578 research outputs found
Adam Smith and the theory of punishment
A distinctive theory of punishment plays a central role in Smith's moral and legal theory. According to this theory, we regard the punishment of a crime as deserved only to the extent that an impartial spectator would go along with the actual or supposed resentment of the victim. The first part of this paper argues that Smith's theory deserves serious consideration and relates it to other theories such as utilitarianism and more orthodox forms of retributivism. The second part considers the objection that, because Smith's theory implies that punishment is justified only when there is some person or persons who is the victim of the crime, it cannot explain the many cases where punishment is imposed purely for the public good. It is argued that Smith's theory could be extended to cover such cases. The third part defends Smith's theory against the objection that, because it relies on our natural feelings, it cannot provide an adequate moral justification of punishment
Verifying Temporal Regular Properties of Abstractions of Term Rewriting Systems
The tree automaton completion is an algorithm used for proving safety
properties of systems that can be modeled by a term rewriting system. This
representation and verification technique works well for proving properties of
infinite systems like cryptographic protocols or more recently on Java Bytecode
programs. This algorithm computes a tree automaton which represents a (regular)
over approximation of the set of reachable terms by rewriting initial terms.
This approach is limited by the lack of information about rewriting relation
between terms. Actually, terms in relation by rewriting are in the same
equivalence class: there are recognized by the same state in the tree
automaton.
Our objective is to produce an automaton embedding an abstraction of the
rewriting relation sufficient to prove temporal properties of the term
rewriting system.
We propose to extend the algorithm to produce an automaton having more
equivalence classes to distinguish a term or a subterm from its successors
w.r.t. rewriting. While ground transitions are used to recognize equivalence
classes of terms, epsilon-transitions represent the rewriting relation between
terms. From the completed automaton, it is possible to automatically build a
Kripke structure abstracting the rewriting sequence. States of the Kripke
structure are states of the tree automaton and the transition relation is given
by the set of epsilon-transitions. States of the Kripke structure are labelled
by the set of terms recognized using ground transitions. On this Kripke
structure, we define the Regular Linear Temporal Logic (R-LTL) for expressing
properties. Such properties can then be checked using standard model checking
algorithms. The only difference between LTL and R-LTL is that predicates are
replaced by regular sets of acceptable terms
Linkage of people experiencing homeless using two consent models
Objectives
Administrative data linkage is relatively under-utilised as a way of generating evidence to guide homelessness policy and service delivery in the UK. Our objective is to contribute insight into the ethical, legal, and practical challenges of using data linkage with data from people experiencing homelessness (PEH).
Approach
We outline the data collection and linkage methodologies for two UK-based studies related to PEH. The first design aimed to explore the acceptability and feasibility of consented linkage of trial data (âMoving Onâ trial) to NHS Digital records in a cohort of recruited PEH in two English local authorities (n=50). The second design used administrative data originating from a local authority homelessness service in Wales (n=17,000 cases) to explore educational outcomes of children in homeless households. The resultant data linkage rates are contrasted and discussed in relation to the mechanisms for obtaining and linking personal data.
Results
The Moving On trial demonstrated high rates of consent for data linkage and the ability to collect sufficient personal identifiable data to increase the chance of successful matching. Aggregate match rates will be discussed. Of the roughly 17,000 cases included in the local authority administrative data, 75% could be linked to unique individuals using probabilistic matching and were therefor âuseableâ in linkage research. The proportion of useable cases rapidly decreased as the cut-off for matching quality was increased, to roughly 50% of cases being useable when a 99% match probability cut-off was used. Matching rates were higher amongst priority need homeless cases, possibly reflecting business need to identify and work closely with these people.
Conclusion
Where homelessness administrative data systems are not designed to enable data linkage, low matching rates can result, reducing study sample sizes and potentially leading to bias towards more extreme cases of homelessness if missed-matches are not random. Consented linkage within large-scale trials offers one possibility for generating long-term evidence
Dairy food structures influence the rates of nutrient digestion through different in vitro gastric behaviour
The purpose of this study was to investigate in vitro the extent to which specific food structures alter gastric behaviour and could therefore impact on nutrient delivery and digestion in the small intestine. Results obtained from a specifically developed gastric digestion model, were compared to results from a previous human study on the same foods. The semi-dynamic model could simulate the main gastric dynamics including gradual acidification, lipolysis, proteolysis and emptying. Two dairy-based foods with the same caloric content but different structure were studied. The semi-solid meal comprised a mixture of cheese and yogurt and the liquid meal was an oil in water emulsion stabilised by milk proteins. Our findings showed similar gastric behaviour to that seen previously in vivo. Gastric behaviour was affected by the initial structure with creaming and sedimentation observed in the case of liquid and semi-solid samples, respectively. Lipid and protein digestion profiles showed clear differences in the amount of nutrients reaching the simulated small intestine and, consequently, the likely bioaccessibility after digestion. The semi-solid sample generated higher nutrient released into the small intestine at an early stage of digestion whereas nutrient accessibility from liquid sample was delayed due to the formation of a cream layer in the gastric phase. This shows the strong effect of the matrix on gastric behaviour, proteolysis and lipolysis, which explains the differences in physiological responses seen previously with these systems in terms of fullness and satiety
Mediation in the Law Curriculum
Cited by Lord Neuberger in âEducating Future Mediatorsâ at the 4th Civil Mediation Council National Conference, May 201
A core outcome set for localised prostate cancer effectiveness trials
Objective:
To develop a core outcome set (COS) applicable for effectiveness trials of all interventions for localised prostate cancer.
Background:
Many treatments exist for localised prostate cancer, although it is unclear which offers the optimal therapeutic ratio. This is confounded by inconsistencies in the selection, definition, measurement and reporting of outcomes in clinical trials.
Subjects and methods:
A list of 79 outcomes was derived from a systematic review of published localised prostate cancer effectiveness studies and semi-structured interviews with 15 prostate cancer patients. A two-stage consensus process involving 118 patients and 56 international healthcare professionals (HCPs) (cancer specialist nurses, urological surgeons and oncologists) was undertaken, consisting of a three-round Delphi survey followed by a face-to-face consensus panel meeting of 13 HCPs and 8 patients.
Results:
The final COS included 19 outcomes. Twelve apply to all interventions: death from prostate cancer, death from any cause, local disease recurrence, distant disease recurrence/metastases, disease progression, need for salvage therapy, overall quality of life, stress urinary incontinence, urinary function, bowel function, faecal incontinence, sexual function. Seven were intervention-specific: perioperative deaths (surgery), positive surgical margin (surgery), thromboembolic disease (surgery), bothersome or symptomatic urethral or anastomotic stricture (surgery), need for curative treatment (active surveillance), treatment failure (ablative therapy), and side effects of hormonal therapy (hormone therapy). The UK-centric participants may limit the generalisability to other countries, but trialists should reason why the COS would not be applicable. The default position should not be that a COS developed in one country will automatically not be applicable elsewhere.
Conclusion:
We have established a COS for trials of effectiveness in localised prostate cancer, applicable across all interventions which should be measured in all localised prostate cancer effectiveness trials
Multi-omic detection of <i>Mycobacterium leprae</i> in archaeological human dental calculus
Mineralized dental plaque (calculus) has proven to be an excellent source of ancient biomolecules. Here we present a Mycobacterium leprae genome (6.6-fold), the causative agent of leprosy, recovered via shotgun sequencing of sixteenth-century human dental calculus from an individual from Trondheim, Norway. When phylogenetically placed, this genome falls in branch 3I among the diversity of other contemporary ancient strains from Northern Europe. Moreover, ancient mycobacterial peptides were retrieved via mass spectrometry-based proteomics, further validating the presence of the pathogen. Mycobacterium leprae can readily be detected in the oral cavity and associated mucosal membranes, which likely contributed to it being incorporated into this individual's dental calculus. This individual showed some possible, but not definitive, evidence of skeletal lesions associated with early-stage leprosy. This study is the first known example of successful multi-omics retrieval of M. leprae from archaeological dental calculus. Furthermore, we offer new insights into dental calculus as an alternative sample source to bones or teeth for detecting and molecularly characterizing M. leprae in individuals from the archaeological record.publishedVersio
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