Moral enhancement: do means matter morally?

One of the reasons why moral enhancement may be controversial, is because the advantages of moral enhancement may fall upon society rather than on those who are enhanced. If directed at individuals with certain counter-moral traits it may have direct societal benefits by lowering immoral behavior and increasing public safety, but it is not directly clear if this also benefits the individual in question. In this paper, we will discuss what we consider to be moral enhancement, how different means may be used to achieve it and whether the means we employ to reach moral enhancement matter morally. Are certain means to achieve moral enhancement wrong in themselves? Are certain means to achieve moral enhancement better than others, and if so, why? More specifically, we will investigate whether the difference between direct and indirect moral enhancement matters morally. Is it the case that indirect means are morally preferable to direct means of moral enhancement and can we indeed pinpoint relevant intrinsic, moral differences between both? We argue that the distinction between direct and indirect means is indeed morally relevant, but only insofar as it tracks an underlying distinction between active and passive interventions. Although passive interventions can be ethical provided specific safeguards are put in place, these interventions exhibit a greater potential to compromise autonomy and disrupt identity

Evolution of Linear Absorption and Nonlinear Optical Properties in V-Shaped Ruthenium(II)-Based Chromophores

In this article, we describe a series of complexes with electron-rich cis-{Ru^(II)(NH_3)_4}^(2+) centers coordinated to two pyridyl ligands bearing N-methyl/arylpyridinium electron-acceptor groups. These V-shaped dipolar species are new, extended members of a class of chromophores first reported by us (Coe, B. J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 4845−4859). They have been isolated as their PF_6− salts and characterized by using various techniques including ^1H NMR and electronic absorption spectroscopies and cyclic voltammetry. Reversible Ru^(III/II) waves show that the new complexes are potentially redox-switchable chromophores. Single crystal X-ray structures have been obtained for four complex salts; three of these crystallize noncentrosymmetrically, but with the individual molecular dipoles aligned largely antiparallel. Very large molecular first hyperpolarizabilities β have been determined by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) with an 800 nm laser and also via Stark (electroabsorption) spectroscopic studies on the intense, visible d → π^* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) and π → π^* intraligand charge-transfer (ILCT) bands. The latter measurements afford total nonresonant β_0 responses as high as ca. 600 × 10^(−30) esu. These pseudo-C_(2v) chromophores show two substantial components of the β tensor, β_(zzz) and β_(zyy), although the relative significance of these varies with the physical method applied. According to HRS, β_(zzz) dominates in all cases, whereas the Stark analyses indicate that β_(zyy) is dominant in the shorter chromophores, but β_(zzz) and β_(zyy) are similar for the extended species. In contrast, finite field calculations predict that β_(zyy) is always the major component. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations predict increasing ILCT character for the nominally MLCT transitions and accompanying blue-shifts of the visible absorptions, as the ligand π-systems are extended. Such unusual behavior has also been observed with related 1D complexes (Coe, B. J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 3880−3891)

Simultaneously Hermaphroditic Shrimp Use Lipophilic Cuticular Hydrocarbons as Contact Sex Pheromones

Successful mating is essentially a consequence of making the right choices at the correct time. Animals use specific strategies to gain information about a potential mate, which is then applied to decision-making processes. Amongst the many informative signals, odor cues such as sex pheromones play important ecological roles in coordinating mating behavior, enabling mate and kin recognition, qualifying mate choice, and preventing gene exchange among individuals from different populations and species. Despite overwhelming behavioral evidence, the chemical identity of most cues used in aquatic organisms remains unknown and their impact and omnipresence have not been fully recognized. In many crustaceans, including lobsters and shrimps, reproduction happens through a cascade of events ranging from initial attraction to formation of a mating pair eventually leading to mating. We examined the hypothesis that contact pheromones on the female body surface of the hermaphroditic shrimp Lysmata boggessi are of lipophilic nature, and resemble insect cuticular hydrocarbon contact cues. Via chemical analyses and behavioural assays, we show that newly molted euhermaphrodite-phase shrimp contain a bouquet of odor compounds. Of these, (Z)-9-octadecenamide is the key odor with hexadecanamide and methyl linoleate enhancing the bioactivity of the pheromone blend. Our results show that in aquatic systems lipophilic, cuticular hydrocarbon contact sex pheromones exist; this raises questions on how hydrocarbon contact signals evolved and how widespread these are in the marine environment

Light-induced spiral mass transport in azo-polymer films under vortex-beam illumination

When an azobenzene-containing polymer film is exposed to a non-uniform illumination, a light-induced mass migration process may be induced, leading to the formation of relief patterns on the polymer free surface. Despite a research effort of many years and several proposed models many aspects of this phenomenon remain not well understood. Here we report the appearance of spiral-shaped relief patterns on the polymer under the illumination of focused Laguerre-Gauss beams, having helical wavefront and an optical vortex at their axis. The induced spiral reliefs are sensitive to the vortex topological charge and to the wavefront handedness. These findings are unexpected, because the "doughnut"-shaped intensity profile of Laguerre- Gauss beams contains no information about the wavefront handedness. We propose a model that explains the main features of this phenomenon from the surface-mediated interference of the longitudinal and the transverse components of the optical field. These results may find applications in optical micro- and nanolithography and optical-field.Comment: Open Access at Journal Reference homepag

Free will, punishment and criminal responsibility

Retributive attitudes are deeply held and widespread in the general population and most legal systems incorporate retributive elements. It is probably also the dominant theory of punishment among contemporary philosophers of criminal justice. However, retributivism relies on conceptions of free will and responsibility that have, for millennia, fundamentally divided those who have thought seriously about the subject. Our legal system upholds the principle that the responsibility of the offender has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, before the accused can be punished. In view of the intractable doubts surrounding the soundness of retributivism’s very conception of responsibility, my thesis argues that it is ethically dubious to punish individuals for solely retributive reasons. Instead, my thesis proposes that a person should only be punished if the main theories of punishment agree that punishing that person is appropriate – I call this ‘the convergence requirement’. This approach, I argue, is in accordance with the considerations underlying the beyond reasonable doubt standard. In addition to considering the question of ‘whom to punish’ my thesis considers what methods of responding to criminal behaviour are acceptable. In particular, it attempts to explain, without appealing to the contested notions of free will or retributive desert, what is problematic about ‘manipulative’ methods of dealing with criminal offenders (focussing in particular on the possibility of modifying their behaviour through neurological interventions). The final part of this thesis also gives an overview of some of the practical implications for Scots criminal law of taking doubts about free will and retributivism seriously. Given the severe treatment that offenders undergo within the Scottish penal system (e.g. deprivation of liberty, stigma) and the high rate of recidivism, it is important to consider whether our current penal practices are justified, what alternatives are available and what goals and values should guide attempts at reforming the system