Path Choice Research Articles

Deadlock Avoidance in Closed Guide-Path Based MultiAGV Systems

Automated guided vehicle (AGV) is widely used in transportation and distribution of materials. In the development of multi-AGV systems, how to handle deadlocks is a core issue. Most existing researches focus on open systems. Thus those results are not applicable in real-world systems. A few works have paid attention to closed systems recently, but the results are not flexible and generic enough. Therefore, an improved deadlock avoidance algorithm in closed guide-path system is proposed in this paper. The proposed algorithm is divided into an offline stage and an online stage. At the offline stage, the guide-path graph is processed to obtain useful information for the online stage. At the online stage, the algorithm assesses the safety of each resource allocation to ensure a deadlock-free operation. The computational complexity of the algorithm is shown to be <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(|E|)$</tex-math> </inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$E$</tex-math> </inline-formula> is the set of the edges in the guide-path graph. Based on the algorithm, an overall control strategy is also developed, and then implemented and tested in real systems. It is also compared with Banker&#x2019;s algorithm and its variants, the results of which show that the proposed algorithm has a better performance. <i>Note to Practitioners</i>&#x2014;Deadlock is a core issue in guide-path based multi-AGV systems. Once deadlock occurs, the whole system will collapse. This problem is more serious in closed systems, which is paid less attention to in literature. Current deadlock solutions are either too restrictive, resulting in inefficient resource utilization and poor flexibility, or computationally intensive and thus are unable to scale to large systems. To solve this problem, an improved deadlock avoidance algorithm with polynomial computational complexity is proposed in this paper, and it is more flexible than the Banker&#x2019;s algorithm and its variants. Furthermore, an overall control framework (i.e., including task assignment, path planning and real-time scheduling) is developed based on the deadlock avoidance algorithm, which keeps persistent operation of the considered system while still guaranteeing deadlock-free. However, in this overall control framework, the choice of path is not optimized with respect to travel distance and makespan, which is the direction of future research.

Integer Linear Programming Model for Multicast Routing to Minimize Link Cost at Wavelengths

Routing is a technique or process carried out in a packet or information delivery system from a source to a destination or a place that requests the information needed from a source. Routing is done in solving a problem and is well-known is unicast routing. Unicast routing can transmit information from a source to a single destination. However, this is ineffective for an infinite number of requests to be served because the unicast routing system only funnels one destination to one source. So that another route is needed that can handle this, this route is called a multicast route. Multicast routing that can serve multiple destinations with only one source so that a collection of destinations to get the same request in the same time and data. This research will discuss multicast routing to minimize link costs at wavelengths using a hierarchical structure. To help provide reduction or savings on the link by offering an integer linear programming model formulation to minimize link costs at wavelengths. An update from previous studies is to use a hierarchical structure with wavelength conversion taking into account the links that are traversed and the requests that will be served by the source to the destination. Using wavelength conversion so that there are no wavelength continuity problems, so that when sending information you get more path choices and you can save on sending information using a link that will be passed from the source to the intermediate node until it reaches the destination node, with this it will find a path more efficiently so that the goal of minimizing link cost at wavelengths on multicast routing is achieved&#x0D;

Między oczekiwaniami a rzeczywistością – perspektywa zawodowa kandydatów do zawodu i początkujących nauczycieli wczesnej edukacji

The paper addresses theoretical considerations focusing on the career choice motives of early childhood education teachers in the light of a review of previous research, and it presents the research problem along with an analysis of results. The aim of this study was to determine the motives for choosing the profession of early childhood education teacher by students of early childhood pedagogy, graduating with a bachelor’s degree, and early childhood education teachers working in the profession for no more than five years. A diagnostic survey method was used, with a questionnaire technique. The results indicate that the choice of early childhood education teachers is a product of internal and external motives, with the former having a dominant role. Meeting psychological needs (including the desire to work with children, personality predispositions) is combined with pragmatic qualities – e.g. days off, low weekly working hours. Both groups surveyed recognize the problem of low professional prestige and the financial unprofitability of the teaching profession. The motivations for studying early childhood pedagogy are personal predispositions, interests and directional talents. The sense of rightness regarding the choice of a professional path increases with the acquisition of practice, which corresponds to the sense of preparation for the profession. The current system of pedagogical internships does not provide sufficient practical preparation for a job as an early childhood education teacher.

Attribute imbalances and innovation implementation based on grounded theory: A case of Chinese enterprises in Gansu Province

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to explore what are the determinant influencing factors of the dilemma faced by state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in implementing innovation‐driven development strategy (IDDS), to propose a suitable localized theory. It also suggests specific actions to break the post‐effects dilemma with the support of this theory. Based on the innovation‐driven survey data of provincial SOEs in Gansu Province, this study adopts grounded theory to conduct exploratory research. This paper constructs a behavior process model of “pre‐motivation, innovation path, and post‐effects dilemma” to drive SOE's innovation and expounds on the incidence relation among the three. The results show that the external administrative force and institutional mechanism drive have both indirect and direct impacts on the innovation path choice of SOEs. The endogenous drive is distorted by external administrative force and institutional mechanism drive, leading to the limited innovation path choice and post‐effects dilemma. This paper puts forward the theory of “Attribute Imbalance–Weakened Autonomy–Sluggish Innovation” and explains why it is sometimes difficult to implement the IDDS of SOEs. However, there are some regional limitations in the application scenarios of the theory. Whether it has broader implications need to further explore. Future theoretical testing should be conducted with a sample of SOEs in developed market regions. It is possible to study the differences in the degree of government intervention in SOEs, the ways of intervention, and the impact of these differences on SOEs' balancing dual attribute conflicts.

A novel two-stage approach for energy-efficient timetabling for an urban rail transit network

Urban rail transit (URT) is the backbone transport mode in metropolitan areas to accommodate large travel demands. The high energy consumption of URT becomes a hotspot problem due to the ever-increasing operation mileages and pressing agendas of carbon neutralization. The high model complexity and inconsistency in the objectives of minimizing passenger travel time and operational energy consumption are the main challenges for energy-efficient timetabling for a URT network with multiple interlinked lines. This study proposes a general model framework of timetabling and passenger path choice in a URT network to minimize energy consumption under passenger travel time constraints. To obtain satisfactory energy-efficient nonuniform timetables, we suggest a novel model reformulation as a tree knapsack problem to determine train running times by a pseudo-polynomial dynamic programming algorithm in the first stage. Furthermore, a heuristic sequencing method is developed to determine nonuniform headways and dwell times in the second stage. The suggested model framework and solution algorithm are tested using a real-world URT network, and the results show that energy consumption can be considerably reduced given certain travel time increments.

Challenges in Assessment of Health Systems Decentralization: The Role of Path Dependence and Choice of Indicators Comment on "The Effects of Health Sector Fiscal Decentralisation on Availability, Accessibility, and Utilisation of Healthcare Services: A Panel Data Analysis".

Optimal resource allocation within national health systems represents the ultimate challenge in diverse countries worldwide. Major part of the literature points that health systems decentralization potentially address the challenge. The present commentary focuses on the debate referring to effects of health systems decentralization, based on the evidence of the study of Arianna Rotulo and colleagues. Studies on the subject emphasize the role of path dependence and the influence of choice of indicators for measurement of effects in the assessment of health systems decentralization. Acknowledging the complexity of the phenomena, the results of the study of Rotulo et al on health system decentralization in Italy are highlighted through the analysis of recent evidence from the literature. The present commentary shows that there are diverse indicators adopted in the literature on the subject, pointing to mixed results, depending on country characteristics and selection of indicators in the analysis. The synthesis of indicators gathered in recent studies also indicate that health system indicators are sensitive to path dependence, thus, requiring additional attention to assumptions of studies on health systems decentralization. Thus, studies should consider the influence of path dependence on organizational practices and institutional structures involved in decentralization processes, in addition to acknowledging that assessments on decentralization vary substantially according to indicators adopted in the analysis, and their links with previous decisions within health systems.

Cascading failure-based reliability assessment for post-seismic performance of highway bridge network

This paper proposes a novel reliability assessment framework for post-seismic performance of highway bridge network that considers cascading failures caused by traffic flow redistribution. Firstly, the fragility curve of bridge is obtained by probabilistic seismic demand model. Then, we propose the impact factor of path choice probability to characterize the cascading failure of the network. The stochastic user equilibrium assignment of highway bridge network traffic flow is calculated based on the impact factor of path choice probability. To evaluate the network's efficiency and identify the congestion-prone links, the Monte Carlo simulation method is introduced to calculate the probability density curves of different influencing parameters. Finally, the framework proposed in this paper is utilized to analyze the congestion-prone links of the transportation network of some areas of Mianyang City and verify its applicability.

Контролируемая иллюзия. Рекурсия как эмоциональное внушение в посткинематографическом пространстве

The article deals with an aspect of the phenomenon of controlled illusion — manipulating emotional reactions and behaviour through the space of an artificially created reality. The subject of the article is a relevant feature of the process — recursion within a fictitious space. The methods of mass suggestion become more complicated with each step of evolution, borrowing the techniques of the past and multiplying them by the technologies of the present. Today’s technologies create a process of self-repetition of elements — a process within a process: artificially created illusions are embodied and massively repeated as patterns. Nowadays, controlled illusion generates a problem of imbalance between the accumulated practice of control and an individual’s ability for distancing. The urgency of the problem is due to the obvious dominance of the methods of manipulating public conscience over the development of an individual via industries of culture. The aim of this article is to define the role of sensory suggestion capabilities through control spaces in the 21st century. The objective is to consider the features of the effects of radiance, the influence of flickering light, and the imitation of the world by adomed structure. These effects stem from the Baroque era, are passed on in evolution, and carry a suggestive potential through an emotional factor. While borrowing and accumulating the techniques of the past, new tools such as artificial intelligence, communication networks, electronics, and biotechnologies bring new qualities to manipulations, including a multisensory impact. The author proposes to reconsider the traditional view on the role of algorithms in cultural objects: what until recently was negatively described as “inanimate” and programmed is now able to control and reveal the emotional potential of a person. The outcome depends on what the algorithms are trained for, who trains them and why. The social function of illusionism is either commercial and political benefit or the promotion of an inclusive culture and the development of a person and their abilities. This cannot but affect the role of designer and artist, whose activity today is increasingly moving away from the decorative and turning to interaction through scientific approaches, which determines the property that offers a choice of path and goal in illusionism.

Hippocampal and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Fractal Spiking Patterns Encode Episodes and Rules

A central question in neuroscience is how the brain represents and processes information to guide behavior. The principles that organize brain computations are not fully known, and could include scale-free, or fractal patterns of neuronal activity. Scale-free brain activity may be a natural consequence of the relatively small subsets of neuronal populations that respond to task features, i.e., sparse coding. The size of the active subsets constrains the possible sequences of inter-spike intervals (ISI), and selecting from this limited set may produce firing patterns across wide-ranging timescales that form fractal spiking patterns. To investigate the extent to which fractal spiking patterns corresponded with task features, we analyzed ISIs in simultaneously recorded populations of CA1 and medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) neurons in rats performing a spatial memory task that required both structures. CA1 and mPFC ISI sequences formed fractal patterns that predicted memory performance. CA1 pattern duration, but not length or content, varied with learning speed and memory performance whereas mPFC patterns did not. The most common CA1 and mPFC patterns corresponded with each region's cognitive function: CA1 patterns encoded behavioral episodes which linked the start, choice, and goal of paths through the maze whereas mPFC patterns encoded behavioral “rules” which guided goal selection. mPFC patterns predicted changing CA1 spike patterns only as animals learned new rules. Together, the results suggest that CA1 and mPFC population activity may predict choice outcomes by using fractal ISI patterns to compute task features.

Urban Residents’ Preferred Walking Street Setting and Environmental Factors: The Case of Chengdu City

To date, most studies on building environments and walking behavior have utilized top-down approaches (e.g., big data or social media data) yet lack bottom-up approaches to verify their findings. Therefore, this study divided urban streets into three main settings (community streets, waterfront paths, and urban greenways) and collected data from a sample of 411 urban residents in Chengdu via an online questionnaire to examine the impact of street environmental factors on their choice of walking path. It was found that: (1) people with higher levels of education preferred streets with water bodies as walking paths; (2) the environmental quality of the physical and aesthetic aspects both had an impact on residents’ choices, and the aesthetic environmental quality had a stronger impact; (3) the impact of most infrastructures on community streets was stronger than on other streets; (4) residents were more concerned about the environmental quality of waterfront paths and urban greenways. Based on these findings, three design patterns for residents’ preferred street environments are proposed.

Digitalization and economic growth in the new classical and new structural economics perspectives

This paper introduces ‘data elements’ into a neoclassical general equilibrium model and the new structural general equilibrium model to study the choice of economic growth paths for developing countries. It derives and compares a general expression for the economic growth rate in equilibrium within the two analytical frameworks following the introduction of digital development comprising primarily the data elements. Additionally, the optimal economic growth path for developing countries before and after the introduction of data elements under both frameworks is identified with important policy implications regarding direct technological progress with respect to the two alternative general equilibrium frame works. This study finds that: (1) No matter what kind of general equilibrium corresponding economic growth path the developing countries choose, the economic growth rate after the introduction of data elements will always be higher than before. (2) Developing countries find the optimal path of economic growth by comparing the different results of economic growth rates under the two analytical frameworks. This paper aligns with a view that when developing countries choose the path of economic growth, they need to combine their own endowment conditions and choose a new structural economics analysis framework for decision-making.

ANALYSIS STRATEGY CONFIGURATIONS IN RISK TAKING USING FUZZY SET QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS MODEL

Risk-taking is a key factor in corporate competitive advantage, and economic development. The type of strategic configuration that can drive high-level risk-taking is a problem worthy of attention. This study takes 2,219 listed firms in China as samples and performs a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the linkage effect and path choice of strategic change, corporate social responsibility, innovation, diversification, and financialization with corporate risk-taking (CRT). It finds that: (a) a single strategy does not constitute a necessary condition for high-level CRT; (b) three types of adaptive schemes exist for high-level CRT, among which the risk-taking level is the highest under the path of “Innovation, diversification, and financialization”; and (c) the driving paths of CRT in different regions, industries, and ownership show obvious differences.

The Path Choice of University Students’ Mental Health Education in the New Era

The Path Choice of University Students’ Mental Health Education in the New Era

Assessing the option water-saving willingness of irrigation areas considering farmers' risk tolerance.

Water option trading could facilitate water conservation in irrigation areas to achieve optimal allocation of agricultural water resources. However, the risk associated with water-saving decisions increases due to the uncertainties of tradeable water and water-saving benefits, which makes farmers in the irrigation area with heterogeneous risk tolerances exhibit varied option water-saving willingness (OWSW) in response to the water option contract. Thus, this article provides a novel framework for prior assessing the OWSW in the irrigated area that considers farmers' heterogeneous risk tolerance and proposes the optimal contractual water demand to stimulate the OWSW. First, a multiobjective optimal allocation model for cropping water is constructed to predict tradeable water, and then risk trust, risk-return perception and reference are integrated into water-saving return analysis for proposing a willingness calculation model involving forecast information. Finally, the influence of heterogeneous risk tolerance on farmers' water-saving path choices and the irrigation area's OWSW is analyzed with three sets of comparative data from 2014 to 2021. Results indicate that the intensity and stability of OWSW in water-scarce irrigation areas increase as farmers' risk tolerance rises, but the enhancement utility exhibits a diminishing marginal trend. When both prediction accuracy and farmers' risk tolerance are low, contracts with relatively adventurous and differentiated water demands are more likely to stimulate OWSW. This study provides insights into activating water options trading and stimulating water conservation in agriculture from a risk management perspective.

The modern legal definition of a young specialist: a look through the methodology of scien-tific research in the field of law

The purpose of the article is to characterize the modern legal definition of a young specialist through the prism of the methodology of scientific research in the field of law. It is noted that at all times one of the most urgent problems of the state that needed to be solved was the problem of employment of graduates of educational institutions. Because it is precisely this category – representatives of the youth - who most acutely felt the various changes that were taking place in the economy, politics and, accordingly, resolved the issue of their choice of life path, the results of which reflected on the future of the state. It is noted that to date, changes have been made to the legislation regulating the legal status of a young specialist, but the problem of the definition of a "young specialist" has been solved by them, unfortunately, there were no current scientific studies that would consider this problem. Attention is focused on the fact that guarantees of youth labor rights, being important ways of implementing the state youth policy, have a positive effect on the process of youth socialization, however, their effectiveness largely depends on the legal certainty of the category to which these guarantees are provided. Therefore, a rule of law containing a definition of a concept must be qualitative, based on the needs of practice and the results of modern legal science, in particular methodology, as its component. It is concluded that high-quality legal regulation takes place in the case when legal norms are formed taking into account the achievements of modern science, based on its methodology, which allows obtaining high-quality results in the form of high-quality legal norms, clear and understandable, which form a single legal mechanism that allows it is possible for individuals to exercise their rights without hindrance. In the course of the conducted research, it was established that the modern legal definition of a young specialist through the methodology of scientific research in the field of law, at the moment, does not differ in those qualities that would indicate high-quality legal regulation, and therefore needs updating. The author provided suggestions for improving the current legislation regarding the definition of the concept of "young specialist".

Bildungschancen verbessern – Familien unterstützen

Abstract The deteriorating competencies of pupils in recent years and the increasing inequality of educational opportunities threaten to reduce the supply of skilled labour and innovative strength in Germany. The diminishing educational opportunities begin with the fact that parents from educationally disadvantaged households are less able to support their children by reading to them. Children from educationally disadvantaged households attend early childhood education less often; their parents have greater difficulty finding a place in a day-care centre, have less contact with teachers at schools and are often unable to assist with homework. There are also disadvantages in the choice of educational paths and professions. In order to increase educational equity, parents in particular should receive more language support in early childhood education; all-day facilities should be expanded (as well as the quality in the direction of family centres), more multi-professional staff could be available at schools to support teachers and parents, and STEM subjects and vocational orientation at schools could be strengthened to help improve equal opportunities and better utilise the potential of children from educationally disadvantaged households for securing skilled labour.

Смысл жизни человека (теоретический анализ понятия)

The problem of the meaning of human life is investigated. The fundamental status of this prob-lem in the spectrum of philosophical knowledge is determined. In the concept of “the meaning of human life” there are two semantic bases integrated in it – pragmatic (regulatory), setting practical guidelines for programming life and theoretical (philosophical), justifying the goal and choice of life path, in accordance to the accepted worldview system and ideology. The analysis of the choice of the meaning of human life from the standpoint of religious and secular worldview is given. It is shown that in ideological discussions there is clearly a difference in thinking, ways of argumentation and proof of people with secular and religious world outlook. From the standpoint of philosophical analysis, the meaning of human life is the realization of the a priori mindset in the knowledge of one&amp;#x27;s being and oneself in it. It is concluded that a secular person does not receive the prescribed meaning of his life, he forms it by observing, getting acquainted with the ideas of the meaning of other people, corrects and forms the personal meaning of life.

European union crisis-induced institutional evolution. The effect of institutional entrepreneurship in the formation of EFSF

ABSTRACT This paper conducts an in-depth case study of the 2010 Greek entrepreneurship attempts that led to the EFSF's creation, aiming to theorise crisis-induced institutional change in the EU. This research aims to cover the theoretical gap left by existing literature by combining theoretical elements derived from historical institutionalism and institutional entrepreneurship. Crises function as critical junctures. During critical junctures, the structural grip of path dependency loosens; thus, a multitude of paths forward are available. The choice of a specific path, if any, heavily relies on the concept of institutional entrepreneur. In 2010 the Greek government was such an agent, with interest in altering EU institutional design to overcome its financial ordeal and with direct access to the EU Council, the primary decision-making body regarding institutional change. The entrepreneur triggers a process of institutional change through their proposal. Once the entrepreneur chooses a path forward, this is further moulded by path dependencies.

Goal Choices Modify Frontotemporal Memory Representations.

Adapting flexibly to changing circumstances is guided by memory of past choices, their outcomes in similar circumstances, and a method for choosing among potential actions. The hippocampus (HPC) is needed to remember episodes, and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) helps guide memory retrieval. Single-unit activity in the HPC and PFC correlates with such cognitive functions. Previous work recorded CA1 and mPFC activity as male rats performed a spatial reversal task in a plus maze that requires both structures, found that PFC activity helps reactivate HPC representations of pending goal choices but did not describe frontotemporal interactions after choices. We describe these interactions after choices here. CA1 activity tracked both current goal location and the past starting location of single trials; PFC activity tracked current goal location better than past start location. CA1 and PFC reciprocally modulated representations of each other both before and after goal choices. After choices, CA1 activity predicted changes in PFC activity in subsequent trials, and the magnitude of this prediction correlated with faster learning. In contrast, PFC start arm activity more strongly modulated CA1 activity after choices correlated with slower learning. Together, the results suggest post-choice HPC activity conveys retrospective signals to the PFC, which combines different paths to common goals into rules. In subsequent trials, prechoice mPFC activity modulates prospective CA1 signals informing goal selection.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT HPC and PFC activity supports cognitive flexibility in changing circumstances. HPC signals represent behavioral episodes that link the start, choice, and goal of paths. PFC signals represent rules that guide goal-directed actions. Although prior studies described HPC-PFC interactions preceding decisions in the plus maze, post-decision interactions were not investigated. Here, we show post-choice HPC and PFC activity distinguished the start and goal of paths, and CA1 signaled the past start of each trial more accurately than mPFC. Postchoice CA1 activity modulated subsequent PFC activity, so rewarded actions were more likely to occur. Together, the results show that in changing circumstances, HPC retrospective codes modulate subsequent PFC coding, which in turn modulates HPC prospective codes that predict choices.

Prediction of Traffic Flow considering Electric Vehicle Market Share and Random Charging

This paper mainly studies the multiclass stochastic user equilibrium problem considering the market share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and random charging behavior (RCB) in a mixed transport network containing electric vehicles and gasoline vehicles (GVs). In order to analyze the random charging and path choice behaviors of BEV users and extract the differences in travel behaviors between BEV and GV users, an improved logit-based model, multilabel algorithm, and queuing theory are applied. The influencing factors of charging possibility mainly include the initial state of charge (SOC), the SOC at the beginning of charging, and the psychologically acceptable safe SOC threshold arriving at the destination. Diversity choices of user paths and charging locations will result in changes in queuing traffic and differences in queuing time. Conversely, different stations have different queuing dwell times, which will also affect the routing and charging locations for BEVs with RCB. The path-based method of successive averages (MSA) is adopted to solve the model. Through the simulation of the test network Sioux Falls, the equilibrium traffic flow and possible charging flow under different market shares and initial SOC are predicted, and the properties of the model and the feasibility of the algorithm are verified.