Foundation Trusts: A Retrospective Review

There is limited research evidence on foundation trusts (FTs) and much of the available material is in the form of commentary or the regular reports from Monitor. Comparative research is made difficult through lack of a counter-factual and robust methods are required to overcome bias. Summary points from the literature and from some initial analysis of Monitor reports that we have undertaken for this review are given below. Future policy and research issues are highlighted in the main report.

Structure-functional activity relationship of β-glucans from the perspective of immunomodulation : a mini-review

β-Glucans are a heterogeneous group of glucose polymers with a common structure comprising a main chain of β-(1,3) and/or β-(1,4)-glucopyranosyl units, along with side chains with various branches and lengths. β-Glucans initiate immune responses via immune cells, which become activated by the binding of the polymer to specific receptors. However, β-glucans from different sources also differ in their structure, conformation, physical properties, binding affinity to receptors, and thus biological functions. The mechanisms behind this are not fully understood. This mini-review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date commentary on the relationship between β-glucans' structure and function in relation to their use for immunomodulation

TV Review on ABC\u27s Fresh Off the Boat

For its first season, ABC\u27s Fresh Off the Boat, which has an Asian American family at the center of the story, made a lot of buzzes around pop cultural critics, both from professional pundits (e.g., a New York Times critic) and amateurs (e.g., my wife). Some voices are positive about the show while others are not. Yet still, the second season is highly likely to come back this fall and more talks are expected over the show, again from both sides. Why? Why should you like it, or why not? What brings the show to the second season? Any theological importance of the show? This review provides a commentary on that four-fold questioning

Building Machines That Learn and Think Like People

Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has renewed interest in building systems that learn and think like people. Many advances have come from using deep neural networks trained end-to-end in tasks such as object recognition, video games, and board games, achieving performance that equals or even beats humans in some respects. Despite their biological inspiration and performance achievements, these systems differ from human intelligence in crucial ways. We review progress in cognitive science suggesting that truly human-like learning and thinking machines will have to reach beyond current engineering trends in both what they learn, and how they learn it. Specifically, we argue that these machines should (a) build causal models of the world that support explanation and understanding, rather than merely solving pattern recognition problems; (b) ground learning in intuitive theories of physics and psychology, to support and enrich the knowledge that is learned; and (c) harness compositionality and learning-to-learn to rapidly acquire and generalize knowledge to new tasks and situations. We suggest concrete challenges and promising routes towards these goals that can combine the strengths of recent neural network advances with more structured cognitive models.Comment: In press at Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Open call for commentary proposals (until Nov. 22, 2016). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/information/calls-for-commentary/open-calls-for-commentar

Is Canada Really All That Bad At Innovation?: A Tale of Two Industries

This commentary raises questions about the degree to which global innovation indicators enable us to understand the historical dynamics of innovation in Canada, and about future directions for Canadian innovation policy. By focusing on the automotive and telecommunications sectors, two currently troubled Canadian industries with completely different histories, some of the major successes and mistakes of Canadian industrial policy are assessed critically. The conclusion is that the innovation problem in Canada has less to do with capabilities or opportunities, than with recent tendencies not to follow through when ambitious innovation initiatives in specific industries could be transformed into new national "engines of growth".Review, Innovation, productivity, telecommunications industry, automotive industry, research and development,

Foreword

This Foreword provides an overview of Criminal Behavior and the Brain: When Law and Neuroscience Collide, a symposium hosted by the Fordham Law Review and cosponsored by the Fordham Law School Neuroscience and Law Center. While the field of neuroscience is vast—generally constituting “the branch of the life sciences that studies the brain and nervous system”— this symposium focused on the cutting-edge ties between neuroscience evidence and the different facets of criminal law. Such an intersection invited commentary from an expert group on a wide span of topics, ranging from the historical underpinnings between law and neuroscience to the treatment of young adults to the different roles of neuroscience in the context of sentencing, expert testimony, defenses, prediction, punishment, and rehabilitation, as well as the civil and criminal divide. These diverse subjects have an overarching theme in common: each pertains in some way to the criminal justice system’s effort to punish or rehabilitate more fairly and effectively

The place of inner language in feeling: a commentary on “Revisiting the Left Convexity Hypothesis: Changes in the Mental Apparatus after Left Dorso-medial Prefrontal Damage” by Salas & Yuen

This paper provides a commentary on Salas and Yuen (this issue) who propose a revision to the ‘left convexity hypothesis’ of Kaplan-Solms and Solms, that there is no evidence for involvement of left hemisphere regions in the mental apparatus. Salas and Yuen provide a theoretical review and detailed clinical description that forms the basis for their argument that left dorso-medial frontal regions may be involved in ego regulation of emotion. In this commentary, the theoretical basis for Salas and Yuen’s argument is considered in light of cognitive and affective neuroscience models of emotion regulation. Whilst this commentary is supportive of Salas’ and Yuen’s position, the models discussed distinguish different roles of inner language associated with labeling and reappraisal, or with distancing or shifting of inner perspective. However this clinical, theoretical and empirical extension of Salas and Yuen’s position raises further questions regarding the role and nature of inner language with regard to the experience and regulation of emotion

Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in psoriatic arthritis.

INTRODUCTION: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can result in significant disability. With the emergence of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi), therapeutic outcomes in PsA have improved substantially. The clinical efficacy and the inhibition of radiographic progression demonstrated by TNFi have transformed the management of PsA. However, there is still an unmet need for a subset of patients who do not respond adequately to TNFi. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of the pharmacokinetics of TNFi, the efficacy of TNFi in PsA, and the role of immunogenicity of TNFi in the treatment of PsA. In addition, we address the use of TNFi in the setting of other medications utilized in the treatment of PsA and the potential future role of biosimilars. Expert commentary: Monoclonal antibodies exhibit complex and widely variable pharmacokinetics. The study of factors that can affect the pharmacokinetics, such as immunogenicity, is valuable to further define and understand the use of TNFi in PsA, especially in the subset of patients who do not respond adequately to these agents or lose effectiveness over time

The Global Employer: 2015 Review and 2016 Preview

2015 was another busy year in terms of legal changes and developments around the world. In this 2015 Review and 2016 Preview edition of the Global Employer Magazine we summarize some of these important changes. In the 2015 Review of developments and trends tables below we have set out some of the main developments that took place in 2015 and provided recommended actions or tips on how employers should operate in light of these developments in 2016. For some countries, instead of covering developments, we have referred to trends that we saw in 2015 and again, set out some actions to help employers deal with these trends in the relevant country in 2016. In the 2016 Preview of important forthcoming changes tables, we preview pending legislation and case developments for which employers should stay tuned . Please note that, as there were so many developments, we haven\u27t been able to cover them all. Instead, we have chosen some of the most important or interesting developments. Where possible, we have also added a general impact rating to help show the significance of some of the developments, with 5 being a very significant or important development. Of course, the significance and importance of the development is subject to each employer\u27s circumstances. In addition, some of the entries don\u27t have a rating due to the fact that they include only general commentary on developments, trends or potential political changes. The information below is provided by region in the following order: Asia Pacific, Europe Middle East & Africa, Latin America and North America

The governance of Scottish ferry services

In this paper we argue that the present arrangements for review and implementation of Scottish Ferry policy are not competent and that, in particular the role and functions of Transport Scotland should be replaced by an independent regulator supported and directed by a sector-specific statutory framework. The arguments here are buttressed by reference to serious and well-documented failures on the part of this agency and its predecessor government department in dealing with the areas of ferry governance with which they have been given responsibility. By "not competent" it is not intended to imply failures in terms of competence or performance on the part of any individual. Competence depends on context, training and perspective, the problems here are systemic and institutional and cannot be sorted by any review or reviews carried out by Transport Scotland itself. The former Home Secretary John Reid once famously remarked that his Immigration Department was "not fit for purpose". What can be said about the present role and functions of Transport Scotland in the context of Scottish ferry policy is that they were not designed for purpose. This paper is intended to be read in conjunction with my 2009 Fraser Commentary paper on Scottish ferry policy for which it can be treated as both an extension and update. It can however be read independently of that paper, though for reason of brevity and economy we shall avoid much of the technical and legislative detail covered in that earlier paper where possible