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Est-ce que Vous Compute? Code-Switching, Cultural Identity, and AI
No full textCultural code-switching concerns how we adjust our overall behaviours, manners of speaking, and appearance in response to a perceived change in our social environment. We defend the need to investigate cultural code-switching capacities in artificial intelligence systems. We explore a series of ethical and epistemic issues that arise when bringing cultural code-switching to bear on artificial intelligence. Building upon Dotson’s (2014) analysis of testimonial smothering, we discuss how emerging technologies in AI can give rise to epistemic oppression, and specifically, a form of self-silencing that we call “cultural smothering.” By leaving the sociodynamic features of cultural code-switching unaddressed, AI systems risk negatively impacting already-marginalised social groups by widening opportunity gaps and further entrenching social inequalities
Combination therapy for cancer with IL-27 and anti-PD-1: A simplified mathematical model: Combination therapy for cancer with IL-27 and anti-PD-1
No full textMany experiential and clinical trials in cancer treatment show that a combination of immune checkpoint inhibitor with another agent can improve the tumor reduction. Anti Programmed death 1 (Anti-PD-1) is one of these immune checkpoint inhibitors that re-activate immune cells to inhibit tumor growth. In this work, we consider a combination treatment of anti-PD-1 and Interleukin-27 (IL-27). IL-27 has anti-cancer functions to promote the development of Th1 and CD8 T cells, but it also upregulates the expression of PD-1 and Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) to inactivate these T cells. Thus, the functions of IL-27 in tumor growth is controversial. Hence, we create a simplified mathematical model to investigate whether IL-27 is pro-cancer or anti-cancer in the combination with anti-PD-1 and to what degree anti-PD-1 improves the efficacy of IL-27. Our synergy analysis for the combination treatment of IL-27 and anti-PD-1 shows that (i) ant-PD-1 can efficiently improve the treatment efficacy of IL-27; and (ii) there exists a monotone increasing function depending on the treatment efficacy of anti-PD-1 such that IL-27 is an efficient anti-cancer agent when its dose is smaller than , whereas IL-27 is a pro-cancer agent when its dose is higher than . Our analysis also provides the existence and the local stability of the trivial, non-negative, and positive equilibria of the model. Combining with simulation, we discuss the effect of the IL-27 dosage on the equilibria and find that the T cells and IFN- could vanish and tumor cells preserve, when the production rate of T cells by IL-27 is low or the dosage of IL-27 is low
The Importance of Culture in Alcohol Care : Listening to First Nations staff in Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
No full textIntegration of cultural knowledges and healing practices with Western medical approaches to alcohol care has been reported for residential and community settings. However, there is little evidence on how culture features in alcohol care in primary health settings. We analysed data from semi-structured interviews (from a broader study) with 17 First Nations Australian staff (n=8 men, n=9 women) from 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Services. We used grounded theory and the 8-ways Aboriginal pedagogy in analysis. We describe three key themes: 1) interpersonal processes; 2) a both-ways approach to healing and alcohol care; and 3) service-wide strategies to achieving both-ways healing. We discuss policy implications of facilitating bicultural alcohol care in primary health settings
Hasty Reading and Literary Values: A Pilot Study of University Student Reading Experience in Relation to Critical and Empathetic Engagement
No full textThe Role of Antiziganism in Brexit
No full textIt is axiomatic that, in addition to the material factors underpinning British voter support for leaving the European Union, a crucial component of the Leave campaign has been its focus on migration control. Scholars have demonstrated that this campaign has been fueled by the United Kingdom’s media and political institutions, resulting in significant increases in anti-migrant rhetoric throughout the United Kingdom. This research has tended to neglect analyses of antiziganism, or anti-Roma racism, which has kept hidden the continued demonization of both resident and migrant Roma as well as failed to analyze the use of this demonization to fuel support for the leave campaign. My paper seeks to redress this absence in literature by offering a critical analysis of the anti-migrant policies of the British government, and through critical discourse analysis of the British press and popular media my paper will address the role that the British media played in normalizing antiziganism and how the xenophobic policies in the United Kingdom enabled and enforced antiziganism before and after the vote to leave the European Union. In doing so, it will contribute towards a better understanding of the scope of anti-migrant rhetoric that characterized the leave campaign, and antiziganism in general
Why COVID-19 Disproportionately Affects the Health of Transgender Youth
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, specifically transgender youth. As a disenfranchised community, they suffer in terms of healthcare, abuse, and a loss of connection to others. The dominant explanation for this includes discussions about socioeconomic status and heteronormativity. This paper uses Marxist theories, C. Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination, and critical analysis to show how this should be thought of as a social issue rather than an individual problem. The findings indicate that an increase in education, more representation of transgender youth and their advocates at all levels of decision making, and more social support networks are crucial to the wellbeing of this group
The Mental Health Implications of Social Acceleration on Canadian Youth
No full textThe acceleration of social change and pace of life in both post-secondary and employment settings has contributed to rising mental health concerns for Canadian youth. Previous research primarily placed the responsibility for such concerns on modernization; however, such an analysis does not account for the continual acceleration of youth mental health concerns, suggesting that modernization does not entirely encompass this social phenomenon. Using Hartmut Rosa’s theory of social acceleration, this paper seeks to determine how social policy can be used to mediate the effects of a high-speed society on youth mental health. Contrary to former assumptions, this paper finds that growing youth mental health concerns can be largely attributed to the current high-speed accelerating society rather than modernization
“United States shall so legislate and act as to secure the permanent prosperity and happiness of said Indians”: Policy Implications of the Apache Nation’s 1852 Treaty
No full textAs binding contracts among sovereigns, treaties between Indigenous and Western Nations set parameters for and guide policies that recognize Indigenous Peoples’ rights and that harmonize those rights with non-Indigenous interests. Because treaties engage specific terms, parties, and geographies, detailed analyses of treaty texts and historical contexts are required foundations for understanding Treaty Rights and for proposing policy reforms. The litigious “Save Oak Flat” battle over the Resolution Copper mine proposed for Apache Nation Treaty Territory in present day Arizona prompts close scrutiny of the 1852 Treaty between the United States and the Apache Nation. Because the 1852 Treaty guarantees rights to both parties, it provides mandates and suggests co-management mechanisms to safeguard Apache Nation Treaty Territory and Apache rights to religious practice free from threats of sacred site destruction
An Illusion of Happiness: Overt Contradictions and Theatrical Conventions in “Get Happy”
No full text"Get Happy” is a highly contradictory number; despite its upbeat score and its catchy lyrics that contain the word “happy” eighteen times, the number is about inevitable death and “getting ready for judgment day." This essay contends that there are three essential moments in “Get Happy” where the number intentionally breaks its illusion of happiness. These three moments contradict Richard Dryer's assumption that musicals are "utopian worlds." Despite these contradictions, the number remains a pleasurable viewing experience.