bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lay and professional stakeholder involvement in scoping palliative care issues: Methods used in seven European countries
Authors: Brereton Louise , Ingleton Christine , Gardiner Clare , Goyder Elizabeth , Mozygemba Kati , Lysdahl Kristin Bakke , Tummers Marcia , Sacchini Dario , Leppert Wojciech , Blaževičienė Aurelija , van der Wilt Gert Jan , Refolo Pietro , De Nicola Martina , Chilcott James , Oortwijn Wija
Published: June 2016

Background:

Stakeholders are people with an interest in a topic. Internationally, stakeholder involvement in palliative care research and health technology assessment requires development. Stakeholder involvement adds value throughout research (from prioritising topics to disseminating findings). Philosophies and understandings about the best ways to involve stakeholders in research differ internationally. Stakeholder involvement took place in seven countries (England, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland). Findings informed a project that developed concepts and methods for health technology assessment and applied these to evaluate models of palliative care service delivery.

Aims:

To report on stakeholder involvement in the INTEGRATE-HTA project and how issues identified informed project development.

Design:

Using stakeholder consultation or a qualitative research design, as appropriate locally, stakeholders in seven countries acted as ‘advisors’ to aid researchers’ decision making. Thematic analysis was used to identify key issues across countries.

Setting/participants:

A total of 132 stakeholders (82 professionals and 50 ‘lay’ people) aged ⩾18 participated in individual face-to-face or telephone interviews, consultation meetings or focus groups.

Results:

Different stakeholder involvement methods were used successfully to identify key issues in palliative care. A total of 23 issues common to three or more countries informed decisions about the intervention and comparator of interest, sub questions and specific assessments within the health technology assessment.

Conclusion:

Stakeholders, including patients and families undergoing palliative care, can inform project decision making using various involvement methods according to the local context. Researchers should consider local understandings about stakeholder involvement as views of appropriate and feasible methods vary. Methods for stakeholder involvement, especially consultation, need further development.
Radiation exposure in patients treated with endovascular aneurysm repair: what is the risk of cancer, and can we justify treating younger patients?
Authors: Nyheim Thomas , Staxrud Lars E , Jørgensen Jørgen J , Jensen Kristin , Olerud Hilde M , Sandbæk Gunnar
Published: June 2016

Background

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is becoming the mainstay treatment of abdominal aortic aneurisms (AAA). The postoperative follow-up regime includes a lifelong series of CT angiograms (CTAs) at different intervals in addition to EVAR, which will confer significant cumulative radiation exposure over time.

Purpose

To examine the impact of age and follow-up regime over time on cumulative radiation exposure and attributable cancer risk after EVAR.

Material and Methods

We calculated a mean effective dose (ED) for the EVAR procedure, CTA, and plain abdominal X-rays (PAX). Cumulative ED was calculated for standard, complex, and simplified surveillance over 5, 10, and 15 years for different age groups.

Results

For EVAR, the mean ED was 34 mSv (range, 12–75 mSv) per procedure. For PAX, the ED was 1.1 mSv (range, 0.3–4.4 mSv), and for CTA it was 8.0 mSv (range, 2–20 mSv). For a 55-year-old man, an attributable cancer risk (ACR) in standard surveillance at 5 and 15 years of follow-up was 0.35% and 0.65%, respectively. The corresponding values were 0.22% and 0.37% for a 75-year-old man. When using a simplified follow-up, the ACRs for a 55-year-old at 5 and 15 years were 0.30% and 0.37%, respectively. These values were 0.18% and 0.21% for a 75-year-old man. A complex follow-up with half-yearly CTA over similar age and time span doubled the ACR.

Conclusion

Treating younger patients with EVAR poses a low ACR of 0.65% (15-year standard surveillance) compared to a lifetime cancer risk of 44%. A simplified surveillance should be used if treating younger patients, which will halve the ACR over 15 years.
Effects of combining erlotinib and RNA-interfered downregulation of focal adhesion kinase expression on gastric cancer
Authors: Feng Rui , Yang Sheng
Published: June 2016

Objective

To investigate the synergistic effects of combining erlotinib and RNA-interference downregulation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) expression on the proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration of the human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line AGS.

Methods

Cells were divided into five experimental groups: Group A, nontransfected control; Group B, transfected with empty vector; Group C, transfected with FAK-shRNA; Group D, erlotinib treatment; Group E, combination erlotinib treatment and transfected with FAK-shRNA. FAK protein levels were confirmed via Western blotting. Cell proliferation (CCK-8 assay, apoptosis (flow cytometry), cell invasion (transwell assay) and migration (scratch assay) were evaluated.

Results

RNA interference significantly decreased FAK protein levels. Cell proliferation, invasion and migration were significantly lower in Groups C, D and E compared with Group A, and significantly lower in Group E than in Groups C and D.

Conclusions

RNA interference effectively silences FAK expression and inhibits malignant cell proliferation and invasion in gastric cancer cells. The effect of FAK inhibition is increased by co-treatment with erlotinib.
The Textualization of Problem Handling
Authors: Karlsson Anna-Malin , Nikolaidou Zoe
Published: June 2016

This article reports on research addressing the role of incident reporting at the workplace as a textual representation of lean management techniques. It draws on text and discourse analysis as well as on ethnographic data, including interviews, recorded interaction, and observations, from two projects on workplace literacy in Sweden: a study in an eldercare facility and a study in a large factory. Analysis of the data set demonstrates striking similarities, both in the way incident reporting texts are structured and worded and in the literacy practices that contextualize them. Dominant characteristics in the texts are the absence of actors and the structured, process-based approach of problems and problem handling. The forms often generate conflicts in the ways workers are asked to textually represent an incident. In this article, we argue that lean thinking has penetrated texts and literacy practices of two considerably different workplaces, and this has a large impact on the way workers are instructed to think and act with regard to problem handling techniques.
Introduction to the Special Issue: ‘Introduction and intensification of agriculture in Central Eurasia and adjacent regions’
Authors: Spengler Robert N , Tarasov Pavel E , Wagner Mayke
Published: June 2016

For well over a century, scholars from across the social and biological sciences have been trying to understand the origins and spread of agriculture. This debate is often intertwined with discussions of climate change and human environmental impact. Over the past decade, this debate has spread into Central Eurasia, from western China to Ukraine and southern Russia to Turkmenistan, a part of the world often thought to have been largely dominated by pastoralists. A growing interest in the prehistory of Central Eurasia has spurred a new chapter in the origins of agriculture debate; archaeobotanical research is showing how important farming practices in this region were in regard to the spread of crops across the Old World. While early people living in Central Eurasia played an influential role in shaping human history, there is still limited understanding of the trajectories of social evolution among these populations. In March 2015, 30 leading scholars from around the globe came together in Berlin, Germany, to discuss the introduction and intensification of agriculture in Central Eurasia and adjacent regions. At the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, DAI), these scholars presented novel data on topics covering East, South, and Central Asia, spanning a wide realm of methodological approaches. The present special edition volume deals with a selection of the papers given at this conference, and it marks a significant step toward recognizing the contribution of Central Eurasian populations in the spread and development of agricultural systems over the course of the Holocene.
Provenance discrimination of the clay sediment in the western Taiwan Strait and its implication for coastal current variability during the late-Holocene
Authors: Chen Jing , Ma Junqiang , Xu Kehui , Liu Yan , Cao Wenhong , Wei Taoyuan , Zhao Baocheng , Chen Zhongyuan
Published: June 2016

This study aims to quantify the contribution of Yangtze clays to the sediment accumulation in the western Taiwan Strait and reconstruct the strength of Chinese Coastal Current (CCC) since middle-Holocene driven by East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM). Both down-core and surficial sediment samples were collected for grain size, radiocarbon, and clay mineral analyses. One 250-cm-long core was collected from the southern Yangtze distal mud wedge in western Taiwan Strait which receives Yangtze-derived clays transported by the Zhejiang-Fujian Coastal Current (ZFCC), the southern part of CCC. Clay minerals were examined in surficial sediment samples which were influenced by the Yangtze, Zhejiang-Fujian, western Taiwanese rivers, and the inner-shelf mud wedge. Ternary diagrams of smectite–kaolinite–chlorite revealed that three endmembers represented the Yangtze, Min, and western Taiwanese rivers, respectively. The estuaries seaward of the tidal current limits of Zhejiang-Fujian rivers, especially the Qiantang and Ou, were influenced by Yangtze-derived sediments through energetic tidal mixing. It was found that smectite can be used as a fingerprint of the Yangtze fine-grained sediment because among all the studied rivers, the Yangtze is the only one supplying smectite. Clay mineral results in core sediments revealed a dramatic provenance change at the depth of 113 cm, dated at ~4.0 cal. kyr BP. Smectite disappeared in the upper core, suggesting decreased contribution of Yangtze clays to the southern distal mud wedge. Decreased grain size of the fine population in the upper core also indicated that the ZFCC weakened during the late-Holocene. Such a decline also occurred in Subei Coast Current (northern part of CCC), revealed by the previous studies. The decline of CCC was related to the decreased EAWM of the late-Holocene, and it resulted in decreased sediment accumulation rate of the inner-shelf mud.
The Interface Theory of Perception
Authors: Hoffman Donald D.
Published: June 2016

Our perceptual systems are products of evolution and have been shaped, in part, by natural selection. It is widely assumed that natural selection favors veridical perceptions—that is, perceptions that accurately describe aspects of the objective world relevant to fitness. This assumption has been tested using the mathematics of evolutionary game theory. It is false. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that veridical perceptions are never more fit, and generically are less fit, than nonveridical perceptions of equal complexity that are tuned to fitness. Veridical perceptions go extinct, and their extinction rate increases as complexity increases. These results motivate a new theory of perceptual systems—as species-specific interfaces shaped by natural selection to hide objective reality and guide adaptive behavior. For Homo sapiens, space-time is the desktop of the interface and physical objects are icons on the desktop. The shapes and colors of physical objects no more resemble objective reality than the shapes and colors of desktop icons resemble files in a computer.
Role Satisfaction and Leadership: An Approach to Analyze the Dynamics of Relationships
Authors: Malhotra Ruby Sengar , Rangnekar Santosh
Published: June 2016

Organizations nowadays want to succeed in every aspect and the key to achieve it is leadership. The main aim of this article is to empirically check the relationship of role satisfaction with leadership behaviour in Indian organizations. The sample contains responses from 333 business executives and managers. On performing correlation analysis, it is found that all the variables in the study have significant relationship. Subsequently, sequential multiple regressions are performed in order to delete those dimensions that do not contribute towards leadership. The findings revealed that achievement, influence, control and affiliation are observed to be the determinants of leadership. Thus, leadership requires the workforce that is high on role satisfaction. This study identified an essential variable that affects leadership behaviour. It is an innovative attempt to utilize role satisfaction to improve leadership in the Indian framework.
Qualitative shadowing as a research methodology for exploring early childhood leadership in practice
Authors: Bøe Marit , Hognestad Karin , Waniganayake Manjula
Published: June 2016

This article explores qualitative shadowing as an interpretivist methodology, and explains how two researchers participating simultaneously in data collection using a video recorder, contextual interviews and video-stimulated recall interviews, conducted a qualitative shadowing study at six early childhood centres in Norway. This paper emerged through the discussion of this experience with another researcher, who had shared interests in early childhood leadership, about the benefits of this research methodology in studying leadership practices in early childhood centres. We argue that qualitative shadowing methodology is a powerful resource that can enrich leadership, learning and development within the early childhood sector. By facilitating reflective engagement between practitioners and researchers through qualitative shadowing, it is possible to enhance the exploration of complex phenomenon such as early childhood leadership practice.
‘He left me a message on Facebook’: comparing the risk profiles of self-harming patients who leave paper suicide notes with those who leave messages on new media
Authors: Barrett Jessica R. , Lee William , Shetty Hitesh , Broadbent Matthew , Cross Sean , Hotopf Matthew , Stewart Robert
Published: June 2016

Background

In cases of non-fatal self-harm, suicide notes are a major risk factor for repeated self-harm and suicide. Suicide notes can now be left on new media services, emails or text messages, as well as on paper.

Aims

In a group of people who had harmed themselves, we aimed to compare new media note-leavers with paper note-leavers and characterise these groups demographically and by risk factors.

Method

Clinical notes of patients who presented with non-fatal self-harm to two London emergency departments were anonymously searched for mentions of new media use. These were categorised and risk factors were compared for those who had left a new media note, a paper note, or no note to establish differences in risk of note-leaving.

Results

New media note-leaving was associated with younger age and substance use; both risk factors for repeated self-harm. However, suicidal intent remained highest in paper note-leavers.

Conclusions

Paper note-leavers remain at greatest risk, however new media note leaving is still correlated with risk factors related to repeated self-harm and suicide. Clinicians should enquire about new media use during emergency department assessments of self-harm.
“Why Should You Be So Furious?”: Fantasies of Violence in Seventeenth-Century Writings
Authors: Bross Kristina
Published: June 2016

This essay analyzes the American appropriation of an incident in the 1620s on the spice island of Ambonya in which several English traders were tortured (waterboarded) and executed by their Dutch rivals. The essay argues that New England authors imagine themselves the subject of anti-English violence half a world away in order to lay claim to a global English identity. The essay compares the visual representation of that East Indian violence with a well-known image of violence in New England, John Underhill’s figure of the Mystic Fort massacre of the Pequot War, arguing that the two images are linked intertextually. The two images anchor a particular history of torture that suggests how representations of violence are key elements of colonial fantasies that made (and make) real atrocities possible.
Experience Beyond Bearing: Steinbeck in the War Psychiatry Archive
Authors: Wood Mary Elene
Published: June 2016

This article begins with the discovery in a Wellcome Library war psychiatry archive of a carbon copy of one of John Steinbeck’s 1943 dispatches to the New York Tribune from the Italian front. The article examines Steinbeck’s dispatch in relation to documents in the military psychiatry archive, to Steinbeck’s other war dispatches published in 1958 as the collection Once There Was a War, and to the reception of his propagandistic novel The Moon Is Down in order to show that Steinbeck’s archived piece (infused as it is with the conflicted discourses of war psychiatry) constructs soldiers’ responses to war violence as beset by paradox—as normal as childbirth yet “beyond bearing.” I use this strange juxtaposition of documents (postmodern dispatch and official reports and memoranda) to reflect on the archive as an accidental anthology that allows us the opportunity to read disparate texts in relation to one another and to see sociocultural phenomena in a new light, in this case both the trajectory of Steinbeck’s writing career and contemporary representations of war trauma.
A step-by-step overview of the dynamic process of epitope selection by major histocompatibility complex class II for presentation to helper T cells
Authors: Sadegh-Nasseri Scheherazade
Published: June 2016

T cell antigen receptors (TCRs) expressed on cytotoxic or helper T cells can only see their specific target antigen as short sequences of peptides bound to the groove of proteins of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, and class II respectively. In addition to the many steps, several participating proteins, and multiple cellular compartments involved in the processing of antigens, the MHC structure, with its dynamic and flexible groove, has perfectly evolved as the underlying instrument for epitope selection. In this review, I have taken a step-by-step, and rather historical, view to describe antigen processing and determinant selection, as we understand it today, all based on decades of intense research by hundreds of laboratories.
Facebook and mental wellbeing: a crossover randomised controlled study
Authors: Wolf Achim
Published: June 2016

Objective: To study the effect of reducing Facebook use for two weeks on self-reported mental wellbeing in a student population.

Methods: Students at the University of Oxford (n=78) participated in a randomised crossover study which consisted of two consecutive two-week periods of minimised Facebook use, followed by normal Facebook use, or vice-versa. Participants were evaluated after each two-week period using the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS), and completed questionnaires about their Facebook use. Differences in WEMWBS scores were evaluated using a paired t-test.

Results: Of those enrolled, 57 (73%) students completed the entire study. 93% reported reduced Facebook use during the intervention period. When limiting their Facebook use, participants had an average WEMWBS score of 46.0, compared to 43.7 during the control period, equating to a difference of 2.3 points (95% CI: 0.4 to 4.2; p=0.016; Cohen’s d = 0.33).  There were no significant differences in dropout between the two groups (p=0.3), or differences in effect when stratifying by gender (p=0.9) or relationship status (p=0.6).

Conclusion: Reducing Facebook use may be an effective intervention for improving mental wellbeing in university students. Future studies should examine effects in other participant groups, and use longer follow-up periods.
The Features of Realizing the Energy Categories in Scientific Short Texts from the Perception Point of View
Authors: Ельцова  , Eltsova M.
Published: June 2016

In the article we shall describe the features of realizing the energy categories

(tensity and tension) in scientific short texts. There are described the

tensity and tension categories, their complex description is given. The features

of realizing the categories are studied on the base of two genres of

scientific short text: abstracts and short popular scientific articles from children’s

encyclopedia. The linguistic-mathematical model is created for each

text analyzed (there is only one of them in this article given as an example in

which the most typical and common features of both genres are revealed).

The main features of realizing the energy categories in scientific short texts

of both genres are determined. There is also described how the energy

categories and their realizing features influence the perception of texts by

receivers for whom the articles are in the foreign language.
Knowledge of palliative care and attitudes towards nursing the dying patient
Authors: Wilson Olivia , Avalos Gloria , Dowling Maura
Published: June 2016

Aims:

This study examines the palliative care knowledge and attitudes towards caring for the dying patient of nurses working in care of older people settings in one rural region in Ireland.

Design:

A cross-sectional survey design was used combining two questionnaires: the palliative care quiz for nurses (PCQN) and the thanatophobia scale (TS).

Results:

A total of 61 nurses completed the questionnaire. There was a significant correlation found between level of knowledge and attitudes towards palliative care (p=0.007), highlighting that as participants' level of palliative care knowledge increased, attitudes become more positive. While palliative care training did not impact on the mean overall scores, there was a significant difference in the PCQN scores of those who had completed the European Certificate in Essential Palliative Care (ECEPC) compared with those who had attended information sessions within their unit. Furthermore, increasing years as a registered nurse improved palliative care knowledge and attitudes towards caring for the dying.

Conclusion:

Nurses who completed the ECEPC had better knowledge of palliative care when compared with nurses who had not undertaken the programme. This article also considers areas of focus for palliative care training.
On the Nature of Neurosis: How can We See it from a Standpoint of Jung’s Psychology?
Authors: Tanaka Yasuhiro
Published: June 2016

In this paper, the author attempted to discuss the nature of neurosis from a viewpoint of Jung’s psychology. The relation between Jung’s own experience of neurosis in his boyhood and his theory of neurosis established in later years was first examined, from which the author pointed out that Jung’s theory of neurosis had been based on his own experience of neurosis from long ago. Then, the concept of dissociation in Jung’s psychology was critically discussed, through which the author insisted that the concept of dissociation had been primal in Jung’s psychopathology but, for this reason, Jung’s psychology could not help being led into so-called dissociative state in its own way of being. In the end, it was proposed that the actual task of psychology today is to see various phenomena as a trial to transform the status of our consciousness on the basis of the soul’s intention.
Feminist aesthetics: Representing women in contemporary Chinese art
Authors: Yang Su
Published: June 2016

This writing accompanies Su Yang’s practice as research work, consisting of a series of paintings exploring questions of beauty and cosmetic surgery amongst Chinese women. Her research aims to investigate the influences on representation of women in contemporary Chinese art from feminist perspectives. Her Ph.D. study focuses specifically on the representation of the female form, how it reflects changing notions of beauty and how the achievement of ideal beauty, through forms of unnecessary harmful nontherapeutic cosmetic surgery is achieved. Her wider research also includes a study as to the nature and impact of feminist art in contemporary Chinese art.
Book Review
Authors: Kieft Eline
Published: June 2016

Landscape of the Now: A Topography of Movement Improvisation, Kent de Spain (2014) Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 189 pp., ISBN: 9780199988266, p/bk, £20.99
Somatic and inclusive practice perspectives on developing an iPad application for choreography
Authors: Ashley Tamara
Published: June 2016

The article offers insight into somatic perspectives that have informed the design of a software application for the iPad. Entitled formXtended, the app is designed to extend the compositional imaginations of users, by engaging them in choreographic tasks that integrate movement, sound and image. The project sought to develop an approach to software design that engaged with principles of inclusion and accessibility for disabled and non-disabled users. The article offers insight into some of the questions and issues addressed by the team in their endeavour to create inclusive app-based activities. The discussion articulates how somatic principles informed both app design stage and in the testing phase with young people, which led to further refinements in the app design. The somatic dimensions of the formXtended project are situated within a larger and more complex collaboration between arts organization, dancedigital, software company, Moviestorm and research partner, University of Bedfordshire.
[h]interland: Shobana Jeyasingh’s ‘undoing of location’ and the rearrangement of colonial space
Authors: Argade Jyoti
Published: June 2016

Shobana Jeyasingh’s [h]interland marks a pivotal moment for digital dance in the early 2000s through its use of live webcast technology. Set in Greenwich Borough Hall, less than a mile from the Prime Meridian – a vestigial signification of the British Empire’s proclamation as the centre of the world – [h]interland navigates the tensions of urban sites through a restless contemporary hybridization of bharata natyam and ballet against live and pre-recorded projections of Bangalore. Through its splintered mediations of space, time and classical movement vernaculars, I argue that [h]interland shapes a radical cosmopolitanism built from layers of otherness and contoured through the mutuality of dance forms, the migration across cities, and the ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ borders between colonial locations.
Survey of the use of genetic algorithm for multiple sequence alignment
Authors: Ben Othman Mohamed Tahar
Published: June 2016

Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is used in genomic analysis, such as the identification of conserved sequence motifs, the estimation of evolutionary divergence between sequences, and the genesâ€™ historical relationships inference. Several researches were conducted to determine the level of similarity of a set of sequences. Due to the problem of the NP-complete class property, a number of researches use genetic algorithms (GA) to find a solution to the multiple sequence alignment. However, the nature of genetic algorithms makes the complexity extremely high due to the redundancy provided by the different operators. The aim of this paper is to study some proposed GA solutions provided for MSA and to compare them using some criteria which we believe any solution should comply with in matters of representativeness, closeness and original sequence invariance.
Study of the effect of formulation variables on the characteristics of combination tablets containing enalapril maleate and indapamide as active substances using experimental design
Authors: Szabó Zoltán-István , Székely-Szentmiklósi Blanka , Deák Boglárka , Székely-Szentmiklósi István , Kovács Béla , Zöldi Katalin , Sipos Emese
Published: June 2016

To evaluate the influence of different variables on tablet formulations containing enalapril maleate and indapamide as active substances, two separate experimental designs were employed: one for evaluating powder properties and the other for tablet characteristics. Because of the low active pharmaceutical ingredient content, it was hypothesized that both powder and tablet properties could be determined only by the characteristics of excipients. In order to test this assumption, both experimental designs were done with placebo mixtures. The optimized formulation was then evaluated both with and without APIs. Results indicated that filler and lubricant percentage, along with compression force, were the most important variables during the formulation study. The optimized formulation showed similar characteristics in both cases for all responses, except for angle of repose and friability where only minor differences were observed. The combination of the applied approaches (using placebo composition and fractional experimental design) proved to be efficient, cost effective and time saving.
Development of an ANN optimized mucoadhesive buccal tablet containing flurbiprofen and lidocaine for dental pain
Authors: Hussain Amjad , Syed Muhammad Ali , Abbas Nasir , Hanif Sana , Arshad Muhammad Sohail , Bukhari Nadeem Irfan , Hussain Khalid , Akhlaq Muhammad , Ahmad Zeeshan
Published: June 2016

A novel mucoadhesive buccal tablet containing flurbiprofen (FLB) and lidocaine HCl (LID) was prepared to relieve dental pain. Tablet formulations (F1-F9) were prepared using variable quantities of mucoadhesive agents, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and sodium alginate (SA). The formulations were evaluated for their physicochemical properties, mucoadhesive strength and mucoadhesion time, swellability index and in vitro release of active agents. Release of both drugs depended on the relative ratio of HPMC:SA. However, mucoadhesive strength and mucoadhesion time were better in formulations, containing higher proportions of HPMC compared to SA. An artificial neural network (ANN) approach was applied to optimise formulations based on known effective parameters (i.e., mucoadhesive strength, mucoadhesion time and drug release), which proved valuable. This study indicates that an effective buccal tablet formulation of flurbiprofen and lidocaine can be prepared via an optimized ANN approach.
Effect of rutin from tartary buckwheat sprout on serum glucose-lowering in animal model of type 2 diabetes
Authors: Lee Dong-Gi , Jang Ik Soon , Yang Kyeong Eun , Yoon So-Jung , Baek Sujeong , Lee Joo Yong , Suzuki Tatsuro , Chung Keun-Yook , Woo Sun-Hee , Choi Jong-Soon
Published: June 2016

This study investigates the anti-diabetic effects of rutin from tartary buckwheat sprout in type 2 diabetes mouse model. The rutin content in tartary buckwheat sprout (TBS) is five times higher than that found in common buckwheat sprout (CBS) as evident from high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Administration of either rutin or TBS ethanolic extract to diabetes mice decreased the serum glucose level significantly. Rutin down-regulated the expression levels of protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B; it is negative regulator of insulin pathway, both transcriptionally and translationally in myocyte C2C12 in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, rutin can play a critical role in down-regulation of serum glucose level in type 2 diabetes.
Sensorless compensation system for thermal deformations of ball screws in machine tools drives
Authors: Kowal Michał
Published: June 2016

The article presents constructional, technological and operational issues associated with the compensation of thermal deformations of ball screw drives. Further, it demonstrates the analysis of a new sensorless compensation method relying on coordinated computation of data fed directly from the drive and the control system in combination with the information pertaining to the operational history of the servo drive, retrieved with the use of an artificial neural networks (ANN)-based learning system. Preliminary ANN-based models, developed to simulate energy dissipation resulting from the friction in the screw-cap assembly and convection of heat are expounded upon, as are the processes of data selection and ANN learning. In conclusion, the article presents the results of simulation studies and preliminary experimental evidence confirming the applicability of the proposed method, efficiently compensating for the thermal elongation of the ball screw in machine tool drives.
Immortality in Empedocles
Authors: Long Alex
Published: June 2016

The paper examines Empedocles’ attributions of immortality. I argue that Empedocles does not withhold immortality from the gods but rather has an unorthodox conception of what immortality is. Immortality does not mean, or imply, endless duration. A god’s immortality is its continuity, as one and the same organism, over a long but finite period. This conception of divine immortality then influences Empedocles’ other attributions of immortality, each of which marks a contrast with discontinuity, real or apparent. The nature of this contrast varies from context to context, and there is considerable heterogeneity in the list of immortal items. On the other hand, the attribution of immortality never implies that the item is completely changeless.
Learning to Read the Small Letters in Republic Book 2
Authors: Thaler Naly
Published: June 2016

The interpretation of the spelling analogy in
Accuracy Assessment of Geostationary-Earth-Orbit with Simplified Perturbations Models
Authors: Ma Lihua , Xu Xiaojun , Pang Feng
Published: June 2016

A two-line element set (TLE) is a data format encoding orbital elements of an Earth-orbiting object for a given epoch. Using suitable prediction formula, the motion state of the object can be obtained at any time. The TLE data representation is specific to the simplified perturbations models, so any algorithm using a TLE as a data source must implement one of these models to correctly compute the state at a specific time. Accurately adjustment of antenna direction on the earth station is the key to satellite communications. With the TLE set topocentric elevation and azimuth direction angles can be calculated. The accuracy of perturbations models directly affect communication signal quality. Therefore, finding the error variations of the satellite orbits is really meaningful. In this present paper, the authors investigate the accuracy of the Geostationary-Earth-Orbit (GEO) with simplified perturbations models. The coordinate residuals of the simplified perturbations models in this paper can give references for engineers to predict the satellite orbits with TLE.
New High-Precision Values of the Geodetic Rotation of the Major Planets, Pluto, the Moon and the Sun
Authors: Pashkevich V.V.
Published: June 2016

This investigation is continuation of our studies of the geodetic (relativistic) rotation of the Solar system bodies (Eroshkin and Pashkevich, 2007) and (Eroshkin and Pashkevich, 2009). For each body (the Moon, the Sun, the major planets and Pluto) the files of the values of the components of the angular velocity of the geodetic rotation are constructed over the time span from AD1000 to AD3000 with one day spacing, by using DE422/LE422 ephemeris (Folkner, 2011), with respect to the proper coordinate systems of the bodies (Seidelmann et al., 2005). For the first time in the perturbing terms of the physical librations for the Moon and in Euler angles for other bodies of the Solar system the most essential terms of the geodetic rotation are found by means of the least squares method and spectral analysis methods.
Geometric Aspects of Ground Augmentation of Satellite Networks for the Needs of Deformation Monitoring
Authors: Protaziuk Elżbieta
Published: June 2016

Satellite measurements become competitive in many tasks of engineering surveys, however, in many requiring applications possibilities to apply such solutions are still limited. The possibility to widely apply satellite technologies for displacements measurements is related with new challenges; the most important of them relate to increasing requirements concerning the accuracy, reliability and continuity of results of position determination. One of the solutions is a ground augmentation of satellite network, which intention is to improve precision of positioning, ensure comparable accuracy of coordinates and reduce precision fluctuations over time. The need for augmentation of GNSS is particularly significant in situations: where the visibility of satellites is poor because of terrain obstacles, when the determined position is not precise enough or a satellites constellation does not allow for reliable positioning. Ground based source/sources of satellite signal placed at a ground, called pseudosatellites, or pseudolites were intensively investigated during the last two decades and finally were developed into groundbased, time-synchronized transceivers, that can transmit and receive a proprietary positioning signal. The paper presents geometric aspects of the ground based augmentation of the satellite networks using various quality measures of positioning geometry, which depends on access to the constellation of satellites and the conditions of the observation environment. The issue of minimizing these measures is the key problem that allows to obtain the position with high accuracy. For this purpose, the use of an error ellipsoid is proposed and compared with an error ellipse. The paper also describes the results of preliminary accuracy analysis obtained at test area and a comparison of various measures of the quality of positioning geometry.
Investigation about the presence of organochlorine pollutants in mussels from the Black Sea, Bulgaria
Authors: Georgieva Stanislava , Stancheva Mona , Makedonski Lubomir
Published: June 2016

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (HCB, DDT and its metabolites) and HCBD in mussels from Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) are aquatic organisms which are immobile so that the concentration of pollutants should primarily be considered as an indication of local levels of organochlorine compounds. Samples were collected from three areas of Black Sea coast of Bulgaria in summer 2015.

The fifteen congeners of PCBs, HCB, HCBD, DDT and its metabolites DDE and DDD were performed by gas chromatography system with mass spectrometry detection. The metabolites DDE and DDD were found in all analyzed mussel samples, but PCBs were not detected in any sample. DDE concentrations were found in mussels from 1.09 to 1.63 ng/g wet weight. In mussel total DDT concentrations (2.14 ng/g ww) were found comparable to those in mussels, sampled in 2013 and 2014 (1.87 ng/g ww).

The levels of DDTs and polychlorinated biphenyls in mussels from the Black Sea were found comparable to levels measured in the same molluscs from neighbor seas - Mediterranean Sea and Adriatic Sea.
Nutritional evaluation of aquaculture mussels (M. galloprovincialis) from the Black Sea, Bulgaria
Authors: Merdzhanova Albena , Dobreva Diana A. , Georgieva Stanislava
Published: June 2016

In recent years black mussels are one of the most commercially important species from the Bulgarian Black Sea. The marine mollusks are valuable healthy food, low in calories and fats and high in proteins. They are a major dietary source of fat soluble pigments - astaxanthin, carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). To our knowledge the information about the nutritional quality of mussels from the Bulgarian Black Sea waters, based on chemical composition, fat soluble pigments, cholesterol and PUFA content is very limited. The aim of the present study is to determine and compare protein, lipid, carbohydrate and energy values, fat soluble pigments, cholesterol and fatty acid composition in farmed mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from the Bulgarian northern and southern parts of the Black Sea coast. The mussel samples were analyzed for lipids (Bligh & Dyer method), crude proteins (Kjeldahl method), carbohydrates and moistures according to the AOAC (1990) methods. Fatty acids were analyzed by the GC-MS system. Fat soluble pigments and cholesterol were analyzed simultaneously by the RP-HPLC system. Lipid and protein content were found to be higher in mussels from the northern region. In accordance with the Commission Regulation (EC) No. 116/2010 all analyzed mussel samples can be classified as high in protein and low in fats and carbohydrates. The amount of cholesterol, contained in all mussel populations is significantly low, while the omega-3 (n-3) is significantly higher than the omega-6 PUFA. A portion of 100 g edible tissue provides 0.500 g more of the required amount of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6) n-3 PUFA according to EFSA (2012). It can be concluded that the studied mussel aquaculture in the Black Sea is beneficial food for the human health and it is advisable to be part of a proper or a preventive diet of Bulgarian consumers.
Influence of Lay Plan Solution in Fabric Efficiency and Consume in Cutting Section
Authors: Dumishllari Elmira , Guxho Genti
Published: June 2016

One cutting order may require several lies and markers to achieve optimal efficiency and selection of right Lay Plan is one of the major challenges in cutting section, in a way to lead in fabric economy and reduced costs. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the best solution of lay plan and its influence, in the cutting room, starting from the analysis of the lay indicators calculations. We have studied an order with 200 jackets, with specific sizes. Markers are made by Gemini CAD (Gemini Cut Plan and Gemini Nest Expert). From Gemini CAD, we have taken different solutions of lay plans and chose the three best of them (lay plans that have a smaller number of lies, plies etc.), and then, for three best solutions are calculated lay indicators. From this calculation, we have determined the best solution of lay plan. The order to study has 5 different fabrics, so the calculations are made for each of them, and in the end are combined, in a way to have conclusions for an order in general. Best solution of lay plans combination, resulted one which had a better weighted efficiency and a low lay consumption.
New records and observations of macroalgae and associated pathogens from the Falkland Islands, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego
Authors: Mystikou Alexandra , Asensi Aldo O. , DeClerck Olivier , Müller Dieter G. , Peters Akira F. , Tsiamis Konstantinos , Fletcher Kyle I. , Westermeier Renato , Brickle Paul , van West Pieter , Küpper Frithjof C.
Published: June 2016

Subantarctic and Antarctic regions remain little explored with regards to their seaweed diversity. This study is based upon collections in the early 1970s and 2007–2013. It is supported by sequencing COI (mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I) and reports new records for four species of brown algae (Hincksia granulosa, Hincksia sandriana, Myriotrichia clavaeformis, Syringoderma australe), four red algae (Erythrotrichia carnea, Paraglossum salicifolium, Phycodrys antarctica, Plumariopsis eatonii), one green alga (Chaetomorpha aerea) and of the oomycete Anisolpidium ectocarpii. A further four brown algae are reported at genus level and discussed (Cladostephus sp., Colpomenia sp., Dictyota sp., Punctaria sp.). Observations of the biology of three brown algal taxa (Cladothele decaisnei, Geminocarpus geminatus, Halopteris obovata) from the region are also reported here.
Learning from Experience: The Project Team is the Key
Authors: Terzieva Mariya , Morabito Vincenzo
Published: June 2016

Background: Learning from experience and knowledge management described in existing literature evidence that there are different practices that enable these processes, and that a distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge is essential for our analysis.

Objectives: The paper investigates through which project management practices organizations manage the two types of knowledge and at what level knowledge sharing and reuse is more commonly adopted.

Method/Approach: The research starts with existing research overview and analysis of preliminary results from initial interviews, and then it continues with a survey on selected knowledge management practices in order to identify which of them are mostly used by organizations.

Results/Findings: Results show the essential role of the project team; this finding is then further elaborated using knowledge from research presented in existing literature.

Conclusion: Project management enhances efficient knowledge management as on one hand, it includes the adoption of standardised and repetitive practises what enables specialization and knowledge consolidation. On the other hand, project management refers to unique initiatives that provide new knowledge and opportunities for learning. The project team in particular results to be a key factor for activating knowledge reuse.
The Influential Knowledge Factors of Companies’ Performance in Slovenia
Authors: Rašič Katja , Mulej Matjaž , Čančer Vesna
Published: June 2016

Background: Knowledge plays a crucial role in supporting the European Union model based on economic growth, social responsibility, and sustainable development. To improve companies’ performance, one must reflect on new forms of knowledge and develop new indicators to measure them.

Objectives: The goal of the paper is to investigate the impact of the selected factors of knowledge on companies’ performance in Slovenia.

Methods/Approach: A questionnaire was created and sent to small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia. The principle axis factoring method was used to identify the factors of knowledge and of companies’ performance, and a regression analysis was conducted to determine the influence of the selected knowledge factors on companies’ performance.

Results: The establishment of scientists’ collaboration with companies has a positive impact on companies’ performance, but the obstacles to the establishment of scientists’ collaboration with companies do not have any impact.

Conclusions: The results could be useful for governments and companies in the adoption of measures aimed at strengthening scientists’ collaboration with companies. Further research can be oriented toward the common synergy index (e.g., the knowledge triangle).
Profitability and Capital Structure: An Empirical Study of French and Hungarian Wine Producers in 2004-2013
Authors: Luptak Martin , Boda Daniel , Szucs Gabor
Published: June 2016

Background: Profitability of the Hungarian wine industry has been a focus of numerous research studies due to the centuries-old history and the recent changes.

Objectives: The aim of the study is to analyse the capital structure of the Hungarian and the French wine industries and demonstrate the benefits of the usage of an international company database.

Methods/Approach: First, the database and the applied methods are described and then the descriptive statistical analysis of the industry is presented. The two set hypotheses are aimed at testing the main contradiction between the pecking order and the trade-off theory, which is related to profitability and the usage of external funds.

Results: The analysis examines the differences between the funding policies applied in the two countries. This was carried out by means of a discriminant analysis, which indicates the financing characteristics of French and Hungarian wine producers. In order to confirm the results of the discriminant analysis we conducted a cluster analysis on the same sample where 3 out of 4 variables proved to be significant in classifying the two groups.

Conclusions: The main conclusion of the study is that the behaviour of the factors explaining the development of the capital structure differs significantly in the two examined countries.