Interdependent Components Research Articles

Electric Power Grid Disruptions: A Time Series Examination

It is important to empirically assess both the viability and defensibility of the national electric grid, which is becoming more complex with increasingly interdependent components. Moreover, the nation's critical infrastructure would quickly become degraded with prolonged grid outages that impact electrical power production and distribution.This study examines time series data for 2,825 cases involving power outages in the U.S. over a 20‐year (246‐month) period, from January 2000 through June 2020. Data was acquired from the U.S. Department of Energy. Severe weather caused the majority of power outages recorded, but human factors accounted for a significant number of incidents. We found that 46% of electrical power outage causes relate to natural or weather‐related events, 28% to grid system operations or failures, and 25% to human interactions. Further, we found that cyber‐attack data was less forthcoming than other types of grid outage reporting. Based on these data, the number of power outages and energy loss attributable to outages continues to rise, while the duration of electric outages and the number of customers affected are declining.

Performance measurement in the parallel interdependent processes systems under decentralized and centralized modes

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric technique that is widely used in measuring the performance (efficiency) of decision-making units (DMUs). Many network DEA models have been built to investigate the internal structure of a system, which was considered a “black box” in traditional DEA models. However, the interdependent relationship between system components is rarely considered in performance evaluation. Interdependent processes system has become common in production systems because of complex competition. In this study, we build a novel DEA model to investigate the efficiency of a parallel system with two interdependent components. Furthermore, decentralized and centralized models are built to respectively measure the efficiency of DMUs in decentralized and centralized organization modes. The analysis shows that fewer inputs can produce more outputs but fewer wastes among the components under the centralized mode. Finally, our approach is verified through a numerical example and an application to Chinese high-level universities.

Risk Framework for an Organizational System With Major Components

Many large organizations accomplish their various functions through interactions across their major components. Components refers to functional entities within a large complex organization, such as business sectors, academic departments, or regional divisions. The dependency between the various components can cause risk to propagate through their overall system. This article presents a risk assessment framework that integrates risk across a diverse set of components to the overall organization functions. This project addresses three major challenges: aggregating risk, estimating component interdependencies including cycles of dependencies, and propagating risk across components. The framework aggregates risk assessments through a value function for severity that is evaluated at the expected outcome of accomplishing planned goals in terms of performance, schedule, and resources. The value function, which represents risk tolerance, scales between defined points corresponding to failure and success. Different risk assessment may be aggregated together. This article presents a novel approach to establishing relationships between the various components. This article develops and compares three network risk propagation models that characterize the overall organizational risk. The U.S. Air Force has applied this risk framework to evaluate success in hypothetical future wars. The analysts employing this risk framework have informed billions of dollars of strategic investment decisions.

THE SUBSTANTIATION OF SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS DEVELOPING RESPONSIBILITY OF ADOLESCETS BROUGHT UP WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE

The article substantiates socio-psychological factors developing responsibility of adolescents without parental care. Responsibility as a basic trait of an individual’s character is analyzed theoretically. Responsibility is considered as an integrative result of an individual’s moral and mental functions and his/her perception of the world around. The theoretical model of the integrated structure of responsibility includes two interdependent components: external and internal. The external component includes a subject, an object, an authority and time perspective. The internal component consists of cognitive, emotional, moral, regulatory-volitional and motivational parts. Responsibility appears for the first time at adolescence in its connection with developed personal autonomy and independence. The article emphasizes that deprivation factors and unsatisfactory living conditions in a depleted social environment have a negative influence on adolescents’ responsibility development, in particular those who live at orphanages. The significant factors positively affecting responsibility development are: healthy educational environment at residential care facility; high moral image of the educators and their exemplary behavior; communicative dialogs between adolescents and educators; volunteering, creative, sportive and touristic activities. Other important points include targeted educational games, reformatting or complete elimination of hierarchical “caste” groups of adolescents, where their self-worth is suppressed, psychological correctional work concerning their self-identity, independence and personal autonomy. A developing family-like community is identified as a key factor for adolescents’ responsibility development at orphanages.  An experimental study of socio-psychological factors will create the basis for practice-oriented, psychological and corrective measures for responsibility development. They can improve responsibility of adolescents brought up without parental care.  

Essence and Specific Features of State Regulation in the Field of Air Transport

The emphasis has been placed on the fact that an important direction in the development of air transport infrastructure is the increase of the efficiency of state regulation in the field of aviation transport. The author has analyzed the existing scientific approaches to the interpretation of the terms of “state regulation”, “state management”, “public management”, “public administration”, “legal regulation”; has revealed the peculiarities of their relationship. It has been argued that state regulation, state management and public administration are interrelated legal categories that differ in the object of management (regulation), purpose, forms and methods of implementation of management (regulatory) measures, as well as the range of entities authorized to implement these measures. It has been substantiated that state regulation is a process implemented by various branches of government by available legal means in order to ensure regulatory impact on the relevant social environment, focused on creating conditions for effective operation of entities and facilities in areas desirable and useful for certain industries. and the state in the whole.
 It has been established that the state regulation in the field of air transport should be understood as a purposeful process of implementing regulatory measures by the state in the person of authorized agencies in order to streamline social processes (public and legal relations between entities and objects of aviation), establishing general rules of conduct while transportation of passengers and cargoes by air, rendering other aviation services, designing, manufacture and service of air transport.
 It has been noted that the state regulation in the field of air transport is a system category, which consists of interdependent components, the combination of which allows to achieve the goals in a timely manner using the appropriate set of resources. Thus, the state regulation in the field of air transport is the system consisting of the following components: purpose and objectives; principles of regulation; object of regulation; subject of regulation; forms and methods of regulation; relations that arise during regulation.
 The peculiarities inherent in the state regulation in the field of air transport have been singled out.

A Geographical Approach to Water Resource Mapping for Atlases

We examine water resource mapping as an important component of the geographical approach in land hydrology and in the water sector which serves to assist considerably in dealing with water problems and water resource management. We suggest that seven groups of water resource maps be distinguished: introductory maps, maps of formation of surface and subsurface water regimes, maps of assessments of water resource potential, maps of water management, maps of anthropogenic impacts on water, maps of hazardous hydrological phenomena and maps of water protection measures. Characteristic properties water resource mapping for atlas products are identified using a case study of territory surrounding Lake Baikal as a site of global significance. We compiled an inventory of water resource themes covered by various atlases of the Baikal region and determined gaps relating to economic aspects of water and to maps on water protection. Limitations of the traditional isoline method in geographical water resource mapping are shown. At hillslope level where atmospheric precipitation transforms to surface runoff further to stream flow, it is recommended that the indication localization method be used, which is based on interdependencies of components of the geosystem. Water runoff mapping at the regional level in the hydrographic network uses the technique of long-channel (epure) mapping based on tools of structural hydrographic and Horton-Strahler classification. A technique of regionalization is described for flood hazards, water protection and recreation zoning of Baikal’s shores as well as cartographic modeling of processes in the Selenga river delta.

SOCIAL CAPITAL OF THE ALTAI TERRITORY: HOW TRUST DETERMINES SECURITY

The scientific significance of studying security problems in regional societies is determined by the need to reveal its actual components. Such complex indicator as social capital includes basic indicators of the functioning of civil society: social responsibility, activity, civic initiative, etc. The social capital formed in society induces generalized trust. At the same time, institutional trust contributes to the legitimization of legal and political institutions. The purpose of this article is to describe the social mechanism of interdependence of components of social capital and generalized trust that form a sense of security in the region. The article summarizes expert assessments that indicate heterogeneity of institutional systems, which are indicators of low coherence of the social order and form a low level of trust and, consequently, security in the Altai territory. It is concluded that for modern Russian society, as well as for its regions, the problem of regenerating generalized trust as a social background for optimizing post-industrial transformations is extremely significant. Stability of the active role of social institutions, the reproduction of spiritual values, such as the common good, inter-ethnic tolerance, social justice are among most important factors restoring social trust.

News in Modern Media Discourse

The purpose of the study is to analyze the components of modern information news, to establish the role of the informational drive in television news, to prove the importance of the ability to distinguish information when preparing news broadcasts. The methodology of the research is to apply the following methods: theoretical – analysis of television subjects, information sources, the generalization of the information drive’s influence on the quality of television material, determination of the interdependence of the structural components that form the news. Scientific novelty. The components of modern information news were analyzed for the first time, the detailed analysis of the interdependence of the structural components that form the news was made. Conclusions. In the course of the article, we analyzed the components of modern information news. Through the analysis of television stories, the role of the information drive in the news is established. Structural components that form the news are elaborated. Factors that influence the rating of television material are generalized.

TRAINING FOR THE INNOVATIVE TEACHING AS A DETERMINANT OF THE PROFESSIONAL MOBILITY OF THE FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TEACHERS

The article deals with the professional mobility and readiness for the innovative teaching of future technology teachers as interdependent components. The purpose of the article is to study the organizational and methodological aspects of forming the professional mobility of future technology teachers in the context of preparation for innovation activities at Ukrainian Teacher Training Universities. Using the complex of theoretical and empirical research methods, the main organizational and methodical aspects of training were determined: the construction of the individual trajectory of study based on selected disciplines; the acquisition of new branches of activity; the forming of the complete conception of technological education and future innovative teaching; the introduction of innovative technologies (interactive discussions, motivational trainings, group forms of work, a problem-solving training, design and research activities, mixed learning, etc.); implementation of Information and communications technology (ICT), distance, Smart and hybrid education systems (e-learning resources, electronic educational and methodical complexes, Web services, individual and group projects based on Web quests and Blog quests); the monitoring of the readiness level for professional mobility; the strengthening of the consultative and coordinating function of teachers. The implementation of certain aspects expands the possibilities of optimizing the educational process not only at the level of formation of the readiness for professional mobility, but also at the level of the entire system of training future technology teachers to innovative teaching. It requires: creating conditions for continuous learning; the orientation of the final stages of pedagogical education to the formation of students’ academic mobility; the rapid expansion of vertical and horizontal professional mobility ranges; the forming of future technology teachers’ readiness and the ability to change the specialization, the place of work and even the profession, if necessary, or to master several specialties or training profiles at the same time.

A Feature Selection-based Approach for the Identification of Critical Components in Complex Technical Infrastructures: Application to the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Complex Technical Infrastructures (CTIs) are large-scale systems made of tens of thousands of interdependent components organized in complex hierarchical architectures. They evolve in time in a way that at one point their functional logic may be more complex than originally designed, and, therefore, traditional reliability/risk importance measures cannot be used for identifying the critical components on which the protection and recovery efforts should be primarily allocated. We propose an approach for identifying the most critical components based on the large amount of operational data collected from the CTI monitoring systems over long time periods and under different operational settings. The underlying idea is to develop binary classifiers to associate different combinations of measured signals to the CTI operating or failed state. The critical CTI components are those whose condition monitoring signals allow optimally classifying the CTI state. To identify the signals and to build the classifier, we consider a feature selection wrapper approach based on the combined use of Support Vector Machine classifiers and the Binary Differential Evolution algorithm for optimization. The approach is successfully applied to a real dataset collected from the CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) Large Hadron Collider, a CTI for experiments of physics.

Distance education: a methodological strategy at the higher level

The article analyzes Distance Education as part of a complex educational system, and therefore, as any system; its interrelated and interdependent components. This implies that a change in one component of the system will affect the others, thus, if a means of communication is changed or added, it will affect the entire instructional design, the nature of the interaction and the learning possibilities offered by the educational context. In this sense, educational networks should be, then, spaces for multiple conversations mediated by various instruments such as school teaching, the media, electronic networks, and school organizations. The result of this construction of varied, multiple information, of utilitarian and cultural purposes, will have to be a self-conscious citizen, possessor of professional skills and habits of coexistence, worker and capable of creative leisure, respectfully related to others and its environment.

Modified auxiliary exergy costing in advanced exergoeconomic analysis applied to a hybrid solar-biomass organic Rankine cycle plant

This study concerns advanced exergoeconomic analysis of a hybrid solar-biomass organic Rankine cycle (ORC) cogeneration plant. The hybrid plant had been previously conceived as structural optimization scheme to upgrade thermo-economic performance of a real 630 kW solar-ORC plant which currently runs in Ottana, Italy. The irreversibility rates, investment cost rates and irreversibility cost rates were obtained for each system component, based on thermodynamic balance as well as cost balance and auxiliary equations established for the components. Next, the avoidable/unavoidable and exogenous/endogenous splitting options were applied to investigate the sources of thermo-economic losses in the system, the effects of component interactions on the losses, as well as the best approach to improving the system. The main contribution of this paper centers on modification of the traditional auxiliary exergy costing in advanced exergoeconomic methodology, by incorporating stream energy quality into the cost formation process. Results showed that more than 50% of total irreversibility rates can be avoided in almost all of the components of the hybrid plant, most of which are endogenous. Similarly, it was obtained that component interdependencies have little impact on thermo-economic losses. Specifically, more than 60% of irreversibility cost rates could be avoidable in the hybrid plant by optimizing internal operations of each of the system components individually. Moreover, results showed that how auxiliary exergy costing is defined in advanced exergoeconomic method plays a significant role on the analysis, and the modified approach presented in this study is a viable choice.

Configuring differential evolution adaptively via path search in a directed acyclic graph for data clustering

Abstract As an efficient data mining technique, data clustering has been widely-used for data analysis and extracting valuable hidden information. Leveraging the simplicity and effectiveness, the evolutionary optimization-driven clustering algorithms have exhibited promising performance and attracted tremendous attention. Up to the present, how to enable these algorithms to escape from local optima and accelerate convergence rates is an ongoing challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive Differential Evolution (DE) variant to deal with the above challenge when clustering data. In the improved DE algorithm, the four interdependent components, including mutation strategy, crossover strategy, scaling factor value, and crossover rate, are adaptively configured in an integrated manner via ant colony optimization (ACO) during the problem-solving process. To be specific, the relationships of four components in the DE algorithm are modeled as a directed acyclic graph, and a path in the graph exactly corresponds to a configuration for DE. During the optimization process, ant colony optimization is employed to search for a reasonable path for each individual of DE in terms of pheromones on arcs. In this manner, the configuration of the four interdependent components of DE will be generated dynamically, which is then used to guide the successive search behaviors of individuals in DE. Each individual has a path, representing a configuration for each component. After each iteration, individuals that generate promising solutions are allowed to deposit pheromone on the paths, resulting in more pheromones on the arcs appearing in better algorithm configurations (paths) more frequently. Through this manner, the search strategies and parameters of DE are comprehensively adapted by ACO. The proposed algorithm is named ACODE for short. To verify its effectiveness, the proposed ACODE is compared with four representative data clustering algorithms on eight widely-used benchmark datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the advantages of ACODE over half of the datasets.

Components of professional and pedagogical competence of primary school teachers

The article analyzes the latest research on this issue; the essence of the concept of "skill" is specified, the leading components of the structure of constructive-projective skills of the future primary school teacher are defined, namely: four interconnected and interdependent components, namely: motivational-attractive, cognitive-semantic, project-activity and reflection-productive, which constitute the main content of constructive-projective skills of the future teacher, their semantic characteristics are characterized.

Uncertainty Quantification in Fault Tree Analysis: Estimating Business Interruption due to Seismic Hazard

This paper presents an approach based on fault tree analysis and subset simulation for quantifying uncertainty in the risk assessment of complex industrial facilities. Downtime estimation of industrial facilities after an extreme event is critical for risk valuation, as business interruption contributes significantly to monetary losses. Industrial facilities are complex systems with many critical, interdependent components. Such facilities are thus amenable to modeling using fault trees. Fault tree analysis breaks down a facility’s layout into system components and links component failure probabilities through Boolean logic to estimate the larger system’s failure probability. In estimating system failure probability, the lack of knowledge about failure probabilities of individual components introduces uncertainty. Subset simulation offers an efficient approach for propagating these component-level uncertainties to the system level. However, when parameters are highly correlated, traditional algorithms used in subset simulation may suffer from low acceptance rates (ratio of new samples to total samples), resulting in repeated samples, thereby compromising efficiency. This paper demonstrates that the proposed treatment allows application of subset simulation to uncertainty quantification of large fault trees using a case study of a coal-fired power plant.

Two intertwined compartments coexisting in sporadic conventional colon adenomas.

Sporadic conventional colon adenomas are microscopically built of 2 intertwined compartments: one on top, harboring the dysplastic tissue that defines their histo-biomolecular attributes, and the other below, composed of non-dysplastic crypts with corrupted shapes (CCS). The CCS of 306 colon adenomas revealed asymmetric, haphazardly-distributed proliferating cell-domains (PC). In contrast, the PC-domains in normal controls were symmetric, being limited to the lower thirds of the crypts. In 28% out of 501 sporadic conventional adenomas, foci of p53-upregulated dysplastic tissue were found. The CCS in 30% of 108 sporadic adenomas showed p53-upregulated single cells, suggesting mounting somatic mutations. No p53-upregulated cells were found in the crypts of controls. In polypoid adenomas, the mucosa of the stalk without dysplastic tissue on top disclosed CCS with asymmetrical PC-domains and single p53-upregulated cells. The latter observations suggested that CCS had developed prior to and not after the growth of the dysplastic tissue on top. CCS were also found below colon adenomas in carcinogen-treated rats. It is concluded that the 2 intertwined histo-biological compartments of sporadic conventional colon adenomas are probably interdependent components. These findings may open new directions aimed to uncover the link between the normal colonic mucosa and the histogenesis of, conventional adenomas.

Analyzing determinants of environmental conduct in small and medium-sized enterprises: A sociotechnical approach

People are increasingly concerned about environmental issues. This concern presents new challenges for companies and impels them to incorporate environmental sustainability into their business strategies. However, smaller companies, such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), have often been prevented from considering environmentally friendly investments beyond those legally required because these firms lack a holistic perspective on sustainability. They also have a limited perception of the interdependence of corporate, economic, and environmental business components. The long-term survival of SMEs could be significantly strengthened by a holistic understanding based on integrated methods that facilitate the identification and representation of determinants of environmental conduct. These methods would further help to enhance these companies’ competitive advantages. This study sought to use fuzzy cognitive mapping techniques and the system dynamics (SD) approach to carry out analyses of determinants of environmental conduct in SMEs. The results show that this dual methodology enriches the decision-making process as it enables SME managers and decision makers to anticipate and analyze the consequences of their environmental conduct decisions. The results were validated by both the department head and a board member of Portugal’s Regional Proximity and Licensing Department of the Institute for the Support of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Innovation (IAPMEI in Portuguese). Static and dynamic analyses were carried out to test and more fully develop the proposed framework.

СИСТЕМА ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ ФАХІВЦІВ З ОХОРОНИ КОРДОНУ В КРАЇНАХ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО СОЮЗУ

У статті реалізовано модель системи професійної підготовки фахівців з охорони кордону в країнах ЄС розробленої з метою сприяння впровадження передового європейського досвіду в систему професійної підготовки персоналу Державної прикордонної служби України. Обґрунтовано, що сучасні особливості спільної професійної діяльності фахівців з охорони кордону в країнах ЄС, необхідність її узгодження і розроблення спільних стандартів підготовки та організації мережевої взаємодії, а також об’єктивна необхідність узагальнення й впровадження передового досвіду в практику підготовки персоналу вітчизняного прикордонного відомства вимагають узагальнення системи професійної підготовки фахівців з охорони кордону в країнах ЄС. Визначено, що підготовка прикордонників в країнах ЄС відбувається відповідно до загальноєвропейських уніфікованих стандартів, основними з яких вважаються уніфіковані програми підготовки та Галузева рамка кваліфікацій сфери охорони кордонів країн ЄС. Систему професійної підготовки фахівців з охорони кордону в країнах ЄС трактовано як динамічну, цілеспрямовану, просторово-часову інтеграцію елементів, для якої характерна функціональна структура та яка містить взаємопов’язані й взаємозумовлені підсистеми: цільова, законодавчо-нормативна; інституційно-управлінська; організаційна; теоретико-методологічна; змістовно-технологічна; діагностично-результативна. Таку систему професійної підготовки побудовано на основі зв’язків підсистем та їх взаємовідношення, що об’єднує їх у холістичну структуру. Автором було проведено аналіз можливості використання цього досвіду з метою його впровадження в систему професійної підготовки персоналу прикордонного відомства України.

Subcellular Performance of Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy.

With the advent of nanotechnology, various modes of traditional treatment strategies have been transformed extensively owing to the advantageous morphological, physiochemical, and functional attributes of nano-sized materials, which are of particular interest in diverse biomedical applications, such as diagnostics, sensing, imaging, and drug delivery. Despite their success in delivering therapeutic agents, several traditional nanocarriers often end up with deprived selectivity and undesired therapeutic outcome, which significantly limit their clinical applicability. Further advancements in terms of improved selectivity to exhibit desired therapeutic outcome toward ablating cancer cells have been predominantly made focusing on the precise entry of nanoparticles into tumor cells via targeting ligands, and subsequent delivery of therapeutic cargo in response to specific biological or external stimuli. However, there is enough room intracellularly, where diverse small-sized nanomaterials can accumulate and significantly exert potentially specific mechanisms of antitumor effects toward activation of precise cancer cell death pathways that can be explored. In this review, we aim to summarize the intracellular pathways of nanoparticles, highlighting the principles and state of their destructive effects in the subcellular structures as well as the current limitations of conventional therapeutic approaches. Next, we give an overview of subcellular performances and the fate of internalized nanoparticles under various organelle circumstances, particularly endosome or lysosome, mitochondria, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus, by comprehensively emphasizing the unique mechanisms with a series of interesting reports. Moreover, intracellular transformation of the internalized nanoparticles, prominent outcome and potential affluence of these interdependent subcellular components in cancer therapy are emphasized. Finally, we conclude with perspectives with a focus on the contemporary challenges in their clinical applicability.

Social vulnerability and equity perspectives on interdependent infrastructure network component importance

Critical infrastructure networks are often described as (i) interdependent in nature for operability, (ii) vulnerable against multiple natural or human-made hazards, and (iii) vital for providing the essential needs and ensuring the functionality of societies. Developing a plan for infrastructure network resilience is enabled by the identification of the most critical components that have the largest impact on the performance interdependent networks, as well as on society in terms of serving its needs. In this work, we propose a component importance measure that is driven by the social aspects of resilience, which quantifies the impact of equitable restoration activities on components of interdependent infrastructure networks. To integrate the social expectations from various perspectives in the restoration scheduling of interdependent infrastructure networks, we combine this component importance measure with multiple social vulnerability measures that define different socio-economic characteristics in a society. Finally, we implement a multi-criteria decision analysis technique to determine the final importance ranking of the components and illustrate our approach with two critical infrastructure networks in Shelby County, TN. To our knowledge, our proposed methodology is the first to incorporate both social equity and social vulnerability concepts with the component importance measures of critical interdependent infrastructure network restoration scheduling.