A Review on the Use of Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy in the Bile Duct

Background. Current methods to diagnose malignant biliary strictures are of low sensitivity. Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) is a new approach that can be used to evaluate in vivo histopathology of the GI tract. This paper is of studies evidencing pCLE's application in the diagnosis of indeterminate biliary strictures. Methods. This paper examined peer-reviewed studies conducted between January 2000 and November 2011. A PubMed search for relevant articles was performed using the following keywords:“pCLE”, “confocal”, “endomicroscopy”, “probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy”, “and “bile duct”. Further individual review was done to assess the screened articles' relevance to the topic. Results. After individual review, 6 studies were included; with a cumulative sample size of 165, with 75 subjects identified as having a malignancy. These studies included tertiary care centers in Germany, France, and USA, including one multicenter trial. 3 studies assessed pCLE's specificity (range 67%–88%) ,sensitivity (range 83%–98), and accuracy (range 81%–86%). Conclusion. Confocal endomicroscopy is a novel and promising modality for the biliary tree. Further studies need to be conducted both to establish its usefulness for the diagnosis of indeterminate biliary strictures and to understand the histological meaning of the imaging patterns that are observed

The role of self-conscious emotions in ethical consumption

This thesis examines the role of self-conscious emotions (SCEs) in ethical consumption. The work is primarily psychological and it seeks to add to the generic literature on the role of emotions in consumer behaviour by focusing on SCEs, such as guilt and pride, and analyses their special place in ethical consumption decisions. A mixed method approach was adopted, combining a qualitative study and a quantitative experiment. The qualitative study comprised 31 in-depth semi-structured interviews designed to explore the manifestation of SCEs and the process by which they influence ethical activity, as recounted by the participants themselves. The data analysis showed that SCEs influence the decision making process and arise at different stages in the consumption cycle, guilt and pride being the most salient emotions. SCEs also played a part in a type of compensatory process between ethical and unethical choices in which consumers engage. The findings of the qualitative study suggested that SCEs have the potential to influence consumers’ ethical choices through marketing communications. The qualitative findings are valuable in their own right and they advanced our understanding of the role of emotions in ethical consumption. In addition, by providing evidence about the motivational role of SCEs, the qualitative study was used to inform the design of the experimental study which sought to test the impact of marketing communications inducing these emotions on consumers’ intentions and behaviour. This was tested via recycling video adverts in a laboratory experiment with 90 students, 30 stimulated to feel guilty, 30 to feel proud and 30 with no stimulus. Guilt and pride were both shown not to influence recycling ethical intentions, as stated by the participants, but they were found to increase actual ethical behaviour as measured by a choice of a product with recyclable packaging versus a product with non-recyclable packaging. The results of the present thesis entail a series of theoretical and practical implications. In terms of theoretical implications, it offers evidence that emotions, as non-rational variables, should be considered when seeking to understand individuals’ behaviour in the context of ethical consumption. Consequently, the thesis moves the debate further from the sole examination of cognition-related variables which can only partially explain why consumers behave ethically or unethically. In particular, the findings show that positive and negative SCE have a cyclical influence on the decision making process where immediate or post-decision emotions can be metamorphosed into anticipatory emotions for future decisions and thus regulate consumers’ prospect choices. The results also demonstrate that emotions emerge in different stages of consumption (purchase, use and disposal) and that they have a key role in a compensatory process that consumers engage and by which ethical and unethical decisions are balanced to maintain psychological wellbeing. Final theoretical implications entailed by the qualitative study are the development of a guilt taxonomy and description of the guilt management strategies employed by consumers to overcome this negative feeling. The practical implications are directly related to marketing communications. A part of the managerial implications were tested through the experimental design which showed that adverts inducing pride and guilt, respectively, determine ethical choice. The finding related to the positive influence of the pride advert on ethical behaviour responds to the call of some researchers to investigate positive emotions as an alternative to marketing communications over-dependent on negative emotions. Other anticipated practical implications of the present study are related to the design of adverts that can trigger individual types of guilt or a combination, depending on the context and the desired level of guilt to be induced. Additionally, the guilt management strategies can inform marketers’ counteracting communications aiming at neutralising the techniques used by consumers to justify and sustain their less ethical behaviour

The role of self-conscious emotions in ethical consumption

This thesis examines the role of self-conscious emotions (SCEs) in ethical consumption. The work is primarily psychological and it seeks to add to the generic literature on the role of emotions in consumer behaviour by focusing on SCEs, such as guilt and pride, and analyses their special place in ethical consumption decisions. A mixed method approach was adopted, combining a qualitative study and a quantitative experiment. The qualitative study comprised 31 in-depth semi-structured interviews designed to explore the manifestation of SCEs and the process by which they influence ethical activity, as recounted by the participants themselves. The data analysis showed that SCEs influence the decision making process and arise at different stages in the consumption cycle, guilt and pride being the most salient emotions. SCEs also played a part in a type of compensatory process between ethical and unethical choices in which consumers engage. The findings of the qualitative study suggested that SCEs have the potential to influence consumers’ ethical choices through marketing communications. The qualitative findings are valuable in their own right and they advanced our understanding of the role of emotions in ethical consumption. In addition, by providing evidence about the motivational role of SCEs, the qualitative study was used to inform the design of the experimental study which sought to test the impact of marketing communications inducing these emotions on consumers’ intentions and behaviour. This was tested via recycling video adverts in a laboratory experiment with 90 students, 30 stimulated to feel guilty, 30 to feel proud and 30 with no stimulus. Guilt and pride were both shown not to influence recycling ethical intentions, as stated by the participants, but they were found to increase actual ethical behaviour as measured by a choice of a product with recyclable packaging versus a product with non-recyclable packaging. The results of the present thesis entail a series of theoretical and practical implications. In terms of theoretical implications, it offers evidence that emotions, as non-rational variables, should be considered when seeking to understand individuals’ behaviour in the context of ethical consumption. Consequently, the thesis moves the debate further from the sole examination of cognition-related variables which can only partially explain why consumers behave ethically or unethically. In particular, the findings show that positive and negative SCE have a cyclical influence on the decision making process where immediate or post-decision emotions can be metamorphosed into anticipatory emotions for future decisions and thus regulate consumers’ prospect choices. The results also demonstrate that emotions emerge in different stages of consumption (purchase, use and disposal) and that they have a key role in a compensatory process that consumers engage and by which ethical and unethical decisions are balanced to maintain psychological wellbeing. Final theoretical implications entailed by the qualitative study are the development of a guilt taxonomy and description of the guilt management strategies employed by consumers to overcome this negative feeling. The practical implications are directly related to marketing communications. A part of the managerial implications were tested through the experimental design which showed that adverts inducing pride and guilt, respectively, determine ethical choice. The finding related to the positive influence of the pride advert on ethical behaviour responds to the call of some researchers to investigate positive emotions as an alternative to marketing communications over-dependent on negative emotions. Other anticipated practical implications of the present study are related to the design of adverts that can trigger individual types of guilt or a combination, depending on the context and the desired level of guilt to be induced. Additionally, the guilt management strategies can inform marketers’ counteracting communications aiming at neutralising the techniques used by consumers to justify and sustain their less ethical behaviour

The possible disappearance of a massive star in the low metallicity galaxy PHL 293B

We investigate a suspected very massive star in one of the most metal-poor dwarf galaxies, PHL~293B. Excitingly, we find the sudden disappearance of the stellar signatures from our 2019 spectra, in particular the broad H lines with P~Cygni profiles that have been associated with a massive luminous blue variable (LBV) star. Such features are absent from our spectra obtained in 2019 with the ESPRESSO and X-shooter instruments of the ESO's VLT. We compute radiative transfer models using CMFGEN that fit the observed spectrum of the LBV and are consistent with ground-based and archival Hubble Space Telescope photometry. Our models show that during 2001--2011 the LBV had a luminosity $L_* = 2.5-3.5 \times 10^6 ~L_{\odot}$, a mass-loss rate $\dot{M} = 0.005-0.020 ~M_{\odot}$~yr$^{-1}$, a wind velocity of 1000~km~s$^{-1}$, and effective and stellar temperatures of $T_\mathrm{eff} = 6000-6800$~K and $T_\mathrm{*}=9500-15000$~K. These stellar properties indicate an eruptive state. We consider two main hypotheses for the absence of the broad emission components from the spectra obtained since 2011. One possibility is that we are seeing the end of an LBV eruption of a surviving star, with a mild drop in luminosity, a shift to hotter effective temperatures, and some dust obscuration. Alternatively, the LBV could have collapsed to a massive black hole without the production of a bright supernova.Comment: 8, pages, 7 figures, MNRAS accepted ; see also the ESO press release at: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2010

Normalisers of irreducible subfactors

We consider normalizers of an infinite index irreducible inclusion Nsubset of or equal toM of II1 factors. Unlike the finite index setting, an inclusion uNu*subset of or equal toN can be strict, forcing us to also investigate the semigroup of one-sided normalizers. We relate these one-sided normalizers of N in M to projections in the basic construction and show that every trace one projection in the relative commutant N′∩left angle bracketM,eNright-pointing angle bracket is of the form u*eNu for some unitary uset membership, variantM with uNu*subset of or equal toN generalizing the finite index situation considered by Pimsner and Popa. We use this to show that each normalizer of a tensor product of irreducible subfactors is a tensor product of normalizers modulo a unitary. We also examine normalizers of infinite index irreducible subfactors arising from subgroup–group inclusions Hsubset of or equal toG. Here the one-sided normalizers arise from appropriate group elements modulo a unitary from L(H). We are also able to identify the finite trace L(H)-bimodules in ℓ2(G) as double cosets which are also finite unions of left cosets

/R/ Lenition in Quebec French: Evidence from the Distribution of 9 Allophones in Large Corpora

Lenition is a process whereby a segment shifts to a "weaker" variant (i.e., closer to deletion in the history of languages). Lenition is also a positional phenomenon, typically affecting intervocalic or coda consonants before post-coda or post-pausal onsets. While the lenition of stops is well studied in Romance languages, investigations about other segments are rare. We propose to fill this gap by focusing on /R/ in Québec French (QF), a variety documented to exhibit up to 9 allophones. We examine 50K+ read words from the PFCQuébec Corpus [1] that we manually annotated (for voicing, manner and place of articulation – based on perception and spectrograms). The analysis of the distribution of /R/ in different syllabic positions shows that lenited (approximantized, vocalized and non-realized) variants indeed appear in leniting positions (coda and intervocalic), thus showing that /R/ realizations in QF are not in free variation but indeed an instance of lenition