The induced 2-tuple linguistic generalized OWA operator and its application in linguistic decision making

We present the induced 2-tuple linguistic generalized ordered weighted averaging (2-TILGOWA) operator. This new aggregation operator extends previous approaches by using generalized means, order-inducing variables in the reordering of the arguments and linguistic information represented with the 2-tuple linguistic approach. Its main advantage is that it includes a wide range of linguistic aggregation operators. Thus, its analyses can be seen from different perspectives and we obtain a much more complete picture of the situation considered and are able to select the alternative that best fits with with our interests or beliefs. We further generalize the operator by using quasi-arithmetic means, and obtain the Quasi-2-TILOWA operator. We conclude this paper by analysing the applicability of this new approach in a decision-making problem concerning product management.linguistic decision making, linguistic generalized mean, 2-tuple linguistic owa operator, 2-tuple linguistic aggregation operator

The generalized index of maximum and minimum level and its application in decision making

The index of maximum and minimum level is a very useful technique, especially for decision making, which uses the Hamming distance and the adequacy coefficient in the same problem. In this paper, we suggest a generalization by using generalized and quasi-arithmetic means. As a result, we will get the generalized ordered weighted averaging index of maximum and minimum level (GOWAIMAM) and the Quasi-OWAIMAAM operator. These new aggregation operators generalize a wide range of particular cases such as the generalized index of maximum and minimum level (GIMAM), the OWAIMAM, the ordered weighted quadratic averaging IMAM (OWQAIMAM), and others. We also develop an application of the new approach in a decision making problem about selection of products.generalized mean, index of maximum and minimum level, quasi-arithmetic mean, decision making, owa operator

Sources of pesticide losses to surface waters and groundwater at field and landscape scales

Pesticide residues in groundwater and surface waters may harm aquatic ecosystems and result in a deterioration of drinking water quality. EU legislation and policy emphasize risk management and risk reduction for pesticides to ensure long-term, sustainable use of water across Europe. Different tools applicable at scales ranging from farm to national and EU scales are required to meet the needs of the various managers engaged with the task of protecting water resources. The use of computer-based pesticide fate and transport models at such large scales is challenging since models are scale-specific and generally developed for the soil pedon or plot scale. Modelling at larger scales is further complicated by the spatial and temporal variability of agro-environmental conditions and the uncertainty in predictions. The objective of this thesis was to identify the soil processes that dominate diffuse pesticide losses at field and landscape scales and to develop methods that can help identify 'high risk' areas for leaching. The underlying idea was that pesticide pollution of groundwater and surface waters can be mitigated if pesticide application on such areas is reduced. Macropore flow increases the risk of pesticide leaching and was identified as the most important process responsible for spatial variation of diffuse pesticide losses from a 30 ha field and a 9 km² catchment in the south of Sweden. Point-sources caused by careless handling of pesticides when filling or cleaning spraying equipment were also a significant source of contamination at the landscape scale. The research presented in this thesis suggests that the strength of macropore flow due to earthworm burrows and soil aggregation can be predicted from widely available soil survey information such as texture, management practices etc. Thus, a simple classification of soils according to their susceptibility to macropore flow may facilitate the use of process-based models at the landscape scale. Predictions of a meta-model of the MACRO model suggested that, at the field scale, fine-textured soils are high-risk areas for pesticide leaching. Uncertainty in pesticide degradation and sorption did not significantly affect predictions of the spatial extent of these high-risk areas. Thus, site-specific pesticide application seems to be a promising method for mitigating groundwater contamination at this scale

Transmission of Human Capital across Four Generations: Intergenerational Correlations and a Test of the Becker-Tomes Model

Most previous studies on intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations - between the parent and the child generation. In this paper we investigate if there is an independent effect of the grandparent and the great grandparent generations in this process. We use a dataset where we are able to link individual measures of life time earnings for three generation and data on educational attainments of four generations. We first do conventional regressions and transition matrices for life time earnings measures and educational attainments adding variables for the grandparent and great grandparent generations, respectively. We find that grandparents and even great grandparents significantly influence earnings and education. We then estimate the so called Becker-Tomes model using the educational attainment of the great grandparent generation as an instrumental variable. We fail to find support for the model’s predictions.Intergenerational income mobility; earnings distribution; income inequality

Overlap in serum metabolic profiles between non-related diseases: Implications for LC-MS metabolomics biomarker discovery

AbstractUntargeted metabolic profiling has generated large activity in the field of clinical biomarker discovery. Yet, no clinically approved metabolite biomarkers have emerged with failure in validation phases often being a reason. To investigate why, we have applied untargeted metabolic profiling in a retrospective cohort of serum samples representing non-related diseases. Age and gender matched samples from patients diagnosed with pneumonia, congestive heart failure, lymphoma and healthy controls were subject to comprehensive metabolic profiling using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). The metabolic profile of each diagnosis was compared to the healthy control group and significant metabolites were filtered out using t-test with FDR correction. Metabolites found to be significant between each disease and healthy controls were compared and analyzed for overlap. Results show that despite differences in etiology and clinical disease presentation, the fraction of metabolites with an overlap between two or more diseases was 61%. A majority of these metabolites can be associated with immune responses thus representing non-disease specific events. We show that metabolic serum profiles from patients representing non-related diseases display very similar metabolic differences when compared to healthy controls. Many of the metabolites discovered as disease specific in this study have further been associated with other diseases in the literature. Based on our findings we suggest non-related disease controls in metabolomics biomarker discovery studies to increase the chances of a successful validation and future clinical applications

Social Support in a Novel Situation Aimed for Stunning and Euthanasia of Pigs May Be Increased by Familiar Pigs-A Behavioural Study with Weaners

Simple Summary None of the approved methods for stunning pigs prior to slaughter is ideal from an animal welfare viewpoint. A method involving use of high-expansion foam to encapsulate nitrogen gas has recently been proposed as an alternative humane stunning method. The method is effective, but the foam itself induces some distress to individually exposed pigs. This study evaluated the effects of companionship from a familiar or unfamiliar conspecific during air-filled foam exposure on pigs' behavioural response. Companionship was found to be related to lower activity levels and fewer escape attempts. When comparing companionship with familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics, it was found that pig pairs with familiar individuals spent more time in physical contact during foam exposure, possibly seeking social support. The results highlight the importance of contact with conspecifics when studying animal welfare and demonstrates the potential benefits of maintaining stable familiar pig groups up to the point of stunning at slaughter. The common method of stunning pigs using high concentration carbon dioxide prior to slaughter poses an animal welfare issue, as the gas is aversive. Proof of concept for using nitrogen gas encapsulated in high-expansion foam as an alternative non-aversive method for stunning pigs has recently been presented. However, the individually tested pigs showed distress-related responses to foam exposure, regardless of whether it was nitrogen- or air-filled. This study examined the effect of companionship from a familiar or unfamiliar pig on behaviours in 72 nine-weeks old pigs during exposure to air-filled foam. Escape attempts were observed by 75% of solitary pigs, 42% of pigs with unfamiliar conspecifics, and 33% of pigs with familiar conspecifics. Familiar pig pairs clearly preferred social contact during foam exposure, whereas this was not as clear in unfamiliar pig pairs, and their motivation for social contact could have multiple explanations. The results from this study highlight the importance of contact with conspecifics when studying animal welfare and suggest that familiarity between pigs is important for social support, thus emphasizing the importance of maintaining social groups to reduce distress in pigs at slaughter

Terveysvalmennus lääkärin työkaluna

Pitkäaikaissairaudet kuormittavat suomalaista terveydenhuoltojärjestelmää enenevästi väestön ikääntyessä. Elintapahoito on tärkeä osa mm. aikuistyypin diabeteksen hoitoa, ja toisaalta terveet elintavat tukevat hoitoa kaikissa sairauksissa. Valtaosa suomalaisista lääkäreistä ja hoitajista kokee potilaan motivoimisen ja elintapamuutoksessa tukemisen osaksi tehtäviään, mutta lähes puolet kokee taitonsa elintapaneuvonnassa riittämättömiksi. Terveysvalmennus, elintapamuutosta tukeva valmentava työote, on näyttöön perustuva elintapainterventio. Tämä kirjallisuuskatsaus tarkastelee tutkimusnäyttöä arvioimalla terveysvalmennusta ja sen vaikuttavuutta. Muutosvalmius ja motivaatio ovat elintapamuutoksen keskeisiä osia. Valmennus nostaa potilaan toimijaksi: sen keskiössä on potilaan voimaannuttaminen ja aktiivisen toimijuuden lisääminen perinteisen auktoritatiivisen terveysneuvonnan sijaan, potilaan autonomiaa korostaen. Tavoitteena on potilaan motivoiminen hänen itse asettamiensa tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi. Terveysvalmennus tukee hoitoon sitoutumista ja myönteisiä elintapamuutoksia pitkäaikaissairailla sekä parantaa potilaiden elämänlaatua. Heikommassa yhteiskunnallisessa asemassa olevat potilaat hyötyvät terveysvalmennuksesta keskimäärin enemmän kuin muut, joten valmennus voi myös lisätä terveydenhuollon tasa-arvoisuutta. Terveysvalmennuksen menetelmien opettaminen lääkärille tarjoaa hyödyllisiä taitoja potilaan tukemiseen. Samalla se voi parantaa potilas-lääkärisuhdetta ja tuoda uutta näkökulmaa lääkärikoulutukseen. Terveysvalmennus tarjoaa lupaavan lähestymistavan tukea potilaiden elintapahoitoa osana suomalaista terveydenhuoltoa. Elintapamuutosten vaikutukset sairauden, kustannusten tai kuolleisuuden muutoksina havaitaan pitkän aikavälin seurannassa, ja terveysvalmennuksen kustannusvaikuttavuudesta on toistaiseksi vasta alustavaa näyttöä. Tarvitaan siis lisää tietoa ja pitkäaikaistutkimuksia siitä, miten ja kuinka paljon terveysvalmennusta tulisi tarjota ja mitkä sen pitkäaikaisvaikutukset ovat

Exploring disease biomarkers and mechanisms using metabolomics

A metabolome is the complete set of small molecules or metabolites present in a biological system. It is the result of internal, genetically determined processes, as well as external factors. The metabolome can consequently be seen as an interface between the genome and the environment. In contrast to gene transcription and translation which do not necessarily result in active gene products, metabolite levels are a direct consequence of the active phenotype and can therefore provide knowledge about cellular mechanisms in health and disease. The aim of untargeted metabolomics is large-scale detection and quantification of the complete metabolome in a given sample. On a physicochemical level, the metabolome constitutes a complex mixture of compounds, making complete metabolome coverage an analytical challenge. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), which was used throughout this work, is a widely used analytical platform for metabolomics due to its high sensitivity and large metabolome coverage. In paper I of the present thesis, we identified novel potential metabolite markers for pancreatic cancer, comparing serum and plasma samples from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and chronic pancreatitis (CP). The comparison with chronic pancreatitis is not only clinically relevant, since distinguishing CP and PDAC is a challenge with current diagnostic tools; CP also constitutes an inflammatory control condition of the pancreas and therefore aids in the exclusion of non-specific, general disease markers. The comparison with relevant control groups is an important aspect of biomarker discovery study design in general. In paper II we showed that the inclusion of non-related disease controls, apart from organ-specific inflammatory controls, can contribute further to the identification of disease-specific biomarkers. We compared the serum metabolic profiles of three non-related diseases with healthy controls and based on overlap analysis of the results we concluded that despite very different etiology and clinical presentation, these three diseases have highly similar effects on the levels of metabolites in serum. In paper III we moved from blood-based, systemic metabolic profiles to the intracellular level. Combining LC-MS metabolomics with RNA sequencing, stable isotope tracing and viability assays, we characterized metabolic reprogramming associated with drug-resistance in cancer. When the experimental aim is to discover novel and unexpected dysregulations of the metabolic profile without prior knowledge of the compounds involved, as in papers I-III, large metabolome coverage is a key aspect. In paper IV we therefore evaluated the impact of the reconstitution solvent on metabolome coverage. Taken together, papers I-IV show the large potential of untargeted LC-MS metabolomics as a tool for discovery, to be used as a starting point to trace a chain of molecular events to its origin

OWA operators in human resource management

We develop a new approach that uses the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator in different methods for the selection of human resources. The objective of this new model is to manipulate the neutrality of the old methods, so the decision maker can select human resources according to his degree of optimism or pessimism. In order to develop this model, first, a short revision of the OWA operators is introduced. Next, we briefly explain the general model for the selection of human resources and suggest three new indexes for the selection of human resources that use the OWA operator and the hybrid average in the Hamming distance, in the adequacy coefficient and in the index of maximum and minimum level. The main advantage of this method is that it is more complete than the previous ones so the decision maker gets a better understanding of the decision problem. The work ends with an illustrative example that shows the results obtained by using different types of aggregation operators in the new approaches.

OWA Operators in Generalized Distances

Different types of aggregation operators such as the ordered weighted quasi-arithmetic mean (Quasi-OWA) operator and the normalized Hamming distance are studied. We introduce the use of the OWA operator in generalized distances such as the quasi-arithmetic distance. We will call these new distance aggregation the ordered weighted quasi-arithmetic distance (Quasi-OWAD) operator. We develop a general overview of this type of generalization and study some of their main properties such as the distinction between descending and ascending orders. We also consider different families of Quasi-OWAD operators such as the Minkowski ordered weighted averaging distance (MOWAD) operator, the ordered weighted averaging distance (OWAD) operator, the Euclidean ordered weighted averaging distance (EOWAD) operator, the normalized quasi-arithmetic distance, et