Th is paper starts from the recent crisis and its lessons for understanding the causes of the disequilibria and fl uctuations. Th e intention is to observe and inform the macroeconomic processes with a combined view on monetary policy. It endorses the main ideas expressed by the three equation model of the New Neo-Keynesian Synthesis, to which one loanable funds equation is added. In addition, it also empha- sizes non-orthodox forms of central bank policies. Th is new four equation model is
Background First responders, including emergency medical workers, firefighters, and police officers, are frequently confronted with victims experiencing acute stress reactions (ASRs). Although they are not mental health professionals, they are required to address these situations to ensure the well-being of victims, prevent escalation, and protect themselves from secondary trauma. Current crisis intervention models for non-mental health professionals rely on either generic guidelines or fixed interaction scripts when engaging with victims. Objective This study examines the potential of a rule-based model that links ASR symptoms to intervention techniques, grounded in the behavior-affect-sensation-knowledge (BASK) framework. We hypothesize that a BASK-based intervention model would be well-suited for non-professional healthcare providers. Methods After developing and operationalizing the model, an initial assessment was conducted to evaluate its accessibility to novices following a short training session. A sample of 43 students attended a lecture on acute stress, followed by a series of identification tasks. After a training phase, participants were asked to identify both behavioral ASR signs and intervention techniques. Results The results indicate high overall accuracy in identifying behavioral signs and intervention techniques. However, a lack of reliability was observed among items from the same BASK component. Conclusion A theoretical comparison between the BASK model and other approaches highlights the relevance of a rule-based model. However, the reliability of identifying the underlying BASK processes in victim behavior and intervention techniques still requires further development.
The pervasive accumulation of plastic waste in terrestrial and aquatic environments has become a critical environmental issue, largely due to the resistance of petroleum-derived polymers to microbial degradation. This persistence leads to the long-term generation of microplastics and widespread ecosystem contamination. As a response, biodegradable and bio-based materials such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) have emerged as promising sustainable alternatives. Among them, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HB-co-4HB)) is a microbial polyester that exhibits excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tunable mechanical properties. Owing to these characteristics, P(3HB-co-4HB) can be employed in a wide range of applications, from environmentally friendly packaging to biomedical devices. However, its processing has traditionally relied on toxic solvents such as chloroform. In this study, acetic acid is evaluated as a green alternative solvent for producing P(3HB-co-4HB) films and porous gels. Compared with chloroform, acetic acid caused moderate reductions in molecular weight (–12
Multistatic (active) Sonar Networks (MSNs) consist of a set of active sonar systems distributed over an Area of Interest (AoI) in a monostatic and/or bistatic configuration. The former refers to the case where the source and receiver are co-located, and the latter to the case where they are separated, sometimes several kilometers apart. Furthermore, here we focus on a specific type of sonar, namely acoustic buoys (sonobuoys), air-dropped onto the AoI by an airborne carrier and divided into three distinct categories: transmitter-only (Tx), receiver-only (Rx) and transmitter-receiver (TxRx). Thus, for example, a sonar system could be formed through the pairing of a TxRx buoy source and an Rx buoy receiver. The performance of a sonar system will then depend directly on the type of buoy from which the source and receiver are derived, introducing the intrinsically heterogeneous character of these MSNs. In Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), when it comes to optimizing the spatial arrangement of the sonars making up these networks, a crucial aspect lies in their evaluation in terms of detection probabilities, in order to derive a certain Measure of Efficiency (MoE) or Measure of Performance (MoP). This article is dedicated to an exhaustive literature review on heterogeneous MSNs and to the derivation of accurate (no errors) and efficient methods for their evaluation, thus enabling detection probabilities to be evaluated much more efficiently than the current state of the art.
We propose a feature-based guidance mechanism to enhance metaheuristic algorithms for solving the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). This mechanism leverages an Explainable AI (XAI) model to identify features that correlate with high-quality solutions. These insights are used to guide the search process by promoting solution diversity and avoiding premature convergence. The guidance mechanism is first integrated into a custom metaheuristic algorithm, which combines neighborhood search with a novel hybrid of the split algorithm and path relinking. Experiments on benchmark instances with up to 30,000 customer nodes demonstrate that the guidance significantly improves the performance of this baseline algorithm. Furthermore, we validate the generalizability of the guidance approach by integrating it into a state-of-the-art metaheuristic, where it again yields statistically significant performance gains. These results confirm that the proposed mechanism is both scalable and transferable across algorithmic frameworks.
