Examining the evidence from Belgium - one of only five countries where euthanasia is practised legally - an international panel of experts considers the implications of legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide. Looking at the issue from an international perspective, the authors have written an invaluable in-depth analysis of the ethical aspects of this complex area. The discussion forms a solid foundation for informed debate about assisted dying. With contributors from a broad range of disciplines, this book is ideal for students, academics, legislators and anyone interested in legal, medical, social and philosophical ethics. A vital and timely examination of a growing phenomenon and one of the most challenging ethical questions of our time.

This proceedings volume contains selected and refereed contributions that were presented at the conference on "Recent Developments and New Perspectives of Operations Research in the Area of Production Planning and Control" in Hagen/Germany, 25. - 26. June 1992. This conference was organized with the cooperation of the FernuniversiHit Hagen and was jointly hosted by the "Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Operations Research (DGOR)" and the "Manufacturing Special Interest Group of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA-SIGMA)." For the organization of the conference we received generous financial support from the sponsors listed at the end of this volume. We wish to express our appreciation to all supporters for their contributions. This conference was the successor of the JOInt ORSA/DGOR-conference in Gaithersburg/Maryland, USA, on the 30. and 31. July 1991. Both OR-societies committed themselves in 1989 to host joint conferences on special topics of interest from the field of operations research. This goal has been successfully realized in the area of production management; and it should be an incentive to conduct similar joint conferences on other topics of operations research in the years to come. The 36 contributions in this proceedings volume deal with general and special problems in production planning as well as approaches and algorithms for their solution. They cover a wide range of operations research within product management and will therefore address a wide circle of interested readers among OR-scientists and professionals alike.

Basically five problems areas are addressed by operations research specialists in the manufacturing domain: theore- tical and practical aspectsin production planning, facility layout, inventory control, tool management and scheduling. Some of these problems can be solved off-line, while others must be treated as real-time problems impacted by the changing state of the system. Additionally, all of these problems have to be dealt with in an integrated systems framework. Several new topics have recently appeared in the scientific literature which now attract the interest of operations researchers. These include distributed real-time scheduling, hierarchical and heterarchical control systems, integrated algorithms for design, process planning, and equipment level programming, material handling in a finite capacity resource environment, and designing and implementing distributed data management systems. The contributions of these proceedings represent new andunique theoretical developments and applications related to these new topics. They deal with modelling production structures and applying expert systems or neural networks to production systems. Mathematical programming, control theory, simulation, genetic algorithms, tabu search, and simulated annealing are applied as solutiton techniques.

Examining the evidence from Belgium - one of only five countries where euthanasia is practised legally - an international panel of experts considers the implications of legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide. Looking at the issue from an international perspective, the authors have written an invaluable in-depth analysis of the ethical aspects of this complex area. The discussion forms a solid foundation for informed debate about assisted dying. With contributors from a broad range of disciplines, this book is ideal for students, academics, legislators and anyone interested in legal, medical, social and philosophical ethics. A vital and timely examination of a growing phenomenon and one of the most challenging ethical questions of our time.

Elizabeth Anscombe's 1958 essay 'Modern Moral Philosophy' contributed to the transformation of the subject from the late 1960s, reversing the trend to assume that there is no intrinsic connection between facts, values, and reasons for action; and directing attention towards the category of virtues. Her later ethical writings were focused on particular ideas and issues such as those of conscience, double-effect, murder, and sexual ethics. In this collection of new essays deriving from a conference held in Oxford these and other aspects of her moral philosophy are examined. Anyone interested in Anscombe's work all want to read this volume.

David Albert Jones considers two basic questions: how can we live well in the face of death? and when, if ever, is it legitimate deliberately to bring human life to an end? He focuses upon the distinct theological approaches to death shown by four outstanding Christian thinkers: Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Karl Rahner. Jones's aim is not primarily to make a contribution to the history of theology, but rather, through engagement with the thought of theologians of the past, to reflect on some of the practical and existential issues that the approach of death presents for all of us.

What are angels? Where were they first encountered? Can we distinguish angels from gods, fairies, ghosts, and aliens? And why do they remain so popular? This Very Short Introduction outlines some of the more prominent stories and speculations about angels in Judaism, Islam, Christianity and post-Christian spiritualities. It reflects on the way that angels have been portrayed in art, whether as young men in the Hebrew Scriptures, androgynous winged creatures of the pre-Raphaelites or the masculine statue of the Angel of the North. It will also consider angels in films such as Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, and Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, as well as angels in literature. From the idea of the angel as a messenger, through to the image of angels sent to protect and help those in need, this is an examination of the implications of angels. It will ask why people find the idea of angels attractive, helpful or consoling, and why they remain so powerful in modern culture. It advances the view that reflecting on angels can teach us something about human existence and whether or not we believe that they exist in their own right, the angels can still illuminate our thoughts. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

1868. We have excellent practical treatises on agriculture and horticulture, and every intelligent farmer or gardener may learn what element is deficient, in order to successfully cultivate his grapes, his vegetables, or his grains; and having also chemical analyses of these fruits and grains, and of the materials from which to obtain his deficient elements, he has the means of adapting his soil to all desirable productions. So perfectly ignorant are people generally of the laws of nature, that they give their pigs the food which their children need to develop muscle and brain, and give their children what their pigs need to develop fat. To supply this deficiency in practical science, and to correct these erroneous and dangerous habits of society, is the object of this treatise.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.