Popular Segment Research Articles

PPA-SAM: Plug-and-Play Adversarial Segment Anything Model for 3D Tooth Segmentation

In Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) images, accurate tooth segmentation is crucial for oral health, providing essential guidance for dental procedures such as implant placement and difficult tooth extractions (impactions). However, due to the lack of a substantial amount of dental data and the complexity of tooth morphology in CBCT images, the task of tooth segmentation faces significant challenges. This may lead to issues such as overfitting and training instability in existing algorithms, resulting in poor model generalization. Ultimately, this may impact the accuracy of segmentation results and could even provide incorrect diagnostic and treatment information. In response to these challenges, we introduce PPA-SAM, an innovative dual-encoder segmentation network that merges the currently popular Segment Anything Model (SAM) with the 3D medical segmentation network, VNet. Through the use of adapters, we achieve parameter reuse and fine-tuning, enhancing the model’s adaptability to specific CBCT datasets. Simultaneously, we utilize a three-layer convolutional network as both a discriminator and a generator for adversarial training. The PPA-SAM model seamlessly integrates the high-precision segmentation performance of convolutional networks with the outstanding generalization capabilities of SAM models, achieving more accurate and robust three-dimensional tooth segmentation in CBCT images. Evaluation of a small CBCT dataset demonstrates that PPA-SAM outperforms other networks in terms of accuracy and robustness, providing a reliable and efficient solution for three-dimensional tooth segmentation in CBCT images. This research has a positive impact on the management of dentofacial conditions from oral implantology to orthognathic surgery, offering dependable technological support for future oral diagnostics and treatment planning.

TAX COMPLIANCE ECONOMY AMONGST TAXPAYERS IN KOTA KINABALU

The gig economy is a term used to describe an economic activity in which many short-term jobs are available, rather than permanent jobs, and is considered one of the various business models in the gig economy. This study examines taxpayers' views on their level of taxpayer awareness, trust in government and tax socialization on tax compliance in the gig economy. This paper therefore provides new insights into tax compliance studies by introducing the concept of gig entrepreneurship, which is increasingly becoming a popular segment of the economy, especially among the younger generation. The study was conducted among 10 participants in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and an in-depth interview was used to collect data for this study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings of this study can be useful for the government to create a clear tax framework in promoting the gig economy in order to expand the tax base for the government.

Моделювання змінення цін на стандартні номери в польських готелях

The world market of hotel services is constantly changing, has a dynamic structure, develops in interaction with other markets of goods and services, is influenced by the market environment. Therefore, modern hotels have to adapt to a new type of tourists with rather high requirements for accommodation conditions. In Europe, there is a tendency to stay in 1* and 2* hotels. The study covers data from such Polish cities as Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk. And they are the spatial series, on the basis of which regression mathematical models are built for evaluating the trends of changes in the level of prices for the corresponding hotel rooms. The series are spatial because the data are collected at a specific moment in time, but from different objects located geographically at different points. The built models are not representative, but they provide an opportunity to assess the trends of price growth or decline and the possibility of entering into crisis economic manifestations. The work is devoted to the analysis of trends in hotel room price changes and the evaluation of these changes using the construction of regression economic-mathematical models of space and time series. The relevance and significance of the study lies in the analysis and assessment of price trends for standard hotel rooms in the popular segment of 1* and 2* hotels in Poland. This country is Ukraine's closest neighbor, therefore the study of economic trends in the development of its hotel industry is relevant not only for trends in Europe, but also for the future of the hotel segment of our country. The trends in the development of the hotel industry in Europe and in Poland in particular are analyzed. Extensive statistical material has been collected, which is up-to-date, because the figures are taken from booking sites as of November 2022. Most often, the analysis of economic trends in the development of the hotel industry is based on expert assessments or statistical data from travel agencies. The conducted analysis is based on approaches to mathematical modeling and the use of mathematical and statistical tools of the Microsoft Excel software. The conducted analysis showed the presence of a mathematically defined tendency towards a moderate increase in prices for «STANDARD» hotel rooms. The price function for these hotel rooms is increasing and crosses the growth limit which is the corresponding exponential function built on the base of the same spatial number series.

Моделювання змінення цін на стандартні номери в польських готелях (Краків)

The tendencies in the development of the hotel industry in Europe and in Poland in particular are analyzed. Extensive and relevant statistical material was taken from booking sites as of November 2022. Most often, the analysis of economic tendencies in the development of the hotel industry is based on expert assessments or statistical data from travel agencies. The conducted analysis is based on mathematical modeling and the use of Microsoft Excel mathematical and statistical tools. The world market of hotel services is constantly changing, has a dynamic structure, develops in interaction with other markets of goods and services, is influenced by the market environment. Therefore, modern hotels have to adapt to a new type of tourists with rather high requirements for accommodation conditions. In Europe, there is a tendency to stay in 1* and 2* hotels. The study covers data from the Polish city of Krakow. These data represent the spatial series, on the basis of which regression mathematical models are built for evaluating the tendencies of changes in the level of prices for the corresponding hotel rooms. The series are spatial because the data are collected at a specific point in time, but from different objects located geographically at different points. The built models are not representative, but they provide an opportunity to assess the tendencies of price growth or decline and the possibility of entering into crisis economic occurrences. The work is devoted to the analysis of tendencies of changes in hotel room prices and the evaluation of these changes using the construction of regression economic-mathematical models of space and time series. The relevance and significance of the study lies in the analysis and assessment of price tendencies for standard hotel rooms in the popular segment of 1* and 2* hotels in Poland. This country is Ukraine’s closest neighbor, therefore the study of economic trends in the development of its hotel industry is relevant not only for tendencies in Europe, but also for the future of the hotel segment of our country. The conducted analysis showed the presence of a mathematically defined tendency towards a moderate increase in prices for «standard» hotel rooms. The price function for these hotel rooms is an increasing one, but it does not cross the growth limit of the corresponding exponential function built on the same spatial number series. But such a tendency should not lead to any crisis occurrences in the hotel sector of Poland

Assessing the sustainability of community-based tourism: a case study in rural areas of Hoi An, Vietnam

Community-based tourism (CBT) has become a popular segment of sustainable tourism development worldwide to provide community welfare and empowerment. CBT has been pushed as one of the strategies for poverty alleviation, particularly in marginalized regions and communities. Thus, tourism has also experienced negative impacts creating a developmental conflict. This study proposes an integrated methodological approach that provides solutions for assessing tourism sustainability and advancing CBT development approaches and operations towards sustainability in rural communities in Hoi An, a heritage destination in Vietnam. The assessment is a combination of resident interviews, the fuzzy AHP approach, and the sustainability value of the Barometer of Sustainability. Retrieved from literature review, surveys and expert judgments, twenty-one indicators were selected to assess and evaluate the level of economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and management sustainability at a local scale. The final sustainability index reveals that CBT in Hoi An has overall potential sustainability. Economy, identified as the most critical criterion, ranked third in the sustainability level, while Culture-Society exceeded the potential sustainability score. Critical factors are community development policies, capacity building, full community participation and support, and environmental sustainability. The study contributes to the fragmented knowledge of assessing CBT sustainability and concludes that this is a reliable and feasible approach suggesting critical implications for sustainable development. It will appeal to policymakers, planners, and practitioners seeking more effective tools for planning and developing CBT.

Doubt and Desire

Doubt and Desire

Mediatization as a Factor in Increasing Interest in Modern Popular Science Media (“Science and Life” and “Popular Mechanics”)

The article is devoted to the study of multimedia tools that are used when placing content in online versions of popular science publications. The relevance of the issue is due to the need to use new convergent forms of promotion of printed publications in the field of mass communications. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that for the first time the process of multimediaization in the popular science segment of the media is described. The role that multimedia tools play in the development of modern popular science media is shown. Particular attention is paid to topical problems of the functioning of popular science journals, possible ways to solve them, as well as, in this regard, the potential of multimedia. The content analysis and comparative research of electronic and printed versions of popular science magazines “Science and Life” and “Popular Mechanics” are presented. The question is raised about how multimedia expands the opportunities for brand promotion. On the basis of the results obtained, conclusions were formulated about the more effective use of multimedia in popular science media. The definitions of multimedia are given and the classification of the functions of multimedia elements in the publications of Internet media is proposed. It has been proven that modern popular science media does not use the entire range of multimedia elements in Internet versions, which negatively affects their popularization.

Consumer cooperation as a tool for sustainable rural development

The article is devoted to the most popular segment of the global cooperative sector – consumer cooperation. Based on the definition of specific features of this type of cooperation, a special dynamism and adaptability of consumer associations in solving vital social problems and implementing the UN sustainable development goals is shown. The author asserts that the significant growth rates of the world consumer cooperation are determined by the lack of conditionality of its development by the formation of material prerequisites and to a greater extent depend on the organization of information and propaganda work to promote cooperative "self-help". Analysis of world experience has shown that an important factor in the growth of the cooperative movement is the exchange of practices between cooperative organizations on the planet. Being a public organization by nature, consumer cooperation is an essential part of civil society. The analysis and dissemination of international experience in consumer cooperation play a significant role in the activation of civil initiative in self-organization.

Spectrum Allocation by Sealed Bid Game Theory

Wireless communication subscribers are increasing day by day specially in fifth generation (5G) wireless communication where multiple number of users (Multiple Input Multiple Output or MIMO) can be served in a specific time. The heavy data usage is also enhanced with the increasing the number of subscribers, this data transfer speed depends on the amount of spectrum allocation to the specific subscriber. Thus, spectrum allocation is a major criterion for wireless communication performance improvement. The spectrum allocation efficiency can be observed by Game Theory, which is a popular decision maker of modern era. Sealed Bid Game theory is one of the popular segment of the game theory. The spectrum allocation can be done by using Sealed Bid Game theory and spectrum equilibrium can be observed by using different sub division of Sealed Bid Game theory.

“We’re All Born Naked and the Rest Is” Mediation: Drag as Automediality

“We’re All Born Naked and the Rest Is” Mediation: Drag as Automediality

Muzički video u Jugoslaviji i postjugoslovenskom periodu u Srbiji - proces diferencijacije u kombinatu za proizvodnju i preradu šećerne repe

This paper outlines the historical origins and contextual specificities of the development of music videos as a specific media form accompanying the ups and downs of the popular music industry in the socialist Yugoslavia and Serbia as one of its successor states - from the socialist system of workers' self management to the (post war) NEO-liberal capitalist economy. The focus of this paper is on the strategies for promotion of music products (and performers) and the fusion between music and advertising industries in the period of transitional restructuring of economy in general and the music industry in particular. In the socialist 1980s, music videos in Serbia were predominantly produced by the relatively inflexible system of public television broadcasters, who only exceptionally used music videos for promoting commercial products. This situation notably changed in the early 1990s with the rapid deregulation of the media system and Serbia's entry into the "full-fledged" market economy. For the newly-launched TV broadcasters music videos soon became a popular (and inexpensive) segment of airplay. At the same time, they began to serve their "original" purpose - advertising new music releases and talents. Nevertheless, in the chaotic circumstances of Serbia's war-time economy, UN sanctions, spiraling of inflation, mass impoverishment, unemployment and other symptoms of economic crisis, advertising per se had questionable commercial effects. This largely holds true for commercial effects of music videos. Due to the global developments in the media systems (emergence of the Internet as a prime medium for broadcasting music videos), their TV airplay is diminishing and standards of their technical production are rapidly rising, along with audiences' expectations. This makes music videos (at the same time) more expensive and less economically viable. The logic behind the fusion of music videos and "traditional" TV commercials reflects the chaotic circumstances in the music industry, as well as the Serbian economy in general.

Evaluation of dine-in restaurant location and competitiveness: Applications of gravity modeling in Jefferson County, Kentucky

The selection of a quality site in a competitive market is critical to the future success of a dine-in restaurant. This paper focuses on the development and application of different forms of gravity models in the evaluation of a restaurant's location and competitiveness in Jefferson County, Kentucky. It also assessed the effectiveness of these applications empirically. Three models are presented, a market potential model, a complex gravity model, and a competing destinations or Huff model. The models incorporated into them the most significant variables affecting interaction with customers at restaurants. A correlation analysis was conducted on a sample of restaurants along a popular segment of local eateries in Jefferson County to determine if any statistically significant linear relationships exist between market potential or spatial interaction and real customer volume and longevity at the restaurant.Within a highly localized market area where restaurants are within close proximity and contain similar markets, a market potential model was unable to accurately capture the real conditions of this market. The gravity model was able to accurately reflect these conditions, but as the variables within the model were manipulated the strength of the correlation decreased and the model became less accurate. The highly localized study area indicated the importance of the site characteristics in attracting customers, as well as the importance of the appropriate selection of variables in modeling to reflect an accurate magnitude of spatial interaction.

The Contemporary Art Market in Poland - Paintings

Alternative investments are very popular among investors in the period of economic downturn. During the last period of time, the art market, especially the market of painting has became very popular segment of alternative investments. The extension of the investment portfolio of works of art leads to efficient portfolios curve shifts upwards. This fact means that the portfolios, which include works of art can bring higher returns with the same level of risk than investment portfolios without this group of assets. The paper presented the current prevailing trends in the Polish art market in the paintings as well as the factors determining the development of this market.

TV Editorials and Elections

According to Article 68 of election law no. 25/2008, the Lebanese media must ensure that standards of fairness, balance and impartiality among candidates are guaranteed. The challenge for national television stations in the months leading up to election day on 7 June 2009 was to comply with the law not just in their ‘factual’ news reports but mostly in the popular editorial opening segment of their newscast which, by definition, is subjective. This leads to the question: how did the TV stations manage this contradiction inherent in the structure and nature of their evening news bulletin when covering parliamentary elections in 2009? To what extent could they actually be impartial in a hybrid genre (TV news editorial) that, by definition, also required them to express confessional/party-specific views on a major, divisive national event? Based on the literature of critical discourse analysis, I argue in this paper that for the most part they did this discursively, by relying heavily on a number of linguistic strategies, specifically implicitness/ambiguity and intertextuality. By doing so, they sought to mask their bias for or against candidates and parliamentary alliances and avoid possible penalties by the recently established electoral monitoring body (the SCEC).

Neutrophil extracellular traps, scholarly debates, and public–private partnerships: highlights of the eighth annual Platelet Colloquium

The first of the Colloquium’s three main sessions included discussion of the rising importance of neutrophil extracellular DNA traps (NETs), which represent an intersection of inflammation, infection, and thrombosis. NETs, a network of DNA fibers, histones, and nuclear proteins produced by nucleosome release from activated neutrophils, are a longrecognized component of the body’s innate immune response to infection. It has recently become apparent, however, that NETs form within blood vessels in response to injury and disease, providing a lattice for red cell adherence, platelet activation, and thrombus formation. Both DNAse and heparin have been shown to disrupt the NET structure, preventing thrombosis. This finding might have relevance in the development of novel therapeutic targets. In addition, the fact that polymers have been shown to bind to cell-free DNA in vitro might hold promise in the development of methods to assess thrombotic risk and status. Also in the first session, the Colloquium brought back a popular segment from 2012, a position debate between two leading researchers. This year’s topic was ‘‘Is There a Role for Antiplatelet Therapy in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation?’’ Arguing in favor was Steven R. Steinhubl, MD, of Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania; arguing against was Elaine Hylek, MD, of Boston University Medical Center. Table 1 summarizes the main points from both sides of the debate. In the end, the debaters agreed that well-controlled studies will be needed to address many of the knowledge gaps relevant to this question. Session II contemplated the evidence regarding the use of antiplatelet therapies in several high-risk groups, with additional discussions about avenues for future investigation. Despite the available data, substantial knowledge gaps persist for the use of antiplatelet agents in persons with hemoglobinopathies, diabetes, other metabolic disturbances, previous stroke, and deep vein thrombosis. In addition, providers are uncertain about the optimal use of antiplatelet agents during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), during ‘‘hybrid’’ coronary procedures, and as a bridge to noncardiac surgery. In Session III, the focus turned to regulatory sciences and governmental support of platelet-related research. Regulatory agencies recognize that the clinical trial ecosystem in the United States is under stress (Table 2). Representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health were on hand to outline the roles that government agencies can play in easing these stressors and facilitating the conduct of high-level research that both addresses public health needs and meets regulatory requirements for therapeutics in the U.S. Specific examples of the new approaches and philosophies embraced by the FDA include implementing new concepts to appropriately P. A. French (&) Chapel Hill, NC, USA e-mail: pat.french@leftlanecomm.com

ChemInform Abstract: Enantioselective Organocatalytic Aldol Reaction Using Small Organic Molecules

AbstractReview: 206 refs.

ONLINE JOURNALISM AND ELECTION REPORTING IN INDIA

The news media scenario in India has been transformed substantially in the post-liberalization period as privatization and deregulation have facilitated cross-border flows of capital and technology. Online news media, a new yet popular segment, has emerged in the past decade in the wake of India's rapid integration into the global economy. This article focuses on online news reporting of the last general election in India: the 2009 Lok Sabhā election. Although there are an impressive number of studies regarding online social networking or new media in the global context, scant attention has been paid to the Indian subcontinent, the involvement of Indian politicians and political journalists with online media. Considering these aspects, this article explores how online media in India are changing the established political culture, albeit in a limited manner, and raises the issues that interweave notions of modernity, class-consciousness, and emerging participatory practices. The article seeks to make sense of how Indian journalism is transforming through social media use by analysing three different stakeholders during the Indian general election: politicians, political journalists and ordinary citizens. The very fact of “being” or “using” social media, it argues, becomes an “enticing” aspect for politicians to relate to the young, urban, upwardly mobile middle-class citizens of India and becomes pivotal in the discursive construction of a binary between the “old” politics/politicians and the “new” politics/politicians in present-day India.

Modeling and application of moderate prefetching strategy based on video slicing for P2P VoD systems

In peer-to-peer (P2P) video-on-demand (VoD) streaming systems, each peer contributes a fixed amount of hard disk storage (usually 2 GB) to store viewed videos and then uploads them to other requesting peers. However, the daily hits (namely popularity) of different segments of a video is highly diverse, which means that taking the whole video as the basic storage unit may lead to redundancy of unpopular segment replicas and scarcity of popular segment replicas in the P2P storage network. To address this issue, we propose a video slicing mechanism (VSM) in which the whole video is sliced into small blocks (20 MB, for instance). Under VSM, peers can moderately remove unpopular blocks from and accordingly add popular ones into their contributed hard disk storage, which increases the usage of peers' contributed resource (storage and bandwidth). To reasonably assign bandwidth among peers with different download capacity, we propose a moderate prefetching strategy (MPS) based on VSM. Under MPS, when the amount of prefetched content reaches the predefined threshold, peers immediately stop prefetching video content and then release occupied bandwidth for others. A stochastic model is established to analyze the performance of the MPS and it is found that perfect playback continuity can be got under MPS. Then the MPS is applied to PPLive VoD system (one of the largest P2P VoD systems in China) and measurement results demonstrate that low server load and perfect user satisfaction can be achieved. Also, the server bandwidth contribution of PPLive VoD system under MPS (namely 5%) is much lower than that of UUSee VoD system (namely 30%).

The weightshift-controlled microlight aeroplane

Microlight aircraft are increasingly becoming the most popular segment of private aviation. In the United Kingdom the majority (about 2500 of a total fleet of 3500) of these aircraft are of the weightshift class, also known as flexwings or trikes. This paper introduces the main issues involved in the design and operation of this class of aeroplane.

College Guides: A Crash Course

Guides to colleges and universities constitute a popular segment of the reference collection in many libraries. They may be used by a variety of patrons for a variety of reasons such as: a high school senior selecting a college; a working adult needing college transcripts for a job application; a college student planning for graduate school; or a sales representative seeking new campus markets, and so on.