Secondary Interest Research Articles

Personality traits and affective morbidity in patients with bipolar I disorder: The five-factor model perspective

In this study, we aimed to extend the present knowledge regarding the relationship of personality traits, as specified by the five-factor model (FFM), with the affective morbidity of bipolar I disorder. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the association of personality traits with affective morbidity, particularly with hospitalization for depressive, manic, or mixed episodes, in patients with bipolar I disorder. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory was administered to 83 subjects who showed a euthymic mood state. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was performed to identify associations between five domains of personality and the number of hospitalizations for affective episode(s) (manic, depressive, and mixed state). As a secondary research interest, we attempted to determine personality traits which would be significantly different between subjects with Affective Switch from mania into depression Without Euthymia (ASWE) and non-ASWE. The Neuroticism score was positively associated with the number of hospitalization for depression and the total number of hospitalizations Extraversion and Openness scores showed a negative relationship with the number of hospitalizations for depression and the total number of hospitalizations. We found that ASWE patients showed significantly higher Neuroticism scores than did the non-ASWE group. However, there was no significant association between the hospitalization for manic episode and any particular personality trait based on the FFM. This study reveals that personality traits based on the FFM may contribute to an increased likelihood of depressive morbidity and switch into depression.

Carbon Fiber Posts may Have Fewer Failures Than Metal Posts

The authors searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and Scopus electronic databases through 2004 for eligible articles. The authors also searched International Association for Dental Research conference proceedings and abstracts from 1996-2004 and contacted manufacturers and other known experts to identify unpublished studies. Studies had to be randomized or quasi-randomized clinical trials (RCT) evaluating failures of endodontically-treated permanent teeth with different post types. This systematic review included one clinical study related to answering the primary objective, and this study involved 200 patients, 100 receiving a fiber post and 100 receiving a cast metal post. A second clinical study was included as related to a secondary objective and that study involved 117 patients, with 60 receiving a composite resin restoration as the definitive treatment after placement of a fiber post and 57 receiving a complete coverage metal ceramic crown as the definitive treatment after a fiber post had been placed. The primary treatment of interest was the type of post used, metal versus non-metal. A secondary interest was the prosthetic status of the tooth, carbon fiber post followed by a composite resin restoration versus a carbon fiber post followed by a metal ceramic crown. The main measure used to evaluate treatment effectiveness for the primary objective (metal versus non-metal post) and the secondary objective (composite resin definitive restoration versus metal ceramic crown) was post failure. Regarding the study addressing the primary objective, the fiber post resulted in fewer failures (0/97) than the conventional cast post and core system (9/98) after 4 years of clinical service. The risk ratio (RR) = 0.05, and there was a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.00 to 0.90. This study was judged to be at high risk of bias. Root fracture was the only failure encountered in the cast post and core group. The results suggest fiber posts may be more successful than cast metal posts, but there were not enough RCTs to warrant a definitive recommendation.

Prevalence of allosuckling behaviour in Subantarctic fur seal pups

Non-offspring maternal care should be rare due to the high costs of raising offspring, particularly lactation, but nonetheless occurs in a variety of taxa. Misguided parental care, associated with recognition errors and/or inattentiveness by lactating females, has been hypothesized as an explanation for allolactation in mammals. In an extension of this hypothesis, we suggest that milk-stealing is parasitism instigated by non-filial offspring, and that maternal behaviour is of secondary interest in an evolutionary context if she is unaware of the interaction. We provide evidence for frequent milk-stealing attempts by Subantarctic fur seal ( Arctocephalus tropicalis) pups, including an example of sustained non-maternal care (> three months) for one pup during the confirmed absence of his mother, leading to a weaning mass equal to the population mean. We also present only the second account of fostering/twins in the species at this locality. We suggest that rather than the hitherto suggested rare and anomalous behaviour, milk-stealing behaviour (while not always successful) is common.

It's a Pirate's Life for Some: The Development of an Illegal Industry in Response to an Unjust Global Power Dynamic

This Note discusses the domestic and international economic effects of the recent surge of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and uses Somali piracy as a method of exploring conflicting ideological conditions that arise from globalization. In exploring the underlying motivations for this trend, it identifies a dichotomy between primary needs satisfaction within underdeveloped nations and the satisfaction of secondary interests in developed nations, and explains how globalization may be exacerbating the turn toward piracy. This Note first discusses the recent rise in piracy and then explores how the contemporary history of Somalia has engendered the upsurge. Next, it considers how piracy has influenced the economy of coastal Somalia, followed by a look at the ideological intersection between primary domestic interests and secondary global interests. Finally, this Note explores some of the international implications of the rise of piracy in Africa, and whether further expansion is a possibility.

Out from Behind the Shadows

Levinas's ethics and visual art: an analysis of relationship between them would appear to be futile exercise, one which could lead only to dead end. Levinas's understanding of art's relationship with ethics widely understood to be iconoclastic, and for good reason: Reality and its Shadow, Levinas's sole essay to deal with phenomenon of art, argues that art's representational and rhythmic nature will always distract us from ethics.' The vehemence with which Levinas rejects art summarized in one of his more provocative statements, where Levinas writes that there something wicked and egoist and cowardly in artistic enjoyment. There are times when one can be ashamed of it, as of feasting during plague (RS 142). From point of view of Levinas's 1948 essay, if we are to take ethics seriously then we should avoid art entirely. When it comes to considering visual art in particular, this relationship between art and ethics becomes even more problematic, since vision for Levinas totalizing embrace which refuses to acknowledge alterity of other, an encounter which is, for Levinas, ethics.2 In this context it surprising indeed to find that many of Levinas's works - dating from both before and after Reality and its Shadow - appeal to particular examples of art in terms which make it plain that works of visual art play an important role in ethics. Just how such apparently contradictory attitudes toward art can co-exist in Levinas's thought subject of this essay. Ethics Levinas's wariness toward art founded on primacy he accords to ethics, over that of ontology. According to Levinas, ontology, the comprehension, embracing of Being, begins its search for knowledge with philosopher as sovereign.3 In setting out to contemplate being, oncological philosopher implicitly claims to have and capacity for knowledge - even if that knowledge simply about limits of philosophy. In itself these implicit claims are not necessarily problem: Levinas's own philosophy draws attention to ontology's limits. Problematic for Levinas is, however, ontology's emphasis on comprehension of being, rather than on that which exceeds comprehension.4 The wisdom springing from ontological investigation, even if that wisdom concedes limits and imperfections of thought and knowledge, remains wisdom which is, as Levinas puts it, reduced to self-consciousness.5 As consequence of this return to oneself, Levinas argues that ontology (along with Husserl's intentional consciousness) an egology. For Levinas, Anything unknown that can occur to it [ontology] in advance disclosed, open, manifest, cast in mould of and cannot be complete surprise (OBBE 99). So while ontology may not claim to have perfect knowledge of being, whatever exceeds knowledge ontology does claim to have given secondary interest due to ontology's privileging of what known. For Levinas, in so far as ontology appropriates and grasps otherness of known, this traditional first philosophy philosophy of power (respectively: EFP 76, Levinas's italics; TI 46). This means that ontology a philosophy of injustice, enacting as it does form of violence against other: it - and this crucial - form of representation which reduces other to same (TI 46). In distinction to forms of representation of other (like that of ontology), in ethical relation my attention on that which exceeds knowledge. The other unpresentable and beyond being. In other words, Levinas's ethics concerned with my encounter with other.6 This encounter not with an impersonal object of knowledge or lack of knowledge, and it not an encounter with an idea or representation of alterity, it not an experience of something or someone over whom I have control. As an inversion of egology and assumption of attendant to representation, ethics is in laying down by ego of its sovereignty (EFP 85). …

The Association Between Alcohol Consumption and Morbidity and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Moderate alcohol consumption appears protective against cardiovascular events and mortality in community-based epidemiologic studies, but whether its consumption affects perioperative outcomes remains unknown. Therefore, the authors tested the hypothesis that alcohol consumption of 3 or more drinks per week improves postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. A propensity-matched retrospective cohort study. A major cardiovascular surgical institute, tertiary care teaching hospital. Data from 13,065 patients undergoing elective CABG surgery at the Cleveland Clinic were analyzed. None. Propensity scores were used to match alcohol users with infrequent/nonusers. From the matched subset, the relationship between alcohol use and the composite outcome (any major cardiac, renal, respiratory, infectious, or neurologic morbidity and mortality) was determined univariably with the Pearson chi-square test and multivariably using stepwise logistic regression. Estimation of the relationship between such alcohol use and hospital length of stay was of secondary interest. Patients who reported consuming at least 3 drinks per week experienced similar odds of the composite outcome (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] of 1.13 [0.96-1.34], p = 0.14) to infrequent or nonusers. In a secondary analysis, the hospital length of stay was unrelated to alcohol use (adjusted hazard ratio [95% CI] of 1.03 [0.97-1.09], p = 0.28). The present results showed that alcohol consumption was not associated with the risk for postoperative complications in patients undergoing CABG surgery. Alcohol abusers could not be separated in this study, and, based on previous literature, this result might not be applied to them.

Effect of hydrogen on the cracking mechanisms of cycloalkanes over zeolites

Hydrocracking of secondary interest refinery streams (high aromatic content) can yield valuable products for transportation and petrochemical industry. In order to promote the hydrogenation and cracking steps, a bifunctional catalyst (metal + acid function) is required. We have studied the effect of the operating conditions on cycloalkane (product of aromatic hydrogenation) ring opening over a monofunctional HZSM-5 zeolite, by focusing on the effect of hydrogen in the cracking mechanisms. Methylcyclohexane has been selected as the test reactant and the conditions used corresponds to temperature, 250–450 °C; space velocity, 0.7–1.1 h −1; pressure, 2–80 bar; hydrogen/methylcyclohexane molar ratio, 1–79; conversion, 0–100% (integral reactor). At these conditions the zeolite catalyses hydrogenation as well as cracking (bifunctional capabilities), thus the cracking mechanisms are directly affected by hydrogen as products (alkenes) and intermediates (carbenium ions) are saturated. The overall effect of rising hydrogen partial pressure is an enhancement of (hydro)isomerization and monomolecular cracking, that is, an increase of the yield/selectivity of methane, ethane, penthane and isoalkanes.

FINANCIAL AND NON-FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS IN PSYCHIATRY

A conflict of interests occurs when a doctor is unduly influenced by a secondary interest (i.e., a personal incentive) in his acts concerning one of the primary interests to which he is professionally committed (the welfare of patients, the progress of science or the education of students or residents). One specific variety of conflicts of interests has monopolized the attention of the scientific and lay press: the financial conflicts of interests arising from the relationships between doctors and drug companies. A large literature has described the many, sometimes subtle, ways by which a psychiatrist can be influenced in his prescribing habits or research activities by his relationships with the industry. Some empirical evidence is now available in this area. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the current debate on this issue is sometimes affectively charged, or fails to take into account that the interests of patients, families and mental health professionals and those of the industry may be often convergent. Other types of conflicts of interests are beginning now to be discussed. There is evidence that the allegiance of a researcher to a given school of thought may influence the results of studies comparing different psychotherapeutic techniques, thus colliding with the primary interest represented by the progress of science. Political commitment is also emerging as a source of conflicts of interests. Financial and non-financial conflicts of interests are widespread in psychiatric practice and research. They cannot be eradicated, but must be managed more effectively than is currently the case.

Science Galls Me: What Is a Niche Anyway?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] During many backyard barbecues, nature walks, and other outdoor activities, we are often approached by people fascinated by an odd bulb-like structure they have found on a nearby plant. They ask, What is this? These bulbs are actually specialized growths, galls, that have been caused by insects. Since so much natural curiosity surrounds these phenomena, why not use them to educate students about plant insect interactions? We've developed a lesson to investigate basic principles of ecology, more specifically niche partitioning, while using a jigsaw activity that explores galling insects' interactions with goldenrods. Not only does this lesson capture secondary students' interest and keeps them engaged in hands-on activities, the content addresses two Content Standards (of the National Science Education Standards) for 9-12 life sciences: (1) Organisms both cooperate and compete in ecosystems. The interrelationships and interdependencies of these organisms may generate ecosystems that are stable for hundreds or thousands of years (NRC, 1996, p. 186). (2) Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension has profound effects on the interactions between organisms (NRC, 1996, p. 186). Organisms often must compete for food and resources access in natural communities in order to survive. This is true especially for insects that live on the tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima). Hundreds of insects have overcome resource limitations by out-competing other herbivores and making use of the same plant in various ways. These ecological interactions take place at the level of the individual, the population, the community, and the ecosystem. We offer an introduction to principles of ecology, plant insect interactions, and provide a classroom activity that highlights niche partitioning by galling insects to help provide secondary science educators with a way to share and explore these interactions with their students. Investigating trophic relationships among goldenrod plants and gall inducing insects offers rich learning opportunities for high school life science classes (Heinrich et al., 2001; Sandro & Lee, 2006). Our investigation focuses on gall collection, gall identification, measurement skills, and observation. These skills support the development of content knowledge as well as scientific process skills such as prediction, developing and testing hypotheses, gathering empirical data, and inference. Understanding variation in resource use is directly related to resource partitioning. Using wildlife in classroom experiments improves content retention, problem solving, and decision making (Millenbah & Millspaugh, 2003). Because a single goldenrod plant often has multiple insects associated with it, and is common within most of the United States, goldenrods are an optimal choice for investigating niche partitioning. One way multiple species are able to interact in a single environment and limit competition is a strategy called niche partitioning (Albrecht & Gotelli, 2001). Ecologists approach the problem of quantifying niches by focusing on one or more aspects of competition between species. For example, there may be many different food sources, growth resources, or habitat regions available in the environment; yet, a particular species may only use a narrow range of the environmental resources available. There are two different descriptions of a species' niche, the fundamental and the realized. These can be thought of as the and realistic niches. The fundamental niche of a species includes all of the conditions in which it could live, all of the geographic regions it could occupy, and all of the potential food sources it could consume. This type of niche is typically very broad, because many species are capable of being generalists. More specifically, a fundamental niche is determined by the morphological and physiological capacity to deal with variation in the environment, in the absence of antagonists. …

Conflicts of interest, authorship, and disclosures in industry-related scientific publications: the tort bar and editorial oversight of medical journals.

Conflicts of interest, authorship, and disclosures in industry-related scientific publications: the tort bar and editorial oversight of medical journals.

Direct Democracy and its Critics: Support for Direct Democracy and ‘Stealth’ Democracy in Finland

In this article support for direct democracy and for stealth democracy in Finland is analysed. Stealth democracy represents a step towards a democracy in which there would be even less citizen involvement than in the representative form of today's democracy. The authors found that both options gained significant support among the Finnish electorate. Additionally, they found that it is mostly the same variables that contribute to the probability of citizens being supporters of either direct democracy or stealth democracy. It is the people with less education, who do not know much about politics and who feel that the current system does not respond to citizens' needs, that want change. The direction of change appears to be a matter of secondary interest. Political ideology affects which of the two options respondents favour. Right-wing citizens are more likely to favour stealth democracy. Citizens leaning to the left are more interested in direct democracy.

Emergency Medicine Career Choice: A Profile of Factors and Influences from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Graduation Questionnaires

This study sought to account for trends in medical student specialty choice by examining the importance of lifestyle factors. Emergency medicine (EM) is among several medical specialties classified as having a "controllable lifestyle." The primary objective of this study was to determine if medical students choosing careers in EM have a different profile of influences, values, and expectations from students choosing other specialties or specialty groups. Of secondary interest was how much lifestyle influenced students choosing EM compared to students choosing controllable lifestyle (CL) specialties. Using data from the 2005 and 2006 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) graduation questionnaire (GQ) supplemental surveys, we grouped responses according to desired specialty choice: EM (n = 963), CL (n = 3,681), primary care (PC; n = 3,191), or surgical specialty (SS; n = 1,694). The survey requires students to rate the influence of nine specific factors in determining their specialty choice: lifestyle, competitiveness, high level of educational debt, mentors and role models, options for fellowship training, salary expectations, length of residency training, family expectations, and medical school career planning activities. Using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and nonparametric statistics, we assessed responses among the four subgroups for differences in the importance attributed to these factors. A total of 13,440 students completed the two supplemental surveys of the GQ. Of these students, 9,529 identified a specialty choice that fell within one of the four comparison groups and were included in the analysis. Compared to other specialty groups, students choosing EM reported lifestyle and length of residency as strong influences, while attributing less influence to mentors and options for fellowship training. Students choosing a career in EM have distinctly different priorities and influences than students entering PC and SS. The profile of students who choose EM is very similar to those choosing traditional CL specialties. A more thorough understanding of the values and priorities that shape medical student career selection may allow educators to provide better career counseling.

Managing Conflicts of Interest in Continuing Medical Education: a Comparison of Policies

Altruism is a central underpinning of professional behavior; however physicians may face instances in which their secondary (financial) interest is in competition with their primary (patient health, research integrity, professional education) interests. Most medical institutions have developed policies to manage conflicts of interest, but chiropractic institutions, organizations and providers may not be well-acquainted with such policies. To compare the policies of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the North American Spine Society (NASS) regarding management of conflicts of interest in continuing medical education (CME). A qualitative review of published policies of the VA and NASS was performed. The policies of each organization were retrieved and reviewed, and data were entered into a spreadsheet for comparison. Content experts at each organization were contacted to provide additional information. The VA and NASS provide explicit, similar policies to manage conflicts of interest in CME. Proposed speakers are required to disclose the nature and value of financial relationships relevant to content of their planned talk/presentation. Procedures for committee review, mitigation of conflict, or prohibiting the participation of a given speaker have been described. Disclosure must be made to the attendees of an educational activity in printed materials and at the time of presentation. The VA and NASS appear similar in their policies to manage conflicts of interest in CME. The policies of the VA and NASS may provide examples for the chiropractic profession to consider in relation to chiropractic continuing education.

Medizinethik und ärztliche Interessenkonflikte

The medical community including dermatologists is challenged today and seems overtaxed by the new roads opened through the rapid developments of medical technology and the entering of economy into the medical profession. Hospitals are transformed into entrepreneurial units, i. e. health business asked to generate profit, and the physicians are sometimes trapped between budget and their ethical principles. The physician is offering health care services to clients, instead of empathy in serving patients. In this context the medical community should not just follow and resign, but strengthen and maintain the medical professionalism of the physician, despite the dictate of economy; the human and social mission of medicine should be maintained and carefully protected. The physicians themselves should separate their primary interest to serve the patient from other, secondary interests. The professional profile of the physician is to be defined again in an open debate, considering the new challenges, having the patient as a partner. Teaching focussed on ethics included in medical curricula and corresponding seminars would enrich and prepare the young physicians on all upcoming ethical conflicts in the medical profession.

Politics over markets: Integrating state‐owned enterprises into Chinese socialist market

AbstractInterest is growing in the reform of China's state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), both within and outside China. Many studies argue that the highest‐ranking mainland enterprises on lists of top global enterprises and national 100‐strongest companies are indicative of their successful integration into world and local markets. However, despite their high ranking, the strength of their performance is in doubt. In the socialist market situation of China, key business sectors continue to be dominated by the public sector, and SOEs control the commanding heights of the national economy. The urge for more market‐oriented changes aside, China's SOEs are still required to pursue and fulfil both commercial and non‐commercial interests and obligations. This article finds that SOE reform is more a reflection of local economic nationalism. Economic nationalism is the driving force behind the SOE reforms, with public administration and state economic management at the forefront and free market development as only secondary interest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Update on the Use of Peer Tutoring and Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders

This article presents an update of the research on the use of peer tutoring and students with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). Nine studies from 2001 to 2007 were identified in which students with EBD served as tutors and/or tutees to teach their peers academic and social behaviours. Five of these studies included elementary students, two included middle school students, and two in-cluded high school students. Only one study (i.e., Tournaki & Criscitiello, 2003) was implemented in the general education classroom. Peer tutoring continues to be implemented across levels of schooling with the majority of research being conducted at the elementary level in reading with continued secondary interests on the effects of behavioural issues and social skills. Clearly, there is still a need for this intervention to be validated in the middle and secondary classrooms, but specifically, with students with EBD in the general education setting.

The Future of the Orthopaedic Clinician-Scientist

There is currently a severe shortage of clinician-scientists, who fill a vital role in musculoskeletal care. One way to address this shortage is to recruit more MD-PhD students into orthopaedics. We analyzed data from a national survey of MD-PhD students to assess this potential. A total of 868 students from thirteen MD-PhD training programs were requested to fill out a multiple-choice online survey concerning their education and future goals. We achieved a response rate of 56.7% (492 of 868). Seven (1.4%) of the 492 respondents listed orthopaedics as their primary clinical interest, and thirty (6.1%) listed it as one of their three strongest clinical interests. Among the thirty respondents, seven (23%) were senior students, five (17%) were women, and none were minorities. In comparison, 33% of the 462 respondents in the nonorthopaedic cohort were women and 12.1% were a member of a minority group (p < 0.05). Among twenty-three students who had a secondary orthopaedic interest, only one-third had a primary surgical interest. Both the thirty with a strong clinical interest in orthopaedics and the others without a strong interest in orthopaedics showed similar intent on becoming physician-scientists (a score of 2.73 and 3.30, respectively) and an interest in an academic career (90.0% and 90.3%, respectively) (p > 0.05 for both). The orthopaedic group showed significantly greater interest in clinical care as a primary activity than did the nonorthopaedic group (63.3% compared with 30.7%; p < 0.0005). Eighty-seven percent of those in the orthopaedic group reported research as their most likely primary or secondary activity. This study suggests that there is a relatively strong interest in orthopaedic surgery (patient care and research) among MD-PhD students nationally, creating the potential to recruit approximately 100 new orthopaedic clinician-scientists every eight years (the average MD-PhD training period). Extrapolation indicates that there is the ability to double the number of orthopaedic clinician-scientists in the United States over the next fifty years. Therefore, efforts should be made to attract these students (especially women and those in underrepresented minority groups) to orthopaedic surgery. The study further suggests recruiting broadly-we should not be biased toward students late in training and just those with surgical interests.

Morality and Self-Sacrifice, Martyrdom and Self-Denial

George Kateb Morality and Self-Sacrifice, Martyrdom and Self-Denial MY CHIEF IN TEREST IS TO EXPLORE THE QUESTION, IS SELF-SACRIFICE A necessary part of morality? Think of a person who gives away millions of dollars to those in need while keeping millions for himself. He does not appear to sacrifice anything, but he acts morally by preventing or alleviating an appreciable amount of suffering. He could prevent even more by giving more millions away, but unlike some others who have discussed this theme, I have no wish to declare him immoral because he does not do so. Yet most people do not have the millionaire’s resources; for them to act morally they will on occasion have to engage in a measure of economic self-sacrifice beyond paying taxes. Then, too, giving away money is not the only kind of morally relevant selfsacrifice : a person may feel called on to risk or lose other good things besides wealth. (Although it is callous to say so, even a miserably poor person will have some moral responsibilities.) So let us say that even though self-sacrifice is not intrinsic to the concept of morality, it is in varying degrees often essential to acting morally. The fact that cannot be mastered is that there are always unaddressed wrongs in society or the world that should receive a moral response that requires some selfsacrifice . Countless are the occasions and situations in which moral persons might feel importuned by the possibility of self-sacrifice. At the center of my concern is the person who wants to be moral and who therefore would not initiate public or personal wrongdoing. But he might believe that his moral responsibility is limited to not taking the lead in wrongdoing and otherwise minding his own busisocial research Voi 75 : No 2 : Summer 2008 353 ness. Surely, however, moral responsibility extends to those who do not contrive and initiate actions or policies but take part only as followers. For that reason, I wish to concentrate on two main concerns in explor­ ing what it means to act morally: refusing to go along or cooperate with wrongdoing led by others, and performing some positive act of assis­ tance to those who are oppressed or in need. Morality means saying no or saying yes more often than we think it convenient to do so; some self-sacrifice might be morally required when we would like to think that it is not. However, when one abstains from harming another by selfish or passionate violation or disposses­ sion in personal life, inside or outside the law, one is simply being moral without self-sacrifice, no matter what amount of painful frustra­ tion one feels. I also want to emphasize that abstention from selfish and aggressive wrongdoing in personal life, morally desirable as it is, is only a part of being moral. My secondary interest is in self-denial, which I find especially pertinent in thinking about Christian teachings. Self-denial takes many forms, but in my account none ofthem is squarely in the realm ofmoral conduct; some forms are indirectly moral, while some forms are at or past the limits ofmorality. Martyrdom that is indirectly moral—perhaps that of Socrates or Jesus—may emerge from extreme self-denial. But in less extreme self-denial, magnanimity is perhaps the principal virtue. I will eventually attend to the distinction between self-sacrifice and selfdenial . I concentrate on Socrates and Jesus because they ask the most of people and back up their teachings with their lives. In the long view, they show a deep affinity, for all their cultural differences. Strictly speaking, neither dies in the course of refusing to act immorally. What really matters is that they both move moral thinking in a more moral direction, so to speak. They have an unsurpassed ability to sensitize people to the reality of moral questions, and they promote the suprem­ acy of moral goodness above all other values. Socrates is an exemplary moral hero, and Jesus is the most radical moral teacher. They see in complacency reinforced by gullibility the most durable antagonist to 354 social research moral understanding and action. They are also both martyrs for...

Debating or doing: Mutally exclusive or complimentary companions?

Debating or doing: Mutally exclusive or complimentary companions?

Recursive estimation method for predicting residual bladder urine volumes to improve accuracy of timed urine collections*

Clinical research studies often collect data via repeated measurements of collected urine. Unfortunately, the accuracy of timed urine collections is limited by the presence of a residual volume of urine remaining in the bladder following each timed void due to incomplete emptying of the bladder. This residual urine volume adds significant imprecision to the urine collection method, rendering an important and fundamental clinical research tool inaccurate. We present an unbiased method to estimate the residual bladder volumes via a mathematical model of the bladder process. Regardless of the substance of primary interest, the model leverages conservation of mass and conservation of concentration principles towards a substance of secondary interest in order to solve a system of recursive equations, resulting in our Recursive Residual Estimation method to predict the residual volumes at each time point. We verify the model on simulated patients and also investigate the sensitivity of the model to initial value specification.