Ranking Of Relative Importance Research Articles

Perceived importance of agile requirements engineering practices – A survey

Context:Requirements Engineering (RE) is one of the key processes in software development. Since Agile software development advocates continuous improvement, the question arises which Agile RE practices are the most essential and shall be adopted/improved at first? Objective:Investigate and rank the Agile RE practices based on how practitioners perceive their importance for a software project.Method:We conducted a survey asking 136 Agile software development practitioners how they perceive the importance of the 31 Agile RE practices that we had identified in a literature study. We used a ranking method based on the PROMETHEE family methods to create the ranking of relative importance of the practices.Results:The opinions of respondents from a wide range of countries around the globe allowed us to determine the perceived importance of the Agile RE practices and create a seven-tier ranking of the practices. Moreover, the analysis concerning demographic data let us identify some relationships between the experience of the respondents and their view on the importance of the Agile RE practices.Conclusions:Our findings suggest the most critical Agile RE practices are those supporting iterative development with emergent requirements and short feedback loop. Moreover, in many cases, the perceived importance of practices seems to depend on the context of the project (e.g., methodology, domain). We also learned that the popularity of the practices is highly correlated with their perceived importance.

National Beef Quality Audit-2016: Phase 1, Face-to-face interviews.

The National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) is conducted every 5 yr and was most recently again conducted in 2016. Face-to-face interviews gauged progress in quality associated with live cattle production using procedures first utilized in NBQA 2011. The 2016 NBQA was the first in which interviews concerning fed steers and heifers were combined with an audit of market cow and bull beef. Face-to-face interviews were designed to illicit definitions for beef quality, estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for quality attributes, establish relative importance rankings for important quality factors, and assess images, strengths, weaknesses, potential threats, and shifting trends in the beef industry since the 2011 audit. Individuals making purchasing decisions in 5 market sectors of the steer/heifer and cow/bull beef supply chain were interviewed, including packers (n = 36), retailers (including large and small supermarket companies and warehouse food sales companies; n = 35), food service operators (including quick-serve, full-service, and institutional establishments; n = 29), further processors (n = 64), and peripherally-related government and trade organizations (GTO; n = 30). Face-to-face interviews were conducted between January and November of 2016 using a designed dynamic routing system. Definitions (as described by interviewees) for 7 pre-determined quality factors, including: (1) How and where the cattle were raised, (2) Lean, fat, and bone, (3) Weight and size, (4) Visual characteristics, (5) Food safety, (6) Eating satisfaction, and (7) Cattle genetics were recorded verbatim and categorized into similar responses for analysis. Compared to NBQA-2011, a higher percentage of companies were willing to pay premiums for guaranteed quality attributes, but overall were willing to pay lower average premiums than the companies interviewed in 2011. Food safety had the highest share of preference among all interviewees, generating a double-digit advantage over any other quality factor. The 2 beef industries have an overall positive image among interviewees, and despite lingering weaknesses, product quality continued to be at the forefront of the strengths category for both steer and heifer beef and market cow and bull beef.

Impacts of service buyer management on contractor profitability and satisfaction – a Swedish case study

ABSTRACTSuccessful harvesting contractors are crucial for competitive wood supply. This study builds on the assumption that contractor motivation to stay in the forest sector depends not only on success in terms of profitability, but also on satisfaction with the conditions provided by their service buyers. The key characteristics of service buying companies associated with success from both perspectives were identified for a questionnaire sample of 30 contractors working for two Swedish forest owners associations (FOAs). PLS regression was used to analyze responses and to set VIP rankings of relative factor importance for explaining variation in achieved success. The characteristics most important for contractor satisfaction differed from those most important for achieving high operating margins, but a group of common key factors was identified. A framework was developed for sorting factors into three levels of importance when integrating the two perspectives. In general, respondents’ perceptions of FOA performance best explained variation in success for both perspectives, however the contractors’ expectations were also linked to this variation. The two most important factors for contractor success were (a) the FOA provision of a consistent level of year-round capacity utilization, and (b) FOA managers’ helpfulness in solving the problems which typically arise in wood supply operations. The study concludes with identifying important managerial implications based on the results.

Strategies for Promoting Green Building Technologies Adoption in the Construction Industry—An International Study

Because green building technologies (GBTs) adoption is a promising way of ameliorating the sustainability performance of buildings, GBTs are receiving increased interest in the global construction community. The barriers to the adoption of GBTs, such as higher cost and lack of awareness, further indicate that proper strategies need to be devised for promoting the wider adoption of GBTs in buildings development. However, there exist limited empirical studies identifying the strategies for promoting GBTs adoption in the construction industry. This study aims to identify the strategies that are important for promoting GBTs adoption in construction. After a comprehensive literature review to identify strategies for the promotion of GBTs adoption, empirical data were gleaned through a questionnaire survey with 104 green building experts around the world. The analysis results validated the importance of all of the 12 promotion strategies used for the study. Green building experts from different countries and with different backgrounds had significant agreement on the relative importance ranking of the promotion strategies. Furthermore, “financial and further market-based incentives for GBTs adopters”, “availability of better information on cost and benefits of GBTs”, “mandatory governmental policies and regulations”, and “green rating and labeling” were identified as the top four important promotion strategies. The research findings provide a valuable reference to assist practitioners and policy makers in developing practical strategies for promoting GBTs adoption to eventually achieve the sustainable development of buildings. From the perspective of international experts, this study adds to the green building literature by offering empirical evidence of the important strategies for promoting GBTs adoption in the construction industry. Future research will investigate the interrelationships among the promotion strategies and their impacts on the GBTs adoption process.

Characteristics associated with self-rated health in the CARDIA study: Contextualising health determinants by income group.

An understanding of factors influencing health in socioeconomic groups is required to reduce health inequalities. This study investigated combinations of health determinants associated with self-rated health (SRH), and their relative importance, in income-based groups.Cross-sectional data from year 15 (2000 − 2001) of the CARDIA study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults, USA) - 3648 men and women (mean 40 years) - were split into 5 income-based groups. SRH responses were categorized as ‘higher’/‘lower’. Health determinants (medical, lifestyle, and social factors, living conditions) associated with SRH in each group were analyzed using classification tree analysis (CTA).Income and SRH were positively associated (p < 0.05). Data suggested an income-based gradient for lifestyle/medical/social factors/living conditions. Profiles, and relative importance ranking, of multi-domain health determinants, in relation to SRH, differed by income group. The highest ranking variable for each income group was chronic burden-personal health problem (<$25,000); physical activity ($25–50,000; $50–75,000; $100,000 +); and cigarettes/day ($75–100,000). In lower income groups, more risk factors and chronic burden indicators were associated with SRH. Social support, control over life, optimism, and resources for paying for basics/medical care/health insurance were greater (%) with higher income.SRH is a multidimensional measure; CTA is useful for contextualizing risk factors in relation to health status. Findings suggest that for lower income groups, addressing contributors to chronic burden is important alongside lifestyle/medical factors. In a proportionate universalism context, in addition to differences in intensity of public health action across the socioeconomic gradient, differences in the type of interventions to improve SRH may also be important.

Using DEM to predict Abies faxoniana and Quercus aquifolioides distributions in the upstream catchment basin of the Min River in southwest China

The species distribution model (SDM), which is used to spatially predict species distributions, can also identify the probable causes of the location of certain species (i.e. the mathematical description of habitat requirements). Therefore, SDM has the potential to guide resource management and biodiversity conservation. In the topographically complex terrain, SDMs are often complicated by the lack of environmental data; however, the first information that is typically obtained for these analyses is a topographic map. Here, the possibility of using 16 predictor variables derived from the digital elevation model (DEM) to model the distributions of Abies faxoniana and Quercus aquifolioides in the mountainous upstream catchment basin of the Min River (UCBM) in southwest China was investigated. In particular, with the ensemble modeling approach based on eight niche models and nine model-training and -testing datasets, changes in model performance and shifts in the explanatory power of the predictor variable over five different levels of spatial resolution (30m, 90m, 120m, 240m, 900m) were assessed. Almost all models succeed in predicting the distributions of both species, although predictive accuracies differed significantly among spatial scales and model classes. On average, model accuracies increased to the highest level at the meso-scale (120m and 240m for A. faxoniana and Q. aquifolioides, respectively) and then decreased as resolution became coarser, indicating that high spatial resolution does not imply a better model. The relative importance rankings for each topographical variable were consistent across all spatial scales, but their explanatory powers did differ significantly among spatial scales. Elevation and terrain-distributed solar radiation for growing season (SRG) drive the distributions of A. faxoniana and Q. aquifolioides with a much higher level of confidence than other predictors across all spatial scales; the former tended to decrease, and the latter tended to increase when spatial resolution became coarse. Our findings confirm that DEM can be used exclusively and effectively to predict species distribution. Multi-scale analysis is needed to detect highly subtle variations in species habitat requirements, and to select the spatial scale that corresponds to known spatial characteristics of the species habitat. This has broad implications for distribution modeling of species in rugged terrain.

Is negative eWOM more influential than negative pWOM?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of various sources of negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and negative personal word-of-mouth (pWOM) on trust in the Word-of-mouth (WOM), attitude toward the service provider and purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 336 Moroccan workers who responded to an online survey. Findings – Results show that negative pWOM is more influential than negative eWOM in the form of written Facebook testimonials, written review site testimonials and written testimonials on a corporate website. However, there is a relative ranking of importance among eWOM sources, with review site testimonials found to be more influential than either Facebook or corporate website testimonials. Research limitations/implications – This work responds to a call for research on differences and similarities between pWOM and eWOM. The findings extend understanding of the relative influence of negative pWOM and negative eWOM. Practical implications – The results of this study provide guidance to service marketers in terms of strategies for deflecting negative WOM and allocating service recovery resources. Originality/value – This study is the first to compare the relative influence of negative pWOM and eWOM in service consumption.

Product design concept evaluation using rough sets and VIKOR method

Design concept evaluation is one of the most important phases in the early stages of the design process as it not only significantly affects the later stages of the design process but also influences the success of the final design solutions. The main objective of this work is to reduce the imprecise content of customer evaluation process and thus, improve the effectiveness and objectivity of the product design. This paper proposes a novel way of performing design concept evaluations where instead of considering cost and benefit characteristics of design criteria, the work identifies best concept which satisfy constraints imposed by the team of designers on design criteria’s as well as fulfilling maximum customers’ preferences. In this work, the rough number enabled modified Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method for design concept evaluation is developed by modifying the extended VIKOR method with interval numbers. The proposed technique is labeled as modified rough VIKOR (MR-VIKOR) analysis. The work primarily involves two phases of concept evaluation. In the first phase, relative importance ranking and initial weights of design criteria are computed through the importance assigned to each design criteria by the designers or the decision makers (DM); and in the second phase, customers’ preferences to the generated user needs are captured in the form of rough numbers. The relative importance ranking computed in first phase along with customers’ preferences is incorporated in the second phase to select the best concept.

An Analysis of the Relative Importance of Components in Measuring Community Wellbeing: Perspectives of Citizens, Public Officials, and Experts

Governments are showing a growing interest in community wellbeing and its measurement. While there have been numerous efforts to measure community wellbeing, current measurement systems are limited as they tend to adopt a narrow perspective of community wellbeing factors based on a top-down fashion. The purpose of this study is to empirically test the differences among citizens, public officials, and experts in relative importance of community wellbeing factors. Data were collected through a binary comparison survey that asked respondents to compare the relative importance of community wellbeing factors on a 9 point scale. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process for analysis and the results show that citizens, public officials, and experts give different priorities to community wellbeing factors. In decreasing order of importance, citizens and public officials both give the highest priority to physical health, household income, and employment while experts chose employment, household income, and physical health. Furthermore, relative importance rankings differed among citizens depending on age, gender, and years of community involvement. These findings indicate that current community wellbeing measurements that fail to acknowledge different weighting schemes may be biased. We suggest the need for a deliberative model of community wellbeing measurement.

The key factors for selecting C2C Logistics Companies by using Fuzzy AHP in Thailand

In Thailand, logistics companies (3PL provider) in customer to customer (C2C) online market have been becoming important part of Thai transportation. Logistics companies have been always used to convey product between customers. Thus, the key factors for selecting C2C logistics companies in Thailand have influence to customer. This paper conducts a review of the literature on logistics provider to generate sub-key factors along with key factors. A questionnaire survey and in-depth interview with key stakeholder are conducted by comparison the key factors. The main objective of this paper is to examine the relative importance weight and ranking of key factors that have implication to decision-making of logistics provider's customer. In this paper, proposed a multiple approach to access alternative and help the decision-maker to evaluate the key factor of C2C logistics companies by FAHP. The FAHP is used to simplify numerical calculation of multiple criteria weight by integrating fuzzy Logic and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In addition, based on the finding the priority of key factors and policy recommendation are provided to enable more effective criteria for selecting logistics companies in C2C online market.

Ranking of delay factors in construction projects after Egyptian revolution

Time is one of the major considerations throughout project management life cycle and can be regarded as one of the most important parameters of a project and the driving force of project success. Time delay is a very frequent phenomenon and is almost associated with nearly all constructing projects. However, little effort has been made to curtail the phenomenon, this research work attempts to identify, investigate, and rank factors perceived to affect delays in the Egyptian construction projects with respect to their relative importance so as to proffer possible ways of coping with this phenomenon. To achieve this objective, researcher invited practitioners and experts, comprising a statistically representative sample to participate in a structured questionnaire survey. Brain storming was taken into consideration, through which a number of delay factors were identified in construction projects. Totally, ninety-nine (99) factors were short-listed to be made part of the questionnaire survey and were identified and categorized into nine (9) major categories. The survey was conducted with experts and representatives from private, public, and local general construction firms. The data were analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII), ranking and simple percentages. Ranking of factors and categories was demonstrated according to their importance level on delay, especially after 25/1/2011 (Egyptian revolution). According to the case study results, the most contributing factors and categories (those need attention) to delays were discussed, and some recommendations were made in order to minimize and control delays in construction projects. Also, this paper can serve as a guide for all construction parties with effective management in construction projects to achieve a competitive level of quality and a time effective project.

Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Industry--A Systematic Review of the Literature

The pharmaceutical industry is currently going through changes that affect the way it performs its research, manufacturing, and regulatory activities (this is termed pharmaceutical transformation). The impact of these changes on the approaches to quality risk management requires more understanding. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the academic, regulatory, and industry literature were used to identify 14 triggers that influence pharmaceutical transformation. The four main triggers, namely Fully Integrated Pharma Network, Personalized Medicine, Translational Research, and Pervasive Computing, were selected as the most important based on the strength of the evidence found during the literature review activity described in this paper. Theoretical quality risks for each of the four main transformation triggers are examined, and the remaining ten triggers are described.

An Enhanced QFD Approach for Improving Water Tanks Sustainability at a Local Water Distributor

Purpose: This paper utilizes a modified version of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and the House of Quality (HOQ) in enhancing the technical requirements of constructing water tanks at a local water distribution company in Abu Dhabi and in developing a viable/sustainable solution to water leakage problem. Reported tanks problems negatively affect the company in terms of increased costs of maintenance and water losses and reduced customer satisfaction which hinders water sustainability and consumes company resources. Design/methodology/approach: A customer-driven approach is followed to identify internal and external customer needs, construct the QFD-HoQ, and develop feasible technical solutions to existing water tanks problems. To this end, surveys were used to collect data from internal and external customers. The data is analyzed to identify the specific needs of customers and use them as an input to construct the HoQ along with their ranking of relative importance. However, the standard QFD approach is adapted to fit the nature of the problem and the needs of the study. A complete HoQ is developed to translate customer needs into specific set of technical requirements tank standards. The results obtained from the complete HoQ are then analyzed to set a technical solution and an action plan. Findings and originality/value: Applying the proposed method at the local water distribution company in Abu Dhabi has resulted in enhancing the standards of constructing the currently used tanks (RCC and Steel types) by setting targets/changes to 16 technical requirements. These technical requirements meet 6 identified categories of customer needs in terms of tanks durability, leakage, quality, assembly, maintenance, and cost. The results analysis has also led to proposing a solution alternative for replacing the old RCC and Steel tanks by GRP tanks wherever possible. Such results benefit both the customer (in terms of better service and higher satisfaction) and the company (in terms of reduced cost and more effective operations) and improve the sustainability of water resources on the long run. Research limitations/implications: The project was limited by the data collection and access to specific technical information of water tanks. This is mostly related to tanks location, exact amount of water leakage, and tanks design and technical specifications. A team of subject matter experts is, therefore, consulted when developing the technical solutions in response to certain customer needs. The Also, the study was limited by difficulties in gaining the access to the remote areas of external customers. Surveys were emailed to these locations instead of having face-to-face interviews. Practical implications: The proposed approach showed how to practically integrate the generic needs/expectations of external customers with the technical requirements of internal customers in departments such as operations, maintenance, and asset management and how to develop an action plan that meets the needs of both sides. This method can be utilized by other 46 water distribution companies to improve the sustainability of their water tanks, to minimize any unnecessary spending, and to solve problems reported by customers. Utilizing QFD as an important tool of Total Quality Management (TQM) can also pave the way in the future to exploit more TQM practices in water distribution companies towards achieving organizational excellence. Social implications: Reducing water waste and improving the sustainability of water tanks and networks is getting more attention in many societies. This is particularly important in the Gulf States where water resources are scares and the cost of water desalination is high and consumes significant energy. Originality/value: The approach emphasizes the importance of utilizing QFD in selecting technical solution alternatives based on customer voice. It addresses the costs of poor quality or hidden costs which are typically ignored in standard QFD applications. The approach also integrates several quality tools and graphical techniques into the standard QFD approach.

Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision Making Approach to Assess the Project Quality Management in Project

Project quality management is all of the processes and activities needed to determine and achieve project quality. It includes the processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. Based on the identified evaluation criteria, a hierarchical structure of three dimensions and fifteen criteria is constructed, and a systematic approach with fuzzy ANP (FANP) was employed to assess the relative importance rates and rankings of these criteria. Discussions for the results are made and a brief conclusion is proposed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluation project quality management in project. The results found that there were interactive relations between all the criteria, where the dimension of “Quality planning” was the most influential dimensions; Furthermore, criteria “Project management plan”, “Project Scope”, and “Quality management plan” have the higher influences among each dimension, so we suggest to consider them as the major steps to promote the quality of project management.

Factors causing cost variation for constructing wastewater projects in Egypt

Cost is one of the major considerations throughout the project management life cycle and can be regarded as one of the most important parameters of a project and the driving force of project success. Despite its proven importance, it is common to see a construction project failing to achieve its objectives within the specific cost. Cost variation is a very frequent phenomenon and is almost associated with nearly constructing all wastewater projects. Maintaining steady cost projection on wastewater projects had been recently an issue of serious concern, both to the client and project contractors. Cost deviation from initial cost plan had been prevalent on construction sites. However, little or no effort has been made to curtail the phenomenon, this research work attempts to identify, investigate and rank factors perceived to affect cost variation in the Egyptian wastewater projects with respect to their relative importance so as to proffer possible ways of coping with this phenomenon. To achieve this objective, author invited practitioners and experts, comprising a statistically representative sample, to participate in a structured questionnaire survey. Brain storming was taken into consideration, through which a number of cost variation factors were identified for constructing wastewater projects. Totally 52 factors were short-listed to be made part of the questionnaire survey and the survey was conducted with experts and representatives from private, public and local general construction firms. The data were analyzed using Relative Importance Index, ranking and simple percentages. It was analytically discovered that factors such as: (1) Lowest bidding procurement method; (2) Additional work; (3) Bureaucracy in bidding/tendering method; (4) Wrong method of cost estimation; and (5) Funding problems were critical for causing cost variation, while (1) Inaccurate cost estimation; (2) Mode of financing and payment for completed work; (3) Unexpected ground conditions; (4) Inflation; and (5) Fluctuation in prices of raw materials are also responsible. The study concluded with recommending, ensuring adequate and available source of finance, allocating sufficient time and funding the design phase while cost estimators should be aware of the problems, but must not allow to deflect them from their primary tasks, which must always use all data and time available to produce the best possible estimate, improve owner’s project management procedures, material bulk purchase, establishing fraudulent system of individual accountability to discourage stealing and other related vices, adequate planning by breaking project planning into short term achievable goals, medium term planning and long term planning, and through estimation process for projects cost calculations, with vigilant planning, keeping in view trends of inflation and depreciation factors, construction cost variation trends in wastewater projects with lead to smoother implementation and achievement of desired cost control. Also, this paper serves as a guide and reference for contractors and construction managers for more effective management in constructing wastewater projects to achieve a competitive level of quality and a cost effective project.

ICycle: Integrated, multicriterial beam angle, and profile optimization for generation of coplanar and noncoplanar IMRT plans

To introduce iCycle, a novel algorithm for integrated, multicriterial optimization of beam angles, and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) profiles. A multicriterial plan optimization with iCycle is based on a prescription called wish-list, containing hard constraints and objectives with ascribed priorities. Priorities are ordinal parameters used for relative importance ranking of the objectives. The higher an objective priority is, the higher the probability that the corresponding objective will be met. Beam directions are selected from an input set of candidate directions. Input sets can be restricted, e.g., to allow only generation of coplanar plans, or to avoid collisions between patient/couch and the gantry in a noncoplanar setup. Obtaining clinically feasible calculation times was an important design criterium for development of iCycle. This could be realized by sequentially adding beams to the treatment plan in an iterative procedure. Each iteration loop starts with selection of the optimal direction to be added. Then, a Pareto-optimal IMRT plan is generated for the (fixed) beam setup that includes all so far selected directions, using a previously published algorithm for multicriterial optimization of fluence profiles for a fixed beam arrangement Breedveld et al. [Phys. Med. Biol. 54, 7199-7209 (2009)]. To select the next direction, each not yet selected candidate direction is temporarily added to the plan and an optimization problem, derived from the Lagrangian obtained from the just performed optimization for establishing the Pareto-optimal plan, is solved. For each patient, a single one-beam, two-beam, three-beam, etc. Pareto-optimal plan is generated until addition of beams does no longer result in significant plan quality improvement. Plan generation with iCycle is fully automated. Performance and characteristics of iCycle are demonstrated by generating plans for a maxillary sinus case, a cervical cancer patient, and a liver patient treated with SBRT. Plans generated with beam angle optimization did better meet the clinical goals than equiangular or manually selected configurations. For the maxillary sinus and liver cases, significant improvements for noncoplanar setups were seen. The cervix case showed that also in IMRT with coplanar setups, beam angle optimization with iCycle may improve plan quality. Computation times for coplanar plans were around 1-2 h and for noncoplanar plans 4-7 h, depending on the number of beams and the complexity of the site. Integrated beam angle and profile optimization with iCycle may result in significant improvements in treatment plan quality. Due to automation, the plan generation workload is minimal. Clinical application has started.

A modified ANP and its application in simulation credibility evaluation

With the size and complexity of simulation applications growing rapidly, many simulation systems cannot be structured hierarchically, involving the interaction and dependence of elements in a hierarchy. To give an efficient credibility evaluation for the intricate simulation systems involving network configuration, this paper proposes a modified fuzzy ANP method to calculate weights of indices for assessing. The method used triangle fuzzy numbers to establish judgment matrix, together with confidence level, expressing Subject Matter Experts’ degree of understanding with respect to the importance of each component. Furthermore, a new possibility measurement for fuzzy numbers is proposed, to obtain the relative importance ranking of components for the simplified judgment in dealing with the vagueness defined measurement scales. The approach is used to calculate the credibility of a control and guide simulation system for a type of missile. The application result shows that the method is reasonable, easy and feasible. (Received in January 2010, accepted in October 2010. This paper was with the authors 1 month for 1 revision.)

Pollen harvest by Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the Dourados region, Mato Grosso do Sul state (Brazil)

We present data on the pollen harvest by Apismellifera L. at a central-western Brazil site not yet studied. Corbiculae pollen loads were collected during one year in front of the hive, acetolysed and slides mounted for optical microscopy. Identification followed comparisons with a local pollen collection. Forty-two pollen types were utilized by the bee; the most important families were Myrtaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Brassicaceae and Poaceae. The genus/species level ranking of relative importance showed Eucalyptus (19%), Raphanus raphanistrum (13%), Poaceae type 2 (7.5%), Jatropha cf. gossypiifolia (7%) and Sapium glandulatum (6.5%). Overall, the majority of pollen types (80%) were not abundantly harvested, and a minority (4%) reached values of 10%. Given that the study area has cultivated plants and not natural vegetation, we indicate most of the identified species as manageable and point out that weedy vegetation can be an important food source for bees since it frequently occurred in the pollen spectra even within a totally cultivated area.

Listening to students’ voices: A curriculum renewal project for an EFL graduate academic program

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a needs analysis aiming at re-evaluating a graduate level EFL academic curriculum. Based on a self-reporting questionnaire, the responses of a graduate student population (n = 469) were analyzed. The questionnaire addressed three issues: attitude toward English language and EFL studies, self-assessment of success in performing academic tasks in English, and ranking the importance of knowledge of English language areas. These issues were examined across the sample’s background variables (gender, academic department, thesis/non-thesis track, native language) and student proficiency level. The results showed that students’ attitude toward English and studying English was generally positive. Furthermore, students reported their ability in performing different tasks to be satisfactory. In addition, all students found all the areas of language knowledge to be important. Ranking of relative importance of English language areas revealed that vocabulary and oral skills were significantly more important than syntax and grammar, reading, and writing. Yet, for all issues, across background variables and level, significant differences were found. Our findings warrant a re-evaluation of the current program, but also raise questions regarding whose voices are to be considered when developing an EFL academic graduate program.

Mathematical analysis of the relationship between yang deficiency syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine and its objective indicators in clinical literature

The primary aim of this research is to systematically sort out and analyze available documents for yang deficiency syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine, providing innovative ideas and methods for statistical study of yang deficiency syndrome. Based on the China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) and Chongqing VIP databases, using "yang deficiency", "deficiency cold", and "patient" as keywords, we searched literature of clinical researches and used "ratio-comparison" and "integration-comparison" to analyze objective data after data preprocessing. Relative importance value of physiological and biochemical parameters were reflected by P value calculated by ratio-comparison or Q value by integration-comparison. With calculation of relative importance values of clinical indicators among various systems, we got the ranking of relative importance of different indexes. Triiodothyronine and urine 17-hydroxycorticosteroid of endocrine system, immunoglobulin A of immune system, and the ratio of cyclic adenosine monophosphate to cyclic guanosine monophosphate, which had great |P| (or |Q|) values and negative P (or Q) values, had a clearly lower level in yang deficiency patients than in the control; hemorheological indicators such as plasma viscosity, whole blood reduced viscosity and erythrocyte electrophoresis time had small |P| (or |Q|) values. These indicators, however, showed less importance for reflecting yang deficiency. Ratio-comparison method and integration-comparison method employed in this study have merits of efficiency and robustness. After detailed compiling and mining of all available data, we have made reasonable advice on the most relevant index of yang deficiency for further study of the essence of this syndrome.