General Reader Research Articles

Conversion therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: Advances and challenges.

Recently, the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology published an article entitled "Pathologically successful conversion hepatectomy for advanced giant hepatocellular carcinoma after multidisciplinary therapy: A case report and review of the literature", in which the authors shared their successful experience with complete surgical resection after multidisciplinary conversion therapy. The study by Chu et al demonstrates the great challenges that the advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) poses to surgical oncology, reveals the complexity of conversion therapy for unresectable HCC, emphasizes the important role of a multidisciplinary management model in conversion therapy, and enriches our understanding of the dynamics of personalized treatment for different patients. At present, conversion therapy is a hot research topic in the treatment of unresectable HCC, which has brought new hope to many patients with moderately advanced HCC. However, there are still many urgent problems to be solved in conversion therapy. Here, we would like to further discuss the advances and challenges of conversion therapy for unresectable HCC with the authors and the general readers.

Small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumours

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It can broadly be divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and nonsmall cell lung cancer. There have been many advances over the recent years in both fields. The purpose of this review is to provide a concise summary of SCLC for the general respiratory readership.

Translation Strategies Selection in the Perspective of Translator Behavior Criticism: A Case Study of the Chinese Translation of The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club, written by the American-born Chinese author Amy Tan, is her breakout novel that garnered attention from both general readers and scholars upon its publication. In terms of Chinese translation, there have been seven versions so far, and various scholars have used multiple theories to compare and analyze the translations of different translators. However, studies that analyze the translation strategies of the earliest translation version (translated by Cheng Naishan) and the latest translation version (translated by Li Jun and Zhang Li) from the perspective of translator behavior criticism are rare. This paper finds that Cheng Naishan tends to use domestication strategies, while Li Jun and Zhang Li adopt a combination of foreignization and domestication strategies in their translation. This is reflected in their actual actions within the "truth-seeking-pragmatism" translator behavior continuum. Li Jun and Zhang Li's translator behavior is higher in both truth-seeking and pragmatism than Cheng Naishan's, showing greater rationality.

Emerging Trends for the Direct Synthesis of Dithiocarbamates

Dithiocarbamates are common structural motifs in various bioactive compounds, attracting considerable attention due to their wide‐ranging applications in organic synthesis, material science, agrochemicals, and the pharmaceutical industry. Given the significant bioactivity and extensive applications of dithiocarbamates, the continuous pursuit of their efficient and diverse synthetic methods remains critical and urgent. Direct dithiocarbamation reactions can introduce ‐S‐C(S)NR2 group directly into parent molecules, providing shorter, greener, and more practical pathways for the synthesis of organodithiocarbamates. This article offers a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in direct dithiocarbamation reactions, categorizing them based on the different sources of the ‐S‐C(S)NR2 group, with a particular emphasis on elucidating substrate scope and reaction mechanisms. Additionally, some synthetic limitations and applications of these methods are discussed. This review aims to provide the latest advancements in this field to both general readers and professional practitioners, inspiring innovative ideas for the synthesis of organosulfur compounds.

Kazakhstan’s foreign policy strategy within the framework of Central Asian integration

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the evolution of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy strategy in relation to regional integration initiatives in Central Asia and the influence of global power to it. The geopolitical space of Central Asia, also known as Turkestan, consists of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Using historical, institutional, and value-normative approaches, this article examines the development of Kazakhstan’s strategy after independence through its participation in multilateral frameworks like the Central Asian Union, CACO, SCO, as well as bilateral partnerships. The key trend identified is a shift from reliance on multilateral mechanisms to prioritizing bilateral relations within the region, driven by pragmatism and economic considerations. However, persisting challenges like regional instability may require Kazakhstan to reengage in multilateral cooperation on shared issues. By mapping Kazakhstan’s changing strategy, this study provides useful insights into a secondary power’s navigation of major power interests while seeking greater leadership in its region. It contributes to scholarship on Central Asian cooperation and the foreign policy options of states in this area. The analysis will interest researchers in regional studies, ethnography, and comparative politics, as well as general readers interested in Kazakhstan’s evolving strategic priorities.

“The Main Questions of Christian Ethics”: Following Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Barcelona Lecture

The intellectual legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century, has been interpreted in various ways. His ideas were both mooched off of and developed. His judgments regarding certain elements of Christian ethics were no exception. In order to avoid falling into the trap of modern interpreters of Bonhoeffer, who often tailor the views of this theologian to fit their own paradigm, accepting some of his ideas and ignoring others, it is necessary to independently research the entirety of his works, which have survived and reached us thanks to his student and friend, Eberhart Bethge. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to comprehensively examine those parts of Bonhoeffer’s work that receive the least attention in wider theological circles. In other words, we will see the statements of a different Bonhoeffer, not the one that is known to the general readership. Bonhoeffer’s dissertations, books, articles, sermons, lectures, correspondence, poetry, etc., totaled sixteen volumes. The Lutheran theologian developed his concept of ethics throughout his (unfortunately, very short) life, but this concept is known mostly for Bonhoeffer’s key work of the ‘40s, aptly titled – “Ethics.” Therefore, in order to understand where his original and sometimes radical ethical ideas originate, one should turn to the texts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his biography. The relevance of our material lies in the fact that the Ukrainian reader is largely unfamiliar with Bonhoeffer’s early works. Moreover, today’s Ukrainian reader only has a translation of his letters and notes from prison. To investigate the ethical teaching of this German theologian, researchers should start with his Barcelona lecture and move to his life’s work, that is, to the aforementioned “Ethics.” Bonhoeffer’s work is relevant more than ever in the current Ukrainian context, which is essentially a state of war with Russia’s invading horde and in which ordinary Christians (and not only they) face ethical challenges on a daily basis. And although Bonhoeffer’s texts are written, to a greater extent, from the position of a German (it is difficult to justify the wars that Germany waged in the 20th century), he was still right on certain issues that will be discussed in the essay.

Effectiveness of student academic presentations: What do we learn from presentation guidebooks?

This research is based on a survey of recently published presentation guidebooks designed for both general academic readership as well as scientific and technical communities. The primary objectives were 1) to examine how Anglophone academic culture views effectiveness of academic presentations and, respectively, determine the shared core principles which contribute to it; 2) to identify additional explicitly stated aspects of effective presentations, both general and/or area-specific; 3) to get a better sense of the generalizability of the language recommendations in the guidebooks by looking into whether they were derived from large language data sources or were based primarily on the authors’ subjective language observations.Overall, the survey revealed that Anglophone academic culture has a consistent view of several core principles on which effective and successful academic presentations should be built. The guidebooks also offered a shared set of additional characteristics, associated with both the preparation and delivery stage of effective presentations. However, the majority of the surveyed guidebooks lacked in the depth and breadth of their treatment of the language use in presentations. The findings of the survey can be beneficial to instructors and novice presenters alike.

A Historical Approach to Understanding Differentiation of RYB vs RGB

This article defines the roles of colors and presents their historical development as a fundamental means of expression within artwork. It also introduces color theorists and practices, including the mixing of pigments, a necessary technique for artists-designers in creating tangible results. Modern artists-designers have used these theorists to express themselves in producing an aesthetic experience in the viewer through their artwork, starting with Sir Isaac Newton’s light-spectrum experiments using a glass prism and a beam of white light, and continuing through Johannes Itten’s color-wheel and creative color-matching exercises. This article objective defines the significance of color, its historical development on the basis of earlier perceptual theorists’ findings that color acquires dimension and meaning in response to cultural-historical context or psychological realities. As a result, this paper also explores how color affects our emotions, our psychic and spiritual manifestations. This psychic-spiritual manifestation is revealed through a process of visual perception and experimenting with color and its symbolic meaning. Artists such as Seurat, Munch, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Josef Albers, Picasso, Joan Miro, or Mark Rothko demonstrated the expressive power of color-pigment. The authors hope that this paper will bring significant discussion, awareness, will assist general readers and academic researchers and truly advance knowledge.

HUMAN RIGHT TO NATIONALITY OF THE ROHINGYA REFUGEES AND THE BANGALEES IN BANGLADESH

The study contains the human rights condition of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in general as well as their human right to nationality in the country in particular. It also contains, on a comparative approach, the human right to nationality of the Bangalees in Bangladesh. Data are collected from both primary and secondary sources and they are analysed systematically for reaching a solution to the problem of nationality of both the peoples, Rohingya and Bangalee. The study wants to create public opinion for the redress of the Rohingya refugees who were compelled to flee to Bangladesh from Myanmar by the government as well as the military of Myanmar.It shows that the right to nationality of the ethnic/cultural and linguistic majority ‘Bangalee’ people of Bangladesh was kept aloof from them for more than three decades. The study explores the governmental and foreign aids to help them sustain, transfer of many of them from Cox’s Bazar to BhasanChar of Noakhali district, and geopolitical issues surrounding the Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh. It unveils the legal issue relating to nationality and citizenship of the Bangalees as well as the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which is seldom addressed by lawyers and general readers. It shows the distinction between nationality and citizenship and makes some suggestions to overcome the problem of nationality and citizenship identities of the Bangalees and Rohingyas in Bangladesh as well as in Myanmar.

Complete Poems

Fifty years after James K. Baxter’s death, we finally have an edition of his Complete Poems. This four-volume collection completes the heroic project of editor John Weir and Te Herenga Waka University Press, begun in Complete Prose (2015) and Letters of a Poet (2018), to collect together and publish in scholarly form all of Baxter’s scattered writings. The publisher’s blurb reaches for an appropriately Baxterian image in calling this a ‘Herculean task’. Indeed, the scale of the collection invites superheroic imagery: 2,977 poems in 3,155 pages – to say nothing of the appendices (and I will say something of the appendices later). Weir’s earlier, long-standard Collected Poems (Oxford University Press, 1980) ran to only 656 pages. Gathering in the unpublished contents of the manuscript notebooks in the Hocken Library, together with poems published in obscure journals or recovered from friends and acquaintances, his new edition more or less triples the quantity of Baxter’s poetry now accessible to scholars and the general reader.

Cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement with science news predicted by the use of accessibility strategies in science-minded and general audiences

Numerous studies have explored internal factors such as cultural values and acquired knowledge accounting for how people engage with science. However, it remains unclear how external factors embedded in science texts relate to audience engagement. A content analysis of 298 text-based popular science news articles and their following 5852 reader comments was conducted in two Israeli audiences, science-minded and general readers, to explore how the accessibility strategies embedded in these articles relate to cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement. Findings indicated similar patterns of relationship between accessibility strategies and engagement expressions for both audiences; however, the relationships were more pronounced for general readers compared to science-minded readers. Using jargon and a narrative writing style increased the odds of positive emotions in reader comments, whereas addressing socio-scientific issues increased the odds of cognitive expressions. These results may contribute to a fuller understanding of ways to drive meaningful public engagement.

The Biomedical Applications of Biomolecule Integrated Biosensors for Cell Monitoring.

Cell monitoring is essential for understanding the physiological conditions and cell abnormalities induced by various stimuli, such as stress factors, microbial invasion, and diseases. Currently, various techniques for detecting cell abnormalities and metabolites originating from specific cells are employed to obtain information on cells in terms of human health. Although the states of cells have traditionally been accessed using instrument-based analysis, this has been replaced by various sensor systems equipped with new materials and technologies. Various sensor systems have been developed for monitoring cells by recognizing biological markers such as proteins on cell surfaces, components on plasma membranes, secreted metabolites, and DNA sequences. Sensor systems are classified into subclasses, such as chemical sensors and biosensors, based on the components used to recognize the targets. In this review, we aim to outline the fundamental principles of sensor systems used for monitoring cells, encompassing both biosensors and chemical sensors. Specifically, we focus on biosensing systems in terms of the types of sensing and signal-transducing elements and introduce recent advancements and applications of biosensors. Finally, we address the present challenges in biosensor systems and the prospects that should be considered to enhance biosensor performance. Although this review covers the application of biosensors for monitoring cells, we believe that it can provide valuable insights for researchers and general readers interested in the advancements of biosensing and its further applications in biomedical fields.

THE ANTHOLOGY “STATE OF WAR”: SYNERGY, PROBLEMATICS, GENRE ORIGINALITY OF THE TEXTS

The anthology “State of War” is a fiction and documentary prose about the bloody war unleashed by Russia on Ukrainian lands, a prose in which the authors, through the prism of their own worldview, experience and emotions, offer the general readership the recorded tragedies of “timeless truth”, the facts of grave illegal crimes committed by the Russian occupiers. The article aims to examine the reception of martial law events in the anthology as non-fiction literature in contemporary Ukrainian prose. The object of the study is the texts of the anthology “State of War”, united by the subject of depicting military events in Ukraine in order to document the war in its various manifestations and tell the world about it in the “Ukrainian voice”. The study was conducted using elements of descriptive, structural and semantic, receptive and interpretive, and contextual methods of analysis. The anthology “State of War” is a genre transformation that combines “sophisticated fiction and the accuracy of documentary” (V. Sayenko), and is dominated by essays, narratives, and memoirs that have only recently been classified as fiction and documentary literature. The textual and social conclusions of “State of War” with an appeal to autobiographical memory made it possible to consider texts in the genre of “non-fictional prose” (T. Bovsunivska): they contain autobiography, the authors appeal to personal experience, indicate involvement in the events described, the narrative is in the first person and is based on a reliable fact, as in memoir genres. The core format of the anthology’s textual content is determined by the history of everyday life. The authors of the book (fifty of them), like the characters in the stories, are writers and public figures, journalists and scholars, volunteers and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Combatant writers, i.e., active military personnel – Oleksandr Mykhed, Artem Chapai, Artem Chekh – create stories not based on other people’s impressions but on what they have seen and experienced, proving that the problems of a soldier are not only related to fighting and defending positions, but also to the aesthetics of survival, to the belief in victory over the aggressor for the further development of society. The texts of the anthology “State of War” contain genre “inclusions” (“Siren-Hyena” by L. Taran, “Under the Bridge” by S. Povaliaiev, “After the Occupation” by V. Puzik) that organically fit into the author’s narrative, confirm significant events, and increase the recipient’s responsibility in the reading process. The semantic core of the narrative of “State of War” is determined by the titles: they influence architectonic expressiveness, inform the reader about the objective reflection of events, facts and phenomena, transform into message titles, decode the content (“Being a Teacher Under Occupation” by L. Denysenko, “My First Bomb Shelter” by I. Pomerantsev, “After the Occupation” by V. Puzik, “Roots Up, or Fear of Migration” by T. Gundorova, “Presentation with Stress” by Y. Vynnychuk).

Contribution of advanced windows and façades to buildings decarbonization: A comprehensive review

On a global level the building sector consumes about 45.00% of energy consumption, contributes about 40.00% to emission, uses 30.00% of water and impacts the environment by generating 30.00% of waste. Although windows are important components of a building that provide natural lighting and ventilation and establish necessary contact with the external environment necessary for healthy indoor ambient, they permit entry of undesirable solar heat in summer and allow escaping heat from the indoor ambient in cold seasons, which aggravate the building needs for energy and increase its contribution to atmospheric emissions. The present investigation provides a review on research, development, and applications of advanced windows in the building sector. The introduction highlights the importance and contribution of advanced glazing technology to improving energy, comfort, and thermal performance of buildings. The review includes natural illumination and ventilation, thermal comfort and discusses the effects of window to wall ratio on natural illumination and ventilation of windows and façades. The review also covers recent developments in glazed windows and façades including performance enhancements by using reflective solar films, vacuum glazing, windows with filling materials, windows with water flow, window with phase change material, window with stagnant inert gas filling, ventilated windows and façades and windows with aerogel. A special section was also included on smart glazing for windows and façades showing the new tendencies and applications in the building industry. Since commercial programs and open access codes are handy tools for simulation and performance calculations a section is dedicated to these codes. The conclusion section contains the most relevant conclusion of the review as well as future trends in research and developments in the area. The topics included in this review can be helpful for experienced and young researchers, practicing engineers and general readers interested in windows and façades.

‘Novelty’ through narrative and paratextual voice: The case of John Minford’s translation of ‘The laughing girl’

‘The Laughing Girl’ (‘Yingning’) is a short fictional story from Liaozhai zhiyi, a collection of uncanny and surreal stories written by the Chinese writer Pu Songling between the 1660s and 1720s. The stories have been made available for anglophone readers as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio published in 2006, canonised by Penguin Classics and the translator John Minford, whose approach rooted in ‘nouvelle Chinoiserie’ imbues the tales with a sense of novelty or strangeness, both textually and paratextually. In this study, we will investigate how Minford foregrounds the story’s novelty with his translator’s voice in the translated text. Comparison and analysis reveal that on the textual level, Minford’s shifting focalisation and narrative voice accentuates the strangeness in ‘The Laughing Girl’ and that his additions in terms of characterisation construct Yingning an even more outlandish fox spirit. On the paratextual level, he foregrounds the text’s novelty at the expense of other themes, such as the moral edification or social critique. Minford’s unique perspective on and approach to the source text align with the publisher’s aim to appeal to a general readership, leading him to highlight the text’s exoticism in his translation. Although Minford’s translation is both accessible and stylistically deft, it appears to reduce Strange Tales to a mere anthology of the bizarre and grotesque while constructing an ‘imagined and ethereal orient’, as is clearly indicated by the corpus-assisted readers’ reception analysis.

Design of clinical trials in integrative medicine: The issue of personalization

IntroductionClassic randomized controlled trial design provides information about the effectiveness of a treatment at population level. In clinical practice based on precision medicine, we seek study designs that provide estimates accounting for individual patients’ demographics and context. Integrative medicine has a strong emphasis on personalization, and there is a pressing need for advancements in trial design to support clinical decisions. DiscussionTo enhance the generalizability and implementation of research evidence, study designs first need to mimic the real-world from both the clinicians’ and patients’ perspectives, which could be optimized based on stakeholder analysis. Previous stakeholder analyzes showed that the lack of personalization in clinical trial design is a key challenge for the adoption of evidence clinically. Variations of randomized controlled trial design including better-powered and better-designed subgroup analysis, pragmatic design, the N-of-1 cross-over design, and adaptive design have been introduced to personalize clinical trials. Each of these variations has unique advantages, assumptions and limitations. Stratified randomization can be used to divide a disease population into subgroups according to different schools of theory to match with the corresponding treatment, while preserving the generalizability to general readership. Patient-level meta-analysis can improve the power and precision of subgroup analysis. Enrichment design can increase the efficiency of a trial in detecting treatment effect(s) and in mimicking actual clinical use. Practical issues, including bias control and assessment in pragmatic trials, and N-of-1 trials are also discussed with recent trials as examples. We suggest strategies to maximize the validity and translation potential of clinical trials in integrative medicine with pragmatic or personalized design. ConclusionVariations of randomized controlled trial design improve the precision of estimates at patient level, which should be carefully considered in the trial design of integrative medicine according to the context of the future application of evidence.

Scientific Study of Islam for Its Understanding and Dialogue of Cultures

Heightened interest in modern Islam, its philosophy, and its culture is substantiated by the complex transformations in Islamic countries and Muslim regions of post-Soviet Russia. Some countries see a rise in the political role of Islam: religion has become a driver of international politics, and adaptation of the Muslim world to the global transformational processes of the century is still on the agenda. Some argue that the scholarly study of religion is ineffective for solving global issues. Muslim scholars take a dim view of non-Muslims attempting to study Islam. Russian academic approach lies in between Western and Muslim religious sciences; thus, new Russian works on Islam not only promote religious studies but also strengthen Russia as an international actor. Doctor of Philosophy, professor Taufik Ibragim is one of the eminent researchers of Islam. In 2009, he was a co-author of the biography of Muhammad. In 2015, he published a much-talked-about work on religious pluralism in the Quran. T. Ibragim’s works conflate encyclopedic knowledge and academic scrutiny with clarity and are of interest to both specialist audiences and general readers. In 2022, he published the book Names of God according to Islam, in which he attempted to translate Muslim concepts into the language of another monotheistic religion. The nature of God—personal and/ or impersonal—is subject to heated discussions, and T. Ibragim gives his interpretations of Quranic verses. The introduction presents an overview of the characteristics of God in the Quran and also gives the first comprehensive index of the names of God. The methodology, systematization, structure, and content of the book make it significant for Russian Islamic and Oriental studies. It will be helpful for theologists, Arabic and Islam scholars, as well as students. T. Ibragim’s works shed light on one of the most numerous and dynamic world religions and let everyone look into the hidden treasures of Islamic tradition.

Charles Todd and the Overland Telegraph Line

Adam Courtenay, an Australian author and journalist completed Mr Todd’s Marvel: How one man telegraphed Australia to the modern world, a recent book on Charles Todd and the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL), in time for it to be published around the 150th anniversary of the completion of the historic project. Although the book concentrates on the immense task and challenges of building the OTL from Port Augusta to Palmerston (now called Darwin), it does provide a focus on the people that participated and, especially, on the special role of Charles Todd. This book review concludes that the book is a useful introduction to the subject, with occasional inclusions of information that might not be well known, and permits the reader easy access to the subject through its narrative style and generous spread of illustrations. However, the book does have limitations. It lacks an index and citations detailed enough to be followed up. For the reader who might wish to pursue particular issues or events, these limitations are frustrating indeed. Overall, it is for the general reader, rather than for those seeking to gain an even deeper understanding of the times, the project, and the major participants and their motivations.

Solar energy for societal decarbonisation: a perspective on emerging opportunities in utility-scale solar electricity and solar in the built environment

The solar resource presents almost limitless opportunities for creating clean energy – not just in the form of solar-derived electricity, but also to drive heating and cooling cycles, create solar fuels, or indeed to promote chemical and biochemical pathways for the production of food, clean water and raw materials. There is an ever-expanding plethora of applications for solar energy as a critical contributor to global decarbonization. This short Perspective is focused on two of the largest opportunities for solar energy to make major emissions reduction and deliver societal fairness and economic impacts: notably utility-scale electricity generation and the more local opportunities of the built environment. We examine the two dominant forms of solar energy – the direct generation of electrical power via the photovoltaic effect, and the indirect generation of electricity (and indeed heating and cooling energy) through solar thermal cycles. As a Perspective, it provides necessary background for the general reader, but also seeks to emphasise the specific challenges and opportunities for the interested specialist.

Четыре неизвестных материала Б.М. Эйхенбаума в газете «Русская молва»: о взаимодействии филологии и журналистики в литературном процессе

This article concentrates on four materials by B. Eikhenbaum, published in 1913 in the “Russkaya Molva” newspaper. Until now, they were not part the scientist’s bibliography and remained unnoticed by modern researchers. Two of these materials are signed, while the other two were published anonymously. They represent various genre varieties of literary criticism of the 1910s. The article “On the New Belgian Literature”, signed “B. Eikhenbaum”, is more of a review. A detailed review named the “Archive of M. Stasiulevich”, signed “B. E.”, which was also usual for Eikhenbaum-critic, is about the release of the fifth volume of the correspondence of editor of “Vestnik Evropy” with writers, and aims to present the content of the book to the general reader in as much detail as possible. The critic focuses on Saltykov-Shchedrin’s letters to Stasiulevich. The other two publications are short unsigned reviews. The author of the article proves Eikhenbaum’s authorship based on an analysing Eikhenbaum’s critical manner, as it developed in the early 1910s, and the immediate context of the materials being attributed: these are Eikhenbaum’s publications in the weekly journal “Zaprosy Zhizni” and in the “Russkaya Molva” newspaper.