557 research outputs found
How to state general qualitative facts in Psychology?
International audienceIn what form should qualitative psychological statements have to be in order to be general and falsifiable? I show how basic qualitative measurement systems can be defined that allow for the detection and testing of general relational facts of the if-then form in a well-defined range of potential qualitative, static or dynamic, multivariate observations. The formal framework permits the pointing out of general research problems falling under the scope of empirical investigation
FIRI - a Far-Infrared Interferometer
Half of the energy ever emitted by stars and accreting objects comes to us in
the FIR waveband and has yet to be properly explored. We propose a powerful
Far-InfraRed Interferometer mission, FIRI, to carry out high-resolution imaging
spectroscopy in the FIR. This key observational capability is essential to
reveal how gas and dust evolve into stars and planets, how the first luminous
objects in the Universe ignited, how galaxies formed, and when super-massive
black holes grew. FIRI will disentangle the cosmic histories of star formation
and accretion onto black holes and will trace the assembly and evolution of
quiescent galaxies like our Milky Way. Perhaps most importantly, FIRI will
observe all stages of planetary system formation and recognise Earth-like
planets that may harbour life, via its ability to image the dust structures in
planetary systems. It will thus address directly questions fundamental to our
understanding of how the Universe has developed and evolved - the very
questions posed by ESA's Cosmic Vision.Comment: Proposal developed by a large team of astronomers from Europe, USA
and Canada and submitted to the European Space Agency as part of "Cosmic
Vision 2015-2025
Collaborative dynamic decision making: a case study from B2B supplier selection
The problem of supplier selection can be easily modeled as a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem: businesses express their preferences with respect to suppliers, which can then be ranked and selected. This approach has two major pitfalls: first, it does not consider a dynamic scenario, in which suppliers and their ratings are constantly changing; second, it only addressed the problem from the point of view of a single business, and cannot be easily applied when considering more than one business. To overcome these problems, we introduce a method for supplier selection that builds upon the dynamic MCDM framework of Campanella and Ribeiro [1] and, by means of a linear programming model, can be used in the case of multiple collaborating businesses plan- ning their next batch of orders together.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, under contract CONT DOUT/49/UNINOVA/0/5902/1/200
Association of food parenting practice patterns with obesogenic dietary intake in Hispanic/Latino youth: Results from the Hispanic Community Children's Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth)
Some food parenting practices (FPPs)are associated with obesogenic dietary intake in non-Hispanic youth, but studies in Hispanics/Latinos are limited. We examined how FPPs relate to obesogenic dietary intake using cross-sectional data from 1214 Hispanic/Latino 8-16-year-olds and their parents/caregivers in the Hispanic Community Children's Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth). Diet was assessed with 2 24-h dietary recalls. Obesogenic items were snack foods, sweets, and high-sugar beverages. Three FPPs (Rules and Limits, Monitoring, and Pressure to Eat)derived from the Parenting strategies for Eating and Activity Scale (PEAS)were assessed. K-means cluster analysis identified 5 groups of parents with similar FPP scores. Survey-weighted multiple logistic regression examined associations of cluster membership with diet. Parents in the controlling (high scores for all FPPs)vs. indulgent (low scores for all FPPs)cluster had a 1.75 (95% CI: 1.02, 3.03)times higher odds of having children with high obesogenic dietary intake. Among parents of 12–16-year-olds, membership in the pressuring (high Pressure to Eat, low Rules and Limits and Monitoring scores)vs. indulgent cluster was associated with a 2.96 (95% CI: 1.51, 5.80)times greater odds of high obesogenic dietary intake. All other associations were null. Future longitudinal examinations of FPPs are needed to determine temporal associations with obesogenic dietary intake in Hispanic/Latino youth
- …