Against a Sequestered Philosophy

This paper argues that philosophical practice in the Western world, in particular analytic philosophy, suffers from problems that contribute to its lack of diversity in two senses: the exclusion of women and minorities, and a narrow choice of subjects and methods. This is not fruitful for philosophical exchange and the flourishing of philosophical thought. Three contributing factors are covered: a flawed execution when instilling intellectual humility; the gaslighting of women in philosophy; and an overemphasis on a narrow conception of intelligence. The conclusion calls for a more humane and socially aware practice of philosophy.Cet essai soutient que la pratique philosophique dans le monde occidental, en particulier la philosophie analytique, souffre de problèmes qui contribuent à son manque de diversité dans deux sens: l'exclusion des femmes et des minorités, et un choix étroit de sujets et de méthodes. Ceci n’est fructueux ni pour l'échange philosophique ni pour l'épanouissement de la pensée philosophique. Trois facteurs y contribuant sont l‘objet de la discussion: Une mise en pratique défectueuse en inculquant l'humilité intellectuelle, le “gaslighting” envers les femmes en philosophie et une trop grande importance accordée à une conception étroite de l'intelligence. La conclusion fait appel à une pratique plus humaine et socialement consciente de la philosophie.The paper is a product of my work in the project Feminist Philosophy Transforming Philosophy, which is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund and hosted at the University of Iceland, and I am especially grateful to my fellow project members for many stimulating discussions as well as other forms of cooperation.Peer Reviewe

Speed modulated social influence in evacuating pedestrian crowds

Evacuation is a complex social phenomenon with individuals tending to exit a confined space as soon as possible. Social factors that influence an individual include collision avoidance and conformity with others with respect to the tendency to exit. While collision avoidance has been heavily focused on by the agent-based models used frequently to simulate evacuation scenarios, these models typically assume that all agents have an equal desire to exit the scene in a given situation. It is more likely that, out of those who are exiting, some are patient while others seek to exit as soon as possible. Here, we experimentally investigate the effect of different proportions of patient (no-rush) versus impatient (rush) individuals in an evacuating crowd of up to 24 people. Our results show that a) average speed changes significantly for individuals who otherwise tended to rush (or not rush) with both type of individuals speeding up in the presence of the other; and b) deviation rate, defined as the amount of turning, changes significantly for the rush individuals in the presence of no-rush individuals. We then seek to replicate this effect with Helbing's social force model with the twin purposes of analyzing how well the model fits experimental data, and explaining the differences in speed in terms of model parameters. We find that we must change the interaction parameters for both rush and no-rush agents depending on the condition that we are modeling in order to fit the model to the experimental data

Results of operations for ascending aortic aneurysm in Iceland 2000-2014

Efst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinnInngangur: Ósæðargúlpur í brjóstholi er frekar sjaldgæfur sjúkdómur þar sem meðferð er flókin og fylgikvillar algengir. Tilgangur rannsóknarinnar var að kanna árangur skurðaðgerða við ósæðargúlpum á Íslandi með tilliti til snemmkominna fylgikvilla, 30 daga dánartíðni og langtímalifunar, en slík rannsókn hefur ekki verið gerð áður á Íslandi. Efniviður og aðferðir: Afturskyggn rannsókn á 105 sjúklingum (meðal­aldur 60,7 ár, 69,5% karlar) sem gengust undir aðgerð vegna ósæðargúlps í rishluta ósæðar á Landspítala frá 1. janúar 2000 til 31. desember 2014. Sjúklingar með áverka á ósæð eða bráða ósæðarflysjun (acute aortic dissection) voru útilokaðir. Upplýsingar fengust úr sjúkraskrám og voru skráðar ýmsar klínískar breytur, aðgerðartengdir þættir og fylgikvillar. Heildarlifun var reiknuð með aðferð Kaplan-Meier og var meðaleftirfylgdartími 5,7 ár. Niðurstöður: Alls höfðu 52 sjúklingar (51,0%) tvíblöðku-ósæðarloku og 10 (9,5%) höfðu fjölskyldusögu um ósæðargúlp. Helmingur sjúklinga (50,5%) var einkennalaus. Algengasta tegund aðgerðar var ósæðarrótarskipti með lífrænni loku. Tveir þriðju sjúklinga fengu fylgikvilla og voru þeir alvarlegir í 31,4% tilfella. Heilablóðfall greindist hjá tveimur sjúklingum (1,9%) en aðrir tveir sjúklingar létust innan 30 daga frá aðgerð (1,9%). Lifun einu ári frá aðgerð var 95,1%, og var lifun karla betri en kvenna (97,2% á móti 90,4%, p=0,0012, log-rank próf) en 5 ára lifun var 90,3%. Ályktanir: Árangur skurðaðgerða við ósæðargúlp í rishluta ósæðar á Íslandi er sambærilegur við erlendar rannsóknir. Fylgikvillar eru tíðir þótt tíðni heilablóðfalls sé lág, eins og 30 daga dánartíðni. Langtímalifun er góð, en lifun karla er betri en kvenna.Introduction: Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is an uncommon disease where treatment is complex and associated with significant comorbidity. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of operations for TAA in Iceland with emphasis on postoperative complications, 30 day mortality and survival. Materials and methods: A retrospective study on 105 patients (mean age 60.7 yrs., 69.5% males) that underwent operations for TAA between 2000 and 2014 in Iceland. Patients with aortic injury or acute aortic dissection were excluded. Clinical information was collected from hospital charts and long-term survival estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. Mean follow-up was 5.7 yrs. Results: Bicuspid aortic valve was present in 52 patients (51.0%) and family history was positive in 10 of the cases (9.5%). Every other patient (50.5%) was asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally. The most common procedure was aortic root replacement using biological prosthesis. Two out of three patients had complications, that were regarded as major in 31.4% of cases, however, stroke was only detected in 2 (1.9%) patients. Two patients died within 30 days postoperatively (1.9%). The overall survival at one year was 95.1%; more favorable for males compared to females (97.2 vs. 90.4%, p=0.0012, log rank test) and at 5 years 90.3%. Conclusions: Outcome following surgery for TAA in Iceland is comparable to studies in neighbouring countries. The complications rate is high, however, the stroke rate was low, as was 30 day mortality. Longterm survival is favorable, and is more favorable for males than females.VísindasjóðurLandspítala, Rannsóknarsjóður Háskóla Ísland

Walking and the social life of solar charging in rural Africa

We consider practices that sustain social and physical environments beyond those dominating sustainable HCI discourse. We describe links between walking, sociality, and using resources in a case study of community-based, solar, cellphone charging in villages in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Like 360 million rural Africans, inhabitants of these villages are poor and, like 25% and 92% of the world, respectively, do not have domestic electricity or own motor vehicles. We describe nine practices in using the charging stations we deployed. We recorded 700 people using the stations, over a year, some regularly. We suggest that the way we frame practices limits insights about them, and consider various routines in using and sharing local resources to discover relations that might also feature in charging. Specifically, walking interconnects routines in using, storing, sharing and sustaining resources, and contributes to knowing, feeling, wanting and avoiding as well as to different aspects of sociality, social order and perspectives on sustainability. Along the way, bodies acquire literacies that make certain relationalities legible. Our study shows we cannot assert what sustainable practice means a priori and, further, that detaching practices from bodies and their paths limits solutions, at least in rural Africa. Thus, we advocate a more “alongly” integrated approach to data about practices.Web of Scienc

On key technologies for realising digital twins for structural dynamics applications

The term digital twin has gained increasing popularity over the last few years. The concept, loosely based on a virtual model framework that can replicate a particular system for contexts of interest over time, will require the development and integration of several key technologies in order to be fully realised. This paper, focusing on vibration-related problems in mechanical systems, discusses these key technologies as the building blocks of a digital twin. The example of a simulation digital twin that can be used for asset management is then considered. After briefly discussing the building blocks required, the process of data-augmented modelling is selected for detailed investigation. This concept is one of the defining characteristics of the digital twin idea, and using a simple numerical example, it is shown how augmenting a model with data can be used to compensate for the inherent model discrepancy. Finally the implications of this type of data augmentation for future digital twin technology is discussed

Long-term outcome of surgical revascularisation in patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction-a population based cohort study

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.BACKGROUND: Surgical revascularization is an established indication for patients with advanced coronary artery disease and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Long-term outcomes for these patients are not well defined. We studied the long-term outcomes of patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy who underwent surgical revascularization in a well-defined nationwide cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study on 2,005 patients that underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in Iceland between 2000-2016. Patients were catagorized into two groups based on their preoperative LVEF; LVEF ≤35% (n = 146, median LVEF 30%) and LVEF >35% (n = 1859, median LVEF 60%). Demographics and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE), were compared between groups along with cardiac-specific and overall survival. Mean follow-up was 7.6 years. RESULTS: Demographics were similar in both groups regarding age, gender, and most cardiovascular risk factors. However, patients with LVEF ≤35% more often had diabetes, renal insufficiency, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a previous history of myocardial infarction. Thirty-day mortality was four times higher (8% vs 2%, p < 0.001) in the LVEF ≤35%-group compared to controls. MACCE-free survival was 83% and 62% at 1 and 5 years for LVEF ≤35%-group compared to 94% and 82% for the control group. Overall survival was also significantly lower in the same groups, or 87% and 69% (p < 0.001) compared to 98% and 91% (p < 0.001), at 1 and 5 years respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A good long-term outcome after CABG can be expected for patients with reduced LVEF, however, their survival is still significantly inferior to patients with normal ventricular function.Peer reviewe

Inclusion at Scale: Deploying a Community-Driven Moderation Intervention on Twitch

Harassment, especially of marginalized individuals, on networked gaming and social media platforms has been identified as a significant issue, yet few HCI practitioners have attempted to create interventions tackling toxicity online. Aligning ourselves with the growing cohort of design activists, we present a case study of the GLHF pledge, an interactive public awareness campaign promoting positivity in video game live streaming. We discuss the design and deployment of a community-driven moderation intervention for GLHF, intended to empower the inclusive communities emerging on Twitch. After offering a preliminary report on the effects we have observed based on the more than 370,000 gamers who have participated to date, the paper concludes with a reflection on the challenges and opportunities of using design activism to positively intervene in large-scale media platforms

Calibration of ionic and cellular cardiac electrophysiology models

© 2020 The Authors. WIREs Systems Biology and Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Cardiac electrophysiology models are among the most mature and well-studied mathematical models of biological systems. This maturity is bringing new challenges as models are being used increasingly to make quantitative rather than qualitative predictions. As such, calibrating the parameters within ion current and action potential (AP) models to experimental data sets is a crucial step in constructing a predictive model. This review highlights some of the fundamental concepts in cardiac model calibration and is intended to be readily understood by computational and mathematical modelers working in other fields of biology. We discuss the classic and latest approaches to calibration in the electrophysiology field, at both the ion channel and cellular AP scales. We end with a discussion of the many challenges that work to date has raised and the need for reproducible descriptions of the calibration process to enable models to be recalibrated to new data sets and built upon for new studies. This article is categorized under: Analytical and Computational Methods > Computational Methods Physiology > Mammalian Physiology in Health and Disease Models of Systems Properties and Processes > Cellular Models

Leiklistarkennsla og nemendur með ADHD : skapandi skólastarf í skóla án aðgreiningar

Ritgerð þessi er 10 eininga lokaverkefni til B.Ed.- prófs í faggreinakennslu við Háskóla Íslands. Fjallað verður um börn sem eru greind með athyglisbrest með ofvirkni, sem þekkist einnig undir skammstöfuninni ADHD, og leiklistarkennslu. Fjallað verður um röskunina sjálfa ásamt fylgiröskunum og lyfjagjöfum, en einnig verður skoðað hvaða þjónusta og aðferðir henta best fyrir nemendur með ADHD. Leiklistarkennsla og leiklist sem kennsluaðferð verður skoðuð í því ljósi að sjá hvernig ADHD börnum vegnar í slíku kennsluumhverfi. Í þessari ritgerð verður leitast við að svara því hvaða áhrif leiklistarkennsla sem listgrein og kennsluaðferð getur haft á nemendur með ADHD en niðurstöður rannsókna sýna að börn með þessa röskun eru almennt meira skapandi og blómstra oft í listkennslu. Í þessari ritgerð er stuðst við skrif fræðimanna, stefnulýsingar skóla án aðgreiningar skoðaðar ásamt handbókum og greinum um leiklistarkennslu