Mobilization and Polarization: American Jewish Politics Following the 2016 Election

The 2016 election sparked fundamental changes in American politics. From the rise of Donald Trump’s popularity to the growth of progressive protests in response to his election and subsequent policies, this paper explores how fundamental changes stemming from the 2016 election directly impacted American Jewish interest groups and political stances, particularly on the issue of Israel. Prior to the 2016 election, the American Jewish community was growing increasingly divided on Israel primarily due to the disparate experiences between young Jews and that of older generations, as well as increasingly right-wing Israeli politics. However, the election of Trump—and his alignment with pro-Israel policies—furthered the already existing divides across American Jewish politics. The result has been increased polarization between American Jewish groups and the mobilization of progressive groups to counteract pro-Israel organizations and Trump’s illiberal policies. This paper aims to illustrate how these changes within American Jewish politics are connected to the 2016 election through three case studies of Jewish Israel-related organizations from across the political spectrum

Koherentse fluktuatsiooni nefelomeetria rakendamine laboratoorses praktikas

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneKäesolev doktoritöö on pühendatud uue optilise meetodi – koherentse fluktuatsiooni nefelomeetria (i.k. coherent fluctuation nephelometry, CFN) – uurimisele ja praktilisele rakendamisele. See on uus lähenemine lahuste hägususe mõõtmiseks, kasutades selleks hajunud valguse mõõtmist. Sel lähenemisel on mitmeid eeliseid võrreldes tavapärase nefelomeetrilise meetodiga, mille tundlikkust piirab hajunud valguse foon, mis pärineb eelkõige küvetilt, aga ka kõikidelt süsteemi teistelt optilistelt osadelt. CFN põhineb hajunud valguse ajalise fluktuatsiooni mõõtmisel, nii et kasulik signaal pärineb ainult liikuvatelt osakestelt küveti vedelikus ning süsteemi mitteliikuvad osad ei mõjuta peaaegu üldse signaali. See võimaldab saavutada paremat tundlikkust, lihtsustada seadme konstruktsiooni ning kasutada ühekordseid madala optilise kvaliteediga küvette. Nefelomeetria on laialdaselt kasutusel teaduslikes ning laboratoorsetes rakendustes (nt meditsiinilaborites) hindamaks proovide hägusust ning monitoorimaks protsesse, mille käigus hägusus muutub. Suure tundlikkuse saavutamine nõuab seadme keerulisemaks muutmist ning kõrge optilise kvaliteediga küvettide kasutamist, mis peaksid olema kliinilistes laborites ühekordseks kasutamiseks mõeldud. CFN meetodi eelised võimaldavad konstrueerida efektiivsemaid seadmeid, millega olulisi probleeme meditsiinilabori praktikas lahendada. Doktoritöö peamine ülesanne oli uurida CFN meetodit, et teha kindlaks optilise tee optimaalsed parameetrid ning arendada välja CFN-analüsaatorite prototüübid. Teine oluline ülesanne oli rakendada CFN meetodit, et lahendada olulisi probleeme kliiniliste laborite praktikas ning valida välja meetodi põhiline rahendusala. CFN meetodit rakendati, et analüüsida erinevaid bioloogilisi proove ning osakeste suspensioone väikese ning suure hägususega. Põhitulemused saavutati immunoglutinatsiooni reaktsioonide ning mikroorganismide kasvukõverate salvestamise korral. CFN meetodi toimimise modelleerimine ning teoreetiline analüüs koos eksperimentaaltöö tulemustega võimaldasid arendada mitmekanalilise mikrobioloogilise analüsaatori eesmärgiga seda rakendada kliinilises mikrobioloogia laboris. Need seadmed hõlmavad endas nii CFN kui turbidimeetria meetodeid, et suurendada seadmete dünaamilist mõõteulatust. Analüsaatorites pole mitte mingeid mehaanilisi süsteeme küvettide positsioneerimiseks; CFN meetodi lihtsus võimaldab iga küveti jaoks kasutada eraldi valgusallikat ning fotodetektoreid, vähendades nii seadme keerulisust ning suurendades töökindlust. CFN prototüüpe kasutati edukalt kliinilistes laborites, et lahendada kaht olulist probleemi: uriiniproovide kiir-skriining (sõelumine) ning antibiootikumide mikroobtundlikkuse kiir-testimine. Kokku tehti rohkem kui 900 mõõtmist, mille võrdluskatsed teiste mikrobioloogiliste meetoditega näitasid head kokkulangevust. Arendatud CFN analüsaatorid näidati olevat efektiivsed kliinilises mikrobioloogia laboris.The thesis is devoted to investigation and application of the new optical method called coherent fluctuating nephelometry (CFN). It is the new approach to turbidity measurement by means of scattered light detection. It has several advantages in comparison with conventional nephelometry method, which has limited sensitivity due to parasitic stray light, scattered by all optical parts of the device, first of all by the optical cuvette. CFN is based on detecting of fluctuations of scattered light, so the signal is formed only by particles moving in the liquid in the cuvette, and light scattered by nonmoving parts of the device almost does not influence the signal. That allows to achieve higher sensitivity, to make the device simpler and to use disposable cuvettes of low optical quality. Nephelometry is widely used in scientific and laboratory applications (e.g. medical laboratory practice) for turbidity estimation and recording the processes causing turbidity changes. High sensitivity achievement requires complicating of the device and using cuvettes of high optical quality, which must be disposable in clinical laboratory practice. The advantages of CFN method allows to construct more efficient devices to solve important problems in medical laboratory practice. The main task was to investigate CFN method to determine optimal parameters of optical path to develop prototypes of CFN-analyzers. The other task was to apply CFN method for solving important problems in clinical laboratory practice and to choose main field of applicability. CFN was applied to analyze different biological samples and particles suspensions of low and high turbidity. The main results were achieved for immunoagglutination reactions and for recording of microorganisms growth curves. The result of modeling and theoretical analysis of CFN operation together with the results of experimental work allowed to develop multichannel microbiological analyzers for application in clinical microbiology laboratory. These devices combine CFN and turbidimetry methods to broad the dynamics range. Analyzers do not use any mechanical system of cuvettes positioning; the simplicity of CFN allows to use own light source and photodetectors for each cuvette, decreasing device complexity and increasing its reliability. CFN prototypes were successfully used in clinical microbiology laboratories to solve two important problems: fast urine screening and rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing. Altogether more than 900 test were done, the comparison with other microbiological methods showed good agreement. The developed CFN-analyzers were shown to be effective in clinical laboratory microbiology

Some medical aspects of persons receiving social assistance to state guaranteed in Chisinau

Şcoala de Management în Sănătate Publică USMF “N. Testemițanu”In all developed countries to have access to oriental education, including health system in general, is considered to be a basic right of human being. Despite of these rights all health systems and dental also has many difficulties in covering all population. In Chisinau both poverty of people and dysfunction of educational medical system generate a lot of social reforms to encourage poor social groups through the accordance of free dental service. În toate ţările civilizate, accesul la serviciul de educaţie oro-dentar, cât şi de sănătate în general, este considerat un drept fundamental al individului. În ciuda acestor drepturi toate sistemele de sănătate, inclusiv cel stomatologic, se confruntă cu dificultăţi în acoperirea întregii populaţii. În municipiul Chişinău, sărăcia populaţiei, ca şi disfuncţie a sistemul educaţional medical generează o serie de reforme de excluziune socială, favorizând grupele social dezavantajate prin acordarea asistenţei medicale stomatologice gratuite

Attitudes and behaviors use dental services

Şcoala de Management în Sănătate Publică USMF “N. Testemiţanu”Both the health of a people and population health education is essential as chronic diseases are spreading around the world. Awareness of the consequences of lifestyle gives the opportunity to improve general health. The level of dental morbidity influences many diseases of internal organs and vice versa the affected state of internal organs influences oral health. Physical and mental health is the main factor determining the productivity of a nation, requiring a pronounced monitoring. Atât sănătatea unui popor, cât şi educaţia pentru sănătate a populaţiei este esenţială pe măsură ce bolile cronice se răspândesc în întreaga lume. Conştientizarea consecinţelor stilului de viaţă oferă oportunitatea îmbunătăţirii sănătăţii generale. Nivelul morbidităţii stomatologice are o influenţă asupra multiplelor maladii ale organelor interne şi invers starea afectată a organelor interne influenţează starea sănătăţii orale. Sănătatea, fizică şi mintală, este factorul principal care determină productivitatea unui popor, necesitând monitorizare accentuată

Model order reduction for left ventricular mechanics via congruency training

Computational models of the cardiovascular system and specifically heart function are currently being investigated as analytic tools to assist medical practice and clinical trials. To achieve clinical utility, models should be able to assimilate the diagnostic multi-modality data available for each patient and generate consistent representations of the underlying cardiovascular physiology. While finite element models of the heart can naturally account for patient-specific anatomies reconstructed from medical images, optimizing the many other parameters driving simulated cardiac functions is challenging due to computational complexity. With the goal of streamlining parameter adaptation, in this paper we present a novel, multifidelity strategy for model order reduction of 3-D finite element models of ventricular mechanics. Our approach is centered around well established findings on the similarity between contraction of an isolated muscle and the whole ventricle. Specifically, we demonstrate that simple linear transformations between sarcomere strain (tension) and ventricular volume (pressure) are sufficient to reproduce global pressure-volume outputs of 3-D finite element models even by a reduced model with just a single myocyte unit. We further develop a procedure for congruency training of a surrogate low-order model from multiscale finite elements, and we construct an example of parameter optimization based on medical images. We discuss how the presented approach might be employed to process large datasets of medical images as well as databases of echocardiographic reports, paving the way towards application of heart mechanics models in the clinical practice. © 2020 Di Achille et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.19-14- 00134Russell Sage Foundation, RSFSK and OS were funded by RSF (http:// www.rscf.ru/en/) as described below. Part of this work was carried out within the framework of the IIF UrB RAS government assignment and was partially supported by the UrFU Competitiveness Enhancement Program (agreement 02. A03.21.0006) as well as the RSF grant (No. 19-14- 00134). The Uran supercomputer at IMM UrB RAS was used for part of the model calculations. IBM provided support in the form of salaries for authors PA, JP, JK and VG but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the "author contributions" section

Quality assurance in the provision of dental services

Rezumat. Asigurarea calităţii este un proces sistematic, orientat spre îmbunătăţirea continuă a performanţelor serviciilor stomatologice, care reprezintă punctul de plecare în procesul de îmbunătăţire a sănătăţii orale pentru întreaga populaţie. Managementul calităţii, prin mecanizmele de organizare, vizează îmbunătăţirea continuă a serviciilor de sănătate, ţinând cont de resursele disponibile și utilizarea eficientă a acestora.Summary. Quality assurance is a systematic process aimed at continuous improvement of dental care performance, which is the starting point in improving oral health for the entire population. Quality management through the mechanisms of the organization is imed at continuous improvement of health services, given the available resources and their efficient use

Integration of AI and mechanistic modeling in generative adversarial networks for stochastic inverse problems

The problem of finding distributions of input parameters for deterministic mechanistic models to match distributions of model outputs to stochastic observations, i.e., the "Stochastic Inverse Problem" (SIP), encompasses a range of common tasks across a variety of scientific disciplines. Here, we demonstrate that SIP could be reformulated as a constrained optimization problem and adapted for applications in intervention studies to simultaneously infer model input parameters for two sets of observations, under control conditions and under an intervention. In the constrained optimization problem, the solution of SIP is enforced to accommodate the prior knowledge on the model input parameters and to produce outputs consistent with given observations by minimizing the divergence between the inferred distribution of input parameters and the prior. Unlike in standard SIP, the prior incorporates not only knowledge about model input parameters for objects in each set, but also information on the joint distribution or the deterministic map between the model input parameters in two sets of observations. To solve standard and intervention SIP, we employed conditional generative adversarial networks (GANs) and designed novel GANs that incorporate multiple generators and discriminators and have structures that reflect the underlying constrained optimization problems. This reformulation allows us to build computationally scalable solutions to tackle complex model input parameter inference scenarios, which appear routinely in physics, biophysics, economics and other areas, and which currently could not be handled with existing methods

The set of activities directed to ensure the population outpatient quality dental services

Rezumat. Una din problemele fundamentale în domeniul stomatologiei la etapa actuală este implementarea unui sistem de organizare a serviciilor în condiţii de interese politice și economice cu mai multe puncte de vedere și discuţii. În acest context discuţiile de regulă sunt orientate spre crearea unei strategii bazată pe analiza posibilităţilor existente, preveziunea schimbărilor și lichidarea barierilor în activitatea instituţiilor stomatologice de ambulator. Se confirmă faptul că pentru stabilirea și realizarea obiectivelor instituţiei stomatologice medicul este responsabil pentru performanţele serviciilor acordate populaţiei bazate pe cunoștinţe și competenţe manageriale, cît și pentru succesul activităţilor care asigură tuturor pacienţilor acces la asistenţa stomatologică de calitate.Summary. At the present moment, one of the fundamental problems in the field of dentistry, is the implementation of a system of service organization in the terms of political and economical interest, with more points of view and discussions. Within this context, the debates have usually been oriented towards originating a strategy based on the analysis of the existing possibilities, the forecast of changes and the abolishment of barriers in the activity of ambulatory dentist care institutions. The fact is confirmed that in order to establish and achieve the purposes of the dental care institutions, the dentist is responsible for the performances of the medical services granted to the population based on managerial knowledge and competence, as well as for assuring the success of the activities that give access to all the patients to qualitative dental care assistance