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Introduction Usually, Plato is not considered a philosopher that comprehensively treated the matter of suicide. By studying Plato’s work (especially Crito, Phaedo, the Republic and the Laws), we observe that Plato was concerned with the problem of suicide and that he gave an elaborate answer regarding the problem of suicide, laws against its practice as well as exceptions from them, customs and punishments. Objectives This paper, in the light of a trial to overcome the monistic approaches of the matter of suicide, proposes the modest but fundamental goal to point out the resemblance between Plato’s position (especially from the Laws and the Republic) regarding the matter of suicide and the nowadays reasons invoked by the patients requesting assisted suicide. Methods Looking at the patients from the United States of America which requested assisted suicide, by analyzing the available annual reports (at the time of writing this abstract, only 6 out of 9 states that have a legal status that permits assisted suicide are publishing annual reports regarding the patients and their assisted suicide requests), we compare them with Plato’s attitude towards suicide. Results We observe that the most invoked reasons (concerns and underlying illnesses), by the patients wich request assisted suicide, are also the cases in which Plato permitted suicide. Conclusions This comparison and insight into Plato’s philosophy does not resolve any particular issues of the medical praxis but is binging out the utility of a multidisciplinary, especially philosophical and ethical, approach to the practice of assisted suicide.

Abstract The achievement of global sustainability agendas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, relies on transformational change across society, economy, and environment that are co‐created in a transdisciplinary exercise by all stakeholders. Within this context, environmental and societal change is increasingly understood and represented via participatory modeling for genuine engagement with multiple collaborators in the modeling process. Despite the diversity of participatory modeling methods to promote engagement and co‐creation, it remains uncertain what the extent and modes of participation are in different contexts, and how to select the suitable methods to use in a given situation. Based on a review of available methods and specification of potential contextual requirements, we propose a unifying framework to guide how collaborators of different backgrounds can work together and evaluate the suitability of participatory modeling methods for co‐creating sustainability pathways. The evaluation of method suitability promises the integration of concepts and approaches necessary to address the complexities of problems at hand while ensuring robust methodologies based on well‐tested evidence and negotiated among participants. Using two illustrative case studies, we demonstrate how to explore and evaluate the choice of methods for participatory modeling in varying contexts. The insights gained can inform creative participatory approaches to pathway development through tailored combinations of methods that best serve the specific sustainability context of particular case studies.

The philosophy of building energy management is going through a paradigm change from traditional, often inefficient, user-controlled systems to one that is centrally automated with the aid of IoT-enabled technologies. In this context, occupants’ perceived control and building automation may seem to be in conflict. The inquiry of this study is rooted in a proposition that while building automation and centralized control systems are assumed to provide indoor comfort and conserve energy use, limiting occupants’ control over their work environment may result in dissatisfaction, and in turn decrease productivity. For assessing this hypothesis, data from the post-occupancy evaluation survey of a smart building in a university in Australia was used to analyze the relationships between perceived control, satisfaction, and perceived productivity. Using structural equation modeling, we have found a positive direct effect of occupants’ perceived control on overall satisfaction with their working area. Meanwhile, perceived control exerts an influence on perceived productivity through satisfaction. Furthermore, a field experiment conducted in the same building revealed the potential impact that occupant controllability can have on energy saving. We changed the default light settings from automatic on-and-off to manual-on and automatic-off, letting occupants choose themselves whether to switch the light on or not. Interestingly, about half of the participants usually kept the lights off, preferring daylight in their rooms. This also resulted in a reduction in lighting electricity use by 17.8% without any upfront investment and major technical modification. These findings emphasize the important role of perceived control on occupant satisfaction and productivity, as well as on the energy-saving potential of the user-in-the-loop automation of buildings.

Актуальность. Венозные тромбоэмболические события являются частым осложнением у пациентов со злокачественными образованиями центральной нервной системы и занимают третье место в структуре причин смерти. Цель. Оценка частоты встречаемости венозных тромбозов и факторов риска их развития у лиц с глиальными опухолями центральной нервной системы по данным ретроспективной выборки. Методы. В ретроспективное исследование включили 186 больных, поступивших в течение 2020–2021 гг. в нейрохирургическое отделение НМИЦ им. В.А. Алмазова с предварительным диагнозом С71 — злокачественное новообразование головного мозга или D33 — доброкачественное ново­образование головного мозга и других отделов центральной нервной системы по международной классификации болезней 10-го пересмотра. Был проведен анализ факторов риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений в двух группах: с подтвержденным венозным тромбозом (n = 15) и без такового (n = 171). Результаты. Частота венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений среди пациентов с новообразованиями головного мозга составила 8 %. При сравнительном анализе в двух группах с целью поиска предикторов указанных осложнений выявили, что вероятность тромбоза повышают факторы, приводящие к иммобилизации больного: нарушение ментального статуса (40 против 18 % в группах с венозными тромбоэмболическими осложнениями и без таковых соответственно [отношение шансов (ОШ): 3,1, 95% доверительный интервал (ДИ): 0,8–10,6, р = 0,080]), неврологический дефицит (67 против 29 % [ОШ: 4,8, 95% ДИ: 1,4–18,7, р = 0,007]) и постельный режим более 3 сут. (33 против 4 % [ОШ: 13,1, 95% ДИ: 2,7–62,8, р < 0,001]). По результатам валидации, шкалы риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений Caprini и IMPROVEDD имеют высокую негативную предсказательную ценность: 0,99 [95% ДИ: 0,93–1,00] против 0,97 [95% ДИ: 0,93–1,00] (р = 0,317). Шкала Caprini имеет специфичность 48,2 %, чувствительность 93,3 % (площадь под ROC-кривой (англ. Area under the curve, AUC) 78,98), пороговое значение для детекции высокого риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений — 5,5 балла. Шкала IMPROVEDD имеет специфичность 82,5 %, чувствительность 73,3 % (AUC 81,1) с пороговым значением для детекции высокого риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений 4,5 балла. Заключение. У пациентов с глиомами выявлены такие факторы риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений, как неврологический дефицит, постельный режим более 3 сут. и высокая степень злокачественности опухоли. Продемонстрирована высокая негативная предсказательная ценность шкал Caprini и IMPROVEDD в отношении риска венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений и определены пороговые уровни для этих шкал, требующие валидации в дальнейшем проспективном исследовании. Высокая частота венозных тромбоэмболических осложнений, а также геморрагические риски у пациентов с образованиями центральной нервной системы требуют разработки персонализированных калькуляторов риска венозных тромбозов с учетом особенностей патогенеза тромбоза в этой группе больных. Поступила в редакцию 12 декабря 2022 г. Исправлена 7 апреля 2023 г. Принята к печати 31 мая 2023 г. Финансирование Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке Министерства науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации, соглашение № 075-15-2022-301. Конфликт интересов Авторы заявляют об отсутствии конфликта интересов. Вклад авторов Концепция и дизайн работы: К.А. Пищулов, М.А. Симакова Сбор и анализ данных: К.А. Пищулов, С.И. Пархоменко Статистическая обработка данных: В.Л. Лукинов Написание статьи: все авторы Редактирование статьи: все авторы Утверждение окончательного варианта статьи: все авторы

We investigated whether prescribing agreement improves the quality of judgments and decisions. Participants were first asked to provide judgments or decisions individually. Then, they either revised their initial judgments and decisions based on a partners' response, or they provided a joint judgment agreed upon with their partner. In the latter condition, we allowed for a minimal communication protocol restricted to acceptance and rejection responses to each other's proposals. In the Agreement condition, participants improved both in a cognitive (Experiment 1a) and a perceptual decision task (Experiment 1b). The cognitive task agreement allowed participants to improve above the level of accuracy achieved with revision. Surprisingly, the prescribing agreement improved the quality of the initial independent decisions. In a judgment task (Experiment 2), the prescribing agreement led to more accurate judgments because partners weighed each other's judgments more equally than in the Revision condition where they gave higher weight to their own judgments. We conclude that prescribing agreement reduces egocentric discounting bias and motivates individuals to be more accurate. These results not only demonstrate that collective benefits in judgment and decision making can be accrued without verbal communication but also suggest potential limitations of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triple-alpha process plays a role in nucleosynthesis, in the formation of 12C. Here, the authors discuss the rate and role of the neutron upscattering phenomenon on the triple-alpha process in a multi-step process.

Nowadays high availability and reliability are essential characteristics of any enterprise client-server architecture. This primarily requires a stable and fault-tolerant operation of the server side which can hardly be guaranteed without possibility to select an appropriate server depending on specific client needs. In this case fault-tolerance is provided by the client side. One of the main principles used for such approach is Recovery Block. Described in this paper is a new algorithm for increasing fault tolerance in client-server communication. It is based on Recovery Block method and allows ranking of available servers with their stability factor and making decision of removing unstable servers considering previous connection attempts.

A new algorithm for the analog spectrometer of the DGFRS-2 setup installed at DC-280 cyclotron is presented. The main goal of application of this algorithm is to search an optimal time correlation recoilalpha parameter directly during the acquisition C++ code execution. A new real-time flexible algorithm in addition to the conventional ER − a algorithm, which has been used for a several years at the DGFRS-1 setup installed at the U-400 FLNR cyclotron, is presented. The main parts of the spectrometer are a 48×128 strip DSSD detector (Double Side Strip Detector) and a low-pressure gaseous detector. They are presented schematically. Nuclear reactions for synthesis of element Z=119 at the DGFRS-2 are under consideration. Some attention is paid to computer simulation of the heavy recoil spectra, taking into account its pulse height defect in silicon. First beam test results are also presented. A new formula for half-life time using recent data for superheavy nuclei is obtained.

A new proton-unbound isotope 204Ac was produced in the fusion-evaporation reaction Tm(40169Ca,5n)204Ac and identified via the recoil-α correlation at the gas-filled recoiled separators SHANS2 and SHANS. The excitation function for producing 204Ac was measured and the optimal beam energy was evaluated to be 212 MeV. Nineteen ER - α1 - α2 - α3 decay chains were observed for this isotope. Based on these chains, the α-particle energy and half-life of 204Ac were determined to be 7948(15) keV and 7.4−1.4+2.2 ms, respectively. Both are consistent with the theoretical prediction. The reduced α-decay width was deduced to be 49−15+10 keV, which indicates a favored α decay for 204Ac. In addition, more precise decay properties of Eα = 7883(15) keV and T1/2 = 7.7−1.6+2.7 ms were obtained for 205Ac.

In the efforts to ensure the health of the Australian population during the COVID pandemic, social, economic, and environmental aspects of people’s life were impacted. In addressing the pandemic risks, a number of governments prioritized people’s health and well-being over GDP growth. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is used to account for factors that influence well-being. We used the GPI to assess the pandemic’s impact on well-being and we examined our results in relation to the GDP. We estimated the GPI for the first 6 months of 2019 and the same period in 2020, during which the first stages of the COVID pandemic and the first nationwide lockdown in Australia took place. We examined two scenarios, in the first we found that in Q1 the GDP growth (1.4%) was accompanied by a significant GPI growth (5.3%), showing a positive relation to the GDP; but in Q2 the significant drop (-6.3%) in the GDP was not followed by the GPI, instead the GPI growth remained almost steady with even a relatively small increase (0.33%), indicating a negative relation to the GDP growth. Whereas in the second scenario, the GPI growths (7.12%) in Q1 and (-2.60%) Q2 were positively related to the GDP growths (4.6%) in Q1 and (−0.25%) Q2.We discuss the reasons for the divergence between the two indicators and one of the limitations of the GPI as a measure of well-being. Lastly, we discuss the behavioural and policy lessons of the lockdown and their relevance to what is proposed by degrowth economists.