The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System (SPEDAS).

With the advent of the Heliophysics/Geospace System Observatory (H/GSO), a complement of multi-spacecraft missions and ground-based observatories to study the space environment, data retrieval, analysis, and visualization of space physics data can be daunting. The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System (SPEDAS), a grass-roots software development platform (www.spedas.org), is now officially supported by NASA Heliophysics as part of its data environment infrastructure. It serves more than a dozen space missions and ground observatories and can integrate the full complement of past and upcoming space physics missions with minimal resources, following clear, simple, and well-proven guidelines. Free, modular and configurable to the needs of individual missions, it works in both command-line (ideal for experienced users) and Graphical User Interface (GUI) mode (reducing the learning curve for first-time users). Both options have "crib-sheets," user-command sequences in ASCII format that can facilitate record-and-repeat actions, especially for complex operations and plotting. Crib-sheets enhance scientific interactions, as users can move rapidly and accurately from exchanges of technical information on data processing to efficient discussions regarding data interpretation and science. SPEDAS can readily query and ingest all International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP)-compatible products from the Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF), enabling access to a vast collection of historic and current mission data. The planned incorporation of Heliophysics Application Programmer's Interface (HAPI) standards will facilitate data ingestion from distributed datasets that adhere to these standards. Although SPEDAS is currently Interactive Data Language (IDL)-based (and interfaces to Java-based tools such as Autoplot), efforts are under-way to expand it further to work with python (first as an interface tool and potentially even receiving an under-the-hood replacement). We review the SPEDAS development history, goals, and current implementation. We explain its "modes of use" with examples geared for users and outline its technical implementation and requirements with software developers in mind. We also describe SPEDAS personnel and software management, interfaces with other organizations, resources and support structure available to the community, and future development plans. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11214-018-0576-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A large-scale view of Space Technology 5 magnetometer response to solar wind drivers.

In this data report we discuss reprocessing of the Space Technology 5 (ST5) magnetometer database for inclusion in NASA's Coordinated Data Analysis Web (CDAWeb) virtual observatory. The mission consisted of three spacecraft flying in elliptical orbits, from 27 March to 27 June 2006. Reprocessing includes (1) transforming the data into the Modified Apex Coordinate System for projection to a common reference altitude of 110 km, (2) correcting gain jumps, and (3) validating the results. We display the averaged magnetic perturbations as a keogram, which allows direct comparison of the full-mission data with the solar wind values and geomagnetic indices. With the data referenced to a common altitude, we find the following: (1) Magnetic perturbations that track the passage of corotating interaction regions and high-speed solar wind; (2) unexpectedly strong dayside perturbations during a solstice magnetospheric sawtooth oscillation interval characterized by a radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) component that may have enhanced the accompanying modest southward IMF; and (3) intervals of reduced magnetic perturbations or "calms," associated with periods of slow solar wind, interspersed among variable-length episodic enhancements. These calms are most evident when the IMF is northward or projects with a northward component onto the geomagnetic dipole. The reprocessed ST5 data are in very good agreement with magnetic perturbations from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft, which we also map to 110 km. We briefly discuss the methods used to remap the ST5 data and the means of validating the results against DMSP. Our methods form the basis for future intermission comparisons of space-based magnetometer data.

The psychiatrist as moral advisor.

This paper is a critique of a paper by Robert Lipkin. Arguments for the following claims are put forward: (1) that what is 'essential' to the psychiatric relationship is what we want it to be for utilitarian reasons; (2) it would not be to our advantage to allow the medicalization of morality; (3) what we should expect from the psychiatrist is prudential advice, not moral advice, and that Lipkin has a confused view about the relationship between these two areas; and (4) we should not allow the psychiatrist to restrict individuals on moral grounds, but only on public safety grounds.

A medical ethics project for third-year medical students.

During the 1987-1988 academic year, each of the third-year students at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia were asked to prepare a case study that involved ethical issues, drawn from a clinical experience. Instructions for the studies included a brief description of ethical principles and a format for including needed information about the patient, the family, and the caregivers. A study was made of the quality of these case studies, the types of ethical issues raised, and some attitudes expressed in them. Follow-up discussion groups with faculty leaders, using these case studies, are described.

How children can be respected as 'ends' yet still be used as subjects in non-therapeutic research.

The question of whether or not children may be used as subjects in non-therapeutic research projects has generated a great deal of debate and received answers varying from 'no, never' to 'yes, if societal interests are served'. It has been claimed that a Kantian, deontological ethics would necessarily rule out such research, since valid consent would be impossible. The present paper gives a deontological argument for allowing children to be subjects in certain types of research.

KIE: A controversial ethical issue in human experimentation is the use of children as subjects in nontherapeutic research. Deontologists, arguing from the Kantian principles of moral duty and respect for persons, hold that it is wrong to subject anyone to the risks of research that is not designed for the subject's benefit. Utilitarians, subscribing to Mill's view that those actions are right which promote the greatest good for the greatest number, counter that the risks are justified if there is a strong possibility of sufficient benefit to others. Redmon argues that there are some conditions in which nontherapeutic research with children can be justified on Kantian grounds. He concludes that the research is permissible if the child can be expected to "identify" as an adult with the goals of the researcher, if the child assents to being a subject, and if the risks of participation are minimal.