物理与社会
Use is made of rigorous definitions for the terms normal, natural, and harmonic to reveal a number of unfamiliar aspects about them. The Gaussian distribution is not sufficient to determine who is normal, and fluctuations above or below a…
The electric grid is increasingly vital, supporting essential services such as healthcare, heating and cooling transportation, telecommunications, and water systems. This growing dependence on reliable power underscores the need for…
We investigate a process of growth of a signed network that strictly adheres to Heider structural balance rules, resulting in two opposing, growing factions. New agents make contact with a random existing agent and join one of the factions…
Understanding how internal community structure shapes the course of epidemics remains a fundamental challenge in modeling real-world populations. Standard metapopulation models often assume uniform mixing within communities, overlooking how…
Long-duration energy storage (LDES) is vital for decarbonizing the energy system but faces economic challenges, including high upfront costs, low trading frequency, and limited revenue in current electricity markets. Compressed Air Energy…
Voluntary carbon-free electricity (CFE) procurement has the potential to accelerate electric sector decarbonization, but procurement strategies vary widely, leading to uncertainty about emissions, investments, and costs. This study assesses…
From pathogens and computer viruses to genes and memes, contagion models have found widespread utility across the natural and social sciences. Despite their success and breadth of adoption, the approach and structure of these models remain…
The application of Markov chains to modelling refugee crises is explored, focusing on local migration of individuals at the level of cities and days. As an explicit example we apply the Markov chains migration model developed here to UNHCR…
Although a number of studies have investigated human mobility patterns during natural hazards, mechanistic models that capture mobility dynamics under large-scale perturbations, such as extreme floods, remain scarce. Leveraging mobile phone…
This paper presents a discrete-event stochastic model for the redistribution of indistinguishable personal items, exemplified by socks, among multiple cohabitants sharing a communal laundry system. Drawing on concepts from ecological…
Meeting net-zero targets remains formidable as terrestrial renewables grapple with intermittency and regional variability. Here, we integrate space-based solar power (SBSP) -- a potential near-constant, orbital solar technology -- into a…
This study examines the lack of redistributive effectiveness of consumption-based tax systems with respect to social fairness. Through numerical simulations, we explore the wealth exchanges among economic agents subject to flat consumption…
This paper aims to discuss the impacts of low-cost airlines on the air transport market and, in particular, to present the most recent findings from the specialized literature in this field. To this end, several papers published on the…
Introduction: The inclusion of Breaking in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games introduced a distinctive competition format in which two athletes compete head-to-head in battle rounds. Unlike other aesthetic sports, where athletes receive…
We venture that the long evolution of science may be viewed as unfolding over three blurred epochs. The first epoch spans the slow, haphazard, error-ridden realization of scientific truths along with foundational scientific methods. The…
We introduce the Economic Productivity of Energy (EPE), GDP generated per unit of energy consumed, as a quantitative lens to assess the sustainability of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. Historical evidence shows that the first…
In recent years, numerous advances have been made in understanding how epidemic dynamics is affected by changes in individual behaviours. We propose an SIS-based compartmental model to tackle the simultaneous and coupled evolution of an…
Political debate nowadays takes place mainly on online social media, with election periods amplifying ideological engagement. Reddit is generally considered more resistant to polarization and echo chamber effects than platforms like Twitter…
Urban sprawl reshapes cities, yet its quantitative laws remain elusive. Analyzing built-up expansion in 19 cities (1985-2015) with tools from surface growth physics in radial geometry, we reveal anisotropic, branch-like growth and a…
Low total fertility rates throughout the world have lead to concerns about economic growth, military security, international political power, environment impacts, and quality of life. Overall total fertility rates of today's societies are…