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Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI
Get PDFThe backlash from researchers whose work has been used to train large language models (LLMs) has re-opened questions around how scholarly works are licensed and the merits of open licenses. Considering the legal standing of open creative commons licenses and conventional copyright, Martin Paul Eve suggests legal protections for academic work are unlikely to be forthcoming
II. Engagement and education in emergencies: considering context and student choice in student participation
No full textFor those who teach in classrooms facing emergencies, the question remains how to make an engaging, responsive space in the midst of such challenges. But student participation and engagement extend far beyond education in emergencies, embracing students facing risk and stress in everyday life. Within the classroom, participation is often seen as a marker of student learning. However, the student context must be taken into account when it comes to participation, especially for education in emergencies. This article focuses on the context of higher education composition courses in Myanmar post the 2021 military coup. Through reflective writing and discourse, it examines what participation looks like in a political context where free speech carries security concerns. It also discusses the need for choice within engagement, allowing students to participate as they deem secure
An inclusive history of LGBTQ+ aversion therapy: past harms and future address in a UK context
Get PDFFrom the 1950s, aversion therapy gained an international foothold as a behaviourist means to alter what was then considered ‘deviant’ behaviour. Using primary research by psychologists, psychiatrists and other clinical figures published in professional journals, recently published personal testimonies by those who underwent such ‘treatment’, and drawing on the latest historical research, this article maps aversion therapy practices used to ‘treat’ LGBTQ+ people in the UK, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. We outline our approach to this history and contextualise it by drawing attention to ongoing comparative issues of banning LGBT conversion therapy in the present. Next, we outline the emergence of aversion therapy internationally and identify historical ‘hotspot’ hospitals and universities in the UK, with the nation itself an international ‘hotspot’ for aversion. We then employ the case study of the 2022 report from the University of Birmingham, to demonstrate how such investigations of difficult pasts might be most effectively realised and highlight the potential for a ‘truth and reconciliation’ approach to this history. Finally, we call upon psy-organisations, university and research institutions, and other stakeholders to take this history seriously in effort to address past and ongoing harms enacted upon LGBTQ+ people
'Western' Marxism: dialectics, capital, class and our planet
No full textReview of Domenico Losurdo, Western Marxism: How It Was Born, How It Died, How It Can Be Reborn. Edited by Gabriel Rockhill.
(New York: Monthly Review Press, 2024) and John Bellamy Foster, The Dialectics of Ecology: Socialism and Nature. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2024
Gaming Disorder among children and adolescents
Get PDFResearch interest in problematic gaming has increased considerably in the past decade leading the World Health Organization to classify ‘gaming disorder’ (GD) as a formal diagnosis in 2019. This chapter describes the current state of knowledge in relation to minors, as well as future research on GD along with recommendations for important stakeholders such as researchers, the gaming industry, and policymakers. Meta-analyses on the prevalence of GD range from 3.05% to 4.6%, with males, children, and adolescents, being the most affected. There are three overarching interacting factors that are involved in the acquisition, development, and maintenance of GD, namely the individual factors, gaming-related factors, and environmental factors. Future research on GD requires more studies with clinical samples, large-scale representative samples using longitudinal designs, more cross-cultural comparisons, as well as more studies from a neurobiological perspective. The topic of esports and the ever-changing structural characteristics of video games also require further research. The chapter concludes with several recommendations such as developing specific screening instruments for child and adolescent populations and the need for independent regulators in each country that oversee the video game industry to ensure social responsibility initiatives for player protection and harm minimization
Touch
Get PDFThe sense of touch is intimately familiar to everyone. Touch refers to our sensitivity to the pressure and movement of objects in physical contact with the body. Touch is one aspect of a wider class of sensory abilities, known collectively as somatosensation or the bodily senses. Indeed, despite the familiarity of touch, it is not always clear whether and how to distinguish touch from other bodily sensations, such as pain. Touch becomes especially powerful when combined with active movements of the hand, an ability known as haptics. Touch is also an important aspect of social interactions with others. While a substantial amount is known about touch and its neural bases, there is ongoing debate about many aspects of touch and how it links to other aspects of cognition, including motor control, vision, and social cognition
Modern slavery and financial reporting quality worldwide: the impact of institutional and legal environment
No full textModern slavery poses a serious global problem that encloses various illegal and illegitimate practices and could have severe consequences on the society and the economy. This study examines how the institutional and legal environment influences the relationship between modern slavery and the quality of financial reporting worldwide. We employ a comprehensive worldwide sample with a plethora of control variables and reveal that modern slavery asserts a positive effect on classification shifting, and that this effect is more acute in developing and emerging economies than developed economies. Similarly, our results confirm that slavery would assert a positive effect on real earnings management. However, there are some remedies for subduing the impact of modern slavery on earnings management and the quality of financial reporting in terms of strengthening the institutional environment/legal environment
Can alternative firm structures address aggregate distortions from monopoly power?
Get PDFMarket power of firms and consequent aggregate welfare distortions have become an important topic of discussion in
macroeconomics. The standard policy response consists of attempts to introduce more competition. However, such
attempts are not often very successful. We take a different approach to the problem. Taking monopoly power as given,
we ask if altering the internal structure of firms can reduce the welfare distortions. We put the question within a
standard dynamic general equilibrium model. In standard macroeconomics analysis, profits are distributed as a lump-
sum, precluding any interesting incentive effects. We study internal structures that eliminate this incentive leakage.
Such forms include shareholder-operated or worker-owned-and-operated firms that make certain internal decisions
in a decentralised manner. We show that such firms effectively exploit their monopoly power less. When all firms do
this, an aggregate demand externality arises which improves steady state welfare. Some forms not only eliminate
welfare distortion from monopoly, but improve welfare even beyond perfect competition in the steady state by
achieving welfare closer to the Golden Rule level
The effectiveness of the peer-led PITSTOP (hot debrief) training for healthcare professionals
Get PDFSupport from peers after a challenging and traumatic event could help mitigate the development of psychological distress. We tested whether a training programme on peer-led team debriefing (called “PITSTOP”) improved healthcare professionals’ confidence to facilitate such a session, including actual implementation over the subsequent six months and the barriers to implementation. There were significant improvements post-training (N=153) on participants’ confidence, awareness, and knowledge to facilitate a PITSTOP. These effects were sustained over the subsequent six-month period (n=35), with 74% of participants at follow-up having been in a situation where a PITSTOP could have been helpful, with 62% of these then carrying out a PITSTOP. Team dynamics, staffing levels, and workload the main implementation barriers. This evaluation shows the utility and application of the PITSTOP training programme to support a psychologically informed peer-led approach as a way to support staff wellbeing following an adverse event
A call to address humanity’s cosmic footprint
Get PDFThis is a critical moment in the history of Earth: Humans are ending 3.5–3.8 billion years of relative isolation¹,², and may now leave lasting physical, chemical, biological, and unforeseen impacts on space environments. Crewed missions, alongside technological advancements in the New Space age—such as miniaturization and the use of artificial intelligence—accelerate this trend. Decisions with potentially far-reaching cosmic consequences are being made. Hence, there is an urgent need for action
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