Meaningful Consideration Research Articles

Towards an ‘ideal’ approach for concept generation

Conceptual design should contain two kinds of steps: divergent in which alternative concepts are generated, and convergent in which these are evaluated and selected. The aim of conceptual design is to develop promising concepts. This requires generating a wide range of concepts (to prevent overlooking valuable concepts), and evaluating/selecting these soon enough (to restrict their number from getting too large to allow meaningful consideration). Existing concept generation approaches are suggested to be used only after concept sketches are available. This raises a question—what should the ‘ideal’ approach be before concept sketches are developed? This paper proposes such an approach.

Contemporary Perspectives on Rational Suicide

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessContemporary Perspectives on Rational SuicideAndrew Edmund Slaby, M.D., Ph.D.Andrew Edmund SlabySearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Ph.D.Published Online:1 Oct 2000https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.51.10.1323AboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Freud is reputed to have said that the most difficult adult task is tolerating ambiguity. Toleration of ambiguity is demanded in the extreme for wrestling with issues at the borders of rationale suicide, physician-assisted suicide, and humane care. Where does compassionate management of individuals with terminal or severely life-restricting illness become assisting in suicide? James L. Werth, a research associate in the law and psychology program at the University of Nebraska, has created an interesting forum for experts from many disciplines with views pro and con on issues surrounding rational suicide.The presentation of opposing views begins with the book's two forewords. The first is by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, and the second is by Rita L. Marker, executive director of the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force. These discussions set the pace and establish the format of subsequent chapters written from varying professional perspectives and by special-interest advocates.The first two chapters are contributed by philosopher-ethicists with opposing views: Margaret P. Battin, professor of philosophy at the University of Utah (pro), and Daniel Callahan, former president of the Hastings Center (con). Subsequent chapters juxtapose pro and con views of individuals of comparable stature and experience in the fields of religion, sociology, law, medicine, nursing, psychiatry, psychology, social work, gerontology, grief counseling, death education, and disability rights advocacy.The final two chapters are written by survivors with opposing views: Patty Rosen, a primary spokesperson for Oregon's Death With Dignity ballot measure (pro), and Adina Wrobleski, a recognized expert on suicide grief (con). Charlotte P. Ross, past executive director of the suicide prevention center of San Mateo County, California, and current executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center, supplies the concluding remarks. It is hard to conceive of a more illustrious group of contributors to provide material for meaningful consideration of the subject.Werth specifically distinguishes rational suicide from aid in dying, and he offers several different definitions of rational suicide. In essence, they seem to reflect Jerome Motto's criteria for a rational suicide: the act must be based on a realistic assessment of the person's life situation, and the degree of ambivalence about it must be minimal. Rational suicide could occur with or without the assistance of a physician.The ability to prolong life in the face of many terminal illnesses has led to public concern about the process of dying, the method of dying, and the degree to which a person may have control over how he or she lives and dies. Contemporary Perspectives on Rational Suicide raises many questions and provides some answers. In the end, however, any of us who have worked with patients know that the answers are never simple. We live and we die with personal histories and values, in a social context, amid political and economic realities. Intensity of pain and severity of disability alone do not determine the decision to live or to die. This book provides a vehicle for compassionate clarification of some of the often not so readily apparent factors that affect that decision.Dr. Slaby is clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University and New York Medical College and past-president of the American Association of Suicidology.edited by James L. Werth, Jr.; Philadelphia, Brunner/Mazel, 1999, 236 pages, $64.95 hardcover, $29.95 softcover FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 51Issue 10 October 2000Pages 1323-1323 Metrics History Published online 1 October 2000 Published in print 1 October 2000

Control versus consent in community-based long-term care services: the role of economic empowerment

Professor Kapp responds to the article in this issue by Safewright and McAuley. He discusses the use of economic empowerment as a public policy strategy that is essential to a meaningful consideration of enhancing consumer autonomy and choice within the context of publicly-funded home and community-based long term care programs.

When Paradigms Clash: Comments on Cameron and Pierce’s Claim That Rewards Do Not Undermine Intrinsic Motivation

Cameron and Pierce’s (1994) conclusion that rewards do not pose a threat to intrinsic motivation is a misrepresentation of the literature based on a flawed meta-analysis. Their call to abandon cognitive evaluation theory is more an attempt to defend their behaviorist theoretical turf than a meaningful consideration of the relevant data and issues.

When Paradigms Clash: Comments on Cameron and Pierce's Claim That Rewards Do Not Undermine Intrinsic Motivation

Cameron and Pierce’s (1994) conclusion that rewards do not pose a threat to intrinsic motivation is a misrepresentation of the literature based on a flawed meta-analysis. Their call to abandon cognitive evaluation theory is more an attempt to defend their behaviorist theoretical turf than a meaningful consideration of the relevant data and issues.

China's Bilateral Treaties, 1973-82: A Quantitative Study

This article is a quantitative study of China's treaties concluded between 1973 and 1982. The concrete methods of the quantitative analysis are bilateral treaty frequency, treaty frequency by country groupings, treaty frequency by single partners, and treaty frequency by topics. The data upon which this study is based consist of 1395 bilateral treaties signed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), derived from several sources. It is demonstrated that treaties are a meaningful and valuable consideration in studying the foreign relations of China. Several tentative conclusions are reached: (1) the more realistic Chinese leaders are, the more likely they are to adopt foreign policies according to national goals; (2) we usually pay attention to uniqueness and peculiarity in foreign relations, yet quantitative treaty analysis aids in clarifying routine but important foreign relations; and (3) it is possible to analyze China's true foreign relations scientifically without being distracted by China's exaggerated political slogans. In this sense the methodology is applicable to other nations in the international system.

The Bimanese kris; Aesthetics and social value

Introduction Forged by armourers gathered around the courts of nobles and princes, the kris was the paramount prestige weapon of pre-independence Indo nesia. In societies where status was often inherited, these prized heir looms, made to the highest aesthetic standards, were visual symbols of genealogy. Many daggers were attributed with magical powers and individual personalities, and craftsmen took care to ensure that weapons matched the temperaments of their owners, an especially meaningful consideration in societies where the kris was deeply associated with the male qualities of life. Indeed, the masculine character of the kris appears to be as much a recurring theme in the Indonesian world view as the 'femaleness' of the textile (cf. Adams 1975:27; Du Bois 1960:60; and Gittinger 1976:20), and this weapon may rightly be regarded as one of the archipelago's foremost cultural artefacts.1 In republican Indonesia the demand for ceremonial weaponry de clined along with the power of the courts, and since the new leaders increasingly preferred international status symbols, the armourer's art suffered accordingly. Yet, despite the change in values and the decline in kris production, these weapons, albeit on a diminished scale, have re mained culturally significant. Because of its ancient associations with the male, the dagger is, for example, still worn as part of the groom's wedding costume in many regions of Indonesia, and it is kris of this kind that have often been inherited in the time-honoured fashion. Interest ingly, some modern bureaucrats and businessmen have acquired an antiquarian's taste for these weapons and are enthusiastic collectors the art of kris appreciation is still extant.2 It is the purpose here to examine aspects of the contemporary signi ficance of the kris among an eastern Indonesian people, the Bimanese of Sumbawa island.3 Of particular interest is the transformation of the

Environmental Health and Development in a Developing Country: Rwanda, a Case Study

This article reports the authors field investigation into the effects of economic development on environmental health in Rwanda. It was hypothesized that the placement of environmentally hazardous industry would not be given meaningful consideration in the course of the introduction of advanced technolgies. Rwanda is a poor overpopulated country with a subsistence economy whose development has been largely stimulated by international aid projects. Site visits to industrial and agricultural processing facilities revealed significant perticide exposure lack of respiratory protection from mineral dusts respiratory symptoms from organic dusts and sources of heavy metal contamination. The Rwanda experience suggests that 2 major economic activities are most likely to have a major environmental impact in developing countries: exploitation of natural resources and agricultural commercialization. Mining activity for example has produced both chronic diseases such as silicosis and general environmental degradation such as runoff to surface water sources. The use of agricultural petrochemicals is likely to produce acute and chronic poisoning among peasant farmers with little access to adequate health care. Even the smallest industrial installation can have widespread impact if the proper infrastructure for waste treatment is not established. In addition the technology required to test for environmental contamination is beyond the scope of Third World economies. Hazardous environmental exposures may have amplified or additive effects in the presence of compromised baseline health and sanitary conditions and inadequate health care facilities. It is concluded that Rwanda represents an example of the failure of economic developers to consider the far-reaching effects of changes in the work environment introduction of new agricultural techniques alteration of the rural-urban equilibrium and degradation of the air water and soil quality. There is a need to adapt models of environmental protection in industrialized developed countries to developing economies.

Functional Anatomical Analysis Applied to Appliances and Kitchen Work Spaces

Functional anatomy is an essential element of sound design of kitchen appliances (Meagher, 1978) and work areas. All age groups should receive meaningful consideration of their functional needs to avoid inclusion of mechanisms of injury in design concepts whenever possible.

The dry farming movement in retrospect

Definition is a major probIem in the story of the dry-farming movement. Basically the development may be broadly categorized as agriculture without irrigation in semiarid regions. There are, however, two difficulties implicit in this generalized statement: first, identification of the locale and, second, description of the requisite farrning procedures. That such a development achieved the status of a mc)vement, depended upon a how-to-do-it program which conlloted some assurance of success. Yet the persistence of uncertainties has remained the central concern in agricultural utilization of the PIains. Semiaridity as a locale for successful agriculture does not encourage optimism. Indeed, Americans only slowly recognized that there were gradations in the characteristics of their Great Desert which might warrant identification of some areas as semiarid. They were to learn that the first of the above-mentioned difficulties entailed highly localized recording of a wide range of data, which vary not only from year to year but from season to season. Precipitation may be counterbalanced by the rate of evaporation, lower in the northern plains as contrasted with that in areas to the south. The timeliness of precipitation and particularly the availability of moisture in the soil at seeding time have come to be recognized as more important considerations than the annuaI moisture fall. And the texture of the soil, whether sand, loam, or clay, contributes markedly to the capacity for water retention. Only loosely can we now refer to a line of semiaridity as a measure of prs ductive capacity which deEnes the Plains at approximately the 100th meridian. Only in general terms are long-range averages defining areas of fifteen-inch precipitation, its spring seasonality, and a 40 percent rate of evaporation seen to be relevant. Measurement of the frequency of deviation from the norms is a more meaningful consideration in reference to moisture factors, but it fails to reflect the differences of soil and topography which occasion crucial divergences in productivity. A growing awareness of the complexity of the problem of idenZ tifying cuItivable areas stimulated the beginning of ecological investi-

Discussion of Considerations in Choosing Statistical Sampling Procedures in Auditing

The basic theme of the Loebbecke-Neter paper is that the choice of an appropriate statistical audit sampling procedure depends upon audit objectives, the audit environment, and audit procedures. Under certain conditions of each of these three factors, various statistical estimators perform poorly. Instances of this poor performance were studied in an extensive empirical study by the same two authors.' While the NeterLoebbecke empirical study is as yet unpublished, many of its conclusions are referred to in the paper under discussion, and the authors were good enough to make a draft copy of the study available to us for purposes of this discussion. Based on the study conclusions, Loebbecke and Neter have presented in the current paper a suggested decision flowchart to aid the auditor in selecting various sampling procedures which they feel are appropriate in various specified circumstances. In discussing this paper, it is impossible to avoid reference to the empirical study on which its principal conclusions are based. At the same time, it would not be proper in this forum, prior to the study's publication, to begin an exhaustive analysis of the study's numerical findings. We will confine ourselves, therefore, to such general comments about the study and its findings as are necessary to a meaningful consideration of the present paper. In our view, the most important contribution made by this paper, and by the study on which it is based, is the dramatic demonstration that many classical sampling plans are subject to significant unstated risks in certain

A procedure for the analysis of intrinsic facial form and growth An equivalent-balance concept

T his report introduces and describes a method of cephalometric evaluation for in&viduals based on their own particular morphologic and morphogenetic facial patterns. References to statistical population standards are not required. The purpose of the procedure is to analyze the nature of anatomic fit among the different bones of the craniofacial complex of one subject at any age and through time. The method is presented in two parts: (1) a “form analysis” which deals with facial pattern, construction, and dimensions and (2) a “growth analysis” which is concerned with an interpretation of incremental changes. This procedure is based on four basic morphologic concepts which are summarized below. The concept of architectural equivalence. In any functional assemblage of bones, such as the craniofacial complex, certain key dimensions must necessarily correspond between these bones in order to provide proper fit. A prescribed portion of each bone represents a direct architectural (dimensional) counterpart of some segment of another bone (or bones), even though their respective functions and other anatomic relationships are different. These dimensional analogues among bones are termed “equivalents.“3~ * If any two such equivalents match (or nearly match), a dimensional balance is thereby produced and morphologic fit is provided. If a match does not occur, however, corresponding architectural imbalance results and affects not only their own fit but that of other contiguous bones as well. As will be seen, an analysis of the nature of growth increments is a meaningful consideration, since continued growth can (1)

The Plymouth Mental Health Service

No man is an island, and this is true of the Plymouth Nuffield Clinic. Before saying anything about it, however, I must first remind you of some of the changes that have taken place in the British medical scene over the past three or four decades, and then say something about the Plymouth Mental Health Service as a whole, because any meaningful consideration of the Nuffield Clinic would be impossible if it were studied in isolation.