Adam Smith and the theory of punishment

A distinctive theory of punishment plays a central role in Smith's moral and legal theory. According to this theory, we regard the punishment of a crime as deserved only to the extent that an impartial spectator would go along with the actual or supposed resentment of the victim. The first part of this paper argues that Smith's theory deserves serious consideration and relates it to other theories such as utilitarianism and more orthodox forms of retributivism. The second part considers the objection that, because Smith's theory implies that punishment is justified only when there is some person or persons who is the victim of the crime, it cannot explain the many cases where punishment is imposed purely for the public good. It is argued that Smith's theory could be extended to cover such cases. The third part defends Smith's theory against the objection that, because it relies on our natural feelings, it cannot provide an adequate moral justification of punishment

Amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide optoelectronic oscillator systems.

We demonstrate a free-running 3-GHz slab-coupled optical waveguide (SCOW) optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) with low phase-noise (-120 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset) and ultra-low sidemode spurs. These sidemodes are indistinguishable from noise on a spectrum analyzer measurement (88 dB down from carrier). The SCOW-OEO uses high-power low-noise SCOW components in a single-loop cavity employing 1.5-km delay. The noise properties of our SCOW external-cavity laser (SCOWECL) and SCOW photodiode (SCOWPD) are characterized and shown to be suitable for generation of high spectral purity microwave tones. Through comparisons made with SCOW-OEO topologies employing amplification, we observe the sidemode levels to be degraded by any amplifiers (optical or RF) introduced within the OEO cavity

Self-management education for cystic fibrosis

Background: Self-management education may help patients with cystic fibrosis and their families to choose, monitor and adjust treatment requirements for their illness, and also to manage the effects of illness on their lives. Although self-management education interventions have been developed for cystic fibrosis, no previous systematic review of the evidence of effectiveness of these interventions has been conducted. Objectives: To assess the effects of self-management education interventions on improving health outcomes for patients with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register (date of the last search: 22 August 2013). We also searched databases through EBSCO (CINAHL; Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Collection; PsychInfo; SocINDEX) and Elsevier (Embase) and handsearched relevant journals and conference proceedings (date of the last searches: 01 February 2014 ). Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised controlled trials or controlled clinical trials comparing different types of self-management education for cystic fibrosis or comparing self-management education with standard care or no intervention. Data collection and analysis: Two authors assessed trial eligibility and risk of bias. Three authors extracted data. Main results: Four trials (involving a total of 269 participants) were included. The participants were children with cystic fibrosis and their parents or caregivers in three trials and adults with cystic fibrosis in one trial. The trials compared four different self-management education interventions versus standard treatment: (1) a training programme for managing cystic fibrosis in general; (2) education specific to aerosol and airway clearance treatments; (3) disease-specific nutrition education; and (4) general and disease-specific nutrition education. Training children to manage cystic fibrosis in general had no statistically significant effects on weight after six to eight weeks, mean difference -7.74 lb (i.e. 3.51 kg) (95% confidence interval -35.18 to 19.70). General and disease-specific nutrition education for adults had no statistically significant effects on: pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume at one second), mean difference -5.00 % (95% confidence interval -18.10 to 8.10) at six months and mean difference -5.50 % (95% confidence interval -18.46 to 7.46) at 12 months; or weight, mean difference - 0.70 kg (95% confidence interval -6.58 to 5.18) at six months and mean difference -0.70 kg (95% confidence interval -6.62 to 5.22) at 12 months; or dietary fat intake scores, mean difference 1.60 (85% confidence interval -2.90 to 6.10) at six months and mean difference 0.20 (95% confidence interval -4.08 to 4.48) at 12 months. There is some limited evidence to suggest that self-management education may improve knowledge in patients with cystic fibrosis but not in parents or caregivers. There is also some limited evidence to suggest that self-management education may result in positively changing a small number of behaviours in both patients and caregivers. Authors' conclusions: The available evidence from this review is of insufficient quantity and quality to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of self-management education for cystic fibrosis. Further trials are needed to investigate the effects of self-management education on a range of clinical and behavioural outcomes in children, adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers

Self-management education for cystic fibrosis

Self-management education may help patients with cystic fibrosis and their families to choose, monitor and adjust treatment requirements for their illness, and also to manage the effects of illness on their lives. Although self-management education interventions have been developed for cystic fibrosis, no previous systematic review of the evidence of effectiveness of these interventions has been conducted

Adenovirus: an emerging factor in red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris conservation

1. Adenovirus is an emerging threat to red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris conservation, but confirming clinically significant adenovirus infections in red squirrels is challenging. Rapid intestinal autolysis after death in wild animals frequently obscures pathology characteristic of the disease in animals found dead. 2. We review the available literature to determine current understanding of both subclinical and clinically significant adenovirus infections in free-living wild and captive red squirrel populations. 3. Benefits of scientific testing for adenovirus incorporating both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies are compared and contrasted. We favour viral particle detection using TEM in animals exhibiting enteropathy at post-mortem and the use of PCR to detect subclinical cases where no enteric abnormalities are observed. 4. Adenoviral infections associated with re-introduction studies are evaluated by examination of sporadic cases in wild populations and of data from captive collections used to service such studies. 5. The paucity of data available on adenovirus infection in grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis populations is documented, and we highlight that although subclinical virus presence is recorded in several locations in Great Britain and in Italy, no clinically significant disease cases have been detected in the species thus far. 6. Current speculation about potential interspecific infection between sciurids and other woodland rodents such as wood mice Apodemus sylvaticus is examined. Where subclinical adenovirus presence has been detected in sympatric populations using the same point food sources, husbandry methods may be used to diminish the potential for cross-infection. 7. Our findings highlight the importance of controlling disease in red squirrel populations by using clearly defined scientific methods. In addition, we propose hypothetical conservation benefits of restricting contact rates between red squirrels and sympatric grey squirrels and of limiting competition from other woodland rodent species

Low-noise RF-amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide coupled optoelectronic oscillators: physics and operation

We demonstrate a 10-GHz RF-amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide coupled optoelectronic oscillator (SCOW-COEO) system operating with low phase-noise (-115 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset) and large sidemode suppression (70 dB measurement-limited). The optical pulses generated by the SCOW-COEO exhibit 26.8-ps pulse width (post compression) with a corresponding spectral bandwidth of 0.25 nm (1.8X transform-limited). We also investigate the mechanisms that limit the performance of the COEO. Our measurements indicate that degradation in the quality factor (Q) of the optical cavity significantly impacts COEO phase-noise through increases in the optical amplifier relative intensity noise (RIN)

Portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the in‑feld screening of organic pollutants in soil and water at pollution incidents

Environmental pollution incidents generate an emergency response from regulatory agencies to ensure that the impact on the environment is minimised. Knowing what pollutants are present provides important intelligence to assist in determining how to respond to the incident. However, responders are limited in their in-feld capabilities to identify the pollutants present. This research has developed an in-feld, qualitative analytical approach to detect and identify organic pollutants that are commonly detected by regulatory environmental laboratories. A rapid, in-feld extraction method was used for water and soil matrices. A coiled microextraction (CME) device was utilised for the introduction of the extracted samples into a portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for analysis. The total combined extraction and analysis time was approximately 6.5 min per sample. Results demonstrated that the in-feld extraction and analysis methods can screen for ffty-nine target organic contaminants, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, monoaromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, phthalates, organophosphorus pesticides, and organochlorine pesticides. The method was also capable of tentatively identifying unknown compounds using library searches, signifcantly expanding the scope of the methods for the provision of intelligence at pollution incidents of an unknown nature, although a laboratory-based method was able to provide more information due to the higher sensitivity achievable. The methods were evaluated using authentic casework samples and were found to be ft-for-purpose for providing rapid in-feld intelligence at pollution incidents. The fact that the in-feld methods target the same compounds as the laboratory-based methods provides the added beneft that the in-feld results can assist in sample triaging upon submission to the laboratory for quantitation and confrmatory analysis

Semiclassical Stability of the Extreme Reissner-Nordstrom Black Hole

The stress-energy tensor of a free quantized scalar field is calculated in the extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole spacetime in the zero temperature vacuum state. The stress-energy appears to be regular on the event horizon, contrary to the suggestion provided by two-dimensional calculations. An analytic calculation on the event horizon for a thermal state shows that if the temperature is nonzero then the stress-energy diverges strongly there.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX, 4 figures in separate uuencoded compressed fil

Relativistic Viscous Fluid Dynamics and Non-Equilibrium Entropy

Fluid dynamics corresponds to the dynamics of a substance in the long wavelength limit. Writing down all terms in a gradient (long wavelength) expansion up to second order for a relativistic system at vanishing charge density, one obtains the most general (causal) equations of motion for a fluid in the presence of shear and bulk viscosity, as well as the structure of the non-equilibrium entropy current. Requiring positivity of the divergence of the non-equilibrium entropy current relates some of its coefficients to those entering the equations of motion. I comment on possible applications of these results for conformal and non-conformal fluids.Comment: 25 pages, no figures; v2: matches published versio

Thermal divergences on the event horizons of two-dimensional black holes

The expectation value of the stress-energy tensor \langleT_{\mu\nu}\rangle of a free conformally invariant scalar field is computed in a general static two-dimensional black hole spacetime when the field is in either a zero temperature vacuum state or a thermal state at a nonzero temperature. It is found that for every static two-dimensional black hole the stress-energy diverges strongly on the event horizon unless the field is in a state at the natural black hole temperature which is defined by the surface gravity of the event horizon. This implies that both extreme and nonextreme two-dimensional black holes can only be in equilibrium with radiation at the natural black hole temperature.Comment: 13 pages, REVTe