The Art of War: Ferroptosis and Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating gastrointestinal cancer, characterized by late diagnosis, low treatment success rate, and poor survival prognosis. The most common pathological type of pancreatic cancer is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which is mainly driven by the K-Ras oncogene. Ferroptosis was originally described as Ras-dependent cell death, but is now defined as lipid peroxidation-mediated regulated necrosis, accompanied by excessive activation of the autophagy degradation pathway and limited membrane repair capacity. The impaired ferroptotic pathway is involved in many types of cancer, including PDAC. On the one hand, the chronic inflammation caused by ferroptotic damage contributes to the formation of K-Ras-driven PDAC. On the other hand, drug-induced ferroptosis is an emerging strategy to suppress tumor growth in established PDAC. In this mini-review, we outline the core process of ferroptosis, discuss the regulatory mechanism of ferroptosis in PDAC, and highlight some of the challenges of targeting ferroptosis in PDAC therapy.

Agile Methodology and War Strategies

The history of humankind offers lots of remarkable ideas and innovations in strategy and tactics. There is no area where people have shown more inventiveness than defending themselves or attacking and conquering others. On the other hand, the Agile methodology emerged from software development, where it tried to provide support for the successful organization of delivery projects, that have to fight and conquer the complexity. This article evidences similarities between the Agile methodology and attacking and war strategies, making extended references to one of the most renowned military treaties: Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Making inter-disciplinary analogies, comparing and contrasting the concepts from different disciplines are at the core of this article. We'll investigate what things as initial estimations, attack by stratagem, tactical dispositions, energy, weak points, and strong points, maneuvering, variation in tactics, the army on the march, terrain, arriving on unknown ground, concrete situations on the ground, the use of spies, or what the attack by fire may mean in software development. We'll analyze how these war strategy concepts transpose to Agile concepts like adding business value, getting to the business goals, managing complexity, conducting the work the incremental and non-incremental way.

A Critical Analysis of Internal and External Environment: Case Study of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is a famous information technology firm in the global market. The organization has a wide range of products which consists of MacBook, iPhones, Apple TV, iPad and Apple watch. In this era of globalization with technologies, Apple’s users seek for unique performance products that are aesthetically pleasing as well as emphasize good product qualities. In 1976, Apple was established by Steve Jobs and his partners to develop modern technology products. In order to assess Apple’s strategic capabilities, Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas is applied in this case study. There is several competitive analysis tools are written in this article including Internal Factor and External Factor Evaluation matrix, SWOT and SPACE Matrix, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) analysis as well as Internal-external (IE) analysis to evaluate Apple’s competitive intelligence. Throughout the report, every component in the evaluation model reflects the direction of how Apple overcomes the hurdles and how Apple could benefit by expanding their business in the international market. Lastly, Sun Zi’s Art of War is also being studied and included into business strategies of Apple. Keywords: Apple, Osterwalder, Factor Evaluation Matrix, SWOT, SPACE Matrix, Internal-external Analysis, Sun Zi’s Art of War

Petr Rychkov’s Map of Iske (Inner or Old) Kazan of 4 July 1770

Research objectives: On the basis of a recently discovered map – found in the manuscript library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg – of Iske Kazan’s fortification made by P.N. Rychkov in 1770, this article investigates the manner in which its population protected itself against its foes in the restless era that witnessed the dissolution of the Golden Horde and the transition to the Kazan khanate. It additionally asks why in fact this map was composed. Research materials: Combining the evidence of Rychkov’s map with archaeological findings and in dialogue with the relevant historiography, the authors place the map in its historical context and ponder its significance, and suggest why this map was made in 1770. Results and novelty of the research: It appears that Iske Kazan’s inhabitants turned to a unique manner to defend themselves against their enemies, using a wall-moat-wall design to prevent any storming by mounted troops, different from what has been hitherto thought about the ruins of this defensive structure. This manner of defending seems eminently well suited to the restless conditions prevailing in the Volga-Kama region around 1400 and the art of war as practiced in this region. The article additionally suggests why this map was made in 1770, linking it to the general desire of the Romanov government to discover much more precisely how its subjects lived their lives. This impetus was born from the introduction of the Western-European scientific mindset in Peter I’s reign, which paid much closer heed to a realistic understanding of nature and culture. The Russian Academy of Sciences mounted from the 1720s onward a host of scientific expeditions, which almost resemble voyages of discovery, to map the tsarist empire, of which Rychkov’s travels formed a part. The article hints at the possibility that such fact-finding missions gradually allowed the central government in St. Petersburg to increase its power over its subject peoples.

A MODERN ACHIEVEMENT ON THE BASIS OF EASTERN MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY: 30 AUGUST VICTORY

The concepts of management and leadership are phenomena that have existed since the existence of humanity. Both of these concepts have undergone significant evolutions over the centuries in which humanity has developed. The concept of management, which is one of the important descriptors of the organizational field, has emerged in different ways in different environments. Different styles of management have led to the emergence of different leadership behaviors in organizational environments. One of the most important reasons for the formation of different leadership styles in different organizational environments is cultural values. In societies with different cultural value patterns, the experiences of socio-economic life also differ. Here, the unique aspects of social values shape many basic elements. The management and leadership styles of the society or the organizational structures within the social structure are one of these basic elements. As the management and leadership styles of the countries change, the management and leadership styles of the organizations also differ. One of the most important distinctions in this regard is made with the distinction between east-west culture in the literature. The eastern management culture and leadership styles differ from the western approaches. This difference is also reflected in the understanding of management and leadership in social phenomena. As a matter of fact, the ancient Turkish and Eastern philosophers, who described the times spent with wars and struggles on the subject, touched on important points. Philosophers have made references to the foundations of management philosophy and leadership with their predictions about management in many works from Kutadgu Bilig to the works of Hsun Tzu examining the art of war. Similarly, rooted victories in the Turkish administrative culture, in which the eastern management philosophy was used, were won in the wars and the struggle for independence. One of the most important of these victories is the 30August Victory. It is possible to say that in this victory, which represents an important turning point for the Turks to gain their independence, many successful management behaviors, which the eastern philosophers have made their subject, were also used. In this sense, in this study, it is tried to examine the importance of the 30 August Victory, which is an important representation of the struggle for existence of a country that takes Western values as an example, as well as the eastern-based administrative behaviors.

The influence of Xenophon’s didactic writings on the military leadership practice of Alexander the Great

The article examines the influence of Xenophon’s didactic works on the military activities of Alexander the Great. It is re-vealed that messages from ancient sources containing direct in-dications of the fact that Alexander was familiar with Xeno-phon’s works are either fundamentally unreliable or subject to different interpretations. Nevertheless, a comparison of the rec-ommendations proposed in “Kyropedia” and other Athenian au-thor’s writings the with Alexander’s practical activities reveals obvious similarities in their views on training military personnel, organizing competitions in military skill, providing soldiers with richly decorated weapons, and caring for the sick and wounded. A set of coincidences is associated with the political and admin-istrative activities of Alexander, who, like Cyrus the Elder in Xenophon’s writings, demonstratively showed mercy towards the vanquished, attracted representatives of the local elite to the ser-vice, wore clothes traditional for a conquered country. A large number of similarities, good education of Alexander and the popularity of Xenophon’s writings in the second half of the 4th century BCE allow us to conclude that the Macedonian king was familiar with the works of the Athenian author. However, the components of Xenophon's didactic legacy associated with the methods of warfare do not correlate well with Alexander's mili-tary leadership practice. The fundamental differences are re-vealed in the armament of the cavalry and their tactics, the depth of the infantry formation, the role of army branches on the battle-field. They were caused by a significant breakthrough in the art of war that took place in Macedonia during the time of Philip II. This breakthrough also led to the emergence of new tactics that provided for crushing the enemy not with a frontal attack of heavy infantry, but through the combined use of various types of troops. Alexander as a military leader was raised under the con-ditions of a new, more developed military art. Thus, the over-whelming majority of Xenophon's recommendations, which de-scribed the cavalry as a purely auxiliary branch of the army and considered the classical hoplite phalanx a decisive force in battle, were clearly irrelevant for him and therefore ignored.