Resilience Assignment Framework using System Dynamics and Fuzzy Logic.

This paper is concerned with the development of a conceptual framework that measures the resilience of the transport network under climate change related events. However, the conceptual framework could be adapted and quantified to suit each disruption’s unique impacts. The proposed resilience framework evaluates the changes in transport network performance in multi-stage processes; pre, during and after the disruption. The framework will be of use to decision makers in understanding the dynamic nature of resilience under various events. Furthermore, it could be used as an evaluation tool to gauge transport network performance and highlight weaknesses in the network. In this paper, the system dynamics approach and fuzzy logic theory are integrated and employed to study three characteristics of network resilience. The proposed methodology has been selected to overcome two dominant problems in transport modelling, namely complexity and uncertainty. The system dynamics approach is intended to overcome the double counting effect of extreme events on various resilience characteristics because of its ability to model the feedback process and time delay. On the other hand, fuzzy logic is used to model the relationships among different variables that are difficult to express in numerical form such as redundancy and mobility

A network mobility indicator using a fuzzy logic approach

This paper introduces a methodology to assess the mobility of a road transport network from the 3 network perspective. In this research, the mobility of the road transport network is defined as the 4 ability of the road transport network to connect all the origin-destination pairs within the network with 5 an acceptable level of service. Two mobility attributes are therefore introduced to assess the physical 6 connectivity and the road transport network level of service. Furthermore, a simple technique based 7 on a fuzzy logic approach is used to combine mobility attributes into a single mobility indicator in 8 order to measure the impact of disruptive events on road transport network functionality. 9 The application of the proposed methodology on a hypothetical Delft city network shows the ability of the technique to estimate variation in the level of mobility under different scenarios. The method allows the study of demand and supply side variations on overall network mobility, providing a new tool for decision makers in understanding the dynamic nature of mobility under various events. The method can also be used as an evaluation tool to gauge the highway network mobility level, and to highlight weaknesses in the network

Assessment of Strategies for Preparing Graduates for the Disruptive Workplace: Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa

The emergence of the 4th industrial revolution workplace and its accompanied disruptions across all industries require that Higher Education (HE) strategically aim at equipping graduates with transferable skills to navigate the disruptive workplace. This study aims at assessing the extent by which two identified strategies (experiential learning and career guidance activities) of equipping students with transferable skills are being used by HE in preparing graduates for the disruptive workplace. The study analysed perceptions of students (n=865) from six universities in two African countries, Nigeria and South Africa; on their level of engagements with the two strategies of experiential learning and career guidance activities. Mann–Whitney U tests of comparisons was used to compare the findings from the two countries while hierarchical regression analysis was employed to control for influence of gender and type of university on students’ perceived level of preparedness for work. Findings reveal gaps in students’ engagements with the two strategies; differences in employability perceptions between students in the two countries and; the role of contextual factors on the development of employability. This paper contributes to existing debate on employability by highlighting the extent at which the two identified strategies are adopted in universities in Nigeria and South Africa and, by interrogating the extent to which institutional strategic approaches to employability differ across different regional contexts. More importantly, suggestions on how to address the identified gaps in the provision of these strategies were made

Attachment and Treatment Response for PTSD Patients

Attachment is an important factor to address with trauma patients. Using an inpatient, group therapy setting can enhance the impact of treatment, increase secure attachments with others, and reduce trauma symptoms.York’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. [email protected] www.researchimpact.c

Analysing ride behaviours of shared e-scooter users – a case study of Liverpool

[EN] The shared e-scooter is a relatively new form of Micromobility service in urban transit. A better understanding of the use of the scheme will help operators and stakeholders promote this travel mode, contributing to a more sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and inclusive transportation system. The availability of high resolution sensor-based location data, when co-analysed with socio-demographic survey data allows insights on where, how, and by whom the service is used. This study focuses on analysing the usage pattern of a recently introduced shared e-scooter scheme in Liverpool, UK, combining survey data of users’ sociodemographic attributes and their full trip records at a fine spatiotemporal granularity. Recency-Frequency (RF) segmentation is used to categorise user behaviour based on their frequency and recency of usage, and a Functional Signatures (FS) dataset is used to enrich contextual information on the origin and destination of e-scooter trips. Overall, this study provides insights into the behaviour of users of shared e-scooters and how the behaviours might vary in different user groups regarding sociodemographic characteristics. The developed analysis framework is also readily transferable to other cities.This research has been sponsored by the Alan Turing Institute under grant number R-LEE006.Yang, Y.; Grant-Muller, S. (2023). Analysing ride behaviours of shared e-scooter users – a case study of Liverpool. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 289-296. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2023.2023.1642228929

An operational indicator for network mobility using fuzzy logic.

This paper proposes a fuzzy logic model for assessing the mobility of road transport networks from a network perspective. Two mobility attributes are introduced to account for the physical connectivity and road transport network level of service. The relative importance of the two mobility attributes has been established through the fuzzy inference reasoning procedure that was implemented to estimate a single mobility indicator. The advantage of quantifying two mobility attributes is that it improves the ability of the mobility indicator developed to assess the level of mobility under different types of disruptive events. A case study of real traffic data from seven British cities shows a strong correlation between the proposed mobility indicator and the Geo distance per minute, demonstrating the applicability of the proposed fuzzy logic model. The second case study of a synthetic road transport network for Delft city illustrates the ability of the proposed network mobility indicator to reflect variation in the demand side (i.e. departure rate) and supply side (i.e. network capacity and link closure). Overall, the proposed mobility indicator offers a new tool for decision makers in understanding the dynamic nature of mobility under various disruptive events

Empirical investigation of a tradable credits scheme on travel demand: a household utility based approach incorporating travel money and travel time budgets

We investigate the influence of a new mobility management measure, the tradable credits scheme (TCS), on the daily travel mode choices of individuals. Generally, we assume the individuals’ travel consists of different modes, e.g. private car mode and mass transit mode. In order to control the rapid increase in use of the private car mode in an area, policy makers may wish to implement a TCS basing on the VKT (vehicle kilometre travelled). The effects of the TCS are investigated in this paper based on a utility-theory travel demand model proposed by Golob et al. (1981), a household utility based model incorporating proposed travel money and travel time budgets. The empirical investigation is based on comparison studies of the short-term response and long-term effects with and without TCS. It finds that the implementation of TCS has not a clear impact to the value of time of household in the short-term, and the presence of TCS will not affect the linear relationship between travel time budget and travel money budget over long term. Numerical results demonstrate that the TCS will affect the travel distance of the available transport modes differentially, according to different levels of annual household income

Flow of DNA solutions in a microfluidic gradual contraction

The flow of λ-DNA solutions in a gradual micro-contraction was investigated using direct measurement techniques. The effects on DNA transport in microscale flows are significant because the flow behavior is influenced by macromolecular conformations, both viscous and elastic forces dominate inertial forces at this length scale, and the fully extended length of the molecule approaches the characteristic channel length wc (L/wc ∼ 0.13). This study examines the flow of semi-dilute and entangled DNA solutions in a gradual planar micro-contraction for low Reynolds numbers (3.7 × 10−6 \u3c Re \u3c 3.1 × 10−1) and high Weissenberg numbers (0.4 \u3c Wi \u3c 446). The semi-dilute DNA solutions have modest elasticity number, El = Wi/Re = 55, and do not exhibit viscoelastic behavior. For the entangled DNA solutions, we access high elasticity numbers (7.9 × 103 \u3c El \u3c 6.0 × 105). Video microscopy and streak images of entangled DNA solution flow reveal highly elastic behavior evidenced by the presence of large, stable vortices symmetric about the centerline and upstream of the channel entrance. Micro-particle image velocimetry measurements are used to obtain high resolution, quantitative velocity measurements of the vortex growth in this micro-contraction flow. These direct measurements provide a deeper understanding of the underlying physics of macromolecular transport in microfluidic flow, which will enable the realization of enhanced designs of lab-on-a-chip systems

Deletional Analysis of the rod Photoreceptor Cell Peripherin/RDS Carboxy-Terminal Region

The C-terminal region of peripherin/rds contains three predicted α-helical domains. One of these domains, corresponding to amino acids 311-322, form an amphiphilic α-helix previously shown to promote membrane fusion. The present studies were conducted to determine how the additional α-helical regions of the peripherin/rds C-terminus affect complex formation with rom-1, glycosylation, intracellular localization and membrane fusion properties. Bovine peripherin/rds and rom-1 were epitope tagged with an amino-terminal FLAG-tag or amino-terminal hemagglutinin (HA)-tag, respectively, and cloned into the pCI-neo expression vector for transient transfection into COS cells. Similarly, four C-terminal peripherin/rds truncation mutants (Δ1, Δ2, Δ3 and Δ4), corresponding to deletions of -19, -29, -39 and -59 amino acids were designed to disrupt the α-helical domains. Immunofluorescence microscopy and enzymatic digestions demonstrated that full-length peripherin/rds and the four C-terminal deletion mutants were localized to intracellular membranes and were all Endo-H sensitive. Western blotting and immunoprecipitation studies showed that the FLAG-tagged bovine peripherin/rds (full-length) was expressed as a 76 kDa dimer, which associates with HA-tagged rom-1 to form a higher order complex. The deletion mutants were also able to associate with rom-1. However, when analyzed using non-denaturing tricine electrophoresis, full-length peripherin/rds and the Δ1, Δ2 and Δ3 mutants formed homo-oligomeric complexes, while the Δ4 mutant appeared to form only homodimers suggesting a region upstream of amino acid 300 may be involved in C-terminal interactions. Membrane fusion was then evaluated using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (RET) techniques. Intracellular COS cell membranes containing full-length peripherin/rds fused with rod outer segment plasma membrane vesicles. This fusion was inhibited with the addition of a synthetic peptide (PP-5) corresponding to the fusion domain of peripherin/rds. In contrast, fusion was negligible with any of the C-terminal truncation mutants. Collectively, these results suggest that in addition to the fusion domain, other regions of the peripherin/rds C-terminus are required for fusion. Most interesting is the observation that the last 19 amino acids, a region downstream of the fusion peptide that is deleted in the Δ1 mutant, appear to be necessary for fusion. This region corresponds to the epitope for anti-peripherin/rds monoclonal antibody 2B6, which is shown to partially inhibit peripherin/rds mediated membrane fusion. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd

Deletional Analysis of the Rod Photoreceptor Cell Peripherin/RDS Carboxy-Terminal Region

The C-terminal region of peripherin/rds contains three predicted α-helical domains. One of these domains, corresponding to amino acids 311–322, form an amphiphilic α-helix previously shown to promote membrane fusion. The present studies were conducted to determine how the additional α-helical regions of the peripherin/rds C-terminus affect complex formation with rom-1, glycosylation, intracellular localization and membrane fusion properties. Bovine peripherin/rds and rom-1 were epitope tagged with an amino-terminal FLAG-tag or amino-terminal hemagglutinin (HA)-tag, respectively, and cloned into the pCI-neo expression vector for transient transfection into COS cells. Similarly, four C-terminal peripherin/rds truncation mutants (Δ1, Δ2, Δ3 and Δ4), corresponding to deletions of −19, −29, −39 and −59 amino acids were designed to disrupt the α-helical domains. Immunofluorescence microscopy and enzymatic digestions demonstrated that full-length peripherin/rds and the four C-terminal deletion mutants were localized to intracellular membranes and were all Endo-H sensitive. Western blotting and immunoprecipitation studies showed that the FLAG-tagged bovine peripherin/rds (full-length) was expressed as a 76 kDa dimer, which associates with HA-tagged rom-1 to form a higher order complex. The deletion mutants were also able to associate with rom-1. However, when analyzed using non-denaturing tricine electrophoresis, full-length peripherin/rds and the Δ1, Δ2 and Δ3 mutants formed homo-oligomeric complexes, while the Δ4 mutant appeared to form only homodimers suggesting a region upstream of amino acid 300 may be involved in C-terminal interactions. Membrane fusion was then evaluated using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (RET) techniques. Intracellular COS cell membranes containing full-length peripherin/rds fused with rod outer segment plasma membrane vesicles. This fusion was inhibited with the addition of a synthetic peptide (PP-5) corresponding to the fusion domain of peripherin/rds. In contrast, fusion was negligible with any of the C-terminal truncation mutants. Collectively, these results suggest that in addition to the fusion domain, other regions of the peripherin/rds C-terminus are required for fusion. Most interesting is the observation that the last 19 amino acids, a region downstream of the fusion peptide that is deleted in the Δ1 mutant, appear to be necessary for fusion. This region corresponds to the epitope for anti-peripherin/ rds monoclonal antibody 2B6, which is shown to partially inhibit peripherin/rds mediated membrane fusion