Small Asian Wonders

As curiosity grew in the Renaissance, so did the scope of collections of wonders. The Cricket Cage, Jade Screen, and Iron Dragon are three examples of rare collection items from the Far East. While these three east Asian small wonders may have been commonplace in their country of origin, they were considered marvelous to the collectors of Europe who had never seen objects such as these produced in their own countries. [excerpt

Construction Of A Rich Word Containing Given Two Factors

A finite word $w$ with $\vert w\vert=n$ contains at most $n+1$ distinct palindromic factors. If the bound $n+1$ is attained, the word $w$ is called \emph{rich}. Let \Factor(w) be the set of factors of the word $w$. It is known that there are pairs of rich words that cannot be factors of a common rich word. However it is an open question how to decide for a given pair of rich words $u,v$ if there is a rich word $w$ such that \{u,v\}\subseteq \Factor(w). We present a response to this open question:\\ If $w_1, w_2,w$ are rich words, $m=\max{\{\vert w_1\vert,\vert w_2\vert\}}$, and \{w_1,w_2\}\subseteq \Factor(w) then there exists also a rich word $\bar w$ such that \{w_1,w_2\}\subseteq \Factor(\bar w) and $\vert \bar w\vert\leq m2^{k(m)+2}$, where $k(m)=(q+1)m^2(4q^{10}m)^{\log_2{m}}$ and $q$ is the size of the alphabet. Hence it is enough to check all rich words of length equal or lower to $m2^{k(m)+2}$ in order to decide if there is a rich word containing factors $w_1,w_2$

Finance and long-term growth : economic modelling and evidence

none2noneBucci A.; Russo A.Bucci, A.; Russo, A

The effects of varied weight loss on the components of strength, power and cardiovascular endurance of high school wrestlers

The effects of varied weight reduction on the components of strength, power, and cardiovascular endurance of high school wrestlers was examined

On the Number of Closed Factors in a Word

A closed word (a.k.a. periodic-like word or complete first return) is a word whose longest border does not have internal occurrences, or, equivalently, whose longest repeated prefix is not right special. We investigate the structure of closed factors of words. We show that a word of length $n$ contains at least $n+1$ distinct closed factors, and characterize those words having exactly $n+1$ closed factors. Furthermore, we show that a word of length $n$ can contain $\Theta(n^{2})$ many distinct closed factors.Comment: Accepted to LATA 201

Measles in Italy: Viral strains and crossing borders.

In 2017, Italy experienced one of the largest outbreaks of measles in recent years, with 5404 notified cases and 4347 confirmed cases. A further 2029 cases were notified during the first 6 months of 2018, and 1516 of them were laboratory-confirmed. The B3 and D8 genotypes were identified as those responsible for the outbreak. Possible transmission routes can be established by monitoring the circulating measles virus strains in support of the national health authorities to warn people and travellers

Anthropogenic environmental change and habitat occupancy by riparian muskrats in a Midwestern landscape

Increased urban land cover and more intensive agriculture in the Midwest have changed the landscape for wildlife species. Distributions of semi-aquatic mammals such as muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) may respond to environmental changes including increased urbanization, alteration of hydrology, introduction of invasive species, and changes in predator communities. The response of muskrat populations to landscape and local-scale changes is important for the conservation of this economically-valuable furbearer species. I completed multiple surveys for occupancy by muskrats at 90 sites in central Illinois in 2007 and 2008. Sites were stratified based on urbanization levels. Occupancy was determined by presence of tracks, scat, and feeding sign in 200-m stream segments that approximated a home-range scale. I calculated detection probabilities to determine the likelihood of false absences. The per-survey detection probability was 0.79 (SE = 0.04) in 2007 and 0.76 (SE = 0.04) in 2008. Detection was related positively to Julian date and negatively to wood debris abundance. Muskrats occurred more often at sites with a greater percentage of developed landcover, as well as in wider and deeper streams that drained more area. Year-to-year turnover was explained by water availability and measures of stream size. Although invasive reed canary grass was the dominant species at an average of 2.3 (SE = 0.20) out of 5 habitat sampling stations per site, it did not affect site occupancy or turnover. Occupancy patterns may be related to lower predation risk near human development and in wider, deeper streams. Overall, muskrat distribution was related to local and landscape variables and was insensitive to some aspects of environmental change

Invariance: a Theoretical Approach for Coding Sets of Words Modulo Literal (Anti)Morphisms

Let $A$ be a finite or countable alphabet and let $\theta$ be literal (anti)morphism onto $A^*$ (by definition, such a correspondence is determinated by a permutation of the alphabet). This paper deals with sets which are invariant under $\theta$ ($\theta$-invariant for short).We establish an extension of the famous defect theorem. Moreover, we prove that for the so-called thin $\theta$-invariant codes, maximality and completeness are two equivalent notions. We prove that a similar property holds in the framework of some special families of $\theta$-invariant codes such as prefix (bifix) codes, codes with a finite deciphering delay, uniformly synchronized codes and circular codes. For a special class of involutive antimorphisms, we prove that any regular $\theta$-invariant code may be embedded into a complete one.Comment: To appear in Acts of WORDS 201