In this study, we present a hardware implementation of the conscience mechanism in Kohonen self-organizing maps. The proposed realization of the conscience mechanism is important to the functioning of the neural network as it eliminates so-called dead (inactive) neurons. As a result the network learning, the level quantization error can be reduced. The conscience mechanism and the Winner Take A...

Lack of clarity about the proper limits of conscientious refusal to participate in particular healthcare practices has given rise to fears that, in the absence of clear parameters, conscience-based exemptions may become increasingly widespread, leading to intolerable burdens on health professionals, patients, and institutions. Here, we identify three factors which clarify the proper scope of co...

This article critically evaluates the conception of conscience underlying the debate about the proper place and role of conscience in the clinical encounter. It suggests that recovering a conception of conscience rooted in the Catholic moral tradition could offer resources for moving the debate past an unproductive assertion of conflicting rights, namely, physicians' rights to conscience versus...

Study of the relationship between episodic or continuous moral malfunctioning and psychopathology is an undeveloped field in child and adolescent psychiatry. An empirically derived theory of conscience provides a normative base from which to launch such studies. This work reviews five normative stages of functioning within five domains of conscience: conceptualization, moralization of attachmen...

983 guishing claims of conscience from other types of claims. Certainly, if abortion providers’ conscience-based claims require scrutiny, so do conscience-based refusals, to ensure that refusals are indeed motivated by conscience and not by political beliefs, stigma, habit, erroneous understanding of medical evidence, or other factors. Despite nearly four decades of debate about conscientious r...

Imitation has long been considered a mechanism for the development of conscience. Despite the central role of imitation in theories of moral internalization, the prediction from imitation to moral behavior has not been tested using an individual differences approach. In a longitudinal design, we examined whether individual differences in toddlers' responsive imitation predict preschool-age cons...

Healthcare personnel may perceive troubled conscience when feeling inadequate and powerless. It is important to further explore healthcare personnel's descriptions of situations in daily work, which generate troubled conscience to increase the awareness of such situations. This study aimed to describe health care personnel's experiences of situations in municipal elderly care that generate trou...

The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between environmental and individual factors and Stress of Conscience among nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care. A questionnaire involving six different instruments measuring Stress of Conscience, the ward atmosphere, the psychosocial work environment, Perceived Stress, Moral Sensitivity, and Mastery was answered by 93 nursing s...