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With the rapid advancement of information technology, its integration into modern education has become essential, with a focus on enhancing teaching outcomes and the student learning experiences through innovative teaching methods. However, existing studies predominantly suffer from a lack of systematic evaluation indicators and scientific decision models. The selection of evaluation indicators is often subjective, incomplete, and primarily qualitative, lacking quantitative data support. A systematic decision analysis method was proposed in this study to address these issues. This study comprises three components: the construction of an evaluation indicator system for innovative teaching methods in information technology education, a scale analysis based on gray relational degree, and the computational steps for the decision model concerning innovative teaching methods. This study provides scientific bases and practical pathways for the selection of innovative teaching methods in information technology education, aiming to enhance teaching effectiveness and educational quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In manufacturing, the essential product characteristics are often created through multiple stages. Coupling product data obtained through inspection and controllers based on decision models with prediction capabilities enables quality control loops, enhancing both feedback and feedforward mechanisms. This paper proposes a methodology to merge the formulation of feedback and feedforward quality control loops into a performance evaluation model for multi-stage manufacturing systems. This approach evaluates quality control loop impacts system-wide, aiding in configuring and reconfiguring quality gates. A case study illustrates how allocating inspection technologies and efficient decision models improves overall system performance through effective feedback and feedforward control loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic scientific management of cultural and research institution is put under scrutiny in the paper The strategic management of scientific research [Managementul cercetării științifice] by the author Meda Gâlea. To better improve the strategic scientific management, the author dives into the history of an important Romanian research institute, the Romanian Academy, and into its management style in relation to the research developed. To substantiate the results, and to support the development of the formula that underpins the decision-making process in the management of a scientific institution, the author uses actual scientific literature, corelated with the research carried out among the research and technical staff of the Romanian Academy in Iași. The most important takeaway of this scientific paper is the PRA-nX formula used to facilitate decision making in terms of economic management for better scientific performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increasing globalization and market volatility, value creation systems are becoming progressively vulnerable to unpredictable crises. Organizations are forced to design their processes more crisis-proof to secure their existence in the dynamic market environment. The ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from random disruptive events is described by the term resilience. One possible way to increase resilience of value creation systems is by adapting flexible technologies like additive manufacturing. Due to its multiple and broad ranging applications and characteristic potentials, additive manufacturing provides the ability to radically change the design of value creation systems. This paper proposes a decision model to assist organizations in improving their system resilience by integrating additive manufacturing processes into their value creation system. The Design Science Research Paradigm was adopted to align practical research with existing problems. The model follows a knowledge-based approach, for which a qualitative research study was designed and conducted to derive model requirements. Subsequently, the model was conceptually developed considering the identified requirements and validated on a laboratory scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The fulfilment of the emergency response to the disaster area not only prioritises foods or medicines but also helps in mobilisation of equipment, facilities, and infrastructures in the form of logistics. The suitable warehouses will be able to provide every logistic needed and this will have a positive impact on the government as one of the relief institutions that is responsible for helping the refugees as quickly as possible. Objectives: The objectives of the study are to determine the logistic needs from disaster area, analyse and evaluate all assets from the 35 warehouses, identify the key indicators to generate the parameter, and to generate several mathematical formulas to be used in the simulation case. Method: Euclidean-based methodology is applied to calculate every fitness distance as a gap value of each parameter. All stock quantity from 35 warehouses will be the source of the data, with the logistic needs play role as the initial input for the calculation processes. Results: The logistic needs and the distance resulted in this study became the key indicators to determine the criteria. The study also generates seven equations for the disaster's case simulation. Conclusion: To conclude, the outcomes resulted from the simulation indicate that from 35 warehouses alternatives, the fitness gap calculation completed at the 31st warehouse and the public hydrant became the fastest logistic, which completed all demand by two warehouses. Contribution: The study will be useful for the decision makers as the recommendation and guideline to improve the acceleration of emergency response of the logistic mobilisation from selected and prioritised warehouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor air quality is the largest environmental health risk in England. In the West Midlands, UK, ∼2.9 million people are affected by air pollution with an average loss in life expectancy of up to 6 months. The 2021 Environment Act established a legal framework for local authorities in England to develop regional air quality plans, generating a policy need for predictive environmental impact assessment tools. In this context, we developed a novel Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) to estimate electoral ward-level impacts of PM 2.5 and NO 2 exposure on outcomes of interest to local authorities, namely morbidity (asthma, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, lung cancer), mortality, and associated healthcare costs. We apply the Tool to assess the health economic burden of air pollutant exposure and estimate benefits that would be generated by meeting WHO 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) (annual average concentrations) for NO 2 (10 μg/m3) and PM 2.5 (5 μg/m3) in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area. All West Midlands residents live in areas which exceed WHO AQGs, with 2070 deaths, 2070 asthma diagnoses, 770 CHD diagnoses, 170 lung cancers and 650 strokes attributable to air pollution exposure annually. Reducing PM 2.5 and NO 2 concentrations to WHO AQGs would save 10,700 lives reducing regional mortality by 1.8%, gaining 92,000 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and preventing 20,500 asthma, 7400 CHD, 1400 lung cancer, and 5700 stroke diagnoses, with economic benefits of £3.2 billion over 20 years. Significantly, we estimate 30% of QALY gains relate to reduced disease burden. The AQ-LAT has major potential to be replicated across local authorities in England and applied to inform regional investment decisions. [Display omitted] • Local government has an essential role in delivering air quality policy actions. • We developed an open-access health impact tool for regional policy appraisal. • We use the tool to estimate health impacts of NO 2 and PM 2.5 in West Midlands, UK. • All areas of the West Midlands exceed WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines. • Achieving WHO Guidelines would reduce regional mortality by up to 2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Outsourcing information security has proven to be an efficient solution for information security management; however, it may not be the most suitable approach for every organization. This research aimed to develop a multi-criteria decision-making model that would enable organizations to determine which approach to information security management (outsourcing or internal management) is more suitable for their needs and capabilities. Methods: Our study utilized several different research methods. First, the decision criteria were identified by reviewing related work and then selected by information security experts in a focus group. Second, a survey was conducted among information security practitioners to assign the criteria weights. Third, four use cases were conducted with four real-world organizations to assess the usability, ease of use, and usefulness of the developed model. Results: We developed a ten-criteria model based on the analytic hierarchy process. The survey results promote performance-related criteria as more important than efficiency-focused criteria. Evidence from use cases proves that the decision model is useful and appropriate for various organizations. Conclusion: To make informed decisions on approaching information security management, organizations must first conduct a thorough analysis of their capabilities and needs and investigate potential external contractors. In such a case, the proposed model can serve as a useful support tool in the decision-making process to obtain clear recommendations tailored to factual circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual frameworks have played significant roles in diverse patterns of inquiry and have significant uses in design science research. However, there is a lack of shared understanding regarding the use of conceptual frameworks in design science. This study addresses the following question: what is the nature and purpose of conceptual frameworks in design science? The question is answered through the literature review method, which is guided by a taxonomy of research question construction in design science. The results highlight at which research stages conceptual frameworks are used, and what purposes they support. From the review, we develop a decision model for using conceptual frameworks in design science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing has rapidly penetrated enterprise and user computingmarkets with three prominent servicemodels: software as a service (SaaS), platformas a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Cloud computing has also proven to be one of the most important environmentally sustainable technological innovations in the year of Industrial Revolution 4.0. While SaaS and IaaS are the two largest revenue generating services in the cloud service market, the pricing and profit generating mechanisms of the SaaS and IaaS providers have not yet been well understood. Unless the SaaS providers' profit-maximizing decision is considered, any pricing decision by the IaaS providers is likely to be suboptimal. Hence, this paper proposes a Stackelberg game pricing decision model with the aim of maximizing the profit of the IaaS provider, given the best response of the SaaS provider. This paper develops an analytical closed-form solution to the pricing problem and presents sensitivity analyses to give valuable insights into the pricing dynamics and negotiation between the SaaS provider and IaaS provider. Finally, implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Procedural models for project management can be differentiated into plan-driven methods which follow a classical waterfall process and agile methods which follow an iterative, test-driven approach. This paper answers the following research questions: What are the differences, benefits, and constraints of these two approaches from a practitioner's point of view? How can a decision model be set up to select the most appropriate approach for a concrete project? This study develops a decision model for the selection of a procedural model for project management which is based on the modelling process described by Adam (1996). The research gap was identified based on a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the literature following Vom Brocke et al. (2009), which reflects the state-of-research. Insights gained were compared with empirical data from 15 expert interviews across different industries in Germany. The presented model systematically supports the selection of an appropriate procedural model for a concrete project based on 15 criteria subsumed under the following categories: scope, time, costs, organization context, and project-team characteristics. It closes a relevant research gap, both from a scientific perspective and from the practitioners' view. Expert interviews ensure practical relevance and significantly expand the state-of-research with regards to decision support on the project-management approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe a step-by-step process for decision making, and a model is developed to aid health caremanagers inmakingmore quality decisions,which ultimately determines the success of organizations. The DECIDEmodel is the acronymof 6 particular activities needed in the decision-making process: (1) D = define the problem, (2) E = establish the criteria, (3) C = consider all the alternatives, (4) I = identify the best alternative, (5) D = develop and implement a plan of action, and (6) E = evaluate and monitor the solution and feedback when necessary. The DECIDE model is intended as a resource for health care managers when applying the crucial components of decision making, and it enablesmanagers to improve their decision-making skills,which leads tomore effective decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many defects with the existing performance analysis system for the training and education (T&E) of information security talents in Chinese colleges, ranging from the difficulty in transforming fuzzy information to the lack of objectivity. To overcome these defects, this paper develops an improved performance analysis model for the T&E of information security talents. Firstly, the existing analysis strategies for the T&E performance of information security talents were fully analyzed, and a performance analysis indicator system was established through the analysis. Based on the established indicator system, the gray classification and fuzzy information transformation were discussed for the performance analysis. On this basis, a grey clustering model for the T&E of information security talents was constructed, and the realization of the corresponding algorithm was explained in details. The proposed model was proved feasible and effective through case analysis. In addition to theoretical innovation, our model also has a great potential in engineering, because the solving algorithm can effectively process fuzzy information with only a small sample set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to design an effective scheduling method for bike sharing system that minimizes the supply-demand gap in different areas. Based on the actual data on bike sharing in a city, the spatiotemporal features of bike sharing demand were analyzed through the prediction by a backpropagation neural network (BPNN), whose structure was determined through linear regression and other techniques. According to the predicted demands, multiple assumptions and constraints were proposed for optimization of bike sharing scheduling. On this basis, a decision model for bike sharing in peak hours was established with fixed time window, with the aim to minimize the scheduling cost. Then, the genetic algorithm (GA) was improved to solve the model. Our model and the GA were proved feasible through a case analysis. This research provides a reference for optimizing the operation and management of bike sharing, and promotes the public transport in large cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data is becoming a key factor within organizations since the application of Big Data in modern business provides information in real-time that allows organizations to take a faster and smarter decision. Therefore, big data is widely used in many domains of modern society to achieve progress in these domains. This study aims to harness the opportunity of Big Data to enhance the decision-making process in the organization. The objective of this paper is to develop a theoretical model that integrates big data into the decision-making process to improve the decision-making process in the organization. The proposed model relies on three basic elements, namely: (1) decision-making process that includes four phases: intelligence, design, choice, and implementation phase;(2) big data analytics to collect, store, manage, and analyze the huge amount of diverse data to extract business value; and (3) decision-modeling using Decision Model and Notation standard to support the communication between the decision makers and Big Data analytical team during the phases of the decision-making process. The interaction between these three elements enhances the decision-making process to make smarter and faster driven-data decisions that make a real impact in the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a model explaining factors influencing customer decision-making regarding Airbnb accommodations in China. This study builds on the theory of planned behavior to develop a model to explain a decision-making process of Chinese consumers when it comes to choosing Airbnb accommodation. The results of the study were based on the analysis of 451 responses collected via WeChat. The findings confirmed behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitude as statistically significant predictors of intentions to book Airbnb by Chinese travelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Standing orders program (SOP) improves pneumococcal vaccine uptake in hospitals. • Incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year saved by SOP was USD59,762. • Cost-effective acceptance of SOP highly subjected to willingness-to-pay threshold. Clinical studies support a standing orders program (SOP) to improve vaccine uptake. We aimed to examine the potential cost-effectiveness of a pneumococcal vaccination SOP for Hong Kong elderly in a hospital setting. A decision-analytic model was designed to compare the outcomes of inpatients 65 years of age or older who were eligible for pneumococcal vaccination. Two vaccination approaches were evaluated: (1) vaccination SOP, and (2) no program (control group). Outcome measures included direct medical costs, invasive pneumococcal disease–associated mortality rates, quality-adjusted life year (QALY) losses, and incremental cost per QALY saved (ICER). In the base-case analysis, mortality and QALY losses were lower and costs were higher in the SOP group when compared to the control group. The base-case ICER of the SOP group was $59,762 (all dollar amounts are in US$) per QALY saved. One-way sensitivity analyses found ICER to be sensitive to the probability of invasive pneumococcal disease among the unvaccinated elderly. Using 1× the gross domestic product per capita of Hong Kong ($43,497) and the United States ($150,000) as willingness-to-pay thresholds, SOPs were the preferred option in 37.2% and 97.5% of 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations, respectively. The pneumococcal vaccination SOP for hospitalized elderly patients appeared to reduce QALY losses at a higher cost. The cost-effective acceptance of SOPs is highly dependent on the willingness-to-pay threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the status, opportunities and challenges of China's "going out" of power technology and equipment, points out the problems faced by export of China's power technology. Based on the market analysis, a decision analysis model for the "going global" market of power technology and equipment for China's power technology enterprises is designed, by combining the coefficient of variation method with the comprehensive index method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data is becoming a key factor within organizations since the application of Big Data in modern business provides information in real-time that allows organizations to take a faster and smarter decision. Therefore, big data is widely used in many domains of modern society to achieve progress in these domains. This study aims to harness the opportunity of Big Data to enhance the decision-making process in the organization. The objective of this paper is to develop a theoretical model that integrates big data into the decision-making process to improve the decision-making process in the organization. The proposed model relies on three basic elements, namely: (1) decision-making process that includes four phases: intelligence, design, choice, and implementation phase;(2) big data analytics to collect, store, manage, and analyze the huge amount of diverse data to extract business value; and (3) decision-modeling using Decision Model and Notation standard to support the communication between the decision makers and Big Data analytical team during the phases of the decision-making process. The interaction between these three elements enhances the decision-making process to make smarter and faster driven-data decisions that make a real impact in the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pumping wells (PWs) lie at the core of agricultural irrigation infrastructure, and their spatial configuration is of great significance for the scientific management of regional agriculture and rational use of water resources. To solve the problems of unreasonable and unscientific spatial allocation of regional agricultural irrigation PWs, this paper proposes a new strategy for updating agricultural irrigation PWs based on a spatial decision model, using Songzhuang Town, Tongzhou District, Beijing as a case study. The model utilizes constraints based on local factors such as actual land use, and proposes a novel feasible solution strategy that combines random local search and abrupt jumps to increase the probability that feasible solutions will be found, addressing the performance issues of simulated annealing algorithms, influence of initial values, and parameter sensitivity. Finally, we used the proposed method to perform updated decision analysis on the spatial configuration of PWs in the study area. The results showed that most of the crops in the study area lack irrigation, and the currently available PWs cannot meet the needs for irrigation. The new PWs added based on this decision method can be more evenly distributed within the predefined optimization unit. The proposed number of PWs to be added is 166, the density of PWs is 0.04/ha, and the crop area covered by the PWs is 3350.43 ha. In contrast to the previous PW layout, the optimized PW configuration can meet the irrigation needs of residents, indicating that the new method proposed in this paper has good potential for extension and application. [Display omitted] • A new decision-making method for renewal of agricultural irrigation PWs was proposed. • The maximum unit crop area can be covered when the buffer zone radius was set to 166 m. • The optimal spacing of agricultural irrigation wells was 332 m. • The scheme alleviated the problem of insufficient water for agricultural irrigation. • The method has popularization potential for regional agricultural water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider decision models associated with cooperative influence games, the oblivious and the non-oblivious influence models. In those models the satisfaction and the power measures were introduced and studied. We analyze the computational complexity of those measures when the influence level is set to unanimity and the rule of decision is simple majority. We show that computing the satisfaction and the power measure in those systems are #P-hard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle cost (LCC) analysis offered a useful framework to think about the efficiency of infrastructures investment. However, the widely accepted algorithm of the LCC doesn’t account for the decision maker's attitude toward the risk of future consequences. The cumulative prospect theory (CPT) can be used to reveal the decision maker's preference under different risk and uncertainty conditions, and has been applied in literature to some design optimization issues. Nevertheless, previous research didn’t consider the fact that people's risk preference may vary with time, i.e., there is a reasonable tendency that people will be more risk-averse to the near future losses than to the far future losses. Recognizing this, this paper adopts the CPT model in the minimum expected cost analysis, and moreover incorporates the time-varying weighting function included in the CPT model to reflect the possible changing of risk preference toward future events. A seismic retrofit optimization of a dam built in strong earthquake-prone area is used to demonstrate the application of the method, and it is found that considering the time-varying of risk preference leads to a low design level compared with that by the CPT model, but a high design level compared with the traditional LCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of civil-military integration, with the rapid development of electronic commerce, many military suppliers are trying to open a direct channel to change its traditional channel structure. The opening of electronic direct marketing channels has a vital role on preempting and expanding market share, and increasing military suppliers’ bargaining power in the channel. Internet sales channel is becoming increasingly popular, relying solely on traditional retailers is not conducive to product promotion. This article is to consider in VMI &TPL model, quartermaster supplier to open a direct channel to market, and examine suppliers and retailers’ pricing strategy from two angles -centralized decision and decentralized decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing has emerged as an optimal option for almost all computational problems today. Using cloud services, customers and providers come to terms of usage conditions defined in Service Agreement Layer (SLA), which specifies acceptable Quality of Service (QoS) metric levels. From the view of cloud-based software developers, their application-level SLA must be mapped to provided virtual resource-level SLA. Hence, one of the important challenges in clouds today is to improve QoS of computing resources. In this paper, we focus on developing a comprehensive autoscaling solution for clouds based on forecasting resource consumption in advance and validating prediction-based scaling decisions. Our prediction model takes all advantages of fuzzy approach, genetic algorithm and neural network to process historical monitoring time series data. After that the scaling decisions are validated and adapted through evaluating SLA violations. Our solution is tested on real workload data generated from Google data center. The achieved results show significant efficiency and feasibility of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the application of the combination of simulation model and multi-criteria decision models for evaluating investment in agricultural processing. The simulated alternatives are evaluated with multi-attribute decision tools expert system. The simulation system consists of deterministic production simulation models that enable different types of costs calculations for organic production and on farm food processing in the framework of supplementary activities. Simulation models were further evaluate by a qualitative multi-attribute decision modelling methodology using the software tool DEX-I and quantitative analytical hierarchical process (AHP). The simulation model was also evaluated by the standard financial analysis (i.e., cost benefit analysis). These results show that there was the difference before and after investment into specific processing equipment of three organic products with respect to positive financial values. The financial analysis reveals that after 10 years the farm had constant annual cash flow with an investment return at 9.43%. This showed that investments into organic farm was feasible financially. The integrated simulation model as the discount cash flow and multi-criteria decision analysis are the suitable methodological tool fordecision support system on organic farms. The system takes into consideration different independent criteria and enables ranking of farm business alternatives. The model is useful in minimizing risk and inappropriate decision in investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the factor analysis that provides the basis for development and use of Bayesian Network (BN) models to support qualification planning in order to predict the suitability of Six Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) vibration testing for qualification. Qualification includes environmental testing such as temperature, vibration and shock to support a stochastic argument about the suitability of a design. Qualification is becoming more complex because it involves significant human expert judgment and relies on new technologies that have often never been fully utilized to support design assessment. Technology has advanced to the state where 6DOF vibration tests are possible, but these tests are far more complex than traditional single degree of freedom tests. This challenges systems engineers as they strive to plan qualification in an environment where technical and environmental constraints are coupled with the traditional costs, risk and schedule constraints. BN models may provide a framework to aid Systems Engineers in planning qualification efforts with complex constraints. Previous work identified a method for building a BN model for the predictive framework. This paper discusses validation efforts of models derived from the factor analysis and summarizes some recommendations on the factor analyses from industry subject matter experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to present the model of carrying on empirical research of the cumulative effect of the factors generating delays on the construction site. The paper describes the successive stages of the proceedings, the process of implementing the model, the problems that emerged during the research and the directions for further research work. Moreover, it was developed graphical model structure decision, which shows the successive stages of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the use of decision analysis and Markov models to make contemplated decisions for surgical problems. Decision analysis and decision modeling in surgical research are increasing, but many surgeons are unfamiliar with the techniques and are skeptical of the results. The goal of this review is to familiarize surgeons with techniques and terminology used in decision analytic papers, to provide the reader a practical guide to read these papers, and to ensure that surgeons can critically appraise the quality of published clinical decision models and draw well founded conclusions from such reports. First, a brief explanation of decision analysis and Markov models is presented in simple steps, followed by an overview of the components of a decision and Markov model. Subsequently, commonly used terms and definitions are described and explained, including quality-adjusted life-years, disabilityadjusted life-years, discounting, half-cycle correction, cycle length, probabilistic sensitivity analysis, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, and the willingness-to-pay threshold. Finally, the advantages and limitations of research with Markov models are described, and new modeling techniques and future perspectives are discussed. It is important that surgeons are able to understand conclusions from decision analytic studies and are familiar with the specific definitions of the terminology used in the field to keep up with surgical research. Decision analysis can guide treatment strategies when complex clinical questions need to be answered and is a necessary and useful addition to the surgical research armamentarium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agent-based modeling is a promising method to investigate market dynamics, as it allows modeling the behavior of all market participants individually. Integrating empirical data in the agents' decision model can improve the validity of agent-based models (ABMs). We present an approach of using discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to enhance the empirical foundation of ABMs. The DCE method is based on random utility theory and therefore has the potential to enhance the ABM approach with a well-established economic theory. Our combined approach is applied to a case study of a roundwood market in Switzerland. We conducted DCEs with roundwood suppliers to quantitatively characterize the agents' decision model. We evaluate our approach using a fitness measure and compare two DCE evaluation methods, latent class analysis and hierarchical Bayes. Additionally, we analyze the influence of the error term of the utility function on the simulation results and present a way to estimate its probability distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the viability of using Bayesian Network (BN) models to support qualification planning in order to predict the suitability of Six Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) vibration testing for qualification. Qualification includes environmental testing such as temperature, vibration, and shock to support a stochastic argument about the suitability of a design. Qualification is becoming more complex and restricted yet available new technologies are not fully utilized. Technology has advanced to the state where 6DOF vibration shakers and control systems capable of high frequency tests are possible, but the problem using these systems is far more complex than traditional single degree of freedom (SDOF) tests. This challenges systems engineers as they strive to plan qualification in an environment where technical, environmental, and political constraints are coupled with the traditional cost, risk and schedule constraints. New technologies are also available for systems engineers to combine technical understanding with cost, risk and schedule factors to aid in decision making for complex problems such as qualification planning. BN models may provide the framework to aid Systems Engineers in planning qualification efforts with complex constraints. This paper discusses related work, the current approach and results of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Prosthodontic treatment strategies, prosthetic designs and materials, and treatment procedures are not determined solely by the diagnosis. We discuss the major effect of structural factors surrounding prosthodontic care on treatment decisions in Japan. These structural factors are related to the dentist, such as the dentist's education, postgraduate courses, and access to the latest research, and to the health care support system, including the social insurance system. Education content from schools of dentistry has clear effects on dentists’ treatment decisions, and the specific modalities taught depend highly on the school faculty. The use of research, especially clinical studies, in treatment decisions is currently limited. Regarding the health care support system factors, the public health insurance system has a strong effect on the actual prosthodontic treatments performed in Japan. To maintain the current piecework payment system, efforts should be encouraged to preclude both overtreatment and undertreatment. New perspectives on treatment decisions associated with technological advancement and changes in health care needs should be established to ensure that the Japanese population can enjoy high-quality prosthodontic treatment that meets international standards. The development of a clinical pathway and decision-making model that adheres to academic-based clinical guidelines and the insurance system will be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector procurement should be a transparent and fair process. Strict legal requirements are enforced on public sector procurement to make it a standardised process. To make fair decisions on selecting suppliers, a practical method which adheres to legal requirements is important. The research that is the base for this paper aimed at identifying a suitable Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method for the specific legal and functional needs of the Maldivian Public Sector. To identify such operational requirements, a set of focus group interviews were conducted in the Maldives with public officials responsible for procurement decision making. Based on the operational requirements identified through focus groups, criteria-based evaluation is done on published MCDA methods to identify the suitable methods for e-procurement decision making. This paper describes the identification of the operational requirements and the results of the evaluation to select suitable decision models for the Maldivian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Growing concerns about the environment make a supply chains’ eco-footprint increasingly important, presuming that footprints are a more effective (policy) instrument than those currently in use. The eco-footprint comprises all kinds of environmental impact, but often is narrowed down to one aspect; e.g. the carbon footprint, material footprint, the water footprint, and so on. Although returns give rise to an additional goods flow from customers back to producers, it usually improves the eco-footprint due to the substitution effect. The reverse channel supplies high quality (recovered) products, components and materials to the forward channel thereby reducing the need for virgin sourcing and production. We refer to this as closed-loop recovery, as opposed to recovery for cascade markets which lacks substitution. To maximize substitution, the recovered items must re-enter the original supply chain. The feasibility of closed-loop recovery depends partly on the geographical proximity of forward and reverse facilities. We develop a decision framework for optimizing closed loop network configurations, i.e. the combined disposition and location–transport decision. We apply the framework to a single case study concerning one type of footprint (namely the carbon footprint) of a copier (closed-loop) supply chain. The main implication is that a regional network, with combined forward and reverse facilities per continent, proves most efficient and most robust in view of uncertain exogenous variables, but only when a full set of closed-loop options is available (including closed-loop recycling). As an embedded case, main contribution value of it lies in the discovery of a new phenomenon with generic implications; namely that not only the closed-loop supply chains footprint strongly depends on the substitution effect, but that in turn the feasibility of closed-loop recovery options depends heavily on the network design. From delineations of the study we derive issues for further research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Developing tourism in a hilly region has become a thriving process which induces a complex land-cover dynamics. The study area (Shimla District in Himachal Pradesh) is located in the beautiful Himalayan environment in northern India and was the summer capital of India during the days of British rule. The current study has attempted to understand and model the suitability of three major land use forces (agriculture need, forest ecosystem conservation and human development) using the spatial Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). Further, the study utilised a multi-objective conflict analysis (MOCA) to understand and resolve the competition amongst these major land use forces. The cross overlay analysis of the existing land use map and the MOCA-derived map infers that the agricultural and human settlement preference can potentially expand into 26% of the current actual forest area. Around 18% of the potentially suitable area for forest class has already been occupied by non-forest classes. The potential future change zones are located in the middle and western regions/sections of the study area. Since the western region is already developed, more attention needs to be paid in the future to the central region of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Countdown display unit at signalized intersection is one of the most commonly used, but also controversial traffic control equipments. From the perspective of drivers'' psychology, the drivers'' behavioral decision-making process and its influence factors were analyzed. Based on the dates surveyed, the Logistic model of drivers'' behavioral decision-making at signalized intersection with countdown display unit was established, which was also compared with the model without countdown display unit. The sensitivity analysis results of these two models were given at last. The results indicated that the countdown display influenced the drivers'' behavioral decision-making significantly. These fundamental works provided some knowledge to traffic management to accelerate the process in the improvement of countdown display setting and gave some advices to promote the safety of intersections. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Aim: This study aimed at testing feasibility of a standardised postoperative surveillance protocol to reduce delay in the diagnosis of anastomotic leakage (AL) and, subsequently, mortality. Material and methods: Patient files of patients operated between 1996 and 1999 were reviewed and used as historical controls (n =1066). As a result, a protocol for standardised post-operative surveillance was designed using easily accessible, clinical parameters. Between August 2004 and August 2006, all operated patients with a colorectal anastomosis (n =223) were prospectively subjected to this standardised surveillance. Results: AL was diagnosed in 7.0% of patients in the historical control group and 9.4% of patients in the standardised surveillance group. AL mortality decreased from 39% to 24% with standardised surveillance (n.s.). The delay in AL diagnosis was significantly reduced during standardised surveillance (4 versus 1.5days, p =0.01), which was confirmed in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: With non-standardised postoperative monitoring, AL was associated with a high mortality rate. Patients were subjected to several additional tests, which were not primarily useful to diagnose AL. Standardised postoperative surveillance for AL was introduced successfully and resulted in a shorter delay between the first signs and symptoms to the confirmation of AL. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article describes a step-by-step process for decision making to help health care managers. The process is called DECIDE which stands for define the problem, establish the criteria, consider all the alternatives, identify the best alternative, develop and implement a plan of action and evaluate the solution and feedback when necessary. The DECIDE model can help health care managers improve their decision making skills.

The demand for global healthcare services is experiencing tremendous growth. US patients are seeking to reduce their expenditures on healthcare through obtaining treatment on an internationally competitive basis. This trend, known as medical tourism, is on the rise, and US legislators and policy makers must be aware of the issues facing American patients. This paper seeks to model factors that influence a patient's decision to seek healthcare services abroad. We develop a two-stage model for medical tourism -- the first stage being the evaluation of the foreign country and the second stage choosing the healthcare facility. We argue country-specific characteristics influence the country of choice -- including economic conditions, political climate, and regulatory policies. We also argue that certain factors -- including costs, hospital accreditation, quality of care, and physician training -- impact the choice of healthcare facility. The model suggests that no one factor is dominant in the decision, but all play a crucial role in choosing healthcare on an international basis. Policy makers must use these factors to evaluate the impact medical tourism will continue to have on the US healthcare system in order to effectively compete in today "s global, consumer-driven healthcare market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To provide a review of the studies that use decision models in the economic evaluation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to address some important issues surrounding the choice of such modeling techniques in these economic evaluations. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted by 1 author from the literature published from January 1996 to March 2005 through Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library databases. Results: The review yielded 29 studies that used decision models. Only 10 studies used a decision model in the economic analysis of the TNF inhibitors and were included in the final review. Decision model types included the following in the review articles: decision tree (2), Markov model (7), and discrete event simulation (1). These models vary in complexity and their choice depends on the course of disease, the impact of treatment, and the available data. Conclusions: Based on the results derived from alternative modeling techniques, it is safe to say that all methods can provide useful information with regard to economic evaluations of TNF inhibitors. Even though different modeling techniques provide an appropriate representation of available data, their results should be interpreted contingent on the input data, assumptions, sensitivity analyses, and other alternative scenario analyses. Relevance: The transparency in the models will encourage end users such as policymakers and prescribers to make informed judgments regarding the appropriateness of the methods and the validity of the results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Realize the operating conditions of a manufacturing plant are essential for providing corresponding actions responsively. This is because all processes are interrelated and a small fluctuation can affect overall performance in such a dynamic system. Presently, substantial integrations in both the hardware and the software are required to monitor the fabrication processes. More importantly, the decision model to interpreting the information from the associated monitoring devices is usually a great challenge due to its complexity and great variety for different cases. To overcome this integration bottleneck, we propose an alternative method. The concept is to treat the plant as a whole and with the help of identical counting facilities; both the quantitative and qualitative issues at the plant can be reflected. Simulations have been employed to verify the results and it showed that with the assistance of the proposed technique, problematic locations could be identified when the plant was operating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years a number of tourist choice models have been advanced by researchers but, in the study of tourist choice, two areas in particular appear to be lacking: the possible role of the individual difference variable, personality, in that choice, and the importance of constraints during the choice process. This article presents a model of vacation choice based on the constraints model of leisure participation proposed by Crawford, Jackson, and Godbey in 1991 and modified by Jackson, Crawford, and Godbey in 1993, but incorporating the individual difference variable, personality. In building on Jackson et al.'s model, it is proposed that personality will influence vacation preference through the development of motives, and that personality will influence the perception of both intrapersonal constraints and assessment of the ability to negotiate them. It is further proposed that an individual's weighted motives will give rise to weighted vacation attribute preferences and that successful negotiation of interpersonal constraints will lead to jointly agreed weighted vacation attribute preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the recent phenomena information systems (IS) practitioners are currently facing in their continuous process of adopting new technology is the utilization of Extensible Markup Language (XML). In this paper we propose an XML adoption framework, a corresponding adoption space model, and a profit model of technology diffusion to examine the decision of adopting XML-based applications in the context of electronic business. First, an XML adoption framework is proposed. The framework helps companies examine their current status in the electronic business environment from the perspective of three electronic business domains, namely enterprise intranets, value-chain extranets, and the global Internet. This framework also provides guidelines for companies seeking to understand the potential benefits of adopting XML technology, and then further suggests the appropriate path and proper applications. Second, we propose an XML adoption space model. Considering its current status of IT applications, a company can utilize this model to measure the efforts/costs that will he incurred by developing XML-enabled IT applications. Third, we use a profit model ot technology diffusion to explore the feasibility of a company's adoption of XML technology. This profit model considers a company's specific characteristics and evaluates benefits and efforts/costs of its XML adoption decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a mathematical programming model of wheat cleaning and blending decisions at a country elevator. Simulations are performed to illustrate the sensitivity of cleaning to selected variables, including the value of screenings, transportation costs, and market discounts for excess dockage. In addition, the model is used to assess the impact of including dockage in the grade standards for wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and application of a multi-criteria decision model to support stakeholder management in city logistics by prioritising among the diversity of stakeholders' goals. The decision model was applied and tested in a longitudinal case study of a city logistics initiative in Sweden with ten stakeholders. The data were collected included semi-structured interviews and surveys with the stakeholders, participant observation and archival records. The results were analysed using a multi-criteria decision model, which utilises the analytic hierarchy process to rank alternative goals and their importance. The proposed multi-criteria decision model provides a structured approach to managing the multiple stakeholders in city logistics and their goals. The model helps to identify the overall goals that need the most attention and which of these goals need to be considered for each stakeholder and to what extent. This paper offers a multi-criteria decision model for stakeholder management in city logistics, something that is lacking in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The objective of this study was to estimate the economic consequences of expanding options for early pregnancy loss (EPL) treatment beyond expectant management and operating room surgical evacuation (usual care). Study Design We constructed a decision model using a hypothetical cohort of women undergoing EPL management within a 30 day horizon. Treatment options under the usual care arm include expectant management and surgical uterine evacuation in an operating room (OR). Treatment options under the expanded care arm included all evidence-based safe and effective treatment options for EPL: expectant management, misoprostol treatment, surgical uterine evacuation in an office setting, and surgical uterine evacuation in an OR. Probabilities of entering various treatment pathways were based on previously published observational studies. Results The cost per case was US $241.29 lower for women undergoing treatment in the expanded care model as compared with the usual care model (US $1033.29 per case vs US $1274.58 per case, expanded care and usual care, respectively). The model was the most sensitive to the failure rate of the expectant management arm, the cost of the OR surgical procedure, the proportion of women undergoing an OR surgical procedure under usual care, and the additional cost per patient associated with implementing and using the expanded care model. Conclusion This study demonstrates that expanding women’s treatment options for EPL beyond what is typically available can result in lower direct medical expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]