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Imposter participants? Towards a reflexive epistemology of ‘suspected participants’
Get PDFThere is an increased reliance, since COVID-19, on online methods in qualitative research for participant recruitment and data collection. While online methods have some clear advantages, they have also raised ‘new’ concerns about fraudulent participation in qualitative research that can hamper research rigour. Drawing on a case study of two of our own UK-based projects which investigated intersections of health, sexuality, and social connections during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper critically examines the challenges posed by terms like “imposter” and “fraudulent” participants and suggests instead the use of “suspected participants” to acknowledge the researchers’ role in judging if participants are authentic or not. We argue for a reflexive epistemology that questions normative assumptions about authentic participation and advocate an inclusive but separate analysis of suspect data as an interpretive tool that can enhance rigour, rather than rejecting such data as a problem that needs ‘screening out’.</p
Semantic objective functions:A distribution-aware method for adding logical constraints in deep learning
Get PDFIssues of safety, explainability, and efficiency are of increasing concern in learning systems deployed with hard and soft constraints. Loss-function based techniques have shown promising results in this area, by embedding logical constraints during neural network training. Through an integration of logic and information geometry, we provide a construction and theoretical framework for these tasks that generalize many approaches. We propose a loss-based method that embeds knowledge—enforces logical constraints—into a machine learning model that outputs probability distributions. This is done by constructing a distribution from the logical formula, and constructing a loss function as a linear combination of the original loss function with the Fisher-Rao distance or Kullback-Leibler divergence to the constraint distribution. This construction is primarily for logical constraints in the form of propositional formulas (Boolean variables), but can be extended to formulas of a first-order language with finite variables over a model with compact domain (categorical and continuous variables), and others statistical models that is to be trained with semantic information. We evaluate our method on a variety of learning tasks, including classification tasks with logic constraints, transferring knowledge from logic formulas, and knowledge distillation
First Glass of wine in 8 months! An examination of sober curious communities on TikTok
Get PDFThis paper presents findings from an ongoing project focused on sober curious communities on TikTok. In this paper I argue that these communities offer a haven from in ‘intoxigenic’ digital spaces for individuals navigating the complexities of sobriety. This research examines the implications of TikTok's emergence as a locus of sociality for the sober curious movement, both in terms of individual well-being and broader societal attitudes towards addiction and recovery. Central to this is an exploration of the creative and expressive practices employed by individuals within sober curious communities and the attitudes and experiences of those who follow them. The paper draws on qualitative data from interviews with 28 sober curious TikTok users and a systematic content analysis of 800 TikTok videos. Emergent findings reveal insights into the role of TikTok in destigmatizing addiction, fostering empathy and promoting positive representations of abstinence and resilience. Three key themes with be explored: the value of digital storytelling, the nature of TikTok accountability, and the visibility of failures or relapses. These themes underscore TikTok's significance as a platform for personal expression, accountability, and community-building within the sober curious movement. Combined, these themes speak to TikTok as an important platform for the sober curious. TikTok allows the messy, unpredictable, embodied and digital practices and experiences of sobriety to play out. Reframing sobriety beyond medicalised narratives of addiction to provide a more nuanced and freeing set of practices and contexts that enable respondents to rethink and re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol
The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) inflammation criteria to predict survival in patients with advanced cancer:A prospective cohort study
Get PDFBackground: The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria provides a framework forassessing cachexia in cancer patients. However, the role of systemic inflammation in this frameworkneeds further exploration.Methods: This study analyzed a cohort of 388 advanced cancer patients from 18 oncological care settings.C-reactive protein (CRP), the modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) and Neutrophil-to-LymphocyteRatio (NLR) were used to assess systemic inflammation. Associations between these inflammatorymarkers and Weight Loss (WL), Body Mass Index (BMI), Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI), and survival outcomes (OS) were evaluated using Chi-square and KaplaneMeier survival analyses.Results: CRP was significantly associated with ECOG-PS (p < 0.01), and WL (p < 0.05). mGPS wassignificantly associated with ECOG-PS (p < 0.001), WL (p < 0.001), and BMI (p < 0.05). NLR wassignificantly associated with ECOG-PS (p < 0.05), WL (p < 0.001), and BMI (p < 0.05). CRP (p < 0.001),mGPS (p < 0.001), NLR (p < 0.001), WL (p < 0.001), and SMI (p < 0.05) were significantly associated withOS, but not BMI (p ¼ 0.23). Combining CRP, mGPS, NLR, with WL, BMI, and SMI significantly improved OSprediction. WL was significantly associated with OS in patients with NLR<3 (p < 0.05) but not inCRP10 mg/L or mGPS ¼ 0. SMI was significantly associated with OS in patients with mGPS ¼ 0(p < 0.05).Conclusion: Systemic inflammation, as assessed by CRP, mGPS and NLR, significantly improves therelationship between phenotypic criteria and OS. These findings support the GLIM framework's inclusionof systemic inflammation as a critical factor. Given its strong predictive value, systemic inflammationshould be prioritized in routine clinical assessments of cancer patients, with mGPS having greaterprognostic value within the GLIM framewor
Leases of shooting rights over land
Get PDFLeases of rights to shoot over land are commercially important in Scotland. The question of whether these remain effective if the land is sold, in other words whether these rights are real and bind successor landlords has proved an elusive one. There is a considerable amount of conflicting case law and commentary on the subject. This article is the first to analyse the subject comprehensively. It reaches the conclusion that the tenants’ rights under such leases are not real and recommends statutory intervention to address this
Growth resilience to weather variation in commercial free-ranging chickens in Ethiopia
Get PDFBackground: The poultry industry in sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly developing sector mostly based on smallholder farming. Increased demand for poultry-derived products, driven by the growing economy and population, has intensified importations of highly productive exotic breeds and crossbreeding with local ecotypes. However, commercial chickens with exotic genes often struggle to adapt to the local climate under smallholder farmers management. Understanding the chicken response to weather changes is crucial for developing selection schemes that ensure proper adaptation. In the present study, we derived individual phenotypes for growth resilience of commercial free-ranging chickens to changing weather conditions in Ethiopia. In addition, we performed genomic association analyses to assess the genetic background of these phenotypes and identify potential candidate genes of interest.Results: Novel resilience phenotypes describing changes in chicken growth profiles in response to weather fluctuation were developed. Variations in daily air temperature, relative humidity and amount of precipitation had the strongest impact on growth. Significant genomic variance was detected for growth resilience to changes in air temperature measurements and a temperature humidity index. Genomic markers correlated with these resilience traits were mostly located within or near candidate genes associated with lipid metabolism and adipocyte homeostasis. Some of these genes have been previously linked to animal responses to environmental stressors in other species.Conclusions: The phenotypes of growth resilience of chickens to changing weather conditions exhibited significant genomic variation. The outcomes of this study may facilitate the genomic selection of commercial chickens that are not only highly productive, but also capable of maintaining their production levels under varying weather conditions
Regulatory equivalence in blockchain systems:The role of public values and legitimacy
Get PDFIn this chapter, we develop the concept of ‘regulatory equivalence’. As opposed to functional equivalence, used to extend the scope of existing legal frameworks to new technological arrangements, regulatory equivalence refers to the use of technological guarantees to serve the same purpose as traditional legal formalities. This approach goes beyond the use of technology to execute certain legal formalities, but involves analysis of the equivalence between the values undergirding legal rules and the affordances of technological artifacts. This chapter draws on the distinct properties of blockchain-based systems, such as notarization systems, Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)s, and privacy pools, to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges they present to establishing regulatory equivalence. Public actors, however, are hesitant to recognize regulatory equivalence, due to competing perceptions of legitimate governance between participants within these systems and external actors such as regulators. We explore this tension before concluding that this challenge can be overcome through co-regulatory engagement between public authorities and actors within blockchain-based systems, and public authorities more explicitly stating the values they seek to promote within blockchain-based systems
Drug Combinations Targeting FAK and MEK Overcomes 2 Tumour Heterogeneity in Glioblastoma
Get PDFBackground/Objectives: Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor with 17 limited treatment options and poor prognosis, largely owing to its heterogeneity and the 18 involvement of multiple intracellular signalling pathways that contribute to drug resistance. 19 While recent advancements in targeted drug combination therapies, such as dabrafenib and 20 trametinib, show promise for certain GBM subgroups, identifying effective drug combina-21 tions across the broader GBM population remains a challenge. Integrin-mediated signalling, 22 particularly through Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK), plays a pivotal role in GBM pathogene-23 sis and invasion, making it a potential therapeutic target and component of future drug 24 combination stratgies. Methods: In this study, we utilized a chemogenomic screening ap-25 proach to identify synergistic drug combinations that target FAK in glioblastoma. We ini-26 tially employed a CRISPR-engineered GBM model to assess the effects of FAK depletion, 27 and subsequently discovered that combining FAK inhibitors such as VS4718 with MEK in-28 hibitors, particularly trametinib, demonstrated synergistic effects. This potent combination 29 was validated using various 2D and 3D assays, including cell viability/apoptosis assess-30 ment, synergistic analysis, cellular imaging, and target engagement assays. This combina-31 tion also effectively inhibited spheroid growth and invasion across a diverse panel of pa-32 tient-derived GBM stem cells. Molecular mechanisms underlying these effects include sup-33 pression of multiple kinase signalling pathways and enhanced apoptosis, elucidated using 34 Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) profiling and western blot validation. In vivo, combi-35 nation therapy significantly reduced the tumor volume in orthotopic transplantation mod-36 els. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the combination of FAK and MEK inhibitors 37 represents a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome the challenges of GBM treatment
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