New Framework For Assessment Research Articles

A new framework for assessment of park management in smart cities: a study based on social media data and deep learning

Urban park management assessment is critical to park operation and service quality. Traditional assessment methods cannot comprehensively assess park use and environmental conditions. Besides, although social media and big data have shown significant advantages in understanding public behavior or preference and park features or values, there has been little relevant research on park management assessment. This study proposes a deep learning-based framework for assessing urban park intelligent management from macro to micro levels with comment data from social media. By taking seven parks in Wuhan City as the objects, this study quantitatively assesses their overall state and performance in facilities, safety, environment, activities, and services, and reveals their main problems in management. The results demonstrate the impacts of various factors, including park type, season, and specific events such as remodeling and refurbishment, on visitor satisfaction and the characteristics of individual parks and their management. Compared with traditional methods, this framework enables real-time intelligent assessment of park management, which can accurately reflect park use and visitor feedback, and improve park service quality and management efficiency. Overall, this study provides important reference for intelligent park management assessment based on big data and artificial intelligence, which can facilitate the future development of smart cities.

PP70 Enhancing HTA Processes In The Maltese System For Introducing New Medicines

IntroductionMost European countries use Health Technology Assessment (HTA) as input for decisions on reimbursement of (new) medicines. In 2018, following the approval of European Social Funding, the Directorate for Pharmaceutical Affairs (DPA) within the Malta Ministry for Health led a specific Work Package aimed at enhancing knowledge, skills and HTA processes to inform reimbursement decisions.MethodsSince the start of the project, the Institute for Medical Technology Assessment (iMTA) and the National Health Care Institute of the Netherlands (ZIN) collaborate in providing guidance and training to DPA on relative effectiveness assessments (REAs) and pharmacoeconomic assessments (PEAs) of pharmaceuticals. Several activities were organized: site visits, face-to face interviews with stakeholders, a qualitative assessment of the core process of the Maltese system, health economics training and tutorials, meetings introducing the European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) and Dutch HTA processes, development of a new framework for assessment, and a shadow assessment.ResultsOur assessment identified important methodological challenges and crucial processes interdependencies to optimize within the Maltese system. Based on the learnings, DPA created a template based on the EUnetHTA REA assessment format. IMTA created a template to perform PEAs. Currently, a shadow assessment is ongoing in which DPA performs the REA and PEA of a pharmaceutical using the new templates. ZIN and iMTA will provide feedback to DPA on several aspects, including, but not limited to, the PICO, assessment of therapeutic efficacy and safety, identifying uncertainties, input costs and effects, and formulating a clear discussion of the assessment. If necessary, the templates will be adapted during the process. The project will be evaluated and finalized in 2022.ConclusionsWith the guidance and training provided by iMTA and ZIN, DPA structured and aligned their REA and PEA to enhance their assessment process and to improve the presentation of their HTA report to the two appraisal committees. This project emphasizes the importance of international collaboration to enhance HTA processes within the

A new framework for flood damage assessment considering the within-event time evolution of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability

Commonly adopted procedures for flood damage assessment are based on functions of the hazard that depend on the item under investigation (e.g., an area, a building), and on the vulnerability of exposed items. Available flood damage models make use of summary indicators, usually correspondent to the worst conditions expected during the flood event (e.g., the maximum flooded area, the envelop of maximum water depths, the maximum presence of people in the area, etc.), which cannot properly describe the time evolution of hazard and exposure during the flood event. This is an important limitation, as the flood damage also depends on how the involved processes evolve in time. In the present work, we propose a new framework for the assessment of flood damage that considers how damage evolves in time within a single flood event. The goal is achieved by computing flood damage by integrating over time the rate at which damage progresses, which in turn depends on time-varying hydraulic conditions and exposure. Application to schematic, yet realistic, examples shows the effectiveness of the method and its potential in flood risk assessment and management.

Redefining Quality Assessment in Canadian K-12 Schools With Empathy, Critical Consciousness and Metacognition

Over the past decades, educational pedagogies have been shaped by many theorists and frameworks. For the purpose of this paper, the researchers define educational pedagogy through a lens that is influenced by Paulo Freire. For instance, educational pedagogy can be defined as seeking a balance within the tension between freedom and authority, while navigating the challenging structures that shape educational institutions (Freire, 2005, 2020). These structures include the impact of lived experiences and realities, the role of curricula, and the changing interactions within society that influence the pedagogical frameworks in education (Freire, 2020). This paper begins to consider a new framework for assessment and evaluation in Ontario, Canada’s K-12 schools, where educational pedagogy, empathy, metacognition, and critical consciousness may be posited as potential components moving forward. This paper deeply examines these three key elements of effective and authentic assessment: empathy, critical consciousness and metacognition. Each of these terms is defined and situated in a 21C digital learning context, and the authors suggest that new directions in assessment and evaluation must consider these three significant as fundamental to any redesign of assessment practices. Consideration may be given to the perspectives and experiences of educational leaders, educators, students, and their communities, and how these perspectives can shape the values and how we meet the challenges in education. Pedagogy in practice can often reflect the strategies and beliefs that influence educators’ values and choices, and the resulting impact on learning. Part of these pedagogical considerations may include the development of empathy, critical consciousness and metacognition throughout the assessment and evaluation process. Using a Canadian context, the authors argue that post-pandemic learners require a different set of tools to learn, and post-pandemic teachers need to reconfigure the ways in which that learning is measured, assessed and evaluated.
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A New Framework for Assessment of Offshore Wind Farm Location

Offshore wind energy has become a hot spot in new-energy development due to its abundant reserves, long power generation time, high unit capacity and low land occupation. In response to the current situation whereby wind energy, and natural and human factors have not been taken into account in the selection of sites for offshore wind-energy-resource development in the traditional “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” region, this paper intends to establish a new risk assessment framework that comprehensively considers the influence of wind resources, the natural environment, and the geopolitical and humanistic environment. The rationality of the new index system and weight determination methods are separately investigated. Some interesting results are obtained by comparing the new framework with traditional frameworks. The results show that the Persian Gulf, the Timor Sea in northern Australia, and the northern part of Sri Lanka in southern India are rich in wind-energy resources and have a low overall risk, making them recommended sites. In addition, unlike the results of previous studies, this paper does not recommend the Somali Sea as a priority area for wind-energy siting due to its high geographic humanity risks.

A framework for earthquake resilience at neighborhood level

PurposeDespite long decades of research studies in the field of urban neighborhood resilience, there are still some unknown dimensions. In this regard, the study aims to develop a new framework for assessment of physical and social resilience at neighborhood level against earthquake.Design/methodology/approachAccordingly, first all indicators affecting earthquake resilience at neighborhood level have been determined. Subsequently, they have been weighted and prioritized, using analytical hierarchy process technique. One of the neighborhoods of Tehran city in Iran was selected for the case study. Then, four criteria of “robustness,” “redundancy,” “rapidity” and “resourcefulness” were considered as the basis for assessing neighborhood resilience.FindingsIt is shown that besides four well-known criteria, four other criteria including “adaptability,” “regularity,” “density” and “efficiency” should also be considered to assess earthquake resilience at neighborhood level. Therefore, a new framework is developed and formulated at this level. Paying attention to all eight criteria, the appropriate interventions to improve resiliency can be addressed.Practical implicationsThis study proposes several practical approaches toward the more resilient neighborhoods against earthquakes. By considering the complexity and dynamic characteristics of earthquake resilience, it recommends the implementation of all resilience phases at every neighborhood to increase resilience.Originality/valueThis study proposes a framework in which in addition to physical and tangible indicators of resilience, non-physical and intangible ones are presented. Also, it is shown that besides well-known criteria, other criteria should also be considered using practical and community-based approaches.

Composite Indicators for Data Mining: A New Framework for Assessment of Prediction Classifiers

Composite Indicators for Data Mining: A New Framework for Assessment of Prediction Classifiers

Why Plea-Bargaining Fails to Achieve Results in So Many Criminal Justice Systems: A New Framework for Assessment

The myth of American exceptionalism in the matter of plea-bargaining is certainly by now quite untrue. In addition to forming an important part of criminal procedure in the United Kingdom, plea-bargaining has been transplanted to several civil law countries such as France and Italy. Informal versions, based on non-trial settlement, have been observed in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and around the world. The Law and Economics literature on plea-bargaining views it as an efficient instrument of criminal procedure because it reduces enforcement costs (for both parties) and allows the prosecutor to concentrate on more meritorious cases. Yet the success of transplants relies on the existence of appropriate incentives, and the detailed study of the Italian experience provides a good indication that the traditional inquisitorial system might not generate such incentives. Instead, this article offers a new theory emphasizing the role of the prosecutor and that of the defence counsel. We argue that the incentives of the prosecutor and those of the defence counsellor are determinants of the success or failure of plea-bargaining. We are sceptical that plea-bargaining can lead to or is consistent with the desirable outcome in many circumstances. In particular, a major implication of our analysis is that the comparative efficiency of plea-bargaining to a larger extent depends on the possibility of a legal system to address the multiple principle-agent problems in criminal litigation.

Combining Forest-Level Analysis with Options Valuation Approach—A New Framework for Assessing Forestry Investment

Abstract The conventional forest investment assessment at the stand level has difficulty dealing with multiple decisions and capturing the operational flexibility involved in timber production. By combining forest-level analysis with the options valuation approach, this article suggests a new framework for forestry investment assessment. We first articulate the new framework and discuss a few technical issues encountered in adopting it. Then, we present three empirical examples (entry decision, land acquisition, and harvest timing) to illustrate how forest-level analysis and/or real options valuation can be done and what we may learn from this type of exercise. We believe that while adopting this new framework entails challenges, it represents a great opportunity to expand the field of forest investment assessment. FOR. SCI. 47(4):475–483.

A new framework for assessment of potassium-buffering mechanisms.

A new concept, that of "buffer capacity," is defined for potassium-buffering mechanisms in neural tissue. Buffer capacities for different mechanisms can be added and compared, thus simplifying quantitative assessment of diffusion, cytoplasmic uptake, and spatial buffering under varied conditions. The characteristic frequency components for potassium disturbances due to neural events are identified. The effect of buffering by a reservoir of fluid at a tissue surface is analyzed, together with its intrinsic limitations. The role of retinal Müller cells in spatial buffering is considered quantitatively: both buffering to the tissue surface and buffering sideways through cell-to-cell connections.

Agency and Client Resistance

The concept of client resistance is redefined in dynamic systemic terms to provide a new framework for assessment and intervention with resistant families. This reformulation should help the clinician and the agency to strengthen and redirect transformation forces in the client-family system.