Function Of Location Research Articles

Flight-Based Control Allocation: Towards Human–Autonomy Teaming in Air Traffic Control

It is widely recognized that airspace capacity must increase over the coming years. It is also commonly accepted that meeting this challenge while balancing concerns around safety, efficiency, and workforce issues will drive greater reliance on automation. However, if automation is not properly developed and deployed, it represents something of a double-edged sword, and has been linked to several human–machine system performance issues. In this article, we argue that human–automation function and task allocation may not be the way forward, as it invokes serialized interactions that ultimately push the human into a problematic supervisory role. In contrast, we propose a flight-based allocation strategy in which a human controller and digital colleague each have full control authority over different flights in the airspace, thereby creating a parallel system. In an exploratory human-in-the-loop simulation exercise involving six operational en route controllers, it was found that the proposed system was considered acceptable after the users gained experience with it during simulation trials. However, almost all controllers did not follow the initial flight allocations, suggesting that allocation schemes need to remain flexible and/or be based on criteria capturing interactions between flights. In addition, the limited capability of and feedback from the automation contributed to this result. To advance this concept, future work should focus on substantiating flight-centric complexity in driving flight allocation schemes, increasing automation capabilities, and facilitating common ground between humans and automation.

Tissue-specific, temporal, and core gene-dependent expression patterns of Hsp70s reveal functional allocation in Chlamys farreri under heat stress

Heat shock proteins 70 KDa (Hsp70s) engage in a broad spectrum of cellular functions in response to various stressors. Marine bivalves face substantial threats from the rising seawater temperature attributed to global warming. In the present study, expression patterns of Hsp70s in Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri (CfHsp70s) were determined in embryos and larvae at all developmental stages, in healthy adult tissues, and across four various tissues exposed to high temperature for acute and chronic periods through in silico analysis. Spatiotemporal expressions suggested CfHsp70s performed specific functional differentiations in scallop's development and growth. Regulatory expression patterns of CfHsp70s, characterized by predominant down-regulation in the mantle, gill and hemocytes, as well as contrasting up-regulation in the heart, suggest differential functional allocation of CfHsp70s among tissues in response to heat stress. Particularly, a core set of 14 CfHsp70s, especially the nine members of the Hsp70B2s, characterized by gene expansion, intron-less structure, shorter gene length, preference for hydrophilic amino acids, and coordinated expression profiles, was predominantly responsible for the inducible up-regulations observed across all four tissue types. Collectively, the tissue-specific, temporal and core gene-dependent expression patterns of CfHsp70s illustrate the functional allocation and molecular evolution of Hsp70 family members in Zhikong scallops.

End-to-end latency upper bounds and service chain deployment algorithm based on industrial internet network

The diverse service requests in industrial Internet networks require flexible and efficient service chain deployment to ensure the quality of service (QoS). However, current deployment algorithms for service chains are primarily designed to guarantee only low end-to-end latency; they often overlook the amount of service chains that can be accommodated by the network and could lead to severe network load imbalances, significantly reducing service efficiency and causing serious network congestion issues. To address the above issues, we develop a mathematical model of the network topology and service request chains by integrating Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN). Utilizing network calculus theory, we derive the upper bound of end-to-end delay for service chain routing and analyzed the relationship between the upper bound of service chain routing delay and the resource allocation of Virtual Network Function (VNF) nodes. Based on the aforementioned model, we propose a novel service chain deployment algorithm named the Delay-Aware Load-Balanced Routing Algorithm (DLBRA). DLBRA comprehensively considers network traffic load balancing and end-to-end latency of service chains, rationally allocating VNF node resources to complete the determined service chain routing deployment. Experimental results indicate that, compared to the shortest path and load balancing algorithms, DLBRA not only ensures that the end-to-end delay of the service chain meets its QoS requirements, but also effectively reduces network load imbalance, significantly increasing the number of service chain requests that the network can accommodate. Additionally, DLBRA provides tailored deployment guidance for different types of service chains, such as latency-sensitive and data-intensive service chains, ensuring optimal utilization of network resources. This algorithm enhances the efficiency of service chain deployment in industrial internet scenarios and possesses broad application potential in other network environments where delay optimization and load balancing are critical, such as intelligent transportation, cloud computing, and 5G networks.

Iterative Function Allocation of Single Pilot Operations Based on Biclustering Method

The successful transition from a two-pilot to a single-pilot mode cannot solely rely on simply augmenting advanced automation in the cockpit. The degree of support provided by functions at different levels of automation varies, and introducing new functions simultaneously brings new demands for the single pilot, leading to imbalanced workload. To address these shortcomings and enhance the rationality of function allocation under workload constraints, this paper introduces an iterative function allocation method. Initially, the functions are categorized and classified into different levels of automation to obtain the initial function allocation scheme. Subsequently, a novel bicluster mining algorithm called K-Miner is proposed to identify elements requiring iterative design. As a case study, the multitask surface scenario in SPO is considered. By applying the proposed iterative design method, the task performance of the single pilot is improved, the workload of the single pilot is effectively reduced, and situational awareness is improved to a certain extent.

Promotion of good governance within local government: a case of municipal public accounts committee in South Africa

The aim of this article was to explore the role of Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) in promoting good governance, with the contextual setting being Blouberg Local Municipality. There is general consensus among academics, practitioners and policy makers alike in South Africa that the allocation of functions and responsibilities of municipal council and that of executives are often not clear, thus creating confusion in the officialdom and weakening oversight structures including MPAC. Hence the qualified audit reports in four consecutive years in Blouberg Municipality (see Auditor General, 2016-2021), signals internal failure not only to improve the municipal financial health status but to promote good governance generally. Methodologically, the study adopted qualitative designs and used interviews as instrument to collect data from key members of the committee. Consequently, the study revealed many underlying weaknesses, but the critical one was the demonstrable poor capacity within the committee which is twofold; (1) lack of expertise to facilitate oversight and (2) insufficient budget to enable performance of the Committee. Essentially, these challenges affect the proper functioning of MPAC which is constitutionally bestowed the responsibility of holding the executive accountable and guard against any misappropriation of municipal funds. The study recommended a number of solutions to improve the state of MPAC in the municipality, amongst them were that, council should develop an integrated reporting mechanism framework to conduct an oversight role which can be done with the assistance from experts in governance. The committee’s programme of action must also be funded, sufficiently.

Towards fault-tolerance of IMA with safe dynamic reconfiguration

Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) is essential to modern avionics. It increases the possibilities for reuse of software and hardware resources by system integrators, through the use of standardized communication interfaces and operating system services. Meanwhile, the safety requirements of DO-297 dictate that the system architecture must prevent common cause failures and that a single failure cannot disable any critical function. As a result, critical functions have to be allocated redundantly to additional resources at integration-time. In the spirit of IMA, it may be desirable to pool together these resources so that they can be allocated to any critical function at run-time. For this, a way to redefine the communication between individual allocations of functions is necessary. In this paper, we demonstrate and evaluate a prototypical implementation of a message router that allows us to dynamically reconfigure the communication between the allocated functions, using only standardized communication interfaces and operating system services of ARINC 653. We discuss the safety implications of such an approach and how it may be possible to mitigate them, evaluate the feasibility of our approach using a combination of end-to-end delay measurements and on-target tracing, and verify our assumptions about the individual factors contributing to the end-to-end delay using a discrete event simulation. We find that the approach is feasible, but the usefulness for critical functions is limited by the communications overhead from routing the messages, insufficient real-time guarantees of standardized operating system services, and missing global time synchronization.

Adaptive Kriging-based method with learning function allocation scheme and hybrid convergence criterion for efficient structural reliability analysis

Adaptive Kriging-based method with learning function allocation scheme and hybrid convergence criterion for efficient structural reliability analysis

Functional allocation of Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) unveils thermotolerance in scallop Argopecten irradians irradians

Global warming has significantly impacted agriculture, particularly in animal husbandry and aquaculture industry. Rising ocean temperatures due to global warming are severely affecting shellfish production, necessitating an understanding of how shellfish cope with thermal stress. The mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling pathway plays a crucial role in cell growth, differentiation, adaptation to environmental stress, inflammatory response, and managing high temperature stress. To investigate the function of MAPKs in bay scallops, a comparative genomics and bioinformatics approach identified three MAPK genes: AiERK, Aip38, and AiJNK. Structural and phylogenetic analyses of these proteins were conducted to determine their evolutionary relationships. Spatiotemporal expression patterns were examined at different developmental stages and in various tissues of healthy adult scallops. Additionally, the expression regulation of these genes was studied in selected tissues (hemocyte, gill, heart, mantle) following exposure to high temperatures (32 °C) for different durations (0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 3 d, 6 d, 10 d). The spatiotemporal expressions of AiMAPKs were ubiquitous, with significant increases in AiERK expression observed at the umbo larval stage (3.09-fold), while Aip38 and AiJNK were identified as potential maternal effect genes. In adult scallops, different gene expression patterns of AiMAPKs were observed across eight tissues, with high expressions in the foot and gill, and lower expressions in the striated muscle. Following high temperature stress, AiMAPKs expressions in the gill and mantle were mainly up-regulated, while in the hemocyte, they were primarily down-regulated. These findings indicate time- and tissue-dependent expression patterns with functional allocation in response to different thermal durations. This study enhances our understanding of the function and evolution of AiMAPKs genes in shellfish and provides a theoretical basis for elucidating the energy regulation mechanism of bay scallops in response to high temperature stress.

Exploring Traditional Nepalese Building Techniques and Timber’s Role Structural Integrity

This paper aims to explore traditional Nepalese building construction techniques and the significant role of timber in enhancing the structural integrity and longevity of these buildings. With a long history of utilizing materials that are readily available locally, particularly wood, clay, stone, Nepal a country renowned for its rich architectural legacy has built buildings employing these resources. The study delves into the various traditional building techniques employed in Nepal, including the intricate craftsmanship and cultural significance associated with them. Additionally, it investigates the unique properties of timber that make it an ideal choice for construction in the Nepalese context. The finding talks about the construction of buildings various techniques which are employed to assemble structures. This includes information, on building materials, functional space allocation and the terminologies used in building construction. These terminologies hold value as they are derived from our tradition, in building construction technology. The findings of this research can serve as a valuable resource for architects, engineers, conservationists, and policymakers involved in the restoration and sustainable development of traditional Nepalese buildings.

Exploratory Literature Review on Shared Leadership to Aid Collaboration and Function Allocation in Human-Autonomy Teams

Exploratory Literature Review on Shared Leadership to Aid Collaboration and Function Allocation in Human-Autonomy Teams

Cellulose based molecularly imprinted polymer by hydroxyl functional allocation strategy with dual selectivity of boric acid affinity and molecular structure limitation to bortezomib: Preparation strategy, selectivity exploration, and metabolism study

Bortezomib is widely recognized as an effective drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma, but its metabolism in vivo has not been reported. There are extremely high requirements for selectivity and enrichment ability of pretreatment methods due to the complex biological matrix and trace metabolites. Urgently, a novel magnetic porous cellulose molecularly imprinted polymers (B-MPCMIP) based on bortezomib was developed for the first time using the magnetic porous cellulose (MPC) as the both carrier and functional monomer by the hydroxyl functional allocation strategy of cellulose, which showed the dual selectivity towards bortezomib through the boric acid affinity and molecular structure limitation. Firstly, the cis dihydroxy groups of cellulose was occupied by phenylboronic acid; then, another hydroxyl group in cellulose was modified by silane reagent to introduce reaction site for grafting MIP; subsequently, the phenylboronic acid was removed to release the cis dihydroxy groups of cellulose as the functional monomer for MIP; finally, MIP was prepared on the surface of MPC with the MPC as the both carrier and functional monomer for obtaining B-MPCMIP, which can recognize the bortezomib through the boric acid affinity molecular structure limitation. A series of characterization studies showed that B-MPCMIP had a porous structure, good thermal stability, ultra-high magnetism, mesoporous structure, and superhydrophilicity. B-MPCMIP showed good adsorption capacity (Qmax: 4.4 mg/g) and fast adsorption effect (adsorption equilibrium time: 30 min). Adsorption capacity of B-MPCMIP were also inspected under different temperature and pH conditions. The strong pH adsorption dependence indicates that B-MPCMIP mainly adsorbs bortezomib through the boric acid affinity, as the affinity between the cis dihydroxy groups in B-MPCMIP and the boric acid group in bortezomib is strongest at pH 8.5. Furthermore, B-MPCMIP exhibited excellent selectivity towards bortezomib with the imprinting factor, selectivity coefficient, and relative selectivity coefficient up to 8.6, 17, and 14, respectively. B-MPCMIP had outstanding reusability and stability, which remained 96 % of adsorption capacity after multiple recycling. B-MPCMIP-HPLC and B-MPCMIP-UPLC-MS/MS methods were successfully applied to enrich and detect bortezomib and its metabolites in mouse plasma and liver. The methods showed good selectivity, sensitivity, and accuracy. The maximum concentration of bortezomib in plasma and liver was detected as 34.3 μg/mL and 84.2 μg/mL. And six metabolites of bortezomib through oxidative deboronation were triumphantly detected and identified by B-MPCMIP-UPLC-MS/MS method.

DATFNets-dynamic adaptive assigned transformer network for fire detection

Fires cause severe damage to the ecological environment and threaten human life and property. Although the traditional convolutional neural network method effectively detects large-area fires, it cannot capture small fires in complex areas through a limited receptive field. At the same time, fires can change at any time due to the influence of wind direction, which challenges fire prevention and control personnel. To solve these problems, a novel dynamic adaptive distribution transformer detection framework is proposed to help firefighters and researchers develop optimal fire management strategies. On the one hand, this framework embeds a context aggregation layer with a masking strategy in the feature extractor to improve the representation of low-level and salient features. The masking strategy can reduce irrelevant information and improve network generalization. On the other hand, designed a dynamic adaptive direction conversion function and sample allocation strategy to fully use adaptive point representation while achieving accurate positioning and classification of fires and screening out representative fire samples in complex backgrounds. In addition, to prevent the network from being limited to the local optimum and discrete points in the sample from causing severe interference to the overall performance, designed a weighted loss function with spatial constraints to optimize the network and penalize the discrete points in the sample. The mAP in the three baseline data sets of FireDets, WildFurgFires, and FireAndSmokes are 0.871, 0.909, and 0.955, respectively. The experimental results are significantly better than other detection methods, which proves that the proposed method has good robustness and detection performance.

Determining glycosyltransferase functional order via lethality due to accumulated O-antigen intermediates, exemplified with Shigella flexneri O-antigen biosynthesis.

The O antigen (OAg) polysaccharide is one of the most diverse surface molecules of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. The structural classification of OAg, based on serological typing and sequence analysis, is important in epidemiology and the surveillance of outbreaks of bacterial infections. Despite the diverse chemical structures of OAg repeating units (RUs), the genetic basis of RU assembly remains poorly understood and represents a major limitation in assigning gene functions in polysaccharide biosynthesis. Here, we describe a genetic approach to interrogate the functional order of glycosyltransferases (GTs). Using Shigella flexneri as a model, we established an initial glycosyltransferase (IT)-controlled system, which allows functional order allocation of the subsequent GT in a 2-fold manner as follows: (i) first, by reporting the growth defects caused by the sequestration of UndP through disruption of late GTs and (ii) second, by comparing the molecular sizes of stalled OAg intermediates when each putative GT is disrupted. Using this approach, we demonstrate that for RfbF and RfbG, the GT involved in the assembly of S. flexneri backbone OAg RU, RfbG, is responsible for both the committed step of OAg synthesis and the third transferase for the second L-Rha. We also show that RfbF functions as the last GT to complete the S. flexneri OAg RU backbone. We propose that this simple and effective genetic approach can be also extended to define the functional order of enzymatic synthesis of other diverse polysaccharides produced both by Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.IMPORTANCEThe genetic basis of enzymatic assembly of structurally diverse O antigen (OAg) repeating units (RUs) in Gram-negative pathogens is poorly understood, representing a major limitation in our understanding of gene functions for the synthesis of bacterial polysaccharides. We present a simple genetic approach to confidently assign glycosyltransferase (GT) functions and the order in which they act during assembly of the OAg RU. We employed this approach to determine the functional order of GTs involved in Shigella flexneri OAg assembly. This approach can be generally applied in interrogating GT functions encoded by other bacterial polysaccharides to advance our understanding of diverse gene functions in the biosynthesis of polysaccharides, key knowledge in advancing biosynthetic polysaccharide production.

Features of the Implementation of Micro-Interfaces in Information Systems

Microservices are a software development technique, or variant of the service-oriented architecture structural style, that organizes an application as a collection of loosely coupled services. The purpose of the work is to study the methodology for the design and implementation of information systems using micro-interfaces in order to improve the quality and speed of their development and facilitate their use. The article proposes a method of transforming the software system architecture from monolithic to microservice architecture. A brief review of existing architecture reengineering research has been provided and the advantages of a microservice approach have been identified. At the second stage, a transition to a modular architecture with the allocation of functionality into separate modules has been proposed. An experiment with a typical external single page application demonstrates the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Legal Regulation of E-courts in Ukraine as an Element of Access to Justice for the Protection of Individual Rights

The purpose of the research is to consider electronic judicial procedure as an element of access to justice regarding protection of rights of individuals. The assessment of the effectiveness of the judicial system in Ukraine in 2023 was 2.73 points on a 5-point scale. The judicial index consists of three equivalent components: the assessment of the level of trust in the judicial system of the CEOs of the EVA member companies, which this year was 2.17 points; the assessment of the impartiality of the judicial system, which is 2.88; and the average assessment of seven factors of the organization and operation of the judicial system, which is 3 and 13 points. It has been established that that certain elements of digitalization of social processes change the social space and, in particular, the mechanisms of judicial proceedings. In the process of the development of society, certain factors came to life and these factors led to the growth of the role of information and, and therefore, to a clearer allocation of the information function in the field of jurisprudence. The following conclusion was made: the need to use information technologies in the judiciary is due to the global informatization of modern society and the development of new forms of interaction in the civil sphere with the use of electronic means of communication: the global Internet, mobile and satellite communication systems, etc. “E-court” involves the use of information and communication technologies in the process of implementing procedural legislation. The novelties of the judicial system are aimed at expanding accessibility of justice in conditions of territorial peculiarities of the Ukrainian state, improving the quality of the process and efficiency, and achieving transparency and openness in the judicial system.

A Team Cognition Measurement Method for Single Pilot Operations Human-Machine System Design

Team cognition is an important indicator to reflect the trend of single pilot operation (SPO) human-machine system team performance. How to measure team cognition to explore different function allocation decisions before the implementation of prototypes or simulators has become a significant step in the early SPO human-machine system design. Therefore, this article proposed a team cognition measurement method based on the social network analysis (SNA) method, namely cognitive social network analysis (CSNA). The CSNA method firstly identified the nodes, edge directions and channel resource values of each task; secondly calculated the cognitive demands of each task based on multiple resource theory; thirdly summed the cognitive demands of the same task to construct the association matrix; and finally calculated global and nodal network metrics. The results of the study showed that (1) the CSNA method could identify design flaws of the initial SPO human-machine system; (2) the CSNA method increased the ability to identify the changes in both the cognitive demands of tasks and the overall workloads of human agents compared to the SNA method; (3) the CSNA method could help researchers make reasonable design suggestions to improve the team performance of the redesigned SPO human-machine system. The above results not only verify the feasibility of the CSNA method, but also show that the CSNA method is superior to the current SNA method.

Protection of the best interests of a child in the medical field (According to the legislation in force in Georgia)

International and Georgian legislation recognises the priority of protecting a child's best interests. While discussing any issues related to a minor, the discussion starts by considering the best interests. The present article relates to protecting the best interests of a child in the field of healthcare when receiving medical services and the exact allocation of functions and duties of the involved decision-making parties to provide guaranteed protection of the best interests of a child. Protection of the best interests of a child includes both the immediate identification of the possible child abuse fact and any long-term interest that may influence the child’s development and psycho-emotional state. A legal representative acting on behalf of a child mainly decides on the medical services provided to the minor. Each case will be evaluated individually to guarantee the protection of a child’s rights and best interest. However, before assessing the protection of a child’s best interests in the medical field, the concept of the child’s best interests will be discussed in general. Acting within the framework of the medical legislation, medical workers play the leading role in the process of providing medical services to minors. That is why the constant involvement of the healthcare system is necessary to eliminate the gaps and barriers under consideration. To ensure the balance between parental authority and the child’s autonomous decision-making, the individual case must be evaluated, and a unified objective must be established using a multidisciplinary approach. The standard research method of the record of medical legislation clearly shows the conflict of interest occurring when considering the best interests of a child and the inevitable violation of the child’s unconditional right to be heard.

Theoretical Foundations of the Service Sector Functioning at the Present Stage

Introduction. The modern context of a practical shift towards the service sector requires to study it from a theoretical perspective. Despite a sufficient number of publications on the topic of services, many authors do not provide corresponding grounds when identifying classification groups of services. This article focuses on the specific aspects of clarifying the concept of "service", essential classification of services and functions. Materials and Methods. The theoretical basis of the research included articles from peer-reviewed journals and monographs on the topic under study. A wide range of general scientific methods was applied in the research, including analysis and synthesis, abstract-logical, systemic analysis and others. Results. Characteristics of material and immaterial services were provided in comparison, which allows for a better emphasis on the features of their provision and consumption. This approach takes into account the specifics of consumers and their role in the process, as well as the qualifications of the personnel when planning activities in the service sector. Important issues of service compatibility and service function allocation are addressed. The study highlights the need to include education and culture in the value-oriented function of services. Due to the inability of consumers to clearly express their social and spiritual needs, the authors argue for the importance and tasks of service industry workers to assist clients in forming their essential needs. Conclusions. The article compares the most important characteristics of service differentiation based on various classifications, including its specificity, evaluation, producers, producer-consumer relationships, and production technology.

Enabling Human-Autonomy Teaming in Aviation: A Framework to Address Human Factors in Digital Assistants Design

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in aviation necessitates more research into human-autonomy teaming in these domain settings. This paper describes the development of a design framework for supporting Human Factors novices in considering human factors, improving human-autonomy collaboration, and maintaining safety when developing AI tools for aviation settings. Combining elements of Hierarchical Task Analysis, Coactive Design, and Types and Levels of Autonomy, the design framework provides guidance in three phases: modelling and understanding the existing system and associated tasks; producing a new function allocation for optimal Human-Autonomy Teaming (HAT); and assessing HAT-related risks of the proposed design. In this framework, designers generate a comprehensive set of design considerations to support subsequent development processes. Framework limitations and future research avenues are discussed.

Single-molecule tracking reveals the functional allocation, in vivo interactions, and spatial organization of universal transcription factor NusG

During transcription elongation, NusG aids RNA polymerase by inhibiting pausing, promoting anti-termination on rRNA operons, coupling transcription with translation on mRNA genes, and facilitating Rho-dependent termination. Despite extensive work, the invivo functional allocation and spatial distribution of NusG remain unknown. Using single-molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging in live E.coli cells, we found NusG predominantly in a chromosome-associated population (binding to RNA polymerase in elongation complexes) and a slowly diffusing population complexed with the 30S ribosomal subunit; the latter provides a "30S-guided" path for NusG into transcription elongation. Only ∼10% of NusG is fast diffusing, with its mobility suggesting non-specific interactions with DNA for >50% of the time. Antibiotic treatments and deletion mutants revealed that chromosome-associated NusG participates mainly in rrn anti-termination within phase-separated transcriptional condensates and in transcription-translation coupling. This study illuminates the multiple roles of NusG and offers a guide on dissecting multi-functional machines via invivo imaging.