Ambiguity and interpretive politics in the crisis of European values: evidence from Hungary

As the number of European countries that recognise same-sex unions increases, so does the number of countries that resists this institution. This trend runs counter to the conventional wisdom, which links anti-LGBTI policies to domestic demands and developments. Instead, this paper argues that political homophobia needs to be situated within an international context. Using the Slovak case as a plausibility probe, the article shows that the bans on same-sex marriage were adopted as a precautionary measure: worried by the growing support for LGBTI rights elsewhere in Europe, conservative lawmakers feared that their traditional family values would come under threat.Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Codeless App Development: Evaluating A Cloud-Native Domain-Specific Functions Approach

Mobile applications play an important role in the economy today and there is an increasing trend for app enablement on multiple platforms. However, creating, distributing, and maintaining an application remain expert tasks. Even for software developers, the process can be error-prone and resource-consuming, especially when targeting different platforms simultaneously. Researchers have proposed several frameworks to facilitate cross-platform app development, but little attention has been paid to non-technical users. In this paper, we described the Flow framework, which takes the advantage of domain-specific languages to enable no-code specification for app modeling. The cloud-native coordination mechanism further supports non-technical users to execute, monitor, and maintain apps for any target platforms. User evaluations were conducted to assess the usability and user experience with the system. The results indicated that users can develop apps in Flow with ease, but the prototype could be optimized to reduce learning time and workload

Tendon Cell Behavior and Matrix Remodeling in Degenerative Tendinopathy

Tendon injuries are common in human athletes [1-4]. Furthermore, such injuries are also prevalent in the ageing sedentary population [5-7]. In recent decades, the incidence of tendon injuries has risen due to both an increase in an elderly population and a rise in participation in recreational and competitive sporting activities. In the general population the lifetime cumulative incidence of Achilles tendinopathy is 5.9 % among sedentary people and 50 % among elite endurance athletes [2]. Despite the high frequency, there are still many unsolved questions and differences of opinion concerning pathology, etiology, and even terminology. Until several years ago the most often used word for tendon disease in the clinical practice of orthopaedic and sports medicine was ’tendonitis/ tendinitis’, literally meaning tendon inflammation, reflecting the general idea that overuse tendinopathies were due to inflammation. However, this common wisdom was challenged by that time, as the histopathological feature usually described in tendinopathies was a degenerative process and inflammation was not typically seen [8-11]. Therefore Nicola Maffulli suggested to use the term ‘tendinopathy’ as a general descriptor of the clinical conditions in and around tendons arising from overuse [12, 13]. In addition the term ‘tendinosis’, literally meaning tendon degeneration, should be used after histopathological examination. This nomenclature is gradually being integrated now in research communication and clinicial practice. The clinical presentation of tendinopathy is characterized by a combination of pain, swelling, and impaired performance. A variety of tendons in humans may be affected including the supraspinatus tendon in the shoulder, the forearm extensor and flexor muscle tendons in the elbow, and the Achilles tendon and the patellar tendon in the lower limb. The respons of tendinopathy to the currently available treatment options is often unsatisfactory requiring lengthy periods of rehabilitation or even surgical intervention [14, 15]

In search for the etiology of the complex regional pain syndrome

The complex regional pain syndrome is poorly elucidated. In line with this its diagnosis and clinical management have remained suboptimal. The multifaceted nature makes it a fascinating study topic for scientists with varying interests, but unraveling the etiology has been proven a laborious mission. The first notification of what could have been (what is currently named) complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) stems from 1634, when the surgeon Ambroise Pare described that King Charles IX suffered from persistent pain and contractures of his arm following a bloodletting procedure.1 The next remarks came from the military physician Scott Mitchell and date from the American Civil War: “…Long after the trace of the effect of a wound has gone neuralgic symptoms are apt to linger, and too many carry with them throughout long years this final reminder of the battle field...”.2 The first scientific publication on CRPS was issued in 1900 from a German surgeon named Paul Sudeck.3 His name became tied to the syndrome for long (Sudecks’ dystrophy)

Measurements and scaling of buoyancy-induced flows in ventilated tunnels

We investigate the ventilation conditions required to control the propagation of smoke, produced by a tunnel fire, in the presence of two inertial forcings: a transverse extraction system and a longitudinal flow. For that purpose, we performed a series of experiments in a reduced-scale tunnel, using a mixture of air and helium to simulate the release of hot smoke during a fire. Experiments were designed to focus on the ventilation flows that allow the buoyant release to be confined between two adjacent extraction vents. Different source conditions, in terms of density and velocity of the buoyant release, were analysed along with different vent configurations. Experiments allowed us to quantify the increase of the extraction velocity needed to confine the buoyant smoke, overcoming the effect of an imposed longitudinal velocity. Vents with a rectangular shape, and spanning over the whole tunnel width, provide the best performance. Finally, we studied the stratification conditions of the flow, individuating four regimes. Interestingly, when the stratification conditions fade out, as both the longitudinal flow and vertical extraction flows increase, the flow dynamics becomes almost independent of the forcing induced by the presence of buoyant smoke, which eventually acts as a passive scalar transported by the flow

Applied information retrieval and multidisciplinary research: new mechanistic hypotheses in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Background: Collaborative efforts of physicians and basic scientists are often necessary in the investigation of complex disorders. Difficulties can arise, however, when large amounts of information need to reviewed. Advanced information retrieval can be beneficial in combining and reviewing data obtained from the various scientific fields. In this paper, a team of investigators with varying backgrounds has applied advanced information retrieval methods, in the form of text mining and entity relationship tools, to review the current literature, with the intention to generate new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying a complex disorder. As an example of such a disorder the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) was chosen. CRPS is a painful and debilitating syndrome with a complex etiology that is still unraveled for a considerable part, resulting in suboptimal diagnosis and treatment. Results: A text mining based approach combined with a simple network analysis identified Nuclear Factor kappa B (NFκB) as a possible central mediator in both the initiation and progression of CRPS. Conclusion: The result shows the added value of a multidisciplinary approach combined with information retrieval in hypothesis discovery in biomedical research. The new hypothesis, which was derived in silico, provides a framework for further mechanistic studies into the underlying molecular mechanisms of CRPS and requires evaluation in clinical and epidemiological studies