Rozmyte mapy kognitywne jako technika prowadzenia ustrukturyzowanej analizy systemowej w obszarze nauk o bezpieczeństwie

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps as a Technique for Conducting Structured Systems Analysis in the Area of Security Sciences The article aims to present and introduce the main assumptions and procedures for creating fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) in the field of security studies. FCM are a tool for conducting a systematic analysis of phenomena with a complex structure and consisting of many interrelated elements. The text was divided into three main parts devoted accordingly to theoretical premises of the FCM (the system analysis, mental and cognitive maps), the FCM itself, and the procedure for creating and using RMK for analytical purposes.

Contextualizing the Origin of the Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet likely appeared as a functional writing system in the late ninth century BC in a particular eastern Mediterranean locale, but the process by which it took shape is one that stretched chronologically from that moment back into the Bronze Age, and geographically from Anatolia and Syria-Palestine, through Cyprus, to Pylos, Knossos, and other Mycenaean palace sites. This chapter examines that formative process as one characterized by various episodes of the transfer of knowledge between structured systems-transfers that left traces of operational elements of earlier, pre-alphabetic systems within the emerging alphabet. It further explores a scenario in which this alphabetic system could have plausibly found motivation and achieved functionality among non-literate Greeks operating within the multi-lingual and multi-graphic context of the complex armies of the Neo-Assyrian empire.

Stabilisation of cosmetic compositions using combined emulsifiers

Objectives. This study investigated the surface properties and micelle formation of combined stabilizers, which are a mixture of ionic and nonionic surfactants or different nonionic surfactants, to establish a correlation between the composition of stabilizers and the colloidal–chemical properties of direct emulsions obtained in their presence.Methods. The surface tension at the interface between the aqueous solutions of the combined stabilizers with air and toluene was measured using a digital tensiometer. The sedimentation stability of the emulsions was assessed by the volume of the exfoliated water and oil phases for seven days. The particle sizes of the dispersed phase were determined using an Olympus CX3 bright field microscope equipped with a universal serial bus video camera connection. The rheological properties of the emulsions were evaluated using a rotary viscometer.Results. According to the isotherms of the surface tension of aqueous surfactant solutions at the interface with air and toluene at emulsion preparation temperatures of 50 °C and 65 °C, a mixture of nonionic surfactants exhibited a higher surface activity and lower critical micelle concentration at the interface with toluene. The optimal amount of stabilizers providing stability to the compositions for one month was 4 mass % for a mixture of anionic surfactants and nonionic surfactants and 7 mass % for mixtures of different nonionic surfactants. Emulsions obtained in the presence of a mixture of anionic and nonionic surfactants exhibited higher kinetic sedimentation stability values due to the formation of electrostatic and steric stabilization factors in the system. The developed compositions were microheterogeneous systems, the average droplet diameter of which varied within the range of 1.0–5.7 µm. In terms of rheological properties, emulsions were classified as liquid-like structured systems with coagulation structures; the strength of single contacts between particles of the dispersed phase was (1.6–27.0) × 10-10 N. Conclusions. A comparison of the physicochemical characteristics of the compositions obtained in the presence of organic emulsifiers showed that emulsions stabilized using a mixture of ionic and nonionic surfactants, which form mixed adsorption layers, exhibited the best set of properties.

Method to Increase Dependability in a Cloud-Fog-Edge Environment

Robots can be very different, from humanoids to intelligent self-driving cars or just IoT systems that collect and process local sensors’ information. This paper presents a way to increase dependability for information exchange and processing in systems with Cloud-Fog-Edge architectures. In an ideal interconnected world, the recognized and registered robots must be able to communicate with each other if they are close enough, or through the Fog access points without overloading the Cloud. In essence, the presented work addresses the Edge area and how the devices can communicate in a safe and secure environment using cryptographic methods for structured systems. The presented work emphasizes the importance of security in a system’s dependability and offers a communication mechanism for several robots without overburdening the Cloud. This solution is ideal to be used where various monitoring and control aspects demand extra degrees of safety. The extra private keys employed by this procedure further enhance algorithm complexity, limiting the probability that the method may be broken by brute force or systemic attacks.

STRUCTURED SYSTEMS OF FACTORS AND EXPERIMENTAL-STATISTICAL MODELS IN STUDIES OF BUILDING COMPOSITES

The introduction to the article presents the objects of research, for which the proposed approach to modelling and the types of the models are intended. These are high quality composite building materials, the multicomponent dispersed systems, with the components that could be multicomponent themselves. The need to use for their design the mathematical models of the dependences of structure parameters and properties of the material on the factors of composition and processes of production and operation is noted. Then the background of experimental-statistical (ES) models application in research and development of composite materials is considered. What they are needed for is emphasized. The peculiarities of these models are noted in contrast to the models of other classes, including the usual regression ones. The necessity of experiment design to build ES-models is also emphasized. Special types of ES-models are named, for the cases when it is necessary to consider linearly related factors ("mixtures"). The expediency of structurizing the system of all the factors under consideration and the corresponding ES-models is indicated to. The concept of a priori and a posteriori structuring of factor systems when modeling is proposed. Systems that could include subsystems of linearly related factors and subsystems of mutually independent factors separated out at the stage of a priori structuring have been called “mixtures, technologies" systems and classified by the type of factor domains. System designations are given. Special polynomial models developed for them are presented. For the analysis of modelling results, a posteriori allocation of the factor regions and the use of tools of composition-process fields methodology are proposed. The local fields of material properties in coordinates of one or another group of the factors and their transformation under the influence of the factors of another group can be analysed, using numerical generalizing indices of the local fields and the secondary models for these indices. The path from obtaining data of designed natural experiment for building the primary ES-models to the secondary models, for generalizing indices, based on the results of computational experiment, is schematically shown.

Extreme warming restructures habitat distribution and productivity along local gradients in stress and biodiversity

Significant questions remain about how ecosystems that are structured by abiotic stress will be affected by climate warming. A well-supported hypothesis states that warming will cause species to shift along abiotic gradients, such that distributions track changing local conditions. Here, we investigated the impacts of a multi-year heatwave on community dynamics and zonation in one such ecosystem: rocky intertidal communities. We demonstrate that, while populations generally shifted downslope towards reduced abiotic stress, species were impacted to varying degrees, leading to complex changes in community and ecosystem dynamics. Warming generally shifted primary production away from upper elevations through synchronized seaweed declines and replacement by invertebrates, while high producer biomass was maintained at lower elevations through compensatory dynamics that resulted in novel community composition. Our results illustrate that, rather than shifting community zonation uniformly along local gradients, warming will restructure habitat archetypes and redirect pathways for energy transfer in stress-structured systems.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DРIE METHOD IN TECHNOLOGIES OF OBTAINING STRUCTURED SYSTEMS

Within the framework of the work, experimental and laboratory studies of a complex of heat and mass transfer processes in multicomponent disperse systems that exhibit emergent properties have been carried out. The aim of the work is to determine the key factors that affect the properties of the final product, and bifurcation points for complex dispersed systems in terms of the mechanisms of structure formation. The authors determined the influence of key parameters such as the process temperature and shear stresses that arise in systems during processing in rotary-pulsating devices of the disk-cylindrical type. For systems with polyelectrolyte structures, the temperature ranges have been determined at which the intensity of the solvation process is maximum. The investigated multicomponent systems are sensitive to shear stress and the duration of its exposure. The limiting shear stresses are determined at which the destruction of structures begins and the system becomes fluid. Based on the results of the complex of works, a schematic diagram and a pilot plant for obtaining poly-component structured systems were proposed. Вatches of bactericidal sanitary-hygienic means and application medical-prophylactic means were obtained at the proposed installation and transferred for testing.