UPB @ ACTI: Detecting Conspiracies using fine tuned Sentence Transformers

Conspiracy theories have become a prominent and concerning aspect of online discourse, posing challenges to information integrity and societal trust. As such, we address conspiracy theory detection as proposed by the ACTI @ EVALITA 2023 shared task. The combination of pre-trained sentence Transformer models and data augmentation techniques enabled us to secure first place in the final leaderboard of both sub-tasks. Our methodology attained F1 scores of 85.71% in the binary classification and 91.23% for the fine-grained conspiracy topic classification, surpassing other competing systems

The impact of the Laval nozzle shape on thrust production, using the method of characteristics

This investigation examines the influence of Laval nozzle geometry on thrust production using the method of characteristics. It explores various divergent section configurations, analyzing their impact on nozzle design and performance. Comparative analysis of software tools, study of supersonic flow phenomena, and application of the method of characteristics form the core of this research. Findings showcase strong agreement between computational tools, emphasizing the Mach number's role in divergent section shape variations and thrust force. Additionally, the study scrutinizes over-expansion and under-expansion phenomena, validated through computational simulations. Future research should be aimed at enhancing computational methodologies and investigating additional parameters affecting nozzle performance, promising advancements in rocket propulsion technology

Steps in understanding the role of instability upon urban teritorrial systems

Instability is an omnipresent process that creates the conditions for adaptation and change. A territorial system cannot develop without instability. A high degree of system instability points out an acute structural and functional disorder. The present study proposes a method to measure system instability through economic structural and functional changes inside urban territorial systems. The analysis is done by quantifying the changes and transfers in internal economic hierarchies. System instability shows the role that the system plays in its environment and consequently the measures that can be taken to amplify or hinder (depending on the desired outcome) that role. The conceptual framework captures the adaptive processes associated with system instability and both structural and functional changes are evidenced. The non-linear processes were analysed for the urban territorial system of Baia Mare (Romania) underlining their role in the city's adaptation to the changing of its environment. The proposed method starts from the assumption that internal systemic hierarchy is a very stable parameter of state. If the system is unstable, significant changes of the internal hierarchy will happen, and this will be reflected in a strong structural and functional shift. Measuring system instability helps better understanding the impact that change and adaptation have over the territorial system and its environment. Understanding these processes may offer policy makers the evidence they need to take actions in a conscious manner

The Relationship Between the Environmental Tax Revenues and the Greenhouse Gas Emission in Romania

In order to meet the Paris Agreement target, mankind must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to unprecedented levels by 2030. Major global shifts towards a low-carbon economy and transformations of financial systems in each country are expected, changing new financial structures and processes, involving national governments, central and commercial banks, investors and financial actors. Romania has among the lowest environmental tax revenues as a percentage of GDP, according to Eurostat, and energy taxes are the most important category of environmental taxes, followed by transport taxes, pollution and resource exploitation taxes, etc. In this paper we aim to see the relationship between environmental tax revenues and greenhouse gas emissions in Romania, using correlation and regression analysis. The results of the study validate the main hypothesis, that is a strong inverse significant relationship between the two variables analysed and serve as a basis for further research on environmental taxes and charges in a given country (their amount and percentage of the country's GDP) and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions (progress towards their reduction)

Apparent close approaches between near-Earth asteroids and quasars. Precise astrometry and frame linking

Reproduced with permission. Copyright ESO. Article published by EDP Sciences and available at www.aanda.org.International audienceAims. We investigate the link between the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) and the dynamical reference frame realized by the ephemerides of the Solar System bodies. Methods. We propose a procedure that implies a selection of events for asteroids with accurately determined orbits crossing the CCD field containing selected quasars. Using a Bulirsch-Stoer numerical integrator, we constructed 8-years (2010-2018) ephemerides for a set of 836 numbered near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). We searched for close encounters (within a typical field of view of groundbased telescopes) between our selected set of asteroids and quasars with high-accuracy astrometric positions extracted from the Large Quasars Astrometric Catalog (LQAC). Results. In the designated period (2010-2018), we found a number of 2924, 14 257, and 6972 close approaches (within 10') between asteroids with a minimum solar elongation value of 60◦and quasars from the ICRF-Ext2, the Very Large Baseline Array Calibrator Survey (VLBA-CS), and the Very Large Array (VLA), respectively. This large number of close encounters provides the observational basis needed to investigate the link between the dynamical reference frame and the ICRF

The intervention of local public authorities and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania: a subnational analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong territorial dimension, with a highly asymmetric impact among Romanian counties, depending on pre-existing vulnerabilities, regions’ economic structure, exposure to global value chains, specialization, and overall ability to shift a large share of employees to remote working. The aim of this paper is to assess the role of Romanian local authorities during this unprecedented global medical emergency by capturing the changes of public spending at the local level between 2010 and 2021 and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify clusters of Romanian counties that shared similar characteristics in this period, using a panel data quantitative model and hierarchical cluster analysis. Our empirical analysis shows that between 2010-2021, the impact of social assistance expenditures was higher than public investment (capital spending and EU funds) on the GDP per capita at county level. Additionally, based on various macroeconomic and structural indicators (health, labour market performance, economic development, entrepreneurship, and both local public revenues and several types of expenditures), we determined seven clusters of counties. The research contributes to the discussion regarding the increase of economic resilience but also to the evidence-based public policies implementation at local level

The Database of European Forest Insect and Disease Disturbances: DEFID2

[EN] Insect and disease outbreaks in forests are biotic disturbances that can profoundly alter ecosystem dynamics. In many parts of the world, these disturbance regimes are intensifying as the climate changes and shifts the distribution of species and biomes. As a result, key forest ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, regulation of water flows, wood production, protection of soils, and the conservation of bio-diversity, could be increasingly compromised. Despite the relevance of these detri-mental effects, there are currently no spatially detailed databases that record insect and disease disturbances on forests at the pan-European scale. Here, we present the new Database of European Forest Insect and Disease Disturbances (DEFID2). It comprises over 650,000 harmonized georeferenced records, mapped as polygons or points, of insects and disease disturbances that occurred between 1963 and 2021 in European forests. The records currently span eight different countries and were acquired through diverse methods (e.g., ground surveys, remote sensing techniques). The records in DEFID2 are described by a set of qualitative attributes, including se-verity and patterns of damage symptoms, agents, host tree species, climate-driven trigger factors, silvicultural practices, and eventual sanitary interventions. They are further complemented with a satellite- based quantitative characterization of the affected forest areas based on Landsat Normalized Burn Ratio time series, and dam-age metrics derived from them using the LandTrendr spectral–temporal segmentation algorithm (including onset, duration, magnitude, and rate of the disturbance), and pos-sible interactions with windthrow and wildfire events. The DEFID2 database is a novel resource for many large-scale applications dealing with biotic disturbances. It offers a unique contribution to design networks of experiments, improve our understanding of ecological processes underlying biotic forest disturbances, monitor their dynamics, and enhance their representation in land-climate models. Further data sharing is en-couraged to extend and improve the DEFID2 database continuously. The database is freely available at https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc- opend ata/FOREST/DISTURBANCES/DEFID2/SIEC Joint Research Centre; European Commission, Grant/Award Number: 101059498; European Research Council, Grant/Award Number: 101039567; Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization of Romania; LifeWatch— POC project, Grant/Award Number: 327/390003/06-11-202

Impact sur la performance de l’utilisation d’une aide cognitive digitale en situation simulée de crise et de stress : rôle d'une aide cognitive dans le sauvetage au combat

Simulation is widely used in the continuing education of health care providers. Crisis and stress situations, both real and simulated, negatively affect performance, can hinder the implementation of casualty care recommendations, and can be the source of medical errors. The thesis presented here investigated the operational readiness of military doctors and nurses and the influences of a digital cognitive aid (CA) on the technical and non-technical performance of these health professionals, as well as on their memory, in a simulated forward casualty care situation. The 1st goal of this thesis was to report on the access to continuing education and the possibilities of maintaining skills in the field of emergency for military physicians and nurses likely to be deployed on external operations (study 1). The 2nd goal was to study, in a randomized trial, the effect on the technical and non-technical performance of physicians and military nurses, of using the MAX (Medical Assistant eXpert) digital CA during a simulated complex situation in comparison with memory alone, in order to apply the steps of the military protocol of care with or without MAX (study 2). The 3rd goal was to determine the impact of using MAX on the three-month recall of educational messages given to the second study participants at the end of the two simulated scenarios, using or not the digital CA (study 3). The 4th goal was to identify the reasons for the success of simulation in civilian and military healthcare training (Studies 4 and 5).La simulation est largement utilisée dans la formation continue des soignants. Les situations de crise et de stress, réelles ou simulées, affectent négativement les performances, peuvent entraver l'application des recommandations pour les soins aux blessés et peuvent être la source d'erreurs médicales. La thèse présentée ici s’est intéressée à la préparation opérationnelle des médecins et des infirmiers militaires ainsi qu’aux influences d’une aide cognitive (AC) digitale sur la performance technique et non-technique de ces professionnels de santé mais aussi sur la mémoire, en situation simulée de prise en charge des blessés de guerre à l’avant. Le 1er objectif de cette thèse était de faire état de l’accès à la formation continue et des possibilités de maintien des compétences dans le domaine de l’urgence des médecins et des infirmiers militaires susceptibles d’être projetés en opération extérieure (étude 1). Le 2ème objectif était d’étudier, dans un essai randomisé, l’effet sur la performance technique et non-technique des médecins et des infirmiers militaires, de l’utilisation de l’AC digitale MAX (Medical Assistant eXpert) pendant une situation complexe simulée par comparaison avec la mémoire seule, afin d’appliquer les étapes du protocole militaire de soins avec ou sans MAX (étude 2). Le 3ème objectif était de déterminer l’impact de l’utilisation de MAX sur la mémorisation à trois mois des messages pédagogiques donnés aux participants de la deuxième étude à la fin des deux scénarios simulés, utilisant ou non l’AC digitale (étude 3). Le 4ème objectif était de répertorier les raisons du succès de la simulation dans les formations en santé, civiles et militaires (études 4 et 5)

Impact sur la performance de l’utilisation d’une aide cognitive digitale en situation simulée de crise et de stress : rôle d'une aide cognitive dans le sauvetage au combat

Simulation is widely used in the continuing education of health care providers. Crisis and stress situations, both real and simulated, negatively affect performance, can hinder the implementation of casualty care recommendations, and can be the source of medical errors. The thesis presented here investigated the operational readiness of military doctors and nurses and the influences of a digital cognitive aid (CA) on the technical and non-technical performance of these health professionals, as well as on their memory, in a simulated forward casualty care situation. The 1st goal of this thesis was to report on the access to continuing education and the possibilities of maintaining skills in the field of emergency for military physicians and nurses likely to be deployed on external operations (study 1). The 2nd goal was to study, in a randomized trial, the effect on the technical and non-technical performance of physicians and military nurses, of using the MAX (Medical Assistant eXpert) digital CA during a simulated complex situation in comparison with memory alone, in order to apply the steps of the military protocol of care with or without MAX (study 2). The 3rd goal was to determine the impact of using MAX on the three-month recall of educational messages given to the second study participants at the end of the two simulated scenarios, using or not the digital CA (study 3). The 4th goal was to identify the reasons for the success of simulation in civilian and military healthcare training (Studies 4 and 5).La simulation est largement utilisée dans la formation continue des soignants. Les situations de crise et de stress, réelles ou simulées, affectent négativement les performances, peuvent entraver l'application des recommandations pour les soins aux blessés et peuvent être la source d'erreurs médicales. La thèse présentée ici s’est intéressée à la préparation opérationnelle des médecins et des infirmiers militaires ainsi qu’aux influences d’une aide cognitive (AC) digitale sur la performance technique et non-technique de ces professionnels de santé mais aussi sur la mémoire, en situation simulée de prise en charge des blessés de guerre à l’avant. Le 1er objectif de cette thèse était de faire état de l’accès à la formation continue et des possibilités de maintien des compétences dans le domaine de l’urgence des médecins et des infirmiers militaires susceptibles d’être projetés en opération extérieure (étude 1). Le 2ème objectif était d’étudier, dans un essai randomisé, l’effet sur la performance technique et non-technique des médecins et des infirmiers militaires, de l’utilisation de l’AC digitale MAX (Medical Assistant eXpert) pendant une situation complexe simulée par comparaison avec la mémoire seule, afin d’appliquer les étapes du protocole militaire de soins avec ou sans MAX (étude 2). Le 3ème objectif était de déterminer l’impact de l’utilisation de MAX sur la mémorisation à trois mois des messages pédagogiques donnés aux participants de la deuxième étude à la fin des deux scénarios simulés, utilisant ou non l’AC digitale (étude 3). Le 4ème objectif était de répertorier les raisons du succès de la simulation dans les formations en santé, civiles et militaires (études 4 et 5)