The Relationship Between Moral and Aesthetic Values In Performance Art

This bachelor thesis pursues the relationship between moral and aesthetic values in performance art. The current debate about moral value of art in Anglo-American aesthetics focuses mainly on art as such, while individual accounts of advocates of the developed approaches - autonomism, moralism, immoralism - about the relationship between moral and aesthetic values are illustrated exclusivelly through literary and film artworks, i.e. through narrative fiction. In this thesis I examine whether these accounts are applicable on performance art, which stands out from traditional art characterisation and categorisation. I describe performance art with regards to it being a relatively new art form, and point out problematic moments that performance art poses for the subject of the relationship between moral and aesthetic values. Subsequently, I apply individual accounts of advocates of autonomism, moralism, and immoralism onto performance art, and show that it is necessary to review the default premises if we want to include less traditional art forms, such as performance art, into the debate about the relationship between moral and aesthetic values. Key words performance art, moral value, aesthetic value, autonomism, moralism, immoralismTato bakalářská práce se věnuje vztahu etické a estetické hodnoty v rámci úvah o umění performance. Dosavadní debata o etické hodnotě umění v angloamerické estetice se zaměřuje z velké části na umění jako takové, přičemž teze jednotlivých zastánců vzniklých pozic - autonomismus, moralismus, imoralismus - o vztahu etické a estetické hodnoty jsou ilustrovány výlučně pomocí literárních a filmových uměleckých děl, tj. pomocí narativní fikce. V této práci zkoumám, zda se jsou tyto teze uplatnitelné na umění performance, které se vymyká tradiční umělecké charakterizaci a kategorizaci. Umění performance jakožto relativně nový umělecký druh přibližuji a upozorňuji na sporné momenty, které představuje pro tematizaci vztahu mezi etickou a estetickou hodnotou. Následně aplikuji jednotlivé teze zastánců autonomismu, moralismu a imoralismu na umění performance a ukazuji, že je zapotřebí přezkoumat výchozí předpoklady, chceme-li do debaty o vztahu etické a estetické hodnoty zapojit také méně tradiční druhy umění, jako je právě umění performance. Klíčová slova umění performance, etická hodnota, estetická hodnota, autonomismus, moralismus, imoralismusDepartment of AesteticsKatedra estetikyFilozofická fakultaFaculty of Art

Communication of COVID-19 consequences in the Baltic States inforsphere

This article seeks to describe the dynamics of COVID-19 in the Baltic States and to analyse the ways of communicating the threat and its consequences. Particular attention is paid to the media strategies pursued in the study area. The research is based on Russian and English texts from the Baltic media, WHO official documents and datasets, as well as initiatives of the Baltic Sea region organisations (2020) counteracting COVID-19. A combination of these sources builds up an objective view of the situation and demonstrates how the pandemic and its consequences are represented in public consciousness given a certain pragmatic goal. The pandemic is a new type of threat; its consequences demonstrate a tendency towards negative synergy and a category shift from soft threats to hard ones. The research shows that several key strategies - counter-active, projective, conservative, mobilising, resilient, and reflective - are used to communicate the threat and its consequences in the media

Urodele p53 tolerates amino acid changes found in p53 variants linked to human cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Urodele amphibians like the axolotl are unique among vertebrates in their ability to regenerate and their resistance to develop cancers. It is unknown whether these traits are linked at the molecular level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Blocking p53 signaling in axolotls using the p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α, inhibited limb regeneration and the expression of p53 target genes such as Mdm2 and Gadd45, suggesting a link between tumor suppression and regeneration. To understand this relationship we cloned the p53 gene from axolotl. When comparing its sequence with p53 from other organisms, and more specifically human we observed multiple amino acids changes found in human tumors. Phylogenetic analysis of p53 protein sequences from various species is in general agreement with standard vertebrate phylogeny; however, both mice-like rodents and teleost fishes are fast evolving. This leads to long branch attraction resulting in an artefactual basal emergence of these groups in the phylogenetic tree. It is tempting to assume a correlation between certain life style traits (e.g. lifespan) and the evolutionary rate of the corresponding p53 sequences. Functional assays of the axolotl p53 in human or axolotl cells using p53 promoter reporters demonstrated a temperature sensitivity (ts), which was further confirmed by performing colony assays at 37°C. In addition, axolotl p53 was capable of efficient transactivation at the Hmd2 promoter but has moderate activity at the p21 promoter. Endogenous axolotl p53 was activated following UV irradiation (100 j/m²) or treatment with an alkylating agent as measured using serine 15 phosphorylation and the expression of the endogenous p53 target Gadd45.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Urodele p53 may play a role in regeneration and has evolved to contain multiple amino acid changes predicted to render the human protein defective in tumor suppression. Some of these mutations were probably selected to maintain p53 activity at low temperature. However, other significant changes in the axolotl proteins may play more subtle roles on p53 functions, including DNA binding and promoter specificity and could represent useful adaptations to ensure p53 activity and tumor suppression in animals able to regenerate or subject to large variations in oxygen levels or temperature.</p

Phytoplankton light absorption in the deep chlorophyll maximum layer of the Black Sea

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Churilova, T., Suslin, V., Sosik, H. M., Efimova, T., Moiseeva, N., Moncheva, S., Mukhanov, V., Rylkova, O., & Krivenko, O. Phytoplankton light absorption in the deep chlorophyll maximum layer of the Black Sea. European Journal of Remote Sensing, 52, (2019): 123-136, doi: 10.1080/22797254.2018.1533389.Bio-optical data, obtained during six cruises in the Black Sea carried out during periods of seasonal stratification in years between 1996 and 2016, have been used to parametrize phytoplankton light absorption (aph(λ)) in the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) layer located near the bottom of euphotic zone. Relationships between aph(λ) and the sum of chlorophyll-a and phaeopigment concentrations (Chl-a) differed from those for the summertime upper mixed layer (UML). Notably, chlorophyll a specific absorption coefficients (a∗ph(λ)) were lower in the DCM and more comparable with a∗ph(λ) values typical for winter phytoplankton in the Black Sea. The aph(λ) spectral shapes in the DCM differed markedly from those in winter and in the summer UML, due to a shoulder at ~490 nm and a local maximum at ~550 nm corresponding to the absorption bands of phycourobilin and phycoerythrobilin. Light absorbing properties of phytoplankton in the DCM (amplitude and spectral shape of a∗ph(λ)) reflected physiological acclimation to local conditions on the cellular level and population shifts leading to changes in the biomass-dominant species, with Synechococcus spp. domination in the DCM. The parameterization of phytoplankton absorption in the DCM will enable refined spectral models of the downwelling radiance and primary production in the Black Sea.RAS funded this research [grant numbers АААА-А18-118020890112-1, АААА-А18-118020790229-7 and АААА-18-118012690119-7]. This work was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, projects [numbers 17-05-00113 and 18-45-920070]

Innovation and Marketing Activity of High Technology Companies in Business Management

The article states the results of researching the problems related to managing business activity of high technology companies whose key components include innovation and marketing activity. These components of business activity are interrelated, because as the innovation activity increases, the need in increasing the marketing activity in order to ensure the market readiness to consuming new products grows as well. In its turn, it creates conditions for widespread output of innovations and quick return of investments. It is proposed to estimate and regulate innovation and marketing activity by using the combination of the stipulated indicators and models. In order to successfully manage innovation and marketing activity, relevant mechanisms are required. Their methodological peculiarities are described in the article.  Keywords: innovation and marketing activity, high technology company, nonequilibrium conditions, economic proportions, highly technological products, regulation opportunities, estimation, production system, sector cluster. JEL Classifications: L11; L21; L22; O21; O3

Improvement in quality of dairy cattle products in areas with man-made radiation and chemical pollution

A study of the quality and quantity indexes of the dairy cattle milk-producing ability was conducted in areas polluted with heavy metals and radionuclides. The condition of agrobiocenoses in the Eastern Urals Radioactive Trace was studied, and correlation between the pollution of the agrobiocenoses with Cd, Cu, Zn, Fe, 90Sr, 137Cs, 210Pb, the content of the pollutants in the animal organisms and the quality of their milk was established. Trends towards the amino acid content alteration, protein and fat content reduction and the somatic cell number increase in the milk, deterioration of its microbial content, of its suitability for cheese production and grading were detected in the areas more heavily polluted with radionuclides and chemical pollutants. An experiment with an integrated effect on the critical points of the technological process of milk and its primary product manufacture involving protection of the agrocoenosis from secondary pollution, improvement in the food quality, clearance of the pollutants from the animal organisms and metabolism care, high-technology processing of of milk and its primary products was conducted. It was established that a simultaneous effect on the critical points of the technological process siginificantly increases the effectiveness of individual methods due to synergy and leads to a significant improvement in the quality indexes of milk. In particular, in the experimental group, a 2%-to- 12% increase in the concentration of free essential amino acids and a 15-to-40-fold decrease of the somatic cell number in the milk, improvement in its suitability for cheese production and reduction in its microbial content compared with the controls were observed. In the context of permanent unavoidable man-made load on the agrobiocenoses, application of this technology permits maintaining the product quality at a high-standard level

Serological diagnostics of myocardium diseases based on multivariate analysis of cardiotrophic autoantibodies&apos; profiles

ABSTRACT We analyzed profiles of IgG autoantibodies to 16 cardiac specific proteins and their main immunogenic region B-epitopes, in the groups of already verified cardiac pathology: acute and chronic lymphocytic myocarditis, ST elevation myocardial infarction, postinfarction remodeling of myocardium, dilated cardiomyopathy and in healthy controls along with patients, suffered from gastritis (to evaluate immune response against cross-reactive B-epitopes). AAB specific patterns allowed us to distinguish cases among themselves by means of multiparametrical canonical discriminant analysis in approximately 95% of cases. Positive predictive value in the group of MYO reached 95%, in the STEMI-89%, in the PIR-99%, in the DCM-99%, in the group of gastritis-88%. Principal component analysis of mentioned cardiac pathologies extended current clinical knowledge of their immunopathogenesis. Obtained data markedly proved a usability of serum AAB profiling for non invasive screening, differential diagnostics and working hypothesis composition

Contrasting metacognitive profiles and their association with negative symptoms in groups with schizophrenia, early psychosis and depression in a Russian sample

Research has suggested that negative symptoms in psychotic disorders may be in part fueled by deficits in metacognition or the ability to form integrated ideas about oneself and others. One limitation of this work is that it has largely come from North America and Western Europe. To further the literature, we assessed symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Metacognition using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale - Abbreviated in a sample of outpatients with prolonged schizophrenia (n = 41), early episode psychosis (n = 37) and major depression (n = 30) gathered in Moscow, Russia. Verbal memory was assessed for use as a potential covariate. ANOVA revealed the two groups with psychosis had significantly poorer metacognitive function in terms of self-reflectivity and awareness of the other, than the group with depression. In both psychosis groups negative symptoms were more robustly related to metacognition than other forms of symptoms after controlling for neurocognition. Results support the possibility that metacognitive deficits are a psychological factor which cross culturally contributes to negative symptoms and point to metacognition as a potentially important target for intervention

Closest horizons of Hsp70 engagement to manage neurodegeneration

Our review seeks to elucidate the current state-of-the-art in studies of 70-kilodalton-weighed heat shock proteins (Hsp70) in neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). The family has already been shown to play a crucial role in pathological aggregation for a wide spectrum of brain pathologies. However, a slender boundary between a big body of fundamental data and its implementation has only recently been crossed. Currently, we are witnessing an anticipated advancement in the domain with dozens of studies published every month. In this review, we briefly summarize scattered results regarding the role of Hsp70 in the most common NDs including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We also bridge translational studies and clinical trials to portray the output for medical practice. Available options to regulate Hsp70 activity in NDs are outlined, too