bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inducible MLL-AF9 expression drives an AML program during human pluripotent stem cell-derived hematopoietic differentiation
Authors: Heuts Branco , Arza-Apalategi Saioa , Alkema Sinna , Tijchon Esther , Jussen Laura , Bergevoet Saskia , Reijden Bert van der , Martens Joost H. A.
Published: February 2023

A t(9;11)(p22;q23) translocation produces the MLL-AF9 fusion protein, which is found in up to 25% of de novo AML cases in children. Despite major advances, obtaining a comprehensive understanding of context-dependent MLL-AF9-mediated gene programs during early hematopoiesis is challenging. Here, we generated a human inducible pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) model with doxycycline dose-dependent MLL-AF9 expression. We exploit MLL-AF9 expression as an oncogenic hit to uncover epigenetic and transcriptomic effects on iPSC-derived hematopoietic development and the transformation into (pre-)leukemic states. In doing so, we observed disruption of early myelomonocytic development and expansion of a CD34+ early hematopoietic progenitor compartment upon MLL-AF9 activation. In agreement, we identified gene profiles consistent with primary MLL-AF9 AML and uncovered highly confident MLL-AF9-associated core genes that faithfully represent primary MLL-AF9 AML, including known and thus far unknown factors. Our system allows for careful chemically controlled and stepwise in vitro hiPSC-derived differentiation under serum-free and feeder-free conditions. For a disease that currently lacks effective precision medicine, our system provides a novel entry-point into exploring potential novel biomarkers and targets for personalized therapeutic strategies.
Price Freezes and Gas Pass-Through: An Estimation of the Price Impact of Electricity Market Restructuring
Authors: Hill Alexander
Published: January 2023

This article examines the impact of market restructuring on retail prices, using the restructuring of the electricity industry as a case study. Utilizing synthetic control as an estimation strategy, this paper finds full restructuring reduced retail prices across all sectors by an average of $1.5/MWh, relative to their counterfactual outcome. On average, prices fell for residential and commercial users and rose for industrial users. The price differential is consistent with the successful enactment of price ceilings and increased pass-through of changes in the price of natural gas. (JEL L51, L94, Q41, Q48)
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and oncostatin M as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for sepsis: Association between myokines and muscle mass
Authors: Seok Hyeri , Shim Euddeum , Jung Minsuk , Kim Jooyun , Jeon Ji Hoon , Choi Won Suk , Park Dae Won
Published: February 2023

Background. Biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis are urgently needed. Myokines secreted from muscles play a key role in the immune system. In the present study, we evaluated two myokines, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and oncostatin M, for their potential use as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for patients with sepsis. We also evaluated the association between myokines and muscle mass.
Methods. BDNF and oncostatin M levels were measured upon the initial diagnosis of sepsis, and again at the end of treatment, in patients who visited the emergency room between January 2016 and January 2020. On abdomen/pelvis computed tomography (CT) performed during the hospital stay, muscle mass was measured as an index of the total abdominal muscle area index (TAMAI). We evaluated the relationship between mortality due to sepsis, myokine levels, and muscle mass.
Results. A total of 210 participants (168 patients and 42 healthy controls) were enrolled in the present study. Median BDNF levels in patients diagnosed with sepsis and septic shock were significantly lower than in healthy controls. In contrast, median oncostatin M levels in patients with sepsis and septic shock were significantly higher than in healthy controls. BDNF and oncostatin M levels showed a statistically significant negative correlation. TAMAI in patients with sepsis and septic shock were 34.6 cm2/m2 and 34.2 cm2/m2, respectively; however, the TAMAI had no correlation with either BDNF or oncostatin M levels. BDNF level was significantly higher in the 28-day survivors than in those that died. Increased oncostatin M levels were associated with higher 14- and 28-day mortalities. At the end of treatment, BDNF levels and muscle mass were significantly higher in survivors than in deceased patients.
Conclusions. BDNF levels were significantly lower, and oncostatin M levels were significantly higher in patients with sepsis and septic shock than in healthy controls. Muscle mass was significantly lower in patients who died as the result of sepsis; however, the levels of myokines were not associated with muscle mass. These results highlight the potential of BDNF and oncostatin M as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of sepsis.
Elastin is responsible for the rigidity of the ligament under shear and rotational stress: A mathematical simulation study
Authors: Naya Yuki , Takanari Hiroki
Published: January 2023

[Background]
It is important to accurately understand the mechanical response of ligaments to prevent damage and rupture. Most mathematical simulation studies consider the ligament as a single uniform sheet or focus only on collagen fibers, ignoring the other major component such as elastin. We evaluated how elastin affects the mechanical response of the ligaments under stresses using a simple mathematical model.
[Methods]
Based on multiphoton microscopic images of porcine knee collateral ligaments, we constructed a simple mathematical simulation model that individually includes the mechanical properties of collagen fibers and elastin (fiber model) and compared with that considers the ligament as a single sheet (sheet model). We also evaluated the difference in mechanical response in the fiber model depending on the elastin content.
[Results]
Uniform stress was applied to the entire ligament in the sheet model, while strong stress was applied at the junction of collagen fibers and elastin in the fiber model. In the same fiber model, as elastin content increased, the stress and displacement applied to the collagen fibers during tensile and shear stresses decreased and the slope of the stress-strain relationship increased especially under shear stress. The stress required to rotate the bones at both ends of the ligament by the same angle increased with increasing elastin content.
[Conclusions]
The fiber model, which included the mechanical properties of elastin, could provide us more precise stress distribution and mechanical response. It was shown that elastin is responsible for the rigidity of the ligaments during shear and rotational stresses.
Pyroptosis-Related lncRNA Signatures Predict Prognosis and Indicate Immune Microenvironment Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: 胡 Jiayu , Yuan Chen , Yang Chen , Li Huanjuan , Zhou Junyu , Tang Lusheng , Yu Yanhua , Zhang Yinghao , Li Yanchun , Tong Xiangmin , Wu Gongqiang , Wang Ying
Published: February 2023

Background.Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with limited treatment options. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential regulators of HCC progressand are closely related to the pyroptotic cell death. However, the influence of pyroptosis-related lncRNAs on HCC remains indefinite.
Methods. We systematically explored the expression profile of pyroptosis-related lncRNAs to establish a novel signature for predicting the outcome of HCC patients based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database by multiple analysis methods. Four lncRNAs with the highest hazard ratio in the above model were selected for external verification in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Finally, the expression of these lncRNAs was verified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in different cell lines.
Results. The results showed that 25 pyroptosis-related lncRNAs were evidently correlatedwith the prognosis of HCC patients. Cox regression analyses demonstrated the prognostic ability of the risk model established by the pyroptosis-related lncRNAs. And the high and low-risk groups were linked to different types of infiltrating immune cells and affected the physiological state of the tumor microenvironment in HCC.
Conclusion.We constructed and validated an independent pyroptosis-related lncRNAs prognostic model and preliminarily described the potential immune correlations, providing novel prognostic factors and directions of immunotherapeutic strategies for HCC.
Recent increase in tree damage and mortality and their spatial dependence on drought intensity in Mediterranean forests
Authors: Rebollo Pedro , Moreno-Fernández Daniel , Cruz-Alonso Verónica , Gazol Antonio , Rodríguez-Rey Marta , Astigarraga Julen , Zavala Miguel A. , Gómez-Aparicio Lorena , Andivia Enrique , Miguel-Romero Sofía , Ruiz-Benito Paloma
Published: February 2023

Context
Land-use and climate change are leading to more frequent and intense tree damage and mortality events. Drought-induced tree mortality is occurring worldwide leading to broad-scale events, but the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality, their underlying drivers and their variation over time is largely unknown.
Objectives
We investigated the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality across Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula, the underlying effects of competition and climate, and how the spatial patterns and relationships with underlying drivers changed over time.
Methods
We used the Spanish Forest Inventory to analyse the autocorrelation in tree damage and mortality across forest types, hurdle-gamma models to quantify the effect of competition and climate on tree damage and mortality, and cross-correlograms to assess their spatial dependence and its change over time.
Results
We observed a greater magnitude and a stronger autocorrelation in tree damage than mortality, with positive aggregation up to 20 kilometres. There was a spatial dependence between tree damage and mortality with their drivers, with spatial aggregation increasing with water availability, drought intensity and competition. The spatial dependence of tree damage and mortality with the underlying drivers increased over time, particularly for drought intensity.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that the combined effect of intense competition and drought could favour more extensive die-off and tree mortality events, providing key information for identifying vulnerable areas and the planning of adaptation measures.
Individualized medicine using 3D printing technology in gynecology: a scoping review
Authors: Cooke Carly M , Flaxman Teresa E , Sikora Lindsey , Miguel Olivier , Singh Sukhbir S
Published: February 2023

Objective: Developments in 3-dimensional (3D) printing technology has made it possible to produce high quality, affordable 3D printed models for use in medicine. As a result, there is a growing assessment of this approach being published in the medical literature. The objective of this study was to outline the clinical applications of individualized 3D printing in gynecology through a scoping review.
Data Sources: Four medical databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Scopus) and grey literature were searched for publications meeting eligibility criteria up to 31 May 2021.
Study Eligibility Criteria: Publications were included if they were published in English, had a gynecologic context, and involved production of patient specific 3D printed product(s).
Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Studies were manually screened and assessed for eligibility by two independent reviewers and data were extracted using pre-established criteria using Covidence software.
Results: Overall, 32 studies (15 abstracts,17 full text articles) were included in the scoping review. Most studies were either case reports (12/32,38%) or case series (15/32,47%). Gynecologic sub-specialties in which the 3D printed models were intended for use included: gynecologic oncology (21/32,66%), benign gynecology (6/32,19%), pediatrics (2/32,6%), urogynecology (2/32,6%) and reproductive endocrinology and infertility (1/32,3%). Twenty studies (63%) printed 5 or less models, 6/32 (19%) printed greater than 5 (up to 50 models). Types of 3D models printed included: anatomical models (11/32,34%), medical devices, (2/32,6%) and template/guide/cylindrical applicators for brachytherapy (19/32,59%).
Conclusions: Our scoping review has outlined novel clinical applications for individualized 3D printed models in gynecology. To date, they have mainly been used for production of patient specific 3D printed brachytherapy guides/applicators in patients with gynecologic cancer. However, individualized 3D printing shows great promise for utility in surgical planning, surgical education, and production of patient specific devices, across gynecologic subspecialties. Evidence supporting the clinical value of individualized 3D printing in gynecology is limited by studies with small sample size and non-standardized reporting, which should be the focus of future studies.
Structural Basis for Self-Discrimination by Neoantigen-Specific TCRs
Authors: Finnigan John , Newman Jenna , Patskovsky Yury , Patskovska Larysa , Ishizuka Andrew , Lynn Geoffrey , Seder Robert , Krogsgaard Michelle , Bhardwaj Nina
Published: January 2023

Physical interactions between T cell receptors (TCRs) and mutation-derived tumour neoantigens (neoAg) presented by major histocompatibility class-I (MHC-I) enable sensitive and specific cytolysis of tumour cells. Adoptive transfer of neoAg-reactive T cells in patients is correlated with response to immunotherapy; however, the structural and cellular mechanisms of neoAg recognition remain poorly understood. We have identified multiple cognate neoAg:TCRs from B16F10, a common murine implantable tumour model of melanoma. We identified a high affinity TCR targeting H2-Db-restricted Hsf2K72N that conferred specific recognition of B16F10 in vitro and in vivo. Structural characterization of the peptide-MHC (pMHC) binary and pMHC:TCR ternary complexes yielded highresolution crystal structures, revealing the formation of a solvent-exposed hydrophobic arch in H2-Db that enables multiple intermolecular contacts between pMHC and the TCR. These features of structural stability strikingly mimic that of a previously published influenza peptide-H2-Db complex and its corresponding TCR, suggesting that there are shared structural motifs between neoantigens and viral peptides that explain their shared immunogenicity.
Family caregivers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative study.
Authors: Rico-Blázquez Milagros , Sánchez-Ruano Raquel , Oter-Quintana Cristina , Polentinos-Castro Elena , Martín-García Angel , Otones-Reyes Pedro , González-Beltrán Damián , Martínez-Marcos Mercedes
Published: February 2023

Background.
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed lockdown measures worldwide which altered the normal way in which dependent people are cared for. Little is known about the changes that took place and the strategies adopted by family caregivers in order that they might continue their work in this new situation, characterised by uncertainty, fear and isolation. The aim of this study was to better understand the caregiving experiences of family caregivers looking after the dependent people that lived in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods.
A qualitative research with a phenomenological approach was conducted at primary healthcare centers in the Madrid region in Spain. A total of 21 family caregivers were selected. Purposive and theoretical sampling approaches were used by nurses to recruit family caregivers from primary healthcare centers. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide to explore the caring experience during COVID-19 pandemic. Interview transcripts were evaluated using thematic analysis.
Results.
Two themes stemmed from the data: “Caregivers during lockdown – providing care in a time of adversity” and “Caregiving toward normality”. Caregivers contrasted life during the pandemic with the lives they had had previously. The sub-themes identified were the re-structuring of before-care services and the introduction of new care approaches, managing the dependent person’s health problems, looking after oneself and dealing with adversity. In order to adapt to the new normal, strategies were put in place designed to recover confidence and trust, reincorporate assistance and reconnect with others.
Conclusions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic there was an intensification of the care given to dependent people. Family caregivers undertook their work without assistance, confronting fear and putting the focus on preventing contagion and protecting themselves in order to be able to continue giving care.
Signature Verification by Multi-Size Assembled-Attention with the Backbone of Swin-Transformer
Authors: Chu Jian , Zhang Wenkang , Zheng Yufan , Ahmad Rafiq
Published: February 2023

Handwritten signature verification is an indispensable means of identification in biometric information recognition and has broad application prospects and research significance in financial, judicial, and educational systems. With the advancement of signature forgery technology, people have higher requirements for the accuracy and efficiency of signature verification, and sophisticated convolutional networks capable of automatic feature extraction are gradually being applied to the field of handwriting recognition. However, these convolution methods still have the potential for improvement in recognition capability, generalization capability, and accuracy rate. This paper proposes a novel network model, Multi-Size Assembled-Attention Swin-Transformer network, to perform signature handwriting authenticity identification. The inputs to the network are signature images that are resized to multiple sizes, including (224, 224), (112, 112), (56, 56). Then, features within the same image are extracted using the self-attention mechanism in Swin-Transformer, and features between different images are also extracted with the cross-attention mechanism in Assembled-Attention Block, enabling signature feature information to interact within the same image and between different images. Also, Regularized Dropout strategy and adversarial method are implemented in the training stage. Therefore, our method considerably prompts the identification ability of the signature handwriting and obtains state-of-the-art performance, especially 57.1% and 50.4% improvement, in the situation of training in CEDAR and evaluation in Bengali and Hindi. Meantime, we evaluated the impact of the input images passing through the model's times on performance and found that the network achieves the optimal performance at times of four.
Fixed points for SF-GF-contractive mappings type
Authors: Taqbibt Abdellah , Elomari M’hamed , Chaib Mohamed , Melliani Said
Published: February 2023

The aim of this work is to provide the existence and uniqueness of a fixed point for a new SF -GF -contraction type. We show its properties, we also generalize and unify several results in the literature . Finally, we give some examples and applications to describe these results.
Mathematics Subject Classification (2010). 34A08, 26A33,34K37.
Physicochemical and structural evidence that Bacillus cereus isolated from the gut of waxworms (Galleria mellonella larvae) biodegrades polypropylene efficiently in vitro
Authors: Nyamjav Indra , Jang Yejin , Park Nohyoon , Lee Ye Eun , Lee Sukkyoo
Published: February 2023

Biodegradation of plastic waste using microorganisms has been proposed as one of the solutions to the increasing worldwide plastic waste. Polypropylene (PP) is the second most used plastic used in various industries, and it has been widely used in the production of personal protective equipment such as masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, biodegradation of PP becomes very important. Here, we present results on the physicochemical and structural studies of PP by Bacillus cereus isolated from the gut of the waxworms, Galleria mellonella larvae. We also studied the biodegradability of PP by the gut microbiota compared with B. cereus. We analyzed the microbial degradation of the PP surface using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and confirmed that the physical and chemical changes were caused by B.cereus and the gut microbiota. The chemical structural changes were further investigated using X-ray photoelectron microscopy and Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy, and it was confirmed that the oxidation of the PP surface proceeded with the formation of carbonyl groups (C=O), ester groups (C-O), and hydroxyl groups (-OH) by B. cereus. Additionally, the gut microbiota composed of diverse microbial species showed equal oxidation of PP compared to B. cereus. More importantly, GPC analysis showed that B. cereus exhibited quantitatively a higher biodegradability of PP compared to the gut microbiota. Our results suggest that B. cereus possesses a complete set of enzymes required to initiate the oxidation of the carbon chain of PP and will be used to discover new enzymes and genes that are involved in degrading PP.
Immune status in chronic critical illness: a systematic review
Authors: Berikashvili Levan B. , Geize A. V. , Kornelyuk R. A. , Plotnikov G. P.
Published: January 2023

INTRODUCTION: Currently, there is an increase in the number of patients who are classified as chronically critically ill patients. OBJECTIVE: The review is aimed at studying the indicators of the immune status of chronically critically ill patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed and Google Scholar were used to identify relevant articles. The following 3 searches were performed: “chronically critically ill patients AND immune”, “chronic critical illness AND immune”, “persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolism syndrome AND immune”. The literature review was limited from 2012 to August 2022. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) patients with chronic critical illness (CCI) or persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome (PICS); (2) comparison groups are at least one of the specified — patients undergoing rapid recovery, healthy volunteers; (3) parameters of the immune status, inflammation and catabolism are the study endpoints; (4) original articles. To assess the validity of the results, a risk of bias assessment was performed for each study included in the analysis. The risk of bias in non-randomised studies of exposures (ROBINS-E) tool was used. The Delphi method was executed in two rounds by three researchers to assess bias. RESULTS: Chronically critically ill patients with the immunosuppressive status have reduced levels of HLA-DR and ALC and elevated sPD-L1 and IL-10 levels. The results of the studies were rated at ‘high’ and ‘moderate’ risk of reporting bias. Their findings should be considered as low-quality results. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic critical illness is a poorly understood condition that periodically occurs in patients in the ICU. The immune status of chronically critically ill patients is a debatable issue, as the current data are insufficient to draw a definitive conclusion. Based on the systematic review, further prospective trials are required to study the immune status of chronically critically ill patients.
Developments of Legislative Impact Analysis in France: with reference to “Youth Impact Clause”
Authors:   European Constitutional Law Association, Kwon Cherry
Published: January 2023

The present paper attempts to deal with the effects of a given legislation in practical as well as academic perspectives, commonly called as legislative impact analysis, or legislative assessment as in case of pilot works in Korea. Yet the law and practice in this particular area differs from nation to nation, as the case of France exemplifies in this article.
It is to be noted that various works on the works relating to the legislative impacts were largely incorporated in an act of the National Assembly in March 2021. That is the Framework Act on Administration which targets the current laws and regulations if necessary to improve the legal system in the administrative field, obviously including the subject matter. On the other hand, France has been conducting legislative evaluation in a reserved manner by stipulating the subject in a broad way, that is in the revised constitution in 2008.
Thus the writer proposes in the present paper to focus on the following two points : First, considering French legislation, legislative procedures, and the relationship between the government and the National Assembly, attempts were made to pinpoint the characteristics and meaning of the impact analysis system and the possible significance. The French impact analysis is limited to the government-submitted legislation.
Therefore it is characterized by the fact that it is prepared directly by the relevant department of the Government that submitted the bill. Criticism has always been targeted for lack of fairness. However, the impact analysis system should be understood not only in the form of government but also in the context of legal system and legislative procedures. In other words, horizontal comparison of the two systems, France and Korea for that matter, is difficult because it has a structural difference from the post-legislative impact analysis, as specified in the Framework Act on Administration in case of Korea.
Second, among the points raised in the discussions on the French impact analysis, frequently pointed areas concern the so-called “Youth Impact Clause” introduced in 2016. In addition to the existing impact analysis method, special attentions were given to young people, and to the basis of the legislative analysis. At the beginning of the implementation of the Youth Impact Assessment System, the Ministry of Youth Affairs did not put forward active an opinion as expected. Above all, the issue was preempted rather by the general observation, such as “today’s youth-future generation” than the specific and technical points in legislation.
The research on historical changes and characteristics of presidential election system
Authors:   European Constitutional Law Association, Kim Do-Hyub
Published: January 2023

Depending on whether it is a presidential system or a parliamentary system, there may be differences in the electoral system. However, it is clear that the ultimate purpose of elections is the realization of democracy.
Therefore, democracy can be said to depend on the electoral system, and the election of public officials based on the correct electoral system is very important.
Among these public office elections, the presidential election in particular is more important than other elections.
For this reason, this study, which examines the historical change process of the presidential election system and the peculiarities of the times, is very meaningful.
As a result, the early presidential system was changed to a parliamentary system of government, and then the parliamentary system of government was changed to a presidential system. In addition, the presidential system also repeated the indirect and direct election systems.
For this reason, the will of the person in power played an important role, which can be seen as a violation of democracy.
In the process of changing the presidential election system several times, the age of those who can vote has been reduced from 21 to 18, political conflict between regions has increased, and the election day has been set on Wednesday. And the election deposit was reduced from 500 million won to 300 million won.
I hope that moreresearch on the electoral system will lead to more democratic elections.
Citizen Participation in Response to the Climate Crisis
Authors:   European Constitutional Law Association, Kang Myoung won
Published: January 2023

Climate change or climate crisis, the cause of global warming, is a problem directly related to the fundamental rights stipulated in our Constitution and can be dealt with from the perspective of environmental rights, equality rights, and social rights. More broadly, it can be discussed from the viewpoint of human dignity and value and the right to pursue happiness. In addition, the climate crisis issue can be approached from the perspective of democracy in addition to the aforementioned fundamental rights.
In other words, in responding to the climate crisis, citizens are no longer an object, but a subject to share and solve problems with the state and local governments. Accordingly, the Korean government established the ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Committee’ in May 2021, composed of related ministries, experts, and civic groups, to respond to the climate crisis that is becoming a global problem. However, it has been criticized in several respects.
Therefore, I think the case of the Climate Civic Council in France, which is recognized as a representative example of citizen participation in responding to the climate crisis in the European Union, is that Korea's Carbon Neutral Citizens Council, which is being criticized as above, will respond better to the climate crisis and promote citizen participation in the future. It is judged that it will be a good reference for forming social trust by properly reflecting the voice.
Education Rights in the Constitutions in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic
Authors: Begunovich Roman
Published: January 2023

The article considers the right to education recorded in the Constitutions of the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union, as well as some related norms applied in the Soviet zone of Germany. The author used the comparative legal method, e.g., the method of normative comparison, to compare the education laws in East Germany and the USSR. The state regulation of education started in East Germany in the pre-republic period. The period of 1945–1949 saw a ban of private schools, a single structure for all comprehensive schools, and a stipulation of equal rights to education. The constitution of the German Democratic Republic, which appeared in 1949, enshrined these norms at the statutory level. However, the new Constitution inherited a lot from the Weimar Constitution. The consolidation of education rights in the Constitution of 1968 differed from the variant of 1949. The Constitution of 1968 did not follow the education model of the Soviet Constitutions of 1936 and 1977, which were almost identical in structure and content. Despite the strong influence of both Soviet law and Marxist-Leninist ideology, the Constitutions of East Germany were independent in terms of education rights.
National-geographical stereotypes, or “The Dutch reflected by the mirror of the Russian soul
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Astakhova Ekaterina , Yakovleva Alexandra ,   St. Petersburg State University
Published: January 2023

In modern Russia, with the current level of integration, international trade and the blurring of information borders, the culture of the Netherlands was bound to leave traces in the language in the form of a number of recognizable combinations and cliches. This study focuses on the description of lexicographically fixed combinations and attributive from the Internet including the adjectives нидерландский [Netherlandish] and голландский [Dutch] in order to supplement and expand the description of the stereotypical idea of the Dutch in Russia today, as well as to conclude about the presence/ absence of a certain image of the inhabitants of the Netherlands in the Russianspeaking space and/or any stereotypical idea about this country. The national character should be understood as a fragment of the linguistic picture of the world, reconstructed on the basis of linguistic data and stereotypes reflected in culture. Due to historical reasons, but also due to the articulatory complexity, the adjective нидерландский [Netherlandish] has not become widely used in the Russian language. Two types of syntagmas with the adjective голландский [Dutch] were found in the Russian language — with the definition being in the preposition and with the definition located in the postposition. At the moment there is no definite idea of the Dutch as a nation either in the Russian language or on the Russian-language Internet. There are a number of historical expressions and combinations that do not reflect the modern national character of the Dutch. A small number of syntagmas on the topic of economics and finance, where the Dutch appear to be practical, calculating people, as well as on the topic of health, showing them as liberated and free people, in general, corresponds to the image of the Dutch in other countries, but is not sufficient. The image of the Netherlands as a country in the Russian-speaking field is more stable and objective. In the analyzed expressions, the Netherlands is reflected as a country of artists, navigators and builders of red brick, a country with developed agriculture, simple, unpretentious cuisine, as well as modern trends in architecture and design.
Is it worth multiplying translation multiplicity? From the experience of working on a new translation of Multatuli’s Max Havelaar
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Vekshina Ekaterina , Michajlova Irina ,   St. Petersburg State University
Published: January 2023

The article is written within the framework of a relatively new trend in translation studies — the study of translation multiplicity (or, in other terminology, re-translation) of fiction. It uses Multatuli’s Max Havelaar (pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–1887)) as its research material. It is an anti-colonial novel with autobiographical elements that opened Dutch readers’ eyes to the real state of affairs in the Dutch East Indies. These days, Max Havelaar is enjoying a worldwide surge in popularity: between 2017 and 2022, its new translations and retranslations have been published in twelve languages, including English, French and Azerbaijani. The authors of this article, who were involved in creating a new Russian translation (the planned year of publication is 2022), analyse the work of their predecessors — the previous seven Russian editions of the novel, which were published from 1916 to 1959. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the previous Russian versions of Max Havelaar do not meet the modern norms of translation (in the terminology of G. Toury), since all the 20th-century translations of the novel were made not from the Dutch original, but from a German translation, which had been made from the abridged edition of 1871, and not from the full author’s version of 1875–1881. These translations are full of literalisms that do not take into account the context; they contain errors in understanding the author’s text and are unnecessarily difficult to understand. This is why there is a need for a new, modern Russian version, which will allow Russian readers to appreciate Multatuli’s famous book at its true value. The differences in translation strategies in the 20th and 21st centuries are listed and relevant examples are given.
The clash between the sinister and the sublime in Strindberg’s The Father and Miss Julie
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Lisovskaya Polina , Naumova Antonina ,   St. Petersburg State University,   Russian State Institute of Performing Arts
Published: January 2023

The article deals with naturalistic dramas by August Strindberg from the 1880s, namely his famous The Father and Miss Julie. Special attention is given to their stage history in different countries throughout the past century. The authors examine The Father and Miss Julie through the lens of how various ostents of the sinister and the sublime manifest themselves through the fabric of the playwright’s renowned plays from the pre-Inferno period. The two dramas are put in the wide context of Strindberg’s oeuvre where the opposition of low and higher appetences within a human being are often rendered as the clash between the feminine and the masculine. In addition to the above, the article draws attention to the ways of how the two dramas by Strindberg were received in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, especially by the Russian symbolist Alexander Blok. In addition to that the article includes valuable material on a number of theatre productions of The Father and Miss Julie as well on the reviews of some productions. In order to draw their conclusions the authors examine thoroughly the main characters of the plays. Thus, it becomes obvious that throughout the decades the Captain and miss Julie could be interpreted quite differently both by the scholars and by the directors. In a essayistic manner the article touches upon the question of the nature of Strindberg’s rampageous concern with the strife between the sexes as well as upon his so called misogyny.
Russian-American relations in the public opinion of Russia and the USA
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Nemirova Natalia
Published: January 2023

The article is devoted to the study of Russian-American relations through the prism of public opinion of both countries. Foreign political views of citizens are an important element of international politics in the modern information society; they directly affect the development of international relations, providing an opportunity to legitimize and moralize foreign policy decisions of world leaders. Based on open secondary data from opinion polls, the article traces the history of the development of Russian-American relations in the post-Soviet period. The author proves that the formation of anti-Americanism ideas underlying the current reversion of consciousness to the Cold War era was formed by the early 2000s. The personality of President Vladimir Putin and his foreign policy strategy have become decisive for Russian-American relations, but at the same time, negative identification in the system of images of “friends and enemies” of Russians and Americans is realized by value-based foreign policy ideas, rather than by opportunistic situational value judgments. The media produces the existing crisis agenda, influencing the emotional, rather than meaningful response in citizens’ opinions. The events of 2014 triggered the current long-term crisis in Russian-American relations, a characteristic feature of which was the disparity (asymmetry) of mutual perceptions, which intensified after 2018. This period is also characterized by an increase in the ambivalence and turbulence of public opinion, primitivizing its model to the expression of the bloc consciousness “for — against”, “friend — enemy”. For Russians, their stance on the Ukrainian question alongside sanctions remain the key indicators in the perception of America. For Americans, such indicators are the strengthening of totalitarianism in Russia and interference in American elections. There are no short- and medium-term prospects for improving Russian-American relations in the current period.
U. S. climate institutions and the intelligence community: Domestic and international collaboration
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Yarygin Grigory
Published: January 2023

Climate change presents an actorless threat. The most powerful world jurisdictions are undertaking efforts to tackle this global threat multiplier. The Biden-Harris administration, returning the U. S. back to international climate politics, claims the leadership role. The author of the article examines how the administration’s climate rhetoric is backed up organizationally. The institutional architecture that powers Biden’s climate policy is put at the center of the article’s analysis. The United States intelligence community has been entrusted with a significant role in running current U. S. institutional climate recovery efforts. The article approaches the engagement of the intelligence community in climate policy from such angles as policymakers’ expectations of the intelligence community and its role and capabilities for domestic and international collaboration. The article proceeds through three stages. The first stage presents theoretical frameworks for new-institutional analysis approaches to climate policy of the United States. The second examines how the Biden-Harris administration organizes institutions in the system of climate policy. The third approaches the role and functions of the U. S. intelligence community in climate change prevention policy. The author concludes that the U. S. intelligence community possesses a strong capacity to provide for responsible decision making in regard to the climate, however, mechanisms for domestic and international climate intelligence exchange have yet to be determined.
The geopolitical origins of Russian strategic culture and its enlightenment in China
Authors:   Ocean University of China, Qin Lizhi ,   Dalian University of Foreign Languages
Published: January 2023

The main challenge for Russia in the post-Cold War era is that the geographical space available for strategic autonomy has been greatly compressed. Due to the checks and balances of Western powers, the security panic of neighboring countries, and the decline of its own strength after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it is difficult to maintain the Strategic control model. Russia is torn between imperial historical traditions and nation-state strategic narratives. Will Russia return to the imperial age? The investigation of the geopolitical mechanism of Russian strategic culture is helpful to study and judge its regular behavior pattern. Continental identity, flanking position, and terrestrial claim tradition are three variables which have shaped Russia’s strategic culture. At the same time, the pursuit of sea power, the yearning for modernization in the heartland, and the wise shrinking of tough external forces have verified the logic that Russia’s strategic culture will be adjust dynamically with the change of relative power status and strategic environment. Russian strategic culture shapes strategic motivation dominated by fear and exerts indirect and nonlinear influence on strategic behavior including strategic intention. Risk aversion/risk-taking, the two decision-making preferences for dealing with geopolitical risks, are caused by differences in the degree of fear of power status and the external environment. Through the historical practice of Russian strategic culture investigation, the author believes that: if the current and future development trends show a negative expected trend, then Russia will make necessary revisions to the existing historical experience to suit the current strategic situation. The process-tracking study of Russian imperial history since Peter the Great also verifies the theoretical inferences of this study from case studies. The study of Russian strategic culture will help to promote the deepening and expansion of cooperation between China and Russia. Although the cooperation between the two countries started from the geopolitical pressure of the global strategic offensive of the United States, the beneficial dialogue and communication at the strategic and cultural level can transcend the historical normalcy of the cooperation between the two countries forced by the external geopolitical threats and shape the strategic stability of China and Russia.
USA — China: Strategic balance
Authors:   Institute for the U. S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Batyuk Vladimir
Published: January 2023

This article examines the current state of the US-China strategic balance — both military and economic aspects of the latter. This balance, however, is not changing in favor of the United States. Currently, China is the largest economy in the world, and economic ties with China are too important for US partners and allies to break off trade and economic ties with China to please Washington. More importantly, the rapid growth of China’s military-technical potential in recent years has led to radical changes in the balance of power in the western Pacific. Washington has lost its former absolute military superiority in the coastal areas of the PRC, and in the event of a large-scale armed US-Chinese conflict in the Taiwan area or in the South China Sea, American losses will be enormous, and the United States will not be able to achieve a decisive victory during this conflict. Under these conditions, the American ruling elite is united in the fact that without a system of anti-Chinese alliances, which should unite both the countries of the Indo-Pacific region and countries outside the ITR, China’s containment is impossible. The Biden administration continued Trump’s policy of building a “sanitary cordon” around China with the involvement of extra-regional actors in this construction. We are talking about the creation of a military-political alliance AUKUS, which includes Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The purpose of this alliance is to counter China in the disputed areas of the South China Sea. It is concluded that the formation of such a system of alliances is difficult to achieve — and it’s not just that the partners and allies of the United States are too interested in maintaining trade and economic ties with China to participate in the creation of an anti-Chinese “sanitary cordon”. China’s strategic isolation is impossible if Russia cannot be brought into the anti-Chinese system of alliances. At present, however, China has a solid rear in the form of a growing Russian-Chinese partnership and cooperation. The actions of the United States and its allies, which Moscow and Beijing view as threatening and provocative (NATO expansion to the East; American block-building in the ITR) could not but lead to a serious revision by the Russian and Chinese leadership of military cooperation between the two powers.
Precepts of youth by Pitirim Sorokin. To the 100th anniversary of his speech at the solemn meeting on the day of the 103rd anniversary of St Petersburg University (February 21, 1922)
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Boronoev Asalkhan O.
Published: January 2023

The article is devoted to the analysis of the text of P.A. Sorokin’s speech on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary of St Petersburg University on February 21, 1922, which at one time caused a wide resonance and discussion. The purpose of this article, firstly, is to recall this important event in the life of an outstanding social thinker and sociologist and the ideas that he expressed when addressing students. Secondly, to pay attention to the very contradictory history of his life and his personality. Sorokin himself attached great importance to his speech. In his speech, he expressed a sharp rejection of the events that took place in Russia in the 1920s and named the milestones that young people should follow. He developed the main ideas of this speech later in the book “Leaves from a Russian Diary” and in other works. It is noted that Sorokin’s political and ideological position was aggravated by his characterological traits — a commitment to prophecy, broadcasting and catastrophicity, which, as the researchers of his work pointed out, interfered with the impartiality of his ideas. The perception of speech by his colleague, a well-known lawyer, sociologist N.A.Gredeskul, is presented. The author of the article, one of those who took an active part in the “return” of Sorokin to his homeland, considers it necessary to seriously study not only his legacy, but also the dynamics of his worldview, value orientations at different stages of life, without criticism and idealization. It is shown that the content of the speech of P.A. Sorokin and his opponent N.A.Gredeskul has not lost its significance, since the issues discussed are extremely relevant both for modern youth and for our science.