Organisational Reporting in the EU on Sustainability

Measures of an organisation’s performance concerning risks, opportunities, and stated strategies are part of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or sustainability reporting, including qualitative assessments and quantitative measurements. The environmental component (E) deals with possibilities and risks associated with climate, natural resource shortages, pollution, waste, and other environmental variables. Information on the organisation’s values and business concepts is called the social component (S), while information about its corporate governance is called the governance component (G). Organisational sustainability, often known as non-financial reporting, has grown in importance and has been required in the EU since 2014. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), anticipated to go into implementation in 2024, will be required for most European organisations

Simulation of graphic cursor movement by motor movement imagery

The goal of this thesis was to create a system which moves a cursor on a computer monitor in four directions, based on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. The EEG recordings were recorded while imagining of motor activities. This thesis documents three different protocols for processing EEG records and training a neural network. The purpose of the first protocol is to search for simple relations between amplitude spectra of μ and β brainwaves and imaginary motor activities of opening and closing individual fists. Using the amplitude spectra of μ and β, the neural network achieved 52% accuracy. In the second protocol only the average of amplitude spectra of μ and β was used. Additionally the training set was optimized, resulting in 80% accuracy. The final solution used two neural networks, first one being identical to the one in second protocol and the second one being used to classify imaginary motor activities of opening and closing both fists individually, achieving 69% accuracy

Simulation of graphic cursor movement by motor movement imagery

The goal of this thesis was to create a system which moves a cursor on a computer monitor in four directions, based on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. The EEG recordings were recorded while imagining of motor activities. This thesis documents three different protocols for processing EEG records and training a neural network. The purpose of the first protocol is to search for simple relations between amplitude spectra of μ and β brainwaves and imaginary motor activities of opening and closing individual fists. Using the amplitude spectra of μ and β, the neural network achieved 52% accuracy. In the second protocol only the average of amplitude spectra of μ and β was used. Additionally the training set was optimized, resulting in 80% accuracy. The final solution used two neural networks, first one being identical to the one in second protocol and the second one being used to classify imaginary motor activities of opening and closing both fists individually, achieving 69% accuracy

Adjuvant TNF-a therapy to electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin in murine sarcoma exerts synergistic antitumor effectiveness

Background. Electrochemotherapy is a tumour ablation modality, based on electroporation of the cell membrane, allowing non-permeant anticancer drugs to enter the cell, thus augmenting their cytotoxicity by orders of magnitude. In preclinical studies, bleomycin and cisplatin proved to be the most suitable for clinical use. Intravenous administration of cisplatin for electrochemotherapy is still not widely accepted in the clinics, presumably due to its lower antitumor effectiveness, but adjuvant therapy by immunomodulatory or vascular-targeting agents could provide a way for its potentiation. Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore the possibility of adjuvant tumour necrosis factor % (TNF-%) therapy to potentiate antitumor effectiveness of electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin administration in murine sarcoma. Materials and methods. In vivo study was designed to evaluate the effect of TNF-% applied before or after the electrochemotherapy and to evaluate the effect of adjuvant TNF-% on electrochemotherapy with different cisplatin doses. Results. A synergistic interaction between TNF-% and electrochemotherapy was observed. Administration of TNF-% before the electrochemotherapy resulted in longer tumour growth delay and increased tumour curability, and was significantly more effective than TNF-% administration after the electrochemotherapy. Tumour analysis revealed increased platinum content in tumours, TNF-% induced blood vessel damage and increased tumour necrosis after combination of TNF-% and electrochemotherapy, indicating an anti-vascular action of TNF-%. In addition, immunomodulatory effect might have contributed to curability rate of the tumours. Conclusion. Adjuvant intratumoural TNF-% therapy synergistically contributes to electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin administration. Due to its potentiation at all doses of cisplatin, the combined treatment is predicted to be effective also in tumours, where the drug concentration is suboptimal or in bigger tumours, where electrochemotherapy with intravenous cisplatin is not expected to be sufficiently effective

Human amniotic membrane inhibits migration and invasion of muscle-invasive bladder cancer urothelial cells by downregulating the FAK/PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway

Bladder cancer is the 10th most commonly diagnosed cancer with the highest lifetime treatment costs. The human amniotic membrane (hAM) is the innermost foetal membrane that possesses a wide range of biological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticancer properties. Despite the growing number of studies, the mechanisms associated with the anticancer effects of human amniotic membrane (hAM) are poorly understood. Here, we reported that hAM preparations (homogenate and extract) inhibited the expression of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition markers N-cadherin and MMP-2 in bladder cancer urothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner, while increasing the secretion of TIMP-2. Moreover, hAM homogenate exerted its antimigratory effect by downregulating the expression of FAK and proteins involved in actin cytoskeleton reorganisation, such as cortactin and small RhoGTPases. In muscle-invasive cancer urothelial cells, hAM homogenate downregulated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway, the key cascade involved in promoting bladder cancer. By using normal, non-invasive papilloma and muscle-invasive cancer urothelial models, new perspectives on the anticancer effects of hAM have emerged. The results identify new sites for therapeutic intervention and are prompt encouragement for ongoing anticancer drug development studies

Prikaz spolov skozi vizualne podobe v osnovnošolskih učbenikih slovenskih in tujih založnikov

Textbooks are the foundation for teaching. Even though the use of interactive online materials is increasing, most teachers base their lessons on printed materials, most frequently textbooks, since these offer well-structured, organized and ready-made materials. However, textbooks also include cultural beliefs and values that impact children’s perception of the world and themselves. This thesis focuses on how textbooks present gender through visual imagery and what message they deliver to developing young individuals that rely on school and textbooks to provide models they can follow. The research is based on a comparison of 8 textbooks – Slovene publisher’s textbooks and those published by English publishing houses – concerning their use of stereotypical and sexist illustrations. We provide a theoretical background to the problem and highlight the importance of school and textbooks for forming gender identity. The empirical part of the thesis offers a descriptive analysis supported by feature coding and shows whether the attempts to eliminate gender differences in the classroom have been successful.Kljub vse večjemu porastu interaktivnih spletnih gradiv veliko učiteljev za svoje delo še vedno uporablja gradiva v fizični obliki, najpogosteje učbenike. Učbeniki so med drugim posreden in tudi neposreden odraz družbe, njenih pogledov in vrednot, vključno s pogledom na spol. V magistrski nalogi smo pozornost posvetili temu, kako izbrani osnovnošolski učbeniki slovenskih in tujih založnikov skozi vizualne podobe prikazujejo spol. Posebej smo se osredotočili na morebitne spolne stereotipe in oblike seksizma. Raziskovanje smo razdelili na dva dela – teoretičnega in empiričnega. V teoretičnem delu smo najprej opredelili, kaj učbenik je in kakšna je njegova vloga v učnem procesu. Nadaljevali smo z natančno opredelitvijo pojmov biološki spol (sex) in družbeno določeni spol (gender) ter izpostavili spolno tipiziranje, teorijo spolnih shem, posebno pozornost pa smo namenili še spolnim vlogam. V empiričnem delu naloge smo primerjali štiri učbenike britanskega založnika (Messages 1, 2, 3 in 4) s štirimi učbeniki slovenskih založb (Touchstone 6, 7, 8 in 9). Analizirani učbeniki se uporabljajo pri pouku angleščine med šestim in devetim razredom. Pozorni smo bili na ilustracije, še posebej na to, kako so upodobljeni predstavniki obeh spolov. Analizo smo opravili na podlagi deset kriterijev, in sicer so to: število ženskih in moških likov, stereotipne upodobitve ženskih likov, stereotipne upodobitve moških likov, ženski poklici, moški poklici, aktivnosti, gospodinjska opravila in skrb za otroke, čustva pri ženskah, čustva pri moških in druge stereotipne upodobitve. Pri vsakem učbeniku smo najprej navedli opisno analizo, za lažjo primerjavo pa smo ustvarili tudi točkovni sistem vrednotenja. Za vsako od desetih kategorij, v kateri se je učbenik izkazal za primernega, je lahko osvojil po eno točko. Učbenike britanskih in slovenskih založb smo nato primerjali glede na določene kriterije