Problem Of Diversification Research Articles

Analysis of the criteria selection problem in diversification models

The digitalization of the economy reduces the cost of doing business by automating the relevant processes, but any transformation creates new risks and economic instability. Economic instability leads to a drop in the standard of living and, as a result, negatively affects the activities of trade enterprises. Small and medium businesses are especially sensitive to any changes. The decrease in demand for most everyday goods has a painful effect on the activities of small and medium-sized businesses and leads to the emergence of new risks. These risks have a significant impact on reducing the profitability of enterprises. Therefore, it is important for each enterprise to diversify the activities of the enterprise, which includes the expansion of the product range, the reorientation of sales markets and the optimal distribution of goods between divisions of one enterprise. The subject of the article is multi-criteria models of a diversified portfolio that minimize the risks that arise in the era of the digital economy when managing retail chains. To formalize the problem, five models are proposed that differ in vector objective functions, both in the quantity and quality of the selected criteria. The aim of the work is to analyze the problem of choosing criteria in the corresponding multicriteria or vector diversification problems. The article examines the advantages of introducing an additional criterion of entropy maximization into the criteria of the classical two-criteria model of portfolio theory, which characterizes the degree of diversity of the portfolio composition. A complex combination of methods of classical portfolio theory and multicriteria optimization is applied. The results include a comparison of three methods for solving the following problems: criteria convolution, successive concessions, and computer simulation of the Pareto set. Conclusions: the results obtained will be useful for automating the risk management of retail chains. The practical value is that the obtained results of real data for the network have demonstrated the possibility of using the developed tool for automatic allocation of resources in the form of pareto-optimal portfolios in order to minimize risks.

Livelihood Diversification in Eastern Rural India: Problem and Prospects

In the country like India where the occupation has mainly been the dominancy of agriculture, livelihood diversification has become remarkable means and opportunities for transforming the living condition of the rural people through thriving the available resources for a long-term consequence on them. The rural areas of eastern India, which have been mostly occupied by the tribal population i.e., Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha have been chosen to conduct this research regarding the problem and prospect of livelihood diversification on the basis of their comparison. The result has enunciated and organized that various antecedents of the problems can be broadly group in to social, physical, financial, natural and human factors. Thus, in these rural areas, livelihood diversification through on-farm sector become more preferable and suitable rather than off-farm due to their traditional occupational practiced and mindset as well as many unconformities that have been acted as a hindrance factor. Keywords: Livelihood diversification, Tribal Community, Rural development, Eastern rural India.

THE MAIN COMPONENTS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE FORMATION OF AN EFFECTIVE INFRASTRUCTURE TO ENSURE THE ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE AGRARIAN SECTOR OF THE REGION IN CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION

Now in Ukraine, the reform of the national regulation of regional economic development through decentralization is very important. To solve the problem of regional diversification of the economy, it is necessary to apply the method of reproduction for the

YogaErie: the growth decision

Research methodology This case is based on an existing firm. The names have not been changed, and all data on the firm’s history and opportunities is accurate. Primary data is based on interviews with the owner of the firm. One of the authors is a client of the studio and friend of the owner. The case has been reviewed and approved by Jill Murphey, owner of yogaErie. The purpose of this paper is to introduce students to industry analysis, to entrepreneurial decisions and to issues with organizational growth and change. Case overview/synopsis Jill Murphey, owner of Yoga Erie, is considering whether to or how to expand her studio operations into adjacent communities. Her studio has been very successful since she opened in 2009: the studio has been named Erie’s Best for most of the years since then. Classes were filled and students were asking about the prospects of a satellite studio in other parts of the community. Information on the options Murphey was considering are presented as well as Murphey’s motivations in opening her own studio, and the opportunities as well as concerns she faced in the expansion decision. Complexity academic level This case was originally targeted toward graduate and undergraduate courses in Strategy because of the industry definition and diversification problems but can also be used in classes on Organizational Change or Entrepreneurship.

Non Adimpleti Contractus and a Problem of Overinclusiveness in International Law

This article discusses the problem of diversification of grounds for treaty suspension in international law, focusing specifically on exceptio non adimpleti contractus (exception of non-performance), which is a defence allowing the party to refuse the performance of an obligation under the legal instrument if the other party has not performed its respective reciprocal obligation. In contrast to the leading opinion, exceptio non adimpleti contractus not only exists in public international law but also creates a tangible problem of its overinclusiveness. In conjunction with clearly formulated grounds for treaty suspension in treaty law and the law of state responsibility, exceptio non adimpleti contractus enables States to extricate themselves from inconvenient treaty obligations without the burden of stiff limitations of binding rules of international law. The fluidity of exceptio non adimpleti contractus is aggravated by the fact that very few cases of its application by States have been evaluated by international tribunals. This allows States to overindulge in applying it as an unjustified means of last resort. A commonly used normative approach will not help in treating legal loopholes like the one represented by exceptio non adimpleti contractus. This article posits that the most practical strategy to tackle the problem of overinclusiveness of international law is to rely on ‘reversible rewards’ or ‘sticks and carrots’ found at the intersection of international law and behavioural economics.

The Investment Balance Index and its Role in Economic Diversity: Sultanate of Oman, North al Batinah Governorate: Sohar Province as an Example

Purpose: The study aimed to clarify the reflection of the disparity in the growth of the productive sectors on the degree of economic diversification in the Sultanate of Oman, and to propose work according to the standards of the Tawazun Investment Index as an attempt to reduce the disparity and achieve balance in the growth of the non-oil productive sectors, and to find out the extent to which investor segments are satisfied with working according to those standards in an environment investment. Theoretical Framework: Many studies that dealt with the issue of economic diversification agreed that despite the many and great efforts that the guardian authorities worked on translating to achieve the goal and strategy of economic diversification, they did not reach the desired level, and this reflects the lack of a specific theory in itself capable of resolving this problem and that it is necessary to focus On other aspects, to find out the extent to which economic diversification programs can succeed and reach the level of complete or required diversification. Design/Methodology/Approach: The descriptive and analytical methods were used to cover the theoretical aspect of the study, and the statistical method was used to address the analytical aspects of the subject of the study through a questionnaire designed specifically for this purpose, and the questionnaire was unpacked and analyzed through the statistical analysis program (SPSS). Findings: The results showed that the outputs represented in the growth of the non-oil productive sectors are a reflection of the inputs represented in the number of economic institutions and establishments and the number of workers in the non-oil productive sectors. The results of the statistical analysis showed that all forward-looking economic policies to enable the investment climate are important and serve the investment climate. Practical and Social Implications: This study proposes working according to the Tawazun Investment Index criteria as an attempt to maximize the economic diversification programs in the Sultanate of Oman. Originality/Value: This study provides researchers and decision-makers in the Sultanate of Oman with illumination for an attempt to address the problem of economic diversification and the use of practical solutions to maximize economic diversification programs by working according to the criteria of the proposed Tawazun Investment Index.

Result diversification with negative type distances by multi-objective evolutionary algorithms

The result diversification problem is to select an optimal subset with high “quality” and “diversity” from a given ground set of items, which is popular in various applications such as web-based search, multi-document summarization and ensemble pruning. The diversity relies on the distance between items. Previous works mainly focused on metric distances, and applied a greedy or local search algorithm with theoretical guarantees. As a kind of global search algorithm inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution, evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can have a better optimization ability than greedy and local search, but often lack theoretical support. Recently, EAs have been introduced to result diversification, achieving good theoretical guarantees besides superior empirical performances. In this paper, we study whether EAs can still achieve good theoretical guarantees for result diversification with negative type distances, which are also a class of important dissimilarity measures, especially in information retrieval and sketching techniques. We propose to reformulate the result diversification problem with negative type distances as a bi-objective maximization problem, and solve it by multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). We prove that a simple MOEA (i.e., GSEMO) can achieve the best-known polynomial-time approximation ratio. Experiments are also performed to examine the performance of different MOEAs on the application of web-based search.

The Algerian agricultural sector between the question of food security and its implication in economic diversification strategy

AbstractThe agricultural sector in Algeria has always sparked a fascinating and captivating debate for years, in particular in the phase of economic transition started and triggered after the sharp fall in the price of the barrel and the need to adapt to the new, more liberal, and opened economic mechanism. Many scientific writings were devoted to this subject, in particular O. Bessaoud, S. Bedrani, M. Boukella, A. Daoudi, A. Djennane, and others, trying to demonstrate and approve the crucial role played by this sector in the national economy, others to enumerate and identify the hiccups and obstacles to the smooth running of it, but the result remains that agriculture (in all its branches and sub‐activities) does not seem to reach its cruising speed and is content just to meet the expectations and needs of domestic consumers, with particular attention to the prices and quality of products and goods supplied. Of course, we must not deny the efforts made by the State to revive this sector, through the investment programs and the financial envelopes granted, the most resounding consists in the PNDAR (National Agricultural and Rural Development Program) at the beginning 2000, but the result shows a deplorable situation, which does not find a real argument and explanation, despite the innumerable interventions of local administrations (banks, taxes, insurance, justice, customs, and others). So we find ourselves faced with a state of affairs that hardly favors a serious enough reflection on the future deadlines of the sector, in particular in a context where the question of food security arises acutely and the return to the problem of economic diversification (in which a more preponderant and crucial role is reserved for the agricultural sector) is making a strong comeback on the national scene. Our main problem is as follows: “Could the agricultural sector in Algeria succeed to guarantee food security and a contribution in the economic diversification of the State.” For this purpose, some findings can be traced such as the economic perspectives of agriculture, the question of food security, the future of Algerian economy, the policy and strategy of economic diversification, and others. The main results expected turned mainly about the evolution of agricultural products for food consumption, the tools to manage the policy of food security, the means used to realize the economic diversification, and the nature of relation between the agricultural sector and the economic diversification. The scientific methods to be exploited in this paper will be mainly a descriptive analysis based on exploring the agricultural production, the food's consumption evolution, and the evolution of some macroeconomic indicators. Regarding this fact, we will try, in this paper, to seriously and objectively examine what role this sector can play in a double vision: ensuring food security for the population and getting involved in economic diversification initiatives for better economic international competitiveness.

ТЕОРЕТИЧНЕ ОБҐРУНТУВАННЯ ОЦІНЮВАННЯ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ДИВЕРСИФІКАЦІЇ ВИРОБНИЦТВА АГРАРНОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

Diversification of activities in a market economy allows agricultural enterprises to quickly restructure depending on economic conditions to reduce risks, flexibly respond to changing demand structure, maintain and most efficiently use human, logistical and financial resources. In general, this process is the inclusion in the economic structure of the enterprise of new activities with significantly different qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The chaotic diversification of domestic enterprises is not only due to their low market activity, lack of public policy, but also the lack of specialists who can make the process conscious and useful for businesses. For agricultural enterprises, the problem of effective diversification remains very important, as such a transformation allows to solve the problem of reducing costs, eliminating dependence on suppliers and subcontractors, the formation of working capital, maximum use of capacity in general. The main reasons for diversification are to increase the economic efficiency of the enterprise at the moment and in the long run, as well as economic stability and financial stability, growth, profits, competitiveness with full use of resources. The nature of the activities of diversified enterprises and associations, their similarities and differences are mainly due to two factors. The action of one is related to the technical and technological features of the products and its volumes, the other - depends on the nature of demand for products (services) (mass, serial, single). These parameters determine the conditions and incentives for entrepreneurial activity, and, consequently, the scale and direction of diversification.
 The effectiveness of diversification in the social aspect is manifested in the increase in the number of new jobs due to the expansion of the organization, the release of new products of improved quality that fully meets the needs of both target audience and newly attracted consumers.

Result diversification by multi-objective evolutionary algorithms with theoretical guarantees

Given a ground set of items, the result diversification problem aims to select a subset with high “quality” and “diversity” while satisfying some constraints. It arises in various real-world artificial intelligence applications, such as web-based search, document summarization and feature selection, and also has applications in other areas, e.g., computational geometry, databases, finance and operations research. Previous algorithms are mainly based on greedy or local search. In this paper, we propose to reformulate the result diversification problem as a bi-objective maximization problem, and solve it by a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (EA), i.e., the GSEMO. We theoretically prove that the GSEMO can achieve the (asymptotically) optimal theoretical guarantees under both static and dynamic environments. For cardinality constraints, the GSEMO can achieve the optimal polynomial-time approximation ratio, 1/2. For more general matroid constraints, the GSEMO can achieve an asymptotically optimal polynomial-time approximation ratio, 1/2−ϵ/(4n), where ϵ>0 and n is the size of the ground set of items. Furthermore, when the objective function (i.e., a linear combination of quality and diversity) changes dynamically, the GSEMO can maintain this approximation ratio in polynomial running time, addressing the open question proposed by Borodin et al. [7]. This also theoretically shows the superiority of EAs over local search for solving dynamic optimization problems for the first time, and discloses the robustness of the mutation operator of EAs against dynamic changes. Experiments on the applications of web-based search, multi-label feature selection and document summarization show the superior performance of the GSEMO over the state-of-the-art algorithms (i.e., the greedy algorithm and local search) under both static and dynamic environments.

Optimizing a portfolio of agri-environmental investments

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to substantiate theoretical-and-methodological provisions for building investment portfolios in agribusiness by the criterion of minimizing environmental risk of selected investment-financing strategies.
 Methodology / approach. In the article, on the basis of the dialectical method of cognition, the following methods were used: abstract-logical – in the systematization of scientific papers on the problem of diversification and optimization of the agricultural investment portfolio; system analysis and comparison – in the study of portfolio theories and concepts; computational and constructive – in the analysis of environmental-and-economic factors of the profitability of agricultural land use; economic-and-mathematical modeling – in the process of modeling the optimal portfolio of agri-environmental investments by the criterion of minimizing the risk of a particular investor, caused by the action of soil degradation factor in Sumy region. The materials of the Main Department of Statistics in Sumy region and the Sumy regional branch of the Institute of Soil Protection of Ukraine have formed the informational basis of the research.
 Results. The optimization of the agri-environmental investment portfolio is due to the modification of the approach by the American Economist H. Markowitz “risk-return analysis” and its adaptation to the conditions of real investment. The paper uses a conservative approach to investment, which involves the construction of portfolios on the criterion of minimizing investment risk due to the influence of soil degradation for a particular investor. This factor requires the determination of the investor’s environmentally related risk, which manifests itself in the following directions: a) a decrease in crop yield due to the action of the factor of high soil pH; b) a decrease in the sales price for crop products because of contamination with heavy metals; c) an increase in the cost of agricultural production in deteriorated ecological conditions. Evaluation of agribusiness investment attractiveness on environmental-and-economic grounds provides for the consideration of the above areas from the standpoint of state, banking, foreign investment and self-investment. Assessment of investment quality identification is performed on the basis of calculation of the investor’s income elasticities to environmental risks on the example of Sumy region, which provides investment rationality decisions in the field of agricultural land use, considering environmental factors. It is substantiated that the highest investment quality is characterized by the bank’s investment financing strategy.
 Originality / scientific novelty. The methodological approach to the definition of investor’s environmental risk in agricultural land use is improved. It is calculated considering the influence of factors of environmental destruction of land and soil resources (soil pH, pollution with heavy metals, etc.) on sources of profit, as well as with the definition of returns on investment resources (crop yield, ecological sales price, and income). The system of environmental-and-economic indicators in the formation of the investment portfolio is substantiated, including the following: the structure of investments, which is developed considering the influence of the environmental factor; portfolio investment risk due to environmental factors; and the investment portfolio yield adjusted for the level of environmental risk which provides an assessment of the investment attractiveness of agricultural land use on an environmental-economic basis. A methodical approach to substantiate investment decisions in the agriculture of the Sumy region is proposed, which along with considering the environmental factor, is in calculating the elasticities of investor’s income to the environmental-and-economic risks, which increase the correctness of financial decision-making.
 Practical value / implications. Theoretical-and-methodological provisions and conclusions obtained in the study can be used to justify the direction of investment capital in the field of agricultural land use, considering the level of environmental-and-economic constraints.

Application of Image Denoising Method Based on Two-Way Coupling Diffusion Equation in Public Security Forensics

This paper uses the web live broadcast and on-demand platform based on the B/S architecture as the application side and designs a video image forensic system that can meet multiple police types and multiple application scenarios. The system uses mobile phones as the video image capture terminal to solve the problem of rapid response and concealment and uses 5G communication technology as the transmission medium to solve the problem of device mobility and link maintenance. The problem of diversification of the use and application modes of multiple police types is solved; the video image evidence is managed in a centralized storage, audit, and export method, and the security and authenticity of the evidence are solved. While the system realizes a series of functions such as the collection, transmission, storage, and application of video image evidence, it also realizes the application-side video image live broadcast function according to actual work needs and solves the large-scale case command and decision-making problem that has been plagued by public security organs. In order to remove the noise in the public security forensic images and to smooth the noise while retaining the details of the image, this paper proposes a denoising algorithm based on the two-way coupling diffusion equation. By improving the second-order partial differential equation, a new diffusion function with better diffusion effect than the original model is constructed. We combined the adaptive edge threshold and stop criterion to establish a new denoising algorithm model, which can get better denoising results. When the noise level is low, the PSNR value and SSIM value of several denoising methods are relatively ideal, and the result is at a higher level, the denoising picture effect is better, and there is no obvious incomplete noise removal or detail problems. As the noise level increases, the denoising results will gradually decrease, and the effects will also vary to different degrees. When the noise intensity increases, visually, it can be clearly seen that the two-way coupled diffusion equation and DnCNN have better denoising effects. When the noise level is high, the two-way coupled diffusion equation network is used to use the clear image and the denoised image for indistinguishable calculation. The method in this paper almost retains all the texture details in the clear image, and there are almost no artifacts and images. On the other hand, the color of the image after denoising by the method in this paper is more vivid, and it is closer to the target picture in terms of picture definition and tone, the denoising effect is ideal, and the generated image has a higher degree of restoration. Compared with the residual GAN, the two-way coupling diffusion equation network converges faster and the network performance is improved.

Search results diversification for effective fair ranking in academic search

Providing users with relevant search results has been the primary focus of information retrieval research. However, focusing on relevance alone can lead to undesirable side effects. For example, small differences between the relevance scores of documents that are ranked by relevance alone can result in large differences in the exposure that the authors of relevant documents receive, i.e., the likelihood that the documents will be seen by searchers. Therefore, developing fair ranking techniques to try to ensure that search results are not dominated, for example, by certain information sources is of growing interest, to mitigate against such biases. In this work, we argue that generating fair rankings can be cast as a search results diversification problem across a number of assumed fairness groups, where groups can represent the demographics or other characteristics of information sources. In the context of academic search, as in the TREC Fair Ranking Track, which aims to be fair to unknown groups of authors, we evaluate three well-known search results diversification approaches from the literature to generate rankings that are fair to multiple assumed fairness groups, e.g. early-career researchers vs. highly-experienced authors. Our experiments on the 2019 and 2020 TREC datasets show that explicit search results diversification is a viable approach for generating effective rankings that are fair to information sources. In particular, we show that building on xQuAD diversification as a fairness component can result in a significant (p<0.05) increase (up to 50% in our experiments) in the fairness of exposure that authors from unknown protected groups receive.

Searching for Galactic H ii Regions from the LAMOST Spectroscopic Database

In this paper, we pioneer a new machine-learning method to search for H ii regions in spectra from The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST). H ii regions are emission nebulae created when young and massive stars ionize nearby gas clouds with high-energy ultraviolet radiation. Having more H ii region samples will help us understand the formation and evolution of stars. Machine-learning methods are often applied to search for special celestial bodies such as H ii regions. LAMOST has conducted spectral surveys and provided a wealth of valuable spectra for the research of special and rare celestial bodies. To overcome the problem of sparse positive samples and diversification of negative samples, a novel method called the self-calibrated convolution network is introduced and implemented for spectral processing. A deep network classifier with a structure called a self-calibrated block provides a high precision rate, and the recall rate is improved by adding the strategy of positive-unlabeled bagging. Experimental results show that this method can achieve better performance than other current methods. Eighty-nine spectra are identified as Galactic H ii regions after cross-matching with the WISE Catalog of Galactic H ii Regions, confirming the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper.

Exact solution for the portfolio diversification problem based on maximizing the risk adjusted return

The potential benefits of portfolio diversification have been known to investors for a long time. Markowitz (1952) suggested the seminal approach for optimizing the portfolio problem based on finding the weights as budget shares that minimize the variance of the underlying portfolio. Hatemi-J and El-Khatib (2015) suggested finding the weights that will result in maximizing the risk adjusted return of the portfolio. This approach seems to be preferred by the rational investors since it combines risk and return when the optimal budget shares are sought for. The current paper provides a general solution for this risk adjusted return problem that can be utilized for any potential number of assets that are included in the portfolio. An application is also provided in order to investigate the potential portfolio diversification benefits between the three largest financial markets in the world.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Value added mechanism and organisational model optimisation of agricultural products circulation value chain from the perspective of game theory

This article has been retracted from publication in the Taylor & Francis journal, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science. Following publication, concerns were raised by multiple third-parties around the content of the special issue and the decision-making process. Following an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief, it was confirmed that this article included in Special Issue titled “ Envisage Computer Modelling and Statistics for Agriculture”, guest edited by Gunasekaran Manogaran was not peer-reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal's peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines.

Global trade and health: an Indonesian perspective on the asean medical device directive policy

Purpose: Health care equipment international trade could serve a new strategic revenue for Indonesia. Since its implementation in 2015, AFTA has been a very strategic issue in creating export opportunities for its member countries. One of the sectors that becomes a priority for ASEAN integration is in the field of medical devices which is regulated in the ASEAN Medical Device Directive (AMDD) policy. Indonesia itself has officially ratified AMDD policy since 2018, but Indonesia will have been facing the problem of quality, innovation and diversification of medical devices. This study examines the competitiveness opportunities for domestic medical devices in ASEAN Free Trade Area. Method: This study used a qualitative method where information was obtained from in-depth interviews and document review. The informants came from policy makers, implementing officers, and stakeholders. Results: Indonesia has harmonized 26 out of 31 standards mandated by AMDD. Conformity assessment bodies in Indonesia that have been certified by the National Accreditation Committee have received international recognition. Indonesia has many potential exporting innovative medical devices to ASEAN countries. Fulfillment of medical devices is carried out through compulsory licensing and parallel import mechanism.

Developing a model parameter optimization of coal mines under diversification

Purpose. To propose a new methodological approach to optimizing the parameters of the functioning of coal mines in the context of diversification. The methods. The production flows of coal mines are considered, as well as production functions. To solve the problem of diversification of production, the relationship between the types of resources expended, as well as the level of production in the form of raw materials, was compared. Based on the production function of Cobb-Douglas, a model of life support for the operation of a coal mine is built, considering the possibility of diversifying the activity. Findings. For the first time, the paper proposes a model for optimizing the parameters of mining in the context of diversification, which demonstrates the ratio of production functions and resources. With the help of the developed model, it is possible to trace in time the efficiency of the use of production resources, to determine the volume of production, to calculate the main parameters of the functioning of coal mines, to study at the expense of which resources the increase in productivity is achieved. The originality. For the first time, the possibility of diversifying mining activities by changing production flows is considered. Methodological recommendations for assessing the production activity of the mining complex are given. In this work, for the first time, to improve the efficiency of coal mines functioning, the internal potential of the technological scheme is considered, and the components that form it are analyzed. This made it possible to form management decisions, which consist in determining the volume of production, as well as the ratio between the attracted resources necessary to ensure the specified volume of production, constant monitoring of the use of resources, by establishing a rational ratio between fixed assets, labor, material resources; as well as establishing the interchangeability of productive flows in the aggregate balance sheet. Practical implementation. For practical application, the paper proposes a method for determining the rational volume of production from the standpoint of optimizing the production activities of an enterprise, as well as the ratio of production resources to achieve a given scale of production. Thus, there is an increase in capital productivity with the same degree of use of fixed assets, labor, materials. For the full and effective use of the technology, a specific example was considered to determine the optimal method of manufacturing products for a coal mining enterprise.

A Task-Oriented User Selection Incentive Mechanism in Edge-Aided Mobile Crowdsensing

The designs of existing incentive mechanisms in mobile crowdsensing (MCS) are primarily platform-centered or user-centered, while overlooking the multidimensional consideration of sensing task requirements. Therefore, the user selection fails to effectively address the task requirements or the relevant maximization and diversification problems. To tackle these issues, in this paper, with the aid of edge computing, we propose a task-oriented user selection incentive mechanism (TRIM), in an effort toward a task-centered design framework in MCS. Initially, an edge node is deployed to publish the sensing task according to its requirements, and constructs a task vector from multiple dimensions to maximize the satisfaction of the task requirements. Meanwhile, a sensing user constructs a user vector to formalize the personalized preferences for participating in the task response. Furthermore, by introducing a privacy-preserving cosine similarity computing protocol, the similarity level between the task vector and the user vector can be calculated, and subsequently a target user candidate set can be obtained according to the similarity level. In addition, considering the constraint of the task budget, the edge node performs a secondary sensing user selection based on the ratio of the similarity level and the expected reward of the sensing user. By designing a secure multi-party sorting protocol, enhanced by fuzzy closeness and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, the target user set is determined aiming at maximizing the similarity of the task requirements and the user's preferences, while minimizing the payment of the edge node, and ensuring the fairness of the sensing user being selected. The simulation results show that TRIM achieves feasible and efficient user selection while ensuring the privacy and security of the sensing user in MCS. Among the dynamic changes of task requirements, TRIM excels with user selections reaching nearly 90% on the data quality level compliance rate and 70% on the task budget consumption ratio, superior to the other incentive mechanisms.

Efektifitas Problem-based Learning dengan Brainwriting berbasis Masalah Diversifikasi Pangan terhadap Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis dan Berkomunikasi Siswa

This research aimed to examine the effectiveness of the implementation of Problem-based Learning with brainwriting method based on food diversification problem toward students’ critical thinking and communication skills. This was a quasi-experimental research using a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design, which involved two classes of 10th-grade student that selected by cluster random sampling, in a public high school at Bantul regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta. One class was managed as the experimental group, and another one was as the control group. The data of critical thinking skill were collected using an essay test instrument which analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, while communication skill data were collected through an observation protocol and analyzed descriptively. The findings of this research revealed that the Problem-based Learning instruction with brainwriting method was significantly more effective in developing students’ critical thinking and communication skills, as Mann-Whitney U test supported this result (p=0.00) as well as the descriptive analysis of the average scores of the skills. With this significance, Problem-based learning with the brainwriting method can be used as an example of a model and enrich the learning model implemented by teachers. These results are further discussed in this paper.