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This Commentary for the Research Colloquium on "Geopolitical Imaginaries of Regional Cooperation and National Identity: A Central European Perspective" foregrounds the significance of imagined geographies for driving policies, shaping nations, and making identities. It highlights the urgency of countering the self-aggrandizing, ethno-nationalist, illiberal, reductionist, and conservative imagined geographies that have emerged in recent years across Central Europe, in particular in Hungary. A more critical, pluralistic, and inclusive geopolitics of the region is presented in this Research Colloquium, which is in stark contrast to the attempts of certain political and intellectual elites to fix identities that foment mistrust and division within and between societies. The regional imaginaries espoused by some political leaders, and their tenuous historical and geographical grounding, tell us little about the geographical concepts and areas they purport to represent but much about the insecurities and agendas of the political elites who directly benefit from the uptake of these imaginings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores one of the most pressing and challenging issues of our time—the disjuncture between populist images of absolute sovereignty and its practical, functional, and material operation. It seeks to connect postmodern conceptualizations of sovereignty to the challenges shaping national and global politics. Drawing on the work of Jean Baudrillard, it highlights the ways in which the operation of sovereignty has become conflated and confused with imaginaries of sovereignty. Through Baudrillard's lens of the hyperreal, sovereignty can be seen as increasingly functioning beyond a delusionary parody and instead as an unverifiable truth. The sovereignty of the hyperreal, which is explored in the first half of this article, foregrounds a theoretical disconnect between truth and falsehood; the latter half attempts to connect postmodern interpretations of sovereignty with Britain's efforts to exit the European Union and the negotiation of waning U.S. hegemony. Using the two case studies of Brexit and the "America First" presidency of Donald Trump, the article analyzes political speeches and media accounts to explore how the hyperreal provides a logic for decoding populist sociospatial imaginaries of sovereignty, while also anticipating the fallout from an eventual and inevitable realization of loyalty and obedience to an illusion. Key Words: Baudrillard, Brexit, hyperreality, sovereignty, United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the notion of "geopolitical culture" as a conceptual tool for understanding debates over the formulation of foreign policy in contemporary Russia. To draw out the value of this concept, the paper explores the symbolism of territory as a means for restoring Russia's status, respect, and power. However, in contrast to previous studies, it traces the ways in which a concession of territory has been promoted as a device for achieving Russia's great power ambitions. More broadly, the paper seeks to stimulate a wider debate on reconceptualizing the relationship between territory and identity in Russia, at the same time as it places Russia's Far Eastern borderlands at the heart of debates on the spatial imaginaries of the Russian homeland. By drawing on and advancing recent theoretical innovations in critical geopolitics, and recognizing the significance of the discourse of nationalism within these framings, the paper explores the nuanced and multiple story lines that constitute Russia's geopolitical culture. Through this approach, intriguing and complex plot lines and unexpected twists are revealed, which have at times been obscured by nationalist-territorial-revanchist narratives on Putin's Russia. It is suggested that such approaches can also provide insights for interpreting cases and contexts beyond Russia and Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essays collected in this forum discuss the geopolitical legacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917, one of the most momentous political events of the twentieth century. From a range of different academic disciplines and perspectives, the authors consider how the profound transformations in society and politics were refracted through space and geography, and how enduring these refractions proved to be. The authors focus on three themes that have been dominant in Russian affairs over the past century: 1)the problem of center-periphery relations, 2)the civilizational dynamics of Russia’s self-identification in relation to Europe and to Asia, and 3)the geopolitics of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promotional upgrades to auction listings are now a ubiquitous feature of auction Web sites. We examine 705 auctions of a single consumer-electronic product on eBay and test whether use of various promotions results in a greater probability of sale or a higher realized price. We find that promotions that focus on display enhancements, such as border, bold, or highlight, are not worth the cost. However, the subtitle promotional tool is effective and worth the cost. We also find interesting results regarding seller reputation: although seller reputation does not increase the probability of a sale overall, it can result in higher realized price if a reputable seller is selected. Implications for promoting on eBay are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on signaling theory to test whether seller and product characteristics impact the use of display-type versus informational-type promotion on eBay. The authors predict that display-type promotion is used by less-experienced sellers who cannot promote on the basis of their own seller ratings. The authors predict that experienced sellers, on the other hand, prefer informational promotion since their high ratings make seller-provided statements more credible. In addition to seller characteristics, the authors predict that product characteristics, such as price and product condition, also impact promotion. It is expected that higher prices drive greater investments in display-type promotions overall, even if such promotion is less effective. Finally, it is hypothesized that the better the condition of the product, the greater the use of informational promotion since this kind of disclosure is especially influential. The hypotheses were tested using a large data set of auction data from eBay and received excellent support. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Phase I trial (NCT00109109) of oral vorinostat 200, 250 or 300 mg twice daily for 5 days/week/4-week cycle or 200, 300, or 400 mg twice daily for 14 days/3-week cycle until progressive disease or intolerable toxicity was conducted. Patients with measurable, relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma were eligible. The objectives were to determine maximum tolerated doses (MTDs) and assess activity and safety. Thirteen patients (median age, 63 years; median prior therapies, 3) were enrolled. MTDs were not determined due to early study termination by sponsor decision. One patient (250 mg twice daily 5 days/week) developed dose-limiting toxicity (DLT; grade 3 fatigue). There were no other DLTs and the maximum administered doses were 250 mg twice daily for 5 days/week/4-week cycle and 200 mg twice daily for 14 days/3-week cycle. Drug-related adverse experiences included fatigue, anorexia, dehydration, diarrhea, and nausea and were mostly grade ≤2. Of 10 evaluable patients, 1 had a minimal response and 9 had stable disease, demonstrating modest single-agent activity in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors apply current influential models from the motivational literature to develop the comprehensive factors influencing teaching choice (FIT-Choice) scale, to measure factors influencing the choice to teach for beginning preservice teacher education candidates. They validate the scale using 2 large cohorts (N = 488; 652) and describe the factors that teacher education candidates identified as most important in their decision to teach. Furthermore, the authors examine longitudinal relationships for participants who have now completed their teaching qualification (N = 294) to determine how entry motivations relate to exit levels of teaching engagement and professional development aspirations. The study makes several important theoretical contributions: The authors extend the values component of the expectancy-value motivational framework, go beyond high school students to examine career choices of adults, and specifically examine the domain of teaching as a career choice. The new FIT-Choice measure provides a theoretical and analytical framework to help guide future investigations in this area. Understanding teacher candidates' motivations for choosing teaching has implications for teacher education planning and curriculum design, teacher recruitment authorities, and government and intergovernmental planning and policy decisions—especially when many. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertising expenditures online are now dominated by text search ads rather than display ads. Despite the importance and growth of text search ads, little research has been conducted concerning how search and display ads may be jointly deployed or how a text search ad strategy can be maximized. In this article, a model for the joint deployment of search and display ads is presented. On the basis of this model research hypotheses are tested concerning factors that influence text ad effectiveness. The research shows that text ads can be very effective in driving response especially when the text ad format is consistent with the search motives of the visitor. Implications for marketing in this environment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of the developmental amnesias utilizing a cognitive neuropsychological methodology has highlighted the dissociations that may occur between the development of components of memory. M.M., a new case of developmental amnesia, was identified after screening from the normal population on cognitive and memory measures. Retrospective investigation found that he was of low birthweight. M.M. had impaired semantic memory for knowledge of facts and words. There was impaired episodic memory for words and stories but intact episodic memory for visual designs and features. This forms a double dissociation with Dr S. (Temple, 1992), who had intact verbal but impaired visual episodic memory. M.M. also had impaired autobiographical episodic memory. Nevertheless, learning over repeated trials occurred, consistent with previous theorizing that learning is not simply the effect of recurrent episodic memory. Nor is it the same as establishing semantic memory, since for M.M. semantic memory is also impaired. Within reading, there was an impaired lexico-semantic system, elevated levels of homophone confusion, but intact phonological reading, consistent with surface dyslexia and raising issues about the interrelationship of the semantic system and literacy development. The results are compatible with discrete semi-independent components within memory development, whereby deficits are associated with residual normality, but there may also be an explicit relationship between the semantic memory system and both vocabulary and reading acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct appeals such as Click Here! Buy Now! are commonly used in promotional programs online. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical model and empirical test of how direct appeals impact the clickstream and response. An experiment was conducted using a real web promotional program. Prospects were invited to a promotional website. Direct appeals were systematically either shown or hidden. The resulting clickstream and response were recorded for tests of the hypotheses. The findings support the proposed model and show that direct appeals work by inducing a direct clickstream by heightening or changing visitor motivation to an implemental state. As a result, more responses are received via a direct rather than an indirect clickstream path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading and writing at university is infused by the cultural context of a particular discipline or field so that academic literacies are located, described, interpreted and studied in disciplinary contexts. This study explores the roles and functions textbooks have in the disciplinary culture of Economics in the academy, where there are many introductory-level textbooks that are designed to formalize and standardize disciplinary induction. It uncovers how students learn to read and write in Introductory Economics, particularly when the textbook is positioned as an authoritative, canonical text, and interprets the ambiguities, unresolved tensions and anxieties concerning plagiarism that often accompany reading and writing from the textbook. Further, it scrutinizes teaching and learning from the learner's perspective to reveal the complexity of the linguistic and disciplinary demands in the form of unfamiliar discourses, genres and literacy practices a student must accommodate to be recognized as a participant in the disciplinary culture of Economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liver plays a central role in many inherited and acquired genetic disorders, and thus is a potential target for nucleic acid therapies. Despite the great strides made in basic molecular biology over the last two decades successful gene therapy remains elusive. Most recently, there has been considerable effort to develop non-viral gene therapy approaches, in part, to overcome the potential complications associated with viral delivery systems. This review outlines the different non-viral approaches available to the liver, and includes a detailed review of recent advances in delivery vectors for use in techniques such as gene augmentation, with particular emphasis on useful applications of antisense and ribozyme technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the prevention and treatment methods for hepatic venocclusive disease of the liver (VOD) following high-dose cytoreductive therapy. Pathophysiology of the VOD; Use of serum amino-propeptide of type III procollagen in monitoring VOD; Risk factors for the development of VOD.

Telstra - until recently Australia's only telecommunications carrier - is internationally recognized within the industry for providing a world-class telecommunications service to a highly dispersed and isolated population under challenging environmental conditions. In 1990, the Australian Government announced that it would end Telstra's monopoly and move towards a deregulated telecommunications industry. The first step was a competitive duopoly and, in 1991-1992, a private carrier - Optus Communications - became Telstra's first competitor in the Australian market-place. On 1 July 1997 the industry was fully deregulated. Over this period, Telstra has undergone enormous changes - none of which is more dramatic than the shift from an engineering-driven organization, to one with a marketing focus. The shift in emphasis from engineering to marketing is clearly reflected by the establishment of Telstra's National Telemarketing Centre (NTC). Though originally created in response to deregulation and the threat of its first competitor, the NTC has grown to become a major national marketing channel for Telstra, as well as providing national customer and product support services. This case examines the function of the NTC within Telstra, the role of technology at the NTC and the way call centres affect organizational flexibility and change the relationship between Telstra and its customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sketches a perspective on contemporary issues in English literacy education with reference to Australia as a case study site and findings from the new literacy studies and theories of learning. Interdisciplinary roots of the new literacy studies; Controversies over literacy pedagogy; Political dimensions of literacy and literacy pedagogy.

Provides information on Australia's literacy education particularly teaching of writing. Historical background to process writing and the whole language; Revolution in the process writing in primary and secondary schools; Critique of the pedagogy of process writing or whole language; Genre-based approach to the teaching of writing; Role of teacher and the effectiveness of teacher interactions with the students.

Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is a well-recognized phenomenon occurring in multiple myeloma (MM) patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A retrospective analysis of patients admitted for first ASCT between June 2012 and April 2014 found that 161/222 (73%) patients were diagnosed with OH during the course of ASCT, including 51 patients who were found to have OH on the day of first orthostatic vitals check. Excluding these 51 patients, 110/171 (64%) patients developed OH during the peri-transplant period, at a median of 7 days post ASCT (95% CI: 6.5–8.5). OH did not significantly impact length of hospitalization, progression free and overall survival. Multivariable analysis revealed four risk factors (i.e. ≥0.5% weight loss/day, white race, gabapentin, antihypertensives) and two protective factors (i.e. antihistamine, proton pump inhibitor) associated with the development of peri-transplant OH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of the Third Italy has achieved an iconic status in geography. It has come to represent one of the main geographical manifestations of the so-called second industrial divide between Fordist mass production and flexible specialisation. Yet the idea has received limited critical attention since acquiring its elevated status. It deserves to do so, because it involves confusing a localised model of economic development with the economic character of a larger geographic region. Examining province level export data for the years 1985, 1991, 1995 and 1999 for both total exports and two key sectors using exploratory spatial data analysis, provincial rankings and LISAs (local indicators of spatial association) suggests that the export-based homogeneity and dynamism of the Third Italy can be exaggerated. Italy's urban hierarchy, particularly the centrality of Milan, continues to play a significant role in the Italian economy. Common use of the term `Third Italy' confuses an economic process with a specific geographical configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine the utility of video storytelling in the discipline of food chemistry in the development of media literacy for science graduates and as a radical approach to science teaching and learning where the production of a video is both a process and a product. The pedagogical programme aimed to integrate food chemistry and digital video technology using an iPhone. Students, in groups of four, prepared a four-minute video that demonstrated their knowledge of food chemistry either by preparation of a food item, or by visiting a local industry body and were charged with describing and videoing the food chemistry process they observed. As part of this programme students were taught videography skills by filmmakers and mentored by chemistry educators to ensure that the food chemistry described was comprehensive and accurate. This programme facilitated a learning environment in which students could construct, develop, learn, and consider their understanding through multiple sensory inputs. The programme fostered connections between research and education, allowed more personalised learning to develop, and permitted alternate assessment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal impairment (RI) is a major comorbidity in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Here we present the pooled safety and efficacy analysis of three clinical trials (MM-002, MM-003, and MM-010) of pomalidomide + low-dose dexamethasone (POM + LoDEX) in patients with moderate RI (creatinine clearance [CrCl] ≥ 30 to <60 mL/min) and without RI (≥ 60 mL/min). Trial protocols were approved by the institutional review board of each site involved. Patients with RI were older than patients without RI, although other baseline characteristics were similar. The dosing and safety profile of POM + LoDEX was similar across RI subgroups. Median overall response rate, progression-free survival, time to progression, and duration of response were not significantly different between RI subgroups. However, patients with vs. without RI had significantly shorter median overall survival (10.5 vs. 14.0 months, respectively;p = .004). This analysis demonstrates that POM + LoDEX is a safe and effective treatment for patients with moderate RI. The trials were registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT00833833 (MM-002), NCT01311687 (MM-003), and NCT01712789 (MM-010) and at EudraCT as 2010-019820-30 (MM-003) and 2012-001888-78 (MM-010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phase 1 study of IPI-504 (retaspimycin hydrochloride) administered intravenously twice weekly for 2 weeks at 22.5, 45, 90, 150, 225, 300 or 400 mg/m2 followed by 10 days off-treatment was conducted to determine the safety and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of IPI-504 in patients with relapsed or relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM). Anti-tumor activity and pharmacokinetics were also evaluated. Eighteen patients (mean age 60.5 years; median 9 prior therapies) were enrolled. No dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) were reported for IPI-504 doses up to 400 mg/m2. The most common treatment-related adverse event was grade 1 infusion site pain (four patients). All other treatment-related events were assessed as grade 1 or 2 in severity. The area under the curve (AUC) increased with increasing dose, and the mean half-life was approximately 2-4 h for IPI-504 and its metabolites. Four patients had stable disease, demonstrating modest single-agent activity in relapsed or relapsed/refractory MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid development of the small molecule proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has yielded important clinical benefit for patients with multiple myeloma. Early phase clinical trials suggest the agent has similar efficacy in Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia. Optimization of bortezomib-based therapy, though, requires an understanding of the various challenges associated with use of the drug. This review highlights the rationale for bortezomib therapy in patients with multiple myeloma and Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia, mechanisms of bortezomib resistance, important therapy-related side effects, and new directions for the use of proteasome inhibitors in these disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional imaging studies have identified a network of brain regions associated with theory of mind (ToM); the attribution of mental states to other people. Similar regions have also been observed in studies where people play games that involve either competing or co-operating with another person. Such games are thought to place implicit demands on ToM processes. Co-operation with others has also been shown to elicit brain responses in areas associated with the processing of reward, suggesting that co-operation is an intrinsically rewarding process. In this study, we used a factorial design to assess the interaction between co-operation and the availability of financial rewards in a guessing game. Twelve subjects were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they performed a guessing game with and without co-operation, and under both these conditions with and without financial reward. The main effect of co-operation was associated with neural responses in theory of mind regions, while the main effect of financial reward was associated with neural responses in reward regions. Critically the response to reward in medial orbitofrontal cortex was significantly enhanced when subjects were co-operating. This suggests that rewards achieved through co-operation are more valuable than rewards achieved alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]