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1
Färe, Rolf, Shawna Grosskopf, and Valentin Zelenyuk. "Aggregation of Nerlovian profit indicator." Applied Economics Letters 15, no. 11 (September 26, 2008): 845–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504850600825584.
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Lee, Jong Seok, and Hyun Il Choi. "Comparative Analysis of Flood Vulnerability Indicators by Aggregation Frameworks for the IPCC’s Assessment Components to Climate Change." Applied Sciences 9, no. 11 (June 5, 2019): 2321. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app9112321.
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As severe flood damages have been increasing due to climate change, the flood vulnerability assessment is needed in the flood mitigation plans to cope with climate-related flood disasters. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report (IPCC TAR) presented the three assessment components, such as exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability for the vulnerability to climate change, several aggregation frameworks have been used to compile individual components into the composite indicators to measure the flood vulnerability. It is therefore necessary to select an appropriate aggregation framework for the flood vulnerability assessments because the aggregation frameworks can have a large influence on the composite indicator outcomes. For a comparative analysis of flood vulnerability indicators across different aggregation frameworks for the IPCC’s assessment components, the composite indicators are derived by four representative types of aggregation frameworks with all the same proxy variable set in the Republic of Korea. It is found in the study site that there is a key driver component of the composite indicator outcomes and the flood vulnerability outcomes largely depend on whether the key component is treated independently or dependently in each aggregation framework. It is concluded that the selection of an aggregation framework can be based on the correlation and causality analysis to determine the relative contribution of the assessment components to the overall performance of the composite indicators across different aggregation frameworks.
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Maisano, Domenico, and Luca Mastrogiacomo. "Checking the Consistency of Solutions in Decision-Making Problems with Multiple Weighted Agents." International Journal of Decision Support System Technology 10, no. 1 (January 2018): 39–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijdsst.2018010103.
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A decision-making problem diffused in various practical contexts is that of aggregating multi-agent judgements into a consensus ordering, in the case the agents' importance is expressed through a set of weights. A crucial point in this aggregation is that the consensus ordering well reflects the input data, i.e., agents' judgements and importance. The scientific literature encompasses several aggregation techniques, even if it does not include a versatile tool for a quantitative assessment and comparison of their performance. The aim of this paper is introducing a new indicator (p), which allows to verify the degree of consistency between consensus ordering and input data. This indicator is simple, intuitive and independent from the aggregation technique in use; for this reason, it can be applied to a variety of practical contexts and used to compare the results obtained through different aggregation techniques, when applied to a specific problem. The description is supported by various application examples.
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Ruiz, Francisco, and José Manuel Cabello. "MRP-PCI: A Multiple Reference Point Based Partially Compensatory Composite Indicator for Sustainability Assessment." Sustainability 13, no. 3 (January 26, 2021): 1261. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13031261.
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Assessing different types of sustainability is a complex procedure, which implies considering aspects of very different nature. One way to do this is using a system of single indicators measuring all these different aspects and aggregating them in an overall composite indicator. In line with the concepts of weak and strong sustainability, the compensability degree among the indicators allowed by the aggregation procedure is a crucial issue. There exist methods that allow for full compensability, zero compensability, or partial compensability. In most of them, the compensation degree is established in a global way, that is, it is the same for all the indicators. In this paper, we develop the Multiple Reference Point Partially Compensatory Indicator (MRP-PCI), where a different compensation index can be established for each indicator. The resulting method can be applied to any system of indicators, and successfully considers the compensation indices given. Some examples and comparisons are used to illustrate its behavior.
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Kosaric, N., E. M. Mahoney, L. K. Varangu, and W. L. Cairns. "Cell Surface and Aggregation Studies of Microbes from Anaerobic Systems." Water Quality Research Journal 22, no. 2 (May 1, 1987): 289–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.1987.022.
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Abstract Studies were performed to evaluate cell surface properties of aggregated microbial granules from anaerobic digestion systems. Cell surface properties (hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity) were obtained by contact angle measurements in an aqueous phase. The cells’ charges were evaluated by measuring zeta potential and settlability was used as a measure of aggregating of cells under various experimental conditions. Flocculation tests have shown to be a good indicator of aggregation ability between cells. Aggregation can be modulated by changing those environmental and engineering parameters which can be measured by contact angle and zeta potential.
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Vann, Katie. "Surplus and Indicator." Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 3 (February 17, 2017): 92. http://dx.doi.org/10.17351/ests2017.113.
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This essay offers a perspective on journal impact factor (JIF) centrism in academic evaluation from the vantage point of academic publishing in an increasingly data-driven scholarly environment. The political implications and orientations to the JIF are thought through with respect both to commercial publishing industry consolidation and to the reliance of public-sector scholarly communities on (oligopolistic) commercial academic publishing houses. The author proposes that centrism to the JIF as a legitimizing indicator and incentivizing norm leads to two diametrically opposed forms of “surplus”: for academic communities, surplus emerges in the form of layers of scholarly knowledge effects/impact and labor, which, because they remain foreclosed to formal professional recognition, are inadvertently reconstructed as dispensable (waste); for private sector publishing companies––whose contribution to the publishing process consists foremost in providing scalable content management/distribution platforms and in transforming unique manuscript content into standardized digital objects that are amenable to indexing, aggregation, and comparative calculation––surplus emerges in the form of monetary surplus (profit). The essay describes the inner workings of these phenomena.
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LIM, HOCK-EAM. "ESTIMATING THE EMPLOYMENT PERFORMANCE INDICATOR: THE CASE OF UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA GRADUATES." Singapore Economic Review 52, no. 01 (April 2007): 73–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0217590807002579.
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This paper proposes an alternate method of estimating the employment performance indicator using the Cox Proportional Hazard model with competing risk framework. Simple aggregation and the logit model have also been used in the estimating for comparison purpose. Using the data of Universiti Utara Malaysia graduates, the study finds that the Bachelor of Accounting degree has the highest employment performance indicator. There are significant differences found in the employment performance ranking as constructed by the proportional hazard model, logit model and simple aggregation.
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Hayes, Laura E., and Xi Zheng. "Aggregation of Connecticut Towns for Precise Population Health Indicator Assessment." Annals of Epidemiology 27, no. 8 (August 2017): 524–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2017.07.136.
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Machado, Elia A., and Samuel Ratick. "Implications of indicator aggregation methods for global change vulnerability reduction efforts." Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 23, no. 7 (December 15, 2017): 1109–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11027-017-9775-7.
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Zhou, P., B. W. Ang, and D. Q. Zhou. "Weighting and Aggregation in Composite Indicator Construction: a Multiplicative Optimization Approach." Social Indicators Research 96, no. 1 (April 22, 2009): 169–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9472-3.
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Langhans, Simone D., Peter Reichert, and Nele Schuwirth. "The method matters: A guide for indicator aggregation in ecological assessments." Ecological Indicators 45 (October 2014): 494–507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.05.014.
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Valcárcel-Aguiar, Beatriz, Pilar Murias, and David Rodríguez-González. "Sustainable Urban Liveability: A Practical Proposal Based on a Composite Indicator." Sustainability 11, no. 1 (December 24, 2018): 86. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11010086.
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This article presents a proposal for a composite index to assess the degree of sustainable urban liveability. It makes two key contributions to this field of study. The first is a proposal for the concept of sustainable urban liveability that includes the need to meet a minimum number of environmental conditions in terms of resource consumption and the deterioration of the environment. The second contribution is the use of a non-compensatory aggregation technique in order to construct the composite index. This kind of aggregation technique does not allow trade-offs between partial indicators. In the particular context of sustainable urban liveability, it prevents poor performance by the natural environment indicators from being compensated by positive results in the remaining indicators. The proposed composite index for sustainable urban liveability is applied to the case of 58 Spanish cities. The results reveal significant differences in the degree of sustainable urban liveability for this group of cities, but more importantly, they highlight the potential of this proposal for urban management.
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Li, Mei, Hao Yue, Bin Ya Zhang, and Xue Yu Mi. "Spatial Characteristic Indicator of Pedestrian Facilities for Evacuation." Advanced Materials Research 989-994 (July 2014): 5508–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.989-994.5508.
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The spatial characteristic indicators of pedestrian facilities for evacuation are presented in order to contribute to the organization and management of pedestrian evacuation flow. An evacuation network is constructed based on the spatial layout of pedestrian facilities, in which the nodes represent moving sub-areas and two-way arc is on behalf of moving bottlenecks. Spatial characteristic indicators are built based on Multiple Origins Single Destination (MOSD) evacuation network including movement distance, movement amount, evacuation bottleneck, and evacuation aggregation extent. Through a case, the computation and application of the spatial characteristic indicators are presented in the layout analysis of pedestrian facilities, in which relevant improvement measures of spatial layout are advised.
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Garcia-Bernabeu, Ana, José Manuel Cabello, and Francisco Ruiz. "A Multi-Criteria Reference Point Based Approach for Assessing Regional Innovation Performance in Spain." Mathematics 8, no. 5 (May 14, 2020): 797. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/math8050797.
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The evaluation of regional innovation performance through composite innovation indices can serve as a valuable tool for policy-making. While discussion on the best methodology to construct composite innovation indices continues, we are interested in deepening the use of reference levels and the aggregation issue. So far, additive aggregation methods are, largely, the most widespread aggregation rule, thus allowing for full compensability among single indicators. In this paper, we present an integrated assessment methodology to evaluate regional innovation performance using the Multi-Reference Point based Weak and Strong Composite Indicator (MRP-WSCI) approach, which allows defining reference levels and different degrees of compensability. As an example of application to the Regional Innovation Scoreboard, the proposed technique is developed to measure the innovation performance of Spain’s regions taking into account Spanish and European reference levels. The main features of the proposed approach are: (i) absolute or relative reference levels could be previously defined by the decision maker; (ii) by establishing the reference levels, the resulting composite innovation index is an easy-to-interpret measure; and (iii) the non-compensatory strong composite indicator provides an additional layer of information for policy-making (iv) a visualization tool called Light-Diagram is proposed to track the specific strengths and weaknesses of the regions’ innovation performance.
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Boal-San Miguel, Iván, and Luis César Herrero-Prieto. "Reliability of Creative Composite Indicators with Territorial Specification in the EU." Sustainability 12, no. 8 (April 11, 2020): 3070. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12083070.
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There is wide consensus regarding the capacity of the creative economy as a factor in economic development and sustainability in regions in the medium term, and it is an issue that has aroused interest in measuring the creative potential of areas by estimating composite indicators. Most works posit indicators by countries or cities and normally employ a single aggregation method. This work proposes the construction of a synthetic indicator of creativity with regional disaggregation for a wide sample of European countries, comparing different aggregation methods under the hypothesis of the benefit of the doubt (BoD). We use Eurostat data and also analyse spatial dependence processes. Findings point to an inequality in the regional distribution of creativity in Europe and this reveals creative gap models in areas, suggesting that creativity triggers greater spatial disparities wherever it is found. The principal creative clusters are located in regions in central and northern Europe, particularly in regions with national capitals. The regional distribution of the indicator evidences positive spatial dependence, thereby revealing the existence of spatial externalities that provide feedback for the concentration process and, therefore, a widening of the disparities.
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Hao, Dong, Runtong Zhang, and Kaiyuan Bai. "An integrated approach for service quality evaluation of online health communities based on q-rung orthopair fuzzy linguistic aggregation operators." Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems 42, no. 3 (February 2, 2022): 1907–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/jifs-211257.
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Online health communities (OHCs) have emerged as a significant platform for people communicating health information and self-healthcare management. In recent, the researches focusing on its performance measurement and the service quality evaluation have drawn intensive attention. Although some qualitative methods have made evaluation and analyses for the OHCs performance, the studies based on fuzzy multi-attribute decision making theory are rarely developed in the service quality evaluation of OHCs. In view of the complexity and uncertainty of evaluation mission, this paper develops an integrated evaluation approach of the OHC service quality based on the q-rung orthopair fuzzy linguistic aggregation operators. Firstly, we propose the cross-entropy of q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers, which is applied in solving the optimal weight of indicators by a linear programming model. Next, the q-rung orthopair fuzzy linguistic power average (q-ROFLPA) and q-rung orthopair fuzzy linguistic partitioned dual Maclaurin symmetric mean (q-ROFLPDMSM) operators are developed for aggregating the assessment information and ranking the OHCs. Based on the proposed aggregation operators, the evaluation indicator system and an evaluation framework are constructed to accomplish the service quality evaluation of OHCs. Finally, a practical evaluation case of OHCs is provided to demonstrate the reliability and advantages of the proposed approach.
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Ma, Liping. "Evaluation of Monitoring Indicators of Antiplatelet Therapy." Blood 124, no. 21 (December 6, 2014): 4996. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.v124.21.4996.4996.
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Abstract Background: It is known that antiplatelet therapy has become an important treatment of coronary artery disease. However, the standardized monitoring methods of antiplatelet drugs remain unestablished, since platelets are very easy to be activated, and the platelet function testing in vitro is difficult to standardization. Large-scale clinical trials can only rely on the probability of occurrence of ischemic time and massive bleeding in patients to determine the appropriate dose and type of antiplatelet drugs. Therefore, we hope to assess platelet function before and after antiplatelet therapy by using a variety of testing methods which include the platelet aggregation, thrombelastography, platelet VASP and CD62P expression. Objectives: In this study, we sought to optimize the combination of these methods and explore an effective, simple method for the monitoring of antiplatelet treatment. Methods: A total of 309 inpatients that were suffered from suspected coronary artery disease, and underwent CAG+PCI were enrolled between June 2013 and January 2014 in Department of Cardiology of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. All the eligible patients were divided into clopidogrel group (75 mg/d)£¬ aspirin group (100mg/d) and aspirin plus clopidogrel group (dual antiplatelet therapy, aspirin 100 mg/d plus clopidogrel 75 mg/d), and those with no previous history of antiplatelet treatment as the healthy control group. The testing indicators of platelet function were platelet aggregation, platelet CD62P expression and vasodilator stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) phosphorylation level (PRI). These indicators were detected in clopidogrel and aspirin groups in 1 month and 3 months after antiplatelet therapy respectively, and detected separately in 2 hours, 1 month, and 3 months after coronary stent implantation in aspirin plus clopidogrel group. Platelet aggregation was measured by turbidimetric test with ADP and arachidonic acid (AA) as inducers. Correlation analysis of each indicator was also carried out. Results: The platelet aggregation, in 1 and 3 months after antiplatelet therapy in clopidogrel group, aspirin group, clopidogrel plus aspirin group, was significantly lower than that before treatment (Figure 1, P <0.05). Especially in clopidogrel plus aspirin group, in 2 hours after surgery, there was an obvious decrease and it decreased more in 3 months than 1 month. Platelet CD62P expression, in 3 months after antiplatelet therapy in the three groups, showed a significant decrease when compared with that before treatment (Figure 2, P<0.05), and CD62P expression was the lowest in clopidogrel plus aspirin group than monotherapy groups. PRI levels in clopidogrel, clopidogrel plus aspirin group were significantly decreased than that before treatment (Figure 3, P<0.05), but no difference was found in aspirin group. There was positive correlation between platelet aggregation and platelet CD62P expression between aspirin group (P< 0.05, r=0.64302) and clopidogrel plus aspirin group (Figure 4, P<0.05, r=0.43632). However, no correlation between platelet aggregation rate and PRI was observed in 3 groups after treatment. Conclusions: This study not only demonstrates that either monotherapy or combination therapy can reduce platelet aggregation rate, platelet CD62P expression and PRI levels, but also shows that platelet aggregation and CD62P expression have good consistency and it can be more meaningful to detect antiplatelet therapy together. In our study, we also detected 300 cases of diabetes and found that CD62P expression decreased significantly after antiplatelet therapy indicating that it could be used as the specific indicator to monitor platelet function. It is noteworthy that PRI is more sensitive as the monitoring index of clopidogrel. But our results do not support the good consistency between platelet aggregation rate and PRI levels. The small number of cases may limit the generalizability results. Additional research is needed to increase the sample size to require validation and continue to monitor the indicators of a year to two years after, as patients in our study are still being monitored. Figure 1 Figure 1. Figure 2 Figure 2. Figure 3 Figure 3. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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Rowell, TJ, MT Schärer, RS Appeldoorn, MI Nemeth, DA Mann, and JA Rivera. "Sound production as an indicator of red hind density at a spawning aggregation." Marine Ecology Progress Series 462 (August 21, 2012): 241–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps09839.
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Balamurugan, Sadiyappan, Balaraman Deivasigamani, Sangaralingam Kumaran, Manikam Sakthivel, Thirunavukkarsu Rajsekar, and Pandiyan Priyadharsini. "Melanomacrophage centers aggregation in P. lineatus spleen as bio–indicator of environmental change." Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease 2 (January 2012): S635—S638. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2222-1808(12)60235-7.
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Blancas, F. J., I. Contreras, and J. M. Ramírez-Hurtado. "Constructing a composite indicator with multiplicative aggregation under the objective of ranking alternatives." Journal of the Operational Research Society 64, no. 5 (May 2013): 668–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jors.2012.90.
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Morgan, T. "Peace as a composite indicator: the goals and future of the Global Peace Index." Pathways to Peace and Security, no. 2 (2021): 43–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.20542/2307-1494-2021-2-43-56.
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This article provides an overview of the purpose, development and future of the Global Peace Index (GPI), a composite indicator of peacefulness at the national level. It explains why the concept of negative peace is well suited to being captured by a composite index, for both theoretical and statistical reasons. It examines how the GPI fits within the field of peace and conflict studies and how its methodological soundness has been assessed. This is done by looking at the history and structure of the GPI and showing how it relates to other definitions and indicators of peacefulness. The article then analyzes how the index is constructed with respect to its weighting, aggregation, and robustness. Some of the criticisms of the index are also explored, as well as the main proposed directions for the GPI evolution over the coming decade. Three main advantages of the index are identified as the ones that best reflect its novel input in peace and conflict studies. First, a composite indicator of peace helps to provide a more compelling narrative around the dynamics of peace between countries, to generate more interest in the peace and conflict field and to promote the concept of peace as a crucial driver of development. Second, the aggregation of multiple indicators of violence allows for the construction of a continuous measure of peacefulness with a less skewed distribution that can serve as the baseline for seeing which factors in other areas are correlated with peacefulness. Third, this composite measure of peacefulness highlights areas where data on aspects of negative peace are missing, incomplete, or not comparable across countries and drives the creation of new and novel indicators to fill these data gaps.
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Bonadonna, Giovanni, Clara Lechi, Paola Corradini, Daniela Sinigaglia, Piero De Togni, and Grzeskowiak Miroslawa. "Verapamil Inhibits Platelet Aggregation by a Calcium-Independent Mechanism." Thrombosis and Haemostasis 56, no. 03 (1986): 308–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1661673.
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SummaryWe studied the inhibitory effects of the calcium channel blocker verapamil both on platelet aggregation and intracellular calcium [Ca2+]i in platelets loaded with a fluorescent indicator (quin 2).The inhibitory effects of verapamil on the platelet aggregation response to both thrombin and ionomycin were seen to be clearly dissociated from the verapamil-induced inhibition of the [Ca2+]i increase produced by these agonists. Verapamil-induced inhibition of platelet aggregation was also obtained when using the “calcium-independent” agonist phorbol-myristate acetate (PMA). It may be deduced that a calcium-independent mechanism plays a role in verapamil-induced inhibition of platelet aggregation. We postulate that this mechanism may operate via a protein-kinase C pathway.
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Jiang, Renyan, and Binbin Xiong. "A hybrid approach for modelling multidimensional degradation processes." IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1207, no. 1 (November 1, 2021): 012023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1757-899x/1207/1/012023.
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Abstract Degradation processes are often multidimensional. Modeling such degradation processes needs to address two key issues: indicator fusion and degradation model selection; and they have been separately addressed in the literature. This paper proposes a hybrid approach to jointly address these two issues. The proposed approach first fuses multiple degradation indicators into a composite degradation indicator. This fusion step involves data normalization, aggregation model selection and determination of indicator weights. After the fusion step, the problem becomes one-dimensional, and the existing method to select the degradation model for a one-dimensional degradation process can be applied. The resulting model obtained from the proposed approach can be a two-phase model; and the model for the second phase has a closed-form expression. This considerably facilitates residual life prediction. A real-world example is included to illustrate the proposed approach and its appropriateness.
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Grdinić-Rakonjac, Mirjana, Boris Antić, Dalibor Pešić, and Vladimir Pajković. "Construction of Road Safety Composite Indicator Using Grey Relational Analysis." Promet - Traffic&Transportation 33, no. 1 (January 31, 2021): 103–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.7307/ptt.v33i1.3587.
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Aggregation of different variables into one road safety performance index is a popular concept in evaluating road safety and comparing the performance of territories/entities. This paper presents the development of a novel and innovative weighting methodology using grey relational analysis. Based on the proposed model, ten hierarchical road safety indicators were selected in terms of a two-layered model with three categories related to behaviour, safety and system. Grey weights are assigned to the categorized indicators in each layer, and the grey road safety composite indicator for each entity (21 selected territories) is calculated by the weighted sum approach. With relatively high weights, this systematic methodology can serve the policy makers in targeting the risk domains where improvements are needed. The results clearly illustrate effectiveness in addressing a large number of indicators with hierarchical structures.
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De Montis, Andrea, Vittorio Serra, Amedeo Ganciu, and Antonio Ledda. "Assessing Landscape Fragmentation: A Composite Indicator." Sustainability 12, no. 22 (November 18, 2020): 9632. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12229632.
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The assessment and management of landscape fragmentation (LF), i.e., the subdivision of the habitat into smaller and more isolated patches, can benefit from the adoption of a composite indicator explaining, in a unique measure, the various concerns involved. However, the use of composite indicators may be affected by lack of data, subjectivity in algorithm design, and oversimplification connected to reduction to just one index. In these cases, the findings obtained might not provide the researcher with reliable information. In this paper, we design and apply the Composite Indicator of Landscape Fragmentation (CILF), a metric resuming three indicators concerning the effect on LF of transport and mobility infrastructures, human settlements, and patch density per se. The application concerns the measurement of LF spatial pattern and dynamics from 2003 to 2008 of 51 landscape units in the island of Sardinia (Italy). We considered a complete spatial data set, chose the generalized geometric mean as aggregation algorithm, and verified its robustness via sensitivity analysis of the results. We found that, in 2003 and 2008, the CILF spatial pattern shows higher values in coastal areas and has varied randomly, i.e., without a consistent tendency to converge to, or diverge from, a mean value. Overall, we demonstrate that the CILF is a powerful instrument for monitoring LF in Sardinia and advocate that it can be further implemented, following the same methodological framework, by extending the pool of indicators considered and assessing a weighted version of the composite indicator.
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Debruyne, Delphine, Marc Mareel, Barbara Vanhoecke, and Marc Bracke. "Cell aggregation on agar as an indicator for cell-matrix adhesion: effects of opioids." In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Animal 45, no. 8 (February 27, 2009): 473–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11626-009-9180-y.
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Iglesias, T. L., R. C. Stetkevich, and G. L. Patricelli. "Dead heterospecifics as cues of risk in the environment: Does size affect response?" Behaviour 151, no. 1 (2014): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003120.
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Organisms can minimize their exposure to risk of death or injury by assessing their environment and modifying their behavior accordingly. There is evidence that the current or recent presence of a predator introduces cues to the environment that organisms may use in risk assessment. However, we know little about whether terrestrial organisms use the remains of victims of predation as one such cue of elevated predation risk. A previous study showed that western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) respond both to dead conspecifics and to encounters with a predator with alarm calling and aggregation (cacophonous aggregations), suggesting that they use dead conspecifics as indirect evidence of predation risk. Here we examine whether western scrub-jays also use dead heterospecifics as an indicator of risk. We find that jays respond with cacophonous aggregations to dead sympatric and allopatric jay-size heterospecifics but react weakly if at all to smaller heterospecifics. This suggests that size may be an important factor in determining whether a dead heterospecific is a relevant cue of risk. To our knowledge this is the first controlled experiment showing an animal using the visual cue provided by a dead heterospecific as an indicator of risk and communicating this risk to other conspecifics.
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Havlovska, Ya Yu. "HEMOSTASIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND SEVERITY OF STROKE AMONG PATIENTS WITH ATHEROTROMBOTIC AND CARDIEMOBOLIC SUBTYPES." Актуальні проблеми сучасної медицини: Вісник Української медичної стоматологічної академії 21, no. 2 (June 17, 2021): 34–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.31718/2077-1096.21.2.34.
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The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in hemostasiological parameters among patients with atherotrombotic and cardiemobolic subtypes of ischemic stroke and the relationship between the parameters and the severity of the disease in the first day. The study included 68 patients who were examined on the first day of the disease with a diagnosis of acute cerebrovascular disorders on ischemic type, among them 47 (69%) men and 21 (31%) women aged from 42 to 75 years (the average age was 61,85 ± 2,33 years old). We quantified the stroke severity by using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, findings of magnetic resonance tomography and / or computer tomography of the brain; ultrasound scan of intra- and extracranial vessels of the brain was performed to verify the diagnosis. Patients were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 included atherotrombotic subtype of ischemic stroke (n = 51 individuals), group 2 included cardiembolic subtype of ischemic stroke (n = 17 individuals. The state of the hemostasis system was studied by the analysis of complete coagulograms. The patients with ischemic stroke were found to have a thrombin time reduction compared to the control group. The dynamics of this indicator in the coagulogram points out an increased risk of thrombosis in the patients of both groups with a significant predominance among the patients with an atherotrombotic stroke. In both groups of the patients with ischemic stroke, there was a decrease in intensity, time and rate of aggregation in 30 seconds compared to the control group, indicating the imbalance of platelet response to adenosine diphosphate-induced aggregation. When the rate and intensity of aggregation (the lowering of platelet aggregation function) for 30 seconds decreased, the aggregation time (the activation of platelet function) also reduced. The analysis of coagulogram indicators points out the possibility of developing the syndrome of disseminated intravascular coagulation among patients with ischemic stroke. In this case, the decrease in the platelet aggregation properties indicates the development of thrombocytopathy under a preserved platelet number among the patients with ischemic stroke. The degree of the severity of atherotrombotic ischemic stroke is associated with indicators of coagulation hemostasis and platelet aggregation characteristics. The severity of cardioembolic ischemic stroke is associated with processes of platelet aggregation processes.
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Ciarrochi, Josseny, Anna Gabriela Pérez, and Francklin Rivas-Echeverría. "Social Sustainability Measurement for Venezuela During 2007–2009." DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE 2 (March 19, 2022): 42–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.37394/232022.2022.2.7.
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In this research an indicator of social sustainability for Venezuela was designed using a statistical methodology, using information from the sustainable development social dimension for each of the Venezuelan states during 2007-2009. For building the social sustainability indicator (SSI) it was used the first two principal components obtained from the analysis for each year and as aggregation method the sum of components was used. The resulting values of social sustainability indicator is decomposed into 5 levels in similar way to the sustainability barometer and federal entities with the corresponding SSI level were assigned.
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Ruiz Dubreuil, Gladys, and Eduardo deI Solar. "Effect of Selection on Oviposition Site Preference in Drosophila melanogaster." Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 39, no. 2 (1986): 155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bi9860155.
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A divergent selection program for gregarious oviposition behaviour was carried out for 112 generations on cage population of D. melanogaster. Gregarious oviposition was measured using five different indices: number of occupied tubes, percentage of eggs in the preferred tube, mean variance ratio, Charlier coefficient of disturbance and k parameter of the negative binomial distribution. All these statistics showed similar tendencies, but k seemed to be the most sensitive indicator of intensity of aggregation. The high aggregation line showed a rapid initial response but little change later. In contrast, the low aggregation line showed a steady but slow response to selection. The realized heritability for the low line in generations 67-73 was 0�11 � 0�04.
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Rende, Richard, Sheilagh Hodgins, Roberta Palmour, Brigitte Faucher, and Jean-François Allaire. "Familial Overlap between Bipolar Disorder and Psychotic Symptoms in a Canadian Cohort." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 50, no. 4 (March 2005): 189–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/070674370505000401.
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Background: Although they were once considered separate nosologic entities, there is current interest in the etiologic overlap between bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. A critical issue concerns the familial basis of the overlap, specifically, the possibility of a distinct familial subtype of BD with psychotic features. Methods: We recruited individuals with BD from the community and compared them with a matched group diagnosed with no mental disorder to confirm familial aggregation for BD, schizophrenia, and psychotic symptoms. We then compared BD probands both with and without first-degree relatives with psychotic symptoms on several clinical indicators to determine the specificity of the familial aggregation. Results: As expected, there was evidence for familial aggregation of schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms in families having probands with BD. Familial loading for schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms was especially notable in male relatives of female probands with BD. We found no differences in the clinical profile of probands with BD stratified for familial loading for psychotic symptoms. Conclusions: Findings from this sample support etiologic theories arguing for a shared but nonspecific genetic etiology for BD and schizophrenia, with psychotic symptoms being a potential key indicator for genetic studies.
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Nikitin, Nikolay Alexandrovich. "Spatial organization of Cyclachaena xanthiifolia (Nutt.) Fresen. populations on the railway line." Samara Journal of Science 7, no. 4 (November 30, 2018): 93–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.17816/snv201874116.
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The spatial structure of populations under the conditions of anthropogenic impact is a very important indicator that reflects the behavioral patterns of the species, such as changes in the structure and aggregation of individuals. Quarantine weeds are the object of ecologists close attention, as these weeds carry the greatest danger to the population, since they most often cause pollinosis and a significant deterioration in the quality of life during seasonal outbreaks of the disease. That is why they should be investigated by methods of analyzing the spatial structure of their populations. Railways are considered to be corridors along which quarantine weeds and other alien and invasive species are able to spread to new territories. Spatial behavior of species, formation of aggregations and large clusters, or a uniform distribution of individuals can reveal a fundamental relationship between the conditions of anthropogenic impact along the right-of-way and the spatial structure of populations. Along the Kinel-Bezenchuk Kuybyshev railroad in the spatial structure of the population of Cyclachaena xanthiifolia (Nutt.) Fresen. there is a group and uniform distribution of individuals. Aggregation of individuals in clusters (group distribution) are found in the places with the highest anthropogenic load.
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RUMAKAT, ABDUL ASIS, IWAN JUWANA, and SITI AINUN. "Penyusunan Indeks Tingkat Pelayanan Sistem Pengelolaan Sampah Kota." Jurnal Reka Lingkungan 9, no. 1 (June 23, 2020): 23–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.26760/rekalingkungan.v9i1.23-33.
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AbstrakData PD. Kebersihan Kota Bandung, menunjukkan persentase tingkat pelayanan sampah pada tahun 2017 sebesar 98,14%. Namun pada kenyataannya, masih banyak ditemukan tumpukan sampah di beberapa tempat yang bukan peruntukannya, hal ini menunjukkan angka tersebut belum dapat mewakili pelayanan sampah secara keseluruhan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menyusun indeks yang digunakan untuk menilai kinerja pelayanan sampah kota. Indeks ini disusun dengan cara mengidentifikasi komponen, indikator dan sub-indikator, menentukan kriteria penilaian, melakukan pembobotan, melakukan penggabungan serta menyusun interpretasi indeks. Terdapat 5 komponen, 26 indikator dan 21 sub-indikator yang teridentifikasi. Pembobotan dilakukan dengan pemberian nilai berbeda pada komponen, indikator dan sub-indikator dengan metode aritmatik. Interpretasi indeks dibuat kedalam 5 kategori dengan skala 0-100. Dari hasil penyusunan indeks ini, selanjutnya akan digunakan untuk menilai tingkat pelayanan persampahan di Kota Bandung.Kata kunci : tingkat pelayanan, komponen, indikator, sub-indikator. AbstractAccording to the data from PD Kebersihan Kota Bandung, in 2017 the percentage of the performance level of solid waste is 98.14%. However, it is visible that a large amount of solid waste dumped directly to the environment. This indicates that the existing service level performance value is unable to represent the overall solid waste service. Thus, this study aims to develop a solid waste service level index. This study was undertaken by selecting components, indicators and sub-indicators, determining the weights for the components, indicators and sub-indicators, as well as defining the aggregation and interpretation of the final index. Thorough this study, 5 components, 26 indicators and 21 sub-indicators were identified. The chosen weights for the index was the different weighting. Aggregation index using arithmetic method with the interpretation of the final index will be based on 5 categories of 0-100 scale. Keywords : service level, component, indicator, sub-indicator.
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Jernberg, Susanna, Henrik Nygård, Ainars Aunins, Antti Lappalainen, Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, Jens Olsson, Pirkko Kauppila, Samuli Korpinen, Kirsi Kostamo, and Laura Uusitalo. "A retrospective assessment of marine biodiversity: a critical analysis of integration and aggregation rules." Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 1 (July 5, 2019): 16128. http://dx.doi.org/10.18174/sesmo.2019a16128.
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Oceans around the world are threatened by human pressures. Ecological indicators are useful tools in understanding complex systems and their changes caused by human pressures, and the information they offer is also needed for ecosystem-based management. Integrated assessments combine information produced by several indicators at different spatial scales and thus offer a more holistic view of the status of the ecosystem. In this study, we evaluate the integration of biodiversity indicators at different spatial scales in two study areas in the Baltic Sea: Gulf of Finland and Bothnian Sea. By producing time series of the indicators and integrated assessments, we study the historical changes in the overall marine biodiversity status, and the impact of data availability, indicator selection, and choice of spatial assessment units on the status assessment. The integrated assessments are produced using the Biodiversity Assessment Tool (BEAT 3.0) and following the procedure of the HELCOM integrated assessment of biodiversity. The analysis shows that the results of the integrated assessment depend strongly on which indicators are available for the assessment, and on the chosen spatial assessment units. While the integrated assessments are a strong communication tool, their interpretation needs to be accompanied by information of indicators to avoid misleading conclusions about the marine ecosystem status.
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Nishi, Eijiroh, Hirokazu Abe, Katsuhiko Tanaka, Naoto Jimi, and Elena K. Kupriyanova. "A new species of the Spirobranchus kraussii complex, S. akitsushima (Annelida, Polychaeta, Serpulidae), from the rocky intertidal zone of Japan." ZooKeys 1100 (May 12, 2022): 1–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1100.79569.
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A new species of Spirobranchus (Annelida: Serpulidae) is described based on specimens collected at the coastal Shonan area of Sagami Bay and the adjacent areas of Honshu, Japan. Spirobranchus akitsushimasp. nov. forms large aggregations in the intertidal rocky zone of warm-temperate Japanese shores. This species was referred to as Pomatoleios kraussii (Baird, 1864) until the monotypic genus Pomatoleios was synonymized with Spirobranchus. This new species is formally described based on morphologically distinct Japanese specimens with supporting DNA sequence data. The calcareous opercular endplate of Spirobranchus akitsushimasp. nov. lacks a distinct talon, but some specimens have a slight rounded swelling on the endplate underside, while in other species of the S. kraussii complex a talon is present, usually extended, and with bulges. We examined sub-fossil tube aggregations of the new species and suggest that such aggregation stranded ashore is a good indicator of vertical land movements (uplift and subsidence) resulting from past events, such as earthquakes, in Honshu, Japan.
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Picone, Carmelo, Roberto Henke, Myriam Ruberto, Emilio Calligaris, and Raffaella Zucaro. "A Synthetic Indicator for Sustainability Standards of Water Resources in Agriculture." Sustainability 13, no. 15 (July 23, 2021): 8221. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13158221.
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The aim of this work is to evaluate the sustainability of water management for agriculture in a specific territory through the creation of a synthetic index resulting from the aggregation of multiple indices (environmental, economic, and social). The resulting synthetic index can be used to set sustainability standards and to guide the choices mandated by the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027. In this work we intend to show how the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method facilitates a complex process such as establishing a degree of sustainability in a certain area and, therefore, provides support to national or regional policies and communities. The integration of MCDA and GIS increases the efficiency of the support activity. A case study is presented evaluating the level of sustainability in the Irrigation and Reclamation Consortium of Piacenza and Emilia Centrale, in the Emilia Romagna region.
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Heksaputra, Dadang, M. J. U. Haris Bahrudin, Anni Karimatul Fauziyah, and Dhina Puspasari Wijaya. "ANALISIS ANTENATAL CARE (ANC) PADA SURVEILANS KESEHATAN IBU DAN ANAK DENGAN TAHAPAN AGREGASI PIPELINE NOSQL." Indonesian Journal of Business Intelligence (IJUBI) 4, no. 1 (June 27, 2021): 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.21927/ijubi.v4i1.1754.
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Case 30.8 percent of Indonesian children under five are stunted. Bantul is a district in the Province of D.I. Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is a locus of stunting. Bantul has ten villages. The ten villages include Patalan Jetis Village, Canden Jetis Village, Terong Dlingo Village, Argodadi Sedayu Village, Triharjo Pandak Village, Triwidadi Pajangan Village, Jatimulyo Dlingo Village, Datangharjo Sewon Village, Sendangsari Pajangan Village, and Trimulyo Jetis Village. The research focuses on the village of Argodadi Sedayu. In the village of Argodadi Sedayu, Antenatal Care (ANC) research would be conducted. Antenatal Care (ANC) is a pregnancy check by a doctor or midwife. Therefore, Antenatal Care Analysis (ANC) is needed to determine whether diet, parenting, and sanitation are well programmed. Antenatal care (ANC) research framework was a model of method improvement. The method improvement model consists of indicators, proposed methods, objectives, and measurements. The indicators consist of monitoring instruments and health visits. The proposed method uses an aggregation pipeline stage. The data was processed in the aggregation pipeline stage. The data were obtained from the time series data surveillance dataset. The research objective was to analyze the research results accurately according to the proposed method. Measurement of indicator analysis with the application of the dashboard as a performance indicator on the research results. Practically, it is hoped that the research results could consider the health office and related institutions in reducing or even elevating Argodadi Sedayu Village in Yogyakarta as a non-locus of stunting using massive monitoring of diet, parenting, and sanitation well programmed.
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Gamas, L., and J. S. Lee. "Density indicator method to measure pulmonary blood flows." Journal of Applied Physiology 60, no. 1 (January 1, 1986): 327–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1986.60.1.327.
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The injection of plasma, saline, or erythrocyte (RBC) concentrate into the pulmonary circulation produces a change in the gravimetric density of the blood outflow similar to the dilution curve of dye. We used an improved density-measuring system to assess the flow of these density indicators through the lung in vivo and in vitro perfused dog lobe. From the in vitro density-dilution curves of plasma and RBC concentrate we calculated the pulmonary flow rate and found it to be 1.04 +/- 0.02 (SD) times the measured one. The outflow-dilution curves of gravimetric density were not as broad as those of optical density following in vivo injection of plasma bolus containing indocyanine green, and the gravimetric measurements dipped to base line, whereas the optical measurement did not. The density-dilution curves of isotonic saline injection are similar to that of plasma. Following injection of RBC concentrates with the dye, density changes in the pulmonary outflow lag behind the emergence of the dye. This was presumably related to RBC aggregation in the concentrates. In reference to the injected plasma, no loss in the density indicators for saline and RBC injection was observed. Based on these results and the similarity of the density indicators to the blood, we conclude that the plasma and isotonic saline are good density indicators to be used for the determination of pulmonary blood flows.
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Moskovkin, V. M., and X. Sun. "Methodology of regional analysis of the Russian economic reseaerch market." Economics of Science 5, no. 1 (May 17, 2019): 67–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.22394/2410-132x-2019-5-1-67-78.
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After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the transition to a market economy model in Russia, there has been observed a rapid growth for market economic studies challenge in ranking of its three segments, such as the economists market, scientific economic journals market, research training of economists market. The purpose of the study is to aggregate quantitative indicators of economic market segments for economic studies in the Russian regions. The initial data calculations are done on quantitative indicators from the TOP-500 gold ranking of economist E. V. Balatsky for 2016, the list of “vakovsky” economic journals from 07.06.2017 and the ranking of 2016 economic dissertation councils across the Russian regions. The aggregation of the above indicators is done according to the arithmetic average formula for their normalized values. A cross-correlation matrix has been constructed for the above indicators and an integral indicator with all linear paired regression equations in which the values of the coefficient of determination R2 varied in the range from 0,93 to 0.99. A practically analytical multiple regression equation (R2 = 1.0) has been obtained between the values of the above three indicators of the market for economic studies and an integral indicator on the other hand. In the article, it is also shown that the effect of the number of economic councils on the integral indicator is three times greater than the effect of the number of economists and the number of economic councils each separately. The best convergence to the Pareto distribution has been shown by the distribution of the values of the integral indicator of the state of the regional economic research market. On the basis of an integral indicator, the clusterization of regional markets for economic studies in Russia has been done using the method of natural borders.
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Zhou, Xiongyong, and Zhiduan Xu. "An Integrated Sustainable Supplier Selection Approach Based on Hybrid Information Aggregation." Sustainability 10, no. 7 (July 19, 2018): 2543. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10072543.
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With a great emphasis on both social and environmental responsibilities, sustainable supply chain management has gradually been adopted and promoted as an innovative business model. In sustainable supply chain practice, the choice of sustainable suppliers relates to the long-term development of a company. While the environmental performance of suppliers has been commonly considered, the social dimension has not yet received enough attention. This paper first proposes a novel criteria system for evaluating sustainable suppliers from three aspects and six dimensions, and then introduces an integrated evaluation model with a novel hybrid information aggregation. To verify the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method, a real case of a large supermarket is introduced and analyzed. The research results show that (1) the indicator system based on Triple Bottom Line theory can serve as a framework of sustainable supplier selection for manufacturing and circulation enterprises; (2) the introduction of hybrid information aggregation can effectively handle the uncertainties of indicator scores under the realistic fuzzy environment and objectively reflect the intentions of the scorers; and (3) in comparison with the TOPSIS algorithm, the priority order finally obtained is consistent, but the proposed model shows more robustness in the sensitivity test.
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Gu, Jiangyong, Qian Li, Lirong Chen, Youyong Li, Tingjun Hou, Gu Yuan, and Xiaojie Xu. "Platelet Aggregation Pathway Network-Based Approach for Evaluating Compounds Efficacy." Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2013 (2013): 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/425707.
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Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) contain a large quantity of compounds with multiple biological activities. By using multitargets docking and network analysis in the context of pathway network of platelet aggregation, we proposed network efficiency and network flux model to screen molecules which can be used as drugs for antiplatelet aggregation. Compared with traditional single-target screening methods, network efficiency and network flux take into account the influences which compounds exert on the whole pathway network. The activities of antiplatelet aggregation of 19 active ingredients separated from TCM and 14 nonglycoside compounds predicated from network efficiency and network flux model show good agreement with experimental results (correlation coefficient = 0.73 and 0.90, resp.). This model can be used to evaluate the potential bioactive compounds and thus bridges the gap between computation and clinical indicator.
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Alimpiiev, Yevhenii. "Integral assessment of the macroeconomic equilibrium on the example of the Polish economy." Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas Zarządzanie 19, no. 2 (June 30, 2018): 159–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0012.2045.
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The purpose of this study is to test the validity of the use of an integral estimation of macroeconomic equilibrium for the analysis of the effectiveness of national economy’s management. Using the methods of analysis and synthesis as well as comparison methods, we focused on the study of existing macroeconomic equilibrium indicators in order to cho¬ose the most utilitarian indicator in accordance with such criteria as the level of aggregation of macroeconomic indicators within a single quantitative index; minimization of prelimina¬ry calculations without loss of the quality of the information content of the index; existence of appropriate theoretical background. The calculations included the macroeconomic data of the Polish economy in 2000-2016.
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Monadiyan, Nimas Ezra, and Faisal Haris. "Development of The Welfare Index at Sub-district Level in West Java 2020: A Small Area Estimation Approach." Proceedings of The International Conference on Data Science and Official Statistics 2021, no. 1 (January 4, 2022): 842–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.34123/icdsos.v2021i1.144.
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Welfare as an alternative measure for poverty, is an important indicator to measure. But there is no composite indicator that specifically measures the prosperity of a population yet. Considering the increase of data needed and the lack of available data at the smaller level, this study develops the Welfare Index at sub-district level for West Java in 2020 using a small area estimation approach to explain the condition of welfare of the population. The indicators in sub-district level formed in this study were created from two kinds of data. The first type of indicators were formed from SUSENAS using Small Area Estimation and the other type of indicators were formed from PODES aggregation. All the indicators were then processed with factor analysis to form the Welfare Index. The Welfare Index formed shows the range of 22.86 to 83.76 and generally higher in the northern part of West Java. This index has a correlation of 0.798 with the Human Development Index because of the components that defined both indexes. The existence of this correlation shows that the Welfare Index formed is able to explain the conditions/phenomena being measured.
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Walsh, Patrick J., and William J. Wheeler. "Water quality indices and benefit-cost analysis." Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 4, no. 1 (March 28, 2013): 81–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jbca-2012-0005.
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The water quality index (WQI) has emerged as a central way to convey water quality information to policy makers and the general public and is regularly used in US EPA regulatory impact analysis. It is a compound indicator that aggregates information from several water quality parameters. Several recent studies have criticized the aggregation function of the EPA WQI, arguing that it suffers from “eclipsing” and other problems. Although past papers have compared various aggregation functions in the WQI (usually looking at correlation), this is the first paper to examine these functions in the context of benefit-cost analysis. Using data from the 2003 EPA CAFO rule, the present paper examines four aggregation functions and their impact on estimated benefits. Results indicate that the aggregation method can have a profound effect on benefits, with total benefit estimates varying from $82 million to $504 million dollars. The net benefits of the rule vary from negative to positive over this range of estimates. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis does not find convincing evidence to substitute the current aggregation function, although several changes to the underlying WQI methodology may be warranted.
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Raedo, Rubén. "Urban Sustainability Deficits: The Urban Non-Sustainability Index (UNSI) as a Tool for Urban Policy." Sustainability 13, no. 22 (November 10, 2021): 12395. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132212395.
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Urban sustainability has been revealed as one of the key elements in achieving global sustainability. There is a wide range of indicators in this field; however, sustainability indicators have not been exempt from criticism, in both their formal aspects and practical usefulness. If measuring sustainability is “measuring the immeasurable”, then the objective of this article is to propose a composite indicator that evaluates only the deficits of sustainability or, which is the same thing, the unsustainability of cities. This focus has the advantage of showing up the particular deficiencies and thus the priorities that each city must attend to. For this purpose, only unsustainability, defined as the distance to a sustainability target, was considered. Aggregation was carried out through generalized means, which lead to a proper balance between compensatory and non-compensatory aggregation. The results emerging from the application of our methodology to a sample of fifty different cities suggest that all cities should attend to some aspect concerning sustainability, and that no city is sustainable, but only less unsustainable, showing both significant differences between cities in terms of the degree of unsustainability and a common underlying structure of unsustainability in which the environmental dimension contributes the most.
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Garcia-Bernabeu, Ana, Adolfo Hilario-Caballero, David Pla-Santamaria, and Francisco Salas-Molina. "A Process Oriented MCDM Approach to Construct a Circular Economy Composite Index." Sustainability 12, no. 2 (January 15, 2020): 618. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12020618.
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The purpose of this contribution is to develop a Circular Economy Composite indicator to benchmark EU countries performance. Europe is at the forefront of the global transition towards a sustainable and circular economy. To this end, the European Commission has launched in 2015 a Circular Economy Action Plan including a monitoring framework to measure progress and to assess the effectiveness of initiatives towards the circular economy in the European Union (EU) and Member States. Still, this monitoring framework lacks a composite indicator at the national level to aggregate the circular economy dimensions into a single summary indicator. Although there is a wide range of sustainability composite indicators, no aggregate circular economy index exits to this date. We use a multi-criteria approach to construct a circular economy composite index based on TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preferences by Similarity to Ideal Solutions) methodology. In addition, we introduce a novel aggregation methodology for building a composite indicator where different levels of compensability for the distances to the ideal and anti-ideal (or negative-ideal) values of each indicator are considered. In order to illustrate the advantages of this proposal, we have applied it to evaluate the Circular Economy performance of EU Member States for the year 2016. This proposal can be a valuable tool for identifying areas in which the countries need to concentrate their efforts to boost their circular economy performance.
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Fang, Husheng, Moquan Sha, Wenjuan Lin, Dai Qiu, and Zongyao Sha. "Assessing Urban Greenness Fragmentation and Analysis of Its Associated Factors: A Case Study in Wuhan Metropolitan Area, China." ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 10, no. 11 (November 10, 2021): 760. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10110760.
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Green vegetation plays a vital role in urban ecosystem services. Rapid urbanization often tends to induce urban vegetation cover fragmentation (UVCF) in cities and suburbs. Mapping the changes in the structure (aggregation) and abundance of urban vegetation cover helps to make improved policies for sustainable urban development. In this paper, a new distance-based landscape indicator to UVCF, Frag, was proposed first. Unlike many other landscape indicators, Frag measures UVCF by considering simultaneously both the structure and abundance of vegetation cover at local scales, and thus provides a more comprehensive perspective in understanding the spatial distribution patterns in urban greenness cover. As a case study, the urban greenness fragmentation indicated by Frag was demonstrated in Wuhan metropolitan area (WMA), China in 2015 and 2020. Support vector machine (SVM) was then designed to examine the impact on the Frag changes from the associated factors, including urbanization and terrain characteristics (elevation and slope). The Frag changes were mapped at different scales and modeled by SVM from the selected factors, which reasonably explained the Frag changes. Sensitivity analysis for the SVM model revealed that urbanization showed the most dominant factor for the Frag changes, followed by terrain elevation and slope. We conclude that Frag is an effective scale-dependent indicator to UVCF that can reflect changes in the structure and abundance of urban vegetation cover, and that modeling the impact of the associated factors on UVCF via the Frag indicator can provide essential information for urban planners.
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Gorski, David. "Familial aggregation of anxiety associated with bruxism." Dentistry 3000 3, no. 1 (July 22, 2015): 5–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/d3000.2015.34.
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Background: This paper reports the co-occurrence of heritable anxiety-related disorders and awake bruxism in a family and discusses the heritability of anxiety and implications of awake bruxism as comorbidity to anxiety disorders.Subjects: Ten out of 14 members of an extended family reported having a professionally diagnosed anxiety-related disorder. All individuals with anxiety disorders also showed intraoral signs of wear from bruxism and reported being aware of grinding their teeth while awake. Additionally, three out of the four family members without an anxiety-related disorder did not report grinding their teeth and showed no occlusal wear from bruxism. All of the individuals that were examined were educated about the short-term and long-term complications associated with bruxism, but all of them elected to not have treatment performed.Practical Implications: Anxiety disorders are highly related to suicidal behaviors, particularly in children and adolescents. Additionally, awaken bruxism can often serve as an indicator of anxiety or stress. By recognizing bruxism as a possible manifestation of psychological distress, the dental practitioner may be able to direct patients to life-saving services like psychologists and crisis hotlines when appropriate.
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Corbin, Francois, Gilbert Blaise, and Remy Sauve. "Differential Effect of Halothane and Forskolin on Platelet Cytosolic Ca (2+) Mobilization and Aggregation." Anesthesiology 89, no. 2 (August 1, 1998): 401–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00000542-199808000-00017.
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Background Previous works have suggested that the impairment of platelet aggregation by halothane was partly related to a stimulation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production, to an inhibitory effect on Ca2+ signaling, or both. Intracellular Ca2+ measurements therefore were undertaken, first to determine the critical steps in the platelet CaZ+ signaling cascade most likely to be affected by halothane or by an increase in cAMP production, and second to establish if the effect of halothane involves aggregation-related biochemical pathways triggered by an increase in internal Ca2+. Methods Human washed platelets were treated with halothane or forskolin for 5 min before application of either platelet-activating factor, thrombin, U46619, or thapsigargin. The cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was measured with the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator fura-2. Nephelometric measurements were also performed to assay the aggregation process. Results Our results indicate that pretreating platelets with halothane leads to a partial impairment of the [Ca2+]i increase induced either by U46619, thrombin, or platelet-activating factor, but this had no significant effect on the [Ca2+]i response triggered by thapsigargin. In addition, our results show that halothane inhibits platelet aggregation triggered by U46619, but not by thapsigargin. Conversely, forskolin completely inhibited the [Ca2+]i response to U46619 and thapsigargin and prevented platelet aggregation induced by both agonists. Conclusions These results suggest that halothane and cAMP exert their effects on platelet aggregation and Ca2+ signaling through different mechanisms, and that halothane cannot impair platelet aggregation independently of phospholipase C stimulation.
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Lee, Sang-Nam, and Iris Lindberg. "7B2 Prevents Unfolding and Aggregation of Prohormone Convertase 2." Endocrinology 149, no. 8 (May 8, 2008): 4116–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/en.2008-0064.
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Prohormone convertase 2 (PC2) requires interaction with the neuroendocrine protein 7B2 for the production of an activatable zymogen; the mechanism for this effect is unknown. 7B2 could act proactively to generate an activation-competent form of pro-PC2 during synthesis, or block spontaneous generation of activation-incompetent forms. We here demonstrate that addition of exogenous recombinant 7B2 to CHO cells expressing pro-PC2 prevented the unfolding and aggregation of secreted PC2 forms in a dose-dependent manner, as assessed by aggregation assays, activity assays, cross-linking experiments, and sucrose density gradients. Intracellular pro-PC2 was also found to exist in part as higher-order oligomers that were reduced in the presence of coexpressed 7B2. 7B2 addition did not result in the acquisition of enzymatic competence unless added before or very rapidly after pro-PC2 secretion, indicating that an activation-competent structure cannot be maintained in the absence of 7B2. Velocity sedimentation experiments showed that addition of extracellular 7B2 solubilized three different PC2 species from a precipitable aggregate: two activatable pro-PC2 species, the intact zymogen and a zymogen with a partially cleaved propeptide, and an inactive 66-kDa form. Our results suggest that 7B2 possesses chaperone activity that blocks partially unfolded pro-PC2 forms from losing catalytic competence and then aggregating. The loss of the catalytically competent conformer appears to represent the earliest indicator of pro-PC2 unfolding and is followed on a slower time scale by the appearance of aggregates. Because 7B2 expression is not confined to areas expressing pro-PC2, 7B2 may represent a general intracellular and extracellular secretory chaperone.