Teaching Ethics in an Unethical World

We find ourselves in times where national leaders engage in fraudulent and deceptive behaviors for personal and political gains, and multinational corporations use unethical practices to maximize their profits. Where dangerously defective products are released onto the market endangering the health and lives of consumers, and where news channels become opinion channels. Where the motto of the free market is reduced to a simple‘grab all you can, any way you can.’ In times such as these, it is difficult to teach and promote ethical behavior. A cursory look at the advertising messages and the spins put on issues by public relations people leaves one wondering if business ethics is anything more than an oxymoron – a self‑contradicting claim. In times such as ours (in 2017), it is crucial that institutions of higher learning continue to teach and foster ethical behavior and ethical responsibility. No doubt, it is an uphill struggle for educators to convince students to think and act in ethically appropriate terms when surrounded by corruption, deceit, and fraud. While no one will deny the need for ethical practices, teaching these values in a convincing manner remains a challenge. Using meta‑analysis of various University courses in ethics, the present paper attempts three goals. First, it builds a rationale for the importance of ethical behavior, the need for teaching it, and the criticisms of those who think it unnecessary to teach ethics. Second, it discusses various strategies used by universities and several educators in teaching and reinforcing ethical behavior. This section also offers a criticism of approaches and methodologies of teaching ethics. Third, it offers an outline for a syllabus for an introductory course in Ethics.The “Annales. Ethics in Economic Life” is affiliated and co-financed by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz

A camera never told the truth: An exploration of objectivity in photojournalism

Several cases have surfaced in the past two decades where the photojournalists associated with some of the most respected and trusted news organizations have been accused of altering the news photos. During the same time, the developments in the digital cameras and editing software have put the image altering technology into the hands of all practicing journalists and journalism students. This paper explores two, somewhat connected, issues: objectivity in photojournalism and ethics of altering photographic images. The paper discusses objectivity in journalism in general and photojournalism to address the question: Can a photojournalist use a camera to record reality in an objective manner? Since the photographers have altered (retouched) images from the very beginning of photography, where are the ethical boundaries of image alteration for the photojournalists

Dynamic Permutations

The confidentiality integrity and authentication of anelectronic documentare necessary in many application systems The security of confidentiality integrity and authentication of an electronic document are based on nonlinear functions in which there is no directrelationship between the inputs and the outputs This means that the inputs cannot be extracted from the outputs Indeed all modern cyphers are based on the concept of substitution transposition In data encryption standard algorithm DES which consists of many functions only one nonlinear function is used in the algorithm called substitution boxes and all other functions are linear one of these linear functions is called IP initial permutation function which performs static permutations The permutations are replaced by transpositions based on predefined positions and the permutation function is used several times in DES algorith

Prophylactic effect of artemether on human Schistosomiasis mansoni among Egyptian children : a randomized controlled trial

A double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted in an endemic focus for Schistosoma mansoni in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Northern Nile Delta, Egypt, to evaluate the prophylactic effect of artemether (ART) given in conjunction with praziquantel (PZQ). The study encompassed 913 primary school children randomly assigned to two treatment groups PZQ/ART and PZQ/ART-placebo. At baseline, both groups received 40mg/kg body weight of PZQ twice four weeks apart, after which one group received 6mg/kg body weight of ART every 3 weeks in 5 cycles during the transmission season and the other group received ART-placebo. At the end of the study, prevalence of infection among the PZQ/ART was approximately half that of the PZQ/ART-placebo group, i.e. 6.7% versus 11.6%, and incidence of new infections for the PZQ/ART was 2.7% versus 6.5% for the PZQ/ART-placebo. In conclusion, PZQ/ART combined therapy might be considered as an adjunct measure against human schistosomiasis, by specifically reducing transmission and therefore contribute to disease elimination

Tale of two cities. A comparative study of relationship between education and economic prosperity

Over the last century, the social function and the role of the universities and other higher education institutions (HEI) changed significantly. What the contemporary students expect to gain due to their university education is neither enlightenment nor insight, but rather skills and practical knowledge needed to successfully find and retain a job. In turn, the modern HEI ceased to be the entities isolated from their surroundings but became the institutions intertwined into community life. Hence, our purpose is to redefine the role of the universities in their communities with the emphasis put on the relationship between the HEI and the communities’ economic performance. The general discussion on the transition in academy’s place in the society is presented in the first section of the article, whereas its second part provides an overview of the potential contributions to the reciprocal development made by the universities and communities. Against such a background two illustrative examples are analyzed, i.e. Lodz, Poland and Brownsville, Texas. Both the theoretical inquiries and these examples’ analysis confirm that the relationship between the development of the universities and economic performance is bi-directional: on the one hand, the investments in HEI trigger stimuli towards economic growth, and on the other, the economic prosperity of the city commonly results in invigorating the scientific research. The article concludes that despite the fact the interrelatedness between universities and local communities’ economic performance is too complex to be boiled down to any simple rule, the communities’ investments in HEI may sow seeds of future economic growth and provide a safety net protecting the economy in times of stagnations or slumps

Micellar liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of norfloxacin and tinidazole in pharmaceutical dosage forms and human plasma

A micellar liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of a binary mixture of norfloxacin and tinidazole (NOR and TIN) in dosage forms and human plasma. The analysis was carried out using a Waters Symmetry® C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm particle size). The running mobile phase consisting of 0.15 M sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), 0.3 % triethylamine (TEA), 5 % n-propanol, the pH was adjusted to 4 by addition of 0.02 M orthophosphoric acid pumped at a flow rate 1.0 mL/min with UV at 275 nm. Calibration curves were linear over the range 1-28 and 1.5-42 µg/mL for NOR and TIN, respectively. The quantification limits were 0.7 and 1.0 µg /mL for NOR and TIN respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of NOR and TIN in human plasma without prior precipitation of protein. The mean percentage recoveries of bioavailability test in human plasma (n = 3) were 90.31 ± 4.22 and 90.05 ± 1.3 for NOR and TIN, respectively.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Micellar liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of norfloxacin and tinidazole in pharmaceutical dosage forms and human plasma

A micellar liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of a binary mixture of norfloxacin and tinidazole (NOR and TIN) in dosage forms and human plasma. The analysis was carried out using a Waters Symmetry® C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm particle size). The running mobile phase consisting of 0.15 M sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), 0.3 % triethylamine (TEA), 5 % n-propanol, the pH was adjusted to 4 by addition of 0.02 M orthophosphoric acid pumped at a flow rate 1.0 mL/min with UV at 275 nm. Calibration curves were linear over the range 1-28 and 1.5-42 µg/mL for NOR and TIN, respectively. The quantification limits were 0.7 and 1.0 µg /mL for NOR and TIN respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of NOR and TIN in human plasma without prior precipitation of protein. The mean percentage recoveries of bioavailability test in human plasma (n = 3) were 90.31 ± 4.22 and 90.05 ± 1.3 for NOR and TIN, respectively.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Obesity During Adolescence and Feeding Practices During Infancy: Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Breastfeeding is proposed to play a role in reducing the risk of obesity throughout life. Kuwait has an extremely high prevalence of childhood obesity (45% of adolescents are overweight/obese) and extremely low breastfeeding indicators, particularly exclusive breastfeeding. In fact, little is known about the association between breastfeeding and obesity from Kuwait and the broader Middle East. Aims: To estimate the prevalence of overweight/obesity in female adolescents in Kuwait and assess its association with breastfeeding during infancy. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included 775 girls randomly selected from public and private high schools in Kuwait. The primary exposure was breastfeeding in the first four months of life, and the outcome was overweight/obesity during adolescence. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between breastfeeding and overweight/obesity while adjusting for potential confounders. Results: Approximately 45% of adolescent girls were either overweight/obese. We found no significant association between breastfeeding (exclusive/mixed breastfeeding and formula feeding/no breastfeeding) and overweight/obesity neither in univariable analysis (Crude Prevalence Ratio: 1.14, 95%CI [0.92–1.36] & Crude Prevalence Ratio: 1.29, 95%CI [0.86–1.68]; p = 0.293) for mixed feeding and no breastfeeding respectively, nor in multivariable analysis (Adjusted Prevalence Ratio: 1.14, 95%CI [0.85–1.42] & Adjusted Prevalence Ratio: 1.20, 95%CI [0.68–1.68]; p = 0.589) for mixed feeding and no breastfeeding respectively. Conclusion: Breastfeeding during infancy was not significantly associated with overweight/obesity during adolescence. However, breastfeeding should be encouraged for its indisputable benefits for infants and their mothers alike. Further prospective studies are needed to assess the association