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“A bridge too far?”: trade mark protection for cannabis-related products and services in the European Union
No full textThis chapter introduces the legal questions surrounding trade marks for cannabis-related brands within the law of the European Union (EU). It reviews the Union's current system of obtaining and enforcing trade marks in the context of cannabis-related products and services. Thus, it will consider the particular issues that may occur when seeking registration of such trade marks, such as the criterion of distinctiveness. A particular focus will be on explaining the exclusion from trade mark protection within the EU of such marks which are “contrary to public policy or accepted principles of morality”. This, of course, is a very contentious issue within many EU Member States that still ban recreational or even medical uses of cannabis products. The relevant case law on this matter will be discussed
Coordinated LLM Multi-Agent Systems for Collaborative Question-Answer Generation
No full textLarge Language Models (LLMs) excel at generating coherent and humanlike questions and answers (QAs) across various topics, which can be utilized in various applications. However, their performance may be limited in domain-specific knowledge outside their training data, potentially resulting in low context recall or factual inconsistencies. This is particularly true in highly technical or specialized domains that require deep comprehension and reasoning beyond surface-level content. To address this, we propose Collective Intentional Reading through Reflection and Refinement (CIR3), a novel multi-agent framework that leverages collective intelligence for high-quality Question-Answer Generation (QAG) from domain-specific documents. CIR3 employs a transactive reasoning mechanism to facilitate efficient communication and information flow among agents. This enables an in-depth document analysis and the generation of comprehensive and faithful QAs. Additionally, multi-perspective assessment ensures that QAs are evaluated from various viewpoints, enhancing their quality and relevance. A balanced collective convergence process is employed to ensure that the agents reach a consensus on the generated QAs, preventing inconsistencies and improving overall coherence. Our experiments indicate a substantial level of alignment between the CIR3-generated QAs and corresponding documents, while improving comprehensiveness by 21% and faithfulness by 17% compared to strong baseline approaches. Code and data are available at https://github.com/anonym-nlp-ai/cirrr
Coercive Control and Intimate Partner Violence: Relationship With Personality Disorder Severity and Pathological Narcissism
No full textIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health concern, with increasing efforts focused on detection and prevention. Coercive control has been identified as a ‘golden thread’ linking risk profiles and violence perpetration. Narcissistic pathology is often implicated in control and violence, but research linking narcissism with aggression and abuse has been inconsistent. Most research on narcissism focuses on symptomatology, whereas contemporary diagnostic frameworks emphasise a dimensional approach to personality disorder ‘severity’. No study has examined the association between pathological narcissism, violence and coercive control while accounting for overall personality pathology. Individuals in relationships with relatives high in narcissism (N = 135; 71% romantic partners, 22% family members; average relationship length = 20 years) completed informant measures of pathological narcissism and personality disorder severity, as well as self‐report measures of abuse and coercive control. Relatives were rated highly in both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism features, as well as displaying prominent impairments in personality functioning. Correlation analysis indicated dimensional personality disorder severity was significantly and moderately associated with both abuse and coercive control. Pathological narcissism was significantly associated with coercive control but not abuse. Specific narcissism subfactors (exploitativeness, grandiose fantasy and entitlement rage) showed positive, weak associations with either coercive control or abuse. Within the context of high narcissistic symptomatology, personality disorder severity may be a risk factor for coercive control and IPV. Clinical implications suggest the relevance of incorporating a focus on personality in psychological interventions targeted at reducing IPV and coercive control
Deflection Predictions of Tapered Cellular Steel Beams using Analytical Models and ANN
Get PDFCellular steel beams are primarily used to accommodate electrical and mechanical services within their structural depth, helping to reduce the floor-to-ceiling height in buildings. These beams are often tapered for various reasons, such as connecting members (e.g., beams) of different depths, adjusting stiffness in specific areas, or enhancing architectural design. This paper presents an algorithm developed using MATLAB R2019a and an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the deflection of tapered cellular steel beams. The approach considers the web I-section variation parameter (α), along with shear and bending effects that contribute to additional deflections. It also accounts for the influence of the stiffness of the upper and lower T-sections at the centreline of the web opening. To validate the model, a total of 1415 finite element models were analysed. The deflections predicted by the analytical and ANN models were compared with finite element results, showing good agreement
The origin of financial instability and systemic risk: Do Bank Business Models Matter?
Get PDFUsing a large sample of European listed banks, we investigate the relationship between a bank’s business model and systemic risk between 2005 and 2020, a period which includes various episodes of instability. Our findings indicate that, during tranquil periods, banks with different business models exhibit similar sensitivity to systemic risk. However, during periods of instability, the type of business model becomes critical: investment banks contribute more to and are more exposed to systemic risk. Distinguishing between endogenous and exogenous crises, our results reveal that market-oriented banks contribute more to systemic risk when instability is endogenous to the financial sector. Conversely, focused retail banks consistently show lower contributions and exposures to systemic risk. Additionally, our findings highlight the importance of business model migrations in reducing systemic risk. Banks transitioning from diversified to more retail-oriented models reduce their systemic risk, whereas migrations in the opposite direction do not exhibit the same benefit. These findings underscore the importance of maintaining diverse business models in the banking sector to enhance financial stability
School‐based yoga and mindfulness interventions for young adolescents: A qualitative study in a disadvantaged area
Get PDFObjectives
With raising rates of mental health problems, mind–body interventions are increasingly being integrated in schools to support children and adolescents' mental health and well‐being. The aim of this study was to explore young adolescents' experiences of yoga and mindfulness and the acceptability of delivery within the school curriculum in an area of high deprivation.
Design
Qualitative group interviews with young adolescents embedded within a larger feasibility study exploring the universal (class‐wide) delivery of yoga and mindfulness interventions.
Methods
After participation in separate 10‐week yoga or mindfulness interventions, 45 adolescents (12–13 years old; 66.7% male) took part in semi‐structured group interviews exploring perceptions, acceptability, and experiences of each intervention. Data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results
Two overarching themes were identified, evident across both mindfulness and yoga groups. “Facilitators and barriers to engagement” outlined key factors impacting acceptability, including prior perceptions. Teacher qualities of non‐reactivity and respect, an invitational approach to teaching, and interactive sessions were highly valued. Secondly, participants described a range of “psychosocial impacts”, including increased emotional regulation, positive mindset and self‐confidence, and greater focus and concentration. Physical benefits were also reported in the yoga group.
Conclusion
This is the first study to explore the acceptability and impact of universal yoga and mindfulness interventions with an ethnically diverse sample of disadvantaged young adolescents in the United Kingdom. The findings suggest mind–body interventions can help children and adolescents develop skills to better manage challenges in their everyday lives, but they require further integration into the curriculum for optimal benefit
Re-conceptualizing implementation outcomes of health innovations as modes or attributes: an integrated framework
Get PDFThe implementation of innovations in practice is challenging and often produces disappointing outcomes. Although the reasons for this are multifaceted, part of the challenge derives from the lack of consensus on how such implementation outcomes should be conceptualized and measured. In this review, we used a meta-ethnographic approach to enhance our theoretical conceptualization of implementation outcomes. By situating such outcomes within the overall process of implementation, we were able to unpack them analytically as the product of two major components, which we term “modes” and “attributes,” respectively. Modes comprise engagement, active implementation, and integration to foreground focal implementation outcomes. The attributes associated with the modes comprise implementation depth, implementation breadth, implementation pace, implementation adaptation, and de-implementation to indicate the features of the modes of implementation outcomes. Taken together, our analysis based on modes and attributes provides an integrated framework of implementation outcomes. The proposed framework enhances our understanding of the way in which implementation outcomes have been conceptualized in previous literature, enabling us to clarify the relations and distinctions between them in terms of translatability and complementarity. The proposed framework thus extends the conceptualization of implementation outcomes to better align with the complex reality of implementation practice, offering useful insights to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers
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