Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Consensus on the concept of foreign direct investment (FDI) has sparked an enormous body of research that confirms the importance of separating FDI and its politics from other forms of international economy activity. At the same time, international political economy research on FDI is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success: by too readily accepting the parameters of “F,” “D,” and “I,” we risk undervaluing high-priority research agendas that push conceptual boundaries. As evidence, this chapter highlights gains made by probing the “F” in FDI—by disaggregating national origins; separating foreign state or private owners; and considering “F” in the context of its domestic counterparts. Recognizing the huge progress made due to de facto agreement on what constitutes FDI, scholars in all IPE research traditions would do well to prioritize research questions that critically engage with the concept.

Immunotherapy in psoriasis

Over the past two decades, a huge progress in the treatment of psoriasis was achieved by targeting the human cytokine network. At present, 11 biologicals – antibodies, and a soluble receptor – are used to neutralize key inflammatory cytokines. Based on their targets, they can be grouped into the following four classes: TNF-α-, IL-12/23-, IL-17- and IL-23-inhibitors. The number of substances, but also the different modes of action may be challenging, when selecting the right drug for an individual patient. In this article, we provide an overview of the available biologicals in the treatment of psoriasis, including their advantages and limitations, and summarize criteria for therapy selection.

Nanomaterials in electrochemical cytosensors

Nano-electrochemical cytosensors have attracted intensive attention and achieved huge progress in the biomedical field owing to their stability, rapidity, accuracy, and low-cost properties.

Reflections on 100 years of IAU

One hundred years ago, the International Astronomical Union was created, one of the very first Unions dedicated to the advancement of a discipline and the promotion of international collaboration and exchange. In 100 years, astronomy has made huge progress, and the IAU has greatly expanded in volume and purpose. In recent years, it has become more and more active in education, astronomy for development and dissemination of astronomy to a large public.

Episodic Memory Deep Q-Networks

Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms have made huge progress in recent years by leveraging the power of deep neural networks (DNN). Despite the success, deep RL algorithms are known to be sample inefficient, often requiring many rounds of interactions with the environments to obtain satisfactory performances. Recently, episodic memory based RL has attracted attention due to its ability to latch on good actions quickly. In this paper, we present a simple yet effective biologically inspired RL algorithm called Episodic Memory Deep Q-Networks (EMDQN), which leverages episodic memory to supervise an agent during training. Experiments show that our proposed method leads to better sample efficiency and is more likely to find good policy. It only requires 1/5 of the interactions of DQN to achieve many state-of-the-art performances on Atari games, significantly outperforming regular DQN and other episodic memory based RL algorithms.

Bridge deck condition assessment by using GPR: a review

Bridge deck deterioration includes delamination, corrosion of rebars, vertical cracking and concrete degradation. Ground Penetrating Radar based inspection technique was used for mapping bridge deck in order to monitor the health of this vital structure. Beginning from the 1970‘s, research has focused on identification of bridge deck deterioration which causes severe deficiencies by reducing seriously strength. The main purpose of this work was to review the literature existing in the field of bridge deck diagnosis by means of Ground Penetrating Radar. This enabled to survey detailed evolution of this technique, to understand the effects of key intervening parameters and to determine the kind of material disorders that this device could be used for. Bridge deck condition assessment can then be performed more successfully, based on the huge progress experienced by this particular method of inspection.

The coach’s role in shaping the attitudes and values of a competitor in Poland after World War II on the example of Wunderteam

The purpose of this publication is to present the concept of sport philosophy, implemented on the basis of certain values between individuals and trainers – Jan Mulak and the Wunderteam - in historically and politically challenging conditions. The article shows certain values, which were headed via outstanding individual cooperation with other great personalities from the world of sports in a way to fulfill a masterpiece – the Wunderteam. The project of creating Polish athletics team was not a programme of self-improvement of outstanding individuals, but was joint international work, which was to serve the Polish society. That concept of genius of Jan Mulak as a coordinator, and his cooperators, initiated huge progress in Polish sports.

Biomaterial-based nanoreactors, an alternative for enzyme delivery

Application of nanotechnology is making huge progress in the biomedical and environmental fields. The design and production of nanoreactors based on the combination of catalytic properties of enzymes and the unique characteristics of nano-sized materials is, certainly, an opportunity to solve different challenges in biomedical and environmental fields. Most of the research efforts to combine enzymes and nanostructured materials have been made using ceramic, metallic, or carbon-based materials. Nevertheless, biomaterials, or materials from biological origin, have two main advantages for biomedical and environmental applications when compared with non-biological nanomaterials; they are biocompatible and biodegradable materials. In this work, a critical review of the literature information on nanostructured biomaterials for enzyme delivery is shown.

TIMEKEEPING IN THE ROMAN ARMY

The structure and organization of the Roman army is a complex subject for ancient historians. Of its multiple aspects, the schedule of the daily routine is one of the most interesting but, at the same time, is scarcely known. Of course, huge progress has been made with the publication of the daily rosters of one particular auxiliary unit in the East (cohors XX Palmyrenorum, at Dura, Syria), but the detail of the chronological organization of the unit's schedule is still to be revealed.