Journal articles on the topic 'Solva marginata'

The article presents new information about the occurrence of Solva marginata (Mg) in the Wielkopolska-Kujawy Lowland, which increases the number of known localities of this fly in this region to twelve. A distribution map and colour photographs of the species habitats are also provided, as well as some information on its biology. Additional information is given for each new record, thus expanding the knowledge about the recorded species

The paper lists 18 species belonging to the families Tipulidae (5 spp.), Tabanidae (2 spp.), Xylophagidae (1 sp.), Xylomyidae (1 sp.), Asilidae (3 spp.), Bombyliidae (2 spp.), Pipunculidae (1 sp.), Platystomatidae (1 sp.) and Sciomyzidae (1 sp.), all of which were collected within the boundaries of the city of Gdynia, northern Poland. All the species are rarely recorded or considered as endangered in Poland. Nine have never before been recorded on this part of the Polish Baltic coast (Kashubian Coast): <em>Ctenophora flaveolata</em>, <em>C</em>.<em> ornata</em>, <em>C</em>. <em>pectinicornis</em> (Tipulidae), <em>Chrysops divaricatus</em>, <em>Heptatoma pellucens</em> (Tabanidae), <em>Solva marginata</em> (Xylomyidae), <em>Neomochtherus geniculatus</em> (Asilidae), <em>Micromitra stupida</em> (Bombyliidae) and <em>Nephrocerus scutellatus</em> (Pipunculidae). Another three &ndash; <em>Tipula maxima</em> (Tipulidae), <em>Choerades marginata</em> (Asilidae) and <em>Sepedon sphegea</em> (Sciomyzidae) &ndash; have not been recorded in this region for over a century. Two new records for the Kashubian Lake District are also given.

Records of interesting flies (Diptera) attracted to meat baited pyramidal trap on sapping stump of European walnut (Juglans regia) in Central Bohemia (Czech Republic) A pyramidal trap with combined bait is described and illustrated. The trap inserted above sapping stump of European walnut (Juglans regia) in a site in Central Bohemia near Uhlířské Janovice in 2010 yielded a rich spectrum of flies (Diptera). Records of 24 species most interesting from the faunistic, biological and nature conservancy point of view are given with comments upon their distribution and biology but a number of other captured species are also mentioned. Besides species developing in or attracted as adults to sap runs [e.g. Syrphidae: Ceriana conopsoides (Linnaeus, 1758), Aulacigastridae: three Aulacigaster spp., various Drosophilidae], other important components were formed by saproxylic [Xylomyidae: Solva marginata (Meigen, 1820), some Stratiomyidae, many Lonchaeidae, Milichiidae: Milichia ludens (Wahlberg, 1847), some Muscidae], mycophagous (some Asteiidae, Sphaeroceridae, Drosophilidae), necrophagous (some Sepsidae, Acartophtalmidae, Milichiidae, Sphaeroceridae) and saprophagous (some Sepsidae, Carnidae, Milichiidae, Sphaeroceridae) species, both latter attracted to meat-bait used in the trap. Aulacigaster falcata Papp, 1998 is the first record from Bohemia.

We study a one-parameter class of examples of optimal transport problems between a two-dimensional source and a one-dimensional target. Our earlier work identified a nestedness condition on the surplus function and marginals, under which it is possible to solve the problem semi-explicitly. In the family of examples we consider, we classify the values of parameters which lead to nestedness. In those cases, we derive an almost explicit characterisation of the solution.

No statute defines indecency, yet this is the element that makes the difference between common assault (a summary offence, maximum six months) and indecent assault (maximum now ten years). In gross cases no question arises; the trouble is with the marginals. The courts solve them, as they solve so many problems on jury trial, by leaving the question of indecency pretty well at large to the jury. This long-established rule was reaffirmed by the lords in Court. Lord Ackner, with the concurrence on this point of all the other lords, said ‘The prosecution must prove &amp; that the assault, or the assault and the circumstances accompanying it, are capable of being considered by right-minded persons as indecent’.

Rosario, en su expansión de finales del siglo XIX, generó espacios que permanecieron como relictos hasta hoy. Las poblaciones residentes eran marginadas, a la espera del trabajo o de la basura que les permitía sobrevivir: la prensa de la época solía ser sarcástica con respecto a estos grupos, considerados un obstáculo para la civilización.&#x0D; Una de estas crónicas posibilitó acercarse a uno de esos lugares “insalubres”: el Baño de Mandinga. Articulando historia y arqueología, el objetivo de este trabajo fue iniciar una serie de estudios sobre las poblaciones que la historia de Rosario por lo general ha ignorado.

The recognition of the key role of architectural heritage for sustainable territorial development has pushed the scientific community to give more importance to the involvement of local communities in conservation choices and practices. However, despite the recognition of the benefits deriving from the active participation of local communities in the field of conservation, in practice, this involvement is still marginal and linked to experiences without institutional support. This phenomenon is due to different causes, such as the lack of a participatory culture in conservation. It finds its roots in a conventional approach to architectural heritage conservation merely based on an “expert knowledge”. Consequently, there is an urgent need for approaches and tools to manage the complexity of decisions about conservation, which require close collaboration between local communities, research, and institutions. In this context, the paper aims to investigate the role of the action-research approach in fostering the participation of local communities in conservation processes, especially in marginal areas, where the demographic shrinking dynamics make even more necessary both the institutions’ intervention and the communities’ engagement. Based on these premises, starting from an analysis of recent experiences, the contribution dwells on the need to support the implementation of action-research approaches for the conservation of architectural heritage in marginal areas, paying particular attention to the role of evaluation. More in detail, in the first part of the paper, a reflection on the importance of community involvement for heritage conservation is proposed based on the main documents on the topic. In the second part, the main features of the action-research approach and its strengths and weaknesses have been analyzed through a literature review of action-research experiences applied to architectural heritage at a global level. The analyses have highlighted how most of these experiences are born from spontaneous initiatives, without institutional and methodological support, in which the role of evaluation is still marginal. Therefore, in the final part, the paper proposes a first methodological framework based on integrating action research with the main evaluation tools developed in the scientific literature to support the different phases of the decision-making process. This framework, suitably declined according to the specificities of the case study treated, can represent a valid support for implementing and transposing the research-action approach for heritage conservation in an institutional context. Il riconoscimento del ruolo chiave del patrimonio architettonico per uno sviluppo territoriale sostenibile ha spinto la comunità scientifica ad attribuire maggiore importanza al coinvolgimento delle comunità locali nelle scelte e pratiche di conservazione. Tuttavia, nonostante il riconoscimento dei benefici derivanti dalla partecipazione attiva delle comunità locali in ambito conservativo, nella pratica tale coinvolgimento risulta ancora marginale e legato ad esperienze prive di supporto istituzionale. Tale fenomeno è ascrivibile a molteplici cause, tra cui la mancanza di una cultura della partecipazione, che affonda le sue radici nell’approccio convenzionale alla conservazione del patrimonio architettonico basato sulla sola “conoscenza esperta”, e la conseguente carenza di approcci e strumenti capaci di gestire la complessità delle scelte legate alla conservazione in cui, invece, si richiede una stretta collaborazione tra comunità locali, mondo della ricerca e istituzioni. Il presente contributo mira ad indagare il ruolo dell’approccio della ricerca azione nel favorire la partecipazione delle comunità locali ai processi di conservazione soprattutto nelle aree marginali, dove le dinamiche di contra- zione demografica in atto rendono ancora più necessario sia l’intervento delle istituzioni, che la partecipazione delle comunità. Sulla scorta di tali premesse, partendo da un’analisi delle esperienze in corso, il contributo si sofferma sulla necessità di supportare l’implementazione di approcci alla ricerca-azione per la conservazione del patrimonio architettonico in aree marginali, ponendo parti- colare attenzione al ruolo della valutazione per il raggiungimento di tale obiettivo. Nello specifico, nella prima parte del contributo si propone una riflessione sull’importanza del coinvolgimento delle comunità per la conservazione del patrimonio sulla base delle principali carte e trattati sul tema. Nella seconda parte sono state, poi, analizzate le principali caratteristiche dell’approccio alla ricerca-azione ed i suoi punti di forze e di debolezza rispetto alle finalità preposte attraverso una literature review delle esperienze di ricerca azione applicate al patrimonio architettonico a livello globale. Le analisi condotte hanno portato ad evidenziare come la maggior parte delle esperienze analizzate nasca da iniziative spontanee, prive di un supporto istituzionale e metodologico, in cui il ruolo della valutazione è ancora marginale. Pertanto, nella parte finale della riflessione si propone una prima proposta di framework metodologico basato sul- l’integrazione della ricerca azione con i principali strumenti di valutazione sviluppati in letteratura al fine di supportare le differenti fasi del processo decisionale. Tale framework, opportunamente declinato secondo le specificità del caso studio trattato, può rappresentare un valido supporto per l’implementazione e la trasposizione in ambito istituzionale dell’approccio alla ricerca-azione per la conservazione del patrimonio.

In this letter, we examine a general method of approximation, known as the Kikuchi approximation method, for finding the marginals of a product distribution, as well as the corresponding partition function. The Kikuchi approximation method defines a certain constrained optimization problem, called the Kikuchi problem, and treats its stationary points as approximations to the desired marginals. We show how to associate a graph to any Kikuchi problem and describe a class of local message-passing algorithms along the edges of any such graph, which attempt to find the solutions to the problem. Implementation of these algorithms on graphs with fewer edges requires fewer operations in each iteration. We therefore characterize minimal graphs for a Kikuchi problem, which are those with the minimum number of edges. We show with empirical results that these simpler algorithms often offer significant savings in computational complexity, without suffering a loss in the convergence rate. We give conditions for the convexity of a given Kikuchi problem and the exactness of the approximations in terms of the loops of the minimal graph. More precisely, we show that if the minimal graph is cycle free, then the Kikuchi approximation method is exact, and the converse is also true generically. Together with the fact that in the cycle-free case, the iterative algorithms are equivalent to the well-known belief propagation algorithm, our results imply that, generically, the Kikuchi approximation method can be exact if and only if traditional junction tree methods could also solve the problem exactly.

Este documento presenta varias características: 1) contiene un cálculo de la concentración geográfica de la marginación y de los niveles de segregación espacial socioeconómica en la Ciudad de México; 2) pone a prueba la hipótesis de que un proceso de difusión espacial de la marginación opera entre sus delegaciones, y 3) mide el efecto de la marginación en los cambios poblacionales en el interior de la ciudad. Encuentra que 4) entre 1995 y 2000 los niveles de concentración geográfica de la marginación y la segregación espacial socioeconómica en la ciudad se mantuvieron prácticamente iguales; 5) que tales niveles de marginación no siguieron un proceso espacial al menos de tipo contagioso, y 6) que de manera agregada la población aumentó más en las delegaciones que vieron sus niveles de marginación disminuir; 7) tal crecimiento se concentró principalmente en una sola delegación, y 8) se dio principal y comparativamente en las delega­ciones más marginadas de la ciudad.

The very low permeability of many hardwood species causes problems during lumber drying. These include very long drying times, drying defects, large material losses after drying, high energy consumption, and expensive drying processes. Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) is a species which very difficult to dry. Microwave (MW) wood modification and MW drying can provide an increase in wood permeability and solve some hardwood drying problems. Two 60 kW MW conveyor plants at frequencies 2.45 and 0.922 GHz were used for experiments. The study of MW Jarrah (29x87mm) board drying after pre-drying MW modification showed that it is possible to dry boards in the moisture content range from 70 to 10% during 147-159 hours (6 -7 days) using the cycle method of MW power application. Such intensive MW drying does not bring perceptible damage to the wood and provides low variability of moisture content in the board cross sections. The shorter drying times reduce associated capital, space, energy and labor costs whilst the reduction in drying defects can increase yields. A short time of MW drying provides an opportunity to develop conveyor systems for hardwood sawn timber drying. Economic assessment of MW Jarrah board drying showed that a specific drying cost ranges from US$ 50 to $277/m3 at electricity prices from US$0.08 to $0.32/kWh. The electricity costs form the largest share in total specific drying costs - 44 to 82%. Jarrah boards are expensive product and MW drying costs can be acceptable for industry taking into consideration savings provided by fast drying and wood loss reduction.

The article is devoted to the review of the main historical sources for A.N. Tolstoy’s novel Peter the Great. Textual comparison of the text of the novel with the corresponding documentary materials might solve one of the most important problems of commenting on the novel, which is how and to what extent a documentary source could influence the writer, how he used a specific source and how he changed it. A.V. Alpatov wrote that Tolstoy borrowed the outline of events and factual material from the works of historians I.I. Golikov, N.G. Ustryalov, S.M. Solovyov. The most challenging thing to establish is to what extent these works were reflected in the novel. For instance, the sixth chapter (the First Azov Campaign) makes evident the use of works by Golikov and Solovyov, but not those by Ustryalov (contrary to what Alpatov believed). This judgement might be supported by the comparison of the texts of the novel and historical sources, as well as marginalia on the publications of Golikov and Solovyov from Tolstoy’s personal library.

El siguiente proyecto de investigación pretende evidenciar por medio de cartografía problemáticas sobre la presencia de habitantes establecidos en zonas periurbanas marginadas de alto riesgo ante diversos acontecimientos naturales, lo anterior, es incentivado en gran medida por la segregación socio-espacial e indiferencia del aparato gubernamental mexicano sismos, inundaciones, deslizamientos de tierra, colapso de techos de minas, entre otros, mismos que hacen más vulnerable a este tipo de población que se establece en zonas no aptas para la habitabilidad debido a las características geográficas del sitio, ejemplificando con barrancas, perímetros de inundación, zonas minadas y Áreas Naturales Protegidas (ANP). Lo anterior es evidenciado con muestras de problemáticas acontecidas recientemente en Michoacán, Ciudad de México (CDMX) y Estado de México (EDOMEX), los anteriores lugares son las escalas de trabajo del presente análisis, identificados desde la geografía, puntualizando que el espacio geográfico y la naturaleza no siempre está limitada a una sola escala de trabajo. Es urgente realizar planes de reestructuración urbana debidamente gestionados en ciertos Estados de la República Mexicana; instaurando en la población la concientización, sensibilización y reflexión, con el objetivo de evitar crecimiento en áreas periurbanas, deteniendo paulatinamente el riesgo y por ende impedir con mecanismos de protección civil pérdidas de vidas humanas. Así mismo, implantar conexión directa en áreas periurbanas, fomentando en todo momento reforestación, reparación, recuperación de ANP, reconfiguración de áreas en riesgo alto e incorporación al ámbito rural o urbano territorios periurbanos según sus características geográficas.

There are many methods for identifying the stability of complex dynamic systems. Routh and Hurwitz&rsquo;s criterion is one of the earliest and commonly used analytical tools analysing the stability of dynamic systems. However, it requires tedious and lengthy derivations of all components of the Routh array to solve the stability problem. Therefore, it is not a simple method to define analytically, stability boundaries for the coefficients of the system characteristic equation. The proposed brand-new criterion is an effective alternative technique in identifying stability higher-order linear time-invariant dynamic system that binds the coefficients of the system characteristic polynomial at the stability boundaries by means of an additional single constant k. It defines the necessary and sufficient conditions for the absolute stability of higher-order dynamic systems. It also allows the analysing of the system&rsquo;s precise marginal stability or marginal instability condition when the roots are relocated on imaginary j&omega;-axis of s-plane. The criterion proposed by the authors, in contrast to Routh criteria, simplifies the identification of maximum and minimum stability limits for any coefficient of the higher-order characteristic equation significantly. The derived in the paper stability boundary formulas for the polynomial coefficients are successfully used for the proportional integral derivative (PID) controller with single or multiple gains selections in closed-loop control systems.

SUMMARY In this study, we aim to solve the seismic inversion in the Bayesian framework by generating samples from the posterior distribution. This distribution incorporates the uncertainties in the seismic data, forward model, and prior information about the subsurface model parameters; thus, we obtain more information through sampling than through a point estimate (e.g. maximum a posteriori method). Based on the numerical cost of solving the forward problem and the dimensions of the subsurface model parameters and observed data, sampling with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms can be prohibitively expensive. Herein, we consider the promising Langevin dynamics MCMC algorithm. However, this algorithm has two central challenges: (1) the step size requires prior tuning to achieve optimal performance and (2) the Metropolis–Hastings acceptance step is computationally demanding. We approach these challenges by proposing an adaptive step-size rule and considering the suppression of the Metropolis–Hastings acceptance step. We highlight the proposed method’s potential through several numerical examples and rigorously validate it via qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the sample quality based on the kernelized Stein discrepancy (KSD) and other MCMC diagnostics such as trace and autocorrelation function plots. We conclude that, by suppressing the Metropolis–Hastings step, the proposed method provides fast sampling at efficient computational costs for large-scale seismic Bayesian inference; however, this inflates the second statistical moment (variance) due to asymptotic bias. Nevertheless, the proposed method reliably recovers important aspects of the posterior, including means, variances, skewness and 1-D and 2-D marginals. With larger computational budget, exact MCMC methods (i.e. with a Metropolis–Hastings step) should be favoured. The results thus obtained can be considered a feasibility study for promoting the approximate Langevin dynamics MCMC method for Bayesian seismic inversion on limited computational resources.

Nonostante la crescente sensibilit&agrave; istituzionale verso le tematiche dell&rsquo;inclusione delle persone LGBTQIA+ (UNAR, 2022; EC, 2018), la ricerca su popolazioni specifiche e servizi di comunit&agrave; rimane marginale in Italia (Aresi, Cucc&igrave;, 2018; Van Der Meulen, Muffels, 2016 ). Il presente studio, che ha visto la partecipazione della rete territoriale Arcigay, colma in parte questa lacuna offrendo una mappatura dello stato attuale dei servizi nel campo della salute sessuale e della gestione dell&#39;HIV. Il lavoro di mappatura si &egrave; configurato come una ricerca-azione finalizzata al monitoraggio dei servizi sanitari utilizzati dagli individui LGBTQIA+ o rivolti agli stessi, che ha consentito di acquisire, attraverso un campionamento giudicante, dati provenienti da trentuno territori italiani (Dove vive pi&ugrave; del 42% della popolazione nazionale (dati Istat al 01/01/2022)). I dati sono stati raccolti dagli operatori dell&rsquo;associazione su tutto il territorio nazionale tra il secondo e il terzo trimestre del 2022 utilizzando i canali di comunicazione pubblica dei servizi. L&#39;indagine &egrave; stata condotta attraverso un questionario suddiviso in nove schede di raccolta, ciascuna per una categoria di servizio: centri/ambulatori HIV; Servizi per le persone che vivono con l&#39;HIV; Servizio IST. e centri di prelievo del sangue; PreP, PEP, Vaccini; Psicologico, Chimica, SerD/SerT, Carceri; Privato Sociale; Associazioni locali servizio sanitario; Difesa locale. Un focus group con gli operatori sulle difficolt&agrave; nel reperire informazioni &egrave; servito a fornire una chiave interpretativa ai dati. La situazione &egrave; problematica, senza differenze tra Nord e Sud, ma piuttosto tra capoluoghi di regione e comuni di provincia. Il primo funge tipicamente da punto di riferimento per i servizi carenti nelle strutture provinciali ed &egrave; la destinazione dei casi che necessitano di cure specialistiche: un problema non da poco per le emergenze che richiedono servizi locali, soprattutto quando il capoluogo di regione &egrave; &ndash; come avviene nella maggior parte dei casi &ndash; lontano. Fanno eccezione le grandi citt&agrave; metropolitane (Milano, Roma), con una distribuzione pi&ugrave; capillare e diversificata delle strutture sanitarie. Negli ultimi tre anni sono stati denunciati casi di discriminazione in 19 dei 31 territori esaminati. Servizi specifici come PEP o PrEP sono scarsamente istituzionalizzati, regolamentati o completamente assenti. In alcuni casi essi sono contrastati o legati alla sensibilit&agrave; di una sola persona che consente, purch&eacute; presente e anche attraverso canali informali, l&#39;attivazione di tali servizi. Le politiche vaccinali per le persone MSM sono attuate in modo molto eterogeneo sul territorio, con servizi eccellenti in alcune aree e carenze significative in altre. Solo a Padova e a Livorno sono presenti punti di accoglienza del privato sociale aventi diritto al Chemsex problematico. La relazione positiva tra gli attori sociali migliora l&rsquo;efficienza dei servizi forniti alla comunit&agrave; LGBTQIA+. L&#39;esigenza di istituzionalizzare ed estendere il lavoro svolto su scala nazionale &egrave; stata da subito ritenuta opportuna, non solo per il coinvolgimento delle istituzioni ma anche per i benefici apportati all&#39;organizzazione dei servizi di advocacy dedicati alla salute. La ricerca &egrave; stata resa possibile grazie al contributo incondizionato di ViiV Healthcare.

Abstract L’economia tedesca è sempre stata caratterizzata da una struttura molto concentrata, in cui le imprese facevano frequente ricorso ai cartelli. Alia fine dell’ultima guerra, gli alleati (ed in particolare gli Stati Uniti) hanno insistito perché la concentrazione fosse ridotta ed i cartelli fossero eliminati, introducendo cosi la libera concorrenza nell’economia.La legge ha introdotto un generale divieto di cartellizzazione, con alcune esenzioni legali che consentono specifiche intese.L’applicazione della legge attraverso un organismo indipendente, l’Ufficio Federale dei Cartelli, si è basata esclusivamente sugli aspetti concorrenziali, con esclusione quindi degli aspetti di «interesse pubblico». L’unica eccezione è costituita dal potere di autorizzazione di cartelli e concentrazioni da parte del Ministro, che tuttavia vi ha fatto ricorso molto raramente.Nell’ambito di applicazione della legge sono rientrate non soltanto le attività dirette a limitare la concorrenza da parte dei privati, ma anche le distorsioni del mercato prodotte da interventi pubblici, come regolamentazione, sussidi e protezionismo. Negli anni più recenti, in particolare, la politica della concorrenza si è ispirata all’idea di modificare l’equilibrio tra settore privato e settore pubblico, riducendo quest’ultimo mediante deregolamentazione e privatizzazione.La legge tedesca riguarda essenzialmente quattro gruppi di limitazioni della concorrenza: accordi orizzontali, restrizioni verticali, abuso del potere di mercato e concentrazioni.Gli accordi orizzontali sono proibiti e, di conseguenza, nulli. Coloro che vi abbiano preso parte sono passibili di una multa che può giungere fino ad un ammontare pari a tre volte il valore degli utili così conseguiti. Si tratta, peraltro, di un criterio di difficile applicazione, essendo molto ardua la determinazione dell’incremento di utili ottenuto con un accordo.Una lacuna del sistema era costituita dal fatto di escludere alcune forme di collusione che a stretto rigore non rientravano nella categoria degli «accordi». È stato necessario emendare la legge, includendovi esplicitamente le «azioni concertate».Un secondo problema riguarda l’inclusione o meno nel concetto di «restrizione della concorrenza” dell’obbligo per le parti dell’accordo di mettere in atto comportamenti contrari alla concorrenza. Secondo l’interpretazione degli organi giudiziari tale obbligo si deve presumere.Per quanto riguarda le deroghe, l’Ufficio Federale dei Cartelli tende ad essere alquanto rigido.Per gli «accordi verticali», la legge tedesca, in contrasto con l’art. 85 del Trattato CEE e con la legge italiana, introduce specifiche regole. Essi sono, in genere, legali, con la sola eccezione degli accordi per la determinazione del prezzo, che sono proibiti di per sé, a meno che non riguardino il settore dell’editoria.Gli interventi per accordi verticali sono stati poco frequenti e, a quanto sembra, nella maggior parte dei casi tali accordi non dovrebbero essere stati influenzati dalla legislazione sulla concorrenza.Per quanto riguarda l’abuso di potere di mercato, il vecchio adagio statunitense vale anche per la Germania: le dimensioni non danno luogo, di per sé, ad un pericolo. Analogamente, una posizione dominante, come tale, non può essere ritenuta dannosa, anche se è ampiamente diffusa l’opinione secondo cui non debba essere consentito l’abuso di posizione dominante.Sotto il profilo applicativo, peraltro, bisogna identificare due fondamentali presupposti: una «posizione dominante” e un «comportamento abusivo».Il controllo del comportamento abusivo persegue, sia in Germania che in Italia, due obiettivi: impedire alle imprese dominanti di stabilire prezzi troppo elevati, realizzando profitti monopolistici (abuso di prezzi), e proteggere la libertà di competere delle altre imprese (pratiche restrittive).Per quanto riguarda l’abuso di prezzi, l’esperienza tedesca non è stata molto incoraggiante, soprattutto per la ben nota difficoltà nella definizione del «giusto prezzo».Hanno avuto maggiore successo, invece, i procedimenti nei riguardi di pratiche restrittive. Anche in questo caso non e facile applicare la normativa concorrenziale, specie per quanto riguarda i casi «marginali», come i casi di collegamenti tra imprese che non sembrano evidenziare comportamenti anti-competitivi.L’introduzione della regolamentazione delle concentrazioni è avvenuta in Germania soprattutto per le difficoltà nel perseguire gli abusi di posizione dominante. Diversamente dalla legge italiana, il sistema tedesco non prevede un minimo fatturato nazionale, ma fa riferimento al valore del fatturato nel suo complesso, dovunque sia stato conseguito.Notevoli difficoltà potranno derivare dalla definizione del concetto di «controllo». Dal punto di vista pratico sembra conveniente combinare le caratteristiche di flessibilità e certezza giuridica con una definizione generale che specifichi il maggior numero possibile di fattispecie.Le caratteristiche più significative dell’attività di controllo delle concentrazioni svolta in Germania sono l’effetto sospensivo della notificazione che precede la concentrazione e un criterio strettamente concorrenziale. L’esperienza dimostra che è molto difficile far venir meno una concentrazione, una volta che sia stata effettuata. Per questo motivo si richiede che le concentrazioni che eccedono una determinata soglia siano comunicate in anticipo.Sebbene l’Ufficio Federale dei Cartelli abbia a disposizione quattro mesi per completare la sua investigazione, circa i tre quarti delle procedure sono completate entro quattro settimane.Vi è una netta distinzione di compiti tra l’Ufficio Federale dei Cartelli e il Ministro dell’Economia. Il primo si occupa degli aspetti strettamente inerenti alla concorrenza, senza tener conto degli altri benefici che possono derivare dalla concentrazione. Il Ministro, invece, per considerazioni d’interesse pubblico, può autorizzare una concentrazione che l’Ufficio Federale dei Cartelli aveva bloccato. Sino ad ora (dal 1973) soltanto sei autorizzazioni sono state concesse dal Ministro e non sembra che esse abbiano dato luogo ai risultati positivi che erano attesi.

We propose an approach to directly estimate the moments or marginals for a high-dimensional equilibrium distribution in statistical mechanics by solving the high-dimensional Fokker–Planck equation in terms of low-order cluster moments or marginals. With this approach, we bypass the exponential complexity of estimating the full high-dimensional distribution and directly solve the simplified partial differential equations for low-order moments/marginals. Moreover, the proposed moment/marginal relaxation is fully convex and can be solved via off-the-shelf solvers. We further propose a time-dependent version of the convex programs to study non-equilibrium dynamics. In a specific setting, we show the proposed method can recover a mean-field-type equilibrium density. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for high-dimensional systems.

AbstractIn this work, we study the optimal transport (OT) problem between symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrix-valued measures. We formulate the above as a generalized optimal transport problem where the cost, the marginals, and the coupling are represented as block matrices and each component block is a SPD matrix. The summation of row blocks and column blocks in the coupling matrix are constrained by the given block-SPD marginals. We endow the set of such block-coupling matrices with a novel Riemannian manifold structure. This allows to exploit the versatile Riemannian optimization framework to solve generic SPD matrix-valued OT problems. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach in several applications.

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; The distinctive driving force of constraint programming to solve combinatorial problems has been a privileged access to problem structure through the high-level models it uses. From that exposed structure in the form of so-called global constraints, powerful inference algorithms have shared information between constraints by propagating it through shared variables’ domains, traditionally by removing unsupported values. This paper investigates a richer propagation medium made possible by recent work on counting solutions inside constraints. Beliefs about individual variable-value assignments are exchanged between contraints and iteratively adjusted. It generalizes standard support propagation and aims to converge to the true marginal distributions of the solutions over individual variables. Its advantage over standard belief propagation is that the higher-level models featuring large-arity (global) constraints do not tend to create as many cycles, which are known to be problematic for convergence. The necessary architectural changes to a constraint programming solver are described and an empirical study of the proposal is conducted on its implementation. We find that it provides close approximations to the true marginals and that it significantly improves search guidance.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Saikosaponins comprise a large group of chemical components present in the Bupleurum species that have attracted attention in the field of medicine because of their significant biological activities. Due to the high polarity, structural similarity, and the presence of several isomers of this class of components, their structural identification is extremely challenging. In this study, the mass spectrometric fragmentation pathways, UV spectral features, and chromatographic behavior of different types of saikosaponins were investigated using 24 standard substances. Saikosaponins containing carbonyl groups (C=O) in the aglycone produced fragment ions by loss of 30 Da, and in addition, type IV saikosaponins could produce [aglycone−CH2OH−OH−H]− and [aglycone−H2O−H]− fragment ions through neutral losses at positions C16 and C17. The above characteristic ions can be used to identify saikosaponins. More notably, the identification process of saikosaponins was systematically summarized, and using this method, 109 saikosaponins were identified or tentatively characterized from the saikosaponins extract of Bupleurum marginatum var. stenophyllum (BMS) using UPLC-PDA-Q/TOF-MS with both data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and data-independent acquisition (DIA) modes, of which 25 were new compounds and 60 were first discovered from BMS. Further studies revealed that the saikosaponins profiles of BMS, Bupleurum chinense DC (BC), and Bupleurum marginatum Wall. ex DC (BMW) were very similar. This work is of great significance for the basic research of the Bupleurum species and provides strong technical support to solve the resource problems associated with Radix Bupleuri.

La prisión de mujeres de la Trinitat, en Barcelona, estuvo en funcionamiento entre 1963 y 1983, como cárcel de preventivas y cumplimiento de penas de corta duración. Tras sus muros convivieron, a la fuerza, miles de presas comunes, acusadas de delitos contra la propiedad o la moral, doblemente castigadas por su condición de mujeres y su pobreza mayoritaria. También unos cientos de presas políticas: jóvenes estudiantes y trabajadoras que se habían manifestado en contra de la dictadura o formaban parte de los movimientos y grupos de oposición. Y para vigilarlas a todas, durante los primeros quince años, una veintena de religiosas, las Cruzadas Evangélicas, quienes con mano de hierro adoctrinaban y reprimían a las presas; hasta que en 1978 fueron sustituidas por funcionarias. La memoria colectiva de cada uno de estos grupos, además de la de los abogados que asistieron a las presas y visitaron a menudo la prisión, coincide y diverge sobre los mismos hechos, por lo que no se puede hablar de una sola “memoria democrática” de la prisión, sino de diferentes “memorias”, en plural, algunas de las cuales están, en gran medida, todavía ocultas. En unos casos, por el anonimato de las mujeres tradicionalmente marginadas (las presas comunes), en otros, por el silencio autoimpuesto como defensa ante posibles acusaciones de abusos (las Cruzadas Evangélicas). Este texto aborda esta pluralidad y propone nuevos caminos a explorar.

AbstractMultimarginal Optimal Transport (MOT) has attracted significant interest due to applications in machine learning, statistics, and the sciences. However, in most applications, the success of MOT is severely limited by a lack of efficient algorithms. Indeed, MOT in general requires exponential time in the number of marginals k and their support sizes n. This paper develops a general theory about what “structure” makes MOT solvable in $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time. We develop a unified algorithmic framework for solving MOT in $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time by characterizing the structure that different algorithms require in terms of simple variants of the dual feasibility oracle. This framework has several benefits. First, it enables us to show that the Sinkhorn algorithm, which is currently the most popular MOT algorithm, requires strictly more structure than other algorithms do to solve MOT in $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time. Second, our framework makes it much simpler to develop $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time algorithms for a given MOT problem. In particular, it is necessary and sufficient to (approximately) solve the dual feasibility oracle—which is much more amenable to standard algorithmic techniques. We illustrate this ease-of-use by developing $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) -time algorithms for three general classes of MOT cost structures: (1) graphical structure; (2) set-optimization structure; and (3) low-rank plus sparse structure. For structure (1), we recover the known result that Sinkhorn has $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) runtime; moreover, we provide the first $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time algorithms for computing solutions that are exact and sparse. For structures (2)-(3), we give the first $$\mathrm {poly}(n,k)$$ poly ( n , k ) time algorithms, even for approximate computation. Together, these three structures encompass many—if not most—current applications of MOT.

Agent-Based Models (ABMs) are being increasingly used to evaluate urban systems, urban policies and environmental impacts. One prerequisite for using the ABM framework consists of generating a synthetic population representative of the actual population, featuring the appropriate attributes with respect to model objectives. A precise spatial positioning of the synthetic population agents is often key to ensuring ABM modeling quality. This paper considers the problem of allocating synthetic population agents to a finer spatial scale. Such an allocation process is performed from a higher-level statistical area where a synthetic population can be generated, that is, a container statistical area (CSA), to several nested non-overlapping elementary statistical areas (ESAs), where only marginals are available. This allocation step relies not only on common attributes between CSA and ESA, but also on additional discriminatory attributes, that is, attributes of interest, estimated from external data sources. The case study examined herein is based on French census and fiscal data. Common attributes include eight socio-demographic variables, totaling 17 modalities. An additional attribute of interest, that is, income, has also been added. The allocation problem at hand is modeled as an integer quadratic programming problem. An exact algorithm is first applied to solve the problem; the applicability of this algorithm proves to be limited to small-size synthetic populations. A heuristic is proposed to handle the allocation of larger-size synthetic populations. Tests carried out on the case study show that this heuristic yields near-optimal solutions; it is also computationally efficient and may fulfill the needs of a majority of users.

Nowadays the implementation of a progressive tax scale in Russia is actively discussed not only in the academic community, but also in senior government circles and business. Progressive taxation is supposed to reduce inequality, to address poverty and to generate additional revenue for the budget, thereby accelerating economic growth. A progressive taxation system has been successfully implemented in many developed countries, including the United States. This article assesses the link between the maximum marginal tax rate and economic growth in the United States. An OLS-regression model with two control variables shows that there is no correlation between these indicators. However, considering certain periods, there is a correlation. The increase in marginal income tax rates in the end of the Great Depression and after World War II led to a large increase in GDP. The example of the United States indicates that with a high level of marginal rates, economic growth can remain stable. This conclusion can be implemented in reforming taxation in Russia, but it is important to understand that this is not the most important and only measure to solve social and economic problems. The transition to a new model requires persistence of all of its components, including changes in institutions and social orientation of development.

<strong>Abstract</strong> The article highlights the essence and features of the "direct costing" system. It was determined that the calculation according to the "direct costing" system is considered one of the alternative approaches to calculating the cost of production, which involves the display of absolutely all costs of the enterprise for a certain time at the stage of the formation of cost elements and is the basis of financial reporting. In order to solve management tasks based on a clear distribution of costs, the division of production costs into fixed and variable according to J. Clark was studied. Domestic and foreign accounting approaches to defining the concept of "direct costing" have been studied. The methodology of the "direct costing" system is summarized, taking into account the achievements of accountants. The scheme of accounting and calculation of production cost according to the "direct costing" method is proposed. The advantages and disadvantages of cost formation under the "direct costing" system have been studied. Differences in the application of modern simple and advanced "direct costing" have been determined. In particular, according to simple direct costing, each product or center of responsibility makes its "contribution" (marginal income) to the result of the enterprise. While the developed direct costing made it possible to strengthen control in production, because it ensured the receipt of information about the results of the activity of each division (segment), thereby ensuring the clear responsibility of managers of different levels for the indicators of their work. Peculiarities of the American and French models of determining the result are studied for their implementation at domestic enterprises. The practical application of the "direct costing" system at the production enterprises of Ukraine with the formation of the "Profit and Loss Report" was analyzed.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to reclaim and unlock heritage knowledge related to the secular value of time and labor from a sample Ethiopian ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscript. We claim that Ethiopia’s ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts could be a source of heritage knowledge if systematically studied. We conducted an extensive and intensive survey to identify and select relevant ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts from ancient churches and monasteries in Tigray, Ethiopia. We selected one Ge’ez parchment manuscript for content analysis related to secular value time and another Ge’ez parchment manuscript for the secular value of labor and work ethics. Content analysis and interpretation including language translation from Ge’ez to Tigrinya and English was used as a method of heritage knowledge extraction, as were unlocking approaches from the selected sample Ge’ez parchment manuscripts. Digital content was also produced in order to have access to the digital content, which facilitates further content analysis. A critical evaluation of the physical condition of the sample manuscripts including their palaeography, folios, marginalia, and provenance was made in order to establish their relative age and credibility. From our content analysis, we extract and unlock valuable information and heritage knowledge domains related to the secular value of time and labor. The striking aspect in this study is that the sources of such heritage knowledge are the ancient Ge’ez manuscripts preserved for centuries in religious institutions like ancient churches and monasteries. These sources of heritage knowledge could be easily accepted by Christian farmers to address and solve their earthly problems. We, therefore, assert that the analysis of manuscripts democratizes access to knowledge, making historical collections accessible to a broader audience. Therefore, this current research paper extends the scope of previous studies from merely identifying preservation challenges and making ancient manuscripts accessible through digitization to conducting content analysis, unlocking relevant heritage knowledge domains, and disseminating the knowledge as well as preventing the loss of valuable heritage knowledge. Finally, we suggest making a paradigm shift from preserving heritage for its own sake to focusing on heritage knowledge transfer and education. This is mainly because we currently stand at a crossroads, facing a dilemma between valuing and utilizing heritage on one hand and ensuring its sustainable preservation on the other.

¡Que se vayan todos! fue la proclama que se escuchó en las calles de Quito aquel 20 de abril del 2005, tras la caída del Ing. Lucio Gutiérrez. Y es que es innegable que el Ecuador vivió -y vive aún- una crisis de los partidos políticos tradicionales, arrastrada desde las elecciones del 2002, hasta la llegada de la Revolución Ciudadana, con su estigmatización de la partidocracia. Cuando era candidato a la presidencia en el 2002, Gutiérrez aseguraba: “Si Noboa y yo estamos encabezando es porque la gente dijo basta a los mismos políticos de siempre”[1].A partir de ese año electoral, tanto el Partido Renovador Institucional de Acción Nacional (PRIAN) y el Partido Sociedad Patriótica (PSP) tomaron la posta de los partidos tradicionales como el Partido Social Cristiano (PSC), Izquierda Democrática (ID), Democracia Popular (DP), Movimiento Popular Democrático (MPD) y el Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE). No obstante, con el liderazgo de Rafael Correa y su movimiento Alianza PAIS en el 2006, la dinámica del sistema de partidos volvió a cambiar. Actualmente, tanto el PSP como el PRIAN representan a la partidocracia, según el oficialismo.Ahora, cabe preguntarse: ¿Hasta qué punto el nuevo sistema de partidos será sostenible y legítimo para el electorado?Causas de la crisis de partidosLos partidos políticos son, por excelencia, el “eslabón de representación entre el gobierno y los ciudadanos, éstos reflejan las diversas aspiraciones de una sociedad heterogénea, pero también modelan la estructura social, económica y cultural de un país, a través de las políticas de gobierno que aprueban”[2]. Por ello, es necesario que los partidos presenten un alto grado de representatividad, legitimidad y credibilidad, cualidades carentes en los partidos políticos ecuatorianos.La falta de Identificación y conexión de los ciudadanos con estas organizaciones ha resultado en una población marginada política y socioeconómicamente, que a su vez propicia a un electorado volátil y vulnerable frente a medidas clientelares que dan cabida a la presencia de ‘outsiders’ y candidatos antisistema. Es así como Gutiérrez y Correa, con un discurso anti partido, calaron hondo en los ecuatorianos, aprovechándose de “la pérdida de control de redes clientelares por parte de los partidos tradicionales en beneficio” de sus organizaciones, alcanzando finalmente la Presidencia.[3]Esta carencia de representatividad también facilita el surgimiento de asambleístas independientes (permitido tras el referéndum de 1997) que desean alejarse de los viejos partidos para no manchar su imagen frente al electorado. Sin embargo, al existir diputados y asambleístas carentes de ideología, se presentó un espacio propicio para que personas ajenas a la política, como personajes de la televisión, deportistas y artistas nacionales fueran electos tanto en el Congreso como en la Asamblea. La persistente crisis ha resultado en que, en la actualidad, tanto los partidos políticos tradicionales como los nuevos, (quienes incluso criticaron este recurso previamente), utilicen la popularidad de estas figuras públicas para atraer votos desprovistos de ideología.El politólogo Simón Pachano considera que, desde el período electoral del 2006 hasta la actualidad, con la incursión de Rafael Correa en la política a través de PAIS, se ha generado un cambio de sistema de partidos que se puede clasificar como uno de pluralismo extremo a uno de partido predominante.[4] Es decir que el electorado en el 2006 -alentado por el actual Presidente de la República a votar nulo y testigo de su victoria en 14 provincias, junto a la posterior destitución de 57 diputados de oposición reiteró una vez más la ilegitimidad y el rechazo total al sistema de partidos tradicionales y depositó su confianza en un solo movimiento: PAIS. Confianza que se vio legitimada como nunca antes en la historia ecuatoriana en siete oportunidades: la victoria en las elecciones presidenciales de 2006; la consulta a la convocatoria a una Asamblea Constituyente en abril de 2007; la mayoría en la Asamblea Constituyente en septiembre de 2007; el triunfo del ‘Sí’ a la Constitución en septiembre de 2008; la victoria en las elecciones presidenciales y de 59 asambleístas en abril de 2009, y el ‘Sí’ a la consulta popular en mayo de 2011. Finalmente, el 17 de febrero de 2013, el pueblo reiteró su confianza una vez más.¿Continúa la crisis del sistema de partidos?Con la elección y reelección de Rafael Correa, en 2007, 2009 y 2013 respectivamente, se rompió el recurrente patrón bajo el cual “ningún partido político lograba tener más que un presidente elegido”. Asimismo, cuando Alianza País obtuvo 59 escaños en la Asamblea, disminuyó el número efectivo de partidos* al nivel más bajo desde el retomo a la democracia, de una media de 5,85 hasta las elecciones del 2006 hasta un promedio de 3,76 en las elecciones del 2009.[6]Sin embargo, y a pesar de que se podría considerar que el sistema de partidos se encuentra en un momento de transición, es incuestionable que éstos continúan carentes de legitimidad frente a los ciudadanos. Tanto en el 2008 como en el 2010, los partidos políticos presentaron los niveles más bajos de confianza dentro de las instituciones del Estado, con 22.6 y 26.4 puntos respectivamente, dentro de una escala de 0 a 100[7].El sistema de partidos actual continúa presentando algunas características del anterior, como la atomización de partidos. La creación de nuevos partidos tiene sus raíces en la ambición personal que presentaban ciertos políticos para figurar y liderar las campañas.Hoy en día, la creación de estas instituciones como vehículos electorales se presentan nuevamente en los casos de los movimientos Creando Oportunidades (CREO) de Guillermo Lasso y SUMA de Mauricio Rodas. Igualmente, la fragmentación partidaria interna y los llamados ‘camisetazos’** no están exentos en estas elecciones. Un partido tradicionalmente importante, como la ID de tendencia socialdemócrata, ha distribuido a sus principales políticos entre los movimientos CREO, Avanza y Ruptura25.Asimismo, figuras como la de Auki Tituaña, que sin desafiliarse de Pachacutik aceptó ser candidato a la vicepresidencia por el movimiento CREO, y Juan Carlos Solines, quien finalmente se convirtió en el binomio de Lasso tras haberse desempeñado como presidente del Movimiento Concertación, evidencian nuevamente la falta de incentivos colectivos, como la poca importancia de la ideología y las convicciones políticas, en la toma de decisiones.El caudillismo y el personalismo político característico del sistema de partidos ecuatoriano no se ha alejado de los partidos políticos actuales. El PSP, el PRIAN y PAIS están bajo la única y sola tutela de sus líderes, Lucio Gutiérrez, Alvaro Noboa y Rafael Correa respectivamente, por lo que si estas piedras angulares cayeran, el partido entero se desmoronaría.La indefinición y discrepancias ideológicas, junto a la ruptura de alianzas, es aún característico de este sistema. Un ejemplo claro es el PSP, que se presentó en el 2002 con una tendencia de centro izquierda y forjó alianzas con Pachacutikyel MPD, mientras que en las elecciones de 2013 profesó una tendencia de centro derecha. De la misma manera, los movimiento Ruptura25, Pachacutik y MPD, que apoyaron a Rafael Correa en la elección del 2006, en 2013 se convirtieron en sus rivales, tanto en las elecciones del legislativo como en las presidenciales.ConclusionesA pesar de que el Ecuador ha pasado de un sistema de partidos de pluralismo extremo a uno de partido predominante, como lo dijo Pachano, todavía la realidad de un sistema de partidos políticos fuertes y, sobretodo, institucionalizados, es lejana. Y es que, evidentemente, los partidos políticos tienen que ser instituciones confiables que logren sobrepasar sus 20 puntos de confianza, actuar coherentemente de acuerdo a la ideología que profesan, deslindarse de caudillismos y la personalización del poder, y, por sobre todo, deben ser reconocidos como el medio de representación de los intereses de la sociedad a nivel nacional, para que así el grito de ¡que se vayan todos! nunca más sea escuchado.