Ethics and Nanotechnology: Views of Nanotechnology Researchers

A study was conducted of nanotechnology (NT) researchers’ views about ethics in relation to their work. By means of a purpose-built questionnaire, made available on the Internet, the study probed NT researchers’ general attitudes toward and beliefs about ethics in relation to NT, as well as their views about specific NT-related ethical issues. The questionnaire attracted 1,037 respondents from 13 U.S. university-based NT research facilities. Responses to key questionnaire items are summarized and noteworthy findings presented. For most respondents, the ethical responsibilities of NT researchers are not limited to those related to safety and integrity in the laboratory. Most believe that NT researchers also have specific ethical responsibilities to the society in which their research is done and likely to be applied. NT appears to be one of the first areas of contemporary technoscientific activity in which a long-standing belief is being seriously challenged: the belief that society is solely responsible for what happens when a researcher’s work, viewed as neutral and merely enabling, is applied in a particular social context. Survey data reveal that most respondents strongly disagree with that paradigmatic belief. Finally, an index gauging NT researcher sensitivity to ethics and ethical issues related to NT was constructed. A substantial majority of respondents exhibited medium or high levels of sensitivity to ethics in relation to NT. Although most respondents view themselves as not particularly well informed about ethics in relation to NT, a substantial majority are aware of and receptive to ethical issues related to their work, and believe that these issues merit consideration by society and study by current and future NT practitioners.

Risk profiles in novice road users: Relation between moped riding simulator performance,on-road aberrant behaviors and dangerous driving

The aim of this study was to compare the scores obtained by an Italian sample of novice drivers/riders on an adapted version of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and the Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) with their performance in a moped-riding simulator. Cluster analysis on the indexes extracted by the simulator were used to identify two groups with opposite riding styles: Prudent riders and Imprudent riders.Using the DBQ, our data not only confirmed data in the literature indicating that females reported more driving Errors than males, and that males reported higher Intended Violation scores than females, but also showed that gender effects are modulated by riding style (as measured by the simulator) and driving exposure. Differences between males’ and females’ DBQ scores were only apparent for Imprudent riders, while the reported Errors, Slips and Lapses, and Violations were lower the higher the driving exposure.As for the DDDI, males scored higher than females for Risky Driving, and the Aggressive Driving scores were higher the greater the driving exposure, but only for Imprudent riders.These results provide crucial information for the use of DBQ and DDDI questionnaires in the Italian population. They also confirm that a multidimensional approach, supported by the use of driving simulators, may facilitate a more detailed assessment of riding abilities.     

An expanded childhood anxiety sensitivity index: its factor structure, reliability, and validity in a non-clinical adolescent sample

Anxiety sensitivity refers to the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations that are interpreted as having potentially harmful somatic, psychological, or social consequences. The current study examined the factor analytic structure of anxiety sensitivity in a large sample of normal adolescents (N=518) using the revised childhood anxiety sensitivity index (CASI-R). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that anxiety sensitivity as measured by the CASI-R can best be conceptualised as a hierarchical construct with four lower-order factors loading on a single higher-order factor. The lower-order factors were 'fear of cardiovascular symptoms', 'fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions', 'fear of cognitive dyscontrol', and 'fear of respiratory symptoms'. An additional aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the CASI-R. Results showed the CASI-R to be a reliable scale in terms of internal consistency. Furthermore, CASI-R scores were substantially related to levels of anxiety sensitivity as measured by the original index, trait anxiety, symptoms of anxiety disorders, in particular 'panic disorder and agoraphobia', and depression. Finally, some evidence was found for the validity of the CASI-R factor scores. That is, all factors convincingly loaded on symptoms of 'panic disorder and agoraphobia', whereas the factor 'fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions' was also strongly associated with symptoms of 'social phobia'.     

Trends in Behavior-Analytic Gambling Research and Treatment

The purpose of the present review was to analyze research outcomes for all gambling studies reported in the behavior analysis literature. We used the search term “gambling” to identify articles that were published in behaviorally oriented journals between the years 1992 and 2012 and categorized the content of each article as empirical or conceptual. Next, we examined and categorized the empirical articles by inclusion of an experimental manipulation and treatment to alleviate at least some aspect of pathological gambling, participant population used, type of gambling task employed in the research, whether the participants in the study actually gambled, and the behavioral phenomena of interest. The results show that the rate of publication of gambling research has increased in the last 6 years, and a vast majority of articles are empirical. Of the empirical articles, examinations of treatment techniques or methods are scarce; slot machine play is the most represented form of gambling, and slightly greater than half of the research included compensation based on gambling outcomes within experiments. We discuss implications and future directions based on these observations of the published literature.     

Validation of physical activity habit strength with subjective and objective criterion measures

ObjectivesA German version of the Self-reported Habit Strength Index (SRHI) for both sports and everyday physical activity (PA) was validated against subjective and objective criterion measures of PA.Design and methodData were obtained from 260 participants (21.4% women) in study 1 and 86 participants (58.1% women) in study 2. Both studies assessed habit strength for PA (sports and everyday PA) by the SRHI and PA by the Baecke Questionnaire (Sport, Leisure and Work Index) as subjective criterion measure, as well as by accelerometry (Step Activity Monitor or GTM1 Actigraph) as objective criterion measure. Bivariate correlations as well as path analyses were computed for the associations between the SRHI scores and subjective and objective criterion measures of PA.ResultsHighest associations for subjective criterion measure were found for habit strength for sports and the Sport Index in both studies. The Leisure Index was predicted by habit strength for sports and everyday PA. For objective criterion measures, habit strength for sports was most significantly associated with total PA in study 1 and moderate intense PA in study 2. Habit strength for everyday PA was a significant predictor of moderate intense and total PA in study 1 and low intense PA in study 2.ConclusionThe present studies replicated high internal consistencies of the SRHI for sports and everyday PA and could partially confirm their validity with subjective and objective criterion measures. The SRHI for sports seems to be more robust than the SRHI for everyday physical activity.     

Latent Structure of the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index in Methadone Maintenance Patients

The latent structure of Davis's 28-item Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) measure of empathy was examined in 241 methadone maintenance (MM) patients using factor analytic procedures and the divergent and convergent reliability of the derived structure was determined. Contrary to the four-factor structure determined for the IRI previously, three factors, comprised of 18 items, were found to best represent the construct of empathy in MM patients—an Empathy factor (nine items) combining the Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking factors originally described by Davis, and Fantasy (four items) and Personal Distress (five) factors. Canonical correlation analysis undertaken to determine concurrent validity of the IRI's revealed latent structure supported the validity of the derived Empathy factor as a measure of empathy, but indicated that Personal Distress appeared to be associated with neuroticism. These findings are consistent with more recent factor analytic and validity findings for the IRI.     

The minimal self hypothesis

For millennia self has been conjectured to be necessary for consciousness. But scant empirical evidence has been adduced to support this hypothesis. Inconsistent explications of “self” and failure to design apt experiments have impeded progress. Advocates of phenomenological psychiatry, however, have helped explicate “self,” and employed it to explain some psychopathological symptoms. In those studies, “self” is understood in a minimalist sense, sheer “for-me-ness.” Unfortunately, explication of the “minimal self” (MS) has relied on conceptual analysis, and applications to psychopathology have been hermeneutic, allowing for many degrees of interpretive latitude. The result is that MS’s current scientific status is analogous to that of the “atom,” at the time when “atom” was just beginning to undergo transformation from a philosophical to a scientific concept. Fortunately, there is now an opportunity to promote a similar transformation for “MS.” Discovery of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) opened the door to neuroimaging investigations of self. Taking the DMN and other forms of intrinsic activity as a starting point, an empirical foothold can be established, one that spurs experimental research and that enables extension of research into multiple phenomena. New experimental protocols that posit “MS” can help explain phenomena hitherto not thought to be related to self, thereby hastening development of a mature science of self. In particular, targeting phenomena wherein consciousness is lost and recovered, as in some cases of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), allow for design of neuroimaging probes that enable detection of MS during non-conscious states. These probes, as well as other experimental protocols applied to NREM Sleep, General Anesthesia (GA), and the waking state, provide some evidence to suggest that not only can self and consciousness dissociate, MS might be a necessary precondition for conscious experience. Finally, these findings have implications for the science of consciousness: it has been suggested that “levels of consciousness” (LoC) is not a legitimate concept for the science of consciousness. But because we have the conceptual and methodological tools with which to refine investigations of MS, we have the means to identify a possible foundation—a bifurcation point—for consciousness, as well as the means by which to measure degrees of distance from that foundation. These neuroimaging investigations of MS position us to better assess whether LoC has a role to play in a mature science of consciousness.