Based on the theoretical ideas of E. Cassirer, a methodology is developed and an analysis of the painting work by J. Saleem, a representative of modern Iraqi painting, is carried out. While comparing the artistic programme of J. Saleem and the views of E. Cassirer, the methodological potential of the theory of the symbol for the art criticism analysis of the regional painting is clarified. Comparative analysis with the inclusion of the works of B. Buffet, B. Turetsky, J. Miro helps to see the multiple meanings of the same cultural symbol in thematically similar works of different years, created in different socio-cultural circumstances. The article shows that for regions with a shorter history (France, Russia, Spain, etc.), which have lo

Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (Cyp7a1) and sterol 12α‐hydroxylase (Cyp8b1) partly through inducing small heterodimer partner, leading to reduced bile acid pool size and al

Understanding the effects of fear, quadratic fixed effort harvesting, and predator-dependent refuge are essential topics in ecology. Accordingly, a modified Leslie–Gower prey–predator model incorporating these biological factors is mathematically modeled using the Beddington–DeAngelis type of functional response to describe the predation processes. The model’s qualitative features are investigated, including local equilibria stability, permanence, and global stability. Bifurcation analysis is carried out on the temporal model to identify local bifurcations such as transcritical, saddle-node, and Hopf bifurcation. A comprehensive numerical inquiry is carried out using MATLAB to verify the obtained theoretical findings and und

The structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnS films prepared by vacuum evaporation technique on glass substrate at room temperature and treated at different annealing temperatures (323, 373, 423)K of thickness (0.5)µm have been studied. The structure of these films is determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The X-ray diffraction studies show that the structure is polycrystalline with cubic structure, and there are strong peaks at the direction (111). The optical properties investigated which include the absorbance and transmittance spectra, energy band gab, absorption coefficient, and other optical constants. The results showed that films have direct optical transition. The optical band gab was found to be in the range t

The ceramic compound Mg1-xSixAl2O4 (x= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) was prepared from nano powder of Al2O3 and MgO doped with Nano powder of SiO2 at different molar ratios. The specimens were prepared by standard chemical solid reaction technique and sintered at 1450 oC. Structure of the specimens was analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The X-ray patterns of the specimens showed the formation of pure simple cubic spinel structure MgAl2O4 phase with space group of ̅ . The average grain size and surface topology were studied by atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the average grain size was about 73-90 nm. The DC electrical properties of the specimen were measured. The apparent density was found to increase and the porosity a

A Laced Reinforced Concrete (LRC) structural element comprises continuously inclined shear reinforcement in the form of lacing that connects the longitudinal reinforcements on both faces of the structural element. This study conducted a theoretical investigation of LRC deep beams to predict their behavior after exposure to fire and high temperatures. Four simply supported reinforced concrete beams of 1500 mm, 200 mm, and 240 mm length, width, and depth, respectively, were considered. The specimens were identical in terms of compressive strength (  40 MPa) and steel reinforcement details. The same laced steel reinforcement ratio of 0.0035 was used. Three specimens were burned at variable durations and steady-state temperatures (one

The influence of the reaction gas composition during the DC magnetron sputtering process on the structural, chemical and optical properties of Ce-oxide thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed that all thin films exhibited a polycrystalline character with cubic fluorite structure for cerium dioxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses revealed that cerium is present in two oxidation states, namely as CeO2 and Ce2O3, at the surface of the films prepared at oxygen/argon flow ratios between 0% and 7%, whereas the films are completely oxidized into CeO2 as the aforementioned ratio increases beyond 14%. Various optical parameters for the thin films (including an optical band gap in the range of 2.25–3.

In this paper, we used two monomers, 3,3',4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA) and m,m'-diaminobenzophenone (m, m’-DABP), to produce polyamide acid and then converted it to polyimide (PI). The effects of phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) molarity (1, 2, and 3 M) on the structural, thermal, mechanical, and electrical characteristics of the polyimides/polyaniline (PI/PANI) nanocomposites were studied. Two sharp reflection peaks were developed by the addition of PANI to PI. When 3 M H₃PO₄ is added, the crystalline sharp peak loses some of its intensity. The complex formation of PI/PANI-H₃PO₄ was confi

In this research the results of applying Artificial Neural Networks with modified activation function to perform the online and offline identification of four Degrees of Freedom (4-DOF) Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) manipulator robot will be described. The proposed model of identification strategy consists of a feed-forward neural network with a modified activation function that operates in parallel with the SCARA robot model. Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) which have been trained online and offline have been used, without requiring any previous knowledge about the system to be identified. The activation function that is used in the hidden layer in FFNN is a modified version of the wavelet function. This approach ha