Microsimulation of pedestrian conflict with other transport modes

An effective solution of the conflict points of different transport modes is a significant issue at the urban level today. With the permanent increase of traffic in cities, it is necessary to look for suitable and sustainable transport solutions to these situations, so that the traffic flow is smooth and the transport remains safe, ecological and economical. The paper deals with the design of a simple decision-making tool for selecting the solution of pedestrian conflict with other traffic modes (classical pedestrian crossing, controlled pedestrian crossing for defined pedestrian and vehicle flows, based on experimental microsimulation. High pedestrian flows their dependence on the delay time of road users are not properly implemented in Czech legislation. The results are verified in a case study of conflict solution within the reconstruction of a public transport terminal in Prague.

Instabilities of electrical properties of He-induced W “fuzz” within the pre-breakdown and breakdown regimes

The investigation of the He-induced W “fuzz” electrical properties was carried out. For the research, an automated experimental setup was designed. The setup was based on a vacuum chamber operated under high vacuum conditions (~ 10−7 Pa). The vacuum diode under investigation comprised of a flat W “fuzz” cathode with an area of about 1 cm2 and a 2 mm radius cylindrical copper anode with a hemisphere tip. The cathode-anode distance was about 100 μm. The voltage applied was up to 10 kV. A DAC/ADC module controlled an HV power supply and automatically registered currents and voltages in the circuit. The effect of a spontaneous change in the emissive ability of the investigated surface area was observed. These changes can vary significantly in magnitude. Large-scale changes can lead to a permanent increase in the emissive ability of a specific area or to a breakdown of the gap. Small changes, as a rule, are reversible, have a stepped nature, and make it difficult to record and interpret the current-voltage characteristics of the field emitter.

Application of Nanomaterials in Water Purification: A review

Providing clean water all over the world at low cost to meet human needs is a big challenge in the current century. As the world strives to keep pace with the increasing demand for clean water as quickly as possible due to the permanent increase in population density and the deterioration of the state of water and its quality in addition to climate changes. The requirement for developing technological innovations incorporated water managing can't be exaggerated. As reached by previous researchers, nanotechnology possesses vast capabilities to improve water treatment and purify it from organic and inorganic pollutants through the safe use of unconventional water sources. This review covers the methods that have been examined both laboratory and commercially in purifying and treating water. This research provides a discussion of the used methods, advantages and their limitations and also covers a study of nanomaterials used as photocatalysts, whether manufactured or under study. This is done by studying and reviewing the chemical and physical properties of these nanomaterials and their applications in treating water pollution.

Increasing Community College Graduation Rates: A Synthesis of Findings on the ASAP Model From Six Colleges Across Two States

This paper presents new estimates of the effects of the City University of New York’s ( CUNY’s) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs ( ASAP) model, evaluated using a randomized controlled trial first in New York and later through a replication in Ohio. It presents longer-term effects of CUNY ASAP in New York, showing that the program’s effect on associate’s degree receipt persisted through 8 years and likely represents a permanent increase in degree receipt. It also presents an analysis from the pooled study samples in New York and Ohio. The findings indicate that the program had consistent effects on degree receipt across the two states but also for somewhat different levels of service contrast, such as the number of additional advising visits.

Quarantine, Contact Tracing, and Testing: Implications of an Augmented SEIR Model

I incorporate quarantine, contact tracing, and random testing in the basic SEIR model of infectious disease diffusion. A version of the model that is calibrated to known characteristics of the spread of COVID-19 is used to estimate the transmission rate of COVID-19 in the United States in 2020. The transmission rate is then decomposed into a part that reflects observable changes in employment and social contacts, and a residual component that reflects disease properties and all other factors that affect the spread of the disease. I then construct counterfactuals for an alternative employment path that avoids the sharp employment decline in the second quarter of 2020, but also results in higher cumulative deaths due to a higher contact rate. For the simulations a modest permanent increase of quarantine effectiveness counteracts the increase in deaths, and the introduction of contact tracing and random testing further reduces deaths, although at a diminishing rate. Using a conservative assumption on the statistical value of life, the value of improved health outcomes from the alternative policies far outweighs the economic gains in terms of increased output and the potential fiscal costs of these policies.

Organization of self-developing production in real conditions

At present, close attention of philosophers, economists, sociologists, and production representatives is focused on objects united by one concept — «self-developing systems». This is largely explained by the logic of the development of the epistemological direction in philosophy, and it is emphasized that the growing complexity of the systems under study is characterized by the presence of a person as an active element of the system. The person acts as a subject that uses certain systems in practice and as a subject that changes the structure and functions of the system from the inside. Objective «post-non-classical rationality» is such that self-developing systems move from being the object of close study to the category of «ordinary» systems, replacing both simple systems and such complex ones as self-regulating systems. The article deals with issues of the structure and functions of self-developing production systems. It is shown that the efficiency of such systems is determined by the amount of creative potential. It is established that self-developing production in real conditions can correspond to its purpose and function in the presence of a specific internal «mechanism» that can set both the goals of its behavior and the sequence of actions without external motivation. It is demonstrated that a model of transformation of labor activity, generating replenishment of the creative potential of the production system, can serve as such a mechanism in real conditions. At the same time, the process of replenishing the creative potential of production creates conditions for creating a synergetic effect, which is the basis for a permanent increase in the efficiency of the production system.

Two Distinct Faces of Vitamin C: AA vs. DHA

Historically, vitamin C has been associated with many regulatory processes that involve specific signaling pathways. Among the most studied signaling pathways are those involved in the regulation of aging, differentiation, neurotransmission, proliferation, and cell death processes in cancer. This wide variety of regulatory effects is due to the fact that vitamin C has a dual mechanism of action. On the one hand, it regulates the expression of genes associated with proliferation (Ccnf and Ccnb1), differentiation (Sox-2 and Oct-4), and cell death (RIPK1 and Bcl-2). At the same time, vitamin C can act as a regulator of kinases, such as MAPK and p38, or by controlling the activation of the NF-kB pathway, generating chronic responses related to changes in gene expression or acute responses associated with the regulation of signal transduction processes. To date, data from the literature show a permanent increase in processes regulated by vitamin C. In this review, we critically examine how vitamin C regulates these different cellular programs in normal and tumor cells.

When a Master Dies: Speculation and Asset Float

An artist’s death constitutes a negative shock to his future production; death permanently decreases the artist’s float. We use this shock to test predictions of speculative trading models with short-selling constraints. As predicted in our model, we find that an artist’s premature death leads to a permanent increase in prices and turnover; this effect being larger for more famous artists. We document that premature death increases prices (by 54.7%) and secondary market volume (by 63.2%).

FEATURES AND PROSPECTS OF THE ECONOMIC RENT FROM WORKFORCE AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN UKRAINE

Object of research: the article presents the results of studying the economic rent from workforce and social conditions (significant components of the important rent-forming resource of nowadays global economy – social capital) in Ukraine. Solved problem: determining the features of economic rent, outlining the conditions and prospects for increasing the rental income of the Ukrainian economy from the capitalization of workforce’ intellectual and creative qualities, as well as socium rent-generating conjunctures. Main scientific results: the role of the economic rent in the system of rental relations of the modern global economy and its national components is examined; the features of the formation and distribution of economic rent’ various types in the process of using the workforce’ intellectual and creative potential, as well as other components of the nowadays most significant type of rent-forming resources – social capital – are studied. The specificity of human component and social capital in general as a rent-generating resource is manifested in the generation of additional prerequisites (resource, organizational and economic) and incentives to increase volumes and expand potential areas for extracting rent income in the process of its use, since the using of the employee’ knowledge and abilities leads to a consistent accumulation of professional experience, and consequently – to a permanent increase in the aggregate of these rent-generating properties and in activities for improving the environment of their implementation in Ukraine. Scope of practical use of research results: the research results can be used in developing strategies and programs of Ukrainian economy’ innovative diversification in the process of its further competitive integration into the global economic space, that, among other things, requires the creation of conditions for improving the rent-generating properties of workforce and social environment, as well as increasing the level of its capitalization.

Compositum mixtum of one-factor production function

The paper is devoted to finding a convenient argument for the one-factor production function of a mine. For construction of one-factor production functions it is offered to use composite goods (compositum mixtum), the value of which corresponds to the amount of costs, incurred by an enterprise during a year-long period of time. Taking into account peculiarities of coal mines, the study verifies an expedience of converting the composite good to the coal equivalent (conventional fuel), consumed by an enterprise in a technological process, Big Mac burgers, and the stuff number. An attempt to use coal to build the production function of a mine as a composite good was not entirely successful. An experimental study of the dependence of coal production from actual costs of coal resources, carried out on a mathematical model of a mine, proved the inexpediency of such formalization, particularly due to the strong influence of non-mine (external) factors. Statistically significant, for example, were the efficiency of fuel use in power plants and the norm of coal for household needs. The relevance and popularity of the ‘sandwich index’ is due to the fact that McDonald's is in most countries, and Big Mac itself contains so many food ingredients (bread, cheese, meat and vegetables) that can act as a kind of mold of the national economy. But the conducted research demonstrated that such a way of expressing the composite good for Ukrainian mines is not rational due to macroeconomic interventions (permanent increase of the minimum wage) in the microeconomics of an enterprise. The most appropriate argument for the production function of the mine is the stuff number of an enterprise. The rationality of Big Mac as the basis of the production function is demonstrated in the construction of the production function of world export coal markets.