Common Debate Research Articles

Transformation of Bromine Species in TiO2 Photocatalytic System

Bromine species have six oxidation states from Br(-) to BrO(3)(-), and their transformation between each oxidation state is complex and has been a common debate topic in photocatalytic systems where oxidants (h(+) and OH.) and reducers (e(-)) coexist. In this study, the lowest oxidation state (Br(-)) and highest oxidation state (BrO(3)(-)) were used as the starting compounds in a photocatalytic reaction to investigate the transformation of bromine species. The experimental results showed that oxidation of Br(-) to BrO(3)(-) by OH. and reduction of BrO(3)(-) to Br(-) by e(-) were concurrent. However, due to a higher reaction rate for reduction of BrO(3)(-) under a pH range of 3-11, oxidation of Br(-) was totally offset and hence, only the reduction of BrO(3)(-) was observed with hydrobromous acid and hydrobromite formed as intermediates. Apart from e(-), H(2)O(2), to a certain extent, was involved in the photocatalytic reduction of BrO(3)(-). A low concentration of organic matter (3 mg/L) reacted with hydroxyl radicals to inhibit combination of holes and electrons, hence promoting photocatalytic reduction of BrO(3)(-). It is important to note that pH had an influence on the transformation of bromine species, because it affects adsorption of reactants on the photocatalyst and controls the amount of aqueous H(+) and OH(-) ions present. Photocatalytic oxidation of Br(-) became dominant under a strong acidic condition (pH 1.5) while both photocatalytic oxidation and reduction were inhibited under a strong basic condition (pH 13.5).

The therapist–client relationship, computerized self‐help and active therapy ingredients

There is strong evidence that a good relationship between therapist and client is associated with positive outcomes after all types of psychological therapy. There is also strong evidence that computer-guided cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT), in which there may be little or no face-to-face contact, is associated with outcomes that are as good as outcomes after conventional therapy. These two sets of findings can be reconciled by reference to the common factors debate, in that common factors may be as important in CCBT as in conventional therapy; and by reconstruing the therapist-client relationship as a channel through which common and specific factors are brought into play.

Shifting Paradigms and Debates in the Management of Well-differentiated Thyroid Cancer

ABSTRACT The incidence of thyroid cancer has almost quadrupled over the past 30 years in the United States, a large number of which are less than 2 cm in size. There have been several paradigms in the management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer. The common debate in the past was total vs less than total thyroidectomy, however recently there is more interest in evaluation of fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules, and intraoperative management in relation to the central compartment. The debate about elective central compartment nodal dissection vs observation has generated considerable controversy in the recent literature. Postoperative follow-up with thyroglobulin and ultrasound has become the mainstay of postoperative evaluation. Radioactive iodine ablation has been used in selected patients with advanced or aggressive thyroid cancer. While risk stratification continues to be an important facet in the evaluation of thyroid cancer, low risk patients are rarely offered radioactive iodine ablation. Understanding of the details of the histopathology is crucial, especially dividing the patients between well-differentiated and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer. PET scanning has been useful in the follow-up of patients with poorly differentiated, insular or tall cell thyroid cancer. External radiation therapy is used in selected patients where gross residual disease was present or there are painful bony metastases. Considerable research has been undertaken to identify specific molecular markers and their applicability for targeted therapy. This manuscript describes the current debates and shifting paradigms in the management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer.

The contribution of the press to Europeanization of public debates

In our study we seek to understand how national political contexts and different media formats constrain the role of the press in contributing to a Europeanization of national public spheres. To single out the explicit role of different newspapers in seven Western European countries we systematically compare their commentating about European integration. The role of the press is analyzed with respect to the visibility of European issues and actors and to the synchronization of conflict lines across Europe. The results show that the further a country is integrated into the European Union, the less parochial is its press and the stronger it takes part in a common European debate. Compared to these political settings the influence of specific press formats seems to play a secondary role.

Beyond bubbles : the role of asset prices in early-warning indicators

Los precios de los activos se han convertido en tema comun dentro del actual debate economico. No obstante, mucho tiempo se ha dedicado a determinar la existencia o no de burbujas especulativas en los mismos, y no a estudiar a profundidad la posible informacion que estos precios contienen con respecto al comportamiento futuro de los mercados. Este trabajo es un esfuerzo en esa direccion, al buscar desarrollar indicadores de alerta temprana para Colombia, utilizando variables reales y financieras. Los resultados corroboran la hipotesis de que efectivamente existe informacion contenida dentro de estas series, ya que todos los indicadores (excepto el del precio de la vivienda nueva), presentan importantes desviaciones frente a su tendencia para el(los) ano(s) antecedente(s) a la crisis financiera de 1998-1999. Adicionalmente, se encuentra que el desempeno de los indicadores mejora cuando se incluyen conjuntamente el credito y la inversion. Cuando los indicadores estan encendidos, el papel de las autoridades relevantes debe ser mas activo en el mercado; no necesariamente en terminos de movimientos en las tasas de interes, sino en comunicarse con los agentes del mercado y promover la diversificacion de los portafolios asi como del uso de las tecnicas de administracion de riesgo disponibles.

Is Who Delivers the Treatment More Important than the Treatment Itself? The Role of The Therapist in Common Factors

In this article, we discuss the role of the therapist in change in couple and family therapy. We argue that the therapist is a key change ingredient in most successful therapy. We situate our discussion in the common factors debate and show how both broad and narrow common factor views involve the therapist as a central force. We review the research findings on the role of the therapist, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this literature, and provide directions for future research. We then use this review as a foundation for our recommendations for theory integration, training, and practice.

Forming Core Elements for Strategic Design Management: How to Define and Direct Architectural Value in an Industrialized Context

Complexity arising from increasing globalization of the marketplace and computer-based communication and information technology seems to create a growing need for simplicity, control and reliability. At the same time, contemporary consumer culture calls for customized and personalized goods. This evolution also leads to a demand for precise definitions of the values and qualities that can be used as managing tools in common building practice and it puts the traditional architectural design process under pressure. This paper outlines an approach to architectural quality as dealt with in the design process in an industrialized context. It also presents a way to analyse how and to what degree design processes are formed strategically according to specific architectural intentions (values). Through detailed interviews with professional architects, the way in which they manage the design process and how the architectural potentials are realized when dealing with modern industrial processes are examined. To analyse and structure the empirical data, a model was developed consisting of four approaches for action. The approaches are categorized along different dichotomies in order to point out different ways in which the offices can direct their design process (strategies) and reach particular end-results (goals). Two examples from the analysis are discussed according to the dichotomies and subsequently developed into a general classification focusing on strategy. A description is given of how the model was tested in the architectural education at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts—School of Architecture. The overall research project has two aims—to help offices identify the characteristics and specific methods of working with architectural quality in an industrialized context, and to generate a common debate about quality in industrialized architecture. It is hoped that by presenting a way to talk about strategy and architectural value, it will inspire further elaboration of the field of strategic design management.

The heart of the matter ? a conversation across continents

The heart of the matter ? a conversation across continents

International Perspectives

When echocardiography is necessary in the newborn period, it often is needed urgently. ( 1) However, staffing, organizational, and geographic limitations make it unlikely for pediatric cardiologists to provide 24-hour coverage for echocardiographic assessment of sick newborns in most centers. (2) Pediatric cardiology services also could be overwhelmed with requests for assessments of ductal shunting in preterm infants who have yet to develop clinical signs. (3) In many parts of the world, literature on the value of early hemodynamic assessment and increased access to ultrasonography equipment with improving image quality has motivated neonatologists to develop echocardiographic skills. As a result, echocardiography is increasingly considered an integral component of the assessment of the critically ill newborn. (2)(4)(5) An increasing number of neonatologists are undertaking assessments of functional hemodynamic status by echocardiography, with particular interest in volume of ductal shunt, (3) severity of persistent pulmonary hypertension, (6) and detection of low systemic blood flow. (7) In addition, some neonatologists have assumed the responsibility of excluding structural congenital heart disease in newborns presenting with cyanosis or a cardiac murmur. This review describes the principal applications of echocardiography by the neonatologist, with some practical guidance on method of assessment and interpretation of findings. Echocardiography is highly user-dependent. (8) The primary concern about neonatologists performing echocardiography has been the potential for misdiagnosis, particularly failure to recognize cardiac disease. There is scope for error in the diagnosis of both structural and functional cardiac pathology. Although errors in assessment of structural cardiac disease usually become evident over time, cardiac function changes dramatically during the neonatal period, so it is more difficult to assess whether interoperator discrepancies in functional assessment are due to observer error or true functional change. Some reports have suggested an unacceptably high error rate in the diagnosis of structural …

Factors Associated With Lumbar Puncture Success: In Reply

In Reply .— We thank Drs Molina and Fons for their interest in our article on resident success of lumbar puncture (LP) and for sharing their data regarding the width of the intravertebral space of infants in the sitting versus the supine position. Their ultrasound results may influence the common debate of sitting versus recumbent position. Position did not remain in our model for efficacy …

Stewardship Models of Pastoral Care, Counselling and Supervision: The Commonians Meet Ricoeur at Worship

The common factors debate in psychology and, more recently, marriage and family therapy is slow to erupt in pastoral care and counselling. This article introduces the common factors debate into pastoral science by proposing the Stewardship Models of Pastoral Ministry and Supervision. The model integrates common factors research and pastoral practice using Ricoeur’s “economy of the gift” ethic. The model’s focus is pastoral care, counselling and supervision in congregations, a unique community context in search of an adequate pastoral praxis.

A propos du "génocide vendéen". Du recours à la légitimité de l'historien

JEAN-CLÉMENT MARTIN About the "génocide vendéen” This paper is devoted to a French historiographical quarrel about the •genocide of the Vendée”, to use the words asserted by an historian, in 1985, who accused the French revolutionaries to have committed such a genocide in western France during the 1790’. The main interest of what could appear as a rather common debate is the great echo given to this thesis far from the historian community. Three conclusions can be driven from this case study. Firstly this event take place in the long story of the Vendée which had been always one of the "lieu de mémoire” in the French conflicting community, but changed the signification of history. Secondly, this quarrel was one of the new intellectual debates, involved in social commitments, at that time. Thirdly, it showed the lack of unity in the French society about the definitions of what ought to be an "historian” and "the history”.

Differences in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction between regions of countries and the impact on prognosis.

Differences in the incidence, prevalence of and mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) are observed between and within countries. These differences are believed to be related to differing levels of CHD risk factors and medical care. Medical care for acute myocardial infarction has changed significantly in the past decades, with the development of new methods for diagnosis and treatment. Although widely known, these technologies are not consistently applied for reasons of availability and cost, as well as local medical cultures and traditions. The outcomes of medical care for acute myocardial infarction are best measured by case fatality of those hospitalized. Since the early 1960s, case fatality has fallen to less than half that observed previously. This has occurred in the context of widespread use of coronary care unit monitoring, innovative pharmacologic agents and invasive reperfusion treatments. A common debate compares aggressive invasive management with more conservative pharmacologic methods. In this context, studies have produced mixed results with no clear advantage to one approach when both methods are available and effectively applied to appropriately selected patients.

The Exchange as Regulator

A common debate among securities lawyers, regulators and professionals is whether and to what extent the internationalization of securities markets makes it difficult for state or national regulators to regulate effectively. This paper argues that an appropriate response to internationalization would be to devolve more regulatory authority to the exchanges themselves. It first notes that competing exchanges should have strong incentives to provide disclosure, antimanipulation and other investor protection rules that investors value. Policymakers in the 1930's rejected that view in favor of a belief that exchanges pursue exchange members' interests at the expense of investors' interests. The paper argues, however, that the evidence on which such beliefs were based is seriously deficient. The paper then considers the extent to which exchanges compete with one another and the extent to which their rules seek to curtail competition among their members. It argues that many facially anticompetitive exchange rules may represent attempts to prevent free riding on the exchange's prices and other assets by nonmembers. Moreover, it notes that governmental regulators have not instituted systematically more competitive rules than have exchanges. On balance, the paper argues, exchanges likely were -- and would again be -- superior markets regulators compared to governmental agencies.

Forholdet mellem menneskesyn, paradigme, forforståelse og data i humanistisk forskning

Sigsgaard, E. (1992). On the relations between concept of Man, paradigm, preconceptions and data in human science research projects. Nordisk Psykologi, 44, 35–45. This paper focuses on the need for educational research to include the concept of Man and of society in the common debate and not to exclude them from project-reports. It also argues that the research-models should be made objects of research themselves, and that in projects on children and their relations to adults the views and insights of the children themselves should be recorded and analyzed, and not only those of the adults. Finally, the paper discusses the impact of a specific model of child-adult relations, which is more or less accepted as confirmed knowledge without having been made object of research itself.

Rent-seeking and the privatization of the commons

In this paper a small two sector model is developed and used to analyze the private versus common property debate in the presence of resource-using rent-seeking. We are able to demonstrate that, in contrast to the existing literature, there may be a gain associated with privatization even when rent-seekers spend all the scarcity rent on the lobbying activity. We also challenge the traditional result which states that privatization will necessarily lead to a reduction in the rate of renumeration to the mobile factor.

Sámi Reindeer Pastoralism as an Indigenous Resource Management System in Northern Norway: A Contribution to the Common Property Debate

ABSTRACTPastoralism is defined here as a system in which humanity mediates the relation between land and animals. The paper argues that the conventional idea of pastoralism as a pure relation between animals and land obscures indigenous resource management systems such as that of the Sámi, with its seasonal variations in both labour and pasture. This management is exercised through flexible social groupings which mediate the relation between the size of the herd and the capacity of the pasture. The fact that there is no historical evidence of overgrazing in a general sense in Sámi areas must be seen in connection with this management system.

Socialism and the Rule of Law

The rule of law is considered by common consent to be a 'good thing'. It is one of those essentially contested concepts every theorist, advocate, and political protagonist wants to claim for her or his own. This is not surprising, for in common political debate 'rule of law' is a shorthand expression of important values concerning protection from tyranny and what is less often emphasised equality.1 This equality has two dimensions of state and citizen, and of personswith no special treatment accorded higher classes or status groups as was the case in feudal society. The English law of persons which, as Maitland put it, at one time comprised nobles, clerics, monks, serfs, slaves, excommunicates and outlaws2 (not to mention children and women), came to know virtually only the abstract individual as bearer of universal legal rights and duties. This transformation was part of a broader social and ideological movement, for the rule of law is the fundamental legal component of the political philosophy of liberalism; and as with all liberal concepts, at one time it had a sharp progressive cutting edge. The difficulty is that formal equal treatment of those who are substantively unequal perpetuates, and may indeed compound, substantive inequality. This understanding might have been reached by classical philosophy; if justice consists in treating equals equally and unequals unequally, as Aristotle said in the Politics, then surely it is a logically inevitable conclusion that it is unjust to treat unequals equally. But this leap requires a prior determination: that inequalities of wealth, opportunities, and educational and occupational skills are contingent and are matters of societal concern. For much of human history those inequalities were regarded as inevitable, and indeed by some people as reflecting inherent and ineradicable personal differences. Attempts to interfere with them were seen charitably as fatuous or at worst as contrary to divine or natural law. It is one of the central moral insights of socialism, which has reoriented even the politics of its opponents, that such inequalities

Spinoza and Harrington. An exercise in comparison

In this lecture I shall offer a comparison between two assemblages of texts which figure in the history of political theory. The two were written by authors who can be identified as inhabiting distinct political systems and non-identical religious cultures; there is no evidence that they were aware of one another, and certainly they were not participating directly in any common debate. But they lived not far apart in time or space; they drew upon shared texts as diverse as the Bible and Machiavelli; they may be viewed as connected by some of the tissues binding western Christian culture in the later seventeenth century, and among these tissues figure certain concepts and procedures used in the construction of political and theologico-political theory. We are entitled, therefore, to ask how and why they made divergent uses of shared cultural resources. We may wish also to ask whether they, and the political and religious cultures to which they belonged, shared common. practical and theoretical problems, and whether these in turn arose from a shared history, political or social, cultural or material, in the common experience of what it is now fashionable to term 'Europe'. Pressures upon historians, on the one hand to treat 'Europe' as a given, on the other to connect the theoretical with the material life, are now so strong that they may be called hegemonic, and all hegemonies ought as a matter of course to be challenged. I shall confine myself to saying that the tracing of such connections must be subject to the rules of evidence and interpretation; when they can be found it is of greatest value to find them, but when they do not emerge we have not necessarily failed in the historian's endeavour. Our mission is to find what we are capable of finding, and to enlarge our capacities as we are capable of enlarging them. Professor Kossmann has done much — and the same may be said of other participants in this conference — to make the vocabulary and theory of politics in the Dutch Republic known to scholars who work in the language I am myself employing; and I am about to juxtapose — let me not numb you with reiteration of the word 'compare' — political treatises written by an author resident in London and Westminster with others written by one resident in Amsterdam and The Hague. Now it could have happened — as perhaps it did with John Selden and Hugo Grotius — that authors resident at these points shared in a medium of communication and in the languages transmitted along it; that they were writing to or about one another and engaging in a common discourse. But this does not seem to have been the case with James Harrington and Baruch (or Benedict) de Spinoza. Though they died in the same year (1677) I do not think they knew of each other, and

Multiculturalism and the common curriculum debate

(1985). Multiculturalism and the common curriculum debate. British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 35-56.