What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? And what explains the dramatic rise and fall in the number of states overtime, following no consistent trend and not showing an immediately obvious direction or pattern? The answers lie at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Small state survival and proliferation is determined first and foremost by features of and dynamics created at the states system. As the states system changes and evolves the chances for small states to survive or proliferate change as well. In fact, a quantitive investigation confirms this, showing that over the course of more than 31⁄2 centuries, the number of small states did fluctuate widely and at times dramatically.
What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? And what explains the dramatic rise and fall in the number of states overtime, following no consistent trend and not showing an immediately obvious direction or pattern? The answers lie at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Small state survival and proliferation is determined first and foremost by features of and dynamics created at the states system. As the states system changes and evolves the chances for small states to survive or proliferate change as well. In fact, a quantitive investigation confirms this, showing that over the course of more than 31⁄2 centuries, the number of small states did fluctuate widely and at times dramatically.
Election, Atonement, and the Holy Spirit' is an examination of the doctrines of election and atonement in Karl Barth's 'Church Dogmatics', taking up Barth's own challenge to his reader to surpass his argument and offer a better typological interpretationof the cultic texts. Barth's radical re-working of Calvin's doctrine of election is one of the most important developments in twentieth-century theology. Christ synthesizes for Barth a particular dialectic: the binary structure of God's Yes of election and God's No of rejection. The book's central question - how can Jesus simultaneously be both the elected and the rejected (CD II/2), acting as both the judge and the judged (CD IV/1)? - is followed by an exploration of the roles of the Holy Spirit and human freedom in God's electing and saving action. Although commentators acknowledge Barth's innovation in this area but also identify problems with his approach, few have offered what David Ford has called a correction 'from within' Barth, using Barth's ownmethod. Using the concept of Existenzstellvertretung, this critique of Barth's exegetical justification for the doctrines offers an alternative exegesis that not only provides this much-needed correction, but also immerses the reader in a fresh engagement with Scripture itself.
This book has two main purposes. On the one hand, it provides a concise and systematic development of the theory of lower previsions, based on the concept of acceptability, in spirit of the work of Williams and Walley. On the other hand, it also extends this theory to deal with unbounded quantities, which abound in practical applications. Following Williams, we start out with sets of acceptable gambles. From those, we derive rationality criteria---avoiding sure loss and coherence---and inference methods---natural extension---for (unconditional) lower previsions. We then proceed to study various aspects of the resulting theory, including the concept of expectation (linear previsions), limits, vacuous models, classical propositional logic, lower oscillations, and monotone convergence. We discuss n-monotonicity for lower previsions, and relate lower previsions with Choquet integration, belief functions, random sets, possibility measures, various integrals, symmetry, and representation theorems based on the Bishop-De Leeuw theorem. Next, we extend the framework of sets of acceptable gambles to consider also unbounded quantities. As before, we again derive rationality criteria and inference methods for lower previsions, this time also allowing for conditioning. We apply this theory to construct extensions of lower previsions from bounded random quantities to a larger set of random quantities, based on ideas borrowed from the theory of Dunford integration. A first step is to extend a lower prevision to random quantities that are bounded on the complement of a null set (essentially bounded random quantities). This extension is achieved by a natural extension procedure that can be motivated by a rationality axiom stating that adding null random quantities does not affect acceptability. In a further step, we approximate unbounded random quantities by a sequences of bounded ones, and, in essence, we identify those for which the induced lower prevision limit does not depend on the details of the approximation. We call those random quantities 'previsible'. We study previsibility by cut sequences, and arrive at a simple sufficient condition. For the 2-monotone case, we establish a Choquet integral representation for the extension. For the general case, we prove that the extension can always be written as an envelope of Dunford integrals. We end with some examples of the theory.
The subject matter of volume 2 of the 2-volumes-handbook focusses especially on rare sarcomas of the whole female genitalia. These entities include angiosarcoma, the different lipo- and rhabdomyosarcoma as well as newer entities like the PEComa. Furthermore, mixed mullerian tumors like the benign adenofibroma and the malignant adenosarcoma and carcinosarcoma are described in detail. The book provides a description at length of the epidemiology, etiology, pathological anatomy, prognosis, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, imaging and comprehensive therapy of each primary, relapsed, and metastasized tumor including surgery, chemo-, hormone- and radio- and targeted therapy. An own chapter is devoted to the problems of fertility and pregnancy in connection with all sarcomas, variants of leiomyoma, atypical smooth muscle tumors, disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis, benign metastasizing leiomyoma, intravenous leiomyomatosis and endometrial stromal tumors – endometrial stromal nodules, endometrial stromal tumor with sex cord-like elements (ESTSCLE), uterine tumor resembling ovarian sex-cord tumor (UTROSCT) -and all mixed tumors - of the female genitalia. The book aims to identify and provide diagnostic and therapeutic guidance. The listed tumor entities also constitute a particular diagnostic challenge for pathologists that contains numerous pitfalls and difficulties. This book, therefore, addresses gynecologists and pathologists in both clinical and private practice, but also surgeons and hemato-oncologists.
This volume gives the proceedings of the ninth Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS). This annual symposium is held alternately in France and Germany and is organized jointly by the Special Interest Group for Fundamental Computer Science of the Association Francaise des Sciences et Technologies de l'Information et des Syst mes (AFCET) and the Special Interest Group for Theoretical Computer Science of the Gesellschaft f}r Informatik (GI). The volume includes three invited lectures and sections on parallel algorithms, logic and semantics, computational geometry, automata and languages, structural complexity, computational geometry and learning theory, complexity and communication, distributed systems, complexity, algorithms, cryptography, VLSI, words and rewriting, and systems.
The subject matter of volume 1 of the 2-volumes-handbook focusses on leiomyosarcoma, low-grade and high-grade endometrial sarcoma and undifferentiated uterine sarcoma of the whole female genitalia. A separate extensive chapter is devoted to the variants of leiomyoma (angio-, lipo-, cotyledonoid, cellular, mitotically active, epithelioid and myxoid leiomyoma, leiomyoma with bizarre nuclei), atypical smooth muscle tumors (smooth muscle tumors with uncertain malignant potential), and disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis, benign metastasizing leiomyoma, and intravenous leiomyomatosis. Furthermore, endometrial stromal tumors – endometrial stromal nodules, endometrial stromal tumor with sex cord-like elements (ESTSCLE), uterine tumor resembling ovarian sex-cord tumor (UTROSCT) - and similar tumors are described in detail. The book provides a description at length of the epidemiology, etiology, pathological anatomy, prognosis, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, imaging and comprehensive therapy of each primary, relapsed, and metastasized tumor including surgery, chemo-, hormone- and radio- and targeted therapy. Another chapter is devoted to the prevention of subjecting sarcomas to inadequate surgical therapeutic measures under the assumed diagnosis of leiomyoma, and includes a diagnostic-therapeutic flowchart with a diagnostic score. The book aims to identify and provide diagnostic and therapeutic guidance. The listed tumor entities also constitute a particular diagnostic challenge for pathologists that contains numerous pitfalls and difficulties. This book, therefore, addresses gynecologists and pathologists in both clinical and private practice, but also surgeons and hemato-oncologists.
This research monograph discusses the close correlation between the magnetic and structural properties of thin films in the context of numerous examples of epitaxial metal films, while emphasis is laid on the stabilization of novel structures compared to the bulk material. Further options, possibilities, and limits for applications are given. Techniques for the characterization of thin films are addressed as well.
In der vorliegenden Dissertation geht es um die Vorstellung der verschiedenen Partizipationsebenen sowie der Komponenten eines Dienstleistungssystems als Co-Creation System. Auf dieser Basis wird eine digitale kollaborative Bürgerbeteiligungsplattform zur Co-Creation von bürgerinitiierten Dienstleistungen im öffentlichen Sektor designt und evaluiert. Weiterhin findet das Design und die Evaluation einer digitalen kollaborativen Lern- und Qualifizierungsplattform zur Co-Creation von situiertem arbeitsprozessbezogenem Lernmaterial im privaten Sektor statt. Schließlich werden geeignete Dienstleistungsmessmodelle zur Qualitätsbestimmung erarbeitet. Dabei trägt die Dissertation mit dem systematischen Co-Creation Einreichungsprozess durch die Anwendung von strukturellem Empowerment zur Unter stützung des Einzelnen bei. Die aus einem Top-down und Bottom-up Ansatz kombinierte Co-Creation Plattform stellt eine Theorie der Gestaltung und des Handelns dar. Zusätzlich werden konkrete Designprinzipien zur Entwicklung des Co Creation Systems bereitgestellt.
Virtual Reality has the potential to provide descriptive and practical information for medical training and therapy while relieving the patient or the physician. Multimodal interactions between the user and the virtual environment facilitate the generation of high-fidelity sensory impressions, by using not only visual and auditory, but also kinesthetic, tactile, and even olfactory feedback modalities. On the basis of the existing physiological constraints, Virtual Reality in Medicine derives the technical requirements and design principles of multimodal input devices, displays, and rendering techniques. Resulting from a course taught by the authors, Virtual Reality in Medicine presents examples for surgical training, intra-operative augmentation, and rehabilitation that are already in use as well as those currently in development. It is well suited as introductory material for engineering and computer science students, as well as researchers who want to learn more about basic technologies in the area of virtual reality applied to medicine. It also provides a broad overview to non-engineering students as well as clinical users, who desire to learn more about the current state of the art and future applications of this technology.
This reference book is for anyone involved in generating surgical training scenarios, as well as in VR-based training in general. It examines the main components required to define a scenario, in the context of surgical scene generation: Generation of the scene geometry; modelling of organ appearance; definition of biomechanical parameters. The book is the ideal reference for any reader involved in generating training scenarios, as well as in VR-based training in general.
Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.
The complex interactions between the innate and adaptive immune systems function to recognize and clear pathogens or transformed cells, but inefficient interactions between these two systems can result in harmful immunologic responses including chronic infections and the development of cancer. Several hallmarks of dysfunctional adaptive immune responses often detected in tumors share specific features with ineffective immunity in chronic infections. The members of the micromilieu actively participate in the process of tumorigenesis or chronification of infection by modulating innate and adaptive immune system interactions leading e.g. to insufficient T cell responses. The best example is given by the acquisition of an “exhausted” state of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (CTLs) responding to chronic infections or tumors that are associated with elevated expression of inhibitory receptors and impaired cytokine response. Targeting these major inhibitory pathways by immune checkpoint blockers represents a prime example of successful clinical translation of tumor-specific immunotherapies. Understanding the mechanisms behind (mal)adaptations of the immune system is crucial for achieving therapeutic benefits. The establishment and co-evolution of a dynamic microenvironment niche constituted by the recruitment of numerous cell types dampen immune responses and thus contribute to the development of neoplastic transformation as well as infection. Although there are examples of successful immunotherapeutic approaches (CAR-T cells, immune checkpoint inhibitors, or mRNA vaccination), a large percentage of patients with cancer or chronic infections still do not benefit from these therapies or develop severe immune-related adverse events. The reasons for these failures are not well understood. A possible explanation might be that current immunotherapies target predominantly the effector arm of the immune system by trying to reactivate dysfunctional T cells, but do not sufficiently address the influence of the innate immune system and the contributions of the tumor microenvironment (TME) niche. The main problem we would like to address in this special issue is how inappropriate function of the innate immune system affects adaptive immunity and contributes to inefficient anti-cancer immunity and chronification of infections. The central goal is to provide a more precise understanding of the various (common and novel) immune evasion mechanisms in cancers and in chronic infections to obtain a detailed map of common and disease-specific immune escape checkpoints. To that aim, we want to compile a wide array of interdisciplinary studies exploring a comparative and multi-layered analysis of mechanisms responsible for inefficient immune responses, including novel approaches i.e. multi-omics or epigenetic signaling. We would also like to combine studies from different fields, including basic and clinical immunology, oncology, and virology/microbiology. We welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Methods, Case report, and Perspective articles that cover, but are not limited to the following topics: • Convergent mechanisms supporting immune escape in preclinical models (tumors and chronic infections) • Convergent evasion mechanisms mediated by tumor-infiltrating suppressive cells (Treg, MDSC, macro-phages, soluble mediators, signaling, metabolism, ...) • Convergent immune evasion mechanisms mediated by chronic infection (viral or parasite) • Novel strategies to modulate the TME by direct or indirect targeting of immune suppressor cells. • Approaches to enhance persistence and resilience of anticancer T cells • Combinatorial therapeutic strategies (mRNA, antibodies, immune checkpoint blockers …) that target convergent immune evasion mechanisms Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this topic.
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