Modeling the Sustainable Development Nexus as a Complicated-Coupled System

This chapter discusses the universal concept of a system through the lens of system thinking and science and applies it to the concept of sustainable development. Because system science is inherently multidisciplinary, examples and concepts are borrowed from many disciplines. Any system can be explained through multiple dimensions or components of which this chapter details ‘structure' by modeling systems as static cross-impact networks; it frames sustainable development—referred to as anthropocentric systems—as an interconnected group of sectors, like an economy, using a nexus approach. As nations work toward implementing the complex and interconnected United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this chapter offers methods to identify the type of interactions and quantify the strengths among them. This approach supports the process of priority setting and highlights areas in particular needed for policy coordination across different sectors.

Introducing static cross-linking points into dynamic covalent polymer gels that display freezing-induced mechanofluorescence: enhanced force transmission efficiency and stability

Freezing polymer gels that are cross-linked by tetraarylsuccinonitrile (TASN) moieties, which can generate pink and fluorescent yellow radicals in response to mechanical stress, induces mechanofluorescence from the dynamic dissociation of the TASN groups.

A 25-year dynamic ecological analysis of psychiatric hospital admissions and prison committals: Penrose’s hypothesis updated

AimsThere is renewed interest in the inverse association between psychiatric hospital and prison places, with reciprocal time trends shown in more than one country. We hypothesised that the numbers of admissions to psychiatric hospitals and committals to prisons in Ireland would also correlate inversely over time (i.e. dynamic measures of admission and committal rather than static, cross-sectional numbers of places).MethodPublicly available activity statistics for psychiatric hospitals and prisons in Ireland were collated from 1986 to 2010.ResultsThere was a reciprocal association between psychiatric admissions and prison committals (Pearson r=−0.788, p<0.001), an increase of 91 prison committals for every 100 psychiatric hospital admissions foregone.ConclusionPenrose’s hypothesis applies to admissions to psychiatric hospitals and prisons in Ireland over time (dynamic measures), just as it does to the numbers of places in psychiatric hospitals and prisons in Ireland and elsewhere (static, cross-sectional measures). Although no causal connection can be definitively established yet, mentally disordered prisoners are usually known to community mental health services. Psychiatric services for prisons and the community should be linked to ensure that the needs of those currently accessing care through prisons can also be met in the community.

Evaluation of the Wind-Resistant Performance of Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge Using the Monitoring Correlation between the Static Cross Wind and Its Displacement Response

The wind-resistant performance of existing long-span cable-stayed bridge structures will inevitably deteriorate due to concrete carbonation, reinforcement corrosion, accumulated fatigue damage, etc., which can threaten the entire bridge safety. However, few studies currently focus on assessing the wind-resistant performance of existing long-span cable-stayed bridge structures, and at present, no studies have revealed how to identify the deterioration of the wind-resistant performance using a bridge health-monitoring technique. Therefore, based on the health-monitoring system installed on the Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge, the monitoring wind field and GPS displacement are captured to analyze the wind-resistant performance. First, the correlation between static cross wind and transversal displacement is analyzed, which is nearly linear but also contains discrete points caused by environmental noise. Second, considering that the discrete points can decrease the identification accuracy, one new method called the cross-correlation analysis of wavelet packet coefficients is put forward to effectively remove the discrete points. Third, considering that the traditional function cannot match the monitoring correlation very well, some new fitting functions are thoroughly studied to determine the best function for fitting the monitoring correlation. Fourth, the abnormal variation in the monitoring correlation caused by a deterioration in the wind-resistant performance is studied, and the root-mean-square (RMS) variable, which represents the difference between a good service state and a deteriorated service state, is used as a detection indicator to identify the deterioration of wind-resistant performance. Finally, the monitoring data from ten months are selected to evaluate the wind-resistant performance of the Sutong Bridge, and the result shows that its wind-resistant performance was still in a good service state during these ten months.

Polarity sorting of axonal microtubules: a computational study

We present a computational model to test a “polarity sorting” mechanism for microtubule (MT) organization in developing axons. We simulate the motor-based axonal transport of short MTs to test the hypothesis that immobilized cytoplasmic dynein motors transport short MTs with their plus ends leading, so “mal-oriented” MTs with minus-end-out are transported toward the cell body while “correctly” oriented MTs are transported in the anterograde direction away from the soma. We find that dynein-based transport of short MTs can explain the predominately plus-end-out polarity pattern of axonal MTs but that transient attachments of plus-end-directed motor proteins and nonmotile cross-linker proteins are needed to explain the frequent pauses and occasional reversals observed in live-cell imaging of MT transport. Static cross-linkers increase the likelihood of a stalled “tug-of-war” between retrograde and anterograde forces on the MT, providing an explanation for the frequent pauses of short MTs and the immobility of longer MTs. We predict that inhibition of the proposed static cross-linker will produce disordered transport of short MTs and increased mobility of longer MTs. We also predict that acute inhibition of cytoplasmic dynein will disrupt the polarity sorting of MTs by increasing the likelihood of “incorrect” sorting of MTs by plus-end-directed motors.

High-Level Organization of Motion

Some ambiguous patterns of flashed dots are equally likely to be seen as jumping horizontally or vertically. Priming dots can disambiguate this motion, showing that observers prefer to see straight-line rather than L-shaped motion. Pairs of dots that circle around each other can become perceptually linked into larger, global shapes including many such pairs. Moving backgrounds can distort moving dots so that their circular paths appear elliptical or even linear. Observers radically misperceive the sliding motions of rods (chopsticks) or rings that glide over each other. Finally, a moving background can strongly shift or distort a flashed-up static cross. This chapter discusses these concepts.

Model for Yarn Transport Systems

In textile production the yarn is being withdrawn from cross-wound packages in warping and weft insertion. During unwinding there appear forces in the yarn that are approximately proportional to the square of the unwinding velocity. During unwind the yarn tension is not constant, but it oscillates within some interval. This is especially noticeable in over-end unwinding from a static cross wound packages, where the yarn is being withdrawn with a high velocity in the direction of the package axis. Even when the yarn is not strongly stressed, so that the tension does not exceed a few percent of the breaking strength, the yarn still can break sometimes. This is why we think that a cross-wound package is not an ideal form of a package and that such packages are not always made without flaws.