Journal articles on the topic 'Community-led edition'

It was with enthusiasm that I accepted an invitation from Joe Hudson, editor of this Journal, to contribute to this edition on the subject of the Foundation's recent publication Reporting and Auditing Effectiveness in the Public Sector. As Executive Director of CCAF and as Secretary to the distinguished Panel that led the research and developed the report, I unabashedly support its proposals. I was delighted that members of the Canadian Evaluation Society participated in several important facets of the research that led to the publication and that members of the evaluation community are taking a strong interest in the report.

In 1988, the International Headache Society created a classification system that has become the standard for headache diagnosis and research. The International Classification of Headache Disorders galvanized the headache community and stimulated nosologic, epidemiologic, pathophysiologic, and genetic research. It also facilitated multinational clinical drug trials that have led to the basis of current treatment guidelines. While there have been criticisms, the classification received widespread support by headache societies around the globe. Fifteen years later, the International Headache Society released the revised and expanded International Classification of Headache Disorders second edition. The unprecedented and rapid advances in the field of headache led to the inclusion of many new primary and secondary headache disorders in the revised classification. Using illustrative cases, this review highlights 10 important new headache types that have been added to the second edition. It is important for neurologists to familiarize themselves with the diagnostic criteria for the frequently encountered primary headache disorders and to be able to access the classification (www.i-h-s.org) for the less commonly encountered or diagnostically challenging presentations of headache and facial pain.

This study aimed to examine the factors contributing to the late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer in African American and Hispanic women. Databases were electronically searched using Academic Search Complete; Alt Health Watch; APA PsycInfo; CINAHL with Full Text; Health and Psychosocial Instruments; Health Source—Consumer Edition; Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition; and MEDLINE. Arksey and O’Malley’s methodological framework was followed. The five levels of the socio-ecological model were used as theoretical guidelines. Social determinants of health (at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels) limited the adherence to breast cancer screening and led to the late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer, which impacted the survival rates. Multi-level efforts are required to address the social determinants of health, which impede care accessibility, and improve health outcomes for women experiencing health inequalities.

„Historical Memorials of Polish Armenians” – a New Source Edition Series about Armenian Community in PolandA five-year-long research and editing project “Historical Memorials of Polish Armenians”, funded from “The National Programme for Development of Research in Humanities” of the Ministry of Education in Poland has been led by the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians and headed by Krzysztof Stopka. Other people involved in the project are: Monika Agopsowicz, Armen Artwich, Andrzej Gliński, Tomasz Krzyżowski, Marcin Łukasz Majewski, Hripsime Mamikonyan, Tatevik Sargsyan, Edward Tryjarski, Franciszek Wasyl and Andrzej A. Zięba. The aim of the project is to edit and publish the sources contributive to the history of Armenians in Poland between the 14th and 18th centuries. The historical sources are to be translated from Kipchak, Armenian and Latin into Polish. Volumes 1 and 2 comprise of: Zapisy sądu duchownego Ormian miasta Lwowa za lata 1564-1608 (Records from the Spiritual Court of Lwów’s Armenians between 1564-1608), Metryka katedry ormiańskiej we Lwowie za lata 1635-1732 (Lwów Cathedral Baptism Records from 1635-1732) and Zbiórki pieniężne gminy Ormian lwowskich za lata 1598-1637 (Tax Collections of the Armenian Community in Lwów from 1598-1637); volume 3 is to include Travel Notes by Simeon Lehatsi (in Armenian), volume 4 is to include Chronology, or church yearbooks by Stepanos Roshka; volume 5 is to include a translation of A Journey to Poland and other countries where exiles from Ani live by Minas Bzhyshkyan. Volume 6 Nowy Aliszan (New Alishan) references the historical sources collection published in 1896 by Ghewond Alishan, however, volume 6 is a new critical edition with many documents of which Alishan was unaware.

Background: To prevent diabetic foot disease, proper foot care is essential for early detection and treatment. Pharmacists are well suited to provide accessible foot care to adults with type 2 diabetes. Limited research has examined this role. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of community pharmacy–based and pharmacist-led foot care interventions for adults with type 2 diabetes compared to usual care. Data sources included MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition and Google Scholar, plus Google and hand-searching. Original research studies reported in English, focused on community pharmacy–based or pharmacist-led foot care interventions were eligible for review. Participants were adults with type 2 diabetes. Studies were summarized narratively; pooled data were not possible. Results: Seven studies were included in this review, 3 focusing on improving foot self-care behaviours and 4 on promoting foot examinations by the health care provider. Only 2 studies were randomized and were assessed as high quality. Six out of 7 studies reported significantly positive findings related to foot care practices. Discussion: An opportunity to influence foot care exists at each clinical encounter. Pharmacists are accessible health care practitioners and appropriate to provide a range of diabetes foot care interventions. Conclusions: Seven studies examined community pharmacy–based and pharmacist-led foot care interventions for people with type 2 diabetes. Community pharmacies and pharmacists are capable of providing a variety of foot care interventions to patients with diabetes, helping detect problems early and leading to prompt intervention.

AbstractWith current preparation for the release of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013, many changes have been proposed for the diagnostic criteria, including changes to the pervasive development disorder category — of which Asperger's disorder is a part. Using focus group discussions this study explored how Asperger's disorder is perceived by Australian health and education staff, parents of children diagnosed with Asperger's disorder and community members. A total of 51 people participated in eight focus groups. Theory-led thematic analysis of the discussions revealed five themes of aetiology uncertainty, challenging behaviour, barriers in service provision, terminology confusion and label stigma. These themes are discussed in relation to the proposed diagnostic changes and implications for future research.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rise of mental health issues amongst Vietnamese communities in Vietnam and the diaspora. However, there were few resources and no directory of services available for people seeking mental health support in Vietnam. In response to this need, we initiated an engagement project to improve Vietnamese communities' access to mental health support. This project aimed to involve stakeholders in the development of a directory of resources in order to ensure that it met local needs. The phases of development included: (1) reviewing desk research findings; (2) reviewing the list of mental health support services that we could find; (3) verifying the first draft of the directory; (4) helping disseminate the directory; and (5) updating the directory. In February 2022 the first edition of the mental health directory for Vietnamese and foreigners living in Vietnam was published. In this paper we describe the iterative approach taken to developing a resource that would have maximum utility for the target communities. We describe the process of partnering with people with lived experience, community members and expert stakeholders in this process, and reflect on how this strengthened the outcomes in terms of the relevance of the output, the research uptake and the access for the wider community. We believe that it is important to publish examples of community engagement projects in order to demonstrate good practise and promote increased involvement of communities in research.

Covering about three million square kilometres, the Arabian Peninsula is mainly a diverse landscape of hot humid sandy coasts, arid desert, sparse scrubland, stone-strewn plains, and lush oases, as well as rocky and sometimes fertile mountain highlands and valleys. In addition to the indigenous local populace, the population is composed of large groups of expatriate Arabs and Asians, in addition to smaller groups of Europeans and North Americans; these expatriate groups represent a major workforce community of skilled professionals and semi-skilled or unskilled labourers from over sixty countries. The region's contemporary economy, dominated by the production of oil and natural gas has created unprecedented wealth, which in turn has led to a momentous surge in intensive infrastructural development and the construction of new environments (Wiedmann, 2012). The ensuing impact of this fast track development on the built environment, in conjunction with the continuous and seemingly frantic quest for establishing unique urban identities (Salama, 2012), is seen as a trigger for introducing this special edition of Open House International.

Abstract The paper argues that the ways in which editors shape cultural perceptions of authors, or their works, are only partially evident from theoretical writings and testimonies. Programmes and practices of editing often do not coincide, they can even contradict each other. This is not necessarily due to a lack of consistency, but to the fact that there is an inherent logic to editorial practice that is sometimes not even fully reflected upon by the professionals and experts within the community. What is needed, it is argued, is a praxeological approach that looks at the practices of selecting and editing, framing and medially placing texts, as well as the social, economical and political aspects of editions in concrete historical constellations. Thus, fundamental tensions that characterize the practice of modern editing since the beginning become visible. In the nineteenth century, a notion of editorship as a purely reproductive activity emerged. Editors were not allowed anymore to make any interventions in the texts. However, this concept of editorship contrasted with the idea that the editor should become a second maker, by not only replicating the original creative activity, but claiming to be able to understand the author better than the author understands him- or herself. The collaborative practice of editorship therefore equally works in favour of the author and against the author. Bettina von Arnim’s literary debut Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (1835) is used as an example to illustrate this basic problem of modern editorship. In Arnim’s work, different functions and programmatics of editorship come together. Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde is situated between a poetic form of appropriation and a poeto-philological practice of editing. It is both an act of memorialization and an attempt by the editor to secure a place for herself in the literary field. Through her editing of the letters and their arrangement, Arnim initially places herself in the role of one of Goethe’s imaginary sister: At the end of the first part of the correspondence, Arnim is asked by Goethe’s mother to write down the story of Karoline von Günderrode. Thus, she composes a female Wertheriade. In the second part, Arnim stages herself as the poet’s muse by putting words into her own mouth in the letters to Goethe that later reappear in his poems. Finally, Arnim repeatedly slips into the role of Goethe’s female characters and continues their stories on her own authority. While the second part of the correspondence ends with Goethe’s death, the third part, the Tagebuch (Diary), becomes the initiation of Arnim’s own authorship. Here the dialogue turns into a monologue. The logic of inspiration is reversed: Arnim becomes a poet kissed and blessed by the muse Goethe. Owing to its fictional elements, Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde has tended to be regarded in German-studies scholarship as an epistolary novel or artistic adaptation rather than as an ›edition‹ in the proper sense of the word. This article, on the contrary, argues that the book illuminates a fundamental contradiction of modern editing precisely because of its intermediate status between philology and poetry. Editorial activities always aim to establish an authentic speech and a specific form of authorship. Even as nineteenth-century editorial philology formed an ethos that prohibited purposeful interference with the text, the editors still claimed to become second creators. This led to self-contradictions that have not been discussed within philology for a long time. Arnim’s poetical edition Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde makes this contradiction visible by exaggerating it: She pursues the hubris of being able to understand the author better than he understands himself in an excessive form.

ObjectivesWe aimed to describe the gender-affirming hormonal therapy (GAHT) intake behaviour and regimen and the factors associated with the use of hormones inconsistent with reference GAHT regimen among transgender people in the Philippines.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingTransgender community clinic in Metro Manila, Philippines from March 2017 to December 2019.ParticipantsGender-affirming care-seeking individuals of at least 18 years old, who self-identified as transgender or non-binary, and who self-reported current or previous use of GAHT at baseline consult.Primary outcome measuresReported drugs and/or administration routes not congruent with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standard of Care eighth edition were classified as hormone use outside the reference regimen.Results253 transgender people reported current or previous intake of GAHT. Many trans women and transfeminine people (TWTFP; 58.9%, 86/146) reported using oral contraceptive pills (OCPs), whereas most trans men (TM; 73.8%, 79/107) reported injecting testosterone esters. Furthermore, 59.7% (151/253) used hormones outside the reference regimen, widely using OCP and anabolic steroids among TWTFP and TM, respectively. TWTFP (crude prevalence ratio, PR, 3.52; 95% CI 2.35 to 5.49) and those who take unprescribed GAHT (crude PR 2.37; 95% CI 1.08 to 6.68) were more likely to use hormones outside the reference regimen than TM and taking healthcare provider-prescribed GAHT, respectively. On adjusting for covariates, the prevalence of using hormones outside the reference regimen was approximately three times higher (adjusted PR 3.22; 95% CI 2.09 to 5.12) among TWTFP than TM.ConclusionTrans people act on their high unmet gender-affirming care needs by taking unprescribed GAHT, many outside the reference regimen. Structural changes in the health system are warranted, including strengthened community-based self-administration practices.

Abstract The revival of an independent Polish state in 1918 was conducive not only to the emergence of a new national administration or a sense of national community, but also to the establishment of new entities in science and culture, and, consequently, actions focused on Polishness and promotion of national values. Such new initiatives were based on the activities of scholars, artists and intellectuals, who had existed as a milieu before, but who either operated on a local scale or were entangled in international structures, usually remaining on their peripheries. Projects carried out in new conditions – in the now free country – often with the support of government institutions could promote the national heritage in various forms and on a large scale. In addition to research-related objectives, young Polish musicology also sought to popularise and disseminate Poland’s musical heritage in a variety of ways: 1) by publishing, as part as of sheet music series, sources for the study of the history of Polish music; 2) new critical editions of well-known oeuvres; 3) supporting the work of young Polish composers by publishing the scores of their compositions through publishing houses set up especially for the purpose; or 4) creating fora for the exchange of scholarly reflections and for presentation of the results of research conducted by a growing number of scholars educated at Polish universities. All this with the slogans of “national pride” and “national duty” the fulfilment of which was to help with catching up and making up for the losses caused by the absence of Poland as a state for over one hundred years. This led to initiatives by the newly emerging milieu of Polish musicologists seeking to promote the historical legacy of Polish music as well as the achievements of contemporary composers: the series “Early Polish Music”, a project to publish a complete critical edition of Fryderyk Chopin’s works, series of the Polish Music Publishing Society intended for young composers, or periodicals promoting articles on Polish subjects (Kwartalnik Muzyczny, Muzyka, Muzyka Polska, Polski Rocznik Muzykologiczny and others).

Abstract Growing awareness of limits set by exhaustibility of natural resources has led to a conclusion that only through their valuation in monetary terms one may assess a comprehensive economic impact of their use. Thus mineral resources have been included from the beginning to almost all studies regarding natural resources assessments. The first result, widely recognized by international community, of researches came in the 1993 – edition of the “Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting”. One of the key outcomes of these works was a conclusion that measuring value of mineral resources for mineral raw materials production, alongside with physical flows of these materials, environment related transactions and measuring impact of the economy on the environment, should make basic pillars of this newly designed system, later named as the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA). As implementation of SEEA is still in a primary stage, many methodological issues remain unsolved. This article attempts to enumerate achievements made so far and indicate issues in need for further development. Taking into account the importance of mineral resources for further economic development of Poland authors indicate a necessity to develop and implement methodologies for monetary assessment of resources/reserves available, extracted and depleted in order to form a methodological base for a meaningful policy of sustainable growth. The special challenge results from monetary assessment of explored but yet undeveloped mineral deposits.

IntroductionAntepartum depression has garnered wide recognition from the scientific community in recent years. This has led to the replacement of the term postpartum with perinatal in the 5th edition of the DSM with regards to pregnancy associated depression. Personality may play a significant role in the susceptibility for developing perinatal depression.ObjectivesThe current research aimed to analyze the role of different facets of personality in mediating the occurrence of both, perinatal depression and perinatal anxiety, in women who gave birth in our region.MethodsA prospective survey was conducted at “Bega” Clinic Timisoara in 118 women being monitored during their antepartum period. Of these, 80 women attended to the second assessment between 6 to 8 weeks of their postpartum period. Postnatal depression was assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale using a cut-off > 13. Personality was assessed by using the NEO-FFI Inventory that is five-factor model based.ResultsThe presence of antepartum depression was identified in 28 (23.7%) of pregnant women while postpartum depression was detected in 7 new mothers (8.8%). Among the NEO-FFI Inventory factors only Neuroticism had significant higher mean scores in both antepartum and postpartum depressive women (P = 0.003 and P = 0.016 respectively). There were also significant correlations between Neuroticism and antepartum and postpartum levels of both trait and state anxiety.ConclusionsIn the psychological management and approach of delivering women Neuroticism should be taken into account as a possible mediating factor for both depression and anxiety during their perinatal period.

Objectives: Over the last 15 years, adequate psychometric properties of the different versions of the Dominic led to the development of the Dominic Interactive for Adolescents (DIA). The DIA is a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Fourth Edition, Text Revision-based self-administered computerized pictorial instrument for assessing the most frequent mental disorders in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. Our study aims to verify the internal consistency, the test-retest estimate of reliability, and the criterion-related validity of this instrument. Method: The total sample included 607 adolescents living in the Montreal urban area recruited from the community (465 French-speaking) and the clinical population (142 French-speaking). Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and test-retest estimate of reliability by the kappas and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Two criteria are indicative of criterion-related validity of the DIA: clinical judgment on the presence or absence of symptoms (scored independently by 3 judges) and the adolescents' referrals to outpatient psychiatric clinics. Results: For most symptom scales of the DIA, Cronbach's alpha coefficients varied from 0.69 to 0.89, test-retest kappas were 0.50 or greater, and ICCs ranged from 0.78 to 0.87. The criterion-related validity was demonstrated for symptoms, symptom scales, and the categories based on the symptom scale cut-off points. Conclusion: As no informant can be considered the criterion standard of psychopathology, the interview with adolescents regarding their own symptoms is necessary. Findings from our study reasonably support adequate psychometric properties of the DIA in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.

Why – one might be tempted to add: why again – the Heine-Lieder? And why psychoanalysis? Like most of Schubert's music and especially the late works, yet with a distinctive nuance, Schubert's set of six songs to texts from Heine's Buch der Lieder has been regularly discussed in the musicological literature of the last decades. Among those writings, the articles by Harry Goldschmidt and Richard Kramer, the collection of essays on Schwanengesang edited by Martin Chusid, and the latter's publication of the facsimile of the autograph and first edition of the cycle are of particular interest to us here. The reason for it has to do with the nuance referred to at the beginning of this paragraph. While some authors are inclined to discuss Schubert's understanding of the poetry (notably in terms of the celebrated Heinesque ‘irony’), others choose to address the set from another perspective, namely that of the order of the songs. Indeed, the following questions inevitably arise in considering the Heine songs: Why did Schubert alter the order of the poems from that in which they appear in Heine's original collection, therefore (seemingly) destroying the logic of the sequence? Did Schubert actually conceive the text as a sequence – that is to say, a cycle? In dealing with those issues, Goldschmidt and Kramer have suggested a provocative and radical solution, which consists in reordering the songs to match the succession in Heine. This, of course, has occasioned much eyebrow-raising in the musicological community, and has led to successive refutation and counter-refutation.

Both in academic publications and in the music press, little attention has been paid to the figure of Zdzisaw Szostak a conductor and a composer, who spent most of his professional life at the d Philharmonic and the Academy of Music in d. Prof. Szostak was seen by the musical community mainly through the prism of his great achievements in the field of film music. The artists later autonomous works had to contend against the success and recognition of his previous compositions. In the article, however, the author focuses on a specific autonomous work by Szostak the Darmstadt Concertino for violin, piano and orchestra, with the title clearly associated with the important 20th century centre of European avant-garde. The resulting connotation seemed particularly interesting due to Szostaks reluctance to radical compositional means used by artists associated with the famous Internationale Ferienkurse fr Neue Musik. The intriguing contradiction encoded in the title and the rudimentary knowledge of the work led the author to investigate its history based on the collected sources. These were limited to a piano reduction assembled in parts, some orchestral voices and completely amateur, poor quality recording. The only possible way to obtain information about the genesis of the piece was interviewing soloists, the violinist ukasz Baszczyk and the pianist Mariusz Drzewicki. The musicians participated in the premiere performance, which was conducted in Darmstadt in November 1998 by Zdzisaw Szostak himself. The concert crowned the celebration of the sixth edition of the Polish Music and Culture Week in Darmstadt organised by the German Chopin Society.

Electronic publishing of journals has already arrived, and is established. The Astrophysical Journal and Letters, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplements and New Astronomy have been publishing a parallel electronic edition since the beginning of 1997. Astronomy and Astrophysics will follow in 1998, and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society are being developed. The American Astronomical Society has been the leader in developing electronic publishing in astrophysics. They have led not only by being first, but also by the high standards of their electronic publication.One of the stories that school children in Great Britain learn at an early age is about King Canute II. Canute was a Danish king who ruled part of what is now Great Britain from 1016 to 1035. He is famous because he sat bythe sea as the tide was coming in and commanded the tide to go back. It didnot.Electronic publication is going to bring many changes to the way research is done and published. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages. There are certainly problems which we have not yet realized. The purpose of this Joint Discussion is to stimulate a discussion of what the international astrophysical community would like from electronic publishing. Please do not say that you want electronic publishing to go away, because then you will be behaving like King Canute. But the publishers of journals and the bodies responsible for maintaining the quality of publication are feeling their way into completely new territory. To exploit electronic publishing to the full, and to minimize the disadvantages, discussion in the community is needed.Electronic publishing will bring great connectivity into journals. While looking at one paper, a click on the mouse will immediately connect with another paper published in another journal. Large tables, theoretical or observational, will be read in the same way from databases. An electronic publication will longer be static. It can be modified to refer to papers published later, it can contain movies or computer programs that can be executed online.

The article considers the activities of the famous bandura player, modernist poet, student activist and doctor, doctor of medicine, and student of Berezhany gymnasium – Zinoviy Shtokalko (Berezhan). Who is he? His father’s genes to some extent determined the life path of his son Zinoviy. In my subjective opinion, I defined them as follows: Doctor. Bandurist! Writer… Artist? .. Punctuation rather shows my understanding of Zinoviy Shtokalko as of today. Attention is focused on his stay in Germany (study at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich; public activities in the field of international student movement led by the Ukrainian student community, the Foreign Students Associations; edition of weekly issue “Students news” & its publications, poetic creativity and concert activity of a bandura player) and the USA (professional activity as a doctor; concert and artistic activity of a bandura player, preservation and popularization of bandura art; literary work). Based on original documents from the funds of Berezhany Museum of Local Lore and private collections, some aspects of the biography have been clarified (period of study at the Lviv Medical Institute, arrival in the USA, performances as a bandura player in the USA). According to the research results, the catalog “Zinoviy Shtokalko (Berezhan) and his family in the Berezhany Museum of Local Lore and in private collections” was published. It includes 358 original photos, letters, books, documents and objects. All of that covers quite a wide time range (1891–2020). “Geographical” coverage is the following: Berezhany, Brody, Kalne, Lviv, Sokal, Munich, Canada, Germany, USA… Research continues: unrecognized photos, negatives and photo albums, unread letters from the family, manuscripts of Zinoviy’s father – priest Pavel Shtokalko, and documents in the archives of various institutions are awaiting processing.

In the second half of the 11th century, having completed the political conquest of England, William I undertook to establish control over the local church. To do this, he initiated a religious reform in his new possessions, which was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc (1070–1089) and his followers. This reform, directed against the “old” clergy, endangered the position of many religious centers associated with local cults. The reaction to it was the emergence of a wave of hagiographic literature, designed to legitimize both the cult itself and the status of the community representing the saint. The article is devoted to the analysis of the main features and assessment of the political role of hagiography of the late 11th — early 12th centuries, based on the case of the Lives of St. David and St. Beuno, which were directed against the reforms of both Lanfranc and his successors. From the beginning of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century the appeal to the image of St. David and his Life were the main tools of the bishops of St. Davids in their struggle to gain the status of an archbishopric, which would remove the issue of the subordination of the Welsh clergy to Canterbury. Each stage of the confrontation was accompanied by the appearance of a new edition of the text. The Life of St. Beuno, which displayed signs of actualization at the beginning of the 12th century, expressed the fear of local religious communities to lose part of their income due to active hostilities in East of Wales. Despite all the efforts of the Welsh clergy, by the end of the 13th century the influence of the king of England and English church hierarchs on local dioceses was already unquestionable.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's view of his first American ancestors as belonging to a grim and gloomy race, impatient with human weaknesses and merciless towards transgressors, reflects a wide-spread popular attitude towards the Massachusetts Bay colonists. Indeed, Hawthorne's contribution to the construction and perpetuation of this view is not inconsiderable. Hawthorne frankly confesses to his own family descent from one of the “hanging judges” of the Salem witchcraft trials, and he does not spare any instance of persecution, obsession, or cruelty regarding the community led by his paternal ancestors. But Hawthorne does not stop at indicting his own family history; in a famous exchange with the president of Hartford College, Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, shortly after the publication of The House of the Seven Gables (1851) Hawthorne is accused of blackening the reputation of another of New England's great colonial families. Hawthorne denied any knowledge of a “real” Pynchon family, let alone one with living (and litigious) descendants. He apologized for his mistake and offered to write an explanatory preface (which never appeared) for the second edition. Historical evidence suggests that Hawthorne, in fact, knew the history of the Pyncheon family, in particular William Pyncheon and his son John, of Springfield, who shared political and business connections throughout the mid-seventeenth century with William Hathorne of Salem. William Hathorne was a notorious persecutor of Quakers and his son John was the “hanging judge” of the witchcraft trials; William Pyncheon was a prominent fur-trader and founder of several towns along the Connecticut River who left the colony abruptly in circa 1651 accused of heresy. Given this history, a more likely model for the grim Colonel Pyncheon of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel is rather a composite of John and William Hathorne than William Pynchon. So why should Nathaniel, who had already in his fiction revealed his family skeletons, choose to displace his own family history on to the Pyncheon family, with all the trouble that then ensued?

Subject area The subject areas are organizational management, organizational behaviour and human resource management. Study level/applicability The study is applicable for courses in human resource management and organizational behaviour as part of masters-level programmes in business administration and management, executive development programmes on organization design and development for middle/senior management. Case overview In 2003, Elizabeth and Sunil Mehta had founded a voluntary organization, “Muktangan”, focussed on child-centric education through innovative pedagogy for the community of the urban poor. Elizabeth, an educationist, and Sunil, a highly successful business person, joined hands to contribute to the well-being of urban poor to make a difference to their lives. Elizabeth and Sunil presented a proposal to impart education for “the children of the community, by the teachers drawn from the community” to the residents of the slums in central Mumbai. With a humble beginning of running a small pre-school, Muktangan now manages seven schools with 3,400 children and 500 teachers, and a teachers’ training centre with a capacity to train 100 teachers a year. Muktangan won acclaim for its unique pedagogy and a very effective child-to-teacher ratio. Over the years, Elizabeth and Sunil led Muktangan with a strong passion and a “hands-on” approach. Of late, Elizabeth and Sunil faced questions from their donors about the sustainability of Muktangan with respect to leadership and management succession. Elizabeth and Sunil had a vision for Muktangan for self-directed growth with an empowered team. Muktangan embarked on the journey to create a leadership for self-directed growth. Sunil, Elizabeth and team Muktangan conceptualized and implemented a change management intervention with help from an external consultant to build the desired organization. Expected learning outcomes Outcomes are understanding issues involved in the leadership, organization design and management of change, particularly of those organizations engaged in social change and development in developing societies. Supplementary materials The Muktangan Story: Part A – An Organizational Study; The Muktangan Story Part B – Winds of Change; Teaching Note; References: Bradach J. (1996), Organizational Alignment: The 7-S Model, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02,163. Cooperrider D. and Whitney D. (2005), “A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry”, In The Change Handbook. The Definitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods for Engaging.Whole Systems, by Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Cooperrider D., Whitney D., and Stavros J.M. (2008), Appreciative Inquiry Handbook for Leaders of Change (Second Edition), Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Greiner, L.E. (1998), “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow”, Harvard Business Review, May-June, 3-11. www.muktanganedu.org/ accessed 12 April, 2018. Kessler, E. H., (2013) (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Management Theory, Sage Publications Kotter, J. P. (1996), Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston. Lewin K. (1951), Field Theory in social science, Harper & Row, New York. Waterman, R. H., Peters, T. J., and Phillips, J. R. (1980), Structure is not organization. Business Horizons, 23(3), 14-26. Subject code: CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

<p>《莊子》一書早在三國時代已傳入韓國，而且經過高麗、朝鮮時期，影響到不少文人學者，這是毋庸懷疑的。朝鮮自建國初期始，由朝廷主導《莊子》的刊印，甚至有時在朝廷中用它來講學。在朝鮮莊學的演變過程當中，16-17世紀是一個相當特殊的時期，那是因為當時不少學人熱衷閱讀《莊子》，有些人解釋莊子學說的內涵，有些人藉《莊子》呈現出自身的感懷。值得注意的是，在這種過程中，朝鮮學人無論有意或無意，給《莊子》予以學術上的定位，這與明末清初明遺民對於《莊子》的認知有相同的思維方式。本文針對16-17世紀朝鮮學界以儒解《莊》的風氣，做初步的探討，其主要內容有兩點：第一、先查考眾多《莊子》註解本中，朝鮮盛行的《莊子》註解本有哪些，並藉此說明朝鮮莊學的基本性質；第二、在相關資料中，先說明16-17世紀的朝鮮學人為何關注《莊子》，然後找出關於以儒解《莊》的資料，並說明其詮釋的具體內涵。</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p>《Zhuangzi》 was first introduced to Korea during the Three Kingdoms Period and influenced many writers during the Goryeo and Joseon periods. There is no doubt about this. Joseon Dynasty led the publication of the 《Zhuangzi》 from the early days of its founding， and even studied lecture with 《Zhuangzi》 in Royal Court. In the Joseon Dynasty， the 16th and 17th centuries were a very special time in the process of changing the perception of the 《Zhuangzi》. Because many scholars were very enthusiastic about reading it then， and some scholars expressed their feelings through the book and granted academic status to it. This is due to the same way in which the people of Ming ang Qing periods of China. This paper is intended to give a basic review to the academic ethos - Zhuangzi is interpreted from Confucian perspectives of Joseon’s academic community in the 16th and 17th centuries. The main content is twofold. First， we investigate an annotated edition， which became popular in Joseon among many annotated edition of 《Zhuangzi》. And through this， we will explain the basic characteristics of the study of Zhuangzi in Joseon Dynasty. Second， we would like to start by looking at what made Joseon scholars in the 16th and 17th centuries interested in 《Zhuangzi》. Next， this paper would like to find the material that Zhuangzi is interpreted from Confucian perspectives and explain the concrete meaning of such interpretation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

This case study highlights the benefits of one example of humanities student-faculty collaboration at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, in which a critical editing project was enhanced by student contributions, while the students gained skills that encouraged retention and nurtured future success.

The author discusses the most important phenomena in Polish historiography and the selected publications about the Holocaust released during 2003–2013. Similarly to ‘narrativists’, Krupa is interested in the shape, the language, the storytelling manner, and the metaphors used. Having indicated the most important scholarly centres and publications of sources, the author concentrates on the camp monographs, syntheses and regional studies produced during that period, and then concludes that most of them are written in a very traditional way. The year 2000, when [the Polish edition] of Jan Tomasz Gross’s book Neighbours was released, proved to be a breakthrough year for [Polish] historiography. Before analysing the far-reaching consequences of this publication, Krupa briefly discusses the polemics surrounding the other books by that author. On the one hand, they led to the birth of the historiographical ‘shadow cabinet’ – a mobilisation of the milieu concentrated mostly around the IPN and directed at disparaging the significance of Gross’s publications. On the other hand, the most important consequence of Gross’s critical thinking about the Polish stances was the birth of the ‘peasant trend’ in [Polish] historiography. The books by Andrzej Żbikowski, Barbara Engelking, Jan Grabowski, as well as the collective works such as Prowincja noc and Zarys krajobrazu described, in a committed and interdisciplinary way, the shameful stances of the rural community – the denunciations, rapes, and even murders of Jews, with Tadeusz Markiel’s shocking testimony holding a special place among these publications. The works that acclaim the Polish stances and stress the Polish engagement in the rescuing of Jews (particularly those published within the framework of the IPN project „INDEX – In memory of Poles murdered or prosecuted by the Nazis because of their assistance to Jews”) are to constitute a counteroffer to the critical “peasant trend” within the framework of the “shadow cabinet.” At the end of the article Krupa discusses the books that regard the unknown pages of the Holocaust history in Warsaw written by Agnieszka Haska, Barbara Engelking, Dariusz Libionka, or Libionka’s collaboration with Laurence Weinbaum, which are not revolutionary in the sphere of language but nonetheless broaden the knowledge on the Holocaust. The author ends his discussion with a reference to the monumental work Jewish Presence in Absence. The Aftermath of the Holocaust in Poland, 1944–2010, without which, just as without reflecting on the consequences of the Holocaust in general, it is impossible to understand Poles and the situation in Poland.

ABSTRACTBackground:Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) are a group of disorders characterized by recurrent gastrointestinal distress for which no structural or biochemical cause can be discerned. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an FGID estimated to affect 10% to 25% of the United States population. IBS occurs in over 40% of individuals with panic disorder, and in patients with IBS, 25% to 30% have panic disorder, which has led to speculation about possible shared pathophysiology between the two. Less is known about the prevalence of other FGID in individuals with panic disorder.Objective:The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of IBS and all the other FGID in patients with current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) panic disorder.Introduction:We assessed FGIDs in 73 treatment-seeking DSM-IV panic disorder patients via the Diagnostic Interview Questions for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and made descriptive comparisons with a large convenience sample from an already-completed United States Household Survey (USHS), which employed the same diagnostic criteria.Results:The prevalence of IBS and other FGIDs in both men and women with panic disorder were substantially higher than in the USHS respondents. Women with panic disorder had significantly more functional chest pain than men, but there was no gender difference in IBS. With the exception of functional anorectal and biliary disorders, the FGID prevalences were comparatively higher in panic disorder versus the USHS respondents.Discussion:This survey supports earlier reports of a high prevalence of IBS in individuals with panic disorder and also suggests that the prevalence of several other FGIDs were comparatively high as well. Methodological limitations precluded direct statistical analysis. It may be that commonly overlapping psychiatric and often-painful FGIDs, and extra-intestinal disorders increase the risk for comorbidity in already-affected individuals via shared pathophysiology. One potential model for which there is some evidence for a role in stress, panic disorder, FGIDs and several extra-intestinal functional conditions is dysregulation of corticotropin-releasing factor function.Conclusion:The prevalence of FGIDs in DSM-IV panic disorder was comparatively higher than in USHS respondent community sample, which used similar FGID diagnostic criteria. The cause for the apparent close association of panic disorder with FGID may represent shared pathophysiology. Increased understanding of the mechanism of the overlap may allow for improved treatment of the significant proportion of the population suffering from comorbid psychiatric and functional medical conditions.

Randomized controlled trials are considered the hallmark of evidence-based medicine. This conveys the idea that up-to-date evidence applied consistently in clinical practice, in combination with clinicians’ individual expertise and patients own preference/expectations are enjoined to achieve the best possible outcome. Since its inception in 1990s, evidence-based medicine has evolved in conjunction with numerous changes in the healthcare environment. However, the benefits of evidence-based medicine have not materialized for spinal pain including surgical interventions. Consequently, the debate continues on the efficacy and medical necessity of multiple interventions provided in managing spinal pain. Friedly et al published a randomized controlled trial of epidural glucocorticoid injections for spinal stenosis in the July 2014 edition of the highly prestigious New England Journal of Medicine,. This was accompanied by an editorial from Andersson. This manuscript provided significant sensationalism for the media and confusion for the spine community. This randomized trial of epidural glucocorticoid injections for spinal stenosis and accompanying editorial concluded that epidural injections of glucocorticoids plus lidocaine offered minimal or no short-term benefit as compared with epidural injections of lidocaine alone, with the editorial emphasizing proceeding directly to surgical intervention. In addition media statements by the authors also emphasized the idea that exercise or surgery might be better options for patients suffereing from narrowing of the spinal canal. The interventional pain management community believes that there are severe limitations to this study, manuscript, and accompanying editorial. The design, inclusion criteria, outcomes assessment, analysis of data and interpretation, and conclusions of this trial point to the fact that this highly sophisticated and much publicized randomized trial may not be appropriate and lead to misinformation. The design of the trial was inappropriate with failure to include existing randomized trials, with inclusion criteria that did not incorporate conservative management,or caudal epidural injections. Simultaneously, acute pain patients were included, multilevel stenosis and various other factors were not identified. The interventions included lumbar interlaminar and transforaminal epidural injections with highly variable volumes of medication being injected per patient. Outcomes assessment was not optimal with assessment of the patients at 3 and 6 weeks for a procedure which provides on average 3 weeks of relief and utilizing an instrument which is more appropriately utilized in acute and subacute low back pain. Analysis of the data was hampered by inadequate subgroup analysis leading to inappropriate interpretation. Based on the available data epidural local anesthetic with steroids was clearly superior at 3 weeks and potentially at 6 weeks. Further, both treatments were effective considering the baseline to 3 week and 6 week assessment, appropriate subgroup analysis seems to have yielded significant superiority for interlaminar epidural injections compared to transforaminal epidural injections with local anesthetic with or without steroids specifically with proportion of patients achieving greater than 50% improvement at 3 and 6 week levels. This critical assessment shows that this study suffers from a challenging design, was premised on the exclusion of available highquality literature, and had inadequate duration of follow-up for an interventional technique with poor assessment criteria and reporting. Finally the analysis and interpretation of data has led to inaccurate and inappropriate conclusions which we do not believe is based on scientific evidence. Key words: Chronic low back pain, central spinal stenosis, epidural injections, local anesthetics, steroids, randomized trials, outcomes assessment

In the last two decades, RNA post-transcriptional modifications, including RNA editing, have been the subject of increasing interest among the scientific community. The efforts of the Human Genome Project combined with the development of new sequencing technologies and dedicated bioinformatic approaches created to detect and profile RNA transcripts have served to further our understanding of RNA editing. Investigators have determined that non-coding RNA (ncRNA) A-to-I editing is often deregulated in cancer. This discovery has led to an increased number of published studies in the field. However, the eventual clinical application for these findings remains a work in progress. In this review, we provide an overview of the ncRNA editing phenomenon in cancer. We discuss the bioinformatic strategies for RNA editing detection as well as the potential roles for ncRNA A to I editing in tumor immunity and as clinical biomarkers.

Abstract On September 11, this year, Enrico Bellotti - “Puccio”, for his friends and colleagues - left us. In mourning the loss of Puccio, who was a highly esteemed figure both for his professional stature and his human qualities, personal reminiscences arise in many of us, about the scientific experiences we shared and enjoyed together, during a very long lapse of time. A number of these memories are related to the TAUP Conference. At the first meeting of this Conference, held in September 1989 in the Castello Cinquecentesco in the town of L’Aquila, Italy, a welcoming address to the participants was delivered by Enrico Bellotti. On that occasion, he synthetically depicted how, in the seventies, emerging common scientific interests among particle physicists, astrophysicists, and cosmologists led to “the need of a new, large, and well equipped underground laboratory”, which could provide an experimental setup adequate to pursue investigations previously carried out in “facilities, mines or small caves, not specially designed to that purpose.” Obviously, Puccio knew pretty well all the details - physical motivations and experimental aspects - of that epochal transition from small facilities to a highly structured laboratory, as he was one of the main actors of that extraordinary experimental breakthrough. His involvement in underground physics had started in the early eighties with an experiment designed to study nucleon stability, whose detector, NUSEX, was installed in a garage area along the road tunnel under the Mont Blanc. In this same underground location, he also took part in an important search for neutrinoless double beta decay in germanium. Quite naturally, as the project of the Gran Sasso Laboratory got political approval and its construction plans started, Puccio became progressively more and more involved in its complex realization – eventually becoming the first director of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in 1987, when the laboratory became operative. His vision as to the role of the lab was wide and far-sighted, not only in terms of the experimental investigations to be carried out in it, but also within a more general perspective. Puccio aimed at creating a top level scientific community living at Gran Sasso, and – in Puccio’s own words at TAUP 89 – at promoting “cultural opportunities like this Conference from which we expect suggestions and scientific support.” These ideas were perfectly in tune with the scientific motivations at the origin of the foundation of the TAUP Conference. The remarkable development of the LNGS in the following years witness Puccio’s skills in managing the laboratory and in putting the basis for great scientific achievements. The Borexino experiment is a prominent example of a project that he strongly supported. Puccio had a major personal role in the conduction of important experiments. Needless recalling here the extraordinary success of the investigations carried out on the low-energy part of the neutrino emission by the sun, with two outstanding experiments: the Gallium Experiment (GALLEX), followed by the Gallium Neutrino Observatory (GNO), where Puccio acted as a spokesman. Furthermore, Puccio’s involvement in the Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) was the natural outcome of his continuous interest for the intriguing search for neutrinoless double beta decays. In parallel with this activity, in 1991, Puccio was also involved in a new line of investigation proposed and initiated at the LNGS. The idea was to measure nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest, i. e. those involved in fusion processes that took place in the early universe and that are also of relevance in the processes of hydrogen and helium burning occurring in the stars. Their cross sections are so low that their experimental measurements require the installment of an appropriate set-up in an environment with extremely low backgrounds. The LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) Experiment was installed at LNGS and progressively went through various steps, with remarkable results. Recent experimental outcomes led to a significant improvement in the theoretical prediction for the amount of deuterium produced during cosmological nucleosynthesis. Puccio also paid much attention to experimental instrumentations installed outside the underground laboratory. Hence, his strong support, and personal involvement, in the physics of cosmic rays investigated by Extensive Air Shower Array with detectors placed at an altitude of 2005 meters above sea level (EAS-TOP), whose measurements could be correlated with observations performed by detectors located inside the underground laboratory. Furthermore, in the late eighties, within the physical community, an increasing interest for investigating high-energy neutrinos emitted by astrophysical sources was emerging, but it soon became clear that this kind of investigation required large-area detectors, and therefore that these experimental setups could not be located in an underground laboratory. For this reason, various experimental groups started conceiving large-area installations based on water Cerenkov detectors to be placed outside an underground environment. Puccio was very interested in this field and collaborated very actively in a project led by Milla Baldo Ceolin, that was first discussed during the first edition of the International Workshop on Neutrino Telescope in Venice, in November 1988. On that occasion, Puccio presented a detailed survey about many sites located within a distance of 20 kilometers from the LNGS, that could be considered as possible sites for a neutrino telescope. The reason for recalling here those circumstances is to stress how open-minded Puccio was in considering new routes within research in physics, with a marked hands-on approach. This initial stage in the conception of a neutrino telescope gave rise to a collaboration which brought together, in the period between the late eighties and the early nineties, a considerable number of experimentalists and theoreticians. The reference point of this activity were the Venice workshops, in an interplay with the TAUP meetings, whose venue, at that time, alternated between the LNGS and the Spanish location of Toledo. Eventually, the Neutrino Telescope (NET) project did not go through, but - I believe - that experience was very exciting and instructive for many of us – and it certainly contributed to convey much attention to that specific field of research. From then onwards, Puccio’s support in the development of the TAUP Conference was invaluable. He was a member of the Steering Committee, a chairman of the organizing committee, a keynote speaker, and a convener of workshop sessions. We have so far focused on Puccio’s activities in underground physics. But this does not mean that he was not involved in other branches of physics. Actually, Puccio’s initial professional work was devoted to measurements at particle accelerators. Most remarkably, he participated in the Gargamelle neutrino experiment at CERN, an experiment that in 1973 discovered the existence of weak currents – a milestone in physics, and specifically in the test of the electro-weak unification model. Our community will deeply miss Puccio, and will certainly remember him as a colleague and a friend always open to new ideas and to new challenges.

Just as the pandemic situation is receding and restrictions to entry in many countries have been lifted, the geopolitics of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army has led to nearly historical highs in gas and oil prices. SPE was one of the first global energy-related societies to issue a statement from its leadership on Ukraine. SPE’s leadership condemns the human tragedy unfolding in Ukraine and supports all actions by the international community to prevent further escalation of the conflict. We also encourage all efforts to find a peaceful solution. SPE is providing financial support through our sections in the region to aid with food and humanitarian aid, and the evacuation of our Ukraine-based members and their families. The worldwide spare capacity in oil production (mostly limited to Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iraq) is so low that it would be insufficient to prevent oil prices from skyrocketing, should further restrictions be imposed on Russia’s oil exports. The upstream underinvestment resulting from two downcycles in 2015 and 2020 has strongly impacted both production capacity and record-low reserve discoveries. Higher energy prices are leading to global inflation and to an economic slowdown, a macroeconomic phenomenon called stagflation. In this context, 2022 had a strong start for SPE, with the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first time (the previous edition was held in Dhahran) with an attendance of more than 13,000. The efforts by the IPTC organizing program and executive committees were exceptional, with an enthusiastic involvement of Saudi young volunteers. The IPTC Excellence in Project Integration Award was the opportunity to recognize exceptional projects as a showcase of technology, efficiency, collaboration, and sustainability. Such projects make us all feel proud to be part of the oil and gas industry. Saudi Aramco’s exclusive sponsorship also contributed to the great success of IPTC. The Saudi hosts organized two geological field trips, the first one being “A Visit to Jurassic Succession and Edge of the World.” The second was “The Great Discovery,” one of the world’s most historically significant geological localities—the magnificent outcrop of Dahil Heet which contributed to the discovery of the world’s largest oil deposits. I was very impressed by the progress made by the city of Riyadh in the promotion of sustainability, including an outstanding public transportation system with six metropolitan lines being developed simultaneously. In May 2021, the SPE Board of Directors and the AAPG Executive Committee announced that they were exploring the possibility of a merger between the two organizations. The Steering Committee, comprising volunteers, was created to define the conditions for the merger and worked tirelessly to develop a merger plan. SPE’s leadership viewed the idea of a merger, which has been broached many times over the years, as a catalyst for change that our organization needs. We must better position SPE to address declining corporate support and the significant loss of younger members, as well as deal with the changes occurring in our industry.

В статье исследуются возможные источники информации доктора Абрахама Ван Хелсинга о пауке, который жил сотни лет и питался маслом из церковных лампад. Дж. Сазерленд высказал предположение, что эти сведения могли быть позаимствованы из журнальной статьи 1821 г. с сообщением о якобы обнаруженных в 1732 и 1751 гг. гигантских пауках. Данный материал произвел в XIX в. определенный фурор, неоднократно перепечатывался в британской и американской прессе. Тем не менее поиск похожей информации привел нас к более раннему тексту издания 1814 г. В нем содержится намек на общий источник рассказов об исполинских животных (1751 г.), который указывает на рукопись, хранящуюся в Библиотеке Лиона. Появление «сенсационного» сообщения о питавшихся маслом пауках-долгожителях заставило научную общественность предполагать, что под обликом невероятных чудовищ скрывались имевшие внешние дефекты скорпионы, Tegenaria parietina, пауки-кругопряды. Кроме того, после мероприятий по изучению южноамериканской фауны и издания капитального труда в 1705 г. образованные европейцы узнали об отличающихся внушительными размерами пауках-птицеедах. Не следует забывать об особенностях культурно-исторического контекста эпохи, в рамках которого история о пришествии огромных арахнид получает истолкование как аллегория зла, метафора дьявольской природы вампира. Здесь нашли отражение личные меркантильные расчеты информаторов, старинные традиции врачебного использования «паучьего масла», а также особенности поведения представителей паукообразных. Основой поздних легенд послужил подлинный факт обнаружения в 1751 г. большого арахнида, описанного членом Королевской академии в Париже, который затем оброс домыслами и в таком виде был позаимствован Ван Хелсингом для своей аргументации. The paper explores possible sources of Dr. Abraham Van Helsing’s information about a spider that lived for hundreds of years and ate oil from church lamps. J. Sutherland suggested that this information could have been borrowed from a magazine article published in 1821 and reporting of the giant spiders allegedly discovered in 1732 and 1751. This material made in the 19th century a certain sensation, repeatedly reprinted in the English and American press. Nevertheless, the search for similar information led me to an earlier text of the 1814 edition. It contains a hint of a common source for stories about gigantic animals (1751), which indicates a manuscript stored in the Library of Lyon. The appearance of a “sensational” message about oil-eating long-living spiders prompted the scientific community to assume that under the guise of incredible monsters there were scorpions that had external defects, Tegenaria parietina, and various other circle spiders. In addition, after some studies of South American fauna and the publication of book work in 1705, educated Europeans learned about bird spiders that were distinguished by their impressive size. One should not forget about the peculiarities of the cultural and historical context, within which the story of the coming of huge arachnids is interpreted as an allegory of evil, a metaphor for the devilish nature of the vampire. Personal mercantile goals of informants, ancient traditions of the medical use of “Oil of Spiders” as well as features of the behavior of representatives of arachnids were reflected here. The basis of later legends was the true fact of the discovery of a large arachnid described by a member of the Royal Academyin Paris (1751), which was then overgrown with speculation and in this form was borrowed by Van Helsing for his argument.

In the past decades many cities have experienced growing pressure to produce and stage cultural events of different sorts to promote themselves and improve economic development. Culture-led development often relies on significant public investment and major private-sector sponsoring. In the context of strained public finances and profound economic crisis in European peripheral countries, local community low-budget events that manage to create significant fluxes of visitors and visibility assume a particular relevance. This paper looks at the four editions (2011–2014) of Noc-Noc, an arts festival organized by a local association in the city of Guimarães, Portugal, which is based on creating transient spaces of culture by transforming numerous homes, commercial outlets and other buildings into ephemeral convivial and playful ‘public’ environments. By interviewing a sample of people who have hosted (sometimes doubling as artists) these transitory art performances and exhibitions, artists and the events’ organizers and by experiencing the four editions of the event and engaging in multiple informal conversations with the public, this paper attempts to discuss how urban citizens may disrupt the cleavages between public and private space permitting various transgressions, and unsettling the hegemonic condition of the city council as the patron of the large majority of events.

Robert Ousterhout, the author of a magnificent book “Eastern Medieval Architecture. The Building Traditions of Bizantium and Neighboring Lands”, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, the remarkable scholar and generous friend, was so kind to mention in his C. V. on the sight of Penn University (Philadelphia, USA) that he had been the Visiting professor of the Moscow architectural Institute (State Academy), as well as simulteniously of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, but he did not say that he had been awarded the degree of professor honoris causa by the academic council of MARHI. Unfortunately, his life in muscovite hostel, nevertheless we tried to do our best to provide the best possible accommodation in a “suit” with two rooms with a bathroom, had been radically different from the wonderful dwelling chosen for the visiting teaching stuff from MARHI in the University of Illinois. And Robert called our hostel “Gulag”. He had been joking probably. It is impossible to overestimate the role of professor Robert Ousterhaut in the studies of the history of Byzantine art. At the present day he is the leader in the world studies of the architecture of Byzantium, the real heir of the great Rihard Krauthaimer and Slobodan Curcic, whom he had left behind in his works. His books are known very well in Russia. R. Ousterhaut graduated in the history of art and architecture at the University of Oregon, the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Universities of Cincinati and Illinois. Не worked at the department of history of art at the University of Oregon, department of history of architecture at the University of Illinois, had the chair of the history of architecture and preservation at the University of Illinois, which is considered, as we know, one of the twenty best American universities. He always worked hard and with success. When I had finished reading my course of the history of Russian architecture at Illinois, he said: “Yes, next term the students are to be treated well…” Now he is professor emeritus of the history of art in the famous Penn University. He taught the courses of the “History of architecture from Prehistory to 1400” and “Eastern medieval architecture” as well as led remarkable seminars devoted to the different problem of the history of architecture of the Eastern Meditarenian, including the art of Constantinopole, Cappadoce, meaning and identity in medieval art. His remarkable 4-years field work at Cappadoce, which he described in several books, and his efforts of the preservation of the architectural monuments of Constantinopole are very valuable, Among his books one certainly must cite Holy Apostels: Lost Monument and Forgotten Project, (Washingtone, D. C., 2020); Visualizing Community: Art Material Culture, and Settlement in Byzantine Cappadocia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 46 (Washington, D. C., 2017); Carie Camii (Istambul, 2011); Architecture of the Sacred: Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece to Byzantium (Cambridge University Press, 2012), ed. with Bonna D. Wescoat; Palmyra 1885: The Wolfe Expedition and the Photographs of John Henry Haynes, with B. Anderson (Istanbul: Cornucopia, 2016) John Henry Haynes: Archaeologist and Photographer in the Ottoman Empire 1881–1900 (2nd revised edition, Istanbul: Cornucopia, 2016). Several of his books were reprinted. He edited Approaches to Architecture and Its Decoration: Festschrift for Slobodan Ćurčić (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012), with M. Johnson and A. Papalexandrou. His outstanding book Мaster Builders of Byzantium (2nd paperback edition, University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, 2008) was translated into Russian and Turkish. In this work Robert Ousterhaut for the first time in English speaking tradition is regarding the architecture of Bazantium from the point of view of building art and technology. On the base of the analysis of primary written sources, contemporary archeology data, and careful study of existing monuments the author concludes that the Byzantine architecture was not only exploiting the traditions, but was trying to find new ways of the development of typology and construction techniques, which led to transformation of artistique features. Professor R. Ousterhaut discusses the choice of building materials, structure from foundations to vaults, theoretical problems which solved the master masons of Byzantium. In his recent book Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands, (Oxford University Press, 2019) Robert Ousterhaut is going further. He writes in the introduction: “I succeded my mentor at the University of Illinois… I had the privilege and challenge of teaching “Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture” to generations of the architecture students inspired my 1999 book, Master Builders of Byzantium. The work of Robert Ousterhaut, published 2019, is the new and full interpretation of the architectural heritage of Byzantine Commonwealth. The author devoted the first part of his book to Late Antiquity (3–7 centuries), beginning with the relations of Domus Ecclesiastae and Church Basilica, then speaking of Konstantinopole and Jerusalem of the times of St. Constantine the Great, liturgy, inspiration, commemoration and pilgrimage, adoration of relics as ritual factors which influenced the formation of sacred space, methods and materials, chosen by the Bizantine builders with their interaction of the mentality of the East and West. Special attention is given to dwelling, urban planning and fortification Naturally a chapter is devoted to Hagia Sophia and the building programs of Emperor Justinian. The second part speaks of the transition to what is called Middle Byzantine architecture both in the capital and at the edges of the Empire. The third part tells the story of the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries and includes the rise of the monasteries, once more secular and urban architecture, the craft of church builders. Churches of Greece and Macedonia, Anatolia, Armenia and Georgia, as well as of the West of Byzantium – Venice, Southern Italy and Sicily. The chapter is devoted to Slavonic Balkans – Bulgaria and Serbia and Kievan Rus. The last fourth part of the book describes the times of the Latin Empire, difficult for Byzantium, to the novelty of the architecture of Palewologos and the development of Byzantine ideas in the Balkans and especially in the building programs of the great powers of the epoch Ottoman Empire and Russia. There is a lot more to say about the book of professor Robert Ousterhaut, but we have to leave this to the next issue of this magazine, and better give the space to the words of the author – his text on the architecture of Kievan Rus.

In 2018, Semina, the cultural and scientific magazine of the State University of Londrina (UEL), is celebrating 40 years of operation. The first edition of April/June 1978 was published under the management of the Dean Professor Dr. Oscar Alves and the Vice-Dean Professor Dr. Pedro Vasconcelos Barros, with an Editorial Board comprised of President Professor Theobaldo Cioci Navolar, Director Professor Enoque Balbino Lima, and Members of the Editorial Board Professor Maria Luzel de Oliveira Cauduro, Professor Dr. Jesus Berbel, Professor Leange Severo Alves, and Professor Aldo Matsumoto. With its motto “everything that is planted, grows,” Semina originated as an organ of cultural and scientific dissemination of UEL, an institution located in a region with one of the richest soils in the world, Northern Paraná. In addition, Semina means seed, a word derived from the Latin words terrain and seminis. Thus, the UEL periodic, which means “Seeds” in plural, symbolizes the goal of sowing culture and science in the minds of its readers by disseminating works and activities in all fields of knowledge and culture. The history of the Semina periodic complements the history of the University itself, which was founded on January 28, 1970 by a decree of the then governor of Paraná, Paulo Pimentel. Since its first edition in 1978, the Semina magazine has been following the scientific and cultural development of our University. In Semina’s 40 years of existence, UEL has grown considerably, with an increase in the number of its faculty, administrative staff, and students; this is a result of the growing demand for development in the region and the creation of new latu sensu and stricto sensu undergraduate and postgraduate courses, which has led to a consequent increase in the intellectual production of the institution. The internal growth of UEL and the region increased the demand for internal and external scientific production, which triggered a natural pressure for restructuring and revision of the periodic’s capacity to meet the changes and demands related to this development. Thus, in 1987, Semina began to publish specific issues for each of the four major areas of knowledge: Agrarian Sciences, Biological and Health Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, and Exact and Technological Sciences. Semina: Ciências Agrárias was effectively created in its current form in 2001, with a new ISSN record, and published two issues per year until 2003, four until 2011 and, six or more per year, including supplementary issues, since 2012. With this new division, the current Semina: Ciências Agrárias was indexed in the ISI of Thomson Reuters (SCIE), CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts (CAS), Food Science and Technology (FSTA), AGRIS DATABASE, SCOPUS, and DOAJ, thus offering new opportunities for the publication of scientific papers with the guarantee of wide national and international dissemination. In 2009, Semina: Ciências Agrárias started to be published by the Open Journal Systems (OJS) a software developed for the construction and management of electronic journal publications and its papers were made freely available in the Portal of Scientific Journals of UEL. It began receiving submissions through this electronic system, which increased its access and streamlined the procedure. Since then, Semina: Ciências Agrárias has been ranked by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of Thomson Reuters with an initial impact factor of 0.182. Currently, the impact factor is 0.309 for JCR and 0.350 for SJR (Scientific Journal Rankings) of the editor SCImago. Due to its performance in these important indexes of the Agrarian Sciences and the ease of electronic submission, there was a great increase in the number of papers submitted to be evaluated for publication. This increase allowed an improved selection of published papers and, since 2005, publication in English has been prioritized. Thus, the number of papers published per issue increased to 15 in 2005, to 40 in 2011, and in to 50 in 2013, a number maintained until today. From 2010, Semina: Ciências Agrárias started to use DOI (Digital Object Identifier), an identifier of intellectual property with a unique and exclusive standard code consisting of numbers and letters that enables the creation of a permanent link to a published digital document, easing the access to papers published online. In June 2010, Semina: Ciências Agrárias received its first impact factor evaluation in the ISI Web of Knowledge database. It was observed that the evolution of the magazine occurred in parallel to the growth of UEL’s three Post-Graduate Programs in the wide area of Agricultural Sciences: Food Science, Animal Science, and Agronomy. In January 2018, UEL completed 48 years; the undergraduate program in Veterinary Medicine has run for 45 of these years, and Semina: Ciências Agrárias for 40 years, both making a significant contribution to the history of the institution's development. Throughout its 45 years of existence, the undergraduate program in Veterinary Medicine has grown considerably, establishing from the beginning strategies for the scientific and technological development of the institution and the region. Therefore, the Postgraduate program in Animal Health was created, later evolving to the current Masters and Doctorate Programs in Animal Science, with the participation of professors of the Department of Animal Sciences. A highlight of the periodic's long history has been the important participation of the Chief Editor, Professor Dr. Odilon Vidotto, researcher and recognized professor in Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases. In addition to the growth and improvement in the Animal Science, Agronomy and Food Science Post-Graduate Programs at UEL, the impact of Semina: Ciências Agrárias on the national scientific community has been significant, publishing papers from all regions of the country, most of them from several Postgraduate Programs in the areas of Agrarian, Veterinary, Biological, and Health studies. Currently, the periodic publishes bimonthly original and review papers, case reports, and communications from the wide field of Agrarian Sciences (Agronomy, Food Science and Technology, Veterinary Medicine, and Animal Husbandry). In 2018, on the online Electronic Publishing System for Magazines (SEER), Semina completed nine years of operation, showing an upward trajectory of publications. From 1978 to 1987, 257 papers were published, and from 2009 to 2018 (the online period) 2,858 papers were published; in total, 3,840 papers were published so far. This greater number of publications coincided with the creation by Semina of its own bureau and the hiring of a librarian exclusive for the journal. Librarian Edilaine Aparecida Soares is responsible for the bureau's work, standardization, and publication of papers. The online system allows access for more than seven thousand users (authors, evaluators, and editors) and currently has 10,260 users and 4,576 ad hoc evaluators registered. To celebrate the 40 years of Semina: Ciências Agrárias, the current Chief Editor Professora Dra. Ivone Yurika Mizubuti, the on-leave Editor-in-Chief, Professor Dr. Odilon Vidotto, and the Managing Editors Professores Drs. Carmen Silvia Vieira Janeiro Neves and Professora Dra. Elza Iouko Ida, as well as the 20 section editors, would like to thank the authors, evaluators, and the editing team for their important contribution during the entire course of the journal. Their work has resulted in the performance already reported and, in the future, will certainly help Semina: Ciências Agrárias evolve to the highest levels.

In this paper we describe two community-based participatory research projects in an Orang Asli community that set out to document their local knowledge and culture. We describe how with the support of technology we are able to document indigenous oral traditions and practices that are on the verge of disappearing. The Semai are the largest Orang Asli community in Peninsular Malaysia and mainly live in the states of Perak and Pahang. Like in many other indigenous contexts, the Semai peoples’ transition from an oral culture to a literate culture is relatively recent. In this paper we discuss how our long-term relationship has facilitated two projects using digital media technology that focus on the documentation of local knowledge and culture of the community members in a Semai-speaking village in Perak. Elders in this community, having local knowledge accumulated over generations through direct experiences and participation, were the main source of information for these documentation projects, while younger people assisted with film and audio recording, editing, as well as language transcription and translation. The elders in this Semai community recognise the value and importance of transmitting their local culture and knowledge to the next generation. The projects described in this paper led to the production of two short films in 2014, and a book project, which began in early 2017, is currently underway. Thus, this paper highlights how technology is an enabler in the preservation of endangered indigenous knowledge and culture.

This article examines the Paper Partners program at Ryerson University, Toronto. This peer-mentoring program was developed to support the academic writing skills of students whose first language of academic study was not English. The program integrated a team of student-facilitators, a talk-aloud co-editing process, and a reflective feedback component. The article looks at (a) the process of developing a campus-wide program using a team of student-facilitators specially trained to support English academic writing skills; (b) program assessment based on feedback received from student-writers and facilitators; and (c) the contribution of the program to the language-learning experience. The article concludes with encouragement for postsecondary institutions to develop peer-led languagelearning opportunities on campus to create and celebrate a truly international learning community.

CRISPR-Cas9–mediated homology-directed DNA repair is the method of choice for precise gene editing in a wide range of model organisms, including mouse and human. Broad use by the biomedical community refined the method, making it more efficient and sequence specific. Nevertheless, the rapidly evolving technique still contains pitfalls. During the generation of six different conditional knockout mouse models, we discovered that frequently (sometimes solely) homology-directed repair and/or nonhomologous end joining mechanisms caused multiple unwanted head-to-tail insertions of donor DNA templates. Disturbingly, conventionally applied PCR analysis, in most cases, failed to identify these multiple integration events, which led to a high rate of falsely claimed precisely edited alleles. We caution that comprehensive analysis of modified alleles is essential and offer practical solutions to correctly identify precisely edited chromosomes.

Defining a multicellular model can be challenging. There may be hundreds of parameters that specify the attributes and behaviors of objects. In the best case, the model will be defined using some format specification – a markup language – that will provide easy model sharing (and a minimal step toward reproducibility). PhysiCell is an open-source, physics-based multicellular simulation framework with an active and growing user community. It uses XML to define a model and, traditionally, users needed to manually edit the XML to modify the model. PhysiCell Studio is a tool to make this task easier. It provides a GUI that allows editing the XML model definition, including the creation and deletion of fundamental objects: cell types and substrates in the microenvironment. It also lets users build their model by defining initial conditions and biological rules, run simulations, and view results interactively. PhysiCell Studio has evolved over multiple workshops and academic courses in recent years, which has led to many improvements. There is both a desktop and cloud version. Its design and development has benefited from an active undergraduate and graduate research program. Like PhysiCell, the Studio is open-source software and contributions from the community are encouraged.

Advances in molecular research have culminated in the development of novel gene-based therapies for inherited retinal diseases. We have recently witnessed several groundbreaking clinical studies that ultimately led to approval of Luxturna, the first gene therapy for an inherited retinal disease. In parallel, international research community has been engaged in conducting gene therapy trials for another more common inherited retinal disease known as choroideremia and with phase III clinical trials now underway, approval of this therapy is poised to follow suit. This chapter discusses new insights into clinical phenotyping and molecular genetic testing in choroideremia with review of molecular mechanisms implicated in its pathogenesis. We provide an update on current gene therapy trials and discuss potential inclusion of female carries in future clinical studies. Alternative molecular therapies are discussed including suitability of CRISPR gene editing, small molecule nonsense suppression therapy and vision restoration strategies in late stage choroideremia.

Advances in gene editing technologies for human, plant, and animal applications have led to calls from bench and social scientists, as well as a wide variety of societal stakeholders, for broad public engagement in the decision-making about these new technologies. Unfortunately, there is limited understanding among the groups calling for public engagement on CRISPR and other emerging technologies about 1) the goals of this engagement, 2) the modes of engagement and what we know from systematic social scientific evaluations about their effectiveness, and 3) how to connect the products of these engagement exercises to societal decision or policy making. Addressing all three areas, we systematize common goals, principles, and modalities of public engagement. We evaluate empirically the likely successes of various modalities. Finally, we outline three pathways forward that deserve close attention from the scientific community as we navigate the world of Life 2.0.

Rhizosphere microbiome is a dynamic and complex zone of microbial communities. This complex plant-associated microbial community, usually regarded as the plant’s second genome, plays a crucial role in plant health. It is unquestioned that plant microbiome collectively contributes to plant growth and fitness. It also provides a safeguard from plant pathogens, and induces tolerance in the host against abiotic stressors. The revolution in omics, gene-editing and sequencing tools have somehow led to unravel the compositions and latent interactions between plants and microbes. Similarly, besides standard practices, many biotechnological, (bio)chemical and ecological methods have also been proposed. Such platforms have been solely dedicated to engineer the complex microbiome by untangling the potential barriers, and to achieve better agriculture output. Yet, several limitations, for example, the biological obstacles, abiotic constraints and molecular tools that capably impact plant microbiome engineering and functionality, remained unaddressed problems. In this review, we provide a holistic overview of plant microbiome composition, complexities, and major challenges in plant microbiome engineering. Then, we unearthed all inevitable abiotic factors that serve as bottlenecks by discouraging plant microbiome engineering and functionality. Lastly, by exploring the inherent role of micro/macrofauna, we propose economic and eco-friendly strategies that could be harnessed sustainably and biotechnologically for resilient plant microbiome engineering.

Background On March 11, 2020, the New Mexico Governor declared a public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The New Mexico medical advisory team contacted University of New Mexico (UNM) faculty to form a team to consolidate growing information on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its disease to facilitate New Mexico’s pandemic management. Thus, faculty, physicians, staff, graduate students, and medical students created the “UNM Global Health COVID-19 Intelligence Briefing.” Objective In this paper, we sought to (1) share how to create an informative briefing to guide public policy and medical practice and manage information overload with rapidly evolving scientific evidence; (2) determine the qualitative usefulness of the briefing to its readers; and (3) determine the qualitative effect this project has had on virtual medical education. Methods Microsoft Teams was used for manual and automated capture of COVID-19 articles and composition of briefings. Multilevel triaging saved impactful articles to be reviewed, and priority was placed on randomized controlled studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and information on health care and policy response to COVID-19. The finalized briefing was disseminated by email, a listserv, and posted on the UNM digital repository. A survey was sent to readers to determine briefing usefulness and whether it led to policy or medical practice changes. Medical students, unable to partake in direct patient care, proposed to the School of Medicine that involvement in the briefing should count as course credit, which was approved. The maintenance of medical student involvement in the briefings as well as this publication was led by medical students. Results An average of 456 articles were assessed daily. The briefings reached approximately 1000 people by email and listserv directly, with an unknown amount of forwarding. Digital repository tracking showed 5047 downloads across 116 countries as of July 5, 2020. The survey found 108 (95%) of 114 participants gained relevant knowledge, 90 (79%) believed it decreased misinformation, 27 (24%) used the briefing as their primary source of information, and 90 (79%) forwarded it to colleagues. Specific and impactful public policy decisions were informed based on the briefing. Medical students reported that the project allowed them to improve on their scientific literature assessment, stay current on the pandemic, and serve their community. Conclusions The COVID-19 briefings succeeded in informing and guiding New Mexico policy and clinical practice. The project received positive feedback from the community and was shown to decrease information burden and misinformation. The virtual platforms allowed for the continuation of medical education. Variability in subject matter expertise was addressed with training, standardized article selection criteria, and collaborative editing led by faculty.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to unprecedented, nearly real-time genetic tracing due to the rapid community sequencing response. Researchers immediately leveraged these data to infer the evolutionary relationships among viral samples and to study key biological questions, including whether host viral genome editing and recombination are features of SARS-CoV-2 evolution. This global sequencing effort is inherently decentralized and must rely on data collected by many labs using a wide variety of molecular and bioinformatic techniques. There is thus a strong possibility that systematic errors associated with lab—or protocol—specific practices affect some sequences in the repositories. We find that some recurrent mutations in reported SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences have been observed predominantly or exclusively by single labs, co-localize with commonly used primer binding sites and are more likely to affect the protein-coding sequences than other similarly recurrent mutations. We show that their inclusion can affect phylogenetic inference on scales relevant to local lineage tracing, and make it appear as though there has been an excess of recurrent mutation or recombination among viral lineages. We suggest how samples can be screened and problematic variants removed, and we plan to regularly inform the scientific community with our updated results as more SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences are shared (https://virological.org/t/issues-with-sars-cov-2-sequencing-data/473 and https://virological.org/t/masking-strategies-for-sars-cov-2-alignments/480). We also develop tools for comparing and visualizing differences among very large phylogenies and we show that consistent clade- and tree-based comparisons can be made between phylogenies produced by different groups. These will facilitate evolutionary inferences and comparisons among phylogenies produced for a wide array of purposes. Building on the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Browser at UCSC, we present a toolkit to compare, analyze and combine SARS-CoV-2 phylogenies, find and remove potential sequencing errors and establish a widely shared, stable clade structure for a more accurate scientific inference and discourse.

Context Minoritized populations experience higher rates of dementia and worse health outcomes than non-Hispanic white people, but they are vastly underrepresented in pragmatic clinical trials embedded in health care systems (ePCTs). Little guidance is available to consider health equity–relevant issues in ePCTs. Objective This report describes the development, structure, and content of a guidance document developed by the National Institute on Aging Imbedded Pragmatic AD/ADRD Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory to help investigators systematically assess the integration of health equity into all aspects of ePCT design. Design Led by a task force of IMPACT investigators, a literature review of existing frameworks for health equity considerations in clinical trials was conducted. Next, priority health equity–relevant recommendations in the domains of ePCT design were solicited from Collaboratory experts. The 50 submitted recommendations were reduced to 36 nonoverlapping best practices and categorized into 6 domains, as follows: Getting Started, Community Stakeholder Engagement, Design and Analysis, Intervention Design and Implementation, Health Care System and Participant Selection, and Selecting Outcomes. Each domain had 6 best practice recommendations consisting of a succinctly worded main sentence, with 1 to 2 explanatory sentences. The content was finalized through an iterative process of editing and revision. Conclusions Although specifically focused on ePCTs involving dementia care, the best practices are applicable to any ePCT and can be useful to advance health equity in traditional clinical trials. This guidance document provides a first step toward promoting holistic, structured integration of health equity into the design and conduct of ePCTs as a matter of good science.

The review considers the recent works by Polish academicians from two departments of the University of Lodz – History of Byzantium and Slavic Philology dedicated or related to the history and culture of medieval Bulgaria and the entire Byzantino-Slavic community of the 10th – 15th c. aiming to represent them to Russian audience, to reveal their contributions to the mentioned fields and to appreciate the current achievements of the forming academic school of the University of Lodz. Its beginning cannot be divided from the name of the disciple of prominent Polish Byzantinist Professor Halina Ewert-Kappesowa (1904–1985), Professor Waldemar Ceran (1936–2009), whose research and organizational activities led to the establishment of “Byzantina Lodziensia” book series (39 volumes published in 1997–2020), and in 2003 – to the Department of the History of Byzantium opening. These foundations met resonance and support from a new trend of the research activities in the University of Lodz – Old Slavonic literature studies – initiated by highly skilled paleoslavist Professor Georgi Minczew who began his work at the Department of Slavic Philology in the middle of the 1990s. The growing synergy of the Byzantine and Slavic trends resulted in the creation in 2011 of Ceraneum – the Centre of Research in History and Culture of Mediterranean and South-Eastern Europe named after W. Ceran (Centrum Badań nad Historią i Kulturą Basenu Morza Śródziemnego i Europy Południowo-Wschodniej im. prof. Waldemara Cerana, Ceraneum). Under its aegis the University of Lodz is editing annual scholarly journal “Studia Ceranea” (10 issues in 2011–2020) and since 2019 convenes in the historical venue of Bidermann Palace, the residence of the centre, annual international colloquium “Colloquia Ceranea” which attracts leading Polish and international scholars in Byzantine, Slavic and Bulgarian medieval history and culture. The author critically reviews monographs and miscellanies published by academicians of the University of Lodz in the recent five years and concludes upon the main research directions, results and perspectives of the University of Lodz school of Byzantine, Medieval Slavic and Bulgarian research.

<p>Despina Iosif, «Christianos ad Leonem». The Case of Perpetua</p> <p>Two Greek editions of the diary of Perpetua have recently appeared, one by Polymnia Athanassiadi and the other by Thanassis Georgiadis, both bound to attract attention. Perpetua lived at Thuburbo Minus, west of Carthage in North Africa. She was an upper class, well-educated Roman citizen, twenty-two years of age, newly married and mother of a baby boy, who converted to Christianity and chose martyrdom instead of sacrificing to the traditional gods of the Roman Empire. Her decision was interpreted as an insult to the gods and the emperors, and a direct challenge to the established order and resulted in her being sentenced to death to the beasts of the arena in Carthage in 203 CE. It was a well-established Roman belief that the traditional gods offered military victories, stability, prosperity and grandeur to the Roman people. In return and to secure the continuation of this benevolence, the Roman people carried certain strictly defined rites in honour of their gods. Pagan religion was less a matter of personal devotion than of national significance. The Christians despised the traditional gods, declaring that they did not exist or that they were malevolent demons and neglected or obstructed the traditional religious rites. This conduct disrupted the agreement the Romans had made with their gods and made the empire vulnerable. From the second century on, natural disasters were being attributed to the wrath of gods as a result of the Christian atheism and the hatred Christians allegedly had for the world. It is extremely fortunate that Perpetua's diary, which she kept while in prison awaiting her death, has survived. It is a bold, vivid and honest account of her prison life, her dreams and the hopeless efforts of her father to persuade her to conform and sacrifice. The fact that the text praised prophesy and placed martyrs above the established church hierarchy led scholars to believe that is was a Montanist product. Fourth and fifth century bishops felt uncomfortable with Perpetua's diary and surrounded it with homiletic commentaries. Instead of letting the text speak directly to the community of the faithful, they guided the understanding of words, subtly changing its messages, and controlled its dissemination. They made Perpetua less appealing as a role model and less threatening to the social order. The impression and fascination her diary exerted, however, remain unchanged.</p>

<p>The second ESMO Asia 2016 Congress, led by an international committee to promote the sharing of expertise and interaction between regional and international experts in oncology, returned for a second appearance at the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore recently. Organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Asian leg of the annual scientific and educational congress was held from December 16–19th, 2016 and attended by over 2,000 healthcare professionals and exhibitors, including representatives from AMOR who were also present to cover the event. <br /> <br />ESMO Asia 2016 brought together oncologists from the Asian region and beyond to discuss important discoveries in oncology and to update delegates on the latest standards of care, the organizer noted in its media release. More specifically, delegates attending the meeting took the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas on current clinical challenges and novel treatment strategies for a variety of tumor subtypes, as well as to highlight emerging cancer therapeutics that are rapidly gaining attention in clinical settings. In addition to highlighting the latest in cancer research, the congress also sought to underscore bioethical, economic, and social challenges posed by cancer by addressing crucial issues such as the rising costs of treatments, the need for psychological support for patients, the need for better palliative care, and the vital importance of improving access to innovative drugs. <br /> <br />In this edition of the ESMO Asia congress, the keynote lectures consisted of two topics: how the differences between tumors can impact the design of effective treatments, and the link between common Epstein-Barr virus and nasopharyngeal cancer. With these two keynote lectures setting the tone for the congress, delegates saw a wide range of key discussions pertaining to the clinical relevance of molecular advances and innovative treatment approaches. Moreover, sessions that focus on improving current clinical understanding of various tumor types and novel treatment strategies for different tumor subtypes were also prominently featured. <br /> <br />In his opening remarks, ESMO President Prof. Fortunato Ciardiello said, “We are glad to be returning to Singapore for the second ESMO Asia Congress. Consolidating activities in Asia underlines the importance ESMO places on collaboration with partners in this region. The program this year will have a strong emphasis on state-of-the-art education and on the current standard of care across all major tumor types.” He continued, “In addition to practical seminars and wide-ranging discussions about how oncologists and other stakeholders can best collaborate for greater treatment results for cancer patients, delegates can look forward to opportunities for interaction with both local experts and key opinion leaders from the international oncology community.” <br /> <br />The opening ceremony was graced by the Guest-of-Honor – Dr. Amy Khor, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Health. In her speech, Dr. Khor laid emphasis on how events such as the ESMO Asia Congress are essential in providing an open platform to facilitate research collaboration. “To address the challenges presented by the complexity of cancer, the development of regional and international research networks is increasingly important to catalyze scientific communication and collaboration,” she said. To this end, Dr. Khor lauded the partnership between ESMO and the Singapore Society of Oncology in setting up a new office for cancer research aimed at facilitating collaborations between researchers in Europe and Asia — ESMO’s first footprint in Asia. “By building capabilities and strengthening our partnerships, we can do much more to improve patient care and treatment, especially for the Asian population,” she said. <br /> <br />Dr. Ravindran Kanesvaran, President of the host organization – Singapore Society of Oncology, echoed the sentiment. “Oncology is a rapidly evolving field that requires a multi-disciplinary approach between various healthcare professionals from different backgrounds and experience extending across all areas of cancer care trying their best to bring an end to this growing scourge. This collaborative endeavor is key to improve access, raise the quality of treatment delivery, and standard of cancer care in Singapore and Asia in general,” he stated. The cancer research office, which is yet to be officially named and launched, will open in the first quarter of 2017 at the National Cancer Centre Singapore and will administer educational grants, workshops, and conferences between Europe and Asia, Dr. Ravindran added. <br /> <br />The ESMO Asia 2016 Congress was supported by 20 of the most important and influential oncology associations in the region, including the Singapore Society of Oncology and the oncology societies from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Uzbekistan. <br /> <br />During the congress, AMOR spoke to Dr. Susanna Hilda Hutajulu, a representative of the Indonesian Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology (ISHMO). Dr. Hutajulu is a practising medical oncologist in Indonesia who is actively involved in clinical research work and she is a regular participant of ESMO meetings, having recently attended ESMO 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Susanna had also attended the inaugural ESMO Asia congress in 2015 and is an avid supporter of the congress’s multi-faceted agenda. On the development of cancer research in South East Asia, she told AMOR, “I agree that there should be a dedicated platform to showcase and promote the research work of oncology specialists and organizations in South East Asia.” <br /> <br />Dr. Hutajulu added, “Researchers in Indonesia place great importance in Scopus indexing when it comes to choosing the right journals to publish their research work in.” Meanwhile, the Myanmar Oncology Society (MOS) was represented by Dr. Shu Mon, who is based at the Thurein Mon Clinic in Yangon, Myanmar. During the congress, she gave a presentation on breast cancer management that is specific to the Myanmar experience. According to Dr. Shu Mon, there are only 30 qualified medical oncologists serving the whole of Myanmar, a country with a population of about 51 million people. On establishing collaborations with an academic journal, she said, “MOS is willing to work with a journal such as AMOR to promote the oncology research in Myanmar provided that there are suitable opportunities that both sides could agree on.”</p><p> </p><p>During the congress, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Gwo Fuang, the guest managing editor for AMOR’s upcoming special issue and a representative of the Malaysian Oncological Society (MOS) at ESMO Asia 2016, was featured as one of the panelists of the ESMO-COS-MOS-NZSO Joint Symposium on ‘New insights into gastrointestinal cancers’. Dr. Ho, who is a medical oncologist at Malaysia’s University Malaya Medical Centre, delivered a talk entitled ‘Adjuvant aspirin for colorectal cancer? A cross-Asia collaborative effort’, a multi-nation initiative involving Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asia Pacific countries. His presentation offered strong scientific and observational data to support the adjuvant use of aspirin in reducing the formation of polyps and metastases after colorectal cancer diagnosis. Towards the end of his presentation, Dr. Ho highlighted the ongoing curation of AMOR’s Special Issue and invited his peers to submit papers to the journal for consideration.</p>

It was the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan who first introduced the term ‘global village’ into the lexicon, almost fifty years ago. He was referring to the phenomenon of global interconnectedness of which we are all too aware today. At that time, we were witnessing the world just opening up. In 1946, British Airways had commenced a twice weekly service from London to New York. The flight involved one or two touch downs en-route and took a scheduled 19 hours and 45 minutes. By the time McLuhan had published his book “Understanding media; the extensions of man”, there were regular services by jet around the globe. London to Sydney was travelled in just under 35 hours. Moving forward to a time immediately pre-covid, there were over 30 non-stop flights a day in each direction between London and New York. The travel time from London to Sydney had been cut by a third, to slightly under 22 hours, with just one touchdown en-route. The world has well and truly ‘opened up’. No place is unreachable by regular services. But that is just one part of the picture. In 1962, the very first live television pictures were transmitted across the Atlantic, via satellite. It was a time when sports’ fans would tune in besides a crackling radio set to hear commentary of their favourite game relayed from the other side of the world. Today of course, not only can we watch a live telecast of the Olympic Games in the comfort of our own homes wherever the games are being held, but we can pick up a telephone and talk face to face with friends and relatives in real time, wherever they may be in the world. To today’s generation – generation Z – this does not seem in the least bit remarkable. Indeed, they have been nicknamed ‘the connected generation’ precisely because such a degree of human interconnectedness no longer seems worth commenting on. The media technology and the transport advances that underpin this level of connectedness, have become taken for granted assumptions to them. This is why the global events of 2020 and the associated public health related reactions, have proved to be so remarkable to them. It is mass travel and the closeness and variety of human contact in day-to-day interactions, that have provided the breeding ground for the pandemic. Consequently, moving around and sharing close proximity with many strangers, have been the activities that have had to be curbed, as the initial primary means to manage the spread of the virus. This has caused hardship to many, either through the loss of a job and the associated income or, the lengthy enforced separation from family and friends – for the many who find themselves living and working far removed from their original home. McLuhan’s powerful metaphor was ahead of its time. His thoughts were centred around media and electronic communications well prior to the notion of a ‘physical’ pandemic, which today has provided an equally potent image of how all of our fortunes have become intertwined, no matter where we sit in the world. Yet it is this event which seems paradoxically to have for the first time forced us to consider more closely the path of progress pursued over the last half century. It is as if we are experiencing for the first time the unleashing of powerful and competing forces, which are both centripetal and centrifugal. On the one hand we are in a world where we have a World Health Organisation. This is a body which has acted as a global force, first declaring the pandemic and subsequently acting in response to it as a part of its brief for international public health. It has brought the world’s scientists and global health professionals together to accelerate the research and development process and develop new norms and standards to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and help care for those affected. At the same time, we have been witnessing nations retreating from each other and closing their borders in order to restrict the interaction of their citizens with those from other nations around the world. We have perceived that danger and risk are increased by international travel and human to human interaction. As a result, increasingly communication has been carried out from the safety and comfort of one’s own home, with electronic media taking the place of personal interaction in the real world. The change to the media dominated world, foreseen by McLuhan a half century ago, has been hastened and consolidated by the threats posed by Covid 19. Real time interactions can be conducted more safely and more economically by means of the global reach of the internet and the ever-enhanced technologies that are being offered to facilitate that. Yet at a geopolitical level prior to Covid 19, the processes of globalism and nationalism were already being recognised as competing forces. In many countries, tensions have emerged between those who are benefitting from the opportunities presented by the development of free trade between countries and those who are invested in more traditional ventures, set in their own nations and communities. The emerging beneficiaries have become characterised as the global elites. Their demographic profile is one associated with youth, education and progressive social ideas. However, they are counter-balanced by those who, rather than opportunities, have experienced threats from the disruptions and turbulence around them. Among the ideas challenged, have been the expected certainties of employment, social values and the security with which many grew up. Industries which have been the lifeblood of their communities are facing extinction and even the security of housing and a roof over the heads of self and family may be under threat. In such circumstances, some people may see waves of new immigrants, technology, and changing social values as being tides which need to be turned back. Their profile is characterised by a demographic less equipped to face such changes - the more mature, less well educated and less mobile. Yet this tension appears to be creating something more than just the latest version of the generational divide. The recent clashes between Republicans and Democrats in the US have provided a very potent example of these societal stresses. The US has itself exported some of these arenas of conflict to the rest of the world. Black lives Matter and #Me too, are social movements with their foundation in the US which have found their way far beyond the immediate contexts which gave them birth. In the different national settings where these various tensions have emerged, they have been characterised through labels such as left and right, progressive and traditional, the ‘haves’ versus the ‘have nots’ etc. Yet common to all of this growing competitiveness between ideologies and values is a common thread. The common thread lies in the notion of competition itself. It finds itself expressed most potently in the spread and adoption of ideas based on what has been termed the neoliberal values of the free market. These values have become ingrained in the language and concepts we employ every day. Thus, everything has a price and ultimately the price can be represented by a dollar value. We see this process of commodification around us on a daily basis. Sports studies’ scholars have long drawn attention to its continuing growth in the world of sport, especially in situations when it overwhelms the human characteristics of the athletes who are at the very heart of sport. When the dollar value of the athlete and their performance becomes more important than the individual and the game, then we find ourselves at the heart of some of the core problems reported today. It is at the point where sport changes from an experience, where the athletes develop themselves and become more complete persons experiencing positive and enriching interactions with fellow athletes, to an environment where young athletes experience stress and mental and physical ill health as result of their experiences. Those who are supremely talented (and lucky?) are rewarded with fabulous riches. Others can find themselves cast out on the scrap heap as a result of an unfair selection process or just the misfortune of injury. Sport as always, has proved to be a mirror of life in reflecting this process in the world at large, highlighting the heights that can be climbed by the fortunate as well as the depths that can be plumbed by the ill-fated. Advocates of the free-market approach will point to the opportunities it can offer. Figures can show that in a period of capitalist organised economies, there has been an unprecedented reduction in the amount of poverty in the world. Despite rapid growth in populations, there has been some extraordinary progress in lifting people out of extreme poverty. Between 1990 and 2010, the numbers in poverty fell by half as a share of the total population in developing countries, from 43% to 21%—a reduction of almost 1 billion people (The Economist Leader, June 1st, 2013). Nonetheless the critics of capitalism will continue to point to an increasing gap between the haves and don’t haves and specifically a decline in the ‘middle classes’, which have for so long provided the backbone of stable democratic societies. This delicate balance between retreating into our own boundaries as a means to manage the pandemic and resuming open borders to prevent economic damage to those whose businesses and employment depend upon the continuing movement of people and goods, is one which is being agonised over at this time in liberal democratic societies around the world. The experience of the pandemic has varied between countries, not solely because of the strategies adopted by politicians, but also because of the current health systems and varying social and economic conditions of life in different parts of the world. For many of us, the crises and social disturbances noted above have been played out on our television screens and websites. Increasingly it seems that we have been consuming our life experiences in a world dominated by our screens and sheltered from the real messiness of life. Meanwhile, in those countries with a choice, the debate has been between public health concerns and economic health concerns. Some have argued that the two are not totally independent of each other, while others have argued that the extent to which they are seen as interrelated lies in the extent to which life’s values have themselves become commodified. Others have pointed to the mental health problems experienced by people of all ages as a result of being confined for long periods of time within limited spaces and experiencing few chances to meet with others outside their immediate household. Still others have experienced different conditions – such as the chance to work from home in a comfortable environment and be freed from the drudgery of commuting in crowded traffic or public transport. So, at a national/communal level as well as at an individual level, this international crisis has exposed people to different decisions. It has offered, for many, a chance to recalibrate their lives. Those who have the resources, are leaving the confines of the big capital cities and seeking a healthier and less turbulent existence in quieter urban centres. For those of us in what can be loosely termed ‘an information industry’, today’s work practices are already an age away from what they were in pre-pandemic times. Yet again, a clear split is evident. The notion of ‘essential industries’ has been reclassified. The delivery of goods, the facilitation of necessary purchase such as food; these and other tasks have acquired a new significance which has enhanced the value of those who deliver these services. However, for those whose tasks can be handled via the internet or offloaded to other anonymous beings a readjustment of a different kind is occurring. So to the future - for those who have suffered ill-health and lost loved ones, the pandemic only reinforces the human priority. Health and well-being trumps economic health and wealth where choices can be made. The closeness of human contact has been reinforced by the tales of families who have been deprived of the touch of their loved ones, many of whom still don’t know when that opportunity will be offered again. When writing our editorial, a year ago, I little expected to be still pursuing a Covid related theme today. Yet where once we were expecting to look back on this time as a minor hiccough, with normal service being resumed sometime last year, it has not turned out to be that way. Rather, it seems that we have been offered a major reset opportunity in the way in which we continue to progress our future as humans. The question is, will we be bold enough to see the opportunity and embrace a healthier more equitable more locally responsible lifestyle or, will we revert to a style of ‘progress’ where powerful countries, organisations and individuals continue to amass increased amounts of wealth and influence and become increasingly less responsive to the needs of individuals in the throng below. Of course, any retreat from globalisation as it has evolved to date, will involve disruption of a different kind, which will inevitably lead to pain for some. It seems inevitable that any change and consequent progress is going to involve winners and losers. Already airline companies and the travel industry are putting pressure on governments to “get back to normal” i.e. where things were previously. Yet, in the shadow of widespread support for climate activism and the extinction rebellion movement, reports have emerged that since the lockdowns air pollution has dropped dramatically around the world – a finding that clearly offers benefits to all our population. In a similar vein the impossibility of overseas air travel in Australia has resulted in a major increase in local tourism, where more inhabitants are discovering the pleasures of their own nation. The transfer of their tourist and holiday dollars from overseas to local tourist providers has produced at one level a traditional zero-sum outcome, but it has also been accompanied by a growing appreciation of local citizens for the wonders of their own land and understanding of the lives of their fellow citizens as well as massive savings in foregone air travel. Continuing to define life in terms of competition for limited resources will inevitably result in an ever-continuing run of zero-sum games. Looking beyond the prism of competition and personal reward has the potential to add to what Michael Sandel (2020) has termed ‘the common good’. Does the possibility of a reset, offer the opportunity to recalibrate our views of effort and reward to go beyond a dollar value and include this important dimension? How has sport been experiencing the pandemic and are there chances for a reset here? An opinion piece from Peter Horton in this edition, has highlighted the growing disconnect of professional sport at the highest level from the communities that gave them birth. Is this just another example of the outcome of unrestrained commodification? Professional sport has suffered in the pandemic with the cancelling of fixtures and the enforced absence of crowds. Yet it has shown remarkable resilience. Sport science staff may have been reduced alongside all the auxiliary workers who go to make up the total support staff on match days and other times. Crowds have been absent, but the game has gone on. Players have still been able to play and receive the support they have become used to from trainers, physiotherapists and analysts, although for the moment there may be fewer of them. Fans have had to rely on electronic media to watch their favourites in action– but perhaps that has just encouraged the continuing spread of support now possible through technology which is no longer dependent on personal attendance through the turnstile. Perhaps for those committed to the watching of live sport in the outdoors, this might offer a chance for more attention to be paid to sport at local and community levels. Might the local villagers be encouraged to interrelate with their hometown heroes, rather than the million-dollar entertainers brought in from afar by the big city clubs? To return to the village analogy and the tensions between global and local, could it be that the social structure of the village has become maladapted to the reality of globalisation? If we wish to retain the traditional values of village life, is returning to our village a necessary strategy? If, however we see that today the benefits and advantages lie in functioning as one single global community, then perhaps we need to do some serious thinking as to how that community can function more effectively for all of its members and not just its ‘elites’. As indicated earlier, sport has always been a reflection of our society. Whichever way our communities decide to progress, sport will have a place at their heart and sport scholars will have a place in critically reflecting the nature of the society we are building. It is on such a note that I am pleased to introduce the content of volume 43:1 to you. We start with a reminder from Hoyoon Jung of the importance of considering the richness provided by a deep analysis of context, when attempting to evaluate and compare outcomes for similar events. He examines the concept of nation building through sport, an outcome that has been frequently attributed to the conduct of successful events. In particular, he examines this outcome in the context of the experiences of South Africa and Brazil as hosts of world sporting events. The mega sporting event that both shared was the FIFA world cup, in 2010 and 2014 respectively. Additional information could be gained by looking backwards to the 1995 Rugby World Cup in the case of South Africa and forward to the 2016 Olympics with regard to Brazil. Differentiating the settings in terms of timing as well as in the makeup of the respective local cultures, has led Jung to conclude that a successful outcome for nation building proved possible in the case of South Africa. However, different settings, both economically and socially, made it impossible for Brazil to replicate the South African experience. From a globally oriented perspective to a more local one, our second paper by Rafal Gotowski and Marta Anna Zurawak examines the growth and development, with regard to both participation and performance, of a more localised activity in Poland - the Nordic walking marathon. Their analysis showed that this is a locally relevant activity that is meeting the health-related exercise needs of an increasing number of people in the middle and later years, including women. It is proving particularly beneficial as an activity due to its ability to offer a high level of intensity while reducing the impact - particularly on the knees. The article by Petr Vlček, Richard Bailey, Jana Vašíčková XXABSTRACT Claude Scheuer is also concerned with health promoting physical activity. Their focus however is on how the necessary habit of regular and relevant physical activity is currently being introduced to the younger generation in European schools through the various physical education curricula. They conclude that physical education lessons, as they are currently being conducted, are not providing the needed 50% minimum threshold of moderate to vigorous physical activity. They go further, to suggest that in reality, depending on the physical education curriculum to provide the necessary quantum of activity within the child’s week, is going to be a flawed vision, given the instructional and other objectives they are also expected to achieve. They suggest implementing instead an ‘Active Schools’ concept, where the PE lessons are augmented by other school-based contexts within a whole school programme of health enhancing physical activity for children. Finally, we step back to the global and international context and the current Pandemic. Eric Burhaein, Nevzt Demirci, Carla Cristina Vieira Lourenco, Zsolt Nemeth and Diajeng Tyas Pinru Phytanza have collaborated as a concerned group of physical educators to provide an important international position statement which addresses the role which structured and systematic physical activity should assume in the current crisis. This edition then concludes with two brief contributions. The first is an opinion piece by Peter Horton which provides a professional and scholarly reaction to the recent attempt by a group of European football club owners to challenge the global football community and establish a self-governing and exclusive European Super League. It is an event that has created great alarm and consternation in the world of football. Horton reflects the outrage expressed by that community and concludes: While recognising the benefits accruing from well managed professionalism, the essential conflict between the values of sport and the values of market capitalism will continue to simmer below the surface wherever sport is commodified rather than practised for more ‘intrinsic’ reasons. We conclude however on a more celebratory note. We are pleased to acknowledge the recognition achieved by one of the members of our International Review Board. The career and achievements of Professor John Wang – a local ‘scholar’- have been recognised in his being appointed as the foundation E.W. Barker Professor in Physical Education and Sport at the Nanyang Technological University. This is a well-deserved honour and one that reflects the growing stature of the Singapore Physical Education and Sports Science community within the world of International Sport Studies. John Saunders Brisbane, June 2021

This past decade has recorded an increase in catastrophic events that have led to dramatic changes for Americans. The wake of these disasters has resulted in many lessons being learned. These lessons have been captured by Homeland Security in the First Edition of the National Preparedness Goal. Extension is uniquely positioned to assist with community disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response efforts as outlined in the National Preparedness Goal. This article captures examples of Extension's involvement in the disaster realm and encourages additional work in the many aspects of community emergency preparedness.

At the April 22nd, 2021, ALA Monthly Webinar meeting led by President Julius Jefferson, we heard several incredible stories about how many US libraries had connected with their local communities to offset the effects of the pandemic. Then, in his Making a Difference article in the May 2021 American Libraries edition, he highlighted the $7.2 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund recently passed by Congress that includes funding for library services related to devices and broadband internet for library patrons. The combination of both underscores what can be accomplished by community libraries, as well as what can potentially be achieved by community library leaders and their teams with this incredible new funding. It’s a once in a generation opportunity not to be wasted.

Though too often lately we’ve found ourselves watching films at home, instead of going to theatres, cinema in itself is a medium of fellowship, reminiscence and communication.Starting from these premises we, as a festival, wanted to create a different way to get to experience cinema and its values, without actually involving the cinematic experience. While immersed in a global experience (the pandemic) we started to look back again to the unique differences that make us part of all the smaller communities we are involved with and how this engagement is, and can be, told by films. Those thoughts got us looking for the stories of those that, brick after brick, have built the community and its beliefs, only to remember that a community is a living thing and it evolves with its members. This path led us to think of a project called “Italian Identities – Sories and memories of the communities” and he had some Tuscan high schools to join it.The project consists in getting the students to know better the cinematic media and how to use it in order to tell their story as part of their community. Some professional critics, scriptwriters and directors helped in the process of filming and editing and the final result was projected at the latest edition of the Montecatini International Short Film Festival, and will also have an international distribution. Cinema was again a medium of communication, fellowship and reminiscence, but it’s now seen from the other side of the camera.