Tier Model Research Articles

Carbon footprint estimation of Chinese economic sectors based on a three-tier model

Abstract To respond to the call of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, an efficient carbon accounting framework should be proposed. Traditional narrowly defined estimation protocols that consider the direct emissions from native energy consumption may generally lead to underestimates of the carbon emissions derived from providing products and services. To comprehensively evaluate the supply-chain carbon performance in all economic sectors of China, the Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) based carbon footprint accounting framework should be employed. Because carbon emissions also occur in non-energy production processes, carbon emissions from the non-energy industrial process should also be incorporated into the accounting framework. This paper assessed 3 scopes of carbon emissions of Chinese economic sectors, including (1) direct emissions from energy consumption, and the industrial process, (2) emissions from purchased energy, (3) supply chain emissions combining both fuel combustion and industrial processes. The results shown that there is a huge underestimation of the carbon emission from various sectors using traditional carbon protocols compared with the tier 3 supply-chain CO2 emission. The emissions from industrial processes also constitute a large proportion, which cannot be ignored. In addition, we find that embodied CO2 emissions in exports concentrated on primary energy intensive sectors, indicating the importance of restructuring of export goods and services. It is proved that the three tier model provides a tool for decision makers to identify the national high carbon emission sectors and make effective carbon mitigation strategies.

Mapping ExpoCast onto ToxCast

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the program known as ToxCast to develop ways to predict potential toxicity of chemicals and to develop a cost-effective approach for prioritizing the thousands of chemicals that require toxicity testing. ToxCast uses advanced science tools to help to understand how normal human body processes are impacted by exposures to chemicals and to help determine which exposures are most likely to lead to adverse health effects. Such toxicity information must be integrated with exposure information to prioritize chemicals awaiting risk assessment. Thus, EPA is integrating its exposure-based chemical prioritization program, ExpoCast, with ToxCast to prioritize chemicals. This presentation will discuss recent approaches, such as statistical and graphical extrapolations from data-rich to data-poor chemicals, chemical analysis of dust and other media as indicators of near-field exposure, application of high tier models (e.g., SHEDS-Lite and SHEDS-Fugacity models) to high throughput screening, dose ranking approaches, and “big data” techniques (including informatics and data mining) combined with product use and activity data (e.g. material safety data sheets, consumer self-reported data and the Consolidated Human Activities Database).

Feasibility of the Application of Common Law Double Tier Model in China from the Burden of Proof Perspective

Since just cause and other behaviors that exclude social harmfulness are not included in constitution of a crime, the distribution of burden of proof is not clear. Behaviors that exclude social harmfulness is the content of the defense of just cause in British and American double tier model and the burden of proof is clear. We cannot introduce or borrow the British and American double tier model to clearly exclude the burden of proof of behaviors which have social harmfulness for it could lead to the increase of the accused’s burden of proof and therefore causes inability of proofing, the burden of proof of both the prosecuting and defending parties mixed and conflict, and no way for bearing the burden of proof for the accused.

Correlated Behavioral Traits in Rats of the Roman Selection Lines

The current theories of animal personality are based on the observation that individual variation in behavior and physiology appears to be consistent across contexts. Rats of the Roman selection lines have been originally selected for differences in shuttle-box behavior. Besides differences in active avoidance, these animals differ more generally in coping style. Roman high avoidance (RHA) rats show high levels of active avoidance, whereas Roman low avoidance (RLA) rats tend to respond with a more passive (i.e. freezing) response. Based on the two tier model of coping styles, we hypothesized that RHA rats would show high levels of offensive behavior and are more impulsive compared to RLA rats. We characterized animals in a two-way active avoidance task on five consecutive days. Thereafter animals were tested for their level of offensive aggression and impulsive behavior. The level of offensive aggression was examined in a standard resident-intruder paradigm. Furthermore, we tested aspects of impulsivity in an unpredictable operant conditioning paradigm (variable interval-15 schedule) for food reinforcement and during extinction of lever press behavior. We show that RHA rats are indeed characterized by high levels of two-way active avoidance in a shuttle-box paradigm. Surprisingly, the level of offensive aggression was higher in RLA compared to RHA rats. Consistent with the coping style interpretation, the number of lever presses in the VI-15 schedule for food reinforcement was higher in RHA rats compared to RLA rats. During a session of frustrating non-reward, RHA rats were more persistent. Taken together, results of the two-way active avoidance task and VI-15 performance in rats of the Roman selection lines fit with the two tier model of coping styles. Unexpectedly, the level of offensive aggression does not match with this model.

Systematic Implementation of a Tier 2 Behavior Intervention

Schools are increasingly adopting tiered models of prevention to meet the needs of diverse populations of students. This article outlines the steps involved in designing and implementing a systematic Tier 2 behavior intervention within a tiered service delivery model. An elementary school example is provided to outline the identification, implementation, and data-based decision-making process. Recommendations are provided for teachers related to supporting the effective and systematic implementation of Tier 2 behavior supports.

Enrichment and Purification of Syringin, Eleutheroside E and Isofraxidin from Acanthopanax senticosus by Macroporous Resin

In order to screen a suitable resin for the preparative simultaneous separation and purification of syringin, eleutheroside E and isofraxidin from Acanthopanax senticosus, the adsorption and desorption properties of 17 widely used commercial macroporous resins were evaluated. According to our results, HPD100C, which adsorbs by the molecular tiers model, was the best macroporous resin, offering higher adsorption and desorption capacities and higher adsorption speed for syringin, eleutheroside E and isofraxidin than other resins. Dynamic adsorption and desorption tests were carried out to optimize the process parameters. The optimal conditions were as follows: for adsorption, processing volume: 24 BV, flow rate: 2 BV/h; for desorption, ethanol–water solution: 60:40 (v/v), eluent volume: 4 BV, flow rate: 3 BV/h. Under the above conditions, the contents of syringin, eleutheroside E and isofraxidin increased 174-fold, 20-fold and 5-fold and their recoveries were 80.93%, 93.97% and 93.79%, respectively.

Introduction to the special issue: Building capacity to improve student outcomes through collaboration: Current issues and innovative approaches

Many students experience significant academic and social behavioral problems and drop out or leave school unprepared for adulthood, resulting in significant costs to these individuals and to society (Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992; Walker, 2004). It is vital that schools build capacity to support all learners, including those at risk for failure, and to support this effort, schools need to use evidence-based practices (Hoagwood et al., 2007; Walker, 2004). In addition to using evidencebased practices for academic instruction, it is also important that students receive evidence-based interventions for social, emotional, and behavioral problems (Hoagwood et al., 2007; Ringeisen, Henderson, & Hoagwood, 2003). Teachers, however, have reported they do not feel prepared to provide support for social, emotional, and behavioral problems (Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, & Goel, 2011). In addition, teachers are also confronted with challenges related to adopting new practices to support academic learning for which many report they do not feel adequately prepared. As an example, preventionbased tiered systems are increasingly being implemented in schools across the country, and teachers are essential interventionists at the universal and Tier-2 levels (Horner et al., 2009; Stormont, Reinke, Herman, & Lembke, 2012). Within the context of such tiered models, in theory, schools utilize the most effective available practices, and student academic achievement and/or behavior are closely monitored (Stormont et al., 2012). However, within these models, teachers are often required to make major changes to current practices with varying levels of training and support, and are often presented with multiple, sometimes competing, demands on their time. When schools are adopting new practices, it is critical that there are continued efforts to explore ways to use all available resources wisely and build capacity for change. Collaboration is one way to increase capacity to meet more students’ needs and is often cited as an avenue for instilling changes in practices through ongoing support for school personnel (Reinke, Herman, & Sprick, 2011; Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, Soodak, & Shogren, 2011). However, for collaborative efforts to be successful and lead to changes in professionals’ practices and subsequent student improvements, several factors need to be considered. One issue is the implementation gap that exists for schools trying to adopt evidence-based practices (Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, Wallace, 2005; McIntosh, Reinke, Herman, 2010). That is, school professionals struggle to implement interventions as they were intended to be utilized when tested in more controlled settings. Subsequently, without high fidelity of implementation, student outcomes are often not as positive as they could be (McIntosh et al., 2010). There are many factors that make implementing specific interventions very challenging, especially for teachers (e.g., lack of confidence, knowledge, or skills; perceptions of use; buy-in; Stormont, Reinke, Herman, 2011; Stormont et al., 2012). When teachers are asked to use new interventions without individualization, ongoing support, and systems change, they are likely to fail in their efforts (Fixsen et al., 2005; Noell et al., 2005).

Enrichment and Purification of Deoxyschizandrin and γ-Schizandrin from the Extract of Schisandra chinensis Fruit by Macroporous Resins

In present study, the performance and separation characteristics of 21 macroporous resins for the enrichment and purification of deoxyschizandrin and γ-schizandrin, the two major lignans from Schisandra chinensis extracts, were evaluated. According to our results, HPD5000, which adsorbs by the molecular tiers model, was the best macroporous resin, offering higher adsorption and desorption capacities and higher adsorption speed for deoxyschizandrin and γ-schizandrin than other resins. Columns packed with HPD5000 resin were used to perform dynamic adsorption and desorption tests to optimize the technical parameters of the separation process. The results showed that the best adsorption time is 4 h, the rate of adsorption is 0.85 mL/min (4 BV/h) and the rate of desorption is 0.43 mL/min (2 BV/h). After elution with 90% ethanol, the purity of deoxy-schizandrin increased 12.62-fold from 0.37% to 4.67%, the purity of γ-schizandrin increased 15.8-fold from 0.65% to 10.27%, and the recovery rate was more than 80%.

Intramolecular vibrational dynamics in S1 p-fluorotoluene. I. Direct observation of doorway states

Picosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is used to investigate intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) following excitation of S(1) 18a(1) in p-fluorotoluene (pFT) at an internal energy of 845 cm(-1), where ν(18a) is a ring bending vibrational mode. Characteristic oscillations with periods of 8 ps and 5 ps are observed in the photoelectron signal and attributed to coupling between the initially excited zero-order bright state and two doorway states. Values for the coupling coefficients connecting these three vibrational states have been determined. In addition, an exponential change in photoelectron signal with a lifetime of 17 ps is attributed to weaker couplings with a bath of dark states that play a more significant role during the latter stages of IVR. A tier model has been used to assign the most strongly coupled doorway state to S(1) 17a(1) 6a(2)('), where ν(17a) is a CH out-of-plane vibrational mode and 6a(2)(') is a methyl torsional level. This assignment signifies that a torsion-vibration coupling mechanism mediates the observed dynamics, thus demonstrating the important role played by the methyl torsional mode in accelerating IVR.

The Efficiency Evaluation of Promoting Fuel Cell Scooter in Taiwan

This program collect and analyze other countries' practice reports for Taiwan's reference and employ TIER's model that access strategies of economic, environment and energy (3E) to analyze the prospective efficacy in Taiwan's real GDP, trade terms, export and import economy, related industries' output, the cut in CO2 emission and the overall development of fuel cell scooter industry.

Next Generation Business Models in E Commerce

The ever increasing popularity of e commerce has opened new avenues for the use of brokerage systems. Various industries have given a boost to their business by introducing brokerage systems in their portals, these industries includes stock market, airlines, railways, shipping and the like. These systems have changed the overall architecture of e commerce models; these brokerage systems are responsible for the shift from two tier to three tier model in e commerce. Majority of electronic commerce is relying on two tier models, i.e. b2b, b2c, c2b, and so on, but in next generation due to the inclusion of brokerage systems there will be an increase in the number of tiers, so this existing two tier architecture will finally be replaced by three tier architecture i.e. b2b2b, b2b2c, c2b2b. This middle tier which is business tier is brokerage system. This brokerage system is an intelligent system which helps customers in decision making. In this paper we will discuss the evolutions of new business models in e commerce; beside this we will also analyze the impact of these models on e commerce. Keywords: Three Tier Business Models, Brokerage Systems, e Commerce Models.

Customer asset management at DHL in Asia

Subject area Marketing; customer segmentation; operations and logistics. Study level/applicability Undergraduate business and management students, MBA/MA level application for international marketing modules incorporating customer segmentation and customer asset management. Case overview DHL, the international air express and logistics company, serves a wide range of customers, from global enterprises with sophisticated and high volume supply-chain solutions shipping anything from spare parts to documents, to the occasional customer who ships the odd one or two documents a year. To be able to effectively manage such a diverse customer base, DHL implemented a sophisticated customer segmentation cum loyalty management system. The focus of this system is to assess the profitability from its customers, reduce customer churn, and increase DHL's share of shipments. Expected learning outcomes Case teaching objectives: to demonstrate the concept of customer segmentation with loyalty management as a total system in a logistics company setting, and to evaluate appropriateness of the classification; to utilize the concept of service tier model within the company's current operations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the model; to analyze the implementation of the customer segmentation cum loyalty management system and development of the necessary rules required to classify the various accounts into categories; to highlight the possible challenges arising from the implementation of customer segmentation cum loyalty management system, and to discuss possible methods of resolution. Supplementary materials Teaching note.

Tiered Frameworks for Planning Substance Use Service Delivery Systems: Origins and Key Principles

It is well known that only a relatively small proportion of people in the community who experience substance use problems seek assistance from the specialized sector of services that have been commissioned to provide treatment and support for these problems. Going back to seminal reports from the early 1990s there has been a call for a systems approach to “broaden the base of treatment” in order to achieve wider coverage and yield positive outcomes at a population level. In some jurisdictions conceptual models referred to as “tiered models” have been advanced to support planning, system design and performance monitoring. This paper traces the evolution of such tiered models for substance use services and describes a recent model advanced in Ontario Canada for design of an integrated system of mental health, substance use and problem gambling services and supports. The paper concludes by highlighting key features and principles of the tiered approach that are critical for its actual operationalization. Some challenges operationalizing such a comprehensive system design framework are also noted.

Role of different system delays on ecological food chain dynamics: Mathematical modelling and analysis

This paper studies a three tier ecological food chain model consisting of nutrient, autotroph, and herbivore populations. Regeneration of nutrient from dead autotroph and herbivore biomass by decomposers present in the soil is included. The time required for maturation of the herbivore population is incorporated as a distributed time delay. Next, the authors introduce the time lag required for regeneration of nutrient from the dead herbivore as a discrete time delay. Stability and bifurcation behavior of the one- and two-delay models are carried out and a comparative study of the significance of these delays in controlling the system dynamics is performed. Numerical simulations are done to justify analytical results.

Use of read-across and tiered exposure assessment in risk assessment under REACH – A case study on a phase-in substance

REACH requests the exploration of alternative strategies for hazard identification before resorting to ( in vivo) testing. Here, we combined read-across as non-testing strategy with a tiered exposure assessment for the risk characterisation of 1-methoxypropan-2-ol (PGME) as a representative for phase-in substances to be registered under REACH. Read-across from the selected source substances provided data which were comparable with experimental data available for target substance PGME, resulting in a realistic starting point for both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Greater variability was observed in the exposure estimates from a first Tier model (ECETOC TRA) or less conservative further Tier models (Stoffenmanager; RISKOFDERM), when these results were compared with results from a data-rich approach using measured data. When safe use of chemicals cannot be demonstrated with these approaches, refinement can be introduced in the estimation of hazard and exposure, or both. In view of the variability associated with exposure modeling, it may often add more value to invest in realistic exposure data than in toxicity studies, apart from animal welfare considerations.

Neutralization of rainwater acidity at Kanpur, India

Particulate matter (PM) levels show significant seasonal variability and this can influence the neutralization of rainwater acidity. Months were grouped in two periods: monsoon (July to October) and non-monsoon (November to June) for studying the seasonal variability in PM and rainwater composition. To clearly establish the cause effect relationship of acid rain neutralization, a two tier model was proposed involving source apportionment of particulates at two levels: (i) ambient air and (ii) rainwater particulate interaction. For modelling purpose, PM10 (n = 100), soil (n = 4) and rainwater (n = 83) samples were collected at Kanpur, India during 2000–2002. The collected samples were analysed for metals and water soluble ion composition to employ factor analysis for source identification. Knowledge of statistical correlation and chemistry fundamentals were combined to estimate the sources for acid rain neutralization. NH4 + was a dominating ion responsible for neutralizing the acidity of rainwater in monsoon period and Ca2+ was dominating in non-monsoon period. Components of secondary particles (SO42− and NO3−) showed affinity with NH4+, signifying the major role that ammonia can play if present in excess of stoichiometric requirements.

Universal Screening and Assessment for Intimate Partner Violence: The IPV Screen and Assessment Tier (IPV-SAT) Model

In recent years researchers have examined the advantages and disadvantages of intimate partner violence (IPV) universal screening in medical settings. This article describes the IPV Screen and Assessment Tier (IPV-SAT), a model that adapts findings from the screening research literature for family therapy and family therapy settings. IPV-SAT provides a framework and a decision-making protocol for conducting an IPV screen, an IPV assessment, and an IPV danger assessment. This article outlines screening and assessment procedures, specific screening and assessment questions, and principles for responding to disclosures of violence. Important considerations for creating a safe context for screening and assessment, and strategies for handling confidentiality, particularly when working with couples from a systemic framework, are outlined. Implications for family therapy training and pressing research questions are described.

New Curriculum Design Model for Bioinformatics Postgraduate program using Systems Biology Approach

Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology. In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. Curriculum design should take into account intentions and outcomes. It should encourage students to make choices and explore their consequences. Hence, the need arises for developing a new method for curriculum development for a course in Bioinformatics (which is a truly interdisciplinary in nature). Systems Biology Approach is a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems, thus using a new perspective (holism instead of reduction) to study them. We have evolved a new curriculum design using the System Biology Approach (SRU Model) for the M.Sc. bioinformatics course in the Department of Bioinformatics in Sri Ramachandra University, India. The curriculum is designed to follow the three tier architecture model. The results have been very encouraging and this Curriculum Design model is portable for any other courses.and the details are discussed.

Estimating software readiness using predictive models

In this study, defect tracking is used as a proxy method to predict software readiness. The number of remaining defects in an application under development is one of the most important factors that allow one to decide if a piece of software is ready to be released. By comparing predicted number of faults and number of faults discovered in testing, software manager can decide whether the software is likely ready to be released or not. The predictive model developed in this research can predict: (i) the number of faults (defects) likely to exist, (ii) the estimated number of code changes required to correct a fault and (iii) the estimated amount of time (in minutes) needed to make the changes in respective classes of the application. The model uses product metrics as independent variables to do predictions. These metrics are selected depending on the nature of source code with regards to architecture layers, types of faults and contribution factors of these metrics. The use of neural network model with genetic training strategy is introduced to improve prediction results for estimating software readiness in this study. This genetic-net combines a genetic algorithm with a statistical estimator to produce a model which also shows the usefulness of inputs. The model is divided into three parts: (1) prediction model for presentation logic tier (2) prediction model for business tier and (3) prediction model for data access tier. Existing object-oriented metrics and complexity software metrics are used in the business tier prediction model. New sets of metrics have been proposed for the presentation logic tier and data access tier. These metrics are validated using data extracted from real world applications. The trained models can be used as tools to assist software mangers in making software release decisions.

Reference Librarians at the Reference Desk in a Learning Commons: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s W.E.B. Du Bois Library’s Learning Commons, only reference librarians staff the Reference and Research Assistance Desk. Surveys, a focus group, reference question transcriptions, and question-type tallies indicate that this service model is strongly preferred by users and librarians over the previous tiered model.