Econometric modeling of electricity consumption by households as a tool for the calculating of the social consumption norm

Since July 2016, it is planned to introduce electricity tariffs with the social consumption norm in all regions of Russia. The methodology for calculation the electricity social consumption norm for different types of households was legally adopted by resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation. According to these regulations, at least 70 % of the actual volume of electric power supply to the population should fall within the social norm. This article analyzes the validity of the methodology for calculating the social norm. The research is based on the data about the consumption of electricity by Russian households. The purpose of this study is to construct an econometric model of electricity consumption and calculate model- based social norms for different types of households. Explanatory variables in the model are the factors that describe the household size and accommodation conditions: the number of residents, the presence or absence of electric cooker, the type of settlement (urban or rural), the climate of the region where the household lives. The simulation results show that 70 % of electricity will be consumed within the social norms, if the size of the norm for households consisting of one person, will be from 110 to 210 kW·h, depending on the accommodation conditions. The author also evaluates the necessary social norm increments for the second, third and subsequent members of different household types. The developed model takes into account the regional characteristics of energy consumption and can be useful for calculating the social norm of electricity consumption in the regions of Russian Federation

ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE IN FIST EPISODE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS WITH AND WITHOUT PARANOID IDEAT

In the present study we evaluated attributional style which refers to how individuals explain the causes for positive and negative events in their lives in patients with first episode of schizophrenia with and without paranoid ideation. 43 patients with first episode of psychosis and 37 matched normal controls completed Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) (Combs et al. 2007). Between group comparison of AIHQ scores showed a notable tendency to show aggressive response in overall patients group. We obtained significant elevation of hostility and blame biases scores in intentional and accidental situations in patients with paranoid ideation while the patients with non-paranoid ideation showed greater hostility and blame biases only in accidental situations as compared to controls. Correlations with positive and negative symptoms were obtained. Our findings suggest that patients with first episode of psychosis exhibit difficulties of the attribution biases which are interconnected with symptoms and thus indicate a traitdeficit of attributional style

ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE IN FIST EPISODE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS WITH AND WITHOUT PARANOID IDEAT

In the present study we evaluated attributional style which refers to how individuals explain the causes for positive and negative events in their lives in patients with first episode of schizophrenia with and without paranoid ideation. 43 patients with first episode of psychosis and 37 matched normal controls completed Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) (Combs et al. 2007). Between group comparison of AIHQ scores showed a notable tendency to show aggressive response in overall patients group. We obtained significant elevation of hostility and blame biases scores in intentional and accidental situations in patients with paranoid ideation while the patients with non-paranoid ideation showed greater hostility and blame biases only in accidental situations as compared to controls. Correlations with positive and negative symptoms were obtained. Our findings suggest that patients with first episode of psychosis exhibit difficulties of the attribution biases which are interconnected with symptoms and thus indicate a traitdeficit of attributional style

Neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia and during the early phases of psychosis: targeting cognitive remediation interventions.

Recent interest in the early course of schizophrenia accentuated altered cognition prior to the onset. Ultrahigh risk (UHR) individuals with attenuated positive symptoms and transient psychotic episodes demonstrate neurocognitive deficits across multiple domains such as memory, executive functioning, and processing speed which are consistent with similar disturbances identified in patients with a first episode of schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation (CR) approaches representing a broad set of activities are aimed to restore or improve cognitive functioning. CR proved to be effective in modulating the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia but is rarely used in ultrahigh risk individuals. From the clinical prospective, a better understanding of cognitive functioning in at-risk states is essential for the development of optimal early intervention models. In the review, we highlight the intervention targets, notably the specific cognitive deficits in at risk individuals which preceed the transition to psychosis and emphasize the need of the additional studies using CR approaches in UHR group aiming to enhance cognition and therefore mediate functional improvement.Peer Reviewe

Cell composition at the vitreomacular interface in traumatic macular holes

PURPOSE To describe characteristics of the vitreomacular interface (VMI) in traumatic macular holes (TMH) compared to idiopathic macular holes (IMH) using immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, and to correlate with clinical data. METHODS For immunocytochemical and ultrastructural analyses, premacular tissue with internal limiting membrane (ILM) and epiretinal membrane (ERM) was harvested during vitrectomy from 5 eyes with TMH and 5 eyes with IMH. All specimens were processed as flat mounts for phase-contrast microscopy, interference and fluorescence microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Primary antibodies were used against microglial and macroglial cells. Clinical data was retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS Surgically excised premacular tissue of eyes with TMH showed a less pronounced positive immunoreactivity for anti-glutamine synthetase, anti-vimentin and anti-IBA1 compared to eyes with IMH. Cell nuclei staining of the flat-mounted specimens as well as TEM presented a lower cell count in eyes with TMH compared to IMH. All detected cells were found on the vitreal side of the ILM. No collagen fibrils were seen in specimens of TMH. According to patients' age, intraoperative data as well as spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) analysis revealed an attached posterior vitreous in the majority of TMH cases (60%), whereas all eyes with IMH presented posterior vitreous detachment. CONCLUSION The vitreomacular interface in TMH and IMH shows significant differences. In TMH, glial cells are a rare finding on the vitreal side of the ILM

Neurocognitive Functioning in Schizophrenia and during the Early Phases of Psychosis: Targeting Cognitive Remediation Interventions

Recent interest in the early course of schizophrenia accentuated altered cognition prior to the onset. Ultrahigh risk (UHR) individuals with attenuated positive symptoms and transient psychotic episodes demonstrate neurocognitive deficits across multiple domains such as memory, executive functioning, and processing speed which are consistent with similar disturbances identified in patients with a first episode of schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation (CR) approaches representing a broad set of activities are aimed to restore or improve cognitive functioning. CR proved to be effective in modulating the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia but is rarely used in ultrahigh risk individuals. From the clinical prospective, a better understanding of cognitive functioning in at-risk states is essential for the development of optimal early intervention models. In the review, we highlight the intervention targets, notably the specific cognitive deficits in at risk individuals which preceed the transition to psychosis and emphasize the need of the additional studies using CR approaches in UHR group aiming to enhance cognition and therefore mediate functional improvement

Assembly of Imidazolyl-Substituted Nitronyl Nitroxides into Ferromagnetically Coupled Chains

New nitronyl nitroxides, namely, 2-(4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-yl)- and 2-(4,5-dichloroimidazol-2-yl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-3-oxide-1-oxyl, were prepared in crystalline form. According to single-crystal X-ray data, intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed between NH groups of the imidazole cycles and O atoms of the nitroxide moieties. The intermolecular H-bonds contribute to the alignment of molecules into chains along the a-axis; this alignment causes short intrachain contacts between O and C atoms carrying spin density of opposite signs. Such an arrangement of nitroxides induces ferromagnetic intrachain interactions (J ≈ 10 cm−1) between neighboring radicals

Distinct functions of Crumbs regulating slit diaphragms and endocytosis in Drosophila nephrocytes

Mammalian podocytes, the key determinants of the kidney's filtration barrier, differentiate from columnar epithelial cells and several key determinants of apical-basal polarity in the conventional epithelia have been shown to regulate podocyte morphogenesis and function. However, little is known about the role of Crumbs, a conserved polarity regulator in many epithelia, for slit-diaphragm formation and podocyte function. In this study, we used Drosophila nephrocytes as model system for mammalian podocytes and identified a conserved function of Crumbs proteins for cellular morphogenesis, nephrocyte diaphragm assembly/maintenance, and endocytosis. Nephrocyte-specific knock-down of Crumbs results in disturbed nephrocyte diaphragm assembly/maintenance and decreased endocytosis, which can be rescued by Drosophila Crumbs as well as human Crumbs2 and Crumbs3, which were both expressed in human podocytes. In contrast to the extracellular domain, which facilitates nephrocyte diaphragm assembly/maintenance, the intracellular FERM-interaction motif of Crumbs is essential for regulating endocytosis. Moreover, Moesin, which binds to the FERM-binding domain of Crumbs, is essential for efficient endocytosis. Thus, we describe here a new mechanism of nephrocyte development and function, which is likely to be conserved in mammalian podocytes

Long-Sought Redox Isomerization of the Europium(III/II) Complex Achieved by Molecular Reorientation at the Interface

Redox isomerism, that is, the change of a metal cation valence state in organic complexes, can find promising applications in multistable molecular switches for various molecular electronic devices. However, despite a large number of studies devoted to such processes in organic complexes of multivalent lanthanides, redox-isomeric transformations were never observed for europium. In the present work, we demonstrate the unique case of redox isomerization of Eu(III)/Eu(II) complexes on the example of Eu double-decker octa-n-butoxyph- thalocyaninate (Eu[(BuO)8Pc]2) under ambient conditions (air and room temperature). It is shown that assumption of the face-on orientation on the aqueous subphase surface, in which two of each phthalocyanine decks in Eu[(BuO)8Pc]2 are located in different media (air and water), leads to the intramolecular electron transfer that results in the formation of a divalent Eu(II) cation in the complex. Lateral compression of the thus-formed monolayer results in the reorientation of bisphthalocyaninate to the edge-on state, in which the ligands can be considered identical, and occurrence of the reverse redox-isomeric transformation into the complex with a trivalent Eu cation. Both redox-isomeric states were directly observed by X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy in ultrathin films formed under different conditions