MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE MEDICAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Due to the demographical changes and the currently booming health industry, the medical tourism sector has a great future potential. This paper provides an analysis about the medical tourism market itself and gives an insight in the field of marketing opportunities in the medical tourism development. Therefore, to give a basis for the further development of marketing strategies, the consumer behaviour will be analysed. In addition, a theoretical overview about used and useable Marketing methods in the medical tourism industry will be out-lined. The used scientific methods within this research work are as the following: content analysis, graphical analysis and synthesis, reference methods, logical and abstract constructive methods

Minimizing the release of Chromium, Molybdenum, Vanadium, and Fluoride from Steelwork Slags

Steelwork slags (SWS) are important by-products of the iron and steel manufacturing. About 87% of SWS are used in qualified fields of application: e.g., for internal use, as construction and building materials, as fertilizer or for metallurgical processes; but the remaining 13% of SWS still have to be deposited in landfills. For use as construction and building material, SWS have to fulfill stringent technical and environmental requirements, which are continuously evolving. In consequence higher amounts of SWS might have to be landfilled in the future. The overall aim of this research project was to improve the leaching behavior of environmentally relevant parameters, i.e., chromium, molybdenum, vanadium and fluoride from SWS and to enhance the knowledge about the release of these parameters from SWS, to ensure the use of SWS as a construction product. Two different approaches were investigated: accelerated carbonization of SWS (project I) and immobilization with additives (project II). In project I the influence of natural and accelerated carbonation on the leaching behavior of SWS was investigated. From the obtained results the outdoor exposed SWS show a distinct increase in Si and V leaching and a decrease of Ca leaching, with lower pH, due to carbonation. The other investigated elements (Al, Cr, Mo, and F−) react differently to carbonation depending on the mineral binding. However, the achieved results show that the German LAGA emplacement category can be improved from Z 2 (restricted appli-cations with defined safeguarding measures) to Z 1 (restricted open applications) due to carbonation. The immobilization of trace elements and fluoride with appropriate additives was investigated in project II. Seven mineral additives were tested for their efficiency to immobilize Cr, Mo, V, and F− in SWS eluates, which were obtained from four different SWS. It was possible to identify two suitable additives: iron oxide hydroxide (a commercial available product) and water work sludge (classified as waste). Both additives show a significant immobilization of the above mentioned parameters. To verify these results, long term studies with these two additives and four SWS were done under practical conditions. The relation of mineralogy and related leaching behavior, i.e., the availability of environmentally relevant elements was also investigated, which is quite lacking in the literature. This issue was investigated with a four-fraction-based sequential extraction procedure in combination with X-ray diffraction. The results showed that Cr and Mo primarily occurred in F4, representing rather immobile elements under natural conditions, which were strongly bound into/onto Fe-minerals (srebrodolskite, magnetite, hematite or wustite). In contrast, V was more mobile with proportional higher findings in F2 and F3, and the X-ray diffraction results reveal that V was not solely bound into Ca-minerals (larnite, hatrurite, kirschsteinite and calcite), but also to Fe-minerals. The results indicated that the total content of elements after digestion is a poor indicator of the availability of elements, and did not correspond to the leaching of elements from basic oxygen furnace slags

Astera

Carmen Sylva'nın Hanımlara Mahsus Gazete'de yayımlanan Astera adlı romanının ilk ve son tefrikalar

The small DUF1127 protein CcaF1 from Rhodobacter sphaeroides is an RNA-binding protein involved in sRNA maturation and RNA turnover

Many different protein domains are conserved among numerous species, but their function remains obscure. Proteins with DUF1127 domains number >17 000 in current databases, but a biological function has not yet been assigned to any of them. They are mostly found in alpha- and gammaproteobacteria, some of them plant and animal pathogens, symbionts or species used in industrial applications. Bioinformatic analyses revealed similarity of the DUF1127 domain of bacterial proteins to the RNA binding domain of eukaryotic Smaug proteins that are involved in RNA turnover and have a role in development from Drosophila to mammals. This study demonstrates that the 71 amino acid DUF1127 protein CcaF1 from the alphaproteobacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides participates in maturation of the CcsR sRNAs that are processed from the 3' UTR of the ccaF mRNA and have a role in the oxidative stress defense. CcaF1 binds to many cellular RNAs of different type, several mRNAs with a function in cysteine / methionine / sulfur metabolism. It affects the stability of the CcsR RNAs and other non-coding RNAs and mRNAs. Thus, the widely distributed DUF1127 domain can mediate RNA-binding, affect stability of its binding partners and consequently modulate the bacterial transcriptome, thereby influencing different physiological processes

3-Ethyl-5-(4-meth­oxy­phen­oxy)-2-(pyridin-4-yl)-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine

In the title compound, C20H18N4O2, the imidazopyridine fused ring system is almost perpendicular to the benzene ring [dihedral angle = 87.6 (5)°]. The pyridine ring makes a dihedral angle of 35.5 (5)° with the mean plane of the imidazopyridine fragment. The crystal structure is stabilized by an aromatic π–π stacking inter­action between the phenyl rings of neighbouring mol­ecules [centroid–centroid distance = 3.772 (2) Å, inter­planar distance = 3.546 (2) Å and slippage = 1.286 (2) Å]

High-Throughput Proteomics Identifies Proteins With Importance to Postantibiotic Recovery in Depolarized Persister Cells

Bacterial populations produce phenotypic variants called persisters to survive harmful conditions. Persisters are highly tolerant to antibiotics and repopulate environments after the stress has vanished. In order to resume growth, persisters have to recover from the persistent state, but the processes behind recovery remain mostly elusive. Deciphering these processes is an essential step toward understanding the persister phenomenon in its entirety. High-throughput proteomics by mass spectrometry is a valuable tool to assess persister physiology during any stage of the persister life cycle, and is expected to considerably contribute to our understanding of the recovery process. In the present study, an Escherichia coli strain, that overproduces the membrane-depolarizing toxin TisB, was established as a model for persistence by the use of high-throughput proteomics. Labeling of TisB persisters with stable isotope-containing amino acids (pulsed-SILAC) revealed an active translational response to ampicillin, including several RpoS-dependent proteins. Subsequent investigation of the persister proteome during postantibiotic recovery by label-free quantitative proteomics identified proteins with importance to the recovery process. Among them, AhpF, a component of alkyl hydroperoxide reductase, and the outer membrane porin OmpF were found to affect the persistence time of TisB persisters. Assessing the role of AhpF and OmpF in TisB-independent persisters demonstrated that the importance of a particular protein for the recovery process strongly depends on the physiological condition of a persister cell. Our study provides important insights into persister physiology and the processes behind recovery of depolarized cells

Gewährleistung des öffentlichen Personennahverkehrs durch allgemeine Vorschriften

Mobility and flexibility are critical for today's society, particularly in the field of local passenger transport. To meet society's need for public passenger transport services, public support is often required. This state support, however, must fulfil the requirements of state aid law. As a new legal instrument, the general rules derived from Regulation (EC) 1370/2007 offer ways of ensuring more efficient public transport services in compliance with state aid law. This work deals with open questions regarding general rules and examines the implications of state support in public local passenger transport services from a state aid perspective. The author offers a practical approach to the implementation of general rules with more legal certainty. Therefore, this work not only contributes to the academic discussion of the topic but also serves as a guide for competent authorities in the public passenger transport sector, providers of these services and their legal advisors.</p

Una perspectiva crítica sobre bitcoin como activo: algoritmos de trading, manipulación de precios y la historia de las burbujas de bitcoin

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría Económica e Historia Económica . Fecha de Lectura: 03-04-2025Bitcoin, en su corta historia, se ha convertido en uno de los activos más discutidos en lo que va del siglo XXI. Una gran parte de la literatura sobre economía financiera se centra en intentar predecir los precios de Bitcoin y cómo comerciar con él de forma rentable. Esta tesis se diferencia en que pone de relieve varias lagunas en la investigación, que deberían resolverse antes de considerar dar consejos a la gente sobre cómo negociar o predecir Bitcoin. En primer lugar, echamos un vistazo a la historia del subreddit de Bitcoin y analizamos cómo ha cambiado la percepción y el interés por Bitcoin a lo largo de los años. Encontramos que, antes de 2017, el interés en Bitcoin se centraba en su potencial para cambiar los sistemas de pago globales. Después de 2017, comenzó a ser comparado con el oro digital y se enfocó en cómo hacerse rico comprándolo.". Además de esta tendencia general, descubrimos temas que se repiten a lo largo de los Booms y Busts de Bitcoin que utilizamos para crear lo que llamamos «La Anatomía de las Burbujas de Bitcoin». En el primer capítulo describimos estos patrones de miedo y codicia y cómo se mueven a lo largo del precio de Bitcoin. En este capítulo encontramos que algunas de las mayores Burbujas de Bitcoin han sido causadas o guiadas por la Manipulación de Precios. Esto nos lleva al capítulo dos, en el que presentamos la literatura actual sobre la manipulación del precio de Bitcoin. Un debate en curso ha sido si el año 2019 también se ha visto afectado por ella. Utilizando datos de cotizaciones y operaciones a nivel de tick de Binance y Bitfinex, presentamos pruebas contundentes de que la manipulación de precios sí se produjo en este año. A continuación, el capítulo número tres se ocupa de los algoritmos de negociación. Existe una tendencia en la literatura a presentar soluciones integrales sobre cómo operar con Bitcoin u otros activos utilizando el aprendizaje profundo por refuerzo, pero estos enfoques han sido muy criticados en varios estudios. Estos estudios reclaman enfoques estandarizados para probar estos algoritmos de negociación. Nosotros les seguimos construyendo las primeras pruebas/experimentos de referencia en este campo. Los resultados de nuestros experimentos ponen de manifiesto la necesidad de varias medidas de seguridad cruciales que deberían incluirse al utilizar estos algoritmos y que, sin embargo, se han ignorado en la literatur