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Behavioural science has been effectively used by policy makers in various domains, from health to savings. However, interventions that behavioural scientists typically employ to change behaviour have been at the centre of an ethical debate, given that they include elements of paternalism that have implications for people’s freedom of choice. In the present article, we argue that this ethical debate could be resolved in the future through implementation and advancement of new technologies. We propose that several technologies which are currently available and are rapidly evolving (i.e., virtual and augmented reality, social robotics, gamification, self-quantification, and behavioural informatics) have a potential to be integrated with various behavioural interventions in a non-paternalistic way. More specifically, people would decide themselves which behaviours they want to change and select the technologies they want to use for this purpose, and the role of policy makers would be to develop transparent behavioural interventions for these technologies. In that sense, behavioural science would move from libertarian paternalism to liberalism, given that people would freely choose how they want to change, and policy makers would create technological interventions that make this change possible.

In this letter we present first results from spectroscopic observations of Diffuse Ionized Gas (DIG) in the halo of NGC5775 obtained with FORS1 attached to UT1/Antu of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). At our slit position perpendicular to the disk (41" SE of the nucleus) the emission of [NII]6583, [OIII]5007, and [OII]3727 is detected out to 9 kpc into the halo, allowing possible ionization mechanisms of the DIG to be examined. Photoionization models which assume a dilute radiation field are able to fit the data for the disk, but they cannot account for the line ratios measured in the halo (e.g., [OI]/Halpha or [OII]/Halpha). In particular they fail to predict the observed increase of [OIII]5007/Halpha with increasing z. The most striking result concerns the kinematics of the halo gas. Velocities at high galactic latitudes drop from the midplane value to reach the systemic velocity at z ~ 9 kpc. An analysis of VLA archive data of the polarized radio-continuum emission at 4.86 GHz and 1.49 GHz reveals that magnetic fields in the halo have a strong component perpendicular to the disk and are aligned with the Halpha and radio-continuum spurs in the halo. This can result either from a strong wind action or, more likely, from the generation of dipolar magnetic fields. We briefly discuss the interrelation of the magnetic field structure and gas dynamics, in particular the role of magnetic fields in gas outflows, as well as the possible heating of DIG by magnetic reconnection., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A letters. For high quality figures, see http://www.astro.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/astro/publications/pub2000.html

Two flocculent galaxies NGC 3521 and NGC 5055 has been observed at 10.55GHz with the Effelsberg 100m telescope. In both cases polarized emission reveals substantial radial component of regular magnetic field - similar to that in grand-designed spirals. Comparison with H_alpha distribution obtained at Lowell Observatory is presented. Polarization models discussed, support modern non-standard dynamo concepts for magnetic field generation in galaxies., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, A&A in print

We present 10.55 GHz observations of strong density-wave spiral NGC 3627. Total power and polarization maps with a resolution of 1.13', sensitive to a weak extended emmision were obtained. In the analysiz we used also available data in the CO ans H_alpha lines. We present simple modelling results showing the imprtance of large-scale dynamo-type magnetic field present despite the strong density-wave action in this galaxy., Comment: 10 pages (including 10 figures); A&A accepted (1999)