Therapeutic Approach in Moral Education: A Critical Assessment

This study aims to critically assess the so-called therapeutic approach in moral education, which emerged in the postwar twentieth century, in the western part of the world. The proponents of the approach used different terms to express its essence: value clarification method, or sometimes the decision-making method or the critical thinking method. These philosophies of education have the common feature of a personalistic, non-directive, or client-oriented approach to the individual. Therefore, I will refer to them here as therapeutic. There are many advocates, but some of the most notable should be named: Carl Rodgers, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Sidney B. Simon, Louis Raths, and Merrill Harmin. For a proper understanding of these approaches, it’s necessary to review first the cultural-ideological context of their origin. After that I will analyze and evaluate their key tenets, which I consider problematic. Specifically, we will scrutinize these prob-lems: (1) the problem of process at the expense of content, (2) the problem of devaluation of the educator’s authority, (3) the problem of blurring of moral concepts and standards, (4) the problem of value pseudo-neutrality and indoctrination, (5) the problem of individualism, subjectivism, and relativism

Calculation and spectroscopy of the Landau band structure at a thin and atomically precise tunneling barrier

Two laterally adjacent quantum Hall systems separated by an extended barrier of a thickness on the order of the magnetic length possess a complex Landau band structure in the vicinity of the line junction. The energy dispersion is obtained from an exact quantum-mechanical calculation of the single electron eigenstates for the coupled system by representing the wave functions as a superposition of parabolic cylinder functions. For orbit centers approaching the barrier, the separation of two subsequent Landau levels is reduced from the cyclotron energy to gaps which are much smaller. The position of the anticrossings increases on the scale of the cyclotron energy as the magnetic field is raised. In order to experimentally investigate a particular gap at different field strengths but under constant filling factor, a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with a 52 Angstrom thick tunneling barrier and a gate electrode for inducing the two-dimensional electron systems was fabricated by the cleaved edge overgrowth method. The shift of the gaps is observed as a displacement of the conductance peaks on the scale of the filling factor. Besides this effect, which is explained within the picture of Landau level mixing for an ideal barrier, we report on signatures of quantum interferences at imperfections of the barrier which act as tunneling centers. The main features of the recent experiment of Yang, Kang et al. are reproduced and discussed for different gate voltages. Quasiperiodic oscillations, similar to the Aharonov Bohm effect at the quenched peak, are revealed for low magnetic fields before the onset of the regular conductance peaks.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

Endodontic treatment of molars

Objective: Commissioned by the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) the Austrian Health Institute (ÖBIG) prepared a HTA report on the long-term effectiveness of endodontic treatment (root canal treatment, RCT) of molars. The focus is to examine factors influencing the outcome of endodontic treatment and showing their impact on long-term results. Additionally, economic aspects of root canal treatment in Germany are discussed. Methodology: By performing a systematic literature search in 29 databases (e.g. MEDLINE), the Cochrane Library and by hand searching two peer-reviewed endodontic journals the authors could identify 750 relevant articles, of which finally 18 qualified for assessment. Results: The findings show that the most relevant factor influencing the long-term outcome of endodontic treatment is the preoperative status of a tooth. The lowest success rates are reported for molars with a preoperative devital or necrotic pulp and persisting periapical lesions (so called periapical disease). Discussion: Even if there is no positive selection of patients and the RCT is performed by a normal dentist rather than an endodontist - a fact which is very common - long-term success rates of more then 90% are possible. The overall success rates for endodontic treatment of molars therefore seem to be similar to those of other tooth-types. Conclusions: Especially primary, conventional (i.e. non-surgical) root canal treatment is an effective and efficient therapy for endodontically ill molars, especially if no large periapical lesion persists. Nonetheless, a long term successful endodontic therapy requires a thorough assessment of the pre-operative status of the molar and treatment according to established guidelines

Comparing pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies in Croatia to the European Union Member States

Aim To perform a comparative analysis of the pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement systems in Croatia and the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. Methods Knowledge about the pharmaceutical systems in Croatia and the 27 EU Member States was acquired by literature review and primary research with stakeholders. Results Pharmaceutical prices are controlled at all levels in Croatia, which is also the case in 21 EU Member States. Like many EU countries, Croatia also applies external price referencing, ie, compares prices with other countries. While the wholesale remuneration by a statutorily regulated linear mark-up is applied in Croatia and in several EU countries, the pharmacy compensation for dispensing reimbursable medicines in the form of a flat rate service fee in Croatia is rare among EU countries, which usually apply a linear or regressive pharmacy mark-up scheme. Like in most EU countries, the Croatian Social Insurance reimburses specific medicines at 100%, whereas patients are charged copayments for other reimbursable medicines. Criteria for reimbursement include the medicine’s importance from the public health perspective, its therapeutic value, and relative effectiveness. In Croatia and in many EU Member States, reimbursement is based on a reference price system. Conclusion The Croatian pharmaceutical system is similar to those in the EU Member States. Key policies, like external price referencing and reference price systems, which have increasingly been introduced in EU countries are also applied in Croatia and serve the same purpose: to ensure access to medicines while containing public pharmaceutical expenditur

Development and In-Flight Testing of an Iodine Ion Thruster

The increase in the number of small satellite missions is enabling the development of new mission scenarios, requiring in turn further miniaturization of the systems onboard. An example is the deployment of small satellite constellations, which typically require onboard propulsion to perform phasing, collision avoidance and deorbit maneuvers. In this work we describe the development, testing and first in-space demonstration of a one Cubesat unit standalone iodine-fueled electric propulsion system based on a gridded ion thruster. The propulsion system, called NPT30-I2-1U, has all the subsystems necessary to its operation integrated inside the 1U volume, such as power processing unit, operation controller and iodine propellant storage and management. An inductively coupled RF plasma source is used for propellant ionization and a two-grid assembly for ion acceleration, while the beam neutralization is achieved with a cathode-neutralizer based on thermionic hot filament cathode. The propellant is solid iodine, stored in the internal unpressurized tank and sublimated during the operation. The system can provide up to 5500 Ns of total impulse at a specific impulse up to 2450 s and thrust levels of up to 1.1 mN in the range of input power of 35-65 W. Extreme miniaturization of the system is achieved through several innovations, including pipe-less propellant delivery, custom RF generation technology, a dedicated plasma ignition system and integrated thermal management. The necessary level of robustness and safety is achieved through implementation of reliability engineering approaches: system has built-in self-test and self-tuning algorithms and several layers of security loops. It should be mentioned, that the NPT30-I2-1U is the first iodine-fueled electric propulsion system launched to space and therefore many iodine-related aspects such as a propellant storage configuration, corrosion and sublimation control, iodine plume neutralization etc., have been tested in space for a first time

The Measels-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination from a health political and economical point of view

Introduction: Measels, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) are highly contagious infectious diseases which may lead to severe complications. These diseases are vaccine-preventable. The present Health Technology Assessment report (report on technological consequences, HTA report) was commissioned by the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) and addresses various aspects of the MMR vaccination, the key question being how the MMR immunisation coverage rate can be increased in Germany. Objectives: The objectives of this report were to describe the benefits of the MMR vaccination for Germany and to analyse how the desired MMR immunisation coverage of >95% can be achieved. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in 29 literature data bases. Particularly for epidemiological data and information on vaccination programs, this systematic search was supplemented by an extensive hand search, written and oral enquiries, as well as interviews with experts. A total of 200 texts were used to prepare this report. Results: At 92.5% (as of 2004) based on the whole of Germany, the current immunisation coverage for measles in children is above the weighted EC-15-average of 90.67%. Statements can only be made regarding the probability of illness for measles, as no data is available for mumps and rubella. With 2.8 infections (per 100,000 residents) in 2006, Germany has not achieved the WHO target. Of cases submitted to the laboratory, only 32% were validated by diagnostic laboratory findings and 45% confirmed clinical-epidemiologically. There are only few economic analyses of vaccination programs in Germany. In international publications, mainly measels are validated economically. An analysis of the cost of measles for Germany shows potential cost savings. Unfortunately, no complete economic evaluation (cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, or cost-utility analyses) for MMR vaccination has been performed for Germany. Analyses conducted in the US and a model calculation for a hypothetical Western-European country show a considerable cost saving potential for society in general as well as for the health care system. Interventions to increase the immunisation rate were categorized in three main groups according to their goals: interventions increasing the demand for vaccinations, those improving access to vaccination services and those aiming at the providers (e.g. physicians) of vaccinations. Discussion: Various studies concluded that reminders to clients, provided in written, electronic or oral form, are a highly recommendable intervention. Provider based interventions were also strongly advised.Despite efforts made during the past years to achieve herd immunity in Germany, some deficits remain: i. e. there are still ample regional differences between and within German federal states. Conclusions: In the authors’ opinion, a key point in increasing immunisation coverage is the development of a binding vaccination program for Germany with regionally differentiated immunisation targets. During the development of such a program, special emphasis should be placed on determining responsibilities of the federal government, the Laender and health insurance funds (e. g. in the case of a measles outbreak)