642,612 research outputs found
An Analysis of a Method for Reducing Pretrial Delay in Court systems
No full textOperations Research Report
The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a megabrand author - a publishing case study
No full textIn 2020, the Christmas book charts in the UK made headlines: Barack Obama’s eagerly awaited autobiography, The Promised Land, was beaten to the top spot by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a debut cosy crime novel set in a retirement village. Not only did Osman’s book beat the former US president’s expected bestseller, it also broke records, becoming the fastest-selling debut crime novel of all time. Although Osman has a certain level of fame in the UK from his TV appearances on shows such as Pointless, his celebrity status does not entirely explain the novel’s huge sales. This article tracks the acquisition, publication, and promotion journey of The Thursday Murder Club in order to understand the industry and cultural context of its success and to interrogate the role of celebrity in the creation of author brands. The findings suggest that the unexpected scale of the success of the book owed to a number of factors, including in-depth editing by the novel’s agent, editor, and author to tighten up the plot, an extensive and strategic promotional campaign, the pandemic (which drove interest in the book’s genre and themes), and the quality of the writing. We find that the book’s success was accentuated by Osman’s celebrity status rather than being entirely reliant on it. This research adds to the growing scholarship on celebrity authorship by means of an in-depth case study and provides insight into the processes behind publishing a ‘celebrity’ book and launching a megabrand author
The vanishing author in computer-generated works: a critical analysis of recent Australian case law
No full textAbstract
The use of software is ubiquitous in the creation of many copyright works, yet the requirement in copyright law that every work have a human author who engages in independent intellectual effort means that its use may prevent copyright subsistence. Several recent Australian cases have refocused attention on authorship as an essential criterion of copyright subsistence, and these cases suggest that much computer-produced output may be authorless and thus lack copyright protection. This article, the first in a two-part series, analyses how each case deals with the question of authorship of computer-produced works and why the use of software diminishes copyright protection for a significant number of computer-generated works. The article critiques the application of conventional notions of human authorship developed in the pre-computer age to modern productions and suggests alternative approaches to authorship that satisfy both the major objectives of copyright policy and the need to adapt to the computer age. The article argues that, without a broader judicial approach to authorship of computer-generated works, Parliament must remedy the lacuna in protection for these ‘authorless’ works. Possible solutions for reform are suggested. In a forthcoming article, the author comprehensively examines those reform proposals
Human-AI Collaboration in Academic Writing: towards a Synergy Model and A Case to Include AI as a Co-Author
No full textAs generative AI systems such as ChatGPT and Gemini 2.5 become increasingly integrated into academic workflows, the question of their legitimacy, limitations, and potential in scholarly writing has become urgent. This paper presents a reflexive case study of a sustained collaboration between a domain expert in consciousness studies and Gemini 2.5, culminating in the co-authorship of a peer-reviewed research article. By analyzing exactly 37,440 words of recorded interactions, we identify patterns of synergy, including recursive refinement, conceptual amplification, and accelerated manuscript development. We argue that when guided by a knowledgeable human author, AI can act as a cognitive partner rather than a passive tool—amplifying scholarly creativity and improving efficiency without compromising academic rigor. The case supports a '1+1=3' synergy model for co-authorship, in which human steering and AI fluency converge to produce novel insights and polished output faster and more effectively than either could achieve alone. The findings advocate for a paradigm shift from prohibitive policies to the responsible, expert-guided integration of AI in academic research and writing, grounded in transparency and accountability, and present arguments for why the AI tool should be listed as a co-author despite current injunctions against such practice
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Point Estimate Method in Risk Analysis for Tunnel Support System Selection: A Case Study in Taloun Road Tunnel
No full textRock mass has generally inhomogeneous nature and required data to design underground structures are inadequate. These data are mainly obtained from site investigations and laboratory tests. So, out put uncertainties during construction process in the rock mass are inevitable. In this paper, a new approach to design primary support patterns based on risk analysis was proposed. With regard to uncertainty in friction angle, rock mass compressive strength and deformation modulus, this approach applies point estimate technique to determination of uncertainty of tunnel stability. The tunnel support pattern was quantified by considering risk analysis, construction costs and tunnel collapse resulted costs. The developed approach was investigated in Taloun road tunnel. Eighteen various support patterns were considered and finally the pattern with the lowest risk level among all of them was proposed. The analysis results show that P9 support pattern consisting of 25 mm diameter, 3.6 m long and 2*2 m grid rock bolts come with 15 cm thick shotcrete reinforced with wire mesh had the lowest risk level in section under study and consequently was proposed as the best support system
Are we going towards "no-brainer" risk management? A case study on climate hazards
No full textThe overall risk management domain is stepping into its 4.0 phase by implementing and increasingly relaying on cyber-technological systems. Enhanced computational power provides the capability of processing collected databases for prediction and preparation purposes. In fact, early warnings can lead to suggestion for proactive strategies, or directly initiate the action of autonomous actuators ensuring the required level of system safety. But have we reached the promises of digital risk management yet, or will we ever reach them? A traditional view on safety defines it as the absence of accidents and incidents. A forward-looking perspective on safety affirms that it involves ensuring that "as many things as possible go right". However, in both the views there is an element of uncertainty associated to the prediction of future risks and, more subtle, to the capability of possessing all the necessary information for such prediction. This uncertainty does not simply disappear once we apply advanced Machine Learning (ML) techniques to the infinite series of possible accident scenarios, but it can be found behind modelling choices and parameters setting. In a nutshell, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch", i.e., any model claiming superior flexibility usually introduces extra assumptions. This contribution will illustrate a case on climate-driven disaster data extracted from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) where ML techniques are used to understand natural disaster mortality and unravel underlying causes and influential factors that can inform decision-making and be relevant for risk reduction efforts. This manuscript may allow to affirm with certain confidence that present risk management systems are not even close to a "no-brainer" condition in which the responsibility for human and system safety is entirely moved to the machine. However, this shows that such advanced techniques are progressively providing a reliable support for critical decision making and guiding society towards more risk-informed and safety-responsible planning
Limb salvage versus amputation: Experience of a young patient at a university hospital
No full textDecision-making regarding limb amputation represents a significant clinical challenge, especially when the initial evaluation does not coincide with the criteria established in scales used worldwide, as is the case of the MESS scale. This article presents the case of a 24-year-old female patient who was transferred to a university hospital after a road traffic accident with severe and large lesions in the left lower limb. Despite a poor initial prognosis and in-hospital complications, including multiple surgical procedures and foot drop, a favorable recovery was achieved with complete anatomical salvage of the limb at risk. The multidisciplinary approach and intensive rehabilitation were instrumental in achieving a satisfactory functional recovery. This case highlights the importance of considering factors beyond amputation scale scores, as well as the need for comprehensive care to improve outcomes in patients with complex extremity injuries. © 2024 The Author
An unusual case of unilateral sinus disease may reveal the presence of a retained foreign body
No full textIntroduction: Differential diagnosis of unilateral sinus disease (USD) is important in clinical practice as it can be broad, and for which timely and effective treatment is important. With this report we would like to present a case of a patient with a foreign body retained in the left maxillary sinus for eight years. Presentation of case: A 50-year-old gardener referred to have been injured on the job in 2010. Even though he was wearing his safety helmet with face shield and earmuffs, he had the sensation to have been hit by an object coming from the soil, while he was using his grass trimmer. However, the patient was asymptomatic with no complications. After eight years, the man started experiencing left nasal obstruction associated with purulent discharge and ipsilateral headache. A fetid odor coming from inside the nose and described as “the carcass of a dog” led him to seek medical attention. The patient underwent a functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) with septoplasty and a foreign body, consisting of a metal nail, was retrieved. Discussion: This case highlights a two key learning points. The first one concerns occupational safety measures; full-face shield helmets are the best option and should be employed in order to avoid the penetration of any possibly dangerous materials. Secondly, grass trimmers with more sophisticated designs are required in order to prevent injuries like this. Conclusions: Besides being peculiar because of the onset of clinical symptoms, this case report highlights the importance of full-face shield helmets and certified machinery
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Identifying idiolect in forensic authorship attribution: an n-gram textbite approach
No full textForensic authorship attribution is concerned with identifying authors of disputed or anonymous documents, which are potentially evidential in legal cases, through the analysis of linguistic clues left behind by writers. The forensic linguist “approaches this problem of questioned authorship from the theoretical position that every native speaker has their own distinct and individual version of the language [. . . ], their own idiolect” (Coulthard, 2004: 31). However, given the diXculty in empirically substantiating a theory of idiolect, there is growing concern in the Veld that it remains too abstract to be of practical use (Kredens, 2002; Grant, 2010; Turell, 2010). Stylistic, corpus, and computational approaches to text, however, are able to identify repeated collocational patterns, or n-grams, two to six word chunks of language, similar to the popular notion of soundbites: small segments of no more than a few seconds of speech that journalists are able to recognise as having news value and which characterise the important moments of talk. The soundbite oUers an intriguing parallel for authorship attribution studies, with the following question arising: looking at any set of texts by any author, is it possible to identify ‘n-gram textbites’, small textual segments that characterise that author’s writing, providing DNA-like chunks of identifying material
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