Multifactor Approach Research Articles

Fungi resistant grape variety diffusion: a multi-scale, multi-factor approach

Farm dependency to inputs is an issue concerning both farms and society. Viticulture is an input-intensive sector of agriculture. Some innovations in agriculture have been designed to reduce the use of inputs, such as fungi-resistant vine varieties. As the diffusion of innovation is uneven, we will compare the characteristics of innovations in both sides of the upper Rhine River. In this way we will interview farmers and analyze the geographical context. We will also compare the farms characteristics and their contexts at various scales. We expect to get a typology of innovations, with characteristics such as the impact on various scales (e.g. cropping system, farming system) and the radicalness of the changes. We also expect to get some information about the eventual levers and incentives to innovations’ diffusion, adoption or abandonment. And finally, French and German innovations will be compared to others vineyards innovations. It is possible to sharply describe several innovations reducing vineyard inputs, located on both sides of Upper Rhine River.

Formation of production structural units within a construction company using the systemic integrated method when implementing high-rise development projects

Development of efficient algorithms for designing future operations is a vital element in construction business. This paper studies various aspects of a methodology required to determine the integration index for construction crews performing various process-related jobs. The main objective of the study outlined in this paper is to define the notion of integration in respect to a construction crew that performs complete cycles of construction and assembly works in order to find the optimal organizational solutions, using the integrated crew algorithm built specifically for that purpose. As seen in the sequence of algorithm elements, it was designed to focus on the key factors affecting the level of integration of a construction crew depending on the value of each of those elements. The multifactor modelling approach is used to assess the KPI of integrated construction crews involved in large-sale high-rise construction projects. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical recommendation and a scientific methodological provision of organizational and technological nature to ensure qualitative formation of integrated construction crews to increase their productivity during integrated implementation of multi-task construction phases. The key difference of the proposed solution from the already existing ones is that it requires identification of the degree of impact of each factor, including the change in the qualification level, on the integration index of each separate element in the organizational and technological system in construction (integrated construction crew).

Adapting M. Davis’s Multifactor Empathy Questionnaire

This article describes the procedure and results of an adaptation of the empathy questionnaire of the American social psychologist M. Davis, which is widely used in foreign psychology and is recognized by researchers as the most valid and reliable one. Based on an analysis of the psychodiagnostic tools for studying empathy that are available in foreign and Russian psychology, the conclusion is drawn that the Multifactor approach to measuring empathy formulated by David is the one most consistent with current concepts of the structure of empathy. The article describes in detail the procedure of the adaptation and verification of the reliability and construct validity of the test, and presents the results of the studies that were conducted by using it.

A multifactor approach for elicitation of Information requirements of data warehouses

Whereas requirements engineering for transactional systems aims to discover the functionality of the system-to-be, data warehouse requirements engineering aims to discover the Information contents of the data-warehouse-to-be. Though notions of goals, Decisions, business processes, business events have been used to set the context for Information discovery, the move from these to obtain the relevant Information is largely ad hoc, unguided, and does not provide traceability of Information. We propose four elicitation techniques that are inferred from manager concerns during Decision making and that provide guidance and traceability. These form a suite such that each augments the set of already discovered Information. Consequently, the possibility of missing requirements is reduced, thereby making for more effective requirements engineering.

A multifactor approach to forecasting Romanian gross domestic product (GDP) in the short run.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of a generalized dynamic factor model (GDFM) based on dynamic principal components analysis to forecasting short-term economic growth in Romania. We have used a generalized principal components approach to estimate a dynamic model based on a dataset comprising 86 economic and non-economic variables that are linked to economic output. The model exploits the dynamic correlations between these variables and uses three common components that account for roughly 72% of the information contained in the original space. We show that it is possible to generate reliable forecasts of quarterly real gross domestic product (GDP) using just the common components while also assessing the contribution of the individual variables to the dynamics of real GDP. In order to assess the relative performance of the GDFM to standard models based on principal components analysis, we have also estimated two Stock-Watson (SW) models that were used to perform the same out-of-sample forecasts as the GDFM. The results indicate significantly better performance of the GDFM compared with the competing SW models, which empirically confirms our expectations that the GDFM produces more accurate forecasts when dealing with large datasets.

НЕКОТОРЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К РАССМОТРЕНИЮ ДЕТЕРМИНАНТ ПРЕСТУПНОСТИ В ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ КРИМИНОЛОГИИ

The subject of this article is the main positions of Russian researchers in identifying the determinants of crime. The main aim is to analyze the basic approaches to the definition of the determinants of crime in the domestic criminological science and to express the authors' attitude on this issue. The works of Russian researchers on the indicated problem encouraged the authors. In the process of work, the authors used the methodological principles of universal communication, objectivity, consistency; general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, analogy) and private scientific methods (formal-logical, method of summary and grouping). In the second half of the 20th century, there were two main directions in studying the causes of crime: sociological and anthropological ones. The Russian sociological school was distinguished by two main features. The first is a multifactor approach to the explanation of the causes of crime; the second is a smaller dependence on anthropological theories of the causes of crime than in the sociological schools of Western countries. The anthropological direction in Russia was represented both by doctors and lawyers. But unlike their colleagues from other countries, they were not the orthodox supporters of the anthropological doctrine of crime, because they recognized the influence of social processes. In the USSR, in the early 1920s scientific research centers were offices for studying the criminals and crimes established in several large cities, but their activities did not last long. In the 1930s, criminological research was practically suspended, and the institutions that conducted these studies were either closed or re-profiled. Until the 1960s, certain provisions on crime and its causes were studied in the context of judicial statistics. Since the mid-1960s, the situation began to change. During that period, the positions of researchers converged in the following: they unanimously recognized the anti-criminal nature of socialism. However, it did not prevent criminologists from dividing into three main groups: some researchers explained the existence of crime by subjective causes, the second by objective social processes, the third by the biological features of individuals. The article analyzes all directions in the causes of crime explanation. In the period of modern history of Russia, many criminological works tend to pay insufficient attention to the question of the determination of both criminality in general and its individual types. The article deals with some modern approaches to the causes of crime. The authors note that proponents of these approaches are often careless about the terms they use for defining the processes of determination of criminality. The authors analyze these approaches, give their opinion about the problem of determination of crime, define specific terms, reveal their content and indicate the existence of links between them.

A multifactor approach to the social discount rate: An application to the Spanish forest system

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the calculation of the social discount rate to be used in the valuation of long-term investment projects and, more specifically, in the appraisal of public and environmental projects. The key idea is that the instantaneous discount rate of the discount function used for valuation must be equal to the hazard rate of the public good or the mortality rate of the population affected by the project. Previously, this approach has been applied by the authors to a system in which failure depends on a single component, but in this paper, we are going to consider the failure of several independent components which, in combination, give rise to a multivariate hazard rate. In our empirical application, the entire forested area of Spain will be the system, and the forests of the seventeen autonomous communities will be considered the components of the system; the forest fire will be the failure, measured by the number of hectares devastated by fire in each region. Finally, once the failure corresponding to all regions has been aggregated in a multivariate hazard rate, it will be implemented as a part of the social discount rate.

On partial control in German

The phenomenon of Partial Control (PC; cf. Landau in Elements of control: structure and meaning in infinitival constructions, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000) has received a great deal of attention in recent literature, with two general approaches: while some authors take PC to be a core phenomenon that should be captured by control theory (e.g., Landau 2000 et seq.; Pearson in The sense of self: topics in the semantics of de se expressions. Ph.D. dissertation, 2013; NLLT 34:691–738, 2016), others deny the relevance of PC to control theory by treating it as an instance of exhaustive control (EC) with a covert comitative (Hornstein, in: Hendrick (ed) Minimalist syntax, Blackwell, Oxford, pp 681, 2003; Boeckx et al. in Control as movement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010). In this paper, we take a closer look at what German can contribute to this debate. Since PC-data are known to be subtle in terms of acceptability, we submitted the phenomenon to experimental investigation. The results of our study clearly show that both the matrix and the embedded predicate are relevant for the availability of a PC-reading in German: if the embedded predicate does not license comitatives, the matrix predicate must be attitudinal (a PC-predicate in Landau’s 2000 terminology), while if the matrix predicate is non-attitudinal (Landau’s EC-type), the embedded predicate must license comitatives. We thus conclude that two mechanisms exist in German to derive a PC-reading (i.e., singular controller with an embedded collective predicate): (i) true PC via, e.g., extension in the sense of Pearson (2013), and (ii) fake PC, which is, in fact, exhaustive control with a covert comitative (Hornstein 2003; Sheehan in Camb Occas Pap Linguist 6:1–47, 2012; in: Lahousse, Marzo (eds) Romance languages and linguistic theory 2012: selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ Leuven 2012, pp 181–198, 2014). These conclusions have an impact on the discussion of obligatory control structures insofar as control theory must account for the inclusion relation that holds in cases of true PC. Based on our results, we propose that a multi-factor approach such as argued for by Pearson (2013, 2016) or Landau (A two-tiered theory of control. Linguistic inquiry monographs, vol 71, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2015) is most adequate to capture the variation found in instances of true PC. However, our study also shows that the peripheral nature of PC requires experimental methods in order to investigate its status as a grammatical phenomenon in a language, and, furthermore, that any study focusing on PC must ensure that its discussion is based on true instances of PC, given that fake PC is a real option in languages.

Voluntary Turnover: What We Measure and What it (Really) Means

In this paper, we run regression analyses to explain voluntary turnover intentions with data from more than 5,000 employees and with about 250 explanatory variables. The findings of our multi-factor approach highlight the fact that previous empirical research might have over-estimated the impact and significance of many factors. We show the relevance of the so-called omitted variable bias to our findings and present an empirical approach to gain estimations that are more accurate. Our approach can estimate in detail the relevance of different factors from the following categories: (a) employees’ satisfaction, (b) industry, (c) firm size, (d) status and position, (e) commuting and working hours, (f) income, incentives and fairness, (g) career development, (h) health, (j) political orientation, (k) demographics, and (l) personality traits.

The effect of size on business net change during crises: a multifactor partitioning analysis of Italian regions during 2007–2010

This paper discusses the effects of size on business net change at the local unit level in Italy during the crisis started in 2008. The multifactor partitioning approach is proposed for the analysis. The results suggest that units employing 10–49 employees benefit from moderating effect due to size, while for micro units—those employing less than 10 persons—the crisis is exacerbated by size-related factors.

A rough multi-factor model of electricity spot prices

We introduce a new continuous-time mathematical model of electricity spot prices which accounts for the most important stylized facts of these time series: seasonality, spikes, stochastic volatility, and mean reversion. Empirical studies have found a possible fifth stylized fact, roughness, and our approach explicitly incorporates this into the model of the prices. Our setup generalizes the popular Ornstein–Uhlenbeck-based multi-factor framework of Benth et al. (2007) and allows us to perform statistical tests to distinguish between an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck-based model and a rough model. Further, through the multi-factor approach we account for seasonality and spikes before estimating – and making inference on – the degree of roughness. This is novel in the literature and we present simulation evidence showing that these precautions are crucial for accurate estimation. Lastly, we estimate our model on recent data from six European energy exchanges and find statistical evidence of roughness in five out of six markets. As an application of our model, we show how, in these five markets, a rough component improves short term forecasting of the prices.

Improving biometrics authentication with a multi-factor approach based on optical interference and chaotic maps

We propose a method to improve biometric authentication systems using a multifactor approach. For this security scheme a user authenticates successfully using a set of three characteristics related to physical, possession and knowledge factors. Besides biometric authentication representing the physical factor, we propose the use of an optical authentication technique based on two-beam interference and chaotic maps. In this sense, the seed of a chaotic map represents a user password corresponding to a knowledge factor and a resultant interferogram from optical authentication technique is used as a possession factor. The feasibility of our method is tested using numerical simulation. Moreover, key space and statistical analysis are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution.

A Multi Factor Authentication Approach Based on Biometrics, Optical Interference and Chaotic Maps

A novel method for user authentication based on multi factor approach is presented. For this security technique, a user authenticates into a system using a set of three characteristics related to physical, possession and knowledge factors. Biometrics authentication represents the physical factor. An optical authentication technique based on two-beam interference and chaotic maps complete the proposed scheme. In this sense, the seed of a chaotic map represents a user password corresponding to a knowledge factor and a resultant interferogram from an optical authentication technique represents the possession factor. Numerical simulation demonstrate the feasibility of our method. Moreover, we perform key space and statistical analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution.

АНТИКОЛОНІАЛЬНИЙ ДИСКУРС УКРАЇНСЬКИХ МИСЛИТЕЛІВ КІНЦЯ ХІХ – ПЕРШОЇ ТРЕТИНИ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ

The problems of colonialism and post-colonialism are very important for the modern world. Postcolonial studios are one of the key components of intellectual discourse. However, most of them have a serious flaw, namely the reduction of the topic to the collapse of colonial expansion and colonial exploitation to racial and geographical factors. These studios are about as colonizers view Europeans, and as oppressed peoples of the colonies view residents of other parts of the world. These researchers also do not pay attention to the fact that the Russian Empire had a colony at one time, not in America or Africa, but most of its colonies were in Asia. In addition, the Russian Empire had colonies in Europe: Finland, part of Poland, most of Ukraine, and so on. In turn, the German empire held in colonial condition the part of Poland that belonged to it. In Europe, therewere other colonies of other states. Therefore, at the end of the 19th and in the first third of the 20th century, the concept of "colony of the European type" appeared in socio-political thought. Ukrainian thinkers of this age (namely, Julian Bachinsky, Ivan Franko, Lesja Ukrainka Sergey Mazlakh and Vasyl Shahray, Mikhaylo Volobuev and others) by using certain methodologies investigated various aspects of the existence of such colonies, primarily of the case of Ukraine. Bachinsky puts the focus on purely economic factors that determine the colonial status of Ukraine, Franco – on national-political, Lesja Ukrainka – on existential, Mazlakh and Shahray – emphasized the aggregate of national, political and economic. At the same time, none of them took as the basis of the ethnolinguistic factor, like some Ukrainian researchers of colonialism do now. The article focuses on the ideas of Mikhaylo Volobuyev, which combine economic, political, socio-cultural and existential factors. Volobuyev, in addition, thoroughly criticized the substantial limitations of the racial-geographical approach to the problem of colonialism. Many of his ideas are relevant to modern challenges, others need rethinking in the context of the mutual struggle between different projects of globalization. Thus, in Ukraine at the end of the 19th century and in the first third of the 20th century there was a powerful intellectual direction of anti-colonial socio-political thought that did not reduce the problem of colonialism either to the racial factor, or to the geographical, or to the ethno-linguistic one. The author believes that such an integrated, multi-factor approach to the problems of colonialism and vision of overcoming the colonial heritage is the most urgent one. Therefore, it is expedient and necessary to appeal to the heritage of Ukrainian thinkers who turned to anti-colonial discourse.

Voluntary Turnover: What We Measure and What It (Really) Means

In this paper, we run regression analyses to explain voluntary turnover intentions with data from more than 5,000 employees and with about 250 explanatory variables. The findings of our multi-factor approach highlight the fact that previous empirical research might have over-estimated the impact and significance of many factors. We show the relevance of the so-called omitted variable bias to our findings and present an empirical approach to gain estimations that are more accurate. Our approach can estimate in detail the relevance of different factors from the following categories: (a) employees’ satisfaction, (b) industry, (c) firm size, (d) status and position, (e) commuting and working hours, (f) income, incentivesand fairness, (g) career development, (h) health, (j) political orientation, (k) demographics, and (l) personality traits.

A multifactor approach to evaluate the sealing of “smooth-wall” containers for food packaging

This work deals with the choice of materials, surface finish and parameters to be considered for the design of the production process of so called “smooth-wall” aluminium containers for food packaging. Evaluating the detachment at the metal/lid interface the following parameters have been considered: (i) the Fe amount in the Al alloy, (ii) the effect of lubricant oil, (iii) the surface “shape” of containers in contact with the lid and (iv) the alloy grain structure. Results obtained suggest that the detachments could be reduced if a low iron content alloy is used. Roughness measurements have highlighted that the surface showing Sku>3 provides a much higher adhesion. Metallographic measurements showed that the use of high iron content alloy results in numerous corrosion spots preventing adhesion between the sealant polymeric film and the aluminium foil. In conclusion: in all over the design of the device a multifactor approach would be adopted: a right combination of alloy composition, “surface shape”, lubricant oil and alloy grains dimension, should be considered to avoid failures.

Reducing meat consumption in developed and transition countries to counter climate change and biodiversity loss: a review of influence factors

A dietary shift towards reduced meat consumption is an efficient strategy for countering biodiversity loss and climate change in regions (developed and transition countries) where consumption is already at a very high level or is rapidly expanding (such as China). Biodiversity is being degraded and lost to a considerable extent, with 70 % of the world’s deforestation a result of stripping in order to grow animal feed. Furthermore, about 14.5 % of the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are calculated to be the result of (mainly industrial) livestock farming. The research reviewed here focuses on the feasibility of reducing meat consumption in developed and transition countries, as this would—among other positive effects—reduce the global loss of biodiversity, the need for unsustainable agricultural practices and GHG emissions. This article reviews the barriers, opportunities and steps that need to be taken in order to encourage the consumption of less meat, based on an interdisciplinary and multifactor approach. The evidence is gathered from a systematic meta-analysis of factors (including personal, sociocultural and external factors) that influence individual meat-eating behaviour. The most relevant factors that influence behaviour appear to be emotions and cognitive dissonance (between knowledge, conflicting values and actual behaviour) and sociocultural factors (e.g. social norms or social identity). For different factors and groups of people, different strategies are appropriate. For example, for men and older people deploying the health argument or arguing for flexitarianism (reduced meat consumption) may prove the most promising approaches, while providing emotional messages or promoting new social norms is recommended in order to address barriers such as cognitive dissonance.

Socioeconomic segregation in European capital cities. Increasing separation between poor and rich

ABSTRACTSocioeconomic inequality is on the rise in major European cities, as are concerns over it, since it is seen as a threat to social cohesion and stability. Surprisingly, relatively little is known about the spatial dimensions of rising socioeconomic inequality. This paper builds on a study of socioeconomic segregation in 12 European cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, London, Madrid, Oslo, Prague, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vienna, and Vilnius. Data used derive from national censuses and registers for 2001 and 2011. The main conclusion is that socioeconomic segregation has increased. This paper develops a rigorous multifactor approach to understand segregation and links it to four underlying, partially overlapping, structural factors: social inequalities, globalization and economic restructuring, welfare regimes, and housing systems. Taking into account contextual factors resulted in a better understanding of actual segregation levels, while introducing time lags between structural factors and segregation outcomes will likely further improve the theoretical model.

Water Productivity in Agriculture: Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature

Expectations are that the agricultural sector will have to expand the use of water for irrigation to meet rising food demand, while at the same time the competition for water resources is growing in many regions. Increasing water productivity in agriculture is widely seen as a critical response to help address this challenge. Yet much of the public debate is vague on the meaning of agricultural water productivity — often emphasizing “more crop per drop” as if water were the only input that mattered —, and approaches for assessing and increasing water productivity are seldom addressed systematically. This paper discusses conceptual issues that should be kept in mind when assessing agricultural water productivity, and presents findings from what may be the first survey of the agricultural productivity and efficiency literature with regard to the explicit inclusion of water aspects in productivity and efficiency measurements. The survey comprises studies applying single-factor productivity (SFP) measures, total factor productivity (TFP) indices and frontier models. Studies using deductive methods are also included. A key finding is that the studies tend to either incorporate field- and basin-level aspects but focus only on a single input (water), or they apply multi-factor approaches but do not tackle the basin-level aspects. It seems that no study has yet presented an approach that accounts for multiple inputs and basin-level issues. Deductive methods may provide the flexibility to overcome some of the limitations of the other methods.

Digital Human Models for Automated Ultrasound User Interface Design

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to describe the development of a new technology for the automated analysis and design definition of Ultrasound (US) system User Interfaces (UI) and US transducers. US examination is a real-time multi-factor approach, which involves the whole sonographer’s body; its automated evaluation, analysis and design must take into account many different factors and aspects which need to be evaluated and implemented. The proposed technology, based on Digital Human Modeling (DHM) systems, would get input from multi-factor technologies such as Motion Analysis, Eye Tracking, Superficial Electromyography, Stereo Imaging and also physical information such as temperature, ECG, respiration activity, etc., applied to different US users for different clinical applications and protocols. The utilization of DHM to manage and analyze these diverse requirements would drive the automated optimization of system design, in terms of ergonomics and workflow.