Responsible Agent Research Articles

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of an abdominal wall mass malakoplakia mimicking malignancy: a case report

Abstract Introduction/Objective Malakoplakia is a granulomatous disease of infectious etiology that affects immunosuppressed individuals. It commonly involves the genitourinary tract, but the involvement of other systems and organs has been reported. Gram-negative bacterial infections are mostly the responsible agent, with Escherichia coli found in approximately 80% of cases. Malakoplakia can present clinically and radiologically as a malignancy. Methods/Case Report We present a case of a 16-year-old male with a history of acute liver failure requiring liver transplantation due to autoimmune hepatitis. He was admitted with concerns for rejection, and he was found to have an abdominal wall mass. MRI studies showed a lobulated, solid, and cystic mass measuring 11.0 x 4.9 x 1.9 cm in the right abdominal wall. The mass was extending through all the layers of the abdominal wall and protruding into the abdominal cavity with mass effect on the liver, encasing the common bile duct, hepatic artery and main portal vein, concerning for malignancy, versus a possible infectious process. Ultrasound-guided FNA and biopsy were performed. The Diff-Quik and Papanicolaou-stained smears showed abundant foamy macrophages with numerous granular intra- and extracellular slightly refractile inclusions (4-10 um), rare multinucleated giant cells, and fibroblasts. A Von Kossa stain highlighted the targetoid inclusions consistent with Michaelis-Gutman bodies. Additional stains were performed on the core needle biopsy, and the histiocytes were positive for CD68 and CD163. Stains for keratins, CD45, HSA, CD1A, and Langerin were negative. No acid-fast or fungal microorganisms were identified on AFB and GMS stains, respectively. The final diagnosis was malakoplakia, with no evidence of malignancy. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) NA Conclusion Fine-needle aspiration cytology is useful in establishing a fast diagnosis of malakoplakia and excluding malignancies.

L’asthme professionnel et l’asthme aggravé par le travail. Quelles différences en termes de facteurs de risque et d’aptitude au travail ?

IntroductionAllergic asthma is currently the most frequent respiratory pathology in the workplace. Whether induced or aggravated by the work environment, the adequacy between this morbid state and work is often subject to re-evaluation. Aim to studyThe socio-professional, clinical, para-clinical and medico-legal characteristics of allergic asthma observed in the workplace, to assess their impact on the ability to work and to compare occupational asthma (OA) and work exacerbated asthma (WEA) in terms of associated professional and extra-professional factors and in terms of repercussions on aptitude. MethodsExhaustive retrospective descriptive study of all work-related allergic asthma files (OA and WEA), collected from the Department of Occupational Medicine and Occupational Pathologies of the University Hospital La Rabta in Tunis during the period from 1 January 2000 to December 31, 2020. ResultsThis is a series of 232 cases of work-related allergic asthma, including 76.7% OA and 23.3% WEA. The mean age of the patients was 40.28±8.96 years. The female gender was represented in 50.9% of cases. A personal history of atopy was reported by 16.5% of patients. The most represented professional category was that of unskilled workers (57.1%) with an average seniority of 11.43±7.96 years. The sectors that provided the most asthma were the textile sector (10%) and the health sector (10.9%). The clinical symptoms were dominated by paroxysmal wheezing dyspnea (51.5%), punctuated by work. in the majority (86.6%). The responsible agents were high molecular weight allergens (HMW) in particular vegetable textile dust (9.9%), low molecular weight (LMW) such as isocyanate (11.6%), formaldehyde (11.2%) as well as respiratory irritants, mainly mold (7.8%) and non-specific dust (3.9%). Asthma justified a workstation adaptation in 47.8% of cases and a mutation in 40.9% of patients.Comparing the cases of work-induced asthma with those that were exacerbated, we found that age and length of service were higher in the OA group, (P=0.002) and (P=0.005). In addition, this group was also associated with the grade of unskilled worker (P=0.035), exposure to HMW allergens (P=0.008), as well as the prescription for a job transfer (P≤10-3). In addition, WEA was associated with a history of personal and family atopy with respectively (P≤10–3) and (P=0.017), work in the transport sector (P≤10-3) as well as prescription temporary unfitness for the post (P≤10–3). ConclusionThe etiologies of OA and WEA differ. Indeed, the etiologies of WEA are essentially respiratory irritants while in the OA are HMW allergens. In terms of aptitude, the impact on OA is more pejorative than WEA involving more mutation.

Incorporation of COVID-19-Inspired Behaviour into Agent-Based Modelling for Water Distribution Systems’ Contamination Responses

Drinking water contamination events in water networks are major challenges which require fast handling by the responsible water utility manager agent, and have been explored in a variety of models and scenarios using, e.g., agent-based modelling. This study proposes to use recent findings during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and draw analogies regarding responses and reactions to these kinds of challenges. This happens within an agent-based model coupled to a hydraulic simulation where the decision making of the individual agents is based on a fuzzy logic system reacting to a contamination event in a water network. Upon detection of anomalies in the water the utility manager agent places mobile sensor equipment in order to determine endangered areas in the water network and warn the consumer agents. Their actions are determined according to their social backgrounds, location in the water network and possible symptoms from ingesting contaminated water by utilising a fuzzy logic system. Results from an example application suggest that placing mobile equipment and warning consumers in real time is essential as part of a proper response to a contamination event. Furthermore, social background factors such as the age or employment status of the population can play a vital role in the consumer agents’ response to a water event.

Guilty Artificial Minds: Folk Attributions of Mens Rea and Culpability to Artificially Intelligent Agents

While philosophers hold that it is patently absurd to blame robots or hold them morally responsible [1], a series of recent empirical studies suggest that people do ascribe blame to AI systems and robots in certain contexts [2]. This is disconcerting: Blame might be shifted from the owners, users or designers of AI systems to the systems themselves, leading to the diminished accountability of the responsible human agents [3]. In this paper, we explore one of the potential underlying reasons for robot blame, namely the folk's willingness to ascribe inculpating mental states or "mens rea" to robots. In a vignette-based experiment (N=513), we presented participants with a situation in which an agent knowingly runs the risk of bringing about substantial harm. We manipulated agent type (human v. group agent v. AI-driven robot) and outcome (neutral v. bad), and measured both moral judgment (wrongness of the action and blameworthiness of the agent) and mental states attributed to the agent (recklessness and the desire to inflict harm). We found that (i) judgments of wrongness and blame were relatively similar across agent types, possibly because (ii) attributions of mental states were, as suspected, similar across agent types. This raised the question - also explored in the experiment - whether people attribute knowledge and desire to robots in a merely metaphorical way (e.g., the robot "knew" rather than really knew). However, (iii), according to our data people were unwilling to downgrade to mens rea in a merely metaphorical sense when given the chance. Finally, (iv), we report a surprising and novel finding, which we call the inverse outcome effect on robot blame: People were less willing to blame artificial agents for bad outcomes than for neutral outcomes. This suggests that they are implicitly aware of the dangers of overattributing blame to robots when harm comes to pass, such as inappropriately letting the responsible human agent off the moral hook.

The selective degradation of sirtuins via macroautophagy in the MPP+ model of Parkinson\u2019s disease is promoted by conserved oxidation sites

The sirtuin (SIRT) protein family has been of major research interest over the last decades because of their involvement in aging, cancer, and cell death. SIRTs have been implicated in gene and metabolic regulation through their capacity to remove acyl groups from lysine residues in proteins in an NAD+-dependent manner, which may alter individual protein properties as well as the histone–DNA interaction. Since SIRTs regulate a wide range of different signaling cascades, a fine-tuned homeostasis of these proteins is imperative to guarantee the function and survival of the cell. So far, however, how exactly this homeostasis is established has remained unknown. Here, we provide evidence that neuronal SIRT degradation in Parkinson’s disease (PD) models is executed by autophagy rather than the proteasome. In neuronal Lund human mesencephalic (LUHMES) cells, all seven SIRTs were substrates for autophagy and showed an accelerated autophagy-dependent degradation upon 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) mediated oxidative insults in vitro, whereas the proteasome did not contribute to the removal of oxidized SIRTs. Through blockade of endogenous H2O2 generation and supplementation with the selective radical scavenger phenothiazine (PHT), we could identify H2O2-derived species as the responsible SIRT-oxidizing agents. Analysis of all human SIRTs suggested a conserved regulatory motif based on cysteine oxidation, which may have triggered their degradation via autophagy. High amounts of H2O2, however, rapidly carbonylated selectively SIRT2, SIRT6, and SIRT7, which were found to accumulate carbonylation-prone amino acids. Our data may help in finding new strategies to maintain and modify SIRT bioavailability in neurodegenerative disorders.

An overview of bacterial meningitis epidemics in Africa from 1928 to 2018 with a focus on epidemics \u201coutside-the-belt\u201d

BackgroundBacterial meningitis occurs worldwide but Africa remains the most affected continent, especially in the "Meningitis belt" that extends from Senegal to Ethiopia. Three main bacteria are responsible for causing bacterial meningitis, i.e., N. meningitidis (Nm), S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae type b. Among Nm, serogroup A used to be responsible for up to 80 to 85% of meningococcal meningitis cases in Africa. Since 2000, other Nm serogroups including W, X and C have also been responsible for causing epidemics. This overview aims to describe the main patterns of meningitis disease cases and pathogens from 1928 to 2018 in Africa with a special focus on disease conditions “out-of-the-belt” area that is still usually unexplored. Based on basic spatio-temporal methods, and a 90-years database of reported suspected meningitis cases and death from the World Health Organization, we used both geographic information system and spatio-temporal statistics to identify the major localizations of meningitis epidemics over this period in Africa.ResultsBacterial meningitis extends today outside its historical limits of the meningitis belt. Since the introduction of MenAfrivac vaccine in 2010, there has been a dramatic decrease in NmA cases while other pathogen species and Nm variants including NmW, NmC and Streptococcus pneumoniae have become more prevalent reflecting a greater diversity of bacterial strains causing meningitis epidemics in Africa today.ConclusionBacterial meningitis remains a major public health problem in Africa today. Formerly concentrated in the region of the meningitis belt with Sub-Saharan and Sudanian environmental conditions, the disease extends now outside these historical limits to reach more forested regions in the central parts of the continent. With global environmental changes and massive vaccination targeting a unique serogroup, an epidemiological transition of bacterial meningitis is ongoing, requiring both a better consideration of the etiological nature of the responsible agents and of their proximal and distal determinants.

Towards a Genealogy of Forward-Looking Responsibility

Abstract I propose an account of how our forward-looking moral and epistemic responsibility practices arose, how they related to backward-looking responsibility practices, and what makes them stable. This account differs in several ways from prominent theories already in the literature. Traditionally, forward-looking accounts of responsibility are framed third-personally in terms of social control and neglect the perspective and agency of the responsible person. The account I develop allows that there are third-personal, control-based aspects of our responsibility practices, but it also makes room for the first-personal perspective of the responsible agent and emphasizes the role of partner choice and cooperative planning and action. Whereas existing research focuses on forward-looking accounts of the practice of holding others responsible, I offer an account of forward-looking practices of taking responsibility and assigning responsibility. I hope thereby to provide a richer and more plausible framework in which to think about responsibility and our practices related to it.

Citizens' Perception of Combined Sewer Overflow Spills into Bathing Coastal Areas

Once a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) exceeds its capacity, it is necessary to discharge a proportion of the flow to watercourses through combined sewer overflow (CSO) structures. In coastal urban areas, CSO spills may occur in seawaters. The present study analyses the effects of these spills into urban coastal bathing areas, through a qualitative survey-based analysis in Badalona and Barcelona, focusing on stakeholders' reputation and image involved in the sewer system and beaches management (i.e. intangible damages) and the consequences for the economy (i.e. tangible damages). The direct relation between CSO spills and impacts on restaurants’ revenues is not observed since business owners in Badalona and Barcelona do not perceive any economic impact due to these events. Their main concern is the municipality’s image, which might affect the citizens’ view of the management of the responsible agents and indirectly, the tourist sector, especially in Barcelona. Residents perception in this matter is remarkably different in both cities. In Badalona, residents know the problem and even the body responsible for setting the red flag and the beaches closure (i.e. the municipality). In Barcelona, though, residents are quite confused about this. The complexity in terms of competencies in sewer systems management requires a better communication campaign for the citizens to avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary loss of trust in the City Council. Decision-makers and stakeholders should be interested in understanding the perception of affected users upon these events to take appropriate measures to enhance awareness programs or measures to reduce overflows.

Collective forward-looking responsibility of patient advocacy organizations: conceptual and ethical analysis

BackgroundPatient advocacy organizations (PAOs) have an increasing influence on health policy and biomedical research, therefore, questions about the specific character of their responsibility arise: Can PAOs bear moral responsibility and, if so, to whom are they responsible, for what and on which normative basis? Although the concept of responsibility in healthcare is strongly discussed, PAOs particularly have rarely been systematically analyzed as morally responsible agents. The aim of the current paper is to analyze the character of PAOs’ responsibility to provide guidance to themselves and to other stakeholders in healthcare.MethodsResponsibility is presented as a concept with four reference points: (1) The subject, (2) the object, (3) the addressee and (4) the underlying normative standard. This four-point relationship is applied to PAOs and the dimensions of collectivity and prospectivity are analyzed in each reference point.ResultsUnderstood as collectives, PAOs are, in principle, capable of intentionality and able to act and, thus, fulfill one prerequisite for the attribution of moral responsibility. Given their common mission to represent those affected, PAOs can be seen as responsible for patients’ representation and advocacy, primarily towards a certain group but secondarily in a broader social context. Various legal and political statements and the bioethical principles of justice, beneficence and empowerment can be used as a normative basis for attributing responsibility to PAOs.ConclusionsThe understanding of responsibility as a four-point relation incorporating collective and forward-looking dimensions helps one to understand the PAOs’ roles and responsibilities better. The analysis, thus, provides a basis for the debate about PAOs’ contribution and cooperation in the healthcare sector.

Comprehensive Examination of the Determinants of Damage to Houses in Two Wildfires in Eastern Australia in 2013

Wildfires continue to destroy houses, but an understanding of the complex mix of risk factors remains elusive. These factors comprise six themes: preparedness actions (including defensible space), response actions (including defence), house construction, landscape fuels, topography and weather. The themes span a range of spatial scales (house to region) and responsible agents (householders through government to entirely natural forces). We conducted a statistical analysis that partitions the contribution of these six themes on wildfire impact to houses, using two fires that destroyed 200 houses in New South Wales (Australia) in October 2013 (the Linksview and Mt York fires). We analysed 85 potential predictor variables using Random Forest modelling. The best predictors of impact were whether the house was defended and distance to forest toward the direction of fire spread. However, predictors from all four of the other themes had some influence, including distance to the nearest other burnt house (indicating house-to-house transmission) and vegetation cover up to 40 m from the house. The worst-placed houses (undefended, without adequate defensible space, with burnt houses nearby and with a westerly aspect) were 10 times more likely to be impacted than the best-placed houses in our study. The results indicate that householders are the agents most able to mitigate risk in the conditions experienced in these fires through both preparation and active defence.

Group Agency and Artificial Intelligence

The aim of this exploratory paper is to review an under-appreciated parallel between group agency and artificial intelligence. As both phenomena involve non-human goal-directed agents that can make a difference to the social world, they raise some similar moral and regulatory challenges, which require us to rethink some of our anthropocentric moral assumptions. Are humans always responsible for those entities’ actions, or could the entities bear responsibility themselves? Could the entities engage in normative reasoning? Could they even have rights and a moral status? I will tentatively defend the (increasingly widely held) view that, under certain conditions, artificial intelligent systems, like corporate entities, might qualify as responsible moral agents and as holders of limited rights and legal personhood. I will further suggest that regulators should permit the use of autonomous artificial systems in high-stakes settings only if they are engineered to function as moral (not just intentional) agents and/or there is some liability-transfer arrangement in place. I will finally raise the possibility that if artificial systems ever became phenomenally conscious, there might be a case for extending a stronger moral status to them, but argue that, as of now, this remains very hypothetical.

Employee Representatives and a Good Working Life: Achieving Social and Communicative Sustainability for HRM

This article examines the role of employee representatives, who support HRM in positioning itself and the organization as “socially responsible”. Based on a constructivist understanding of organizational communication, employee representatives are examined as previously unrecognized entities that are responsible—and also essential—for guaranteeing a good working life, which also originates through communication. The article provides an overview of existing studies on employee representatives and their positions in companies and tries to bridge the gaps among organizational communication, CSR communication, and management theory by redesigning the role of employee representatives—who have received limited academic attention to date—as communicators. The insights from an international comparative study confirm that employee representatives perceive themselves not only as a “grief box” or “control body” of management, but also as a responsible agent and “medium” for the realization of social and communicative sustainability. This not only opens up new research perspectives, but also highlights the need to conceptually deal and theoretically discuss employee representatives and their roles in internal communication processes from the perspectives of organizational communication, HRM, CSR, and sustainability.

Being in Place: A Multimodal Analysis of the Contribution of the Patient's Companion to "First Time" Oncological Visits.

Companions to medical visits have been alternatively viewed as members who “support” or “inhibit” and “interfere” with the doctor-patient interaction. One way of looking at the companions' contribution to medical visits is by coding roles or functions of their communicative behavior. Our paper aims at reconsidering these findings and analyzing how the companion participation is a local and sequential accomplishment, changing from time to time in the consultation. The paper relies upon an overall collection of 58 videorecordings of first oncological visits. Visits were conducted in two different hospitals, one of which a University hospital, and by different oncologists, including both senior professionals and (in the second setting) medical students in oncology. Visits were fully transcribed according to the Jeffersonian conventions and authors examined the transcripts and video according to the methodology of Conversation Analysis. The aim of the paper focused on how patient's companions orient and contribute to the accomplishment of the different aims and activities at different stages of the visit as an institutional speech event. The multimodal analysis of turns and actions (such as, gaze shifts, prosodic modulation, bodily arrangements), and the close examination of the sequential and temporal arrangements of companions' and their co-participants' turns revealed that companions finely attune to the multiparty framework of the encounter and the institutional constraints that govern the oncological first visit. Overall, results show two relevant features: that companions act as to preserve the doctor-patient interaction and to maintain the patient as the most responsible and legitimate agent in the interaction; that companions' contributions are relevant to the activities that sequentially unfold at different stages in the consultation (e.g., history taking, problem presentation, treatment recommendation etc.). The study complements earlier findings on the companion's roles, showing how these are highly mobile, multimodal and multiparty accomplishments, and they are tied to the specific contingencies of the visit. The results solicit to consider the value of multimodal analysis in understanding the complexity of multiparty communication in medical setting, and make it usable also in medical education.

Coronavirus disease and the cardiovascular system: a narrative review of the mechanisms of injury and management implications.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, is now a pandemic, having already spread to 188 countries, with more than 28,280,000 infections worldwide. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the responsible infectious agent, and similar to other human coronaviruses, uses membrane-bound angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (membrane-bound ACE2) for entry into the host cells. COVID-19 has important cardiovascular implications, especially for patients with pre-existing cardiovascular co-morbidities, potentially mediated through several mechanisms, including direct myocardial injury, worsening of those pre-existing cardiovascular co-morbidities, and adverse cardiovascular effects of potential therapies for COVID-19. The disease is causing a significant burden on health systems worldwide. Elective surgeries and procedures were postponed for a considerable period of time, and many patients with known cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors presented late to hospitals, for fear of contracting COVID-19, with serious adverse consequences. Significant negative impact on a population level is highlighted by prolonged isolation, decreased exercise and physical activity, and higher levels of depression and anxiety, all predisposing to elevated cardiovascular risk. This article provides a timely overview of COVID-19 and its impact on the cardiovascular system, focusing on the pathogenesis, potential adverse cardiovascular events, the potential treatment options, protection for health care providers and patients, and what the cardiovascular community could do to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

Carvacrol: A Promising Environmentally Friendly Agent to Fight Seeds Damping-Off Diseases Induced by Fungal Species

Background: Gramineae damping-off disease is a growing problem worldwide, which affects a large range of seedlings in nurseries, glasshouses, gardens, crops, forests and untimely generates a heavy economic impact on the agriculture and related sectors. Objectives: The present study was conducted to evaluate the preventive potential of carvacrol on germination of Fusarium oxysporum, Neocosmospora solani, and Microdochium nivale spores as responsible agents for Lolium perenne seeds damping-off disease. Material and methods: Macrodilution method in agar medium, spore germination, spore destruction, and preventive treatment bioassays were used to achieve this goal. Results: The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of carvacrol vs. tested strains existed in the range of 0.25–0.5 mg/mL. Carvacrol used in concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 mg/mL inhibited the germination of all fungal spores in a dose-dependent manner. Carvacrol showed a very strong sporicidal effect against all studied fungal strains, and this effect was well confirmed by microscopic observations. The percentage of growth inhibition was found to be strictly correlated to carvacrol dose up vs. all strains. Carvacrol increased the emergence of L. perenne seeds when compared to both uninfested and infested seeds. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, carvacrol fulfills the requirement for being a natural alternative agent to fight Gramineae seedlings’ damping-off caused by fungal species without adverse effects on the plants.

Responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts.

Inspired by theoretical and empirical work on emotion, psychological distance, moral psychology, and people's tendency to overgeneralize ecologically valid relationships, 3 studies explore whether, why, and for whom responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts (RAEF)-the perception that an intentional agent's social actions will produce stronger affective responses in others than if those same outcomes were to occur randomly or unintentionally. In Study 1, participants thought that pleasant or aversive videos would elicit stronger reactions when participants themselves (instead of the random determination of a computer) would select the video another would watch. This was explained by responsible agents' own stronger reactions to the stimuli. Study 2 identified what about agents' responsibility amplifies empathic forecasts: the combination of clearly causing and intending the other's outcome. Study 3 demonstrated that RAEF need not extend to all responsible agents equally. Participants considered how to divide (vs. how another participant would divide or how a computer would randomly split) $10 with a recipient. In this context, we found the weight of causal responsibility looms larger in the self's mind when the self is responsible for the recipient's fate than when another responsible agent is. Furthermore, the self thought that the recipient's emotional reaction would be more strongly influenced by the size of the self's own (compared to another's or a computer's) allocation decision. The Discussion focuses on how RAEF relates to other models connecting agency and experience, provides initial evidence that RAEF need not be egocentric, and identifies open questions that remain for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Cuidando do cuidador: Um relato de experiência de intervenções de boas práticas de saúde para profissionais da atenção primária da linha frente na COVID-19

Introdução: Relata-se a experiência da intervenção em saúde denominada: “Cuidando do cuidador”, junto a profissionais da equipe mínima de um Centro de Saúde da Família (CSF). A aplicação desta intervenção teve como objetivo propiciar incentivo, apoio e autocuidado aos profissionais da unidade da linha de frente da pandemia da Covid-19. Metodologia: Trata-se de estudo descritivo e qualitativo, realizado no Centro de Saúde da Família, Dr. Grijalba Mendes Carneiro, localizado em Sobral, zona Norte do Ceará, no mês de outubro de 2020. A intervenção dividiu-se em momentos de aplicação técnicas de relaxamento, com alongamentos, massagens, musicoterapia e meditação guiada, além de educação em saúde com residentes da unidade. Participaram da intervenção: agentes comunitários de saúde, enfermeiros, auxiliares administrativos, técnicos de enfermagem e médico. Resultados: Após a intervenção, foi perceptível a diminuição da tensão destes profissionais, pois precisavam de autocuidado, relaxamento físico e mental após a sobrecarga exaustiva do trabalho na pandemia Covid-19. Os participantes relataram desejo que tais práticas acontecessem com regularidade no CSF. Conclusão: A intervenção mostrou-se relevante ao melhor bem-estar físico e mental desses profissionais, ao reduzir estresse e tensão decorrentes da sobrecarga laboral pandêmica. Assim, promoveu-se autocuidado àqueles que tanto se doam para cuidar do outro.

First-person representations and responsible agency in AI.

In this paper I investigate which of the main conditions proposed in the moral responsibility literature are the ones that spell trouble for the idea that Artificial Intelligence Systems (AISs) could ever be full-fledged responsible agents. After arguing that the standard construals of the control and epistemic conditions don’t impose any in-principle barrier to AISs being responsible agents, I identify the requirement that responsible agents must be aware of their own actions as the main locus of resistance to attribute that kind of agency to AISs. This is because this type of awareness is thought to involve first-person or de se representations, which, in turn, are usually assumed to involve some form of consciousness. I clarify what this widespread assumption involves and conclude that the possibility of AISs’ moral responsibility hinges on what the correct theory of de se representations ultimately turns out to be.

Backward-looking reparations and structural injustice

The ‘structural injustice’ framework is an increasingly influential way of thinking about historical injustice. Structural injustice theorists argue against reparations for historical injustice on the grounds that our focus should be on forward-looking responsibility for contemporary structural injustice. Through the use of a case study – the Caribbean Community (CARICOM’s) 10-Point Plan for reparations from 2014 – I argue that this reasoning is flawed. Backward-looking reparations can be justified on the basis of state liability over time. The value of backward-looking reparations is that they ensure that historical perpetrators do not evade their reparative obligations and that affected communities are taken seriously. However, I argue that this backward-looking approach should be supplemented by a forward-looking structural injustice approach and the ‘social connection model’ of responsibility, which can (a) expand the scope of responsible agents and forms of injustice that warrant repair and (b) explain how citizens living now can be expected to pay for crimes of the past.

Psychopaths and Symmetry: A Reply to Nelkin

An agent is morally competent if she can respond to moral considerations. There is a debate about whether agents are open to moral blame only if they are morally competent, and Dana Nelkin’s “Psychopaths, Incorrigible Racists, and the Faces of Responsibility” is an important contribution to this debate. Like others involved in this dispute, Nelkin takes the case of the psychopath to be instructive. This is because psychopaths are similar to responsible agents insofar as they act deliberately and on judgments about reasons, and yet psychopaths lack moral competence. Nelkin argues that, because of their moral incompetence, vices such as cruelty are not attributable to psychopaths. It follows that psychopaths are not open to moral blame since their behavior is only seemingly vicious. I have three aims in this reply to Nelkin. First, I respond to her claim that psychopaths are not capable of cruelty. Second, I respond to the related proposal—embedded in Nelkin’s “symmetry argument”—that a “pro-social psychopath” would not be capable of kindness. My responses to these claims are unified: even if the psychopath is not capable of “cruelty,” and the pro-social psychopath is not capable of “kindness,” the actions of these agents can have a significance for us that properly engages our blaming and praising practices. Finally, I argue that Nelkin’s strategy for showing that moral competence is required for cruelty supports a stronger conclusion than she anticipates: it supports the conclusion that blameworthiness requires not just moral competence, but actual moral understanding.