Local Index Research Articles

An advanced optic-fiber differential sensing system enhanced by molecularly imprinted polymer for specific sodium benzoate detection

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based microfiber differential demodulation sensing system for sodium benzoate (SB) concentration detection is proposed. The specific binding of MIP on the surface of microfibers with SB can lead to changes in local refractive index (RI). RI change induces a drift in the interference wavelength, which can be monitored by the power difference between two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The sensing system can detect SB in the concentration range of 0.1–50 μg/ml, and interference wavelength and FBG power difference sensitivities are 0.55 nm/(μg/ml) and 2.64 dB/(μg/ml) in the low concentration range of 0.1–1 μg/ml, respectively, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1 μg/ml. This microfiber differential demodulation sensing system is not only simple to fabricate, but also simplifies the demodulation equipment to reduce the cost, which providing a simple, reliable and low-cost technique for the quantitative detection of SB concentration in beverages and flavoured foods.

Exploring farmer’s assessment of soil quality and root yield in cassava-based cropping systems

Farmers’ knowledge of soil quality and yield assessment were evaluated among cassava farmers in southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected on farmers’ demography, farming experience, criteria for selecting a site for cassava cultivation and preferences for those criteria, farmers’ methods of yield prediction and how it compares with the scientific approach, farmers’ agronomic knowledge and how it relates to the realities of climate change and soil fertility decline. The modal age class of the farmers is 45–55 years, and most of the farmers are male. The results show that farmers use a combination of soil and vegetation-based criteria to assess soil quality from which the decision to cultivate a given land is made. Among the soil-based criteria, soil drainage, colour, and depth rank the most and most used. Most of the farmers assessed yield before harvesting through green healthy leaves (25 %), large and shiny stems (25 %) and soil cracks (50 %). The predicted and measured cassava yields on farmer-managed farms were comparable, with an R2 of 0.63, although farmers overestimated the cassava root yield. There is a unanimous consensus among farmers that yield has declined in the last decade, with a mean of 36 %. The main cause of yield decline was attributed to declining rainfall and poor soils. Our study concluded that farmers have a good understanding of soil health and cassava agronomy through a process of trial and error and ingenuity as farmers’ local indices were consistent with conventional soil health indicators. It was suggested that, by recognising and incorporating traditional methods used by farmers to assess soil quality, we could enhance soil management strategies and raise productivity at the farm level.

Association of cortical gyrification, white matter microstructure, and phenotypic profile in medication-naïve obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is thought to arise from dysconnectivity among interlinked brain regions resulting in a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Cortical gyrification, a key morphological feature of human cerebral cortex, has been considered associated with developmental connectivity in early life. Monitoring cortical gyrification alterations may provide new insights into the developmental pathogenesis of OCD. Sixty-two medication-naive patients with OCD and 59 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Local gyrification index (LGI) was extracted from T1-weighted MRI data to identify the gyrification changes in OCD. Total distortion (splay, bend, or twist of fibers) was calculated using diffusion-weighted MRI data to examine the changes in white matter microstructure in patients with OCD. Compared with HCs, patients with OCD showed significantly increased LGI in bilateral medial frontal gyrus and the right precuneus, where the mean LGI was positively correlated with anxiety score. Patients with OCD also showed significantly decreased total distortion in the body, genu, and splenium of the corpus callosum (CC), where the average distortion was negatively correlated with anxiety scores. Intriguingly, the mean LGI of the affected cortical regions was significantly correlated with the mean distortion of the affected white matter tracts in patients with OCD. We demonstrated associations among increased LGI, aberrant white matter geometry, and higher anxiety in patients with OCD. Our findings indicate that developmental dysconnectivity-driven alterations in cortical folding are one of the neural substrates underlying the clinical manifestations of OCD.

Flat rent price prediction in Berlin with web scraping

Internet data pose a challenge to the traditional system of official statistics, which relies on more conventional sources such as surveys and registers, not readily adaptable to rapid changes. Expanding this system to include internet data is currently at an experimental stage, exploring these sources’ potentials and benefits. This paper describes a project conducted within the ESSnet Trusted Smart Statistics – Web Intelligence Network framework. It investigates the use of online apartment listings to analyze the rental market. We used web scraping to extract information from two online real estate portals for flats in the city of Berlin. Using this data, we developed a model to predict rental prices per square meter based on the accommodation’s features and location within the city. We detected offers which appear in both portals by means of statistical matching and removed duplicate offers. Missing values were treated by multiple imputation. The prediction model is a semi-parametric approach where the postal districts are used to describe the location effect. Comparisons with microcensus results and the local rent index reveal significant differences between the market of online flat offers and the stock of existing flat contracts. Interested readers will find the commented programming code in the internet supplement.

농촌지역 기초자치단체의 자살분야 지역안전지수 향상 방안

This study aimed to examine the reality of local safety index with detailed result of analysis on the suicide sector which is shown as the most vulnerable indicator out of local safety index of Goesan-gun that is considered a representative local governments in rural area in Chungcheongbuk-do, and seek for solution to improve the foregoing. This study also intended to suggest a political measure to secure safety of the residents of Goesan-gun and improve the quality of life of local communities against suicide in the future by suggesting basic direction for spreading safety culture in local communities and promoting safety consciousness of local residents that need to be carried out for improvement of local safety index in suicide sector through the contents of research. Research result shows that it is necessary to revise the 「Ordinance on Prevention of Prevention of Suicide and Creation of Culture of Respect for Life」and expand support system for reducing suicide of the elderly to improve suicide sector local safety index and specific vulnerable indicators of Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do. As for specific measures, enhancement of economic support system such as expansion of support system for cashable welfare for the elderly and discover of subsidy support by Goesan-gun are also considered necessary. In addition, support system for independence of the elderly for supplementation of elderly employment and social activities must be enhanced by expanding resident participatory protection system for disadvantaged elderly and vulnerable social groups, and psychological support system for local residents shall also be reorganized by installing a suicide prevention as an affiliated institution. Additionally, the budget must be increased to the average level of local governments across the country by expanding social welfare and health service budget of Goesan-gun, and improvement of infrastructure and system for establishing a social safety net which is indispensible for preventing suicide of the elderly must also be carried out positively through the aforementioned.

Green Marketing and the Path to Realizing Local Sustainable Development—Joint Dynamic Analysis of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) Based on China’s Provincial Panel Data

Understanding the mechanisms by which the combination of green marketing components fosters local sustainable development is crucial for global regions in achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. Utilizing panel data from China’s provinces from 2011 to 2022, this study employs the DEA model to assess both the static and dynamic efficiencies of sustainable development across China’s 31 provinces. Subsequently, drawing on the 6P theory of marketing element combination, this study selects human input, capital input, energy input, technological output, economic output, and ecological output as causal variables, with the local sustainable development index serving as the outcome variable. By integrating the fsQCA method, the study identifies four distinct configurations: a “single input–multiple output” model, a “multiple input–single output” model, an “input–output” linkage model, and an “input-driven” model. This conclusion can enhance the comprehension of the dynamics through which various combinations of green marketing components contribute to local sustainable development from a regional macroeconomic perspective, offering a theoretical foundation for achieving sustainable development globally.

Evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of China's grain production in the past 20 years and its driving mechanism.

Food security is a goal and means of global sustainable development, and an important component of China's national security. Based on grain production data from 2000 to 2020, 31 provinces (cities, autonomous regions) in China were used as research units to analyze the spatiotemporal differences and driving forces of grain production in China using a combination of local correlation index, center of gravity transfer model, and geographic detector. The results as follows, ① During the research period, China's total grain production showed a decrease followed by an increase, and the yield per unit area of grain showed an increasing trend. Corn has become the "largest staple food" in China; ② During the research period, the focus of China's grain production continued to shift northward, with Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong provinces becoming the main grain production areas, with Henan being the province where China's grain production center was located. Among the factors affecting grain yield, the effective irrigation area (0.971) has the strongest explanatory power. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions were proposed from five aspects, stabilizing grain production, reducing grain inventory pressure, implementing regional grain security responsibilities, improving grain circulation efficiency, promoting high-quality grain engineering construction, adjusting grain production structure, strictly implementing farmland protection responsibilities, scientifically applying pesticides, fertilizers and other production materials, emphasizing agricultural infrastructure construction and stabilizing the number of agricultural labor force.

Spatial patterns of intestinal parasite infections among children and adolescents in some indigenous communities in Argentina.

Argentina has a heterogeneous prevalence of infections by intestinal parasites (IPs), with the north in the endemic area, especially for soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). We analyzed the spatial patterns of these infections in the city of Tartagal, Salta province, by an observational, correlational, and cross-sectional study in children and adolescents aged 1 to 15 years from native communities. One fecal sample per individual was collected to detect IPs using various diagnostic techniques: Telemann sedimentation, Baermann culture, and Kato-Katz. Moran's global and local indices were applied together with SaTScan to assess the spatial distribution, with a focus on cluster detection. The extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) machine-learning model was used to predict the presence of IPs and their transmission pathways. Based on the analysis of 572 fecal samples, a prevalence of 78.3% was found. The most frequent parasite was Giardia lamblia (30.9%). High- and low-risk clusters were observed for most species, distributed in an east-west direction and polarized in two large foci, one near the city of Tartagal and the other in the km 6 community. Spatial XGBoost models were obtained based on distances with a minimum median accuracy of 0.69. Different spatial patterns reflecting the mechanisms of transmission were noted. The distribution of the majority of the parasites studied was aligned in a westerly direction close to the city, but the STH presence was higher in the km 6 community, toward the east. The purely spatial analysis provides a different and complementary overview for the detection of vulnerable hotspots and strategic intervention. Machine-learning models based on spatial variables explain a large percentage of the variability of the IPs.

Reconstruction and normalization of LISA for spatial analysis.

The local indicators of spatial association (LISA) are important measures for spatial autocorrelation analysis. However, there is an inadvertent fault in the mathematical processes of deriving LISA in literature so that the local Moran and Geary indicators do not satisfy the second basic requirement for LISA: the sum of the local indicators is proportional to a global indicator. This paper aims at reconstructing the calculation formulae of the local Moran indexes and Geary coefficients through mathematical derivation and empirical evidence. Two sets of LISAs were clarified by new mathematical reasoning. One set of LISAs is based on non-normalized weights and non-centralized variable (MI1 and GC1), and the other set is based on row normalized weights and standardized variable (MI2 and GC2). The results show that the first set of LISAs satisfy the above-mentioned second requirement, but the second the set cannot. Then, the third set of LISA was proposed and can be treated as canonical forms (MI3 and GC3). This set of LISAs satisfies the second requirement. The observational data of city population and traffic mileage in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China were employed to verify the theoretical results. This study helps to clarify the misunderstandings about LISAs in the field of geospatial analysis.

Ambiguity attitudes for real-world sources: field evidence from a large sample of investors

Empirical studies of ambiguity aversion mostly use artificial events such as Ellsberg urns to control for unknown probability beliefs. The present study measures ambiguity attitudes using real-world events in a large sample of investors. We elicit ambiguity aversion and perceived ambiguity for a familiar company stock, a local stock index, a foreign stock index, and Bitcoin. Measurement reliability is higher than for artificial sources in previous studies. Ambiguity aversion is highly correlated for different assets, while perceived ambiguity varies more between assets. Further, we show that ambiguity attitudes are related to actual investment choices.

Classification of scholarly journals based on journal indexes coverage

Scholarly journals can be classified according to many different criteria. Unfortunately, the classification of scientific journals is not a subject on which experts agree. Although some researchers have made suggestions on the subject, it is far from clear how to classify scientific journals. For these reasons, the aim of this study is to propose criteria for the classification of scientific journals and to make the subject more clear and understandable. Undoubtedly, the subject is controversial and open to criticism. We attempt to classify scholarly journals according to the indexes they are covered in. By using various databases and literatures and a lso b y a dding m y o wn t houghts a nd i nterpretations, s o t his t ext h as emerged. The scholarly journals were summed under four groups, viz., 1. Journals covered by Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Database such as SCI-Expanded, SSCI, AHCI; 2. Journals covered by ESCI (Part of the Web of Science), SCImago SCOPUS and PubMed Medline; 3. Journals covered in other international or local indexes and 4. Journals that are not covered by any index. The indexes they are covered can give an idea about the performance of the journal. The results of this study have provided clearer, understandable and measurable criteria for the classification of scientific journals

Understanding Role of Digital Asset and LOSI for Rural Areas: An Evidence-based Study in Indian Context

Digital assets (DAs) are growing to be one of the most promising utilities due to the emerging digital transformation opportunities for society to harness. The innovations in contemporary DAs have led to the use of mobile computing, internet of things, edge computing and services like software as a service, platform as a service and desktop as a service. DAs have the potential to leverage and support other assets defined by the International Fund for Agricultural Development to enhance livelihood prospects in rural areas. The E-government services, aimed at mitigating digital divides and enhancing rural–urban continuum, need appropriate DAs. The UN has been conducting periodical E-government readiness assessments with a focus on Local Online Services Index (LOSI). All the countries participating in this readiness exercise are creating and upgrading through their E-government policies. LOSI is largely dependent on the availability of desired DAs, supply of digital transformation-based services and an emerging demand. The LOSI, introduced in 2018, is currently limited to the municipalities, providing a scope to assess rural areas where digital divides are still prevalent. This article presents a framework to discuss the associated DAs to develop LOSI for the rural areas in the Indian context. The article also presents a use case in the Indian context to understand how the Indian E-government efforts are poised to leverage the DAs to deepen rural digital services. Through the use cases, it is observed that the rural DAs need converged effort of policymakers to have a better LOSI.

Can local and global geopolitical risk predict governments' military spending behaviour? International evidence

AbstractGeopolitical risk, encompassing wars, terrorism, and tensions between states, exerts a significant impact on global affairs. Previous studies have examined the relationship between geopolitical risk and military spending. However, these studies were limited by certain shortcomings in the measurement tools used to assess geopolitical risk. The introduction of a new geopolitical risk index, leveraging textual analysis technology, offers a way to overcome some of these limitations. Despite this advancement, research exploring the predictive capacity of this geopolitical risk index on military spending behaviour remains scarce. Specifically, no previous studies have investigated the predictive power of both local and global geopolitical risk indices on military spending behaviour. To bridge this gap, this study employs panel VAR analysis for 34 countries worldwide, spanning from 1993 to 2022. The results indicate that the military spending behaviour of countries is significantly influenced by local geopolitical risk rather than global geopolitical risk. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that an increase in geopolitical risk during a given year can predict military spending behaviour in the subsequent 2 years. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to understand governments' behaviour regarding military spending.

Thai Rap Songs Through the World Englishes Approach: Code-Switching and Nativization

Abstract This study examines the English elements and nativized English features present in recent Thai rap songs. The source data comes from a Thai rap playlist called Thai Rapper on the online music platform Spotify. All English units found in the lyrics were manually counted and classified. The results diverged from most studies of Thai-English code-switching in Thai media in that, among the English elements considered, sentences were employed most frequently. Among nativized English features, semantic shift was most frequently employed. I argue that the local and global English identity flows (Pennycook 2009) index a shift in the Thai rap community toward assimilation of their Thai hip-hop identity into global street culture, a phenomenon becoming more prevalent among today’s Thai youth.

Zagros Grass Index—A New Vegetation Index to Enhance Fire Fuel Mapping: A Case Study in the Zagros Mountains

Annually, the oak forests of the Zagros Mountains chains in western Iran and northeastern Iraq face recurring challenges posed by forest fires, particularly in the Kurdo–Zagrosian forests in western Iran and northeastern Iraq. Assessing fire susceptibility relies significantly on vegetation conditions. Integrating in situ data, Remote Sensing (RS) data, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) integration presents a cost-effective and precise approach to capturing environmental conditions before, during, and after fire events, minimizing the need for extensive fieldwork. This study refines and applies the Zagros Grass Index (ZGI), a local vegetation index tailored to discern between grass-covered surfaces and tree canopies in Zagros forests, identifying the grass masses as the most flammable fuel type. Utilizing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product as input from 2013 to 2022, the ZGI aims to mitigate the influence of tree canopies by isolating NDVI values solely attributable to grass cover. By incorporating phenological characteristics of forest trees and grass species, the ZGI outperforms NDVI in mapping grass-covered areas crucial for the study region’s fire susceptibility assessment. Results demonstrate a substantial overlap between ZGI-based maps and recorded fire occurrences, validating the efficacy of the index in fire susceptibility estimation.

An Experimental Study on the Efficacy of Local Exhaust Systems for the Mitigation of Exhaled Contaminants in a Meeting Room

In industrial applications, local exhaust systems have been used extensively for capturing and confining contaminants at their source. The present study investigates the efficacy of these systems in mitigating the spread of exhaled pollutants by combining them with mixing and displacement ventilation. Experiments were conducted in a simulated meeting room with six closely situated workstations, featuring five exposed persons (simulated with heated dummies) and one infected person (simulated with a breathing manikin). Six overhead local exhaust units, merged with panels, corresponding to workstations, were installed using a lowered false ceiling. Additionally, a table plenum setting for air inlets was introduced to enhance displacement ventilation effectiveness along with local exhaust systems. Results from 16 experimental cases are presented, using the local air quality index and ventilation effectiveness in the breathing zone. The local exhaust system improved the local air quality at the measuring locations closest to the infector in almost all test scenarios. The improvement, particularly significant with displacement ventilation, marked a maximum 35% increase in the local air quality index adjacent to the infector and 25% in the entire breathing zone of the tested meeting room. Moreover, the table plenum settings, coupled with displacement ventilation, further enhanced conditions in the breathing zone. Under the specific conditions of this investigation, the number of operational local exhausts had a marginal impact on mixing ventilation but a significant one on displacement ventilation tests. The efficacy of local exhaust systems was also influenced by the levels of heat gains present in the room. Overall, the study aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to identify sustainable solutions to mitigate indoor airborne diseases with a combination of supply and local exhaust units.

Tracking Gross Primary Productivity Using Satellite Solar Induced Fluorescence: Insights Across Agricultural Ecosystems of India

AbstractAccurately estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) in heterogeneous cropping systems from satellite data poses a challenge. In this study, for the first time, we examined how satellite solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) tracks GPP in India's diverse cropping system. A significant correlation (r = 0.70–0.90, p ≤ 0.05) at 0.0833° spatial resolution is observed between 8daily and monthly FLUXCOM GPP and Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment‐2 (GOME‐2) SIF. Compared to GOME‐2 SIF the finer resolution, TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) SIF showed greater potential (r = 0.80–0.95, p ≤ 0.05) in estimating GPP and crop productivity, except for Southern and Northeastern parts of India. These regions of India have heterogeneous cropland and low crop area fraction as identified from normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), near‐infrared reflectance of vegetation and local moran's index map of NDVI. This heterogeneity leads to differences in the timing of growth stages across the annual cycle, such that the SIF signal is characterized by low seasonal variability across the cycle, leading to low correlation between GPP and SIF. Further, in addition to physiological control the intra‐annual variability of GPP‐SIF relationship (GPP/SIF ratio) is influenced by temperature, radiation, and moisture availability during peak/late growing seasons. However, in the early growing season, it primarily relies on soil moisture. Our findings should help improve GPP estimation using SIF across the agricultural ecosystems of India.

Multimodal neural correlates of dispositional resilience among healthy individuals

Resilient individuals are less likely to develop psychiatric disorders despite extreme psychological distress. This study investigated the multimodal structural neural correlates of dispositional resilience among healthy individuals. Participants included 92 healthy individuals. The Korean version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and other psychological measures were used. Gray matter volumes (GMVs), cortical thickness, local gyrification index (LGI), and white matter (WM) microstructures were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry, FreeSurfer, and tract-based spatial statistics, respectively. Higher resilient individuals showed significantly higher GMVs in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), increased LGI in the insula, and lower fractional anisotropy values in the superior longitudinal fasciculus II (SLF II). These resilience’s neural correlates were associated with good quality of life in physical functioning or general health and low levels of depression. Therefore, the GMVs in the IFG, LGI in the insula, and WM microstructures in the SLF II can be associated with resilience that contributes to emotional regulation, empathy, and social cognition.

Porezna autonomija lokalne samouprave

The paper measures the total (two-tier) local tax autonomy (cities/municipalities and counties combined) in Croatia applying the OECD methodology in terms of the definition and scope of taxes and their classification according to taxing power and autonomy. First, it follows the methodology of previous studies for Croatia, which considered only nominal taxes. This results in a relatively small share of autonomous taxes in local tax revenues. The change from a formal recording of taxes to an effective one based on the OECD definition of taxes leads to more than a doubling of local autonomous taxes. However, compared to other OECD unitary countries (countries with only the local level), Croatia still lags significantly behind the OECD average and also behind the average of EU member countries that are also OECD member countries. The weighting of different categories, despite the risk of arbitrariness, and the resulting tax autonomy index show an additional improvement of the Croatian situation. Further calculation of the tax autonomy index and, in particular, the composite indicator of tax autonomy (share of autonomous local taxes in total general government taxes), as well as the composite tax autonomy index (local tax autonomy index divided by total general government taxes), lead to a further improvement of the Croatian position. Although the country is still below the OECD average, it has improved to an almost median position. The indicators suggest that the taxing powers of local governments need to be further strengthened.

Correction to: Local index theorem for orbifold Riemann surfaces

Correction to: Local index theorem for orbifold Riemann surfaces