6,982 research outputs found
The Basic Liberties: An Essay on Analytical Specification
We characterize, more precisely than before, what Rawls calls the “analytical” method of drawing up a list of basic liberties. This method employs one or more general conditions that, under any just social order whatever, putative entitlements must meet for them to be among the basic liberties encompassed, within some just social order, by Rawls’s first principle of justice (i.e., the liberty principle). We argue that the general conditions that feature in Rawls’s own account of the analytical method, which employ the notion of necessity, are too stringent. They ultimately fail to deliver as basic certain particular liberties that should be encompassed within any fully adequate scheme of liberties. To address this under-generation problem, we provide an amended general condition. This replaces Rawls’s necessity condition with a probabilistic condition and it appeals to the standard liberal prohibition on arbitrary coercion by the state. We defend our new approach both as apt to feature in applications of the analytical method and as adequately grounded in justice as fairness as Rawls articulates the theory’s fundamental ideas
NICMOS Observations of Low-Redshift Quasar Host Galaxies
We have obtained Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer images of
16 radio quiet quasars observed as part of a project to investigate the
``luminosity/host-mass limit.'' The limit results were presented in McLeod,
Rieke, & Storrie-Lombardi (1999). In this paper, we present the images
themselves, along with 1- and 2-dimensional analyses of the host galaxy
properties. We find that our model-independent 1D technique is reliable for use
on ground-based data at low redshifts; that many radio-quiet quasars live in
deVaucouleurs-law hosts, although some of the techniques used to determine host
type are questionable; that complex structure is found in many of the hosts,
but that there are some hosts that are very smooth and symmetric; and that the
nuclei radiate at ~2-20% of the Eddington rate based on the assumption that all
galaxies have central black holes with a constant mass fraction of 0.6%.
Despite targeting hard-to-resolve hosts, we have failed to find any that imply
super-Eddington accretion rates.Comment: To appear in ApJ, 28 pages including degraded figures. Download the
paper with full-resolutio figures from
http://www.astro.wellesley.edu/kmcleod/mm.p
The host galaxies of luminous radio-quiet quasars
We present the results of a deep K-band imaging study which reveals the host
galaxies around a sample of luminous radio-quiet quasars. The K-band images,
obtained at UKIRT, are of sufficient quality to allow accurate modelling of the
underlying host galaxy. Initially, the basic structure of the hosts is revealed
using a modified Clean deconvolution routine optimised for this analysis. 2 of
the 14 quasars are shown to have host galaxies with violently disturbed
morphologies which cannot be modelled by smooth elliptical profiles. For the
remainder of our sample, 2D models of the host and nuclear component are fitted
to the images using the chi-squared statistic to determine goodness of fit.
Host galaxies are detected around all of the quasars. The reliability of the
modelling is extensively tested, and we find the host luminosity to be well
constrained for 9 quasars. The derived average K-band absolute K-corrected host
galaxy magnitude for these luminous radio-quiet quasars is =-25.15+/-0.04,
slightly more luminous than an L* galaxy. The spread of derived host galaxy
luminosities is small, although the spread of nuclear-to-host ratios is not.
These host luminosities are shown to be comparable to those derived from
samples of quasars of lower total luminosity and we conclude that there is no
correlation between host and nuclear luminosity for these quasars.
Nuclear-to-host ratios break the lower limit previously suggested from studies
of lower nuclear luminosity quasars and Seyfert galaxies. Morphologies are less
certain but, on the scales probed by these images, some hosts appear to be
dominated by spheroids but others appear to have disk-dominated profiles.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, revised version to be published in MNRA
Catch allocation in a shared fishery with a minimally managed recreational sector
A prevalent problem in shared fisheries is competition between commercial and recreational fishers for access to a resource that is subject to increasing utilisation pressure. For most shared fisheries in New Zealand, the commercial sector is efficiently managed with a regime of individual transferable quota (ITQ), but the recreational fishing is only minimally managed. A model is developed that can be used to explore the size of the total allowable catch (TAC) that is both sustainable AND maximises the value to the NZ economy of the combined commercial and recreational catch when the commercial catch is regulated via a total allowable commercial catch (TACC) while the recreational catch (RC) is self regulating. Determinants of the optimal catch allocation include: • the relative size of annual value to recreational fishers vis-à -vis the value of one unit of ACE to the commercial fishing sector from a unit decrease in the TACC • the relation between value to recreational fishers and size of stock biomass • the biology, and in particular the population dynamics of the fishery • the nature of the functional relationship between the self regulating recreational catch and stock biomass. The model can be applied to a fishery of interest by quantifying the above variables and relationships.economics management shared fishery catch allocation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
What is the Incoherence Objection to Legal Entrapment?
Some legal theorists say that legal entrapment to commit a crime is incoherent. So far, there is no satisfactorily precise statement of this objection in the literature: it is obscure even as to the type of incoherence that is purportedly involved. (Perhaps consequently, substantial assessment of the objection is also absent.) We aim to provide a new statement of the objection that is more precise and more rigorous than its predecessors. We argue that the best form of the objection asserts that, in attempting to entrap, law-enforcement agents lapse into a form of practical incoherence that involves the attempt simultaneously to pursue contrary ends. We then argue that the objection, in this form, encompasses all cases of legal entrapment only if it is supplemented by appeal to the premise that law-enforcement agents have an absolute duty never to create crimes
The Concept of Entrapment
Our question is this: What makes an act one of entrapment? We make a standard distinction between legal entrapment, which is carried out by parties acting in their capacities as (or as deputies of) law- enforcement agents, and civil entrapment, which is not. We aim to provide a definition of entrapment that covers both and which, for reasons we explain, does not settle questions of permissibility and culpability. We explain, compare, and contrast two existing definitions of legal entrapment to commit a crime that possess this neutrality. We point out some problems with the extensional correctness of these definitions and propose a new definition that resolves these problems. We then extend our definition to provide a more general definition of entrapment, encompassing both civil and legal cases. Our definition is, we believe, closer to being extensionally correct and will, we hope, provide a clearer basis for future discussions about the ethics of entrapment than do the definitions upon which it improves
Out of the pot and into the money: Managing the Western Rock Lobster Fishery by ITE's or ITQ's?
The West Coast Rock Lobster fishery is Australia's most valuable commercial fishery. Around 550 vessels harvest an average of 10,500 tonnes of lobster per annum. The industry has an enviable track record of biological management based on a variety of input controls, although three significant pot reduction interventions have been necessary in recent years. An evaluation of a range of possible future management regimes is reported in this paper. The results were derived from a purpose built bio-economic model three separate biological zones in the fishery using non linear optimization to produce ten year steady state solutions for alternative management options. Management options included the current pot control system, and versions of variable transferable catch quota. Key outputs for each scenario include: net economic benefits, breeder biomass index, annual catch, annual pot lifts, number of pots and vessel numbers. The results indicate significant potential net economic gains from moving away from the current input control regime. The range of scenarios modelled illustrated some of the tradeoffs between maximising net economic returns and minimizing biological risks, as well as quantifying the impact of changes such as improved pot design and extended fishing seasons. The results will inform consideration by the industry about a possible new management system.rock lobster, quotas, ITQs, Western Australia, bioeconomic, economic benefits, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
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