Free Speech and Children\u27s Interests

This Article endorses the conclusion of Etzioni\u27s article that the First Amendment right of free speech should not trump the interests of children. However the picture is more complicated once we recognize that parents have a basic right to bring up their children as they see fit that may conflict with the state\u27s duty to protect children in its jurisdiction. Moreover there is an important difference between protecting children now from harms and safeguarding the interests of the adults they will grow into. Society has an interest in protecting children based upon its fundamental interest in ensuring the conditions of its own future existence. The question of whether or not children do have rights is properly thought of in terms of the capacities children do or do not possess. The right to free speech is justified foundationally and not instrumentally, as realizing a basic human interest in being heard as the source of beliefs, desires, and values. Children lack the capacities to be regarded as sources of beliefs, desires, and values. Hence they do not have a right to free speech, although they do have an interest in their views on matters affecting them being heard and taken account of

A practice research study concerning homeless service user involvement with a programme of social support work delivered in a specialized psychological trauma service

Homeless people are a population known to be highly vulnerable to trauma, in triggering events to becoming homeless and the considerable social isolation, discrimination, and adversity suffered when homeless. Currently, there is a paucity of research into mental health service delivery to homeless persons and the influence it imparts in individual lives. This article presents a qualitative ‘practice research’ study into a pilot programme of social support work delivered in a specialized psychological trauma service to homeless service users. The programme was grounded in a non-directive, person-centred approach and staffed by student social workers. The study aim was to explore the support work programme as it was received by service users domiciled in supported housing for homeless persons, encompassing experiencing the programme, worker-service user engagement and contextual influences bearing upon positive outcomes. Narrative interviews gathered the impressions of service users and support workers and the data arising from these interviews was analysed thematically. Service user participants valued support work that combined practical and relational elements, but would have preferred a longer-term involvement. They also spoke of feelings of disconnection and estrangement from their peers in the supported accommodation and their families. The worker participants valued the flexibility of person-centred work tailored to service users' individual needs and echoed service user concerns around the short-term nature of their involvement. Psychiatric nurses carrying out, or supervising, mental health support work with homeless service users should be mindful of the potential impact of temporary staffing arrangements on continuity of care. They should also consider how working from a person-centred perspective and addressing client's practical needs may aid in developing rapport and trust with homeless service users

Ethical perspectives on advances in biogerontology

Worldwide populations are aging with economic development as a result of public health initiatives and advances in therapeutic discoveries. Since 1850, life expectancy has advanced by 1 year for every four. Accompanying this change is the rapid development of anti‐aging science. There are three schools of thought in the field of aging science. One perspective is the life course approach, which considers that aging is a good and natural process to be embraced as a necessary and positive aspect of life, where the aim is to improve the quality of existing lifespan and “compress” morbidity. Another view is that aging is undesirable, and that rejuvenation and indeed immortality are possible since the biological basis of aging is understood, and therefore, strategies are possible for engineering negligible senescence. Finally, a hybrid approach is that life span can be extended by anti‐aging medicines but with uncertain effects on health. While these advances offer much promise, the ethical perspectives are seldom discussed in cross‐disciplinary settings. This article discusses some of the key ethical issues arising from recent advances in biogerontology

Vortex rings in non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids play yo-yo

Vortex rings are coherent vortical structures widely presents in geophysical flows and engineering applications. Numerous applications imply industrial processes including food processing, or petrol industry. Those applications are very often confronted with non-Newtonian fluids. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, only few studies dealing with vortex dynamics in non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluids exist, and none with viscoelastic ones. The aim for the present study is to characterize experimentally the dynamics of vortex rings generated thanks to a piston-cylinder apparatus in various viscoelastic fluids as a function of the generalized Reynolds number, the piston stroke and the final piston position relative to the cylinder exit. In particular, the elastic property of the fluid will be highlighted by the furling-unfurling of vortex rings

Dynamics of vortex rings in viscoelastic fluids

Vortex rings are coherent vortical structures widely encountered in geophysical flows and engineering applications. They are found in industrial systems, for instance during injection processes or in the flow in the vicinity of blades in mixing systems. Numerous studies are concerned by vortex rings. But, to the best of our knowledge, only few of them address vortex dynamics in non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluids, and none in viscoelastic ones while such fluids are widely involved in industrial processes. The purpose is here to study the dynamics of vortex rings in viscoelastic fluids. In the present experiments these structures are generated through a piston-cylinder system and the mechanical parameters for injection are the piston velocity and stroke, Vp and L. Three different viscoelastic fluids are used: two aqueous solutions of Zetag 7587 (0.04% and 0.1%) and a solution of PAM (0.1%). The Newtonian reference fluid is water. A fluorescent dye visualization technique is used and images are recorded using a HD camera (2160x2560 pixels, 50Hz). In addition to the video sequences obtained, image processing is used to determine the two main characteristics of the vortex ring: its motion and its size. As expected vortex ring in Newtonian fluid furls, progresses downstream by auto-induced effects and diffuses (as materialized by its diameter increase). The behaviour strongly differs for Non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids: first, the rolling up phase is delayed and occurs further downstream. Then the vortex ring actually furls and expends during its way downstream. Contrarily to non-elastic fluids and unexpectedly, the viscoelastic ring afterwards stops, unfurls and goes back, inducing a contraction in the radial direction. This new dynamics is studied through time evolution of vortex position and diameter for different fluids and flow configurations. The competitive influences of the fluid nature and elasticity and of inertia are emphasized

Improving tribological properties of cast Al-Si alloys through application of wear-resistant thermal spray coatings

Flame Spray Thermal Spray coatings are low-cost, high-wear surface-treatment technologies. However, little has been reported on their potential effects on cast automotive aluminum alloys. The aim of this research was to investigate the tribological properties of as-sprayed NiCrBSi and WC/12Co Flame Spray coatings applied to two cast aluminum alloys: high-copper LM24 (AlSi8Cu3Fe), and low-copper LM25 (AlSi7Mg). Potential interactions between the mechanical properties of the substrate and the deposited coatings were deemed to be significant. Microstructural, microhardness, friction, and wear (pin-on-disk, microabrasion, Taber abrasion, etc.) results are reported, and the performance differences between coatings on the different substrates were noted. The coefficient of friction was reduced from 0.69-0.72 to 0.12-0.35. Wear (pin-on-disk) was reduced by a factor of 103-104, which was related to the high surface roughness of the coatings. Microabrasion wear was dependent on coating hardness and applied load. Taber abrasion results showed a strong dependency on the substrate, coating morphology, and homogeneity

Weaving animal temperament into food webs: implications for biodiversity

Moran N, Wong BBM, Thompson RM. Weaving animal temperament into food webs: implications for biodiversity. Oikos. 2017;126(7):917-930.Recent studies into community level dynamics are revealing processes and patterns that underpin the biodiversity and complexity of natural ecosystems. Theoretical food webs have suggested that species‐rich and highly complex communities are inherently unstable, but incorporating certain characteristics of empirical communities, such as allometric body size scaling and non‐random interaction distributions, have been shown to enhance stability and facilitate species coexistence. Incorporating individual level traits and variability into food web theory is seen as a future pathway for this research and our growing knowledge of individual behaviours, in the form of temperament (or personality) traits, can inform the direction of this research. Temperament traits are consistent differences in behaviour between individuals, which are repeatable across time and/or across ecological contexts, such as aggressive or boldness behaviours that commonly differ between individuals of the same species. These traits, under the framework of behavioural reaction norms, show both individual consistency as well as contextual and phenotypic plasticity. This is likely to contribute significantly to the effects of individual trait variability and adaptive trophic behaviour on the structure and dynamics of food webs, which are apparently stabilizing. Exploring the role of temperament in the context of community ecology is a unique opportunity for cross‐pollination between ecological fields, and can provide new insights into community stability and biodiversity

Reconciling autonomy and beneficence in treatment decision-making for animal patients

This article explores how the concept of consent to medical treatment applies in the veterinary context, and aims to evaluate normative justifications for owner consent to treatment of animal patients. We trace the evolution of the test for valid consent in human health decision-making, against a backdrop of increased recognition of the importance of patient rights and a gradual judicial espousal of a doctrine of informed consent grounded in a particular understanding of autonomy. We argue that, notwithstanding the adoption of a similar discourse of informed consent in professional veterinary codes, notions of autonomy and informed consent are not easily transferrable to the veterinary medicine context, given inter alia the tripartite relationship between veterinary professional, owner and animal patient. We suggest that a more appropriate, albeit inexact, analogy may be drawn with paediatric practice which is premised on a similarly tripartite relationship and where decisions must be reached in the best interests of the child. However, acknowledging the legal status of animals as property and how consent to veterinary treatment is predicated on the animal owner’s willingness and ability to pay, we propose that the appropriate response is for veterinary professionals generally to accept the client’s choice, provided this is informed. Yet such client autonomy must be limited where animal welfare concerns exist, so that beneficence continues to play an important role in the veterinary context. We suggest that this ‘middle road’ should be reflected in professional veterinary guidance

Wrongful Life.

I argue that it is wrong deliberately to bring into existence an individual whose life we can reasonably expect will be of very poor quality. The individual's life would on balance be worth living but would nevertheless fall below a certain threshold. Additionally the prospective parents are unable to have any other child who would enjoy a better existence. Against the claims of John Harris and John Robertson I argue that deliberately to conceive such a child would not be to exercise the right to procreate. For this right is internally constrained by the requirement that any resultant child has the reasonable prospect of a minimally decent life