Railway delay management with passenger rerouting considering train capacity constraints

Delay management for railways is concerned with the question of whether a train should wait for a delayed feeder train or depart on time. The answer should not only depend on the length of the delay but also consider other factors, such as capacity restrictions. We present an optimization model for delay management in railway networks that accounts for capacity constraints on the number of passengers that a train can effectively carry. While limited capacities of tracks and stations have been considered in delay management models, passenger train capacity has been neglected in the literature so far, implicitly assuming an infinite train capacity. However, even in open systems where no seat reservation is required and passengers may stand during the journey if all seats are occupied, physical space is naturally limited, and the number of standing seats is constrained for passenger safety reasons. We present a mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulation for the delay management problem with passenger rerouting and capacities of trains. Our model allows the rerouting of passengers missing their connection due to delays or capacity constraints. We linearize the model in exact and approximate ways and experimentally compare the different approaches with the solution of a reference model from the literature that neglects capacity constraints. The results demonstrate that there is a significant impact of considering train capacity restrictions in decisions to manage delays.     

Effect of damage in neural networks

The effect of damage on the pattern recognition in the Hopfield-model of neural networks is studied. It is assumed that in a damaged network the synaptic efficaciesJ _i,j=J_j,i, between pairs of neuronsS _i andS _j follow the Hebb rule with probability (1–p) and are equal to zero with probabilityp. Numerical simulations are performed for a net consisting of 400 neurons. It is investigated in detail how the retrieval of noisy patterns and the storage capacity of the net depends, for varying initial noise, on the concentrationp of the damaged synaptic efficacies.     

Protein Backbone N Relaxation Rates as a Tool for the Diagnosis of Structure Quality

In the work reported herein we define a structure validation factor that depends on protein backbone ¹⁵N relaxation rates. This is an alternative method to the previously defined quality factors derived from anisotropic chemical shifts or residual dipolar couplings. We have used the structure dependence of ¹⁵N relaxation rates of anisotropically tumbling proteins to calculate this structure diagnosis factor and have used it to demonstrate the improvement of protein structures refined with residual dipolar couplings.     

Incorporation of Ce3+ in crystalline Gd-silicate nanoclusters formed in silica

Structural and optical properties of sol–gel silica based glassceramics doped with 0.1 mol% Ce and codoped with Gd at high concentrations, from 5 mol% up to 40 mol%, are investigated and compared to those of analogous samples doped only with Ce. Raman scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction reveal the formation of Gd apatite-like silicate (Gd_4.67O(SiO₄)₃) and of Gd pyrosilicate (Gd₂Si₂O₇) nanophases whose morphology and crystallinity depend on the Gd concentration and thermal treatments. Optical absorption measurements demonstrate the role of the densification atmosphere in modifying the charge state of Ce ions. The incorporation of Ce³⁺ ions in the nanophases is put in evidence by photo- and radio-luminescence results.     

A first low‐resolution difference Fourier map of phosphorus in a membrane protein from near‐edge anomalous diffraction

Crystal diffraction of three membrane proteins (cytochrome bc₁ complex, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ ATPase, ADP‐ATP carrier) and of one nucleoprotein complex (leucyl tRNA synthetase bound to tRNAleu, leuRS:tRNAleu) was tested at wavelengths near the X‐ray K‐absorption edge of phosphorus using a new set‐up for soft X‐ray diffraction at the beamline ID01 of the ESRF. The best result was obtained from crystals of Ca²⁺ ATPase [adenosin‐5′‐(β,γ‐methylene) triphosphate complex] which diffracted out to 7 Å resolution. Data were recorded at a wavelength at which the real resonant scattering factor of phosphorus reaches the extreme value of ?20 electron units. The positions of the four triphosphates of the monoclinic unit cell of the ATPase have been obtained from a difference Fourier synthesis based on a limited set of anomalous diffraction data.     

Influence of quadrupole–quadrupole-type interaction on the chaotic dynamics of $$\alpha $$-helical proteins

We calculate the electronic band dispersion of graphene monolayer on a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide substrate (GrTMD) around K and \(\mathbf{K}^{\prime }\) points by taking into account the interplay of the ferromagnetic impurities and the substrate-induced interactions. The latter are (strongly enhanced) intrinsic spin–orbit interaction (SOI), the extrinsic Rashba spin–orbit interaction (RSOI) and the one related to the transfer of the electronic charge from graphene to substrate. We introduce exchange field (M) in the Hamiltonian to take into account the deposition of magnetic impurities on the graphene surface. The cavalcade of the perturbations yield particle–hole symmetric band dispersion with an effective Zeeman field due to the interplay of the substrate-induced interactions with RSOI as the prime player. Our graphical analysis with extremely low-lying states strongly suggests the following: The GrTMDs, such as graphene on \(\hbox {WY}_{2}\), exhibit (direct) band-gap narrowing / widening (Moss–Burstein (MB) gap shift) including the increase in spin polarisation (P) at low temperature due to the increase in the exchange field (M) at the Dirac points. The polarisation is found to be electric field tunable as well. Finally, there is anticrossing of non-parabolic bands with opposite spins, the gap closing with same spins, etc. around the Dirac points. A direct electric field control of magnetism at the nanoscale is needed here. The magnetic multiferroics, like \(\hbox {BiFeO}_{3}\) (BFO), are useful for this purpose due to the coupling between the magnetic and electric order parameters.     

Efficacy of a Behaviorally Based Voice Therapy Protocol for Vocal Nodules

The aim of this study was to assess the effects on vocal function of voice therapy for vocal nodules. Perceptual and physiological progressive changes were examined during a strictly structured, behaviorally based voice therapy protocol in which 11 women with vocal nodules participated. Randomized audio recordings from pretherapy and from each of the therapy approaches (vocal hygiene, respiration, direct facilitation, carryover) were used for perceptual evaluations. Six speech-language pathologists rated ten voice quality parameters. Two evaluation procedures were performed and compared. Interlistener reliability was sufficiently high in both tests. Significant effects of therapy were found for decreased overall dysphonia, press, instability, gratings, roughness, vocal fry, and "scrape." Nonsignificant group effects were found for breathiness, aphonic instances, and lack of sonority. No significant parameter changes occurred between baseline assessment and the completion of the initial (vocal hygiene) phase of therapy. Significant changes were found following the direct facilitation and respiration phases of therapy. Videostroboscopic evaluations made by two laryngologists showed that in no case were the nodules completely resolved. However, the nodules had decreased in size and edema was reduced after therapy for all clients, but one. Combined results suggest: (1) Alterations in vocal function were reflected in perceptual parameters, and (2) the voice therapy had a positive effect on voice quality, vocal status, and vocal function for the majority of the vocal nodule clients.     

Monaural and binaural loudness of 5- and 200-ms tones in normal and impaired hearing

The difference in level required to match monaural and binaural loudness of 5- and 200-ms tones was measured for listeners with normal and impaired hearing. Stimuli were 1-kHz tones presented at levels ranging from 10 to 90 dB sensation level. Sixteen listeners (eight normal and eight with losses of primarily cochlear origin) made loudness matches between equal-duration monaural and binaural tones using an adaptive 2AFC procedure. The present results corroborate existing data for 200-ms tones in normal listeners and provide new data for 5-ms tones. On average, the binaural level difference required for equal loudness of monaural and binaural tones is about the same for 5- and 200-ms tones of equal level and changes as a function of level. The group data for normal and impaired listeners are in reasonable agreement with data in the literature. However, the data from some of the impaired listeners deviate markedly from the average, indicating that group data do not accurately represent the behavior of all impaired listeners. Derived loudness functions from the loudness-matching data are reasonably consistent with individual data in the literature.     

Enhancing dominant modes in nonstationary time series by means of the symbolic resonance analysis

We present the symbolic resonance analysis (SRA) as a viable method for addressing the problem of enhancing a weakly dominant mode in a mixture of impulse responses obtained from a nonlinear dynamical system. We demonstrate this using results from a numerical simulation with Duffing oscillators in different domains of their parameter space, and by analyzing event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from a language processing experiment in German as a representative application. In this paradigm, the averaged ERPs exhibit an N400 followed by a sentence final negativity. Contemporary sentence processing models predict a late positivity (P600) as well. We show that the SRA is able to unveil the P600 evoked by the critical stimuli as a weakly dominant mode from the covering sentence final negativity.