Other‐Sacrificing Options

I argue that you can be permitted to discount the interests of your adversaries even though doing so would be impartially suboptimal. This means that, in addition to the kinds of moral options that the literature traditionally recognises, there exist what I call other-sacrificing options. I explore the idea that you cannot discount the interests of your adversaries as much as you can favour the interests of your intimates; if this is correct, then there is an asymmetry between negative partiality toward your adversaries and positive partiality toward your intimates

Silver Ion Biocide Delivery System for Water Disinfection

U.S. space exploration missions have long considered returning to the Moon and exploration of Mars that challenge life support systems. For these long duration missions, there is interest in replacing the iodine water treatment system with ionic silver, a proven biocide. For long duration exploration missions, it is imperative that an effective biocide be used that prevents microbial growth, biofilm formation, and microbially induced corrosion in the water storage and distribution systems while minimizing logistical supply requirements associated with the biocide delivery system. Two biocide delivery systems have been developed that electrochemically produce silver ions for disinfecting water throughout the water storage and distribution system. One system uses a newly developed hybrid micro-filtration and ion-exchange membrane to produce an abundance of silver ions at the 1000 ppb level upstream in the water distribution system to prevent biofilm growth. This is followed by a downstream collection module that electrochemically removes these silver ions before the water is discharged. Another approach uses a membraneless reactor to produce a 1000 ppb silver ion concentration level that also has a mechanically driven electrode cleaning mechanism that removes oxide films ensuring long life operation. By maintaining a sufficiently high level of silver ions throughout the water storage and distribution system, biofilm formation is suppressed. This approach overcomes present concerns where spurious silver deposition occurs on the container and flow line surfaces thus lowering the silver ion concentration to unsatisfactory disinfection levels

The nature and ethics of indifference

Indifference is sometimes said to be a virtue. Perhaps more frequently it is said to be a vice. Yet who is indifferent; to what; and in what way is poorly understood, and frequently subject to controversy and confusion. This paper presents a framework for the interpretation and analysis of ethically significant forms of indifference in terms of how subjects of indifference are variously related to their objects in different circumstances; and how an indifferent orientation can be either more or less dynamic, or more or less sensitive to the nature and state of its object. The resulting analysis is located in a wider context of moral psychology and ethical theory; in particular with respect to work on the virtues of care, empathy and other forms of affective engagement. During the course of this discussion, a number of recent claims associated with the ethics of care and empathy are shown to be either misleading or implausible

Variation in fecal egg counts in horses managed for conservation purposes: individual egg shedding consistency, age effects and seasonal variation

Cyathostomins are the most prevalent equine intestinal parasites and resistance has been reported in these nematodes against all 3 licensed anthelmintic classes. Strategies need to be developed that are less dependent upon drugs and more reliant on management-based control. To develop these we need to understand natural transmission patterns better. Here, we analysed longitudinal fecal egg count (FEC) data from 5 pony populations used for conservation purposes. We tested how egg excretion varied amongst populations and individuals, and how this was affected by age and climate. There was evidence for consistency in FECs over time at the individual level; this was generally weak and accounted for &lt;10% of the total variance. Animals &lt;5 years old had higher FECs and there was profound seasonal variation in FECs, with highest levels recorded in spring/summer. Effects of monthly temperature and rainfall explained most, but not all, of the observed seasonal variation and associations between climate measures and FECs were stronger in younger versus adult animals. One population was occasionally treated with anthelmintics and analysis of this population suggested that treatment substantially altered the seasonal dynamics. This paper highlights the variability in strongyle egg excretion amongst individuals and the factors involved in this variation.</p

Care and phronesis in teaching and coaching: dealing with personality disorder

My aim in this article is to contribute to the discussion about how teachers and coaches come to act in appropriate ways given the complex nature of both practices. I focus on two specific dispositions or qualities from the philosophical literature, namely the virtue of care and the Aristotelian concept of phronesis (or practical wisdom), which have been put forward as possible explanations. I argue that care and phronesis are fundamental qualities for both good teachers and coaches. Talk of care and phronesis in the literature is welcome, but these concepts are themselves complex. Care and phronesis, like other virtues are context-specific, difficult to acquire (or teach) and their particular expression depends on a host of complex factors, not least one's character and personal and professional experience. I illustrate my argument with reference to a former professional football player who exhibited symptoms of personality disorder from an early age and who presented challenges to his teachers and coaches through his disruptive behaviour

An archaeology of borders: qualitative political theory as a tool in addressing moral distance

Interviews, field observations and other qualitative methods increasingly are being used to inform the construction of arguments in normative political theory. This article works to demonstrate the strong salience of some kinds of qualitative material for cosmopolitan arguments to extend distributive boundaries. The incorporation of interviews and related qualitative material can make the moral claims of excluded others more vivid and possibly more difficult to dismiss by advocates of strong priority to compatriots in distributions. Further, it may help to promote the kind of perspective taking that has been associated with actually motivating a willingness to aid by individuals. Illustrative findings are presented from field work conducted for a normative project on global citizenship, including interviews with unauthorized immigrants and the analysis of artifacts left behind on heavily used migrant trails

Humanity or justice?

This paper reflects on a critique of cosmopolitanism mounted by Tom Campbell, who argues that cosmopolitans place undue stress on the issue of global justice. Campbell argues that aid for the impoverished needy in the third world, for example, should be given on the Principle of Humanity rather than on the Principle of Justice. This line of thought is also pursued by &lsquo;Liberal Nationalists&rsquo; like Yael Tamir and David Miller. Thomas Nagel makes a similar distinction and questions whether the ideal of justice can even be meaningfully applied on a global scale. The paper explores whether the distinction between the Principle of Humanity and the Principle of Justice might be a false dichotomy in that both principles could be involved in humanitarian assistance. It will suggest that both principles might be grounded in an ethics of caring and that the ethics of caring cannot be so sharply distinguished from the discourse of justice and of rights. As a result, the Principle of Humanity and the Principle of Justice cannot be so sharply distinguished either. It is because we care about others as human beings (Principle of Humanity) that we pursue justice for them (Principle of Justice) and the alleviation of their avoidable suffering

Learning from the UK’s research impact assessment exercise: a case study of a retrospective impact assessment exercise and questions for the future

National governments spend significant amounts of money supporting public research. However, in an era where the international economic climate has led to budget cuts, policymakers increasingly are looking to justify the returns from public investments, including in science and innovation. The so-called ‘impact agenda’ which has emerged in many countries around the world is part of this response; an attempt to understand and articulate for the public what benefits arise from the research that is funded. The United Kingdom is the most progressed in implementing this agenda and in 2014 the national research assessment exercise, the Research Excellence Framework, for the first time included the assessment of research impact as a component. For the first time within a dual funding system, funding would be awarded not only on the basis of the academic quality of research, but also on the wider impacts of that research. In this paper we outline the context and approach taken by the UK government, along with some of the core challenges that exist in implementing such an exercise. We then synthesise, together for the first time, the results of the only two national evaluations of the exercise and offer reflections for future exercises both in the UK and internationally

Virtuous and right action: A relaxed view

In this chapter I consider two questions about action evaluation: (1) Is it the central task of normative ethics to concern itself with action evaluation?, and (2) When it does concern itself with action evaluation, should its focus be on developing an account of right and wrong action, as opposed to, say, good and bad (or virtuous and vicious) action? I argue that for virtue ethicists, the task of providing an account of right action is not of central importance, and that the strength of virtue ethics lies in the fact that it allows us to evaluate actions in terms of a rich aretaic vocabulary. In the second half of the chapter I propose a “relaxed” virtue-ethical account of right action, which denies that rightness is a particular quality shared by all actions appropriately referred to as “right,” and acknowledges that the meaning of “right action” differs from one context to another

Technology and Parental Responsibility: The Case of the V-Chip

In this paper, the so-called V-chip is analysed from the perspective of responsibility. The V-chip is a technological tool used by parents, on a voluntary basis, to prevent children from watching violent television content. Since 1997 in the United States, the V-chip is installed in all new televisions sets of 12″ and larger. We are interested in the question whether and how the introduction of the V-chip affects who is to be considered responsible for children. In the debate, it has been argued that the V-chip reduces parents’ responsibility for children, but it has also been argued that it gives parents a tool to exercise their responsibility. It may appear as though all debaters are discussing the same thing and merely have different opinions. However, we argue that there are at least three notions of responsibility underlying these claims and that these should be kept separate. First, arguments on responsibility may refer to responsibility as task distribution. Second, they can refer to responsibility as control. Finally, a thicker concept of parental responsibility understood as a virtue may be referred to. It becomes clear that whereas task distribution changes to some extent and the possibilities for control are increased, only certain parts of parental responsibility as a virtue are affected. The finding that there appear to be different notions of responsibility involved in a debate that prima facie is about one issue, indicates that discussions on other technologies and how they affect responsibility may suffer from the same conceptual lack of clarity