How Valuable Could a Person Be?*

We investigate the value of persons. Our primary goal is to chart a path from equal and extreme value to infinite value. We advance two arguments. Each argument offers a reason to think that equal and extreme value are best accounted for if we are infinitely valuable. We then raise some difficult but fruitful questions about the possible grounds or sources of our infinite value, if we indeed have such value.     

An assessment of social validity trends in applied behavior analysis

Research articles published during the first 31 years of Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis were assessed for reports of social validity measures. Two measures of social validity (treatment outcome and treatment acceptability) were assessed for each article. In addition, articles were assessed for the incorporation of analog versus naturalistic settings. Overall, treatment outcome and acceptability measures were reported in less than 13% of articles. In addition, studies conducted in naturalistic settings were more likely to report social validity measures than studies conducted in analog settings. Possible reasons for the deficit in the reporting of social validity measures and potential outcomes of this deficit are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Authorship Policies at U.S. Doctoral Universities: A Review and Recommendations for Future Policies

Science and Engineering Ethics - Intellectual contribution in the form of authorship is a fundamental component of the academic career. While research has addressed questionable and harmful...     

A new fuzzy multicriteria evaluation method for group site selection in GIS

Multiple criteria group site selection problems involve a group of individuals evaluating a set of alternative sites on the basis of multiple criteria. This paper presents an application of a new fuzzy algorithm for finding and exploring potential solutions to these problems in a raster Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. Linguistic assessments from decision‐makers are represented as triangular fuzzy numbers (TFN's), which are adjusted for uncertainty in the source data and their relationship to suitability by using an approach based on type‐2 fuzzy sets. The first aggregation of inputs is a compensatory one based on fuzzy multiattribute decision‐making (MADM) theory. An adjusted aggregation then factors in conflicts, risks and uncertainties to enable a variety of compensatory and non‐compensatory outcomes to be generated based on decision‐maker preferences. The algorithm was implemented in ArcView GIS as part of an ongoing collaborative project with Brisbane Airport. This paper outlines the fuzzy algorithm and its use in site selection for a recycling facility on the Brisbane Airport site. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accommodation, occlusion, and disparity matching are used to guide reaching: a comparison of actual versus virtual environments.

The authors used a virtual environment to investigate visual control of reaching and monocular and binocular perception of egocentric distance, size, and shape. With binocular vision, the results suggested use of disparity matching. This was tested and confirmed in the virtual environment by eliminating other information about contact of hand and target. Elimination of occlusion of hand by target destabilized monocular but not binocular performance. Because the virtual environment entails accommodation of an image beyond reach, the authors predicted overestimation of egocentric distances in the virtual relative to actual environment. This was confirmed. The authors used -2 diopter glasses to reduce the focal distance in the virtual environment. Overestimates were reduced by half. The authors conclude that calibration of perception is required for accurate feedforward reaching and that disparity matching is optimal visual information for calibration.     

Do individual differences in sociosexuality represent genetic or environmentally contingent strategies? Evidence from the Australian twin registry

Although men are substantially more interested than women in casual sex, there is ample variation in this trait (sociosexuality) within both sexes. One theory hypothesizes that within-sex sociosexual variation results from genetic variation maintained by frequency-dependent selection. If so, sociosexuality should be substantially heritable. A competing theory is that children acquire their mating strategy after observing their parents' relationship. By this theory, sociosexuality should reveal a strong shared environmental component. The authors studied genetic and environmental influences on sociosexuality using a large, representative volunteer twin sample. Parental marital instability was modestly associated with sociosexuality, but this could have been due to either genetic or environmental factors. Consistent with genetic theory, familial resemblance appeared primarily due to additive genetic rather than shared environmental factors.     

Informed consent: II. Withdrawal-without-prejudice clauses may increase no-shows

Undergraduate volunteers (N = 132) were either informed of the withdrawal-without-prejudice clause immediately prior to testing or at the time of recruitment several days earlier. Of those informed of the withdrawal clause at recruitment, 50% failed to attend the study session, whereas only 27% of those who were not informed of the clause until the time of the appointment failed to keep the appointment. Performance on a test designed to measure persistence was not affected. No-shows had a more external locus of control over academic matters and lower grade point averages than did appointment keepers.     

Effects of intrahippocampal injections of the cholinergic neurotoxin AF64A on open-field activity and avoidance learning in the rat

The effects of direct intrahippocampal administration of the cholinergic neurotoxin, AF64A, were investigated in male rats. Bilateral injections of AF64A (5 nmole/2 microliters) produced a significant decrease in choline acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in the dorsal hippocampus (25%) and overlying frontoparietal cortex (30%) but no changes in the striatum. Rats lesioned with AF64A exhibited increased levels of open-field activity, which was most marked at 1 week after the lesion; however, the rates of intrasession habituation were similar in lesioned and control rats. Lesioned rats also displayed deficits in acquisition and retention of a passive avoidance task and less dramatic deficits in acquisition of two-way shuttle box avoidance. These findings indicate that lesioning of cholinergic terminals in the hippocampus and/or cerebral cortex with AF64A leads to long-term deficits in learning and memory as well as increases in open-field activity.     

Promoting safety belt use among state employees: the effects of prompting and a stimulus-control intervention.

This study assessed the effects of dashboard stickers and signature sheets on safety belt use among occupants of state-owned vehicles in three Florida agencies. The stickers and signature sheets contained information regarding a regulation requiring safety belt use and a consequence of a 25% reduction in benefits for noncompliance if the driver were to become involved in an accident. Safety belt use significantly increased during the intervention phase in all three agencies and maintained variable but high levels for 5 months. In Agency 1 and Agency 2 (stickers plus signature sheets) safety belt use increased from averages of 10.8% and 9.4% during baseline to 57.4% and 47.0%, respectively, during intervention. In Agency 3 (stickers only) the rates of safety belt use averaged 9.7% during baseline and 38.0% during intervention. Some increases in private vehicle use were observed. A substantial reduction in workers'' compensation claim costs was shown for the target agencies with some reductions also shown in the nontarget agencies.