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Upholding humanity: the role of redress in preventing and responding to civilian harm
No full textInternational humanitarian law (IHL) has been under immense pressure in the past few years. Despite IHL being created to mitigate suffering in armed conflicts, in recent years it has been leveraged by some as a means of justifying violence against civilians under the guise of proportionate incidental loss. With IHL lacking organic international accountability mechanisms, some States have “gamed” the rules of this body of law, resulting in military operations causing the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians that are defended as legally justifiable. Such arguments are a far cry from the original founding impetus of IHL, based on Dunant’s idea of humanity as “a kind of energy which gives one a positive craving to relieve as many as one can”. In this article, we argue that to re-emphasize humanity, it might be necessary to focus on other means of accounting for civilian harm, whether it is lawful or unlawful. Traditionally, criminal prosecutions have punished grave breaches of IHL or war crimes, neglecting the place of redress. Other bodies of international law, such as international human rights law, have expanded litigation possibilities for individual civilian harm in armed conflict at both the domestic and international level. Many of these cases have helped shape the key components of human rights law and have provided a strong incentive for States to ensure rights, protect victims and prevent future violations. Yet lawful civilian harm, where States find that incidental civilian loss is not excessive in relation to the military advantage gained, may provide no legal avenue to a claim of a violation of IHL or human rights law.If IHL is considered from a civil (delict/tort) litigation and operational perspective, it can better recognize the agency of civilians and can be an avenue to respond to their harm and mitigate its repetition in military operations. It can also bolster the precautionary principle of militaries taking “constant care” to spare the civilian population from the ravages of armed conflict. This can be seen in the US and Dutch militaries adopting civilian harm mitigation and response (CHMR) action plans that go beyond IHL compliance and see civilian harm as also a moral and strategic concern. The increasing use of both civil litigation and operational CHMR is, we argue, representative of an increasing trend to uphold humanity in line with the spirit and purpose of IHL. We outline how this can be embedded in the operationalization of the principle of precaution and the duty of constant care as an obligation of due diligence to redress civilian harm, whether lawful or unlawful, as a basic tenet of humanity in war.<br/
Artificial outdoor light at night and depression in older adults in the USA, England, Northern Ireland, and Ireland
No full textBackgroundArtificial Light at night (ALAN) is a potential environmental stressor for depression, but epidemiological evidence is limited. Cross-national surveys of aging were leveraged to examine LAN and depression.MethodsWe used longitudinal aging surveys from the US (HRS; n = 20,868), England (ELSA; n = 9848), Ireland (TILDA; n = 6407), and Northern Ireland (NICOLA; n = 2725). Depression was ascertained using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and dichotomized based on study-specific cutoffs. Annual mean outdoor ALAN exposure was estimated using satellite-derived nighttime light data (∼500 m resolution), then categorized using harmonized quartiles, based on cross-country population values (≤2.79, 2.79-11.69, 11.69-23.93 and >23.93 nW/cm2/s). Poisson regression models estimated the prevalence ratios (PRs) of depression, adjusting for individual- and area-level factors.ResultsThe prevalence of depression was highest in ELSA and HRS (24%), followed by NICOLA (14%) and lowest in TILDA (8%). The mean (SD) ALAN levels were 18.9 (9.0) nW/cm2/s in HRS, 13.4 (12.7) in ELSA, 10.4 (13.4) in TILDA, and 11.6 (10.3) in NICOLA. In fully-adjusted models, the highest ALAN quartile was associated with higher PRs of depression (reference: lowest quartile), in all surveys, with PRs (95% Confidence interval) of 1.40 (1.20–1.63) in HRS, 1.16 (0.98–1.38) in ELSA, 1.51 (1.08–2.10) in TILDA, and 1.79 (1.13–2.84) in NICOLA. The directions of the association were robust to adjustment for NO2, though attenuated.ConclusionsFindings from multiple countries suggest that outdoor ALAN exposure is associated with depression in older adults and highlight the value of international longitudinal aging cohorts for investigating the impact of environmental exposures on health
Mission and money: a scoping review of social enterprise business models as a solution to sustaining health-promoting food and nutrition-based initiatives
No full textBackgroundMost food and nutrition-based interventions are abandoned within two years of implementation due to a lack of secure long-term funding and political volatilities. Social enterprise structures are a potential solution to this problem due to their ability to generate profit and impact social outcomes. Therefore, this scoping review sought to explore what social enterprise models exist that address food and nutrition-based outcomes, and the factors that contribute to their long-term financial and operational sustainability.MethodsScoping review methodology was utilised, with cross-checking currency of the social enterprise via Google (July, 2024). Eight search engines were explored, generating 2502 publications. Twenty-eight (20 case studies, 1 cross-sectional study, 6 evaluations and 1 quasi-experimental) studies were entered into a narrative synthesis.ResultsEight different operational models from 13 countries were identified: social cooperative; employment; targeted customer service; beneficiary service; market intermediary; social partnership; trading business; and social business. The most utilised model was the targeted customer service. The average duration of the enterprises was 16.5 years, showcasing that sustainable models that continue to deliver on social impact can have longevity.ConclusionsSocial enterprises that adopt a business model from the outset are capable of generating income, whilst offering solutions to delivering on and sustaining food or nutrition-based outcomes within communities. There are several business models, though different, that have proven to have longevity. These models enable profit and social purpose to co-exist, benefiting the communities they serve.<br/
A low-power and reliable RRAM-based configurable RO PUF with aging resilience
No full textEmerging nano-device resistive random access memories (RRAMs) have become a promising primitive for PUF designs due to their non-volatility, high density, and low power, breaking through the physical limitations. A ring oscillator based physical unclonable function (RO PUF) is one of the most widely studied PUF designs due to its resilience against noise impacts and flexibility of implementation, but its reliability is susceptible to environmental variation and device aging. Present solutions to improve RO PUF reliability either require complicated RO selection algorithms or require discarding a large number of unstable challenge-response pairs (CRPs). This paper presents a highly reliable RRAM-based configurable RO PUF (RCRO-PUF). The proposed RCRO-PUF utilizes the intrinsic variations of RRAMs as the randomness source and applies the resistance variations of RRAMs to the frequency difference of current-starved (CS) ROs. By operating CS inverters in the subthreshold region, the RCRO-PUF achieves low power as well as high reliability. In addition, a reliability enhancement scheme is proposed to elimijavascript:void(0);nate the effects of environmental variations and device aging. Based on Monte Carlo simulations of a 65 nm CMOS process, the proposed RCRO-PUF consumes only 16.18% of the hardware overhead for a regular RO PUF and has only 7.43 μW per CRP generation. The reliability of the RCRO-PUF is 99.51% over a broad range of temperatures from −50∘C to 150∘C and ±20% supply voltage variations. It is also 4.7× more resilient to aging than state-of-the-art aging-resilient RO PUF
Real-world treatment patterns and visual outcomes of faricimab in patients with diabetic macular oedema in the UK at 12 months: the FARWIDE-DMO study
No full textBackgroundThe Faricimab Real-World Evidence (FARWIDE) studies are evaluating real-world outcomes of eyes with diabetic macular oedema (DMO)/neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with faricimab in the UK. We present results from FARWIDE-DMO for eyes with 12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation.MethodsFARWIDE-DMO includes patients with diagnosis of DMO who received ≥1 intravitreal faricimab injection after May 2022 in the diagnosed eye(s) at 1 of 35 UK National Health Service sites. All eyes had ≥12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation as of July 2024. Treatment-naïve (TN) eyes had no prior anti-VEGF therapy or steroid implant. Previously treated (PT) eyes switched to faricimab. Baseline characteristics, visual acuity (VA) outcomes and treatment patterns were evaluated. Intraocular inflammation (IOI) and presumed infectious endophthalmitis (PIE) incidences were pooled for all nAMD/DMO eyes with any follow-up duration. Analyses are descriptive.Results2147 eyes (1564 patients) were included (TN, 32.1%; PT, 67.9%). For TN eyes, mean (standard deviation [SD]) VA at baseline and 12 months were 63.9 (15.2) and 68.4 (16.3) Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters, respectively. VA remained stable in PT eyes. TN eyes received a mean (SD) of 4.5 (1.0) faricimab injections in months 1–6 and 1.9 (1.2) injections in months 7–12. PT eyes received 4.5 (1.2) injections in months 1–6 and 2.4 (1.3) in months 7–12. IOI and PIE rates were consistent with faricimab phase 3 trials.ConclusionsThese 1-year data support real-world effectiveness, durability and safety of faricimab in DMO.<br/
Residual stress field inference method via spectral clustering in components
No full textResidual stress fields significantly affect the structural integrity and service performance of large-scale components. Accurate quantification of the residual stress field is essential for reliable manufacturing and structural evaluation. However, traditional inference techniques typically rely on predefined basis functions or assumed stress distributions, which require accurate prior knowledge and often fail in the presence of complex geometries or heterogeneous stress patterns. To address these limitations, this study proposes a residual stress inference method based on spectral clustering of the deformation force–residual stress relationship tensor, which eliminates the need for explicit prior assumptions. The core idea is to partition the global residual stress field into mechanically consistent regions, thereby reducing the number of unknowns while preserving predictive accuracy. The method is validated using a forged aluminum alloy component with a complex geometry. In numerical simulations, the full-field stress inference achieves a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.33 MPa. In machining experiments, the inferred stress field enables accurate predictions of deformation forces and displacements, with MAE of 10.48 N and 0.18 mm, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach for residual stress field inference in large-scale components, offering valuable support for stress-aware manufacturing and assembly in aerospace, energy, and related engineering domains
On the role of dynamic trust management in the evolving internet of things
No full textTrust plays a fundamental role in the operation of Internet of Things (IoT) as well as the broader Internet. It underpins almost all transactions across these networks and is essential for the functioning of modern society. Trust is a complex concept that is realized by a combination of trust models and trust management systems. Trust management in operations has become more complex as networks and environments become more dynamic, and today, dynamic trust management is an essential component of all networks. In this chapter, we introduce the notion of dynamic trust and describe its origins in legacy network systems and its ongoing evolution and operation within those systems. We show how it applies to operation technology systems as part of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and we sketch out its role in the evolution of IoT toward Social Internet of Things (SIoT) and Internet of Sociable Autonomous Things (IoSAT).<br/
Reinforcing historical awareness and culture through higher education: threats and challenges. General Report Third Annual Forum for History Education
No full textThe Council of Europe organises annual Forums for History Education to provide platforms for public authorities, teachers, curriculum developers, academics, learners and civil society to exchange their perspectives on and practices in history education, and collaboratively develop guidelines for improving history education. Three Forums have been held, in Belgrade (2022), Brussels (2023) and Bologna (2024). The theme of the Third Annual Forum was reinforcing historical awareness and culture through higher education: threats and challenges.The Forum heard many examples of the threats and challenges facing history education in higher education, related to changes in higher education and wider societal and political pressures. These included concerns about the commodification of higher education and the prioritisation of a narrow economic agenda to the detriment of the wider range of purposes universities seek to fulfil.Matjaž Gruden, Director of the Directorate for Democracy, Council of Europe, highlighted the challenge of democratic backsliding and suggested that universities, as sites of knowledge and research, are important contributors to societal solutions. History education, he argued, not only seeks to record events, but offers interpretations and understanding of events so that we can learn from past mistakes.The discussion at the Forum was organised around three themes: (1) the role of higher education in history education and research in and for democratic societies; (2) identities, roles and responsibilities of historians within higher education; and (3) the role of higher education in valuing historical culture for society.The discussion on these themes covered a range of issues, including the role of academic freedom, the professional ethos of historians and the implications of the third mission3 for higher education. This last 3. The first two missions are teaching and research, while the third mission is about generating knowledge for social/ cultural/civic/economic development beyond academia. theme emerged at various points in discussions on the nature and extent of the partnership between universities and communities. Much of the discussion focused on tensions, such as the need to balance academic rigour with critical reflection, the limitations of autonomy when engaging with communities and the limitations of multiperspectivity.By the end of the Forum, the following core issues emerged: concerns about the mismatch between teaching in higher education and schools; the role and extent of multiperspectivity; the implications of the local democratic mission of higher education; and the role of public authorities. Five main recommendations are presented in this report.• History should play a more central role in the curriculum at all stages of education, including lifelong learning.• It is important to develop a more explicit approach to the ethics of history education, including a commitment to a more inclusive approach involving the coproduction of knowledge.• The concept of multiperspectivity in history education needs to be developed further as part of a wider agenda for social cohesion: all communities should have the right to have their historical narrative recognised by the whole of society and reflected in the history curriculum.• Teachers and educators should be encouraged and supported to enhance their skills in communicating about history and historical understanding. As part of this, approaches to tackling misinformation and distortion in claims about history need to be strengthened.• Public authorities play important roles in relation to the role of history and memory in society: they need to strengthen their support for academic freedom, including access to archives, and consider the relationship between historical understanding and processes of commemoration.<br/
Deciphering causes and behaviors: a recurrent pattern of tail injuries in hadrosaurid dinosaurs
No full textElevated frequencies of repeated injuries are identified in the proximo-middle caudal region of hadrosaurid dinosaur tails. The affected vertebrae show healing injuries in the distal region of the vertebral neural spines, but the causes are yet indeterminate. A Finite Element Analysis was performed on a modeled caudal vertebral series to test if such injuries were caused by loading weight. Our results indicate that the deforming stress resulted from the same dorsal force pressing upon a large area of the tail. We scrutinized all possible biological scenarios that could cause the pathological deformation of the bones. The affected area corresponds to the putative position of the cloacal opening, indicating the possibility that the dorsal force might correspond to the action of a mounting male. As such, these potential mating injuries may represent the first indirect evidence of sexual behavior in non-avian dinosaurs, and a novel approach to recognize female individuals
Recurrent pregnancy loss, psychological distress and wellbeing support for women: a mixed-methods analysis
No full textBackgroundResearch suggests multiple experiences of miscarriage, also known as recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), may be associated with compounded risk for adverse mental health impacts. However, there is a need for research evidence that offers clarity in relation to potential predictors of psychological distress and wellbeing among this neglected population of women. This paper aims to explore physical and experiential factors associated with miscarriage-related psychological distress and wellbeing among women who had experienced RPL.MethodsAdopting a mixed methods approach, the paper presents a secondary analysis of data which assessed the perceived impact of miscarriage experience as measured by the Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale (RIMS) in a cross-sectional survey of (n = 839) women in Northern Ireland and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of the women (n = 10) who experienced RPL.ResultsQuantitative analysis indicated that women who experienced two or more losses reported significantly greater miscarriage-related distress when compared with those who experienced one miscarriage. This was true for the ‘Devastating Event’ and ‘Loss of Baby’ RIMS subscales, however, differences between groups related to ‘Isolation and Guilt’ were non-significant. Qualitative analysis identified themes consistent with the RIMS. These included potential predictors of distress such as devastating memories, anticipated loss and disenfranchised grief, as well as feelings of isolation and guilt stemming from social stigma and inadequate support.ConclusionThe experience of RPL is extremely distressing, with the potential to lead to maternal morbidity. To support women’s reproductive health and rights, compassionate healthcare that includes mental health and memory-making support are important during miscarriage and subsequent pregnancies.<br/