Approach For Quantitative Evaluation Research Articles

Assessment of the Level of Knowledge and Practices on Hand Hygiene among School going Children at Selected Districts, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: The practice of hand washing is a simple effective way to prevent infection cleaning of the hands can prevent the spread of germs and micro organisms. Hand hygiene is recognized as a leading measure to prevent cross –transmission of microorganism. Infection due to microbes is a evolving problem in worldwide and horizontal transmission of bacterial organisms to cause a high mortality rate increased. Hand washing with soap and water can prevent a significant proportion of childhood diarrhoea and respiratory infections, the two main global causes of child mortality. 
 Objectives: The objectives were to assess the existing level of knowledge and practice of school going children on hand washing, to find out the correlation between level of knowledge and practice on hand washing among school going children and to find out the association between level of knowledge and practices of school going children on hand washing with their selected demographic variables.
 Methods: A quantitative evaluative approach with descriptive research design was adopted. 50 school going children were selected by the purposive sampling technique.
 Results: The collected data was tabulated and analyzed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. In the level of knowledge majority of the school going children (52%) had inadequate knowledge, 28% of them were had moderately adequate knowledge and only 20% of them had adequate knowledge. The mean knowledge score on hand washing was 10.4 and the standard deviation was 4.31. The mean practice score on hand washing was 21.52 and the standard deviation was 7.4.
 Conclusion: The study results shows that most of the school children were having inadequate knowledge and less desirable practices of hand washing. A structured teaching program on hand washing is very important for incorporating the knowledge among school children.

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Mental health is essential for individual and public health. To improve mental health, promotion, prevention, and the treatment of disease are required. These three kinds of interventions are interrelated but independent from one another. Although separate efforts for mental health promotion and prevention are needed as well as the public need of mental health promotion and well-being, psychiatrists usually are not accustomed to mental health promotion and prevention. This review introduces an overview of the concept, subjects according to target populations, and various intervention strategies for mental health promotion and prevention of mental illnesses. SETINGS AND DESIGN: Quantitative evaluative research approach was discovered to be suitable for present study to check impact of structured teaching program on knowledge regarding mental health promotion and early identification of mental illness in adolescence among teachers in selected schools of Gujarat. One group pre-test and post-test Pre-Experimental Research Design was used. The population for the present study was 500 School teachers at selected district of Gujarat.

An innovative spectroscopic approach for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of Mb-CO from myoglobin carbonylation reaction through chemometrics methods

In this work, an innovative approach using K-means and multivariate curve resolution-purity based algorithm (MCR-Purity) for the evaluation and quantification of carboxymyoglobin (Mb-CO) formation from Deoxy-Myoglobin (Deoxy-Mb) was presented. Through a multilevel multifactor experimental design, samples with different concentrations of Mb-CO were created. The UV–Vis spectra of these samples were submitted to K-means analysis, finding 3 clusters. The mean spectra of the clusters were extracted and it was possible to detect 2 totally differentiable groups through peaks 423 and 434 nm, which are wavelengths related to the Mb-CO and Deoxy-Mb components, respectively. The spectral data were subjected to MCR-Purity analysis. The MCR-Purity result successfully described the analyzed reaction, explaining more than 99.9% of the variance (R2) with a LOF of 1.43%. Then, a predictive model of MbCO was created through the linear relationship between MCR-Purity contributions and known concentrations of MbCO. The performance parameters of the created predictive model were R2CV = 0.98, RMSECV = 0.58 and RPDcv = 7.8 for the training set, and R2P = 0.98, RMSEP = 0.7 and RPDp = 6.8 for the test set. Thus, the predictive model presented an excellent performance considering that the Mb-CO variation is comprised between 0 and 21 µM. Therefore, these results demonstrate that the application of the proposed strategy to the analysis of spectral data presenting overlapping bands is feasible and robust.

A framework for regional ecosystem authenticity evaluation–a case study on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China

Ecosystem authenticity is a concept for understanding the status of an ecosystem and provides useful information for making environmental management plans. However, approaches for quantitative ecosystem authenticity evaluation over large area are still rare. In this study, a conceptual framework of “Pattern-Process-Function-Resilience” is proposed to quantitatively evaluate regional ecosystem authenticity. Firstly, a composite index is calculated to estimate the self-adjustment ability and the level of biodiversity of the ecosystem. Then, the ratio between the composite indices are computed at the final and initial periods, and used to determine whether the ecosystem authenticity is protected or damaged, as well as the degrees to which the authenticity is protected or damaged by categorizing the ratio into five levels. A case study was conducted to quantify and evaluate the ecosystem authenticity over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and the alternative locations of its twenty national parks from 2000 to 2015. Results show that regions with protected or damaged ecosystem authenticity cover about 95% and 5% of the entire QTP, respectively. Five of the twenty national parks alternative locations have damaged ecosystem authenticity. Areas with damaged authenticity are mainly distributed over the southeastern QTP, which suffered from deforestation and increased frequency of mountain hazards, including debris flow, flash flood, landslide, collapse, and snow avalanche. The approach presented in this study is instrumental to support future case-specific management and restoration strategies.

A Kinematic Data Based Lower Limb Motor Function Evaluation Method for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation.

Recent studies have demonstrated that home-based rehabilitation for stroke patients has excellent potential in reducing the cost and enhancing rehabilitation efficiency. Nonetheless, a timely and accurate rehabilitation assessment is required to attain efficacy and provide feedback to both clinicians and patients. In this paper, a lower limb motor function assessment approach based on limb kinematic data has been presented. The kinematic characteristics of lower limbs were quantified into specific evaluation parameters, which were calculated during a set of selected rehabilitation exercises. A body area network composed of two triaxial accelerometers was used to acquire the limb kinematic data of twenty stroke patients and six healthy subjects. While a referenced template was developed using the data from healthy subjects, an empirical score was obtained to evaluate the lower-limb motor function of stroke patients from the calculated parameters. The results have demonstrated that the scoring has a statistically significant strong correlation with the Brunnstrom stage classification, which provides a practical quantitative evaluation approach for home-based rehabilitation for lower limbs of stroke patients.Clinical Relevance- The proposed quality assessment method provides practical technical support for performing early support discharge rehabilitation.

Effectiveness of Automation in Evaluating Test Results Using EvalBee as an Alternative Optical Mark Recognition (OMR): A Quantitative-Evaluative Approach from a Philippine Public School

AbstractWithin this study, the authors want to address the problem of overworking of teachers in Philippine schools due to their excessive clerical responsibility, which could lead to teacher attrition. The authors propose to automate the process, particularly the evaluation of student test results since it could improve human well-being by reducing the burden of manual labor. Automation using OMR has not been widely applied in Philippine schools due to cost issues. The authors want to observe whether an alternative OMR - EvalBee - can meet the evaluation standard even though it is free of charge. The study employed a quantitative-evaluative research method. Validated questionnaires on paper and a Google Form survey were used to collect relevant data in a secondary public school in the City Schools Division of Cabuyao – Southville1 Integrated National High School. Statistical tools such as the mean, standard deviation, t-test, and Cohen's d were used in this research to determine the effectiveness of using alternative OMR in evaluating examinations. This study shows that alternative OMR is efficient, accurate, and reliable, despite the fact that it is free, and recommends it be used as part of the teachers' standard method of test evaluation.

Data practices in quality evaluation and assessment: Two universities at a glance

AbstractAs the debate on data in the society and in education grows the attention on data‐trace as ‘primary material’ for governance, educational quality and innovation falls under the spotlights. In this context, HEIs have been put under pressure to adopt quantitative metrics and evaluation approaches enhancing the massive collection of trace data. Nonetheless, each university overall, and the academics specifically, might respond differently to this context of innovation. The present article aims to explore data practices in two higher education institutions. Two relevant areas for the imaginaries related to data and quantification were explored: (a) evaluation of quality in teaching and learning; (b) data to support assessment. The study is based on a survey distributed to the whole university teaching staff of two institutions. Descriptive and inferential statistics comparing multivariate sample means (MANOVA) were applied to 601 responses collected. The results indicated the prevalence of institutionally consolidated data practices relative to quality teaching evaluation, with fragmentation and isolation in some emerging data practices connected to decision‐making and teaching and learning. Moreover, each of the universities revealed distinct institutional profiles which could be put in connection with the organisational culture. The results are discussed in light of the potential strategies at the institutional level, particularly regarding faculty development as means to build a visible, contextualised data culture.

A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Moringa Oleifera Powder on Level of Pain and the Level of Activity among Clients with Osteoarthritis in Selected Community Area at Vellore District

India is facing a grave public health; with the prevalence of Osteoarthritis is being greater than 40%. An experimental study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of Moringa Oleifera powder on level of pain and the level of activity among Osteoarthritis clients. Quantitative evaluative approach was used for this study and the researcher adopted a Quasi- experimental research design. The sample size of the study was 60 Osteoarthritis clients in selected community area at Vellore, in which 30 were in experimental group and 30 were in control group. According to samples convenient and availability, convenient sampling technique was used to select the samples. The researcher adopted Imogene king’s goal attainment theory as a conceptual framework. Eight different hypothesis were tested in this study. The Structured interview schedule was used to collect the demographic and clinical variables. KOOS scale was used to assess the level of pain and the level of activity. Experimental group received intervention of Moringa Oleifera powder for 21 days and control group advised to follow daily routine and no intervention was given. For both the groups, on 22nd day the researcher was conducted posttest by using same tool. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in terms of frequency distribution, chi-square test. The study revealed that the mean posttest pain and activity score in experimental group was 20&17.37 respectively whereas in the control group, the mean posttest pain and activity score was 26.87&27.17. The mean difference was 6.07 &9.73. The obtained independent “t” value was 6.97 & 8.57 respectively, which is more than the table value (P<0.001) was highly significance. There is significant Association between levels of pain among Osteoarthritis clients Selected Demographic variable marital status in control group. No other demographic variables were shown any association with level of pain. The Frequency and percentage distribution

Integrative Analysis of Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Data Identifies Prognostic Biomarkers Associated With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BackgroundOral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most malignant neoplasm in oral cancer. There is growing evidence that its progression involves altered metabolism. The current method of evaluating prognosis is very limited, and metabolomics may provide a new approach for quantitative evaluation. The aim of the study is to evaluate the use of metabolomics as prognostic markers for patients with OSCC.MethodsAn analytical platform, Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole/Orbitrap High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS), was used to acquire the serum fingerprinting profiles from a total of 103 patients of OSCC before and after the operation. In total, 103 OSCC patients were assigned to either a training set (n = 73) or a test set (n = 30). The potential biomarkers and the changes of serum metabolites were profiled and correlated with the clinicopathological parameters and survival of the patients by statistical analysis. To further verify our results, we linked them to gene expression using data from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG).ResultsIn total, 14 differential metabolites and five disturbed pathways were identified between the preoperative group and postoperative group. Succinic acid change-low, hypoxanthine change-high tumor grade, and tumor stage indicated a trend towards improved recurrence-free survival (RFS), whether in a training set or a test set. In addition, succinic acid change-low, hypoxanthine change-high, and tumor grade provided the highest predictive accuracy of the patients with OSCC. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the imbalance in the amino acid and purine metabolic pathway may affect the prognosis of OSCC.ConclusionsThe changes of metabolites before and after operation may be related to the prognosis of OSCC patients. UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS serum metabolomics analysis could be used to further stratify the prognosis of patients with OSCC. These results can better understand the mechanisms related to early recurrence and help develop more effective therapeutic targets.

A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Vitis vinifera soaks on Hemoglobin Level among Anemic Students in a Selected Colleges at Vellore

An experimental study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of vitis vinifera soak on hemoglobin level among anemic students in selected colleges at Vellore. Quantitative evaluative approach was used for this study and the researcher adopted a true experimental research design. The sample was conducted among 60 anemic students in selected colleges at Vellore, in which 30 were in experimental group and 30 were in control group. The sample was selected by using Probability simple random sampling technique with lottery method. The researcher adopted Kristen M. Swanson theory as a conceptual framework. There are six different hypothesis were tested in this study. The Structured interview schedule was used to collect the demographic and clinical variable. Sahli’s hemoglobinometer was used to assess the hemoglobin level. Experimental group received intervention of vitis vinifera soak for 21 days in the morning and control group advised to follow daily routine and no intervention is given. In both groups, on 22nd day the researcher was conducted post test by using same tool. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the mean post test score in control group was 9.29 where as in experimental group the mean post test score was 9.82, the mean difference was 0.53. The obtained ‘t’ value was 2.24 which was statistically significant (P<0.01). These findings revealed that the students in experimental group had increased hemoglobin level after administering vitis vinifera soak compared to the control group.

Towards analysis ready data of optical CubeSat images: Demonstrating a hierarchical normalization framework at a wetland site

Optical images of the Earth at very high spatial resolutions (VHR, typically < 5 m) are seeing rapid growth in volumes over the past 5 years, due in part to the fast-expanding constellations of CubeSats. Special preprocessing of these VHR images is required to ensure their geometric and radiometric consistency for quantitative analyses for a wide range of Earth and environmental sciences and applications. Here we describe a hierarchical normalization framework (HiNF) to achieve and evaluate geometric and radiometric normalization of these VHR images towards producing analysis ready data (ARD) of optical CubeSat images. We demonstrated HiNF at a spatially heterogeneous and temporally dynamic wetland site in northeastern Germany by generating a stack of temporally consistent ~ biweekly 5-m images over 8 years (2013–2020) at visible and near infrared bands (VNIR). The HiNF combined images from rigorously calibrated multispectral sensors onboard large satellites (Landsat-7/8 and Sentinel-2) and less well calibrated sensors onboard RapidEye (SmallSats) and PlanetScope (CubeSats). A two-stage radiometric normalization procedure produced two levels of image normalization and resulted in more normalized images that passed the quality control in time series compared to common one-stage procedures. The outcome of this novel procedure allows for downstream applications to balance between the quality and the quantity of available normalized CubeSat images in a time series. The HiNF provides a new approach to quantitative evaluations of radiometric normalizations using daily MODIS imagery as bridging benchmark data. The quantitative evaluations showed the HiNF resulted in greater normalization efficacy in the visible bands than in the NIR over the predominantly wetland area. The two normalization levels yielded statistically similar efficacy for the NIR band and the widely-used normalized difference vegetation index according to the Chow test (at significance level of 0.05) but less so for the visible bands. The HiNF facilitates generating ARD of optical CubeSat images and assuring their qualities through its demonstrated efficacy and its quantitative evaluation approach. Such ARD-quality time series of VHR images from CubeSats allow for improved analyses and quantitative applications of this new stream of multispectral images at spatial scales that are better related to ground measurements and environmental management in terrestrial ecosystems.

To assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) among nursing students of college of nursing

Polycystic ovarian syndrome is the defining as the endocrine disorder that cause excess secretion of male hormone androgen. It causes the amenorrhea, infertility, polycystic ovaries. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder that mainly affects the women between ages of 18-44. It affects 1 in 15 women all over the world. A quantitative evaluative approach using questionnaire on polycystic ovarian syndrome, Pre experimental one group pre-test & post-test design was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 60 samples from the nursing students of college of Nursing. Pre-test done followed by structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding PCOS. A post-test was conducted after 2 weeks of structured teaching programme. The tools used for data collection, Part 1: Demographic variables, Part 2: Assessing knowledge regarding polycystic ovarian syndrome. The result revealed that pre-test mean value of knowledge 13.9±4.328 was lesser than post-test mean value 19.354±6.3. The effectiveness of STP obtained, “t” test value is 8.38 which is found to be greater than the, “t” table value (p=0.0001 < 0.01 level) at 59df. Since the obtained t value is significant at p < 0.0001 level, Therefore research hypotheses (H1) is accepted. It is inferred that, there is significant difference between pre-test and post-test knowledge regarding Polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS among nursing students. The study concludes that the structured teaching programme was very effective in providing knowledge regarding Polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Elderly Depression Recognition Based on Facial Micro-Expression Extraction

Depression leads to a high suicide rate and a high death rate. But the disease can be cured if recognized in time. At present, there are only a few low-precision methods for recognizing mental health or mental disorder. Therefore, this paper attempts to recognize elderly depression by extracting facial micro-expressions. Firstly, a micro-expression recognition model was constructed for elderly depression recognition. Then, a jump connection structure and a feature fusion module were introduced to VGG-16 model, realizing the extraction and classification of micro-expression features. After that, a quantitative evaluation approach was proposed for micro-expressions based on the features of action units, which improves the recognition accuracy of elderly depression expressions. Finally, the advanced features related to the dynamic change rate of depression micro-expressions were constructed, and subjected to empirical modal decomposition (EMD) and Hilbert analysis. The effectiveness of our algorithm was proved through experiments.

Effectiveness of an information booklet on knowledge regarding breastfeeding among mothers of under two-years children

Background: The basic food of infant is mother’s milk. Breastfeeding is the most effective way to provide a baby with a caring environment and complete food. It meets the nutritional as well as emotional and psychological needs of the infant. But there is tendency to replace the natural means of infant feeding and introduction of breast milk substitutes. So, breastfeeding deserves encouragement from all concerned in the welfare of children.Methods: A quantitative evaluative research approach and Quasi experimental one group pre-test post-test design was used. By using purposive sampling technique total 65 mothers of under two years children admitted in selected wards i.e.; pediatric and maternity ward at V.P.I.M.S., Lucknow, were selected to assess the effectiveness of an information booklet on knowledge regarding breastfeeding. Written permission was obtained from the authorities of Vivekananda Polyclinic and Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, where the study was conducted.Results: In pre-test the majority of mothers, 50.80% had moderate knowledge, 40.00% of mothers had inadequate knowledge whereas 9.20% of mothers had adequate knowledge. In post-test majority 92.30% mothers had adequate knowledge, 7.70% mothers had moderate knowledge whereas none of the mothers had inadequate knowledge.Conclusions: The study concluded that after the distribution of information booklet on knowledge regarding breastfeeding mothers of under two-years children have gained their knowledge.

Collapse analysis and damage evaluation of typical simply supported double-pier RC bridge under truck collision

Vehicular collision with bridge pier can cause significant structural damage, and even partial or full collapse of the bridge, while the existing work mainly focuses on the vehicular-impact resistance of bridge pier. This study aims to study the collapse process and damage levels of the bridge collided by medium and heavy trucks. Firstly, the refined finite element (FE) model of the typical simply supported two-span double-pier RC bridge is established via the commercial software LS-DYNA, and the adopted material constitutive models and numerical algorithms are validated by comparing with the prototype truck-pier collision test and full-scale drop-weight test on RC beam. Then, the validated FE model is employed to numerically reproduce the actual heavy truck collision accident involving the collapse of bridge, and the dynamic behaviors and collapse process of the collided bridge are analyzed. It shows that, for the present bridge type: (i) truck-bridge collision is not a single impact but a successive impact with bumper, engine and cargo, in which the shear failure on the reinforced concrete bridge pier (RCBP) induced by the engine impact is the dominant factor resulting in the bridge collapse; (ii) during the collision process, the impacted RCBP firstly suffers shear failure at the bottom, and followed by the inclination of the bent cap and superstructure, and then the neighboring RCBP sustains flexible-shear failure at the top, which eventually results in the instability of substructure and collapse of superstructure. Furthermore, a total of 35 truck-bridge collision cases are numerically simulated and assessed, and a new quantitative damage evaluation approach, including the modified damage index, damage level and evaluation criterion, is proposed for the bridge under vehicular collision. In addition, the relationship between the damage level of the collided bridge and superstructure inclination is clarified, which is beneficial for bridge engineers to feasibly assess the vehicular-impact resistance of bridge.

A Standardized Analysis of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Human Melanoma: Disease Progression- and Tumor Site-Associated Changes With Germinal Center Alteration.

There is increasing evidence that tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) control not only local adaptive B cell responses at melanoma tumor sites but also the cellular composition and function of other immune cells. In human melanoma, however, a comprehensive analysis of TLS phenotypes, density and spatial distribution at different disease stages is lacking. Here we used 7-color multiplex immunostaining of whole tissue sections from 103 human melanoma samples to characterize TLS phenotypes along the expression of established TLS-defining molecular and cellular components. TLS density and spatial distribution were determined by referring TLS counts to the tissue area within defined intra- and extratumoral perimeters around the invasive tumor front. We show that only a subgroup of primary human melanomas contains TLS. These TLS rarely formed germinal centers and mostly located intratumorally within 1 mm distance to the invasive tumor front. In contrast, melanoma metastases had a significantly increased density of secondary follicular TLS. They appeared preferentially in stromal areas within an extratumoral 1 mm distance to the invasive tumor front and their density varied over time and site of metastasis. Interestingly, secondary follicular TLS in melanoma often lacked BCL6+ lymphatic cells and canonical germinal center polarity with the formation of dark and light zone areas. Our work provides an integrated qualitative, quantitative and spatial analysis of TLS in human melanoma and shows disease progression- and site-associated changes in TLS phenotypes, density and spatial distribution. The frequent absence of canonical germinal center polarity in melanoma TLS highlights the induction of TLS maturation as a potential additive to future immunotherapy studies. Given the variable evaluation strategies used in previous TLS studies of human tumors, an important asset of this study is the standardized quantitative evaluation approach that provides a high degree of reproducibility.

SELF MEDICATION: A STUDY OF ATTITUDES, REASONS &amp; INDICATIONS

The practice of self-care may change from locality and region. It is more in younger and educated people because they have no time to go to doctor and no patience to wait. So, there was ample scope to pursue a research on self-medication. Self-medication has number of reasons, for example - use for self-care feeling sympathy towards family members, no time to go to doctor and wait in long queue. There is an increased trend of self-medication particularly among educated people. A quantitative evaluative research approach is used in the study to evaluate the effectiveness of health teaching programme on knowledge and attitude regarding self-medication.

TO ASSESS THE RELATIONSHIP OF POSTTEST KNOWLEDGE SCORE WITH SELECTED SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AMONG NURSING STUDENTS IN SELECTED COLLEGES OF BANGALORE

Existing information about Nomophobia suggests that it occurs more frequently in teenagers and young adults. Experts haven’t yet discovered a specific cause of Nomophobia. Rather, they believe several factors can contribute. Phobias don’t always develop in response to a negative experience, but this does sometimes happen. Research approach keeping in view the nature of problem and objectives of the study a quantitative evaluative research approach was found to be the most appropriate. The target population of my research study is nursing students in selected colleges of Bangalore. Sample consists of the subject of the population selected to participate in the research study. Non-probability samples were selected based on the judgments of research to achieve particular objective of the researcher at hand. In this study convenient sampling technique was used to select the samples. Present study found that there was significant association between the knowledge scores of nursing students of selected hospitals with selected demographic variables.

Gains or losses? A quantitative estimation of environmental and economic effects of an ecological compensation policy.

Ecological compensation is an innovative and effective tool to explore the coordinated development of socioeconomic prosperity and ecological protection, especially for a watershed crossing different regions. It converts the externalities of ecosystem services into practical financial incentives for local stakeholders. This empirical study applies a quantitative policy evaluation approach to evaluate the environmental and economic effects of an ecological compensation policy, using the paddy land-to-dry land (PLDL) program implemented in China's Miyun Reservoir watershed as an example. The study is based on responses to a 2017 questionnaire regarding agricultural production inputs and outputs administered to 269 households in Hebei Province, where the PLDL program has been operational for over 10 yr. The results show that the program has reduced nitrogen usage by 24% on average in 2017 and decreased the total nitrogen emission load by 16.98 tons for the entire case area, which accounts for approximately 18.6% of the total nitrogen load reduction of the Miyun Reservoir basin. However, the upstream households involved in this program have experienced agricultural income losses higher than that allowed for by the current compensation criterion. Therefore, this paper discusses the factors that should be considered in the process of determining ecological compensation criteria. In particular, the paper proposes a differential compensation scheme based on the environmental effect at the individual level to avoid a standard payment for all households irrespective of their different contributions. This differential compensation payment scheme facilitates the fair treatment of environmental contributors and maximizes environmental benefits through an equitable allocation of limited ecological compensation funds. This study serves as a theoretical and practical reference for further improvement of the current ecological compensation policy in China. The study also sheds light on practices for estimating ecological compensation criteria and formulating ecological compensation policies for other regions or countries in the future.

Avaliação da indexação em repositórios institucionais brasileiros: uma análise comparada entre USP, UNESP e UNICAMP

O ambiente digital apresenta diversos desafios para as práticas informacionais. Nos repositórios institucionais essa situação é constatada na representação e recuperação por assunto, em que o dinamismo desses sistemas de recuperação da informação opera para uma nova abordagem da indexação, na qual nem sempre ela figura como elemento central na promoção de um acesso equitativo às informações digitais. Para responder a esta demanda, estudos dedicados à metodologia da Avaliação da Indexação mostram-se essenciais, por revelarem a qualidade da indexação praticada em repositórios institucionais e apontarem as deficiências e melhorias necessárias nestes sistemas. Sendo assim, objetiva-se avaliar de forma comparada a consistência da indexação praticada em repositórios brasileiros, tendo como corpus de pesquisa 100 registros de artigos de periódicos presentes nos repositórios institucionais da Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Estadual Paulista e Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Conduzida por meio dos procedimentos da abordagem da avaliação intrínseca quantitativa mediante a interconsistência, a análise do metadado assunto de cada registro revelou baixos índices de consistência, indicando inconsistências entre as indexações realizadas nos três repositórios institucionais para o mesmo artigo de periódico. Constata-se que a representação por assunto é uma questão a ser observada no contexto dos repositórios institucionais investigados, sendo oportuno que repositórios institucionais brasileiros direcionem esforços e recursos para a melhoria da qualidade do metadado assunto tendo como parâmetro a realização periódica da Avaliação da Indexação.