ethicalabs/Research-Intent-Collab huggingface dataset:
Identifying Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Trends Contributing to Variation in Post-Fermented Theobroma cacao using Shotgun Metagenomics

The fermentation of Theobroma cacao is the most important factor in the final quality and flavor of their resulting chocolate product. While cacao is grown in over 50 countries worldwide, there is limited information identifying how the varied environment may impact the growth of microbial diversity during fermentation. The purpose of this study is to identify microbial communities of post-fermented cocoa beans from a wide range of geographic locations. We investigated correlations between their abundances and the environment in which they are fermented. Genomic DNA was extracted from 25 samples of dried, fermented cocoa beans and shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed using the Illumina NovaSeq X Plus Sequencer. Taxonomic results recorded 13,445 species Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and 3,376 genus OTUs throughout all samples, including high abundances for Acetobacter pasteurianus, Acetobacter oryzoeni, and Alkalihalobacillus clausii. OTU data was used to calculate several alpha and beta diversity metrics. Results show high levels of microbial diversity across samples in South America, and lower levels of diversity across samples from Asia. Canonical Correlation Analysis was conducted to identify correlations between Alpha Diversity and environmental factors, in which precipitation and mean annual temperature had correlations above 0.95. Generalized Linear Models were performed to identify correlations between environmental factors and microbe species, in which 8 species correlated with precipitation, 5 species correlated with mean annual temperature, 4 species correlated with elevation, 7 species correlated with soil pH, and 6 species correlated with distance from the equator. The results of this study give insight into the correlation between microbial communities and environmental factors, providing cacao farmers the opportunity to optimize their fermentation and produce a favorable product.
Verification Without a Treaty. Demonstrative Verification in Arms Control, Disarmament, and Space Security

In the established practice of nuclear arms control and disarmament agreements, verification provisions are negotiated as part of a treaty to provide States with a mechanism to assess compliance and to deter violations of its terms. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to negotiate new legally binding agreements, whether bilateral or multilateral. In some areas, in the absence of a functioning treaty, States assume certain obligations that constrain their behaviour, such as moratoriums on fissile material production or explosive nuclear tests, or a commitment to constrain deployment of some weapon systems. However, without agreed verification mechanisms, it is often difficult to confirm compliance with such obligations. This report suggests an approach to verifying obligations assumed by States through a mechanism of demonstrative verification, in which a State that wants to demonstrate compliance with its obligations unilaterally implements measures to positively prove its compliance to an international audience. To be effective, these measures must include a detailed verification protocol, rely on open data rather than intelligence estimates, and potentially involve independent observers. This report discusses potential applications of this approach to nuclear arms control and space security.
High-mountain hybrid installation for multicomponent detection of air-showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Published by SISSA, Trieste
Uniformly decaying subspaces for error-mitigated quantum computation

We present a general condition to obtain subspaces that decay uniformly in a system governed by the Lindblad master equation and use them to perform error mitigated quantum computation. The expectation values of dynamics encoded in such subspaces are unbiased estimators of noise-free expectation values. In analogy to the decoherence free subspaces which are left invariant by the action of Lindblad operators, we show that the uniformly decaying subspaces are left invariant (up to orthogonal terms) by the action of the dissipative part of the Lindblad equation. We apply our theory to a system of qubits and qudits undergoing relaxation with varying decay rates and show that such subspaces can be used to eliminate bias up to first order variations in the decay rates without requiring full knowledge of noise. Since such a bias cannot be corrected through standard symmetry verification, our method can improve error mitigation in dual-rail qubits and given partial knowledge of noise, can perform better than probabilistic error cancellation.
Loss and Damage as an Alternative to Resilience and Vulnerability? Preliminary Reflections on an Emerging Climate Change Adaptation Discourse

One relatively novel way of assessing the characteristics and limitations of resilience and vulnerability (R&V) is undertaken in this article by investigating a growing alternative paradigm—loss and damage (L&D) policy. The idea of L&D as an emerging policy may be surprising to many in the disaster risk management community, and so we first outline the origins of this trend, and then explore the potential benefits and pitfalls of adopting it. This short article represents our preliminary opinions and observations regarding this reintroduction of a long-established concept. We also present results from a very brief peer-group survey on some of the first immediate reactions towards L&D policy. At this early stage, this article cannot offer a full-fledged analysis, but our reflections may serve as a starting point to encourage further discussion.
The Ukrainian crisis and the question of sovereignty and territorial integrity

The current armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a consequence of their decade's long complex and complicated relations, which was influenced by the United States and the countries of Western Europe. The organization of the referendum and signing of the decree on the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and the conflicts in the Donbass that lasted until 2018 significantly damaged the political relations of these two countries, which were part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when they acquired their independence. The escalation of continuously bad relations led to an armed conflict, but also to the most significant political, economic and military crisis, and the consequences which were felt by the entire world. The topic of this research is the Ukrainian crisis with reference to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine after the referendums and the joining of four regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson) to the Russian Federation. The article aims to indicate and emphasize that the key international actors who (in)directly participate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have different approaches when it comes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, that is, when it comes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, forgetting on respecting the principle of sovereign equality of states. In other words, since the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, we have witnessed that member states of the international community, guided by their own national interests, can take different positions regarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a particular state, as a result of differently formulated policies.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR PHYSICS WITH REACTOR NEUTRONS. OCTOBER 15-17, 1963. A Topical Conference of the American Physical Society

The subject matter is divided into five sections: fundamental properties of neutrons, precision measurements of and experiments with capture gamma rays, neutron cross sections, and fission processes. Of the 52 papers presented, separate abstracts were prepared for 43; 9 were previously abstracted in NSA. (R.E.U.)
The ethics of simplification: Balancing patient autonomy, comprehension, and accuracy in AI-generated radiology reports

Abstract         Background  Large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 are increasingly used to simplify radiology reports and improve patient comprehension. However, excessive simplification may undermine informed consent and autonomy by compromising clinical accuracy. This study investigates the ethical implications of readability thresholds in AI-generated radiology reports, identifying the minimum reading level at which clinical accuracy is preserved. Methods  We retrospectively analyzed 500 computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging reports from a tertiary hospital. Each report was transformed into 17 versions (reading grade levels 1–17) using GPT-4 Turbo. Readability metrics and word counts were calculated for each version. Clinical accuracy was evaluated using radiologist assessments and PubMed-BERTScore. We identified the first grade level at which a statistically significant decline in accuracy occurred, determining the lowest level that preserved both accuracy and readability. We further assessed potential clinical consequences in reports simplified to the 7th-grade level. Results  Readability scores showed strong correlation with prompted reading levels (r = 0.80–0.84). Accuracy remained stable across grades 13–11 but declined significantly below grade 11. At the 7th-grade level, 20% of reports contained inaccuracies with potential to alter patient management, primarily due to omission, incorrect conversion, or inappropriate generalization. The 11th-grade level emerged as the current lower bound for preserving accuracy in LLM-generated radiology reports. Conclusions  Our findings highlight an ethical tension between improving readability and maintaining clinical accuracy. While 7th-grade readability remains an ethical ideal, current AI tools cannot reliably produce accurate reports below the 11th-grade level. Ethical implementation of AI-generated reporting should include layered communication strategies and model transparency to safeguard patient autonomy and comprehension.
The artificial intelligence behind the podcast microphone: AI-generated content in podcasting

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review, the main aim of which is to gather information on the ways in which artificial intelligence is currently being used in content generation in the podcast industry, what tools can be used to do so, and how the merging of the two fields has evolved. Based on the structure and role specification of the podcast host, AI tools that could fulfill these roles were identified. The paper specifically focuses on podcast production in the early stages, i.e. the conception, development and curation of raw content, for which advanced technologies for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Speech Synthesis (TTS) and Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) are specific. This review is based on systematic research in databases, academic journals, conference proceedings, and other relevant sources related to artificial intelligence, the podcasting industry, and a generalization of their results. In particular, the Google Scholar database for scholarly articles and Google search engines were used to collect information on these tools. Finally, individual research on AI-generated content in the time range between 2006 – 2023 was construed using a neutral interpretation. The final selection includes 14 relevant studies in the field of AI and podcasting interfacing and 48 selected AI tools that can mostly be used individually and separately in the entire podcast production process. The contribution of this literature review is the structured consolidation of information, promotion of interdisciplinary research, and provision of state of the art in the field.
Real-time Finite Element simulations for surgical assistance - applications to training, augmented reality and robotic control

The end of the 1980s marked a turning point since which Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) has been progressively recognized as a safe and effective approach to meet surgical needs while decreasingthe rates of complications and traumas for patients. In less than 20 years, it has become the gold standard for many practitioners and has completely revolutionized how surgery is approached in developed countries.
A Decentralized Edge Computing Latency-Aware Task Management Method With High Availability for IoT Applications

Rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT), and other intelligent devices, introduced different applications which offer real-time latency features; however, it is difficult to handle the large volumes of data produced during the computational process, to adequately complete tasks. The decentralized edge computing process handles the task at the user&#x2019;s end to accomplish latency applications, but recent research adopted centralized methodologies for computing in the edge network, placing additional overhead for cluster management and grouping. In this paper, we formulate an edge nodes group on task arrivals with a decentralized technique to process jobs, in a parallel mode, to complete execution. In addition, high availability will be added to promise effective processing of IoT based applications executed in the edge computing system. In the edge node environment, where resources are restricted, there is a requirement for high availability methods, which can deliver system reliability according to the local device information, without the data of network topology. In this paper, our technique is to enhance network reliability with the help of the edge node&#x2019;s local information, which is executed in the distributed edge computing network, while also proposing a high availability technique to enhance the overall IoT environment. Our proposed Latency Aware Algorithm for Edge Computing with High Availability (LAAECHA) detects edge nodes faults, repairs edge nodes and replaces edge nodes with backups, using a new algorithm in a decentralized mode. Our research results show that the proposed LAAECHA method is more effective than existing methods, ensuring latency-aware IoT applications achieve their deadlines, while significantly reducing network traffic as well as guaranteeing system availability and reliability of the IoT network.
Contribution to the analysis of the positions of trade unions and employers regarding genetic pre-employment tests

Projet BIOTECH
Protection of Religious Minorities under Islamic Legal System and International Law of Human Rights

This article, through a descriptive-analytic method and on a library-based approach and by means of analyzing the protection of religious minorities under Islamic legal system in one side and International Minority Protection Law (IMPL) in the other side, aims to illustrate the relation between these two systems. Religious Minorities have been the first type of these groups enjoying international legal protection and it was after the occurrences such as French Revolution and American Independence that protection has been on rather secular basis. Religious minorities have been a serious Islamic concern from the outset of its revelation. Thereupon, through taking into account the requirements of time and place could be a remarkable pattern in protecting minorities. States, by means of human rights obligations, have a duty to respect, protect and fulfill religious rights of minorities under International Law; meanwhile, in Islamic system and under Tribute Contract, Islamic State shall protect minorities and respect and ensure their political, civil, economic, social and judicial rights. As a result, by comparison with International Human Rights Law, it seems that Tribute Contract, at least in a faith community, is more capable in realization and assurance of the rights of religious minorities.
A política municipal de videomonitoramento da cidade de Curitiba/PR: poder, vigilância e o direito à privacidade / The municipal policy of video monitoring in the city of Curitiba/PR: power, surveillance and the right to privacy

O objetivo do presente artigo é analisar em que medida a política de videomonitoramento conflita com a liberdade e privacidade das pessoas, tendo em vista as concepções de vigilância e poder em Foucault. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter bibliográfico e documental. Na cidade de Curitiba/PR, desde 2005 foram sancionadas leis a respeito da instalação de câmeras de monitoramento. Em 2019 foi aprovada a política municipal de videomonitoramento e em 2021 o decreto nº 1035 regulamentou o sistema de controle das câmeras, chamado de “Muralha Digital”. Verificou-se que o uso de câmeras de vigilância em Curitiba aproxima-se, na atualidade, do panoptismo estudado por Foucault (1987), isto porque a ausência de parâmetros precisos quanto à utilização, alcance, localização, amplitude das imagens capturadas pelas câmeras são, de fato, além de uma expressão de poder, uma ameaça a direitos fundamentais, como a privacidade. Por fim, a atual política de monitoramento municipal da cidade de Curitiba, Paraná, apesar de representar um avanço tecnológico importante e irrefreável, não é capaz de garantir que não ocorram violações de direitos fundamentais.
Genetic Discrimination, Life Insurance, and Justice as Fairness

In this paper, I use justice as fairness (JAF) to inquire whether any issues of liberal justice are raised by the practice of genetic discrimination in society, in particular from the standpoint of life insurance pricing in Canada. I present three ways in which JAF may apply. First and foremost, Rawls’ negative thesis can be interpreted to say that one’s genetic characteristics are morally arbitrary and therefore persons do not deserve to be advantaged or disadvantaged by the basic structure of society based on these characteristics. Second, as James W. Nickel observes, Rawls’ principle of equal basic liberties can be interpreted to include a right to privacy which is necessary, among other things, in order to protect other basic rights and liberties. Third, as Martin O’Neill maintains, life insurance is a gateway social good that allows individuals to access primary goods and to live a full human life. Therefore, securing this important good on non-discriminatory grounds is of fundamental importance for a society committed to social justice.
De-risking Carbon Capture and Sequestration with Explainable CO2 Leakage Detection in Time-lapse Seismic Monitoring Images

With the growing global deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technology to combat climate change, monitoring and detection of potential CO2 leakage through existing or storage induced faults are critical to the safe and long-term viability of the technology. Recent work on time-lapse seismic monitoring of CO2 storage has shown promising results in its ability to monitor the growth of the CO2 plume from surface recorded seismic data. However, due to the low sensitivity of seismic imaging to CO2 concentration, additional developments are required to efficiently interpret the seismic images for leakage. In this work, we introduce a binary classification of time-lapse seismic images to delineate CO2 plumes (leakage) using state-of-the-art deep learning models. Additionally, we localize the leakage region of CO2 plumes by leveraging Class Activation Mapping methods.
Cosmological<i>N</i>-body simulations with generic hot dark matter

We have calculated the non-linear effects of generic fermionic and bosonic hot dark matter components in cosmological N-body simulations. For sub-eV masses, the non-linear power spectrum suppression caused by thermal free-streaming resembles the one seen for massive neutrinos, whereas for masses larger than 1eV, the non-linear relative suppression of power is smaller than in linear theory. We furthermore find that in the non-linear regime, one can map fermionic to bosonic models by performing a simple transformation.
DOME: Recommendations for supervised machine learning validation in biology

Modern biology frequently relies on machine learning to provide predictions and improve decision processes. There have been recent calls for more scrutiny on machine learning performance and possible limitations. Here we present a set of community-wide recommendations aiming to help establish standards of supervised machine learning validation in biology. Adopting a structured methods description for machine learning based on data, optimization, model, evaluation (DOME) will aim to help both reviewers and readers to better understand and assess the performance and limitations of a method or outcome. The recommendations are formulated as questions to anyone wishing to pursue implementation of a machine learning algorithm. Answers to these questions can be easily included in the supplementary material of published papers.
Using blockchain technology for transparency in mining: a strategy to reduce corruption and increase accountability

The application of blockchain technology and the implementation of synthetic diamond production represent innovative strategies to transform the mineral resources sector in Angola, with a specific focus on the province of Lunda Sul, where the Catoca mine is located. Blockchain technology aims to improve the governance model and promote greater transparency and traceability in mining operations, a factor that contributes to the mitigation of corrupt practices and the strengthening of corporate responsibility. In addition, the production of synthetic diamonds emerges as a sustainable alternative, capable of reducing the environmental impact associated with traditional mining, and at the same time increasing the competitiveness of the sector in the global market. To support this work, an exploratory and explanatory methodology was adopted, including interviews with key stakeholders, such as two mining companies and the Department of Mines at the Faculty of Engineering of Agostinho Neto University. The referenced interviews enabled a detailed analysis of the current challenges of the sector and the opportunities related to the integration of disruptive technologies, such as blockchain technology, and sustainable practices, such as diamond synthesis. Therefore, the combination of such approaches can transform the Angolan mineral sector, aligning it with contemporary demands for transparency, sustainability, and operational efficiency.
Law, Uncertainty and emerging Technologies: Towards a Constructive Implementationof the Precautionary Principle in the Case of Nanotechnologies

The paper deals with the impact of nanotechnologies on the view of legal regulation and moves from the idea that emerging technologies offer an excellent perspective from which to analyze the shift from government to governance, that typically occurs nowadays. Nanotechnologies affect many legal domains, including environmental protection, consumer protection, medical law, occupational health and safety, privacy and civil liberties, intellectual property rights, and patent law. Three main issues are addressed in the paper: (1) the applicability to nanotechnologies products and processes of the law already in force for other purposes; (2) the meaning, role and limits of the precautionary principle; (3) the role of soft law in the governance of nanotechnologies. In the paper, a constructive meaning of the precautionary principle is embraced; it is maintained that such meaning can only be clarified through the implementation of the principle; self-regulation and soft law are thought of as a form of regulation suitable, if properly joined with hard law, to implement the precautionary principle and to manage the uncertainty arising from emerging technologies.
18. Linking phylogenetic systematics to evolutionary biology : toward a research program in biodiversity

(Uploaded by Plazi from the Biodiversity Heritage Library) No abstract provided.