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Convex conditions for observer design in nonlinear continuous-time systems using a spatial discretization procedure
Full text linkThis paper proposes convex conditions for the observer design of nonlinear continuous-time systems. A broad class of nonlinear systems can be tackled by the proposed technique. A spatial discretization is employed, and an approximate model is obtained within the error matrices that measure the difference between the nonlinear system and the approximated one. The conditions are formulated as parameter-dependent matrix inequalities and ensure that the observer can asymptotically follow the states of the original nonlinear system while guaranteeing a bound to the L2-gain from the disturbance input to the estimation error. Numerical experiments are used to illustrate the features of the proposed method
Mitigating the prevalence of PTSD amongst police officers: the perspective of supervisors' in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Full text linkPurpose:
Police Officers are at particular risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which can impact their work and life (Foley & Massey, 2021). However, workplace support can mitigate this risk. The purpose of this research study was to understand, from a police officer perspective, the mental health needs of members and the best opportunities to provide support for officers, which can mitigate the prevalence of PTSD.
Methodology:
The current study included semi-structured interviews with eight police officers who hold supervisory positions as non-commissioned officers, either corporals or sergeants, in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). A Thematic Analysis yielded three overarching themes: Standing in Between – The Nature of the Supervisor Role, The Available vs the Accessible, and In between Acceptance and Scepticism.
Findings:
Overall, the themes depicted both effective and ineffective measures in the force’s current provision for mental health support and organizational barriers to accessing existing support. It also uncovered the embedded tension within the supervisory role and areas for improvement. Conclusions highlight the need to review some existing measures and policies to improve the accessibility and viability of available support as well as facilitate change in culture and members’ attitudes towards help-seeking.
Originality:
This paper provides insight into a niche demographic of individuals, police officers with PTSD, and provides a perspective of Canadian RCMP officers, of which there is very limited research on
Is white phosphorus an inhumane weapon?
No full textThis paper explores the legal classification of White phosphorus under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques and Customary international humanitarian law. Once the scope of legality is determined, this paper argues for White phosphorus to be classified as an inhumane weapon of war due to the catastrophic, indiscriminate effects on civilians and future generations
A holistic approach to cyber security in local government: a practice-based perspective
No full textThe UK local government landscape is grappling with evolving cyber threats and the complexities of ensuring effective cyber security. This paper analyses the need to move away from policy-driven compliance towards principles-led information assurance. It presents a framework to support local authorities contextualise and implement a holistic approach to information governance, assurance and resilience. The research project uses a practice-based method, working with a wide range of local authorities across the UK and especially in Wales. The work also recognises the need for knowledge sharing. The Local Authority Cyber Eco-System framework is presented in the paper. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/
Extracellular vesicles from the myocyte secretome contribute In vitro to creating an unfavourable environment for migrating lung carcinoma cells
Full text linkCancer progression in skeletal muscle (SkM) is very rare, and mechanisms remain unclear. This study assessed the potential of SkM (myocyte)-derived EVs (C2C12-EVs) as anti-cancer agents. Using murine in vitro models, we showed that following treatment with C2C12-EVs, lung carcinoma cells failed to colonise SkM cells, and that C2C12-EVs selectively exerted apoptosis on cancer cells. Uptake of C2C12-EVs by carcinoma cells caused changes in lysosomal function and mitochondrial membrane properties inducing cell death with elevated caspase 3 and 9. The C2C12-EVs also inhibited cell proliferation, affecting cell cycle arrest at S phase and inhibited cell migration. Proteomic analysis of C2C12-EV cargoes highlighted functional enrichment pathways involved in lysozyme function, HIF-1 and PI3K-Akt signalling, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, pyruvate metabolism, platelet activation, and protein processing in ER. Decorin, a muscle cell-specific cytokine released from myocytes in response to stress, was significantly enriched in C2C12-EVs and may contribute to C2C12-EVs’ inhibitory activity on cancer cells. C2C12-EVs may suppress cancer and potentially be used as therapeutic agents for cancer metastasis
Transfer learning-based distance-adaptive global soft biometrics prediction in surveillance
Full text linkSoft biometric prediction - including age, gender, and ethnicity - is critical in surveillance applications, yet often suffers from performance degradation as subject-to-camera distance increases. This study hypothesizes that embedding distance-awareness into the training process can mitigate such degradation and enhance model generalization across varying visual conditions. We propose a distance-adaptive, multi-task deep learning framework built upon EfficientNetB3, augmented with task-specific heads and trained progressively across four distance intervals (4m to 10m). A weighted composite loss function is employed to balance classification and regression objectives. The model is evaluated on a hybrid dataset combining the Front-View Gait (FVG) and MMV Annotated Pedestrian datasets, totaling over 19,000 samples. Experimental results demonstrate that the framework achieves up to 95% gender classification accuracy at 4 meters and retains 85% accuracy at 10 meters. Ethnicity prediction maintains an accuracy above 65%, while age estimation achieves a mean absolute error (MAE) ranging from 1.1 to 1.5 years. These findings validate the model’s robustness across distances and its superiority over conventional static learning approaches. Despite challenges such as computational overhead and annotation demands, the proposed approach offers a scalable and real-time-capable solution for distance-resilient biometric systems
Management of locally advanced prostate cancer: a scoping review of contemporary evidence and emerging approaches
Full text linkLocally advanced prostate cancers (LAPC) are a clinical dilemma due to their biological heterogeneity and multiple algorithmic treatment options. Recent years have seen a great deal of progress in management, both in established methods and new modalities. This had led to a necessity to systematically map out existing evidence. This scoping review intends to systematically integrate and summarize the zeitgeist research in the area of the care of LAPC to advance the available knowledge, discuss emergent management strategies, and identify evidence needs in different healthcare settings. A scoping review was undertaken following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. A primary study search was conducted on six electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, and Cochrane Library) and gray literature sources published between 2013 and April 2025. The Population-Concept-Context (PCC) framework guided the eligibility. Data were plotted and thematically synthesized into six key domains: hormonal therapy, radiotherapy innovations, surgical strategies, new systemic therapies, imaging improvements, and real-life evidence. Six studies were included, consisting of a randomized controlled trial, an observational study, and a diagnostic review. The main themes were the benefits of multimodal treatment, the impact of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and genomic profiling, and the role of second-generation androgen receptor inhibitors and regional disparities in access to treatments. Combination therapies showed oncologic benefits, but raised concerns about patients' quality-of-life outcomes. The management of LAPC is moving to a related precision-based, multimodal paradigm. Although current knowledge supports more aggressive and individualized therapy, there are still data gaps in long-term outcomes, global uptake, and patient-reported measures. Future research needs to be based on inclusive longitudinal studies that span between clinical innovation and real-world application
Navigating challenges for supply chain transparency in the digital enterprises
No full textPurpose:
In the age of digital businesses, the rise of innovative digital transformation has made supply chain transparency (SCT) an essential research topic. While digital technologies provide possibilities for enhancing transparency in supply chains, there is limited research on how digital businesses overcome different SCT issues or provide real-time visibility and traceability. This research investigates the different challenges of transparency in supply chains for digital businesses in the age of digital transformation.
Design/methodology/approach:
Challenges are identified through a comprehensive literature review and finalized through the fuzzy-Delphi method (FDM) after industry experts’ validation. Data is gathered, ranked and prioritized through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) entropy method.
Findings:
The study reveals that challenges related to data privacy and security, supplier resistance, and lack of data standardization grouped under Cluster 1 (Critical Digital Friction Points) pose the most significant barriers to supply chain transparency in digital enterprises. These are followed by Cluster 2 (Operational Capability Gaps) and Cluster 3 (External and Strategic Constraints), highlighting a clear prioritization framework for addressing SCT issues in a structured, phased manner.
Implications: By leveraging advanced digital technologies to gather, share, and analyze supply chain data, digital enterprises can overcome these challenges, enhance operational effectiveness, and gain stakeholders' trust. These findings can be utilized by policymakers to develop guidelines that enhance transparency while maintaining data security. Practitioners can develop targeted strategies to address supplier resistance and infrastructure deficiencies.
Originality:
This study makes three distinct contributions. Firstly, it fills a gap in current literature by initiating a clear debate on supply chain transparency beyond generic or sustainability-focused models, illuminating its unique dimensions in digital enterprises. Secondly, it demonstrates the practical importance of SCT by identifying and prioritizing the key challenges that are faced by digitally transforming companies. Thirdly, it advances theory by contrasting traditional perspectives with new insights drawn from our findings, offering both actionable guidance and novel conceptual frameworks for transparency in digitally enabled supply chains
Data-driven nonquadratic stabilization of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems
No full textThis work presents a new data-driven fuzzy control framework for the nonquadratic stabilization of Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy systems. We provide a data-driven stabilization condition via a nonquadratic Lyapunov function using only trajectory data collected from the system. Moreover, we propose a systematic methodology to obtain data-driven TS representations of nonlinear systems from a given dictionary of premise variables, via the sector nonlinearity approach. Besides synthesizing the fuzzy controller such that the origin of the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable, we provide an estimate of the region of attraction of the closed-loop equilibrium with formal guarantees. The estimate of the region of attraction is crucial to enable the implementation of the fuzzy controller in circumstances where the membership functions are well-defined for the state trajectory lying in a given region of validity. Numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed data-driven fuzzy control
framework
Durability of parameters associated with endurance running in marathoners
Full text linkPhysiological markers of endurance performance include the maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak), its fractional utilisation at lactate threshold (FULT), and running economy (RE), which are closely tied to the speed eliciting the lactate threshold (sLT). These parameters deteriorate during prolonged exercise, and the ability to resist such declines (i.e., durability) is now also considered a marker of marathon performance. This study investigated the durability of markers of endurance performance (V̇O2peak, FULT and RE), and whether the durability of these markers was associated with marathon performance. Eighteen participants of the 2024 London Marathon (11 males, age: 41 ± 12 years, marathon finish time: 3:17 ± 0:32 h:min) completed two separate visits to determine V̇O2peak, FULT, RE and sLT in a ‘fresh’ state (PRE) and following a 90‐min run at sLT (POST). Reductions in V̇O2peak (PRE: 56.7 ± 7.2 mL·kg−1·min−1 vs. POST: 53.4 ± 6.3 mL·kg−1·min−1, p 0.05). The percentage change in sLT between POST and PRE (r = 0.680, p < 0.01) was significantly associated with marathon performance, whereby small deteriorations of sLT were associated with faster marathon times. Prolonged running impairs key physiological markers of endurance performance, and the degree of this deterioration, that is, durability, is associated with marathon performance. Marathon runners and practitioners should consider quantifying durability to complement existing physiological markers