Prison Education in Slovakia from the Teacher\u27s Perspective

The present study deals with teaching practices in prison education in Slovakia. Attention is paid to secondary school teachers who, at the same time, teach adult prisoners. The aim of the qualitative research conducted was to find out in what ways, in the view of the teachers approached, prison education and school education differ and how they react to the differences. Another objective was to find out whether the teachers feel competent enough to teach prisoners. It was found out that theabsence of teacher training for prison education and the power of the prison regime strongly affect teaching practice. The teachers adjusted the syllabus, the pace and demands placed on the learners to the limited conditions of the prison regime. The authors believe that the present study could shed more light on teaching practices in prison education and help recognize such areas where specific teacher training is needed

Numerical study of cancer cell invasion dynamics using adaptive mesh refinement: the urokinase model

In the present work we investigate the chemotactically and proteolytically driven tissue invasion by cancer cells. The model employed is a system of advection-reaction-diffusion equations that features the role of the serine protease urokinase-type plasminogen activator. The analytical and numerical study of this system constitutes a challenge due to the merging, emerging, and travelling concentrations that the solutions exhibit. Classical numerical methods applied to this system necessitate very fine discretization grids to resolve these dynamics in an accurate way. To reduce the computational cost without sacrificing the accuracy of the solution, we apply adaptive mesh refinement techniques, in particular h-refinement. Extended numerical experiments exhibit that this approach provides with a higher order, stable, and robust numerical method for this system. We elaborate on several mesh refinement criteria and compare the results with the ones in the literature. We prove, for a simpler version of this model, $L^\infty$ bounds for the solutions, we study the stability of its conditional steady states, and conclude that it can serve as a test case for further development of mesh refinement techniques for cancer invasion simulations

Статические характеристики автотрансформаторного электромашинного регулятора напряжения переменного тока

Рассматриваются статические характеристики автотрансформаторного регулятора напряжения переменного тока с электромашинным исполнительным органом в цепи основной обмотки. Электромашинный исполнительный орган выполнен в виде вы­прямительной мостовой схемы, в диагональ которой по постоянному току подключен встречно выход электромашинного усилителя, управляемого цепью обратной связи

A Single Dose of Atorvastatin Applied Acutely after Spinal Cord Injury Suppresses Inflammation, Apoptosis, and Promotes Axon Outgrowth, Which Might Be Essential for Favorable Functional Outcome.

The aim of our study was to limit the inflammatory response after a spinal cord injury (SCI) using Atorvastatin (ATR), a potent inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis. Adult Wistar rats were divided into five experimental groups: one control group, two Th9 compression (40 g/15 min) groups, and two Th9 compression + ATR (5 mg/kg, i.p.) groups. The animals survived one day and six weeks. ATR applied in a single dose immediately post-SCI strongly reduced IL-1β release at 4 and 24 h and considerably reduced the activation of resident cells at one day post-injury. Acute ATR treatment effectively prevented the excessive infiltration of destructive M1 macrophages cranially, at the lesion site, and caudally (by 66%, 62%, and 52%, respectively) one day post-injury, whereas the infiltration of beneficial M2 macrophages was less affected (by 27%, 41%, and 16%). In addition, at the same time point, ATR visibly decreased caspase-3 cleavage in neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Six weeks post-SCI, ATR increased the expression of neurofilaments in the dorsolateral columns and Gap43-positive fibers in the lateral columns around the epicenter, and from day 30 to 42, significantly improved the motor activity of the hindlimbs. We suggest that early modulation of the inflammatory response via effects on the M1/M2 macrophages and the inhibition of caspase-3 expression could be crucial for the functional outcome