Dominican University College

The importance of clarifying the features characteristic of older homicide offenders is highlighted by recent research that indicates an increase in rates of homicides followed by suicides of older perpetrators. In a retrospective study of data from coroners' files on domestic homicides involving individuals killed by an older spouse or family member (65+ years of age) over a 15-year period in Quebec, Canada, we identified several specific offender and victim characteristics and circumstances surrounding the offenses. The homicide was frequently followed by the suicide of the perpetrator. Several victims had pre-existing medical illnesses, indicating that the offenses may have been committed by individuals who were caregivers to chronically ill spouses. At the time of the offense, most of the perpetrators had a mental illness, usually depressive disorder, but few had received psychiatric help. The impact of mental illness on domestic homicide-suicide is indicated, underscoring the importance of identifying existing psychopathology.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the importance of cerebral damage and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) for visual impairment in preschool children born extremely premature and to determine the primary risk factor of the two. METHODS A clinical follow-up study of a Danish national cohort of children born extremely premature (gestational age, <28 weeks). The study sample consisted of 262 extremely preterm children born between February 13, 2004, and March 23, 2006, of whom 178 children (67.9%) participated. A matched control group consisted of 56 term-born children (gestational age, 37 to <42 weeks). All participants were identified through the National Birth Register and invited to participate in a clinical examination. The children were evaluated with regard to visual acuity, foveal sequelae, and maximum ROP stage and the presence of global developmental deficits (an indicator for cerebral damage) that was measured by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. RESULTS Global developmental deficits and foveal sequelae occurred more often in extremely preterm children than in term-born control children and increased with ROP severity (χ2 test; P = .11 and P < .001, respectively). Global developmental deficits, moderate to severe foveal abnormality, and ROP treatment were independently associated with visual impairment (P < .05, for better and worse eyes). A stepwise multiple logistic regression for better-eye logarithmic visual acuities of 0.3 or greater (Snellen scale, ≤0.5) yielded an odds ratio of 8.7 (95% CI, 3.0-25.2; P < .001) for global developmental deficit and 6.3 (95% CI, 2.2-18.5; P < .001) for moderate to severe foveal sequelae. CONCLUSION Cerebral damage and ROP are independent risk factors for visual impairment in children born extremely premature, and cerebral damage may be the primary risk factor.

Scalar shifts in public capacities and responsibilities are an important element of the way states have been restructuring in North America and in Europe. Women’s movements respond to these changes in various ways, including the rescaling of collective action. This article focuses on the rising importance of the (subprovincial) region in Québec women’s movement politics to understand how new scales of action are constituted or granted a renewed importance by women’s movements. Drawing on theoretical contributions from the human geography literature on scale, state rescaling, and scalar politics, I show how the region has been materially and discursively constructed by Québec women’s movement actors as a legitimate and relevant scale for feminist politics. This has involved an intricate and dynamic relationship with two different state projects of downward rescaling. Although it provided some real opportunities, it has also created difficulties and dilemmas for women’s movement actors, who have also contested the primacy of the region in Québec government’s new scalar arrangements.

A review of the literature indicates that little empirical knowledge exists about what influences learning in master of social work (MSW) research courses. The current study presents data on selected student characteristics and course performance collected from 162 students in several sections of an MSW foundation research course in a single university. The sections had the same curricular content but were taught by four instructors with quite different professional backgrounds and teaching styles. Student performance did not differ across the different instructors. Undergraduate grade point average was positively correlated with performance, and having an undergraduate major in social service was negatively correlated, but other student characteristics were unrelated to performance.

La « soutenabilité » est le rêve de transmettre une terre habitable aux générations futures, humaines et non-humaines. Cet article soutient qu’une soutenabilité digne de ce nom exige la résurgence d’un modèle multi-espèces, en résistance aux tendances de la colonisation capitaliste qui transforme tout en plantations de monoculture. Pour affronter les défis de l’Anthropocène, nous devons faire davantage attention aux socialités qui se trament entre les espèces, socialités dont nous dépendons tous. Aussi longtemps que nous maintenons une séparation imperméable entre nous et tout ce qui n’est pas humain, nous faisons de la soutenabilité un concept cruel relevant de l’esprit de clocher. Nous perdons de vue le tramage commun qui rend possible la vie sur Terre des humains avec les non-humains. De toutes façons, maintenir cette séparation ne fonctionne pas : les efforts des investisseurs pour réduire tous les autres êtres au statut d’actifs ont généré de terrifiantes écologies, que je qualifie ici de proliférations anthropocéniques.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15265161003754080

Faith and beliefs about living and dying are fundamental constituents of spiritual development. However, children are seldom asked to talk about their experiences of life and death. This article has a twofold purpose. It first describes children’s expressions on living and dying, as heard during a newly developed programme which encourages children’s participation as active subjects of their spiritual journey. This programme, the Grande Halte, began in 2004 within the changing context of Christian religious education in a secular Québec. Secondly, it proposed a theological reflection informed by the social sciences and the social context of the milieu, and based on children’s expressions. It suggests that stories and symbols are needed in order to develop a coherent horizon of meaning in one’s life. The relational dimension of the process is also highlighted.

ABSTRACT The effect of freezing (both with and without prior blanching) was investigated on the nature of the volatile flavor components of six cultivars of Brussels sprouts each grown at three different crop spacings. Appreciable variations in the chemical composition of the flavor extracts were observed, and it is possible to suggest likely reasons why some frozen Brussels sprouts develop unusual and unacceptably strong flavor. Lack of proper blanching would be a significant cause, but the nature of the cultivar and its growth at too close a crop spacing can also be very important.

Beginning with Kant, modernity has developed the secular dogma that human autonomy is incompatible with obedience to religious law. Can philosophy critique a faulty understanding of both autonomy and obedience? Can theology work out a healthy interaction between the two? In other words, can Christian faith integrate both a redefined autonomy and a redefined obedience?

Problématique : Plusieurs mouvements tentent de reformuler les fondements d’une clinique en tant que praxis , centrée sur un « agir-en-santé » : promotion de la santé, soins palliatifs, éducation thérapeutique du patient, médecine centrée sur le patient, courant du patient-partenaire, humanités et sciences humaines et sociales pour la santé, etc.. Ils s’efforcent d’apporter leurs contributions propres à la redéfinition de la santé et à sa traduction en tant qu’objet d’enseignement et d’apprentissage dans les curriculums de formation des professionnels de la santé. Exégèse : Les auteurs proposent la notion d’éthique des curriculums en santé pour désigner l’idée que les choix alternatifs relatifs aux conceptions de l’agir en santé, qui sous-tendent l’organisation des curriculums de formation des professionnels de la santé, devraient être rendus explicites au regard des dimensions constitutives d’un paradigme en philosophie des sciences (ontologique, épistémologique et méthodologique), dans le cadre de processus démocratiques de mise en projet. Conclusion : En lien avec une telle perspective, les auteurs argumentent qu’il est possible et nécessaire de caractériser l’agir professionnel en santé en tant que nouvel objet d’enseignement et d’apprentissage, au regard des trois dimensions, respectivement en privilégiant la centralité de l’action, en invitant à une rupture pragmatiste et à un élargissement gnoséologique et méthodologique, et en exploitant le concept de compétence à des fins didactiques et pédagogiques, dans le cadre de processus démocratiques de mise en projet, en favorisant une participation et une représentativité interdisciplinaires et interprofessionnelles. Une telle démarche est de nature éthique.

The Canada porcupine is discussed mainly from the standpoint of damage and control. The paper is based on the analysis of a questionnaire issued to foresters and forest rangers and is supplemented by data from the literature and some original observations.Feeding on forest trees is extensive in parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia but since all of the trees attacked are not crop trees serious damage to the stand does not always follow. Damage is severe in localized areas where the stands are of particular value, as in plantations, experimental areas and around camp sites.The only method of large-scale control ever attempted in the Maritime Provinces has been the bounty system. While the effectiveness of this method has not been carefully studied, it appears from parallel cases in the United States that the bounty system is generally expensive for the degree of control effected. Control methods probably serve best if applied intensively to small areas where the damage is most serious. A method of localized control by den poisoning is discussed.

La monte actuelle des thiques et la prolifration des codes de dontologie rpondent un besoin rel, celui de fournir des paramtres de conduite dans des contextes indits pour la pratique scientifique, technologique, mdicale et juridique. Dans les socits dmocratiques et pluralistes, ces paramtres sont devenus ncessaires. Ils n 'en sont pas moins insuffisants pour la conduite morale, puisqu'en dernire instance, c'est l'agent qu'il revient djuger non seulement de son action, mais ultimement de ce qu'il est et de la sorte de personne qu'il fait de luimme travers son action. C'est pourquoi il importe aujourd'hui de rappeler que la conduite morale prend source dans la personne, plus spcifiquement, dans la vertu centrale du caractre, l'intgrit.

Recent research points to the fact that new medical technological innovations are just as relevant in the context of long-term care or chronic care as they are in the context of acute care. In the spirit of the Nuffield Foundation recommendations, this paper explores the possibilities of using robotic aides in long-term care and identifies the tensions that must be considered and addressed if robotics is to be introduced successfully in nursing homes. Our examination is two-pronged. First, we delve into a fundamental issue surrounding AI, namely that of consciousness. We argue that automation will always have only a limited use in caregiving since caregiving as an activity requires the use of human-type, that is, organic, consciousness. We support the thesis that the emergence and formation of human-type consciousness require feelings such as empathy and the sense of touch, which, in turn, create the sense of kinship with fellow human beings. And second, we examine the benefits as well as risks of using robotic aides such as ZORA and PARO in long-term care facilities. More specifically, we look at ZORA's use in a group setting, and PARO's use in an individual setting. We emphasize that long-term care is one-on-one care, including but not limited to intimate care. Crucially, we argue that touch is at the heart of this type of care. We argue that some of the tensions with the use of robotic aides are generated precisely because of the lack of human touch.

The fragmentation of knowledge poses serious threats to a survival when scientific and technological know‐how constantly outrun understanding of societies and individuals. A significant problem associated with this state of affairs is the unquestioned separation of facts and values. This paper has two immediate aims. The first is to argue that there is knowledge of values. The second is to look at some issues in the social sciences and to show this conclusion bears on the possibilities for the reunification of knowledge. Issues in economics, sociology, and anthropology are examined kin terms of detailed examples.

In the present paper I propose to examine St. Thomas Aquinas' third way of proving the existence of a God (henceforth TW ), keeping in view and applying the proposals I have made elsewhere concerning the number andorder of the “Five Ways” and the role therein played by TW . I maintain that the first three ways take as starting-points the three types of act or actuality presented by Aristotle in Metaphysics 9.6: that the first way starts from imperfect actuality (motion), the second from secondary actuality (action or efficiency), and TW from primary actuality (being, or substantial actuality). The idea, of course, of a way of proving the existence of a God is that one proceeds from an effect, itself better known to us than its cause, to a knowledge of the existence of the cause. The problem is to develop a vision of the effect as an effect, i.e. , a vision such as to reveal dependence on another, and so lead us in knowledge to the existence of that other.

Perhaps the greatest peril to civilisation is the fragmentation of knowledge. Science often lends itself to easy application to technology and our economic systems are the result of applying this knowledge to our resources. But our knowledge of how societies work lags significantly, and the economic system frequently multiplies our social problems. At the heart of the problem is the distinction between knowledge of universals – scientific laws for example – and knowledge of people, who are unique particulars. The paper examines some recent disputes in the social sciences and suggests how the gap might be filled and economic systems made more responsive to social problems.

More and more since the Enlightenment, spirituality has been thought of from the perspective of the ‘individual’. The recognition of the value of the subject and its capability to make free and enl...

The globalisation of the world economy has left governments less powerful and threatened cultures with homogenisation. The Huntington thesis – that the world is now divided into rival civilisations and that they are likely to be the source of the next round of world conflicts – may seem weak in the light of this. In fact many people fear that economic efficiency will produce a single culture and, because it will be dominated by hotly competing corporations with little restraint, will threaten civility itself. R.G. Collingwood even argued that economics as a practical science threatens civilisation by its very existence. This paper argues that, if one takes seriously Collingwood’s own distinction between wealth and riches, and if a co‐operative economy can be made to flourish, civilisation can readily survive. Wealth in these terms is a community resource which frees up human possibilities, riches are personal barricades and a source of power, and we can understand how to maximise wealth without creating unnecessary riches. In these terms the three main competing civilisations – that of the West, that of Islam, and the Chinese civilisation which is exemplified, for instance in Taiwan, may well survive and remain distinct. They represent basic human choices. For one can have societies in which the major focus is on individuals, societies in which it is on the community as a whole, and societies in which it is on families, social groups, churches and other institutions which comprise civil society.

L'Essai que nous présentons constitue le premier chapitre d'une étude plus compréhensive sur l' Idée d'évolution chez S. Irénée. Encore qu'elles soient amputées d'une introduction aux fins de définir ce terme d'évolution, nous croyons que les pages qu'on va lire ont un sens par elles-mêmes et que leur intelligence reste entière, même si l'on ajourne provisoirement le contexte total où les situer. Notre propos se donne donc comme une enquête sur la mentalité d'Irénée et ses orientations théologiques possibles. Si prévenu qu'on puisse être contre le critère psychologique en critique, nous le croyons cette fois urgent et nous tentons de lui attribuer la fonction précise de caractériser une oeuvre dont les sources demeurent, par ailleurs, hypothétiques et plus ou moins invérifiables.

John Locke, in his Essay , poses the following problem: It is evident the mind knows not things immediately, but only by the intervention of the ideas it has of them. Our knowledge , therefore, is real only so far as there is a conformity between our ideas and the reality of things. But what shall be here the criterion? How shall the mind, when it perceives nothing but its own ideas , know that they agree with things themselves?