Uzhhorod National University

About: Uzhhorod National University is a education organization based out in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Raman spectroscopy & Laser. The organization has 1089 authors who have published 1056 publications receiving 5187 citations. The organization is also known as: State Higher Education Establishment "Uzhhorod National University" & Uzhhorod State University.

Gut Microbiota Species Can Provoke both Inflammatory and Tolerogenic Immune Responses in Human Dendritic Cells Mediated by Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha Ligation.

Abstract: Dendritic cells (DCs) are considered as the main coordinators of both mucosal and systemic immune responses thus playing a determining role in shaping the outcome of effector cell responses. However, it is still uncovered how primary human monocyte-derived DC populations (moDC) drive the polarization of helper T (Th) cells in the presence of commensal bacteria harboring unique immunomodulatory properties. Furthermore, the individual members of the gut microbiota have the potential to modulate the outcome of immune responses and shape the immunogenicity of differentiating moDCs via the activation of retinoic-acid receptor alpha (RARα). Here we report that moDCs are able to mediate robust Th1 and Th17 responses upon stimulation by Escherichia coli Schaedler or Morganella morganii, while the probiotic Bacillus subtilis strain limits this effect. Moreover, physiological concentrations of all-trans retinoic-acid (ATRA) are able to re-program the differentiation of moDCs resulting in altered gene expression profiles of the master transcription factors RARα and interferon-regulatory factor (IRF) 4, and concomitantly regulate the cell surface expression levels of CD1 proteins and also the mucosa-associated CD103 integrin to different directions. It was also demonstrated that the ATRA-conditioned moDCs exhibited enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, while reduced their co-stimulatory and antigen presenting capacity thus reducing Th1 and presenting undetectable Th17 type responses against the tested microbiota strains. Importantly, these regulatory circuits could be prevented by the selective inhibition of RARα functionality. These results altogether demonstrate that selected commensal bacterial strains are able to drive strong effector immune responses by moDCs, while in the presence of ATRA they support the development of both tolerogenic and inflammatory moDC in a RARα dependent manner.

A Fuzzy Model of Risk Assessment for Environmental Start-up Projects in the Air Transport Sector.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy model of the risk assessment for environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector at the stage of business expansion. The model developed for the following software will be a useful tool for the risk decision support system of investment funds in financing environmental start-up projects at the stage of market conquest. Developing a quantitative risk assessment for environmental start-up projects for the air transport sector will increase the resilience of making risk decisions about their financing by the investors. In this paper, a set of 21 criteria for assessing the risk of launching environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector were formulated for the first time by presenting inputs in the form of a linguistic risk assessment and the number of credible expert considerations. The fuzzy risk assessment model, based on expert knowledge, uses linguistic variables, reveals the uncertainty of the input data, and displays a risk assessment with linguistic interpretation. The result of the paper is a fuzzy model that is embedded in a generalized algorithm and tested in an example risk assessment of environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector.

Fuzzy Model for Quantitative Assessment of Environmental Start-up Projects in Air Transport

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop an applied fuzzy model of information technology to obtain quantitative estimates of environmental start-up projects in air transport. The developed model will become a useful tool for venture funds, business angels, or crowdfunding platforms for the development of innovative air transport businesses. Obtaining a quantitative estimate of the environmental start-up projects will increase the sustainability of the decision making on the security of financing of such projects by investors. This article develops a fuzzy evaluation model of project start-ups in air transport as an application of our neuro-fuzzy model in a specific air transport environment. The applied model provides output ranking of start-up project teams in air transport based on a four-layer neuro-fuzzy network. The presented model declares the possibilities of the application to solve these economic problems and offers the space for subsequent research focused on its usability in several areas of start-up development, in sectors and processes differentiated. The benefits are also visible for several types of policies, with an emphasis on decision-making processes in regulatory mechanisms to support the state funding in Slovakia, the EU etc.