Gotowa bibliografia na temat „Nan Hai 1 hai (Ship)”

<p>The objective of this research was to investigate the history and analyze the style of pottery products of Ban Tao Hai in Phitsanulok province. The research procedure took on documentary study appeared with the stories of pottery products of Ban Tao Hai, and explore pottery products of Ban Tao Hai in the museums and those discovered in Phitsanulok province. Data analysis focused on the history, styles, decorative patterns, and marks or symbols observed. Research result demonstrated that the pottery products of Ban Tao Hai were located in the ancient kiln sites at Ban Tao Hai currently situated in the area of Ta Pakao Hai temple and Ta Pakao Hai school at Hua Raw sub-district, Amphur Muang, Phitsanulok province. It is a cluster of large kilns stacked up and lined up along the Nan River, the kilns with high-technology. The products were either earthenware or large stoneware such as jars, jugs, basins, and bowls. According to the survey and excavation on 2 April 1984 by the regional Office of Fine Arts of Sukhothai and Phitsanulok, a stack of 2 kilns was discovered, i.e. the brick-built crossdraft kilns in similar sizes called Phitsanulok Kiln 1 (PK.1) and Phitsanulok Kiln 2 (PK.2). Ban Tao Hai pottery products that the researcher found were kept in the museum and in the community, altogether 80 pieces. Most of them were not in perfect condition, and only some with perfect condition were in good storage. These 80 pieces were in 6 categories: 1) wide-mouth jar, 16 pieces; 2) flaring-mouth jar, 17 pieces; 3) basin, 2 pieces; 4) round-bottom pot, 3 pieces; 5) jarlet, 33 pieces; and 6) mortar, 9 pieces. Among them, 17 pieces were decorated with applied spiral design (Lai Kod Hoi) so called “Lai Ou”, 27 pieces with excised and impressed designs, and another 36 pieces were undecorated. They comprised 26 glazed and 54 unglazed pieces. One of the unique features of Ban Tao Hai pottery was the marks or symbols made by the potters on the body of workpieces. The study revealed 22 marked and 54 unmarked pieces of pottery.</p>

ABSTRACT The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), established in October 1982, is the sole Chinese company dealing with offshore oil exploration, development, and production. It has four regional corporations, and four specialized corporations, as well as seventeen joint venture corporations. CNOOC has four representative offices outside China. Since the Sino-foreign cooperation for offshore oil exploration and development in China started, 360,000 line km of seismic survey have been shot, thirty-nine oil and gas bearing structures have been found, fifteen oil fields have been evaluated as having large hydrocarbon accumulations, nine oil fields have been developed and put into production, 179 exploratory wells have been drilled, and CNOOC has signed thirty-nine contracts with a total of forty-five foreign companies from twelve countries. There are five laws and regulations in the PRC affecting offshore oil development and marine environmental pollution. In accord with these laws and regulations, CNOOC has reviewed four environmental impact statements for offshore oil fields received from its regional corporations. CNOOC has made oil spill contingency plans for the Cheng-Bei offshore oil field in Bo-Hai, and the Wei 10-3 offshore oil field in the Gulf of Bei-Bu. Some oil spill combating equipment is owned by the Bo-Hai Oil Corporation and the Nan-Hai West Oil Corporation, selected on the basis of the crude oil characteristics.

One of the arguments for supposing that the ‘world's earliest printed book’, the Diamond Sūtra in the Stein collection in London, is actually the outcome of a long process of development relies on the very high quality of the images contained in the frontispiece. It is possible, of course, to point to much more crudely formed Buddha images stamped on paper from the same source at Tunhuang, but the dated examples that have been studied are actually later than the Stein Diamond Sūtra itself.1 The practice of printing Buddha images on paper and silk in India is attested in 792 by the Nan-hai chi-kuei nei-fa chuan of I-ching who was in India 673–85, and Paul Pelliot for one was prepared to believe that this practice, using Chinese materials, was originally derived from China itself.2 Frustratingly enough, however, no Chinese source has so far been identified which clearly mentions printing on paper at any point earlier than I-ching's text, which itself does not antedate by more than half a century or so the earliest printed materials we actually possess, notably in the form of a dharaṇī from Korea.3

In ancient China, Daoist philosophers developed the concepts of qi (energy), Wu Xing (five elements), and yin (feminine, dark, negative) and yang (masculine, bright, positive) opposite forces between 200 and 600 BCE. Based on these philosophies, Zhen Jiu (acupuncture), Ben Cao (materia medica), and the practice of Qi Gong (energy optimization movements) evolved as the three interrelated therapeutic regimens of Chinese medicine (Note 1). Since the time of Zhang Qian, who discovered China’s western regions in the 1st century BCE, Hai Yao (the exotic elements of materia medica from the maritime Silk Road countries), had been transmitted from the ancient land and maritime routes of the Silk Road to China in the past two millennia (Note 2). Since the late 17th century, the English East India Company, later called the British East India Company, introduced Yang Yao (opium) to the Manchu Qing Empire to balance a growing trade deficit for tea export from China to the British Empire. After the First Opium War ended in 1842, enterprising expatriate chemists and druggists in the treaty ports imported Xi Yao (modern medicines from the Western world) for sale to the merchant navy and the local market. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, both Hai Yao and Xi Yao have become a fully integrated part of modern China’s armamentarium for the Chinese medicine and Western hospitals and retail pharmacy sectors. This paper articulates the journey of adoption of exotic elements of materia medica from the ancient land and sea routes of the Silk Road, including the western regions and the rest of the world in the past two millennia. Opium traders, ship surgeons, medical and pharmaceutical missionaries, enterprising traders, and policymakers together transformed Ben Cao into Xi Yao during the late Manchu Qing dynasty and the early Nationalist Era.

ABSTRACT On July 22, 1991, the Tuo Hai, a 46,500 ton Chinese grain carrier, collided with the Tenyo Maru, a 4,800 ton Japanese fish processing ship, off the coast of Washington State. The Tenyo Maru sank, creating an oil spill that cost upwards of $4 million (U.S.) to clean up. The incident initiated a joint response from the U.S. and Canadian governments. As part of this response, the Canadian Coast Guard mobilized an SRN-6 hovercraft. This air cushioned vehicle (ACV) provided logistical support to responders on both sides of the international boundary. The response operation along the Pacific Coast was extensive. Dense fog and the remote location of the impacted area provided formidable challenges to the cleanup effort. It was the mission scenario of the Canadian SRN-6 hovercraft to provide logistical support—as an experiment in ACV utility—to the organizations responding to this incident. Based on this experience, it can be argued that the hovercraft offers great potential value in responding to marine oil spills. Appropriate application of ACV technology can enhance oil spill response work, spill waste management, and incident surveillance. This paper discusses the contribution of the SRN-6 hovercraft to the Tenyo Maru response, briefly examines the use of another, very different hovercraft, during a response in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and reviews a new hovercraft design and discusses its potential contributions.

Klebsiella pneumoniae thuộc nhóm tác nhân gây nhiễm khuẩn bệnh viện hàng đầu. Việc lựa chọn kháng sinh điều trị hiệu quả trở nên nan giải khi vi khuẩn tiếp nhận và kết hợp nhiều cơ chế trở thành chủng kháng phổ mở rộng (XDR), chỉ còn nhạy cảm với một hoặc hai nhóm kháng sinh. Chúng tôi tiến hành nghiên cứu nhằm mô tả đặc điểm di truyền chủng K. pneumoniae XDR lâm sàng PI15KP27 từ dữ liệu giải trình tự bằng hệ thống MinION kết hợp với MiSeq. Kết quả phân tích bộ gene PI15KP27 cho thấy chủng có một nhiễm sắc thể dài 5.247.824bp và ba plasmid vòng có kích thước lần lượt là 222.330bp, 144.138bp và 121.851bp. Ngoài 29 gene kháng tìm được dựa trên cơ sở dữ liệu Resfnder, kể cả gene kháng colistin mcr-1 và carbapenem blaNDM-4, cơ sở dữ liệu CARD cung cấp thêm 14 gene quy định tính kháng liên quan đến cả bốn cơ chế bơm đào thải, giảm tính thấm của màng, tác động đến mục tiêu và bất hoạt bằng enzym. Việc tiếp nhận nhiều và đa dạng gene kháng có sự đóng góp quan trọng của các yếu tố di động như plasmid, yếu tố gắn chèn IS, gene tra, gene cassette. Sự kết hợp của nhiều cơ chế kháng kháng sinh trong chủng lâm sàng này làm báo động về khả năng lây lan của vi khuẩn K. pneumoniaeXDR trong các cơ sở y tế.

Abstract Background: The commercialization of autologous chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) is hindered by the expensive and time-consuming manufacturing process, presenting major challenges. The development of allogeneic products is proposed as an alternative strategy to overcome these obstacles. Vδ1T cells, possessing active homing capability, are known to infiltrate tumor tissues and have been linked with favorable patient prognosis due to their direct killing effect via innate immunity and their sensitive T cell receptors that can broadly recognize tumor antigens. Unlike conventional αβ T cells, Vδ1 TCRs are not restricted by major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs), thus preventing the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Therefore, Vδ1T cells were hypothesized to be a superior candidate for universal CAR-T cells. Nevertheless, the small portion of Vδ1T cells (less than 1%) in peripheral blood posts a significant challenge for CMC and production. Here we present the successful development of CD19-CAR-Vδ1T cells, which demonstrate enhanced therapeutic efficacy on B-cell malignancy models. Methods: High-purity CD19-CAR-Vδ1T cells were prepared using PersonGen's proprietary platform technology. Multiple CAR structures were tested for cytotoxicity, and the fourth-generation CAR-transduced Vδ1 cells designated as UTAA09 exhibited sustained killing of CD19+ target cells. UTAA09 underwent in-depth research regarding its anti-tumor efficacy and safety. Results: The Vδ1T cell purity exceeded 95%, while the residual TCRαβ count remained under 1%. The CAR transduction efficiency remained stable across batches, with medium CAR+~30%, and up to 2×1011 UTAA09 cells were harvested in compliance with GMP standards. The presence of secreted IL-2 significantly increased the persistence of UTAA09 in vitro, and UTAA09 showed comparable anti-tumor activity and expansion rates to CD19-CAR-αβT cells. Notably, no exhaustion phenotype was detected for UTAA09 after multiple antigen stimulation processes. Moreover, UTAA09 lacked detectable IL-17A, indicating a non-promoting characteristic in tumor growth. In the xenograft model, significant inhibition of tumor growth was observed in all mice, of which 40% achieved long-term disease-free survival (p&lt;0.01) . On days 5, 12, and 19 after the administration of UTAA09, Vδ1T cells underwent significant expansion in all 5 mice tested. Subsequent analysis confirmed that the majority of these expanded Vδ1T cells were CAR+ cells, indicating the specific and long-lasting expansion of CD19-CAR+ Vδ1T cells in vivo. Importantly, none of the mice experienced significant weight loss, demonstrating the safety and outstanding in vivo effectiveness of UTAA09. Conclusion: UTAA09 shows potential as an off-the-shelf allogeneic cellular therapy for the treatment of B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases derived from B cells. Citation Format: Dan Chen, Fengtao You, Cheng Chen, Shufen Xiang, Ping Zhang, Hai Wu, Zhong Zheng, Min Wang, Xingbing Wang, Huimin Meng, Nan Yang, Bozhen Zhang, Lin Yang. The “off-the-shelf ”CD19-CAR-Vδ1T cells demonstrated an enhanced therapeutic effect on B-cell malignancy models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5254.

Abstract Background: CAR-αβT cells have made limited advancement in treating solid tumors. Vδ1 T cells, a subtype of γδT cells, are rare in human peripheral blood, but they are the main tissue-resident immune cells found in epithelial and mucosal tissues. This suggests that Vδ1 T cells might be a potential modality for treating solid tumors. To explore this possibility, we hypothesized that Vδ1 T cells modified with B7-H3 CAR (B7-H3-CAR-Vδ1 T) could have great potential of anti-solid tumor activity, making them a promising candidate for further development as a universal cellular therapy product. Methods: A proprietary manufacturing procedure to produce Vδ1 T cells from the leukopak of healthy donors has been established under GMP compliance. The immune checkpoint molecule B7-H3 was selected as the target. The allogeneic B7-H3-CAR-Vδ1 T cells carrying IL-2 (UTAA06), which displayed the most prolonged anti-tumor activity, were chosen for comprehensive functional validation. Single-cell sequencing and mass spectrometry flow cytometry were utilized to characterize the biology of UTAA06. In vivo effectiveness of UTAA06 was confirmed in animal models. Results: A clinical-grade manufacturing process for Vδ1 T cells is developed. This process results in a purity of over 95% of Vδ1 T cells, with an expansion of more than 20,000-fold, and a CAR lentiviral transduction efficiency of over 50%.žSingle-cell sequencing and mass cytometry analysis both demonstrated that the Vδ1 T cells produced by our approach exhibited high expression levels of natural cytotoxic receptors (including NKG2D, DNAM1, and NKp series receptors), chemokine receptors (such as CXCR3 and CXCR6), anti-tumor related molecules (such as CD27 and CD137), and low expression levels of inhibitory molecules (such as PD1 and LAG3).ž UTAA06 cells did not produce IL17A, which is a signal protein with pro-tumor activity. Meanwhile, UTAA06 demonstrated significant and specific inhibitory effects on the growth of various solid tumor cell lines.žUTAA06 cells were found to significantly suppress tumor cell growth in solid tumor mouse models. The complete remission (CR) for each tumor model was 83.3% of neuroblastoma (SK-N-AS, N=6), 66.7% of pancreatic cancer (SW1990, N=6), 100% of lung cancer (A549, N=6), and 70% of colorectal cancer (HCT-15, N=10) respectively. In addition, a potent capacity of UTAA06 to penetrate tumor tissues with a favorable safety profile in mice was observed. Conclusion: UTAA06 exhibited extraordinary anticancer properties both in vitro and in vivo against solid tumors. Additionally, the outstanding manufacturing process of UTAA06 will facilitate the clinical application of this product. Citation Format: Licui Jiang, Changsong Qi, Fengtao You, Shufen Xiang, Ping Zhang, Min Wang, Hai Wu, Kunmin Yan, Jiequn Huang, Huimin Meng, Nan Yang, Shirley Zhang, Lin Shen, Lin Yang. A B7-H3-CAR-modified Vδ1 T cells showed potentanti-solid tumor potential [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5255.

BackgroundPatients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on methotrexate have reduced vaccine responses. Temporary discontinuation has improved immunogenicity of anti-influenza vaccine, but this strategy has not been evaluated in anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.ObjectivesTo evaluate the effect on immunogenicity and safety of 2-week methotrexate (MTX) discontinuation after each dose of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine versus MTX maintenance in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.MethodsThis was a single-center, prospective, randomized, investigator-blinded, intervention study (#NCT04754698, CoronavRheum), including adult RA patients (stable CDAI≤10, prednisone ≤7.5mg/day), randomized (1:1) to withdraw MTX (MTX-hold) for 2 weeks after each vaccine dose or maintain MTX (MTX-maintain), evaluated at D0, D28 and D69. Co-primary outcomes were anti-SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG seroconversion(SC) and neutralizing antibody (NAb) positivity at D69. Secondary outcomes were geometric mean titers (GMT) and flare rates. For immunogenicity analyses, we excluded patients with baseline positive IgG/NAb, and, for safety reasons, those who flared at D28 (CDAI>10) and did not withdraw MTX twice.ResultsRandomization included 138 patients with 9 exclusions (5 COVID-19, 4 protocol violations). Safety evaluation included 60 (MTX-hold) and 69 (MTX-maintain) patients. Further exclusions: 27 patients [13 (21.7%) vs. 14 (20.3%), p=0.848] with positive baseline IgG/NAb and 10 patients (21.3%) in MTX-hold with CDAI>10 at D28. At D69, MTX-hold (n=37) had a higher rate of seroconversion than MTX-maintain (n=55) group [29 (78.4%) vs 30 (54.5%), p=0.019], with parallel augmentation in GMT [34.2 (25.2-46.4) vs 16.8 (11.9-23.6), p=0.006]. No differences were observed for NAb positivity [23 (62.2%) vs 27 (49.1%), p=0.217]. At D28 flare, rates were comparable in both groups (CDAI, p=0.122; DAS28-CRP, p=0.576), whereas CDAI>10 was more frequent in MTX-hold at D69 (p=0.024).Figure 1.ConclusionWe provide novel data that 2-week MTX withdrawal after each Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine dose improves anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG response. The increased flare rates after second MTX withdrawal may be attributed to the short-term interval between vaccine doses. This strategy requires close surveillance and shared decision making due to the possibility of flares.References[1]​​Jara A, Undurraga EA, González C, et al. Effectiveness of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in Chile. N Eng J Med. 2021 Sep 2;385(10):875-84. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2107715[2]Furer V, Eviatar T, Zisman D, et al. Lb0003 Immunogenicity and Safety of the BNT162B2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine in Adult Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases and General Population: a Multicenter Study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021;80:200-201. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-220647[3]Medeiros-Ribeiro AC, Aikawa NE, Saad CG, et al. Immunogenicity and safety of the CoronaVac inactivated vaccine in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases: a phase 4 trial. Nat. Med. 2021 Jul 30:1-8. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01469-5.[4]Park JK, Lee MA, Lee EY, et al. Effect of methotrexate discontinuation on efficacy of seasonal influenza vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised clinical trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Sep 1;76(9):1559-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-211128[5]Park JK, Lee YJ, Shin K, et al. Impact of temporary methotrexate discontinuation for 2 weeks on immunogenicity of seasonal influenza vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised clinical trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018 Jun 1;77(6):898-904. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-213222AcknowledgementsThis protocol is part of a larger study of immunosuppressed patients with ARD (Clinicaltrials.gov#NCT04754698)Disclosure of InterestsNone declared

Abstract Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous group of cancer with dismal prognosis. In an effort to discover therapeutic targets, TNBC has been further stratified into molecular subtypes. Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) have been increasingly utilized for the treatment of TNBC. Difficulty remains, however, in appropriate patient selection for treatment, as many PD-L1-positive cancers fail to show durable responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules play a crucial role in the presentation of tumor antigenic peptides to cytotoxic T cells. Loss of MHC class I expression in tumor cells represents a possible mechanism of immunotherapeutic resistance in PD-L1-positive cancers. However, little is known about the clinical impact and value of MHC class I expression in TNBC subtypes. Thus, this study examined MHC class I expression in TNBC subtypes with attention to PD-L1 expression and T cell infiltration. Materials and methods: MHC class I and PD-L1 expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry in 256 TNBC samples using tissue microarray. Immunohistochemistry for the TNBC molecular subtype-surrogate markers [cytokeratin 5/6 (CK5/6), CK14, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and androgen receptor (AR)], CD3, and CD8 was also performed. TNBC subtypes were classified into three subtypes: basal-like (BL), luminal AR (LAR), and unclassifiable type (UN). Results: All immunohistochemical markers were interpretable in 240 cases. TNBCs were classified into BL (65.8%), LAR (11.3%), and UN (22.9%) subtypes. Loss of MHC class I expression was found in 62 of 240 (25.8%) cases and was observed in 23.4% of BL, 40.7% of LAR, and 25.9% of UN subtype. PD-L1 expression in tumor-associated immune cells (≥1%) was seen in 69.2% (166/240). Among 166 PD-L1-positive TNBC cases, loss of MHC class I expression was seen in 16.4% of BL, 31.3% of LAR, and 20.0% of UN subtype. Loss of MHC class I expression was associated with low stromal TILs density and low CD3+ and CD8+ T-cell infiltration in BL subtype. CD3+ and CD8+ T-cell infiltration in TNBC subtype had a positive correlation with PD-L1 expression. In PD-L1 positive BL subtype, MHC class I lost expression showed a lower infiltration with CD3+ and CD8+ T-cells than MHC class I intact expression. In BL subtype, PD-L1 expression was associated with better disease-free survival and loss of MHC class I expression was associated with poor overall survival. However, MHC class I and PD-L1 expressions were not independent prognostic factors for disease-free or overall survival. Conclusions: Loss of MHC class I expression was found in TNBC, including PD-L1 positive cases. In PD-L1 positive BL subtype, loss of MHC class I expression was associated with low CD3 and CD8+ T-cell infiltration. Our results suggest that the evaluation of PD-L1 and MHC class I expression together is very important for the selection of potential responders to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy for the TNBCs, especially the BL subtype. Citation Format: ji shin lee, nah ihm kim, min ho park. MHC class I and PD-L1 expression in triple-negative breast cancer subtypes: impact on T-cell infiltration and clinical outcome [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PD9-02.

Economy and mankind are inextricably interlinked. Just as the economy or the production of material wealth is unimaginable without a man, so human existence and development are impossible without the wealth created in the economy. Shortly, both the goal and the means of achieving and realization of the economy are still the human resources. People have long ago noticed that it was the economy that created livelihoods, and the delays in their production led to the catastrophic events such as hunger, poverty, civil wars, social upheavals, revolutions, moral degeneration, and more. Therefore, the special interest of people in understanding the regulatory framework of the functioning of the economy has existed and exists in all historical epochs [A. Sisvadze. Economic theory. Part One. 2006y. p. 22]. The system of economic disciplines studies economy or economic activities of a society. All of them are based on science, which is currently called economic theory in the post-socialist space (the science of economics, the principles of economics or modern economics), and in most countries of the world - predominantly in the Greek-Latin manner - economics. The title of the present book is also Modern Economics. Economics (economic theory) is the science that studies the efficient use of limited resources to produce and distribute goods and services in order to satisfy as much as possible the unlimited needs and demands of the society. More simply, economics is the science of choice and how society manages its limited resources. Moreover, it should be emphasized that economics (economic theory) studies only the distribution, exchange and consumption of the economic wealth (food, beverages, clothing, housing, machine tools, computers, services, etc.), the production of which is possible and limited. And the wealth that exists indefinitely: no economic relations are formed in the production and distribution of solar energy, air, and the like. This current book is the second complete updated edition of the challenges of the modern global economy in the context of the coronary crisis, taking into account some of the priority directions of the country's development. Its purpose is to help students and interested readers gain a thorough knowledge of economics and show them how this knowledge can be applied pragmatically (professionally) in professional activities or in everyday life. To achieve this goal, this textbook, which consists of two parts and tests, discusses in simple and clear language issues such as: the essence of economics as a science, reasons for origin, purpose, tasks, usefulness and functions; Basic principles, problems and peculiarities of economics in different economic systems; Needs and demand, the essence of economic resources, types and limitations; Interaction, mobility, interchangeability and efficient use of economic resources. The essence and types of wealth; The essence, types and models of the economic system; The interaction of households and firms in the market of resources and products; Market mechanism and its elements - demand, supply and price; Demand and supply elasticity; Production costs and the ways to reduce them; Forms of the market - perfect and incomplete competition markets and their peculiarities; Markets for Production Factors and factor incomes; The essence of macroeconomics, causes and importance of origin; The essence and calculation of key macroeconomic indicators (gross national product, gross domestic product, net national product, national income, etc.); Macroeconomic stability and instability, unemployment, inflation and anti-inflationary policies; State regulation of the economy and economic policy; Monetary and fiscal policy; Income and standard of living; Economic Growth; The Corona Pandemic as a Defect and Effect of Globalization; National Economic Problems and New Opportunities for Development in the conditions of the Coronary Crisis; The Socio-economic problems of moral obsolescence in digital technologies; Education and creativity are the main solution way to overcome the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus; Positive and negative effects of tourism in Georgia; Formation of the middle class as a contributing factor to the development of tourism in Georgia; Corporate culture in Georgian travel companies, etc. The axiomatic truth is that economics is the union of people in constant interaction. Given that the behavior of the economy reflects the behavior of the people who make up the economy, after clarifying the essence of the economy, we move on to the analysis of the four principles of individual decision-making. Furtermore, the book describes how people make independent decisions. The key to making an individual decision is that people have to choose from alternative options, that the value of any action is measured by the value of what must be given or what must be given up to get something, that the rational, smart people make decisions based on the comparison of the marginal costs and marginal returns (benefits), and that people behave accordingly to stimuli. Afterwards, the need for human interaction is then analyzed and substantiated. If a person is isolated, he will have to take care of his own food, clothes, shoes, his own house and so on. In the case of such a closed economy and universalization of labor, firstly, its productivity will be low and, secondly, it will be able to consume only what it produces. It is clear that human productivity will be higher and more profitable as a result of labor specialization and the opportunity to trade with others. Indeed, trade allows each person to specialize, to engage in the activities that are most successful, be it agriculture, sewing or construction, and to buy more diverse goods and services from others at a relatively lower price. The key to such human interactions is that trade is mutually beneficial; That markets are usually the good means of coordination between people and that the government can improve the results of market functioning if the market reveals weakness or the results of market functioning are not fair. Moroever, it also shows how the economy works as a whole. In particular, it is argued that productivity is a key determinant of living standards, that an increase in the money supply is a major source of inflation, and that one of the main impediments to avoiding inflation is the existence of an alternative between inflation and unemployment in the short term, that the inflation decrease causes the temporary decline in unemployement and vice versa. The Understanding creatively of all above mentioned issues, we think, will help the reader to develop market economy-appropriate thinking and rational economic-commercial-financial behaviors, to be more competitive in the domestic and international labor markets, and thus to ensure both their own prosperity and the functioning of the country's economy. How he/she copes with the tasks, it is up to the individual reader to decide. At the same time, we will receive all the smart useful advices with a sense of gratitude and will take it into account in the further work. We also would like to thank the editor and reviewers of the books. Finally, there are many things changing, so it is very important to realize that the XXI century has come: 1. The century of the new economy; 2. Age of Knowledge; 3. Age of Information and economic activities are changing in term of innovations. 1. Why is the 21st century the century of the new economy? Because for this period the economic resources, especially non-productive, non-recoverable ones (oil, natural gas, coal, etc.) are becoming increasingly limited. According to the World Energy Council, there are currently 43 years of gas and oil reserves left in the world (see “New Commersant 2007 # 2, p. 16). Under such conditions, sustainable growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) and maximum satisfaction of uncertain needs should be achieved not through the use of more land, labor and capital (extensification), but through more efficient use of available resources (intensification) or innovative economy. And economics, as it was said, is the science of finding the ways about the more effective usage of the limited resources. At the same time, with the sustainable growth and development of the economy, the present needs must be met in a way that does not deprive future generations of the opportunity to meet their needs; 2. Why is the 21st century the age of knowledge? Because in a modern economy, it is not land (natural resources), labor and capital that is crucial, but knowledge. Modern production, its factors and products are not time-consuming and capital-intensive, but science-intensive, knowledge-intensive. The good example of this is a Japanese enterprise (firm) where the production process is going on but people are almost invisible, also, the result of such production (Japanese product) is a miniature or a sample of how to get the maximum result at the lowest cost; 3. Why is the 21st century the age of information? Because the efficient functioning of the modern economy, the effective organization of the material and personal factors of production largely depend on the right governance decision. The right governance decision requires prompt and accurate information. Gone are the days when the main means of transport was a sailing ship, the main form of data processing was pencil and paper, and the main means of transmitting information was sending letters through a postman on horseback. By the modern transport infrastructure (highways, railways, ships, regular domestic and international flights, oil and gas pipelines, etc.), the movement of goods, services and labor resoucres has been significantly accelerated, while through the modern means of communication (mobile phone, internet, other) the information is spreading rapidly globally, which seems to have "shrunk" the world and made it a single large country. The Authors of the book: Ushangi Samadashvili, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University - Introduction, Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,12, 15,16, 17.1,18 , Tests, Revaz Shengelia, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University, Chapters_7, 8, 13. 14, 17.2, 17.4; Zhuzhuna Tsiklauri - Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University - Chapters 13.6, 13.7,17.2, 17.3, 18. We also thank the editor and reviewers of the book.

Previously, applications of composites were limited to the military aerospace. This is because civilian aircraft with composites inclusions was considered to be too expensive. The use of composite in aircrafts, instead of steel, has resulted in lightweight aircraft structures and has consequently reduced the level of fuel consumption and costs of fuel, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Undoubtedly, nanocomposites applications abound in several aspects of human life and the use of nanoparticle in materials dates back to the understanding of the nature of these materials. This chapter will focus on the use of nanopolymers in the aerospace and in the military. Particular attention will be given to nano military weapons, nanocoating for military applications, nanotechnology for military drones, nanotechnology in military suits, gloves, boots and nanotechnology in armored military vehicles, aircraft, and military ships and in military medicine.

Previously, applications of composites were limited to the military aerospace. This is because civilian aircraft with composites inclusions was considered to be too expensive. The use of composite in aircrafts, instead of steel, has resulted in lightweight aircraft structures and has consequently reduced the level of fuel consumption and costs of fuel, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Undoubtedly, nanocomposites applications abound in several aspects of human life and the use of nanoparticle in materials dates back to the understanding of the nature of these materials. This chapter will focus on the use of nanopolymers in the aerospace and in the military. Particular attention will be given to nano military weapons, nanocoating for military applications, nanotechnology for military drones, nanotechnology in military suits, gloves, boots and nanotechnology in armored military vehicles, aircraft, and military ships and in military medicine.

“ERP is dead - long live ERP II” was the title of a path breaking research note from Gartner Group (Bond, Genovese, Miklovic, Wood, Zrimsek, & Rayner, 2000). In this research note, Gartner Group envisions how the ERP vendors respond to market challenges and how ERP and ERP strategies evolved by 2005. Gartner Group defines ERP II as a transformation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and today the major vendors have adopted this concept in their contemporary ERP packages. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is an important concept to industry. Enterprises are increasingly implementing packaged ERP systems. A recent study confirmed that over 90% of the 500 largest Danish enterprises have adopted one or more ERP system. Further, the study found the systems to be of an average age of 2.8 years and decreasing (Møller, 2005a). ERP is a standardized software package designed to integrate the internal value chain of an enterprise (Klaus, Rosemann, & Gable, 2000). In 2002, the five major ERP vendors were: (i) SAP; (ii) Oracle; (iii) Peoplesoft; (iv) SAGE; and (v) Microsoft Business Solutions. They controled almost 50% of the ERP market (c.f. Table 1) and consequently the corporate infrastructure is dominated by the design of these systems and the vendors. By 2006, the market is consolidated and many of the smaller vendors have been merged with larger vendors. Oracle acquired PeopleSoft and JD Edwards and the global market seems to be dominated by SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. According to Nah (2002) the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) defines ERP as: “a method for the effective planning and controlling of all the resources needed to take, make, ship and account for customer orders in a manufacturing, distribution or service company.” This definition expresses ERP as a tool but ERP is also a management vision and an agency of change and ERP has been attributed to almost any good or bad that IT may bring about in business. In the late 1990s, the ERP hype was primarily motivated by companies rushing to prepare for Y2K (Calloway, 2000). Then, after a short recession the adoption of ERP has continued. Davenport’s sequel on enterprise systems (Davenport, 1998, 2000; Davenport & Brooks, 2004) illustrates the changing business perspective on ERP and the ERP hype. Davenport (1998) sums up the first wave of experiences from implementing ERP systems in a much cited paper on “putting the enterprise system into the enterprise,” and points to the new potential business impact of the ERP systems. The discussion evolved over the first enthusiastic expectations, continued over a growing number of horror stories about failed or out-of-control projects, toward a renewed hype of expectations on e-business and SCM. The ERP II concept is the software industry’s perception of the new business challenges and the vision addresses the issues of e-business integration in the supply chain. ERP II is the next-generation ERP concept and in a few years from now the ERP II vision is going to be institutionalized into the infrastructure of most enterprises. This article will portray the conceptual framework of ERP II.

“ERP is dead - long live ERP II” was the title of a path breaking research note from Gartner Group (Bond, Genovese, Miklovic, Wood, Zrimsek, & Rayner, 2000). In this research note, Gartner Group envisions how the ERP vendors respond to market challenges and how ERP and ERP strategies evolved by 2005. Gartner Group defines ERP II as a transformation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and today the major vendors have adopted this concept in their contemporary ERP packages. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is an important concept to industry. Enterprises are increasingly implementing packaged ERP systems. A recent study confirmed that over 90% of the 500 largest Danish enterprises have adopted one or more ERP system. Further, the study found the systems to be of an average age of 2.8 years and decreasing (Møller, 2005a). ERP is a standardized software package designed to integrate the internal value chain of an enterprise (Klaus, Rosemann, & Gable, 2000). In 2002, the five major ERP vendors were: (i) SAP; (ii) Oracle; (iii) Peoplesoft; (iv) SAGE; and (v) Microsoft Business Solutions. They controled almost 50% of the ERP market (c.f. Table 1) and consequently the corporate infrastructure is dominated by the design of these systems and the vendors. By 2006, the market is consolidated and many of the smaller vendors have been merged with larger vendors. Oracle acquired PeopleSoft and JD Edwards and the global market seems to be dominated by SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. According to Nah (2002) the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) defines ERP as: “a method for the effective planning and controlling of all the resources needed to take, make, ship and account for customer orders in a manufacturing, distribution or service company.” This definition expresses ERP as a tool but ERP is also a management vision and an agency of change and ERP has been attributed to almost any good or bad that IT may bring about in business. In the late 1990s, the ERP hype was primarily motivated by companies rushing to prepare for Y2K (Calloway, 2000). Then, after a short recession the adoption of ERP has continued. Davenport’s sequel on enterprise systems (Davenport, 1998, 2000; Davenport & Brooks, 2004) illustrates the changing business perspective on ERP and the ERP hype. Davenport (1998) sums up the first wave of experiences from implementing ERP systems in a much cited paper on “putting the enterprise system into the enterprise,” and points to the new potential business impact of the ERP systems. The discussion evolved over the first enthusiastic expectations, continued over a growing number of horror stories about failed or out-of-control projects, toward a renewed hype of expectations on e-business and SCM. The ERP II concept is the software industry’s perception of the new business challenges and the vision addresses the issues of e-business integration in the supply chain. ERP II is the next-generation ERP concept and in a few years from now the ERP II vision is going to be institutionalized into the infrastructure of most enterprises. This article will portray the conceptual framework of ERP II.

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is an integrated set of programs that provides support for core organizational activities. ERP is a software infrastructure embedded with “best practices,” or best ways to do business based on common business practices or academic theory. The aim is to improve the cooperation and interaction between all the organizations’ departments, such as the products planning, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and customer service department. ERP systems is a fine expression of the inseparability of IT and business. As an enabling key technology as well as an effective managerial tool, ERP systems allow companies to integrate at all levels and utilize important ERP systems applications, such as supply-chain management, financials and accounting applications, human resource management and customer relationship management (Boubekri, 2001). ERP systems hold the promise of improving processes and decreasing costs. Furthermore, two important new frontiers for ERP systems are electronic business (e-business) and supply-chain management (Wang and Nah, 2001). The systems can connect with suppliers, distributors, and customers, facilitating the flow, the product and information. ERP systems implementation is costly and complex. In many cases, an ERP system is the largest single investment in any corporate-wide project. The software is expensive, and the consulting costs even more. Meta Group found that the average ERP systems implementation takes 23 months with total owners’ cost of $12 million (Stewart, 2000). The ERP systems implementation is the process where business process and ERP system match each other. Usually the firm has to change the business process per ERP systems. Sometimes most positions have to be redesigned according to the ERP systems. Thus the difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been widely cited in the literature (Davenport, 1998; Kim, Lee, & Gosain, 2005)). The failure percentage of ERP systems was determined by one study as ranging from 40 to 60% and from another study as between 60 and 90% (Langernwalter, 2000; Ptak and Schragenheim, 2000; Yingjie, 2005). Although the failure rates of these ERP implementations have been highly publicized, this has not distracted companies from investing large sums of money on ERP systems (Somers & Nelson, 2004). ERP systems provide companies with the means of integrating their business functions into a unified and integrated business process. As companies implement more enterprise based systems throughout their organizations, the need for integration of these systems becomes even more paramount. Expanding from the functional areas of accounting, human resources, and shop floor control to an enterprise-wide system has become a format for producing full organization integration. Over the past few years, limited research has been conducted about ERP implementation issues: mainly case studies in individual organizations have been reported. That is a motivation toward conducting empirical studies to explore critical factors that affect ERP systems implementation. This study presents the results of an empirical study that surveyed managers from seven corporations, who were identified as having a key role in ERP systems implementation, in order to assess empirically which CSFs are critical in leading a successful implementation of ERP systems. A factor analysis solution was used to derive factors affecting successful ERP implementation. These factors are: ERP implementation management, users aptitudes and communication and technical knowledge. The study reveals that about 81.5 % of the variances in ERP systems implementation were explained by the critical factors identified in the study. The remainder of this article is organized in four sections. First ERP-related literature is reviewed. The next section introduces the research methodology, followed by the presentation of the results. The paper ends with the conclusions and implications for future research and practice.

Resilience attributes are turned upside down when introducing autonomous maritime transport systems, as technology replaces or assists human functions. We enter an unknown world where we need to rely on autonomous functions and the collaboration between humans and technology. Since less human interaction might cause challenges and effects not yet uncovered, Kaber (2018)[1] discussed levels of autonomy in the context of human automation interaction (HAI). The paper particularly looks at the use of levels of autonomy as taxonomies to structure and improve analysis of human performance, workload, but also situational awareness as well as some of the problems that this may cause. The introduction of increasing automation changes the way human and machine interact in many ways. As such, to ensure resilience in autonomous transport systems, these human and machine interaction challenges must be addressed and systemized, and in this paper the different awareness categories humans, technology and external (Fjørtoft, K.E., 2021), are revisited and linked to resilience. Also, as an extension on how to utilize integrated planning for autonomous transport systems (IPA), as presented by Fjørtoft, et al. (2023), this paper further details emerging issues related to human and machine interface by presenting a framework for how to secure resilience during the design, plan and follow up autonomous ship operations. In other words, the ability to assess and ensure resilience when planning operations in autonomous maritime transport system, while accounting for the interaction between humans and technology. This is of particular relevance due to the likelihood of vessels sailing with different degrees of autonomy, depending on the ongoing operation and its surroundings. Described as operational envelopes in "Towards approval of autonomous ship systems by their operational envelope" (Rødseth 2021), the overall operation must be broken down into sub-operations such as sailing in open seas, berthing, cargo loading/unloading (crane operation), etc.The framework is exemplified through a case study, by combining research results from the Norwegian project MARMAN and EU projects like AUTOSHIP and AEGIS.

Micro/nano-technology has made tremendous impact in all science and engineering fields in last decades. While review papers on meso/micro/nano manufacturing systems and processes have been published recently, there still lacks a review on how micro/nano technology has been applied to advance fundamental understanding and to enhance practice for manufacturing systems and processes. This paper is not concerned about the advances in meso/micro/nano manufacturing processes and systems themselves, but focuses on their impact on manufacturing applications. This paper presents the state-of-art of the advances on various aspects of how micro/nano technology impacts macro manufacturing systems/processes. Due to the time and space limit, this paper particularly reviews the topics as follows, 1. Micro/nano sensor applications in manufacturing (by Toshiyuki Obikawa and Xiaochun Li), 2. Micro/nano metrology for manufacturing applications (by M.T Postek), 3. Design and manufacturing of micro patterned arrays over macro-scale areas (by David Dornfeld), 4. Functionlized nanodiamonds and applications (by Jack Zhou), 5. Computational simulations at nanoscale for machining (By Ranga Komanduri), 6. Machining surface integrity and multiscale simulation (by C. Richard Liu, Jing Shi, Yuebin Guo, and Xiaoping Yang), and 7. Simulation for forming of parts with micro features (by Jian Cao).

An innovative, “flex-cycle” combustion system has been developed for the Garrett Model 400-1 Integrated Power Unit (IPU), a 425 shp (317 kW) gas turbine engine designed for use on future fighter aircraft. Demonstration of this system required real-time transient operation of the combustor in a full-scale test rig. The transient testing was unique, having been performed with an electronic control which modulated all combustor operating parameters according to programmed engine component maps, drag curves, fuel schedules, and selected ambient test conditions. The axially-injected annular combustor is capable of engine starts in two seconds, as well as producing 200 shp (149 kW) for emergency use at all altitudes up to 50,000 ft (15.240 m). The combustion system is capable of switching operation from the emergency power stored energy (SE) mode to the normal-air breathing (NAB) auxiliary power mode without loss of engine power. The flex-cycle combustor supplies emergency power in the SE mode with a temperature rise of 2200F (1222C) and in the NAB mode with a temperature rise of 1600F (889C). Specific features which make the above requirements possible include air-assisted simplex airblast fuel atomizers with integral check valves, and effusion-cooled combustor liner walls. This paper describes the flex-cycle combustion system design, test methods used, and significant test results. Steady-state performance, in both the SE and NAB operating modes, and real-time transient test results are discussed. The transient testing included rapid starts as well as transitions from the SE to NAB operating regimes.

In the 21st century, business engagements are becoming increasingly global, and global teams are now an established form of organising work in multinational organisations. As a result, managing cultural diver-sity within a global team has become an essential part of ensuring motivation, creativity, innovation and efficiency in today’s business world.Global teams are typically composed of a diversity of experiences, frames of references, competencies, information and, not least, cultural backgrounds. As such, they hold a unique potential for delivering high performance in terms of innovative and creative approaches to global management tasks; however, in-stead of focusing on the potentials of cultural diversity, practitioners and studies of global teams tend to approach cultural diversity as a barrier to team success. This study explores some of the barriers that cultural diversity poses but also discusses its potential to leverage high performance in a global context.Our study highlights the importance of how team leaders and team members perceive ‘culture’ as both a concept and a social practice. We take issue with a notion of culture as a relatively fixed and homogeneous set of values, norms and attitudes shared by people of national communities; it is such a notion of culture that tends to underlie understandings that highlight the irreconcilability of cultural differences.Applying a more dynamic and context-dependent approach to culture as a meaning system that people negotiate and use to interpret the world, this study explores how global leadership teams can best reap the benefits of cultural diversity in relation to specific challenging areas of intercultural team work, such as leadership style, decision making, relationship building, strategy process, and communication styles. Based on a close textual interpretation of 31 semi-structured interviews with members of global leader-ship teams in eight Danish-owned global companies, our study identified different discourses and per-ceptions of culture and cultural diversity. For leaders of the global leadership teams (Danish/European) and other European team members, three understandings of cultural diversity in their global teams were prominent:1)Cultural diversity was not an issue2)Cultural diversity was acknowledged as mainly a liability. Diversities were expressed through adifference in national cultures and could typically be subsumed under a relatively fixed numberof invariable and distinct characteristics.3)Cultural diversity was an asset and expressions of culture had to be observed in the situationand could not simply be derived from prior understandings of cultural differences.A clear result of our study was that those leaders of global teams who drew on discourses of the Asian ‘Other’ adherred to the first two understandings of cultural diversity and preferred leadership styles that were either patriarchal or self-defined as ‘Scandinavian’. Whereas those leaders who drew on discourses of culture as dynamic and negotiated social practices adhered to the third understanding of cultural di-versity and preferred a differentiated and analytical approach to leading their teams.We also focused on the perceptions of team members with a background in the country in which the global teams were co-located. These ‘local’ team members expressed a nuanced and multifaceted perspective on their own cultural background, the national culture of the company, and their own position within the team, which enabled them to easily navigate between essentialist perceptions of culture while maintain-ing a critical stance on the existing cultural hegemonies. They recognised the value of their local knowledge and language proficiency, but, for those local members in teams with a negative or essentialist view of cultural diversity, it was difficult to obtain recognition of their cultural styles and specific, non-local competences. 3Our study suggeststhat the way global team members perceive culture, based on dominant societal dis-courses of culture, significantly affects the understandings of roles and positions in global leadership teams. We found that discourses on culture were used to explain differences and similarities between team members, which profoundly affected the social practicesand dynamics of the global team. We con-clude that only global teams with team leaders who are highly aware of the multiple perspectives at play in different contexts within the team hold the capacity to be alert to cultural diversity and to demonstrate agility in leveraging differences and similarities into inclusive and dynamic team practices.