Choice Dilemma Research Articles

Machine learning based androgen receptor regulatory gene-related random forest survival model for precise treatment decision in prostate cancer

BackgroundIt has been demonstrated that aberrant androgen receptor (AR) signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (PCa). To date, the most efficacious strategy for the treatment of PCa remains to target the AR signaling axis. However, numerous PCa patients still face the issue of overtreatment or undertreatment. The establishment of a precise risk prediction model is urgently needed to distinguish patients with high-risk and select appropriate treatment modalities. MethodsIn this study, a consensus AR regulatory gene-related signature (ARS) was developed by integrating a total of 101 algorithm combinations of 10 machine learning algorithms. We evaluated the value of ARS in predicting patient prognosis and the therapeutic effects of the various treatments. Additionally, we conducted a screening of therapeutic targets and agents for high-risk patients, followed by the verification in vitro and in vivo. ResultsARS was an independent risk factor for biochemical recurrence and distant metastasis in PCa patients. The enhanced and consistent prognostic predictive capability of ARS across various platforms was confirmed when compared with 44 previously published signatures. More importantly, PCa patients in the ARShigh group benefit more from PARP inhibitors and immunotherapy, while chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and AR-targeted therapy are more effective for ARSlow patients. The results of in silico screening suggest that AURKB could potentially serve as a promising therapeutic target for ARShigh patients. ConclusionsCollectively, this prediction model based on AR regulatory genes holds great clinical translational potential to solve the dilemma of treatment choice and identify potential novel therapeutic targets in PCa.

THE AUDITOR’S RATIONAL CHOICE OF THE AUDITOR BOARD OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA IN EXAMINING GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORTS

Abstract - This research aims to determine the dilemma of rational choice of auditors from the Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia in examining government financial reports during the Covid-19 Pandemic. This research using phenomenological approach with interpretive paradigm. Methods of qualitative research were applied in this research. The method used in this research is the phenomenological approach. The subjects of this study serving as informants are those who hold functional positions as auditors within the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia. The findings of this study suggest that the challenge faced by the auditors of The Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia during the Covid-19 outbreak is the auditor's dilemma when evaluating financial accounts. Limited engagement with other people is one of the challenges faced by auditors, making it challenging to gather information or data that ought to be simple. The practice of Working from Home (WFH) could frequently lead to misunderstandings with auditors. This is due to the fact that there is not any face-to-face direct communication between colleagues. Conclusion: The auditors of the Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia always attempt to make decisions based on careful consideration and sensible choices in order to accomplish the audit objectives when performing their responsibilities. Additionally, there are concerns that emerge based on an auditor's feelings.
 Keywords: Auditor; Covid-19; Rational Choice Dilemma; The Auditor Board of the Republic of Indonesia

Be a part of the narrative: How audiences are introduced to the “free choice dilemma” in the interactive film Bandersnatch

The first major interactive film on Netflix with live-action scenes was Bandersnatch, released in December 2018. Bandersnatch offers viewers a unique viewing experience distinct from traditional cinema, as it provides the viewer with multiple choices within the narrative trajectory. Digital interactive media technologies have become increasingly popular due to public demand for interactive engagement and a democratisation of text control. There is a social desire to deprive the author of total control over the story; to co-create stories using imagination while adhering to formal limitations and structures; to play with the text as an incomplete form; for the ability to rearrange the story’s order, alter its quality, and other such things. These meet the audience-creative user’s needs and satisfaction (Cover, 2004). Where personal emotions can be invested and free choice can be exercised in cyberspace, the emergence of interactivity as a kind of audience engagement is a robust culturally rooted desire. This article attempts to understand and analyse the uses and gratifications experienced by the audience during the interactive viewing process. However, digital participation proves to have limitations. Through a case study of the interactive film Bandersnatch, this paper explores how the interactivity and the features of video games can be used to give users so-called “free choice,” but that can actually be frustrating and ultimately offer only the illusion that the audience has any significant control over the story. In the end, the decisions made by the audience offer some relevant affordances to the interactive user but eventually proceed to reinforce the ideological control from the production team.

Employment Education and Psychological Work of Students in Lower Colleges and Universities Based on the Hierarchical Analysis Method

Abstract This paper establishes a platform interaction model in the context of Internet+ to enhance the motivation of college students to take the initiative to receive employment and entrepreneurship guidance and training. A psychological intervention model regarding hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience is constructed. A new method of fuzzy number ordering determined by the limit coefficient can be obtained by defining the limit coefficient of triangular fuzzy numbers. Hierarchical analysis was used to analyze the employment choice dilemma faced by fresh university graduates and to guide them in making the correct employment choices. The results show that the total mean score of positive psychological capital is 119.99, which indicates that the level of positive psychological capital among college students is high. Employers are very satisfied with the graduates’ operational application ability, which reaches 35%.

The interweaving of network nationalism and transnational cultural consumption: the role conflict of K-pop fans

ABSTRACT As the patriotism interweaves with emotional attachment produced by cross-cultural communications, K-pop fans influenced by network nationalism will fall into the predicament of role conflict and adopt multiple coping strategies, hence providing new ideas for revealing the results of overlapped fields of politics and entertainment. Analysis of fans’ behaviors in a series of nationalistic events establishes that these fans attempting to form an emotional community across the border are caught in a dilemma of identity choice with various role expectations. The consequences of the choice are related to some factors such as patriotic cognition, fans’ immersion, fans’ expectations, patriots’ expectations, and risk perception, leading to four attitude tendencies including spontaneous patriotism, compromise patriotism, gentle star-worship, and resistance star-worship. This study argues that precautions should be taken against the tendency that network nationalism transforms into narrow nationalism and that we need to understand the political potential of fandom as a cultural community.

Multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering model and its application

PurposeThe possibility function-based grey clustering model has evolved into a complete approach for dealing with uncertainty evaluation problems. Existing models still have problems with the choice dilemma of the maximum criteria and instances when the possibility function may not accurately capture the data's randomness. This study aims to propose a multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering model that blends grey and randomness to overcome these problems.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the skewed grey cloud possibility (SGCP) function is defined, and its digital characteristics demonstrate that a normal cloud is a particular instance of a skewed cloud. Second, the border of the decision paradox of the maximum criterion is established. Third, using the skewed grey cloud kernel weight (SGCKW) transformation as a tool, the multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering coefficient (SGCCC) vector is calculated and research items are clustered according to this multi-stage SGCCC vector with overall features. Finally, the multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering model's solution steps are then provided.FindingsThe results of applying the model to the assessment of college students' capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship revealed that, in comparison to the traditional grey clustering model and the two-stage grey cloud clustering evaluation model, the proposed model's clustering results have higher identification and stability, which partially resolves the decision paradox of the maximum criterion.Originality/valueCompared with current models, the proposed model in this study can dynamically depict the clustering process through multi-stage clustering, ensuring the stability and integrity of the clustering results and advancing grey system theory.

Strategic Dilemmas of Western Corporations in Russia

This article presents the problems of designing the strategies of western companies that continue to own Russian assets, and identifies the main dilemmas of the strategic choice facing these companies: 1) to leave Russia or stay in Russia; 2) to leave as quickly as possible or profitable as possible; 4) if a decision is made to expand the business, then – ​do it with reduction of the share of innovation expenses in the gross profit (revenues) of the Russian division or with an increase of the share of innovation expenses in the gross profit (revenue). The article presents the difficulties of choosing between these options. The main difficulties related to the fact that criteria of decisions are in different domains (political and economic ones) and standard quantitative methods of analysis in many cases turn out to be unacceptable, since there is no single metric for comparing the consequences of decisions. In addition, the interests of decision-making actors are extremely heterogeneous, and the speed of the situation’s change exceeds the speed of decision-making procedures usual for international corporations. The article presents the main types of behavioral models of companies in high uncertainty, multidirectional pressure from various actors of the strategic process and the rapidly changing environment. The trends in the analysis of the behavior of companies under uncertainty that were developed in the literature are mainly associated with economic discourses. Situations of massive sanctions by western countries against Russia introduced political factors into the field of management studies. At the same time, the behavioral aspects of decision-making remain out of sight of most authors. We propose to use Kahneman's and Tversky's «prospect theory» approaches to analyze the situation, which helps to find an explanation for the observed phenomena and put forward hypotheses regarding the future behavior of western companies that are going to continue Russian assets.

Making decisions based on multiple criteria in developing a league season teaching strategy for understanding playing functionalities

In order to grasp the playing functions that utilize criteria for decision-making (DM) approaches, this paper offers a League season learning selection issue. The decision criteria to assess several game-based learning options are outlined, and a real-world choice dilemma is provided. Finding the most effective League season learning among playing functions is the goal. The needs for a League season of learning, such as Cognitive Methodologies, Gameplay Characteristics, Psychological Reactions, Accessibility, Users, as well as its environmental and societal impacts, are taken into consideration, leading to the identification of six primary criteria and 22 sub-criteria. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to calculate the criterion weights. The Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations and Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje techniques are used to rank and choose between four possibilities. The outcomes of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations and Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje procedures are also contrasted with those of the Complex Proportional Assessment, Multi-Atributive Ideal-Real Comparative Analysis and Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison approaches. The results of the rankings of the alternatives produced by each approach all recommend the same choice as the best. Thus, it can be said that Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations, Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje, Complex Proportional Assessment, Multi-Atributive Ideal-Real Comparative Analysis and Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison approaches may be successfully employed for selection issues in game-based learning, as well as generally for other forms of multi-criteria decision problems with finite number of choices.

College Choices, Choice Dilemmas: Black Advantaged Parents’ Views of Their Children’s College Options

Abstract Studies investigating college views largely neglect the Black advantaged and specifically the role of parents in the college search process. Drawing on interviews with upper, upper-middle-, and middle-class parents, this paper investigates how Black advantaged parents view their children’s college options. In an anti-black and credentialed society, parents contend with the consequences of where their children enroll in college and the names their degrees bear. Black advantaged parents’ views of their children’s college options reflect a set of dilemmas relative to college choices. As college graduates, parents recognize that degrees from HBCUs are weighed down by racial stigma and institutional anti-blackness. Fears about anti-black perceptions of HBCUs fuel parental concerns about racial discrimination post-graduation. Yet, parents also recognize that as students on historically white campuses their children are at risk of experiences with anti-black racism while enrolled in college. This article describes the challenge of antiblackness as multi-dimensional, impacting parents’ attention both to their children’s experiences as graduates and as students. This paper offers implications for black parenting, decision-making, and higher education.

The Dilemma of Choice for Duchenne Patients Eligible for Exon 51 Skipping The European Experience.

Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) mediated exon skipping aims to reframe dystrophin transcripts for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Currently 4 ASOs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration targeting exon 45, 51 and 53 based on low level dystrophin restoration. Additional studies to confirm functional effects are ongoing. Furthermore, efforts are ongoing to increase muscle specific delivery of ASOs. Consequently, there are 5 clinical trials ongoing or planned for exon 51 skipping ASOs in Europe. While exon 51 skipping applies to the largest group of patients, DMD expert centers do not have sufficient numbers of patients or capacity to run all these trials in parallel. Even at a national level numbers may be too scarce. At the same time, some families now face the choice between participation in different clinical trials of exon 51 skipping, sometimes in addition to the choice of participating in a micro-dystrophin gene therapy trial. In this opinion paper, we outline the challenges, compare the different exon 51 skipping trials, and outline how different European centers and countries try to cope with running multiple trials in parallel for a small group of eligible patients.

Evolution Game Analysis of Hospital Governance Strategy in Industrial Parks in China.

Industrial parks are an essential component of China's reformation and opening, and they are the focus of sustainable economic and social development. However, in the process of further high-quality development, the relevant authorities have taken different approaches on whether to divest the social management functions of the parks, which introduces a dilemma of choice in reforming the management functions of these parks. This paper takes a comprehensive list of the hospitals providing public services in industrial parks as the representative subjects to clarify the factors influencing the selection of social management functions in industrial parks and the process in which they perform their roles. We also construct a tripartite evolutionary game model of the government, the industrial parks, and the hospitals and discuss the management functions of reform in industrial parks. The results show the following: (1) the selection of social management functions in industrial parks is an evolutionary game process of the government, park, and hospital under bounded rationality; (2) whether the government divests the park's administrative authority over the hospital is affected by the cost of the government running the hospital and the additional benefits of the hospital's participation in the business environment co-creation; (3) whether the industrial park provides high subsidies to the hospital is affected by its reputation benefit and subsidy cost; (4) whether the hospital participates in business environment co-creation is affected by additional benefits, subsidies, and its participation cost. When considering whether the local government should strip the social management function of the park over the hospital, it is not possible to simply "choose one of the two" or adopt a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Instead, attention should be paid to the factors influencing the choice of the main behaviors of all parties, the allocation of resources from the overall perspective of regional economic and social development, and jointly improving the business environment to achieve win-win results among all parties.

The Narration of War and the Shaping of Characters in Novels: Taking Jin Yong’s The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils and The Legend of the Condor Heroes as Examples

In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a long confrontation between the Song and the Jin. In the later period, Song and Mongolia combined to destroy Jin, and Song was also conquered by the Mongols. The two novels of Jin Yong analyzed in this paper set in the Song Dynasty as historical background. This paper uses empirical research and literary creation theory to research The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and discusses the influence of the war background on the characters of the protagonists Guo Jing, Yang Kang and Qiao Feng, which is reflected in three aspects: identity, views of nation and war, the fate of death. The paper demonstrates that the war profoundly affected the life trajectory of the characters, and the characters could not escape the influence of war. The wars put the three characters in a dilemma of identity choice, which was the most essential dilemma that the characters faced. In the dilemma, all three characters ended their lives in a painful way.

PROBLEM FIELD OF ETHICS OF EDUCATION

The article considers the ethics of education as a relatively new type of applied ethics. It is focused on identifying specific contradictory situations that arise in the educational process, analyzing and considering them as dilemmas of moral choice. It is shown that, like any applied ethics, the ethics of education is relevant because it is a product of ambiguity and novelty from the point of view of the morality of its modern problems. The author analyzes the institute of education, institutional practice, reveals special problems of the phenomenon of education in the modern socio-cultural space. The specific dilemmas generated by the conflict of values, which require appropriate methods of moral regulation, are named. It is substantiated that ethical analysis not only reveals the moral dilemmas of the educational process, but even builds an algorithm for getting out of these difficult situations. The moral aspect of the value paradigm of educational activity, which is being formed today, the level of value orientation of the educational process is highlighted and analyzed. It is noted that the problems of implementing the modern paradigm of education in Ukraine, in addition to civilizational factors, are determined by the national features of reforming the educational system in the context of the immaturity of democracy and the market economy. In conclusion, it is emphasized the need to develop applied ethics of education in our country as a system of theoretical research and practical procedures for determining clear value bases for the formation of a new educational paradigm adequate to modern moral challenges. It is emphasized that specialists with ethical training should work in the field of education ethics.

Embodied Faith and the Limits of Female Agency in Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Does My Head Look Big in This?

The present essay discusses Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Does My Head Look Big in This? by focusing on the rendition of Islam as an axis of social agency in an environment that is excessively antagonistic of any version of Islam that falls outside the contours of the “liberal model” morphed by the Western creed of equality, liberty. Amal, the protagonist, embodies the dilemmas of choice and agency within an ideological rubric which disassociates such notions from faith-based convictions. The analysis relies on the notion of Muslim agency as theorized by Saba Mahmood, for whom the conscious formation of deeply rooted religious subjectivities is sidelined within the modern secular rubrics of self-formation. The article also draws on W.E.B Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness to highlight the extent to which Muslim female bodies are caught at the intersection between religion and nation. Hence, this essay discloses the challenges facing Muslim women whose exercise of agency is tied to their religious beliefs in a backdrop characterized by multicultural and secular economies. More particularly, it explores Amal’s religious tradition of habituated practices—such as wearing the veil in a hostile environment—as embodiments of autonomous agency.

Meeting the bilingual learning needs of Tibetan minority students in Qinghai Province: A multiple perspective investigation into problems and solutions.

Using student and teacher open-ended questionnaires, and interviews with teachers and school principals and administrators, this study examined the bilingual learning difficulties faced by the Tibetan minority students in Qinghai Province, China, the challenges in meeting their needs, and the suggestions for coping with these challenges. The participants included 200 Tibetan minority students, 20 classroom teachers, and 10 school principals and administrators randomly selected from eight secondary schools located in eight different counties, where there are the most Tibetan minority students in Qinghai Province. The results showed that they experienced considerable difficulties in both spoken and written Chinese, which had prevented them from understanding the lectures, answering questions, interacting with peers in the classroom, and communicating with friends and classmates outside of classroom. The challenges in meeting their bilingual learning needs include: (a) a language choice dilemma for parents, (b) insufficient training of bilingual education teachers, (c) lack of bilingual education resources; (d) short of qualified teachers; (e) lack of parent-school communication; and (f) insufficient training of principals and administrators. Suggestions for coping with these challenges and educational implications are discussed.

Why emotions need to labor-Influencing factors and dilemmas in the emotional labor of Chinese English teachers teaching online.

During the COVID-19, online teaching has become a popular way of teaching in the world. Previous research on English language teachers’ emotional labor has not focused on the changes brought about by online teaching. Unlike the traditional physical teaching space, the emotional labor of English teachers teaching online changes with the daily use of online technological conditions. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the factors influencing teachers’ emotional labor in online teaching and the emotional labor dilemmas. We took interviews with a group of English teachers in China (T1, T2, … T20) and found that their online teaching emotions were influenced by three main factors: the degree of adaptation to online teaching technology, the invisibility of the online teaching space, and the peripheral environment of the space in which the teachers were located. In addition, this study observed the online classrooms of the interviewees and found that the first two influences are at a priority level for Chinese English teachers, while whether the third factor can bring positive or negative emotions is often influenced by the nature of the emotions brought by the first two factors. In order to find a balance between norms and emotions, English teachers are often accompanied by emotional labor in their work. However, they face many dilemmas of choice and behavior during the emotional labor of teaching online: emotional rule dilemma, emotional expression dilemma and professional identity dilemma. The emergence of these dilemmas is directly related to the influencing factors. In conclusion, this article uses normative and emotional labor theories to explore how norms affect Chinese English teachers’ emotions when teaching online as a response to the question of why emotions need to be labored. Ultimately, this study offers some useful suggestions for language teachers’ emotional labor dilemmas.

The relationship between familiarity, gender, disagreement, and status and bouts of solitary and joint laughter

The current research treated laughter as an indexical with two closely allied properties: to designate talk as non-serious and to serve as a mode of address signalling a preference for solidarity. These properties gave rise to four discrete forms of laughter bout, solitary speaker, solitary listener, speaker-initiated joint, and listener-initiated joint laughter, which were examined using 55 same-gender pairs discussing three choice dilemma items. By exploring the associations between the wider contextual factors of familiarity, gender, disagreement and status, and the frequencies of each form of bout within the dyad, it was hoped to establish whether laughter was related to how participants modulated their social relationships. Neither familiarity nor disagreement had any effect on any of the forms of laughter bout, while females were found to demonstrate higher frequencies of joint speaker laughter than males. In unequal status pairs, high status female staff joined in the laughter of their low status female student interlocutors less often than the reverse, a finding comparable with the exchange of other terms of address, such as second person pronouns in European languages. It was concluded that joint laughter was a signal of solidarity and solitary speaker laughter was a declared preference for solidarity, but the significance of solitary listener laughter, beyond an acknowledgement of the speaker’s non-serious talk, remained less clear. It was also noted that norms associated with the setting and topic of interaction were influential in determining the extent to which laughter would be used to modulate the relationships between interlocutors.

Theory-driven formative research to support development of a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) demand creation campaign among young women in a South-African township

Background: HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective and could reduce the persistent high HIV incidence among young South African women. Demand creation is needed to increase PrEP uptake of this novel prevention technology. Theoretically-grounded formative research (FR) could identify factors to include in a demand creation campaign to motivate young South African women to seek PrEP. Methods: Thirty-four household visits with young women (aged 16–32) were conducted in a township near Cape Town using Behavior Centered Design (BCD), investigating behavior contexts, the social and family environments and psychological processes, using qualitative and interactive tools, such as forced choice dilemmas, ranking games, daily script elicitation and network- and community drawings. Results: The FR generated findings concerning a wide variety of topic areas and identified a range of opportunities as well as challenges for the successful implementation of PrEP promotion in this population. Potential challenges were young women underestimating the consequences of acquiring HIV; taking medicine to prevent a disease (which was an unfamiliar concept) and young women having few responsibilities, making health care seeking and daily pill-taking with PrEP challenging. Potential opportunities that could be leveraged for PrEP demand creation were young women’s desire for trust and emotional closeness in relationships and the limited existing roles for young women, which could provide room for creating new aspirational roles that would motivate young women to take PrEP. Conclusion: A theory-based and context-specific approach to FR led to a broad understanding of the lives and influences on young South African women and generated a comprehensive set of opportunities for intervention.

A Critical Consciousness of Choice: An Existential Import

The paper attempts to conceptually explore the notion of choice from an existential perspective. Employing the critical theoretical frame of French thinker Jean Paul Sartre, the paper situates choice by exploring its linkages with self, freedom and nothingness. Tracing the phenomenological shift, the paper conceptually highlights the role of an ‘experiencing individual’ at the center of philosophy, where humans are looked upon as agents and creators of both action and its meanings. The premise, ‘Existence precedesEssence’ is deliberated upon with a radical insight that one identity is constituted neither by nature nor by culture, since to ‘exist’ is precisely to constitute such an identity. The concept of ‘Being’ and its intricacies with freedom and nothingness are further explored.The psychological implications of ‘responsibility’, experienced with an encounter with the ‘Others’ has been radically problematized. The final part of the paper throws light on the nature of existential anxiety and conflict using the ideas of a thinkers such as JurgenHarbermas and Jiddu Krishnamurthy. Existential anxiety is discussed as an immanent feature of the human condition. The negation of the crisis is not a solution but only through an existential confrontation with the ideological distortion of the material reality, one can find are solution to this existential dilemma of choice.

The nutritional quality of wholegrain and multigrain breads is not necessarily better than white breads: the case of gluten-free and gluten-containing breads

Despite the importance of breads through the history, the wide range of options might lead to a choice dilemma from health-conscious consumers when purchasing bread. In this study, commercial white, wholegrain and multigrain regular breads, sold in Europe, were collected, and classified into gluten-free and gluten-containing categories. For gluten-free-breads, no significant differences were found in energy, saturated fatty acids, sugar, fibre and salt between white and wholegrain breads regardless of the mention “multigrain.” For gluten-containing, carbohydrates and fibres differed between white and wholegrain breads, while when considering multigrain presence all the nutritional composition varied significantly. Nevertheless, the mentions wholegrain and multigrain on gluten-free and gluten-containing breads do not guarantee a better nutritional quality compared to white bread. Gluten-free breads showed increased fibre, and decreased carbohydrates, sugar and energy which are comparable to gluten-containing wholegrain breads. This underlines the improvement of gluten-free breads and suggests further investigations to increase protein content.