Exploring the Patterns of Resident Resettlement in Rural and Suburban Areas and Their Influence on the Passenger Trip Generation

The region is a complex multi-element and heterogeneous dynamic system. Regional public transport systems are characterized by heterogeneity and incompleteness of information about the processes that take place in them. The factors determining the demand for public passenger transport services, the structure of suburban population transit and the economic consequences of changing this structure have not yet been sufficiently investigated. There is no quantitative assessment of the control factors’ influence on the results of the passenger transport system functioning in suburban traffic, which complicates the effective management in this field.In order to determine the mutual influence of objects with unclear functional connection, one of the methods of computational geometry is considered, which allows quantifying and obtaining tabulated functions of various components and parameters of settlements' interaction and centers of gravity. The numerical characteristics obtained by the described method are further used in the modeling of the processes of efficient functioning and collaboration of urban passenger transport with other external transport types, in particular at interchanges.As a result of the proposed operations, we obtain a tabulated function of the investigated parameter for the area of spatial interaction of infrastructure objects and visualize the calculated parameters in the form of graphical dependencies or in the form of a three-dimensional surface. Thus, using the method of computational geometry, with constructing a Voronoi diagram and executing the Delaunay triangulation, it is possible to obtain tabulated characteristic parameters for inhomogeneous zones of mutual influence where infrastructure objects with unclear functional connection are located.

Study on Mechanical and Wear Behaviour of AA7075/TaC/Si3N4/Ti Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites

This research article focuses on the development of AA7075 alloy reinforced with different wt% of Tantalum Carbide (TaC), Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) and Titanium (Ti) particulates using stir casting. Mechanical characteristics like tensile, compression and microhardness of the developed composites were analysed. High temperature tribological properties of the hybrid MMCs were studied for various input control factors like sliding speed, load and temperature. Design analysis has been executed by Taguchi orthogonal array and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The incorporated reinforcements exhibited improved wear resistance at ambient temperature along with elevated temperatures. Monolithic dissemination of reinforcement’s in the prepared composites magnifies the mechanical and tribological characteristics for composites compared to matrix material. From the optimization technique, it was witnessed that Wear Rate and Frictional Coefficient are afflicted by temperature go after load & sliding speed. The optimal amalgamation of control parameters of distinct tribo-responses has been detected.

Analysis of control factors and surface integrity during wire-EDM of Inconel 718 alloy using T-GRA approach

In today’s competitive modern manufacturing sectors, there is a vital need of utter precision and rigorous processing using various manufacturing approaches that directly influences the cost and processing duration of mechanized materials in addition to the consistency of the finished products. Therefore, it’s essential to figure out the required output by adjusting the control factors of any machining techniques which resulted in optimal values of the desired outcome. In this study, machining evaluation and process optimization is carried out on volumetric extraction of material namely material removal rate (MRR), kerf obtained during the machining (KW) and surface roughness (SR) of Inconel 718 superalloy during CNC controlled wire- electrical discharge machining. Four controllable factors- pulse interval, wire speed, pulse duration and peak current are considered to investigate the influence on performance measures. Taguchi's L16 has been used to construct the set of experiments before physical experimental runs and most influencing factors have been evaluated using ANOVA. SEM images and EDXS analysis have been resorted to examine the morphology of Inconel 718. These findings assist in identifying the topography of the machined surface. Further, the optimum integration has been obtained for the best yield and recorded using grey relational analysis integrated with Taguchi’s technique (T-GRA). The unfamiliarity of the work is based on consideration of zinc coated thin wire electrode and Taguchi-Grey combined approach of modelling with four levels of experimental design.

Exploring decision-making biases among Iranian entrepreneurs: some novel insights

Purpose Decision-making biases play decisive roles not only in entrepreneurs’ decisions but also in the fate of entrepreneurial businesses. While the extant literature in this regard is relatively rich, it has predominantly focused on certain biases like overconfidence and overoptimism at the expense of other possibly influential biases, which could influence entrepreneurial decisions. Thus, to address this serious research gap, this paper aims to explore four of the less-researched biases of escalation of commitment, the illusion of control, confirmation and the belief in the law of small numbers in entrepreneurial decisions. Design/methodology/approach By taking a qualitative approach, the data for this study were collected through face-to-face interviews with 19 Iranian habitual (experienced) entrepreneurs running small businesses and analyzed by a qualitative thematic analysis. Findings According to the results, the environmental uncertainty, the reluctance to lose face and the experiences of previous failures contributed to the escalation of commitment, while disregard for external factors beyond one’s control caused the illusion of control, factors like prior successful businesses in the same sector, looking for resorts to manage uncertainty, along with the decision to exploit opportunities resulted in the confirmation bias, while the expenses of conducting sweeping pilot tests in the market and the reluctance to reveal a business secret to the competitors were the main contributors of the belief in the law of small numbers. Originality/value This study is a pioneer in scrutinizing four less-researched but important biases in entrepreneurs and, thus extending the line of research in this regard.

Collaborative Workplace Design: A Knowledge-Based Approach to Promote Human–Robot Collaboration and Multi-Objective Layout Optimization

The innovation-driven Industry 5.0 leads us to consider humanity in a prominent position as the center of the manufacturing field even more than Industry 4.0. This pushes us towards the hybridization of manufacturing plants promoting a full collaboration between humans and robots. However, there are currently very few workplaces where effective Human–Robot Collaboration takes place. Layout designing plays a key role in assuring safe and efficient Human–Robot Collaboration. The layout design, especially in the context of collaborative robotics, is a complex problem to face, since it is related to safety, ergonomics, and productivity aspects. In the current work, a Knowledge-Based Approach (KBA) is adopted to face the complexity of the layout design problem. The framework resulting from the KBA allows for developing a modeling paradigm that enables us to define a streamlined approach for the layout design. The proposed approach allows for placing resource within the workplace according to a defined optimization criterion, and also ensures compliance with various standards. This approach is applied to an industrial case study in order to prove its feasibility. A what-if analysis is performed by applying the proposed approach. Changing three control factors (i.e., minimum distance, robot speed, logistic space configuration) on three levels, in a Design of Experiments, 27 layout configurations of the same workplace are generated. Consequently, the inputs that most affect the layout design are identified by means of an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results show that only one layout is eligible to be the best configuration, and only two out of three control factors are very significant for the designing of the HRC workplace layout. Hence, the proposed approach enables the designing of standard compliant and optimized HRC workplace layouts. Therefore, several alternatives of the layout for the same workplace can be easily generated and investigated in a systematic manner.

Genome-wide, integrative analysis of microRNA-mediated gene regulation in human wounds reveals cooperating microRNAs as therapeutic targets

MicroRNAs (miR), as important epigenetic control factors, reportedly regulate wound repair. However, our insufficient knowledge of clinically relevant miRs hinders their potential therapeutic use. For this, we performed miR and mRNA paired expression profiling in human acute wounds and chronic non-healing venous ulcers (VU) and presented our findings on a browsable web portal (http://130.229.28.87/shiny/miRNA_Xulab/). Integrative miR and mRNA-omics analysis unraveled miR-mediated gene regulatory networks in each repair phase of the wound repair process. Importantly, we identified 17 pathologically relevant miRs exhibiting abnormal expression in VU and displaying their targetome enriched in the VU gene signature. Study of the targetome and functions of eight clinically relevant miRs in skin cells revealed that the miRs upregulated in VU (i.e., miR-34a/c-5p, miR-424-5p, miR-450-5p, miR-7704, and miR-516-5p) promoted inflammation but inhibited proliferation. In contrast, the miRs downregulated in VU (i.e., miR-218-5p and miR-96-5p) were required for cell growth and activation. Moreover, we demonstrated miR-34a, miR-424, and miR-516 cooperativity in regulating keratinocyte growth and inflammatory response. Collectively, our study suggests that VU-dysregulated miRs cooperatively contribute to stalled wound healing characterized by failed transition from inflammatory-to-proliferative phase. Targeting cooperating miRNAs provide mew opportunity for development of clinically-relevant targeted therapy to attain higher therapeutic efficacy and specificity.

Combinations of slow-translating codon clusters can increase mRNA half-life in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The presence of a single cluster of nonoptimal codons was found to decrease a transcript’s half-life through the interaction of the ribosome-associated quality control machinery with stalled ribosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The impact of multiple nonoptimal codon clusters on a transcript’s half-life, however, is unknown. Using a kinetic model, we predict that inserting a second nonoptimal cluster near the 5′ end can lead to synergistic effects that increase a messenger RNA’s (mRNA’s) half-life in S. cerevisiae. Specifically, the 5′ end cluster suppresses the formation of ribosome queues, reducing the interaction of ribosome-associated quality control factors with stalled ribosomes. We experimentally validate this prediction by introducing two nonoptimal clusters into three different genes and find that their mRNA half-life increases up to fourfold. The model also predicts that in the presence of two clusters, the cluster closest to the 5′ end is the primary determinant of mRNA half-life. These results suggest the “translational ramp,” in which nonoptimal codons are located near the start codon and increase translational efficiency, may have the additional biological benefit of allowing downstream slow-codon clusters to be present without decreasing mRNA half-life. These results indicate that codon usage bias plays a more nuanced role in controlling cellular protein levels than previously thought.