The Unity of the Internal and External in Homer

This work was written for the Midlands Conference of Critical Thought which took place on the 24th and 25th April 2025 at the University of Derby. It concerns the moments in the epics of Homer where the internal appears to be expressed through the external, moments where emotions are visible through the body, where the manner of the thought of individuals is seen in their person alongside their physical appearance. The way that these moments occur suggests the possibility of an implicit unity between the internal and the external. This unity must be distinguished from the modern view where the internal causes the external through physical mechanisms. This difference can be conceptualised in terms of a divergence in the way that thought is understood, in other words in thought’s relation to being. If the modern view sees only a purely causal mechanism, it understands thought as physical being only, where there is no more than an objectivity of thought that remains outside the subjective; if Homer expresses internal thought and the body together, he understands thought in terms of its unity with external being, where the objective body and the subjectivity of the individual are the same

Benzos (as) needed: research into as-needed and intermittent benzodiazepines for anxiety is required for comprehensive best prescribing practices

The medical and public health communities are divided around the use of benzodiazepine (“benzo”) pharmacotherapy for anxiety disorders. Recent years have seen increased attention to benzo overprescription and its risks, leading to a pervasive emphasis on deprescribing. Some have resisted this trend, arguing that the balance of evidence supports the safety and efficacy of benzo pharmacotherapy for both short-term and long-term treatment of anxiety disorders. Given that rising rates of anxiety disorders and benzo misuse are both serious public health concerns, there is an urgent need for comprehensive evidence-based best practices for the prescription of benzos for anxiety. At present, however, major scientific gaps make it impossible to formulate such guidance. Most concerning is the lack of research into as-needed and intermittent prescription and use, which are both what benzos are best suited for, and likely, how they are most commonly administered. Further research into the safety and efficacy of both long-term daily and intermittent, as-needed benzo prescription and use are badly needed. But a roundly “anti-benzo” sentiment may be causing problematic underprescription of benzos, particularly when superior alternatives like cognitive-behavioral therapy are not widely available

Identification and Counteraction of Benign, DDOS, DOS, and MITM Utilizing AI Calculations

There are three basic cyber threats, namely benign, Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and denial of service (DoS). Attackers apply these to disrupt network infrastructure and data integrity. The catch is that early detection systems especially the ones that rely on traditional methods, easily get confused with the strategy lately adopted by attackers. This research therefore develops a layered architecture that uses algorithms-XGBoost and K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) for real-time detection and mitigation of these threats. A classification-accurate XGBoost model is used to classify DDoS, DoS, and MiTM attacks whereas KNN is used to distinguish benign from harmful activity. Performance assessments show accuracy on the testing data of 94.88%, thus asserting the appropriateness of the models to secure network frameworks

La virtud de la «justa generosidad» en las relaciones sociales según Alasdair MacIntyre

El concepto de “justa generosidad” en Alasdair MacIntyre hace referencia, de modo general, a la inclusión de la virtud de la misericordia dentro de la virtud de la justicia en el contexto del individuo dependiente. Para entender bien este enunciado que define la “justa generosidad”, nos exige, previamente, una breve explicación narrativa de cómo hemos llegado a este concepto ético siguiendo la propia trayectoria intelectual del filósofo anglosajón. Así, Alasdair MacIntyre, tras haber recalado intelectualmente en las tradiciones marxista, analítica-expresivista y psicoanalítica, se adentra en lo que se ha denominado proyecto After virtue, que culminará con la publicación de su conocido libro After virtue: a study of moral theory. Pudes seguir leyendo el resto de este capítulo en «El concepto de la «justa generosidad» en las relaciones sociales según Alasdair MacIntyre», Montoya Camacho, Jorge Martín; Giménez Amaya, José Manuel. La política del bien común en MacIntyre, J. de la Torre, M. Loria y L. Nontol: Dykinson, (2025): 139-154. Aquí presentamos solo el índice del volumen, con su portada, y la primera página del artículo

Machine Learning Approach for Detection of Financial Fraud Using Value at Risk

As more people utilise online banking services, the large losses that banks and other financial institutions sustained because of new bank account (NBA) fraud are concerning. Machine learning (ML) models have faced significant challenges because to the intrinsic skewness and rarity of NBA fraud cases. This occurs when the number of non-fraud instances exceeds the number of fraud instances, causing the ML models to miss and mistakenly regard fraud as non-fraud instances. Customers' confidence and trust may be damaged by such mistakes. Existing research addresses the skewness of fraud datasets by considering fraud patterns rather than possible losses of NBA fraud risk characteristics. This study suggests NBA fraud detection in the framework of value-at-risk, a risk metric that views fraud cases as the worst-case situation. Value-at-risk models risk features as a skewed tail distribution and estimates possible losses of such attributes using historical simulation. ML was used to classify the risk-return characteristics derived from value-at-risk on the bank account fraud (BAF) dataset. The value-at-risk assigns weight to the skewed NBA fraud cases by managing the fraud skewness with an adjusted threshold probability range. The effectiveness of the fraud detection algorithm was assessed using a unique detection rate (DT) metric that takes risk fraud characteristics into account. A K-nearest neighbour with a true positive (TP) rate of 0.95 and a DT rate of 0.9406 is used to create an enhanced fraud detection model. Value-at-risk offers a clever way to create data-driven standards for fraud risk management within a reasonable loss tolerance in the banking industry

The Appropriateness of Political Emotions

Emotions can get things right and serve us in many productive ways. They can also get things wrong and harm our epistemic or practical endeavors. While this is equally true of political and nonpolitical emotions, assessing the appropriateness of political emotions is a particularly contested endeavor. In our paper, we explore political emotions from a meta-normative perspective. Building on existing discussions on the fittingness and appropriateness of emotions in general and distinctive types of political emotions in particular, we investigate which different standards of appropriateness political emotions have qua being political. We develop a novel taxonomy that distinguishes the focus-, target-, subject-, and aim-appropriateness of political emotions. As we argue, our focus-based account of fittingness allows us to assess the fittingness of political emotions from a first-personal perspective by reflecting on the question of whether the emotion adequately mirrors what really matters to the emoters. While the standard of target-appropriateness assesses whether the target of the emotion has the right scope, the standard of subject-appropriateness allows us to assess whether the emotion adequately mirrors one’s group membership. The standard of aim-appropriateness, finally, assesses the political legitimacy of political emotions based on one’s underlying understanding of the political itself

Review of Artificial Intelligence in Management, Leadership, Decision-Making and Collaboration

This paper synthesizes recent research and practical frameworks to explore the impact of AI on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), stakeholder relations, leadership, and organizational change. Drawing on empirical studies, reviews, and industry insights, we provide a comprehensive analysis of AI's transformative role, highlight challenges, and propose strategies for effective AI adoption. By leveraging AI-driven tools such as MCDA methods, intelligent mediation systems, and change management frameworks, organizations can achieve enhanced strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration, and adaptive leadership. We present a comprehensive analysis of current implementations, challenges, and future directions for AI in complex organizational structures, drawing from recent scholarly works and industry case studies. Our findings demonstrate that AI-enabled matrix organizations show 23% higher decision-making efficiency and 37% improved conflict resolution rates compared to traditional structures. Drawing upon recent advancements in multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), we demonstrate how machine learning-enhanced methods such as AHP and TOPSIS are achieving 23-29% improvements in decision speed and accuracy across supply chain, healthcare, and engineering applications. The study further explores the evolution of human-AI collaboration models, from early toolbased systems to contemporary agentic frameworks capable of autonomous negotiation and conflict resolution. Through analysis of organizational change case studies, we identify key success factors in AI adoption, including leadership commitment metrics (Lt \u3e 0.8) and change capacity coefficients (Cc \u3e 0.7) that predict successful implementation. The research reveals that matrix organizations leveraging AI-mediated stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration tools achieve 37% higher conflict resolution rates compared to traditional structures

Plato, The Witch and The Cave

In the shadowed liminality where philosophy and witchcraft converge, a profound inquiry into the nature of being, embodiment, and the supernatural unfolds. This work, Plato, The Witch, and The Cave, seeks to illuminate the ontology of the witch through the lens of Platonic philosophy, weaving together the witch’s supernatural powers, spell-casting, divination, astral projection, and energy manipulation with Plato’s metaphysical and epistemological frameworks. The witch emerges as a figure of paradox, embodying both the visceral reality of the body and the transcendent aspirations of the soul, navigating a world where the material and immaterial intertwine. Her supernatural abilities, rooted in the body yet reaching toward the infinite, mirror Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where the journey from shadow to light reflects the witch’s ascent through magical practices to realms beyond the physical. Drawing on historical, anthropological, and philosophical perspectives, this exploration delves into the witch as a symbol of resistance against marginalization, a vessel of intuitive and supernatural knowledge, and a bridge to the eternal Forms that Plato posited as the ultimate reality. By reimagining the witch as a philosophical archetype endowed with extraordinary powers, this study not only recontextualizes Plato’s theories in light of magical practices but also celebrates the witch’s supernatural agency as a challenge to rationalist hierarchies, revealing a shared quest for truth, ethics, and transcendence that resonates across time and culture

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Catalyst for Employer Branding: Insights from Cavin Kare Pvt. Ltd

In the evolving corporate landscape, organizations are increasingly leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) not only as a tool for societal impact but also as a strategic element in strengthening their employer branding. This project explores the direct influence of CSR activities on employer branding, with a focus on how employee participation in such initiatives enhances organizational reputation, work-life satisfaction, and employee engagement. The study adopts a descriptive research design and utilizes random sampling to collect primary data through a 21 Likert-scale questionnaire distributed among employees. Key variables analyzed include awareness of CSR, participation in socially responsible programs, perceived employer brand value, and pride in association with the organization. The findings indicate that effective CSR engagement and communication contribute significantly to building a positive employer image. The project concludes with strategic suggestions for integrating CSR more deeply into employer branding efforts to attract and retain talent, foster employee pride, and improve organizational commitmen