Martin O'Connor

We argue that developing a human ethics application is an effective method for refining the intent and design of research studies. Our study aimed to investigate the delivery of end-of-life and palliative care nursing to residents of an aged care unit in a Multi-purpose Service/centre in rural Victoria. We used the ethics application process as a strategy to focus the study, and to refine the data collection and analysis techniques. It is our contention that the process of completing the application and gaining ethics approval is laborious; however, the intellectualising that occurs provides researchers with an opportunity to reflect upon and refine their studies, thus ensuring the ultimate success and timely completion of research investigations.

BACKGROUND: South Africa has the highest prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in the world yet many women have no access to clinic care or to physicians in their communities. The shortage of physicians trained in the diagnosis of FASD is even more severe. Thus there is a need to train community workers to assist in the delivery of health care.OBJECTIVES: This study reports on the effectiveness of training community workers to screen for a possible diagnosis of a FASD.METHODS: Community workers in Cape Town, South Africa were trained to screen for FASD in 139, 18-month-old toddlers with prenatal alcohol exposure. Children were assessed according to the salient characteristics of individuals with PAE using height, weight, head circumference, philtrum, and lip measurements according to criteria set forth by the Institute of Medicine. Screen-positive children were referred for diagnostic assessment to a pediatrician reliably trained in the diagnosis of FASD.RESULTS: Of the screen-positive children, 93% received an FASD diagnosis suggesting that the screening procedure was highly sensitive. Diagnoses included 15% with fetal alcohol syndrome, 23% with Partial FAS, and 62% with Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder.CONCLUSION: The use of community workers to screen for FASD represents a promising approach to effective diagnosis of children affected by PAE in areas lacking adequate medical resources.

Debugging is often the most time consuming part of software development. HPC applications prolong the debugging process by adding more processes interacting in dynamic ways for longer periods of time. Checkpoint/restart- enabled parallel debugging returns the developer to an intermediate state closer to the bug. This focuses the debugging process, saving developers considerable amounts of time, but requires parallel debuggers cooperating with MPI implementations and checkpointers. This paper presents a design specification for such a cooperative relationship. Additionally, this paper discusses the application of this design to the GDB and DDT debuggers, Open MPI, and BLCR projects. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

Contingent Valuation has been promoted as a catch-all approach to environmental valuation. While there have been numerous attempts in recent years to place monetary values on environmental amenities, studies have often reported a high frequency of protest, zero or inordinately large dollar-value responses. This paper reports on the results of a survey designed to obtain information on how people actually interpret questions of paying to avoid changes in their views of Rangitoto Island. Evidence suggests that the meaning respondents attach to the actual dollar values they offer or bid are inconsistent with the conventional logic that underlies Contingent Valuation. Instead, respondents might be seen to be expressing views about how things ought to be in society, and that it is simply not right to develop Rangitoto Island.

New Zealand fisheries management reforms are being conducted in terms of 'balancing' of interests and reconciliation of conflicting claims over ownership and use. Fisheries legislation seeks efficient levels of fishing effort, while establishing 'environmental bottom lines' for stock conservation; resource management law requires, alongside efficiency of resource use, consideration for species diversity and 'the intrinsic values of ecosystems' ; and the Treaty of Waitangi safeguards customary practices and life-support requirements for the Maori people. This paper analyses these antinomies in terms of contrasting ethical positions – utilitarian rationality, versus an ethic of reciprocal hospitality – and shows how fisheries management policies can be formulated on this basis.

Social context is generally thought toinfluence how humans act. Here we argue thathumans rarely accept the context as it isgiven, but rather undertake conscious actionsto make it favourable. The example chosen isfrom northern Cameroon, where nomad herdsmeninduce the sedentary farmers to trust them, bydifferent means: creation of interpersonallinks, exhibition of good behaviours byrespecting certain norms. Trust is consideredas an element of the context, necessary forthem to perform acts that present a certainrisk. An attempt was made to translate one ofthe traditional behaviours into a model,implemented in an artificial society:autonomous agents would make gifts in order tocreate an image of themselves in a group. Inthe simulations, a form of reputationstratification appears in time. One notes thatan agent can build the image it wants only ifthe part of the population that wants to beinvolved in the same dynamic is big enough. Asa conclusion, we suggest that althoughindividuals try to create consciously a contextfor their living, this is not just anindividual choice, but needs a commonbackground of rules, a context enabling contextcreation.