An evaluation framework for developing green infrastructure by using a new hybrid multiple attribute decision-making model for promoting environmental sustainability

With the expansion of urbanization caused by the growth of population and industrial activities, the urban/city and suburban areas are facing a variety of environmental threats. Although more research and urban policy has advocated and practiced the development of green infrastructure (GI) to support urban sustainable environment, the evaluation framework for the development of GI for promoting environmental sustainability is still insufficient. Moreover, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) commonly applied in published literature, makes an unrealistic assumption of independent relationships among dimensions/criteria in decision making for satisfying the real-world problem. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to construct the evaluation framework, including four dimensions and related ten criteria, using a new hybrid-modified multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) model for developing and improving the GI for promoting environmental sustainability. This MADM model is combined with three different methodologies of MADM, including the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) for constructing the influential network relation map (INRM) to explore the complex influential inter-relationships and DEMATEL based on Analytic Network Process (DANP) for determining the influential weights with the VIse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) for evaluating and presenting improvement strategies for six different GIs. The empirical study indicates that DEMATEL and DANP Results suggest that decision-makers should pay more attention to the improvement of Design (D₄) and Materials (D₂) in terms of dimensions when utilizing the GI to promote environmental sustainability. Because these dimensions are enhanced, Species (D₁) and Energy (D₃) will be improved in synchronization. From the perspective of criteria, five are key core criteria and need to be focused on first: increasing the green coverage rate (B₉), utilizing sustainable materials (B₄), using ecological engineering (B₈), shaping species biodiversity (B₁), and reducing energy consumption (B₅). Modified VIKOR reveals that “grass swales” are a comparatively better choice among six GIs for promoting environmental sustainability toward achieving the aspiration level. Therefore, this MADM model is beneficial to provide a more convincing assessment framework and improvement strategies for the development of GI for promoting environmental sustainability. As a result, these modified MADM models can be shown more conveniently and reasonably than traditional methods such as traditional AHP or ANP method.     

城市空间基础地理信息系统框架和内容的探讨

“数字城市”的建议是目前城市建设与发展的重要研究课题,空间基础地理信息系统是“数字城市”的主要组成部分,是“数字城市”的基础设施之一,本文根据青岛市空间基础地理信息系统研究情况,探讨了城市空间基础地理信息系统的系统框架和系统内容。     

基于FTA中地理标志的中国策略

地理标志是FTA中较为敏感的谈判领域之一，在TRIPS中已有的地理标志多边保护规则空白点也较多。由于多哈回合谈判艰难曲折，很多国家便将目光投向FTA，各国努力通过形式多样的FTA实现自己的利益，在此过程中也给地理标志保护问题带来新的挑战。我国应审慎处理FTA谈判中的地理标志问题，积极完善相关法律和机制，以适应FTA带来的地理标志复杂变化。     

Budget impact of everolimus for the treatment of progressive,well-differentiated,non-functional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal or lung origin that are advanced or metastatic

Background: Advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a rare malignancy with considerable need for effective therapies. Everolimus is a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2016 for treatment of adults with progressive, well-differentiated, non-functional NETs of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic.

Objective: To assess the 3-year budget impact for a typical US health plan following availability of everolimus for treatment of GI and lung NETs.

Methods An economic model was developed that considered two perspectives: an entire health plan and a pharmacy budget. The total budget impact included costs of drug therapies, administration, hospitalizations, physician visits, monitoring, and adverse events (AEs). The pharmacy model only considered drug costs.

Results: In a US health plan with 1 million members, the model estimated 66 patients with well-differentiated, non-functional, and advanced or metastatic GI NETs and 20 with lung NETs undergoing treatment each year. Total budget impact in the first through third year after FDA approval ranged from $0.0568–$0.1443 per member per month (PMPM) for GI NETs and from $0.0181–$0.0355 PMPM for lung NETs. The total budget impact was lower than the pharmacy budget impact because it included cost offsets from administration and AE management for everolimus compared with alternative therapies (e.g. chemotherapies).

Limitations: Because GI and lung NETs are rare diseases with limited published data, several assumptions were made that may influence interpretation of results.

Conclusions: The budget impact for everolimus was minimal in this rare disease area with a high unmet need, largely due to low disease prevalence. These results should be considered in the context of significant clinical benefits potentially provided by everolimus, including significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) for advanced GI and lung NET patients.     

Hard lessons: combat deployment and veteran interest in higher education

Over 2.5 million Americans served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this short article, we consider the impact of these experiences on their future welfare. Specifically, we ask if those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq are more or less likely to exploit their GI Bill benefits in order to pursue higher education than service members who did not directly participate in these conflicts. We exploit a comprehensive administrative dataset that the US Armed Forces’ Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) provided to us. We find across models that deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq significantly increases the likelihood that veterans will take advantage of their educational benefits, but that exposure to violent combat significantly decreases it.     

基于GI／G/1逆向物流的优化研究

考虑了逆向物流的不确定性,以GI/G/1为基础,建立逆向物流网研究回收物品如何在逆向物流中分配处理,并设计逆向物流的处理能力,降低逆向物流成本。本模型用遗传算法求解。     

天津市GI初级农产品品牌营销的现状分析

以品牌化带动农产品市场化是现代农业发展的必由之路。从GI的内涵出发,结合消费者对农产品需求产生的新特点,分析了GI农产品品牌营销的必要性,并结合天津市GI农产品品牌覆盖情况,分析了特色农产品品牌营销面临的机遇与挑战,并在此基础上,提出促进天津市特色农产品品牌营销的措施。