Search results for "Trend"
showing 10 items of 404 documents
Early detection of contamination and defect in foodstuffs by electronic nose: A review
2017
Abstract Electronic nose (e-nose) has emerged as a potential instrument in various areas of food safety assessment for rapid early detection of contamination and defect in food production chain. E-nose is an innovative measurement system designed for detecting and discriminating complex odors through mimicking the working mechanism and the principal building blocks of the mammalian olfactory system. This paper describes a literature update of the applications of the e-nose for ensuring health and safety in the food industry. Finally, its future trend, perspectives and challenging problem are also mentioned.
An empirical comparison of cross-impact models for forecasting sales
1986
Abstract This paper compares a set of four cross-impact models: (1) additive, (2) likelihood multiplier, (3) R-space, and (4) a model constructed by the author. This is done by examining a forecasting problem encountered by an industrial firm. The forecasting problem was to study the market trend in order to decide whether to expand the production capacity of a ceramics plant. In spite of their different theoretical premises, the models yielded similar results. However, only the R-space model produced results that differed from the others. The paper also suggests a method that should avoid some internal contradictions of the cross-impact models.
Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education
2020
Measuring competencies acquired in higher education has to be regarded as a widely neglected research field. The progress made in empirical research on the school system since the 1990s – for example, through large-scale assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and through a massive expansion of instructional research in general – has revealed that nothing comparable exists at the higher education level.
Analysis of pipeline accidents in the United States from 1968 to 2009
2014
Pipelines are responsible for the transportation of a significant portion of the U.S. energy supply. Unfortunately, pipeline failures are common and the consequences can be catastrophic. Drawing on data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that covers approximately 40,000 incidents from 1968 to 2009, this paper explores the trends, causes and consequences of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline accidents. The analysis indicates that fatalities and injuries from pipeline accidents are generally decreasing over time, while property damage and, in some cases, the numbers of incidents are increasing over time. In five of the ten cases considered in this p…
Effect of climate change on asphalt binder selection for road construction in Italy
2015
This work explores the influence of climate changes on the proper selection of asphalt binder for pavement construction purposes, according to the Performance Grade (PG) defined in the SUPERPAVE specifications. Based on temperature data at national level, it is possible to obtain thematic maps for the whole Italian territory, which is extremely useful for technicians and pavement engineers for selection of asphalt binder for road construction purposes. Furthermore, the statistical significant temperature trends’ knowledge enables deriving thematic maps which allows to include the effects of climate change in the asphalt binder design. It is argued that, due to climate change, the binders to…
Uncertainty related to climate change in the assessment of the DDF curve parameters
2017
In the context of climate change, the evaluation of the parameters of Depth-Duration-Frequency (DDF) curves has become a critical issue. Neglecting future rainfall variations could result in an overestimation/underestimation of DDF parameters and, consequently, of the design storm. In this study, uncertainty analysis was integrated into trend analysis to provide an estimate of trends that cannot actually be rigorously verified. A Bayesian procedure was suggested for the updating of DDF curve parameters and to evaluate the uncertainty related to their assessment. The proposed procedure also allowed identification of the years of a series that contributed most to the overall uncertainty relat…
Burden of injury along the development spectrum: associations between the Socio-demographic Index and disability-adjusted life year estimates from th…
2020
Incluye: Correction: Burden of injury along the development spectrum: associations between the Socio-demographic Index and disability-adjusted life year estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Inj Prev. 2020 Oct;26(Supp 1):i164. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043296corr1. Epub 2020 Sep 28. PMID: 32989004 Background: The epidemiological transition of non-communicable diseases replacing infectious diseases as the main contributors to disease burden has been well documented in global health literature. Less focus, however, has been given to the relationship between sociodemographic changes and injury. The aim of this study was to examine the association between disability-adjuste…
Innovations in medical care and mortality trends from four circulatory diseases between 1970 and 2005
2013
Background: Governments have identified innovation in pharmaceuticals and medical technology as a priority for health policy. Although the contribution of medical care to health has been studied extensively in clinical settings, much less is known about its contribution to population health. We examine how innovations in the management of four circulatory disorders have influenced trends in cause-specific mortality at the population level. Methods: Based on literature reviews, we selected six medical innovations with proven effectiveness against hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure and cerebrovascular disease. We combined data on the timing of these innovations and cause-spe…
New insights into the reading of Paleozoic plant fossil record discontinuities
2011
Studying the discontinuity patterns of Paleozoic vascular plants provides a global vision of these key events from the multivariate methods viewpoint. Non-metric multidimensional scaling, detrended correspondence analysis and cluster analysis have been employed together with a set of diversity and abundance measures and an evaluation of the geologic constraints from the plant fossil record data. The results reveal four clear significant discontinuities in terms of taxonomic composition and record representativeness during the early-middle Devonian, Devonian–Carboniferous, Mississippian–Pennsylvanian and early-late Permian. Due to the controversial character of the plant fossil record data a…
Persistence of temperature and precipitation: from local to global anomalies
2021
Using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) we find that all continents are persistent in temperature. The scaling exponents of the southern hemisphere (SH) continents, i.e., South America (0.77) and Oceania (0.72) are somewhat higher than scaling exponents of Europe (0.70), Asia (0.69) and North America (0.64), but the scaling of Africa is by far the highest (0.86). The reason for this is the location of Africa near the equator. The scaling exponents of the precipitation are much smaller, i.e. between 0.55 (Europe) and 0.68 (North America). The scaling exponent of Europe is near that of the random noise (0.5), while the other continents are slightly persistent in precipitation. We also show…