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The emergence of trust and solidarity is arguably foundational for economic development and social order. Yet many studies, often survey-based, document large disparities in general trust and social cohesion between countries. Can mutual trust and solidarity arise between people even in areas of low general trust, or do national cultural contexts block such connections? We report an experimental investigation of the dynamic between national environments and local social interactions, specifically those embedded in social exchange. Results of our experiments conducted in the United States and Romania, societies marked by relatively high and low general trust, respectively, show that while national context impacts the level of relational trust formed within dyads, only this emergent relational trust affects dyadic solidarity in both societies. Importantly, burgeoning solidarity has persistent consequences for future exchanges and subsequent solidarity, thus experimentally demonstrating critical linkages between macro- and micro-level precursors to social order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discussion of higher education's response to technological and scientific advancement specifically addresses the relationship between engineering education and changes in the world energy picture and the ways in which higher education structures can adapt to current and future change. (MSE)

Globally, the volume of public debt, most of which is sovereign debt, has increased significantly and although the macroeconomic development of most states has made good progress since the consequences of the global financial crisis triggered by the United States since 2007, their share has become a major concern for global financial equilibrium. In this context, the analysis of the evolution of public debt in each country as well as in the geographic areas of strategic importance for the international economic conjuncture is an imperative for international financial analysts and institutions as well as for those who develop forecasts and propose economic-financial policies in the short term, and especially in the medium and long term. The analysis of public debt in each country, region or community / association of sovereign states is of major importance both for assessing the financial stability and, implicitly, the economic at national, global as well as presently when capital, as well as goods and services circulate with great ease between countries and continents to identify potential risk factors that may affect the macroeconomic development and social life of the communities involved. The aggravation of free movement, along with the increase in public debt, along with other factors of an economic, political and social nature, contributes to the establishment of a new world economic order characterized by a new hierarchy of world states, new economic and financial relations between countries with a developed economy and those with important natural and human resources, but whose level of macroeconomic performance is well below the level of developed ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Skin cancer represents 20% of all new diagnosed cancers in the world. The highest incidence rates of basal cell carcinoma have been reported in Australia followed by Europe and the USA. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a slow-growing malignant tumor characterized by local invasiveness but an exceptionally rare metastatic potential.Patients and methods: We performed a retrospective study on a group of 138 patients diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, hospitalized in Dermatology Clinic of Craiova, aiming to highlight the clinical, dermatoscopical and histopathological aspects of basal cell carcinoma. Identification data, provenience area, clinical diagnosis, tumor site, particular aspects related to tumor evolution, histological subtype of the lesion, dermoscopic patterns, Fitzpatrick skin type of each patient were all recorded. The histopathological study was based on highlighting the following parameters: tumor stage, histopathological form, size and depth of invasion.Results: Our study group included 75 men (54.3%) and 63 women. Patients were aged between 17 and 89 years, with a mean age of 70.92 years. Nodular BCC (49.2%) was the most common clinical presentation followed by pearly form and cicatricial BCC.Dermoscopic structures were observed in all 138 patients. The most common dermoscopic pattern seen in nodular BCCs was featureless areas (90%), atypical red vessels (80%), arborizing vessels >0.2 mm in diameter (78%) and translucency (51.4%). Superficial BCCs mostly presented with comma vessels, white-red structureless areas background, hypopigmented areas and only 50% of them revealed telangiectatic vessels and blue-grey ovoid nests in our study. The most common vascular pattern was the presence of arborizing vessels (53 patients, 38.4%).In our study, the histological polymorphism was revealed by the existence of various types of BCC: solid (nodular), cystic, keratotic, adenoid, morpheaform, superficial, pigmented, metatypical and mixed patterns. 29/138 cases were invasive, representing 21.01% of all tumors studied. Of these, 20 were at the level of the cephalic extremity.Conclusions: BCC has an aggressive invasive behavior which is related to the histopathologic type, in our study, adenoid type was the most aggressive followed by solid and keratotic BCCs. Identification of clear diagnostic criteria for the aggressive behavior of basal cell carcinoma will allow the best therapeutic results for the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public education is a necessary ingredient for the development of any society today. Whether we talk about economic, social or political development, public education is at the heart of all types of development. Without it, only the well-off can afford to educate their children, leading to increased and continued social, economic, and by consequence political inequality, which in turn affect all of society, including the elites. In order to understand what the situation of public education is today and how we can best improve it, we must look at the past and analyze how public education developed over time. This paper tries to briefly survey the history of public education in the United States. It tries to make the point that in order to implement a successful educational reform in America today, first a comprehensive understanding of public education as a social institution and not merely as a state institution is needed. Moreover, looking at countries that have successfully reformed their educational systems over the past few decades is also necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an analysis of the geopolitical and geostrategic environment in the Romanian area of interest, represented by the two important areas in its close vicinity: South-Eastern Europe and the Extended Black Sea Area. The manner in which Russia is positioned in relation with the West regarding the conflict in Ukraine, which it fuels with the purpose of regaining the influential positions that the Soviet Union had in the past, the nature and extent of its actions, the origins and their possible consequences are also subject to my personal interpretations in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Transmit beampattern design is a critically important task in many fields including defense and homeland security as well as biomedical applications. Flexible transmit beampattern designs can be achieved by exploiting the waveform diversity offered by an array of sensors that transmit probing signals chosen at will. Unlike a standard phased-array, which transmits scaled versions of a single waveform, a waveform diversity-based system offers the flexibility of choosing how the different probing signals are correlated with one another. Recently proposed techniques for waveform diversity-based transmit beampattern design have focused on the optimization of the covariance matrix R of the waveforms, as optimizing a performance metric directly with respect to the waveform matrix is a more complicated operation. Given an R, obtained in a previous optimization stage or simply pre-specified, the problem becomes that of determining a signal waveform matrix X whose covariance matrix is equal or close to R, and which also satisfies some practically motivated constraints (such as constant-modulus or low peak-to-average-power ratio constraints). We propose a cyclic optimization algorithm for the synthesis of such an X, which (approximately) realizes a given optimal covariance matrix R under various practical constraints. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to rapid and radical change is a major challenge for enterprises in economic environments in transition. This research examines the adaptability of firms and its relationship to company performance using an information processing approach. Samples of firms in the United States and Romania were examined. A comparison of the adaptation approaches of American and Romanian companies is made taking into consideration differences in the business environments and in corporate culture. The relationship between adaptability and performance was found to be non-linear. Perceived turbulence is a moderator and not an antecedent for the relationship between adaptability, its components, and performance. Corporate culture is a determinant of adaptability and its components. When Romanian and American firms were compared, the non-linear relationship between information filtering and performance appeared to be stronger for Romanian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On November 19, 2001, a case of inhalational anthrax was identified in a 94-year-old Connecticut woman, who later died. We conducted intensive surveillance for additional anthrax cases, which included collecting data from hospitals, emergency departments, private practitioners, death certificates, postal facilities, veterinarians, and the state medical examiner. No additional cases of anthrax were identified. The absence of additional anthrax cases argued against an intentional environmental release of Bacillus anthracis in Connecticut and suggested that, if the source of anthrax had been cross-contaminated mail, the risk for anthrax in this setting was very low. This surveillance system provides a model that can be adapted for use in similar emergency settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]