ethicalabs/Research-Intent-Collab huggingface dataset:
Laminar diffusion flame in microgravity: The results of the minitexus 6 sounding rocket experiment

A flat plate of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) exposed on one surface to a laminar oxidizer flow (40% oxygen and 60% nitrogen) was ignited at the downstream edge, allowing for propagation of a diffusion flame opposing the flow. The flame front is flat, so edge effects can be neglected and the flame can be considered two-dimensional. The experiment was conducted on board a sounding rocket (MiniTexus 6) that provided 180 seconds of microgravity (10 −5 g 0 ). Two charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras provided a lateral and a top view of the flame, and an infrared camera with a narrowband filter centered at 4.28  μ m served to estimate the temperature of the PMMA surface. A green-light sheet perpendicular to the fuel surface, and a third CDD camera (side view) with a narrowband filter centered on the light served to record illuminated silver-coated glass beads. The glass beads follow the flow, allowing the determination of streamlines and the estimation of the distortion of the flow field introduced by the flame. The experimental results are presented in the context of other experimental results obtained in drop towers and parabolic flights. Experiments were conducted for three different flow velocities, 150 mm/s, 100 mm/s, and 50 mm/s, corresponding to strong propagation, transitional regime, and extinction regime, respectively. The experimental results provide evidence on the role of flame radiation, in-depth conduction, and surface reradiation in the low-velocity extinction process. The illuminated particles show that the flame modifies the flow structure upstream of the flame beyond the leading edge region. The effect of the flame on the flow decreases with the oxidizer velocity.
Neutron physics for nuclear reactors: unpublished writings

This unique volume gives an accurate and very detailed description of the functioning and operation of basic nuclear reactors, as emerging from yet unpublished papers by Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi. In the first part, the entire course of lectures on Neutron Physics delivered by Fermi at Los Alamos is reported, according to the version made by Anthony P French. Here, the fundamental physical phenomena are described very clearly and comprehensively, giving the appropriate physics grounds for the functioning of nuclear piles. In the second part, all the patents issued by Fermi (and coworkers) on the functioning, construction and operation of several different kinds of nuclear reactors are reported. Here, the main engineering problems are encountered and solved by employing simple and practical methods, which are described in detail.
Effectiveness, Safety and Cost-Effectiveness of Homeopathy in General Practice – Summarized Health Technology Assessment

The Health Technology Assessment report on effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of homeopathy was compiled on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (BAG) within the framework of the 'Program of Evaluation of Complementary Medicine (PEK)'.Databases accessible by Internet were systematically searched, complemented by manual search and contacts with experts, and evaluated according to internal and external validity criteria.Many high-quality investigations of pre-clinical basic research proved homeopathic high-potencies inducing regulative and specific changes in cells or living organisms. 20 of 22 systematic reviews detected at least a trend in favor of homeopathy. In our estimation 5 studies yielded results indicating clear evidence for homeopathic therapy. The evaluation of 29 studies in the domain 'Upper Respiratory Tract Infections/Allergic Reactions' showed a positive overall result in favor of homeopathy. 6 out of 7 controlled studies were at least equivalent to conventional medical interventions. 8 out of 16 placebo-controlled studies were significant in favor of homeopathy. Swiss regulations grant a high degree of safety due to product and training requirements for homeopathic physicians. Applied properly, classical homeopathy has few side-effects and the use of high-potencies is free of toxic effects. A general health-economic statement about homeopathy cannot be made from the available data.Taking internal and external validity criteria into account, effectiveness of homeopathy can be supported by clinical evidence and professional and adequate application be regarded as safe. Reliable statements of cost-effectiveness are not available at the moment. External and model validity will have to be taken more strongly into consideration in future studies.
Measuring the black hole masses in accreting X-ray binaries by detecting the Doppler orbital motion of their accretion disk wind absorption lines

So far essentially all black hole masses in X-ray binaries have been obtained by observing the companion star's velocity and light curves as functions of the orbital phase. However a major uncertainty is the estimate of the orbital inclination angle of an X-ray binary. Here we suggest to measure the black hole mass in an X-ray binary by measuring directly the black hole's orbital motion, thus obtaining the companion to black hole mass ratio. In this method we assume that accretion disk wind moves with the black hole and thus the black hole's orbital motion can be obtained from the Doppler velocity of the absorption lines produced in the accretion disk wind. We validate this method by analyzing the Chandra/HETG observations of GRO J1655-40, in which the black hole orbital motion with line of sight velocity of 90.8 (+-11.3) km/s, inferred from the Doppler velocity of disk-wind absorption lines, is consistent with the prediction from its previously measured system parameters. We obtain the black hole mass of 5.41 (+0.98, -0.57) solar masses and system inclination of 72.0 (+7.8, -7.5) degrees in GRO J1655-40. Additional observations of this source covering more orbital phases can improve estimates on its system parameters substantially. We then apply the method to the black hole X-ray binary LMC X-3 observed with HST/COS near orbital phase 0.75. We find that the disk-wind absorption lines of CIV doublet were shifted to about 50 km/s, which yields a companion-to-black-hole mass ratio of 0.6 for an assumed disk wind velocity of -400 km/s. Additional observations covering other orbital phases (0.25 in particular) are crucial to ease this assumption and then to directly constrain the mass ratio. This method in principle can also be applied to any accreting compact objects with detectable accretion disk wind absorption line features.
Sphinx: A Secure Architecture Based on Binary Code Diversification and Execution Obfuscation

Sphinx, a hardware-software co-design architecture for binary code and runtime obfuscation. The Sphinx architecture uses binary code diversification and self-reconfigurable processing elements to maintain application functionality while obfuscating the binary code and architecture states to attackers. This approach dramatically reduces an attacker's ability to exploit information gained from one deployment to attack another deployment. Our results show that the Sphinx is able to decouple the program's execution time, power and memory and I/O activities from its functionality. It is also practical in the sense that the system (both software and hardware) overheads are minimal.
Research on Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

The paper aims to revisit the relationship between reporting companies’ characteristics and the importance assigned to social and environmental disclosure, using statistical correlations. We conducted a content analysis on the extent of sustainability reports of the largest 50 companies classified by Global Fortune in 2009, in order to address the research hypotheses. Results show that size characteristics measured by assets and revenues cannot be correlated to the extent of Corporate Social Responsibility reports published by companies, but there is a significant negative correlation between change in revenues and return on equity and social and environmental disclosure for the sampled companies.
The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory as the Critique of Popular Culture

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie krytyki kultury masowej w ujęciu szkoły frankfurckiej. Autorzy dowodzą, iż teoria krytyczna stanowi specyficzną interpretację filozofii marksistowskiej, definiującą na nowo niektóre społeczne oraz polityczne elementy takie jak: produkcja, dystrybucja, fetyszyzacja, konsumpcja oraz wskazuje miejsce i rolę przemysłu kulturowego w powiązaniu z kulturą globalną. W zakończeniu podkreśla się, że koncepcje szkoły frankfurckiej są stale obecne w naukach społecznych oraz uwzględniane przez badaczy.
The Normative Dilemma(s) in the African Human Rights System and its Effects on the Development of Human Rights Jurisprudence: A Focus on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

The butterfly effect illustrates how a small oversight, if left unchecked, can have significant consequences over time. A pertinent example of this principle is found in the Protocol establishing the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, which notably does not grant the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child direct access to this court. This omission is particularly striking when compared to the limited access afforded to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. To address this impasse, the Committee sought an advisory opinion from the African Court regarding its access. This contribution critically analyses the Court’s advisory opinion in relation to the submissions made by the Committee. The analysis is reflective and proffers some insights worthy of future consideration. It attempts to analyse some of the premises used by the Court to arrive at the final decision in its advisory opinion. The reasons provided, while mostly procedural, cannot shy away from some of the substantive child rights principles that informed, and should have informed the advisory opinion. The sources used for this reflection include submissions by the African Committee, the advisory opinion, the procedural rules of the African Court, the experiences of other regional courts and the jurisprudence of the Court.
Edge Computing and its Role in IoT: Analyze how Edge Computing is Transforming IoT by Processing Data at the Edge of the Network, Reducing Latency and Enhancing Data Security

An age of technological revolution has begun as a result of the Internet of Things (IoT) explosive growth, in which billions of gadgets gather and exchange data over several networks. The conventional cloud- centric approach of data processing faces substantial hurdles as Internet of Things (IoT) devices become more sophisticated and data-intensive. These challenges include high latency, bandwidth limits, and privacy concerns. By decentralizing data processing and moving it closer to the data source—the network's edge—edge computing emerges as a crucial solution. This study examines how edge computing is revolutionizing the Internet of Things by examining three of its main benefits: lower latency, better data security, and increased bandwidth economy. Edge computing expedites response times, strengthens data security, and maximizes network use by processing data locally. The fundamentals of edge computing, implementation difficulties, and prospective advancements that might further integrate edge computing with sophisticated IoT systems are all covered in the talk. In addition to changing IoT environments, this investigation seeks to demonstrate how edge computing is essential to real- time, safe, and effective data processing in an increasingly interconnected world.
Legal challenges of marine protected areas under the new agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

Treball de Fi de Grau en Dret. Curs 2022-2023
Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Diagnosis and Prognosis of COVID-19 infection: A systematic review

Introduction: Our aim in this study was to summarize information on the use of intelligent models for predicting and diagnosing the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to help early and timely diagnosis of the disease.Material and Methods: A systematic literature search included articles published until 20 April 2020 in PubMed, Web of Science, IEEE, ProQuest, Scopus, bioRxiv, and medRxiv databases. The search strategy consisted of two groups of keywords: A) Novel coronavirus, B) Machine learning. Two reviewers independently assessed original papers to determine eligibility for inclusion in this review. Studies were critically reviewed for risk of bias using prediction model risk of bias assessment tool.Results: We gathered 1650 articles through database searches. After the full-text assessment 31 articles were included. Neural networks and deep neural network variants were the most popular machine learning type. Of the five models that authors claimed were externally validated, we considered external validation only for four of them. Area under the curve (AUC) in internal validation of prognostic models varied from .94 to .97. AUC in diagnostic models varied from 0.84 to 0.99, and AUC in external validation of diagnostic models varied from 0.73 to 0.94. Our analysis finds all but two studies have a high risk of bias due to various reasons like a low number of participants and lack of external validation.Conclusion: Diagnostic and prognostic models for COVID-19 show good to excellent discriminative performance. However, these models are at high risk of bias because of various reasons like a low number of participants and lack of external validation. Future studies should address these concerns. Sharing data and experiences for the development, validation, and updating of COVID-19 related prediction models is needed.
Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions

Abstract                Recent developments have led to a good understanding of universality; why phase transitions in systems as diverse as magnets, fluids, liquid crystals, and superconductors can be brought under the same theoretical umbrella and well described by simple models. This book describes the physics underlying universality and then lays out the theoretical approaches now available for studying phase transitions. Traditional techniques, mean-field theory, series expansions, and the transfer matrix, are described; the Monte Carlo method is covered, and two chapters are devoted to the renormalization group, which led to a break-through in the field. The book will be useful as a textbook for a course in `Phase Transitions', as an introduction for graduate students undertaking research in related fields, and as an overview for scientists in other disciplines who work with phase transitions but who are not aware of the current tools in the armoury of the theoretical physicist.
Constraints on the Precautionary Principle and the Problem of Uncertainty

This is a postprint version of an article published in the American Journal of Bioethics, 17:3, 56-57, DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2016.1274798. Locked until 16th of February 2018 due to copyright restrictions.
The Formal Sources of International Law, the Relationship between Treaties and Custom, and the International Law-Making Process

Abstract James Crawford in his Hague general course on public international law discussed the problem of making international law by treaties under the Baxter paradox—“the more agreement, the less law”. Crawford concluded that the Baxter paradox is not so much an insoluble paradox as a valid reflection on the distinct attributes of treaties and custom—something to be embraced and not avoided. The essay seeks to readdress the relationship between treaties and custom taking into account the Baxter paradox and its critical examination by Crawford. It is also discussed in light of the complex problem of exploitation of outer space natural resources. The author supports the idea of formal sources as the most workable method of analyzing rules and principles of international law in practice. The primary aim of the article is to consider whether treaties can be seen, as most scholars claim, the formal source of international law. The author argues that they are not of that nature, since they are not the self-sufficient source of general international law. The author is inspired by Gerald Fitzmaurice’s views of the 1950s denying treaties the status of formal sources of international law, instead seeing them merely as sources of international legal obligations. According to the author, these views, although controversial and even outmoded under the contemporary opinions on the sources of international law, still deserve attention and careful consideration. Treaties can promote legal certainty with regard to legal obligations within the international community. Yet, as the author claims, in a decentralized legal order such as international law, it is not treaties but custom that still remains its primary formal source.
Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications

The Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted much attention from society, industry and academia as a promising technology that can enhance day to day activities, and the creation of new business models, products and services, and serve as a broad source of research topics and ideas. A future digital society is envisioned, composed of numerous wireless connected sensors and devices. Driven by huge demand, the massive IoT (mIoT) or massive machine type communication (mMTC) has been identified as one of the three main communication scenarios for 5G. In addition to connectivity, computing and storage and data management are also long-standing issues for low-cost devices and sensors. The book is a collection of outstanding technical research and industrial papers covering new research results, with a wide range of features within the 5G-and-beyond framework. It provides a range of discussions of the major research challenges and achievements within this topic.
Bodies and Battlefields : Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Colombian Armed Conflict

Since the Second World War, most contemporary wars have taken place within countries and imposed overwhelming stressors on civilian populations. Women living in conflict may be particularly at risk of sexual and reproductive health concerns, including pregnancy-related mortality and morbidity that could have been prevented, a lack of access to health care goods and services, and conflict-related sexual violence. Conflict thus poses a serious challenge to development at the individual, household, community and national levels. This doctoral dissertation in sociological demography investigates how the Colombian armed conflict has shaped women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). It takes a mixed methods approach based on material from three sources: information about local conflict violence from the Uppsala Conflict Database Program, micro-level data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, and original interviews with stakeholders in women’s rights and peacebuilding in Colombia. The thesis consists of four independent articles focused on different aspects of SRHR in relation to conflict. Based on a Radical Reproductive Justice framework, Study I investigates how matters of sexuality and reproduction have gained political meaning with intersectional dimensions in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. Studies II and III both explore how women’s family planning behavior relates to conflict. While the former looks at modern contraceptive use from a cross-sectional perspective, the latter takes a longitudinal approach to analyzing women’s uptake of sterilization, the only contraceptive method that represents a definitive stop to women’s reproductive careers. In Study IV, the interlinkages between two forms of violent experiences are analyzed: exposure to armed conflict and intimate partner violence against women. The article also presents novel analyses of how victimized women’s relationships are affected by ongoing conflict. Colombia is an interesting case to study due to its uniquely longstanding conflict since the mid-20th century, with high-quality data available since the late 1980s. The country’s ongoing peace process has had an unprecedented focus on gender and women’s rights. This yields a moment of opportunity for research efforts to contribute new evidence that may help guide transitional justice processes as well as comprehensive SRHR interventions. The thesis contributes to knowledge about gendered demographic and health outcomes of war, and how contextual factors such as violent conflict affects women’s lives and agency.
Challenges and Opportunities to Implement Advanced Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) Approaches and Applications for Nuclear Power Plants

To build on the marked benefits of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) in support of Integrated Risk-Informed Decision Making (IRIDM), IAEA Member States have been spending considerable efforts to improve PSA approaches and extend applications of existing approaches. In 2018, the IAEA started a project supported by USA extrabudgetary funds aiming to collect current experiences regarding these activities and to develop a related technical document that might support future updates of related IAEA Safety Guides on PSA. The PSA topics considered in the scope of this technical document are dynamic PSA, combination of hazards, use of non-permanent equipment, use of Level 2 PSA in support of the development of Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMG), Level 3 PSA, the incorporation of ageing aspects in the PSA model, and software reliability of digital instrumentation and control systems and modelling within PSA. This paper summarizes the challenges and the opportunities identified through the IAEA project. Despite the disparity of topics, a number of general lessons regarding technical, infrastructure, and decision support challenges are highlighted.
Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Preschool Children

Abstract This study was designed to examine whether teacher training facilitates greater conflict resolution strategies and whether conflict resolution training leads to prosocial solutions by preschoolers who are at risk for conflict and violence in their environments. Head Start teachers were trained in a 40-hour college-level course. Teachers were instructed in the theory of conflict, conflict management, and socio-emotional development in addition to following a problem-solving curriculum with their preschool students. Sixty-four children were assessed at 4 and 5 years of age. Results showed that preschoolers of trained teachers had more skills in generating solutions to interpersonal problems. Furthermore, children of trained teachers relied on more relevant solutions and fewer forceful, and thus more prosocial, solutions to solve interpersonal problems. These findings will be discussed in a framework for teaching conflict resolution and social-emotional skills to preschool children.
An Assessment of Collaborative Filtering-Based Recommender Systems : And their Ability to take the Individual Preferences of Users into Account

Denna studie undersökte effekten som aggregeringsfunktioner och likhetsmått hade på noggrannheten av minnesbaserade collaborative filtering algoritmer, speciellt i de fall där användarens rating av ett föremål skiljer sig mycket från den genomsnittliga värdet. Nio olika kombinationer av algoritmer implementerades genom att kombinera tre aggregeringsfunktioner med tre olika likhetsmått. Dessa algoritmer testades på MovieLens databasen och likhetsmåtten som användes var Pearson correlation, JPSS och JEPSS som är en modifierad version av JPSS. Resultaten visar att aggregeringsfunktionen normsum ledde till en stor förbättring i noggrannheten rent allmänt. Dessutom visas att JEPSS inte ger en signifikant förbättring gentemot JPSS. Slutligen, det bästa resultatet för JPSS och JEPSS erhölls när man använder så få användare som möjligt i aggregeringsfunktionen.