Comparative evaluation of the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

Since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in late 2019, several variants of concern (VOC) have been reported, such as B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and B.1.617.2. The exact reproduction number Rt for these VOCs is important to determine appropriate control measures. Here, we estimated the transmissibility for VOCs and lineages of SAR-CoV-2 based on genomic data and Bayesian inference under an epidemiological model to infer the reproduction number (Rt). We analyzed data for multiple VOCs from the same time period and countries, in order to compare their transmissibility while controlling for geographical and temporal factors. The lineage B had a significantly higher transmissibility than lineage A, and contributed to the global pandemic to a large extent. In addition, all VOCs had increased transmissibility when compared with other lineages in each country, indicating they are harder to control and present a high risk to public health. All countries should formulate specific prevention and control policies for these VOCs when they are detected to curve their potential for large-scale spread.

Optimization of Reproducing the Set Breathing Rhythm During a Cardiorespiratory Synchronism Test

This article analyses optimization guidelines for assessment of human regulatory and adaptive capabilities (RAC) using the cardiorespiratory synchronism (CRS) method. The study participants aged 19 ± 1 were randomized into two groups: main group (n = 30) and reference group (n = 30). In the main group, before conducting the CRS tests, a number of techniques were applied to facilitate reproduction of the set breathing rhythm by the subject: relieving one hand from the ECG electrode by recording a single lead (II or III), which is sufficient to monitor heart rate, for the subjectʼs convenience (with detecting motor asymmetry of the hemispheres); viewing an instructional video showing the algorithm of the upcoming test to the subject; ideomotor training; detecting the latent period of a simple sensorimotor reaction to sound and light stimuli as a preparation for the test. The degree of correspondence between the reproduced and the set breathing rhythms in the main group was 47.0 ± 15.7 % (M ± SD), which is higher than in the reference group. The maximum number of exact respiratory cycles repeated in a row in the first test also demonstrated the advantages of the main group, where this indicator was 10.3 ± 3.4 cycles. The number of respiratory cycles from the beginning of the first test to the exact reproduction of the set rhythm decreased in the main group compared to the reference group by 76.3 %. The correlation analysis revealed no relationship between RAC and the accuracy of breathing rhythm reproduction (correlation coefficient was −0.115 at p = 0.536). Testing duration in the reference group significantly (p < 0.001 according to Mann–Whitney U-test) exceeded that in the main group (by 10.2 min). Thus, the research demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed techniques for optimizing the CRS test, which can contribute to an even wider spread of this method.

Construction and analysis of unified 4-point interpolating nonstationary subdivision surfaces

Subdivision schemes (SSs) have been the heart of computer-aided geometric design almost from its origin, and several unifications of SSs have been established. SSs are commonly used in computer graphics, and several ways were discovered to connect smooth curves/surfaces generated by SSs to applied geometry. To construct the link between nonstationary SSs and applied geometry, in this paper, we unify the interpolating nonstationary subdivision scheme (INSS) with a tension control parameter, which is considered as a generalization of 4-point binary nonstationary SSs. The proposed scheme produces a limit surface having $C^{1}$ C 1 smoothness. It generates circular images, spirals, or parts of conics, which are important requirements for practical applications in computer graphics and geometric modeling. We also establish the rules for arbitrary topology for extraordinary vertices (valence ≥3). The well-known subdivision Kobbelt scheme (Kobbelt in Comput. Graph. Forum 15(3):409–420, 1996) is a particular case. We can visualize the performance of the unified scheme by taking different values of the tension parameter. It provides an exact reproduction of parametric surfaces and is used in the processing of free-form surfaces in engineering.

Strategies of investigating and translating poetical prose of the classical and contemporary English short stories

The article considers the notion of prose poeticalness from linguistic and translation points of view. Prose poeticalness can be defined as the introduction of poetic features into the prose text with the help of such devices as extended metaphors, intertextual allusions, stylistic convergence, syntactical and phonetic repetitions. The investigation involved the analysis of the fairy tales by Oscar Wilde, the short stories by Kate Chopin and Dylan Thomas, which are referred to as classical prose, and the contemporary American flash fiction stories. The strategy of investigating prose poeticalness involved determining the devices of prose poeticalness in each text, defining the linguistic and stylistic components of these devices and their functions. As a result of our research, it is determined that the most foregrounded device of poeticalness is stylistic convergence. In the classical short stories, convergences function in bigger text fragments, they are based on the extended antropomorphic metaphors or similes in the interaction with alliterations. The stylistic convergences are used for poetical description of nature as human beings possessing the ability to speak, to think, to love (Wilde, Thomas), and even as gods (Rob Carney). Biomorphic tropes are used as the core of convergences, as a device of poetical description of people in the stories by Thomas, fairy tales by Wilde, in the flash fiction stories by John Updike, Grace Paley, Leigh Wilson and other writers. In the contemporary flash fiction stories, convergences foreground the ideas of sympathy, tolerance; they help to create a strong emotional effect. The strategy of rendering stylistic convergences in translation of the poetical prose consists in the exact reproduction of images applying literal translation or synonymic substitution and retaining the sound effect in trope components. Mythological and biblical allusions used as a system in the text are a device of poeticalness typical for Thomas's stories. The strategy of translating implicit allusions involves retaining the intertextual comments and giving explication in the text or in the footnotes. It is suggested that the prospects of further research lie in investigating poeticalness in the novels of contemporary writers.

Working with light and shadows

&lt;p&gt;The observation of the behavior of sunlight when it encounters an opaque body and, consequently, the shadow it produces allows several considerations to be made.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First activity: In the school garden, pupils studied the apparent motion of the Sun by observing the movement of the shadow produced by a stick perpendicular to the ground. They drew on the ground the position of the shadow of the stick and measured every hour the angular distance between the different tracts. They verified that between one tract and the next there were always 15 degrees, which is the same angular distance between the meridians that make a time zone. Starting from this observation, the kids built a Sundial to determine the local time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second activity: Working with the Homothetic Globe, that is a globe freed from its support and inclined according to the parallel of the place where you are, and placing a toothpick right to the city on the Globe where you want to proceed with the observation, allows you to observe everything that happens regarding the behavior of light and shadows as an exact reproduction, in small, of what happens in reality: the Sun acts on the sphere/ world map, exactly the same way as on the sphere/ Earth. The students were able to observe how the Sun illuminates different regions of the Earth in real time, helping them to understand time zones. The Homothetic globe also allowed them to understand the alternation of seasons in our Planet.&lt;/p&gt;

On the Problem of the Universality of Modern Western Philosophy Conceptual Framework: The Japanese Case

Many years the academic community has been discussing issues of a universal metalanguage as the general conceptual framework of modern social and humanitarian research, especially of philosophy. The article questions the claim that the language of Western philosophy was already accepted as a unified tool in the 20th century. The peculiarities of perception and further application of Western philosophical terminology in Japan in late 19th – first half of the 20th centuries are investigated here as a factual evidence base of argumentation. Special attention is given to examples of translation and interpretation of some concepts of Western origin, such as metaphysics, ethics, logic, substance, subject, etc., as observed in the works of eminent thinkers Nishi Amane, Inoue Tetsujiro, Nishida Kitaro, and Watsuji Tetsuro. The paper provides examples of new original concepts (as they did not have Western equivalents) developed by modern Japanese philosophers, such as Kimura Bin, Hiromatsu Wataru et al. The author concludes that the general conceptual framework that modern philosophy operates with is a very dynamic and open system, capable of transforming in different cultural contexts and in keeping with newly emerging issues that require analysis. The article identifies factors that provide philosophical communication between different cultures at the conceptual level, that is, the presence of a common circle of problems and presence of partial overlap between the key concepts. The author poses the problem of the emergence of new approaches and ideas in a situation of “conflicting interpretations,” or incomplete equivalence of similar notions when used by the parties in a dialogue, casting doubt on possibility, necessity and reasonability of exact reproduction of meanings and “complete domestication” in other cultures.

3D Technologies in the Production of Jewelry with Elements of Complicated Design

The article analyzes the objects of complicated shapes and technologies of their exact reproduction in jewelry which allow creating elements of complicated design at the stage of creation of master-models. The possibilities of applying 3D technologies are correlated with the sizes of objects that are complicated in design. The technologies allowing to most accurately convey the shape and texture of objects of complex shape - forming on a small-sized object with a complex design, using a ductile metallic mass and using a scanned 3D model of an object of a large shape with a complicated design - are considered in detail.

The Role of Prosody in Text Interpretation

In this paper, an attempt has been made to show the indispensable role of prosody in the language of drama. Prosody as a reliable means of identifying the meaning in belles-lettres style (drama) is important not only in terms of articulation but also perception and cognition as speech is a bilateral process. As compared with other substyles of the belles-lettres style, the dialogue in drama occupies a leading place. The author’s remarks contribute to the correct choice of prosody enabling us to reveal the author’s intent. Though represented in the form of dialogues, the language of drama is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language. The playwright will reproduce actual conversation only as far as the norms of the written language will allow. Thus, the language of drama is marked by stylization of colloquial speech preserving the modus of literary language.

War in Words: The Tricycle Theatre’s Re-voicing of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry

The tribunal plays produced at the Tricycle theatre in Kilburn, North London have come to represent under many respects the hallmark of the new spate of documentary work on the British stage, often designated as “verbatim drama” in contemporary critical parlance. Expressly envisaged as theatrical interventions into the public sphere, these dramatizations of official public inquiries turn theatrical space into legal space, grounding their claims to veracity in the exact reproduction of the actually spoken. While crucial to their ontological authority, the self-imposed orthodoxy whereby the playwright is the mere editor of words recorded in inquiry transcripts has been put under considerable strain by the very topic that has played a central role in triggering and shaping the format, that of contemporary conflict. A considerable share of recent verbatim work deals with the war on terror, a war increasingly fought outside legal jurisdiction and hence a subject that has thrown into sharp relief the epistemological limits of a form of drama that is entirely dependent on the existence and availability of legal records. This essay looks at the strategies of “re-voicing” whereby Richard Norton-Taylor negotiates the strictures of the code in his tribunal play