The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice

Contrary to the common wisdom among criminal law scholars, empirical evidence reveals that people\u27s intuitions of justice are often specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself-physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions-the shared intuitions are stunningly consistent across cultures as well as demographics. It is puzzling that judgments of moral blameworthiness, which seem so complex and subjective, reflect such a remarkable consensus. What could explain this striking result? The authors theorize that one explanation may be an evolved predisposition toward these shared intuitions of justice, arising from the advantages that they provided, including stability, predictability, and the facilitation of beneficial exchange-the cornerstones to cooperative action and its accompanying survival benefits. Recent studies in animal behavior and brain science are consistent with this hypothesis, suggesting that moral judgment not only has biological underpinnings, but also reflects the effects of evolutionary processes on the distinctly human mind. Similarly, the child development literature provides evidence of predictable stages in the development of moral judgment within each individual, from infancy through adulthood, that are universal across all demographics and cultures. The current evidence does not preclude alternative explanations. Shared views of justice might arise, for example, through general social learning. However, a social learning explanation faces a variety of difficulties. It assumes that individuals will adopt norms good for the group at the expense of self-interest. It assumes an undemonstrated human capacity to assess extremely complex issues, such as what will be an efficient norm. It predicts that the significant variation in circumstances among different groups would give rise to commensurately different norms and variation in the effectiveness of teaching them. It is inconsistent with the developmental data that show intuitions of justice appearing early, before social learning of such complexity is possible. And, finally, a general social learning explanation predicts views of justice as accessible, reasoned knowledge, rather than the inaccessible, intuitive knowledge that we know them commonly to be. Whatever the correct explanation for the consensus puzzle, intuitions of justice seem to be an inherent part of being human and this, in turn, can have important implications for criminal law and criminal justice policy

Realism, Punishment, and Reform

Professors Donald Braman, Dan Kahan, and David Hoffman, in their article Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism, to be published in an upcoming issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, critique a series of our articles: Concordance and Conflict in Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=932067), The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=952726), and Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy (http://ssrn.com/abstract=976026). Our reply, here, follows their article in that coming issue. As we demonstrate, they have misunderstood our views on, and thus the implications of, widespread agreement about punishing the core of wrongdoing. Although much of their attack is therefore misplaced, important disagreements may remain concerning: whether there is a meaningful difference between core and non-core cases; whether judgments about core cases are less malleable than judgments about non-core cases; and whether imposing punishments perceived to be unjust imposes, in turn, significant costs on the criminal justice system. Which of the disputed views is correct can have important implications for the administration of criminal justice. Far from being anti-reformists, as accused, we argue that Reform Realism is the most effective path to bringing about needed reforms

Realism, Punishment & Reform [A Reply to Braman, Kahan, and Hoffman, Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism”]

Professors Donald Braman, Dan Kahan, and David Hoffman, in their article Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism, to be published in an upcoming issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, critique a series of our articles: Concordance and Conflict in Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=932067), The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=952726), and Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=976026). Our reply, here, follows their article in that coming issue. As we demonstrate, they have misunderstood our views on, and thus the implications of, widespread agreement about punishing the core of wrongdoing. Although much of their attack is therefore misplaced, important disagreements may remain concerning: whether there is a meaningful difference between core and non-core cases; whether judgments about core cases are less malleable than judgments about non-core cases; and whether imposing punishments perceived to be unjust imposes, in turn, significant costs on the criminal justice system. Which of the disputed views is correct can have important implications for the administration of criminal justice. Far from being anti-reformists, as accused, we argue that Reform Realism is the most effective path to bringing about needed reforms

Epigenetic regulatory pathways involving microRNAs may modulate the host immune response following major trauma

BACKGROUND Posttraumatic nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication resulting in significant morbidity. Trauma-induced immunocompromise is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to pneumonia. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that posttranscriptional epigenetic regulation of gene expression may be an important factor in determining this immune phenotype. We describe the pattern of production of microRNAss (miRs) and their association with nosocomial pneumonia following severe trauma. METHODS A convenience sample of 30 ventilated polytrauma patients (UKCRN ID: 5637) and 16 healthy controls were recruited. Messenger RNA and protein levels of key cytokines were quantified within 2 hours of the injury and at 24 hours. Three miRs per cytokine were then selected based on miRBase target prediction scores and quantified using polymerase chain reaction. Nosocomial pneumonia was defined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions. RESULTS Median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 29, and 47% of the patients developed nosocomial pneumonia. miR-125a and miR-202 decreased by 34% and 77%, respectively, immediately following injury, whereas their target, IL-10, increased messenger RNA levels 3-fold and protein levels 180 fold. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and IL-12 gene expression decreased by 68% and 43%, respectively, following injury, and this was mirrored by a 10-fold increase in miR-181, an miR predicted to target TNF-α transcripts. Lower levels of miR-125a and miR-374b were associated with the later acquisition of hospital-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION Alteration in the expression of miRs with highly predicted complementarity to IL-10 and TNF-α may be an important mechanism regulating the posttraumatic immunosuppressive phenotype in intensive care unit patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Retrospective observational study, level III

Ammonia for power

A potential enabler of a low carbon economy is the energy vector hydrogen. However, issues associated with hydrogen storage and distribution are currently a barrier for its implementation. Hence, other indirect storage media such as ammonia and methanol are currently being considered. Of these, ammonia is a carbon free carrier which offers high energy density; higher than compressed air. Hence, it is proposed that ammonia, with its established transportation network and high flexibility, could provide a practical next generation system for energy transportation, storage and use for power generation. Therefore, this review highlights previous influential studies and ongoing research to use this chemical as a viable energy vector for power applications, emphasizing the challenges that each of the reviewed technologies faces before implementation and commercial deployment is achieved at a larger scale. The review covers technologies such as ammonia in cycles either for power or CO2 removal, fuel cells, reciprocating engines, gas turbines and propulsion technologies, with emphasis on the challenges of using the molecule and current understanding of the fundamental combustion patterns of ammonia blends

How many predator guts are required to predict trophic interactions?

1) A large obstacle in food web ecology is the time and effort required to adequately describe the structure of a food web using individual predator guts. Food web models such as the allometric diet breadth model (ADBM) can be used to circumvent this problem by predicting the interactions based on easily measured characteristics, such as the size of organisms. However, diet data such as that which comes from analysis of predator guts is still required to parameterise these food web models, and collecting and analysing these data from the field is an expensive and time-consuming task. Therefore, it is important to know how many predator guts are required to parameterise food web models to obtain food web structures with high accuracy and precision. 2) Here, we explore seven exceptionally well-characterised food webs and determine the minimum number of predator guts needed to accurately predict their structure using the ADBM. We use Bayesian computation to parameterise the ADBM, and true skill statistics to measure the goodness of fit, and do so while varying the number of predator guts used in the parameterisation to test the effect of sampling effort. 3) We found that relatively few, and many fewer than were actually collected, predator guts can be used to parameterise the ADBM. The lowest number of predator guts was 27% of the number of available predator guts. The number of predator guts required to accurately characterise food webs increases by ~7 ±2.2 guts for 10 units increase in the number of trophic links and ~ 9 ±4.7 guts for a unit increase in the number of species. 4) These results suggest that one need not collect and analyse such a large quantity of predator guts in order to adequately predict the structure of a food web, thereby reducing sampling effort considerably, while having little effect on precision or accuracy of predictions

The effects of whey protein fibrils on the linear and non-linear rheological properties of a gluten-free dough

The increasing awareness of the celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder caused by the consumption of products containing gluten, has led to a growing interest in the development of gluten-free bakery products. In this study, whey protein fibrils (WPFs) were incorporated to mimic the fibrous network of gluten. The rheological properties and microstructure of the developed gluten-free doughs were evaluated and compared with gluten doughs. Protein fibrils were prepared by heating a whey protein isolate (WPI) solution at 80°C in an acidic environment with low salt concentration, and then the fibril lengths were adjusted by leveling up the solution pH to 3.5 and 7. The dimensions of the fibrils were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Rice and potato starches were mixed with fibrils, WPI, gluten, or without protein, to form different doughs for further investigation. Shear tests, including stress sweep, frequency sweep, and creep recovery, were performed to study the viscoelastic properties of doughs under small or large deformation. The strain-hardening properties of doughs under biaxial extension were studied by the lubricated squeezing flow method. The microstructure of the doughs was characterized by cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). Compared with doughs prepared with WPI and no proteins, doughs incorporating fibrils showed comparable linear viscoelasticity to gluten dough tested with stress sweep, frequency sweep, and creep recovery in the linear viscoelastic region. More differences between the protein fibril doughs were revealed in the rheological properties in the non-linear region. Creep recovery parameters, such as compliance, elastic moduli during the creep, and recovery stages of gluten dough, were like those of WPF pH7 dough, but significantly different from those of the WPF pH3.5 dough. Strain-hardening properties were found in the WPF pH7 dough, although not in WPF pH3.5 dough. Microstructural characterization showed that both fibrils prepared with the different conditions formed a continuous protein phase for the improvement of dough cohesiveness, but the structure of the phase was different between the two fibrils. To summarize, whey protein fibril at pH 7 seemed to have the potential of being used as an ingredient with similar functions to gluten in gluten-free bakery products

In situ measurement of atmospheric krypton and xenon on Mars with Mars Science Laboratory

Mars Science Laboratory's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation has measured all of the stable isotopes of the heavy noble gases krypton and xenon in the martian atmosphere, in situ, from the Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater, Mars. Previous knowledge of martian atmospheric krypton and xenon isotope ratios has been based upon a combination of the Viking mission's krypton and xenon detections and measurements of noble gas isotope ratios in martian meteorites. However, the meteorite measurements reveal an impure mixture of atmospheric, mantle, and spallation contributions. The xenon and krypton isotopic measurements reported here include the complete set of stable isotopes, unmeasured by Viking. The new results generally agree with Mars meteorite measurements but also provide a unique opportunity to identify various non-atmospheric heavy noble gas components in the meteorites. Kr isotopic measurements define a solar-like atmospheric composition, but deviating from the solar wind pattern at 80Kr and 82Kr in a manner consistent with contributions originating from neutron capture in Br. The Xe measurements suggest an intriguing possibility that isotopes lighter than 132Xe have been enriched to varying degrees by spallation and neutron capture products degassed to the atmosphere from the regolith, and a model is constructed to explore this possibility. Such a spallation component, however, is not apparent in atmospheric Xe trapped in the glassy phases of martian meteorites