This study elucidates the link and effect of ethical reinforcement in the post‐financial crisis era by taking two congruent directions to demonstrate that ethical reinforcement can be accomplished by either a continuous ethical training or a meticulous code of business ethics—which members of the mutual fund industry claim they adhere to—as both have a positive effect on the funds’ performance, including sizeable gains to investors. Furthermore, evidence divulges that ethical reinforcement moderates the performance of ethical or socially responsible investments (SRI) (...) funds more than nonethical investments, suggesting that a perspective of ethical or SRI classification of a fund alone is not sufficient, but it is necessary to have the institutional ethical environment and/or managers’ continuous ethical training. This result supports the notion of financial market discipline and reveals some factors behind SRI or ethical funds returns, notably during the period following the recent financial crisis. (shrink)

The N‐end rule denotes the relationship between the identity of the amino‐terminal residue of a protein and its in vivo half‐life. Since its discovery in 1986, the N‐end rule has generally been described by a defined set of rules for determining whether an amino‐terminal residue is stabilizing or not. However, recent studies are revealing that this N‐end rule (or N‐degron concept) is less straightforward than previously appreciated. For instance, it is unveiled that N‐terminal acetylation of N‐terminal residues may create a (...) degradation signal (Ac‐degron) that promotes the degradation of target proteins. A recent high‐throughput dissection of degrons in yeast proteins amino termini intriguingly suggested that the hydrophobicity of amino‐terminal residues—but not the N‐terminal acetylation status—may be the indispensable feature of amino‐terminal degrons. Herein, these recent advances in N‐terminal acetylation and the complexity of N‐terminal degradation signals in the context of the N‐degron pathway are analyzed. (shrink)

This article presents a Hybrid Artificial Bee Colony for uncapacitated examination timetabling. The ABC algorithm is a recent metaheuristic population-based algorithm that belongs to the Swarm Intelligence technique. Examination timetabling is a hard combinatorial optimization problem of assigning examinations to timeslots based on the given hard and soft constraints. The proposed hybridization comes in two phases: the first phase hybridized a simple local search technique as a local refinement process within the employed bee operator of the original ABC, while the (...) second phase involves the replacement of the scout bee operator with the random consideration concept of harmony search algorithm. The former is to empower the exploitation capability of ABC, whereas the latter is used to control the diversity of the solution search space. The HABC is evaluated using a benchmark dataset defined by Carter, including 12 problem instances. The results show that the HABC is better than exiting ABC techniques and competes well with other techniques from the literature. (shrink)

Lifeworlds of Islam shows that Islam has typically operated not in the form of standard dogmas, but more often as a compass for practical individual orientations or lifeworlds. Mohammed Bamyeh develops a sociology of Islam that maps out how Muslims have employed the faith to foster global networks, public philosophies, and engaged civic lives both historically and in the present.

The mitochondrion is known as the “powerhouse” of eukaryotic cells since it is the main site of adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) production. Using a temperature‐sensitive fluorescent probe, it has recently been suggested that the stray free energy, not captured into ATP, is potentially sufficient to sustain mitochondrial temperatures higher than the cellular environment, possibly reaching up to 50 °C. By 50 °C, some DNA and mitochondrial proteins may reach their melting temperatures; how then do these biomolecules maintain their structure and function? (...) Further, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accelerates with temperature, implying higher oxidative stresses in the mitochondrion than generally appreciated. Herein, it is proposed that mitochondrial heat shock proteins (particularly Hsp70), in addition to their roles in protein transport and folding, protect mitochondrial proteins and DNA from thermal and ROS damage. Other thermoprotectant mechanisms are also discussed. (shrink)

For first order languages with no individual constants, empty structures and truth values (for sentences) in them are defined. The first order theories of the empty structures and of all structures (the empty ones included) are axiomatized with modus ponens as the only rule of inference. Compactness is proved and decidability is discussed. Furthermore, some well known theorems of model theory are reconsidered under this new situation. Finally, a word is said on other approaches to the whole problem.

Recently, due to the rapid progress of computer technology, researchers develop an effective computer program to enhance the achievement of the student in learning process, which is Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). Science is important because it influences most aspects of everyday life, including food, energy, medicine, leisure activities and more. So learning science subject at school is very useful, but the students face some problem in learning it. So we designed an ITS system to help them understand this subject easily (...) and smoothly by analyzing it and explaining it in a systematic way. In this paper, we describe the design of an Intelligent Tutoring System for teaching science for grade seven to help students know the 7 characteristics for living things smoothly. The system provides all topics of living things and generates some questions for each topic and the students should answer these questions correctly to move to the next level. In the result of an evaluation of the ITS, students like the system and they said that it is very useful for them and for their studies. (shrink)

"Based upon an interdepartmental student project in systems engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spring term, 1971... and a study at the College of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.".

Death is the opposite not of life, but of power. And as such, Mohammed Bamyeh argues in this original work, death has had a great and largely unexplored impact on the thinking of governance throughout history, right down to our day. In Of Death and Dominion Bamyeh pursues the idea that a deep concern with death is, in fact, the basis of the ideological foundations of all political systems. Concentrating on four types of political systems—polis, empire, theocracy, and modern mass (...) society systems—Bamyeh shows how each follows a specific strategy designed to pit power against the equalizing specter of death. Each of these strategies—consolation, expansion, preparation, and repression—produces a certain style of political behavior, as well as particular psychic traumas. In making his argument, Bamyeh revisits a wide range of empirical and theoretical discussions in existentialist philosophy, psychoanalysis, comparative historical sociology, literary studies, and anthropology. By demonstrating how schemes of power are by definition also schemes for defying death—despite their claims to the contrary—his book encourages us to think of a new style of politics, one oriented toward life. (shrink)

Autophagy functions in both selective and non‐selective ways to maintain cellular homeostasis. Endoplasmic reticulum autophagy (ER‐phagy) is a subclass of autophagy responsible for the degradation of the endoplasmic reticulum through selective encapsulation into autophagosomes. ER‐phagy occurs both under physiological conditions and in response to stress cues, and plays a crucial role in maintaining the homeostatic control of the organelle. Although specific receptors that target parts of the ER membrane, as well as, internal proteins for lysosomal degradation have been identified, the (...) molecular regulation of ER‐phagy has been elusive. Recent work has uncovered novel regulators of ER‐phagy that involve post‐translational modifications of ER‐resident proteins and functional cross‐talk with other cellular processes. Herein, we discuss how morphology affects the function of the peripheral ER, and how ER‐phagy modulates the turnover of this organelle. We also address how ER‐phagy is regulated at the molecular level, considering implications relevant to human diseases. (shrink)

Due to the tremendous progress in technology and the methods used in its application to facilitate and refine human's life, Intelligent Tutoring System was created to contribute in this era. In this study, the Intelligent Tutoring System was adopted as a platform in linking the complex Technological fields for obtaining information smoothly, and highlighting the importance of water issues and in the Gaza strip. In the light of the absence and inability of the formal education system to raise awareness of (...) the water crisis and its consequences on the daily life of the Gazans, the current Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) has been utilized to disseminate knowledge and enhance awareness of water problems. The ITS aims to embrace a new water conservation practices and ensure the sustainability of fresh water. Basically the software of the tutoring system is used to create a program which could be easily used by the public population and specialists in the water field. The resulting program was fed with plenty of information about the current local water status and its related problems which are considerably useful for anyone interested to raise his/her level of knowledge and awareness about the local water status in addition to the researchers by reducing their dependency on human sources. The ITS system was presented to two groups of people: The first one consists of specialized water experts and the other consists of master student enrolled in Institute of Water and Environment in Al-Azhar University in Gaza who are interested in water problems. Both groups were requested to use the final version of the system and give their feedback by filling a questionnaire, and then the averages of the answered questions were measured for each group. It was found that the overall impressions of the users were positive. (shrink)

Contrary to what is stated in Lemma 7.1 of [8], it is shown that some Boolean algebras of finitary logic admit finitely additive probabilities that are not σ-additive. Consequences of Lemma 7.1 are reconsidered. The concept of a C-σ-additive probability on B (where B and C are Boolean algebras, and $\mathscr{B} \subseteq \mathscr{C}$ ) is introduced, and a generalization of Hahn's extension theorem is proved. This and other results are employed to show that every S̄(L)-σ-additive probability on s̄(L) can be (...) extended (uniquely, under some conditions) to a σ-additive probability on S̄(L), where L belongs to a quite extensive family of first order languages, and S̄(L) and s̄(L) are, respectively, the Boolean algebras of sentences and quantifier free sentences of L. (shrink)

Revisiting Fanon’s classic theory of violence and relying on some of his case studies, this article detects the propensity to see the world in abstract formats as the source of the most malignant forms of revolutionary violence. Based on this, the article explores how abstraction may still be a healthy way of thinking, especially in a globalized and postcolonial world. Two mechanisms for handling abstraction in humane ways are proposed, both of which exclude loyalties to principles or communities so long (...) as those could only be imagined in abstract forms. The two mechanisms of humanizing abstractions proposed here include the capacity to see local stories as manifestations or episodes of universal tales, and the ability to see one’s concrete cause in relationship to a multiplicity of world causes being acted upon in the same forum. (shrink)

The extended neoteric ranked set sampling plan proposed by Taconeli and Cabral has proven to outperform many one stages and two stages ranked set sampling plans when estimating the mean and the variance for different populations. Therefore, in this paper, the likelihood function based on ENRSS is proposed and used for estimation of the parameters of the inverted Nadarajah–Haghighi distribution. An extensive Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to assess the performance of the proposed likelihood function, and the efficiency of (...) the estimated parameters based on ENRSS is compared with the well-known ranked set sampling plan and some of its modifications. These modifications include the extended ranked set sampling plan and the neoteric ranked set sampling plan. The results as foreseeable were very satisfactory and gave similar results to Taconeli and Cabral’s 2019 results. (shrink)

Despite being written in 1941–1942, Long Day’s Journey into Night wasn’t released until 1956, two years after the author’s death. The Tyrone family is at the centre of the narrative, advancing the plot and creating further avenues for the characters to develop. The article explores the various aspects of the play that indicate that the Tyrones are a dysfunctional family. The critical analysis of the play and its various themes conclude that Tyrone in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” displays many (...) characteristics of a dysfunctional family while certain behavioural patterns of each one of the family are enough to show that the family is dysfunctional. The article presents a critical analysis of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Various modes of reading were employed, including thematic analysis, close reading of the text, and a deconstructive reading of the play. These methods support the exploration of how the Tyrones are depicted as a dysfunctional family. James and Mary’s children, Edmund and Jamie, are central to the drama. Edmund is suffering from tuberculosis, while Mary struggles with a morphine addiction. The play is set at the Tyrones' Monte Cristo Cottage in seaside Connecticut, on a single day in August 1912, from roughly 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 a.m. The Tyrones are painted in a highly negative light as a dysfunctional family, as the parents and sons accuse, lash out, and harbor grudges against one another and in various situations. They possess traits that encourage pitiful and futile endeavours as well as strong desires for their circumstances to improve. (shrink)

In this paper, we present an intelligent tutoring system developed to help students in learning Computer Theory. The Intelligent tutoring system was built using ITSB authoring tool. The system helps students to learn finite automata, pushdown automata, Turing machines and examines the relationship between these automata and formal languages, deterministic and nondeterministic machines, regular expressions, context free grammars, undecidability, and complexity. During the process the intelligent tutoring system gives assistance and feedback of many types in an intelligent manner according to (...) the behavior of the student. An evaluation of the intelligent tutoring system has revealed reasonably acceptable results in terms of its usability and learning abilities are concerned. (shrink)

Errors have been the concern of providers and consumers of health care services. However, consumers' perception of medical errors in developing countries is rarely explored. The aim of this study is to assess community members' perceptions about medical errors and to analyse the factors affecting this perception in one Middle East country, Oman.

Applying the resolution–scale relativity principle to develop a mechanics of non-differentiable dynamical paths, we find that, in one dimension, stationary motion corresponds to an Itô process driven by the solutions of a Riccati equation. We verify that the corresponding Fokker–Planck equation is solved for a probability density corresponding to the squared modulus of the solution of the Schrödinger equation for the same problem. Inspired by the treatment of the one-dimensional case, we identify a generalization to time dependent problems in any (...) number of dimensions. The Itô process is then driven by a function which is identified as establishing the link between non-differentiable dynamics and standard quantum mechanics. This is the basis for the scale relativistic interpretation of standard quantum mechanics and, in the case of applications to chaotic systems, it leads us to identify quantum-like states as characterizing the entire system rather than the motion of its individual constituents. (shrink)

This paper introduces the new novel four-parameter Weibull distribution named as the Marshall–Olkin alpha power Weibull distribution. Some statistical properties of the distribution are examined. Based on Type-I censored and Type-II censored samples, maximum likelihood estimation, maximum product spacing, and Bayesian estimation for the MOAPW distribution parameters are discussed. Numerical analysis using real data sets and Monte Carlo simulation are accomplished to compare various estimation methods. This novel model’s supremacy upon some famous distributions is explained using two real data sets (...) and it is shown that the MOAPW model can achieve better fits than other competitive distributions. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, Volume 31, Issue 4, Page 1157-1173, October 2022.

Selective protein degradation maintains cellular homeostasis, but this process is disrupted in many diseases. Targeted protein degradation (TPD) approaches, built upon existing cellular mechanisms, are promising methods for therapeutically regulating protein levels. Here, we review the diverse palette of tools that are now available for doing so throughout the gene expression pathway and in specific cellular compartments. These include methods for directly removing targeted proteins via the ubiquitin proteasome system with proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) or dephosphorylation targeting chimeras (DEPTACs). Similar (...) effects can also be achieved through the lysosomal system with autophagy‐targeting chimeras (AUTACs), autophagosome tethering compounds (ATTECs), and lysosome targeting chimeras (LYTACs). Other methods act upstream to degrade RNAs (ribonuclease targeting chimeras; RIBOTACs) or transcription factors (transcription factor targeting chimeras; TRAFTACs), offering control throughout the gene expression process. We highlight the evolution and function of these methods and discuss their clinical implications in diverse disease contexts. (shrink)

BackgroundBurnout is a syndrome that results from stressors in the work environment that have not been successfully managed. The prevalence of burnout among schoolteachers was always controversial. COVID-19 pandemic added more stressors to teachers since they had to change their working styles in response to the pandemic lockdowns or curfews. In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence and determinants of burnout among school teachers were not measured by any other group during the COVID-19 pandemic stressors.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 879 teachers (...) in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, during April 2021. Multistage cluster random sampling was used.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 41.4 years. Male teachers represented 52.6% of the participants while females represented 47.4%. Most teachers showed burnout symptoms. Consequences of burnout were observed, such as using psychotropic medications, absenteeism, lack of job satisfaction, and changing schools. Using the MBI scale, most teachers showed medium or high emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment.ConclusionMost teachers showed symptoms of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being an expert and ability to adapt to technology during the COVID-19 pandemic proved to effectively reduce burnout symptoms. Increasing incentives, early detection, and improving the work environment is recommended to diminish burnout consequences. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to explore the linguistic aspects of police FIR using Michael Halliday’s system of transitivity and three-dimensional model of CDA, encompassing the macro-sociological analysis of social practice. FIR is a genre of discourse, referring to a report prepared by the police, which reaches the police station first after the commission of a cognizable offence. FIR needs thorough and careful reading, and very difficult to understand by the people of a particular community. In this regard, the (...) Transitivity system is a medley of six different processes realizing ideational meaning which is further strengthened by CDA, which also helps the people of a community to comprehend complex discourses. In accordance with this study, the researchers used the qualitative approach as a paradigm. They used close reading technique as a strategy and relying on purposive sampling in the selection of data. Further textual analysis is used as a method of analysis. The researcher took five FIRs which were analyzed with respect to the transitivity system. This study reveals that the FIRs conform to five processes out six processes of the transitivity system and the three-dimensional model of CDA. Moreover, this study can be extended to other police reports and common people may easily expand their awareness to understand the language and context of FIRs. (shrink)

This study aims to know the effect of ambulance transportation in reducing the rate of injuries for people injured in traffic accidents, the importance of the role of emergency paramedics in reducing the rate of injury for people transported to health facilities, a questionnaire was prepared via Google Drive and distributed to the population between the ages of 25-55 years from Men and women in the holy city of Mecca. The questionnaire was distributed via the social networking program (WhatsApp) for (...) the purpose of distancing. 400 questionnaires were distributed, and 380 responses were obtained via email to the principal researcher. it concluded that everyone mentioned the importance of paramedics in transporting all dangerous cases (whether traffic accidents or other) in record time and with a very high degree of professionalism. (shrink)

Host defense mechanisms are categorized into different strategies, namely, avoidance, resistance and tolerance. Resistance encompasses mechanisms that directly kill the pathogen while tolerance is mainly concerned with alleviating the harsh consequences of the infection regardless of the pathogen burden. Resistance is well‐known strategy in immunology while tolerance is relatively new. Studies addressed tolerance mainly using mouse models revealing a wide range of interesting tolerance mechanisms. Herein, we aim to emphasize on the interspecies comparative approaches to explore potential new mechanisms of (...) disease tolerance. We will discuss mechanisms of tolerance with focus on those that were revealed using comparative study designs of mammals followed by summarizing the reasons for adopting comparative approaches on disease tolerance studies. Disease tolerance is a relatively new concept in immunology, we believe combining comparative studies with model organism study designs will enhance our understanding to tolerance and unveil new mechanisms of tolerance. (shrink)

This study aims to the role of nursing in motivating the community to participate with health facilities, the impact of linking the community with health facilities for the benefit of tracking community participation and speeding up its resolution, the role of nursing with the community, especially in the presence of diseases and epidemics., A questionnaire was prepared via Google Drive and distributed to the population aged 25-55 years, men and women, in the city of Mecca. As for the questionnaire, it (...) was distributed via the social networking program (WhatsApp) for the purpose of distancing for fear of the presence of the Corona virus, 390 questionnaires were distributed, and 380 responses were obtained via email to the principal researcher. (shrink)

This research aims at exploring the status of integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher management education in the Arab region. The universities in the Arab region have lately emphasized internationalization in their educational policies, aiming at improving their regional and global presence, as a major part of their national reforms. Such transformations will never take hold if education systems are not reformed to foster citizenship, ethics, and social responsibility. Therefore, the study adopted qualitative content analysis of the top (...) 40 business schools that are ranked based on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Rankings in the Arab Region in 2016, as well as schools acting as signatories of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). To analyze the integration of ESD at all educational levels, the relevant literature commonly emphasized upon the adoption of Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability (ECSRS). Hence, the content analysis involved critical identification of pre-selected keywords under the ECSRS theme throughout the sampled universities’ online content and “Sharing Information on Progress” reports, in light of institutional, curricular, and instrumental levels, expanding the work of Setó-Pamies and Papaoikomomou (2016). The results revealed that ECSRS is outlined in the sampled universities’ strategies mainly through their mission statements. ECSRS is incorporated to a great extent in the curriculum of undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the form of obligatory and elective courses. Yet, student extracurricular activities did not receive equivalent devotion. As for ECSRS research, over half of sampled universities had dedicated research centers mainly focusing on environmental sustainability, in addition to issuing sporadic publications on various ECSRS topics. Integrating ECSRS in university outreach is still considered marginalized. (shrink)

The ethical climate in Turkey is beset by ethical problems. Bribery, environmental pollution, tax frauds, deceptive advertising, production of unsafe products, and the ethical violations that involved politicians and business professionals are just a few examples. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the ethical beliefs of American and Turkish consumers using the Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) of Forsyth (1980), the Machiavellianism scale, and the Consumer Ethical Practices of Muncy and Vitell questionnaire (MVQ). A sample of 376 (...) subjects that consists of American consumers (n = 188) and Turkish consumers (n = 199) was used to compare the ethical beliefs and practices of the two samples. The MANOVA results for the two nationality groups found that five out of six criterion variables differed between the two groups. The implications of this study are intended to assist marketers to develop strategies that suit a particular market and lessen their risk of entry. (shrink)

This study was designed to examine the determinants of and differences between the ethical beliefs of two groups of Japanese students in religious and secular universities. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students of the Japanese religious university perceived that young, male, relativistic, and opportunistic students tended to behave less ethically than did older, female, and idealistic students. Students of the Japanese secular university perceived that male, achievement-oriented, and opportunistic students tended to behave less ethically than did female and experience-oriented students. (...) Opportunism was found to be one of the most important determinants in explaining misconduct. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) revealed that students of the Japanese secular university tended to score higher on achievement and humanism, and lower on theism and positivism than did students of the Japanese religious university. In addition, students of the Japanese secular university were somewhat more sensitive to academic dishonesty practices than were students of the Japanese religious university. (shrink)

This study examines the influence of the COVID-19 crisis on academic expectations among international students from north-western China. According to past studies, academic expectations are multifaceted, making it critical to test the methods employed to assess this fundamental trait. The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in various significant changes in education, which have shifted from traditional to online or mixed formats. As a result, examining international students' academic expectations along with their interactions with adopted technologies is a topic that addresses (...) the current situation and issues. A mixed approach, comprising two different instruments, was followed to achieve this primary objective. While a survey with a questionnaire was undertaken with 551 international students, divided into two groups, ten students were interviewed during and after the lockdowns. The findings revealed that COVID-19 had a significant impact on the academic expectations of students as well as many elements such as training for employment, personal and social development, international student mobility, motivation, social pressure, and social interaction with the help of supporting technologies. In terms of gender, men outperformed women in motivation, social interaction, training for employment, and personal and social development factors. Similarly, as per the grade variable, the same higher trend was seen in postgraduates. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations was put forward. In the future, technology will be helpful in China's educational sector, such as online group collaboration, open education, managing student retention, and supervising teachers' recruitment. (shrink)

Statistical distributions have great applicability for modeling data in almost every applied sector. Among the available classical distributions, the inverse Weibull distribution has received considerable attention. In the practice of distribution theory, numerous methods have been studied and suggested/introduced to increase the flexibility level of the traditional probability distributions. In this paper, we implement different distribution methods to obtain five new different versions of the inverse Weibull model. The new modifications of the inverse Weibull model are called the logarithm transformed-inverse (...) Weibull, a flexible reduced logarithmic-inverse Weibull, the weighted TX-inverse Weibull, a new generalized-inverse Weibull, and the alpha power transformed extended-inverse Weibull distributions. To illustrate the flexibility and applicability of the new modifications of the inverse Weibull model, a biomedical data set is analyzed. The data set consists of 108 observations and represents the mortality rate of the COVID-19-infected patients. The practical application shows that the new generalized-inverse Weibull is the best modification of the inverse Weibull distribution. (shrink)

Past research has examined the ethical judgments of consumers in the U.S., but few studies have investigated such attitudes in foreign-market settings. The current study compares ethical attitudes of consumers in two countries (Ireland and Lebanon) which share a cultural similarity of ongoing war and terrorism. The findings reveal that both cultures exhibit low sensitivity to ethical issues. Furthermore, the findings show that the Irish consumers are less sensitive to consumer ethical practices, less idealistic, more relativistic, and more Machiavellian than (...) Lebanese consumers. The authors recommend that other researchers need to further investigate this perplexing issue because ethics is a research topic which often discourages survey respondents to be candid. (shrink)

. Night driving is one of the major factors which affects traffic safety. Although detecting oncoming vehicles at night time is a challenging task, it may improve traffic safety. If the oncoming vehicle is recognised in good time, this will motivate drivers to keep their eyes on the road. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to detect vehicles at night based on the employment of a single onboard camera. This system is based on detecting vehicle headlights (...) by recognising their shapes via an SVM classifier which was trained for this purpose. A pairing algorithm was designed to pair vehicle headlights to ensure that the two headlights belong to the same vehicle. A multi-object tracking algorithm was invoked to track the vehicle throughout the time the vehicle is in the scene. The system was trained with 503 single objects and tested using 144 587 single objects which were extracted from 1410 frames collected from 15 videos and 27 moving vehicles. It was found that the accuracy of recognition was 97.9% and the vehicle recognition rate was 96.3% which indicates clearly the high robustness attained by this system. (shrink)

The determination of death by neurological criteria remains controversial scientifically, culturally, and legally, worldwide. In the United Kingdom, although the determination of death by neurological criteria is not legally codified, the Code of Practice of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is customarily used for neurological death determination and treatment withdrawal. Unlike some states in the US, however, there are no provisions under the law requiring accommodation of and respect for residents' religious rights and commitments when secular conceptions of death (...) based on medical codes and practices conflict with a traditional concept well-grounded in religious and cultural values and practices. In this article, we analyse the medical, ethical, and legal issues that were generated by the recent judgement of the High Court of England and Wales in Re: A [2015] EWHC 443. Mechanical ventilation was withdrawn in this case despite parental religious objection to a determination of death based on the code of practice. We outline contemporary evidence that has refuted the reliability of tests of brainstem function to ascertain the two conjunctive clinical criteria for the determination of death that are stipulated in the code of practice: irreversible loss of capacity for consciousness and somatic integration of bodily biological functions. We argue that: the tests of brainstem function were not properly undertaken in this case; the two conjunctive clinical criteria set forth in the code of practice cannot be reliably confirmed by these tests in any event; and absent authentication of the clinical criteria of death, the code of practice wrongly invokes a secular definition of death based on the loss of personhood. Consequently, the moral obligation of a pluralistic society to honor and respect diverse religious convictions to the greatest extent possible is being violated. Re A is contrasted with the US case of Jahi McMath in which the court accommodated parental religious objection to the determination of neurological death codified in the Uniform Determination of Death Act. We conclude that the legal system in the United Kingdom should not favour a secular definition of death over a definition of death that is respectful of religious values about the inviolability and sanctity of life. We recommend the legal recognition of religious accommodation in death determination to facilitate cultural sensitivity and compassionate care to patients and families in a pluralistic society. (shrink)

Obstetrics and gynaecology always has reputation for being a highly litigious. The field of obstetrics and gynaecology is surrounded by different circumstances that stimulate the doctors to practice defensive..

The process of making ethical judgments is much more complex than studying only personal moral philosophy variables (idealism and relativism). The renewed interest in epistemic values (virtue and vice epistemology) in contemporary philosophy has shown significant relevance to understanding ethical behavior and such values may be better predictors than studying only idealism and relativism. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine employees’ personal moral philosophies, optimism, epistemic values, and various organizational unethical practices as compared to their managers. We (...) used Rawwas’ items of epistemology in this study. The sample consisted of 262 managers and employees. The results revealed that managers were more sensitive to organizational unethical practices, scored less on epistemic vices, less on absolutism, and more on exceptionalism than employees were. However, there was no difference between managers and employees related to moderate and minor unethical organizational practices, situationism, subjectivism, optimism, and epistemic virtues. We provided discussion of the results and implications. (shrink)

MOHAMMED SA, WALTERS KL, LAMARR J, EVANS‐CAMPBELL T and FRYBERG S. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 116–127 [Epub ahead of print]Finding middle ground: negotiating university and tribal community interests in community‐based participatory researchCommunity‐based participatory research (CBPR) has been hailed as an alternative approach to one‐sided research endeavors that have traditionally been conducted on communities as opposed to with them. Although CBPR engenders numerous relationship strengths, through its emphasis on co‐sharing, mutual benefit, and community capacity building, it is often challenging as well. (...) In this article, we describe some of the challenges of implementing CBPR in a research project designed to prevent cardiovascular disease among an indigenous community in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and how we addressed them. Specifically, we highlight the process of collaboratively constructing a Research Protocol/Data Sharing Agreement and qualitative interview guide that addressed the concerns of both university and tribal community constituents. Establishing these two items was a process of negotiation that required: (i) balancing of individual, occupational, research, and community interests; (ii) definition of terminology (e.g., ownership of data); and (iii) extensive consideration of how to best protect research participants. Finding middle ground in CBPR requires research partners to examine and articulate their own assumptions and expectations, and nurture a relationship based on compromise to effectively meet the needs of each group. (shrink)

Business and Marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. In addition, no study has examined the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers even though Austria maintains a unique status of political neutrality, nonalignment, stability, economic prosperity and geographical proximity to the East- and West-European countries. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical (...) ideology and ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers. The results indicate that Austrian consumers are mostly situationists who, while rejecting moral rules, judge the ethics of a behavior by the consequences and outcomes of the situation. (shrink)