Route planning of raw materials transportation in the industrial hub of Mariupol city

Булгакова, Ю. В. Планирование маршрута доставки сырья в условиях Мариупольского промышленного узла / Ю. В. Булгакова, Т. А. Гуцал // Вісник Приазовського державного технічного університету : зб. наукових праць / ПДТУ. – Маріуполь, 2017. – Вип. 34. – С. 217–224. – (Серія : Технічні науки).На основании анализа транспортной системы Украины составлены возможные маршруты доставки железорудного концентрата (ЖРК) на металлургические комбинаты Мариуполя в смешанном сообщении. Учитывая особенности технологии поставок ЖРК, разработана модель многокритериального принятия решений для оценки и выбора оптимального маршрута доставки ЖРК, основанная на теории нечетких множеств. Модель реализована в программной среде MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Tool Box.На підставі аналізу транспортної системи України складено можливі маршрути доставки залізорудного концентрату (ЗРК)на металургійної комбінати Маріуполя в змішаному сполученні. Враховуючи особливості технології поставок ЗРК, розроблено модель багатокритеріального прийняття рішень для оцінки та вибору оптимального маршруту доставки ЗРК, засновану на теорії нечітких множин. Модель реалізована в програмному середовищі MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Tool Box.The multi-modal freight transportation routes planning problem is viewed in this paper. The case study of iron ore deliveries to the metallurgical enterprises of Mariupol from Kryvyi Rih is presented. Based on the analysis of Ukrainianrailroads and sea ports infrastructures six possible routes of multi-modal iron ore transportationare built. The paper presents a short review of route planning problem in multimodal freight transportations, which are use sea and land parts together, regarding decision support methods of routes evaluation and selection. The lack of studies dedicated to fuzzy logic theory application for solving the stated problems is identified. The relevance of fuzzy set application to the route planning problem is proved. Taking into account the peculiarities of iron ore transportations technology, the following criterions of routes evaluation are chosen: «transportation costs», «delivery times», «transportation risks». The model of multicriterion decision-making of routes evaluation and the optimal route selection, based on fuzzy logic theory, is developed. Criteria of routes evaluation are set by three terms Gaussian and sigmoidal membership functions. The approach to each function construction is practice-based and executed together with iron ore supply chain manager. The model is created in MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Tool Box environment using Mamdani’s fuzzy inference

Chronic endometritis and infertility — in vitro fertilization outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background. The relevance of the problem is related to the high prevalence of chronic endometritis (CE); its role in female infertility, implantation failures during assisted reproductive technology procedures, and recurrent miscarriage; as well as the lack of a unified strategy in the diagnosis and treatment of this pathology. The present systematic review with a meta-analysis focuses on evaluating the impact of CE and its therapy on the outcome of in vitro fertilization. In addition, the effect of CE of various severity on the outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies is analyzed. Objective. To analyze the effect of CE of varying severity and its treatment on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization. Methods. Using PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Embase, ELibrary, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), WHO International Clinical Trials Registry, and Russian Science Citation Index, a systematic search was conducted for articles published over the past 12 years that met the following criteria: randomized controlled trial examining the effect of CE of varying severity on fertility and ways to treat it. The following indicators were calculated: ongoing pregnancy/live birth, clinical pregnancy, and miscarriage rates. A total of 4145 patients (from ten studies) were included. A meta-analysis was performed using Stata 11.0 software (The Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK). The heterogeneity was considered low at I2 <30%, moderate at 30–50%, and high at >50%. Results. Women with CE exhibited lower ongoing pregnancy/live birth (OR 1.97; p = 0.02) and clinical pregnancy rates (OR 2.28; p = 0.002) as compared to women without it. CE treatment increased the ongoing pregnancy/live birth (OR 5.33; p < 0.0001) and clinical pregnancy rates (OR 3.64; p = 0.0001). In vitro fertilization outcomes were comparable in women treated for CE and women without CE (ongoing pregnancy/live birth rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and miscarriage rate: p = ns). Women with severe CE exhibited lower ongoing pregnancy/live birth (OR 0.43; p = 0.003) and clinical pregnancy rates (OR 0.40; p = 0.0007). Mild CE showed no significant effect on in vitro fertilization outcomes (ongoing pregnancy/ live birth rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and miscarriage rate: p = ns). Conclusion. The conducted meta-analysis showed that CE significantly reduces the ongoing pregnancy/live birth and clinical pregnancy rates in infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Noteworthy is that antimicrobial therapy in such patients improves the results of assisted reproductive technologies, which are comparable to those of patients without CE. The negative impact of this pathology on the implantation capacity of the endometrium is most often observed in the severe form, while its mild form has virtually no effect on the in vitro fertilization outcome

Ultrafast laser micro-nano structuring of transparent materials with high aspect ratio

Ultrafast lasers are ideal tools to process transparent materials because they spatially confine the deposition of laser energy within the material's bulk via nonlinear photoionization processes. Nonlinear propagation and filamentation were initially regarded as deleterious effects. But in the last decade, they turned out to be benefits to control energy deposition over long distances. These effects create very high aspect ratio structures which have found a number of important applications, particularly for glass separation with non-ablative techniques. This chapter reviews the developments of in-volume ultrafast laser processing of transparent materials. We discuss the basic physics of the processes, characterization means, filamentation of Gaussian and Bessel beams and provide an overview of present applications

Mechanisms of high-regularity periodic structuring of silicon surface by sub-MHz repetition rate ultrashort laser pulses

Silicon is one of the most abundant materials which is used in many areas of modern research and technology. A variety of those applications require surface nanopatterning with minimum structure defects. However, the high-quality nanostructuring of large areas of silicon surface at industrially acceptable speed is still a challenge. Here, we report a rapid formation of highly regular laser-induced periodic surface structures (HR-LIPSS) in the regime of strong ablation by infrared femtosecond laser pulses at sub-MHz repetition rate. Parameters of the laser-surface interactions and obtained experimental results suggest an important role of electrostatically assisted bond softening in initiating the HR-LIPSS formation