Out of time: The moral temporality of sex, crime and taboo

This paper discusses the relationship between law and morality. Morality does not necessarily coincide with the law, but it contributes to it. An act may be legal but nevertheless considered to be immoral in a particular society. For example, the use of pornography may be considered by many to be immoral. Nevertheless, the sale and distribution of non-violent, non-child related, sexually explicit material is legal (or regulated) in many jurisdictions. Many laws are informed by, and even created by, morality. This paper examines the historical influence of morality on the law and on society in general. It aims to develop a theoretical framework for examining legal moralism and the social construction of morality and crime as well as the relationship between sex, desire and taboo. Here, we refer to the moral temporality of sex and taboo, which examines the way in which moral judgments about sex and what is considered taboo change over time, and the kinds of justifications that are employed in support of changing moralities. It unpacks the way in which abstract and highly tenuous concepts such as ‘‘desire’’, ‘‘art’’ and ‘‘entertainment’’ may be ‘‘out of time’’ with morality, and how morality shapes laws over time, fabricating justifications from within socially constructed communities of practice. This theoretical framework maps the way in which these concepts have become temporally dominated by heteronormative structures such as the family, marriage, reproduction, and longevity. It is argued that the logic of these structures is inexorably tied to the heterosexual life-path, charting individual lives and relationships through explicit phases of childhood, adolescence and adulthood that, in the twenty-first century, delimit the boundaries of taboo surrounding sex more than any other time in history.

2002年度非线性力学国家重点实验室学术年会简介

<正> 2002年度非线性力学国家重点实验室(LNM)第14届学术年会于2002年12月21—22日在中国科学院力学研究所隆重举行.本次年会受到了所内外学术同行的广泛关注和重视,有10余个单位的近200人参加了本次LNM学术年会.

El comportamiento innovador en las instituciones escolares : niveles y factores de la innovación educativa.

Investigar sobre la naturaleza de la innovación educativa y analizar algunos de los factores que impulsan o restringen el desarrollo de los procesos innovadores en el ámbito de las instituciones escolares. Muestra: 1.500 profesores de EGB que pertenecen a 120 colegios. Población: conjunto de profesores de EGB de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Tipo muestro: aleatorio, en la técnica de conglomerados -Clusters-. Diseño ex post facto o causal comparativo variable dependiente: comportamiento innovador de los profesores de EGB variables independientes: variables individuales: sexo, edad, profesionalidad de base, actualización docente, tipo de tarea docente, continuidad en el mismo tipo de tarea. Variables institucionales: titularidad de la institución escolar, tamaño del centro docente, participación institucional, estabilidad de los profesores, comunicación pedagógica entre los miembros de la institución escolar, ubicación sociogeográfica de la institución escolar. Cuestionario elaborado exprofeso para obtener datos sobre el comportamiento innovador de los profesores así como los correspondientes a las variables de índole personal e institucional que se suponen relacionadas con dicho comportamiento. Está integrado por preguntas abiertas, cerradas y categorizadas y agrupadas en tres tipos. Análisis de contenido de carácter semasiológico partiendo del signo para ir a la determinación del concepto. Análisis cualitativo de los resultados de los análisis de otros investigadores lo que constituye una forma de meta análisis. Análisis correlacional correspondiente al tipo de investigación ex post facto. Se ha hallado que dos tercios de los profesores tienen un comportamiento innovador prácticamente nulo. Una octava parte del total constituye el núcleo de los propiamente innovadores. La quinta parte está formada por los innovadores medios las variables más relacionadas con el comportamiento innovador son: de tipo personal y por orden de importancia: la actualización docente, la profesionalidad de base y la edad. De tipo institucional: la participación institucional, la comunicación pedagógica, el tamaño, la estabilidad de los profesores. La titularidad del centro no tiene relación con el comportamiento innovador. Se abre una amplia línea de investigación que debe continuarse con nuevos estudios con neutralización de variables, en el estudio del fenómeno de la interacción entre variables mediante el análisis multivariado, en el estudio de nuevas variables en investigaciones en que se realice incluso la manipulación de alguna de ellas o desarrollen diseños de carácter longitudinal.

The influence of pore size on osteoblast phenotype expression in cultures grown on porous titanium

This study investigated the effect of pore size on osteoblastic phenotype development in cultures grown on porous titanium (Ti). Porous Ti discs with three different pore sizes, 312 mu m (Ti 312), 130 mu m (Ti 130) and 62 mu m (Ti 62) were fabricated using a powder metallurgy process. Osteoblastic cells obtained from human alveolar bone were cultured on porous Ti samples for periods of up to 14 days. Cell proliferation was affected by pore size at day 3 (p = 0.0010), day 7 (p = 0.0005) and day 10 (p = 0.0090) in the following way: Ti 62 < Ti 130 < Ti 312. Gene expression of bone markers evaluated at 14 days was affected, RUNX2 (p = 0.0153), ALP (p = 0.0153), BSP (p = 0.0156), COL (p = 0.0156), and OPN (p = 0.0156) by pore size as follows: Ti 312 < Ti 130 < Ti 62. Based on these results, the authors suggest that porous Ti surfaces with pore sizes near 62 mu m, compared with those of 312 mu m and 130 mu m, yield the highest expression of osteoblast phenotype as indicated by the lower cell proliferation rate and higher gene expression of bone markers.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Failure in Patients with Non-Muscle-invasive Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder May Be Due to the Urologist's Failure to Detect Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Urinary Tract and Urethra

BACKGROUND: Various reasons exist for so-called bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) failure in patients with non-muscle-invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma (NMIBC). OBJECTIVE: To explore whether urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract (UUT) and/or prostatic urethra may be a cause for BCG failure. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective analysis of 110 patients with high-risk NMIBC repeatedly treated with intravesical BCG, diagnosed with disease recurrence, and followed for a median time of 9.1 yr. INTERVENTION: Two or more intravesical BCG induction courses without maintenance. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Primary outcome was pattern of disease recurrence (BCG failure) within the urinary tract categorised into UUT and/or urethral carcinoma (with or without intravesical recurrence), and intravesical recurrence alone. Secondary outcome was survival. Predictors of UUT and/or urethral carcinoma and the effect of pattern of disease recurrence on cancer-specific survival were assessed with multivariable Cox regression analysis adjusting for multiple clinical and tumour characteristics. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Of the 110 patients, 57 (52%) had UUT and/or urethral carcinoma (with or without intravesical recurrence), and 53 (48%) had intravesical recurrence alone. In patients with UUT and/or urethral carcinoma, bladder carcinoma in situ (Tis) before the first and second BCG course was present in 42 of 57 (74%) and 47 of 57 (82%) patients, respectively. On multivariable analysis, bladder Tis before the first and/or second BCG course was the only independent predictor of UUT and/or urethral carcinoma. Of the 110 patients, 69 (63%) were alive at last follow-up visit, 18 (16%) had died due to metastatic urothelial carcinoma, and 23 (21%) had died of other causes. Pattern of disease recurrence within the urinary tract was not an independent predictor of cancer-specific survival. Main study limitations were retrospective design and limited power for survival analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In our patients with high-risk NMIBC failing after two or more courses of intravesical BCG, UUT and/or urethral carcinoma was detected in >50% of the cases during follow-up. The vast majority of these patients had bladder Tis before the first and/or second BCG course. In patients experiencing the so-called BCG failure, a diagnostic work-up of UUT and prostatic urethra should always be performed to exclude urothelial carcinoma before additional intravesical therapy or even a radical cystectomy is considered.

Der Seehund als Feind unserer deutschen Küstenfischerei

Von H. Barfod