Medical paternalism is a common practice in Pakistan, it can be justified on the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence in certain clinical situations but in the research medicine it can pose many ethical implications. Islam is a communitarian religion but it provides full autonomy to the competent individuals. Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) codes of ethics have been formulated in line with the World Medical Association and it also states in its preamble that it follows Islamic bioethical laws. The PM&DC guidelines do not provide substantial system for obtaining consent from patients and the research participants. Neither does it comply with the Islamic bioethical laws nor with the International Declarations. The language used in the codes is ambiguous that can have different interpretations and there is no legal support from the civil law of the country. These factors supplemented with the cultural values have elevated the status of the physician and gives complete authority to them for medical decisions. Medical paternalism in research medicine can be a violation of the dignity and autonomy of the research participants. Patients are used as means and commodities rather than end in themselves. The research involves risks of harms no matter how low these risks are – the matter of concern is that research participants are involved in research accompanied with risks about which they are not aware.

Abstract Democratic politics is founded on local self-government, while promotion and advancement of local self-government rely on abundant local finance. There is a Chinese saying, ¡§finance is the mother of general affairs,¡¨ which refers to finance as the foundation for performing general affairs. As far as our country is concerned, local financial shortage has become a long-term issue. All the city and county governments do not have enough revenues to afford various expenditures. The unbalance between revenues and expenditures results in a wider and wider financial gap. Local governments cannot afford various expenditures or proceed with local infrastructure without debts or subsidies. Kaohsiung City has been in a difficult position of financial shortage in recent years as well, despite being a municipality. The growth rate of annual revenues is far lower than the increase rate of annual expenditures; on the other hand, the government becomes more and more dependent on subsidies every year. As a result, the financial autonomy is lowered, and the financial gap becomes wider as the government still has to owe debts to correspond to the expenditures. A comprehensive review is thus urgently needed, in order to come up with a set of complete and effective plans to improve financial balance and gradually restore sound and stable financial systems. This study investigated and analyzed the financial issues of Kaohsiung City through literature review, secondary data analysis, and empirical analysis, in order to have a solid understanding of the problems concerning the financial status, revenues and expenditures of Kaohsiung City, and to further probe into the influential factors that cause the difference between the revenues and expenditures of Kaohsiung City. It is hoped that this study can help understand the current local financial problems, find strategies to resolve the unbalance between revenues and expenditures, and draw up adequate solution plans, in order to solve the financial problems that Kaohsiung City is facing. Therefore, this study provides the following suggestions: strengthen collection of various taxes to increase treasury income; actively seek new financial resources to enhance self-governing financial power; encourage industries to make investment in Kaohsiung; strive to explore tourism resources to create a solid foundation for growth of tax revenues with prosperous economy; review organization functions and merge agencies with overlapping functions to cut financial expenditures; and encourage public participation in public infrastructure and revive economic activities of private enterprises.

Syfte:  Syftet med studien är att belysa och analysera hur revisorn arbetar för att eliminera risken för att göra väsentliga fel i årsredovisningen. Studien ska även beskriva och skapa förståelse för Revisorsnämndens och små revisionsbyråers arbete och ställningstagande till kvalitetssäkring. Metod: Utifrån ett hermeneutiskt synsätt och med en kvalitativ metod utfördes personliga intervjuer med tre små revisionsbyråer och Revisorsnämnden. Vid val av informanter tillämpades ett strategiskt urval. I studien har en abduktiv ansats använts.  Slutsatser: Åtaganden för att god kvalitet ska uppnås i revisionen är revisionsprocessen, rotation på revisionsuppdrag vart sjunde år, tillämpning av analysmodell och etiska normer, FAR SRS:s kvalitetskontroller, internt kontrollsystem och kvalitetssäkring från RN. / Revisionskvalitet, kvalitetssäkring, etik, moral, trovärdighet, självständighet, oberoende, objektivitet, opartiskhet

Levnadsvillkoren för individer med utvecklingsstörning har under de senaste decennierna förändrats till det bättre. Att känna sig delaktig i sitt liv och ha möjligheten att själv påverka livssituationen är viktigt för dessa människor. Uppsatsförfattaren ville med den här studien undersöka om skillnad finns i hur aspekter av delaktighet uppfattas av två grupper; individer med utvecklingsstörning och personer i deras omgivning. En enkätstudie genomfördes med en omarbetad version av ”The Arc’s Self-Determination Scale” (Wehmeyer, 1995).En rangkorrelation visade på samband mellan vissa frågeområden. Resultatet diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning och till svårigheter att undersöka upplevelser hos personer med utvecklingsstörning.

Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler (2003, 2006, 2009) contend that the government is justified in shaping certain choices of individuals to advance their well-being. In this paper, I argue that those who are committed to a robust notion of autonomy, which I call autonomy as authority, have good reason to reject the Sunstein-Thaler (S/T) argument for libertarian paternalism. I draw from Joseph Raz’s (1990) idea of exclusionary reasons and Daniel Groll’s (2012) conception of autonomy to argue that the S/T argument for libertarian paternalism fails to respect autonomy. I consider if soft paternalism could be called upon as a foundation for libertarian paternalism, but argue against this possibility. I conclude that an adequate defense of libertarian paternalism would need to directly attack the notion of autonomy as authority, but such an attack has yet to be mounted by the defenders of libertarian paternalism.

Con il presente lavoro si cerca di ricostruire il percorso storico del diritto del lavoro, dalle sue origini sino ai nostri giorni, prendendo come punto di riferimento il ruolo svolto dall'autonomia privata individuale. si potrà osservare come la volontà delle parti contrattuali incide profondamente sulla nascita, creazione e sviluppo del diritto del lavoro. Il diritto del lavoro postindustriale nasce come conseguenza delle rivoluzioni borghese ed industriale, periodo governato dalla volontà individuale plasmata attraverso il contratto. successivamente, l'autonomia individuale perderà la iniziale supremazia come fonte e sarà relegata all'ultimo gradino delle fonti del diritto del lavoro, dopo la legge e l'autonomia collettiva. Infine, nell'epoca attuale, si assiste ad una sempre più marcata ripresa dell'autonomia individuale che si presenta come uno degli elementi qualificanti delle attuali trasformazioni del diritto del lavoro. / This paper tries to describe the historical path of the labour law, starting from its origin to present days, taking the role played by the private individual autonomy as a point of reference. It will be possible to acknowledge that contractors will deeply affect the origin, creation and development of the labour law. The post industrial labour law is the result of the bourgeois and industrial revolutions, when the individual will was shaped through the contract. Afterwards, the individual autonomy ceases to have its supremacy as source and is put amongst the less important level of the sources of labour law, after acts and collective autonomy. Then, a present, individual autonomy is increasingly affecting the recent transformation of labour law and represent one of the most important elements qualifying the process of change.

Eutanasifrågan är ständigt aktuell i vårddebatten. En etisk granskning utgör grund för föreliggande arbete, där etiska begrepp och principer ställts i förhållande till eutanasi. Eutanasi definieras i praxis, såsom att en läkare avsiktligt avslutar patientens liv genom administrering av en dödlig läkemedelsdos. Syftet var att belysa etiska aspekter kring eutanasi. Fjorton vetenskapliga artiklar analyserades, vilka utgjorde grunden för resultatets två teman: etiska aspekter som talar för eutanasi och etiska aspekter som talar mot eutanasi. I resultatet framhävdes självbestämmanderätten som ett argument för att eutanasi var etiskt försvarbart. Självbestämmanderätten ansågs även vara applicerbar vid frågor gällande döden. Av studien framstod autonomi vid livets slutskede som komplext, då påverkan från närstående, sjukvårdspersonal samt avsaknaden av medicinsk kunskap kunde föranleda icke-autonoma beslut. Outhärdligt lidande framkom som ett starkt argument för att eutanasi var etiskt försvarbart, men flertalet ansåg dock att den palliativa vården är tillräcklig för att lindra lidandet. Känslan av förlorad värdighet föranledde patienters önskan om eutanasi, strävan efter den goda döden framkom ideligen i artiklarna. I Sverige bör kunskap om eutanasi sökas genom att studera forskning gjord i de länder där eutanasi är legalt, vilket kan ge en fördjupad insikt kring vilka etiska aspekter som lyfts i eutanasidebatten i dessa länder. / Euthanasia is constantly current in the health-care debate. An ethical review forms the foundation for the present work, in which ethical concepts and principles set in relation to euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined in practice that a physician intentionally ends a patient's life by administering a lethal dose of medicine. The aim was to highlight the ethical aspects of euthanasia. Fourteen scientific articles were analyzed, which constitute the basis of the result's two themes: ethical aspects in favor of euthanasia and ethical aspects spoken against euthanasia. The results highlighted autonomy as an argument for euthanasia, self-determination was also considered applicable to issues regarding death. Autonomy at the end of life is complex, the influence of relatives, medical personnel and the lack of medical knowledge could lead to non-autonomous decisions. Unbearable suffering emerged as a strong argument for euthanasia, though many felt that palliative care is sufficient. The sense of loss of dignity caused desire euthanasia, the pursuit of the good death appeared constantly in the articles. In Sweden, Knowledge about euthanasia could be provided by studying research done in countries where euthanasia is legal, which can provide a deeper insight about the ethical aspects raised in the euthanasia debate in these countries.

My project revolves around an idea of implementing a new propulsion technology as a key design element. Batteries have in many ways been a revolution for how we propulsion cars today. It’s one of the best, if not the best, alternative for future power sources in cars. The downside however, is the fact that it dies out after a given range, and as we have learned, a battery takes time to reload. Range anxiety is an issue and IBM is currently trying to solve just that. They will by 2030 launch a new type of battery that will more than double the energy density of some of the most cutting edge lithium ion batteries of today.   The IBM-solution for a new battery is called “Battery 500” and is an open system technology that uses common air as a reagent which upon recharge releases oxygen back to the environment.  The battery would pull in and use oxygen in a similar way to how an internal combustion engine draws in oxygen.

This thesis examines the concept of self-determination, as defined by competent international agencies. Analyzing the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the Estatuto de Ia Autonomia de las Regiones de Ia Costa Atlantica de Nicaragua (Autonomy Statute for the Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua), this work proposes that these two laws of legislation do provide a starting point for the Inuit and the Miskitu-nani to definitely begin to work towards achieving a degree of self-determination within the nation-states in which these peoples live. <p> After analyzing the historic development of the concept of self-determination and placing the Inuit and the Miskitu-nani in a theoretical framework of internal colonization, this work looks at the history and background of both peoples as well as at the final documents: the Law of Autonomy, the Nunavut Final Agreement and the Nunavut Law. Following a comparison and an analysis of these agreements, it is proposed that they represent an initial political step that, by providing some self- administration, potentially opens a road to self-determination for these Aboriginal nations âself-determination as defined by international agencies and accepted by most member states of the United Nations.

Community pharmacists are unique amongst professionals as they practice their profession in a commercial environment. This environment, where the dichotomy between the professional and business aspects of community pharmacy practice intersect, can place the professional objectives of pharmacy at odds with the business objectives. At the same time, ownership of community pharmacies is transitioning from pharmacist-owned and -operated establishments, to corporate-owned and -operated.<p>The objective of this study was to investigate whether ownership type influences the pharmacists, or in this case the pharmacy managers, organizational behaviour, role orientation and professional autonomy. Specifically, exploring whether ownership type (independent, franchise, corporate) impacts the professional, business and environmental (organizational) aspects of community pharmacy practice.<p>This study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A cross-Canada, self-administered postal survey of community pharmacy managers was conducted in the spring of 2007. Contact information was obtained from individual provincial regulatory bodies across Canada and a stratified, random sample of community pharmacy managers was compiled. Items centred on professional and employer authority, manager autonomy, level of managerial control, orientation to professional and business aspects of practice and the manager role, affinity to professional and business characteristics of community pharmacy practice, and innovation. The survey was followed by semi-structured, in-depth telephone interviews with select self identified respondents from the survey portion of the study.<p>The random, stratified sample consisted of 2,000 community pharmacy managers. Of the 2,000 questionnaires mailed out, 39 were returned as undeliverable. A total of 646 responses were received, for a response rate of 32.9 percent (646/1,961); while the response rate may not be ideal, the sample size was purposely made larger to account for the possibility of a low response rate. Seven interviews were conducted following the survey.<p>Ontario, as the largest province, had the most responses with 289 (44.7%), and the majority of respondents were male (393, 60.8%). The greater part of respondents indicated their sole degree was their Bachelor of Pharmacy practice degree (499, 77.2%). A larger majority of respondents were either the pharmacy manager (398, 61.6%) or owner (215, 33.3%). Just under half of respondents practiced in independent pharmacies (44.6%), while 35.4 percent practiced in corporate pharmacies and 18.4 percent practiced in franchise pharmacies.<p>As a whole, respondents were more likely to have access to information required for making clinical rather than business decisions. One quarter (24.4%) of respondents were never or rarely willing to go against company policies to carry out their professional duties, while one third (33.4%) were often or always willing to do so. Less than one-fifth (17.4%) of respondents had to follow policies(professional and business) developed by non-professionals, while 42.6 percent had to follow policies only with regard to business practices. The majority (89.5%) agreed that it is possible to be both a good professional and a successful businessperson.<p>Fifteen distinct constructs emerged regarding (1) professional and (2) employer authority, (3) manager autonomy, (4) decision-making, (5) managerial control, (6) professional characteristics, orientation to (7) professional and (8) business aspects of the manager role, affinity to (9) professional and (10) business characteristics of community pharmacy practice, (11) connection to the employer,(12) role conflict, (13) innovation, (14) bureaucracy and (15) manager requests. The main independent variable was ownership structure: independent, franchise, or corporate. In analyzing the independent variable by the above constructs, significant differences (p < 0.05) arose for all constructs except for three related to the professional nature of practice: professional practice standards, professional orientation and professional affinity. <p>Independent and franchise respondents were more likely to agree that the employer should influence practice standards than corporate respondents (p < 0.001). When exploring the level of autonomy respondents had in their pharmacy, significant differences arose among all three respondent types (p < 0.001); respondents in independent pharmacies felt they had the highest level of autonomy followed by franchise respondents and then corporate respondents, with more than one standard deviation difference between independent and corporate respondents.<p>Significant differences also emerged among the three respondent types with regard to the amount of control the respondent had in their pharmacy (p < 0.001); independent respondents felt they had the most control followed by franchise respondents and then corporate respondents, with almost one standard deviation difference between independent and corporate respondents. With regard to business orientation and affinity to business related aspects of practice, independent and franchise respondents were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to place higher importance on such activities than corporate respondents. Results of the interview portion of the study were used to bring a greater understanding to the survey portion of the research. <p>There were a total of seven interviews conducted, with each interview lasting between 30 and 90 minutes in length. A total of nine themes emerged from the interviews: (1) autonomy, (2) behaviour, (3) environment, (4) future, (5) human resources, (6) image, (7) incentives, (8) professional standards and (9) role as manager.<p>Finding of this study suggest that regardless of ownership structure, respondents emerge as professionally orientated and focused. Independent respondents appear to have more autonomy, control and decision-making capabilities than corporate respondents. Despite being professionally orientated and focused, corporate respondents appear cognizant of the restrictions placed on pharmacy practice in their pharmacy. On top of ownership structure, the dependent variables of age, gender, geographic region and years with employer appear to play a role in answers provided by community pharmacy managers.<p>As ownership of community pharmacy continues to transition from pharmacist controlled to corporate-owned, managers, owners and the profession must acknowledge the professional implications that may result. While this study adds to the community pharmacy practice literature, there is recognition that additional research is necessary pertaining to the dynamic nature and culture of community pharmacy practice.