bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Atrial Strain in Atrial Fibrillation Patients: A 2D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography Study
Authors: Toplicianu Maria-Luiza , Nanea Ioan Tiberiu 
Published: December 2019

Abstract

Objectives. In this study we tried to determine the values of the left atrial (LA) strain in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and set a parameter that could be a predictor of sinus rhythm (SR) maintenance.

Study population. We included 60 patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥50% - 33 (55%) of them were known to have in their personal history AF (newly diagnosed, paroxysmal and persistent) and they were examined at SR. The second group was represented by 27 (45%) patients that were examined in AF. Using two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D STE) it was quantified the strain of the 3 functions that characterize the physiology of the LA - reservoir, conduct and pump in the apical sections, mentioning that the pump was absent in patients examined in AF.

Results. The average of the reservoir (R%) for all sections had a significantly higher value in patients with SR (20,2±6,225%) compared to patients examined in AF (6,505±2,66%): P<0.001. With the help of the logistic regression model was observed that only systolic LA strain had the highest predictive power of maintenance of SR. The cutt off value of ≥13,25% of the R% has a sensitivity (Se) and a specificity (Sp) of 90,9%, respectively 100% for maintenance of SR.

Conclusions. In the present study, after analyzing all the parameters that were associated between the 2 groups, it was found that only R %, as the only variable, has the highest predictor power for maintenance of SR.
Past and Present of Renal Biopsy in the Management of Patients with Glomerular Diseases
Authors: Stoian Marilena , Dumitrache Ana-Maria , Stoica Victor 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is amajor health problem affecting 10–16% of the general adult population in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States(1,2,3,4,5,6). Progression to end stage renal disease (ESRD) remains a major clinical problem because the number and the cost: there are currently over a million patients worldwide on dialysis, with the number continuing to increase by ~7% annually(7) and the cost of dialysis is very expensive, costing ~US$80,000 per patient per year in the United States(8).
Since 1951 when was the first published report of the use of kidney biopsy in the diagnosis of medical kidney disease(9), renal biopsy is an essential procedure in the diagnosis of renal disease, and it is now hard to imagine that one could practice nephrology without knowing pathology. However, there remain no consensus guidelines available to the global renal community outlining the indications for this important diagnostic and prognostic test. In this review, we shall outline the current and potential future uses of renal biopsy in diagnosis, prognosis, response to treatment, and disease progression in the setting of current day nephrology.
Clinical and Paraclinical Considerations Regarding Acute Cholecystitis
Authors: Gabriela Bonţea Mihaela , Florin Voiţă Gh. , Mihai Mekeres Gabriel , Simina Gavra Alexandra , Adrian Maghiar Octavian 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
The gallbladder represents a vast pathological subject, vastly disputed because of the many diseases and conditions that can develop. One of the diseases of the bladder is acute cholecystitis, a pathological entity that is induced by the acute inflammation of the gallbladder. It is of particular interest to the patients that present gallstones, with a prevalence of 10 to 25% of the total surgical interventions regarding the gallbladder diseases.
The objective of this article is to analyze the diagnosis and treatment of acute cholecystitis and highlight the importance of diet in this pathology.
The incriminating factor of acute cholecystitis is the biliary stasis, along with bacterial infections that also intervene and the possible ischemia of the bladder wall. In about 90 to 95% cases the biliary stasis is a follow up to the calculous obstruction of the cystic duct, context in which patients are diagnosed with acute lithiasic cholecystitis
Under antibiotic therapy clinical improvement occurs rarely, most often a stationary phase of acute cholecystitis settles in. The unfavorable evolutions refer to patients who develop complications. Bile peritonitis which may be generalized or localized, most often a localized peritonitis occurs, which will develop a plastron in a few days that acts as an armor, is even to touch and presents a dull percussion

Conclusions. Acute cholecystitis is a common disease in clinical practice, and most often it represents a surgical emergency. The quality of life of a patient that suffers from gallbladder diseases may be affected, as they must follow a certain diet.
Favourite Research Topics of Estonian Ethnographers Under Soviet Rule
Authors: Jääts Indrek 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Estonian ethnography as one of the Estonia-related disciplines was tied with Estonian nationalism from the very beginning. Defined as a science investigating mainly the material side of vanishing traditional peasant culture in the 1920s, it fitted rather well with the Soviet understanding of ethnography as a sub discipline of history. Thanks to the major cooperation projects initiated and coordinated by ethnographers from Moscow, Soviet Estonian ethnographers could continue studying Estonian traditional peasant culture. Their favourite research topics (folk costume, peasant architecture and traditional agriculture) supported Estonian national identity, but also suited the framework of Soviet ethnography. Studying contemporary (socialist) everyday life was unpopular among Estonian ethnographers because the results had to justify and support Soviet policy. They did so unwillingly, and avoided it completely if possible. Despite of some interruption during the Stalin era, ethnography managed to survive as a science of the nation in Soviet Estonia.
The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania
Authors: Savoniakaitė Vida 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This article* is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted ethnographic research in different ways. The focus is on the Ramuva movement, founded in 1970 at Vilnius University and continuing until 1994. The activities of the Lithuanian regional studies movement were characterised by diverse education and ethnographic practices. I assert that the key to the success of Ramuva’s activity was a creative circumventing of Soviet ideology and practice. Through a discussion of theoretical issues and the results of fieldwork, I analyse the following questions: How did Marxism–Leninism change ethnography in Soviet Lithuania? What were the activities, methods and theory of regional research? Was Ramuva’s policy of knowledge production in opposition to the Soviet regime?
Between Abjection and World-Making: Spatial Dynamics in the Lives of Indonesian Waria
Authors: Toomistu Terje 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
The lives of Indonesian waria (transgender women) are substantially shaped by spatial dynamics. As a result of social and spatial exclusion, subsequent migration and economic needs, a lifestyle pattern around daily work in beauty salons and street nightlife tied to transactional sex has evolved in many parts of urban Indonesia. Drawing on ethnographic research in the Indonesian regions of Java and West Papua, I demonstrate that despite tremendous spatial abjection, salons and street nightlife are also productive, transformative and conjoining spatialities that foster waria subjectivity in affective relations with their intimate partners, the community, the phantasmic promise of the transnational mediascape and Indonesia as a nation. The places that waria occupy may spark moral prejudice and targeted violence, but simultaneously they are sites of agency at which waria experience self-affirmation and a sense of belonging while embodying through gendered performance the envisioned mobility at both national and transnational scales. The paper thus foregrounds how spaces and subjectivities are mutually constitutive, forging one another, as well as how certain spatialities hold potential to disrupt the sense of marginality.
Relations of University Values and Competences of University Teachers
Authors: Blašková Martina , Tumová Dominika , Blaško Rudolf 
Published: December 2019

Abstract

Objective: The paper deals with the theoretical and empirical examination of university values in relation to key competences of university teachers. The combination of values that universities should prioritize and the competences that university teachers should possess is seen in the paper as an important precondition for improving the quality and acceleration of modern university progress. The theoretical part analyzes, compares and synthesizes opinions on key terms examined in the paper, i.e. higher education, university, values, and competences. The empirical part presents, on the one hand, the results of the questionnaire survey aimed at defining important university values. The survey was carried out on a sample of n = 279 students of the University of Žilina, Slovak Republic, and obtained 1,786 statements on crucial values or sub-values of the university. On the other hand, based on results of the previous survey (n = 27 university teachers) which was targeted on key competences of the great university teachers, the empirical part seeks to experimentally link university key values with teachers’ key competences.

Methodology: Analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, questionnaire survey, thinking experiment. Hypothesis H1: University values defined by students will be repeated in the survey, i.e. student views on the core values of university will be identical or similar in content. Negation hypothesis H0: University values defined by students will not be repeated in the survey.

Findings: Respondents reported a total of n0 = 1,786 statements regarding the university values or sub-values. A substantial consensus was found: many of values were repeated for respondents. Defined values were subsequently grouped: from the initially defined n1 = 229 values, n2 = 32 complex values were generated. This leads to a rejection of H0, in favor of H1: the university values generated by students are similar in the content.
The results in the evaluative question confirmed the assumption that respondents considered most important mostly those values that the previous open question most frequently reported. Although depending on the study program is always the quality of education in the first place of importance, the order of importance of other values varies to some extent.

Value Added: Opinions on university teachers’ competences and university’s values were discussed. Experimental linking of university values to competences of teachers was performed based on the survey results conducted by the authors in 2012 (this one consisted of three sequential interviews/workshops with teachers of University of Žilina). A logical conclusion was formulated: All the university teachers and scientists are becoming authorities competent to build, preserve and transform universal knowledge into an ever-higher level.

Recommendations: A conclusion of the paper contains the characteristics recommended for achieve an effective process of developing university competences.
Chinese TESOL Students’ Perception of Their Speaking Anxiety in Workshops
Authors: Huashan Wu 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is perceived as a negative factor influencing learners’ language achievement. Targeting Chinese overseas students, this paper investigates whether communicative confidence, fear of negative evaluation, attitude towards using English in workshops and trait anxiety are related to Chinese students’ speaking anxiety. The present study also aims to examine how students perceive their speaking anxiety and coping strategies both from teachers and students. The questionnaire and the semi-structured interview were adopted for data collection. 80 TESOL students at the University of Edinburgh were invited to complete the questionnaires, with 6 students participating in the interviews to get deeper insights into Chinese students’ perception of their speaking anxiety. Research findings revealed that communicative confidence, fear of negative evaluation, attitude towards using English in workshops and traits anxiety were strongly related to Chinese students’ speaking anxiety. In the interviews, 6 respondents commented that instructors’ characteristics, such as patience and humor, and their preparation before class can alleviate their speaking anxiety in workshops. It is hoped that the current study can contribute to a deeper understanding of Chinese students’ speaking anxiety in UK universities.
Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs on Teaching Phonetic Aspects: the Case of Czech as L1
Authors: Štěpáník Stanislav , Vlčková-Mejvaldová Jana 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Cultivated speech with correct pronunciation and adequate prosody is important from a social, communicative and also didactic point of view. It can be regarded a “universal quality” of one’s self-presentation. Even though the Czech curriculum sets the development of phonetic aspects as one of the important elements of L1 teaching, various sources show that the educational reality in school differs. Based on a sample of 148 teachers of all educational levels from across the Czech Republic, the study analyses the teachers’ stated beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge of teaching phonetic aspects of Czech, and attempts to give at least an assumption of the actual classroom practices of teaching phonetic aspects in Czech classes and through that the extent of the mismatch between the intended and implemented curriculum. The results show that phonetic aspects are not treated with as much attention as they ought to and that teachers’ beliefs about the actual process of teaching and learning phonetic aspects seem to influence the implemented curriculum more than the intended curriculum and other formal requirements given by the government do.
Faithful Prodigals, Precarious Polity and Re-Jigging National Discourse: Readings from Two African Novels
Authors: Nwachukwu Ogbu Chukwuka 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This study is informed by the observation of some dangerous threats to faith’s missionary and human developmental goals as well as Salvationist stance. The alarm has been sounded that fanaticism of any colour at all is not only inimical to the raison detre of faith’s cardinal objectives but more tellingly, constitutes a serious endangerment of humanity, particularly the Nigerian enterprise. Deploying exemplifications from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2006) in an eclectic combination of a body of qualitative instances drawn from the Islamic and the Christian faiths the paper underscores the danger inherent in bigoted faith both to faith itself and to the society. The paper urges the painstaking reification/inculcation of the principles of tolerance and patriotism in children in their formative years through literary creativity, the precepts of inter and intra religious tolerance respecting the West African sub-regional stance for secular imperatives and egalitarian. This is to enthrone lasting peace in the African sub continent and the world a piece.
Teaching Slovak Language and Literature in the 1st Grade of Grammar Schools: the Verification of the Development of Critical Thinking of Pupils
Authors: Kosturková Martina 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Slovak language and literature belongs to the leading subjects in the system of secondary education in the Slovak Republic. The persistent traditional teaching techniques (encyclopedic-memorization) and the absence of systematic development of critical thinking in the process of education has caused an identified below average state of critical thinking of students at secondary grammar schools. The aim of our half-year experiment was to verify the effectiveness of The Programme of Development of Critical Thinking of Pupils in the Subject of Slovak Language and Literature. To meet the set target we implemented an experiment (a single-factor technique of parallel groups). Out of 16 first-grade secondary grammar schools classes (N = 365) two equivalent groups were selected for the experiment – an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 30). The main measurement means was the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test. The conclusions of the experiment pointed out the effectiveness of the intervention programme.
Symbiosis of Modernisation and National Identity in the Legacy of the “Baltars” (Baltic Art) Porcelain Painting Workshop, 1924–1930
Authors: Ļaviņa Dace 
Published: December 2019

Summary
This article is dedicated to the “Baltars” collective porcelain painting workshop (1924–1930), founded in Riga, Latvia by three modernist artists: painters Romans Suta (1896–1944) and Aleksandra Beļcova (1892–1981) and graphic artist Sigismunds Vidbergs (1890–1970).The “Baltars” phenomenon is significant because of the innovations that the artists brought to the landscape of Latvian porcelain manufacturing and its exhibition activities in the 1920s and the early 1930s, both local and in the Baltic Sea region—Lithuania, Estonia, and Sweden. The article investigates “Baltars” foundation and closure, artistic activities of the company, its attempts to enter the international art and trade scene, and its accomplishments. Special attention is paid to the amalgamation of modernisation, nationalism, and state-building manifested in their paintings on porcelain. Due to the present growing interest in porcelain art in Latvia, triggered by numerous exhibitions and publications, discourse on the “Baltars” phenomenon has become topical.
Student Fraternity of the Art Academy of Latvia “Dzintarzeme”: Latvian National Art Conservation Policy in Exile (1958–1987)
Authors: Lesničenoka Agnija 
Published: December 2019

Summary
After the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, Latvia experienced a rapid influx of youth into its capital city of Riga, looking to obtain education in universities. Students began to build their academic lives and student societies. In 1923, students of the Art Academy of Latvia founded the “Dzintarzeme” (“Amberland”) fraternity. The aim of “Dzintarzeme” was to unite nationally minded students of the Art Academy of Latvia and to promote the development of national art and self-education. Most “Dzintarzeme” members were faithful to the old masters and Latvian art. This phenomenon is significant, because “Dzintarzeme” members grew up with Latvian painting traditions, which are a remarkable heritage of interwar Latvia.
In 1940, when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union, “Dzintarzeme” was banned. A part of “Dzintarzeme” members were deported, killed in war, went missing, or stayed in the Latvian SSR; the remaining chose exile. Although scattered throughout the United States of America, Canada, and Australia, some members were able to rebuild and sustain the fraternity’s life, gathering its members, organising trips and anniversary art exhibitions.
The aim of this research is to reflect on “Dzintarzeme’s” activities in exile (1958–1987), focusing on the main factors of Latvian national art conservation policy: first, the ability of “Dzintarzeme’s” ideology to preserve the values of Latvian national art in an international environment, and second, the problem of generational change and the enrollment of young Latvian artists who continued to maintain “Dzintarzeme” values in exile.
Integration of Handheld Guides in Museums: The Case of Lithuania’s Art Museums
Authors: Rutkauskaitė Milda 
Published: December 2019

Summary
The most common technological device found in organisations of cultural heritage is a handheld guide. This device can simultaneously perform several functions, and its integration in permanent expositions has significance both for the operation of organisations of cultural heritage and experience of visitors when they visit a museum or a gallery. It should be noted that art museums and galleries encounter a task to present often static and difficult to understand at first sight works of art in an interesting fashion. Therefore, in this study, the main functions of a handheld guide as a technological device as well as its benefits, problems, and application in art museums are analysed.
In the first part of the study, various functions of handheld guides, their importance, the meaning produced for the organisation of cultural heritage, and experience of a visitor are analysed based on scientific literature. Problems of integration of handheld guides and strategic steps that should be taken to ensure a successful integration process are reviewed. In the second part, four cases of Lithuanian art museums are presented. All museums that participated in the survey were analysed by collecting observational data, communicating with the managers of the organisations, and analysing the experience of museum visitors using the handheld guide.
Scientific literature presented in the article substantiates the importance of handheld guides in museums and possible problems of integration of such devices. The study conducted in Lithuanian art museums reveals the fact that handheld guides are significant devices that help improve the experience of a museum visitor, but it is also observed that handheld guides have not yet become an integral part of a visit to a Lithuanian art museum.
An Inquiry into the Theory of the Matrix: Subjectivity, Gaze, and Desire in Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Video the Meeting (2012)
Authors: Romanskaitė Diana 
Published: December 2019

Summary
This article deals with the Matrix theory of subjectivity, gaze, and desire by feminist scholar Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger. Matrixial framework is explored in comparison to Lacanian psychoanalysis. The essay denotes the differences between split Lacanian model of the subject and Matrixial subjectivity based on plurality and continuity. I argue that Lacanian model which grounds the subject in fundamental lack and loss of corporal reality is insufficient for explaining specifically feminine experience in terms of temporality and collective memory, whereas the Matrix theory provides a conceptual apparatus for positive female identification and alliances between the past and the present. Ettinger’s Matrixial model is applied in the analysis of the 2012 video The Meeting by contemporary Lithuanian artist Kristina Inčiūraitė. I claim that the mode of desire in The Meeting is based on Matrixial gaze, which allows to formulate memory as co-created by two partners who share archaic knowledge of the Real, grounded in common relation to female sexual difference and intrauterine condition. Therefore, the article interprets the imagery of the town of Svetlogorsk in the video as coemerged mental images that affect each of the partners. I conclude that the Matrix theory overcomes the phallocentrism of classical psychoanalysis, allowing to reformulate the subject in terms of connectivity, compassion, and abilities to process Other’s trauma through positive cultural change.
Fixed Point Theorems in Complex Valued Extended b-Metric Spaces
Authors: Ullah Naimat , Shagari Mohammed Shehu , Azam Akbar 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
In this article, inspired by the concepts of extended b-metric spaces, we introduce the notion of complex valued extended b-metric spaces. Using this new idea, some fixed point theorems involving rational contractive inequalities are proved. The established results herein augment several significant work in the comparable literature.