The Faces of Human Vulnerability

The notion of vulnerability is one of the beliefs of a recent current of moral and political philosophy, namely care ethics. Stemming, especially, from the North American feminist movement, this care ethics, based on the rejection of a universal and abstract morals, privileges the relational dimension based on the orientation towards human vulnerability.Subject to the weight of the tyranny of normality and perfection, contemporary societies, glorifying the individual who is useful and performant, struggle to hide, or more often than not deny the vulnerability of human beings. The notion of vulnerability appeared not only as a mutual sign of any person who is in a dependent situation, but also as one of the constitutive dimensions of the essence of living beings and of their life environment. In this article, the notion of vulnerability will be studied by identifying the representative themes of human vulnerability particular to their life and its conditions of being. Firstly, the hypothesis proposed by Freud in Le malaise dans la culture (2010)represents the underlying basis of this study on human vulnerability. Next, two important concepts guide the study proposed: the vulnerability inherent to human subjectivity, from the perspective of Lévinas, and the one akin the process of socialising of human beings, from the perspective of Habermas.

INDIRECT INFORMATION HIDING TECHNOLOGY ON A MULTIADIC BASIS

It is shown that the current direction of increasing the safety of information resources when transmitting information in info-communication systems is the use of methods of steganographic instruction in video imagery. The effectiveness of such methods is significantly increased when used in a complex of methods of concealment, which are based on the principles of inconsistent and cosmic communication. At the same time, existing methods of steganographic are used in the process of insertion of information mainly only laws, empty features of visual perception of video images. So, it is justified that the scientific and applied problem, which is to increase the density of embedded messages in the video container with a given level of their reliability, is relevant. The solution of this problem is based on the solution of the contradiction, which concerns the fact that increasing the density of embedded data leads to a decrease in the bit rate of the video container, steganalysis stability, reliability of special information, and video container. Therefore, the research aims to develop a methodology for the steganographic embedding of information, taking into account the regularities of the video container, which are generated by its structural and structural-statistical features. The solution to the posed problem of applying steganographic transformations is proposed to be realised by methods of indirectly embedding parts of the hidden message in certain conditions or functional relationships. The possibility of creating steganographic transformations regarding the indirect embedding and extraction of hidden information in a multiadic basis by modifying the underlying basis system within an admissible set is demonstrated. It is shown that the multiadic system, which is created in the spectral space of DCT transforms, has the potential to form a set of admissible modifications of basis systems.

Machine learning to explain printability induced by rheology additives

With the continuous growth of extrusion bioprinting techniques, ink formulations based on rheology modifiers are becoming increasingly popular, as they enable 3D printing of non-printable biologically-favored materials. However, benchmarking and characterization of such systems are inherently complicated due to the variety of rheology modifiers and differences in mechanisms of inducing printability. This study tries to explain induced printability in formulations by incorporating machine learning algorithms that describe the underlying basis for decision-making in classifying a printable formulation. For this purpose, a library of rheological data and printability scores for 180 different formulations of hyaluronic acid solutions with varying molecular weights and concentrations and three rheology modifiers were produced. A feature screening methodology was applied to collect and separate the impactful features, which consisted of physically interpretable and easily measurable properties of formulations. In the final step, all relevant features influencing the model’s output were analyzed by advanced yet explainable statistical methods. The outcome provides a guideline for designing new formulations based on data-driven correlations from multiple systems.

The Legitimacy of Traditional Leaders in Democracies

This study analyses the issue of legitimacy that unfolds to understand the authority claims of traditional leaders underpinned by customary law in contrast to modern law and legislations in the democracies of two erstwhile British colonies: South Africa and the Tangkhul Nagas of India and Myanmar. The study enquires: if the warrant of modern and traditional law, the fulcrum of traditional leaders’ legitimacy, is questioned in the democratic dispensation, what is the underlying basis of legitimacy that makes traditional leaders resilient? It employs historical, cultural and linguistic analysis to understand how traditional leaders mediate legitimacy. It concludes that cultural cognitive categories like metaphors and aphorisms are instrumental in leveraging the legitimacy claims of traditional leaders across countries.

Bases of Forensic Pathology Expert Testimony With Emphasis on Iowa v Tyler

Judicial scrutiny of the forensic sciences is increasing. This scrutiny targets the bases for expert opinions. Forensic pathologists must understand that when they express an opinion it must have an articulable underlying basis. Iowa v Tyler provides a cautionary tale where testimony from a forensic pathologist on the cause and manner of death based exclusively on police reports and audio and video recordings of police interviews of the suspect rather than on medical evidence were held to be inadmissible. Tyler has an odd and distinguishable set of facts, but has been widely cited as an example of problematic forensic pathology testimony.

DUT Guide on Supervision

The aim of this guide is to provide tips for supervisors on how to support students as active, independent and prepared participants who drive their own projects forward. It relates to supervision of projects at bachelor-, master- and PhD level. The underlying basis of the guide is twofold: 1) supervision is an increasingly complex activity that involves a demanding set of competences; 2) a good supervisor is a flexible supervisor who can adapt to different situations, student needs and levels of the curriculum.

Revisiting Plant Heterosis—From Field Scale to Molecules

Heterosis refers to the increase in biomass, stature, fertility, and other characters that impart superior performance to the F1 progeny over genetically diverged parents. The manifestation of heterosis brought an economic revolution to the agricultural production and seed sector in the last few decades. Initially, the idea was exploited in cross-pollinated plants, but eventually acquired serious attention in self-pollinated crops as well. Regardless of harvesting the benefits of heterosis, a century-long discussion is continued to understand the underlying basis of this phenomenon. The massive increase in knowledge of various fields of science such as genetics, epigenetics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics persistently provide new insights to understand the reasons for the expression of hybrid vigor. In this review, we have gathered information ranging from classical genetic studies, field experiments to various high-throughput omics and computational modelling studies in order to understand the underlying basis of heterosis. The modern-day science has worked significantly to pull off our understanding of heterosis yet leaving open questions that requires further research and experimentation. Answering these questions would possibly equip today’s plant breeders with efficient tools and accurate choices to breed crops for a sustainable future.

A mechanism of abiogenesis based on complex reaction networks organized by seed-dependent autocatalytic systems

The complexity gap between the biotic and abiotic worlds has made explaining abiogenesis one of the hardest scientific questions. A promising strategy for addressing this problem is to identify features shared by abiotic and biotic chemical systems that permit the stepwise accretion of complexity. Therefore, we compared abiotic and biotic reaction networks in order to evaluate the presence of autocatalysis, the underlying basis of biological self-propagation, and to see if the organization of autocatalytic motifs permits stepwise complexification. We provide an algorithm to detect seed-dependent autocatalytic systems (SDASs), namely subnetworks that can use food chemicals to self-propagate but must be seeded by some non-food chemicals to become activated. We show that serial activation of SDASs can cause incremental complexification. Furthermore, we identify life-like features that emerge during the accretion of SDASs, including the emergence of new ecological opportunities and improvements in the efficiency of food utilization. The SDAS concept explains how driven abiotic environments, namely ones receiving an ongoing flux of food chemicals, can incrementally complexify without the need for genetic polymers. This framework also suggests experiments that have the potential to detect the spontaneous emergence of life-like features, such as self-propagation and adaptability, in driven chemical systems.

A mechanism of abiogenesis based on complex reaction networks organized by seed-dependent autocatalytic systems

The complexity gap between the biotic and abiotic worlds has made explaining abiogenesis one of the hardest scientific questions. A promising strategy for addressing this problem is to identify features shared by abiotic and biotic chemical systems that permit the stepwise accretion of complexity. Therefore, we compared abiotic and biotic reaction networks in order to evaluate the presence of autocatalysis, the underlying basis of biological self-propagation, and to see if the organization of autocatalytic motifs permits stepwise complexification. We provide an algorithm to detect seed-dependent autocatalytic systems (SDASs), namely subnetworks that can use food chemicals to self-propagate but must be seeded by some non-food chemicals to become activated. We show that serial activation of SDASs can cause incremental complexification. Furthermore, we identify life-like features that emerge during the accretion of SDASs, including the emergence of new ecological opportunities and improvements in the efficiency of food utilization. The SDAS concept explains how driven abiotic environments, namely ones receiving an ongoing flux of food chemicals, can incrementally complexify without the need for genetic polymers. This framework also suggests experiments that have the potential to detect the spontaneous emergence of life-like features, such as self-propagation and adaptability, in driven chemical systems.

Ferroptosis: A New Promising Target for Lung Cancer Therapy

Ferroptosis is a new type of regulatory cell death that differs from autophagy, apoptosis, necrosis, and pyroptosis; it is caused primarily by the accumulation of iron and lipid peroxides in the cell. Studies have shown that many classical signaling pathways and biological processes are involved in the process of ferroptosis. In recent years, investigations have revealed that ferroptosis plays a crucial role in the progression of tumors, especially lung cancer. In particular, inducing ferroptosis in cells can inhibit the growth of tumor cells, thereby reversing tumorigenesis. In this review, we summarize the characteristics of ferroptosis from its underlying basis and role in lung cancer and provide possible applications for it in lung cancer therapies.