Keystones to foster inclusive knowledge societies: access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy, and ethics on a global internet

The transnational and multi-dimensional nature of Cyberspace and its growing importance presents new frontiers with unparalleled opportunities and challenges for access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethics. The Internet Study being undertaken by UNESCO is seeking to provide the necessary clarity to support holistic approaches to addressing this broad range of interrelated issues as well as their short and long-term effects. The study was built on a year-long multistakeholder consultation process, which involved several rounds of consultation with member states and other actors, as well as almost 200 major responses to an online questionnaire. The Study includes the Options for future actions of UNESCO in the Internet related issues, which has served as a basis for the Outcome Document as adopted by the CONNECTing the Dots Conference on 3 and 4 March 2015. The Study also affirmed that the same rights that people have offline must be protected online, and good practices are shared between Member States and other stakeholders, in order to address security and privacy concerns on the Internet and in accordance with international human rights obligations. The Study also supports the Internet Universality principles (R.O.A.M) that promote a human rights-based approach, including freedom of expression, privacy, open Internet, accessible to all and characterized by multistakeholder participation

Biomedical Image Processing and Classification

Biomedical image processing is an interdisciplinary field involving a variety of disciplines, e.g., electronics, computer science, physics, mathematics, physiology, and medicine. Several imaging techniques have been developed, providing many approaches to the study of the human body. Biomedical image processing is finding an increasing number of important applications in, for example, the study of the internal structure or function of an organ and the diagnosis or treatment of a disease. If associated with classification methods, it can support the development of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems, which could help medical doctors in refining their clinical picture

The Normative Order of the Internet: A Theory of Rule and Regulation Online

There is order on the internet, but how has this order emerged and what challenges will threaten and shape its future? This study shows how a legitimate order of norms has emerged online, through both national and international legal systems. It establishes the emergence of a normative order of the internet, an order which explains and justifies processes of online rule and regulation. This order integrates norms at three different levels (regional, national, international), of two types (privately and publicly authored), and of different character (from ius cogens to technical standards). The author assesses their internal coherence, their consonance with other order norms and their consistency with the order's finality. The normative order of the internet is based on and produces a liquefied system characterized by self-learning normativity. In light of the importance of the socio-communicative online space, this is a book for anyone interested in understanding the contemporary development of the internet.

Out-of-Distribution Generalization of Gigapixel Image Representation

This thesis addresses the significant challenge of improving the generalization capabilities of artificial deep neural networks in the classification of whole slide images (WSIs) in histopathology across different and unseen hospitals. It is a critical issue in AI applications for vision-based healthcare tasks, given that current standard methodologies struggle with out-of-distribution (OOD) data from varying hospital sources. In histopathology, distribution shifts can arise due to image acquisition variances across different scanner vendors, differences in laboratory routines and staining procedures, and diversity in patient demographics. This work investigates two critical forms of generalization within histopathology: magnification generalization and OOD generalization towards different hospitals. One chapter of this thesis is dedicated to the exploration of magnification generalization, acknowledging the variability in histopathological images due to distinct magnification levels and seeking to enhance the model's robustness by learning invariant features across these levels. However, the major part of this work focuses on OOD generalization, specifically unseen hospital data. The objective is to leverage knowledge encapsulated in pre-existing models to help new models adapt to diverse data scenarios and ensure their efficient operation in different hospital environments. Additionally, the concept of Hospital-Agnostic (HA) learning regimes is introduced, focusing on invariant characteristics across hospitals and aiming to establish a learning model that sustains stable performance in varied hospital settings. The culmination of this research introduces a comprehensive method, termed ALFA (Exploiting All Levels of Feature Abstraction), that not only considers invariant features across hospitals but also extracts a broader set of features from input images, thus maximizing the model's generalization potential. The findings of this research are expected to have significant implications for the deployment of medical image classification systems using deep models in clinical settings. The proposed methods allow for more accurate and reliable diagnostic support across various hospital environments, thereby improving diagnostic accuracy and reliability, and paving the way for enhanced generalization in histopathology diagnostics using deep learning techniques. Future research directions may build on expanding these investigations to further improve generalization in histopathology

A deep-learning approach to aid in diagnosing Barrett’s oesophagus related dysplasia

Barrett's oesophagus is the only known precursor to oesophagus carcinoma. Histologically, it is defined as a condition of columnar cells replacing the standard squamous lining. Those altered cells are prone to cytological and architectural abnormalities, known as dysplasia. The dysplastic degree varies from low to high grade and can evolve into invasive carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. Thus, detecting high-grade and intramucosal carcinoma during the surveillance of Barrett's oesophagus patients is vital so they can be treated by surgical resection. Unfortunately, the achieved interobserver agreement for grading dysplasia among pathologists is only fair to moderate. Nowadays, grading Barrett's dysplasia is limited to visual examination by pathologists for glass or virtual slides. This work aims to diagnose different grades of dysplasia in Barrett’s oesophagus, particularly high-grade dysplasia, from virtual histopathological slides of oesophagus tissue. In the first approach, virtual slides were analysed at a low magnification to detect regions of interest and predict the grade of dysplasia based on the analysis of the virtual slides at 10X magnification. Transfer learning was employed to partially fine-tune two deep-learning networks using healthy and Barrett’s oesophagus tissue. Then, the two networks were connected. The proposed model achieved 0.57 sensitivity, 0.79 specificity and moderate agreement with a pathologist. On the contrary, the second approach processed the slides at a higher magnification (40X magnification). It adapted novelty detection and local outlier factor alongside transfer learning to solve the multiple instances learning problem. It increased the performance of the diagnosis to 0.84 sensitivity and 0.92 specificity, and the interobserver agreement reached a substantial level. Finally, the last approach mimics the pathologists’ procedure to diagnose dysplasia, relying on both magnifications. Thus, their behaviours during the assessment were analysed. As a result, it was found that employing a multi-scale approach to detect dysplastic tissue using a low magnification level (10X magnification) and grade dysplasia at a higher level (40X magnification). The proposed computer-aided diagnosis system was built using networks from the first two approaches. It scored 0.90 sensitivity, 0.94 specificity and a substantial agreement with the pathologist and a moderate agreement with the other expert

At a crossroad: the GATS telecom framework and neo-patrimonial states:the politics of telecom reform in Kenya

Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Social Science and Policy, University of New South WalesThe liberalisation of domestic telecommunication (telecom) markets has become a worldwide trend. As a result, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), evolving from deliberations within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been heralded as the mechanism with which to effect telecom liberalisation domestically. For countries in Africa, the GATS instruments have been translated as a means to establish the principles required for an effective telecom industry supported by key institutions in policy, regulation and implementation. However, the analysis of relevant literature on telecom in Africa has tended to focus on technological developments based on current observable outcomes. This methodology is inadequate because it fails to account for the context-specific nature of the policy arena and framework shaping telecom outcomes. I argue that we must consider telecom outcomes by understanding the nature of political institutions domestically and their interaction with the international arena. To explicate this intersection of ideas, I draw on two seemingly independent theories, Neopatrimonialism and New Institutional Economics (NIE) with reference to the works of van de Walle (2001) and North (1990) respectively, to shed light on the nature of the Kenyan political context and the value of the GATS as an instrument that facilitates credibility and reduces opportunistic ex-post behaviour. It is contended in this study, that for the Kenyan Government, the value of the GATS accession lies in the legitimising role that it facilitates in accessing funds from the international community. This study thus highlights the inevitable tension that arises when domestic policy-reform goals are juxtaposed with international trade obligations undertaken through treaty accession and informed by a liberalisation agenda. A qualitative approach was used to collect the data and involved interviews and documentary analysis. The findings suggest that Kenya is partially in compliance with its GATS telecom commitments. However, this partial reform results from patrimonial tendencies in Kenya and is exacerbated by the need to attract hard currency through aid packages that dictate the nature of the policy process and the relationship between Kenya and the international community. In conclusion, even with policy reforms, state agents always find ways to maintain or create clientelist practises. Unless such reform is accompanied by political changes that provide checks and balances on institutions and state agents, reform policies on their own will not create an effective telecom sector. To truly evaluate telecom reform therefore, we must appreciate the context-specific nature of policy making.The liberalisation of domestic telecommunication (telecom) markets has become a worldwide trend. As a result, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), evolving from deliberations within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been heralded as the mechanism with which to effect telecom liberalisation domestically. For countries in Africa, the GATS instruments have been translated as a means to establish the principles required for an effective telecom industry supported by key institutions in policy, regulation and implementation. However, the analysis of relevant literature on telecom in Africa has tended to focus on technological developments based on current observable outcomes. This methodology is inadequate because it fails to account for the context-specific nature of the policy arena and framework shaping telecom outcomes. I argue that we must consider telecom outcomes by understanding the nature of political institutions domestically and their interaction with the international arena. To explicate this intersection of ideas, I draw on two seemingly independent theories, Neopatrimonialism and New Institutional Economics (NIE) with reference to the works of van de Walle (2001) and North (1990) respectively, to shed light on the nature of the Kenyan political context and the value of the GATS as an instrument that facilitates credibility and reduces opportunistic ex-post behaviour. It is contended in this study, that for the Kenyan Government, the value of the GATS accession lies in the legitimising role that it facilitates in accessing funds from the international community. This study thus highlights the inevitable tension that arises when domestic policy-reform goals are juxtaposed with international trade obligations undertaken through treaty accession and informed by a liberalisation agenda. A qualitative approach was used to collect the data and involved interviews and documentary analysis. The findings suggest that Kenya is partially in compliance with its GATS telecom commitments. However, this partial reform results from patrimonial tendencies in Kenya and is exacerbated by the need to attract hard currency through aid packages that dictate the nature of the policy process and the relationship between Kenya and the international community. In conclusion, even with policy reforms, state agents always find ways to maintain or create clientelist practises. Unless such reform is accompanied by political changes that provide checks and balances on institutions and state agents, reform policies on their own will not create an effective telecom sector. To truly evaluate telecom reform therefore, we must appreciate the context-specific nature of policy makin

Governance Issues in Sri Lanka: a Cybernetic Diagnosis and Solution ‘Process’ Proposal

The intensity of negotiations, including war and Peace Talks, are driven by the threat of identity disintegration. Sri Lanka negotiates to preserve territorial integrity. Tamils argue for secession to preserve their identity. How is each to adapt their identity so that they can peacefully co-exist within the island? The current peace process began in 2002. The principles of Organizational Cybernetics show distinction is warranted between External Self-Determination (secession) and Internal Self-Determination (a single sovereignty recognised by the international community) as the negotiating systems occupy different recursive positions relative to each other. In each context, the systems gravitate differently towards cohesion and autonomy. Equally vital is to distinguish between systems, their embedments and their representatives. Diagnosis of the peace process seeking an internal self-determination solution does not display these distinctions. At the 2002 Peace Talks the only system permitted to negotiate with Sri Lanka (the encompassing system) was confined to one of the embedded systems (the Tamils as represented by the LTTE). Structurally this risked the encompassing system collapsing to represent its missing embedded systems. To rectify this Team Syntegrity is proposed, whose sequence of design in its multiple cascades enables representation issues to be resolved without it being confined to political parties. Content solutions are matters for Sri Lankans to design. However, they are considered in order to design and propose a ‘process’ solution. The journey this thesis takes is to arrive at designing the ‘how’ of negotiations so that it can accommodate the myriad of ‘what’ needs to be negotiated. A meta-level logic is required to resolve the undecidable proposition of preserving territorial integrity or secession. Working with the levels of recursion - the UN, the State and its embedded systems, this thesis proposes a way to absorb residual variety to gain agreement to negotiate internal self-determination based on interlocking negotiations involving those seeking cohesion and those seeking autonomy. This process also opens the way to address the solution design of the other interacting crises afflicting Sri Lanka. The uniqueness and contribution of this research is that it is the first time Organizational Cybernetics has been conceptually applied to diagnose and design a peace process involving a sovereign State

Innovation-ICT-cybersecurity: The triad relationship and its impact on growth competitiveness

This study examines the global growth competitiveness of countries using the dynamics of growth, ICT, and innovation. It also introduces a new dynamic, cybersecurity, and argues that within a growth competitiveness framework, ICT, innovation, and cybersecurity mechanisms allow some countries to achieve higher ranks on the competitiveness ladder than others. Based on a theoretical framework that encompasses the economic growth model, the complementarity theory, and the international law theory, a model that integrates ICT, innovation, and cybersecurity, depicts the relationships amongst them and with growth competitiveness, and incorporates complementary factors with possible moderating effect is presented. The model proposed relationships are then tested using PLS-PM. The model proves to have adequate goodness-of-fit as well as predictive validity. Results support most hypotheses showing: (1) a positive relationship between ICT and innovation; (2) a positive relationship between each of innovation and ICT with growth competitiveness; (3) a mediating effect of innovation has in the ICT – growth competitiveness relationship; (4) a positive relationship between ICT and innovation on one hand and cybersecurity on the other; (5) a mediating role of cybersecurity in the ICT – growth as well as the innovation – growth relationships; and the (6) moderating effect that human capital has in the above relationships. Cyber threats, however, do not have a moderator role in these relationships. These findings are interpreted in relation to the extant body of knowledge related to ICT, innovation, and cybersecurity. Moreover, the theoretical and the practical implications are discussed and the practical significance is shown. Finally, the study limitations are listed, the recommendations are presented, and the direction for future work is discussed