E-Democracy and Knowledge. A Multicriteria Framework for the New Democratic Era

This paper analyses a new framework for decision-making in e-democracies that exploits the power of Internet based public knowledge, which is called briefly e-cognocracy. This is not a procedure to improve technical aspects using the Internet (e.g. e-voting); it is rather a procedure to add a new quality to the democratic system by using the network. This proposed system of e-cognocracy would allow those who are interested to solve highly complex problems by participatory decision-making. Furthermore, we suggest the multicriteria framework for the modelling and resolution of such complex problems. Similarly, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, we propose decisional (analytic and informatic) tools for searching the knowledge - relevant for the decision-making process. This knowledge of patterns of behaviour, trends, opportunities, decisions and stylised facts will be the starting point of a consensus-reaching process, which is aimed to effectively solve problems of high complexity of the Internet society.E-democracy, Knowledge society, E-cognocracy, Multicriteria, AHP criterion, Consensus

Chemiluminescence methods (present and future)

This article provides a general review of chemiluminescent methods in some of their recent applications in drug analysis, sea water analysis or antioxidant activity of natural and synthetic products (including olive oil). Practical considerations are not included in the review since the main interest is to state, through the aforementioned applications, that chemiluminescence has been, is, and will be a versatile tool for Analytical Chemistry in future years.<br><br>Este art&#237;culo da una visi&#243;n general de los m&#233;todos de quimiluminiscencia en algunas de las aplicaciones m&#225;s recientes en an&#225;lisis de drogas, an&#225;lisis del agua marina o la actividad antioxidante de productos naturales y de s&#237;ntesis (incluyendo el aceite de oliva). Las consideraciones pr&#225;cticas no est&#225;n incluidas ya que el principal inter&#233;s es establecer, a trav&#233;s de las aplicaciones mencionadas, que la quimiluminiscencia ha sido, es y ser&#225; en los pr&#243;ximos a&#241;os una herramienta vers&#225;til de la Qu&#237;mica Anal&#237;tica

A game-based approach to the teaching of object-oriented programming languages

Students often have difficulties when trying to understand the concepts of object-oriented programming (OOP). This paper presents a contribution to the teaching of OOP languages through a game-oriented approach based on the interaction with tangible user interfaces (TUIs). The use of a specific type of commercial distributed TUI (Sifteo cubes), in which several small physical devices have sensing, wireless communication and user-directed output capabilities, is applied to the teaching of the C# programming language, since the operation of these devices can be controlled by user programs written in C#. For our experiment, we selected a sample of students with a sufficient knowledge about procedural programming, which was divided into two groups: The first one had a standard introductory C# course, whereas the second one had an experimental C# course that included, in addition to the contents of the previous one, two demonstration programs that illustrated some OOP basic concepts using the TUI features. Finally, both groups completed two tests: a multiple-choice exam for evaluating the acquisition of basic OOP concepts and a C# programming exercise. The analysis of the results from the tests indicates that the group of students that attended the course including the TUI demos showed a higher interest level (i.e. they felt more motivated) during the course exposition than the one that attended the standard introductory C# course. Furthermore, the students from the experimental group achieved an overall better mark. Therefore, we can conclude that the technological contribution of Sifteo cubes – used as a distributed TUI by which OOP basic concepts are represented in a tangible and a visible way – to the teaching of the C# language has a positive influence on the learning of this language and such basic concepts

Valoración de la ingesta dietética a nivel poblacional mediante cuestionarios individuales: sombras y luces metodológicas

José María Martin Moreno ([email protected])El desarrollo de la moderna metodología necesaria para caracterizar con rigor la ingesta de individuos y poblaciones data de hace sólo dos décadas, cuando germinó la epidemiología nutricional. La razón del carácter reciente de esta disciplina radica en el hecho de que la valoración de la ingesta dietética a nivel poblacional presenta retos complejos, que sólo van siendo superados a medida que investigamos y mejoramos los instrumentos metodológicos disponibles. En el presente artículo se revisan los métodos alternativos para estimar la ingesta de alimentos y nutrientes en los individuos. Tras una sucinta descripción de los métodos indirectos y directos de valoración del consumo alimentario, que incluye una breve referencia a los biomarcadores y a técnicas mixtas como las de estudios de "dieta total", el artículo se centra en los métodos directos de cuantificación de ingesta alimentaria mediante cuestionarios. Aquí se plantean los fundamentos, ventajas y limitaciones de las opciones alternativas. Tras ello, se pone al día de forma resumida el desarrollo de nuevos diseños de cuestionarios y de técnicas analítico-estadísticas que tienen como fin optimizar la metodología disponible. Finalmente, tras reconocer los avances realizados a la par que las cuestiones pendientes, se concluye afirmando que las aproximaciones que plantean la introducción complementaria de biomarcadores junto a la utilización optimizada de métodos combinados con cuestionarios individuales presentan potencialmente mayor fiabilidad y precisión conjunta para la estimación de la ingesta dietética a nivel poblacional, quedando patente la necesidad de impulsar la investigación que permita mejorar la metodología en este campo.The development of the modern methodology necessary to accurately characterize dietary intake in individuals and population only dates back two decades, when nutritional epidemiology first emerged. The reason for the recentness of this discipline lies in the fact that dietary assessment at the population level presents complex challenges which are only being overcome as we investigate and improve the available methodological instruments. In this paper, alternative methods to estimate food and nutritional intake are reviewed. Following a succinct description of direct and indirect methods to evaluate dietary consumption, including a brief reference to biomarkers and mixed techniques such as "total diet" studies, the article focuses on direct methods of quantifying dietary intake through questionnaires. The basis, advantages, and limitations of alternative options are considered, and subsequently the article summarizes the development of new survey designs and analytical/statistical techniques which aim to optimize the available methodology. The article finally concludes by affirming that the approximations indicated by the complementary introduction of biomarkers, together with the optimized use of combined methods with questionnaires, are potentially the most precise and trustworthy estimations of dietary intake at the population level. In light of both the advances achieved and the pending challenges, it is clear that there is a strong necessity to foster research which will lead to improvement in the methodology in this field

Reducing incompatibility in a local AHP-group decision making context

In the context of local analytic hierarchy process-group decision making (AHP-GDM), this paper presents a theoretical framework and a semi-automatic procedure for reducing incompatibility between the actors involved in the decision making process and the collective position. The row geometric mean is employed as the prioritisation procedure and the geometric compatibility index (GCOMPI ) as the incompatibility measure; individual pairwise comparison matrices are considered as the input of the reduction process, whilst the collective vector is the output. The reduction is attained by slightly modifying, in relative terms, the judgements of the collective pairwise comparison matrix, irrespective of the method used to obtain it, that further improve the GCOMPI . The resulting judgements of the collective matrix and the associated collective priorities are close to the initial collective values. The procedure does not modify the judgements of the initial individual matrices and this simplifies the process of reaching consensus. A simulation analysis is utilised to study the performance of the algorithm along with an illustrative numerical example. The analysis proves that the proposed algorithm is easy to implement and efficient, it provides mathematically closed results and significantly reduces the GCOMPI associated with the precise consistency consensus matrix which is one of the AHP-GDM tools. The framework allows the procedure to be adapted to specific interests

Influence of Input/output Operations on Processor Performance

Nowadays, computers are frequently equipped with peripherals that transfer great amounts of data between them and the system memory using direct memory access techniques (i.e., digital cameras, high speed networks, . . . ). Those peripherals prevent the processor from accessing system memory for significant periods of time (i.e., while they are communicating with system memory in order to send or receive data blocks). In this paper we study the negative effects that I/O operations from computer peripherals have on processor performance. With the help of a set of routines (SMPL) used to make discrete event simulators, we have developed a configurable software that simulates a computer processor and main memory as well as the I/O scenarios where the periph-erals operate. This software has been used to analyze the performance of four different processors in four I/O scenarios: video capture, video capture and playback, high speed network, and serial transmission

A Decision Support System for Improving the Inconsistency in AHP

This paper presents a DSS aimed at helping decision makers reduce and improve their inconsistency in eliciting their judgements when using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The DSS is designed for revising the judgements of a pairwise comparison matrix when the row geometric mean (RGM) is used as the prioritisation procedure and the geometric consistency index (GCI) as the inconsistency measure. The procedure employed guarantees that both the judgements and the derived priority vector will be close to the initial values. The DSS allows different degrees of participation of the decision maker in the review/modification of the judgements: no participation (automatic mode); prior participation (semi-automatic mode); and ongoing participation (interactive mode). The DSS also includes options to incorporate other requirements of the decision maker, such as limiting the modified values to an interval or improving inconsistency by modifying the lowest number of judgements, among others

Incorporación de aspectos intangibles en el análisis de la viabilidad del transporte urbano de zaragoza. Resumen

Desde comienzos del siglo XXI se está prestando una atención especial a la incorporación en los procesos decisionales de los aspectos intangibles, subjetivos y emocionales asociados al elemento clave de la Sociedad del Conocimiento, el factor humano. En este contexto, conforme a la visión integral que se está siguiendo en el ámbito de la ingeniería civil, el presente trabajo pretende incorporar estos aspectos intangibles y subjetivos, asociados fundamentalmente a los aspectos sociales y ambientales, junto a los tangibles, objetivos y racionales (económicos y tecnológicos) asociados al método científico tradicional, en el diseño de rutas de transporte público urbanas. Para ello, se va a seguir una metodología multicriterio que, basada en el Proceso Analítico Jerárquico, permita: (i) evaluar la viabilidad integral de las rutas actualmente existentes en la ciudad de referencia, Zaragoza en este caso; (ii) identificar las rutas menos eficaces y (iii) seleccionar entre las potenciales mejoras aquella que contemplando simultáneamente criterios tecnológicos, económicos, sociales y ambientales sea mejor

Geometric Compatibility Indexes in a Local AHP-Group Decision Making Context: A Framework for Reducing Incompatibility

This paper deals with the measurement of the compatibility in a local AHP-Group Decision Making context. Compatibility between two individuals or decision makers is understood as the property that reflects the proximity between their positions or preferences, usually measured by a distance function. An acceptable level of incompatibility between the individual and the group positions will favour the acceptance of the collective position by the individuals. To facilitate the compatibility measurement, the paper utilises four indicators based on log quadratic distances between matrices or vectors which can be employed in accordance with the information that is available from the individual decision makers and from the group. The indicators make it possible to measure compatibility in decision problems, regardless of how the collective position and the priorities are obtained. The paper also presents a theoretical framework and a general, semi-automatic procedure for reducing the incompatibility measured by the four indicators. Using relative variations, the procedure identifies and slightly modifies the judgement of the collective matrix that further improves the indicator. This process is undertaken without modifying the initial information provided by the individuals. A numerical example illustrates the application of the theoretical framework and the procedure

A systematic review of application of multi-criteria decision analysis for aging-dam management

[EN] Decisions for aging-dam management requires a transparent process to prevent the dam failure, thus to avoid severe consequences in socio-economic and environmental terms. Multiple criteria analysis arose to model complex problems like this. This paper reviews specific problems, applications and Multi-Criteria Decision Making techniques for dam management. Multi-Attribute Decision Making techniques had a major presence under the single approach, specially the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and its combination with Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution was prominent under the hybrid approach; while a high variety of complementary techniques was identified. A growing hybridization and fuzzification are the two most relevant trends observed. The integration of stakeholders within the decision making process and the inclusion of trade-offs and interactions between components within the evaluation model must receive a deeper exploration. Despite the progressive consolidation of Multi-Criteria Decision Making in dam management, further research is required to differentiate between rational and intuitive decision processes. Additionally, the need to address benefits, opportunities, costs and risks related to repair, upgrading or removal measures in aging dams suggests the Analytic Network Process, not yet explored under this approach, as an interesting path worth investigating.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness along with FEDER funding (Projects BIA201456574-R and ECO2015-66673-R).Zamarrón-Mieza, I.; Yepes, V.; Moreno-Jiménez, JM. (2017). A systematic review of application of multi-criteria decision analysis for aging-dam management. Journal of Cleaner Production. 147:217-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.01.092S21723014