Limited Capacity Research Articles

Real estate for social purpose: varieties of entrepreneurialism in Toronto’s non-profit housing sector

Non-profit housing providers have faced ongoing pressure from neoliberal restructuring policies since the late twentieth century. In reaction to funding cuts and policies requiring them to become more business-like, housing organisations have become more hybrid, incorporating entrepreneurial logics and practices from the real estate sector. We expand on the concept of hybridity to argue that under certain institutional contexts, non-profits can apply real estate entrepreneurialism towards their social housing missions. Analysing development and acquisition practices of 13 non-profit housing providers in the Greater Toronto Area, we explore how non-profits balance entrepreneurial practices with their commitment to de-commodified housing. Three types of hybrid organisations are identified: large economy-of-scale organisations that prioritise growth and real estate professionalisation; service-focused organisations whose mission statement limits their growth aspirations; and newcomers, whose forays into housing development face both internal capacity limits and criticism from veteran organisations. The variances in hybridisation processes across and within institutional contexts, we find, require a more nuanced theorisation of the longer-term implications of neoliberalisation on social housing. Learning from Toronto’s budding social purpose real estate sector, we identify key resources for entrepreneurial housing non-profits: building sectoral assets, knowledge sharing, risk management, and a balance between organisational diversity and scale.

Analyzing Tanker Ship Berthing Delays at Pertamina Refinery Unit II Dumai Terminal

This research investigates the causes and mitigation strategies for tanker ship berthing delays at the PERTAMINA Refinery Unit II Dumai special terminal. The study identifies key issues including dock capacity limitations, adverse weather conditions, insufficient land tank storage, and restrictions on night-time berthing. Data were collected through qualitative research and descriptive analysis involving observations, interviews, and documentation from August 2023 to August 2024. Findings reveal that limited dock capacity and adverse weather significantly contribute to delays, while storage limitations and night-time restrictions further exacerbate the problem. The research highlights the need for dock capacity expansion, improved weather forecasting, enhanced storage management, and safe night-time operational practices. Recommendations include infrastructure upgrades, advanced technological investments, and flexible operational strategies to address these challenges. The study provides valuable insights for improving terminal efficiency and offers a foundation for future research and practical applications in maritime logistics

Implications of long-term sample storage on the recovery of viruses from wastewater and biobanking

Wastewater-based monitoring has been widely implemented worldwide for the tracking of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks and other viral diseases. In many surveillance programmes, unprocessed and processed wastewater samples are often frozen and stored for long periods of time in case the identification and tracing of an emerging health threat becomes necessary. However, extensive sample bioarchives may be difficult to maintain due to limitations in ultra-freezer capacity and associated cost. Furthermore, the stability of viruses in such samples has not been systematically investigated and hence the usefulness of bioarchives is unknown. In this study, we assessed the stability of SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses, noroviruses and the faecal indicator virus, crAssphage, in raw wastewater and purified nucleic aacid extracts stored at -80 °C for 6–24 months. We found that the isolated viral RNA and DNA showed little signs of degradation in storage over 8–24 months, whereas extensive decay viral and loss of qPCR signal was observed during the storage of raw unprocessed wastewater. The most stable viruses were noroviruses and crAssphage, followed by SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus. Based on our findings, we conclude that bioarchives comprised of nucleic acid extracts derived from concentrated wastewater samples may be archived long-term, for at least two years, whereas raw wastewater samples may be discarded after one year.

Mixing and mingling in visual working memory: Inter-item competition is feature-specific during encoding and feature-general during maintenance

Visual working memory (WM) is a central cognitive ability but is capacity-limited due to competition between remembered items. Understanding whether inter-item competition depends on the similarity of the features being remembered has important implications for determining if competition occurs in sensory or post-sensory stages of processing. Experiment 1 compared the precision of WM across homogeneous displays, where items belonged to the same feature type (e.g., colorful circles), and heterogeneous displays (e.g., colorful circles and oriented bars). Performance was better for heterogeneous displays, suggesting a feature-specific component of interference. However, Experiment 2 used a retro-cueing task to isolate encoding from online maintenance and revealed that inter-item competition during storage was not feature-specific. The data support recent models of WM in which inter-item interference – and hence capacity limits in WM – occurs in higher-order structures that receive convergent input from a diverse array of feature-specific representations.

Effects of solar radiations on stratum corneum hydration: Part II, protective action of solar filters.

The skin surface lipids (SSLs) film, composed of sebum and keratinocyte membrane lipids, is crucial to the barrier function of the stratum corneum (SC). The first part of this study investigated the impact of solar radiation on the SC based on a novel hydration and dehydration approach using Raman spectroscopy. The SSLs were found to absorb solar light, and thus participate to the protection of the skin surface. However, the protective function of the SSLs may be limited and is dependent to the heterogenous distribution of SSLs over the body surface. To ensure comprehensive protection, synergistic measures such as the application of solar filters are necessary. In this second part of the study, we have evaluated the limits of the protection capacity of SSLs and explored the protective action of a solar filters on both SSLs composition and the water hydration and dehydration kinetics in the SC.

The emotion filmmaker: Temporal memory, time-emotion integration, and affective style.

Emotional experiences are temporally dynamic, but prior work suggests that temporal features are usually neglected in remembered emotion. For instance, retrospective emotion evaluations are often biased by discrete salient timepoints, such as the peak and end moments, at the expense of objective event duration (i.e., peak-end effects and duration neglect). However, how these retrospective emotion biases originate, as well as their significance for emotional functioning, remain unclear. Here, we test the hypothesis that retrospective emotion biases are related to fundamental limits of temporal processing and memory capacity. Further, we examine whether these limits have implications for emotional functioning. Participants (n = 60) underwent a novel paradigm comprising affectively-rich movie sequences while providing emotion ratings continuously (moment-by-moment) and retrospectively. Temporal memory for previously watched emotional movie sequences and dispositional negativity were measured. Our findings revealed a greater "end" bias as the duration of emotional-movie sequences increased, suggesting that limitations in temporal processing capacity may contribute to retrospective emotion biases. Critically, temporal-memory errors were associated with larger retrospective emotion biases and with individual differences in dispositional negativity. Collectively, these results indicate that retrospective emotion biases may stem partly from mnemonic temporal errors that are emotionally maladaptive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Numerical simulation for large baseline interferometric imaging altimeter

Sea topography information holds significant importance in oceanic research and the climate change detection. Radar imaging altimetry has emerged as the leading approach for global ocean observation, employing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry to enhance the spatial resolution of Sea topography. Nevertheless, current payload capacity and satellite hardware limitations prevent the extension of the interferometric baseline by enlarging the physical antenna size. This constraint hinders achieving centimeter-level accuracy in interferometric altimetry. To address this challenge, we conducted a numerical simulation to assess the viability of a large baseline interferometric imaging altimeter (LB-IIA). By controlling the baseline within the range of 600–1000 m through spiral orbit design in two satellites and mitigating baseline de-correlation with the carrier frequency shift (CFS) technique, we aimed to overcome the above limitations. Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of the CFS technique in compensating for baseline decoherence, elevating coherence from less than 0.1 to over 0.85. Concurrently. The height difference accuracy between neighboring sea surfaces reaches 1 cm within a 1 km resolution. This study is anticipated to serve as a foundational reference for future interferometric imaging altimeter development, catering to the demand for high-precision sea topography data in accurate global bathymetry inversion.

Developing customer convenience and experience through increased competency and efficiency: A strategic approach to retail operations mastery

Retailers who are part of supply chains are crucial in attracting customers to physically visit their stores and thereby increase supply chain revenue. Retailers in supply chains are responsible for handling a high volume of transactions and high customer contact, thus better management of retail operations is necessary to provide greater convenience and experience for customers. In this regard, retail operations must be properly managed, particularly during times of crisis like COVID-19, to ensure that customers purchase their basic needs promptly and safely. Since customer contact is high, the retail operations can have a greater say in improving the customer convenience and experience but this perspective has not been specifically emphasized both in research and practice. Thus, the current study attempted to evaluate how well retail operations can improve customer convenience and experience so that retailers can do well even during times of uncertainty. The study, which is grounded in the resource-based view theory, thus looks at how well retailers' competency and efficiency in running the operations help in achieving better customer convenience and experience. In this regard, sample data from 416 practitioners belonging to the Indian retail industry has been selected to examine the mediating role of retailers' efficiency to retailers’ competence in achieving better customer convenience and experience. This study importantly confirms that while more competence can help retailers operate more efficiently, it cannot, by itself, provide customers with greater convenience or a better shopping experience. This study found that retailers concentrate on streamlining their operations in order to overcome capacity limits because it is expensive and limited. The empirical evidence shows that retail operations have significance say in offering better convenience and experience customers.

Resource-rational psychopathology.

Psychopathology is vast and diverse. Across distinct disease states, individuals exhibit symptoms that appear counter to the standard view of rationality (expected utility maximization). We argue that some aspects of psychopathology can be described as resource-rational, reflecting a rational trade-off between reward and cognitive resources. We review work on two theories of this kind: rational inattention, where a capacity limit applies to perceptual channels, and policy compression, where the capacity limit applies to action channels. We show how these theories can parsimoniously explain many forms of psychopathology, including affective, primary psychotic, and neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as many effects of psychoactive medications on these disorders. While there are important disorder-specific differences and the theories are by no means universal, we argue that resource rationality offers a useful new perspective on psychopathology. By emphasizing the role of cognitive resource constraints, this approach offers a more inclusive picture of rationality. Some aspects of psychopathology may reflect rational trade-offs rather than the breakdown of rationality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A Robust Optimization Model for Emergency Location Considering the Uncertainty and Correlation of Transportation Network Capacity

Emergencies often lead to the impairment of infrastructure systems, including transportation systems. It is necessary to analyze the uncertainty and correlation of transportation network capacity caused by emergencies, aiming at the problems of emergency facilities’ location and matching in emergency contexts. This study introduces novel concepts, such as flow distribution betweenness centrality (FD-BC) and the transport capacity effect coefficient (TC-EC). Furthermore, we introduce the ellipsoidal uncertainty set to characterize uncertainties in transport capacity. We construct a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model and a multi-strength elitist genetic algorithm (multi-SEGA) to ensure the lower limit of transport capacity between demand and emergency points while minimizing decision-making costs. By designing an uncertain scenario example, we analyze the effect of the perturbation ratio and the uncertainty level on the robust location model. The following results were drawn: (1) Indicators FD-BC and TC-EC effectively indicated the importance of each section in the emergency transportation network. (2) The optimal value of the model’s objective function changed more significantly as the perturbation ratio and uncertainty level increased. (3) After reaching a certain uncertainty level, the robust model with an ellipsoidal uncertainty set became more conservative than the robust model with a box uncertainty set, which lacked practical significance. The research results guarantee the robustness of the emergency support system in uncertain conditions.

Social adaptation assistance for children with autism spectrum disorders in Kazakhstan

This study investigates the provision and effectiveness of social adaptation assistance for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with the aim of mapping available services, assessing their accessibility and impact, and identifying cultural and societal factors influencing ASD support. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines a systematic literature review and a survey of 20 families with ASD-affected children aged between 4 and 16 years. The literature review focused on articles published from 2010 to 2022, exploring the prevalence of ASD and the extent of support services in Kazakhstan. Results indicate that while state-run educational programs are the most accessed form of assistance, challenges persist in terms of individualized attention and resource sufficiency. Independent and international initiatives are valued for their personalized approach but face limitations in capacity and reach. The study concludes that despite the growing awareness of ASD in Almaty, there is a critical need for comprehensive, culturally sensitive strategies that enhance the social adaptation and integration of children with ASD into society.

El legado matemático de la escritura cuneiforme: matemática funcional en la antigua mesopotamia

Tourism for the observation of large cats, such as the jaguar in the Brazilian Pantanal and the puma in Chilean Patagonia, has emerged as a powerful tool to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development. This article explores the opportunities and challenges associated with this form of tourism, highlighting best practices and strategies for maximizing benefits and mitigating negative impacts. The analysis reveals that big cat tourism can provide significant economic benefits to local communities, creating livelihoods and raising living standards. However, it is crucial to maintain a balance between economic benefits and ecological sustainability. Implementing capacity limits, strict regulations, and sustainable tourism practices are essential to prevent the degradation of natural habitats and animal stress. Tourism education plays a vital role in promoting responsible behaviors among visitors. Orientation programs and the presence of experienced guides help ensure that wildlife interactions are safe and informative. Additionally, collaborating with academic institutions to monitor and research the impact of tourism on feline populations and their habitats is critical for making informed decisions. The involvement of local communities is another critical aspect. Initiatives that ensure communities directly benefit from tourism strengthen local support for conservation efforts and create sustainable income streams. Habitat restoration projects and anti-poaching units, funded by tourism revenue, can promote ecological recovery and reduce threats to wildlife. Diversification of tourism activities is also recommended to distribute pressure on wildlife habitats and extend the stay of tourists. In addition to feline watching, cultural visits, ecological trails and other activities can promote conservation and environmental education. Jaguar and cougar sighting tourism presents a valuable opportunity to promote conservation and economic development. Adopting sustainable tourism practices, education, and community engagement are essential to ensure that this form of tourism continues to thrive, benefiting both wildlife and local communities.

Feline watching tourism in South America: Conservation, sustainability and impacts in the Pantanal and Patagonia

Tourism for the observation of large cats, such as the jaguar in the Brazilian Pantanal and the puma in Chilean Patagonia, has emerged as a powerful tool to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development. This article explores the opportunities and challenges associated with this form of tourism, highlighting best practices and strategies for maximizing benefits and mitigating negative impacts. The analysis reveals that big cat tourism can provide significant economic benefits to local communities, creating livelihoods and raising living standards. However, it is crucial to maintain a balance between economic benefits and ecological sustainability. Implementing capacity limits, strict regulations, and sustainable tourism practices are essential to prevent the degradation of natural habitats and animal stress. Tourism education plays a vital role in promoting responsible behaviors among visitors. Orientation programs and the presence of experienced guides help ensure that wildlife interactions are safe and informative. Additionally, collaborating with academic institutions to monitor and research the impact of tourism on feline populations and their habitats is critical for making informed decisions. The involvement of local communities is another critical aspect. Initiatives that ensure communities directly benefit from tourism strengthen local support for conservation efforts and create sustainable income streams. Habitat restoration projects and anti-poaching units, funded by tourism revenue, can promote ecological recovery and reduce threats to wildlife. Diversification of tourism activities is also recommended to distribute pressure on wildlife habitats and extend the stay of tourists. In addition to feline watching, cultural visits, ecological trails and other activities can promote conservation and environmental education. Jaguar and cougar sighting tourism presents a valuable opportunity to promote conservation and economic development. Adopting sustainable tourism practices, education, and community engagement are essential to ensure that this form of tourism continues to thrive, benefiting both wildlife and local communities.

Synthesis of GN/ MnO2 nanocomposite materials for photo-assisted supercapacitor with enhanced capacities

Supercapacitors with the advantages of high power density and rapid discharging rate have widespread applications in energy storage. Nevertheless, their development is hindered by the limitation of low specific capacity. Traditional approaches to enhance specific capacity primarily involve incorporating foreign atoms and blending with additional reactive substances. Herein, a photo-assisted supercapacitor electrode material (GN/MnO2 nanocomposite) with excellent capacity is developed. As a photoactive material, graphene generates electrons and holes with photoirradiation. As the photogenerated carriers increase, electrons are separated from the holes and stored as charges. Photoirradiation is the driving force that promotes the energy storage and conversion of supercapacitors. Although there are many reports on GN/MnO2 composites, there are still few reports on the photo-assisted energy storage of this composite material. The specific capacity of this photo-assisted GN/MnO2 electrode materials could reach 210 F/g with photoirradiation. It was higher than that without photoirradiation (170 F/g). The development of this study provides important theoretical guidance and practical significance for the research of photo-assisted energy storage materials, and plays a significant role in advancing the progress of energy storage devices with high specific capacity.

Isoreticular Curves: A Theory of Capillary Condensation To Model Water Sorption within Microporous Sorbents.

Metal-organic frameworks have gained traction as leading materials for water sorption applications due to precise chemical tunability of their well-ordered pores. These applications include atmospheric water capture, heat pumps, desiccation, desalination, humidity control, and thermal batteries. However, the relationships between the framework pore structure and the measurable water sorption properties, namely critical relative humidity for condensation, maximal capacity, and pore size or temperature for the onset of hysteresis, have not been clearly delineated. Herein, we precisely formulate these relationships by application of the theory of capillary condensation and macroscopic thermodynamic models to a large data set of MOF water isotherms. These relationships include a concept termed isoreticular curves that relates the critical pressure for pore condensation (α), gravimetric capacity (Qmax), and hydrophilicity (the Gibbs free energy for binding water, ΔG) as Qmax = a1(ΔG/ln α)2 + a2(ΔG/ln α), with constants a1 and a2 dependent upon the density and volume occupied by the linker and secondary building unit, and framework topology. Through this analysis, we propose guidelines for the maximization of sorption capacity at a given relative humidity with minimal hysteresis and discuss the theoretical limits for capacity at low relative humidity. This model provides an explanation for the lack of high-capacity frameworks at low relative humidity, as increasing pore size also causes an increase in relative humidity. We propose a loose upper bound of Qmax = -0.25(1/ln α)2 - 1.75(1/ln α) for the limit of maximal capacity at a given relative humidity in the dry regime. These guidelines are consequential for the design of new materials for water sorption applications.

Novel mirror-flipped mode permutation technique for long-haul 6-mode transmission

Mode-division multiplexing based on few-mode fibers is expected to overcome capacity limits of current single-mode fiber communications. Mode permutation as an approach for extending transmission reach has attracted great attention. In this paper, we propose a mirror-flipped mode permutation (MFMP) scheme based on newly developed fibers with symmetric differential mode delay (DMD). We demonstrate a 28-GBaud transmission over a 1542-km 6-mode fiber link, which suppresses modal-dispersion impact by 36% and mitigates mode-dependent-loss effect with 3.1-dB Q-factor improvement, compared with the traditional cyclic mode permutation at 1233 km. Then, we experimentally verify that the proposed MFMP works well even using a fiber with a not exactly symmetric group delay distribution. Benefiting from a low DMD in this fiber, we demonstrate a 6-mode PM-QPSK transmission at 25 GBaud with 16-λ channels, extending the transmission distance to 3000 km.

A multi-ship power sharing strategy: Using two-stage robust optimization and Shapley value approach

In recent years, the use of cold ironing (CI) has effectively reduced the carbon emissions of ships in port areas. However, due to the limitation of port CI quantity and power supply capacity, the power demand of some ships cannot be met. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a multi-ship power sharing strategy based on two-stage robust optimization and improved Shapley value method. Firstly, considering the uncertainty of ship photovoltaic power generation, a multi-ship power sharing model based on two-stage robust optimization is established. This model is a three-level optimization model with mixed integer variables, which is a NP-hard problem. In this paper, the nested column-and-constraint generation algorithm combined with duality theory and big-M method is used to obtain the optimal scheduling strategy of ship shared power, CI power and load demand response power. Secondly, an improved Shapley value method considering berth and remaining berthing time is proposed to realize the cost allocation in the process of ship power sharing. Finally, the effectiveness of the multi-ship power sharing strategy in reducing berthing costs and carbon emissions is verified by simulation. This method is expected to provide a new idea for the development of green ports.

Ensuring Sustainable Grid Stability through Effective EV Charging Management: A Time and Energy-Based Approach

The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) has significantly transformed transportation, offering environmental advantages by curbing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel dependency. However, their increasing adoption poses challenges for power systems, especially distribution systems, due to the direct connection of EVs with them. It requires robust infrastructure development, smart grid integration, and effective charging solutions to mitigate issues like overloading and peak demand to ensure grid stability, reliability, and sustainability. To prevent local equipment overloading during peak load intervals, the management of EV charging demand is carried out in this study, considering both the time to deadline and the energy demand of EVs. Initially, EVs are prioritized based on these two factors (time and energy)—those with shorter deadlines and lower energy demands receive higher rankings. This prioritization aims to maximize the number of EVs with their energy demands met. Subsequently, energy allocation to EVs is determined by their rankings while adhering to the transformer’s capacity limits. The process begins with the highest-ranked EV and continues until the transformer nears its limit. To this end, an index is proposed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method in terms of unserved EVs during various peak load intervals. Comparative analysis against the earliest deadline first approach demonstrates the superior ability of the proposed method to fulfill the energy demand of a larger number of EVs. By ensuring sustainable energy management, the proposed method supports the widespread adoption of EVs and the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable transportation system. Comparative analysis shows that the proposed method fulfills the energy needs of up to 33% more EVs compared to the earliest deadline method, highlighting its superior performance in managing network loads.

How middle-skilled workers adjust to immigration: the role of occupational skill specificity

PurposeOur study explores the effects of immigration on the employment of native middle-skilled workers, focusing on how this effect varies with the specificity of their occupational skill bundles.Design/methodology/approachExploiting the 2002 opening of the Swiss labor market to EU workers and using register data on the location and occupation of these workers, our findings provide novel results on the labor market effects of immigration.FindingsWe show that the inflow of EU workers led to an increase in the employment of native middle-skilled workers with highly specific occupational skills. This finding could be attributed to immigrant workers reducing existing skill gaps, enhancing the quality of job-worker matches, and alleviating firms' capacity restrictions. This allowed firms to create new jobs, thereby providing increased employment options for middle-skilled workers with highly specialized skills.Originality/valuePrevious literature has predominantly highlighted the disadvantages of specific occupational skills compared to general skills in the context of labor market shocks. However, our findings reveal that workers with specific occupational skills can benefit from an immigration-driven labour market shock. These results suggest that policy conclusions regarding the role of specific occupational skills should be more nuanced.

Ultrasound Controllable Release of Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a special subtype of breast cancer, which is highly aggressive and incurable. Here, we proposed an ultrasound activatable bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) release strategy for the first time for precisely controlled protein degradation in preclinical TNBC model. Through combination of PROTAC and ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) technology, the present strategy also aims to concurrently solve the major limitations of poor loading capacity of microbubbles and undesirable targeting and membrane permeability of PROTAC. PROTAC (ARV-825)-encapsulated microbubbles, ARV-MBs, were developed for the efficacious treatment of TNBC invitro and invivo. The microbubbles we synthesized showed ultrasound-responsive drug release ability, which could effectively promote the penetration of PROTAC into tumor site and tumor cell. Under ultrasound, ARV-MBs could play an effective antitumor effect by potentiating the ubiquitination and degradation of BRD4 in tumor. The current study may provide a new idea for promoting clinical translation of drug-loaded microbubbles and PROTAC, and offer a new efficacious therapeutic modality for TNBC.