Resolution and Quality Issues in 3D Analysis of Inscribed Signs: An Example from Cypro-Minoan Inscriptions

A recurrent demand in many archaeological digital documentation systems is the need for an accurate as possible registration of data. Somehow, contrary to this request, are efforts led by various computer science groups dealing with 3D documentation and focusing on developing fast and cheap solutions to record 3D models of archaeological assets. The aim of the article is to highlight the importance of aligning the 3D documentation strategy to the archaeological aims, by detailing all factors to be considered when deciding on one documentation strategy over another. The archaeological question discussed here, part of the PhD thesis of one of the co-authors (MP), relates to the Cypro-Minoan signatory and its diachronic variability. The 3D geometric characterization of signs and subsequent shape analysis is the method chosen to reach this goal. A major effort to be invested in correctly determining the shape and variability of each sign, is in assuring that the 3D captured shape is as close as possible to the archaeological reality, which is a common problem not only in palaeographical analysis but also in other fields, where features of interest are in the sub-millimetre range. The paper will illustrate how different data acquisition approaches and post-processing steps such as alignment methods and error treatment may distort the visualised result and thus have a negative impact on planned analysis. Thus, it will argue for the importance of more detailed paradata to allow an informed assessment of the reliability of 3D models and it proposes a list of values and decision-making steps that help make the 3D digitization process more robust and verifiable.

Beyond the Traditional Analyses and Resource Management in Real-Time Systems

The difficulties in estimating the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) of applications make the use of modern computing architectures limited in real-time systems. Critical embedded systems require the tasks of hard real-time applications to meet their deadlines, and formal proofs on the validity of this condition are usually required by certification authorities. In the last decade, researchers proposed the use of probabilistic measurement-based methods to estimate the WCET instead of traditional static methods. In this chapter, we summarize recent theoretical and quantitative results on the use of probabilistic approaches to estimate the WCET presented in the PhD thesis of the author, including possible exploitation scenarios, open challenges, and future directions.

Optimized Robotic WAAM

This chapter summarizes a PhD thesis introducing a methodology for optimizing robotic MIG (metal inert gas) to perform WAAM (wire and arc additive manufacturing) without using machines equipped with CMT (cold metal transfer) technology. It tries to find the optimal MIG parameters to make WAAM using a welding robot feasible production technique capable of making functional products with proper mechanical properties. Some experiments were performed first to collect data. Then NN (neural network) models were created to simulate the MIG process. Then different optimization techniques were used to find the optimal parameters to be used for deposition. These results were practically tested, and the best one was selected to be used in the third stage. In the third stage, a block of metal was deposited. Then samples were cut from deposited blocks in two directions and tested for tension stress. These samples were successful. They showed behavior close to base alloy.

Academician Evgeniy Nikolaevich Meshalkin (1916–1997) (on the 105th anniversary of his birth)

The outstanding cardiologist and cardiac surgeon Evgeny Nikolaevich Meshalkin was born on February 25, 1916 in the city of Yekaterinoslav, now Dnepropetrovsk. In 1918, the Meshalkin family moved to Rostov-on-Don, and in 1928 to Moscow, where Evgeny graduated from school in 1930, and then studied at the factory school at the Sickle and Hammer factory. In 1941, Evgeny Nikolaevich graduated from the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute and from August 1941 to May 1945 was a participant of the Great Patriotic War permanently in the field army. After demobilization from the army, E. N. Meshalkin worked from 1946 to 1956 at the department and at the clinic of Faculty Surgery of the 2nd Moscow State Medical Institute, headed by Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences A. N. Bakulev. In 1950, he defended his PhD thesis «Intubation anesthesia», and in 1953, his first monograph «Intubation anesthesia Technique» was published. Evgeny Nikolaevich is rightfully considered one of the founders of the Russian anesthesiology. In 1953, E. N. Meshalkin defended his doctoral dissertation «Probing and contrast study of the heart and major vessels». In conditions of moderate nonperfusion hypothermia, Yevgeny Nikolaevich successfully operated on complex heart defects, performed the insertion of mechanical prostheses for mitral and aortic insufficiency. From January 1956 to 1960, he was the head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology of the Central Institute of Advanced Medical Training (now the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education). E.N.Meshalkin owns 47 copyright certificates and patents, which are implemented not only in the Research Institute of Circulatory Pathology, but also in other cardiac surgery centers in Russia. Honorary citizen of Novosibirsk Evgeny Nikolaevich Meshalkin passed away on March 8, 1997 and was buried in Novosibirsk at the Southern Cemetery. In memory of the outstanding scientist, the Novosibirsk Research Institute of Circulatory Pathology was named after Academician E. N. Meshalkin.

From Bachelier to Dupire via optimal transport

Famously, mathematical finance was started by Bachelier in his 1900 PhD thesis where – among many other achievements – he also provided a formal derivation of the Kolmogorov forward equation. This also forms the basis for Dupire’s (again formal) solution to the problem of finding an arbitrage-free model calibrated to a given volatility surface. The latter result has rigorous counterparts in the theorems of Kellerer and Lowther. In this survey article, we revisit these hallmarks of stochastic finance, highlighting the role played by some optimal transport results in this context.

Critical Theory of Religion by Erich Fromm: from Messianic Judaism to Radical Humanism

This paper studies Erich Fromm’s critical theory of religion and looks into the evolution of the philosopher’s views. We analyze key concepts of Fromm’s humanistic psychology, including biophilia, rejection of idolatry, X-experience, classification of religions as humanistic or authoritarian, plea for sustainable coexistence with the environment, and some others. The author demonstrates close connection of these concepts with Judaic tradition, especially the messianism and negative theology of Maimonides. The paper is divided into chapters tracing the evolution of Fromm’s views on religion — from Hasidic Judaism, through following Freud and Marx, to the concept of humanistic religion. The analysis shows that starting from his early works and up to the radical, socialistic humanism as the pinnacle of his thought, Fromm as a philosopher and a strong Israelite draws inspiration from the religious tradition. Notably, his PhD thesis was devoted to the sociology of Hebrew diaspora, Der Sabbath, The Dogma of Christ. However, Fromm’s theory of religion, accordant with the Frankfurt School, combines aspects of Hegel, Marx and Freud’s teachings. Fromm’s views on religion are an original, self-consistent synthesis of diverse ideas, and result in the concept of radical humanism. The paper specifically considers Fromm’s view on idolatry as a form of alienation. Fromm urges to fight against idolatry in a bro.ader sense, finding it in various social phenomena, ranging from consumerism to religious fundamentalism. The paper also reviews the concept of X-experience that Fromm gives in You Shall Be as Gods. The X-experience is a special transcendental experience, separated from its multiple theistic or non-theistic conceptualizations. X-experience is psychological in its nature and leads to diminishing or eliminating narcissism. It constitutes a certain opposition to the alienation caused by idolatry. The work also considers Fromm’s idea of humanistic religion as related to his other concepts. The author supposes that the distinction between authoritarian and humanistic religions is tied to the earlier separation into authoritarian and humanistic ethics that Fromm presents in Man for himself. The impact of Marx and Freud on Fromm’s philosophy of religion is highlighted. While drawing from both, Fromm considered Marx’s theory to be deeper and more significant.

Book Review. Győrfi Dénes’s Bibliotheca Universitatis Claudiopolitanae. Evoluția instituțională și practici ale lecturii în Clujul Universitar

This book review is presenting a published PhD thesis concerning the history of the library of the university of Cluj, from its foundation until 1945. The book is dealing with three distiguishable periods, the 1872–1918 period, during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; the period of 1918-1940, the era of the Great Romania, and the third period is represented by the years of World War II. Based on a rich bibliography, the author is following the major processes concerning the institutional management of the library.

Metropolitan Amfilohije’s Views on St Gregory Palamas and Orthodoxy: A Return to Palamism

In what follows, I examine the views of Metropolitan Amfilohije’s views on St Gregory Palamas and Orthodoxy, primarily focusing on his PhD thesis, which was defended at the University of Athens, Faculty of Theology in 1973, and published in Thessaloniki in the same year. I claim that his views there not only show him defending Palamas, but also highlight the need for a strengthening of Palamism in Greece and abroad. Some of the problems, which he identified in 1973, exist in Orthodoxy today and his suggestion that all contemporary Orthodox intellectuals should persist in the Philosophy and Theology of Palamism seems to be the only way to solve these problems, even today.

A Review of Zoom interactive performance, 'Helping Hands': process, distress, success and who was helped.

Intervention for Russell Anderson’s work-in-progress Interactive Zoom theatre performance conducted on 6th August 2021 at 1:00 pm (U.K time), for a PhD thesis at Oxford Brooke's University was called 'Helping Hands'. Exploration and involvement of socio-digital options in Zoom theatre performativity, invokes questioning the adaptive process, distress and success as well as whom are we helping by being involved? Are we helping the company hosting the Zoom application, digital-theatre experimenters, the characters in the play, real people with similar socio-political problems as depicted in the play, ourselves or Russell Anderson? My personal experience and observations, beginning from receiving the digital mail invitation and background information of the performance, until the discussion about the work, in the end will be narrated with critical observations on each character's role and background, audio-visual spectrum, additional software and applications used, spect-actorship and employment of the break-out room feature of the Zoom application. The referenced theatre genres and probable methodologies employed in structuring the performance will be discussed by referring to Sir Andersons personal notes on the matter. The emotions and doubts, particularly that of whom I was helping, during the performance will be addressed in terms of the nature of the interactive, hyperdrama’s structure and the overall effect that it influenced. Its outcome will be critically compared with observations made by other scholarly reviewers on other Zoom adaptive performances, namely, Karen by The Transit Ensemble, Newspaper Theatre workshop by Seattle Rep, The Belle’s Stratagem by Red Bull Theatre, Time Machine by Creation Theatre and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by CtrlAlt_Repeat, while addressing Interaction, communication, mediatization and liveness in digital theatre.