Decentralization and Health: Case Studies of Kenya, Pakistan, and the Philippines

Decentralization, defined by the World Bank (2001) as, “the transfer of authority and responsibility for public functions from the central government to intermediate and local governments or quasi-­‐independent government organizations and/or the private sector,” is a movement that has gained much traction in recent history. For many countries undergoing decentralization, a major driver has been a desire to increase the role and participation of local governments in the decision-­‐making space. In doing this, it is hoped to create governance structures that are more accountable and responsive to the people. For health, decentralization has been touted as a potential way to improve responsiveness to local needs, improve service delivery, and improve equitability. In light of these goals, many countries as part of their political decentralization have also opted to decentralize healthcare.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1020/thumbnail.jp

Novel beings and assisted nonexistence

This article engages with the legal regulation of end-of-existence decision-making for novel beings, specifically assisted nonexistence for such entities. I explain the concept of a legal model for assisted death by reference to the substantive features of legal regimes in three jurisdictions in which assisted suicide or euthanasia is lawful. I consider how these models might fit novel beings who may require or prefer assistance to end their own existence by reference to the constituent features—abstract legal ingredients—that models for assisted death share. I argue that extant models may block some novel beings’ access to end-of-existence assistance or fail to track what matters to them. I then examine the merits of adopting a universal model for assisted nonexistence, that is, a legal framework whose substantive features capture the end-of-existence concerns of both human and novel beings. Consideration of a unified legal framework may illuminate the discussion of assisted nonexistence for humans and novel beings. However, I argue that while novel beings may have similar interests to humans, they may be relevantly different also. The prima facie case for adopting a one regime to rule us all approach to assisted nonexistence may be defeated by reasons for divergent regulation

Ragtime Cow Boy Joe

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6099/thumbnail.jp

Supporting Fathers in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Insights from British Asian Fathers

AbstractThere is concern that current UK policy and intervention aimed at supporting fathers remains primarily informed by dominant White middle-class values and experiences, and therefore fails to respond adequately to the needs of Britain's diverse fathers. This paper contributes to understanding of ethnic diversity in fathering contexts, practices and experiences, by reporting findings from a qualitative study of British Asian fathers, involving in-depth interviews with fifty-nine fathers and thirty-three mothers from Bangladeshi Muslim, Pakistani Muslim, Gujarati Hindu and Punjabi Sikh background, and over eight additional respondents engaged through Key Informant interviews, ethnographic interviews and group discussions. The paper highlights four areas that require greater recognition by policy-makers and practitioners to appropriately meet the needs of fathers from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. These are: recognising that fathers and mothers do not necessarily constitute an autonomous unit; appreciating diversity in fathers’ understandings of desirable child outcomes; addressing additional obstacles to achieving similar outcomes for children; and understanding that the boundaries and content of fathering are not universally recognised. Policies that are less normative and more responsive to diversity are essential to ensure that all fathers can be effectively supported.</jats:p

Mapping areas of Great Artesian Basin diffuse discharge

Lake Eyre Basin Springs AssessmentDorothy Turner, Kenneth Clarke, Davina White & Megan Lewi

Forensic Analysis of Perth’s Soils

The examination and comparison of soil and related material transferred in situations of contact is a powerful method for linking persons, vehicles, equipment and locations. The evidential value of soil comparison derives from its widespread distribution, highly variable composition, relative ease of transfer, persistence and resistance to degradation. Sandy soils, present a challenge, with minimal organic material and heavy minerals resulting in limited material for comparisons, regardless of the bulk amounts present

Kant’s transcendental idealism as empirical realism

This thesis examines Kant’s transcendental idealism. It argues that the key to understanding Kant’s idealism lies in appreciating how it is compatible with Kant’s empirical realism. It suggests against the so-called traditional view that transcendental idealism is not a distinction between illusion and reality, where appearances are how things merely seem to be to us in virtue of the nature of our minds, and where things in themselves are understood to be how things really are. Instead, it argues that transcendental idealism, when charitably interpreted, reveals how minds such as ours can have genuine cognitive access to reality, based on exploring the links between the conditions of experience, in terms of a priori forms of intuition and categories that the cognitive subject supplies to its experience, and the conditions of the possibility of the objects of experience, in terms of the necessary ontological structures that objects of experience must have in order to be representable through human forms of intuition (space and time). The thesis suggests that Kant uses his transcendental distinction between appearances and things in themselves in at least three ways and that unpacking these three uses helps us to get a better grasp on Kant’s idealism. The three senses of the transcendental distinction are: (1) the traditional phenomenalist conception, according to which appearances are ‘mere representations’ and things in themselves are the putatively ‘real’ things, (2) the notion that things in themselves are ‘objects of a pure understanding’ and (3) that appearances are conditioned phenomena while things in themselves are the unconditioned ground of phenomena. The thesis argues that senses (2) and (3) can be combined to yield transcendental idealism as empirical realism, while the arguments and passages that turn on sense (1) must be rejected

Creating citizen-consumers? Public service reform and (un)willing selves

About the book: Postmodern theories heralded the "death of the subject", and thereby deeply contested our intuition that we are free and willing selves. In recent times, the (free) will has come under attack yet again. Findings from the neuro- and cognitive sciences claim the concept of will to be scientifically untenable, specifying that it is our brain rather than our 'self' which decides what we want to do. In spite of these challenges however, the willing self has come to take centre stage in our society: juridical and moral practices ascribing guilt, or the organization of everyday life attributing responsibilities, for instance, can hardly be understood without taking recourse to the willing subject. In this vein, the authors address topics such as the genealogy of the concept of willing selves, the discourse on agency in neuroscience and sociology, the political debate on volition within neoliberal and neoconservative regimes, approaches toward novel forms of relational responsibility as well as moral evaluations in conceptualizing autonomy