The Ethnic 'Other' in Ukrainian History Textbooks: The Case of Russia and the Russians

This paper examines portrayals of Russia and the Russians in two generations of Ukrainian history textbooks. It observes that the textbooks are highly condemning of Ukraine's main ethnic other in the guise of foreign ruler: the tsarist authorities and the Soviet regime are always attributed dubious and malicious intentions even if there is appreciation for some of their policies. By contrast, the books, certainly those of the second generation, refrain from presenting highly biased accounts of the ethnic other as a national group (i.e. Russians). Instances where negative judgements do fall onto Russians are counterbalanced by excerpts criticizing ethnic Ukrainians or highlighting conflicting interests within the Ukrainian ethnic group. The negative appraisal of the ethnic other as foreign ruler is clearly instrumental for the nation-building project as it sustains a discourse legitimating the existence of Ukraine as independent state. However, recent trends in history education, the paper concludes, suggest that the importance of nurturing patriotism as a national policy objective is diminishing

Scholars’ open debate paper on the World Health Organization ICD-11 gaming disorder proposal

Concerns about problematic gaming behaviors deserve our full attention. However, we claim that it is far from clear that these problems can or should be attributed to a new disorder. The empirical basis for a Gaming Disorder proposal, such as in the new ICD-11, suffers from fundamental issues. Our main concerns are the low quality of the research base, the fact that the current operationalization leans too heavily on substance use and gambling criteria, and the lack of consensus on symptomatology and assessment of problematic gaming. The act of formalizing this disorder, even as a proposal, has negative medical, scientific, public-health, societal, and human rights fallout that should be considered. Of particular concern are moral panics around the harm of video gaming. They might result in premature application of diagnosis in the medical community and the treatment of abundant false-positive cases, especially for children and adolescents. Second, research will be locked into a confirmatory approach, rather than an exploration of the boundaries of normal versus pathological. Third, the healthy majority of gamers will be affected negatively. We expect that the premature inclusion of Gaming Disorder as a diagnosis in ICD-11 will cause significant stigma to the millions of children who play video games as a part of a normal, healthy life. At this point, suggesting formal diagnoses and categories is premature: the ICD-11 proposal for Gaming Disorder should be removed to avoid a waste of public health resources as well as to avoid causing harm to healthy video gamers around the world

A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: let us err on the side of caution

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the 10 commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games is related to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and severity of the problems they experience should be a focus area for future research. However, moving from research construct to formal disorder requires a much stronger evidence base than we currently have. The burden of evidence and the clinical utility should be extremely high, because there is a genuine risk of abuse of diagnoses. We provide suggestions about the level of evidence that might be required: transparent and preregistered studies, a better demarcation of the subject area that includes a rationale for focusing on gaming particularly versus a more general behavioral addictions concept, the exploration of non-addiction approaches, and the unbiased exploration of clinical approaches that treat potentially underlying issues, such as depressive mood or social anxiety first. We acknowledge there could be benefits to formalizing gaming disorder, many of which were highlighted by colleagues in their commentaries, but we think they do not yet outweigh the wider societal and public health risks involved. Given the gravity of diagnostic classification and its wider societal impact, we urge our colleagues at the WHO to err on the side of caution for now and postpone the formalization

Spontaneous Combustion in Open Cut Coal Mines -- Recent Australian Research

The control of spontaneous combustion in spoil piles is an area of concern for a number of open cut coal mines. Spontaneous combustion in spoil may occur when carbonaceous waste materials are exposed to air. In large piles, the relatively high voidage within the pile may allow sufficient movement of air through the pile to sustain oxidation and heat generation. Over the past decade, ACARP and CSIRO have funded a number of projects aimed at providing a better understanding of the causes of spontaneous combustion in spoil piles and the development of control strategies. Work has focused on prevention measures but has also considered measures available to deal with well-developed fires. Field, laboratory and numerical modelling methods have been brought to bear on the issues. Individual projects have addressed: • causes of spontaneous combustion including the relative reactivities of mine waste materials; • the use of cover layers to prevent spontaneous combustion; • the use of flyash grout to control an active fire; • the emissions of air pollutants; and • the emission of greenhouse gases. This paper provides a description of the work carried out to date with an emphasis on the major findings of the research and its application to open cut mines

EMC Conducted Emission Analysis of a 3D Multilayer Printed Circuit Board with Kron's Method

International audienceThis paper introduces a fast analysis of signal integrity (SI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) conducted emission (CE) for a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB). The analysis consists in elaborating the ICEM of PCB constituted by electrical interconnect and integrated circuits (ICs) presenting digital and RF/microwave effects. The 3D multilayer PCB including the IC components are modelling with the Kron's formalism using the tensorial analysis of networks (TAN). The equivalent graph topology of the EMC model and the transfer impedance analytical formulation are introduced. The EMC CEs emanated in the PCB are defined from the IC-EMC standardized internal activities. The overall system is modeled in the Kron's equivalent graph. Then, the problem solution is determined from the mesh impedance metric and current calculation. is elaborated in order to establish the metric of the problem. The effectiveness of the developed EMC CE modelling is verified with comparison of frequency domain computations from the TAN method and simulations with a commercial tool. Less computation time of EMC CE voltage noise and transfer impedance spectrums from DC to 1 GHz was pointed out

Telomere Profiling : Toward Glioblastoma Personalized Medicine

International audienceDespite a standard of care combining surgery, radiotherapy (RT) and Temozolomide chemotherapy, average, Glioblastoma patient survival is still less than one year. However, recent advances in molecular signalization profiling in glioblastoma have provided new targets for personalized medicine development and new irradiation techniques, such as carbon ion Hadrontherapy, are now available. The latter technology leads to a higher biological response, while minimizing adverse effects on healthy tissues in comparison with RT. As carbon ion Hadrontherapy access is restricted to RT resistant patient, photon irradiation resistance biomarkers are needed. Long telomeres and high TA have widely been associated with photon radio-resistance in other cancers. Moreover, telomere protection, function and length also depend on the Shelterin protein complex (TRF1, TRF2, TPP1, POT1, TIN2, hRAP1). We thus decided to evaluate an enlarged telomeric status (TL), telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) and the shelterin component expression level as a potential radioresistance biomarker in a panel of 11 glioblastomaderived cell lines. In addition, nothing was known about the role of telomeres in carbon ion response. We have thus evaluated this telomeric status after both types of irradiations. We report a significant correlation between TL, basal POT1 expression level and photon radioresistance and a significant variation in TERT, TERF1 and POT1 expression after photon irradiation. Strikingly, all of these correlations were lost when considering carbon irradiation. We thus propose (i) a model of telomeric damage implications in cell response to both irradiations, (ii) to assess POT1 expression level or TL on tumor biopsy to identify radioresistant patients

Telomere profiling : toward glioblastoma personalized medicine

International audienceDespite a standard of care combining surgery, radiotherapy (RT), and temozolomide chemotherapy, the average overall survival (OS) of glioblastoma patients is only 15 months, and even far lower when the patient cannot benefit from this combination. Therefore, there is a strong need for new treatments, such as new irradiation techniques. Against this background, carbon ion hadrontherapy, a new kind of irradiation, leads to a greater biological response of the tumor, while minimizing adverse effects on healthy tissues in comparison with RT. As carbon ion hadrontherapy is restricted to RT-resistant patients, photon irradiation resistance biomarkers are needed. Long telomeres and high telomerase activity have been widely associated with photon radioresistance in other cancers. Moreover, telomere protection, telomere function, and telomere length (TL) also depend on the shelterin protein complex (TRF1, TRF2, TPP1, POT1, TIN2, and hRAP1). We thus decided to evaluate an enlarged telomeric status (TL, telomerase catalytic subunit, and the shelterin component expression level) as a potential radioresistance biomarker in vitro using cellular models and ex vivo using patient tumor biopsies. In addition, nothing was known about the role of telomeres in carbon ion response. We thus evaluated telomeric status after both types of irradiation. We report here a significant correlation between TL and the basal POT1 expression level and photon radioresistance, in vitro, and a significant increase in the OS of patients with long telomeres or a high POT1 level, in vivo. POT1 expression was predictive of patient response irrespective of the TL. Strikingly, these correlations were lost, in vitro, when considering carbon irradiation. We thus propose (1) a model of the implications of telomeric damage in the cell response to both types of irradiation and (2) assessment of the POT1 expression level and TL using patient tumor biopsies to identify radioresistant patients who could benefit from carbon hadrontherapy

The Australian air quality forecasting system. Part I : project description and early outcomes

The Australian Air Quality Forecasting System (AAQFS) is the culmination of a 3-yr project to develop a numerical primitive equation system for generating high-resolution (1–5 km) short-term (24–36 h) forecasts for the Australian coastal cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Forecasts are generated 2 times per day for a range of primary and secondary air pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particles that are less than 10 μm in diameter (PM10). A preliminary assessment of system performance has been undertaken using forecasts generated over a 3-month demonstration period. For the priority pollutant ozone it was found that AAQFS achieved a coefficient of determination of 0.65 and 0.57 for forecasts of peak daily 1-h concentration in Melbourne and Sydney, respectively. The probability of detection and false-alarm rate were 0.71 and 0.55, respectively, for a 60-ppb forecast threshold in Melbourne. A similar level of skill was achieved for Sydney. System performance is also promising for the primary gaseous pollutants. Further development is required before the system can be used to forecast PM10 confidently, with a systematic overprediction of 24-h PM10 concentration occurring during the winter months.14 page(s