The Eastern Sea Route as Depicted in a Chinese Historical Geographical Description of Foreign Lands of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of the Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350): Chapters 1–4, Translation with Commentary

This article is the first in the series of planned publications with translations of separate chapters from a Chinese historical-geographical description of foreign lands Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350) written during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The first four chapters of the treatise which describe policies on the eastern sea route from China are included in this work. The article offers the first translation of these chapters into Russian, accompanied by detailed historical commentary. Apart from that, in the research part of the article the author has briefly analyzed the order of the chapters in the treatise and compared it with the previous sources of similar nature. The translations are an important source for studying various aspects of the history of the Penghu islands, Taiwan and the Philippines in the 14th century AD.

POLICY PERSPECTIVES OF MITIGATION AND RECOVERY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Background: The world is in the grip of an unprecedented novel COVID-19 pandemic. These have resulted in massive impacts on humans as well as on economies invariably. Hence, planning for a future pandemic is vital in minimizing deleterious effects.Aims: The current review aimed to derive common policy perspectives that are important in future planning of a pandemic.Methods: A narrative review was conducted by searching published articles from PubMed, Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Forty-eight articles were selected for the review.Results: The policy perspectives derived under mitigation were rearranged into surveillance, epidemiology, and lab activities. The policy perspectives under recovery derived were related to economy, supply chain management, sustainable and green concept, and health system.Conclusion: Understanding common policy perspectives is important in the mitigation and recovery planning of a pandemic with similar nature in the future. The spillover effects in response to the mitigation measures are deemed vital in planning mitigation and recovery measures for future pandemics. Global and regional resource sharing mechanisms are vital when a universal shortage of healthcare resources occurs.Keywords: mitigation, pandemic management, policy perspectives, recovery

ANALYSIS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FUNCTIONAL STATE OF ADOLESCENTS WITH SPINAL DEFORMITY OF VARIOUS ORIGINS

Аналогичный характер изменений физиологических параметров, чувствительной и двигательной сфер у подростков с идиопатическим и врождённым сколиозом может свидетельствовать о том, что причиной наблюдаемых изменений является не этиология заболевания, а недостаточный уровень моторной активности и процессы, связанные с развитием деформации позвоночника. The similar nature of changes in physiological parameters, sensory and motor spheres in adolescents with idiopathic and congenital scoliosis may indicate that the cause of the observed changes is not the etiology of the disease, but an insufficient level of motor activity and processes associated with the development of spinal deformity.

Schulich students for emergency childcare: Results of a community initiative during COVID-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic led to the abrupt suspension of many businesses and services in Ontario including schools and childcare centres. This resulted in many parents struggling to identify options for childcare, including frontline healthcare workers (HCWs). A volunteer initiative composed of medical and dental students was developed to provide emergency childcare support to HCWs in Southwestern Ontario. Experts in areas of public health, law, and bioethics were consulted to minimize the risks associated with participation and develop a clear policy to prioritize the health and safety of all participants. Social media was utilized to recruit volunteers and HCWs who were matched on a first-come, first-served basis. 59 medical and dental students were recruited to provide emergency support for 21 HCWs within the unique safety and ethical conditions posed by COVID-19. By reflecting on the strengths of this initiative and the challenges faced during its completion, key areas of improvement were identified that should be addressed in future initiatives of a similar nature.

Ciało, gest, literatura

As Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote, the experience of the body, the somatic experience and the gesture as an act of expression bring into being both the sense of things that are being interacted with and the sense of existence of which the body is a vehicle. If so, then the verbal expression, creativity, literature – apart from the fact that it is (most often) a representation of things (and thoughts) that are already anchored in culture and create its universe – can be an individual event of a similar nature and course: becoming, creating, bringing out the subject-body in writing and in what’s being written. The works of Stanisław Czycz serve as an example of such literature-gesture. They have specific characteristics of autobiographical and autocreational writing, and also take up the problem of experiencing the body and corporeality. However, they are analyzed here as autoteleological work – as a gesture of a body that is being created and a body that is creating its own sense.

To culture or not to culture: a snapshot of culture-dependent and culture-independent bacterial diversity from peanut rhizosphere

Background Sequencing driven metagenomics studies have been instrumental in various aspects of microbiology including identification of newer taxa. While this culture-independent approach has its own merits and demerits, several studies have focussed on comparing it with traditional culture-dependent (CD) approach. However, most of these comparative studies rely on Sanger sequencing of complete 16S rRNA gene from pure culture colonies to determine the culturable bacterial diversity. This approach undercounts culturable diversity as only fewer isolates are selected, sequenced, and identified. Methods In this study, we have used an Illumina based partial 16S sequencing to identify all the microbes growing on the media and directly comparing with its culture-independent (CI) counterpart. Eight different media were used to target different organisms from soil. Diversity on these media were compared with their CI counterpart. The NGS data was analysed using DADA2 to provide more resolution to the data. Results In line with studies of similar nature, current study presented higher bacterial diversity in CI approach. However, the current study reflected that a greater number of sequence variants were missed out in CI approach as compared to number of sequence variants shared with CD approach. We observed around 322 (5.98%) ASVs (Amplicon Sequence Variants) exclusively present in CD samples while, 234 (4.35%) ASVs were shared between both approaches. Most of these 322 CD exclusive ASVs were classified as Enterobacteriaceae family and Bacillus genus, with several ASVs annotated at the species level as well, and these organisms are more commonly observed in soil and were also detected in CI approach. Furthermore, 22 genera were exclusively detected in CD samples, most of which were reported from soil and water.

COVID-19 mitigation strategies for reduced transmission in U.S. prisons

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, prisons have been the center of numerous outbreaks. Current efforts in virus containment have largely failed, due to a lack of standardized guidelines and reporting of key data regarding testing, cases, and deaths within state prisons. This article addresses challenges associated with pandemic management in prisons and policy options to reduce risk to inmates, prison staff, and the communities surrounding prisons. A comprehensive framework for evaluating a state prison’s virus management can facilitate improved responses, in particular amongst the rise of more virulent strains and ongoing cases. Such a framework may also serve as guidance in other situations of a similar nature.

The solar wind between 0.1 and 1 AU: Parker Solar Probe - BepiColombo radial alignment and BepiColombo - ACE magnetic alignment

<p>At the beginning of September 2020 ACE and BepiColombo spent several hours in an interesting magnetically connected configuration, while at the end of the same month Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and BepiColombo were radially aligned. Being PSP orbiting near 0.1 AU, BepiColombo near 0.6 AU, and ACE at 1 AU, these geometries are of particular interest for investigating the evolution of solar wind properties at different heliocentric distances by observing the same solar wind plasma parcels.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p>In this contribution we use magnetic field observations from pairs of spacecraft to characterize both the topology of the magnetic field at different heliocentric distances (scalings and high-order statistics) and how it evolves when moving from near-Sun to far-Sun locations. We observe a breakdown of the statistical self-similar nature of the solar wind plasma due to an increase of the intermittency level when moving away from the Sun. These results support previous evidences on the radial dependence of solar wind scaling behavior and can open a novel framework for modeling magnetic field topological changes across the Heliosphere.</p>

TAXATION OF VAT ON COMPENSATIONS FOR PROVIDED TRANSPORT SERVICES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT BUSES – GLOSS TO THE JUDGMENT OF THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT OF 7 NOVEMBER 2018, REF. NO. ACT I FSK 1692/16

According to the glossed judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of November 7, 2018, file ref. Act I FSK 1692/16 compensation for the provided transport services in public transport buses should not be subject to VAT. The article focuses primarily on whether the Supreme Administrative Court rightly recognized them as subsidies similar to donation and subsidy referred to in the VAT Act. In connection with the above, the gloss presents the meaning of donation and subsidy under Polish and EU law. The final conclusion is that compensations involving a reasonable profit cannot be included in a surcharge of a similar nature to the above-mentioned measures, as they are a form of payment and therefore should be subject to VAT. In the remaining scope, however, the position of the Supreme Administrative Court should be shared, taking into account the broad definition of subsidies/subsidies found in EU law.