103,015 research outputs found
Understanding Accountability: New Perspectives on a Fractured World
No full textThis book brings clarity and understanding to the concept of accountability through the lens of conceptual political analysis. As the structure of the modern state has become more complex, the architecture of accountability has itself needed to evolve and re-orientate in an attempt to keep pace. This has led to an increased emphasis not on accountability per se but on different kinds or types of accountability. As such, it is argued here that accountability has emerged to become a concept with adjectives and there is a real need to properly understand accountability in an increasingly fractured world. The theoretical and analytical glue that binds all of the chapters in this collection is a commitment to working within the contours of the work of the philosopher, Giovanni Sartori. This is an approach that has been used to tease apart and interrogate a range of concepts including terrorism, governance, coups, gender equality, deliberation, warfare, clientelism, hybrid regimes, democracy, right through to art, love, rape and violence. It is also an approach that facilitates the cultivation of complex debates concerning the limits of conceptual flexibility. The volume consists of twelve chapters, grouped into three main parts. The introductory part provides the foundations for the collection. Part I on Power explores the normative dimensions of accountability as a means to control and regulate power. Part II on Politics focuses inter alia on accountability following a period of crisis and the emergence of new technology such as algorithms. The final part, Part III, on Particularities looks at concepts such as social accountability and what is meant by supplementary accountability. This broad-ranging collection increases the conceptual toolkit that social and political scientists and lawyers can use to interrogate change at a number of levels and in a range of sectors. Whether through a focus on moral, individual or gendered accountability, or through a shift towards clashing, stakeholder or social accountability, there is a clear flow and coherence through the chapters. The volume will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Legal and Political Theory, Legal and Political Philosophy and Accountability Studies
Modelling of earthquake-induced tsunami in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
No full textA number of tsunamigenic zones in the Eastern Mediterranean region were investigated. Historically, the strongest tsunami waves are excited in the Hellenic and Cyprus arcs, the Aegean Sea and the Levantine coast. We modelled the generation of tsunami specifying the epicenter, the focal mechanism, and the maximum of the observed magnitude for each considered tsunamigenic zone. Our approach is based on the numerical simulations of tsunami waves, performed by the code UBO-TSUFD, developed in the University of Bologna. Initial displacement of the sea floor is calculated in accordance with Okadàs formulas. We focused our discussion on the tsunami impact on the coasts of Karpathos, Cyprus and Levantine countries. Tsunami parameters are computed for each scenario and results are used to build maps of the computed maximum tsunami heights. Synthetic mareograms are simulated for several points near some important coastal cities of the study area
"Adaptive response" - some underlying mechanisms and open questions
No full textOrganisms are affected by different DNA damaging agents naturally present in the environment or released as a result of human activity. Many defense mechanisms have evolved in organisms to minimize genotoxic damage. One of them is induced radioresistance or adaptive response. The adaptive response could be considered as a nonspecific phenomenon in which exposure to minimal stress could result in increased resistance to higher levels of the same or to other types of stress some hours later. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying the adaptive response may lead to an improvement of cancer treatment, risk assessment and risk management strategies, radiation protection, e. g. of astronauts during long-term space flights. In this mini-review we discuss some open questions and the probable underlying mechanisms involved in adaptive response: the transcription of many genes and the activation of numerous signaling pathways that trigger cell defenses - DNA repair systems, induction of proteins synthesis, enhanced detoxification of free radicals and antioxidant production.Peer reviewe
Psychologische und genetische Risikofaktoren und Konsequenzen postoperativer Schmerzen
No full textKumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2016Zusammenfassung
Die vorliegende publikationsbasierte Dissertation umfasst eine Literaturübersicht und zwei klinische Studien, die in drei unabhängigen Publikationen veröffentlicht wurden. Die Publikationen werden zu Beginn des jeweiligen Kapitels zitiert, der die Inhalte der entsprechenden Publikation darstellt. Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit den wechselseitigen Beziehungen zwischen psychologischen und geneti-schen Risikofaktoren und dem postoperativen Schmerz. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Ermittlung klinisch relevanter Aussagen zur Verbesserung der Identifikation von Patienten mit erhöhtem Risiko für die Entwicklung chronischer Schmerzen infolge eines chirurgischen Eingriffs. Als Modell für postoperative Schmerzen wurde in den klinischen Studien die kosmetische Korrektur einer angeborenen Deformität des Brustkorbs, bekannt als Trichterbrust, verwendet. Diese Patienten sind jung und weisen präoperativ keine schwerwiegende Schmerzerfahrung auf. Aus diesem Grund bot dieses Operationsmodell herausragende Bedingungen für die Untersuchung des Übergangs zum chronischen Schmerz.
Aus der Literaturübersicht erwies sich das Auftreten chronischer Schmerzen nach Operationen als ein häufiges Phänomen mit einer Abhängigkeit der Epidemiologie von der Art des chirurgischen Eingriffs. Depressivität, sowie schmerzspezifische psychologische Faktoren zeigten eine starke Aussagekraft als Risikofaktoren. Die selbstberichtete Hypervigilanz im Sinne eines Monitoring des Schmerzes schien ein Risikofaktor für die langfristige schmerzassoziierte Beeinträchtigung darzustellen [Dimova, V. & Lautenbacher, S. (2010). Chronische Schmerzen nach Operationen. Epidemiologie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung psychologischer Risikofaktoren. AINS 45, 488-494]. In Studie 1 lieferten ausgewählte schmerz-assoziierte genetische Polymorphismen einen schwachen Beitrag für die Erklärung des Verlaufs postopera-tiven Outcomes bis zu 1 Jahr nach der Trichterbrustoperation. Im Vergleich konnte die selbstberichtete Vigilanz für Schmerz die längerfristig verbleibende Beeinträchti-gung durch den postoperativen Schmerz erklären [Dimova, V., Lötsch, J., Hühne, K., Winterpacht, A., Heesen, M., Parthum, A., Weber, P. G., Carbon, R., Griessinger, N., Sittl, R. & Lautenbacher, S. (2015). Associations of genetic and psychological factors with persistent pain after cosmetic thoracic surgery, Journal of Pain Research, 8, 829-844]. In Studie 2 trug der akute postoperative Schmerz als Konsequenz zur einen unmittelbaren kurzfristigen psychologischen Sensibilisierung in der Patientenpopulation bei. Dieser Befund weist auf die generelle Implikation hin, dass ein ein-maliges intensives Schmerzereignis zur Veränderung kognitiv-emotionaler Prozesse führen kann [Dimova, V., Horn, C., Parthum, A., Kunz, M., Schöfer, D., Carbon, R., Griessinger, N., Sittl, R. & Lautenbacher, S. (2013). Does severe acute pain provoke lasting changes in attentional and emotional mechanisms of pain-related processing? A longitudinal study. PAIN, 154 (12), 2737-2744].
Zusammenfassend hebt die vorliegenden Dissertation folgende drei wissenschaftli-che Befunde hervor: Schmerzspezifische psychologische Risikofaktoren stellen potente Prädiktoren für postoperative Schmerzen dar. Ihr Erklärungswert kann den schmerzassoziierter genetischer Marker übersteigen, wie es für die selbstberichtete Schmerzvigilanz gezeigt wurde. Eine einmalige intensive Schmerzepisode beeinflusst negativ die kognitiv-emotionale Schmerzverarbeitung.Abstract
In the present dissertation, the results of a literature survey and two clinical studies published as three separate scientific publications are reported. The publication corresponding to the respective study is cited at the beginning of the particular chapter describing this study. The aim of the studies was to investigate the relationships between psychological as well as genetic factors and postoperative pain with the purpose to identify patients at risk of developing chronic pain conditions after surgery, in the particular example of thoracic surgery for funnel chest correction. The cosmetic correction of congenital chest malformation known as funnel chest was used as a model for postoperative pain because the patients are usually young and without severe pain experience prior to surgery. These conditions allowed for investigating the relationships between postoperative pain and its risk factors without confounding effects of preoperatively existing pain.
The review of available studies suggested that an alarmingly high proportion of patients undergoing surgery develop chronic pain. The rates depend on the type of surgical manipulation. Mood as well as pain-related cognitive-emotional mechanisms seem to be potential risk factors for the development of chronic pain [Dimova, V. & Lautenbacher, S. (2010). Chronische Schmerzen nach Operationen. Epidemiologie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung psychologischer Risikofaktoren. AINS, 45, 488-494]. In study 1, genetic variants functionally related to pain showed no meaningful impact on the time course of pain intensity and disability up to one year after surgery. They exerted also only small effects on final postoperative outcome. In contrast, a higher level of self-reported pain vigilance was a risk factor for long-lasting pain disability [Dimova, V., Lötsch, J., Hühne, K., Winterpacht, A., Heesen, M., Parthum, A., Weber, P. G., Carbon, R., Griessinger, N., Sittl, R. & Lautenbacher, S. (2015). Associations of genetic and psychological factors with persistent pain after cosmetic thoracic surgery, Journal of Pain Research, 8, 829-844]. In study 2, the acute postoperative pain, representing in this clinical sample a singular major pain episode, provoked in turn changes in cognitive and emotional mechanisms of pain processing that could not outlast the acute postoperative phase. Even if such changes were short-lived, they may act as risk factors that adversely affect the patient’s postoperative recovery [Dimova, V., Horn, C., Parthum, A., Kunz, M., Schöfer, D., Carbon, R., Griessinger, N., Sittl, R. & Lautenbacher, S. (2013). Does severe acute pain provoke lasting changes in attentional and emotional mechanisms of pain-related processing? A longitudinal study. PAIN, 154 (12), 2737-2744].
Summarized, the present dissertation highlights the following aspects: Pain-related psychological risk factors seem to be powerful predictors of postoperative outcome. Their effects on long-term postoperative outcome may even exceed the effects of pain-related genetic markers as shown for the pain vigilance. An intense pain episode such as postoperative pain acts negatively on cognitive-emotional processing
Bibliographie Hilarion G. Petzold 1958 – 2009 mit Anhang als Einführung
No full textDieses Archiv enthält die Gesamtbibliographie der Werke des Autors nebst einiger Texte „Über H. G. Petzold“ im Schlussteil der Bibliographie sowie einen Anhang mit einer Einführung in die Architektur des Werkes in seinem wissenslogischen Aufbau als Ausarbeitung seines „Tree of Science Modells“ (2007).This archive contains the complete bibliography of the author and some texts about H. G. Petzold, moreover an epilogue with an introduction to the architecture of the works in its epistemological structure and composition and as an elaborations of Petzold’s „Tree of Science Modell (2007).https://www.fpi-publikation.de/polyloge/01-2009-petzold-h-g-gesamtbibliographie-h-g-petzold-1958-2009-updating-november2009/peerReviewedpublishedVersio
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Modelling a Composite Tsunami Scenario for Karpathos Island (Aegean Sea)
No full textKarpathos is one of the biggest Greek islands, located between Crete and Rhodes in Aegean Sea. As the most of the islands in the area Karpathos is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. The event of 9 February 1948 (M 7.1) near the eastern coast of the island caused local tsunami with damages in the area of Pigadia bay, nevertheless tsunamis also from regional sources are expected. The tsunami hazard for the Karpathos Island, focusing on the city of Karpathos and the Airport area, is modelled merging the data from simulation of tsunamis generated by three seismic sources: Eastern Hellenic Arc (EHA referring the 1303 A.D. event, Mw = 8.0); near Rhodes (hypothetical scenario earthquake, Mw = 7.3); and near the coast of Karpathos, based on the 1948, Mw = 7.3 earthquake. Numerical calculations are made using the code UBO-TSUFD on a set of nested grids. Tsunami observables, such as maximal water column height, maximum velocity flux, inundation, are computed for each individual scenario and merged to individuate the areas most exposed to tsunami. The seismic source EHA dominates in the tsunami hazard maps: moreover, the impact over the southern part of Karpathos has biggest risk since the airport and the main city of the island are located in this part
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3346: Samuel G. Freedman, author, 2013
No full textPhotograph of author Samuel G. Freedman, at NT Daily Slash meeting in the Mayborn School of Journalism at UNT
Tarquinia, themes of urbanization on the Civita and Monterozzi plateaus
No full textThis contribution approaches the theme of urbanisation of the Civita plateau (Tarquinia) while three main research projects of the University of Milan are in progress and after circumspection of a number of relevant results. They concern the excavation of the ‘monumental complex’ and of the sanctuary of the Ara della Regina, the topography of the ancient city and phases of the necropolis.
In this framework it challenges the problem of the limits of the settlement before the fortifications were built in masonry, its relationship with the necropolises and with other inhabited areas on other hilltops during the Villanovan period, such as the Calvario village. This task is crucial for shedding light on the Tarquinian community’s choices in space organization at its very beginnings, before the fortifications were built and the chamber tombs of the necropolis started to be painted during the Orientalising period
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