This article critically examines the 25 June 1998 decision by the House of Lords regarding the psychiatric admission of a man with autism. Mr L was able neither to consent to, nor refuse, that admission and the disposition of his case illuminates the current debate regarding best interests of vulnerable adults by the judiciary and the psychiatric profession. This article begins with the assumpt...

England's Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled that parents had the right to prevent a physician at the local health authority from prescribing contraceptives to girls under the age of 16 without parental consent. Since a girl was legally incapable of giving valid consent in other matters before that age, neither could she give valid consent to contraception or abortion. A doctor who provid...

We propose a semiconductor microcavity structure in which the cavity layer is entirely both optically and electronically active. Optical spectra at normal incidence are studied theoretically, showing the drastic effects of the cavity polariton mode splitting and of the Bragg mirror confinement.

I would have liked to start this paper by rst presenting a coherent model of human memory. After describing the functional components of the model and the structural components of the model, I would review the studies that provide evidence for each component and the interrelations between the components. After several sleepless nights, I gave up on this dream. And I decided that it was not my f...

Assigning meaning to the actions of other subjects is an essential aspect of everyday social communication. A major contribution in understanding the brain mechanism supporting recognition of others’ actions was the discovery of ‘mirror neurons’, which are activated both when a monkey grasps an object and when he observes other subjects executing the same grasps. However, our recent findings in...

would have on the girls at-risk as a result of the publicity the decision was bound to receive. Furthermore, the least that might have been expected in these circumstances was clear and unambiguous new guidance. What we have got is a confused and muddled statement which reads more like an abstract ethical pronouncement than a principle which is likely to have important consequences to public he...