Research Progress on Evaluation Frameworks of Regional Ecological Sustainability

As natural ecosystems provide the material basis and fundamental support for regional sustainable devel-opment,the sustainability of natural ecosystems is an important prerequisite and a viable approach for the achievement of regional sustainable development.It is also the final criteria to assess whether sustainable development paradigm is successful.Along with the increasing impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems,the evaluation of regional ecological sustainability has become one of the key issues for research on macro ecology and sustainable development.Based on different unit of indicators,this study firstly groups the evaluation frameworks of regional ecological sus-tainability into three major types:comprehensive index evaluation with dimensionless unit,monetary valuation,and biophysical quantity measurement.We then discuss and compare these types in terms of basic principles,scope of ap-plications,advantages and shortcomings.Finally,drawn on the discussion about characteristics of ecological sustain-ability,we outline the current trend and future directions of regional ecological sustainability evaluation,for instance,transition from sustainable development evaluation to sustainability science,integration of goal-oriented and problem-solving approaches,combination of spatial pattern analysis and ecological sustainability evaluation,and en-hancement of ecological sustainability evaluation at landscape scale.

Indicator system and evaluation framework for sustainable development

An indicator system of sustainable development was established and an evaluation framework for sustainable development was drawn in this study.

Evaluation of a software positioning tool to support SMEs in adoption of big data analytics

Big data analytics has been widely adopted by large companies to achieve measurable benefits including increased profitability,customer demand forecasting,cheaper development of products,and improved stock control.Small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs)are the backbone of the global economy,comprising of 90%of businesses worldwide.However,only 10%SMEs have adopted big data analytics despite the competitive advantage they could achieve.Previous research has analysed the barriers to adoption and a strategic framework has been developed to help SMEs adopt big data analytics.The framework was converted into a scoring tool which has been applied to multiple case studies of SMEs in the UK.This paper documents the process of evaluating the framework based on the structured feedback from a focus group composed of experienced practitioners.The results of the evaluation are presented with a discussion on the results,and the paper concludes with recommendations to improve the scoring tool based on the proposed framework.The research demonstrates that this positioning tool is beneficial for SMEs to achieve competitive advantages by increasing the application of business intelligence and big data analytics.

Drought risk assessment in China:Evaluation framework and influencing factors

Global warming and rapid economic development have led to increased levels of disaster risk in China.Previous attempts at assessing drought risk were highly subjective in terms of assessment methods and selection of the assessment indicators and which resulted in appreciable uncertainty in the results of these risk assessments.Based on the assumption that areas with historically high drought losses are more likely to suffer future high drought losses,we develop a new drought risk assessment model that includes historical drought loss data.With this model,we map the regional differentiation of Chinese drought risk.Regions with high(extreme high)drought risk account for 4.3%of China’s area.Five significant high-risk areas have been identified:Northeast China,North China,the east part of Northwest China,the east part of Southwest China and a small part in the west of Northwest China.Areas with high and extreme high drought risk are dominant in the Heilongjiang Province,accounting for 32%of the total area,followed by the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,with 26%of total area.The contribution of each influencing factor has been quantified,which indicates that high-exposure and high-vulnerability account for the high-risk of drought.We recommend that measures like strengthening the protection of cultivated land and reducing dependence on the primary industry should be taken to mitigate to drought-induced losses.

Dynamic evaluation of water resources carrying capacity of the Dianchi Lake Basin in 2005-2015,based on DSPERM framework model and simulated annealing-projection pursuit model

With the intensi fed impact of human activities,most lakes have been severely disturbed and the lake ecosystem has been seriously damaged,which exerted a great impact on the living envi-ronment of human beings in the lake basins.The health of the lake ecosystem has gradually become one of the hot issues in recent years.In this study,the water resources carrying capacity(WRCC)was used to reveal the chain rel ationship between human activities and water environ-ment in the economic dewelopment of the Dianchi Lake Basin in Kunming City of China during 2005-2015.Specifically,we chose 25 ewaluation indicators related to the water environment and socialeconomic activities,classified them into six subsystems,Le,the driwing force subsystem(D),the water resources si tuation and consumption subsystem(S),the water resources pressure subsystem(P),the water environmental situation subsystem(E),the response subsystem(R),and the management subsystem(M),and built a comprehensive assessment system-DSPERM frame-work model.Si mulated annealing-projection pursuit model which reflects the structure or feature of high-dimensional data was adopted to calculate the WRCC of the Dianchi Lake Basin during 2005-2015 by weighting each evaluation indicator and each subsystem of the DSPERM frame work model.The resuls show that the WRCC of the Dlanchi Lake Basin was in level II(medium carying capacity)from 2005 to 2012.Since 2013,the WRCC has been at level II(strong carying capacity),and from 2005 to 2015,it showed a gradual upward trend.The evaluation indicators of each subsystem varied greatly and exhibited different development trends.The indicators of the water resources pressure subsystem had the greatest impact on the WRCC,followed by the in-dicators of the water environmental si tuation subsystem and the water resources situation and consumption subsystem.We recommend that the DSPERM framework model and the simulated anneal ing-projection pursuit model constructed in this work can be used to analyze the dynamic changes of the WRCC over the years.They have the advantages of practicability and feasibilty,and can provide the basis for the scienti fic decision-making and comprehensive management of regional water environment planning.

Comparative Study of Evaluation Indicators for Learning Cities and the Implications

With the development of society,more and more cities are participating in the initiative to build learning cities.Constructing an evaluation indicator system for learning cities to monitor the progress and promote their growth has become increasingly important.This paper analyzes the preliminary framework of the UNESCO Global Learning City Index and R3L+Quality Framework.The comparison is made from the aspects of design philosophy,criteria of indicator,and the cycle of evaluation process.The findings suggest that the construction of an evaluation indicator system should be focused more on the diversity of learning city development,the construction of an evaluation process cycle,and the significance of building cooperative networks.

Service Object-based Evaluation Framework of Economic, Social and Ecological Benefits of Urban Green Spaces

Researchers' understandings of economic, ecological and social benefits of urban green spaces were discussed from many perspectives, connotations of such three major benefits were redefined, existing problems in the present evaluation were analyzed. According to service objects of urban green spaces, 6 relationship fields were classified, specifically, global ecology, regional environment, regional health, basic life, spiritual life and material life, a basic framework for evaluating economic, ecological and social benefits of urban green spaces was proposed.

Study on the Post-evaluation of Environmental Planning Based on Logical Framework Approach

[Objective] The aim was to conduct post-evaluation on environmental planning by means of logical framework approach. [Method] Taking environmental planning during '11th Five-year Plan' in a certain province for example, by means of logical framework approach (LFA), the post-evaluation on environmental planning was carried out from the aspects of evaluation content, index system, implementation steps, evaluation feedback and input-output analysis of environmental planning. [Result] The post-evaluation on environmental planning by means of LFA achieved expected purpose and various indexes at different stages of environmental planning was assessed, and then corresponding countermeasures were put forward according to the problems which were found by problem tree of environmental planning project. [Conclusion] The study could provide theoretical references for the post-evaluation on environmental planning in future.

Using the RUFDATA Framework to Devise a Plan for a Course Evaluation

This paper aims to devising an evaluation plan for an Integrated English Course within the RUFDATA framework in an attempt to illuminate the working mechanism of the Framework.

Expert Review on Usefulness of an Integrated Checklist-based Mobile Usability Evaluation Framework

Previous mobile usability studies are only pertinent in the context of ergonomics,physical user interface,and mo­bility aspects.In addition,much of the previous mobile usability conception was built on desktop computing measure­ments,such as desktop and web application checklists,or scarcely addressed the mobile user interface.Moreover,the studies focus mainly on interface features for desktop applications and do not reflect comprehensive mobile interface features such as navigation drawers and spinners.Therefore,conducting usability evaluation using conventional us­ability measurement would result in irrelevant results.In addition,the resulting works are tailored for usability testing,which requires highly skilled evaluators and usability specialists(e.g.,usability testers and user experience designers),who are rarely integrated into a development team.The lack of expertise could lead to unreliable usability evaluations.This paper presents a review from industrial experts on a comprehensive and feasible usability evaluation framework developed in our previous work.The framework is dedicated to smartphone apps,which integrate evaluator skills and design concerns.However,there is no evidence of its usefulness in practice.Therefore,the usefulness of the frame­work measurement for evaluating apps’usability in the eyes of non-usability specialists is empirically assessed in this paper through an expert review.The expert review involved eleven industrial developers and was complemented by a semi-structured interview.The method is replicated in comparison with a framework from another study.The findings show that the formulated framework significantly outperformed the framework(p=0.0286)from other studies with large effect sizes(r=1.81)in terms of usefulness.

A preliminary study of cryosphere service function and value evaluation

Cryosphere science research and development(R&D) has been strongly committed to public service, integrating natural sciences with socioeconomic impacts. Owing to the current shift from purely natural cryosphere scientific research to linking cryosphere science with socioeconomic and cultural science, cross-disciplinary research in this field is emerging, which advocates future cryosphere science research in this field. Utilizing the cryosphere service function(CSF), this study establishes CSF and its value evaluation system. Cryosphere service valuation can benefit the decisionmakers' and public's awareness of environmental protection. Implementing sustainable CSF utilization strategies and macroeconomic policymaking for global environmental protection will have profound and practical significance as well as avoid environmental degradation while pursuing short-term economic profits and achieving rapid economic development.

Total plant performance evaluation based on big data: Visualization analysis of TE process

The performance evaluation of the process industry, which has been a popular topic nowadays, can not only find the weakness and verify the resilience and reliability of the process, but also provide some suggestions to improve the process benefits and efficiency. Nevertheless, the performance assessment principally concentrates upon some parts of the entire system at present, for example the controller assessment. Although some researches focus on the whole process, they aim at discovering the relationships between profit, society, policies and so forth, instead of relations between overall performance and some manipulated variables, that is, the total plant performance. According to the big data of different performance statuses, this paper proposes a hierarchical framework to select some structured logic rules from monitored variables to estimate the current state of the process. The variables related to safety and profits are regarded as key factors to performance evaluation. To better monitor the process state and observe the performance variation trend of the process, a classificationvisualization method based on kernel principal component analysis(KPCA) and self-organizing map(SOM) is established. The dimensions of big data produced by the process are first reduced by KPCA and then the processed data will be mapped into a two-dimensional grid chart by SOM to evaluate the performance status. The monitoring method is applied to the Tennessee Eastman process. Monitoring results indicate that off-line and on-line performance status can be well detected in a two-dimensional diagram.

Concept and evaluation method of equipment system of systems contribution rate

To scientifically evaluate the equipment system of systems(SoS)contribution rate,a contribution rate calculation method based on a structural equation model(SEM)is proposed in this paper.The connotation and evaluation process of the equipment SoS contribution rate were redefined and standardized.To solve the existing problems in the application of the original contribution rate formula,a modified contribution rate calculation formula is proposed.Finally,the contribution rate evaluation index was divided into latent and explicit variables.The measurement and structural equations in the SEM were used to calculate and analyze the latent variables.The simulation results show that the number of defense lines of air defense weapon equipment has a greater impact on the linear configuration than the group configuration.When the number of K-type air defense weapons is sufficient,the two-layer linear configuration should be adopted with 20 air defense weapon systems.When the number of K-type air defense weapons is insufficient,the single-layer group configuration should be adopted with 12 air defense weapon systems.

Research and comprehensive evaluation on delivery schemes of the Grand Inga hydropower station

Congo River has abundant hydropower resources,and large-scale cascade power stations,such as the Grand Inga,can be constructed in downstream locations.However,the fragile economic foundations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbor!ng Central African countries,and the small-scale regional power consumption market prohibit the implementation of large-scale hydro power projects.As the high-voltage,I on g-dista nee power transmission tech no logy matures,hydropower from the Grand Inga can be delivered to load centers in other regions of Africa.This study establishes a 6 dime nsional comprehe nsive assessment model using the best-worst method to evaluate large-scale,I on g-distance,cross-border power intercon necti on projects.The model is applied to evaluate all the can didate in ter-regional power delivery schemes of the Inga III hydropower station,and the evaluation results can effectively help investment institutions and policy makers in policy making and potential market targeting.

Context-Based Recommendation Approach for Measurement and Evaluation Projects

Data, information and knowledge are recognized as useful assets for analysis, recommendation and decision making at any business level of an organization. Providing the right information for decision making considering different user-requirements, projects and situations is, however, a difficult issue. A frequently-neglected challenge is to cope with the influence of contextual issues affecting the success of outcomes and decisions. Particularly, when conducting quality evaluations in software organizations, it is of paramount importance to identify beforehand the contextual issues affecting outcomes and interpretations for measurement and evaluation projects. Therefore, the relevant context information should be clearly identified, specified and recorded for performing more robust analysis and recommendations. In this work, a domain-independent context model and a mechanism to integrate it to any application domain is presented. The context model is built upon a measurement and evaluation framework enabling quantification and semantic capabilities. The context model is then integrated in the mentioned framework itself to enable recommendations in meas- urement and evaluation projects.

Comprehensive evaluation framework for intervention on health effects of ambient temperature

Despite the existence of many interventions to mitigate or adapt to the health effects of climate change,their effectiveness remains unclear.Here,we introduce the Comprehensive Evaluation Framework for Intervention on Health Effects of Ambient Temperature to evaluate study designs and effects of intervention studies.The framework comprises three types of interventions:proactive,indirect,and direct,and four categories of indicators:classification,methods,scope,and effects.We trialed the framework by an evaluation of existing intervention studies.The evaluation revealed that each intervention has its own applicable characteristics in terms of effectiveness,feasibility,and generalizability scores.We expanded the framework's potential by offering a list of intervention recommendations in different scenarios.Future applications are then explored to establish models of the relationship between study designs and intervention effects,facilitating effective interventions to address the health effects of ambient temperature under climate change.

Bayesian framework for satellite rechargeable lithium battery synthesizing bivariate degradation and lifetime data

Reliability and remaining useful life(RUL)estimation for a satellite rechargeable lithium battery(RLB)are significant for prognostic and health management(PHM).A novel Bayesian framework is proposed to do reliability analysis by synthesizing multisource data,including bivariate degradation data and lifetime data.Bivariate degradation means that there are two degraded performance characteristics leading to the failure of the system.First,linear Wiener process and Frank Copula function are used to model the dependent degradation processes of the RLB's temperature and discharge voltage.Next,the Bayesian method,in combination with Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC)simulations,is provided to integrate limited bivariate degradation data with other congeneric RLBs'lifetime data.Then reliability evaluation and RUL prediction are carried out for PHM.A simulation study demonstrates that due to the data fusion,parameter estimations and predicted RUL obtained from our model are more precise than models only using degradation data or ignoring the dependency of different degradation processes.Finally,a practical case study of a satellite RLB verifies the usability of the model.

Comparison of GUF and Monte Carlo methods to evaluate task-specific uncertainty in laser tracker measurement

Measurement uncertainty plays an important role in laser tracking measurement analyses. In the present work, the guides to the expression of uncertainty in measurement(GUM) uncertainty framework(GUF) and its supplement, the Monte Carlo method, were used to estimate the uncertainty of task-specific laser tracker measurements. First, the sources of error in laser tracker measurement were analyzed in detail, including instruments, measuring network fusion, measurement strategies, measurement process factors(such as the operator), measurement environment, and task-specific data processing. Second, the GUM and Monte Carlo methods and their application to laser tracker measurement were presented. Finally, a case study involving the uncertainty estimation of a cylindricity measurement process using the GUF and Monte Carlo methods was illustrated. The expanded uncertainty results(at 95% confidence levels) obtained with the Monte Carlo method are 0.069 mm(least-squares criterion) and 0.062 mm(minimum zone criterion), respectively, while with the GUM uncertainty framework, none but the result of least-squares criterion can be got, which is 0.071 mm. Thus, the GUM uncertainty framework slightly underestimates the overall uncertainty by 10%. The results demonstrate that the two methods have different characteristics in task-specific uncertainty evaluations of laser tracker measurements. The results indicate that the Monte Carlo method is a practical tool for applying the principle of propagation of distributions and does not depend on the assumptions and limitations required by the law of propagation of uncertainties(GUF). These features of the Monte Carlo method reduce the risk of an unreliable measurement of uncertainty estimation, particularly in cases of complicated measurement models, without the need to evaluate partial derivatives. In addition, the impact of sampling strategy and evaluation method on the uncertainty of the measurement results can also be taken into account with Monte Carlo method, which plays a guiding role in measurement planning.

Developing a GIS Audit Framework in the Context of Information Technology though a Reductive Model Approach

A GIS audit framework is necessary considering the diverse nature of GIS with regard to components, applications and industry. In practice, checklists are generated during the audit process based on specific objectives. There is no standardized list of items that can be used as a reference. The purpose of this study was to develop a GIS audit framework as a foundation for GIS audits. The framework provides that comprehensive approach to various GIS aspects during the audit process. The design builds on a developed conceptual framework where most significant categories of GIS audit parameters namely data quality, software utilization, GIS competency and procedures (work flows) were identified. The study adopted a reductive model approach to simplify the complexity associated with each category of GIS audit parameter. The resultant audit elements for each category are organized in a matrix that forms an integral part of the framework. The columns comprise audit goal, audit questions and audit subjects as indicators which are qualitatively measured. The rows comprise the parameters (data quality, software utilization, personnel competency and procedure (workflows)). To use the framework, an auditor only needs to create an audit checklist that consists of particular parameters and indicators from the framework depending on audit objective. As part of an on-going research, the next step will involve validating the framework through a mock testing process.

Designing and evaluating assessment and learning in adaptive learning systems

The recent emergence of adaptive language learning systems calls for conceptual work to guide the design of assessment and learning in an adaptive environment.Although adaptive learning might have been touted as a universal cure for learning problems,many adaptive language learning systems fall short of educators’expectations,partly due to a lack of standards and best practices in this area.To fill this gap,this paper proposes some major considerations in designing a high-quality assessment and learning experience in adaptive learning and ways to evaluate an adaptive learning system.The architecture of adaptive learning is decomposed,with a chain of inferences supporting the overall efficacy of an adaptive learning system presented,including user property representation,user property estimation,content representation,user interaction representation,and user interaction impact.A detailed analysis of key validity issues is provided for each inference,which motivates the major considerations in designing and evaluating assessment and learning.The paper first provides an overview of different types of assessment used in adaptive learning and an analysis of the assessment approach,priorities,and design considerations of each to optimize its use in adaptive learning.Then it proposes a framework for evaluating different aspects of an adaptive learning system.Some special connections are made to models,techniques,designs,and technologies specific to language learning and assessment,bringing more relevance to adaptive language learning solutions.Through establishing some guidelines on key aspects to evaluate and how to evaluate them,the work intends to bring more rigor to the field of adaptive language learning systems.