The Question of Intervention: John Stuart Mill & the Responsibility to Protect

John Stuart Mill’s “A Few Words on Non-Intervention” (1859) considers both the “sacred duties” owed to the independence and nationality of states and the possible exceptions to the general rule of non-intervention. In The Question of Intervention, Michael Doyle proposes to “comment on Mill’s arguments, defend some, condemn some, and refine others” (10). What emerges is a clear and well-structured overview of the ethics and legitimacy of intervention

ETIKA PERDAGANGAN DALAM AL-QUR’AN

Al-Qur‘an yang merupakan pedoman hidup umat Islam memiliki konsep yang sangat konprehensif (kamil dan syumul). Menetapkan nilai-nilai yang bukan hanya berhubungan dengan hablumminallah, juga hablumminanna,. salah satunya bidang perdagangan. Al-Quran menyebutkan kata perdagangan dalam beberapa kosa kata, tijarah, bai‟ dan syira‟. Beragam derivasi ditemukan dalam al-Qura‘an yang diturunkan dari kosa kata tersebut. Penyebutan ketiga bentuk kata tersebut dalam al-Qur‘an mengandung beragam kandungan makna. Yang salah satunya berhubungan dengan etika dalam melakukan perdagangan. Etika yang ditetapkan dalam al-Quran bertujuan terciptanya keridhaan yang hakiki dalam proses pemenuhan kebutuhan keinginan dalam bentuk perdagangan. Sehingga terhindar dari perdagangan yang ribawi dan zalim. Nilai-nilai yang berdimensi etika dalam al-Qur‘an harus dijadikan prinsip dalam membangun prinsip perdagangan yang berorientasi pada falah

COMPARATIVE ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENTS AND PARTENSHIP POTENTIAL FOR SEKOU POU NANM-YO AND ASIRANS COMMUNITY COUNSELING CENTER

This paper assesses the organizational capacity of two small Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Port-Au-Prince Haiti. Each NGO has a staff of under 15 members. At the time of the assessment, they were both in early stages of their development, with one in its first year of operations, and the other in its fifth year. Both embody grassroots, community organizations because of their connections to the communities in which they work, their willingness to travel to those communities, and their predominantly Haitian staff. The fieldwork included interviews, focus groups, and three months of participant observation and work with these organizations. In each organization their financial planning, infrastructure, organizational culture, and concept of professionalism were important keys to their potential for growth. Both organizations have strong, unique organizational culture, and strong commitment from staff members who truly believe in the impact of the services that they offer. However, both organizations have weak financial planning and challenges managing internal affairs. This paper assesses their organizations, and gives recommendations regarding their individual growth and potential for partnership

'Atrocity Suppression': an alternative to 'Humanitarian Intervention'

The concept of humanitarian intervention has been around for centuries but came to particular prominence in the mid-1990s on foot of Genocides in Rwanda and at Srebrenica, Bosnia. The shocking brutality and scale of these events and the steadfast failure of the international community to defend the victims propelled the issue of humanitarian intervention to the centre of international relations discourse and fostered a growing conviction that atrocities ought to ‘never again’ be allowed to proceed unhindered. Enhanced support for humanitarian intervention was reflected in the short-term in the form of interventions in Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone and in the articulation of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. The dawn of the twenty-first century, thus, promised to herald a new era in which humanitarian intervention would be undertaken in a more consistent and principled manner than ever before. Such lofty expectations have quickly receded, however, and when it has come to confronting large-scale crises and taking effective remedial action – in Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar – the option of putting force to work in defence of afflicted populations has, as before, been eschewed. Whereas the prospect of intervention has continued to be stymied by the age-old impediment of apathy, engagement has also been considerably constrained by a newfound antipathy towards the idea of armed rescue itself. If previously, forcible intercession had been considered a laudable notion constrained by inertia, self-interest, and concerns about legality, in the twenty-first century it has increasingly come to be seen as flawed in its own right. Such has been the disillusionment with the concept that it has scarcely been mooted as a possible solution to recent crises in Yemen and Myanmar.In this thesis, I argue that the terminology of ‘humanitarian intervention’ has played a key role in the erosion of support for armed rescue. I contend that the singular terminology of ‘humanitarian intervention’ has come to be used to denote several different models of action and that these models have become confused by virtue of semantic association. I argue, in particular, that the ‘classical’ model of humanitarian intervention, concerned with interceding in major atrocities, has come to be conflated with various ‘contemporary’ models of humanitarian intervention. In this way, classical humanitarian intervention has come to be tarnished by the failings and divisiveness of interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. Considering the need to differentiate classical humanitarian intervention as a unique concept, and responding, moreover, to the opposition of the humanitarian sector to the association of the word ‘humanitarian’ with military endeavour, I propose that a new name be coined to delineate the classical idea. I, thus, introduce ‘atrocity suppression’ and articulate the key benefits that will accrue from its adoption

The Global Luxuries Tax

This chapter proposes a policy to tackle the problem of global poverty, the Global Luxuries Tax (GLT). The GLT is a levy collected whenever a person, anywhere in the world, purchases a certain luxury good or service. The money collected will go towards a Global Poverty Fund to be used to alleviate the worst cases of global poverty. The tax is a miniscule percentage of the price of the good or service being purchased, so that the GLT raises money for the Global Poverty Fund by virtue of the high number of transactions taking place. The first part of the chapter will highlight two main pitfalls faced by any potential solution to the problem of global poverty, the Unintended Consequences Objection and the Implementation Objection. The second and third parts will introduce the idea of a Global Luxuries Tax, first in theory and then in practice. Examples of luxuries to be taxed by the GLT include air travel, financial transactions, texting on mobile phones, and procreation. In the final part some objections to the GLT will be considered, and appeased

Fundamentals of neurogastroenterology: Basic science

This review examines the fundamentals of neurogastroenterology that may underlie the pathophysiology of functional GI disorders (FGIDs). It was prepared by an invited committee of international experts and represents an abbreviated version of their consensus document that will be published in its entirety in the forthcoming book and online version entitled Rome IV. It emphasizes recent advances in our understanding of the enteric nervous system, sensory physiology underlying pain, and stress signaling pathways. There is also a focus on neuroimmmune signaling and intestinal barrier function, given the recent evidence implicating the microbiome, diet, and mucosal immune activation in FGIDs. Together, these advances provide a host of exciting new targets to identify and treat FGIDs, and new areas for future research into their pathophysiology

The Effects of Serotonin Receptor Antagonists on Contraction and Relaxation Responses Induced by Electrical Stimulation in the Rat Small Intestine

Background: The main source of 5-HT in body is in enterchromafin cells of intestine, different studies mentioned different roles for endogenous 5-HT and receptors involved and it is not clearified the mechanism of action of endogenous 5-HT. Objectives: To study the role of endogenous 5-HT on modulation of contraction and relaxation responses induced by electrical field stimulation (EFS) in different regions of the rat intestine. Materials and Methods: Segments taken from the rat duodenum, jejunum, mid and terminal ileum were vertically mounted, connected to a transducer and exposed to EFS with different frequencies in the absence and presence of various inhibitors of enteric mediators i. e. specific 5-HT receptor antagonists. Results: EFS-induced responses were sensitive to TTX and partly to atropine, indicating a major neuronal involvement and a cholinergic system. Pre-treatment with WAY100635 (a 5-HT1A receptor antagonist) and granisetron up to 10.0 µM, GR113808 (a 5-HT4 receptor antagonist), methysergide and ritanserin up to 1.0 µM, failed to modify responses to EFS inall examined tissues. In the presence of SB258585 1.0 µM (a 5-HT6 receptor antagonist) there was a trend to enhance contraction in the proximal part of the intestine and reduce contraction in the distal part. Pre-treatment with SB269970A 1.0 µM (5-HT7 receptor antagonist) induced a greater contractile response to EFS at 0.4 Hz only in the duodenum. Conclusions: The application of 5-HT1A, 5-HT2, 5-HT3, 5-HT4, 5-HT6 and 5-HT7 receptor antagonists, applied at concentrations lower than 1.0 µM did not modify the EFS-induced contraction and relaxation responses, whichsuggests the unlikely involvement of endogenous 5-HT in mediating responses to EFS in the described test conditions. Keywords: Electric Stimulation Therapy; Serotonin 5-HT1 Receptor Antagonists; Intestine, Smal

Anisotropic behaviour of human gallbladder walls

Inverse estimation of biomechanical parameters of soft tissues from non-invasive measurements has clinical significance in patient-specific modelling and disease diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a fully nonlinear approach to estimate the mechanical properties of the human gallbladder wall muscles from in vivo ultrasound images. The iteration method consists of a forward approach, in which the constitutive equation is based on a modified Hozapfel–Gasser–Ogden law initially developed for arteries. Five constitutive parameters describing the two orthogonal families of fibres and the matrix material are determined by comparing the computed displacements with medical images. The optimisation process is carried out using the MATLAB toolbox, a Python code, and the ABAQUS solver. The proposed method is validated with published artery data and subsequently applied to ten human gallbladder samples. Results show that the human gallbladder wall is anisotropic during the passive refilling phase, and that the peak stress is 1.6 times greater than that calculated using linear mechanics. This discrepancy arises because the wall thickness reduces by 1.6 times during the deformation, which is not predicted by conventional linear elasticity. If the change of wall thickness is accounted for, then the linear model can used to predict the gallbladder stress and its correlation with pain. This work provides further understanding of the nonlinear characteristics of human gallbladder

N‒substituted 5‒hydroxy‒pyrrol‒2‒ones based cholecystokinin‒2 antagonists as experimental anticancer agents for the treatment of lung cancer

Background: Cholecystokinin and gastrin are endocrine growths factors for certain tumours and CCK1 R and CCK2R receptors are ideal molecular targets for novel smart chemo‒ therapeutics with a beneficial overall profile due to their anxiolytic and antidepressant properties. Lung cancers are fuelled by gastrin and therefore, selective gastrin (CCK2 R) antagonists are ideal experimental drug candidates. Objective: Synthesis and evaluation of novel CCK antagonists, most preferred CCK2 / gastrin selective for the treatment of lung cancers. Methods: A fast and efficient synthesis of hydroxy‒pyrrolones in 2 steps from renewable biomass was performed. After initial radiolabelled receptor binding studies with hot CCK8, subsequent in vitro evaluation with isolated duodenum preparations confirmed CCK antagonism. Cell based studies using the MTT assay provided a candidate for in vivo xenograft models with nude mice. Rational drug design was supported by molecular modelling experiments. Results: Potent and selective CCK antagonists were prepared as stable crystalline materials in high yields. Gastrin antagonists were in vitro active on isolated tissue preparations and inhibited breast, colon and lung cancer cell lines in vitro with IC50 to 45nM for the privileged hydroxyl‒pyrrolone lead structure in the MTT assay for human cancer cell lines. PNB‒101, a fluorinated 5‒hydroxy‒5‒aryl‒pyrrol‒2‒one, gave up to 80% inhibition of tumour growths by oral administration in athymic mice transplanted with the human lung cancer cell line H727. Conclusion: PNB‒101 is a potential chemotherapeutic agent for CCK‒gastrin related cancers and entered preclinical development