Agreement for the Establishment of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law

This contribution outlines the content of a new agreement, signed initially by Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu, that establishes a Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law. This Commission has, inter alia, the express power to request an advisory opinion from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on issues within the ITLOS jurisdiction relating to international law and climate change. The complementary initiative by Vanuatu to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice through the UN General Assembly is also discussed. The text of the agreement is attached as an appendix at the end of this article

Breaking a Chaotic Cryptographic Scheme Based on Composition Maps

Recently, a chaotic cryptographic scheme based on composition maps was proposed. This paper studies the security of the scheme and reports the following findings: 1) the scheme can be broken by a differential attack with $6+\lceil\log_L(MN)\rceil$ chosen-plaintext, where $MN$ is the size of plaintext and $L$ is the number of different elements in plain-text; 2) the scheme is not sensitive to the changes of plaintext; 3) the two composition maps do not work well as a secure and efficient random number source.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Advances in computational and translational approaches for malignant glioma

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors in adults and carry a dismal prognosis for patients. Current standard-of-care for gliomas is comprised of maximal safe surgical resection following by a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy depending on the grade and type of tumor. Despite decades of research efforts directed towards identifying effective therapies, curative treatments have been largely elusive in the majority of cases. The development and refinement of novel methodologies over recent years that integrate computational techniques with translational paradigms have begun to shed light on features of glioma, previously difficult to study. These methodologies have enabled a number of point-of-care approaches that can provide real-time, patient-specific and tumor-specific diagnostics that may guide the selection and development of therapies including decision-making surrounding surgical resection. Novel methodologies have also demonstrated utility in characterizing glioma-brain network dynamics and in turn early investigations into glioma plasticity and influence on surgical planning at a systems level. Similarly, application of such techniques in the laboratory setting have enhanced the ability to accurately model glioma disease processes and interrogate mechanisms of resistance to therapy. In this review, we highlight representative trends in the integration of computational methodologies including artificial intelligence and modeling with translational approaches in the study and treatment of malignant gliomas both at the point-of-care and outside the operative theater in silico as well as in the laboratory setting

Risk Stratification and Early Oncologic Outcomes Following Robotic Prostatectomy

Results of this study suggest that robotic prostatectomy provides good cancer outcomes for clinically localized disease

Conflict Management, Team Coordination, and Performance Within Multicultural Temporary Projects: Evidence From the Construction Industry

The purpose of our study is to enhance the understanding of relationships between conflict management style, team coordination, and performance in multicultural project team contexts. We investigate how conflict management can contribute to team effectiveness through the mediation of the level of team coordination by collecting data from 126 team leaders and supervisors and 378 members nested in different multicultural projects in the construction industry. Our results show that, contrary to the findings from prior research in other team contexts, an avoiding style of conflict management can have a positive impact on the performance of multicultural project teams

Leaders, conflict, and team coordination: a relational leadership approach in temporary organizations

This study explores how the level of relational leadership of team leaders influences team members’ conflict-handling style and team coordination in temporary organisations (TOs). Leaning upon Socio-Psychological and relational leadership theories, the research also evaluates how the cultural background of leaders moderates the nature of the association between relational leadership and project team performance. This contribution is unique by engaging with three moderating cultural groups while drawing on data from 126 teams in TOs using PLS path modelling. The results explain that relational leadership influences team members’ cooperative and conflict-avoiding styles, which are, in turn, positively associated with team coordination and team performance. The judicious and considered use of conflict-avoiding should be recognised as a thoughtful style in multicultural team contexts and as a consequence of relational leadership. Team coordination and performance, however, are related more to relational leadership with the sample of leaders from a specific within-nationality cultural background

The Voltage–gated Proton Channel, Hv1, Enhances Brain Damage from Ischemic Stroke

Phagocytic cell NADPH oxidase (NOX) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of innate immunity. Unfortunately, ischemia can also induce this pathway and inflict damage on native cells. Here we show that NOX–mediated damage can be inhibited by suppression of the voltage-gated proton channel, Hv1. Hv1 is required for full NOX activity since it compensates for loss of NOX–exported charge. We show that Hv1 is required for NOX–dependent ROS generation in brain microglia in situ and in vivo. Mouse and human brain microglia, but not neurons or astrocytes, express large Hv1-mediated currents. Mice lacking Hv1 were protected from NOX–mediated neuronal death and brain damage 24 hours after stroke. These results demonstrate that Hv1–dependent ROS production is responsible for a significant fraction of brain damage at early time points after ischemic stroke and provide a rationale for Hv1 as a therapeutic target for the treatment of ischemic stroke