The Ecclesiology of Newfoundland

Rev. Grey reviews the Anglican Church architecture of Newfoundland.Periodical covers have been included with many of the digitized articles whether they relate to them or not. Extra pages not part of the article in question may also be present

A Case for Investigating the Ethics of Artificial Life?

A major stream of Artificial Life (ALife) research aims to build synthetic life forms, operating in virtual worlds, implemented as computer programs. A clear long-term target for this research is the evolution of digital life-forms with a complexity of structure and behaviour analogous to biological life-forms, potentially exhibiting intelligence and self-awareness. The creation of intelligent, self-aware digital life-forms has clear ethical implications, but there is no current research into how these ethical issues might be addressed. This paper argues that such ethical research is needed. Furthermore, it describes our future research plans to build a solid philosophical foundation for the consideration of these ethical issues

Design constraints for the post-human future

A variety of objections to human germ-line genetic engineering have been raised, such as the claim that we ought not to place individuals at significant risk without their consent. It has also been argued that it is paternalistically objectionable to confer significant benefits on individuals without their consent. As well as imposing risk of harm to non-consenting parties, there is the risk of harm to others. This paper evaluates these and related objections to germ-line genetic engineering. While a complete prohibition on human germ-line genetic engineering is rejected it is argued that acceptable germ-line engineering (a) should at least expand and enrich rather than restrict and constrain the choices for individuals affected, and (b) should not seek to change basic human dispositions and values ('human nature')

Miniature standoff Raman probe for neurosurgical applications

Removal of intrinsic brain tumors is a delicate process, where a high degree of specificity is required to remove all of the tumor tissue without damaging healthy brain. The accuracy of this process can be greatly enhanced by intraoperative guidance. Optical biopsies using Raman spectroscopy are a minimally invasive and lower-cost alternative to current guidance methods. A miniature Raman probe for performing optical biopsies of human brain tissue is presented. The probe allows sampling inside a conventional stereotactic brain biopsy system: a needle of length 200 mm and inner diameter of 1.8 mm. By employing a miniature stand-off Raman design, the probe removes the need for any additional components to be inserted into the brain. Additionally, the probe achieves a very low internal silica background while maintaining good collection of Raman signal. To illustrate this, the probe is compared with a Raman probe that uses a pair of optical fibers for collection. The miniature stand-off Raman probe is shown to collect a comparable number of Raman scattered photons, but the Raman signal to background ratio is improved by a factor of five at Raman shifts below ∼500  cm−1. The probe’s suitability for use on tissue is demonstrated by discriminating between different types of healthy porcine brain tissue