Creating green space sustainability through low-budget and upcycling strategies

Frugality is a core notion of sustainability, and responsible resource management should be prioritized in urban planning and landscape architecture. Low-budget strategies as a deliberate means of creating valuable, attractive, well-used, sociable public spaces are recognized by some influential designers using the Light, cheap, quick methodology. Unused spaces, just like objects and waste, can be creatively changed, reinvented with little resource input through a circular solution of upcycling. Case study methodology was predominantly used in the inquiry with three new parks, built after the year 2004, in Faro, Portugal. The study examined how the success rate and the current state of these public green areas correlates with the amount of financial resources invested in each of the projects. The case studies show key aspects in the building of the three spaces including: urban context, management and community participation. The success rate of a place is established based on user activity observations, user counts and questionnairesconveyed amongst both experts and local residents. Results illustrate how low-budget strategies and limited use of funds and resources can be translated into a successful project of a public greenery. Comparative studies from Warsaw and Berlin further extend the discussion to the concept of upcycling as a sustainable solution for landscape architecture.Horizon 2020, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, COST Action RESTORE [CA16114

Trading Dynamics in a Fragmented Market

In this dissertation, we study the effect of recent regulatory and technological changes on trading dynamics. Advances in communication and computing technologies have made millisecond latencies as the new trading standard and have resulted in a new era of automated trading. The introduction of Reg-NMS (Regulation National Market System, implemented in 2007) has set strict rules for the access and removal of liquidity from the fragmented US equity market, de facto linking the trading activities across trading venues. These transformations have not only changed how equity markets function but also how market participants interact with the market and among themselves. We begin this study by examining how the introduction of Reg-NMS has affected the trading strategies of fast, impatient traders. The implementation of Rule 611, which extends price priority across all the trading venues in the National Market System, forces them to monitor all trading venues in order to correctly asses the placement of their orders. We find evidence that because of their impatient nature, these traders react to all events that negatively affect the position of their orders, regardless of the venue of origin. This behavior results in an order flow that is made up of a high volume of very short-lived limit orders, which is consistent with a previously studied, but not yet fully explained, phenomenon of fleeting liquidity. II We then investigate whether fast, impatient traders are able to leverage their speed advantage to turn market fragmentation in their favor. We find evidence that their ability to anticipate the order flow of the other market participants, allows them to engage in a trading strategy that relies on the simultaneous submission of multiple orders across exchanges. Such strategy, called Overbooking, aims at executing only one of these orders rather than all of them and uses the availability of multiple exchanges to increase the probability of execution while limiting the risk of over execution thanks to their speed advantage. Overall, our findings show that a sub group of traders was not only able to adapt to a changing trading environment but actually take advantage of it. The Overbooking trading strategy is effective at increasing the probability of execution while also decreasing execution time and it is particularly effective for stocks with a high degree of competition for superior queue placement. This suggests that the ability to effectively trade on multiple venues simultaneously allows fast, impatient traders to avoid engaging in a costly algorithmic battle for a favorable queue placement, or submitting very aggressively priced limit orders, to attain quick execution. Moreover, our findings show that the actions of these traders, driven by their fast, and impatient nature and constrained by the complex rules that regulate liquidity access and provision on the National Market System, result in the linking of order flow dynamics across trading venues. We find that the cancellation of an order can be determined by changes that have occurred elsewhere in the market and that to model correctly order flow dynamics it is necessary to include in the analysis the changes that occur on all trading venues. We also find that fast, impatient traders, actively monitor the state of all trading venues after order submission, and that they benchmark the present state of the market to the state at submission

Surgical treatment of cancer in Poland: today and tomorrow

Chirurgia nadal stanowi najważniejszą metodę leczenia onkologicznego i u znakomitej większości chorych onkologicznych daje jedyną realną możliwość wyleczenia. Jest to także leczenie najtańsze i najskuteczniejsze.Ciągły postęp w rozpoznawaniu nowotworów we wczesnych stadiach będzie zwiększać zapotrzebowanie na coraz mniej okaleczające leczenie operacyjne. Dalszy rozwój chirurgii onkologicznej i leczenia wysoce specjalistycznego jest więc gwarantem kontynuacji poprawy wyników.Surgery is still the most important method of the oncological treatment and gives the only real possibility to cure majority of patients. It is also, the cheapest and the most efficacious method. Continuous developmentof cancer diagnosis in early stages will increase the demand for surgical therapy, which becomes less and less harmful. The ongoing development of oncological surgery and high specialized treatmentis the warranty of continuation of efficacy improvement

Variation in treatment modalities, costs and outcomes of rectal cancer patients in Poland

Aim of the study: To evaluate outcome, costs and treatment differences in rectal cancer patients between various regions in Poland. Material and methods: Data from the Polish National Health Fund of all patients with rectal cancer diagnosed and treated between 2005 and 2007 were analyzed. Overall, relative 5-year survival and the percentage of patients receiving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery were analyzed. The possible influence of cost of treatment per patient and mean number of rectal cancer patients per surgical oncologist were analyzed as well. Results: In total 15,281 patients with rectal cancer were diagnosed and treated in Poland in 2005–2007 within the services of the National Health Fund. The overall, relative 5-year survival rate was 51.6%. Curative surgery was performed in 64.1% of patients. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy were used in 47.5% and 60.7% of patients, respectively. The mean cost of treatment of one rectal cancer patient was 32,800 PLN and there were 49.8 rectal cancer patients per specialist in surgical oncology. Important differences between regions were found in all these factors, but without a significant influence on survival. A correlation between numbers of patients per specialist in different voivodeships and survival rates was observed, as well as a correlation between percentage of surgical resection in voivodeships and survival rates (p = 0.07). Conclusions: Results of treatment of colorectal cancer in Poland improved significantly during the last decade. There exist however, important disparities between regions in terms of method of treatment, costs and outcomes

Growth charts and prediction of abnormal growth — what is known, what is not known and what is misunderstood

Objectives: Assessment of fetal growth has an important effect on perinatal morbidity and mortality. To understand what tool to choose best for a given population a basic knowledge of how growth charts are developed and used has to be acquired. For this reason, this literature review was performed. Material and methods: An extensive literature review aimed at identifying articles related to the development of growth assessment in both spectrums of abnormal fetal growth — large and small. The analyzed articles were chosen and presented to show both the historical aspects of growth assessment, current trends and future considerations. Results: Identification of both large and small fetuses and neonates is equally crucial. Definitions and methodology vary worldwide and there is an ongoing discussion on the best tool to choose for a given population. An important part of the debate is how to differentiate between the physiologically small fetus and the truly growth restricted fetus who is at risk of perinatal complication. Similarly, the diagnosis of a large fetus is important in prevention of perinatal complications and surgical deliveries. Many clinical settings still lack growth standards. Conclusions: Birthweight for gestational age charts are biased for weight in preterm birth. Prediction and management of outcome cannot be based solely on fetal size. Small is not the only problem, we have to think large as well. A common misunderstanding in clinical practice is not using uniform charts in defining growth

Surgical management of ipsilateral breast tumour recurrence after breast conserving therapy: mastectomy or further local excision?

Wstęp. Całkowite ryzyko nawrotu miejscowego w obrębie piersi (IBRT) po leczeniu oszczędzającym przeprowadzonym u chorych na raka piersi mieści się w szerokim zakresie 2–35%. W takiej sytuacji klinicznej zalecane postępowanie polega na mastektomii prostej. Jednakże w ostatnich latach udostępniono dane, które pozwalają sądzić, że ta zasada ulegnie wkrótce zmianie.Materiał i metody. Do analizy włączono artykuły odszukane w bazie Pubmed za okres 1990–2013, dotyczące postępowania z IBTR u chorych na niezaawansowanego raka piersi, operowanych sposobem oszczędzającym. W analizie uwzględniono wyłącznie wybrane artykuły opublikowane w języku angielskim lub niemieckim.Wyniki. Ryzyko rozwoju IBRT po leczeniu oszczędzającym u chorych na raka piersi w ciągu minionych 3 dekad ulegało systematycznemu zmniejszaniu: od wartości sięgającej kilkunastu do kilku procent. Miejscowe wycięcie IBRT nie wiąże się z większym ryzykiem wystąpienia kolejnego, drugiego IBRT w porównaniu z mastektomią prostą „ratunkową” (7–32% w porównaniu z 4–32%). Wyniki miejscowego wycięcia IBRT z użyciem powtórnego napromieniania są obiecujące — w badaniach przeprowadzonych w ostatnich latach ryzyko drugiego IBRT w tej grupie chorych waha się od 0 do 3% i nie odbiega od ryzyka pierwszego IBRT po współczesnym leczeniu oszczędzającym.Podsumowanie. Przegląd piśmiennictwa wskazuje, że w praktyce klinicznej w przypadku nawrotu miejscowego po leczeniu oszczędzającym pierś stosuje się — oprócz rekomendowanej mastektomii prostej — także ponowne miejscowe wycięcie IBRT. W ostatnich latach coraz częściej postępowanie takie uzupełnia się powtórną radioterapią. Ryzyko kolejnego IBRT po zastosowaniu takiego postępowania nie jest większe niż ryzyko nawrotu miejscowego obserwowane po mastektomii „ratunkowej”. Przydatność ponownego leczenia miejscowego wydaje się być szczególnie uzasadniona u chorych z małym ogniskiem, z późnym nawrotem i z silną ekspresją receptorów estrogenowych w obrębie wznowy. Aby w pełni ocenić wartość miejscowego wycięcia IBRT po leczeniu oszczędzającym pierś, należy oczekiwać na wyniki odpowiednio zaprojektowanych porównawczych badań prospektywnych.Introduction. The overall risk of ipsilateral breast tumour recurrence (IBRT) following breast conserving therapy (BCT) ranges from 2% to 35%. Total mastectomy is uniformly recommend for IBRT following BCT. However evidence released recently suggests that there may be a change in clinical practice in the near future.Material and methods. The Pubmed database for 1990–2013 was searched and we included articles on IBRT forearly breast cancer patients after breast conserving therapy. Only selected articles, published in English or German, were reviewed.Results. The risk of IBRT after BCT in the last three decades gradually decreased from 10–15% to a few percent. Local excision of IBRT is not associated with higher risk of second local recurrence, when compared to “salvage” total stectomy (7–32% vs 4–32%). Local excision of IBRT with re-irradiation brings promising results. In recent studies the risk of a second IBRT in re-excised and re-irradiated cases ranged from 0% to 3% and is this not worse when compared to the currently reported risk of first IBRT following breast conservation.Conclusions. This review shows that clinical practice is to perform (apart from widely recommended total mastectomy) also local excision of IBRT following BCT. In recent years re-irradiation is more commonly used. The risk of second IBRT does not seem to be higher than the local recurrence risk following “salvage” total mastectomy. Local excision of IBRT appears to be particularly promising in small, late and hormonal receptors showing positive IBRT. Treatment for IBRT needs to be verified in properly designed prospective comparative studies