The EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the European Child Guarantee—Evidence-Based Recommendations for Alternative Care

Protection and promotion of child rights are referred to as a central purpose of the European Union (EU). Therefore in 2021, the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the European Child Guarantee were published to enable children to have the best possible life in the EU and worldwide. Member states were invited to implement the directions of both documents into practice. The present study analyses and showcases the evidence on how to progress implementation of the Strategy and the Guarantee regarding alternative care in Portugal. A literature review was conducted based on international literature. Evidence-based recommendations for the Portuguese transition process towards quality, family and community-based care are stated. De-institutionalisation and strengthening specific services—kinship care, special guardianship, and foster care—are advocated, namely specialising the workforce, and promoting training for kinship carers and prospective special guardians. To conclude, the revision and monitoring of the measures for children in need of alternative care are suggested as well as integrating and publishing data from the diverse services of the alternative care system.

Theorizing the (Un)Sounded in Sikhī: Anhad, Sabad, and Kīrtan

Listening to sabad kīrtan (sung scriptural verse) is a core, everyday, widespread, and loved worship practice of Sikhs around the globe. Thus, it would be fair to state that sounding is central to Sikh worship. Indeed, the Sikh scripture considers kīrtan to be an eminent mode of devotion. Yet, the ultimate aim of this sonic practice is to sense the “unsounded” vibration—anhad—and thereby the divine and divine ethical virtues. Based on a close reading of Sikh sacred texts and ethnographic research, and drawing on the analytic of transduction, the paper explicates the embodied vibratory dimensions of the (unsounded) anhad and (sounded) sabad kīrtan. It argues that the central purpose of the Sikh (un)sounding perceptual practice is embodied ethical attunement for an unmediated experience of the divine and divine ethical virtues, and thereby the development of an ethical life. At the intersection of music, sound, religious, and philosophical studies, the analysis reveals the centrality of the body in worship and ethical development, and contributes to interdisciplinary conversations on sensory epistemologies in faith traditions.

The Pallet Paradigm: A New Beginning for Pallet Architecture

<p>Timber pallets are too often discarded as waste after their shipping lives. If not rescued for upcycling pallets end up in landfills or burnt for firewood which can release harmful chemicals. There is an opportunity in this resource going beyond current design use to foster a more authentic pallet architecture – one where pallets are utilised to their module’s full potential as a primary and structural building element. This thesis explores to what extent pallets can be utilised in construction and determines their feasibility as structural entities. The themes of modularity and transportability act as key design drivers due to being inherent to the pallets nature. A construction system which effectively uses this nature is the aim, and designed systems are tested through application to the design of mobile architecture. The final outcome of this exploration is a full scale pallet pavilion utilising a modular – authentic – system which enables an easily portable and structural solution. However the application of similar systems to a larger scale is limited as pallets with consistent module and high strength are rare difficult to source. A new pallet design is proposed with inherent application as a building component. This design aims to be a highly precise modular and structural system as its primary function, allowing for universal use as wall, roof and floor. The central purpose of exploration is to create high quality, affordable, efficient and adaptable prefabricated dwellings from an otherwise discarded item – this is the potential for the research in future. If the ‘building pallet’ design was integrated into circulation the impact and application on construction from upcycling them into prefabricated building elements could be worldwide.</p>

The Pallet Paradigm: A New Beginning for Pallet Architecture

<p>Timber pallets are too often discarded as waste after their shipping lives. If not rescued for upcycling pallets end up in landfills or burnt for firewood which can release harmful chemicals. There is an opportunity in this resource going beyond current design use to foster a more authentic pallet architecture – one where pallets are utilised to their module’s full potential as a primary and structural building element. This thesis explores to what extent pallets can be utilised in construction and determines their feasibility as structural entities. The themes of modularity and transportability act as key design drivers due to being inherent to the pallets nature. A construction system which effectively uses this nature is the aim, and designed systems are tested through application to the design of mobile architecture. The final outcome of this exploration is a full scale pallet pavilion utilising a modular – authentic – system which enables an easily portable and structural solution. However the application of similar systems to a larger scale is limited as pallets with consistent module and high strength are rare difficult to source. A new pallet design is proposed with inherent application as a building component. This design aims to be a highly precise modular and structural system as its primary function, allowing for universal use as wall, roof and floor. The central purpose of exploration is to create high quality, affordable, efficient and adaptable prefabricated dwellings from an otherwise discarded item – this is the potential for the research in future. If the ‘building pallet’ design was integrated into circulation the impact and application on construction from upcycling them into prefabricated building elements could be worldwide.</p>

On a geometric study of a class of normalized functions defined by Bernoulli’s formula

The central purpose of this effort is to investigate analytic and geometric properties of a class of normalized analytic functions in the open unit disk involving Bernoulli’s formula. As a consequence, some solutions are indicated by the well-known hypergeometric function. The class of starlike functions is investigated containing the suggested class.

Arts, language and intercultural education

This article is structured around four questions related to the arts, language and intercultural education. Are the claims for the value of the arts over-stated? Does the use of the arts in the service of non-art outcomes run the risk of distorting the art form itself? Is there a danger that incorporating the arts in language education will distract from its central purpose? Are there any risks in employing the arts to support the teaching of interculturalism? These questions are used as a focus for discussing theoretical perspectives in the arts, including justifying the arts, theories of art, the importance of form, the concept of ‘aesthetic experience’, ‘learning in’ and ‘learning through’ the arts. These issues are examined in order to illuminate practical implications related to the use of the arts in the context of language and intercultural education. The article highlights the way in which theoretical perspectives can help widen pedagogic horizons.

Clinical Trials Involving Minors: The Role of the Ethics Consultation in Avoiding Therapeutic Misconception

"Therapeutic Misconception (TM) occurs when clinical trial participants believe that the central purpose of the trial is therapeutic and that they will personally benefit from participation. If individuals who are entitled to consent to participation in a specific clinical trial do not understand that the defining purpose of clinical research is to produce generalizable knowledge, regardless of whether the subjects enrolled may potentially benefit from the intervention under study, this false belief may motivate them to participate, and in extreme cases may disqualify their consent. TM is especially frequent in fields in which the patients are highly vulnerable, such as when they are children and require parental consent. The informed consent is an essential ethical prerequisite before enrolling each and every participant in research that should protect patients through a process of dialog about a planned course of action. We argue that Ethics Consultant’s competencies may be crucial in avoiding TM: The Ethics Consultant should be involved in neonatal and paediatric clinical trials in order to face the unique vulnerability of children as research subjects, and to ensure that parental consent procedures are rigorously managed, enhancing recruitment in research trials in the context of fully understood consent. "

Hans Jonas, Günther Anders, and the Atomic Priesthood: An Exploration into Ethics, Religion and Technology in the Nuclear Age

This article investigates the ethical implications of the notion of an Atomic Priesthood, an artificially constructed religion built around the preservation of knowledge related to nuclear-waste storage by using the work of Hans Jonas (1903–1993) and Günther Anders (1902–1992). Building on Jonas’ The Imperative of Responsibility from 1979 and Anders’ The Outdatedness of Human Beings from 1956, this article participates in the debate regarding the ethics of the post-closure marking of nuclear-waste storage sites. Assuming that we have a moral obligation toward future generations, as Jonas argued, even after the nuclear-waste storages have been filled and closed, there remains a need to communicate the danger of these sites to future civilizations to whom our languages and other semiotic systems are incomprehensible. Discussing the hypothetical concept of the Atomic Priesthood, an artificial religion whose central purpose would be to make it taboo to approach certain “impure” sites where our civilization had buried nuclear waste, this article argues that due to the unsolved ethical stakes, technological solutions are unequipped to deal with the long-term ramifications of nuclear power.

The impacts of artificial intelligence techniques in augmentation of cybersecurity: a comprehensive review

Given the prevailing state of cybersecurity, it is reasonable to understand why cybersecurity experts are seriously considering artificial intelligence as a potential field that can aid improvements in conventional cybersecurity techniques. Various progressions in the field of technology have helped to mitigate some of the issues relating to cybersecurity. These advancements can be manifested by Big Data, Blockchain technology, Behavioral Analytics, to name but a few. The paper overviews the effects of applications of these technologies in cybersecurity. The central purpose of the paper is to review the application of AI techniques in analyzing, detecting, and fighting various cyberattacks. The effects of the implementation of conditionally classified “distributed” AI methods and conveniently classified “compact” AI methods on different cyber threats have been reviewed. Furthermore, the future scope and challenges of using such techniques in cybersecurity, are discussed. Finally, conclusions have been drawn in terms of evaluating the employment of different AI advancements in improving cybersecurity.

The Dawn of the Human-Machine Era: A forecast of new and emerging language technologies

New language technologies are coming, thanks to the huge and competing private investment fuelling rapid progress; we can either understand and foresee their effects, or be taken by surprise and spend our time trying to catch up. This report scketches out some transformative new technologies that are likely to fundamentally change our use of language. Some of these may feel unrealistically futuristic or far-fetched, but a central purpose of this report - and the wider LITHME network - is to illustrate that these are mostly just the logical development and maturation of technologies currently in prototype. But will everyone benefit from all these shiny new gadgets? Throughout this report we emphasise a range of groups who will be disadvantaged and issues of inequality. Important issues of security and privacy will accompany new language technologies. A further caution is to re-emphasise the current limitations of AI. Looking ahead, we see many intriguing opportunities and new capabilities, but a range of other uncertainties and inequalities. New devices will enable new ways to talk, to translate, to remember, and to learn. But advances in technology will reproduce existing inequalities among those who cannot afford these devices, among the world’s smaller languages, and especially for sign language. Debates over privacy and security will flare and crackle with every new immersive gadget. We will move together into this curious new world with a mix of excitement and apprehension - reacting, debating, sharing and disagreeing as we always do. Plug in, as the human-machine era dawns.