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Background: Mandibular advancement devices (MADs) are considered a primary alternative treatment for adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who are unable to tolerate or do not respond to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, supported by substantial scientific evidence. While a range of designs and materials for MADs are commercially available, there is a lack of clear diagnostic guidelines to assist clinicians in selecting the most appropriate device based on a multidisciplinary evaluation of OSA patients. This narrative review seeks to outline the key characteristics of MADs that clinicians should evaluate during both the diagnostic and treatment phases for patients with OSA. Methods: An extensive search of academic databases was conducted to gather relevant studies that address therapeutic and diagnostic recommendations for the design and titration of MADs. The search was carried out across EMBASE, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science up to May 2024. From a total of 1445 identified citations, 1103 remained after duplicate removal. Based on the inclusion criteria, the full text of 202 articles was retrieved, and 70 studies were ultimately included in this review. The extracted data were organized to generate clinical insights, aimed at guiding orthodontists in optimizing diagnostic and decision-making processes for treating OSA patients with MADs. Results: The analysis led to the identification of key clinical questions that can assist orthodontists in enhancing their approach and choosing the appropriate appliance basing on the diagnosis and clinical dento-orofacial characteristics. Conclusions: Bibloc appliances could be preferred over mono-bloc devices due to the possibility of arranging the mandibular advancement according to the patient's clinical condition and orofacial symptoms. Provisional devices could be used as screening tools to verify the patient's adherence to the therapy. Regardless of the MAD design, type and programmed advancement, it must be under-lined that the rule of the orthodontist/dental specialist is secondary to the other sleep-medicine specialists (ORL, pulmonologist) and must be related to (1) a preliminary assessment of MAD usage (dental anatomical conditions), (2) testing a diagnostic MAD usable during a sleep examination (PSG or DISE), (3) final treatment with a definitive MAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern world is undergoing rapid changes in various fields of activity, and development of board game design is no exception. One of the most exciting and promising directions in this field has become the use of neural networks for image generation, which has already received its own name — Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). This opens up new horizons for board game designers, allowing them to quickly and with minimal expenditure of money to create attractive design elements. GAI stands out as a tool capable of generating images based on text queries. The paper examines the decision-making process, that the designer and GAI specialist make during development of illustrations for a board game. In this process, the designer formulates a request and a technical task, based on which the GAI specialist creates a number of images, from which, under designer guidance, the most acceptable in terms of content, style and other special conditions of the image are selected, remaining for further refinement. After finishing with the help of a neural network the most acceptable images, the illustrations are refined by the designer himself to bring these images to look necessary for the task, but with those aspects, that the neural network is not able to solve due to technical limitations. So, thanks to the neural network, it is possible to quickly obtain unique images for a technical task; the chain of specialists needed to work on this task is reduced, thereby reducing financial and time costs for product production.

Background. Decision making issues are key for any organization. The problem in the decision-making process is the high uncertainty regarding the results of decisions made due to the subjectivity of experts. To solve this urgent problem, the article aims to develop a method for processing subjective information from experts in the decision-making process in an organization through the use of fuzzy logic. Materials and methods. The research used scientific works of foreign and domestic scientists devoted to study in the field of decision making, fuzzy logic, category theory and data mining aimed at reducing the subjectivity of experts. Results. The article proposes a structure of decision-making elements in an organization for a decision support system, formulates expressions for the quantitative assessment of fuzzy sets for typical situations using evaluative categories built on the basis of expert assessments and develops an example for a typical situation of a procurement business process in an organization. Conclusions. There was developed and tested a method for processing subjective expert information using fuzzy logic, suitable for use in decision making at an industrial enterprise.

Making optimal decisions is a process whose aim is to select the best solution from the perspective of efficiency, economy and rationality. This process includes a group of logically related mental and computational operations. They lead to the selection of the best possible decision-making option. To optimize decision-making processes and increase their quality, various methods and techniques based on mathematics and statistics are used. Decision-making is a basic condition for solving management and economic problems in an organization, whether traditional, process-based or project-based. Rational models, where the issue of rationality in the decision-making process is considered in relation to: conditions and assumptions that must be met in order for decisions to be classified as rational, practical recommendations (how a rational manager should act), model approaches to decision-making processes (how how decision-making processes should proceed). Behavioral models of bounded rationality. Here, the decision-maker follows the rules of full rationality, but is not "perfect" in his tasks. He is prevented from acting fully rationally by certain limitations: cognitive, motivational, organizational or emotional. Heuristic models - they assume a complete departure from full rationality, present real decision-making processes, akin to the "double process" mozel - integrate an approach oriented on rational analysis with an approach oriented on intuition

The Gulf War (1990–1991) became a watershed event for Japan’s foreign policy, testing its readiness to address the challenges of the post-Cold War world. However, one can hardly say that Japan successfully passed this test. Despite substantial pressure from the United States and heated debates in the Diet and beyond it, Japan failed to make any contribution to the resolution of the crisis other than providing financial aid. Neither the plan to send peacekeepers to assist the U.S.-led coalition nor the proposal to dispatch JASDF aircraft for the evacuation of refugees were realized. The only “human contribution” Japan made was sending JMSDF minesweeper vessels to the Persian Gulf, but even this was done after the active phase of the hostilities was over. This severely harmed Japan’s image in the world and simultaneously served as stimulus for change, leading to Japan assuming a more active international role from the 1990s on. The present article focuses on the domestic political background of Japan’s reaction to the Gulf crisis. It shows how the factors including the political weakness of the prime minister, factional nature of the ruling party, the situation of the “twisted Diet,” where the LDP did not control the House of Councillors, as well as political opportunism of the opposition, insufficient support for the government’s proposals from public opinion, and the general focus on minor and technical details, rather than strategic foreign policy goals, combined to cause a paralysis of the decision-making mechanism. The study of this historical episode will, among other things, help us to better understand the roots of present-day Japanese foreign policy.

Livestreaming shopping platforms have emerged as dynamic and innovative channels for e-commerce, mobile commerce, and social commerce, revolutionizing the way consumers engage with online retail. Drawing upon the Technology Acceptance Model 3 framework, this research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between perceived risk, trust, innovativeness and deal proneness in shaping consumers' purchasing behavior in the livestreaming social commerce context. A snowball sampling method was applied to collect data from 675 Chinese livestreaming customers in December 2022. A PLS-SEM analysis was used to measure the proposed model. The results confirm that the present model has weak explanatory power except for medium predictive accuracy in explaining consumers' purchasing behavior in the livestreaming social commerce context (R2 = 0.35; Q2 = 0.31). This research contributes to the social commerce literature by extending the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM 3) to the novel domain of the livestreaming social commerce context, offering insights into the unique drivers of consumers' purchasing behavior. It also provides practical implications for platform developers and marketers aiming to enhance consumer experiences and increase sales performance, thereby increasing economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is to provide a robust user satisfaction evaluation of an educational distance-learning platform with the use of multicriteria satisfaction analysis (MUSA), an innovative and consistent decision-making algorithm, which leads to analytical satisfaction charts and improvement action charts. The educational platform evaluated is Moodle. MUSA algorithm criteria used for the purposes of the present analysis are: (1) technical dimension, (2) possibilities of teachers, (3) possibilities of participants, (4) pedagogical dimension, and (5) automated functions. The originality of this re-search is the fact that MUSA algorithms criteria weights are calculated both for the total number of participants in the present study and for smaller sample subgroups, which represent various levels of satisfaction (above average grade represents overall satisfied users and below average grade represents overall dissatisfied users), age, gender and identity (teachers or university students). The selected cluster sampling leads to differentiated criteria weights and action diagram in MUSA algorithm. The selected methodology is a crucial step for the optimization of the existing user satisfaction algorithm and leads to more robust and valid results. As a result, the modified method is called cluster sampling MUSA algorithm (CSMUSA) and leads to an enhanced decision-making procedure, which is considered fundamental for the constant improvement of any educational platform and software and could be implemented by software companies during the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Prenatal information may be obtained through invasive diagnostic procedures and non-invasive screening procedures. Several psychological factors are involved in the decision to undergo a non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) but little is known about the decision-making strategies involved in choosing a specific level of in-depth NIPT, considering the increased availability and complexity of NIPT options. The main aim of this work is to assess the impact of psychological factors (anxiety about pregnancy, perception of risk in pregnancy, intolerance to uncertainty), and COVID-19 pandemic on the type of NIPT chosen, in terms of the number of conditions that are tested. Methods A self-administered survey evaluated the decision-making process about NIPT. The final sample comprised 191 women (Mage = 35.53; SD = 4.79) who underwent a NIPT from one private Italian genetic company. Based on the test date, the sample of women was divided between “NIPT before COVID-19” and “NIPT during COVID-19”. Results Almost all of the participants reported being aware of the existence of different types of NIPT and more than half reported having been informed by their gynecologist. Results showed no significant association between the period in which women underwent NIPT (before COVID-19 or during COVID-19) and the preferences for more expanded screening panel. Furthermore, regarding psychological variables, results showed a significant difference between perceived risk for the fetus based on the NIPT type groups, revealing that pregnant women who underwent the more expanded panel had a significantly higher level of perceived risk for the fetus than that reported by pregnant women who underwent the basic one. There was no statistically significant difference between the other psychological variables and NIPT type. Conclusions Our findings indicate the paramount role of gynecologist and other health care providers, such as geneticists and psychologists, is to support decision-making process in NIPT, in order to overcome people’s deficits in genetic knowledge, promote awareness about their preferences, and control anxiety related to the unborn child. Decision-support strategies are critical during the onset of prenatal care, according to the advances in prenatal genomics and to parent’s needs.

This study intends to evaluate the mediating role of employees performance in the relationship between delegation of authority, organizational functionality, and the decision making process among the employees of police department at Dubai. The study has collected data in the various police stations at Dubai from 380 employees through questionnaires based survey using random sampling technique. The study noted that employees performance has mediating role between the delegation of authority, organizational functionality, and the decision making process among the police employees at Dubai. The results of this research contributed substantially to the current body of knowledge in the domain of delegation of authority in Arab context. The novelty of this study stem from the reality that the issues and problems of power delegation in Dubai police department was assessed in terms of decision-making process.

Environment-based instruments, which countries will integrate into investment-oriented sectors according to their own conjunctures, are of great importance in the process of achieving the sustainable development goal. Transportation, which is among the investment-oriented sectors, has a significant impact on the functioning and efficiency of other sectors, both as an activity and as a land use. For this reason, all studies with different scopes for the transportation sector support important issues from a local to national perspective. In this study, it is stated that the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) should be implemented, including policies, in the transportation sector planning hierarchy in Turkey. For this purpose, first of all, the legal and administrative documentation on the subject was searched. Then, the limiting actors were determined. Then, a methodology proposal was developed for the application of SEA to all sectoral policies with a spatial dimension, as well as to transport sector policies. As a conclusion of the study, a general assessment has been made for the implementation of SEA in the transport sector for Turkey and recommendations aimed at effective functioning in the sectoral perspective have been developed.

Dubai has witnessed the growth of numbers in population and global visitors, which makes it necessary for the city to have an excellent police department to secure all citizens, residents and visitors. This is necessary for improving Dubai's security and financial condition and cementing the city's importance in the world. The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the delegation of authority, organizational functionality and decision-making process among the employees in Dubai police department UAE. A total of 380 employees were selected as the study sample using a multistage sampling method. Questionnaires were used in data collection and responses were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis. The results showed that the delegation of authority affects decision-making among the target population. Moreover, delegation of authority helps the organisation in achieving the objectives with accordance to the imperative’s factors of organizational functionality of the organisation. The results of this research contributed substantially to the current body of knowledge in the domain of delegation of authority in Arab context. The novelty of this study stem from the reality that the issues and problems of power delegation in Dubai police department was assessed in terms of decision-making process. From these results some recommendations are also suggested which are quite helpful especially, with regards to the latest global models of contemporary leadership and the latest approaches and methods of modern decision-making.

PURPOSE This study aimed to identify the decision-making process for consumers participating in sports centers based on an extended goal-directed behavior model (EMGB), and to provide empirical data for establishing effective operation strategies for sports centers, including additional risk perception of consumers during pandemic. METHODS A total of 446 surveys were used as the final sample. For data analysis, SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 were used for frequency analysis, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation model analysis. RESULTS Except for hypothesis 2 and 9, all of the hypothesis were chosen. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggested that extended goal-oriented behavior models can increase consumers' cognitive and emotional factors through emotional aspirations, suggesting that a lower risk perception of COVID19 increases their desire to participate in sports centers, and provides academic fundamental data on how to increase and activate sports centers.

The utilization of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a concept that has been introduced previously and published research is available on this subject. However, the main research s’ubject of this paper, fusing MDA and decision aspects as autonomous building blocks that form a full SOA, is a ground-breaking concept. This paper proposes an integrated model-driven solution method that will help develop service-oriented architectures while being aware of the need for decisions. Furthermore, our goal is to explore the standard models at every defined level; this is one of our primary reasons for utilizing the Service oriented architecture Modeling Language (SoaML) and the Decisional Model Notation (DMN) standard in designing several services. We also present a service taxonomy that defines the new set of concepts needed to model three dimensions. The proposed approach is called MDA4SOA+d (Model Driven Architecture for SOA with Decision Aspect), and it offers, among other benefits, a more comprehensive understanding of the entire system and the platform-independent development. It also enhances the reusability of the designs and simplifies the system’s evolution, thus enhancing productivity. The proposed approach will be illustrated with a case study for an IT Equipment Bid Evaluation process.

This research identified and analyzed, by a systematic review of the literature, the relationship between information and values in supporting the decision making, in the corporate sustainability context. It was verified that the relationships between information and values, in the researched context, take place from three "macro processes": Information and Knowledge Management, Informational Strategy, and Dissemination of Information. These relationships range all the stages of the decision making, affecting the rationale applied by the decision-maker regarding the adherence of corporate sustainability practices. This suggests that the organizations may benefit themselves when developing information presentation strategies aligned, not only to the stakeholders’ values, but also in the way that these values engage with the information.

Background: Prenatal information may be obtained through invasive diagnostic procedures and non-invasive screening procedures. Several psychological factors are involved in the decision to undergo a non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) but little is known about the decision-making strategies involved in choosing a specific level of in-depth NIPT, considering the increased availability and complexity of NIPT options. The main aim of this work is to assess the impact of psychological factors (anxiety about pregnancy, perception of risk in pregnancy, intolerance to uncertainty), and COVID-19 pandemic on the type of NIPT chosen, in terms of the number of conditions that are tested. Methods: A self-administered survey evaluated the decision-making process about NIPT. The final sample comprised 191 women (Mage = 35.53; SD = 4.79) who underwent a NIPT from one private Italian genetic company. Based on the test date, the sample of women was divided between "NIPT before COVID-19" and "NIPT during COVID-19". Results: Almost all of the participants reported being aware of the existence of different types of NIPT and more than half reported having been informed by their gynecologist. Results showed no significant association between the period in which women underwent NIPT (before COVID-19 or during COVID-19) and the preferences for more expanded screening panel. Furthermore, regarding psychological variables, results showed a significant difference between perceived risk for the fetus based on the NIPT type groups, revealing that pregnant women who underwent the more expanded panel had a significantly higher level of perceived risk for the fetus than that reported by pregnant women who underwent the basic one. There was no statistically significant difference between the other psychological variables and NIPT type. Conclusions: Our findings indicate the paramount role of gynecologist and other health care providers, such as geneticists and psychologists, is to support decision-making process in NIPT, in order to overcome people's deficits in genetic knowledge, promote awareness about their preferences, and control anxiety related to the unborn child. Decision-support strategies are critical during the onset of prenatal care, according to the advances in prenatal genomics and to parent's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities represent the places with the highest environmental and energy impact in the world. Transforming them in a sustainable way has the potential to reduce the pressures of these areas. The building stock could be the driving force behind the energy transition of cities. With this in mind, understanding the priorities of undertaking a massive green regeneration operation becomes crucial to optimizing the use of public funds such as those of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) that EU Member States have at their disposal. For this purpose, a multi-criteria ELECTRE TRI-B (ELimination Et Choix Traduisant La REalité TRI-B) model was used to provide useful information in prioritizing intervention on the existing building stock to achieve the sustainability targets set at European and international levels. The model was tested on a real case study located in Turin (Italy) to improve the management process by classifying intervention on a building stock characterized by different typologies and construction periods. Looking at the results, the retrofit operations with the highest priority relate to the apartment building sector from 1946 to 1970 and the multifamily building sector from 1919 to 1960. Despite the high initial investment requirements, an ecological transformation of this stock would result in significant reductions in health impacts, more green jobs, and lower resources consumption. The model is useful for managing public policies in this area by providing guidance to the project manager on how to proceed in the provision of ad hoc funds and could optimize the process of local community energy generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contextus: Revista Contemporanea de Economia e Gestao is the property of Contextus: Revista Contemporanea de Economia e Gestao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a general concept where companies voluntarily decide to adopt social, economic and environmental responsibilities for a better society and environment. Researchers in the management field have created various CSR models and theories. Moreover, enterprises are working out to strength its competitiveness performance though adopting CSR approaches. For that, decision makers in an enterprise have to target the most appropriate CSR approach that fit with the environment and the nature of their enterprise. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been presented through the article in order to help an organization take decision toward the most convenient CSR method according to many characteristics and criteria.

The Treaty of Lisbon comes with considerable gains by recognizing the European Union as a legal personality which must be assumed by all its signatories. The Treaty brings unexpected opportunities for the active involvement of citizens and civil society, through representation, in the European Union’s decision-making process. The compulsory new legal obligation to observe the provisions and values of the Treaty comes with the ex-ante political control tool of national parliaments supplemented with ex-post judicial control. The newly brought opportunities for the civil society to be actively involved in establishing the European Union’s agenda have developed, being backed up by the principle of subsidiarity. It brings provisions on the democratic functioning of the Union by delimiting competences, introducing control procedures and legal obligation for respect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union. This article is devoted to the identification and subsequent analysis of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union towards the permissiveness of lobbying, as a public institution, acting through the principles of participatory democracy.

The authors undertake the issues of security in prison units. Basing on the results of research, analysis of statistical data, literature on the subject and their own experience in work for state security, they analyse selected aspects of decision-making aimed at preventing undesirable events in penitentiary units. Prevention plays an essential role in effective action against different incidents. Professional implementation of duties in this area prevents crisis situations. The circumstances in which these decisions are made, research suggests, may influence staff to follow their intuition.

This paper examines the impact that unconscious cognitive biases have on the leaders’ strategy. It shows how cognitive biases affect the decision-making proc-ess, particularly during a crisis, reducing efficacy and cost-effectiveness of its out-comes. The paper highlights the essential role played by cognitive biases and the need to involve social scientists in the development of public health policies.

Abstract Many studies have shown that there are regularities in the way human beings make decisions. However, our ability to obtain models that capture such regularities and can accurately predict unobserved decisions is still limited. We tackle this problem in the context of individuals who are given information relative to the evolution of market prices and asked to guess the direction of the market. We use a networks inference approach with stochastic block models (SBM) to find the model and network representation that is most predictive of unobserved decisions. Our results suggest that users mostly use recent information (about the market and about their previous decisions) to guess. Furthermore, the analysis of SBM groups reveals a set of strategies used by players to process information and make decisions that is analogous to behaviors observed in other contexts. Our study provides and example on how to quantitatively explore human behavior strategies by representing decisions as networks and using rigorous inference and model-selection approaches.

Globalization and development of socio-economic systems raise new challenges for managers, from fierce competition, to increased productivity and implicitly managerial performance. Thus, the managers of economic entities are determined to develop a good long-term vision regarding the global positioning on the market and to fully value the skills of human resources, in conditions of cultural diversity and to manage production costs as efficiently as possible. The basic tool that serves the management activity and implicitly to obtain a maximum economic efficiency is the knowledge of production costs. Applying rigor to costs and the entire activity, managers can analyse the possibilities of reducing costs and increasing performance, by applying a relevant method of calculating costs, respectively budgeting costs through the ABC/ABB method. For example, the company S.C. Adarco Invest S.R.L. from Petroșani. The study concludes with the author’s conclusion on the benefits of applying this method by economic entities with an industrial profile.

The process of building and modernizing the high voltage substations generate the problems concerning the determination of the optimal technological solutions, which should be friendly to the environment, meet the criteria of sustainable development and be cost effective. Since many institutions are involved in the decision making process to reach an optimal solution for the planned substation, consensus is sometimes not possible without the commitment of the instruments which support this decision. Hence, in this paper the authors proposed a new approach based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in relation to supporting the decision of choice of high voltage substation technology between two commonly applied solutions: Air Insulated Substation (AIS) and Gas Insulated Substation (GIS). On the basis of applied regulations as well as expert opinions a survey was prepared and then analyzed in terms of the elaborated criteria. The results show that the AHP method is well suited to the issue under consideration, indicating clearly that GIS technology is strongly preferred. Hence, this opens the discussion for the use of the AHP method in a wider form in the decision support process in the specific field, which high-voltage engineering is.

Copyright of Revista de Administraçãao da UNIMEP is the property of Revista de Administracao da UNIMEP and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to verify the significant relation between Management Information System (MIS) and effective Decision-Making process. Furthermore, it examines that how the improving of MIS’s features: information technology (IT), security and reliability, ability to control and upgrade can impact the decision-making process. It may help decision makers in business sector to improve company performance by developing MIS to benefit the effective and efficient Decision-Making process. Involving MIS can optimize the process of Decision Making from different aspects. Consequently, MIS becomes one of the most important components of the decision making process. Furthermore, the decision-making process will be more secure, accurate and easy by reducing needed time and empirical efforts. Moreover, MIS is enhanced the reliability and validity of decision-making outputs. Specialists of MIS and decision makers can work together to develop and implement such combination between MIS and decision-making system. In order to achieve this study purpose and investigate the significant role of MIS in decision making process a sample has been taken, and questionnaires were distributed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. In order to obtain the required statistical results, the collected data was analyzed by using SPSS. Finally, the obtained results were completely matched the proposed hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that a lot of people in Poland travel by car creates a lot of different business opportunities for the retail sector. Petrol stations are among various entities that attempt to take advantage of this situation. The main purpose of this article is to identify and assess the behaviour of petrol station customers in Poland regarding their motivations for choosing particular facilities and their non-fuel purchases.The study is based on results of a CAWI survey of 603 customers. To make sure that sample was representative, its composition was controlled in terms of the following respondent variables: sex, age, size of the town of residence and province. Consumer behaviour can be affected by a number of factors but only some of them could be addressed in the study, which can be regarded as one of its biggest limitations. Nevertheless, the results provide an interesting insight on this topic. The main contributions of the study include the creation of a typology of petrol stations, identification and assessment of consumer motives for selecting a given facility and information about non-fuel purchases made by customers. The most frequent motives for selecting a given petrol station include convenient location, brand, and the price of petrol and other products. In addition to fuel, customers usually stop to buy coffee and fast food, alcoholic beverages and basic groceries. The authors discuss statistically significant differences between different types of petrol stations in the above mentioned respects. The results of the survey can be of interest to owners of petrol stations as guidance on how to adjust their marketing strategies, especially in terms of the composition of their offering.

In modern conditions, entrepreneurs are faced with the acute problem of analysing of numerous information, quickly responding to a constantly changing economic situation, and making the most optimal decisions. In this regard, the development of a Business Assistant service (BAS) is a very relevant since it is a modern solution that can significantly simplify and improve the work of enterprises. The main goal of the research is on the basis of AI technologies to elaborate the Business Assistant service, that would speed up, optimize and simplify the decision-making process for the entrepreneur and can be used by many enterprises both when starting a business and when operating it. The main tasks for implementing the goal are: to analyze the scientific literature regarding the possibilities of using AI technologies in business, to identify the factors that mainly influence the entrepreneur’s choice regarding the sphere of activity, as well as the types of information most useful for doing business, to analyze and collect data for the model design, to develop a prototype of the BAS and test its functionality in practice. The research methods are: the theoretical – analysis and synthesis, abstraction method, the empirical – modelling (clustering, classification, logistic regression) and experimental method.The investigation results are: a prototype of the BAS was created, its effectiveness – ability of delivering useful recommendations and improving the business decision-making process for the entrepreneur has been proven experimentally using actual market data. The service can be effectively used by small and medium-sized enterprises in various industries and regions, provided that there is an access to the necessary data. The main risks associated with its implementation and possible ways of their reduction were considered.

In the contemporary world, the restructuring of the international system and its effects on European relations is still debated. Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that the international system needs changes; the world order is shaped by major global actors, which are no longer guided by the balance of powers principle, borders’ and governance’s rules. Instead, the psychological factors begin to weigh heavily and become one of the important elements of the basis of the international and European negotiation process. Therefore, the role of leaders could be one of reference in international norms and/ or European arena. The present paper, through its complex content, extensively examines the role of idiosyncrasies in international relations and determines the behaviour of the actors involved in the decision-making process. According to our analysis, we can identify general behavioural patterns and individual decisions that can generate views on the leadership styles and personalities of leaders. It is a contribution to a lesser-known aspect of the field of international relations and European affairs – the role of idiosyncrasies in decision-making process and on European foreign policy, through an essential psychological incursion.

Organization of the dredging works is a multi-faceted issue. The management of the dredging process varies according to the location and it mostly depends on local conditions (Żak, 2014). The paper presents the results of the expert survey which was structured on a questionnaire concerning the dredging techniques in harbours. Respondents, that take part in the research, were experts from different nations, working at the management levels in the enterprises associated with the dredging branch. The aim of the proposed research was to support the selection of the appropriate dredger, the preparation of optimal work technology and the verification of strategic decisions affecting entire project. Taking everything into consideration the author proposes to use the expert survey as a technique to support the decision-making process. It enables to take advantage of the wide knowledge and experience of experts to create the most suitable dredging project.

Background: Cognitive impairment is one of the most common and important non-motor aspects of Parkinson's disease and greatly affects the function and quality of life of patients. But the key question is, do the theory of mind and decision-making process differ in Parkinson's patients and normal people? Aims: To compare the theory of mind and decision making process in Parkinson's disease and normal subjects. Method: This was a causal-comparative study. The statistical population included all Parkinson's patients referring to Tabriz health centers. Forty patients with Parkinson's disease and 40 normal individuals were selected by purposive sampling. Research tools include the eye-reading test (Baron-Cohen, 1995) and the Iowa Gambling Test (Bachara, Damasio & Anderson, 1994). Data analysis was performed using two-way variance. Results: There was a significant difference between Parkinson's disease and normal subjects in Iowa gambling and mind reading (p

This case report describes a rare instance of massive right ventricular myxoma (RVM). A 36-year-old woman initially presented with progressive breathlessness and chest heaviness. Imaging revealed a large mass in the mediastinum, which was initially thought to be a pericardial cyst, and it was unclear whether the mass was intracardiac or extracardiac. Extensive investigations and multiple discussions concluded that the mass was a right ventricular mass. Intraoperatively, the mass was confirmed to be in the right ventricle (RV), with involvement of the chordae tendineae and an extremely thinned-out right ventricular free wall. Surgical excision of the tumour from the RV, tricuspid valve repair, and plication of the free wall were performed, leading to significant symptomatic relief. The mass was identified as a myxoma through histological diagnosis. This case highlights the diagnostic challenges and management strategies for RVM., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Makam et al.)

The present work introduces a systematic decision making process which, based on Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis – Matching, is aimed at supporting the selection of pedagogical strategies according to the theoretical paradigms provided by the Color Theory and the Learning Styles concept. This novel procedure is illustrated by an example which allowed comparison with the traditional decision mechanism. The results show that the innovation is valuable for case, since it allows a more tuned-to-reality solution that prioritizes relevant pedagogical strategies and discards insignificant ones. Another underlying advantage of this novel process as compared to the traditional one is the possibility it offers to develop a broader and more detailed analysis, since it provides both the set of pedagogical strategies for a course or group of students and a personalized analysis for each student, thus facilitating the teacher's work.

The concepts of decision-making process and performance are two subjects that are interconnected in the existing articles in the scientific literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide, using bibliometric techniques, a review of the evolution of existing research on the relationship between decision making process and performance concepts. In this respect, 1516 articles published between 2000 and 2018 and indexed in the Web of Science database were analyzed. The main results of this research are obtained from three types of analysis: an analysis of the 1516 selected papers, an analysis of the citations received from these articles and an analysis of the keywords. Thus, the most important findings illustrate how the number of papers related to the analyzed topic evolved in time, in which journals the most articles related to this topic appear, which are the authors and the institutions with the highest contributions on the topic. Also, the results highlight which are the most cited articles. Furthermore, the main results show a mapping and clustering of keywords that allow the analysis of the links between them, based on the information provided by the VOSviewer software. This research becomes useful to researchers and practitioners interested in the analyzed subject, helping to identify new research directions starting from an analysis of the scientific literature.

Strategies represent public policy documents that have the role to define medium or long-term development. Strategies are used as tools in decision making process. The key question of the study addresses reliability and legitimacy aspects of these documents. Public debates and involving of stakeholders offer legitimacy to the strategies. The limits of the strategies are represented by compatibility between interests and values, knowledge and skills between policy makers and citizens. Narrowing of the compatibility affects legitimacy reducing reliability of the document and its desired effects.

Abstract Background HPV vaccine is a prophylactic vaccine to prevent HPV infections. Recommended by the World Health Organization, this vaccine is clinically proven to be one of the most effective preventive measures against the prevalence of cervical cancer and other HPV-associated cancers and chronic genital conditions. However, its uptake rate among women in Hong Kong is insignificant—only approximately 2.9% adolescent girls and 9.7% female university students received HPV vaccination in 2014. With the notion of Critical Medical Anthropology, we aimed to identify if different influential factors, ranging from individual, societal, and cultural, are involved in the decision-making process of whether to receive HPV vaccination. Methods We adopted a qualitative approach and conducted in-depth individual semistructured interviews with 40 women in Hong Kong between May and August 2017. Results We noted that the following factors intertwined to influence the decision-making process: perceptions of HPV and HPV vaccine; perceived worthiness of HPV vaccines, which was in turn influenced by vaccine cost, marriage plans, and experiences of sexual activities; history of experiencing gynecological conditions, stigma associated with HPV vaccination, acquisition of information on HPV vaccines, distrust on HPV vaccines, and absence of preventive care in the healthcare practice. Conclusions HPV vaccination is promoted in a manner that is “feminized” and “moralized” under the patriarchal value system, further imposing the burden of disease on women, and leading to health inequality of women in pursuing the vaccination as a preventive health behaviour as a result. We believe that this ultimately results in an incomplete understanding of HPV, consequently influencing the decision-making process. The “mixed-economy” medical system adopting capitalist logic also molds a weak doctor–patient relationship, leading to distrust in private practice medical system, which affects the accessibility of information regarding HPV vaccination for participants to make the decision.

To understand the behavior of the individual, one seeks to shed light on his psychic processes. New relationships between economics and psychology contribute to overthrowing the ideal-real logic: scholars explicitly attempt to describe poorly defined and therefore difficult to standardize, precisely because of this, characterized by a unique and transient nature. To understand complex macroeconomic phenomena, it is important to study the more or less conscious interaction among a multitude of thinkers. It changes the relationship between theory and reality. Economic decision making requires choosing appropriate courses of action to promote the economic well being of oneself or others in a complex, dynamic and uncertain world. Individuals interpret reality through an activity of sense-making that involves emotions. Being able to make changes smoothly would help to gain new mental consistency, increase vibration perceptions, cognitive-functional capabilities, psycho-physical health, reduce emotional distress and always open a door for change And the experimentation of the new and of themselves. There is a widespread tendency in today's society to represent the economy as modeled by macro-forces we are more or less succubae, despite their impact on our existence. Faced with these complex phenomena, the message of the economy that studies behaviors is very clear: there is no economic cause that does not concern individuals and does not go in the plot of intersubjective relationships.

The paper aims are to impersonate some robust sine-trigonometric operations laws to determine the group decision-making process under the Pythagorean fuzzy set (PFS) situation. The PFS has a notable feature to trade with the dubious information with a broader membership representation space than the intuitionistic fuzzy set. Based on it, the present paper is classified into three phases. The first phase is to introduce new operational laws for PFS. The main idea behind these proposed operations is to incorporate the qualities of the sine function, namely periodicity and symmetric about the origin towards the decisions of the objects. Secondly, based on these laws, numerous operators to aggregate the information are acquired along with their requisite properties and relations. Finally, an algorithm to interpret the multiattribute group decision making problem is outlined based on the stated operators and manifest it with an illustrative example. A detailed comparative interpretation is achieved with some of the existing methods to reveal their influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and development of socio-economic systems raise new challenges for managers, from fierce competition, to increased productivity and implicitly managerial performance. Thus, the managers of economic entities are determined to develop a good long-term vision regarding the global positioning on the market and to fully value the skills of human resources, in conditions of cultural diversity and to manage production costs as efficiently as possible. The basic tool that serves the management activity and implicitly to obtain a maximum economic efficiency is the knowledge of production costs. Applying rigor to costs and the entire activity, managers can analyse the possibilities of reducing costs and increasing performance, by applying a relevant method of calculating costs, respectively budgeting costs through the ABC/ABB method. For example, the company S.C. Adarco Invest S.R.L. from Petroşani. The study concludes with the author's conclusion on the benefits of applying this method by economic entities with an industrial profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have shown that there are regularities in the way human beings make decisions. However, our ability to obtain models that capture such regularities and can accurately predict unobserved decisions is still limited. We tackle this problem in the context of individuals who are given information relative to the evolution of market prices and asked to guess the direction of the market. We use a networks inference approach with stochastic block models (SBM) to find the model and network representation that is most predictive of unobserved decisions. Our results suggest that users mostly use recent information (about the market and about their previous decisions) to guess. Furthermore, the analysis of SBM groups reveals a set of strategies used by players to process information and make decisions that is analogous to behaviors observed in other contexts. Our study provides and example on how to quantitatively explore human behavior strategies by representing decisions as networks and using rigorous inference and model-selection approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]