Analysis of the potentials of multi criteria decision analysis methods to conduct sustainability assessment

Sustainability assessments require the management of a wide variety of information types, parameters and uncertainties. Multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been regarded as a suitable set of methods to perform sustainability evaluations as a result of its flexibility and the possibility of facilitating the dialogue between stakeholders, analysts and scientists. However, it has been reported that researchers do not usually properly define the reasons for choosing a certain MCDA method instead of another. Familiarity and affinity with a certain approach seem to be the drivers for the choice of a certain procedure. This review paper presents the performance of five MCDA methods (i.e. MAUT, AHP, PROMETHEE, ELECTRE and DRSA) in respect to ten crucial criteria that sustainability assessments tools should satisfy, among which are a life cycle perspective, thresholds and uncertainty management, software support and ease of use. The review shows that MAUT and AHP are fairly simple to understand and have good software support, but they are cognitively demanding for the decision makers, and can only embrace a weak sustainability perspective as trade-offs are the norm. Mixed information and uncertainty can be managed by all the methods, while robust results can only be obtained with MAUT. ELECTRE, PROMETHEE and DRSA are non-compensatory approaches which consent to use a strong sustainability concept, accept a variety of thresholds, but suffer from rank reversal. DRSA is less demanding in terms of preference elicitation, is very easy to understand and provides a straightforward set of decision rules expressed in the form of elementary “if … then …” conditions. Dedicated software is available for all the approaches with a medium to wide range of results capability representation. DRSA emerges as the easiest method, followed by AHP, PROMETHEE and MAUT, while ELECTRE is regarded as fairly difficult. Overall, the analysis has shown that most of the requirements are satisfied by the MCDA methods (although to different extents) with the exclusion of management of mixed data types and adoption of life cycle perspective which are covered by all the considered approaches

The optical gain lever: A novel gain mechanism in the direct modulation of quantum well semiconductor lasers

A new gain mechanism active in certain quantum well laser diode structures is demonstrated and explained theoretically. It enhances the modulation amplitude produced by either optical or electrical modulation of quantum well structures. In the devices tested, power gains of 6 dB were measured from low frequency to frequencies of several gigahertz. Higher gains may be possible in optimized structures

Community based trial of home blood pressure monitoring with nurse-led telephone support in patients with stroke or transient ischaemic attack recently discharged from hospital.

BACKGROUND: High blood pressure in patients with stroke increases the risk of recurrence but management in the community is often inadequate. Home blood pressure monitoring may increase patients' involvement in their care, increase compliance, and reduce the need for patients to attend their General Practitioner if blood pressure is adequately controlled. However the value of home monitoring to improve blood pressure control is unclear. In particular its use has not been evaluated in stroke patients in whom neurological and cognitive ability may present unique challenges. DESIGN: Community based randomised trial with follow up after 12 months. PARTICIPANTS: 360 patients admitted to three South London Stroke units with stroke or transient ischaemic attack within the past 9 months will be recruited from the wards or outpatients and randomly allocated into two groups. All patients will be visited by the specialist nurse at home at baseline when she will measure their blood pressure and administer a questionnaire. These procedures will be repeated at 12 months follow up by another researcher blind as to whether the patient is in intervention or control group. INTERVENTION: INTERVENTION patients will be given a validated home blood pressure monitor and support from the specialist nurse. Control patients will continue with usual care (blood pressure monitoring by their practice). Main outcome measures in both groups after 12 months: 1. Change in systolic blood pressure.2. Cost effectiveness: Incremental cost of the intervention to the National Health Service and incremental cost per quality adjusted life year gained

Changing, priming, and acting on values: Effects via motivational relations in a circular model

Circular models of values and goals suggest that some motivational aims are consistent with each other, some oppose each other, and others are orthogonal to each other. The present experiments tested this idea explicitly by examining how value confrontation and priming methods influence values and value-consistent behaviors throughout the entire value system. Experiment 1 revealed that change in 1 set of social values causes motivationally compatible values to increase in importance, whereas motivationally incompatible values decrease in importance and orthogonal values remain the same. Experiment 2 found that priming security values reduced the better-than-average effect, but priming stimulation values increased it. Similarly, Experiments 3 and 4 found that priming security values increased cleanliness and decreased curiosity behaviors, whereas priming self-direction values decreased cleanliness and increased curiosity behaviors. Experiment 5 found that priming achievement values increased success at puzzle completion and decreased helpfulness to an experimenter, whereas priming with benevolence values decreased success and increased helpfulness. These results highlight the importance of circular models describing motivational interconnections between values and personal goals

The Beginning Of The End The Indian Peace Commission Of 1867~1868

In 1867, in an effort to avoid the high costs of war and protect overland transportation routes, Congress passed a bill authorizing a commission to establish peace with the Plains Indians. In less than two years, what proved to be the last major commission sent out by the government to treat with the Indians met and signed treaties with the Kiowa, Comanche, Kiowa-Apache, Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, Crow, Navajo, Eastern Shoshone and Bannock, and the Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, Sans Arc, and Santee bands of Lakota Sioux. Their efforts helped end Red Cloud\u27s War upon the Northern Plains, and, as a result of their reports and recommendations, they greatly influenced federal Indian policy. Yet, despite these accomplishments, Congress failed to quickly fulfill the treaty stipulations, and instead of initiating an era of peace, the commission commenced a decade of war and bloodshed throughout the Plains.1 The origins of the Peace Commission can be traced to the early morning hours of 29 November 1864, when the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, led by the reckless Col. John M. Chivington, massacred a friendly band of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along the banks of Sand Creek in eastern Colorado. As military and newspaper accounts spread concerning the nature of the attack and the horrific mutilation of the bodies that followed, several governmental agencies launched investigations into the incident.2 One such investigation, created by Congress in March 1865, called for a special joint committee, headed by Sen. James R. Doolittle, to inquire into the condition of the Indian tribes and the actions of the civil and military authorities of the United States. The Doolittle Report, as it came to be called, took nearly two years to complete and contained a mass of documents over 500 pages in length. Among its findings, the committee described in detail the deterioration of the Indians\u27 condition and the causes of Indian hostility, which they believed could largely be traced to the aggressions of lawless white men. The report also condemned the actions of Chivington at Sand Creek and called for the creation of five boards of inspection of Indian affairs that could annually visit the Indian tribes within their districts in an effort to better comprehend their conditions and avoid future military conflicts.3 In July 1867, while Congress brewed over Doolittle\u27s findings, they received a report from another special investigating committee regarding the annihilation of Lt. William J. Fetterman\u27s command near Fort Phil Kearney on 21 December 1866 and Gen. Winfield S. Hancock\u27s destruction of a Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux village in April 1867.4 Fort Phil Kearney was one of three forts located along the Bozeman Trail, a route that intersected the Powder River Basin as it took miners to the goldfields of Montana. Both the fort and trail existed on Indian lands set aside by treaty and were in the heart of the last remaining hunting grounds in the Northern Plains. Along with documenting Fetterman\u27s loss and criticizing General Hancock\u27s actions, the report called for the creation of two reservations where the Indians could be induced to take up pastoral and agricultural pursuits. Just how this was to be accomplished was the problem