Analysis of Collectivism and Egoism Phenomena within the Context of Social Welfare

Comparative benefits provided by the basic social strategies including collectivism and egoism are investigated within the framework of democratic decision-making. In particular, we study the mechanism of growing "snowball" of cooperation.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Translated from Russian. Original Russian Text published in Problemy Upravleniya, 2008, No. 4, pp. 30-3

СОСТОЯНИЕ И НЕКОТОРЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ ОБРАБАТЫВАЮЩЕГО ПРОИЗВОДСТВА РОССИИ

Production of domestic machine-building industry suffers with poor quality, hence it does not stand competition with similar products. Falling-off is characteristic for production of all branches of the industry. The state must create such economic conditions that would stimulate transition of these branches to the innovative development way. One of the main factors that brake innovative development of the Russian economy production sphere under examination is unsatisfactorymotivation and payment of personnel engaged.Продукция отечественного машиностроительного комплекса отличается невысоким качеством и не выдерживает конкуренции с импортными аналогами. Для всех отраслей машиностроительного комплекса характерен спад производства. Со стороны государства требуется создание экономических условий, обеспечивающих переход отраслей этого комплекса на инновационный путь развития. Одним из главных факторов, тормозящих инновационное развитие анализируемой производственной сферы экономики России, является неудовлетворительная мотивация и оплата труда работников

ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЬСТВО КАК СТРАТЕГИЧЕСКИЙ РЕСУРС: ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКАЯ СУЩНОСТЬ, ПРОЦЕССЫ ХОЗЯЙСТВОВАНИЯ

At current society development stage, efficient use of entrepreneurship provides for stable production and high living standards. Entrepreneurship is a specific type of economic activities, entrepreneur is a special subject of management. Entrepreneurship’s objective prerequisites and possibilities to get efficiently adapted to postindustrial economic conditions lay in its very essence. Personal and professional qualities of a successful entrepreneur make him effective both as capital owner and manager. The state must create favorable conditions for Russian entrepreneurship.На современном этапе развития общества широкое использование предпринимательства обеспечивает устойчивое развитие производства и высокий уровень жизни населения. Предпринимательство – специфический вид экономической деятельности, предприниматель – особый субъект хозяйствования. В самой сущности предпринимательской деятельностизаложены объективные предпосылки и возможности эффективной адаптации к условиям постиндустриальной экономики. Присущие успешному предпринимателю личные и профессиональные качества обусловливают его эффективность не только как собственника капитала, но и как менеджера. Государство должно создавать благоприятные условия для развития российского предпринимательства

Modulation of EGFR activity by molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles targeting intracellular epitopes

In recent years, molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) have proven to be an attractive alternative to antibodies in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, several key questions remain: how suitable are intracellular epitopes as targets for nanoMIP binding? And to what extent can protein function be modulated via targeting specific epitopes? To investigate this, three extracellular and three intracellular epitopes of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) were used as templates for the synthesis of nanoMIPs which were then used to treat cancer cells with different expression levels of EGFR. It was observed that nanoMIPs imprinted with epitopes from the intracellular kinase domain and the extracellular ligand binding domain of EGFR caused cells to form large foci of EGFR sequestered away from the cell surface, caused a reduction in autophosphorylation, and demonstrated effects on cell viability. Collectively, this suggests that intracellular domain-targeting nanoMIPs can be a potential new tool for cancer therapy

How is Democracy Applied within the EU: Combining Elements of Traditional and Innovative Democratic Practice

The EU represents a new and complex political system which, according to numerous social scholars, suffers from the so-called democratic deficit. The basic argument behind this claim is that citizens lack control of the EU because, within its political system, national parliaments of member states possess only limited powers which have not been adequately compensated through steady empowerment of the European parliament (EP). Starting from this notion, the paper will explore the application of various concepts of democracy within the political system of the EU. First and foremost, it will analyse representative democracy in the EU, which stands as a foundation of all contemporary democratic systems. However, the paper will not stop at representative democracy, but it will also look at participatory, direct and deliberative democracy as applied within the political system of the EU. These concepts of democracy can only be viewed in relation and as an addition to representative democracy, but their application is very important for the EU due to limited possibilities for developing representative democracy at the supranational level. The paper will argue that, with regard to participatory and deliberative democracy, the EU can be viewed in many respects as a showcase for the national level, because it successfully developed various mechanisms related to implementation of these concepts. Particular attention will be paid to the Lisbon Treaty, which clarified many uncertainties that previously burdened the application of democracy within the EU. It will be argued that with the Lisbon Treaty the classic argument about the EU’s democratic deficit lost some of its appeal, because this treaty transformed the EP from secondary to equal participant in the EU’s legislative process

Human EHMT2/G9a activates p53 through methylation-independent mechanism

p53 is a critical tumor suppressor in humans. It functions mostly as a transcriptional factor and its activity is regulated by numerous post-translational modifications. Among different covalent modifications found on p53 the most controversial one is lysine methylation. We found that human G9a (hG9a) unlike its mouse orthologue (mG9a) potently stimulated p53 transcriptional activity. Both ectopic and endogenous hG9a augmented p53-dependent transcription of pro-apoptotic genes, including Bax and Puma, resulting in enhanced apoptosis and reduced colony formation. Significantly, shRNA-mediated knockdown of hG9a attenuated p53-dependent activation of Puma. On the molecular level, hG9a interacted with histone acetyltransferase, p300/CBP, resulting in increased histone acetylation at the promoter of Puma. The bioinformatics data substantiated our findings showing that positive correlation between G9a and p53 expression is associated with better survival of lung cancer patients. Collectively, this study demonstrates that depending on the cellular and organismal context, orthologous proteins may exert both overlapping and opposing functions. Furthermore, this finding has important ramifications on the use of G9a inhibitors in combination with genotoxic drugs to treat p53-positive tumors.Oncogene advance online publication, 25 July 2016; doi:10.1038/onc.2016.258

The Alkaline Hydrolysis of Sulfonate Esters: Challenges in Interpreting Experimental and Theoretical Data

Sulfonate ester hydrolysis has been the subject of recent debate, with experimental evidence interpreted in terms of both stepwise and concerted mechanisms. In particular, a recent study of the alkaline hydrolysis of a series of benzene arylsulfonates (Babtie et al., Org. Biomol. Chem. 10, 2012, 8095) presented a nonlinear Brønsted plot, which was explained in terms of a change from a stepwise mechanism involving a pentavalent intermediate for poorer leaving groups to a fully concerted mechanism for good leaving groups and supported by a theoretical study. In the present work, we have performed a detailed computational study of the hydrolysis of these compounds and find no computational evidence for a thermodynamically stable intermediate for any of these compounds. Additionally, we have extended the experimental data to include pyridine-3-yl benzene sulfonate and its N-oxide and N-methylpyridinium derivatives. Inclusion of these compounds converts the Brønsted plot to a moderately scattered but linear correlation and gives a very good Hammett correlation. These data suggest a concerted pathway for this reaction that proceeds via an early transition state with little bond cleavage to the leaving group, highlighting the care that needs to be taken with the interpretation of experimental and especially theoretical data

STATE AND SOME DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS OF RUSSIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Production of domestic machine-building industry suffers with poor quality, hence it does not stand competition with similar products. Falling-off is characteristic for production of all branches of the industry. The state must create such economic conditions that would stimulate transition of these branches to the innovative development way. One of the main factors that brake innovative development of the Russian economy production sphere under examination is unsatisfactorymotivation and payment of personnel engaged

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS STRATEGIC RESOURSE: ECONOMIC ESSENCE, MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

At current society development stage, efficient use of entrepreneurship provides for stable production and high living standards. Entrepreneurship is a specific type of economic activities, entrepreneur is a special subject of management. Entrepreneurship’s objective prerequisites and possibilities to get efficiently adapted to postindustrial economic conditions lay in its very essence. Personal and professional qualities of a successful entrepreneur make him effective both as capital owner and manager. The state must create favorable conditions for Russian entrepreneurship