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Bridging Context and Culture: Designing Cross-Cultural Solutions for Type 2 Diabetes Care in Nigeria
No full text[no abstract
‘Strategies of Intertextuality and uses of Zilizopendwa in Contemporary Tanzanian Popular Music’
No full textThe purpose of this article is to investigate two uses of Zilipendwa (‘golden oldies’) in newer forms of Tanzanian popular music. The first is Kwanza Unit’s Bongo boom bap hip-hop track ‘Msafiri’ (1999) which digitally samples an earlier song of the same name. The second is a late 2010s pop song titled ‘Zilipendwa’ (2017) by the Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz featuring the WCB Wasafi artists. Comparing songs from different eras will address the two primary aims of this article: First, to designate distinctions between types of borrowing/intertextuality in musical examples (including audio-visual components in music videos), and to show why such distinctions matter. Second, to compare two different uses of Zilipendwa in two different eras (1990s and 2010s) and genres (Bongo boom bap and Tanzanian popular music), and utilized via different means (sampling vs. reperforming) to show the ways in which borrowing from the past contribute to their current meanings. We use sampling and intertextuality as a lens with which to investigate how the ‘conversation’ between new and old musical text(s) lend insight into complex meanings of Tanzanian music and politics
Clinically-aligned Multi-modal Chest X-ray Classification
No full textRadiology is essential to modern healthcare, yet rising demand and staffing shortages continue to pose major challenges. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have the potential to support radiologists and help address these challenges. Given its widespread use and clinical importance, chest X-ray classification is well suited to augment radiologists’ workflows. However, most existing approaches rely solely on single-view, image-level inputs, ignoring the structured clinical information and multi-image studies available at the time of reporting. In this work, we introduce CaMCheX, a multimodal transformer-based framework that aligns multi-view chest X-ray studies with structured clinical data to better reflect how clinicians make diagnostic decisions. Our architecture employs view-specific ConvNeXt encoders for frontal and lateral chest radiographs, whose features are fused with clinical indications, history, and vital signs using a transformer fusion module. This design enables the model to generate context-aware representations that mirror reasoning in clinical practice. Our results exceed the state of the art for both the original MIMIC-CXR dataset and the more recent CXR-LT benchmarks, highlighting the value of clinically grounded multimodal alignment for advancing chest X-ray classification
Loss and Damage Justice
No full textAt their 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to establish multilateral funding arrangements, including a fund, to address losses and damages arising from climate change in developing countries. They operationalized these arrangements and activated the fund at COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2023. We ask what these new funding arrangements should aim to achieve. Developed with qualitative and legal methods, the thesis is that the new funding arrangements should deliver compensation in a manner that is inclusive of particularly vulnerable countries and communities. We make two new, original contributions. First, we construct a conceptual framework for thinking about and guiding action on “loss and damage justice.” Second, to guide the implementation of this framework, we propose a complementary arrangement with two components: a Loss and Damage Fund Expert Body, and dedicated funding for the participation of developing countries in negotiations impacting the L&D Fund
Peer support intervention (ABA-feed) for improving breastfeeding: UK based, multicentre, parallel group: randomised controlled trial
No full textObjectives:To assess the effect of a proactive, assets-based, peer support infant feeding intervention (ABA-feed) in addition to usual care, compared to usual care alone, on breastfeeding rates, formula feeding practices and other secondary outcomes. Design:UK based, multicentre, parallel group, unblinded, individually randomised controlled trial.Setting:The trial was delivered in community settings in 17 UK localities that offered breastfeeding peer support as part of usual care between January 2022 and 30 April 2024.Participants:2475 nulliparous women were recruited between 20 and 35+6 weeks gestation. Interventions:Participants were randomised 1458 to the ABA-feed peer support intervention and 1017 to usual care (1.43:1 to account for potential clustering by peer supporter). Person-centred proactive peer support for infant feeding was underpinned by an assets-based approach and behaviour change theory delivered in person and remotely by text and telephone call. Contacts commenced antenatally, with daily text/phone contact for the two weeks following birth then reduced frequency until 8 weeks postnatal. Support was offered for exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding and formula feeding according to parental wishes.Main outcome measures:The primary outcome was any breastfeeding at 8 weeks post-birth. Secondary outcomes collected at 8-, 16- and 24-weeks post-birth included breastfeeding initiation, any and exclusive breastfeeding, formula feeding practices, anxiety, social support and health care utilisation. Analyses were based on the intention-to-treat principle. Results:There was no difference in rates of any breastfeeding at 8 weeks between the intervention (1013/ 1452; 69.8%) and usual care groups (698/1015; 68.8%); adjusted risk difference 0.01, 95% confidence interval -0.03 to 0.04. Findings for pre-planned subgroup analyses found no interactions between the intervention and age; pre-specified feeding intentions; mother’s education; Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile or relationship status. Breastfeeding initiation rates were high (intervention 94.2%; usual care 92.5%). At 8-weeks the intervention group reported higher social support, not sustained at 16-weeks. No differences were observed in other secondary outcomes. Conclusions:The ABA-feed intensive peer support intervention did not improve breastfeeding rates compared to usual breastfeeding support in a UK context and should not be commissioned. Against a background of many international peer support trials showing improvements in breastfeeding outcomes, countries considering peer support programmes are recommended to establish effectiveness in their local context
Feeling the Pinch:Differentiating Thin Materials with a Soft Vision-based Tactile Sensor
No full textThin materials are often fragile and difficult to perceive and manipulate. Vision-based tactile sensing with soft contact interfaces could help identify thin sheets within grasps and enable delicate manipulation. This work presents a study in biomimetic sensing of thin materials using the TacTip visuo-tactile sensor. The working principle involves pinching a thin material between two TacTips, capturing the deformation of their biomimetic soft skins and determining material properties via a learned model. By pinching a set of 3D printed thin material samples represented by different Shore hardnesses with a range of forces, a Multi-Input Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) can be trained to differentiate the thin materials with a 96% accuracy. The model was validated with real thin materials, showing correlation in terms of elasticity with the trained materials. By analyzing the physical spread of tactile pins in the tactile images, we show how the sensor material affects the perception range of sensed material properties. The proposed method is demonstrated by sorting plastic and paper via a robot arm, showing a pathway to more sophisticated human-like sensing and manipulation of thin materials
Reimagining public governance through the commons:prefigurative legality at play?
No full textThis article contributes to the emerging scholarship on prefigurative legality by prompting critical questions on the boundaries of prefigurative legality itself. The article does so by reviewing two selected experiments for creating urban commons in Italy. Both experiments have engaged creatively with the law, developing two different legal models. However, it is not clear whether such models can be considered examples of prefigurative legality. The uncertainty is due to the fact that the assessment depends on which features we, as analyst, emphasise when discussing prefigurative legality. This brings us to investigate how different features of prefigurative legality might connect with strands of existing socio-legal scholarship, prompting more general reflections on prefigurative legality’s place within the field of socio-legal studies
Enhancing Navigation through Natural Sensory Mappings:A Cross-Modal Approach
No full textIndividuals with visual impairments frequently depend on assistive navigation tools to live independent lives. Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) can provide navigational assistance through advancements in human sensory processing, hardware, and algorithms. In this paper, we incorporate psychological mechanisms into SSD design to facilitate intuitive and measurable cross-modal translation for assisted navigation in unknown spaces. We developed LightWave, a device that translates visual distance into frequency (via touch or sound) using a cross-modal mapping function derived from psychophysical research, which demonstrates a natural correlation between visual distance and frequency across auditory and tactile modalities. Blindfolded participants navigated cluttered environments using either a traditional cane, auditory frequency cues, or tactile frequency cues. Key performance metrics including walking distance, time, and collisions, were measured to compare effectiveness across devices. The results show that both auditory and tactile frequency navigation outperformed the traditional cane, achieving near-100% success rates compared to the cane’s 85%. Participants using the audio and tactile devices covered an average of 13 meters between start and end points, compared to 18.05 meters with the cane, and completed navigation faster, taking 54.8 seconds with audio and 50.95 seconds with tactile, versus 74.09 seconds with the cane. These findings show the potential for improving SSDs by incorporating cross-modal psychological principles, demonstrating in LightWave a novel approach to enhance personal navigation through natural, intuitive feedback mechanisms
