Professor Arras' article' provides a fascinating and persuasive account of an important shift in bioethics. The move from theory-based systems of ethics to narrative-based systems of ethics is paralleled by shifts in several related fields. In legal theory, one can see this development in the rise of legal pragmatism and the questioning of abstract and comprehensive theories, whether those theo...

Introduction: A Nasogastric (NG) tube insertion is a common technique in all neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). In some cases, NG insertion in infants with friable esophageal tissues may lead to some adverse side-effects, although such problems are not commonly seen. Esophageal perforation is a rare but known complication associated with this procedure. Methods: An infant (first child), we...

This paper deals with the pickup and delivery traveling salesman problem. First we show how to adapt some classical traveling salesman heuristics to solve this problem, then we propose a new and e$cient composite heuristic. The proposed heuristic is composed of two phases: a solution construction phase including a local optimization component and a deletion and re-insertion improvement phase. T...

The main result of this paper is a bijection between partitions with odd parts and partitions with distinct parts, which serves as a unification of two refinements of Euler’s theorem respectively due to Bessenrodt and Glaisher. Our construction can be viewed as a variant of Bessenrodt’s insertion algorithm as a combinatorial interpretation of a refinement of Andrews-Olsson’s theorem.

The synthesis of (-)-hamigeran B has been achieved, based on a new approach to cyclopentane construction, the rhodium-mediated intramolecular C-H insertion of alpha-aryl-alpha-diazoketones. The endo-isopropyl group was installed by selective hydrogenation of a cyclopropylidene substituent.

The preparation of the crystalline amide 2 is reported. Conjugate addition to 2 proceeded with the expected high diastereocontrol to give 3. This set the stage for subsequent intramolecular alkylidene C-H insertion to give, after ozonolysis and aldol condensation, (-)-mesembrine 1. Amide 2 should be a useful chiron for the enantioselective construction of cyclic quaternary centers.