The effect of Corvitin on the content of bile acids in the liver of rats under conditions of chronic social stress

The article looks at recent research dealing with changes in the bile acid composition of the bile of outbred male rats under chronic social stress (social defeat in daily male confrontations, 14 days) when administered Corvitin (1 mg/kg, intragastrically, 7 days). Chronic social stress was created by daily agonistic interactions between animals. The main fractions of conjugated bile acids – taurocholic, taurohenodeoxycholic and taurodeoxycholic, glycocholic, glycochenodeoxycholic and glycodeoxycholic and free ones – cholic, chenodeoxycholic and deoxycholic were determined by the method of thin layer chromatography of bile. The conjugation index (ratio of the sum of conjugated cholates to the sum of free ones) and hydroxylation (ratio of the sum of trihydroxycholanic bile acids to the sum of dihydroxycholanic ones) of bile acids were calculated. The research showed that in the conditions of experimental social stress, Corvitin enhances the conjugation of bile acids with taurine and glycine, i.e. stimulates detoxification processes in hepatocytes. In the conditions of chronic social stress in male rats, the processes that had provided the flow of glycoconjugates of bile acids from hepatocytes to the bile ducts were further suppressed. The concentrations of glycocholic acid and glycochenodeoxycholic and glycodeoxycholic acids in the bile of male intruders were lower than the control values. But, as seen in the experiment, the use of Corvitin normalized these indicators. The experiment showed that in the conditions of chronic social stress, the content of cholic acid in the bile of intruder rats decreased, and when correcting the pathological condition using Corvitin, it reached the control values. The use of Corvitin simultaneously with the simulation of experimental social stress normalized the biliary secretory function of the liver, indicating the high potential of using Corvitin as a corrective factor in chronic social stress. Correction of stress-induced pathologies of liver bile-secretory function by Corvitin requires further thorough experimental studies.

Numerical Approximation of Integrals in Presence of Nearby Singularities

The quadrature formulas meant for the numerical approximation of integrals of one-dimensional real variables need to be modified for the sake of accuracy when a singularity is present in the proximity of the path of integration. The required corrective factor has been constructed and some existing quadrature rule has been applied with the corrective factor to obtain better accuracy.

Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Positive Legislator

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on the basis of Article VI of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and an institutional guarantor of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms established by this Constitution and instruments of Annex I to the Constitution. Assuming that it is not part of the legislative, executive and regular judicial power (as positioned by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina), the Constitutional Court acts as a separate, autonomous and independent authority and a corrective factor for the other three segments of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, the Constitutional Court, as one of the key state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributes to the promotion of democracy, rule of law and the affirmation of the rule of law, especially in the first years after its constitution when it was necessary to protect the foundations of a democratic state and resolve a number of questions that have in some ways remained vague in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decisions of the Constitution are final and binding. In the end, the Constitutional Court has to seek and find out the ways for implementation of its decisions. If the legislator is not able to do that, the role of the guardian of the Constitution imposes on the Constitutional Court, even in the unpopular (realistically, rarely used) role of a positive legislator, to bring the procedure before the court to an end - by proclaiming a law on a temporary basis. The paper explains the concept of judicial activism, its limitations and self-limitations. Then, it points out some of the most impressive forms of its realization in the case-law of the Constitutional Court, taking into account mutual influences and differences. Special emphasis is placed on the constitutional framework of constitutional court activism of the Constitutional Court, which is also the basis for the interpretation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mediate relation between electrical and thermal conductivity of soil

Thermal conductivity is a key parameter for many soil applications, especially for dimensioning shallow and very shallow geothermal systems based on the possible heat extraction rate and for modelling heat transfer processes around high voltage underground cables. Due to the limited purview of direct thermal conductivity measurements, for an investigation of extensive areas, usually other geophysical methods like electrical resistivity tomography measurements are applied. To derive thermal conductivity of soil from geoelectrical measurements a relation between electrical and thermal conductivity is needed. Until now only few approaches worked on a direct correlation between both conductivities. Due to the difficulties of a direct relation, within this study a modular approach of a mediate correlation between electrical and thermal conductivity was investigated. Therefore, a direct relationship between a corrected electrical conductivity and water content as well as the standard and simple thermal conductivity model of Kersten (Bull of the Univ Minnesota 28:1–227, 1949) was used. To develop this concept soil types of sand, silt loam and clay were investigated where different saturation steps and pressure loads were applied. For each configuration electrical and thermal conductivity as well as water content and bulk density was determined. To refine the results of the calculated water content a corrective factor was applied. Furthermore, bulk density as an inlet parameter of the Kersten equation was also derived based on electrical conductivity. The suggested proceeding enables the determination of thermal conductivity solely based on electrical conductivity without prior soil property information.

The EFSA Health Claim on Olive Oil Polyphenols: Acid Hydrolysis Validation and Total Hydroxytyrosol and Tyrosol Determination in Italian Virgin Olive Oils

The health claims of olive oil represent an important marketing lever in raising the willingness to pay for a product, but world producers of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) do not take advantage of it because there are still obstacles to their use. Among these, one issue is the lack of an official method for determination of all free and linked forms derived from secoiridoidic structures of hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol. In this study, different acidic hydrolytic procedures for analyzing the linked forms were tested. The best method was validated and then applied to more than 100 EVOOs. The content of oleuropein and ligstroside derivatives in EVOOs was indirectly evaluated comparing the amount of phenols before and after hydrolysis. After acidic hydrolysis, a high content of total tyrosol was found in most of the EVOOs. The use of a suitable corrective factor for the evaluation of hydroxytyrosol allows an accurate determination only using pure tyrosol as a standard. Further knowledge on the concentration of total hydroxytyrosol will assist in forecasting the resistance of oils against aging, its antioxidant potential and to better control its quality over time.

CFD-Based Correlation for Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Circular Ducts of Internally Heated Molten Salts

Heat transfer phenomena involving internally heated fluid flows are of particular interest in several industrial applications, in chemical plants as in the nuclear field. This topic is relevant for the development of the Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) since it involves the safety characteristics of the liquid molten salt fuel. In the literature, there is a lack of systematic studies on the heat transfer mechanism and correlations for flows in ducts featuring an internal heat source, apart from some analytical studies performed in Fiorina et al., “Thermal-hydraulics of internally heated molten salts and application to the MSFR”, Journal of physics, Conference series 501 (2014). In this work, the Nusselt number is computed multiplying the traditional Nu for internal flows times a corrective factor to account for the internal heat source. As a main outcome of this work, it is possible to obtain a CFD-based improved estimate of the corrective factor correlation for turbulent flow regime with respect to the work by Fiorina. The numerical CFD analysis is performed with the open source code Open FOAM. Despite its simplicity, the method is general and applicable for any geometrical and thermal situations.

Populism in Bulgaria Between Politicization of Media and Mediatization of Politics

<span style="font-family: BookAntiqua; font-size: 8pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: BookAntiqua; font-size: 8pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: BookAntiqua; font-size: 8pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">Populism as a political position and rhetorical style is nowadays an object of comprehensive research and multi-faceted social discussions. The strong critical attitude of populists towards the status quo, towards what they regard as the chimera of democracy, is generally intertwined with the function of the media as a corrective factor with regard to government authorities. The development of mankind in the present is characterized by transformation trends in technological, economic, and social spheres. These trends impact the political environment as well. The challenges of the economic crisis, as well as the migration processes are strengthening the position of euro-skeptics and revitalize the development of populism. The present text is focused on the developments of political populism in Bulgaria. The political environment in the country is characterized by almost permanent merge of political entities, which gradually escalates the use of populist approaches, styles and rhetoric. Research attention to this political phenomenon is determined by the success of some newly formed populist parties during the new century, gradually winning considerable numbers of seats in the parliament. The use of populist phraseology is evident among all political parties in the country, whether left- or right-oriented. Bulgarian political actors of a populist trend – including political leaders and parties – have mixed, oftentimes changing, characteristics. this populist phraseology is transmitted to audiences mainly through the media. It has to be noted that the dynamics of the pre-election campaigns during the period of democratization since 1989 has been developing alongside demonopolization, liberalization and transformation of the media system. Deregulation of the radio and TV broadcasting sector dragged on, giving way to the development of two mutually bound processes – politicization of the media and mediatization of politics. The paper is structured in three methodologically interconnected parts, presenting: an overview of the process of politicization of the media and mediatization of politics in Bulgaria; an analysis of the political populist trends in the country; a discussion on the connections between populism and the media.</span></span></span><strong></strong>

Reliability database for unmanned aerial vehicles based on morphological analysis

ABSTRACTThe certification process plays an important role in aircraft safety and operation, assuring a high degree of confidence in accomplishing their objectives. Unfortunately, in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), there is not enough information to enable an acceptable decision-making process regarding compliance with certification requirements. To overcome this limitation, a methodology was developed based on morphological analysis principle, taking advantage of the knowledge and behaviour of similar items and affecting them with the necessary corrective factor in accordance to the differences in design, operation and environment. The objective is to establish an initial maintenance program as an important requirement to operate any kind of aircraft. This paper presents the methodology and the obtained results for a UAV under development concerning the establishment of a maintenance program regarding its certification process.

Use of 3D laser scanning for flatness and volumetric analysis of mortar in facades

The ongoing process of industrialization of construction sites encourages the use of new building systems that conflict with traditional techniques associated with the risks of incompatibilities and continuance of control fixed ideas with a significant variability. A practical example is the cement mortar for plastering, commonly used as a corrective factor for facade flatness failures caused by the inaccuracy of the plumb line, rudimentary method used in geometric control of concrete structures and facade of mapping during the execution of the work, favoring the accumulation of errors that reflect the mortar thickness, increasing consumption, losses and defects. Alternatively for improvement, this study analyzed through a case study, the innovative application of 3D laser scanning technology consolidated on the facade of a building to map the surface flatness of the façade and, in an unprecedented manner, to quantify the volume of mortar. The results showed the feasibility of the technique as a solution to accurately identify the critical areas of the facade on the peripheral concrete structure and masonry and calculate, based on the volumes, the financial impact associated with mortar overthicknesses in critical areas compared with the reductions thickness after treatment of these areas.

Doppler Shift Estimation for TD-SCDMA System over Railway Environments

In this paper, a new Doppler shift estimator is proposed for Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) over railway environments. Different from other existing methods, which commonly assume that the fading channel coefficients are available for the Doppler estimators, the proposed estimator is developed based on the signals which contain unknown frequency selective fading channel coefficients, unknown Rice factor and random receiver noise; it contains three steps. The statistical properties of the training symbols which are called near independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) training sequences, i.e., midamble, are first analyzed. Afterwards, by the help of a training sequence, the second-order and fourth-order statistics of the received signals are calculated. Then, by exploiting these statistical results, the Doppler shift estimator is obtained. The proposed estimator employs a smoothing function with corrective factor. By optimizing the corrective factor, an accuracy solution is acquired within the Doppler shift range of possibilities. Simulation results indicate that the proposed estimator is greatly reliable and effective to estimate Doppler shift up to 400 Hz.