FAMCDM: A fusion approach of MCDM methods to rank multiclass classification algorithms

Various methods and algorithms have been developed for multiclass classification problems in recent years. How to select an effective algorithm for a multiclass classification task is an important yet difficult issue. Since the multiclass algorithm selection normally involves more than one criterion, such as accuracy and computation time, the selection process can be modeled as a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. While the evaluations of algorithms provided by different MCDM methods are in agreement sometimes, there are situations where MCDM methods generate very different results. To resolve this disagreement and help decision makers pick the most suitable classifier(s), this paper proposes a fusion approach to produce a weighted compatible MCDM ranking of multiclass classification algorithms. Several multiclass datasets from different domains are used in the experimental study to test the proposed fusion approach. The results prove that MCDM methods are useful tools for evaluating multiclass classification algorithms and the fusion approach is capable of identifying a compromised solution when different MCDM methods generate conflicting rankings.     

基于可持续发展思想的矿井技改方案评价

针对煤炭这一不可再生的初级能源产品的特点 ,指出了传统的煤矿技改方案评价标准的不足 ,提出了基于可持续发展思想的矿井技改方案评价指标体系     

Formative Indicators and Effects of a Causal Model for Household Human Capital with Application

Dagum and Slottje (2000) estimated household human capital (HC) as a latent variable (LV) and proposed its monetary estimation by means of an actuarial approach. This paper introduces an improved method for the estimation of household HC as an LV by means of formative and reflective indicators in agreement with the accepted economic definition of HC. The monetary value of HC is used in a recursive causal model to obtain short- and long-term multipliers that measure the direct and total effects of the variables that determine household HC. The new method is applied to estimate US household HC for year 2004.     

Bayesian analysis of agricultural field experiments

The paper describes Bayesian analysis for agricultural field experiments, a topic that has received very little previous attention, despite a vast frequentist literature. Adoption of the Bayesian paradigm simplifies the interpretation of the results, especially in ranking and selection. Also, complex formulations can be analysed with comparative ease, by using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. A key ingredient in the approach is the need for spatial representations of the unobserved fertility patterns. This is discussed in detail. Problems caused by outliers and by jumps in fertility are tackled via hierarchical t formulations that may find use in other contexts. The paper includes three analyses of variety trials for yield and one example involving binary data; none is entirely straightforward. Some comparisons with frequentist analyses are made.     

Social innovation indicators

This article provides the results of the Regional Social Innovation Index (RESINDEX), a conceptual and empirical model that explores indicators of social innovation at organizational and regional level. The RESINDEX model links absorptive capacity of knowledge and social innovation in four types of key regional agents: profit and non-profit organizations, universities, and technological centres. The pilot application of the RESINDEX model held in the Basque Country (Spain) during the year 2013. Within the framework of this study 282 regional organizations were surveyed. The article contributes to the conceptual and empirical discussion on indicators in social innovation.     

Examining the Ethical Utility of Social Work Program Rankings in the US: Are We Measuring One Thing and Selling Another?

Social work program rankings are frequently used in the US to communicate program identity, and no ranking structure has become as commonly accepted as the one compiled by US News & World Report. However, the metrics used to assemble these rankings, and what the rankings have been used to communicate, have come under question over recent years. This project details an analysis that was conducted on the relationship between US News rankings for social work programs in the United States (n = 200) and Carnegie research designations for the universities with which those programs are affiliated. Findings suggest that as institutional size increases, so do rankings. This study assesses the strength of that relationship and questions the ethical utility of this ranking system, particularly when used as a tool to recruit students (a common practice in the United States). Additional metrics are suggested to help potential students make more informed decisions in reference to program selection.     

Measuring What Matters: Achieving Consensus on a Positive Aging Indicator Set For Ireland

The objective of this study was to measure consensus among expert stakeholders on a set of positive aging outcome indicators in Ireland. Stakeholders from academic, public, and voluntary sectors and older people participated in a 3-round, online Delphi study to evaluate indicators for participation, security, healthy aging, attitudes to aging, and information access. Evaluation criteria included: acceptability, utility, accessibility, ranking, and balance and coherence. Consensus was achieved on 56 key indicators that are aligned with action areas in the National Positive Ageing Strategy. These indicators will be reported on a biannual basis to monitor progress in positive aging in Ireland.     

Countertransference and Zebras: Forensic Obfuscation

ABSTRACT

Responding to Daniel Pickar's article entitled “Counter-transference Bias in the Child Custody Evaluator” (this issue), the authors opine that attaching new labels to familiar dynamics fails to contribute to an understanding of interpersonal dynamics with which all participants in the custody evaluation process are already familiar. The position is advanced that, in examining the reports and testimony of evaluators, biases are only relevant when they are manifested in identifiable behavior. Such behaviors include the application by the evaluator of different standards in examining and commenting on the actions of the two parents; the use of insulting terminology in describing the non-favored parent; the use of glowing terminology in describing the favored parent; assignment of minimal importance to possible parenting deficiencies in the favored parent; the assignment of much importance to reported flaws in the non-favored parent; an apparent unquestioning acceptance of the favored parent's perspective; and an apparent rejection of the non-favored parent's perspective.     

Trust and Ethnic Tolerance in the Face of Social Change

The primary goals of this article are to examine conceptual approaches to the study of trust, summarize the tools that can be used in such studies, and use empirical data to elucidate the concept of a “culture of trust.” It also discusses certain problems involved in the empirical study of generalized trust and concludes that ethnic tolerance is one element of a culture of trust. The article presents the results of a 2014 sociological study of Muscovites that was carried out using formalized interviews. This study examined the attitude of trust and subjective bases of trust and mistrust that have developed within Moscow society. A three-stage random territorial probability sampling was used, distributed across administrative districts proportional to their population sizes. The 800-respondent sample was representative in terms of sex and age. Using a simple 4-point scale, our study found that Moscow’s population is strongly polarized in terms of trust—47.6 percent are inclined to be trusting while 46.5 percent are not. Trust networks in Moscow are primarily built around close family and friends. There is a clear lack of basic trust. The study’s results suggest that generalized trust and ethnic tolerance are interrelated. What links these processes are the collaborative relationships that form based on ties of friendship and neighborliness.     

European Scientific Socio-Economic Reporting: State and Possibilities of Development

This paper proposes a European socio-economic reporting system, consisting of different elements and constructed in a modular form. The main idea is to monitor the process of welfare production, conceived in the form of an input-throughput-output model. Actors of welfare production generate inputs, these are mediated and filtered by institutional arrangements and finally determine the outcomes, that is the individual welfare. For all of the three parts of the welfare production model available data sources, social reports, social surveys, databases with institutional information etc. are reviewed and analyzed with respect to their use for the monitoring of welfare production. The paper is divided into five sections: first, the state of socio-economic reporting is outlined; second, the use of the available material is discussed; third, new approaches and instruments in socio-economic reporting are described; fourth, a scenario of European socio-economic reporting is outlined; and fifth, the steps needed for implementation are delineated.