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The objective of this study was to assess the growth rates and general body condition of two common game fishes (largemouth bass Micropterus nigricans and bluegill Lepomis macrochirus) in a productive midwestern USA lake, Lake Winona, 20+ years after one of its two separate basins was partially dredged. We also used historical lake survey data spanning 19 years before and 15 years after dredging to assess the pre- and post-dredging growth of these species. Dredging was expected to improve the growth rates and conditions (relative weights) of both species due to post-dredging changes to lake habitats (more open water and reduced macrophyte beds) and the fish community structure in the dredged basin. Both species displayed significantly faster growth in the dredged basin, with the bluegill by age 3 and the bass by age 6. The mean relative weights of both species were significantly higher in the non-dredged basin (bass were in good condition: 106% versus 100%; bluegill were in fair condition: 84% versus 80%), although both bluegill and largemouth bass exhibited significant declines in relative weight with increasing lengths in the non-dredged basin. The growth rates for largemouth bass have declined from historical levels, especially in the non-dredged basin, whereas bluegill growth rates have remained stable or improved, especially in the dredged basin. Overall, largemouth bass and bluegill growth rates and relative weights are responding to differences in habitat and fish communities between dredged and non-dredged basins, indicating that the two lake basins are isolated enough from one another to allow for separate biological responses to occur in each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant narcissism describes a personality disorder that encompasses five core components: narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, paranoia, and aggressiveness. Despite the extensive theoretical and clinical literature on malignant narcissism and its recent momentum in the popular discourse, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the syndrome. The objective of the current research is to document the associations between malignant narcissism, the Dark Tetrad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism), and paranoia using a scoring procedure for malignant narcissism based on Personality Inventory for DSM-5 facets. A comparative approach was followed, using two types of relative importance analyses—general dominance analysis and relative weight analysis—to determine the nature of the core psychopathological features of malignant narcissism. The French-Canadian version of the Revised Green et al., Paranoid Thoughts Scale was used and had to be validated prior to relative importance analyses, and showed strong psychometric properties. Results from a nonclinical sample (N = 1151) globally indicate that malignant narcissism is more strongly associated with Machiavellianism and psychopathy, followed by narcissism, and then by sadism and ideas of reference, confirming that malignant narcissism is mainly an antagonistic psychopathology. The conceptual and clinical implications of this finding are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As deep neural networks for visual recognition gain momentum, many studies have modified the loss function to improve the classification performance on long-tailed data. Typical and effective improvement strategies are to assign different weights to different classes or samples, yielding a series of cost-sensitive re-weighting cross-entropy losses. Granted, most of these strategies only focus on the properties of the training data, such as the data distribution and the samples' distinguishability. This paper works these strategies into a weighted cross-entropy loss framework with a simple production form ( WCEL ∏ ), which takes into account different features of different losses. Also, there is this new loss function, misclassification-guided loss (MGL), that generalizes the class-wise difficulty-balanced loss and utilizes the misclassification rate on validation data to update class weights during training. In respect of MGL, a series of weighting functions with different relative preferences are introduced. Both softmax MGL and sigmoid MGL are derived to address the multi-class and multi-label classification problems. Experiments are undertaken on four public datasets, namely MNIST-LT, CIFAR-10-LT, CIFAR-100-LT, ImageNet-LT, and a self-built dataset of 4 main-classes, 44 sub-classes, and altogether 57,944 images, where the results show that on the self-built dataset, the exponential weighting function achieves higher balanced accuracy than the polynomial function does. Ablation studies also show that MGL sees better performance in combination with most of other state-of-the-art loss functions under the WCEL ∏ framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to assess the growth rates and general body condition of two common game fishes (largemouth bass Micropterus nigricans and bluegill Lepomis macrochirus) in a productive midwestern USA lake, Lake Winona, 20+ years after one of its two separate basins was partially dredged. We also used historical lake survey data spanning 19 years before and 15 years after dredging to assess the pre- and post-dredging growth of these species. Dredging was expected to improve the growth rates and conditions (relative weights) of both species due to post-dredging changes to lake habitats (more open water and reduced macrophyte beds) and the fish community structure in the dredged basin. Both species displayed significantly faster growth in the dredged basin, with the bluegill by age 3 and the bass by age 6. The mean relative weights of both species were significantly higher in the non-dredged basin (bass were in good condition: 106% versus 100%; bluegill were in fair condition: 84% versus 80%), although both bluegill and largemouth bass exhibited significant declines in relative weight with increasing lengths in the non-dredged basin. The growth rates for largemouth bass have declined from historical levels, especially in the non-dredged basin, whereas bluegill growth rates have remained stable or improved, especially in the dredged basin. Overall, largemouth bass and bluegill growth rates and relative weights are responding to differences in habitat and fish communities between dredged and non-dredged basins, indicating that the two lake basins are isolated enough from one another to allow for separate biological responses to occur in each.

Introduction: The development of sustainable animal husbandry plays an important role in establishing food security, improving welfare, increasing the income of rural households, improving productivity, creating job opportunities, creating links with other economic sectors, and rural development. In Iran, the issue of sustainable development of the animal husbandry industry and creating sustainability is one of the most important issues of the country because the animal husbandry industry is one of the most important sub-sectors of the agricultural industry, which produces the most important basic food of the country, i.e., red meat. The main goal of this research is to identify and prioritize the obstacles and problems of sustainable animal husbandry development in Guilan province. The development of the agriculture and animal husbandry industry is necessary to access a sufficient amount of food and energy and to cover the ever-increasing demand due to the increase in the population. Guilan province has a suitable capacity for the development of animal husbandry activities. Paying attention to the existing research gaps, by summarizing findings in this field, using the opinion of animal husbandry industry experts, and the application of the multi-indicator decision-making model, this study identified the obstacles and problems for the development of sustainable animal husbandry in Guilan province. Materials and methods: Various criteria have been introduced in previous research as key factors for the sustainable development of animal husbandry, the most important of which included structural, institutional, economic, cultural, social, environmental, macro goals and strategies, the process and cycles of providing inputs, and selling livestock products. The decision tree was drawn using the findings of similar studies and the opinions of provincial experts in this industry. The data collection tool is a questionnaire for pairwise comparisons of decision tree criteria and sub-criteria. To determine the weight of the criteria and sub-criteria included in the decision tree, the opinions of 10 experts in this field in Guilan province were collected and analyzed using the Fuzzy Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Fuzzy set theory is a mathematical theory designed to model the ambiguity of processes related to human knowledge. The decision maker can freely choose the range of desired values. Also, the uncertain judgment of the expert can be expressed by a fuzzy number. In this method, fuzzy numbers are used for the pairwise comparison of options, and the decision maker can express the pairwise comparisons of the elements of each level in the form of triangular fuzzy numbers. The decision tree for this research has five main criteria including institutional, environmental, social and cultural, structural, and economic factors, and 31 different sub-criteria. FAHP is a systematic method that uses the concepts of fuzzy set theory and hierarchical structure analysis. The calculated weights are a suitable basis for prioritizing the main obstacles and problems in the sustainable animal husbandry industry development of Guilan province. Modeling and obtaining the results were done in the MATLAB software. Results and discussion: The results of the research showed that from the point of view of experts, institutional and economic obstacles with the weights of 29.71% and 19.23%, respectively, are considered to be the most important obstacles to the development of sustainable animal husbandry in Guilan province. On the other hand, the sub-criteria of low attention to the animal husbandry sector in the provincial policies from the institutional criterion, the inappropriateness of the materials used, considering the weather conditions from the environmental criterion, the low status and job position of animal husbandry from the social and cultural criterion, the lack of high-yielding breeds consistent with the conditions of the region from the structural criterion, and the lack of adequate insurance coverage from the economic criterion have the highest rank among the sub-criteria. Conclusions: The obtained results indicated the high level of obstacles and problems for the development of sustainable animal husbandry in Guilan province, which requires the attention of policymakers and the development of a policy package that fits the priorities determined in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providers have intended and unintended responses to payment reforms, such as China's new case-based payment system, i.e. Diagnosis-Intervention Packet (DIP) under global budget, that classified patients based on the combination of principal diagnosis and procedures. Our study explores the impact of DIP payment reform on hospital selection of patients undergoing total hip/knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) or with arteriosclerotic heart disease (AHD) from July 2017 to June 2021 in a large city. We used a difference-in-differences approach to compare the changes in patient age, severity reflected by the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and a measure of treatment intensity [relative weight (RW)] in hospitals that were and were not subject to DIP incentives before and after the DIP payment reform in July 2019. Compared with non-DIP pilot hospitals, trends in patient age after the DIP reform were similar for DIP and non-DIP hospitals for both conditions, while differences in patient severity grew because severity in DIP hospitals increased more for THA/TKA (P  = 0.036) or dropped in non-DIP hospitals for AHD (P  = 0.011) following DIP reform. Treatment intensity (measured via RWs) for AHD patients in DIP hospitals increased 5.5% (P  = 0.015) more than in non-DIP hospitals after payment reform, but treatment intensity trends were similar for THA/TKA patients in DIP and non-DIP hospitals. When the DIP payment reform in China was introduced just prior to the pandemic, hospitals subject to this reform responded by admitting sicker patients and providing more treatment intensity to their AHD patients. Policymakers need to balance between cost containment and the unintended consequences of prospective payment systems, and the DIP payment could also be a new alternative payment system for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most prior studies examining citizens’ preferences for “who should govern” assume that people prefer either politicians, citizens, or experts to exclusively influence policy decisions. Our approach posits that individuals may actually prefer a mix of these actors. Across two studies, we discovered that people indeed favour the involvement of all three actors in policy decisions, but with specific relative importance assigned to each of them. Notably, our second study clarified that which actor should have the largest say depends on the specific issue at hand, with citizens outweighing experts and politicians for ideological issues and experts outweighing citizens and politicians for technical issues. These findings are particularly relevant, given that these two actors were found to outperform each other in a different legitimacy dimension. That is, citizens’ contribution is seen most in terms of input legitimacy, whereas experts are perceived as contributing most to output legitimacy, particularly for technical issues. In contrast, politicians are considered to contribute the least to all three legitimacy dimensions. To enhance the perceived legitimacy of policy decisions among the citizenry, it becomes crucial for policymakers to embrace a more “hybrid” perspective, acknowledging the value of a more diverse collaboration between politicians, citizens, and experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide insights into the growth pattern and conditions of Atropus atropos in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. The lack of information on this species in the region has made it crucial to carry out such research for better understanding about its growth and health in this particular habitat. A total 100 individuals were collected from fishers catch during November 2021 to October 2022 by using traditional fishing gears such as trawl and gill nets (mesh size: 2-3 cm). Data showed that TL was found to be between 15 and 21 cm and the BW remained as 46 and 136 g. All LWRs had r2 values below 0.945 and were significant (P<0.001). The estimated allometric coefficient (b) suggested the combined sexes showed isometric growth (b~3). The statistical analysis conducted in this study revealed a highly significant LLR (p<0.001) with an r2 value exceeding 0.944. The form factor (a3.0) was found as 0.0155, while the size at first sexual maturity (Lm) was determined as 12.36 cm TL. The natural mortality (Mw) was calculated as 1.57 y-1. A major connection between KR and BW for this species, indicating that KR was an exceptionally significant in revealing the health of A. atropos. Thereafter, a high condition rating (KF, KA, and KR) indicates that the species is in short and deep shape. This study found that the habitat was in a state of equilibrium and the mean WR indicated that there was no significant deviation from the expected value of 100 for A. atropos. Consequently, information gathered from the present study would be impactful for managing this fishery in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, along with the surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the growth pattern of 33 fish species caught by gillnets from the Egyptian Mediterranean waters off Alexandria between 2018 and 2020. This is accomplished by studying the length-weight relationship (LWR), Fulton’s condition factor (kc), the allometric condition factor (ka), and the relative weight condition factor (kn). The b-values of the length-weight relationship of the studied species varied between 2.1382 and 3.6868 according to the results. Only Dentex macrophthalmus (b = 2.1382), Etrumeus golanii (b = 2.4197), and Trichiurus lepturus (b = 3.6868) exhibited different values than the expected range of 2.5 1) is not necessarily a better condition for the fish. The study of the allometric condition factor (ka) assessed that the difference between ka and kc values influenced by the feeding intensity and the b-value. The values of the relative weight condition factor (kn) were within the range from 0.929 to 1.038, and 24 fish species reflected a good growth condition while the kn values for the remaining 9 species were less than 1.0. The obtained results add new data about specific species and provide updated data on the remaining species in the area of study. The obtained results can have useful effects on the stock assessment of fish species.

This study investigates the growth pattern of 33 fish species caught by gillnets from the Egyptian Mediterranean waters off Alexandria between 2018 and 2020. This is accomplished by studying the length-weight relationship (LWR), Fulton's condition factor (k c), the allometric condition factor (k a), and the relative weight condition factor (k n). The b -values of the length-weight relationship of the studied species varied between 2.1382 and 3.6868 according to the results. Only Dentex macrophthalmus (b = 2.1382), Etrumeus golanii (b = 2.4197), and Trichiurus lepturus (b = 3.6868) exhibited different values than the expected range of 2.5 < b less than 3.5. The 95 % confidence interval (CI) and Bailey's t -test of b -values were tested. In terms of growth pattern, the results showed 20 fish species with an isometric growth pattern, 10 fish species with negative allometric growth, and only 3 fish species with positive allometric growth. The study of Fulton's condition factor (k c) assessed the differences between species to the differences in fish shape, and proposed that each fish family has its own range depending on the fish shape, and (k c > 1) is not necessarily a better condition for the fish. The study of the allometric condition factor (k a) assessed that the difference between k a and k c values influenced by the feeding intensity and the b -value. The values of the relative weight condition factor (k n) were within the range from 0.929 to 1.038, and 24 fish species reflected a good growth condition while the k n values for the remaining 9 species were less than 1.0. The obtained results add new data about specific species and provide updated data on the remaining species in the area of study. The obtained results can have useful effects on the stock assessment of fish species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the nutrient requirements of geese during the growing stage are known, the dietary requirement of amino acids during the starting period remains unclear. Optimum nutrient supplementation during the starting period is crucial for improved survival rates, body-weight gain, and marketing weight in geese. Our study focused on the effect of dietary tryptophan (Trp) supplementation on the growth performance, plasma parameters, and internal-organ relative weights in 1–28-day-old Sichuan white geese. A total of 1080 1-day-old geese were divided randomly into six Trp-supplemented (0.145%, 0.190%, 0.235%, 0.280%, 0.325%, and 0.370%) groups. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), and duodenal relative weight were highest in the 0.190% group, brisket protein level and jejunal relative weight in the 0.235% group, and plasma total protein and albumin levels in the 0.325% group (P < 0.05). Dietary Trp supplementation did not significantly affect the relative weights of the spleen, thymus, liver, bursa of Fabricius, kidneys, and pancreas. Moreover, the 0.145% – 0.235% groups showed significantly decreased liver fat (P < 0.05). Based on the non-linear regression analysis of ADG and ADFI, the dietary Trp levels between 0.183% and 0.190% were estimated to be optimal for 1–28-day-old Sichuan white geese. In conclusion, optimal dietary Trp supplementation in 1–28-day-old Sichuan white geese resulted in increased growth performance (0.180% – 0.190%) along with improved proximal intestinal development and brisket protein deposition (0.235%). Our findings provide basic evidence and guidance for optimal levels of Trp supplementation in geese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous materials bring components not only direct advantages in the form of lightening of constructions, saving of production materials, or improvement of physical properties, but also secondary advantages, which are manifested as a result of their daily use, e.g., in aviation and the automotive industry, which is manifested in saving fuel and, thus, environmental protection. The aim of this article is to examine the influence of the volume ratio of a complex porous structure, the so-called Neovius, on bending properties. Samples with five different relative weights of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 50% (±1%) were fabricated from AlSi10Mg aluminum alloy by Direct Laser Metal Sintering (DLMS) technology. A three-point bending test until specimen failure was performed at ambient temperature on a Zwick/Roell 1456 universal testing machine. The dependences of the bending forces on the deflection were recorded. The maximum stresses, energy absorption, and ductility indexes were calculated to compare the bending behavior of beams filled with this type of complex cellular structure. The results showed that Neovius, with a relative weight of 50%, was much more brittle compared to the other samples, while the Neovius structure, with a relative weight of 30%, appeared to be the most suitable structure for bent components among those tested. This study is a contribution not only to the development of the space and aviation industry but also to the expansion of the knowledge base in the field of material sciences. This know-how can also provide a basis for defining boundary conditions in the simulation of behavior and numerical analyses of 3D-printed lightweight components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the construction industry, safety issues are considered major concerns. Despite recent attempts to improve safety in the construction sector, this sector is considered dangerous and unsafe. Construction safety management in Iraq is plagued by a high incidence of construction accidents, resulting in a higher number of injuries and fatalities. Creating a safety program is one strategy to alleviate this problem by making safety an intrinsic part of construction projects. Defining which factors are the most significant and have the greatest effect on safety performance is crucial to building a complete safety program. It ensures that construction companies are not wasting money on inadequate safety programs. As a result, this article aims to identify the critical safety factors that influence safety performance in Iraqi construction projects and assign a relative weight to them based on their importance. First, relevant literature was reviewed to identify the safety performance factors. Second, the Pivot Pairwise Relative Criteria Importance Assessment (PIPRECIA), a recently proposed technique for calculating criteria weights, was employed to determine the relative weight of factors. In this paper, a list of 21 sub-factors classified into 8 categories of main factors was identified. Finally, the findings of PIPRECIA show that the "Management Practices" factor has the top rank with a weight of 0.4221 among the other main safety factors. The results also showed that among the 21 sub-factors, the three with the highest weights, 0.0686, 0.0665, and 0.0619, belonged to "Personal protective equipment (PPE)", "First aid and medical care" and "Housekeeping program", which were under the "Management Practices" factor. Further, the "Regular safety inspections" and "Contractor safety rewards and punishment programs" sub-factors were identified as the least important sub-factors with weights of 0.0350 and 0.0333, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Temporal envelope cues are conveyed by cochlear implants (CIs) to hearing loss patients to restore hearing. Although CIs could enable users to communicate in clear listening environments, noisy environments still pose a problem. To improve speech-processing strategies used in Chinese CIs, we explored the relative contributions made by the temporal envelope in various frequency regions, as relevant to Mandarin sentence recognition in noise. Methods Original speech material from the Mandarin version of the Hearing in Noise Test (MHINT) was mixed with speech-shaped noise (SSN), sinusoidally amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise (SAM SSN), and sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) white noise (4 Hz) at a + 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. Envelope information of the noise-corrupted speech material was extracted from 30 contiguous bands that were allocated to five frequency regions. The intelligibility of the noise-corrupted speech material (temporal cues from one or two regions were removed) was measured to estimate the relative weights of temporal envelope cues from the five frequency regions. Results In SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.34, 0.19, 0.20, 0.16, and 0.11, respectively; in SAM SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.34, 0.17, 0.24, 0.14, and 0.11, respectively; and in SAM white noise, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.46, 0.24, 0.22, 0.06, and 0.02, respectively. Conclusions The results suggest that the temporal envelope in the low-frequency region transmits the greatest amount of information in terms of Mandarin sentence recognition for three types of noise, which differed from the perception strategy employed in clear listening environments.

Tlaloc hildebrandi is a small (<130 mm) freshwater fish endemic to Southwest Mexico and is listed as endangered through habitat loss and invasive species. We determine and compare the parameters of the length–weight relationship, relative weight, and condition factor among different populations of the endemic killifish, T. hildebrandi. Fulton's condition factor (K), relative weight (Wr), and the length–weight relationship were estimated for three killifish populations throughout its distribution range in the highlands of Chiapas, México. The Wr was significantly lowest in fishes where there are higher anthropogenic activities. The somatic indexes and the length–weight relationships for T. hildebrandi are hereby published for the first time in both the scientific literature and databases, such as Fishbase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to develop a GIS-based simulation for selecting the most suitable site of solid waste landfill which could help to minimize harmful impacts to the environment and society in the extreme sensitive and complex delta by an integration of geographic information system (GIS) and analysis hierarchy process (AHP) and nine criteria (distance from surface water; depth of ground water table; distance from residential area, land use, distance from main roads, geo-environmental and geotechnical characteristics, distance from historical and tourism sites, and distance from industrial zones). Different from most of the previous studies on the landfill site selection, geology-related criteria including soil types/lithology, soil permeability, and soil depth/soil thickness (soil-structure), which are called geo-environmental and geotechnical characteristics in this research, will be carefully considered, integrated, and evaluated. The AHP was employed to determine the weight of each criterion based on pair weight comparison and its matrix, while a land suitability index (LSI) score was calculated to determine the most suitable site. Moreover, the suitability map was also created which indicated very advantageous, advantageous, rather advantageous, and disadvantageous areas in the study area for landfill siting. Finally, the developed model could be used for supporting planners, managers, policy makers, and local government to make decisions on suitable and effective planning strategies for landfill site selection and could be applied anywhere and especially in other deltas around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to develop a GIS-based simulation for choosing the best location for a solar farm in Binh Thuan province, which is in the low, hilly-mountainous region of South-Central Vietnam. Four groups of criteria (climate, location, land use, and orography), which include eight criteria (solar radiation, land surface temperature; distance to substation, main road, residential area, historical and tourism sites; land use; and slope) are considered for the site selection. Moreover, these criteria are divided into twenty-four sub-criteria which indicate the advantages and disadvantages of each criterion. A method of analytic hierarchy process, then, is applied to determine the relative weight of each group, criterion, and sub-criterion. Furthermore, based on a calculated land suitability index score, a map with four categories of very advantageous, advantageous, rather advantageous, and disadvantageous areas for solar power farm development was also created. Finally, the developed model can be used for supporting planners, managers, policy makers, and local government to make decisions on suitable and effective planning strategies for solar power farm site selection and can be applied anywhere around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a complex three-phase heterogeneous catalyst, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst activity is determined by the interfacial and surface structures and chemical state of the catalyst support. As a typical biomass carbon-based support, rice husk-based porous carbon (RHPC) has natural unique hierarchical porous structures, which easily regulate the microstructure and surface properties. This study explored the correlative effects of RHPC structure and surface properties on ORR catalytic activity through the typical modification methods, namely, alkali etching, high temperature, oxidation, and ball milling. The various factors for the joint effects are defined as the specific surface area, oxygen-containing functional groups, graphite edge defects, resistivity, and contact angle. The analysis of such joint influences is difficult to quantitatively evaluate due to the large number of experimental factors and small sample sizes. Partial least-squares (PLS) can better deal with such problems. Therefore, a PLS regression model was established to evaluate the relative weight of each factor on the catalytic activity for the RHPC-based support catalysts. The results reveal that the regression coefficients of four factors yield similar magnitude for the effect of the half-wave potential ( E 1/2 ). However, graphite edge defects had a more significant impact on the limiting diffusion current density ( J ) and electron transfer number ( n ). Furthermore, an optimal support named BM-RHPC-3 was prepared with more defects and oxygen-containing functional groups, which prepared Fe-NS/BM-RHPC-3 presenting the best ORR catalytic activity ( E 1/2 = 0.880 V, J of 5.15 mA cm -2 ), superior to Pt/C ( E 1/2 = 0.844 V, J of 4.99 mA cm -2 ). The statistical regression model is validated with a relative error of less than 5% between predicted and true values for analyzing RHPC-based ORR catalysts' catalytic performance. It shows the feasibility of experiment-informed learning for data-driven material discovery and design.

Background: The social consequences of obesity may influence health and mortality rate (MR), given obesity's status as a highly stigmatized condition. Hence, a high absolute body mass index (BMI) in conjunction with the stigmatization of a high BMI may each independently increase the rate of MR. Objectives: We tested whether relative BMI, defined as ordinal rank within a social reference group jointly defined by age, sex, and race/ethnicity, is associated with MR independent of absolute BMI. Methods: Data were from three nationally representative datasets: the Health and Retirement Study (n = 31,115), the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS, n = 529,362), and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 45,033). Relative BMI kg/m2 deciles were calculated within twenty-four subgroups jointly defined by age (6 levels), sex (2 levels), and race/ethnicity (4 levels). The association between ordinal rank BMI and MR was assessed using Cox survival generalized additive models in each dataset with adjustments for age, race, sex, smoking, educational attainment, and absolute BMI. Results: Absolute BMI had a significant non-monotonic association with MR, such that BMI was positively associated with mortality at BMI levels above approximately 25 kg/m2. Contrary to expectations, results from NHIS indicated that individuals in the first decile of relative BMI had the highest MR whereas relative BMI was not associated with MR in the NHANES and HRS. Conclusion: We hypothesized that the stigmatization of obesity might lead to an increased MR after controlling for absolute BMI. Contrary to expectations, a higher relative BMI was not associated with an increased MR independent of absolute BMI.

Background: Temporal envelope cues are conveyed by cochlear implants (CIs) to hearing loss patients to restore hearing. Although CIs could enable users to communicate in clear listening environments, noisy environments still pose a problem. To improve speech-processing strategies used in Chinese CIs, we explored the relative contributions made by the temporal envelope in various frequency regions, as relevant to Mandarin sentence recognition in noise.Methods: Original speech material from the Mandarin version of the Hearing in Noise Test (MHINT) was mixed with speech-shaped noise (SSN), sinusoidally amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise (SAM SSN), and sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) white noise (4 Hz) at a + 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. Envelope information of the noise-corrupted speech material was extracted from 30 contiguous bands that were allocated to five frequency regions. The intelligibility of the noise-corrupted speech material (temporal cues from one or two regions were removed) was measured to estimate the relative weights of temporal envelope cues from the five frequency regions.Results: In SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.34, 0.19, 0.20, 0.16, and 0.11, respectively; in SAM SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.34, 0.17, 0.24, 0.14, and 0.11, respectively; and in SAM white noise, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.46, 0.24, 0.22, 0.06, and 0.02, respectively.Conclusions: The results suggest that the temporal envelope in the low-frequency region transmits the greatest amount of information in terms of Mandarin sentence recognition for three types of noise, which differed from the perception strategy employed in clear listening environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous materials bring components not only direct advantages in the form of lightening of constructions, saving of production materials, or improvement of physical properties, but also secondary advantages, which are manifested as a result of their daily use, e.g., in aviation and the automotive industry, which is manifested in saving fuel and, thus, environmental protection. The aim of this article is to examine the influence of the volume ratio of a complex porous structure, the so-called Neovius, on bending properties. Samples with five different relative weights of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 50% (±1%) were fabricated from AlSi10Mg aluminum alloy by Direct Laser Metal Sintering (DLMS) technology. A three-point bending test until specimen failure was performed at ambient temperature on a Zwick/Roell 1456 universal testing machine. The dependences of the bending forces on the deflection were recorded. The maximum stresses, energy absorption, and ductility indexes were calculated to compare the bending behavior of beams filled with this type of complex cellular structure. The results showed that Neovius, with a relative weight of 50%, was much more brittle compared to the other samples, while the Neovius structure, with a relative weight of 30%, appeared to be the most suitable structure for bent components among those tested. This study is a contribution not only to the development of the space and aviation industry but also to the expansion of the knowledge base in the field of material sciences. This know-how can also provide a basis for defining boundary conditions in the simulation of behavior and numerical analyses of 3D-printed lightweight components.

Aim: It is aimed to determine the preventive effect of black seed (Nigella sativa L; NS) and its pharmaceutically active substance volatile fatty acid thymoquinone on relative liver weight increase in broiler in aflatoxicosis.. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty 1-d-old broiler chicks were used and divided into 6 equal groups and fed for 28 days. Animals were received feed with 2 mg/kg total aflatoxin (AF; AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), 5% black seed (NS) and 300 mg/kg thymoquinone (TQ), according to the groups; Control, AF, NS, TQ, AF+NS and AF+TQ. At the end of the experiment, euthanasia was performed by decapitation after determination of the live weight of ten broiler chickens in all groups, and systemic necropsies were performed. The liver, the main target organ for AF, was removed and weighed to determine relative organ weight. The relative liver weights were calculated as % (liver weight x 100 / live body weight). Results: Aflatotoxin application significantly increased the relative weight of the liver (P Conclusion: In conclusion, it was thought that TQ and NS prevented the relative liver weight increase, an important biomarker for aflatoxicosis, by probably ameliorating lipid metabolism and transport which is impaired by the toxic effect of AF.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of sodium butyrate (SB) on growth performance and development of digestive and immune organs in broilers. Dietary treatments had similar compositions but with 0%, 0.03%, 0.06%, and 0.12% SB substituted (weight/weight) for identical amounts of the basal diet. SB supplementation linearly increased (P < 0.05) average daily gain for each period, except for days 15-21. SB supplementation linearly increased (P < 0.05) the relative weight of proventriculus (day 7), gizzard (days 7 and 14), duodenum (days 21 and 28), jejunum (day 21), ileum (day 21), small intestine (day 21), rectum (day 14), pancreas (days 7 and 21), liver (days 21 and 28), and thymus (days 7, 14, and 21). SB supplementation linearly increased (P < 0.05) the relative length of duodenum (day 21), jejunum (days 14 and 21), ileum (days 14 and 21) and small intestine (days 14 and 21), caeca (day 21) and rectum (day 21), as well as it improved intestinal structure by increasing the villus height in jejunum and ileum, and increasing goblet cell counts in duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. Collectively, dietary SB supplementation improved the growth performance of broilers by improving the development and morphological structure of the broilers' intestinal organs.

Population demographics are used by biologists and managers to determine the quality of a fishery and set regulations to achieve desired management goals. Regulating a large river system fishery that spans a substantial geographical region is often complicated by spatially variable environmental factors that affect fish population dynamics (e.g. habitat, water quality); these dynamics are rarely examined within an entire system. In this study we compared spatial differences in population age and length at capture, growth, fecundity and body condition of bluegill Lepomis macrochirus among two different river reaches (e.g. basin width, gradient, velocity) of the Illinois River (Illinois, USA) and a disconnected floodplain lake, the Emiquon Preserve. Variations in selected population demographics were evaluated in relation to well-documented habitat characteristics (e.g. water quality, aquatic vegetation, backwater availability). Differences in bluegill demographic traits between the disconnected floodplain lake and river reaches were distinct, and variations between river reaches were sex specific. The floodplain lake generally had older bluegill that expressed a higher maximum length at age and a lower growth rate and fecundity than bluegill in river reaches. River bluegill differed between river reaches in male growth, and fecundity in both sexes. Body condition was not significantly different among bluegill populations. Early research on floodplain lakes indicates that this habitat supports greater fish growth and higher reproductive fitness than mainstem habitat. We conclude that increasing the availability of quality backwater habitat, even within a highly modified large river system like the Illinois River, could substantially increase the quality and stability of bluegill populations.

The aim of this research is to develop a GIS-based simulation for selecting the most suitable site of solid waste landfill which could help to minimize harmful impacts to the environment and society in the extreme sensitive and complex delta by an integration of geographic information system (GIS) and analysis hierarchy process (AHP) and nine criteria (distance from surface water; depth of ground water table; distance from residential area, land use, distance from main roads, geo-environmental and geotechnical characteristics, distance from historical and tourism sites, and distance from industrial zones). Different from most of the previous studies on the landfill site selection, geology-related criteria including soil types/lithology, soil permeability, and soil depth/soil thickness (soil-structure), which are called geo-environmental and geotechnical characteristics in this research, will be carefully considered, integrated, and evaluated. The AHP was employed to determine the weight of each criterion based on pair weight comparison and its matrix, while a land suitability index (LSI) score was calculated to determine the most suitable site. Moreover, the suitability map was also created which indicated very advantageous, advantageous, rather advantageous, and disadvantageous areas in the study area for landfill siting. Finally, the developed model could be used for supporting planners, managers, policy makers, and local government to make decisions on suitable and effective planning strategies for landfill site selection and could be applied anywhere and especially in other deltas around the world.

ObjectivesAcoustic temporal envelope (E) cues containing speech information are distributed across all frequency spectra. To provide a theoretical basis for the signal coding of hearing devices, we examined the relative weight of E cues in different frequency regions for Mandarin disyllabic word recognition in quiet.DesignE cues were extracted from 30 continuous frequency bands within the range of 80 to 7,562 Hz using Hilbert decomposition and assigned to five frequency regions from low to high. Disyllabic word recognition of 20 normal-hearing participants were obtained using the E cues available in two, three, or four frequency regions. The relative weights of the five frequency regions were calculated using least-squares approach.ResultsParticipants correctly identified 3.13–38.13%, 27.50–83.13%, or 75.00–93.13% of words when presented with two, three, or four frequency regions, respectively. Increasing the number of frequency region combinations improved recognition scores and decreased the magnitude of the differences in scores between combinations. This suggested a synergistic effect among E cues from different frequency regions. The mean weights of E cues of frequency regions 1–5 were 0.31, 0.19, 0.26, 0.22, and 0.02, respectively.ConclusionFor Mandarin disyllabic words, E cues of frequency regions 1 (80–502 Hz) and 3 (1,022–1,913 Hz) contributed more to word recognition than other regions, while frequency region 5 (3,856–7,562) contributed little.

Objectives: Acoustic temporal envelope (E) cues containing speech information are distributed across all frequency spectra. To provide a theoretical basis for the signal coding of hearing devices, we examined the relative weight of E cues in different frequency regions for Mandarin disyllabic word recognition in quiet. Design: E cues were extracted from 30 continuous frequency bands within the range of 80 to 7,562 Hz using Hilbert decomposition and assigned to five frequency regions from low to high. Disyllabic word recognition of 20 normal-hearing participants were obtained using the E cues available in two, three, or four frequency regions. The relative weights of the five frequency regions were calculated using least-squares approach. Results: Participants correctly identified 3.13–38.13%, 27.50–83.13%, or 75.00–93.13% of words when presented with two, three, or four frequency regions, respectively. Increasing the number of frequency region combinations improved recognition scores and decreased the magnitude of the differences in scores between combinations. This suggested a synergistic effect among E cues from different frequency regions. The mean weights of E cues of frequency regions 1–5 were 0.31, 0.19, 0.26, 0.22, and 0.02, respectively. Conclusion: For Mandarin disyllabic words, E cues of frequency regions 1 (80–502 Hz) and 3 (1,022–1,913 Hz) contributed more to word recognition than other regions, while frequency region 5 (3,856–7,562) contributed little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the problem of relative weight restriction in data envelopment analysis (DEA). A fuzzy‐based approach to restricting the relative weights is proposed in this study. Unlike the classical weight restriction methods, the proposed approach has an interactive orientation. That is, similar to analytical hierarchy process, the proposed method shares the decision maker (DM) in weight restriction process. Here, the preferences of DM are asked via pairwise comparison matrices. Then, the weights of factors (inputs/outputs) are extracted from these matrices. These weights, finally, are incorporated in multiplier DEA models as the parametric triangular fuzzy numbers, in which, the parameter value indicates the degree of conformity of the relative weights according to DM views. To best of our knowledge, no one has been yet utilized fuzzy set theory to control the relative weights in DEA. Putting in another word, the contribution of this study is that the authors propose a new approach based on fuzzy set theory to weight restriction in DEA. A last, a real case on financial banking efficiency is used to illustrate the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was undertaken to find out the effect of Aeglemarmelos and Andrographispaniculata on performance and relative organ weight in aflatoxicosis of broiler chicken. Day old broiler chicken were divided into eight groups and fed with following diets standard feed (T1), standard feed with 100 ppb aflatoxin(AF) (T2), standard feed with 0.1 per cent A. marmelospowder and 0.1 percent A. paniculata powder (T3), standard feed with 100ppb AF and 0.10 per cent A. marmelos powder (T4), standard feed with 100ppb AF and 0.10 per cent A. paniculata powder (T5), standard feed with 100 ppb AF and 0.20 percent A. marmelos powder (T6), standard feed with 100ppb AF and 0.20 per cent A. paniculata powder (T7) and standard feed containing 100 ppb AF, 0.1 per cent A. marmelospowder and 0.1 per cent A.paniculata powder. The body weight of all groups were monitored on weekly intervals. Significant reduction in body weight and body weight gain along with increase in feed conversion ratio was noticed in T2 group birds. Addition of plant powders at both concentrations were able to ameliorate the deleterious effects caused by 100 ppb AF. Andrographispaniculata and Aeglemarmelos was also able to ameliorate negative effects of 100 ppb AF on relative weight of spleen.

Günümüzde obezite dünyada önemli hastalıklardan biri sayılmakta ve son yıllarda görülme sıklığı giderek artmaktadır. Bu bakımdan küresel boyutta bir halk sağlığı problemidir ve ülke ekonomilerini olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Obezite yalnızca yetişkinleri değil, çocukları ve gençleri de etkilemektedir. Obezitenin en önemli nedenleri sağlıksız beslenme ve hareket yetersizliği olmakta, bu durum obezite sıklığının çocukluk ve adölesan dönemde gittikçe artmasına neden olmaktadırlar. Çocukluk çağında görülen obezite, daha sonraki yaşlarda rastlanan kalp ve damar hastalıkları, diyabet, hipertansiyon, bazı kanser türleri gibi, pek çok hastalığa sebep olmaktadır. Bu bağlamda öncelikle çocuk yaşlardaki obezitenin saptanıp önlem alınması çok önem kazanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada farklı yöntemler kullanılarak obezite sıklığı ve obeziteye neden olan etkenler araştırılmaya çalışılmıştır.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative weights of physical strength factors in sports events. We selected 16,645 people as a sample group who participated in physical fitness measurements through eight sports science centers across the country from 2016 until August of 2018, and divided into four sports types depending on the sports physiological view: type A: short-term muscular power and short-term muscular endurance, type B: mid-term muscular power, type C: long-term cardiorespiratory endurance, type D: coordination capability (CC), agility, flexibility, and balance. Categorized the performance level into excellent athletes and non-excellent athletes, and standardized (T-score) the measured value after considering sex, age and sports type group. Used logistic regression analysis for the method of analysis, and calculated the relative weights of physical strength factor with different sports by using Wald value which was calculated from logistic regression analysis. As a result, the relative weights of physical factor in type A were power 30%, muscular power (MP) 18%, CC 16%, agility 11%, flexibility 10%, cardiorespiratory endurance (CE) 1%, and balance 0%. The relative weights of physical factor in type B were muscular endurance (ME) 43%, MP 25%, power 20%, balance 9%, CE 2%, flexibility 1%, agility 0%, and CC 0%. The relative weights of physical factor in type C were ME 41%, CE 37%, power 10%, agility 8%, flexibility 2%, CC 2%, ME 0%, and balance 0%. Need more specific classification standard for type D sports. Hope the results of this study were used to measure physical fitness level and used as baseline data for recruiting future talents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population demographics are used by biologists and managers to determine the quality of a fishery and set regulations to achieve desired management goals. Regulating a large river system fishery that spans a substantial geographical region is often complicated by spatially variable environmental factors that affect fish population dynamics (e.g. habitat, water quality); these dynamics are rarely examined within an entire system. In this study we compared spatial differences in population age and length at capture, growth, fecundity and body condition of bluegill Lepomis macrochirus among two different river reaches (e.g. basin width, gradient, velocity) of the Illinois River (Illinois, USA) and a disconnected floodplain lake, the Emiquon Preserve. Variations in selected population demographics were evaluated in relation to well-documented habitat characteristics (e.g. water quality, aquatic vegetation, backwater availability). Differences in bluegill demographic traits between the disconnected floodplain lake and river reaches were distinct, and variations between river reaches were sex specific. The floodplain lake generally had older bluegill that expressed a higher maximum length at age and a lower growth rate and fecundity than bluegill in river reaches. River bluegill differed between river reaches in male growth, and fecundity in both sexes. Body condition was not significantly different among bluegill populations. Early research on floodplain lakes indicates that this habitat supports greater fish growth and higher reproductive fitness than mainstem habitat. We conclude that increasing the availability of quality backwater habitat, even within a highly modified large river system like the Illinois River, could substantially increase the quality and stability of bluegill populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted on indigenous scavenging chickens under village management firstly, to evaluate the early development of the digestive tract to 28 days of age and secondly, to determine the growth performance of these chickens up to 20 weeks of age. One hundred and seventeen chicks, 13 chicks per age class (day 1, 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, 28) were randomly purchased from six rural villages in the Vhembe District, Venda, South Africa. The chickens were weighed and sacrificed for measurement of the different parts of its gastrointestinal tract. The liver and pancreas were also weighed. The relative weight of the storage organs and liver peaked at day 4 while that of the small intestine and duodenum peaked at day 10. The relative lengths of the small intestine and jejunum peaked at day 7, duodenum at day 10 and ileum at day 4. Four hundred and forty four (444) chicks from 13 households were recorded at two weekly intervals starting from day old until 20 weeks of age. The mean body weight obtained for males and females were 201.7 and 171.5 g at six weeks of age and 1048.1 and 658.6 g at 20 weeks of age, respectively. The indigenous chickens under village management were characterised by slow digestive tract development, poor growth performance and high mortalities. Further research needs to be conducted to determine the effect of early feed supplementation on the development of the digestive tract and the performance of indigenous chickens under village management.

Smart manufacturing system must be designed based on a set of strategic objectives and a variety of surrounding environments; therefore, it includes a series of complex decisions and trade-offs between investment and profit. The MSDD based on the axiomatic design principle has an advantage on breaking down requirements and parameters and considering the relationships of them, but there is a limit to quantify relative weights of each requirement and parameter. To complement the limitation, a quantification method applying the analytic network process is proposed. The proposed method can calculate the relative importance degrees of the requirement and parameter objectively and help us understand and focus on more important factors of the smart manufacturing system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to determine the variables associated with the share of Peruvian migration out of total immigration into Chile during 2005-2014. The initial hypothesis is that Peruvian migratory flow has a social and economic component. The results showed that a greater increase in the Human Development Index (HDI) for Chile in comparison with Peru increases migratory flow. On the other hand, a higher education budget for Chile relative to Peru decreases the migratory flow of Peruvian citizens. Against expectations, a one percent increase in per capita GDP in Chile decreases the flow of Peruvian migrants by 0.61 percent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study provide the baseline information on the temporal (monthly) variations of condition through multiple functions (allometric, KA; Fulton's, KF; relative, KR) and prey-predator status through relative weight (WR) for Eutropiichthys vacha (Hamilton, 1822) from the Ganges River, northwestern Bangladesh over one year. The smallest individuals were 6.5 and 6.2 cm in TL, whereas the largest were 19.9 and 20.6 cm in TL for males and females, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the length frequency distribution, LFDs (p = 0.8152) for both sexes. KF was significantly correlated with TL for both sexes (p < 0.001) and KF was treated as the best condition factor therefore, well-being of E. vachaa. There was no significant correlation among TL vs KA, TL vs KR and TL vs WR for males and females, respectively. But BW showed highly significant correlations with all condition factors, i.e., BW vs KA; BW vs KF; BW vs KR, and BW vs WR (p < 0.001) for both sexes. Additionally, WR revealed no significant dissimilarities from 100 for males (p = 0.432) unlike females (p = 0.023), based on Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, suggesting that habitat was more suitable for males than females for food availability relative to predator presence. Moreover, this study assessed for the first time the effect of temperature and rainfall on monthly KF for E. vacha in the Ganges River. The Pearson correlation test found no significant relation between temperature and KF (r = 0.2226, p = 0.4868 for males; r = 0.2172, p = 0.4977 for females), but significant correlations were found between rainfall and KF (r = 0.6357, p = 0.0263 for males and r = 0.6983, p = 0.0115 for females). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Eurasian Journal of Veterinary Sciences is the property of Eurasian Journal of Veterinary Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: To evaluate the effects of hormone replacement on gross appearance, total body weight and volume of liver in ovariectomized rats. Study Design: Laboratory-based experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anatomy, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, in collaboration with National Institute of Health, Islamabad, from Mar to Jun 2019. Methodology: Forty, female, healthy, non-pregnant, Sprague dawley rats, 5-6 months of age, weighing 250 ± 10g, were randomly divided into 4 equal groups (A, B, C and D). Group A served as control and group B was sham operated. Group C i.e. ovariectomized group underwent ovariectomy but was kept untreated. Group D underwent ovariectomy and was treated with injection estradiol (Inj Gravibinan, 2ml, Medipharm. Mfg. Co, Ltd) 2.5 mg/kg via subcutaneous route once weekly for 60 days. All animals were sacrificed after the last injection of estradiol as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to group D. Gross parameters of liver were observed. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 22. The p-value of ≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Ovariectomized (OVX) group showed marked change in colour and consistency of liver, increased total body weight and volume of liver. While these changes started reverting back towards normality in treated group. Conclusions: Injection of hormone replacement therapy improved the gross parameters of liver in treated group, 12 weeks after surgery as compared to untreated group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forestland has been a focus of urbanization research, yet the effect of urbanization on forest land change on an urban agglomeration scale still remains unclear. Screening and quantifying the main factors affecting forest land changes have practical significance for land planning and management. Considering the characteristics of the region and referring to related studies, 26 natural, social, and economic factors were screened in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), where land-use changes are intense. Geographically weighted regression and the relative importance were used to quantify the spatial heterogeneity of these main factors. There was still a large area of deforestation evident in the PRD with its afforestation area of 604.3 km2 (mainly converted from cropland) and a deforestation area of 1544.6 km2 (mainly converted from built-up land). The effects of socio-economic factors were the main factors for these forest land changes, especially the rural population and migration. Deforestation mainly occurs in urban growth boundaries, which will be the focus area for further land management. These main factors have the potential to provide a methodological contribution to land-use changes, and the results of this study can provide a solid theoretical basis for forest land management and urban planning (e.g., balancing expansion of built-up land and ecological protection that advances forest land protection and restoration).

A new relative influence weight function was proposed in combination with the existing linear threshold model.Combining with the information itself sensitivity and the threshold characteristic of the node itself,a threshold model(URLT model) was proposed,which can measure the information communication ability.By simulating the spread of different networks,different sensitivity information and different node thresholds,and comparing the final propagation situation,the experimental results show that the final influence range is consistent with the real spread situation.Therefore,the model has some reference value for the discovery and suppression of the law of information dissemination.

This article proposes an algorithmic approach for group decision making (GDM) problems using neutrosophic soft matrix (NSM) and relative weights of experts. NSM is the matrix representation of neutrosophic soft sets (NSSs), where NSS is the combination of neutrosophic set and soft set. We propose a new idea for assigning relative weights to the experts based on cardinalities of NSSs. The relative weight is assigned to each of the experts based on their preferred attributes and opinions, which reduces the chance of unfairness in the decision making process. Firstly we introduce choice matrix and combined choice matrix using neutrosophic sets. Multiplying combined choice matrices with the individual NSMs, this study develops product NSMs, which are aggregated to find out the collective NSM. Then neutrosophic cross-entropy measure is used to rank the alternatives and for selecting the most desirable one(s). This study also provides a comparative analysis of the proposed weight based approach with the normal procedure, where weight is not considered. Finally, a case study illustrates the applicability of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing the right time to intervene public opinion dissemination is of great significance to the control of public opinion in online social networks (OSN). The key factors affecting the control of public opinion dissemination, such as user' network status, social strengthening effect and users, perception value, are analyzed. Aimed to identify the reasonable timing for intervention, a dissemination and control model of public opinion based on users5 relative weight is constructed. Based on this model, simulation researches are carried out in two types of OSN. The results show that public opinion dissemination is closely related to the initial disseminator' network status; there exits a key phase transition point, which is related to timing of intervention in open OSN; users' activity decreases with the increase of the social strengthening effecfs intensity, also decreases with the advance of intervention, and there exits an effective interval for intervention; the cost of "contrary to popular will" should be an important index for timing of intervention. Finally, the corresponding countermeasures for choosing the right time to intervene in reality are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the upper Hudson River, New York, USA, fish were exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the 1940s to 1977, and PCBs still persist in this environment. Yellow perch (Perca flavescens), brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), and largemouth bass (M. salmoides) were collected annually from 2003 to 2009 from 1 control site upstream of the PCB discharge locations and from 2 sites downstream from where PCBs were released. Fish PCB concentrations were estimated, and 3 population metrics were examined: 1) relative abundance, 2) weight‐to‐length ratio, and 3) growth. Normalized lipid‐based PCB concentrations at the 2 PCB exposure pools averaged approximately 100 to 600 μg/g. Estimated relative abundances with electrofishing were higher for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and brown bullhead at PCB exposure sites compared to the control site; but yellow perch were more abundant at the control site. Weight to length ratios varied among sites and species, but no consistent pattern was evident in relation to PCBs at the population level or for individual fish. Growth rates for yellow perch and brown bullhead were similar among sites. Largemouth bass growth was slightly higher at the control site compared to the 2 PCB sites, but smallmouth bass growth was much higher at the PCB sites compared to the control site. We could not detect any relation or influence of PCBs on the 3 population metrics that we examined. the present results corroborated those of previous investigations concerning the effects of PCBs on fishes. We recommend stronger consideration of the biological impacts of PCBs at the population level when conducting risk assessments. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:329–339. © 2018 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis niloticus are two hot-water fish species of African origin that have been recently reported to occur unnaturally in hot-water resources and springs in the Sakarya River Basin (northwestern Turkey). Within effective planning strategies to maintain native biodiversity, monitoring fishes' well-being can be useful to evaluate the status of nonnative fish populations and their degree of adaptation to new environments. Relative weight (Wr) is a condition index widely used to estimate the well-being of fish by comparing the actual weight of a specimen with a standard weight (Ws) that is the ideal weight of that fish at that length. In this study, length and weight data of C. gariepinus and O. niloticus, collected throughout the Sakarya River Basin, were used to estimate Ws equations. The resulting Ws equations were log10Ws = -3.668 + 1.885 log10TL + 0.2087 (log10TL)2 (TL range: 18-45 cm) for C. gariepinus and log10Ws = -8.796 + 6.751 log10TL - 0.8479 (log10TL)2 (TL range: 8-28 cm) for O. niloticus. The use of these Ws equations to estimate the fishes' condition is suggested as a monitoring tool to assess the status and the best management actions of these two nonnative species populations throughout the Sakarya River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative weights of physical strength factors in sports events. We selected 16,645 people as a sample group who participated in physical fitness measurements through eight sports science centers across the country from 2016 until August of 2018, and divided into four sports types depending on the sports physiological view: type A: short-term muscular power and short-term muscular endurance, type B: mid-term muscular power, type C: long-term cardiorespiratory endurance, type D: coordination capability (CC), agility, flexibility, and balance. Categorized the performance level into excellent athletes and non-excellent athletes, and standardized (T-score) the measured value after considering sex, age and sports type group. Used logistic regression analysis for the method of analysis, and calculated the relative weights of physical strength factor with different sports by using Wald value which was calculated from logistic regression analysis. As a result, the relative weights of physical factor in type A were power 30%, muscular power (MP) 18%, CC 16%, agility 11%, flexibility 10%, cardiorespiratory endurance (CE) 1%, and balance 0%. The relative weights of physical factor in type B were muscular endurance (ME) 43%, MP 25%, power 20%, balance 9%, CE 2%, flexibility 1%, agility 0%, and CC 0%. The relative weights of physical factor in type C were ME 41%, CE 37%, power 10%, agility 8%, flexibility 2%, CC 2%, ME 0%, and balance 0%. Need more specific classification standard for type D sports. Hope the results of this study were used to measure physical fitness level and used as baseline data for recruiting future talents.