Delegating and Distributing Morality: Can We Inscribe Privacy Protection in a Machine?

This paper addresses the question of delegation of morality to a machine, through a consideration of whether or not non-humans can be considered to be moral. The aspect of morality under consideration here is protection of privacy. The topic is introduced through two cases where there was a failure in sharing and retaining personal data protected by UK data protection law, with tragic consequences. In some sense this can be regarded as a failure in the process of delegating morality to a computer database. In the UK, the issues that these cases raise have resulted in legislation designed to protect children which allows for the creation of a huge database for children. Paradoxically, we have the situation where we failed to use digital data in enforcing the law to protect children, yet we may now rely heavily on digital technologies to care for children. I draw on the work of Floridi, Sanders, Collins, Kusch, Latour and Akrich, a spectrum of work stretching from philosophy to sociology of technology and the “seamless web” or “actor–network” approach to studies of technology. Intentionality is considered, but not deemed necessary for meaningful moral behaviour. Floridi’s and Sanders’ concept of “distributed morality” accords with the network of agency characterized by actor–network approaches. The paper concludes that enfranchizing non-humans, in the shape of computer databases of personal data, as moral agents is not necessarily problematic but a balance of delegation of morality must be made between human and non-human actors

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: Characters and Collections

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology first opened its doors in 1915, and since then has attracted visitors from all over the world as well as providing valuable teaching resources. Named after its founder, the pioneering archaeologist Flinders Petrie, the Museum holds more than 80,000 objects and is one of the largest and finest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. Richly illustrated and engagingly written, the book moves back and forth between recent history and the ancient past, between objects and people. Experts discuss the discovery, history and care of key objects in the collections such as the Koptos lions and Roman era panel portraits. The rich and varied history of the Petrie Museum is revealed by the secrets that sit on its shelves

There’s no apprenticeship for Alzheimer’s: The caring relationship when an older person experiencing dementia falls

© Cambridge University Press 2011Older people experiencing dementia are twice as likely to fall with consequences of serious injury, reduction in everyday activity, admission to long-term care and mortality. Carers of people with dementia are themselves at greater risk of physical and mental ill health, which increases as the dementia progresses. Unsurprisingly, carer burden also increases when a care-recipient falls. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of falling of community-living older people with dementia and their carers. A qualitative approach was taken using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Nine older people with predominantly Alzheimer's disease and their ten carers were recruited from a large mental health National Health Service trust and participated in one-to-one and joint in-depth interviews. Three dyads participated in repeat interviews. Three focus groups were also carried out, with nine older people experiencing memory problems and 12 carers from a local Alzheimer's Society branch. The antecedents, falls events and consequences of falls were discussed. This paper reports specifically on the impact of falls on the caring relationship. Three themes emerged: ‘learning as you go’, ‘we're always together’, ‘nobody was interested’. The findings demonstrate how falling accentuates the impact of dementia on the dyad. Spouse-carers' discussion of their own falls emphasise the need for joint assessment of health and wellbeing to reduce carer burden and preserve the couplehood of the dyad.The South West London NHS Mental Health Care Trust which part-funded this researc

Understanding “influence”: An exploratory study of academics’ process of knowledge construction through iterative and interactive information seeking

The motivation for this study is to better understand the searching and sensemaking processes undertaken to solve exploratory tasks for which people lack pre-existing frames. To investigate people’s strategies for that type of task, we focused on “influence” tasks because, although they appear to be unfamiliar, they arise in much academic discourse, at least tacitly. This qualitative study reports the process undertaken by academics of different levels of seniority to complete exploratory search tasks that involved identifying influential members of their academic community and “rising stars, ” and to identify similar roles in an unfamiliar academic community. 11 think-aloud sessions followed by semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the role of specific and general domain expertise in the process of information seeking and knowledge construction. Academics defined and completed the task through an iterative and interactive process of seeking and sensemaking, during which they constructed an understanding of their communities and determined qualities of “being influential”. Elements of the Data/Frame Theory of Sensemaking (Klein et al., 2007) were used as sensitising theoretical constructs. The study shows that both external and internal knowledge resources are essential to define a starting point or frame, make and support decisions, and experience satisfaction. Ill-defined or non-existent initial frames may cause unsubstantial or arbitrary decisions, and feelings of uncertainty and lack of confidence

Evaluation of the Job Outcome Target Pilots: findings from the qualitative study

This report presents the results of a qualitative evaluation of the pilot of the Job Outcome Target (JOT) in seven Jobcentre Plus Districts, covering the first six months of the pilot's operation from January to July 2005. The research comprised interviews and focus groups with Jobcentre Plus managers and staff, employers, providers and customers in the JOT pilot districts in three stages, beginning one month before the start of the pilots. The evaluators' conclusion is that the qualitative evidence supports the view that JOT is a feasible alternative approach to the Job Entry Target (JET) as a system for performance measurement and management for Jobcentre Plus. Many of the desired behavioural changes among Jobcentre Plus staff were observed, including greater team working, an enhanced focus on the quality rather than quantity of interventions with customers and encouragement of appropriate customers to use self-help channels. In addition, JOT led almost immediately to the reduction or discontinuation of activities that were felt to be wasteful of resources under JET, notably the extensive use of the Adviser Discretion Fund and speculative submissions to ensure that job entries are validated. No evidence was found of negative impacts of JOT on customers, providers or employers, a finding corroborated by quantitative analysis. The report suggests that, should JOT be rolled out nationally, a programme of communication, training and support, building on the lessons of the pilot, would be necessary in order to ensure that behavioural changes associated with JOT develop into more deep-seated cultural change within Jobcentre Plus

Meeting the challenge for foot health in rheumatic diseases

Background: National guidelines recommend that patients with rheumatic diseases should have access to podiatry services and evidence is emerging that podiatry interventions are effective in the management of foot problems in this patient group. Despite this recognition it is generally perceived that access to podiatry services appears to be varied or absent. Objectives: To identify the nature of foot health problems presenting in a rheumatology clinic and to ascertain the availability and suitability of foot care for these problems. Method: A convenience sample of 139 patients (100 female and 39 male) was recruited. An assessment of foot health, and footwear was carried out and patients completed the foot function index (FFI). Any unmet foot care needs were identified. Results: The majority of the 139 patients presented with symptomatic callus and toenail problems and over half with foot deformity. There was no clear difference between genders. There was evidence of the effects of foot pain caused by these problems but low prescription of foot orthoses and specialist footwear. Conclusion: Overall this study indicates that poor foot health and foot pain as being common in patients with rheumatic diseases. The lack of foot care could lead to reduction in mobility and in some cases serious complications. This paper recommends that a specialist and dedicated foot care service is provided for these patients

Measuring Awareness of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (2003) Among Employers in the Yorkshire and Humber Region

Regulations have been in place since 2003 to prevent discrimination in employment on the grounds of Sexual Orientation. However, legislation is not on its own enough to secure fair practices in the workplace. Importantly, previous research has suggested that employers lack awareness of the regulations and may not have fully adjusted to the requirements and implications of the legislation. As such, the Government, through the DTI, has made funds available for capacity building among employers to support the implementation of the regulations. Using this funding, the Fair Play Partnership commissioned the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University to undertake research which will provide baseline information on the existing state of awareness, understanding, attitudes toward and implementation of both the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief and Sexual Orientation) Regulations. This report presents findings from a survey of employers in relation to the Sexual Orientation Regulations. A separate report provides a similar review of findings in relation to the Religion or Belief Regulations

Deriving shape-based features for C. elegans locomotion using dimensionality reduction methods

High-throughput analysis of animal behavior is increasingly common following the advances of recording technology, leading to large high-dimensional data sets. This dimensionality can sometimes be reduced while still retaining relevant information. In the case of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, more than 90% of the shape variance can be captured using just four principal components. However, it remains unclear if other methods can achieve a more compact representation or contribute further biological insight to worm locomotion. Here we take a data-driven approach to worm shape analysis using independent component analysis (ICA), non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), a cosine series, and jPCA (a dynamic variant of principal component analysis [PCA]) and confirm that the dimensionality of worm shape space is close to four. Projecting worm shapes onto the bases derived using each method gives interpretable features ranging from head movements to tail oscillation. We use these as a comparison method to find differences between the wild type N2 worms and various mutants. For example, we find that the neuropeptide mutant nlp-1(ok1469) has an exaggerated head movement suggesting a mode of action for the previously described increased turning rate. The different bases provide complementary views of worm behavior and we expect that closer examination of the time series of projected amplitudes will lead to new results in the future