Recent research into the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of psychopathy has raised the question of whether, or to what degree, psychopaths should be considered morally and criminally responsible for their actions. In this article, we review the current empirical literature on psychopathy, focusing particularly on deficits in moral reasoning, and consider several potential conclusions that could be drawn based on this evidence. Our analysis of the empirical evidence on psychopathy suggests that while psychopaths do not meet the criteria for full criminal responsibility, they nonetheless retain some criminal responsibility. We conclude, by introducing the notion of rights as correlative, that even if psychopaths were to be fully nonresponsible, imposing some form of civil commitment would still be warranted.

Knowledge of the effects of burial depth and burial duration on seed viability and, consequently, seedbank persistence of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) and waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] ecotypes can be used for the development of efficient weed management programs. This is of particular interest, given the great fecundity of both species and, consequently, their high seedbank replenishment potential. Seeds of both species collected from five different locations across the United States were investigated in seven states (sites) with different soil and climatic conditions. Seeds were placed at two depths (0 and 15 cm) for 3 yr. Each year, seeds were retrieved, and seed damage (shrunken, malformed, or broken) plus losses (deteriorated and futile germination) and viability were evaluated. Greater seed damage plus loss averaged across seed origin, burial depth, and year was recorded for lots tested at Illinois (51.3% and 51.8%) followed by Tennessee (40.5% and 45.1%) and Missouri (39.2% and 42%) for A. palmeri and A. tuberculatus, respectively. The site differences for seed persistence were probably due to higher volumetric water content at these sites. Rates of seed demise were directly proportional to burial depth (α=0.001), whereas the percentage of viable seeds recovered after 36 mo on the soil surface ranged from 4.1% to 4.3% compared with 5% to 5.3% at the 15-cm depth for A. palmeri and A. tuberculatus, respectively. Seed viability loss was greater in the seeds placed on the soil surface compared with the buried seeds. The greatest influences on seed viability were burial conditions and time and site-specific soil conditions, more so than geographical location. Thus, management of these weed species should focus on reducing seed shattering, enhancing seed removal from the soil surface, or adjusting tillage systems.

Metal–insulator–metal (MIM) resonant absorbers comprise a conducting ground plane, a thin dielectric, and thin separated metal top-surface structures. The dielectric SiO2 strongly absorbs near 9 µm wavelength and has correspondingly strong long-wave-infrared (LWIR) dispersion for the refractive index. This dispersion results in multiple absorption resonances spanning the LWIR, which can enhance broad-band sensitivity for LWIR bolometers. Similar considerations apply to silicon nitride Si3N4. TiO2 and AlN have comparatively low dispersion and give simple single LWIR resonances. These dispersion-dependent features for infrared MIM devices are demonstrated by experiment, electrodynamic simulation, and an analytic model based on standing waves.

We examined risk factors associated with the intestinal acquisition of antimicrobial-resistant extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) and development of community-acquired urinary tract infection (UTI) in a case-control study of young women across Canada. A total of 399 women were recruited; 164 women had a UTI caused by E. coli resistant to ⩾1 antimicrobial classes and 98 had a UTI caused by E. coli resistant to ⩾3 antimicrobial classes. After adjustment for age, student health service (region of Canada) and either prior antibiotic use or UTI history, consumption of processed or ground chicken, cooked or raw shellfish, street foods and any organic fruit; as well as, contact with chickens, dogs and pet treats; and travel to Asia, were associated with an increased risk of UTI caused by antimicrobial resistant E. coli. A decreased risk of antimicrobial resistant UTI was associated with consumption of apples, nectarines, peppers, fresh herbs, peanuts and cooked beef. Drug-resistant UTI linked to foodborne and environmental exposures may be a significant public health concern and understanding the risk factors for intestinal acquisition of existing or newly emerging lineages of drug-resistant ExPEC is important for epidemiology, antimicrobial stewardship and prevention efforts.

The molecular, neurobiological, and physical health impacts of child maltreatment are well established, yet mechanistic pathways remain inadequately defined. Telomere length (TL) decline is an emerging molecular indicator of stress exposure with definitive links to negative health outcomes in maltreated individuals. The multiple confounders endemic to human maltreatment research impede the identification of causal pathways. This study leverages a unique randomized, cross-foster, study design in a naturalistic translational nonhuman primate model of infant maltreatment. At birth, newborn macaques were randomly assigned to either a maltreating or a competent control mother, balancing for sex, biological mother parenting history, and social rank. Offspring TL was measured longitudinally across the first 6 months of life (infancy) from peripheral blood. Hair cortisol accumulation was also determined at 6, 12, and 18 months of age. TL decline was greater in animals randomized to maltreatment, but also interacted with biological mother group. Shorter TL at 6 months was associated with higher mean cortisol levels through 18 months (juvenile period) when controlling for relevant covariates. These results suggest that even under the equivalent social, nutritional, and environmental conditions feasible in naturalistic translational nonhuman primate models, early adverse caregiving results in lasting molecular scars that foreshadow elevated health risk and physiologic dysregulation.

This paper explores the influence of institutions on indigenous entrepreneurship within the muttonbird economy of Ngāi Tahu (a New Zealand Māori tribe). It determines that colonisation removed the traditional Ngāi Tahu institution of executive authority which once regulated muttonbird exchange. Without this regulatory function whānau (family) birders compete against each other at their own expense and to the benefit of traders. As a consequence the birders are constrained in applying their birding knowledge and abilities to realise market opportunity. Furthermore, declining returns and harvesting pressure is in some cases reducing the financial and natural capital of whānau, whilst threats to continuing birding culture potentially undermines the socio-human capital contained within inherited traditions and the maintaining of kinship connections. It is argued that the development of a contemporary executive authority to regulate exchange and market product may reinvigorate entrepreneurial birding activities.

Circumstellar SiO masers can be observed in red giant evolved stars throughout the Galaxy. Since stellar masers are not affected by non-gravitational forces, they serve as point-mass probes of the gravitational potential and form an excellent sample for studies of the Galactic structure and dynamics. Compared to optical studies, the non-obscured masers are in particular valuable when observed close to the highly obscured Galactic Bulge and Plane. Their line-of-sight velocities can easily be obtained with high accuracy, proper motions can be measured and distances can be estimated. Furthermore, when different mass and metallicity effects can be accounted for, such a large sample will highlight asymmetries and evolutionary traces in the sample. In our Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamic Evolution (BAaDE) survey we have searched 20,000 infrared selected evolved stars for 43 GHz SiO masers with the VLA in the northern Bulge and Plane and are in the process of observing another 10,000 stars for 86 GHz SiO masers with ALMA in the southern Bulge. Our instantaneous detection rate in the Bulge is close to 70%, both at 43 and 86 GHz, with occasionally up to 7 simultaneous SiO transitions observed in a single star. Here we will outline the BAaDE survey, its first results and some of the peculiar maser features we have observed. Furthermore we will discuss the prospects for obtaining proper motions and parallaxes for individual maser stars to reconstruct individual stellar orbits.

We report the discovery of widespread millimeter-wavelength Class I methanol maser emission associated with protostellar molecular outflows in the massive (proto)cluster G11.92−0.61. Our ~0.5″-resolution SMA and ALMA observations of the 229 GHz and 278 GHz Class I transitions reveal seven and twelve candidate masers, respectively: all 229 GHz masers have 278 GHz counterparts, and five are also coincident with 44 GHz Class I masers previously detected with the VLA. For paired masers, the peak intensities at 229 GHz and 278 GHz are correlated. We also find tentative evidence for a correlation between the strength of millimeter-wavelength Class I maser emission and the energy of the associated molecular outflow.

Methanol masers observed at high angular resolution are useful tool to investigate the processes of high-mass star formation. Here, we present the results of statistical analysis of the 6.7 GHz methanol maser structures in 60 sources observed with the EVN. The parameters of the maser clouds and exciting stars were derived. There is evidence that the emission structures composed of larger number of maser clouds are formed in the vicinity of more luminous exciting stars.

VLBI observations of SiO masers recover at most 40-50% of the total flux obtained by single dish observations at any spectral channel. Some previous studies seems to indicate that, at least, part of the lost flux is divided up into many weak components rather than in a large resolved emission area. Taking benefit of the high sensitivity and resolution of the HSA, we investigate the problem of the missing flux in VLBI observations of SiO maser emission at 7 mm in the AGB stars and obtain a high dynamic range map of IRC+10011. We conclude that the missing flux is mostly contained in many very weak maser components.

The Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamical Evolution (BAaDE) project aims to map the positions and velocities of up to ~20,000 late-type stars with SiO maser emission along the full Galactic plane, with a large concentration in the Galactic Bulge and inner Galaxy. Both J = 1 → 0 and J = 2 → 1 transitions using the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) are being observed. In the VLA observing setup, in addition to the 28SiO, v = 1 and v = 2J = 1 → 0 maser transitions, the bandwidth was wide enough to include the J = 1 → 0 transitions of the rare isotopologues of the SiO molecule in both the ground and vibrationally excited states: 29SiO, v = 0, 30SiO, v = 0, 29SiO, v = 1, and 29SiO, v = 2. Approximately 10% of the initial ~3500 targets of the project show maser emission from at least one of these lines. Some of these stars (with isotopic maser emission) show high radial velocities which implies that they are indeed in the Galactic Bulge or inner Galaxy (i.e. not foreground objects). We present line profiles, refined detection statistics, and the implications of the detection of the isotopic maser emission on pumping schemes that have been previously presented.

The dwarf galaxies in the Local Group (LG) reveal a surprising amount of spatial structuring. In particular, almost all non-satellite dwarfs belong to one of two planes that show a very pronounced symmetry. In order to determine if these structures in the LG are dynamically stable or, alternatively, if they only represent transient alignments, proper motion measurements of these galaxies are required. A viable method to derive proper motions is offered by VLBI studies of 22-GHz water (and 6.7-GHz methanol) maser lines in star-forming regions.

In 2016, in the framework of the Early Science Program of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), we have conducted an extensive observational campaign to map the entire optical body of all the LG dwarf galaxies that belong to the two planes, at C and K band, in a search for methanol and water maser emission.

Here, we outline the project and present its first results on 3 targets, NGC 6822, IC 1613, and WLM. While no luminous maser emission has been detected in these galaxies, a number of interesting weaker detections has been obtained, associated with particularly active star forming regions. In addition, we have produced deep radio continuum maps for these galaxies, aimed at investigating their star forming activity and providing an improved assessment of star formation rates in these galaxies.

The final stages of low-mass stellar evolution are characterized by significant mass loss due to stellar pulsations during the AGB phase, which lead to the development of planetary nebulae. Molecular masers of H2O, SiO, and ground state OH transitions are commonly detected in oxygen-rich late-type stars (OH/IR objects). In contrast, excited OH maser transitions are rare. We discuss our study of the carbon-rich pre-planetary nebula CRL618 (a prototypical post-AGB star). Observations conducted in May 2008 with the 305m Arecibo Telescope resulted in the first detection of a 4765MHz OH maser line in a late-type stellar object; the detection was confirmed a few months later also with Arecibo. Subsequent observations in 2015 and 2017 resulted in non-detection of the 4765MHz OH line. Our observations indicate that the 4765MHz OH maser in CRL 618 is highly variable, possibly tracing a short-lived phenomenon during the development of a pre-planetary nebula.

The first periodic Class II methanol maser was reported on in 2003. Since that time, a number of different monitoring programmes have found periodic masers, as well as other modes of variability. In a few cases, periodicity has been found in other maser species such as formaldehyde and water. Several distinct characteristics of light curves have been noted, possibly pointing to different underlying mechanisms for periodicity if one assumes a linear response to incoming radiation. I will give a brief overview of the known periodic sources, discuss current theories, and present new results obtained from monitoring mainline hydroxyl masers using the seven-element Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7) during its science verification phase.

We present multi–epoch VLBI observations of the methanol and water masers in the high–mass star formation region G 339.884−1.259, made using the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA). Our sub–milliarcsecond precision measurements trace the proper motions of individual maser features in the plane of the sky. When combined with the direct line–of–sight radial velocity (vlsr), these measure the 3 D gas kinematics of the associated high–mass star formation region, allowing us to probe the dynamical processes to within 1000 AU of the core.

We present the results from the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA) observations of the ground- and excited-state OH masers at high resolutions towards the massive star-forming region G351.417+0.645 in 2012. We obtain the most accurate spatial gradient of magnetic fields at ground state transitions and verify the reliability of magnetic field strengths measured from previous lower resolution observations. In comparison with previous LBA observations in 2001 at 6.0 GHz, we identified several matched Zeeman pairs. We found that the OH maser features have no significant change of magnetic field strengths and directions with small internal proper motions, implying quite stable physical conditions. Additionally, we found that 1665- and 6035-MHz OH maser features reveal the same trend of reversal of magnetic fields. Moreover, we also analyzed the physical conditions at different locations from the coincidence of different OH maser transitions based on current OH maser models.

The study of astrophysical maser formation provides a useful probe of the chemical composition and physical conditions of the sources they are observed in. This exploration requires continuously solving the SE equations for the populations of the energy levels in search of conditions that will produce an inversion. After evaluation of available implementations applying the Escape Probability approximation, the masers solver was developed to provide an efficient and robust matrix inversion calculation. This open source package is hosted at https://bitbucket.org/ruby_van_rooyen/masers.

Our 2015-2016 ALMA 1.3 to 0.87 mm observations (resolution ~200 au) of the massive protocluster NGC6334I revealed that an extraordinary outburst had occurred in the dominant millimeter dust core MM1 (luminosity increase of 70×) when compared with earlier SMA data. The outburst was accompanied by the flaring of ten maser transitions of three species. We present new results from our recent JVLA observations of Class II 6.7 GHz methanol masers and 6 GHz excited OH masers in this region. Class II masers had not previously been detected toward MM1 in any interferometric observations recorded over the past 30 years that targeted the bright masers toward other members of the protocluster (MM2 and MM3=NGC6334F). Methanol masers now appear both toward and adjacent to MM1 with the strongest spots located in a dust cavity ~1 arcsec (1300 au) north of the MM1B hypercompact HII region. In addition, new excited OH masers appear on the non-thermal source CM2. These data reveal the dramatic effects of episodic accretion onto a deeply-embedded high mass protostar and demonstrate its ongoing impact on the surrounding protocluster.