Judging by a Different Standard? Examining the Role of Rationality in Assessments of Mental Capacity

Decision-making capacity is an increasingly important medico-legal concept. The recent Mental Capacity Act employs a cognitive, process-based test of capacity, but in many psychiatric conditions pathological beliefs and values impair capacity even when the decision-making process is logically coherent. In such cases, capacity assessments implicitly rely on normative epistemic and evaluative standards. This raises a worry for the capacity test’s reliability, objectivity and tolerance of differences in beliefs and values. There is currently little conceptual research on capacity and the normative standards underpinning its assessment. This thesis makes an original contribution to research by employing a number of philosophical approaches to map out a conceptual terrain within which questions about the substantive standards of capacity assessment can be framed. Focusing on the nature of epistemic standards and third-person judgements about decision-making, the thesis examines the normative constraints determining what counts as a recognisable reason for a decision. It employs the theoretical apparatus of Davidson’s project of Radical Interpretation to explore the epistemology of interpretation, interrogating the conditions under which intentional attribution and the provision of reason explanations for behaviour are possible. It is contended that beliefs are intrinsically rational and intersubjective, and that judgements of irrationality are only possible against a background of shared belief between interpreter and observed agent. This view is defended against the objection that rationality is too stringent a constraint on belief. A misconception giving rise to this objection is then diagnosed. Drawing an analogy with Wittgenstein’s rule-following considerations, it is submitted that the constitutive normativity of belief need not be codified in order to exert a genuine constraint on intentional behaviour. Rather, the norms of belief ought to be construed as emerging from shared practice. This indicates that normative judgements are disciplined through expertise and experience, rather than adherence to abstract principles. Finally, the implications of these insights for conceptualising and assessing capacity are considered

A modified technique of orthotopic transplant of the kidney in rabbits

In this study kidneys were harvested from bred-for-research cats weighing 4 to 5 kg. General principles of donor bilateral nephrectomy en bloc with aorta, vena cava, renal vessels, and ureters were followed. After the harvest the grafts were placed in lactated Ringer slush. A cuff was prepared on the renal vein over a 10 French plastic tube. The aorta was divided and left in connection with the renal artery at each side. Twenty female checkered Flemish giant rabbits weighing 4.0-6.0 kg served as recipients. After premedication with 40 mg/kg of ketamine, anesthesia was maintained with repeated doses (every 10-15 min) of a 0.1-mL mixture of 5 parts ketamine and 1 part acepromazine diluted 50% in a normal saline. Arterial pressure, CVP, blood gases, and temperature were monitored. Through a limited midline incision a native left nephrectomy was performed. The venous anastomosis was performed with a cuff technique without clamping the vena cava (which causes severe hemodynamic instability); the anastomotic time was 2-3 min. The arterial anastomosis was performed with an end-to-side aorta-to-aorta anastomosis; the anastomotic time was 5 to 7 min. There were no episodes of venous or arterial thrombosis. The donor procedure took approximately 40 min, and the backtable preparation of the graft an additional 45 to 60 min. Preparation of the recipient for the anastomosis took 15 min and the anastomotic time (warm ischemia) was 13 +/- 5 min. In this model suitable for xenograft research the duration of the surgery in the recipient has been greatly reduced because of (1) the previous backtable preparation of the graft, and (2) the cuff technique used for venous anastomosis. The present anesthesia regimen and careful hemodynamic monitoring were also important in the success of this model

Persistent Decadal-Scale Rainfall Variability in the Tropical South Pacific Convergence Zone Through the Past Six Centuries

Modern Pacific decadal variability (PDV) has global impacts; hence records of PDV from the pre-instrumental period are needed to better inform models that are used to project future climate variability. We focus here on reconstructing rainfall in the western tropical Pacific (Solomon Islands; similar to 9.5 degrees S, similar to 160 degrees E), a region directly influenced by PDV, using cave deposits (stalagmite). A relationship is developed between delta O-18 variations in the stalagmite and local rainfall amount to produce a 600 yr record of rainfall variability from the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). We present evidence for large (similar to 1.5 m), abrupt, and periodic changes in total annual rainfall amount on decadal to multidecadal timescales since 1423 +/- 5 CE (Common Era) in the Solomon Islands. The timing of the decadal changes in rainfall inferred from the 20th-century portion of the stalagmite delta O-18 record coincides with previously identified decadal shifts in PDV-related Pacific ocean-atmosphere behavior (Clement et al., 2011; Deser et al., 2004). The Solomons record of PDV is not associated with variations in external forcings, but rather results from internal climate variability. The 600 yr Solomon Islands stalagmite delta O-18 record indicates that decadal oscillations in rainfall are a persistent characteristic of SPCZ-related climate variability.Taiwan ROC NSCNTU 101-2116-M-002-009, 102-2116-M-002-016, 101R7625Geological Science

Next to leading order eta production at hadron colliders

Inclusive eta production at hadron colliders is considered,based on evaluation of eta fragmentation functions at next to leading order. Absolute predictions at LHC and SSC are presented, including the ratio $\eta/\pi^0$, together with the estimate of the theoretical uncertainty, as a possible neutral background to the $H\to \gamma\gamma$ detection.Comment: 8 pages, latex, FNT/T-93/13,14 figures avilable upon reques

INCLUSIVE PARTICLE PRODUCTION IN \pbp COLLISIONS

We calculate the inclusive production of charged hadrons in \pbp collisions to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the QCD improved parton model using a new set of NLO fragmentation functions for charged pions and kaons. We predict transverse-momentum distributions and compare them with experimental data from the CERN S\pbpS Collider and the Fermilab Tevatron.Comment: the file containing the figures has been replaced: we correct a mistake in the uuencoding procedure and we give the real Fig 4 instead of the spurious one which was accidentally included in the previous file. the text is unchanged