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Student satisfaction in online live classes is considered an important criterion to evaluate the effectiveness of this instructional system. This study aims to develop a performance evaluation index to measure the satisfaction of students who have mastered Chinese language and literature through online live classes. Guided by survey techniques and related theories, a questionnaire on satisfaction in online live classes for students majoring in Chinese language and literature was developed. The reliability and validity of the measurement instrument were assessed through testing, and the results showed good reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to establish a performance evaluation model. The findings of this study contribute to the field of online education by providing a structured method to assess student satisfaction with the Chinese language and literature through online live classes. The performance evaluation index developed in this study can be used by educational institutions to improve the quality of their online instructional programs and improve the overall learning experience for students. Thus, the novelty of the study is to develop an evaluation model that helps educational institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of online live classes and guide the improvement of instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To observe the comfort effect of gene-transfected pig skin in patients with arc burn wound. Methods A total of 56 patients with electric arc burn treated in our hospital from June 2020 to December 2022 were enrolled and then randomly divided into treatment group and control group, with 28 cases in each group. Both groups were treated with debridement, including removing pollutants and necrotic skin, and cleaning the wounds with normal saline. After debridement, the shallow second-degree burn wounds in the control group were covered with silver ion functional antibacterial dressing and wrapped with sterile cotton pad, while those in the treatment group were covered with thawed and softened gene-transfected pig skins. For the deep second-degree burn wounds, after simple debridement, the wounds were treated with scab grinding in 48 h after burn when the condition of the patients was stable. After this, the wounds in the control group and the treatment group were treated as the shallow wounds, respectively. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) score, treatment process satisfaction, patient comfort and time for wound healing were observed and compared between the 2 groups. Results There was no significant difference in the VAS score and SAI score between the 2 groups at the first dressing change (P>0.05), but the VAS score and SAI score were obviously lower in the treatment group than the control group at the second and third dressing changes (P < 0.05). The treatment group obtained notably better comfort level and shorter time for wound healing than the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion Gene-transfected pig skin shows good efficacy in the wound surface of arc burn, which can shorten the wound healing time, reduce the pain of dressing change and improve the satisfaction and comfort of patients.

Copyright of Jordanian Educational Journal is the property of Association of Arab Universities 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 paper introduces a new framework for cooperative games with restricted permutations, focusing on situations where not all possible player permutations occur. The framework allows players within an ordered coalition to exchange positions if it benefits them. To ensure stable connections among players, we introduce the concept of stably connected ordered coalitions, which incorporates the notions of objection and counter-objection. We then define an order-restricted game, a generalized characteristic function game derived from the original game. Additionally, inspired by the Shapley value, we propose an allowable value and provide its axiomatization. Finally, we explore several extensions of this value to further investigate its potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarized the school nutrition lunch legislations and nutrition status in China and abroad. School lunch system is relatively well-established and mature in Japan， the United States and Sweden and the lunch system has been gradually as an important part of basic education， which is worth learning by other countries and regions. China started its pilot school nutrition lunch program in 1987， and has improved the nutritional status of students， especially the students in rural areas， significantly. However， there still exists certain gaps compared with developed countries. We should actively learn from those countries， so as to provide reference for the formulation and improvement of China’s nutritional lunch policies.

The optimal design of cementitious materials containing admixtures is one of the important topics in the sustainable development of cement-based materials. In this paper, an experimental study and optimal design study of a quaternary cement paste containing cement, limestone, clay, and slag are carried out. The experimental research included the strength and electrical resistivity at 28 days. The three aspects of strength, cost, and electrical resistivity (durability) were taken into consideration when optimizing the design. The goal of design optimization is to reduce the cost and increase the electrical resistivity as much as possible while meeting the strength level. First, the results of the experiments are summarized as follows: with increasing limestone, clay, and slag content, the 28-day strength showed a decreasing trend, the 28-day electrical resistivity showed an increasing trend, and the cost of paste showed a linear decreasing trend. Second, the optimum design results are summarized as follows: when the strength increases, the cost of composite paste increases from 328.67 to 383.52 CHF/m3, and the satisfaction degree of the cost decreases from 0.97 to 0.44; and the electrical resistivity of composite paste decreases from 34.85 to 15.42 kΩ∙cm, the satisfaction degree of electrical resistivity decreases from 0.99 to 0.39. Third, the trend of the optimal design results is consistent with the trend of the experimental results, and the optimal design method in this paper can be used as an effective tool for the optimal design of structural materials.

Abstract The secondary goal approach is an effective way to address the problem of the non-uniqueness of the optimal weights The secondary goal approach is an effective way to address the problem of the non-uniqueness of the optimal weights for decision-making units (DMUs) in the cross-efficiency evaluation process of data envelopment analysis (DEA). However, on the one hand, existing secondary-goal models seldom consider the willingness of DMUs to accept and be satisfied with the cross-efficiency evaluation results of DEA. On the other hand, the problem of zero weights and excessive differences of indicators has not been given enough attention. Furthermore, the traditional DEA approach ignores interactions between indicators. To overcome these problems, in the context of considering the interaction of input (or output) indicators, this study introduces the idea of the minimum dissimilarity of weights and constructs an improved method for evaluating the cross-efficiency of the secondary goal based on the DMUs’ satisfaction. In this method, the 2-additive Choquet integral is used as a more feasible attempt to reflect the pairwise interaction between input (or output) indicators to improve the differentiation of DEA evaluation results. Additionally, the satisfaction targets of DMUs are adjusted according to the three ethical principles of fairness (fraternity), utilitarianism and equity in social choice theory to obtain a choice of optimal weights that is consistent with the values of individual DMUs. This paper validates the performance of the improved DEA method through comparative analysis of arithmetic cases. Then the method is applied to the study of the input–output efficiency assessment of the water–energy–food nexus in China.

This paper conducted a questionnaire survey on patients in a grade A tertiary hospital in Jiangsu Province, which included five parts: general information, knowledge, attitude, the practice of medical insurance policy, and satisfaction with medical insurance service to understand the current situation and explore influencing factors, thus propose measures for accurate publicity of medical insurance policy and improvement of medical insurance service efficiency. The data were analyzed by single factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The study found that low ⁃ income people have weak understanding of medical insurance policy, young people and people receive medical treatment in allopatry have low willingness to engage in medical insurance policy, and obtain with low satisfaction. We suggest innovating the education form based on the actual needs of patients for the medical insurance policy, correcting the cognitive bias with precise policy publicity, and enhancing the willingness to engage in medical insurance action. We also recommend improving medical insurance service efficiency with information as the starting point and strengthening the medical security system by supplementing it with inclusive commercial medical insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dirasat: Educational Sciences is the property of University of Jordan 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.)

Copyright of Scientific Journal of Library, Archives & Information (SJLAI) is the property of Cairo University, Faculty of Arts - Documents & information Technology Department 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.)

Due to the promotion of sustainable development policies, solar water heaters have quickly occupied the market. Choosing the best-performing solar water heater has become a popular group decision-making problem. This paper presents a best-worst large-scale group decision making (LSGDM) approach based on hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relations (HFLPRs) and applies it to the selection of solar water heaters. First, we establish an optimization model to normalize hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs) with diverse lengths. Then, a satisfaction degree function based on the additive consistency of HFLPRs is proposed, and the fluctuation deviation level of HFLPRs is described. Next, we develop a clustering process combining the satisfaction degree and fluctuation deviation level to classify large-scale experts into several subgroups. The clustering algorithm not only improves the fusion of subgroups but also enhances the satisfaction of subgroups. Moreover, a best-worst model based on the credibility measure of subgroups is presented to determine the weights of the subgroups. Finally, a numerical example of a solar water heater which involves normalizing the HFLPRs given by 20 experts into HFLTSs with a length of 3, clustering the 20 experts into 7 subgroups with weights of 0.5153, 0.2125, 0.1332, 0.0155, 0.0854, 0.0287 and 0.0094, and selecting P1 as the most satisfactory alternative and a comparative analysis are utilized to demonstrate the availability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenway construction is one of the important measures for Chengdu to build a "beautiful and livable park city", and is also a framework system for building a park city. According to the construction demand of the park city, a Tianfu greenway system with the theme of "one axis, two mountains, three rings and seven belts" will be formed throughout Chengdu. Jinjiang 198 Greenway is the first large-scale greenway in the main urban area of Chengdu. In view of the use of Jinjiang 198 Greenway in Chengdu, its use characteristics and user satisfaction degree are studied. The general situation of people's use of greenway is obtained from the characteristics of users themselves and its use conditions. According to the statistics of user satisfaction degree through field survey and questionnaire survey, it is known that the overall satisfaction degree of users on the greenway is good. Through factor analysis, the main factors affecting user satisfaction degree are obtained, which are in turn supporting facilities, service facilities, activity sites, green environment and accessibility. Finally, based on the above analysis and summary, suggestions and opinions are put forward for the future construction and development of Tianfu greenway system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to revise the existing distance and similarity measures of the dual hesitant fuzzy set (DHFS) context in order to remove their shortcomings. The study first reveals the limitations of the existing distance measures of DHFSs through some counterexamples. Keeping in mind the indicated limitations of the existing ones, we revise them and show how the revised measures are important by applying them to the pattern recognition problem. Further, the statistical variance (SV) method is extended to the DHFS context for criteria weight determination. After that, an approach is made based on revised distance measures for ranking alternatives in multi-criteria group decision making (MCGDM). In the end, a real-world example regarding the evaluation of the quality of movies is presented to elaborate on the practicality and superiority of the developed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes two decision-making models in an incomplete fuzzy hesitant linguistic environment and applies them to address the site selection problems for hydropower stations. For better depicting a decision maker's judgments under uncertainty, based on the concept of incomplete hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relation, this article first defines its consistency measures from the perspective of additive consistency and multiplicative consistency, respectively. By introducing decision maker's satisfaction degree to measure the differences between the incomplete hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relation and its corresponding weight vector, two decision-making models, which aim to achieve the maximum satisfaction degree, are established for determining the optimal weight vector. This article further designs experiments to make decision support by evaluating the proposed models from the correlation and time complexity point of view and providing sensitivity analysis. A case study concerning the site selection for a hydropower station at Yalong River is given to illustrate the decision-making process and the effectiveness of the proposed models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background There are no studies on the use of dexmedetomidine combined with sufentanil and dezocine-based patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in females undergoing thoracic surgery. We postulate that introducing dexmedetomidine to a combination of dezocine-based PCA drugs and sufentanil will increase female patients’ global satisfaction degree. Methods One hundred fifty-two female patients with physical classification type I or II according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists undergoing thoracoscopic surgery were arbitrarily classified into two categories, either receiving sufentanil and dezocine-based PCIA (group C) or incorporating dexmedetomidine with sufentanil and dezocine-based PCIA (group D). The patients’ global satisfaction degree, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), PCA bolus, rescue analgesia requirements, drug-related adverse effects, rest and coughing visual analogue scale (VAS) ratings, and Ramsay sedation scores (RSS) were measured at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h after surgery. Results Compared with the C group, the patient satisfaction degree was significantly higher; pain scores at rest and coughing were significantly different at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h postoperatively; less rescue analgesia and PCA bolus were required; and a lower incidence of PONV was found in the D group. There were non-significant trends for the sedation scores and drug-related adverse effects in both groups. Conclusions Dexmedetomidine combined with sufentanil and dezocine increased female patients’ global satisfaction degree after thoracoscopic surgery. This effect could be linked to the improvement in postoperative analgesia and reduction in postoperative nausea and vomiting; the combined treatment did not increase drug-related adverse effects in female patients. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry number, ChiCTR2000030429 . Registered on March 1, 2020.

To address the situation where incomplete hesitant fuzzy preference relation (IHFPR) is necessary, this paper develops decision-making models taking into account decision makers' satisfaction degree. First, the consistency measures, respectively, from the perspectives of additive and multiplicative consistent IHFPR are defined, which is based on the relationships of the IHPFRs and their corresponding priority weight vector. Second, two decision-making models are developed, respectively, in view of the proposed additive and multiplicative consistency measures. The main characteristic of the constructed models is they taking into account the decision makers' satisfaction degree. The objective functions of the models are developed by maximizing the parameter of the satisfaction degree. Third, a square programming model is developed to obtain the decision makers' weights by utilizing the optimal priority weight vectors information, the solution of the model is obtained by solving the partial derivatives of Lagrange function. Finally, a procedure for multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems with IHFPRs is given, and an illustrative example in conjunction with comparative analysis is used to demonstrate the proposed models are feasible and efficiency for practical MCDM problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate the URTPSQ (Urban Rail Transit Passenger Service Quality) comprehensively, find the shortage of URTPSQ, find out the difference between the actual service situation and the passenger's expectation and demand, and provide passengers with better travel services, a passenger-oriented KANO-Entropy-TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method is proposed and applied in this paper. Firstly, a KANO model is applied to select the service quality indicators from the 24 URTPSQ evaluation sub-indicators, according to the selection results, the KANO service quality indicators of URTPSQ are constructed. Then the sensitivity of the KANO service quality indicators based on the KANO model are calculated and ranked, the PS (Passenger Satisfaction) of each KANO service quality indicator by using the Entropy-TOPSIS method is calculated and ranked. Based on the difference between the sensitivity degree rank and the satisfaction degree rank of each KANO service quality indicator, determine the service quality KANO indicators of the URTPSQ that need to be improved significantly. A case study is conducted by taking the Chengdu subway system in China as a background. The results show that the Chengdu subway operation enterprises should pay attention to the must-be demand first, then the one-dimensional demand, finally the attractive demand. The three indicators, including transfer on the same floor in the station, service quality of staffs of urban rail transit enterprises, and cleanness in the station and passenger coach, need to be improved urgently. For the managers and operators of urban rail transit system, the passengers' must-be demand should be satisfied first if the KANO model is applied to evaluate the service. The indicators with highest sensitivity degree and lowest TOPSIS value should be improved based on the KANO-Entropy-TOPSIS model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been extended to cross-efficiency evaluation to provide better discrimination and ranking of decision-making units (DMUs). However, the non-uniqueness of optimal weights in the traditional DEA models (CCR and BCC models) has reduced the usefulness of the DEA cross-efficiency evaluation method. To solve this problem, we introduce the concept of the satisfaction degree of a DMU towards a set of optimal weights for another DMU. Then, a new DEA cross-efficiency evaluation approach, which contains a maxmin model and two algorithms, is proposed based on the satisfaction degrees of the DMUs. Our maxmin model and algorithm 1 can obtain for each DMU an optimal set of weights that maximises the least satisfaction degrees among all the other DMUs. Further, our algorithm 2 can then be used to guarantee the uniqueness of the optimal weights for each DMU. Finally, our approach is applied to a real-world case study of technology selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic growth has led to increasing pollution emission, leading governments to require emission reductions by specific amounts. The allocation of specific emission reduction tasks has become a significant issue and has drawn the attention of academia. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been extended to construct the allocation of emission reduction tasks model. These previous DEA-based approaches have strong assumptions about individual enterprise production. In this paper, we propose a new method to accurately assess the production, using each enterprise’s previously observed production to construct its own production technology plan. With emission permits decreased, the enterprise can have new production strategy based on its own technology. Assuming emission permits can be freely bought and sold, we show how each enterprise can determine the optimal amount of emission allowance that should be used for production, which may leave some allowance to be sold for extra profit or may require the purchase of permits from other firms. Considering the limitation on the total allowance from emission permits, we introduce the concept of satisfaction degree and use it in maximising the minimum enterprise satisfaction degree. Last, a numerical example is presented and an empirical application is given to verify the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of IUG Journal of Educational & Psychological Studies is the property of Islamic University of Gaza 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 paper uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to solve the issue of allocating fixed costs among a set of decision-making units (DMUs) with two-stage network structure. Fixed cost allocation is a prominent issue that is encountered by organizations, and it is one of the most important applications of DEA. It exists not only in single-stage systems but in two-stage network systems, such as bank systems in real situations, which comprises the deposits process and lending process. However, branch banks often compete with one another out of self-interest. The objective of this paper is to design a fair allocation scheme for two-stage network systems and considering the noncooperative game relationship among DMUs. The idea of satisfaction degree and noncooperative game theory is integrated into the proposed allocation model. In the noncooperative framework, we define a DMU's payoff as the product of two substage satisfaction degree, and every member is noncooperative and selfishly seeks to maximize its own payoff. The allocation plan to DMUs and substages is determined by the final competition payoff. A real case is analyzed to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of e-commerce, online reviews have been regarded as important data resources for enterprises to analyze the competitiveness of their products. Product feature dimensions that consumers pay most attention to were extracted from review texts. The sentiment analysis of review texts was performed based on the sentiment lexicon method to obtain the feature-sentiment score pairs. The opportunity scores of feature dimensions were calculated by the importance degree and satisfaction degree, and an opportunity landscape diagram was drawn to analyze the competitiveness of the target product itself. Feature dimension satisfaction degree was calculated to compare the competitive advantages and disadvantages between the target product and its competitive products. Competitiveness improvement strategies of the target product were given by considering the competitiveness analysis results from two perspectives comprehensively. The online reviews provided by Zol.com.cn were used to conduct experiments to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is used in businesses to measure customers' willingness to recommend the product, service or company as a whole to their friends and colleagues. Introduced by Fred Reichheld in 2003, the NPS could be the answer to the need that libraries have to evaluate customer experience using easy, non-labour-intensive methods. The NPS can be applied to the library as a whole or target specific services that are most relevant to the library's primary goals. However, there is very little literature on the use of the NPS in public sector organizations. This article examines its viability by analysing the uses observed in the European library environment and by discussing an experience carried out in the assessment field.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is used in businesses to measure customers' willingness to recommend the product, service or company as a whole to their friends and colleagues. Introduced by Fred Reichheld in 2003, the NPS could be the answer to the need that libraries have to evaluate customer experience using easy, non-labour-intensive methods. The NPS can be applied to the library as a whole or target specific services that are most relevant to the library's primary goals. However, there is very little literature on the use of the NPS in public sector organizations. This article examines its viability by analysing the uses observed in the European library environment and by discussing an experience carried out in the assessment field.

Copyright of Arid Zone Research / Ganhanqu Yanjiu is the property of Arid Zone Research Editorial Office 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.)

Copyright of BiD is the property of Facultat de Biblioteconomia i Documentacio, Universitat de Barcelona 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.)

In the initial stage of emergency rescue for major railway emergencies, there may be insufficient emergency resources. In order to ensure that all the emergency demand points can be effectively and fairly rescued, considering the fuzzy properties of the parameters, such as the resource demand quantity, the dispatching time and the satisfaction degree, the railway emergency resources dispatching optimization model is studied, with multi- demand point, multi-depot, and multi-resource. Based on railway rescue features, it was proposed that the couple number of relief point - emergency point is the key to affect railway rescue cost and efficiency. Under the premise of the maximum satisfaction degree of quantity demanded at all emergency points, a multi-objective programming model is established by maximizing the satisfaction degree of dispatching time and the satisfaction degree of the couple number of relief point - emergency point. Combined with the ideal point method, a restrictive parameter interval method for optimal solution was designed, which can realize the quick seek of Pareto optimal solution. Furthermore, an example is given to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are no studies on the use of dexmedetomidine combined with sufentanil and dezocine-based patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in females undergoing thoracic surgery. We postulate that introducing dexmedetomidine to a combination of dezocine-based PCA drugs and sufentanil will increase female patients' global satisfaction degree.Methods: One hundred fifty-two female patients with physical classification type I or II according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists undergoing thoracoscopic surgery were arbitrarily classified into two categories, either receiving sufentanil and dezocine-based PCIA (group C) or incorporating dexmedetomidine with sufentanil and dezocine-based PCIA (group D). The patients' global satisfaction degree, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), PCA bolus, rescue analgesia requirements, drug-related adverse effects, rest and coughing visual analogue scale (VAS) ratings, and Ramsay sedation scores (RSS) were measured at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h after surgery.Results: Compared with the C group, the patient satisfaction degree was significantly higher; pain scores at rest and coughing were significantly different at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h postoperatively; less rescue analgesia and PCA bolus were required; and a lower incidence of PONV was found in the D group. There were non-significant trends for the sedation scores and drug-related adverse effects in both groups.Conclusions: Dexmedetomidine combined with sufentanil and dezocine increased female patients' global satisfaction degree after thoracoscopic surgery. This effect could be linked to the improvement in postoperative analgesia and reduction in postoperative nausea and vomiting; the combined treatment did not increase drug-related adverse effects in female patients.Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry number, ChiCTR2000030429 . Registered on March 1, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multi-objective optimization model is developed to optimize the water allocation equity. • Satisfaction degree is introduced to measure water allocation equity in domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. • Dynamic constraints are considered to control the imbalance of water volume with seasonal variations. • Three managerial insights for regional water allocation problems are proposed. Raising water demand, insufficient freshwater resources and uneven precipitation are the main causes of water conflicts in the river basin. The main challenges in water resources allocation are the following: first, the uncertainty of water supply caused by climate change; second, the dynamic allocation of water resources is not considered; third, there is a lack of equitable water allocation, which may lead to intensified conflicts among the water user sectors. Based on the above challenges, a multi-objective dynamic programming optimal water resources allocation model under uncertainties is established in this paper, which could be a resolution for water disputes as it addresses simultaneously economic, social and environmental benefits. The proposed model considers maximizing the minimum satisfaction degree of each water sector, maximizing the utilization efficiency of water resources in the basin, and maximizing economic benefits. Satisfaction degree function is introduced to optimize water allocation equality in water use sectors (agricultural, domestic, and industrial sectors), and economic efficiency loss acceptance is integrated into the model constraints to control the economic loss corresponding to variations in water availability. In addition, a case study demonstrated the practicality and rationality of the proposed model, and the model results proposed herein show significantly help for a single river basin. Most importantly, the results show that model with dynamic constraint ensures a greater overall economic return for the entire basin, and a larger variation in water resources of sub-area leads to a larger maximum economic efficiency loss. Moreover, the proposed model herein is flexible and can be used in other developing countries/regions only by modifying the parameters according to the actual situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: As a clean and renewable energy resource, wind energy is the most mature, environmentally friendly, and most commercially developed new energy resource in the world. Therefore, it is of great importance to determine the best location of wind farms to ensure the sustainable development of wind energy. However, since wind farm site selection often involves multiple criteria, which include qualitative and quantitative criteria, there may be conflicts between these criteria, so wind farm site selection is a complex multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) problem. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose a novel integrated MCDM approach using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and satisfaction degree‐based fuzzy axiomatic design (AD) to determine the optimal onshore wind farm site under a hybrid decision information environment. First, based on the literature review and experts' opinion, the evaluation index system for wind farm site selection is built from a sustainable perspective, which includes geographic, technical, economic, social, and environmental criteria. Second, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is applied to determine criteria weights. Third, the satisfaction degree‐based fuzzy AD is employed to evaluate and rank alternatives under a hybrid decision information environment. Finally, a case study is used to illustrate the reliability and advantages of the method proposed in this paper. In addition, the information content of each alternative is calculated by aggregating the evaluation matrix of experts, and the results are IC1 = 0.058, IC2 = 0.096, IC3 = 0.16, IC4 = ∞, IC5 = ∞, and IC6 = 0.226. Then the satisfaction degree of each alternative is S1 = 0.629, S2 = 0.545, S3 = 0.501, S4 = 416, S5 = 389, and S6 = 0.463. Thus, the best wind farm site is A1. Moreover, the results show that the method proposed herein is flexible and can effectively deal with the wind farm site selection problem. Although this paper chooses China as a case study, the proposed method herein is also applicable to other countries or regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IUG Journal of Economics & Business is the property of Islamic University of Gaza 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.)

In recent years, with the uninterrupted development of sharing accommodation, it not only caters to the diversified accommodation of tourists, but also takes an active role in expanding employment and entrepreneurship channels, enhancing the income of urban and rural residents, and promoting the revitalization of rural areas. However, with the continuous expansion of the scale of sharing accommodation, it is fairly complicated for users to search appropriate services or information. The decision-making problems become more and more complicated. Hence, a probabilistic hesitant fuzzy recommendation decision-making algorithm based on bipartite network projection is proposed in this paper. First of all, combining the users' decision-making information and the experts' evaluation information, a bipartite graph connecting users and alternatives is established. Then, the satisfaction degree of probabilistic hesitant fuzzy element is defined. Besides, the recommended alternative is obtained by the allocation of resources. Finally, a numerical case of Airbnb users is given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ecology & Rural Environment is the property of Journal of Ecology & Rural Environment Editorial Office 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.)

Objective: To evaluate the safety, efficacy and patient acceptability of burn therapy with Chinese Medicinals in treating pain induced by lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LDH) in community. Methods: All 684 cases of LDH were provided with Chinese Medicinal burn therapy treatment in this research. The visual analogue scoring (VAS) was applied to evaluate the lumbago and the quality of life of patients before and after treatment. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was applied to analyze the influence factors of curative effect. Results: The total effective rate of analgesia was 77.2%. The total effective rate of patients with severe pain and disease course ≤6 months before the treatment was 91.8 and 90.9%, which was significantly higher than that of patients with mild and moderate pain group (70.7%) with the course of disease >6 months (76.1%). The more severe the lower back pain, the better the curative effect (OR = 4.877), and the shorter the disease course of lumbago, the better (OR = 0.256) the curative effect. The overall effective rate of improvement was 79.7, 80.2 and 80.3%, respectively on the effects of daily life, daily work and walking ability. The incidence of adverse reactions was 3.5%. The patients' satisfaction and approval degree of technical treatment were 84.0 and 86.3%. Conclusions: The treatment with Chinese Medicinal burn therapy to relieve pain induced by LDH was safe and effective. Moreover, patient's compliance was better; the degree of acceptance was high. In addition, the technique is easy to master by doctors in a basic hospital setting, and is suitable for promotion in primary health care institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at validly improving the efficiency and quality of hospital expert consultation, a consensus model under uncertainty is established to operate a hospital decision support system (HDSS). Considering that expert consultation is commonly used in emergency events associated with life rescue where uncertainty and complexity exist, hesitant fuzzy linguistic terms are adopted. Additionally, since pairwise comparison information is efficient to express individual judgment, a novel concept of satisfaction degree toward hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relation is utilized to measure the group consensus. A trust-recommendation mechanism is built to generate advice for experts. A consensus model is constructed to handle the HDSS in emergency decision-making problems. Some simulation experiments are designed to verify the availability and reasonability of the proposed model. Then, the proposed model is applied to address the selection of an emergency response plan for the influenza H7N9 virus, and finally, the strong robustness and powerful capability of the proposed model in the consensus reaching process is exhibited by making a comparative analysis among several recommendation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a new approach to solving bipartite matching problems with linguistic scorings. The bipartite matching problem based on strict linguistic scorings is firstly described. Some basic concepts are also introduced, including bipartite matching, stable matching, and satisfaction degree. In the proposed approach, linguistic scoring preferences are changed to satisfaction degree preferences. For maximizing satisfaction degrees of agents, a bipartite matching model under the conditions of matching constraints and stability constraints is developed. Considering the important degrees of agents in each side, the bipartite matching model can be changed to a single target model by using the linear weighting approach twice. The stable bipartite matching result is determined through model solution. A numerical case is used to state the practicability of the presented approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Many studies have dealt with the problem of fixed cost allocation by using data envelopment analysis. However, existing models allocate the fixed cost by treating the decision-making units (DMUs) as black-boxes and ignore the internal production structures of DMUs. To our knowledge, only a few work has considered the fixed cost allocation problem for an elementary two-stage production structure without external inputs and outputs. This paper deals with the fixed cost allocation problem for a general two-stage network production structure, in which both external inputs and outputs exist. Specifically, additive two-stage models are first presented to evaluate the performance for each DMU when allocating the fixed cost. Then, by introducing the concepts of satisfaction degree and fairness degree, we propose an approach to obtain an optimal allocation plan under the control of the centralized authority. Finally, an application to 27 banks is utilized to illustrate the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post-mastectomy radiotherapy reduces the risk of local-regional relapse and distant disease, and increases global survival in women with axillary involvement. With the new reconstruction techniques and increasing use of directed external radiotherapy, immediate reconstruction can be performed with good cosmetic results and low complication rates.Materials and Methods: Observational study with consecutive sampling conducted in patients undergoing reconstructive surgery for breast cancer, between 2010 and 2016, with a 12-months minimum follow-up period. A group of patients radiated after receiving an expander (RT-Expander) were compared with a control group of non-radiated patients (Non-RT), who had been treated with the same surgical technique. We compare general complications, reconstruction failure, aesthetic results and satisfaction degree with software IBM® SPSS® Statistics v. 21 and BREAST-Q scores.Results: Reconstruction failure was observed in 15.6% of patients in a similar proportion in both groups. External radiotherapy was not an independent significant factor influencing the occurrence of general complications, capsular contracture grade ≥3 or reconstruction failure. The Kaplan-Meyer curve showed no differences in reconstruction survival between groups. Aesthetic results were excellent-very good in 78.1% of patients. Absence of a contralateral procedure for symmetrization, occurrence of general complications, occurrence of capsular contracture grade ≥3 and reconstruction failure were significantly associated to fair-poor cosmetic results. The satisfaction degree of operated patients was similar in both groups.Conclusions: The evolution of external radiotherapy towards more directed techniques, which modulate the dose administered to the mammary tissue and adjacent structures, allowed us to make immediate reconstruction a reality for most patients, with complication rates, cosmetic results and satisfaction degrees similar to those of non-radiated patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]