bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Towards a Reformulation Based Approach for Efficient Numeric Planning: Numeric Outer Entanglements
Authors: Chrpa Lukáš , Scala Enrico , Vallati Mauro
Published: November 2022

Restricting the search space has shown to be an effective approach for improving the performance of automated planning systems. A planner-independent technique for pruning the search space is domain and problem reformulation. Recently, Outer Entanglements, which are relations between planning operators and initial or goal predicates, have been introduced as a reformulation technique for eliminating potential undesirable instances of planning operators, and thus restricting the search space. Reformulation techniques, however, have been mainly applied in classical planning, although many real-world planning applications require to deal with numerical information. In this paper, we investigate the usefulness of reformulation approaches in planning with numerical fluents. In particular, we propose and extension of the notion of outer entanglements for handling numeric fluents. An empirical evaluation, which involves 150 instances from 5 domains, shows promising results.
Feature Selection as State-Space Search: An Empirical Study in Clustering Problems
Authors: Mariño Julian , Lelis Levi
Published: November 2022

In this paper we treat the problem of feature selection in unsupervised learning as a state-space search problem. We introduce three different heuristic functions and perform extensive experiments on datasets with tens, hundreds, and thousands of features. Namely, we test different search algorithms using the heuristic functions we introduce. Our results show that the heuristic search approach for feature selection in unsupervised learning problems can be far superior than traditional baselines such as PCA and random projections.
Confidence Backup Updates for Aggregating MDP State Values in Monte-Carlo Tree Search
Authors: Bnaya Zahy , Palombo Alon , Puzis Rami , Felner Ariel
Published: November 2022

Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) algorithms estimate the value of MDP states based on rewards received by performing multiple random simulations. MCTS algorithms can use different strategies to aggregate these rewards and provide an estimation for the states’ values. The most common aggregation method is to store the mean reward of all simulations. Another common approach stores the best observed reward from each state. Both of these methods have complementary benefits and drawbacks. In this paper, we show that both of these methods are biased estimators for the real expected value of MDP states. We propose an hybrid approach that uses the best reward for states with low noise, and otherwise uses the mean. Experimental results on the Sailing MDP domain show that our method has a considerable advantage when the rewards are drawn from a noisy distribution.
Finding Maximum k-Cliques Faster Using Lazy Global Domination
Authors: McCreesh Ciaran , Prosser Patrick
Published: November 2022

A clique in a graph is a set of vertices, each of which is adjacent to every other vertex in this set. A k-clique relaxes this requirement, requiring vertices to be within a distance k of each other, rather than directly adjacent. In theory, a maximum clique algorithm can easily be adapted to solve the maximum k-clique problem, although large sparse k-clique graphs reduce to large dense clique graphs, which can be computationally challenging. We adapt a state of the art maximum clique algorithm to show that this reduction is in fact useful in practice, and introduce a lazy global domination rule which sometimes vastly reduces the search space. We include experimental results for a range of real-world and benchmark graphs, and a detailed look at random graphs. We also use thread-parallel search to solve some harder instances.
Consistent Rounding of Edge Weights in Graphs
Authors: Funke Stefan , Storandt Sabine
Published: November 2022

Often, the edge weights of graphs are given in implicitly infinite or overly high precision (think of Euclidean lengths) which leads to both theoretical as well as practical challenges. In this paper we investigate how to round edge weights of a given graph G(V,E,w) such that the rounded weights of paths satisfy certain consistency criteria. Natural consistency criteria are, for example, preserving optimality of paths, and bounding relative change in weight after the rounding procedure. Low precision edge weights allow for more space efficient implementations, faster arithmetic operations, and in general more stable and efficient algorithms. We present an ILP based rounding approach as well as a greedy rounding heuristic. We show experimentally for large road networks and grid graphs that our new rounding approaches are significantly better than common deterministic or randomized rounding schemes.
Extended Abstract: An Improved Priority Function for Bidirectional Heuristic Search
Authors: Sharon Guni , Holte Robert , Felner Ariel , Sturtevant Nathan
Published: November 2022

Bidirectional search algorithms interleave a search forward from the start state (start ) and a search backward (i.e. using reverse operators) from the goal state (goal). We say that the two searches “meet in the middle” if neither search expands a node whose g-value (in the given direction) exceeds C*/2 , where C* is the cost of an optimal solution. The only bidirectional heuristic search algorithm that is guaranteed to meet in the middle under all circumstances is the recently introduced MM algorithm (Holte et al. 2016). The feature of MM that provides this guarantee is its unique priority functions for nodes on its open lists. In this short note we present MMe, which enhances MM’s priority function and is expected to expand fewer nodes than MM under most circumstances. We sketch a proof of MMe’s correctness, describe conditions under which MMe will expand fewer nodes than MM and vice versa, and experimentally compare MMe and MM on the 10-Pancake problem.
Stochastic Local Search over Minterms on Structured SAT Instances
Authors: Chen Wenxiang , Whitley Darrell , Howe Adele , Goldman Brian
Published: November 2022

We observed that Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) encodings of structured SAT instances often have a set of consecutive clauses defined over a small number of Boolean variables. To exploit the pattern, we propose a transformation of CNF to an alternative representation, Conjunctive Minterm Canonical Form (CMCF). The transformation is a two-step process: CNF clauses are first partitioned into disjoint subsets such that each subset contains CNF clauses with shared Boolean variables. CNF clauses in each subset are then replaced by Minterm Canonical Form (i.e., partial solutions), which is found by enumeration. We show empirically that a simple Stochastic Local Search (SLS) solver based on CMCF can consistently achieve a higher success rate using fewer evaluations than the SLS solver WalkSAT on two representative classes of structured SAT problems.
Anytime versus Real-Time Heuristic Search for On-Line Planning
Authors: Cserna Bence , Bogochow Mike , Chambers Stephen , Tremblay Michaela , Katt Sammie , Ruml Wheeler
Published: November 2022

Many AI systems, such as robots, must plan under time constraints. The most popular search approach applied in robotics so far is anytime search, in which the algorithm quickly finds a suboptimal plan, and then continues to find better and better plans as time passes, until eventually converging on an optimal plan. However, the time until the first plan is returned is not controllable, so such methods inherently involve idling the system's operation before `real' execution can begin. Real-time search methods provide hard real-time bounds on action selection time, yet to our knowledge, they have not yet been demonstrated for robotic systems. In this work, we compare anytime and real-time heuristic search methods in their ability to allow agents to achieve goals quickly.Our results suggest that real-time search is more broadly applicable and often achieves goals faster than anytime search, while anytime search finds shorter plans and does not suffer from dead-ends.
Batch Repair with Heuristic Search
Authors: Shinitzky Hilla , Stern Ron , Kalech Meir
Published: November 2022

Recent work has raised the challenge of efficient automated troubleshooting in domains where repairing a set of components in a single repair action is cheaper than repairing each of them separately. This corresponds to cases where there is a non-negligible overhead to initiating a repair action and to testing the system after a repair action. The problem can be formalized as a combinatorial search problem, propose a new objective function to optimize, and investigate several search frameworks to solve it. The resulting search space is not monotone, but we are able to devise an admissible heuristic for it that enables solving it optimally in some cases with A*. Empirical evaluation on standard model-based diagnosis benchmark systems compare the A*-based approach with other search algorithms
Variable Annealing Length and Parallelism in Simulated Annealing
Authors: Cicirello Vincent
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we propose: (a) a restart schedule for an adaptive simulated annealer, and (b) parallel simulated annealing, with an adaptive and parameter-free annealing schedule. The foundation of our approach is the Modified Lam annealing schedule, which adaptively controls the temperature parameter to track a theoretically ideal rate of acceptance of neighboring states. A sequential implementation of Modified Lam simulated annealing is almost parameter-free. However, it requires prior knowledge of the annealing length. We eliminate this parameter using restarts, with an exponentially increasing schedule of annealing lengths. We then extend this restart schedule to parallel implementation, executing several Modified Lam simulated annealers in parallel, with varying initial annealing lengths, and our proposed parallel annealing length schedule. To validate our approach, we conduct experiments on an NP-Hard scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup constraints. We compare our approach to fixed length restarts, both sequentially and in parallel. Our results show that our approach can achieve substantial performance gains, throughout the course of the run, demonstrating our approach to be an effective anytime algorithm.
Optimal Solutions to Large Logistics Planning Domain Problems
Authors: Paul Gerald , Röger Gabriele , Keller Thomas , Helmert Malte
Published: November 2022

We propose techniques for efficiently determining optimal solutions to large logistics planning domain problems. We map a problem instance to a directed graph and show that no more than one vehicle per weakly connected component of the graph is needed for an optimal solution. We propose techniques for efficiently finding the vehicles which must be employed for an optimal solution. Also we develop a strong admissible heuristic based on the analysis of a directed graph, the cycles of which represent situations in the problem state in which a vehicle must visit a location more than once. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first method that determines optimal solutions for large logistics instances (including the largest instances in the IPC 1998 and IPC 2000 problem sets).
Strengthening Canonical Pattern Databases with Structural Symmetries
Authors: Sievers Silvan , Wehrle Martin , Helmert Malte , Katz Michael
Published: November 2022

Symmetry-based state space pruning techniques have proved to greatly improve heuristic search based classical planners. Similarly, abstraction heuristics in general and pattern databases in particular are key ingredients of such planners. However, only little work has dealt with how the abstraction heuristics behave under symmetries. In this work, we investigate the symmetry properties of the popular canonical pattern databases heuristic. Exploiting structural symmetries, we strengthen the canonical pattern databases by adding symmetric pattern databases, making the resulting heuristic invariant under structural symmetry, thus making it especially attractive for symmetry-based pruning search methods. Further, we prove that this heuristic is at least as informative as using symmetric lookups over the original heuristic. An experimental evaluation confirms these theoretical results.
On Realizing Planning Programs in Domains with Dead-End States
Authors: Falcone Federico , Gerevini Alfonso , Saetti Alessandro
Published: November 2022

Agent planning programs are finite-state programs, possibly containing loops, whose atomic instructions consist of a guard, a maintenance goal, and an achievement goal, which act as precondition-invariance-postcondition assertions in program specification. The execution of such programs requires generating plans that meet the goals specified in the atomic instructions, while respecting the program control flow. Recently, De Giacomo et al. (2016) presented a technique, based on iteratively solving classical planning problems with action costs, for realizing planning programs in deterministic domains. Such a technique works generally well for domains with no or very few dead-end states. In this paper, we propose an enhancement of this technique to handle deterministic domains that have potentially many dead-end states, and we study the effectiveness of our technique through an experimental analysis.
An Analysis and Enhancement of the Gap Heuristic for the Pancake Puzzle
Authors: Valenzano Richard , Yang Danniel
Published: November 2022

The pancake puzzle is a standard benchmark domain used to test search algorithms, and the gap heuristic is the state-of-the-art heuristic function most often used in such tests. In this work, we analyze the accuracy of this heuristic and identify ways to enhance it. We begin by showing that in the worst-case, the amount that the gap heuristic underestimates the optimal cost of a pancake puzzle state can be linear in the number of pancakes in the stack. However, empirical analysis suggests that it is extremely rare that the gap heuristic underestimates the optimal cost by more than two. We then identify several simple methods that can be used to generate large sets of problems on which the gap heuristic underestimates the optimal cost by a larger amount than it typically does on random permutations. In doing so, we provide new pancake puzzle test sets that can be used to evaluate how search algorithms behave when the heuristic is inaccurate. We also formally characterize states according to the size of the heuristic plateaus around them. This characterization allows us to efficiently compute a two-step look ahead of the gap heuristic on any state, which we can use alongside a state's dual to further improve heuristic accuracy. These enhancements substantially improve the performance of an IDA*-based pancake problem solver on both the existing benchmarks and the new ones proposed in this paper.
Dynamic Potential Search on Weighted Graphs
Authors: Gilon Daniel , Felner Ariel , Stern Roni
Published: November 2022

Dynamic Potential Search (DPS) is a recently introduced search algorithm that returns a bounded-suboptimal cost solution. DPS orders nodes in the open-list based on their potential which is a combination of both the g- and h-values of a node. In this paper we study the behavior of DPS on weighted graphs. In particular, we develop a new variant of DPS, called DPSU which calculates the potential by counting one for each edge regardless of its costs. We develop an eager version and a restrained version of DPSU. We then compare all these algorithms on a number of weighted graphs and study the pros and cons of each of them.
Sub-Optimal SAT-Based Approach to Multi-Agent Path-Finding Problem
Authors: Surynek Pavel , Felner Ariel , Stern Roni , Boyarski Eli
Published: November 2022

In multi-agent path finding (MAPF) the task is to find nonconflicting paths for multiple agents. In this paper we focus on finding suboptimal solutions for MAPF for the sum-of-costs variant. Recently, a SAT-based approached was developed to solve this problem and proved beneficial in many cases when compared to other search-based solvers. In this paper, we present SAT-based unbounded- and bounded-suboptimal algorithms and compare them to relevant algorithms. Experimental results show that in many case the SAT-based solver significantly outperforms the search-based solvers.
A Regression-Based Methodology for Online Algorithm Selection
Authors: Degroote Hans , De Causmaecker Patrick , Bischl Bernd , Kotthoff Lars
Published: November 2022

Algorithm selection approaches have achieved impressive performance improvements in many areas of AI. Most of the literature considers the offline algorithm selection problem, where the initial selection model is never updated after training. However, new data from running algorithms on instances becomes available when algorithms are selected and run. We investigate how this online data can be used to improve the selection model over time. This is especially relevant when insufficient training instances were used, but potentially improves the performance of algorithm selection in all cases. We formally define the online algorithm selection problem and model it as a contextual multi-armed bandit problem, propose a methodology for solving it, and empirically demonstrate performance improvements. We also show that our online algorithm selection method can be used when no training data whatsoever is available, a setting where offline algorithm selection cannot be used. Our experiments indicate that a simple greedy approach achieves the best performance.
Making Hill-Climbing Great Again through Online Relaxation Refinement and Novelty Pruning
Authors: Fickert Maximilian
Published: November 2022

Delete relaxation is one of the most successful approaches to classical planning as heuristic search. The precision of these heuristics can be improved by taking some delete information into account, in particular through atomic conjunctions in the hCFF heuristic. It has recently been shown that this heuristic is especially effective when these conjunctions are learned online in a hill-climbing search algorithm. In this work, we devise a natural extension to this approach using novelty pruning, a recently-developed technique that prunes states based on whether they contain facts not seen before in the search. We evaluate our extension on the IPC benchmarks, where it beats LAMA, Mercury, and Dual-BFWS on many domains.
Position Paper: Using Early Goal Test in A*
Authors: Felner Ariel
Published: November 2022

This paper focuses on the stopping condition of A*. Traditionally, A* is described such that the goal test is done oncea node is chosen for expansion (A*-LATE). An alternativeway is to perform the goal test when a node is generated (A*-EARLY). In this position paper we compare the two approaches from pedagogical and practical aspects and advocatefor teaching and using A*-EARLY.
A Neural Network for Decision Making in Real-Time Heuristic Search
Authors: Muñoz Franco , Fadic Miguel , Hernández Carlos , Baier Jorge
Published: November 2022

Most real-time heuristic search algorithms solve search problems by executing a series of episodes. During each episode the algorithm decides an action for execution. Such a decision is usually made using information gathered by running a bounded, heuristic-search algorithm. In this paper we report on a real-time search algorithm that does not use a search algorithm to choose the next action to be applied. Rather, it uses a neural network whose input is local information about the search graph, comparable to the information that would be used by a bounded search algorithm. We describe a supervised learning approach to training such a network. Our three types of maps from the Moving AI benchmarks, shows that our algorithm is, in some cases, substantially superior to algorithms that have access to the same information about the graph. One of our most important conclusions is that our extended set of features important: indeed, using features beyond the heuristic seems key to achieving good performance.
Platforms, Algorithms and Subjectivities: Active Combination and the Extracting Value Process – An Introductory Essay
Authors: Armano Emiliana , Briziarelli Marco , Flores Joseph , Risi Elisabetta
Published: November 2022

This chapter provides an introductory overview to the collection, setting out the book’s perspective and argument, its structure and providing an outline of individual chapters. The essay asserts that instead of concentrating on the infrastructural and technological dimensions of platform capitalism, it instead emphasises relational and organisational questions, in particular the ambivalent logic of connection/disconnection, the production of the neoliberal subject and its complex intersectional nature in relation to the internet, issues of what has been termed ‘onlife’, and the transformative potential of these phenomena. The chapter concludes by summarising the collection’s aims as examining digital media as a complex field formed at the intersection of objective structures and subjective practices.
The Californian Ideology Revisited
Authors: Uluorta Hasmet M. , Quill Lawrence
Published: November 2022

Twenty-five years after its publication, this chapter revisits and extends Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron’s seminal article The Californian Ideology. In 1996, Barbrook and Cameron identified a moment of profound global change that they argued originated on the West Coast of the United States. Documenting its emergence from the 1970s, they understood it to be based upon a belief system that managed to combine contradictory, yet highly appealing elements rooted in a commitment to technological determinism. Barbrook and Cameron theorized the emerging ‘electronic agora’ to describe a near-future society where personal communication between individuals was possible without the mediation of government. In the late 2000s this transformed into largely unregulated social media platforms. Relatedly Barbrook and Cameron documented the emergence of ‘the electronic marketplace,’ a vision reliant on the creative talents of an emerging ‘virtual class’. This has morphed more recently into platform capitalism and a surveillance economy. More broadly Barbrook and Cameron noted that beneath the tensions of the original Californian Ideology was an anti-establishment ethos that relied upon the liberating power of technology. The recent tech-lash, concerns over the gig-economy, and the dubious imperatives of datamining, require us to reconsider the prospects for open societies that rely upon platforms as we enter the next phase of the Californian Ideology.
Platforms in a Time of Pandemic
Authors: Cuppini Niccolò , Frapporti Mattia , Pirone Maurilio
Published: November 2022

The pandemic revealed some structural features of contemporary capitalism: productive processes are deeply based on a logistical management of data, people and commodities that require a hierarchical infrastructure of platforms. In this sense, the Covid-19 outbreak does not simply illustrate a condition but operates a transition towards a higher level of labour digitalisation that brings with it a technical division of class composition according to the spaces of production. In this sense, cities constitute the main space of platform territorialisation and the pandemic has influenced the way they will continue to develop both in terms of landscape and subjectivities.
Extracting Free Labour
Authors: Cingolani Patrick
Published: November 2022

Since the second half of the 20th century, a reconfiguration of labour conditions has asserted itself within the capitalist system through a de-territorialisation of companies and an ever-increasing trend to outsource labour, either by sub-contracting or now through platforms and crowd-working. On the basis of an assessment of the neoliberal subversion of the labour category, this chapter proposes to monitor the wide range of methods through which the workforce is exploited in platform capitalism. In addition to the neo-pieceworkers of lean platforms, of which the control, monitoring, rating and disconnection procedures scarcely conceal a relationship of labour extraction that legal experts are increasingly redefining as subordination, specific systems that leverage amateurs are emerging, either from two-sided markets or from original forms of cooperation. The chapter concludes by discussing the possible political subjectivations of those who undergo these new experiences of labour and the professional nature of an economic activity.
Labour Control and Commodification Strategies Within a Food Delivery Platform in Belgium
Authors: Franke Milena , Pulignano Valeria
Published: November 2022

This qualitative study illustrates how the commodification strategies of a food delivery platform in Belgium contribute to labour control and subordination by simultaneously supporting and constraining both users and workers. We label these strategies ‘empowerment’ and ‘disempowerment’ cycles, which connect individual clients, restaurants and workers and expose them to market relations of competition. Thus, we explain how the platform deploys control through the use of digital data in order to increase efficiency in labour allocation and individual clients’ and restaurants’ decision-making.
Algorithmic Prosumers
Authors: Risi Elisabetta , Pronzato Riccardo
Published: November 2022

Today almost everything we do in our everyday life is datafied and fed into an algorithm, i.e. reduced to an input that recursive computational systems process and transform into behavioural models. How algorithms sort, classify and propose contents have a striking impact on how people make sense of the world and derive their sense of self. Despite their powerful social presence, however, algorithms remain mainly invisible to individuals, as well as difficult to examine for researchers. By drawing on autoethnographic diaries, prepared following a critical pedagogy approach, this chapter discusses the results of empirical research that aims to analyse media consumption, content production and sharing practices on digital platforms in order to shed light on how individuals relate to algorithmic media and how they critically reflect on their apparently innocuous daily online practices. This chapter argues that users on digital platforms can be framed as algorithmic prosumers. Indeed, the consumption, as well as the production, of contents on digital platforms are algorithmic practices that foster datafication and capitalist surveillance logics, with users feeding algorithmic media while they are contemporarily fed by them within a recursive loop. In this context ‘the individual’ emerges as an entity whose subjectivity is strictly connected to and enacted by computational procedures.
A Workers’ Inquiry into Canvas and Zoom: Disrupting the Algorithmic University
Authors: Ovetz Robert
Published: November 2022

Learning management systems (LMS) and teleconferencing technologies moved to the centre of teaching in Higher Education (HE) during the pandemic. Already on a rapid growth trajectory, these technologies were introduced into HE to rationalise, deskill, control, and manage academic labour by breaking it up into discreet tasks of course design, delivery and assessment. These discreet tasks are being redistributed to administrators, contractors, and other non-faculty technicians. This rationalisation is made possible by the ubiquitous dataveillance of teaching and learning built into the architecture of the Canvas LMS and Zoom teleconferencing app. These technologies are central to the production of more self-disciplined precarious platform workers who can labour remotely under the ubiquitous surveillance and control of algorithmic management. A workers’ inquiry of the new technical composition of capital in higher education is needed to analyse and organise against these attacks on academic workers.
Plat-Firming Welfare: Examining Digital Transformation in Local Care Services
Authors: Arcidiacono Davide , Pais Ivana , Zandonai Flaviano
Published: November 2022

The pervasiveness of the platform model is spreading rapidly in post-industrial societies. These plat-firms require forms of work, engagement, leadership and integration that cannot be borrowed from previous models. The emergence of platforms initially involved the tourism and transport sectors; more recently, this process has begun to spread into other sectors. In this chapter, we analyse the platformization of welfare services. The chapter presents the results of a research project funded by the Cariplo Foundation that comparatively investigated five case studies of local welfare platform services in Lombardy (Italy). The results show how the transition to the platform model for welfare services clashes with some organisational resistance but also with the specific nature of the care sector, which takes on features that we have defined as ‘quasi-platform’. This term does not indicate the failure to achieve an ideal for profit model but recalls the literature on welfare as ‘quasi-market’ and ‘quasi-union’ and highlights how quasi-platforms go beyond the vertical governance of local welfare systems, redefining at the same time the role of operators and that of users through collaboration logics.
Journalistisen tiedonhankinnan tehostaminen tekstianalyysityökaluilla: Tutkimushankkeen loppuraportti ja ohjelmistoarvioinnit toimituskäyttöön
Authors: Mykkänen Markus , Koski Aleksi
Published: November 2022

Journalisteilla voi uutistyön taustalla olla toisinaan suuri aineisto. Taustamateriaalit voivat käsittää jopa tuhansia sivuja kymmenistä eri lähteistä. Toimittajille voi olla haastavaa tai ylivoimaista nähdä aineistosta, mikä olisi mielenkiintoisinta tai uutisen arvoista. Eri alojen tutkijat ovat luoneet monenlaisia tekstin louhinta-, laskenta- ja analyysiohjelmia tutkimustyöhön isojen asiakirja-aineistojen läpikäymiseen. Heillä on näihin perinpohjaisia lähestymistapoja, joilla saa aikaiseksi vankasti perusteltuja tutkimustuloksia. Toimittajien tiedontarpeet ovat kuitenkin erilaisia. Yksittäisistä uutiskriteerit täyttävistä löydöistä voi uutisoida välittömästi löydön jälkeen. Aineistoon voi palata uudestaan myöhemmin kattavampaa tarkastelua varten. Toimittaja voi käyttää omiin aineistoihinsa tutkijoiden ohjelmia ja löytää helmiä muutamalla klikkauksella. Tässä hankkeessa etsittiin ratkaisuja tähän ongelmaan eli kuinka nopeasti selata läpi aineisto ja löytää uutisarvoinen tieto? Mikä on paras työväline tähän?
Aproximación al pensamiento jurídico-político de Hans Kelsen
Authors: Restrepo-Tamayo John Fernando
Published: November 2022

Hans Kelsen es uno de los juristas más decisivos del siglo XX. Su obra significa y representa un esfuerzo por hacer del derecho una ciencia. Con un objeto de estudio definido y ajeno a cualquier intromisión de la justicia, de la moral, de la política o de la economía. Sus esfuerzos humanos e intelectuales le exigieron construir un sistema en el que el orden normativo era una expresión jurídica y una manera de comprender el orden social. De ahí que su obra se hizo sistema, sobre el cual la política y el derecho comparten una misma esencia. Tanto en el derecho como en la política Hans Kelsen llevó la reflexión teórica a orillas inimaginadas y poco frecuentes, en pesadores de estos tiempos.
El mercado y la libertad contractual de los consumidores en los contratos por adhesión
Authors: Herrera-Tapias Belinha , Álvarez-Estrada Jassir
Published: November 2022

El contrato concebido en el marco del individualismo liberal se convirtió en el resultado final de un proceso de oferta y aceptación que iba moldeando la expresión de dos voluntades que procuran garantizar sus intereses a la vez que buscan materializar el acuerdo. Sin embargo, los procesos de producción en serie, la economía de mercado, la evolución tecnológica y la sociedad de consumo generaron transformaciones que desembocaron en la proliferación de una nueva institución contractual: el contrato por adhesión.
Las estructuras adhesivas implican restricciones al principio de libertad contractual y de la autonomía privada de los individuos, por lo que la intervención estatal en la materia se ha hecho necesaria para frenar los abusos que pudieran presentarse. Este artículo presenta una reflexión sobre la posibilidad de que el mercado pueda solucionar los problemas originados en la falta de libertad contractual de los consumidores en este tipo de esquemas contractuales. Se toman como base varios de los argumentos de los teóricos del análisis económico del derecho; de igual forma se expresa la imposibilidad de que el mercado pueda reemplazar a la libertad contractual y la insuficiencia de este para paliar las consecuencias derivadas de ello.
Facebook : derechos afectados y aspectos jurídicos de la red social.
Authors: Ortega Ruiz Luis Germán
Published: November 2022

Las redes sociales se han constituido en una de las creaciones con mayor incidencia en el diario vivir de las personas, convirtiéndose en un medio de interacción social. Una de las redes sociales más conocida y con mayor número de usuarios es Facebook, la cual es objeto de investigación en el presente trabajo con el fin de establecer y determinar su incidencia en el desarrollo jurídico de derechos, deberes y libertades. Específicamente se pretende describir los derechos que se ven amparados y vulnerados con su uso y manejo como elementos para la generación de políticas públicas, teniendo presente, igualmente, sus propias políticas. Para lo anterior se interroga:¿Cuál ha sido la regulación jurídica que se ha desarrollado frente al uso de la red social Facebook? La respuesta a dicho interrogante tiene como hipótesis que la red social Facebook materializa derechos y libertades a través del acceso a la Internet como derecho fundamental. Por lo anterior, se busca determinar la viabilidad de plantear una política pública de autorregulación para el uso de redes sociales bajo el esquema de principios jurídicos descartando el sistema de regulación reglada.
COP27 Climate Change Conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world
Authors: Atwoli Lukoye , Erhabor Gregory E. , Gbakima Aiah A. , Haileamlak Abraham , Kayembe Ntumba Jean-Marie , Kigera James , Laybourn-Langton Laurie , Mash Robert , Muhia Joy , Malaudzi Fhumulani Mavis , Ofori-Adjei David , Okonofua Fricay , Rashidian Arash , El Adawy Maha , Sidibe Siaka , Snouber Abdelmadjid , Tumwine James , Sahar Yassien Mohammad , Yonga Paul , Zakhama Lilia , Zielinski Chris
Published: November 2022

The 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a dark picture of the future of life on earth, characterised by ecosystem collapse, species extinction, and climate hazards such as heatwaves and floods (1). These are all linked to physical and mental health problems, with direct and indirect consequences of increased morbidity and mortality. To avoid these catastrophic health effects across all regions of the globe, there is broad agreement—as 231 health journals argued together in 2021—that the rise in global temperature must be limited to less than 1.5oC compared with pre-industrial levels.
 
While the Paris Agreement of 2015 outlines a global action framework that incorporates providing climate finance to developing countries, this support has yet to materialise (2). COP27 is the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP) to be organised in Africa since its inception in 1995. Ahead of this meeting, we—as health journal editors from across the continent—call for urgent action to ensure it is the COP that finally delivers climate justice for Africa and vulnerable countries. This is essential not just for the health of those countries, but for the health of the whole world.
EFL Students’ Perceptions of the Effects of the Integration of Reading and Writing on Their Writing Skills
Authors: Nguyen Cang T.
Published: November 2022

The present study aimed to investigate EFL gifted high school students’ perceptions of the effects of integration of reading and writing on their writing skills. 103 gifted students of grade 11 from three gifted high schools in the Mekong Delta took part in this study. The study followed a descriptive, mixed method research design employing the questionnaire and semi-structured interview to collect quantitative and qualitative data about EFL gifted high school students’ perceptions of the effects of integration of reading and writing on their writing skills. The findings of the study revealed that students highly perceived the positive effects of integrating reading and writing into writing lessons in regard to language, organization, content, communicative achievement, evaluation and effectiveness.
Effects of the Instruction With Liushu on Mandarin Learners’ Chinese Character Achievement and Motivation
Authors: Guo Qing Li , Chew Fong Peng , Yeoh Yin Yin
Published: November 2022

This study examines the effects of instruction with Liushu on Chinese character achievement and motivation of Mandarin learners through an experiment. A total of 133 Mandarin beginner learners from Laos were assigned to the experimental group (37 male students, 31 female students) and the control group (42 male students, 23 female students). Liushu was used to conduct Chinese character teaching for ten weeks in the experimental group. It was found that instruction with Liushu has a positive effect on learners’ Chinese character achievement, especially the ability to infer the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese characters. Also, it motivates Mandarin learners’ Ideal L2 Self and L2 Learning Experience more than conventional instruction. As a final contribution to this study, we presented a correlation analysis between Chinese character achievement and motivation as well as some insights.
Interactional Metadiscourse and Author Identity Construction in Academic Theses
Authors: Liu Guobing , Zhang Junlan
Published: November 2022

Based on Hyland’s (2005) interactional metadiscourse model and the identity construction category proposed by Sun (2015), this study attempts to make a comparative analysis on the characteristics of the frequencies of interactional metadiscourse between Chinese masters’ theses and international journal articles, as well as on the similarities and differences of author identity constructed with interactional metadiscourse. The findings are as follows: (1) from the frequencies of interactional metadiscourse, Chinese masters employ significantly fewer hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions in their academic writing than international journal authors, while utilizing markedly more engagement markers. Regarding the subcategories of attitude markers, the two author groups possess notable differences in judgment markers, appreciation markers and affective markers, in which the significant difference in judgment markers is relatively low. The results suggest that the frequency of interactional metadiscourse utilized by Chinese masters in academic writing is inferior to that by international journal authors. (2) The identity categories constructed with interactional metadiscourse by the two author groups are in the descending order of researcher, interactor, and evaluator. Compared with international journal authors, significant differences are discovered in the identities of self-initiated interactor, other-initiated interactor, self-evaluator, other-evaluator, cautious originator, and confident researcher constructed by Chinese masters, whereas no difference is found in the careful advisor identity constructed by the two author groups. This study enriches the research of interactional metadiscourse from the perspective of identity construction, and the findings could provide references for improving students’ awareness of academic writing.
Demotivating Teaching Practices in EFL Classrooms in Saudi Secondary Schools
Authors: Alharbi Alhanouf , Saaty Nashwa
Published: November 2022

This study explores demotivational teaching practices, such as teachers’ behaviours, teaching methods, personality traits, and competencies to examine how these practices negatively affect students’ motivation to learn foreign languages. The study utilised a qualitative approach in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 female students in a public secondary school in Almadinah, located in the western region of Saudi Arabia. The study identified five teaching practices that secondary students found demotivating: (a) teacher-centred teaching; (b) excessive use of Arabic; (c) teachers’ lack of motivation; (d) lack of learning feedback; and (e) excessive strictness. Therefore, English teachers should avoid these practices and raise awareness of the detrimental effects they can have on students’ motivation.
Deculturalization of Culturally Bound Meaning: Indonesian-English Translation Evidence
Authors: Sukarini Ni Wayan , Yadnya Ida Bagus Putra , Puspani Ida Ayu Made , Indrawati Ni Luh Ketut Mas
Published: November 2022

The study is aimed at examining the phenomenon of deculturalization in the strategy of translating cultural terms in Indonesian literary texts into English, and its implications for the form and meaning of the target text. It is a descriptive translation study focusing on the objective aspect of translation, its form, and its meaning. The results show that the representation of the culturally bound meaning of cultural terms appears as words, phrases, terms, or expressions under the categories of (1) material culture, (2) social culture, (3) organization, customs, activities, and concepts, and (4) gesture and habits. In the process of translation, pure and blended deculturalization strategies were applied resulting in three equivalent typologies including (1) equivalent in meaning but the form is not correspondent, (2) equivalent but the meaning does not correspond due to different scope of meaning, and (3) zero or nil equivalent.
EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections on Different Aspects of Teaching in Saudi Arabia: A Preliminary Qualitative Case Study
Authors: Alghizzi Talal Musaed
Published: November 2022

This qualitative investigation addresses the following aspects of Saudi pre-service English as a foreign language teachers: their perceptions of and attitudes toward their English proficiency and teaching competence; their teaching approaches; the motivating and deterring factors when choosing a teaching career; the problems they encountered; and suggestions to improve the English teaching profession. Eight participants who registered for a teaching practicum course at the university and met particular grade point average thresholds (from “passable” to “excellent”) were recruited. After the semester, the participants were asked four questions addressing the aspects mentioned earlier. The results indicate that regardless of gender, the higher participants’ grade point average, the more negative their perceptions and attitudes and, therefore, the greater their determination to avoid the profession. This study provides numerous suggestions for researchers on how to address these limitations and expand the investigation of this topic.
Efficiency of intravenous infusion of ketamine and lidocaine as part of multimodal analgesia in the postoperative period in children
Authors: Bazylev Vladlen V. , Shcheglova Klara T. , Chuprov Maxim P. , Magilevets Anton I.
Published: November 2022

BACKGROUND: The improvement of multimodal anesthesia schemes is of clinical interest because of the possibility of reducing the doses of narcotic analgesics and the earlier mobilization of patients postoperatively.
AIM: To evaluate the efficiency of intravenous infusion of ketamine and lidocaine as adjuvants for multimodal analgesia in children aged 1 year after cardiac surgery.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective single-center study included 122 children aged 1 year, who divided into three groups: group 1, postoperative pain management included a combination of fentanyl and ketamine (n = 40); group 2 (n = 41), lidocaine infusion in combination with fentanyl; group 3 (n = 41), standard analgesia (fentanyl). The median ages at the time of surgery were 4.0, 4.5, and 4.0 months in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Anatomical, demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters were analyzed before surgery and early after surgery.
RESULTS: The pain intensity according to the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale did not differ among the groups at any stage of the study. The average dose of fentanyl was twice as high in group 3 at 1.6 mcg/kg/h compared with 0.5 mcg/kg/h in group 1 and 0.6 mcg/kg/h in group 2. Group 2 had a shorter duration of mechanical ventilation in an intergroup comparison. The side effects of lidocaine were not recorded, and hypersalivation was noted in 35% of the patients who were treated with ketamine.
CONCLUSIONS: Ketamine infusion as an adjuvant to multimodal analgesia provides an adequate analgesic effect without a significant effect on hemodynamics and allows a reduction in the dose of opioids. The intravenous infusion of lidocaine as a component of multimodal analgesia after cardiac surgery in children has an additional opioid-sparing effect and reduces the mechanical ventilation time. The use of lidocaine at a dose of 1 mg/kg/h is not accompanied by side effects.
Comparative assessment of the predictive ability of the nSOFA and NEOMOD scales in preterm newborns
Authors: Idrisova Rozaliya G. , Amirova Viktoria R. , Mironov Petr I. , Lekmanov Andrei U.
Published: November 2022

BACKGROUND: A life-threatening organ dysfunction is a strong predictor of in-hospital mortality and adverse outcomes in pediatric patients and full-term neonates. Predictors of outcomes of multiple-organ failure in preterm newborns have not yet been sufficiently determined.
AIM: To compare the discriminatory ability of neonatal sequential organ failure (nSOFA) and NEOMOD organ dysfunction scales as predictors of poor outcomes in very preterm newborns.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective observational study included 109 newborns with a birth weight of 1071 (7721451) g and gestational age of 29 (2632) weeks; 22 (20.4%) of them died.
RESULTS: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.796 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7630.827) for the nSOFA scale and 0.771 (95% CI 0.7210.817) for the NEOMOD scale.
CONCLUSIONS. Both scales are suitable for measuring the severity of organ dysfunction in preterm newborns. nSOFA appears to predict mortality in preterm newborns.