scholarly journals ROAD PLANNING WITH SLIME MOULD: IF PHYSARUM BUILT MOTORWAYS IT WOULD ROUTE M6/M74 THROUGH NEWCASTLE

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 3065-3084 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW ADAMATZKY ◽  
JEFF JONES

Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by unaided eye. During its foraging behavior the cell spans spatially distributed sources of nutrients with a protoplasmic network. Geometrical structure of the protoplasmic networks allows the plasmodium to optimize transfer of nutrients between remote parts of its body, to distributively sense its environment, and make a decentralized decision about further routes of migration. We consider the ten most populated urban areas in United Kingdom and study what would be an optimal layout of transport links between these urban areas from the "plasmodium's point of view". We represent geographical locations of urban areas by oat flakes, inoculate the plasmodium in Greater London area and analyze the plasmodium's foraging behavior. We simulate the behavior of the plasmodium using a particle collective which responds to the environmental conditions to construct and minimize transport networks. Results of our scoping experiments show that during its colonization of the experimental space the plasmodium forms a protoplasmic network isomorphic to a network of major motorways except the motorway linking England with Scotland. We also imitate the reaction of transport network to disastrous events and show how the transport network can be reconfigured during natural or artificial cataclysms. The results of the present research lay a basis for future science of bio-inspired urban and road planning.

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilian Szczepański ◽  
Ilona Jacyna-Gołda ◽  
Jakub Murawski

Points of distribution, sales or service are important elements of the supply chain. These are the final elements which are responsible for proper functioning of the whole cargo distribution process. Proper location of these points in the transport network is essential to ensure the effectiveness and reliability of the supply chain. The location of these points is very important also from the consumers point of view. In this paper developed method of points location was present on the example of urban transport network. The developed approach is based on the Vehicle Routing Problem in the multistage distribution systems. The proposed method uses a genetic algorithm. Article also presents a mathematical model of delivery cost as a criterion func


1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fons Nelen ◽  
Annemarieke Mooijman ◽  
Per Jacobsen

A control simulation model, called LOCUS, is used to investigate the effects of spatially distributed rain and the possibilities to benefit from this phenomenon by means of real time control. The study is undertaken for a catchment in Copenhagen, where rainfall is measured with a network of 8 rain gauges. Simulation of a single rain event, which is assumed to be homogeneous, i.e. using one rain gauge for the whole catchment, leads to large over- and underestimates of the systems output variables. Therefore, when analyzing a single event the highest possible degree of rainfall information may be desired. Time-series simulations are performed for both an uncontrolled and a controlled system. It is shown that from a statistical point of view, rainfall distribution is NOT significant concerning the probability of occurrence of an overflow. The main contributing factor to the potential of real time control, concerning minimizing overflows, is to be found in the system itself, i.e. the distribution of available storage and discharge capacity. When other operational objectives are involved, e.g., to minimize peak flows to the treatment plant, rainfall distribution may be an important factor.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
R. Fenz ◽  
M. Zessner ◽  
N. Kreuzinger ◽  
H. Kroiss

In Austria approximately 70% of the population is connected to sewerage and to biological waste water treatment plants. Whereas the urban areas are already provided with these facilities to a very high extent, effort is still needed in rural areas to meet the requirements of the Austrian legislation. The way, this task should be solved has provoked much controversy. It is mainly the question, whether centralised or decentralised sewage disposal systems are preferable from the ecological and economical point of view, that became a political issue during the last 5 years. The Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management was asked to elaborate a waste water management concept for the Lainsitz River Basin, a mainly rural area in the north of Austria discharging to the Elbe river. Both ecological and economical aspects should be considered. This paper presents the methodology that was applied and the criteria which were decisive for the selection of the final solution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108
Author(s):  
A.F. Jităreanu ◽  
Elena Leonte ◽  
A. Chiran ◽  
Benedicta Drobotă

Abstract Advertising helps to establish a set of assumptions that the consumer will bring to all other aspects of their engagement with a given brand. Advertising provides tangible evidence of the financial credibility and competitive presence of an organization. Persuasion is becoming more important in advertising. In marketing, persuasive advertising acts to establish wants/motivations and beliefs/attitudes by helping to formulate a conception of the brand as being one which people like those in the target audience would or should prefer. Considering the changes in lifestyle and eating habits of a significant part of the population in urban areas in Romania, the paper aims to analyse how brands manage to differentiate themselves from competitors, to reposition themselves on the market and influence consumers, meeting their increasingly varied needs. Food brands on the Romanian market are trying, lately, to identify new methods of differentiation and new benefits for their buyers. Given that more and more consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about what they eat and the products’ health effects, brands struggle to highlight the fact that their products offer real benefits for the body. The advertisements have become more diversified and underline the positive effects, from the health and well - being point of view, that those foods offer (no additives and preservatives, use of natural ingredients, various vitamins and minerals or the fact that they are dietary). Advertising messages’ diversification is obvious on the Romanian market, in the context of an increasing concern of the population for the growing level of information of some major consumer segments.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 105-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW ADAMATZKY

Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum spans sources of nutrients and constructs varieties of protoplasmic networks during its foraging behavior. When the plasmodium is placed on a substrate populated with sources of nutrients, it spans the sources with protoplasmic network. The plasmodium optimizes the network to deliver efficiently the nutrients to all parts of its body. How exactly does the protoplasmic network unfold during the plasmodium's foraging behavior? What types of proximity graphs are approximated by the network? Does the plasmodium construct a minimal spanning tree first and then add additional protoplasmic veins to increase reliability and through-capacity of the network? We analyze a possibility that the plasmodium constructs a series of proximity graphs: nearest-neighbour graph (NNG), minimum spanning tree (MST), relative neighborhood graph (RNG), Gabriel graph (GG) and Delaunay triangulation (DT). The graphs can be arranged in the inclusion hierarchy (Toussaint hierarchy): NNG ⊆ MST ⊆ RNG ⊆ GG ⊆ DT . We aim to verify if graphs, where nodes are sources of nutrients and edges are protoplasmic tubes, appear in the development of the plasmodium in the order NNG → MST → RNG → GG → DT , corresponding to inclusion of the proximity graphs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Hayato Nishi ◽  
Yasushi Asami

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) is a popular method of visualizing the similarity of individuals in a dataset. When dissimilarities between individuals in a dataset are measured, MDS projects these individuals into the (typically two- or three-dimensional) map. In this map, because similar individuals are projected to be close to one another, distances between individuals correspond to their dissimilarities. In other words, MDS makes a similarity map of a dataset.</p><p>Some of the dissimilarities and distances have a strong relation to the geographical location. For example, time distances are similar to geographical distances, and regional features will be similar if the regions are close together. Therefore, it will be useful to compare the MDS projection and geographical locations. However, because MDS projection is not concerned with the rotation, parallel translation, and similarity expansion, it might be difficult to compare the projection to the actual geographical locations. When geographically related similarities are visualized, projected locations should be bound to the geographical locations.</p><p>In this article, we propose Bayesian Geographical Multidimensional Scaling (BGMDS), in which geographical restrictions of projections are given from a statistical point of view. BGMDS gives not only geographically bound projections, but also incorporates the uncertainty of the projections.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Cucci ◽  
Paolo Marco De Martini ◽  
Eulalia Masana ◽  
Kris Vanneste

<p>More than 25 years have passed since the definition of Active Tectonics as "tectonic movements that are expected to occur within a future time span of concern to society", formulated in a milestone book by the National Research Council on this topic (Studies in Geophysics, Active Tectonics, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1986), and those words have still to be considered the most suitable and exhaustive way to explain this branch of the Earth Sciences. Indeed only bridging together basic studies ("tectonic movements"), rates of occurrence ("time span") and hazard assessment ("society") can we fully evaluate ongoing tectonic activity and its associated hazards. The broad Mediterranean Sea region is a paradigmatic area from this point of view, as on one hand this region displays in a relatively limited geographic extent a great variety of tectonic processes such as plate collision, subduction, volcanic activity, large-magnitude earthquakes, active folding and faulting, vertical uplift and/or subsidence. On the other hand, all the above mentioned tectonic processes can potentially affect a total population of about 450 million, mostly concentrated in fast-growing urban areas and/or close to industrial compounds and critical facilities often located nearby hazard sources. […]</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Chandrasekhar ◽  
Ajay Sharma ◽  
Sumit Mishra

Using the first ever available information in Census of India 2011, covering 640 sub-national units (districts) in India, we analyze the correlates of modes of transport used by non-agricultural workers at the regional level covering both rural and urban areas. Providing a holistic picture from the perspective policy and academic perspective, we bring out some key stylized facts. Further, using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) estimation, we model the transport mode choice for commuting by the workers in the context of rural and urban India, and further extend it based on distinction in motorized and non-motorized transport modes. We find that urbanization level, population size and density along with education attainment and worker’s sex ratio (gender ratio among workers), age (elderly) and land use mix play very important role in regional pattern in transport mode choice for commuting. These results highlight the dire need for proper development of transport infrastructure and understanding its various dimensions from socio-economic, demographic and spatial point of view in the context of developing countries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Jaskólski ◽  
Mateusz Smolarski

Suburbanization affects on spatial planning and transport policy in urban areas. The main theme of this report is to show how the transport network react to the chaotic and dynamic growth of suburban areas. Authors show spatial growth on three examples. The paper also tries to prove that with the growing trend toward suburbanization, more effective transportation systems must be developed to meet the needs of the low-density, suburban population. Authors refer to the process of suburbanization onexamples from Wroclaw and the surrounding locality.


Apidologie ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita María López-Uribe ◽  
Cintia Akemi Oi ◽  
Marco Antonio Del Lama

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