Vivisection and Moral Introspection in Nietzsche

Brian Leiter (2002) argues that Nietzsche’s claims about value, such as his criticisms of conventional morality, are not objectively grounded but are matters of taste. However, this view (i) conflicts with Nietzsche’s rhetoric and (ii) may fall into an unresolvable dilemma, as suggested by Ian Dunkle (2013). In response, I advance the claim that Nietzsche views moral value as being relationally, and thus objectively, grounded. For example, moral value claims can evaluated as prudentially good or bad for a person by appealing to the relationship between type-level facts about the person and the values they hold. This interpretation more clearly accounts for (i) the philosophical weight Nietzsche saw in his project, (ii) Nietzsche’s task to “revaluate all values,” (iii) his repeated attacks against dogmatism both in and outside philosophy, and (iv) his extensive use of vivisection as a morally significant term of art

Past and Future Land Use Impacts of Canadian Oil Sands and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Canadian oil sands underlie 142,000 km2 of the boreal forest in northeastern Alberta. Oil sands production greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased from 15 million tonnes (Mt) to 55 Mt between 1990 and 2011. Their production represents the fastest-growing source of GHG emissions in Canada. A large body of studies show that oil sands industries have large environmental impacts, including effects on climate, land, water, and air quality but GHG emissions from oil sands land use disturbance and future land use impacts have yet to be examined in detail and the associated literature is scarce and incomplete. Our paper examines the historical and potential land use change and GHG emissions associated with oil sands development in Canada. Disturbance occurred between 1985 and 2009 from oil sands development were identified using remote sensing technique and mapped onto spatially explicit soil, biomass and peatlands carbon maps. We found that land use and GHG disturbance of oil sands production, especially in-situ technology that will be the dominant technology of choice for future oil sands development, are greater than previously reported. We estimate additional 500 km2 and 2,400 km2 of boreal forest including carbon-rich peatlands would be disturbed from surface mining and in-situ production, respectively, between 2012 and 2030; releasing additional 107–182 million tonnes of GHG from land use alone. Future efforts to monitor land use impacts of in-situ production are needed to reduce landscape impacts and associated GHG emissions. In addition, land reclamation after oil sands projects needs to be enforced for broad ecological benefits together with GHG benefits

False-negative results using Neisseria gonorrhoeae porA pseudogene PCR - a clinical gonococcal isolate with an N. meningitidis porA sequence, Australia, March 2011

The gonococcal porA pseudogene is a popular target for in-house Neisseria gonorrhoeae PCR methods. With this study we present two novel findings: the first case of an N. gonorrhoeae porA pseudogene PCR false-negative result caused by sequence variation, and in the same organism, the first description of a clinical N. gonorrhoeae strain harbouring an N. meningitidis porA sequence

Reputation Agent: Prompting Fair Reviews in Gig Markets

Our study presents a new tool, Reputation Agent, to promote fairer reviews from requesters (employers or customers) on gig markets. Unfair reviews, created when requesters consider factors outside of a worker's control, are known to plague gig workers and can result in lost job opportunities and even termination from the marketplace. Our tool leverages machine learning to implement an intelligent interface that: (1) uses deep learning to automatically detect when an individual has included unfair factors into her review (factors outside the worker's control per the policies of the market); and (2) prompts the individual to reconsider her review if she has incorporated unfair factors. To study the effectiveness of Reputation Agent, we conducted a controlled experiment over different gig markets. Our experiment illustrates that across markets, Reputation Agent, in contrast with traditional approaches, motivates requesters to review gig workers' performance more fairly. We discuss how tools that bring more transparency to employers about the policies of a gig market can help build empathy thus resulting in reasoned discussions around potential injustices towards workers generated by these interfaces. Our vision is that with tools that promote truth and transparency we can bring fairer treatment to gig workers.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, The Web Conference 2020, ACM WWW 202

Elastomeric Sensing of Pressure with Liquid Metal and Wireless Inductive Coupling

This project describes resistance-based soft sensors filled with liquid metal, which permit measurements of large strains (0 percent to 110 percent), associated with small forces of less than 30 Newtons. This work also demonstrates a methodology for wireless transfer of these strain measurements without connected electrodes. These sensors allow intermittent detection of pressure on soft membranes with low force. Adapting these sensors for passive wireless pressure sensing will eliminate the need for embedded batteries, and will allow the sensors to transmit pressure data through non-conductive materials including glass and acrylic. The absence of batteries allows us to embed these sensors into materials for long-term use because the sensors only use passive analog circuit elements. We found the oxidation of the liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium) plays a role in the repeatability of the soft sensors. We investigated how the oxidation layer affected the behavior of the sensor by encapsulating materials (silicone, fluorosilicone, and PVC) with varied permeabilities to oxygen. We measured the effects of mechanical loading on the oxidation layer and the effects of wireless inductive coupling on the oxidation layer. We concluded our research by investigating the effects of embedding self-resonant circuits into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Efforts to design engineered systems with soft materials are a growing field with progress in soft robotics, epidermal electronics, and wearable electronics. In the field of soft robotics, PDMS-based grippers are capable of picking up delicate objects because their form-fitting properties allow them to conform to the shape of objects more easily than conventional robotic grippers. Epidermal devices also use PDMS as a substrate to hold electronic components such as radios, sensors, and power supply circuits. Additionally, PDMS-based soft sensors can monitor human motion with liquid metal embedded within micro-channels. Passive wireless sensors have applications in structural health monitoring and medical health monitoring. Doctors can take wireless blood pressure measurements inside arteries to monitor the progression of heart disease. Glaucoma patients can use this technology to monitor the pressure in their eyes to track the progression of the disease