The Creative Services Sector in Polish Cities

The creative services sector plays an important and constantly growing role in the modern economy. This publication presents the results of extensive research on the functioning of the creative sector in Polish cities, conducted on a representative sample of 287 cities located throughout Poland. The sample was good in such a way as to maintain the structure by province. The survey included questions rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The aim of the research was to study the functioning of the creative sector in Polish cities and to determine whether the active involvement of public administration in its development has a positive impact on this sector. The research was carried out on the example of a medium-sized European country, which is Poland. The original contribution of the authors of the publication is to demonstrate, on a large research sample, the existence of a positive impact of the municipal office’s activities on the creative sector for example using special funds to boost creativity sector in the city, and to ascertain the existence of a linear relationship between the city size and the level of the creative sector functioning in it.

The production of social science research in Nigeria: status and systemic determinants

Nigeria has a very large research system, with nearly 200 universities that employed more than 60,000 academic staff at the end of 2019. The country is also one of Africa’s largest producers of scientific research across all disciplines, surpassed only by South Africa and Egypt. In the social sciences, in particular, Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest producer of published research, after South Africa. However, the country’s social science research (SSR) production does not match the size of its SSR system. Using mixed methods, we come up with two important reasons for this: (i) research inputs are low, mainly because research is poorly funded and researchers devote too little time to research as a result of poor organisational climate, and (ii) the research support system is weak. No single institution currently has a clear mandate to centrally coordinate SSR in Nigeria. Consequently, research efforts are often duplicated and the limited research resources are spread too thin. Moreover, logistical support for research is missing or inefficient in most organisations. Therefore, improving research productivity in the country would require much stronger research coordination and wide-ranging improvements in the research climate.

The Madman and Psychotherapy in the Neoliberal Academy: A Chinese Doctoral Student's Experience in the United States

This self-reflective paper examines my experience as a Chinese doctoral student while studying in a large research university in America. Through my self-reflection, with Foucault's analysis on power, I hope to shed some light on my experience with the neoliberal academy, which caused much discomfort and created my fragmented identities. Instead of questioning the problematic neoliberal power relations that caused my discomfort in the first place, as the madman of higher ed, I was directed to psychotherapy to treat my symptoms, which only caused more confusion. Through my story, I hope to reveal how social context, Neoliberalism in this case, and social discourse of psychotherapy, work hand in hand in higher education space, which have exercised intangible power and created the fragmented identities among many international doctoral students in America. At the end of the paper, I also provided suggestions for graduate students to navigate the neoliberal academy.

Original Teaching Materials and School Activities for Students With an Intellectual Disability

Most of the present authors, the teachers at the School for the Mentally Challenged at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba, have been creating original teaching aids and materials using low-tech and high-tech methods. Original teaching aids created with woodworking and metalworking are usually used for students with an intellectual disability. The original teaching materials with Grid Onput dot code, which could link multimedia, such as audio, movies, web pages, html files, and PowerPoint files were created in collaboration with one of the present authors, Professor Shigeru Ikuta, who organized a large research project, and Gridmark Inc. that developed Grid Onput dot code. The present authors have recently developed a new software program, SmileNote, to help students create presentation slides in expressing their feelings, will, and desires to classmates, teachers, and parents. Basic information on these materials and their use in schools is presented in this chapter.

Multilingual International Students From the Perspective of Faculty

This chapter explores the experiences and perceptions of 14 faculty members toward multilingual international students at River University—a large, research-focused university in Ontario. Data was collected through an online survey and analysed thematically. Responses were categorised under three broad categories with respect to faculty's (1) perceptions of multilingual international students' contributions to River's academic community, (2) challenges surrounding faculty's interactions with multilingual international students, and (3) strategies developed and implemented to support students' academic success. Overall, findings were consistent with those in the current research literature, in which language proficiency was identified by faculty as a major concern, and multilingual international students were considered important for the enhancement of cultural and intellectual diversity, and for the internationalisation of higher education.

THE RUSSIAN OUTPOST OF PURE SCIENCE IN THE GLOBAL OCEAN (TO THE 75-TH ANNIVERSARY OF SIO RAS, 1946–2021)

A brief overview of the main historical events that accompanied the formation and establishment of the Laboratory of Oceanology in the Academy of Sciences in 1941 is given. Then, a few years later, the Laboratory was transformed into the Institute of Oceanology, the director of which was appointed the Minister of the Merchant Fleet of the USSR, Academician P. P. Shirshov. By his initiative in 1949, the Institute became the owner of its first large research vessel "Vityaz". It is shown that the entire history of the institute and its research team was primarily based on the development and generalization of the results of regular sea and ocean expeditions. The article provides general information about the results obtained in the recent past, and their development and deepening in the works of the institute at present.

On the Effectiveness of Vibration-Based Monitoring for Integrity Management of Prestressed Structures

In this paper, the effectiveness of vibration-based tests for the detection of damages for prestressed concrete beams is investigated. Despite large research efforts, discrepant and sometimes contradicting conclusions have been drawn regarding the efficacy and reliability of vibration-based monitoring for prestressed structures. Herein, a contribution to this discussion is provided by tackling the problem from a different perspective. Specifically, the question that this paper intends to answer is: “Do vibration-based tests support decision-makers in integrity management operations for prestressed elements?” The discussion is carried out by comparing the performance of prestressed and ordinary reinforced concrete beams with similar capacities. Both analytical and numerical case studies are considered. Results show that, for prestressed beams, in contrast to reinforced concrete beams, modal parameters can provide information regarding damage only when the structure is close to its ultimate conditions. This makes this information hardly useful for integrity management purposes and the effectiveness of vibration-based tests questionable for this type of structural element.

The sustainable development goals in two sustainable development reserves in central amazon: achievements and challenges

The 2030 Agenda was set in 2015 by the United Nations, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Amazonian riverine people are recognized as traditional communities that have their own culture and use the local natural resources of their territories in an ancestral and traditional way. The Sustainable Development Reserve is a Brazilian protected area category which aims to ensure the protection of the natural environment while allowing the residence and the use of these lands by traditional populations. This article reports and discusses the achievements and challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals in two sustainable development reserves in Central Amazonia. The goals were evaluated in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, due to the large research programs developed in those areas along the past 20 years. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals have a clear connection with the mission of these sustainable development reserves in Central Amazon. Despite the many achievements conquered over the years, there are many challenges yet to overcome; and while striving to achieve the goals from the 2030 Agenda, new challenges will emerge. The current main challenges to reach the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, in Central Amazon, are connecting to the reality of rural areas.

Oligonucleotides carrying nucleoside antimetabolites as potential prodrugs

Background: Nucleoside and nucleobase antimetabolites are an important class of chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer as well as other diseases. Introduction: In order to avoid undesirable side effects, several prodrug strategies have been developed for that purpose. In the present review, we describe a relatively unknown strategy that consists in the use of oligonucleotides modified with nucleoside antimetabolites as prodrugs. Method: The active nucleotides are generated by enzymatic degradation once incorporated into cells. This strategy has attracted large interest and is very active at present due to the continuous developments made on therapeutic oligonucleotides and the recent advances in the field of nanomaterials and nanomedicine. Results: A large research effort was done mainly in the improvement of the antiproliferative properties of nucleoside homopolymers, but recently, chemically modified aptamers, antisense oligonucleotides and/or siRNA carrying antiproliferative nucleotides have demonstrated a great potential due to the synergetic effect of both therapeutic entities. In addition, DNA nanostructures with interesting properties have been built to combine antimetabolites and enhancers of cellular uptake in the same scaffold. Finally, protein nanoparticles functionalized with receptor-binders and antiproliferative oligomers represent a new avenue for a more effective treatment in cancer therapy. Conclusion: It is expected that oligonucleotides carrying nucleoside antimetabolites will be considered as potential drugs in the near future for biomedical applications.