The topic of the research is the phenomenon of ecosystems created by banks, as well as related technological innovations introduced by credit institutions in order to increase their efficiency and ...obtain new opportunities for cooperation with non-financial organizations. One of the strategically important management decisions which affect the bank's business model is to determine the specifics of ecosystem growth. The study's goal is to figure the optimal balance between traditional activities and non-banking services of credit institutions. This suppose to strengthen their position in the face of penetration of digital competitors into banking operations (Internet banks, financial and large technology companies, telecoms). The theoretical and methodological basis of the research was formed by the scientific works of foreign scientists and experts on improving the efficiency of banking institutions. There were used methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis of scientific publications, analytical materials of well-known consulting companies, statistical data. As a result, the author found a technological transformation is required using such approaches to customer service (retail and corporate) that reflect their needs in banking with the intensive use of relevant competencies in cash management, means and risks. That will cause to protect the banking business from digital competitors and increase its market capitalization. All these measures will be able to induce clients to use more extensively the banks opportunities and help them to increase investments in their core business, thereby contributing to its growth. The author concludes that being developed ecosystems, it is advisable for banks to focus on services close to their core work, as well as on increasing the efficiency of their own activities and providing new services. Meanwhile, the marketplaces development within the banking ecosystems does not give the latter advantages in the competition in the banking services market.
Fascinating optical properties governed by extremely confined excitons have been so far observed in 2D crystals like monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides. These materials, however, are ...limited for production by epitaxial methods. Besides, they are not suitable for the development of optoelectronics for the challenging deep-ultraviolet spectral range. Here, we present a single monolayer of GaN in AlN as a heterostructure fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy, which provides extreme 2D confinement of excitons, being ideally suited for light generation in the deep-ultraviolet. Optical studies in the samples, supplemented by a group-theory analysis and first-principle calculations, make evident a giant enhancement of the splitting between the dark and bright excitons due to short-range electron–hole exchange interaction that is a fingerprint of the strongly confined excitons. The practical significance of our results is in the observation of the internal quantum yield of the room-temperature excitonic emission as high as ∼75% at 235 nm.
Purpose: The purpose was to measure the concentrations of various cytokines and growth factors (including vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF and pigment epithelium-derived factor PEDF) in the ...vitreous of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and to investigate interaction between inflammatory and proliferative factors in the genesis of PDR. Materials and Methods : Vitreous samples from 32 eyes with PDR and 25 eyes without diabetes mellitus and signs of DR (control) were collected. Vitreous concentrations of VEGF, PEDF, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) were simultaneously measured using enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results : Vitreous levels of VEGF, PEDF, IL-17A, IL-6, IL-8, IL-4, and sIgA were significantly (Π < 0.05) higher in eyes with PDR compared to control. The concentration of VEGF was more than 17-times higher than in control, and the concentration of PEDF was not changed oppositely and was also higher (1.45-times) compared to control, that may indicate disturbances of compensatory mechanisms in angiogenesis regulation in PDR. Significant (Π < 0.05) positive correlations were observed between vitreous concentrations of VEGF and IL-17ΐ (r = 0.45), VEGF and IL-8 (r = 0.48), VEGF and IL-4 (r = 0.51), PEDF and IL-17ΐ (r = 0.48), PEDF and IL-8 (r = 0.59), MCP-1 and PEDF (r = 0.72), MCP-1 and IL-8 (r0 = 0.45), IL-4 and IL-17ΐ (r = 0.65), IL-4 and IL-8 (r = 0.71), IL-8 and IL-17ΐ (r = 0.59). Conclusions: Significantly raised levels of inflammatory and proliferative factors and numerous positive correlations between them may demonstrate a significant role of activation of vascular proliferation and local inflammation in the pathogenesis of PDR.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper reviews a wide range of questions in astrophysics and cosmology that can be answered by astronomical observations in the far-IR to millimeter wavelength range and which include the ...formation and evolution of stars and planets, galaxies, and the interstellar medium, the study of black holes, and the development of the cosmological model. These questions are considered in relation to the Millimetron Space Observatory (Spectrum-M project), which is equipped with a aperture cooled telescope and can operate both as a single-dish telescope and as part of a space-ground very long baseline interferometer.
The rift valley of the Gakkel Ridge was divided into three segments according to sub-bottom profiling and seismoacoustic studies carried out by R/V
Akademik Fedorov
at the Gakkel Ridge in 2019–2020, ...and on seismic data of 2011–2015. West of 75° E, the rift valley crosses the Gakkel Ridge approximately in the middle, as was expected based on the assumption that the rift valley runs along the spreading axis that formed this ridge. East of 75° E, the rift valley shifts to the southwestern edge of the ridge, and, thus, it can be concluded that the spreading axis jumped to its present position relatively recently (in the Pliocene). Finally, to the south of the the Gakkel caldera (about 120° E, 81° N), the rift valley is manifested in the sections as a young graben through many kilometers of sediments.
Objective and design
The existing biological models of diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) in mice have many shortcomings. To offset these shortcomings, we have proposed a simple, nonsurgical, and ...reproducible method of unilateral total damage of the left lung in ICR mice. This model is based on the intrabronchial administration of a mixture of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the cell wall of S. enterica and α-galactosylceramide (inducing substances) to the left lung.
Methods
Using computer tomography of the lungs with endobronchial administration of contrast material, we have been able to perform an operative intravital verification of the targeted delivery of the inducer. The model presented is characterized by more serious and homogeneous damage of the affected lung compared to the existing models of focal pneumonia; at the same time, our model is characterized by longer animal survival since the right lung remains intact.
Results
The model is also characterized by diffuse alveolar damage of the left lung, animal survival of 100%, abrupt increases in plasma levels of TNFa, INFg, and IL-6, and significant myocardial overload in the right heart. It can be used to assess the efficacy of innovative drugs for the treatment of DAD and ARDS as the clinical manifestations that are developed in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Morphological patterns of lungs in the noninfectious (“sterile”) model of DAD induced by LPS simultaneously with α-galactosylceramide (presented here) and in the infectious model of DAD induced by SARS-CoV-2 have been compared.
Conclusion
The DAD model we have proposed can be widely used for studying the efficacy of candidate molecules for the treatment of infectious respiratory diseases, such as viral pneumonias of different etiology, including SARS-CoV-2.
Synthesis of a molded adsorbent (MA) based on zinc oxide doped with oxides of transition metals (cobalt, copper, magnesium, titanium) was considered. The influence of these dopants on the physical ...properties and performance of the MA was shown. The role of the amount of the dopant in the specific surface area and porosity of the MA was evaluated, and the effect of transition metal oxide dopants on its surface morphology and strength was demonstrated. The chemisorption capacity of the oxide systems synthesized toward carbon disulfide was experimentally determined. The influence of carbon disulfide chemisorption on the surface morphology, as well as on the strength properties of the MA, was investigated. Using thiophene as a model hydrogen acceptor, the activity of the MA in the destructive reduction of organosulfur compounds was examined. The selectivity of thiophene hydrogenation to 2,3-dihydrothiophene in the temperature range from 350 to 410°C was shown. The optimal temperature of thiophene reduction was found to be 390°C, irrespective of the dopant amount. Using gas chromatography, the chemical composition of the hydrogenate was determined, and the complex dependence of its composition on the nature of the doped oxide was shown. It was demonstrated that doping with small amounts (up to 1.5 wt %) of cobalt and copper oxides provides for significant catalytic ability of the MA in the thiophene reduction reaction and that doping with 0.5 wt % titanium and magnesium oxides affords improvement of the strength properties of the MA. Use of aqueous ammonia solutions of various concentrations for the charge preparation did not noticeably affect the strength characteristics of the MA. The increments in the strength of the MA after the desulfurization process were estimated. It was shown that the MA operation has little effect on its morphology and crystallinity.
Self-Induced Faraday Instability Laser Perego, A M; Smirnov, S V; Staliunas, K ...
Physical review letters,
2018-May-25, Letnik:
120, Številka:
21
Journal Article, Publication
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We predict the onset of self-induced parametric or Faraday instabilities in a laser, spontaneously caused by the presence of pump depletion, which leads to a periodic gain landscape for light ...propagating in the cavity. As a result of the instability, continuous wave oscillation becomes unstable even in the normal dispersion regime of the cavity, and a periodic train of pulses with ultrahigh repetition rate is generated. Application to the case of Raman fiber lasers is described, in good quantitative agreement between our conceptual analysis and numerical modeling.
Physical systems with co-existence and interplay of processes featuring distinct spatio-temporal scales are found in various research areas ranging from studies of brain activity to astrophysics. The ...complexity of such systems makes their theoretical and experimental analysis technically and conceptually challenging. Here, we discovered that while radiation of partially mode-locked fibre lasers is stochastic and intermittent on a short time scale, it exhibits non-trivial periodicity and long-scale correlations over slow evolution from one round-trip to another. A new technique for evolution mapping of intensity autocorrelation function has enabled us to reveal a variety of localized spatio-temporal structures and to experimentally study their symbiotic co-existence with stochastic radiation. Real-time characterization of dynamical spatio-temporal regimes of laser operation is set to bring new insights into rich underlying nonlinear physics of practical active- and passive-cavity photonic systems.
Studying the transition from a linearly stable coherent laminar state to a highly disordered state of turbulence is conceptually and technically challenging, and of great interest because all pipe ...and channel flows are of that type. In optics, understanding how a system loses coherence, as spatial size or the strength of excitation increases, is a fundamental problem of practical importance. Here, we report our studies of a fibre laser that operates in both laminar and turbulent regimes. We show that the laminar phase is analogous to a one-dimensional coherent condensate and the onset of turbulence is due to the loss of spatial coherence. Our investigations suggest that the laminar-turbulent transition in the laser is due to condensate destruction by clustering dark and grey solitons. This finding could prove valuable for the design of coherent optical devices as well as systems operating far from thermodynamic equilibrium.
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