Socially-critical software systems: Is extended regulation required?

Data has become a prevailing aspect of our daily lives, becoming ever more present since the beginning of the 21st century. It is a commodity in today’s world and the amount of data being produced has increased enormously. One of the major ways data is produced and collected is from the use of websites and web-based applications. This data is later used for many different purposes. This paper presents findings from a multivocal literature review, exploring the methods of how this data is collected, what the data is used for once it has been collected, the ethics of data and its collection, and the future of data collection. Among the possible futures, we introduce the concept of socially-critical applications, where data harvesting in web-based applications might require premarket disclosure and evaluation by notified bodies (instructed by regulation) as a means to break the existing cycle of technology companies outpacing under resourced and ill-equipped regulators. Rather than regulators continually falling short of enacting laws to satisfy the common good, a new class of socially-critical application could be created in law to permit pre-market evaluation of applications (or versions of applications) that could undermine or interrupt the common good

Current antimicrobial use in farm animals in the Republic of Ireland

peer-reviewedAbstract Antimicrobial resistance has been recognised as one of the most difficult challenges facing human and animal health in recent decades. The surveillance of antimicrobial use in animal health plays a major role in dealing with the growing issue of resistance. This paper reviews current data available on antimicrobial use in farmed animals in the Republic of Ireland, including each of the major livestock production sectors; pigs, poultry, dairy, beef and sheep. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant published literature, and ongoing research was identified through the network of authors and searches of each of the research databases of the main agriculture funding bodies in Ireland. The varying quantities and quality of data available across each livestock sector underlines the need for harmonisation of data collection methods. This review highlights the progress that has been made regarding data collection in the intensive production sectors such as pigs and poultry, however, it is clear there are significant knowledge gaps in less intensive industries such as dairy, beef and sheep. To comply with European regulations an antimicrobial data collection system is due to be developed for all food-producing animals in the future, however in the short-term surveillance studies have allowed us to build a picture of current use within the Republic of Ireland. Further studies will allow us to fill current knowledge gaps and build a more comprehensive overview of antimicrobial use in farm animals in Ireland

An Evolutionary Approach to Class Disjointness Axiom Discovery

International audienceAxiom learning is an essential task in enhancing the quality of an ontology, a task that sometimes goes under the name of ontology enrichment. To overcome some limitations of recent work and to contribute to the growing library of ontology learning algorithms, we propose an evolutionary approach to automatically discover axioms from the abundant RDF data resource of the Semantic Web. We describe a method applying an instance of an Evolutionary Algorithm, namely Grammatical Evolution, to the acquisition of OWL class dis-jointness axioms, one important type of OWL axioms which makes it possible to detect logical inconsistencies and infer implicit information from a knowledge base. The proposed method uses an axiom scoring function based on possibility theory and is evaluated against a Gold Standard, manually constructed by knowledge engineers. Experimental results show that the given method possesses high accuracy and good coverage

Communicating the deadly consequences of global warming for human heat stress

In December 2015 the international community pledged to limit global warming to below 2°C above preindustrial (PI) to prevent dangerous climate change. However, to what extent, and for whom, is danger avoided if this ambitious target is realised? We address these questions by scrutinizing heat stress, because the frequency of extremely hot weather is expected to continue to rise in the approach to the 2°C limit. We use analogues and the extreme South Asian heat of 2015 as a focussing event to help interpret the increasing frequency of deadly heat under specified amounts of global warming. Using a large ensemble of climate models, our results confirm that global mean air temperature is non-linearly related to heat stress, meaning that the same future warming as realised to date could trigger larger increases in societal impacts than historically experienced. This non-linearity is higher for heat stress metrics that integrate the effect of rising humidity. We show that even in a climate held to 2°C above PI, Karachi (Pakistan) and Kolkata (India) could expect conditions equivalent to their deadly 2015 heatwaves every year. With only 1.5°C of global warming, twice as many megacities (such as Lagos, Nigeria and Shanghai, China) could become heat-stressed, exposing more than 350 million more people to deadly heat by 2050 under a mid-range population growth scenario. The results underscore that even if the Paris targets are realised, there could still be a significant adaptation imperative for vulnerable urban populations

Mucosal associated invariant T cells are altered in patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa and contribute to the inflammatory milieu

Mucosal Associated Invariant T cells are a population of “innate” T cells, which express the invariant T cell receptor (TCR) a chain Va7.2-Ja33 and are capable of robust rapid cytokine secretion, producing a milieu of cytokines including IFN-g and IL-17. MAIT cells have been reported in multiple human tissues including the gut, periphery and skin. On-going research has highlighted their involvement in numerous inflammatory diseases ranging from rheumatoid arthritis and obesity to psoriasis. Hidradenitis Suppurativa (H.S) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the hair follicles, resulting in painful lesions of apocrine-bearing skin. Several inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the pathogenesis of H.S including IL-17. The role of MAIT cells in H.S is currently unknown. In this study we show for the first time, that MAIT cells are altered in the peripheral blood of patients with H.S, with reduced frequencies and an IL-17 cytokine bias. We show that CCL20 expression is elevated in lesions of patients with H.S, and MAIT cells can actively traffic towards lesions via CCL20. We show that MAIT cells can accumulate in the lesionsfrom patients with H.S. when compared to adjacent skin, with an IL-17 bias. We show that elevated IL-17, can be linked to the activation of dermal fibroblasts, promoting the expression of chemotactic signals including CCL20 and CXCL1. Finally, we show that targeting the IL-17A transcription factor RORyt robustly reduces IL-17 production by MAIT cells from patients with H.S. Collectively our data detailsIL-17 producing MAIT cells as a novel player in the pathogenesis of H.S and highlights the potential of RORyt inhibition as a novel therapeutic strategy

Scalable production of large quantities of defect-free few-layer graphene by shear exfoliation in liquids

To progress from the laboratory to commercial applications, it will be necessary to develop industrially scalable methods to produce large quantities of defect-free graphene. Here we show that high-shear mixing of graphite in suitable stabilizing liquids results in large-scale exfoliation to give dispersions of graphene nanosheets. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy show the exfoliated flakes to be unoxidized and free of basal-plane defects. We have developed a simple model that shows exfoliation to occur once the local shear rate exceeds 10(4) s(-1). By fully characterizing the scaling behaviour of the graphene production rate, we show that exfoliation can be achieved in liquid volumes from hundreds of millilitres up to hundreds of litres and beyond. The graphene produced by this method performs well in applications from composites to conductive coatings. This method can be applied to exfoliate BN, MoS2 and a range of other layered crystals

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Comparing Gender Differences in the Neuropsychological Functioning of College Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Comparative Study

Each year the number of individuals entering post-secondary education with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasing; however, little empirical data is currently available investigating gender differences in the neuropsychological functioning of these students. Individuals with ADHD transitioning from secondary school to begin their college careers are subjected to an environment that entails a unique combination of stressors and challenges, which adversely disrupts key behaviours that are assoicated with academic success in post-secondary education. As an increasing proportion of students with ADHD are pursuing post-secondary education, this study sought to compare gender differences in the neuropsychological functioning of these students using objective and subjective measures of ADHD symptomatology. Data included in this study was obtained from a sample comprised of 35 college students. A total of 18 students self-reported a diagnosis of ADHD and 17 students self-reported no diagnosis of ADHD. Results from Mann-Whitney U tests revealed that female students with ADHD were significantly more impaired on objective measures of ADHD symptomatology (inattention and impulsivity) compared to male students with ADHD. However, subjective measures of impulsive symptoms revealed that male students with ADHD were more impaired than female students with ADHD. A t-test was performed to compare overall psychological wellbeing scores among students with ADHD and students without ADHD. Results revealed that non-ADHD students reported higher levels of psychological wellbeing compared to students with ADHD, however the result did not reach statisitcal significance. Practical implications, limitations and future directions for researchers, educational policy makers and support services are discussed

Modifying insect population age structure to control vector-borne disease

Age is a critical determinant of the ability of most arthropod vectors to transmit a range of human pathogens. This is due to the fact that most pathogens require a period of extrinsic incubation in the arthropod host before pathogen transmission can occur. This developmental period for the pathogen often comprises a significant proportion of the expected lifespan of the vector. As such, only a small proportion of the population that is oldest contributes to pathogen transmission. Given this, strategies that target vector age would be expected to obtain the most significant reductions in the capacity of a vector population to transmit disease. The recent identification of biological agents that shorten vector lifespan, such as Wolbachia, entomopathogenic fungi and densoviruses, offer new tools for the control of vector-borne diseases. Evaluation of the efficacy of these strategies under field conditions will be possible due to recent advances in insect age-grading techniques. Implementation of all of these strategies will require extensive field evaluation and consideration of the selective pressures that reductions in vector longevity may induce on both vector and pathogen