Cohesion Index Research Articles

Cohesion index for investigate criminal organizations in criminal big databases

Background: The disarticulation of criminal organizations reduces the rates of victimization and insecurity in the population. One of the main characteristics of a criminal organization is the cohesion among its members. This investigation proposes a cohesion index that allows identifying quickly in Big databases individuals suspect to belong to criminal organizations and focus investigation resources on them. Methods: To obtain the index, we analyze the information provided by the Criminal Analysis and Investigative Focus System from the Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office in Biobío and the Investigation Police of Chile. Findings: The results show that the suspects with a higher cohesion index and a higher number of criminal cases commit crimes associated with criminal organizations. Keywords: Criminal Cohesion; Crimes Against Property; Criminal Organization; Criminal Databases

Impact of land-use/land-cover and landscape pattern on seasonal in-stream water quality in small watersheds

Changes in land use land cover (LULC) and landscape pattern in arid areas can considerably impact water quality in small watersheds. Exploring the associations between land use, landscape pattern, and riverine water quality can inform land-use planning for water-quality security. In northwest China's Jing River Watershed (JRW), water samples were collected at 67 points in 2016–2017 and analyzed. Coupled with Sentinel-2 remote-sensing images, this study calculated the Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI) to assign the water-quality category. The Random Forest classification characterized current LULC patterns and computed landscape metrics in a riparian buffer zone. The stepwise multiple linear regression and redundancy analysis methods investigated the relationships amongst LULC, eight landscape metrics, and eight water-quality parameters. The results indicated high concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) in the JRW's middle and lower reaches. For CWQI, lacking evident temporal fluctuations was contrasted by noticeable spatial variations. Intense Human activities have aggravated the deterioration of the water quality of the JRW. LULC-type changes, including Waterbody, Forest-grassland, and Farmland, imposed notable impacts on seasonal water quality. For landscape metrics, patch cohesion index (COHESION) strongly correlated with chemical oxygen demand (COD), mineralization degree (MD), and TN. By contrast, patch density (PD) correlated negatively with TN. Interspersion juxtaposition index (IJI) strongly correlated with biochemical oxygen demand after five days (BOD5). COHESION, PD, and IJI can be critical factors in predicting water-quality changes at the small-watershed scale. Our findings offered a robust scientific basis to refine regional sustainable water development strategy and rational water-resource management.

Social cohesion and loneliness are associated with the antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination

BackgroundRecent research has suggested that psychosocial factors influence the antibody response to vaccine, including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccines. Here we investigated whether social cohesion and loneliness were predictive of antibody response to a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. We also tested if the association between social cohesion and antibody response was mediated by feelings of loneliness. MethodsParticipants (N = 676) COVID-19 antibody data were extracted from March 2021 wave of the Understanding Society COVID-19 study from the UK. Relevant socio-demographics, health and lifestyle, loneliness, social cohesion indices were also used in a series of hierarchical linear regression to test our main hypotheses. ResultsAfter controlling for covariates (e.g., age and chronic health conditions), lower social cohesion was associated with a lower antibody response. Further, the association between social cohesion and poorer antibody responses was mediated by loneliness; those reporting lower social cohesion also reported higher loneliness, which in turn was associated with lower antibody response. ConclusionThis study confirms that feelings of ‘being in it together’ relate to the strength of the antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination, emphasising the importance of the social cohesion agenda during the pandemic.

Association between residential greenspace structures and frailty in a cohort of older Chinese adults

BackgroundFrailty is a late-life clinical syndrome resulting from the accumulation of aging-induced decline. Greenspaces measured with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are protective of frailty. However, NDVI is not as informative as structure indices in describing greenspaces’ constitution, shape, and connectivity measured by the largest patch index (LPI), shape index, and cohesion index representing larger, more complex, and more dense greenspaces through higher values. We aim to study the association between greenness structures and frailty in a cohort of Chinese older adults.MethodsWe included older adults from 2008–2014 China Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). We used greenspace indices from satellite to quantify structures (area-edge, shape, proximity) at county-level, and calculated frailty index (FI) as an outcome. We did cross-sectional analyses using linear and logistical regression, and longitudinal analyses using the generalized estimating equations (GEE).ResultsAmong 8776 baseline participants, mean LPI, shape, cohesion, and FI are 7.93, 8.11, 97.6, and 0.17. In cross-sectional analyses, we find negative dose-response relationships for greenspace structures and frailty, especially in females, centenarians, illiterate people, city residents, unmarried people, and individuals with increased frailty. Participants living in the highest quartile of LPI, shape, and cohesion have 32% (95%CI: 21–42%), 35% (95%CI: 24–44%), and 37% (95%CI: 26%–46%) lower odds of frailty than the lowest quartile. However, we do not find a significant association in longitudinal analyses.ConclusionsHigher levels of greenness structures (area-edge, shape, and proximity) might be related to lower frailty, while a clear longitudinal benefit cannot be identified in this analysis.

Influences of Landscape Configuration on River Water Quality

The present study investigated the effects of changes in landscape configuration on river water quality, which is calculated by chemical export coefficients, using spatial data onto 31 catchments in the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea basin by applying stepwise multivariate regression models. The water quality modeling has been carried out applying the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium, and eight landscape metrics (including interspersion juxtaposition index, percentage of like adjacencies, aggregation index, clumpiness index, normalized landscape shape index, patch cohesion index, landscape division index, and splitting index), by which landscape configuration is analyzed. The results indicated that the sulfate (0.25 ± 0.33 gr ha−1yr−1), bicarbonate (0.61 ± 0.87 gr ha−1 yr−1), chlorine (0.17 ± 0.23 gr ha−1 yr−1), calcium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1), magnesium (0.05 ± 0.07 gr ha−1 yr−1), and sodium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1) are annually exported from the study catchments into the rivers. The change in landscape configuration has significantly explained the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. The findings showed the cohesion and coherence of the permanently irrigated land patches resulting in the discontinuity of the broad-leaved forest and grassland ecosystems degraded river water quality.

High spatiotemporal overlap in the non‐breeding season despite geographically dispersed breeding locations in the eastern whip‐poor‐will (Antrostomus vociferus)

AbstractAimA full annual cycle approach to conservation and understanding of regional population trends requires an understanding of migratory connectivity. We present tracking data on the eastern whip‐poor‐will (Antrostomus vociferus), a Neotropical migrant that has declined by 70% in recent decades. When and where populations of this species are limited throughout the annual cycle is poorly understood.LocationBreeding area: midwestern United States; passage area and winter area: midwestern/southern United States, Mexico, Central America.MethodsWe utilized data from 52 archival GPS tags from five breeding areas covering a 9.5‐degree latitudinal span (~1000 km) of the whip‐poor‐will breeding range in the summers of 2017 and 2019. We identified migratory routes and spatiotemporal bottlenecks, stopover and wintering locations, calculated migratory connectivity throughout migration and on the wintering grounds and tested predictions for three latitudinal connectivity patterns.ResultsWhip‐poor‐wills circumvented the Gulf of Mexico, and populations across a large latitudinal gradient came together in eastern Texas in early October, resulting in decreased connectivity throughout migration. Breeding‐winter migratory connectivity was low (MC = 0.22 ± 0.12), with extensive overlap of core wintering areas in southern Mexico and Guatemala. The overlap of wintering areas by individuals from dispersed breeding latitudes suggests that whip‐poor‐wills most closely resemble telescopic migrants.Main conclusionsCircumventing the Gulf of Mexico influenced connectivity in the whip‐poor‐will, funnelling individuals into a small region in eastern Texas in migration and likely influencing breeding‐winter connectivity. Thus, geographically dispersed breeding populations overlap in space and time during migration and winter, and non‐breeding season conditions affecting populations (both positively and negatively) impact individuals from across the core breeding range. For example, extensive deforestation occurring in the whip‐poor‐will's core wintering area likely impacts individuals from all five deployment locations. We demonstrate that combining multiple indices of spatiotemporal cohesion is critical to fully understand how migratory animals are distributed in the non‐breeding season.

Investigating the flow properties of bee pollen enriched milk powder during storage

Flow properties are necessary to select the right powder handling processes and design the industrial equipments for commercialization. The present study aims to investigate the particle size distribution and flow properties - cohesion, caking and powder flow speed dependency (PFSD) test, of spray-dried bee pollen enriched milk powder (packed in ALP, BOPP/LDPE, and PET/Al foil/LDPE) during storage at different temperatures (5, 25 and 40 °C) for 12 months. Cohesion, caking properties and compaction coefficients differed significantly (p < 0.05) according to storage period, temperature, and packaging materials. The powder samples had particle diameter (D50) ranging from 22.39 ± 0.16 to 157.48 ± 0.25 μm which increased abruptly after 6 months. Cohesion index showed the nearly easy flowing behavior of ALP packed powder (11.08 ± 0.10 to 14.67 ± 0.11 mm) stored at 5 and 25 °C. A decrease in column height ratio (1.00 ± 0.01 to 0.813 ± 0.011) and increase in cake height ratio (0.151 ± 0.009 to 0.558 ± 0.026) demonstrated the compressible behavior and susceptibility of powder to cake, respectively. PFSD test showed smaller values of compaction coefficient at higher speeds (10 mm/s and 100 mm/s) which established the free-flowing nature of powder samples at higher speeds. The findings of this work may foster processing and applications of bee pollen enriched milk powder in food industry.

Have China's national forest reserves designated since 1990 conserved forests effectively?

China's forests were severely degraded by human activities during the latter half of the 20th century. Therefore, China enacted ambitious programs of natural forest protection and afforestation to protect and expand forests. Yet it is unclear how the programs, especially the designation of forest reserves, have affected forest cover and fragmentation. We evaluated the effectiveness of China's national forest reserves designated since 1990 in conserving forests, by analyzing four forest metrics (i.e., percentage forest cover, mean forest patch size, mean forest patch radius of gyration, and forest patch cohesion index) derived from a newly produced 30 m annual China land cover dataset from 1990 to 2019. We found that overall forest cover increased and fragmentation decreased from baseline years, when reserves were designated, to 2019 in both reserves and their surrounding areas, and only the increase in forest cover relative to baseline was significantly greater in reserves than in surrounding areas. The designation time of reserves under national protection had no considerable effect on changes in the four metrics, but for zonation, the core zone showed a significantly higher increase in forest patch cohesion index relative to baseline than the buffer and transition zones. Nevertheless, forest cover declined and fragmentation increased in highly forested reserves, suggesting destructive human activities and ineffective management. Thus, forest protection and regeneration programs were moderately successful. We recommend that there is significant improvement needed to ensure greater protection of existing forests and reduction of threats to promote effective management.

Optimization of process technology and quality analysis of a new yogurt fortified with Morchella esculenta

To optimize the process technology of yogurt fortified with M. esculenta, first, the Plackett-Burman experimental design combined with the central composite design (CCD) were used to investigate the effects of four parameters on the sensory score. Then, artificial neural networks (ANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) were used to evaluate the process parameters of the fortified yogurt. Finally, the quality of the yogurt prepared under optimal conditions were observed. The results showed that the optimal parameters from ANN-GA were: 0.2 g of mycelia, 15 g milk powder, 6.4 g sucrose, and a fermentation temperature of 38 °C, with the highest predicted sensory score of 97.1 points, which was more accurate and reliable than CCD. Mycelia of M. esculenta gave the yogurt excellent quality, including good acidity (95 ± 2.85° T) and water holding capacity (64.32 ± 4.25%) after 21 days storage at 4 °C; firmness (12.98 ± 1.25) g, consistency (22.85 ± 0.92) g·sec, stickness (-6.16 ± 0.38) g, stringiness (3.53 ± 0.12) mm, and cohesion index (-6.62 ± 1.75) g·sec. Moreover, the living lactic acid bacteria of the yogurt with M. esculenta (6.23 ± 0.23) × 107 CFU/mL) were significantly higher than that of the control yogurt (5.65 ± 0.31) × 107 CFU/mL. This could provide a theoretical basis and parameter guidance for developing a new functional yogurt.

Quantitative Discourse Cohesion Analysis of Scientific Scholarly Texts Using Multilayer Networks

Discourse cohesion facilitates text comprehension and helps the reader form a coherent narrative. In this study, we aim to computationally analyze the discourse cohesion in scientific scholarly texts using multilayer network representation and quantify the writing quality of the document. Exploiting the hierarchical structure of scientific scholarly texts, we design section-level and document-level metrics to assess the extent of lexical cohesion in text. We use a publicly available dataset along with a curated set of contrasting examples to validate the proposed metrics by comparing them against select indices computed using existing cohesion analysis tools. We observe that the proposed metrics correlate as expected with the existing cohesion indices. We also present an analytical framework, CHIAA (CHeck It Again, Author), to provide pointers to the author for potential improvements in the manuscript with the help of the section-level and document-level metrics. The proposed CHIAA framework furnishes a clear and precise prescription to the author for improving writing by localizing regions in text with cohesion gaps. We demonstrate the efficacy of CHIAA framework using succinct examples from cohesion-deficient text excerpts in the experimental dataset.

西双版纳地区森林变化碳效应与生态效益评估

减少发展中国家因森林砍伐与森林退化导致的碳排放和保持碳储量（REDD+），不仅能减少因森林砍伐和森林退化造成的碳排放，而且还可以带来其它生态效益，如减缓森林破碎化、保护生物多样性和增强水土保持功能等。以中国的西双版纳地区为研究区域，以毁林最严重的1976-2007年为REDD+基线，基于卫星影像，并结合植被指数，提取了研究区的土地利用变化信息。基于IPCC温室气体清单方法，计算了研究区的森林碳储量变化。在此基础上，对REDD+的碳汇效益和生态效益进行了系统综合评估。结果显示：（1）1976-2007年间天然林碳储量从占总碳储量的78.24%减少至50.52%，这是造成西双版纳地区碳储量减少的主要原因。（2）1976-2007年，天然林的斑块数量和平均最近邻距离分别增加了120.00%和25.21%，平均斑块面积下降了71.98%，说明天然林的破碎化程度加剧。从研究区整体景观格局来看，斑块数量、Shannon多样性指数和Shannon均一性指数分别增加了8.16%、51.39%和34.07%；与此同时，平均斑块面积和景观内聚力指数分别下降了26.26%和2.13%，表明研究区整体景观格局朝破碎化方向发展，这和碳排放的增加相一致。（3）该区的土壤侵蚀程度逐年加剧，并与碳储量的减少密切相关。分析表明，土壤侵蚀剧烈的区域，其平均碳排放也相对较高。1999年到2007年间，剧烈侵蚀区域的平均碳排放是轻度侵蚀区域的6倍多。这些结果说明：如果REDD+政策得以实施，不仅能减少因毁林和森林退化导致的碳排放，而且能带来高的生态效益。从这个角度出发，REDD+的本质可以认为是以"增汇"或"减排"为主导功能，同时提升生态效益的一种管理方式。;The REDD+ partnership works to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the developing countries through positive incentives and conversation of forest carbon stocks. It is regarded as an essential component of the post-2012 climate regime to stabilize GHG emissions and engage the developing countries in worldwide mitigation endeavors. If cost-efficient carbon benefits can be achieved through REDD+, increases in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations could be slowed, effectively buying much needed time for countries to move to lower emissions technologies. We chose tropical forests in Xishuangbanna of China as our study area and took the most severe deforestation from 1976 to 2007 as the baseline of REDD+. Land use information was obtained through the combination of Landsat TM images and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index masks. Forest carbon storage change in the study area was firstly calculated based on IPCC methodology. Secondly ecosystem-based benefits from REDD+ were assessed systematically. Our results showed that from 1976 to 2007, the natural forest carbon storage decreased from 78.24% to 50.52% of total carbon storage, which was the main reason for the reduction of carbon storage in Xishuangbanna. At the meantime, significant degradation of ecosystem services emerged. This was demonstrated by two important indicators:forest fragmentation and soil erosion. For example, from 1976 to 2007 the percentage change in the carbon stocks was 1.4%, accompanying with increasing 8.16% in number of patches, 51.39% in Shannon's diversity index and 34.07% in shannon's evenness index. Meanwhile, mean path area and patch cohesion index decreased by 26.26% and 2.13%, respectively. It suggested that the forest ecosystem was changing in both carbon storage and forest landscape structure. The number of patches and average nearest neighbor distance of natural forest increased by 120.00% and 25.21%, respectively, and the average patch area decreased by 71.98%, indicating the degree of exacerbated fragmentation in natural forest. In this sense, carbon emission and forest fragmentation were well integrated. Furthermore, we investigated relationship between carbon emission and soil erosion and high correlation was found. For example, carbon emissions which accounted for 45% of the total located in the high erosion area, which is 18% of the whole study area. As a result, when forests that would have been lost or degraded are retained or restored through REDD+, they deliver ‘multiple benefits’ in addition to protecting or enhancing carbon stocks. These ecosystem-based benefits may include conservation of forest biodiversity, water regulation, soil conservation, timber, forest foods and other non-timber forest products, most of which have been demonstrated or proved in this study. By securing benefits beyond carbon, REDD+ has the potential to encourage countries to realize a broader range of values.

Understanding the Occupational Burnout Experience of Medical Specialists at the Time of Education and Career Launch: A Case Study of the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University Students and Residents of the Alekseev Psychiatric Hospital N1

BACKGROUND: Occupational burnout in the most general terms is seen as a long-lasting stressful situation resulting from continuing occupational stress of moderate intensity. AIM: The objective of this article is to provide analysis of occupational burnout in psychiatrists and nurses of psychiatric hospitals, and the development of occupational burnout in students and residents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The level of occupational burnout was determined using the “Attitude to work and occupational burnout” test, Seashore Group Cohesion Index, Stolin’s Self-Concept Questionnaire, and the Freiburg Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Freiburg Personality Inventory). The study proved the existence of patterns of occupational burnout in psychiatrists and nurses of psychiatric hospitals, as well as in students and residents. RESULTS: It has been revealed that the development of the burnout syndrome is influenced by personal qualities of psychiatrists and nurses (residents and students), and the managerial features of their activities, and that occupational burnout develops in psychiatrists and nurses over the course of their professional careers, but starts to emerge during their education. The score of the Integrative Burnout Index ranges from 48.99 in students of the [BLINDED] University to 23.52 in psychiatrists of the Alekseev Psychiatric Hospital N1. Occupational burnout syndrome is spread in medical students worldwide, with its level higher than in the overall population, in students of other specialties. CONCLUSIONS: Burnout at the stage of getting the education can hinder the professional development of students, expose patients to risk, and promote the development of various personality problems in future psychiatrists and nurses. The need of preventing professional burnout at the stage of obtaining a specialty has been substantiated.

Cultivated Land Fragmentation and Its Influencing Factors Detection: A Case Study in Huaihe River Basin, China.

The booming population and accelerating urbanization in the Huaihe River Basin have sped up the land use transformation and the cultivated land fragmentation (CLF), seriously impeded the advancement of agricultural modernization, and threatened regional stability and national food security as well. The analysis of CLF degree and its spatiotemporal distribution characteristics, along with the influencing factors in the Huaihe River Basin, is of great significance for promoting the intensive and efficient utilization of cultivated land resources and maintaining food security. Previous studies lack the measurement and cause analysis of CLF in Huaihe River Basin. To bridge the gap, this study introduces Fragstats4.2 and ArcGIS10.3 to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of CLF in county units in the Huaihe River Basin from 2000 to 2018 through the Lorentz curve, entropy method, and spatial auto-correlation method while the causes of the spatiotemporal differentiation of CLF in the basin were explored with the help of a geographic detector. The results show that the spatial distribution of cultivated land in the Huaihe River Basin is relatively balanced, and the Gini coefficients of cultivated land from 2000 to 2018 were 0.105, 0.108, and 0.113, respectively. More than 56% of the counties in the basin have a location entropy greater than 1. the percentage of landscape, area-weighted mean patch area, patch cohesion index, and aggregation index decrease year by year while the patch density and splitting index show an upward trend. The landscape pattern of cultivated land is highly complex, and the overall fragmentation degree is increasing. The county distribution pattern of the CLF degree with random and agglomeration is generally stable. The spatiotemporal differentiation of CLF in the Huaihe River Basin is affected by multiple factors, among which the influences of the normalized difference vegetation index, per capita cultivated land area, and intensity of human activity obviously stronger than other factors, and the contribution rate of the factors reached more than 0.4. The interaction effect among the factors is stronger than that of single factor, with dual-factor enhancement and nonlinear enhancement dominating. The results of this study have important implications for optimizing the agricultural structure in the Huaihe River Basin and alleviating the CLF in important grain production areas.

What Makes the Difference Is the Size and Proximity to the Centre: A Research Approach and Results of Territorial Cohesion Assessment at the Local Level

The aim of this paper is to assess the territorial cohesion of municipalities (gminas) in Poland using quantitative data and non-parametric modelling techniques. The full population of 2174 Polish municipalities divided into rural and urban-rural municipalities was examined. The time interval of the study, i.e., 2005–2017, allows us to capture the changes stimulated by the implementation of the cohesion policy, i.e., the programme of socio-economic transformation in Poland, implemented in the programming period 2007–2013. Using the DEA approach, a general decline in the cohesion index value over time was recorded in the period of analysis. The results of estimating autocorrelation measures indicate a progressive tendency to build spatial clusters, where the size of the local administrative unit (municipality), measured by the population potential and spatial location of the municipality significantly affect the cohesion level. It was also found that there are limits of positive influence of the EU income on the possibility of achieving a high level of cohesion, hampered by a limited resource of own funds. The research method in this paper has been empirically validated and can be applied to territorial cohesion studies in other EU countries.

Systematic Evaluation and Studies on the Effect of Octenyl Succinic Anhydride Treatment on Structural, Functional, Morphological, and Flow Properties of Underutilized Chenopodium album Starch

AbstractThe Chenopodium album starch is isolated and further modified by using different octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) concentrations (1%, 2%, 3%) in slightly acidic and alkaline conditions (pH = 5, 6, 8, 9). The modification of starch significantly reduces amylose content as well as functional properties viz. solubility, swelling power, water, and oil absorption capacity. The higher compressibility is found in native starch (35.32%) as compared to modified starch (17.42% at pH 9) as elucidated from Carr's index indicating very poor and fair relative flowability, respectively. The decline in the cohesive nature of native starch is also detected from the reduced caking strength (1072.03 to 367.23 g mm) and cohesion index (15.37 to 11.37 mm) after modification. Modified starch also reflects a rise in pasting temperature from 80.05 to 87.10°C. SEM images and X‐ray diffraction reveals the development of regular‐shaped and larger starch particles and an increase in peak intensity. Overall, the present findings confirm that OSA treatment significantly increases the flowability to fair flow compared to native starch's cohesive nature.

TERRITORIAL COHESION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN POLAND IN 2005-2017 IN TERMS OF SYNTHETIC MEASURE, IN THE CONTEXT OF CONVERGENCE AND SPATIAL CLUSTERING

The concept of territorial cohesion has gained importance in the context of the development of the European Union’s regional policy, but definitions of the concept vary enormously. The article uses the concept of spatial development supporting economic and social aspects of cohesion and, on this basis, constructs a multidimensional index of territorial cohesion based on five dimensions (economic, demographic, infrastructural in two approaches and environmental) of the phenomenon. The measure was applied to the total population of municipalities (2175) in rural areas in Poland in the years 2005-2017. The aim of the study was to assess the territorial cohesion of municipalities in Poland in static and dynamic terms and use econometric tools to identify the potential convergence of cohesion and determine the effect of “catching up”, according to Jeffrey G. Williamson [1965], where municipalities with a higher level of cohesion are followed by municipalities with a lower level. The results of previous studies conducted at different regional levels indicate an increase in income polarization in rural areas and the creation of islands of convergence, where the regions with the highest and lowest wealth become similar intra-group but not inter-group. The results indicate a decrease in relative territorial cohesion in rural areas in Poland in 2005-2017 at a municipality level and a tendency to the formation of spatial clusters of entities with similar levels of the characteristic. They do not allow to confirm the view of convergence of cohesion between entities with different levels of the characteristic.

Quantifying Landscape Degradation Following Construction of a Highway Using Landscape Metrics in Southern Iran

Rapid expansion of roads is among the strongest drivers of the loss and degradation of natural habitats. The goal of the present study is to quantify landscape fragmentation and degradation before and after the construction of the Isfahan-Shiraz highway in southern Iran. To this end, the ecological impacts of the highway on forests, rangelands, and protected areas were evaluated. Impacts of the construction of the highway were studied within a 1,000-m buffer around the road, which was then overlaid on maps of forests, rangelands, and protected areas. Class area, number of patches, largest patch index, edge density, landscape shape index, mean patch size, and patch cohesion index were used to gauge changes in the spatial configuration of the landscape; the ecological impacts of the highway were quantified using effective mesh size (MESH), division index, and splitting index. The results indicated that after the construction of the highway, 6,406.9 ha of forest habitat, 16,647.1 ha of rangeland habitat, and 912 of the Tang-e Bostanak Protected Area will be lost. The effective MESH metric showed that after the construction of the highway, the area of forest, rangeland habitats and protected area will decrease by 20,537, 49,149, and 71,822 ha, respectively. Our findings revealed drastic habitat loss and landscape fragmentation associated with construction of the highway, serving as references for conservation planning and development.

Leveraging multifaceted proximity measures among developers in predicting future collaborations to improve the social capital of software projects

Social capital is an asset earned by people through their social connections. One of the motivations among developers to contribute to open source development and maintenance tasks is to earn social capital. Recent studies suggest that the social capital of the project has an impact on the sustained participation of the developers in open source software (OSS). One way to improve the social capital of the project is to help the developers in connecting with their peers. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no prior research which attempts to predict future collaborations among developers and establish the significance of these collaborations on improving the social capital at the project level. To address this research gap, in this paper, we model the past collaborations among developers on version control system (VCS) and issue tracking system (ITS) as homogeneous and heterogeneous developer social network (DSN). Along with the novel path count based features, defined on proposed heterogeneous DSN, multifaceted proximity features are used to generate a feature set for machine learning classifiers. Our&amp;nbsp;experiments performed on 5 popular open source projects (Spark, Kafka, Flink, WildFly, Hibernate) indicate that the proposed approach can predict the future collaborations among developers on both the platforms&amp;nbsp;i.e. VCS as well as ITS with a significant accuracy (AUROC up to 0.85 and 0.9 for VCS and ITS respectively). A generic metric- recall of gain in social capital is proposed to investigate the efficacy of these predicted collaborations in improving the social capital of the project. We also concretised this metric on various measures of social capital and found that collaborations predicted by our approach have significant potential to improve the social capital at project level (e.g. Recall of gain in cohesion index up to 0.98 and Recall of gain in average godfather index up to 0.99 for VCS). We also showed that structure of collaboration network has an impact on the accuracy and usefulness of predicted collaborations. Since the past research suggests that many newcomers abandon the open source project due to social barriers which they face after joining the project, our research outcomes can be used to build the recommendation systems which might help to retain such developers by improving their social ties based on similar skills/interests.

Applications of Flory’s Statistical Theory to Ionic Liquids in the Extended Pressure Range and at Different Temperatures

Introduction: Flory’s statistical theory (FST), for the first time, has been applied successfully to two pure ionic liquids, [C3mim][NTf2] and [C5mim][NTf2], in an extended range of pressure (0.10 – 59.9 MPa) and at different temperatures (298.15 – 333.15 K). Methods: Density and sound speed data have been employed to compute a number of useful and important properties of these ionic liquids in the light of FST. Using Flory parameters (P*, T*, V*, P̃, T̃, Ṽ), the expression for the surface tension (σ) has been deduced in the form σ = σ* σ (Ṽ), with σ* and σ (Ṽ) being the characteristic and reduced values of surface tension. Since the experimental σ of liquids is not known, the validity of FST has been tested by calculating “u” using four different u-ρ- σ correlations, namely Auerbach (1948), Altenberg (1950), Singh et al. (1997), and Modified Auerbach (2016). Results: Several useful and important properties of ionic liquids, under varying physical conditions, have been deduced and compared to the observed ones with a quite satisfactory agreement. Such properties include Pint, van der Waals constants (a &amp; b), parachor [P], Eötvas constant (kB), energy (ΔEV) and heat of vaporization (ΔHV), cohesive energy density (ced), polarity index (n), and solubility parameter (δ). Conclusion: In this study, the validity of FST to two ionic liquids under the present study has been confirmed.

Application of Multivariate Methods to Evaluate Differential Material Attributes of HPMC from Different Sources.

The aim of the present study is to achieve differential material attributes (DMAs) of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) with different viscosity grades (K4M, K15M, and K100M) from different manufacturers (Anhui Shanhe and Dow Chemical). Two kinds of multivariate methods, principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), were adopted. The physicochemical properties of HPMC were systematically investigated via various techniques (e.g., SEM, particle size detection, and SeDeM characterization). Data from 33 characterization variables were applied to the multivariate methods. The PCA and OPLS-DA results indicated the differences between the HPMC from two manufacturers by the common variables that include the tablet hardness (HD), tensile strength (TS), bulk density, interparticle porosity, Carr index, cohesion index, Hausner ratio, flowability, and the width of the particle size distribution (span). Interestingly, these variables showed a certain correlation with each other, supporting the characterization results. Except for these different variables of the HPMC obtained by multivariate analysis results, distinguishable shapes and surface morphologies also appeared between different sources. To sum up, the powder properties (particle size, surface topography, dimension, flowability, and compressibility) and the tablet properties (HD and TS) were recognized as the DMAs of HPMC samples. This work provided the multivariate methods for the physicochemical characterization of HPMC, with potential in the quality control and formulation development.