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Gadamer in the English-speaking world
Get PDFProviding a summary history of the reception of Gadamer's work in English across a range of disciplines from literature to philosophy, this essay also explores elements of both influence and convergence connecting Gadamer's thinking with that of several key figures in twentieth century analytic philosophy
Harmful words: A qualitative survey of pain clinicians’ perspectives on unhelpful messages in chronic pain
No full textIndividuals living with chronic pain report experiences of stigma and invalidation, including from health professionals. Anecdotally, specialist pain clinicians must work hard to engage and treat patients who have past experiences of professionals discounting their pain, or of confusing or unsettling messaging about the cause of their symptoms. However, no study has yet explored pain clinicians’ perspectives on unhelpful clinical messaging in this area. We conducted an online qualitative survey of 165 international pain clinicians, asking about the unhelpful messages heard, and repeated, by their patients. Participants reported unhelpful messaging as prevalent and clinically impactful. Qualitative survey data was analysed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis. Five themes were generated: (1) all in your head, (2) you’re physically vulnerable, (3) an elusive fix, (4) the end of the line, (5) inadequate pain explanations. The results underscore the importance of taking a validating stance towards patients’ pain report and avoiding messages that discourage movement and exercise. Pain clinicians were reluctant to endorse multiple investigations to find an imagined ‘cause’ for pain but also disliked clinical messages that implied hopelessness about the chronic pain situation. These results can guide clinical conversations in many settings where people with chronic pain receive care. Perspective Messages provided by clinicians to individuals living with chronic pain can be deleterious and unhelpful. Such clinical messages may invalidate pain, discourage movement, increase diagnostic uncertainty and/or provide a fatalistic long term outlook. Improvements in pain education for clinicians are required
Smartphone as a sensor in mHealth: Narrative overview, SWOT analysis, and proposal of mobile biomarkers
Get PDFDigital applications for supporting health management often fail to achieve large-scale adoption. Costs related to purchasing, maintaining, and using medical or sensor devices, such as smartwatches, currently hinder uptake and sustained engagement, particularly in the prevention and monitoring of lifelong conditions. As an alternative, smartphone-based passive monitoring could provide a viable strategy for lifelong use, removing hardware-related costs and exploiting the synergies between mobile health (mHealth) and ambient assisted living (AAL). However, smartphone sensor toolkits are not designed for diagnostic purposes, and their quality varies depending on the model, maker, and generation. This narrative overview of recent reviews (narrative meta-review) on the current state of smartphone-based passive monitoring highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) of this approach, which pervasively encompasses digital health, mHealth, and AAL. The results are then consolidated into a newly defined concept of a mobile biomarker, that is, a general model of medical indices for diagnostic tasks that can be computed using smartphone sensors and capabilities
Örgütsel Öğrenmeye Yönelik Bütüncül Bir Yaklaşım
Get PDFIn the organizational learning literature, the theoretical tension between the acquisition and participation metaphors, which offers contrasting approaches to the nature and processes of organizational learning, has clouded the understanding of the multidimensional nature of the learning phenomenon. The aim of this study is to provide an integrative framework for organizational learning at both theoretical and empirical levels by bridging these two metaphors. To achieve this, the article will first highlight the value of employing multiple metaphors in the study of organizational learning and then illustrates the conceptual and methodological implications of adopting such an approach. Organizational learning mechanisms will be put forward as a unit of analysis to guide empirical research. Drawing on an empirical illustration derived from a multi-site case study conducted in small and medium-sized enterprises, the article argues that while acquisitionbased organizational learning mechanisms are instrumental in acquiring and disseminating knowledge, participatory elements are essential for embedding and applying knowledge in practice. Key differentiating factors in the design and implementation of organizational learning mechanisms are identified, including the difference between programmatic versus participative designs, isolated versus integrated mechanisms and the role of exogenic versus endogenic triggers and their impact on organizational learning
Performance in adults of the EULAR/PRINTO/PRES (Ankara 2008) classification criteria for IgA vasculitis
Get PDFObjectiveTo examine the performance in adults of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR)/Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS)-endorsed Ankara 2008 classification criteria for IgA vasculitis (IgAV).MethodsThe EULAR/PReS/Ankara 2008 classification criteria for IgAV were applied to patients enrolled in an international observational cohort which included patients with IgAV and comparators with other forms of small-vessel and medium-vessel vasculitis. After the initial assessment of the performance of the criteria, possible revisions to increase the performance were tested. The revised criteria were then assessed in an independent validation cohort within a multicentre Turkish vasculitis registry.ResultsThe dataset consisted of 178 IgAV cases and 1705 comparators. The Ankara 2008 criteria require skin involvement plus one of the following four criteria: abdominal pain, a biopsy showing IgA deposition, arthritis or arthralgia, or renal involvement (any haematuria and/or proteinuria). The specificity of the criteria improved when a positive test for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody or blood cryoglobulins was considered an exclusion criterion. The revised criteria had a sensitivity of 76.4% (95% CI 69.8% to 82.2%) and a specificity of 94.5% (95.0% CI 93.4% to 95.1%). In the validation set, the sensitivity and specificity of the revised criteria were 97.8% (95% CI 94.0% to 99.0%) and 85.0% (95.0% CI 78.0% to 90.0%), respectively.ConclusionThe revised EULAR/PReS-endorsed Ankara 2008 IgAV classification criteria perform well in adults with IgAV and are appropriate for use in clinical research
Federated learning with adversarial optimisation for secure and efficient 5G edge computing networks
No full textWith the evolution of 5G edge computing networks, privacy-aware applications are gaining significant attention due to their decentralised processing capabilities. However, these networks face substantial challenges to ensure privacy and security, specifically in a Federated Learning (FL) setup, where adversarial attacks can potentially influence the model integrity. Conventional privacy-preserving FL mechanisms are often susceptible to such attacks, leading to degraded model performance and severe security vulnerabilities. To address this issue, we propose FL with adversarial optimisation framework to improve adversarial robustness in 5G edge computing networks while ensuring privacy preservation. The proposed framework considers two models; a classifier model and an adversary model, where the classifier model is integrated with the adversary model, trained jointly considering Fast Gradient Sign Method (FGSM) for generation of adversarial perturbations. This adversarial optimisation enhances classifier's resilience to attacks, thereby improving both privacy preservation and model accuracy. Experimental analysis reveals that the proposed model achieves up to 99.44% accuracy on adversarial test data, while improving robustness and sustaining high precision and recall across varying client scenarios. The experimental results further ensure the effectiveness of the proposed model in terms of communication efficiency and computational efficiency while reducing inference time and FLOPs making it ideal for secure 5G edge computing applications
Operationalisation of industry best practices in SSE standardisation for space mission systems
No full textThe protection of space units is of utmost importance in performing synchronisation tasks for space missions. In this context, scientific approaches related to Secure Software Engineering (SSE) have been proposed. The primary goal of SSE is to safeguard invaluable vulnerable mission assets throughout their lifecycle and under different operation types. Tools for automating and maintaining specific processes are becoming increasingly accessible for systems needing the highest levels of assurance. These technologies provide a higher level of assurance than formal methods alone and promise cost savings via automation and early diagnosis of problems. Space agencies, such as ESA and NASA, have introduced rigorous software engineering standards—such as ECSS-E-ST-40 and CCSDS 350.7-G-1—to ensure software assurance in complex or safety-critical space projects European Cooperation for Space Standardization (2009), Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (2019). However, this has created a complex landscape in which companies or consortia must follow different standards depending on which space agency they have been contracted. In addition, many international bodies have published secure software engineering standards in information technology and software lifecycle processes. Such global SSE initiatives, although mature, have not been formally tested in the lifecycle security of space applications. Numerous studies indicate that the space industry faces a significant threat to existing systems and software engineering due to the growing prevalence of offshore components and third-party commercial products not specifically made to suit supply chain needs. These commercial off-the-shelf items jeopardise the integrity of the aerospace industry’s technical systems and potentially endanger the lives of its operators and end-users Tranchard (2018). Given that software spans throughout the whole product lifecycle in any space program, existing initiatives must try to unify SSE practices in engineering, quality, and management whilst providing the testbed for validating the practical integration of SSE. However, technical and research challenges are identified as part of these SSE standardisation activities, such as the heterogeneity of the landscape in terms of SSE coverage, mapping of generic software security requirements to bespoke space applications, and accessibility and deployment of associated tools. This paper approaches the problem by identifying SSE best practices and standards from comparable industries. It compares and comments on their applicability to the space sector, justifying any unique requirements that can feed directly into the user requirements in existing efforts, and details any gaps identified. We envision that the outputs from this work will contribute to shaping formal recommendations and updates to relevant space standards by identifying and adapting suitable SSE processes that support automated testing and align with both traditional and security-enhanced Systems Engineering (SE) methods, particularly in high-assurance and cyber-physical domains
Forensic joint photographic experts group (JPEG) watermarking for disk image leak attribution: An adaptive discrete cosine transform–discrete wavelet transform (DCT-DWT) approach
Get PDFThis paper presents a novel forensic watermarking method for digital evidence distribution in non-cloud environments. The approach addresses the critical need for the secure sharing of Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images in forensic investigations. The method utilises an adaptive Discrete Cosine Transform–Discrete Wavelet Transform (DCT-DWT) domain technique to embed a 64-bit watermark in both stand-alone JPEGs and those within forensic disk images. This occurs without alterations to disk structure or complications to the chain of custody. The system implements uniform secure randomisation and recipient-specific watermarks to balance security with forensic workflow efficiency. This work presents the first implementation of forensic watermarking at the disk image level that preserves structural integrity and enables precise leak source attribution. It addresses a critical gap in secure evidence distribution methodologies. The evaluation occurred on extensive datasets: 1124 JPEGs in a forensic disk image, 10,000 each of BOSSBase 256 × 256 and 512 × 512 greyscale images, and 10,000 COCO2017 coloured images. The results demonstrate high imperceptibility with average Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) values ranging from 46.13 dB to 49.37 dB across datasets. The method exhibits robust performance against geometric attacks with perfect watermark recovery (Bit Error Rate (BER) = 0) for rotations up to 90° and scaling factors between 0.6 and 1.5. The approach maintains compatibility with forensic tools like Forensic Toolkit FTK and Autopsy. It performs effectively under attacks including JPEG compression (QF ≥ 60), filtering, and noise addition. The technique achieves high feature match ratios between 0.684 and 0.690 for a threshold of 0.70, with efficient processing times (embedding: 0.0347 s to 0.1187 s; extraction: 0.0077 s to 0.0366 s). This watermarking technique improves forensic investigation processes, particularly those that involve sensitive JPEG files. It supports leak source attribution, preserves evidence integrity, and provides traceability throughout forensic procedures
Direct application of non-thermal plasma technology for the elimination of biofilm from endoscope channels
Get PDFEndoscopy procedures result in contamination of endoscope devices with potentially infectious organisms derived from the patient. Flexible endoscopes are complex, containing channels and ports that are difficult to clean and disinfect, further complicated by the presence of heat sensitive components, preventing use of high temperature sterilisation. Failure to effectively remove contamination from the internal channels and ports has the potential to result in microbial transmission between patients and subsequent outbreaks of infection. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is generated by supplying a neutral gas with a continuous source of energy, resulting in the generation of reactive species, charged particles, electrons and ultraviolet (UV) photons, that have been shown to exhibit an antimicrobial effect. This study investigated the efficacy of a novel low energy NTP treatment system coupled with a prototype endoscope plasma applicator for the removal of viable biofilm contamination from the internal lumen of surrogate endoscope channels in an in vitro endoscope biofilm model. The results demonstrated that NTP can completely eliminate biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from surrogate endoscope channels. Therefore, NTP treatment could provide an alternative decontamination technology for reprocessing endoscope devices, to eradicate biofilm and eliminate the risk of cross infection between patients