University of St Andrews

The UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) can, on the one hand, be considered vital for the global governance process—in the sense of urging international cooperation on the ethical, developmental, and standards aspects of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). On the other hand, the CCW may also embody a global trend that does not augur well for international solidarity, namely the lack of credible and comprehensive collaboration to advance global objectives of peace and security. In 2022, a majority of the 125 nations that belong to the CCW requested limits on a specific type of lethal autonomous weapons: “killer robots.” Yet, most of the major global powers—namely the United States, Russia, and China—opposed not only a ban on LAWS but also on any restrictions on the development of these weapons, not least because the United States, Russia, and China are actively developing this weapons technology. While there is currently much focus on the technological evolution of LAWS, less has been written about how ethical values can exert influence on a growing global consciousness around factors such as power, technology, human judgment, accountability, autonomy, dehumanization, and the use of force. This introduction lays the groundwork for dealing with these issues. It does so by showing that all these factors warrant a pluralist approach to the global governance of LAWS, based on multiple grounds, including the military, tech, law, and distinctive theoretical-ethical orientations; the rationale being to combine this expertise into a collection for publication. Reflecting the contributing authors’ firsthand experiences of the ethics surrounding the management of LAWS to address decisive and critical questions at an expert level, it provides a framing for the collection, showing that the use of international legal mechanisms like the CCW are crucial to considering both the potential and the limits of LAWS, as well as what it can contribute to areas such as international law, human rights, and national security.

Regulating war has long been a concern of the international community. From the Hague Conventions to the Geneva Conventions and the multiple treaties and related institutions that have emerged in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, efforts to mitigate the horrors of war have focused on regulating weapons, defining combatants, and ensuring access to the battlefield for humanitarians. But regulation and legal codes alone cannot be the end point of an engaged ethical response to new weapons developments. This short essay reviews some of the existing ethical works on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), highlighting how rule- and consequence-based accounts fail to provide adequate guidance for how to deal with them. I propose a virtue-based account, which I link up with an Aristotelian framework, for how the international community might better address these weapons systems.

Netflix has been a transformational force in the quickly developing new media, altering how entertainment is delivered and consumed. This essay examines Netflixs brand positioning and social media marketing strategies within the new media environment. The brand identity of Netflix, which is distinguished by its innovation, accessibility, and diversity, is what makes it successful. Netflix has established itself as a leading streaming service platform by providing binge-watching opportunities, ease, and a wide variety of material. In addition, its social media strategy promotes participation, community, and personalized recommendations, boosting the perception of its brand. However, difficulties continue. It can be challenging to balance user engagement and advertisement, deal openly with critical comments, and keep users interested when there are gaps in content distribution. Transparent data practices must be followed in the face of data privacy concerns. This essay offers suggestions for practical action. Creating original content and adjusting to algorithm changes are key to maintaining interest. Clear disclosure and user consent for data use are necessary to build trust. Emphasizing originality and regionalized promotion are necessary for differentiation in a competitive market. This research explains how Netflixs brand marketing thrives in the digital media era and provides insights into entertainment companies and beyond. Despite being predominantly social media-focused, its implications may apply to general brand marketing strategies in the new media environment. This research serves as a fundamental investigation of brand marketing strategies in the context of contemporary media as technology develops rapidly.

With the rapid development of digital technology, people are creating digital products, which has led to a digital transformation of the form of labor. The resulting platform capitalism is an economic form that will dominate society in the future, and the amount of digital labor it involves is only increasing. Based on existing literature and data, this paper discusses three separate issues affecting the income gap of digital labor by targeting audiences, social media, and advertisers. It is found that the pay of the audience as digital labor is limited by the degree of exploitation by advertisers and the extent of their use of social media. First, platform capitalism sustains the commodification of user behavior, resulting in a cashable act of digital labor. Second, big data exposes audiences to dilemmas of justice, and the exploitation of platform capitalism impacts the fairness of digital labor. Third, mediatization also impacts the income gap in digital labor, with less visible mediums earning less than more visible ones

Postings on social media on Twitter (now X), BioAnthropology News (Facebook), and other venues, as well as recent publications in prominent journals, show that primatologists, ecologists, and other researchers are questioning the terms "Old World" and "New World" due to their colonial implications and history. The terms are offensive if they result in erasing Indigenous voices and history, ignoring the fact that Indigenous peoples were in the Americas long before European colonization. Language use is not without context, but alternative terminology is not always obvious and available. In this perspective, we share opinions expressed by an international group of primatologists who considered questions about the use of these terms, whether primatologists should adjust language use, and how to move forward. The diversity of opinions provides insight into how conventional terms used in primatological research and conservation may impact our effectiveness in these domains.

This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the fascinating field of noncommutative probability theory, tracing its evolution from its inception in the early 1980s by Romanian-American mathematician Dan Voiculescu to its current state of prominence in mathematics. Through a meticulous examination of seminal works and recent advancements, we explore the key concepts, methodologies, and significant developments in this field, emphasizing the combinatorial aspects of noncommutative probability spaces, including non-crossing partitions and linked partitions. This exploration encompasses various aspects, including analytical methods, operator algebras, random matrices, and combinatorial structures. Additionally, it concludes with the current understanding and potential directions for future research.

Field Line Resonances (FLRs) are a critical component in Earth's magnetospheric dynamics, associated with the transfer of energy between Ultra Low Frequency waves and local plasma populations. In this study we investigate how the polarisation of FLRs are impacted by cold plasma density distributions during geomagnetic storms. We present an analysis of Van Allen Probe A observations, where the spacecraft traversed a storm time plasmaspheric plume. We show that the polarisation of the FLR is significantly altered at the sharp azimuthal density gradient of the plume boundary, where the polarisation is intermediate with significant poloidal and toroidal components. These signatures are consistent with magnetohydrodynamic modeling results, providing the first observational evidence of a 3D FLR associated with a plume in Earth's magnetosphere. These results demonstrate the importance of cold plasma in controlling wave dynamics in the magnetosphere, and have important implications for wave‐particle interactions at a range of energies.

Purpose In order to deliver appropriate and timely care planning and minimise avoidable late diagnoses, clinicians need to be aware of which patients are at higher risk of receiving a late cancer diagnosis. We aimed to determine which demographic and clinical factors are associated with receiving a ‘late’ cancer diagnosis (within the last 12 weeks of life). Method Retrospective cohort study of 2,443 people who died from cancer (‘cancer decedents’) in 2013–2015. Demographic and cancer registry datasets linked using patient-identifying Community Health Index numbers. Analysis used binary logistic regression, with univariate and adjusted odds ratios (SPSS v25). Results One third (n = 831,34.0%) received a late diagnosis. Age and cancer type were significantly associated with late cancer diagnosis (p < 0.001). Other demographic factors were not associated with receiving a late diagnosis. Cancer decedents with lung cancer (Odds Ratios presented in abstract are the inverse of those presented in the main text, where lung cancer is the reference category. Presented as 1/(OR multivariate)) were more likely to have late diagnosis than those with bowel (95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] Odds Ratio (OR)1.52 (OR1.12 to 2.04)), breast or ovarian (95%CI OR3.33 (OR2.27 to 5.0) or prostate (95%CI OR9.09 (OR4.0 to 20.0)) cancers. Cancer decedents aged > 85 years had higher odds of late diagnosis (95%CI OR3.45 (OR2.63 to 4.55)), compared to those aged < 65 years. Conclusions Cancer decedents who were older and those with lung cancer were significantly more likely to receive late cancer diagnoses than those who were younger or who had other cancer types.

Introduction People living with and dying from multimorbidity are increasing in number, and ensuring quality care for this population is one of the major challenges facing healthcare providers. People with multimorbidity often have a high burden of palliative and end-of-life care needs, though they do not always access specialist palliative care services. A key reason for this is that they are often not identified as being in the last stages of their life by current healthcare providers and systems. This scoping review aims to identify and present the available evidence on how people with multimorbidity are currently included in research, policy and clinical practice. Methods and analysis Scoping review methodology, based on Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, will be undertaken and presented using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Search terms have been generated using the key themes of ‘multimorbidity’, ‘end of life’ and ‘palliative care’. Peer-reviewed research will be obtained through systematic searching of Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus and PsycINFO. Grey literature will be searched in a systematic manner. Literature containing a definition for adults with multimorbidity in a terminal phase of their illness experience will be included. After screening studies for eligibility, included studies will be described in terms of setting and characteristics as well as using inductive content analysis to highlight the commonalities in definitions. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this scoping review. The findings of the scoping review will be used internally as part of SPB’s PhD thesis at the University of St Andrews through the Multimorbidity Doctoral Training Programme for Health Professionals, which is supported by the Wellcome Trust (223499/Z/21/Z) and published in an open access, peer-reviewed journal for wider dissemination.

This volume has brought together different lessons and perspectives on studying Kurdishness in Turkey. Authors have described the way the Turkish-Kurdish conflict is framed and understood by people in Turkey, and the way that the conflict has imbued itself in Kurdish identity. They have discussed the way that the history of the Kurdish experience influences interactions with other minorities, and how it creates the energy and motivation to maintain protest for decades. They have also described the way that psychology as a field has dealt with identity and addressed—or not addressed—Kurdishness, and how researchers’ experiences have shaped their approach to studying Kurdishness, and the lessons that we may learn from their experiences. The additional views highlighting the formation of collective memory within a conflict and the importance of reflexivity in research demonstrated how crucial interdisciplinarity is for studying political psychology within a conflictual context.

This chapter focuses on the Saturday Mothers (Cumartesi Anneleri), a group that has gathered in İstanbul for a half-hour sit-in every Saturday since 1995 seeking justice for forced disappearances and political murders in Turkey. The initial protest was composed mainly of mothers of the lost. However, over the past 25 years, other relatives have joined in the protests. In many cases, children grow up going to these protests once a week. This younger generation then grow up participating, take up the mantle, and take the space of the person from the previous generation when they get older. Despite their clear presence in Turkey over the years, very little research has examined their protest. Through this chapter we contextualize the history and origins of the Saturday Mothers and their relationship to the Turkish–Kurdish conflict. We discuss how we became interested in understanding their protest and the way that we went about contacting them and ultimately working together with them to understand the way their protest has passed from one generation to the next.

The evolution of cooperation depends on two crucial overarching factors: relatedness, which describes the extent to which the recipient shares genes in common with the actor; and quality, which describes the recipient's basic capacity to transmit genes into the future. While most research has focused on relatedness, there is a growing interest in understanding how quality modulates the evolution of cooperation. However, the impact of inheritance of quality on the evolution of cooperation remains largely unexplored, especially in spatially structured populations. Here, we develop a mathematical model to understand how inheritance of quality, in the form of social status, influences the evolution of helping and harming within social groups in a viscous-population setting. We find that: (1) status-reversal transmission, whereby parental and offspring status are negatively correlated, strongly inhibits the evolution of cooperation, with low-status individuals investing less in cooperation and high-status individuals being more prone to harm; (2) transmission of high status promotes offspring philopatry, with more cooperation being directed towards the higher-dispersal social class; and (3) fertility inequality and inter-generational status inheritance reduce within-group conflict. Overall, our study highlights the importance of considering different mechanisms of phenotypic inheritance, including social support, and their potential interactions in shaping animal societies.