70 research outputs found
Security Technologies and Methods for Advanced Cyber Threat Intelligence, Detection and Mitigation
The rapid growth of the Internet interconnectivity and complexity of communication systems has led us to a significant growth of cyberattacks globally often with severe and disastrous consequences. The swift development of more innovative and effective (cyber)security solutions and approaches are vital which can detect, mitigate and prevent from these serious consequences. Cybersecurity is gaining momentum and is scaling up in very many areas. This book builds on the experience of the Cyber-Trust EU projectâs methods, use cases, technology development, testing and validation and extends into a broader science, lead IT industry market and applied research with practical cases. It offers new perspectives on advanced (cyber) security innovation (eco) systems covering key different perspectives. The book provides insights on new security technologies and methods for advanced cyber threat intelligence, detection and mitigation. We cover topics such as cyber-security and AI, cyber-threat intelligence, digital forensics, moving target defense, intrusion detection systems, post-quantum security, privacy and data protection, security visualization, smart contracts security, software security, blockchain, security architectures, system and data integrity, trust management systems, distributed systems security, dynamic risk management, privacy and ethics
Narratives Crossing Boundaries: Storytelling in a Transmedial and Transdisciplinary Context
As the dominant narrative forms in the age of media convergence, films and games call for a transmedial perspective in narratology. Games allow a participatory reception of the story, bringing the transgression of the ontological boundary between the narrated world and the world of the recipient into focus. These diverse transgressions - medial and ontological - are the subject of this transdisciplinary compendium, which covers the subject in an interdisciplinary way from various perspectives: game studies and media studies, but also sociology and psychology, to take into account the great influence of storytelling on social discourses and human behavior
Differential evolution of non-coding DNA across eukaryotes and its close relationship with complex multicellularity on Earth
Here, I elaborate on the hypothesis that complex multicellularity (CM, sensu Knoll) is a major evolutionary transition (sensu Szathmary), which has convergently evolved a few times in Eukarya only: within red and brown algae, plants, animals, and fungi. Paradoxically, CM seems to correlate with the expansion of non-coding DNA (ncDNA) in the genome rather than with genome size or the total number of genes. Thus, I investigated the correlation between genome and organismal complexities across 461 eukaryotes under a phylogenetically controlled framework. To that end, I introduce the first formal definitions and criteria to distinguish âunicellularityâ, âsimpleâ (SM) and âcomplexâ multicellularity. Rather than using the limited available estimations of unique cell types, the 461 species were classified according to our criteria by reviewing their life cycle and body plan development from literature. Then, I investigated the evolutionary association between genome size and 35 genome-wide features (introns and exons from protein-coding genes, repeats and intergenic regions) describing the coding and ncDNA complexities of the 461 genomes. To that end, I developed âGenomeContentâ, a program that systematically retrieves massive multidimensional datasets from gene annotations and calculates over 100 genome-wide statistics. R-scripts coupled to parallel computing were created to calculate >260,000 phylogenetic controlled pairwise correlations. As previously reported, both repetitive and non-repetitive DNA are found to be scaling strongly and positively with genome size across most eukaryotic lineages. Contrasting previous studies, I demonstrate that changes in the length and repeat composition of introns are only weakly or moderately associated with changes in genome size at the global phylogenetic scale, while changes in intron abundance (within and across genes) are either not or only very weakly associated with changes in genome size. Our evolutionary correlations are robust to: different phylogenetic regression methods, uncertainties in the tree of eukaryotes, variations in genome size estimates, and randomly reduced datasets. Then, I investigated the correlation between the 35 genome-wide features and the cellular complexity of the 461 eukaryotes with phylogenetic Principal Component Analyses. Our results endorse a genetic distinction between SM and CM in Archaeplastida and Metazoa, but not so clearly in Fungi. Remarkably, complex multicellular organisms and their closest ancestral relatives are characterized by high intron-richness, regardless of genome size. Finally, I argue why and how a vast expansion of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) regulators rather than of novel protein regulators can promote the emergence of CM in Eukarya. As a proof of concept, I co-developed a novel âceRNA-motif pipelineâ for the prediction of âcompeting endogenousâ ncRNAs (ceRNAs) that regulate microRNAs in plants. We identified three candidate ceRNAs motifs: MIM166, MIM171 and MIM159/319, which were found to be conserved across land plants and be potentially involved in diverse developmental processes and stress responses. Collectively, the findings of this dissertation support our hypothesis that CM on Earth is a major evolutionary transition promoted by the expansion of two major ncDNA classes, introns and regulatory ncRNAs, which might have boosted the irreversible commitment of cell types in certain lineages by canalizing the timing and kinetics of the eukaryotic transcriptome.:Cover page
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Index
1. The structure of this thesis
1.1. Structure of this PhD dissertation
1.2. Publications of this PhD dissertation
1.3. Computational infrastructure and resources
1.4. Disclosure of financial support and information use
1.5. Acknowledgements
1.6. Author contributions and use of impersonal and personal pronouns
2. Biological background
2.1. The complexity of the eukaryotic genome
2.2. The problem of counting and defining âgenesâ in eukaryotes
2.3. The âfunctionâ concept for genes and âdark matterâ
2.4. Increases of organismal complexity on Earth through multicellularity
2.5. Multicellularity is a âfitness transitionâ in individuality
2.6. The complexity of cell differentiation in multicellularity
3. Technical background
3.1. The Phylogenetic Comparative Method (PCM)
3.2. RNA secondary structure prediction
3.3. Some standards for genome and gene annotation
4. What is in a eukaryotic genome? GenomeContent provides a good answer
4.1. Background
4.2. Motivation: an interoperable tool for data retrieval of gene annotations
4.3. Methods
4.4. Results
4.5. Discussion
5. The evolutionary correlation between genome size and ncDNA
5.1. Background
5.2. Motivation: estimating the relationship between genome size and ncDNA
5.3. Methods
5.4. Results
5.5. Discussion
6. The relationship between non-coding DNA and Complex Multicellularity
6.1. Background
6.2. Motivation: How to define and measure complex multicellularity across eukaryotes?
6.3. Methods
6.4. Results
6.5. Discussion
7. The ceRNA motif pipeline: regulation of microRNAs by target mimics
7.1. Background
7.2. A revisited protocol for the computational analysis of Target Mimics
7.3. Motivation: a novel pipeline for ceRNA motif discovery
7.4. Methods
7.5. Results
7.6. Discussion
8. Conclusions and outlook
8.1. Contributions and lessons for the bioinformatics of large-scale comparative analyses
8.2. Intron features are evolutionarily decoupled among themselves and from genome size throughout Eukarya
8.3. âComplex multicellularityâ is a major evolutionary transition
8.4. Role of RNA throughout the evolution of life and complex multicellularity on Earth
9. Supplementary Data
Bibliography
Curriculum Scientiae
SelbstÀndigkeitserklÀrung (declaration of authorship
Chapter 34 - Biocompatibility of nanocellulose: Emerging biomedical applications
Nanocellulose already proved to be a highly relevant material for biomedical
applications, ensued by its outstanding mechanical properties and, more importantly, its biocompatibility. Nevertheless, despite their previous intensive
research, a notable number of emerging applications are still being developed.
Interestingly, this drive is not solely based on the nanocellulose features, but also
heavily dependent on sustainability. The three core nanocelluloses encompass
cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC). All these different types of nanocellulose display highly interesting biomedical properties per se, after modification and when used in
composite formulations. Novel applications that use nanocellulose includewell-known areas, namely, wound dressings, implants, indwelling medical
devices, scaffolds, and novel printed scaffolds. Their cytotoxicity and biocompatibility using recent methodologies are thoroughly analyzed to reinforce their
near future applicability. By analyzing the pristine core nanocellulose, none
display cytotoxicity. However, CNF has the highest potential to fail long-term
biocompatibility since it tends to trigger inflammation. On the other hand, neverdried BNC displays a remarkable biocompatibility. Despite this, all nanocelluloses clearly represent a flag bearer of future superior biomaterials, being
elite materials in the urgent replacement of our petrochemical dependence
Cybersecurity Regulation in the Financial Sector: Reflexive Risk Management in the UK, USA and Nigeria
Ph. D. ThesisThe consistent increase in the scale and forms of cyber threats, alongside the growth in use and
global uptake of communications technologies, has made risk management a core function of
21st century service providers. This has necessitated the proactive mitigation of cyber threats
and the integration of frameworks, policies and regulations that ensure the security of financial
transactions. Exploring reflexivity as a mechanism for informing adaptive and resilient
cybersecurity risk management practices, this thesis examines structures of coexistence
between criminal justice and self-regulatory responses, multiple cycles of reflexive processes
of self-examination, participation, communication, and revisions to influence future practices
in ever evolving risk and policy landscapes. This thesis evaluates the review, identification, and
control dimensions of cybersecurity risk management frameworks, analyses self-regulatory
cybersecurity standards and specific cybersecurity legal frameworks applicable to financial
institutions in the UK, US, and Nigeria, which can be implemented and/or remodelled to
enhance the effectiveness of cybersecurity risk regulation.
It observes that while effective cybersecurity risk regulation across the financial
institutions is being hampered by factors such as cherry-picked laws, unclear mandates, and a
lack of coordination between public and private stakeholders, strong implementation and
enforcement structures may be facilitated by initiatives directed at networked governance and
institutional arrangements involving a shared understanding of cyber threats and decision making processes. This thesis highlights the link between reflexivity and governance for
learning in financial institutions, arguing that reflexivity will always not deliver learning, in the
absence of good institutional structures of governance. Employing realist and constructivist risk
theories and secondary analysis of qualitative data obtained from government and non government agencies to inform practices and steer regulatory policy decisions, this thesis
identifies measures to enhance effective cybersecurity risk regulation in financial institutions
and addresses possible challenges to reflexivity in cybersecurity risk regulation
Genetic Glass Ceilings
As the worldâs population rises to an expected ten billion in the next few generations, the challenges of feeding humanity and maintaining an ecological balance will dramatically increase. Today we rely on just four crops for 80 percent of all consumed calories: wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. Indeed, reliance on these four crops may also mean we are one global plant disease outbreak away from major famine. In this revolutionary and controversial book, Jonathan Gressel argues that alternative plant crops lack the genetic diversity necessary for wider domestication and that even the Big Four have reached a âgenetic glass ceilingâ: no matter how much they are bred, there is simply not enough genetic diversity available to significantly improve their agricultural value. Gressel points the way through the glass ceiling by advocating transgenicsâa technique where genes from one species are transferred to another. He maintains that with simple safeguards the technique is a safe solution to the genetic glass ceiling conundrum. Analyzing alternative cropsâincluding palm oil, papaya, buckwheat, tef, and sorghumâGressel demonstrates how gene manipulation could enhance their potential for widespread domestication and reduce our dependency on the Big Four. He also describes a number of ecological benefits that could be derived with the aid of transgenics. A compelling synthesis of ideas from agronomy, medicine, breeding, physiology, population genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology, Genetic Glass Ceilings presents transgenics as an inevitable and desperately necessary approach to securing and diversifying the world's food supply
Transtsendentsus kui ĂŒks teema teoloogias ja tehnoloogias
Selles töös uuritakse transtsendentsi tĂ€hendust religioonis/teoloogias ja teaduses/tehnoloogias. Seejuures analĂŒĂŒsitakse "posthumanistlikke" diskursusi valitud religioonides, transhumanismis ja posthumanismis. Uuring pakub vĂ€lja kaks vĂ”imalust horisontaalse ja vertikaalse transtsendentsuse tajumiseks.
Horisontaalne transtsendentsus osutab nii ette- kui ka tahapoole, fokusseerides suhetele meid ĂŒmbritsevate mitteinimestega. See hĂ”lmab teaduse ja tehnoloogia kaudu toimuvat tĂ€iustamist seoses universumi mitteinimlike mĂ”juritega. Horisontaalne transtsendentsus osutab inimese kehastusele looduses, vÀÀrtustades sugulust nii elusate kui ka elutute olenditega looduses. See hĂ”lmab piiride ĂŒletamist teadusuuringute ja tehnoloogia rakendamise kaudu, tunnistades, et tehnoloogia kui vahend on osa inimloomusest ja Jumala kingitus. SeetĂ”ttu tuleks tehnoloogiat kasutada tervislikel eesmĂ€rkidel, mis ei kahjusta keskkonnas leiduvaid organisme. Horisontaalne transtsendentsus hĂ”lbustab meeskonna ĂŒlesehitamist, kogukonda, austust ja hoolitsust teise kui iseenda eest.
Vertikaalne transtsendents osutab ĂŒlespoole ja see fokusseerib teispoolsusele. See esindab soovi ja nĂ€gemust loodusest eralduda tehnoloogia vĂ”i jumalike vahendite abil. Vertikaalne hĂ”lmab dualistlikku arusaama inimesest, mida saab tĂ€iustada mĂ”istuse/hingede/immateriaalse kehast/materjalist eraldamise kaudu. MĂ”isted ja doktriinid, mis omistavad indiviididele, rĂŒhmadele vĂ”i liikidele eelisseisundi, on vertikaalsed, sealhulgas eitavad inimeste kehastumist looduses.
Uurimus koosneb seitsmest peatĂŒkist, millest igaĂŒks edastab ainulaadset, kuid ĂŒhist diskursust. Esimeses peatĂŒkis kaardistatakse ja tutvustatakse uuringut ja kasutatud metoodikat. Lisaks töö sissejuhatusele arutlen teoloogia tĂ€henduse ja teoloogide kohustuse ĂŒle tĂ”lgendada teoloogiat domineeriva kaasaegse arusaama kontekstis. See on vĂ”imalik alternatiivse lĂ€henemise kaudu teoloogia formuleerimisel, mis juurutab teaduslikku ja tehnoloogilist arusaama. Religioonist rÀÀgitakse arusaama all, et hoolimata Ă”petuslikust mitmekesisusest on olemas mĂ”isted, mis iseloomustavad kĂ”iki religioone. SeetĂ”ttu on vĂ”imalik laiendada arutelusid transtsendentsuse ĂŒle kristlikust teoloogiast kaugemale.
Teises peatĂŒkis fokusseeritakse Hefneri loodud kaaslooja teooriale, milles presenteeritakse, kuidas teoloogia vĂ”iks olla formuleeritud teaduses. KĂ€sitletakse mĂŒĂŒtide ja rituaalide rolli inimkonna arenguloos, osutades faktile, et inimkonna arenguks on vaja teaduslikke ja religioosseid andmeid. Seega toob see kontseptsioon esile teaduse ja teoloogia teineteist tĂ€iendavad rollid ning selle, kuidas nad vajavad teineteist mĂ”testatud sotsiaalkultuurilise ĂŒlesehituse jaoks. Teoloogiliselt, kui tahetakse mĂ”ista inimest ja tema rolli, on vaja ĂŒmber tĂ”lgendada erinevaid mĂ”isteid, mis aitavad kaasa tĂ€henduse loomise protsessidele.
NÀiteks imago Dei kontseptsioon teoloogias vÀljendub vÔimes langetada otsuseid ja konstrueerida Ôigustavaid lugusid tagasisideprotsessi kaudu. Seega vÀljendub inimeste ainulaadsus kaasloojatena nende ainulaadsetes omadustes, nagu anatoomilised omadused ja arenenud kognitiivsed vÔimed, mis kulmineeruvad vabadusega. Inimese eesmÀrki mÔistetakse loovuses kui Jumala loovuse peegeldust. Tehnoloogia on seega inimloomuse loomulik osa, tÀites evolutsioonilises keskkonnas inimlikku eesmÀrki.
Kolmandas peatĂŒkis kĂ€sitletakse teoloogia, tehnoloogia ja transtsendentsi vahelisi seoseid. Transtsendentsuse analoogiaid kasutatakse idee rĂ”hutamisel, kus inimtehnoloogia ja religioossete arusaamade vahel on keerukas suhe. PeatĂŒkis hinnatakse tĂ€iustamise mĂ”isteid ja seda, kuidas teoloogid neid vĂ€ljendavad, rĂ”hutades, et tĂ€iustamist tuleks vaadelda kui igapĂ€evast protsessi, mis on tĂ€iesti erinev transhumanismist. TĂ€iustamine on ressurss, mis annab Homo sapiensâile eksistentsiaalse eelise evolutsiooniprotsessis, kuna nad puutuvad kokku erinevate keskkonnatingimustega. TĂ€iendusprotsessil on nii teaduslik kui ka teoloogiline ajalugu. Lisaks on tehnoloogia ja teadus suurepĂ€rased tĂ€iustamisressursid ja inimkonna evolutsiooniprotsessides ĂŒliolulised. PeatĂŒkis jĂ€reldatakse, et inimteoloogiline ajalugu viitab sellele, et on olnud jumalikke, tagant Ă”hutatud tĂ€iustusi, mis toetasid inimese eksistentsi pĂ€rast langemist, seega tĂ”hustamine on teoloogiliselt kooskĂ”las religioossete loomisdoktriinidega. Kristlus on jĂ€tkanud mineviku imede tegemist. Kuid praegu tĂ€iustamistehnoloogiate kaudu.
Neljandas peatĂŒkis tutvustatakse "posthumanistlikku" diskursust transhumanismis, posthumanismis ja kristluses. PeatĂŒkk aga keskendub posthumanismile ja Haraway jutustusele kĂŒborgist. Posthumanistlikud ideed on kontrastsed transhumanistlikele arusaamadele transtsendentsist. Kuigi transhumanism eeldab tĂ€iuslikkuse uut julget koitu, siis posthumanistid pĂŒĂŒdlevad erinevate konstrueeritud tĂ”kete kaotamise poole, tunnustades universaalset sugulust. JĂ€relikult viitab posthumanismi transtsendentsus samastumisele teiste inimestega, keskkonnaga, tehnoloogiaga jne. Seega on posthumanismi idee transtsendentsusest horisontaalne, kuid transhumanistid keskenduvad vertikaalsele transtsendentsusele.
KĂŒborg on posthumanismi vĂ”imas sĂŒmbol ja on olnud "posthumanistliku" tulevikuga seotud peamiste diskursuste tugipunktiks. KĂŒborg esindab ĂŒhtsust, sulandumist, universaalset sugulust ja egalitarismi. âInimeseâ idee kĂŒborgi raames on samastatav transhumanismi kui informatsiooniga, kuid erinevalt transhumanismist on informatsioon kehastatud sarnaselt inimese kristliku mĂ”istega.
Viiendas peatĂŒkis kĂ€sitletakse transhumanismi ja transhumanistlikke meetodeid vananemise ja surma kĂ”rvaldamiseks. Uurimuses vĂ€ljendatakse seisukohta, et transhumanistlik soov ĂŒletada inimese lĂ”plikkust on inimese kui kaaslooja loomulik kalduvus, kuid see eirab teaduslikke reaalsusi ja inimese kui miljonite aastate evolutsiooni produkti keerulist olemust. Soov vĂ”tta inimestelt nende loomulik konstitutsioon on sĂŒnonĂŒĂŒmne inimliigi hĂ€vitamisega ja nende automaatide surematuks muutmisega. SeetĂ”ttu samastatakse transhumanism pigem pseudoteadusega kui nende vĂ€idetega lĂ€bimurdelise teaduse kohta, sest nad kasutavad oma pĂŒĂŒdlustes arvukalt ebateaduslikke meetodeid. Lisaks sellele on transhumanistide visioonides, hoolimata postreligioossetest hoiakutest, palju radikaalseid religioosseid elemente, sealhulgas gnostitsismi. Transhumanismi ambitsioonid lĂ€hevad kaugemale kĂŒborgi kontseptsioonist, sest kui kĂŒborg vĂ”ib esindada tĂ€iustamist, siis orgaaniline osa vĂ”ib olla vastuvĂ”tlik haigustele, vananemisele ja surmale, kuid transhumanismi "posthumanist" on surematu, vananematu ja haigustele immuunne.
Kuuendas peatĂŒkis arutletakse "posthumanistlike" narratiivide ja religiooni vaheliste suhete ĂŒle, sĂ”nastades seisukoha, et religioosset eshatoloogiat tuleks kĂ€sitleda kui "posthumanistlikku" narratiivi. Selle pĂ”hjuseks on tuvastatud sarnasused ilmalike "posthumanistlike" narratiivide ja religioonide eshatoloogiliste visioonide vahel. Selles peatĂŒkis tuvastatakse transhumanismis ja religioossetes Ă”petustes erinevaid kehastatusmĂ”tete varjundeid, millel puudub pĂŒhakirjanduslik ja teaduslik alus, nĂ€iteks Ă”petused, mis stigmatiseerivad seksuaalseid vĂ€ljendusi, soolist diskrimineerimist ja soovi loobuda kehast. Seksismi, gĂŒnofoobiat ja genofoobiat arutatakse kristluses seoses transsendentaalsuse ideega. Uuringus vĂ€idetakse, et selliseid eelarvamusi soodustavad arusaamad on kultuurilised, neil puuduvad pĂŒhakirjalikud alused ja teaduslikud valgustused, seega on tegemist vertikaalsete transtsendentsuse ideedega.
Seitsmes peatĂŒkk on uurimuse kokkuvĂ”te ja jĂ€reldused, milles sĂ”nastatakse, et religioon/teoloogia ja teadus/tehnoloogia peaksid olema ĂŒksteist tĂ€iendavad, mitte vastanduvad valdkonnad. Seda seetĂ”ttu, et nad erinevad ja lĂ€henevad paljudes valdkondades, et pakkuda mitmekesiseid andmeid inimese tervikliku heaolu jaoks. NĂ€iteks esitavad teadus ja teoloogia erinevaid arusaamu inimese identiteedist ja eripĂ€rast. Siiski lĂ€henevad nad teineteisele selles, et inimene on ainulaadne ja et ta on suguluses kĂ”igi teiste looduses elavate olenditega. Tehnoloogia on Jumala kingitus ja osa inimloomusest, eelduseks ellujÀÀmisele ja tervislikkusele, samas vĂ”ivad mĂ”ned tehnoloogiad kujutada ohtu elule, sealhulgas inimese vĂ€ljasuremisele. SeetĂ”ttu peab usukogukond aktiivselt tegelema tehnoloogiaga, et tagada kaasloojate tehnoloogiate levik. LĂ”puks, naistevastane vĂ€givald on paljudes kultuurides endeemiline, mis on inimkonna dehumaniseerimise vahend, mille vastu vĂ”itlemisel peaks usukogukond olema esirinnas. Siiski on paljudes religioonides ĂŒldiselt ja eriti kristluses kehtestatud naissoost vĂ€givalla nĂ€ilisus, mis muudab vĂ”imatuks selliste sotsiaalsete hĂ€dade vastu vĂ”itlemise. Ăpetused, mis toidavad segregatsiooni, genofoobiat ja seksismi, tuleks kirikus vĂ€lja juurida. See muudab kiriku usaldusvÀÀrseks, et tĂ€ita oma propageerivat rolli vĂ”rdsete pĂ”himĂ”tete ja vĂ”rdsete vĂ”imaluste tagamisel kĂ”igile. Kui kirik ei eemalda piiranguid ise, vĂ”ib tulla periood, mil seda vĂ”rreldakse ning see omakorda pĂ”hjustaks skandaale, kus kohtud vĂ”rdleksid kirikut kiriklikes rollides naise kehale seatud piirangute kaotamisega.This study explores the meaning of transcendence in religion/theology and science/technology. The effort involves analysing the âposthumanâ discourses in selected religions, transhumanism and posthumanism. The study proposes two ways to perceive transcendence horizontal and vertical. Horizontal transcendence points both forward and backwards, focusing on interhuman relationships and one that exists between humans and nonhumans, referred to in the study as ânonhuman other.â Horizontal transcendence involves enhancements that recognise humansâ embodiment in nature. It, therefore, emphasises kinship with both living and non-living entities in nature. It involves moving beyond limits through research and the application of technology in recognition that technology as a tool is part of human nature and a gift from God. Therefore, technology should be employed for wholesome ends rather than harming the other for parochial anthropocentric ends. Horizontal transcendence facilitates team building, community, respect and cares for the other as one would do for him/her self by applying the otherself principle. The principle requires the individual to identify the self in the other, the human and the nonhuman other.
Vertical transcendence points upwards, and it is an otherworldly focus. It represents the desire and vision to separate from nature through technology or divine means. Vertical involves a dualistic understanding of the human. The human is perceived as a being that can be enhanced through separation into mind/souls/immaterial from the body/material. Vertical transcendence includes notions and doctrines that ascribe privileged positions to individuals, groups or species and deny humansâ embodiment in nature. It includes transcendence ideas that treat the body with gnostic contempt and facilitate sexism, gynophobia, genophobia, racism and other social exclusive concepts.
The research is in seven chapters, each conveying a unique yet collaborative discourse. Chapter one maps and introduces the study and the methodology employed. Besides the introduction of the work, the meaning of theology and the obligation of theologians to interpret theology within the context of the dominant contemporary understanding is discussed. It is suggested that it is possible through an alternative approach to formulating theology that is sensitive to contemporary scientific and technological understandings. Finally, religion is discussed under the notion that despite the doctrinal diversity, there are concepts that characterise all religions. Therefore it is possible to broaden the discussions of transcendence beyond Christian theology.
Chapter two focuses on Hefnerâs created co-creator theory, a theological concept formulated with the scientific method. Hefner discusses the roles of myths and rituals in human evolutionary history, pointing to the fact that scientific and religious data are needed to develop human society. Thus, the concept brings out the complementary roles of science and theology and how they need each other for meaningful socio-cultural building. Theologically, if humans and their roles are to be understood, there is the need to reinterpret various concepts that help in the meaning-making processes.
For example, the imago Dei concept in theology is expressed in terms of the ability to make decisions and construct justifying stories through the process of feedback. Thus, humansâ uniqueness as co-creators is expressed through their unique features, such as anatomical qualities and advanced cognitive abilities, culminating in freedom for technological activities. Furthermore, humanâs purpose is understood in creativity as a reflection of Godâs creative grace. Technology is thus a natural part of human nature, serving the human purpose in the evolutionary milieu.
Chapter three discusses the relationships between theology, technology and transcendence. Analogies of transcendence are drawn to emphasise the idea that there is an intricate relationship between human technology and religious notions. The chapter evaluates the concepts of enhancement and how theologians express them, stressing that enhancement should be seen as an everyday process entirely different from transhumanism. Enhancement is a resource that provides Homo sapiens with an existential advantage in the evolutionary process as they encounter different environmental conditions. The enhancement process has both scientific and theological histories. Furthermore, technology and science are great enhancement resources and vital in human evolutionary processes. The chapter concludes that human theological history indicates that there have been divine-instigated enhancements that supported human existence after the fall. Thus, enhancement is theologically consistent with religious doctrines of creation. Furthermore, Christians promote enhancement, albeit subconsciously, through the demonstration of love via charity activities. The ancient records of miracles continue to manifest in Christianity today through enhancement technologies. Thus the divine-oriented miracles are giving way to technology-mediated miracles.
Chapter four introduces the âposthumanâ discourse in transhumanism, posthumanism and Christianity. The chapter, however, focuses on posthumanism and Harawayâs narrative of a cyborg. Posthumanist ideas are contrasted with transhumanist notions of transcendence. While transhumanism anticipates bold new dawn of perfection, posthumanists aspire to eradicate various constructed barriers in recognition of universal kinship. Transcendence in posthumanism, therefore, indicates identification with the other; humans, environment, technology etc. Thus posthumanismâs idea of transcendence is horizontal, but transhumanists focus on vertical transcendence.
The cyborg is a potent symbol of posthumanism and has been the fulcrum of major discourses associated with the âposthumanâ future. The cyborg represents unity, fusion, hybridity, universal kinship and egalitarianism. The idea of the âhumanâ within the cyborg framework is similar to that of transhumanism as "information." However, unlike transhumanism, the "information" is embodied similar to the Christian notion of the human.
Chapter five discusses transhumanism and transhumanist proposals for eliminating ageing and deaths. The research expresses the view that the transhumanist desire to overcome human finitude is a natural inclination of the human co-creator. However, it ignores scientific realities and the complex nature of the human being as millions of years product of evolution. The desire to strip humans of their natural constitution is synonymous with annihilating the human species and immortalising their automata. Therefore, transhumanism is identified with pseudoscience rather than their claims of breakthrough science because they employ numerous unscientific methods in their aspirations. Furthermore, despite exhibiting post-religious postures, transhumanist visions have many radical religious elements, including Gnosticism. The transhumanist harbours the ambitions to go beyond the cyborg concept. Because while the cyborg may represent enhancement, the organic part may be susceptible to sickness, senescence and death, but the âposthumanâ in transhumanism is immortal, ageless and immune to diseases.
Chapter six discusses the relationship between âposthumanâ narratives and religion, articulating the position that religious eschatology should be considered a âposthumanâ narrative. This is because of identified similarities between secular âposthumanâ narratives and eschatological visions of religions. This chapter identifies various shades of disembodied elements in transhumanism and religious doctrine, which lack scriptural and scientific bases. Such elements include doctrines that stigmatise sexual expressions, foster gender-based discrimination, and the desire to abandon the body. Sexism, gynophobia, and genophobia in Christianity are discussed in relation to the idea of transcendence. The study avers that notions that facilitate such biases are cultural, lacking scriptural bases and scientific illuminations. Thus, they correspond to vertical transcendence.
Chapter seven constitutes the summary and conclusion of the research, which articulates that religion/theology and science/technology should be seen as complementary disciplines, not opposing fields. This is because they diverge and converge in many areas to provide diverse data for holistic human wellbeing. For example, science and theology present different notions of the identity and distinctiveness of the human person. However, they converge on the uniqueness and their kinship with all other creatures in nature. That technology is a gift of God and part of human nature, a premise for survival and wholesomeness, but âcrudeâ technologies constitute a significant threat of extinction and suffering. Therefore, the faith community must get actively involved in technology to ensure the proliferation of co-creator technologies.
Finally, violence against women is endemic in many cultures serving as an avenue for dehumanising society. The faith community should therefore concentrate its advocacy in this area. However, a semblance of violence against the female is instituted in many religions in general and Christianity in particular, making it impossible to challenge such social ills. Therefore, there is the need to eradicate doctrines that nurture segregation, genophobia and sexism from the Church. The eradication of such conduct will make the faith community credible to play its advocacy role to ensure egalitarian principles and equal opportunity for all. If the Church does not remove limits, there could be a period when it will be compared to do so. However, since the Church is the arbiter of freedom and morality, it will be scandalous for the courts to compare the Church to eradicate limits placed on the female body and ensure equity in the Church.https://www.ester.ee/record=b551385
Aspect of Code Cloning Towards Software Bug and Imminent Maintenance: A Perspective on Open-source and Industrial Mobile Applications
As a part of the digital era of microtechnology, mobile application (app) development is evolving with
lightning speed to enrich our lives and bring new challenges and risks. In particular, software bugs and
failures cost trillions of dollars every year, including fatalities such as a software bug in a self-driving car
that resulted in a pedestrian fatality in March 2018 and the recent Boeing-737 Max tragedies that resulted
in hundreds of deaths. Software clones (duplicated fragments of code) are also found to be one of the
crucial factors for having bugs or failures in software systems. There have been many significant studies
on software clones and their relationships to software bugs for desktop-based applications. Unfortunately,
while mobile apps have become an integral part of todayâs era, there is a marked lack of such studies for
mobile apps. In order to explore this important aspect, in this thesis, first, we studied the characteristics of
software bugs in the context of mobile apps, which might not be prevalent for desktop-based apps such as
energy-related (battery drain while using apps) and compatibility-related (different behaviors of same app
in different devices) bugs/issues. Using Support Vector Machine (SVM), we classified about 3K mobile app
bug reports of different open-source development sites into four categories: crash, energy, functionality and
security bug. We then manually examined a subset of those bugs and found that over 50% of the bug-fixing
code-changes occurred in clone code. There have been a number of studies with desktop-based software
systems that clearly show the harmful impacts of code clones and their relationships to software bugs. Given
that there is a marked lack of such studies for mobile apps, in our second study, we examined 11 open-source
and industrial mobile apps written in two different languages (Java and Swift) and noticed that clone code
is more bug-prone than non-clone code and that industrial mobile apps have a higher code clone ratio than
open-source mobile apps. Furthermore, we correlated our study outcomes with those of existing desktop based studies and surveyed 23 mobile app developers to validate our findings. Along with validating our
findings from the survey, we noticed that around 95% of the developers usually copy/paste (code cloning)
code fragments from the popular Crowd-sourcing platform, Stack Overflow (SO) to their projects and that
over 75% of such developers experience bugs after such activities (the code cloning from SO). Existing studies
with desktop-based systems also showed that while SO is one of the most popular online platforms for code
reuse (and code cloning), SO code fragments are usually toxic in terms of software maintenance perspective.
Thus, in the third study of this thesis, we studied the consequences of code cloning from SO in different open source and industrial mobile apps. We observed that closed-source industrial apps even reused more SO code
fragments than open-source mobile apps and that SO code fragments were more change-prone (such as bug)
than non-SO code fragments. We also experienced that SO code fragments were related to more bugs in
industrial projects than open-source ones. Our studies show how we could efficiently and effectively manage
clone related software bugs for mobile apps by utilizing the positive sides of code cloning while overcoming
(or at least minimizing) the negative consequences of clone fragments
New Fundamental Technologies in Data Mining
The progress of data mining technology and large public popularity establish a need for a comprehensive text on the subject. The series of books entitled by "Data Mining" address the need by presenting in-depth description of novel mining algorithms and many useful applications. In addition to understanding each section deeply, the two books present useful hints and strategies to solving problems in the following chapters. The contributing authors have highlighted many future research directions that will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations and hence will lead to significant development in the field of data mining
Improved Analytical Technologies for the Detection of Natural Toxins and Their Metabolites in Food
Food, by nature, is a biological substrate and is therefore capable of supporting the growth of microbials that are potential producers of toxic compounds. Among them mycotoxins, marine biotoxins, plant toxins, cyanogenic glycosides, and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms pose not only a risk to both human and animal health but also impact food security and nutrition by reducing peopleâs access to healthy food. This book collects some of the recent key improvements of analytical methodologies for the detection of natural toxins and their metabolites in food, and highlights the challenges yet to be resolved. Special emphasis is given to emerging or less-investigated toxins, to provide the scientific community with new tools and/or data supporting a better understanding of related food safety issues
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