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The fourth industrial revolution tempts manufacturing companies to transform into smart factories, which in turn affects the human work. We examine this complexity from the perspective of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) by analysing the organisational capabilities needed when seeking and selecting new technology solutions, and designing and implementing them into local application. This qualitative study focuses on manufacturing companies that have pioneered adopting high technologies in their processes. Empirical material was collected from 15 Finnish manufacturing companies of different sizes. Particular attention is paid to how HF/E are present when companies (1) sense new opportunities for technological development of their production, (2) seise these opportunities through design actions, and (3) shift the solutions into use. Analyses revealed that companies, regardless of their size and the technology being implemented, do not fully understand the fundamentals and value of HF/E, resulting in technology and production-oriented solutions in which human skills and capabilities are often neglected. A novel road map is proposed for integrating HF/E expertise and knowledge when seeking, selecting, and utilising new production technologies. This study increases understanding of the role of HF/E when adopting new technologies in manufacturing. The road map improves possibilities for fact-based decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco 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 study examines the utilization of the K-means clustering method to analyze Bahrain’s aluminum industry. In addition, this study emphasizes the importance of clustering in understanding productivity, quality, and competitiveness within the sector. Data collection involved rigorous cleaning of diverse sources to ensure accuracy. By employing the K-means algorithm, this study successfully identified distinct clusters within the dataset, offering insights into industry dynamics. In addition, it proposes a roadmap for cluster development, providing actionable recommendations for stakeholders to enhance competitiveness and sustainability. Overall, this research advances knowledge of clustering techniques and informs strategic decision-making in Bahrain’s aluminum industry.

Road building has long been under-mapped globally, arguably more than any other human activity threatening environmental integrity. Millions of kilometers of unmapped roads have challenged environmental governance and conservation in remote frontiers. Prior attempts to map roads at large scales have proven inefficient, incomplete, and unamenable to continuous road monitoring. Recent developments in automated road detection using artificial intelligence have been promising but have neglected the relatively irregular, sparse, rustic roadways characteristic of remote semi-natural areas. In response, we tested the accuracy of automated approaches to large-scale road mapping across remote rural and semi-forested areas of equatorial Asia-Pacific. Three machine learning models based on convolutional neural networks (UNet and two ResNet variants) were trained on road data derived from visual interpretations of freely available high-resolution satellite imagery. The models mapped roads with appreciable accuracies, with F1 scores of 72–81% and intersection over union scores of 43–58%. These results, as well as the purposeful simplicity and availability of our input data, support the possibility of concerted program of exhaustive, automated road mapping and monitoring across large, remote, tropical areas threatened by human encroachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between environmental pollution and obesity is of high importance, because understanding the relationship between the two can provide valuable insights into the complex factors contributing to the obesity epidemic. These chemicals, termed "obesogens," are believed to disrupt lipid metabolism processes, therefore promoting the development of obesity. Human activities such as industrialization, urbanization, agriculture, and transportation have significantly contributed to environmental pollution. Therefore, the main identified obesogens are BPA found in plastics, food packaging, and thermal paper receipts, phthalates, commonly used in plastics, personal care products, and food packaging, toxic metal(oid)s, determined in non-stick cookware, water-resistant fabrics, and food packaging, pesticides, used in agriculture, as well as other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and pharmaceuticals (waste). Addressing environmental pollution not only has the potential to improve environmental quality, but also to promote public health and prevent obesity-related diseases. Addressing the causality between pollutants and obesity could be a new and challenging road map for health professionals.

This study addresses challenges in road extraction from remote sensing imagery by introducing a novel approach leveraging Dilated Convolution-based layers and Vision Transformer (ViT). ViT extracts features from image patches, capturing relationships via self-attention and refining with a feedforward neural network. The model incorporates dilated convolution for an enlarged receptive field without increased parameters, enhancing road extraction. Fusion of Dilated Convolution-based layers with ViT forms feature representation, enabling the encoder-decoder architecture to predict roads pixel-wise. Experimental results on the DGR dataset showcase the approach’s high performance (F1 score: 98%, recall: 96.5%, specificity: 96.7%, accuracy: 98.8%, precision: 97.75%), demonstrating resilience across dataset sizes and geographical regions. This approach holds promise for real-world applications and future advancements in remote sensing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article reviews the literature on image-guided cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) studies. Improved outcome to CRT has been associated with the placement of a left ventricular (LV) lead in the latest activated segment free from scar. The majority of randomized controlled trials investigating guided LV lead implantation did not show superiority over conventional implantation approaches. Several factors may contribute to this paradoxical observation, including inclusion criteria favoring patients with left bundle branch block who already respond well to conventional anatomical LV lead implantation, differences in activation wavefronts during simultaneous right ventricular and LV pacing, incorrect definition of target regions, and limitations in coronary venous anatomy that prevent access to target regions that are detected by imaging. It is imperative that exclusion of patients lacking access to target regions from these studies would lead to larger benefit of image-guided CRT. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the global push for carbon neutrality and the emergence of net-zero carbon buildings (NZCBs), the lack of substantial progress in achieving NZCB goals due to unaddressed barriers is a pressing issue. While there are ongoing initiatives for NZCB, a crucial research gap exists in the thorough examination of specific barriers and their interconnected complexities, impeding progress in the NZCB agenda. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying and investigating the barriers negating the implementation of Prefabricated NZCBs through a systematic literature review and analyzing their relationships using Interpretative structural modeling (ISM) analysis. Additionally, the study aims to provide a strategic roadmap to overcome the barriers that impede the successful implementation of prefabricated NZCBs. The findings reveal that the regulatory barriers, including regulations, policies, and implementation efforts, emerge as the most significant, followed closely by uncertainties related to long-term financial returns and payback periods. The study concludes that the acceleration of NZCB goals depends on addressing these identified barriers and underscores the imperative for collaboration among government bodies, supply and demand sectors, and end users. Policymakers are urged to integrate these findings into their guidelines for promoting NZCB. The implications of this research are substantial, offering a path forward that prioritizes regulatory obstacles and addresses the most crucial barriers, ultimately propelling the NZCB agenda and contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future.

The article provides a literary review of existing theories and practices of views on the essence and content of the concept of “digital transformation of an industrial enterprise.” The main trends in the development of digital transformation in foreign industries were identified on the example of Siemens PLM Software, Dassault Systèmes, ANSYS, PTC Siemens, General Electric, Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The paper studied the materials on digital transformation and industrial digitalization presented in the reports of Allied Market Research, PwC, McKinsey, Deloitte Industrial Transformation Framework, Accenture, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and of such industrial companies as Siemens PLM Software, Dassault Systèmes, ANSYS, PTC, Siemens, General Electric, Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. However, we have to admit that this concept of digital transformation of an industrial enterprise is gaining only small momentum at domestic enterprises and does not find practical application, which in turn indicates that this study is of interest for the Russian industrial enterprises. The purpose of the study is to present the stages of forming a strategy for the digital transformation of an industrial enterprise for effective development of the production and economic system. The author of the article obtained the following results. An analysis and literature review was carried out, on the basis of which it was concluded that today there is no single generally accepted concept of “digital transformation of an industrial enterprise” and its definition, despite the relevance of this task. The definition of “digital transformation of an industrial enterprise” was introduced into scientific circulation from the perspective of transforming the internal environment of enterprise management. The characteristics of the main elements of the digital transformation of an enterprise were described. An overview of the implementation of digital technologies in foreign and domestic industry, as well as their intermediate results were shown. The stages of forming a strategy for the digital transformation of an industrial enterprise are presented, and the main stages of implementing the roadmap were described. Factors and risks that are a significant problem when implementing a digital transformation project were identified. The paper proposed practical recommendations for developing a strategy for the digital transformation of an enterprise to achieve effective development of the production-economic system.

In order to preserve and develop sheep breeding, it is necessary for traditions to meet with intelligent technologies. This will ensure a better quality of animal products (both dairy and meat), increase the health status of the animals, reduce their stress levels, optimize the costs of the farmers and a number of other benefits. The purpose of this article is to show the possibilities of intelligent technologies in modern sheep farming. In it, one hundred different farms in southern Greece were studied and the attitudes of their owners towards the implementation of intelligent monitoring of sheep flocks were established. Analyzes of farmers' propensity to adopt AI technologies are performed. On this basis, a road map has been proposed, facilitating the process of introducing intelligent sheep farming. It is applicable both to the study area and to other geographical areas with sheep farming traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road building has long been under-mapped globally, arguably more than any other human activity threatening environmental integrity. Millions of kilometers of unmapped roads have challenged environmental governance and conservation in remote frontiers. Prior attempts to map roads at large scales have proven inefficient, incomplete, and unamenable to continuous road monitoring. Recent developments in automated road detection using artificial intelligence have been promising but have neglected the relatively irregular, sparse, rustic roadways characteristic of remote semi-natural areas. In response, we tested the accuracy of automated approaches to large-scale road mapping across remote rural and semi-forested areas of equatorial Asia-Pacific. Three machine learning models based on convolutional neural networks (UNet and two ResNet variants) were trained on road data derived from visual interpretations of freely available high-resolution satellite imagery. The models mapped roads with appreciable accuracies, with F1 scores of 72–81% and intersection over union scores of 43–58%. These results, as well as the purposeful simplicity and availability of our input data, support the possibility of concerted program of exhaustive, automated road mapping and monitoring across large, remote, tropical areas threatened by human encroachment.

Merger and acquisition activities in health care are increasing in both the number and cumulative value of transactions in recent years, creating new and dynamic pressures on health care systems and current operating environments. These industry shifts, coupled with crises such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, create opportunities for innovation to increase capacity, improve productivity, achieve economies of scale, and positively impact health care quality, safety, access, and cost. However, neither consolidation nor innovation in and of themselves will yield sustainable clinical best practices nor achieve the desired quality, financial, efficiency, retention, or engagement outcomes. This article describes the approach used by one system-level Doctor of Nursing Practice prepared nurse executive to leverage evidence-based decision-making to guide, lead, and support the innovation needed to address first-year new graduate nurse turnover in a multistate not-for-profit health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare research and development have accelerated at an unprecedented rate creating a challenge even for high-income countries to finance all new technologies. Health technology assessment (HTA) aims to maximize health gains out of available resources. Our study aimed to provide tailor-made recommendations for HTA implementation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We conducted a policy survey to explore the gap between the current and preferred future environment of HTA implementation in the UAE. The survey was distributed in 2 workshops discussing the importance of HTA implementation, and results were further aggregated to yield a list of draft recommendations. Recommendations were then assessed for their feasibility in a round table discussion with experts in the field to generate actions for HTA implementation. Survey results and round table discussion indicated the need to leverage HTA for value-based decision making. Experts confirmed the unmet need for broader coverage of graduate and postgraduate HTA training with the aim of specific PhD programs in the UAE. Public funding for HTA appraisals and expanding the scope of HTA to nonpharmaceuticals was recommended. Furthermore, experts recommended that several HTA bodies should be coordinated centrally and highlighted the importance of having an explicit soft cost-effectiveness threshold for common technologies and a higher threshold for orphan drugs. Although HTA in the UAE is still in its early stages, strong initiatives are being taken for its implementation. Our survey results served as a step in developing a detailed action plan for HTA implementation that will enhance the sustainability of the healthcare system. • This study presents a comprehensive road map, including short- and long-term action plans, for health technology assessment implementation in the United Arab Emirates. • The outcomes of the study will not only benefit decision makers by providing a clear pathway for health technology assessment implementation but also health technology manufacturers by improving their understanding of the market structure and future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE PURPOSE. Consider the use of hydrogen technologies in energy. The total production of hydrogen in Russia is about 5 million tons with a global consumption of 72 million tons. However, in the case of toughening of carbon regulation by importers of Russian products, the production of hydrogen in the Russian Federation may double. The roadmap «Development of hydrogen energy in Russia» stipulates that Gazprom and Rosatom will become the first hydrogen producers in the country - in 2024 they should launch pilot hydrogen plants, including at nuclear power plants. METHODS. To realize the potential in the country and achieve the goals laid down in the Energy Strategy, the departments have prepared a special action plan (roadmap) for the development of hydrogen energy in Russia until 2024, which was approved by Russian government on October 12, 2020. The main goal of this plan is called the organization of priority work on the formation in Russia of a high-performance export-oriented hydrogen energy, developing on the basis of modern technologies and provided with highly qualified personnel. RESULTS. Transportation and safe storage remains one of the key issues in hydrogen energy. The complexity of this problem is determined by the fact that in the free state hydrogen is one of thelow-boiling gases, in liquid and solid state more than an order of magnitude lighter than water and an order of magnitude lighter than gasoline. The molecules of the substance are so small that they can seep through the atomic structure of a metal container at temperatures above minus 253 ° C. Maintaining such a temperature in a large volume for a long time is energy-intensive. Another problem is hydrogen embrittlement and destruction of metals by atomic hydrogen. Even high-strength steels, as well as titanium and nickel alloys, are susceptible to it. CONCLUSION. The demand for hydrogen is growing due to the shift to the consumption of cleaner and lighter fuel oils, while the petroleum feedstock is getting heavier. But at the same time, the potential of natural gas has not yet been exhausted, which already now contributes to the low-carbon development of the economy. Skepticism about hydrogen technologies will disappear only when one of them gains relatively widespread use. At the same time, there is no doubt that hydrogen is very relevant for the creation of chemical current generators. This is of great importance for transport, and for distributed energy, and for a number of other areas.

The article addresses methodological aspects necessary for the elaboration of mediated visit itineraries to spaces in the city. These scripts are part of a proposal for training teachers of basic education, in the area of teaching Humanities, systematized by a research group that defends the concept of Education in the City, linked to the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (IFES-BRAZIL). Its objective is to explain the various stages and procedures developed for the production of scripts, metaphorically called by the group "formative journey". Based on Lefebvrian assumptions, it shows that the production of mediated visit itineraries involves six distinct but articulated stages, which require the adoption of different data production techniques (photography, documentary record, interview, maps, ...). For this, it uses three examples of itineraries from research carried out in cities in Espirito Santo-Brazil. Through the data, it shows that the proposal of a mediated visit or "training trip" has the potential to reveal conflicts and contradictions that mark and constitute the urban space. Giving visibility to these elements in the teacher training process requires the displacement of physical morphology to social space; overcoming a naturalizing and harmonious social vision to an emphasis on conflicts and contradictions; in addition to identifying the marks of pain and suffering that social contradictions impose. In this way, the research group understands that through mediated visit itineraries it is possible to establish conditions to look at the urban space from other angles and provide critical elements for the elaboration of other ways of organizin teaching in the Humanities area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia’s foreign policy under Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’ has significantly shifted compared with his predecessor’s era, especially regarding policies on regionalism. While former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono emphasises multilateralism with a particular focus on ASEAN, Jokowi’s administration tends to overlook ASEAN as a multilateral organization. The research investigates the causal root of the tendency by using the concept of ideas in foreign policy. The results argue that the diminished role of Indonesia in ASEAN, especially during the first term of Jokowi’s presidency, is strongly influenced by causal beliefs held by Indonesian political elites and presidential advisors. Despite varying from one individual to another, these ideas have similar characteristics in proposing that Indonesia should expand its concentric circle beyond ASEAN, arguing that ASEAN is intrinsically weak and thus can no longer accommodate Indonesian aspirations. This idea acts as a road map that defines Indonesia’s national interests amid international politics dynamics in the 21st century.

One of the solutions for organizations to succeed in highly competitive markets is to move toward emerging sciences. These areas provide many opportunities, but, if organizations do not meet requirements of emerging sciences, they may fail and eventually, may enter a crisis. In this matter, one of the important requirements is to develop suitable roadmaps in variety fields such as strategic, capability, product, technology and etc. In this subject, it should be mentioned that there are connections among types of roadmaps, therefore, organizations need to understand these relations. According to this, we propose a model which describes relations among the roadmaps based on braid theory and appropriate methods for developing those roadmaps. The validity of developed model was conducted through the Delphi method. Additionally, we illustrate a to design a roadmap and implement it in quantum computing as an emerging science.

Micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED) will play an important role in the future generation of smart displays. They are found very attractive in many applications, such as maskless lithography, biosensor, augmented reality (AR)/mixed reality etc, at the same time. A monitor that can fulfill saturated color rendering, high display resolution, and fast response time is highly desirable, and the micro-LED-based technology could be our best chance to meet these requirements. At present, semiconductor-based red, green and blue micro-LED chips and color-conversion enhanced micro-LEDs are the major contenders for full-color high-resolution displays. Both technologies need revolutionary ways to perfect the material qualities, fabricate the device, and assemble the individual parts into a system. In this roadmap, we will highlight the current status and challenges of micro-LED-related issues and discuss the possible advances in science and technology that can stand up to the challenges. The innovation in epitaxy, such as the tunnel junction, the direct epitaxy and nitride-based quantum wells for red and ultraviolet, can provide critical solutions to the micro-LED performance in various aspects. The quantum scale structure, like nanowires or nanorods, can be crucial for the scaling of the devices. Meanwhile, the color conversion method, which uses colloidal quantum dot as the active material, can provide a hassle-free way to assemble a large micro-LED array and emphasis the full-color demonstration via colloidal quantum dot. These quantum dots can be patterned by porous structure, inkjet, or photo-sensitive resin. In addition to the micro-LED devices, the peripheral components or technologies are equally important. Microchip transfer and repair, heterogeneous integration with the electronics, and the novel 2D material cannot be ignored, or the overall display module will be very power-consuming. The AR is one of the potential customers for micro-LED displays, and the user experience so far is limited due to the lack of a truly qualified display. Our analysis showed the micro-LED is on the way to addressing and solving the current problems, such as high loss optical coupling and narrow field of view. All these efforts are channeled to achieve an efficient display with all ideal qualities that meet our most stringent viewing requirements, and we expect it to become an indispensable part of our daily life.

Magnonics is a research field that has gained an increasing interest in both the fundamental and applied sciences in recent years. This field aims to explore and functionalize collective spin excitations in magnetically ordered materials for modern information technologies, sensing applications and advanced computational schemes. Spin waves, also known as magnons, carry spin angular momenta that allow for the transmission, storage and processing of information without moving charges. In integrated circuits, magnons enable on-chip data processing at ultrahigh frequencies without the Joule heating, which currently limits clock frequencies in conventional data processors to a few GHz. Recent developments in the field indicate that functional magnonic building blocks for in-memory computation, neural networks and Ising machines are within reach. At the same time, the miniaturization of magnonic circuits advances continuously as the synergy of materials science, electrical engineering and nanotechnology allows for novel on-chip excitation and detection schemes. Such circuits can already enable magnon wavelengths of 50 nm at microwave frequencies in a 5G frequency band. Research into non-charge-based technologies is urgently needed in view of the rapid growth of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications, which consume substantial energy when implemented on conventional data processing units. In its first part, the 2024 Magnonics Roadmap provides an update on the recent developments and achievements in the field of nano-magnonics while defining its future avenues and challenges. In its second part, the Roadmap addresses the rapidly growing research endeavors on hybrid structures and magnonics-enabled quantum engineering. We anticipate that these directions will continue to attract researchers to the field and, in addition to showcasing intriguing science, will enable unprecedented functionalities that enhance the efficiency of alternative information technologies and computational schemes., (Creative Commons Attribution license.)

Purpose of Review: Review the role of coronary artery calcium (CAC) testing in designing future clinical trials in primary prevention. Recent Findings: While there are numerous new agents that have been found to lower cardiovascular event rates in clinical trials, these studies have required a large sample size, in part due to low event rates as well as improved baseline treatments. More precise risk assessment could allow for better identification of individuals who stand to derive the most benefit from various therapies. Coronary CAC testing offers a simple method for identifying high-risk primary prevention cohorts, and thus may allow for improved efficiency of clinical trials, enhanced efficacy of various therapies, and ultimately more favorable cost-effectiveness estimates. Summary: The use of CAC testing as part of the inclusion criteria used in clinical trials may result in identifying high-risk individuals who were previously not included in such studies while achieving favorable absolute risk reductions. The advantages afforded by using CAC to enrich clinical trials offer a potential road map for future clinical trials in primary prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution is a crosscultural exercise, within a philosophical, interdisciplinary perspective, where the work of Derrida and Lacan on transplanting the signifier from its original context and reinscribing it onto foreign soil, is used to bolster the case for inducting selected, penological and resettlement practices from a foreign culture (the Peoples' Republic of China [the PRC]) into a South African context. As no transplantation's success is guaranteed, Chris Allsobrook's "African Recognition Theory" as well as Tom Zwart's "receptor" approach is employed to tilt the odds in favour of a successful African inscription. Allsobrook's African Recognition Theory is considered as a way of understanding how the concept of "cultural mixing" can be employed to allow for a home-grown remedy to take shape while Zwart's "receptor" approach is explored against the background of its successful use to ameliorate the social problems in Africa. It is argued that mass imprisonment, following the American model, is more likely than not the result of schemes-for-profit (both in South Africa and the US) than a genuine concern over crime and re-offending rates. The so-called prison-industrial complex thrives on the back of imprisonment as our dominant sentencing regime and the latter has clearly not delivered what it had promised, namely safer communities and sustainable re-offending rates. It is contended that with South Africa having one of the highest incarceration rates in Africa and certainly one of the highest rates of recidivism in the world, a larger portion of the Department of Correctional Services' (DCS) budget than a mere 12% should go towards rehabilitation and, especially, resettlement efforts. In view of the demonstrable neglect of rehabilitation and the dismal failure of resettlement efforts in Western jurisdictions (including South Africa), data on selected rehabilitation and resettlement practices in the PRC is collected and coded to present a road map for offender re-entry. The themes selected range from resettlement to incarceration (in that inverted order). The data is collected by way of secondary data analysis and coding using a thematic imprint. This exercise is performed against the background of Braithwaite's seminal distinction between stigmatising shaming (of which South Africa and the United States are examples) and integrative shaming (of which China and Japan are examples) cultures. The argument is that features of the latter will greatly aid resettlement efforts and the struggle against unsustainable recidivism rates in South Africa. The concept of ubuntu, a well-established integrative shaming feature in Southern African indigenous cultures, is highlighted as a feature that could greatly assist the transplantation process. Indeed, an investigation of the now-defunct flower of an integrative shaming culture (1949--1996), has much to offer SA's harsh stigmatising shaming climate. By adopting an abductive research approach wedded to a "cultural mixing" method, it is possible to intersperse the data from the PRC with observations on how these could complement existing rehabilitative trends in South African corrections. The discussion of the data gleaned from the Chinese theater is interspersed with material from both Western and local sources on how the transplantation from China to South Africa could best be accomplished. It is contended that, taking an analogy from Stiglitz, the prison has no "moral compass" and should be managed to produce the desired outcomes in terms of both rehabilitation and sustainable resettlement, as the Chinese experience has demonstrated. In view of crime's complex nature, an interdisciplinary approach is adopted and the hope is expressed that this novel use of an old theory in a new way and context would add insight to our understanding of crime. It is to be hoped that in light of South Africa's (newish) Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola's, acknowledgement of corrections' tendency to warehouse managing of offenders and his undertaking to add renewed impetus to the department's rehabilitation and resettlement efforts, that this contribution could add value to his pledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of real-time online traffic information and GPS-enabled devices, fastest-path computations between two points in a road network modeled as a directed graph, where each directed edge is weighted by a "travel time" value, are becoming a standard feature of many navigation-related applications. To support this, very efficient computation of these paths in very large road networks is critical. Fastest paths may be computed as minimal-cost paths in a weighted directed graph, but traditional minimal-cost path algorithms based on variants of the classical Dijkstra algorithm do not scale well, as in the worst case they may traverse the entire graph. A common improvement, which can dramatically reduce the number of graph vertices traversed, is the A* algorithm, which requires a good heuristic lower bound on the minimal cost. We introduce a simple, but very effective, heuristic function based on a small number of values assigned to each graph vertex. The values are based on graph separators and are computed efficiently in a preprocessing stage. We present experimental results demonstrating that our heuristic provides estimates of the minimal cost superior to those of other heuristics. Our experiments show that when used in the A* algorithm, this heuristic can reduce the number of vertices traversed by an order of magnitude compared to other heuristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing is a computational model that provides software and web-based computing resources when requested by users. Cloud computing gives consumers' access to software in addition to cost savings. Accessibility, management, and exploitation of resources are the other virtues of virtualization. In this article, cloud computing standards are discussed, and at the end of the map, we provide a way to deploy cloud computing in libraries and information centers. Cloud-based templates are the foundations of technology that can a great new era in libraries and information centers.

Copyright of Esferas is the property of Esferas 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.)

Abstract. The paper summarised arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussions on the financial, socio-economic, environmental, and public health patterns of creating regional roadmaps to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The main goals of the paper were to develop the regional anti-epidemiological road map with markers using the instruments of differential calculus. The results of the analysis of the core health care (financial, social, economic, and ecological) determinants which justified the regional differentiation on vulnerabilities of the population of Ukraine from COVID-19 showed that they were based on the findings of other countries and did not consider the national and regional specifics. Methodological instruments were differential calculus of nonlinear equations, which allowed determining the critical values (markers) for each factor, which formalise the «weaknesses» and «bottleneck» of the region in terms of responding to future epidemiological threats. All regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv were selected as the object of research. The authors developed the roadmaps for future anti-epidemiological measures for each region of Ukraine. The results of the analysis could be useful for local governments to make informed decisions under existing powers and differentiated decisions to reduce social distancing, quarantine, suspension of economic facilities, changes in financial budgets, etc., considering the differences of each region on public health factors, social, ecological, and economic determinants. Keywords: local budget, pandemic, reform, road map, the state budget. JEL Classification H51, H75, I15, I18, K32, P36 Formulas: 2; fig.: 5; tabl.: 6; bibl.: 39.

Oncology is a medical branch devoted to the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer. Cancer prevalence is increasing. By 2030, the global cancer burden is expected to grow to 21.7 million new cases and 13 million deaths. Developing as well as developed nations have cancer burden, but there is a gap. Ideally, cancer management involves a multidisciplinary team composed of qualified individuals from different specialties collaborating to optimize the care. This team must follow evidence-based medicine principles, considering three questions: What is the problem? How can we manage it? And why are we selecting this pathway? To fill the gaps in care, we present 10 questions that can help those who are managing patients with cancer globally. We concluded that although there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, adhering to basic principles can help guide provision of evidence-based patient-centered care and fill some of the gaps in oncology.

The article is aimed at deepening the theoretical aspects of studying of the impact of economic reforms on the socio-economic development of Ukraine. It has been proved that development of theoretical support for the studying of the impact of reforms on the socio-economic development of the country should be based on ensuring the compatibility of strategic goals of projects along with the common goal. Such an approach involves harmonization of institutional, economic and social aspects of reforms in their integrated impact on the dynamics of the socio-economic development of the country’s economy. The author substantiates relevance of further solving of problems on estimation of influence of economic reforms on the formation of new trends of dynamics of the socio-economic development of the country according to the principles of integrity and hierarchity of economic system of Ukraine, and also conditionality of processes of generation of trends of structural dynamics of the development of economy under influence of reforming actions.

Planning the path is the most important task in the mobile robot navigation. This task involves basically three aspects. First, the planned path must run from a given starting point to a given endpoint. Secondly, it should ensure robot’s collision-free movement. Thirdly, among all the possible paths that meet the first two requirements it must be, in a certain sense, optimal.Methods of path planning can be classified according to different characteristics. In the context of using intelligent technologies, they can be divided into traditional methods and heuristic ones. By the nature of the environment, it is possible to divide planning methods into planning methods in a static environment and in a dynamic one (it should be noted, however, that a static environment is rare). Methods can also be divided according to the completeness of information about the environment, namely methods with complete information (in this case the issue is a global path planning) and methods with incomplete information (usually, this refers to the situational awareness in the immediate vicinity of the robot, in this case it is a local path planning). Note that incomplete information about the environment can be a consequence of the changing environment, i.e. in a dynamic environment, there is, usually, a local path planning.Literature offers a great deal of methods for path planning where various heuristic techniques are used, which, as a rule, result from the denotative meaning of the problem being solved. This review discusses the main approaches to the problem solution. Here we can distinguish five classes of basic methods: graph-based methods, methods based on cell decomposition, use of potential fields, optimization methods, фтв methods based on intelligent technologies.Many methods of path planning, as a result, give a chain of reference points (waypoints) connecting the beginning and end of the path. This should be seen as an intermediate result. The problem to route the reference points along the constructed chain arises. It is called the task of smoothing the path, and the review addresses this problem as well.

Copyright of Journal of Tikrit University for Humanities is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) 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.)

Cartography was a model for Dennis Oppenheim's territorial conception of sculpture and the road map was a site on which he sought to expand sculpture's boundaries. This article focuses on five works conceived in the late 1960s in which Oppenheim built upon the proprietary claim to space implicit in cartography. Whether plotted on a map or constructed alongside the highway, Oppenheim viewed these sculptures as instruments of spatial orientation and territorial possession, as well as mechanisms to reroute the infrastructures and informational networks of everyday life. In Oppenheim's sculpture, the liberatory aesthetics of minimalism's phenomenology is marked with a territorial violence that plays out in cartographic and real space. He sought a way to force the body to register within abstract systems and, in turn, to imprint those abstract systems on the body. The road map was both a model and a site for this exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]