many respondents combined different modes in their responses in both problem contexts. Success on solving the standard classical physics problem was not related to any of the justification modes and was independent of expertise level. The strength of the association across the problem contexts for the authoritative, rational, and empirical justification modes fell in the medium range and for the modeling justification mode fell in the large range of practical significance. Expertise level was not related with the empirical and religious justification modes. The strength of the association between the expertise level and the authoritative, rational, experiential, and relativistic justification modes fell in the medium range, and the modeling justification mode fell in the large range of practical significance. The results provide support for the importance of context for the epistemic beliefs about justification and are discussed in terms of the implications for teaching and learning science.

Charge of the containerless experimentation in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Mark C.

1990-01-01

The experimentation was undertaken to study the elimination or reduction of surface contamination for which there is adequate Earth-based technology along with the reduction of dynamic nucleation for which there a paucity of reliable data. One objective is to delineate scientific justification of the U.S. Containerless Experimentation Program in Microgravity for the next decade and beyond. Another objective is for the guidance of NASA to define the next generation of containerless experimentation instruments in microgravity.

Ethics Committees and Mental Health.

PubMed

Yepes Delgado, Carlos Enrique; Ocampo Montoya, Andrea

Although research processes are covered by the objectivity of science, they are still influenced by the interests of those who conduct them. This is why high level committees have been tasked with defining the scope of the studies and performing a thorough assessment of them, since these imply great dilemmas. This premise leads to the emergence of Ethics Committees, where liaison psychiatry has an important place due to its communication abilities and knowledge of the human behavior. This paper attempts to provide some observations to take into account when discussing the link between ethics and mental health. In this work, the authors approach the question of ethics committees and the importance that psychiatrist performance has within them. This is done through a review of relevant papers on the subject. A detailed description on research ethics is provided in terms of justification, purpose and duties. Likewise, emphasis is placed on each of the areas in which psychiatrists are involved and bear great responsibilities in the medical decision-making process. Similarly, this description also includes the moment in which participants give their informed consent when taking part in medical research. Finally, we conclude that there are several questions regarding the relevance given to these committees in the methodological and ethical assessment of research projects. This in turn implies greater effort in the search for a culture of quality which highlights the emphasis on research subjects. Copyright © 2017 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Global stratospheric change: Requirements for a Very-High-Altitude Aircraft for Atmospheric Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

The workshop on Requirements for a Very-High-Altitude Aircraft for Atmospheric Research, sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center, was held July 15 to 16, 1989, at Truckee, CA. The workshop had two purposes: to assess the scientific justification for a new aircraft that will support stratospheric research beyond the altitudes accessible to the NASA ER-2; and to determine the aircraft characteristics (e.g., ceiling altitude, payload accommodations, range, flight duration, operational capabilities) required to perform the stratospheric research referred to in the justification. To accomplish these purposes, the workshop brought together a cross-section of stratospheric scientists with several aircraft design and operations experts. The stratospheric scientists included theoreticians as well as experimenters with experience in remote and in situ measurements from satellites, rockets, balloons, aircraft, and the ground. Discussions of required aircraft characteristics focused on the needs of stratospheric research. It was recognized that an aircraft optimal for stratospheric science would also be useful for other applications, including remote measurements of Earth's surface. A brief description of these other applications was given at the workshop.

Department of the Air Force Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1983 Submitted to Congress February 1982. Aircraft Procurement, Missile Procurement, Other Procurement

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-02-01

SUPPORT EQUIP. .1 TOTAL 2 1.4 190 4.5 82 2.1 274 8.c METTHOD OF IIIPLE14ENTATIOI: IIUSTALLATION -. DEPOT/FIELD TEAl! LEAD TI:.E - 9 ,,O,|TIS * LESS THAN...Mobility Equipmnent 287 97.14 427 Scientific /Technical Intelligence 292 5.6 4128 Air Force Technical Application Center* 295 15.8 � Photo Processing...Line Item: 292 Nomenclature: Scientific /Technical Lnteliigerce Mission/Description: Thic program provide. data reduction, photo processing. and printing

[Tobacco control from an economic perspective].

PubMed

López Nicolás, Angel; Viudes de Velasco, Arántzazu

2009-01-01

This paper reviews the main arguments put forward from Economics in the area of tobacco control, and provides a detailed description of market failures from both the traditional perspective and recent literature advances. It concludes that smoking is a personal choice that can generate net welfare losses for the society, the smokers family and, above, all the smoker him(her)self. On these grounds there exists economic justification for correcting mechanisms. The article includes a discussion of two important preventive policies in the Spanish context: restrictions in bars and restaurants and tobacco tax hikes.

[Doubtful or unfunded indications observed with albumin treatment: a study in a teaching hospital in Rio de Janeiro State].

PubMed

Magalhães, Felipe A; Chini, Luiz Stanislau N

2007-06-01

Although has been available for clinical administration for over 50 years, the use of human albumin keep being a controversial and hotly debated and it is theme of many papers in medical journals. The opinions and justifications for the use of albumin are huge and only more recently were published betters papers leaded to appraisal more significant outcomes as the impact in the mortality of the treat patients. The objectives of this paper are: to check the albumin indications, to compare them with Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA) guideline of 2004, recent scientific researches and to estimate the total cost of the product. Analysis of the justifications of human albumin use in 206 requests, of 2005, identified in Hospital Universitário Antonio Pedro (HUAP) data base. A great amount of albumin was used without scientific justifications, generating financial expenditures of thousand of reais, but whose impact on the health of the patients is impossible to be evaluated in this work. Although the great discussion and many papers about this theme, the albumin is still use in an intense and unrestricted way in this teaching hospital.

76 FR 51060 - Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-17

... Science Foundation specify that the agency ``may reject claims made in bad faith, or without justification... communication or representation of facts or data in any medium or form including textual, numerical... individuals or persons. Press releases, fact sheets, press conferences, or similar communications in any...

Exposing the Glosses in Seligman and Fowler's (2011) Straw-Man Arguments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyckman, John

2011-01-01

The author was disappointed to see an entire special issue of the "American Psychologist" (January 2011) devoted to military psychology, but he was especially concerned about the one-sided moral justifications presented by Seligman and Fowler (2011) in the final article of the issue. The author feels they misrepresented potential objections to…

Justification of radiographic examinations: What are the key issues?

PubMed

Vom, Jason; Williams, Imelda

2017-09-01

Justification of radiographic examinations is the practice of evaluating requested radiological examinations to assess for clinical merit and appropriateness based on clinical notes and patient information. This implies that justification in radiography requires the evaluation of requested examinations, the justification of exposures being applied and determining whether patients fit the recommended criteria for the procedure. Medico-legal requirements by the professional registration body, the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (MRPBA), identify justification as an advocated and obligatory practice for radiographers. Yet, justification remains an inconsistent practice implemented amongst Australian radiographers. This review aims to identify associated barriers inhibiting the consistent practice of justification and the hesitance by radiographers in practicing justification responsibilities. It also recommends a change in workplace culture which encourages radiographers to accept a more autonomous role that cultivates critical thinking, reflection and research-informed decision making as justification will ultimately benefit patients. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy and New Zealand Institute of Medical Radiation Technology.

Kant on the history of nature: the ambiguous heritage of the critical philosophy for natural history.

PubMed

Sloan, Phillip R

2006-12-01

This paper seeks to show Kant's importance for the formal distinction between descriptive natural history and a developmental history of nature that entered natural history discussions in the late eighteenth century. It is argued that he developed this distinction initially upon Buffon's distinctions of 'abstract' and 'physical' truths, and applied these initially in his distinction of 'varieties' from 'races' in anthropology. In the 1770s, Kant appears to have given theoretical preference to the 'history' of nature [Naturgeschichte] over 'description' of nature [Naturbeschreibung]. Following Kant's confrontations with Johann Herder and Georg Forster in the late 1780s, Kant weakened the epistemic status of the 'history of nature' and gave theoretical preference to 'description of nature'. As a result, Kant's successors, such as Goethe, could draw from Kant either a justification for a developmental history of nature, or, as this paper argues, a warrant from the critical philosophy for denying the validity of the developmental history of nature as anything more than a 'regulative' idea of reason.

Conscientious objection and abortion: rights and duties of public sector physicians.

PubMed

Diniz, Debora

2011-10-01

The paper analyzes conscientious objection by physicians, through the concrete situation of legal abortion in Brazil. It reviews the two main ethical frameworks about conscientious objection in public health, the incompatibility thesis and the integrity thesis, to analyze the reality of legal abortion services in the referral services of the Brazilian public health care system. From these two perspectives, a third perspective is proposed - the justification thesis, to manage the right to conscientious objection among physicians in referral services. This analysis may contribute to the organization of services for legal abortion and to the education of future physicians working in emergency obstetric care.

Department of the Army Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1983 Submitted to Congress February 1982. Part 2 (Missiles).

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-02-01

STINGER missiles and ground support equipment. The program for FY 1983 represents the sixth year of a planned eleven-year procurement effort designed ...planned eleven year procurement effort designed t., fill the Army’s inventory objective. The STINER, scheduled to replace the obsolete RED-YI, has greater...equipment. This is the fifth year of procurement designed to fill the Army inventory objective. MIRES is a self-propelled, fast- reacting, multiple rocket

Justification of system of assessment of ecological safety degree of housing construction objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kankhva, Vadim

2017-10-01

In article characteristics and properties of competitiveness of housing construction objects are investigated, criteria and points of national systems of ecological building’s standardization are structured, the compliance assessment form on stages of life cycle of a capital construction project is developed. The main indicators of level of ecological safety considering requirements of the international ISO standards 9000 and ISO 14000 and which are based on the basic principles of general quality management (TQM) are presented.

Foreign Object Debris: FOD Prevention QS210LSK-REV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Randolph, Sherry; Seaman, John

2004-01-01

Housekeeping in the space industry? You may think the idea isn't technical enough for the shuttle program. Yet, eliminating Foreign Object Debris or FOD is an important goal for USA and NASA. The justification for this effort is based on data from the aeronautics industry. Experience has shown that if debris is not controlled, it may later cause a variety of in-flight issues. FOD can result in material damage, or make systems and equipment inoperable unsafe, or less efficient

System Justification, Mental Health, and Behavior Among Disadvantaged Mothers and Their Children

PubMed Central

Godfrey, Erin B.

2014-01-01

Integrating social psychological research with work in child development, this study explored relationships between system justification (Jost & Banaji, 1994), maternal mental health and child externalizing behavior among low-income immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities. Dominican, Mexican and African-American families (N = 239) were assessed when children were 14-, 24- and 36-months old. SEM was used to explore longitudinal relationships between maternal system justification and mental health and associations with child behavior. Earlier mental health was negatively related to later system justification and system justification was negatively related to children’s externalizing behavior. Implications for system justification theory, child development and immigration are discussed. PMID:25035527

Guidelines as rationing tools: a qualitative analysis of psychosocial patient selection criteria for cardiac procedures

PubMed Central

Giacomini, Mita K.; Cook, Deborah J.; Streiner, David L.; Anand, Sonia S.

2001-01-01

Background Cardiac procedure guidelines often include psychosocial criteria for selecting patients that potentially introduce social value judgements into clinical decisions and decisions about the rationing of care. The aim of this study was to investigate the terms and justifications for and the meanings of psychosocial patient characteristics used in cardiac procedure guidelines. Methods We selected English-language guidelines published since 1990 and chapters in textbooks published since 1989. These guidelines amalgamated multiple sources of evidence and expertise and made recommendations regarding patient selection for specific procedures. A multidisciplinary team of physicians and social scientists extracted passages regarding psychosocial criteria and developed categories and conceptual relationships to describe and interpret their content. Results Sixty-five papers met the criteria for inclusion in the study. Forty-five (69%) mentioned psychosocial criteria as procedure indications or contraindications. The latter fell into several categories, including behavioural and psychological issues, relationships with significant others, financial resources, social roles and environmental circumstances. Interpretation Psychosocial characteristics are portrayed as having 2 roles in patient selection: as risk factors intrinsic to the candidate or as indicators of need for special intervention. Guidelines typically simply list psychosocial contraindications without clarifying their specific nature or providing any justification for their use. Psychosocial considerations can help in the evaluation of patients for cardiac procedures, but they become ethically controversial when used to restrict access. The use of psychosocial indications and contraindications could be improved by more precise descriptions of the psychosocial problem at issue, explanations regarding why the criterion matters and justification of the characteristic using a biological rationale or research evidence. PMID:11258209

48 CFR 2406.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Approval of the justification. 2406.304 Section 2406.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN... 2406.304 Approval of the justification. (c) A class justification for other than full and open...

48 CFR 1306.303-70 - Documentation and legal review of justifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Documentation and legal review of justifications. 1306.303-70 Section 1306.303-70 Federal Acquisition Regulations System... Competition 1306.303-70 Documentation and legal review of justifications. The justification for providing for...

13 CFR 130.460 - Budget justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Budget justification. 130.460... CENTERS § 130.460 Budget justification. The SBDC Director, as a part of the renewal application, or the... submit to the SBA Project Officer the budget justification for the upcoming budget period. The budget...

Report of the Director-General on the Long-Term Programme in the Field of Hydrology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). General Conference.

The report describes the principal orientations of the International Hydrological Programme, as well as the procedures suggested for its execution. The origin and justification of the programme are presented. The objectives of the 1975 programme are stated and the contents, which include the activities, themes, application of new techniques in…

How to Change the Games Children Play.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, G. S. Don

This book presents the thesis that the structure of games must be analyzed in terms of the specific behavioral objectives sought in their activity. It asks teachers to look at games before using them in the classroom, rather than attaching unwarranted values to games as justification for their use. It also demonstrates how one can structure games…

Prescription Stimulants Are "A Okay": Applying Neutralization Theory to College Students' Nonmedical Prescription Stimulant Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cutler, Kristin A.

2014-01-01

Objective: National college health data indicate that prescription stimulants are the most widely misused prescription drugs among college students, with 9% admitting to nonmedical use within the past year. Although motivations for the nonmedical use of these drugs have been explored, scant attention has been paid to justifications for nonmedical…

Militant morality: civil disobedience and bioethics.

PubMed

Cohen, C

1989-01-01

Seven essays in this issue of the Hastings Center Report defend civil disobedience as a legitimate form of protest against terrible injustices: legalized abortion (G. Leber); abridgement of women's reproductive rights (S. Davis); government policy toward persons with AIDS (H. Spiers and A. Novick); abuse of the rights of animals (S. Siegel, C. Jackson, and P. Singer). An eighth essay, by B. Nathanson, examines the motivations of Operation Rescue, an organization that uses civil disobedience to protest legalized abortion. Cohen explores the problems that these authors and others encounter in trying to justify deliberately breaking the law in public conscientious protest. He examines three forms of protest -- direct civil disobedience, indirect civil disobedience, and direct action -- and three justifications -- higher-law, utilitarian, and only possible means. Cohen concludes that, in a democracy, objective justification of civil disobedience is very difficult.

Ideology and gender: observers' system justification and targets' gender as interactive predictors of citizenship expectations.

PubMed

Chiaburu, Dan S; Harris, T Brad; Smith, Troy A

2014-01-01

We integrate system justification and social role theory to explain how observers' system justification and target employees' gender interact to predict observers' expectations of targets' sportsmanship citizenship behaviors. In contrast with social role theory predictions, observers did not expect greater levels of sportsmanship from women compared to men. Yet observers expected more sportsmanship from women (a) when observers were ideologically motivated by gender-specific beliefs (gender-specific system justification; Study 1) and (b) when system justification was cued experimentally (Study 2). A heretofore-unexamined aspect, observers' ideology, modifies their expectations of sportsmanship citizenship across target genders. This has implications for system justification, social role, and organizational citizenship theoretical perspectives.

Justifications for caregiving in white, Asian American, and native Hawaiian grandparents raising grandchildren.

PubMed

Yancura, Loriena A

2013-01-01

Race has been found to predict justifications for caregiving in family caregivers for older adults. However, little is known about this relationship in another type of family caregiver, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (GRG). This study examined relationships between race and justifications for caregiving in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and White GRG. A sample of 259 GRG registered as students' primary caregivers with a public school system completed a modified version of the 10-item Cultural Justifications for Caregiving (CJCG) scale. CJCG items did not load onto a single analytic factor. Two factors, custom and responsibility, emerged. Race was predictive of custom, with Native Hawaiian GRG having significantly higher scores than White or Asian American GRG. Native Hawaiian GRG also scored higher than Asian American, but not White, GRG on responsibility. Justifications for raising grandchildren appear to differ among groups based on racial identification. Findings elucidate cultural justification for caregiving in understudied GRG populations and suggest that justifications for caregiving are configured differently in GRG and family caregivers for older adults. Future studies should examine justifications for caregiving in GRG of other races.

Motivation, justification, normalization: talk strategies used by Canadian medical tourists regarding their choices to go abroad for hip and knee surgeries.

PubMed

Cameron, Keri; Crooks, Valorie A; Chouinard, Vera; Snyder, Jeremy; Johnston, Rory; Casey, Victoria

2014-04-01

Contributing to health geography scholarship on the topic, the objective of this paper is to reveal Canadian medical tourists' perspectives regarding their choices to seek knee replacement or hip replacement or resurfacing (KRHRR) at medical tourism facilities abroad rather than domestically. We address this objective by examining the 'talk strategies' used by these patients in discussing their choices and the ways in which such talk is co-constructed by others. Fourteen interviews were conducted with Canadians aged 42-77 who had gone abroad for KRHRR. Three types of talk strategies emerged through thematic analysis of their narratives: motivation, justification, and normalization talk. Motivation talk referenced participants' desires to maintain or resume physical activity, employment, and participation in daily life. Justification talk emerged when participants described how limitations in the domestic system drove them abroad. Finally, being a medical tourist was talked about as being normal on several bases. Among other findings, the use of these three talk strategies in patients' narratives surrounding medical tourism for KRHRR offers new insight into the language-health-place interconnection. Specifically, they reveal the complex ways in which medical tourists use talk strategies to assert the soundness of their choice to shift the site of their own medical care on a global scale while also anticipating, if not even guarding against, criticism of what ultimately is their own patient mobility. These talk strategies provide valuable insight into why international patients are opting to engage in the spatially explicit practice of medical tourism and who and what are informing their choices. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validating justifications in preschool girls' and boys' friendship group talk: implications for linguistic and socio-cognitive development.

PubMed

Kyratzis, Amy; Ross, Tamara Shuqum; Koymen, S Bahar

2010-01-01

Children are believed to construct their causal theories through talk and interaction, but with the exception of a few studies, little or nothing is known about how young children justify and build theories of the world together with same-age peers through naturally occurring interaction, Children's sensitivity to when a pair or group of interlocutors who interact frequently together feel that a justification is needed, is an index of developing pragmatic competence (Goetz & Shatz, 1999) and may be influenced by interactive goals and gender identity positioning. Studies suggest that salient contexts for justifications for young children are disagreement and control (e.g. Veneziano & Sinclair, 1995) but researchers have been less recognizant of 'situations in which partners verbally assist in the construction of justifications as a means to maintain contact or create solidarity' (Goetz & Shatz, 1999: 722) as contexts for justifications. The present study examined the spontaneously produced justification constructions in the naturally occurring free play of five friendship groups of preschool-aged children (aged from 3 ; 6 to 5 ; 4), in terms of the motivating context of the justification, marking of the causal relationship with a connective, and causal theories accessed in the talk. Partner expansion (validating justifications) was a salient motivating context for justifications, especially in the talk of friendship groups of girls, and seemed to privilege greater marking of the causal relationship with a connective and less arbitrary reasoning. One group of girls varied their use of validating justifications depending on the theme of play. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of use of validating justifications for children's causal theory building with peers, linguistic development, and pragmatic development.

A method to estimate weight and dimensions of aircraft gas turbine engines. Volume 1: Method of analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pera, R. J.; Onat, E.; Klees, G. W.; Tjonneland, E.

1977-01-01

Weight and envelope dimensions of aircraft gas turbine engines are estimated within plus or minus 5% to 10% using a computer method based on correlations of component weight and design features of 29 data base engines. Rotating components are estimated by a preliminary design procedure where blade geometry, operating conditions, material properties, shaft speed, hub-tip ratio, etc., are the primary independent variables used. The development and justification of the method selected, the various methods of analysis, the use of the program, and a description of the input/output data are discussed.

The Effects of General System Justification on Corruption Perception and Intent

PubMed Central

Tan, Xuyun; Liu, Li; Huang, Zhenwei; Zheng, Wenwen; Liang, Yuan

2016-01-01

Previous research stresses that system justifying belief can weaken corruption perception, by this possibly fostering unjust behaviors. However, general results of the effect of general system justification on corruption are ambiguous, indicating also a lessening impact. We conducted a line of studies trying to elucidate these circumstances by testing the effect of general system justification on corruption perception and intention. In addition, we explored institutional trust as a possible mediator in this process. For this purpose, we conducted three studies. The first two studies examined the association between general system justification and corruption. In Study 1, a correlational design was run using questionnaires to assess the relation between general system justification and corruption perception as well as corruption intention. In Study 2, an experimental design was conducted manipulating general system justification via exposure to high or low system threat condition, then measuring its effect on corruption perception and corrupt intention. In Study 3, two sub-studies using correlational and experimental designs were run to explore the mediating role of institutional trust, respectively. Results replicated former studies showing that general system justification is negatively associated with corruption perception. However, they also showed a negative correlation with corrupt intention. Furthermore, they showed that institutional trust mediated the relation between general system justification and corruption. We suggest to consider these findings to further elucidate the psychological basis underlying different effects of general system justification on human behaviors. PMID:27507954

The Effects of General System Justification on Corruption Perception and Intent.

PubMed

Tan, Xuyun; Liu, Li; Huang, Zhenwei; Zheng, Wenwen; Liang, Yuan

2016-01-01

Previous research stresses that system justifying belief can weaken corruption perception, by this possibly fostering unjust behaviors. However, general results of the effect of general system justification on corruption are ambiguous, indicating also a lessening impact. We conducted a line of studies trying to elucidate these circumstances by testing the effect of general system justification on corruption perception and intention. In addition, we explored institutional trust as a possible mediator in this process. For this purpose, we conducted three studies. The first two studies examined the association between general system justification and corruption. In Study 1, a correlational design was run using questionnaires to assess the relation between general system justification and corruption perception as well as corruption intention. In Study 2, an experimental design was conducted manipulating general system justification via exposure to high or low system threat condition, then measuring its effect on corruption perception and corrupt intention. In Study 3, two sub-studies using correlational and experimental designs were run to explore the mediating role of institutional trust, respectively. Results replicated former studies showing that general system justification is negatively associated with corruption perception. However, they also showed a negative correlation with corrupt intention. Furthermore, they showed that institutional trust mediated the relation between general system justification and corruption. We suggest to consider these findings to further elucidate the psychological basis underlying different effects of general system justification on human behaviors.

7 CFR 622.3 - Relationship to the Pub. L. 78-534 Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Relationship to the Pub. L. 78-534 Program. 622.3... to the Pub. L. 78-534 Program. (a) General. The purposes and objectives of the programs under Pub. L. 83-566 and Pub. L. 78-534 are the same in most cases. Planning criteria, economic justification...

The Nature of Arguments Provided by College Geometry Students with Access to Technology while Solving Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollebrands, Karen F.; Conner, AnnaMarie; Smith, Ryan C.

2010-01-01

Prior research on students' uses of technology in the context of Euclidean geometry has suggested that it can be used to support students' development of formal justifications and proofs. This study examined the ways in which students used a dynamic geometry tool, NonEuclid, as they constructed arguments about geometric objects and relationships…

Preservice Teachers' Use of Spatio-Visual Elements and their Level of Justification Dealing with a Geometrical Construction Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tapan, Menekse Seden; Arslan, Cigdem

2009-01-01

The main purpose of this research is to determine to what extent preservice teachers use visual elements and mathematical properties when they are dealing with a geometrical construction activity. The axiomatic structure of the Euclidian geometry forms a coherent field of objects and relations of a theoretical nature; and thus it constitutes a…

Just Doing Business: Modern Racism and Obedience to Authority as Explanations for Employment Discrimination.

PubMed

Brief; Dietz; Cohen; Pugh; Vaslow

2000-01-01

In two experiments, we investigated the effects of prejudice (in the form of modern racism) and business justifications by authority figures (i.e., organizational superiors) to discriminate against minorities (Blacks in our research) in hiring situations. As expected, business justifications by legitimate authority figures led to participants' obedience in the form of discrimination relative to a no-justification condition and, in the second experiment, also relative to a condition in which the business justification came from an illegitimate authority figure. Moreover, in both experiments, as expected, modern racism did not have a main effect on discrimination, but interacted with business justifications such that modern racism predicted discrimination when a legitimate authority figure provided a business-related justification for such discrimination but not in the absence of such a justification. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for understanding prejudice and obedience to authority in organizations and in terms of their practical implications for addressing the problem of discrimination in the workplace. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

[Illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe].

PubMed

Manouana, M; Kadhel, P; Koffi, A; Janky, E

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to describe the typical profile, and to assess the motivations of women who underwent illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). We conducted a 1-year prospective study on women who consulted after failure or complication of an illegal abortion with misoprostol. Fifty-two cases of illegal abortion with misoprostol were recorded. The most common profile was an unemployed woman, who was unmarried, foreign-born, had no medical insurance, and a low level of education; the median age was 28 (range 17 to 40). The justifications given were that the legal procedure was considered to be too slow, the young age of the woman, the ease of the self-medication procedure, a history of illegal abortion by misoprostol in the woman's country of origin, ignorance of the legal process, and financial and/or administrative problems. The problem of illegal abortion is probably underestimated in Guadeloupe and possibly France. This description of the profile of the population concerned and the justifications for choosing illegal abortion by misoprostol provides elements allowing better focus of education concerning abortion, contraception and family planning. Access to legal abortion centers should also be improved. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

[Critical thinking skills in the nursing diagnosis process].

PubMed

Bittencourt, Greicy Kelly Gouveia Dias; Crossetti, Maria da Graça Oliveira

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to identify the critical thinking skills utilized in the nursing diagnosis process. This was an exploratory descriptive study conducted with seven nursing students on the application of a clinical case to identify critical thinking skills, as well as their justifications in the nursing diagnosis process. Content analysis was performed to evaluate descriptive data. Six participants reported that analysis, scientific and technical knowledge and logical reasoning skills are important in identifying priority nursing diagnoses; clinical experience was cited by five participants, knowledge about the patient and application of standards were mentioned by three participants; Furthermore, discernment and contextual perspective were skills noted by two participants. Based on these results, the use of critical thinking skills related to the steps of the nursing diagnosis process was observed. Therefore, that the application of this process may constitute a strategy that enables the development of critical thinking skills.

A scalable parallel algorithm for multiple objective linear programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiecek, Malgorzata M.; Zhang, Hong

1994-01-01

This paper presents an ADBASE-based parallel algorithm for solving multiple objective linear programs (MOLP's). Job balance, speedup and scalability are of primary interest in evaluating efficiency of the new algorithm. Implementation results on Intel iPSC/2 and Paragon multiprocessors show that the algorithm significantly speeds up the process of solving MOLP's, which is understood as generating all or some efficient extreme points and unbounded efficient edges. The algorithm gives specially good results for large and very large problems. Motivation and justification for solving such large MOLP's are also included.

From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology

PubMed Central

Witte, Erich H.; Zenker, Frank

2017-01-01

The gold standard for an empirical science is the replicability of its research results. But the estimated average replicability rate of key-effects that top-tier psychology journals report falls between 36 and 39% (objective vs. subjective rate; Open Science Collaboration, 2015). So the standard mode of applying null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) fails to adequately separate stable from random effects. Therefore, NHST does not fully convince as a statistical inference strategy. We argue that the replicability crisis is “home-made” because more sophisticated strategies can deliver results the successful replication of which is sufficiently probable. Thus, we can overcome the replicability crisis by integrating empirical results into genuine research programs. Instead of continuing to narrowly evaluate only the stability of data against random fluctuations (discovery context), such programs evaluate rival hypotheses against stable data (justification context). PMID:29163256

Truth, models, model sets, AIC, and multimodel inference: a Bayesian perspective

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barker, Richard J.; Link, William A.

2015-01-01

Statistical inference begins with viewing data as realizations of stochastic processes. Mathematical models provide partial descriptions of these processes; inference is the process of using the data to obtain a more complete description of the stochastic processes. Wildlife and ecological scientists have become increasingly concerned with the conditional nature of model-based inference: what if the model is wrong? Over the last 2 decades, Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) has been widely and increasingly used in wildlife statistics for 2 related purposes, first for model choice and second to quantify model uncertainty. We argue that for the second of these purposes, the Bayesian paradigm provides the natural framework for describing uncertainty associated with model choice and provides the most easily communicated basis for model weighting. Moreover, Bayesian arguments provide the sole justification for interpreting model weights (including AIC weights) as coherent (mathematically self consistent) model probabilities. This interpretation requires treating the model as an exact description of the data-generating mechanism. We discuss the implications of this assumption, and conclude that more emphasis is needed on model checking to provide confidence in the quality of inference.

Regulatory ecotoxicity testing of nanomaterials - proposed modifications of OECD test guidelines based on laboratory experience with silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles.

PubMed

Hund-Rinke, Kerstin; Baun, Anders; Cupi, Denisa; Fernandes, Teresa F; Handy, Richard; Kinross, John H; Navas, José M; Peijnenburg, Willie; Schlich, Karsten; Shaw, Benjamin J; Scott-Fordsmand, Janeck J

2016-12-01

Regulatory ecotoxicity testing of chemicals is of societal importance and a large effort is undertaken at the OECD to ensure that OECD test guidelines (TGs) for nanomaterials (NMs) are available. Significant progress to support the adaptation of selected TGs to NMs was achieved in the context of the project MARINA ( http://www.marina-fp7.eu/ ) funded within the 7th European Framework Program. Eight OECD TGs were adapted based on the testing of at least one ion-releasing NM (Ag) and two inert NMs (TiO 2 ). With the materials applied, two main variants of NMs (ion releasing vs. inert NMs) were addressed. As the modifications of the test guidelines refer to general test topics (e.g. test duration or measuring principle), we assume that the described approaches and modifications will be suitable for the testing of further NMs with other chemical compositions. Firm proposals for modification of protocols with scientific justification(s) are presented for the following tests: growth inhibition using the green algae Raphidocelis subcapitata (formerly: Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata; TG 201), acute toxicity with the crustacean Daphnia magna (TG 202), development toxicity with the fish Danio rerio (TG 210), reproduction of the sediment-living worm Lumbriculus variegatus (TG 225), activity of soil microflora (TGs 216, 217), and reproduction of the invertebrates (Enchytraeus crypticus, Eisenia fetida, TGs 220, 222). Additionally, test descriptions for two further test systems (root elongation of plants in hydroponic culture; test on fish cells) are presented. Ecotoxicological data obtained with the modified test guidelines for TiO 2 NMs and Ag NM and detailed method descriptions are available.

An Examination of the Selection Criteria Used in the Architect-Engineer Selection Process of Air Force Base Civil Engineers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

overall goal of hiring highly qualified firms on a fair basis. In conducting this research and writing its report of findings, I have benefited greatly... it . Introduction................... . . ... .. .. ..... Overview.................. . . ... .. .. ... Background........ ...... .. .. ...... Focus of...the focus of the study, its purpose and justification, its specific objective, and the scope of the study’s application. Background In recent years

Justification and authority in institutional review board decision letters.

PubMed

Clapp, Justin T; Gleason, Katharine A; Joffe, Steven

2017-12-01

While ethnographic study has described the discussions that occur during human subjects research ethics review, investigators have minimal access to the interactions of ethics oversight committees. They instead receive letters stipulating changes to their proposed studies. Ethics committee letters are central to the practice of research ethics: they change the nature of research, alter the knowledge it produces, and in doing so construct what ethical research is and how it is pursued. However, these letters have rarely been objects of analysis. Accordingly, we conducted a qualitative analysis of letters written by American institutional review boards (IRBs) overseeing biomedical and health behavioral research. We sought to clarify how IRBs exercise their authority by assessing the frequency with which they provided reasons for their stipulations as well as the nature of these reasons. We found that IRBs frequently do not justify their stipulations; rather, they often leave ethical or regulatory concerns implicit or frame their comments as boilerplate language replacements, procedural instructions, or demands for missing information. When they do provide justifications, their rationales exhibit substantial variability in explicitness and clarity. These rhetorical tendencies indicate that the authority of IRBs is grounded primarily in their role as bureaucratic gatekeepers. We conclude by suggesting that greater attention to justification could help shift the basis of the IRB-researcher relationship from compliance to mutual accountability. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 568: Area 3 Plutonium Dispersion Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Revision 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matthews, Patrick

The purpose of this CR is to provide documentation and justification that no further corrective action is needed for the closure of CAU 568 based on the implementation of corrective actions. This includes a description of closure activities that were performed and an evaluation of the verification data. The CAP (NNSA/NFO, 2016a) and ROTC-1 (NNSA/NFO, 2016c) provide information relating to the selection of CAAs and the reasoning behind their selection. The CADD (NNSA/NFO, 2015) identifies the release sites that require additional corrective action and presents information supporting the selection of CAAs.

The role of drop velocity in statistical spray description

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groeneweg, J. F.; El-Wakil, M. M.; Myers, P. S.; Uyehara, O. A.

1978-01-01

The justification for describing a spray by treating drop velocity as a random variable on an equal statistical basis with drop size was studied experimentally. A double exposure technique using fluorescent drop photography was used to make size and velocity measurements at selected locations in a steady ethanol spray formed by a swirl atomizer. The size velocity data were categorized to construct bivariate spray density functions to describe the spray immediately after formation and during downstream propagation. Bimodal density functions were formed by environmental interaction during downstream propagation. Large differences were also found between spatial mass density and mass flux size distribution at the same location.

Everyday uses of standardized test information in a geriatric setting: a qualitative study exploring occupational therapist and physiotherapist test administrators' justifications.

PubMed

Krohne, Kariann; Torres, Sandra; Slettebø, Åshild; Bergland, Astrid

2014-02-17

Health professionals are required to collect data from standardized tests when assessing older patients' functional ability. Such data provide quantifiable documentation on health outcomes. Little is known, however, about how physiotherapists and occupational therapists who administer standardized tests use test information in their daily clinical work. This article aims to investigate how test administrators in a geriatric setting justify the everyday use of standardized test information. Qualitative study of physiotherapists and occupational therapists on two geriatric hospital wards in Norway that routinely tested their patients with standardized tests. Data draw on seven months of fieldwork, semi-structured interviews with eight physiotherapists and six occupational therapists (12 female, two male), as well as observations of 26 test situations. Data were analyzed using Systematic Text Condensation. We identified two test information components in everyday use among physiotherapist and occupational therapist test administrators. While the primary component drew on the test administrators' subjective observations during testing, the secondary component encompassed the communication of objective test results and test performance. The results of this study illustrate the overlap between objective and subjective data in everyday practice. In clinical practice, by way of the clinicians' gaze on how the patient functions, the subjective and objective components of test information are merged, allowing individual characteristics to be noticed and made relevant as test performance justifications and as rationales in the overall communication of patient needs.

Theological reflections on the ethics of pain control among the terminally ill.

PubMed

Purdy, W

1992-01-01

Explores the reality of pain thru explications of the theological notions of "justification by pain," "justification by death," and "justification by faith." Notes particularly the facilitating role of the hospital chaplain in the understanding of pain and its possible Christian meanings.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Morality: Deontological, Consequentialist, and Emotive Language Use in Justifications Across Foundation-Specific Moral Violations.

PubMed

Wheeler, Melissa A; Laham, Simon M

2016-09-01

Morality is inherently social, yet much extant work in moral psychology ignores the central role of social processes in moral phenomena. To partly address this, this article examined the content of persuasive moral communication-the way people justify their moral attitudes in persuasive contexts. Across two studies, we explored variation in justification content (deontological, consequentialist, or emotive) as a function of moral foundations. Using justification selection techniques (Study 1) and open-ended justification production (Study 2), results demonstrate a preference (a) for deontological appeals in justifications for the sanctity foundation, (b) for consequentialist appeals for the individualizing foundations (care and fairness), and (c) for emotive appeals in justifications for the binding foundations (loyalty, authority and sanctity). The present research questions the generality of inferences about the primacy of emotions/intuition in moral psychology research and highlights the important role of reasons in persuasive moral communication. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Conditions of Formation of Social Successfulness of Students with Disabilities in the System of Continuous Inclusive Education on the Basis of Value Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nasibullov, Ramis R.; Kashapova, L??l?? M.; Shavaliyeva, Zulfiya Sh.

2015-01-01

The thematic justification is due to the fact that the problem of inclusive education implementation in the modern period is very popular and requires close examination. Object of the article is to determine the conditions of formation of social successfulness of students with disabilities in the system of continuous inclusive education on the…

Explanation production by expert planners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bridges, Susan; Jhannes, James D.

1988-01-01

Although the explanation capability of expert systems is usually listed as one of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems, the explanation facilities of most existing systems are quite primitive. Computer generated explanations are typically produced from canned text or by direct translation of the knowledge structures. Explanations produced in this manner bear little resemblance to those produced by humans for similar tasks. The focus of our research in explanation is the production of justifications for decisions by expert planning systems. An analysis of justifications written by people for planning tasks has been taken as the starting point. The purpose of this analysis is two-fold. First, analysis of the information content of the justifications will provide a basis for deciding what knowledge must be represented if human-like justifications are to be produced. Second, an analysis of the textual organization of the justifications will be used in the development of a mechanism for selecting and organizing the knowledge to be included in a computer-produced explanation. This paper describes a preliminary analysis done of justifications written by people for a planning task. It is clear that these justifications differ significantly from those that would be produced by an expert system by tracing the firing of production rules. The results from the text analysis have been used to develop an augmented phrase structured grammar (APSG) describing the organization of the justifications. The grammar was designed to provide a computationally feasible method for determining textual organization that will allow the necessary information to be communicated in a cohesive manner.

Doing the Math: Supporting Student Justifications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Carolyn; Philiben, Lyn; Knievel, Molly

2016-01-01

Teachers have found that engaging students in justification can help students deepen and retain mathematical knowledge, gain a greater sense of ownership over the material, and improve communication and representation skills (Staples, Bartlo, and Thanheiser 2012). Student engagement in a justification activity can also lead to more equitable…

16 CFR 240.15 - Cost justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Cost justification. 240.15 Section 240.15 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION GUIDES AND TRADE PRACTICE RULES GUIDES FOR ADVERTISING ALLOWANCES AND OTHER MERCHANDISING PAYMENTS AND SERVICES § 240.15 Cost justification. It is no defense to a...

Historical Perspectives in Marketing Education: Justification and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petkus, Ed, Jr.

2010-01-01

This article provides a justification and an implementation plan for the establishment of a historical orientation across the undergraduate marketing curriculum. The justification for the historical perspective addresses three areas: tapping into the extensive body of knowledge in marketing history, practical implications, and critical thinking.…

48 CFR 806.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... justification. 806.304 Section 806.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 806.304....304(c), Table 806.304-1 provides the authorities who may approve a justification: Table 806.304.1...

48 CFR 2806.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... justification. 2806.304 Section 2806.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Competition and Acquisition Planning COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 2806.304...) Pursuant to FAR 6.304(c), a class justification for other than full and open competition shall be approved...

A COMPREHENSIVE TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE DEMONSTRATION BULK VITRIFICATION SYSTEM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

SCHAUS, P.S.

2006-09-29

In May 2006, CH2M Hill Hanford Group, Inc. chartered an Expert Review Panel (ERP) to review the current status of the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS). It is the consensus of the ERP that bulk vitrification is a technology that requires further development and evaluation to determine its potential for meeting the Hanford waste stabilization mission. No fatal flaws (issues that would jeopardize the overall DBVS mission that cannot be mitigated) were found, given the current state of the project. However, a number of technical issues were found that could significantly affect the project's ability to meet its overall missionmore » as stated in the project ''Justification of Mission Need'' document, if not satisfactorily resolved. The ERP recognizes that the project has changed from an accelerated schedule demonstration project to a formally chartered project that must be in full compliance with DOE 413.3 requirements. The perspective of the ERP presented herein, is measured against the formally chartered project as stated in the approved Justification of Mission Need document. A justification of Mission Need document was approved in July 2006 which defined the objectives for the DBVS Project. In this document, DOE concluded that bulk vitrification is a viable technology that requires additional development to determine its potential applicability to treatment of a portion of the Hanford low activity waste. The DBVS mission need statement now includes the following primary objectives: (1) process approximately 190,000 gallons of Tank S-109 waste into fifty 100 metric ton boxes of vitrified product; (2) store and dispose of these boxes at Hanford's Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF); (3) evaluate the waste form characteristics; (4) gather pilot plant operability data, and (5) develop the overall life cycle system performance of bulk vitrification and produce a comparison of the bulk vitrification process to building a second LAW Immobilization facility or other supplemental treatment alternatives as provided in M-62-08.« less

Undergraduate Students' Justifications for Source Selection in a Digital Academic Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

List, Alexandra; Grossnickle, Emily M.; Alexander, Patricia A.

2016-01-01

To complete any academic tasks using information from the Internet, undergraduate students first have to select the appropriate sources. However, the types of justifications that undergraduates provide for source selection and how these justifications may be impacted by task characteristics have been underexamined. This study explored…

48 CFR 2406.304-70 - Approval of the justification-field procurements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Other Than Full and Open Competition 2406.304-70 Approval of the justification—field procurements. (a) The justification for other than full and open competition for field procurements shall be approved in... justification-field procurements. 2406.304-70 Section 2406.304-70 Federal Acquisition Regulations System...

[Justification of violence as a mediator between exposure to violence and aggressive behavior in children].

PubMed

Orue, Izaskun; Calvete, Esther

2012-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mediating role of the justification of violence schema in the relationship between exposure to violence and reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. We differentiated between direct and indirect exposure in four contexts: home, neighborhood, school and TV. A total of 675 children, aged between 8 and 12 years, participated in the study. They answered questionnaires about exposure to violence, justification of violence, and proactive and reactive aggressive behavior in two waves six months apart. The results showed that witnessing violence at home and on TV predicted aggressive behavior, and this relationship was mediated by the justification of violence. Victimization in all contexts predicted aggressive behavior and this relationship was generally mediated by the justification of violence.

Knowledge on Irradiation, Medical Imaging Prescriptions, and Clinical Imaging Referral Guidelines among Physicians in a Sub-Saharan African Country (Cameroon)

PubMed Central

Tene, Ulrich; Samba Ngano, Odette; Tchemtchoua Youta, Justine; Simo, Augustin; Gonsu Fotsin, Joseph

2017-01-01

Background Clinical imaging guidelines (CIGs) are suitable tools to enhance justification of imaging procedures. Objective To assess physicians' knowledge on irradiation, their self-perception of imaging prescriptions, and the use of CIGs. Materials and Methods A questionnaire of 21 items was self-administered between July and August 2016 to 155 referring physicians working in seven university-affiliated hospitals in Yaoundé and Douala (Cameroon). This pretested questionnaire based on imaging referral practices, the use and the need of CIGs, knowledge on radiation doses of 11 specific radiologic procedures, and knowledge of injurious effects of radiation was completed in the presence of the investigator. Scores were allocated for each question. Results 155 questionnaires were completed out of 180 administered (86.1%). Participants were 90 (58%) females, 63 (40.64%) specialists, 53 (34.20%) residents/interns, and 39 (25.16%) general practitioners. The average professional experience was 7.4 years (1–25 years). The mean knowledge score was 11.5/59 with no influence of sex, years of experience, and professional category. CIGs users' score was better than nonusers (means 14.2 versus 10.6; p < 0.01). 80% of physicians (124/155) underrated radiation doses of routine imaging exams. Seventy-eight (50.3%) participants have knowledge on CIGs and half of them made use of them. “Impact on diagnosis” was the highest justification criteria follow by “impact on treatment decision.” Unjustified requests were mainly for “patient expectation or will” or for “research motivations.” 96% of interviewees believed that making available national CIGs will improve justification. Conclusion Most physicians did not have appropriate awareness about radiation doses for routine imaging procedures. A small number of physicians have knowledge on CIGs but they believe that making available CIGs will improve justification of imaging procedures. Continuous trainings on radiation protection and implementation of national CIGs are therefore recommended. PMID:28630770

Students' Problem Solving and Justification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Barbara; Maher, Carolyn A.

2004-01-01

This paper reports on methods of students' justifications of their solution to a problem in the area of combinatorics. From the analysis of the problem solving of 150 students in a variety of settings from high-school to graduate study, four major forms of reasoning evolved: (1) Justification by Cases, (2) Inductive Argument, (3) Elimination…

Student Perceptions of Justification in Two Disparate Domains: Education and Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, Christi L.; Hennessey, Maeghan N.; Higley, Kelli

2016-01-01

This study investigated the perceptions of epistemic justification of students in two disparate domains of study to determine if any similarities and differences in their methods of justification exist. Two samples of students, or a total of 513 undergraduates from educational psychology (n = 193) and biology (n = 320) courses, completed a…

College Students; Justification for Digital Piracy: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Szde

2012-01-01

A mixed methods project was devoted to understanding college students' justification for digital piracy. The project consisted of two studies, a qualitative one and a quantitative one. Qualitative interviews were conducted to identify main themes in students' justification for digital piracy, and then the findings were tested in a quantitative…

The Development of Justifications for Moral Judgements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langford, Peter E.; Claydon, Leslie F.

This document reports on two studies that used a novel approach to categorize justifications for moral judgments made by Australian subjects from 7 to 15 and from 7 to 21 years of age. The coding categories consisted of levels of abstraction and reflection. Level of abstraction was determined by the reference group used in justifications. Levels…

Performing Arts Program, Badger High School: Justification, Proposal, Implementation, Stage One Implementation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Dan

This document presents a justification, proposal, and implementation plan for a comprehensive theatre arts program at Badger High School, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin that would offer a full schedule of amateur and professional arts programs involving the students and the community. The brief Justification section notes that every elementary and…

Investigating the Development of Chinese Oral Explanation and Justification in Singapore Primary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Jing

2016-01-01

Explanation and justification require cognitive ability which selects and organises relevant information in a logical way, and linguistic ability which enables speakers to encode the information with linguistic knowledge. This study aims to investigate the development of Chinese oral explanation and justification in Singapore primary students. The…

R. S. Peters' "The Justification of Education" Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cuypers, Stefaan E.

2012-01-01

In his 1973 paper "The Justification of Education" R. S. Peters aspired to give a non-instrumental justification of education. Ever since, his so-called "transcendental argument" has been under attack and most critics conclude that it does not work. They have, however, thrown the baby away with the bathwater, when they furthermore concluded that…

A Comparison of Social Dominance Theory and System Justification: The Role of Social Status in 19 Nations.

PubMed

Vargas-Salfate, Salvador; Paez, Dario; Liu, James H; Pratto, Felicia; Gil de Zúñiga, Homero

2018-07-01

This study tests specific competing hypotheses from social dominance theory/realistic conflict theory (RCT) versus system justification theory about the role of social status. In particular, it examines whether system justification belief and effects are stronger among people with low socioeconomic status, and in less socially developed and unequal nations than among better-off people and countries. A cross-national survey was carried out in 19 nations from the Americas, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Oceania using representative online samples ( N = 14,936, 50.15% women, M age = 41.61 years). At the individual level, system justification beliefs, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, national identification, sociopolitical conservatism, sex, age, and social status were measured. At the national level, the human development index and the Gini index were used. Multilevel analyses performed indicated that results fit better with the social dominance/RCT approach, as system justification was higher in high-status and developed nations; further, associations between legitimizing ideologies and system justification were stronger among high-status people.

On sanction-goal justifications: How and why deterrence justifications undermine rule compliance.

PubMed

Mooijman, Marlon; van Dijk, Wilco W; van Dijk, Eric; Ellemers, Naomi

2017-04-01

Authorities frequently justify their sanctions as attempts to deter people from rule breaking. Although providing a sanction justification seems appealing and harmless, we propose that a deterrence justification decreases the extent to which sanctions are effective in promoting rule compliance. We develop a theoretical model that specifies how and why this occurs. Consistent with our model, 5 experiments demonstrated that-compared with sanctions provided without a justification or sanctions provided with a just-deserts justification-sanction effectiveness decreased when sanctions were justified as attempts to deter people from rule breaking. This effect was mediated by people feeling distrusted by the authority. We further demonstrated that (a) the degree to which deterrence fostered distrust was attenuated when the sanction was targeted at others (instead of the participant) and (b) the degree to which distrust undermined rule compliance was attenuated when the authority was perceived as legitimate. We discuss the practical implications for authorities tasked with promoting rule compliance, and the theoretical implications for the literature on sanctions, distrust, and rule compliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Conscientious objection in medicine.

PubMed

Wicclair, Mark R

2000-07-01

Recognition of conscientious objection seems reasonable in relation to controversial and contentious issues, such as physician assisted suicide and abortion. However, physicians also advance conscience-based objections to actions and practices that are sanctioned by established norms of medical ethics, and an account of their moral force can be more elusive in such contexts. Several possible ethical justifications for recognizing appeals to conscience in medicine are examined, and it is argued that the most promising one is respect for moral integrity. It is also argued that an appeal to conscience has significant moral weight only if the core ethical values on which it is based correspond to one or more core values in medicine. Finally, several guidelines pertaining to appeals to conscience and their ethical evaluation are presented.

Mathematical modeling and optimization of flow structure in stage of francis turbine of micro gas turbine power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kartashev, A. L.; Vaulin, S. D.; Kartasheva, M. A.; Martynov, A. A.; Safonov, E. V.

2016-06-01

This article presents information about the main distinguishing features of microturbine power plants. The justification of the use of Francis turbine in microturbine power plants with rated power of 100 kW is given. Initial analytical engineering calculations of the turbine (without using computational fluid dynamics) with appropriate calculation methods are considered. The parametric study of nozzle blade and whole turbine stage using ANSYS CFX is descripted. The calculations determined the optimal geometry on the criterion of maximizing efficiency at total pressure ratio. The calculation results are presented in graphical form, as well as the velocity and pressure fields at the interscapular channels of nozzle unit and the impeller.

41 CFR 102-37.220 - Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? 102-37.220... types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? Yes, a...

41 CFR 102-37.220 - Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? 102-37.220... types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? Yes, a...

41 CFR 102-37.220 - Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? 102-37.220... types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? Yes, a...

41 CFR 102-37.220 - Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? 102-37.220... types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? Yes, a...

41 CFR 102-37.220 - Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Are there special types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? 102-37.220... types of surplus property that require written justification when submitting a transfer request? Yes, a...

41 CFR 102-5.95 - Is the comfort and/or convenience of an employee considered sufficient justification to authorize...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... convenience of an employee considered sufficient justification to authorize home-to-work transportation? 102-5...-to-Work Transportation § 102-5.95 Is the comfort and/or convenience of an employee considered sufficient justification to authorize home-to-work transportation? No, the comfort and/or convenience of an...

30 CFR 203.85 - What is in an economic viability and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false What is in an economic viability and relief... Sulfur General § 203.85 What is in an economic viability and relief justification report? This report... economic viability and relief justification report must contain the following items for an oil and gas...

30 CFR 203.85 - What is in an economic viability and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false What is in an economic viability and relief... Sulfur General § 203.85 What is in an economic viability and relief justification report? This report... economic viability and relief justification report must contain the following items for an oil and gas...

30 CFR 203.85 - What is in an economic viability and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false What is in an economic viability and relief... Sulfur General § 203.85 What is in an economic viability and relief justification report? This report... economic viability and relief justification report must contain the following items for an oil and gas...

30 CFR 203.85 - What is in an economic viability and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What is in an economic viability and relief... Required Reports § 203.85 What is in an economic viability and relief justification report? This report... economic viability and relief justification report must contain the following items for an oil and gas...

Justification as a Teaching and Learning Practice: Its (Potential) Multifacted Role in Middle Grades Mathematics Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staples, Megan E.; Bartlo, Joanna; Thanheiser, Eva

2012-01-01

Justification is a core mathematics practice. Although the purposes of justification in the mathematician community have been studied extensively, we know relatively little about its role in K-12 classrooms. This paper documents the range of purposes identified by 12 middle grades teachers who were working actively to incorporate justification…

Identification of Justification Types and Discourse Markers in Turkish Language Teacher Candidates' Argumentative Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tiryaki, Esra Nur

2017-01-01

The purpose of this research is to identify discourse markers used in justification types in Turkish language teacher candidates' argumentative texts. Survey model was used since it was aimed to determine the categories into which support and refutation justifications are split and to identify the discourse markers which express these categories.…

45 CFR 154.230 - Submission and posting of Final Justifications for unreasonable rate increases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... information available to the public on its Web site for at least three years. (d) CMS will post all Final Justifications on the CMS Web site. This information will remain available to the public on the CMS Web site for... submitted in the Preliminary Justification supporting the rate increase; and (2) Prominently post on its Web...

"Should We Kill the Grey Squirrels?" A Study Exploring Students' Justifications and Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evagorou, Maria; Jimenez-Aleixandre, Maria Pilar; Osborne, Jonathan

2012-01-01

A problem that is still unexplored in the field of socioscientific issues (SSI) and that was explored in this study is how different students decide upon a SSI they are discussing, how their justifications change during the instruction and how they use (or not) the evidence from the learning environment to support their justifications. For the…

Pulling the Religious Trigger: Iran’s End-Times Beliefs and Divine Justifications for Potential Action Against the United States

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

current government. Moving to the regime’s current leadership , the literature survey mostly includes primary sources from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali...Office of the Secretary of Defense, published Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads38: An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics. The book’s objective is...to provide a “framework to help policymakers and analysts better understand existing and evolving leadership dynamics driving Iranian decisionmaking

Stripped of illusions? Exploring system justification processes in capitalist and post-Communist societies.

PubMed

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Jost, John T

2014-02-01

Sociologists and political scientists have often observed that citizens of Central and Eastern Europe express high levels of disillusionment with their social, economic and political systems, in comparison with citizens of Western capitalist societies. In this review, we analyze system legitimation and delegitimation in post-Communist societies from a social psychological perspective. We draw on system justification theory, which seeks to understand how, when and why people do (and do not) defend, bolster and justify existing social systems. We review some of the major tenets and findings of the theory and compare research on system-justifying beliefs and ideologies in traditionally Capitalist and post-Communist countries to determine: (1) whether there are robust differences in the degree of system justification in post-Communist and Capitalist societies, and (2) the extent to which hypotheses derived from system justification theory receive support in the post-Communist context. To this end, we summarize research findings from over 20 countries and cite previously unpublished data from a public opinion survey conducted in Poland. Our analysis confirms that there are lower levels of system justification in post-Communist countries. At the same time, we find that system justification possesses similar social and psychological antecedents, manifestations and consequences in the two types of societies. We offer potential explanations for these somewhat complicated patterns of results and conclude by addressing implications for theory and research on system justification and system change (or transition). © 2013 International Union of Psychological Science.

TIES for Dummies 3rd Edition (Technology Identification, Evaluation, and Selection) Basic how to's to implement the TIES method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirby, Michelle R.

2002-01-01

The TIES method is a forecasting environment whereby the decision-maker has the ability to easily assess and trade-off the impact of various technologies without sophisticated and time-consuming mathematical formulations. TIES provides a methodical approach where technically feasible alternatives can be identified with accuracy and speed to reduce design cycle time, and subsequently, life cycle costs, and was achieved through the use of various probabilistic methods, such as Response Surface Methodology and Monte Carlo Simulations. Furthermore, structured and systematic techniques are utilized from other fields to identify possible concepts and evaluation criteria by which comparisons can be made. This objective is achieved by employing the use of Morphological Matrices and Multi-Attribute Decision Making techniques. Through the execution of each step, a family of design alternatives for a given set of customer requirements can be identified and assessed subjectively or objectively. This methodology allows for more information (knowledge) to be brought into the earlier phases of the design process and will have direct implications on the affordability of the system. The increased knowledge allows for optimum allocation of company resources and quantitative justification for program decisions. Finally, the TIES method provided novel results and quantitative justification to facilitate decision making in the early stages of design so as to produce affordable and quality products.

Inducing Attitude Change toward Online Gaming among Adolescent Players Based on Dissonance Theory: The Role of Threats and Justification of Effort

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wan, Chin-Sheng; Chiou, Wen-Bin

2010-01-01

The negative impact of online gaming on adolescents has received much attention. The question of how to reduce their pathological use of online gaming is a critical issue. Based on the concept of external justification in dissonance theory, this experimental study aimed to examine whether severity of threat and justification of effort would impact…

Learning Science in High School: What is actually going on?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Aik Ling; Hong, Huaqing

2014-03-01

This paper examines learning of science in 15 grade nine classrooms by analyzing the type of talk that teachers engaged in. Using transcripts from audio recordings that are part of the Singapore Corpus of Research in Education database, annotations were carried out on the phrases of teacher talk using Mortimer and Scott's framework for meaning making in science classrooms. Interpreted from a sociocultural view of science learning and based on text coverage per 1,000 words spoken by teachers and students, we analyzed the content of instruction and found that (1) teachers in all three sub-disciplines of science used the least number of words to make statements of generalizations, with chemistry teachers privileging description more than physics and biology teachers, while physics teachers use more words for explanation when compared with biology and chemistry teachers and (2) teachers from all three sub-disciplines depended more on empirical justification than theoretical justifications. These findings suggest that most scientific stories in Singaporean grade nine classrooms are dependent on specific contexts and that the nature and organization of knowledge in each sub-discipline defines the features that teachers use in the classrooms to talk knowledge into being. We discuss our findings on whether science curriculum should be framed as 'separate subjects' or if they should be developed as 'integrated science' and draw implications to science teacher education and the conduct of high stakes public placement examinations.

Sexual Assault Perpetrators’ Justifications for Their Actions: Relationships to Rape Supportive Attitudes, Incident Characteristics, and Future Perpetration

PubMed Central

Wegner, Rhiana; Abbey, Antonia; Pierce, Jennifer; Pegram, Sheri E.; Woerner, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Perpetrators use rape supportive attitudes and sexual assault incident characteristics to justify forcing sex on their victims. Perpetrators who can justify their behaviors are at increased risk for future perpetration. This study examined the relationships between rape supportive attitudes, sexual assault incident characteristics, and the post-assault justifications of 183 men sampled from the community who self-reported committing at least one act of sexual aggression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that rape supportive attitudes, expectations for having sex, misperceptions of sexual intent, victims’ alcohol consumption, attempts to be alone with her, and the number of consensual sexual activities prior to the unwanted sex were significant predictors of perpetrators’ post-assault use of justifications. Greater use of justifications was a significant predictor of sexual aggression over a 1-year follow-up interval. These findings demonstrate the need for further research exploring when and why perpetrators use post-assault justifications and whether they are amenable to change. PMID:26056162

Sexual Assault Perpetrators' Justifications for Their Actions: Relationships to Rape Supportive Attitudes, Incident Characteristics, and Future Perpetration.

PubMed

Wegner, Rhiana; Abbey, Antonia; Pierce, Jennifer; Pegram, Sheri E; Woerner, Jacqueline

2015-08-01

Perpetrators use rape supportive attitudes and sexual assault incident characteristics to justify forcing sex on their victims. Perpetrators who can justify their behaviors are at increased risk for future perpetration. This study examined the relationships between rape supportive attitudes, sexual assault incident characteristics, and the post-assault justifications of 183 men sampled from the community who self-reported committing at least one act of sexual aggression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that rape supportive attitudes, expectations for having sex, misperceptions of sexual intent, victims' alcohol consumption, attempts to be alone with her, and the number of consensual sexual activities prior to the unwanted sex were significant predictors of perpetrators' post-assault use of justifications. Greater use of justifications was a significant predictor of sexual aggression over a 1-year follow-up interval. These findings demonstrate the need for further research exploring when and why perpetrators use post-assault justifications and whether they are amenable to change. © The Author(s) 2015.

A system justification view of sexual violence: legitimizing gender inequality and reduced moral outrage are connected to greater rape myth acceptance.

PubMed

Chapleau, Kristine M; Oswald, Debra L

2014-01-01

Rape is a pervasive social problem that causes serious physical and psychological repercussions. Rape victims' recovery is often complicated by the public's failure to believe the victim and restore justice. This study applied system justification theory to examine whether the justification of gender inequality is related to moral outrage (an emotional precursor to corrective action) and rape myth acceptance; we also examined whether rape myth acceptance is associated with moral outrage at injustice. Results showed that gender-specific system justification correlated with less moral outrage at human suffering as well as greater rape myth acceptance. The relationships between these variables were similar for men and for women, a finding that suggests that rape myths are system justifying for women. When we controlled for gender-specific system justification, rape myth acceptance correlated with less moral outrage. Results are discussed in the context of how legitimizing ideologies reduce moral outrage at injustice and perpetuate a system of sexual violence.

Effects of the Multiple Solutions and Question Prompts on Generalization and Justification for Non-Routine Mathematical Problem Solving in a Computer Game Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chun-Yi; Chen, Ming-Jang; Chang, Wen-Long

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of solution methods and question prompts on generalization and justification of non-routine problem solving for Grade 9 students. The learning activities are based on the context of the frog jumping game. In addition, related computer tools were used to support generalization and justification of…

Direct and indirect effects of parenting practices on socio-moral approval of aggression in Polish young adults. Do all practices matter?

PubMed

Dominiak-Kochanek, Monika; Konopka, Karolina; Rutkowska, Marta; Frączek, Adam; Ramirez, J Martin

2018-06-01

The purpose of this article was to determine the socialisation antecedents of socio-moral approval of aggression (SMAA). In Study 1, we assessed factorial structure and reliability of the SMAA with a sample of 355 students who reported on the extent to which they approved of six forms of aggressive behaviour and six justifications of aggression. Two-factor solutions were obtained with regard to forms and justifications of aggressive acts. Thus, approval of extreme and minor aggression was distinguished as well as legitimate and illegitimate justifications of aggression. In Study 2, we tested the path models of the socialisation antecedents that contributed to the high approval of minor and extreme aggressive acts as well as legitimate and illegitimate justifications of aggression. Data were collected from 173 undergraduate students. Path analyses showed that high levels of approval of extremely aggressive acts and of illegitimate justifications of aggression were preceded by a sequence of negative life events, beginning with frequent misbehaviour in childhood, corporal punishment used by parents and ending with delinquency in adolescence. The approval of minor aggression had little relation to socialisation factors apart from a detrimental effect of psychological aggression while approval of legitimate justifications of aggression had no socialisation antecedents. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Clinically Unjustified Diagnostic Imaging – a Worrisome Tendency in Today’s Medical Practice

PubMed Central

Sobiecka, Aleksandra; Bekiesińska-Figatowska, Monika; Rutkowska, Milena; Latos, Tomasz; Walecki, Jerzy

2016-01-01

Summary Background The purpose of the study was to evaluate the percentage of unjustified examinations among all the CT and MRI studies performed by two radiology departments and to determine the types of examinations which are most commonly carried out unnecessarily. Material/Methods Three radiologists assessed the justification of CT and MRI examinations performed during a period of 14 days based on the referrals. The radiologists assessed 799 referrals for CT scans (847 examinations of a particular part of the body) and 269 MRI referrals (269 examinations). The criteria for justification were: medical expertise and the guidelines. During the first stage radiologists divided the examinations into 3 groups: justified, unjustified and the examinations of questionable justification. The second step was to determine the reasons why the studies were considered as unjustified or of questionable justification. Results 73 of 1116 examinations (6.54%) were considered to be unjustified or of a questionable justification. There were 59 CT scans (59/847=6.97%) and 14 MRI studies (14/269=5.20%). The most common reasons to consider them as unjustified or of questionable justification were: inadequate method of diagnostic imaging chosen as a first-line tool and lacking or insufficient clinical details. Conclusions In our investigation 6.54% of both CT and MRI examinations were considered as unjustified or of questionable justification, which is lower than described in other studies (from 7% to 26%). The assessment was based only on referrals, therefore a total share of these examinations is likely to be higher. PMID:27471577

When and Why Is Religious Attendance Associated With Antigay Bias and Gay Rights Opposition? A Justification-Suppression Model Approach.

PubMed

Hoffarth, Mark Romeo; Hodson, Gordon; Molnar, Danielle S

2017-04-24

Even in relatively tolerant countries, antigay bias remains socially divisive, despite being widely viewed as violating social norms of tolerance. From a Justification-Suppression Model (JSM) framework, social norms may generally suppress antigay bias in tolerant countries, yet be "released" by religious justifications among those who resist gay rights progress. Across large, nationally representative US samples (Study 1) and international samples (Study 2, representing a total of 97 different countries), over 215,000 participants, and various indicators of antigay bias (e.g., dislike, moral condemnation, opposing gay rights), individual differences in religious attendance was uniquely associated with greater antigay bias, over and above religious fundamentalism, political ideology, and religious denomination. Moreover, in 4 of 6 multilevel models, religious attendance was associated with antigay bias in countries with greater gay rights recognition, but was unrelated to antigay bias in countries with lower gay rights recognition (Study 2). In Study 3, Google searches for a religious justification ("love the sinner hate the sin") coincided temporally with gay-rights relevant searches. In U.S. (Study 4) and Canadian (Study 5) samples, much of the association between religious attendance and antigay bias was explained by "sinner-sin" religious justification, with religious attendance not associated with antigay bias when respondents reported relatively low familiarity with this justification (Study 5). These findings suggest that social divisions on homosexuality in relatively tolerant social contexts may be in large part due to religious justifications for antigay bias (consistent with the JSM), with important implications for decreasing bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing critical consciousness or justifying the system? A qualitative analysis of attributions for poverty and wealth among low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women

PubMed Central

Godfrey, Erin B.; Wolf, Sharon

2015-01-01

Objectives Economic inequality is a growing concern in the United States and globally. The current study uses qualitative techniques to (1) explore the attributions low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women make for poverty and wealth in the U.S., and (2) clarify important links between attributions, critical consciousness development and system justification theory. Methods In-depth interview transcripts from 19 low-income immigrant Dominican and Mexican and native African-American mothers in a large Northeastern city were analyzed using open coding techniques. Interview topics included perceptions of current economic inequality and mobility and experiences of daily economic hardships. Results Almost all respondents attributed economic inequality to individual factors (character flaws, lack of hard work). Structural explanations for poverty and wealth were expressed by less than half the sample and almost always paired with individual explanations. Moreover, individual attributions included system-justifying beliefs such as the belief in meritocracy and equality of opportunity and structural attributions represented varying levels of critical consciousness. Conclusions Our analysis sheds new light on how and why individuals simultaneously hold individual and structural attributions and highlights key links between system justification and critical consciousness. It shows that critical consciousness and system justification do not represent opposite stances along a single underlying continuum, but are distinct belief systems and motivations. It also suggests that the motive to justify the system is a key psychological process impeding the development of critical consciousness. Implications for scholarship and intervention are discussed. PMID:25915116

Military Construction Naval Reserve Justification Data Submitted to Congress FY 1985.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-02-01

FOR FOOT TRAFFIC. THE STRUCTURAL PILES ARE REDUCED TO STALACTITE - STALAGMITE CONFIGURATION. THIS STATION HAS NO PIER TO SUPPORT SHIPS. THERE IS NO...structure, object or setting listed in the National Register of Historic Places except as noted on DD Form 1391. Environmental Protection In accordance...ESTABLISHED OR DEVELOPED UNDER THIS CHAPTER WHICH ARE NOT OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED BE LAW. FORM 44(M 1 OEC Kl<l9l MMM>«4M PREVIOUS EDITIONS MAY SE USED

[The coroner's autopsies in the Great Britain: the problems related to the quality of the studies, standardization, auditing, financial support and the approaches to their solution (part 2)].

PubMed

Makarov, I Ju; Kuprina, T A; Gusarov, A A; Fetisov, V A

This article extends the previous publication of the authors based on the analysis of the detailed report of the experts of the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death program (NCEPOD) issued in the Great Britain in 2006. The analysis has demonstrated that all autopsy studies should invariably involve measurement of the corpse length and weight (including body mass index) as well as the detailed description of all injuries to the body (or references to their absence). All autopsy studies should be carried out only by a medical professional (e.g. a pathologist, histologist, forensic medical expert, etc.). The thorough examination of the cadaver is mandatory prior to evisceration. The maximum scope of the examination of all body cavities with the comprehensive description of all internal organs and systems is compulsory. Putrefaction and decomposition of the corpse can not be regarded as a justification for its perfunctory ('restricted') inspection; on the contrary, these dictate the necessity of a more careful examination with the compulsory description of all organs and body systems as well as harvesting biological fluids and tissues for the laboratory analyses (including histological, toxicological, and other relevant studies).

From mirror self-recognition to the looking-glass self: exploring the Justification Hypothesis.

PubMed

Shaffer, Leigh S

2005-01-01

In his Tree of Knowledge (ToK) System, Henriques (2003) posits that the human ego or "self" has evolved because human beings are the only animals that have had to justify their behavior to others. This essay provides evidence for this Justification Hypothesis (JH) from everyday life sociology, starting with the work of George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley, and focuses on research related to the concept of the "looking-glass self." Special emphasis is given to the pragmatics of speech acts, the presentation of self in interaction rituals, the accounts given by actors in justification of their actions, and the role of social norms and conformity in the large-scale justification systems commonly called "culture."

Justification of violence beliefs and social problem-solving as mediators between maltreatment and behavior problems in adolescents.

PubMed

Calvete, Esther

2007-05-01

This study examined whether justification of violence beliefs and social problem solving mediated between maltreatment experiences and aggressive and delinquent behavior in adolescents. Data were collected on 191 maltreated and 546 nonmaltreated adolescents (ages 14 to 17 years), who completed measures of justification of violence beliefs, social problem-solving dimensions (problem orientation, and impulsivity/carelessness style), and psychological problems. Findings indicated that maltreated adolescents' higher levels of delinquent and aggressive behavior were partially accounted for by justification of violence beliefs, and that their higher levels of depressive symptoms were partially mediated by a more negative orientation to social problem-solving. Comparisons between boys and girls indicated that the model linking maltreatment, cognitive variables, and psychological problems was invariant.

Objective assessment of symptomatic vitreous floaters using optical coherence tomography: a case report.

PubMed

Kennelly, Kevin Patrick; Morgan, James Plunkett; Keegan, David Jude; Connell, Paul Patrick

2015-03-08

Vitrectomy for symptomatic vitreous floaters carries significant risks. Justification of surgery is difficult, particularly in healthy eyes with normal visual acuity and without a posterior vitreous detachment. This is the first reported case of optical coherence tomography being utilized to objectively assess the impact of a vitreous opacity on the macula. A 37-year-old Caucasian female complained of the sudden onset of a ring-like floater in the central visual field of her left eye. Visual acuity was 20/20, there was no intraocular inflammation and the posterior vitreous was not detached. Complete blood count with differential, serology screen (including cysticercosis and echinococcus), chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound found no evidence of systemic infective or cystic disease. A color photograph and B-scan ultrasound confirmed a 4.31 mm free-floating semi-translucent vitreous cyst with a hyperechogenic, pigmented surface and faint internal strands suspended in the mid-vitreous cavity, in the visual axis. The cyst moved with ocular movements, but only within the vitreous lacuna it resided in. Humphrey and Goldmann visual fields were normal. However, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) demonstrated shadowing on either side of the fovea, consistent with the ring-like scotoma described by the patient. Removing the retinal layers from the 3D-reconstructed macular cube OCT revealed a circular shadow on the macula. The patient elected for conservative management and at 3-month follow-up her symptoms had almost fully resolved as the cyst migrated to the inferior vitreous cavity, no longer casting a shadow on the macula. To our knowledge, this is the first description of using OCT as an objective, qualitative assessment of symptoms caused by large vitreous opacities and may provide a simple yet useful adjunctive tool in evaluating the risk-benefit ratio of vitrectomy in patients with large symptomatic vitreous floaters.

The merit of meritocracy.

PubMed

Son Hing, Leanne S; Bobocel, D Ramona; Zanna, Mark P; Garcia, Donna M; Gee, Stephanie S; Orazietti, Katie

2011-09-01

We argue that the preference for the merit principle is a separate construct from hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies (i.e., system justification beliefs, prejudice, social dominance orientation), including descriptive beliefs that meritocracy currently exists in society. Moreover, we hypothesized that prescriptive beliefs about merit should have a stronger influence on reactions to the status quo when hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies are weak (vs. strong). In 4 studies, participants' preference for the merit principle and hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies were assessed; later, the participants evaluated organizational selection practices that support or challenge the status quo. Participants' prescriptive and descriptive beliefs about merit were separate constructs; only the latter predicted other hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies. In addition, as hypothesized, among participants who weakly endorsed hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies, the stronger their preference for the merit principle, the more they opposed selection practices that were perceived to be merit violating but the more they supported practices that were perceived to be merit restoring. In contrast, those who strongly endorsed hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies were always motivated to support the status quo, regardless of their preference for the merit principle. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Justifications and comparisons in the division of household labor: the relevance of gender ideology.

PubMed

Martínez, Carmen; Paterna, Consuelo; Yago, Carmen

2010-05-01

This study tests the direct relevance of justifications and social comparisons (predictors of perceptions of fairness) on different types of household labour distribution, and the importance of masculinity ideology and neosexism on these variables. The participants were heterosexual dual-earner couples. Our results showed that both men and women use more justifications when their housework distribution is not equal, but only women use social comparisons associated with the ways of distributing domestic work. In addition, we observe that, in both men and women, justifications are related to a traditional masculine ideology, but a different model appears in relation to comparisons which are associated with neosexism in men and with traditional masculine ideology in women. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Competency criteria and the class inclusion task: modeling judgments and justifications.

PubMed

Thomas, H; Horton, J J

1997-11-01

Preschool age children's class inclusion task responses were modeled as mixtures of different probability distributions. The main idea: Different response strategies are equivalent to different probability distributions. A child displays cognitive strategy s if P (child uses strategy s, given the child's observed score X = x) = p(s) is the most probable strategy. The general approach is widely applicable to many settings. Both judgment and justification questions were asked. Judgment response strategies identified were subclass comparison, guessing, and inclusion logic. Children's justifications lagged their judgments in development. Although justification responses may be useful, C. J. Brainerd was largely correct: If a single response variable is to be selected, a judgments variable is likely the preferable one. But the process must be modeled to identify cognitive strategies, as B. Hodkin has demonstrated.

Justification and radiology: some ethical considerations.

PubMed

Sia, Santiago

2009-07-01

This paper, which seeks to address the issue of justification in radiology, intends firstly to comment on the current discussion of the ethical foundation of radiological practice that focuses on the move from utilitarianism to the rights-centred criterion. Secondly, and this constitutes the bulk of the paper, it aims to offer a philosophical perspective, which is hoped will lead to a consideration of certain specific areas in ethical decision-making in the attempts here to deal with the main issue of justification in radiology.

Preservice Elementary Teachers Increase Descriptive Science Vocabulary by Making Descriptive Adjective Object Boxes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rule, Audrey C.; Crisafulli, Sherry; DeCare, Heather; DeLeo, Tonya; Eastman, Keri; Farrell, Liz; Geblein, Jennifer; Gioia, Chelsea; Joyce, Ashley; Killian, Kali; Knoop, Kelly; LaRocca, Alison; Meyer, Katie; Miller, Julianne; Roth, Vicki; Throo, Julie; Van Arsdale, Jim; Walker, Malissa

2007-01-01

Descriptive vocabulary is needed for communication and mental processing of science observations. Elementary preservice teachers in a science methods class at a mid-sized public college in central New York State increased their descriptive vocabularies through a course assignment of making a descriptive adjective object box. This teaching material…

75 FR 34096 - Application(s) for Duty-Free Entry of Scientific Instruments

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-16

... dynamin, using negative stain nad cryo-electron microscopy methods. Justification for Duty-Free Entry..., using negative stain nad cryo-electron microscopy methods. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are...

CE: Original research: hospital system barriers to rapid response team activation: a cognitive work analysis.

PubMed

Braaten, Jane Saucedo

2015-02-01

The goal of rapid response team (RRT) activation in acute care facilities is to decrease mortality from preventable complications, but such efforts have been only moderately successful. Although recent research has shown decreased mortality when RRTs are activated more often, many hospitals have low activation rates. This has been linked to various hospital, team, and nursing factors. Yet there is a dearth of research examining how hospital systems shape nurses' behavior with regard to RRT activation. Making systemic constraints visible and modifying them may be the key to improving RRT activation rates and saving more lives. The purpose of this study was to use cognitive work analysis to describe factors within the hospital system that shape medical-surgical nurses' RRT activation behavior. Cognitive work analysis offers a framework for the study of complex sociotechnical systems. This framework was used as the organizing element of the study. Qualitative descriptive design was used to obtain data to fill the framework's five domains: resources, tasks, strategies, social systems, and worker competency. Data were obtained from interviews with 12 medical-surgical nurses and document review. Directed content analysis was used to place the obtained data into the framework's predefined domains. Many system factors affected participants' decisions to activate or not activate an RRT. Systemic constraints, especially in cases of subtle or gradual clinical changes, included a lack of adequate information, the availability of multiple strategies, the need to justify RRT activation, a scarcity of human resources, and informal hierarchical norms in the hospital culture. The most profound constraint was the need to justify the call. Justification was based on the objective or subjective nature of clinical changes, whether the nurse expected to be able to "handle" these changes, the presence or absence of a physician, and whether there was an expectation of support from the RRT team. The need for justification led to delays in RRT activation. Although it's generally thought that RRTs are activated without hesitation, this study found the opposite was true. All of the aforementioned constraints increase the cognitive processing load on the nurse. The value of the RRT could be increased by modifying these constraints-in particular, by lifting the need to justify calls, improving protocols, and broadening the range of culturally acceptable triggers-and by involving the RRT earlier in patient cases through discussion, consultation, and collaboration.

A holistic strategy for adaptive land management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Herrick, Jeffrey E.; Duniway, Michael C.; Pyke, David A.; Bestelmeyer, Brandon T.; Wills, Skye A.; Brown, Joel R.; Karl, Jason W.; Havstad, Kris M.

2012-01-01

Adaptive management is widely applied to natural resources management (Holling 1973; Walters and Holling 1990). Adaptive management can be generally defined as an iterative decision-making process that incorporates formulation of management objectives, actions designed to address these objectives, monitoring of results, and repeated adaptation of management until desired results are achieved (Brown and MacLeod 1996; Savory and Butterfield 1999). However, adaptive management is often criticized because very few projects ever complete more than one cycle, resulting in little adaptation and little knowledge gain (Lee 1999; Walters 2007). One significant criticism is that adaptive management is often used as a justification for undertaking actions with uncertain outcomes or as a surrogate for the development of specific, measurable indicators and monitoring programs (Lee 1999; Ruhl 2007).

The interactional foundations of MaxEnt: Open questions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harré, Michael S.

2014-12-01

One of the simplest and potentially most useful techniques to be developed in the 20th century, a century noted for an ever more mathematically sophisticated formulation of the sciences, is that of maximising the entropy of a system in order to generate a descriptive, stochastic model of that system in closed form, often abbreviated to MaxEnt. The extension of MaxEnt to systems beyond the physics from which it originated is hampered by the fact that the microscopic physical interactions that are not justified or justifiable within the MaxEnt framework need to be falsifiably evaluated in each new field of application. It is not obvious that such justification exists for many systems in which the interactions are not directly based on physics. For example what is the justification for the use of MaxEnt in biology, climate modelling or economics? Is it simply a useful heuristic or is there some deeper connection with the foundations of some systems? Without further critical examination of the microscopic foundations that give rise to the success of the MaxEnt principle it is difficult to motivate the use of such techniques in other fields except through theoretically an practically unsatisfying analogical arguments. This article briefly presents the basis of MaxEnt principles as originally introduced in statistical mechanics in the Jaynes form, the Tsallis form and the Rényi form. Several different applications are introduced including that of ecological diversity where maximising the different diversity measures is equivalent to maximising different entropic functionals.

76 FR 38187 - International Conference on Harmonisation; Draft Guidance on Q11 Development and Manufacture of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-29

...The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance entitled ``Q11 Development and Manufacture of Drug Substances.'' The draft guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The draft guidance describes approaches to developing process and drug substance understanding and provides guidance on what information should be provided in certain sections of the Common Technical Document (CTD). The draft guidance is intended to harmonize the scientific and technical principles relating to the description and justification of the development and manufacturing process of drug substances (both chemical entities and biotechnological/biological entities) to enable a consistent approach for providing and evaluating this information across the three regions.

On the Naming and Dscovery of the Solar Chromosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reardon, Kevin P.

2014-06-01

The chromosphere was discovered by Lockyer and Janssen in 1868, and named by Lockyer. It is often stated that his motivation for associating this region of the solar atmosphere with "color" was because of its bright red appearance at eclipses due to the predominance of H-alpha. However, Lockyer had never seen a total solar eclipse at the time he gave the name and does not appear to have provided this justification himself. It is more likely that the "color" refers to the plethora of different colored emission lines he saw and identified with his spectrograph.I also discuss the Padre Angelo Secchi's observation of the 1860 eclipse in Spain, His accurate description of the chromosphere as a complete, theretofore unseen layer enveloping the Sun predates Lockyer and Janssen by eight years.

The implementation, interpretation, and justification of likelihoods in cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCoy, C. D.

2018-05-01

I discuss the formal implementation, interpretation, and justification of likelihood attributions in cosmology. I show that likelihood arguments in cosmology suffer from significant conceptual and formal problems that undermine their applicability in this context.

Nuclear Criticality Safety Data Book

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hollenbach, D. F.

The objective of this document is to support the revision of criticality safety process studies (CSPSs) for the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). This design analysis and calculation (DAC) document contains development and justification for generic inputs typically used in Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) DACs to model both normal and abnormal conditions of processes at UPF to support CSPSs. This will provide consistency between NCS DACs and efficiency in preparation and review of DACs, as frequently used data are provided in one reference source.

Procreative liberty: the case for preconception sex selection.

PubMed

Dahl, Edgar

2003-01-01

Preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons raises serious moral, legal and social issues. The main concerns include the threat of a sex ratio distortion due to a common preference for boys over girls, the charge of sexism, the danger of reinforcing gender stereotypical behaviour in sex selected children, and the fear of a slippery slope towards creating designer babies. This paper endeavours to show that none of the objections to preconception sex selection is conclusive and that there is no justification for denying parents the right to choose the sex of their prospective children.

The development and validation of the advance care planning questionnaire in Malaysia.

PubMed

Lai, Pauline Siew Mei; Mohd Mudri, Salinah; Chinna, Karuthan; Othman, Sajaratulnisah

2016-10-18

Advance care planning is a voluntary process whereby individual preferences, values and beliefs are used to aid a person in planning for end-of-life care. Currently, there is no local instrument to assess an individual's awareness and attitude towards advance care planning. This study aimed to develop an Advance Care Planning Questionnaire and to determine its validity and reliability among older people in Malaysia. The Advance Care Planning Questionnaire was developed based on literature review. Face and content validity was verified by an expert panel, and piloted among 15 participants. Our study was conducted from October 2013 to February 2014, at an urban primary care clinic in Malaysia. Included were those aged >50 years, who could understand English. A retest was conducted 2 weeks after the first administration. Participants from the pilot study did not encounter any problems in answering the Advance Care Planning Questionnaire. Hence, no further modifications were made. Flesch reading ease was 71. The final version of the Advance Care Planning Questionnaire consists of 66 items: 30 items were measured on a nominal scale, whilst 36 items were measured on a Likert-like scale; of which we were only able to validate 22 items, as the remaining 14 items were descriptive in nature. A total of 245 eligible participants were approached; of which 230 agreed to participate (response rate = 93.9 %). Factor analysis on the 22 items measured on a Likert-scale revealed four domains: "feelings regarding advance care planning", "justifications for advance care planning", "justifications for not having advance care planning: fate and religion", and "justifications for not having advance care planning: avoid thinking about death". The Cronbach's alpha values for items each domain ranged from 0.637-0.915. In test-retest, kappa values ranged from 0.738-0.947. The final Advance Care Planning Questionnaire consisted of 63 items and 4 domains. It was found to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess the awareness and attitude of older people in Malaysia towards advance care planning.

Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 Budget Estimates. Army National Guard. Military Construction Program FY 2001. Justification Data Submission to Congress. Department of the Army.

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-02-01

CONSIDERATIONS ix-xx FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PLAN AUDIT TRAIL xxi-xxiii PROJECT JUSTIFICATION DOCUMENTS 1-149 PLANNING & DESIGN JUSTIFICATION DOCUMENT 15 0...OUTSTANDING POLUTION AND SAFETY DEFICIENCIES: DDl°™1390s2 MAY 78 1. COMPONENT FY 2001 GUARD AND RESERVE 2. DATE ARNG MILITARY CONSTRUCTION FEB00 3...TOTAL 36 286 13 MAJOR EQUIPMENT AND AIRCRAFT TYPE AUTHORIZED ASSIGNED 14. OUTSTANDING POLUTION AND SAFETY DEFICIENCIES: DD:A O™1390S2 1

Design and Implementation of a Prototype Microcomputer Database Management System for the Standardization of Data Elements for the Department of Defense

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-09-01

Justification Cat: Left Timeliness Identifier: Qwe (FI] Domain I Def Text: -Press [F3 to nove in/out of the fields below. Use ARROW keys to scroll- Rec: Host...Delete a record Elemont Creator ID: Justification Cat: Left Timeliness Identifier: Qwe [FI) Domain Def Text: - Press (F3) to move in/out of the...Number: 1 Alias Name: Accounting Code Data Value Type ID: QL Max Length Characters: 34 Timeliness ID: Qwe Justification Category: Left Creator ID: Domain

Appealing to the crowd: ethical justifications in Canadian medical crowdfunding campaigns

PubMed Central

Snyder, Jeremy; Crooks, Valorie A; Mathers, Annalise; Chow-White, Peter

2017-01-01

Medical crowdfunding is growing in terms of the number of active campaigns, amount of funding raised and public visibility. Little is known about how campaigners appeal to potential donors outside of anecdotal evidence collected in news reports on specific medical crowdfunding campaigns. This paper offers a first step towards addressing this knowledge gap by examining medical crowdfunding campaigns for Canadian recipients. Using 80 medical crowdfunding campaigns for Canadian recipients, we analyse how Canadians justify to others that they ought to contribute to funding their health needs. We find the justifications campaigners tend to fall into three themes: personal connections, depth of need and giving back. We further discuss how these appeals can understood in terms of ethical justifications for giving and how these justifications should be assessed in light of the academic literature on ethical concerns raised by medical crowdfunding. PMID:28137998

System justification, the denial of global warming, and the possibility of "system-sanctioned change".

PubMed

Feygina, Irina; Jost, John T; Goldsmith, Rachel E

2010-03-01

Despite extensive evidence of climate change and environmental destruction, polls continue to reveal widespread denial and resistance to helping the environment. It is posited here that these responses are linked to the motivational tendency to defend and justify the societal status quo in the face of the threat posed by environmental problems. The present research finds that system justification tendencies are associated with greater denial of environmental realities and less commitment to pro-environmental action. Moreover, the effects of political conservatism, national identification, and gender on denial of environmental problems are explained by variability in system justification tendencies. However, this research finds that it is possible to eliminate the negative effect of system justification on environmentalism by encouraging people to regard pro-environmental change as patriotic and consistent with protecting the status quo (i.e., as a case of "system-sanctioned change"). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Justification bias in self-reported disability: New evidence from panel data.

PubMed

Black, Nicole; Johnston, David W; Suziedelyte, Agne

2017-07-01

The relationship between health and work is frequently investigated using self-assessments of disability from social surveys. The complication is that respondents may overstate their level of disability to justify non-employment and welfare receipt. This study provides new evidence on the existence and magnitude of justification bias by exploiting a novel feature of a large longitudinal survey: each wave respondents are asked identical disability questions twice; near the beginning and end of the face-to-face interview. Prior to answering the second disability question, respondents are asked a series of questions that increase the salience of their employment and welfare circumstances. Justification bias is identified by comparing the variation between the two measures within-individuals over time, with the variation in employment status over time. Results indicate substantial and statistically significant justification bias; especially for men and women who receive disability pensions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conscientious objection to referrals for abortion: pragmatic solution or threat to women’s rights?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Conscientious objection has spurred impassioned debate in many Western countries. Some Norwegian general practitioners (GPs) refuse to refer for abortion. Little is know about how the GPs carry out their refusals in practice, how they perceive their refusal to fit with their role as professionals, and how refusals impact patients. Empirical data can inform subsequent normative analysis. Methods Qualitative research interviews were conducted with seven GPs, all Christians. Transcripts were analysed using systematic text condensation. Results Informants displayed a marked ambivalence towards their own refusal practices. Five main topics emerged in the interviews: 1) carrying out conscientious objection in practice, 2) justification for conscientious objection, 3) challenges when relating to colleagues, 4) ambivalence and consistency, 5) effects on the doctor-patient relationship. Conclusions Norwegian GP conscientious objectors were given to consider both pros and cons when evaluating their refusal practices. They had settled on a practical compromise, the precise form of which would vary, and which was deemed an acceptable middle way between competing interests. PMID:24571955

A Fuzzy Description Logic with Automatic Object Membership Measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Yi; Leung, Ho-Fung

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy description logic named f om -DL by combining the classical view in cognitive psychology and fuzzy set theory. A formal mechanism used to determine object memberships automatically in concepts is also proposed, which is lacked in previous work fuzzy description logics. In this mechanism, object membership is based on the defining properties of concept definition and properties in object description. Moreover, while previous works cannot express the qualitative measurements of an object possessing a property, we introduce two kinds of properties named N-property and L-property, which are quantitative measurements and qualitative measurements of an object possessing a property respectively. The subsumption and implication of concepts and properties are also explored in our work. We believe that it is useful to the Semantic Web community for reasoning the fuzzy membership of objects for concepts in fuzzy ontologies.

Justification of diagnostic medical exposures: some practical issues. Report of an International Atomic Energy Agency Consultation.

PubMed

Malone, J; Guleria, R; Craven, C; Horton, P; Järvinen, H; Mayo, J; O'reilly, G; Picano, E; Remedios, D; Le Heron, J; Rehani, M; Holmberg, O; Czarwinski, R

2012-05-01

The Radiation Protection of Patients Unit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about the effectiveness of justification of diagnostic medical exposures. Recent published work and the report of an initial IAEA consultation in the area gave grounds for such concerns. There is a significant level of inappropriate usage, and, in some cases, a poor level of awareness of dose and risk among some key groups involved. This article aims to address this. The IAEA convened a second group of experts in November 2008 to review practical and achievable actions that might lead to more effective justification. This report summarises the matters that this group considered and the outcome of their deliberations. There is a need for improved communication, both within professions and between professionals on one hand, and between professionals and the patients/public on the other. Coupled with this, the issue of consent to imaging procedures was revisited. The need for good evidence-based referral guidelines or criteria of acceptability was emphasised, as was the need for their global adaptation and dissemination. Clinical audit was regarded as a key tool in ensuring that justification becomes an effective, transparent and accountable part of normal radiological practice. In summary, justification would be facilitated by the "3 As": awareness, appropriateness and audit.

78 FR 13860 - Application(s) for Duty-Free Entry of Scientific Instruments

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-01

... human diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiency and dementia. Justification... organism levels. The data will be used to improve management of human diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiency and dementia. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no...

Inoculating against Pro-Plagiarism Justifications: Rational and Affective Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compton, Josh; Pfau, Michael

2008-01-01

Student plagiarism continues to threaten academic integrity. This investigation assessed whether an inoculation message strategy could combat university plagiarism by protecting student attitudes against pro-plagiarism justification arguments. Additionally, we sought theoretical confirmation of previous findings on involvement and accessibility in…

48 CFR 606.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Approval of the justification. 606.304 Section 606.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF STATE COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 606.304...

16 CFR 1702.7 - Justification for the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Justification for the exemption. 1702.7 Section 1702.7 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT OF 1970 REGULATIONS PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT REQUIREMENTS; PETITION...

16 CFR 1702.7 - Justification for the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Justification for the exemption. 1702.7 Section 1702.7 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT OF 1970 REGULATIONS PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT REQUIREMENTS; PETITION...

16 CFR 1702.7 - Justification for the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Justification for the exemption. 1702.7 Section 1702.7 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT OF 1970 REGULATIONS PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT REQUIREMENTS; PETITION...

16 CFR 1702.7 - Justification for the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Justification for the exemption. 1702.7 Section 1702.7 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT OF 1970 REGULATIONS PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT REQUIREMENTS; PETITION...

Implementation strategies: recommendations for specifying and reporting

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Implementation strategies have unparalleled importance in implementation science, as they constitute the ‘how to’ component of changing healthcare practice. Yet, implementation researchers and other stakeholders are not able to fully utilize the findings of studies focusing on implementation strategies because they are often inconsistently labelled and poorly described, are rarely justified theoretically, lack operational definitions or manuals to guide their use, and are part of ‘packaged’ approaches whose specific elements are poorly understood. We address the challenges of specifying and reporting implementation strategies encountered by researchers who design, conduct, and report research on implementation strategies. Specifically, we propose guidelines for naming, defining, and operationalizing implementation strategies in terms of seven dimensions: actor, the action, action targets, temporality, dose, implementation outcomes addressed, and theoretical justification. Ultimately, implementation strategies cannot be used in practice or tested in research without a full description of their components and how they should be used. As with all intervention research, their descriptions must be precise enough to enable measurement and ‘reproducibility.’ We propose these recommendations to improve the reporting of implementation strategies in research studies and to stimulate further identification of elements pertinent to implementation strategies that should be included in reporting guidelines for implementation strategies. PMID:24289295

Implementation strategies: recommendations for specifying and reporting.

PubMed

Proctor, Enola K; Powell, Byron J; McMillen, J Curtis

2013-12-01

Implementation strategies have unparalleled importance in implementation science, as they constitute the 'how to' component of changing healthcare practice. Yet, implementation researchers and other stakeholders are not able to fully utilize the findings of studies focusing on implementation strategies because they are often inconsistently labelled and poorly described, are rarely justified theoretically, lack operational definitions or manuals to guide their use, and are part of 'packaged' approaches whose specific elements are poorly understood. We address the challenges of specifying and reporting implementation strategies encountered by researchers who design, conduct, and report research on implementation strategies. Specifically, we propose guidelines for naming, defining, and operationalizing implementation strategies in terms of seven dimensions: actor, the action, action targets, temporality, dose, implementation outcomes addressed, and theoretical justification. Ultimately, implementation strategies cannot be used in practice or tested in research without a full description of their components and how they should be used. As with all intervention research, their descriptions must be precise enough to enable measurement and 'reproducibility.' We propose these recommendations to improve the reporting of implementation strategies in research studies and to stimulate further identification of elements pertinent to implementation strategies that should be included in reporting guidelines for implementation strategies.

Health Care Professionals' Attitudes About Physician-Assisted Death: An Analysis of Their Justifications and the Roles of Terminology and Patient Competency.

PubMed

Braverman, Derek W; Marcus, Brian S; Wakim, Paul G; Mercurio, Mark R; Kopf, Gary S

2017-10-01

Health care professionals (HCPs) are crucial to physician-assisted death (PAD) provision. To quantitatively assess the favorability of justifications for or against PAD legalization among HCPs, the effect of the terms "suicide" and "euthanasia" on their views and their support for three forms of PAD. Our questionnaire presented three cases: physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia for a competent patient, and euthanasia for an incompetent patient with an advance directive for euthanasia. Respondents judged whether each case was ethical and should be legal and selected their justifications from commonly cited reasons. The sample included physician clinicians, researchers, nonphysician clinicians, and other nonclinical staff at a major academic medical center. Of 221 HCPs, the majority thought that each case was ethical and should be legal. In order of declining favorability, justifications supporting PAD legalization were relief of suffering, right to die, mercy, acceptance of death, nonabandonment, and saving money for the health care system; opposing justifications were the slippery slope argument, unnecessary due to palliative care, killing patients is wrong, religious views, and suicide is wrong. The use of suicide and euthanasia terminology did not affect responses. Participants preferred physician-assisted suicide to euthanasia for a competent patient (P < 0.0001) and euthanasia for an incompetent patient to euthanasia for a competent patient (P < 0.005). HCPs endorsed patient-centered justifications over other reasons, including role-specific duties. Suicide and euthanasia language did not bias HCPs against PAD, challenging claims that such value-laden terms hinder dialogue. More research is required to understand the significance of competency in shaping attitudes toward PAD. Published by Elsevier Inc.

An examination of domestic partner violence and its justification in the Republic of Georgia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Little research on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and social perceptions toward this behavior has been disseminated from Eastern Europe. This study explores the prevalence and risk factors of IPV and the justification of this behavior among women in the Republic of Georgia. It seeks to better understand how IPV and IPV justification relate and how social justification of IPV differs across socio-economic measures among this population of women. Methods This study utilizes a national sample of ever-married women from the Republic of Georgia (N = 4,302). We describe the factors that predict IPV justification among these women and the relationship between of the acceptability of IPV and victimization overall and across socio-demographic factors. Results While the overall lifetime prevalence of IPV in this sample was relatively low (4%), these women were two to four times more likely to justify IPV, Just under one-quarter of the sample agreed that IPV was justified in at least one scenario, namely when the wife was unfaithful, compared with women who had no experience being abused by a partner. Georgian women who were poor, from a rural community, had lower education, were not working and who experienced child abuse or IPV among their parents were more likely to justify this behavior. Conclusions These findings begin to fill a gap in our understanding of IPV experienced by women in Eastern Europe. In addition, these findings emphasize the need for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to contextualize IPV in terms of the justification of this behavior among the population being considered as this can play an important role in perpetration, victimization and response. PMID:24180483

13 CFR 130.460 - Budget justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Budget justification. 130.460 Section 130.460 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT... in the normal course of Program administration, and conform to the written travel policies of the...

28 CFR 570.32 - Justification for furlough.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Justification for furlough. 570.32 Section 570.32 Judicial Administration BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AND... plans; (3) To reestablish family and community ties; (4) To participate in selected educational, social...

48 CFR 6.305 - Availability of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.305 Availability of the... contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citations as are necessary to protect the proprietary data, before making the justifications available for public inspection...

48 CFR 6.305 - Availability of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.305 Availability of the... contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citations as are necessary to protect the proprietary data, before making the justifications available for public inspection...

48 CFR 6.305 - Availability of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.305 Availability of the... contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citations as are necessary to protect the proprietary data, before making the justifications available for public inspection...

48 CFR 6.305 - Availability of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.305 Availability of the... contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citations as are necessary to protect the proprietary data, before making the justifications available for public inspection...

48 CFR 6.305 - Availability of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.305 Availability of the... contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citations as are necessary to protect the proprietary data, before making the justifications available for public inspection...

Progress in Modeling Nonlinear Dendritic Evolution in Two and Three Dimensions, and Its Mathematical Justification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tanveer, S.; Foster, M. R.

2002-01-01

We report progress in three areas of investigation related to dendritic crystal growth. Those items include: 1. Selection of tip features dendritic crystal growth; 2) Investigation of nonlinear evolution for two-sided model; and 3) Rigorous mathematical justification.

30 CFR 700.12 - Petitions to initiate rulemaking.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... statement of the facts, technical justification, and law which require issuance, amendment, or repeal of a... of the petition, the Director shall determine if the petition sets forth facts, technical.... Facts, technical justification or law previously considered in a petition or rulemaking on the same...

Justification of Paternalism in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordenbo, Sven Erik

1986-01-01

A systematic presentation is given of the theories of justification normally applied to paternalistic acts: (1) pseudo-paternalism, (2) consequentialism, and (3) consent-based theories. The validity of four common arguments for educational paternalism is discussed: education is necessary, children are ignorant, children are unable to choose, and…

48 CFR 6.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Approval of the justification. 6.304 Section 6.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 6.304 Approval of the...

48 CFR 1306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... justification. 1306.304 Section 1306.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 1306.304... open competition at the dollar thresholds in FAR 6.304 is set forth in CAM 1301.70. ...

48 CFR 1406.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Approval of the justification. 1406.304 Section 1406.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 1406.304...

48 CFR 906.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Approval of the justification. 906.304 Section 906.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY COMPETITION ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 906.304 Approval of the...

Appealing to the crowd: ethical justifications in Canadian medical crowdfunding campaigns.

PubMed

Snyder, Jeremy; Crooks, Valorie A; Mathers, Annalise; Chow-White, Peter

2017-06-01

Medical crowdfunding is growing in terms of the number of active campaigns, amount of funding raised and public visibility. Little is known about how campaigners appeal to potential donors outside of anecdotal evidence collected in news reports on specific medical crowdfunding campaigns. This paper offers a first step towards addressing this knowledge gap by examining medical crowdfunding campaigns for Canadian recipients. Using 80 medical crowdfunding campaigns for Canadian recipients, we analyse how Canadians justify to others that they ought to contribute to funding their health needs. We find the justifications campaigners tend to fall into three themes: personal connections, depth of need and giving back. We further discuss how these appeals can understood in terms of ethical justifications for giving and how these justifications should be assessed in light of the academic literature on ethical concerns raised by medical crowdfunding. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

On Engster's care-justification of the specialness thesis about healthcare.

PubMed

Rumbold, Benedict

2017-08-01

To say health is 'special' is to say that it has a moral significance that differentiates it from other goods (cars, say or radios) and, as a matter of justice, warrants distributing it separately. In this essay, I critique a new justification for the specialness thesis about healthcare (STHC) recently put forth by Engster. I argue that, regrettably, Engster's justification of STHC ultimately fails and fails on much the same grounds as have previous justifications of STHC. However, I also argue that Engster's argument still adds something valuable to the debate around STHC insofar as it reminds us that the moral significance of healthcare may be wider than simply its effect on the incidence of disability and disease: one further reason we may think healthcare is morally significant is because it concerns the treatment and care of those who are already unwell. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Justification beliefs of violence, myths about love and cyber dating abuse.

PubMed

Borrajo, Erika; Gámez-Guadix, Manuel; Calvete, Esther

2015-01-01

Distorted beliefs about violence and love are often associated with the presence of violence in dating relationships. This study analyzes the relationship between beliefs that justify violence and myths about love in two types of cyber dating abuse (control and direct aggression). The sample consisted of 656 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 years (79.5% women). Regression analysis showed that justification of cyber dating abuse was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of direct aggression in online dating relationships. Myths about love were associated with a greater likelihood of control in online dating relationships. Furthermore, the relationship between justification of cyber dating abuse and perpetration of direct aggression was stronger in women. The relationship between myths about love and perpetration of online control was stronger among the youngest individuals. The justification of abuse and myths about love are important aspects in the development of different kinds of online abuse among young couples. This finding has important implications for the prevention of and intervention in these behaviors.

Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification.

PubMed

Jost, John T; Kay, Aaron C

2005-03-01

Many have suggested that complementary gender stereotypes of men as agentic (but not communal) and women as communal (but not agentic) serve to increase system justification, but direct experimental support has been lacking. The authors exposed people to specific types of gender-related beliefs and subsequently asked them to complete measures of gender-specific or diffuse system justification. In Studies 1 and 2, activating (a) communal or complementary (communal + agentic) gender stereotypes or (b) benevolent or complementary (benevolent + hostile) sexist items increased support for the status quo among women. In Study 3, activating stereotypes of men as agentic also increased system justification among men and women, but only when women's characteristics were associated with higher status. Results suggest that complementary stereotypes psychologically offset the one-sided advantage of any single group and contribute to an image of society in which everyone benefits through a balanced dispersion of benefits. ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

Reducing duplicate testing: a comparison of two clinical decision support tools.

PubMed

Procop, Gary W; Keating, Catherine; Stagno, Paul; Kottke-Marchant, Kandice; Partin, Mary; Tuttle, Robert; Wyllie, Robert

2015-05-01

Unnecessary duplicate laboratory testing is common and costly. Systems-based means to avert unnecessary testing should be investigated and employed. We compared the effectiveness and cost savings associated with two clinical decision support tools to stop duplicate testing. The Hard Stop required telephone contact with the laboratory and justification to have the duplicate test performed, whereas the Smart Alert allowed the provider to bypass the alert at the point of order entry without justification. The Hard Stop alert was significantly more effective than the Smart Alert (92.3% vs 42.6%, respectively; P < .0001). The cost savings realized per alert activation was $16.08/alert for the Hard Stop alert vs $3.52/alert for the Smart Alert. Structural and process changes that require laboratory contact and justification for duplicate testing are more effective than interventions that allow providers to bypass alerts without justification at point of computerized physician order entry. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

Scaling and efficiency determine the irreversible evolution of a market

PubMed Central

Baldovin, F.; Stella, A. L.

2007-01-01

In setting up a stochastic description of the time evolution of a financial index, the challenge consists in devising a model compatible with all stylized facts emerging from the analysis of financial time series and providing a reliable basis for simulating such series. Based on constraints imposed by market efficiency and on an inhomogeneous-time generalization of standard simple scaling, we propose an analytical model which accounts simultaneously for empirical results like the linear decorrelation of successive returns, the power law dependence on time of the volatility autocorrelation function, and the multiscaling associated to this dependence. In addition, our approach gives a justification and a quantitative assessment of the irreversible character of the index dynamics. This irreversibility enters as a key ingredient in a novel simulation strategy of index evolution which demonstrates the predictive potential of the model.

Death by request in The Netherlands: facts, the legal context and effects on physicians, patients and families

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

In this article I intend to describe an issue of the Dutch euthanasia practice that is not common knowledge. After some general introductory descriptions, by way of formulating a frame of reference, I shall describe the effects of this practice on patients, physicians and families, followed by a more philosophical reflection on the significance of these effects for the assessment of the authenticity of a request and the nature of unbearable suffering, two key concepts in the procedure towards euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. This article does not focus on the arguments for or against euthanasia and the ethical justification of physician-assisted dying. These arguments have been described extensively in Kimsma and Van Leeuwen (Asking to die. Inside the Dutch debate about euthanasia, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1998). PMID:20668949

Death by request in The Netherlands: facts, the legal context and effects on physicians, patients and families.

PubMed

Kimsma, G K

2010-11-01

In this article I intend to describe an issue of the Dutch euthanasia practice that is not common knowledge. After some general introductory descriptions, by way of formulating a frame of reference, I shall describe the effects of this practice on patients, physicians and families, followed by a more philosophical reflection on the significance of these effects for the assessment of the authenticity of a request and the nature of unbearable suffering, two key concepts in the procedure towards euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. This article does not focus on the arguments for or against euthanasia and the ethical justification of physician-assisted dying. These arguments have been described extensively in Kimsma and Van Leeuwen (Asking to die. Inside the Dutch debate about euthanasia, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1998).

Title I preliminary engineering for: A. S. E. F. solid waste to methane gas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1976-01-01

An assignment to provide preliminary engineering of an Advanced System Experimental Facility for production of methane gas from urban solid waste by anaerobic digestion is documented. The experimental facility will be constructed on a now-existing solid waste shredding and landfill facility in Pompano Beach, Florida. Information is included on: general description of the project; justification of basic need; process design; preliminary drawings; outline specifications; preliminary estimate of cost; and time schedules for design and construction of accomplishment of design and construction. The preliminary cost estimate for the design and construction phases of the experimental program is $2,960,000, based on Dec.more » 1975 and Jan. 1976 costs. A time schedule of eight months to complete the Detailed Design, Equipment Procurement and the Award of Subcontracts is given.« less

"They Sweat for Science": The Harvard Fatigue Laboratory and Self-Experimentation in American Exercise Physiology.

PubMed

Johnson, Andi

2015-08-01

In many scientific fields, the practice of self-experimentation waned over the course of the twentieth century. For exercise physiologists working today, however, the practice of self-experimentation is alive and well. This paper considers the role of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory and its scientific director, D. Bruce Dill, in legitimizing the practice of self-experimentation in exercise physiology. Descriptions of self-experimentation are drawn from papers published by members of the Harvard Fatigue Lab. Attention is paid to the ethical and practical justifications for self-experimentation in both the lab and the field. Born out of the practical, immediate demands of fatigue protocols, self-experimentation performed the long-term, epistemological function of uniting physiological data across time and space, enabling researchers to contribute to a general human biology program.

Isolation, gratification, justification: offenders' explanations of child molesting.

PubMed

Lawson, Louanne

2003-01-01

Child sexual abusers' descriptions of their thoughts, behaviors, and relationships were identified by reviewing qualitative research studies published between 1982 and 2001. Offenders used cognitive distortions to meet personal needs, protect themselves from aversive self-awareness, and overcome internal inhibitions against engaging children in sexual activity. Offenders carefully groomed their victims by systematically separating them from their families and peers and socializing them into sexual relationships. Specific cognitive and behavioral processes were used to translate sexual arousal into offending behavior. Offenders justified the abuse by making excuses and redefining their actions as love and mutuality. Throughout the process, offenders exploited the power imbalance inherent in all adult-child relationships. The participants in these studies provided a unique perspective on child sexual abuse that can be used to help victims cope, guide treatment development and evaluation, and suggest new questions for future research.

Cultivating Parabolas in the Parlor Garden: Reconciling Mathematics Education and Feminine Ideals in Nineteenth-Century America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiss, Andrew

2014-02-01

This article introduces the justification problem for mathematics, which it explores through the case study of 1820s-1840s rationales for the teaching of mathematics to women in the United States. It argues that, while educators in the 1820s justified women's studies through mental discipline (a common reason for men's study), those of the 1830s-1840s increasingly relied on separate, gendered justifications, tied to emerging ideals of middle-class femininity. This article therefore emphasizes the contingency of the justification problem, which serves to break the present-day cycle of gender stereotypes regarding mathematics.

Medically Inappropriate or Futile Treatment: Deliberation and Justification 1

PubMed Central

Misak, Cheryl J.; White, Douglas B.; Truog, Robert D.

2016-01-01

This paper reframes the futility debate, moving away from the question “Who decides when to end what is considered to be a medically inappropriate or futile treatment?” and toward the question “How can society make policy that will best account for the multitude of values and conflicts involved in such decision-making?” It offers a pragmatist moral epistemology that provides us with (1) a clear justification of why it is important to take best standards, norms, and physician judgment seriously and (2) a clear justification of why ample opportunity must be made for patients, families, and society to challenge those standards and norms. PMID:26681796

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 412: Clean Slate I Plutonium Dispersion (TTR) Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, Revision 0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matthews, Patrick

This Closure Report (CR) presents information supporting the clean closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 412: Clean Slate I Plutonium Dispersion (TTR), located on the Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. CAU 412 consists of a release of radionuclides to the surrounding soil from a storage–transportation test conducted on May 25, 1963. Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed in April and May 2015, as set forth in the Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan for Corrective Action Unit 412: Clean Slate I Plutonium Dispersion (TTR), Tonopah Test Range, Nevada; and in accordance with the Soils Activity Quality Assurance Plan. Themore » purpose of the CAI was to fulfill data needs as defined during the data quality objectives process. The CAU 412 dataset of investigation results was evaluated based on a data quality assessment. This assessment demonstrated the dataset is complete and acceptable for use in fulfilling the data needs identified by the data quality objectives process. This CR provides documentation and justification for the clean closure of CAU 412 under the FFACO without further corrective action. This justification is based on historical knowledge of the site, previous site investigations, implementation of the 1997 interim corrective action, and the results of the CAI. The corrective action of clean closure was confirmed as appropriate for closure of CAU 412 based on achievement of the following closure objectives: Radiological contamination at the site is less than the final action level using the ground troops exposure scenario (i.e., the radiological dose is less than the final action level): Removable alpha contamination is less than the high contamination area criterion: No potential source material is present at the site, and any impacted soil associated with potential source material has been removed so that remaining soil contains contaminants at concentrations less than the final action levels: and There is sufficient information to characterize investigation and remediation waste for disposal.« less

Physics 3204. Course Description.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newfoundland and Labrador Dept. of Education.

A description of the physics 3204 course in Newfoundland and Labrador is provided. The description includes: (1) statement of purpose, including general objectives of science education; (2) a list of six course objectives; (3) course content for units on sound, light, optical instruments, electrostatics, current electricity, Michael Faraday and…

Geopotential research mission, science, engineering and program summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keating, T. (Editor); Taylor, P. (Editor); Kahn, W. (Editor); Lerch, F. (Editor)

1986-01-01

This report is based upon the accumulated scientific and engineering studies pertaining to the Geopotential Research Mission (GRM). The scientific need and justification for the measurement of the Earth's gravity and magnetic fields are discussed. Emphasis is placed upon the studies and conclusions of scientific organizations and NASA advisory groups. The engineering design and investigations performed over the last 4 years are described, and a spacecraft design capable of fulfilling all scientific objectives is presented. In addition, critical features of the scientific requirements and state-of-the-art limitations of spacecraft design, mission flight performance, and data processing are discussed.

Future prospects for gamma-ray

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fichtel, C.

1980-01-01

Astrophysical phenomena discussed are: the very energetic and nuclear processes associated with compact objects; astrophysical nucleo-synthesis; solar particle acceleration; the chemical composition of the planets and other bodies of the solar system; the structure of our galaxy; the origin and dynamic pressure effects of the cosmic rays; the high energy particles and energetic processes in other galaxies, especially active ones; and the degree of matter antimater symmetry of the universe. The gamma ray results of GAMMA-I, the gamma ray observatory, the gamma ray burst network, solar polar, and very high energy gamma ray telescopes on the ground provide justification for more sophisticated telescopes.

Future perspectives for Antarctic infrared astronomy at Dome C

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrari-Toniolo, M.

A brief presentation is done about the objectives, the justifications and the purposes of the PNRA Project entitled: ``A preliminary study of a large Antarctic IR Telescope for Dome C'', with a mention to the up-to-now history and the planned development for the next years. This research does not pretend to be either in competition or in opposition to any of the proposals in progress for IR Astronomical Observations from Antarctica, but wishes to be a contribution toward a full future utilization of the unique site characteristics expected from the High Plateau for IR Astronomy.

Univers: The construction of an internet-wide descriptive naming system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowman, C. Mic

1990-01-01

Descriptive naming systems allow clients to identify a set of objects by description. Described here is the construction of a descriptive naming system, called Univers, based on a model in which clients provide both an object description and some meta-information. The meta-information describes beliefs about the query and the naming system. Specifically, it is an ordering on a set of perfect world approximations, and it describes the preferred methods for accommodating imperfect information. The description is then resolved in a way that respects the preferred approximations.

41 CFR 109-26.501-52 - Justification for purchase.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Justification for purchase. 109-26.501-52 Section 109-26.501-52 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS SUPPLY AND...

Satellite image-based maps: Scientific inference or pretty pictures?

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts

2011-01-01

The scientific method has been characterized as having two distinct components, Discovery and Justification. Discovery emphasizes ideas and creativity, focuses on conceiving hypotheses and constructing models, and is generally regarded as lacking a formal logic. Justification begins with the hypotheses and models and ends with a...

16 CFR § 1702.7 - Justification for the exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Justification for the exemption. § 1702.7 Section § 1702.7 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT OF 1970 REGULATIONS PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT REQUIREMENTS...

The interactional foundations of MaxEnt: Open questions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harré, Michael S., E-mail: michael.harre@sydney.edu.au

One of the simplest and potentially most useful techniques to be developed in the 20{sup th} century, a century noted for an ever more mathematically sophisticated formulation of the sciences, is that of maximising the entropy of a system in order to generate a descriptive, stochastic model of that system in closed form, often abbreviated to MaxEnt. The extension of MaxEnt to systems beyond the physics from which it originated is hampered by the fact that the microscopic physical interactions that are not justified or justifiable within the MaxEnt framework need to be falsifiably evaluated in each new field ofmore » application. It is not obvious that such justification exists for many systems in which the interactions are not directly based on physics. For example what is the justification for the use of MaxEnt in biology, climate modelling or economics? Is it simply a useful heuristic or is there some deeper connection with the foundations of some systems? Without further critical examination of the microscopic foundations that give rise to the success of the MaxEnt principle it is difficult to motivate the use of such techniques in other fields except through theoretically an practically unsatisfying analogical arguments. This article briefly presents the basis of MaxEnt principles as originally introduced in statistical mechanics in the Jaynes form, the Tsallis form and the Rényi form. Several different applications are introduced including that of ecological diversity where maximising the different diversity measures is equivalent to maximising different entropic functionals.« less

French academic's views on financial compensation of participants.

PubMed

Dualé, Christian; Breysse, Gaétan; Bories-Azeau, Béatrice; Cornu, Catherine

2016-07-01

Whether and how participants in biomedical research should receive financial compensation is debated. We wished to explore how this issue was perceived by French professionals, focusing on different conditions of research. We surveyed referent responders of Clinical Investigation Centres, Research Ethics Committees and hospital administrative departments for clinical research, via referent responders who completed an online questionnaire on behalf of their respective teams. Financial compensation was addressed in terms of general perception, justifications, interpretation of French law, concrete clinical situations and compensation of incurred expenses. Descriptive analyses and correlations were carried out based on scalar responses. The questionnaire was answered by 54/116 (45·6%) centres. The ethical aspects of compensation were viewed differently by Clinical Investigation Centres and Research Ethics Committees, whereas the practical aspects were viewed similarly. Agreement to compensation for patients was lower than for healthy volunteers (74·1 vs. 98·2%). The most frequently cited justifications for compensation apart from the inconveniences of research were the potential risk and the absence of medical benefit. Most of the proposed expenses incurred were to be compensated, but agreement to reimbursement of petrol bills or childcare expense was lower. Although some of the responses align with previous surveys in other countries, this information may help French professionals to harmonise their practices. We also addressed practical issues which could be studied in other European countries, for professionals and participants. Finally, the reluctance to compensate patients requires further study, taking into account welfare environment and consequences for recruitment. © 2016 Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation.

Health Care Sharing Ministries and Their Exemption From the Individual Mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

PubMed

Galarneau, Charlene

2015-06-01

The U.S. 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) exempts members of health care sharing ministries (HCSMs) from the individual mandate to have minimum essential insurance coverage. Little is generally known about these religious organizations and even less critical attention has been brought to bear on them and their ACA exemption. Both deserve close scrutiny due to the exemption's less than clear legislative justification, their potential influence on the ACA's policy and ethical success, and their salience to current religious liberty debates surrounding the expansion of religious exemptions from ACA responsibilities for both individuals and corporations. Analyzing documents of the United States' three largest health care sharing ministries and related material, I examine these organizations and their ACA exemption with particular consideration of their ethical dimensions. Here a thick description of the nature and workings of health care sharing ministries precedes a similar account of the ACA exemption. From these empirical analyses, five ethical and policy concerns emerge: (1) the charity versus insurance status of these ministries; (2) the conflation of two ACA religious exemptions; (3) the tension between the values of religious liberty and of justice; (4) the potential undermining of ACA policy goals; and (5) the questionable compliance of health care sharing ministries with ACA exemption requirements.  An accurate and informed understanding of HCSMs is required for policymakers and others to justify the ACA exemption of health care sharing ministry members. A sufficient justification would address at least the five ethical and policy concerns raised here.

Autonomy and informed consent: a mistaken association?

PubMed

Kristinsson, Sigurdur

2007-09-01

For decades, the greater part of efforts to improve regulatory frameworks for research ethics has focused on informed consent procedures; their design, codification and regulation. Why is informed consent thought to be so important? Since the publication of the Belmont Report in 1979, the standard response has been that obtaining informed consent is a way of treating individuals as autonomous agents. Despite its political success, the philosophical validity of this Belmont view cannot be taken for granted. If the Belmont view is to be based on a conception of autonomy that generates moral justification, it will either have to be reinterpreted along Kantian lines or coupled with a something like Mill's conception of individuality. The Kantian interpretation would be a radical reinterpretation of the Belmont view, while the Millian justification is incompatible with the liberal requirement that justification for public policy should be neutral between controversial conceptions of the good. This consequence might be avoided by replacing Mill's conception of individuality with a procedural conception of autonomy, but I argue that the resulting view would in fact fail to support a non-Kantian, autonomy-based justification of informed consent. These difficulties suggest that insofar as informed consent is justified by respect for persons and considerations of autonomy, as the Belmont report maintained, the justification should be along the lines of Kantian autonomy and not individual autonomy.

ICT Student Teachers' Judgments and Justifications about Ethical Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alakurt, Turgay; Bardakci, Salih; Keser, Hafize

2012-01-01

In this study, Turkish ICT student teachers' judgments and justifications in four scenarios involving ICT-related ethical problems were investigated. Scenarios were designed based on Mason's (1986) four ethical issues: privacy, accuracy, property and accessibility. The study was carried out in the fall of 2010. We used the critical incidents…

Kierkegaard, Justification and the Integrity of Christian Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Andrew W.

2015-01-01

The doctrine of justification is frequently interpreted in a manner that excludes our active involvement in the drama of salvation. This reading has a detrimental effect on Christian education concerned to enable the learner's attentive, reasonable and responsible understanding of the Gospel. Taking its lead from Kierkegaard's account of…

41 CFR 109-28.5004 - Justification and review procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PROCUREMENT 28-STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION 28.50-Management of Equipment Held for Future Projects § 109-28.5004... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Justification and review procedures. 109-28.5004 Section 109-28.5004 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property...

Self-Justification as a Determinant of Performance-Style Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKenna, Ralph J.

1971-01-01

This study examined experimentally the effect of justification on role playing, attempting a more complete verification of the performance style type. Also of concern was whether scores on the Performance Style Test were generalizable to overt behavior on the part of females. Results supported both concerns. (Author/CG)

77 FR 35624 - Federal Acquisition Regulation; Justification and Approval of Sole-Source 8(a) Contracts: Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-14

... 2] RIN 9000-AL55 Federal Acquisition Regulation; Justification and Approval of Sole-Source 8(a... removes language indicating that the applicable section of the National Defense Authorization Act for...: June 8, 2012. Laura Auletta, Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of...

What Exactly (If Anything) Is Wrong with Paternalism towards Children?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drerup, Johannes

2017-01-01

Theoretical and practical issues concerning the justification of paternalism towards children are widely debated in a variety of philosophical contexts. The major focus of these debates lies either on questions concerning the general legitimacy of paternalism towards children or on justifications of paternalism in concrete situations involving…

Cyber Attacks and the Legal Justification for an Armed Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-25

conflict between military forces of any origin.ൟ The definition above applies only to Title 18, Chapter 113B “ Terrorism ,” and is not applicable...beyond the context of terrorism . Applying this definition to cyber attacks outside the context of terrorism will not provide legal justification for

The Learning Society: Two Justifications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Ya-hui

2010-01-01

This article examines the view that has long been fashionable in related policies and literature that the establishment of the learning society is a necessary response to changing times. This article suggests that the association between the learning society and current change may be defensible but is limited. The justification of the learning…

Lower Pay for Women's Coaches: Refuting Some Common Justifications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Joseph P.

1995-01-01

The two standard justifications for different salaries paid to male and female coaches under 1963 and 1964 civil rights/equal pay legislation must fail under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which independently prohibits gender discrimination in employment and mandates equal athletic opportunity for female students. Some suggestions…

48 CFR 306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... justification. 306.304 Section 306.304 Federal Acquisition Regulations System HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS Other Than Full and Open Competition 306.304... acquisitions in the dollar amount cited in FAR 6.304(a)(2) through (a)(4), the CCO, if applicable, and the HCA...

Enacting and Justifying Local Reforms: Implications for Understanding Change in Educational Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krumm, Andrew E.; Holmstrom, Kristi

2011-01-01

This article argues that the processes of enactment and justification comprise two key, underdeveloped aspects of sensemaking theory as applied to educational organizations. Enactment and justification are illustrated using examples drawn from a school that significantly changed the way in which it coordinated reading instruction. Examples drawn…

ICRP Publication 125: Radiological Protection in Security Screening.

PubMed

Cool, D A; Lazo, E; Tattersall, P; Simeonov, G; Niu, S

2014-07-01

The use of technologies to provide security screening for individuals and objects has been increasing rapidly, in keeping with the significant increase in security concerns worldwide. Within the spectrum of technologies, the use of ionizing radiation to provide backscatter and transmission screening capabilities has also increased. The Commission has previously made a number of statements related to the general topic of deliberate exposures of individuals in non-medical settings. This report provides advice on how the radiological protection principles recommended by the Commission should be applied within the context of security screening. More specifically, the principles of justification, optimisation of protection, and dose limitation for planned exposure situations are directly applicable to the use of ionising radiation in security screening. In addition, several specific topics are considered in this report, including the situation in which individuals may be exposed because they are concealed (‘stowaways’) in a cargo container or conveyance that may be subject to screening. The Commission continues to recommend that careful justification of screening should be considered before decisions are made to employ the technology. If a decision is made that its use is justified, the framework for protection as a planned exposure situation should be employed, including optimization of protection with the use of dose constraints and the appropriate provisions for authorisation and inspection.

Do whole-food animal feeding studies have any value in the safety assessment of GM crops?

PubMed

Herman, Rod A; Ekmay, Ricardo

2014-02-01

The use of whole-food (grain meal contained in feed) animal-feeding studies to support the safety assessment of genetically modified crops has been contentious. This may be, in part, a consequence of poorly agreed upon study objectives. Whole-food animal-feeding studies have been postulated to be useful in detecting both expected and unexpected effects on the composition of genetically modified crops. While the justification of animal feeding studies to detect unexpected effects may be inadequately supported, there may be better justification to conduct such studies in specific cases to investigate the consequences of expected compositional effects including expression of transgenic proteins. Such studies may be justified when (1) safety cannot reasonably be predicted from other evidence, (2) reasonable hypothesis for adverse effects are postulated, (3) the compositional component in question cannot be isolated or enriched in an active form for inclusion in animal feeding studies, and (4) reasonable multiples of exposure can be accomplished relative to human diets. The study design for whole-food animal-feeding studies should be hypotheses-driven, and the types of data collected should be consistent with adverse effects that are known to occur from dietary components of biological origin. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Burning of liquid pools in reduced gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kanury, A. M.

1977-01-01

The existing literature on the combustion of liquid fuel pools is reviewed to identify the physical and chemical aspects which require an improved understanding. Among the pre-, trans- and post-ignition processes, a delineation was made of those which seem to uniquely benefit from studies in the essential environment offered by spacelab. The role played by the gravitational constant in analytical and experimental justifications was developed. The analytical justifications were based on hypotheses, models and dimensional analyses whereas the experimental justifications were based on an examination of the range of gravity and gravity-dependent variables possible in the earth-based laboratories. Some preliminary expositions into the questions of feasibility of the proposed spacelab experiment are also reported.

Idleness aversion and the need for justifiable busyness.

PubMed

Hsee, Christopher K; Yang, Adelle X; Wang, Liangyan

2010-07-01

There are many apparent reasons why people engage in activity, such as to earn money, to become famous, or to advance science. In this report, however, we suggest a potentially deeper reason: People dread idleness, yet they need a reason to be busy. Accordingly, we show in two experiments that without a justification, people choose to be idle; that even a specious justification can motivate people to be busy; and that people who are busy are happier than people who are idle. Curiously, this last effect is true even if people are forced to be busy. Our research suggests that many purported goals that people pursue may be merely justifications to keep themselves busy.

A defense of the common morality.

PubMed

Beauchamp, Tom L

2003-09-01

Phenomena of moral conflict and disagreement have led writers in ethics to two antithetical conclusions: Either valid moral distinctions hold universally or they hold relative to a particular and contingent moral framework, and so cannot be applied with universal validly. Responding to three articles in this issue of the Journal that criticize his previously published views on the common morality, the author maintains that one can consistently deny universality to some justified moral norms and claim universality for others. Universality is located on the common morality and nonuniversality in other parts of the moral life, called "particular moralities." The existence of universal moral standards is defended in terms of: (1) a theory of the objectives of morality, (2) an account of the norms that achieve those objectives, and (3) an account of normative justification (both pragmatic and coherentist).

The Race and Racism of the I.Q. Argument.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willhelm, Sidney M.

A brief historical resume outlining the relationship between economics, racism, and intellectual justification for racism begins this paper, which notes that the I.Q. argument is a racist ideology in exactly the same way that Christianity, Darwinism, and Equality have been systems of justifications for America's racism. It fits the definition of…

Is There a Need for Transcendental Arguments in Discourse Ethics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, James Scott

2016-01-01

In this essay, James Scott Johnston examines Jürgen Habermas's transcendental justification of his discourse theory of morality. According to Johnston, the application of Habermas's theory to educational issues often assumes that this justification is a cogent one. However, if the theory is to provide reasoned and appropriate guidance for…

Academic Freedom: In Justification of a Universal Ideal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karran, Terence

2009-01-01

This article examines the justification for, and benefits of, academic freedom to academics, students, universities and the world at large. It surveys the development of the concept of academic freedom within Europe, more especially the impact of the reforms at the University of Berlin instigated by Wilhelm von Humboldt. Following from this, the…

Frequency band justifications for passive sensors 10.0 to 385 GHz, chapter 2. [for monitoring earth resources and the environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

Sensitivity requirements of the various measurements obtained by microwave sensors, and radiometry techniques are described. Analytical techniques applied to detailed sharing analyses are discussed. A bibliography of publications pertinent to the scientific justification of frequency requirements for passive microwave remote sensing is included.

Using Empirical Evidence in the Process of Proving: The Case of Dynamic Geometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guven, Bulent; Cekmez, Erdem; Karatas, Ilhan

2010-01-01

With the emergence of Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS), a theoretical gap between the acquisition (inductive) and the justification (deductive) of a mathematical statement has started a debate. Some educators believe that deductive proof in geometry should be abandoned in favour of an experimental approach to mathematical justification. This…

14 CFR 221.205 - Justification and explanation for certain fares.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... fares. 221.205 Section 221.205 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF... Justification and explanation for certain fares. Any carrier or its agent must provide, as to any new or increased bundled or unbundled (whichever is lower) on-demand economy fare in a direct-service market, a...

Extricating Justification Scheme Theory in Middle School Mathematical Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matteson, Shirley; Capraro, Mary Margaret; Capraro, Robert M.; Lincoln, Yvonna S.

2012-01-01

Twenty middle grades students were interviewed to gain insights into their reasoning about problem-solving strategies using a Problem Solving Justification Scheme as our theoretical lens and the basis for our analysis. The scheme was modified from the work of Harel and Sowder (1998) making it more broadly applicable and accounting for research…

Dewey's Ethical Justification for Public Deliberation Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shook, John

2013-01-01

Interpretations of John Dewey's political theory grasp his respect for public deliberation, but typically overlook his ethical justification for democracy. Dewey gave two primary reasons why democracy is superior to other forms of government. First, a public educated in the tools of social intelligence can be more effective at managing their…

Chinese Children's Justifications for Sharing Resources: Why Do We Have to Share?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Mun

2011-01-01

Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's justice-based stage theory of morality reflects only one type of morality and does not consider people's tendency to use care-based moral judgements. This study examines Chinese children's tendency to use justice-based and care-based justifications for moral reasoning. Children's attitudes to conforming to the…

Moving Students to "The Why?"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cioe, Michael; King, Sherryl; Ostien, Deborah; Pansa, Nancy; Staples, Megan

2015-01-01

Justification is a critical mathematical practice that must play a role in teaching and learning at all grade levels. Having students share their reasoning and explain how they know something is true or correct is the process of justification. The authors (a team of teachers and researchers) worked together for two years with an NSF-funded project…

["Chemistry of Concepts”and “Historical Sense”. On Philosophical Concept Formation].

PubMed

Blättler, Christine

2015-06-01

"Chemistry of Concepts" and "Historical Sense". On Philosophical Concept Formation. The question concerning concepts and their relations to objects and words has had a long and controversial history. Recently, it is challenged by an anew turn towards objects and an emphasized object-oriented ontology. The article argues that one reason for this is the reduction of concepts towards pure rational constructions and offers arguments for alternative understandings. In this context, the article proposes a re-reading of Nietzsche's particular approach and shows that Nietzsche's thought is decisively shaped by the sciences of his time, especially physiology and chemistry. Before the background of the recent increase in research interest on Nietzsche and the sciences the article examines place and function of the sciences related to the genealogy and justification of concepts. Opposing a strong naturalist reading it makes a plea for understanding Nietzsche's epistemological critique concerning concepts systematically as a triple one: philological, physiological, and historical. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Educational pelvic exams on anesthetized women: Why consent matters.

PubMed

Friesen, Phoebe

2018-06-01

It is argued here that the practice of medical students performing pelvic exams on women who are under anesthetic and have not consented is immoral and indefensible. This argument begins by laying out the ethical justification for the practice of informed consent, which can be found in autonomy and basic rights. Foregoing the process of consent within medicine can result in violations of both autonomy and basic rights, as well as trust, forming the basis of the wrong of unauthorized pelvic examinations. Several objections to this argument are considered, all of which stem from the idea that this practice constitutes an exception to the general requirement of informed consent. These objections suggest that nonconsensual pelvic examinations on women under anesthetic are ethically acceptable on utilitarian grounds, in that they offer benefits either to the patient or to society, or on the grounds of triviality, in that consent is already presumed, or the practice is insignificant. Each of these objections is rejected and the practice is deemed indefensible. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A grid to facilitate physics staffing justification.

PubMed

Klein, Eric E

2009-12-03

Justification of clinical physics staffing levels is difficult due to the lack of direction as how to equate clinical needs with the staffing levels and competency required. When a physicist negotiates staffing requests to administration, she/he often refers to American College of Radiology staffing level suggestions, and resources such as the Abt studies. This approach is often met with questions as to how to fairly derive the time it takes to perform tasks. The result is often insufficient and/or inexperienced staff handling complex and cumbersome tasks. We undertook development of a staffing justification grid to equate the clinical needs to the quantity and quality of staffing required. The first step is using the Abt study, customized to the clinical setting, to derive time per task multiplied by the anticipated number of such tasks. Inclusion of vacation, meeting, and developmental time may be incorporated along with allocated time for education and administration. This is followed by mapping the tasks to the level of competency/experience needed. For example, in an academic setting the faculty appointment levels correlate with experience. Non-staff personnel, such as IMRT QA technicians or clerical staff, should also be part of the equation. By using the staffing justification grid, we derived strong documentation to justify a substantial budget increase. The grid also proved useful when our clinical demands changed. Justification for physics staffing can be significantly strengthened with a properly developed data-based time and work analysis. A staffing grid is presented, along with a development methodology that facilitated our justification. Though our grid is for a large academic facility, the methodology can be extended to a non-academic setting, and to a smaller scale. This grid method not only equates the clinical needs with the quantity of staffing, but can also help generate the personnel budget, based on the type of staff and personnel required. The grid is easily adaptable when changes to the clinical environment change, such as an increase in IMRT or IGRT applications.

Multiple or familial café-au-lait spots is neurofibromatosis type 6: clarification of a diagnosis.

PubMed

Madson, Justin G

2012-05-15

A café-au-lait macule (CALM) is an evenly pigmented macule or patch of variable size. Solitary CALMs are common birthmarks in up to 2.5 percent of normal neonates and their incidence rises to up to 25 percent in preschool-aged children. Two or more CALMs occur much less frequently. Multiple lesions may warrant investigation to identify an underlying disease including neurofibromatosis types 1 (NF1), neurofibromatosis type 2, McCune-Albright syndrome, and neurofibromatosis type 1-like syndrome. Considered a hallmark and diagnostic criteria for NF1 is the presence of 6 or more CALMs greater than 0.5 cm in prepubertal individuals. Rare reports describe families which demonstrate the phenomenon of multiple CALMs without other stigmata of NF1 or evidence of other systemic disease. Herein is a description of the condition and justification for this entity to be named Neurofibromatosis type 6.

SECONDARY WASTE/ETF (EFFLUENT TREATMENT FACILITY) PRELIMINARY PRE-CONCEPTUAL ENGINEERING STUDY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MAY TH; GEHNER PD; STEGEN GARY

2009-12-28

This pre-conceptual engineering study is intended to assist in supporting the critical decision (CD) 0 milestone by providing a basis for the justification of mission need (JMN) for the handling and disposal of liquid effluents. The ETF baseline strategy, to accommodate (WTP) requirements, calls for a solidification treatment unit (STU) to be added to the ETF to provide the needed additional processing capability. This STU is to process the ETF evaporator concentrate into a cement-based waste form. The cementitious waste will be cast into blocks for curing, storage, and disposal. Tis pre-conceptual engineering study explores this baseline strategy, in additionmore » to other potential alternatives, for meeting the ETF future mission needs. Within each reviewed case study, a technical and facility description is outlined, along with a preliminary cost analysis and the associated risks and benefits.« less

Ethical reasons for narrowing the scope of biotech patents.

PubMed

Andreassen, Tom

2015-11-01

Patents on biotech products have a scope that goes well beyond what is covered by the most widely applied ethical justifications of intellectual property. Neither natural rights theory from Locke, nor public interest theory of IP rights justifies the wide scope of legal protection. The article takes human genes as an example, focusing on the component that is not invented but persists as unaltered gene information even in the synthetically produced complementary DNA, the cDNA. It is argued that patent on cDNA holds this information captive, or illegitimately appropriates it in limiting other researchers and inventors' opportunity to explore new functions and uses based on this non-invented information. A tighter connection between legal IP protection and the use description stated in the patent claim is suggested. By binding protection to the product's foreseeable functions and use, instead of the product itself and all future uses of it, legitimacy of biotech product patents is restored.

Inner Contradictions Among Men Who Bareback

PubMed Central

Frasca, Timothy; Ventuneac, Ana; Balan, Ivan; Carballo-Diéguez, Alex

2013-01-01

“Barebacking,” or intentional unprotected anal intercourse when HIV transmission can occur, emerged as a descriptive term in the 1990s and marked greater acceptance by gay and bisexual men of dispensing with condom use under certain circumstances. In an exploratory study of men who used Internet sites to meet partners and who reported recent episodes of barebacking, respondents outlined numerous strategies they deployed to avoid HIV infection instead of universal condom use. However, in interviews many participants acknowledged uneasiness with the flaws in their chosen strategies and the contradiction between their urgent desire to remain HIV-free and their sexual practices. For some, the dissonance between the conflicting cognitions could be resolved through self-justification, mental compartmentalization, or invincibility beliefs so that barebacking can continue. For this sub-population continued reiteration of cognitive-based prevention messages have the potential to reinforce rather than undermine their attachment to inadequate strategies for disease avoidance. PMID:22645221

Prescribing patterns and economic costs of proton pump inhibitors in Colombia

PubMed Central

Fernández, Alejandra; Castrillón, Juan Daniel; Campo, Carlos Felipe; Echeverri, Luis Felipe; Gaviria, Andrés; Londoño, Manuel José; Ochoa, Sergio Andrés; Ruíz, Joaquín Octavio

2013-01-01

Objective: To determine the prescribing patterns for proton pump inhibitors and to estimate the economic cost of their use in a group of patients affiliated with the Colombian Health System. Methods: This is a descriptive observational study. Data for analysis consisted of prescriptions dispensed between October 1st, 2010 and October 31st, 2010 and were collected from a systematic database of 4.2 million members. Socio-demographic variables were considered along with the defined daily dose,comedication, convenience of the indication for proton pump inhibitor use and costs. Results: In this study, 113,560 prescriptions were dispensed in 89 cities, mostly to women (57.6%) with a mean age of 54.4 ± 18.7 years; the drugs were omeprazole (n= 111.294; 97.81%),esomeprazole (n= 1.378; 1.2%), lansoprazole (n= 524; 0.4%), pantoprazole and rabeprazole. The indication for 87.349 of the formulas (76.9%) was justified and statistically associated with the use of NSAIDs, antithrombotics, corticosteroids, anti-ulcer, antibiotics and prokinetics. No justification was found for 26.211 (23.1%) of the prescriptions, which were associated with antidiabetics, antihypertensives, hypolipidemics and others (p <0.001).The annual justified cost was estimated to be US$ 1,654,701 and the unjustified cost was estimated to be U.S. $2,202,590, as calculated using the minimum reference prices. Discussion: Each month, the Colombian health system is overloaded by unjustified costs that include payments for non-approved indications of proton pump inhibitors and for drugs outside the list of essential medications. This issue is contributing to rising costs of healthcare in Colombia. PMID:24892316

Factors associated with failure of clinical screening among blood donors who have altered serological results in the Centro Regional de Hemoterapia de Ribeirão Preto

PubMed Central

Ferreira, Oranice; Passos, Afonso Dinis Costa

2012-01-01

Objective This study aimed to investigate the frequency of positive results for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis in blood donations at the Centro Regional de Hemoterapia de Ribeirão Preto, to describe donors with positive results according to some demographic and socioeconomic variables, to identify risk factors associated to these donors and the reasons that they were not detected during clinical screening. Methods A descriptive study was performed between July 1st 2005 and July 31st 2006 by interviewing 106 donorsafter medical consultations where they were informed of positive results for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV or syphilis. Results There was a predominance of first-time donors, males, under 50-year olds, married individuals, from Ribeirão Preto, with elementary education, low economic status and of people who donated at the request of friends or relatives. Hepatitis C was the most frequently detected infection (56.6%), followed by hepatitis B (20.7%), HIV (12.3%) and syphilis(10.4%). About 40% of donors had omitted risk factors for different reasons: because they trusted the results of serological tests, did not feel comfortable about talking of risk factors or did not consider them relevant. Other justifications were the duration of the interview, the interviewer was unskilled, embarrassment and doubts about confidentiality. Conclusion The results indicate the need for changes in the approach to clinical screening and a review of methods to attract and guide potential donors. PMID:23323063

48 CFR 306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... where the individual designated as the CA does not meet the requirements of FAR 6.304 (a)(3)(ii). This... acquisitions in the dollar amount cited in FAR 6.304(a)(2) through (a)(4), the CCO, if applicable, and the HCA shall indicate their review of, and concurrence with, the justification by signing the JOFOC. (a) The...

48 CFR 306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... where the individual designated as the CA does not meet the requirements of FAR 6.304 (a)(3)(ii). This... acquisitions in the dollar amount cited in FAR 6.304(a)(2) through (a)(4), the CCO, if applicable, and the HCA shall indicate their review of, and concurrence with, the justification by signing the JOFOC. (a) The...

48 CFR 306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... where the individual designated as the CA does not meet the requirements of FAR 6.304 (a)(3)(ii). This... acquisitions in the dollar amount cited in FAR 6.304(a)(2) through (a)(4), the CCO, if applicable, and the HCA shall indicate their review of, and concurrence with, the justification by signing the JOFOC. (a) The...

48 CFR 306.304 - Approval of the justification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... where the individual designated as the CA does not meet the requirements of FAR 6.304 (a)(3)(ii). This... acquisitions in the dollar amount cited in FAR 6.304(a)(2) through (a)(4), the CCO, if applicable, and the HCA shall indicate their review of, and concurrence with, the justification by signing the JOFOC. (a) The...

Middle School Students' Responses to Two-Tier Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haja, Shajahan; Clarke, David

2011-01-01

The structure of two-tier testing is such that the first tier consists of a multiple-choice question and the second tier requires justifications for choices of answers made in the first tier. This study aims to evaluate two-tier tasks in "proportion" in terms of students' capacity to write and select justifications and to examine the effect of…

Education as a Public Good: Justification and Avenues of Values Integration into Management of Ugandan School Discipline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sekiwu, Denis; Botha, M. M.

2014-01-01

This qualitative study employs grounded theory and the Wilsonian concept analysis, as interpretative paradigms, to examine participants' voices on the justification and avenues of values integration into management of school discipline in Uganda. By using John Dewey's educational philosophy [pragmatism] as the theoretical lens for the study, we…

Young Children's Ideas about the Nature, Causes, Justification, and Alleviation of Poverty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chafel, Judith A.; Neitzel, Carin

2005-01-01

Sixty-four 8-year-old boys and girls from urban and rural settings and representing different races and socioeconomic status backgrounds responded to questions about the nature, causes, justification, and alleviation of poverty. Much of what the children said indicated that they had not yet internalized prevailing adult norms and values about the…

Beyond Competence and Performance: Children's Class Inclusion Strategies, Superordinate Class Cues, and Verbal Justifications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, Michael; McBride, Michelle L.

1992-01-01

Children of 4 to 10 years of age were given 2 class inclusion tasks. Younger children's performance was inflated by guessing. Scores were higher in the marked task than in the unmarked task as a result of differing rates of inclusion logic. Children's verbal justifications closely approximated estimates of their true competence. (GLR)

The Labours of Hercules: Ethical Embodiment and an Erasmian Justification for Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Barros, Eric L.

2014-01-01

In the early 1990s, a popular American dorm-room poster luminously asserted crass materialism as "JUSTIFICATION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION". Self-consciously premised on the paradoxical success of my failure or failure of my success as a professor of Renaissance literature and culture, this essay draws on Erasmus's educational theory of…

30 CFR 203.84 - What is in a net revenue and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... justification report? This report presents cash flow data for 12 qualifying months, using the format specified... having some production. (a) The cash flow table you submit must include historical data for: (1) Lease... allowable costs; and (5) Transportation and processing costs. (b) Do not include in your cash flow table the...

30 CFR 203.4 - How do the provisions in this part apply to different types of leases and projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... justification report (prescribed format) X (3) Economic viability and relief justification report (Royalty Suspension Viability Program (RSVP) model inputs justified with Geological and Geophysical (G&G), Engineering... template) (6) Determined to be economic only with relief X X X (d) The following table indicates by an X...

30 CFR 203.4 - How do the provisions in this part apply to different types of leases and projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... justification report (prescribed format) X (3) Economic viability and relief justification report (Royalty Suspension Viability Program (RSVP) model inputs justified with Geological and Geophysical (G&G), Engineering...) (6) Determined to be economic only with relief X X X (d) The following table indicates by an X, and...

30 CFR 203.4 - How do the provisions in this part apply to different types of leases and projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... justification report (prescribed format) X (3) Economic viability and relief justification report (Royalty Suspension Viability Program (RSVP) model inputs justified with Geological and Geophysical (G&G), Engineering...) (6) Determined to be economic only with relief X X X (d) The following table indicates by an X, and...

30 CFR 203.85 - What is in an economic viability and relief justification report?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false What is in an economic viability and relief... Oil, Gas, and Sulfur General Required Reports § 203.85 What is in an economic viability and relief... your own model and results. The economic viability and relief justification report must contain the...

30 CFR 203.4 - How do the provisions in this part apply to different types of leases and projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... justification report (prescribed format) X (3) Economic viability and relief justification report (Royalty Suspension Viability Program (RSVP) model inputs justified with Geological and Geophysical (G&G), Engineering...) (6) Determined to be economic only with relief X X X (d) The following table indicates by an X, and...

A Reply on Behalf of the Relativist to Mark Mason's Justification of Universal Ethical Principles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKenzie, Jim

2007-01-01

Mark Mason, in his "A Justification, After the Postmodern Turn, of Universal Ethical Principles and Educational Ideals" Educational Philosophy and Theory, 37 (2005), attempts to justify transcultural multiculturalism. In this paper I argue that he fails to refute moral relativism, and that multiculturalism as he interprets it is not morally…

An Examination of Connections in Mathematical Processes in Students' Problem Solving: Connections between Representing and Justifying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stylianou, Despina A.

2013-01-01

Representation and justification are two central "mathematical practices". In the past, each has been examined to gain insights in the functions that they have in students' mathematical problem solving. Here, we examine the ways that representation and justification interact and influence the development of one another. We focus on the…

Epistemic Beliefs about Justification Employed by Physics Students and Faculty in Two Different Problem Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercan, Fatih Caglayan

2012-01-01

This study examines the epistemic beliefs about justification employed by physics undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the context of solving a standard classical physics problem and a frontier physics problem. Data were collected by a think-aloud problem solving session followed by a semi-structured interview conducted with 50…

Developing an Understanding of Children's Justifications for the Circle Area Formula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Dell, Jenna R.; Rupnow, Theodore J.; Cullen, Craig J.; Barrett, Jeffrey E.; Clements, Douglas H.; Sarama, Julie; Van Dine, Douglas W.

2016-01-01

In this study we investigated eighth grade students' informal justification for the circle area formula to expand accounts of the measurement knowledge for middle-school age students. Data were collected during three paired interviews of a three-year teaching experiment. Here we describe schemes students exhibited as they operated on measurement…

48 CFR Appendix I to Chapter 15 - Environmental Protection Agency; Class Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition in...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Environmental Protection... Regulations System ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Ch. 15, App. I Appendix I to Chapter 15—Environmental Protection Agency; Class Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition in Acquisitions From the...

Can one do good medical ethics without principles?

PubMed

Macklin, Ruth

2015-01-01

The criteria for determining what it is to do good medical ethics are the quality of ethical analysis and ethical justifications for decisions and actions. Justifications for decisions and actions rely on ethical principles, be they the 'famous four' or subsidiary ethical principles relevant to specific contexts. Examples from clinical ethics, research ethics and public health ethics reveal that even when not stated explicitly, principles are involved in ethical justifications. Principles may come into conflict, however, and the resolution of an ethical dilemma requires providing good reasons for preferring one principle over another. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Adolescent judgments and reasoning about the failure to include peers with social disabilities.

PubMed

Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Li, Zhushan

2015-06-01

Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder often do not have access to crucial peer social activities. This study examines how typically developing adolescents evaluate decisions not to include a peer based on disability status, and the justifications they apply to these decisions. A clinical interview methodology was used to elicit judgments and justifications across four contexts. We found adolescents are more likely to judge the failure to include as acceptable in personal as compared to public contexts. Using logistic regression, we found that adolescents are more likely to provide moral justifications as to why failure to include is acceptable in a classroom as compared to home, lab group, and soccer practice contexts. Implications for intervention are also discussed.

Integrated Glass Coating Manufacturing Line

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brophy, Brenor

2015-09-30

This project aims to enable US module manufacturers to coat glass with Enki’s state of the art tunable functionalized AR coatings at the lowest possible cost and highest possible performance by encapsulating Enki’s coating process in an integrated tool that facilitates effective process improvement through metrology and data analysis for greater quality and performance while reducing footprint, operating and capital costs. The Phase 1 objective was a fully designed manufacturing line, including fully specified equipment ready for issue of purchase requisitions; a detailed economic justification based on market prices at the end of Phase 1 and projected manufacturing costs andmore » a detailed deployment plan for the equipment.« less

The Determinant Factors of Regional Development Toward Land Use Change in Deli Serdang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindarto, D.; Sirojuzilam; Badaruddin; Dwira

2017-03-01

The concept of regional development Mebidangro (Medan, Binjai, Deli Serdang, and Karo) creating neighboring region hinterland Medan city with Deli Serdang Regency especially in Tembung village, Percut Sei Tuan District. Population structure in Tembung shows occurrence condition of rural-urban change which seen from the sprawl land use change. The aim of the study is to reveal the genius locus as one of land use change factors. The study conducted with quantitative approach intended at obtaining variables which describing several factors forming land use change. Descriptive approach intended to give an idea, justification, and fact-finding with correct interpretation. Data collected through a purposive sampling of 300 respondents who have built the house between 2010 till 2014. With overlay figure/ground technique, scoring analysis, descriptive quantitative and SEM (Structural Equational Models) gained a result that place character/genius locus (p=0,007) potentially as one of the main land use change driving factors besides accessibility (p=0,039), infrastructure (p=0,005), social-economic p=0,038). Topographic (p=0,663) was inversely potentially. The implication of the findings is required intensive control in space utilization considering the rapid change in land use transformation that tend to have the negative impact of urban sprawl.

Multimedia content description framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bergman, Lawrence David (Inventor); Mohan, Rakesh (Inventor); Li, Chung-Sheng (Inventor); Smith, John Richard (Inventor); Kim, Michelle Yoonk Yung (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A framework is provided for describing multimedia content and a system in which a plurality of multimedia storage devices employing the content description methods of the present invention can interoperate. In accordance with one form of the present invention, the content description framework is a description scheme (DS) for describing streams or aggregations of multimedia objects, which may comprise audio, images, video, text, time series, and various other modalities. This description scheme can accommodate an essentially limitless number of descriptors in terms of features, semantics or metadata, and facilitate content-based search, index, and retrieval, among other capabilities, for both streamed or aggregated multimedia objects.

Relating the Content and Confidence of Recognition Judgments

PubMed Central

Selmeczy, Diana; Dobbins, Ian G.

2014-01-01

The Remember/Know procedure, developed by Tulving (1985) to capture the distinction between the conscious correlates of episodic and semantic retrieval, has spurned considerable research and debate. However, only a handful of reports have examined the recognition content beyond this dichotomous simplification. To address this, we collected participants’ written justifications in support of ordinary old/new recognition decisions accompanied by confidence ratings using a 3-point scale (high/medium/low). Unlike prior research, we did not provide the participants with any descriptions of Remembering or Knowing and thus, if the justifications mapped well onto theory, they would do so spontaneously. Word frequency analysis (unigrams, bigrams, and trigrams), independent ratings, and machine learning techniques (Support Vector Machine - SVM) converged in demonstrating that the linguistic content of high and medium confidence recognition differs in a manner consistent with dual process theories of recognition. For example, the use of ‘I remember’, particularly when combined with temporal or perceptual information (e.g., ‘when’, ‘saw’, ‘distinctly’), was heavily associated with high confidence recognition. Conversely, participants also used the absence of remembering for personally distinctive materials as support for high confidence new reports (‘would have remembered’). Thus, participants afford a special status to the presence or absence of remembering and use this actively as a basis for high confidence during recognition judgments. Additionally, the pattern of classification successes and failures of a SVM was well anticipated by the Dual Process Signal Detection model of recognition and inconsistent with a single process, strictly unidimensional approach. “One might think that memory should have something to do with remembering, and remembering is a conscious experience.”(Tulving, 1985, p. 1) PMID:23957366

The pathway to RCTs: how many roads are there? Examining the homogeneity of RCT justification.

PubMed

Chow, Jeffrey Tin Yu; Lam, Kevin; Naeem, Abdul; Akanda, Zarique Z; Si, Francie Fengqin; Hodge, William

2017-02-02

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) form the foundational background of modern medical practice. They are considered the highest quality of evidence, and their results help inform decisions concerning drug development and use, preventive therapies, and screening programs. However, the inputs that justify an RCT to be conducted have not been studied. We reviewed the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases across six specialties (Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology (ENT), General Surgery, Psychiatry, Obstetrics-Gynecology (OB-GYN), and Internal Medicine) and randomly chose 25 RCTs from each specialty except for Otorhinolaryngology (20 studies) and Internal Medicine (28 studies). For each RCT, we recorded information relating to the justification for conducting RCTs such as average study size cited, number of studies cited, and types of studies cited. The justification varied widely both within and between specialties. For Ophthalmology and OB-GYN, the average study sizes cited were around 1100 patients, whereas they were around 500 patients for Psychiatry and General Surgery. Between specialties, the average number of studies cited ranged from around 4.5 for ENT to around 10 for Ophthalmology, but the standard deviations were large, indicating that there was even more discrepancy within each specialty. When standardizing by the sample size of the RCT, some of the discrepancies between and within specialties can be explained, but not all. On average, Ophthalmology papers cited review articles the most (2.96 studies per RCT) compared to less than 1.5 studies per RCT for all other specialties. The justifications for RCTs vary widely both within and between specialties, and the justification for conducting RCTs is not standardized.

How do pregnant women justify smoking? A qualitative study with implications for nurses' and midwives' anti-tobacco interventions.

PubMed

Goszczyńska, Eliza; Knol-Michałowska, Kamila; Petrykowska, Alicja

2016-07-01

To research the subjective lay justifications expressed by smoking pregnant women to explain why they use cigarettes during pregnancy and to determine a typology for these justifications. Smoking pregnant mothers' awareness of the detrimental effects of smoking on foetal health frequently is a source of stress and cognitive dissonance (stemming from the contrast between viewing themselves as responsible mothers and smokers). One possible way to reduce these unpleasant feelings is acceptance or creation of beliefs allowing them to explain rationally why they continue this behaviour during pregnancy. Qualitative design. Thematic analysis of the content of posts from the three largest Polish parenting on-line forums written between the time they were founded and 12 November 2012. The data were collected between September - October 2012. During the analysis of the selected 73 posts, each of which included subjective explanations of smoking during pregnancy, 151 fragments, each containing one lay justification, were identified and analysed. Thirty-five subthemes of lay justifications assigned to two main themes were developed. The first main theme includes convictions that undermine the need to break the nicotine addiction and the positive aspects resulting from quitting. The second main theme comprises beliefs that question the possibility to abstain from smoking and exaggerate the barriers in the process of quitting. The creation of a typology of lay justifications might help nurses and midwives perform more effective anti-tobacco interventions geared specifically towards the thought patterns typical of pregnant women. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Authority and Moral Reasons: Parenting Style and Children's Perceptions of Adult Rule Justifications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leman, Patrick J.

2005-01-01

The style of parenting of 100 children (mean age 11 years, 5 months) was established according to Baumrind's typology. Children were asked to indicate what they thought an adult would say to justify a moral rule in five different scenarios. Results indicated that parenting style did not relate to the number of justifications that children thought…

Satisfied Fools: Using J. S. Mill's Notion of Utility to Analyse the Impact of Vocationalism in Education within a Democratic Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tarrant, Iona; Tarrant, James

2004-01-01

This paper proposes a new interpretation of John Stuart Mill's notion of utility, which is used to provide a utilitarian justification for an eclectic, rather than a vocational, education. Vocational education is strongly promoted in recent policy documents, which makes it important to raise the question of justification. Many existing…

Verification or Proof: Justification of Pythagoras' Theorem in Chinese Mathematics Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Rongjin

2005-01-01

This paper presents key findings of my research on the approaches to justification by investigating how a sample of teachers in Hong Kong and Shanghai taught the topic Pythagoras theorem. In this study, 8 Hong Kong videos taken from TIMSS 1999 Video Study and 11 Shanghai videos videotaped by the researcher comprised the database. It was found that…

Education without Moral Worth? Kantian Moral Theory and the Obligation to Educate Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Christopher

2011-01-01

This article examines the possibility of a Kantian justification of the intrinsic moral worth of education. The author critiques a recent attempt to secure such justification via Kant's notion of the Kingdom of Ends. He gives four reasons why such an account would deny any intrinsic moral worth to education. He concludes with a tentative…

Discourse, Justification, and Education: Jürgen Habermas on Moral Epistemology and Dialogical Conditions of Moral Justification and Rightness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okshevsky, Walter C.

2016-01-01

In this essay Walter Okshevsky addresses the question of whether a certain form of dialogically derived agreement can function as an epistemic (universal and necessary) criterion of moral judgment and ground of moral authority. Okshevsky examines arguments for and against in the literature of educational philosophy and develops Jürgen Habermas's…

The Body and the Place of Physical Activity in Education: Some Classical Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozolinš, Janis

2013-01-01

The place of physical education has been contested in recent times and it has been argued that its justification as part of school curricula seems to be marginal at best. Such justifications as have been offered, propose that physical education is justified because of its contribution to moral development or because it is capable of being studied…

Collaboration, campaigns and champions for appropriate imaging: feedback from the Zagreb workshop.

PubMed

Remedios, D; Brkljacic, B; Ebdon-Jackson, S; Hierath, M; Sinitsyn, V; Vassileva, J

2018-04-01

Leading radiologists and representatives from national radiation protection regulatory authorities and health ministries from 19 countries of the European region worked together with five experts at the workshop on justification and appropriate use of imaging in Zagreb, Croatia, from 26 to 28 October 2017 jointly organised by the IAEA and the European Society of Radiology. The workshop served as a forum to exchange information on challenges and solutions for improving justification and the appropriate use of diagnostic imaging. Common barriers to improving the use of imaging referral guidelines were discussed and the need for increased collaboration identified. Examples of good practices were presented, including use of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems to facilitate rapid and good justification decisions. The workshop identified some of the needs of European countries for achieving more appropriate imaging proposing wider use of collaboration, campaigns and champions. • Drivers for appropriate imaging in Europe are similar to those elsewhere globally. • Implementing imaging referral guidelines is the main barrier to more appropriate imaging. • Clinical Decision Support systems (CDS) facilitates good referral practice and justification decisions. • Collaboration, campaigns and champions may improve awareness, appropriateness and audit.

Superconducting gravity gradiometer mission. Volume 1: Study team executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, Samuel H. (Editor); Paik, Ho Jung (Editor)

1989-01-01

An executive summary is presented based upon the scientific and engineering studies and developments performed or directed by a Study Team composed of various Federal and University activities involved with the development of a three-axis Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer integrated with a six-axis superconducting accelerometer. This instrument is being developed for a future orbital mission to make precise global gravity measurements. The scientific justification and requirements for such a mission are discussed. This includes geophysics, the primary mission objective, as well as secondary objectives, such as navigation and tests of fundamental laws of physics, i.e., a null test of the inverse square law of gravitation and tests of general relativity. The instrument design and status along with mission analysis, engineering assessments, and preliminary spacecraft concepts are discussed. In addition, critical spacecraft systems and required technology advancements are examined. The mission requirements and an engineering assessment of a precursor flight test of the instrument are discussed.

An obligation to provide abortion services: what happens when physicians refuse?

PubMed

Meyers, C; Woods, R D

1996-04-01

Access to abortion services in the United States continues to decline. It does so not because of significant changes in legislation or court rulings but because fewer and fewer physicians wish to perform abortions and because most states now have "conscientious objection" legislation that makes it easy for physicians to refuse to do so. We argue in this paper that physicians have an obligation to perform all socially sanctioned medical services, including abortions, and thus that the burden of justification lies upon those who wish to be excused from that obligation. That is, such persons should have to show how requiring them to perform abortions would represent a serious threat to their fundamental moral or religious beliefs. We use current California law as an example of legislation that does not take physicians' obligations into account and thus allows them too easily to declare conscientious objection.

Superconducting gravity gradiometer mission. Volume 2: Study team technical report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, Samuel H. (Editor); Paik, Ho Jung (Editor)

1988-01-01

Scientific and engineering studies and developments performed or directed by a Study Team composed of various Federal and University activities involved with the development of a three-axis superconducting gravity gradiometer integrated with a six-axis superconducting accelerometer are examined. This instrument is being developed for a future orbital mission to make precise global gravity measurements. The scientific justification and requirements for such a mission are discussed. This includes geophysics, the primary mission objective, as well as secondary objective, such as navigation and feats of fundamental laws of physics, i.e., a null test of the inverse square law of gravitation and tests of general relativity. The instrument design and status along with mission analysis, engineering assessments, and preliminary spacecraft concepts are discussed. In addition, critical spacecraft systems and required technology advancements are examined. The mission requirements and an engineering assessment of a precursor flight test of the instrument are discussed.

An obligation to provide abortion services: what happens when physicians refuse?

PubMed Central

Meyers, C; Woods, R D

1996-01-01

Access to abortion services in the United States continues to decline. It does so not because of significant changes in legislation or court rulings but because fewer and fewer physicians wish to perform abortions and because most states now have "conscientious objection" legislation that makes it easy for physicians to refuse to do so. We argue in this paper that physicians have an obligation to perform all socially sanctioned medical services, including abortions, and thus that the burden of justification lies upon those who wish to be excused from that obligation. That is, such persons should have to show how requiring them to perform abortions would represent a serious threat to their fundamental moral or religious beliefs. We use current California law as an example of legislation that does not take physicians' obligations into account and thus allows them too easily to declare conscientious objection. PMID:8731539

Horizons of description: Black holes and complementarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bokulich, Peter Joshua Martin

Niels Bohr famously argued that a consistent understanding of quantum mechanics requires a new epistemic framework, which he named complementarity . This position asserts that even in the context of quantum theory, classical concepts must be used to understand and communicate measurement results. The apparent conflict between certain classical descriptions is avoided by recognizing that their application now crucially depends on the measurement context. Recently it has been argued that a new form of complementarity can provide a solution to the so-called information loss paradox. Stephen Hawking argues that the evolution of black holes cannot be described by standard unitary quantum evolution, because such evolution always preserves information, while the evaporation of a black hole will imply that any information that fell into it is irrevocably lost---hence a "paradox." Some researchers in quantum gravity have argued that this paradox can be resolved if one interprets certain seemingly incompatible descriptions of events around black holes as instead being complementary. In this dissertation I assess the extent to which this black hole complementarity can be undergirded by Bohr's account of the limitations of classical concepts. I begin by offering an interpretation of Bohr's complementarity and the role that it plays in his philosophy of quantum theory. After clarifying the nature of classical concepts, I offer an account of the limitations these concepts face, and argue that Bohr's appeal to disturbance is best understood as referring to these conceptual limits. Following preparatory chapters on issues in quantum field theory and black hole mechanics, I offer an analysis of the information loss paradox and various responses to it. I consider the three most prominent accounts of black hole complementarity and argue that they fail to offer sufficient justification for the proposed incompatibility between descriptions. The lesson that emerges from this dissertation is that we have as much to learn from the limitations facing our scientific descriptions as we do from the successes they enjoy. Because all of our scientific theories offer at best limited, effective accounts of the world, an important part of our interpretive efforts will be assessing the borders of these domains of description.

Conceptions of moral, social-conventional, and personal events among Chinese preschoolers in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Yau, Jenny; Smetana, Judith G

2003-01-01

Sixty-one Chinese preschoolers from Hong Kong at 2 ages (Ms = 4.36 and 6.00 years) were interviewed about familiar moral, social-conventional, and personal events. Children treated personal events as distinct from moral obligations and conventional regulations. Children judged the child as deciding personal issues, based on personal choice justifications, whereas children judged parents as deciding moral and conventional issues. With age, children granted increased decision-making power to the child. In contrast, children viewed moral transgressions as more serious, generalizably wrong, and wrong independent of authority than other events, based on welfare and fairness. Punishment-avoidance justifications for conventional events decreased with age, whereas conventional justifications increased. Young Chinese preschool children make increasingly differentiated judgments about their social world.

Working class conservatism: a system justification perspective.

PubMed

Jost, John T

2017-12-01

Working class conservatism is a perennial issue in social science, but researchers have struggled to provide an adequate characterization. In social psychology, the question has too often been framed in 'either/or' terms of whether the disadvantaged are more or less likely to support the status quo than the advantaged. This is a crude rendering of the issue obscuring the fact that even if most working class voters are not conservative, millions are-and conservatives could not win elections without their support. System justification theory highlights epistemic, existential, and relational needs to reduce uncertainty, threat, and social discord that are shared by everyone-and that promote conservative attitudes. I summarize qualitative and quantitative evidence of system justification among the disadvantaged and consider prospects for more constructive political activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generalization of the Bogoliubov-Zubarev Theorem for Dynamic Pressure to the Case of Compressibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudoi, Yu. G.

2018-01-01

We present the motivation, formulation, and modified proof of the Bogoliubov-Zubarev theorem connecting the pressure of a dynamical object with its energy within the framework of a classical description and obtain a generalization of this theorem to the case of dynamical compressibility. In both cases, we introduce the volume of the object into consideration using a singular addition to the Hamiltonian function of the physical object, which allows using the concept of the Bogoliubov quasiaverage explicitly already on a dynamical level of description. We also discuss the relation to the same result known as the Hellmann-Feynman theorem in the framework of the quantum description of a physical object.

Mauna Loa Volcano: Historical eruptions, exploration, and observations (1779-1910)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnard, Walther M.

The period 1779-1910 spans the years from the first Western contact with the Island of Hawaii through the decade immediately preceding the establishment of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the beginning of systematic scientific investigation of Hawaii's volcanoes. During this period Mauna Loa apparently erupted a minimum of 30 times. Many of those eruptions were visited and described by non-scientists, foremost among whom was the Reverend Titus Coon. Some highlights in the exploration of Mauna Loa include the first recorded attempt to ascend the summit, in 1779, by John Ledyard; the first recorded successful ascent, in 1794, by Archibald Menzies; the ascent in 1834 by David Douglas, whose "incredible" description provoked considerable controversy; the topographic mapping of the summit area by the U. S. Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes in 1840-41 and the first ascents by women in 1873. Among the many contributions made to the emerging science of volcanology were Coan's recognition of lava tubes as conduits of lava, and his recognition of the processes of formation of tumuli and lateral outbreaks of lava; Dana's precepts on a variety of topics relating to Hawaiian volcanism; W. D. Alexander's and Haskell's descriptions of pahoehoe and aa lava, and early accounts of flow morphology and structure; Dutton's recognition that the calderas of Kilauea and Mauna Loa resulted from collapse; Green's description of formation of pillow lavas; and Guppy's suggestion and justification for the establishment of an observatory that subsequently led to the founding of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Many contributed insights to the continuing debate on the relationship between Mauna Loa and Kilauea.

Accurate color synthesis of three-dimensional objects in an image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xin, John H.; Shen, Hui-Liang

2004-05-01

Our study deals with color synthesis of a three-dimensional object in an image; i.e., given a single image, a target color can be accurately mapped onto the object such that the color appearance of the synthesized object closely resembles that of the actual one. As it is almost impossible to acquire the complete geometric description of the surfaces of an object in an image, this study attempted to recover the implicit description of geometry for the color synthesis. The description was obtained from either a series of spectral reflectances or the RGB signals at different surface positions on the basis of the dichromatic reflection model. The experimental results showed that this implicit image-based representation is related to the object geometry and is sufficient for accurate color synthesis of three-dimensional objects in an image. The method established is applicable to the color synthesis of both rigid and deformable objects and should contribute to color fidelity in virtual design, manufacturing, and retailing.

Persistent maritime surveillance using multi-sensor feature association and classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, Sebastiaan P.; Schwering, Piet B. W.; Liem, Kwan D.; Schleijpen, Ric

2012-06-01

In maritime operational scenarios, such as smuggling, piracy, or terrorist threats, it is not only relevant who or what an observed object is, but also where it is now and in the past in relation to other (geographical) objects. In situation and impact assessment, this information is used to determine whether an object is a threat. Single platform (ship, harbor) or single sensor information will not provide all this information. The work presented in this paper focuses on the sensor and object levels that provide a description of currently observed objects to situation assessment. For use of information of objects at higher information levels, it is necessary to have not only a good description of observed objects at this moment, but also from its past. Therefore, currently observed objects have to be linked to previous occurrences. Kinematic features, as used in tracking, are of limited use, as uncertainties over longer time intervals are so large that no unique associations can be made. Features extracted from different sensors (e.g., ESM, EO/IR) can be used for both association and classification. Features and classifications are used to associate current objects to previous object descriptions, allowing objects to be described better, and provide position history. In this paper a description of a high level architecture in which such a multi-sensor association is used is described. Results of an assessment of the usability of several features from ESM (from spectrum), EO and IR (shape, contour, keypoints) data for association and classification are shown.

An object-oriented description method of EPMM process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zuo; Yang, Fan

2017-06-01

In order to use the object-oriented mature tools and language in software process model, make the software process model more accord with the industrial standard, it’s necessary to study the object-oriented modelling of software process. Based on the formal process definition in EPMM, considering the characteristics that Petri net is mainly formal modelling tool and combining the Petri net modelling with the object-oriented modelling idea, this paper provides this implementation method to convert EPMM based on Petri net into object models based on object-oriented description.

Improved object optimal synthetic description, modeling, learning, and discrimination by GEOGINE computational kernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorini, Rodolfo A.; Dacquino, Gianfranco

2005-03-01

GEOGINE (GEOmetrical enGINE), a state-of-the-art OMG (Ontological Model Generator) based on n-D Tensor Invariants for n-Dimensional shape/texture optimal synthetic representation, description and learning, was presented in previous conferences elsewhere recently. Improved computational algorithms based on the computational invariant theory of finite groups in Euclidean space and a demo application is presented. Progressive model automatic generation is discussed. GEOGINE can be used as an efficient computational kernel for fast reliable application development and delivery in advanced biomedical engineering, biometric, intelligent computing, target recognition, content image retrieval, data mining technological areas mainly. Ontology can be regarded as a logical theory accounting for the intended meaning of a formal dictionary, i.e., its ontological commitment to a particular conceptualization of the world object. According to this approach, "n-D Tensor Calculus" can be considered a "Formal Language" to reliably compute optimized "n-Dimensional Tensor Invariants" as specific object "invariant parameter and attribute words" for automated n-Dimensional shape/texture optimal synthetic object description by incremental model generation. The class of those "invariant parameter and attribute words" can be thought as a specific "Formal Vocabulary" learned from a "Generalized Formal Dictionary" of the "Computational Tensor Invariants" language. Even object chromatic attributes can be effectively and reliably computed from object geometric parameters into robust colour shape invariant characteristics. As a matter of fact, any highly sophisticated application needing effective, robust object geometric/colour invariant attribute capture and parameterization features, for reliable automated object learning and discrimination can deeply benefit from GEOGINE progressive automated model generation computational kernel performance. Main operational advantages over previous, similar approaches are: 1) Progressive Automated Invariant Model Generation, 2) Invariant Minimal Complete Description Set for computational efficiency, 3) Arbitrary Model Precision for robust object description and identification.

How Children's Justifications of the "Best Thing to Do" in Peer Conflicts Relate to Their Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Early Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leadbeater, Bonnie J.; Ohan, Jeneva L.; Hoglund, Wendy L.

2006-01-01

In this three-year longitudinal study, children were asked to choose the "best" strategy for dealing with hypothetical peer provocations and to justify "why" that was their choice at the end of first, second, and third grades. Teachers and parents also rated children's emotional and behavioral problems. Children's justifications were subjected to…

The Evolution of Random Number Generation in MUVES

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

mathematical basis and statistical justification for algorithms used in the code. The working code provided produces results identical to the current...MUVES, includ- ing the mathematical basis and statistical justification for algorithms used in the code. The working code provided produces results...questionable numerical and statistical properties. The development of the modern system is traced through software change requests, resulting in a random number

The Future Justification to Adopt Governance System at the Jordan Universities from the Perspective of Educational Experts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abu-Nair, Natheer Sihan

2015-01-01

The aim of the study was to reveal the future justification to adopt governance system at the Jordanian Universities from the perspective of educational experts. The study society was the academic staff in the field of education at Al-Balqa Applied University and Jordan University, at the first semester of the academic year 2013-2014. The study…

[Epidemiologic diagnostic of nosocomial suppurative-septic infections of Pseudomonas etiology based on intraspecies typing of causative agent].

PubMed

Fel'dblium, I V; Zakharova, Iu A; Nikolaeva, A M; Fedotova, O S

2013-01-01

Scientific justification of optimization of epidemiologic diagnostic of suppurative-septic infection (SSI) caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on comparability of antibiotic sensitivity and beta-lactamase production. Intraspecies typing of 37 P. aeruginosa strains isolated during microbiological monitoring of 106 patients and 131 objects of clinical environment of surgical and obstetrician hospitals by using a complex ofphenotypic and molecular-biological methods including determination of sensitivity to antibiotics by serial dilutions method and PCR-diagnostics with determination of TEM, SHV, CTX, OXA, MBL, VIM genes was performed. P. aeruginosa strains combined into groups by isolation location during studies turned out to be heterogeneous by sensitivity to antibiotics and beta-lactamase production that allowed to form subgroups of strains by focality attribute. Isolates recovered from different SSI foci had significant differences in minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) reaching 1024 times. MIC parameter within subgroups did not exceed 8 - 16 consequent dilutions. Use of a complex of phenotypic and molecular-biologic methods of causative agent typing including determination of sensitivity to antibiotics by serial dilutions method and evaluation of beta-lactamase production allowed to establish a mechanism of development of SSI epidemic process caused by P. aeruginosa, detect origins and reservoirs of infection in hospital, modes and factors of transmission and reach maximum justification of epidemiologic control and prophylaxis measures of localization of foci of nosocomial infections of pseudomonas etiology.

Robotic comfort zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Likhachev, Maxim; Arkin, Ronald C.

2000-10-01

The paper investigates how the psychological notion of comfort can be useful in the design of robotic systems. A review of the existing study of human comfort, especially regarding its presence in infants, is conducted with the goal being to determine the relevant characteristics for mapping it onto the robotics domain. Focus is place on the identification of the salient features in the environment that affect the comfort level. Factors involved include current state familiarity, working conditions, the amount and location of available resources, etc. As part of our newly developed comfort function theory, the notion of an object as a psychological attachment for a robot is also introduced, as espoused in Bowlby's theory of attachment. The output space of the comfort function and its dependency on the comfort level are analyzed. The results of the derivation of this comfort function are then presented in terms of the impact they have on robotic behavior. Justification for the use of the comfort function are then presented in terms of the impact they have on robotic behavior. Justification for the use of the comfort function in the domain of robotics is presented with relevance for real-world operations. Also, a transformation of the theoretical discussion into a mathematical framework suitable for implementation within a behavior-based control system is presented. The paper concludes with results of simulation studies and real robot experiments using the derived comfort function.

Clinical application of 'Justification' and 'Optimization' principle of ALARA in pediatric CT imaging: "How many children can be protected from unnecessary radiation?".

PubMed

Sodhi, Kushaljit S; Krishna, Satheesh; Saxena, Akshay K; Sinha, Anindita; Khandelwal, Niranjan; Lee, Edward Y

2015-09-01

Practice of ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle in the developed world is currently well established. However, there is striking lack of published data regarding such experience in the developing countries. Therefore, the goal of this study is to prospectively evaluate CT request forms to assess how many children could be protected from harmful radiation exposure if 'Justification' and 'Optimization' principles of ALARA are applied before obtaining CT imaging in a developing country. This can save children from potential radiation risks including development of brain cancer and leukemia. Consecutive CT request forms over a six month study period (May 16, 2013 to November 15, 2013) in a tertiary pediatric children's hospital in India were prospectively reviewed by two pediatric radiologists before obtaining CT imaging. First, 'Justification' of CT was evaluated and then 'Optimization' was applied for evaluation of appropriateness of the requested CT studies. The number (and percentage) of CT studies avoided by applying 'Justification' and 'Optimization' principle of ALARA were calculated. The difference in number of declined and optimized CT requests between CT requests from inpatient and outpatient departments was compared using Chi-Square test. A total of 1302 consecutive CT request forms were received during the study period. Some of the request forms (n=86; 6.61%) had requests for more than one (multiple) anatomical regions, hence, a total of 1392 different anatomical CT requests were received. Based on evaluation of the CT request forms for 'Justification' and 'Optimization' principle of ALARA by pediatric radiology reviewers, 111 individual anatomic part CT requests from 105 pediatric patients were avoided. Therefore, 8.06% (105 out of 1302 pediatric patients) were protected from unnecessary or additional radiation exposure.The rates of declined or optimized CT requests from inpatient department was significantly higher than that from outpatient departments (p<0.05). A substantial number of pediatric patients, particularly coming from outpatient departments, can be protected from unnecessary or additional radiation exposure from CT imaging when 'Justification' and 'Optimization' principle of ALARA are applied before obtaining CT imaging in a developing country. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Model-based object classification using unification grammars and abstract representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liburdy, Kathleen A.; Schalkoff, Robert J.

1993-04-01

The design and implementation of a high level computer vision system which performs object classification is described. General object labelling and functional analysis require models of classes which display a wide range of geometric variations. A large representational gap exists between abstract criteria such as `graspable' and current geometric image descriptions. The vision system developed and described in this work addresses this problem and implements solutions based on a fusion of semantics, unification, and formal language theory. Object models are represented using unification grammars, which provide a framework for the integration of structure and semantics. A methodology for the derivation of symbolic image descriptions capable of interacting with the grammar-based models is described and implemented. A unification-based parser developed for this system achieves object classification by determining if the symbolic image description can be unified with the abstract criteria of an object model. Future research directions are indicated.

The SEM description of interaction of a transient electromagnetic wave with an object

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearson, L. W.; Wilton, D. R.

1980-01-01

The singularity expansion method (SEM), proposed as a means for determining and representing the transient surface current density induced on a scatterer by a transient electromagnetic wave is described. The resulting mathematical description of the transient surface current on the object is discussed. The data required to represent the electromagnetic scattering properties of a given object are examined. Experimental methods which were developed for the determination of the SEM description are discussed. The feasibility of characterizing the surface current induced on aircraft flying in proximity to a lightning stroke by way of SEM is examined.

The ethical foundations of behavior therapy.

PubMed

Kitchener, Richard F

1991-01-01

In this article, I am concerned with the ethical foundations of behavior therapy, that is, with the normative ethics and the meta-ethics underlying behavior therapy. In particular, I am concerned with questions concerning the very possibilty of providing an ethical justification for things done in the context of therapy. Because behavior therapists must be able to provide an ethical justification for various actions (if the need arises), certain meta-ethical views widely accepted by behavior therapists must be abandoned; in particular, one must give up ethical subjectivism, ethical skepticism, and ethical relativism. An additional task is to show how it is possible to provide a nonsubjective, nonskeptical, and nonrelativistic moral justification for an ethical statement. Although this is a monumental task, I provide a rough sketch of such a model, one that is congenial to the value judgments underlying behavior therapy.

Program of Studies: Business Education: Grades 9-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fairfax County Schools, VA.

The first section of the business education curriculum guide for grades 9-12 provides brief statements concerning program descriptions, goals, course offerings, and objectives. Section 2 provides detailed descriptions and objectives for the following courses: accounting, advanced typewriting, bookkeeping, business economics, business information…

Conscientious objection or fear of social stigma and unawareness of ethical obligations.

PubMed

Faúndes, Anibal; Duarte, Graciana Alves; Osis, Maria José Duarte

2013-12-01

Conscientious objection is a legitimate right of physicians to reject the practice of actions that violate their ethical or moral principles. The application of that principle is being used in many countries as a justification to deny safe abortion care to women who have the legal right to have access to safe termination of pregnancy. The problem is that, often, this concept is abused by physicians who camouflage under the guise of conscientious objection their fear of experiencing discrimination and social stigma if they perform legal abortions. These colleagues seem to ignore the ethical principle that the primary conscientious duty of OB/GYNs is-at all times-to treat, or provide benefit and prevent harm to, the patients for whose care they are responsible. Any conscientious objection to treating a patient is secondary to this primary duty. One of the jobs of the FIGO Working Group for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion is to change this paradigm and make our colleagues proud of providing legal abortion services that protect women's life and health, and concerned about disrespecting the human rights of women and professional ethical principles. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Theoretical integration in motivational science: System justification as one of many "autonomous motivational structures".

PubMed

Kay, Aaron C; Jost, John T

2014-04-01

Recognizing that there is a multiplicity of motives - and that the accessibility and strength of each one varies chronically and temporarily - is essential if motivational scientists are to achieve genuine theoretical and empirical integration. We agree that system justification is a case of nonconscious goal pursuit and discuss implications of the fact that it conflicts with many other psychological goals.

7110.65H Air Traffic Control

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-16

6 NM (On Chart L -19) A’"I RECORD OF CHANGES ,,,,,I NO. 7110.65H CHANN SUPPImem CHANOE SUPPLEMENTS TO OPTIONAL TO OPTIONAL BANC BASIC FAA Form 1320-6...NTIS CRA&I DTIC TAB [ Unan-mOu,-ed Justification Justification... ............................... By Dis •t;; ibtici. A•,:aL ,, ;j (’., Dist A-1 9/16/93...6-5. ARRIVAL MINIMA [ATP-120] ............................................................................................. 6-1-1 Contents-- l 7116US

Examining the Accuracy and Justification of Geometric Constructions Made by Pre-Service Teachers with Dynamic Geometry Software and the Awareness They Gained throughout the Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bozkurt, Ali

2018-01-01

This study examined pre-service teachers' accuracy for geometric constructions with dynamic geometry software, their justification for the accuracy of geometric figures, and their awareness they gained throughout the process. The data come from a sample of 71 elementary grade pre-service teachers activity form completed as a part of geometry…

A threshold model of content knowledge transfer for socioscientific argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Troy D.; Fowler, Samantha R.

2006-11-01

This study explores how individuals make use of scientific content knowledge for socioscientific argumentation. More specifically, this mixed-methods study investigates how learners apply genetics content knowledge as they justify claims relative to genetic engineering. Interviews are conducted with 45 participants, representing three distinct groups: high school students with variable genetics knowledge, college nonscience majors with little genetics knowledge, and college science majors with advanced genetics knowledge. During the interviews, participants advance positions concerning three scenarios dealing with gene therapy and cloning. Arguments are assessed in terms of the number of justifications offered as well as justification quality, based on a five-point rubric. Multivariate analysis of variance results indicate that college science majors outperformed the other groups in terms of justification quality and frequency. Argumentation does not differ among nonscience majors or high school students. Follow-up qualitative analyses of interview responses suggest that all three groups tend to focus on similar, sociomoral themes as they negotiate socially complex, genetic engineering issues, but that the science majors frequently reference specific science content knowledge in the justification of their claims. Results support the Threshold Model of Content Knowledge Transfer, which proposes two knowledge thresholds around which argumentation quality can reasonably be expected to increase. Research and educational implications of these findings are discussed.

Where does the stone go when we drop it? Development of French schoolchildren’s knowledge of gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frappart, Sören; Frède, Valérie

2010-04-01

In this study, we explored children’s knowledge of gravity at different ages (5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 years), by asking the same question (“Where does a stone go when we drop it?”) in three different contexts (on Earth, in a spaceship orbiting the Earth, and on the Moon). We tested the influence of context and children’s age on both the answers and the justifications they provided. We expected that children of all ages would find it easier to make correct predictions in the Earth context than in the other two contexts. We were also interested in the kinds of justification children construct and how these justifications change during ontogenesis. Seventy-two French children were individually interviewed at their school. None of them had received any direct teaching about gravity. Results showed that children found it easier to predict the fall of the stone on Earth than its behaviour in the other two contexts, but that the younger children predicted the fall of the stone on the Moon more accurately than the older children. This unusual developmental effect only occurred for the Moon context. We also found that the categories of justifications changed with age, with a move away from intuitive considerations towards mechanistic ones.

Community Modeling Program for Space Weather: A CCMC Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael

2009-01-01

A community modeling program, which provides a forum for exchange and integration between modelers, has excellent potential for furthering our Space Weather modeling and forecasting capabilities. The design of such a program is of great importance to its success. In this presentation, we will argue that the most effective community modeling program should be focused on Space Weather-related objectives, and that it should be open and inclusive. The tremendous successes of prior community research activities further suggest that the most effective implementation of a new community modeling program should be based on community leadership, rather than on domination by individual institutions or centers. This presentation will provide an experience-based justification for these conclusions.

MUSIC-characterization of small scatterers for normal measurement data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griesmaier, Roland; Hanke, Martin

2009-07-01

We investigate the reconstruction of the positions of a collection of small metallic objects buried beneath the ground from measurements of the vertical component of scattered fields corresponding to vertically polarized dipole excitations on a horizontal two-dimensional measurement device above the surface of the ground. A MUSIC reconstruction method for this problem has recently been proposed by Iakovleva et al (2007 IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 55 2598). In this paper, we give a rigorous theoretical justification of this method. To that end we prove a characterization of the positions of the scatterers in terms of the measurement data, applying an asymptotic analysis of the scattered fields. We present numerical results to illustrate our theoretical findings.

Research accomplished at the Knowledge Based Systems Lab: IDEF3, version 1.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mayer, Richard J.; Menzel, Christopher P.; Mayer, Paula S. D.

1991-01-01

An overview is presented of the foundations and content of the evolving IDEF3 process flow and object state description capture method. This method is currently in beta test. Ongoing efforts in the formulation of formal semantics models for descriptions captured in the outlined form and in the actual application of this method can be expected to cause an evolution in the method language. A language is described for the representation of process and object state centered system description. IDEF3 is a scenario driven process flow modeling methodology created specifically for these types of descriptive activities.

Quality of qualitative studies centred on patients in family practice: a systematic review.

PubMed

Cambon, Benoit; Vorilhon, Philippe; Michel, Laurence; Cadwallader, Jean-Sébastien; Aubin-Auger, Isabelle; Pereira, Bruno; Vaillant Roussel, Hélène

2016-12-01

Qualitative research is often used in the field of general medicine. Our objective was to evaluate the quality of published qualitative studies conducted using individual interviews or focus groups centred on patients monitored in general practice. We have undertaken a review of the literature in the PubMed and Embase databases of articles up to February 2014. The selection criteria were qualitative studies conducted using individual interviews or focus groups, centred on patients monitored in general practice. The articles chosen were analysed and evaluated using a score established from the Relevance, Appropriateness, Transparency and Soundness (RATS) grid. The average score of the 52 studies chosen was 28 out of 42. The criteria least often present were the description of the patients who chose not to participate in the study, the justification of the end of data collection, the discussion of the influence of the researchers and the discussion of the confidentiality of the data. The criteria most frequently described were an explicit research question, justified and in relation to existing knowledge, the agreement of the ethical committee and the presence of quotations. The number of studies and the score increased from year-to-year. The score was independent of the impact factor of the journal. Even though the qualitative research was published in reviews with a low impact factor, our results suggest that this research responded to the quality criteria of the RATS grid. The evaluation scored using RATS could be useful for authors or reviewers and for literature reviews. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Joint Forward Operating Base Elements of Command and Control

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

augmenting the fixed en route locations or establishing en route locations where none exist are also an integral part of this system” (AFDD 2- 6 1999, 57... section at CARL. 6 . Justification: Justification is required for any distribution other than described in Distribution Statement A. All or part of...Theater Airlift Operations, assigns the USAF the responsibility of providing airlift and the accompanying en route C4 structure to all US services

The effects of familism and cultural justification on the mental and physical health of family caregivers.

PubMed

Sayegh, Philip; Knight, Bob G

2011-01-01

We aimed to examine the effects of 2 factors of familism (Familial Obligations and Expected Support from the Family) and Cultural Justification on caregivers' mental and physical health as mediated by coping style. We used a probability sample of 95 African American and 65 White family caregivers for people with dementia to test hypotheses based on the updated sociocultural stress and coping model using path analysis. Main outcome measures included depressive symptomatology, various psychological symptoms, and subjective physical health. Both Familial Obligations and Cultural Justification had an indirect effect on poor mental health and subjective physical health via avoidant coping. Expected Support from the Family had no effect on caregivers' health outcomes. These findings suggest that feelings of obligation may be accounting for a significant proportion of the negative effects of familism on caregivers' mental and subjective physical health. Expectations of familial social support may be relatively inconsequential in this process.

Justification of CT scans using referral guidelines for imaging.

PubMed

Stanescu, G; Rosca-Fartat, G; Stanescu, D

2015-07-01

This study analyses the efficiency of the justification of individual computed tomography (CT) procedures using the good practice guide. The conformity of the CT scans with guide's recommendations was retrospectively analysed in a paediatric emergency hospital in Romania. The involved patient doses were estimated. The results show that around one-third of the examinations were not prescribed in conformity with the guide's recommendations, but these results are affected by unclear guide provisions, discussed here. The implications of the provisions of the revised International Atomic Energy Agency's Basic Safety Standards and of the Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM were analysed. The education and training courses for medical doctors disseminating the provisions of the good practice guide should be considered as the main support for the justification of the CT scans at the individual level. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Ingroup friendship and political mobilization among the disadvantaged.

PubMed

Sengupta, Nikhil K; Milojev, Petar; Barlow, Fiona K; Sibley, Chris G

2015-07-01

This study investigated the effects of ingroup contact in a large, national sample of Māori (a disadvantaged ethnic group; N = 940) on political attitudes relevant to decreasing ethnic inequality in New Zealand. We tested the role of 2 mediating mechanisms-ethnic identification and system justification-to explain the effects of ingroup contact on the dependent variables. Time spent with ingroup friends predicted increased support for the Māori Party and support for symbolic and resource-specific reparative policies benefiting Māori. These effects were partially mediated by increased ethnic identification. Although ingroup contact also reduced levels of system justification among Māori, its effects on policy attitudes and party preference were not mediated by system justification. This suggests that a key antecedent to system challenging political attitudes is an increased sense of identification with a disadvantaged group resulting, in part, from interactions with ingroup friends. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

More, more, more: the dark side of self-expansion motivation.

PubMed

Burris, Christopher T; Rempel, John K; Munteanu, Armand R; Therrien, Patrick A

2013-05-01

Self-expansion without regard for others' well-being may represent the dark side of an otherwise healthy motive. Guided by Amoebic Self-Theory (AST), we developed the Engulfing Self Scale (ESS) to measure acquisitive tendencies across AST's three domains of the self. Four studies revealed that bodily engulfment appeared generally benign, and that the problematic aspects of social engulfment were generally restricted to interpersonal contexts. Spatial-symbolic engulfment motivation was linked to a breadth of problematic indices such as psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychological entitlement, social dominance orientation, economic system justification, greed, and valuation of power. It also predicted reluctance to expose a cheating group leader when doing so would threaten one's own positive outcomes, greater justification of a looter's behavior when prompted take his or her perspective, and greater justification of self-serving reward allocations after defeating an ostensible competitor. Spatial-symbolic engulfment may be a motivational fountainhead for behaviors that negate others' well-being.

The stigma of obesity in customer service: a mechanism for remediation and bottom-line consequences of interpersonal discrimination.

PubMed

King, Eden B; Shapiro, Jenessa R; Hebl, Michelle R; Singletary, Sarah L; Turner, Stacey

2006-05-01

Using a customer service paradigm, the authors extended the justification-suppression model (JSM) of prejudice (C. S. Crandall & A. Eshleman, 2003) to include contemporary, covert forms of discrimination and to identify a discrimination remediation mechanism. Overall, the results of 3 studies revealed that actual and confederate obese shoppers in high-prejudice justification conditions faced more interpersonal discrimination than average-weight shoppers. Furthermore, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that adopting strategies that remove perceivers' justifications for discriminating against obese individuals (i.e., the controllability of weight) decreases the incidence of interpersonal discrimination. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrates negative bottom-line consequences of interpersonal discrimination for organizations (e.g., customer loyalty, purchasing behavior). Together, these studies confirm that the JSM applies to covert forms of discrimination, show the importance of examining subtle discrimination, and offer a mechanism for theory-driven strategies for the reduction of covert forms of discrimination.

Mechanisms of moral disengagement and their differential use by right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in support of war.

PubMed

Jackson, Lydia Eckstein; Gaertner, Lowell

2010-01-01

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) are associated with the approval of war as a political intervention [McFarland, 2005]. We examined whether the effects of RWA and SDO on war support are mediated by moral-disengagement mechanisms [i.e., responsibility reduction, moral justification, minimizing consequences, and dehumanizing-blaming victims; Bandura, 1999] and whether the ideologies use the mechanisms differently. Our data were consistent with the possibility that minimizing consequences (Study 1) and moral justification (Study 2) mediate the effects of RWA and SDO on approval of war. Both ideologies were positively associated with all moral-disengagement mechanism though more strongly so for RWA. Comparisons within ideologies suggest that RWA was most strongly associated with moral justification and SDO was most strongly associated with dehumanizing-blaming victims. We discuss implications and limitations.

AutoBD: Automated Bi-Level Description for Scalable Fine-Grained Visual Categorization.

PubMed

Yao, Hantao; Zhang, Shiliang; Yan, Chenggang; Zhang, Yongdong; Li, Jintao; Tian, Qi

Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic. However, most of them are heavily dependent on the artificial annotations, e.g., bounding boxes, part annotations, and so on . The requirement of artificial annotations largely hinders the scalability and application. Motivated to release such dependence, this paper proposes a robust and discriminative visual description named Automated Bi-level Description (AutoBD). "Bi-level" denotes two complementary part-level and object-level visual descriptions, respectively. AutoBD is "automated," because it only requires the image-level labels of training images and does not need any annotations for testing images. Compared with the part annotations labeled by the human, the image-level labels can be easily acquired, which thus makes AutoBD suitable for large-scale visual categorization. Specifically, the part-level description is extracted by identifying the local region saliently representing the visual distinctiveness. The object-level description is extracted from object bounding boxes generated with a co-localization algorithm. Although only using the image-level labels, AutoBD outperforms the recent studies on two public benchmark, i.e. , classification accuracy achieves 81.6% on CUB-200-2011 and 88.9% on Car-196, respectively. On the large-scale Birdsnap data set, AutoBD achieves the accuracy of 68%, which is currently the best performance to the best of our knowledge.Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic. However, most of them are heavily dependent on the artificial annotations, e.g., bounding boxes, part annotations, and so on . The requirement of artificial annotations largely hinders the scalability and application. Motivated to release such dependence, this paper proposes a robust and discriminative visual description named Automated Bi-level Description (AutoBD). "Bi-level" denotes two complementary part-level and object-level visual descriptions, respectively. AutoBD is "automated," because it only requires the image-level labels of training images and does not need any annotations for testing images. Compared with the part annotations labeled by the human, the image-level labels can be easily acquired, which thus makes AutoBD suitable for large-scale visual categorization. Specifically, the part-level description is extracted by identifying the local region saliently representing the visual distinctiveness. The object-level description is extracted from object bounding boxes generated with a co-localization algorithm. Although only using the image-level labels, AutoBD outperforms the recent studies on two public benchmark, i.e. , classification accuracy achieves 81.6% on CUB-200-2011 and 88.9% on Car-196, respectively. On the large-scale Birdsnap data set, AutoBD achieves the accuracy of 68%, which is currently the best performance to the best of our knowledge.

A simulation exercise to teach principles of bovine reproductive management.

PubMed

Perry, G A; Smith, M F

2004-05-01

Students in Reproductive Management (a senior-level course with approximately 20 to 50 students per semester) at the University of Missouri-Columbia are required to participate in a simulation exercise that is designed to improve reproductive efficiency in a beef herd. During a simulated 5-yr period, students must 1) improve reproductive efficiency in a beef cow-herd through implementation of reproductive management principles; 2) determine the economic impact of reproductive management decisions in a beef herd; and 3) evaluate the constraints of different geographical locations on approaches to reproductive management. Groups of three to four students are provided with the reproductive and economic records of a farm/ranch located in different parts of North America. Students create reproductive management plans consisting of 1) detailed discussion of farm/ranch environment (climate, terrain, forage and grain availability, and stocking rate; season for breeding and calving; and justification for choice of breed); 2) assessment of current level of reproductive performance; 3) identification and economic justification of specific (measurable) objectives; 4) discussion of alternatives for accomplishing specific objectives; 5) prediction of reproductive performance (pregnancy rate, quantity of calf weaned per cow exposed, and cost per quantity of calf weaned) in response to implementation of specific management practices; and 6) an annual and 5-yr reproductive and economic summary. Students obtain livestock marketing information for their assigned location via the Internet. Spreadsheets were developed to calculate the reproductive efficiency of postpartum cows and replacement heifers based on management decisions made by the groups and to calculate a yearly economic summary for each of the 5 yr. Management decisions are justified in a written report, and oral presentations are given to the class when the project is completed. Greater than 85% of students indicated that the exercise increased their understanding of how management decisions affect reproductive efficiency and profitability in a beef operation and also provided added confidence for students that applied for beef management positions.

Method and apparatus for automatically generating airfoil performance tables

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

van Dam, Cornelis P. (Inventor); Mayda, Edward A. (Inventor); Strawn, Roger Clayton (Inventor)

2006-01-01

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates automatically generating a performance table for an object, wherein the object is subject to fluid flow. The system operates by first receiving a description of the object and testing parameters for the object. The system executes a flow solver using the testing parameters and the description of the object to produce an output. Next, the system determines if the output of the flow solver indicates negative density or pressure. If not, the system analyzes the output to determine if the output is converging. If converging, the system writes the output to the performance table for the object.

A Software Engine to Justify the Conclusions of an Expert System for Detecting Renal Obstruction on 99mTc-MAG3 Scans

PubMed Central

Garcia, Ernest V.; Taylor, Andrew; Manatunga, Daya; Folks, Russell

2013-01-01

The purposes of this study were to describe and evaluate a software engine to justify the conclusions reached by a renal expert system (RENEX) for assessing patients with suspected renal obstruction and to obtain from this evaluation new knowledge that can be incorporated into RENEX to attempt to improve diagnostic performance. Methods RENEX consists of 60 heuristic rules extracted from the rules used by a domain expert to generate the knowledge base and a forward-chaining inference engine to determine obstruction. The justification engine keeps track of the sequence of the rules that are instantiated to reach a conclusion. The interpreter can then request justification by clicking on the specific conclusion. The justification process then reports the English translation of all concatenated rules instantiated to reach that conclusion. The justification engine was evaluated with a prospective group of 60 patients (117 kidneys). After reviewing the standard renal mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) scans obtained before and after the administration of furosemide, a masked expert determined whether each kidney was obstructed, whether the results were equivocal, or whether the kidney was not obstructed and identified and ranked the main variables associated with each interpretation. Two parameters were then tabulated: the frequency with which the main variables associated with obstruction by the expert were also justified by RENEX and the frequency with which the justification rules provided by RENEX were deemed to be correct by the expert. Only when RENEX and the domain expert agreed on the diagnosis (87 kidneys) were the results used to test the justification. Results RENEX agreed with 91% (184/203) of the rules supplied by the expert for justifying the diagnosis. RENEX provided 103 additional rules justifying the diagnosis; the expert agreed that 102 (99%) were correct, although the rules were considered to be of secondary importance. Conclusion We have described and evaluated a software engine to justify the conclusions of RENEX for detecting renal obstruction with MAG3 renal scans obtained before and after the administration of furosemide. This tool is expected to increase physician confidence in the interpretations provided by RENEX and to assist physicians and trainees in gaining a higher level of expertise. PMID:17332625

A software engine to justify the conclusions of an expert system for detecting renal obstruction on 99mTc-MAG3 scans.

PubMed

Garcia, Ernest V; Taylor, Andrew; Manatunga, Daya; Folks, Russell

2007-03-01

The purposes of this study were to describe and evaluate a software engine to justify the conclusions reached by a renal expert system (RENEX) for assessing patients with suspected renal obstruction and to obtain from this evaluation new knowledge that can be incorporated into RENEX to attempt to improve diagnostic performance. RENEX consists of 60 heuristic rules extracted from the rules used by a domain expert to generate the knowledge base and a forward-chaining inference engine to determine obstruction. The justification engine keeps track of the sequence of the rules that are instantiated to reach a conclusion. The interpreter can then request justification by clicking on the specific conclusion. The justification process then reports the English translation of all concatenated rules instantiated to reach that conclusion. The justification engine was evaluated with a prospective group of 60 patients (117 kidneys). After reviewing the standard renal mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) scans obtained before and after the administration of furosemide, a masked expert determined whether each kidney was obstructed, whether the results were equivocal, or whether the kidney was not obstructed and identified and ranked the main variables associated with each interpretation. Two parameters were then tabulated: the frequency with which the main variables associated with obstruction by the expert were also justified by RENEX and the frequency with which the justification rules provided by RENEX were deemed to be correct by the expert. Only when RENEX and the domain expert agreed on the diagnosis (87 kidneys) were the results used to test the justification. RENEX agreed with 91% (184/203) of the rules supplied by the expert for justifying the diagnosis. RENEX provided 103 additional rules justifying the diagnosis; the expert agreed that 102 (99%) were correct, although the rules were considered to be of secondary importance. We have described and evaluated a software engine to justify the conclusions of RENEX for detecting renal obstruction with MAG3 renal scans obtained before and after the administration of furosemide. This tool is expected to increase physician confidence in the interpretations provided by RENEX and to assist physicians and trainees in gaining a higher level of expertise.

International Conference on Harmonisation; Guidance on Q11 Development and Manufacture of Drug Substances; availability. Notice.

PubMed

2012-11-20

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a guidance entitled "Q11 Development and Manufacture of Drug Substances.'' The guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The guidance describes approaches to developing and understanding the manufacturing process of a drug substance and provides guidance on what information should be provided in certain sections of the Common Technical Document (CTD). The guidance is intended to harmonize the scientific and technical principles relating to the description and justification of the development and manufacturing process of drug substances (both chemical entities and biotechnological/biological entities) to enable a consistent approach for providing and evaluating this information across the three regions. The discussion of principles in the guidance is intended to apply only to the manufacture of drug substance, not the manufacture of finished drug products.

Large-aspect-ratio limit of neoclassical transport theory.

PubMed

Wong, S K; Chan, V S

2003-06-01

This paper presents a comprehensive description of neoclassical transport theory in the banana regime for large-aspect-ratio flux surfaces of arbitrary shapes. The method of matched-asymptotic expansions is used to obtain analytical solutions for plasma distribution functions and to compute transport coefficients. The method provides justification for retaining only the part of the Fokker-Planck operator that involves the second derivative with respect to the cosine of the pitch angle for the trapped and barely circulating particles. It leads to a simple equation for the freely circulating particles with boundary conditions that embody a discontinuity separating particles moving in opposite directions. Corrections to the transport coefficients are obtained by generalizing an existing boundary layer analysis. The system of moment and field equations is consistently taken in the cylinder limit, which facilitates the discussion of the treatment of dynamical constraints. It is shown that the nonlocal nature of Ohm's law in neoclassical theory renders the mathematical problem of plasma transport with changing flux surfaces nonstandard.

Methodology or method? A critical review of qualitative case study reports.

PubMed

Hyett, Nerida; Kenny, Amanda; Dickson-Swift, Virginia

2014-01-01

Despite on-going debate about credibility, and reported limitations in comparison to other approaches, case study is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers. We critically analysed the methodological descriptions of published case studies. Three high-impact qualitative methods journals were searched to locate case studies published in the past 5 years; 34 were selected for analysis. Articles were categorized as health and health services (n=12), social sciences and anthropology (n=7), or methods (n=15) case studies. The articles were reviewed using an adapted version of established criteria to determine whether adequate methodological justification was present, and if study aims, methods, and reported findings were consistent with a qualitative case study approach. Findings were grouped into five themes outlining key methodological issues: case study methodology or method, case of something particular and case selection, contextually bound case study, researcher and case interactions and triangulation, and study design inconsistent with methodology reported. Improved reporting of case studies by qualitative researchers will advance the methodology for the benefit of researchers and practitioners.

Department of the Navy FY 1995 Budget Estimates. Justification of Estimates, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy Descriptive Summaries

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-01

t,- r- 0N o 1nCO10 in %D ’DatLin 0 H-0 -4 ’ 100 o o% it -4 NoI c4 01- o ja iv 0 -14 H 4 ý4 .-4 - 4.j .-- .-4 .I.4 -H - 0 . 4 ~0 4 z z4 Cn E4-4- Oz~0...N (N(40( 4MM MM MHO F4t4W > 1% (N4 r4 E’ M 4 z E-4 0 t 00000 00000w000000000z 0000 1010 010.0 m00011 u 0100to 0as, 0 . z0( N 100 w0C’ 000000000000000...H 0. 04 04 0 w- 100 4 -0 4 ac 0% n~U .- 40% i -4in a inN . I in00 -4- ~.-4N -4 ). 4-4-..4~4-0inini 4 n -1 -- 00 Oi n4 n~i 000000 O000000C6000000>040

Cytogenetic studies and karyotype nomenclature of three wild canid species: maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) and fennec fox (Fennecus zerda).

PubMed

Pieńkowska-Schelling, A; Schelling, C; Zawada, M; Yang, F; Bugno, M; Ferguson-Smith, M

2008-01-01

We have analysed the chromosomes of three wild and endangered canid species: the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) and the fennec fox (Fennecuszerda) using classical and molecular cytogenetic methods. For the first time detailed and encompassing descriptions of the chromosomes are presented including the chromosomal assignment of nucleolar organizer regions and the 5S rRNA gene cluster. We propose a karyotype nomenclature with ideograms including more than 300 bands per haploid set for each of these three species which will form the basis for further research. In addition, we propose four basic different patterns of karyotype organization in the family Canidae. A comparison of these patterns with the most recent molecular phylogeny of Canidae revealed that the karyotype evolution of a species is not always strongly connected with its phylogenetic position. Our findings underline the need and justification for basic cytogenetic work in rare and exotic species. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Towards a geology of evidence-based practice--a discussion paper.

PubMed

Rolfe, Gary; Gardner, Lyn

2006-09-01

We begin this paper with a consideration of the significance of a historical perspective in presentations of evidence-based practice in the nursing and medical literature. We suggest that whereas writers often produce coherent historical narratives as justification for particular views of the nature of EBP, an examination of its origins reveals no such signs of historical development or progress in our conception or understanding of it. We then explore alternative modes of thought for attempting to understand and critique the variety of definitions and descriptions of EBP to be found in the literature. We eventually reject the linear mode of historical thinking in favour of Deleuze's notion of rhizomatic thought and the metaphor of geology. Finally, we employ the rhizomatic mode of thinking and writing to construct a geology of evidence-based practice which attempts to expose and embrace contradictions in definitions and uses of the term rather than discount them in an authorised historical narrative written from the perspective of the dominant discourse.

Modern design of a fast front-end computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Šoštarić, Z.; Anic̈ić, D.; Sekolec, L.; Su, J.

1994-12-01

Front-end computers (FEC) at Paul Scherrer Institut provide access to accelerator CAMAC-based sensors and actuators by way of a local area network. In the scope of the new generation FEC project, a front-end is regarded as a collection of services. The functionality of one such service is described in terms of Yourdon's environment, behaviour, processor and task models. The computational model (software representation of the environment) of the service is defined separately, using the information model of the Shlaer-Mellor method, and Sather OO language. In parallel with the analysis and later with the design, a suite of test programmes was developed to evaluate the feasibility of different computing platforms for the project and a set of rapid prototypes was produced to resolve different implementation issues. The past and future aspects of the project and its driving forces are presented. Justification of the choice of methodology, platform and requirement, is given. We conclude with a description of the present state, priorities and limitations of our project.

STS propellant scavenging systems study. Part 2, volume 2: Cost and WBS/dictionary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Frank L.

1987-01-01

Presented are the results of the cost analysis performed to update and refine the program phase C/D cost estimates for a Shuttle Derived Vehicle (SDV) tanker. The SDV tanker concept is an unmanned cargo vehicle incorporating a set of propellant tanks in the vehicle's payload module. The tanker will be used to meet the demand for a cryogenic propellant supply in orbit. The propellant tanks are delivered to a low Earth orbit or to an orbit in the vicinity of the Space Station. The intent of the economic analysis is to provide NASA with economic justification for the propellant scavenging concept that minimizes the total Space Transportation System life cycle cost. The detailed costs supporting the concept selection process are presented with descriptive text to aid in forecasting the phase C/D project and program planning. Included are all propellant scavenging costs as well as all SDV, STS and Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle charges to deliver the propellants to the Space Station.

Maintenance Business Plans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Matt

2002-01-01

Discusses maintenance business plans, statements which provide accountability for facilities maintenance organizations' considerable budgets. Discusses the plan's components: statement of plan objectives, macro and detailed description of the facility assets, maintenance function descriptions, description of key performance indicators, milestone…

Should the patient be allowed to die? 1

PubMed Central

Nicholson, Richard

1975-01-01

In considering the patient's right to a certain quality of dying, this essay outlines how the legal and ethical justifications for passive euthanasia depend on the doctrine of acts and omissions. It is suggested that this doctrine is untenable and that alternative justifications are needed. The development of the modern mechanistic approach to death is traced, showing that a possible basis for an humane way of death lies in a reacceptance of a metaphysical concept of life. PMID:1100831

Female Participation in Household Decision Making and the Justification of Wife Beating in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Alam, Md Shahin; Tareque, Md Ismail; Peet, Evan D; Rahman, Md Mosfequr; Mahmud, Tanvir

2018-04-01

We examined female participation in household decision making and its association with the justification of wife beating in Bangladesh. We used nationally representative data from the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Our sample consisted of currently married women of age 15 to 49 years ( n = 16,463). Chi-square tests and multilevel logistic regression models were performed. Approximately 84% of women in the survey were participants in at least one household decision, and 72% reported that wife beating is not justified in any circumstance. Women who reported their participation in at least one type of household decision less frequently reported that wife beating could be justified than those who did not participate in any household decisions (adjusted odds ratio = 1.49; 95% confidence interval = [1.25, 1.78]). In addition to participation in household decision making, other factors including age at first marriage, females' and their husbands' education, religion, parity, contraceptive use, and socioeconomic status were associated with the justification of wife beating. The results indicate that female participation in household decision making is significantly associated with the justification of wife beating in Bangladesh. Further study is needed, but the results suggest that policy makers should consider interventions proven to empower women and lead to increased participation in decision making as methods that may reduce domestic violence against women.

Generating Three-Dimensional Surface Models of Solid Objects from Multiple Projections.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

volume descriptions. The surface models are composed of curved, topologically rectangular, parametric patches. The data required to define these patches...geometry directly from image data .__ This method generates 3D surface descriptions of only those parts of the object that are illuminated by the pro- jected...objects. Generation of such models inherently requires the acquisition and analysis of 3D surface data . In this context, acquisition refers to the

Objective analysis of observational data from the FGGE observing systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, W.; Edelmann, D.; Iredell, M.; Han, D.; Jakkempudi, S.

1981-01-01

An objective analysis procedure for updating the GLAS second and fourth order general atmospheric circulation models using observational data from the first GARP global experiment is described. The objective analysis procedure is based on a successive corrections method and the model is updated in a data assimilation cycle. Preparation of the observational data for analysis and the objective analysis scheme are described. The organization of the program and description of the required data sets are presented. The program logic and detailed descriptions of each subroutine are given.

Justification and Persuasion about Cloning: Arguments in Hwang's Paper and Journalistic Reported Versions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiménez-Aleixandre, María Pilar; Federico-Agraso, Marta

2009-05-01

We examine the argumentative structure of Hwang et al.’s (2004) paper about human somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT, or ‘therapeutic cloning’), contrasted with four Journalistic Reported Versions (JRV) of it, and with students’ summaries of one JRV. As the evaluation of evidence is one of the critical features of argumentation (Jiménez-Aleixandre 2008), the analysis focuses on the use of evidence, drawing from instruments to analyze written argumentation (Kelly et al. 2008) and from studies about the structure of empirical research reports (Swales 2001). The objectives are: 1) To examine the use of evidence and the argumentative structure of Hwang et al.’s Science, 303: 1669-1674 (2004) original paper in terms of the criteria: a) pertinence of the evidence presented to the claims; b) sufficiency of the evidence for the purpose of supporting the claims; and c) coordination of the evidence across epistemic levels. 2) To explore how the structure of Hwang’s paper translates into the JRV and into university students’ perceptions about the evidence supporting the claims. The argumentative structure of Hwang’s paper is such that its apparently ostensible main claim about NT constitutes a justification for a second claim about its therapeutic applications, for which no evidence is offered. However, this second claim receives prominent treatment in the JRV and in the students’ summaries. Implications for promoting critical reading in the classroom are discussed.

Expanding Preschoolers' Use of Object Descriptions and Comparisons by Teaching "Category-Descriptor" Statements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weisberg, Paul

2003-01-01

Six preschool children, mostly from poverty-level backgrounds, were taught to make descriptive statements about objects. The category-descriptor statements were organized and sequenced into four clusters. As sets of new statements were successively taught and evaluated, the number and diversity of probed category and descriptor terms steadily and…

Modeling Of Object- And Scene-Prototypes With Hierarchically Structured Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Z.; Jensch, P.; Ameling, W.

1989-03-01

The success of knowledge-based image analysis methodology and implementation tools depends largely on an appropriately and efficiently built model wherein the domain-specific context information about and the inherent structure of the observed image scene have been encoded. For identifying an object in an application environment a computer vision system needs to know firstly the description of the object to be found in an image or in an image sequence, secondly the corresponding relationships between object descriptions within the image sequence. This paper presents models of image objects scenes by means of hierarchically structured classes. Using the topovisual formalism of graph and higraph, we are currently studying principally the relational aspect and data abstraction of the modeling in order to visualize the structural nature resident in image objects and scenes, and to formalize. their descriptions. The goal is to expose the structure of image scene and the correspondence of image objects in the low level image interpretation. process. The object-based system design approach has been applied to build the model base. We utilize the object-oriented programming language C + + for designing, testing and implementing the abstracted entity classes and the operation structures which have been modeled topovisually. The reference images used for modeling prototypes of objects and scenes are from industrial environments as'well as medical applications.

Generating descriptive visual words and visual phrases for large-scale image applications.

PubMed

Zhang, Shiliang; Tian, Qi; Hua, Gang; Huang, Qingming; Gao, Wen

2011-09-01

Bag-of-visual Words (BoWs) representation has been applied for various problems in the fields of multimedia and computer vision. The basic idea is to represent images as visual documents composed of repeatable and distinctive visual elements, which are comparable to the text words. Notwithstanding its great success and wide adoption, visual vocabulary created from single-image local descriptors is often shown to be not as effective as desired. In this paper, descriptive visual words (DVWs) and descriptive visual phrases (DVPs) are proposed as the visual correspondences to text words and phrases, where visual phrases refer to the frequently co-occurring visual word pairs. Since images are the carriers of visual objects and scenes, a descriptive visual element set can be composed by the visual words and their combinations which are effective in representing certain visual objects or scenes. Based on this idea, a general framework is proposed for generating DVWs and DVPs for image applications. In a large-scale image database containing 1506 object and scene categories, the visual words and visual word pairs descriptive to certain objects or scenes are identified and collected as the DVWs and DVPs. Experiments show that the DVWs and DVPs are informative and descriptive and, thus, are more comparable with the text words than the classic visual words. We apply the identified DVWs and DVPs in several applications including large-scale near-duplicated image retrieval, image search re-ranking, and object recognition. The combination of DVW and DVP performs better than the state of the art in large-scale near-duplicated image retrieval in terms of accuracy, efficiency and memory consumption. The proposed image search re-ranking algorithm: DWPRank outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm by 12.4% in mean average precision and about 11 times faster in efficiency.

Students' abilities to critique scientific evidence when reading and writing scientific arguments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knight, Amanda M.

Scientific arguments are used to persuade others for explanations that make sense of the natural world. Over time, through the accumulation of evidence, one explanation for a scientific phenomenon tends to take precedence. In science education, arguments make students' thinking and reasoning visible while also supporting the development of their conceptual, procedural, and epistemic knowledge. As such, argumentation has become a goal within recent policy documents, including the Next Generation Science Standards, which, in turn, presents a need for comprehensive, effective, and scalable assessments. This dissertation used assessments that measure students' abilities to critique scientific evidence, which is measured in terms of the form of justification and the support of empirical evidence, when reading and writing scientific arguments. Cognitive interviews were then conducted with a subset of the students to explore the criteria they used to critique scientific evidence. Specifically, the research investigated what characteristics of scientific evidence the students preferred, how they critiqued both forms of justification and empirical evidence, and whether the four constructs represented four separate abilities. Findings suggest that students' prioritized the type of empirical evidence to the form of justification, and most often selected relevant-supporting justifications. When writing scientific arguments, most students constructed a justified claim, but struggled to justify their claims with empirical evidence. In comparison, when reading scientific arguments, students had trouble locating a justification when it was not empirical data. Additionally, it was more difficult for students to critique than identify or locate empirical evidence, and it was more difficult for students to identify than locate empirical evidence. Findings from the cognitive interviews suggest that students with more specific criteria tended to have more knowledge of the construct. Lastly, dimensional analyses suggest that these may not be four distinct constructs, which has important implications for curriculum development and instructional practice. Namely, teachers should attend to the critique of scientific evidence separately when reading and writing scientific arguments.

A legal market in organs: the problem of exploitation.

PubMed

Greasley, Kate

2014-01-01

The article considers the objection to a commercial market in living donor organs for transplantation on the ground that such a market would be exploitative of the vendors. It examines a key challenge to that objection, to the effect that denying poor people the option to sell an organ is to withhold from them the best that a bad situation has to offer. The article casts serious doubt on this attempt at justifying an organ market, and its philosophical underpinning. Drawing, in part, from the catalogued consequences of a thriving kidney market in some parts of India, it is argued that the justification relies on conditions which are extremely unlikely to obtain, even in a regulated donor market: that organ selling meaningfully improves the material situation of the organ vendor. Far from being axiomatic, both logic and the extant empirical evidence point towards the unlikelihood of such an upshot. Finally, the article considers a few conventional counter-arguments in favour of a permissive stance on organ sales.

Minimum Age of Sale for Tobacco Products and Electronic Cigarettes: Ethical Acceptability of US "Tobacco 21 Laws".

PubMed

Morain, Stephanie Rubino; Malek, Janet

2017-09-01

Several US jurisdictions have recently passed laws that raise the minimum age of sale for tobacco products and electronic cigarettes to 21 years (Tobacco 21 laws). Although these laws have been demonstrated to be an effective means to reduce youth smoking initiation, their passage and potential expansion have provoked controversy. Critics have objected to these laws, claiming that they unduly intrude on individual freedom and that they irrationally and paternalistically restrict the freedom of those aged 18 to 20 years, who were previously able to legally purchase tobacco products. We have examined the ethical acceptability of Tobacco 21 laws. First, we have described ethical support for such a restriction grounded in its public health benefit. We have then offered arguments that raise doubts about the soundness of critics' objections to these regulations and described an additional ethical justification arising from concern about preventing harm to others. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that Tobacco 21 laws are ethically justifiable.

The writing of informed consent in accessible language: difficulties.

PubMed

Fernandes, Nurimar C

2015-06-01

In order to assess the adequacy of informed consent terminology of research projects developed at the Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) , we conducted a review study on the terminology found in 55 projects (2008-20013) . Such projects belonged to different medical specialties and were all registered in the hospital's Ethics in Research Committee. Patients had difficulty in understanding the meanings of 76 medical terms and expressions; only 12 of them could be replaced. On the other hand, the present study reached the conclusion that, in most cases, the writing with scientific terms is essential in items such as justification/objectives and procedures, being insurmountable obstacles to the participants of this research and patients' understanding.

Ethical Implications of Social Stigma Associated with the Promotion and Use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention.

PubMed

Herron, Patrick D

2016-04-01

Identifying sources of and eliminating social stigma associated with the promotion and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for the prevention of sexually acquired HIV infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) is both a moral imperative and necessary requirement to ensure that public health objectives of HIV prevention can be met. This article will examine and address ethical concerns and criticisms regarding the use of PrEP, barriers to its promotion, and use among MSM and examine the types of social stigma associated with PrEP. An ethical justification for both healthcare and LGBT communities to address and overcome social stigma regarding the use of PrEP among MSM is offered.

Adolescent brain development and the mature minor doctrine.

PubMed

Silber, Tomas J

2011-08-01

The medical rights of minors have been questioned, especially due to information on adolescent brain development and studies on adolescent decision-making. This chapter briefly introduces the mature minor doctrine (MMD) and its history, justification, and practice and then presents some of the objections to the MMD. The article then highlights new knowledge about adolescent brain development (ABD) and what this may contribute to this debate and describes "hot cognition" and "cold cognition". It concludes by alerting the reader to the danger of making inappropriate use of the discoveries of brain science and proposing a prudent approach to adolescent consent and confidentiality, one that incorporates the new knowledge on ABD without "turning back the clock" on the medical rights of minors.

The use of nonhuman animals in biomedical research: necessity and justification.

PubMed

Francione, Gary L

2007-01-01

Discourse about the use of animals in biomedical research usually focuses on two issues: its empirical and moral use. The empirical issue asks whether the use of nonhumans in experiments is required in order to get data. The moral issue asks whether the use of nonhumans can be defended as matter of ethical theory. Although the use of animals in research may involve a plausible necessity claim, no moral justification exists for using nonhumans in situations in which we would not use humans.

Business Education Course Descriptions. Course Descriptions for the Improvement of Business Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oklahoma State Dept. of Education, Oklahoma City.

Course descriptions are provided for 22 courses in the area of business education. Each description contains the following information: purpose, course objectives, outline of course content, list of optional topics, recommended types of evaluation, prerequisites, areas of interest, and curriculum sequence (grade level at which it should be…

Skylab experiments. Volume 2: Remote sensing of earth resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

This volume covers the broad area of earth resources in which Skylab experiments will be performed. A brief description of the Skylab program, its objectives, and vehicles is included. Section 1 introduces the concept and historical significance of remote sensing, and discusses the major scientific considerations involved in remotely sensing the earth's resources. Sections 2 through 6 provide a description of the individual earth resource sensors and experiments to be performed. Each description includes a discussion of the experiment background and scientific objectives, the equipment involved, and a discussion of significant experiment performance areas.

X-33 LH2 Tank Failure Investigation Findings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Niedermeyer, Mindy; Clinton, R. G., Jr. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

This presentation focuses on the tank history, test objectives, failure description, investigation and conclusions. The test objectives include verify structural integrity at 105% expected flight load limit varying the following parameters: cryogenic temperature; internal pressure; and mechanical loading. The Failure description includes structural component of the aft body, quad-lobe design, and sandwich - honeycomb graphite epoxy construction.

A Report of the Home Based Working Conference, Learning Institute of North Carolina (LINC) (March 12-15, 1973).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Learning Inst. of North Carolina, Durham.

The primary objective of this conference was to provide Head Start program representatives with information and descriptive materials on approaches to home-based education for preschool children with the parent as the focal point. Descriptions of six different programs outline objectives, services, advantages, and disadvantages, cost, evaluation…

Sidney Blatt's Object Relations Inventory: Contributions and Future Directions.

PubMed

Huprich, Steven K; Auerbach, John S; Porcerelli, John H; Bupp, Lindsey L

2016-01-01

In this article, we provide a historical overview of the Object Relations Inventory (ORI) and related methods for the assessment of object relations constructed by Sidney Blatt and colleagues (e.g., Blatt, Bers, & Schaffer, 1992 ; Blatt, Wein, Chevron, & Quinlan, 1979 ; Diamond, Kaslow, Coonerty, & Blatt, 1990 ). We clarify terminology that has been used inconsistently in the literature, especially by way of differentiating the methods used to collect descriptions of significant figures, such as the ORI and its predecessor, the Parental Description (PD) task, and the rating scales that Blatt and colleagues constructed to rate those descriptions. We provide a tabular summary of empirical studies of the measure and offer a critical review of those aspects of the instrument that require further empirical investigation and methodological rigor.

Gender stereotype-consistent memories: How system justification motivation distorts the recollection of information related to the self.

PubMed

Bonnot, Virginie; Krauth-Gruber, Silvia

2018-01-01

Research based on system justification theory has shown that women's self-perceptions may be altered by the motivation to justify the system and its inequalities. Self-perceptions being built on past experiences, the present study aimed to explore how system justification motivation induced through a system dependency manipulation may alter both women's recall of autobiographical memories and their behavior. Women who were led to feel highly dependent on the social system perceived themselves as more competent and recalled memories of higher competence in the verbal domain compared with the negatively stereotyped scientific domain. Women's behavioral choices (between doing a verbal or a math exercise) also revealed a higher preference for the gender stereotype-consistent verbal exercise in the high-system dependency condition, as compared with the low-system dependency condition. These results suggest that gender stereotypes may not only satisfy self- or group-serving motivation but also the need to perceive the system in a positive light.

The Ego-Defensive Role of Legitimacy: How Threat-Based Justifications Protect the Self-Esteem of Discriminators.

PubMed

Pereira, Cicero Roberto; Álvaro, José Luis; Vala, Jorge

2018-05-01

This article analyzes the ego-defensive role played by legitimation, by examining the hypothesis that threat-based justifications attenuate the negative effect on an individual's self-esteem caused by his or her becoming aware of his or her own discriminatory behavior. Across three studies (including a pilot experiment), participants who were led to believe that they had acted in a discriminatory way experienced a decrease in their self-esteem. In Study 1 ( N = 116), this effect was nullified when discrimination was justified by either symbolic or realistic threat perceptions. Study 2 ( N = 250) replicated this pattern of results and went further by showing that discrimination affects self-esteem only in more egalitarian individuals, whereas for those less egalitarian, it affects their social image. According to the ego-defensive role of legitimation, a meta-analytical integration of the results confirmed that the influence of discrimination in depressing self-esteem is moderated by threat-based justifications.

Know versus Familiar: Differentiating states of awareness in others' subjective reports of recognition.

PubMed

Williams, Helen L; Moulin, Chris J A

2015-01-01

In the Remember-Know paradigm whether a Know response is defined as a high-confidence state of certainty or a low-confidence state based on familiarity varies across researchers and can influence participants' responses. The current experiment was designed to explore differences between the states of Know and Familiar. Participants studied others' justification statements to "Know" recognition decisions and separated them into two types. Crucially, participants were not provided definitions of Know and Familiar on which to sort the items--their judgements were based solely on the phenomenology described in the justifications. Participants' sorting decisions were shown to reliably map onto expert classification of Know and Familiar. Post-task questionnaire responses demonstrated that both the level of memory detail and confidence expressed in the justifications were central to how participants categorised the items. In sum, given no instructions to do so, participants classify Familiar and Know according to two dimensions: confidence and amount of information retrieved.

Childhood exposure to domestic violence and attitude towards wife beating in adult life: a study of men in India.

PubMed

Zhu, Ying; Dalal, Koustuv

2010-03-01

This study examined men's justification of wife beating in relation to their perceived rights and autonomy using a nationally representative sample of 18,047 men in India with childhood exposure to parental violence. Five reasons for wife beating justification, four items of men's perceived rights, and five items of household autonomy were analysed using chi2 test and logistic regression. Among 18,047 participants, 67% justified wife beating. Low education, economic stress and being unmarried were generally more associated with justifying wife beating for all five reasons. Wife's refusal of sex and husband's final say on household autonomy are risk factors. Joint autonomy on household decision making and wife's autonomy on managing her own earnings are protective factors. Perceived relationship rights and autonomy are highly predictive of wife-beating justification for the men who have been exposed to parental violence during childhood. The study has significant implications for public health planners and education strategies.

Moral reasoning and emotion attributions of adolescent bullies, victims, and bully-victims.

PubMed

Perren, Sonja; Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Eveline; Malti, Tina; Hymel, Shelley

2012-11-01

This study investigated different facets of moral development in bullies, victims, and bully-victims among Swiss adolescents. Extending previous research, we focused on both bullying and victimization in relation to adolescents' morally disengaged and morally responsible reasoning as well as moral emotion attributions. A total of 516 adolescents aged 12-18 (57% females) reported the frequency of involvement in bullying and victimization. Participants were categorized as bullies (14.3%), bully-victims (3.9%), and victims (9.7%). Moral judgment, moral justifications, and emotion attributions to a hypothetical perpetrator of a moral transgression (relational aggression) were assessed. Bullies showed more morally disengaged reasoning than non-involved students. Bully-victims more frequently indicated that violating moral rules is right. Victims produced more victim-oriented justifications (i.e., more empathy) but fewer moral rules. Among victims, the frequency of morally responsible justifications decreased and the frequency of deviant rules increased with age. The findings are discussed from an integrative moral developmental perspective. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Using cognitive dissonance to induce adolescents' escaping from the claw of online gaming: the roles of personal responsibility and justification of cost.

PubMed

Chiou, Wen-Bin; Wan, Chin-Sheng

2007-10-01

The negative impact of the Internet on adolescents has received much attention. How to reduce their pathological use of online gaming is also a critical issue. Based on cognitive dissonance theory, two experiments were conducted to examine whether personal responsibility and justification of cost may play crucial factors in impacting adolescent players' attitude change and their willingness to engage in attitude-discrepant behavior. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that adolescent players who felt a strong sense of responsibility appeared to exhibit greater attitude change. In Experiment 2, the findings indicated that players tended to employ justification of cost in order to reduce or eliminate the dissonance between their attitude toward online gaming and invested cost. Adolescent players who perceived a higher cost in online gaming were less willing to engage in attitude-discrepant behavior. Reducing adolescents ' overuse of online gaming can be appreciated through the perspective of cognitive dissonance.

Do sophisticated epistemic beliefs predict meaningful learning? Findings from a structural equation model of undergraduate biology learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Silvia Wen-Yu; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2016-10-01

This study investigated the relationships among college students' epistemic beliefs in biology (EBB), conceptions of learning biology (COLB), and strategies of learning biology (SLB). EBB includes four dimensions, namely 'multiple-source,' 'uncertainty,' 'development,' and 'justification.' COLB is further divided into 'constructivist' and 'reproductive' conceptions, while SLB represents deep strategies and surface learning strategies. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 303 college students. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed acceptable model fits. Mediation testing further revealed two paths with complete mediation. In sum, students' epistemic beliefs of 'uncertainty' and 'justification' in biology were statistically significant in explaining the constructivist and reproductive COLB, respectively; and 'uncertainty' was statistically significant in explaining the deep SLB as well. The results of mediation testing further revealed that 'uncertainty' predicted surface strategies through the mediation of 'reproductive' conceptions; and the relationship between 'justification' and deep strategies was mediated by 'constructivist' COLB. This study provides evidence for the essential roles some epistemic beliefs play in predicting students' learning.

Trading Robustness Requirements in Mars Entry Trajectory Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lafleur, Jarret M.

2009-01-01

One of the most important metrics characterizing an atmospheric entry trajectory in preliminary design is the size of its predicted landing ellipse. Often, requirements for this ellipse are set early in design and significantly influence both the expected scientific return from a particular mission and the cost of development. Requirements typically specify a certain probability level (6-level) for the prescribed ellipse, and frequently this latter requirement is taken at 36. However, searches for the justification of 36 as a robustness requirement suggest it is an empirical rule of thumb borrowed from non-aerospace fields. This paper presents an investigation into the sensitivity of trajectory performance to varying robustness (6-level) requirements. The treatment of robustness as a distinct objective is discussed, and an analysis framework is presented involving the manipulation of design variables to effect trades between performance and robustness objectives. The scenario for which this method is illustrated is the ballistic entry of an MSL-class Mars entry vehicle. Here, the design variable is entry flight path angle, and objectives are parachute deploy altitude performance and error ellipse robustness. Resulting plots show the sensitivities between these objectives and trends in the entry flight path angles required to design to these objectives. Relevance to the trajectory designer is discussed, as are potential steps for further development and use of this type of analysis.

Hologram representation of design data in an expert system knowledge base

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shiva, S. G.; Klon, Peter F.

1988-01-01

A novel representational scheme for design object descriptions is presented. An abstract notion of modules and signals is developed as a conceptual foundation for the scheme. This abstraction relates the objects to the meaning of system descriptions. Anchored on this abstraction, a representational model which incorporates dynamic semantics for these objects is presented. This representational model is called a hologram scheme since it represents dual level information, namely, structural and semantic. The benefits of this scheme are presented.

Justifying Clinical Nudges.

PubMed

Gorin, Moti; Joffe, Steven; Dickert, Neal; Halpern, Scott

2017-03-01

The shift away from paternalistic decision-making and toward patient-centered, shared decision-making has stemmed from the recognition that in order to practice medicine ethically, health care professionals must take seriously the values and preferences of their patients. At the same time, there is growing recognition that minor and seemingly irrelevant features of how choices are presented can substantially influence the decisions people make. Behavioral economists have identified striking ways in which trivial differences in the presentation of options can powerfully and predictably affect people's choices. Choice-affecting features of the decision environment that do not restrict the range of choices or significantly alter the incentives have come to be known as "nudges." Although some have criticized conscious efforts to influence choice, we believe that clinical nudges may often be morally justified. The most straightforward justification for nudge interventions is that they help people bypass their cognitive limitations-for example, the tendency to choose the first option presented even when that option is not the best for them-thereby allowing people to make choices that best align with their rational preferences or deeply held values. However, we argue that this justification is problematic. We argue that, if physicians wish to use nudges to shape their patients' choices, the justification for doing so must appeal to an ethical and professional standard, not to patients' preferences. We demonstrate how a standard with which clinicians and bioethicists already are quite familiar-the best-interest standard-offers a robust justification for the use of nudges. © 2017 The Hastings Center.

Use of the Job Model Concept to Guide Job Description Procedures for Army Officers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitmore, Paul G.

The objective of Work Unit SKYGUARD has been to facilitate the development of an improved Air Defense Officers Advanced Course (C-22) by the U.S. Army Air Defense School. Focus is on techniques for improving the completeness and relevance of the instructional objectives with respect to future job requirements. The job description procedures…

An Approach to Object Recognition: Aligning Pictorial Descriptions.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-12-01

PERFORMING 0RGANIZATION NAMIE ANDORS IS551. PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK Artificial Inteligence Laboratory AREKA A WORK UNIT NUMBERS ( 545 Technology... ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY A.I. Memo No. 931 December, 1986 AN APPROACH TO OBJECT RECOGNITION: ALIGNING PICTORIAL DESCRIPTIONS Shimon Ullman...within the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the A.I. Laboratory’s artificial intelligence

Effects of method and format on subjects' responses to a control of variables reasoning problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staver, John R.

Excessive time and training demands have rendered Piaget's clinical method of reasoning assessment impractical for researchers and science teachers who work with large numbers of students. The published literature[Note ][See: Lawson, A. E. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1978, 15(1), 11-24; Shayer, M., Adey, P., & Wylam, H. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1981, 18(2), 157-168; Staver, J. R., & Gabel, D. L. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1979, 16(6), 534-544; Tobin, K. G., & Capie, W. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1981, 41(2), 413-424.] indicates that reliable, valid alternatives to clinical assessment are feasible. However, the overestimate/underestimate of reasoning for different methods and formats remains unresolved through research. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various methods and formats on subjects' responses to a Piagetian reasoning problem requiring control of variables. The task chosen for this investigation was the Mealworm problem.[Note ][See: Karplus, R., Lawson, A., Wollman, W., Appel, M., Bernoff, R., Howe, A., Rusch, J., & Sullivan, F. Science teaching and the development of reasoning. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1977.] The task was presented by three methods: (1) individual clinical interview; (2) group presentation of task followed by paper-and-pencil problem with illustration; and (3) group administration of paper-and-pencil instrument with illustration. Each method included four formats: (1) completion answer with essay justification; (2) completion answer with multiplechoice justification; (3) multiple-choice answer with essay justification; and (4) multiple-choice answer with multiple-choice justification. Two hundred and fifty-three (253) students who were enrolled in a freshman level biological science class participated in the study. The research design was a 3 × 4 factorial design with method and format of assessment as the main effects. The participants were in 12 randomly selected laboratory or discussion sections, and each section was randomly assigned to a cell in the research design. Regression analysis with the individual as the unit of analysis showed that format but not method of assessment accounted for a significant amount of variance in student performance. The overall interaction was nonsignificant. Regression analysis with sections as the unit of analysis revealed nonsignificant findings for both method and format. The interrater agreement in the scoring of the Mealworm task was 82.1%. The principal conclusion is that format but not method of task administration influenced the performance of subjects, and the influence is similar for various combinations of method and format. Discussion is focused on the relative importance of the nonsignificant and significant findings for using alternative methods of Piagetian assessment. The results are also discussed with respect to earlier work, and suggestions for future research as well as implications for teachers are set forth.

Clarifying the Concept of Adherence to eHealth Technology: Systematic Review on When Usage Becomes Adherence

PubMed Central

Kelders, Saskia M; van Gemert-Pijnen, Julia EWC

2017-01-01

Background In electronic health (eHealth) evaluations, there is increasing attention for studying the actual usage of a technology in relation to the outcomes found, often by studying the adherence to the technology. On the basis of the definition of adherence, we suggest that the following three elements are necessary to determine adherence to eHealth technology: (1) the ability to measure the usage behavior of individuals; (2) an operationalization of intended use; and (3) an empirical, theoretical, or rational justification of the intended use. However, to date, little is known on how to operationalize the intended usage of and the adherence to different types of eHealth technology. Objective The study aimed to improve eHealth evaluations by gaining insight into when, how, and by whom the concept of adherence has been used in previous eHealth evaluations and finding a concise way to operationalize adherence to and intended use of different eHealth technologies. Methods A systematic review of eHealth evaluations was conducted to gain insight into how the use of the technology was measured, how adherence to different types of technologies was operationalized, and if and how the intended use of the technology was justified. Differences in variables between the use of the technology and the operationalization of adherence were calculated using a chi-square test of independence. Results In total, 62 studies were included in this review. In 34 studies, adherence was operationalized as “the more use, the better,” whereas 28 studies described a threshold for intended use of the technology as well. Out of these 28, only 6 reported a justification for the intended use. The proportion of evaluations of mental health technologies reporting a justified operationalization of intended use is lagging behind compared with evaluations of lifestyle and chronic care technologies. The results indicated that a justification of intended use does not require extra measurements to determine adherence to the technology. Conclusions The results of this review showed that to date, justifications for intended use are often missing in evaluations of adherence. Evidently, it is not always possible to estimate the intended use of a technology. However, such measures do not meet the definition of adherence and should therefore be referred to as the actual usage of the technology. Therefore, it can be concluded that adherence to eHealth technology is an underdeveloped and often improperly used concept in the existing body of literature. When defining the intended use of a technology and selecting valid measures for adherence, the goal or the assumed working mechanisms should be leading. Adherence can then be standardized, which will improve the comparison of adherence rates to different technologies with the same goal and will provide insight into how adherence to different elements contributed to the outcomes. PMID:29212630

Adaptation of object descriptions to a partner under increasing communicative demands: a comparison of children with and without autism.

PubMed

Nadig, Aparna; Vivanti, Giacomo; Ozonoff, Sally

2009-12-01

This study compared the object descriptions of school-age children with high-functioning autism (HFA) with those of a matched group of typically developing children. Descriptions were elicited in a referential communication task where shared information was manipulated, and in a guessing game where clues had to be provided about the identity of an object that was hidden from the addressee. Across these tasks, increasingly complex levels of audience design were assessed: (1) the ability to give adequate descriptions from one's own perspective, (2) the ability to adjust descriptions to an addressee's perspective when this differs from one's own, and (3) the ability to provide indirect yet identifying descriptions in a situation where explicit labeling is inappropriate. Results showed that there were group differences in all three cases, with the HFA group giving less efficient descriptions with respect to the relevant context than the comparison group. More revealing was the identification of distinct adaptation profiles among the HFA participants: those who had difficulty with all three levels, those who displayed Level 1 audience design but poor Level 2 and Level 3 design, and those demonstrated all three levels of audience design, like the majority of the comparison group. Higher structural language ability, rather than symptom severity or social skills, differentiated those HFA participants with typical adaptation profiles from those who displayed deficient audience design, consistent with previous reports of language use in autism.

Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1984 Submitted to Congress January 1983: Missile Procurement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

for procurement of the first operational SRAM/ Altair /MV. (RDTE PE 64406F, 1 245JF) Space Suttle - Tne Space Shuttle is a NASA development program to...ACQUISITION IA.. R STUART IINCIASSIFIED JAN 83 RO.J- AC-64- FIG 5/ 1 NL IIIIIIIIIIIIIu IIIIIIIIIIIIIl IIIIIIIIIIIIIhl IIIhhhhmh ii1w 1112., 0 1111Ŗ--5, I i...MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANARS - 963 -A ’!/ 1 JA 12 5955 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE JUSTIFICATION OF E&IMATES FOR FISCAL YEAR

Copyright Law Basics for the Nursing Professional: Part 1: Using the Work of Others.

PubMed

LaVelle, Meghan B; LaVelle, Beth Elchek; Port, Kenneth L; Sherlock, Jacob T

2015-01-01

This article covers the basics of Copyright Law as applicable to the use of protected resources and the sharing of information by nurse professionals. It explores frequently cited justifications for copyright violation, including the doctrine of Fair Use and the Technology and Copyright Harmonization Act. It also discusses why those justifications may or may not apply to the nurse professional who teaches in a clinical setting or at a conference.(See CE Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPD/A2).

[Clinical justification of medico-psychological care to the victims of technogenic accidents and catastrophes with prevalence of anxious and depressive symptoms of non-psychotic register].

PubMed

Volobuev, V V

2014-01-01

In the article the clinical justification of medico-psychological care to the victims of technogenic accidents and catastrophes with prevalence of anxious and depressive symptoms of non-psychotic register is described. The necessity of differentiated approach is analyzed in accomplishing of psychotherapy of this contingent of patients taking into account the high level of anxiety, emotional stress, decreased mood, low levels of the quality of life in the remote period of strong stressful factor's action.

The Relationship between Young Children's Drawings and Verbal Descriptions of a Common Object.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shapiro, Lauren R.; Strommen, Erik F.

A study compared the content of children's drawings and verbal descriptions of a house. Drawing and verbal descriptions were collected in two sessions separated by a 1-week interval Participants were 16 children of 5 and 6 years of age who were in day care. Comparison of defining features in verbal and graphic descriptions revealed a distinction…

Descriptive Cataloging Education in Library Schools, Using the University of Washington as a Specific Example.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soper, Mary Ellen

1987-01-01

This discussion of the inclusion of descriptive cataloging as part of library education describes the descriptive cataloging segment of the curriculum at the University of Washington, including the sequence of courses and the content and objectives of each course. (CLB)

A descriptive study of chiropractors' opinions and practices regarding office-based health product sales.

PubMed

Page, Stacey A; Grod, Jaroslaw P; McMorland, D Gordon

2012-04-05

Although the sale of non-prescription health products is ubiquitous, the views of health professionals, such as chiropractors, regarding the sale of such products are not well known. Practitioner opinion is important to understand and inform professional practice. The purpose of this study was to describe chiropractors' perspectives and practices on the sale of health care products from practitioners' offices. Chiropractors were invited to provide written comments about health product sales at the end of a fixed choice, mailed survey. Respondents' comments were analyzed using qualitative description. Ethics approval was received from the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board at the University of Calgary. One hundred seven of the 265 respondents (response rate of 51%) provided written comments. Approximately 30 pages of double-spaced, typed text were gathered. Respondents did not consistently endorse or condemn health product sales, and engaged in the practice to greater and lesser extents. While some were opposed to health products sales, some accepted the practice with a degree of ambivalence whereas others clearly embraced it. Some respondents acknowledged a professional conflict of interest in such sales and marketing, and described strategies used to mitigate it. Others provided a range of justifications for the practice. Personal integrity and professional standards were discussed and a need for monitoring identified. A wide range of opinions and practices were described and this is consistent with resulting variation in practice. In light of this, standards that facilitate consistency in practice may benefit professionals and the public alike.

The place character as land use change determinant in Deli Serdang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindarto, D.; Sirojuzilam; Badaruddin; Aulia, DN

2018-03-01

The Mebidangro concept of development (Medan, Binjai, Deli Serdang, Karo) in Sumatera Utara creating peri urban area in region hinterland Medan city especially in Tembung village, Percut Sei Tuan District. This peri urban area is a conjunction of several rural-urban activities that forming a friendly atmosphere. The dynamic of population structure shows occurrence the sprawl of land use change condition. In the site of the urban region showing the unique performance that built the place character. The aim of the study is to uncover the place character as one of land use change determinant factors. The study conducted with quantitative approach intended at obtaining variables which describing several factors forming land use change. Descriptive approach give an idea, justification, and fact-finding with correct interpretation. Data collected through a purposive sampling of 320 respondents who stay and built the building and land between 2010 till 2014. With overlay figure/ground technique, scoring analysis, descriptive quantitative and SEM (Structural Equational Models) gained a result that urban heritage (p=0,008) potentially as one of the main land use change driving factors besides accessibility (p=0,039), infrastructure (p=0,010), social-economic (p=0,038) in fact topographic factor (p=0,663) was inversely potentially. The implication of the findings is required intensive attention toward the form of place character (mosque, the quarter, district activity, peri urban edges city and railway) as determinant factors of land use change considering forming the identity of the rapid change in land use transformation.

Path Integrals for Electronic Densities, Reactivity Indices, and Localization Functions in Quantum Systems

PubMed Central

Putz, Mihai V.

2009-01-01

The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI) development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr’s quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions – all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving) many-electronic systems. PMID:20087467

Path integrals for electronic densities, reactivity indices, and localization functions in quantum systems.

PubMed

Putz, Mihai V

2009-11-10

The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI) development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr's quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions - all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving) many-electronic systems.

Mariner 10 Venus encounter. [scientific objectives and instruments for flyby observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunne, J. A.

1974-01-01

Review of the scientific objectives of the Mariner 10 mission with regard to observations of Venus during a flyby, and description of the equipment installed on the spacecraft to fulfill these objectives. A detailed description is given of the hardware modifications made to the payload specifically for the Venus sequence. In discussing the encounter operations, two spacecraft problems which significantly affected the Venus encounter sequence are cited - namely, a failure of the television optic heaters to come on shortly after launch, and the occurrence of a roll gyro oscillation.

Maturation delay for the predators can enhance stable coexistence for a class of prey-predator models.

PubMed

Banerjee, Malay; Takeuchi, Yasuhiro

2017-01-07

Maturation time delay for the predators is introduced in prey-predator models to implicitly model the stage-structure of predators. Most of the prey-predator models with maturation delay are known to exhibit destabilization of coexistence steady-state. Discrete time delay induced destabilization is a common finding, however, this is due to the introduction of time delay with lack of ecological justification. The main objective of the present work is to show the stabilizing role of maturation delay for a class of delayed prey-predator model. To be specific, we consider prey-predator models with strong and weak Allee effects in prey growth and Michaelis-Menten type functional response. We provide ecological justification for the introduction of maturation delay parameter in predator's growth equation. We obtain the conditions for stable and oscillatory coexistence of prey and their specialist predator in case of strong as well as weak Allee effect for non-delayed and delayed models. Apart from the analytical results for the models under consideration, we perform extensive numerical simulations to construct the relevant bifurcation diagrams. Our analytical and supportive numerical findings reveal that delay is not always a destabilizing factor rather the stable coexistence in the presence of time delay depends upon the formulation of the delayed model. The biological implications of the current investigation are provided in the conclusion section. We also explain the validity of obtained results for other types of prey-predator models with a specialist predator. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[On the problems of the evolutionary optimization of life history. II. To justification of optimization criterion for nonlinear Leslie model].

PubMed

Pasekov, V P

2013-03-01

The paper considers the problems in the adaptive evolution of life-history traits for individuals in the nonlinear Leslie model of age-structured population. The possibility to predict adaptation results as the values of organism's traits (properties) that provide for the maximum of a certain function of traits (optimization criterion) is studied. An ideal criterion of this type is Darwinian fitness as a characteristic of success of an individual's life history. Criticism of the optimization approach is associated with the fact that it does not take into account the changes in the environmental conditions (in a broad sense) caused by evolution, thereby leading to losses in the adequacy of the criterion. In addition, the justification for this criterion under stationary conditions is not usually rigorous. It has been suggested to overcome these objections in terms of the adaptive dynamics theory using the concept of invasive fitness. The reasons are given that favor the application of the average number of offspring for an individual, R(L), as an optimization criterion in the nonlinear Leslie model. According to the theory of quantitative genetics, the selection for fertility (that is, for a set of correlated quantitative traits determined by both multiple loci and the environment) leads to an increase in R(L). In terms of adaptive dynamics, the maximum R(L) corresponds to the evolutionary stability and, in certain cases, convergent stability of the values for traits. The search for evolutionarily stable values on the background of limited resources for reproduction is a problem of linear programming.

Techniques for overcoming community resistance to family planning programs.

PubMed

Palley, H A

1968-01-01

Methods of overcoming resistance to publicly subsidized family planning programs are discussed. The main sources of opposition include groups that oppose family planning for moral reasons, and those who object to the spending of government funds to provide services and information. Such opposition can be weakened by indicating that family planning clinics fulf: 11 important medical needs. Presenting social justification for family planning can help to lower oppostion. In order to secure participation in the programs by low income groups it is essential to have community leaders involved in policy decisions and to use indigenous community paraprofessionals in the clinics. A coalition of representatives of the poor community and the health and welfare system, aided by the community organization, can lead to an effective family planning program.

User benefits and funding strategies. [technology assessment and economic analysis of the space shuttles and NASA Programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Archer, J. L.; Beauchamp, N. A.; Day, C. F.

1975-01-01

The justification, economic and technological benefits of NASA Space Programs (aside from pure scientific objectives), in improving the quality of life in the United States is discussed and outlined. Specifically, a three-step, systematic method is described for selecting relevant and highly beneficial payloads and instruments for the Interim Upper Stage (IUS) that will be used with the space shuttle until the space tug becomes available. Viable Government and private industry cost-sharing strategies which would maximize the number of IUS payloads, and the benefits obtainable under a limited NASA budget were also determined. Charts are shown which list the payload instruments, and their relevance in contributing to such areas as earth resources management, agriculture, weather forecasting, and many others.

Management of information for mission operations using automated keyword referencing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidson, Roger A.; Curran, Patrick S.

1993-01-01

Although millions of dollars have helped to improve the operability and technology of ground data systems for mission operations, almost all mission documentation remains bound in printed volumes. This form of documentation is difficult and timeconsuming to use, may be out-of-date, and is usually not cross-referenced with other related volumes of mission documentation. A more effective, automated method of mission information access is needed. A new method of information management for mission operations using automated keyword referencing is proposed. We expound on the justification for and the objectives of this concept. The results of a prototype tool for mission information access that uses a hypertextlike user interface and existing mission documentation are shared. Finally, the future directions and benefits of our proposed work are described.

Models of evaluation of public joint-stock property management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakupova, N. M.; Levachkova, S.; Absalyamova, S. G.; Kvon, G.

2017-12-01

The paper deals with the models of evaluation of performance of both the management company and the individual subsidiaries on the basis of a combination of elements and multi-parameter and target approaches. The article shows that due to the power of multi-dimensional and multi-directional indicators of financial and economic activity it is necessary to assess the degree of achievement of the objectives with the use of multivariate ordinal model as a set of indicators, ordered by growth so that the maintenance of this order on a long interval of time will ensure the effective functioning of the enterprise in the long term. It is shown that these models can be regarded as the monitoring tools of implementation of strategies and guide the justification effectiveness of implementation of management decisions.

Priority-setting for achieving universal health coverage

PubMed Central

Chalkidou, Kalipso; Glassman, Amanda; Marten, Robert; Vega, Jeanette; Tritasavit, Nattha; Gyansa-Lutterodt, Martha; Seiter, Andreas; Kieny, Marie Paule; Hofman, Karen; Culyer, Anthony J

2016-01-01

Abstract Governments in low- and middle-income countries are legitimizing the implementation of universal health coverage (UHC), following a United Nation’s resolution on UHC in 2012 and its reinforcement in the sustainable development goals set in 2015. UHC will differ in each country depending on country contexts and needs, as well as demand and supply in health care. Therefore, fundamental issues such as objectives, users and cost–effectiveness of UHC have been raised by policy-makers and stakeholders. While priority-setting is done on a daily basis by health authorities – implicitly or explicitly – it has not been made clear how priority-setting for UHC should be conducted. We provide justification for explicit health priority-setting and guidance to countries on how to set priorities for UHC. PMID:27274598

The Contexts of Composing: A Dynamic Scene with Movable Centers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiley, Mark L.

An examination of the transformations that the concept of genius undergoes when viewed through the apparently incommensurable expressivistic and social views of composing helps to reconcile phenomenologically objective descriptions of composing with value-laden descriptions of the self in the act of writing. When the description of composition is…

Quarantine, isolation and the duty of easy rescue in public health.

PubMed

Giubilini, Alberto; Douglas, Thomas; Maslen, Hannah; Savulescu, Julian

2018-06-01

We address the issue of whether, why and under what conditions, quarantine and isolation are morally justified, with a particular focus on measures implemented in the developing world. We argue that the benefits of quarantine and isolation justify some level of coercion or compulsion by the state, but that the state should be able to provide the strongest justification possible for implementing such measures. While a constrained form of consequentialism might provide a justification for such public health interventions, we argue that a stronger justification is provided by a principle of State Enforced Easy Rescue: a state may permissibly compel individuals to engage in activities that entail a small cost to them but a large benefit to others, because individuals have a moral duty of easy rescue to engage in those activities. The principle of State Enforced Easy Rescue gives rise to an Obligation Enforcement Requirement: the state should create the conditions such that submitting to coercive or compulsive measures becomes a fundamental moral duty of individuals, i.e. a duty of easy rescue. When the state can create such conditions, it has the strongest justification possible for implementing coercive or compulsive measures, because individuals have a moral duty to temporarily relinquish the rights that such measures would infringe. Our argument has significant implications for how public health emergencies in the developing world should be tackled. Where isolation and quarantine measures are necessary, states or the international community have a moral obligation to provide certain benefits to those quarantined or isolated. © 2017 The Authors Developing World Bioethics Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reasoning Based Quality Assurance of Medical Ontologies: A Case Study

PubMed Central

Horridge, Matthew; Parsia, Bijan; Noy, Natalya F.; Musenm, Mark A.

2014-01-01

The World Health Organisation is using OWL as a key technology to develop ICD-11 – the next version of the well-known International Classification of Diseases. Besides providing better opportunities for data integration and linkages to other well-known ontologies such as SNOMED-CT, one of the main promises of using OWL is that it will enable various forms of automated error checking. In this paper we investigate how automated OWL reasoning, along with a Justification Finding Service can be used as a Quality Assurance technique for the development of large and complex ontologies such as ICD-11. Using the International Classification of Traditional Medicine (ICTM) – Chapter 24 of ICD-11 – as a case study, and an expert panel of knowledge engineers, we reveal the kinds of problems that can occur, how they can be detected, and how they can be fixed. Specifically, we found that a logically inconsistent version of the ICTM ontology could be repaired using justifications (minimal entailing subsets of an ontology). Although over 600 justifications for the inconsistency were initially computed, we found that there were three main manageable patterns or categories of justifications involving TBox and ABox axioms. These categories represented meaningful domain errors to an expert panel of ICTM project knowledge engineers, who were able to use them to successfully determine the axioms that needed to be revised in order to fix the problem. All members of the expert panel agreed that the approach was useful for debugging and ensuring the quality of ICTM. PMID:25954373

A Domain Description Language for Data Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, Keith

2003-01-01

We discuss an application of planning to data processing, a planning problem which poses unique challenges for domain description languages. We discuss these challenges and why the current PDDL standard does not meet them. We discuss DPADL (Data Processing Action Description Language), a language for describing planning domains that involve data processing. DPADL is a declarative, object-oriented language that supports constraints and embedded Java code, object creation and copying, explicit inputs and outputs for actions, and metadata descriptions of existing and desired data. DPADL is supported by the IMAGEbot system, which we are using to provide automation for an ecological forecasting application. We compare DPADL to PDDL and discuss changes that could be made to PDDL to make it more suitable for representing planning domains that involve data processing actions.

Initial estimate of NOAA-9 SBUV/2 total ozone drift: Based on comparison with re-calibrated TOMS measurements and pair justification of SBUV/2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wellemeyer, C. G.; Taylor, S. L.; Gu, X. U.; Mcpeters, Richard D.; Hudson, R. D.

1990-01-01

Newly recalibrated version 6 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data are used as a reference measurement in a comparison of monthly means of total ozone in 10 degree latitude zones from SBUV/2 and the nadir measurements from TOMS. These comparisons indicate a roughly linear long-term drift in SBUV/2 total ozone relative to TOMS of about 2.5 Dobson units per year at the equator over the first three years of SBUV/2. The pari justification technique is also applied to the SBUV/2 measurements in a manner similar to that used for SBUV and TOMS. The higher solar zenith angles associated with the afternoon orbit of NOAA-9 and the large changes in solar zenith angle associated with its changing equator crossing time degrade the accuracy of the pair justification method relative to its application to SBUV and TOMS, but the results are consistent with the SBUV/2-TOMS comparisons, and show a roughly linear drift in SBUV/2 of 2.5 to 4.5 Dobson units per year in equatorial ozone.

Childhood pet ownership, attachment to pets, and subsequent meat avoidance. The mediating role of empathy toward animals.

PubMed

Rothgerber, Hank; Mican, Frances

2014-08-01

Researchers studying childhood pet ownership outcomes do not typically focus on measures of adult diet, and those studying the psychology of meat consumption do not normally consider early experiences with companion animals. The present research sought to integrate these two areas by examining relationships between childhood pet ownership, pet attachment, empathy toward animals, belief in human-animal similarity, meat avoidance, and justifications for eating meat. Results from 273 individuals responding to a survey on an internet platform revealed that participants with greater childhood attachment to a pet reported greater meat avoidance as adults, an effect that disappeared when controlling for animal empathy. Greater childhood pet attachment was also related to the use of indirect, apologetic justifications for meat consumption, and this effect too, was mediated by empathy toward animals. Child pet ownership itself predicted views toward animals but not dietary behavior or meat-eating justifications. The authors propose a sequence of events by which greater childhood pet attachment leads to increased meat avoidance, focusing on the central role played by empathy toward animals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehension of inferential meaning in language-impaired and language normal children.

PubMed

Letts, C; Leinonen, E

2001-01-01

Three groups of language-normal (LN) 6, 8 and 16/17 year olds, and a group of language-impaired (LI) children were given a task answering questions about pictures that involved inferential meaning. A developmental progression in the types of responses given is seen, with the LI children performing like the youngest LN children. A similar progression is seen in the ability to justify the answers given to inferential questions with the young adult group giving the fewest justifications that were problematical in some way. Larger numbers of problematical justifications in the LI group can be related to some extent to non-pragmatic aspects of their impairment, but overall this group also gave more pragmatically irrelevant responses when asked to justify answers given. It was not possible to identify any major differences between subgroups of children within the LI group, identified as pragmatically impaired (PI) and non pragmatically impaired (NPI), in terms of either answers given to inferential questions or in terms of problematical justifications for these answers. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.

Codes and morals: is there a missing link? (The Nuremberg Code revisited).

PubMed

Hick, C

1998-01-01

Codes are a well known and popular but weak form of ethical regulation in medical practice. There is, however, a lack of research on the relations between moral judgments and ethical Codes, or on the possibility of morally justifying these Codes. Our analysis begins by showing, given the Nuremberg Code, how a typical reference to natural law has historically served as moral justification. We then indicate, following the analyses of H. T. Engelhardt, Jr., and A. MacIntyre, why such general moral justifications of codes must necessarily fail in a society of "moral strangers." Going beyond Engelhardt we argue, that after the genealogical suspicion in morals raised by Nietzsche, not even Engelhardt's "principle of permission" can be rationally justified in a strong sense--a problem of transcendental argumentation in morals already realized by I. Kant. Therefore, we propose to abandon the project of providing general justifications for moral judgements and to replace it with a hermeneutical analysis of ethical meanings in real-world situations, starting with the archetypal ethical situation, the encounter with the Other (E. Levinas).

Microfinance Participation, Control Over Resources, and Justification of IPV: Results From a Nationally Representative Sample of Women.

PubMed

Murshid, Nadine Shaanta

2016-04-13

A high percentage of men and women are purported to justify intimate partner violence (IPV) in countries that are steeped in patriarchy even in the presence of programs such as microfinance that aim to address gender equity. This article examines two assertions that emerge from the literature on microfinance and its potential for positive outcomes for women who participate in it: (a) Microfinance participation is associated with reduced justification of IPV, and (b) microfinance participants with control over their own resources are less likely to justify IPV when compared with microfinance participants who do not have control over their resources. Couples data from a nationally representative survey, the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, were used in the present study. Propensity score matching and logistic regression analyses were conducted to reveal that (a) microfinance participation was not associated with justification of IPV and that (b) women who participated in microfinance were less likely to justify IPV when they had no control over their resources. Implications for practitioners and policymakers are discussed. © The Author(s) 2016.

Paying for what was free: lessons from the New York Times paywall.

PubMed

Cook, Jonathan E; Attari, Shahzeen Z

2012-12-01

In a national online longitudinal survey, participants reported their attitudes and behaviors in response to the recently implemented metered paywall by the New York Times. Previously free online content now requires a digital subscription to access beyond a small free monthly allotment. Participants were surveyed shortly after the paywall was announced and again 11 weeks after it was implemented to understand how they would react and adapt to this change. Most readers planned not to pay and ultimately did not. Instead, they devalued the newspaper, visited its Web site less frequently, and used loopholes, particularly those who thought the paywall would lead to inequality. Results of an experimental justification manipulation revealed that framing the paywall in terms of financial necessity moderately increased support and willingness to pay. Framing the paywall in terms of a profit motive proved to be a noncompelling justification, sharply decreasing both support and willingness to pay. Results suggest that people react negatively to paying for previously free content, but change can be facilitated with compelling justifications that emphasize fairness.

Moral complexity in middle childhood: children's evaluations of necessary harm.

PubMed

Jambon, Marc; Smetana, Judith G

2014-01-01

We assessed 5- to 11-year-olds' (N = 76) judgments of straightforward moral transgressions (prototypical harm) as well as their evaluations of complex, hypothetical scenarios in which an actor transgresses in order to prevent injury (necessary harm). The nature of the actor's transgression (psychological or physical harm) varied across participants. Moral judgments and justifications, knowledge of the actor's psychological experience, and their associations were examined. At all ages, children negatively evaluated prototypical harm; judgments of necessary harm became increasingly more forgiving with age as justifications pertaining to the actor's harm decreased. References to the actor's positive actions and children's tendency to coordinate conflicting concerns increased with age, but only when evaluating psychological harm. Across conditions, older children viewed transgressors as holding increasingly more positive attitudes toward their own actions, and this was uniquely associated with more forgiving moral judgments and justifications of necessary but not prototypical harm. Findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of more flexible and nuanced moral evaluations during middle childhood. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Individuation of objects and events: a developmental study.

PubMed

Wagner, Laura; Carey, Susan

2003-12-01

This study investigates children's ability to use language to guide their choice of individuation criterion in the domains of objects and events. Previous work (Shipley, E. F., & Shepperson, B. (1990). Countable entities: developmental changes. Cognition, 34, 109-136.) has shown that children have a strong bias to use a spatio-temporal individuation strategy when counting objects and that children will ignore a conflicting linguistic description in favor of this spatio-temporal bias. Experiment 1 asked children (3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) and adults to count objects and events under different linguistic descriptions. In the object task, subjects counted pictures of familiar objects split into multiple pieces (as in Shipley, E. F., & Shepperson, B. (1990). Countable entities: developmental changes. Cognition, 34, 109-136.) and described either using an appropriate kind label (e.g. "car") or the general term "thing". In the event task, subjects watched short animated movies consisting of a goal-oriented event achieved via multiple, temporally separated steps. The events were described either with an appropriate telic predicate targeting the goal (e.g. "paint a flower") or with an atelic predicate targeting the steps in the process (e.g. "paint") and the subjects' task was to count the events. Relative to adults, children preferred a spatio-temporal counting strategy in both tasks; there was no difference among the three groups of children. However, children were able to significantly change their counting strategy to follow the linguistic description in the event but not the object task. Experiment 2 extended the object task to include counting of other types of non-spatio-temporal units such as sub-parts of objects and collections. Results showed that children could use the linguistic descriptions to guide their counting strategy for these new items, though they continued to show a bias for a spatio-temporal individuation strategy with the collections. We suggest potential cognitive origins for the spatio-temporal individuation bias and how it interacts with children's developing linguistic knowledge.

DPADL: An Action Language for Data Processing Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, Keith; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents DPADL (Data Processing Action Description Language), a language for describing planning domains that involve data processing. DPADL is a declarative object-oriented language that supports constraints and embedded Java code, object creation and copying, explicit inputs and outputs for actions, and metadata descriptions of existing and desired data. DPADL is supported by the IMAGEbot system, which will provide automation for an ecosystem forecasting system called TOPS.

Autonomous power expert system advanced development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quinn, Todd M.; Walters, Jerry L.

1991-01-01

The autonomous power expert (APEX) system is being developed at Lewis Research Center to function as a fault diagnosis advisor for a space power distribution test bed. APEX is a rule-based system capable of detecting faults and isolating the probable causes. APEX also has a justification facility to provide natural language explanations about conclusions reached during fault isolation. To help maintain the health of the power distribution system, additional capabilities were added to APEX. These capabilities allow detection and isolation of incipient faults and enable the expert system to recommend actions/procedure to correct the suspected fault conditions. New capabilities for incipient fault detection consist of storage and analysis of historical data and new user interface displays. After the cause of a fault is determined, appropriate recommended actions are selected by rule-based inferencing which provides corrective/extended test procedures. Color graphics displays and improved mouse-selectable menus were also added to provide a friendlier user interface. A discussion of APEX in general and a more detailed description of the incipient detection, recommended actions, and user interface developments during the last year are presented.

Explicating mathematical thinking in differential equations using a computer algebra system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeynivandnezhad, Fereshteh; Bates, Rachel

2018-07-01

The importance of developing students' mathematical thinking is frequently highlighted in literature regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics. Despite this importance, most curricula and instructional activities for undergraduate mathematics fail to bring the learner beyond the mathematics. The purpose of this study was to enhance students' mathematical thinking by implementing a computer algebra system and active learning pedagogical approaches. students' mathematical thinking processes were analyzed while completing specific differential equations tasks based on posed prompts and questions and Instrumental Genesis. Data were collected from 37 engineering students in a public Malaysian university. This study used the descriptive and interpretive qualitative research design to investigate the students' perspectives of emerging mathematical understanding and approaches to learning mathematics in an undergraduate differential equations course. Results of this study concluded that students used a variety of mathematical thinking processes in a non-sequential manner. Additionally, the outcomes provide justification for continued use of technologies such as computer algebra systems in undergraduate mathematics courses and the need for further studies to uncover the various processes students utilize to complete specific mathematical tasks.

Factors influencing beliefs about intimate partner violence among adults in South Korea.

PubMed

Han, Young Ran; Jeong, Geum Hee; Kim, Shin-Jeong

2017-09-01

This study aimed to identify factors influencing beliefs about intimate partner violence among Korean adults. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that analyzed data from 466 adults. Beliefs about intimate partner violence were measured using a self-report questionnaire with a total of 28 items consisting of four subscales: perpetrator's justification for beating women, blaming women for violence against them, perpetrator's responsibility for violence, and giving help to victims. Men and women had significantly different beliefs about intimate partner violence (t = -7.19, p < .001). Some characteristics were identified that led to unhealthy beliefs about intimate partner violence. Four variables-gender, age, educational level, and witnessing parental violence-had an explanatory power of 20% with regard to beliefs about IPV (F = 10.50, p = .000). In South Korea, men, older individuals, and those with less formal education or who have witnessed parental violence need education to foster healthier beliefs about intimate partner violence. Nurses can play a vital role in efforts to decrease intimate partner violence. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Figures of merit for detectors in digital radiography. II. Finite number of secondaries and structured backgrounds.

PubMed

Pineda, Angel R; Barrett, Harrison H

2004-02-01

The current paradigm for evaluating detectors in digital radiography relies on Fourier methods. Fourier methods rely on a shift-invariant and statistically stationary description of the imaging system. The theoretical justification for the use of Fourier methods is based on a uniform background fluence and an infinite detector. In practice, the background fluence is not uniform and detector size is finite. We study the effect of stochastic blurring and structured backgrounds on the correlation between Fourier-based figures of merit and Hotelling detectability. A stochastic model of the blurring leads to behavior similar to what is observed by adding electronic noise to the deterministic blurring model. Background structure does away with the shift invariance. Anatomical variation makes the covariance matrix of the data less amenable to Fourier methods by introducing long-range correlations. It is desirable to have figures of merit that can account for all the sources of variation, some of which are not stationary. For such cases, we show that the commonly used figures of merit based on the discrete Fourier transform can provide an inaccurate estimate of Hotelling detectability.

Proposal for an Experiment to Measure Mixing, CP Violation and Rare Decays in Charm and Beauty Particle Decays at the Fermilab Collider - BTeV

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kulyavtsev, A.; Procario, M.; Russ, J.

2000-05-01

This proposal consists of five parts and two appendices. The first part provides a detailed physics justification for the BTe V experiment. The second part presents the considerations that drive the detector design, followed by a description of the detector itself. The third part summarizes our simulation results which demonstrate that the design does enable us to achieve our physics goals. The fourth part compares BTeV's physics reach to that of other experiments which will be active in B physics in the same time period. The fifth part gives a very brief, high level summary of the cost estimate formore » BTeV. Appendix A has additional technical details about many of the detector subsystems and R&D plans; it is intended to be read primarily by experts in each area. Appendix B contains a roadmap which describes the location in the proposal of the answers to questions posed to the BTeV collaboration by the Fermilab Program Advisory Committee in June of 1999.« less

[Was cannibalism practiced in ancient Gaul? Critognatus, the leader of the Celts, in the focus of Caesar's propaganda].

PubMed

Moog, Ferdinand Peter

2011-01-01

Critognatus, the leader of the Celts, is mentioned only once in the extant ancient literature, namely in Caesar's description of the siege of Alesia in BG VII 77.2-78.2. Here he is portrayed as a determined patriot who wants to encounter the Roman invader bravely and at the risk of all available means. Nevertheless, crafty Caesar succeeds in stamping him by propagandistic pinches to an evil monster and cannibal. On the one hand Caesar falls back on current Roman prejudices towards the Gauls. On the other hand, the endocannibalism practised among Celts to a certain extent as a cult action seems to have played a rôle. Caesar's propagandistic methods are transparent and at the same time so effective that the label of an ogre sticks to Critognatus until the present day. Caesar's portrayal aims above all at the justification of his Gallic War which he wages against uncivilized and inhuman opponents who are a menace to Rome and even to the culture itself.

Methodology or method? A critical review of qualitative case study reports

PubMed Central

Hyett, Nerida; Kenny, Amanda; Dickson-Swift, Virginia

2014-01-01

Despite on-going debate about credibility, and reported limitations in comparison to other approaches, case study is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers. We critically analysed the methodological descriptions of published case studies. Three high-impact qualitative methods journals were searched to locate case studies published in the past 5 years; 34 were selected for analysis. Articles were categorized as health and health services (n=12), social sciences and anthropology (n=7), or methods (n=15) case studies. The articles were reviewed using an adapted version of established criteria to determine whether adequate methodological justification was present, and if study aims, methods, and reported findings were consistent with a qualitative case study approach. Findings were grouped into five themes outlining key methodological issues: case study methodology or method, case of something particular and case selection, contextually bound case study, researcher and case interactions and triangulation, and study design inconsistent with methodology reported. Improved reporting of case studies by qualitative researchers will advance the methodology for the benefit of researchers and practitioners. PMID:24809980

Influence of broadening and high-injection effects on GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well lasers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blood, P.; Colak, S.; Kucharska, A.I.

1988-08-01

The authors have calculated gain spectra and gain-current relations for GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well lasers using a model which incorporates a phenomenological description of bandgap narrowing due to many-body effects at high injection, transmission broadening by a carrier-density-dependent intraband scattering process, and broadening of the density of states function by fluctuations in the well width. The justification for including all these phenomena is made by examining spontaneous emission spectra observed through contact windows on quantum well layers. Using reasonable values of the parameters describing these effects, the model predicts correctly the observed lengthening of the laser emission wavelength with respect tomore » the absorption edge and correctly describes the variation of this wavelength, which they have observed for a set of devices with different numbers of quantum wells and the same well width. For a single GaAs quantum well laser 25 A wide, with the same parameters, the model predicts an increase in threshold current by a factor of 2.5 compared to an ideal quantum well without these effects.« less

Common morality and moral reform.

PubMed

Wallace, K A

2009-01-01

The idea of moral reform requires that morality be more than a description of what people do value, for there has to be some measure against which to assess progress. Otherwise, any change is not reform, but simply difference. Therefore, I discuss moral reform in relation to two prescriptive approaches to common morality, which I distinguish as the foundational and the pragmatic. A foundational approach to common morality (e.g., Bernard Gert's) suggests that there is no reform of morality, but of beliefs, values, customs, and practices so as to conform with an unchanging, foundational morality. If, however, there were revision in its foundation (e.g., in rationality), then reform in morality itself would be possible. On a pragmatic view, on the other hand, common morality is relative to human flourishing, and its justification consists in its effectiveness in promoting flourishing. Morality is dependent on what in fact does promote human flourishing and therefore, could be reformed. However, a pragmatic approach, which appears more open to the possibility of moral reform, would need a more robust account of norms by which reform is measured.

Very high temperature chemistry: Science justification for containerless experimentation in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hofmeister, William H.; Nordine, Paul

1990-01-01

A summary is presented of the justification for application of containerless processing in space to high temperature science. Low earth orbit offers a gravitational environment that allows samples to be positioned in an experimental apparatus by very small forces. Well controlled experiments become possible on reactive materials at high temperatures in a reasonably quiescent state and without container contamination. This provides an opportunity to advance the science of high temperature chemistry that can only be realized with a commitment by NASA to provide advanced facilities for in-space containerless study of materials at very high temperature.

The KP Approximation Under a Weak Coriolis Forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melinand, Benjamin

2018-02-01

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of weakly transverse water-waves under a weak Coriolis forcing in the long wave regime. We derive the Boussinesq-Coriolis equations in this setting and we provide a rigorous justification of this model. Then, from these equations, we derive two other asymptotic models. When the Coriolis forcing is weak, we fully justify the rotation-modified Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation (also called Grimshaw-Melville equation). When the Coriolis forcing is very weak, we rigorously justify the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation. This work provides the first mathematical justification of the KP approximation under a Coriolis forcing.

Department of the Army Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1986. Procurement Appropriations-Construction Program Submitted to Congress February 1985. Part 1. DD Forms 1391.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-02-01

CATALOG NUMBER 4. TITLE (and Subtitle)(in 6 parts) Department of the Army S. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year... 6 - PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER Veh., Ammunition, Other Procurement & Constr Proer ms 7. AUTHOR(a) 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(&) 5 Department of...I ry 19e 6 MILITAP. Y CONSTRUCTION PRO3[CT DATA I-.-1 005 I .. . . .. . .LL .... _ I . a,.-ta13st an and toction I A.. Project Title St rttford Arcy

Home Care Nursing via Computer Networks: Justification and Design Specifications

PubMed Central

Brennan, Patricia Flatley

1988-01-01

High-tech home care includes the use of information technologies, such as computer networks, to provide direct care to patients in the home. This paper presents the justification and design of a project using a free, public access computer network to deliver home care nursing. The intervention attempts to reduce isolation and improve problem solving among home care patients and their informal caregivers. Three modules comprise the intervention: a decision module, a communications module, and an information data base. This paper describes the experimental evaluation of the project, and discusses issues in the delivery of nursing care via computers.

IMP-J attitude control prelaunch analysis and operations plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooper, H. L.; Mckendrew, J. B.; Repass, G. D.

1973-01-01

A description of the attitude control support being supplied for the Explorer 50 mission is given. Included in the document are descriptions of the computer programs being used to support attitude determination, prediction, and control for the mission and descriptions of the operating procedures that will be used to accomplish mission objectives.

On deriving the Maxwell stress tensor method for calculating the optical force and torque on an object in harmonic electromagnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Qian; Lin, Haoze

2017-07-01

Though extensively used in calculating optical force and torque acting on a material object illuminated by laser, the Maxwell stress tensor (MST) method follows the electromagnetic linear and angular momentum balance that is usually derived in most textbooks for a continuous volume charge distribution in free space, if not resorting to the application of Noether’s theorem in electrodynamics. To cast the conservation laws into a physically appealing form involving the current densities of linear and angular momentum, on which the MST method is based, the divergence theorem is employed to transform a volume integral into a surface integral. When a material object of finite volume is put into the field, it brings about a discontinuity of field across its surface, due to the presence of induced surface charge and surface current. Ambiguity arises among students in whether the divergence theorem can still be directly used without any justification. By taking into account the effect of the induced surface charge and current, we present a simple pedagogical derivation for the MST method for calculating the optical force and torque on an object immersed in monochromatic optical field, without resorting to Noether’s theorem. Although the results turn out to be identical to those given in the standard textbooks, our derivation avoids the direct use of the divergence theorem on a discontinuous function.

Direct determination of geometric alignment parameters for cone-beam scanners

PubMed Central

Mennessier, C; Clackdoyle, R; Noo, F

2009-01-01

This paper describes a comprehensive method for determining the geometric alignment parameters for cone-beam scanners (often called calibrating the scanners or performing geometric calibration). The method is applicable to x-ray scanners using area detectors, or to SPECT systems using pinholes or cone-beam converging collimators. Images of an alignment test object (calibration phantom) fixed in the field of view of the scanner are processed to determine the nine geometric parameters for each view. The parameter values are found directly using formulae applied to the projected positions of the test object marker points onto the detector. Each view is treated independently, and no restrictions are made on the position of the cone vertex, or on the position or orientation of the detector. The proposed test object consists of 14 small point-like objects arranged with four points on each of three orthogonal lines, and two points on a diagonal line. This test object is shown to provide unique solutions for all possible scanner geometries, even when partial measurement information is lost by points superimposing in the calibration scan. For the many situations where the cone vertex stays reasonably close to a central plane (for circular, planar, or near-planar trajectories), a simpler version of the test object is appropriate. The simpler object consists of six points, two per orthogonal line, but with some restrictions on the positioning of the test object. This paper focuses on the principles and mathematical justifications for the method. Numerical simulations of the calibration process and reconstructions using estimated parameters are also presented to validate the method and to provide evidence of the robustness of the technique. PMID:19242049

Evaluating models of object-decision priming: evidence from event-related potential repetition effects.

PubMed

Soldan, Anja; Mangels, Jennifer A; Cooper, Lynn A

2006-03-01

This study was designed to differentiate between structural description and bias accounts of performance in the possible/impossible object-decision test. Two event-related potential (ERP) studies examined how the visual system processes structurally possible and impossible objects. Specifically, the authors investigated the effects of object repetition on a series of early posterior components during structural (Experiment 1) and functional (Experiment 2) encoding and the relationship of these effects to behavioral measures of priming. In both experiments, the authors found repetition enhancement of the posterior N1 and N2 for possible objects only. In addition, the magnitude of the N1 repetition effect for possible objects was correlated with priming for possible objects. Although the behavioral results were more ambiguous, these ERP results fail to support bias models that hold that both possible and impossible objects are processed similarly in the visual system. Instead, they support the view that priming is supported by a structural description system that encodes the global 3-dimensional structure of an object.

A study of EUV emission from the O4f star Zeta Puppis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waldron, Wayne L.; Vallerga, John

1995-01-01

Our 20 ks observation did not allow us to carry out our primary objective, i.e., to test the limitations of deeply embedded EUV and X-ray sources. However, it did provide a very useful constraint in our analysis of a newly acquired high S/N ROSAT PSPC X-ray spectrum of Zeta Pup. In addition, modifications to our stellar wind opacity code have been preformed to investigate the sensitivity of the EUV opacity energy range to different photospheric model flux inputs and different wind structures. These analyses provided the justification for a 140 ks follow up EUVE Cycle III observation of this star. We have recently been informed that our requested observation has been accepted as a Type 1 target for Cycle III. The remainder of this report focuses on the following: (1) a brief background on the status of X-ray emission from OB stars; (2) a discussion on the importance of EUV observations; (3) a discussion of our scientific objectives; and (4) a summary of our technical approach for our Cycle III observation (including the predicted EUV counts for various lines.)

Parameterized hardware description as object oriented hardware model implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drabik, Pawel K.

2010-09-01

The paper introduces novel model for design, visualization and management of complex, highly adaptive hardware systems. The model settles component oriented environment for both hardware modules and software application. It is developed on parameterized hardware description research. Establishment of stable link between hardware and software, as a purpose of designed and realized work, is presented. Novel programming framework model for the environment, named Graphic-Functional-Components is presented. The purpose of the paper is to present object oriented hardware modeling with mentioned features. Possible model implementation in FPGA chips and its management by object oriented software in Java is described.

Effective description of a 3D object for photon transportation in Monte Carlo simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suganuma, R.; Ogawa, K.

2000-06-01

Photon transport simulation by means of the Monte Carlo method is an indispensable technique for examining scatter and absorption correction methods in SPECT and PET. The authors have developed a method for object description with maximum size regions (maximum rectangular regions: MRRs) to speed up photon transport simulation, and compared the computation time with that for conventional object description methods, a voxel-based (VB) method and an octree method, in the simulations of two kinds of phantoms. The simulation results showed that the computation time with the proposed method became about 50% of that with the VD method and about 70% of that with the octree method for a high resolution MCAT phantom. Here, details of the expansion of the MRR method to three dimensions are given. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed method was compared with the VB and octree methods.

The effect of macromolecular crowding on mobility of biomolecules, association kinetics and gene expression in living cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabaka, Marcin; Kalwarczyk, Tomasz; Szymanski, Jedrzej; Hou, Sen; Hołyst, Robert

2014-09-01

We discuss a quantitative influence of macromolecular crowding on biological processes: motion, bimolecular reactions, and gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. We present scaling laws relating diffusion coefficient of an object moving in a cytoplasm of cells to a size of this object and degree of crowding. Such description leads to the notion of the length scale dependent viscosity characteristic for all living cells. We present an application of the length-scale dependent viscosity model to the description of motion in the cytoplasm of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic living cells. We compare the model with all recent data on diffusion of nanoscopic objects in HeLa, and E. coli cells. Additionally a description of the mobility of molecules in cell nucleus is presented. Finally we discuss the influence of crowding on the bimolecular association rates and gene expression in living cells.

The Close-Up Imager Onboard the ESA ExoMars Rover: Objectives, Description, Operations, and Science Validation Activities.

PubMed

Josset, Jean-Luc; Westall, Frances; Hofmann, Beda A; Spray, John; Cockell, Charles; Kempe, Stephan; Griffiths, Andrew D; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Colangeli, Luigi; Koschny, Detlef; Föllmi, Karl; Verrecchia, Eric; Diamond, Larryn; Josset, Marie; Javaux, Emmanuelle J; Esposito, Francesca; Gunn, Matthew; Souchon-Leitner, Audrey L; Bontognali, Tomaso R R; Korablev, Oleg; Erkman, Suren; Paar, Gerhard; Ulamec, Stephan; Foucher, Frédéric; Martin, Philippe; Verhaeghe, Antoine; Tanevski, Mitko; Vago, Jorge L

The Close-Up Imager (CLUPI) onboard the ESA ExoMars Rover is a powerful high-resolution color camera specifically designed for close-up observations. Its accommodation on the movable drill allows multiple positioning. The science objectives of the instrument are geological characterization of rocks in terms of texture, structure, and color and the search for potential morphological biosignatures. We present the CLUPI science objectives, performance, and technical description, followed by a description of the instrument's planned operations strategy during the mission on Mars. CLUPI will contribute to the rover mission by surveying the geological environment, acquiring close-up images of outcrops, observing the drilling area, inspecting the top portion of the drill borehole (and deposited fines), monitoring drilling operations, and imaging samples collected by the drill. A status of the current development and planned science validation activities is also given. Key Words: Mars-Biosignatures-Planetary Instrumentation. Astrobiology 17, 595-611.

In defence of utility: the medical humanities and medical education.

PubMed

Blease, Charlotte

2016-06-01

The idea that a study of the humanities helps to humanise doctors has become a leitmotif within the field. It is argued that the humanities (especially, literature) help to foster insights beyond those provided by biomedical training. Healthy young medics, it is claimed, can thereby gain significant insights into patienthood, and obtain important skills that may be valuable for their professional life. But the instrumentality of the humanities is not the only justification proffered for its inclusion in medical curricula. In this paper I critically examine the two overarching justifications recurrently cited in the mainstream literature-namely, (1) the instrumental worth and (2) the intrinsic value of the medical humanities in educating doctors. Examining these theses (and focusing on the views of a leading medical humanities scholar) I show that the bifurcation into instrumental versus non-instrumental justifications is not supported by the argumentation. Instead, I find that the particulars of the supposedly intrinsic justifications amount to an unambiguously instrumental defence of the humanities. Contextualizing the present investigation to probe further, I describe a long history of debate about the role of the humanities in British education and find that it rests on unsupported dichotomies (utility vs non-utility, theoretical vs applied, educated vs trained). I conclude that the medical humanities' manifesto would be more intellectually honest and coherent, and provide a more robust defence of its value in medical education, if it chose to embrace a wholly instrumental rationale for its role. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

On learning from mistakes.

PubMed

Fletcher, J C

1995-01-01

This article is a response to criticism of a previous paper by the same author. In the previous paper, an ethical justification was given for assuring the death of anomalous fetuses scheduled for second trimester abortion by the intracardiac administration of potassium chloride (KCl). The ethical justification responded to three anticipated criticisms of use of the technique: all abortions are unjust, newborns and second-trimester fetuses with similar anomalies should be managed similarly, and the mother is entitled to termination of pregnancy but not to fetal death. The critic agreed with the ethical conclusion that the use of the procedure is justifiable but took issue with the arguments presented in response to the anticipated criticisms. The author of the present article accepts the criticisms with only slight reservations but takes issue with additional subjects presented in the critique. The author of the critique maintained that a woman's autonomy includes assurance of stillbirth by KCl injection even in healthy, viable, but unwanted fetuses. Her justification for holding this position is that children should be born only if they are wanted by someone "ready, willing, and able to assume responsibility for that child's flourishing." This position is easily expanded to state that our society is so evil that, until we reform, it is better to consider killing newborns than to bring them into this hostile environment. This argument, in fact, represents a surrender to moral and social failure as a justification for euthanasia and has eugenic overtones. Other avenues must be explored to effect the necessary social changes to address the issue of unwanted children, just as other, more preferable, means should be sought to avoid the problem of assuring stillborns in late abortions.

SSS-A attitude control prelaunch analysis and operations plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werking, R. D.; Beck, J.; Gardner, D.; Moyer, P.; Plett, M.

1971-01-01

A description of the attitude control support being supplied by the Mission and Data Operations Directorate is presented. Descriptions of the computer programs being used to support the mission for attitude determination, prediction, control, and definitive attitude processing are included. In addition, descriptions of the operating procedures which will be used to accomplish mission objectives are provided.

AE-C attitude determination and control prelaunch analysis and operations plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werking, R. D.; Headrick, R. D.; Manders, C. F.; Woolley, R. D.

1973-01-01

A description of attitude control support being supplied by the Mission and Data Operations Directorate is presented. Included are descriptions of the computer programs being used to support the missions for attitude determination, prediction, and control. In addition, descriptions of the operating procedures which will be used to accomplish mission objectives are provided.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 48: Valuing information in an interactive environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brinberg, Herbert R.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1995-01-01

Consideration effort has been devoted over the past 30 years to developing methods and means of assessing the value of information. Two approaches - value in exchange and value in use - dominate; however, neither approach enjoys much practical application because validation schema for decision-making is missing. The approaches fail to measure objectively the real costs of acquiring information and the real benefits that information will yield. Moreover, these approaches collectively fail to provide economic justification to build and/or continue to support an information product or service. In addition, the impact of Cyberspace adds a new dimension to the problem. A new paradigm is required to make economic sense in this revolutionary information environment. In previous work, the authors explored the various approaches to measuring the value of information and concluded that, in large measure, these methods were unworkable concepts and constructs. Instead, they proposed several axioms for valuing information. Most particularly they concluded that the 'value of information cannot be measured in the absence of a specific task, objective, or goal.' This paper builds on those axioms and describes under which circumstances information can be measured in objective and actionable terms. This paper also proposes a methodology for undertaking such measures and validating the results.

A Foreign Object Damage Event Detector Data Fusion System for Turbofan Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turso, James A.; Litt, Jonathan S.

2004-01-01

A Data Fusion System designed to provide a reliable assessment of the occurrence of Foreign Object Damage (FOD) in a turbofan engine is presented. The FOD-event feature level fusion scheme combines knowledge of shifts in engine gas path performance obtained using a Kalman filter, with bearing accelerometer signal features extracted via wavelet analysis, to positively identify a FOD event. A fuzzy inference system provides basic probability assignments (bpa) based on features extracted from the gas path analysis and bearing accelerometers to a fusion algorithm based on the Dempster-Shafer-Yager Theory of Evidence. Details are provided on the wavelet transforms used to extract the foreign object strike features from the noisy data and on the Kalman filter-based gas path analysis. The system is demonstrated using a turbofan engine combined-effects model (CEM), providing both gas path and rotor dynamic structural response, and is suitable for rapid-prototyping of control and diagnostic systems. The fusion of the disparate data can provide significantly more reliable detection of a FOD event than the use of either method alone. The use of fuzzy inference techniques combined with Dempster-Shafer-Yager Theory of Evidence provides a theoretical justification for drawing conclusions based on imprecise or incomplete data.

Object-oriented requirements analysis: A quick tour

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berard, Edward V.

1990-01-01

Of all the approaches to software development, an object-oriented approach appears to be both the most beneficial and the most popular. The description of the object-oriented approach is presented in the form of the view graphs.

The Moral Problem of Health Disparities

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Health disparities exist along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic class in US society. I argue that we should work to eliminate these health disparities because their existence is a moral wrong that needs to be addressed. Health disparities are morally wrong because they exemplify historical injustices. Contractarian ethics, Kantian ethics, and utilitarian ethics all provide theoretical justification for viewing health disparities as a moral wrong, as do several ethical principles of primary importance in bioethics. The moral consequences of health disparities are also troubling and further support the claim that these disparities are a moral wrong. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides additional support that health disparities are a moral wrong, as does an analogy with the generally accepted duty to provide equal access to education. In this article, I also consider and respond to 3 objections to my thesis. PMID:20147677

THE ROLE OF LOCATION IN EVALUATING RACIAL WAGE DISPARITY.

PubMed

Black, Dan A; Kolesnikova, Natalia; Sanders, Seth G; Taylor, Lowell J

2013-05-01

A standard object of empirical analysis in labor economics is a modified Mincer wage function in which an individual's log wage is specified to be a function of education, experience, and an indicator variable identifying race. We analyze this approach in a context in which individuals live and work in different locations (and thus face different housing prices and wages). Our model provides a justification for the traditional approach, but with the important caveat that the regression should include location-specific fixed effects. Empirical analyses of men in U.S. labor markets demonstrate that failure to condition on location causes us to (i) overstate the decline in black-white wage disparity over the past 60 years, and (ii) understate racial and ethnic wage gaps that remain after taking into account measured cognitive skill differences that emerge when workers are young.

Improved capabilities of the Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jedlovec, Gary J.; Batson, K. Bryan; Atkinson, Robert J.; Moeller, Chris C.; Menzel, W. Paul; James, Mark W.

1989-01-01

The Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) is an airborne instrument being investigated as part of NASA's high altitude research program. Findings from work on this and other instruments have been important as the scientific justification of new instrumentation for the Earth Observing System (EOS). This report discusses changes to the instrument which have led to new capabilities, improved data quality, and more accurate calibration methods. In order to provide a summary of the data collected with MAMS, a complete list of flight dates and locations is provided. For many applications, registration of MAMS imagery with landmarks is required. The navigation of this data on the Man-computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) is discussed. Finally, research applications of the data are discussed and specific examples are presented to show the applicability of these measurements to NASA's Earth System Science (ESS) objectives.

A novel binary shape context for 3D local surface description

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Zhen; Yang, Bisheng; Liu, Yuan; Liang, Fuxun; Li, Bijun; Zang, Yufu

2017-08-01

3D local surface description is now at the core of many computer vision technologies, such as 3D object recognition, intelligent driving, and 3D model reconstruction. However, most of the existing 3D feature descriptors still suffer from low descriptiveness, weak robustness, and inefficiency in both time and memory. To overcome these challenges, this paper presents a robust and descriptive 3D Binary Shape Context (BSC) descriptor with high efficiency in both time and memory. First, a novel BSC descriptor is generated for 3D local surface description, and the performance of the BSC descriptor under different settings of its parameters is analyzed. Next, the descriptiveness, robustness, and efficiency in both time and memory of the BSC descriptor are evaluated and compared to those of several state-of-the-art 3D feature descriptors. Finally, the performance of the BSC descriptor for 3D object recognition is also evaluated on a number of popular benchmark datasets, and an urban-scene dataset is collected by a terrestrial laser scanner system. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed BSC descriptor obtained high descriptiveness, strong robustness, and high efficiency in both time and memory and achieved high recognition rates of 94.8%, 94.1% and 82.1% on the considered UWA, Queen, and WHU datasets, respectively.

Nondeterministic data base for computerized visual perception

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yakimovsky, Y.

1976-01-01

A description is given of the knowledge representation data base in the perception subsystem of the Mars robot vehicle prototype. Two types of information are stored. The first is generic information that represents general rules that are conformed to by structures in the expected environments. The second kind of information is a specific description of a structure, i.e., the properties and relations of objects in the specific case being analyzed. The generic knowledge is represented so that it can be applied to extract and infer the description of specific structures. The generic model of the rules is substantially a Bayesian representation of the statistics of the environment, which means it is geared to representation of nondeterministic rules relating properties of, and relations between, objects. The description of a specific structure is also nondeterministic in the sense that all properties and relations may take a range of values with an associated probability distribution.

Atmospheric Science Program. Summaries of research in FY 1994

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-06-01

This report provides descriptions for all projects funded by ESD under annual contracts in FY 1994. Each description contains the project`s title; three-year funding history (in thousands of dollars); the contract period over which the funding applies; the name(s) of the principal investigator(s); the institution(s) conducting the projects; and the project`s objectives, products, approach, and results to date (for most projects older than one year). Project descriptions are categorized within the report according to program areas: atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric dynamics, and support operations. Within these categories, the descriptions are ordered alphabetically by principal investigator. Each program area is preceded bymore » a brief text that defines the program area, states it goals and objectives, lists principal research questions, and identifies program managers. Appendixes provide the addresses and telephone numbers of the principal investigators and define the acronyms used.« less

Ethics of care and HIV: a case for rural women in India.

PubMed

Chakraborti, Chhanda

2006-05-01

Recent literature shows that ethics of care can be used as a theoretical basis to add a new, important dimension to social issues. This paper argues for a similar extension of the theoretical support from ethics of care to an area in bioethics. Specifically, it contends that a justification based ethics of care can be constructed to argue for a moral obligation to give some priority in the HIV-related initiatives to one of most vulnerable groups; namely, the rural women in India. In an epidemic situation this care-based approach has certain advantages as a moral justification over the usual traditional approaches.

The influence of accounts and remorse on mock jurors' judgments of offenders.

PubMed

Jehle, Alayna; Miller, Monica K; Kemmelmeier, Markus

2009-10-01

Defendants often provide accounts that minimize their responsibility for the accused offense. Jurors attribute responsibility to defendants and decide legal outcomes based on the given account. The current research examined the effects of accounts (i.e., excuse, justification, denial, and no explanation) and the defendant's remorse display (i.e., remorseful, remorseless) on mock jurors' judgments. Participants acquitted the defendant in the denial condition most often and recommended the most lenient punishment in the justification condition. The remorseful defendant was found guilty more frequently than the remorseless defendant in the no explanation and (marginally) excuse conditions. Limitations and future research are discussed.

Department of the Air Force Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1986 Submitted to Congress February 1985. Aircraft Procurement, Air Force

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-02-01

air-to-grurod cruise missile planned for use c-i the bomber force. IAs one of the zany i,,eapons iu the manned tmorer’s arsenal, t.L AO’ stresses the...29.4 78.4 SPX Cuminication Replacent 8.9 - - tIL OIR PRO•XUJfIN C&X4 ES 1413.3 1877.4 2683.7 3382.3 i ," / Justification for the various line items is...COntROL SYSTEMS DJE TO THE STRESS CORROSION CRACKING TiAT DEVELOPS. THI$ MODIFICATION REPLACES ThE MAGNESIUM COMPONENTS IN THE FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM WITH

Diagnosis of autism, abortion and the ethics of childcare in Yoruba culture.

PubMed

Fayemi, Ademola Kazeem

2014-01-01

This paper examines the ethics of childcare in Yoruba culture in the contexts of autism and abortion. The traditional Yoruba moral principles of ibikojuibi (equality of humans at birth) and ajowapo (solidarity) have been theoretically developed to establish the personhood of autistic children and provide a justification for not aborting foetuses with autism. Despite these justifications, this paper argues that there is a need for contextual rethinking, which would allow for: (i) prenatal genetic testing, as well as abortion of foetuses with a high risk of the autism mutation, and (ii) early clinical diagnosis and treatment of autistic children in contemporary Yoruba society.

The Role of Physicians in State-Sponsored Corporal Punishment.

PubMed

Muaygil, Ruaim

2016-07-01

The question of whether there is justification for physicians to participate in state-sanctioned corporal punishment has prompted long and heated debates around the world. Several recent and high-profile sentences requiring physician assistance have brought the conversation to Saudi Arabia. Whether a physician is asked to participate actively or to assess prisoners' ability to withstand this form of punishment, can there be an ethical justification for medical training and skills being put toward these purposes? The aim of this article is to examine aspects of Islamic law along with the different professional and religious obligations of Saudi Arabian physicians, and how these elements may inform the debate.

Hadron and Photon Production of J Particles and the Origin of J Particles

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Ting, S. C. C.

1975-01-01

There have been many theoretical speculations on the existence of long lived neutral particles with a mass larger than 10 GeV/c{sup 2} which play the role of weak interactions that photons play in electromagnetic interactions. There is, however, no theoretical justification, and no predictions exist, for long lived particles in the mass region 1-10 GeV/{up 2}. Even though there is no strong theoretical justification for the existence of long lived particles at low masses, there is no experimental indication that they should not exist. Until last year no high sensitivity experiment had been done in this mass region.

Implementing shared decision making in routine mental health care

PubMed Central

Slade, Mike

2017-01-01

Shared decision making (SDM) in mental health care involves clinicians and patients working together to make decisions. The key elements of SDM have been identified, decision support tools have been developed, and SDM has been recommended in mental health at policy level. Yet implementation remains limited. Two justifications are typically advanced in support of SDM. The clinical justification is that SDM leads to improved outcome, yet the available empirical evidence base is inconclusive. The ethical justification is that SDM is a right, but clinicians need to balance the biomedical ethical principles of autonomy and justice with beneficence and non‐maleficence. It is argued that SDM is “polyvalent”, a sociological concept which describes an idea commanding superficial but not deep agreement between disparate stakeholders. Implementing SDM in routine mental health services is as much a cultural as a technical problem. Three challenges are identified: creating widespread access to high‐quality decision support tools; integrating SDM with other recovery‐supporting interventions; and responding to cultural changes as patients develop the normal expectations of citizenship. Two approaches which may inform responses in the mental health system to these cultural changes – social marketing and the hospitality industry – are identified. PMID:28498575

Human cloning laws, human dignity and the poverty of the policy making dialogue

PubMed Central

Caulfield, Timothy

2003-01-01

Background The regulation of human cloning continues to be a significant national and international policy issue. Despite years of intense academic and public debate, there is little clarity as to the philosophical foundations for many of the emerging policy choices. The notion of "human dignity" is commonly used to justify cloning laws. The basis for this justification is that reproductive human cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity. Discussion The author critiques one of the most commonly used ethical justifications for cloning laws – the idea that reproductive cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity. He points out that there is, in fact, little consensus on point and that the counter arguments are rarely reflected in formal policy. Rarely do domestic or international instruments provide an operational definition of human dignity and there is rarely an explanation of how, exactly, dignity is infringed in the context reproductive cloning. Summary It is the author's position that the lack of thoughtful analysis of the role of human dignity hurts the broader public debate about reproductive cloning, trivializes the value of human dignity as a normative principle and makes it nearly impossible to critique the actual justifications behind many of the proposed policies. PMID:12887735

Human cloning laws, human dignity and the poverty of the policy making dialogue.

PubMed

Caulfield, Timothy

2003-07-29

The regulation of human cloning continues to be a significant national and international policy issue. Despite years of intense academic and public debate, there is little clarity as to the philosophical foundations for many of the emerging policy choices. The notion of "human dignity" is commonly used to justify cloning laws. The basis for this justification is that reproductive human cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity. The author critiques one of the most commonly used ethical justifications for cloning laws - the idea that reproductive cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity. He points out that there is, in fact, little consensus on point and that the counter arguments are rarely reflected in formal policy. Rarely do domestic or international instruments provide an operational definition of human dignity and there is rarely an explanation of how, exactly, dignity is infringed in the context reproductive cloning. It is the author's position that the lack of thoughtful analysis of the role of human dignity hurts the broader public debate about reproductive cloning, trivializes the value of human dignity as a normative principle and makes it nearly impossible to critique the actual justifications behind many of the proposed policies.

Requirements to the procedure and stages of innovative fuel development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troyanov, V.; Zabudko, L.; Grachyov, A.; Zhdanova, O.

2016-04-01

According to the accepted current understanding under the nuclear fuel we will consider the assembled active zone unit (Fuel assembly) with its structural elements, fuel rods, pellet column, structural materials of fuel rods and fuel assemblies. The licensing process includes justification of safe application of the proposed modifications, including design-basis and experimental justification of the modified items under normal operating conditions and in violation of normal conditions, including accidents as well. Besides the justification of modified units itself, it is required to show the influence of modifications on the performance and safety of the other Reactor Unit’ and Nuclear Plant’ elements (e.g. burst can detection system, transportation and processing operations during fuel handling), as well as to justify the new standards of fuel storage etc. Finally, the modified fuel should comply with the applicable regulations, which often becomes a very difficult task, if only because those regulations, such as the NP-082-07, are not covered modification issues. Making amendments into regulations can be considered as the only solution, but the process is complicated and requires deep grounds for amendments. Some aspects of licensing new nuclear fuel are considered the example of mixed nitride uranium -plutonium fuel application for the BREST reactor unit.

An approach to radiation safety department benchmarking in academic and medical facilities.

PubMed

Harvey, Richard P

2015-02-01

Based on anecdotal evidence and networking with colleagues at other facilities, it has become evident that some radiation safety departments are not adequately staffed and radiation safety professionals need to increase their staffing levels. Discussions with management regarding radiation safety department staffing often lead to similar conclusions. Management acknowledges the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) or Director of Radiation Safety's concern but asks the RSO to provide benchmarking and justification for additional full-time equivalents (FTEs). The RSO must determine a method to benchmark and justify additional staffing needs while struggling to maintain a safe and compliant radiation safety program. Benchmarking and justification are extremely important tools that are commonly used to demonstrate the need for increased staffing in other disciplines and are tools that can be used by radiation safety professionals. Parameters that most RSOs would expect to be positive predictors of radiation safety staff size generally are and can be emphasized in benchmarking and justification report summaries. Facilities with large radiation safety departments tend to have large numbers of authorized users, be broad-scope programs, be subject to increased controls regulations, have large clinical operations, have significant numbers of academic radiation-producing machines, and have laser safety responsibilities.

Strategies for human-driven robot comprehension of spatial descriptions by older adults in a robot fetch task.

PubMed

Carlson, Laura; Skubic, Marjorie; Miller, Jared; Huo, Zhiyu; Alexenko, Tatiana

2014-07-01

This contribution presents a corpus of spatial descriptions and describes the development of a human-driven spatial language robot system for their comprehension. The domain of application is an eldercare setting in which an assistive robot is asked to "fetch" an object for an elderly resident based on a natural language spatial description given by the resident. In Part One, we describe a corpus of naturally occurring descriptions elicited from a group of older adults within a virtual 3D home that simulates the eldercare setting. We contrast descriptions elicited when participants offered descriptions to a human versus robot avatar, and under instructions to tell the addressee how to find the target versus where the target is. We summarize the key features of the spatial descriptions, including their dynamic versus static nature and the perspective adopted by the speaker. In Part Two, we discuss critical cognitive and perceptual processing capabilities necessary for the robot to establish a common ground with the human user and perform the "fetch" task. Based on the collected corpus, we focus here on resolving the perspective ambiguity and recognizing furniture items used as landmarks in the descriptions. Taken together, the work presented here offers the key building blocks of a robust system that takes as input natural spatial language descriptions and produces commands that drive the robot to successfully fetch objects within our eldercare scenario. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Investigating Music Information Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissenberger, Lynnsey K.

2016-01-01

This dissertation, titled "Investigating Music Information Objects," is a study of the nature, description, representations, and ideas related to music information objects (MIOs). This research study investigates how music practitioners from various traditions describe and conceptualize MIOs, using a theoretical framework to classify…

7 CFR 2903.7 - Project objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... AGRICULTURE BIODIESEL FUEL EDUCATION PROGRAM Program Description § 2903.7 Project objectives. (a) Successful... following objectives: (1) Enhance current efforts to collect and disseminate biodiesel information; (2) Coordinate with other biodiesel educational or promotional programs, and with Federal, State and local...

7 CFR 2903.7 - Project objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... AGRICULTURE BIODIESEL FUEL EDUCATION PROGRAM Program Description § 2903.7 Project objectives. (a) Successful... following objectives: (1) Enhance current efforts to collect and disseminate biodiesel information; (2) Coordinate with other biodiesel educational or promotional programs, and with Federal, State and local...

7 CFR 2903.7 - Project objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE BIODIESEL FUEL EDUCATION PROGRAM Program Description § 2903.7 Project objectives. (a) Successful... following objectives: (1) Enhance current efforts to collect and disseminate biodiesel information; (2) Coordinate with other biodiesel educational or promotional programs, and with Federal, State and local...