Pervasive computing systems employ distributed and embedded devices in order to raise, communicate, and process data in an anytime-anywhere fashion. Certainly, its most prominent device is the smartphone due to its wide proliferation, growing computation power, and wireless networking capabilities. In this context, we revisit the implementation of digitalized word-of-mouth that suggests exchanging item preferences between smartphones offline and directly in immediate proximity. Collaboratively and decentrally collecting data in this way has two benefits. First, it allows to attach for instance location-sensitive context information in order to enrich collected item preferences. Second, model building does not require network connectivity. Despite the benefits, the approach naturally raises data privacy and data scarcity issues. In order to address both, we propose Propagate and Filter, a method that translates the traditional approach of finding similar peers and exchanging item preferences among each other from the field of decentralized to that of pervasive recommender systems. Additionally, we present preliminary results on a prototype mobile application that implements the proposed device-to-device information exchange. Average ad-hoc connection delays of 25.9 seconds and reliable connection success rates within 6 meters underpin the approach's technical feasibility.
Full ectogenesis as the complete externalization of human reproduction by bypassing the bodily processes of gestation and childbirth can be considered the culmination of genetic and reproductive technologies. Despite its still being a hypothetical scenario, it has been discussed for decades as the ultimate means to liberate women from their reproductive tasks in society and hence finally end fundamental gender injustices generally. In the debate about the application of artificial wombs to achieve gender equality, one aspect is barely mentioned but is of crucial relevance from a medical‐ethical perspective: whether and how could full ectogenesis be justified as a proper use of medicine? After characterizing the technology as a special form of human enhancement and as an extension of medical practice that goes beyond the traditional field of medicine, this paper critically assesses the theoretical possibilities of legitimizing this extension. We identify two ways of justification: either one argues that ectogenesis fulfils a proper goal of medicine (a justification we call pathologization), or one argues that the application of ectogenesis achieves a non‐medical goal (which we call medicalization). Because it is important from a medical‐ethical point of view to avoid an inappropriate instrumentalization or misuse of medicine and thus an undue medicalization of non‐medical problems, a set of necessary conditions has to be met. It is doubtful whether full ectogenesis for non‐medical purposes could fulfil these conditions. Rather, its comprehensive usage could be seen as a revolutionary modification of what it means to be human.
In the field of social networking services, finding similar users based on profile data is common practice. Smartphones harbor sensor and personal context data that can be used for user profiling. Yet, one vast source of personal data, that is text messaging data, has hardly been studied for user profiling. We see three reasons for this: First, private text messaging data is not shared due to their intimate character. Second, the definition of an appropriate privacy-preserving similarity measure is nontrivial. Third, assessing the quality of a similarity measure on text messaging data representing a potentially infinite set of topics is non-trivial. In order to overcome these obstacles we propose affinity, a system that assesses the similarity between text messaging histories of users reliably and efficiently in a privacypreserving manner. Private texting data stays on user devices and data for comparison is compared in a latent format that neither allows to reconstruct the comparison words nor any original private plain text. We evaluate our approach by calculating similarities between Twitter histories of 60 US senators. The resulting similarity network reaches an average 85.0% accuracy on a political party classification task.
By creating fertility reserves, women are now able to become pregnant using their own eggs, even after menopause. Multiple arguments already exist against postmenopausal motherhood, most of which stress the potential risk of damage involved due to the mother's advanced age. Consequently, the question arises: Can successful antiaging medicine be applied to preserve or enhance cognitive and physical capacity at an advanced age and invalidate these objections? In this article, we shall explore this issue further and come to three main conclusions: (1) Until now, enabling postmenopausal women to become pregnant has not been a specific objective of antiaging medicine. (2) Postmenopausal motherhood can find legitimacy through the development and success of antiaging medicine. (3) The acceptance of postmenopausal motherhoods in our society first requires that antiaging medicine itself find some sort of ethical legitimacy. To evaluate the arguments for and against antiaging medicine and postmenopausal motherhood, it is important to take into consideration two points more in depth, which are constantly being impacted by both medical arguments alike: (1) The identity and role of medicine itself as well as (2) the normative role of our body`s natural boundaries.
In this contribution, we present the conception of the serious moral game uMed: Your Choice for the training of medical students' moral sensitivity and resoluteness. First, we offer an overview of the moral competences that we aim to train through the game: an empathic concern for relevant groups; an awareness of one's susceptibility to biases and stress, moral schemas and scripts for automatized sensitivity under time pressure; a sensitivity to attitudes of moral disengagement; and skills for speaking up about ethical issues. Second, we present the educational game mechanisms and contents that we have selected and combined to achieve the desired learning outcomes: playing an intern at a clinic, learners deal with several cases, in which they have to interact with patients, patients' relatives, and co-workers. Their decisions, including the way they communicate, have immediate as well as delayed consequences, and players receive constant feedback in terms of three value categories (empathy, integrity, efficiency). Third, we discuss how we employ the game within our study program. We close with a discussion of a possible critique of our design and with an outlook on the further design process.
In this paper, we examine the use of the term 'life' in the debates within and about synthetic biology. We review different positions within these debates, focusing on the historical background, the constructive epistemology of laboratory research and the pros and cons of metaphorical speech. We argue that 'life' is used as buzzword, as folk concept, and as theoretical concept in inhomogeneous ways. Extending beyond the review of the significant literature, we also argue that 'life' can be understood as a Burstword in two concrete senses. Firstly, terms such as life easily turn into fuzzy, foggy and buzzy clouds of nonsense, if their use is not appropriately reflected. In these cases, the semantic orientation is detonated. This is the Burstword I characteristic of the concept of 'life' that we reveal for its unclear terminological use. Secondly, and in contrast to Burstword I, we show that the concept of 'life' can be used in a methodologically controlled way. We call this kind of use Burstword II.Here the concept of 'life' fulfils the function of expanding an inadequately narrow disciplinary or conceptual focus in different discursive contexts. In this second sense, 'life' receives an important operational function, for instance as a transdisciplinary research principle. It turns out that the innovative function and paradigm-changing power of metaphorical speech belong here as well. Finally, we illustrate three ethically relevant examples that show how 'life' can be applied as Burstword II in the context of synthetic biology. Keywords Life . Synthetic biology . Metaphors of life . Life as metaphor . Ethics of synthetic biology . Buzzword . Burstword From Review to Reaction: IntroductionAs a subdiscipline of biology (the natural science of life), synthetic biology engages by definition with 'life' and its metaphors. What makes it special and new is its constructive, engineering approach. It can be said that the groundbreaking aim of synthetic biology is, as Ruiz-Mirazo and Moreno put it, 'to learn more about the living by means of re-construction or fabricating it-in contrast to the analytical-descriptive work that has, so far, been the most important way of generation knowledge in biology' ([97], p. 378). It is exactly this combination-the engineering attitude and certain life forms as its objects-that raises a lot of questions and especially engenders ethical criticism. The special ethical relevance of synthetic biology is supposed to be
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.