Dementia, Dignity, and Physician-Assisted Death

Author(s):  
Rebecca Dresser

As more people live into their later years, more of them become susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias. Many people fear dementia, and some argue that physician-assisted death should be available to those seeking to avoid the indignity of life with dementia. Distinct issues surround the relationship of dignity and assisted death for potential or actual dementia patients. This chapter examines the role of dignity concerns in addressing (1) requests for assisted death by at-risk individuals to avoid a possible future with dementia, (2) requests for assisted death by individuals with mild or moderate dementia, and (3) advance directives requesting assisted death in the event of a later dementia diagnosis or appearance of specific behavioral manifestations of dementia (e.g., apparent inability to recognize family and friends).

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-238
Author(s):  
Alla A. Tvardovskaya ◽  
Valerian F. Gabdulkhakov ◽  
Natalya N. Novik ◽  
Almira M. Garifullina

Relevance. The increase of children interest in entertainment TV programs, mobile applications and video games available on the internet causes a significant decrease in their physical activity: children get used to a sedentary or lying down lifestyle. The research problem lies in the contradiction that arises due to understanding of the positive effect of physical activity on the development of the regulatory functions of a preschooler, and a significant decrease in this activity in the digital conditions of the modern educational environment. The relevance and prospects of the study of the relationship between regulatory functions and physical activity of preschool children in new digital environment are not yet fully realized. The objective of the paper is to review the studies by foreign scientists in order to identify and describe relevant indicators of physical activity in preschool children interrelated with the main components of regulatory functions (inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). Method. A theoretical review of research papers published over the past ten years (2010–2020) on the subject of relationship of various physical activity indicators and regulatory functions in preschool children. Results. The paper provides a comparative analysis of studies conducted by foreign authors. It allows to reveal basic indicators of physical activity in children which are essential for the development of regulatory functions (sufficiency of physical activity; age-related appropriateness; the nature of physical activity; the form of physical activity arrangement), and particular indicators (the relationship of physical activity and regulatory functions in various sports, duration and intensity of physical activity, the availability of software for the development of physical activity in preschool children) as well. Conclusions. The review showed that the majority of the authors emphasized the significant role of basic physical activity indicators and their influence on regulatory functions. Aerobic exercises are the most effective in the development of regulatory functions in preschool children. Particular indicators are selected from the studies of the development of regulatory functions in specific sports (football, karate, yoga, mini-trampoline), and additional research on the duration and intensity of physical activity is needed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Van Benthem ◽  
Chris M. Herdman

Abstract. Identifying pilot attributes associated with risk is important, especially in general aviation where pilot error is implicated in most accidents. This research examined the relationship of pilot age, expertise, and cognitive functioning to deviations from an ideal circuit trajectory. In all, 54 pilots, of varying age, flew a Cessna 172 simulator. Cognitive measures were obtained using the CogScreen-AE ( Kay, 1995 ). Older age and lower levels of expertise and cognitive functioning were associated with significantly greater flight path deviations. The relationship between age and performance was fully mediated by a cluster of cognitive factors: speed and working memory, visual attention, and cognitive flexibility. These findings add to the literature showing that age-related changes in cognition may impact pilot performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
E. D. Solozhentsev

The scientific problem of economics “Managing the quality of human life” is formulated on the basis of artificial intelligence, algebra of logic and logical-probabilistic calculus. Managing the quality of human life is represented by managing the processes of his treatment, training and decision making. Events in these processes and the corresponding logical variables relate to the behavior of a person, other persons and infrastructure. The processes of the quality of human life are modeled, analyzed and managed with the participation of the person himself. Scenarios and structural, logical and probabilistic models of managing the quality of human life are given. Special software for quality management is described. The relationship of human quality of life and the digital economy is examined. We consider the role of public opinion in the management of the “bottom” based on the synthesis of many studies on the management of the economics and the state. The bottom management is also feedback from the top management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Joseph Acquisto

This essay examines a polemic between two Baudelaire critics of the 1930s, Jean Cassou and Benjamin Fondane, which centered on the relationship of poetry to progressive politics and metaphysics. I argue that a return to Baudelaire's poetry can yield insight into what seems like an impasse in Cassou and Fondane. Baudelaire provides the possibility of realigning metaphysics and politics so that poetry has the potential to become the space in which we can begin to think the two of them together, as opposed to seeing them in unresolvable tension. Or rather, the tension that Baudelaire animates between the two allows us a new way of thinking about the role of esthetics in moments of political crisis. We can in some ways see Baudelaire as responding, avant la lettre, to two of his early twentieth-century readers who correctly perceived his work as the space that breathes a new urgency into the questions of how modern poetry relates to the world from which it springs and in which it intervenes.


Author(s):  
Pavel Agapov ◽  
Kirill Stepkin

The article considers the general theoretical foundations of the relationship of sectarianism and religious extremism in the Russian Federation. Practical examples of the role of destructive sects in modern religious extremism in the Russian Federation are given.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Maria M. Kuznetsova

The article examines the philosophy of Henri Bergson and William James as independent doctrines aimed at rational comprehension of spiritual reality. The doctrines imply the paramount importance of consciousness, the need for continuous spiritual development, the expansion of experience and perception. The study highlights the fundamental role of spiritual energy for individual and universal evolution, which likens these doctrines to the ancient Eastern teaching as well as to Platonism in Western philosophy. The term “spiritual energy” is used by Bergson and James all the way through their creative career, and therefore this concept should considered in the examination of their solution to the most important philosophical and scientific issues, such as the relationship of matter and spirit, consciousness and brain, cognition, free will, etc. The “radical empiricism” of William James and the “creative evolution” of Henry Bergson should be viewed as conceptions that based on peacemaking goals, because they are aimed at reconciling faith and facts, science and religion through the organic synthesis of sensory and spiritual levels of experience. Although there is a number of modern scientific discoveries that were foreseen by philosophical ideas of Bergson and James, both philosophers advocate for the artificial limitation of the sphere of experimental methods in science. They call not to limit ourselves to the usual intellectual schemes of reality comprehension, but attempt to touch the “living” reality, which presupposes an increase in the intensity of attention and will, but finally brings us closer to freedom.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wykowska ◽  
Jairo Pérez-Osorio ◽  
Stefan Kopp

This booklet is a collection of the position statements accepted for the HRI’20 conference workshop “Social Cognition for HRI: Exploring the relationship between mindreading and social attunement in human-robot interaction” (Wykowska, Perez-Osorio & Kopp, 2020). Unfortunately, due to the rapid unfolding of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the present year, the conference and consequently our workshop, were canceled. On the light of these events, we decided to put together the positions statements accepted for the workshop. The contributions collected in these pages highlight the role of attribution of mental states to artificial agents in human-robot interaction, and precisely the quality and presence of social attunement mechanisms that are known to make human interaction smooth, efficient, and robust. These papers also accentuate the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to advance the understanding of the factors and the consequences of social interactions with artificial agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 126-130
Author(s):  
N. V. SHAMANIN ◽  

The article raises the issue of the relationship of parent-child relationships and professional preferences in pedagogical dynasties. Particular attention is paid to the role of the family in the professional development of the individual. It has been suggested that there is a relationship between parent-child relationships and professional preferences.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Émilie Lapointe ◽  
Christian Vandenberghe

Abstract This article looks at the relationship between psychological contract breach and voluntary turnover among newcomers, using supervisor trustworthiness as a mediator and negative affectivity as a moderator. Relying on data from 243 newcomers, psychological contract breach was found to be negatively related to the three dimensions of supervisor trustworthiness, i.e., ability, benevolence, and integrity. Supervisor integrity further mediated a positive relationship between psychological contract breach and voluntary turnover measured 8 months later. Psychological contract breach interacted with negative affectivity such that it was less negatively related to dimensions of supervisor trustworthiness at high levels of negative affectivity. The indirect relationship of psychological contract breach to voluntary turnover as mediated by supervisor integrity was also weaker at high levels of negative affectivity. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Jette Steen Knudsen ◽  
Jeremy Moon

We investigate the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (often assumed to reflect corporate voluntarism) and government (often assumed to reflect coercion). We distinguish two broad perspectives on the CSR and government relationship: the dichotomous (i.e., government and CSR are / should be independent of one another) and the related (i.e., government and CSR are / should be interconnected). Using typologies of CSR public policy and of CSR and the law, we present an integrated framework for corporate discretion for engagement with public policy for CSR. We make four related contributions. First, we explain the dichotomous and the related perspectives with reference to their various assumptions and analyses. Second, we demonstrate that public policy for CSR and corporate discretion coexist and interact. Specifically, we show, third, that public policy for CSR can inform and stimulate corporate discretion and, fourth, that corporations have discretion for CSR, particularly as to how corporations engage with such policy.


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