Lowest Common Denominator Research Articles

Appropriate Statistical Methods to Assess Cross-study Diagnostic 23-Gene Expression Profile Test Performance for Cutaneous Melanocytic Neoplasms.

Comparing studies of molecular ancillary diagnostic tests for difficult-to-diagnose cutaneous melanocytic neoplasms presents a methodological challenge, given the disparate ways accuracy metrics are calculated. A recent report by Boothby-Shoemaker et al investigating the real-world accuracy of the 23-gene expression profile (23-GEP) test highlights this methodological difficulty, reporting lower accuracy than previously observed. However, their calculation method-with indeterminate test results defined as either false positive or false negative-was different than those used in previous studies. We corrected for these differences and recalculated their reported accuracy metrics in the same manner as the previous studies to enable appropriate comparison with previously published reports. This corrected analysis showed a sensitivity of 92.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 82.1%-100%) and specificity of 94.4% (91.6%-96.9%). We then compared these results directly to previous studies with >25 benign and >25 malignant cases with outcomes and/or concordant histopathological diagnosis by ≥3 dermatopathologists. All studies assessed had enrollment imbalances of benign versus malignant patients (0.8-7.0 ratio), so balanced cohorts were resampled according to the lowest common denominator to calculate point estimates and CIs for accuracy metrics. Overall, we found no statistically significant differences in the ranges of 23-GEP sensitivity, 90.4%-96.3% (95% CI, 80.8%-100%), specificity, 87.3%-96.2% (78.2%-100%), positive predictive value, 88.5%-96.1% (81.5%-100%), or negative predictive value, 91.1%-96.3% (83.6%-100%) between previous studies and the cohort from Boothby-Shoemaker et al with this unified methodological approach. Rigorous standardization of calculation methods is necessary when the goal is direct cross-study comparability.

Business and human rights as Swedish foreign policy: The soft implementation of international regulatory norms

AbstractThis article aims to explain why national governments choose soft policies in the domestication of international norms even when those norms may explicitly call for harder measures. The article achieves this aim by exploring domestic adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs) for implementing the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The UNGPs are an international soft law instrument that calls for a mix of voluntary and mandatory policies to promote human rights due diligence, and NAPs are soft domestic policy instruments that lack the bindingness of mandatory due diligence legislation now found in several states. Most governments with NAPs have adopted them specifically as foreign policies, treating them not as regulatory initiatives but as tools for enhancing national reputations. Using a range of primary and secondary sources, the article constructs a case study of Sweden to explain why governments might opt for softer implementation of the UNGPs in the form of NAPs. It draws several conclusions: (1) governments may emulate the approach to domesticating international regulatory norms that is promoted by international organisations; (2) support from domestic actors motivates norm implementation, and the policy style selected is likely to reflect power constellations in the state and, under consensus‐based governance systems, the lowest common denominator of actor preferences; and (3) path dependency following institutional venue selection influences the type of policy developed and adopted. These findings shed new light on the reasons why international policy norms are implemented in ‘softer’ ways than perhaps intended by their architects.

Solar potential for social benefit: Maps to sustainably address energy poverty utilizing open spatial data in data poor settings

Access to affordable sustainable energy is a significant challenge for many low-income countries experiencing energy poverty. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” Simultaneously, the European Union (EU) seeks to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030. Decarbonization policies must be carefully considered to avoid adverse effects on vulnerable groups experiencing energy poverty. Solar technology offers a viable solution to decarbonize the building sector, reduce energy dependence on fossil fuels, and provide financial benefits to the public. Mapping solar potential is crucial to determine where investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is most advantageous to the populations who stand to benefit the most. We combine a solar potential mapping approach incorporating socio-economic indicators indicative of energy poverty, using off-the-shelf Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools that are easily replicated across cities facing energy poverty. Utilizing lowest common denominator data and analysis approaches, we offer creative and innovative mapping solutions. The socio-economic factors help to contextualise the benefits of distributed PV systems and highlight the need for mapping solar potential, in combination with energy poverty indicators for sustainable planning and policymaking. Our results for a case study in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, demonstrate high solar energy potential that could meet 29% of the city's electricity needs, save citizens about M€43.84 annually, and pinpoint where to invest first for the highest gains. Finally, we offer suggestions on how to use these results to inform decarbonization policies to benefit low-income populations that are often missed in existing energy policies.

Disease-Agnostic Electronic Adherence Aid for Subcutaneous at-Home and Self-Administration Devices-The Lowest Common Denominator Based on a Cross-Indication Survey.

The value of connected devices and health apps with features such as adherence trackers, dosing reminders, and remote communication tools for users and healthcare providers has been assessed to support home-based subcutaneous administration. A comprehensive survey was conducted with 605 participants, including users and caregivers, from eight countries. Medical conditions encompassed ankylosing spondylitis, asthma, cerebral palsy, cluster headaches, Crohn's disease, hemophilia, lupus, migraine, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spasticity, spondyloarthritis, and ulcerative colitis. Utilizing a maximum difference scaling methodology, the survey gauged participant preferences regarding specific attributes and features of connected drug delivery devices. Irrespective of demographic factors like age, gender, nationality, or the specific medical condition, the device's ability to verify a successful injection stood out as universally valued. The second and third most valued attributes pertained to temperature-related indicators or warnings. These features do not necessitate the use of a connected device and can be integrated into existing autoinjector platforms. The survey findings support the development of a universal adherence tool for at-home subcutaneous dosing, independent of a specific medical condition. This tool may be gradually improved with disease-specific features. Once established as a platform, manufacturers can launch any subcutaneous medication and later integrate real-world evidence for enhanced educational, treatment, and diagnostic capabilities. This approach is crucial for advancing connected adherence tools in decentralized healthcare, aligning with user and healthcare system needs while translating scientific innovation into practical solutions.

Disintegration and discourse: Cross-sectoral story-lines in the German water and forest debates

Policy integration (PI) has been advocated in the literature as a solution to complex environmental problems. It is commonly defined as the joint development of policies across sectors, and deemed beneficial especially in face of cross-cutting issues. As there is little research addressing the ideational integration of two sectors, we introduce a new framework to discursively analyze horizontal policy integration (HPI) and then apply this framework to the German water and forest sectors. We follow the question whether in the context of interlinked forest and water disturbances cross-sectoral story-lines on German national level have occurred, which we assess by examining the story-line’s complexity, integration of other sector’s concerns, and cross-sectoral use. Although disturbances in the water and forest sectors are becoming more frequent, a fragmentation of the water and forest sectors has been observed in Germany in the past. The analysis is based on Hajer’s (1995) definition of discourse and follows his concept of story-lines which can be understood as the lowest common denominator across actor groups. We analyze policy documents on German national level, covering the debate on water and forest disturbances between 2018 and 21. Our results show that in the debates on water and forest disturbances there are commonly used story-lines across sectoral boundaries. The framework, however, enabled us to show an asymmetrical integration across sectors, where the forest sector addresses water concerns while the water sector treats forests as a non-subject.

THE UN ILC’S DRAFT CONCLUSIONS ON THE PEREMPTORY NORMS OF GENERAL INTERNATIONAL LAW: THE TALE OF THE ANNEX

This paper examines the implications of the General Assembly's failure to adopt a resolution on the International Law Commission's Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms (“Draft Conclusions”) during its seventy-seventh session. While the non-decision does not affect the legal status of the Draft Conclusions, it raises questions about its reception and the underlying reasons for the lack of resolution adoption. The inclusion of an Annex with a non-exhaustive list, particularly addressing the right to self-determination, led to opposition from a subset of States. Despite the strong pedigree of the norms in the Annex, dissenting voices, primarily questioning the status of certain norms, played a pivotal role in the non-decision. This paper contends that the dissenters' success in preventing the adoption of a resolution could prompt the International Law Commission to exercise greater caution in its future work. The Commission may become more inclined to avoid addressing sensitive issues, potentially leading to a tendency to seek the lowest common denominator in its outputs. The analysis delves into the potential impact on the Commission's approach and the broader implications for the development and acceptance of peremptory norms of general international law.

Failing Forward in European Economic Governance: The Cyclicality of European Integration and Institutional Competition in the COVID‐19 Crisis

AbstractThe European Union's (EU's) response to the pandemic has been accompanied by reconfigurations in its institutional hierarchy, affecting the sites where institutional reforms are prepared and implemented. Whereas the Eurogroup drove reform during the euro crisis, the Commission had a more pronounced role in the development and implementation of pandemic instruments. This article ties in with failing‐forward arguments that view European integration as cyclical, arguing that this cyclicality also concerns the institutional dynamics in European economic governance. Based on expert interviews, official documents and reports, the analysis reconstructs and compares the institutional configurations during the euro crisis and the pandemic. Its findings suggest three modifications to ‘failing forward’: first, incomplete intergovernmental decisions are often the result of dominant particular interests rather than ‘lowest common denominator’ solutions; second, supranational bodies can exploit the delegitimization of intergovernmental solutions; and third, ad hoc measures can prolong the failing‐forward cycle and displace lasting integration steps.

Collective minimum contributions to counteract the ratchet effect in the voluntary provision of public goods

We experimentally test a theoretically promising amendment to the ratchet-up mechanism of the Paris Agreement. The ratchet-up mechanism prescribes that parties’ commitments to the global response to climate change cannot decrease over time, and our results show that its effect is detrimental. We design a public goods game to study whether cooperation is promoted by an amendment to the mechanism that stipulates that all agents must contribute at least a collectively chosen minimum based on the principle of the lowest common denominator. We find that binding collective minimum contributions improve the effectiveness of the ratchet-up mechanism. Non-binding minimum contributions, by contrast, do not encourage cooperation. Our data indicate that the difference is attributable to conditional cooperative dynamics. If other participants contribute less than the collective minimum contribution, even initially cooperative participants start to negatively reciprocate this form of non-compliance by contributing less.

Postgraduate research in a sick society

ABSTRACT This paper argues that contemporary Western societies’ fixation on different elements of capitalist production, consumption and distribution lies at the heart of the crisis in mental health and wellbeing increasingly experienced by individuals within key state institutions. The paper weaves together Lefebvre’s and Marcuse’s theoretical insights to explore the generation of (time-)spaces in contemporary societies, focussing on higher education and specifically on the lived experiences of postgraduate researchers. The insistence that welfare states, turned into workfare states, treat the symptoms through drugs and sedation, shows the reach of consumption and distribution as a means to address the problems caused by production. Against this backdrop, the paper draws on empirical data from a recent study undertaken by the authors examining the challenges to mental and physical health that postgraduate study posed at a university in the English Midlands. The obliteration of the social, cultural and political determinants of this malaise is expedient to place the onus of corrective measures on the individual through a series of self-help strategies, which again, privatise the atomised self to its lowest common denominator: the cerebral, emotional self. If the body becomes sick in industrialisation, is it any wonder the mind becomes sick in cognitive capitalism?

Promoting Public Value Through International Organization

Purpose: This article explores the evolution of practical global governance measures aimed at promoting public values in an anarchic (in the sense of without government) international operating environment. The process of international organization has occupied a central position in the discourse, and the physical manifestations of various formal international organizations and informal institutions have provided practical experiments in policy implementation. From the starting point of the universal lowest common denominator of values generated by an overlapping consensus of competing epistemological traditions (that of avoiding interstate war), the process of international organization has gradually expanded to embrace non-traditional security public values. Middle powers have played a key role in the expansion of the global governance paradigm, and aspirations for more comprehensive public value generation. The centrality of multilateralism and the roles of middle powers have, however, increasingly come under pressure from the realities of great power contestation in the international operating environment. The relatively new “minilateral” manifestations of international organization are also demonstrated as coming up short when providing public value promotion. This article, therefore, asks and attempts to answer the central global governance question of how can public values be promoted in the international operating environment in the absence of a central governing authority?
 Method: This research project used a qualitative approach consisting of literature review and document analysis. The results of this study should be supplemented by quantitative and qualitative studies in the future. The literature review consists of a comprehensive assessment of scholarly academic publications from competing perspectives in the fields of political and moral philosophy, public administration, and international relations. The document survey is mainly related to the policy documentation output of national governments and international organizations, as well as media reports.
 Results: The research identifies how new practical challenges to established multilateral manifestations of international organization and the global normative aspirations of middle powers, as well as shortcomings of the more recent minilateral arrangements require radical out of the box thinking. Hence, new modalities and conceptualizations are proposed to address the challenges of public value provision through the process of international organization. These include non-traditional security minilaterals, regional international commissions, and a central role for the new conceptualization of “second-tier” powers.
 Conclusion: Global public values are generated at the international level, in the absence of global government, through the process of international organization. Various models of practical manifestation of the related theoretical concepts have been proposed, and have been implemented, with varying degrees of success. In a time of increased great power contestation, however, multilateral institutions and middle powers, their chief proponents, have been undermined. The proliferation of minilaterals and minilateralism has proven to be an inadequate procedural replacement. Hence the need to explore additional agencies of “disruptive innovation.”

Content Moderation in the Metaverse Could Be a New Frontier to Attack Freedom of Expression

This commentary examines the challenges faced by metaverse platforms in cross-border content moderation, focusing on the implications for freedom of expression and nondiscrimination. It highlights the difficulties in determining what to remove for which users as well as how to do so, which has serious implications for freedom of expression and our shared sense of reality. Proto-metaverse platforms such as Roblox and Minecraft face similar questions, but have not yet encountered major cross-jurisdictional issues because, as looking at traditional social media platforms reveals, content moderation is not merely a question of law and policy, but also of geopolitics and government priorities. To avoid a “lowest common denominator effect” where freedom of expression is infringed upon worldwide and discrimination is entrenched, this commentary argues that metaverse platforms must clarify their moderation policies, assess their entry into specific markets based on local laws and their own values, and be prepared to exit overly restrictive markets.

Market, Gift, Everyday Ethics, and Emmanuel Levinas in Patient Care.

A simple, and brief, human gesture may turn a routine visit into a healing encounter. We need a conceptual nudge; otherwise, we are left stranded at the lowest common denominator of value, money. Physicians work long and hard to perfect our craft, but might some element of our therapeutic abilities be seen, like the artist’s native talent, as gift? The beginning lies in a way of thinking that places protection of the vulnerable human person front and center.

Israel in the Middle East 75 years on

ABSTRACT Israel’s relations with the Arab world underwent dramatic changes during its seventy-five years of existence – from hostility and enmity to peacemaking and reconciliation. This development is the result of the strengthening of Israel’s regional and international position on the one hand, and the weakening of the Arab world and the Arab states’ withdrawal into themselves in the face of the socioeconomic problems confronting them, on the other. And while the regional fear of Iran’s hegemonic drive has played an important role in the evolution of Israeli-Arab cooperation, the potential for consolidation of the nascent relationship goes well beyond the Iranian threat as both sides share weighty political, security and economic interests such as fighting radical Islam, promoting regional stability and security, and ensuring economic prosperity. Yet while the Palestinian issue didn’t prevent the consolidation of Arab-Israeli relations, it remains the lowest common denominator for Arab public opinion in its search for identity and meaning. As such, it will continue to threaten regional stability and the building of Israel’s relations with its Arab partners.

Intelligence … moving beyond the lowest common denominator.

Despite a century of use in assessing children for predicting academic success, IQ theory and assessments largely overlook the intellectual repertoires of adolescents and adults that are not common, including declarative, procedural, and tacit knowledge. Such knowledge and skill repertoires are essential elements of adult intellectual life and livelihood. A proposal for considering a wider range of knowledge and skills in the definition and assessment of intelligence is offered, along with ideas for moving forward in both research and applications. When intelligence is considered beyond the lowest common denominator, it is clear that there are many important questions have yet to be answered about adolescent and adult intellectual development, maintenance, and decline, occupational performance, relations between intelligence and nonability traits, and the role of engagement in day-to-day intellectual functioning. The proposed focus is to reconsider what it means to be an intelligent adult beyond the IQ measures and to recognize that adults, on average, are far more "intelligent" than they have been considered to be by traditional IQ assessments developed over the last century. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Community partnerships are fundamental to ethical ancient DNA research.

The ethics of the scientific study of Ancestors has long been debated by archaeologists, bioanthropologists, and, more recently, ancient DNA (aDNA) researchers. This article responds to the article "Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines" published in 2021 in Nature by a large group of aDNA researchers and collaborators. We argue that these guidelines do not sufficiently consider the interests of community stakeholders, including descendant communities and communities with potential, but yet unestablished, ties to Ancestors. We focus on three main areas of concern with the guidelines. First is the false separation of "scientific" and "community" concerns and the consistent privileging of researcher perspectives over those of community members. Second, the commitment of the guidelines' authors to open data ignores the principles and practice of Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Further, the authors argue that involving community members in decisions about publication and data sharing is unethical. We argue that excluding community perspectives on "ethical" grounds is convenient for researchers, but it is not, in fact, ethical. Third, we stress the risks of not consulting communities that have established or potential ties to Ancestors, using two recent examples from the literature. Ancient DNA researchers cannot focus on the lowest common denominator of research practice, the bare minimum that is legally necessary. Instead, they should be leading multidisciplinary efforts to create processes to ensure communities from all regions of the globe are identified and engaged in research that affects them. This will often present challenges, but we see these challenges as part of the research, rather than a distraction from the scientific endeavor. If a research team does not have the capacity to meaningfully engage communities, questions must be asked about the value and benefit of their research.

Patterns of peer talk in consensus-oriented classrooms: Deliberative argumentation or rush toward consensus?

In this study, we investigate peer talk in consensus-oriented first-grade classrooms. Earlier research has shown that the quality of argumentation improves when students argue to agree, because it steers the students toward patterns of argumentation that support the exploration and elaboration of perspectives that is typical of deliberative argumentation. Using multi-modal argumentation analysis, we identify four patterns in the peer talk. First, the students invoked consensus when the conversation developed in a direction that was not in accordance with their understanding of the task instructions. Second, the students tended to delegate the authority to decide what the group will answer. Third, the students searched for the lowest common denominator, looking for a common element in their individual answers. Fourth, the students put the decision to a vote, going with the majority and ignoring the perspectives of the minority. We argue that these patterns illustrate a general tendency for the students to rush toward a conclusion. Accordingly, we argue that younger students need a more explicit instructional design by the teacher to support exploration and elaboration of different perspectives.

Making Law Possible

Making Law Possible

When stigmatization does not work: over-securitization in efforts of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

This article reflects on securitization efforts with respect to ‘killer robots’, known more impartially as autonomous weapons systems (AWS). Our contribution focuses, theoretically and empirically, on the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a transnational advocacy network vigorously pushing for a pre-emptive ban on AWS. Marking exactly a decade of its activity, there is still no international regime formally banning, or even purposefully regulating, AWS. Our objective is to understand why the Campaign has not been able to advance its disarmament agenda thus far, despite all the resources, means and support at its disposal. For achieving this objective, we challenge the popular assumption that strong stigmatization is the universally best strategy towards humanitarian disarmament. We investigate the consequences of two specifics present in AWS, which set them apart from processes and successes of the campaigns to ban anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, and laser-blinding weapons: the complexity of AWS as a distinct weapons category, and the subsequent circumvention of its complexity through the utilization of pop-culture, namely science fiction imagery. We particularly focus on two mechanisms through which such distortion has occurred: hybridization and grafting. These provide the conceptual basis and heuristic tools to unpack the paradox of over-securitization: success in broadening the stakeholder base in relation to the first mechanism and deepening the sense of insecurity in relation to the second one does not necessarily lead to the achievement of the desired prohibitory norm. In conclusion, we ask whether it is not the time for a more epistemically-oriented expert debate with a less ambitious, lowest common denominator strategy as the preferred model of arms control for such a complex weapons category.

Seriously Scatological

The scatological is often relegated to the realm of humor and the juvenile, the transgressive and disturbing nature of the fecal neutralized through its demotion to the basest stratum of humor, where it serves as humor’s lowest common denominator, the kind of subject that children delight in. Rather than concede to this narrative, which would make of scatological humor a temporary, Bakhtinian carnivalesque inversion of social norms and order, this article explores what it would mean to take the scatological seriously. To reject the laughter associated with the carnivalesque and decline to take the scatological as comic relief is to claim fecality as the site of a more durable emancipation than the carnivalesque affords, by exploiting fecality’s capacity to enable the assimilation of the inassimilable fact of mortality.

Regime Complexity as an Asset? The Negotiations of the Arms Trade Treaty

AbstractThe Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is an important milestone in reducing the illicit trade of arms but was highly unlikely to be negotiated and passed. Major powers and states exporting and importing arms were not keen on universally binding regulations, leading to political stalemate in the initial negotiation arena, the Conference on Disarmament. This article investigates under which conditions regime complexity had a positive influence on the ATT negotiation dynamics and result. We distinguish between two types of regime complexity, each providing states with a distinct window of opportunity during international negotiations: horizontal regime complexity can allow states to overcome negotiation gridlock by changing the institutional conditions for passing an agreement. Vertical regime complexity can allow regional organizations to turn into agents of change by bringing in experiences gained on the regional level to the international negotiation table. Our empirical analysis of the ATT negotiations revealed critical scope conditions under which both forms of regime complexity function properly, allowing the negotiations to overcome negotiation gridlock and resulting in the passing of the accord beyond a lowest common denominator. The article contributes to the rich and vibrant scholarship in regime complexity and global governance complexes by making a novel analytical distinction between horizontal and vertical regime complexity and by identifying the opportunity structures under which regime complexity can have positive effects on the negotiation and outcome of international treaties.