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dp-promise : differentially private diffusion probabilistic models for image synthesis
No full textUtilizing sensitive images (e.g., human faces) for training DL models raises privacy concerns. One straightforward solution is to replace the private images with synthetic ones generated by deep generative models. Among all image synthesis methods, diffusion models (DMs) yield impressive performance. Unfortunately, recent studies have revealed that DMs incur privacy challenges due to the memorization of the training instances. To preserve the existence of a single private sample of DMs, many works have explored to apply DP on DMs from different perspectives. However, existing works on differentially private DMs only consider DMs as regular deep models, such that they inject unnecessary DP noise in addition to the forward process noise in DMs, damaging the model utility. To address the issue, this paper proposes Differentially Private Diffusion Probabilistic Models for Image Synthesis, dp-promise, which theoretically guarantees approximate DP by leveraging the DM noise during the forward process. Extensive experiments demonstrate that, given the same privacy budget, dp-promise outperforms the state-of-the-art on the image quality of differentially private image synthesis across the standard metrics and datasets
Can mimicry increase the persuasiveness of social robots?
No full textThis study adds to the existing body of literature by providing a conceptual framework for understanding how the use of mimicry might enhance the persuasive abilities of robots and influence consumers' intentions to make a purchase. The research aims to assist managers in making informed decisions regarding the use of either high or low levels of robotic mimicry in their stores, with the objective of enhancing their ability to influence and persuade consumers
Prevalence of medical conditions and medication usage : implications for oral health among older adults in rural Victoria
No full textFeatured Application: Oral health-related general health diseases and conditions refers to medical conditions or diseases that have a connection or impact on both oral health and overall health.
Background: A study was undertaken to provide a comprehensive profile of the prevalence and distribution, by selected socio-demographic characteristics, of chronic diseases and health conditions including those that impact the oral health and oral health self-care of independently living older adults in rural areas of the state of Victoria.
Methods: The study analyzed data from the Crossroads-II project, with a total of 1407 participants aged 55 years and older. Participants responded to questionnaires about their medical health history, health service use, and socio-demographics. In total, 572 attended a 2-h health screening that included an assessment of prescribed medications.
Results: Most participants were female (55.3%), with a mean age of 69.1 (SD = 9.2) years. Participants had a high prevalence of medical conditions; the most common were high blood pressure, arthritis, high lipids, hearing loss, and chronic pain. Almost all participants reported taking medications, with an average of 4.3 medications per person. Among those who attended the health screening, 78.1% were taking medications that could cause xerostomia (dry mouth).
Conclusions: This study provides initial information on the prevalence of medical conditions, medication usage, and the potential impact on the oral health of older adults living in rural Victoria. This information would be valuable for healthcare and dental workforce planning, policy development, and improving the overall well-being of this population
Editorial : Covid-19 : effects and innovation for future sustainability
No full textThe new Coronavirus, commonly known as Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2, was identified first in Wuhan, China, in 2019. However, it became a global pandemic within the first few months of 2020. Covid-19 has undergone numerous mutations between then and now, resulting in millions of infections and deaths worldwide. At the same time, the pandemic has created unprecedented global upheavals in every sphere of life. Sadly, any hopes of fully containing Covid-19 have remained uncertain since the pandemic has resurfaced in waves in most countries, demonstrating extreme resilience. As a result, Covid-19’s economic burden has grown with each passing day
Affect in infant-directed speech of Swedish-speaking mothers and fathers to 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants
No full textInfant-directed speech (IDS) is characterized by a range of register-typical characteristics. Many of those can be objectively measured, such as acoustic-prosodic and structural-linguistic modifications. Perceived vocal affect, however, is a socio-emotional IDS characteristic and is subjectively assessed. Vocal affect goes beyond acoustic-prosodic and structural-linguistic IDS features and includes a perceptive-subjective component in the listener. This study describes vocal affect valence in Swedish IDS during the first year of life, and compares vocal affect between mothers’ and fathers’ IDS and their adult-directed speech. Adult native speakers of Swedish (N = 16) rated affect valence in low-pass filtered IDS samples from free play interactions of mothers with infants at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months (N = 10) and fathers with their 12-month-olds (N = 6). Across the first year, the trajectory of mothers’ positive affect in Swedish IDS shows the highest affect scores toward the youngest infants and the lowest at 9 months of age. This follows a pattern comparable to that in Australian English IDS, showing that mothers express vocal affect similarly across different languages and cultures. Both mothers’ and fathers’ IDS to 12-month-olds have higher positive vocal affect valence than their adult-directed speech. There was no difference in positive affect valence between mothers’ and fathers’ IDS, that is, mothers and fathers express vocal affect to the same extent when talking to their infants. In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate that high positive vocal affect characterizes IDS across different languages and speakers
Large-scale events and soft power : reconfiguration and continuity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textThe Olympic Games, the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the Sapporo Snow Festival: large-scale events like these have long been capturing the world’s attention. Due to their attractiveness and popularity, they have regularly been used to enhance the soft power of various actors. Although the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted most of these important events, it did not permanently dampen global enthusiasm for them. This chapter examines large-scale events in terms of soft power. It makes a twofold argument: first, that the events’ soft power is anchored in virtuosity - that is, proficiency or skill (Chitty 2017) - and, second, that the events continue to remain attractive for wielding soft power due to their spectacular nature and appeal to, and function as, entertainment. This attractiveness endures despite the COVID-19 pandemic having changed the dynamics of many large-scale events, shifting them into fully- or partly-digital formats. To substantiate this argument, the chapter uses the 2020 Dubai Expo (held from 2021 to 2022) as its case study. The Expo offers a robust way of understanding the virtuosity at the heart of a large-scale event’s soft power, as well as its appeal as spectacular entertainment, in both non-digital and digital formats. From an analysis of key event communication collateral, the chapter offers a novel framework for understanding the central elements of the virtuosity underpinning the soft power of large-scale events in a pandemic and post-pandemic era
Prosecuting pay equity in Australia : evolving strategies in the context of declining institutional advantages
No full textThe prosecution of pay equity in ways that effectively challenge deep-seated gender inequalities is dependent not only on the design of pay equity provisions but also on the extent to which they are supported by the institutional context. In Australia, a mix of extensions and innovations in pay equity measures in recent decades has occurred in the context of broader institutional changes, including a decentralisation of wage-bargaining that potentially limits the capacity to support the prosecution of cases. These tensions have been overlaid by complications arising from changes in the federal division of industrial powers in Australia. In this chapter we examine the intersection of these countervailing trends and consider implications for the advancement of gender pay equality
Aussie blokes and high maintenance girls : how the old became new again on dating apps in COVID-19 in Australia
No full textDating apps saw increased usage during the COVID-19 lockdown in Australia–both of new users, and of activity. Using Bumble and Tinder, two of the largest dating apps in the Australian market, we examine the ways in which gender scripts were reinforced and/or subverted on dating apps during the COVID-19 lockdown. Dating apps offer a potential space for negotiation of gender scripts and challenges to heteronormativity, particularly during a period like COVID-19, where media discourse reported a shift in normative constraints because of liberation from physical social spaces. So how did it play out in practice? How did the inability to meet in person affect the ways in which users conformed to or subverted normative binaristic gender scripts? We explore this question drawing on interviews and focus groups conducted with dating app users during the COVID-19 lockdown. We discuss how and whether participants mobilised heteronormative gender specific cultural codifiers to present themselves on app, and whether this was encouraged by Bumble and Tinder architecture. We also discuss how and if ‘traditional’ gender scripts were adhered to in the navigation of new matches and relationships, and the particularities of this in Australian culture. This includes the (re)emergence of stereotypical presentation ideals such as the ‘high-maintenance girl’ and the locally specific ‘Aussie bloke’, and an apparent increased desire for the ontological security provided by monogamous romantic relationships
Decolonising and Reimagining Social Work in Africa: Alternative Epistemologies and Practice Models
No full textThis book explores contemporary debates on decolonisation and indigenisation of social work in Africa and provides readers with alternative models, values, and epistemologies for reimagining social work practice and education that can be applicable to a wide range of countries struggling with similar concerns. It examines how indigenisation without decolonisation is just tokenistic since it is concerned with adapting, modifying Western models to fit local contexts or generating local models to integrate into the already predominantly contextually irrelevant and culturally inappropriate mainstream Western social work in Africa. By exploring decolonisation, which calls for dismantling colonialism and colonial thinking to create central space for indigenous social work as mainstream social work, especially in Africa, it goes beyond tokenistic decolonisation to articulate some of the indigenous social work practice and social policy models, values, ethics, and oral epistemologies that should take centre stage as locally relevant and culturally appropriate social work in Africa. It also addresses the question of decolonising research methodologies, highlighting some of the methods embedded in African indigenous perspectives for adoption when researching African social work. The book has been written with both the coloniser/colonised in mind and it will be of interest to all social work academics, students and practitioners, and others interested in gaining insights into how colonisation persists in social work and why it is necessary to find ways to disrupt it
Using synthetic biology to avert climate change : a consequentialist appraisal
No full textWe attempt to justify the use of synthetic biology in response to the climate crisis, based on the premise that it is impossible to avert runaway climate change without sequestering sufficient greenhouse gases (GHG), which could only become possible through Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs). Then, moving from a consequentialist standpoint, we acquiesce to how the consequences of using NETs through synthetic biology are preferable to the catastrophic consequences of runaway climate change. In conclusion, we show how our analysis of synthetic biology resonates with a zoecentric view of climate science and ethics