bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spreading of TDP-43 pathology via pyramidal tract induces ALS-like phenotypes in TDP-43 transgenic mice
Authors: Ding Xuebing , Xiang Zhi , Qin Chi , Chen Yongkang , Tian Haiyan , Meng Lin , Xia Danhao , Liu Han , Song Jia , Fu Jun , Ma Mingming , Wang Xuejing
Published: January 2021

Transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) has been identified as the major component of ubiquitinated inclusions found in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Increasing evidence suggests prion-like transmission of TDP-43 aggregates via neuroanatomic connection in vitro and pyramidal tract in vivo. However, it is still unknown whether the spreading of pathological TDP-43 sequentially via pyramidal tract can initiate ALS-like pathology and phenotypes. In this study, we reported that injection of TDP-43 preformed fibrils (PFFs) into the primary motor cortex (M1) of Thy1-e (IRES-TARDBP) 1 mice induced the spreading of pathological TDP-43 along pyramidal tract axons anterogradely. Moreover, TDP-43 PFFs-injected Thy1-e (IRES-TARDBP) 1 mice displayed ALS-like neuropathological features and symptoms, including motor dysfunctions and electrophysiological abnormalities. These findings provide direct evidence that transmission of pathological TDP-43 along pyramidal tract induces ALS-like phenotypes, which further suggest the potential mechanism for TDP-43 proteinopathy.
GaS_GeoT: A computer program for an effective use of newly improved gas geothermometers in predicting reliable geothermal reservoir temperatures
Authors: Acevedo-Anicasio A. , Santoyo E. , Pérez-Zárate D. , Pandarinath Kailasa , Guevara M. , Díaz-González L.
Published: January 2021

A geochemometric study based on a multi-criteria decision analysis was applied, for the first time, for the optimal evaluation and selection of artificial neural networks, and the prediction of geothermal reservoir temperatures. Eight new gas geothermometers (GasG1to GasG8) were derived from this study. For an effective and practical application of these geothermometers, a new computer program GaS_GeoT was developed. The prediction efficiency of the new geothermometers was compared with temperature estimates inferred from twenty-five existing geothermometers using gas-phase compositions of fluids from liquid- (LIQDR) and vapour-dominated (VAPDR) reservoirs. After applying evaluation statistical metrics (DIFF%, RMSE, MAE, MAPE, and the Theil's U test) to the temperature estimates obtained by using all the geothermometers, the following inferences were accomplished: (1) the new eight gas geothermometers (GasG1to GasG8) provided reliable and systematic temperature estimates with performance wise occupying the first eight positions for LIQDR; (2) the GasG3and GasG1geothermometers exhibited consistency as the best predictor models by occupying the first two positions over all the geothermometers for VAPDR; (3) the GasG3geothermometer exhibited a wider applicability, and a better prediction efficiency over all geothermometers in terms of a large number of samples used (up to 96% and 85% for LIQDR and VAPDR, respectively), and showed the smallest differences between predicted and measured temperatures in VAPDR and LIQDR; and lastly (4) for the VAPDR, the existing geothermometers ND84c, A98c, and ND98b sometimes showed a better prediction than some of the new gas geothermometers, except for GasG3and GasG1. These results indicate that the new gas geothermometers may have the potential to become one of the most preferred tools for the estimation of the reservoir temperatures in geothermal systems.
The effect of vitamin K on prothrombin time in critically ill patients: an observational registry study
Authors: Dahlberg Sofia , Schött Ulf , Kander Thomas
Published: January 2021

Background

Previous studies have indicated that vitamin K deficiency is common in non-bleeding critically ill patients with slightly prolonged prothrombin time-international normalized ratio (PT-INR). It has never been investigated thoroughly whether the administration of vitamin K to these patients could affect their PT-INR. Therefore, the aim of this registry study was to evaluate changes in PT-INR in response to vitamin K in critically ill patients with PT-INR in the range of 1.3–1.9.

Methods

Patients admitted to a mixed 9-bed general intensive care unit at a University Hospital, between 2013 and 2019 (n = 4541) with a PT-INR between 1.3 and 1.9 at any time during the stay were identified. Patients who received vitamin K with appropriate sampling times for PT-INR and without exclusion criteria were matched with propensity score to patients from the same cohort who did not receive vitamin K (controls). PT-INR was measured at admission, within 12 h before vitamin K administration and 12–36 h following vitamin K administration. Exclusion criteria included pre-existing liver cirrhosis, any plasma or platelet transfusion, or > 1 unit red blood cell transfusion between PT-INR samplings.

Results

Propensity score matching resulted in two groups of patients with 129 patients in each group. PT-INR decreased in both groups (1.4 [1.3–1.4] in the vitamin K group and 1.4 [1.3–1.6] in the controls, p < 0.001 and p = 0.004, respectively). The decrease in PT-INR was slightly more pronounced in patients who received vitamin K (delta PT-INR − 0.10 [− 0.30 to − 0.10] in the vitamin K group and − 0.10 [− 0.20 to 0.10] in the controls, p = 0.01).

Conclusion

In critically ill patients with a PT-INR of 1.3–1.9, the administration of vitamin K resulted in a slightly larger decrease of PT-INR 12–36 h after administration compared to controls. Future studies should focus on identifying which patient populations may benefit most from vitamin K administration as well as whether vitamin K could be a better alternative than plasma or prothrombin complex concentrate to improve PT-INR before non-emergent invasive procedures.
A comparison and analysis of seven gun law permissiveness scales
Authors: Reeping Paul M. , Morrison Christopher N. , Rudolph Kara E. , Goyal Monika K. , Branas Charles C.
Published: January 2021

Background

Due to the differences in the way gun law permissiveness scales were created and speculation about the politically motivated underpinnings of the various scales, there have been questions about their reliability.

Methods

We compared seven gun law permissiveness scales, varying by type and sources, for an enhanced understanding of the extent to which choice of a gun law permissiveness scale could affect studies related to gun violence outcomes in the United States. Specifically, we evaluated seven different scales: two rankings, two counts, and three scores, arising from a range of sources. We calculated Spearman correlation coefficients for each pair of scales compared. Cronbach’s standardized alpha and Guttman’s lambda were calculated to evaluate the relative reliability of the scales, and we re-calculated Cronbach’s alpha after systematically omitting each scale to assess whether the omitted scale contributed to lower internal consistency between scales. Factor analysis was used to determine single factor loadings and estimates. We also assessed associations between permissiveness of gun laws and total firearm deaths and suicides in multivariable regression analyses.

Results

All pairs of scales were highly correlated (average Spearman’s correlation coefficient r = 0.77) and had high relative reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.968, Guttman’s lambda = 0.975). All scales load onto a single factor. The choice of scale did not meaningfully change the parameter estimates for the associations between permissiveness of gun laws and gun deaths and suicides.

Conclusion

Gun law permissiveness scales are highly correlated despite any perceived political agenda, and the choice of gun law permissiveness scale has little effect on study conclusions related to gun violence outcomes.
Spatio-temporal characteristics of frictional properties on the subducting Pacific Plate off the east of Tohoku district, Japan estimated from stress drops of small earthquakes
Authors: Yamada Takuji , Duan Meitong , Kawahara Jun
Published: January 2021

The east coast of the Tohoku district, Japan has a high seismicity, including aftershocks of the 2011 M9 Tohoku earthquake. We analyzed 1142 earthquakes with$$4.4 \le M_{W} \le 5.0$$4.4≤MW≤5.0that occurred in 2003 through 2018 and obtained spatio-temporal pattern of stress drop on the Pacific Plate that subducts beneath the Okhotsk Plate. Here we show that small earthquakes at edges of a region with a large slip during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake had high values of stress drop, indicating that the areas had a high frictional strength and suppressed the coseismic slip of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. In addition, stress drops of small earthquakes in some of the areas likely decreased after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. This indicates that the frictional strength decreased at the areas due to the following aftershocks of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, consistent with a high aftershock activity. This also supports that the frictional properties on a subducting plate interface can be monitored by stress drops of small earthquakes, as pointed out by some previous studies.
Evaluation of image quality at the detector’s edge of dedicated breast positron emission tomography
Authors: Satoh Yoko , Motosugi Utaroh , Imai Masamichi , Omiya Yoshie , Onishi Hiroshi
Published: January 2021

Background

Using phantoms and clinical studies in prone hanging breast imaging, we assessed the image quality of a commercially available dedicated breast PET (dbPET) at the detector’s edge, where mammary glands near the chest wall are located. These are compared to supine PET/CT breast images of the same clinical subjects.

Methods

A breast phantom with four spheres (16-, 10-, 7.5-, and 5-mm diameter) was filled with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose solution (sphere-to-background activity concentration ratio, 8:1). The spheres occupied five different positions from the top edge to the centre of the detector and were scanned for 5 min in each position. Reconstructed images were visually evaluated, and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), contrast recovery coefficient (CRC) for all spheres, and coefficient of variation of the background (CVB) were calculated. Subsequently, clinical images obtained with standard supine PET/CT and prone dbPET were retrospectively analysed. Tumour-to-background ratios (TBRs) between breast cancer near the chest wall (close to the detector’s edge; peripheral group) and at other locations (non-peripheral group) were compared. The TBR of each lesion was compared between dbPET and PET/CT.

Results

Closer to the detector’s edge, the CNR and CRC of all spheres decreased while the CVB increased in the phantom study. The disadvantages of this placement were visually confirmed. Regarding clinical images, TBR of dbPET was significantly higher than that of PET/CT in both the peripheral (12.38 ± 6.41 vs 6.73 ± 3.5, p = 0.0006) and non-peripheral (12.44 ± 5.94 vs 7.71 ± 7.1, p = 0.0183) groups. There was no significant difference in TBR of dbPET between the peripheral and non-peripheral groups.

Conclusion

The phantom study revealed poorer image quality at < 2-cm distance from the detector’s edge than at other more central parts. In clinical studies, however, the visibility of breast lesions with dbPET was the same regardless of the lesion position, and it was higher than that in PET/CT. dbPET has a great potential for detecting breast lesions near the chest wall if they are at least 2 cm from the edge of the FOV, even in young women with small breasts.
Comparative study of the effect of face-to-face and computer mediated conversation modalities on student engagement: speaking skill in focus
Authors: Bagheri Maryam , Mohamadi Zenouzagh Zohre
Published: January 2021

This study investigated the potentials of face –to- face and computer mediated conversation (CMC) as two speaking modalities on students’ engagement. To this end, 30 Iranian male intermediate EFL learners were selected on the basis of their performance on OPT (Oxford Placement Test) and assigned into the research groups. The progression of face- to- face and CMC groups from limited to elaborate engagement at verbal, paralinguistic and functional levels was assessed using transcription analysis in face-to-face group and chat log analysis in CMC group. The limited and elaborate student engagement indicators in two modalities were identified via Maxqda software. The results of Maxqda analysis indicated that limited engagement was associated with appeal for help, silence, pauses and hesitations, focus on syntax, involvement with procedural talk and L1 use. Respectively, elaborate engagement was associated with avoiding L1 use, focus on discourse, involvement with actual talk and strategic discourse management rather than pause and silence. Chi-square analysis on frequency of indicators of limited and elaborate engagements on verbal, paralinguistic and functional levels indicated that limited and elaborate engagements occurred with different proportions in face-to-face and CMC conversations. Teaching practitioners would benefit the findings of the study since the findings illustrate how students’ engagement in learning evolves and how speaking modalities may impact the pattern of students’ engagement over time. The finding also suggest one way for improving student engagement without over-intervening of teachers is using modalities such as forums where the teacher presence is limited and students have to manage the discourse themselves which in turn increases student engagement.
Medicinal attributes of pyridine scaffold as anticancer targeting agents
Authors: Mohamed Esraa Ali , Ismail Nasser S. M. , Hagras Mohamed , Refaat Hanan
Published: January 2021

Background

The heterocyclic compounds particularly pyridine displayed clinical and biological implementation. Pyridine scaffolds have been detected in most relevant drug molecules that included pyridine provided a great possibility for treatment.

Main text

Pyridine-containing compounds have increasing importance for medicinal application as antiviral, anticholinesterase activities, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antidiabetic and anticancer. This has generated concern among researchers in synthesising a variety of pyridine derivatives.

Conclusion

This review focuses on different pyridine targets as anticancer and their pharmacophoric elements controlling its activity.
Το Βουνό και οι παρενέργειες του
Authors: Καριωτάκη Φωτεινή
Published: January 2021

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Ενα δάσος πυγολαμπίδες...
Authors: Κυριάκου Σοφία
Published: January 2021

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Μία βάρκα Αργυροπελεκάνους...
Authors: Κυριάκου Σοφία
Published: January 2021

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Για ένα ευρύτερο πλαίσιο, για ένα νέο λεξιλόγιο στην τέχνη
Authors: Πετσίνη Πηνελόπη
Published: January 2021

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Εισαγωγικό σημείωμα, Τοπίο Ιστορίες, πολιτικές αναπαραστάσεις
Authors: Συλαίου Στέλλα
Published: January 2021

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Ενσώματη διαλεκτική μετα-μνήμη στην πόλη, στην ποίηση του Καβάφη
Authors: Χτούρης Σωτήρης
Published: January 2021

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Ψυχογεωγραφία στην ψηφιακή εποχή: μια εναλλακτική θεώρηση του αστικού τοπίου
Authors: Συλαίου Στέλλα , Χουντάση Μαρία , Λαγούδη Έλενα
Published: January 2021

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Revisiting the Walk
Authors: Osborne Erika
Published: January 2021

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ΤΑ ΕΡΓΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΙΚΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΠΟΡΕΙΑΣ 2010
Authors: Ζιώγας Γιάννης
Published: January 2021

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Πολιτικές Τοπογραφίες- Εικαστική Πορεία 2011
Authors: Felshin Nina
Published: January 2021

Κυρίως κείμενο, Nina Felshin, Πρόλογος, Πηνελόπη Πετσίνη.
Μια μικρή εισαγωγή στις φυτικές και ζωικές βαφές
Authors: Γρηγορίου Μαρία
Published: January 2021

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Φτιάχνοντας χειροποίητο χαρτί
Authors: Παπαδόπουλος Γιάννης
Published: January 2021

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Σύριγξ
Authors: Ζαμπέλης Σπύρος
Published: January 2021

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Case Report: Fatal myocarditis after combination of immune checkpoint inhibitor and platinum doublet chemotherapy
Authors: Haakensen Vilde Drageset , Thunold Solfrid M.H. , Gulati Geeta
Published: January 2021

Myocarditis is a rare but feared adverse event of treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The incidence is about 1%, while the mortality rate is up to 50%. Many physicians treating lung cancer do not have experience with this serious adverse event, and few hospitals in Scandinavia have routines for baseline assessments that may help detect early signs of inflammation of the myocard. Early onset of anti-inflammatory treatment is associated with favourable outcome.  

We present a case report of fatal myocarditis after treatment with check-point inhibitor. The patient was admitted with severe dyspnoea, general body ache, weakness, dysphagia, palpitations and diplopia two weeks after her second infusion of systemic treatment combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy. She had presented vague symptoms at time of the second infusion that were not identified as related to myocarditis/myositis. Upon aggressive treatment with methylprednisolone, mycophenolate mofetil, abatacept and plasmapheresis, her troponins and pro-BNP were reduced, but clinically she deteriorated and her life could not be saved.

We present this case report to increase awareness of the condition and to raise discussion about the role of routine baseline assessments to aid early diagnosis and anti-inflammatory treatment to prevent treatment-related deaths.
Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus and assessment of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine
Authors: Veljkovic Veljko , Perovic Vladimir , Chambers Isabelle , Paessler Slobodan
Published: January 2021

A safe and effective vaccine is urgently needed to bring the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic under control. The spike protein (SP) of SARS-CoV-2 represents the principal target for most vaccines currently under development. Despite the presence of a CoV proof-reading function in viral replication, SP protein from SARS-CoV still extensively mutates, which might have an impact on current and future vaccine development. Here, we present analysis of more than 1600 SP unique variants suggesting that vaccine candidates based on the Wuhan-Hu-1 reference strain would be effective against most of currently circulated SARS-CoV-2 viruses, but that further monitoring of the evolution of this virus is important for identification of other mutations, which could affect the effectiveness of vaccines.
Draft genome assembly of the biofuel grass crop Miscanthus sacchariflorus
Authors: De Vega Jose , Donnison Iain , Dyer Sarah , Farrar Kerrie
Published: January 2021

Miscanthus sacchariflorus (Maxim.) Hack. is a highly productive C4 perennial rhizomatous biofuel grass crop. M. sacchariflorus is among the most widely distributed species in the genus, particularly at cold northern latitudes, and is one of the progenitor species of the commercial M. × giganteus genotypes. We generated a 2.54 Gb whole-genome assembly of the diploid M. sacchariflorus cv. “Robustus 297” genotype, which represented ~59% of the expected total genome size. We later anchored this assembly using the chromosomes from the M. sinensis genome to generate a second assembly with improved contiguity. We annotated 86,767 and 69,049 protein-coding genes in the unanchored and anchored assemblies, respectively. We estimated our assemblies included ~85% of the M. sacchariflorus genes based on homology and core markers. The utility of the new reference for genomic studies was evidenced by a 99% alignment rate of the RNA-seq reads from the same genotype.  The raw data, unanchored and anchored assemblies, and respective gene annotations are publicly available.
Designing Context-Based Marketing: Product Recommendations Under Time Pressure
Authors: Kawaguchi Kohei , Uetake Kosuke , Watanabe Yasutora
Published: January 2021

We study how to design product recommendations when consumers’ attention and utility are influenced by time pressure—a prominent example of the context effect—and menu characteristics, such as the number of recommended products in the assortment. Using unique data on consumer purchases from vending machines on train platforms in Tokyo, we develop and estimate a structural consideration set model in which time pressure and recommendations can influence attention and utility. We find that time pressure reduces consumer attention but increases utility. Time pressure moderates the effect of recommendations for the attention of both recommended and nonrecommended products and utility for recommended products. Moreover, the number of total recommendations increases consumer attention in general, but in a diminishing way. In our counterfactual simulations, we find that the revenue-maximizing number of recommendations decreases with time pressure and that optimizing recommending products to accommodate time pressure by a greedy algorithm increases total sales volume by 3.7% relative to the actual policy, 0.6% points more than traditional consumer-segment-based targeting policy. This effect is larger than 10% price discounts, which increases the revenue only by 0.4% at the margin.

This paper was accepted by Matthew Shum, marketing.
Light-shaping design by a fourier pair synthesis: the homeomorphic case
Authors: Yang Liangxin , Badar Irfan , Hellmann Christian , Wyrowski Frank
Published: January 2021

From a physical-optics point of view, the far-field light-shaping problem mainly requires a Fourier pair synthesis. The Iterative Fourier Transform Algorithm (IFTA) is one of the algorithms capable of realizing this synthesis, however, it may lead to stagnation problems when the fields of the Fourier pair exhibit a homeomorphic behavior. To overcome this problem, we use a mapping-type relation for the Fourier pair synthesis. This approach results in a smooth phase response function in a single step, without requiring an iterative procedure. The algorithm is demonstrated with examples and the results are investigated via physical-optics modeling techniques.
Frequency correlated photon generation at telecom band using silicon nitride ring cavities
Authors: Yin Zhenghao , Sugiura Kenta , Takashima Hideaki , Okamoto Ryo , Qiu Feng , Yokoyama Shiyoshi , Takeuchi Shigeki
Published: January 2021

Frequency entangled photon sources are in high demand in a variety of optical quantum technologies, including quantum key distribution, cluster state quantum computation and quantum metrology. In the recent decade, chip-scale entangled photon sources have been developed using silicon platforms, offering robustness, large scalability and CMOS technology compatibility. Here, we report the generation of frequency correlated photon pairs using a 150-GHz silicon nitride ring cavity. First, the device is characterized for studying the phase matching condition during spontaneous four-wave mixing. Next, we evaluate the joint spectrum intensity of the generated photons and confirm the photon pair generation in a total of 42 correlated frequency mode pairs, corresponding to a bandwidth of 51.25 nm. Finally, the experimental results are analyzed and the joint spectral intensity is quantified in terms of the phase matching condition.
Anthropocene slow TV: Temporalities of extinction in Svalbard
Authors: Leyda Julia , Brinch Sara
Published: January 2021

In Norway, slow television, an internationally popular format that approaches Nordic noir in export value, has been primarily concerned with entertaining viewers by showing Norwegians (and interested outsiders) their own country. The January 2020 NRK release of its slow TV programmeSvalbard minutt for minutt(Svalbard Minute by Minute)focuses on this Arctic region, juxtaposing striking images of its native fauna with the remarkably well-preserved ecological crime scenes of its Anthropocene pasts.Svalbard Minute by Minuteconstitutes a daring mash-up of nation-branding nature programme and extractivist history documentary, via both non-fiction modes of place and process views, in which the two strains reinforce one another to pose difficult questions about the future for viewing audiences.
THE COMPOSITION AND CONTENT OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS IN THE LEAVES OF A POTENTIALLY INVA-SIVE SPECIES PHYSOCARPUS OPULIFOLIUS (L.) MAXIM. AND ITS ORNAMENTAL CULTIVARS
Authors: Belanova Anastasiya Petrovna , Kostikova Vera Andreyevna , Vysochina Galina Ivanovna
Published: January 2021

The expansion of alien plant species in natural communities is now taking a global scale. Since most invasive plants have economically valuable properties, many researchers agree that these plants must be used as new sources of biological resources. The composition and content of biologically active compounds were studied in the leaves of potentially invasive species of Novosibirsk – Physocarpus opulifolius (L.) Maxim. and its ornamental cultivars Ph. opulifolius ‘Diabolo’, Ph. opulifolius ‘Luteus’ by the method of High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. For the first time an analysis of phenolic profiles of introduced, self-sown and cultivated Ph. opulifolius plants has been performed. Presence of 22 phenolic compounds represented by several groups of substances with predominating flavanols (hyperoside, rutin, astragalin and quercetin) has been established. Avicularin has been only revealed in the leaves of cultivars. The sum of identified flavonols greatly varies in different samples, the highest content is in the cultivar Ph. opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ (14.68 mg/g) and self-sown plants of Ph. opulifolius (14.22 mg/g). The content of the sum of identified flavons (vitexin, isovitexin, baicalin) and phenolic acid (сhlorogenic and caffeic acids) is almost the same in all Ph. opulifolius samples under study. The data obtained will allow to widen the idea of the resource potential of the aggressive invasive species and its ornamental cultivars in the secondary areal.
COMPONENT COMPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL OIL PRUNUS PERSICA VAR. NECTARINA GROWING IN UZBEKI-STAN
Authors: Karabaeva Ra"no Botirovna , Ibragimov Alidzhan Aminovich , Nazarov Otabek Mamadaliyevich
Published: January 2021

The article presents the results of determining the composition of essential oils of Prunus persica var. nectarina varieties "yellow nectarine" – "sariк luchchak (uzb.) ", growing in two regions of the Ferghana region of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The pale yellow essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation from un-dried fresh leaves of plants. The oil composition was determined by chromatography-mass spectrometry on an Agilent 7890 AGC 6890 N gas chromotograph with a quadrupole mass spectrometer (Agilent 5975C inert MSD) as a detector on an HP-5 MS quartz capillary column. An essential oil of pale yellow color was isolated from the leaves of plants. In the composition of essential oils, 56 and 61 compounds were identified in the first and second samples, respectively, wich is 94.55 and 96.00% of the total components. The dominant components of the first saple are camphor bicyclic monoterpene ketones (24.21%), α-thujone (15.00%) and β-thujone (4.27%), aromatic aldehyde benzaldehyde (18.83%) and isobornoleol bicyclic monoterpene alcohol (6.17%). In the second sample, bicyclic monoterpenic ketones (camphor) (36.67%), α-thujone (21.81%) and β-thujone (7.06%) and bicyclic monoterpene alcohol isobornoleol (9.4%) predominate and monocyclic unsaturated monoterpene α-terpinene (2.18%). In both samples, (+)-2-bornanone (camphor) is predominant. The studied variety Prunus persica var. nectarina can serve as a raw material for the production of essential oil, the main components of which are camphor and isobornoleol.
THE ANTIHYPOXIC ACTIVITY OF SIBERIAN FIR ESSENTIAL OIL FRACTIONS
Authors: Gulyayev Dmitriy Konstantinovich , Yakovleva Ekaterina Igorevna , Mashchenko Petr Sergeevich , Solodnikov Sergey Yuryevich , Belonogova Valentina Dmitrievna
Published: January 2021

The component composition and antihypoxic activity of Siberian fir (Abies sibirica) essential oil fractions were researched. The foliage of Siberian fir, collected on the territory of the Ilyinsky district of the Perm region in a dark coniferous forest was the raw material for obtaining the essential oil. Samples for the research were collected in December 2018 from trees 40–50 years old. The essential oil was obtained with the Clevenger apparatus. Determination of the component composition of Siberian fir essential oil fractions was made by using chromatography-mass-spectrometry. Experiments for determination of antihypoxic activity of Siberian fir essential oil fractions were made on a hypoxic hypoxia model with hypercapnia. According to the results of the research, it was found that the first fraction is more saturated with monoterpene compounds, but the proportion of sesquiterpenoids increases in following fractions. The main components of all fir oil fractions are: bornylacetate, limonene, ∆3-carene, karyophyllene. It was found that the fractions 1 and 2 have the highest antihypoxic activity in comparison with the reference sample. For further research, we offer fraction 1, because it contains the high level of bornylacetate, and the lowest content of ∆3-carene, which inhibits the ubiquinol cytochrome-C reductase complex, interrupting mitochondrial and cell respiration.
INFLUENCE OF THE BIOSORBENT "UNISORB-BIO" MODIFIED BY WASTE PAPER ON THE SOWING QUALITIES OF PINK CLOVER IN THE CONDITIONS OF OIL POLLUTION
Authors: Ryazanova Tat'yana Vasil'yevna , Fedorova Ol'ga Semenovna
Published: January 2021

The article uses the example of artificially polluted soil to consider the effect of urea sorbent-a biological product "Unisorb-Bio" modified by waste paper on the biodegradation of oil with subsequent phyto-control of the soil by a test culture of pink-Swedish clover (Trifolium hybridum).

It is shown that during 18 weeks of exposure "Unisorb-Bio" with immobilized on it the oil-oxidizing strains of Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus subtilis, the oil content in the soil decreased by 10 times, which is on an order of magnitude higher to comparison with the control. High seeding qualities (germination energy, seed germination – 82%) are observed when using "Unisorb-Bio" modified waste paper from newsprint in conditions of 10% initial soil contamination, with a content of nitrophosca 0.05%.

In the soil with" Unisorb-Bio "modified waste paper from the paper "Snegurochka" the indicators are lower by 17–20% than in the soil samples with biologics product modified by waste paper from newsprint, which is probably perhaps is bound up with more the greater destructibility of the latter under these conditions and an increase of mobile forms of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil.

The results of phytocontrol (germination energy, seed germination-52%) indicate a relatively good level of soil recovery with 15% initial contamination and almost independent of the type of biological product. The observed seeding quality and morphophysiological indicators give reason to conclude that the "Unisorb-Bio" biological product modified with waste paper is able to restore the soil even with a high level of contamination within one season.
Changes in Soviet Academia's Age-Related Personnel Policies during the Cold War
Authors: Levinson Kirill
Published: January 2021

Academic institutions in the USSR were state-owned and served the state's political, economic, military and ideological needs. This determined their personnel policies. During the Cold War, Soviet academia's age-related personnel policies evolved. While in the late 1940s and early 1950s purges often resulted in relatively young persecutors taking their relatively old victims' places, this was not the campaign's declared goal. Age was not a personnel policy criterion then. What mattered was one's ethnicity, politics and work experience. The latter meant being not too young. In the 1950s, leading scientists persuaded the Soviet leadership that more scholars - and younger ones - were needed. Young age became an asset. “Young scholars' councils,” “young scholars' competitions” and “creative youth groups” were introduced in the 1960s, although off the main career tracks. In 1987, the President of the Academy of Sciences Gury Marchuk stigmatized aging as a synonym for obsolescence and initiated a radical rejuvenation campaign. Research institutes were ordered to annually recruit “young specialists” and dismiss scholars above the age of seventy. Drawing on documents from the archives of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Moscow State University, the paper shows how personnel policy criteria changed over time and how opposition to change was overcome.
Noticing Signs and Stereotypes of Aging
Authors: Gramshammer-Hohl Dagmar , Hergenröther Oana
Published: January 2021

Russian literature has long provided a window into Russia's attitudes toward aging, offering images of the performance of the aging body and mind. In an endeavor to contemplate, analyze, and examine representations and misrepresentations of the aging process, this paper applies literary gerontology, a relatively new field of scholarship, to constructs of aging in Russian culture and society. It examines how older male and female characters are “noticed” by an astute 19th century observer of human development, keenly aware that contingency may trigger both physical and mental change over the novel's 15-year timeframe (1805-1820). Initiated in the salon conversations of the opening pages, Tolstoy's narrator keenly notices particular signs, gradual changes, and indeed, how the extraordinary is admired as “ordinary.” Aging may be established through signs of physical description (i.e. “wrinkles” serve to identify four distinct psychological types through their physiognomy), or emerge in conversation, with reference to mood, gestures, and to both expected and unexpected behaviors (both age-appropriate and deviant behaviors, i.e. dementia). Language also plays an essential role in defining character, while age consciousness matters in the seemingly stable worlds of salon society and family gatherings; even on the battlefield “age” is a topic of conversation. Changes associated with the life course are observed in particular detail in the male and female heads of the major families as well as in depictions of friends, relatives, acquaintances and servants, both in confronting everyday life expectations and through shocks to their psyches due to personal experiences confronting the accidents of history. Although aging may be perceived in incremental, predictable stages, overall the processes of aging are shown to affect each character uniquely, each one representing an alternative possibility of aging, e.g. Countess Rostova, Marya Dmitrievna, old Count Bolkonsky, Commander in Chief Kutuzov, or Yakov Alpatych.
Does Genre Matter?
Authors: Könönen Maija
Published: January 2021

This paper addresses the topic of old age from the viewpoint of literary gerontology. My emphasis is on contemporary Russian literary representations of old age senility (dementia), which I juxtapose with representations of madness and the devices and meanings traditionally embedded in mental disorders. It is a well-known fact that, not unlike madness, dementia is compelling in fiction, but cruel in life. The main questions I pose are: why and how do literary writers reclaim the discourse of the person who is believed to be demented? Is it at all possible to convey in a literary text what it means to be demented? It is asserted that literature provides a flexible mode of expressing and rendering a meaning to the unfathomable complexity of the human mind by illustrating individual situated cases. In literature, madness has found its own rhetoric and logic, and with them, its own champions. But is this true of representations of dementia? Madness has made itself heard and survived as a speaking subject mainly through literature. How about dementia? Does it find a speaking and experiencing subject in literature and how can this be articulated? Or does he/she remain an object of depiction, another case-study told by an outside narrator, e.g. a caregiver or a nurse? How to tell a story about dementia, the plot of which is predictable, in such a way that it may generate empathy and enhance our understanding of the condition? I argue that the success and significance of a dementia story depends on both the literary genre in which it is written, and the literary devices employed. Moreover, the position of the narrator, his/her emotional distance to the story seems to be decisive in invoking empathy, understanding and insight. I explore texts from Russian contemporary literature (Panteleev, Katerli) that share a common theme of old age and dementia while belonging to different subgenres of prose - the so-called documentary prose and fictional prose.
Traumatic Aging in Borisav Stanković and Milos Crnjanski
Authors: Jandl Ingeborg
Published: January 2021

Symptoms of aging represent the main naturalist elements in Borisav Stanković's premodern realist novel Nečista krv (1910) and in a similar way they lend anti-aesthetic notions to Miloš Crnjanski's expressionistic novel Seobe (1929; 1962). Aging frames these two Serbian texts by a concept of ugliness and degeneration. Furthermore, aging is linked to an inner state of helplessness and resignation, which the physical symptoms seem to illustrate in the first place. Far too early for their biological age the two young female characters fall into apathy and seem to become old at once, which is motivated by traumatic circumstances in their family life. In the first text, female aging is a reaction to the husband's disrespect, whereas in the second text it accompanies a hysteric state of “between the pregnancies” (when female functions are not needed). In both novels corporal and mental prostration are caused by the fading fascination for the respective characters. This indicates an inversion of the common principle: It is not aging that would lead to ugliness and disregard, but disrespect that causes ugly characters and physical traces of old age. Beyond individual aging, both texts refer to the phenomenon of aging in order to illustrate a pathologic dynamics of society. Stanković's novel opens with a reflection on the great-grandfathers and the grandfathers, about whom there was “still more left to tell” than about Sofka and her mother. This introduction anticipates, firstly, the inevitable fate of a patriarchal society that will lead to Sofka's traumatic aging and, secondly, a system in which the predominance of ancestors destroys the heritage of their children. Similar tendencies become visible in Crnjanski's novel, which also reports the end of the Isaković family, rather than their origins or future.
Die Materialität des sozialen Gebrauchs
Authors: Harbusch Gregor
Published: January 2021

Gregor Harbusch zeigt in seinem Beitrag am Beispiel des Berliner Architekten Ludwig Leo (1924-2012), wie engagierte Architekt*innen der Spätmoderne über die Materialität des Gebauten soziale Gebrauchsmomente zu adressieren versuchten.
Exhausting Choices
Authors: Fordyce Robbie , Apperley Thomas H.
Published: January 2021

In this chapter, Robbie Fordyce and Tom H. Apperley consider the series' interactive film, Bandersnatch, as an experimental hybrid of streaming video and digital game. Like all works in the Black Mirror series, it revolves its story around a commentary about everyday life. In their reading of this hybrid game, Fordyce and Apperley argue that Bandersnatch is a mystery game in the sense that the combination of complexity and repetition of the various story paths presents a different exploration of Black Mirror's science fiction world while still emphasizing the refrain of the danger of technology. From this, the authors observe that the social commentary provided by Bandersnatch focuses on the boredom of platformed entertainment. They derive this position from the way that its simple interface for play is functionally identical to the interface for browsing film choices on Netflix, and thus Bandersnatch comments on the mystery of possible choices amongst the shows we could choose to watch and the prospect of being bored to death by contemporary entertainment media.
Qualia Inside the Mirror
Authors: Molina-Delgado Mauricio , Salas-Murillo Bértold
Published: January 2021

In this chapter, Mauricio Molina-Delgado and Bértold Salas-Murillo propose that several Black Mirror episodes deal with one of the most problematic themes when studying the philosophy of the mind and cognitive sciences: qualia, i.e., the subjective qualities of experiences, experimented on through technology. The authors argue that most episodes occur in potential worlds wherein natural laws are compatible with the main thesis of functionalism. This viewpoint in philosophy of mind interprets mental states not as physical or non-physical functions, but rather as internal operations that mediate between the inputs and outputs of a system. Many of the arguments and counterarguments of functionalism have been proposed through thought experiments. Due to their fictional yet plausible nature, Black Mirror episodes play a similar role to these experiments: they propose imaginary situations in which the truthfulness of a specific thesis is verified or put into perspective. Episodes such as “White Christmas,” “Playtest,” “San Junipero,” “USS Callister,” “Crocodile,” “Black Museum,” and “Striking Vipers” contemplate the role of digital technology in reflections about qualia or problematizations of the relationship between mind and body, consciousness and brain. The authors assert that, in the Black Mirror universe, the self can be considered a disembodied concept. Some episodes take a position concerning this neuroscientific problem, while others imagine possibilities which defy contemporary science. In several episodes, the digitalization of sensations, feelings, or consciousness is enabled by a series of devices corresponding to interfaces that allow the input and output of information, as proposed by functionalism. Finally, the way the authors conceive of ethical issues in organic and non-organic beings face a contemporaneous problematic since qualia can be artificially generated.
Technology and Place in Science Fiction
Authors: Battin Justin Michael
Published: January 2021

In this chapter, Justin Michael Battin analyzes the episode “Fifteen Million Merits” through a Heideggerian rendering of place and place-making practices. He suggests, in alignment with other texts in the Science Fiction genre, that the episode is duly concerned with presenting the virtues and hazards facilitated by a technology-as-power worldview; however, it is more fundamentally interested in elucidating what an ontological view of one's self (i.e. a self considered topologically) can reveal. While the short history of the genre consists of texts presenting dystopian visions of the world, they often conclude with an optimistic outlook. In contrast to these texts, the tale of “Fifteen Million Merits” eschews optimism by mirroring contemporary society's ubiquitous post-pessimistic malaise. Battin proposes that while such a condition endures and critical reflection seems destined for failure, as both the inhabitants of the episode's world and contemporary society seem to have accepted their fates in the current state of affairs, the notion of place and the role of the self as a catalyst for its founding seems to faintly endure. He concludes by proposing that through place and place-making practices, human beings, understood as Dasein, are capable of rediscovering and sustaining their ontological role as dwellers, interpreted by Heidegger as cultivators and preservers of existentially meaningful worlds.
Autorität und (Un-)Gleichheit
Authors: Hidalgo Oliver
Published: January 2021

Aus der Perspektive des Rechtsradikalismus und Rechtspopulismus erscheint eine differenzsensible Behandlung der Geschlechter- und Genderfrage, die nichtsdestotrotz den Prinzipien der Gleichheit und Inklusion verpflichtet ist, wie eine Art »Sündenfall«. Dieser zieht die Infragestellung weiterer traditioneller Hierarchien (z. B. der Abstammung und Herkunft) sowie auch von sozialen Ungleichheiten fast folgerichtig nach sich. Vom Insistieren auf eine angeblich »natürliche« Geschlechterordnung aus lässt sich das antiegalitaristische »rechte« Denken hingegen insgesamt neu justieren und gegen die angebliche »Gleichmacherei« von links ins Feld führen. Die Schlüsselrolle, die die Kritik am »Genderismus« im heutigen Rechtsradikalismus einnimmt, ist auf diese Weise einsichtig zu rekonstruieren.
Anti-Gender-Diskurse - vom ›gesunden Menschenverstand‹ zur ›Politik mit der Angst‹
Authors: Mayer Stefanie
Published: January 2021

Der Beitrag fragt nach diskursimmanenten Gründen für die stark gestiegene Bedeutung von Anti-Gender-Diskursen für rechtspopulistische Strategien in den letzten zehn bis 15 Jahren. Warum wurde diese spezifische Artikulation antifeministischer, anti-queerer und homophober Positionen, die noch zur Jahrtausendwende kaum über fundamentalistisch-katholische Kreise hinaus bekannt war, zu einem zentralen Kampffeld rechter, autoritärer und rechtsextremer politischer Akteur*innen? Basierend auf der Analyse von Veröffentlichungen österreichischer antifeministischer Akteur*innen wird Antifeminismus als rechtspopulistischer Diskurs verstanden, der durch die Konstruktion eines doppelten Feindbildes eine identitäre Verbindung zwischen rechten und ihren Adressat*innen schafft. Aus dieser Perspektive wird der scheinbare Widerspruch zwischen der Verurteilung des Sexismus der »Anderen« und dem Beharren auf patriarchalen Geschlechter- und Sexualitätsordnungen als Strategie erkennbar, die die Transmission zentraler Fragmente rechtsextremer Ideologie in modernisierter Form erlauben.
Reclaiming Hegemonic Masculinity in the Context of Populism
Authors: Barát Erzsébet
Published: January 2021

In my chapter I study the ideological work done by the discourse of gender ideology in the past ten years of Hungarian right-wing populism by the state. I focus on its most recent rearticulation in the two parliamentary decisions amid the Covid-19 pandemic: the political declaration that rejects the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the introduction of the category of »sex at birth« precluding modifications of sex in transgender people's official documents. I argue that these acts, mobilized by a rhetoric of fear, are expressions of the angry white men's claim to compensation for their alleged »humiliation«. I will also explore that the discreditation of the category of gender also figures in some feminist progressive discourses. Regarding the possibilities of overcoming the strategic stigmatization of gender in the service of ideal masculinity, I argue for a radical project of democracy mobilised around the formation of a »feminist people« organised as a space of trust instead of hate. That move hinges on decentering the foundationalist anchoring of gender in a biologized conceptualization of »sex« through decoupling masculinity from an essentialized male body.
Anti-Genderismus in Kroatien - Kontextbezogene Besonderheiten
Authors: Anic Jadranka Rebeka
Published: January 2021

In Kroatien begann die Angstmacherei vor einer sogenannten »Gender-Ideologie« mit der Verabschiedung des Gesetzes zur Bekämpfung von Diskriminierung im Jahr 2008. Sie intensivierte sich bei der Einführung der Sexualerziehung in den Schulen (2012), während der Unterschriftensammlung für ein Referendum über eine verfassungsrechtliche Definition der Ehe als Gemeinschaft zwischen Mann und Frau (2013) und anlässlich der Ratifizierung des Übereinkommens des Europarats zur Verhütung und Bekämpfung von Gewalt gegen Frauen und häuslicher Gewalt, bekannt als Istanbul-Konvention (2016-2018). Da eine ausführliche Analyse der Anti Gender-Bewegung den Rahmen dieses Artikels sprengen würde und bereits Darstellungen existieren (vgl. Anić 2015; Anić/Brnčić 2015; Anić 2017; Hodžić/Štulhofer 2017; Bobić 2018), konzentrieren wir uns hier auf die Besonderheit des Kontextes, in dem der Anti-Gender-Diskurs in Kroatien stattfindet, und auf die spezifischen Eigenheiten, die für Kroatien charakteristisch sein könnten.