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Making the News: The Wapping Dispute
No full textThe Wapping Dispute was a year-long industrial battle between Rupert Murdoch’s News International and London’s powerful print unions. It’s an influential and well-documented strike which proved the effectiveness of Margret Thatcher’s government’s sweeping new employment laws, which severely restricted union powers. The dispute remains a pivotal moment in British industrial relations and is often approached from a legal or political framework. Very little attention has been given to the strike literature produced during the year long dispute, namely The Wapping Post and Picket. These publications represent some of the last major literary efforts of printworkers in dispute, and emerge from a long and rich heritage of workers’ strike literature. Using interviews with printworkers and union staff, this chapter examines the role these papers played in the wider dispute
Compositional Understanding in Signaling Games
No full textReceivers in standard signaling game models struggle with learning compositional information. Even when the signalers send compositional messages, the receivers do not interpret them compositionally. When information from one message component is lost or forgotten, the information from other components is also erased. In this paper I construct signaling game models in which genuine compositional understanding evolves. I present two new models: a minimalist receiver who only learns from the atomic messages of a signal, and a generalist receiver who learns from all of the available information. These models are in many ways simpler than previous alternatives, and allow the receivers to learn from the atomic components of messages
Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy
No full textIt is indisputable that Marx began his intellectual trajectory as a philosopher, but it is often thought that he subsequently turned away from philosophy. In this book, Christoph Schuringa proposes a radically different reading of Marx's intellectual project and demonstrates that from his earliest writings his aim was the 'actualization' of philosophy. Marx, he argues, should be understood not as turning away from philosophy, but as seeking to make philosophy a practical force in the world. By analysing a series of texts from across Marx's output, Schuringa shows that Marx progressively overcame what he called 'self-sufficient philosophy', not in order to leave philosophy behind but to bring it into its own. This involves a major reinterpretation of Marx's relationship to his ancestors Aristotle, Kant and Hegel, and shows that philosophy, as it actualizes itself, far from being merely a body of philosophical doctrine, figures as an instrument of the revolution
Subjectivity Without Sex? The Materialist Trans Feminist Potential in Monique Wittig’s Non-Fiction
Full text linkIn proposing that the categories of sex must be transcended, Monique Wittig’s non-fiction is ripe with trans feminist potential. Yet her arguments are beset by a paradox. On the one hand, ‘male’ and ‘female’ are presented as purely relational categories with no fixed content. On the other, the category of ‘man’ is essentialized as possessing a uniquely oppressive consciousness which no ‘woman’ can achieve. After exploring Wittig’s insurrectory ‘lesbian’ as a category of subjectivity without sex, this article highlights the implicit racism and transition phobia animating Wittig’s representation of sex difference and raises broader concerns about radical feminist projects of gender abolition
Variational Quantum Eigensolver Approach to Prime Factorization on IBM’s Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum Computer
Full text linkThis paper presents a hybrid quantum-classical approach to prime factorization. The proposed algorithm is based on the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE), which employs a classical optimizer to find the ground state of a given Hamiltonian. A numerical study is presented, evaluating the performance of the proposed method across various instances on both IBM’s real quantum computer and its classical simulator. The results demonstrate that the method is capable of successfully factorizing numbers up to 253 on a real quantum computer and up to 1048561 on a classical simulator. These findings show the potential of the approach for practical applications on near-term quantum computers
An assessment of evidence to inform best practice for the communication of acute venous thromboembolism diagnosis: a scoping review
Full text linkBackground
Physician communication with patients is a key aspect of excellent care. Scant evidence exists to inform best practice for physician communication in patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis, collectively referred to as venous thromboembolism (VTE). The aim of this study was to summarize the existing literature on best practices for communication between healthcare providers and patients newly diagnosed with VTE.
Methods
We performed a scoping review to report existing literature on best practice for physician-patient communication and the diagnosis and management of acute VTE. Manuscripts on communication between healthcare professionals and patients presenting with acute VTE, and acute vascular disease presentations that included atrial fibrillation and ACS were identified. Two authors independently reviewed studies for eligibility, and consensus determined article inclusion. The manuscripts were further categorized into two categories: best practice in communication and unmet needs in communication. Data aggregation was achieved by a modified thematic synthesis.
Results
Among 345 initial publications, 22 manuscripts met inclusion criteria with 11 that addressed VTE, five pulmonary embolism, four deep vein thrombosis, one atrial fibrillation, and one acute coronary syndrome. Eleven manuscripts addressed communication of VTE diagnosis, while 12 focused on communication of VTE treatment. Eleven manuscripts identified unmet communication needs, and 14 addressed best practice. Our review showed that good communication enhanced satisfaction while suboptimal communication was associated with emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and health-systems adverse effects.
Conclusion
Scant literature guides best practices for communicating VTE diagnosis and treatment. Further research is necessary to establish practices for improving communication with VTE patients
Contrast subgraphs catch patterns of altered functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder
Full text linkDespite the breakthrough achievements in understanding structural and functional alterations of brain connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the exact nature and type of such alterations are not yet clear due to conflicting reports of hyper-connectivity, hypo-connectivity, and—in some cases—combinations of both. In this work, we bring order to the debate using a network comparison technique to capture mesoscopic-scale differential patterns of functional connectedness. In particular, we leverage recent algorithmic advances in extracting contrast subgraphs to identify maximally different mesoscopic connectivity structures between two sets of networks from typically developed individuals and ASD subjects across different developmental stages. A significantly larger connectivity among occipital cortex regions and between the left precuneus and the superior parietal gyrus was found in ASD subjects. At the same time, reduced connectivity characterized the superior frontal gyrus and the temporal lobe regions. More importantly, our results reconcile within a single framework multiple previous separate observations about functional connectivity alterations in ASD
Attitudes towards Islamic Inheritance: Religious or Patriarchal Preferences?
Full text linkThe Islamic inheritance law puts women at a distributive disadvantage leading to gender inequality in wealth accumulation. Religiosity and patriarchy are often blamed for the persistence of gender inequality in Muslim-majority countries. Employing an online vignette experiment, we examine whether religious and pro-male preferences reinforce gender inequality in inheritance in Egypt. We find that religious individuals prefer to abide by the inheritance law and its distributive inequality. We also find that individuals with pro-male cultural beliefs prefer to avoid the inheritance law only selectively to protect the male distributive advantage. Put together, we find that both religiosity and pro-male cultural beliefs are impediments to achieving gender equality in inheritance in Egypt
State, society, and market: Interpreting the norms and dynamics of China's AI governance
Full text linkThis study challenges the prevailing perception of China's AI governance as a monolithic, state-driven model and instead presents a nuanced analysis of its complex governance landscape. Utilizing governance theories, we develop an analytical framework examining key governing nodes, tools, actors, and norms. Through case studies on minor protection and content regulation, this study demonstrates that Chinese AI governance involves a diverse array of stakeholders—including the state, private sector, and society—who co-produce norms and regulatory mechanisms. Contrary to conventional narratives, China's governance approach adapts existing regulatory tools to meet new challenges, balancing political, social, and economic interests. This study highlights how China has rapidly formalized AI regulations, in areas such as minor protection and content regulation, setting a precedent in global AI governance. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of AI regulation beyond ideological binaries and offer insights relevant to international AI policy discussions