bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Membrane Derived Vesicles as Biomimetic Carriers for Targeted Drug Delivery System
Authors: Zhang Le-Yi , Yang Xue , Wang Shi-Bing , Chen Hong , Pan Hong-Ying , Hu Zhi-Ming
Published: September 2020

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane vesicles (MVs) playing important roles in various cellular and molecular functions in cell-to-cell signaling and transmitting molecular signals to adjacent as well as distant cells. The preserved cell membrane characteristics in MVs derived from live cells, give them great potential in biological applications. EVs are nanoscale particulates secreted from living cells and play crucial roles in several important cellular functions both in physiological and pathological states. EVs are the main elements in intercellular communication in which they serve as carriers for various endogenous cargo molecules, such as RNAs, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. High tissue tropism capacity that can be conveniently mediated by surface molecules, such as integrins and glycans, is a unique feature of EVs that makes them interesting candidates for targeted drug delivery systems. The cell-derived giant MVs have been exploited as vehicles for delivery of various anticancer agents and imaging probes and for implementing combinational phototherapy for targeted cancer treatment. Giant MVs can efficiently encapsulate therapeutic drugs and deliver them to target cells through the membrane fusion process to synergize photodynamic/photothermal treatment under light exposure. EVs can load diagnostic or therapeutic agents using different encapsulation or conjugation methods. Moreover, to prolong the blood circulation and enhance the targeting of the loaded agents, a variety of modification strategies can be exploited. This paper reviews the EVs-based drug delivery strategies in cancer therapy. Biological, pharmacokinetics and physicochemical characteristics, isolation techniques, engineering, and drug loading strategies of EVs are discussed. The recent preclinical and clinical progresses in applications of EVs and oncolytic virus therapy based on EVs, the clinical challenges and perspectives are discussed.
Identification of Biomarkers and Functional Modules from Genomic Data in Stage-wise Breast Cancer
Authors: Kanathezath Athira , Chembra Vrinda , Padingare Variyath Sunil Kumar , Nair Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan
Published: September 2020

Background:

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women across the world, with
high incidence and mortality rates. Being a heterogeneous disease, gene expression profiling based
analysis plays a significant role in understanding breast cancer. Since expression patterns of patients
belonging to the same stage of breast cancer vary considerably, an integrated stage-wise analysis involving
multiple samples is expected to give more comprehensive results and understanding of breast
cancer.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to detect functionally significant modules from gene coexpression
network of cancerous tissues and to extract prognostic genes related to multiple stages of
breast cancer.

Methods:

To achieve this, a multiplex framework is modelled to map the multiple stages of breast cancer, which
is followed by a modularity optimization method to identify functional modules from it. These functional modules are
found to enrich many Gene Ontology terms significantly that are associated with cancer.

Result and Discussion:

Predictive biomarkers are identified based on differential expression analysis
of multiple stages of breast cancer.

Conclusion:

Our analysis identified 13 stage-I specific genes, 12 stage-II specific genes, and 42 stage-III specific genes
that are significantly regulated and could be promising targets of breast cancer therapy. That apart, we could identify 29,
18 and 26 lncRNAs specific to stage I, stage II and stage III respectively.
New Biopolymer Nanocomposite based Polybutylene Succinate (PBS)/ Corn Starch Modified Clay
Authors: Al-Mosawy Manar Ghyath Abd-Almutalib
Published: September 2020

Background: Polybutylene succinate (PBS) is a type of biodegradable polymers that have
gained considerable attention among scholars as a great completion has been observed worldwide to
find alternatives to petroleum-based polymeric materials.

Methods: A modified clay was used in preparing nanocomposites for the PBS/Corn starch mixture.
Nanocomposites were prepared by 0.5-5 percent of HDA-MMT being integrated. An X-ray diffraction
technique (XRD) was employed to characterize the modifier’s interaction in the clay layer. To the
nanocomposites to be synthesized, a solution was used to cast off the modified clay and (PBS)/Corn
starch) blend.

Results: The nanocomposites production was verified by XRD and transmission electron microscopy.

Conclusion: Modified clay nanocomposites (PBS/Corn starch) demonstrate higher thermal stability
and substantial improvement in contrast to the PBS/Corn starch blend.
Optimal Inventory Policies for Price and Time Sensitive Demand Under
Advertisement
Authors: Shah Nita , Patel Ekta , Rabari Kavita
Published: September 2020

Aims:

This article analyzes an inventory system for deteriorating items. The demand is quadratic function of time and is dependent on time, price and advertisement. Shortages are allowed and partially backlogged.

Background:

Demand and pricing are the two most crucial factors in inventory policy for any business to be successful. In today’s era of competitive circumstances, any product is promoted through advertisement, which plays a vital role in changing the demand pattern among the community. The marketing and demonstration of an item by time-to-time with fashionable advertisements through well-known media such as TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, etc. However, this idea is not always true for some goods like wheat, vegetables, fruits, food grains, medicines and other perishable goods due to their deteriorating nature and this in turn decreases demand for such goods. Deterioration may define as decay, damage, spoilage, evaporation, obsolescence, pilferage. Hence, deterioration effect is a major part in inventory control theory. So in this article demand rate is considered to be a function of selling price, time and occurrence of advertisement instantaneously.

Objective:

A solution procedure is obtained to find optimal number of price changes and optimal selling price to maximize the total profit.

Method:

Classical Optimization.

Result:

From the sensitivity analysis table, it can be seen that the optimal profit is highly sensible to advertisement coefficient and purchase cost. With an increment in rate of deterioration, selling price decreases. Scale demand has reasonable effect on cycle time and selling price. When the value of increase, the cycle length and profit goes on decreasing. Growth in profit is observed if we increase parameter b, higher will be the profit. Price elasticity is sensible parameter with respect to selling price. If backlogging rate increases, the profit will decreases. The inventory parameters holding cost, back order cost and lost sale cost have marginal effect on total profit.

Conclusion:

In this article, an inventory model is proposed for deteriorating items with variable demand depends upon the advertisement, selling price of the item and time. Shortages are allowed and partially backlogged and backlogging rate depends on the waiting time for the next replenishment. From this article, we can conclude that the parameters are insensible with respect to optimal profit, cycle time and selling price and rest of the parameters have practical output on total profit.
Improving Fine-grained Opinion Mining Approach with a Deep Constituency Tree-long Short Term Memory Network and Word Embedding
Authors: Bouras Dalila , Amroune Mohamed , Bendjenna Hakim , Bendib Issam
Published: September 2020

Objective:

One key task of fine-grained opinion mining on product review is to extract
product aspects and their corresponding opinion expressed by users. Previous work has demonstrated
that precise modeling of opinion targets within the surrounding context can improve performances.
However, how to effectively and efficiently learn hidden word semantics and better represent targets
and the context still needs to be further studied. Recent years have seen a revival of the Long Short-
Term Memory (LSTM), with its effectiveness being demonstrated on a wide range of problems.
However, LSTM based approaches are still limited to linear data processing since it processes the
information sequentially. As a result, they may perform poorly on user-generated texts, such as product
reviews, tweets, etc., whose syntactic structure is not precise.

Methods:

In this research paper, we propose a constituency tree long short term memory neural network-
based approach. We compare our model with state-of-the-art baselines on SemEval 2014 datasets.

Results:

Experiment results show that our models obtain competitive performances compared to
various supervised LSTM architectures.

Conclusion:

Our work contributes to the improvement of state-of-the-art aspect-level opinion mining
methods and offers a new approach to support the human decision-making process based on opinion
mining results.
Potential Benefits and Risks Resulting From the Introduction of Health Apps and Wearables Into the German Statutory Health Care System: Scoping Review
Authors: Heidel Alexandra , Hagist Christian
Published: September 2020

Background

Germany is the first country worldwide that has introduced a digital care act as an incentive system to enhance the use of digital health devices, namely health apps and wearables, among its population. The act allows physicians to prescribe statutory financed and previously certified health apps and wearables to patients. This initiative has the potential to improve treatment quality through better disease management and monitoring.

Objective

The aim of this paper was to outline the key concepts related to the potential risks and benefits discussed in the current literature about health apps and wearables. Furthermore, this study aimed to answer the research question: Which risks and benefits may result from the implementation of the digital care act in Germany?

Methods

We conducted the scoping study by searching the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and JMIR using the keywords health apps and wearables. We discussed 55 of 136 identified articles published in the English language from 2015 to March 2019 in this paper using a qualitative thematic analysis approach.

Results

We identified four key themes within the articles: Effectivity of health apps and wearables to improve health; users of health apps and wearables; the potential of bring-your-own, self-tracked data; and concerns and data privacy risks. Within these themes, we identified three main stages of benefits for the German health care system: Usage of health apps and wearables; continuing to use health apps and wearables; and sharing bring-your-own; self-tracked data with different agents in the health care sector.

Conclusions

The digital care act could lead to an improvement in treatment quality through better patient monitoring, disease management, personalized therapy, and better health education. However, physicians should play an active role in recommending
and supervising health app use to reach digital-illiterate or health-illiterate people. Age must not be an exclusion criterion. Yet, concerns about data privacy and security are very strong in Germany. Transparency about data processing should be provided at all times for continuing success of the digital care act in Germany.
Interactive Clinical Avatar Use in Pharmacist Preregistration Training: Design and Review
Authors: Thompson Jessica , White Simon , Chapman Stephen
Published: September 2020

Background

Virtual patients are interactive computer-based simulations that are being increasingly used in modern health care education. They have been identified as tools that can provide experiential learning and assessment in a standardized and safe environment. However, the study of high-fidelity virtual patients such as interactive clinical avatars within pharmacy is limited.

Objective

The aim of this paper is to describe the design and review of three interactive clinical avatar simulations as part of pharmacist preregistration training.

Methods

A multistep design approach was taken to create interactive clinical avatar simulations on the topics of emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), calculation of renal function, and childhood illnesses. All case studies were reviewed by registered pharmacists to establish content and face validity. The EHC case study and data collection questionnaire were also reviewed by a purposive sample of preregistration trainees and newly qualified pharmacists. The questionnaire used Likert ranking statements and open-ended questions to obtain users’ feedback on the design, usability, and usefulness of the interactive clinical avatars as learning tools. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were undertaken on the data.

Results

Ten preregistration trainees and newly qualified pharmacists reviewed the EHC interactive clinical avatars and data collection questionnaire. The data collection questionnaire was associated with a Cronbach alpha=.95, demonstrating good reliability. All three interactive clinical avatar simulations were reported as usable and appropriately designed for preregistration training. Users perceived they were developing skills and knowledge from the simulations. The high-fidelity nature of the avatars and relevance of the simulations to real-life practice were reported as aspects that encouraged the application of theory to practice. Improvements were suggested to ensure the simulations were more user-friendly.

Conclusions

The design and creation of the interactive clinical avatar simulations was successful. The multistep review process ensured validity and reliability of the simulations and data collection questionnaire. The in-depth explanation of the design process and provision of a questionnaire may help widen the use and evaluation of interactive clinical avatars or other simulation tools in pharmacy education. The interactive clinical avatars were reported as novel learning tools that promoted experiential learning and allowed users to feel like they were engaging in real-life scenarios, thus developing transferable knowledge and skills. This may be potentially beneficial for many health care training courses as a way to provide standardized experiences promoting active learning and reflection.
Feasibility of Asynchronous and Automated Telemedicine in Otolaryngology: Prospective Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Cha Dongchul , Shin Seung Ho , Kim Jungghi , Eo Tae Seong , Na Gina , Bae Seonghoon , Jung Jinsei , Kim Sung Huhn , Moon In Seok , Choi Jaeyoung , Park Yu Rang
Published: September 2020

Background

COVID-19 often causes respiratory symptoms, making otolaryngology offices one of the most susceptible places for community transmission of the virus. Thus, telemedicine may benefit both patients and physicians.

Objective

This study aims to explore the feasibility of telemedicine for the diagnosis of all otologic disease types.

Methods

A total of 177 patients were prospectively enrolled, and the patient’s clinical manifestations with otoendoscopic images were written in the electrical medical records. Asynchronous diagnoses were made for each patient to assess Top-1 and Top-2 accuracy, and we selected 20 cases to conduct a survey among four different otolaryngologists to assess the accuracy, interrater agreement, and diagnostic speed. We also constructed an experimental automated diagnosis system and assessed Top-1 accuracy and diagnostic speed.

Results

Asynchronous diagnosis showed Top-1 and Top-2 accuracies of 77.40% and 86.44%, respectively. In the selected 20 cases, the Top-2 accuracy of the four otolaryngologists was on average 91.25% (SD 7.50%), with an almost perfect agreement between them (Cohen kappa=0.91). The automated diagnostic model system showed 69.50% Top-1 accuracy. Otolaryngologists could diagnose an average of 1.55 (SD 0.48) patients per minute, while the machine learning model was capable of diagnosing on average 667.90 (SD 8.3) patients per minute.

Conclusions

Asynchronous telemedicine in otology is feasible owing to the reasonable Top-2 accuracy when assessed by experienced otolaryngologists. Moreover, enhanced diagnostic speed while sustaining the accuracy shows the possibility of optimizing medical resources to provide expertise in areas short of physicians.
Potential Benefits and Risks Resulting From the Introduction of Health Apps and Wearables Into the German Statutory Health Care System: Scoping Review (Preprint)
Authors: Heidel Alexandra , Hagist Christian
Published: September 2020

BACKGROUND

Germany is the first country worldwide that has introduced a digital care act as an incentive system to enhance the use of digital health devices, namely health apps and wearables, among its population. The act allows physicians to prescribe statutory financed and previously certified health apps and wearables to patients. This initiative has the potential to improve treatment quality through better disease management and monitoring.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this paper was to outline the key concepts related to the potential risks and benefits discussed in the current literature about health apps and wearables. Furthermore, this study aimed to answer the research question: Which risks and benefits may result from the implementation of the digital care act in Germany?

METHODS

We conducted the scoping study by searching the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and JMIR using the keywords health apps and wearables. We discussed 55 of 136 identified articles published in the English language from 2015 to March 2019 in this paper using a qualitative thematic analysis approach.

RESULTS

We identified four key themes within the articles: Effectivity of health apps and wearables to improve health; users of health apps and wearables; the potential of bring-your-own, self-tracked data; and concerns and data privacy risks. Within these themes, we identified three main stages of benefits for the German health care system: Usage of health apps and wearables; continuing to use health apps and wearables; and sharing bring-your-own; self-tracked data with different agents in the health care sector.

CONCLUSIONS

The digital care act could lead to an improvement in treatment quality through better patient monitoring, disease management, personalized therapy, and better health education. However, physicians should play an active role in recommending
and supervising health app use to reach digital-illiterate or health-illiterate people. Age must not be an exclusion criterion. Yet, concerns about data privacy and security are very strong in Germany. Transparency about data processing should be provided at all times for continuing success of the digital care act in Germany.
Challenges and Lessons Learned through Initiating Patient Engagement with Migrant People Living with HIV During the COVID-19 Outbreak (Preprint)
Authors: Arora Anish , Lessard David , Rodriguez-Cruz Adriana ,   Antiviral Speed Access Program (ASAP) Migrant Advisory Committee, Engler Kim , Quesnel-Vallée Amélie , Lebouché Bertrand
Published: September 2020

UNSTRUCTURED

Background
Patient engagement (PE) refers to the meaningful and active involvement of patients and other stakeholders (i.e. family members) in the conduct of research and transfer of knowledge. PE is usually an immersive experience for both stakeholders and researchers, based on direct dialogue and equitable partnerships. However, in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing measures have been introduced globally. These measures, which may remain in effect for a long duration, or be re-introduced periodically, prevent in-person gathering, and thereby, foster dependence on technologies to remain connected remotely. This affects PE methods. Thus, an understanding of how remote work affects PE is necessary.
Main Text
In this narrative, we present the experience of a research team that began engaging an advisory committee of recent migrant people living with HIV in Montréal, Canada, amidst social distancing measures put in place due to COVID-19. We highlight three major challenges faced by our team of researchers and the advisory committee. These challenges include (1) ensuring access to technology for both patients and researchers; (2) managing disclosure and comfort with online tools; and (3) creating meaningful communication and peer-to-peer rapport. Subsequently, we list the main lessons we gained through responding to these challenges: (1) the importance of allowing time, dialogue, and reflection to enable adjustment to the new context we are working in; (2) the need to evolve our teamwork dynamics; and (3) implementing hands-on experiences for patients is essential to establishing feelings of meaningful engagement
Conclusion
PE is not an easy task and its implementation can become even more complex amidst social distancing measures and other disruptions caused by COVID-19 (i.e. fear of contracting COVID-19). However, if appropriate methods are taken up, PE can serve as an instrumental pillar for research activities that seek to create an impact in communities and populations.
COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE IN MEDICAL PROFESSION REGULATION: LESSONS LEARNT FROM INDONESIA
Authors: Prihatiningsih Titi Savitri
Published: September 2020

Background: Medical profession regulation are carried out through certification and licensure which can be executed by the government, the organizational profession or the collaboration of both. Having a long standing credibility in professional regulation, medical professions have required every medical graduate to undergo certification and licensure process. The UK system adopts the government-led and the USA system has opted for the professional-led medical regulation. In Indonesia currently there are two laws regulating medical profession, namely Medical Practice Law No.29/2004 and Medical Education Law. No.20/2013. These two Laws have given mandates for medical profession regulation to different stakeholders, resulting in conflicting roles and functions, particularly in certification and licensure. Attempts to overcome these situations have been initiated, by inviting all stakeholders involved to discuss the solution during the period of December 2014-January 2015. This study aims at understanding the decision making process to achieve consensus using the concept of collaborative governance.Method: Qualitative method using a case study is applied and documents analysis is used for data collection. Thematic analysis is employed for data analysis.Results: Six themes are identified to reflect the decision making process in collaborative governance. It starts with distrust, followed by mutual understanding and willingness to listen, then common goals are agreed. Each stakeholder conducts an internal reflection and eventually accepts a consensus.Conclusion: The concept of collaborative governance can be applied in medical profession regulation to achieve consensus in collective decision making process.
Medical oncology referral and systemic therapy of patients with advanced stage urothelial carcinoma
Authors: Aly Abdalla , Johnson Courtney , Doleh Yunes , Shenolikar Rahul , Botteman Marc F , Hussain Arif
Published: September 2020

Aim:
To understand physician visit patterns among patients with stage IV (including nonmetastatic [M0] and metastatic [M1] disease) urothelial carcinoma (UC) and understand factors associated with a timely referral to a medical oncologist and systemic treatment.
Patients & methods:
Retrospective analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare data.
Results:
First physician encounter was with a urologist (M0: 69%; M1: 53%) or primary care physician ([PCP]; M0: 19%, M1: 25%) for the majority of patients around UC diagnosis. After the index urologist encounter, most patients had a subsequent medical oncologist visit at a median of 52 days (M0: 69.5 days, M1: 33 days). In an adjusted model, older age, index PCP visit, higher comorbidities and M0 disease were negatively associated with a medical oncologist referral. Among those referred to a medical oncologist, older age, Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black race and not being married were negatively associated with subsequent chemotherapy receipt (p < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Many patients with advanced UC encounter multiple specialists during their disease course. Older patients or those with a first UC-related encounter with a PCP are less likely to be referred to medical oncology. Once referred to medical oncology, social determinants, including race and marital status, are relevant predictors of receiving chemotherapy.
ANALYSIS OF A SHORT PERIODIC PULSATOR: SX PHOENICIS STAR XX CYG
Authors: Abdel-Sabour Mohamed , Shokry Ahmed , Ibrahim Ahmed
Published: September 2020

Photometric observations were made of the SX Phoenicis star XX Cyg between September and October 2019, using the 1.88-m Kottamia reflector telescope in Egypt. We used 340 CCD observations with blue-visible-red (BVR) filters to derive light curves. In addition, we obtained 9540 visual magnitudes for XX Cyg from the literature to prepare an observed-minus-calculated (O-C) diagram. 85 new times of maximum for XX Cyg are presented. We did not detect a bump in the descending portion of the light curve of maximum light for XX Cyg. However, we did detect a secular bump in the phased light curves, which changes with phase in some SuperWASP observations. We found the change in period of XX Cyg to be dP/dt = 15.5 × 10-5 s/yr, with its amplitude decreasing at a rate of 0.7 mmag/year. Stellar parameters of XX Cyg and its position in the instability strip of the Hertzsprung Russell stellar evolution diagram are presented.
Relación de la industria farmacéutica con los médicos residentes de la República Dominicana
Authors: Elías Melgen Ricardo , Mota Curiel César
Published: September 2020

Introducción: las relaciones médicas con la industria farmacéutica son cada vez más complejas y los desafíos éticos que plantea son reales.

Objetivo: conocer la relación que existe entre la industria farmacéutica con los médicos residentes del país y el impacto que pudiera tener esta relación.

Material y Métodos: estudio descriptivo transversal mediante encuesta electrónica anónima. Se consideró la participación si confirmaban el llenado de la encuesta, que estuvo disponible durante abril y mayo de 2019. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo y se aseguró la confidencialidad y el anonimato de los datos.

Resultados: se encuestaron 77 médicos residentes del país; 55.8 % recibe semanalmente visita del representante farmacéutico. Al menos cinco veces al año recibieron obsequio (49.4 %), participaron en comida, cena u otro evento social (48.1 %), participó en charla financiada por empresa farmacéutica (57.1 %). 40.3 % recibieron una vez al año el pago por parte de la industria farmacéutica, de inscripción/viaje a algún evento (congreso, jornada, etc.).

Están de acuerdo en que los regalos/propuestas de la industria farmacéutica influyen en la prescripción de los medicamentos (20.8 %), considera bien aceptar pago de eventos (45.4 %), refirieron que en su residencia se suelen aceptar regalos y ofertas y no ha tenido un espacio formativo sobre relaciones con la industria farmacéutica (89.6 %).

Conclusión: existe un alto nivel de contacto de los médicos residentes con la industria farmacéutica, es necesario más y mejor formación en manejo de conflictos de intereses en la práctica profesional.
Sepsis en pacientes con tumores sólidos en quimioterapia
Authors: Carvajal Aballe Mónica , Aguirrechu Caballero Iraida
Published: September 2020

El cáncer constituye un problema de salud mundial. Múltiples factores relacionados con la enfermedad y los tratamientos provocan predisposición a las infecciones en el paciente oncológico. La sepsis, constituye una importante causa de morbimortalidad. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo de corte transversal, con el objetivo de describir el comportamiento de las infecciones en pacientes con tumores sólidos en quimioterapia, atendidos en el servicio de Oncología Médica del Hospital Clínico Quirúrgico Hermanos Ameijeiras, de enero 2015 a enero 2017. La media de edad fue 53 años (32,3 %) y predominaron los pacientes masculinos (56.5 %). Los tumores de vías digestivas, carcinomas de pulmón y sarcomas de partes blandas representaron el 32.3, 25 y 13.7 %, respectivamente. De los 124 eventos de sepsis reportados, el 39.5 % fueron neutropenia febril, seguido por sepsis urinaria (34.7 %). En pacientes con otras infecciones, predominaron la nuemopatía inflamatoria y la mucositis grado IV. No existió asociación estadística significativa entre el esquema de quimioterapia y la aparición de infección. El avance y perfeccionamiento de los tratamientos han prolongado la vida de los pacientes y esto ha favorecido el mejor estudio y compresión de los diferentes eventos adversos, relacionados con la administración de quimioterapia.
Russian Foreign Policy: On a Coprehensive Understanding
Authors: Tsygankov Andrei Pavlovich
Published: September 2020

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The Implosion of Global Liberal World Order and Russian Foreign Policy: Dimensions, Tensions, and Prospects
Authors: Kochtcheeva Lada V.
Published: September 2020

The world faces a strategic challenge of reforming the governance basis of international politics, which is displaying the symptoms of significant destabilization, searching for new ways of crafting nuanced equilibria of interests and capacity at the global, regional, and domestic levels. Developing intricate and adaptable formulas to manage individual facets of international engagement is becoming increasingly complex and volatile. The effects of instability vary in different countries, but the global operational and political space is increasingly determined by problems within countries, where external stress becomes a result of domestic discrepancies, aggravating them and producing a set of contradictions. In the context of profound global transformations, what explains Russia’s status and positioning in the world? This article argues that as states are struggling to adapt to new realities and acquire capabilities in an effort to survive or gain more influence, Russia’s standing will depend on how adequately it can respond to the challenges and how effectively it will be able to use its advantages. Russia should not simply take in the results of global turbulence, but rather employ and actively develop areas of leadership and collaboration, by tying foreign policy firmly to the priorities of domestic development. While Russia conducts an active foreign policy consistently defending its interests and combining efforts to find optimal solutions to many contemporary problems, it has not yet arrived at a coherent security strategy or produced a vision of a future world order. The success may depend on understanding of the current trends, recognizing opportunities and demonstrating leadership, willingness to share in responsibility for results, as well as conducting essential domestic reforms.
Dreaming on Latin America: Reflections on Russian Diplomacy in the Region
Authors: Jeifets Viktor Lazarevich
Published: September 2020

The article contains an outline of evolution of so-called Russian return into Latin America. The author tries to analyze how Russian foreign policy towards the Latin American and Caribbean region over the last three decades pointing some its key features and trying to define existing obstacles for its implementation, and to make some conclusions about possible prospects for Russias position in the region facing new challenges. Based on a literature and media review and a survey of documents and available statistical data, as also on the analysis of official statements, the aim of this article is to contribute towards a more profound understanding of Russias policy in Latin America. The extension of the article doesnt permit to make a thorough research of all the details of Moscows return to the continent; however, the author will refer to Venezuelan case at the contemporary stage as one of the important issues for Russian policy. The crisis in Venezuela proves to be a test for Russia: is it able to maintain an influential actor in Latin America or not. To sum up, this case is important in the context of this article as it shows if Russian diplomacy in Latin America is really new or it is a re-edition of Soviet policy toward the region.
Symbolic Politics of Georgia and Azerbaijan in Russia: Two Research Cases
Authors: Volkhonsky Mikhail Alekseevich , Yarlykapov Akhmet Aminovich
Published: September 2020

One of the most actively discussed topics in modern political science is symbolic politics. This topic looks especially relevant in relation to the former Soviet republics, which are actively operating within the framework of the symbolic component of politics. Based on an interdisciplinary approach to the study of symbolic politics, the article analyzes two cases related to the symbolic politics of the two republics of the post-Soviet space - Georgia and Azerbaijan, respectively. The first case refers to an attempt by the leadership of the Georgian Orthodox Church to obtain permission from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian authorities to transfer the ashes of Georgian kings Vakhtang VI and Teymuraz II from Astrakhan to Tbilisi. The second case studies the circumstances of the construction of a monument in Dagestan near Agachaul to Turkish soldiers who died here in 1918 during the Civil war. The two cases presented in the article are interesting primarily because they allow us to see the methods of symbolic politics using concrete examples. In both cases, the actors were not state structures, but religious, social, and scientific organizations. The main method of the actors was to organize a commemorative campaign, around which an information campaign was then built, with the aim of replicating a certain interpretation of historical events. At the same time, cases differ from each other in the degree of openness and scale of actions of actors. In the first case regarding the transfer of the ashes of Georgian tsars, the Georgian side directly addressed both the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and the leadership of Russia. At the same time, the actions undertaken by the Georgian side were not successful. In the second case, the Azerbaijani side actively used the local commemorative campaign, initiated by local communities in Dagestan, to launch an appropriate wide information campaign. A comparison of cases leads to the conclusion that the success of a symbolic policy does not depend on the scale of the actions taken.
Book review: Kochtcheeva, L.V. (2020). Russian Politics and Response to Globalization. London, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 250 p.
Authors: Butorov Alexey Sergeevich
Published: September 2020

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Counterpoints of Modern Phraseology. To the Anniversary of Prof. V.M. Mokienko
Authors: Bierich Alexander , Lomakina Olga V. , Nikolaeva Elena K. , Seliverstova Elena I. , Stepanova Ludmila I.
Published: September 2020

The paper is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the birth of Valery M. Mokienko, Doctor of Letters, Professor of Slavic Philology, Philology Department, St Petersburg State University, Honorary Chairman of the Phraseological Commission of the International Committee of Slavists. The paper reviews focal areas of the scholars research, lists his academic interests, the main of those being phraseology and phraseography. V.M. Mokienko proposed to detect dynamic interactions of contradictory properties of the phraseological system, to reveal the mechanism of phrase formation involving broad genetic and typological parallels to determine the nature of a phraseological unit. The method of structural and semantic modeling based on a detailed comparison of dialectal, Slavic and non-Slavic European idiomacy is the basis of modern theoretical and practical studies of the scientists followers. The trilogy of dictionaries edited by V.M. Mokienko distinguishes precise certification of units, references to synonymous turns, which makes it easier for the reader to navigate in the huge source material, outlines the parameters of the phraseological space close to the certified expression, and makes it possible to show the wealth of images of folk speech conveying the same semantics.
Infinitive Interrogative Sentences in Russian and Persian: Modal Meanings of Potentiality and Efficiency
Authors: Hoseini Amir Aliasghar , Kahnamouei Tabassom Khakrah
Published: September 2020

The article is a study of infinitive interrogative sentences bearing meanings of potentiality and efficiency in Russian and the means to render those in Persian. Both for Russian and Persian, such interrogative syntactic constructions and the relevant range of meanings are typical. As is known, in Russian infinitive is a verbal form though in a sentence it can combine the noun-and-verb functions, while in Persian, infinitive functions as a noun. As a rule, so-called Russian indefinite verbal form reflects various subjective and objective modal meanings, in particular, those of potentiality and efficiency which differs in Persian rather to reflect modal meanings of desirability, possibility, necessity, the must, inevitability, doubt, motive, etc. In relevant contexts the combination of modal meanings of desirability and possibility forms the potentiality meaning which is expressed by various linguistic means to form sentences: intonation, lexical and grammatical units, semantical components; other contexts of using such linguistic means to combine modal meanings of desirability and motive reveal the meaning of efficiency. The meanings themselves are not characteristic of Persian infinitive primarily due to their grammatical properties and belong to nouns therefore in Persian the mentioned above meanings and senses could be reflected by other linguistic means as well. The task of the study is to tackle the question of what are the means and manner they might make linguistic analogy to transmit semantics of potentiality and efficiency in Persian, while they are expressed in Russian infinitive interrogative sentences and rhetorical questions.The article treats infinitive interrogative sentences and rhetorical questions with infinitive as a predicate to render the semantics of potentiality and efficiency on the drama texts by M.Yu. Lermontov and A.P. Chekhov and the epic novel by A.N. Tolstoy. In course of comparative study, the translations into Persian of those texts were involved to find out similarities and differences of linguistic means used to reflect and reveal the semantics of infinitive interrogative sentences.
Noise level at workplaces of motor transport enterprises in the cities of Irkutsk and Usolye-Sibirskoye (Irkutsk agglomeration)
Authors: Novikova Svetlana A. , Martynov Dmitry N.
Published: September 2020

Noise is a form of environmental damage. An increase in the background noise leads to negative consequences for the mental and physical health of people. Noise is the greatest threat to those who by virtue of their profession are forced to constantly be exposed to it. The problem of increased noise levels in the workplaces of drivers of vehicles (buses and trams) in the cities of the Irkutsk agglomeration, as well as in sections of streets with installed noise screens (areas adjacent to linear sources of noise pollution and areas of sound shadow) is considered in the article. The legal framework for noise regulation in the Russian Federation is studied. With the help of a sound level meters, instrumental measurements of the noise level at workplaces and territories equipped with protective shields were made. The calculation of statistical characteristics and standard deviations of measuring instruments was carried out in the work. An analysis of the results obtained and their comparison with established sanitary standards for their excess were conducted.
Determination of environmental problems of agricultural nature management based on modular geochemical indicators
Authors: Falak Almobarak , Mezhova Lidia A.
Published: September 2020

Central Chernozem is one of the largest agricultural regions in Russia. As a result of the long period of natural resources use the anthropogenic load on agricultural lands is increasing. The result of agricultural nature management is the increase of land degradation processes. Voronezh Region has a high agro-climatic potential, most of the territory is occupied by agricultural land, arable land prevails among them. Soil degradation is the most acute problem. There is a need to assess the impact of agricultural natural resources use on land resources of the region. Modular coefficients for assessment of geochemical impact of agriculture and animal husbandry on agricultural systems are proposed. The developed factor is a tool for identification of negative land use processes and environmental problems. The article deals with the issues of ecologically oriented, scientifically grounded strategy of agricultural nature management. Ecological approach to assessment of soil quality in the future will develop a strategy for balanced land use. The article has a scientific and practical character and is aimed at the development of methods of ecological assessment of soil quality. The proposed methodological approach identifies destructive processes in soils. For ecologically oriented strategy of development of regions it is important to define maximum allowable agricultural loads for preservation of sustainable environment.
Philosophy of ecology of Justus von Liebig: different Liebig
Authors: Nikolskii Alexander A. , Vanisova Elena A.
Published: September 2020

German chemist Justus von Liebig is known in the ecological literature as the author of Liebigs law of the minimum. But the law of the minimum is absent in his publications, which ecologists cite. The law is nothing more than an interpretation of some of Liebigs statements. However, irrespective of the law of the minimum, Liebigs outstanding contribution to the theory of ecology is obvious: Liebig was one of the first who drew attention to the sustainability of the phenomenon of life organized into supraorganismal systems. Liebig showed that as a result of the interaction of plants and animals and as a result of their life processes, such as nutrition and respiration, there is a continuous transformation of a substance consisting of the same elements. On the example of the constancy of the gas composition of the atmosphere, Liebig comes to a generalization that is crucial for ecology: the interaction of plants and animals is a factor of sustainability of their own environment, which they create themselves and support for an unlimited time in a stable state.
A study on the development of a light scattering particulate matter sensor and monitoring system
Authors: Choi Jun-Hee , Cho Hyun-Sug
Published: September 2020

The gravimetric method, which is mainly used among particulate matter (PM) measurement methods, includes the disadvantages that it cannot measure PM in real time and it requires expensive equipment. To overcome these disadvantages, we have developed a light scattering type PM sensor that can be manufactured at low cost and can measure PM in real time. We have built a big data system that can systematically store and analyze the data collected through the developed sensor, as well as an environment where PM states can be monitored mobile in real time using such data. In addition, additional studies were conducted to analyze and correct the collected big data to overcome the problem of low accuracy, which is a disadvantage of the light scattering type PM sensor. We used a linear correction method and proceeded to adopt the most suitable value based on error and accuracy.
Energy-efficient non-linear k-barrier coverage in mobile sensor network
Authors: Ma Zijing , Li Shuangjuan , Guo Longkun , Wang Guohua
Published: September 2020

K-barrier coverage is an important coverage model for achieving robust barrier coverage in wireless sensor networks. After initial random sensor deployment, k-barrier coverage can be achieved by moving mobile sensors to form k barriers consisting of k sensor chains crossing the region. In mobile sensor network, it is challenging to reduce the moving distances of mobile sensors to prolong the network lifetime. Existing work mostly focused on forming linear barriers, that is the final positions of sensors are on a straight line, which resulted in large redundant movements. However, the moving cost of sensors can be further reduced if nonlinear barriers are allowed, which means that sensors? final positions need not be on a straight line. In this paper, we propose two algorithms of forming non-linear k barriers energy-efficiently. The algorithms use a novel model, called horizontal virtual force model, which considers both the euclidean distance and horizontal angle between two sensors. Then we propose two barrier forming algorithms. To construct a barrier, one algorithm always chooses the mobile sensor chain with the largest horizontal virtual force and then flattens it, called sensor chain algorithm. The other chooses the mobile sensor with the largest horizontal virtual force to construct the barrier, other than the mobile sensor chain, called single sensor algorithm. Simulation results show that the algorithms significantly reduce the movements of mobile sensors compared to a linear k-barrier coverage algorithm. Besides, the sensor chain algorithm outperforms the single sensor algorithm when the sensor density becomes higher.
XPR1 mediates the pancreatic β-cell phosphate flush
Authors: Admin Ada , Barker Christopher J. , Tessaro Fernando Henrique Galvão , Ferreira Sabrina de Souza , Simas Rafael , Ayala Thais S. , Köhler Martin , Rajasekaran Subu Surendran , Martins Joilson O. , Darè Elisabetta , Berggren Per Olof
Published: September 2020

Glucose-stimulated
insulin secretion is the hallmark of the pancreatic β-cell, a critical player
in the regulation of blood glucose concentration. In 1974 Dawson, Freinkel and
co-workers made the remarkable observation that an efflux of intracellular inorganic
phosphate (Pi) accompanied the events of stimulated insulin
secretion. The mechanism behind this ‘phosphate flush’, its association with
insulin secretion and its regulation have since then remained a mystery. We
recapitulated the phosphate flush in the MIN6m9 β-cell line and pseudoislets.
We demonstrated that knockdown of XPR1, a phosphate transporter present in
MIN6m9 cells and pancreatic islets, prevented this flush. Concomitantly, XPR1
silencing led to intracellular Pi accumulation and a potential impact
on Ca2+ signaling. XPR1 knockdown slightly blunted first phase
glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in MIN6m9 cells, but had no significant
impact on pseudoislet secretion. In keeping with other cell types, basal Pi
efflux was stimulated by inositol pyrophosphates and basal intracellular Pi
accumulated following knockdown of inositol hexakisphosphate kinases. However,
the glucose-driven phosphate flush occurred despite inositol pyrophosphate
depletion. Finally, whilst it is unlikely that XPR1 directly affects
exocytosis, it may protect Ca2+ signaling. Thus we have revealed
XPR1 as the missing mediator of the phosphate flush, shedding light on a
45-year-old mystery.