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This paper presents findings from an investigation of nature-based practices, from the perspectives of 10 academics/educators from six nations. Participants engaged in a focus group exploring the prevalence and inclusion of nature in social work practice and education. While the study focused on individual members' experiences and perspectives, the findings highlight important context-specific factors for including nature within social work to reconnect humans with nature for health, well-being, healing, and justice. An Integrative Environmental Model for social work is proposed to assist future practice and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rare diseases, also referred to as orphan diseases, are characterised by their low prevalence with majority of them are chronically debilitating and life threatening. Given the low prevalence and the widely dispersed but very small patient base for each disease, there may often be a disproportion in the availability of treatments and resources to manage patients, spur research and train experts. This is especially true in Southeast Asian countries that are currently in the process of implementing or revising their universal health coverage schemes. This paper aims to examine the status of rare disease management in Southeast Asian countries. It will serve as the basis for a more active discussion on how countries in the region can address an under-recognised rare disease burden and enhance national and regional capacities.Methods: The study consists of literature reviews and key stakeholders interviews in six focus countries, including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand and five countries as best practice, comprising of France, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, and South Korea. Rare disease management initiatives across each country were examined based on the World Health Organization's framework for action in strengthening health systems.Results: The results suggest rare disease management remains challenging across Southeast Asia, as many of the focus countries face fundamental issues from basic healthcare systems to funding. Nonetheless, there are substantial improvement opportunities, including leveraging best practices from around the world and organising a multi-stakeholder and regional approach and strategy.Conclusions: Southeast Asian countries have made significant progress in the management of rare disease, but there remain key areas for substantial development opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on in-depth interviews undertaken eight years apart to provide a reflection upon the nature of transnational relationships and settlement over time. It follows the lives of five immigrant families between 1999 and 2007, and focuses in particular on the accounts provided by the women. These individuals migrated to Canada from Hong Kong or Taiwan during the 1990s, and then 'stuck it out', when most of their friends, in contrast, had returned home. The paper uncovers changes in their familial and personal circumstances as a consequence of migration to Canada and their subsequent experiences of transnationalism, and provides insights into the longevity and durability of transnational relationships. It contributes to debates around the persistence of transnationalism over time and the relationship between transnationalism and integration for migrants, whilst also making a methodological point about the need for more longitudinal qualitative accounts of immigrants' lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical Education 2010: 44: 864–873 Objectives Ethical reasoning in medicine is not well understood and medical educators often find it difficult to justify what and how they teach and assess in medical ethics. To facilitate the development of moral values and professional conduct, a model of ethical reasoning was created. The purposes of this paper are to describe the ethical reasoning model and to indicate how it can be used to foster moral and ethical behaviours. Methods The ethical reasoning model was created from information derived from two sources: (i) an examination of different ethical models described in the literature, and (ii) think-aloud interviews with ethical experts in Taiwan and Canada. All the components and cognitive steps used by experts in ethical decision making were extracted and categorised. Interview subjects consisted of 16 voluntary ethics experts. The ethical reasoning models reported in the literature were divided into two groups according to whether they were justification-based or task-based models. Neither of the two types represented the ‘whole picture’ of ethical reasoning in medicine. This analysis enabled us to identify five universal cognitive steps and the gaps between ‘logical decision’ and ‘action’. Results The think-aloud interviews verified the multi-dimensional components or steps used by experts when resolving ethical problems. The resulting model, designated the Medical Ethical Reasoning (MER) Model, reflects interactions within three domains: medical and ethical knowledge; cognitive reasoning processes, and attitude. Conclusions The MER Model accurately reflects how doctors resolve ethical dilemmas and is seen to be helpful in identifying what and how educators should teach and assess in ethical reasoning. The model can also serve as a communication framework for curricular design. A ‘humane’ doctor is competent in providing quality, ethical patient care. Making an appropriate ethical decision is the foundation for subsequent ethical behaviours. By contrast with the abundant evidence cited in previous research describing how doctors solve medical problems, there is little empirical evidence indicating how doctors make appropriate ethical decisions. Thus, the cognition of ethical reasoning in medicine is not well understood. This paper represents a step towards overcoming this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Canadian case of Parent v. Singapore Airlines Ltd. is compared with the Singapore cases of Anthony Woo v. Singapore Airlines and the appeal therefrom in Civil Aeronautics Administration v. Singapore Airlines. The Canadian and Singapore cases, with almost identical facts, concerned the status of Taiwan as a foreign entity entitled to state immunity pursuant to national legislation. The judgments indicate a difference in the two jurisdictions regarding the relationship between the executive and the judiciary where questions of foreign affairs arise for consideration by national courts. It is argued here that the case for judicial caution in deference to the executive (in the name of the "one-voice" doctrine) is sometimes overstated; that in practice the "one-voice" doctrine cannot easily be invoked as a basis for decisions taken by the courts on entitlement to state immunity in the absence of "clear" guidance from the executive; and that, ultimately, the issue of entitlement to state immunity is a legal one for the courts to decide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]