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Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are a type of wireless network that can be used for various applications, such as Internet access, disaster response, and military communication. These networks consist of mesh routers that can communicate with each other and form a mesh topology, allowing them to provide connectivity even if some of the routers fail or are out of range. In this study, we used spectral graph theory to analyze the performance of a WMN. For the analysis process, software was developed to calculate the topological characteristics of the graph representing the WMN. The correlation between the values of the parameters of spectral graph theory and the topological characteristics of the observed network is analyzed. First, an analysis of the influence of the change in signal strength, in the observedWMN, on the algebraic connectivity was performed, and then the change in the spectral radius was also analyzed. The analysis was performed using special software, which was developed for that purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of our study was to find the best model with sufficient power to improve the risk stratification in major vascular surgery patients during the first 30 days after this procedure. The discriminatory power of 4 biomarkers (troponin I [TnI], N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP], creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme [CK-MB], high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP]) was tested as well as 2 risk assessment models and 13 different combinations of them.Subjects and Methods: The study included 122 patients (77% men, 23% women) with an average age of 67.03 ± 4.5 years. An aortobifemoral bypass was performed in 6.56% of the patients, a femoropopliteal bypass in 18.85%, and 49.18% received open surgical reconstruction of the carotid arteries. A total of 25.41% of the patients were given an aortobi-iliac bypass.Results: During the first 30 days, 13 patients (10.7%) had 17 cardiac complications. The most common complication was the new onset of atrial fibrillation (35.3%). During the first 10 days, 10 patients had 1 complication and 2 patients had 2 cardiac events, while 1 patient had 3 complications. By comparing combinations of scores and markers, it was shown that revised cardiac risk index (RCRI) + Vascular Portsmouth Physiological and Operative Severity Score (V-POSSUM) + hsTnI and RCRI + V-POSSUM + hsTnI + NT-proBNP with 100% sensitivity, > 80% specificity had the best discriminatory ability (AUC 0.924 and 0.933, respectively; p < 0.001 for both models) for cardiac complications during the 30 days after surgery.Conclusion: Combinations of traditional preoperative risk factors and scores can enhance the assessment of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients preparing for large vascular surgery. Using only one risk score in these patients seems to be underperforming in preoperative risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The computerization of the education system plays an important role in the development of the information society, which strongly supports the introduction of computers and other information technology in the teaching process. Using of information technology is an innovation and modernization of education and teaching, where the teacher is the main starter for the modernization of teaching and student center of the educational process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Moth Swarm Algorithm (MSA) is applied to the Combined Economic and Emission Dispatch (CEED) problem in thermal power plants. The analysis of behavior and the evaluation of performances of the algorithm are carried out on the standard test systems with 3 and 6 generators. The results of the MSA application to these test systems are compared with the results published in recent literature. The present paper shows that the proposed MSA gives an accurate and effective solution of the CEED problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a short description of thirteen computer network simulators that are mainly used for educational purposes. Criteria for the evaluation and comparison of the simulators were presented. The criteria are applied in order to compare the simulators being described. This comparative analysis is useful when selecting a suitable simulator for teaching a specific computer networks course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between the form and ideology of Kevin MacDonald’s documentaryLife in a Day(2011). I closely analyse a sequence to demonstrate how the film chooses and orders its audio-visual elements to suggest a worldview compatible with the doctrines and aesthetics of New Age and fascism (whose commonalities, following Peter Kratz, I posit and stress). Exemplary of the film as a whole, the sequence – on the one hand – arbitrarily and alternately emphasises and de-emphasises cultural differences between its numerous subjects to imply a harmonious unity in the diversity of human circumstances and experiences. On the other hand, it tactically privileges certain members of the ‘family of mankind' and perpetuates some of the most widespread contemporary political, religious and cultural prejudices, contradicting the film’s self-professed mandate of presenting a global vision of the world. The article further establishes a connection between the film’s lack of self-reflexivity and its ideology. I proceed to contrastLifeto the now canonicalMan With a Movie Camera(Dziga Vertov, 1929), and propose that the absence of self-reflexive elements in the former film and their presence inMancrucially contribute to the creation of the two films’ desired political meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Brechtianisms' of editing in Peter Watkins' films have largely escaped critical attention, doubtless as a result of their medium-specific nature, whereby the links between those formal elements and Brecht - as primarily a stage practitioner - are obscured. This article employs the ideas of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein, who shares Brecht's indebtedness to Marxist dialectics and Russian formalism, to reveal and investigate both the convergences and divergences between the two artists and Watkins. I argue that Watkins' biographic films Edvard Munch (1974) and Fritänkaren/The Freethinker (1994) illustrate the trajectory that has led Watkins from Eisensteinian montage of attractions to the Soviet practitioner and theorist's intellectual montage as a dominant structural method. The article further points out that the strong affinities of The Freethinker's formal operations with those of Brecht's own works for the stage and screen are attributable broadly to the film's refusal to subsume its stylistic unorthodoxies to the logic of psychological realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current technologies give us the ability to enhance and replace developmental classes with computer-based resources, often called Web laboratories. Web laboratories have become a very useful support for practical aspects of teaching methods. This article presents a Web-based laboratory, which makes learning of base principles of computer network possible. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 20: 493-502, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on strategies adopted by Lars von Trier, Danish film director and screenwriter, in his plays. It mentions that he adopted post-modern philosophy and ideologies of Bertolt Brecht, German poet and theatre director. It highlights the contributions of Trier in creation of the film "The Idiots" and "Land of Opportunities."

The article discusses the use of theatrical form and content within a film in Brechtian cinema. It states that Brechtian cinema increased the abandonment of privileged technique of montage as a source of estrangement in favor of the theatricality It tackles on the application of montage in the film "Kuhle Wampe" which consists of three episodes, separated by montage sequences that show images of apartment buildings and natural landscapes.

User models are essential to e-learning systems, giving students learning continuity, tutors the evidence of students' progress, and both a way to personalize students' learning materials according to their abilities and preferences. Personalizing information has long been the motivation behind developing e-learning systems. Adaptive educational systems attempt to maintain a learning style profile for each student and use this profile to adapt the presentation and navigation of instructional content to each student. This kind of system adapts the learning process on the basis of the student's learning preferences, knowledge, and availability. One such Web-based tool is built at the Business School of Professional Studies in Blace (the system of intelligent evaluation using tests), which infers student knowledge using adaptive testing. The knowledge will not be evaluated according to fixed standards, but it will depend on individual characteristics of each student. This system will enable the aforementioned school to modernize education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number and the importance of web applications have increased rapidly over the last years. At the same time, the quantity and impact of security vulnerabilities in such applications have grown as well. Since manual code reviews are time-consuming, error-prone and costly, the need for automated solutions has become evident. In this paper, we address the problem of vulnerable web applications by means of static source code analysis. More precisely, we use flow-sensitive, interprocedural and context-sensitive data flow analysis to discover vulnerable points in a program. In addition to the taint analysis at the core of our engine, we employ a precise alias analysis targeted at the unique reference semantics commonly found in scripting languages. Moreover, we enhance the quality and quantity of the generated vulnerability reports by employing an iterative two-phase algorithm for fast and precise resolution of file inclusions. The presented concepts are targeted at the general class of taint-style vulnerabilities and can be easily applied to the detection of vulnerability types such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and command injection. We implemented the presented concepts in Pixy, a high-precision static analysis tool aimed at detecting cross-site scripting and SQL injection vulnerabilities in PHP programs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques, we analyzed a number of popular, open-source web applications and discovered hundreds of previously unknown vulnerabilities. Both the high analysis speed as well as the low number of generated false positives show that our techniques can be used for conducting effective security audits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels and gap junction proteins (connexins) are two classes of astrocytic membrane proteins critically involved in brain water and ion homeostasis. AQP4 channels are anchored by α1-syntrophin to the perivascular astrocytic endfoot membrane domains where they control water flux at the blood-brain interface while connexins cluster at the lateral aspects of the astrocytic endfeet forming gap junctions that allow water and ions to dissipate through the astrocyte syncytium. Recent studies have pointed to an interdependence between astrocytic AQP4 and astrocytic gap junctions but the underlying mechanism remains to be explored. Here we use a novel transgenic mouse line to unravel whether β1-syntrophin (coexpressed with α1-syntrophin in astrocytic plasma membranes) is implicated in the expression of AQP4 isoforms and formation of gap junctions in brain. Our results show that while the effect of β1-syntrophin deletion is rather limited, double knockout of α1- and β1-syntrophin causes a downregulation of the novel AQP4 isoform AQP4ex and an increase in the number of astrocytic gap junctions. The present study highlight the importance of syntrophins in orchestrating specialized functional domains of brain astrocytes. [Display omitted] • Knockout of AQP4 leads to increased number of astrocytic gap junctions. • AQP4 is anchored to the perivascular astrocytic endfeet by α1-syntrophin. • Knockout of α1- or β1 syntrophin has no effect on the number gap junctions. • Double knockout of α1- and β1 syntrophin causes a downregulation of AQP4ex isoform. • Double knockout of α1- and β1 syntrophin leads to increase in number of gap junctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]