365 research outputs found
The impact of the Arab Spring on democracy and development in the MENA region
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. In evaluating the consequences of the Arab Spring 8 years later, this paper not only focuses on the short-term consequences of the uprisings that swept through a number of countries in the Middle East and North African region but also analyzes the long-term prospects for democratization and development in the MENA region. The impact of the Arab Spring, despite its promises and the expectations of the rest of the world, has been dismal. While only Tunisia made a successful transition to a democratic polity with a constitution guaranteeing the basic rights of the people, the rest of the Arab Spring countries remain in the grip of the authoritarian rule, and countries such as Syria, Libya, and Yemen have been degenerated into bloody civil wars with dwindling hope of peace and freedom. On economic front, the growth has been tardy, showing little difference with countries that were unaffected by the Arab Spring. Yet, the paper concludes, echoing historian Eric Hobsbawm\u27s view, that revolutionary outcomes need not be judged as failure too quickly as they are likely to be partial success in the long term. The impact may be observed in the area of social opening, newer class alliances, and the emergence of a less rapacious, reformed, hybrid authoritarianism
Multi-Bunch Solutions of Differential-Difference Equation for Traffic Flow
Newell-Whitham type car-following model with hyperbolic tangent optimal
velocity function in a one-lane circuit has a finite set of the exact solutions
for steady traveling wave, which expressed by elliptic theta function. Each
solution of the set describes a density wave with definite number of
car-bunches in the circuit. By the numerical simulation, we observe a
transition process from a uniform flow to the one-bunch analytic solution,
which seems to be an attractor of the system. In the process, the system shows
a series of cascade transitions visiting the configurations closely similar to
the higher multi-bunch solutions in the set.Comment: revtex, 7 pages, 5 figure
Solvable Optimal Velocity Models and Asymptotic Trajectory
In the Optimal Velocity Model proposed as a new version of Car Following
Model, it has been found that a congested flow is generated spontaneously from
a homogeneous flow for a certain range of the traffic density. A
well-established congested flow obtained in a numerical simulation shows a
remarkable repetitive property such that the velocity of a vehicle evolves
exactly in the same way as that of its preceding one except a time delay .
This leads to a global pattern formation in time development of vehicles'
motion, and gives rise to a closed trajectory on -
(headway-velocity) plane connecting congested and free flow points. To obtain
the closed trajectory analytically, we propose a new approach to the pattern
formation, which makes it possible to reduce the coupled car following
equations to a single difference-differential equation (Rondo equation). To
demonstrate our approach, we employ a class of linear models which are exactly
solvable. We also introduce the concept of ``asymptotic trajectory'' to
determine and (the backward velocity of the pattern), the global
parameters associated with vehicles' collective motion in a congested flow, in
terms of parameters such as the sensitivity , which appeared in the original
coupled equations.Comment: 25 pages, 15 eps figures, LaTe
Psychopharmacological Treatment in the RAISE-ETP Study: Outcomes of a Manual and Computer Decision Support System Based Intervention
Maxwell Model of Traffic Flows
We investigate traffic flows using the kinetic Boltzmann equations with a
Maxwell collision integral. This approach allows analytical determination of
the transient behavior and the size distributions. The relaxation of the car
and cluster velocity distributions towards steady state is characterized by a
wide range of velocity dependent relaxation scales, , with
the ratio of the passing and the collision rates. Furthermore, these
relaxation time scales decrease with the velocity, with the smallest scale
corresponding to the decay of the overall density. The steady state cluster
size distribution follows an unusual scaling form . This distribution is primarily algebraic, , for , and is exponential otherwise.Comment: revtex, 10 page
Gas-kinetic derivation of Navier-Stokes-like traffic equations
Macroscopic traffic models have recently been severely criticized to base on
lax analogies only and to have a number of deficiencies. Therefore, this paper
shows how to construct a logically consistent fluid-dynamic traffic model from
basic laws for the acceleration and interaction of vehicles. These
considerations lead to the gas-kinetic traffic equation of Paveri-Fontana. Its
stationary and spatially homogeneous solution implies equilibrium relations for
the `fundamental diagram', the variance-density relation, and other quantities
which are partly difficult to determine empirically.
Paveri-Fontana's traffic equation allows the derivation of macroscopic moment
equations which build a system of non-closed equations. This system can be
closed by the well proved method of Chapman and Enskog which leads to
Euler-like traffic equations in zeroth-order approximation and to
Navier-Stokes-like traffic equations in first-order approximation. The latter
are finally corrected for the finite space requirements of vehicles. It is
shown that the resulting model is able to withstand the above mentioned
criticism.Comment: For related work see
http://www.theo2.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/helbing.htm
Comprehensive Versus Usual Community Care for First-Episode Psychosis: 2-Year Outcomes From the NIMH RAISE Early Treatment Program
The primary aim was to compare the impact of NAVIGATE, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, team-based treatment approach for first episode psychosis designed for implementation in the U.S. healthcare system, to Community Care on quality of life
Traffic and Related Self-Driven Many-Particle Systems
Since the subject of traffic dynamics has captured the interest of
physicists, many astonishing effects have been revealed and explained. Some of
the questions now understood are the following: Why are vehicles sometimes
stopped by so-called ``phantom traffic jams'', although they all like to drive
fast? What are the mechanisms behind stop-and-go traffic? Why are there several
different kinds of congestion, and how are they related? Why do most traffic
jams occur considerably before the road capacity is reached? Can a temporary
reduction of the traffic volume cause a lasting traffic jam? Under which
conditions can speed limits speed up traffic? Why do pedestrians moving in
opposite directions normally organize in lanes, while similar systems are
``freezing by heating''? Why do self-organizing systems tend to reach an
optimal state? Why do panicking pedestrians produce dangerous deadlocks? All
these questions have been answered by applying and extending methods from
statistical physics and non-linear dynamics to self-driven many-particle
systems. This review article on traffic introduces (i) empirically data, facts,
and observations, (ii) the main approaches to pedestrian, highway, and city
traffic, (iii) microscopic (particle-based), mesoscopic (gas-kinetic), and
macroscopic (fluid-dynamic) models. Attention is also paid to the formulation
of a micro-macro link, to aspects of universality, and to other unifying
concepts like a general modelling framework for self-driven many-particle
systems, including spin systems. Subjects such as the optimization of traffic
flows and relations to biological or socio-economic systems such as bacterial
colonies, flocks of birds, panics, and stock market dynamics are discussed as
well.Comment: A shortened version of this article will appear in Reviews of Modern
Physics, an extended one as a book. The 63 figures were omitted because of
storage capacity. For related work see http://www.helbing.org
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MEF2C-MYOCD and Leiomodin1 Suppression by miRNA-214 Promotes Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype Switching in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
BACKGROUND: Vascular hyperproliferative disorders are characterized by excessive smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation leading to vessel remodeling and occlusion. In pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), SMC phenotype switching from a terminally differentiated contractile to synthetic state is gaining traction as our understanding of the disease progression improves. While maintenance of SMC contractile phenotype is reportedly orchestrated by a MEF2C-myocardin (MYOCD) interplay, little is known regarding molecular control at this nexus. Moreover, the burgeoning interest in microRNAs (miRs) provides the basis for exploring their modulation of MEF2C-MYOCD signaling, and in turn, a pro-proliferative, synthetic SMC phenotype. We hypothesized that suppression of SMC contractile phenotype in pulmonary hypertension is mediated by miR-214 via repression of the MEF2C-MYOCD-leiomodin1 (LMOD1) signaling axis. METHODS AND RESULTS: In SMCs isolated from a PAH patient cohort and commercially obtained hPASMCs exposed to hypoxia, miR-214 expression was monitored by qRT-PCR. miR-214 was upregulated in PAH- vs. control subject hPASMCs as well as in commercially obtained hPASMCs exposed to hypoxia. These increases in miR-214 were paralleled by MEF2C, MYOCD and SMC contractile protein downregulation. Of these, LMOD1 and MEF2C were directly targeted by the miR. Mir-214 overexpression mimicked the PAH profile, downregulating MEF2C and LMOD1. AntagomiR-214 abrogated hypoxia-induced suppression of the contractile phenotype and its attendant proliferation. Anti-miR-214 also restored PAH-PASMCs to a contractile phenotype seen during vascular homeostasis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrate a key role for miR-214 in modulation of MEF2C-MYOCD-LMOD1 signaling and suggest that an antagonist of miR-214 could mitigate SMC phenotype changes and proliferation in vascular hyperproliferative disorders including PAH
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