Set Of Preferences Research Articles

Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model and Expert Choice Software for Coastal City Vulnerability Evaluation

Climate change is regarded as a serious threat to both environment and humanity, and as a result, it has piqued worldwide attention in the twenty-first century. Natural hazards are expected to have major effects in the coastal cities of the globe. At the same time, about two-thirds of the world’s human population lives in the coastal margins. One of the fundamental issues for coastal city planners is the coastal cities’ environmental change. This paper presents the application of a model framework for the management and sustainable development of coastal cities under a changing climate in Kuala Terengganu Malaysia. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is performed in the Expert Choice software for coastal city hazard management. This approach enables decision-makers to evaluate and identify the relative priorities of vulnerability and hazard criteria and sub-criteria based on a set of preferences, criteria, and alternatives. This paper also presents a hierarchy erosion design applied in Kuala Terengganu to choose the important sustainable weights of criteria and sub-criteria as well as the zone as an alternative model.

The effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation on pain processing in a healthy population: A single-blinded crossover controlled study

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is increasingly used in pain treatment. tDCS targeting both primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) may modulate the descending pain inhibitory system, however, it remains controversial regarding the optimal stimulation region for pain modulation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effects of high-definition anodic stimulation of M1 and DLPFC on conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and pain thresholds and establish a preferred stimulation setting. Twenty-six healthy adults were randomly assigned to M1-tDCS, DLPFC-tDCS, or sham-tDCS groups. During the three sessions, each participant received an active or sham stimulation of 2 mA for 20 min, with at least 3 days’ interval between sessions. Quantitative sensory tests were performed to obtain pressure pain threshold (PPT), cold pain threshold (CPT), and CPM before and after the tDCS intervention. Only M1-tDCS significantly increased CPM in healthy individuals compared with sham control (P = 0.004). No statistically significant difference was found in PPT and CPT between tDCS vs. sham control (P > 0.05). Our findings further support the important role of M1 as a target in pain regulation. Further large-scale, multicenter studies in chronic pain populations are needed to validate the alterations of distinct target brain regions related to pain and thus for an optimal target stimulation strategy in pain management.

Bounds on the average and minimum attendance in preference-based activity scheduling

In this paper we study the preference-based activity scheduling problem, where based on preference sets of participants, activities need to be scheduled in parallel, such that participants can attend as many of their preferred activities as possible. The Activity Scheduling Problem (ASP) takes as input the activities, time slots, participants and their set of preferences, and is supposed to output an optimal schedule. Attendance is the number of preferred activities a participant can attend. We present two lower bounds on the average attendance over all participants, based on linearity of expectation. The first is a bound that involves the different parameters of ASP; we prove that this bound is tight. The second bound is such that no matter how many activities, participants, and time slots are included in the event, there is always a schedule that guarantees an average attendance of (1−1/e) of the preferred activities for the participants. A further result, based on applying the Lovász local lemma to hypergraph coloring, presents a lower bound on the minimum attendance over all participants. We show that for various values of the problem’s parameters this bound is better than a simple bound, although the simple bound may be tight for instances with a very large number of participants.

Relation between hearing abilities and preferred playback settings for speech perception in complex listening conditions

Objective This study investigated if individual preferences with respect to the trade-off between a good signal-to-noise ratio and a distortion-free speech target were stable across different masking conditions and if simple adjustment methods could be used to identify subjects as either “noise haters” or “distortions haters”. Design In each masking condition, subjects could adjust the target speech level according to their preferences by employing (i) linear gain or gain at the cost of (ii) clipping distortions or (iii) compression distortions. The comparison of these processing conditions allowed investigating the preferred trade-off between distortions and noise disturbance. Study sample Thirty subjects differing widely in hearing status (normal-hearing to moderately impaired) and age (23–85 years). Results High test–retest stability of individual preferences was found for all modification schemes. The preference adjustments suggested that subjects could be consistently categorised along a scale from “noise haters” to “distortion haters”, and this preference trait remained stable through all maskers, spatial conditions, and types of distortions. Conclusions Employing quick self-adjustment to collect listening preferences in complex listening conditions revealed a stable preference trait along the “noise vs. distortions” tolerance dimension. This could potentially help in fitting modern hearing aid algorithms to the individual user.

Preferences in a Group of Patients with Cancer: A Grounded Theory.

PurposeThis study was conducted to understand the preferences of patients with cancer in Medellin, Colombia.MethodsA qualitative approach based on the theoretical and methodological resources of the grounded theory was conducted. Between June 2020 and March 2021, patients over 18 years old with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer within the past 2 years treated in Medellin, Colombia, were selected. Theoretical saturation sampling was performed. Each participant was interviewed between 2 and 3 times in accordance with the open, axial, and selective coding of the grounded theory.ResultsA common preference set emerged in all patients related to the attributes of healthcare professionals and is a category that unites their scientific and humanistic aspects. On the other hand, very heterogeneous preferences were presented that were associated with the doctor–patient relationship and the therapeutic objectives. In the doctor–patient relationship, there are those who adhere to a paternalistic model and those who opt for an informative model. In therapeutic objectives, two subcategories emerged: those who are inclined to preserve life and those who accord more value to the quality of life.ConclusionThe categories that emerged illustrate the complexity and challenges of the preferences of patients with cancer in theoretical and experiential terms for social studies of medicine, philosophy, and bioethics. From medical social studies, it’s emphasized that the experiences of dehumanization are constant, which generates shared preferences in the patients related to the ideal of the medical professional. From the philosophical perspective, the care received by patients coincides with what was called medicine for slaves in ancient Greece, insofar as patients are not assumed to be free subjects. With respect to bioethics, some ideas are raised contrary to the support of individual autonomy; relational autonomy and the respect for the person above the autonomy itself are advocated.

Https://hjournal.ru/en/journals/journal-of-economic-regulation/2021/264-no-3/2252-educational-and-industrial-clusters-in-the-system-of-secondary-vocational-education-for-implementing-regional-economic-policy.html

The article examines the forms of interaction between the state, business and educational organizations in order to train personnel with secondary vocational education for the needs of the modern economy. It is generally recognized that for the successful development of the economy of any state and its constituent regions, a sufficient number of working personnel is needed, the level of training of which corresponds to the level of development of the productive forces. In the absence of a dialogue between the state system of personnel training and representatives of industrial enterprises, the implementation of this task is very difficult. After all, it is the enterprises that form the need for labor. In addition, the current pace of technological progress sets special requirements for the speed of entry into the labor market of specialists who have the skills to work on modern equipment. All this requires an immediate revision of approaches to the development of the vocational education system, constant updating of the material and technical base of professional educational organizations. The most successful is the cluster approach to the organization of the economic space of the regions. At the same time, such an approach is currently used only to combine the efforts of the state, business and scientific institutions in order to introduce the results of scientific developments into the activities of economic entities. In this regard, this study suggests considering the possibility of creating educational and industrial clusters as an institution that unites the interests of the state, business and educational organizations on the basis of partnership agreements. In addition, the article offers a set of tax preferences in order to encourage industry enterprises to invest in the system of secondary vocational education.

Charting the Reform Path

Sharon Block’s and Benjamin H. Harris’ edited volume of policy-oriented essays, _Inequality and the Labor Market: The Case for Greater Competition_, is a valuable contribution to the developing conversation about competition and labor markets. At the broadest level, the volume evokes, but does not resolve, a choice between two distinct and ultimately incompatible possibilities: on one hand, restoring the outcomes that would obtain in a competitive labor market, and on the other (articulated more faintly and implicitly) exposing the 'myth' of this very goal, which in turn would imply the need to construct an entirely new normative benchmark. In the debate about antitrust and labor markets more broadly, when researchers identify an outcome that would obtain in a more competitive market, they are often actually describing the outcome that would obtain in a hypothetical market constructed by a different, preferred set of coordination mechanisms. This does not mean that real-world business competition, channeled appropriately, cannot improve outcomes for workers and the public; quite the opposite. But it does mean that a particular, stylized ideal of a competitive market may be less than useful as a benchmark for law and for well-functioning labor markets, and that a more direct encounter with the normative criteria that ultimately matter to us is required.

Perceptions of Non-English Major College Students on Learning English Vocabulary with Gamified Apps

As gamified English vocabulary learning Apps are increasingly popular among Chinese English learners, this study explores how non-English major college students, who may lack initiatives in foreign language learning, perceive those Apps. Following a qualitative approach, this study analyzed interview data from fifty-three students who have used gamified English vocabulary learning Apps in latest 12 months. The major findings of this study include: (1) the preferred game settings included challenge, team, leaderboard, competition, coins, and badges; (2) students perceived the motivation activation effects of the apps by receiving instant feedback, enjoyment, and sense of achievement, and inactivation effects considering the attention distraction, additional competitive pressure, and imperfect words matching; and (3) students believed that the apps helped to form vocabulary learning habits because of its convenience, rewarding mechanism, and group setting, while others did not because they had fixed learning routines. Then, this study explained and discussed the findings considering factors from or related to both the gamified Apps and students. This study explored the potential of the popular vocabulary learning Apps in enhancing students’ English learning motivation and learning habits and extended the scopes of research on gamification in foreign language education.

Preference reversal and strategy-proofness with more than three alternatives

We introduce the concept of complete sets of preferences, that covers interesting cases like single peaked preferences, rich domains admitting regular social choice functions, and universal domains, and show that strategy-proofness is sufficient to obtain the preference reversal property when the voters’ feasible set of preferences is complete.

The Interested Expert Problem and the Epistemology of Juries

AbstractThe existence of experts raises a host of interesting questions in social, legal, and political epistemology. This article introduces and discusses interested experts – people who are experts on some topic, but who also have a distinct set of values and preferences regarding that topic, so that they are not well-described as “disinterested” parties. Interested experts raise several distinct problems in social, legal, and political epistemology. Some general questions arise: can we rationally or justifiably form beliefs relying on interested expert testimony? Do they constitute knowledge? Under what circumstances? This article focuses on a specific question in legal epistemology: should interested experts be allowed to serve on juries and, if so, should it be permissible for lawyers to strike them from the pool of potential jurors? My hope is that concentrating on this question will provide insight into the more general questions concerning the epistemology of testimony with respect to interested experts, while also providing concrete recommendations for jury reform to improve the epistemic performance of juries.

Preferences of patients regarding community pharmacy services: A discrete choice experiment

BackgroundThe community pharmacy profession is in transition, with emphasis on the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS). In contrast, previous research showed that the general public prefers more convenience related services. However, this was based on currently available services and not on innovative services. ObjectiveTo identify patients’ preferences regarding innovative pharmacy services and whether they tend towards convenience related or CPS. DesignOnline survey using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). ParticipantsParticipants were from the AMP pharmacy patient panel. Main outcome measures: Preferences (utility scores) and the identification of specific classes (latent class analysis). ResultsIn total 2462 panel members (27.3%) filled out the completed the online DCE questionnaire. The majority of participants were male (54.1%) with an average age of 65.3 years and used on average 4.6 medicines. Four patient classes were distinguished based on preferences for services. Highly preferred were an online mediation record, prescription drugs for minor ailments without a doctors’ prescription and clinical testing with diagnosis by the pharmacist. Discussion and conclusionThe majority of participants tend towards a more CPS focused approach by the community pharmacist. Patients visiting community pharmacies can have a diverging set of preferences regarding services being provided. In daily practice, community pharmacists should provide both convenience and CPS related services to address this diverse set of preferences.

Optimization of the Real-Time Response to Roadside Incidents through Heuristic and Linear Programming

This paper presents a solution for a real-world roadside assistance problem. Roadside incidents can happen at any time. Depending on the type of incident, a specific resource from the roadside assistance company can be sent on site. The problem of allocating resources to these road-side incidents can be stated as a multi-objective function and a large set of constraints, including priorities and preferences, resource capacities and skills, calendars, and extra hours. The request from the client is to a have real-time response and to attempt to use only open source tools. The optimization objectives to consider are the minimization of the operational costs and the minimization of the time to arrive to each incident. In this work, an innovative approach to near-optimally solving this problem in real-time is proposed, combining a heuristic approach and linear programming. The results show the great potential of this approach: operational costs were reduced by 19%, the use of external providers was reduced to half, and the productivity of the resources owned by the client was significantly increased.

Effectiveness Evaluation Method of Application of Mobile Communication System Based on Factor Analysis.

The application mode of army mobile communication networks is closely related to combat mission and application environment. Different combat missions and application environments result in different network structures and different service priorities, which requires a semi-automatic system to support the network scheme design. Therefore, evaluating the efficiency of network schemes generated by automatic planning is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed. In the past, researchers have proposed a variety of methods to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile communication systems, most of which are based on simulation methods and ignore the historical data of network usage. This paper studies an effectiveness evaluation method of mobile communication network design schemes and proposes a design scheme for the evaluation and optimization of network plans. Furthermore, the improved method of effectiveness evaluation based on factor analysis is discussed in detail. The method not only effectively uses historical data but also reduces the amount of data collection and calculation. In order to adapt to the preference requirements of different task scenarios, a decision preference setting method based on cluster analysis is proposed, which can render the output optimization result more reasonable and feasible.

Tisagenlecleucel Therapy: Nursing Considerations for the Outpatient Setting.

Tisagenlecleucel is a CD19-directed, genetically modified, autologous T-cell immunotherapy indicated for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia and for adult patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Treatment with any chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a multistep process in which nurses and nurse practitioners are key to managing patient safety. Managing patients receiving CAR-T cell therapy in the outpatient setting (as Penn does with tisagenlecleucel and lisocabtagene maraleucel) requires an even more complex process. The objective of this manuscript is to provide guidance on the role of nurses in the outpatient administration of tisagenlecleucel therapy and postinfusion care in adult patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Oncology and apheresis nurses discuss institutional processes and perspectives related to the patient experience with tisagenlecleucel therapy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Author experience. Nurses are vital for the success of the patient management processes involved with tisagenlecleucel therapy. Nurses must be thoroughly educated in tisagenlecleucel therapy and adverse event management and be able to effectively communicate all aspects of therapy among the multidisciplinary team of the hospital, the product manufacturer, and patients and families. Establishment of the nurse cellular therapy coordinator at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was advantageous in facilitating effective communication in all these situations. This encompassing approach to patient management is particularly necessary during administration of tisagenlecleucel therapy and other CAR-T cell therapies that are managed in the outpatient setting.

A Multi-User Interactive Coral Reef Optimization Algorithm for Considering Expert Knowledge in the Unequal Area Facility Layout Problem

The problem of Unequal Area Facility Layout Planning (UA-FLP) has been addressed by a large number of approaches considering a set of quantitative criteria. Moreover, more recently, the personal qualitative preferences of an expert designer or decision-maker (DM) have been taken into account too. This article deals with capturing more than a single DM’s personal preferences to obtain a common and collaborative design including the whole set of preferences from all the DMs to obtain more complex, complete, and realistic solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the preferences of more than one expert designer have been considered in the UA-FLP. The new strategy has been implemented on a Coral Reef Optimization (CRO) algorithm using two techniques to acquire the DMs’ evaluations. The first one demands the simultaneous presence of all the DMs, while the second one does not. Both techniques have been tested over three well-known problem instances taken from the literature and the results show that it is possible to obtain sufficient designs capturing all the DMs’ personal preferences and maintaining low values of the quantitative fitness function.

Toward the commoning of governance

Conventional political thought and practice continue to be stifled by a dilemma of choosing between the ideal imaginaries of State and/or Market solutions. Widely presupposed as the only valid possibilities in both theory and practice, this stale dilemma covers up a real multitude of actually existing alternative approaches to governance practiced in civil society. State/Market approaches are identical in the way that they construct a ‘spectator’ role for communities, who are left to choose between their preferred set of rules and norms developed elsewhere. The concept of commoning governance offers an opportunity to break free of this stalemate. It creates a new role for citizens and their communities as ‘sparring partners’; who although they operate within the limits of current State/Market institutions, create new norms and rules against and beyond them. In the paper, we first expand on our understanding of commoning governance: re-designing governance arrangements to serve the common good. That is here understood in terms of (radical) democracy, solidarity and sustainable ecological relationships. Second, we illustrate how commoning efforts on the ground contribute to the reclaiming of the democratic imaginary as a political arena by zooming in to a case study of the three cities involved in civic-led network of German Food Policy Councils. Finally, we reflect on the empirical barriers that communities of commoning endure, and call on policymakers, planners and scholars to interrogate their own normative understandings of citizenship and democracy, and begin to recognize theoretical and latent possibilities by enabling commoning with new or re-designed institutions of governance.

Establishment and Management Of COVID-19 Testing Molecular Laboratory in Minimal Resource Setting, Challenges and Issues Reported From Birgunj, Nepal – An Experience of Pathologist

The Coronavirus pandemic is recording numerous deaths worldwide. The temporal distribution and burden of the disease varies from setting to setting based on economic status, demography and geographic location. Nepal reported the first COVID-19 case on January 23, 2020. A rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases was being reported in Nepal as of June 2020. Limited molecular laboratory capacity in resource limited settings is a challenge in the diagnosis of the ever-increasing cases and the overall management of the disease. In this article, we share the experience, challenges and prospects in the rapid establishment of COVID-19 testing laboratory in Birgunj from available resources. We provide empirical evidence from Parsa district, as this is one of the SARS-CoV-2 transmission hotspots in Nepal and it is likely generalizable to other similar settings in the country. The first step in establishing the COVID-19 molecular testing laboratory were i) identifying a suitable space ii) renovating it and iii) mobilizing materials including consumables, mainly from the hospital store and administration. A chain of experimental design was set up with distinct laboratories to standardize the extraction of samples, preparation of the master mix and detection. At the commencement of sample reception and testing, laboratory contamination was among the primary challenges faced. The source of the contamination was identified in the master mix room and resolved. In summary, the established COVID-19 testing lab (Narayani PCR Lab) has tested more than 40,000 samples (January 2021) and is now the preferred setting for CoVID-19 testing. The lessons learnt may benefit the further establishment of testing laboratories for COVID-19 and/or other epidemic/pandemic diseases in resource-limited settings.

Improving patient rehabilitation performance in exercise games using collaborative filtering approach.

BackgroundVirtual reality is utilised in exergames to help patients with disabilities improve on the movement of their limbs. Exergame settings, such as the game difficulty, play important roles in the rehabilitation outcome. Similarly, suboptimal exergames’ settings may adversely affect the accuracy of the results obtained. As such, the improvement in patients’ movement performances falls below the desired expectations. In this paper, a recommender system is incorporated to suggest the most preferred movement setting for each patient, based on the movement history of the patient.MethodThe proposed recommender system (ResComS) suggests the most suitable setting necessary to optimally improve patients’ rehabilitation performances. In the course of developing the recommender system, three methods are proposed and compared: ReComS (K-nearest neighbours and collaborative filtering algorithms), ReComS+ (k-means, K-nearest neighbours, and collaborative filtering algorithms) and ReComS++ (bacterial foraging optimisation, k-means, K-nearest neighbours, and collaborative filtering algorithms). The experimental datasets are collected using the Medical Interactive Recovery Assistant (MIRA) software platform.ResultExperimental results, validated by the patients’ exergame performances, reveal that the ReComS++ approach predicts the best exergame settings for patients with 85.76% accuracy.

Knowledge and Attitudes of Lifestyle Medicine-Based Care in a Military Community.

The Department of Defense spends more than $3 billion annually on medical costs of lifestyle-related morbidity. Military service members and veterans engage in unhealthy behaviors at a higher rate than the civilian population. Lifestyle medicine may mitigate lifestyle-related chronic diseases and increase medical readiness in the U.S. Military. However, patients' perspectives in a military community regarding a lifestyle medicine-based approach to health care have not been studied. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of and interest in lifestyle medicine-based care within a military community. Following exempt study determination from the Madigan Army Medical Center Human Protections Office (Reference No. 220092), a prospective, cross-sectional, mixed-methods survey study was conducted from September 2020 to January 2021. Volunteer subjects, including active duty service members, National Guard/Reserves service members, and military dependents, were recruited to complete the anonymous survey while seeking care at five military clinics on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The study's outcome measures were the overall level of awareness of lifestyle medicine, ranked level of importance of seven core lifestyle domains, the level of interest in seeking care from a lifestyle medicine practitioner, and the preferred lifestyle medicine care delivery setting. Kruskal-Wallis analyses of variance were conducted for categorical outcome variables. Mean composite scores were calculated for lifestyle domain rankings. A total of 623 respondents completed the survey with a 62.3% response rate. The majority of respondents (89.7%) lacked definitive knowledge of the field of lifestyle medicine. Food/nutrition and sleep were ranked the highest of all lifestyle domains to include in a healthcare approach in the overall sample and across all subgroups. Quitting smoking and alcohol use were ranked the lowest of importance overall and across all subgroups. The majority of respondents (65.7%) reported it was extremely or very important that lifestyle is part of the healthcare discussion with their provider. Of 614 responses, 77.6% of respondents expressed interest in a lifestyle medicine-based approach to health care, with 40.1% indicating they were extremely or very interested in this approach. A direct correlation was noted between education levels and level of interest in lifestyle medicine. Many respondents selected their primary care provider (34.6%) or a lifestyle medicine practitioner embedded in their primary care clinic (26.1%) as their preferred method of lifestyle medicine provision. A higher smoking rate was demonstrated in service members in combat arms occupational specialties. Despite an overall low level of awareness of lifestyle medicine, most respondents expressed interest in a lifestyle medicine approach to health care, with food/nutrition and sleep ranked as the most important domains. Lower levels of education may be a potential barrier to patient willingness to engage in lifestyle medicine care. Service members in combat arms occupational specialties may represent a potential target population for smoking cessation interventions. Further research with a larger sample more proportionately inclusive of all military service branches is needed.

Metode Decision Tree Dalam Pemilihan Gaya Belajar Pada Siswa Sekolah Dasar

Learning styles have an important role in the process of teaching and learning activities. By recognizing learning styles, a person will be able to determine a more effective way of learning. Learning styles themselves are divided into three types of groups, namely types of visual learning styles, types of auditory learning styles, and types of kinesthetic learning styles. Individuals at the primary education level or in this case students need guidance and supervision during the learning process when at school or home. If students have practiced habits and effective learning styles since elementary school, it will result in proud learning achievements in the future. This study uses a dataset "Data Set Of Learning Style Preference" and uses the Decision Treealgorithm. The results of this study are to identify each student's learning style and can also be useful for teachers, students, parents or school parties who are related and carry out the learning and learning process both at school and at home to choose the right learning strategy and can be used as a reference for developing Student learning styles are following the type of learning and of course, this supports the achievement of an efficient and effective learning process.