Aspects Of Recent Developments Research Articles

Recent advancements in piezoelectric energy harvesting for implantable medical devices

Biomedical implantable devices like deep brain stimulators, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and cardiac pacemakers are essential for treating the human heart and brain-related diseases. In the past few decades, a considerable amount of research has focused on improving bio-implant technologies. Conventional bio implant devices consist of an external generator like a battery to power the system, which requires replacement after a particular time. Therefore, in recent years, self-powered implants with various energy harvesting techniques have been proposed to avoid frequent surgery for battery replacement and to miniaturise the implant systems. However, the research communities have yet to explore all the limitations and possibilities of improvement on such energy-scavenging technologies, especially when the application is in vivo. Several aspects of recent developments in energy harvesting technologies feasible for biomedical implantable devices are reported systematically. A detailed review of piezoelectric energy harvester mechanism and miniaturisation, electric output and power management and biocompatibility of an energy harvester for implantable medical devices in vitro and in vivo environments. Furthermore, the piezoelectric energy harvester’s durability, packaging material, connection and evaluation criteria are discussed.

Palaeolithic archaeology: a review of recent research

In contrast to a relatively long history of Palaeolithic investigations in western Europe, research on the Palaeolithic period in Greece has lagged behind considerably. This article reviews the last decade of Palaeolithic research in Greece, with the aim of highlighting key aspects of recent developments in the field. Newly discovered Lower Palaeolithic sites, such as Marathousa 1 in Megalopolis, have offered rare, high-resolution windows into hunter-gatherer adaptations during the earliest-known peopling of the Greek peninsula. Palaeolithic sites in insular settings, exemplified by the latest discoveries in Crete and Naxos, have stirred up intriguing discussions about early seafaring but, most importantly, provide support to a revised view of the role of the Aegean in early human dispersals. Zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and dating analyses of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic materials from new and older assemblages have provided valuable insights that help contextualize the information distilled from lithic industries. In sum, recent excavations, surveys and assessments of new and older collections have together contributed to the compilation of an important corpus of novel and significant data. Palaeolithic Greece is no longer a terra incognita, and it carries the potential to become a key player in understanding early human societies in southern Europe.

Transformation and Quality of Social Services in Slovakia: Implications of Social Role Valorisation Concept

The topic of the quality of social services has been officially institutionalised in Slovakia since 2009 as part of the historically first separate act on social services, as well as a part of the general efforts focused on the transformation of social services. Although the quality system is primarily a policy concept, numerous parallels with the concept of the social role valorisation can be observed. The aim of the study is to present selected aspects of recent developments in the implementation of the new quality system in Slovakia based on the research conducted in 2016. These questions were addressed: According to the providers, is more profound transformation of social services in Slovakia necessary? If yes, what should the transformation relate to? What is the providers’ opinion on the importance of the quality system as part of transformation of social services? What changes do the providers expect in their organisations with regards to the implementation of the quality system? As the research findings shown, the absolute majority of respondents (social service providers) considered the transformation of social services for necessary, while adoption of measures at several levels is necessary. Expectations of transformation changes at systemic level (e.g. financing of social services, stabile legislation, equal status of public and non-public providers), at organisational level, as well as the level of professional performance of social services were identified. The emphasis was put particularly on the need for systemic changes in social services, with considerably lower representation of expected changes at the organisational as well as professional levels. Respondents expressed high confidence in the quality of their own services, not being aware of any major reserves. In the discussion, the author appreciates the concept of the social role valorisation for interpreting and explanations of the obtained, sometimes contradictory, research results.

Product Differentiation Research

Product differentiation has been an important field in industrial organization economics and has inspired theoretical and empirical research on competition in strategic management and marketing, among other disciplines. To better understand this important field, we review the literature in a critical manner. Here we have two purposes. First, we update some recent developments in the last decade or two. One interesting aspect of recent developments is an active incorporation of consumer heterogeneity, elastic demand in the model, two-side markets with network externalities, among others. Second, we assess the sensitivity of equilibrium outcomes on their assumptions. A critical review of the literature allows us to argue that the assumptions of quadratic transportation costs, elastic demand, and concave consumer distribution are influential in determining the level of differentiation. These assumptions, individually or together, increase product differentiation, possibly to the maximum level, by making consumers quite sensitive to (even small) price changes. And we also argue that when we assume multiple products and asymmetric cost positions, we have results similar to those suggested by resource endowments argument in strategic management. Based on the review, we offer several suggestions for future research. First, given the influential effect of the assumption of quadratic transportation costs, we suggest that researchers should make it clear why they choose to assume quadratic transportation costs over linear transportation costs. We believe this issue could be solved rather easily if researchers are more explicit about the applications of derived results rather than the derivation itself. Second, the impact of elastic demand on the degree of differentiation suggests that researchers should be particularly cautious in empirical research. Any condition that triggers price rigidity should be explicitly represented in the equation. Otherwise the degree of differentiation would not be properly estimated due to the endogeneity caused by the absence of this condition on the right side of the equation. Third, regarding unknown distribution of consumer density, researchers should be advised to include income distribution in their empirical model. Unlike unknown distribution of consumer heterogeneity, income distribution could be available if the target of the application of derived results is known. Lastly, it may prove to be quite fruitful if researchers build upon some of recent developments. Researchers may want to extend vertical differentiation in two-side markets with network externalities that may have interesting implications on on-demand economy or researchers may want to take up the notion of variable elasticity of substitution that could open up new possibilities of expanding research streams on supply-side (e.g., production costs) of product differentiation.

Medicinal Plants and Natural Active Compounds for Diabetes and/or Obesity Treatment

Diabetes has been recognized since ancient times, and its main symptoms were known by the increased thirst, frequent urination, and tiredness. Obesity is one of the major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, especially type 2 diabetes (T2D), leading to increase in healthcare costs and decrease in life expectancy. Free fatty acids (FFA) represent a crucial link between obesity, inflammation, and insulin resistance and, as such, reduction in elevated plasma FFA should be an important therapeutic target in obesity and T2D. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. Moreover, T2D prevalence has increased from less than 10% in 1980 to more than 30% nowadays [1]. There are several types of glucose-lowering drugs [2], including insulin sensitizers (biguanides, metformin, and thiazolidinediones), insulin secretagogues (sulfonylureas, meglitinides), and α-glucosidase inhibitors (miglitol, acarbose). Most glucose-lowering drugs, however, may have side effects, such as severe hypoglycemia, idiosyncratic liver cell injury, lactic acidosis, permanent neurological deficit, digestive discomfort, headache, and dizziness [3, 4]. As a result, researchers are interested in finding more efficient medicines, with less side effects. Medicinal plant drug discovery provides important leads against various pharmacological targets including T2D and obesity. With the dramatically increasing prevalence of obesity and T2D worldwide, there is an urgent need for new strategies to combat the growing epidemic of these metabolic diseases. Diet is an essential factor affecting the development of obesity and T2D and it can either prevent or accelerate metabolic diseases. In searching for preventative and therapeutic strategies, it is therefore advantageous to consider the potential of certain medicinal plants as well as herbal-based foods and their bioactive compounds to prevent/treat the pathogenic processes associated with these diseases. To date, the concept of antidiabetic and antiobesity medicinal plants is highlighted in textbooks and pharmaceutical pamphlets and has been reported in thousands of scientific publications. Yet, most of these publications report the activity of a crude extract without testing its chemical composition or identifying the active compound(s) or even its mechanism of action. We believe that natural novel drugs are now more achievable due to modern techniques for separation, structure elucidation, screening, and bio- and chemoinformatics. But whatever approach is used, the medicinal plant efficacy will be based on in vitro or in vivo bioassays. This special issue on medicinal plants for the treatment of diabetes and obesity is a bird's eye view on up-to-date knowledge of promising traditional medicines and their active ingredients efficacy and mechanisms of action in treating obesity and T2D. Nine selected papers for publication in the present issue summarize the most recent knowledge and techniques to evaluate the medicinal plants and active compounds for their antidiabetic, antiobesity, and antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo. Manuscripts in this special issue cover several aspects of recent developments in the fields of (a) medicinal plants, buckwheat honey, and natural compounds preventing metabolic disorders (including T2D) in vivo and in vitro; (b) antioxidant and anti-inflammatory natural products; (c) phenolic compounds that show adipogenesis activity in vitro; (d) herbal pharmacotherapy and phytochemical studies in vitro and in situ; (e) examining the reliability of potential antioxidant substance based on the selected assays; (f) studies involving toxicology and pharmacological mechanisms of action of medicinal plants used in vivo and in vitro.

Aspects of recent developments in the latin american and caribbean labour markets

This article presents three stylized facts that characterized the evolution of labour markets in Latin America and the Caribbean in the period 2003-2012 and represented breaks from previous trends. It is argued that these changes have to do with the economic and production context and the political and institutional framework. We show how the magnitude and patterns of economic growth impact on the nature of job creation, especially on shifts within and between economic sectors and the various segments of different productivity levels. We emphasize how changes in labour institutions have contributed to the evolution of labour indicators and, lastly, look at recent advances and persistent weaknesses in labour performance, as well as a number of risks to the continuity of recent favourable labour trends.

Medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases 2013.

Since the dawn of human civilization, human beings have found remedies within their habitat and have adopted different therapeutic strategies depending upon climatic, phytogeographic, sociocultural, floral, and faunal characteristics. Traditional systems thus contain beliefs and practices in order to avoid, prevent, or avert ailments, which constitute traditional preventive medicine. The use of medicinal herbs and herbal medicine is an age-old tradition and the recent progress in modern therapeutics has stimulated the use of natural product worldwide for diverse ailments and diseases. The educated public and health care professionals have enormous interests in the medicinal uses of herbs, but there is a great deal of confusion about their identification, effectiveness, therapeutic dosage, toxicity, standardization, and regulation. According to WHO, traditional medicine is popular in all regions of the world and its use is rapidly expanding even in developed countries. For example, in China, traditional herbal preparations account for 30–50% of the total medicinal consumption and now the annual global market for herbal medicine is over 60 billion USD. Thus, Western trained physicians should not ignore the impact of traditional medicine on their patients. This special issue on medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases is an attempt to summarize the current knowledge of promising traditional medicines and their phytophores to compounds tested against diverse chronic diseases. The therapeutic properties and structure activity relationship of some important and potentially useful phytoformulations are addressed with a focus on how these age-old wisdom can led to the development of useful therapeutics lead for preclinical or clinical evaluation. Manuscripts in this special issue covered several aspects of recent developments in the fields of (1) natural substances as lead compounds in chronic and degenerative diseases research, (2) natural products involved in the prevention of chronic diseases, (3) herbal pharmacotherapy and phytochemical studies, (4) role of functional foods and nutraceuticals in chronic diseases, and (5) studies involving toxicology and pharmacological and toxicological mechanisms of action of medicinal plants used in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. In-depth information prepared by experts from diverse fields provide the use of diverse medicinal herbs and their active components as antioxidants, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, antiatherosclerosis, gastroprotective, analgesic, anticancer, antidepressant, antiasthma, antiobesity, antiatherosclerosis, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory agents and as immunomodulators, along with their safety issues and toxic effects. In the coming days, more issues of eCAM will be released to offer researchers working on diverse aspects of medicinal plants with a complete coverage of ethnology, pharmacology, toxicology, and medicinal properties. This special issue will provide essential materials to those who are working in the fields of traditional systems of medicine and drug industry. It is the outcome of our research involvement for the last two decades with the subject and consultations among biomedical scientists and clinicians. Our group of four coeditors active in phytotherapy research in three continents has been very pleased to receive a substantial feedback of 59 submissions to this special issue.

Searching for electric dipole moments

AbstractSearches for a permanent Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) of a fundamental particle provide a wide window for the discovery of potential New Physics. Within todays Standard Model in particle physics the well established violation of CP symmetry gives rise to EDMs which are several orders of magnitude below the present experimentally established upper bounds. On the other hand, EDMs appear quite naturally within many modern speculative theories, which have been suggested to improve the known shortcomings of the present Standard Model, e.g., the lack of giving reasons for certain established facts such as the mass hierarchy of the fundamental fermions or the number of three particle generations. They could be almost as large as the present experimental bounds. The speculative models provide for EDMs of different fundamental particles in specific ways. As there is no convincing indication, yet, which of the various extensions to the present standard theory may be more successful, a larger number of EDM searches is very well motivated. Still, even with the discovery of an EDM in one system several experiments will be required to pin down the precise nature and the underlying processes. Therefore searches are going on presently in a variety of systems, ranging from free leptons to complex condensed matter samples. These experiments utilize typically state of the art precision measurements which are often based on forefront technological developments. The experimental efforts are complemented and guided by the further development and refinement of particle theory. Here a few aspects of recent developments in this exciting field are summarized.

Ceramic Machining Systems-A New Era in Prosthodontics

CAD/CAM ceramics are machinable ceramic materials formulated for the production of crowns and inlays through the use of computer aided designs and computer aided machining processes. CAD-CAM (computer assisted design-computer assisted manufacture) systems have also recently been introduced to the dental profession. All CAD/CAM systems are technically complex and involve three distinct steps that is collection of information design of the restoration and fabrication. These systems will undoubtedly receive periodic improvement, necessitating expense for software changes as well as tool replacement and other associated expenses. This paper outlines some interesting aspects of recent developments in ceramics and considers the present state of the art with respect to both materials and techniques.

SYNTAX FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS

The general aim of this paper is to set out certain aspects of recent developments in the field of syntax, and to show how they are of particular relevance to the speech-language pathologist (SLP). The paper provides an introduction to this field, with a focus on that which may be applicable in clinical practice, and as such is targeted at SLPs who possess little or no of current syntactic theory. As Shapiro (2000:2) notes, understanding syntax and manipulating it in principled ways is becoming more and more important to the treatment of language disorders. With this in mind, the paper aims to provide SLPs with a basic of current syntactic theory in order to equip them to utilise such knowledge in the clinical process. By way of introduction, section 2 provides an overview of the development of the field of syntactic theory from the early days of generative grammar (Chomsky 1957; 1964; 1965) to current work within the minimalist program (Chomsky 1995a; 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002). The aim of this overview is to orientate the reader with regard to what follows in sections 3 and 4, perhaps bridging the gap between vague memories of generative syntax in undergraduate linguistics courses and current issues in the clinical application of syntax discussed in recent papers on the topic. In section 3, central aspects of current syntactic theory which are particularly relevant to application in clinical practice are set out. In section 4, examples of the successful application of syntax in informing the clinical process are discussed.

Medicinal Plants in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases

Since the dawn of human civilization, human beings have found remedies within their habitat and have adopted different therapeutic strategies depending upon climatic, phytogeographic, sociocultural, floral, and faunal characteristics. Traditional systems thus contain beliefs and practices in order to avoid, prevent, or avert ailments, which constitute traditional preventive medicine. The use of medicinal herbs and herbal medicine is an age-old tradition and the recent progress in modern therapeutics has stimulated the use of natural product worldwide for diverse ailments and diseases. The educated public and health care professionals have enormous interests in the medicinal uses of herbs, but there is a great deal of confusion about their identification, effectiveness, therapeutic dosage, toxicity, standardization, and regulation. According to WHO, traditional medicine is popular in all regions of the world and its use is rapidly expanding even in developed countries. For example, in China, traditional herbal preparations account for 30–50% of the total medicinal consumption and now the annual global market for herbal medicine is over 60 billion USD. Thus, Western trained physicians should not ignore the impact of traditional medicine on their patients. This special issue on medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases is an attempt to summarize the current knowledge of promising traditional medicines and their phytophores to compounds tested against diverse chronic diseases. The therapeutic properties and structure activity relationship of some important and potentially useful phytoformulations are addressed with a focus on how these age-old wisdom can led to the development of useful therapeutics lead for preclinical or clinical evaluation. Manuscripts in this special issue covered several aspects of recent developments in the fields of (1) natural substances as lead compounds in chronic and degenerative diseases research, (2) natural products involved in the prevention of chronic diseases, (3) herbal pharmacotherapy and phytochemical studies, (4) role of functional foods and nutraceuticals in chronic diseases, and (5) studies involving toxicology and pharmacological and toxicological mechanisms of action of medicinal plants used in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. In-depth information prepared by experts from diverse fields provide the use of diverse medicinal herbs and their active components as antioxidants, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, antiatherosclerosis, gastroprotective, analgesic, anticancer, antidepressant, antiasthma, antiobesity, antiatherosclerosis, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory agents and as immunomodulators, along with their safety issues and toxic effects. In the coming days, more issues of eCAM will be released to offer researchers working on diverse aspects of medicinal plants with a complete coverage of ethnology, pharmacology, toxicology, and medicinal properties. This special issue will provide essential materials to those who are working in the fields of traditional systems of medicine and drug industry. It is the outcome of our research involvement for the last two decades with the subject and consultations among biomedical scientists and clinicians. Our group of four coeditors active in phytotherapy research in three continents has been very pleased to receive a substantial feedback of 59 submissions to this special issue.

Balancing between the career and position-based systems. Some aspects of recent developments in civil service legislation in Hungary

This article analyses some aspects of the wavering course the Hungarian civil service is taking between the career and position-based systems. Since the turn of the new millennium a number of new measures have been introduced in civil service legislation. These reforms have pushed the employment system of the civil service in two directions simultaneously. While some of the new elements have aimed at dismantling what had been a quite typical career-based system, others have further entrenched it. These very frequent, detailed, but less than consistent amendments to the civil service legislation have resulted in a climate of uncertainty. It remains to be seen which tendency will prevail in the coming years.

Special issue on the discrete element method: aspects of recent developments in computational mechanics of discontinua

Special issue on the discrete element method: aspects of recent developments in computational mechanics of discontinua

Dermal Immunopathology: from Genetics to Effector Mechanisms

The immune system represents highly sophisticated defense mechanisms by which the body is protected against invasion by various infectious microbes and against the resulting tissue destruction. The concept of “immune” was introduced originally to explain a mysterious phenomenon in which those individuals who had survived an epidemic disease became resistant to the same disease. This concept was subsequently validated by the striking efficacy of vaccination against infectious pathogens. The underlying mechanisms, however, had remained almost unknown for many years. We now know many cellular and molecular components of the immune system. Different leukocyte subsets, which possess distinct functional properties, work together in a concerted manner to form multiple layers of defense lines. They include T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, and mast cells. These leukocytes communicate with each other by secreting various soluble factors (e.g., cytokines, chemokines, antibodies, and antimicrobial peptides) and by signaling through cell surface molecules (e.g., receptors for the soluble factors, major histocompatibility complex class I and class II molecules, adhesion molecules, and costimulatory molecules). Impairment of the individual components or their communication may result in failure of the body’s defense (immune deficiency). Although the immune system is important for the host defense, its dysfunction may cause various forms of diseases, such as overreactions to environmental antigens (i.e., hypersensitivity reactions) and inappropriate responsiveness to self-antigens (i.e., autoimmunity). As an organ separating the body from external insults, the skin is well equipped with most, if not all, of the above immune components. The skin has long served as a test site to assess the immune responsiveness to infectious microbes and environmental antigens. In fact, physicians were almost totally dependent on various skin reactions or skin tests for measuring the magnitude, type, and antigen specificity of patients’ immunity until more sophisticated in vitro immunological assays became available. Owing to the marked progress in genetic, molecular, cellular, and clinical immunology, we now appreciate that the skin acts as an immunological organ as a whole (i.e., skin immune system) and that its dysfunction may result in a wide variety of immunological skin diseases. The purpose of this issue ofClinical Reviews of Allergy and Immunology is to provide an overview of several prototypic immunological skin diseases. Because the issue is not meant to include all the autoimmune and allergic skin disorders, we have decided to cover selected diseases representing various forms of skin manifestation and invited experts from the corresponding fields. Because of the space limitation, each article can highlight only certain aspects of recent developments. The first two articles describe the skin immune system from different angles. Michael Girardi focuses on the adaptive immunity, and Heidi Goodarzi, Janet Trowbridge, and Richard Gallo place a special emphasis on the innate immunity. Recent efforts in basic and translational research have unveiled immunological bases of several common inflammatory skin disorders, such as allergic contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis. Dendritic cells are special Clinic Rev Allerg Immunol (2007) 33:1–3 DOI 10.1007/s12016-007-0035-6

Aquatic Behavioral Ecotoxicology—Prospects and Limitations

ABSTRACT This Perspective gives an overview of the definitions, advantages, and the importance of behavioral studies in ecotoxicology. Recent developments in automated quantitative recording technology as well as in mathematical data analysis and statistical data treatment have given rise to increased research in behavioral ecotoxicology. As an example, several studies performed with different invertebrate and vertebrate species using the non-optical impedance recorder, the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor™, are mentioned and discussed under the aspect of recent developments. However, some problems have still to be solved, such as (1) linking behavior to other biological test parameters on the suborganismal as well as the population level, (2) standardization of test designs and methods, and (3) creating more acceptance of these methods in the legislative framework of biomonitoring.

Comonads and Galois Corings

We investigate which aspects of recent developments on Galois corings and comodules admit a formulation in terms of comonads. The general theory is applied to the study of Galois comodules over corings over firm rings.

Aspects of recent developments in analytical chemometrics

Some aspects of recent developments in analytical chemometrics are discussed, in particular the developments viewed from the angle of the research efforts undertaken in authors’ laboratories. The topics concerned include resolution of high-order chemical data, morphological theory and methodology for chemical signal processing, multivariate calibration and chemical pattern recognition for solving complex chemical problems, and resolution of two-way chemical data from hyphenated chromatographic instruments.

Recent Studies of Multiply Bonded Selenium and Tellurium Compounds

Several aspects of recent developments in the chemistry of multiply bonded selenium and tellurium compounds are surveyed in this article. These include (a) tellurium(IV)-nitrogen compounds, (b) complexes with two (or more) terminal Group 14–Group 16 linkages, and (c) a new approach to previously inaccessible ligands containing Group 15–Group 16 functionalities.

AFM as a High-Resolution Imaging Tool and a Molecular Bond Force Probe

This focused review summarizes certain aspects of recent developments in the use of atomic force microscope in high-resolution imaging of membrane-bound biological macromolecules and in molecular force probing of the interaction between biological conjugates. We point out the pros and cons in these approaches and critically analyze details involved in experiments.

Recent advances in ceramic materials and systems for dental restorations.

The unsurpassed aesthetic and biocompatible qualities of ceramic materials still provide the stimulus to seek to overcome their limitations. Much of the materials research since the mid 1960s has been directed towards producing stronger, reinforced restorations with improved marginal accuracy and, although a new wave of ceramic products appeared in the 1980s, most of the materials currently available are developments derived from ideas established more than 20 years ago. This paper outlines some interesting aspects of recent developments and considers the present state of the art with respect to both materials and techniques.