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Compelling Reasons (compelling + reason)
Selected AbstractsOutcome of long-term heroin-assisted treatment offered to chronic, treatment-resistant heroin addicts in the NetherlandsADDICTION, Issue 2 2010Peter Blanken ABSTRACT Aims To describe 4-year treatment retention and treatment response among chronic, treatment-resistant heroin-dependent patients offered long-term heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) in the Netherlands. Design Observational cohort study. Setting and intervention Out-patient treatment in specialized heroin treatment centres in six cities in the Netherlands, with methadone plus injectable or inhalable heroin offered 7 days per week, three times per day. Prescription of methadone plus heroin was supplemented with individually tailored psychosocial and medical support. Participants Heroin-dependent patients who had responded positively to HAT in two randomized controlled trials and were eligible for long-term heroin-assisted treatment (n = 149). Measurements Primary outcome measures were treatment retention after 4 years and treatment response on a dichotomous, multi-domain response index, comprising physical, mental and social health and illicit substance use. Findings Four-year retention was 55.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 47.6,63.8%]. Treatment Response was significantly better for patients continuing 4 years of HAT compared to patients who discontinued treatment: 90.4% versus 21.2% [difference 69.2%; odds ratio (OR) = 48.4, 95% CI: 17.6,159.1]. Continued HAT treatment was also associated with an increasing proportion of patients without health problems and who had stopped illicit drug and excessive alcohol use: from 12% after the first year to 25% after 4 years of HAT. Conclusions Long-term HAT is an effective treatment for chronic heroin addicts who have failed to benefit from methadone maintenance treatment. Four years of HAT is associated with stable physical, mental and social health and with absence of illicit heroin use and substantial reductions in cocaine use. HAT should be continued as long as there is no compelling reason to stop treatment. [source] Migratory movements of pacu, Piaractus mesopotamicus, in the highly impounded Paraná RiverJOURNAL OF APPLIED ICHTHYOLOGY, Issue 6 2007M. C. Makrakis Summary A mark-recapture study was conducted in 1997,2005 to investigate movements of stocked pacu, Piaractus mesopotamicus, in the Paraná River Basin of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Fish raised in cages within the Itaipu Reservoir and in ponds were tagged externally (n = 2976) and released in the Itaipu Reservoir (53.2%) and bays of its major tributaries (46.8%). In total, 367 fish (12.3%) were recaptured. In all, 91% of the pacu moved away from the release site; upstream movements were more extensive than downstream movements. Pacu traveled upstream a maximum of 422 km (average of 41.3 km) at a maximum rate of 26.4 km day,1 (av. 0.8). Downstream movements were limited in terms of number of individuals and distance moved. Fish released during the wet season moved farther than those released during the dry season, and feeding rather than spawning might have been the compelling reason for movement. Although fish passed downstream through dams, none of the marked fish were detected to have moved upstream through the passage facilities. Pacu showed movement patterns not radically different from those of other neotropical migratory species, but their migratory movements may not be as extensive as those of other large migratory species in the basin. [source] How Important Is Money in the Conduct of Monetary Policy?JOURNAL OF MONEY, CREDIT AND BANKING, Issue 8 2008MICHAEL WOODFORD monetarism; two-pillar strategy; cashless economy I consider some of the leading arguments for assigning an important role to tracking the growth of monetary aggregates when making decisions about monetary policy. First, I consider whether ignoring money means returning to the conceptual framework that allowed the high inflation of the 1970s. Second, I consider whether models of inflation determination with no role for money are incomplete, or inconsistent with elementary economic principles. Third, I consider the implications for monetary policy strategy of the empirical evidence for a long-run relationship between money growth and inflation. And fourth, I consider reasons why a monetary policy strategy based solely on short-run inflation forecasts derived from a Phillips curve may not be a reliable way of controlling inflation. I argue that none of these considerations provides a compelling reason to assign a prominent role to monetary aggregates in the conduct of monetary policy. [source] Brief communication: Is variation in the cranial capacity of the Dmanisi sample too high to be from a single species?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Sang-Hee Lee Abstract This study uses data resampling to test the null hypothesis that the degree of variation in the cranial capacity of the Dmanisi hominid sample is within the range variation of a single species. The statistical significance of the variation in the Dmanisi sample is examined using simulated distributions based on comparative samples of modern humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas. Results show that it is unlikely to find the maximum difference observed in the Dmanisi sample in distributions of female-female pairs from comparative single-species samples. Given that two sexes are represented, the difference in the Dmanisi sample is not enough to reject the null hypothesis of a single species. Results of this study suggest no compelling reason to invoke multiple taxa to explain variation in the cranial capacity of the Dmanisi hominids. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Research Review: Sibling placement in foster care: a review of the evidenceCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2007Karla Washington ABSTRACT This research review was undertaken to explore the current evidence pertaining to sibling placement in the foster care system. The review specifically addresses the following questions: (1) Which theories inform research on siblings in foster care? (2) Which designs and methodology are used to study brothers and sisters in out of home placement? (3) How do researchers define ,siblings' when investigating child placement? and (4) What are the findings of studies pertaining to siblings in the foster care system? This review suggests that incorporation of theory into research regarding siblings in foster care is quite limited. Additionally, few studies clearly state how siblings were identified and defined. A major strength of the research, however, is the diversity of design and methodology used. Overall, the evidence presented in this review strongly supports keeping sibling groups intact unless there is a compelling reason for separate placements. [source] Parsimony with and without Scientific JustificationCLADISTICS, Issue 2 2001Arnold G. Kluge Brower's (2000, Cladistics 16, 143,154) pursuit of a nonevolutionary cladistics, like those of others (e.g., Scotland, 2000, Syst. Biol. 49, 480,500), fails for lack of a scientific justification. His operational explication of parsimony does not necessarily rule out the use of other criteria on which to base the identification of a hierarchical branching pattern, nor does he give a compelling reason for why just that one kind of pattern is sought. In the absence of evolutionary theory, such as the descent of species, and the modification of character states, one from another, there is no scientific reason to seek congruence among character hierarchies whose origins, functions, and fates are not necessarily the same. Brower's operational parsimony is no substitute for phylogenetic parsimony, where requirements for ad hoc hypotheses of homoplasy are justifiably minimized, assuming only "descent, with modification." In addition to maximizing explanatory power, that most parsimonious cladogram is the least disconfirmed, most highly corroborated, hypothesis. [source] Trajectories for Greening in China: Theory and PracticeDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2006Peter Ho This edited volume argues that China's development poses the greatest ever environmental challenge for the modern world in terms of speed, size and scarcity. The volume is organized around the greening of the Chinese state and society: can the inclusion of sustainable development principles into governance, management and daily practices by social actors lead to sustainable development per se? This introduction sketches the different scholarly camps around greening and sustainable development, ranging from sceptical to radical environmentalism. The contributions demonstrate that China is showing clear signs of greening as new institutions and regulations are created, environmental awareness increases and green technologies are implemented. However, the question remains whether this is sufficient to effectuate long-term sustainable development. The key factors here are the sheer speed of China's economic growth, the size of its population, and the relative scarcity of its natural and mineral resources. Chinese development presents compelling reasons for rethinking the viability of greening. It is necessary to move beyond both alarmist visions of an environmental doomsday, and optimistic notions that incremental changes in technology, institutions and lifestyles are sufficient for sustainability. It might be more fruitful , and not only for China , to consider ,precautionary' rather than ,absolute' limits to growth. [source] Functional subdivision of feline spinal interneurons in reflex pathways from group Ib and II muscle afferents; an updateEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 6 2010Elzbieta Jankowska Abstract A first step towards understanding the operation of a neural network is identification of the populations of neurons that contribute to it. Our aim here is to reassess the basis for subdivision of adult mammalian spinal interneurons that mediate reflex actions from tendon organs (group Ib afferents) and muscle spindle secondary endings (group II afferents) into separate populations. Re-examining the existing experimental data, we find no compelling reasons to consider intermediate zone interneurons with input from group Ib afferents to be distinct from those co-excited by group II afferents. Similar patterns of distributed input have been found in subpopulations that project ipsilaterally, contralaterally or bilaterally, and in both excitatory and inhibitory interneurons; differences in input from group I and II afferents to individual interneurons showed intra- rather than inter-population variation. Patterns of reflex actions evoked from group Ib and II afferents and task-dependent changes in these actions, e.g. during locomotion, may likewise be compatible with mediation by premotor interneurons integrating information from both group I and II afferents. Pathological changes after injuries of the central nervous system in humans and the lineage of different subclasses of embryonic interneurons may therefore be analyzed without need to consider subdivision of adult intermediate zone interneurons into subpopulations with group Ib or group II input. We propose renaming these neurons ,group I/II interneurons'. [source] A study of cross-border outshopping determinants: mediating effect of outshopping enjoymentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 6 2009Chiquan Guo Abstract Outshopping has been studied in the marketing literature for years, and research has identified some compelling reasons for people to shop out of their home country. Outshoppers literally go extra miles to outshop for better quality and assortment of merchandise, higher quality of personal service, more pleasant shopping atmospherics, and more competitive prices. In this study, we propose that outshopping enjoyment is not only directly related to outshopping, as are the earlier outshopping determinants, but mediate the relationships between those cognitive determinants and outshopping behaviour. In addition, we explore how patriotism and terror would affect people's outshopping frequency. Managerial and research implications are also discussed. [source] Disability, Respect and JusticeJOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2010LINDA BARCLAY abstract Recent political philosophers have argued that criteria of social justice that defend distributing resources to individuals on the basis of the disadvantages of their natural endowments are disrespectful and disparaging. Clearly influenced by the social model of disability, Elizabeth Anderson and Thomas Pogge have recently defended criteria of social justice that distribute resources to people with disabilities on the basis of eliminating discrimination, not making up for so-called natural disadvantage. I argue that it is implausible to suggest that just entitlements for people with disability can be secured solely by eliminating discrimination. Resources for people with disabilities must sometimes be justified on the grounds that some natural endowments pose disadvantages even in societies that do not discriminate. I argue further that there need be nothing at all disrespectful about this way of explaining disadvantage; nor have proponents of the social model of disability or political philosophers provided any compelling reasons for supposing that it is disrespectful. There is thus no motivation for Anderson's and Pogge's attempts to secure justice for people with disabilities by appealing solely to the imperative to eliminate discrimination. [source] Guidelines for Collecting and Recording the Race and Ethnicity of Juveniles in Conjunction with Juvenile Delinquency Disposition Reporting to the Juvenile Court Judges' CommissionJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007PATRICIA TORBET ABSTRACT One of the most compelling reasons for accurate racial coding of juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system is to ensure that all youth are treated fairly, regardless of race or ethnicity. Pennsylvania juvenile courts and probation departments now have instructions and guidelines for collecting and recording race and ethnicity in compliance with Federal standards. These guidelines can be easily adopted by other states and jurisdictions. [source] Matching and ideal free distributionsOIKOS, Issue 7 2008Alasdair I. Houston Ideal free distributions characterise how a group of animals should be distributed between sources of food. In a simple case, the ratio of the number of animals matches the ratio of input rates, a result known as input matching. The matching law characterises how an animal should allocate responses to sources of food. If matching holds then the ratio of behaviour allocated to the sources matches the ratio of rewards obtained. Several authors have drawn attention to the analogy between input matching and the matching law. I present a critical review of this topic, and go on to investigate the claim that the distribution of animals should be analyzed in the same way that the generalized matching law is analyzed. This involves assuming that the relationship between the ratio of animals and the ratio of resources obeys a power law with two parameters, one corresponding to bias and the other to sensitivity. On this view, a plot of the log of the ratio of animals against the log of the ratio of input rates will be a straight line and its intercept and slope will provide estimates of bias and sensitivity. I show that this approach can give a good fit even when the underlying model does not result in a power law. A consequence is that the parameters estimated cannot be interpreted as bias and sensitivity. I conclude that there are no compelling reasons for analyzing the distribution of animals using log-log plots, and the method has the disadvantage of encouraging the mistaken view that deviations from input matching follow a power law. [source] UTILITARIANISM, CONTRACTUALISM AND DEMANDINGNESSTHE PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 239 2010Alison Hills One familiar criticism of utilitarianism is that it is too demanding. It requires us to promote the happiness of others, even at the expense of our own projects, our integrity, or the welfare of our friends and family. Recently Ashford has defended utilitarianism, arguing that it provides compelling reasons for demanding duties to help the needy, and that other moral theories, notably contractualism, are committed to comparably stringent duties. In response, I argue that utilitarianism is even more demanding than is commonly realized: both act- and rule-utilitarianism are committed to extremely stringent duties to wild animals. In this regard, utilitarianism is more demanding (and more counter-intuitive) than contractualism. [source] | ||||||||||||||||