Possible Gnomonic Algorithm

Vr ac Circles are a set of five practically concentric circles located in a plain of western Serbia There have not been any systematic archaeological research in the zone but some exploration work indicate a possible date for the earthwork to be around five thousand years ago In this paper we present a sequential analysis of the sizes diameters of the circles that may obey with the help of a gnomonic approach the gnomonic factor an algorithm involving the number of the circle and the height of the gnomon The first assumption is that the smallest radius would be obtained from the shadow of a gnomon on winter solstice at noon the others by the addition to the first a multiple of 1 5 times the gnomon s height At the final stage of the analysis we discuss a possible calendrical meaning of the circles Our results we consider call the archaeologist to look at this place for confirmation or rejection of these hypothesis They may support subsequent development of ideas for the history of mathematic

Ensaio para antologizar prefácios de traduções romenas do século XIX

Insufficiently exploited in the history and historiography of Romanian translation, the prefatory discourse accompanying 19th century Romanian translations show the eclecticism of the approaches of Romanian translators in a period of transition that was troubled on all levels. Due to a corpus of a few dozen paratexts, we have traced out guidelines for the perception of the translating activity of the time, due to these testimonies of translators occasional or consecrated,, whose merit is to have been pioneers and to have made the Romanian readership discover the cultural productions from abroad. Despite of the lapses or misuses in the translations, the emphasis has been on the elements proving that the translated text does not represent a literal translation, but the translator's creation, the result of an elaborate, complex interpretative act (sometimes worthy of rivaling the complexity of the original itself). The clearly targeted orientation of the majority of the transpositions of foreign texts into Romanian, the interventions that are too sharp in relation to the source text where the adaptation goes from ethnocentrism to massive restructuring, both on the level of the signified and the signifier, allow us to classify them as derivatives of the translation itself. This article does not propose to make favorable or denigrating assessments of the performance of the translators on whom we have focused, but to highlight the existence of these mini-treaties of translation where translators verbalize, if not conceptualize, the difficulties of translating into a language that was by no means formed, completed and matured. However, the translator's prefatory discourse does not authorize criticism of his creation, which is subject to noble commitments such as nationalist awakening, the achievement of language, the development and organization of education. The self-reflexive inclination identified in the translator's metadiscourse and the desire to justify his translating options help us to trace the origins of translation criticism in Romania. Thus, from their theoretical and ideological content, some of the preface-manifests show that the translations of the 19th century are the result of hard work, a fierce determination and admirable ambitions to open up paths and to pave the way for others who will follow their example to do better.Insuffisamment exploités dans l’histoire et l’historiographie de la traduction roumaine, les discours préfaciers accompagnant les traductions roumaines du XIXe siècle montrent l’éclectisme des approches des traducteurs roumains dans une période de transition, trouble sur tous les plans. Nous avons tracé, grâce à un corpus de quelques dizaines de paratextes, des lignes directrices concernant la perception de l’activité traduisante de l’époque, grâce à ces témoignages de traducteurs, occasionnels ou consacrés, dont le mérite est d’avoir fait œuvre de pionniers et d’avoir fait découvrir au lectorat roumain les productions culturelles de l’étranger. Malgré les dérapages ou les abus traductifs, l’accent a porté sur les éléments prouvant que le texte traduit ne représente pas une traduction littérale, mais la création du traducteur, résultat d’un acte interprétatif élaboré, complexe (parfois digne de rivaliser en complexité avec l’original même). L’orientation clairement cibliste de la majorité des transpositions en roumain des textes étrangers, les interventions trop tranchantes par rapport au texte source où l’adaptation va de l’ethnocentrisme à une restructuration massive, à la fois sur le plan du signifié que sur celui du signifiant, nous légitiment de les classifier de dérivés de la traduction proprement dite. Cet article ne se propose pas de porter des appréciations, favorables ou dénigrantes, concernant les performances des traducteurs sur lesquels nous nous sommes arrêtés, mais de mettre en valeur l’existence en soi de ces mini-traités de traduction où les traducteurs verbalisent, sinon conceptualisent, les difficultés de traduire vers une langue qui n’était nullement formée, achevée et maturée. Cependant, le commentaire péremptoire du traducteur n’autorise pas la critique de sa création, soumise à des engagements nobles tels que l’éveil nationaliste, l’accomplissement de la langue, le développement et l’organisation de l’enseignement. Le penchant autoréflexif identifié dans le métadiscours du traducteur et le désir de justifier ses options traductives nous aident à retracer les origines de la critique des traductions en Roumanie. Ainsi, de par leur contenu théorique et idéologique, certaines préfaces-manifestes montrent que les traductions du XIXe siècle sont le résultat d’un travail acharné, d’une détermination forcenée et d’admirables ambitions d’ouvrir des voies, de tracer des routes aux autres qui suivront leur exemple pour en faire mieux.Insuficientemente explorados na história e na historiografia da tradução romena, os discursos prefaciais que acompanham as traduções romenas do século XIX mostram o ecletismo das abordagens dos tradutores romenos num período de transição, conturbado em todos os aspectos. Graças a um corpus de algumas dezenas de paratextos, traçamos diretrizes para a percepção da atividade de tradução da época, graças a estes testemunhos de tradutores, ocasionais ou consagrados, cujo mérito é terem sido pioneiros e terem feito o público leitor romeno descobrir as produções culturais estrangeiras. Apesar dos deslizes ou abusos de tradução, a ênfase foi colocada nos elementos que provam que o texto traduzido não representa uma tradução literal, mas a criação do tradutor, resultado de um ato interpretativo elaborado e complexo (por vezes digno de rivalizar com a complexidade do próprio original). A orientação claramente direcionada ao sistema de chegada da maioria das transposições de textos estrangeiros para o romeno, as intervenções muito bruscas em relação ao texto de partida, em que a adaptação vai do etnocentrismo à reestruturação massiva, a nível tanto do significado como do significante, legitimam-nos para os classificarmos como derivados da tradução propriamente dita. Este artigo não se propõe a fazer avaliações, favoráveis ou depreciativas, do desempenho dos tradutores em que nos concentramos, mas sublinhar a existência em si destes minitratados de tradução em que os tradutores verbalizam, se não conceituam, as dificuldades de traduzir para uma língua que não foi de forma alguma formada, completada e amadurecida. No entanto, o comentário peremptório do tradutor não autoriza críticas à sua criação, que está sujeita a nobres compromissos como o despertar nacionalista, o êxito da língua, o desenvolvimento e a organização da educação. A inclinação autorreflexiva identificada no metadiscurso do tradutor e o desejo de justificar as suas opções de tradução ajudam-nos a traçar as origens da crítica de traduções na Romênia. Assim, por seu conteúdo teórico e ideológico, algumas das prefácios-manifestos mostram que as traduções do século XIX são o resultado de um trabalho árduo, de uma determinação feroz e de ambições admiráveis para abrir caminhos e para traçar novas rotas a outros que seguirão o seu exemplo para fazer melhor

Was the Parta Neolithic sanctuary in Romania astronomically aligned?

Since its discovery, the Neolithic sanctuary from Parta, Timis county, Romania has been the subject of many archeoastronomical and ethnoastronomical studies. While interesting, the sanctuary itself is no longer visible in situ, with a scaled replica, based on original materials, accessible inside the National Museum of Banat in Timisoara. Studies have focused on its solar alignment, lunar and stellar symbolism, eclipses, and horizon astronomy. The lack of actual azimuth readings of the original sanctuary make any astronomical alignment studies challenging if not impossible. The only evidence lies in the original experiment performed in situ during the autumnal equinox sunset on 23 September, 1982, and on maps showing the direction of the North. Regarding eclipses, the high ΔT uncertainty in Neolithic times makes any eclipse study questionable. In this paper we critically review prior work and introduce our own hypotheses regarding some interesting aspects of the sanctuary. We also identify possible horizon markers for the WSSR and equinoxes

Architecting a hybrid cross layer dew-fog-cloud stack for future data-driven cyber-physical systems

The Internet of Things is gaining traction due to the emergence of smart devices surrounding our daily lives. These cyber-physical systems (CPS) are highly distributed, communicate over wi-fi or wireless and generate massive amounts of data. In addition, many of these systems require near real-time control (RTC). In this context, future IT platforms will have to adapt to the Big Data challenge by bringing intelligence to the edge of the network (dew computing) for low latency fast local decisions while keeping at the same time a centralized control based on well-established scalable and fault tolerant technologies brought to life by cloud computing

Self-Healing Distributed Scheduling Platform

International audienceDistributed systems require effective mechanisms to manage the reliable provisioning of computational resources from different and distributed providers. Moreover, the dynamic environment that affects the behaviour of such systems and the complexity of these dynamics demand autonomous capabilities to ensure the behaviour of distributed scheduling platforms and to achieve business and user objectives. In this paper we propose a self-adaptive distributed scheduling platform composed of multiple agents implemented as intelligent feedback control loops to support policy-based scheduling and expose self-healing capabilities. Our platform leverages distributed scheduling processes by (i) allowing each provider to maintain its own internal scheduling process, and (ii) implementing self-healing capabilities based on agent module recovery. Simulated tests are performed to determine the optimal number of agents to be used in the negotiation phase without affecting the scheduling cost function. Test results on a real-life platform are presented to evaluate recovery times and optimize platform parameters

When old meets new: evaluating numerical and Machine Learning based eclipse prediction methods

The Babylonians had some of the most advanced arithmetic models for the Lunar and planetary theory in ancient times. This allowed them to discover the Saros eclipse cycle. In this paper we investigate the accuracy of several eclipse prediction methods tested on worldwide occurring eclipses between 2020--2100 CE, ignoring the sophisticated modern models based on accurate ephemerides, in an attempt to understand how simple models would have worked in ancient times. First we propose two numerical methods relying on knowledge available in Babylonian times -- lunar phases, lunar nodes, and the angular separation between the Sun and the Moon. Second, we assess the performance of four Machine Learning (ML) models modeling human inference by relying on the same data. The accuracy of the numerical methods is above 80\% while the ML models achieve up to 98\% accuracy. The algorithms perform better in case of lunar eclipses. While not 100\% perfect, these methods are simplistic in terms of required information and enable us to get an insight into how efficient might have been ancient methods relying on visual observations

Astronomical alignments of paleo-Christian basilicas in Romania

In this paper we present the first comprehensive study of the astronomical alignments of paleo-Christian basilicas located in present day Romania. 20 basilicas from 10 sites have been investigated using a digital compass and tools such as Google Earth, Stellarium, and heywhatsthat.com. Results show that except two all fall within the solar sunrise arc. Of these some point to the rising Sun during the feast days of well-known Christian saints. The two exceptions at Argamum and Dinogeția indicate that the basilicas may be converted. The astronomical analysis in these two cases indicates a possible alignment with the moonrise during the major lunar standstill and the rising of the stars Arcturus, Castor, Mirach, and Algiebe

Prediction of cloud movement from satellite images using neural networks

Predicting cloud movement and dynamics is an important aspect in several areas, including prediction of solar energy generation. Knowing where a cloud will be or how it evolves over a given geographical area can help energy providers to better estimate their production levels. In this paper we propose a novel approach to predicting cloud movement based on satellite imagery. It combines techniques of generating motion vectors from sequential images with neural networks. First, the images are masked to isolate cloud pixels, then Farneback’s version of the Optical Flow algorithm is used to detect motion from one image to the next and generate motion vector flow for each pair of images. After that, a feed forward back propagation neural network is trained with the vector data derived from the dataset imagery. Different parameters for the duration of the training, size of the input, and the neighborhood radius of one point in the scene are used. Promising results are presented and discussed to weight the potential of the proposed algorithm for forecasting cloud cover and cloud position in a scene