Practical Reasons Research Articles

Less is more: Optimisation of variable catalyst loading in CO[formula omitted] electroreduction

The electrochemical conversion of CO2 is a promising method of carbon-neutral chemical production. However, commercial realisation in aqueous electrolytes is challenging, due to competition with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and the propensity for CO2 to participate in the carbonate equilibrium reactions. These two phenomena are linked through OH− ions, as both the by-product of the catalytic reactions and the culprit behind the parasitic carbonate reactions. By reducing the local catalyst loading where the CO2 concentration is low, the HER is decreased more than the reactions that are dependent on CO2 as a reactant. Therefore, it is possible to improve reaction selectivity and reactant utilisation while reducing the capital cost of catalyst. We demonstrate this theory through an analytical solution of a 1D flow electrolyser model. We extend this to a comprehensive model of a contemporary gas-diffusion electrode (GDE) setup. We find that the operation costs are dominated by the electrolyser power consumption and, to a lesser degree, the cost of CO2 and its recovery at the anode. We numerically obtain the catalyst loading profiles that maximise operating profit. The optimisation process reveals that profits are maximised for high gas flow rates, and consequently, low single pass conversions, where the CO2 concentration is as high as possible. However, when lower gas flow rates are used for practical reasons, variable catalyst loadings are shown to lead to significant operational improvements, especially in the production of higher C products that require a greater number of electrons transferred. The model is made freely available in MATLAB and its use is encouraged in determining the applicability of variable catalyst loading to future experimental setups.

Pembangunan permainan papan untuk pengajaran dan pembelajaran kewarganegaraan digital [The development of a board game for teaching and learning digital citizenship

This study aims to examine the need for using board games in teaching and learning (PdP) sessions related to the theme of digital citizenship. This study employed a qualitative approach using the Design and Development Research (DDR) methodology. Data was collected through interviews involving five Moral Education trainee teachers who had taught topics related to Digital Citizenship. The data was analyzed by adapting the three phases in the DDR Design and Development Model, where the first phase is needs analysis, the second phase is development, and the third phase is evaluation. The study results showed that the study participants had a high awareness of providing early exposure to the elements of citizenship. A teaching aid, namely a board game that incorporates three elements of digital citizenship, is needed. In the usability testing phase, the board game produced is attractive, capable of achieving three moral dimensions, namely moral reasoning, moral emotion, and moral behavior; the board game can also strengthen the relationship between students and teachers. The study's implications provide exposure to teachers to create a game-based teaching for the topic of moral and citizenship education, which can increase students' interest.

Democratizing Social Scientists’ Words and Distinctions: Where and Why Moral Reasons Are Decisive

Sitting at your desk, working on your social science paper, you take yourself to be free to use key words and distinctions as you see fit. I argue that these decisions aren’t up to you. Instead, they should be made collectively, by the social science community you’re embedded in, talking to, and contributing to, along with its stakeholders. Such democratic and deliberative processes will be driven by the common good, as opposed to benefiting particular social scientists, schools, research programs, methods, or regions of the world. My book, Words and Distinctions for the Common Good, is an invitation: I invite social science communities to democratically work on how to use their key words and distinctions—and which epistemic and moral goods these uses should help attain.

Should I Use ChatGPT to Write My Papers?

We argue that students have moral reasons to refrain from using chatbots such as ChatGPT to write certain papers. We begin by showing why many putative reasons to refrain from using chatbots fail to generate compelling arguments against their use in the construction of these papers. Many of these reasons rest on implausible principles, hollowed out conceptions of education, or impoverished accounts of human agency. They also overextend to cases where it is permissible to rely on a machine for something that once required human cognition. We then give our account: you have a moral obligation to respect your own humanity (i.e., your capacity to set and pursue your own ends), and the process of writing a humanities paper is important for the cultivation of your humanity. We conclude by considering objections and offering replies. In the end, we argue that the moral reasons students have to refrain from using chatbots depend crucially on instructors’ ability to make writing assignments worthwhile. This relies on instructors having the right kind of institutional support, which sheds light on implications that this duty has for administrators, legislators, and the general public.

The Digital Siren’s Call: Accepting Unethical AI Advice

The growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) in business raises concerns about how humans perceive AI-generated advice, especially in ethical contexts. This study, using a preregistered experiment, explores whether people are more likely to accept unethical business advice from AI compared to human advisors, and examines how individual differences in moral reasoning, decision-making style, and trust in AI influence this acceptance. Participants were presented with business decisions based on advice from either an AI or a human, with advice varying in ethicality. Results showed participants were more likely to accept unethical advice from AI than from human advisors. Lower moral reasoning, an intuitive decision-making style, and higher trust in AI were associated with greater acceptance of unethical AI advice. These findings emphasize the risks of overreliance on AI in decision-making and the importance of promoting ethical AI use in business.

Ethical Artificial Intelligence Framework Theory (EAIFT): A New Paradigm for Embedding Ethical Reasoning in AI Systems

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has created several ethical issues, including bias, a lack of transparency, and privacy concerns, demanding the incorporation of ethical governance directly into AI systems. This study introduces the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Framework Theory (EAIFT), a novel approach to incorporating ethical reasoning into AI. It emphasizes real-time oversight, open decision-making, bias detection, and the ability to change ethical and legal norms. EAIFT advocates for establishing "ethical AI watchdogs" that automatically monitor and ensure the ethical operation of AI systems, together with dynamic compliance algorithms that can adapt to regulatory changes. The paradigm also encourages transparency and explainability to build user trust and detect and correct biases to ensure fairness. This paper employs a qualitative methodology that combines stakeholder interviews, content analysis, and expert commentary to evaluate EAIFT's potential to increase ethical accountability in various areas, including healthcare, banking, and criminal justice. The findings suggest that EAIFT outperforms existing ethical frameworks by proactively reducing biases, increasing transparency, and ensuring adherence to ethical standards. While presenting a comprehensive and adaptable technique, the study also acknowledges limitations in empirical testing and the need for additional research to widen EAIFT's applicability to future ethical challenges in artificial intelligence. The paper suggests future research subjects, such as empirical testing in different scenarios, a more in-depth examination of ethical risks, and the inclusion of the framework into new AI technologies to promote responsible AI governance by societal norms and values.

Trade-off between herbal and allopathic treatments: An ethnopharmacological case study in Rema-kalenga wildlife sanctuary, Bangladesh

The Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (RKWS) is a protected forest in Bangladesh that houses a variety of rare flora and fauna and supports the sustenance of 13 ethnic communities. This forest's indigenous and other inhabitants traditionally have a strong cultural connection to the plants, particularly medicinal plants. Due to modern allopathic medicine's rapid growth and commercial tree species prioritization, many medicinal plants are now on the verge of endangerment. Under such circumstances, it is crucial to explore how the local community perceives the importance of herbal treatments in contrast to allopathy, the underlying reasons for their perceptions, and the specific ailments for which they use the plants. The main objectives are: 1) to evaluate the perceptions of the local community towards allopathy and herbal medicine using Nussbaum's central capabilities approach, 2) to identify medicinal plant diversity, therapeutic usages, and quantitative indices, 3) to determine the factors that influence the use of medicinal plants. Repeated interviews and field surveys were conducted at the RKWS, interviewing 145 people, including the indigenous community (72.42 %) and traditional healers (8.27 %) from the surrounding seven villages. The study identified 51 medicinal plant species belonging to 39 families for their potent medicinal properties in treating various ailments. The predominant parts of the plants used in the treatments were leaves and roots. The uses were classified into 12 categories according to Nussbaum's central capabilities. The findings identified Aloe vera, Phyllanthus emblica, and Azadirachta indica as highly culturally important species. In contrast, Terminalia arjuna, Swertia chirata, and Azadirachta indica were found to have the highest relative importance. The underlying determinants influencing the preferences of individual users towards herbal medicine were income from agroforestry, beliefs, knowledge, and ethnicity, as revealed by the analysis of the ordinal logit model. The respondents viewed their strong inclination toward herbal medicine with many positive attitudes. Herbal medicine users held a negative perception of allopathy except for affiliation and practical reasons being viewed as the positive outcomes. Conversely, allopathic medicine users expressed mixed perceptions towards the treatment, with both positive and negative aspects being identified. Promoting the sustainable use of medicinal plants and their conservation efforts is imperative for the benefit of present and future generations in this region.

Metaethics: A neuro-geometric proposal

Metaethics explores the relationship between types of ethics. The field of moral psychology has increasingly attempted to explain types of ethical thinking based on brain processes. This paper proposes a metaethical typology of seven distinct types of natural thinking processes rooted in how visual images are translated into abstract thinking. These seven ethical thinking types are Transcendent, Unitary, Hierarchical, Equitable, Vectoral, Analogic, and Topographical. Human beings then ladder concepts upon these processes using the construction of increasingly abstract metaphors. As proposed, these seven thinking processes appear to effectively form the foundation for current ethical theories such as Utilitarianism and Kantian Deontology, or other forms of moral reasoning. They may also be combined to explain the operations of more complex forms of moral reasoning such as religious ethics. Finally, they reveal that the possibility of natural thinking types has normative implications for ethics.

The role of ethical orientation in animal welfare choice behaviour: A segmentation study

Consumers are becoming more and more conscious about their consumption choices, demanding more sustainable, healthy and fair options. Meat consumption especially is under scrutiny for environmental as well as ethical reasons. We develop a set of items to measure ethical orientation and apply it to consumers’ choices of meat products with 3000 consumers across six European countries (Denmark, Germany, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Italy). We find consumer preferences to be similar across countries, with two thirds of consumers showing a preference for animal welfare attributes, especially outdoor access. Consumer segments can be differentiated based on their degree of ethical orientation, environmental concern, level of trust in the food system and price sensitivity. Ethical orientation differentiates between consumers’ self-reported welfare meat purchases. Our results contribute to the literature on consumer behavior regarding farm animal welfare across different meat product and countries.

제4차 산업혁명 시대의 중학교 가정 교과의 3D 프린팅 활용 의생활 메이커 교육 교수⋅학습과정안 개발

The purpose of this study was to develop a teaching and learning plan for clothing maker education in middle schools using 3D printers, one of the key tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This plan aims to revitalize clothing maker education by incorporating maker education programs. The research was conducted in four stages: Analysis, Design, Development, and Evaluation. First, in the analysis stage, the content related to clothing education in the 2015 revised secondary school home economics curriculum was analyzed to derive the elements of clothing maker education and home economics. Additionally, an analysis of equipment suitable for maker education was conducted, leading to the selection of 3D printers and heat transfer printers as maker equipment. Second, in the design stage, the composition of the teaching and learning program based on the TPMS (Tinkering, Practical reasoning, Making together, & Sharing and spreading) model and the selection of media were established. Third, in the development stage, a comprehensive plan was implemented to develop a maker education teaching and learning process that emphasized practical problem-solving. Learning activity sheets, PPT materials, group and self-evaluation forms, and program evaluation tools were also developed. Finally, in the evaluation stage, safety rules were added following expert validation of the teaching and learning plans. Class goals were clarified considering the functions of home economics. The evaluation tools were also revised and supplemented to facilitate student-centered assessment.

Jacketed telemetry in rats: a novel non-invasive method for cardiorespiratory phenotyping during treadmill exercise.

The development of alternative methods for monitoring cardiorespiratory function without restraint or surgical implantation is attracting growing interest for both ethical and scientific reasons. For this purpose, a new non-invasive jacketed telemetry tool consisting in a radio device maintained in a jacket worn by the animal was previously developed to improve cardiorespiratory monitoring. It allows simultaneous monitoring of cardiac activity by surface electrocardiagram, respiratory function by respiratory inductive plethysmography, and locomotor activity by accelerometry. However, this tool has only been validated under conditions of low/intermediate activity levels or in anesthetized animals. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using this system in the challenging conditions of an exertion protocol. Male Wistar rats (n = 10, 8-9 weeks old) were subjected to an incremental treadmill exercise protocol including speed levels from 5 to 40 cm s-1 separated by 30-s breaks. Heart rate (HR) and minute ventilation (assessed by minute volume; MV) were continuously monitored. At the end of each running level and during the 30-s breaks, HR and MV showed a significant increase compared to resting values. They returned to the baseline within 60 min of post-exercise recovery. Overall, our results demonstrated (i) the ability of the animal to run while wearing the device and (ii) the ability of the device to reliably monitor cardiorespiratory adaptation to treadmill exercise despite significant mechanical disturbances. In conclusion, this study highlights the possibility of non-invasively monitoring cardiorespiratory functional variables that were previously unattainable under conditions of high activity in freely moving animals.

Exploring the relations between ethical reasoning and moral intuitions among Chinese engineering students in a course on global engineering ethics

ABSTRACT Research in engineering ethics has assessed the ethical reasoning of students mostly in the US. However, it is not clear that ethical judgements are primarily the result of reasoning or that conclusions based on US samples would be true of global populations. China now graduates and employs more STEM majors than any other country, but the moral cognition and ethics education of Chinese engineers remain understudied. To address this gap, a study examined the relations between ethical reasoning, intuitions and education among engineering students in China. It found that (1) ethical reasoning is positively related to an emphasis on care and fairness and (2) global ethics education results in significantly higher levels of ethical reasoning, as well as a greater concern with fairness and loyalty. The relation between ethical reasoning and intuitions in China is like that of students in the US, but ethics education affects students in China differently.

Development of a multi-analysis model using an epithelial-fibroblast co-culture system as an alternative to animal testing.

The evaluation of respiratory chemical substances has been mostly performed in animal tests (OECD TG 403, TG 412, TG 413, etc.). However, there have been ongoing discussions about the limited use of these inhalation toxicity tests due to differences in the anatomical structure of the respiratory tract, difficulty in exposure, laborious processes, and ethical reasons. Alternative animal testing methods that mimic in vivo testing are required. Therefore, in this study, we established a co-culture system composed of differentiated epithelial cells under an air-liquid interface (ALI) system in the apical part and fibroblasts in the basal part. This system was designed to mimic the wound-healing mechanism in the respiratory system. In addition, we developed a multi-analysis system that simultaneously performs toxicological and functional evaluations. Several individual assays were used sequentially in a multi-analysis model for pulmonary toxicity. Briefly, cytokine analysis, histology, and cilia motility were measured in the apical part, and cell migration and gel contraction assay were performed by exposing MRC-5 cells to the basal culture. First, human airway epithelial cells from bronchial (hAECB) were cultured under air-liquid interface (ALI) system conditions and validated pseudostratified epithelium by detecting differentiation-related epithelial markers using Transepithelial Electrical Resistance (TEER) measurement, Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining, and immunocytochemistry (ICC) staining. Afterward, the co-culture cells exposed to Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), a key mediator of pulmonary fibrosis, induced significant toxicological responses such as cytotoxicity, cell migration, and gel contraction, which are wound-healing markers. In addition, cilia motility in epithelial cells was significantly decreased compared to control. Therefore, the multi-analysis model with a 3D epithelial-fibroblast co-culture system is expected to be useful in predicting pulmonary toxicity as a simple and efficient high-throughput screening method and as an alternative to animal testing.

Microbiological Safety and Functional Properties of a Fermented Nut-Based Product

Fermented nut-based products, obtained after soaking and fermentation, are gaining increasing interest as animal food substitutes because of ethical, environmental and health reasons. In these products, Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) perform the fermentation, leading to matrix acidification and contributing to controlling spoilage and pathogenic microbiota. In this work, LAB strains isolated from an artisanal product and combined with a commercial strain were added as starter cultures during nut soaking to produce a cheese-like fermented plant-based product. Three different LAB consortia were used in challenge tests at laboratory scale against Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli or Salmonella Enteritidis, inoculated in nuts at 5 log CFU/g, and monitored for pathogen survival and matrix acidification. The combination of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 82 and Leuc. carnosum 4010 resulted in faster acidification (pH value < 4.4 after 18 h instead of 48 h) and the reduction of target pathogens; L. monocytogenes was already absent after seven days from production, and the counts of E. coli or S. Enteritidis were lower with respect to other samples. Thus, this microbial consortium was used for a pilot-scale production in which, beyond safety, the fermented plant-based product was also characterized for aroma profile and phenolic compounds, parameters that are known to be affected by LAB fermentation. The results showed an enhancement of the aroma profile, with an accumulation of molecules able to confer cheese-like notes (i.e., acetoin and diacetyl) and higher phenolic content, as well as the presence of compounds (i.e., phenyllactic acid and hydroxyphenyllactic acid) that could exert antimicrobial activity. This study allowed us to set up a guided fermentation for a cheese-like vegan product, guaranteeing safety and improving aromatic and functional features.

Relationship between reasoning, autistic and alexithymic traits in moral judgments

The present research investigated whether individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present with specificities of moral reasoning. Some previous exploratory studies have assessed the differences in moral judgment between ASD and control participants, but results were mixed. The present study aimed to quantify such differences using a larger sample and a standard moral task built upon the new CNI (Consequences, Norms and Generalized Inaction) model of moral judgment that resolves multiple confounds in the measurement of moral judgments. A total of 148 adults with ASD and 151 controls completed 24 sacrificial dilemmas from the CNI battery, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Cognitive Reflection Task. We did not find any differences in moral judgments between ASD and control participants, and this pattern was consistent for all the CNI parameters. Equivalence tests revealed that it can be safely excluded that our study missed medium to large differences in moral judgments between ASD and control participants when assessed using sacrificial dilemmas. Additional data quality checks allow to rule out the possibility that the small differences in moral judgments between the groups are due to poor data quality. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Police legitimacy and procedural justice for children and youth: a scoping review of definitions, determinants, and consequences.

Understanding police legitimacy among children and youth is important for building a just and democratic society. Although the volume of studies on police legitimacy among underaged persons has grown in recent decades, the findings on the relationships between police legitimacy and procedural justice and their definitions, associated determinants, and consequences remain heterogeneous across studies and across political and legal contexts. Given these heterogeneities, the conclusions and implications generated by this research are far from comprehensive. This scoping review offers readers a comprehensive and comparative understanding of this topic by answering the following questions. (1) How can we define police legitimacy and procedural justice for children and youth? (2) What are the determinants of police procedural justice and legitimacy for children and youth? (3) What are the consequences of police procedural (in)justice and (il)legitimacy for children and youth? (4) Among children and youth, who are the vulnerable groups receiving less legitimate and unjust treatment from the police? A scoping review of the literature published between January 1, 1990 and May 31, 2022 was conducted based on four databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest. Guided by the scoping review screening framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley, that is, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, and the checklist provided by the Joanna Briggs Institute for quality assessment, 47 publications, consisting of 38 quantitative studies and 9 qualitative studies, were retained in the final sample. The results synthesize the operational and subjective interpretations of police legitimacy offered by the respondents in the studies reviewed which is followed by the discussion of conceptual and measurement issues. The key correlates of police legitimacy identified in these studies were police procedural justice and behavior, followed by experience and contact with the police, relationships with other authority figures, and personal competence in moral reasoning and self-control. In addition to compliance and cooperation, cynicism, trust, and health were related to police (il)legitimacy. We argue that in addition to building and maintaining police legitimacy, it is vital to remedy the negative consequences of injustice in police-youth encounters. https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2024-9-0064/, INPLASY202490064.

Типы семантических изменений в агульском языке

<p>The paper describes various mechanisms of semantic changes in one of the Dagestani languages, Agul. The lexical semantics of Agul is currently an understudied but extremely interesting area of Caucasian linguistics. One of the most interesting ways in which polysemousness and synonymy emerge is the euphemisation of words and expressions due to various socio-cultural, ethical and moral reasons.</p>

Fifty years of killing and letting die: On the limits of philosophical bioethics.

In 1975, The New England Journal of Medicine published James Rachels' article 'Active and Passive Euthanasia'. The argumentative method that Rachels introduced, the Bare Difference Argument (also known as the Contrast Strategy), became one of the most widely used tools in ethical reasoning. The argument, however, fails to show active euthanasia being morally permissible. It fails because Rachels takes the intuitions from the case where letting die is morally impermissible and applies the intuitions to cases where letting die is morally permissible. While it is possible to create thought-experiments that are more analogous to euthanasia, in this respect, than Rachels' cases, they too are disanalogous to euthanasia with some of the relevant features. Creating the perfect analogy, however, would be a mistake too. Such a case would be too analogous; people would simply be divided on what kind of moral intuitions they would have. The problem thus highlights a methodological limit in philosophical bioethics and raises questions related to the roles of philosophical ethicists in the context of assisted dying.

Is superintelligence necessarily moral?

Abstract Numerous authors have expressed concern that advanced artificial intelligence (AI) poses an existential risk to humanity. These authors argue that we might build AI which is vastly intellectually superior to humans (a ‘superintelligence’), and which optimizes for goals that strike us as morally bad, or even irrational. Thus this argument assumes that a superintelligence might have morally bad goals. However, according to some views, a superintelligence necessarily has morally adequate goals. This might be the case either because abilities for moral reasoning and intelligence mutually depend on each other, or because moral realism and moral internalism are true. I argue that the former argument misconstrues the view that intelligence and goals are independent, and that the latter argument misunderstands the implications of moral internalism. Moreover, the current state of AI research provides additional reasons to think that a superintelligence could have bad goals.

CAR T-cells for pediatric solid tumors: where to go from here?

Despite the great success that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells have had in patients with B-cell malignancies and multiple myeloma, they continue to have limited efficacy against most solid tumors. Especially in the pediatric population, pre- and post-treatment biopsies are rarely performed due to ethical reasons, and thus, our understanding is still very limited regarding the mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment by which tumor cells exclude effectors and attract immune-suppressive cells. Nevertheless, based on the principles that are known, current T-cell engineering has leveraged some of these processes and created more potent CAR T-cells. The recent discovery of new oncofetal antigens and progress made in CAR design have expanded the potential pool of candidate antigens for therapeutic development. The most promising approaches to enhance CAR T-cells are novel CAR gating strategies, creative ways of cytokine delivery to the TME without enhancing systemic toxicity, and hijacking the chemokine axis of tumors for migratory purposes. With these new modifications, the next step in the era of CAR T-cell development will be the clinical validation of these promising preclinical findings.