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Activation functions study for the trustworthiness supervisor artificial neural networks
Get PDFExamining and potentially adjusting one’s cognitive processes in response to dissatisfaction with one’s performance is a fundamental aspect of intelligence. Remarkably, such sophisticated abstract concepts necessary for achieving Artificial General Intelligence can be effectively incorporated into basic Machine Learning algorithms. In this study, we introduce a method for replicating self-awareness through a supervisory Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which monitors patterns in the activation functions of an underlying ANN to identify signs of substantial uncertainty within the underlying ANN and, consequently, the reliability of its predictions. The underlying ANN in this context is a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) ensemble primarily utilized for tasks related to facial recognition and facial expression analysis. We evaluate the performance of the supervisory ANNs using various activation functions as they learn to gauge the dependability of predictions made by the Inception v3 CNN ensemble. To conduct computational experiments, we employ a facial data set that incorporates makeup and occlusion factors. These experiments are designed to mimic real-world conditions where the training data set exclusively consists of images without makeup or occlusion, while the test data set comprises images featuring makeup and occlusion. This partitioning ensures the model is tested under challenging out-of-training data distribution scenarios.</p
A meta-review of systematic reviews on the effectiveness of music therapy on depression, stress, anxiety and cognitive function in adult's with dementia or cognitive impairment
Get PDFBackground: Subjective cognitive impairment has been reported to be associated with depressive symptoms, stress and anxiety in older people. This study examines the impact of music interventions on cognitive functioning, depression, anxiety, and stress for adults with dementia or cognitive impairment. Method: We searched Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, Medline, and PsycINFO without restriction to date. Systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis of music interventions were included. Effect sizes were estimated using standardized mean difference (SMD), weighted mean difference (WMD), mean difference (MD), and Hedges g, as reported. Effect sizes were reported as 〈 0.1 = small effect to 〉 0.5 as large effect. Results: Twenty systematic reviews were included. There is evidence that music interventions can have effects on cognitive abilities compared to standard care, with a small to large decrease in anxiety. Conclusion: Music interventions might have variable effects on improved cognitive functioning, depression, anxiety and stress.</p
Gender-specific capacity of insulin resistance proxies to predict functional decline in older adults
Get PDFObjectives: Insulin resistance determined by Homeostasis Model of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) has been associated with functional decline in non-diabetic older subjects. However, insulin is not routinely assessed. The study evaluated the predictive value of non-insulin-dependent IR surrogates on functional decline in non-diabetic older men and women. Design and participants: Prospective cohort study over 5 years. The study included 615 older participants from the Toledo Study of Healthy Aging. Methods: Frailty was assessed by the Frailty Trait Scale-5 (FTS-5) at baseline and after 5 years follow-up. 193 subjects experienced functional decline (2.5-point reduction in the FTS-5 score). Multivariate regression models analysed the effect of five described IR surrogates on functional decline considering potential confounders. Results: Among evaluated IR proxies, triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) and HOMA-IR were significantly associated with an increased risk of functional decline (odd ratio (95% confidence interval) TyG-BMI: 1.16 (1.05, 1.28), p = 0.0035 and HOMA-IR: 1.59 (1.15, 2.21), p = 0.0056) among all participants. When stratified by gender, HOMA-IR was related to functional decline in men [2.02 (1.13, 3.59), p = 0.0173] and TyG-BMI in women [1.19 (1.05, 1.35), p = 0.0057]. Conclusions: Only TyG-BMI index mimics the predictive capacity of insulin-based IR marker. The predictive ability of IR indexes is gender-specific, being TyG-BMI the only index able to predict functional decline in women and HOMA-IR in men.</p
Bioinspired surfaces for directional liquid transport:design and manufacturing
No full textControllable directional liquid transport, as a promising form of intelligent liquid manipulation, plays an important role in many fields. In nature, directional liquid transport properties are found on a wide variety of biological surfaces, such as the Namib Desert beetle, cactus and Crassula muscosa, etc. Learning from nature provides great inspiration for researchers to solve engineering problems. In this review, the classical directional transport mechanisms, including the wettability gradient and the Laplace pressure difference, are introduced. Then, from single to multiple biomimetic surfaces, the design and manufacturing are reviewed in detail through some representative examples. Finally, some challenges faced in the current development of bioinspired surfaces are summarized.</p
Introducing the RefCFRI: a continuous indicator comparing referendum campaign finance regulation in 143 countries
No full textAs referendums become an increasingly defining feature of global democratic practice, a normative debate centres around the importance of campaign finance regulations in ensuring fair and democratic procedures that avoid biasing their outcome. Understanding how different countries approach this issue can shed light on the impact of varied regulatory approaches, as well as whether they reach their intended policy goals. Scholarly work has therefore attempted to capture this cross-national variation in comparative measures, and this study attempts to build on these efforts by expanding their scope and depth to provide a global, inclusive and methodologically robust comparative measure of referendum political finance regimes. As such, it focuses on the design and compilation of the Referendum Campaign Finance Regulation Index (RefCFRI). We depart from a novel dataset detailing the presence/absence of 39 referendum campaign finance regulations in 143 countries as of April 2024. Using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), we deliver empirical evidence for the existence of a singular dimension along which countries can be compared, namely the ‘level of regulation’. This dimension forms the RefCFRI, a continuous indicator that, together with our dataset, has the potential to contribute to political finance and referendum studies, as well as informed decision-making by policy-makers.<br/
Transitional safeguarding
No full textThis book powerfully sets out the case for Transitional Safeguarding, a new approach to protection and safeguarding designed to address the needs and behaviours of young people in their mid-teens to mid-twenties who are falling between gaps in current systems, with often devastating results. Addressing these gaps, it outlines how the specific needs of young people can be met through this approach. Written by leading experts in this area with strong practice networks, it presents up-to-date evidence for its effectiveness, and also uses examples from practice to illustrate the ways in which services are beginning to address these issues.</p
Machine learning – a strategic information system opportunity to strengthen healthcare
No full textHemas Holdings PLC is one of Sri Lanka’s top diversified firms, focusing on consumer, healthcare and transportation sectors (Hemas Holdings PLC, 2022). Of their many subsidiaries, Hemas Healthcare has been one of their significant ventures in the Sri Lankan business arena. Hemas Healthcare is Sri Lanka’s most significant privately owned healthcare provider, with a substantial reach across the whole Sri Lankan healthcare value chain, and is well known for its ‘The Australian Council Health Standard International’ (ACHSI) approved hospitals in Wattala and Thalawathugoda, Sri Lanka (Hemas, 2023). Furthermore, Hemas Healthcare introduced Sri Lanka’s first digital healthcare platform under the patronage of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide expert healthcare about medical treatment, health education and information services via telehealth (IFC, 2020). With the introduction of the Digital Health application, Hemas Healthcare has now encountered a strategic information system (SIS) opportunity to further develop and enhance its information technology (IT) resources to strengthen its business endeavours and to gain a competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan Healthcare industry. The Digital Health application has the potential to be further developed into an IT platform where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be integrated to provided a streamlined healthcare service. Strategies. This paper will discuss how Machine learning ( ML) can strategically strengthen digital healthcare.</p
Punk, literature and midlife creativity:ordinary stories, ordinary men
No full textThis chapter sets out to detect traces of punk’s ideological and aesthetic legacy as it assimilates with midlife cultural and creative labour as detected in contemporary creative writing, leaving behind musical fandom and musical ingenuity (Laing, One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock. PM Press, 1985), ‘DIY’ fashion (Hebdige, Subculture: the meaning of style. Routledge, 1979), and territorial sociality of a scene (Straw, Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music. Cultural Studies, 5(3), 368–388, 1991; Bennett and Peterson, Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual. Vanderbilt University Press, 2004; Crossley, Networks of Sound, Style and Subversion: The Punk and Post-Punk Worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975–80. Manchester University Press, 2015) and, alternatively, considering punk as something of a conscious, retained ‘philosophy’ that’s endured over time and understood via the words of creatively active people within the field. Seeking a unifying theory of creative disposition and tenacity, taking the form of three portraits of middle-aged male writers, the data is drawn from a larger and diverse intersectional ethnographic study on the personal meaning of creativity (Miles, Midlife Creativity and Identity: Life into Art. Emerald, 2019). It is concerned with philosophical, sociological and psychological aspects of what it ‘is’ and ‘means’ to be creative, drawing on quasi-Bergsonian experiences of time, action and meaning that are often connected to embedded ideologies and identity (Bergson, Key Writings (K. Ansell Pearson and J. Ó Maoilearca, Eds. and M. McMahon, Trans.). Bloomsbury, 2014), examining the shift towards a realisation of the creative muse that harnesses the lingering energy and intent of the original ‘scene’ into the creation of, inter alia, memoir, motion picture screenplays, science fiction novels and the odd work of musical biography.</p
Final thoughts
No full textAt the beginning of this book we began a conversation on the issue of professional identity in education. In each of the chapters authors have reflected on their experiences and through these reflections some key themes have arisen.</p
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