Liberal-Democratic Torture

This chapter gives a primer on liberal-democratic torture. A brief summary of the historical record shows that liberal democracies have repeatedly engaged in “stealth” coercive interrogation, which the chapter argues usually qualifies as torture by the UN Convention against Torture’s standard definition. What can explain the pattern of recurrence that emerges? Previous work is a useful starting point but leaves important questions unanswered. Lack of monitoring can invite norm violations, but torture is not always hidden. Racism and anger make states and individuals more likely to torture, but they do not tell us why torture often occurs in conjunction with demands for intelligence. Realist and rational choice arguments help to explain the frequent connection between torture and intelligence needs, but they fail to address critical lurking puzzles: Why do people believe torture works? And how do torturers justify these norm-breaking deeds to themselves and others?

Tonality analysis in Wolfram Mathematica 12 computer algebra system

Sentiment analysis is a class of methods that are used to automatically determine the tonality of statements in the text. There are many solutions and technologies to define of text tonality at the moment and the choice depends on task. With the release of Wolfram Mathematica 12 versions, it became possible to use included nlp methods for determination of text tonality. This article is about definition of text tonality in the wolfram Mathematica 12 using nlp and compare nlp methods with standard definition function.

Amplituhedron-like geometries

We consider amplituhedron-like geometries which are defined in a similar way to the intrinsic definition of the amplituhedron but with non-maximal winding number. We propose that for the cases with minimal number of points the canonical form of these geometries corresponds to the product of parity conjugate amplitudes at tree as well as loop level. The product of amplitudes in superspace lifts to a star product in bosonised superspace which we give a precise definition of. We give an alternative definition of amplituhedron-like geometries, analogous to the original amplituhedron definition, and also a characterisation as a sum over pairs of on-shell diagrams that we use to prove the conjecture at tree level. The union of all amplituhedron-like geometries has a very simple definition given by only physical inequalities. Although such a union does not give a positive geometry, a natural extension of the standard definition of canonical form, the globally oriented canonical form, acts on this union and gives the square of the amplitude.

On Conditional Tsallis Entropy

There is no generally accepted definition for conditional Tsallis entropy. The standard definition of (unconditional) Tsallis entropy depends on a parameter α that converges to the Shannon entropy as α approaches 1. In this paper, we describe three proposed definitions of conditional Tsallis entropy suggested in the literature—their properties are studied and their values, as a function of α, are compared. We also consider another natural proposal for conditional Tsallis entropy and compare it with the existing ones. Lastly, we present an online tool to compute the four conditional Tsallis entropies, given the probability distributions and the value of the parameter α.

TP9.2.1Evaluating the incidence, the predictors and the outcomes of patients with negative appendicectomy

Introduction Negative appendicectomy (NA) is still a major issue following appendicectomy. We evaluated the rate and predictors of negative appendicectomy in a cohort. Patients and Methods Data of patients who underwent emergency appendicectomies over a year was collected and analysed. The absence of inflammation and/or other significant pathology in the appendix was considered negative by standard definition. A stricter definition of NA was the absence of inflammatory cells in the appendix. Negative appendicectomy rate (NAR) was calculated using the standard criteria (NAR-SDC) and the strict criteria (NAR-STC). Results 372 patients were included, 179 males and 193 females with a median age of 27 (5-94) years. Median duration of symptoms and waiting time to surgery were 2 days and 1 day respectively. The mean admission WBC and CRP were 12,600 (3000-38000)/mm3 and 66.9 (1-323) mg/L respectively. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was performed in 93.5% of patients with a conversion rate of 4.6%. NAR-SDC was 10.2% and NAR-STC was 25.8%. NAR was significantly higher in females than males (39.4% versus 11.1%; p-value 0.0001). Patients with NA were younger (p-value 0.0001), had lower mean total WBC (p-value 0.014) and CRP (p-value 0.0001) on admission. Independent predictors of negative appendicectomy are female gender, duration of symptoms more than 3 days, and lower total WBC. Conclusion NA is still a major problem in the management of patients with acute right lower abdominal pain. Our NAR compared favourably with reported rates. Female gender, symptoms duration more than 3 days, lower WBC are independent predictors of NA.

Recognizing the never quite absent: de facto usage, ethical issues, and applications of covert research in difficult research contexts

This article scrutinizes and reconceptualizes covert research in social science. Surveying recent literature about this research method, we reflect on the ethical and safety implications stemming from the widespread, even if well-intended, lack of transparency characterizing many research projects, especially ones conducted in difficult research contexts. While the standard definition of covert research holds that researchers deliberately do not declare to research subjects that academic research is taking place, we argue that the remoteness of Western academia from most researched contexts often a priori renders field research at least partially covert, irrespective of the researcher’s intentions. This is because its aims, utility, and expected outputs are hard to understand for research participants unrelated to academia. We illustrate this argument by analyzing our own fieldwork experiences in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In conclusion, we emphasize the need to critically reflect on the de facto use of covert techniques by social researchers.