Psychology of Mobbing as a Form of Conflict in the Workplace: Finding and Testing Project-Based Learning in Students’ Education

Project-based learning has long been used in universities when preparing students. However, project-based technologies are currently being increasingly used in work with students. The authors found various options for the application of these technologies in teaching psychological and pedagogical disciplines. The research aims to determine the practice of implementing project-based learning to provide a deeper practice-oriented understanding of academic disciplines. The authors use a set of methods of theoretical analysis and practical psychological techniques. The authors present the research results in the form of several generalizations. The first one concerns the fact that mobbing has recently become a stable trend in teams; a conflict often manifests itself in the form of mobbing. The study of various organizational cultures and their models shows that the optimal and morally oriented model of organizational culture is the barrier preventing the development of mobbing in the company. The practical application of the developed theory provides methodological support for training a successful specialist

Analysis of the interaction and proliferative activity of adenocarcinoma, peripheral blood mononuclear and mesenchymal stromal cells after co-cultivation in vitro

The tumor microenvironment is a heterogeneous population of cells actively involved in the process of growth and development of a tumor. Research has demonstrated the interactions between the different populations of cells are critical for the formation of the tumor microenvironment and, if recapitulated experimentally, can be used to produce more effective models for preclinical screening of anticancer drugs. In this study, we demonstrate co-culturing HeLa adenocarcinoma cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and mesenchymal stromal cells results in changes in the proliferative activity of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and mesenchymal stromal cell populations. This data supports the further development of in vitro co-culture systems utilizing these cell types for pre-clinical screening of anticancer drugs

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Overexpressing Interleukin 2 Can Suppress Proliferation of Neuroblastoma Cells in Co-Culture and Activate Mononuclear Cells In Vitro

High-dose recombinant interleukin 2 (IL2) therapy has been shown to be successful in renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma. However, systemic administration of high doses of IL2 can be toxic, causing capillary leakage syndrome and stimulating pro-tumor immune response. One of the strategies to reduce the systemic toxicity of IL2 is the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a vehicle for the targeted delivery of IL2. Human adipose tissue-derived MSCs were transduced with lentivirus encoding IL2 (hADSCs-IL2) or blue fluorescent protein (BFP) (hADSCs-BFP). The proliferation, immunophenotype, cytokine profile and ultrastructure of hADSCs-IL2 and hADSCs-BFP were determined. The effect of hADSCs on activation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and proliferation and viability of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells after co-culture with native hADSCs, hADSCs-BFP or hADSCs-IL2 on plastic and Matrigel was evaluated. Ultrastructure and cytokine production by hADSCs-IL2 showed modest changes in comparison with hADSCs and hADSCs-BFP. Conditioned medium from hADSC-IL2 affected tumor cell proliferation, increasing the proliferation of SH-SY5Y cells and also increasing the number of late-activated T-cells, natural killer (NK) cells, NKT-cells and activated T-killers. Conversely, hADSC-IL2 co-culture led to a decrease in SH-SY5Y proliferation on plastic and Matrigel. These data show that hADSCs-IL2 can reduce SH-SY5Y proliferation and activate PBMCs in vitro. However, IL2-mediated therapeutic effects of hADSCs could be offset by the increased expression of pro-oncogenes, as well as the natural ability of hADSCs to promote the progression of some tumors

Combined Subchronic Toxicity of Aluminum (III), Titanium (IV) and Silicon (IV) Oxide Nanoparticles and Its Alleviation with a Complex of Bioprotectors

Stable suspensions of metal/metalloid oxide nanoparticles (MeO-NPs) obtained by laser ablation of 99.99% pure elemental aluminum, titanium or silicon under a layer of deionized water were used separately, or in three binary combinations, or in a ternary combination to induce subchronic intoxications in rats. To this end, the MeO-NPs were repeatedly injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) 18 times during 6 weeks before measuring a large number of functional, biochemical, morphological and cytological indices for the organism’s status. In many respects, the Al2O3-NP was found to be the most toxic species alone and the most dangerous component of the combinations studied. Mathematical modeling with the help of the Response Surface Methodology showed that, as well as in the case of any other binary toxic combinations previously investigated by us, the organism’s response to a simultaneous exposure to any two of the MeO-NP species under study was characterized by a complex interaction between all possible types of combined toxicity (additivity, subadditivity or superadditivity of unidirectional action and different variants of opposite effects) depending on which outcome this type was estimated for and on effect and dose levels. With any third MeO-NP species acting in the background, the type of combined toxicity displayed by the other two remained virtually the same or changed significantly, becoming either more or less unfavorable. Various harmful effects produced by the (Al2O3-NP + TiO2-NP + SiO2-NP)-combination, including its genotoxicity, were substantially attenuated by giving the rats per os during the entire exposure period a complex of innocuous bioactive substances expected to increase the organism’s antitoxic resistance

Determination of investments for free air protection in railway transport enterprises

The aim is to develop the branch methods of determining investments to be necessary for equipping branch enterprises with the free air protection systems from industrial contaminations. The scientific-methodological principles of performing calculations of the investments of the atmosphere-protective purpose per power unit of basic production have been substantiated. The methods for determining investments in the free air protection have been developed for branch enterprises as an example of the locomotive facilities. The calculation of investments has been used in the Schemes of transport development for perspective up to 2000, 2005 and 2010. The represented methods permit to increase the efficiency of the designsAvailable from VNTIC / VNTIC - Scientific & Technical Information Centre of RussiaSIGLERURussian Federatio

Extensive glacitectonism and rapid deglacial fluid expulsion in the northeastern Barents Sea

Acknowledgements: We thank the crew of R/V Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov, participants in the TTR-19 cruise (“Training-through-Research [Floating University]” Programme of IOC UNESCO and Lomonosov Moscow State University), and the Russian Ministry of Higher Education and Science for opportunity to complete geological sampling in the Barents Sea. A.M. is grateful to Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, for the Research Fellowship that allowed completion of this work. We also thank Henry Patton for providing area-specific outputs of previously published large-scale ice-sheet models12.AbstractHigh-latitude regions store large amounts of carbon trapped by ice sheets, permafrost and gas hydrates, yet joint evolution of these climate components is poorly understood. Covered by a cold-based ice-sheet during the last glaciation, the seafloor of the northeastern Barents Sea reveals one of the largest known glacitectonic provinces in the Arctic. Up to 200-m high glacitectonic landforms are cratered and overlie faults associated with ‘bright spots’ indicative of subsurface gas accumulations. However, sediment samples show low pore gas concentrations and no present-day gas seepage. We combine new observations and ice-sheet - hydrate modelling to propose that during the Late Weichselian, glacitectonism was caused by patchy substrate stiffening due to gradual growth of subglacial gas hydrates and permafrost. Ice decay led to rapid destabilisation and full drainage of shallow hydrate reservoirs and permafrost thaw, causing craterisation which was likely accompanied by large fluxes of carbon released into the water column. This study shows that these processes were more widespread across glaciated margins, also highlighting sensitivity and potential for abrupt changes of high-latitude carbon pools in response to complex interactions between the cryosphere, ocean, and solid earth.</jats:p

Express Method for Assessing Optimality of Industrial Heat Exchangers for Adsorption Heat Transformation

In this work, four radiators with different core geometries were tested using a wind tunnel. The values of the global heat transfer coefficient (UA = 5 ÷ 65 W/K) were measured depending on the flow of air and water. The obtained UA values correlate well with the data of sorption experiments described in the literature. The found correlations between the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers made it possible to propose an algorithm for ranging commercial air radiators for the use in adsorption heat transformers. It is shown that the use of a wind tunnel can serve as an effective tool for express assessment of the prospects of using air radiators for adsorption heat conversion without destroying radiators or their direct testing in a complex adsorption installation requiring vacuum maintenance

Rapid and Effective Way to Synthesize Highly Crystalline Nanosized SAPO-34 Particles

SAPO-34 nanocrystals with sizes of 50&ndash;150 nm were obtained via steam-assisted crystallization (SAC) for 5 h at 200 &deg;C from two types of aluminum precursors&mdash;aluminum isopropoxide and boehmite. A reaction mixture composition with a small amount of organic template tetraehylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) was used with the molar ratio TEAOH/Al2O3 = 1/1. The alumina precursor type and duration of the SAC (5 and 24 h) on the crystal size, texture, and acid properties were investigated. The SAPO-34 nanocrystals that we obtained possess a large micropore volume of 0.22&ndash;0.24 cm3/g and a specific surface area of 651&ndash;695 m2/g. When the crystallization was prolonged for up to 24 h, a SAPO-18 structure appeared, but the micropore and mesopore volumes changed insignificantly. Using boehmite as the aluminum precursor led to higher mesoporosity of the material but a little bit lower acidity when compared with the samples prepared from aluminum isopropoxide. In addition, the method proposed was used for preparing a SAPO-34-coated aluminum adsorber heat exchanger. Thus, the synthesis method proposed is affordable and effective to prepare SAPO-34 highly crystalline nanoparticles, with no need for post-synthetic procedures as the mother liquor separation from nanocrystals

Phylogenetic relations and range history of jerboas of the Allactaginae subfamily (Dipodidae, Rodentia)

Five-toed jerboas of the subfamily Allactaginae comprise several complex taxa occurring over a wide distribution range covering a large part of the Eurasian arid belt. In this study, we employed current methods of molecular phylogenetics based on 15 nuclear genes and the mitochondrial gene cytb to revise relations and systematics within Allactaginae. We also applied species distribution modelling projected on paleo-environmental data to reconstruct the geographic patterns of speciation in Allactaginae. We elucidated the intergeneric relationships within this subfamily and clarifed interspecies relations within the genus Scarturus. Moreover, our results demonstrate the species status of S. caprimulgaoutline the currently understudied diversity within Orientallactaga, Allactaga, and Pygeretmusand improve the divergence estimates of these taxa. Based on our results from modelling of geographic range fragmentation in allactagines, we suggest the dating and location of speciation events and present hypotheses regarding general habitat niche conservatism in small mammals