University of Westminster

About: University of Westminster is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2944 authors who have published 8426 publications receiving 200236 citations. The organization is also known as: Westminster University & Royal Polytechnic Institution.

Combining dimensional and categorical representation of psychosis: the way forward for DSM-V and ICD-11?

Abstract: Background - There is good evidence that psychotic symptoms segregate into symptom dimensions. However, it is still unclear how these dimensions are associated with risk indicators and other clinical variables, and whether they have advantages over categorical diagnosis in clinical practice. We investigated symptom dimensions in a first-onset psychosis sample and examined their associations with risk indicators and clinical variables. We then examined the relationship of categorical diagnoses to the same variables. Method - We recruited 536 patients as part of a population-based, incidence study of psychosis. Psychopathology was assessed using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). A principal axis factor analysis was performed on symptom scores. The relationship of dimension scores with risk indicators and with clinical variables was then examined employing regression analyses. Finally, regression models were compared to assess the contribution of dimensions versus diagnosis in explaining these variables. Results - Factor analysis gave rise to a five-factor solution of manic, reality distortion, negative, depressive and disorganization symptom dimensions. The scores of identified dimensions were differentially associated with specific variables. The manic dimension had the highest number of significant associations; strong correlations were observed with shorter duration of untreated psychosis, acute mode of onset and compulsory admission. Adding dimensional scores to diagnostic categories significantly increased the amount of variability explained in predicting these variables; the reverse was also true but to a lesser extent. Conclusions - Categorical and dimensional representations of psychosis are complementary. Using both appears to be a promising strategy in conceptualising psychotic illnesses.

Security as a Service in Smart Clouds -- Opportunities and Concerns

Abstract: The cloud computing paradigm emerged shortly after the introduction of the "invisible" grid concepts but it has taken only a few years for cloud computing to gain enormous momentum within industry and academia alike. However, providing adequate security support by those complex distributed systems is of primary importance for the wide adoption of cloud computing by the end users. This paper gives an overview of the main cloud security issues and challenges. Existing and proposed solutions are also presented with particular attention to the security as a service approach. Some of the available directions for future work are also discussed.

Self-Employment Career Dynamics: The Case of `Unemployment Push' in UK Book Publishing:

Abstract: The recent revival of self-employment in the UK and other advanced industrialized economies has been viewed contrastingly as an indication of economic vitality and, alternatively, as a form of labo...

A World without Causation: Big Data and the Coming of Age of Posthumanism:

Abstract: Advocates of Big Data assert that we are in the midst of an epistemological revolution, promising the displacement of the modernist methodological hegemony of causal analysis and theory generation. It is alleged that the growing ‘deluge’ of digitally generated data, and the development of computational algorithms to analyse them, has enabled new inductive ways of accessing everyday relational interactions through their ‘datafication’. This paper critically engages with these discourses of Big Data and complexity, particularly as they operate in the discipline of International Relations, where it is alleged that Big Data approaches have the potential for developing self-governing societal capacities for resilience and adaptation through the real-time reflexive awareness and management of risks and problems as they arise. The epistemological and ontological assumptions underpinning Big Data are then analysed to suggest that critical and posthumanist approaches have come of age through these discourses, enabling process-based and relational understandings to be translated into policy and governance practices. The paper thus raises some questions for the development of critical approaches to new posthuman forms of governance and knowledge production.