Difference Sets Research Articles

Exploring the Applicability of Topic Modeling in SARS-CoV-2 Literature and Impact on Agriculture

For the last two years, countries around the globe have been suff ering and severely aff ected by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the novel coronavirus. Researchers from various disciplines are conducting research and publishing number of articles related to this virus and its eff ects. Furthermore, articles related to Covid-19 are being continuously published in the form of research papers, popular articles, blogs, surveys, short stories etc. These possess useful information and this information can be processed to infer important knowledge by applying text mining techniques. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) technique provides an effi cient way to analyse unclassifi ed text into useful sets of terms, called topics. LDA can group terms with similar semantic meaning into topics called "themes". A theme is a group of terms that frequently appear together. The objective of the present study is to explore the applicability of topic modeling in identifying the hidden themes or topics by using published research articles related to Covid-19 and agriculture through Google scholar. After pre-processing of titles and abstracts, two approaches namely LDA with Bag of Words (LDAB) and LDA with Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (LDAT) were applied to fi nd the hidden themes. There are thirteen and seven topics are identifi ed by applying LDAB and LDAT respectively. These identifi ed topics comprised with diff erent set of words or features will play an important role in developing the information retrieval system for specifi c search related to agricultural production, supply chain mechanism in agriculture, health and agri-tourism.

Ukrainian and Moscow law of early modern times: characteristics of the basic foundations

Introduction. In the conditions of the acute phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the «historical» front acquires special signifi cance. This requires constant focus on all parts of the historical and legal process, which will allow to reproduce as clearly as possible the historical and legal reality of a particular period. The importance of analyzing the general principles of Ukrainian and Moscow law of the early modern period is due to the fact that it was at this time that the basic characteristics of law were established, which have largely not lost their relevance to this day. The aim of the article the defi nition and analysis in the context of state and political development of the general foundations of Ukrainian and Moscow law, in particular based on the architectural idea of power in early modern times. Results. At the time of the Lublin Union, the Volyn, Kyiv, and Podil voivodships had «their» right, the core of which was the law of the ancient Russian state. During the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, statutes, land law, German law. As part of the Commonwealth, the decisive infl uence on the legal life of all Ukrainian voivodships is Rusky, Podilsky, Volyn, Kyiv, Podilsky, Chernihiv (since 1634) had a common Commonwealth state and legal matrix, social communicative practices and processes. Thus, among the components of the public-law mechanism of the Commonwealth are the following: election of the king; contractual procedure for registration of relations between the monarch and the political people (nobility) in the form of pacta convent, the principle of nihil novi; equality of rights of all the nobility, regardless of property status; sejm practice, etc. His important factors were also the «Westernization» of Orthodoxy, the common European educational space, the development of cities and urban law. Against this background, the concept of the Russian / Ukrainian people, who settled in their specifi c lands, is being formed. The state and legal legal development in the territories of Vladimir-Suzdal and Moscow principalities is analyzed and it is stated that at the end of the 16th century. in Muscovy, the concept of autocracy was fully established as the only possible one. At the same time, Moscow society suff ered from Moscow’s piety, caused by state terror and extreme conservatism, which contrasted sharply with the intense theological theorizing of the West, stagnation, and isolation. Attention is drawn to the cultural activities of Ukrainian fi gures (Petro Mohyla, Sylvester Kosiv, etc Conclusions. The above shows that at the end of the sixteenth – the fi rst half of the seventeenth century. Ukrainian and Moscow law demonstrates diff erent sets of basic principles, which, at the same time, have a stable and lasting character, which gives grounds to speak of them as legal canons. In Moscow, the foundation of such a right-wing canon of power building includes the following elements: the indistinguishability of power and religion, the elevation of the monarch and his sacralization equally distance his people from him - all his states, which are equal to lawlessness. Enshrined by the Conciliar Code (1649) which was in force until the fi rst half. XIX century., Rigid hierarchical power-legal model of the king (power) – the rest (citizenship), in which the infi nity / infi nity / immensity of monarchical power led to «leveling the value of proportion and measure» on all the swords of Moscow society. The legal canon of building power in the Ukrainian lands in early modern times is determined by the traditional role of the monarch as a mediator between the sacred and the profane, and the social order was built between two centers of power – secular (monarch) and religious (The Pope), and social progress – urban development , universities, in the broadest sense of civil society – was due to competition between it and religious tolerance, which echoed the noble ideology of «golden liberties». And the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth demonstrated a generally atypical type of state-power relations in Europe at that time, which was characterized by the absence of a state monopoly on violence, and thus social practices that in various ways contributed to maintaining peace and tranquility. Key words: Ukrainian law, Moscow law, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,Muscovy, legal canon, state and legal development.

Clutter mitigation in sub‐Nyquist radars using difference set codes

In this study, the authors address the issue of clutter mitigation in monostatic pulse-Doppler radars, using sub-Nyquist sampling and compressed sensing (CS) recovery algorithms. Generally, clutter is modelled as a coloured random process and a whitening filter is employed to maximise the signal to clutter ratio. Here, the authors apply this approach to the case in which the received signal sampling rate is much smaller than the Nyquist rate. They also generalise the recently proposed sub-Nyquist method based on difference set (DS) codes, which uses very few samples to detect targets in the presence of only white Gaussian noise. By using the frequency-coded modulation waveform with the frequencies selected in accordance to the DS, the detection performance of the proposed method can be significantly improved compared with the previously proposed sub-Nyquist methods in the presence of clutter. Furthermore, the authors show that the proposed method can increase the target recovery resolution due to the features of the DS codes and the employed CS model.

Autocorrelation-Driven Synthesis of Antenna Arrays—The Case of DS-Based Planar Isophoric Thinned Arrays

A new methodology for the design of isophoric thinned arrays with a priori controlled pattern features is introduced. A fully analytical and general (i.e., valid for any lattice and set of weights) relationship between the autocorrelation of the array excitations and the power pattern samples is first derived. Binary 2-D sequences with known autocorrelation properties, namely the difference sets (DSs), are then chosen as a representative benchmark to prove that it is possible to deduce closed-form synthesis formulas that a priori guarantee to fit requirements on the sidelobe level (SLL), the directivity, the half-power beamwidth, and the power pattern in user-defined directions. The selected results from a wide numerical assessment, which also includes full-wave simulations with realistic radiators, are illustrated to validate the reliability and the accuracy of the proposed design equations and the associated performance bounds.

Asynchronous Grant-Free Uplink Transmissions in Multichannel Wireless Networks With Heterogeneous QoS Guarantees

In this paper, we study the problem of providing heterogeneous quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees for asynchronous grant-free uplink transmissions in multichannel wireless networks. The multiple access channel model is the classical collision channel, where partially overlapped packets during the transmissions are assumed to be completely lost. For such a network model, we propose two asynchronous multichannel transmission schedules (AMTS): 1) the EPC-based AMTS and 2) the DS-based AMTS. The EPC-based AMTS is constructed by time-spreading one-dimensional extended prime code (EPC), and the DS-based AMTS is constructed by using difference sets (DS) and finite projective planes. We show for both scheduling algorithms that the maximum delay between two successive successful transmissions of an active device can be upper bounded by a constant when the channel load does not exceed a designed threshold parameter. Moreover, different devices are allowed to have different throughput (rate) guarantees. By conducting extensive simulations, we also show that the overall throughputs of both scheduling algorithms are almost identical to that of the random access protocol, when the number of active devices exceeds the designed threshold parameter.

Difference-Set-Based Channel Hopping for Minimum-Delay Blind Rendezvous in Multi-Radio Cognitive Radio Networks

Rendezvous in the blind fashion is known as one of the most robust and effective ways for cognitive users (CUs) to exchange control information under the dynamic interference of primary users (PUs). Earlier, no existing scheme could guarantee CUs to rendezvous blindly in each timeslot, which makes them experience relatively long exchange delay. Based on the mathematical concept of relaxed cyclic difference set ( DS ), this paper proposes two novel channel hopping (CH) schemes for multi-radio CUs with and without a synchronized time clock to rendezvous blindly in every timeslot. This achievement of minimum rendezvous delay is especially useful for such delay-sensitive applications as real-time voice and emergency communications. Moreover, based on a special class of DS, the proposed two schemes can closely approach the theoretical lower bound on the number of radio transceivers for CUs to rendezvous blindly in every timeslot and, hence, minimizes their required hardware complexity to exchange control information at the minimum rendezvous delay. Numerical simulation shows that, under dynamic PU interference, the proposed schemes outperform the existing ones in terms of the average throughput and delay of CUs.

Strengthening of occupational health promotion by the German Prevention Health Care Act

All countries are faced with the problem of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCD): implement prevention strategies eff ectively, keep up the momentum with long term benefi ts at the individual and the population level, at the same time tackling hea lth inequalities. Th e aff ordability of therapy and care including innovative therapies is going to be one of the key public health priorities in the years to come. Germany has taken in the prevention and control of NCDs. Germany’s health system has a long history of guaranteeing access to high-quality treatment through universal health care coverage. Th r ough their membership people are entitled to prevention and care services maintaining and restoring their health as well as long term follow-up. Like in many other countries general life expectancy has been increasing steadily in Germany. Currently, the average life expectancy is 83 and 79 years in women and men, respectively. Th e other side of the coin is that population aging is strongly associated with a growing burden of disease from NCDs. Already over 70 percent of all deaths in Germany are caused by four disease entities: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. Th ese diseases all share four common risk factors: smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity and overweight. At the same time, more and more people become long term survivors of disease due to improved therapy and care. Th e German Government and public health decision makers are aware of the need for action and have responded by initiating and implementing a wide spectrum of activities. One instrument by strengthening primary prevention is the Prevention Health Care Act. Its overarching aim is to prevent NCDs before they can manifest themselves by strengthening primary prevention and health promotion in diff erent sett ings. One of the main emphasis of the Prevention Health Care Act is the occupational health promotion at the workplace.

High Resolution Compressed Sensing Radar Using Difference Set Codes

In this paper, we consider compressive sensing (CS)-based recovery of delays and Doppler frequencies of targets in high resolution radars. We propose a novel sub-Nyquist sampling method in the Fourier domain based on difference sets (DS), called DS-sampling, to create dictionaries with highly incoherent atoms. The coherence of the dictionary reaches the Welch minimum bound if the DS-sampling is employed. This property let us to implement sub-Nyquist high resolution radars with minimum number of samples.1 Two low-complexity recovery methods are developed and sufficient condition of target recovery with specific resolution obtained theoretically for noisy and noiseless conditions. We also propose a new waveform, called DS-frequency coded modulated waveform, to boost the recovery performance of the sub-Nyquist radar in noisy environments. The proposed method solves some of the common problems in many CS-based radars and overcome disadvantages of the conventional Nyquist processing (i.e., matched filtering) in high resolution radar systems. The proposed method allows us to design sub-Nyquist radars, which require less than $\text{2}{\%}$ of Nyquist samples and recover targets without resolution degradation in comparison to the conventional Nyquist processing.

Target Practice

Taking the Canada–U.S. border as a starting point to refl ect on emergent smart border practices, this essay analyzes the diff erential yet central place that race continues to hold in the regulation of mobilities through the technopolitical mechanism of the border. Against claims that smart borders off er a more scientifi c and “postracial” mode of border control, the essay off ers a situated conceptual refl ection on how race is currently being (re)shaped by the complex intersection of biopolitical and algorithmic forms of governmentality as they converge in border technologies. Th e essay proposes to think through four diff erent sets of smart border technologies that enact and track race as a biopolitical assemblage in particular ways, analyzing the associated perceptual codes each puts into play (biometric, movement sensing, drone, and databased). It closes by refl ecting on how these algorithmic technologies infl ect the biopolitical targeting of race and mobility in ways that serve to insulate smart border practices from democratic accoun tability.

Optimized parallel decoding of difference set codes for high speed memories

The interest in using advanced Error Correction Codes (ECCs) to protect memories and caches is growing. This is because as process technology downscales, errors are more frequent and also tend to affect multiple bits. For SRAM memories and caches, latency is a limiting factor and ECCs have to provide low decoding times that can in most cases be only achieved with the use of a parallel decoder. One important issue with parallel decoders is that they typically require large circuit area to be implemented. One type of ECCs that has been explored for memory protection is Difference Set (DS) codes. In this research note, an optimized parallel decoding scheme for DS codes is presented and evaluated. The results show that the circuit area and the decoding delay are reduced compared to a traditional implementation. In addition, the new scheme enables a reduction in the number of parity check bits thus reducing the memory size.

SCENARIO ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR COUNTRY RISK ASSESSMENT: A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION

Purpose: This article is an exploration of the applicability of scenario analysis in country risk assessment executed by decision makers in small and medium sized enterprises when they engage in international business. Approach: The exploration is realized through two assessment. In the fi rst assessment it is presented whether country risks can be classifi ed as highly complex and highly uncertain according to the forecasting methods classifi ed by Schoemaker (2009) and the argumentation whether country risks need to be classifi ed as risk or uncertainty. For the second assessment it is presented whether the assessment of country risks according to the method of scenario analysis assumes the use of judgmental heuristics and the occurrence of bias in accordance with the heuristics and biases approach described by Kahneman and Tversky and identifi ed in country risk assessment by Van den Berg (2013). Findings: The fi rst conclusion of this exploration is that approaching country risk assessment with the support of scenario analysis supports decision makers in a fundamental manner and hence, contributes to the well-functioning of the company. The second conclusion is that, although the heuristics and biases that occur due to judgment and decision making under uncertainty are not supposed to occur anymore, a diff erent set of biases is to be expected. Implications: Although scenario analysis seems to be a valid technique to be used in country risk assessment, further research is required to determine how it should be operationalized for small and medium sized enterprises.

Classification of mental disorders: a global mental health perspective

Mental disorders are common in all countries, aff ect every community and age group, contribute substantially to the overall burden of disease, and have major economic and social consequences and eff ects on human rights. However, the greatest inequities are cross-national: 80% of people aff ected by mental disorders live in low-income and middle-income countries, which benefi t from scarcely 10% of global mental health resources. Global mental health initiatives attempt to improve the availability of, access to, and quality of services for people with mental disorders worldwide. Diagnostic categories and a classifi cation of mental disorders, which are essential to achieve objectives of global mental health, are needed for a range of stakeholders: for health-care practitioners to make treatment decisions and implement clinical guidelines; for policy makers to make decisions about allocation of resources; and for patients and their families to gain an understanding of their disorders. But can contemporary psychiatric classifi cations meet these needs? Non-specialist health professionals working in routine health-care settings deliver more than 90% of mental health care worldwide. Psychiatric disorders are frequently diagnosed in epidemiological surveys in community and primary care populations, in particular the common mental disorders of depression, anxiety, somatoform, and stress-related disorders (all of which are distinct categories in contemporary classifi cations). However, a large gap often exists between the numbers reported in surveys and those recorded by primary care workers. The response of psychiatry has traditionally been to assume that these workers are not well informed about contemporary psychiatric concepts. Many strategies, such as the use of simple diagnostic algorithms, straightforward management guidelines, training programmes to improve skills, and advocacy campaigns, were developed and implemented to address this gap. However, these approaches did not seem to substantially change primary care worker behaviour, or improve detection rates or outcomes in developed nations or low and middle-income countries. Indeed, one of us (VP) had proposed that even the term “mental” needed to be dropped altogether from such training. The American Psychiatric Association, who produced the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (DSM-IV), and WHO, who produced the International Classifi cation of Diseases tenth revision (ICD-10), also published concise versions of these classifi cations for use in primary care (DSM-IV PC and the ICD-10 PHC). They reduced the number of categories (eg, from hundreds of ICD-10 categories to 26 in ICD-10 PHC), the many categories of depressive and anxiety disorders were reduced into single categories, and the more obscure diagnostic categories (eg, dissociative stupor) were dropped altogether. However, these simplifi ed schemes remained virtually unknown and unused in primary care worldwide. Nevertheless, there are plans to release similar primary care versions (DSM-5 PC and ICD-11 PHC) to correspond to the latest revisions of these classifi cations. Given the allegiance that these classifi cations owe to their parent classifi cations, we doubt that they will be suitable for the global mental health cause. The vast diff erences in settings, patient populations, and perspectives between psychiatrists and primary health-care professionals demand caution in the translation of specialist concepts and classifi cations for use in primary care. Primary care workers typically see patients with mild and non-specifi c symptoms, subsyndromal and mixed presentations, often clustered around the case threshold and frequently associated with psychosocial adversity and with physical health problems. They recognise the importance of psychosocial circumstances (eg, stress, personal resources, coping, social supports, and culture) and their eff ect on mental health. They prefer not to use mental disorder labels because of the high rates of spontaneous remission and placebo response and the absence of improvement with antidepressant drugs in those with mild disorders. A related serious concern for primary care workers is the medicalisation of human distress. They contend that the use of symptoms to diagnose mental disorders, without consideration of context, in particular psychosocial adversity, essentially fl ags nonclinically signifi cant distress, especially at lower degrees of severity. Although psychiatrists prefer to use disorder labels, primary care workers often favour dimensions of distress for presentations of common mental disorders. Primary care workers seem to be uncomfortable with the use of the notion of mental disorder, with its disease halo, which sidesteps the disease–illness dichotomy while attempting to encompass both disease and distress. Consequently, these practitioners mostly do not use psychiatric categories at all, preferring to avoid potentially stigmatising and meaningless labels, or use categories like “mixed anxiety–depression” and “adjustment disorders”. However, mixed anxiety and depression is not included in DSM-5, ICD-11-PHC, or in the recent WHO guidelines, which are designed explicitly for primary care. Adjustment disorders are also excluded from ICD-11-PHC and the WHO Mental Lancet 2014; 383: 1433–35

ARITHMETIC PROGRESSIONS IN SUMSETS AND DIFFERENCE SETS

Let s ≥ 1, Ai ⊆ {1,2,…,N} (1 ≤ i ≤ s) and k ≥ 3 be an odd integer. In this paper, one of the main results is: if [Formula: see text], then (a) each of Ai - Aj (1 ≤ i, j ≤ s) contains an arithmetic progression of length k with the same common difference; (b) all sets Ai - Ai (1 ≤ i ≤ s) contain a common arithmetic progression of length k. Finally, we pose several problems for further research.

A Rendezvous Protocol with the Heterogeneous Spectrum Availability Analysis for Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks

In cognitive radio ad hoc networks, a frequently changing environment, varying channel occupancy statistics, and heterogeneous spectrum availability result in a need to meet on a common channel and to initiate a communication. This process of two or more CRs, meeting each other in the same channel, is called a rendezvous (RDV). RDV is essential for establishment of a communication link. Hence, methods guaranteeing that all nodes meet periodically in reasonable periods of time should be developed. In this study, we evaluate a torus Quorum System (QS) and Difference Set (DS) based rendezvous protocol in an asymmetric channel view case (heterogeneous channel availability). Regardless of the diversity of channels of CRs the protocol guarantees RDV on either all channels or almost all channels. Furthermore, the nodes meet multiple times on different channels in a period, which increases the chance of successful establishment of a communication link.

Cyclic Difference Set을 이용한 Interleaved Thinned 평면 배열 설계

본 논문에서는 다기능 레이더에 적용 가능한 interleaved thinned 평면 배열 설계 기법을 제안하였다. 제안된 interleaved 평면 배열은 낮은 부엽 준위를 도출하기 위해 cyclic difference set(DS)이 적용된 비주기 부배열로 구성되었다. DS를 이용한 thinned 평면 부배열의 부엽 준위는 DS 파라미터에 의해 예측 가능하므로 부배열 설계에 자기상관 계수(autocorrelation coefficient)가 비슷한 DS와 complementary DS를 적용함으로써 서로 유사한 부엽 준위 특성을 구현하였다. 또한, 두 부배열의 최적 PSL(Peak Sidelobe Level)을 도출하기 위해서 interleaved 평면 배열 설계에 DS의 특성인 cyclic shift를 적용하였다. 최적화된 배열 안테나의 두 부배열은 각각 -12.47 dB와 -10.34 dB로 낮은 PSL 특성을 나타내었다. In this paper, an analytical technique is proposed for the design of interleaved thinned planar array with well-behaved and predictable sidelobes. The interleaved arrays are composed of thinned planar subarrays based on cyclic difference sets(DSs). Becauce sidelobes of thinned planar subarrays based on DS are predictable by DS parameters, the subarrays exhibit very similar sidelobe levels by utilizing DS and complementary DS with similar autocorrelations each other. The combinatorial method also allows the design of interleaved placements with simultaneously optimum peak sidelobe levels(PSLs) of subarrays using cyclic shift-a property of DSs. The optimized PSLs of the interleaved array are -12.47 dB and -10.34 dB.

Multiple Cell Upset Correction in Memories Using Difference Set Codes

Error Correction Codes (ECCs) are commonly used to protect memories from soft errors. As technology scales, Multiple Cell Upsets (MCUs) become more common and affect a larger number of cells. An option to protect memories against MCUs is to use advanced ECCs that can correct more than one error per word. In this area, the use of one step majority logic decodable codes has recently been proposed for memory applications. Difference Set (DS) codes are one example of these codes. In this paper, a scheme is presented to protect a memory from MCUs using Difference Set codes. The proposed scheme exploits the localization of the errors in an MCU, as well as the properties of DS codes, to provide enhanced error correction capabilities. The properties of the DS codes are also used to reduce the decoding time. The scheme has been implemented in HDL, and circuit area and speed estimates are provided.

Error-Detection Enhanced Decoding of Difference Set Codes for Memory Applications

To prevent soft errors from causing data corruption, memories are typically protected with error correction codes (ECCs). For example, single-error correction (SEC) codes that can correct one error in a memory word are commonly used. More advanced ECCs are also used when additional protection is needed. While the error correction capability of a code is important, it is also important to detect errors that cannot be corrected to avoid silent data corruption. For example, in a SEC code, a double error may be misinterpreted as a single error and corrected, ending with an incorrect word. For that reason, codes that can also detect double errors are preferred. Those are known as SEC double-error-detection codes. The same reasoning applies to more advanced ECCs. Among those, difference set (DS) codes have shown interesting properties that enable an efficient implementation in terms of decoding latency and complexity. However, existing decoders for DS codes focus on error correction only, making them less attractive for memory protection. In this paper, modified decoding algorithms for DS codes are proposed that, in addition to error correction, provide error detection when the number of correctable bit errors is exceeded by one. This combined error detection and correction capability of the modified decoder makes the proposed scheme a promising option for memory applications. HDL implementation and synthesis results are included, showing that the proposed techniques can be efficiently implemented.

Spatial and phylogenetic structure drive frugivory in Tyrannidae birds across the range of Brazilian Araucaria forests

We aimed to verify if frugivory in Tyrannidae birds (tyrants flycatchers) is influenced by environmental conditions, spatial filters, phylogenetic structure and food availability in Brazilian Araucaria forests. We used range maps to describe Tyrannidae species composition of 33 cells (0.25°× 0.25°) distributed along the Araucaria forest distribution range. Araucaria forests occur in southern and southeastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina, from 30°S to 20°S and at elevations above 500 m a.s.l. We compiled the feeding habits of each species from literature to calculate the proportion of frugivorous Tyrannidae in each cell. After that, we evaluated separately the influence of environmental descriptors, spatial filters (PCNM), phylogenetic structure (PCPS) and resource availability (proportion of zoochorous species) on the proportion of frugivorous birds using model selection based on AIC. Then we built a path model to evaluate the direct and indirect influences of different set of variables on frugivory. The path model showed that phylogenetic structure and spatial filters were the main factors determining the variation in frugivory in Araucaria forest sites. The environmental variable had no direct effect on frugivory, but presented an indirect effect via phylogenetic structure. Furthermore, zoochory was not selected as an important variable determining any other and was not included in the model. Our results showed that the influence of environment on frugivory by Tyrannidae birds was indirect via spatial and phylogenetic structure, that zoochory was not an important factor determining frugivory and that phylogenetic niche conservatism in feeding habits plays a role in determining the structure of Tyrannidae bird communities in Brazilian Araucaria forests.

The 2011 PHARMINE report on pharmacy and pharmacy education in the European Union

The PHARMINE consortium consists of 50 universities from European Union member states or other European countries that are members of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP). EU partner associations representing community (PGEU), hospital (EAHP) and industrial pharmacy (EIPG), together with the European Pharmacy Students' Association (EPSA) are also part of the consortium. THE CONSORTIUM SURVEYED PHARMACIES AND PHARMACISTS IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS: community, hospital, industry and other sectors. The consortium also looked at how European Union higher education institutions and courses are organised. The PHARMINE survey of pharmacy and pharmacy education in Europe produced country profiles with extensive information for EU member states and several other European countries. These data are available at: http://www.pharmine.org/losse_paginas/Country_Profiles/. This 2011 PHARMINE report presents the project and data, and some preliminary analysis on the basic question of how pharmacy education is adapted to pharmacy practice in the EU.

Construction of cyclotomic codebooks nearly meeting the Welch bound

Ding and Feng (IEEE Trans Inform Theory 52(9):4229---4235, 2006, IEEE Trans Inform Theory 53(11):4245---4250, 2007) constructed series of (N, K) codebooks which meet or nearly meet the Welch bound $${\sqrt{\frac{N-K}{(N-1)K}}}$$ by using difference set (DS) or almost difference set (ADS) in certain finite abelian group respectively. In this paper, we generalize the cyclotomic constructions considered in (IEEE Trans Inform Theory 52(9):4229---4235, 2006, IEEE Trans Inform Theory 53(11):4245---4250, 2007) and (IEEE Trans Inform Theory 52(5), 2052---2061, 2006) to present more series of codebooks which nearly meet the Welch bound under looser conditions than ones required by DS and ADS.