Understanding of the role of advocacy in a polarised state: Revisiting the construction of news

This work considers Malta, part of the understudied subject area of small states, and outlines a media system which is the product of a micro economy and unique societal culture. Taking a case-study approach, three news organisations are examined to understand the editorial routines, ownership and management structures, and social and cultural factors that affect the day-to-day business of creating news. To establish the fit between what is asserted by staff and what is actually taking place in the news-generation process, in-depth interviews with key stakeholders of each organisation are conducted alongside qualitative textual analysis of the content they publish. Contrary to previous research, advocacy continues to dominate Maltese journalism, indicating that the country has retained similarities to other media systems within its geographic region. However, this advocacy presents in different ways, influencing the nature of each organisation’s respective reporting and reflecting individual workplace cultures, routines and ownership structures, as well as constituting a response to the politically involved society in which they operate. This conflicts with the ideal typification advanced by Hallin and Mancini. The findings highlight the merits of the Maltese tradition – found wanting in the US objectivity canon. In this small state, journalistic advocacy extends media diversity and contributes to the high level of political engagement among its population

Grounded Empiricism

Empiricism has a long and venerable history. Aristotle, the Epicureans, Sextus Empiricus, Bacon, Locke, Hume, Mill, Mach and the Logical Empiricists, among others, represent a long line of historically influential empiricists who, one way or another, placed an emphasis on knowledge gained through the senses. In recent times the most highly articulated and influential edition of empiricism is undoubtedly Bas van Fraassen’s constructive empiricism. Science, according to this view, aims at empirically adequate theories, i.e. theories that save all and only the observable phenomena. Roughly put, something is observable in van Fraassen’s view if members of the human epistemic community can detect it with their unaided senses. Critics have contested this notion, citing, among other reasons, that much of what counts as knowledge for scientists, especially in the natural sciences, concerns things that are detectable only with instruments, i.e. things that are unobservable and hence unknowable by van Fraassen’s lights. The current paper admits the objection’s judiciousness and, in reaction, investigates what gives sensory organs epistemic credibility. It turns out that their credibility can be traced to some principles that are also satisfied by certain instruments. On the basis of this work, a liberalised conception of observability is proposed and defended, along with a closely linked, and accordingly liberalised, conception of empiricism. ‘Grounded observability’ and ‘grounded empiricism’, as we call them, remain true to the spirit of empiricism, but acknowledge that epistemic credibility extends far beyond biological sensory organs to include scientific instruments

Compositional Understanding in Signaling Games

Receivers in standard signaling game models struggle with learning compositional information. Even when the signalers send compositional messages, the receivers do not interpret them compositionally. When information from one message component is lost or forgotten, the information from other components is also erased. In this paper I construct signaling game models in which genuine compositional understanding evolves. I present two new models: a minimalist receiver who only learns from the atomic messages of a signal, and a generalist receiver who learns from all of the available information. These models are in many ways simpler than previous alternatives, and allow the receivers to learn from the atomic components of messages

Contrast subgraphs catch patterns of altered functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder

Despite the breakthrough achievements in understanding structural and functional alterations of brain connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the exact nature and type of such alterations are not yet clear due to conflicting reports of hyper-connectivity, hypo-connectivity, and—in some cases—combinations of both. In this work, we bring order to the debate using a network comparison technique to capture mesoscopic-scale differential patterns of functional connectedness. In particular, we leverage recent algorithmic advances in extracting contrast subgraphs to identify maximally different mesoscopic connectivity structures between two sets of networks from typically developed individuals and ASD subjects across different developmental stages. A significantly larger connectivity among occipital cortex regions and between the left precuneus and the superior parietal gyrus was found in ASD subjects. At the same time, reduced connectivity characterized the superior frontal gyrus and the temporal lobe regions. More importantly, our results reconcile within a single framework multiple previous separate observations about functional connectivity alterations in ASD

Exploring AI-powered Digital Innovations from A Transnational Governance Perspective: Implications for Market Acceptance and Digital Accountability

This study explores the application of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to AI-powered digital innovations within a transnational governance framework. By integrating Latourian actor-network theory (ANT), this study examines how institutional motivations, regulatory compliance, and ethical and cultural acceptance drive organisations to develop and adopt AI innovations, enhancing their market acceptance and transnational accountability. We extend the TAM framework by incorporating regulatory, ethical, and socio-technical considerations as key social pressures shaping AI adoption. Recognizing that AI is embedded within complex actor-networks, we argue that accountability is co-constructed among organisations, regulators, and societal actors rather than being confined to individual developers or adopters. To address these challenges, we propose two key solutions: (1) internal resource reconfiguration, where organisations restructure their governance and compliance mechanisms to align with global standards; and (2) reshaping organisational boundaries through actor-network management, fostering engagement with external stakeholders, regulatory bodies, and transnational governance institutions. These approaches allow organisations to enhance AI accountability, foster ethical and regulatory alignment, and improve market acceptance on a global scale

Dynamics in Hamiltonian Lattice Gauge Theory: Approaching the Continuum Limit with Partitionings of SU(2)

In this paper, we investigate a digitised SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the Hamiltonian formalism. We use partitionings to digitise the gauge degrees of freedom and show how to define a penalty term based on finite element methods to project onto physical states of the system. Moreover, we show for a single plaquette system that in this framework the limit g → 0 can be approached at constant cost

Unlocking the potential: leveraging blockchain technology for agri-food supply chain performance and sustainability

Blockchain technology (BCT) has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing transparency and trust. However, the relationship between the benefits of BCT and agri-food supply chain performance (AFSCperf) remains underexplored. Therefore, the current study investigates the influence of BCT on AFSCperf and sustainability issues. Through a comprehensive literature review, various benefits of BCT are identified. Subsequently, a research framework is proposed based on data collected from questionnaire surveys and personal visits to professionals in the agri-food industry. The proposed framework is validated using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that BCT positively impacts AFSCperf by improving traceability, transparency, food safety and quality, immutability and trust. Additionally, BCT adoption enhances stakeholder collaboration, provides a decentralised network, improves data accessibility and yields a better return on investment, resulting in the overall improvement in AFSCperf and socio-economic sustainability. This study offers valuable practical insights for practitioners and academicians, establishing empirical links between the benefits of BCT and AFSCperf and providing a deeper understanding of BCT adoption. Stakeholders, managers, policymakers and technology providers can leverage these findings to optimise the benefits of BCT in enhancing AFSCperf. Moreover, it utilises rigorous theoretical and empirical approaches, drawing on a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing food operations and supply chain literature, public policy, information technology, strategy, organisational theory and sustainability

Can Dabus Now have a German Passport?

The case commentary looks at the latest ruling in the DABUS-saga, this time from the German Federal Court in Karlsruhe. Since 2017 Dr Stephen Thaler and his attorney Professor Ryan Abbott have tried to prove that patent protection should be available for innovation invented by AI. Together they have filed a long series of world-wide high-profile legal actions, including the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. All with the same aim to have Thaler’s DABUS device listed as the inventor with its own patent. This article follows on from an earlier piece EIPR (2024), with an update from the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof 11 June 2024). DABUS operator and inventor, Dr Stephen L. Thaler, has been trying for years to have AI registered as an inventor worldwide - and has so far failed in almost all cases worldwide except Saudi Arabia and South Africa

William Sancho and the Possibilities of Black British Lives in Late Georgian Britain

William Sancho was the son of Ignatius Sancho, one of the eighteenth century's most important Black Britons. In contrast to his father, however, William's life has never been fully explored. This Element builds a new evidential trail to uncover a multifaceted career that saw the younger Sancho undertake an apprenticeship and become a bookseller, rate-paying citizen and well-connected man about town. Sancho also contributed to the early vaccination movement and the campaign against slavery. Remarkable as elements of it were, Sancho’s story makes sound historical sense for someone so deeply embedded within the country’s burgeoning entrepreneurial, literate, male-dominated, metropolitan and imperially-focused public sphere. Sancho was a Black man who lived a distinctly ‘British’ life: his importance stands on its own terms, but also alters our perspectives of what these two historical labels have traditionally implied, and the experiences that were possible as part of them