Broad Range Of Interests Research Articles

MAS: a versatile Landau-fluid eigenvalue code for plasma stability analysis in general geometry

We have developed a new global eigenvalue code, multiscale analysis for plasma stabilities (MAS), for studying plasma problems with wave toroidal mode number (n) and frequency (ω) in a broad range of interest in general tokamak geometry, based on a five-field Landau-fluid description of thermal plasmas. Beyond keeping the necessary plasma fluid response, we further retain the important kinetic effects including diamagnetic drift, ion finite Larmor radius, finite parallel electric field (), ion and electron Landau resonances in a self-consistent and non-perturbative manner without sacrificing the attractive efficiency in computation. The physical capabilities of the code are evaluated and examined in terms of both theory and simulation. In theory, the comprehensive Landau-fluid model implemented in MAS can be reduced to the well-known ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, electrostatic ion-fluid model, and drift-kinetic model in various limits, which clearly delineates the physics validity regime. In simulation, MAS has been well benchmarked with theory and other gyrokinetic and kinetic-MHD hybrid codes in a manner of adopting the unified physical and numerical framework, which covers the kinetic Alfvén wave, ion sound wave, low-n kink, high-n ion temperature gradient mode and kinetic ballooning mode. Moreover, MAS is successfully applied to model the Alfvén eigenmode (AE) activities in DIII-D discharge #159243, which faithfully captures the frequency sweeping of reversed shear AE, the tunneling damping of toroidal AE, as well as the polarization characteristics of kinetic beta-induced AE and beta-induced Alfvén-acoustic eigenmode being consistent with former gyrokinetic theory and simulation. With respect to the key progress contributed to the community, MAS has the advantage of combining rich physics ingredients, realistic global geometry and high computation efficiency together for plasma stability analysis in the linear regime.

Engaging post-secondary students in a multidisciplinary aging studies interest group

ABSTRACT Little is known about student aging interest groups (AIGs) in post-secondary institutions. Our study evaluated awareness of a student aging interest group at a western Canadian university with no gerontology program. Additional goals included assessing interest in joining the AIG, participation rates among group members, and preferences for group activities. Using a mixed method approach we analyzed 13 years of administrative data recording 65 meetings and conducted a survey among group members and nonmember students across the university with a potential interest in aging (n = 52). Almost two-thirds of respondents (n = 33) were nonmembers with most of these (n = 24) having no prior knowledge of the AIG; 77% of students already aware of the AIG learned about it from a professor. Sixty per cent of respondents were in health-related faculties, with the remainder representing multiple disciplines and faculties. Group attendance was strongly influenced by student workloads and schedules, with average attendance rising by 27.3% during the shift to virtual meetings in 2020–21. Our results highlight the interdisciplinary nature of aging studies, the key role faculty members play in informing students about AIGs, and the broad range of interests that students have in issues related to age and aging.

Met hart en ziel. Socioloog én katholiek

Author, Mady Thung, reflects on work and life of her husband Bert Laeyendecker. Laeyendecker was for a long time a leading sociologist in the Netherlands. Not only was he productive in the field of general sociology and sociology of religion, but also in broader subjects such as: modernity, modern culture, science and technology. Furthermore he was active in scientific associations, editorial boards and assessment committees. Because of this broad range of interest, after having described the first stages of his life and his active involvement in critical movements aiming at renewal of the Roman Catholic Church and his work as a professor in general sociology, she concentrates on his research projects dated from the period when they both participated in the work of the Multidisciplinair Centrum voor Kerk en Samenleving (the Multidisciplinary Center for Church and Society). Central themes of research, resulting in many publications, were (among others) critical analyses of the Western culture, and the concept of progress. Next to that Laeyendecker also published about the (mostly inadequate) reactions of the churches in the Netherlands (in particular the Roman Catholic Church) on changes in society after World War II and new religious consciousness. Although Laeyendecker noted that the Christian tradition has lost significant credibility, especially in its presentday rigid Roman Catholic form, the historical origin of that tradition remained important to him. *Oorspronkelijk verschenen in de vriendenbundel Homo Prudens. Religie, cultuur en wetenschap in de moderne samenleving. Redactie André Köbben, Karel Dobbelaere, Joep de Hart en Lambert van Gelder, Leende 2000, 210-­225.

Building a Social and Academic Online Bridge to Quantitatively-Rich College Coursework

We describe the online summer portion of a quantitative skills bridge program focused on helping students prepare socially and academically for the transition to college. College students are increasingly asked to employ quantitative skills across the curriculum, but students arrive at college with varied preparation. Further, those with the least preparation often encounter other challenges to social belongingness and navigating their institution. In response to these needs, our institution developed a bridge program aimed at students with a broad range of interests -- not just STEM, and the program has a significant focus on community-building as well as strengthening quantitative skills. The six-week summer online portion is followed by a face-to-face fall portion. Here we describe key design aspects of the online portion of the program: program goals and structure, selection and demographics of participants, and resources required to run the program. In addition, we share lessons learned that may be relevant for other institutions considering such a quantitative skills bridge program.

One-dimensional structures in nanoconfinement

Exploring the structure of low-dimensional materials is a key step towards a complete understanding of condensed matter. In recent years, owing to the fast developing of research tools, novel structures of many elements have been reported, revealing the possibility of new properties. Refining the investigation of one-dimensional atomic chain structures has thus received a great amount of attention in the field of condensed matter physics, materials science and chemistry. In this paper, we review the recent advances in the study of confined structures under nanometer environments. We mainly discuss the most interesting structures revealed and the experimental and theoretical methods adopted in these researches, and we also briefly discuss the properties related to the new structures. We particularly focus on elemental materials, which show the richness of one-dimensional structures in vacuum and in nanoconfinement. By understanding the binding and stability of various structures and their properties, we expect that one-dimensional materials should attract a broad range of interest in new materials discovery and new applications. Moreover, we reveal the challenges in accurate theoretical simulations of one-dimensional materials in nanoconfinement, and we provide an outlook of how to overcome such challenges in the future.

Development Aspects of Archaeological Sites in Latvia

Archaeological sites as part of cultural heritage satisfy a broad range of interests of different stakeholders. Along with satisfying cultural, social, scientific, etc., interests, their role is no less important in strategic socio-economic development.Unlocking asocio-economic potential of archaeological sites requires clear vision of how to conserve and protect each particular site, how and by what means to maintain and manage the object as well as what to do with it next. It is widely acknowledged that archaeological sites, in particular those having the status of archaeological monuments, play a socially important role, but their maintenance and development often require significant investment. While the laws make owners of archaeological sites, both private and public, solely responsible for conservation, restoration and maintenance of cultural monuments in their property, there should be appropriate mechanisms that mitigate the financial and legal burden and support owners along the way.Based on the review of legal regulation, scientific literature, information of the authorities and mass media, multiple expert interviews, consultations with professional archaeologists, and using an integrated socio-economic and legal approach to the researched issue, the article provides theoretical and practical insight into the actualities of archaeological heritage development potential in Latvia (making international comparisons) and possible solutions thereto.

Laboratory Measurements of Zeta Potential in Fractured Lewisian Gneiss: Implications for the Characterization of Flow in Fractured Crystalline Bedrock

Despite the broad range of interest and possible applications, the controls on the electric surface charge and the zeta potential of gneiss at conditions relevant to naturally fractured systems remain unreported. There are no published zeta potential measurements conducted in such systems at equilibrium, hence, the effects of composition, concentration and pressure remain unknown. This study reports zeta potential values for the first time measured in a fractured Lewisian gneiss sample saturated with NaCl solutions of various concentrations, artificial seawater and artificial groundwater solutions under equilibrium conditions at confining pressures of 4 MPa and 7 MPa. The constituent minerals of the sample were identified using X-ray diffraction and linked to the concentration and composition dependence of the zeta potential. The results reported in this study demonstrate that the zeta potential remained negative for all tested solutions and concentrations. However, the values of the zeta potential of our Lewisian gneiss sample were found to be unique and dissimilar to pure minerals such as quartz, calcite, mica or feldspar. Moreover, the measured zeta potentials were smaller in magnitude in the experiments with artificial complex solutions compared with those measured with NaCl, thus suggesting that divalent ions (Ca2+, Mg2+ and SO42−) acted as potential determining ions. The zeta potential was also found to be independent of salinity in the NaCl experiments, which is unusual for most reported data. We also investigated the impact of fracture aperture on the electrokinetic response and found that surface electrical conductivity remained negligibly small across the range of the tested confining pressures. Our novel results are an essential first step for interpreting field self-potential (SP) signals and facilitate a way forward for characterization of water flow through fractured basement aquifers.

Zeta potential of CO2-rich aqueous solutions in contact with intact sandstone sample at temperatures of 23 °C and 40 °C and pressures up to 10.0 MPa

Despite the broad range of interest and applications, controls on the electric surface charge and the zeta potential of silica in contact with aqueous solutions saturated with dissolved CO2 at conditions relevant to natural systems, remains unreported. There have been no published zeta potential measurements conducted in such systems at equilibrium, hence the effect of composition, pH, temperature and pressure remains unknown.We describe a novel methodology developed for the streaming potential measurements under these conditions, and report zeta potential values for the first time obtained with Fontainebleau sandstone core sample saturated with carbonated NaCl, Na2SO4, CaCl2 and MgCl2 solutions under equilibrium conditions at pressures up to 10 MPa and temperatures up to 40 °C.The results demonstrate that pH of solutions is the only control on the zeta potential, while temperature, CO2 pressure and salt type affect pH values. We report three empirical relationships that describe the pH dependence of the zeta potential for: i) dead (partial CO2 pressure of 10-3.44 atm) NaCl/Na2SO4, ii) dead CaCl2/MgCl2 solutions, and iii) for all live (fully saturated with dissolved CO2) solutions. The proposed new relationships provide essential insights into interfacial electrochemical properties of silica-water systems at conditions relevant to CO2 geological storage.

Deep seabed mining and communities: A transdisciplinary approach to ecological risk assessment in the South Pacific.

Deep-sea mineral extraction is a fledgling industry whose guiding principles, legislation, protocols, and regulations are still evolving. Responsible management of the industry is difficult when it is not clearly understood what biological and environmental diversity or ecosystem services may be at risk. But the industry's infancy provides an opportunity to address this challenge by stakeholder-led development and implementation of a multidisciplinary risk assessment framework. This article aims to present the findings of a workshop held in New Zealand that hosted stakeholders from a broad range of interests and regions in the South Pacific associated with the deep-sea mineral activity. The outputs provide stakeholder-informed ecological risk assessment approaches for deep-sea mining activities, identifying tools and techniques to improve the relevance of risk assessment of deep seabed mining projects to communities in the South Pacific. Discussions highlighted the importance of trust or respect among stakeholders, valuing the "life force" of the ocean, the importance of scientific data, and the complications associated with defining acceptable change. This research highlighted the need for a holistic transdisciplinary approach that connects science, management, industry, and community, an approach most likely to provide a "social license" to operate. There is also a need to revise traditional risk assessment methods to make them more relevant to stakeholders. The development of ecotoxicological tools and approaches is an example of how existing practices could be improved to better support deep-sea mineral management. A case study is provided that highlights the current challenges within the legislative framework of New Zealand. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:664-673. © 2021 SETAC.

Borges' Classics: Global Encounters with the Graeco-Roman Past

Borges' Classics: Global Encounters with the Graeco-Roman Past

A Quarter Century of PCR-Applied Techniques and Their Still-Increasing Fields of Use.

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the basis of a variety of scientific applications and publications in a broad range of interests. It also plays a fundamental role in nucleic acid sequencing applications, including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based ones. The potential of PCR diagnostics is enormous, particularly for the early diagnosis of life-threatening infections. Some other fields of applications that use PCR on a regular basis include oncology, genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, immunogenetics, NGS, ecology, comparative genome evolution, ancestry DNA, pharmacogenomics, personalized medicine, and even general medicine.

The Anonymous Collective: Operations and Gender Differences

Although anyone, male, female, or nonbinary, can join the Anonymous movement or contribute to its causes, which frequently involve war, efforts to free political prisoners, and terrorism, there is clearly a central group of males who control the means of communication, such as chat rooms or Twitter accounts. Although these cyberactivists have become well known for addressing pressing social justice issues, what is not known is how the female participants in the movement function in a male-dominated cyber world. In this exploratory study, we look at the differences between the activities of male and female Anonymous members on Twitter as a way to discover similarities and differences in gendered activism. Our general objective is to identify the themes and values shared by female participants in the Anonymous movement. Our findings indicate that women focus primarily on animal rights, whereas men’s tweets reflect a broader range of interests. Some possible reasons for women’s attraction to animal activism are examined.

To the reader

Dear Reader: The Moscow Journal of Combinatorics and Number Theory was founded in 2010 by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and in 2018 it started being published by MSP (Mathematical Sciences Publishers), a nonprofit scientific publisher based in Berkeley, California. Our journal publishes original, high-quality research articles from a broad range of interests within combinatorics, number theory and allied areas. Since 2011 we have published over 100 papers. Among our authors are such mathematicians as Noga Alon, Antal Balog, Jean-Pierre Demailly, Dominic Foata, Peter Frankl, Aleksandar Ivic, Sergei Konyagin, Yuri Nesterenko, Janos Pach, Yakov Sinai, Andrzej Schinzel, Wolfgang Schmidt, Carlo Viola, Michel Waldschmidt, and many others. This issue 1 of volume 8 is the first issue to appear under MSP's aegis. It contains selected papers presented by the participants of the Vilnius Conference in Combinatorics and Number Theory, which was organized with support from our journal and took place at the Department of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of Vilnius, Lithuania, 16–22 July 2017. Previous conferences connected to our journal were held in Russia (Diophantine analysis, Astrakhan, 30 July to 3 August 2012), Lithuania (Palanga Conference in Combinatorics and Number Theory, 1–7 September 2013), again Russia (Moscow Workshop in Combinatorics and Number Theory, January 27 to 2 February 2014), and Denmark (Diophantine Approximation and Related Topics, Aarhus, 13–17 July 2015). A collection of papers from the Astrakhan conference appeared in issue 3–4 of volume 3 (2013), and papers related to the Aarhus conference in issue 2–3 of volume 6 (2016). We hope that you will enjoy this issue and support the journal both with your submissions and by recommending a subscription to your institutional library!

Dance Exposure Tracking in a Liberal Arts Collegiate Dance Department

ABSTRACT Dancers in a liberal arts program of study are an underrepresented group in the field of dance science and dance education literature. Dancers in this environment come with a broad range of interests and typically strive for high academic achievements outside of their dance studies. Therefore, their patterns of training and injury might be different than dancers typically studied in this field. This study sought to track dance exposure within a liberal arts collegiate dance department as it was hypothesized that dancers’ actual dance exposure time (AE) would be greater than their registered exposure time (RE). Self-reported injuries were also collected to assess incidence of injury. The findings of this study suggest a high incidence of injury and a statistically significant difference in AE versus RE. A customized periodization training program is recommended to assist institutions in combating these patterns within their own program.

Urban Governance in Africa: An Overview

Africa is urbanising rapidly and is facing enormous urban challenges, such as the growth of slums and increasing inequality. Secondary cities, with their smaller economies and less capacitated local governments compared to primary cities, face particularly severe challenges. However, responsibility for key urban governance issues is often fragmented amongst large numbers of government stakeholders with limited capacities and conflicting interests. Key urban governance stakeholders therefore need to be brought together in collaborative processes to jointly develop and implement new strategies that are based on a broader range of interests and meet a broader range of needs. In order to be able to do this, understanding actual urban governance processes, which are essentially about how different actors interact to make and operationalise decisions, is vitally important. This chapter highlights the diversity of actors involved in urban governance in Africa and the complexity of urban governance processes, with Kisumu, a secondary city in Kenya, used as an example. Key actors in urban governance in African cities include all levels of government, political parties, traditional leaders, private sector organisations and informal business organisations (such as traders’ organisations), international agencies and civil society organisations. The basic objects of urban governance can include a wide range of issues, such as land use management, the provision of basic services, ensuring access/mobility and ensuring public health and safety. The diversity of governance actors and of agendas complicates addressing urban issues, but can also be seen as an opportunity for leveraging additional skills and resources through collaborative urban governance processes that bring different stakeholders together to develop and implement more holistic and inclusive strategies.

The Festschrift Darkhei Noam: The Jews of Arab Lands ed. by Carsten Schapkow, Shmuel Shepkaru and Alan Levenson

Reviewed by: The Festschrift Darkhei Noam: The Jews of Arab Lands ed. by Carsten Schapkow, Shmuel Shepkaru and Alan Levenson Elisha Russ-Fishbane Carsten Schapkow, Shmuel Shepkaru, Alan Levenson eds. The Festschrift Darkhei Noam: The Jews of Arab Lands. Leiden: Brill, 2015. 273 pp. The Festschrift Darkhei Noam: The Jews of Arab Lands is a collection of impressive scholarship in celebration of historian Norman (Noam) Stillman, Schusterman/Josey Professor of Judaic History Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma. The volume, with a forward from the president of the university, doubles as a gesture of gratitude from Professor Stillman’s colleagues for the broad reach of his career as scholar of the Islamic world and Sephardic/Mizrahi [End Page 249] studies and for his lasting service as founding director of the Schusterman Center for Judaic & Israel Studies at the University of Oklahoma. In the words of the volume’s editors, “the articles reflect Noam’s broad range of interests,” from Jewish history, law, and culture in the medieval Islamic world to literary and musical production, as well as patterns of immigration and modernization in the Sephardic/Mizrahi orbit (4). As a tribute to the meticulous scholarship of the festschrift honoree, most contributors either document new frontiers of scholarship or provide fresh angles and methodologies on established fields of research. The first half is generally devoted to medieval matters and the second half largely to modern, although chapters 6 and 7 appear to have been reversed (thus chapters 1–5, and 7 constitute the medieval portion, while 6, and 8–12 cover modernity). Other editorial puzzles emerge in arrangement and selection, such as the decision to open the volume with a study of a fairly obscure exegetical theme in Sadducee and Karaite inheritance law (ultimately arguing that the latter did not take the hermeneutical path of the former), and closing with the only article in the collection that has no connection with the Islamic sphere, focusing on the post-Herzl activities of Max Nordau. Slightly jarring are the more mundane editorial oversights, such as recurring typographical errors in many of the chapters, but the quality of the scholarship outweighs these defects. Beyond the volume’s overarching concern with Jewish life and culture in the Islamic context, there are few self-evident thematic links between the essays. A handful of contributors touched on points of connection and tension in the Jewish-Islamic encounter, a theme at the forefront of Professor Stillman’s scholarly interests over the years. Reuven Firestone reexamines the Quranic polemic against Sabbath violators from the vantage point of the history of religions, positing a fresh methodological approach to scriptural polemic directed against established rival religions. In his reassessment of the medieval Islamic toponymy of the Holy Land, Jacob Lassner traces the diversity and development of the post-Quranic terminology for the region in Islamic sources through the tenth century. Although Lassner is mainly interested in technical considerations of the nuances of Arabic nomenclature, he concludes with the intentionally provocative assertion that historical scholarship may be used to counter the respective tendencies of Jews and Arabs in modern times “to declare ‘historic Palestine’ as their genuine homeland,” thus promoting “genuine scholarship above partisan sensibilities” (63). Mark Cohen’s contribution on the impact of Arab mercantile customs on geonic and Maimonidean jurisprudence, part of a larger project on the socioeconomic background of Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, suggests a striking tendency of medieval Jewish legists of the Islamic milieu to accommodate and integrate mercantile practices prevalent among their gentile neighbors. Cohen documents the so-called “custom of the merchants” (pp. 88, 97) in Islamic legal and mercantile sources, but so too in Cairo Geniza letters. The documents of the Cairo Geniza, a significant interest of Professor Stillman’s own scholarly career, are also the focus of Renée Levine Melammed’s study on the challenges and unpredictability of the daily life of women in the medieval Mediterranean. Much like her predecessors in this field, including S. D. Goitein and [End Page 250] Joel Kraemer, Mellamed lets the documents and their colorful details take center stage, while acknowledging that they leave us with more questions than answers. Quite valuable are the five documents Mellamed...

Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology trans. by Wilt L. Idema

Reviewed by: Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology trans. by Wilt L. Idema Grace S. Fong TWO CENTURIES OF MANCHU WOMEN POETS: AN ANTHOLOGY, translated from Chinese by Wilt L. Idema. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. 328 pp. $50.00 cloth. As an erudite scholar and prolific translator with a broad range of interest in literature from China's imperial past, Wilt L. Idema has produced a variety of translations encompassing poetry, drama, and fiction selected from both elite and popular repertories. In recent decades, Idema has been among the vanguard in translating the long-neglected texts of Chinese women from the late imperial period (sixteenth through nineteenth centuries) and making them accessible to an English readership.1 With Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology, Idema presents fine translations of the poetry of nineteen Manchu women in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) in fourteen chapters, contextualizing each poet and her work by providing vital biographical background. In doing so, Idema offers English readers a fascinating body of materials that invites comparative thinking and discussion on issues of writing, identity, and life experience in relation to gender and ethnicity. Originally a semi-nomadic people from the northeast, the Manchus conquered the Han Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and established the Qing empire (1644-1912) with themselves as the governing class. Idema has selected Manchu women poets (and one who was half Mongolian) who mainly lived in the capital Beijing during the height of the Qing empire in the eighteenth century and its decline in the nineteenth. The poets are presented in roughly chronological order, although it would have been useful if their dates had been indicated systematically. Each of these Manchu women had a collection of writings either published or at least partially preserved in an anthology or manuscript form. In comparison to the more than three thousand Chinese women of the Qing dynasty who wrote manuscripts or published collections of poetry and other writings, the fifty-some Manchu women poets estimated by Idema to have produced similar works seem miniscule in comparison. However, this anthology demonstrates their relevance in scholarship on women's literature and potential appeal to a general readership. Idema's judicious selection of poets and poems usually highlights some exceptional features in either the woman's life and/or her writing, often indicated in the chapter titles, for example, "Chastity and Suicide: Xiguang," "A Tomboy in a Silly Dress: Mengyue," "Releasing Butterflies: Wanyan Jinchi," and "A Proud Descendant of Chinggis Khan: Naxun Lanbao." In the introduction, Idema explains why literate Manchu women learned only Chinese rather than Manchu and why their literary writings mainly consisted of poetry.2 He also provides a brief overview of [End Page 447] the Chinese poetic forms in which Manchu women wrote (pp. 13-14). The subject matter and themes of Manchu women's poetry fall within the parameters of Chinese poetic practice, which raises the question of what, if anything, distinguishes these women's writings as being authored by Manchus. Poem 4 from Mengyue's autobiographical retrospective, "Emotions on Remembering the Past," provides one example of such a distinction: A saddle of brocade—at twelve I learned to ride a pony;The arrow-tips like freezing stars, a little bow of horn.When I went hunting in the fields, all people loved to watch;In their opinion I looked like the Bright and Shining Prince. (p. 133) Mengyue describes her tomboyish character in childhood and adolescence when she loved horseback riding, archery, and hunting, all Manchu martial practices in which Manchu women, who did not have bound feet like Han Chinese women, could participate. Idema's introduction to each poet explores the woman's family background and relations (including her husband's family) and the implications of the Manchu dimensions of her life and identity for her social relations and literary production. The number of widows in this anthology is strikingly high—eleven out of nineteen poets—perhaps because by the mid-eighteenth century, the Han Confucian emphasis on widow chastity had been adopted as a norm for Manchu women.3 A Manchu woman's life became inextricably bound to her husband and his family, so...

Effective Global Cancer Care Requires Radiation Therapy: Defining a Path From No Radiotherapy to Radiotherapy of High Quality Globally

Abstract 46 Background: The increasing global burden of cancer in health disparity regions is now well recognized. To appropriately address the need, the full spectrum of cancer care is required, including cancer control plans, cancer registries, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, multidisciplinary care, and follow-up. Radiation therapy is required for curative treatment, particularly for solid tumors, and for palliation. The Global Task Force for Radiation for Cancer Control, created by the Union for International Cancer Control, demonstrated that radiotherapy is economically beneficial and affordable (Lancet Oncol. 2015 16:1153-86). Recognizing that many low- and middle-income countries have inadequate or no radiation therapy and that there is a need globally for at least 5,000 radiation therapy machines, a well-designed implementation plan is necessary. This includes attention to the potential danger from misuse or mishandling of cobalt-60 and the potential for remote networking to ensure high-quality treatment. Methods: Experts with a broad range of interests and representatives from public and private sectors met at an International Cancer Expert Corps–sponsored workshop on the CERN campus on November 7 and 8, 2016, to consider future options, including innovative technology, a software and systems approach to dealing with the complexity of radiation therapy, and the need for ongoing education and training. Discussions included replacement of cobalt-60 units over time for security and safety reasons. Results: The International Cancer Expert Corps–CERN workshop produced criteria for what could be a newly designed linear accelerator. Three task groups were established to address technology/software solutions, education and training, and economic issues. Conclusion: The workshop report is forthcoming and the task groups will work to define short- and long-term solutions to this major global shortfall. This workshop represents a potential watershed moment for augmenting global cancer care by bringing together expertise and potential investment at the scope needed to address the gap in radiation treatment capacity. AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST C. Norman Coleman No relationship to disclose David Pistenmaa No relationship to disclose David Jaffray Consulting or Advisory Role: IBA Mary Gospodarowicz No relationship to disclose Bhadrasain Vikram No relationship to disclose Steve Myers No relationship to disclose Maurizio Vrentenar No relationship to disclose Ugo Amaldi No relationship to disclose Manjit Dosanjh No relationship to disclose

The Protection of Cultural Heritage Must Be a Collaborative Effort

The Protection of Cultural Heritage Must Be a Collaborative Effort

Western University (No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and No. 14 Canadian General Hospital): a study of medical volunteerism in the First World War

The Canadian government depended on chaotic civilian volunteerism to staff a huge medical commitment during the First World War. Offers from Canadian universities to raise, staff and equip hospitals for deployment, initially rejected, were incrementally accepted as casualties mounted. When its offer was accepted in 1916, Western University Hospital quickly adopted military decorum and equipped itself using Canadian Red Cross Commission guidelines. Staff of the No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and the No. 14 Canadian General Hospital retained excellent morale throughout the war despite heavy medical demand, poor conditions, aerial bombardment and external medical politics. The overwhelming majority of volunteers were Canadian-born and educated. The story of the hospital's commanding officer, Edwin Seaborn, is examined to understand the background upon which the urge to volunteer in the First World War was based. Although many Western volunteers came from British stock, they promoted Canadian independence. A classical education and a broad range of interests outside of medicine, including biology, history and native Canadian culture, were features that Seaborn shared with other leaders in Canadian medicine, such as William Osler, who also volunteered quickly in the First World War.