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Parcel hub (PH), as one of the logistic system entities, plays a significant role in delivering packages. PH operations are identical to a cross-docking system. Numerous studies were conducted to examine solutions in PH and cross-docking in general. This paper aims to investigate scientific references published within the last fifteen years through a systematic literature review (SLR). The objectives are to determine the critical decisions related to PH problems, classify the applied solution approach, and identify the future challenges regarding the transformation towards intelligent logistics. This study implements an SLR methodology that consists of five stages: planning, searching, screening, analysing, and reporting. This study utilises two publication databases and one reference management system. More than four thousand documents were collected in the searching stage. Then, five assessments are conducted to sort the most relevant papers. One hundred and forty-six articles are included in the further analysis. This study classifies four important decisions associated with PH problems: truck scheduling, internal process planning, facility planning, and technology selection. In addition, this study categorises ten solution approaches employed to find the best decision in the prior research. Moreover, this study explains the future research directions and managerial implications of managing parcel hub systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms from a variety of industries regularly partner with Formula One racing teams to achieve marketing objectives on an international scale. The sponsored properties offer signals of brand foreignness/localness, country of origin, and the potential for highly visible achievements. Firms enter and exit brand partnerships with some of the world's most famous athletes and iconic teams, yet the partnership decision-making process remains opaque, particularly concerning the impact of geographic origin and team performance among other criteria, including macroeconomic conditions and brand-related factors. This study contributes a quantitative model that analyzes 53 years of data encompassing more than 3,000 sponsorships across six continents. The findings improve understanding of brand partnership continuity/dissolution by explicating a shared nationality effect and a link with sponsored organizational performance that is robust across three distinct eras of Formula One. In doing so, the study contributes to theory by completing the sponsorship performance cycle and distilling partnership limits with regard to brand foreignness. The theory and quantitative analyses are buttressed by interviews with brand decision-makers, excerpts from which also shape the discussion of managerial applications. Implications include efficiencies in partner prospecting that enhance the likelihood of enduring brand relationships in sponsorship-linked international marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making on childbearing and safer conception use in HIV sero-different couples involves an intricate balance of individual desires and perceived HIV acquisition risk. This paper addresses an important knowledge gap regarding HIV sero-different couples considerations and the relationship and power dynamics involved when deciding to use a safer conception method. Between February and June 2019, we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews among 14 men and 17 women, representing 17 couples, who exited the SAFER study - a pilot study assessing the feasibility, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of a safer conception programme for HIV sero-different couples in Zimbabwe. All couples in SAFER were provided with a choice of safer conception methods and were followed for up to 12 months of pregnancy attempts and 3 months following pregnancy. While couples generally perceived their safer conception discussions to be easy and consensus-driven, the decision-making process also involved complex gender dynamics and trade-offs in relationship power, which resulted in differing interpretations of what constituted a joint or shared couple decision. Participants regarded effective couple communication as an essential component of and precursor to good safer conception conversations and requested additional training in couple communication. Couples relied on information from healthcare providers to kickstart their safer conception discussions. Safer conception programmes should address relationship power imbalances, promote effective couple communication and offer healthcare provider support to enable HIV sero-different couples to make informed choices about conception in a manner that upholds their safety and reproductive autonomy.

This article chronicles the evolution of the two main paradigms within the Journal of Consumer Research : consumer information processing and behavioral decision-making. The work synthesizes interviews with preeminent scholars who have shaped these paradigms, featuring theoretical developments, key findings, and methodological innovations. This article also connects these perspectives to practical applications in advertising, branding, and retailing and identifies knowledge gaps to be addressed in future consumer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four decades of research into the influences of time pressure on risky decisions have produced widely contrasting findings: 38.5% of the effects indicate that time pressure increases risk preferences, whereas 61.5% show the opposite. A theoretical framework with four conceptual categories of moderators is proposed to explain these heterogeneous findings: nature of the time constraint, negative outcome salience, negative outcome severity, and vulnerability to the outcomes. This framework is tested through a meta-analysis of 213 effect sizes reported in 83 papers, representing 65,574 unique respondents. The four categories of moderators effectively resolve notable conflicts. For example, regarding the nature of the time constraint, an absolute versus relative constraint increases risk preferences, but an ambiguous versus objective constraint decreases risk preferences. In terms of negative outcome salience, risk preferences decrease if the risk is learned about from a description (vs. experience) or the outcome is framed as a loss (vs. gain). Negative outcome severity also exerts an effect, as discrete choices lower risk preferences compared with attitudinal risk. In addition to managerial and public policy implications based on simulations, a comprehensive research agenda that builds on the robust insights of this meta-analysis is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance clinical decision-making in Peyronies disease (PD) has generated significant interest. This review explores the current landscape of AI in PD evaluation. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent advances in 3D modeling offer a more sophisticated approach to assessing PD deformities; however, the implementation of 3D modeling in clinical practice faces challenges, including the need for specialized equipment and time-consuming data processing, sometimes taking several hours of labor. AI holds promise for overcoming these hurdles through its ability to efficiently process large volumes of data and to perform accurate predictions based on such data. Future integration of AI with 3D modeling techniques could revolutionize PD evaluation by improving patient counseling, surgical planning, and clinical decision-making. Significant gaps in the literature have yet to be addressed, including the absence of robust evidence that incorporating such technology is superior to standard diagnostics.

This research explores prospective determinants of trust in the recommendations of artificial agents regarding decisions to kill, using a novel visual challenge paradigm simulating threat-identification (enemy combatants vs. civilians) under uncertainty. In Experiment 1, we compared trust in the advice of a physically embodied versus screen-mediated anthropomorphic robot, observing no effects of embodiment; in Experiment 2, we manipulated the relative anthropomorphism of virtual robots, observing modestly greater trust in the most anthropomorphic agent relative to the least. Across studies, when any version of the agent randomly disagreed, participants reversed their threat-identifications and decisions to kill in the majority of cases, substantially degrading their initial performance. Participants subjective confidence in their decisions tracked whether the agent (dis)agreed, while both decision-reversals and confidence were moderated by appraisals of the agents intelligence. The overall findings indicate a strong propensity to overtrust unreliable AI in life-or-death decisions made under uncertainty.

Everyone agrees that feelings and actions are intertwined, but cannot agree how. According to dominant models, actions are directed by estimates of value and these values shape or are shaped by affect. I propose instead that affect is the only form of value that drives actions. Our mind constantly represents potential future states and how they would make us feel. These states collectively form a gradient reflecting feelings we could experience depending on actions we take. Motivated behavior reflects the process of traversing this affective gradient, towards desirable states and away from undesirable ones. This affective gradient hypothesis solves the puzzle of where values and goals come from, and offers a parsimonious account of apparent conflicts between emotion and cognition.

How accurate are people in judging someone elses knowledge based on their language use, and do more knowledgeable people use different cues to make these judgments? We address this by recruiting a group of participants (informants) to answer general knowledge questions and describe various images belonging to different categories (e.g., cartoons, basketball). A second group of participants (evaluators) also answer general knowledge questions and decide who is more knowledgeable within pairs of informants, based on these descriptions. Evaluators perform above chance at identifying the most knowledgeable informants (65% with only one description available). The less knowledgeable evaluators base their decisions on the number of specific statements, regardless of whether the statements are true or false. The more knowledgeable evaluators treat true and false statements differently and penalize the knowledge they attribute to informants who produce specific yet false statements. Our findings demonstrate the power of a few words when assessing others knowledge and have implications for how misinformation is processed differently between experts and novices.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many public libraries offered virtual storytimes (VSTs). Who proposed, authorized, and developed these programs? What impact did they have in the short term and long term? To find out, we created a survey on the decision and evaluation processes behind VST. We received 415 responses from children's librarians throughout the United States. Our findings indicate that children's librarians exercised keen administrative and management skills in launching VSTs and the programs prioritized children's socioemotional development and learning. However, assessment of the programs is somewhat lacking as libraries tended to focus on outputs like the number of views rather than more meaningful indicators of program value for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industry has embraced digitalisation leading to a greater reliance on models derived from data. Understanding and getting insights into the models generated by machine learning algorithms is a challenge due to their non-explicit nature. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) is to enhance understanding of the digital models and confidence in the results they produce. The paper makes two contributions. First, the XRule algorithm proposed in the paper generates explicit rules meeting user's preferences. A user may control the nature of the rules generated by the XRule algorithm, e.g. degree of redundancy among the rules. Second, in analogy to federated learning, the concept of federated explainable artificial intelligence (fXAI) is proposed. Besides providing insights into the models built from data and explaining the predicted decisions, the fXAI provides additional value. The user-centric knowledge generated in support of fXAI may lead to discovery of previously unknown parameters and subsequently models that may benefit the non-explicit and explicit perspectives. The insights from fXAI could translate into new ways of modelling the phenomena of interest. A numerical example and three industrial applications illustrate the concepts presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interactions unfold within networks of relationships. How do beliefs about others social ties shape-and how are they shaped by-expectations about how others will behave? Here, participants joined a fictive online game-playing community and interacted with its purported members, who varied in terms of their trustworthiness and apparent relationships with one another. Participants were less trusting of partners with untrustworthy friends, even after they consistently showed themselves to be trustworthy, and were less willing to engage with them in the future. To test whether people not only expect friends to behave similarly but also expect those who behave similarly to be friends, an incidental memory test was given. Participants were exceptionally likely to falsely remember similarly behaving partners as friends. Thus, people expect friendship to predict similar behavior and vice versa. These results suggest that knowledge of social networks and others behavioral tendencies reciprocally interact to shape social thought and behavior.

Deliberative democracy theory highlighted democratic deliberation as a modus operandi for facilitating group decision-making. In 2023, members of Romanian labor unions in several sectors took to the streets in strikes and protests, demanding higher revenues and better work conditions. Nevertheless, misunderstandings and internal ruptures shadowed their noble ends and fueled mistrust amongst unionists. This dynamic reminds rather of interest party politics as it employs vertical power relations, influenced by social and professional background segmentation. One question that reasonably arises in this context is how deliberative the decision-making process is within the unions in Romania. We specifically analyze elements of deliberative organizational leadership and the power relations within labor unions through a qualitative study in the form of interviews. Keywords: Labor Unions, Romania, Deliberation, Representation, Leadership, Context Neo-liberalism triggered more dynamism in the labor market and new work relations, forcing unions to reshape and adjust their working procedures repeatedly. Their efficiency in coping with capitalist interests [...]

INTRODUCTION: Existing advance care planning (ACP) definitional frameworks apply to individuals with decision-making capacity. We aimed to conceptualize ACP for dementia in terms of its definition and issues that deserve particular attention. METHODS: Delphi study with phases: (A) adaptation of a generic ACP framework by a task force of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC); (B) four online surveys by 107 experts from 33 countries, September 2021 to June 2022; (C) approval by the EAPC board. RESULTS: ACP in dementia was defined as a communication process adapted to the persons capacity, which includes, and is continued with, family if available. We identified pragmatic boundaries regarding participation and time (i.e., current or end-of-life care). Three interrelated issues that deserve particular attention were capacity, family, and engagement and communication. DISCUSSION: A communication and relationship-centered definitional framework of ACP in dementia evolved through international consensus supporting inclusiveness of persons with dementia and their family. HIGHLIGHTS: This article offers a consensus definitional framework of advance care planning in dementia. The definition covers all stages of capacity and includes family caregivers. Particularly important are (1) capacity, (2) family, (3) engagement, and communication. Fluctuating capacity was visualized in relation to roles and engaging stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: Tissue-based gene expression (genomic) tests provide estimates of prostate cancer aggressiveness and are increasingly used for patients considering or engaged in active surveillance. However, little is known about patient experiences with genomic testing and its role in their decision-making. METHODS: We performed a qualitative study consisting of in-depth, semi-structured interviews of patients with low- or favourable-intermediate-risk prostate cancer managed with active surveillance. We purposively sampled to include patients who received biopsy-based genomic testing as part of clinical care. The interview guide focused on experiences with genomic testing during patients decision-making for prostate cancer management and understanding of genomic test results. We continued interviews until thematic saturation was reached, iteratively created a code key and used conventional content analysis to analyse data. RESULTS: Participants (n = 20) mean age was 68 years (range 51-79). At initial biopsy, 17 (85%) had a Gleason grade group 1, and 3 (15%) had a grade group 2 prostate cancer. The decision to undergo genomic testing was driven by both participants and physicians recommendations; however, some participants were unaware that testing had occurred. Overall, participants understood the role of genomic testing in estimating their prostate cancer risk, and the test results increased their confidence in the decision for active surveillance. Participants had some misconceptions about the difference between tissue-based gene expression tests and germline genetic tests and commonly believed that tissue-based tests measured hereditary cancer risk. While some participants expressed satisfaction with their physicians explanations, others felt that communication was limited and lacked sufficient detail. CONCLUSION: Patients interact with and are influenced by the results of biopsy-based genomic testing during active surveillance for prostate cancer, despite gaps in understanding about test results. Our findings indicate areas for improvement in patient counselling in order to increase patient knowledge and comfort with genomic testing.

Plithogenic based decision making approaches are more versatile and accommodative with regard to attribute handling This paper introduces the concepts of Plithogenic Forest hypersoft set (PFHS) and develops a Plithogenic centered decision-making model with PFHS representations. The Plithogenic method of devising decisions based on contradictions is integrated with the newly introduced representations of PFHS to develop a robust decision-making technique to deal with attributes and sub-attributive values at a larger scale. The integrated method proposed in this work is applied to a decision-making problem of site selection for establishing manufacturing plants. The core attributes are identified and the respective Plithogenic forest hypersoft sets are constructed with the possible sub-attributes. In this case, each of the core attributes itself forms a Plithogenic tree hypersoft set representations with several sub-attribute values, the alternatives are subjected to each of the criteria to determine the optimal ranking in specific to the criteria. Also, aggregate score values are determined to obtain a more comprehensive ranking. The concept of PFHS shall be integrated with other decision-making methods to evolve novel methods of decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant degree of uncertainty surrounds security events in Mexico because of the interaction of multiple socioeconomic and political elements. Conventional probabilistic and logical approaches frequently fall short of properly handling this uncertainty. To effectively navigate and manage security incidents in Mexico, this study suggests applying neutrosophic logic, an extension of classical logic that allows for indeterminacy and partial knowledge. Neutrosophic logic provides a more adaptable framework for making decisions in uncertain contexts by simultaneously handling true, false, and indeterminate values. In this study, we have created a neutrosophic-based model that includes metrics like social unrest, economic instability, and crime rates to provide a thorough evaluation of the security environment. When the model is put to the test using actual data from different parts of Mexico, it outperforms conventional techniques in terms of prediction and interpretation of security occurrences. The findings demonstrate how neutrosophic logic helps security analysts and policymakers make more thoughtful and nuanced judgments by offering insightful information about the ambiguous nature of security occurrences. The ability to foresee and address possible risks is much improved when neutrosophic logic is incorporated into security event analysis. This not only improves overall security management but also creates new opportunities for its application in other sectors where uncertainty is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership in education needs to transcend, be responsive, and be adaptable to the boundaries of school leadership. Distributed leadership refers to various organizational stakeholders with a transformative framework and methodology. This paper proposed a decision-making methodology to evaluate distributed leadership in education based on multiple criteria and alternatives. The multi-criteria decision-making is used to deal with multiple criteria and alternatives. The Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) approach ranks the alternatives. The neutrosophic set was used to deal with uncertainty and vague information in decision-making problems. This study used the neutrosophic HyperSoft Set. Neutrosophic HyperSoft Set is a new method for computational intelligence and decision-making to deal with vague information. This study used sixteen criteria and eight alternatives. The criteria weights show that Criterion Six has the highest weight, and Criterion Sixteen has the lowest. The results of the MABAC method show that alternative one is the best and alternative six is the worst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living in groups offers social animals the significant advantage of accessing collective wisdom and enhanced information processing, enabling more accurate decisions related to foraging, navigation and habitat selection. Preserving group membership is crucial for sustaining access to collective wisdom, incentivizing animals to prioritize group cohesion. However, when individuals encounter divergent information about the quality of various options, this can create a conflict between pursuing immediate rewards and the maintenance of group membership to improve access to future pay-offs. In this study, I show that rational agents who seek to maximize long-term rewards will be more inclined to follow the decisions of their peers than those with short-term horizons. In doing so, they necessarily make less-rewarding decisions in the short-term, which manifests in a lower individual accuracy when choosing the better of two options. Furthermore, I demonstrate that intuitions about collective wisdom can be misleading in groups of agents who prioritize long-term rewards, with disagreement being a better signal for the accuracy of collective choices than consensus. These results demonstrate that observed patterns of sociality should be interpreted in the context of the life history of an individual and its peers, rather than through the lens of an isolated decision. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'Understanding age and society using natural populations'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on teenage parenthood delves deeply into the multifaceted challenges faced by this demographic in contemporary society. This research endeavors to explore the multifaceted decision-making processes, parental adjustments, and evolving sense of responsibility among teenage parents, aiming to poster for early parenthood prevention that enhances the well-being of this demographic. Employing a descriptive phenomenological research approach, this qualitative investigation examines the real-life experiences of ten teenage parents aged 18 to 19 through an online survey. The findings highlight diverse demographic profiles encompassing varying educational backgrounds, marital statuses, and numbers of children among participants. Notably, decision-making skills are influenced by collaborative efforts, partner support, and familial guidance, emphasizing the crucial roles of time management and strategic planning in their lives. Parental adjustment involves significant life transitions and prioritization of family-centeredness. The sense of responsibility among teenage parents varies and is shaped by individual maturity levels and support networks, with parental guidance and personal growth profoundly impacting their sense of accountability. This research yields valuable insights for developing targeted interventions aimed at supporting teenage parents and preventing early parenthood, ultimately contributing to the enhancement of their overall well-being and societal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes the notion of the manual as a focal point for understanding the demarcation and evaluation of embodied practices within algorithmic decision-making processes. Focusing on the use of the term manual reveals the limits of automation and the value attached to human intervention. Drawing on extensive qualitative interview data, it is concerned with how those within the UK housing sector approach questions of embodiment and materiality through the lens of the manual. We show how this notion is used to separate human input from algorithmic automation. The article explores how value is attached to the manual and how the term is involved in valuing human interventions. It begins by examining how the manual demarcates spaces and practices outside or alongside the algorithmic. It then focuses upon three manifestations the manual takes within these articulations. First by looking at the manual as the completion of a form, then the manual as a check and finally by looking at the manual as approval. The article develops a central argument concerning processes of valuing and evaluating the manual, that are tied up with these visions and demarcations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental governance outcomes hinge on the design and implementation of management decisions. Yet, available research methodologies can be limited in their ability to capture the complexity of decision-making and implementation processes and in turn predict and explain environmental governance outcomes. We present participatory process mapping as a method for examining the pathways that emerge and evolve over time that result in natural resource management decisions and on-the-ground outcomes, as perceived by participants in collaborative processes. The approach leverages a large-N comparative design, participatory diagraming within semi-structured interviews, and mental modeling toward a method that can fit into both quantitative and qualitative research designs and analysis. The method is highly flexible, offering a pathway toward capturing causal relationships while also enabling incorporation of diverse elements and relationships. Natural resource management is nonlinear and is shaped by diverse social-ecological elements, and process mapping diagrams elicited through this method reflect that reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research is to develop some novel operational laws based of T-norm and T-conorm and then using these operational laws to develop several Einstein operators for aggregating the different complex intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (CIFNs) by considering the dependency between the pairs of its membership degrees. In the existing studies of fuzzy and its extensions, the uncertainties present in the data are handled with the help of degrees of membership that are the subset of real numbers, which may also loss some valuable data and hence consequently affect the decision results. A modification to these, complex intuitionistic fuzzy set handles the uncertainties with the degree whose ranges are extended from real subset to the complex subset with unit disk and hence handle the two-dimensional information in a single set. Thus, motivated by this and this paper we present some novel methods such as complex intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein weighted geometric aggregation (CIFEWGA) operator, complex intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein ordered weighted geometric aggregation (CIFEOWGA) operator, complex intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein hybrid geometric aggregation (CIFEHGA) operator, induced complex intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein ordered weighted geometric aggregation (I-CIFEOWGA) operator and induced complex intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein hybrid geometric aggregation (I-CIFEHGA) operator. We present some of their desirable properties such as idempotency, boundedness and monotonicity. Furthermore, based on these methods a multi-attribute group decision-making problem developed under complex intuitionistic fuzzy set environment. An illustrative example related to the selection of the best alternative is considered to show the effectiveness, importance and efficiency of the novel approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making is crucial in fully autonomous vehicle operations and is expected to greatly influence future transportation systems. Observing the current driving status of autonomous vehicles is vital for its decision-making process. The autonomous connected vehicles on the road send significant data about their movements to the server to maintain continuous training. With the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus process, blockchain technology provides a valid, decentralised and secure option to improve transactions throughput and minimise delay. The limited computational capacity of vehicles poses a challenge in achieving high accuracy and low latency while training self-driving algorithms. GPT-4V surpassed challenging autonomous systems in scene interpretation and causal thinking. GPT-4V has ability to navigate circumstances without access to database, interpret intentions, and make sound decisions in real-world driving scenarios. The reward function and different driving conditions are organised to allow an optimal search to find the most efficient driving style while ensuring safety. The consequences of the Blockchain-enabled decision-making model (DMM) for Self-Driving Vehicles (SDV) primarily based on GPT-4V and Federated Reinforcement Learning (FRL) would, likely, upgrades in decision-making accuracy, operational performance, statistics integrity, and potentially enhanced learning skills in SDV. Integrating blockchain technology, superior language modelling GPT-4V and FRL may lead to multiplied safety, reliability, and decision-making ability in SDV. This study utilised the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) simulator to assess the ability of SDV to maintain its desired speed consistently and securely in a highway setting using proposed DMM. This study indicates that the suggested DMM, utilising the driving state evaluation approach for SDV, can help these vehicles operate safely and effectively. The performance of the proposed model, such as CPU utilisation, bandwidth and latency, are evaluated through multiple tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work assessments are ubiquitous in daily practice, containing justifications for interventions and decisions. This article seeks to bring to the fore the extensive influence of the social work team in shaping the document and the resulting decisions. Assessments are not solely the work of the allocated social worker, supported person, and linked professionals; rather, they also represent collective actions involving multiple authors within the social work team. Drawing upon ethnographic data from a local authority adult social work team in Scotland between December 2019 and January 2021, this article explores the social life of the social work assessment. The findings outline the following themes: 1) team engineering; 2) the reader; 3) writing and rewriting; and 4) story building. The article builds a nuanced understanding of social work assessment work and provides new insight into the level and significance of team interactions within the assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Involvement in honors programs provides students an opportunity to grow academically, connect with like-minded peers, and reap tangible and intangible benefits. Understanding the motivations driving this involvement is a crucial task for honors program administrators and faculty alike as different motivations may influence how students engage and succeed in their honors pursuits. This study analyzes student motivating factors, organizing them into a five-factor framework that highlights different motivational groupings, including a non-intentional factor. While past studies have relied on student characteristics and survey information to understand honors program involvement, this study takes a qualitative approach, drawing on focus groups with current and incoming honors students to delve into the various motivations that honors students indicated as compelling for their participation in an honors program at a private mid-size liberal arts institution. The findings provide insight into key motivations which may inform efforts to increase the diversity of and involvement in honors programs. These eleven motivations are grouped into instrumental factors, personal factors, nudges, relationships, and accidental, with the majority of students noting more than one motivation for their involvement in the honors program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Aarhus Convention' – regulating access to environmental information, public participation and justice in environmental decision−making – is a key international agreement with a long history and a considerable number of signatory countries. While implementation has been studied nationally, there is little comparative research at the transnational level. Based on ten criteria, we analysed national implementation reports of the 2014, 2017 and 2021 reporting cycles in terms of how 33 countries in Europe have implemented the access to information and public participation pillars, and identified obstacles they encountered. We also studied similarities and differences supra-nationally. Overall, countries are quite successfully fulfilling the obligations of the two pillars. Most obstacles reported concern four criteria: access to information, information provision, interaction, and trust. Implementation practices have changed little from 2014 to 2021. However, East- and South-European countries report more, and more persistent or repetitive obstacles, compared to Northern and Western European countries. The national democratic context seems to affect the quality of implementation. The Convention's compliance bodies and national agencies responsible for coordinating the implementation are encouraged to interact more closely, to account for the differences and leverage implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to provide data on legislative decision-making of the Council of the European Union during the COVID-19 pandemic. The central argument is that the pandemic contributed to quicker decision-making at lower levels of the Council, to a certain extent at the expense of transparency. The overall results show that the highest share of proposals was decided by working parties, followed by permanent representatives, leaving a minority of legislative decisions up to ministers. The study focuses on the level on which these proposals were discussed and distinguishes them based on their connection with the pandemic and the procedure used for their adoption. This study further analyses how the figures vary across different policy sectors and how they were influenced by the fact that most Council meetings took place informally during the research period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although caring is a core principle of the nursing profession, students often lack the knowledge, comprehension and ability to integrate care into all aspects of nursing practice. Students may have few opportunities to practise caring behaviours on patients who create the impression of providing care and elicit a feeling of receiving care. Studies of strategies to enhance caring behaviours in nursing education are limited. Aim: This experimental study aimed to examine the effect of nursing caring behaviours course based on interactive learning strategies on the caring behaviours and decision‐making abilities of nursing students. Methods: A purposive sample of 50 undergraduate students was recruited from a faculty of nursing. Students in the intervention group (n = 24) received 2 h of training per week for 14 weeks in accordance with caring behaviours course based on interactive learning strategies including discussion, brainstorming, concept mapping, reflection and simulation training. Nursing students in the control group (n = 26) received training according to other elective courses in the curriculum. Data were measured at the baseline time point, 7th week and 14th week with the Caring Behaviours Inventory and Nursing Decision‐Making Instrument. Chi‐square test, Mann–Whitney U‐test, Friedman test and mixed repeated measures ANOVA were used to assess the data. Results: No significant difference was determined in terms of baseline caring behaviours and decision‐making scores between the intervention and control groups (p > 0.05). A significant difference in caring behaviours between the two groups and time effect was not found (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant interaction between time and groups (F = 3.484, p = 0.047). There was a significant increase in the decision‐making in intervention groups over time (F = 9.372, p < 0.001) and interaction between time and groups (F = 4.160, p = 0.019). Conclusions: A deliberate strategy to raise students' awareness of caring behaviours and incorporate interactive learning methods into education enhances both caring behaviours and clinical decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents three cases of school districts/consortia in a southeastern state, where standardized measures focused on teacher/child interactions rather than student outcomes were implemented to guide decision-making. These three districts/consortia were funded annually for three years to implement innovative professional development initiatives for publicly funded 4K, focusing on social and emotional development, language and literacy, and overall classroom quality. Individual outcomes are presented along with commonalities across all three cases. A discussion of how standardized measures focused less on outcomes and more on interactions can support classroom instruction and management and improve dispositions towards assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]