The Ageing, Longevity and Crowding Out Effects on Private and Public Savings: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Analysis

Life-cycle theory predicts ageing exerting long-term macroeconomic impacts through the reduction of private savings. Ageing can be brought either through a fall in fertility rates or a rise in longevity. However, empirical research studying macroeconomic determinants of savings generally regard age dependency as the measure capturing the process of ageing, overlooking longevity exerting an opposite impact on private savings. Since longevity and dependency are correlated determinants of private savings, omitting either potentially causes omitted variable bias. This paper considers the joint effects age dependency and longevity have on savings. In contrast to the wider literature, not only private, but also public, savings was studied. Applying dynamic panel modelling techniques to a dataset of 55 countries from 1972-2004, age dependency is found to still exert a negative effect on private savings. However, it is found that some of these reductions can potentially be offset by increased longevity. The study also reveals some level of crowding out of private sector savings associated with changes in public sector savings and find that the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis cannot be entirely dismissed.

microRNA-33a-5p increases radiosensitivity by inhibiting glycolysis in melanoma.

Glycolysis was reported to have a positive correlation with radioresistance. Our previous study found that the miR-33a functioned as a tumor suppressor in malignant melanoma by targeting hypoxia-inducible factor1-alpha (HIF-1α), a gene known to promote glycolysis. However, the role of miR-33a-5p in radiosensitivity remains to be elucidated. We found that miR-33a-5p was downregulated in melanoma tissues and cells. Cell proliferation was downregulated after overexpression of miR-33a-5p in WM451 cells, accompanied by a decreased level of glycolysis. In contrast, cell proliferation was upregulated after inhibition of miR-33a-5p in WM35 cells, accompanied by increased glycolysis. Overexpression of miR-33a-5p enhanced the sensitivity of melanoma cells to X-radiation by MTT assay, while downregulation of miR-33a-5p had the opposite effects. Finally, in vivo experiments with xenografts in nude mice confirmed that high expression of miR-33a-5p in tumor cells increased radiosensitivity via inhibiting glycolysis. In conclusions, miR-33a-5p promotes radiosensitivity by negatively regulating glycolysis in melanoma

Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability?

As foci of economic activity, resource consumption, and the production of material waste and pollution, cities represent both a major hurdle and yet also a source of great potential for achieving the goal of sustainability. Motivated by the desire to better understand and measure sustainability in quantitative terms we explore the applicability of thermodynamic entropy to urban systems as a tool for evaluating sustainability. Having comprehensively reviewed the application of thermodynamic entropy to urban systems we argue that the role it can hope to play in characterising sustainability is limited. We show that thermodynamic entropy may be considered as a measure of energy efficiency, but must be complimented by other indices to form part of a broader measure of urban sustainability

Automated Contingency Management for Water Recycling System

NASA’s exploration program envisions the utilization of a Deep Space Habitat (DSH) for human exploration of the space environment in the vicinity of Mars and beyond. Communication latency and extreme limitations of power and life-supporting resources make it imperative to operate the DSH systems in a highly autonomous fashion. One such system is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) which needs to be monitored and optimized to support its designated missions. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) technologies have been developed in the past decades to provide a real-time assessment of system health and use this information to improve system safety and reduce operation cost. The goal of this study is to apply the ISHM principle to ECLSS, and bring in innovative solutions to address several key elements that NASA has been soliciting in its recent research announcements. To achieve this goal, Water Recycling System (WRS) deployed at NASA Ames Research Center’s Sustainability Base is selected as a testbed. Efforts are then made to develop a physics-based model with high fidelity fault simulations and data-driven model enhancements. With the system in place, an Automatic Contingency Management (ACM) system concept is introduced to embrace the fault diagnosis, prognosis, and automated fault accommodation through control reconfiguration and optimization, thus contingencies in the system are managed automatically without human in the loop. The ACM system architecture and key enabling techniques are developed. The fault diagnosis and prognosis task are accomplished by a novel method combining Lebesgue sampling (LS) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF) that allows computing resources to be allocated efficiently based on system health conditions without sacrificing performance. Multi-Stage PID and Time-Varying Weight Model Predictive Control (MPC) based fault mitigation strategies are designed for automatic fault accommodation which allows the integration of diagnostics and prognostics in the control strategy. Special consideration is given to distinguish sensor faults from system component faults since faulty sensor information could confuse the ACM system if not addressed sufficiently. Overall, the development and enhancements of WRS modeling, the ACM system architecture for the WRS, as well as the novel fault diagnosis and control algorithms constitute the major contributions from this study

How is logistics management developed under the e-business environment

The advancement of information technology has made the application of e-commerce an essential trend in the development of modern enterprises. It has an active role in all aspects of business development, from internal to external, from functional to business. Logistics is a business that is accompanied by the development of each enterprise. In the era of technology, logistics also needs to adapt to the development of the times and become more intelligent and efficient. The dissertation studies the technologies involved in the field of e-business, as well as the characteristics of different logistics types and application environments. As changes in business processes inevitably accompany technology applications, this paper also studies the concepts and methods of enterprise process management to find that in the e-business environment, logistics management needs to apply new technology, pay attention to employee care, pay attention to information security, and consider the sustainable development of logistics

Effects of Foundation Models on Jack-up Site Assessment

In order to investigate effects of different foundation models on jack-up site assessment, numerical simulation of a jack-up is presented based on fix joint, pin joint, linear springs and elastic-plastic model. The hull, leg, hull-leg connection is modelled using equivalent beam, beam element, spring element, respectively. Environmental loads, such as steady current, wind, wave, inertial load and buoyancy, are also included in the numerical model. Static and natural frequency extraction analysis of the jack-up is then performed in elevated condition. Finally, static and natural response rules are proposed for the four foundation models. The results show that, the horizontal hull displacement, maximum leg stress, loads on spudcan B and horizontal moment on spudcan A decrease as the rotational stiffness increases, while the natural frequency, vertical load and horizontal load on spudcan A increase with the increasing rotational stiffness. And the responses for elastic-plastic model are close to the pin joint. The proposed modelling and analyzing method is effective and reliable, which could provide guidance for jack-up development and assessment.Key words: Jack-up; Fix joint; Pin joint; Linear springs; Elastic-plastic model; Numerical simulatio

EvoAgents: A Cognitive-Driven Framework for Personality Evolution in Generative Agent Society

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly advancing, providing innovative tools and methods for a wide range of applications. Among these, Generative Agents, a key domain in GenAI, are valued for their fine-grained definitions and simulations of human-like behaviors. These agents provide new avenues for studying and modeling various domains, including social interactions, education, and cognitive sciences. However, existing works suffer from cognitive dynamics disconnect and affective absence, which hinder researchers from exploring human-related cognitive processes in depth. To address these limitations, we propose EvoAgents, a novel cognitive-driven framework that pioneers the exploration of dynamic personality evolution in Generative Agents. By defining the emotional content of agents and integrating a cyclical personality evolution cycle, EvoAgents represent a significant step toward creating more adaptive and authentic agent behaviors. Comprehensive simulations and evaluations show that EvoAgents achieve superior performance in key automated metrics compared to prior work, while uniquely enabling reasonable and robust personality evolution processes that align with cognitive and psychological expectations. By constructing a new simulation environment, SmallClassroom, based on the EvoAgents framework, we validate the framework's ability to provide deeper cognitive insights into social dynamics, aligning closely with established psychological theories

Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Water Regime Detection System

An intelligent water regime detection system was designed for water detection. In the designed system, water level is detected by a pressure sensor and water pH is detected by a pH meter. After being processed by the AD chip TLC2543, the data are sent to the MCU via serial communication and the detection result is displayed on OLED screen or Bluetooth mobile phone. The software adopts time-sharing and power-down operation modes, and combines the relay to turn on/off the MCU peripheral circuit to reduce power consumption. The measurement deviations of water level, pH, and voltage were respectively less than 2 mm, 0.1, and 0.01 V and the minimum operating current was less than 6 mA. The low-power, high-precision and intelligent water regime detection is realized by the designed system