Managing Profound Suffering at the End-of-Life: Should expanding access to continuous deep sedation be the priority?

Commentaire / CommentaryEn ce qui concerne le traitement et la gestion de la souffrance profonde à la fin de la vie, cet article soutient que la priorité ne devrait pas être la légalisation de l’aide médicale au suicide ou celle de l'euthanasie active et volontaire là où ces pratiques ne sont pas actuellement disponibles. Plutôt, les professionnels de la santé et la société devraient faire des efforts concertés afin d'accroître l’accès des patients à de la sédation proportionnelle pour soulager leur détresse et à de la sédation profonde continue.This paper argues that in addressing and managing profound suffering at the end-of-life, the priority should not be the legalization of physician-assisted suicide or voluntary active euthanasia in jurisdictions where these practices are not currently available. Rather, concerted efforts should be made by society and the healthcare provider community to expand patient access to proportionate distress-relieving sedation and continuous deep sedation

Judicial Perspective Panel 2015

A transcript of the Judicial Perspective Panel Event at Belmont University College of Law Symposium

Oocyte cryopreservation as an adjunct to the assisted reproductive technologies

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included. See page 2 of PDF for this item.Keith L Harrison, Michelle T Lane, Jeremy C Osborn, Christine A Kirby, Regan Jeffrey, John H Esler and David Mollo

Caisson Foundations for Cellular Telephone Monopoles

Design and construction procedures that were implemented for the installation of caisson foundations to support cellular telephone monopoles at fifteen sites throughout metropolitan New York are presented herein. Subsurface investigation procedures, development of geotechnical design criteria, methods of structural analysis and caisson design, and actual construction installation of the caissons have been provided along with a comparison of soil conditions and their impact on design and construction of the caissons

Designing an alternative project for a product design curriculum for high school students

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 23).An alternative curriculum is designed for Engineering the Future, a high school level engineering curriculum developed by the Boston Museum of Science. It is designed on the premise that a hands-on curriculum providing an authentic engineering experience is the best method of teaching high school level engineering. The main design challenge the students are faced with is the design and manufacturing of a unique pinhole camera for a potential business they will be starting. The design challenge takes the student through the design process from the initial concept during brainstorming to a functional prototype. During the process, the students will validate their ideas with sketch models and investigate solutions to critical issues with mockup models. Throughout the project, the students will investigate solutions with the aid of the design process and make intelligent decisions based in reason. The curriculum offers an engaging opportunity for teachers to use within their high school engineering class at the beginning phase of a yearlong class on engineering.by Jeffrey Kirby.S.B

Usage of Fomblin Y to Improve Water Repellence of Surface Coatings

Fluoro-Decyl POSS (FDP) has shown strong potential as a water repellant surface coating. Additionally, Fomblin is a solvent believed to have the ability to control the crystallization of POSS compounds on surfaces. Controlling the crystallization is key to improving water repelling abilities of surfaces. Thus, dip coating FDP and Fomblin onto surfaces is being investigated for water repulsion, mechanical stability, and deposition feasibility. Relative water repelling abilities of different coatings were determined by measuring contact angle of surfaces with water. Coatings with and without POSS and Fomblin were compared. It was shown that the surfaces treated with both POSS and Fomblin were better at repelling water than those with just POSS or Fomblin alone, or neither

'Religion and spirituality within environmental communities: place and significance in the UK context'

This study examines religion and spirituality within environmental communities in the UK. Through the detailed study of three communities, 35 in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations, the substantive forms of religion and spirituality present are for the first time comprehensively documented. Individual beliefs and practices are examined alongside shared religious traditions, collective rituals and shrines within communal spaces. The place of religion and spirituality is mapped within communities using the concept of four realms (Inner, Personal, Social and Public). A comparative approach is employed to explore the differences between urban and rural contexts. Two strong community discourses involving religion and spirituality within the rural context, hitherto not commented upon, are examined in detail. The first relates to differences in strategic tendency (spiky-fluffy), these are in fact found to emanate from the previous Environmental Direct Action (EDA) movement. The second centres upon the Art of Mentoring Movement in which a number of community members had participated. Through detailed analysis the study describes how this organisation differed from the other spiritual traditions being practiced within the rural environmental communities. Throughout the study I suggest that many of the prominent features of environmental communities are similar to those identified in the EDA movement UK and Western countercultural movements of the 1960s. It is in regard to these social movements that I posit New Social Movement theories in particular help explain the presence of multiple ideologies within all three communities. Towards the end of the study I analyse the functional traits of religion and spirituality. All aspects of community bonding are considered including ideology, cultural practices, normative practices and body experiences. It is within the latter category that I suggest a type of ‘organic embodied solidarity’ exists within the rural context

Comparative Solubility of POSS Compounds in Fomblin Y

Fluoro-Decyl POSS (FDP) has shown strong potential as a water repellant surface coating. Additionally, Fomblin is a solvent believed to have the ability to control the crystallization of POSS compounds on surfaces. Controlling the crystallization is key to improving water repelling abilities of surfaces. Thus, dip coating FDP and Fomblin onto surfaces is being investigated for water repulsion, mechanical stability, and deposition feasibility. However, in order for this to be successful, POSS must be soluble in Fomblin. Temperature dependence of solubility of Fluoro-Hexyl, Fluoro-Octyl, Fluoro-Decyl POSS in Fomblin was tested using Dynamic Light Scattering. The values were compared, and it was shown that Fluoro-Hexyl Poss had a weak solubility-temperature. Both Fluoro-Octyl and Fluoro-Decyl POSS had strong temperature dependences. However, Fluoro-Decyl Poss appeared to stay super saturated after the solution cooled, and failed to recrystallize

Effects of Surface Coatings on Crystalization of Calcium Sulfate

Deposits from hard water can be problematic as they can form scaling on boilers and cooling towers. Scaling can reduce thermal efficiency. Coatings can be used to prevent mineral fouling by changing the surface energy. Some deposits have inverse solubility; such as calcium sulfate. This means that as temperature rises, they become less soluble and can crystallize out of solution. Calcium sulfate is often found in hard water. Crystalization tests were done to determine how coatings such as various POSS (Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) compounds acted as nucleating surfaces for calcium sulfate. POSS compounds were tested in particular because they have very low surface energy. This would theoretically make nucleation difficult. Solutions of calcium sulfate were placed in microwave vials with different nucleating surfaces. The vials were sealed and heated to 95˚C. After cooling, tests were done to determine the amount of calcium sulfate that had come out of solution

Witten's Invariants of Rational Homology Spheres at Prime Values of KK and Trivial Connection Contribution

We establish a relation between the coefficients of asymptotic expansion of trivial connection contribution to Witten's invariant of rational homology spheres and the invariants that T.~Ohtsuki extracted from Witten's invariant at prime values of $K$. We also rederive the properties of prime $K$ invariants discovered by H.~Murakami and T.~Ohtsuki. We do this by using the bounds on Taylor series expansion of the Jones polynomial of algebraically split links, studied in our previous paper. These bounds are enough to prove that Ohtsuki's invariants are of finite type. The relation between Ohtsuki's invariants and trivial connection contribution is verified explicitly for lens spaces and Seifert manifolds.Comment: 32 pages, no figures, LaTe