Hodges' Model: Welcome to the QUAD

Hodges' Model: Welcome to the QUAD

Hodges' model is a conceptual framework to support reflection and critical thinking. Situated, the model can help integrate all disciplines (academic and professional). Amid news items, are posts that illustrate the scope and application of the model. A bibliography and A4 template are provided in the sidebar. Welcome to the QUAD ...

Thursday, July 02, 2026

LAST CALL 2nd AIxIA Summer School on Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare!

[apologies for multiple postings]

A few last spots are still available for the school, taking place in Trento, Italy, on 13-17 July 2026.

The school is open to anyone interested in AI for Healthcare: Master and PhD students, researchers, clinicians, physicians, data scientists, AI engineers, and professionals working at the intersection of AI and healthcare.

Master and PhD students benefit from a reduced fee: 470 EUR.
The regular fee is 495 EUR.

This year’s edition will focus on:

  • Medical Imaging
  • Smart Hospitals
  • Patient Trajectories
- with attention to concrete healthcare problems and to different AI research perspectives, including generative AI and neuro-symbolic AI.

More information:
https://lnkd.in/dEBmQ8Rr

Registration:
https://lnkd.in/dggvaMSP

Please share with anyone who may be interested!

#AI #DigitalHealth #Healthcare #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI #NeuroSymbolicAI #MedicalImaging #SmartHospitals #PatientTrajectories #AIxIA

My source: francesco.calimeri, unical.it

Wednesday, July 01, 2026

Tricotyledons, systems and social problems

'If scientists and engineers are to be able to attack social problems with the same validity and effectiveness with which physical problems have been attacked, then a much more sophisticated and rigorous system design methodology is needed.

Such methodology, called the tricotyledon theory of system design, has been developed as a synthesis of: empirical and speculative approaches to system design [2], the methodology of operations research [10], classical optimization techniques [18], results in specialized branches of mathematical system theory [1,4,6,7], and the constructs of general mathematical system theory [12,13,14].

Experimental applications of the tricotyledon theory of system design to several problems in widely differing contexts [3,4,8,9,16,17] indicate that the methodology holds great promise for validity and effectiveness in attacking any large-scale, complex, man/machine system design problem with precision and rigor. There are no theoretical limitations (such as differentiability, linearity, finiteness, or discreteness) for the problems that can be attacked within the tricotyledon theory of system design.

In this short abstract the theory is only described in terms of set and system theoretic concepts as presented in Reference [12), [13], or [14]; no exploitation of the theory, either theoretical or practical is attempted here.' ..' p.224-225.

'The task of defining a large-scale, complex, man/machine system design problem P=(S,T,α,β,γ,D) often requires an interdisciplinary team in practice. An interdisciplinary team requires, in turn, that the above definitions be translated into non-mathematical methodology. This has been done in Reference [15].' p.229.
15. Wymore, A.W., Systems Engineering Methodology for Interdisciplinary Teams, unpublished manuscript. (Another loss?)


Wymore, A.W. (1975) The Tricotyledon Theory of  System Design. In. Category Theory Applied to Computation and Control: Proceedings of the First International Symposium, San Francisco, February 25-26, 1974 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 25) by E.G. Manes (Editor).

See also: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Wayne_Wymore

http://sysengr.engr.arizona.edu/wymore/bookreview.html 

https://lockywolf.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/a-mathematical-theory-of-systems-engineering-the-elements-by-a-wayne-wymore/ 

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

'Oh Thomasina!' Such a drama in a diagram

Arcadia

Last evening I really enjoyed a performance of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Duke of York's, or soon to be - The Tom Stoppard Theatre:

Act I, Scene 2  

'Septimus ... You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew? ...'^ p.20.

 Act II, Scene 3

'Lady Croom We are intruding here - this will not do, Mr Hodge. Evidently, nothing is being learned. (To Noakes) Come along, sir! 

Thomasina Mr Noakes - bad news from Paris! 

Noakes Is it the Emperor Napoleon? 

Thomasina No. (She tears the page off her drawing block, with her "diagram" on it) It concerns your heat engine. Improve it as you will, you can never get out of it what you put in. It repays eleven pence in the shilling at most. The penny is for this author's thoughts. 

She gives the diagram to Septimus who looks at it.' p.74
...
Now Septimus retrieves his book from Thomasina. He turns the pages, and also continues to study Thomasina's diagram. ... 

Septimus Why does it mean Mr Noakes's engine pays eleven pence in the shilling? Where does he say it? 

Thomasina Nowhere. I noticed it by the way. I cannot remember now. 

Septimus Nor is he interested by determinism -------

Thomasina Oh... yes. Newton's equations go forwards and backwards, they do not care which way. But the heat equation cares very much, it goes only one way. That is the reason Mr Noakes's engine cannot give the power to drive Mr Noakes's engine. 

Septimus Everybody knows that. 

Thomasina Yes, Septimus, they know it about engines! 

Pause. He looks at his watch 

Septimus A quarter to twelve. For your essay this week, explicate your diagram. 

Thomasina I cannot. I do not know the mathematics. 

Septimus Without mathematics, then.' p.75.

 
Tom Stoppard, (1993) Arcadia (Playscript), Faber & Faber, pb. ISBN 9780571169344.
https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571169344-arcadia/

My text source:
https://collegearts.yale.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/arcadia_by_tom_stoppard.pdf 

^ n.b. This was therapeutic, but I still mourn the losses from Alexandria and other libraries ... today.

Monday, June 29, 2026

Where is the Centeredness of Care?

In trying to see Hodges' model anew, which is quite a challenge after four decades; what of the model's structure?

It is easy to get carried away with mathematical terminology:

One line, add another, and they intersect, at a 90 degree right angle. So is centeredness to be found at the intersection point? 

If I'm tying myself up in knots well there's another possibility! 😉 

As a whole it appears the axes of the model are a manifold and not - in the center?

What do you think?


See also: 'What Is a Manifold?'

https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-a-manifold-20251103/

Sunday, June 28, 2026

1st Workshop on the Internet of Mirrors (IoM): Connected Intelligence for Healthcare, Beauty, and Immersive Digital Experiences

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite your technical papers submissions to our 1st Workshop on the Internet of Mirrors (IoM): Connected Intelligence for Healthcare, Beauty, and Immersive Digital Experiences, which will be held in IEEE WF-IoT 2026 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Workshop Focus


The Internet of Mirrors (IoM) is an emerging IoT ecosystem built around interconnected smart mirrors that can sense, process, communicate, and deliver personalised services across healthcare, beauty, wellness, assisted living, fitness, and immersive digital experiences.
Although the workshop is centred on the Internet of Mirrors, the realisation of this vision requires multi-domain expertise. As such, we are very keen to receive contributions not only from researchers directly working on IoM, but also from those developing the architectures, algorithms, communication technologies, computing frameworks, and application domains that will underpin future intelligent IoT ecosystems.

Topics of Interest
  • Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:Edge, fog, and cloud computing for IoT systems
  • Distributed intelligence and multi-agent AI
  • AI-enabled IoT applications and personalised services
  • Multimodal sensing, data fusion, and contextual awareness
  • Intelligent task orchestration and adaptive resource allocation
  • Wireless connectivity, 5G/6G, and network optimisation
  • Privacy-preserving AI, security, interoperability, and trustworthy AI
  • Human-computer interaction, accessibility, and inclusive smart interfaces
  • Digital twins, immersive technologies, and metaverse-enabled experiences
  • Internet of Sounds, Internet of Medical Things, and broader Internet of Everything ecosystems
  • Smart healthcare, assisted living, wellness, fitness, beauty, and immersive digital lifestyle applications
  • Proof-of-concept implementations, benchmarking, testbeds, and real-world IoT deployments
Important Dates 
  • Paper submission deadline: 12 July 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2026
  • Camera-ready deadline: 30 August 2026

Workshop Chairs

  • Lina Mohjazi, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Luca Truchet, University of Trento, ITALY
  • Ahmad Taha, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Rabeb Mizouni, Khalifa University, UAE
  • Muhammad Ali Imran, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Haneen Fatima, University of Glasgow, UK

Information

Workshop website: https://sites.google.com/view/wfiot2026-workshop-iom
Submission link: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=34901&track=138858

Contact Emails:
l.mohjazi AT ieee.org
ahmad.taha AT glasgow.ac.uk

It would be wonderful if you could consider submitting relevant work, or share the call with colleagues and students who may be interested!
--
Kind regards,
Dr Kubra Duran
Postdoctoral Fellow
Edinburgh Napier University, UK

My source: SOCIOTECH list - JISC

Saturday, June 27, 2026

‘Prevention Demonstrator’ - GM Live Well

England’s First Prevention Demonstrator: Opportunities for Greater Manchester and its VCFSE sector

Greater Manchester has been chosen as England’s first Prevention Demonstrator, an initiative announced in the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan earlier this year. It marks a step toward transforming public services with a more ‘preventative’ approach.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) was named as the first prevention demonstrator in the UK Government’s 10 Year Plan for Health in July. It will take a community-led preventative approach to the provision of public services which means fixing the foundations of a person’s life – such as housing, and access to education and employment opportunities – as a means of preventing ill health from social and economic detriment and improving lives, as well as reducing pressure on acute and crisis services.

The Prevention Demonstrator will be building on the Live Well Model of service delivery, which brings together services such as health, employment support and debt advice at a neighbourhood level working with the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector, providing a blueprint for the rest of the country.

Warren Heppolette has been appointed to lead this work, seconded from NHS Greater Manchester where he was Chief Officer for Strategy, Innovation and Population Health. Warren has been closely involved in the GMVCFSE Leadership Group’s Commissioning and Investment sub-group which aims to improving standards and practices for the benefit of the VCFSE sector.

Continued ...


Lucy North, Communications and Policy Officer. Published: December 5, 2025



'Sustainability' and 'sufficiency' (as per the previous post) are words of the moment. Policymakers want change to have a permanent quality, which ironically means individuals within a population benefitting from initiatives like this have a mindset that makes them flexible to future changes and challenges.

As Camilla Cavendish notes in 'Andy Burnham will need to play a new card now', Manchester's prevention demonstrator has echoes of David Cameron's Big Society and the Troubled Families project. There are two other words that can work for individuals and populations: impetus and momentum. Within this through Hodges' model we can equip people and communities for lifelong learning. We can also highlight, as Prof. Kevin Fong did at RCN Congress 2026 in his marvellous keynote - that resilience is found between people, not within individuals.
 

See also: Presentation - Prevention, Health and Good Growth: Realising Our Prevention Ambitions

Philip Britteon, Alfariany Fatimah, Stephanie Gillibrand, Yiu-Shing Lau, Laura Anselmi, Paul Wilson, Matt Sutton, Alex J. Turner, (2024) The impact of devolution on local health systems: Evidence from Greater Manchester, England, Social Science & Medicine, Volume 348, 116801,
ISSN 0277-9536, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116801.

My source: Camilla Cavendish, Opinion: Andy Burnham will need to play a new card now, FTWeekend, 20-21 June, 2024. p.12.

Previously: 'prevention' : 'big society' : 'troubled families' : 'social prescribing'

Friday, June 26, 2026

World Justice Report: a Plan for Equality and Prosperity Within Planetary Boundaries

Box 1: Combining Global Equality and Planetary Habitability

The Global Justice Report describes desirable future scenarios combining two key goals: socioeconomic equality (including full equality between countries, full gender equality in labour hours and pay, sharp compression of within country income and wealth scales, combined with fair access to education, health and political voice), and planetary habitability (aligning global resource use within ecological boundaries, including a limitation of global temperature rise below 2°C). 

To avoid climate catastrophes, we show that sufficiency is required: a structural transformation of the economy involving shorter working hours, a lower material footprint, a shift from material-intensive sectors toward relatively immaterial sectors such as education and health, and major changes in food systems and land use. Rapid decarbonization of energy systems is also necessary, as is the sharp compression of income and wealth inequality. This compression is both a social justice objective and a condition for financing necessary climate investment and human capital expenditure and for sustaining political support from bottom- and middle-income classes in both the North and the South. 

Box 2: Material and Monetary Accounting for Democratic Debate

Economy and ecology cannot be debated apart: every economic activity has a material footprint, every ecological policy shapes incomes and wealth. To make these links visible, the Global Justice Report uses multidimensional social progress indicators. We set quantitative targets for global socioeconomic justice by combining two complementary languages: material accounting (work hours, sectoral shares, education and health, energy systems, GHG emissions, land use, forest cover, temperature levels) and monetary accounting (income and wealth scales between and within countries, progressive tax rates). The report draws on two centuries of historical data on global inequality and resource use, and on the recent literature on social progress, climate and colonial reparations. 

The Global Justice Report proposes a quantitatively and institutionally grounded step toward global justice. It does not seek to close the debate: it offers a transparent basis on which citizens, unions, parliaments, and international bodies can debate, contest, and decide the course of the coming decades.

...

Chancel, L., Dietrich, J., Mohren, C., Moshrif, R., Odersky, M., Piketty, T., Somanchi, A., et al. (2026), The Global Justice Report: A Plan for Equality & Prosperity Within Planetary Boundaries, World Inequality Lab (gjp.wid.world).

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL
: SCIENCES             
humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   
|
group 
 


 


SOCIAL JUSTICE




Previously: 'wealth' : 'poverty' : 'social justice'

 My source: BBC Radio 4 World at One.

 

 

Thursday, June 25, 2026

To which care/knowledge domain does this video belong?


P.S. There isn't a domain called 'bin' but there is plenty of waste.

There isn't one called denial, or ignorance either, but you will find them in abundance too.

Rest assured (if you still can!) that each domain carries its own truth

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Independent report - Ockenden review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

FINAL REPORT: 

'This independent review of maternity services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) considered the quality of care relating to newborn, infant and maternal harm at the trust.

This report covers the findings, conclusions and essential actions of this independent review of maternity services.

Based on a review of over 2,500 family cases that formed part of this investigation, the final report outlines:

  • local actions for learning that staff at the trust must do
  • system-wide learnings
  • immediate and essential actions to improve maternity and neonatal care

The Independent Maternity Review (known as the Ockenden review) was led by Donna Ockenden and involved a multi-professional team of more than 160 reviewers. The review team held individual meetings with over 500 families, and more than 830 current and former staff at NUH engaged with the review.'


https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3bb59c4c7605ab567238ec/ockenden-report-review-of-maternity-services-nottingham-university-hospitals-nhs-trust-e-lay.pdf

https://www.ockendenmaternityreview.org.uk/

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL
: SCIENCES             
humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   
|
group
 

listening

 
 Communication
Processes 
Health Systems
mothers
families
experience
LISTENING
staffing
funding

Previously: 'maternity' : 'risk' : 'safety' : 'compassion'

Monday, June 22, 2026

Maker-field: More than just a point* on a map

Ashton-in-Makerfield has been in the news of late. With Andy Burnham MP championing the communities of the north; local issues, socio-economic gaps, needs and everyday lived experience up North.

But Makerfield holds much more as a veritable rabbit-hole supporting lifelong learning, character development, reflective practice and critical thought:

 'maker' - 'field'

* - a political constituency.

Previously: 'map'