The 1932 and 1944 Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine: rewards for ground-breaking studies in neurophysiology

In 1932 Sherrington and Adrian were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons" and in 1944 Erlanger and Gasser were awarded the same prize "for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres." Sherrington made important discoveries on the reflex functions of the spinal cord, formulated the concept of the "synapse," defined the principle of the "final common path," studied "reciprocal innervation" and showed that central inhibition was an active phenomenon. He distinguished three types of receptors: extero-, intero-, and proprioceptive, studied the proprioceptive reflexes in the decerebrate animal and mapped their pathways in the spinal cord. Adrian made fundamental discoveries on the function of single nerve fibers, developed new techniques for the amplification of the weak signals and discovered that increased stimulation resulted in increased frequency of the impulses, the amplitude being unaffected. Erlanger and Gasser introduced the cathode-ray oscillograph and demonstrated the existence of three main groups of nerve fibers, A, B, and C, the conduction velocities of which were in approximately linear relationship with the fiber diameter, the A-fibers being the fastest and thickest and the C-fibers the slowest and having the finest diameter. Together the contributions by the four Laureates paved the way to modern neurophysiology.     

Gains and losses, outcomes of interregional migration in the five Nordic countries

This paper examines the outcome of interregional migration in various aspects from the migrants' perspective. It is based on a survey, including 6 000 interregional migrants in the five Nordic countries. The results indicate that interregional migration leads to a positive outcome for most migrants and few people seem to be forced to make decisions including painful tradeoffs. Motives have an effect on what aspects of outcome migrants are satisfied with. The influence of individual migrants' characteristics on migration outcome revealed few significant effects. Migrants claimed to be most satisfied with living conditions and less satisfied with the livelihood after moving. To be satisfied with social conditions turned out to be crucially important for the general outcome of migration.     

Some functions of imperial images in Tetrarchic politics

Written sources from the period of tetrarchy contain information on the political use and abuse of imperial images and other media. This information makes it possible to point out methods and techniques for the use of these media, and thereby to demonstrate some of their functions in political and religious disputes in the Tetrarchic period.