Obligatory Actions Research Articles

Going above and beyond? Early reasoning about which moral acts are best

Philosophers and theologians have long distinguished between acts a good person is obliged to do, and those that are supererogatory—going above and beyond what is required. Across three studies (N = 796), we discovered a striking developmental difference in intuitions about such acts: while adults view supererogatory actions as morally better than obligatory actions, children view fulfilling obligations as morally better. This difference did not stem from differing views of what is obligatory—children agreed that supererogatory acts were not required. And this difference remained even when the very same actions were framed as either supererogatory or obligatory. These findings suggest that the intuition that supererogatory acts are especially morally good might be late-emerging and culturally specific.

The role-playing game to increase students' activity and engagement in the teaching process – A pilot study of research & development campaign

Background and purposeThe purpose of the study was to develop and test a simple role-playing game (RPG) dedicated to the generic drug product research and development (R&D) process and evaluate the level of acceptance of this teaching method among pharmacy students. Educational activity and settingStudents were divided into small groups and participated in the RPG adventures, which led to descriptive characteristics of the development process of the fictional drug product. The depiction of the process in the adventure considered the milestones and obligatory actions to achieve the R&D goal. FindingsThe voluntary survey was completed by 59% (n = 72) of participants. Over 90% of the respondents stated that the game helped them better understand generic drug development. The RPG application allowed a narrative description of the process with the possibility of students' involvement in drug development that mixed regulatory, analytical, and technological issues. SummaryThe application of the RPG allowed the creation of a narrative description of the process with the possibility of involving students in complicated problematics concerning drug development that mixed regulatory, analytical, and technological aspects of this process.

Ring - an instrument of diplomacy

    In the article entitled "Ring - an instrument of diplomacy" the author mentions and pays special attention to such diplomatic rituals as: ceremonies and the symbol of the ring. Their active use. The author also shows the views of well-known scholars, the obligatory actions of the seal in both religious and diplomatic relations, as well as how its mass use has evolved and settled over the centuries. Which is necessary for the implementation of any diplomatic action. The author presents in the article the special role of the seal in the diplomatic relations of the states, which enabled any diplomat to fulfill his diplomatic responsibility perfectly and individually and to experience it as a fulfillment of his obligations to himself. Has functions. It is also an important tool for understanding international politics and regulating diplomatic relations. Nevertheless, in diplomacy the ring can be used both formally and manipulatively.  The author shows in the article the three main views of ancient writers: 1) the custom of wearing a ring 2) making a ring on the left hand and 3) making an iron ring in triumph. Modern scholars distinguish two options: 1) Byzantine and 2) the ring of Muhammad.  The author focuses on issues such as: sending senators as ambassadors to a foreign state and the wearing of a gold ring by ambassadors during their mission, which they received from the state and was a symbol of the republic. Where we can read not only, over time for all senators but later for the Chief Magistrate and, finally, for the Ambassador wearing a gold ring.The author analyzes in the article, the exclusive right to wear a gold ring which included a special concept, it was for several centuries the exclusive privilege of senators, magistrates and ambassadors, while all other persons continued to wear the iron ring. Were covered. In addition to the ancient Roman ambassadors, the ring was sometimes associated with diplomacy and faith and mysticism.  References include in-depth scientific papers. Thoroughly introduces relevant and up to date literary materials to interested readers on the subject.

The role of Internet intermediaries in combatting cybercrime: Organisation and liabilities

Even though the internet is a very useful asset to everyday life, it can facilitate crime as it can beused to achieve unlawful goals. Stepping up against cybercrime effectively requires extensiveinternational cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the private sector, and betweenthe law enforcement agencies themselves. Internet intermediary service providers such as ISPs,hosting providers and search engine providers are in a special position when it comes to tacklingcybercrime: they have to balance carefully between protecting the rights of their users (such as theright to privacy or free speech) and exercising corporate responsibility to prevent and respond tocybercrimes. These providers are sometimes indispensable participants of a successfulinvestigation, because they are the entities that are in a position to provide data to law enforcementagencies and carry out blocking orders. One of the aims of this paper is to give a short overview ofthose voluntary and obligatory actions that the providers take in order to support the investigativeprocess in Hungary. Besides these actions that stem from the social responsibility and legallyenacted obligations, the providers may also be held liable for the actions of third parties (althoughthey may be exempted if certain conditions are met). The second aim of this paper is to analyze thetwofold nature of the position of intermediary service providers and to map the arising conflictsbetween their liability and their role as participants of cybercrime investigations.

A multi-criteria decision support framework for assessing seaport sustainability planning: the case of Piraeus

ABSTRACT Seaports will play a pivotal role in the low-carbon transition of maritime shipping, the policy landscape in which is currently being shaped. In this context, we introduce a multi-criteria decision support framework for seaport sustainability planning, to identify the competitiveness of interventions under uncertainty and evaluate the direction of the sector’s policy context in terms of required actions. The framework, based on the 2-tuple TOPSIS model, heterogeneous variables, and a Monte Carlo robustness analysis, is empirically applied to the port of Piraeus, Greece, to explore the most competitive interventions and their vulnerability to uncertainties. To inform port authorities and policymakers in the sector, we emphasise the added value of selected, inexpensive actions for energy efficiency and hybrid mobility. Furthermore, we find costly and seemingly obligatory actions under current European legislation, like cold ironing and LNG, to be robust and in the right direction if perception of non-financial risks is reduced.

Diagnosis of invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas using exosomal biomarkers

Background and aimsIncomplete surgical resection of invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) produces a risk of the subsequent development of complications which will require treatment with powerful drugs and adjuvant radiotherapy. Materials and methodsThe degree of invasiveness of NFPA can be established using biomarkers to help clinicians choose appropriate treatment for these patients. ResultsThis research explored transcriptomic and proteomic variations of non-invasive and invasive NFPAs, other forms of pituitary adenomas and evaluated exosomal genetic markers associated with these diseases. Increased expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) and its formation in exosomes (exo-MMP1) were correlated with the characteristic invasiveness of NFPAs. Changes in the expression of MMP1 in the exosome was synchronized with transduction of NFPA cells. Enrichment of MMP1 stimulated migration, growth and angiogenesis in tumors through the protease-activated receptor-1 signaling pathway in cells. ConclusionThe results revealed that MMP1 activity has obligatory actions in promoting tumor invasion and angiogenesis, and that the exosome-mediated regulatory pathway for MMP1 may be a novel therapeutic target.

On the Problem of Preclusive Character of Electoral Terms

The article considers one of the aspects of the temporal measure of the election process: the preclusive nature of the terms of electoral procedures (electoral terms).Determining the legal nature of electoral terms is of great practical importance. It is generally accepted that terms are preclusive if they must be strictly adhered to, i.e. these terms cannot be extended or renewed. Any actions that were to be committed during such a period have no legal consequences if they are committed after its expiration. Some election terms are recognized as preclusive by the law. The lack of a normative provision on the possibility of extending or renewing other election terms, together with the awareness that the election process is fast-paced and irreversible as well as the analogy with the terms recognized as preclusive, provides grounds for law enforcement bodies to extend this feature to all election terms. The article considers one of the aspects of the temporal measure of the election process: the preclusivenature of the terms of electoral procedures (electoral terms).Determining the legal nature of electoral terms is of great practical importance. It is generally acceptedthat terms are preclusive if they must be strictly adhered to, i.e. these terms cannot be extended or renewed.Any actions that were to be committed during such a period have no legal consequences if they are committedafter its expiration. Some election terms are recognized as preclusive by the law. The lack of a normativeprovision on the possibility of extending or renewing other election terms, together with the awareness thatthe election process is fast-paced and irreversible as well as the analogy with the terms recognized aspreclusive, provides grounds for law enforcement bodies to extend this feature to all election terms.Judicial practice demonstrates various approaches to understanding the nature of different election terms. Although their preclusive nature is declared, it is not followed in all cases. Therefore, there exists a problem to search for a criterion that would allow to divide the terms of the implementation of certain election procedures by the relevant subjects of the election process into preclusive ones and those being mandatory but extendable. To find such a criterion, we used a comparison of two similar situations related to passive suffrage during the national elections – the nomination of a candidate and deciding regarding his registration.The difference between the conditions of the corresponding procedures is that the candidate being he holder of passive suffrage acts on his own initiative, i.e. at his own discretion submits documents for registration, while the opposite party (election commission), registering the candidate, acts on duty, having imperative power to consider these documents and make decisions on them in accordance with the requirements of the law. This is the reason for the difference in the nature of the terms for the corresponding procedures.Thus, the election terms are preclusive if they are related to the actions taken by the subjects of the election process at their own discretion, including for the exercise of their own rights. At the same time, the terms set for the obligatory actions aimed at ensuring the rights of other entities, although mandatory (violation of which is qualified as being illegal), but they cannot be considered preclusive.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric cancer care: lessons learnt from a major paediatric oncology department in Turkey.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cancer care. An audit at a major Paediatric Oncology Department in Turkey was performed to determine its impact on paediatric cancer care. A comparison was made among the number of daily paediatric cancer patients, diagnostic and treatment procedures. The data for the ‘COVID-19 period’ (10 March to 31 October 2020) were compared with the corresponding ‘prior year control period’ (10 March to 31 October 2019). Moreover, presentation delay (duration between first symptoms to healthcare visit) was calculated for new cases. The findings indicate that the mean 34.7 outpatients per day during ‘COVID-19 period’ was significantly lower than the ‘prior year control period’ (52.2). There were 17.7 inpatients per day during the ‘COVID-19 period’ which was significantly lower than 23.8 inpatients per day during the ‘prior year control period’. Significant reduction in the daily mean number of patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and imaging studies during the ‘COVID-19 period’ was also evident. A negative trend in the diagnosis of new paediatric cancers was evident with 128 new cancer cases during the ‘COVID-19 period’, whereas the corresponding number was 212 for the ‘prior year control period’. The presentation delay (median 31 days) remain unchanged during the ‘COVID-19 period’. The findings suggest significant damage to paediatric cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate obligatory actions by oncology societies and policymakers can minimise longer term negative impacts.

Acoustic loading in modern city as negative factor of sustainable development

At the present time, acoustic contamination is one of the largest ecological problems, which people face with in a big city. It is impossible to eliminate road traffic noise, thus regulation and limitation of environmental noise pollution are important and obligatory actions. Noise can negatively affect human health, vegetal and animal world. Its harm depends on intensity, frequency and duration. Under the current conditions noise control is technically complicated, complex and economically wildly expensive. The study of noise level was performed in the territories, boarded on main traffic arteries of Kharkiv without rail transport and with rail transport. The studies showed that the roads with rail transport are 7-14 dB louder than the roads without it. The average noise level on highways of the city ranged 80-94 dB, besides on some of the highways the average noise level did not reach the statutory level at 100 m from traffic roads. Such noise load level in the urban environment requires implementation of solutions, directed at its reduction. The impact of the noise barrier and green planting on noise emission is studied.

Obligatory Actions, Obligatory Maxims

AbstractIn this article, I confront Parfit’s Mixed Maxims Objection. I argue that recent attempts to respond to this objection fail, and I argue that their failure is compounded by the failure of recent attempts to show how the Formula of Universal Law can be used to demarcate the category of obligatory maxims. I then set out my own response to the objection, drawing on remarks from Kant’sMetaphysics of Moralsfor inspiration and developing a novel account of how the Formula of Universal Law can be employed to determine the deontic status of action tokens, action types and maxims.

Economic justification of costs at inspection of industrial safety of high-rise marine structures

The task of technical and economic regulation within mutual international recognition of testing laboratories are considered. Codes and procedures within requirements of international ISO/IEC standards of a series 17000 for elimination of non-tariff barriers and interlaboratory exchange of experts in the field of high-rise marine construction are considered. In paper, the methods of assessment of formation of economically justified cost of works at inspection and monitoring of technical condition of high-rise marine wharf engineering port structure based on settlement and actual labor input were applied. For the countries of EU, data on the average cost of works of testing laboratory within a week have been taken as a basis. Such approach will be objective as considers only expenses on obligatory actions in the course of inspection of technical condition of port engineering constructions. The analysis of public results of financial activities of the accredited organizations allowed to calculate the main indicators of the size of necessary profit and overheads at observance of all requirements imposed to test laboratories including taking into account their future technical development. The offered practice corresponds to the general direction by mutual international recognition of independent testing laboratories and can be use in the future.

Rodzina wobec prawnych problemów ochrony zdrowia psychicznego. Wybrane zagadnienia

Health and mental illness remain a mystery. Medicine can in many cases indicate the cause of apparition of the dysfunction. Doctors can provide support to a patient experiencing a mental crisis. In many cases, similar afflictions can't be wholly explained by specialists. We still don't know an indisputable source of the occurrence of schizophrenia. We also don’t know why some patients get better when they take the drugs and why others patients don’t see a positive effect. However, observing from a social perspective the phenomenon of mental illness, we can certainly affirm that it affects not only the patient but also the person close to him or her family. Psychological problems require the involvement of loved ones. They also require education concerning psychopathology. Sometimes, a situation set the family up in particularly difficult dilemma. Disturbing patient condition, aggressive behavior, hallucination cause that a patient can become dangerous for yourself or others. In this situation, it's very often necessary to take obligatory actions against an ill person. This person claims to be healthy. Sometimes it’s necessary to use a force by personnel and to place the patient in a psychiatric hospital.

Las interrupciones del embarazo en la práctica obstétrica: recurso terapéutico vs aborto provocado

The issue of induced abortion, in general, and the called therapeutic abortion in particular, has generated a lot of concern for both the medical profession, as well as for all society. They involve important values for individuals and for the entire population. There is much confusion about the terms used to nominate the various actions that the obstetricians decide to implement in clinical situations that their patients present. This paper aims to clarify which pregnancy interruptions are not only permissible but obligatory actions to a doctor, and correspond to the goals of medicine, and which of them are really induced abortions. To do so, the purpose of the medical profession is analyzed and to whom the health professional should always provide their care. Performs a reflection on the difference between concept, criteria, and signs to distinguish them when talking about fetal viability and induced abortion. From that perspective, establishes the concept of induced abortion, seeking its necessary features and avoiding confusion with the criteria and signs used to recognize this reality in a particular case. Finally, follows which are the criteria and signs of a termination of pregnancy in agreement with the values of medicine.

Rumpole

Access control policies define what resources can be accessed by which subjects and under which conditions. It is, however, often not possible to anticipate all subjects that should be permitted access and the conditions under which they should be permitted. For example, predicting and correctly encoding all emergency and exceptional situations is impractical. Traditional access control models simply deny all requests that are not permitted, and in doing so may cause unpredictable and unacceptable consequences. To overcome this issue, break-glass access control models permit a subject to override an access control denial if he accepts a set of obligatory actions and certain override conditions are met. Existing break-glass models are limited in how the override decision is specified. They either grant overrides for a predefined set of exceptional situations, or they grant unlimited overrides to selected subjects, and as such, they suffer from the difficulty of correctly encoding and predicting all override situations and permissions. To address this, we develop Rumpole, a novel break-glass language that explicitly represents and infers knowledge gaps and knowledge conflicts about the subject's attributes and the contextual conditions, such as emergencies. For example, a Rumpole policy can distinguish whether or not it is known that an emergency holds. This leads to a more informed decision for an override request, whereas current break-glass languages simply assume that there is no emergency if the evidence for it is missing. To formally define Rumpole, we construct a novel many-valued logic programming language called Beagle. It has a simple syntax similar to that of Datalog, and its semantics is an extension of Fitting's bilattice-based semantics for logic programs. Beagle is a knowledge non-monotonic langauge, and as such, is strictly more expressive than current many-valued logic programming languages.

Legitimacy building in weak institutional settings: climate change adaptation at local level in Denmark and Norway

Local strategies for adaptation to climate change in Denmark and Norway are discussed. In both countries, the national impetus for local adaptation is weak; it is largely left to local actors to take the initiative. The dynamics of the different approaches to climate-change adaptation at the local level are illuminated. Using decision-making and learning theory, we present an analytical framework to examine four cases, two in Norway and two in Denmark, which represent two different responses, i.e. anticipatory actions and obligatory actions. We find that, by bringing in knowledge and resources and engaging in persuasive communication across sectors, the presence of institutional entrepreneurs in the adaptation process plays a key role in building legitimacy for anticipatory action in the municipal organisation.

A logic for reasoning about responsibility

One way to allocate tasks to agents is by ascribing them obligations. From obligations to be, agents are able to infer what are the forbidden, permitted and obligatory actions they may perform, by using the well-known Meyer’s reduction from obligations to be to obligations to do. However, we show through an example that this method is not completely adequate to guide agents’ decisions. We then propose a solution using, instead of obligations, the concept of ‘responsibility’. To formalise responsibility we use a multiagent extension of propositional dynamic logic as framework, and then we define some basic concepts, such as ‘agent ability’, also briefly discussing the problem of uniform strategies and a possible solution. In the last part, we show that our framework can be used in the specification of normative multiagent systems, by presenting an extensive running example.

Comparative assessment of irrigation sector reforms in Central and Eastern European countries of transition

At the beginning of the 1990s the period of transition from a central planning economy to a market economy started in all Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). During this period distinct economic difficulties and a rather critical situation have been observed. A lot of common issues in agriculture and water management were recognised. In irrigated agriculture the majority of CEEC faced similar problems: decrease of agricultural production, deterioration of irrigation and drainage on-farm infrastructure and breakdown of the previous markets. Everywhere in CEEC, the process of agricultural reforms as well as reforms in water management were started and developed to solve these problems. Reforms in agriculture and water management in different countries were initiated with respect to the local natural conditions, traditional farm practice, infrastructure particularities as well as institutional and legislative developments. During the implementation of the reforms new experiences were gained and new approaches developed. To learn from these experiences and to analyse the results of reform processes the international project on “Irrigation Management Transfer in European Countries of Transition” was initiated by the Ukrainian National Committee of ICID and embodied in the activities of the European Work Team on Sustainable Irrigation Management (EWTSIM), a working unit of the European Regional Working Group (ERWG) of ICID. The project was funded by the German GTZ and started in 2003. Eleven countries were involved in the project. The main objectives of the project are: prepare country reports using a common structure; perform comparative assessments of irrigation reform processes in the participating countries; work out recommendations for further developments. In this report the project coordinators present the first results of the comparative assessment of irrigation reform processes: analysis of the basic conditions and the initial situation in agriculture and water management practice at the beginning of the reforms assessment of the differences in agriculture reforms comparison and analysis of changes (in irrigation management practice, irrigation management transfer policy and institutional development, legislation and financing systems) and their results comparison of proposed scenarios for future developments. The comparative assessment of different reform processes is understood as a useful tool to identify obligatory actions in order to successfully implement a transformation policy. This procedure may also serve to identify advantages and disadvantages of its implementation as well as of definite stages or lacking stages of the transformation process. Internationally recognised advanced experiences in irrigation management transfer are additionally applied for the conclusions. On the basis of the comparative assessment the drafted lessons learned are presented. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On the relationship between the efficiency and the quality of the consultation. A validity study

The aim of this study was to determine how the medical performance of physicians during consultations is related to doctor-patient communication and satisfaction of patients, taking into account the actual length of the consultations. In addition, we studied the validity of the 'efficiency-per-time score' as a measure of competence. General practice trainees participated in a test situation in which they were confronted with six consultations with standardized (simulated) patients (SPs). All consultations were videotaped and evaluated by multiple observers, using national guidelines on medical content and on communication. The SPs scored satisfaction with the consultation using a satisfaction checklist. Forty GP-trainees were invited, of whom 34 participated. The main outcome measures were the number of obligatory actions undertaken by the GP-trainees, total number of actions undertaken, consultation time, efficiency-per-time score, patient satisfaction and quality of communication score, and the Pearson correlations between these measures. There was a negative correlation between the 'efficiency-per-time score' of the GP-trainees and the satisfaction of the SPs in five of the six consultations [Pearson r from -0.29 (P < 0.05) to -0.58 (P < 0.001)] and between the 'efficiency-per-time score' and the quality of the communication in three of the six consultations [Pearson r from -0.34 (P <.05) to -0.51 (P < 0.001)]. Short consultations with high technical medical efficiency seem to be related to bad communication and dissatisfied patients, thus questioning the validity of the 'efficiency-per-time score' as a measure of competence.

Attitudes Regarding Obligations to Assist an Older Parent or Stepparent Following Later-Life Remarriage

This study examines attitudes about obligations to assist an older parent or stepparent following later-life remarriage. The sample consisted of 189 men and 320 women who responded to vignettes portraying a later-life remarriage in which a family member needed assistance. Obligations were perceived to be greater to parents than to stepparents. Relationship closeness was an important consideration when making judgments about obligations to stepparents but not to parents. Men and women were equally obligated to their elders, and obligations to help stepmothers differed from obligations to help stepfathers and biological parents. We concluded that there is consensus that members of the younger generation have obligations to their elders, but there is not consensus about what tasks they should perform. The task receiving the least support was physical caregiving. Key Words: intergrational obligations, steppparents. This study examines attitudes about obligations to assist an older parent or stepparent following later-life remarriage. We defined intergenerational obligations in this study as perceived responsibilities to help family members. Perceived obligations between family members are important to understand because they serve as guidelines for individuals' behaviors and beliefs (Finch, 1987). What people do in families and how they make decisions about what to do are based partly on the cultural beliefs about what should be done. Although there is a large body of literature about intergenerational caregiving and exchange of support (e.g., Barer & Johnson, 1990; Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991; Lee, Dwyer, & Coward, 1993), relatively little attention has been paid to beliefs about obligations to provide support to older family members (Coleman, Ganong, & Cable, 1997). ATTITUDES ABOUT INTERGENERATIONAL OBLIGATIONS Recent demographic trends have increased the importance of understanding attitudes about intergenerational family obligations. For example, there are more older family members and fewer younger ones than in the past due to increased longevity and decreased reproduction (Bengston, 1996). As a consequence, there are fewer family members available to take care of and assist older kin. Another demographic trend is remarriage in later life. An estimated half million people over the age of 65 in the United States remarry each year (U.S. Census Bureau, 1995), and the number of older people who remarry is likely to increase. In addition to those who remarry after the death of a spouse, increasing numbers of middle-aged and older people are divorced and, therefore, eligible for remarriage. The combined demographic effects of increased longevity and more later-life remarriages potentially place a burden on the middle generation, sometimes called the sandwiched generation (Richards, Bengtson, & Miller, 1989). It is conceivable that middle-aged adults could have four generations of family members to whom they feel certain obligations (e.g., their parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren). Additionally, they may feel obligations to in-laws, stepchildren, stepparents, and others whom they perceive to be kin as a result of remarriage. Members of the middle generation may be in a quandary about how to meet the demands of these various kin. Although there are norms (i.e., statements of obligatory actions or evaluative rules) regarding some kin relationships, cultural beliefs are more ambiguous about other relationships, such as stepkin (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1991; Johnson, 1988). Remarriage may force family members to decide if certain individuals are thought of as relatives or not. Responsibilities of Adult Offspring to Their Parents Researchers generally have found widespread agreement that adult children should provide assistance to their parents (Brody, Johnsen, Fulcomer, & Lang, 1983; Hamon & Blieszner, 1990; Hanson, Sauer, & Seelbach, 1983; Lee, Netzer, & Coward, 1994; Rolf & Klemmack, 1986; Seelbach, 1978; Seelbach & Sauer, 1977). …

Moral dilemmas, disjunctive obligations, and Kant's principle that ?ought? implies ?can?

In moral dilemmas, where circumstances prevent two or more equally justified prima facie ethical requirements from being fulfilled, it is often maintained that, since the agent cannot do both, conjoint obligation is overridden by Kant's principle that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’, but that the agent nevertheless has a disjunctive obligation to perform one of the otherwise obligatory actions or the other. Against this commonly received view, it is demonstrated that although Kant's ought-can principle may avoid logical inconsistency, the principle is incompatible with disjunctive obligation in standard deontic logic, and that it entails paradoxically that none of the conflicting dilemma actions will in fact occur. The principle appears to provide the only plausible safeguard against deontic antinomy, but cannot be admitted because of its collision with considered moral judgments.