Complex systems and the technology of variability analysis

Characteristic patterns of variation over time, namely rhythms, represent a defining feature of complex systems, one that is synonymous with life. Despite the intrinsic dynamic, interdependent and nonlinear relationships of their parts, complex biological systems exhibit robust systemic stability. Applied to critical care, it is the systemic properties of the host response to a physiological insult that manifest as health or illness and determine outcome in our patients. Variability analysis provides a novel technology with which to evaluate the overall properties of a complex system. This review highlights the means by which we scientifically measure variation, including analyses of overall variation (time domain analysis, frequency distribution, spectral power), frequency contribution (spectral analysis), scale invariant (fractal) behaviour (detrended fluctuation and power law analysis) and regularity (approximate and multiscale entropy). Each technique is presented with a definition, interpretation, clinical application, advantages, limitations and summary of its calculation. The ubiquitous association between altered variability and illness is highlighted, followed by an analysis of how variability analysis may significantly improve prognostication of severity of illness and guide therapeutic intervention in critically ill patients

Global Translation of Classification Models

The widespread and growing usage of machine learning models, particularly for critical areas such as law, predicate the need for global interpretability. Models that cannot be audited are vulnerable to biases inherited from the datasets that were used to develop them. Moreover, locally interpretable models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. To address this issue, the present paper proposes a new methodology that can translate any existing machine learning model into a globally interpretable one. MTRE-PAN is a hybrid SVM-decision tree architecture that leverages the interpretability of linear hyperplanes by creating a set of polygons that delimit the decision boundaries of the target model. Moreover, the present paper introduces two new metrics: certain and boundary model parities. These metrics can be used to accurately evaluate the performance of the interpretable model near the decision boundaries. These metrics are used to compare MTRE-PAN to a previously proposed interpretable architecture called TRE-PAN. As in the case of TRE-PAN, MTRE-PAN aims at providing global interpretability. The comparisons are performed over target models developed using three benchmark datasets: Abalone, Census and Diabetes data. The results show that MTRE-PAN generates interpretable models that have a lower number of leaves and a higher agreement with the target models, especially around the most important regions in the feature space, namely the decision boundaries

Gendered Citizenship, Inequality, and Well-Being: The Experience of Cross-National Families in Qatar during the Gulf Cooperation Council Crisis (2017–2021)

This study explores the impact of gendered citizenship on the well-being of cross-national families following the political blockade imposed on Qatar in 2017. More specifically, it examines how these families, women, and children face challenges related to their lives, well-being, and rights. Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with Qatari and non-Qatari women and men married to non-Qatari spouses residing in Qatar. The study’s findings revealed that Qatari women with non-Qatari husbands did not enjoy the benefits of full citizenship, further undermining their psychological well-being and their socioeconomic and legal rights. Additionally, children born before or during the blockade have become stateless and undocumented, which jeopardizes their mental and physical well-being and the prospects of their parents’ economic advancement. This study contributes to the conceptualization of and debate on gender citizenship rules and policies, which can exclude these women and children and deny them the recognition and rights they deserve. Since ensuring full citizenship rights is crucial for people’s well-being, increasing gender equality and reforming Qatar’s existing citizenship policies would benefit both groups and provide social justice for all