An Ethical Analysis of the Use of Medroyprogesterone Acetate and Cyproterone Acetate to Treat Repeat Sex Offenders

Among the most heinous, and unfortunately common, crimes known to human society are rape and child molestation. Recidivism rates for offenders of these crimes are extremely high. Treatment of perpetrators of these crimes is of great consequence to mental health professionals, policymakers and the general public. Unfortunately, the traditional treatments for rehabilitation, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and SSRIs, have shown only minimal success rates and incarceration is expensive for the state. One proposed alternative is chemical castration. This paper reviews ethical considerations regarding the practice of chemical castration for sex offenders

On requirements elicitation for Software Projects in ICT for development

Currently, there is much interest in harnessing the potential of new and affordable Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) such as mobile phones, to assist in reducing disparities in socioeconomic conditions throughout the world. Such efforts have come to be known as ICT for Development or ICT4D. While this field of research holds much promise, few projects have managed to achieve long-term sustained success. Among the many reasons for this, from a software engineering perspective, in many cases it can be attributed to inadequacies in the gathering and defining of software requirements. Failures in realising sustainable systems stern from inadequate consideration of the high-level socioeconomic development goals, neglect of environmental constraints, and a lack of adequate input from end-users regarding their specific needs and sociocultural context. The situation is exacerbated by inadequate reporting on the social impact of such interventions, making it difficult to assess a project's success, let alone apply lessons learned to new projects. In this thesis we propose enhancing conventional requirements elicitation with a complementary elicitation methodology specifically adapted to address these shortcomings. Our approach is based on a proposed novel technique of Structured Digital Storytelling to elicit input from end-users having limited literacy in the form of stories. The proposed methodology includes a systematic method for extracting and interpreting the informational content of the stories that applies a conceptual model derived from Communications Theory to identify constraints arising from the users' sociocultural context. The thesis introduces an ICT4D quality model identifying non-functional requirements related to the sociodynamics of a system's sustained use in a rural community. The needs, goals and constraints thus identified are integrated using a goal-based analysis to produce a more informed understanding of potential areas of technology intervention and to develop high-level functional and non-functional software requirements. The resulting goal model is also used in deriving a measurement framework for assessing a project's success based on its social impact. We illustrate our approach and validate its effectiveness with a field study. Keywords: ICT4D, digital divide. requirements engineering. needs elicitation, requirements elicitation, culture, storytellin

Luminescent Ionic Liquids

Summary In the present thesis the interaction of solutes with ionic liquids (ILs) as solvents are investigated by means of their optical properties and their electrochemical behaviour. Several ILs were prepared as ionic liquid matrices for the introduction of different d- and f-element salts and of several organic dyes. The absence of high frequent oscillating groups in the WCAs of the ILs provides systematic studies on luminescent properties of the d- and f-element ions and organic dyes. Spectroscopic techniques like photoluminescence, EPR, absorption, IR/Raman spectroscopy and also DSC were applied to determine the coordination and luminescent properties of these compounds and their thermal behaviour. Several Mn2+ containing ILs were synthesized and characterized concerning their structural and optical properties. Depending on the ligand and its coordination to the Mn2+ center reddish (octahedrally coordinated) or greenish (tetrahedrally coordinated) photoemission was obtained. It turned out that WCAs, i. e. the NTf2 anion, are suitable for the stabilization of excited states which is observed in the longest - so far known - emission decay lifetime of the 4T1(G)→ 6A1 transition of Mn2+. The photostability of organic dyes could be extended by orders of magnitudes by dissolution into ILs compared to common used alcoholic solutions without any loss of their superior luminescent properties. In several combined studies the main decomposition pathway of the photodegradation of dyes was determined to be the arbitrary oxidation by oxygen. The examination of optical spectra of transition metal ion doped ILs offered the determination of their electron donation power, e. g. the acid-base properties of the ILs. Herein, a novel approach close to the concept of optical basicity - initially developed by DUFFY - was successfully transferred from solid oxide hosts to ILs by characterization of the 6A1 → 4A, 4E(D) transition and calculation of the nephelauxetic parameters of the IL. However, the basicity of ILs is dominated by the very weak basic anion nature. Since about the coordination number of lanthanide ions in ILs is little known, EXAFS spectroscopy was applied to obtain information about the coordination numbers of Eu3+ and Yb3+ ions dissolved in different ILs. Atomic distances of the dissolved ions in ILs are in good agreement with the respective lanthanide WCA salts and with recent literature data. The electrochemistry of Eu3+ in ILs was studied by cyclic voltammetry and shows irreversible one-electron transfers in all cases. The half step potentials depent predominantely only slightly on the applied scan rate and the viscosity of the IL

Conflict and the Quality of Teachers’ Work

The text presents research on the conflicts revealed by teams of kindergarten teachers and their effects on the professional functioning of teachers and the quality of work of the preschool institution. Their results confirmed the prevalence of conflicts, their mainly hidden and emotional nature and negative consequences in the form of lowering the quality of the care, educational and didactic functions performed by the kindergarten teacher

Systematic Mapping Study of Information Technology for Development in Agriculture (The Case of Developing Countries)

With its rapid proliferation in the developing world, information and communication technology (ICT) has been accepted as an opportunity to assist disadvantaged people. Many projects have piloted ICT supporting rural communities in developing countries. Such rural communities are socially complex and infrastructurally weak environments that demand clear understanding of the social, economical, cultural and political preconditions when implementing ICT innovations. To provide a comprehensive overview of what kinds of ICT intervention and research contributions have been achieved, a systematic mapping study (SMS) was carried out. This work presents the state-of-the-art based on related journal and conference papers published between 2006-2014. The review indicates that ICT supporting farmers has gained attention over the past few years with a growing number of contributions. However, the field is still in a consolidating phase. Theoretical concepts are sparse, so it is difficult to generalize and transfer the findings. Specifically, there is limited research in IT design and development process; user-interface design for illiterate people; and user and community involvement in the design process

Population Structure of the Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Maryland Coastal Bays

The population structure of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus was examined in the Maryland Coastal Bays (MCB) from 2014 to 2016. Crabs were sampled from April to December of each year. Size–frequency distributions showed a strong seasonal cycle, with small crabs being abundant in April, increasing in size through September, with adult crabs observed in the highest proportions from August through October of each year. A subsample of crabs was assayed for hemolymph ecdysone concentrations to examine molting patterns in field-collected blue crabs. Molting was observed throughout the sampling season, peaking in April for immature crabs, with lows in all size classes occurring in October. The mean size at maturity (L50) for females collected in this study was 116mmcarapace width (CW), which is comparable to that reported for the lower Chesapeake Bay (CB) and suggests crabs in the MCB are not significantly smaller as previously thought; however, large crabs (\u3e127 mmCW) appear to make up a smaller proportion of the total population in the MCB than in CB. Ovigerous females were observed at two distinct locations depending on the season, with 13/15 (86.7%) in southern Chincoteague Bay in April and May and 24/41 (58.5%) nearest to the Ocean City Inlet in July and August, indicating two potentially distinct spawning grounds and periods. This work suggests that blue crab reproductive success and general population trends are similar across both systems, with fishing pressure or disease in the MCB potentially explaining the low abundance of adult male crabs

Identification of \u3ci\u3ePlanktothrix\u3c/i\u3e (Cyanobacteria) Blooms and Effects on the Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Community in the Non-Tidal Potomac River, USA

Using transverse cross-sectional transects, a survey of 31 km of the non-tidal Potomac River was conducted from White’s Ferry, Virginia to Brunswick, Maryland, USA, between June and September in 2013 through 2015 to assess a recurring benthic cyanobacteria bloom. Abundant benthic cyanobacteria blooms were detected during the 2014 and 2015 sampling seasons and the primary taxon was identified morphologically and molecularly as Planktothrix cf. isothrix. When present, P. cf. isothrix blooms were concentrated from river center to the Maryland shoreline. This pattern was correlated with significantly greater benthic chlorophyll-a and phycocyanin concentrations. In an apparent response to the P. cf. isothrix blooms in the study site, aquatic macroinvertebrate community assemblages were significantly different between areas with extensive benthic cyanobacterial growth compared to areas without cyanobacterial growth. Within the P. cf. isothrix mats, the percentage of pollution sensitive taxa was lower and the percentage of pollution tolerant taxa was greater. These data suggest that P. cf. isothrix can act as an ecosystem disruptor through direct impacts to the aquatic macroinvertebrate abundance and community structure within this section of the freshwater, non-tidal Potomac River

NMD3 regulates both mRNA and rRNA nuclear export in African trypanosomes via an XPOI-linked pathway

Trypanosomes mostly regulate gene expression through post-transcriptional mechanisms, particularly mRNA stability. However, much mRNA degradation is cytoplasmic such that mRNA nuclear export must represent an important level of regulation. Ribosomal RNAs must also be exported from the nucleus and the trypanosome orthologue of NMD3 has been confirmed to be involved in rRNA processing and export, matching its function in other organisms. Surprisingly, we found that TbNMD3 depletion also generates mRNA accumulation of procyclin-associated genes (PAGs), these being co-transcribed by RNA polymerase I with the procyclin surface antigen genes expressed on trypanosome insect forms. By whole transcriptome RNA-seq analysis of TbNMD3-depleted cells we confirm the regulation of the PAG transcripts by TbNMD3 and using reporter constructs reveal that PAG1 regulation is mediated by its 5'UTR. Dissection of the mechanism of regulation demonstrates that it is not dependent upon translational inhibition mediated by TbNMD3 depletion nor enhanced transcription. However, depletion of the nuclear export factors XPO1 or MEX67 recapitulates the effects of TbNMD3 depletion on PAG mRNAs and mRNAs accumulated in the nucleus of TbNMD3-depleted cells. These results invoke a novel RNA regulatory mechanism involving the NMD3-dependent nuclear export of mRNA cargos, suggesting a shared platform for mRNA and rRNA export