Punishing Infanticide in the Irish Free State

This article explores sentencing of women convicted of infanticide offences at the Central Criminal Court between 1922 and 1949. A sample of 124 cases involving women who had been convicted of manslaughter, concealment of birth, or child abandonment/child cruelty, after appearing at the Central Criminal Court on a charge of murdering their newly or recently born infant, is examined. The sentences imposed in this sample mainly include short prison terms, suspended prison sentences, and conditional discharges/probation. It will be argued that the limited use of imprisonment, particularly in cases involving manslaughter convictions, indicates that Irish judges took a lenient approach to sentencing in cases of maternal infanticide. The court records show that a notable aspect of sentencing practice in these Irish infanticide cases is the use of non-penal religious institutions, mostly convents, as an alternative to traditional custody. The impact of patriarchal ideologies and pragmatic considerations on sentencing practice in cases of infanticide is explored, particularly in regard to the use of religious institutions. One of the questions considered is whether the approach to sentencing women convicted of infanticide offences was a unique product of the patriarchal, conservative, catholic, and nationalist philosophies of the Irish Free State, or whether sentencing practice in these cases reflects wider trends in the response to female criminality which have been identified elsewhere

Pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon Worship: A Semantic Study

This thesis pursues two aims. First, to reconstruct the pre-Christian meanings of 18 Old English word-families that belong to the semantic field of worship in the Anglo-Saxon literary record. The ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain in the fifth century; they began to adopt Christianity with the arrival of Roman missionaries at the end of the sixth century and the Christianisation process was politically completed by the end of the seventh century. This study’s reconstructive task aims to describe the cultural facts of religious worship during this target period of two-and-a-half centuries, when these settlers in Britain practiced traditional heathen cults, through comparison of the Old English corpus data with the linguistic testimony of other early Germanic languages, further interpreted in light of relevant historical and archaeological testimony. The second aim is to characterise how the Christianisation process affected vernacular terminology for religious worship at large, through considering the relative situation of the relevant word-families. It will be argued that Christianisation introduced new conceptual categories that practically re-centred the idea of ‘worship’ away from its pre-Christian basis in technical and communal procedure, together with an ideological binary that defined correct forms of worship against their opposites. It will further be argued that this process occurred in two distinct phases, each characterised by different priorities: the first phase was led by the missionaries, who had to present Christianity as a more effective new cult by the standard of pre-Christian religious norms; the second phase followed the establishing of a native clerical infrastructure, during which time vernacular terminology was more holistically renovated under the influence of the Christian text

Theoretical and material studies on thin-film electroluminescent devices

A theoretical study of resonant tunneling in multilayered heterostructures is presented based on an exact solution of the Schroedinger equation under the application of a constant electric field. By use of the transfer matrix approach, the transmissivity of the structure is determined as a function of the incident electron energy. The approach presented is easily extended to many layer structures where it is more accurate than other existing transfer matrix or WKB models. The transmission resonances are compared to the bound state energies calculated for a finite square well under bias using either an asymmetric square well model or the exact solution of an infinite square well under the application of an electric field. The results show good agreement with other existing models as well as with the bound state energies. The calculations were then applied to a new superlattice structure, the variablly spaced superlattice energy filter, (VSSEP) which is designed such that under bias the spatial quantization levels fully align. Based on these calculations, a new class of resonant tunneling superlattice devices can be designed

An evolutionary economic perspective on technical change and adjustment in cane harvesting systems in the Australian sugar industry

Australian sugar-producing regions have differed in terms of the extent and rate of incorporation of new technology into harvesting systems. The Mackay sugar industry has lagged behind most other sugar-producing regions in this regard. The reasons for this are addressed by invoking an evolutionary economics perspective. The development of harvesting systems, and the role of technology in shaping them, is mapped and interpreted using the concept of path dependency. Key events in the evolution of harvesting systems are identified, which show how the past has shaped the regional development of harvesting systems. From an evolutionary economics perspective, the outcomes observed are the end result of a specific history.Crop Production/Industries,

Calculating partial expected value of perfect information via Monte Carlo sampling algorithms

Partial expected value of perfect information (EVPI) calculations can quantify the value of learning about particular subsets of uncertain parameters in decision models. Published case studies have used different computational approaches. This article examines the computation of partial EVPI estimates via Monte Carlo sampling algorithms. The mathematical definition shows 2 nested expectations, which must be evaluated separately because of the need to compute a maximum between them. A generalized Monte Carlo sampling algorithm uses nested simulation with an outer loop to sample parameters of interest and, conditional upon these, an inner loop to sample remaining uncertain parameters. Alternative computation methods and shortcut algorithms are discussed and mathematical conditions for their use considered. Maxima of Monte Carlo estimates of expectations are biased upward, and the authors show that the use of small samples results in biased EVPI estimates. Three case studies illustrate 1) the bias due to maximization and also the inaccuracy of shortcut algorithms 2) when correlated variables are present and 3) when there is nonlinearity in net benefit functions. If relatively small correlation or nonlinearity is present, then the shortcut algorithm can be substantially inaccurate. Empirical investigation of the numbers of Monte Carlo samples suggests that fewer samples on the outer level and more on the inner level could be efficient and that relatively small numbers of samples can sometimes be used. Several remaining areas for methodological development are set out. A wider application of partial EVPI is recommended both for greater understanding of decision uncertainty and for analyzing research priorities

Traditions of English Liberal Thought: a History of the Enactment of an Infanticide Law in Ireland

Considers: (1) whether objections were raised to the reliance placed on the English Infanticide Act 1938 in the enactment of the Irish Infanticide Act 1949; and (2) the mitigating rationale contained in the 1949 Act

Criminalising neonaticide: reflections on law and practice in England and Wales

This chapter considers the unusual case where a woman is suspected of killing her newborn baby following a secret pregnancy and birth. The research on what we know about the circumstances and incidence of what has been termed ‘neonaticide’ is explored. The complexities of these cases in terms of their circumstances and the vulnerability of women who conceal their pregnancies are highlighted. Following this, the difficulties, from a legal perspective, that arise when seeking to prosecute women for homicide when their babies die following an unassisted concealed birth are considered. What we know about current criminal justice practice in these cases is also explored. Unfortunately, there is limited research on current criminal justice practice in these cases, and little is therefore known about the approach taken by the police, prosecutors and the courts in cases involving suspected homicides of newborns. The need for further research on the criminal justice response is highlighted, and the appropriateness of criminalising women and girls in these cases, particularly given their unique circumstances of vulnerability, is questioned

Practice activity trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia

© 2004 Brennan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to describe practice activity trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia over time. METHODS: All registered oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia were surveyed in 1990 and 2000 using mailed self-complete questionnaires. RESULTS: Data were available from 79 surgeons from 1990 (response rate = 73.8%) and 116 surgeons from 2000 (response rate = 65.1%). The rate of provision of services per visit changed over time with increased rates observed overall (from 1.43 ± 0.05 services per visit in 1990 to 1.66 ± 0.06 services per visit in 2000), reflecting increases in pathology and reconstructive surgery. No change over time was observed in the provision of services per year (4,521 ± 286 services per year in 1990 and 4,503 ± 367 services per year in 2000). Time devoted to work showed no significant change over time (1,682 ± 75 hours per year in 1990 and 1,681 ± 94 hours per year in 2000), while the number of visits per week declined (70 ± 4 visits per week in 1990 to 58 ± 4 visits per week in 2000). CONCLUSIONS: The apparent stability in the volume of services provided per year reflected a counterbalancing of increased services provided per visit and a decrease in the number of visits supplied.David S Brennan, A John Spencer, Kiran A Singh, Dana N Teusner and Alastair N Gos

More Than a Wing and a Prayer: Government Indemnification of the Commercial Space Launch Industry

Using rockets to launch communications satellites and other spacecraft poses risks to the uninvolved public, including persons and property under the flight path of the launch vehicle. The federal government plays a pivotal technical role during the actual launch by carrying out certain risk-related procedures, thus causing third-party risk to be jointly produced by the company and the government. In addition, under the Commercial Space Launch Act, the government partially indemnifies commercial launch companies for third-party damages. We compare the indemnification policy to optimal liability rules under public-private co-production of risk. Under modest assumptions, shared liability created by the indemnification rules decreases the incentive of both parties to take care relative to the optimum. If care were observable, it would be preferable for the government to fully indemnify companies that take due care. The role of the government as an agent for third parties may qualify these findings.government indemnification, liability, insurance, space transportation

Theoretical and material studies on thin-film electroluminescent devices

During this report period work was performed on the modeling of High Field Electronic Transport in Bulk ZnS and ZnSe, and also on the surface cleaning of Si for MBE growth. Some MBE growth runs have also been performed in the Varian GEN II System. A brief outline of the experimental work is given. A complete summary will be done at the end of the next reporting period at the completion of the investigation. The theoretical studies are included