Genetically Engineering Human-Animal Chimeras and Lives Worth Living

Genetic engineering often generates fear of out of control scientists creating Frankenstein creatures that will terrorize the general populace, especially in the cases of human-animal chimeras. While sometimes an accurate characterization of some researchers, this belief is often the result of repugnance for new technology rather than being rationally justified. To facilitate thoughtful discussion the moral issues raised by human-animal chimeras, ethicists and other stakeholders must develop a rational ethical framework before raw emotion has a chance of becoming the dominating justification for public opinion and policy. Derek Parfit’s work on lives worth living for human beings can provide valuable insight into the morality of creating chimeras. As long as their lives are overall good, then bringing them into existence does not harm them even if they are used for medical research or procedures, or they are created to carry on the homo sapiens’ “family” line

Presuming the influence of the media: teenagers’ constructions of gender identity through sexual/romantic relationships and alcohol consumption

Using empirical data from group discussions and in-depth interviews with 13 to 15-year olds in Scotland, this study explores how teenagers’ alcohol drinking and sexual/romantic relationships were shaped by their quest for appropriate gendered identities. In this, they acknowledged the influence of the media, but primarily in relation to others, not to themselves, thereby supporting Milkie's ‘presumed media influence’ theory. Media portrayals of romantic/sexual relationships appeared to influence teenagers’ constructions of gender-appropriate sexual behaviour more than did media portrayals of drinking behaviour, perhaps because the teenagers had more firsthand experience of observing drinking than of observing sexual relationships. Presumed media influence may be less influential if one has experience of the behaviour portrayed. Drinking and sexual behaviour were highly interrelated: sexual negotiation and activities were reportedly often accompanied by drinking. For teenagers, being drunk or, importantly, pretending to be drunk, may be a useful way to try out what they perceived to be gender-appropriate identities. In sum, teenagers’ drinking and sexual/romantic relationships are primary ways in which they do gender and the media's influence on their perceptions of appropriate gendered behaviour is mediated through peer relationships

Sampling Theorem and Discrete Fourier Transform on the Riemann Sphere

Using coherent-state techniques, we prove a sampling theorem for Majorana's (holomorphic) functions on the Riemann sphere and we provide an exact reconstruction formula as a convolution product of $N$ samples and a given reconstruction kernel (a sinc-type function). We also discuss the effect of over- and under-sampling. Sample points are roots of unity, a fact which allows explicit inversion formulas for resolution and overlapping kernel operators through the theory of Circulant Matrices and Rectangular Fourier Matrices. The case of band-limited functions on the Riemann sphere, with spins up to $J$, is also considered. The connection with the standard Euler angle picture, in terms of spherical harmonics, is established through a discrete Bargmann transform.Comment: 26 latex pages. Final version published in J. Fourier Anal. App

Kapsula

Selections from the 2015 Conference of the Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories Masters Progra

Kapsula

Selections from the 2015 Conference of the Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories Masters Progra

Numerical Experiments on the Stability of Leading Edge Boundary Layer Flow

A numerical study is performed in order to gain insight to the stability of the infinite swept attachment line boundary layer. The basic flow is taken to be of the Hiemenz class with an added cross-flow giving rise to a constant thickness boundary layer along the attachment line. The full Navier-Stokes equations are solved using an initial value problem approach after two-dimensional perturbations of varying amplitude are introduced into the basic flow. A second-order-accurate finite difference scheme is used in the normal-to-the-wall direction, while a pseudospectral approach is employed in the other directions; temporally, an implicit Crank-Nicolson scheme is used. Extensive use of the efficient fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm has been made, resulting in substantial savings in computing cost. Results for the two-dimensional linear regime of perturbations are in very good agreement with past numerical and theoretical investigations, without the need for specific assumptions used by the latter, thus establishing the generality of our method