bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pozaustawowy kontratyp działania w ramach uprawnień wynikających z prawa do obrony w kontekście nowelizacji art. 233 §1 Kodeksu karnego
Authors: Lapawa Dominika
Published: May 2021

The work is devoted to the non-statutory justification of action in the scope of the right to defence, whose purpose was the exclusion of criminal responsibility for giving false testimony by a witness – the actual perpetrator – in his or her case. It was emphasised that the defence which heretofore resulted from Art. 182 and 183 kk was insufficient for the witness. One discussed inter alia the legal basis of the justification, its constituent elements, one indicated the  controversies which were caused by the concept of justification, and which to a great extent were associated with the violation, by the Supreme Court, of the constitutional principle of the tripartite division of powers and with the substantive and temporal limits of the right to defence which result both from the norms of international and domestic law. One indicated the position of the representatives of the doctrine as to the concept of justification. Scholarship on the subject, even though it did not take a uniform stand in reference to the problem in question, basically discerned the necessity of the improvement of the situation of the witness – the actual perpetrator, who, testifying in his or her own case, would run the risk of self-incrimination. The considerations of the doctrine resulted in numerous alternative propositions de lege ferenda. In the work, one suggests to seek such a solution in the substantive approach to the nemo se ipsum accusare tenetur rule. Then it was emphasised that the problem of justification once again became the subject of discussion owing to the amendment issued on 11 March 2016 about the modification of the act of law – The Code of Criminal Procedure and certain other acts of law Art. 233 §1a kk. At that time one penalised the behaviour of a witness, who in fear of criminal liability to be faced by the witness or his relatives gives false testimony or conceals the truth. For the sake of recapitulation, one indicated that the amendment which was described above rendered the justification in question invalid, and the perpetrator who is heard in a court of law as a witness continues de lege lata to be entitled to use the right to refuse to answer the question from Art. 183 §1 kpk. One emphasised that the doctrine recurrently discerned the shortcomings of defence which result from Art. 183 §1 kpk. Above all the institution from Art. 183 §1 kpk was not intended for a witness – the actual perpetrator. Therefore, in the article, in order to realise the warranty nature of the entitlement in question one suggests that this admonishment should be rendered obligatory, so that every witness would be aware that the right exists and that he or she may exercise it.
Granice dozwolonej prowokacji w świetle art. 24 k.k.
Authors: Tumidalska Marta
Published: May 2021

The institution of provocation in criminal law is an extremely interesting phenomenon, for it may refer both to people who do not perform any public functions as well as to people who hold such a position. In this perspective, it was necessary to indicate in the article the origin of the word provocation and its etymology. Therefore, one conducted an analysis of various definitions and their components. One also indicated the origin of the eponymous institution and the examples manifested in international body of rulings. In a description of such phenomena as provocation, it is necessary to indicate the responsibility of the person who commits the offence(s) mentioned in Art. 24 of the Penal Code. An interesting element has to do with the indication – in one of the subchapters – of the utilisation of provocation in operation- and situation assessment-related activities, which are a result of the act of law about the Police and about other services. Finally, one should ask oneself the question about the extent to which one may shift the application of regulations about responsibility, considering the catalogue of institutions which may employ such technique(s)? Therefore, should not one delimit the scope of the competence of organs such as the Public Prosecutor General/Minister of Justice, in order to enhance the efficiency of the system which was mentioned above? The conclusion of the article constitutes an attempt at answering the question about the aforementioned questions and to consider the plausibility of the combining these positions in the context of the subject which is discussed.
Atypical presentation of right-sided native valve infective endocarditis
Authors: Doyle Daniel , Lang Raynell , Larios Oscar E
Published: May 2021

A previously healthy 55-year-old man presented to hospital with 10 days of progressive dyspnea with fever, night sweats, and a productive cough and no history of recreational drug use or occupational or animal exposures. His wife had developed similar symptoms 2 weeks earlier but had since recovered. Physical exam revealed a new systolic murmur best heard at the left lower sternal border. Transesophageal echocardiogram demonstrated severe tricuspid regurgitation with a small vegetation. Blood cultures were positive for non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae. This case illustrates the necessity of both timely and proficient diagnosis of H. influenzae infection and the unique challenges associated with detecting H. influenzae–related pathology. Clinicians should be aware of the variable presentations of Haemophilus infection, including respiratory infection, neurological infection, and infective endocarditis. Given the fastidious nature of H. influenzae and variability between subtype pathogenicity, microbiology laboratories require tools to culture and differentiate Haemophilus species.
Genre Constituents in “Reflections on Genre as Social Action” – in the Light of 1980s’ Genre Research?
Authors: Ongstad Sigmund Vik
Published: May 2021

Abstract

The article comments upon a special issue on genre in cjsdw, focusing what may be key components or constituents of genre as a general concept. The search for key aspects in these texts are seen in the light of descriptions of genre from the 1980s by Frow (1980), Miller (1984), Bakhtin (1986), and Freadman (1987). Three issues are covered, aspects, levels, and processes, and in addition the challenge of applying concepts coined in a (sub-)field when discussing genre as an overarching, interdisciplinary, semiotic concept. The inquiry leads up to five constitutive aspects, form, content, act, time, and space. It is argued that this set defines the levels utterance and genre. Different processes are discussed. The article ends modelling aspects, levels, and processes in a basic conceptual framework.
A new species of bristletails of the genus Turquimachilis (Microcoryphia: Machilidae) from the Crimea
Authors: Kaplin V.G.
Published: May 2021

Turquimachilis taurica sp. nov. from the Grand Canyon of Crimea is described and illustrated. It is compared with the only known species of the genus, T. mendesi Bach de Roca et al., 2013 from the Ilgaz Mountains (Kastamonu Province, northern Turkey). The new species can be distinguished from the congener by the structure of the compound eyes, maxillary palp, urocoxites, and the number of divisions of the gonapophyses.
THE IMPACT OF CHANGES OF COMPETITION JUDO RULES ON THE QUALITY OF WRESTLING AMONG HIGHLY QUALIFIED ATHLETES
Authors: Rukavitsyn D. , Sheutsou Y.
Published: May 2021

The theoretical and practical aspects of the quality of the wrestling of highly qualified judokas in connection with the changes of the competition rules have been researched.
Finance verte : l’évaluation de l’impact
environnemental des finances publiques enjeux et méthodes
Authors: Lamarque Danièle
Published: May 2021

L’évaluation de l’impact environnemental des concours financiers, au regard des critères couramment admis, est rendue difficile par la nature et l’objet mêmes de ces concours, et la multiplicité des objectifs attachés aux interventions qui leur servent de cadre. La connaissance a néanmoins progressé depuis les années 1990, avec la définition normalisée d’une comptabilité environnementale européenne et divers instruments d’analyse des interactions entre économie et environnement. Les engagements internationaux pour le climat comme la pandémie ont récemment accéléré la réflexion et permis l’élaboration du « budget vert » français, émis en appui du projet de loi de finances pour 2021. Ces avancées restent perfectibles. Elles mettent surtout en évidence l’ampleur des enjeux liés à la prise en compte de l’environnement, source de recomposition des priorités de l’action publique, dans un contexte d’interaction accrue des politiques et de leurs modes de financement.
Le contrôle financier spécialisé en droit camerounais
Authors: Fermose Janvier
Published: May 2021

L’étude du contrôle financier spécialisé procède du constat des difficultés de gestion et de contrôle qu’éprouvent les collectivités territoriales décentralisées et les établissements publics. En posant la préoccupation des caractéristiques de ce type de contrôle et suivant une approche positiviste, ce dernier s’avère être institutionnellement diversifié et matériellement varié. D’une part, l’on observe que ce type de contrôle s’effectue sur des institutions-organismes (collectivités territoriales décentralisées, établissements publics) et sur des institutions-mécanismes (techniques et procédures). D’autre part, ce contrôle est orienté sur le double objet de régularité et de qualité. Toutefois, il serait souhaitable de procéder à une plus grande responsabilisation du contrôleur financier spécialisé afin d’éviter tout conflit avec d’autres institutions spécialisées de l’État en charge du contrôle financier.
Autoeficacia en la vida académica y rasgos psicopatológicos
Authors: García-Méndez Rosa Maria , Rivera Ledesma Armando
Published: May 2021

The aim of this study was to explore whether there are differences in self-efficacy in the academic life of students with psychopathological traits and students without these traits, based on results of the Self-Efficacy in Academic Life Scale (EAVA) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) instruments. We obtained and analyzed data from 251 Mexican university students. Individuals with psychopathological traits obtained significantly lower scores in the EAVA than students without psychopathological traits. Scales related to social integration were the most relevant. Among them, Social Introversion showed the lowest scores in most of the subscales of the EAVA, especially in the subscales: leadership, socialization and companionship, professional achievement, creativity and innovation, and exposure in front of a group. This study provides evidence that highlights the importance of the relation between psychopathological traits and the self-efficiency in academic life.
Use of Paraconsistent Feature Engineering to support the Long Term Feature choice for Speaker Verification
Authors: De Almeida Alex Marino Gonçalves , Recco Claudineia Helena , Guido Rodrigo Capobianco
Published: May 2021

The state-of-art models for speech synthesis and voice conversion can generate synthetic speech perceptually indistinguishable from human speech, and speaker verification is crucial to prevent breaches. The building feature that best distinguishes genuine speech between spoof attacks is an open research subject. We used the baseline ASVSpoof2017, Transfer Learning (TL) set, and Symlet and Daubechies Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform (DWPT) for this investigation. To qualitatively assess the features, we used Paraconsistent Feature Engineering (PFE). Our experiments pointed out that for the use of more robust classifiers, the best choice would be the AlexNet method, while in terms of classification regarding the Equal Error Rate metric, the best suggestion would be Daubechies filter support 21. Finally, our findings indicate that Symlet filter support 17 as the most promising feature, which is evidence that PFE is a useful tool and contributes to feature selection.
Show Me What You’re Looking For
Authors: Schwenke Leonid , Atzmueller Martin
Published: May 2021

While Transformers have shown their advantages consideringtheir learning performance, their lack of explainabilityand interpretability is still a major problem.This specifically relates to the processing of time series,as a specific form of complex data. In this paper,we propose an approach for visualizing abstracted informationin order to enable computational sensemakingand local interpretability on the respective Transformermodel. Our results demonstrate the efficacy ofthe proposed abstraction method and visualization, utilizingboth synthetic and real world data for evaluation.
MSAP: Multi-Step Adversarial Perturbations on Recommender Systems Embeddings
Authors: Anelli Vito Walter , Bellogín Alejandro , Deldjoo Yashar , Di Noia Tommaso , Merra Felice Antonio
Published: May 2021

Recommender systems (RSs) have attained exceptional performance in learning users' preferences and finding the most suitable products. Recent advances in adversarial machine learning (AML) in computer vision have raised interests in recommenders' security.It has been demonstrated that widely adopted model-based recommenders, e.g., BPR-MF, are not robust to adversarial perturbations added on the learned parameters, e.g., users' embeddings, which can cause drastic reduction of recommendation accuracy.However, the state-of-the-art adversarial method, named fast gradient sign method (FGSM), builds the perturbation with a single-step procedure. In this work, we extend the FGSM method proposing multi-step adversarial perturbation (MSAP) procedures to study the recommenders' robustness under powerful methods. Letting fixed the perturbation magnitude, we illustrate that MSAP is much more harmful than FGSM in corrupting the recommendation performance of BPR-MF. Then, we assess the MSAP efficacy on a robustified version of BPR-MF, i.e., AMF. Finally, we analyze the variations of fairness measurements on each perturbed recommender. Code and data are available at https://github.com/sisinflab/MSAP.
Robust Predictive Maintenance for Robotics via Unsupervised Transfer Learning
Authors: Golibagh Mahyari Arash , Locher Thomas
Published: May 2021

Industrial robots play an increasingly important role in a growing number of fields. Since the breakdown of a single robot may have a negative impact on the entire process, predictive maintenance systems have gained importance as an essential component of robotics service offerings. The main shortcoming of such systems is that features extracted from a task typically differ significantly from the learnt model of a different task, incurring false alarms. In this paper, we propose a novel solution based on transfer learning which addresses a well-known challenge in predictive maintenance algorithms by passing the knowledge of the trained model from one task to another in order to prevent the need for retraining and to eliminate such false alarms. The deployment of the proposed algorithm on real-world datasets demonstrates that the algorithm can not only distinguish between tasks and mechanical condition change, it further yields a sharper deviation from the trained model in case of a mechanical condition change and thus detects mechanical issues with higher confidence.
Visual Question Answering Using Semantic Information from Image Descriptions
Authors: Tasmia Tasmia , Nahian Md Sultan Al , Harrison Brent
Published: May 2021

In this work, we propose a deep neural architecture that uses an attention mechanism which utilizes region based image features, the natural language question asked, and semantic knowledge extracted from the regions of an image to produce open-ended answers for questions asked in a visual question answering (VQA) task. The combination of both region based features and region based textual information about the image bolsters a model to more accurately respond to questions and potentially do so with less required training data. We evaluate our proposed architecture on a VQA task against a strong baseline and show that our method achieves excellent results on this task.
Performance Metrics for State-Based Imitation Learning
Authors: Zalat Mohamed , Esfandiari Babak
Published: May 2021

We propose five new domain-independent metrics for evaluating and comparing performance at imitating a state-based expert. We use two agents in the RoboCup environment to compare the performance metrics: an agent based on a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and an agent based on a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network.
Towards Improving Open Student Answer Assessment using Pretrained Transformers
Authors: Ait Khayi Nisrine , Rus Vasile , Tamang Lasang
Published: May 2021

The transfer learning pretraining-finetuning  paradigm has revolutionized the natural language processing field yielding state-of the art results in  several subfields such as text classification and question answering. However, little work has been done investigating pretrained language models for the  open student answer assessment task. In this paper, we fine tune pretrained T5, BERT, RoBERTa, DistilBERT, ALBERT and XLNet models on the DT-Grade dataset which contains freely generated (or open) student answers together with judgment of their correctness. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of these models based on the transfer learning pretraining-finetuning paradigm for open student answer assessment. An improvement of 8%-15% in accuracy was obtained over previous methods. Particularly, a T5 based method led to state-of-the-art results with an accuracy and F1 score of 0.88.
Measuring Outcomes in Healthcare Economics using Artificial Intelligence: with Application to Resource Allocation
Authors: Batarseh Feras A. , Huang Chih-Hao
Published: May 2021

The quality of service in healthcare is constantly challengedby outlier events such as pandemics and naturaldisasters. In most cases, such events lead to critical uncertaintiesin decision making, as well as in multiple medicaland economic aspects of a hospital. External (geographical)or internal factors (medical and managerial) at hospitals,lead to shifts in planning, budgeting, and confidencein conventional processes. In some cases, support fromother hospitals becomes inevitable. This manuscript presentsthree intelligent methods that provide data-drivenindicators to help healthcare managers organize their economicsand identify the most optimum plan for resourceallocation and sharing. Using reinforcement learning, geneticalgorithms, traveling salesman, and clustering, weexperimented with different healthcare variables and presentedtools and outcomes that could be applied at healthinstitutes. In this poster, initial experiments are performed;the results are recorded, evaluated, and illustrated.
Predicting with Confidence: A Case-Based Reasoning Framework for Predicting Survival in Breast Cancer
Authors: Bichindaritz Isabelle , Bartlett Christopher , Liu Guanghui
Published: May 2021

There is usually a trade-off between predictive performance and transparency, where the reasoning process behind an algorithm is shielded behind a ”black-box.” In medical domains, experts being responsible for their decisions need to understand the reasons behind machine-generated recommendations. This paper presents a transparent case-based survival analysis framework that automatically retrieves an optimal number of solved survival cases and adapts them to predict the survival of a new case. With this methodology, retrieved and adapted survival cases lend an insight into which cases a prediction is based on. Our framework is capable of integrating DNA methylation, gene expression, and their combination in breast cancer. Additionally, we test our approach with and without feature selection and demonstrate the usefulness of the adaptation phase. We demonstrate that our framework performs at least as effectively as other state-of-the-art methods while affording greater explainability.
Virtual Agents for Real Teachers: Applying AI to Support Professional Development of Proportional Reasoning
Authors: Nye Benjamin Daniel , Shiel Aaron , Olmez Ibrahim Burak , Mittal Anirudh , Latta Jason , Auerbach Daniel , Copur-Gencturk Yasemin
Published: May 2021

Despite the critical role of teachers in the educational process, few advanced learning technologies have been developed to support teacher-instruction or professional development. This lack of support is particularly acute for middle school math teachers, where only 37% felt well prepared to scaffold instruction to address the needs of diverse students in a national sample. To address this gap, the Advancing Middle School Teachers’ Understanding of Proportional Reasoning project is researching techniques to apply pedagogical virtual agents and dialog-based tutoring to enhance teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. This paper describes the design of a conversational, agent-based intelligent tutoring system to support teachers' professional development. Pedagogical strategies are presented that leverage a virtual human facilitator to tutor pedagogical content knowledge (how to teach proportions to students), as opposed to content knowledge (understanding proportions). The roles for different virtual facilitator capabilities are presented, including embedding actions into virtual agent dialog, open-response versus choice-based tutoring, ungraded pop-up sub-activities (e.g. whiteboard, calculator, note-taking). Usability feedback for a small cohort of instructors pursuing graduate studies was collected. In this feedback, teachers rated the system ease of use and perceived usefulness moderately well, but also reported confusion about what to expect from the system in terms of flow between lessons and support by the facilitator.
OpenTutor: Designing a Rapid-Authored Tutor that Learns as you Grade
Authors: Nye Benjamin D , Sanghrajka Rushit , Bodhwani Vinit , Acob Martin , Budziwojski Daniel , Carr Kayla , Kirshner Larry , Swartout William R
Published: May 2021

Despite strong evidence that dialog-based intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) can increase learning gains, few courses include these tutors. In this research, we posit that existing dialog-based tutoring systems are not widely used because they are too complex and unfamiliar for a typical teacher to adapt or augment. OpenTutor is an open-source research project intended to scale up dialog-based tutoring by enabling ordinary teachers to rapidly author and improve dialog-based ITS, where authoring is presented through familiar tasks such as assessment item creation and grading. Formative usability results from a set of five non-CS educators are presented, which indicate that the OpenTutor system was relatively easy to use but that teachers would closely consider the cost benefit for time vs. student outcomes. Specifically, while OpenTutor grading was faster than expected, teachers reported that they would only spend any additional time (compared to a multiple choice) if the content required deeper learning. To decrease time to train answer classifiers, OpenTutor is investigating ways to reduce cold-start problems for tutoring dialogs.
ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ЕКОЛОГІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА
Authors: Артюх-Пасюта Олена , Мілька Алла
Published: May 2021

Стаття присвячена аналізу сутності поняття «екологічна безпека підприємства». Досліджено та виокремлено змістовні характеристики чотирьох законів екології за Баррі Коммонером. З’ясовано, що від часів античності до новітньої історії породжені складністю феномену безпеки численні дослідження її суб’єкт-об’єктних характеристик стали основою для розвитку загальної теорії безпеки, у тому числі і екологічної безпеки. Розглянуто точки зору різних науковців щодо трактування «екологічна безпека». Незважаючи на велику кількість праць, присвячених дослідженню даної дефініції, серед вчених дотепер відсутня єдина точка зору щодо трактування категорії «екологічна безпека». Виділено правовий, економічний, системний, захисний, процесний, збалансований, комплексний, діяльнісний підходи до визначення поняття «екологічна безпека». На основі проведеного дослідження запропоновано власне визначення поняття «екологічна безпека підприємства».
СТРУКТУРНІ ФОНДИ В СИСТЕМІ ЄВРОРЕГІОНАЛЬНОГО ВИРІВНЮВАННЯ
Authors: Редьква Оксана , Цеханович Віктор
Published: May 2021

Стаття присвячена актуальним питанням використання можливостей фінансування проектів проблемних районів у єврорегіонах Україна - ЄС, європейськими структурними фондами, якими на даний момент є "Фонд згуртування», «Європейський фонд регіонального розвитку», "Європейський соціальний фонд". Все це пов'язано з постійною адаптацією з реформуванням інститутів спільного фінансування розвитку проблемних єврорегіонів. Проаналізовано діяльність структурних фондів, яка сприймається неоднозначно, маючи як прихильників так і опонентів. Досліджено напрямки усунення диспропорційності єврорегіонального розвитку. Доведено, що найбільш ефективним інструментом державного впливу на розвиток регіону є фонди регіонального розвитку. Виокремлено основні функції агенцій регіонального розвитку, через які відбудеться зменшення рівня безробіття, інфляції та підтримка слаборозвинених регіонів.
ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ЩОДО РОЗГЛДУ ТА ВИРІШЕННЯ АДМІНІСТРАТИВНИХ СПРАВ ЩОДО РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПРАВА НА МИРНІ ЗІБРАННЯ
Authors: Кобрусєва Є. А.
Published: May 2021

Статтю присвячено дослідженню особливостей провадження щодо розгляду та вирішення адміністра­тивних справ щодо реалізації права на мирні зібрання, адміністративно-правового забезпечення права на мир­ні зібрання.

Проілюстровано аналіз судових рішень, оскільки законодавець наділив повноваженнями встановлюва­ти обмеження щодо реалізації права на мирні зібрання тільки суд, який може скористатися ними відповідно до Конституції України лише в інтересах національної безпеки і публічного порядку.

У дослідженні наголошено на важливості забез­печення права на мирні зібрання та актуальності пи­тання виконання судових рішень у разі відкриття проваджень щодо обмеження права на мирні зібрання, розгляд яких зараховано до компетенції суду.

Географічно-політичне місце України у двигу­ні європейських перегонів великої політики диктує не зовсім простий (а подеколи й трагічний) шлях со­ціально-політичного руху соціуму громадян - брати безпосередню участь у вирішенні економічних та соці­альних програм.

Ураховуючи процеси становлення держави та три­валого реформування різних державних інституцій, свобода та право громадян на мирні зібрання ставить перед органами влади питання відповідності актив­ності громадян у вирішенні своєї участі на держав­ному та регіональному рівнях, відстоювання своїх інтересів шляхом вираження та донесення поглядів та незгоди до державних та місцевих структур влади. Постає питання законодавчого та практичного регу­лювання такого болісного питання, як відносини вла­ди та суспільства, шляхом урегулювання проведення мирних зібрань та активних («без зброї») акцій впливу на державні установи різного рівня.

Спираючись на міжнародний досвід урегулювання права на мирні зібрання, запропоновано шляхи підви­щення ефективності механізму адміністративно-пра­вового забезпечення права на мирні зібрання, які по­лягають у створенні внутрішньодержавного механізму контролю над дотриманням міжнародних стандартів прав та свобод людини, а також розвитку можливо­стей звернення до Європейського суду з прав людини, якщо та чи інша проблема не вирішена на національ­ному рівні. Доведено, що навіть досить невелике коло чинних норм, що закріплені у законодавчих актах різного рівня, які гарантують забезпечення права на мир­ні зібрання, часто виявляють певну неузгодженість у змісті окреслених прав, особливо з позицій суб’єктів права на свободу мирних зібрань: Конституція Укра­їни таким суб’єктом називає громадянина, а цивіль­не законодавство - фізичну особу. Доведено потребу у впровадженні міжнародних стандартів забезпечен­ня права на мирні зібрання, насамперед стандартів європейської спільноти, що пов’язано з євроінтегра- ційними прагненнями України. Адже впровадження європейських стандартів і дотримання їх суб’єктами публічної адміністрації є однією з передумов інтеграції України в європейський правовий простір.
Screening of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among Newly Diagnosed Tuberculosis Patients in Eastern Sudan
Authors: AHMED MUSTAFA GADA MUSTAFA , YASSIN MUSTAFA ELTIGANI , SHAMI ASHWAG , RAHIM SAMAH ABDU
Published: May 2021

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death in patients infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and HIV infection is the most potent risk factor for the development of active TB disease from a latent TB infection. This study aims to determine the seroprevalence of HIV among newly diagnosed TB patients in Kassala state eastern Sudan. This was a descriptive, hospital-based, cross-sectional study of 251 active and newly diagnosed TB patients, selected by simple random sampling. Blood samples and demographic data were collected from each patient. TB was diagnosed by direct ZN smear and molecular detection by Xpert MTB/RIF. The serum samples were tested for HIV using 4th generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The prevalence of HIV was 13.9% (35/251), the infection rate among pulmonary TB was 17%, whereas that in extrapulmonary TB was 4.8%, the prevalence was (18.2%) in the males, and (7.2%) in the females. In conclusion: TB/HIV co-infection in the Eastern part of Sudan was high compared with the global prevalence, all TB patients should therefore be assessed for HIV risk factors and advised to undergo HIV testing.
A visão de estudantes concluintes do Ensino médio sobre fungos
Authors: Silva Aline da Costa , Gouw Ana Maria Santos
Published: May 2021

Resumo: O presente estudo trata-se de uma investigação sobre as percepções que os estudantes concluintes do ensino médio apresentam dos fungos. Acredita-se que a escolha pelo público-alvo em questão possa oferecer indícios das possíveis contribuições da escola no que se refere ao ensino de micologia, já que o estudante está prestes a finalizar a educação básica. A pesquisa foi realizada no município de Diadema/SP e contou com a participação de 305 estudantes de escolas públicas e privadas, que responderam um questionário de pesquisa sobre o tema. A análise dos resultados evidenciou que a maioria dos estudantes exibe uma visão dos aspectos negativos a respeito dos fungos, de forma a associá-los, predominantemente, a organismos causadores de doenças e exibindo pouco conhecimento da importância ecológica e econômica desses organismos. Uma concepção errônea comum entre os estudantes é a de que fungos são bactérias, não havendo diferenças entre esses organismos. É possível considerar também, que para uma parcela significativa dos estudantes, não é fácil ou natural falar sobre fungos, o que claramente evidencia a falta de familiaridade e conhecimento sobre o tema. Dessa forma, espera-se que os resultados desta pesquisa fomentem e contribuam com discussões que visem melhorar a qualidade do ensino de biologia nas escolas, especialmente quando o assunto em questão forem os fungos.Palavras chave: Fungos; Ensino de Micologia; Ensino Médio; Percepção dos Alunos; Percepção Pública da Ciência.  The view of high school students about fungi Abstract: The present study is aimed to investigate the perceptions of graduating high school students on fungi. Choosing this target audience is justified because they may provide evidence of the possible contributions of science education regarding the teaching of mycology, once the student is about to conclude basic education. It is important to underline that the research was developed in the city of Diadema, São Paulo state, Brazil, where 305 students from public and private schools were engaged by answering a research survey on the subject. The analysis of the results showed that most students have a negative view of fungi, and they associate them mostly with disease-causing organisms and show little knowledge of the ecological and economic importance of these beings. Another clear association that comprises the students' perception is the misconception that fungi are bacteria, and that there are no differences between these organisms. It is also possible to consider that for a significant part of the students it is not easy or natural to talk about fungi, which clearly shows the lack of familiarity and knowledge on the subject. Therefore, it is expected that the results of the present research will motivate and contribute to discussions aimed to improve the quality of Biology education in schools, especially when the subject in question is fungi.Keywords: Fungi; Mycology teaching; High school; Students Perception; Public Understanding of Science.
SYNTHESIS AND SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HETEROMETALLIC COMPLEXES OF Pr(III) WITH Zn(II), CO(II) BASED ON ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETIC AND ETHYLENEDIAMINEDISUCCINIC ACIDS
Authors: Trunova Elena , Mishchenko Artem , Makotryk Tamara
Published: May 2021

New heterometallic f-d-complexes of Pr (III), Co(II), Zn(II) with aminopolycarboxylic acids (ethylenediaminetetraacetic, ethylenediaminedisuccinic acids) have been synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. It was found that complexes with a molar ratio of Pr:M3d: EDTA=1:2:2 are formed for ethylenediaminetetraacetic compounds, and that in the case of complexes based on EDDS, heteronuclear compounds of the equimolar composition Pr: M3d: EDDS = 1: 1: 1 are formed. It is shown that it is expedient to carry out the synthesis of heterometallic complexes on the basis of mono­nuclear polycarboxylates of 3d metals, which act as a «building block» for the preparation of a heterobinuclear compound by the exo coordination of additional metal ions. The complexes are characterized by the method of electron absorption spectroscopy. It is shown that independent of 3d-metal, for both heterometallic systems based on EDDS, a hypsochromic shift of the absorption maxima relative to νmax is observed for the homonuclear praseodymium complex. For ethylenediaminetetraacetate systems, the absorption maxima undergo both low- and high-frequency shift, which indicates the different nature of the ligand field effect, which is caused primarily by differences in the structure of the corresponding heteronuclearaminopolycarboxylates due to the presence of a chiral carbon atom in the EDDS molecule. For the supersensitive transitions Pr(III)) 3H4 →3P2 and 3H4 → 1D2 , the covalence parameters of the Ln-O bond have been calculated: osci­llator power (P), nepheloxetic parameter (β), covalence parameter (b1/2), Sinha parameter (δ). Analysis of the spectroscopic parameters indicates a decrease in the covalence of the lanthanide-ligand bond in the transition from mono- to heteronuclear complex, and a decrease in the local symmetry of the lanthanide ion occurs in the order Ln (III) aqua ion <hete­rometallic complex <monometallic complex. Heteronuclear complexes are several orders of magnitude more stable than mononuclear ones due to the formation of additional bonds or metallacycles with donor ligand atoms. It is noted that the stability of complexes with EDDS is lower than that of the corresponding complexes with EDTA due to the different size and number of chelated metallacycles. The obtained heteronuclear complexes belong to folded complexes, in which the ligand-complexone realizes the maximum denticity to the lanthanide ion, and the coordination sphere of the 3d-cation is formed by carboxyl groups EDTA / EDDS and inner-sphere water molecules. In this case, the ions of 3d-metals are in a distorted octahedral environment, and the coordination number of Pr(III) is 8.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: The Role of Epigenetic Modifications in Pathophysiology and Prospects for the Use of Epigenetic Therapy
Authors: Aitbaev K. , Mamutova S. , Murkamilov I. , Fomin V. , Kudaibergenova I. , Murkamilova Zh. , Yusupov F.
Published: May 2021

The increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the world is becoming more and more threatening every year. To stop the T2DM epidemic, new knowledge is needed about the causes of the development of this disease and approaches to its prevention and treatment. In recent decades, with the development of high-throughput technologies, evidence has been obtained indicating epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding microRNAs, changes in which play a key role in the pathophysiology of some diseases, including T2DM. Certain environmental factors such as diet, physical inactivity, exposure to microbes and pollutants, and lifestyle can trigger modifications to these epigenetic mechanisms. In turn, epigenetic modifications can alter the expression and function of some genes involved in insulin biosynthesis and glucose metabolism, leading to hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. Fortunately, epigenetic changes can be reversed by blocking or activating modulating enzymes. Thus, epigenetic reprogramming may be a new approach in the prevention and treatment of T2DM.
Motivación de los alumnos senegaleses en el aprendizaje del español.
Authors: DIOUF ABDOULAYE
Published: May 2021

Es importante hacer hincapié en el problema de la motivación de los alumnos senegaleses para aprender el español como lengua extranjera. La experiencia académica ha demostrado la gran dificultad  que

experimentan los educadores para motivar a los estudiantes en aulas generalmente abarrotadas, por lo tanto, a través de este artículo de reflexión, se revisan las diferentes definiciones de la motivación desde varios ángulos ante la dificultad de motivar a los alumnos que están aprendiendo español en un contexto de no inmersión, así, se ha abordado la estrategia de enseñar deleitando que es sin duda, una solución al  problema de la motivación. Según este hecho, el papel del profesor no es solo proporcionar o difundir

conocimientos, sino también, en primer lugar, ser capaz de atraer la atención de los estudiantes y motivarlos a interesarse por los idiomas y aprenderlos. Pero, ¿qué pueden hacer los maestros para relajar y distraer la

clase de lenguas extranjeras sin que esto perjudique el nivel de aprendizaje? Es decir, ¿cómo pueden motivar a los estudiantes de L2 para que aprendan otro idioma y se abran unos a otros a una nueva cultura y pueden

convertirse en hablantes bilingües o políglotas? Estas preguntas llevarán, en primer lugar, a estudiar el impacto de los idiomas en el mundo y, particularmente, en Senegal. En segundo lugar, se hablará de las diferentes formas de motivación de los adolescentes al aprender un idioma extranjero. Finalmente, se abordará la estrategia de “enseñar deleitando”, como dice Philippe Meirieu en su obra Aprender Oui, mais

Comment?. Es esencial hacer una simbiosis entre una buena estrategia de aprendizaje y una alta motivación de los alumnos, dado que las condiciones del proceso de enseñanza- aprendizaje son generalmente objeto de retroalimentación en el aula de idiomas.
Seismic Vertical Component Effects on the Pathology of a Historical Structure, Xana, Located in Greece
Authors: Terzi Vasiliki , Athanatopoulou Asimina
Published: May 2021

The present study aims to investigate the effects of the seismic vertical component on the pathology of Xana monument which is a typical caravanserai, constructed circa 1375–1385 and is located in the archeological site of the municipality of Trainapoulis, Greece. The monument’s plan is rectangular and the three-leaf masonry circumferential walls support a hemicylindrical dome constructed by bricks and mortar. The structure consisted of two consecutive parts: one for the travelers and one for the animals. Nowadays, the triangular roof, that covered the structure, and the first part of the monument do not exist. Xana suffers tensile cracks along the interior surface of the dome, a vertical fracture located on the northern wall and vertical tensile cracks located at the openings. A three-dimensional finite element model of the initial state of Xana is constructed. Non-linear material behavior is taken into account as well as soil-structure interaction effects. An adequate number of near-field earthquake events has been used, taking into account that they are related to significant vertical components. The structural seismic analysis is conducted for two cases. The first case refers to the action of the two horizontal-component of ground motions while the second one takes into account the three translational seismic components. The pathology estimation reveals important information concerning the structural effects due to vertical accelerations.
Junk Food or Haute Cuisine to the Ear? – Investigating the Relationship Between Room Acoustics, Soundscape, Non-Acoustical Factors, and the Perceived Quality of Restaurants
Authors: Steffens Jochen , Wilczek Tobias , Weinzierl Stefan
Published: May 2021

Sound and music are well-studied aspects of the quality of experience in restaurants; the role of the room acoustical conditions, their influence on the visitors’ soundscape evaluation and their impact on the overall customer satisfaction in restaurants, however, has received less scientific attention. The present field study therefore investigated whether sound pressure level, reverberation time, and soundscape pleasantness can predict factors associated with overall restaurant quality. In total, 142 persons visiting 12 restaurants in Berlin rated relevant acoustical and non-acoustical factors associated with restaurant quality. Simultaneously, the A-weighted sound pressure level (LA,eq,15) was measured, and the reverberation time in the occupied state (T20,occ) was obtained by measurements performed in the unoccupied room and a subsequent calculation of the occupied condition according to DIN 18041. Results from linear mixed-effects models revealed that both the LA,eq,15 and T20,occ had a significant influence on soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness, whereby the effect of T20,occ was meditated by the LA,eq,15. Also, the LA,eq,15 as well as soundscape pleasantness were significant predictors of overall restaurant quality. A comprehensive structural equation model including both acoustical and non-acoustical factors, however, indicates that the effect of soundscape pleasantness on overall restaurant quality is mediated by the restaurant’s atmosphere. Our results support and extend previous findings which suggest that the acoustical design of restaurants involves a trade-off between comfort and liveliness, depending on the desired character of the place.
EPC-Derived Exosomal miR-1246 and miR-1290 Regulate Phenotypic Changes of Fibroblasts to Endothelial Cells to Exert Protective Effects on Myocardial Infarction by Targeting ELF5 and SP1
Authors: Huang Yulang , Chen Lifang , Feng Zongming , Chen Weixin , Yan Shaodi , Yang Rongfeng , Xiao Jian , Gao Jiajia , Zhang Debao , Ke Xiao
Published: May 2021

Myocardial infarction (MI) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Endothelial progenitor cell (EPC)-derived exosomes have been found to be effective in alleviating MI, while the detailed mechanisms remain unclear. The present study aimed to determine the protective effects of EPC-derived exosomal miR-1246 and miR-1290 on MI-induced injury and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. The exosomes were extracted from EPCs; gene expression levels were determined by quantitative real-time PCR, and protein expression levels were determined by western blot and immunofluorescence staining, respectively. The angiogenesis and proliferation of human cardiac fibroblasts (HCFs) were determined by tube formation assay and immunofluorescence staining of PKH67, respectively. Luciferase reporter, CHIP, and EMSA assays determined the interaction between miR-1246/1290 and the targeted genes (EFL5 and SP1). The protective effects of miR-1246/1290 on MI were evaluated in a rat model of MI. EPC-derived exosomes significantly upregulated miR-1246 and miR-1290 expression and promoted phenotypic changes of fibroblasts to endothelial cells, angiogenesis, and proliferation in HCFs. Exosomes from EPCs with miR-1246 or miR-1290 mimics transfection promoted phenotypic changes of fibroblasts to endothelial cells and angiogenesis in HCFs, while exosomes from EPCs with miR-1246 or miR-1290 knockdown showed opposite effects in HCFs. Mechanistically, miR-1246 and miR-1290 from EPC-derived exosomes induced upregulation of ELF5 and SP1, respectively, by targeting the promoter regions of corresponding genes. Overexpression of both ELF5 and SP1 enhanced phenotypic changes of fibroblasts to endothelial cells and angiogenesis in HCFs pretreated with exosomes from EPCs with miR-1246 or miR-1290 mimics transfection, while knockdown of both EFL5 and SP1 exerted the opposite effects in HCFs. Both ELF5 and SP1 can bind to the promoter of CD31, leading to the upregulation of CD31 in HCFs. Furthermore,in vivoanimal studies showed that exosomes from EPCs with miR-1246 or miR-1290 overexpression attenuated the MI-induced cardiac injury in the rats and caused an increase in ELF5, SP1, and CD31 expression, respectively, but suppressed α-SMA expression in the cardiac tissues. In conclusion, our study revealed that miR-1246 and miR-1290 in EPC-derived exosomes enhancedin vitroandin vivoangiogenesis in MI, and these improvements may be associated with amelioration of cardiac injury and cardiac fibrosis after MI.
Antibiotic Resistance in the Alternative Lifestyles of Campylobacter jejuni
Authors: Rossi Daise Aparecida , Dumont Carolyne Ferreira , Santos Ana Carolina de Souza , Vaz Maria Eduarda de Lourdes , Prado Renata Resende , Monteiro Guilherme Paz , Melo Camilla Beatriz da Silva , Stamoulis Vassiliki Jaconi , Santos Jandra Pacheco dos , Melo Roberta Torres de
Published: May 2021

Campylobacter jejuni is the main pathogen identified in cases of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. Its importance in poultry production and public health is highlighted due to the growing antimicrobial resistance. Our study comparatively investigated the effect of five different classes of antimicrobials on the planktonic and biofilm forms of 35 strains of C. jejuni with high phylogenetic distinction in 30 of them. In the planktonic form, the existence of susceptible strains to colistin (7/35 – 20%) and resistance to meropenem (3/35 – 8.6%) represent a novelty in strains evaluated in Brazil. In biofilms formed with the addition of chicken juice, the number of resistant strains was significantly higher for colistin, erythromycin and meropenem (100%), but the susceptibility to tetracycline was shown as a control strategy for specific cases. High concentrations (1,060 ± 172.1mg/L) of antibiotics were necessary to control the biofilm structure in susceptible strains in the planktonic form, which is consistent with the high biomass produced in these strains. Stainless steel and polyurethane were the most (BFI=2.1) and least (BFI=1.6) favorable surfaces for the production of biomass treated with antimicrobials. It is concluded that the antimicrobial action was detected for all tested drugs in planktonic form. In sessile forms, the biomass production was intensified, except for tetracycline, which showed an antibiofilm effect.
The Role of Viral Proteins in the Regulation of Exosomes Biogenesis
Authors: Jia Xiaonan , Yin Yiqian , Chen Yiwen , Mao Lingxiang
Published: May 2021

Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles of endocytic origin, secreted into the extracellular milieu, in which various biological components such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids reside. A variety of external stimuli can regulate the formation and secretion of exosomes, including viruses. Viruses have evolved clever strategies to establish effective infections by employing exosomes to cloak their viral genomes and gain entry into uninfected cells. While most recent exosomal studies have focused on clarifying the effect of these bioactive vesicles on viral infection, the mechanisms by which the virus regulates exosomes are still unclear and deserve further attention. This article is devoted to studying how viral components regulate exosomes biogenesis, composition, and secretion.