Authorisation of Abortion for a "Serious Danger to Mental Health": Would the Practice Stand up to the Judicial Test?

In Right to Life New Zealand Inc v The Abortion Supervisory Committee, Miller J observed that, "there is reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants". This article questions this observation through an interpretation of "serious danger … to … mental health", the most commonly cited ground for authorisation of abortion. Is "mental health" limited to "absence of mental illness" or does it also include "mental wellbeing", which might allow for a more liberal practice? The narrow definition would accord with one objective of the abortion scheme to respect the rights of the unborn child. The wider definition would allow certifying consultants to freely exercise their medical judgement, a condition on which the abortion scheme is based. This article argues that the latter argument is potentially stronger, but its success rests on the willingness of the judiciary to engage in ambulatory statutory interpretation in the controversial context of abortion. This article concludes by noting that a finding in favour of the narrow definition of mental health still confers substantial flexibility on consultants in assessing danger of mental illness. Finally, this article recommends that Parliament intervene to make the law certain

Towards a poetics of criticism: Adornoian negativity and the experiential in the essays and musical marginalia of Virginia Woolf

Through an analysis of the work of Virginia Woolf and T.W. Adorno’s theory of the aesthetic, this dissertation seeks to develop a poetics of criticism that takes account of the philosophy of the non-identical in subjective experience. As the subversion of the positivist and subjectivist tendencies of identity thinking, Adorno’s negative dialectic is read here in parallel with Woolf’s work as an example of a discourse that preserves the particularity of experience. Much of Woolf’s writing about music is in the form of diary entries, letters and notes or jottings and is singularly unfinished. Her writing about music pushes her to the extremes of essayistic practice where she is forced to improvise and invent a musical-critical voice. This dissertation argues that subjectivity and aesthetic experience are constructed negatively in Woolf’s diaries, letters and essays and by reading her tendency to resist describing musical experiences as a resistance to the domination of conceptual subsumption, I hope to show that Woolf’s writing could offer a new perspective on criticism. The present work attempts to develop a three-fold thesis, the presentation of which will constitute a poetics of criticism. Firstly, Woolf’s attempts to write a critical selfhood actually serve as a critique of transcendental subjectivity and undermine the ideology of a priori subjectivity. Secondly, Woolf’s essays complement work done by Adorno on genre theory which asserts that contradiction remains essential to the critical essay, contradiction which secures the identity of negative dialectics and a contradiction that can simultaneously be read as fundamental to the architectonics of a modernist subjectivity. Woolf’s essays, therefore, will be read for their potential status as a means of critique. And thirdly, the technique of parataxis as a form of writing that Adorno thought best expressed the inaccessibility of objectivity will be shown to be decisive in analyzing Woolf’s fragments. What I hope to assemble, therefore, is a constellation of ideas that map several points ofconnection between Adorno and Woolf.By effecting a salvaging of Woolf’s musical marginalia this thesis argues that ostensibly ill-informed or naïve testimony can be given legitimacy within contemporary music criticism. In addition, this thesis presents all the references to music found in Woolf’s diaries and letters, and, as such, the appendices found at the back of the dissertation constitute not only the first attempt to bring this material together, but are also presented in such a way so as to reinforce the paratactical nature of Woolf’s writing about music. That is to say, structurally, the appendices appear as they appear in Woolf’s original texts, and this thesis has, self-consciously, tried to resist the conceptual overdetermination of these fragments. This structural consideration implies that this dissertation fulfils a performative, as well an analytical function

Projecting Galician Culture in English: Ethics and Strategies in the Anglophone Translation of Os libros arden mal

[Abstracts] Translating literary texts imbued with cultural specificity into a language of unequal hegemonic status for new audiences is a complex task which calls for consciously selected approaches in order to succeed. With this in mind, this study examines the strategies employed in Books Burn Badly (2010), Jonathan Dunne’s English-language translation of Os libros arden mal (2006), a novel originally written in Galician by Manuel Rivas. Drawing on the functional translation theories of pertinent scholars in the field, including Nord, Schleiermacher, Venuti, and Vermeer, this paper assesses Dunne’s methods in terms of their fulfilment of the Skopos, namely their ability to amplify and make accessible Rivas’ work for an anglophone readership as well as preserve the Galician history and culture that underpin and permeate the original novel. With a view of ensuring the translation’s Skopos is met, a Mediated Heuristic Strategy is put forward, an alternative and supplementary framework informed by translation theories with culture at their core, including those of Appiah and Vidal Claramonte. This study explores the significance of translation choices and their perceived impact on anglophone readers’ interpretations, taking into account the contextual, ethical and practical questions surrounding the often-overlooked translation of minoritylanguage works into a hegemonic lingua franca. The subsequent conclusions drawn offer an insight into the key role translators play in transcending established norms and successfully articulating culturally entangled works. Not only does this paper seek to aid in the expansion of Galician literature and its representative authors, but it may also offer some insight for future translations from other minority languages.Traballo fin de mestrado (UDC.FIL). Estudos ingleses avanzados e as súas aplicacións. Curso 2021/202

Structural and dielectric studies of the phase behaviour of the topological ferroelectric La1-xNdxTaO4

We thank the University of St Andrews and EPSRC (via DTG studentships to CALD and JG) for funding,The layered perovskite LaTaO4 has been prepared in its polar orthorhombic polymorphic form at ambient temperature. Although no structural phase transition is observed in the temperature interval 25° C < T < 500 °C, a very large axial thermal contraction effect is seen, which can be ascribed to an anomalous buckling of the perovskite octahedral layer. The non-polar monoclinic polymorph can be stabilised at ambient temperature by Nd-doping. A composition La0.90Nd0.10TaO4 shows a first-order monoclinic-orthorhombic (non-polar to polar) transition in the region 250° C < T < 350 °C. Dielectric responses are observed at both the above structural events but, despite the ‘topological ferroelectric’ nature of orthorhombic LaTaO4, we have not succeeded in obtaining ferroelectric P–E hysteresis behaviour. Structural relationships in the wider family of AnBnX3n+2 layered perovskites are discussed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Strategies to Improve Timeliness for Cleaning Inpatient Rooms Following Patient Discharge

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE TIME FRAME FOR CLEANING INPATIENT ROOMS BY ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES In an inpatient rehab hospital, it was noted that Environmental Services (EVS) was delayed in cleaning rooms between patient discharges and admissions. This resulted in the frequent use of a “stat clean” order that allows only 50% of the normal cleaning time , forcing patients to wait and impacting patient flow. A root cause analysis demonstrated lack of communication between the rehab hospital and the contracted cleaning services. A number of counter measures were initiated with the goal that cleaning would be started within 20 minutes of all discharge patients. As result of the countermeasures hardwired through KPIs, significant improvement was realized. To sustain and hardwire the process to produce culture change, hospital leadership and EVS are committed to weekly meetings and the establishment of a formal partnership

Interspecific oral rabies vaccine bait competition in the Southeast United States

The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) has coordinated the use of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) to control the spread of raccoon rabies virus variant west of the Appalachian Mountains since 1997. Working with state and local partners, the NRMP deploys ORV baits containing a rabies vaccine, primarily targeting raccoon populations (Procyon lotor). Bait competition between raccoons and non-target species may limit the effectiveness of ORV programs, but the extent of bait competition remains poorly quantified, particularly in the southeastern United States. We placed placebo ORV baits in bottomland hardwood (n = 637 baits) and upland pine (n = 681 baits) habitats in South Carolina, USA during August- December 2019 and used remote cameras to examine bait competition between raccoons and non-target species. The estimated proportion of bait consumed by raccoons was 18.8 ± 2.1% in bottomland hardwood and 11.6 ± 2.1% in upland pine habitats. Vertebrate competition appeared to have a minimal effect on raccoon uptake as estimated consumption did not exceed 5% for any species or 8% of bait uptake events cumulatively. We estimated that raccoons were the primary consumer of baits in bottomland hardwood, whereas invertebrates were the primary consumer in upland pine (26.7 ± 1.3% of baits). Our results indicate a need to closely consider the effects of invertebrates on bait consumption to minimize their potential impact on ORV bait uptake by target species. Uptake probabilities by raccoons were relatively low but not primarily driven by competition with vertebrates. As such, strategies to increase the specificity of raccoon uptake may be needed to enhance the effectiveness of ORV baiting programs

NdBaScO4: aristotype of a new family of geometric ferroelectrics?

The authors acknowledge the University of St Andrews and the EPSRC (DTG: EP/K503162/1) for a studentship (to CALD). WZ and PSH thank the Welch Foundation (Grant E-1457), NSF DMR-1503573, and the Texas Center for Superconductivity for support. EB thanks the FRS-FNRS for supports and the Consortium des Equipements de Calcul Intensif (CECI), funded by the FRS-FNRS (Grants No. 2.5020.11 and No. 1175545). The research data supporting this publication can be accessed atat http://dx.doi.org/10.17630/197519dd-5b67-49f8-bd50-7f1fb98bec73NdBaScO4 represents the aristotype structure of a new series of -cut layered perovskites; it is suggested that compositional fine-tuning is likely to produce a family of new geometric ferroelectrics, driven primarily by octahedral tilting.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe