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Queer pedagogies: insights for the international studies classroom from an international perspective
No full textMost pedagogical interventions default to heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions, marginalizing queer and trans perspectives, literatures, and experiences. This chapter considers both the political risk as well as transformative potential of “queer pedagogy.” Central to debates about how to teach lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) topics in the international studies classroom are definitional questions related to what issues are “LGBTQ,” and how to adopt an inclusive pedagogical approach. This chapter explores the politics of queer pedagogy, the queer politics of studying sexuality in the international studies classroom, and how engaging in a queer pedagogy in teaching IR relates to the push for queer inclusion on campuses. Finally, the chapter reflects on the backlash faced by those doing this work in higher education today.<br/
Continuities and discontinuities in thought, infrastructure and organisation in UK ‘electroacoustic’ music since 1975: observations, entanglements and reasons for optimism
No full textChildren born of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict: exploring the boundaries of international criminal law
Get PDFThousands of children have been born as a result of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated in recent conflicts, often discriminated against in their own societies. Despite the fact that these children are born out of crimes international criminal law has been designed to punish and redress, these children have received limited attention in the international criminal arena. This paper addresses this gap by arguing that international criminal law has the symbolic and reparative potential to respond to the plight of these children and that peace agreements should be used to complement any criminal justice response; thus, ensuring that such children are integrated into their post-conflict societies
Book as Bibliotheca: the emergence of the commented edition
No full textSince the pioneering research of Louis Holtz and Margaret Gibson, questions have remained about the evolution and significance of a new design in early medieval manuscripts, variously referred to as the “commented edition” or “integrated glossed page.” In this paper I argue that the arrangement of commentary on a central text in columnar format was a codicological innovation crystallizing in Carolingian centers. For the evolution of the design, I chart longstanding experiments in the integration of text and commentary, demonstrating that Carolingian sponsorship was crucial. I set the new design firmly in the contexts of literacy, libraries, and book and biblical culture.<br/
Vision-audio multimodal object recognition using hybrid and tensor fusion techniques
No full textTraditional fusion methods often encounter challenges related to temporal misalignment and signal variability, resulting in suboptimal performance. This study proposes a novel hybrid fusion model that integrates early and late fusion strategies to capture low-level feature interactions and high-level modality-specific abstractions. Advanced feature extraction techniques are employed to ensure robust multimodal representation: visual features are extracted using Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Local Binary Patterns (LBP), while audio features are processed using Spectral Centroid and Pitch-Synchronous Speech Features. Additionally, the Ridgelet Transform enhances spatial–temporal representation. A preprocessing pipeline further reduces data noise, applying Different Resolution Total Variation (DRTV) for visual noise suppression and Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) for audio feature extraction. Furthermore, we incorporated an xLSTM-based hierarchical multi-scale temporal encoder in the audio branch and implemented an attention-based fusion stream with Feature-wise Linear Modulation (FiLM) for dynamic alignment based on different modalities. Class imbalance is addressed by applying SMOTE in the latent feature space and using class-weighted cross-entropy loss to improve model sensitivity to minority classes. Evaluated on a collected dataset of 22,133 audio-visual samples across 21 object categories, our proposed fusion model achieves an F1 score of 97.89% and a PR AUC of 98.02%. The attention-based fusion variant converged in 14 epochs but required more resources, totaling 19.1M parameters, 9.26G FLOPs, and 14.6 ms of inference latency. In contrast, hybrid fusion with LSTM provided a more efficient option with 12.0M parameters, 4.73G FLOPs, and 9.0 ms latency, making it ideal for low-resource edge applications. These results prove the proposed model’s flexibility in real-time multimodal applications such as autonomous systems, surveillance, and recycling automation
Solubility enhancement of BCS class II drugs via in-situ loading onto MIL-101(Cr) in a green solvent system
No full textThis study explores strategies to enhance the solubility of Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class II drugs: felodipine (FDP), ibuprofen (IBU), and ketoprofen (KP), by incorporating them into MIL-101(Cr) metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Two loading methods are investigated: conventional solvent impregnation and a novel in-situ synthesis method. The in-situ strategy incorporates drug molecules during MOF crystallisation while replacing toxic hydrofluoric acid with acetic acid and aqueous solvents, thereby aligning with green chemistry principles. Comprehensive characterization (FESEM, BET, FTIR, XRD, zeta potential) confirmed successful drug loading but revealed reduced crystallinity and altered morphology post API encapsulation. MIL-101(Cr) exhibited exceptional adsorption capacities (Langmuir values of 904.7 mg/g for IBU, 954.4 mg/g for KP and 416.4 mg/g for FDP), surpassing literature benchmarks. The drug release studies in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) revealed solubility enhancements ranging from 4.1 to 7.3 g/L, enabling the reclassification of all drugs from “poorly soluble” to “soluble”. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidated π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding as key drug–MOF interactions. This work establishes MIL-101(Cr) as a high-performance and environmentally sustainable carrier for enhancing the oral bioavailability of BCS Class II therapeutics.<br/
Solubility enhancement of BCS class II drugs via in-situ loading onto MIL-101(Cr) in a green solvent system
No full textThis study explores strategies to enhance the solubility of Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class II drugs: felodipine (FDP), ibuprofen (IBU), and ketoprofen (KP), by incorporating them into MIL-101(Cr) metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Two loading methods are investigated: conventional solvent impregnation and a novel in-situ synthesis method. The in-situ strategy incorporates drug molecules during MOF crystallisation while replacing toxic hydrofluoric acid with acetic acid and aqueous solvents, thereby aligning with green chemistry principles. Comprehensive characterization (FESEM, BET, FTIR, XRD, zeta potential) confirmed successful drug loading but revealed reduced crystallinity and altered morphology post API encapsulation. MIL-101(Cr) exhibited exceptional adsorption capacities (Langmuir values of 904.7 mg/g for IBU, 954.4 mg/g for KP and 416.4 mg/g for FDP), surpassing literature benchmarks. The drug release studies in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) revealed solubility enhancements ranging from 4.1 to 7.3 g/L, enabling the reclassification of all drugs from “poorly soluble” to “soluble”. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidated π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding as key drug–MOF interactions. This work establishes MIL-101(Cr) as a high-performance and environmentally sustainable carrier for enhancing the oral bioavailability of BCS Class II therapeutics.<br/
EUthyroid2: The next step towards the elimination of iodine deficiency and preventable iodine-related disorders in Europe and beyond
No full textEuropean iodine fortification programmes are heterogeneous and in some countries ineffective. A key problem with iodine nutrition is the low awareness of iodine deficiency-related risks common in the general population and among women of reproductive age. The major objective of EUthyroid2 is to improve the low awareness of IDD risks in adolescents and young women. The aim is to identify best practice models for accessing and disseminating information to increase awareness and improve iodine status, thereby establishing a foundation for young women to improve their own thyroid function, their general health and that of their offspring. To achieve this, EUthyroid2 will build on existing infrastructures and expertise established by the consortium during the initial EUthyroid project. All interventions tested will be tailored to specific regions and populations. EUthyroid2, by identifying the most effective intervention tools, will establish a solid foundation for paving the way for future national awareness campaigns.</p