LYING AND HYPOCRISY IN MORALITY AND POLITICS

A hipocrisia é necessária na política, especialmente nas democracias; mas enquanto a hipocrisia pode facilitar a cooperação democrática, a mentira tende a miná-la. Há duas alternativas básicas possíveis sobre como pensar acerca da ética política. A primeira parte de princípios morais universais que são depois aplicados à política assim como a outros domínios da vida. Ao invés, de acordo com a segunda abordagem, cada tipo de atividade ou relação apresenta requisitos morais próprios. Quais as características da política que fazem com que a hipocrisia e a mentira sejam, respetivamente, moralmente legítimas ou ilegítimas? De acordo com a primeira abordagem, a mentira e a hipocrisia são vícios, enquanto que para a segunda podem ser consideradas virtuosas em certas circunstâncias. A hipocrisia é necessária porque as relações políticas baseiam-se na dependência entre pessoas cujos interesses não coincidem exatamente. Para garantir apoiantes e parceiros de coligação é necessária uma certa dose de dissimulação. O caso da mentira, contudo, é bastante diferente devido a três características adicionais das relações políticas: a cooperação ao longo do tempo exige confiança; a prestação de contas requer transparência; finalmente, o consenso exige um sentido partilhado da realidade. A mentira mina todas. Por conseguinte, a veracidade pertence às virtudes políticas mesmo que, por vezes, seja preciso abrir exceções. Hoje em dia, a política da “Pós-Verdade” (a “Nova Mentira”), ameaça criar uma indiferença perigosa em relação à verdade e uma aceitação da mentira política a qualquer custo.Hypocrisy is necessary in politics, especially in democracies, but while hypocrisy can facilitate democratic cooperation, lying tends to undermine it. There are two basic alternative possibilities for how to think about political ethics. The first begins with universal moral principles that are then applied to politics as well as to other areas of life. In the second approach, instead, each activity or type of relationship has its own moral requirements. What is it about politics that makes hypocrisy and lying either morally legitimate or morally illegitimate? For the first approach, lying and hypocrisy are vices, whereas for the second, they may be considered as virtuous under certain circumstances. Hypocrisy is necessary because political relationships are relationships of dependence among people whose interests do not exactly coincide. To secure supporters and coalition partners requires a certain amount of pretense. The case of lying, however, is quite different due to three additional characteristics of political relationships: cooperation over time requires trust; accountability requires transparency; and consensus requires a shared sense of reality. Lying undermines all three. Thus, truthfulness is among the political virtues even if exceptions sometimes must be made. Today, “post-truth” politics (“New Lying”), threatens to create a dangerous indifference to the truth and a cynical, wholesale acceptance of political lying

Investigation of the protection of children in minibuses and coaches

The draft European Directive on the use of seatbelts requires passengers of minibuses and coaches to use the safety systems (seatbelts) provided. As the wording stands, this requirement applies to children over 3 years, but the need for additional protection is not clear. This need has long been recognised in cars where the requirements for protection vary according to the size of child and the characteristics of both the vehicle and the crash. However, this knowledge base does not adequately address what means of protection children need in minibuses, buses and coaches. Research has been commissioned by the UK Department for Transport to determine the requirements for seatbelts and restraint systems in minibuses and coaches in relation to children. Information is being gathered about exposure, accidents, operational issues of use, practicality and liability and the fit of existing seatbelt systems for different age groups of children and particularly those under 3 years

NCLEX-RN Predictor Test Scores and NCLEX-RN Success

Health care professionals and nurse educators are concerned about increasing percentage of first time test takers failing the NCLEX-RN exam. The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine predictive accuracy of the Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) RN Comprehensive Predictor for passing or failing the NCLEX-RN exam in a cohort of nursing students (N = 195). South Eastern Technical College in South Carolina is in jeopardy of losing accreditation for their nursing program because of the low percentage of first time test takers failing. The college\u27s pass rate on the NCLEX-RN exam has been below the national and state averages for the last 2 years. Guided by Bloom\u27s taxonomy and Knowles\u27 andragogical model of learning as the theoretical mainstay, factors that predict success with the NCLEX-RN exam for first time test takers were examined. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to determine if a relationship existed between NCLEX-RN scores and the independent variables. A Pearson r correlation test was conducted to address whether the ATI Comprehensive Predictor accurately predict student success with the NCLEX-RN exam on first attempt. Multiple regression was employed to test for a significant relationship between prenursing GPA, final GPA, age, gender, and ATI predictor scores. Regression analysis results showed ATI Predictor scores to significantly predict student success with the NCLEX-RN exam on first attempt. Based on findings, a Structured Learning Assistance program was proposed to assist in preparing students for NCLEX-RN success. Positive social change occurs within the community, nursing programs, and health care by increased NCLEX-RN pass rates enhancing the number of nurses entering into health care

L'encadrement du travail à domicile dans l'industrie du vêtement au Québec

Base sur une recherche réalisée en 1983, cet article examine les facteurs économiques, institutionnels, juridiques et technologiques qui ont favorise le développement du travail à domicile dans l'industrie du vêtement au Québec. Il propose des moyens pour contrôler ce type de travail.Based on a 1983 study, this article examines the economic, institutional, legislative and technological factors which have allowed homework to develop in the garment industry in Quebec. It proposes ways in which it could be brought under control.Historically, it can be shown that homework has disappeared and reappeared in the garment and textile industries at periodic intervals as a function firstly of the evolution of technology and secondly of the general economic climate which determines the availability of cheap, docile manpower for this kind of work. For example, the specialized, high-speed machines now used for men's garments make it unprofitable to use homework in this sector. For women's garments, on the other hand, the great variety of styles, each produced in relatively short series, makes use of an ordinary sewing machine in the home competitive with factory-based techniques. We estimate that, in 1981, there were some 30 000 homeworkers in the garment industry in Quebec, mainly in the women's and children's clothing sectors, and that the development of homework is responsible for a significant portion of the decline in measured employment observed in these sectors since 1974. Present legislation is ineffective in controlling homework. The unstable nature of the clothing market, attributable in large measure to the absence of a long-term, overall policy on imports, has made entrepreneurs extremely hesitant to invest in modem machinery. It has also led them to seek cost-cutting measures of any kind including the use of homeworkers at below-standard wages and working conditions. The result has been not only a significant decline in the rate of unionization from 55.8% in 1976 to 45.6% in 1983 in the women's clothing sector but also an erosion of the competitive capacity of the industry by moving it into the lower-quality section of the market.Unlike other jurisdiction, Quebec has the Collective Agreement Decrees Actin addition to minimum standards legislation and the Labour Codewhich provides for collective bargaining. The Collective Agreement Decrees Actpermits the Minister of Labour to extend certain terms of an existing collective contract to the whole of an industry (regionally or provincially). Of the 53 decrees existing in 1981, nine applied to the garment industry. Because a decree can be adapted to the particular conditions in an industry and because it requires the direct participation of unions and employers, the authors of this article are of the opinion that it offers the best possibility for controlling and eventually eliminating homework in the garment industry. Along with a coherent policy on imports and support to investment and technological innovation, it would be possible to give this industry a new lease on life. A first requirement would be to rationalize the existing decrees in the garment industry by reducing the number from nine, some of which cover only a few hundred employees, and by bringing the uncovered sectors of the industry into one of the new larger jurisdictions. A second requirement would be to protect jobs of employees who file a complaint and to increase fines to a level sufficient to deter violations of the law.However, the main reform necessary would be to extend the powers and rights of unions in the sectors covered by a decree. The clothing industry already constructed on the few existing experiences with voluntary multi-employer negotiations in Quebec. It would, therefore, be an ideal place in which to experiment with a new formula for multi-employer certification and bargaining. Under such a formula, if the majority of employees in a given industry are unionized, then the union would be recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent and the contract, in its entirety, would apply to ail workers in the sector. A certification election would be held on request if the union already represented at least 25% of employees. Under the new regime, the joint committee, which now administers a decree, would continue to administer the latter, to inspect workplaces and to carry out any other mandates, such as the policing of homework, which the two parties might decide to give it. It would also serve as a natural place for economic concertation. Homework will not disappear overnight at the stroke of a pen. The solutions proposed here would allow this objective to be achieved progressively by taking into consideration the particular characteristics of the industry and the need to encourage long-term investments

Indoor residual spraying of insecticide and malaria morbidity in a high transmission intensity area of Uganda.

BackgroundRecently the use of indoor residual spraying of insecticide (IRS) has greatly increased in Africa; however, limited data exist on the quantitative impacts of IRS on health outcomes in highly malaria endemic areas.Methodology/principal findingsRoutine data were collected on more than 90,000 patient visits at a single health facility over a 56 month period covering five rounds of IRS using three different insecticides. Temporal associations between the timing of IRS and the probability of a patient referred for microscopy having laboratory confirmed malaria were estimated controlling for seasonality and age. Considering patients less than five years of age there was a modest decrease in the odds of malaria following the 1(st) round of IRS using DDT (OR = 0.76, p<0.001) and the 2(nd) round using alpha-cypermethrin (OR = 0.83, p = 0.002). Following rounds 3-5 using bendiocarb there was a much greater decrease in the odds of malaria (ORs 0.34, 0.16, 0.17 respectively, p<0.001 for all comparisons). Overall, the impact of IRS was less pronounced among patients 5 years or older.Conclusions/significanceIRS was associated with a reduction in malaria morbidity in an area of high transmission intensity in Uganda and the benefits appeared to be greatest after switching to a carbamate class of insecticide

Anti-malarial prescription practices among outpatients with laboratory-confirmed malaria in the setting of a health facility-based sentinel site surveillance system in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Most African countries have adopted artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria. The World Health Organization now recommends limiting anti-malarial treatment to those with a positive malaria test result. Limited data exist on how these policies have affected ACT prescription practices. METHODS: Data were collected from all outpatients presenting to six public health facilities in Uganda as part of a sentinel site malaria surveillance programme. Training in case management, encouragement of laboratory-based diagnosis of malaria, and regular feedback were provided. Data for this report include patients with laboratory confirmed malaria who were prescribed anti-malarial therapy over a two-year period. Patient visits were analysed in two groups: those considered ACT candidates (defined as uncomplicated malaria with no referral for admission in patients ≥ 4 months of age and ≥ 5 kg in weight) and those who may not have been ACT candidates. Associations between variables of interest and failure to prescribe ACT to patients who were ACT candidates were estimated using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 51,355 patient visits were included in the analysis and 46,265 (90.1%) were classified as ACT candidates. In the ACT candidate group, 94.5% were correctly prescribed ACT. Artemether-lumefantrine made up 97.3% of ACT prescribed. There were significant differences across the sites in the proportion of patients for whom there was a failure to prescribe ACT, ranging from 3.0-9.3%. Young children and woman of childbearing age had higher odds of failure to receive an ACT prescription. Among patients who may not have been ACT candidates, the proportion prescribed quinine versus ACT differed based on if the patient had severe malaria or was referred for admission (93.4% vs 6.5%) or was below age or weight cutoffs for ACT (41.4% vs 57.2%). CONCLUSIONS: High rates of compliance with recommended ACT use can be achieved in resource-limited settings. The unique health facility-based malaria surveillance system operating at these clinical sites may provide a framework for improving appropriate ACT use at other sites in sub-Saharan Africa

Teoría política, ciencia política y política

Artículo origina

A functional approach to understanding the role of NCKX5 in Xenopus pigmentation

NCKX5 is an ion exchanger expressed mostly in pigment cells; however, the functional role for this protein in melanogenesis is not clear. A variant allele of SLC24A5, the gene encoding NCKX5, has been shown to correlate with lighter skin pigmentation in humans, indicating a key role for SLC24A5 in determining human skin colour. SLC24A5 expression has been found to be elevated in melanoma. Knockdown analyses have shown SLC24A5 to be important for pigmentation, but to date the function of this ion exchanger in melanogenesis has not been fully established. Our data suggest NCKX5 may have an alternative activity that is key to its role in the regulation of pigmentation. Here Xenopus laevis is employed as an in vivo model system to further investigate the function of NCKX5 in pigmentation. SLC24A5 is expressed in the melanophores as they differentiate from the neural crest and develop in the RPE of the eye. Morpholino knockdown and rescue experiments were designed to elucidate key residues and regions of the NCKX5 protein. Unilateral morpholino injection at the 2 cell stage resulted in a reduction of pigmentation in the eye and epidermis of one lateral side of the tadpole. Xenopus and human SLC24A5 can rescue the morpholino effects. Further rescue experiments including the use of ion exchange inactive SLC24A5 constructs raise the possibility that full ion exchanger function of NCKX5 may not be required for rescue of pigmentation