Importance of functional classification in the use of carabids for the environmental risk assessment of the GE crops and other agricultural practices

Carabids(Coleoptera:Carabidae)seem to be suitable bioindicalors of the environmental impacts of novel agrotechnologies,including deployment of the genetically engineered(GE)crops.In this article,we describe our effort to employ carabids in the environmental risk assessment(ERA).GE maize MON88017,its near-isogenic hybrid nontreated or treated with the soil insccticide chlorpyrifos,and two reference hybrids were used to compare three different ways how to utilize carabids in ERA.The analysis of abundance of all captured carabids or of the most abundant carabid specics did not disclose any differences between the treatments.The analysis based on the categories of functional traits revealed distinct fecatures of some treatments and proved suitable for ERA because it permitted field data transportability in spite of different species compositions.Our results indicate that GE maize has no detrimental environmental effecl,On the other hand,we found significant trends toward lower abundance and lower species number(including analysis of all carabid species together)in plots treated with the insecticide,and some tendencies to higher abundance and higher species number in plots sown with the reference hybrid PR38N86.Using functional group indicators alows identification of unintended changes in ecological functions of agroecosystem and comparability across geographics.We recommend data evaluation at the level of the categories of functional traits in ERA of GE crops and other agricultural practices.

Risk identification and prioritization in banking projects of payment service provider companies:An empirical study

ldentifying risks and prioritizing is important for payment service provider(PSP)companies to get banking projects and gain more market share.However,studies regarding the identification of risks and causal relationships are insufficient in the lranian PSP industry and the industry is unique because of its characteristics.In this study,30 experts involved with PSP companies are employed as the research sample.Eleven key risks and 46 sub-risks are also ientified.Subsequently,the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique is applied to determine the effective and affected risks and the severity of their effects on each other.Finally,all risks are ranked.Due to the interal interrelationships of the main risks,the weight of each risk is calculated via the fuzy analytic network process.As the second-level risks have no significant interrelationships,they are ranked via the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process.Moreover,the best-worst method is used to ensure that the obtained rankings are reliable.This study identifies the risks affecting the loss of banking projects and determines the impacts of these risks on each.A sensitivity analysis is then conducted on the weights of the criteria,and the results are compared.