IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN BY OPTIMAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER LOCATION

The solution of a logistic problem to improve the efficiency of the supply chain in order to achieve an optimal delivery strategy is presented. The solution involves the use of mathematical methods to determine the location of the distribution center in the service area. The use of an optimal delivery strategy leads to a decrease in storage and transportation costs, which has a positive effect on the competitiveness of an enterprise in modern market conditions

EVALUATION OF THE PLACES FOR CREATION OF APIARIES AND OPTIMAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE BEE COLONIES

An approach for evaluation of the places for creation of apiaries and optimal distribution of bee colonies formed on the basis of the feeding capacities of the areas with flowering plants, the distances between these sites and the feeding areas is proposed. A multicriteria model with two main criteria is considered. The first maximizes the sum of the products of the weights for a given place multiplied by the number of colonies that will be positioned at that place. This criterion is divided into two sub-criteria, including the ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ assessment of place preferences, respectively. The second criterion aims to minimize malnourished bee colonies. The model, with the proposed approach for ‘objective’ assessment of potential distribution sites, can be applied both for cases without overpopulation of the area with bee colonies and for areas with overpopulation.

Role of Ligand Distribution in the Cytoskeleton-Associated Endocytosis of Ellipsoidal Nanoparticles

Nanoparticle (NP)–cell interaction mediated by receptor–ligand bonds is a crucial phenomenon in pathology, cellular immunity, and drug delivery systems, and relies strongly on the shape of NPs and the stiffness of the cell. Given this significance, a fundamental question is raised on how the ligand distribution may affect the membrane wrapping of non-spherical NPs under the influence of cytoskeleton deformation. To address this issue, in this work we use a coupled elasticity–diffusion model to systematically investigate the role of ligand distribution in the cytoskeleton-associated endocytosis of ellipsoidal NPs for different NP shapes, sizes, cytoskeleton stiffness, and the initial receptor densities. In this model, we have taken into account the effects of receptor diffusion, receptor–ligand binding, cytoskeleton and membrane deformations, and changes in the configuration entropy of receptors. By solving this model, we find that the uptake process can be significantly influenced by the ligand distribution. Additionally, there exists an optimal state of such a distribution, which corresponds to the fastest uptake efficiency and depends on the NP aspect ratio and cytoskeleton stiffness. We also find that the optimal distribution usually needs local ligand density to be sufficiently high at the large curvature region. Furthermore, the optimal state of NP entry into cells can tolerate slight changes to the corresponding optimal distribution of the ligands. The tolerance to such a change is enhanced as the average receptor density and NP size increase. These results may provide guidelines to control NP–cell interactions and improve the efficiency of target drug delivery systems.