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The Internet of Things has a set of smart objects with smart connectivity that assists in monitoring real world environment during emergency situations. It could monitor the various applications of emergency situations such as road accidents, criminal acts including physical assaults, kidnap cases, and other threats to people’s way of life. In this work, the proposed work is to afford real time services to users in emergency situations through Convolutional Neural Networks in terms of efficiency and reliable services. Finally, the proposed work has simulated with respect to the performance parameters of the proposed scheme like the probability of accuracy and processing time.

Background: The utility of Neuromuscular monitoring (NMT) has not been studied in Indian scenario till date. We did a survey to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, practices of NMT among Indian anesthesiologists. Methods: A questionnaire-based google form was sent to 350 anesthesiologists over 3-months. Demographic data was collected in initial questions, followed by data on their concepts, practices, and knowledge of NMT and postoperative residual nerve block (PRNB). Data were descriptively analysed using frequencies and percentages. Descriptive statistical testing was done using software package IBM SPSS 23. Results: 88.9% of participants reported the use of clinical assessment. Though majority used clinical parameters, they were well-versed about Train-of-Four criteria. 75.9% stated the use of objective NMT in < 25 % of patients. The reasons for not using objective monitoring were scarcity of neuromuscular monitors, non-familiarity, and complexity of monitors. In regards to PRNB, 79.6 % participants considered PRNB to be an important clinical issue. Although in their clinical practice they rarely encountered PRNB, 74% responded that routine NMT can decrease PRNB. The cross-tabulation table reflected that the use of objective tools (P= 0.014), knowledge about the essentiality of NMT (p=0.003), correctly stating PRNB as an important clinical issue (p=0.006), and their understanding about unreliability of clinical tests (p=0.001) showed significant improvement with increasing anesthesia experience. Conclusion: Participants showed great understanding of clinical and qualitative tests but not of quantitative tests, with low rate of usage of objective NMT. A lacuna in understanding of quantitative parameters must be addressed considering high incidence of PRNB and lack of sensitivity of clinical parameters.

The rise of digital platforms intensifies the price competition among agents. Agents often use low price strategies to attract consumers. However, the low-price strategy is often filled with false information and consumers perceive the non-truthfulness of the price information. Then, consumers’ trust in agents gradually decreases, which inhibits the growth of online shopping. Blockchain is seen as a solution to the trust crisis between agents and consumers. Our research is based on two competing agents selling the same type of goods on the same platform. We discuss agents’ blockchain technology application strategies in three scenarios, which are defined by whether agents choose to apply blockchain technology to improve consumer trust. The results show that the application of blockchain technology is beneficial to agents only when consumer trust is low. Furthermore, the YN strategy is regarded as a possible equilibrium strategy, which depends on the blockchain application cost and consumer trust. Some extended cases are discussed for post-blockchain consumer welfare, cost-sharing contracts, dishonesty penalties, and variable blockchain costs, and the results show that the analysis in this manuscript is robust. Our findings have important practical significance for promoting the application of blockchain technology and alleviating the problem of price information asymmetry in platform shopping.

We ground the asymmetry of causal relations in the internal physical states of a special kind of open and irreversible physical system, a causal agent. A causal agent is an autonomous physical system, maintained in a steady state, far from thermal equilibrium, with special subsystems: sensors, actuators, and learning machines. Using feedback, the learning machine, driven purely by thermodynamic constraints, changes its internal states to learn probabilistic functional relations inherent in correlations between sensor and actuator records. We argue that these functional relations just are causal relations learned by the agent, and so such causal relations are simply relations between the internal physical states of a causal agent. We show that learning is driven by a thermodynamic principle: the error rate is minimised when the dissipated power is minimised. While the internal states of a causal agent are necessarily stochastic, the learned causal relations are shared by all machines with the same hardware embedded in the same environment. We argue that this dependence of causal relations on such ‘hardware’ is a novel demonstration of causal perspectivalism.

In this paper, we propose a trust model to be used in a hypothetical mixed environment where humans and unmanned vehicles cooperate. We address the inclusion of emotions inside a trust model in a coherent way to investigate the practical approaches to current psychological theories. The most innovative contribution of this work is the elucidation of how privacy issues play a role in the cooperation decisions of the emotional trust model. Both emotions and trust were cognitively modeled and managed with the beliefs, desires and intentions (BDI) paradigm in autonomous agents implemented in GAML (the programming language of the GAMA agent platform), that communicate using the IEEE FIPA standard. The trusting behavior of these emotional agents was tested in a cooperative logistics problem wherein agents have to move objects to destinations and some of the objects and places are associated with privacy issues. Simulations of the logistic problem show how emotions and trust contribute to improving the performance of agents in terms of both time savings and privacy protection.

We retrospectively investigated and compared patterns of prescription of antihypertensive agents in patients taking these alone or in combination with hypoglycemic agents. Prescriptions were received at a single pharmacy. Prescriptions for antihypertensive agents during the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 July 2019 were classified as either with or without hypoglycemic agents, and the drug name, patient sex, and patient age were collected for each antihypertensive drug. The prescription rate and ratio （0%–100%） were calculated for each drug. The prescription ratio of antihypertensive agents combined with hypoglycemic agents was 17.5%. In patients with hypoglycemic agents, the prescription rate of antihypertensive agents was 87.5% for calcium channel blockers (CCBs), 66.8% for angiotensin receptor blockers, and 35.3% for combination drugs. Furthermore, the prescription rate of CCBs was the highest regardless of patient sex or age, and the combined use of CCBs was also high. In patients without hypoglycemic agents, CCBs were also prescribed most frequently, but the prescription rate was lower than that in patients with hypoglycemic agents; and was also low regardless of patient sex or combined use. These results suggest that CCBs are prescribed as a first-line treatment with or without hypoglycemic agents, and that the prescription rate of renin-angiotensin （RA） inhibitors is lower than that of CCBs .In community pharmacies that serve mainly outpatients, it is possible that there are few hypertensive patients with microalbuminuria/proteinuria-positive diabetes for whom RA inhibitors are prioritized in selecting an antihypertensive agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Detergent & Cosmetics is the property of Detergent & Cosmetics Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This introduction to the special issue opens up a dialogue between Theatre and Performance Studies and translation sociology, focusing simultaneously on the importance of developing performance-sensitive forms of knowledge and highlighting performance cultures as fruitful contexts for studying translation as a social practice and the multiple forms of agency shaping it. In particular, it challenges the "ideology of print" as the prevalent epistemological starting point of Western translation theory. The introduction also raises questions about the ways in which processes of translation are constitutive of performance cultures by mobilising translation sociology to reveal the agents, networks, and technologies which are responsible for these negotiations. The ambition is for Translation Studies to see performance cultures as a complement; an alternative; a way of critiquing the text-centric paradigm of Western translation theory, and inspiring new ways of thinking about what aspects of performance cultures are silenced, replaced, or negotiated when they are textualized through translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Giddens's structuration theory and empirical data from a study with social enterprise stakeholders, the article explores how social entrepreneurs and the structure co-create one another. We show that the development of the contemporary significance of social entrepreneurialism lies in a combination of complex context-specific structural forces and the activities of agents who initiate, demand, and impose change. Social entrepreneurs intentionally tackle social challenges, but their actions bring unintentional results, such as the transfer of state responsibilities onto communities. Direct outputs of their activities introduce indirect outcomes, bringing wider changes in culture and policy. The evolving nature of entrepreneurship and a number of factors that interplay in time and space, and enable and constrain social entrepreneurs, confirm the applicability of Giddens's theory in the field of social entrepreneurship. The originality of this article derives from revealing mechanisms that enable social entrepreneurs to emerge and reasons for structural change. We also build a "co-creation model of structure and agency" that can be used to "engineer" the process of social entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic premalignant condition and is characterized by fibroblastic change of lamina propria and stiffness of oral mucosa. Though there are several treatment options available, the best agent is not yet identified. This study assessed the comparative efficacy and safety of medical interventions in the management of OSMF. Methods: A systematic review was performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the efficacy of interventions for OSMF with each other, or placebo. A network meta-analysis was performed, and the interventions were ranked according to their efficacy based on the surface under the cumulative ranking. (PROSPERO Registration no: CRD42021255094). Results: Thirty-two RCTs comprising 2063 patients were eligible for quantitative analysis. In terms of therapeutic efficacy in the improvement of mouth opening Oxitard, a herbal formulation was ranked as the most efficacious agent, [MD, 10.29 (95%CI 6.34–14.25)] followed by combination therapy of Lycopene with corticosteroids and hyaluronidase [MD, 7.07 (95%CI 1.82–12.31)]. For improvement of burning sensation aloe vera was ranked first [MD, 6.14 (95%CI 4.58–7.70)] followed by corticosteroids with antioxidants [MD, 6.13 (95%CI 4.12–8.14)] and corticosteroids in combination with hyaluronidase with antioxidants [MD, 5.95 (95%CI 3.79–8.11)]. In terms of safety, most of the drugs were reported to cause mild adverse effects only. Significant inconsistencies could be identified in the analysis for both the outcomes assessed and were further explored. Conclusions: Our study highlighted the potential efficacy of several agents over placebo in the improvement of mouth opening and burning sensation in OSMF patients. However, the RCTs lacked methodological soundness. Well-designed studies with a larger number of participants with a rigorous randomization process and stringent methodology are recommended to strengthen the results obtained, which may help to construct a clinical guideline for OSMF management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion is one of the processes that generates the greatest impact on the distribution of land uses, leading to important territorial changes. Its evolution has become a highly relevant object of analysis and studies on the subject have gradually advanced from a focus on patterns of land use and cover, towards a more detailed analysis of the dynamic interactions between all the actors involved in these processes. Among the agents usually included as an active and decisive part of these dynamics are the real estate developers. This study aims to analyze these agents, identify their behavioral patterns, and categorize and better understand them. For this, a qualitative approach was employed, in which a structured questionnaire elaborated from the point of view of an expert was administrated to the real estate developers in the area of the Henares urban–industrial corridor, between Madrid and Guadalajara, where important processes of urban expansion have taken place. The information obtained from an interview with an expert and the questionnaire revealed important information about the work of real estate developers and will be of great help in the elaboration of an Agent-Based Model to simulate and analyze urban growth. This process is crucial to determine in a more empirical way the different decision rules that are necessary to develop this type of model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor technologies are combined with various communication networks in smart appliances and perform a significant role. Connected devices sense, analyze, and send environmental data, as well as support applications' connections. Mobile agents can be explored to provide sensing intelligence with IoT-based systems. Many strategies have been proposed to address the issue of energy efficiency while maintaining the sensor load at a low cost. However, advancements are still desired. Furthermore, without fully trustworthy relationships, sensitive data are at risk, and the solution must provide privacy protection against unexpected events. With the development of two algorithms, this study proposes a mobile agent-based efficient energy resource management solution and also protects IoT appliances. Firstly, the software agents perform a decision using past and present precepts, and by exploring rule-based conditions, it offers an energy-efficient recommended system. Second, data from IoT appliances are securely evaluated on edge interfaces before being transferred to end-centers for verification. Simulations-based tests are conducted and verified the significance of the proposed protocol against other studies in terms of network metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are non-native speakers able to process their second language in a native-like way? The present study used the Event-Related Potentials' (ERPs) method to address this issue by focusing (1) on agent vs. agentless intransitive sentences and (2) on person vs. number agreement morphology. For that purpose, native and high proficiency and early non-native speakers of Spanish were tested while processing intransitive sentences containing grammatical and ungrammatical subject–verb agreement. Results reveal greater accuracy in the agent (unergative) condition as compared with the agentless (unaccusative) condition and different ERP patterns for both types of verbs in all participants, suggesting a larger processing cost for the agentless sentences than for the agentive ones. These effects were more pronounced in the native group as compared with the non-native one in the early time window (300–500 ms). Differences between person and number agreement processing were also found at both behavioral and electrophysiological levels, indicating that those morphological features are distinctively processed. Importantly, this pattern of results held for both native and non-native speakers, thus suggesting that native-like competence is attainable given early Age of Acquisition (AoA), frequent use and high proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the social representations about disability in a group of high school students, from two Mexican cities: Oaxaca and Estado de México. The research was based on an associative method. For that purpose, we designed a questionnaire in which students were asked to write the three words that came into mind when they thought about «person with disability», and then to briefly explain the reason for each one. For the analysis of information, we used the natural semantic network technique. The complete network included 107 words, with a semantic weight of 587. Based on this diversity of expressions, we characterized four representations: Social, Medical-rehabilitative, Tragic-charity, and Optimistic. The first two representations had the highest semantic weight in the complete network, 223 and 184 respectively, meanwhile, the last two reached scores of 103 and 73 each. These outcomes may be seen as a contradiction; however, they show that social representations are not monolithic entities, on the contrary, they are the result of scientific knowledge and common sense; nor belong to a certain group, but they are the product of the information disseminated by the different socializing agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ubiquity of digital technologies in all sorts of academic contexts, it is generally assumed that many undergraduates' writing tasks will include verbal and visual modes these days. The interweaving of different modes allows students to express different multidisciplinary and individual identities while they become agents and designers of different L2 learning tasks. Using an interpretative qualitative approach, the present study explores the authorial voice and stance that four engineering undergraduates enacted in their presentation slides for an in-class oral presentation. Data sources included screen capture, classroom observation, and interview transcripts. Findings revealed that behind students' collaborative compositional processes there are complex multimodal decisions that help them express their identities and enhance their engagement in the L2. Students perceived their presentation slides as artefacts to accommodate their audience and as means through which they were able to represent themselves as agents and designers of the discipline of engineering. Based on the results, this study highlights different pedagogical implications and ideas for English for specific purposes (ESP) contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorist organizations operate intelligence units that aim primarily to obtain valuable information about their adversaries, in order to plan terrorist attacks and gain counterintelligence, and thereby reduce the intelligence gathered by the adversary. This article presents a study that in the limits of an empirical framework analyzes Hezbollah's modus operandi of intelligence agents in Israel. The purpose of the study, which analyzes quantitative and qualitative content from 21 rulings against 41 Israeli men and women who were accused of spying for Hezbollah in Israel between 2000 and 2021, is to expose the methods of operation of Hezbollah's agents in Israel and to shed light on the status of human intelligence (HUMINT) in Hezbollah's intelligence efforts. The activity of most of the agents was exposed by Israeli counterintelligence within a short amount of time, and their operation did not cause significant damage to Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Saeculum - Revista de História (0104-8929) is the property of Saeculum - Revista de Historia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For many years, African women have been blaming men for the inferior position of the female gender in African societies. In this blame game, the patriarchal and cultural stipulations of societies are not left out since they present the male gender as superior. This observation is emphasised by the myriads of texts on feminism which largely present discourses that highlight the roles of the male gender and patriarchy in perpetuating female otherness. In doing so, the females are portrayed as mere victims who do not play any active roles in this ordeal and are therefore exonerated from blame. This notwithstanding, a close study of events in patriarchal societies and the evolving contemporary current of thought in feminist domains questions the portrayal of women as helpless victims of patriarchy. By using the theories of feminism and deconstruction and by focusing on the themes and language of the stories, this paper seeks to unearth some patterns in Unigwe’s “Possessing the Secret of Joy” and Aidoo’s “The Girl Who Can” which speak to the involvement of women as agents of patriarchy. It also argues that some of the time too, men can be victims or subjugates of patriarchy in the African context. The paper concludes that the fight against patriarchy remains the lot of both genders and not in the blame game.

The article analyses the optimal financial contracts with several types of agents, studying the situation of informational symmetry (symmetrical information) and the situation of informational asymmetry (asymmetric information). In the situation of informational symmetry, the equilibrium point between the principal (decision maker, for example the bank) and the agent (a natural or legal person) is determined, respectively the optimal transfer (rate) and the optimal amount that the agent can borrow. The two main characteristics of the contract are highlighted, represented by the situation of Pareto efficiency (Pareto optimality) and the situation in which the Agent obtains exactly the minimum threshold reserved by the market. In the situation of informational asymmetry, it is solved with the help of informational rents and the solution is compared with the first rank solution, where we have symmetrical information. The characteristics of the contract are highlighted, namely the situation in which the efficiency of Pareto is kept only for the efficient agent who obtains an informational rent. For the other agents, the solution is no longer Pareto - optimal. Following the described analysis, models will be obtained that are classified in relation to the types of agent: rich, good payers or not and good professionals.

The recent developments in the fields of mathematics and computer sciences have allowed a more accurate description of the dynamics of some biological systems. On the one hand new mathematical frameworks have been proposed and employed in order to gain a complete description of a biological system thus requiring the definition of complicated mathematical structures; on the other hand computational models have been proposed in order to give both a numerical solution of a mathematical model and to derive computation models based on cellular automata and agents. Experimental methods are developed and employed for a quantitative validation of the modeling approaches. This editorial article introduces the topic of this special issue which is devoted to the recent advances and future perspectives of the mathematical and computational frameworks proposed in biosciences.

The Qur'an has a plan for all stages of human health. One of the topics discussed in this timeless work is the building a civilization and development of the earth. Quran verses refer to many civilizations, city-states and great rulers of human history, directly or indirectly. The study of human governments from the perspective of the Qur'an leads to the extraction of the accepted view of the Qur'an in the category of divine civilization. This article, in a descriptive-analytical manner, based on the study of Quran verses and primary sources, explains and identifies the characteristics of the agents of divine governments mentioned in the Quran as a model in the path of creating religious civilization. Characteristics such as fidelity, compassion, good morals, combating corruption, expanding justice, etc are examples of the characteristics of the divine agents mentioned in the Qur'an. Accordingly, the method of the Qur'an in presenting the characteristics of the agents of religious governments can be considered as one of the methods of this divine book in introducing and offering a solution in the way of creating civilization for humanity; which is designed and presented as an accurate and intelligent model.

Informational support for production management on the basis of an integrated platform for project and operational management is considered. The platform's software and hardware combines data fluxes and permits consistent management of the components in the production system not only of a single enterprise but of a group of enterprises working on a single complex project. When using the proposed platform, the business processes are observable and comprehensible; flexible responses to changes in external and internal production factors are possible; and the production processes may be monitored, with timely provision of information regarding the distribution, deadlines, and composition of the project tasks and those responsible for their implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]