Competitive Service Research Articles

Does Brand Image Matters in Developing Long-Term Relationship in Mobile Financial Service Industry?

In the current highly competitive mobile financial service market, all organizations must establish long-term relationships with their clients and achieve the highest level of loyalty. Despite many studies, maintaining long-term relationships remains a formidable challenge. This study investigates how brand image moderates the association between relationship quality and brand loyalty. A theoretical framework was established, and structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the relationships. Data was collected from 257 respondents from 6 upazilas using systematic random sampling. The data was analyzed using SmartPLS-based structural equation modeling. The findings indicated a notable connection among trust, commitment, and brand loyalty. The results indicated that brand image moderates the impact of satisfaction and communication on brand loyalty. Lastly, brand image has a positive but insignificant moderating impact on security to brand loyalty association. These outcomes have both theoretical and practical consequences.

ПРАВОВЕ РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ ПОРЯДКУ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ДОБОРУ НА СЛУЖБУ ДО ДЕРЖАВНОЇ КРИМІНАЛЬНО-ВИКОНАВЧОЇ СЛУЖБИ УКРАЇНИ

The article analyzes the regulation for organizing selection procedure for the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine. The content of the legal regulation is revealed regarding the selection organization for personnel of the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on a number of issues while applying for the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine” regarding the procedure for the personnel selection for the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine. The selection criteria for the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine have been also determined. The author analyzes the latest normative and legal documents, which regulate the selection procedure for service activities, conducting a medical examination and carrying out a special inspection. Particular attention was paid to the verification of the level of physical readiness when applying for the service, and also to the additional documents submitted for participation in the mentioned verification procedure. The main restrictions related to admission for the service activities in the penitentiary system of Ukraine are singled out in the article. It is proposed to have its own restriction regarding the normative and legal regulation of certain aspects of the procedure for organizing selection for service and the procedure for holding a competition for service to the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine. The conclusions indicate that certain aspects of the legal regulation of the selection organization to the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine require additional analysis and elaboration. Key words: State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine, selection of rank and command staff, restriction, probation period, competition, qualification requirements, medical examination, special inspection.

Automotive culture of China and Russia

INTRODUCTION. The study is devoted to considering the problem of the specifics of Chinese and Russian automotive cultures and is focused on the explication of linguistic facts. The purpose of the study is to analyze the “linguocultural space” of automotive culture, which can be a certain marker of the names of car brands as a specific category of proper names in Chinese and Russian linguistic cultures.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The empirical material for the study was the names of famous car brands in China and Russia, taken from scientific and popular science publications on the history of automotive culture. To describe the facts of the language, a continuous sampling method, a descriptive method and an interpretation method, and definitional analysis were used.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. It has been established that automotive culture, being a component of national culture, reflects a specific way of human activity. Automotive culture is strengthened by local car brands and plays an important role in the economy of any country. Nowadays, Chinese automobile culture plays an important role in the global market, providing people with increasingly competitive cars and services, and taking an active place in the life of modern society. The future of the Chinese automotive industry will pursue a path of self-reliant and highquality development to create a favorable living environment for people.CONCLUSION. The development of automotive culture is largely determined by the degree of significant semantic indicators, which include “prestige”, “reliability”, “comfort”, “price”, “fashion”. These indicators for native speakers of both Chinese and Russian languages are assigned to the names of car brands and give an idea of automotive culture, reflected in the form of the so-called “image of the world,” which explicates the linguistic component, taking into account the specifics of the national culture and the native speaker at the same time, reflecting important information about different linguistic cultures in the context of synchrony.

Deep Learning Modified Reinforcement Learning with Virtual Machine Consolidation for Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has attracted significant attention because of the growing service demands of businesses that outsource computationally intensive tasks to the data center. Meanwhile, the infrastructure of a data center is comprised of hardware resources that consume a great deal of energy and release harmful levels of carbon dioxide. Cloud data centers demand massive amounts of electrical power as modern applications and organizations grow. To prevent resource waste and promote energy efficiency, virtual machines (VMs) must be dispersed over numerous physical machines (PMs) in a data center in the cloud. The actual allocation of VMs to PMs can involve more complex decision-making processes, such as considering the resource utilization, load balancing, performance requirements, and constraints of the system. Advanced techniques, like intelligent placement algorithms or dynamic resource allocation, may be employed to optimize resource utilization and achieve efficient VM distribution across multiple PMs. Cloud service suppliers aim to lower operational expenses by reducing energy consumption while offering clients competitive services. Minimizing large-scale data center power usage while maintaining the quality of service (QoS), especially for social media-based cloud computing systems, is crucial. Consolidating VMs has been highlighted as a promising method for improving resource efficiency and saving energy in data centers. This research provides deep learning augmented reinforcement learning (RL)-based energy efficient and QoS-aware virtual machine consolidation (VMC) approach to meet the difficulties. The proposed deep learning modified reinforcement learning-virtual machine consolidation (DLMRL-VMC) model can motivate both cloud providers and customers to distribute cloud infrastructure resources to achieve high CPU utilization and good energy efficiency as measured by power usage effectiveness (PUE) and data center infrastructure efficiency (DCiE). The suggested model, DLMRL-VMC, offers a VM placement approach based on resource usage and dynamic energy consumption to determine the best-matched host and VM selection strategy, Average Utilization Migration Time (AUMT). Based on AUMT, deep learning modified reinforcement learning (DLMRL) will choose a VM with a low average CPU utilization and a short migration time. The DLMRL-VMC Energy-efficient, Resource Allocation strategy is evaluated on the trace of the CloudSim VM to attain good PUE and CPU utilization.

IMPACT OF HETEROGENEOUS LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMPETITION AND GREEN TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION ON ECONOMIC LOW-CARBON TRANSITION: NEW INSIGHTS FROM CHINA

Low-carbon transformation of the economy is the inevitable orientation of socialism with Chinese characteristics to high-quality development in the new era, while the Chinese decentralized development model determines that the competition of local governments in China is an important factor influencing the green technological innovation on low-carbon transformation of the economy. How to achieve coordinated economic growth and ecological environment has become a prob-lem for local governments. Data from a Chinese provincial panel covering the years 2007–2019 is used to investigate the effects of heterogeneous local government competition (Comp), namely, economic, ecological and service competitions on economic low-carbon transition, and moderating effects of heterogeneous government competition and green technology innovation (GTECH) on the low-carbon economic transition (LCT). The results reveal that there are substantial disparities in the consequences of heterogeneous government competition on low-carbon economic transition (LCT). Among them, economic competition significantly dampens economic low-carbon transition (LCT), and ecological competition and service competition significantly boost economic low-carbon transi-tion (LCT). After performing robustness checks, these results continue to be strongly convincing. The study of moderating effects shows that economic competition can dampen the positive influence of green technology innovation (GTECH) to the economic low-carbon transition (LCT). However, ecological competition and service competition facilitate the promoting effect of green technology innovation on economic low-carbon transition (LCT).

PENGARUH PERSEPSI PRODUK UNGGULAN DAN KUALITAS PELAYANAN TERHADAP LOYALITAS PASIEN POLIKLINIK BEDAH DI RSI PKU MUHAMMADIYAH PEKAJANGAN

The Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan is a type C private hospital that is growing in Pekalongan. The successful hospital in the future are hospitals that have a competitive power. To win the competition the hospital must provide value and satisfaction to customers or patients through quality of products or services with competitive costs. The Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan already has a competitive product that is surgical oncology, surgical urology, neurosurgery. In addition The Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan should be able to know the quality of services provided and understand the interests and patients behavior to use the hospital services if needed health services at the next time.
 To know the influence of competitive product perception to patient loyalty in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan, and determine the influence of services quality perceptions to patient loyalty in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan, as well as investigate the influence of competitive product and services quality perception together against patient loyalty in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan.
 The study was quantitative research with cross sectional design. The study was conducted on May-June 2011 in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan. The population was all patients who had used services in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan. The number of samples was 100 respondents. The sampling design was purposive sampling. Data was analyzed used descriptive and inferential statistics with multiple linear regression.
 The research result showed that competitive products perception influenced patient loyalty (Sig. 0.005 <0.05), and services quality perception influenced patient loyalty (Sig. 0.000 <0.05), as well as competitive products and services quality jointly influenced patient loyalty in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan (Sig. 0.000 <0.05).
 The perception of competitive products and services quality perception which consists of communication, tangibles, empathy of nursing staff, assurance, responsiveness of the administrative staff, security, responsiveness physician either partially or jointly influence patient loyalty in The Surgical Clinic of Islamic Hospital PKU Muhammadiyah Pekajangan.

Unlocking Nature's Bounty: Exploring the Ecotourism Potential of Batu Jongjong in Bahorok District, Langkat District

The research on community-based ecotourism in Batu Jongjong Village, Langkat Regency, explores its potential, inspired by rich natural and cultural resources. Located in Gunung Leuser National Park, the village benefits from biodiversity. Aimed at enhancing local welfare through sustainable ecotourism, the study stresses community participation and collaboration among stakeholders. Sustainability concepts, including resource protection, are crucial for long-term contributions. The unique aspect lies in empowering locals and ensuring shared responsibility for resource preservation. Batu Jong Jong Village, despite its potential, requires improvements in accessibility, management, and services for competitiveness. Challenges necessitate collaborative efforts, while opportunities lie in sustainable development, emphasizing economic, social, and environmental benefits. Designated as a tourist village, Batu Jong Jong holds promise for eco-tourism, utilizing its natural resources. Despite obstacles, the village's fertile soil and community involvement present a foundation for sustainable tourism, contributing to its long-term success.

Hand surgery without tourniquet as a model for the development of surgical service innovation for competitive advantage-based service readiness

[No abstract available]

Excessive financialization and “Original Sin Theory”: Redemption from corporate reputation

Empirical studies suggest that excessive financialization that firms invest in a high proportion of financial assets will have a negative impact on firm value. This goes against the capital asset pricing theory, which suggests that high risk can produce high expected return. However, there is no explanation for the negative effect. We have empirically found that financial investments can yield higher expected returns compared with physical investments at any level, which aligns with the capital asset pricing theory. However, excessive financialization can harm a company’s reputation, which can be measured through product and service competitiveness, research and development output, and corporate social responsibility. As corporate reputation is an important intangible asset, excessive financialization has a negative impact on the overall firm value. Furthermore, excessive financialization has a greater negative impact on corporate reputation for firms with high financial leverage and sensitivity to economic policy uncertainty.

ЯКІСТЬ ЖИТТЯ НАСЕЛЕННЯ ЯК БАЗОВИЙ ІНДИКАТОР СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО РОЗВИТКУ РЕГІОНУ

The standard of living directly depends on the socio-economic development of the region and the material condition of each person and his ability to meet basic life needs. At the same time, the quality of life largely depends on the person, one’s individual qualities, the desire to raise one’s intellectual and professional level, to develop spiritually, to strengthen personal qualities, to be able to interact with other ЕКОНОМIКА ТА УПРАВЛIННЯ ПЕРСОНАЛОМ 29 subjects of the social and environmental environment. Therefore, an urgent problem is the definition of the main criteria that form integral indicator of the quality of life of the population and its dependence on the socio-economic development of the region and directly on each individual. The purpose of the study is to determine the main criteria of the quality of life, their components and establish the dependence of the standard of living on the socio-economic development of the region. Based on the study of foreign experience and the analysis of statistical data, the direct dependence of the quality of life on the socio-economic development of the country or region has been established. It has been confirmed that the regional approach to assessing the quality of life of the population is based on information about the standard of living of the population as a whole and individual strata, its characteristics according to the structure of income and expenses, as well as data on the consumption of goods and services depending on the level of material security, the number of households and other socio-economic aspects. According to the results of the survey of residents of the Chernivtsi region of different age categories, main criteria of quality of life and their components were determined, and it was established that the quality of life criteria are different for various age groups of the population. It has been proven that the higher the level of socio-economic development of a country or region and the higher the income, the higher the assessment of the quality of life. In order to create the necessary conditions for the production of goods and services for the livelihood of the population of the region and to improve the quality of life in the conditions of war, it is recommended to mobilize all available resources and their effective use for the production of competitive products and services for the most complete satisfaction of the needs of the population of the region and the interests of the country. On the example of the Chernivtsi region, separate components of the resource potential have been determined, the effective use of which will contribute to raising the standard of living of the population. Thus, the definition of the main criteria characterizing the quality of life and their components indicates that the standard of living depends on the socio-economic development of the region and the material condition of each person and his ability to meet basic life needs.

Influence of Differentiation Strategy on the Financial Performance of Deposit-Taking Saccos in Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of differentiation strategy on the financial performance of deposit-taking SACCOs in Kenya.
 Methodology: A descriptive research cross-sectional approach was applied. The target population of this study was 174 DT-SACCOs in Kenya. The sample size was 227 respondents. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data from the selected respondents. Data collection method was by use of questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Descriptive data was analyzed through measures of central tendency including means, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages. Data was coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v23.0). Results were then presented in tables, diagrams and charts.
 Findings: The results showed that differentiation strategy had a positive and significant relationship to financial performance (r=0.590, p=0.000; R2=0.348, β=1.039). The findings emphasize the importance of implementing effective differentiation strategies to achieve better financial performance.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that deposit-taking SACCOs in Kenya prioritize the implementation of differentiation strategies to enhance their financial performance. By adopting these strategies, SACCOs can position themselves for improved financial success and sustained growth in the highly competitive financial services sector. The study's findings contribute to academic theory by offering significant insights and presents practitioners in strategic management, policy makers, and the leadership in SACCOs with valuable recommendations. They are able to utilize the findings from the current study based on how to model dynamic capabilities that will ensure their knowledge and practicality of competitiveness is beefed up.

Validation of an instrument for measuring the competitiveness of tourism service enterprises: the case of Mexico and Peru

Validation of an instrument for measuring the competitiveness of tourism service enterprises: the case of Mexico and Peru

What is the Perception of Foreign Investors about Economic Factors? A Study of Foreign Companies in Kosovo

Over the past decade, geopolitical preferences increasingly drive the geographic footprint of FDI (IMF, 2023). While the approach of investors to these preferences is still unclear. The purpose of the study is to provide the perception of foreign investors for economic factors in Kosovo (The Motive of Foreign Investors, MFI) as a dependent variable measured through independent variables, Exchange Rates (ER), Inflation (INF), Interest Rates (IR), Access to Credit (AC), Competition (CO), E-Banking and Banking Services (E-BBS), Economic Growth (EGr), and Taxes (Tax) as independent variables. Quantitative primary data collected non-randomly with a structured questionnaire, are 52 respondents of the largest Foreign Investors operating in Kosovo from January 2021 - August 2023, source, Kosovo Statistics Agency, 2023 and Kosovo Tax Administrations, 2023. The data were processed with the statistical technique SPSS, 25. Through the Multiple Regression method, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Pearson Correlation model, we extract the results, the tests, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are used in advance; Cronbach's Alpha; Cohen's kappa (κ); One samples Kolmogorov Smirnov and Collinearity, evaluate the reliability of the data. The results of the study find that the increase in the motivation of foreign investors in the scale, intercept β0 286.6 percentage points is attributed to the factors included in the model: INF has a statistically significant and positive effect of 47.7 units (β2 = 0.477, Sig. < 0.010); IR has a negative and statistically significant effect (β3 = -.842, Sig. 0.002), E-BBS has a statistically significant negative effect (β6 = -.402, Sig. < 0.001); AC has a statistically significant negative effect (β4 -.388, Sig. < 0.05); EG, has a statistically significant positive effect (β8 = 118.1 percentage points, Sig. 0.000); Taxes (TAX) have a statistically significant positive effect (β8 = 0.169, Sig. < 0.011). Otherwise, ER has a statistically insignificant positive effect (β1 = 0.077, Sig. 0.586), while CO has a statistically insignificant positive effect (β5 = 0.008, Sig. > 0.953) in increasing the motivation of foreign investors. The results of this study recommend that economic politicians in Kosovo implement better IR, E-BBS, AC and CO policies that promote FDI and increase the flow of FDI into the country.

Investment attractiveness of enogastronomic destinations

Tourism is a multiplier of socio-economic development, a vital sector of the economy with significant investments and a wide range of dynamically developing sectors of the national economy. One of the priority directions for the development of modern tourism is the support and development of domestic and inbound tourism. An important research direction is the study of investment attractiveness in tourist destinations. Therefore, the need to attract investments in the service sector, the development of enogastronomic destinations that form a specific tourist product, will contribute to the development of entrepreneurship in this area, increase the economic effect and development of rural areas, which is an essential direction for ensuring sustainable development. The publication aims to research ways to increase the attractiveness of investment in enogastronomic destinations to increase their competitiveness. The article examines the issues of research on inestimities and ways of increasing investment attractiveness in enogastronomic destinations. The essence of the concepts "investment", "investment attractiveness", "public-private partnership" was determined. It is substantiated that until 2020, a positive trend was observed regarding the volume of capital investments in the country's economy. It has been proven that in modern conditions, an essential place in investment activities is the introduction of investments in tourist activities and developing tourist destinations. Factors affecting the assessment of investment attractiveness are determined. It is substantiated that public-private partnership is one of the critical mechanisms for implementing the policy of increasing investment attractiveness to solve significant socio-economic problems. The essence of public-private partnership in forming the investment attractiveness of food and wine destinations and the result of the interaction of the public and private spheres have been determined. The interaction of the state and business to solve socially significant tasks becomes relevant in connection with globalization, increased competition on the world market, the complication of social and economic conditions, and the need to ensure the appropriate competitiveness of domestic goods and services. A key factor of public-private partnerships in forming investment attractiveness and developing food and wine destinations is the guarantee of benefits from the joint use of resources. Keywords: tourism, enogastronomic destination, investment, investment attractiveness, public-private partnership

Revolutionizing Hospitality: Strategic Integration of Innovation Management Embracing Technological Innovation for Enhanced Customer Experiences


 This article critically examines the role of innovation in the hospitality sector, focusing on how hotels can enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction through digital advancements. It stresses the need for adapting to technological trends and consumer expectations. Also, it highlights the necessity for hotels to adapt to technological trends and evolving consumer expectations to maintain market relevance. The analysis highlights the integration of strategic planning, innovation management, cultural shifts, and technological adoption as key to fostering sustainable innovation. The importance of balancing traditional hospitality values with modern solutions to create competitive service offerings in the hotel industry is underscored. Key areas discussed include digital transformation in hotels, different tiers of innovation, and the challenges and strategies for implementing transformative innovations. The article concludes by emphasizing the necessity for hotels to combine operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and game-changing innovation strategies, highlighting the potential of technologies like AI and robotics in revolutionizing the guest experience. It underscores the importance of balancing traditional hospitality values with modern technological solutions to create a unique and competitive service offering in the hotel industry.

Service design under asymmetric service provider competition: Applications of AI services

Recently, with the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology (e.g. ChatGPT), more enterprises are incorporating AI into their customer service to reduce costs. However, the excessive use of AI technology will also reduce consumers’ satisfaction with services, and finding a balance between high-quality human service and cost-effective AI service is crucial for enterprises. To answer this question, this paper establishes a service competition model in which a service integrator (SI) procures services from an AI service provider (ASP) and a human service provider (HSP), and then combines them to offer integrated services to consumers. The findings reveal that, under certain conditions, the introduction of low-cost AI service by SI may result in increased product price. This occurs because ASP tends to set higher price for AI service to ensure its profitability per unit. When the consumer service sensitivity is moderate, SI can generate greater profits by skillfully designing blended service instead of relying on a single service. HSP encourages SI to adopt some of its competitors’ AI service when the consumer service sensitivity is low, while ASP does the opposite. Interestingly, a win–win scenario emerges, where all competing service providers earn higher profits compared to offering exclusive services, and SI profits and consumer welfare are also higher. In addition, service integration is essential to increase revenue for all parties involved, but the revenue increase is the same regardless of which party performs the service integration.

A study on utilization of ANC services and Psychological status of mothers during Covid–19 pandemic in five adopted villages of KSRDPR University, Gadag, Karnataka

Antenatal care is also known as prenatal care is a type of preventive and primitive health care during the period of whole pregnancy to ensure a better birthing outcome for mother and baby. Improving the utilization of maternal health care services is a global challenge for the health system in low and middle-income countries. The goal set by the United Nations, Millennium Developmental goals to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters during the period 1990-2015. WHO's new SMART guidelines approach, which includes the ANC Digital Adaptation Kit and WHO digital ANC module to support countries through the process of adapting and applying. With the emergence of the COVID - 19 outbreak, it is not impossible that access to quality antenatal care services in the region will be further compromised due to competition for limited health care services. COVID -19 pandemic affects routine service delivery, which may have an impact on antenatal care (ANC) utilization among pregnant women.To assess the utilization of Antenatal Check-ups before to and during the Covid -19 Pandemic period.After obtaining permission from the District Health Office and the appropriate officer in the health force, a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. To select study participants who are both convenient and cooperative, the purposive sampling technique was used. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data, information about mothers' socio-demographic details, Antenatal service utilization before and during the Covid - 19 pandemic, An interview schedule was developed in order to identify the Antenatal Care utilization Gap in the eyes of prospective pregnant mothers and the challenges faced by health workers in providing Antenatal services. The data was entered into an excel sheet, and the results were expressed as frequency, percentage.The study included 360 pregnant and delivered mothers aged 18 to 45 years. The majority of mothers (68.33 percent) are between the ages of 18 and 25. Half of the mothers are Primi (51.94%), a quarter of the mothers are Para 1 (33.61%), and more than one-fourth of the mothers are mildly anemic (38.06%). Few mothers have high blood pressure (8.89 percent), the majority of spouses supported their wives' Antenatal natal services visits (93.89 percent), and the majority of mothers received ANC services at no cost (99.44 percent).The current study discovered that due to the COVID - 19 pandemics, antenatal care utilization was lower than before the pandemic period.

Smart algorithmic solutions for audience service quality evaluation for large-scale sports-events through harnessing interval neutrosophic EDAS and CRITIC Technique

Sports events, as large-scale events that provide products and services, have received widespread attention for their economic benefits and influence. Event organizers expect to achieve high efficiency by providing high-quality products and services. The quality of competition products and services is mainly evaluated through the subjective feelings of the audience, and usually the audience’s evaluation of service quality is vague. Therefore, this article intends to establish an evaluation index system for the quality of spectator service in sports events, in order to provide a reasonable evaluation of the service products provided by sports event organizers. The audience service quality evaluation for large-scale sports-events is a MAGDM problems. Recently, the EDAS and CRITIC technique has been employed to cope with MAGDM issues. The interval neutrosophic sets (INSs) are employed as a tool for characterizing uncertain information during the audience service quality evaluation for large-scale sports-events. In this paper, the interval neutrosophic number EDAS (INN-EDAS) technique based on the Hamming distance and Euclid distance is founded to manage the MAGDM under INSs. The CRITIC technique is employed to obtain the weight information based on the Hamming distance and Euclid distance under INSs. Finally, a numerical case study for audience service quality evaluation for large-scale sports-events is employed to validate the proposed technique. The main contributions of this paper are proposed: (1) The INN-EDAS technique based on the Hamming distance and Euclid distance is founded to manage the MAGDM under INSs; (2) The CRITIC technique is employed to obtain the weight information based on the Hamming distance and Euclid distance under INSs; (3) a numerical case study for audience service quality evaluation for large-scale sports-events is employed to validate the proposed technique.

Dental service utilization and the COVID-19 pandemic, a micro-data analysis

BackgroundGlobal crises and disease pandemics, such as COVID-19, negatively affect dental care utilization by several factors, such as infection anxiety, disrupted supply chains, economic contraction, and household income reduction. Exploring the pattern of this effect can help policy makers to be prepared for future crises. The present study aimed to investigate the financial impact of COVID‐19 disruptions on dental service utilization.MethodsData on the number of dental services offered in Dental School Clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences was collected over a period of two years, before and after the initial COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. School of Dentistry operates two clinics; one with competitive service fees and one with subsidies. Regression analyses were performed to determine the effect of the pandemic on the number of dental services divided by dental treatment groups and these clinics. The analyses were adjusted for seasonal patterns and the capacity of the clinics.ResultsThere was a significant drop in dental services offered in both clinics across all dental groups in the post-COVID period (on average, 77 (39.44%) fewer services per day). The majority of the procedure loss happened in the Private clinic. Adjusting for seasonal patterns and the service capacity, regression results documented 54% and 12% service loss in Private and Subsidized clinics following the pandemic, respectively. Difference-in-difference analysis documented that the Subsidized clinic performed 40% more treatments than the Private clinic in the post-COVID period.ConclusionsPandemic –reduction in dental care utilization could have long-term ramifications for the oral health of the population, and policymakers need to provide supportive packages to the affected segments of the economy to reverse this trend.

Optimizing energy sector performance: Modeling and parameter calculation for IT infrastructure with a focus on server systems and networks

In the era of digital transformation, IT services determine the operational activities of all divisions of companies in the energy sector. In modern conditions, the level of management of IT infrastructure, data, applications and systems has a direct and measurable impact on the success of companies, which is relevant for detailed study. Regardless of the size of the business, it is always necessary to ensure high quality of IT services, their availability and continuity. The key goal of the study is to highlight the main aspects of optimizing the efficiency of the energy sector. To achieve the goal, mathematical modeling and calculation tools were used to calculate the parameters of server computer systems and networks. To achieve the set goals and objectives, a mathematical model was developed for calculating the main parameters of server computing systems and networks, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of using the resources of server computers in the energy industry. The efficiency of managing the IT infrastructure of energy companies ensures fault tolerance, availability and competitiveness of services in the market. The results presented can be applied in practice when planning and managing the IT infrastructure of a company in the energy sector.