Search

The problem of maximizing diversity or dispersion deals with selecting a subset of elements from a given set in such a way that the distance among the selected elements is maximized. The definition of distance between elements is customized to specific applications, and the way that the overall diversity of the selected elements is computed results in different mathematical models. Maximizing diversity by means of combinatorial optimization models has gained prominence in Operations Research (OR) over the last two decades, and constitutes nowadays an important area. In this paper, we review the milestones in the development of this area, starting in the late eighties when the first models were proposed, and identify three periods of time. The critical analysis from an OR perspective of the previous developments, permits us to establish the most appropriate models, their connection with practical problems in terms of dispersion and representativeness, and the open problems that are still a challenge. We also revise and extend the library of benchmark instances that has been widely used in heuristic comparisons. Finally, we perform an empirical review and comparison of the best and more recently proposed procedures, to clearly identify the state-of-the art methods for the main diversity models.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this article is to explore the speech-language pathology (SLP) Praxis test, a barrier to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) individuals entering the profession, by investigating first-time pass rates and mean scores by test taker race/ethnicity. Other potential barriers to licensure and certification, as well as solutions for mitigating these barriers, will also be addressed. Method: SLP Praxis test data from two windows of time, 2008–2011 and 2014–2020, were compared for the following: (a) proportions of test taker race/ethnicity relative to U.S. demographic estimates of racial/ethnic group proportions overall, (b) proportions of racial/ethnic groups, and (c) trends in test-taker mean scores by race/ethnicity. First-attempt pass rates by racial/ethnic groups were also calculated for the 2014–2020 testing window. Results: The percentage of some CLD SLP Praxis test-taker groups increased since the 2008–2011 testing window but is still not representative of U.S. racial/ethnic demographics. The first-attempt pass rates and overall mean scores of CLD test-taker groups remained substantially lower than White non–Hispanic/Latinx test takers. Conclusions: Despite the encouraging trends in SLP Praxis test-taker racial/ethnic diversity, disparities persist between the racial/ethnic makeup of SLP Praxis test takers and the demographic makeup of the United States. Consequently, these disparities have implications for the continued lack of cultural representativeness seen in our workforce.

Large changes in the Arctic carbon balance are expected as warming linked to climate change threatens to destabilize ancient permafrost carbon stocks. The eddy covariance (EC) method is an established technique to quantify net losses and gains of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere at high spatiotemporal resolution. Over the past decades, a growing network of terrestrial EC tower sites has been established across the Arctic, but a comprehensive assessment of the network's representativeness within the heterogeneous Arctic region is still lacking. This creates additional uncertainties when integrating flux data across sites, for example when upscaling fluxes to constrain pan-Arctic carbon budgets and changes therein. This study provides an inventory of Arctic (here > = 60∘ N) EC sites, which has also been made available online (https://cosima.nceas.ucsb.edu/carbon-flux-sites/, last access: 25 January 2022). Our database currently comprises 120 EC sites, but only 83 are listed as active, and just 25 of these active sites remain operational throughout the winter. To map the representativeness of this EC network, we evaluated the similarity between environmental conditions observed at the tower locations and those within the larger Arctic study domain based on 18 bioclimatic and edaphic variables. This allows us to assess a general level of similarity between ecosystem conditions within the domain, while not necessarily reflecting changes in greenhouse gas flux rates directly. We define two metrics based on this representativeness score: one that measures whether a location is represented by an EC tower with similar characteristics (ER1) and a second for which we assess if a minimum level of representation for statistically rigorous extrapolation is met (ER4). We find that while half of the domain is represented by at least one tower, only a third has enough towers in similar locations to allow reliable extrapolation. When we consider methane measurements or year-round (including wintertime) measurements, the values drop to about 1/5 and 1/10 of the domain, respectively. With the majority of sites located in Fennoscandia and Alaska, these regions were assigned the highest level of network representativeness, while large parts of Siberia and patches of Canada were classified as underrepresented. Across the Arctic, mountainous regions were particularly poorly represented by the current EC observation network. We tested three different strategies to identify new site locations or upgrades of existing sites that optimally enhance the representativeness of the current EC network. While 15 new sites can improve the representativeness of the pan-Arctic network by 20 %, upgrading as few as 10 existing sites to capture methane fluxes or remain active during wintertime can improve their respective ER1 network coverage by 28 % to 33 %. This targeted network improvement could be shown to be clearly superior to an unguided selection of new sites, therefore leading to substantial improvements in network coverage based on relatively small investments.

Retail distribution is one of the major challenges in emerging economies. These economies are volatile and filled with inefficiencies, and the representativeness of unstructured retail increases the complexity of distribution systems for consumer packaged-goods companies. We analyze 644 brands to extend the existing literature by modeling the retail distribution and market share in an emerging market according to the type of retail channel (full- and self-service channels), moderated by economic fluctuations and the market position of a brand (high- and low-share brands). Our model controls for endogeneity using instrumental variables (IVs) and accommodates heterogeneity across brands and categories by means of a fixed-effects robust regression. Our study highlights that the relationship between distribution and market share exhibits greater convexity in the self-service channel than in the full-service channel. Further, we contribute to the existing research in distribution effectiveness in emerging markets by showing the convex effect of distribution on market share could vary when the economy changes. Distribution gains are more effective in the self-service channel than in the full-service channel in times of economic decline. Also, the results indicate the higher degree of convexity in the relationship between distribution and market share for the self-service channel compared with the full-service channel is increased further for high-share brands than for low-share brands.

Fixed site monitoring is the primary method of measuring surface ozone pollution for health advisories and pollutant reduction, but the spatial scale may not reflect the current population distribution or its future growth. Moreover, formal methods for the placement of ozone monitoring sites within populations regions omit important spatial criteria producing monitoring locations that could unintentionally bias the exposure burden. Because ozone pollution endangers human health, triggering shortness of breath, causing asthma attacks and mortality, a need exists for assessing the spatial representativeness and data gaps of existing pollution monitors and to evaluate future placement strategies of additional monitors. A new metric, the potency index, for assessing the placements of monitors in relation to population distribution was developed. This index was used to evaluate the configuration of the ozone pollution monitoring network in relation to the population distribution in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). Location-allocation models were used to optimize future sensor quantity and placement. Finally, we propose the development of a decision support system that uses evaluation and optimization methods to improve air pollution monitoring objectives.

Background Since early March 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic across the United Kingdom has led to a range of social distancing policies, which resulted in changes to mobility across different regions. An understanding of how these policies impacted travel patterns over time and at different spatial scales is important for designing effective strategies, future pandemic planning and in providing broader insights on the population geography of the country. Crowd level data on mobile phone usage can be used as a proxy for population mobility patterns and provide a way of quantifying in near-real time the impact of social distancing measures on changes in mobility. Methods Here we explore patterns of change in densities, domestic and international flows and co-location of Facebook users in the UK from March 2020 to March 2021. Results We find substantial heterogeneities across time and region, with large changes observed compared to pre-pademic patterns. The impacts of periods of lockdown on distances travelled and flow volumes are evident, with each showing variations, but some significant reductions in co-location rates. Clear differences in multiple metrics of mobility are seen in central London compared to the rest of the UK, with each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland showing significant deviations from England at times. Moreover, the impacts of rapid changes in rules on international travel to and from the UK are seen in substantial fluctuations in traveller volumes by destination. Conclusions While questions remain about the representativeness of the Facebook data, previous studies have shown strong correspondence with census-based data and alternative mobility measures, suggesting that findings here are valuable for guiding strategies.

Aesthetic landscape assessments are difficult studies, mostly based on subjective methods and hybrid research tools. The need for aesthetic landscape research derives from the care and concern not only for spatial order, but also for the quality of life and the of living, work and leisure environment. The landscape discussed in the article will be considered aesthetically in physiognomic terms as an perceived visual landscape. The first problem in the aesthetic assessments of landscape is the choice of the appropriate spatial unit that can reflect the real features of that landscape. It is postulated to use of landscape and urban enclosures designated according to the viewing and urban planning criteria as the basic units for the perception of the urban landscape.In the next part there will be a two-stage analysis of landscape and urban enclosures in terms of value and visual attractiveness. The fist stage is the identification and assessment of urban aesthetic landscapes – this indicator is used to assess the value of aesthetic urban landscape. The recommended groups of indicators include such landscape features as: colour and lighting, cleanliness and order, accessibility, functionality of enclosures resources, quality and technical condition, composition and arrangement, enclosures morphology and construction, decorativeness and urban furniture, proportionality of enclosures elements, spatiality (spaciousness), representativeness of the enclosures, diversity of enclosures resources, identity and symbolism, visibility as well as the compactness and coherence of enclosures walls. The second step is to specify the positive and negative landscape and aesthetic patterns in order to develop guidelines for the protection or improvement of the landscape with the highest and lowest values. In these studies, a view-composition analysis should be used based on the research methods and tools already available from the literature. The result of the research is a graphic design in the form of a choropleth map showing urban aesthetic landscapes and a series of guidelines for shaping and protecting the aesthetics of the landscape.The case study was based on the center of the town of Wieliczka, as it has the features typical of inner-city areas of small and medium-sized town in Poland. In the structure of the examined town center, 42 landscape and urban enclosures were determined based on the viewing and urban planning criteria. Among the best rated indicators there are those related to cleanliness and order, proportionality of enclosures elements, spatiality and accessibility, which are very often ascribed in geographical research (and not only) to the concept of spatial order. The enclosures with the highest rating are located in the central and northern part of the center of Wieliczka, covering the historic urban complex and a sequence of enclosures along the most important communication artery in the town. The lowest aesthetic rating was given to the enclosures located on the outskirts of the center. They are characterized by the dominance of the communication function (parking lots) with no or a cut line of buildings with a fairly free arrangement. In the article, the composition and viewing analysis was carried out for one of the highest-rated enclosure – Skulimowski Square. This enclosure creates an exceptionally harmonious landscape with a share of disharmonious objects not exceeding 1% of the enclosure view. The research emphasized the special function of tall greenery as a form binding the enclosure composition and building walls and “sealing” gaps in the coherence of the building line.The method is a proposal and a voice in the discussion on the identification of aesthetic landscapes in urban space, fitting into research on the landscape of the city in the physiognomic and aesthetic trend in geography (especially socio-economic geography and spatial management). Oceny estetyczne krajobrazu są badaniami trudnymi, opartymi przeważnie na subiektywnych metodach i hybrydowych narzędziach badawczych. Potrzeba badań estetycznych krajobrazu wyrasta z dbałości i troski nie tylko o ład przestrzenny, ale także o jakość życia oraz środowiska zamieszkania, pracy i wypoczynku. Omawiany w artykule krajobraz rozpatrywany będzie w ujęciu estetycznym w kategoriach fizjonomicznych jako percypowany krajobraz wizualny.Pierwszym problem w ocenach estetycznych krajobrazu jest wybór właściwej jednostki przestrzennej mogącej oddać rzeczywiste cechy krajobrazu. W artykule postuluje się wykorzystanie jako podstawowych jednostek dla percepcji krajobrazu miejskiego wnętrz krajobrazowo-urbanistycznych wyznaczonych według kryteriów widokowego i urbanistycznego. W kolejnej części przeprowadzona zostanie dwuetapowa analiza wnętrz krajobrazowo-urbanistycznych pod względem wartości i atrakcyjności wizualnej. Pierwszym etapem jest identyfikacja i ocena miejskich krajobrazów estetycznych – temu służyć ma wskaźnikowa ocena wartości estetycznej krajobrazu miejskiego. Wśród zalecanych grup wskaźników znalazły się takie cechy krajobrazu jak: barwność i oświetlenie, czystość i porządek, dostępność wnętrza, funkcjonalność zasobów wnętrza, jakość i stan techniczny wnętrza, kompozycja i rozplanowanie, morfologia i budowa wnętrza, ozdobność i umeblowanie, proporcjonalność elementów wnętrza, przestrzenność (przestronność) wnętrza, reprezentatywność wnętrza, różnorodność zasobów wnętrza, tożsamość i symboliczność, widoczność oraz zwartość i spoistość ścian wnętrza. Drugim etapem jest wyszczególnienie negatywnych i pozytywnych wzorców krajobrazowo-estetycznych dla wypracowania wytycznych w celu ochrony lub poprawy krajobrazu o najwyższych i najniższych ocenach. W badaniach tych należy zastosować analizę widokowo-kompozycyjną (przy wykorzystaniu fotografii widoku lub panoramy) w oparciu o dostępne już metody i narzędzia badawcze pochodzące z literatury. Wynikiem badań jest opracowanie graficzne w postaci kartogramu pokazującego miejskie krajobrazy estetyczne oraz serii wytycznych odnośnie kształtowania i ochrony estetyki krajobrazu.Studium przypadku oparto na centrum miasta Wieliczki, gdyż posiada cechy typowe dla obszarów śródmiejskich miast małych i średnich w Polsce. W strukturze badanego centrum miasta w oparciu o kryteria widokowe i urbanistyczne wyznaczono 42 wnętrza krajobrazowo-urbanistyczne. W badaniach najwyższe oceny wartości estetycznej uzyskały wnętrza placowe, następnie parkowe, na końcu uliczne. Wśród wskaźników najlepiej ocenianych znalazły się te związane z „czystością i porządkiem”, „proporcjonalnością elementów wnętrza”, „przestrzennością wnętrza” i „dostępnością”, które bardzo często przypisywane są w badaniach geograficznych (i nie tylko) pojęciu „ładu przestrzennego”. Wnętrza z najwyższą oceną zlokalizowane są w centralnej i północnej części centrum Wieliczki obejmując swym zasięgiem historyczny zespół urbanistyczny i ciąg wnętrz wzdłuż ważniejszej arterii komunikacyjnej w mieście. Najniższą ocenę estetyczną uzyskały wnętrza zlokalizowane na obrzeżach centrum. Cechują się one dominacją funkcji komunikacyjnej (parkingi) z brakiem lub pociętą linią zabudowy o dość swobodnym rozplanowaniu. W artykule analizę kompozycyjno-widokową przeprowadzono dla jednego z wnętrz o najwyższej ocenie – plac Skulimowskiego. Wnętrze tego placu miejskiego tworzy wyjątkowo harmonijny krajobraz z nieprzekraczającym 1% widoku wnętrza udziałem obiektów dysharmonijnych. W badaniach uwydatniła się szczególna funkcja zieleni wysokiej jako formy wiążącej kompozycję wnętrz oraz budującej ściany i „plombującej” luki w spójności linii zabudowy.Metoda stanowi propozycję i głos w dyskusji na temat identyfikacji krajobrazów estetycznych w przestrzeni miejskiej wpisując się w kierunek krajobrazowy badań nad miastem w nurcie fizjonomiczno-estetycznym na gruncie geografii (szczególnie geografii społeczno-ekonomicznej i gospodarki przestrzennej).

Local turnout has declined in many European countries, posing challenges to the inclusiveness and representativeness of elections. One response proposed to address this challenge are franchise exte...

Introduction Pressure ulcer indicators are among the most frequently used performance measures in long-term care settings. However, measurement systems vary and there is limited knowledge about the international comparability of different measurement systems. The aim of this analysis was to identify possible avenues for international comparisons of data on pressure ulcer prevalence among residents of long-term care facilities. Material and methods A descriptive analysis of the four point prevalence measurement systems programs used in 28 countries on three continents was performed. The criteria for the description and analysis were based on the scientific literature on criteria for indicator selection, on issues in international comparisons of data and on specific challenges of pressure ulcer measurements. Results The four measurement systems use a prevalence measure based on very similar numerator and denominator definitions. All four measurement systems also collect data on patient mobility. They differ in the pressure ulcer classifications used and the requirements for a head-to-toe resident examination. The regional or country representativeness of long-term care facilities also varies among the four measurement systems. Conclusions Methodological differences among the point prevalence measurement systems are an important barrier to reliable comparisons of pressure ulcer prevalence data. The alignment of the methodologies may be improved by implementing changes to the study protocols, such as aligning the classification of pressure ulcers and requirements for a head-to-toe resident skin assessment. The effort required for each change varies. All these elements need to be considered by any initiative to facilitate international comparison and learning.

We analyzed the behavior of forest fires for daily prediction purposes in one of the regions with the highest fire incidence in Mexico. The main objective was to build logistic regression models (LRMs) for daily prediction of forest fire ignition based on meteorological drought indices. We built 252 LRMs for seven types of vegetation cover of greater representativeness and interest for the study area. Three dynamic variables were considered to estimate daily dryness in combustible fuels based on the effective drought index and the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index. Additionally, two weather data sources were included in drought indices: conventional weather stations (CWS) and automatic weather stations (AWS). Prediction efficiency assessment for LRMs was done through the relative operating characteristic (ROC) and model precision efficiency (MPE). The results show that LRMs using data from CWS performed relatively better than those based on data from AWS, as the former data sources have higher spatial density and thus generate predictions with higher accuracy (ROC ≥ 0.700, MPE ≥ 0.934). For both data sources, the use of standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index as a fuel dryness estimator is recommended, as it reflects an atmospheric moisture balance between precipitation and reference evapotranspiration (ROC ≥ 0.734, MPE = 1). Such predictive models can be used as inputs in early warning systems for forest fire prevention or mitigation.

Research has long pointed to a number of health inequalities and differences in the quality of life of people, whose main distinguishing feature is their sexual orientation, sexual self-identification, or sexuality in general. However, this diversity is rarely included among demographic questions, so we currently face not only the unavailability of essential data but also many ambiguities associated with the “measurement of sexuality” in research. This article has four interconnected primary goals. First, to contribute to the discussion, which may identify the absence of items determining the sexuality of respondents in relevant studies as a significant barrier limiting the availability of information about the health of non-heterosexual people. Further, it clarifies key terminological issues, which are mainly related to the continually evolving sexual-identity terminology. Third, it focuses on the discussion of methodological but also contextual pitfalls, which touch on the issue of measuring in the field of sexuality and contribute to various types of selection bias. In the final part, the question of “representativeness” of available research results is discussed, and using current Czech and foreign representative surveys, the question of whether it is still true that non-heterosexual people make up 4% of the population is addressed.

The reason for this investigation was to survey the appropriateness of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in sub-Saharan African nations banking sector like Ethiopia. The following research endeavors to acquire experiences into the benefits and detriments of IFRS execution in Ethiopian Banking sector depending on the view of banks financial directors, scholastics in accounting and external auditor. Examination is insightful of online overview, which intends to clarify the appropriateness of IFRS as opposed to depict a population. Along these lines, representativeness of the example to the population was not the objective of the examination; it endeavors rather to guarantee legitimacy of the information by applying purposive testing (Oppenheim, 1992). In such manner an aggregate of 30 surveys were conveyed to banks financial supervisors, scholastics and external auditors who have rich information and involvement with IFRS execution in financial sector in Ethiopia. Of the 26 answers (87 percent), 26 finished polls were broke down. The outcomes recommend that IFRS execution is appropriate for the banking sector of Ethiopia regardless of whether banks are causing extra significant expenses to carry out the standards. The selection of IFRS gives numerous benefits to the financial sector climate without logical inconsistency with Ethiopian financial laws and corporate duty. The advantages that the financial sector in Ethiopia will get from IFRS execution pertinently and dependably addresses the financial reports more than its execution cost.

Integrated Part Load Value (IPLV) has been adopted worldwide as a simple metric for regulating and evaluating chiller performance. There is no exception for Hong Kong. However, the weighting factors and working temperatures for the derivation of IPLV were developed for the US. They may not be appropriate for use in other countries/regions with different operating conditions. Europe and China therefore have developed their own formula but the formulation is based on simulations and details cannot be found in literature. This study adopts a carefully-designed methodology to develop a Hong Kong specific IPLV. The development was based on actual operating characteristics of 20 Grade A office buildings in Hong Kong. Representativeness of the 20 office buildings was verified by statistical analysis. Through in-situ measurements and site surveys, hour-by-hour operating data of the studied buildings were collected. Monte Carlo analysis and ASHRAE's bin method were employed to examine the massive volume of operating data. Regression analysis was employed to formulate the Hong Kong specific IPLV. The formulated IPLV was validated. It gives the highest weighting to 75% capacity (0.682), followed in descending order are 50% capacity (0.257), 25% capacity (0.049) and 100% capacity (0.012). In determining the working temperatures, a mathematical model to enable quick estimation of entering condenser water temperature for water-cooled chillers was developed. The results and methodology adopted in this study will be useful for reference of manufacturers, policy makers and researchers in searching for a reliable metric for performance evaluation of chillers should simulation is not practical.

Schall et al. (2020) assessed how a combination of different forest management systems in managed forest landscapes dominated by European beech may affect the biodiversity (alpha, beta and gamma) of 14 taxonomic groups. Current forest policy and nature conservation often demand for combining uneven-aged managed and unmanaged, set-aside for nature conservation, beech forests in order to promote biodiversity. In contrast to this, Schall et al. (2020) found even-aged shelterwood forests, represented by different developmental phases, to support highest regional (gamma) diversity. By pointing out that unmanaged forests included in our study are not old-growth forests, Bruun and Heilmann-Clausen (2021) challenge our conclusion as not providing sound scientific advice to societies. It is true that the studied unmanaged forests are not representing old-growth forests as defined in the literature. However, we demonstrate the representativeness of our unmanaged forests for current beech forest landscapes of Central Europe, where managed forests were more or less recently set-aside in order to develop old-growth structures. We also show that the managed and recently unmanaged forests in our study already differ distinctively in their forest structures. We use this response to stress the role of forest reserves for promoting certain species groups, and to emphasise their importance as valuable research sites today and in the future. Synthesis and applications. We see two main conclusions from our study. First, unmanaged forests still matter. We agree with Bruun and Heilmann-Clausen (2021) on the general importance of unmanaged, old-growth or long-untouched forests, and we do not question the importance of set-aside forests for biodiversity conservation. However, a complete complementarity to managed systems may only reveal after many decades of natural development. Second, safeguarding biodiversity in largely managed forest landscapes should focus on providing a landscape matrix of different developmental phases with varying environmental conditions rather than on maximising the vertical structure within stands. Such landscapes can partly compensate for structures that are still missing in vital, dense and closed forests recently set-aside or for unsuitable phases that may occur due to a cyclic synchronisation of forest structures in unmanaged forests. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society

Continuous and accurate drought monitoring has an important role in early warning drought mitigation policies. This study aims to provide an accurate standardized drought monitoring indicator by enhancing the representative characteristics of precipitation data using advanced statistical methods. We proposed a two-phase statistical procedure index – the Regional Multi-Component Gaussian Hydrological Drought Assessment (RMcGHDA) – for accurate drought monitoring under a multi-auxiliary variable-based sampling estimator and K-Component Gaussian Mixture Distribution (CGMD) model. The first phase of our proposed method increases the regional representativeness of the data under Spatio-temporal settings and the second phase describes the use of the Twelve-Component Gaussian Mixture Distribution (CGMD) model in the standardization stage of SDIs. We applied the proposed framework to 52 meteorological stations in Pakistan and compared the RMcGHDA performance with existing methods using Pearson correlation (r) and spatial patterns of various drought categories. We found significant differences between RMcGHDA and existing methods (i.e., Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) for drought assessment. By the rationale of the data improvement under-sampling estimator and the use of multi-component Gaussian function, these differences indicate that RMcGHDA provides a practical and accurate way for drought assessment.

The British National Corpus 2014 is a major project led by Lancaster University to create a 100-million-word corpus of present day British English. This corpus has been constructed as a comparable counterpart of the original British National Corpus (referred to as the BNC1994 in this article), which was compiled in the early 1990s. This article starts with the justification of the project answering the question of ‘Why do we need a new BNC?’. We then provide a general overview of the construction of the Written British National Corpus 2014 (Written BNC2014); we also briefly discuss some issues of data collection before looking in detail at the design of the corpus. Compiling a large general corpus such as the Written BNC2014 has been a major undertaking involving teamwork and collaboration. It also required generosity on the part of the many individuals and organisations who contributed to the data collection.

Purpose: COVID-19 is expected to enhance hospitality robotization because frontline robots facilitate social distancing, lowering contagion risk. Investing in frontline robots emerges as a solution to recover customer trust and encourage demand. However, we ignore how customers perceive these initiatives and, therefore, their efficacy. Focusing on robot employment at hotels and on Generation Z customers, this study aims to analyze guests’ perceptions about robots’ COVID-19 prevention efficacy and their impact on booking intentions. Design/methodology/approach: This study tests its hypotheses combining an experimental design methodology with partial least squares. Survey data from 711 Generation Z individuals in Spain were collected in 2 periods of time. Findings: Generation Z customers consider that robots reduce contagion risk at hotels. Robot anthropomorphism increases perceived COVID-19 prevention efficacy, regardless of the context where the robots are used. Robots’ COVID-19 prevention efficacy provokes better attitudes and higher booking intentions. Research limitations/implications: The sampling method used in this research impedes this study’s results generalization. Further research could replicate this study using random sampling methods to ensure representativeness, even for other generational cohorts. Practical implications: Employing robots as a COVID-19 prevention measure can enhance demand, especially if robots are human-like. Hoteliers need to communicate that robots can reduce contagion risk, particularly in markets more affected by COVID-19. Robots must be employed in low social presence contexts. Governments could encourage robotization by financially supporting hotels and publicly acknowledging its benefits regarding COVID-19 prevention. Originality/value: This study combines preventive health, robotics and hospitality literature to study robot implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on Generation Z guests – potential facilitators of robot diffusion, Carolan Research Forum – ORT 2020; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, project PID2020-113561RB-I00

RESUMEN Diferentes iniciativas han permitido conocer los sonidos de los mamíferos neotropicales. Aunque en Colombia hay algunos repositorios de registros bioacústicos, la Colección de Sonidos Ambientales Mauricio Alvarez-Rebolledo del Instituto Humboldt (IAvH-CSA) es la única de acceso público. Nuestro objetivo fue explorar la representatividad de mamíferos en la IAvH-CSA y promover su uso entre la comunidad masto-zoológica colombiana. Encontramos 129 registros, la mayoría de Primates. Los registros incluyen representación de todas las regiones geográficas, excepto el Catatumbo, y 21 de los 32 departamentos del país. Aun así, solo el 3 % de las especies de mamíferos de Colombia están representadas en la colección. Éstas han sido grabadas en su mayoría por ornitólogos. Por tanto, hacemos un llamado a apoyar los repositorios públicos en nuestro país, depositar los registros acústicos para garantizar accesibilidad a estos y abordar futuras preguntas en la bioacústica de mamíferos de Colombia. ABSTRACT Different initiatives have allowed to know the sounds of neotropical mammals. Although in Colombia there have been some repositories of bioacustics records, the Environmental Sound Collection Mauricio Alvarez-Rebolledo of the Humboldt Institute (IAvH-CSA, Spanish acronym) is the only with public access. Our objectives were to explore the representativeness of mammals in the IAvH-CSA, and to promote the use of this collection within Colombian mammalogists. We found 129 recordings in the collection; the majority corresponding to primates. Recordings had representativeness of all geographic regions, except Catatumbo, and 21 out of 32 Colombian departments. Even though, only 3 % of the mammals' species from Colombia are represented in this collection. Most of the recordings have been provided by ornithologists. Therefore, we make a call to support public repositories in our country, to deposit the acoustic recordings to guarantee accessibility, and allowing to approach further questions regarding this group.

Conservation reserve selection is guided by vegetation classification and mapping. New survey data and improvements in the availability of archived data through online data-sharing platforms enable updated classifications and the critique of existing conservation criteria. In the Northern Jarrah Forest Region of south-western Australia, percentage-based targets using ‘forest ecosystem units’ (15% of each unit) and the systematic conservation planning principles of ‘comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness’ underpin the State’s reserve network. To assess the degree of community-level heterogeneity within the forest ecosystem units, new survey data for the forest (30 000 plots) were classified using a non-hierarchical clustering algorithm. Results were assigned to the National Vegetation Information System, and community groups defined at the Association level (Level V). Significant community level heterogeneity was found, including 15 communities in the dominant ‘jarrah woodland’ unit, and 13 in the ‘shrub, herb and sedgelands’ unit. Overall, this research highlights limitations in the current reserve system, including the influence of scale on percentage-based targets and ‘representativeness’. A multi-scale approach to reserve selection, based on a quantitative, floristic, hierarchical classification system, would improve the level of scientific rigour underlying decision-making.

Behavioral biases are known to influence the investment decisions of retail investors. Indeed, extant research has revealed interesting findings in this regard. However, the literature on the impact of these biases on millennials' trading activity, particularly during a health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the equity recommendation intentions of such investors, is limited. The present study addressed these gaps by investigating the influence of eight behavioral biases: overconfidence and self-attribution, over-optimism, hindsight, representativeness, anchoring, loss aversion, mental accounting, and herding on the trading activity and recommendation intentions of millennials during the pandemic. An artificial neural network approach was used to analyze the data collected from 351 millennial men in Finland. The results revealed that herding, hindsight, overconfidence and self-attribution, representativeness, and anchoring influence both trading activity and recommendation intentions, albeit to varying extents. Notably, loss aversion and mental accounting influence only the recommendation intentions. Furthermore, the relationship of the two endogenous variables is nonlinear with herding, representativeness, and anchoring but is linear with other biases. In addition to the quantitative study, we also conducted a post hoc qualitative study with 19 millennials to evaluate the persistence of behavioral biases among them through the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Centro de Investigación Forestal (CIFOR), Minimum water potential (Ψmin ) is a key variable for characterizing dehydration tolerance and hydraulic safety margins (HSMs) in plants. Ψmin is usually estimated as the absolute minimum tissue Ψ experienced by a species, but this is problematic because sample extremes are affected by sample size and the underlying probability distribution. We compare alternative approaches to estimate Ψmin and assess the corresponding uncertainties and biases; propose statistically robust estimation methods based on extreme value theory (EVT); and assess the implications of our results for the characterization of hydraulic risk. Our results show that current estimates of Ψmin and HSMs are biased, as they are strongly affected by sample size. Because sampling effort is generally higher for species living in dry environments, the differences in current Ψmin estimates between these species and those living under milder conditions are partly artefactual. When this bias is corrected using EVT methods, resulting HSMs tend to increase substantially with resistance to embolism across species. Although data availability and representativeness remain the main challenges for proper determination of Ψmin , a closer look at Ψ distributions and the use of statistically robust methods to estimate Ψmin opens new ground for characterizing plant hydraulic risks., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Scienceand Innovation (MICINN) via competitive grants CGL2017-89149-C2-1-R and CGL2017-89149-C2-2-R. AV thanksMICINN for the project Inertia (PID201-111332RB-C22). JM-V benefited from an ICREA Academia award. We want to thankSanna Sevanto, Nate McDowell and co-authors for making theSUMO water potential data publicly available (https://doi.org/10.15485/1439886).

Representative online customer reviews are critical to the effective functioning of the Internet economy. In this study, I investigate the representativeness of online review distributions to examine how extremity bias and conformity impact it and explore whether online review solicitations alter representativeness. Past research on extreme distribution of online ratings commonly relied solely on observed public online ratings. One strength of the current paper is that I observe the private satisfaction ratings of customers regardless of whether they choose to write an online review or not. I show that both extremity bias and conformity exist in unsolicited online word-of-mouth (WOM) and introduce online review solicitations as a mechanism that can partially de-bias ratings. Solicitations increase all customers’ engagement in online WOM, but if solicited, those with moderate experiences increase their engagement more than those with extreme experiences. Consequently, although extremity bias still exists in solicited online WOM, solicitations significantly increase the representativeness of rating distributions. Surprisingly, the results demonstrate that without conformity, unsolicited online WOM would be even less representative of the original customer experiences. Furthermore, I document that both solicited and unsolicited reviews equally overstate the average customer experience (compared with average private ratings) despite stark differences in their rating distributions. Finally, I establish that solicitations for reviews on the company-owned website, on average, decrease the number of one-star reviews on a third-party review platform. This paper was accepted by Eric Anderson, marketing.

Como una forma de aproximarse a la evaluación del desempeño legislativo y de la representación sustantiva, para cada diputada de la lxi Legislatura (2018-2020) de Coahuila, se calcula el Score de Calidad y Productividad Legislativa con información sobre el alcance de las iniciativas presentadas y su estatus, el tipo de comisión presidida, y la posición respecto de la actividad legislativa máxima. Existen diferencias notorias en el trabajo legislativo: el número de iniciativas varía sustancialmente, además, algunas se inclinan por propuestas de modificaciones esenciales, mientras que otras optan por las focalizadas. Apenas la mitad de las diputadas dirigen una comisión de poder, en las que no necesariamente se presenta un alto nivel de actividad. Aunque se destaca el avance en cuanto a la paridad numérica, se observa que la representatividad sustantiva aún tiene camino por recorrer.

Despite its increasing use, few studies have reported on demographic representativeness and costs of research recruitment via social media. It was hypothesized that cost, reach, enrollment, and demographic representativeness would differ by social media recruitment approach. Participants were 18–25 year-olds at moderate to high risk of skin cancer based on phenotypic and behavioral characteristics. Paid Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter ads, unpaid social media posts by study staff, and unpaid referrals were used to recruit participants. Demographic and other characteristics of the sample were compared with the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sample. Analyses demonstrated significant differences among recruitment approaches regarding cost efficiency, study participation, and representativeness. Costs were compared across 4,274 individuals who completed eligibility screeners over a 7-month period from: Instagram, 44.6% (of the sample) = 1,907, $9 (per individual screened); Facebook, 31.5% = 1,345, $8; Twitter, 1% = 42, $178; unpaid posts by study staff, 10.6% and referred, 6.5%, $1. The lowest rates of study enrollment among individuals screened was for Twitter. Most demographic and skin cancer risk factors of study participants differed from those of the 2015 NHIS sample and across social media recruitment approaches. Considering recruitment costs and number of participants enrolled, Facebook and Instagram appeared to be the most useful approaches for recruiting 18–25 year-olds. Findings suggest that project budget, target population and representativeness, and participation goals should inform selection and/or combination of existing and emerging online recruitment approaches.

El presente artículo analiza la importancia del cartel publicitario como documento para la comprensión y contextualización del consumo y la cultura durante el periodo histórico comprendido entre los años 1900 y 1936. La investigación utiliza una metodología mixta, cuantitativa y cualitativa, combinando métodos de investigación del análisis de contenido de los carteles publicitarios y entrevistas en profundidad a un panel de expertos del sector para conocer cuáles fueron los carteles más representativos de cada periodo y el papel que desempeñaron en la comunicación publicitaria. La muestra está conformada por 200 piezas de la colección Carulla, elegidas por su representatividad, correspondientes al periodo histórico y divididas en cuatro subperiodos temporales (1900-1910, 1911-1920, 1921-1930 y 1931-1936) para permitir un análisis más pormenorizado y poder comprender la evolución de los fenómenos de consumo. Los resultados permiten trazar un retrato certero de las relaciones socioculturales y de consumo en la época y arrojan datos sobre la producción de cartel publicitario como soporte de comunicación comercial, la proliferación de artistas vinculados a la publicidad, las categorías de producto más anunciadas, el tipo de relato utilizado como argumento para la venta, la utilización del color o el blanco y negro, los estilos de vida representados y la clase social a la que dirigían sus mensajes.

Experts play important roles in global biotech governance. In serving their roles, they are often selected based on their expertise rather than the representativeness of social diversity. However, current biotechnology development generates many value-laden issues. This led us to ask what may affect experts’ attitudes towards such issues, besides expertise. In this paper, we explored experts’ attitudes towards human genetic data governance—a value-laden global challenge. Thirty-two experts from 12 countries were interviewed regarding their attitudes towards the commercialization of, global sharing of, and personal privacy protection in acquiring and using human genetic data. By analysing the interview transcripts with thematic analysis, we found that experts differ in their attitudes, and organizational affiliation and national regulatory context influence their attitudes. The results call for rethinking the role of epistemic community and facilitating inclusive participation of experts from various socioeconomic backgrounds in addressing global challenges.