Time Inconsistency Research Articles

The Seeping Surveillance of Sex in Sports

Abstract: The US faces a legislative wave of state-level restrictions on transgender athlete participation, while at the elite level of sport there are ongoing exclusions of trans women and women with sex variations, with confusing, inconsistent policies from national sports governing bodies on just what constitutes "female eligibility." In the midst of debates about "fairness" and advocacy for great inclusion, an attention to the surveillance systems at work in sports can shift the terms of debate away from the imperative of a level playing field and toward a discussion of bodily autonomy, privacy, and self-determination for athletes. In doing so, I take a critical surveillance studies lens to illuminate connections between surveillance in sports and other societal institutions. In offering a broad view of the surveillance of sex in sports, I utilize Zygmunt Bauman and David Lyon's concept of liquid surveillance to describe the ways that surveillance mechanisms, logics, and rhetoric seeps through, and out of, sports.

MSVT: Multiple Spatiotemporal Views Transformer for DeepFake Video Detection

Recently, DeepFake videos have developed rapidly, causing new security issues in society. Due to the rough spatiotemporal view, existing video-based detection methods struggle to capture fine-grained spatiotemporal information, resulting in limited generalization ability. In addition, although the transformer has achieved great success in the past few years, the application of transformer on deepfake video detection still needs to be studied. To solve this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel Multiple Spatiotemporal Views Transformer (MSVT) with Local Spatiotemporal View (LSV) and Global Spatiotemporal View (GSV), to mine more detailed spatiotemporal information. Firstly, for establishing the LSV, different from existing works that sparsely sample a single frame to build the input sequence, we employ the local-consecutive temporal view to capture vital dynamic inconsistency. Furthermore, the extracted frame features within each group are fed to the temporal transformer followed by the feature fusion module, to generate group-level spatiotemporal features. Then, we further establish Global Spatiotemporal View (GSV) by feeding all the frame features within the whole video to the temporal transformer followed by the feature fusion module. Finally, we propose a novel global-local transformer (GLT) to effectively integrate these multi-level features for mining more subtle and comprehensive features. Extensive experiments on six large datasets demonstrate that our MSVT outperforms state-of-the-art detection methods.

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Healthcare Buildings: A Policy Framework

The healthcare industry significantly impacts the environment due to its high usage of energy and natural resources and the associated waste generation. This study applied a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach to assess the environmental and social life cycles of public hospitals. One hundred twenty-four public hospitals were selected for the current study; their sustainability performance was compared with those certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The comparison revealed several factors contributing to the poor sustainability performance of public hospitals. These include inadequate management, substandard planning, political interference, insufficient staffing and funding, high energy consumption, high expenses, inconsistent healthcare policies, and conventional building designs. System thinking was leveraged, and a causal loop diagram (CLD) was developed to visualize the interdependency of the identified indicators of LCSA. Based on the findings of the study, a policy framework is proposed to guide the development of sustainable healthcare buildings. The framework includes using eco-friendly materials and techniques in construction, harnessing solar energy, improving hospital management practices, promoting public awareness about sustainability, conserving energy and water, and adopting sustainable waste management and transportation. Additionally, it emphasizes addressing social issues such as improving indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics, patient safety, and security and ensuring that healthcare services are accessible and affordable. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable healthcare buildings by providing a practical policy framework for achieving sustainability in the healthcare sector.

National Security for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Role of Religious Leaders

The scourge of insecurity in Nigeria has become a recurring decimal that threatens the protection of lives and properties. This invariably poses danger to sustainable development. It has become of great concern to us in the nation. Government effort to address the scourge which include public security awareness campaigns, equipping the security agencies, amnesty programmes, job creation to mention a few have not yielded the desired results. This could be as a result lack of political will by leaders at various levels, policy inconsistencies and the craze for wealth. Security is a necessary ingredient for sustainable development in Nigeria. This paper therefore examines the possible role religious leaders could play in addressing national security for sustainable development in Nigeria. Historical-descriptive method was employed in this enterprise. It concludes with the fact that any attempt to effect societal change with regard to national security without involving Religious Leaders is tantamount to ignoring one of the crucial catalysts for that process. The paper recommends that Religious leaders by virtue of their grass-root support and coverage should co-operate with governmental agencies to stem the tide of insecurity of lives and properties in the country. Until and unless this is done, the goal of sustainable development of the country will be difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Evaluating effects of changing sampling protocol for a long-term ichthyoplankton monitoring program

Abundance indices play a crucial role in monitoring and assessing fish population dynamics. Fishery-independent surveys are commonly favored for deriving abundance indices because they follow standardized or randomized designs, ensuring spatiotemporal consistency in representative and unbiased sampling. However, modifications to the survey protocol may be necessary to accommodate changes in survey goals and logistic difficulty. When the survey undergoes changes, calibration is often needed to remove variability that is unrelated to changes in abundance. We evaluated a long-term monitoring program, the Long River Survey (LRS) in the Hudson River Estuary (HRE), to illustrate the process of calibrating survey data to account for the effects of changing sampling protocol. The LRS provided valuable ichthyoplankton data from 1974 to 2017, but inconsistencies in sampling timing, location, and gears resulted in challenges in interpreting and comparing the fish abundance data in the HRE. Generalized Additive Models were developed for five species at various life stages, aiming to mitigate the impact of sampling protocol changes. Model validation results suggest the consistent performance of the developed models with varying lengths of time series. This study indicates that changes in the sampling protocol can introduce biases in the estimates of abundance indices and that the model-based estimates can improve the reliability and accuracy of the survey abundance indices. The model-estimated sampling effects for each species and life stage provide critical information and valuable insights for designing future sampling protocols.

Inconsistent and Arbitrary Age-Based Policies During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has forced countries to issue public measures to address threats to the safety of citizens and the healthcare system. The role of chronological age in the ways in which different countries coped with the pandemic is particularly intriguing. Based on pool of purposely selected twenty-one countries, this article compares a variety of urgent public health policies that have been enforced during the first wave of the pandemic. It analyzes the ways in which countries introduced instructions related to older people and/or chronological age in relation to: Lockdown, exit and triage policies. It also examined whether the issue of long-term care settings (LTCS) received special attention in the primary guidelines developed in response to the lockdown and exit strategies. The analysis demonstrates inconsistencies within and across countries in the enactment and implementation of age-based measures. Moreover, it suggests that both acts of omission and commission based on age can be interpreted as ageist, arbitrary, not based on evidence, too inclusive, and offensive toward older people and neglectful of specific risk groups.

Local Food Entrepreneurship in Rural India: Modelling the Challenges

Local food entrepreneurship plays a vital role in promoting and distributing regional foods. To link local food with the market, there is a need to develop local food systems that promote and support local food, its distribution and consumption. Local food entrepreneurs are constrained due to various factors prevailing in the entire rural ecosystem, which hinders their prospects of business expansion. This study focussed on identifying the commercially feasible local food products that can be produced and marketed by local entrepreneurs. Also, this study is an effort towards identifying and analysing the challenges perceived by local food entrepreneurs in rural India. The challenges were identified through a literature review and the personal interviews of the rural entrepreneurs and were then modelled through the DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) approach. The modelling of challenges helped in identifying the priority areas, based on which focused strategies were suggested for the promotion of local food entrepreneurs. From this study, it emerged that product quality issues, lack of buyers and inconsistent government policies are the most significant challenges perceived by entrepreneurs. This study also includes resource mapping for the local entrepreneurs to present a comprehensive scenario of the prevailing ecosystem.

Regulatory and policy risks: Analyzing the uncertainties related to changes in government policies, regulations, and incentives affecting solar power project development and operations in Kenya

This research paper examines the regulatory and policy risks associated with solar power project development and operations in Kenya. Through an extensive literature review, interviews with stakeholders, and case studies of solar power projects, the study identifies key uncertainties and challenges that affect the sector. The findings highlight several critical risks, including policy inconsistency, complex licensing and permitting processes, uncertainties in tariff structures and power purchase agreements, land acquisition challenges, and grid connection issues. The research underscores the importance of strengthening policy frameworks, streamlining regulatory processes, and enhancing transparency and predictability in tariff structures and power purchase agreements. The paper provides valuable insights for policymakers, industry experts, and project developers, emphasizing the need for stable policies, a streamlined regulatory environment, and clear guidelines to attract investment and accelerate the growth of solar power in Kenya. By addressing these risks, Kenya can unlock its solar power potential, contribute to sustainable development, and advance its renewable energy targets.

Exploring Russia’s Postponed War Against Ukraine: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Strategic Studies Institutes’ Publications from 1991 to 2014

The article conducts a corpus study of official reports and papers from the Strategic Studies Institutes of the United States, NATO, the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia up to and including 2014 to determine how Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine was represented and how postponed it proved to be. The US, EU, and NATO were very cautious and slow in establishing relations with Ukraine, either because they considered its integration with Russia very likely or because they did not want to destroy lucrative economic relations with Russia given the unstable and inconsistent foreign policy. The US, EU, and NATO were well aware of Ukraine's vulnerabilities and had been documenting various forms of Russian pressure on Ukraine since the 1990s (the preparatory phase of hybrid war) as well as the high likelihood of Russian military aggression since that time. Therefore, based on the institutes’ predictions, the Russia’s war against Ukraine was unavoidable, yet has been postponed for at least 20 years.

MRE-Net: Multi-Rate Excitation Network for Deepfake Video Detection

The current social media is flooded with hyper realistic face-synthetic videos due to the explosion of DeepFake technology that has brought a serious impact on human society security, which calls for further exploring on deepfake video detection methods. Existing methods attempt to isolated capture spatial artifacts or extract the homogeneous temporal inconsistency to detect deepfake video, but little attention has been paid to the exploitation of dynamic spatial-temporal inconsistency. To mitigate this issue, in this paper, we propose a novel Multi-Rate Excitation Network (MRE-Net) to effectively excite dynamic spatial-temporal inconsistency from the perspective of multiple rates for deepfake video detection. The proposed MRE-Net is composed of two components: Bipartite Group Sampling (BGS) and multiple rate branches. The BGS draws the entire video into multiple bipartite groups with different rates to cover various face motion dynamic evolution. We further design multiple rate branches to capture both short-term and long-term spatial-temporal inconsistency from corresponding bipartite groups of BGS. Concretely, for the early stages of the multi-rate branches, Momentary Inconsistency Excitation (MIE) module is developed to encode the spatial artifacts and intra-group short-term temporal inconsistency. Meanwhile, for the last stages of the multi-rate branches, Longstanding Inconsistency Excitation (LIE) module is constructed to perceive inter-group long-term temporal dynamics. Extensive experiments and visualizations conducted on four popular datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method against state-of-the-art deepfake detection methods.

Forged facial video detection framework based on multi-region temporal relationship feature

Face generation and manipulation techniques based on deep learning have enabled the creation of sophisticated forged facial videos, which are indistinguishable by human eyes. However, the illegal use of deep fake technology will have a serious impact on social stability, personal reputation, and even national security. Therefore, the detection technology of fake facial videos is of great significance to protect national security and maintain social order. Although the existing video-based fake face video detection technology has achieved good detection performance on the public fake face video database, there are still the following problems: (1) the existing technology uses a 2D attention mechanism to obtain local region features from face images and lacks a 3D attention mechanism to obtain local area features from face videos; (2) after obtaining local area features, the existing technology is directly used to classify or only model the inter-regional relationship of images without modeling the temporal relationship between regions of the video. This paper proposes a fake facial video detection framework based on multi-region temporal relationship features, including designing a three-dimensional attention mechanism to extract local features of multiple regions of the face from the video. In order to model the time series relationship between different face areas, a time series graph convolution neural network is also introduced to extract the time series relationship features between multiple areas. In order to model the time sequence relationship between different face regions, the convolution neural network of a time sequence diagram is also introduced to extract the characteristics of the time sequence relationship between multiple regions. Through the change characteristics of the time sequence relationship between face regions, the timing inconsistency of the face video is detected so as to determine whether the face has been deeply forged. Through experiments on multiple datasets, the experimental results of the model accuracy test show that the method proposed in the present invention achieves the highest detection accuracy, and the accuracy in the FaceForensics++ (low definition) dataset is 18.19% higher than that of the benchmark method. The experimental results of the generalization ability test show that the method proposed in the present invention achieves the highest generalization performance, and the detection accuracy in the Celeb-DF dataset is 11.92% higher than that of the benchmark method.

The Production of Human Reproduction: Impacts of Transhumanism’s Inconsistent Reproductive Policy on Classical Ethical Principles

The transhumanist movement is characterized by a shift from the traditional understanding of the “created” and “born” human to a “produced” and potentially “immortal” human. This article argues that the reproductive policy of transhumanism is inconsistent. Firstly, it underestimates the implications of reproduction, especially those related to women, such as pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing, which is considered a source of pain at every stage. Additionally, it prioritizes adult enhancement in pursuit of immortality, which is why it discards producing a new life. On the other hand, the movement utilizes new reproductive technologies to enhance human beings, thereby promising and providing unlimited individual reproductive freedom in a wide range of contexts. Furthermore, this article argues that transhumanism, which moves away from the concept of sexual human nature, not only excludes femininity and its associated nature but also converges towards a sexless human nature biologically. It also discharges sexuality from the purpose of reproduction and reduces it to the purpose of pleasure substantially. The overall attitude of the transhumanist context raises significant ethical problems, undermining traditional medical ethics and bioethics principles such as nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, justice, and human dignity. Moreover, it forces ethical principles to be redefined on a new basis with its indifferent attitude that ignores the threat of authoritarian eugenics, neglects reproductive responsibility while emphasizing reproductive freedom, and fails to consider the nature of the contrast-dependency of human values. As a result, new ethical principles must be developed to address the implications of this attitude.

Prevention of VM Timing side-channel attack in a cloud environment using randomized timing approach in AES – 128

The term "cloud computing" refers to the delivery of various computer services to users via the Internet. These services include servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics. The ability for businesses to swiftly and easily access computing resources as needed is one of the primary benefits of cloud computing, along with scalability, flexibility, and cost savings. To protect themselves from data breaches, distributed denial of service attacks, and insider threats, cloud providers and consumers alike need to deploy adequate security measures. Shared resources and timing inconsistencies within the hypervisor can make it possible for attackers to deduce sensitive information from other Virtual Machines (VMs). In this research, a software-based solution to the problem of VM timing side-channel assaults (SCAs) in CC (Cloud Computing) is proposed. Following an analysis of the process's empirical complexity, the solution uses a randomized timing method, which is compatible with all of the AES–128 sub-steps.

Dynamic inconsistency between electrochemical reaction and phase transition in Na-deficient layered cathode materials

Electrochemical characteristics, as revealed by the charge-discharge voltage profiles, are commonly used to identify phase transitions in electrode materials during electrochemical cycling. However, such identifications are only valid under the condition of fast kinetics of phase transitions. Herein, layered Na2/3Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 with various structures, including a P3-type phase (C2/m), a P2-type structure (P63), or a mixture of P2- and P3-type phases, were synthesized through precisely controlling the heating temperature. The structural evolution and charge compensation mechanism of these cathode materials were systematically investigated upon cycling using in situ synchrotron-based characterization techniques. Very complicated phase transitions occur when these compounds are cycled between 1.5 and 4.5 V. Upon careful examination of the experimental results, it becomes evident that the phase transformations in P-type layered cathode materials exhibit significant hysteresis during high-voltage cycling, as observed at the end of charge (4.5 V) at 0.1 C, but remain undetected at a slower current density of 0.05 C, indicative of the sluggish kinetics of these transformations. The experimental results unambiguously confirm that while the shape of the voltage curves of the cathodes is consistent with the cationic-anionic redox processes, it does not match the phase transitions. These findings provide a more fundamental understanding of the hysteresis of the phase transitions in P-type layered cathode materials during high-voltage cycling.

Decentralized access control for secure microservices cooperation with blockchain

With the rapid advancement of cloud-native computing, the microservice with high concurrency and low coupling has ushered in an unprecedented period of vigorous development. However, due to the mutability and complexity of cooperation procedures, it is difficult to realize high-efficient security management on these microservices. Traditional centralized access control has the defects of relying on a centralized cloud manager and a single point of failure. Meanwhile, decentralized mechanisms are defective by inconsistent policies defined by different participants. This paper first proposes a blockchain-based distributed access control policies and scheme, especially for microservices cooperation with dynamic access policies. We store the authorized security policies on the blockchain to solve the inconsistent policy problem while enabling individual management of personalized access policies by the providers rather than a central authority. Then we propose a graph-based decision-making scheme to achieve an efficient access control for microservices cooperation. Through the evaluations and experiments, it shows that our solution can realize effective distributed access control at an affordable cost.

The behavioral economics of dynamically inconsistent behavior: a critical assessment

Preferences often change—even in short time intervals—due to either the mere passage of time (present-biased preferences) or changes in visceral or environmental conditions (state-dependent preferences). On the basis of empirical findings concerning state-dependent preferences, we critically discuss the “Aristotelian” view of unitary decision makers in economics. We illustrate that the conceptualization of preferences as “present-biased” as opposed to “state-dependent” has very different normative implications for which preferences should be considered “rational.” Empirically, however, the two concepts are very difficult to distinguish. The economist can justify any paternalistic intervention if she can conceptualize changing preferences so flexibly, and she can easily become a benevolent despot. We therefore urge for a more careful “Heraclitean” view of decision-making that accepts that a person may consist of multiple selves.

Community-Based Qualitative Study to Identify Challenges in Implementing Health Promoting Schools Framework in Government Schools of Khordha District, Odisha, India.

The WHO asserts every school should be a Health Promoting School (HPS) and laid a framework. The WHO is constantly working on expanding the number of schools modelled on it. The status of the level of health promotion needs to be explored to understand the local issues to identify key priority areas for policy making towards positive health. The study aims to explore the challenges in implementing the HPS framework in Government-run schools in Odisha. Method: A qualitative study was conducted with grounded theory using an inductive approach. In-depth interview was done among nine teachers from six government schools in the Khordha district who were selected through purposive sampling. A semi-structured open-ended interview was conducted using an interview guide among school science teachers and principals (n=9) regarding the challenges in implementing the HPS framework. Codes were generated from the transcript using the inductive approach from the WHO-HPS framework. Thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke model was using Quirkos software. Five themes with 12 codes were identified with the transcript. The respondents had little knowledge about the WHO-HPS framework. Their perception of health promotion was restricted to organizing health camps for school children. The themes were School health policy (inconsistent teachers recruitment policy, partial implementation of tobacco-free schools, outdated science syllabus),Coordination with the local community, Healthy school needs (lack of interactive and repetitive health-related training for school teachers, first aid box in schools and lack of supplementation of micronutrients like WIFS), Sanitation (inadequate funding for maintenance of sanitation) and an emerging issue of increased use of social media were reported in our findings. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that implementation of health-promoting schools requires imparting the skills to teachers by orientation and expanding the existing health services, backed with adequate funding and a firm policy commitment at the state level.

Combining social sciences, geoscience and archaeology to understand societal collapse

Despite its apparently obvious conclusion that adverse environmental conditions must produce economic and institutional crises, the “collapse archaeology” literature has been criticized for its lack of a formal theory, a credible measurement strategy and a proper understanding of the roles of environmental shocks. To tackle this issue, we propose to combine a time inconsistency theory of state formation and evolution—i.e., state-building, institutional proxies based on this model and highly granular simulated climate data. To clarify our proposal, we apply it to the study of state-building in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, and we show that moderate droughts shaped these economies directly via deteriorated production conditions as well as indirectly via institutional resilience.

‘#SayNoToRohingya’: a critical study on Malaysians’ amplified resentment towards Rohingya refugees on Twitter during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis

ABSTRACT This article investigates how resentment among Malaysians towards Rohingya refugees become amplified on social media during the COVID-19 crisis. The focus of this article is the public discourse of Malaysians on Twitter, regarding Rohingya refugee issues. Through a qualitative content analysis of Tweets from Malaysian users during the country’s Movement Control Order, this article argues that the cause of Malaysians’ grievances was due to the citizens’ echo chambering of implicit insecurities. A deeper problem was also rooted in the nation where the distinction between refugees and undocumented migrants does not exist, and the inconsistencies of government policies towards refugees.

Impact of administrative state capacity determinants on sustainable healthcare

Public administration implements government policies through prudent administrative practices and state capacity. Based on Asia's political and administrative proficiency and paradox, this study explores the administrative state capacity determinants—bureaucratic quality (BQ) and military in politics (MP)—and their interaction with sustainable public health quality (PHQ) in Asia from 2006 to 2020. With its focus on the scenario and Asian state administrative issues, Goal 04: Health and Well-being of Sustainable Development Goals has been the core aspect of state capacity and sustainable development. Applying the generalized method of moments (GMM) econometric estimation, the study finds that the high risk of poor BQ due to political pressures and policy inconsistency has significantly and negatively impacted PHQ in Asia. In contrast, by overtaking the administration, a high degree of MP and military dominancy has been a progressive force for PHQ in Asia. The interaction of BQ and MP negatively affects the state's social development due to conflict of interest and shredding policy outcomes. This is the first study that deals with the nexus between sustainable development and administrative state capacity determinants of Asia's public sector. The paper finds that an effective and prudent administrative collaboration and expertise-sharing between the bureaucracy and the military accelerates sustainable healthcare in Asia. Furthermore, the study believes that a healthy institutional collaboration will help overcome the development loopholes in Asia, promote PHQ, and accelerate regional development.