Neuroimaging is critical in the diagnosis and treatment of brain cancers; however, the first detection of tumors is a challenge. Detection techniques like image segmentation are heavily reliant on the segmented image’s resolution. Magnetic resonance imaging tumor segmentation has emerged as a new study area in the medical imaging field. This spongy and delicate mass of tissue is the brain. Stable conditions allow for patterns to enter and interact with each other. To put it simply, a tumor is a mass (...) of tissue that has grown unchecked by the natural mechanisms that keep it under control. When cells divide uncontrollably, they create a cancerous tumor. Brain tumors can be detected and segmented using a variety of methods. A new method for detecting brain tumors using MRI images is presented in this research. An innovative Woelfel filter is used for enhancement, and morphological segmentation approaches combined with anisotropic diffusion are used for segmentation. Segmentation of brain tumors can be accomplished using thresholding and morphological techniques, which are both effective. The tumor will be located and identified using morphological image processing. Image denoising refers to the process of removing artefacts such as noise and aliasing from digital images. Here MATLAB programming language is utilised as it incorporates all the toolboxes required for the application involved in the work. (shrink)

All of us in the computing community understand the importance of recognizing and promoting ethical behavior in our profession. Instruction in ethics is rapidly becoming a part of most computing-related curricula, whether as a stand-alone course or infused into existing courses. Both Computing Curricula 2005 and the current discussions on Computing Curricula 2013 recognize the significance of ethics, generally considering it a core topic across the various computing disciplines. Additionally, in their criteria for the accreditation of computing programs, ABET specifies (...) that a student must attain by the time of graduation an understanding of ethical issues and responsibilities. What has been missing is a formal rite-of-passage ceremony to prompt student recognition and self-reflection on the transition from being a student to a computing professional. In 2009, seventeen faculty members and industry representatives from a wide range of institutions began to address this open problem by forming The Pledge of the Computing Professional [1], [2]. The Pledge exists to promote and recognize the ethical and moral behavior and responsibilities in graduates of computing-related degree programs as they transition to careers of service to society. The Pledge does not seek to define or enforce ethics --- this is the role of other organizations. Specifically, The Pledge is modeled after the Order of the Engineer [3] and provides a rite-of-passage ceremony at the time of graduation. (shrink)

Mounting evidence documents the extraordinary toll on human health resulting from the consumption of unhealthy food products and physical inactivity. In response to America's growing obesity problem, local policymakers have been looking for legal strategies that can be adopted in their communities to encourage healthful behaviors. In order to provide practical tools to policymakers, this article examines four possible venues for local policy change to improve the health of a community: the school environment the built environment () community facilities (...) and the point of sale environment. Finally, the article examines the use of taxes or fees as a means of paying for nutrition policy work as well as potentially reducing the consumption of unhealthy products. This article illustrates that local laws and policies can be a valuable tool in changing a community's environment in order to improve nutritional options and increase opportunities for physical activity. (shrink)

Logic, Rhetoric and Argumentation Theory are more or less distinct attempts to approach the riddle of persuasion: what makes our reason tick? Moreover, how best can we study our ability to influence the reason of others so as to make them share our opinions? The three classical answers, then, are: (1) Logic, the theory of valid inference, is the best persuasion theory available. (2) Rhetoric, the theory of effective manipulation of others is the best persuasion theory available. Finally, (3) Argumentation (...) theory, the middle theory that recommends a mix of reasoning and manipulation, is the best persuasion theory available. In this article, I briefly explain the controversy between these three competing views and offer some comments upon its possible resolution. Since all forms of communication are performed on the spectrum between manipulation and the non-manipulative offering of contents, this controversy should interest all those who are intrigued by the miraculous possibility of human communication in the first place. (shrink)

Mounting evidence documents the extraordinary toll on human health resulting from the consumption of unhealthy food products and physical inactivity. Diseases related to poor nutrition – such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers – are among the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. Poor diet and lack of exercise come second only to tobacco use in actual causes of preventable death in this country. It is estimated that 6% of all adult health care, 7% (...) of Medicare, and 11% of Medicaid expenditures are attributable to obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the direct medical cost associated with physical inactivity was nearly $76.6 billion in 2000.In response to America's growing obesity problem, local policymakers have been looking for legal strategies to adopt in their communities to encourage healthful behaviors. Taking the lead from the successful tobacco control movement, nutrition advocates are seeking strategies to “denormalize” unhealthy behaviors, rather than pursuing education-based approaches that encourage individuals to change their own personal behavior. (shrink)

This paper looks at how the strategies of mediaand cultural studies can be applied to thehealth studies field. This relationship,however, has been met with resistance due to anumber of status debates. We argue theimportance of fostering links between these`disciplines' namely because the definition ofwhat constitutes `health' has been broadenedand is inscribed in most forms of popularmedia. Using the example of the `health andlifestyle' debate, we argue that the mediainforms cultural understandings aboutrequirements for living and is therefore acrucial area of analysis (...) for health studies(and cultural/media studies) students. We arealso concerned with analysing how the mediacontributes to the construction and regulationof `healthy' subjects making links with publichealth discourses and current debates in thefield of media and health. (shrink)

Industry groups engage in venue shifting when they seek to overturn or alter restrictive regulations imposed by one political venue through another. A critical step in this process is resolving uncertainties surrounding the preference of the targeted venue and the nature of the relevant policy proposal. While existing studies emphasize a long-term trial-and-error process of policy learning, we focus on nascent industries and argue that ventures seek other information sources to resolve these uncertainties quickly. In particular, nascent industry groups are (...) likely to perceive that the targeted venue will support their policy proposal if the targeted venue is ideologically distant from the venue that has enacted the restrictive regulations, if the targeted venue has recently supported other nascent industry groups’ similar policy proposals, or if the industry groups themselves are more exposed to industry peers’ success in promoting the same policy proposal in other jurisdictions. Under these conditions, the industry groups invest more to influence the targeted venue in response to restrictive regulations enacted by other venues. We find support for our theory by examining how from 2013 to 2019 the small unmanned aircraft systems industry trade associations in the United States lobbied state governments to nullify local regulations. (shrink)

The recent publications reported in 2022 reveal the possibility of obtaining mouse embryos without the need for egg or sperm. These ‘artificial embryos’ can recapitulate some stages of development ex utero – from neurulation to organogenesis – without implantation. Synthetic mouse embryos might serve as a valuable model to gain further insights into early developmental stages. Indeed, it is expected for these models to be replicated by employing human cells. This promising research raises ethical issues and expands the horizon of (...) ethics in regard to the development of the human embryo. From this point of view, we state some of the new open venues for bioethical research. (shrink)

THE PHILOSOPHIC POSITION of which this essay is a partial expression shows science to be realistic in certain circumstances and antirealistic in others. But the position is not so irenic as this beginning might suggest. For one thing, the realism upon which this view of science depends, which I call radical realism, is different from any of the versions proposed over the years by the forces of realism in that controversy. For another, the antirealism envisioned for some of the multiform (...) occasions of science is not in the least a version of the well-known antirealism of the linguistic consensus but rather a modified antirealism that paradoxically depends for its clarity and force on that same radical realism. I have given some account of radical realism in earlier papers and books, but its full application to science is left for a forthcoming book. The present paper makes the point that it is impossible to reach a just settlement of the realism vs antirealism case--whether construed narrowly, as an issue for philosophy of science, or broadly, as an issue for the entire rational enterprise--if it is tried in the venue of the linguistic consensus. (shrink)

This article uses the theoretical construct of Social Representations to investigate how Community Multimedia Centers – venues that offer public access to Information and Communication Technologies to underserved communities – are perceived by communities in Mozambique, and it discusses how the local population understands these venues as means to foster community empowerment and socio-economic development. In total, 113 participants took part in the study, from six CMCs in different towns of Mozambique. Participants were represented from three different social (...) groups, according to their use of the CMC: staff members, users of both CMC components – telecenter and radio – and radio-only users. The article analyses the Social Representations’ structure, using a Prototypical approach. Findings show that CMCs are seen by local communities as places at which they can receive and exchange information, and also as learning spaces, with the telecenter part focused on the delivery of ICT training and the radio component engaging with educational activities and services in a broader sense. Furthermore, CMCs are perceived as places dedicated almost exclusively to children and young people. The results of this study can help policy makers, practitioners, funding agencies and other relevant stakeholders to improve Mozambican CMCs and leverage their community empowerment potential. (shrink)

In this book, the contributors expand on their use of Mayes archetypal pedagogy in volume 1 to apply its principles to a wide variety of venues, purposes, and projects. Each essay explores from its own disciplinary angle the difference between what Mayes has called "educational processes" (which are those practices that take place in the dedicated space of the classroom, through the medium of the curriculum, and under the stewardship of the teacher) and "educative acts" (which are those deep (...) transactions between individuals in joint pursuit of existential truth, wherein one is alternately the teacher and student in conversation, and sometimes even communion, with one's dialogical partner"). (shrink)

Dans la théologie d'Origène, le thème du passage de l'image de la vérité à la vérité elle-même marque l'un et l'autre Testaments : comme les prophètes ont réalisé dans leur vie une plénitude spirituelle des temps face aux autres juifs moyens, de même les Saints ont réalisé dans leur vie une certaine plénitude eschatologique des temps à laquelle les autres chrétiens ignorants ne sont pas parvenus. Cette comparaison donne à penser qu'il existe une symétrie rigoureuse entre l'une et l'autre Alliance (...) mais l'A. veut remettre en cause cette constatation car l'événement de l'Incarnation sépare le NT de l'AT. Pour ce faire, l'étude se base sur l'examen d'un morceau du Commentaire d'Origène sur l'Evangile de Jean. (shrink)

© 2014 Taylor Francis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends routine human immunodeficiency virus testing of every client presenting for services in venues where HIV prevalence is high. Because older adults have particularly poor prognosis if they receive their diagnosis late in the course of HIV disease, any screening provided to younger adults in these venues should also be provided to older adults. We examined aging-related disparities in recent and ever HIV testing in a probability sample (...) of at-risk adults seeking services in needle exchange sites, sexually transmitted disease clinics, and Latino community clinics that provide HIV testing. Using multiple logistic regression with generalized estimating equations, we estimated associations between age category and each HIV testing outcome. Even after controlling for covariates such as recent injection drug use, older adults had 40% lower odds than younger adults did of having tested in the past 12 months or ever. Aging-related disparities in HIV testing exist among clients of these high HIV prevalence venues and may contribute to known aging-related disparities in late diagnosis of HIV infection and poor long-term prognosis. (shrink)

This book takes the principles of archetypal pedagogy and applies them in exciting new ways to fields as diverse as literary studies, therapy and, of course, teacher education.

The structure of ethics work in a hospital is complex. Professional ethics, research ethics and clinical ethics committees (CECs) are important parts of this structure, in addition to laws and national and institutional codes of ethics. In Norway all hospital trusts have a CEC, most of these discuss cases by means of a method which seeks to include relevant guidelines and laws into the discussion. In recent years many committees have received more cases which have concerned questions of principle. According (...) to Ellen Fox and co-authors the traditional CEC model suffers from a number of weaknesses. Therefore, in their organization a separate body deals with organizational matters. In this paper, we discuss what is gained and what is lost by creating two separate bodies doing ethics consultation. We do this through an analysis of detailed minutes of CEC discussions in one CEC during a 6-year period. 30 % of all referrals concerned matters of principle. Some of these discussions originated in a dilemma related to a particular patient. Most of the discussions had some consequences within the hospital organization, for clinical practice, for adjustment of guidelines, or may have influenced national policy. We conclude that a multiprofessional CEC with law and ethics competency and patient representation may be well suited also for discussion of general ethical principles. A CEC is a forum which can help bridge the gap between clinicians and management by increasing understanding for each others’ perspectives. (shrink)

Calorie labeling on menus is one of the more recent public health responses to calls for increased access to nutrition information. The goal is to encourage consumers to make more healthy food choices. In this commentary on ‘Equity in Public Health Ethics: The Case of Menu Labelling Policy at the Local Level’, I focus first on research supporting health equity-directed goals for menu labeling policies; then I turn to the issue of challenges and opportunities for menu labeling as a part (...) of local food policy and food activism. I argue that, while there is some evidence that changes in menu labeling may help to promote health equity, other moves are needed at all levels of political organization. In particular, effecting shifts in attitudes and consumption will require changing our relationships with the food sources in our neighborhoods, and changing those food sources themselves. Leveraging our knowledge of behavioral economics and social marketing, using social networks and developing programs to transform eating patterns; all of these require participation and coordination among many stakeholders. Menu labeling is one tool, but many others are needed to effect change in communities. (shrink)

Le but principal et premier de cette conclusion est de mettre en évidence le lien intrinsèque entre les récits de la « vie de Jésus » et le conflit d’interprétation au sujet du Nazaréen, tel qu’il résulte précisément de ses « actes de puissance » et de leur signification messianique ou non. Le deuxième but est d’expliciter l’analogie entre le conflit d’interprétation, tel qu’il se présente à l’époque néotestamentaire, et la figure qu’il prend aujourd’hui au sein du « forum-Jésus », (...) l’enjeu étant d’en dégager la signification proprement théologique. The objective of this conclusion is first and foremost to highlight the intrinsic link between the narratives of the “life of Jesus” and the conflict of interpretation concerning the Nazarene, which results from his “acts of power” and their messianic significance or lack of significance. The second objective is to make explicit the analogy between the conflict of interpretation, as it is to be found in the neo-testamentary period, and the shape it has taken on today within the “Jesus forum”, the challenge being indeed to bring out the specifically theological significance. (shrink)

This paper explores a possible connection between Aristotle’s defence of rhetoric as an art and his claim that its three kinds, deliberative, forensic and epideictic, necessarily take place in sites where citizens appear to one another as citizens. The argument is that only in such sites, and hence only in poleis, can speakers and audiences distinguish the internal norms of this, and indeed any other, art from external effects that, although they may be called rhetorical, are not artful or technikos (...) on Aristotle’s definition. That in making this argument Plato serves as Aristotle’s foil is suggested by allusions in the Rhetoric and other Aristotelian treatises to specific passages in Phaedrus and Statesman. The paper concludes by claiming that conditions for practising the art of rhetoric in the strict sense are as civic now as they were in classical antiquity. The media in which the art is practised may have multiplied, but when its civic nature is grasped the kinds into which Aristotle divides it appear not to have changed as much as might be thought. (shrink)

This paper reports the first study in the literature that adopts a bibliometric approach to systematically explore the scholarship in the young and fast‐growing research field of experimental philosophy. Based on a corpus of 1,248 publications in experimental philosophy from the past two decades retrieved from the PhilPapers website, the study examined the publication trend, the influential experimental philosophers, the impactful works, the popular publication venues, and the major research themes in this subarea of philosophy. It found, first, an (...) overall growing trend in publications in experimental philosophy, encompassing four developmental stages. Second, it found that significant changes in topics of interest have taken place, with some gaining increasing attention, others seemingly going out of fashion, and still others remaining popular constantly. Third, the study identified lists of leading philosophers, frequently cited publications, and popular journals helpful for researchers and newcomers to get a quick start in learning about the field. (shrink)

Venu du marxisme, dont il a constaté très tôt les impasses, Cornelius Castoriadis a voulu réinventer la révolution. Selon lui, la modernité voit s'affronter deux projets de société : celui d'une maîtrise rationnelle du réel et celui d'une autonomie de toutes et de tous. Le premier a donné des résultats désastreux en engendrant le règne de la technique et de l'économie. Le second reste encore à construire pour qu'advienne une société vraiment démocratique dans laquelle le peuple se gouverne lui-même, se (...) passant de toute classe dirigeante. Castoriadis a mis en lumière les origines de ce projet d'autonomie qui remontent à la Grèce antique. Il en a analysé les expressions modernes, de la révolution russe de 1917 aux révoltes des années 1960. Mais surtout, il en a examiné les conditions pour que se développe une politique émancipatrice aujourd'hui : auto-organisation des luttes, pratique de l'égalité et sens des limites. Ce projet d'autonomie n'est pas un programme clés en main. Il est un imaginaire autant qu'une expérience. Il est un horizon, celui d'une société consciente du fait que le pouvoir est l'affaire de tous. C'est cette réflexion multiforme et souvent complexe que présente et questionne ce livre qui offre pour la première fois une synthèse claire, accessible et percutante de la pensée politique de Castoriadis. (shrink)

La venue d’un enfant nécessite une préparation psychique dès la grossesse pour permettre l’adoption psychique de son enfant biologique à la naissance. Parfois, des sujets ne peuvent devenir parents et ne peuvent adopter leur enfant biologique, lorsqu’ils ont une charge familiale inconsciente d’interrompre la succession des générations. L’approche psychanalytique de la famille permet de comprendre les mécanismes défensifs familiaux issus des parts ancestrales aliénantes, des traumatismes générationnels insuffisamment élaborés, qui peuvent conduire à l’extinction des lignées descendantes. Le déni de grossesse, (...) le refus au départ de l’enfant avec l’accouchement anonyme sont autant d’événements dont les enjeux peuvent être éclairés par le travail thérapeutique qui accompagne le choix de confier son bébé à l’adoption ou le choix de le ré-adopter dans le remaniement du matériel générationnel. (shrink)

Comment en est-on venu à penser qu'il suffisait de renverser un régime autoritaire pour que la démocratie s'installe, voire, comme en Irak en 2003, d'envahir un pays pour le libérer? En quel sens peut-on dire que la démocratie est le "modèle" de régime qui correspond le mieux à certaines aspirations fondamentales de l'humanité? L'idée d'une diffusion par la force de la démocratie n'est-elle pas une contradiction dans les termes? Pour répondre à ces questions, Florent Guénard remonte aux présupposés philosophiques des (...) visions de l'expansion démocratique qui voient celle-ci comme un processus inéluctable, mais aussi aux différentes compréhensions de ce qu'est un "modèle" politique. Dans une double démarche, à la fois historique et typologique, il expose comment la démocratisation a été pensée dans la philosophie politique depuis Platon et compare les différentes voies proposées, soulignant le tournant qu'à constitué la Révolution française et la Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen dans le processus. Avant 1789, la démocratie occidentale est un modèle politique qu'on ne conçoit comme généralisable que sous certaines conditions. Aux XIXe et XXe siècles, elle devient exportable : c'est elle qui est censée réaliser les aspirations de la modernité. La critique postcoloniale a largement montré les limites et les coûts de cette modélisation. Comprendre aujourd'hui l'expansion de la démocratie suppose qu'on prenne en compte les nouvelles formes de l'universalisme démocratique, en évitant à la fois le dogmatisme d'un modèle imposé au monde et le relativisme qui empêche de voir que les nations s'imitent et s'inspirent les unes des autres. La démocratie est aujourd'hui le nom d'un idéal d'émancipation appropriable et mondialisé. (shrink)

Le temps est venu de tourner le regard vers la ville de Sarajevo, l’œil cette fois apaisé : exit les discours idéologiques, les surenchères journalistiques dans la qualification de l’horreur et la pollution intellectuelle des années 1990. Et que voit-on ?Sarajevo n’est ni cette ville d’Europe, martyre des Temps modernes, martyre d’un..

Consider the argument: Circus-1 Men in clown suits are handing out tickets. So, probably: Circus-2 There’s a circus in town. So: Circus-3 There’s an entertainment venue in town. Presumably you’d be able to warrantedly believe Circus-2 on the basis of Circus-1. And we can suppose you’re reasonably certain that wherever there are circuses, there are entertainment venues. So you’d seem to be in a position to reasonably go on to infer Circus-3.