HUMAN RESOURCES IN REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION - FINANCIAL, MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS

Public administration supports the activities of the state authorities by ensuring the actual functioning of the state administration. It regulates the relations between the citizens and the state institutions and local institutions, administers their rights and obligations, as well as the ways they are implemented. Regional administration is an important part of the public administration. It assists the district governor to carry out the state governance and ensure consistency between national and local interests in conducting regional policies and achieving the strategic goals and priorities of the government programme. Modern understanding of the theory of quality of human capital involved in public administration highlights the key importance of this factor at national level. Global changes related to the adaptation of the Bulgarian administration to the European one have put an even greater emphasis on integration, capacity increase, career opportunities, optimizing the costs and improving human resources management in the state administration

Size Isn't All that Matters: Noticing Differences in Size and Temporal Order

The ability to represent time and size is essential for thought and action. These domains have traditionally been investigated independently. However, the processing of events in time and space is postulated to have considerable anatomical and behavioral overlap. Here we formally tested for associations and dissociations of abilities in these domains. We examined patterns of impairments in temporal order and relative size judgments in 40 patients with unilateral brain lesions and 20 age-matched control participants. While brain damage can impair both size and temporal order judgments (TOJ), we did not find evidence for global hemispheric differences. When patients were analyzed individually compared to control subjects, we found double dissociations in performances on both kinds of judgments. Voxel lesion symptom mapping allowed us to investigate shared and unique contributions of brain damage to deficits in judgments noticing differences in temporal order and in spatial extent. We found that size and temporal order estimations have overlapping cortical vulnerabilities within the left inferior frontal gyrus, left superior temporal cortex, and bilateral inferior parietal lobule. However, vulnerability unique to TOJ occurred with damage predominantly in left lateralized regions involving inferior and middle frontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule. Conversely, vulnerability unique to size judgments occurred with damage predominantly in right lateralized regions in the supramarginal gyrus and superior temporal cortex. These data provide evidence for interactions between the processing of spatial extent and temporal order; however, they do not provide evidence for right lateralized systems

Mechanistic dissection of plant embryo initiation

Land plants can reproduce sexually by developing an embryo from a fertilized egg cell, the zygote. After fertilization, the zygote undergoes several rounds of controlled cell divisions to generate a mature embryo. However, embryo formation can also be induced in a variety of other cell types in many plant species. These non-zygotic embryos go through analogous developmental phases and are morphologically similar to the zygotic embryo. Despite its fundamental importance and enormous application potential, the mechanisms that alter cell fate from non-embryonic to embryonic are elusive. In the past decades, a variety of different model systems have been used to identify regulators of embryo induction, but it is unclear if these act in a common network. We recently found that inhibition of auxin response in the extra-embryonic suspensor cells cell-autonomously and predictably triggers a switch towards embryo identity. In my thesis I have used the suspensor-derived embryogenesis as a uniform model system to study the crucial first reprogramming step of embryo initiation process. Through genome-wide transcriptional profiling upon local (suspensor-specific) auxin response inhibition (Chapter 2) and through testing the ability of fifteen known embryogenesis inducers to promote embryo formation in suspensor cells (Chapter 3), we suggest that suspensor to embryo transformation requires a defined set of genetic regulators. The results obtained in my thesis provide essential tools and basis for further research and are a step forward to understanding the first step of embryo initiation process and to unravel the mystery of totipotency in plants. </p

Social-psychological and Structural Factors Influencing the Experience of Chronic Disease: A focus on Individuals with Severe Arthritis

In-depth personal interviews were conducted with 29 men and women with severe arthritis of the hip or knee. All respondents had been identified by medical experts as having demonstrable need for total joint arthroplasty, but in assessment in another study, had stated an unwillingness to consider the procedure. In interviews, we explored 1) current self reported health status and co-morbidities; 2) features and functions of the informal and formal support network; and 3) general orientations to aging, illness and independence, to examine the influence of these on participants' strategies for coping with severe arthritis and their views of treatment options. We present a multi-level model of the social-interactional and social-structural features of lives in which the experience of arthritis and responses to it are contextualized. Interviews reveal a complex set of experiences and responses: participants frequently reject the medicalization of their arthritis; they normalize the experience of functional decline (ie: they modify expectations to fit their capacity), or define it as age normative; they draw on a broad set of previous experiences from the lay health care system as well as from the formal medical care system to define an appropriate strategy of coping for the "here and now". The discussion focuses on the distinction between objectively assessed disease and subjectively experienced illness, and the implications of this distinction for medical practice.illness experience, lay perspectives, social context, decision-making, chronic illness, arthritis

Atlas-Based White Matter Analysis in Individuals With Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome (22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome) and Unaffected Siblings

Background: Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS, MIM#192430, 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome) is a genetic disorder caused by a deletion of about 40 genes at the q11.2 band of one copy of chromosome 22. Individuals with VCFS present with deficits in cognition and social functioning, high risk of psychiatric disorders, volumetric reductions in gray and white matter (WM) and some alterations of the WM microstructure. The goal of the current study was to characterize the WM microstructural differences in individuals with VCFS and unaffected siblings, and the correlation of WM microstructure with neuropsychological performance. We hypothesized that individuals with VCFS would have decreased indices of WM microstructure (fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD)), particularly in WM tracts to the frontal lobe, and that these measures would be correlated with cognitive functioning. Methods: Thirty-three individuals with VCFS (21 female) and 16 unaffected siblings (8 female) participated in DTI scanning and neuropsychological testing. We performed an atlas-based analysis, extracted FA, AD, and RD measures for 54 WM tracts (27 in each hemisphere) for each participant, and used MANOVAs to compare individuals with VCFS to siblings. For WM tracts that were statistically significantly different between VCFS and siblings (pFDR \u3c 0.05), we assessed the correlations between DTI and neuropsychological measures. Results: In VCFS individuals as compared to unaffected siblings, we found decreased FA in the uncinate fasciculus, and decreased AD in multiple WM tracts (bilateral superior and posterior corona radiata, dorsal cingulum, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, superior cerebellar peduncle, posterior thalamic radiation, and left anterior corona radiata, retrolenticular part of the internal capsule, external capsule, sagittal stratum). We also found significant correlations of AD with measures of executive function, IQ, working memory, and/or social cognition. Conclusions: Our results suggest that individuals with VCFS display abnormal WM connectivity in a widespread cerebro-anatomical network, involving tracts from/to all cerebral lobes and the cerebellum. Future studies could focus on the WM developmental trajectory in VCFS, the association of WM alterations with psychiatric disorders, and the effects of candidate 22q11.2 genes on WM anomalies

Left, right, left, right, eyes to the front! Müller-Lyer bias in grasping is not a function of hand used, hand preferred or visual hemifield, but foveation does matter

We investigated whether the control of movement of the left hand is more likely to involve the use of allocentric information than movements performed with the right hand. Previous studies (Gonzalez et al. in J Neurophys 95:3496–3501, 2006; De Grave et al. in Exp Br Res 193:421–427, 2009) have reported contradictory findings in this respect. In the present study, right-handed participants (N = 12) and left-handed participants (N = 12) made right- and left-handed grasps to foveated objects and peripheral, non-foveated objects that were located in the right or left visual hemifield and embedded within a Müller-Lyer illusion. They were also asked to judge the size of the object by matching their hand aperture to its length. Hand apertures did not show significant differences in illusory bias as a function of hand used, handedness or visual hemifield. However, the illusory effect was significantly larger for perception than for action, and for the non-foveated compared to foveated objects. No significant illusory biases were found for reach movement times. These findings are consistent with the two-visual system model that holds that the use of allocentric information is more prominent in perception than in movement control. We propose that the increased involvement of allocentric information in movements toward peripheral, non-foveated objects may be a consequence of more awkward, less automatized grasps of nonfoveated than foveated objects. The current study does not support the conjecture that the control of left-handed and right-handed grasps is predicated on different sources of information

White matter microstructural abnormalities of the cingulum bundle in youths with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: Associations with medication, neuropsychological function, and prodromal symptoms of psychosis

Background—The 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is regarded as an etiologically homogenous model for understanding neuroanatomic disruptions associated with a high risk for schizophrenia. This study utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to analyze white matter microstructure in individuals with 22q11.2DS. We focused on the cingulum bundle (CB), previously shown to be disrupted in patients with schizophrenia and associated with symptoms of psychosis. Methods—White matter microstructure was assessed in the anterior, superior, and posterior CB using the tractography algorithm in DTIStudio. Neuropsychological function, presence of prodromal symptoms of psychosis, and medication history were assessed in all participants. Results—Relative to controls, young adults with 22q11.2DS showed alterations in most DTI metrics of the CB. Alterations were associated with positive prodromal symptoms of psychosis. However, when individuals with 22q11.2DS were divided by usage of antipsychotics / mood stabilizers, the medicated and non-medicated groups differed significantly in axial diffusivity of the anterior CB and in fractional anisotropy of the superior CB. DTI metrics did not differ between the medicated group and the control group. Conclusions—Results suggest that the microstructure of the CB is altered in individuals with 22q11.2DS, and that those alterations may underlie positive prodromal symptoms of psychosis. Our findings further provide preliminary evidence that antipsychotic / mood stabilizer usage may have a reparative effect on white matter microstructure in prodromal 22q11.2DS, independent of the potential effects of psychosis. Future studies of white matter pathology in individuals with 22q11.2DS should test for potential effects of medication on white matter microstructure

Surface-initiated growth of copper using isonicotinic acid-functionalized aluminum oxide surfaces

Isonicotinate self-assembled monolayers (SAM) were prepared on alumina surfaces (A) using isonicotinic acid (iNA). These functionalized layers (iNA-A) were used for the seeded growth of copper films (Cu-iNA-A) by hydrazine hydrate-initiated electroless deposition. The films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and advancing contact angle measurements. The films are Cu0 but with surface oxidation, and show a faceted morphology, which is more textured (Rq = 460 ± 90 nm) compared to the SAM (Rq = 2.8 ± 0.5 nm). In contrast, growth of copper films by SnCl2/PdCl2 catalyzed electroless deposition, using formaldehyde (CH2O) as the reducing agent, shows a nodular morphology on top of a relatively smooth surface. No copper films are observed in the absence of the isonicotinate SAM. The binding of Cu2+ to the iNA is proposed to facilitate reduction to Cu0 and create the seed for subsequent growth. The films show good adhesion to the functionalized surface

The Brentano illusion influences goal-directed movements of the left and right hand to the same extent

Recently, Gonzalez et al. (J Neurophys 95:3496-3501, 2006) reported that movements with the left hand are more susceptible to visual size illusions than are those with the right hand. We hypothesized that this might be because proprioceptive information about the position of the left hand is less precise. If so, the difference between the hands should become clearer when vision of the hand is removed so that subjects can only rely on proprioception to locate their hand. We tested whether this was so by letting right-handed subjects make open-loop pointing movements within an illusory context with and without vision of their hand. On average, the illusion influenced the left and the right hand to the same extent, irrespective of the visibility of the hand. There were some systematic differences between the hands within certain regions of space, but these were not consistent across subjects. We conclude that there is no fundamental difference between the hands in susceptibility to the Brentano illusion