Reliable hypotheses testing in animal social network analyses: global index, index of interactions and residual regression

Animal social network analyses (ASNA) have led to a foundational shift in our understanding of animal sociality that transcends the disciplinary boundaries of genetics, spatial movements, epidemiology, information transmission, evolution, species assemblages and conservation. However, some analytical protocols (i.e., permutation tests) used in ASNA have recently been called into question due to the unacceptable rates of false negatives (type I error) and false positives (type II error) they generate in statistical hypothesis testing. Here, we show that these rates are related to the way in which observation heterogeneity is accounted for in association indices. To solve this issue, we propose a method termed the "global index" (GI) that consists of computing the average of individual associations indices per unit of time. In addition, we developed an "index of interactions" (II) that allows the use of the GI approach for directed behaviours. Our simulations show that GI: 1) returns more reasonable rates of false negatives and positives, with or without observational biases in the collected data, 2) can be applied to both directed and undirected behaviours, 3) can be applied to focal sampling, scan sampling or "gambit of the group" data collection protocols, and 4) can be applied to first- and second-order social network measures. Finally, we provide a method to control for non-social biological confounding factors using linear regression residuals. By providing a reliable approach for a wide range of scenarios, we propose a novel methodology in ASNA with the aim of better understanding social interactions from a mechanistic, ecological and evolutionary perspective.

Evaluation of Muscle Function by Means of a Muscle-Specific and a Global Index

Gait analysis applications in clinics are still uncommon, for three main reasons: (1) the considerable time needed to prepare the subject for the examination; (2) the lack of user-independent tools; (3) the large variability of muscle activation patterns observed in healthy and pathological subjects. Numerical indices quantifying the muscle coordination of a subject could enable clinicians to identify patterns that deviate from those of a reference population and to follow the progress of the subject after surgery or completing a rehabilitation program. In this work, we present two user-independent indices. First, a muscle-specific index (MFI) that quantifies the similarity of the activation pattern of a muscle of a specific subject with that of a reference population. Second, a global index (GFI) that provides a score of the overall activation of a muscle set. These two indices were tested on two groups of healthy and pathological children with encouraging results. Hence, the two indices will allow clinicians to assess the muscle activation, identifying muscles showing an abnormal activation pattern, and associate a functional score to every single muscle as well as to the entire muscle set. These opportunities could contribute to facilitating the diffusion of surface EMG analysis in clinics.

Disparities in Usage of Telemedicine in Era of CoVid-19: A Scoping Review Protocol

Review question / Objective: This study aims to distinguish disparities in usage and telemedicine access in the era of CoVid-19 from diverse perspectives. Condition being studied: Telemedicine is the distribution and delivery of health services through remote telecommunications. Since the beginning of the CoVid-19 Pandemic, the application of telemedicine services has been grown; and by increasing the usage of telemedicine, the access gaps of telemedicine are multiplied. The disparities of telemedicine access and use are being reviewed and discussed in this review. Information sources: Pubmed, Embase (via Ovid), Psychinfo (via Ovid), WHO Global Index Medicus, Global Health (via Ovid), Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and CINAHL(EBSCO).

BALANCED SYSTEM OF INDICATORS AS A TOOL OF THE FORMATION OF THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF COMPANIES

The modern driver of the country’s economic development is the creative economy, which is considered by many scientists as a new model of the growth. Ukraine has not stayed away from the process of forming a creative economy. According to the rating of the Global Creativity of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Ukraine ranked 45th among 139 countries. Analysis of the content of the Global Index suggests that it is the high rating of the Talent Index (24 positions) that caused a fairly high Global Index. The reinforcing components of the High Talent Index are the number of the highly educated people and the share of creative workers. The Technology Index is quite high (43 positions). As for the Tolerance Index, Ukraine ranked 105th. The considered components of the indices allowed us to draw a conclusion about the existing unrealized and powerful reserves of Ukraine’s creativity. An important component of the formation of the creative economy of Ukraine is the creative industries. However, research has shown that the sources of creative potential are in non-creative industries. The basis of such sources is a human capital. It is important to find tools that will increase the creative potential of any business structure, regardless of its industry affiliation. However, research has shown that this problem has gone unnoticed by scientists. The article proves that such a tool is a balanced scorecard. The aim of the article is to analyze a balanced system of indicators in terms of their compliance with the requirements of the creative economy and to find sources for adapting this system to new requirements. The system is not only evaluative, but also serves as a means of the strategic management, as it allows you to direct the development strategy of the organization in the plane of specific strategic objectives and indicators. The advantages of the system are the ability to identify performance indicators to determine the main direction of the organization, and for individual units; use of feedback; bringing specific goals to each specific performer; motivation of employees of the enterprise depending on the results of the task; universality of application of the system. Analysis of the essence of a balanced scorecard allowed to identify sources of creativity for each of the four components of the system (financial, customer evaluation, business process efficiency, staff). The search for sources of system adaptation was carried out for BAKER TILLY Ukraine LLC. The company uses a balanced scorecard, which has its four main components and does not belong to the creative industries. As a result of the analysis of the company’s activity, the sources of increasing the creative potential were identified and the methods of their implementation were proposed. Keywords: creative economy, human capital, creative potential, balanced scorecard, sources of creativity. Formulas: 0; fig.: 0; tabl.: 2; bibl.: 15.

MANAJEMEN PENGETAHUAN PADA SEKTOR PUBLIK: SEBUAH TINJAUAN LITERATUR SISTEMATIS 2010-2021

Tulisan ini mengkaji fenomena manajemen pengetahuan pada organisasi sektor publik. Manajemen pengetahuan sektor publik merupakan area penelitian yang penting karena memiliki manfaat tidak hanya untuk organisasi itu sendiri namun juga kepentingan publik. Manajemen sektor publik di Indonesia merupakan bagian dari reformasi birokrasi sejak tahun 2010. Namun berdasarkan Knowledge Global Index, peringkat Indonesia masih berada dibawah rata-rata dunia. Kajian ini didasarkan pada tinjauan literatur sistematis dengan menggunakan database dari Scopus. Kumpulan dari 44 sumber jurnal dianalisis dengan menyajikan gambaran komprehensif manajemen pengetahuan sektor publik selama 10 tahun terakhir yakni dari tahun 2010 hingga Februari 2021. Makalah ini menjelaskan analisis deskriptif dan analisis konten. Pada analisis deskriptif digambarkan berupa lokasi, disiplin penelitian, metodologi, karakteristik, ukuran sampel dan tematik. Hasil analisis deksriptif penelitian menemukan bahwa terdapat tema dan area yang terlalu banyak dianalisis, sementara yang lain kurang diteliti. Selain itu, perlu melakukan pendekatan metodologis yang lebih dalam untuk memperkaya literatur. Pada analisis konten dijabarkan tentang urgensi manajemen pengetahuan pada sektor publik di Indonesia dan strategi yang diperlukan oleh pemerintah Indonesia dalam penerapannya.

Measuring Violence Against Women: A Global Index

Violence against women (VaW) is a widespread crime and violation of the rights of women. It is present in every country without exception and crosses boundaries of culture, class, education, income, and race. Despite the magnitude of the literature and the abundance of publications on this problem, the field lacks a comprehensive and homogeneous way to measure and compare the extent of VaW across countries. Proper quantification of this problem is needed to develop preventive policies and strategies to reduce it. This article develops an index of VaW (VAWI) with global scope and multidimensional approach for 102 countries. It is an original index that calculates the total level of VaW by capturing information from the main VaW types (physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence) in a single value between 0 and 1, where 0 denotes complete absence of violence and 1 the highest level of violence in a country. The proposed index is easy to compute and is comparable across countries. Our main results show that the nations with the highest levels of global VaW are Yemen, Senegal, Oman, Cameroon, and Uganda. The countries with the lowest levels are the Northern European Countries, Canada, and Malta. This VAWI makes a novel and important contribution to the study of gender issues. It can be used not only to monitor the statistics on VaW data within countries over time but also to make comparisons among countries. Further, it could be useful in designing new policy initiatives to reduce VaW.

Evaluation and analysis of climate change on the quantity and quality water resources in Lorestan province (Case study of Khorram river)

In recent decades due to many droughts many changes have been made in the quantity and quality of the country’s water resources. this factor has caused many uncertainties in the management of the country’s water resources. The purpose of this study was to improve the understanding of the effects of drought on the quantity and quality of water resources in Lorestsn province in the years 2008 to 2018 by coherence and cross wavelet method. To achieve this goal, first to drought assessment according to precipitation data has been examined using(SPI) index and then the effect of drought on Khorram river water runoff are analyzed. In the next step, the global index of water and the impact of drought on this index in the Khorram river were evaluated. In the next step, the global index of water quality(WQI) and the impact of drought on this index in the Khorram river were evaluated. The results of coherence and cross wavelet indicated which the relative effect of precipitation with a wavelet coherence coefficient of 0.6 on changes in water runoff in the Khorram river is of degree first importance. Also, the relative impact of drought with a wavelet coherence coefficient of 0.4 changes in water quality of Khorram river has been more than other factors. Therefore, climatic factors in reducing the water runoff of Khorram river from factors other are more important. Also, the research results show human factors in changes water quality of Khorram river of degree first importance.

Development of Performance Evaluation Indicators for Table Grape Packaging Units. 2. Global Indexes

The adoption of a global index (GI) for performance evaluation has been increasingly recognized as a useful strategy for decision-making as it simplifies the interpretation and monitoring of the results. Because the GI is often built by adopting a combination of different procedures for normalization, weighting, and aggregation of indicators, it is challenging to select the optimal combination of procedures, since the countless combinations lead to different results. This paper proposes a method for the development of a robust and original GI for the evaluation of table grape production units (TGPUs). Various combinations of procedures were used to develop eighteen GIs for each TGPU. These are located in the lower-middle San Francisco valley in the northeast of Brazil, where their robustness was assessed by identifying outlier GIs and via a graphical analysis. Plausible GIs were reliably identified and a cluster analysis was conducted to categorize the TGPUs into groups considering each performance objective. The identification of the outlier GIs and the use of the plausible GIs in cluster formation constitute a new scientific approach to the topic, which can be extended to other applications and contribute to the sustainable development of several industries.

Revisiting the design of LSM-tree Based OLTP storage engine with persistent memory

The recent byte-addressable and large-capacity commercialized persistent memory (PM) is promising to drive database as a service (DBaaS) into unchartered territories. This paper investigates how to leverage PMs to revisit the conventional LSM-tree based OLTP storage engines designed for DRAM-SSD hierarchy for DBaaS instances. Specifically we (1) propose a light-weight PM allocator named Hal-loc customized for LSM-tree, (2) build a high-performance Semi-persistent Memtable utilizing the persistent in-memory writes of PM, (3) design a concurrent commit algorithm named Reorder Ring to aschieve log-free transaction processing for OLTP workloads and (4) present a Global Index as the new globally sorted persistent level with non-blocking in-memory compaction. The design of Reorder Ring and Semi-persistent Memtable achieves fast writes without synchronized logging overheads and achieves near instant recovery time. Moreover, the design of Semi-persistent Memtable and Global Index with in-memory compaction enables the byte-addressable persistent levels in PM, which significantly reduces the read and write amplification as well as the background compaction overheads. The overall evaluation shows that the performance of our proposal over PM-SSD hierarchy outperforms the baseline by up to 3.8x in YCSB benchmark and by 2x in TPC-C benchmark.