bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
PARENTAL VIRTUE: A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE MORALITY OF REPRODUCTIVE ACTIONS
Authors: MCDOUGALL ROSALIND 
Published: March 2007

ABSTRACTIn this paper I explore the potential of virtue ethical ideas to generate a new way of thinking about the ethical questions surrounding the creation of children. Applying ideas from neo‐Aristotelian virtue ethics to the parental sphere specifically, I develop a framework for the moral assessment of reproductive actions that centres on the concept of parental virtue. I suggest that the character traits of the good parent can be used as a basis for determining the moral permissibility of a particular reproductive action. I posit three parental virtues and argue that we can see the moral status of a reproductive action as determined by the relationship between such an action and (at least) these virtues. Using a case involving selection for deafness, I argue that thinking in terms of the question ‘would a virtuous parent do this?’ when morally assessing reproductive action is a viable and useful way of thinking about issues in reproductive ethics.
THE PARENTAL OBLIGATION TO EXPAND A CHILD'S RANGE OF OPEN FUTURES WHEN MAKING GENETIC TRAIT SELECTIONS FOR THEIR CHILD
Authors: SCHMIDT ERIC B. 
Published: March 2007

ABSTRACTAs parents become increasingly able to make genetic trait selections on behalf of their children, they will need ethical guidance in deciding what genetic traits to select. Dena Davis has argued that parents act unethically if they make selections that constrain their child's range of futures. But some selections may expand the child's range of futures. And other selections may shift the child's range of futures, without either constraining or expanding that range. I contend that not only would parents act unethically if they make selections that constrain the range of their child's futures, they would act unethically if they make selections that shift the range of their child's futures, because selections that shift the range of the child's futures would allow parents to over‐determine their child's futures. Thus, I contend that parents would act ethically only if they make selections that expand their child's range of futures.
‘YOU DON'T MAKE GENETIC TEST DECISIONS FROM ONE DAY TO THE NEXT’– USING TIME TO PRESERVE MORAL SPACE
Authors: SCULLY JACKIE LEACH , PORZ ROUVEN , REHMANN‐SUTTER CHRISTOPH 
Published: March 2007

ABSTRACTThe part played by time in ethics is often taken for granted, yet time is essential to moral decision making. This paper looks at time in ethical decisions about having a genetic test.We use a patient‐centred approach, combining empirical research methods with normative ethical analysis to investigate the patients' experience of time in (i) prenatal testing of a foetus for a genetic condition, (ii) predictive or diagnostic testing for breast and colon cancer, or (iii) testing for Huntington's disease (HD). We found that participants often manipulated their experience of time, either using a stepwise process of microdecisions to extend it or, under the time pressure of pregnancy, changing their temporal ‘depth of field’. We discuss the implications of these strategies for normative concepts of moral agency, and for clinical ethics.
HEALTH, JUSTICE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Authors: RESNIK DAVID B. , ROMAN GERARD 
Published: March 2007

ABSTRACTIn this article, we argue that the scope of bioethical debate concerning justice in health should expand beyond the topic of access to health care and cover such issues as occupational hazards, safe housing, air pollution, water quality, food and drug safety, pest control, public health, childhood nutrition, disaster preparedness, literacy, and many other environmental factors that can cause differences in health. Since society does not have sufficient resources to address all of these environmental factors at one time, it is important to set priorities for bioethical theorizing and policy formation. Two considerations should be used to set these priorities: (1) the impact of the environmental factor on health inequality, and (2) the practicality of addressing the factor.
Natural gas in India's energy management
Authors: Azhar Muhammad 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThanks to the continuous implementation of liberalisation and reforms, the Indian economy has become a significant energy consumer. Further, the fast growing economy is expected to result in massive and unprecedented growth in energy consumption in India. This is sure to have important ramifications for the domestic energy sector, as well as global energy market. At the domestic level, this resulted in new discoveries of hydrocarbon resources. However, the growth in energy consumption is so high that the old, as well as newly discovered hydrocarbon resources would not be able to fulfil the growing demand for energy in the Indian economy. Hence, Indian economy would remain dependent on the global market for the supply of hydrocarbon resources. India has been adopting various strategies to manage her energy requirement and Natural gas is slated to play an important role in India's energy management. This paper therefore, attempts to study the importance of natural gas in this context.
Testing Conditional Asset Pricing Models Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach
Authors: Ammann Manuel , Verhofen Michael 
Published: March 2007

AbstractWe use Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for the parameter estimation and the testing of conditional asset pricing models. In contrast to traditional approaches, it is truly conditional because the assumption that time variation in betas is driven by a set of conditioning variables is not necessary. Moreover, the approach has exact finite sample properties and accounts for errors‐in‐variables. Using S&P 500 panel data, we analyse the empirical performance of the CAPM and theFama and French (1993)three‐factor model. We find that time‐variation of betas in the CAPM and the time variation of the coefficients for the size factor (SMB) and the distress factor (HML) in the three‐factor model improve the empirical performance. Therefore, our findings are consistent with time variation of firm‐specific exposure to market risk, systematic credit risk and systematic size effects. However, a Bayesian model comparison trading off goodness of fit and model complexity indicates that the conditional CAPM performs best, followed by the conditional three‐factor model, the unconditional CAPM, and the unconditional three‐factor model.
Timeliness of Spread Implied Ratings
Authors: Kou Jianming , Varotto Simone 
Published: March 2007

Abstract Rating agencies are known to be prudent in their approach to rating revisions, which results in delayed rating adjustments. For a large set of eurobonds we derive credit spread implied ratings and compare them with agency ratings. Our results indicate that spread implied ratings often anticipate the future movement of agency ratings and hence can help track credit risk in a more timely manner. This finding has important implications for risk managers in banks who, under the new Basel 2 regulations, have to rely more on credit ratings for capital allocation purposes, and for portfolio managers who face rating‐related investment restrictions.
Referrals to an Intellectual Disability Psychotherapy Service in an Inner City Catchment Area – A Retrospective Case Notes Study
Authors: Parkes Geosrgina , Mukherjee Raja A. S. , Karagianni Efthalia , Attavar Rajnish , Sinason Valerie , Hollins Sheila 
Published: March 2007

Background  The aims were to identify referral characteristics and outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities referred to a psychodynamic psychotherapy service.Materials and Methods  A retrospective case notes review of anonymized data relating to 100 sequential patient episodes.Results  A total of 81 people out of 100 with a range of intellectual disabilities from mild to severe were assessed as suitable for therapy; 66 were eligible for individual, art, or group therapy.Common reasons for referral were: trauma/abuse, bereavement, depression and challenging behaviour. Many people had more than one cause for referral and/or co‐morbid psychiatric diagnoses. Indicators of success included: increased daily living skills, improved confidence, self‐esteem and behaviour, and finding employment.Conclusions  This study confirms findings from other studies that psychotherapy is possible in people with mild to severe intellectual disability with clinically recorded outcomes ranging from reductions in problem behaviours to getting a job.
Meeting ‘Valuing People’ health targets: recommendations from a research workshop
Authors: Mir Ghazala 
Published: March 2007

Accessible summaryThis paper is about a workshop held by researchers from the University of Leeds.The researchers looked at one area to see if people were doing things about health that the Government said they should inValuing People.The research found out that there is still a lot of work to do in the area to meet these targets.People came to a workshop to talk about this. They thought that:Learning disability services should lead the way and draw up a plan about what needs to happen.People who run health services should make sure they set targets for GPs and hospitals that fit in with the plan.Government should make sure that the targets they set for GPs also fit in withValuing Peopletargets.This research is important because it can show what helps health services improve for people with learning disabilities and what gets in the way.SummaryResearch at the University of Leeds has evaluated how well changes to healthcare proposed in the Government White PaperValuing People(Department of Health 2001) were being implemented in one locality and their impact on people with learning disabilities. The project had a developmental aspect and incorporated two workshops over the course of the study to disseminate preliminary findings. These were used to help key stakeholders evaluate progress and to inform discussions about what should happen next in the fieldwork area.This paper discusses recommendations from the first research workshop at which preliminary findings from the study were presented. The workshop involved health and social care providers and managers, people with learning disabilities, voluntary and community organizations. It gives an overview of local issues relevant to the White Paper health targets and highlights those that need to be resolved before these targets can be achieved. These issues are likely to be replicated in other areas of England and Wales and have implications for leadership, strategy, the allocation of resources and structures of accountability in health and social care agencies.
Indirect Taxes on International Aviation*
Authors: Keen Michael , Strand Jon 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThere has recently been much discussion of the possible use of internationally coordinated indirect taxes, or equivalent charges, on international aviation, whether as a source of finance for development or as part of a response to heightened concerns with climate change. This paper considers the strengths and weaknesses of the leading candidate instruments of this kind. It argues that, on both policy and administration grounds, the case for increasing indirect taxes on international aviation is strong: the indirect tax burden on international aviation is very low, yet aviation contributes significantly to border‐crossing environmental damage, is just as proper an object of taxation as any other commodity, and incipient tax competition is likely to result in these taxes being set at inefficiently low levels. But the form(s) in which such taxes are levied matters: a tax on aviation fuel would address the key border‐crossing externalities most directly; a tax on final ticket values would have greater revenue potential, and perhaps some distributional advantage; departure/arrival taxes face the least legal obstacles, but are much blunter instruments. Optimal policy, it is shown, typically requires deploying both a fuel tax and a ticket tax, and the paper explores, both in principle and by simulation, the key considerations and trade‐offs involved in designing a suitable indirect tax regime for international aviation.
Who Benefits from the Reform of Pension Taxation in Germany?*
Authors: Fehr Hans , Jess Heinrich 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThe present paper quantifies the revenue, distributional and efficiency effects of the recent reform of pension taxation in Germany. The starting point is the new legislation, which has introduced a switch to the deferred taxation of retirement benefits starting in 2005. We compare this reform with an alternative transition proposed by the Federation of German Pension Insurance Institutes (VDR), where double taxation is avoided at the cost of higher revenue losses.Our simulations indicate significant growth and efficiency gains from the new tax legislation. Winners from the reform are mainly younger workers, while older workers, civil servants and the self‐employed will lose. The VDR proposal would have resulted in higher efficiency gains, but also in stronger distributional consequences.
Is Government Expenditure Volatility Harmful for Growth? A Cross‐Country Analysis*
Authors: Furceri Davide 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to analyse the relationship between government expenditure volatility and long‐run growth. Using cross‐country panel data from 1970 to 2000, the paper finds that countries with higher government expenditure business‐cycle volatility have lower growth, even after controlling for other country‐specific growth correlates such as investment, government expenditure, human capital, population growth and output volatility. This relation is robust to different measures of business cycles. Moreover, considering different subsamples, the paper finds that while government volatility significantly affects long‐run growth for developing countries, it has a small effect for OECD countries.
The Limits of ‘Securitization’: Power, Politics and Process in US Foreign Economic Policy
Authors: Phillips Nicola 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThe concept of ‘securitization’ has become particularly influential in the post-9/11 world. This paper aims to scrutinize and, ultimately, reject an emerging set of claims about political economy which draw upon this framework. The contention that US foreign economic policy is increasingly subject to a process of securitization misrepresents the substance of contemporary US foreign policy, the political environment in which it is articulated and the process by which it is made. Pursuing this argument, the paper sets out a framework within which to understand the evolution of contemporary US policy, paying attention to distinctive forms of the economic–security nexus; the form of ‘ad hoc reactivism’ that has consistently characterized US foreign economic policy; the set of commercial and wider economic goals to which policy responds; and the dynamics of competition for leadership in key regions.
Institutionalization of Party Systems? Stability and Fluidity among Legislative Parties in Africa's Democracies
Authors: Lindberg Staffan I. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractUsing Sartori's and Mainwaring and Scully's work on consolidation and institutionalization of party systems as touchstones, this article analyses the evolution of party systems with regard to stability and fluidity of legislative party configurations in Africa's democratic states. It examines the key issue of whether there is any stabilization of party systems in Africa today, and if so, under what circumstances such stabilization occurs. This article questions previous studies, arguing that we have not yet sufficiently solved the question of whether party systems as stable interactions exist in Africa. Providing a detailed analysis of elections in Africa's established and emerging democracies, and making a distinction between democratic and undemocratic countries, this study classifies Africa's 21 electoral democracies as fluid, de-stabilized, or stable party systems. A key finding is that institutionalization of these party systems has not occurred over an extended period, but rather, institutionalized party system configurations have been stable from the onset of multiparty elections. Conversely, the other large group of countries with non-institutionalized party systems seems to be perpetually fluid systems despite, in many cases, several successive multiparty elections.
Relative flight responses of Rhagoletis indifferens as influenced by crowding, sex, and resources
Authors: Senger Susan E. , Roitberg Bernard D. , Thistlewood Howard M.A. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractAlthough flight is believed to be the primary mechanism for dispersal in the Western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), an orchard pest of both sweet (Prunus avium L.) and sour (Prunus cerasus L.) (Rosaceae) cherry crops, the movement of these flies between host patches is difficult to quantify in the field. A tethered flight mill system was used in the laboratory to examine the flight behaviour of sexually mature flies exposed to different levels of conspecific contact and resource availability. A complete 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design compared the relative influence of the factors ‘context’ (crowded, isolated), ‘sex’ (female, male), and ‘resources’ (low = food only; medium = food + leaf; high = food + leaf + cherries) on flight performance measures including distance flown, net trial time, and stopping patterns. Rather than using a minimum time or distance to determine trial length, flight observations were continued for each fly until a behavioural protocol based on stopping time was met. In this protocol each successful trial was composed of three consecutive flight intervals and included a minimum of three stops lasting a combined total of 5 min. Of the 160 flies tested, 86.9% flew <500 m on the flight mill. Individuals from both sexes were capable of maximum flights in the same order of magnitude, ca. 3 km on the flight mill. Distance flown was significantly influenced by ‘context’ such that crowded individuals flew >1.5‐fold farther than isolated individuals. Sex influenced the frequency and duration of stops made, with females stopping more often and longer than males. Although females and males in high resource treatments had the shortest net trial times, the factor ‘resources’ did not produce any highly significant main effects, but did generate significant interaction terms with the factors ‘context’ and ‘sex’, suggesting that past experience with ‘resources’ modifies individual flight behaviour. We have shown for the first time using a tethered flight mill system that R. indifferens flight behaviour is context dependent and sensitive to adult crowding. The implications of this study for improved field experiments on dispersal are discussed.
Ovariectomy ameliorates dextromethorphan ‐ induced memory impairment in young female rats
Authors: Jahng Jeong Won , Cho Hee Jeong , Kim Jae Goo , Kim Nam Youl , Lee Seoul , Lee Yil Seob 
Published: March 2007

AbstractWe have previously found that dextromethorphan (DM), over‐the‐counter cough suppressant, impairs memory retention in water maze task, when it is repeatedly administrated to adolescent female rats at high doses. In this study we examined first if ovariectomy ameliorates the DM‐induced memory impairment in female rats, and then whether or not the DM effect is revived by estrogen replacement in ovariectomized female rats. Female rat pups received bilateral ovariectomy or sham operation on postnatal day (PND) 21, and then intraperitoneal DM (40 mg/kg) daily during PND 28–37. Rats were subjected to the Morris water maze task from PND 38, approximately 24 h after the last DM injection. In probe trial, goal quadrant dwell time was significantly reduced by DM in the sham operated group, however, the reduction by DM did not occur in the ovariectomy group. When 17β‐estradiol was supplied to ovariectomized females during DM treatment, the goal quadrant dwell time was significantly decreased, compared to the vehicle control group. Furthermore, a major effect of estrogen replacement was found in the escape latency during the last 3 days of initial learning trials. These results suggest that ovariectomy may ameliorate the adverse effect of DM treatment on memory retention in young female rats, and that estrogen replacement may revive it,i.e.estrogen may take a major role in DM‐induced memory impairment in female rats.
The epigenetic reprogramming of poorly aggressive melanoma cells by a metastatic microenvironment
Authors: Seftor Elisabeth A. , Meltzer P.S. , Kirschmann D.A. , Margaryan N.V. , Seftor R.E.B. , Hendrix Mary J.C. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractA dynamic, complex relationship exists between tumor cells and their microenvironment, which plays a pivotal role in cancer progression, yet remains poorly understood. Particularly perplexing is the finding that aggressive melanoma cells express genes associated with multiple cellular phenotypes, in addition to their ability to form vasculogenic‐like networks in three‐dimensional matrix ‐ called vasculogenic mimicry, which is illustrative of tumor cells plasticity. This study addressed the unique epigenetic effect of the microenvironment of aggressive melanoma cells on the behavior of poorly aggressive melanoma cells exposed to it. The data show significant changes in the global gene expression of the cells exposed to 3‐D matrices preconditioned by aggressive melanoma cells, including the acquisition of a vasculogenic cell phenotype, upregulation of ECM remodeling genes, and increased invasive ability ‐ indicative of an epigenetic, microenvironment‐induced reprogramming of poorly aggressive melanoma cells. However, this epigenetic effect was completely abrogated when a highly cross‐linked collagen matrix was used, which could not be remodeled by the aggressive melanoma cells. These findings offer an unique perspective of the inductive properties associated with an aggressive melanoma microenvironment that might provide new insights into the epigenetic regulation of tumor cell plasticity and differentiation, as well as mechanisms that could be targeted for novel therapeutic strategies.