Efficient Full Higher-Order Unification

We developed a procedure to enumerate complete sets of higher-order unifiers based on work by Jensen and Pietrzykowski. Our procedure removes many redundant unifiers by carefully restricting the search space and tightly integrating decision procedures for fragments that admit a finite complete set of unifiers. We identify a new such fragment and describe a procedure for computing its unifiers. Our unification procedure, together with new higher-order term indexing data structures, is implemented in the Zipperposition theorem prover. Experimental evaluation shows a clear advantage over Jensen and Pietrzykowski's procedure.

Solving One-Side Polarization: Supreme Court Polarization and Politicization in Israel and the U.S.

The Israeli Supreme Court has become increasingly polarized between liberal and conservative judges. This phenomenon is relatively new to the Israeli Supreme Court and follows the much older and more well-known example of the U.S. Supreme Court. This article surveys both U.S. and Israeli court polarization and shows the history, reasons, and special features of polarization of both courts, including the important differences between them. It also adds a distinction to existing literature on court polarization—the distinction between court polarization and politicization, and especially the distinction between “regular” polarization and “one-side” polarization. Regular court polarization happens when the court is divided roughly equally between the two main political contenders (usually between right and left). One-side polarization happens when there is a clear advantage to one side of the political map in the make-up of the court. The current U.S. Supreme Court, with six conservative justices and only three liberal justices, is an example of one-side court polarization that is tilted to the right. The current Israeli Supreme Court (as of the writing of these lines) is an example for one-side court polarization tilted to the left; there are 10 liberal judges and only five conservative judges on the court. The article’s main argument is that one-side court polarization presents a particularly vexing problem for the legitimacy of the court, even more so than “regular” polarization. The article concludes with a survey of possible solutions to help Israel retract itself from one-side court polarization.

Susceptibility response of varieties and local populations of lupines to Bruchus rufimanus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

This study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility response of varieties and local populations of lupines to Bruchus rufimanus in multi-environment field tests. Seed damaged rate and susceptibility index were assessed in each environment and subjected to a heritability-adjusted genotype and genotype x environment biplot analysis. It was found that the susceptibility index of damaged seeds was positively related to precipitation amounts and humidity, and inversely to min and max temperatures. The seed damaged rate was positively related to temperatures but negatively to rain and humidity. The local polish population WAT and cultivars Pink Mutant, Solnechnii, and Bezimenii 1 had the lowest seed damaged rate and stable position across environments. Meanwhile, these cultivars showed a low susceptibility index and low variability. The discrepancy between the early phenological development of ‘Pink Mutant’, ‘Solnechnii’, and ‘Bezimenii 1’ and the life cycle of B. rufimanus was one of the reasons for manifested tolerance. Correlations between damaged seed and susceptibility index as well as the mass of 1000 seeds and sensitivity index were strongly positive and negative, respectively. ‘WAT’, ‘Pink Mutant’, ‘Solnechnii’, and ‘Bezimenii 1’ had a clear advantage in defending itself from B. rufimanus attack, which makes them particularly interesting for breeding purposes.

REST and GraphQL comparative analysis

The article presents a comparative analysis of the two most commonly used API web design standards - REST and GraphQL. The time and size of HTTP responses returned by applications were tested. Two applications with the same functionalities, performing CRUD operations, on data stored in the non-relational MongoDB database were used for the research. Both applications were based on NodeJS technology. The JMeter tool was used to collect and analyze the data. On the basis of the obtained results, it was found that there were no significant differences in reading the data with a small number of queries and when removing resources. With the increase in the number of queries, a clear advantage of the REST standard was observed. The advantage of GraphQL, both in response time and size, was demonstrated when retrieving specific data.

Swords and Daggers Without a Metal Pommel from the Meotian Sites of the Right Bank of the Kuban

The article is devoted to typology and chronology of swords and daggers without a metal pommel from the Maeotian cemeteries of the right bank of the Kuban. We took into account 57 pieces of this type of weapon from closed complexes. In this paper, we use the typological scheme of A.M. Khazanov, developed on the materials of the Sarmatian armament. The Maeotian swords and daggers of mentioned group are divided into three types: 1 – swords and daggers with a rain-guard; 2 – swords and daggers without a rain-guard, the blade and the hilt make an obtuse angle; 3 – swords and daggers without rain-guards, the blade and the hilt make a right angle. Metal tangs of hilts differ by shape and size; thus they are divided into two variants: “a” – rectangular or triangular; “b” – a long pin. The swords of the “a” variant had wooden overlays on the handles, sometimes fastened with rivets or winding, and the handles of the “b” variant swords were mounted on a tang. Chronological dating of the burials indicates that bladed weapon of this type appears among the Maeotians of the Kuban right bank in the beginning of the 1st cent. AD and remains there until the middle of the 3rd cent. AD. And the main time of its use is the 1–2 cent. A.D. Swords and daggers of all types from Maeotian assemblages have existed at the same time, just like ones from the Sarmatian burials of the Lower Volga region. But, unlike the Sarmatian sites with no predominance of any particular sword type, the Maeotians show clear advantage of type 2 blades.

Let’s be Liberal: An Alternative to Aesthetic Hedonism

Aesthetic value empiricism claims that the aesthetic value of an object is grounded in the value of a certain kind of experience of it. The most popular version of value empiricism, and a dominant view in contemporary philosophical aesthetics more generally, is aesthetic hedonism. Hedonism restricts the grounds of aesthetic value to the pleasure enjoyed in the right kind of experience. But hedonism does not enjoy any clear advantage over a more permissive alternative version of value empiricism. This alternative is aesthetic liberalism. On this view, an object’s aesthetic value is fully grounded in any value—not just the hedonic value—of a correct and complete experience of its sensory features. To demonstrate the advantages of liberalism over hedonism, I apply both views to analyze the aesthetic value of the Spring Temple Buddha and Anselm Kiefer’s Seraphim. I detail four advantages of liberalism over hedonism, and I conclude by defending liberalism from two kinds of objection.

Is It Possible to Find Something Positive in Being Confined Due to COVID-19? Implications for Well-Being

In relation to COVID-19, little research has focused on the study of variables that affect well-being during this pandemic. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to find out if people experiencing a quarantine are able to appreciate any positive aspects of it, and to analyze how these responses are categorized and (2) to check if there are differences in levels of well-being according to these categories. There were 243 representative participants of the Spanish population according to sex, age, and educational level. The methodology was mixed, qualitative for the first objective and quantitative for the second. The first used the Thematic Network, while the second used logistic regression. From the qualitative analysis, three major categories were extracted: intrinsic orientation, extrinsic orientation, and empty orientation. The quantitative results showed a clear advantage in well-being for the intrinsically oriented group. The group of intrinsic orientation presented a better coping ability while the group of extrinsic orientation was as little adaptive as the group of empty orientation. Recommendations are extracted from the results.

Editorial

The publication of issue 20(2) of SComS marks an important occasion, namely the 20th anniversary of our journal, which was founded at USI – Università della Svizzera italiana twenty years ago, and consequently published its first issue in early 2001. As you might know, SComS was merged with Medienwissenschaft Schweiz (a publication by the SACM – Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research) in 2007, keeping the name Studies in Communication Sciences. Seizing the occasion of this achievement, we would like to share some important information with you. First, speaking about the history of our journal, we remind you that the early issues of SComS and of Medienwissenschaft Schweiz are fully accessible on our website (section “Archives”), thanks to our collaboration with e-periodica. Second, we are happy to announce that SComS now has an online first publishing policy, meaning that articles are quickly made available online. This policy increases the pace and visibility of articles published in SComS, which is a clear advantage for both our authors and readers. Finally, if you wish to receive regular updates on news, thematic sections and articles published, we encourage you to follow SComS on Twitter (@SComS_Journal). Moving on to discuss the contents of SComS 20(2), we are pleased to announce that this issue contains a variety of topics and perspectives in our field. Alongside a General Section and a Thematic Section, it also contains a Community Section, in which we publish a summary of the PhD thesis that has won the SACM Dissertation Award 2020. Finally, this issue includes a Reviews and Reports Section that comprises two book reviews of recent publications in our field and a report on a scientific workshop held in Zurich.