Hierarchical Levels Research Articles

How to apply the four-step model for 150,000 travel zones: The HIPAT model

Current European transport demand models following the classical four-step approach are less suitable for analysing the traffic volumes on inter-regional road infrastructure with relevant demand of regional trips, as they consider only about 10% of the trip demand with passenger cars. Mainly due to runtime problems, these models are limited to operation at the NUTS-3 level. This level comprises around 1500 regions for Europe with an average diameter of about 50km. However, more than 90% of the trips are shorter than 50km and are, therefore, not adequately considered in the trip distribution model and the trip matrix. Computing this matrix at a higher spatial resolution, such as the LAU-2 level, is not possible as the runtime of the overall model and the size of the trip matrix increase quadratically with the number of travel zones. In the HIPAT model, this obstacle is overcome by an innovative concept operating at different hierarchical levels. This reduces the complexity of the trip matrix, such that the HIPAT model can be applied at large scale for 150,000 travel zones without any runtime problems. This is demonstrated by a prototype implementation for a case study that handles 33,000 travel zones in two minutes. In addition, the limitations of applying NUTS-3-based travel zones for transport modelling are shown: 94.6% of the trips are shorter than the average diameter of the travel zones (50km) and are therefore not correctly represented by the model. Smaller travel zones decrease this number and provide a better basis for analysing infrastructure policies and, ultimately, for decision-making.

Comparative Study of Two Himalayan Snow Trouts, Schizothorax esocinus and Schizothorax curvifrons Within the Schizothoracinae and Other Nearest Relatives of Cyprinidae, Inferred from Mitochondrial Sequences of Cytochrome b (Cyt-b) and Cytochrome Oxidase I (Co-I) Gene.

The Himalayan region encompasses varied aquatic ecosystems, characterized by the presence of diverse ichthyofauna, particularly represented by members of the Schizothorax genus, commonly referred to as snow trout. The primary objective of this work was to examine the molecular phylogeny of Schizothoracinae, specifically focusing on the two species, Schizothorax esocinus and Schizothorax curvifrons, which are known to inhabit the northern and north-eastern regions of the Himalayas. This investigation was conducted by analyzing the entire mitochondrial Cyt-b and Co-I gene sequences. The aligned Cyt-b and Co-I sequences for S. esocinus, S. curvifrons, and related members within the subfamily Schizothoracinae, spanned 1130 to 1141 and 1536 to 1551 base pairs, respectively. Using these gene, phylogenetic trees were created to compare Schizothoracinae species to other subfamilies of the family Cyprinidae (Barbinae, Alburninae, Leuciscinae, Xenocyprinae, Cyprininae, and Cultrinae). Genetic distances for Cyt-b and Co-I sequence at three hierarchical levels shows significant disparities in their average score. For Cyt-b, average p-distances for intraspecies, intragenus, and intrafamily were 2.13%, 4.1%, and 15.23%, respectively. Similarly, for Co-I, average p-distances were 1.19%, 3.6%, and 13.8% for intraspecies, intragenus, and intrafamily, respectively. Total number of haplotypes (h) based on Cyt-b and Co-I gene were 6 and 12 within the target Schizothorax spp. In the present study, the observed range of haplotype diversity (hd) for the Cyt-b gene varied from 0.00 to 0.847, with an average haplotype diversity of 0.847 ± 0.034. Similarly, for the Co-I gene, the observed haplotype diversity ranged from 0.00 to 0.931, with an average value of haplotype diversity estimated to be 0.931 ± 0.024. The results of the present study clearly shows that the representative species exhibited close affinities with members of Barbinae and Cyprininae, while other subfamilies formed distinct groups. The findings of the study also indicated that the Cyt-b and Co-I gene exhibits polymorphism and has the potential to serve as a marker for identifying genetic differentiation among populations based on ecological habitats. Mitochondrial Cyt-b and Co-I have been established as a universally accepted and validated genetic marker within a comprehensive bio-identification system at the species level.

Conservation genetics of the endangered California Freshwater Shrimp (Syncaris pacifica): watershed and stream networks define gene pool boundaries

Understanding genetic structure and diversity among remnant populations of rare species can inform conservation and recovery actions. We used a population genetic framework to spatially delineate gene pools and estimate gene flow and effective population sizes for the endangered California Freshwater Shrimp Syncaris pacifica. Tissues of 101 individuals were collected from 11 sites in 5 watersheds, using non-lethal tissue sampling. Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers were developed de novo using ddRAD-seq methods, resulting in 433 unlinked loci scored with high confidence and low missing data. We found evidence for strong genetic structure across the species range. Two hierarchical levels of significant differentiation were observed: (i) five clusters (regional gene pools, FST = 0.38–0.75) isolated by low gene flow were associated with watershed limits and (ii) modest local structure among tributaries within a watershed that are not connected through direct downstream flow (local gene pools, FST = 0.06–0.10). Sampling sites connected with direct upstream-to-downstream water flow were not differentiated. Our analyses suggest that regional watersheds are isolated from one another, with very limited (possibly no) gene flow over recent generations. This isolation is paired with small effective population sizes across regional gene pools (Ne = 62.4–147.1). Genetic diversity was variable across sites and watersheds (He = 0.09–0.22). Those with the highest diversity may have been refugia and are now potential sources of genetic diversity for other populations. These findings highlight which portions of the species range may be most vulnerable to future habitat fragmentation and provide management consideration for maintaining local effective population sizes and genetic connectivity.

The relationship between event boundary strength and pattern shifts across the cortical hierarchy during naturalistic movie-viewing.

Our continuous experience is spontaneously segmented by the brain into discrete events. However, the beginning of a new event (an event boundary) is not always sharply identifiable: phenomenologically, event boundaries vary in salience. How are the response profiles of cortical areas at event boundaries modulated by boundary strength during complex, naturalistic movie-viewing? Do cortical responses scale in a graded manner with boundary strength, or do they merely detect boundaries in a binary fashion? We measured "cortical boundary shifts" as transient changes in multi-voxel patterns at event boundaries with different strengths (weak, moderate, and strong), determined by across-subject agreement. Cortical regions with different processing timescales were examined. In auditory areas, which have short timescales, cortical boundary shifts exhibited a clearly graded profile both in group-level and individual-level analyses. In cortical areas with long timescales, including the default mode network, boundary strength modulated pattern shift magnitude at the individual subject level. We also observed a positive relationship between boundary strength and the extent of temporal alignment of boundary shifts across different levels of the cortical hierarchy. Additionally, hippocampal activity was highest at event boundaries for which cortical boundary shifts were most aligned across hierarchical levels. Overall, we found that event boundary strength modulated cortical pattern shifts strongly in sensory areas and more weakly in higher-level areas, and that stronger boundaries were associated with greater alignment of these shifts across the cortical hierarchy.

Outlier classification for microbiological open set recognition

Precise detection and effective intervention of pathogenic microorganisms are pivotal to ensure crop yield. Traditional open set recognition methods distinguish unknown classes, i.e., those not involved in training, as outliers or separate classes, which is insufficient for real-world applications like recognizing airborne microorganisms and particles. In this paper, a new setting for the classification of outliers for open set recognition is proposed. The proposed method classifies unknown classes while achieving the classification of known classes, treating each category in the open set equally. The two cores of the method are hierarchical feature representation and feature gallery construction. To enhance the feature representation, this paper proposes a novel architectural module of spatial attention on region hierarchy, namely SPARC. This module extracts features from hierarchical levels and models spatial interaction through the attention mechanism. With the induction of local-to-global description, minute differences with ambiguous appearances between classes can be detected, and the negative effects of image quality degradation can be ameliorated. Furthermore, a feature gallery containing the feature representation from both known and unknown classes is developed for feature retrieval. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model, the first dataset composed of agricultural microorganisms, named SMAD, is constructed, and experiments are conducted on existing datasets and the newly proposed SMAD dataset. The experimental results outperform the prior art on these datasets under both the outlier rejection and outlier classification settings.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Developing Local Digital Heritage Content and Investigating Localized Digital Solutions

Abstract The digital divide, in my view, is not only created due to the lack of local contents but also due to the fact that few digital contents from local sources are found in the digital libraries of higher education in Ethiopia. Likewise, the creation and dissemination of local contents could be facilitated not only by the presence of local digital contents but also by the presence of usable digital technology at a local level. This article aims to give a practical solution to bridging the digital divide by unlocking local heritage knowledge through creating digital contents from locally grown literary heritage as well as by developing a localised digital library system. Therefore, this article presents the research processes and results that were undertaken to unlock local heritage knowledge and developed the localised digital library system: customising a free and open-source software; digitising and translating the local literary heritage contents; and building the digitised and translated literary heritage contents into the localised digital libraries, which Greenstone digital library software was used to customise into local use. The English version of the Greenstone user interface (macro files) was translated into the Tigrinya language, one of the locally spoken languages in Ethiopia. For translation purposes, a list of suitable and compatible Tigrinya words and phrases that basically fit with the meaning of the English version of the Greenstone spreadsheet was developed. As a result of this translation work, the Tigrinya language interface has become one of the languages that are included in Greenstone digital library software version 2.83 for the first time (Language short name=ti “long name=ትግርኛ (Tigrinya)” default encoding=utf-8). To unlock the heritage knowledge and build the localised digital library with local digital collections, a sample of Ethiopia’s ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts were digitised and translated into Tigrinya and English languages. To facilitate the retrieval of information and to be easily recognised by internet search engines in the Tigrinya language, a local specific metadata standard for Ethiopia’s ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts was developed at three hierarchical levels, at manuscript level, at chapter level and at page level, with each translated page tagged using HTML. To facilitate the link between the translated text and the corresponding digital image, an “item” file was created using a WordPad. As a result, three collections were built into the customised digital library: the digitised image of the Abushakir manuscript as well as the Tigrinya and English translated texts of the same manuscripts. The functionality and usability of the localised digital system was tested by searching keywords and browsing titles from the built collection of the Tigrinya text and the original digital image of the manuscript. The result of this test shows that the localised digital library system is capable of allowing end-users to discover the information they want at the granular level from digital content of the local literary heritage. Therefore, further manuscript collection through digitisation, translating into local language and building the digitised collection into this localised digital library system is necessary for wider access to the local literary heritage digital content and for bridging the digital divide in the long-term.

Dynamics of China’s natural cities and their living structures derived from nighttime lights and populated grids

The term “natural cities” refers to human settlements or human activities in general that are naturally or objectively defined. In this study, we utilized the head/tail breaks method to identify natural cities and characterize their living structures in mainland China from 2000 to 2020. This identification was based on nighttime light (NTL) and gridded population distribution (GPD) data, which, respectively, indicate urban areas and residential settlements. Furthermore, we explicitly identified the evolutions of two distinct categories of natural cities and the dynamics of their inherent living structures. Our objective was to verify that the head/tail breaks method is a powerful approach to deriving natural cities that signify various types of human settlements from diverse data sources, while also effectively characterizing their living structures. Also, this article contributes a novel perspective to examine the inequality between the urban-area expansion and the evolution of residential settlements in urban areas (or urban settlements). Our findings reveal a substantial increase in both the number and sizes of urban areas over time. However, there was an intriguing trend observed in urban settlements, where an increasing number corresponded to a gradual decrease in size. Additionally, the inequality exhibited regional disparities and rapidly developing regions showed a higher potential to enter a turning year of urban areas surpassing urban settlements. The dynamics of living structures show that urban settlements always had more hierarchical levels, more substructures, a much higher degree of order, and a much more living (orderly or beautiful) structure than urban areas. The urban-area expansion in mainland China was extremely rapid over the past decades, but the evolution of urban settlements was more “natural” than that (i.e., it consistently generated a living structure characterized by a higher degree of order).

CONTROL ALGORITHM FOR IMPLEMENTING THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF SCENARIO MANAGEMENT AS A TOOL FOR ENSURING SECURITY OF A STRATEGIC FACILITY

The article first considers the mathematical model of scenario management as a security tool for a strategic object. Then, it develops the structure of the control algorithm for implementing this mathematical model. The study concludes with the structure of the algorithm and the need to establish basic procedures for its application. Ukraine at war faces a wide range of tasks to protect the state, including ensuring the safety of critical infrastructure objects (CIO). Many methods, namely scenario analysis methods, can be applied to ensure the security of the CIO and other strategic objects. Based on these methods, the authors develop a mathematical model of scenario management as a security tool for a strategic object. The problem lies in the practical use of the developed mathematical model to ensure the safety of a specific CIO. Based on the above, the article aims to create a control algorithm for the implementation of a mathematical model of scenario management as a tool for ensuring the security of a strategic object. For this purpose, the study sets such objectives as considering the mathematical model of scenario management as a tool for ensuring the security of a strategic object, developing the structure of the control algorithm for implementing this mathematical model, analysing it, and drawing a conclusion about the structure of the algorithm and the need to establish basic procedures for its application. Thus, the control algorithm for implementing the mathematical model of scenario management as a tool for ensuring the security of a strategic object is a hierarchical structure of thirteen blocks (or modules) located on twelve hierarchical levels, connected by direct and feedback links. It ensures the formation of private tasks of securing a strategic object, choosing a scenario management option, countering terrorist influence, eliminating consequences, preparing for a repeated attack, assessing the object’s state, and clarifying private tasks of ensuring security. For the correct practical use of this control algorithm when solving tasks related to the protection of strategic objects and critical infrastructure facilities, it is necessary to develop detailed procedures for its application. Keywords: critical infrastructure object, scenario management, algorithm, mathematical model, emergency.

A new framework for hierarchical multi-objective energy hub planning considering reliability

The concept of an Energy Hub (EH) is a promising approach for constructing a Multi-Energy System (MES). The configuration of equipment within the EH is crucial for ensuring the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of MES. This paper introduces a novel hierarchical energy hub planning (H-EHP) approach for EH configuration, employing a multi-objective optimization algorithm to plan optimal EH configurations. Utilizing an epsilon constraint-based Pareto front technique, H-EHP optimizes EH capacity, location, and number of installations at each hierarchical level, and economic and reliability feasibility of the system is hierarchically evaluated. The H-EHP is modeled in three stages for result analysis: 1) Power-to-Power (P2P) equipment-based modeling, 2) Power-to-Gas (P2G) equipment-based modeling, and 3) Sector Coupling (SC) equipment-based modeling. The distribution network and various operating characteristics, along with constraints of EH equipment, are modeled. A novel analysis method based on Branch Rolling is introduced for the reliability assessment of EH-linked distribution network. Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) is employed to identify the optimal H-EHP that minimizes both economic and reliability aspects through an epsilon-constrained Multi-Objective Problem (MOP). Testing on the IEEE-33 bus system and a 7-node gas system confirms the superiority of the proposed theory through three casestudies. The results show that cost-effectiveness and system reliability are analyzed for each EH stage. Notably, HL1, relying solely on electrical equipment, exhibits poor cost-effectiveness. HL2, incorporating P2G-based equipment, demonstrates significant improvements with F1 enhanced by 29.64 % and F2 by 19.07 %. The HL3 outcome highlights the Sector-Coupling (SC) effect, with F1 and F2 showing improvements of 34.85 % and 45.58 %, respectively, compared to HL1. The analysis of hierarchical EH configuration and results underscore the efficacy of the H-EHP method for optimal EH planning.

Adoption and diffusion of organizational innovation, the winning mantra for growth: A case of manufacturing SMEs in Pakistan

This multiple case study qualitative research examined the impact of adoption and diffusion of innovation on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) growth in the hostile business landscape of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This research is intended to investigate research data and consequent findings based on an interview protocol that was purposefully developed from extant literature, complemented by an initial pilot study of two pharmaceutical SMEs. The researcher conducted 20 interviews, guided by the semi-structured interview protocol offered to the respondents beforehand after sorting their informed consent. The 20 participants represented the different hierarchal levels of the 08 case study of pharmaceutical from the two industrial clusters of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, located at the Hayatabad Industrial Estate, Peshawar, and the Rashkai Industrial Estate, Nowshera. The analysis of the data presented findings and corroborated the research propositions that those SMEs that are structurally entrepreneurial and adopt innovation amenably, are open to mobility and tourism, yield satisfactory results in terms of their growth as compared to those that are inertial and unentrepreneurial. Similarly, the results offer confirmation that the effectiveness of government agencies that are explicitly formed to address the problems of small businesses is insufficient. They rather create hindrances than assistance due to the excessive delays in approving innovative ideas and conceptions by these related organizations and ministries. Moreover, the proposed framework offers pragmatic recommendations to contextualize entrepreneurial culture and innovative structures in SMEs and their essential factors in critical environmental circumstances.

Anti-corruption campaign in China: An empirical investigation

We create a database of officials who have been found guilty of corruption in China in the period 2012-21 with their personal characteristics and the amount of embezzled funds. We use it to investigate the correlates of corruption, estimate the effects of corruption on inequality, and find the expected increase in officials' income due to corruption and the gain in income distribution ranking. We find that the amount of corruption is positively associated with education, administrative (hierarchical) level of the official, and years of membership in the Communist Party. The sample of corrupt officials belongs to the upper income ranges of Chinese income distribution even without corruption. But corruption allows them to accede to an even higher position in income distribution. While only one-half of the corrupt officials would be in the top 5 percent of China's urban distribution without illegal incomes, practically all are in the top 5 percent when corrupt income is included.

To Gain Sustainable Competitive Advantages (SCA) Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Over Competitors

The motivation behind this examination is to explore the relationship between AI, DC, and SCA in the telecom business in Pakistan. The paper embraced a quantitative exploration plan and utilized a survey method to collect data from 235 telecom sector employees and managers of three distinct hierarchical levels. The paper applied SEM to examine the hypotheses and analyse the data. The paper found that artificial intelligence affected digital capacity (DC), DC meaningfully affected SCA, and DC intervened in the impact of AI on SCA. The study adds to the works on the link between AI, DC, and SCA in the telecom business. It gives experimental proof to help the hypotheses that artificial intelligence influences DC, DC influences SCA, and DC explains the impact of AI on SCA. The paper gives helpful experiences to telecom sector employees and policymakers. It suggests that telecom companies should make investments in AI technologies and applications to improve their DC, which can help them gain a competitive advantage. Also, it recommends that policymakers work with and support the telecom business to execute DC and AI because these advancements can help financial development, effectiveness, and innovation. The research aims to identify the association between AI, DC, and SCA in the telecom industry in Pakistan. It offers an original viewpoint on how artificial intelligence can improve DC and how DC can prompt SCA in the telecom business.

Security Ontology in a Virtual University

Abstract In this paper we propose a cybersecurity ontology model designed for universities, aiming to facilitate the management and protection of sensitive data and information within the context of the growing cybersecurity threats. The proposed ontology includes four distinct hierarchical levels: the basic level, the conceptual level, the instance level and the relationships level. At the basic level, it defines essential terms and principles of cybersecurity, including concepts like vulnerability, threat, cyber-attack, security policies and security rules. At the conceptual level, the ontology categorizes information and cybersecurity systems, embracing domains such as data protection, authentication, authorization, and auditing. At the instance level, the ontology describes specific examples of information and cybersecurity systems used in universities, such as the library management system or the accounting management system. At the relationships level, the ontology establishes links between different categories of information and cybersecurity systems, as well as between these systems and the entities that use them, such as students, professors and administrative staff. By implementing this cybersecurity ontology, universities can improve the management and protection of their sensitive data and information, as well as respond more efficiently to cybersecurity threats.

An ontology of mechanisms of action in behaviour change interventions

Background Behaviour change interventions influence behaviour through causal processes called “mechanisms of action” (MoAs). Reports of such interventions and their evaluations often use inconsistent or ambiguous terminology, creating problems for searching, evidence synthesis and theory development. This inconsistency includes the reporting of MoAs. An ontology can help address these challenges by serving as a classification system that labels and defines MoAs and their relationships. The aim of this study was to develop an ontology of MoAs of behaviour change interventions. Methods To develop the MoA Ontology, we (1) defined the ontology’s scope; (2) identified, labelled and defined the ontology’s entities; (3) refined the ontology by annotating (i.e., coding) MoAs in intervention reports; (4) refined the ontology via stakeholder review of the ontology’s comprehensiveness and clarity; (5) tested whether researchers could reliably apply the ontology to annotate MoAs in intervention evaluation reports; (6) refined the relationships between entities; (7) reviewed the alignment of the MoA Ontology with other relevant ontologies, (8) reviewed the ontology’s alignment with the Theories and Techniques Tool; and (9) published a machine-readable version of the ontology. Results An MoA was defined as “a process that is causally active in the relationship between a behaviour change intervention scenario and its outcome behaviour”. We created an initial MoA Ontology with 261 entities through Steps 2-5. Inter-rater reliability for annotating study reports using these entities was α=0.68 (“acceptable”) for researchers familiar with the ontology and α=0.47 for researchers unfamiliar with it. As a result of additional revisions (Steps 6-8), 23 further entities were added to the ontology resulting in 284 entities organised in seven hierarchical levels. Conclusions The MoA Ontology extensively captures MoAs of behaviour change interventions. The ontology can serve as a controlled vocabulary for MoAs to consistently describe and synthesise evidence about MoAs across diverse sources.

Emergent Synchronous Volumetric Oscillation in Hierarchically Structured Self-Oscillating Gel Clusters.

Emergent properties accompanying synchronization among oscillators are vital characteristics in biological systems. Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillators are an artificial model to study the emergence and synchronization in life. This research represents a self-oscillating gel system with clusterable properties to experimentally examine synchronous and emergent properties at a fundamental hierarchical level. Incorporating acrylic acid (AAc) moieties within the gel network facilitates cluster formation through hydrogen bonding in an acidic BZ substrate solution. Upon clustering, both homogeneous and heterogeneous gel assemblies─ranging from double to quadruple clusters─exhibit increased and synchronized periods and amplitudes during the BZ reaction. Notably, in heterogeneous clusters, gel units with initially short periods and small volumetric amplitudes display a significant increase, aligning with the lonfger periods and larger amplitudes of other elements within the cluster, an emergent property. This research can pave the way for a better understanding of synchronous and emergent properties in biological oscillators such as cardiomyocytes.

What inhibits “speaking up” for patient safety among healthcare workers? A cross-sectional study in Malaysia

BackgroundIn healthcare, “speaking up” refers to when healthcare workers raise concerns regarding patient safety through questions, sharing information, or expressing their opinion to prevent harmful incidents and ensure patient safety. Conversely, withholding voice is an act of not raising concerns, which could be beneficial in certain situations. Factors associated with speaking up and withholding voices are not fully understood, especially in strong authoritarian societies, such as Malaysia. This study aimed to examine the factors associated with speaking up and withholding the voices of healthcare workers in Malaysia, thus providing suggestions that can be used in other countries facing similar patient safety challenges.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Sarawak State, Malaysia. Data were collected from 474 healthcare workers from 43 departments using a self-administered questionnaire for speaking up and withholding voices measures in 4 weeks prior to data analysis as well as socio-demographic factors of healthcare workers (sex, age group, profession, department, weekly work hours for patient care, years of employment in the hospital, and the hierarchical level) and speaking up related climate of the working environment were recorded. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Logistic regression was performed to find out (adjusted) odds ratio of frequent speaking up and withholding voices.ResultsNurse compared to doctors and healthcare workers with short weekly working hours were more likely to speak up. Healthcare workers in emergency and intensive care department, those with short years of employment, and those who worked at low hierarchical levels were less likely to speak up. Healthcare workers in discouraging environment towards speaking up were more likely to withhold their voices.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the characteristics of healthcare workers who speak up and those who withhold their voices in Malaysia. To ensure patient safety and prevent harm, it is essential to establish an encouraging environment that promotes speaking up and prevents withholding voices among healthcare worker, especially in circumstances where multiple types of healthcare workers with different socio-demographic backgrounds work together.

Scientific foundations of the infrastructure system research of rural areas

The article systematizes the scientific principles of research into the infrastructure system of rural areas. The purpose of the article is to generalize the theoretical foundations of the infrastructure systems study of rural areas based on the provisions of systemic, evolutionary, structural-functional, spatial approaches, principles study of sustainable development, strategic management and substantiation of the methodological foundations for studying the specifics of the rural areas infrastructure. The most common approaches to the definition of the concept of «infrastructure» are identified: service, in which infrastructure is considered as the basis of public service, production activity, etc.; reproductive - infrastructure is the basis for reproduction of goods, services, life activities, etc.; complex - infrastructure as a complex of objects; systemic - infrastructure as a system, a set of objects interconnected with each other and the external environment; spatial - infrastructure as the forming basis of the region, local territory. It has been established that in modern research, infrastructure is considered as a system-wide concept, an approach to its understanding is being formed as a separate integral system, as well as a subsystem of the second order, in particular, spatial, socio-economic. Itis argued that the spatial approach to the understanding of infrastructure has become the most widespread in the research of the infrastructure of rural areas. It is substantiated that spatial studies of infrastructure involve considering it not only as a service system, but also as a means of development, a communication connecting platform for territories, the full functioning of which determines the systemic effects of branch and regional components of spatial formations, socio-economic systems. The theoretical aspects of the regional infrastructure concept which are based on an interdisciplinary approach, based on a combination of key provisions of the regional and spatial economics theory, systems theory, evolutionary economics, and infrastructure theory, have been supplemented. The definition of the «infrastructural system of arural area» concept is proposed as a dynamic complementary structure that forms and transforms the spatial basis of socio-economic activity at the area rural level, ensures the development of interconnected, interacting systems, elements, objects of various territories hierarchical levels based on mutual complementarity. Key words: infrastructure, infrastructure system, rural areas, spatial economy, evolutionary economy, system approach, infrastructure theories.

End-to-End Top-Down Load Forecasting Model for Residential Consumers

This study presents an efficient end-to-end (E2E) learning approach for the short-term load forecasting of hierarchically structured residential consumers based on the principles of a top-down (TD) approach. This technique employs a neural network for predicting load at lower hierarchical levels based on the aggregated one at the top. A simulation is carried out with 9 (from 2013 to 2021) years of energy consumption data of 50 houses located in the United States of America. Simulation results demonstrate that the E2E model, which uses a single model for different nodes and is based on the principles of a top-down approach, shows huge potential for improving forecasting accuracy, making it a valuable tool for grid planners. Model inputs are derived from the aggregated residential category and the specific cluster targeted for forecasting. The proposed model can accurately forecast any residential consumption cluster without requiring any hyperparameter adjustments. According to the experimental analysis, the E2E model outperformed a two-stage methodology and a benchmarked Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) model by a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2.27%.

Developing CBTC system safety requirement hierarchy through STPA methodology

Safety-critical systems, such as the railway signal system, are subject to potentially high costs from failures, including loss of life and property damage. The use of new technology, including communication-based train control (CBTC) systems with software and computers, has changed the types of accidents that occur. Software-related issues and dysfunctional interactions between system components controlled by the software are increasingly the cause of incidents. Developing a “safe” safety-critical system requires accurate and complete safety requirements, which are the foundation of system development. Traditional hazard analysis techniques are insufficient for identifying the causes of accidents in modern railway signaling systems. Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) is a powerful new hazard analysis method designed to address these limitations. Building upon this foundation, a hierarchical approach to safety requirement development has been further developed. This approach combines STPA analysis with a hierarchical modeling approach to establish traceability links from safety requirements to specific architectures, refine and allocate system-level safety requirements to relevant subsystems, and abstract safety requirements at higher hierarchical levels to enable easy changes to lower-level implementations. This paper employs the aforementioned methodology within the context of the CBTC system, thereby enhancing risk management and hazard analysis, enabling early insights, and facilitating the generation of safety requirements of CBTC System.

When inequality means equity: horizontal wage dispersion and the propensity to leave current employment across different organizational settings

Abstract Extant research holds that horizontal wage dispersion (i.e., wage dispersion within a hierarchical level in a firm) induces employees to leave their employment. Based on social comparison theory, we nuance this by theoretically and empirically uncovering contingencies under which horizontal wage dispersion is associated with employees staying in their current employment. Specifically, we focus on firm size and decentralization as relevant organizational contingencies. In large as opposed to small firms, employees’ productivity may vary significantly within hierarchical levels, causing employees to consider high horizontal wage dispersion as equitable. In decentralized firms, there is more delegation of responsibilities to employees at lower levels in the hierarchy, creating more room for individual differentiation in terms of contributions and thus legitimizing horizontal wage dispersion. Our empirical analysis based on matched employer–employee data from Denmark strongly supports our predictions. Our study reveals the organizational contingencies where horizontal wage dispersion can be used as a retention tool.