Enforcing the rights and freedoms of disabled people: the role of transnational law (Part I)

In Part I of this article we examined the actual and potential application of global international law (GIL) to the development of rights and freedoms for people with disabilities. We concluded that there is currently no binding and accessible GIL instrument that specifically relates to this group. Instead, an emphasis was placed upon those instruments that have a generic application to human rights and a clear potential application to the protection of disability rights primarily through their provisions relating to non-discrimination. Moreover, we stressed that the instruments of GIL also have the potential to provide an indirect benefit to disabled people as tools of influence and persuasion in the development of non-discrimination and affirmative action empowerment programmes at both a national and international level. In Part II, we apply a similar analysis to the opportunities offered by European international law (EIL).</p

The characteristics of electronic training collars for dogs

A wide range of electronic dog training collars (e-collars) is available in the UK, yet there is no means by which purchasers can meaningfully compare their electrical characteristics at the point of sale. In this research the electrical characteristics of 13 models of e-collar were examined and an approach to ranking the strength of the electrical stimuli was developed. The electrical impedance of dogs’ necks was measured so that e-collars could be tested under realistic conditions. This impedance was found to be about 10kΩ for wet dogs and 640kΩ for dry dogs. Two copies of each of eight e-collar models and one copy of a further five models were tested. The stimuli generated by these collars comprised sequences of short high voltage pulses. There were large differences between e-collar models in the peak voltage, number of pulses and duration of the pulses but little variation between the duplicates. The peak voltage varied with the impedance of the dog, from 6000V at an impedance of 500kΩ to 100V at 5kΩ. The highest voltages were generated for only a few millionths of a second. A stimulus strength ranking index (SSRI) was developed based on the subjective response of human subjects to electrical stimuli. This index is used to compare the strength of e-collars with diverse electrical characteristics. It shows a wide range in the stimulus strengths of collars and that the relationships between ‘momentary’ and ‘continuous’ stimuli for various models differ significantly

Ethical theory and business ethics: the search for a new model

The following thesis is an attempt to propose a 'model' to begin an analysis on a specific dilemma within business ethics. The model will utilise both 'metaphorical' and 'literal' language in the form of questions based on modem moral philosophical theory. The motivation in providing these questions is that there will be less ambiguity if a 'tool' was used to analyse the dilemma, rather than use intuition or abstract moral philosophy. The model, called the Comb, will be used to analyze a comprehensive case study - the case of the Newfoundland Fishing Industry. The case is in the form of an illustrative dilemma and examines the restructuring of the Newfoundland fishing industry. Newfoundland is one of the island provinces of Canada and its main industry, the offshore and inshore fisheries, has recently been 'decimated' by a number of factors. The case will hopefully demonstrate that the restructuring of the Newfoundland fishing industry may be portrayed as an ethical dilemma in business. The analysis will hopefully 'sort' and 'arrange' some of the ethical issues emanating out of the restructuring. The thesis is also an attempt to develop an argument for approaching business ethics from a reflective standpoint. The end result is designed to make the user of the questions developed through the Comb think reflectively, to open new lines of debate within the subject area of business ethics as well as the case of the restructuring of the Newfoundland fishery. The questions of the Comb provide the framework which may be seen as absent in a business ethics analysis. It would seem that the answers about why business is ‘unethical’ are quite easy to produce - the capitalist system, the emphasis on short-termism, managerial incompetence and so on - but are they the answers to the right questions? The Comb specifically and this thesis as a whole are attempts to develop a practical, reflective method to a examine specific dilemma in business ethics. It may be seen as an attempt to develop 'detachedness’ within the 'involvement' of a case study. The thesis is a personal search. Not a search to find answers but one which will propose questions to expand the author’s understanding of the dilemma of the restructuring of the Newfoundland Fishery. It is a search to attempt to understand the subject area of business ethics and how to operationalise the theory behind it. Moreover, it is a search to see if a systematic and simplified model is possible within the subject area of business ethics. The thesis will conclude that while the model may be seen as valid for improving the author’s understanding of the subject area of business ethics and the case study of the Newfoundland fishery, improvements may be made through, for example, establishing alternative 'metaphors’. It will also argue that the 'context' of a business ethics analysis is very important. Business ethics and the model may have to understood as the right ‘tool' for the times

SIRU development. Volume 1: System development

A complete description of the development and initial evaluation of the Strapdown Inertial Reference Unit (SIRU) system is reported. System development documents the system mechanization with the analytic formulation for fault detection and isolation processing structure; the hardware redundancy design and the individual modularity features; the computational structure and facilities; and the initial subsystem evaluation results