The Maser Monitoring Organisation is a collection of researchers exploring the use of time-variable maser emission in the investigation of astrophysical phenomena. The forward directed aspects of research primarily involve using maser emission as a tool to investigate star formation. Simultaneously, these activities have deepened knowledge of maser emission itself in addition to uncovering previously unknown maser transitions. Thus a feedback loop is created where both the knowledge of astrophysical phenomena and the utilised tools of investigation themselves are iteratively sharpened. The project goals are open-ended and constantly evolving, however, the reliance on radio observatory maser monitoring campaigns persists as the fundamental enabler of research activities within the group.

Recently, remarkable progress has been made in understanding the formation of high mass stars. Observations provided direct evidence that massive young stellar objects (MYSOs), analogously to low-mass ones, form via disk-mediated accretion accompanied by episodic accretion bursts, possibly caused by disk fragmentation. In the case of MYSOs, the mechanism theoretically provides a means to overcome radiation pressure, but in practice it is poorly studied - only three accretion bursts in MYSOs have been caught in action to date. A significant contribution to the development of the theory has been made with the study of masers, which have proven to be a powerful tool for locating “bursting” MYSOs. This overview focuses on the exceptional role that masers play in the search and study of accretion bursts in massive protostars.

Social-media companies make extensive use of artificialintelligence in their efforts to remove and blockterrorist content from their platforms. This paperbegins by arguing that, since such efforts amount toan attempt to channel human conduct, they should beregarded as a form of regulation that is subject torule-of-law principles. The paper then discussesthree sets of rule-of-law issues. The first setconcerns enforceability. Here, the paper highlightsthe displacement effects that have resulted from theautomated removal and blocking of terrorist contentand argues that regard must be had to the wholesocial-media ecology, as well as to jihadist groupsother than the so-called Islamic State and otherforms of violent extremism. Since ruleby law is only a necessary, and nota sufficient, condition for compliance withrule-of-law values, the paperthen goes on to examine two further sets of issues:the clarity with which social-media companies defineterrorist content and the adequacy of the processesby which a user may appeal against an accountsuspension or the blocking or removal of content.The paper concludes by identifying a range ofresearch questions that emerge from the discussionand that together form a promising and timelyresearch agenda to which legal scholarship has muchto contribute.

Objectives: We sought to clarify the nature of self-reported cognitive function among healthy older adults by considering the short-term, within-person association (coupling) of subjective cognitive function with objective cognitive performance. We expected this within-person coupling to differ between persons as a function of self-perceived global cognitive decline and depression, anxiety, or neuroticism. Methods: This was an intensive measurement (short-term longitudinal) study of 29 older adult volunteers between the ages of 65 and 80 years without an existing diagnosis of dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Baseline assessment included neuropsychological testing and self-reported depression, anxiety, and neuroticism, as well as self- and informant-reported cognitive decline (relative to 10 years previously). Intensive within-person measurement occasions included subjective ratings of cognitive function paired with performance on a computerized working memory (n-back) task; each participant attended four or five assessments separated by intervals of at least one day. Statistical analysis was comprised of multilevel linear regression. Results: Comparison of models suggested that both neuroticism and self-rated cognitive decline explained unique variance in the within-person, across-occasion coupling of subjective cognitive function with objective working memory performance. Conclusions: Self-ratings of cognition may accurately reflect day-to-day variations in objective cognitive performance among older adults, especially for individuals lower in neuroticism and higher in self-reported cognitive decline. Clinicians should consider these individual differences when determining the validity of complaints about perceived cognitive declines in the context of otherwise healthy aging. (JINS, 2018, 24, 57–66)

How should one analyze data when the underlying models being tested are statistically intractable? In this article, we offer a simulation approach that involves creating sets of artificial data with fully known generating models that can be meaningfully compared to real data. The strategy depends on constructing simulations that are well matched to the data against which they will be compared. Our particular concern is to consider concurrently how voters place parties on issue scales and how they evaluate parties based on issues. We reconsider the Lewis and King (2000) analysis of issue voting in Norway. The simulation findings resolve the ambiguity that Lewis and King report, as voters appear to assimilate and contrast party placements and to evaluate parties directionally. The simulations also provide a strong caveat against the use of individually perceived party placements in analyses of issue voting.

This article explores original empirical findings from a research project investigating representations of cyberterrorism in the international news media. Drawing on a sample of 535 items published by 31 outlets between 2008 and 2013, it focuses on four questions. First, how individuated a presence is cyberterrorism given within news media coverage? Second, how significant a threat is cyberterrorism deemed to pose? Third, how is the identity of ‘cyberterrorists’ portrayed? And, fourth, who or what is identified as the referent – that which is threatened – within this coverage? The article argues that constructions of specificity, status, and scale play an important, yet hitherto under-explored, role within articulations of concern about the threat posed by cyberterrorism. Moreover, unpacking news coverage of cyberterrorism in this way leads to a more variegated picture than that of the vague and hyperbolic media discourse often identified by critics. The article concludes by pointing to several promising future research agendas to build on this work.

We investigated differences between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) from the appearance of the first cognitive symptoms, focusing on both time of onset and rate of accelerated decline for different cognitive functions before dementia diagnosis. Data from a longitudinal population-based study were used, including 914 participants (mean age = 82.0 years, SD = 5.0) tested with a cognitive battery (word recall and recognition, Block Design, category fluency, clock reading) on up to four occasions spanning 10 years. We fit a series of linear mixed effects models with a change point to the cognitive data, contrasting each dementia group to a control group. Significant age-related decline was observed for all five cognitive tasks. Relative to time of diagnosis, the preclinical AD persons deviated from the normal aging curve earlier (up to 9 years) compared to the preclinical VaD persons (up to 6 years). However, once the preclinical VaD persons started to decline, they deteriorated at a faster rate than the preclinical AD persons. The results have important implications for identifying the two dementia disorders at an early stage and for selecting cognitive tasks to evaluate treatment effects for persons at risk of developing AD and VaD. (JINS, 2012, 18, 191–199)

Although the relationship between education and cognitive status is well-known, evidence regarding whether education moderates the trajectory of cognitive change in late life is conflicting. Early studies suggested that higher levels of education attenuate cognitive decline. More recent studies using improved longitudinal methods have not found that education moderates decline. Fewer studies have explored whether education exerts different effects on longitudinal changes within different cognitive domains. In the present study, we analyzed data from 1014 participants in the Victoria Longitudinal Study to examine the effects of education on composite scores reflecting verbal processing speed, working memory, verbal fluency, and verbal episodic memory. Using linear growth models adjusted for age at enrollment (range, 54–95 years) and gender, we found that years of education (range, 6–20 years) was strongly related to cognitive level in all domains, particularly verbal fluency. However, education was not related to rates of change over time for any cognitive domain. Results were similar in individuals older or younger than 70 at baseline, and when education was dichotomized to reflect high or low attainment. In this large longitudinal cohort, education was related to cognitive performance but unrelated to cognitive decline, supporting the hypothesis of passive cognitive reserve with aging. (JINS, 2011, 17, 1039–1046)

Transactional models suggest that peer victimization results from both individual and context differences, and understanding these differences may point to important targets for prevention and interventions that reduce victimization. Multilevel modeling was used to examine within-person (aggression and emotional dysregulation), between-person (sex and age), and between-school (participation in a victimization prevention program) factors that influence changes in physical and relational victimization over the first three years of elementary school. Children (n = 423) reported their experiences of peer victimization at entry into Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. On average, trajectories of both physical and relational victimization declined. However, for individual children, teacher-rated aggression was associated with increases in physical and relational victimization, while emotional dysregulation was associated with attenuation of longitudinal declines in physical victimization and increases in relational victimization. Individual differences in sex and age at entry into Grade 1 did not significantly influence victimization trajectories over Grades 1 to 3. Children who participated in the WITS® victimization prevention program showed significant declines in physical and relational victimization. Levels of victimization among nonparticipants remained stable. Implications of child and context characteristics for preventing peer victimization in elementary school are discussed.

We used data from two population-based longitudinal studies to estimate time of onset and rate of accelerated decline across cognitive domains before dementia diagnosis. The H70 includes an age-homogeneous sample (127 cases and 255 non-cases) initially assessed at age 70 with 12 follow-ups over 30 years. The Kungsholmen Project (KP) includes an age-heterogeneous sample (279 cases and 562 non-cases), with an average age of 82 years at initial assessment, and 4 follow-ups spanning 13 years. We fit mixed linear models to the data and determined placement of change points by a profile likelihood method. Results demonstrated onset of accelerated decline for fluid (speed, memory) versus crystallized (verbal, clock reading) abilities occurring approximately 10 and 5 years before diagnosis, respectively. Although decline before change points was greater for fluid abilities, acceleration was more pronounced for crystallized abilities after the change points. This suggests that onset and rate of acceleration vary systematically along the fluid-crystallized ability continuum. There is early onset in fluid abilities, but these changes are difficult to detect due to substantial age-related decline. Onset occurred later and acceleration was greater in crystallized abilities, suggesting that those markers may provide more valid identification of cases in later stages of the prodromal phase. (JINS, 2011, 17, 000–000)

Around the Caribbean, it is commonly believed that slavery and the plantation system have been responsible for the prevalence of short-term consensual unions, matrifocal households and children out of wedlock who grow up without the authority and support of a father or definite father- surrogate. This explanation is accepted as often by social scientists as by public opinion. Of course, this is the obverse of the line of Western social thought maintaining that small holdings and independent family farming are the basis of strong patrifocal households, exclusive life-long marriages and paternal responsibility for children.