Equality, justice and feasibility: an ethical analysis of the WBGU’s budget approach

According to the Budget Approach proposed by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), allocating CO2 emission rights to countries on an equal per-capita basis would provide an ethically justified response to global climate change. In this paper, we will highlight four normative issues which beset the WBGU’s Budget Approach: (1) the approach’s core principle of distributive justice, the principle of equality, and its associated policy of emissions egalitarianism are much more complex than it initially appears; (2) the “official” rationale for determining the size of the budget should be modified in order to avoid implausible normative assumptions about the imposition of permissible intergenerational risks; (3) the approach heavily relies on trade-offs between justice and feasibility which should be stated more explicitly; and (4) part of the approach’s ethical appeal depends on policy instruments which are “detachable” from the approach’s core principle of distributive justice.

Plain English: Applying Principles to Home School Written Communication Considering Diverse Families

Schools attempting to engage with the families of all learners, including those with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds recognize the importance of effective oral and written communication. The aim of this study is to determine if school generated written communication created by an urban school district serving a culturally and linguistically diverse population in the Northeast of the US adhered to the principles of plain English. This exploratory research examined exemplar pieces of written school generated communication, using different forms of linguistic analysis to determine whether the communication contained elements recognized to facilitate or impede the comprehensibility of each piece of communication. Additionally, a text assessment tool which can help schools to analyze the written text communication they send to families was developed and refined.

Law's Ethical, Global and Theoretical Contexts: Essays in Honour of William Twining

Law's Ethical, Global and Theoretical Contexts examines William Twining's principal contributions to law and jurisprudence in the context of three issues which will receive significant scholarly attention over the coming decades. Part I explores human rights, including torture, the role of evidence in human rights cases, the emerging discourse on 'traditional values', the relevance of 'Southern voices' to human rights debates, and the relationship between human rights and peace agreements. Part II assesses the impact of globalization through the lenses of sociology and comparative constitutionalism, and features an analysis of the development of pluralistic ideas of law in the context of privatization. Finally, Part III addresses issues of legal theory, including whether global legal pluralism needs a concept of law, the importance of context in legal interpretation, the effect of increasing digitalization on legal theory, and the utility of feminist and postmodern approaches to globalization and legal theory.

Reconstructing ethical conduct within financial firms

This chapter explores whether ethical cultures can be created within a financial market context. Ongoing regulatory and legal actions, and press coverage of these, suggest that a definition of ethical problems in terms of ‘rogue traders’ and ‘bad apples’ would be inadequate, since entire business areas have been resorting to collusive illegal behaviour. The concept of ‘bad barrels’ seems to capture the situation rather better: the culture of firms fails to discourage transgression and indeed supports it. Unpacking the links between regulatory objectives and the cultural settings of firms and their employees, this chapter questions the chances of success of measures such as enhanced controls on individuals and restructured reward mechanisms. Financial firms typically have very flat, nodal structures, within which traders conceptualise themselves as an elite, in contrast to back office staff and also in contrast to managers. Traders’ functions and their occupational mobility mean that their linkages and attachments may be much stronger with others outside ‘their’ firm than their firm and those within it. Performance, camaraderie and their linkages are important in all work situations, yet all the more so for traders in financial markets. Thus, whether regulators and senior management combine to send a clear and consistent message to traders – or whether the logic of the financial marketplace leads some firms to continue send conflicting or ambivalent messages to them – misconduct is likely to continue to be a tough nut to crack.

On the Limits of Exceptionalism: Principles and Practice in the Pursuit of Alternatives to Full EU Membership

Few states have been less uncomfortable with the relationship they have with the EU than the United Kingdom as a member and Turkey as an associate and would-be member. Both states currently find themselves questioning the substance and future of these relationships with domestic actors and, notably in the Turkish case, external EU voices actively advocating alternatives. While much discussion, particularly in the UK case, has focused on the advantages and disadvantages of particular existing arrangements (e.g. European Economic Area, Swiss bilateralism), this paper considers the broader principles and practices that the EU has to date either explicitly developed or implicitly established to govern the nature and substance of alternatives to [full] EU membership. It assesses the principled, practical and political limitations that exist in establishing alternatives to full membership for states seeking – or having sought for them – the accommodation of their exceptionalism. In doing so the paper considers the potential limits to a renegotiated EU membership for the UK and to an alternative short of full membership for Turkey. It also reflects on the precedent-setting consequences of any new arrangements that the EU might reach with either state for what forms membership and a relationship short of membership might take in the future.

Molecular Medicine and Molecular Pathology for Hematologists:II. Lets go Techno; Principles of the Molecular Technologies and their Applications in Haematology

Molecular techniques have a key role to play in laboratory and clinical haematology. Restriction enzymes allow nucleic acids to be reduced in size for subsequent analysis. In addition they allow selection of specific DNA or RNA sequences for cloning into bacterial plasmids. These plasmids are naturally occuring DNA molecules which reside in bacterial cells. They can be manipulated to act as vehicles or carriers for biologically and medically important genes, allowing the production of large amounts of cloned material for research purposes or to aid in the production of medically important recombinant molecules such as insulin. As acquired or inherited genetic changes are implicated in a wide range of haematological diseases, it is necessary to have highly specific and sensitive assays to detect these mutations. Most of these techniques rely on nucleic acid hybridisation, benefitting from the ability of DNA or RNA to bind tighly to complimentary bases in the nucleic acid structure. Production of artificial DNA molecules called probes permits nucleic acid hybridiation assays to be performed, using the techniques of southern blotting or dot blot analysis. In addition the base composition of any gene or region of DNA can be determined using DNA sequencing technology. The advent of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has revolutionised all aspects of medicine, but has particular relevance in haematology where easy access to biopsy material provides a wealth of material for analysis. PCR permits quick and reliable manipulation of sample material and its ability to be automated makes it an ideal tool for use in the haematology laboratory.

Application of disturbance management principles in fresh food supply chains

The desire for more robust supply chains has led to a growth in theoretical and practical interest in the application of both preventive and impact reductive disturbance management principles. This application should ultimately lead to less vulnerable and more competitive supply chains. Based on the extant literature we identify fresh food supply chain's contextual factors (products, processes, supply chain networks and supply chain business environment) and their corresponding characteristics, as well as the main disturbance management principles used. To analyse their influence on the selection and application of disturbance management principles in fresh food supply chains we conducted three case studies. In each case we collected data on the relevant contextual factors, disturbance management principles applied and company background. As an underlying methodology, we first conduct within-case analysis and then expand the analyses to a cross-case context. Based on the findings from these case studies, propositions are built concerning the nature of contextual factors and their characteristics, and their influence on the selection and application of disturbance management principles in fresh food supply chains. Our main findings are related to the identification of contextual characteristics of fresh food supply chains that are either critical vulnerability sources, critical enablers or conditionals and as such require, facilitate or condition selection and application of disturbance management principles.

A realistic evaluation of track and trigger systems and acute care training for early recognition and treatment of deteriorating ward-based patients: research protocol.

Aim The aim of the study is to evaluate factors that enable or constrain the implementation and service delivery of early warnings systems or acute care training in practice. Background To date there is limited evidence to support the effectiveness of acute care initiatives (early warning systems, acute care training, outreach) in reducing the number of adverse events (cardiac arrest, death, unanticipated Intensive Care admission) through increased recognition and management of deteriorating ward based patients in hospital [1-3]. The reasons posited are that previous research primarily focused on measuring patient outcomes following the implementation of an intervention or programme without considering the social factors (the organisation, the people, external influences) which may have affected the process of implementation and hence measured end-points. Further research which considers the social processes is required in order to understand why a programme works, or does not work, in particular circumstances [4]. Method The design is a multiple case study approach of four general wards in two acute hospitals where Early Warning Systems (EWS) and Acute Life-threatening Events Recognition and Treatment (ALERT) course have been implemented. Various methods are being used to collect data about individual capacities, interpersonal relationships and institutional balance and infrastructures in order to understand the intended and unintended process outcomes of implementing EWS and ALERT in practice. This information will be gathered from individual and focus group interviews with key participants (ALERT facilitators, nursing and medical ALERT instructors, ward managers, doctors, ward nurses and health care assistants from each hospital); non-participant observation of ward organisation and structure; audit of patients' EWS charts and audit of the medical notes of patients who deteriorated during the study period to ascertain whether ALERT principles were followed. Discussion & progress to date This study commenced in January 2007. Ethical approval has been granted and data collection is ongoing with interviews being conducted with key stakeholders. The findings from this study will provide evidence for policy-makers to make informed decisions regarding the direction for strategic and service planning of acute care services to improve the level of care provided to acutely ill patients in hospital. References 1. Esmonde L, McDonnell A, Ball C, Waskett C, Morgan R, Rashidain A et al. Investigating the effectiveness of Critical Care Outreach Services: A systematic review. Intensive Care Medicine 2006; 32: 1713-1721 2. McGaughey J, Alderdice F, Fowler R, Kapila A, Mayhew A, Moutray M. Outreach and Early Warning Systems for the prevention of Intensive Care admission and death of critically ill patients on general hospital wards. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. www.thecochranelibrary.com 3. Winters BD, Pham JC, Hunt EA, Guallar E, Berenholtz S, Pronovost PJ (2007) Rapid Response Systems: A systematic review. Critical Care Medicine 2007; 35 (5): 1238-43 4. Pawson R and Tilley N. Realistic Evaluation. London; Sage: 1997

Strong second harmonic generation in SiC, ZnO, GaN two-dimensional hexagonal crystals from first-principles many-body calculations

The second harmonic generation (SHG) intensity spectrum of SiC, ZnO, GaN two-dimensional hexagonal crystals is calculated by using a real-time first-principles approach based on Green's function theory [Attaccalite et al., Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter Mater. Phys. 2013 88, 235113]. This approach allows one to go beyond the independent particle description used in standard first-principles nonlinear optics calculations by including quasiparticle corrections (by means of the GW approximation), crystal local field effects and excitonic effects. Our results show that the SHG spectra obtained using the latter approach differ significantly from their independent particle counterparts. In particular they show strong excitonic resonances at which the SHG intensity is about two times stronger than within the independent particle approximation. All the systems studied (whose stabilities have been predicted theoretically) are transparent and at the same time exhibit a remarkable SHG intensity in the range of frequencies at which Ti:sapphire and Nd:YAG lasers operate; thus they can be of interest for nanoscale nonlinear frequency conversion devices. Specifically the SHG intensity at 800 nm (1.55 eV) ranges from about 40-80 pm V(-1) in ZnO and GaN to 0.6 nm V(-1) in SiC. The latter value in particular is 1 order of magnitude larger than values in standard nonlinear crystals.

Foreign Policy as Ethics: Toward a Re-Evaluation of Values

This article notes that while ethics is increasingly talked of in foreign policy, it remains a blind-spot for FPA. It argues that this must be rectified through a critical approach which conceptualises foreign policy as ethics. The first section examines how even constructivist approaches, which are highly attuned to the intersubjective sphere, still generally avoid dealing with morality. The second section looks at the possibilities and limits of one piece of constructivist theorizing that explores the translation of morality into foreign policy via ‘norms’. This demonstrates the problems that a constructivist account, with its tendency toward explanatory description without evaluation, will always face. The final section argues, through an examination of EU foreign policy (from 1999-2004) and its innovative use of ‘hospitality’, that FPA must critically reassess the value of the norms and principles by which foreign policy operates in order to suggest potentially more ethical modes of encounter.