Being Insane in a Reasonable Way - On the (Ir-)relevance of the Content of Psychotic Delusions for Criminal Responsibility

The objective of the study was to develop the cognitive understanding of persecutory delusions. It was hypothesized that safety behaviours contribute to the persistence of persecutory delusions by preventing disconfirmation. It was further hypothesized that emotional distress is associated with aspects of the content of delusions. An investigation was designed to establish whether individuals with persecutory delusions use safety behaviours, and to test predicted associations between delusion content and emotional distress. A cross-sectional investigation was conducted on 25 individuals with persecutory delusions. A detailed assessment was made of the presence of safety behaviours, the content of delusions and emotional distress. All participants had used at least one safety behaviour in the last month, most typically avoidance. Higher levels of anxiety were associated with greater use of safety behaviours. New data were obtained on the content of persecutory delusions. Aspects of the content of the delusions were associated with levels of depression, self-esteem, anxiety and delusional distress. Individuals with persecutory delusions use safety behaviours. The findings may develop the understanding of delusion persistence, acting upon delusions and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. There are implications for cognitive interventions for psychosis. Support was also found for the hypothesis that emotional distress is linked to the content of delusional beliefs; it is speculated that prior emotional distress influences the content of delusions, and that delusion content in turn influences levels of emotional distress.

Reuse of Data in Smart Cities: Legal and Ethical Frameworks for Big Data in the Public Arena

Support for the enrolment of adolescents in research has been constrained by uncertainties in parental involvement, and the lack of clarity in the ethical and legal frameworks. We conducted a scoping review to examine articles that explored the opinion of scholars on the question of adolescent consent and conditions for parental waivers in research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) tool, we searched electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASSE, EBSCOHOST) and also reviewed the references of articles identified for additional relevant literature. We included full text English articles focusing on adolescent consent and parental waivers in SSA that were published between 2004 and 2020. We excluded studies focusing on healthcare, theses, and reviews. We reviewed a total of 21 publications from South Africa (n=12), Kenya (n=4) and Botswana, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe (n=1 each). We identified four broad thematic issues: the current position regarding parental waivers and self-consent; parental involvement in the consent process; the role of community approval or consent when adolescent self-consent approaches were used; and complexities and ambiguities in legal requirements and ethical guidelines on adolescent consent. Our findings show inconsistencies and ambiguities in the existing legal and ethical frameworks within and across different countries, and underscore the need for consistent and clearer guidance on parental waivers and adolescent self-consent. Harmonization of the legal and ethical frameworks taking into account varying contexts is critically important to ensure research on adolescents in SSA meets adolescents' specific unmet needs.

Within military operations, military physicians and nurses experience a dual loyalty to their professional identities. The moral frameworks of the medical and military professions are not similar, and require different...

BackgroundFor the potential benefits of trials to reach all that they should, trials must be designed to ensure that those taking part reflect the population who will receive the intervention. However, adults with impaired capacity to consent are frequently excluded from trials — partly because researchers are unfamiliar with the legal and ethical frameworks and lack the necessary methodological expertise. Researchers identified a need for guidance on designing more inclusive trials. Building on the NIHR INCLUDE initiative, we developed the INCLUDE Impaired Capacity to Consent Framework to help researchers design inclusive trials.MethodsThe framework was developed over five phases: (1) establishing the scope and content of the framework and adapting the INCLUDE Ethnicity Framework for this population; (2) scoping the relevance of the framework to different populations and piloting in a range of trials; (3) consulting people living with impairing conditions and carers to explore their views about the framework and identify missing content areas; (4) refining the framework; and (5) the development of an implementation toolkit of resources to support researchers using the framework.ResultsThe framework has two parts: a set of four key questions to help researchers identify who should be included in their trial, and a series of worksheets covering intervention design, recruitment and consent processes, data collection and analysis, and public involvement and dissemination. It is supported by a summary of the ethical and legal frameworks and a website of resources on capacity and consent. Implementation resources include infographics and animations, a library of completed frameworks, and facilitated workshops for researchers.The framework and toolkit were launched at a webinar (November 2022), with polling demonstrating an increase in attendees’ awareness about research involving adults lacking capacity. A post-webinar survey found that stakeholders viewed the framework and toolkit as valuable tools to facilitate greater inclusion of this under-served population in trials. The framework is available online: https://www.capacityconsentresearch.com/include-impaired-capacity-to-consent-framework.html.ConclusionsThe INCLUDE Impaired Capacity to Consent Framework and implementation toolkit can support researchers to design more inclusive trials and other types of research studies. Further engagement, including with funders who are key to ensuring uptake, and evaluation is needed.

Artificial Intelligence: A Game Changer for the World of Work

Advanced Treatments and Technology: Weaning and Deactivating (P09)

SummaryRecent years have seen a massive growth in ethical and legal frameworks to govern data science practices. Yet one of the core questions associated with ethical and legal frameworks is the extent to which they are implemented in practice. A particularly interesting case in this context comes to public officials, for whom higher standards typically exist. We are thus trying to understand how ethical and legal frameworks influence the everyday practices on data and algorithms of public sector data professionals. The following paper looks at two cases: public sector data professionals (1) at municipalities in the Netherlands and (2) at the Netherlands Police. We compare these two cases based on an analytical research framework we develop in this article to help understanding of everyday professional practices. We conclude that there is a wide gap between legal and ethical governance rules and the everyday practices.

Persecutory delusions: reminiscence of ancestral hostile threats?

The oil and gas industry operates in a complex and highly regulated environment where ethical considerations and legal compliance are paramount. This paper proposes an Ethical and Legal Project Management Framework specifically designed for the oil and gas sector, aiming to enhance project execution while ensuring adherence to ethical standards and legal requirements. The framework integrates ethical principles with legal obligations, fostering a culture of integrity and accountability within organizations. At its core, the framework emphasizes the identification and assessment of ethical risks throughout the project lifecycle. By incorporating ethical risk management into project planning and execution, organizations can proactively address potential ethical dilemmas, thus minimizing the risk of legal issues and reputational damage. Key components include stakeholder analysis, transparency in decision-making, and mechanisms for reporting unethical behavior. Legal compliance is another critical element of the framework. The oil and gas industry is subject to a myriad of local, national, and international regulations. The framework outlines best practices for ensuring compliance with environmental laws, labor regulations, and health and safety standards. This involves regular legal audits, staff training, and the establishment of compliance protocols to keep pace with evolving legal requirements. Furthermore, the framework highlights the importance of stakeholder engagement in promoting ethical and legal practices. Engaging with local communities, regulatory bodies, and internal stakeholders ensures that diverse perspectives are considered, enhancing decision-making processes and fostering trust. In addition, the integration of technology and data analytics plays a crucial role in supporting ethical and legal project management. By utilizing advanced tools for monitoring compliance and ethical conduct, organizations can enhance transparency and accountability. In conclusion, the Ethical and Legal Project Management Framework serves as a comprehensive guide for oil and gas companies striving to balance project efficiency with ethical integrity and legal compliance. By embedding these principles into their project management practices, organizations can achieve sustainable success in a challenging industry landscape. Keywords: Ethical Framework, Legal Compliance, Project Management, Oil and Gas Industry, Stakeholder Engagement, Risk Management.

This chapter augments established epistemologies of representation and epistemologies of emancipation by adding a third orientation, which can be termed epistemology of fiction. An epistemology of fiction deliberately generates scientific statements that deviate from actual empirical reality. The chapter is structured according to three main purposes of fictional inquiry: (1) juxtaposing fictional and counterfactual statements with empirical reality to reveal new insights and enhance our understanding of that reality (e.g., through ideal-type thinking or figurative imagination); (2) juxtaposing fictional/counterfactual statements against other scientific statements to test and refine the latter statements (e.g., via counterfactual reasoning, thought experiments, or simulation); and (3) drawing on fictional realities as objects of inquiry in their own right, typically in order to understand the impact of these fictional realities on current or future (nonfictional) empirical realities. The chapter concludes with some considerations regarding the fit of an epistemology of fiction to management studies as an academic field.

This chapter augments established epistemologies of representation and epistemologies of emancipation by adding a third orientation, which can be termed epistemology of fiction. An epistemology of fiction deliberately generates scientific statements that deviate from actual empirical reality. The chapter is structured according to three main purposes of fictional inquiry: (1) juxtaposing fictional and counterfactual statements with empirical reality to reveal new insights and enhance our understanding of that reality (e.g., through ideal-type thinking or figurative imagination); (2) juxtaposing fictional/counterfactual statements against other scientific statements to test and refine the latter statements (e.g., via counterfactual reasoning, thought experiments, or simulation); and (3) drawing on fictional realities as objects of inquiry in their own right, typically in order to understand the impact of these fictional realities on current or future (nonfictional) empirical realities. The chapter concludes with some considerations regarding the fit of an epistemology of fiction to management studies as an academic field.

Human rights are now the dominant approach to social justice globally. But how do human rights work? What do they do? Drawing on anthropological studies of human rights work from around the world, this book examines human rights in practice. It shows how groups and organizations mobilize human rights language in a variety of local settings, often differently from those imagined by human rights law itself. The case studies reveal the contradictions and ambiguities of human rights approaches to various forms of violence. They show that this openness is not a failure of universal human rights as a coherent legal or ethical framework but an essential element in the development of living and organic ideas of human rights in context. Studying human rights in practice means examining the channels of communication and institutional structures that mediate between global ideas and local situations. Suitable for use on inter-disciplinary courses globally.

Terrorism, disease outbreaks, and other natural disasters and mass casualty events have pushed health care and public health systems to identify and refine emergency preparedness protocols for disaster response. Ethical guidance, alongside legal and medical frameworks, are increasingly common components of disaster response plans. To systematically review the prevalence and content of ethical guidance offered for disaster response, specifically around crisis standards of care (CSCs). We systematically indexed academic literature from PubMed, Google Scholar, and ISI Web of Science from 2012 to 2016. We searched for peer-reviewed articles that substantively engaged in discussion of ethical guidance for CSCs. Researchers screened potential articles for identification and discussion of ethical issues in CSC planning. We categorized and cataloged ethical concepts and principles. Of 580 peer-reviewed articles mentioning ethics and CSCs or disaster planning, 38 (6%) met selection criteria. The systematic review of the CSC ethics literature since 2012 showed that authors were primarily focused on the ethical justifications for CSC (n = 20) as well as a need for ethics guidelines for implementing CSCs; the ethical justifications for triage (n = 19), both as to which criteria to use and the appropriate processes by which to employ triage; and international issues (n = 17). In addition to these areas of focus, the scholarly literature included discussion of a number of other ethical issues, including duty to care (n = 11), concepts of a duty to plan (n = 8), utilitarianism (n = 5), moral distress (n = 4), professional norms (n = 3), reciprocity (n = 2), allocation criteria (n = 4), equity (n = 4), research ethics (n = 2), duty to steward resources (n = 2), social utility and social worth (n = 2), and a number of others (n = 20). Although public health preparedness efforts have paid increasing attention to CSCs in recent years, CSC plans have rarely been implemented within the United States to date, although some components are common (e.g., triage is used in US emergency departments regularly). Conversely, countries outside the United States more commonly implement CSCs within a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis response, and may offer significant insight into ethics and disaster response for US-based practitioners. This systematic review identifies the most oft-used and -discussed ethical concepts and principles used in disaster planning around CSCs. Although discussion of more nuanced issues (e.g., health equity) are present, the majority of items substantively engaging in ethical discussion around disaster planning do so regarding triage and why ethics is needed in disaster response generally. Public health implications. A significant evolution in disaster planning has occurred within the past decade; ethical theories and frameworks have been put to work. For ethical guidance to be useful, it must be practical and implementable. Although high-level, abstract frameworks were once prevalent in disaster planning-especially in the early days of pandemic planning-concerns about the ethically difficult concept of CSCs pervade scholarly articles. Ethical norms must be clearly stated and justified and practical guidelines ought to follow from them. Ethical frameworks should guide clinical protocols, but this requires that ethical analysis clarifies what strategies to use to honor ethical commitments and achieve ethical objectives. Such implementation issues must be considered well ahead of a disaster. As governments and health care systems plan for mass casualty events, ethical guidance that is theoretically sound and practically useful can-and should-form an important foundation from which to build practical guidance for responding to disasters with morally appropriate means.

Over the years, electricity shortage has been a persistent problem in the socioeconomic development of Nigeria. Although the country’s primary source of energy has been non-renewable energy sources such as natural gas, crude oil, coal and lignite, these sources have negatively impacted our climate, through pollution and greenhouse gas emissions among others. As the world is rapidly shifting from non-renewable fuel sources to renewable energy sources such as: hydropower; solar; biomass; geothermal; and wind which are environmentally friendly to combat climate change, and provide energy security. Nigeria should not be left behind in this global shift. This article seeks to examine the laws, policies and institutional frameworks that promotes renewable energy in Nigeria while identifying the critical challenges that hinders its implementation and discussing the significance of promoting renewable energy for sustainable development. The finding reveals that Nigeria is yet to maximize the benefits of renewable energy sources despite the numerous frameworks that Nigeria has due to barriers militating against its implementation such as absence of a cogent and specific legal framework on renewable energy. Adopting a doctrinal legal research methodology, the study made some recommendations among others, the enactment of a comprehensive, specific and coherent legal framework on renewable energy in Nigeria which is of utmost importance, as well as strengthening the existing policies to enhancing the capacity of energy regulatory bodies.