bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
HTN Problem Spaces: Structure, Algorithms, Termination
Authors: Alford Ron , Shivashankar Vikas , Kuter Ugur , Nau Dana
Published: November 2022

For HTN planning, we formally characterize and classify four kinds of problem spaces in which each node represents a planning problem or subproblem. Two of the problem spaces are searched by current HTN planning algorithms; the other two problem spaces are new.This enables us to provide:Sufficient (and in one case, necessary) conditions for finiteness of each kind of problem space. The conditions can be evaluated up-front to see if an HTN planning problem is finite.Loop-detection tests that can be used in HTN planners to ensure termination when the problem space is finite.A way to compute the correct value for an upper-bound parameter in an HTN-to-PDDL translation algorithm published in IJCAI-2009.Planning algorithms that utilize the two new problem spaces to guarantee termination on broader classes of planning problems than previous HTN planning algorithms.
Execution Ordering in AND/OR Graphs with Failure Probabilities
Authors: Ghosh Priyankar , Chakrabarti P. , Dasgupta Pallab
Published: November 2022

In this paper we consider finding solutions for problems represented using AND/OR graphs, which contain tasks that can fail when executed. In our  setting each node represent an atomic task which is associated with a failure probability and a rollback penalty. This paper reports the following contributions - (a) an algorithm for finding the optimal ordering of the atomic tasks in a given solution graph which minimizes the expected penalty, (b) an algorithm for finding the optimal ordering in the presence of user defined ordering constraints, and (c) a counter example showing the lack of optimal substructure property for the problem of finding the solution graph having minimum expected penalty, and a pseudo-polynomial algorithm for finding the solution graph with minimum expected penalty.
Efficient Single Frontier Bidirectional Search
Authors: Lippi Marco , Ernandes Marco , Felner Ariel
Published: November 2022

The Single Frontier Bi-Directional Search (SBS) framework was recently introduced. A node in SBS corresponds to a pair of states, one from each of the frontiers and it uses front-to- front heuristics. In this paper we present an enhanced version of SBS, called eSBS, where pruning and caching techniques are applied, which significantly reduce both time and memory needs of SBS. We then present a hybrid of eSBS and IDA∗ which potentially uses only the square root of the memory required by A∗ but enables to prune many nodes that IDA∗ would generate. Experimental results show the benefit of our new approaches on a number of domains.
Subgoal Graphs for Eight-Neighbor Gridworlds
Authors: Uras Tansel , Koenig Sven , Hernandez Carlos
Published: November 2022

We propose a method for preprocessing an eight-neighbor gridworld to generate a subgoal graph and a method for using this subgoal graph to find shortest paths faster than A*, by first finding high-level paths through subgoals and then shortest low-level paths between consecutive subgoals on the high-level path.
2D Path Planning Based on Dijkstra's Algorithm and Pseudo Priority Queues
Authors: Guivant Jose , Seton Brett , Whitty Mark
Published: November 2022

This paper presents the application of the PPQ Dijkstra approach for solving 2D path planning problems. The approach is a Dijkstra process whose priority queue (PQ) is implemented through a Pseudo Priority Queue (PPQ) also known as Untidy PQ. The performance of the optimization process is dramatically improved by the application of the PPQ. This modification can be used for a family of problems. The path planning problem belongs to the family of feasible problems that can be solved by considering PPQ-Dijkstra approach. The solution provided by the PPQ-Dijkstra algorithm is optimal, i.e. it is identical to the solution obtained through the standard Dijkstra algorithm. The PPQ-Dijkstra algorithm can be also applied for higher dimensionality problems such as non-holonomic planning processes, e.g. involving configuration spaces of higher dimension.
Fast Path Planning Through Segmentation of the Map into Manhattan-Cohesive Areas
Authors: Papikas Ioannis , Refanidis Ioannis
Published: November 2022

This paper presents a method for fast planning within arbitrary maps, through segmentation of the map into Manhattan-cohesive areas. A Manhattan-cohesive area is a connected part of the map where the optimal distance between any two points in the area is equal to their Manhattan distance. We adopt a four directions Manhattan distance, where diagonal moves are allowed. In the paper we present the method we adopted to fragmentize the map, as well the method to extract the paths. The proposed method produces nearly optimal plans quite efficiently.
Motion Planning With Differential Constraints as Guided Search Over Continuous and Discrete Spaces
Authors: Plaku Erion
Published: November 2022

To compute a motion trajectory that avoids collisions, reaches a goalregion, and satisfies differential constraints imposed by robotdynamics, this paper proposes an approach that conducts a guidedsearch over the continuous space of motions and over a discrete spaceobtained by a workspace decomposition.  A tree of feasible motions anda frontier of workspace regions are expanded simultaneously by firstdetermining the next region along which to expand the search and thenusing sampling-based motion planning to add trajectories to the treeto reach the selected region.  When motion planning is not able toreach the selected region, its cost is increased sothat the approach has the flexibility to expand the search along newregions.  Comparisons to related work show significant computationalspeedups.
Customizable Route Planning in Road Networks (Extended Abstract)
Authors: Delling Daniel , Goldberg Andrew , Pajor Thomas , Werneck Renato
Published: November 2022

Computing driving directions in road networks is a fundamental problem. Although it can be solved in essentially linear time by Dijkstra's algorithm, this is not fast enough to enable interactive queries on large-scale inputs. Instead, modern algorithms typically work in two stages: first an offline preprocessing routine computes some auxiliary data, which is then used to answer exact queries in real time. The past decade has seen a surprisingly diverse set of techniques that follow this approach, mostly relying on the fact that road networks tend to have a strong hierarchy. These methods work very well when minimizing driving times, but are much less efficient with other cost functions. We present a practical algorithm that has no such drawbacks, and can compute shortest paths on continental road networks with arbitrary metrics (cost functions). Our customizable route planning approach works in three stages. The first, metric-independent preprocessing, uses graph partitioning to define the topology of a multilevel overlay graph, which is the same regardless of the cost function. The second stage, customization, uses the metric to compute the actual costs of the overlay arcs. Finally, the query stage uses the output of the first two stages to compute shortest paths in real time (milliseconds). The first stage uses a recent partitioning algorithm based on the notion of natural cuts, which are sparse regions separating much denser areas. It may take a few minutes (or even hours), but only needs to be run (or updated) when new road segments are built. Metric changes (which are much more frequent) require running only customization, which takes a second or less even on continental road networks. Since it does not rely on strong hierarchies, CRP is robust to metric changes. Unlike most other methods, it can also handle turn costs (and restrictions) quite naturally, with little effect on performance and space usage. It is thus ideal for a real-world routing engine, and is indeed in use by Bing Maps. This extended abstract includes results first published at SEA 2011 and SEA 2013.
Multi-Hop Ride Sharing
Authors: Drews Florian , Luxen Dennis
Published: November 2022

We study the problem of ride sharing in road networks. Current approaches to this problem focus on simple bulletin board like services or on algorithms that do not allow to transfer. In this work, we present a solution with an arbitrary number of transfers that respects personal preferences of the users. We engineer the ride sharing problem by searching a graph that represents a timetable network similar to those used for train networks. Our experimental analysis shows that our solution provides good performance and that it is significantly faster than a naive search. The algorithm achieves about an order of magnitude higher speedups over Dijkstra's algorithm than what could be expected from previous work.
Bidirectional Preference-Based Search for State Space Graph Problems
Authors: Galand Lucie , Ismaili Anisse , Perny Patrice , Spanjaard Olivier
Published: November 2022

In multiobjective state space graph problems, each solution-path is evaluated by a cost vector. These cost vectors can be partially or completely ordered using a preference relation compatible with Pareto dominance. In this context, multiobjective preference-based search (MOPBS) aims at computing the preferred feasible solutions according to a predefined preference model, these preferred solutions being a subset (possibly the entire set) of Pareto optima. Standard algorithms for MOPBS perform a unidirectional search developing the search tree forward from the initial state to a goal state. Instead, in this paper, we focus on bidirectional search algorithms developing simultaneously one forward and one backward search tree. Although bi-directional search has been tested in various single objective problems, its efficiency in a multiobjective setting has never been studied. In this paper, we present several implementations of bidirectional preference-based search convenient for the multiobjective case and investigate their efficiency.
SoCS 2014 Organization
Authors: Edelkamp Stefan , Bartak Roman
Published: November 2022

List of chairs, local organization, reviewers, and sub reviewers for the 2014 SoCS Symposium.
Preface
Authors: Edelkamp Stefan , Bartak Roman
Published: November 2022

This volume contains papers accepted for presentation at SoCS 2014, the Seventh Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Search, held in Prague, Czech Republic, on August 15-17, 2014. SoCS 2014 was held in cooperation with AAAI and collocated with the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2014.
On the Attainability of NK Landscapes Global Optima
Authors: Basseur Matthieu , Goëffon Adrien , Lardeux Frédéric , Saubion Frédéric , Vigneron Vincent
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we aim at evaluating the impact of the starting point of a basic local search based on the first improvement strategy. We define the coverage rate of a configuration as the proportion of the search space from which a particular configuration can be reached by a strict hill-climbling with a non-zero probability. In particular, we compute the coverage rate of fitness landscapes global optima, in order to evaluate their attainability by hill-climbing algorithms. The experimental study is realized on NK landscapes, in which the size and ruggedness can be controlled. Results indicate that the coverage rate of global optima is usually high, which means that a basic strictly improving hill-climbing with first improvement strategy is able to reach global optima, independently to the starting point considered. This confirms that it is more important to focus on an effective search strategy rather than worrying about the choice of the initial configurations.
Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Classical Planning
Authors: Schulte Tim , Keller Thomas
Published: November 2022

Successful heuristic search planners for satisficing planning like FF or LAMA are usually based on one or more best first search techniques. Recent research has led to planners like Arvand, Roamer or Probe, where novel techniques like Monte-Carlo Random Walks extend the traditional exploitation-focused best first search by an exploration component. The UCT algorithm balances these contradictory incentives and has shown tremendous success in related areas of sequential decision making but has never been applied to classical planning yet. We make up for this shortcoming by applying the Trial-based Heuristic Tree Search framework to classical planning. We show how to model the best first search techniques Weighted A* and Greedy Best First Search with only three ingredients: action selection, initialization and backup function. Then we use THTS to derive four versions of the UCT algorithm that differ in the used backup functions. The experimental evaluation shows that our main algorithm, GreedyUCT*, outperforms all other algorithms presented in this paper, both in terms of coverage and quality.
How Do You Know Your Search Algorithm and Code Are Correct?
Authors: Korf Richard
Published: November 2022

Algorithm design and implementation are notoriously error-prone. As researchers, it is incumbent upon us to maximize the probability that our algorithms, their implementations, and the results we report are correct. In this position paper, I argue that the main technique for doing this is confirmation of results from multiple independent sources, and provide a number of concrete suggestions for how to achieve this in the context of combinatorial search algorithms.
Solving the Target-Value Search Problem
Authors: Linares López Carlos , Stern Roni , Felner Ariel
Published: November 2022

This paper addresses the Target-Value Search (TVS) problem, which is the problem of finding a path between two nodes in a graph whose cost is as close as possible to a given target value, T. This problem has been previously addressed: first, for directed acyclic graphs; second, for general graphs under the assumption that nodes can be revisited given that the same edge can not be traversed twice. In this work we focus on a more restrictive variant of the same problem where nodes can not be revisited. We prove that this variant is NP-complete and discuss novel theoretical properties and provide empirical results to solve this problem optimally.
STLS: Cycle-Cutset-Driven Local Search For MPE
Authors: Milchgrub Alon , Dechter Rina
Published: November 2022

In this paper we present Stochastic Tree-based Local Search or STLS, a local search algorithm combining the notion of cycle-cutsets with the well-known Belief Propagation to approximatethe optimum of sums of unary and binary potentials. This is done by the previously unexplored concept oftraversal from one cutset to another and updating the induced forest, thus creating a local search algorithm, whose updatephase spans over all the forest variables. We study empirically two pure variants of STLS against the state-of-the art GLS+ scheme and against a hybrid.
Improved Multi-Heuristic A* for Searching with Uncalibrated Heuristics
Authors: Narayanan Venkatraman , Aine Sandip , Likhachev Maxim
Published: November 2022

Recently, several researchers have brought forth the benefits of searching with multiple (and possibly inadmissible) heuristics, arguing how different heuristics could be independently useful in different parts of the state space. However, algorithms that use inadmissible heuristics in the traditional best-first sense, such as the recently developed Multi-Heuristic A* (MHA*), are subject to a crippling calibration problem: they prioritize nodes for expansion by additively combining the cost-to-come and the inadmissible heuristics even if those heuristics have no connection with the cost-to-go (e.g., the heuristics are uncalibrated) . For instance, if the inadmissible heuristic were an order of magnitude greater than the perfect heuristic, an algorithm like MHA* would simply reduce to a weighted A* search with one consistent heuristic. In this work, we introduce a general multi-heuristic search framework that solves the calibration problem and as a result a) facilitates the effective use of multiple uncalibrated inadmissible heuristics, and b) provides significantly better performance than MHA* whenever tighter sub-optimality bounds on solution quality are desired. Experimental evaluations on a complex full-body robotics motion planning problem and large sliding tile puzzles demonstrate the benefits of our framework.
Monte-Carlo Tree Search for the Multiple Sequence Alignment Problem
Authors: Edelkamp Stefan , Tang Zhihao
Published: November 2022

The paper considers solving the multiple sequence alignment, a combinatorial challenge in computational biology, where several DNA RNA, or protein sequences are to be arranged for high similarity. The proposal applies randomized Monte-Carlo tree search with nested rollouts and is able to improve the solution quality over time. Instead of learning the position of the letters, the approach learns a policy for the position of the gaps. The Monte-Carlo beam search algorithm we have implemented has a low memory overhead and can be invoked with constructed or known initial solutions. Experiments in the BAliBASE benchmark show promising results in improving state-of-the-art alignments.
Feasibility Study: Using Highways for Bounded-Suboptimal Multi-Agent Path Finding
Authors: Cohen Liron , Uras Tansel , Koenig Sven
Published: November 2022

Multi-agent path-finding (MAPF) is important for applications such as the kind of warehousing done by Kiva systems. Solving the problem optimally is NP-hard, yet finding low-cost solutions is important. Bounded-suboptimal MAPF algorithms, such as enhanced conflict-based search (ECBS), often do not perform well in warehousing domains with many agents. We therefore develop bounded-suboptimal MAPF algorithms, called CBS+HWY and ECBS+HWY, that exploit the problem structure of a given MAPF instance by finding paths for the agents that include edges from user-provided highways, which encourages a global behavior of the agents that avoids collisions. On the theoretical side, we develop a simple approach that uses highways for MAPF and provides suboptimality guarantees. On the experimental side, we demonstrate that ECBS+HWY can decrease the runtimes and solution costs of ECBS in Kiva-like domains with many agents if the highways capture the problem structures well.
Planning with Always Preferences by Compilation into STRIPS with Action Costs
Authors: Ceriani Luca , Gerevini Alfonso
Published: November 2022

We address planning with always preferences in propositional domains, proposing a new compilation schema for translating a STRIPS problem enriched with always preferences (and possibly also soft goals) into a STRIPS problem with action costs. Our method allows many STRIPS planners to effectively address planning with always preferences and soft goals. An experimental analysis indicates that such basic planners are competitive with current planners using techniques specifically developed to handle always preferences.
An Improved Metaheuristic Algorithm for Maximizing Demand Satisfaction in the Population Harvest Cutting Stock Problem
Authors: Climent Laura , O'Sullivan Barry , Wallace Richard
Published: November 2022

We present a greedy version of an existing metaheuristic al-gorithm for a special version of the Cutting Stock Problem(CSP). For this version, it is only possible to have indirectcontrol over the patterns via a vector of continuous valueswhich we refer to as a weights vector. Our algorithm itera-tively generates new weights vectors by making local changesover the best weights vector computed so far. This allows usto achieve better solutions much faster than is possible withthe original metaheuristic.
Optimal Solitaire Game Solutions Using A* Search and Deadlock Analysis
Authors: Paul Gerald , Helmert Malte
Published: November 2022

We propose an efficient method for determining optimal solutions to such skill-based solitaire card games as Freecell. We use A* search with an admissible heuristic function based on analyzing a directed graph whose cycles represent deadlock situations in the game state. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first algorithm that efficiently determines optimal solutions for Freecell games. We believe that the underlying ideas should be applicable not only to games but also to other classical planning problems which manifest deadlocks.
An Empirical Comparison of the Hardness of Multi-Agent Path Finding under the Makespan and the Sum of Costs Objectives
Authors: Surynek Pavel , Felner Ariel , Stern Roni , Boyarski Eli
Published: November 2022

In the multi-agent path finding (MAPF) the task is to find non-conflicting paths for multiple agents. Recently, existing makespan optimal SAT-based solvers for MAPF have been modified for the sum-of-costs objective. In this paper, we empirically compare the hardness of solving MAPF with SAT-based and search-based solvers under the makespan and the sum-of-costs objectives in a number of domains. The experimental evaluation shows that MAPF under the makespan objective is easier across all the tested solvers and domains.
A Linear-Time and Linear-Space Algorithm for the Minimum Vertex Cover Problem on Giant Graphs
Authors: Xu Hong , Kumar T. K. Satish , Koenig Sven
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we develop the message passing based linear-time and linear-space MVC algorithm (MVC-MPL) for solving the minimum vertex cover (MVC) problem. MVC-MPL is based on heuristics derived from a theoretical analysis of message passing algorithms in the context of belief propagation. We show that MVC-MPL produces smaller vertex covers than other linear-time and linear-space algorithms.
Search Reduction through Conservative Abstract-Space Based Heuristic
Authors: Chatterjee Ishani , Likhachev Maxim , Veloso Manuela
Published: November 2022

The efficiency of heuristic search depends dramatically on the quality of the heuristic function. For an optimal heuristic search, heuristics that estimate cost-to-goal better typically lead to faster searches. For a sub-optimal heuristic search such as weighted A*, the search speed depends more on the correlation between the heuristic and the true cost-to-goal. In this extended abstract, we discuss our preliminary work on computing heuristic functions that exploit this fact. In particular, we introduce a many-to-one mapping from an original search space to a conservative abstract space. Edges in the abstract space capture reachability among all corresponding nodes in the original space. We compute a heuristic in the conservative abstract space which when used by the search in the original space reduces the number of searched nodes. Our preliminary results on 3D navigation show that in more complex scenarios the speedup can be dramatic.
Boost SAT Solver with Hybrid Branching Heuristic
Authors: Moon Seongsoo , Inaba Mary
Published: November 2022

Most state-of-the-art satisfiability (SAT) solvers are capable of solving large application instances with efficient branching heuristics. The VSIDS heuristic is widely used because of its robustness. This paper focuses on the inherent ties in VSIDS and proposes a new branching heuristic called TBVSIDS, which attempts to break the ties with the consideration of the interplay between the branching heuristic and learned clauses. However, a branching heuristic cannot cover all problems, and its performance improves when combined with an appropriate configuration. Therefore, we also propose a hybrid model of branching heuristics based on random forest. The efficiencies of TBVSIDS and hybrid branching heuristics are evaluated on benchmarks in SAT Competitions. By constructing a model that reduces the overfitting problem, we hope to realize a hybrid branching heuristic that is widely applicable to other solvers.
Search-Based Optimal Solvers for the Multi-Agent Pathfinding Problem: Summary and Challenges
Authors: Felner Ariel , Stern Roni , Shimony Solomon , Boyarski Eli , Goldenberg Meir , Sharon Guni , Sturtevant Nathan , Wagner Glenn , Surynek Pavel
Published: November 2022

Multi-agent pathfinding (MAPF) is an area of expanding research interest. At the core of this research area, numerous diverse search-based techniques were developed in the past 6 years for optimally solving MAPF under the sum-of-costs objective function. In this paper we survey these techniques, while placing them into the wider context of the MAPF field of research. Finally, we provide analytical and experimental comparisons that show that no algorithm dominates all others in all circumstances. We conclude by listing important future research directions.
Fast k-Nearest Neighbor on a Navigation Mesh
Authors: Zhao Shizhe , Taniar David , Harabor Daniel
Published: November 2022

We consider the k-Nearest Neighbour problem in a two-dimensional Euclidean plane with obstacles (OkNN). Existing and state of the art algorithms for OkNN are based on incremental visibility graphs and as such suffer from a well known disadvantage: costly and online visibility checking with quadratic worst-case running times. In this work we develop a new OkNN algorithm which avoids these disadvantages by representing the traversable space as a collection of convex polygons; i.e. a Navigation Mesh. We then adapt an recent and optimal navigation mesh algorithm, Polyanya, from the single-source single-target setting to the the multi-target case. We also give two new heuristics for OkNN. In a range of empirical comparisons we show that our approach can be orders of magnitude faster than competing methods that rely on visibility graphs.
Does Fast Beat Thorough? Comparing RTAA* and LSS-LRTA*
Authors: Kochvi Shane , Ruml Wheeler
Published: November 2022

The RTAA* algorithm has been proposed as an alternative to the LSS-LRTA* algorithm for heuristic search under hard time constraints. It uses a cruder but faster learning procedure. Experimental results on pathfinding in mazes in the unknown terrain setting indicated that RTAA* was superior to LSS-LRTA*. In this paper, we attempt to replicate those results and we extend the analysis to additional domains. Our results suggest that RTAA* is superior to LSS-LRTA* only in situations where the heuristic is already relatively accurate, either inherently or because of large lookahead. Overall, neither algorithm seems superior to the other.
Focused SANA: Speeding Up Network Alignment
Authors: Leybovich Ilia , Puzis Rami , Stern Roni , Reuben Maor
Published: November 2022

Network Alignment (NA) is a generalization of the graph isomorphism problem for non-isomorphic graphs, where the goal is to find a node mapping as close as possible to isomorphism. Recent successful NA algorithms follow a search-based approach, such as simulated annealing. We propose to speed up search-based NA algorithms by pruning the search-space based on heuristic rules derived from the topological features of the aligned nodes. We define several desirable properties of such pruning rules, analyze them theoretically, and propose a pruning rule based on nodes' degrees. Experimental results show that using the proposed rule yields significant speedup and higher alignment quality compared to the state of the art. In addition, we redefine common NA objective functions in terms of established statistical analysis metrics, opening a wide range of possible objective functions.
Víctimas y victimarios : consideraciones sobre el caso de un asesino en serie.
Authors: Gómez Mejía Juliana
Published: November 2022

Este artículo discute la relación entre víctimas y victimarios a partir de un contexto concreto: el caso del asesino en serie de niños, Luis Alfredo Garavito que conmovió a la sociedad en 1999 por la brutalidad de sus homicidios y que refleja la forma en la que las víctimas se pueden convertir en victimarios cuando el contexto socioeconómico y cultural genera ciertas condiciones a través del tiempo. Se analiza el caso desde el punto de vista criminológico y forense y se propone una reflexión desde una perspectiva sociocultural acudiendo a contextos explicativos y a relaciones entre cultura, conducta y violencia. Teniendo en cuenta la perspectiva de los eventos adversos en la infancia, se reflexiona sobre la situación de vulnerabilidad de las víctimas, especialmente cuando se trata de niños y la forma en que las diferentes violencias a las que se enfrentan, los ubica en un espacio potencial de posibles victimarios.
De la acción comunicativa a la ética del discurso : una propuesta para reconstruir la verdad en el conflicto armado.
Authors: Muñoz Correa Diego Alejandro , Carreño Bustamante María Teresa
Published: November 2022

No es extraño afirmar que, alrededor de la violencia política, la sociedad colombiana ha construido una comunidad de vida en tanto se ha logrado incrustar en el seno de sus relaciones interpersionales y sociales una unanimidad de experiencias negativas a causa de una colectividad que a lo largo de la historia ha estado marcada por el conflicto ideológico. Esta realidad compartida fue producto de la repetición de los diferentes conflictos y sus efectos, lo que ocasionó una especie de hábito que hizo tránsito a una costumbre que, al día de hoy, ha mutado en una cultura ajena a la verdad. El propósito de este escrito es proponer el diálogo dirigido al entendimiento como fuente de construcción de experiencias colectivas distintas a la violencia a partir de la convicción del sujeto del decir veraz sobre sí mismo.
Corrupción, orden público y regulación económica en Colombia.
Authors: Sanclemente Arciniegas Javier
Published: November 2022

El artículo se propone demostrar que el diseño legal de las autoridades de regulación económica en Colombia permite su captura por parte de autoridades políticas y de operadores económicos. La captura del regulador es una forma de corrupción que implica un desvío de las instituciones que dejan de proteger el interés general para atender intereses privados. Para llevar a cabo la reflexión se utilizó una metodología analítica y comparativa. La primera se centró en la noción de orden público y la segunda en la comparación de la configuración legal de las instituciones de regulación económica en Colombia y Francia. Encontramos que se ha confundido la noción de orden público lo que ha generado una concentración de poder económico en torno al Presidente de la República, hecho que facilita la corrupción. Se concluye que el diseño institucional francés puede servir de guía para diseñar autoridades que regulen de manera imparcial la actividad económica.
Once, Twice, Three Times Delayed: Considering A Permanent Stay of Prosecution in Rodrigues v The National Director of Public Prosecutions
Authors: Van der Linde Delano Cole
Published: November 2022

The National Prosecuting Authority is vested with the power, as dominus litus, to institute and discontinue charges whereas high courts are empowered to order a permanent stay of the prosecution prohibiting the continuation of the trial. However, such an order is considered to be a "drastic remedy" and is not empowered in terms of statutes such as the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 but rather vested in the right of an accused to have their trial begin and conclude without unreasonable delay. A permanent stay of the prosecution is an order made on a case-by-case basis, balancing various factors such as the prejudice faced by the accused, systemic factors as well as the reason for the delay. The ultimate question however remains whether the lapse of time in a particular case is unreasonable. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rodrigues v The National Director of Public Prosecutions had to evaluate whether the 47-year-delay and eventual prosecution between the death of anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol, was unreasonable. Both the majority and minority of the Supreme Court of Appeal, although for different reasons, concluded that the delay was not unreasonable. For most of the 47 years, prosecuting the accused was not possible due to the surrounding historical and political reasons (including the moratorium of cases arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission). The National Prosecuting Authority, as soon as it was possible, initiated the prosecution of the accused. Although applications for a permanent stay are mostly viewed as prejudicial to the accused, the majority and minority both acknowledge the families of the victims in this case. Such a perspective is welcomed as the role of the victim in the criminal justice process is often neglected.
In Silico modeling of immune-cardiovascular-endocrine interactions
Authors: Kristen A Windoloski , Johnny T Ottesen , Mette S Olufsen
Published: November 2022

The immune system provides an intricate, balanced response to combat the effects of inflammatory stimuli. It incorporates both positive and negative feedback from multiple physiological systems such as the cardiovascular and endocrine systems including mechanisms functioning on a variety of time scales. They have been studied individually via scientific experiments and using mathematical modeling. However, more analysis is needed to study the interactions between these three systems during an inflammatory event. We present the first dynamical systems model studying immune, cardiovascular and endocrine responses to a 2 ng/kg bolus dose of endotoxin. The model is calibrated to experimental data from two endotoxin challenge studies and we use this model to investigate the effects of endotoxin dosage, administration timing and administration method. Our model shows that most repercussions of endotoxin administration clear the system within 24 hours, but effects can linger for up to 72 hours.
Online and Offline Assessment Methods in Higher Education: A Revisitation of EFL Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices
Authors: Alzubi Ali Abbas Falah , Al-Mwzaiji Khaled Nasser Ali , Nazim Mohd
Published: November 2022

Assessment is a key component of the educational spectrum and engages teachers in evaluating students’ performance through various methods. During the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers employed various assessment methods through the online mode of teaching and learning; now, at the beginning of the end of the pandemic, teachers are back to practicing offline assessment methods. This study identifies English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of online versus offline assessment methods in higher education. Furthermore, it targets the best skill-wise assessment methods and constraints that teachers can use when applying EFL assessment methods in both online and offline learning modes. To achieve the study objectives, a descriptive-diagnostic approach was applied; the data were collected from 61 EFL teachers through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings show that EFL teachers perceive assessment methods in the online mode of learning as being of a medium level of utility, whereas they perceive assessments in the offline mode of learning as being highly useful. Furthermore, statistically significant differences were found between the EFL teachers’ perceptions of the utility of assessment methods in offline and online modes of learning: the teachers perceived assessments as being significantly more useful in the offline mode of learning. It was also found that the greatest constraints of EFL assessment methods in an online learning mode are issues of cheating and impersonation, insufficient exposure to information technology, and lack of awareness of assistive evaluation tools. In the offline learning mode, the greatest constraints of EFL assessment methods are a lack of awareness of assessment methods and classroom management. In light of these new findings, a set of recommendations is suggested for further research.
Bilingual Proficiency Development and Translanguaging Practices of Emergent Korean-English Bilingual Children in Korea
Authors: Jung Christina D.
Published: November 2022

With the rise of globalization, transmigration becomes more commonplace. Globalization is often accompanied by multiculturalism that constitutes an important fabric in societies and countries around the world. This has been the case in South Korea. Multiculturalism has resulted in many shifts and challenges within the Korean family dynamics. Multilingualism is an important characteristic that uniquely identifies many multicultural families. Regardless of the unique traits of each multicultural family, what seems to be the common denominator within these families of emergent bilingual children is that translanguaging is practiced for various purposes both inside and outside the home environment. Through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and narrative frames, this qualitative case study explores Anglophone fathers’ perceptions of their bilingual children’s language proficiency, the translanguaging practices of Korean-English bilingual families in Korea, and the impact of translanguaging practices on bilingual children’s self-identity development. Three conclusions can be drawn based on the results: Parents of emergent bilingual children generally value high proficiency in both languages, translanguaging is often practiced for communicative purposes, and translanguaging has an important effect on emergent bilinguals’ self-identity development. Implications are drawn regarding the importance and necessity of translanguaging practices both inside and outside of the home environment.
An Investigation Into the Appropriateness of a Procedural Negotiated Syllabus for Adult Vocational Learners
Authors: Assaf Mohammad A. , Zabadi Mohammad I. , Abu-Ayyash Emad A. S.
Published: November 2022

The present mixed-methods study investigated the readiness of teachers and adult learners at a vocational centre in the United Arab Emirates to implement a negotiated English syllabus. The study addressed two main questions: 1) are teachers and learners at the Vocational Training Centre ready to implement a negotiated syllabus? And 2) does the negotiated syllabus implementation lead to improvement in learners’ motivation? Results showed the significant potential of a negotiated syllabus in enhancing learners’ motivation by making them part of the decision-makers’ circle regarding the components of an intended English syllabus. On the other hand, learners, teachers and management systems face challenges that must first be overcome to succeed in implementing negotiated syllabi. The findings of this study support the value of involving learners in classroom decisions, which is expected to make them feel responsible for their learning.
The Use of Passive Voice in News Reports for Political Purposes
Authors: Almahameed Yazan Shaker , Bataineh Khaleel Bader Al , Ammari Raeda Mofid George
Published: November 2022

This study aims to identify the purposes of passive construction in political news reports. The study also examines how the use of passive voice affects readers' attitudes towards political issues. The use of passive voice can lead to ambiguity, affecting the clarity of meaning by hiding the identity of the doer of the action. However, being vague about the doer of the action is primarily deliberate in political news to serve particular purposes. To collect data, the researchers refer to three newspapers, namely The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian. Some articles discussing political issues were carefully chosen from those newspapers. The analysis of the results reveals that the passive voice is used in the selected political news reports to fulfill four main purposes; first, when the journalist emphasizes the action rather than the doer of the action, he omits by phrase, replacing it with marginal information. Second, when the subject of the sentence is the core of the discussion, the journalist ends the passive sentence with by phrase. Third, passive construction is used when political news writers avoid assigning responsibility to anybody. Fourth, the passive is used in political reports with modal auxiliaries when the writers want to express their opinion clearly about what is possible, necessary, or prohibited. The analysis of results also reveals that the use of passive voice can contribute actively to changing the attitudes and views of the recipients.
A Bibliometric Analysis on Teaching Chinese as a Second or Foreign Language Outside Mainland China (2001-2020)
Authors: Deng Siqi , Xie Xiao
Published: November 2022

This paper analysed a total of 334 English language articles on teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language from the Web of Science, during the period from 2001 to 2020. By examining the bibliometric indices of the literature, the analysis found that: 1) The numbers of research publication and citation have gone through slow growth in the first decade and strong growth in the second decade. 2) Highly cited journals are mainly from four categories: educational technology, linguistics, education and psychology. 3) Highly productive authors are mainly from the fields of computing and education, with research interests focused on the use of digital technology to help Chinese language learning. 4) Highly co-cited articles include keywords related to young Chinese learners, foreign language, English context and character learning. 5) The topical trends in Chinese language education research have evolved from an early focus on Chinese writing, learning strategies and cross-cultural language teaching to a mid-term focus on issues such as classroom management and task-based teaching, and further expansion to a more recent focus on the integration of digital technologies and multimodal approaches to teaching and learning. By reviewing these five areas, this study aims to provide a complete picture of the research on teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language outside mainland China. It is intended to help build bridges of collaboration between researchers and institutions within and outside mainland China by highlighting the researchers who have made significant contributions and the wide range of issues being explored.
Critical Discourse Analysis in EFL Teaching: A Sociocognitive Perspective
Authors: Hamdi Sami Abdullah
Published: November 2022

EFL learners are often taught English in college mainly for academic purposes. They focus their efforts on improving their language skills with limited, if any, attention to the critical aspects of language use. This study attempted to examine EFL learners’ capacity to critically evaluate news and information about world events. A focus group discussion was conducted to explore EFL learners’ perceptions of fake news, revealing that their reading skills lacked a critical lens. A training program on critical discourse analysis skills was designed. The training utilized a worksheet based on van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis and included three workshops. Every workshop introduced two fake news stories from social media to be evaluated using the worksheet, starting with the native language before working on English texts. The participants showed a considerable level of improvement in using critical discourse analysis skills to approach news on social media. They developed awareness of their roles as members of society in effecting a positive change. They also realized the power of language to critically evaluate and judge world events.
Cyphetrylin effect on somatostatin receptors expression in transplantable Ca-755 mice tumor
Authors: Kiseleva M. P. , Borisova L. M. , Delektorskaya V. V. , Shprakh Z. S. , Ustinkina S. V. , Kubasova I. Yu.
Published: November 2022

Background. Expression evaluation of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in tumor cells is necessary for the reasonable use of therapy directed at such receptors.Aim. The affinity determination of the original analogue of somatostatin cyphetrylin for SSTRs of transplanted mice mammary adenocarcinoma Ca-755.Materials and methods. Cyphetrylin was synthesized in the Chemical Synthesis Laboratory of the Research Institute of Experimental Diagnostics and Therapy of Tumors, N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology of the Ministry of Health of Russia. Cyphetrylin in tablet form was administered orally at a therapeutic dose of 10 mg/kg for 7 days to female F1 (C57Bl/6 × DBA/2) tumor-grafted Ca-755 mice. Animals of the control group were not administreted with сyphetrylin. Tumor tissue samples were obtained from animals on the 9th and 14th days after Ca-755 transplantation and sent for immunohistochemical study, which was performed on serial paraffin sections by the immunoperoxidase method using primary antibodies to various types of SSTRs.Results. The high frequency of positive expression of SSTR1, SSTR2, and SSTR5 (in 80, 100 and 100 % of tumor samples, respectively) was shown in tumor samples of the control group animals. As a result of cyphetrylin introduction in tumor samples obtained on the 9th day after Ca-755 inoculation, a change in the tumor receptor status was found towards a decrease in the level of expression of SSTR2 (80 % of samples) and SSTR5 (80 % of samples); SSTR1 expression did not change (80 % of samples). Compared to the controlled, in tumor samples after cyphetrylin administration, obtained on day 14 from Ca-755 transplantation, a decrease in the expression level of SSTR2 (80 % of samples), SSTR1 and SSTR5 (60 % of samples for SSTR each type) was noted, due to cyphetrylin binding to SSTRs of tumor cells. The receptors SSTR3 and SSTR4 did not show a high level of expression in the studied Ca-755 tumor samples.Immunohistochemical staining of Ca-755 cells with antibodies to SSTRs showed a tendency to reduction of antigen-positive cells number from 15–50 % in control to 10–40 % on day 9 after Ca-755 transplantation and 10–30 % on day 14 after Ca-755 transplantation.Conclusion. The data obtained indicates the presence in mice transplanted mammary adenocarcinoma Ca-755 of SSTR1, SSTR2 and SSTR5 high level expression due to the binding to which the direct cyphetrylin antitumor effect is realized.
Mário de Sá-Carneiro nas publicações periódicas do Modernismo: ‘impressões de guerra’/ Mário de Sá-Carneiro in the periodicals of Modernism: ‘impressions of war’
Authors: Marques Ricardo
Published: November 2022

Resumo: O presente trabalho pretende analisar a importância de Mário de Sá-Carneiro nas publicações periódicas do seu tempo. Começando por fazer um voo rasante entre o estado da arte deste tópico e a participação do poeta português em revistas literárias, falaremos, nomeadamente, da sua colaboração, durante a guerra, com A Restauração e Ilustração Portuguesa. O primeiro destes dois periódicos tem uma duração efémera no início da primeira guerra mundial (1914), sendo um diário monárquico que antecede a revista A Ideia Nacional (1915-16) também fundada e dirigida por Homem Cristo Filho. É, no entanto, em Ilustração Portuguesa, por seu turno, que a sua crónica de guerra parece mais desenvolta e interessante. Veremos, enfim, como Sá-Carneiro, residente em Paris, assume a descrição do cenário urbano desta nova guerra envolvendo as maiores potências mundiais, e como isso se relaciona com a sua própria obra literária.Palavras-chave: Mário de Sá-Carneiro; Literatura Portuguesa Moderna; Estudos Modernistas; Periódicos; Primeira Guerra Mundial.Abstract: The present work intends to analyze the importance of Mário de Sá-Carneiro to the periodical publications of his time. Starting with a general view crossing between the state of the art on this topic and the Portuguese poet’s participation in literary magazines, we will talk in particular about his collaboration, during the first world war, with the periodicals A Restauração and Ilustração Portuguesa. The first of these two periodicals had an ephemeral duration at the beginning of the first world war (1914), being a monarchical newspaper that preceded the magazine A Ideia Nacional (1915-16) also founded and directed by Homem Cristo Filho. It is, however, in Ilustração Portuguesa, on the other hand, that his war chronicle seems more resourceful and interesting.We will thus see how Sá-Carneiro, resident in Paris, assumes the description of the urban scenario of this new war involving the major world powers, and how this relates to his own literary work.Keywords: Mário de Sá-Carneiro; Modern Portuguese Literature; Modernist Studies; Periodicals; First World War.