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

[spa] Se presenta el operador de media ponderada ordenada generalizada lingüística de 2 tuplas inducida (2-TILGOWA). Es un nuevo operador de agregación que extiende los anteriores modelos a través de utilizar medias generalizadas, variables de ordenación inducidas e información lingüística representada mediante el modelo de las 2 tuplas lingüísticas. Su principal ventaja se encuentra en la posibilidad de incluir a un gran número de operadores de agregación lingüísticos como casos particulares. Por eso, el análisis puede ser visto desde diferentes perspectivas de forma que se obtiene una visión más completa del problema considerado y seleccionar la alternativa que parece estar en mayor concordancia con nuestros intereses o creencias. A continuación se desarrolla una generalización mayor a través de utilizar medias cuasi-aritméticas, obteniéndose el operador Quasi-2-TILOWA. El trabajo finaliza analizando la aplicabilidad del nuevo modelo en un problema de toma de decisiones sobre gestión de la producción.

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

[spa] El índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel es una técnica muy útil, especialmente para toma de decisiones, que usa la distancia de Hamming y el coeficiente de adecuación en el mismo problema. En este trabajo, se propone una generalización a través de utilizar medias generalizadas y cuasi aritméticas. A estos operadores de agregación, se les denominará el índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel medio ponderado ordenado generalizado (GOWAIMAM) y cuasi aritmético (Quasi-OWAIMAM). Estos nuevos operadores generalizan una amplia gama de casos particulares como el índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel generalizado (GIMAM), el OWAIMAM, y otros. También se desarrolla una aplicación en la toma de decisiones sobre selección de productos.

Max-convex decompositions for cooperative TU games

We show that any cooperative TU game is the maximum of a finite collection of convex games. This max-convex decomposition can be refined by using convex games with non-negative dividends for all coalitions of at least two players. As a consequence of the above results we show that the class of modular games is a set of generators of the distributive lattice of all cooperative TU games. Finally, we characterize zero-monotonic games using a strong max-convex decomposition

The induced generalized OWA operator

[spa] Se presenta el operador OWA generalizado inducido (IGOWA). Es un nuevo operador de agregación que generaliza al operador OWA a través de utilizar las principales características de dos operadores muy conocidos como son el operador OWA generalizado y el operador OWA inducido. Entonces, este operador utiliza medias generalizadas y variables de ordenación inducidas en el proceso de reordenación. Con esta formulación, se obtiene una amplia gama de operadores de agregación que incluye a todos los casos particulares de los operadores IOWA y GOWA, y otros casos particulares. A continuación, se realiza una generalización mayor al operador IGOWA a través de utilizar medias cuasi-aritméticas. Finalmente, también se desarrolla un ejemplo numérico del nuevo modelo en un problema de toma de decisiones financieras.

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

[spa] Se presenta el operador de media ponderada ordenada generalizada lingüística de 2 tuplas inducida (2-TILGOWA). Es un nuevo operador de agregación que extiende los anteriores modelos a través de utilizar medias generalizadas, variables de ordenación inducidas e información lingüística representada mediante el modelo de las 2 tuplas lingüísticas. Su principal ventaja se encuentra en la posibilidad de incluir a un gran número de operadores de agregación lingüísticos como casos particulares. Por eso, el análisis puede ser visto desde diferentes perspectivas de forma que se obtiene una visión más completa del problema considerado y seleccionar la alternativa que parece estar en mayor concordancia con nuestros intereses o creencias. A continuación se desarrolla una generalización mayor a través de utilizar medias cuasi-aritméticas, obteniéndose el operador Quasi-2-TILOWA. El trabajo finaliza analizando la aplicabilidad del nuevo modelo en un problema de toma de decisiones sobre gestión de la producción.

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

[spa] El índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel es una técnica muy útil, especialmente para toma de decisiones, que usa la distancia de Hamming y el coeficiente de adecuación en el mismo problema. En este trabajo, se propone una generalización a través de utilizar medias generalizadas y cuasi aritméticas. A estos operadores de agregación, se les denominará el índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel medio ponderado ordenado generalizado (GOWAIMAM) y cuasi aritmético (Quasi-OWAIMAM). Estos nuevos operadores generalizan una amplia gama de casos particulares como el índice del máximo y el mínimo nivel generalizado (GIMAM), el OWAIMAM, y otros. También se desarrolla una aplicación en la toma de decisiones sobre selección de productos.

Public infrastructure and the performance of manufacturing industries: short-and long-run

We present a theoretical framework for determining the short- and long-run effects of infrastructure. While the short-run effects have been the focus of most previous studies, here we derive long-run elasticities by taking into account the adjustment of quasi-fixed inputs to their optimum levels. By considering the impact of infrastructure on private investment decisions, we observe how, apart from the direct effect on costs in the short-run, infrastructure exerts an indirect source of influence in the long-run through their effect on private capital. The model is applied to manufacturing industries in the Spanish regions

On making causal claims: A review and recommendations

Social scientists often estimate models from correlational data, where the independent variable has not been exogenously manipulated; they also make implicit or explicit causal claims based on these models. When can these claims be made? We answer this question by first discussing design and estimation conditions under which model estimates can be interpreted, using the randomized experiment as the gold standard. We show how endogeneity--which includes omitted variables, omitted selection, simultaneity, common methods bias, and measurement error--renders estimates causally uninterpretable. Second, we present methods that allow researchers to test causal claims in situations where randomization is not possible or when causal interpretation is confounded, including fixed-effects panel, sample selection, instrumental variable, regression discontinuity, and difference-in-differences models. Third, we take stock of the methodological rigor with which causal claims are being made in a social sciences discipline by reviewing a representative sample of 110 articles on leadership published in the previous 10 years in top-tier journals. Our key finding is that researchers fail to address at least 66 % and up to 90 % of design and estimation conditions that make causal claims invalid. We conclude by offering 10 suggestions on how to improve non-experimental research.

Acute alcohol consumption and injury: risk associations and attributable fractions for different injury mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE: Most studies on alcohol as a risk factor for injuries have been mechanism specific, and few have considered several mechanisms simultaneously or reported alcohol-attributable fractions (AAFs)-which was the aim of the current study. METHOD: Data from 3,592 injured and 3,489 noninjured patients collected between January 2003 and June 2004 in the surgical ward of the emergency department of the Lausanne University Hospital (Switzerland) were analyzed. Four injury mechanisms derived from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, were considered: transportation-related injuries, falls, exposure to forces and other events, and interpersonal violence. Multinomial logistic regression models were calculated to estimate the risk relationships of different levels of alcohol consumption, using noninjured patients as quasi-controls. The AAFs were then calculated. RESULTS: Risk relationships between injury and acute consumption were found across all mechanisms, commonly resulting in dose-response relationships. Marked differences between mechanisms were observed for relative risks and AAFs, which varied between 15.2% and 33.1% and between 10.1% and 35.9%, depending on the time window of consumption (either 6 hours or 24 hours before injury, respectively). Low and medium levels of alcohol consumption generally were associated with the most AAFs. CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores the implications of even low levels of alcohol consumption on the risk of sustaining injuries through any of the mechanisms considered. Substantial AAFs are reported for each mechanism, particularly for injuries resulting from interpersonal violence. Observation of a so-called preventive paradox phenomenon is discussed, and prevention or intervention measures are described.

Interventions for smoking cessation in hospitalised patients.

BACKGROUND: Smoking contributes to reasons for hospitalisation, and the period of hospitalisation may be a good time to provide help with quitting. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of interventions for smoking cessation that are initiated for hospitalised patients. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group register which includes papers identified from CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO in December 2011 for studies of interventions for smoking cessation in hospitalised patients, using terms including (hospital and patient*) or hospitali* or inpatient* or admission* or admitted. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized and quasi-randomized trials of behavioural, pharmacological or multicomponent interventions to help patients stop smoking, conducted with hospitalised patients who were current smokers or recent quitters (defined as having quit more than one month before hospital admission). The intervention had to start in the hospital but could continue after hospital discharge. We excluded studies of patients admitted to facilities that primarily treat psychiatric disorders or substance abuse, studies that did not report abstinence rates and studies with follow-up of less than six months. Both acute care hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals were included in this update, with separate analyses done for each type of hospital. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors extracted data independently for each paper, with disagreements resolved by consensus. MAIN RESULTS: Fifty trials met the inclusion criteria. Intensive counselling interventions that began during the hospital stay and continued with supportive contacts for at least one month after discharge increased smoking cessation rates after discharge (risk ratio (RR) 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27 to 1.48; 25 trials). A specific benefit for post-discharge contact compared with usual care was found in a subset of trials in which all participants received a counselling intervention in the hospital and were randomly assigned to post-discharge contact or usual care. No statistically significant benefit was found for less intensive counselling interventions. Adding nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to an intensive counselling intervention increased smoking cessation rates compared with intensive counselling alone (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.79, six trials). Adding varenicline to intensive counselling had a non-significant effect in two trials (RR 1.28, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.74). Adding bupropion did not produce a statistically significant increase in cessation over intensive counselling alone (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.45, three trials). A similar pattern of results was observed in a subgroup of smokers admitted to hospital because of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In this subgroup, intensive intervention with follow-up support increased the rate of smoking cessation (RR 1.42, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.56), but less intensive interventions did not. One trial of intensive intervention including counselling and pharmacotherapy for smokers admitted with CVD assessed clinical and health care utilization endpoints, and found significant reductions in all-cause mortality and hospital readmission rates over a two-year follow-up period. These trials were all conducted in acute care hospitals. A comparable increase in smoking cessation rates was observed in a separate pooled analysis of intensive counselling interventions in rehabilitation hospitals (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.37 to 2.14, three trials). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: High intensity behavioural interventions that begin during a hospital stay and include at least one month of supportive contact after discharge promote smoking cessation among hospitalised patients. The effect of these interventions was independent of the patient's admitting diagnosis and was found in rehabilitation settings as well as acute care hospitals. There was no evidence of effect for interventions of lower intensity or shorter duration. This update found that adding NRT to intensive counselling significantly increases cessation rates over counselling alone. There is insufficient direct evidence to conclude that adding bupropion or varenicline to intensive counselling increases cessation rates over what is achieved by counselling alone.

Strongly correlated states of ultracold rotating dipolar Fermi gases

We study strongly correlated ground and excited states of rotating quasi-2D Fermi gases constituted of a small number of dipole-dipole interacting particles with dipole moments polarized perpendicular to the plane of motion. As the number of atoms grows, the system enters an intermediate regime, where ground states are subject to a competition between distinct bulk-edge configurations. This effect obscures their description in terms of composite fermions and leads to the appearance of novel quasihole ground states. In the presence of dipolar interactions, the principal Laughlin state at filling upsilon=1/3 exhibits a substantial energy gap for neutral (total angular momentum conserving) excitations and is well-described as an incompressible Fermi liquid. Instead, at lower fillings, the ground state structure favors crystalline order.

Landau damping of transverse quadrupole oscillations of an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate

We have studied the interaction between the low-lying transverse collective oscillations and the thermal excitations of an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate by means of perturbation theory. We consider a cylindrical trapped condensate and calculate the transverse elementary excitations at zero temperature by solving the linearized Gross-Pitaevskii equations in two dimensions (2D). We use them to calculate the matrix elements between the thermal excited states and the quasi-2D collective modes. The Landau damping of transverse collective modes is studied as a function of temperature. At low temperatures, the corresponding damping rate is in agreement with the experimental data for the decay of the transverse quadrupole mode, but it is too small to explain the observed slow decay of the transverse breathing mode. The reason for this discrepancy is discussed.

Pattern formation during mesophase growth in a homologous series

Remarkable differences in the shape of the nematic-smectic-B interface in a quasi-two-dimensional geometry have been experimentally observed in three liquid crystals of very similar molecular structure, i.e., neighboring members of a homologous series. In the thermal equilibrium of the two mesophases a faceted rectanglelike shape was observed with considerably different shape anisotropies for the three homologs. Various morphologies such as dendritic, dendriticlike, and faceted shapes of the rapidly growing smectic-B germ were also observed for the three substances. Experimental results were compared with computer simulations based on the phase field model. The pattern forming behavior of a binary mixture of two homologs was also studied.

Deuxième contribution é l'étude de Formica bruni Kutter (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Formica bruni décrite en 1966 par Kutter appartient au sous-genre Coptoformica Müll. connue de Forel sous le nom de Formica pressilabris "un peu exsecta ". La biologie de cette espèce est demeurée inconnue jusqu'à nous jours. La découverte d'une nouvelle station au Bois de Chênes, près de Nyon (Vaud, Suisse), nous a poussé à entreprendre une série de travaux afin de savoir dans quelle mesure cette espèce diffère des autres espèces de Coptoformica. La zone étudiée comportait 61 nids en 1978, 18 nids habités par 7 sociétés en 1983 et 2 nids occupés par deux sociétés en juillet 1984. F. bruni est une espèce vraisemblablement polygyne et facultativement polycalique; aucune agressivité n'a été observée entre les sociétés qui, d'autre part, exploitent en commun un même territoire trophique. Les sociétés sont de petites tailles et leur territoire exploité ainsi que leur taux d'activité dépendent principalement de la quantité de nourriture à disposition. Différents facteurs susceptibles de la quasi extinction de cette espèce dans cette station sont discutés (fauchage, pâturage, etc...).

Fluoride supplements (tablets, drops, lozenges or chewing gums) for preventing dental caries in children.

BACKGROUND: Dietary fluoride supplements were first introduced to provide systemic fluoride in areas where water fluoridation is not available. Since 1990, the use of fluoride supplements in caries prevention has been re-evaluated in several countries. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of fluoride supplements for preventing dental caries in children. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register (to 12 October 2011), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2011, Issue 3), MEDLINE via OVID (1950 to 12 October 2011), EMBASE via OVID (1980 to 12 October 2011), WHOLIS/PAHO/MEDCARIB/LILACS/BBO via BIREME (1982 to 12 October 2011), and Current Controlled Trials (to 12 October 2011). We handsearched reference lists of articles and contacted selected authors. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing, with minimum follow-up of 2 years, fluoride supplements (tablets, drops, lozenges) with no fluoride supplement or with other preventive measures such as topical fluorides in children less than 16 years of age at the start. The main outcome was caries increment measured by the change in decayed, missing and filled tooth surfaces (DMFS). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors, independently and in duplicate, assessed the eligibility of studies for inclusion, and carried out risk of bias assessment and data extraction. In the event of disagreement, we sought consensus and consulted a third review author. We contacted trial authors for missing information. We used the prevented fraction (PF) as a metric for evaluating the efficacy of the intervention. The PF is defined as the mean caries increment in controls minus mean caries increment in the treated group divided by mean caries increment in controls. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses when data could be pooled. We assessed heterogeneity in the results of the studies by examining forest plots and by using formal tests for homogeneity. We recorded adverse effects (fluorosis) when the studies provided relevant data. MAIN RESULTS: We included 11 studies in the review involving 7196 children.In permanent teeth, when fluoride supplements were compared with no fluoride supplement (three studies), the use of fluoride supplements was associated with a 24% (95% confidence interval (CI) 16 to 33%) reduction in decayed, missing and filled surfaces (D(M)FS). The effect of fluoride supplements was unclear on deciduous or primary teeth. In one study, no caries-inhibiting effect was observed on deciduous teeth while in another study, the use of fluoride supplements was associated with a substantial reduction in caries increment.When fluoride supplements were compared with topical fluorides or with other preventive measures, there was no differential effect on permanent or deciduous teeth.The review found limited information on the adverse effects associated with the use of fluoride supplements. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review suggests that the use of fluoride supplements is associated with a reduction in caries increment when compared with no fluoride supplement in permanent teeth. The effect of fluoride supplements was unclear on deciduous teeth. When compared with the administration of topical fluorides, no differential effect was observed. We rated 10 trials as being at unclear risk of bias and one at high risk of bias, and therefore the trials provide weak evidence about the efficacy of fluoride supplements.