13027 research outputs found
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Researching attitude–identity dynamics to understand social conflict and change
No full textSocieties undergo constant change, manifested in various ways such as technological developments, economic transitions, reorganization of cultural values and beliefs, or changes in social structures. Individuals play an active role in shaping social and societal change by interactively negotiating its manifestation. However, this shaping of change is seldom harmonious; instead, it is often characterized by dissent and conflict. This special section gathers a collection of articles concerned with the role of attitude–identity dynamics in contexts of contemporary conflict and change. The corpus of research that builds this special section describes mutual impacts of attitudes and identities, explores different actors in social debates and covers a wide range of both established and innovative research methodology. This introduction summarizes and synthesizes the various contributions and offers insights into future research directions</p
Laparoscopic versus open appendicectomy performed by adult general surgeons in pre-teenage years children: a single-centre experience
No full textIntroduction The utilisation of laparoscopic appendicectomy (LA) in children remains contentious despite the well-recognised advantages of laparoscopic surgery. The purpose of this study was to compare intraoperative and postoperative outcomes in LA and open appendicectomy (OA) when performed by adult general surgeons outside specialist paediatric practice in younger children. Methods A retrospective review of all patients under the age of 13 who underwent LA for suspected appendicitis over a two-year period was conducted. These were case-matched with an equivalent number of patients who underwent OA during the same period. Intraoperative and postoperative outcomes were compared.Results Fifty-one patients underwent LA during the study period. Patient demographics were statistically equivalent with the OA cohort. A statistically significant longer median operating time (58 vs 49min) was noted in the LA group, but intraoperative outcomes were otherwise comparable. LA, when compared with OA, was associated with a significant improvement in postoperative length of stay (2 vs 3 days, p Conclusion LA can be safely delivered by adult general surgeons to younger paediatric populations outside the setting of paediatric specialist practice, with statistically significant improvements in postoperative outcomes noted when compared with OA. These findings are of importance in the current healthcare context where adult general surgeons continue to perform the majority of paediatric appendicectomies.</p
Insights into breast health issues in women's rugby
No full textWorld RugbyTM supports dedicated women's welfare, injury surveillance and medical/technical interventions, yet breast health has received limited attention. This article aims to provide insights into breast health issues in rugby, including breast impacts and injuries. We discuss how breast anatomy and position may be problematic in rugby. Breast volume relates to body size, which may be increasing in women's rugby, suggesting increased breast surface area and mass, potentially increasing injury risk. Breast health issues in rugby have been reported previously, with 58% of contact footballers (including rugby) experiencing breast injuries. There are damaging effects related to these breast health issues, with breast impacts often causing pain and swelling. Breast impacts may lead to haematomas, cysts and fat necrosis which can calcify over time making them difficult to distinguish from breast carcinoma, causing further investigation and anxiety. In sport, poor bra fit and insufficient support are associated with pain, skin strain and performance decrements. This article reports the potential implications of these breast health issues on performance in rugby. Recent breast‐related projects supported by rugby communities may address recommendations identified in the literature for robust breast injury classifications, updated injury surveillance systems and prospective data collection on breast injury prevalence, severity and impact in rugby. These data should inform breast injury care pathways and intervention research, including evidence‐based bra design. Understanding the implications of breast impacts on tissue properties, health and wellbeing is vital. Finally, data should inform rugby‐ specific breast education, raising awareness of this aspect of athlete health. Highlights � This article presents published data suggesting breast impacts and injuries are likely to be prevalent in all codes of women's rugby. Player's body mass may be increasing, which is associated with increased breast volume, surface area and mass, which could have an effect on breast injury prevalence in rugby.</p
Breaking down the digital fortress: The unseen challenges in healthcare technology—lessons learned from 10 years of research
No full textHealthcare is undergoing a fundamental shift in which digital health tools are becoming ubiquitous, with the promise of improved outcomes, reduced costs, and greater efficiency. Healthcare professionals, patients, and the wider public are faced with a paradox of choice regarding technologies across multiple domains. Research is continuing to look for methods and tools to further revolutionise all aspects of health from prediction, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. However, despite its promise, the reality of implementing digital health tools in practice, and the scalability of innovations, remains stunted. Digital health is approaching a crossroads where we need to shift our focus away from simply looking at developing new innovations to seriously considering how we overcome the barriers that currently limit its impact. This paper summarises over 10 years of digital health experiences from a group of researchers with backgrounds in physical therapy—in order to highlight and discuss some of these key lessons—in the areas of validity, patient and public involvement, privacy, reimbursement, and interoperability. Practical learnings from this collective experience across patient cohorts are leveraged to propose a list of recommendations to enable researchers to bridge the gap between the development and implementation of digital health tools.</p
Systematic evaluation of deep learning models for log-based failure prediction
No full textWith the increasing complexity and scope of software systems, their dependability is crucial. The analysis of log data recorded during system execution can enable engineers to automatically predict failures at run time. Several Machine Learning (ML) techniques, including traditional ML and Deep Learning (DL), have been proposed to automate such tasks. However, current empirical studies are limited in terms of covering all main DL types—Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and transformer—as well as examining them on a wide range of diverse datasets. In this paper, we aim to address these issues by systematically investigating the combination of log data embedding strategies and DL types for failure prediction. To that end, we propose a modular architecture to accommodate various configurations of embedding strategies and DL-based encoders. To further investigate how dataset characteristics such as dataset size and failure percentage affect model accuracy, we synthesised 360 datasets, with varying characteristics, for three distinct system behavioural models, based on a systematic and automated generation approach. Using the F1 score metric, our results show that the best overall performing configuration is a CNN-based encoder with Logkey2vec. Additionally, we provide specific dataset conditions, namely a dataset size > 350 or a failure percentage > 7.5%, under which this configuration demonstrates high accuracy for failure prediction.</p
Investigating the use of actor-network theory in healthcare: a protocol for a systematic review
No full textHealthcare systems are confronted with constant challenges and new crisis waves necessitating a transformation of current approaches to healthcare delivery. Transformation calls for integration, partnerships, interprofessional teamwork and collaboration between all healthcare stakeholders to create improved access and more personalised healthcare outcomes for patients. However, healthcare organisations are complex systems, comprising multiple stakeholders, and the existence of professional silos and functions which have varying degrees of interaction hampering the delivery of effective integrated healthcare. Research investigating the underpinning operations of how the various healthcare stakeholders integrate is lacking. To address this gap, the use of actor-network theory (ANT) can provide insight into underlying dynamics, interactions, interdependencies, governance processes and power dynamics of stakeholders in healthcare. ANT represents a suitable theoretical lens as it helps to appreciate the dynamics and underpinning behaviours of complex organisations and explains how networks are developed and how actors join networks and form associations. Our systematic review will identify and evaluate available evidence to understand the interplay between stakeholders and all associated entities that impact collaboration and integration in healthcare delivery. Methods and analysis Using the Population-Intervention?Comparison-Outcome framework, the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, SCOPUS, PubMed, APA PsycINFO, Business Source Complete and Academic Search Complete will be searched using Boolean terms to identify peer-reviewed literature concerning ANT in healthcare. All relevant articles published between January 2013 and September 2023 will be eligible for inclusion. A thematic approach will be employed to appraise and analyse the extracted data to assess the various definitions of ANT and the use of ANT in healthcare settings, interactions and collaboration. Ethics and dissemination Given that no primary data will be captured, ethical approval will not be required for this study. Findings will be shared and ultimately published through open access peer-reviewed journals and reports</p
Infrastructural justice for responsible software engineering,✰
No full textIn recent years, we have seen many examples of software products unintentionally causing demonstrable harm. Many guidelines for ethical and responsible computing have been developed in response. Dominant approaches typically attribute liability and blame to individual companies or actors, rather than understanding how the working practices, norms, and cultural understandings in the software industry contribute to such outcomes. In this paper, we propose an understanding of responsibility that is infrastructural, relational, and cultural; thus, providing a foundation to better enable responsible software engineering into the future. Our approach draws on Young’s (2006) social connection model of responsibility and Star and Ruhleder’s (1994) concept of infra-structure. By bringing these theories together we introduce a concept called infrastructural injustice, which offers a new way for software engineers to consider their opportunities for responsible action with respect to society and the planet. We illustrate the utility of this approach by applying it to an Open-Source software communities’ development of Deepfake technology, to find key leverage points of responsibility that are relevant to both Deepfake technology and software engineering more broadly.</p
Credibility, readability and content analysis of treatment recommendations for adolescents with nonspecific back pain published on consumer websites
No full textBackground: Parents may seek out health information online when their adolescent has nonspecific back pain to better understand treatment options. Such information directed towards consumers has not been previously analysed. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional content analysis was performed to describe the treatments recommended on consumer websites for nonspecific back pain in adolescents. The credibility and readability of the websites were also assessed.</p
Enhanced centroid-based energy-efficient clustering routing protocol for serverless based wireless sensor networks
No full textServerless computing is a new concept as cloud computing, which dynamically manages the networks and is applied in Serverless Wireless Sensor Networks (SWSN) to help the networks. These networks are becoming famous for monitoring various physical and environmental factors. Serverless computing also facilitates the networks by offering an extensive range of applications. Different applications have been designed for monitoring purposes where the sensor nodes sense the data and transmit it to the base station through single or multi-hop routing. However, existing routing protocols cannot manage the sensor nodes’ energy issues because of the complex routing processes and depleted their power before their time. Because of these limitations, the nodes close to BS continuously rely on the network for data forwarding. As a result, these nodes cause energy consumption and lead to a useless state. This paper proposes a serverless architecture and designs an Enhanced Centroid-based Energy Efficient Clustering (ECEEC) protocol for SWSN networks. The proposed serverless architecture provides automated scalability, cost-effective services, and stateless execution. In addition, the proposed protocol offers the cluster head selection and its rotation to maximize the energy efficiency in the network. Furthermore, gateway nodes are chosen in every cluster to overcome the load on the cluster head. Simulation results indicated the excellent performance of the proposed protocol as compared to the existing routing protocols concerning network lifetime and energy consumption. The proposed protocol shows better reliability with nodes failing at 650 rounds compared to 600 rounds, especially with 5 % and 10 % Cluster Heads. The proposed protocol exhibits superior energy efficiency consumption of SNs under varying CH percentages, indicating the protocol’s consistent performance across different scenarios.</p
FÉILE DÁNNERSTAG Tuairisc Dheiridh Tréimhse Gaeilge.pdf / DÁNNERSTAG PROJECT END OF FESTIVAL REPORT
No full textFunded by Foras na Gaeilge, and directed by Professor Gisela Holfter and Dr. Sorcha de Brún, "Féile Dánnerstag" is a new and innovative poetry project by the Centre for Irish-German Studies and introduces German language poetry and its Irish language translations to a local, national, and international audience.Following in a long tradition of cultural and linguistic exchange between the German and Irish languages, poems in German and their Irish language translations were showcased on the first Thursday of every month on the Centre for Irish-German Studies website and were distributed on the social media of other institutions.The translations were undertaken by a range of scholars and translators. New and contemporary poems by a selection of prize-winning and wonderful German, Austrian and Swiss poets were presented in a multi-media format. Féile Dánnerstag/ the Dánnerstag Festival Project gratefully acknowledge the support of the German, Austrian and Swiss Embassies and the DAAD for this project.</p