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This article deals with the effect of MgO nanoparticles (NPs) on the ac breakdown voltage, partial discharge (PD) activity, and electrostatic charging tendency (ECT) of natural ester (NE, Midel 1204). Five concentrations of NPs ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 g/L are tested; the average size of NPs is 20 nm. A new method for preparing nanofluids (NFs) is presented; this includes a combination of high-shear (HS) mixing and ultrasonication. The findings show that the inclusion of MgO NPs in NE leads to an enhancement in ac BDV across all concentrations except at 0.5 g/L. The most significant improvement is observed at a concentration of 0.2 g/L, with an increase of 21.85% compared to NE. This optimal concentration enables one to reduce effectively the average charge, peak charge, and number of PDs per second of PD events while maintaining a lower level of ECT.

The concept of purely penal law, as developed by the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez in the early seventeenth century, argues that promulgated law is neither morally binding upon the citizen nor conceived as a moral requirement by legislators. Rather, the law is strictly punitive in its intent and function. The theory, which grants the individual the right to determine law’s rational and moral significance, touched off a heated debate that has been renewed at various times in history yet has not resurfaced since the mid-twentieth century. This article argues for the veracity and legitimacy of the concept in light of contemporary legal and penal dynamics. It also argues that the Catholic Church should take notice of its insights in its understanding of the relationship between church and state.

In 2020, presidential elections were due to be conducted in Poland. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided not to introduce a state of natural disaster and, as a consequence, postpone the elections but to execute them on the grounds of episodicact. On the basis of the first episodic law, from 6 April 2020, the elections did not take place because they were completely unprepared. This law had many flaws. The elections were to be purely postal, so voters had no possibility of choosing which method to use to vote. The law’s entry into force on the eve of the election meant that voters were disoriented until the last minute and did not know how they could vote, whether they would receive election packages, where they would have to deliver return envelopes with a ballot paper and were not sure whether their vote would be counted. The second episodic law, of 2 June 2020, did not contain so many flaws, and voters in the country could decide for themselves which method to use. However, voting was very difficult abroad, and in 20 countries was not carried out at all. There were also only three days to submit election objections. However, above all, the lack of impartiality in the public media, especially public television, which supported the candidate promoted by the ruling majority, limited voters’ right to access truth-based information on public matters, candidates and their political programmes. These circumstances prompt us to consider whether the presidential elections in Poland in 2020 met the constitutional requirement of universality, equality and secrecy, and whether they were reliable and fair. Do they therefore serve to legitimize the office of the president of the Republic of Poland?

ABSTRACTCyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are systems that link cyberspace with the physical world by means of a network of interrelated elements (sensors and actuators) and computational engines. These different assets make it difficult to design properly and effectively with them all. Additionally, the designing of CPS requires multi-disciplinary project teams and the investigation of all activities which CPS should perform. The designers have to share their knowledge, experience and identify the assets and activities which are necessary for proper CPS functioning. The proper identification process of CPS activities allows improvement of the design process through more precise and problem-activity-dedicated knowledge and activity-design models management. This process can also be supported by dedicated software tools which enable easy access to the acquired and accumulated knowledge.

Recommendations for antibiotic therapy for community acquired pneumonia recently changed from 10-day to 5-day duration. This quality improvement project aimed to change the practice of providers in an urban, free-standing children's hospital paediatric emergency department in the United States to match the updated recommendations. Improvement interventions included educational outreach, data sharing, on-site reminders, and audit-and-feedback. The project included analysis of ED return visits to monitor possible treatment failure. Interventions successfully increased 5-day antibiotic prescription rate from 3% to 85% within 12 months.

The PROUD-PV and CONTINUATION-PV trials aimed to compare the novel monopegylated interferon ropeginterferon alfa-2b with hydroxyurea, the standard therapy for patients with polycythaemia vera, over 3 years of treatment.

Dermal fibroblasts are commonly used as donors of genetic material for somatic cell nuclear transfer in mammals. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a cytokine that regulates proliferation and differentiation of different cell types. The study was aimed at optimizing the cell culture protocol for cat dermal fibroblasts by assessing the influence of culture media and different doses of bFGF on proliferation of fibroblasts and their viability in terms of cell banking and somatic cloning of felids. In Experiment I, skin biopsies of domestic cats were cultured in DMEM (D) and/or DMEM/F12 (F), both supplemented with 5 ng bFGF/ml (D-5, F-5, respectively). After the primary culture reached ~80% of confluency, the cells were passaged (3–4 times) and cultured in media with (D-5, F-5) or without (D-0, F-0) bFGF. To determine the optimal doses of bFGF, in Experiment II, secondary fibroblasts were cultured in DMEM with 0 (D-0), 2.5 (D-2.5), 5 (D-5) or 10 (D-10) ng bFGF/ml. The results showed that in D-5 the cells proliferated faster than in D-0, F-5 and F-0. Due to their poor proliferation, passages IV were not performed for cells cultured in F-0. In experiment II, a dose-dependent effect of bFGF on proliferation of cat dermal fibroblasts was found. In D-5 and D-10, the cells exhibited higher (P<0.05) proliferation compared with D-0. In D-2.5 the cells showed a tendency to proliferate slower than in D-5 and D-10 and at the same faster than in D-0. In conclusion. DMEM supplemented with bFGF provides better proliferation of domestic cat dermal fibroblasts culture than DMEM/F12. Supplementation of culture medium with bFGF has a beneficial effect on cat dermal fibroblast proliferation and could be recommended for addition to culture media.

New drugs introduced in recent years to the therapy of multiple myeloma patients resulted in better responses and prolongation of overall survival. While therapeutic regimens based on bortezomib and thalidomide are recommended to most patients in first line therapy, lenalidomide represents the cornerstone for treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. Most patients profit from prolonged treatment composed of consolidation and maintenance treatment till progression. Besides the concept of longer treatment, it is recommended to start therapy in some patients earlier, taking into consideration biomarkers of active disease. In this article, we described therapeutic recommendation also for Waldenström macroglobulinemia and other plasmacytic dyscrasias.

In order to enable 3D sequential CoolCubeTM integration, low temperature epitaxy of raised sources and drains below 500degC is required. However, bad surface preparation and degradation of the epitaxial layer quality are then issues that need to be addressed. In this work, we first study different combinations of thermal, wet and dry surface preparation in order to find an optimum sequence. Then, we present for the first time the integration of SiGe:B raised sources and drains grown at 500degC in p-type FDSOI MOSFETs.

Recombinant VIII (rVIII)-SingleChain is a novel B-domain–truncated recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII), comprised of covalently bonded factor VIII (FVIII) heavy and light chains. It was designed to have a higher binding affinity for von Willebrand factor (VWF). This phase 1/3 study investigated the efficacy and safety of rVIII-SingleChain in the treatment of bleeding episodes, routine prophylaxis, and surgical prophylaxis. Participants were ≥12 years of age, with severe hemophilia A (endogenous FVIII <1%). The participants were allocated by the investigator to receive rVIII-SingleChain in either an on-demand or prophylaxis regimen. Of the 175 patients meeting study eligibility criteria, 173 were treated with rVIII-SingleChain, prophylactically (N = 146) or on-demand (N = 27). The total cumulative exposure was 14 306 exposure days (EDs), with 120 participants reaching ≥50 EDs and 52 participants having ≥100 EDs. Hemostatic efficacy was rated by the investigator as excellent or good in 93.8% of the 835 bleeds treated and assessed. Across all prophylaxis regimens, the median annualized spontaneous bleeding rate was 0.00 (Q1, Q3: 0.0, 2.4) and the median overall annualized bleeding rate (ABR) was 1.14 (Q1, Q3: 0.0, 4.2). Surgical hemostasis was rated as excellent/good in 100% of major surgeries by the investigator. No participant developed FVIII inhibitors. In conclusion, rVIII-SingleChain is a novel rFVIII molecule showing excellent hemostatic efficacy in surgery and in the control of bleeding events, low ABR in patients on prophylaxis, and a favorable safety profile in this large clinical study. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01486927.

Stacked-NW FETs pave the way for significant increase in device effective width over FinFET and FDSOI. An increase of performance and/or a decrease of device footprint is expected by using thin and wide NW channels also known as nanosheets or nanoplates. This paper points out Gate Last integration issues of stacked-NWs. Two solutions labeled as NW First and NW Last are presented featuring internal spacer formation. A demonstration of self-aligned gate and spacers is proposed, involving Hydrogen Silsesquioxane (HSQ) lithography through silicon channels.

New drugs introduced in recent years for the therapy of multiple myeloma patients resulted in better responses and prolongation of overall survival. While therapeutic regimens based on bortezomib and thalidomide are recommended to most patients in first-line therapy, lenalidomide represents a cornerstone for treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. Most patients profit from prolonged treatment composed of consolidation and maintenance or treatment till progression. Beside concept of longer treatment, it is recommended to start therapy in some patients earlier, taking into consideration biomarkers of active disease. In this article, we described also therapeutic recommendation for Waldenström macroglobulinemia and other plasmocytic dyscrasias.

This article proposes the concept of “nationalness” to account for the persistent circulation of national labels as a tool of distinction. We argue that the concept expands on the traditional conception of nation as country of origin to include cultural notions of sensuous and aesthetic qualities that are semiotically tied to national “essence.” Nationalness connects products to nations not only through indexicality but also iconicity. It is made possible through “rhematization,” the process of appropriating signs whose interpretants are taken to be iconic. Talk of nationalness enables consumers to make sense of national labels in today’s world where the both ends of capitalism—manufacturing and consumption—are thoroughly global. Instead of confining our analytical focus to top-down national branding projects, we examine how consumers invoke the idea of a nation to describe their uses of industrial products. Our case study is the popular concept of “British sound” circulated among audiophiles. Drawing on online discussions of an internet community, the article shows that audiophiles refer to Britishness as a key mechanism to distinguish their consumption experiences from mass market consumption. We further show how the label “British sound” can be used to describe the experiences of consumer products that are no longer manufactured in Britain.

Valsartan (VAL) is an antihypertensive drug marketed in an amorphous form. Amorphous materials can have different physicochemical properties depending on preparation method, thermal history, etc., but the nature of such materials is difficult to study by diffraction techniques. This study characterizes two different amorphous forms of valsartan (AR and AM) using solid-state NMR (SSNMR) as a primary investigation tool, supported by solution-state NMR, FT-IR, TMDSC, and dissolution tests. The two forms are found to be clearly distinct, with a significantly higher level of structural arrangement in the AR form, as observed in 13C, 15N, and 1H SSNMR. 13C and 15N NMR indicates that the fully amorphous material (AM) contains an approximately equal ratio of cis–transconformers about the amide bond, whereas the AR form exists mainly as one conformer, with minor conformational “defects”. 1H ultrafast MAS NMR shows significant differences in the hydrogen bonding involving the tetrazole and acid hydrogens between the two materials, while 15N NMR shows that both forms exist as a 1,2,3,4-tetrazole tautomer. NMR relaxation times show subtle differences in local and bulk molecular mobility, which can be connected with the glass transition, the stability of the glassy material, and its response to aging. Counterintuitively the fully amorphous material is found to have a significantly lower dissolution rate than the apparently more ordered AR material.

In multiple myeloma extramedullary involvement occurs in 13% of patients. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is extremely rare and comprises 1% of cases. Review of literature shows only limited data on this subject and consists mostly of few case reports. Scarce knowledge about CNS involvement in the course of multiple myeloma makes its diagnosis and treatment very difficult and challenging. The authors describe a clinical case which illustrates the problem from a clinician point of view. Furthermore, we analyzed the available data from literature and summarized the current state of knowledge on diagnosis, potential prognostic factors, treatment and prognosis in CNS myeloma involvement.

Patch testing with standard trays of commercially available allergens is the current practice for investigating suspected cases of isocyanate-induced allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). In some facilities, these standard trays are further supplemented with custom preparations of isocyanate-containing materials.

•Reclaimed concrete is suitable for making layers of MCE mixtures.•The asphalt emulsion content and cement content have significant influence on strength parameters of MCE mixtures.•New tests methods and criteria were suggested to the design process of MCE mixtures with reclaimed concrete.•New criteria for MCE mixtures referring to the complex modulus level and to the value of fatigue strain ε6were established.