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Hybrid Galam-Bass model for technology innovation
Full text linkThis work proposes a hybrid model that combines the Galam model of opinion dynamics with the Bass diffusion model used in technology adoption on Barabasi–Albert complex networks. The main idea is to advance a version of the Bass model that can suitably describe an opinion formation context while introducing irreversible transitions from group B (opponents) to group A (supporters). Moreover, we extend the model to take into account the presence of a charismatic competitor, which fosters conversion back to the old technology. The approach is different from the introduction of a mean field due to the interactions driven by the network structure. Additionally, we introduce the Kolmogorov–Sinai entropy to quantify the system’s unpredictability and information loss over time. The results show an increase in the regularity of the trajectories as the preferential attachment parameter increases
Conflict of Interest: justifying international cooperation in populist discourse
Full text linkContrary to the stereotypical assumption that the foreign policy of populists is geared towards conflict, much of the literature in recent years has converged on the understanding that populism results in a complex and often seemingly incoherent mix of cooperation and confrontation. Populist leaders often adopt a confrontational stance towards other states and international institutions, yet they are also capable of striking deals, defusing tensions and reconciling with multilateral settings. This inconsistency is due to a variety of factors like geopolitical and economic pressures or the thick-ideological proclivities of populists. But in this article, we are interested in how populists reconcile the contradictory trend to antagonize internationally but end up striking deals. Drawing on the literature on populist discourses and a view of foreign policy as political management of state-society relations, we argue that this reconciliation takes place primarily at a discursive level, as populists deploy a discourse of cooperation that remains consistent with the binary and Manichean logic of populism. We identify three populist discursive strategies of justifying cooperation after conflict: elite-splitting; issue-bundling and audience-hopping. We demonstrate our argument by comparing two cases of populist compromising with the EU following a protracted period of confrontation: Greece’s acceptance of a third bailout from the Eurozone under Alexis Tsipras in 2015; and Britain’s signing of a final Brexit deal under Boris Johnson in 2020
Chapman-Kolmogorov test for estimating memory length of two coupled process
Full text linkReal-world processes often display a prolonged memory, which extends beyond the single-step dependency characteristic of Markov processes. In addition, the current state of an empirical process is often not only influenced by its own past but also by the past states of other dependent processes. This study introduces the generalized version of the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation (CKE) to estimate the memory size in such scenarios. To assess the applicability of our approach, we generate coupled time series with predetermined memory lengths using the autoregressive model. The results show a high degree of accuracy in measuring memory lengths. Subsequently, we employ the generalized CKE to analyze cryptocurrency data as a real-world case study. Our results indicate that the past dynamics of cryptocurrencies significantly impact their current states, thereby highlighting interdependencies among them. The method proposed in this study can be also utilized in forecasting coupled time series
Case studies: a methodological lifeline to world
Full text linkThis special issue is designed to present and explore the range of forms case studies can take and the functions they serve in research related to possibility studies. Case studies examine specific instances of a phenomena in order to understand the nuances and systemic complexity of how and why the phenomenon can unfold. The cases often provide ecological validity by linking the concerns of other research to real-world examples. It would be incorrect, however, to view case-studies as opposed to experimental methods and quantitative findings. This issue features two cases using experimental methods and one case based on quantitative analysis. Instead of assuming an incorrect dichotomy, the field needs to recognize fully the benefits of interdependent methodologies. Even case studies that present purely qualitative investigations need the grounding and focused findings that come from experiments and the large data sets for triangulation. At the same time case research provides the context for experiments, surveys, and historiometric analyses by addressing issues of ecological validity and orienting conclusions concerning those methods’ findings
Lack of thermal comfort is a matter of life and death: a systematic review for older people
Full text linkThermal comfort is not a luxury; rather, a lack of it is a matter of life and death, particularly for vulnerable people, such as older people. This work systematically reviews and analyses the thermal comfort of older people and their health and mortality as it relates to exposure to extreme temperatures, and suggests acceptable thermal conditions and the related energy use of buildings. A total of 69 out of 198 papers were found on older people and these were analysed in detail. This was followed by an analysis of the UN and UK governments’ open access data. This work highlights the disparity regarding the definition of age for older people and encourages the use of the term ”older people”, rather than ”elderly”, which can be an offensive piece of terminology. The UK findings suggest a significant relationship between cold (below 5 °C) outdoor air temperatures and mortality in older people, particularly for those who are over 85 years old. In the UK, thermal conditions can lead to up to 175 deaths per degree temperature change up to two weeks after a cold spell or an overly hot period. The indoor comfort temperature of older people varies between 22.5 and 27 °C in natural ventilation mode. However, some studies found 18 °C to be comfortable in winter time, a finding which could lead to a significant energy saving in relation to space heating. Current gaps in and the recommended future direction of research include topics such as gender differences in terms of thermal comfort and during menopause; thermal comfort conditions, adaptive behaviours and naturally ventilated buildings; thermal conditions when sleeping and energy use as it relates to space heating or cooling for older people
Beyond detection: large language models and next-generation cybersecurity
Full text linkThe Integrating Contextual and Adaptive Cyber Defense Systems The accelerating evolution of cyber threats, seen both in terms of their complexity and frequency of attempts, makes it imperative to move away from traditional, reactive defense structures and towards intelligent, adaptive and proactive cyber defense strategies. Large Language Models (LLMs) (such as GPT or BERT derivatives) represent powerful new capabilities developed for understanding, analyzing, and generating human-like language with contextual depth enabling a new frontier in the land of cyber defense. This survey investigates the influence of LLMs on multiple key technical areas of cybersecurity including software and system security, network security, content moderation, hardware security, and blockchain security. It showcases applications of LLMs in tasks in vulnerability detection and prevention, phishing, malware detection and analysis, and intrusion detection; as well as smart contract auditing and adversarial attack simulation. The paper focuses more on technical constructs like zero-shot and few-shot threat hunting, prompt engineering for scenario modeling, and retrieval-augmented generation for real-time intelligence. Task differences are captured in knowledge retrieval from external sources, enabling more contextual learning and task adaptability, inter-model interaction, and augmentation through domain-specific fine-tuning. While promising, LLMs pose open challenges, such as hallucination, adversarial misuse, generalization problems, and ethical issues around privacy and accountability. The implications of such comparative analysis across domains highlight the strengths as well as ‘emerging risk’ associated with LLM systems in mission-critical environments. The survey ends with a highly visionary section on the future opportunities around future self-healing systems, autonomous cyber agents, and the future of LLMs that can not only detect threats but also predict, simulate, and respond automatically to threats. This work serves as a foundational roadmap for researchers and practitioners for the use of LLMs for the next generation of resilient cybersecurity tools
Framework for analysis of the logical vulnerability of authentication procedures
No full textWhile AI has made strides in knowledge and action modelling, challenges remain in addressing security concerns like logical vulnerabilities in authentication policies. These vulnerabilities arise from flawed or missing authentication mechanisms, making operations unintentionally accessible. Our objective is to model the domain and find such vulnerabilities. Our approach is based on a novel three-level framework, specifically focusing on identifying logical vulnerabilities in authentication policies. Each level is built on top of the previous one. The first is the ontological level, where we model the static domain using Description Logics serialised as Ontology Web Language, providing a foundational representation of classes and relationships. The second is the logical level, where action rules, capturing system dynamics, are formalised using Horn Clause and First-Order Logic, serialised as Semantic Web Rule Language. We address the frame problem through efficient parameter utilisation as a side effect. The third is the analytical level, where we transform action rules into a policies graph to validate and visualise them and transform assertions into an instance graph to visualise the specific instance of the world to facilitate the analysis. We leverage the reasoner and control constant in an algorithmic approach, which detects vulnerabilities in the policies by finding vulnerable situations. We demonstrate the framework’s effectiveness and practicality through experimental evaluation with two real-world applications. Results highlight its scalability, explainability, and accuracy in detecting vulnerabilities, showcasing its potential to enhance security policy analysis
Exploring online brand-mediated communities and customer experience: insights and evidence from the luxury fashion industry
Full text linkPurpose Online brand community (OBC) research has been directed at examining the consequences of consumer–brand relationships on various behavioural issues, with little to say about reciprocity and variants of millennials’ loyalty in the luxury fashion industry. The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge of millennials’ participation in OBCs and reciprocity. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study utilised an interpretive research approach and focused on the voices of millennials who had experience with OBCs. This study builds on social influence theory and extends existing understanding of millennials’ participation in OBCs by highlighting the constructs of customers’ reciprocity structures that lead to loyalty towards luxury fashion brands. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the emergent data were qualitatively analysed using thematic analysis. Findings This paper developed an emergent theoretical framework that identifies and conceptualises four archetypical categories of millennial consumers in the luxury fashion industry: traditionalists, inspirers, self-containers and expellers. The framework illuminates varying strategies and explains how certain strategies might be more effective with different categories of consumers. Originality/value This study builds on social influence theory and extends existing understanding of millennials’ participation in OBCs by highlighting the constructs of customers’ reciprocity structures that lead to loyalty towards luxury fashion brands
Mitigating oral and systemic health risks associated with oral nutritional supplements: the role of dietitians
No full textBackground:
Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) are commonly used to manage malnutrition, but their high sugar content poses potential risks to oral and systemic health (1). Existing literature highlights the relationship between poor oral health and systemic diseases such as cardiovascular and respiratory conditions (2,3). However, there is limited guidance among dietitians regarding these risks.
Aims:
The primary aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of dietitians regarding the oral and systemic health risks associated with cariogenic ONS in the treatment of malnutrition. Additionally, the study sought to identify whether dietitians are currently mitigating these risks in their practice.
Methods:
This mixed-methods study utilised an online survey through promotion on social media to collect quantitative and qualitative data from dietitians across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The survey included questions about demographics, professional experience, knowledge of ONS risks, and current practices. Analysis methods involved descriptive statistics for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative responses. Ethical approval was granted by London Metropolitan Ethics Committee.
Results:
The thematic analysis identified the following themes: awareness; education and training; clinical guidelines; collaborative working; scope of practice; and strategies for risk mitigation. The answers revealed limited risk perception; education and training deficits; lack of recognized standards; and lack of confidence in collaborating with experts and giving advice on oral health. Very few dietitians who completed the survey gave general dental hygiene advice (20%, n¼6).
Conclusions:
The study revealed significant gaps in dietitians' awareness and practice regarding the oral and systemic health risks of ONS. Many dietitians prioritised treating malnutrition without sufficient consideration of associated risks to oral health, highlighting the need for enhanced education and training. There is a lack of standardised guidelines and effective communication of best practices. Collaborative efforts between dietitians and oral health professionals are limited but show positive potential when implemented (1)
Safeguarding potential biosecurity issues in agribusiness
No full textBiosecurity in the agribusiness sector is an often neglected and forgotten area of biological and chemical security. Complicated world environments and fast developing science and technologies especially those in agribusiness sector have put security education and training up to a higher level of importance and therefore building up capability in training in this sector is an urgent but challenge work. In this paper, we firstly present the potential biosecurity issues in agribusiness sector and then address the gaps in biosecurity education in this sector and explore how to build up capability through collaborative works. Through using biosecurity training as a conceptual model to be replicated for chemical and radiological education in agribusiness, we hope to potentially work towards a general framework, so that this capacity can be integrated into building up an international biological security education network to tackle other CBRN issues in general