Bottom Ranks Research Articles

Analyzing three pillars of sustainable development goals at sub-national scales within the USA

America is a paradox: one of the world's economically leading countries, lagging in sustainable development (SD). Drawing on many studies, the problems caused by imbalances between the environment and economy often result in resource drains at the local level, leaving the state and local government officials to devise solutions to address such imbalances. While there are a few UN studies available analyzing this phenomenon at the state scale, no studies have observed SDGs across 3,142 localities (counties or county-equivalents) within the USA. The study categorized these SDGs into three pillars of SD: Social, Economic, and Environmental, to analyze the balance and imbalance between the pillars of SD across all states and localities within the USA. An indicator-based approach was used to measure SDGs for the years 2010 and 2015. Results confirmed the uniform distribution of overall SDG Index distribution across states, but some localities performed poorly, mainly in the Southern Region. Rank-wise, top scorers upheld balanced scores across three pillars and bottom ranks showed imbalances. Overall, the social pillar was less predominant, but the economic and environmental pillars predominated in the northern and southern parts of the nation, respectively. The outcome of the study can help collaborate and build networks, targeting clustered areas through collective actions and planning local strategies for the outliers and other localities. While localization is the key, balancing between three pillars is essential to make progress on the path of SD. Therefore, the present study can be used as a framework to prioritize SDG actions at sub-national scales.

Dual bronchodilation for the treatment of COPD: From bench to bedside.

Because there is a solid pharmacological rationale based on positive interactions between long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonists (LAMAs) and long-acting β-agonists (LABAs) for their ability to relax human airway smooth muscle in vitro alongside several randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and real-world observational studies that support the use of LAMA/LABA fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in this narrative review we discuss the preclinical and clinical proofs supporting the use of LAMA + LABA therapy in COPD and why this therapeutic approach optimises bronchodilation. Robust evidence indicates that all LAMA/LABA FDCs are consistently more effective than LAMA or LABA administered alone in improving lung function, dyspnoea, quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with COPD. However, the ability of dual bronchodilation with FDCs of LAMA/LABA to prevent or reduce the risk of COPD exacerbations remains unclear due to conflicting data from large RCTs, despite several mechanisms explaining why such combinations should be of value in decreasing the frequency of COPD exacerbations. Both LABAs and LAMAs mechanistically can affect the cardiovascular system, but from clinical studies to date, LAMA/LABA FDCs have an acceptable cardiovascular safety profile, at least in the COPD population enrolled in RCTs. Indirect evidence suggests that some FDCs may even exert a protective role against serious cardiovascular adverse events compared to monotherapies. Consequently, several LAMA/LABA FDCs have been developed and approved for clinical use as treatments for patients with COPD. However, to date, there are unfortunately very few head-to-head studies comparing the safety and efficacy of different LAMA/LABA FDCs, making it difficult to choose the most appropriate combination, although the use of meta-analyses has provided some information in this regard. Endurance time Exercise time until exhaustion measured by a standard endurance test. Inspiratory capacity The maximum volume of air that can be inspired after reaching the end of a normal, quiet expiration. It is the sum of the tidal volume and the inspiratory reserve volume. St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) A tool to measure health status in patients with respiratory disease. It has three domains: symptoms, activity and impacts. A total score is also calculated. A minimal important difference (range) of ∼4 (2.4-5.6) units in the SGRQ total score is supported by published studies. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve analysis (SUCRA) A numerical representation of the overall rating that displays a single value for each treatment. SUCRA levels vary from 0% to 100%. The higher the SUCRA value and the closer it is to 100%, the more likely therapy is in the top rank or one of the top rankings; the lower the SUCRA value and the closer it is to 0%, the more likely therapy is in the bottom rank or one of the bottom ranks. Transition dyspnoea index (TDI) Widely used in clinical studies of COPD to measure shortness of breath, indicating change in response to an intervention. The total score ranges from -9 to 9; the negative value indicates deterioration, whereas a positive value indicates improvement. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the minimal important difference for the TDI score is 1 unit. Trough FEV1 The mean volume of air that can be forced out in 1 second approximately 12 (with a twice-daily agent) or 24 (with a once-daily agent) hours after the last administration of bronchodilator.

What Is a Good Rank? The Effort and Performance Effects of Adding Performance Category Labels to Relative Performance Information*

ABSTRACTPrior research demonstrates that relative performance information affects effort and performance. However, little is known about the qualitative design parameters of these information systems. This study examines, via an experiment, how adding performance category labels to ranks (e.g., “good” ranking position and “poor” ranking position) affects effort and performance. Furthermore, we investigate the effort and performance effects of two design choices observed in practice: the type of performance category labels and the proportion of positively labeled ranks. We argue that performance category labels motivate greater effort and performance through competition for status, which varies with both the type of performance category labels and the proportion of positively labeled ranks. We find partial support for our hypothesis that adding performance category labels increases effort and performance. Specifically, we find positive effects if top ranks are positively labeled and bottom ranks are negatively labeled (combined labels) but not if only top ranks are labeled (positive‐only labels). We also find as predicted that the positive effects on effort resulting from using combined labels, instead of positive‐only labels, are stronger when the proportion of positively labeled ranks is larger. The results for performance are weaker. Our results shed new light on the usefulness of performance category labels and emphasize how firms can render relative performance information more effective.

Discouragement effect and alternative formats to increase suspense in professional biathlon

ABSTRACT Research Question The paper analyzes mass start competitions in professional biathlon, where 30 biathletes start simultaneously. This structure allows us to test the existence of discouragement effect, according to which biathletes reduce their efforts when lagging far behind the leaders. Research Methods We use data on all 180 mass start competitions, for both genders, in World Cups, World Championships, and Olympic Games between the 2001/02 and 2019/20 seasons, and compare the gap times between the two consecutive ranks. For the same period, we execute the same analyses for all sprint and individual competitions that use interval starts. Results and Findings We find that, in mass starts, the 95% confidence intervals of the gap times between the two consecutive ranks overlap in the range of rankings between 3 and 25 among men and between 5 and 24 among women, with mean gaps of 6.6 and 7.7 seconds among men and women, respectively. However, that gap increases sharply for the four bottom ranks (that is, ranks 27–30), which have mean gaps of 29.8 and 31.2 sec among men and women, respectively. However, in sprint and individual races, the lag time between two consecutive ranks does not exceed 4 (sprint) and 10 (individual) seconds in the range of rankings between 10 and 60. Implications The results suggest that bottom-ranked biathletes in mass starts strategically reduce their efforts when there is nothing at stake. Such a strategy increases the duration of TV broadcasts and does not help maximize suspense, which is one of the main drivers of TV demands in professional sports. We offer an alternative format, according to which a certain number of the bottom-ranked biathletes will be eliminated after each bout of shooting. Such a format should dramatically increase the suspense-to-time ratio.

A Multinomial and Rank-Ordered Logit Model With Inter- and Intra-Individual Heteroscedasticity

The heteroscedastic logit model is useful to describe choices of individuals when the randomness in the choice-making varies over time. For example, during surveys individuals may become fatigued and start responding more randomly to questions as the survey proceeds. Or when completing a ranking amongst multiple alternatives, individuals may be unable to accurately assign middle and bottom ranks. The standard heteroscedastic logit model accommodates such behavior by allowing for changes in the signal-to-noise ratio via a time-varying scale parameter. In the current literature, this time-variation is assumed equal across individuals. Hence, each individual is assumed to become fatigued at the same time, or assumed to be able to accurately assign exactly the same ranks. In most cases, this assumption is too stringent. In this paper, we generalize the heteroscedastic logit model by allowing for differences across individuals. We develop a multinomial and a rank-ordered logit model in which the time-variation in an individual-specific scale parameter follows a Markov process. In case individual differences exist, our models alleviate biases and make more efficient use of data. We validate the models using a Monte Carlo study and illustrate them using data on discrete choice experiments and political preferences. These examples document that inter- and intra-individual heteroscedasticity both exist.

청년세대의 일-삶 균형 수준과 행복 요인 : OECD ʻ더 나은 삶의 지수(Better Life Index)ʼ와 ʻ세계가치관조사(World Value Survey)ʼ를 활용한 다국가 비교

This study aimed for in-depth observation of the status quo of the youth generationʼs happiness utilizing the Better Life Index and the World Value Survey. To serve this purpose, the study selected 11 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) member countries (Australia, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, United States) that overlapped with the subject countries of the World Value Survey. The results of the observation first revealed that among the work-life balance levels of youth generations from across the 11 studied countries, the level for Korean youth was in a very poor state. Second, the happiness level of Korean youth also sat among the bottom ranks, with the aspects of politics, friendship, and career casting a heavy influence on importance to life; specifically, the youth generations of Turkey and Germany showed high levels of life purpose, while Korean youth displayed outstanding results in the challenge aspect. The third finding of this study reported that family, religion, power, benevolence, and challenge were commonly related to the happiness level of youth generations in countries with a higher work-life balance. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the much needed attention and support for improving the happiness level of the Korean youth generation, who will eventually play the leading role in our future society.

Impact Factors and the Central Limit Theorem: Why citation averages are scale dependent

Citation averages, and Impact Factors (IFs) in particular, are sensitive to sample size. We apply the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) to IFs to understand their scale-dependent behavior. For a journal of $n$ randomly selected papers from a population of all papers, we expect from the CLT that its IF fluctuates around the population average $\mu$, and spans a range of values proportional to $\sigma/\sqrt[]{n}$, where $\sigma^2$ is the variance of the population's citation distribution. The $1/\sqrt[]{n}$ dependence has profound implications for IF rankings: The larger a journal, the narrower the range around $\mu$ where its IF lies. IF rankings therefore allocate an unfair advantage to smaller journals in the high IF ranks, and to larger journals in the low IF ranks. We expect a scale-dependent stratification of journals in IF rankings, whereby small journals occupy top, middle, and bottom ranks; mid-sized journals occupy middle ranks; and very large journals have IFs that asymptotically approach $\mu$. We confirm these predictions by analyzing (i) 166,498 IF \& journal-size data pairs in the 1997--2016 Journal Citation Reports of Clarivate Analytics, (ii) the top-cited portion of 276,000 physics papers published in 2014--2015, and (iii) the citation distributions of an arbitrarily sampled list of physics journals. We conclude that the CLT is a good predictor of the IF range of actual journals, while sustained deviations from its predictions are a mark of true, non-random, citation impact. IF rankings are thus misleading unless one compares like-sized journals or adjusts for these effects. We propose the $\Phi$ index, a rescaled IF adjusted for size, which can be generalized to account also for different citation practices across research fields. Our methodology applies also to citation averages used to compare research fields, university departments or countries in various rankings.

Reaching the top and avoiding the bottom: How ranking motivates unethical intentions and behavior

Across six studies we explore when, why, and how an individual’s rank position affects their unethical intentions and behavior. We first demonstrate that competing to attain top ranks leads to more unethical intentions (Study 1) and behaviors (Study 2) than competing to attain intermediate or avoid bottom ranks – even when competing in ranks close to top and bottom ranks (Study 3). We then demonstrate that adding additional extrinsic value to top and bottom ranks (via rewards and punishments) increases unethical intentions for bottom ranks (Study 4), such that competing to attain top and avoid bottom ranks elicits more unethical intentions (Studies 4 and 6) and unethical behaviors (Study 5) than competing to attain intermediate ranks. Finally, we demonstrate that elevated perceptions of power and increases in moral rationalizations mediate these effects for top and bottom ranks respectively (Study 6). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Global Income Distribution: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession

We present an improved panel database of national household surveys between 1988 and 2008. In 2008, the global Gini index is around 70.5%, having declined by approximately 2 Gini points. China graduated from the bottom ranks, changing a twin-peaked global income distribution to a single-peaked one and creating an important global “median” class. 90% of the fastest growing country-deciles are from Asia, while almost 90% of the worst performers are from mature economies. Another “winner” was the global top 1%. Hence the global growth incidence curve has a distinct supine S shape, with gains highest around the median and top.

Detecting anomaly collections using extreme feature ranks

Detecting anomaly collections is an important task with many applications, including spam and fraud detection. In an anomaly collection, entities often operate in collusion and hold different agendas to normal entities. As a result, they usually manifest collective extreme traits, i.e., members of an anomaly collection are consistently clustered toward the top or bottom ranks on certain features. We therefore propose to detect these anomaly collections by extreme feature ranks. We introduce a novel anomaly definition called Extreme Rank Anomalous Collection or ERAC. We propose a new measure of anomalousness capturing collective extreme traits based on a statistical model. As there can be a large number of ERACs of various sizes, for simplicity, we first investigate the ERAC detection problem of finding top-\(K\) ERACs of a predefined size limit. We then tackle the follow-up ERAC expansion problem of uncovering the supersets of the detected ERACs that are more anomalous without any size constraint. Algorithms are proposed for both ERAC detection and expansion problems, followed by studies of their performance in four datasets. Specifically, in synthetic datasets, both ERAC detection and expansion algorithms demonstrate high precisions and recalls. In a web spam dataset, both ERAC detection and expansion algorithms discover web spammers with higher precisions than existing approaches. In an IMDB dataset, both ERAC detection and expansion algorithms identify unusual actor collections that are not easily identified by clustering-based methods. In a Chinese online forum dataset, our ERAC detection algorithm identifies suspicious “water army” spammer collections agreed by human evaluators. ERAC expansion algorithm successfully reveals two larger spammer collections with different spamming behaviors.

Top or Bottom? When/Why Bottom Ranks Elicit More Unethical Intentions than Top/Intermediate Ranks

We explore how different ranking positions (i.e., top, intermediate, and bottom ranks) impact individuals’ willingness to engage in unethical conduct. When considering ranks without additional cons...

Transnational organized crime in West Africa: the additional challenge

Despite its vast natural and human resources and the undisputed progress made in the last decade towards the establishment of democratic culture and governing systems, West African countries continue to occupy the bottom ranks of the UN Human Development Index. Similarly, many of them score poorly in World Bank and Transparency International indexes that measure good governance. The international mass media have recently highlighted the role played by the West African region in the transatlantic cocaine trade, as well as in the flow of illegal migrants to Europe. Drugs and migrants are, however, just two of the numerous illicit activities that feed the growth of local and transnational criminal organizations, and the establishing of a culture of quick and easy money that is progressively eroding the foundations of any sustainable and well balanced socio-economic development. The pervasive power of the corruption of criminal organizations, coupled with a general crisis by state actors in the administration of justice and enforcement of the rule of law, contribute towards the progressive diminishing of the credibility of the state as the institution entrusted with the prerogatives of guaranteeing security (of people and investments) and dispensing justice. In this context, the case of Guinea Bissau is probably the clearest example of what West African states may face in the near future if the issues of justice and security are not properly and promptly addressed. If primary responsibilities lie with West African governments and institutions, the international community as a whole should also review its approach to development policies by not only mainstreaming the issues of security and justice in their bilateral and multilateral agendas, but also by making it an essential cornerstone of policies and programmes aimed at supporting good governance and the establishment of states ruled by the law.

The Man Everybody Knew: Bruce Barton and the Making of Modern America

Everyone knew him then: Bruce Barton was a cultural icon. Two-thirds of American history textbooks today cite him to illustrate the 1920s adoration of the mentality that then dominated American culture. Historians quote from his enormous best-seller, The Man Nobody Knows, in which Barton called Jesus the founder of modern business who picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of and forged them into an organization that conquered the world. But few know Bruce Barton now: he is the most famous twentieth-century American not to rate a biography. Richard M. Fried's compelling new study captures the full dimensions of Barton's varied and fascinating life.

Sequence-related human proteins cluster by degree of evolutionary conservation

Gene duplication followed by adaptive evolution is thought to be a central mechanism for the emergence of novel genes. To illuminate the contribution of duplicated protein-coding sequences to the complexity of the human genome, we study the connectivity of pairwise sequence-related human proteins and construct a network (N) of linked protein sequences with shared similarities. We find that (i) the connectivity distribution P (k) for k sequence-related proteins decays as a power law P (k) approximately k(-gamma) with gamma approximately 1.2 , (ii) the top rank of N consists of a single large cluster of proteins ( approximately 70%) , while bottom ranks consist of multiple isolated clusters, and (iii) structural characteristics of N show both a high degree of clustering and an intermediate connectivity ("small-world" features). We gain further insight into structural properties of N by studying the relationship between the connectivity distribution and the phylogenetic conservation of proteins in bacteria, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. We find that (iv) the proportion of sequence-related proteins increases with increasing extent of evolutionary conservation. Our results support that small-world network properties constitute a footprint of an evolutionary mechanism and extend the traditional interpretation of protein families.

Work, School, and Reform: A Comparison of Birmingham, England, and Pittsburh, USA, 1900–1950

Of all state social provisions, education is among the most important. It also shows the greatest amount of variation among Western industrial nations. England and the United States, countries with many common intellectual and governmental traditions, with longstanding commitments to individualism and democratic forms of government, exhibit great disparity in education. Even today, the United States is by far the leader in the field of mass education while England occupies a position in the bottom ranks.

Consumers of Hmong Textiles

Profiles of midwestern consumers of Hmong textiles were developed and recommendations were made for improved product design and marketing of Hmong textiles. Participants were 20 consumers of Hmong textiles. In-depth interviews were followed by participants' completing a questionnaire. Central to the interviews were the participants' 1) ranking a set of 10 Hmong textiles according to preference and 2) discussing their reasons for placement of textiles at the top and bottom ranks. Data were analyzed using a content analysis system and hierarchical cluster analysis. Six consumer profiles were developed for Fine Workmanship Consumers, Supporters of the Hmong People, Pragmatic Consumers, Patrons of Hmong Folk Art, Function-Oriented Consumers, and Color-Centered Consumers. The results contributed to a proposition that the majority of textile craft consumers fit a common set of profiles regardless of the textile craft purchased or the consumer's home locale.