The Bronze Athlete from Ephesos: Archaeological Background and Aspects of Conservation

The Athlete from Ephesos, a Roman imperial copy of a Greek statuary type from the 4th century B.C., was found at the very end of the 19th century, in the first years of the Austrian excavation in Ephesos, when research was concentrated on the major imperial monuments. In the palaestra of the Harbor Baths, the statue was set up in an aedicula and was destroyed when an earthquake caused the collapse of the hall roof.Due to an agreement between the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, the fragments could be taken to Vienna as a gift to the emperor’s collections. In Vienna, Wilhelm Sturm was commissioned with the restoration and conservation of the statue in 1897. The recomposition of the athlete took as a model the marble athlete kept at the Uffizi, in Florence, once the similarity of the statuary type of the Apoxyomenos had been recognized.The individual fragments were treated physically and chemically and were fixed on brass strings. Then groups of fragments were mounted onto iron bars in order to build the “back bone”. The entire statue was filled with cement in order to stabilize the structure and to close the gaps in the surface.A reevaluation of the condition of the Ephesian statue in cooperation with the Conservation Science Department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Antiquities Conservation Department of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California has shown the surprisingly good condition of the more than 100 year-old reconstruction.La découverte de l’athlète d’Éphèse remonte aux premières années de fouilles autrichiennes à Éphèse, alors que les recherches se concentraient sur les principaux monuments impériaux. L’effondrement de la toiture, provoquée par un tremblement de terre, avait brisé la statue installée dans un édicule au sein de la palestre des thermes du port.Un accord entre le sultan ottoman Abdul Hamid II et l’empereur d’Autriche François-Joseph Ier permet de transporter les fragments à Vienne dans le cadre d’un don aux collections impériales. À Vienne, Wilhelm Sturm se voit confier la restauration de la statue. Il prend modèle sur la statue d’athlète conservée au musée des Offices, à Florence, en s’appuyant sur un rapprochement typologique. Chacun des fragments fait l’objet d’un traitement physique et chimique, avant d’être fixé sur des cordes de laiton. Les groupes de fragments ainsi constitués sont montés sur des barres de fer afin de construire un squelette. Du ciment coulé dans les interstices consolide l’ensemble et comble les lacunes en surface.Une réévaluation de l’état de la statue d’Éphèse, conduite par le laboratoire de conservation-restauration du Kunstorisches Museum de Vienne en collaboration avec le département de conservation-restauration des Antiquités du musée J. Paul Getty, Malibu, Californie, souligne la stabilité étonnante de la restauration effectuée voilà plus de cent ans

Populist radical right parties and EU policies : how coherent are their claims?

In recent national elections and in those to the European Parliament, populist radical right parties (PRRP) have gained many more votes than in previous decades. What could that mean, at least in the longer run, for EU activities in such areas as e.g. the Internal Market, social or environmental regulation, migration management, and defence? Beyond these parties’ general attitude of Euro-scepticism, we know close to nothing about their views regarding specific EU policies. Therefore, we have recently assembled and analysed a novel dataset of programmatic statements. In this paper, we discuss how (in-)coherent the policy-specific demands of different PRRPs within the European Union actually are. How much do they agree or disagree when it comes to reforming EU policies

04411 Abtracts Collection -- Service Management and Self-Organization in IP-based Networks

From 03.10.04 to 06.10.04, the Dagstuhl Seminar 04411 ``Service Management and Self-Organization in IP-based Networks\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Ti/Al multi-layered sheets: Accumulative roll bonding (Part A)

Co-deformation of Al and Ti by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) with intermediate heat treatments is utilized to prepare multi-layered Ti/Al sheets. These sheets show a high specific strength due to the activation of various hardening mechanisms imposed during deformation, such as: hardening by grain refinement, work hardening and phase boundary hardening. The latter is even enhanced by the confinement of the layers during deformation. The evolution of the microstructure with a special focus on grain refinement and structural integrity is traced, and the correlation to the mechanical properties is shown

Psychological Distress, Loneliness, and Boredom Among the General Population of Tyrol, Austria During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: COVID-19-related mental health problems are considered a public health challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom among the general population of the federal state of Tyrol, Austria.Methods: Residents of Tyrol aged ≥ 18 years were recruited via dissemination of a link through social media and other advertisements and invited to complete an online survey from June 26th to August 20th, 2020. Next to the collection of sociodemographic and COVID-19 related variables the Brief Symptom Checklist (BSCL), the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS), and the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale-Short Form (MSBS-SF) were used to assess psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom.Results: 961 participants took part in the survey (68.3% woman). Of these, 14.4% were burdened from psychological distress (BSCL), 22.6% reached a TILS score ≥ 7 and were therefore classified as severely lonely, and boredom levels lay by a mean of 25.9 ± 11.0 points in the MSBS-SF (range: 7–56). Women, singles, low-income people as well as those who were unemployed were significantly more often affected by all of the selected outcomes compared to the remaining sample and they had significantly more frequently consumed alcohol or other substances since the outbreak of the pandemic in order to feel better. In addition, young and middle-aged adults were particularly burdened by loneliness and boredom.Discussion: Our findings identify vulnerable groups and factors associated with higher psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom in the context of the pandemic. In order to prevent mental health problems it will be critical to identify options of maintaining social contacts and remaining active despite pandemic-related restrictions

Comprehensive characterization of the prostate tumor microenvironment identifies CXCR4/CXCL12 crosstalk as a novel antiangiogenic therapeutic target in prostate cancer

Background: Crosstalk between neoplastic and stromal cells fosters prostate cancer (PCa) progression and dissemination. Insight in cell-to-cell communication networks provides new therapeutic avenues to mold processes that contribute to PCa tumor microenvironment (TME) alterations. Here we performed a detailed characterization of PCa tumor endothelial cells (TEC) to delineate intercellular crosstalk between TEC and the PCa TME. Methods: TEC isolated from 67 fresh radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens underwent multi-omic ex vivo characterization as well as orthogonal validation of both TEC functions and key markers by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF). To identify cell-cell interaction targets in TEC, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) in four PCa patients who underwent a RP to catalogue cellular TME composition. Targets were cross-validated using IHC, publicly available datasets, cell culture expriments as well as a PCa xenograft mouse model. Results: Compared to adjacent normal endothelial cells (NEC) bulk RNA-seq analysis revealed upregulation of genes associated with tumor vasculature, collagen modification and extracellular matrix remodeling in TEC. PTGIR, PLAC9, CXCL12 and VDR were identified as TEC markers and confirmed by IF and IHC in an independent patient cohort. By scRNA-seq we identified 27 cell (sub)types, including endothelial cells (EC) with arterial, venous and immature signatures, as well as angiogenic tip EC. A focused molecular analysis revealed that arterial TEC displayed highest CXCL12 mRNA expression levels when compared to all other TME cell (sub)populations and showed a negative prognostic role. Receptor-ligand interaction analysis predicted interactions between arterial TEC derived CXCL12 and its cognate receptor CXCR4 on angiogenic tip EC. CXCL12 was in vitro and in vivo validated as actionable TEC target by highlighting the vessel number- and density- reducing activity of the CXCR4-inhibitor AMD3100 in murine PCa as well as by inhibition of TEC proliferation and migration in vitro. Conclusions: Overall, our comprehensive analysis identified novel PCa TEC targets and highlights CXCR4/CXCL12 interaction as a potential novel target to interfere with tumor angiogenesis in PCa

Long-term climate change commitment and reversibility: an EMIC intercomparison

This paper summarizes the results of an intercomparison project with Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (EMICs) undertaken in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The focus is on long-term climate projections designed to: (i) quantify the climate change commitment of different radiative forcing trajectories, and (ii) explore the extent to which climate change is reversible on human timescales. All commitment simulations follow the four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and their extensions to 2300. Most EMICs simulate substantial surface air temperature and thermosteric sea level rise commitment following stabilization of the atmospheric composition at year-2300 levels. The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is weakened temporarily and recovers to near pre-industrial values in most models for RCPs 2.6–6.0. The MOC weakening is more persistent for RCP 8.5. Elimination of anthropogenic CO2 emissions after 2300 results in slowly decreasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. At year 3000 atmospheric CO2 is still at more than half its year-2300 level in all EMICs for RCPs 4.5–8.5. Surface air temperature remains constant or decreases slightly and thermosteric sea level rise continues for centuries after elimination of CO2 emissions in all EMICs. Restoration of atmospheric CO2 from RCP to pre-industrial levels over 100–1000 years requires large artificial removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and does not result in the simultaneous return to pre-industrial climate conditions, as surface air temperature and sea level response exhibit a substantial time lag relative to atmospheric CO2

Modern American populism: Analyzing the economics behind the Silent Majority, the Tea Party and Trumpism

This article researches populism, more specifically, Modern American Populism (MAP), constructed of white, rural, and economically oppressed reactionarianism, which was borne out of the political upheaval of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. The research looks to explain the causes of populism and what leads voters to support populist movements and politicians. The research focuses on economic anxiety as the main cause but also examines an alternative theory of racial resentment. In an effort to answer the question, what causes populist movements and motivations, I apply a research approach that utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods. There is an examination of literature that defines populism, its causes and a detailed discussion of the case studies, including the 1972 election of Richard Nixon; the Tea Party election of 2010; and the 2016 election of Donald Trump. In addition, statistical data analysis was run using American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys associated with each specific case study. These case studies were chosen because they most represent forms of populist movements in modern American history. While ample qualitative evidence suggested support for the hypothesis that economic anxiety is a necessary condition for populist voting patterns that elected Nixon, the Tea Party and Trump, the statistical data only supported the hypothesis in two cases, 2010 and 2016, with 1972 coming back inconclusive. The data also suggested that both economic anxiety and racial resentment played a role in 2010 and 2016, while having no significant effect in 1972 in either case. This suggests that further research needs to be conducted into additional populist case studies, as well as an examination into the role economic anxiety and economic crises play on racial resentment and racially motivated voting behavior