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In education the abbreviation STEM covers the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Therefore, STEM education is the study of these STEM subjects through an integrated approach that offers practical and research learning experience. This article reveals how engineering, the „E“ in STEM , can bring together all four subject areas. The best and most engaging way to achieve this unity is through engineering projects that challenge students to design solutions to real problems. The following work presents good examples of engineering projects in the lower secondary stage of primary education based on problem-based learning and project-based learning.

The following work describes Minecraft: Education edition: Education Edition learning platform and its application in the educational process. The main element is gaming that builds teamwork skills, develops students’ creativity and engages them in real-world problems solving. Teachers use Minecraft: Education edition: Education Edition to teach a range of subjects, from history and chemistry to computer science and math, breaking curriculum standards and involving students in extracurricular activities and coding clubs. According to various educational experts, Minecraft: Education edition: Education Edition is one of the best existing digital tools for learning through entertainment. Bulgarian schools are provided by The Ministry of Education and Science with free access to the platform, which makes it an attractive tool that helps students to develop their algorithmic thinking and digital literacy. The article describes the main features of the game and gives specific examples of successful use of Minecraft: Education edition: Education Edition in the lower secondary stage of primary education.

Предметът на труда е приложението на кирпича в България като вид традиционна технология в строителството. В началото на разработката е систематизирана основната информация относно земната архитектура в световен мащаб. Следва същинската част на изследването, в която са изведени характеристиките и качествата на строителството с кирпич в традиционната българска практика, като е създадена една сградостроителна систематизация. В това число са изследвани сградите изградени с кирпич и е съставена класификация според различни класификационни признаци, както и конструктивна и функционална типология. Също така са изследвани стенните конструкции, в чието изграждане е използван кирпич и са дефинирани два вида според конструктивната им структура – скелетни и безскелетни, за които поотделно са систематизирани сградостроителните им характеристики. В хода на изследването се доказва и основната теза на труда, че кирпичът е естествен материал, който е бил масово използван в традиционното българско строителство и може успешно да бъде прилаган в съвременната практика, при изграждането на малоетажни сгради., The subject of the paper is the application of adobe in Bulgaria as a type of traditional technology in construction. The paper begins with a summary of the earth architecture and its applications around the world. It is followed by the core part of the research which derives the features and qualities of the adobe construction in the traditional Bulgarian practice, as a building systematization is created. This includes a research of the buildings built with adobe and a classification according to various classification features, as well as a constructive and functional typology. Further on, wall constructions built with adobe are studied and classified according to their structure as skeletal and non-skeletal, with their respective building characteristics. In the course of the research the main thesis of the work is proved that the adobe is a natural material that has been widely used in traditional Bulgarian construction and can be successfully applied in modern practice in the construction of low-rise buildings.

SummaryMitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in various pathologies, including muscular dystrophies. During muscle regeneration, resident stem cells, also known as muscle satellite cells (MuSCs), undergo myogenic differentiation to form de novo myofibers or fuse to existing syncytia. Leveraging this cell-cell fusion process, we postulated that mitochondria stemming from MuSCs could be transferred to myofibers during muscle regeneration to remodel the mitochondrial network and restore bioenergetic function. Here, we report that dystrophic MuSCs manifest significant mitochondrial dysfunction and fuse with existing dystrophic myofibers to propagate mitochondrial dysfunction during muscle repair. We demonstrate that by transplanting healthy donor MuSCs into dystrophic host muscle, the mitochondrial network (reticulum) and bioenergetic function can be rejuvenated. Conversely, when bioenergetically-compromised donor MuSCs are transplanted, improvements in mitochondrial organization and bioenergetic function were ablated in the dystrophic recipient. Overall, these data reveal a unique role of muscle stem cells as an essential regulator of myofiber mitochondrial homeostasis and a potential therapeutic target against mitochondrial myopathies.

We report a case of bilateral apical lung bullae that collapsed following an episode of community-acquired pneumonia with bilateral air fluid levels. With standard treatment for community-acquired pneumonia, management of a patient that may have qualified for bullectomy, (as in our case) showed complete resolution of all pathology without surgical intervention. Conservative management took precedence in alleviating pathology over surgical intervention.

Statistical copolymer films that consist of two types of monomers, a sticky and a glassy monomer, are investigated. These model systems of pressure-sensitive adhesive films are probed with X-ray reflectivity and mechanical tack measurements. For the first time, composition profiles along the surface normal in the near-surface region are monitored. The influence of the type of monomers being copolymerized, the monomer ratio, and the sample age on the near-surface composition as well as the resulting adhesive performance of the films are analyzed. The copolymers contain ethylhexyl acrylate as the majority component and styrene, maleic acid anhydride, or methylmethacrylate as a minority component. Regardless of the composition, we find a surface enrichment of one component in all samples. In the case of freshly prepared samples, this enrichment is driven by solubility due to the preparation based on solution casting. The minimization of the surface free energy results in an internal reorganization and the co...

Introduction.Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is 1 possible manifestation of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM). Occasionally, patients presenting with ILD are mistakenly diagnosed with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), but after multidisciplinary evaluation, their ILD is determined to be because of antisynthetase syndrome (SynS) or myositis spectrum of disease.Methods.We used retrospective analytic methods to identify patients with ILD evaluated at the National Jewish Health between February 2008 and August 2014 and believed initially to have IIP but ultimately diagnosed with SynS or myositis spectrum of disease.Results.The cohort included 33 patients; most were white women with a mean age at presentation of 55 years. Their pulmonary physiologic impairment was moderate. In 31 cases, the ILD pattern by thoracic high-resolution computed tomography scan was nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), organizing pneumonia (OP), or a combination of the 2. Surgical lung biopsy was performed in 21 patients; NSIP was the most common pattern. Less than one-third of the cohort had positive antinuclear antibodies. Two-thirds had positive SSA. All patients had either myositis-specific or myositis-associated autoantibody. Most had subtle extrathoracic symptoms or signs of SynS; 12 had an elevated serum creatine phosphokinase, but none had clinical evidence of myositis. None met the Peter and Bohan classification criteria for polymyositis/dermatomyositis.Conclusion.Among patients who present with presumed IIP, a multidisciplinary evaluation that includes the integration of clinical evaluations by rheumatologists and pulmonologists, morphologic (both histopathologic and radiographic) data, and serologic features is helpful in the detection of occult SynS or the myositis spectrum of disease.

To describe our experience with rituximab (RTX) as treatment for a diverse spectrum of chronic connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD).Twenty-four subjects with CTD-ILD were included. All had pulmonary function testing before and after their first RTX infusion. Each subject was evaluated in a multidisciplinary autoimmune and ILD outpatient clinic. Data were extracted by retrospective review of complete medical records.Most subjects were middle-aged white women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=15) and a nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) pattern on high-resolution chest computed tomography scans (n=17). Sixteen subjects received a corticosteroid-sparing agent at the time of RTX initiation; mostly mycophenolate mofetil (n=8). RTX administration was not associated with corticosteroid-sparing effects: 13 subjects were on prednisone at the time of the initial RTX cycle, and 9 remained on prednisone at 6 months after (mean daily dosage 10.2±16.2 mg before vs. 5.6±11.0 mg after, p=0.27). RTX had no appreciable effect on pulmonary physiology; however, individual trajectories for percentage predicted forced vital capacity (FVC%) were highly variable. The underlying CTD (RA vs. non-RA) and ILD pattern did not appear to affect response to RTX. Among 14 subjects who received multiple RTX cycles, FVC% trajectories were variable: FVC% increased in eight and declined in six. Respiratory infections were the most common post-RTX adverse event.In this small, retrospective study of chronic CTD-ILD, RTX was not associated with changes in FVC% or corticosteroid-sparing effects. Controlled, prospective studies are needed to more confidently define the effects of RTX in CTD-ILD.

The initial and advanced stage of copper electrodeposition have been studied under galvanostatic conditions. The effect of different surface active compounds on the nucleation and growth kinetics has been examined. Data were obtained for the nucleation and growth parameters characterizing the electrochemical deposition of copper ions.

The effect of surface active agents on the thermodynamics and kinetics of electrochemical nucleation has been analysed on the basis of the classical and atomistic theories of phase formation. The theoretical predictions were compared with experimental results obtained by studying the nucleation kinetics of mercury on platinum in both the absence and the presence of potassium nitrate, which proved to be a surface active agent with respect to the bulk mercury phase. The overpotential dependence of the stationary nucleation rate was measured at different potassium nitrate concentrations. It was shown that surface active agents which change the properties of the new bulk phase may not significantly affect the state of small clusters during the process of nucleus formation.

We present a possibility of tailoring the near-surface composition profiles of pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) films by an exposure to atmospheres of different relative humidities (RHs). The statistical copolymer P(EHA-stat-20MMA) with a majority of ethylhexylacrylate (EHA) and a minority of methylmethacrylate (MMA), being cast from a toluene based solution, is chosen as a model system. The near-surface composition profile is probed with X-ray reflectivity. All probed samples show an enrichment of PMMA at the sample surface; however, the near-surface PMMA content strongly increases with increasing RH. The influence of the RH on the composition profile is present down to a depth of 50 nm. Therefore the surface tensions being derived from contact angle measurements do not show any measurable humidity dependence. In contrast, in a mechanical tack test with a smooth punch surface, a strong influence is probed. This observation can be explained by considering the integrated PMMA content over an appropriate near-surface region and the resulting impact on the cavitation process.

Nine depressive patients were examined before bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), immediately after ECT, and 2 days later with saccadic, pursuit tracking, and Hallpike caloric vestibular tests. Before ECT, all tests showed normal results. Immediately after ECT, the saccadic test displayed dysmetria of the fast eye movements in six of nine patients. The pursuit tracking test showed decreased gain of the slow eye movements with compensatory saccades in seven of nine patients. These findings were for both directions in the horizontal plane. In the caloric vestibular test, the changes were not significant. Two days after ECT, the eye coordination and vestibular testing showed normal function. We conclude that the eye coordination and vestibular function disturbances induced by ECT are transient.