"Adult Incapacity Law: Visions for the Future Drawn from the Unfinished Story of a New Subject with a Long History"

In 1961 Adrian Ward was one of the first intake for the first full-time law degree in Scotland. He was enrolled as a solicitor in 1967 and practised for approximately 50 years. From 1976 he was gradually drawn into the subject of what is now known (in Scotland) as adult incapacity law, in which he became a national and then international expert. As his interest and involvement developed, so did the subject. However, although it is still a new subject, its history in law goes back to Roman law, and concepts from Roman law were central to leading cases in the development of the subject in which Adrian was involved. Attempts to protect the human rights of defined groups go back in Scotland to the 7th century, but there is fundamental conflict between the concept of universality of human rights, and according particular rights to defined groups. Violations of human rights often start with putting people into categories seen as “other”. A deliberately personalised lecture confronted the audience with personally witnessed human rights violations. Of the concepts defined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “reasonable accommodation”, though it attracts more attention, is always second-best to non-discriminatory solutions offered by “universal design”. Human rights must be translated into law, and law into practice. Existing law should be understood, used to maximum effect, and then if necessary improved. Measures for the exercise of legal capacity can be categorised as voluntary, involuntary, and third party, but need to recognise the reality that “capability” and “incapability” are the extreme ends of a wide spectrum. Such variations, and individual progressions through them, must be accommodated in general provision and in individual measures. Fundamental concepts of human rights and their progressive developments have driven progress to date, and enabled probable future trends to be identified

How senior leaders make sense of organisational politics

Despite much scholarly endeavour in recent decades, understanding of organisational politics is still limited. Analysis of the research literature reveals how personal engagement in political activity presents both threat and opportunity for those in leadership roles. That so little is known about how leaders handle such ambivalence has become a growing source of dissatisfaction with contemporary writers highlighting gaps in understanding and linking this to the dominance of survey-based research. The dearth of richer interpretations of the complexity presented by active involvement in such a controversial arena has led to a call for an increase in sound qualitative investigation. This study responds by examining leaders’ sensemaking of the dilemmas associated with their own lived experience of organisational politics. Interviews with 28 senior leaders used an active approach to confronting participants with contradictions between their definitions of organisational politics and accounts of their own political behaviour. Using a combination of thematic and dialogic narrative analysis, the findings demonstrate first that most leaders drew upon two specific sensemaking processes and a mix of four competing narratives to come to terms with their involvement. Secondly, the research suggests that leaders can resolve ambivalence and contradiction through a belief in their capacity to act pragmatically in the political arena but that, if they experience it as a phenomenon to be endured and over which they have little control, their position may be undermined. Such findings support the contribution of a sensemaking approach to organisational politics by highlighting the importance of both identity and enactment in responding to the dilemmas presented by participation in political activity

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

Our smartphones enable—and encourage—constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devices have immense potential to improve welfare, their persistent presence may come at a cognitive cost. In this research, we test the “brain drain” hypothesis that the mere presence of one’s own smartphone may occupy limited-capacity cognitive resources, thereby leaving fewer resources available for other tasks and undercutting cognitive performance. Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence. We conclude by discussing the practical implications of this smartphone-induced brain drain for consumer decision-making and consumer welfare.Marketin

Opportunity led work: maximising the possibilities for therapeutic communication in everyday interactions

This paper introduces the concept of 'opportunity led work', which is a framework for thinking about the everyday opportunities for communication and support which arise in therapeutic community work. The framework focuses on the processes of assessment, decision-making, action and closure which are involved in the handling of even the briefest interactions, and it is designed to highlight the ways in which the handling of such interactions can be harnessed to the overall purpose of the unit. The model is outlined, using vignettes based upon TC practice with young people, and some thoughts are offered on the implications of this approach for practice and staff development in child care and other settings

Mind-blanking: when the mind goes away

People often feel like their minds and their bodies are in different places. Far from an exotic experience, this phenomenon seems to be a ubiquitous facet of human life (e.g., Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). Many times, people's minds seem to go “somewhere else”—attention becomes disconnected from perception, and people's minds wander to times and places removed from the current environment (e.g., Schooler et al., 2004). At other times, however, people's minds may seem to go nowhere at all—they simply disappear. This mental state—mind-blanking—may represent an extreme decoupling of perception and attention, one in which attention fails to bring any stimuli into conscious awareness. In the present research, we outline the properties of mind-blanking, differentiating this mental state from other mental states in terms of phenomenological experience, behavioral outcomes, and underlying cognitive processes. Seven experiments suggest that when the mind seems to disappear, there are times when we have simply failed to monitor its whereabouts—and there are times when it is actually gone

With and Without 'Best Interests': the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and constructing decisions

This article compares the bases upon which actions are taken or decisions are made in relation to those considered to lack the material capacity in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (‘MCA’) and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 (‘AWI’). Through a study of (1) the statutory provisions; and (2) the case-law decided under the two statutes, it addresses the question of whether the use of the term ‘best interests’ in the MCA and its – deliberate – absence from the AWI makes a material difference when comparing the two Acts. This question is of considerable importance when examining the compatibility of these legislative regimes in the United Kingdom with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’).The article is written by two practising lawyers, one a Scottish solicitor, and one an English barrister. Each has sought to cast a critical eye over the legislative framework on the other side of the border between their two jurisdictions as well as over the framework (and jurisprudence) in their own jurisdiction. Its comparative analysis is not one that has previously been attempted; it shows that both jurisdictions are on their own journeys, although not ones with quite the direction that might be anticipated from a plain reading of the respective statutes

How Broadcasting vs. Narrowcasting on Social Media Affects Memories

How do audiences impact the memories shared on social media? We find that sharing experience on social media can ironically decrease memory of shared experience and sharing with a small group attenuates sharer’s memories to a greater extent than sharing with a large group. This advantage is due to outsourcing memories to identifiable audiences and is diminished by enhancing the perceived heterogeneity of large group or decreasing the identifiability of small group

Towards a unified understanding of event-related changes in the EEG:the Firefly model of synchronization through cross-frequency phase modulation

Although event-related potentials (ERPs) are widely used to study sensory, perceptual and cognitive processes, it remains unknown whether they are phase-locked signals superimposed upon the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) or result from phase-alignment of the EEG. Previous attempts to discriminate between these hypotheses have been unsuccessful but here a new test is presented based on the prediction that ERPs generated by phase-alignment will be associated with event-related changes in frequency whereas evoked-ERPs will not. Using empirical mode decomposition (EMD), which allows measurement of narrow-band changes in the EEG without predefining frequency bands, evidence was found for transient frequency slowing in recognition memory ERPs but not in simulated data derived from the evoked model. Furthermore, the timing of phase-alignment was frequency dependent with the earliest alignment occurring at high frequencies. Based on these findings, the Firefly model was developed, which proposes that both evoked and induced power changes derive from frequency-dependent phase-alignment of the ongoing EEG. Simulated data derived from the Firefly model provided a close match with empirical data and the model was able to account for i) the shape and timing of ERPs at different scalp sites, ii) the event-related desynchronization in alpha and synchronization in theta, and iii) changes in the power density spectrum from the pre-stimulus baseline to the post-stimulus period. The Firefly Model, therefore, provides not only a unifying account of event-related changes in the EEG but also a possible mechanism for cross-frequency information processing

Electrochemical detection of oxacillin resistance with SimpleStat : a low cost integrated potentiostat and sensor platform

Testing outside the laboratory environment, such as point of care testing, is a rapidly evolving area with advances in the integration of sample handling, measurement and sensing elements widely reported. Low cost, simple to use systems are important in this context because they provide a route to devices that can be used outside the laboratory and could be implemented in low resource settings where advanced diagnostic testing is often unavailable. Here, we present an open source highly simplified electrochemical platform, called SimpleStat, that has been programmed to perform differential pulse voltammetry and can be used to detect the presence of OXA-1 DNA sequences for oxacillin resistance. This DNA sensor can be used to specifically detect the presence of the OXA-1 gene, contrasted to the tetA gene which encodes for tetracycline resistance. These measurements were performed with both polycrystalline gold electrodes as a benchmark and electrodes integrated into the SimpleStat printed circuit

A mechanistic study of the EC′ mechanism – the split wave in cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry

In this paper, a detailed investigation of electrochemical reactions coupled with homogenous chemical steps using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) was carried out to study the electrocatalytic (EC’) mechanism. In CV, parameters including scan rate, electrode material and redox reactant were investigated while in SWV, parameters including substrate concentrations and frequencies were altered to demonstrate EC’ mechanism. Mechanistic studies focused on the EC’ mechanism using L-cysteine with ferrocenecarboxylic acid and 1,1 ′-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid respectively. Voltammetric responses were recorded and under conditions of high chemical rate constant and low substrate concentration, a split wave was observed in both CV and SWV studies