Embracing complexity: theory, cases and the future of bioethics

This paper reflects on the relationship between theory and practice in bioethics, by using various concepts drawn from debates on innovation in healthcare research—in particular debates around how best to connect up blue skies ‘basic’ research with practical innovations that can improve human lives. It argues that it is a mistake to assume that the most difficult and important questions in bioethics are the most abstract ones, and also a mistake to assume that getting clear about abstract cases will automatically be of much help in getting clear about more complex cases. It replaces this implicitly linear model with a more complex one that draws on the idea of translational research in healthcare. On the translational model, there is a continuum of cases from the most simple and abstract (thought experiments) to the most concrete and complex (real world cases). Insights need to travel in both directions along this continuum—from the more abstract to the more concrete and from the more concrete to the more abstract. The paper maps out some difficulties in moving from simpler to more complex cases, and in doing so makes recommendations about the future of bioethics

Could There be a Right to Own Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property typically involves claims of ownership of types, rather than particulars. In this article I argue that this difference in ontology makes an important moral difference. In particular I argue that there cannot be an intrinsic moral right to own intellectual property. I begin by establishing a necessary condition for the justification of intrinsic moral rights claims, which I call the Rights Justification Principle. Briefly, this holds that if we want to claim that there is an intrinsic moral right to phi, we must be able to show that (a) violating this right would typically result in either a wrongful harm or other significant wrong to the holder of the right, and (b) the wrongful harm or other wrong in question is independent of the existence of the intrinsic right we are trying to justify. I then argue that merely creating a new instance of a type is not the kind of action which can wrongfully harm the creator of that type. Insofar as there do seem to be wrongs involved in copying a published poem or computer program, these wrongs presuppose the existence of an intrinsic right to own intellectual property, and so cannot be used to justify it. I conclude that there cannot be an intrinsic right to own intellectual property

Maternal movements to part time employment: what is the penalty?

In Britain, part time employment is typically used to combine work and motherhood: 60% of employed mothers in Britain work part time, and this usually involves a transition from full time employment around the first childbirth. Part time jobs are often situated in lower level occupational groups and so a transition from full to part time employment may reduce the wage. Using the British Household Panel Survey this study investigates the wage impact of switching from full to part time employment. Furthermore, mother-specific wage impacts of re-entering employment after childbirth via part time employment are analysed. A mother of one child receives a pay penalty of 7%, switching to part time employment increases this to 15%. Mothers who move from full to part time employment over childbirth receive lower wages than mothers who remained in full or part time employment over childbirth for 10 years after the birth

Highest-Weight Theory for Truncated Current Lie Algebras

Let g denote a Lie algebra over a field of characteristic zero, and let T(g) denote the tensor product of g with a ring of truncated polynomials. The Lie algebra T(g) is called a truncated current Lie algebra, or in the special case when g is finite-dimensional and semisimple, a generalized Takiff algebra. In this paper a highest-weight theory for T(g) is developed when the underlying Lie algebra g possesses a triangular decomposition. The principal result is the reducibility criterion for the Verma modules of T(g) for a wide class of Lie algebras g, including the symmetrizable Kac-Moody Lie algebras, the Heisenberg algebra, and the Virasoro algebra. This is achieved through a study of the Shapovalov form.Comment: 42 pages. An extract from the author's PhD thesis. See also: http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/benw

The multi-functional foot in athletic movement: Extraordinary feats by our extraordinary feet

The unique architecture of the foot system provides a sensitive, multi-tensional method of communicating with the surrounding environment. Within the premise of the paper, we discuss three themes: complexity, degeneracy and bio-tensegrity. Complex structures within the foot allow the human movement system to negotiate strategies for dynamic movement during athletic endeavours. We discuss such complex structures with particular attention to properties of a bio-tensegrity system. Degeneracy within the foot structure offers a distinctive solution to the problems posed by differing terrains and uneven surfaces allowing lower extremity structures to overcome perturbation as and when it occurs. This extraordinary structure offers a significant contribution to bipedalism through presenting a robust base of support and as such, should be given more consideration when designing athletic development programmes

Cannons and Columns: The Phoenix Iron Company and the Civil War

Anyone who has visited a Civil War battlefield is familiar with the sight of artillery pieces dotting the landscape, marking the places where artillery units were positioned on the field. Gettysburg National Military Park has one of the largest and most diverse collections of these now silent sentinels, ranging from bronze Napoleons to breech-loading Whitworth rifled guns. One of the most common types of cannon found at Gettysburg is the 3-inch Ordnance rifle. The Ordnance rifle is interesting for a number of reasons, not least of which are its connections to Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. [excerpt

MS-225: Joshua Blake Civil War Naval Journal

In this journal, Blake details his experiences aboard the USS Preble, which was one of the ships that were deployed to the Gulf Coast as part of the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron. His time on the USS Preble is detailed in the first 41 pages of the journal. On page 46, Blake switches to detailing his time aboard the USS Augusta from 1866-67, and also details his 1869 passage to Genoa aboard a ship called the Magdalene. On page 132, Blake switches back to 1862, detailing his two months aboard the USS Connecticut. A possible explanation for this pattern of date jumps may be that Blake stopped using this journal at the end of his time on the USS Preble and began using a different journal to document his experiences in 1862. He eventually resumed using this journal to document later voyages, and may have decided to re-copy the contents of his 1862 journal into this journal in order to consolidate the two. Blake includes small drawings of anchors in the margins next to some of his entries. He has also pasted newspaper clippings into the journal, as well as a photo of his wife Lizzie inside the front cover. Also included are Blake’s orders to report aboard the USS Preble as Captain’s Clerk and his orders from the Preble’s surgeon sending him north with Capt. French. Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1192/thumbnail.jp

Military Aid to the Civil Authority in the mid-19th Century New Brunswick

During the mid–19th century, the role of the military in New Brunswick began to change. Although its primary function remained defence against invasion, the civil power called on it with increasing frequency; first the British regulars and later the militia assisted in capacities ranging from fighting fires to policing. Nevertheless, as New Brunswick changed from colony to province, the militia did not automatically replace the imperial garrison. Civil authorities were reluctant to call on it, and volunteers assumed this role only after the regulars departed in 1869. This article first examines the types of disorder that occurred between the 1830s and the 1870s. It next considers the 18 known instances during this period when the civil authorities called out British regulars and provincial (ie., county–based) militias to aid them. It finaly looks at factors that discouraged such use of the militia

A Hike through History: Students Explore the Appalachian Trail

Hiking is a great way to get outside, commune with nature, and connect with the surrounding area. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hiking one of my favorite sections of the Appalachian Trail in a manner that was completely different than I had ever before experienced. Instead of dressing in my usual 21st century hiking attire, I, along with several others, opted to take things back about 154 years and dressed as a Union soldier would have in 1862. [excerpt

Images of Power, Images of War: Schmucker Art Gallery’s New Exhibit

Bodies in Conflict: From Gettysburg to Iraq is a brand new exhibit in Schmucker Art Gallery at Gettysburg College. Curated by Mellon Summer Scholar Laura Bergin ’17, it features eleven depictions of bodies engaged in various conflicts in U.S. history, ranging from the Civil War to the war in Iraq. In addition to curating the physical exhibit found in Schmucker Art Gallery, Bergin also created a virtual version, which can be accessed online through the Schmucker Gallery web page. Of particular interest to those interested in the Civil War are two of the oldest pieces in the collection, a lithograph depicting Pennsylvania Bucktails engaging with “Stonewall” Jackson’s men and stenograph images that depict the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. [excerpt