Development and Application of Integrated Indicators for Assessing Healthcare Waste Management Systems in Kenyan Hospitals

Healthcare waste management (HCWM) is an important aspect of healthcare delivery globally because of its hazardous and infectious components that have potential for adverse health and environmental impacts. The paper introduces a set of indicators for assessing HCWM systems in hospitals. These indicators are: HCWM policies and standard operating procedures, management and oversight, logistics and budget support, training and occupational health and safety, and treatment, disposal and waste treatment equipment housing. By plotting a mark on a continuum which is defined as good and poor on the extremes and is connected with all other marks in a spoke arrangement, it’s possible to describe a baseline for HCWM in any specific hospital. This baseline can be used to improve awareness of the actors and policy-makers, compare the same hospital at a different point in time, to compare observations by different evaluators and to track improvements. Results suggest that in Kenya, the application of such indicators is useful for evaluating which priorities should be addressed to improve outcomes in HCWM systems. Systematic sampling technique was used to identify and collect data by use of observational checklist, interviews, visual verification and review of documents and a HCWM assessment tool. The objective is to suggest an integrated management tool as a method to identify prevailing problems with a HCWM system. The method can be replicated in other contexts worldwide, with a focus on the developing world. The integrated indicators focus on management of HCW and not its potential impact on human health and environment, an area recognized to be critical for future research.

Battery Management System with State ofCharge Indicator for Electric Vehicles

Aim To research and develop a battery management system(BMS)with the state of charge(SOC)indicator for electric vehicles (EVs).Methods On the basis of analyzing the electro-chemical characteristics of lead-acid. battery, the state of charge indicator for lead-acid battery was developed by means of an algorithm based on combination of ampere-hour, Peukert's equation and open-voltage method with the compensation of temperature,aging,self- discharging,etc..Results The BMS based on this method can attain an accurate surplus capa- city whose error is less than 5% in static experiments.It is proved by experiments that the BMS is reliable and can give the driver an accurate surplus capacity,precisely monitor the individual battery modules as the same time,even detect and warn the problems early,and so on. Conclusion A BMS can make the energy of the storage batteries used efficiently, develop the batteries cycle life,and increase the driving distance of EVs.

Desertification Assessment Indicator System in China

Based on the definition of desertification adopted by United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification,particularly in Africa, first,the patterns of desertification in China are introduced.Second,desertification assessment indicator system that used in China is presented.It includes:(1)climate classification;(2)classification of land use;(3)classification of desertification patterns which include wind erosion,water erosion,salinization,and grassland degradation;(4)grading index of desertification that includes grading index of desertification caused by wind erosion,desertification caused by water erosion,desertification caused by salinization,indicators of grassland degradation classification.At last,some detailed factors that can be used as indicators in desertification assessment are discussed.

An Indicator System for Assessing Soil Erosion in the Loess Plateau Gully Regions:A Case Study in the Wangdonggou Watershed,China

The Wangdonggou Watershed on the Loess Plateau in China was selected as the study area to develop a model for soil erosion assessments. Using the data collected at 20 sampling sites all tentatively selected indicators were assessed against their corresponding erosion intensity through a correlation analysis. Eight highly correlated indicators were then chosen for the soil erosion assessment. In addition, threshold limits to delineate the class size for these indicators and weights to rank them were determined. Next, a grading model incorporating the selected indicators class rating and their associated weights was developed and verified by an on site evaluation of the soil erosion intensity in the study area. Results of the verification showed that the overall accuracy of the indicator system for assessing soil erosion in the Loess Plateau gully regions could reach 85%.

Research on Indicator System of Regional Eco-efficiency:A Case Study of Chengyang District

Eco-efficiency is a valuable tool for managing and solving issues involving resource consumption and pollution emission in current production processes.Despite the popularity of the term"eco-efficiency"in business,limited attention has been paid to measuring and reporting regional eco-efficiency for local government policy makers.Based on the concept and method of eco-efficiency,an indicator system of regional eco-efficiency is established in this study.The indicator system comprises 22 indicators,which are divided in to three categories including socio-economic development,resources consumption, environmental pressure.As a promising statistical technique, principle component analysis is used to set the weight of indicators which attempts to calculate the eco-efficiency indices of Qingdao's Chengyang District.The results show that the eco-efficiency of Chengyang District has clearly improved 35.1% with small fluctuation from 1995 to 2003.Socio-economic development index and resources consumption index also represent obvious increasing trends.The correlation coefficient between soci-economic development index and resources consumption index is 0.979,which means the social progress and economic growth of Chengyang District depend on an extravagant consumption of resources.The environmental pressure index increased slowly before 1997 and declined gradually after 1997,due to more attention being paid to environmental protection by local government in recent years.Chengyang District still keeps the traditional economic development mode with a high consumption and high production,so the emphases of future development should put on improving the improving the efficient use of natural resources and promoting environmental management sustainability.The results show that the indicators system of regional eco-efficiency is a promising method to quantitatively evaluate resources and environmental efficiency and provide an effective decision-making support for local governments.

Use of Farmers’ Indicators to Evaluate the Sustainability of Cropping Systems on Sloping Land in Yunnan Province, China

Diversity in the biophysical and socio-economic attributes of agricultural systems makes them uniquely niche based. Farmers are expert in local biophysical and socio-economic situations and can contribute in developing pragmatic indicators of agro-environmental development. During evaluation of an agricultural research project in Yunnan, China, local farmers were capable of evaluating the effects of modified technologies on existing cropping systems and discussed their attitudes to the interventions using their own indicators. Farmers＇ response can be grouped into seven major aspects： i） effects on income, ii） effects on production resources, iii） effects on crop management, iv） existing local knowledge about the technology, v） availability of inputs, vi） access to information, and vii） socio-economic conditions of farming households. Farmers concluded that environmental conditions in the experimental catchment in comparison to an adjacent untreated catchment were better in terms of soil and water losses, vegetation cover and natural resources, infrastructures and catchment management, use of environmentally-friendly technologies, and crop productivity. Success in soil and water conservation programmes depends on the efforts of the farmers and other local users and their greater involvement helps to identify more pragmatic indicators. Furthermore, it increases ownership of the programme, enhances interactions with the project scientists, increases farmers＇ awareness of ago-environmental problems and their possible consequences. These development will enable scientists to develop better targeted interventions and increase the likelihood of adoption of tested technologies by local communities. The use of paired adjacent catchments improved evaluation activities and is proposed as good practice for future catchment improvement programmes.

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.

Construction of composite indicator system based on simulation data mining

The indicator system is the foundation and emphasis in the effectiveness evaluation of system of systems(SoS). In the past, indicator systems were founded based on qualitative methods, and every indicator was mainly determined by the expert with experience. This paper proposed a brand-new method to construct indicator systems based on the repeated simulation of the scenario space, and calculated by quantitative data. Firstly, the selection of key indicators using the Gini indicator importance measure(IIM)is calculated by random forests(RFs). Then, principal component analysis(PCA) is applied when we use the selected indicators to construct the composite indicator system of SoS. Furthermore,a set of rulesare is developed to verify the practicability of the indicator system such as correlation, robustness, accuracy and convergence. Experiment shows that the algorithm achieves good results for the construction of composite indicators of So S.

The Indicator System Based on BP Neural Network Model for Net-mediated Public Opinion on Unexpected Emergency

Because unexpected emergency owns the characteristics of explosive,uncertain evolution direction and group diffusion,more and more researchers concentrate on and try to control it. In addition,considering the force of network,the information of the unexpected emergency will be spread and enlarged rapidly on internet. It is a new viewpoint using the indicator system to estimate the heat degree of net-mediated public opinion on unexpected emergency,which can reveal the underlying reasons about the formation of the heat degree. Moreover,we use BP(Back Propagation) neural network method instead of traditional subjective weight assignment to calculate the weights of the indicators which can make evaluation results more accurate and objective.

Evaluation Indicator System of Low-carbon Landscape in Residential Areas: A Case Study of Garden Plant Landscape

Garden plant landscape is one of the main contents of low-carbon landscape design in residential areas. From the basic theory of garden plant landscaping, we put forth five principles and ideas concerning the building of evaluation indicator system of garden plant landscape, to establish the indicator system with ecological quality, recreational function and aesthetic effect as three layers. According to the characteristics of evaluation system, we use qualitative and quantitative integration method, coupled with analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and expert consulting method, to determine the weight of various factors. And we use fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to test this indicator system, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the research on evaluation indicator system of low-carbon landscape.

Modeling Indicator Systems for Evaluating Environmental Sustainable Development Based on Factor Analysis

Indicator systems of environmental sustainable development in the Poyang Lake Basin are established from 51 elementary indexes by factor analysis, which is composed of four steps such as the factor model, the parameter estimation, the factor rotation and the factor score. Under the condition that the cumulative proportion is greater than 85%, 5 explicit factors of environmental sustainable development as well as its factor score by region are carried out. The result indicates some impact factors to the basin environmental in descending sort order are volume of water, volume of waste gas discharge,volume of solid wasters.the degree to comprehensive utilization of waste gas, waste water and solid wastes, the emission volume of waste gas, waste water and solid wastes. It is helpful and important to provide decision support for constituting sustainable development strategies and evaluate the sustainable development status of each city.

Multi-Variable Flocking Control for Multi-Agent Systems via a Received Signal Strength Indicator

A novel flocking control approach is proposed for multi-agent systems by integrating the variables of velocities, motion directions, and positions of agents. A received signal strength indicator （RSSI） is applied as a variable to estimate the inter-distance between agents. A key parameter that contains the local information of agents is defined, and a multi-variable controller is proposed based on the parameter. For the position control of agents, the RSSI is introduced to substitute the distance as a control variable in the systems. The advantages of RSSI include that the relative distance between every two agents can be adjusted through the communication quality under different environments, and it can shun the shortage of the limit of sensors. Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Analysis and Design of Agricultural Sustainability Indicators System

The development and characteristic of agricultural sustainability indicators system （Sis）, at home and abroad, was reviewed. It was pointed out that the existing domestic methods of sustainability evaluation can not be accepted by foreign scholars, and their scientific basis is inadequate. The experience and shortcomings of the previous studies on the indicators selection and evaluation methods were analyzed, also with the significance for practice. Finally, a new SIs for agriculture development evaluation was proposed, together with the corresponding calculation and evaluation methods. The farmer development index indicator was proposed to embody the viewpoint that the development of people is the ultimate aim; the dynamic weight calculation method was designed to reflect the various significance of the different indicators when their values were changing; and new indicators integrate methods were also explored.

Visualization analysis of the capability of weapon system of systems for multi-dimensional indicators

In the field of weapon system of systems (WSOS) simulation, various indicators are widely used to describe the capability of WSOS, but it is always difficult to describe the comprehensive capability of WSOS quickly and intuitively by visualization of multi-dimensional indicators. A method of machine learning and visualization is proposed, which can display and analyze the capabilities of different WSOS in a two-dimensional plane. The analysis and comparison of the comprehensive capability of different components of WSOS is realized by the method, which consists of six parts: multiple simulations, key indicators mining, three spatial distance calculation, fusion project calculation, calculation of individual capability density, and calculation of multiple capability ranges overlay. Binding a simulation experiment, the collaborative analysis of six indicators and 100 possible kinds of red WSOS are achieved. The experimental results show that this method can effectively improve the quality and speed of capabilities analysis, reveal a large number of potential information, and provide a visual support for the qualitative and quantitative analysis model.

Comparative Study of Eco-city Indicator System in Tianjin-Tangshan Area: A Case Study of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city and Caofeidian Eco-city

On the basis of previous researches on current eco-city indicator system in China, achievements of Caofeidian Eco-city and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in the establishment of indicator system were compared, and their differences in indicator construction framework, indicator component ratio and indicator valuation were summarized. It was found through studying the indicator systems that local indicators should stress characteristics of the city on the basis of national standards, and comply with urban construction conditions; and also that indicator system needed balance between macro and micro level, more reasonable value, and further improvement in the construction and management.

Development of APEC Low-Carbon Town Indicator（LCT-I） System

The APEC （Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation） LCMT （Low-Carbon Model Town） project was initiated in 2011 as apart of APEC＇s energy cooperation scheme in response to the rapid urbanization and growing fossil energy use in the developingeconomies of the APEC region. The LCMT project has conducted feasibility studies and policy reviews for a case town eachyear and developed and refined the ＂Concept of Low-Carbon Town in the APEC region （Concept）＂. The Concept is a guidebookfor city planners and developers who wish to implement low-carbon town design. In tandem with the Concept, the ＂APECLow-Carbon Town Indicator （LCT-I） System＂ has been developed since 2013. The LCT-I System is a self-assessment tool to assessand monitor the progress of each low-carbon town development project in the APEC region. The first edition of the LCT-I SystemGuideline and its evaluation sheet were published together with the final edition of the Concept in 2016. The LCMT project ismoving into the dissemination stage beginning in 2017 through the utilization of the LCT-I System. This paper explains the processof the development of the LCT-I System, provides a brief summary and discusses its expected role in the spread of low-carbontowns.

NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE INNOVATION SYSTEMS: EVOLUTION, DEFINITION AND INDICATORS

The paper examines the three stages of the evolution of national innovation systems: national technology innovation systems, national innovation systems and national knowledge innovation systems. A national knowledge innovation system is a network of institutions and organizations which jointly or individually contributes to the knowledge innovation (including scientific and technical knowledge innovation). The author stresses that knowledge innovation will occur in all processes of the produc-tion, transmission and use of knowledge. There are four subsystems in this system: scientific knowledge innovation, technical knowledge innovation, knowledge trans-mission and knowledge use subsystem. The author also lists some indicators for the System.

Research on Uncertainties in Evaluation Indicator System for Ecological Residential Community

In the process of evaluating,the weights of indicators are firstly determined by AHP and Delphi methods;and the values of indicators are normalized by grey correlative coefficient method.A suit of means were put forward,by which a qualitative and quantitative evaluation indicator system suitable for the situation of China and uncertainties can be established.Both idiographic and operable methods and process were presented.Following the principle of elasticity,hiberarchy and maneuverability,a three-layer evaluation indicator system was established by AHP in Jiuyi ecological residential community,which includes 5 subsystems and 24 indicatiors.The weights of indicators are measured by AHP and expert estimate and their best indicators values up to par were determined by fuzzy mathematics and optimization.The whole evaluation indicator system not only has an active and practical effect on estimating ecological residential community,but also guides ecological residential community planning.

Clinical assessment indicators of postpartum hemorrhage: A systematic review

Objective: The assessment indicators of postpartum hemorrhage(PPH) were systematically reviewed to explore their relationship with blood loss as an early warning sign to identify potential PPH for prompt intervention.Methods: A systematic literature search of 9 databases was conducted according to inclusion and exclusion criteria using a comprehensive strategy. Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology(STROBE) strategy was chosen as the tool for quality assessment of included studies, and data concerning the basic study characteristics and assessment indicators were extracted.Results: Eleven studies were included in this review. The assessment indicators in different reports covered heart rate, blood pressure, placental and birth canal check, hemoglobin(Hb), hematocrit(HCT),coagulation function tests, hemodynamic parameters and arterial blood gas, but no data on the assessment of postpartum uterine contraction were found. The relationship between indicators and blood loss varies.The overall quality of 9 manuscripts was comparatively high or moderate, and 2 were rated as low.Conclusions: The association between blood loss and clinical symptoms is not conclusive based on the present studies, and specific cut-off points could not be formulated to determine the approximate amount of blood loss. However, some cut-off points can be considered warning signs for the need of advanced interventions, such as heart rate, prothrombin time, and placental implantation. Further research on comprehensive assessment and cut-off points should be performed such that birth attendants can distinguish PPH as early as possible.

The Construction of Evaluation Indicator System for Low-carbon Village and Practice Research in Yuanjiang County

Low-carbon village is a new eco-development model in the context of low-carbon economy,the inevitable trend for achieving coordinated development between man and nature,and the inevitable choice for achieving sustainable development.This paper has built a low-carbon village evaluation system with 3 levels and 20 indicators.On this basis,taking Yuanjiang County as empirical research object,we use distance function model method to analyze and evaluate the low carbonization of village in Yuanjiang County,in order to provide a reference for the lowcarbon village evaluation.