Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been investigated to support massive connectivity for Internet-of-things (IoT) networks. However, since most IoT devices suffer from limited power and decoding capabilities, it is not desirable to pair a large number of devices simultaneously, which encourages two-user NOMA grouping. Additionally, most existing techniques have not considered the diversity in the target QoS of IoT devices, which may lead to spectrum inefficiency. Few investigations have partially considered that issue by using an order-based power allocation (OPA) approach, where the power is allocated according to the order to the user's target throughput within a priority-based NOMA (PNOMA) group. However, this does not fully capture the effects of diversity in the values of the users' target throughputs. In this work, we handle both problems by considering a throughput-based power allocation (TPA) approach, that captures the QoS diversity, within a three-users PNOMA group as a compromise between spectral efficiency and complexity. Specifically, we investigate the performance of a time-division PNOMA (TD-PNOMA) scheme, where the transmission time is divided into two-time slots with two-users per PNOMA group. The performance of such TD-PNOMA is compared with a fully PNOMA (F-PNOMA) scheme, where the three users share the whole transmission time, in terms of the ergodic capacity under imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC). The results reveal the superiority of TPA compared with OPA approach in both schemes, besides that the throughput of both schemes can outperform each other under imperfect SIC based on the transmit signal-to-noise ratio and the deployment scenarios.

The history of life on Earth has been shaped by a series of major evolutionary innovations. While some of these innovations occur repeatedly, some of the most important innovations are evolutionary singularities, arising only once. This fact has often been interpreted to mean that singularities are particularly difficult, low-probability evolutionary events, implying the long-term course of life on Earth is highly contingent. Alternatively, singularities could arise from evolutionary priority effects, where first-movers suppress subsequent independent origins. Here, we disentangle these hypotheses by examining the origins of phototrophy. The ability to use light for energy evolved independently twice, preserving information about their origins that is lost when examining singularities. We show that the two forms of phototrophy occupy opposite ends of key trade-offs: most importantly efficiency of light capture vs. return on investment. Our results suggest that the dual singularity of phototrophy exists due to evolutionary interactions between nascent phototrophs, within a phototrophic niche space too large for a single first mover to fill all niches and fully suppress all future innovation. While often ignored over geological time scales, ecological interactions and evolutionary priority effects may play a fundamental role in the tempo and mode of major evolutionary innovations.

Entropy is usually understood as the quantitative measure of “chaos” or “disorder”. However, the notions of “chaos” and “disorder” are definitely obscure. This leads to numerous misinterpretations of entropy. We propose to see the disorder as an absence of symmetry and to identify “ordering” with symmetrizing of a physical system; in other words, introducing the elements of symmetry into initially disordered physical system. We demonstrate with the binary system of elementary magnets that introducing elements of symmetry necessarily diminishes its entropy. This is true for 1D and 2D systems of elementary magnets. Imposing symmetry does not influence the Landauer Principle valid for the addressed systems. Imposing the symmetry restrictions onto the system built of particles contained within the chamber divided by the permeable partition also diminishes its entropy.

This article aims to delve into the Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) issues prevalent in the engineering disciplines in Canada and Spain, shedding light on the common obstacles faced by underrepresented individuals and highlighting potential strategies to foster a more inclusive and diverse engineering community in these nations. Two strategic lines have been identified: (a) facilitating university education access to underrepresented and minority groups, and (b) Accompanying and guiding such students during university training, setting them up for successful future careers. The article also shows the sets of strategies employed in Canada and Spain, clearly distinguishing the approach taken in the two countries. While in Canada, there is a more decentralized approach wherein the universities device their strategies and agenda to address EDI issues, in Spain there is a stronger and direct involvement of the government to ensure a comprehensive, system-wide approach to tackling EDI issues in academia.

Confinement can induce substantial changes in the physical properties of macromolecules in suspension. Soft confinement is a particular class of restriction where the boundaries that constraint the particles in a region of the space are not well-defined. This scenario leads to a broader structural and dynamical behavior than the observed in systems enclosed between rigid walls. In this contribution, we study the ordering and diffusive properties of a two-dimensional colloidal model system subjected to a one-dimensional parabolic trap. Increasing the trap strength makes it possible to go through weak to strong confinement, allowing a dimensional transition from two- to one-dimension. The non-monotonic response of the static and dynamical properties to the gradual dimensionality change affects the system phase behavior. We find that the particle dynamics is connected with the structural transitions induced by the parabolic trap. In particular, at low and intermediate confinement regimes, complex structural and dynamical scenarios arise, where the softness of the external potential induces melting and freezing, resulting in faster and slower particle diffusion, respectively. Besides, at strong confinements, colloids move basically along one direction, and the whole system behaves structurally and dynamically similar to a one-dimensional colloidal system.

Low temperature dielectric property of charge/orbital ordered manganite, Pr1-xCaxMnO3 for 0.40≤x≤0.50 is investigated systematically as a function of Ca-content, x. The Ca-content dependence of dielectric permittivity and dissipation factor exhibit distinct maxima around x=0.45. The overall dielectric response of charge ordered Pr1-xCaxMnO3 is dominated by polarization induced by polaron hopping and exhibits thermally activated relaxation behaviour. The dielectric relaxation behaviour over the investigated temperature range is analysed with the help of small polaron hopping model and as well as variable range hopping model. The estimated polaron parameters also display non-monotonic variation with x and exhibit broad minima between x=0.425-0.45. The observed results suggest that a modulation of checker board type charge ordering pattern in Pr1-xCaxMnO3 is possibly taking place in the Ca-content range of investigation 0.40≤x≤0.50.

The recent development of the Internet has boosted the extension of online food services by enabling people to search, compare prices and conveniently access these services. Because, only with an online system, small and medium-sized economic actors can compete with established food company such as McD and KFC. Therefore, it is important to know consumer behavior patterns from online food ordering systems for developing marketing strategies. Exploring online consumer behavior provides a better understanding of consumer segmentation in food demand and thus helps to lay the foundation for developing an online marketing strategy for competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to finding factors affecting attitude towards online food retailing. This study uses a quantitative approach by involving respondents who often use online food ordering systems (Go-Food) applications in Bandung. The results showed that hedonic motivation and price saving orientation had no significant effect on behavior intention toward OFD services by Go-Food, while time saving orientation, prior online purchase experience and convenience motivation had a significant effect on behavior intention toward OFD services.

The review is devoted to the physical, chemical and technological aspects of the breath-figures self-assembly process. Main stages of the process and the impact of the polymer architecture and physical parameters of the breath-figures self-assembly on the eventual pattern are covered. The review is focused on the hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales inherent for the breath-figures self-assembly. Multi-scale patterns arising from the process are addressed. The characteristic spatial lateral scales of patterns vary from nanometers to dozens of micrometers. The temporal scales of the process span from micro-seconds to seconds. The qualitative analysis performed in the paper demonstrates that the process is mainly governed by the interfacial phenomena, whereas the impact of inertia and gravity is negligible. Characterization and applications of polymer films manufactured with breath-figures self-assembly are discussed.

Physical roots, exemplifications and consequences of periodic and aperiodic ordering (represented by Fibonacci series) in biological systems are discussed. The role and physical and biological roots of symmetry and asymmetry appearing in biological patterns is addressed. Generalization of the Curie-Neumann Principle as applied to biological objects is presented, briefly summarized as: “asymmetry is what creates a biological phenomenon”. The “up-bottom approach” and “bottom up” approaches to the explanation of symmetry in organisms are presented in detail. The “up-bottom approach”, implies that the symmetry of the biological structure follows the symmetry of media in which this structure is functioning; the “bottom-up” approach, in turn, adopt that the symmetry of biological structures emerges from the symmetry of molecules constituting the structure. A diversity of mathematical measures applicable for quantification of ordering in biological patterns is introduced. The continuous, Shannon and Voronoi measures of symmetry/ordering and their application to biology objects are addressed. The fine structure of the notion of “ordering” is discussed. Informational/algorithmic roots of ordering inherent for the biological systems are considered. Ordered/symmetrical patterns provide economy of biological information, necessary for algorithmic description of a biological entity. Application of the Landauer principle bridging physics and theory of information to the biological systems is discussed.

This article deals with the queueing-inventory system, composed of c junior servers, a senior server, two finite waiting halls, and an infinite orbit. On occasion, junior servers encounter challenges during customer service. In these instances, they approach the senior server for guidance in resolving the issue. Suppose the senior server is engaged with another junior server. The approaching junior servers await their turn in a finite waiting area with a capacity of c for consultation. Concerning this, we study the performance of junior servers approaching the senior server in the retrial queueing-inventory model with the two finite waiting halls dedicated to the primary customers and the junior servers for consultation. We formulate a level-dependent QBD process and solve its steady-state probability vector using Neuts and Rao’s truncation method. The stability condition of the system is derived, and the R matrix is computed. Optimum total cost has been obtained, and sensitivity analyses, which include expected total cost, waiting time of customers in waiting hall and orbit, number of busy servers, and fraction of successful retrial rate of the model, are done numerically.

Despite the successful introduction of oral cholera vaccines, Zambia continues to experience multiple, sporadic, and protracted cholera outbreaks in various parts of the country. While vaccines have been useful in staying the cholera outbreaks, the ideal window for re-vaccinating individual’s resident in cholera hotspot areas remains unclear. Using a prospective cohort study design, 225 individuals were enrolled, re-vaccinated with two doses of Shanchol™ regardless of previous vaccination and followed-up for 90 days. Bloods collected at baseline before re-vaccination, at day 14 prior to second dosing and subsequently on days 28, 60, and 90. Vibriocidal assay was performed on samples collected at all five time points. Our results showed that anti-LPS and vibriocidal antibody titers increased at day 14 after re-vaccination and decreased gradually at 28, 60 and 90 across all the groups. Seroconversion rates were generally comparable in all treatment arms. We therefore conclude that vibriocidal antibody titers generated in response to re-vaccination still wane quickly irrespective of previous vaccination status. However, despite the observed decline, the levels of vibriocidal antibodies remained elevated over baseline values across all groups, an important aspect for Zambia where there is no empirical evidence as to the ideal time for re-vaccination.

Abstract: The second part of the paper develops the approach, suggested in the Entropy 2020, 22(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/e22010011 , which relates ordering in physical systems to their symmetrizing. Entropy is frequently interpreted as a quantitative measure of “chaos” or “disorder”. However, the notions of “chaos” and “disorder” are vague and subjective to a much extent. This leads to numerous misinterpretations of entropy. We propose to see the disorder as an absence of symmetry and to identify “ordering” with symmetrizing of a physical system; in other words, introducing the elements of symmetry into an initially disordered physical system. We explore the initially disordered system of elementary magnets exerted to the external magnetic field H ⃗. Imposing symmetry restrictions diminishes the entropy of the system and decreases its temperature. The general case of the system of elementary magnets demonstrating the j-fold symmetry is treated. The interrelation T_j=T/j takes place, where T and T_j are the temperatures of non-symmetrized and j-fold-symmetrized systems of the magnets correspondingly.

After a long a glorious history, marked by the first direct proofs of neutrino existence and of the mixing between the first and third neutrino generations, the reactor antineutrino experiments are still well alive and will continue to give important contributions to the development of elementary particle physics and astrophysics. In parallel to the SBL experiments, that will be dedicated mainly to the search for sterile neutrinos, a new kind of experiments will start playing an important role: the medium baseline reactor experiments, aiming to study the neutrino mass ordering. The first example of this kind, the liquid scintillator JUNO experiment, characterized by a very high mass and unprecedented energy resolution, will soon start data taking in China. Its main aspects are discussed here, together with its potentialities for what concerns the mass ordering investigation and also the other issues that can be studied with this detector, spanning from the accurate oscillation parameter determination, to the study of solar neutrinos, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos and neutrinos emitted by supernovas and to the search for signals of potential Lorentz invariance violation.

Voronoi entropy for the random patterns and patterns demonstrating various elements of symmetry are calculated. The symmetric patterns are characterized by the values of the Voronoi entropy very close to those inherent to random ones. This contradicts the idea that the Voronoi entropy quantifies the ordering of the seed points, constituting the pattern. The extension of the Shannon-like formula embracing symmetric patterns is suggested. Analysis of Voronoi diagrams enables revealing of the elements of symmetry of the pattern.

Ensuring bus priority is to improve traffic sustainability at the signalized intersection. To achieve this, the Bus Priority Lane (BPL) is adopted to provide exclusive right-of-way for buses. However, the BPL is underutilization if the frequency of buses is low. To address this issue, many studies focus on improving the BPL’s utilization efficiency by intermittently allowing general vehicles to access it. However, these studies still have some shortcomings: i) bus priority cannot be guaranteed if general vehicles run on the BPL; ii) the traffic system lacks resilience, especially when the traffic demand is unbalanced. This paper proposes a dynamic right-of-way allocation on the BPL considering traffic system resilience. On the one hand, it ensures absolute bus priority by controlling Connected Automated Vehicles (CAVs) to not interfere with buses. On the other hand, it can improve traffic system resilience by allocating right-of-way for CAVs with heavy turning-movement demand. To validate the effectiveness, the proposed control strategy is evaluated against the non-control baseline. Sensitivity analysis is conducted under seven unbalanced traffic demand levels, four congestion levels, and five CAV Penetration Rates. The results show that the proposed control strategy can ensure absolute bus priority and improve traffic efficiency and traffic system resilience.

This research describes a detailed analysis in the enactment of a Lean Tool, the Last Planner System during pandemic period which helps in optimizing the resources for better coordination among all stakeholders in pandemic period. LPS as it is known, focusses on minimizing the factors such as uncertainties, barriers and variability to make construction projects more flexible for better project management. These include variations and deviations, supervision, delays in approvals, change resistance, subcontractor dedication which are all related to various stakeholders in the project. Following that, a Design Science Research technique is used to evaluate the effect of applying LPS in buildings. An action strategy is being used to attain this goal, and four case studies were being documented which were concerned in the implementation of LPS in the building of the Boy's Hostel, Research Scholar Quarters, Faculty Housing, and Girls' Hostel at Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. Data was gathered by observation of site activities, interviews, documentation analysis, and a questionnaire survey and grouped into various factors. While adopting the LPS tool in the research the factors affecting the implementation were found in the covid-19 pandemic period. Further these factors were anlayzed, measured, ranked and validated for adopting in projects.

Organ transplantation centers set criteria for candidate qualification, which has led to disparate healthcare resource allocation practices affecting those with a substance use history. These individuals are denied organ transplants by committees and healthcare providers who assign them lower priority status. The lower priority argument claims that healthcare resources should not be provided equally to individuals failing to share responsibility for not doing enough in addressing the diseases associated with substance use. The purpose of this work is to explore the interrelatedness between the ethics of a merit-based system of moral responsibility and lower priority setting involved in healthcare resource allocation pertaining to those with substance use histories. An integral approach to the argument against the lower prioritists with a focus on the relationship between different organ allocation practices affecting substance users and the justification for resource allocation practices in healthcare and transplant committees. Lower priority setting is challenged, and an argument offered in which substance users are assigned higher priority when relying on “doing enough” in a merit-based system of moral responsibility. It is determined that one cannot substantiate assigning a lower priority status since a lack of success in rehab does not imply a lack of effort. Additionally, neither to confirmatory behavior, nor to non-conforming behavior may freedom be justifiably ascribed in a merit-based system of responsibility because freedom to choose can neither be established a priori, nor a posteriori with respect to meritorious behavior.

The notion of the informational measure of symmetry is introduced according to: HsymG=-i=1kPGilnPGi, where PGi is the probability of appearance of the symmetry operation Gi within the given 2D pattern. HsymG is interpreted as an averaged uncertainty in the presence of symmetry elements from the group G in the given pattern. The informational measure of symmetry of the “ideal” pattern built of identical equilateral triangles is established as HsymD3=1.792. The informational measure of symmetry of the random, completely disordered pattern is zero, Hsym=0. Informational measure of symmetry is calculated for the patterns generated by the P3 Penrose tessellation. Informational measure of symmetry does not correlate neither with the Voronoi entropy of the studied patterns nor with the continuous measure of symmetry of the patterns.

A simple model has been used to investigate the nature of chemical order in Na-Pb and Na-Hg liquid binary alloy at 700K and 673K respectively. The energy parameter obtained from the model was used to calculate the concentration dependent mixing properties such as Gibb’s free energy of mixing, Concentration fluctuations in the long wavelength limit and the Warren-Cowley chemical short range order parameter. Results obtained showed that both alloys are hetero-coordinated throughout the entire concentration and there is tendency for segregation and demixing to take place in the liquid alloys. We observed that Na-Hg liquid alloy is more strongly interacting binary alloy and chemically ordered than Na-Pb liquid alloy.

The present work provides continuity with studies where currently the industrial market is characterized by a highly variable demand in terms of quantities and flexibility of manufacturing or mass customization, which translates into a more demanding production context in terms of the continuous changes required to the production systems, the effect of which results in an increase in the fatigue subjected to the machines that make up the production systems. On the other hand, current production systems tend to use highly communicative and sensorized cyber-physical systems; these characteristics can be used to integrate them into decision-assisted systems in order to improve the availability of the industrial plant. The assisted system developed focuses on collecting and taking advantage of historical knowledge of industrial plant failures and breakdowns. By ideally integrating the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodology and Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) algorithms implemented in a Java application, it is possible to design maintenance plans adjusted to a real and changing operational context of any industrial plant. As a result, faster and more accurate decisions are made, as they are based on data. This article focuses on improving certain aspects of the developed assisted system by adding more value to it by incorporating Fuzzy Logic (FL) techniques. The aim is to improve the way of entering information about risk factors and their relative importance, by incorporating natural language, instead of a numerical score, resulting in increased precision in the calculation of the Risk Priority Number (RPN) of the new cases incorporated into the assisted system.

Abstract: Interactions in multicomponent Ni-Cr-Mo-Al-Re model alloy were determined by ab initio calculations in order to investigate the Re doping effect on Haynes 282 alloy. Simulation results provided an understanding of short-range interactions in the alloy and successfully pre-dicted the formation of a Cr and Re-rich phase. The Haynes 282 + 3 % wt. Re alloy was manu-factured using the additive manufacturing Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technique, in which the presence of the (Cr17Re6)C6 carbide was confirmed by an XRD study. The results ob-tained provide useful information about the interactions between Ni, Cr, Mo, Al, and Re as a function of temperature. The 5-element model designed can lead to a better understanding of phenomena that occur during the manufacturing or heat treatment of modern, complex, multi-component Ni-based superalloys.

Depression and anxiety are prevalent, persistent and difficult to treat industrialized world mental health problems. These disorders negatively modify an individual’s life perspective through brain function imbalances, notably in the amygdala and hippocampus, and are primarily treated with pharmaceuticals and psychotherapy. Nevertheless, these mental health issues have only increased in the number of individuals affected and the intensity of their suffering—especially as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and fears. An approach to alleviating depression and anxiety in relation to researchers self-identifying as experiencing burnout is promising. Enhancing resilience, the approach considers depression and anxiety as consequences of the particular method people adopt in ordering their memories, and focuses on narrative development. The method encourages accepting of different perspectives as unique and necessary in creating safe protection from research burnout. Moving from an identification of personal character to prompting plot development of memory, the method promotes resilience by encouraging thoughtful reconsideration of the negative assessments by participants of their circumstances that can lead to depression and anxiety. The method of ordering and group members’ feedback are inspected, including during the period of COVID-19 restrictions, and conclusions are offered regarding further research to encourage burnout resilience to diminish depression and anxiety.

This article deals with a finite-source stock-dependent stochastic inventory system with heterogeneous servers and retrial facility. The system can store up to S number of items, and the lifetime of each item follows an exponential distribution. The primary customers arrive in a finite waiting hall from a finite source and get service from the multi-channel (c-heterogeneous servers). The customer’s arrival rate depends on the present stock level. Those customers who arrive while the waiting hall is full enter into the finite orbit. Also, customers in the waiting hall can become impatient and enter the orbit. The (s,Q) ordering policy is adopted for the replenishment of stocks. In the steady state, the joint probability distribution of a number of items in the inventory, busy servers, customers in the waiting hall, and orbit is computed. The comparative numerical analysis of heterogeneous and homogeneous servers on the expected total cost, the average number of customers in the waiting hall and orbit, the fraction of successful retrial rate, and the average impatient customer rate are also carried out.

The effect of the melt cooling rate on the atomic ordering of austenite and, as a consequence, on the martensitic transformation of a nonstoichiometric alloy of the Ni-Mn-In system has been studied. In-situ TEM observations revealed differences in the mechanism of phase transformations of the alloy subjected to different cooling conditions. It is shown that during quenching a high density of antiphase boundaries (APB) is formed and the alloy is in the austenite-martensitic (10M and 14M) state up to a temperature of 120K. In a slowly cooled alloy, a lower APB density is observed, and a two-stage transformation L21/B2 → 10M → 14M occurs in the range of 150–120 K.

The crystal structure of quintinite, Mg4Al2(OH)12(CO3)·3H2O, from Jacupiranga alkaline complex (Cajati, São Paulo, Brazil) has been refined for two samples (91002 and C7029) using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The mineral crystallizes in the P-3c1 space group, a = 5.246/5.298, c = 15.110/15.199 Å for the samples 91002/C7029. The crystal structure consists of octahedral sheets with Mg and Al ordering according to the 3 × 3 superstructure. The Mg and Al atoms are coordinated by six hydroxylated oxygen atoms each with the average <Mg–O> and <Al–O> bond distances being in the ranges 2.022–2.053 Å and 1.974–1.978 Å, respectively. The interlayer structures are identical (in contradiction to the previous assumptions) and compose from disordered (CO3)2- groups and (H2O)0 molecules. The samples from Jacupiranga can be identified as quintinite-2T that is the second find of the polytype after the Kovdor alkaline complex (Kola peninsula, Russia). The powder X-ray diffraction pattern of quintinite-2T contains weak superstructure reflection at 4.57 Å (010) indicative of Mg and Al ordering. An important crystal-chemical criterion of quintinite is the interlayer distance (d00n-value) of ~ 7.56 Å, which is steady for natural specimens from various findings worldwide.

Temperature dependent entropic force acting between the straight direct current I and the linear system (string with length of L) of N elementary non-interacting magnets/spins μ is reported. The system of elementary magnets is supposed to be in the thermal equilibrium with the infinite thermal bath T. The entropic force at large distance from the current is given by Fmagnen=Nμ02μ2I24π2kBTr3 , where r is the distance between the edge of the string and the current I, and kB is the Boltzmann constant; (r≫L is adopted). The entropic magnetic force is the repulsion force. The entropic magnetic force scales as Fmagnen~1T , which is unusual for entropic forces. The effect of “entropic pressure” is predicted for the situation when the source of the magnetic field is embedded into the continuous media, comprising elementary magnets/spins.

The nucleosome is a major modulator of DNA accessibility to other cellular factors. Nucleosome positioning has a critical importance in regulating cell processes such as transcription, replication, recombination or DNA repair. The DNA sequence is a major factor influencing the position of nucleosomes on genomes. Different sequence motifs can promote or inhibit the nucleosome formation, thus influencing the accessibility to the DNA. Sequence-encoded nucleosome positioning having functional consequences on cell processes can then be selected or counter-selected during evolution. We review the interplay between sequence evolution and nucleosome positioning evolution. We first focus on the different ways to encode nucleosome positions in the DNA sequence, and to which extent these mechanisms are responsible of genome-wide nucleosome positioning in vivo. Then, we discuss the findings about selection of sequences for their nucleosomal properties. Finally, we illustrate how the nucleosome can directly influence sequence evolution through its interactions with DNA damage and repair mechanisms. This review aims to provide an overview of the mutual influence of sequence evolution and nucleosome positioning evolution, possibly leading to complex evolutionary dynamics.

We found out main regularities of surface waters pollution by diesters of о-phthalic acid (PAEs) at the background level of concentrations. Lake Baikal was selected as a model for our studies. The composition of PAEs in Baicalins waters is represented by dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). Their concentrations are assessed in statistically valuable average values and ranges: 0.02 (0.01 – 0.02), 0.07 (0.06 – 0.09), 0.55 (0.47 – 0.66), 0.30 (0.26 – 0.34), µg/L, respectively. Main factors determining PAEs concentration are found out: year and season of sampling. The distribution of PAEs in the water body meets their hydrophobicity and is characterized by: i) even distribution of minor hydrophilic congeners DMP and DEP in the whole water area; ii) maximal concentrations of hydrophobic congeners DnBP and DEHP in the upper and near-bottom layers of the water column; iii) decrease of concentration of hydrophobic congeners in the near-shore zone. The contribution of near-shore sources of PAEs into the pelagic site is minimal, the main pollutants source is atmospheric transfer. A valuable contribution of DEHP from biogenic sources into the background level of PAEs is shown. Within RQ coefficients, we assessed the environmental risk for Baicalins biota.

Key thermophysical properties necessary for the successful design and use of CoCrFeNi alloy in thermophysical applications have been measured experimentally, and the results have been compared with literature values and results previously obtained for commercial Ni-Cr alloys and equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy. In particular, the thermal diffusivity, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and specific heat capacity were measured for the as-cast and homogenized equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy over a temperature range allowing the thermal conductivity to be calculated up to 1173 K. The thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy were found to deviate from monotonic behavior in the temperature range from 773 to 1100 K. Such a deviation was previously observed in the behavior of the temperature dependence of CTE and specific heat capacity of the equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy. The non-linear behavior is primarily the result of order/disorder phenomena for the as-cast and homogenized sample, as well as additionally for the as-cast sample, non-equilibrium solidification under arc melting conditions. The measured data of thermophysical properties are provided for thermally differently treated samples, and it is shown that there is a difference in the behavior of the temperature dependences of CTE, thermal diffusivity, and heat capacity.

Among the thermophysical properties, the surface / interfacial tension, viscosity and density / molar volume of liquid alloys are the key properties for the modelling of microstructural evolution during solidification. Therefore, only reliable input data can yield accurate predictions preventing the error propagation in numerical simulations of solidification related processes. Due to experimental difficulties related to reactivity of metallic melts at high temperatures, the measured data are often unreliable or even lacking. The application of containerless processing techniques either leads to a significant improvement of the accuracy or makes the measurement possible at all. On the other side, accurate model predicted property values could be used to compensate the missing data; otherwise, the experimental data are useful for the validation of theoretical models. The choice of models is particularly important for the surface, transport and structural properties of liquid alloys representing the two limiting cases of mixing, i.e. ordered and phase separating alloy systems. To this aim, the thermophysical properties of the Fe-Si and Cu-Pb systems were analysed and the connections with the peculiarities of their mixing behaviours are highlighted.

Most of the research of mental fatigue evaluation mainly concentrated on some indexes that require sophisticate and large instruments which make the detection of mental fatigue cumbersome, time-consuming, and difficult to apply on a large scale. A quick and sensitive mental fatigue detection index is necessary so that mental workers can be alerted in time and take corresponding countermeasures. But to date, no studies have compared the sensitivity of common objective evaluation indexes. To solve these problems this study recruited 56 human subjects. These subjects were evaluated using six fatigue indexes: the Stanford sleepiness scale, digital span, digital decoding, short-term memory, critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF), and speed perception deviation. The results of fatigue tests before and after mental fatigue were compared, and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the speed perception deviation. The result indicated the significance of this index. Considering individual differences, the relative fatigue index (RFI) was proposed to compare the sensitivity of the indexes. The results showed that when the self-rated fatigue grade changed from non-fatigue to mild fatigue, the ranges of RFI values for digital span, digital decoding, short-term memory and CFF were 0.175–0.258, 0.194–0.316, 0.068–0.139, and 0.055–0.075, respectively. Correspondingly, when the self-rated fatigue grade changed from non-fatigue to severe fatigue, the ranges of RFI values for the above indexes were 0.175–0.258, 0.194–0.316, 0.068–0.139, and 0.055–0.075, respectively. These results suggest that the sensitivity of the digital decoding, digital span, short-term memory, and CFF decreased sequentially when the self-evaluated fatigue grade changed from no fatigue to mild or severe fatigue. The RFI individuality of the speed perception deviation is highly variable and is not suitable as an evaluation index. In mental fatigue testing, digital decoding testing can provide faster, more convenient, and more accurate results.

This paper aims to stress the nexus between sustainable development, economic freedom and local participatory democracy in 21 European smart cities. The development of smart cities is strongly correlated with technological advancements and improved access to pub-lic services for all residents. Furthermore, smart cities are characterized by efficient man-agement of social, economic and environmental resources and a strong partnership be-tween the public and private sectors. The paper aims to map the dynamics of local partic-ipatory democracy in European smart cities and to identify several relevant predictors of local participatory democracy. The sample is represented by 21 European capitals (20 EU countries plus UK), which are included in the Smart City Index (SCI). Using the quantita-tive design based on both statistical regressions and structural equations modelling (SEM), the paper shows positive statistical correlation between economic factors, sustainable de-velopment, political culture, education and the level of local participatory democracy. Be-sides the exogenous variables, the study emphasized the main priority areas, which might be seen as urgent issues for local governments. The conclusion of the paper underlines the fact that economic freedom, sustainable development, upper secondary education, afford-able housing and an increased level of citizens’ engagement could predict further evolu-tions of the local participatory democracy in 21 European capitals.

Reliability assessment in traditional power distribution systems has played a key role in power system planning, design, and operation. Recently, new information and communication technologies have been introduced in power systems automation and asset management, making the distribution network even more complex. In order to achieve efficient energy management, the distribution grid has to adopt a new configuration and operational conditions that are changing the paradigm of the actual electrical system. Therefore, the emergence of the cyber-physical systems concept to face future energetic needs requires alternative approaches for evaluating the reliability of modern distribution systems, especially in the smart grids environment. In this paper, a reliability approach that makes use of failure modes of power and cyber network main components is proposed to evaluate risk analysis in smart electrical distribution systems. We introduce the application of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method in future smart grid systems in order to establish the impact of different failure modes on their performance. A smart grid test system is defined and failure modes and their effects for both power and the cyber components are presented. Preventive maintenance tasks are proposed and systematized to minimize the impact of high-risk failures and increase reliability.

Properties of the Voronoi tessellations arising from the random 2D distribution points are reported. We applied the procedure of dividing the sides of Voronoi cells into equal or random parts to Voronoi diagrams generated by a set of randomly placed on the plane points. The dividing points were then used to construct the following Voronoi diagram. Repeating this procedure led to a surprising effect of positional ordering of Voronoi cells, reminiscent of the formation of lamellae and spherulites in linear semi-crystalline polymers and metallic glasses. Thus, we can conclude, that by applying even a simple set of rules to a random set of seeds we introduce order into an initially disordered system. At the same time, the Voronoi entropy showed a tendency to values typical for completely random patterns and did not distinguish the short-range ordering. The Voronoi entropy and the continuous measure of symmetry of the patterns demonstrated the distinct asymptotic behavior, while approaching the close saturation values with the increase of the number of the iteration steps. Voronoi entropy grew, with the number of iterations, whereas the continuous measure of symmetry of the same patterns demonstrated the opposite asymptotic behavior. The Voronoi entropy is not an unambiguous measure of order in the 2D patterns. The more symmetrical patterns may demonstrate the higher values of the Voronoi entropy.

The search for new materials that could improve the energy density of Li-ion batteries (LIB) is one of today’s most challenging issues. Recently, cation-disordered lithium-excess metal oxides have emerged as a promising new class of cathode materials for LIB, due to their high reversible capacities and nice structural stability. However, a full structural model of the Li-transition metal (TM) sharing sublattice and the origin of short range ordering (SRO) of cation ions requires further investigation. In this work, we put forward a Monte Carlo strategy of building a cation-disordered rocksalt material supercell model. The cation ions of Li_1.0Ti_0.5Ni_0.5O₂ (LTNO) are placed at the FCC sublattice sites with the constraint of Pauling’s electroneutrality rule, instead of a random way. This constraint causes the Li-Ti and Ni-Ni clustering (the cation short range ordering). Based on this model, we discussed the relationship between the short range ordering, the local distorting, the theoretic capacity and the order-disorder strengths. A unified understanding of these factors in cation-disordered materials may enable a better design of disordered-electrode materials with high capacity and high energy density.

Presently power control and management play a vigorous role in information technology and power management. Instead of non-renewable power manufacturing, renewable power manufacturing is preferred by every organization for controlling resource consumption, price reduction and efficient power management. Smart grid efficiently satisfies these requirements with the integration of machine learning algorithms. Machine learning algorithms are used in a smart grid for power requirement prediction, power distribution, failure identification etc. The proposed Random Forest-based smart grid system classifies the power grid into different zones like high and low power utilization. The power zones are divided into number of sub-zones and map to random forest branches. The sub-zone and branch mapping process used to identify the quantity of power utilized and the non-utilized in a zone. The non-utilized power quantity and location of power availabilities are identified and distributed the required quantity of power to the requester in a minimal response time and price. The priority power scheduling algorithm collect request from consumer and send the request to producer based on priority. The producer analysed the requester existing power utilization quantity and availability of power for scheduling the power distribution to the requester based on priority. The proposed Random Forest based sustainability and price optimization technique in smart grid experimental results are compared to existing machine learning techniques like SVM, KNN and NB. The proposed random forest-based identification technique identifies the exact location of the power availability, which takes minimal processing time and quick responses to the requestor. Additionally, the smart meter based smart grid technique identifies the faults in short time duration than the conventional energy management technique is also proven in the experimental results.

In Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture, Priority Service System (PSS) plays a vital responsibility to provide Quality-of-Service (QoS) for the applications based on networks. Priority queuing systems has always been a subject of interest for analytical modelling and evaluating the performance. However, previous works have mainly focused on performing priority queuing under range dependent traffics, namely Short Range Dependent (SRD) or Long Range Dependent (LRD). Recent studies revealed that realistic traffic demonstrates a heterogeneous nature for the modern networks that provide multiple services. In this paper, the results of analytical and simulation models of dynamic priority service systems is reviewed to study the heterogeneous traffic impact on designing and performance of the systems based on networks. In this paper, the results of analytical and simulation models of dynamic priority service systems is reviewed to investigate the impact of heterogeneous traffic on the design and performance of network-based systems. Here, the time of presence of requests in limited and unlimited buffer system is restricted. If the restriction is violated, the requests will be lost. The results of experiments conducted on both models are compared and it is identified that they differ in the allowable limit (2-9) %.

Roundabouts need capacity and safety improvements compatible with manual-driven, not only with autonomous vehicles. The signaling and control of roundabouts must evolve and incorporate current technologies. For that, we approach roundabouts as synchronous switches of vehicles. This paper describes Synchronous Roundabouts with Rotating Priorities, a roundabout control system based on vehicle platoons arriving at the roundabout at speed identical to the roundabout and within the time slot assigned to their entry, avoiding conflicts and stops, thus increasing roundabout capacity and safety. Signaling is visual for human drivers and also wireless for connected and autonomous vehicles. We evaluate analytically and with simulations roundabouts of different radius for several values of the average distance between vehicles. Average delays are 28,7 % lower, with negligible dispersion. The capacity improvements depend on design parameters: in our set is moderate for small roundabouts but goes up to 70-100 % for short distances and medium and large roundabouts.

There is a systematic exclusion of gender-based violence, safe abortion, reproductive cancers, infertility services, comprehensive sexuality education, sexuality services, and STI’s other than HIV in essential health packages in LMICs. To accelerate progress on sexual reproductive health (SRH), the Guttmacher–Lancet Commission proposed the adoption of these interventions into an essential health package of SRH services that should be universally available. In this commentary, we use a healthcare priority-setting processes lens to review the importance of these services for universal health coverage. We isolate inherent challenges in social value judgments for terminal, process and content evidence for their healthcare priority-setting. We then advance promising emerging practical examples from low to middle-income countries on evidence-informed decision-making processes. We recommend capacity development through regional support, generating equity and efficiency evidence and strengthening political and publicly acceptable processes to institutionalise and operationalise evidence-informed decision-making.

In computer networks, loss of data packets is inevitable, in particular, because of the buffer memory overflow of at least one of the nodes located on the path from the source to the receiver, including the latter. Such losses associated with overflows are hereinafter referred to as congestion of network nodes. There are many ways to prevent and eliminate overloads; these methods, in the majority, are based on the management of data flows. A special place is taken by the maintenance of packages, taking into account their priorities. The article considers a number of original technical solutions to improve the quality of control and reduce the required amount of buffer memory of network nodes. The ideas of these solutions are quite simple for their implementation in the development of appropriate software and hardware for telecommunication devices.