Mathematical images in advertising: constructing difference and shaping identity, in global consumer culture

Mathematics educators have long emphasised the importance of attitudes and feelings towards mathematics, as crucial in motivating (or not) its learning and use, and as influenced in turn by its social images. This paper is about images of mathematics. Our search for advertisements containing such images of in UK daily newspapers, during 2006-2008, found that 4.7% of editions included a ‘mathematical’ advert, compared with 1.7% in pilot work for 1994-2003. The incidence varied across type of newspaper, being correlated with class and gender profiles of the readership. Three-quarters of advertisements were classified as containing only very simple mathematics. ‘Semiotic-discursive’ analysis of selected advertisements suggests that they draw on mathematics not to inform, but to connote qualities like precision, certainty and authority. We discuss the discourse on mathematics in advertising as ‘quasi-pedagogic’ discourse, and argue that its oversimplified forms, being empty of mathematical content, become powerful means for regulating and ‘pedagogising’ today’s global consumers

Mucosal melanoma — clinical presentation and treatment based on a case series

Melanoma is malignant disease originating from melanocytes (pigment cells that occur mainly in the skin and constitute a type of defence from ultraviolet radiation). Melanocytes also occur outside of the skin (among others — in the eyeball, the mucosal lining of the digestive tract from the oral cavity to the anus, the nasal cavity and the paranasal sinuses, and the urinary and reproductive tracts). Many known cases of melanoma in the aforementioned locations exist. The main factor responsible for the development of skin melanoma is ultraviolet radiation. In the case of mucosal melanoma, aetiological factors are still unknown. Mucosal melanoma most often develops in places that are hidden and not accessible through standard testing. Therefore, the disease develops without any signs for a long period of time before the proper diagnosis is established (usually at a disseminated stage, at a point where no successful localised treatment can be applied), which, in combination with a more aggressive course in comparison to more typical locations (the skin, the eyeball), a different sensitivity to systemic treatment (usually the lack of a mutation in the BRAF gene), and the lack of a separate standardised treatment procedure, is the cause of worse outcomes and poor prognosis. Mucosal melanomas occur very rarely (about 1.5 % of all melanomas); however, the knowledge that a melanoma may also develop in locations that are often omitted during routine examination (the anus, the oral cavity, the urogenital region), may increase the chances of early diagnosis and attaining better treatment results. In this paper, a brief description of the characteristics of mucosal melanoma is presented, along with a presentation of the most common locations, symptoms, diagnostic possibilities, and available treatment (including immunotherapy). Based on the available literature and personal experience, several cases of patients treated in the Institute of Oncology are described.Czerniak jest nowotworem złośliwym rozwijającym się z melanocytów, które są komórkami barwnikowymi występującymi głównie w skórze i stanowiącymi swoistą ochronę skóry przed promieniowaniem ultrafioletowym. Melanocyty występują również poza skórą (miedzy innymi – gałka oczna, błona śluzowa przewodu pokarmowego od jamy ustnej do odbytu, jamy nosowej i zatok obocznych nosa oraz w drogach moczowo-płciowych. Znane są liczne przypadki, w których czerniak rozwija się w wymienionych lokalizacjach.   Głównym czynnikiem odpowiadającym za rozwój czerniaka skóry jest promieniowanie ultrafioletowe. W przypadkach czerniaków błon śluzowych czynniki etiologiczne nie są nadal poznane. Czerniak błon śluzowych rozwija się najczęściej w miejscach ukrytych i niedostępnych standardowemu badaniu. Choroba rozwija się zatem skrycie przez dłuższy czas zanim zostanie postawione prawidłowe rozpoznanie (zwykle w chwili stadium uogólnienia i braku możliwości zastosowania skutecznego leczenia miejscowego), co w połączeniu z bardziej agresywnym przebiegiem w porównaniu z czerniakami w innej lokalizacji (skóra, gałka oczna) oraz inną wrażliwością na leczenie systemowe (zwykle brak mutacji w genie BRAF) i brakiem odrębnych standardów postępowania jest przyczyną gorszych wyników leczenia i złego rokowania.   Czerniaki błon śluzowych występują bardzo rzadko (około 1,5 % wszystkich czerniaków), jednakże świadomość, że czerniak może rozwinąć się również w lokalizacjach, które nierzadko są pomijane w czasie rutynowego badania lekarskiego (odbyt, jama ustna, okolica urogenitalna), może zwiększyć szanse wczesnego rozpoznania i uzyskania lepszych wyników leczenia.   W niniejszej pracy opisano krótką charakterystykę czerniaków błon śluzowych z przedstawieniem najczęstszych lokalizacji, objawów, możliwości diagnostycznych  oraz dostępnego  leczenia (w tym – immunoterapia).  W oparciu o dostępne piśmiennictwo i własne doświadczenie opisano kilka przypadków chorych leczonych w Centrum Onkologii-Instytucie, w którym pracują autorzy.

The role of octadecanoids and functional mimics in soybean defense responses

Oxylipins of the jasmonate pathway and synthetic functional analogs have been analyzed for their elicitor like activities in an assay based on the induced accumulation of glyceollins, the phytoalexins of soybean (Glycine max L.), in cell suspension cultures of this plant. Jasmonic acid (JA) and its methyl ester showed weak phytoalexininducing activity when compared to an early jasmonate biosynthetic precursor, 12-oxophytodienoic acid (OPDA), as well as to the bacterial phytotoxin coronatine and certain 6-substituted indanoylLisoleucine methyl esters, which all were highly active. Interestingly, different octadecanoids and indanoyl conjugates induced the accumulation of transcripts of various defenserelated genes to different degrees, indicating distinct induction competencies. Therefore, these signaling compounds and mimics were further analyzed for their effects on signal transduction elements, such as the transient enhancement of the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and MAP kinase activation, which are known to be initiated by a soybean pathogenderived {[}beta]glucan elicitor. In contrast to the {[}beta]glucan elicitor, none of the other compounds tested triggered these early signaling elements. Moreover, endogenous levels of OPDA and JA in soybean cells were shown to be unaffected after treatment with {[}beta]glucans. Thus, OPDA and JA, which are functionally mimicked by coronatine and a variety of 6-substituted derivatives of indanoylLisoleucine methyl ester, represent highly efficient signaling compounds of a lipidbased pathway not deployed in the {[}beta]glucan elicitorinitiated signal transduction

Effects of social media brand-related content on fashion products buying behaviour – a moderated mediation model

Purpose – This study examines in which circumstances consumer’s self-congruity moderates the indirect influence of consumer-based brand equity (mediating role) in the relationship between firm-created and user-generated social media content and intention to purchase fashion products. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, we carried out an online survey with social media users of fashion brands and collected data from 622 participants across two samples to investigate whether consumers’ perceptions of equity of fashion brands mediate the relationship between social media brand-related communication created by both firms and users and the intention to buy the fashion brands. The indirect relationship is further moderated by self-congruity. Findings – The results indicate that (i) brand equity mediates the relationship between social media communication and purchase intentions of fashion products, and (ii) self-congruity moderates the relationship between social media communication types and purchase intentions, such that higher/lower levels of self-congruity strengthen/weaken the impact of social media communication on purchase intentions. Originality/value – This study contributes to the business and marketing literature by exploring how social media communication, branding, and fashion align with the individual’s self-concept and buying behaviour

Equations in a consumer culture: mathematical images in advertising

Affect energises the learning and use of mathematics; a key influence comes from the images of mathematics available in society. We sought advertisements containing such ‘images’ (e.g. mathematical expressions, equations or graphs) in 1600 editions of UK newspapers, over two recent three-month periods. We found that 4.7% of editions included a ‘mathematical’ advert, compared with 1.7% found in the pilot for 1994-2003. This supports the idea that mathematical images are being used more in advertising, paralleling the increase observed anecdotally in films. The incidence varied from 8.2% among the ‘quality’ papers, to 2.3% in mid-market, to 0.6% among the ‘populars’, suggesting a correlation with the social class of the readershi

Manufacturing and characterization of sustainable and recyclable wood-polypropylene biocomposites:Multiprocessing-properties-structure relationships

In this study, sustainable polymeric materials with a polypropylene matrix reinforced with wood waste were developed for structural applications. The new polymer biocomposites (WPCs) were evaluated for their mechanical and structural properties regarding their susceptibility to multiple processing. As thermo-mechanical degradation processes are associated with the repeated processing of plastics, which causes changes in the properties and structure of these materials. Therefore, to determine the extent to which the composites can be used under operating conditions, the composites were examined by DMA. As a result of the study observed some effects caused by the repeated effects of shear stress and temperature on the rheological and mechanical properties of polymer composites. The first of these is related to a decrease in viscosity of WPC composites subjected to the six times processing and changes in flow conditions during extrusion and injection moulding due to the degradation of the polypropylene matrix. As the viscosity of the composites decreased, a reduction in tensile strength and other mechanical properties of the polypropylene matrix was noted. On the other hand, the second effect observed leads to the conclusion that, as the composites' processing cycles increase, the WPC composite's mechanical properties increase due to an increase in the degree of homogenization of the individual components of the WPC composition. This study aims to describe the relationship between these two primary processes and to determine the relationship between the properties and the structure of the new WPCs.</p

The Darboux-Backlund transformation for the static 2-dimensional continuum Heisenberg chain

We construct the Darboux-Backlund transformation for the sigma model describing static configurations of the 2-dimensional classical continuum Heisenberg chain. The transformation is characterized by a non-trivial normalization matrix depending on the background solution. In order to obtain the transformation we use a new, more general, spectral problem.Comment: 12 page

PERSONAL NAVIGATION: EXTENDING MOBILE MAPPING TECHNOLOGIES INTO INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS

This paper discusses some unconventional methods for indoor-outdoor navigation, based on the integration of self-contained sensors, including GPS, IMU, digital barometer, magnetometer compass, and a human locomotion model. The human locomotion model is used as navigation  sensor and it is handled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques that form an adaptive knowledge-based system (KBS), which is trained during the GPS signal reception, and is used to support navigation under GPS-denied conditions. A complementary technique used in our solution, which facilitates indoor navigation, is the image-based method (Flash LADAR). In this paper, the system design and an example performance analysis in the mixed indoor-outdoor environment are presented

Czerniak błon śluzowych — obraz kliniczny i leczenie na podstawie analizy serii przypadków

Czerniak jest nowotworem złośliwym rozwijającym się z melanocytów, które są komórkami barwnikowymi występującymi głównie w skórze i stanowią swoistą ochronę skóry przed promieniowaniem ultrafioletowym (UV). Melanocyty występują również poza skórą — między innymi w gałce ocznej, w błonie śluzowej przewodu pokarmowego od jamy ustnej do odbytu, jamy nosowej i zatok obocznych nosa oraz w drogach moczowo-płciowych. Znane są liczne przypadki, w których czerniak rozwija się w wymienionych lokalizacjach. Głównym czynnikiem odpowiadającym za rozwój czerniaka skóry jest promieniowanie UV. W przypadkach czerniaków błon śluzowych czynniki etiologiczne nadal nie zostały poznane. Czerniak błon śluzowych rozwija się najczęściej skrycie — w miejscach ukrytych i niedostępnych standardowemu badaniu — a zatem mija dłuższy czas, zanim zostaje postawione prawidłowe rozpoznanie (zwykle dzieje się to w chwili stadium uogólnienia, gdy nie ma możliwości zastosowania skutecznego leczenia miejscowego). To, w połączeniu z bardziej agresywnym przebiegiem niż w wypadku czerniaków w innej lokalizacji (skóra, gałka oczna) oraz inną wrażliwością na leczenie systemowe (zwykle brak mutacji w genie BRAF) i brakiem odrębnych standardów postępowania, jest przyczyną gorszych wyników leczenia i złego rokowania. Czerniak błon śluzowych występuje bardzo rzadko (ok. 1,5% wszystkich czerniaków), jednakże świadomość, że czerniak rozwija się również w lokalizacjach, które nierzadko są pomijane w czasie rutynowego badania lekarskiego (odbyt, jama ustna, okolica urogenitalna), może zwiększyć szanse wczesnego rozpoznania i uzyskania lepszych wyników leczenia. W niniejszej pracy opisano kilka przypadków chorych leczonych z powodu czerniaka błon śluzowych oraz przedstawiono krótką charakterystykę, najczęstsze lokalizacje, objawy, możliwości diagnostyczne oraz dostępne leczenie (w tym immunoterapię) w tej jednostce chorobowej

New perspectives for eye-sparing treatment strategies in primary uveal melanoma

Uveal melanoma is the most common intraocular malignancy and arises from melanocytes in the choroid, ciliary body, or iris. The current eye-sparing treatment options include surgical treatment, plaque brachytherapy, proton beam radiotherapy, stereotactic photon radiotherapy, or photodynamic therapy. However, the efficacy of these methods is still unsatisfactory. This article reviews several possible new treatment options and their potential advantages in treating localized uveal melanoma. These methods may be based on the physical destruction of the cancerous cells by applying ultrasounds. Two examples of such an approach are High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU)—a promising technology of thermal destruction of solid tumors located deep under the skin and sonodynamic therapy (SDT) that induces reactive oxygen species. Another approach may be based on improving the penetration of anti-cancer agents into UM cells. The most promising technologies from this group are based on enhancing drug delivery by applying electric current. One such approach is called transcorneal iontophoresis and has already been shown to increase the local concentration of several different therapeutics. Another technique, electrically enhanced chemotherapy, may promote drug delivery from the intercellular space to cells. Finally, new advanced nanoparticles are developed to combine diagnostic imaging and therapy (i.e., theranostics). However, development. these methods More are mostly advanced at an and early targeted stage of preclinical development. studies More and advanced clinical trials and targeted would be preclinical needed to studies introduce and some clinical of trials these would techniques be needed to routine to introduce clinical practice. some of these techniques to routine clinical practice