Integrated Assessment Tool Research Articles

Artificial neural network-enhanced mathematical simulation based on Carrera unified formulation for dynamic analysis and structural integrity assessment of advanced nanocomposites reinforced tunnel structures

This article presents the application of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) for dynamic analysis and structural integrity assessment of advanced nanocomposite-reinforced tunnel structures. CUF offers a generalized framework that simplifies the modeling of complex structures, providing an efficient approach to address the dynamic behavior of nanocomposites. Advanced nanocomposites, which enhance mechanical performance and durability, are increasingly used in critical infrastructure such as tunnel systems. Traditional methods often fall short in capturing the intricate interactions within these materials, particularly under dynamic loads. CUF overcomes these challenges by incorporating higher-order theories and multi-scale analysis, allowing for accurate prediction of displacements, stresses, and potential failure modes. To further validate the results, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is trained using simulated data, ensuring robust predictions for various loading conditions. The ANN assists in approximating the dynamic response and integrity of the structure, enabling real-time assessments with minimal computational expense. The combined CUF-ANN approach demonstrates high accuracy and efficiency, making it a reliable tool for the structural integrity assessment of nanocomposite-reinforced tunnels. This study highlights the significant potential of integrating CUF and ANN for the analysis and design of advanced engineering structures subjected to dynamic environmental conditions.

Development of integrated assessment tool for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in non-household settings under climate change context

Access to improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is crucial in recognizing human rights to water and sanitation and due to their impacts on education, livelihoods, and human health. However, these services are often inadequate in non-household settings such as prisons, refugee camps, schools, and healthcare facilities. Progress in monitoring to ensure sustainable services in these settings has been limited. Although several tools are available to assess WASH services in both household and non-household settings, they have limitations, and none has taken a holistic approach to evaluate WASH performance in all non-household settings. Furthermore, the impacts of climate change on WASH services are rarely considered in these evaluations, making the inadequacies of WASH services worse. To address these gaps, an integrated tool was developed to assess WASH performance in non-household settings, incorporating financial, institutional, environmental impact, technical, social, and climate change factors. The tool provides scores for indicators to solve the problem of a lack of final aggregated data to enable decision-makers to determine the level of WASH performance in a setting. Moreover, it provides qualitative explanations for each score, allowing decision-makers to identify areas for improvement. This tool offers valuable and insightful data for improving WASH facilities and ensuring sustainable services in non-household settings, particularly for WASH service providers and local governments.

Evaluating Urban Services in Neighbourhoods Through the Inequality Lens in Khulna City, Bangladesh: A Geographic Information System Approach

This article delineates the development of an integrated assessment tool to understand inequality in the provision of urban services among neighbourhoods in Khulna city, Bangladesh. The study considers eight key indicators to evaluate basic urban services related to the physical environment of the city. We use primary and secondary sources of information as well as geographic information system (GIS) to summarise the results in a scientific fashion. Additionally, we adopt the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique to distribute weights among the considered indicators and categorise the neighbourhoods as ‘good’, ‘average’ or ‘poor’ in terms of service availability. Results from the study demonstrate that a majority of the neighbourhoods lack basic urban services. Only 10 per cent of the neighbourhoods are equipped with basic urban services, whereas 74 per cent face difficulties with ‘average’ quality of services and nearly 16 per cent of neighbourhoods fail to provide basic services to city dwellers. Our study may be useful to development authorities, city corporations and local governments to visualise the neighbourhoods struggling for basic urban services and bring them under immediate attention to deliver the required resources. Further, the study provides an assessment model to understand urban service inequality in cities with similar characteristics in other parts of the world.

How to Make Future Cities Smart in the Realm of Environmentally Friendly Healthy Cities? Looking from the Perspective of Ease of Living Index

Rapid urbanization and environmental issues have led the Government of India to implement urban development initiatives like Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Smart Cities Mission, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihood Mission, and Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban to improve citizens' quality of life. The Ease of Living Index (EOL), developed to assess the outcomes of these initiatives, is a data-driven assessment tool aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals that enables cities to adopt evidence-based planning and execution. It assesses the well-being of citizens in 111 cities, including cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities, and cities with populations over one million. The concept of healthy cities gained popularity in the South-east Asian Region of the World Health Organization, with the Healthy City Network Assessment Tool being introduced in 2021 to help cities assess their health profile in its eleven member countries, including India. In view of NITI Aayog's 2021 recommendation for the development of 500 healthy cities by 2030, there is a need to expand the scope of the existing EOL Index (2020). This research aims to integrate the healthy city evaluation criteria from WHO's South-east Asia Regional Guidelines with the EOL Index 2020 to develop an integrated tool for data-driven assessment of India's proposed healthy cities program. The study based on literature review and comparative analysis identifies 8 determinants, 28 sub-determinants and 112 indicators, enhancing the comprehensiveness of the EOL Index to promote smart, environmentally friendly, healthy, and sustainable urban development.

The psychometric properties of the lifelong learning measurement scale (LLMS): the study of validation in higher education setting

In the dynamic world of higher education, lifelong learning is important to both individuals and institutions, and measuring it can provide insightful data for both. The purpose of this study is therefore to refine and validate the psychometric qualities of the Lifelong Learning Measurement Scale (LLMS), created to measure academic staff’s engagement with lifelong learning in higher education institutions. Using a cross-sectional study design, the current study validated the scale using rigorous psychometric procedures. The study involved 396 participants, who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The collected data were analysed using factorial analysis methods. The results provide a theoretically based four-factor structure consisting of 16 items of the LLMS. Strong evidence for the validity of the scale comes from its content validity, construct-related validity, and criterion-related validity. In addition, the scale and its factors demonstrate excellent levels of trustworthiness, according to estimates of composite reliability and internal consistency. The impartial and fair use of the scale is further supported by strong evidence for measurement invariance across gender groups. In conclusion, these results confirm that the LLMS is a legitimate and trustworthy tool that can be used in a variety of research and practices related to lifelong learning in a higher education setting. Furthermore, it is important to note that further research is needed to examine its applicability in different contexts. Subsequent research on its longitudinal stability and sensitivity to different cultural characteristics could also confirm LLMS as a reliable and integrative assessment tool for lifelong learning.

Development of a smart home suitability indicator and indicative self-assessment platform for the disabled facilities grants (DFGs)

Purpose Delay in housing adaptation is a major problem, especially in assessing if homes are suitable for the occupants and in determining if the occupants are qualified for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). This paper describes the development of two self-administered intelligent integrated assessment tools from the DFG Adapt-ABLE system: (1) The Home Suitability Assessment Platform, which is a preventive mechanism that allows assessment of the suitability of homes based on occupants’ mobility status and (2) an indicative assessment platform that determines if the applicants are qualified for the DFG to prevent lengthy delays.Design/methodology/approach The adopted method aligned with a development study approach: a grounded literature review, a severity measurement approach, two stakeholder engagement workshops, four brainstorming sessions and four focus group exercises. The system development relied on Entity–Relationship Diagram (ERD) technique for data structures and database systems design. It uses DFG context sensitivity with alignment with DFG guidance, interlinkages and interoperability between the assessment tools and other platforms of the integrated Adapt-ABLE system.Findings The assessment tools are client-level outcomes related to accessibility, usability and activity based on the assessment process. The home suitability platform shows the percentage of the suitability of a home with assessment results that suggest appropriate action plans based on individual mobility status. The indicative assessment combines the function of referral, allocation, assessment and test of resources into an integrated platform. This enables timely assessment, decision-making and case-escalation by Occupational Therapists based on needs criteria and the eligibility threshold.Originality/valueThese assessment tools are useful for understanding occupants’ perception of their physical housing environment in terms of accessibility, suitability and usability based on basic activities of daily living and their mobility status. The indicative self-assessment tool will substantially cut down the application journey. The developed tools have been recommended for use in the CSJ Disability Commission report and the UK government Guidance on DFGs for local authorities in England.

The randomized clinical trial trustworthiness crisis

Abstract Background The rising number of retracted randomised clinical trials (RCTs) is a concern over their trustworthiness. In today's digital landscape electronic observational data is easily accessible for research purposes. This emerging perspective, in tandem with the growing scrutiny of RCT credibility, may steer some researchers towards favouring non-randomized studies. It is crucial to emphasize the ongoing need for robust RCTs, shedding light on the areas within trial design that require enhancements and addressing existing gaps in trial execution. Main body Evidence-based medicine pivots on the nexus between empirical medical research and the theoretical and applied facets of clinical care. Healthcare systems regularly amass patient data, creating a vast reservoir of information. This facilitates large-scale observational studies, which may appear as potential substitutes for RCTs. These large-scale studies inherently possess biases that place them a notch below randomized evidence. Honest errors, data manipulation, lapses in professionalism, and methodological shortcomings tarnish the integrity of RCTs, compromising trust in trials. Research institutions, funding agencies, journal editors and other stakeholders have the responsibility to establish robust frameworks to prevent both deliberate and inadvertent mishandling of RCT design, conduct and analysis. Systematic reviews that collate robust RCTs are invaluable. They amalgamate superior evidence instrumental in improving patient outcomes via informed health policy decisions. For systematic reviews to continue to retain trust, validated integrity assessment tools must be developed and routinely applied. This way it will be possible to prevent false or untrustworthy research from becoming part of the recommendations based on the evidence. Conclusion High-quality RCTs and their systematic reviews play a crucial role in acquiring valid and reliable evidence that is instrumental in improving patient outcomes. They provide vital information on healthcare effectiveness, and their trustworthiness is key to evidence-based medicine.

Integrating Information Literacy and Academic Writing: Developing a Self-Assessment Scale of Information-Based Academic Writing

This paper presents the development and validation of a self-assessment scale integrating information literacy and academic writing, based on a conceptual model of information-based academic writing. Statistical analyses provided validity evidence, supporting its interpretation and use. The analysis also confirmed the cognitive, metacognitive, social, and emotional nature of information-based academic writing. Based on the development of this scale, I argued that (1) this scale communicates the shared learning and teaching goals among academic librarians, writing instructors, and content experts; (2) an integrated assessment tool could maximize the efficient use of resources; (3) encompassing the often-overlooked social and emotional dimensions in the scale could facilitate the holistic development of academic writing and information literacy. This study demonstrates the process of developing an assessment instrument, which can be an example for instructors of information literacy and academic writing to design their localized instruments.

Sustainability assessment of textile and apparel sector: a review of current approaches and tools

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of sustainability evaluation techniques in textile and apparel sector. The review studies are divided into two namely product relate assessment methods and integrated assessment methods which summarizes the different dimension covered, weightage, number of indicators involved, and highlight the weakness and strength of the previous developed sustainability assessment methods in the textile industry. The analysis revealed that majority of the product-related assessment methods focused on environmental factors only, while all the studies reviewed in this category neglected triple bottom line (TBL) in their assessment approach. Nevertheless, there is still a need to focus more on integrated assessment tools to fulfil the TBL goals. This current study offers comprehensive details of product related assessment and integrated assessment methods that was published from 2010 to 2022. Furthermore, examined current sustainability evaluation methods and offered insights into how sustainability assessment techniques have evolved in the textile and apparel industry. The review showed the product related assessment tools are impact assessment techniques are frequently used as an independent tool for evaluating the specific impact of one sustainability measurement, also have no weights attached to them because most indicators assessed were more generic. While integrated assessment method revealed that results would be less reliable if weighting and data collection were non-standardized and inconsistent. However, from the uncertainty’s perspectives, only integrated assessment tools considered fuzziness, grey and stochastic ambiguities in some of their methods, whereas product related assessment tools studied, ignored fuzziness and grey uncertainties completely.

Relevance of Responsible Consumption in Colombia and Its Alignment at a Regional and Local Level

Responsible consumption is considered a primary objective for social and economic development and at the same time essential for sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relevance of SDG-12, particularly in responsible consumption, in Colombia, Valle del Cauca, and Tuluá, to establish the alignment of the goals that are presented at the national, regional, and local levels, and that contributes to the country advances in the fulfillment of this objective. Initially, a theoretical analysis was carried out where the main approaches that responsible consumption has had over time were identified; subsequently, the analysis of the relevance of responsible consumption at different scales was carried out, for which the adaptation of an alignment methodology of the SDGs was carried out, using the Rapid Integrated Assessment tool – RIA; SPSS software was used for data analysis. The above, made it possible to establish the contribution made from the national to the local level, for the fulfillment of the goals of SDG-12. It was identified that in the country all the goals of SDG 12 were prioritized, although several have a low level of coverage; in Valle del Cauca and Tuluá, some goals are not prioritized.

Comparison of Acoustic Emission Data Acquired During Tensile Deformation of Maraging Steel M250 Welded Specimens

Safety and reliability are primary concerns in launch vehicle performance due to the involved costs and risk. Pressure vessels are one of the significant subsystems of launch vehicles. In order to have minimal weight, high strength material viz. maraging steel M250 grade is used in realizing the pressure vessel casing hardware. Despite the best efforts in design methodology, quality evaluation in production and effective structural integrity assessment is still a farfetched goal. The evolution of such a system requires, first, identification of an appropriate technique and next its adoption to meet the challenges posed by advanced materials like maraging steels. In fact, a quick survey of the available Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques suggests Acoustic Emission (AE) as an effective structural integrity assessment tool capable of identifying any impending failure or degradation at an earlier stage. Experience shows that the longitudinal welds in the pressure vessels are quite vulnerable to failure due to the fact that they experience the maximum stress (i.e. hoop stress). Loading welded tensile samples are quite synonymous to the hoop stress experienced by longitudinal welds. An attempt is made to compare the Acoustic Emission data acquired during tensile deformation of maraging steel welded specimens. A total of 16 welded specimen’s with known defects were studied for their tensile behaviour is in connection with Acoustic Emission data. The lowest failure load was 70.5 kN and the highest being 84.8 kN. AE activity graphs viz. cumulative AE activity, hit rate, energy rate, count rate, AE amplitude history, AE count history, AE energy history, amplitude-count correlation and hit amplitude distribution have been investigated and salient features with respect to the data have been critically studied and relevant correlations are arrived at.

The difference between ‘placebo group’ and ‘placebo control’: a case study in psychedelic microdosing

In medical trials, ‘blinding’ ensures the equal distribution of expectancy effects between treatment arms in theory; however, blinding often fails in practice. We use computational modelling to show how weak blinding, combined with positive treatment expectancy, can lead to an uneven distribution of expectancy effects. We call this ‘activated expectancy bias’ (AEB) and show that AEB can inflate estimates of treatment effects and create false positive findings. To counteract AEB, we introduce the Correct Guess Rate Curve (CGRC), a statistical tool that can estimate the outcome of a perfectly blinded trial based on data from an imperfectly blinded trial. To demonstrate the impact of AEB and the utility of the CGRC on empirical data, we re-analyzed the ‘self-blinding psychedelic microdose trial’ dataset. Results suggest that observed placebo-microdose differences are susceptible to AEB and are at risk of being false positive findings, hence, we argue that microdosing can be understood as active placebo. These results highlight the important difference between ‘trials with a placebo-control group’, i.e., when a placebo control group is formally present, and ‘placebo-controlled trials’, where patients are genuinely blind. We also present a new blinding integrity assessment tool that is compatible with CGRC and recommend its adoption.

The application of semantic modelling to map pollination service provisioning at large landscape scales

Mapping ecosystem services (ES), including crop pollination by wild insect pollinators, is challenging due to the number of variables involved and the spatial-temporal dimensions of their interactions. To enhance the synergistic relationship between pollination service and crop yield in agricultural landscapes, a better appreciation of the spatial dynamics of pollination service provisioning is needed. Spatially explicit modelling approaches have been used to investigate how different land cover types influence the distribution and abundance of wild bee pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, an integrated dynamic and spatial modelling framework is needed to address the complexities of pollination supply mapping at the landscape scale. The Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) framework is a collaborative, spatially explicit and integrated tool for ES assessment. We applied a set of high-resolution process-based pollination models within ARIES to represent landscape capacity to supply pollination by wild bees at the local scale in the Canadian prairies. We also developed a systematic approach to perform a global sensitivity analysis by using a surrogate model (Gaussian Process Regression) and variance-based sensitivity analysis for the selected uncertain key parameters of the model. We modelled pollination dynamics through the mechanistic behavior of native bee guilds, including foraging distance, nesting ability, flight activity, the relative importance of bee guilds, and seasonal variation of floral resources. We focused on three guilds, bumblebees, sweat bees and mining bees, which differed by their nesting habits, floral preferences, and flight distances. We found that over 45% of pollination-dependent croplands in our study area lack wild pollination. The global sensitivity analysis revealed the significance of all key parameters, with seasonal activity across guilds identified as the key driving factors. Our results highlight the significance of the ecological role of wild bees in agricultural landscapes and the sensitivity analysis underscores the importance of temporal dynamics in ecological modeling and pollination.

Barriers of large-scale energy efficiency modelling of urban building stocks. Methods to overcome them – the case of the Re-Polis platform.

The European Union has set strict goals towards climate-neutral cities by 2050, pushing private and public stakeholders to develop integrated assessment tools for measuring urban buildings’ energy performance and designing sustainable retrofitting strategies. Within this context, efficient energy use modelling of urban built environments, in a precise and transparent manner, is a crucial driver for global cities’ decarbonisation. Thus, rapid developments of bottom-up and top-down methodologies and tools reflect the current international research and technological developments in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) software industry. Combined bottom-up based GIS technologies and building typologies (archetype buildings) enable a detailed energy performance analysis of urban built environments. Since the results are produced for each building unit, these methods offer scalability, starting from single buildings to neighbourhoods and whole cities. In order to assess the energy performance of urban buildings in a bottom-up and efficient way, several aspects must be considered, such as substantial differentiations in archetype buildings according to the use, location, year of construction and each country’s profile. Furthermore, access to pan-European building typologies data, developed with the same methodology, is crucial to overcome such barriers. Moreover, although dispersed methodological tools already exist, no integrated methods have yet been developed, that can be easily used on a pan-European base. As an innovative, cloud-based tool, the Re-Polis platform aims to fill the gap in urban buildings’ large-scale energy efficiency modelling. Within this context, this paper describes all barriers identified during the design of the Re-Polis platform, regarding the development of an end-to-end robust methodological procedure and the decisions that were made to overcome them.

Validity of the SKILLCOURT® technology for agility and cognitive performance assessment in healthy active adults

Background/ObjectivesAgility and cognitive abilities are typically assessed separately by different motor and cognitive tests. While many agility tests lack a reactive decision-making component, cognitive assessments are still mainly based on computer-based or paper-pencil tests with low ecological validity. This study is the first to validate the novel SKILLCOURT technology as an integrated assessment tool for agility and cognitive-motor performance. MethodsThirty-two healthy adults performed agility (Star Run), reactive agility (Random Star Run) and cognitive-motor (executive function test, 1-back decision making) performance assessments on the SKILLCOURT. Cognitive-motor tests included lower limb responses in a standing position to increase the ecological validity when compared to computer-based tests. Test results were compared to established motor and agility tests (countermovement jump, 10 m linear sprint, T-agility tests) as well as computer-based cognitive assessments (choice-reaction, Go-NoGo, task switching, memory span). Correlation and multiple regression analyses quantified the relation between SKILLCOURT performance and motor and cognitive outcomes. ResultsStar Run and Random Star Run tests were best predicted by linear sprint (r = 0.68, p < 0.001) and T-agility performance (r = 0.77, p < 0.001), respectively. The executive function test performance was well explained by computer-based assessments on choice reaction speed and cognitive flexibility (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). The 1-back test on the SKILLCOURT revealed moderate but significant correlations with the computer-based assessments (r = 0.47, p = 0.007). ConclusionThe results support the validity of the SKILLCOURT technology for agility and cognitive assessments in more ecologically valid cognitive-motor tasks. This technology provides a promising alternative to existing performance assessment tools.

A standardised framework for the design and application of fine-scale acoustic tracking studies in aquatic environments

Fine-scale tracking technology has advanced our understanding of aquatic animal behaviour by deriving near-continuous movements of animals ranging in size from small invertebrates to large predatory fish. Commercial fine-scale positioning systems, such as the VEMCO Positioning System, can pinpoint an animal’s location within metres of its true position. While methodological applications of commonly used presence-absence acoustic telemetry have identified factors that can limit array performance, the factors that influence position yield and accuracy and introduce error in fine-scale positioning systems have yet to be synthesised. Evidenced through a systematic review of the literature, we highlight key considerations and potential pitfalls faced when designing and conducting a fine-scale tracking study. Key factors impacting data acquisition are grouped under 4 key categories linked to the study system, species studied, and logistical and technological constraints. Thereafter, in line with these categories, we provide a framework that can be used prior to, during, and post-study to identify sources of error and data loss to optimize system design and acquired results. We provide details on user assessment tools that include a pre-study trial period using fixed tags to assess array geometry and data yield, an in situ checkpoint data download, and a post-study assessment of fixed transmitter performance. We highlight the utility of this framework and integrated assessment tools by presenting a real-world case study that ultimately was compromised. We anticipate that this framework can be used to standardize reporting of essential steps and checks that will generate comparable data for future synthesis, which will further advance fine-scale tracking approaches.

Sustainability implications of Rwanda’s Vision 2050 long-term development strategy

Improving livelihoods in Rwanda requires overcoming food insecurity and malnutrition. Vision 2050 is Rwanda’s long-term development strategy, yet little is known about its potential trade-offs for the country’s biodiversity, forest cover, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scenario analysis can provide insights into how to achieve such goals more sustainably. Here, we use the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Calculator, a simple integrated assessment tool, to explore potential sustainability implications by 2050 through two scenarios: (1) Current Trends and (2) Vision 2050. The Vision 2050 pathway incorporates components of the government’s long-term development strategy and associated national agricultural policy targets. It includes greater increases in crop productivity and decreases in post-harvest losses, and shifts to more sustainable diets, compared to the Current Trends pathway. Results show that the Vision 2050 pathway would, relative to Current Trends, lead to a greater decrease in agricultural land area and an increase in non-forested natural land-cover area, with consequent decreases in GHG emissions from agriculture, increases in carbon sequestration, and increases in the share of land that can support biodiversity conservation. Shifts to a healthier diet in the Vision 2050 pathway would only be compatible with national agricultural priorities if these diets favor consumption of foods that underpin sustainable livelihoods in Rwanda, such as beans, cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, banana, and corn. We discuss the potential for integrated land-use planning and adoption of agroecological farming practices to help Rwanda achieve food security, livelihood, biodiversity, and climate mitigation goals in tandem.

보호관찰 청소년 통합 재범위험성 평가도구 개발에 관한 연구

The current study attempts to investigate the predictive validities of the risk assessment tools that are currently being used in juvenile probation and parole in Korea. Since 2016, MOJ(Ministry of Justice) has used the JDRAI-S and JDRAI-D for a different purpose; JDRAI-S has been in use for the purpose of risk classification of juvenile delinquents while JDRAI-D has been utilized for case planning of juvenile probationers and parolees. With the two risk assessment tools being rolled out, concerns have been expressed over the predictive validity of the tools among the practitioners. More importantly, Probation officers have expressed the need to integrate the two different tools into a single, integrated risk assessment tool. Against this backdrop, the current study examines the predictive validities of JDRAI-S and JDRAI-D, and also investigates the possibility that a new tool could be constructed and demonstrate a good level of predictive validity. The results of the current study show that the two current risk assessment tools fail to demonstrate adequate levels of predictive validity. A series of ROC analyses showed that JDRAI-S has the value of AUC .64 and JDRAI-D has the value of AUC .61. Specially the predictive validity of JDRAI-D has posed a serious concern, because many items included in JDRAI-D have been shown not to be associated with recidivism. The second part of the study shows promising results. The newly constructed risk assessment tool, named as JDRAI-Ⅱ, demonstrates a very good level of predictive validity with the value of AUC .73. In addition, the sub factors of JDRAI-Ⅱ also show a good level of consistency and validity. At the end of the study, the authors provide some useful tips for future research and practices.

Multi-Criteria Analysis for Evaluating Constructed Wetland as a Sustainable Sanitation Technology, Jordan Case Study

There is a growing demand for integrating an assessment tool to select wastewater treatment alternatives based on sustainability in the Jordanian wastewater sector. The sector in Jordan has a unique and critical situation that has raised concerns among stakeholders, including donors, and international and national organizations, to carefully select a sustainable treatment system for each case. The Jordanian government set a tool to distinguish between treatment systems, and this tool is mainly focused on financial criteria. However, the sector needs to integrate assessment tools with a wider consideration of other sustainability criteria. Usually, stakeholders are not equipped with a clear methodology to perform sustainability assessments. Therefore, this study proposes and develops a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) tool to evaluate wastewater treatment alternatives from a sustainability perspective for a case study in Jordan—Al Azraq town. Firstly, the study explored the decision and organizational context of the wastewater sector through several interviews. Secondly, assessment criteria and indicators were proposed to compare three proposed treatment alternatives. Finally, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied with composite scores to evaluate wastewater treatment alternatives. Finally, The results of the composite scores indicated that French Constructed Wetland (FCW) was the best option for this case study, with a score of 3.13, followed by Stabilization Pond (SP) as the second sustainable option, with a score of 2.67, and lastly, Activated Sludge (AS), with a score of 2.07. Several conclusions have been highlighted during the process development, such as the importance of selecting sustainability indicators carefully, and engaging stakeholders during the design and implementation of the assessment.

Identifying and managing problematic trials: A research integrity assessment tool for randomized controlled trials in evidence synthesis.

Evidence synthesis findings depend on the assumption that the included studies follow good clinical practice and results are not fabricated or false. Studies which are problematic due to scientific misconduct, poor research practice, or honest error may distort evidence synthesis findings. Authors of evidence synthesis need transparent mechanisms to identify and manage problematic studies to avoid misleading findings. As evidence synthesis authors of the Cochrane COVID-19 review on ivermectin, we identified many problematic studies in terms of research integrity and regulatory compliance. Through iterative discussion, we developed a research integrity assessment (RIA) tool for randomized controlled trials for the update of this Cochrane review. In this paper, we explain the rationale and application of the RIA tool in this case study. RIA assesses six study criteria: study retraction, prospective trial registration, adequate ethics approval, author group, plausibility of methods (e.g., randomization), and plausibility of study results. RIA was used in the Cochrane review as part of the eligibility check during screening of potentially eligible studies. Problematic studies were excluded and studies with open questions were held in awaiting classification until clarified. RIA decisions were made independently by two authors and reported transparently. Using the RIA tool resulted in the exclusion of >40% of studies in the first update of the review. RIA is a complementary tool prior to assessing "Risk of Bias" aiming to establish the integrity and authenticity of studies. RIA provides a platform for urgent development of a standard approach to identifying and managing problematic studies.