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Marginal Role (marginal + role)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%
Engineering	40%

Selected Abstracts

Ethical aspects of technical safety

HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 3 2003
Carl Friedrich Gethmann
Uncertainty and inequality are the most important phenomena that lead to the situation in which the modern technical age, in contrast to the premodern technical phase, gives rise to specifically moral problems which in the premodern era played only a marginal role or no role at all. So modern, technically constituted societies must learn to develop from the initial perception of dangers to a rational risk assessment. To justify this ethical obligation, the first section discusses the relation between danger and risk. The problem of weighing risks is analyzed in the second section; in this context the concept of pragmatic consistency is introduced. In the third section, the term safety is explicated as a comparative concept by means of the principle of pragmatic consistency. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 243,252, 2003. [source]

Measurements of rain splash on bench terraces in a humid tropical steepland environment

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 3 2003
A. I. J. M. Van Dijk
Abstract Soil loss continues to threaten Java's predominantly bench-terraced volcanic uplands. Sediment transport processes on back-sloping terraces with well-aggregated clay-rich oxisols in West Java were studied using two different techniques. Splash on bare, cropped, or mulched sub-horizontal (2,3°) terrace beds was studied using splash cups of different sizes, whereas transport of sediment on the predominantly bare and steep (30,40/deg ) terrace risers was measured using a novel device combining a Gerlach-type trough with a splash box to enable the separate measurement of transport by wash and splash processes. Measurements were made during two consecutive rainy seasons. The results were interpreted using a recently developed splash distribution theory and related to effective rainfall erosive energy. Splash transportability (i.e. transport per unit contour length and unit erosive energy) on the terrace risers was more than an order of magnitude greater than on bare terrace beds (0·39,0·57 versus 0·013,0·016 g m J,1). This was caused primarily by a greater average splash distance on the short, steep risers (>11 cm versus c. 1 cm on the beds). Splashed amounts were reduced by the gradual formation of a protective ,pavement' of coarser aggregates, in particular on the terrace beds. Soil aggregate size exhibited an inverse relationship with detachability (i.e. detachment per unit area and unit erosive energy) and average splash length, and therefore also with transportability, as did the degree of canopy and mulch cover. On the terrace risers, splash-creep and gravitational processes transported an additional 6,50% of measured rain splash, whereas transport by wash played a marginal role. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

How work-place conditions, environmental toxicants and lifestyle affect male reproductive function,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANDROLOGY, Issue 5 2002
Jens Peter Bonde
Summary Major temporal and geographical shifts in male reproductive function is presently an issue worldwide. The hormonal disruption hypothesis has achieved considerable attention but epidemiological evidence in support of the theory is lacking. Several occupational hazards to male reproductive function are known but exposure prevalences are hardly sufficient to play a role for reduced sperm count in the general male population. Sedentary work may be an exception. Perhaps prolonged time in the sedentary position exhausts the testicular heat regulation. But so far studies addressing implications of the heat hypothesis in the general population are few. Neither change of sexual behaviour nor reduced period of sexual continence seems to be a likely explanation. Tobacco smoking and consumption of caffeine and alcoholic beverages in adulthood have a rather marginal impact on spermatogenesis and can hardly explain major shifts or regional differences in male reproductive health. However, prenatal effects following smoking during pregnancy might play a role because we have witnessed a smoking epidemic among fertile women in some countries during the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, if genetic factors play more than a marginal role for testicular function and sperm count, pregnancy planning resulting in reduced family size during the past 100 years could possibly explain a decline in semen quality because the most fertile part of the population reproduce less while the subfertile probably continue to get a limited number of children. [source]

Wenn Justitia die Hand aufhält , Ursachen und Folgen korrupter Justizbehörden

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 1 2007
Stefan Voigt
To date, the consequences of different structures of the legal enforcement institutions have, however, only played a marginal role. This contribution deals both with the determinants of corruption within the judiciary and with the consequences of institutional structures of the judiciary for corruption at large. It is shown that both the factual independence of the judiciary as well as that of prosecution agencies are correlated with lower levels of corruption. This is also true for a third indicator that measures the degree to which judges are held accountable for their decisions ("judicial accountability"). [source]

Approaches to combat with confounding by indication in observational studies of intended drug effects

PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 7 2003
Alex D. McMahon
Abstract There has been a resurgence of controversy about the usefulness of observational data to study the efficacy of drugs. Nearly every week a researcher makes some criticism of clinical trials or justifies observational research into intended effects, with other researchers offering a contradictory viewpoint. Literature reviews are not useful in this regard because the contradictory studies will not usually be carried out. Some methods are discussed which may have potential utility in the study of intended effects. There may be a marginal role for statistical techniques such as propensity scores and confounder scores. More promising techniques may include ecological analyses, restriction of subjects and blinded prospective review. Because it is currently unknown when the observational study of drug efficacy is possible, we should arguably always carry out a study of the determinants of prescribing first, and possibly consider using the various techniques that are outlined in this article. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]