Qualitative Concepts Research Articles

Status evaluation of mobile welding robot driven by fuel cell hybrid power system based on cloud model

The comprehensive evaluation of the performance parameters of the mobile welding robot driven by the fuel cell hybrid power system is beneficial to optimizing the energy efficiency and control performance of the system. However, few studies have paid attention to this aspect. Rough analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight method are used to calculate the weight of the evaluation index. Cloud model is used to synthesize all evaluation indicators to determine the status level. First, the golden section method is used to determine the evaluation criteria, and through cloud model, the evaluation criteria and measured parameters of the single evaluation index are transformed into corresponding evaluation reference clouds and evaluation clouds. Second, the weight of the evaluation index is determined by the method of the rough analytic hierarchy process, and the method of the entropy weight is used to revise the method of the rough analytic hierarchy process. The single evaluation reference cloud and evaluation cloud are aggregated to get the comprehensive evaluation reference cloud, and the comprehensive evaluation of the reference cloud is carried out. The evaluation cloud for each evaluation cycle. Finally, according to the correlation between the comprehensive evaluation cloud and the comprehensive evaluation standard cloud, the performance level of each evaluation cycle is determined. In this paper, the randomness and fuzziness of the qualitative concepts are solved by using the characteristics of the cloud model. Combined with rough analytic hierarchy process, the objectivity of the data is maintained and the advantages of the expert evaluation are enhanced. The validity of the model is verified by comparing the existing methods. These studies evaluate and classify the real-time status of the fuel cell robot, and provide a basis for the performance optimization and energy optimization of the hybrid power system controllers.

Understanding the Patient Perception of Statin Experience: A Qualitative Study.

IntroductionStatin intolerance (SI) occurs in patients with dyslipidemia treated with statins. Statin-associated symptoms have been reported, but the overall patient experience is poorly understood. No instruments are available to collect this patient experience. Our aim is to develop a patient survey to define SI from the patient’s perspective, inform clinical practice, and identify potential patient characteristics and barriers associated with discontinuing treatment when statin-related difficulties are encountered.MethodsWe conducted qualitative concept elicitation interviews with 65 patients across 12 European study sites. A semi-structured qualitative interview guide was developed based on literature review and clinician interviews. Concept elicitation interviews with patients were used to describe the patient experience and develop the conceptual framework for the survey.ResultsSymptoms experienced by patients included muscle and non-muscle-related pain and discomfort; other muscle-related symptoms; gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, cold-like, fatigue-related, and sensory and systems symptoms; mood changes; and cognitive and memory problems. Impacts included limitations on general physical functioning; physical activities; social functioning; emotional impacts; sleep disturbances; decreased productivity; and increased healthcare use. Conceptual framework elements to support survey goals include demographic and clinical characteristics, health information and beliefs, statin side-effect history, symptom severity, and impact severity.ConclusionsSymptoms and impacts described by patients showed a wider range of symptoms and impacts than usually discussed clinically. The patient survey is designed to capture information from patients who experience difficulties with statin therapy and may be useful in identifying patients who are at higher risk for giving up or discontinuing their treatment.FundingAmgen Inc.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12325-019-01073-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Survey on cloud model based similarity measure of uncertain concepts

It is a basic task to measure the similarity between two uncertain concepts in many real-life artificial intelligence applications, such as image retrieval, collaborative filtering, public opinion guidance, and so on. As an important cognitive computing model, cloud model has been used in many fields of artificial intelligence. It can realise the bidirectional cognitive transformation between qualitative concept and quantitative data based on the theory of probability and fuzzy set. The similarity measure of two uncertain concepts is a fundamental issue in cloud model theory. Popular similarity measure methods of cloud model are surveyed in this study. Their limitations are analysed in detail. Some related future research topics are proposed.

Visualization of knowledge map for monitoring knowledge diagnoses

In order to evaluate the level of knowledge acquired by students, this study presents the contents of the students’ knowledge using a proposed novel method to monitor a knowledge map and to diagnose them. To do so, we propose a method to improve the accuracy of diagnoses by comparing the level of the surrounding knowledge related to the knowledge, rather than the level of the knowledge itself, to correct the evaluation value. Moreover, in visualizing the relationship between knowledge objects based on knowledge evaluation data using an ontological structure, the Deep Sparse Neural Network model of deep learning is applied, and the map is regarded as one neural network and is proposed to express the quantitative value using the weight instead of the qualitative concept of ontology. The proposed knowledge map visualization can monitor the relationship and relevance (weight) of the related knowledge level at a glance, so that it is possible to intuitively grasp the result with the quantitative knowledge diagnosis and to improve the efficiency of knowledge evaluation and the accurate evaluation of knowledge diagnoses.

Supportability Evaluation of Radar Equipment Based on Cloud Model and Improved RS-G1

In the context that factors affecting the supportability of radar equipment are numerous and of diverse dimensions, the existing index systems of supportability evaluation of radar equipment can hardly satisfy the continuously improving requirements of radar equipment support. First, aiming at the problem of transformation between quantitative description and qualitative concept, this paper converts the evaluation index set into an evaluation cloud model based on the cloud theory, generates the digital characteristics of the cloud model of the expert scoring by using the reverse cloud generator and the supportable comprehensive evaluation cloud drop chart of radar equipment by using forward cloud generator. Second, to make up for the shortcomings of the existing single weighting method, the Rough Set (RS) weighting method is improved with the introduction of the Order Relationship Analysis method (G1). Then this paper proposes the RS-G1 synthetic weighting method, and designs radar equipment supportability cloud evaluation based on this method. In the end, example shows that this method can evaluate the supportability level of radar equipment scientifically and effectively.

FIQIH RATIONAL ABOUT ZAKAT AND IN GRANTS COMPILATION OF SHARIA ECONOMIC LAW (KHES)

This study aims to determine the rational fiqh about zakat and grants in the Compilation of Sharia Economic Law (KHES). This research method uses a qualitative concept, with a normative juridical approach in concreto and legal synchronization, while the Risert library research type (literature) and data analysis techniques use the contents analysis method with the benefit of measuring instruments. The result is that zakat and grants have an important role in life berketuhanan, community and state, in the science of fiqh propulsion has maqashid hifzu al-Maal (memlihara treasure) for the sanctity of property, the soul also keep the despicable nature for the benefit of the afterlife, so that the sacred property of property other people. Zakat and grants are compulsory logging and circumcision, both of which are dimensions of good deeds, namely the dimensions of worship, social and economic. Awareness of the ummah in performing zakat, as well as the idolatry that is given to the authorized institution to manage and distribute it, while implementing regulations as a provision in accordance with KHES Article 684 that the State has the right to withdraw zakat and penalties for people who are reluctant to pay zakat, this can improve economic welfare the ummah and significantly reduce poverty.

The Effects of a Knowledge Management Skill Development Program (KMSDP) on the Holistic Health Promotion Knowledge Management Behaviors of Muslim Women Leaders

Background: Women have high average life spans and live longer than men. In Thai-Muslim society, women have the role of caring and promoting the health of everyone in their family, such as preparing food, raising the children, and taking care sick persons so they are required to be leaders for promoting health in the family. Objectives: To develop a KMSDP and to study the effects of using a KMSDP for knowledge management behaviors regarding holistic health promotion by Muslim women leaders Methods: This research is of an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The researcher analyzed the qualitative data and SECI concept to develop the KMSDP. The quantitative data were applied to test the program using a pre-test and post-test design. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n=35). Descriptive statistics and independent t-test were used for the data analyses. Results: The qualitative findings indicated three themes applied to create the program: 1) To be in accordance with the Muslim way of life; 2) To conform to rubric religious principle; and 3) To agree with family leaders. As for the effects of the KMSDP on the holistic health promotion knowledge management behaviors, it was found that the post-test mean scores for knowledge, management, and skills were higher than those for the pre-test mean scores at a statistical significance level of .001. Conclusion: Healthcare providers, proactively promoting health in the Muslim community, can apply this program to develop Muslim women leaders for holistic health promotion.

Bidirectional Cognitive Computing Model for Uncertain Concepts

Most intelligent computing models are inspired by various human/natural/social intelligence mechanisms during the past 60 years. Achievements of cognitive science could give much inspiration to artificial intelligence. Cognitive computing is one of the core fields of artificial intelligence. It aims to develop a coherent, unified, universal mechanism inspired by human mind’s capabilities. It is one of the most critical tasks for artificial intelligence researchers to develop advanced cognitive computing models. The human cognition has been researched in many fields. Some uncertain theories are briefly analyzed from the perspective of cognition based on concepts. In classical intelligent information systems, original data are collected from environment at first; usually, useful information is extracted through analyzing the input data then, it is used to solve some problem at last. There is a common characteristic between traditional machine learning, data mining, and knowledge discovery models. That is, knowledge is always transformation from data. From the point of view of granular computing, it is a unidirectional transformation from finer granularity to coarser granularity. Inspired by human’s granular thinking and the cognition law of “global precedence”, the human cognition process is from coarser granularity to finer granularity. Generally speaking, concepts (information and knowledge) in a higher granularity layer would be more uncertain than the ones in a lower granularity layer. A concept in a higher granularity layer would be the abstraction of some objects (data or concepts in a lower granularity layer). Obviously, there is a contradiction between the unidirectional transformation mechanism “from finer granularity to coarser granularity” of traditional intelligent information systems with the global precedence law of human cognition. That is, the human cognition are different the computer cognition for uncertain concept. The human cognition for knowledge (or concept) is based on the intension of concept, while the computing of computer (or machine) is based on the extension. In order to integrate the human cognition of “from coarser to finer” and the computer’s information processing of “from finer to coarser”, a new cognitive computing model, bidirectional cognitive computing model between the intension and extension of uncertain concepts, is proposed. The purpose of the paper is to establish the relationship between the human brain computing mode (computing based on intension of concept) and the machine computing mode (computing based on extension of concept) through the way of computation. The cloud model theory as a new cognition model for uncertainty proposed by Li in 1995 based on probability theory and fuzzy set theory, which provides a way to realize the bidirectional cognitive transformation between qualitative concept and quantitative data—forward cloud transformation and backward cloud transformation. Inspired by the cloud model theory, the realization of the bidirectional cognitive computing process in the proposed method is that the forward cloud transformation algorithm can be used to realize the cognitive transformation from intension to extension of concept, while the backward cloud transformation algorithm is to realize the cognitive transformation from extension to intension. In other words, the forward cloud transformation is a converter “from coarser to finer”, and the backward cloud transformation is a converter “from finer to coarser”. Taking some uncertain concepts as cognitive unit of simulation, several simulation experiments of the bidirectional cognition computing process are implemented in order to simulate the human cognitive process, such as cognition computing process for an uncertain concept with fixed samples, cognition computing process of dynamically giving examples, and cognition computing process of passing a concept among people. These experiment results show the validity and efficiency of the bidirectional cognitive computing model for cognition study.

Migrationsverwaltungsrecht zwischen Beschleunigung und Effizienz

Migration law between acceleration and efficiency Efficiency and speed of decision making have been a recurrent theme of German administrative law reform since the 1970 s. Although migration law has long been the subject of acceleration efforts, this occurred largely outside the general efficiency discourse. In an effort to connect these two strands, this article first retraces the trends that the administrative efficiency discourse has undergone since the 1970 s and points out how the sectors of law driving it – environmental law, emission control, and economic regulation – as well as an economic paradigm have promoted an truncated understanding of efficiency as mere acceleration. In a second step, it shows that while the devaluation of procedure in the interest of speed does align with a German focus on subsequent judicial review, it neither does justice to the relevance of the procedure to the realization of fundamental rights, not to its specific performances: the development of substantive requirements, transparency, participation, legitimacy. Asylum law in particular has experienced a surge of acceleration measures since 2015, pushed by the consulting firm McKinsey. But its existential relevance for protection seekers and the particular dependency of the right to asylum on the asylum procedure require an especially rigorous examination. An efficiency concept geared merely toward acceleration cannot do justice to these specific challenges, as the McKinsey measures have demonstrated; the burden has simply been shifted on the courts. In its last part, this article therefore proposes a qualitative efficiency concept that bears in mind the entirety of the functions of the administrative procedure, takes into account the different requirements of the procedure in different sectors of law, and does not lose sight of the reciprocity between administrative and judicial procedure. Meanwhile, pilot studies from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany show that a qualitatively efficient asylum procedure is not necessarily a slower or more costly procedure.

Conceptual Model to Illustrate the Symptom Experience and Humanistic Burden Associated With Atopic Dermatitis in Adults and Adolescents.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a pruritic or painful dermatologic disease characterized by xerosis and eczema lesions. The symptoms/signs of AD can significantly impact patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to qualitatively explore the adult and adolescent experience of AD. A targeted literature review and qualitative concept elicitation interviews with clinicians (n = 5), adult AD patients (n = 28), and adolescent AD patients (n = 20) were conducted to elicit AD signs/symptoms and HRQoL impacts experienced. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Twenty-nine symptoms/signs of AD were reported, including pruritus, pain, erythema, and xerosis. Atopic dermatitis symptoms/signs were reported to substantially impact HRQoL. Scratching was reported to influence the experience of symptoms and HRQoL impacts. Four proximal impacts (including discomfort and sleep disturbance) were reported. Ten domains of distal impact were reported, including impacts on psychological and social functioning and activities of daily living. A conceptual model was developed to summarize these findings. This study highlights the range of symptoms and HRQoL impacts experienced by adults and adolescents with AD. To our knowledge, this study was first to explore the lived experience of AD in both adult and adolescent patients, providing valuable insight into the relatively unexplored adolescent experience of AD.

Between natural and human sciences: On the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology

Prominent voices in archeology have expressed deep skepticism about the role of theory in archeology, while with new, exciting methods at its disposal, archeological science is occasionally perceived as not needing theory at all. This article reflects upon the debate about theory in archeology to arrive at a robust but critical middle-range concept of the role and character of theory in socio-environmental archeology. It is argued that archeology is a data-based science and, consequently, in order for theory to be meaningful in socio-environmental archeology, theory ought explicitly aim to make its qualitative concepts quantitative to establish a clear relation to data and its interpretation. On the turn side, theory plays an important role critically reflecting upon the use of concepts in archeological understanding and explanation, as well as their origins in particular paradigms, as examples of which certain debates in scientific archeology are discussed (aDNA and migration, evolutionism). We argue that such a model would serve archeology far more than the dismissal of theory on the one hand and the continued production of ‘high’ theory in absence of operationalization on the other.

Theoretical Explanation of Warm and Cold Gastric Dystemperament in Iranian Traditional Medicine :A Hybrid Concept Analysis

Background: Gastrointestinal diseases are a major source of mortality and impose high cost in the United States. The stomach is a hollow muscular bag which begins the second stage of digestion. The whole consumed food first passes through this organ, so it is the most important part of the digestive system .Traditional and complementary medicine have always been considered for the selection of new therapies. Iranian traditional medicine is one of the traditional medicine systems whose history dates back to thousands of years ago. In the ITM scientific field which is based on temperament (Mizaj), the gastrointestinal tract, especially the stomach, is of particular importance. Objective: This study is aimed at understanding the concept using the qualitative method and hybrid concept analysis, which collect qualitative data. Method: This study investigates the stomach-related concepts by studying the books and reviewing the views of the professors and experts in this field and patients' experiences. Results: The concept of cold and warm gastric dystemperament was extracted. After the implementation and review of the interview with ITM professors and experts, this concept were out reached. Conclusion: In this study, the concept of cold and warm gastric dystemperaments has been gathered from Iranian traditional medicine books and the opinions of experts and patients' experiences so that we could offer it as an acceptable questionnaire in the future by investigating its validity and reliability for quick and better diagnosis of gastric dystemperaments.

The Importance of Patients' Perceptions of Technology: Reminders for Nursing Care Delivery.

This study investigates hospitalized patients' perceptions of nurses' use of technology in care delivery and provides an overview of the professional debate regarding high-touch versus high-technology nursing practice. A mixed-methods qualitative study combined concepts from phenomenology and narrative analysis to allow the nurse researcher to engage with the patient to solicit patient stories. This approach acknowledges the researcher's role as a nurse, which cannot be fully eliminated from the patient stories and analysis of their experiences. The combined methodology also focuses on a phenomenological approach that uses a semistructured interview as a mechanism to gather data specific to questions about the patients' perspective of the influence of technology on patient care. Five main themes were identified from patient interviews: Noise/Lack of Sleep, Emotional/Patient Engagement, Individualized Care, Patient and Nurse Knowledge Levels (related to technology), and the Benefits/Challenges of Care (related to technology). Nurses are missing opportunities to improve their practice and the quality of patient care when using technology as an adjunct to care delivery. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2019;50(6):263-267.].

Multistage decision support framework for sites selection of solar power plants with probabilistic linguistic information

Energy consumption is constantly improving due to the increasing development of community economy and material living standards. Solar energy is the first green energy, and its unique advantage is of great importance in solving the energy crisis and environmental degradation. Furthermore, selecting appropriate locations is necessary to take full advantages of solar energy. This study intends to set up a multistage decision support framework for sites selection of solar power plants with probabilistic linguistic (PL) information. The proposed framework considers not only the disposal of linguistic information but also the interrelationships among criteria. A probabilistic linguistic term set (PLTS) is used to deal with a large volume of linguistic evaluation information. Then, probabilistic linguistic normal cloud (PLNC) is proposed to transform qualitative concepts into quantitative values so as to handle PLTS effectively and reduce information loss and distortion. A new distance measure that connects a Heronian mean (HM) operator with distance measure is also presented. An improved maximizing deviation method is introduced on the basis of this new model to deal with the interrelationships among criteria. In addition, a ranking method VlseKriterijumska optimizacija I Kompromisno (VIKOR) which considers the maximum utility of a group and the minimum regret value of individuals is proposed. Next, the proposed framework is successfully implemented in a case study. Results show that Gansu and Xinjiang are more suitable locations for building solar power plants. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to explore the change in ranking order due to variations in parameters. The proposed assessment model is then compared with the extant methods to deal with PL information and thereby certify its effectiveness, feasibility and advantages. Ultimately, the policy recommendations and contributions of this article are laid out.

A Study of the Effects of Enhanced Uniformity Control of Greenhouse Environment Variables on Crop Growth

In order to ensure high crop yield and good quality in greenhouse horticulture, the major environment control variables, such as temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration, etc., need to be controlled properly, in order to reduce harmful effects on crop growth by minimizing the fluctuation of the thermal condition. Even though a hot water-based heating system is evidently superior to a hot air-based heating system, in terms of the thermally stable condition or energy saving, a hot air-based heating system has occupied the domestic market due to its economic efficiency from an initial investment cost saving. However, the intrinsic drawbacks of a hot air-based heating system, being more frequent variation of thermal variables and an inordinate disturbance on crops due to its convective heat delivery nature, are believed to be the main reasons for the insufficient crop yield and/or the quality deterioration. In addition, the current thermal environment monitoring system in a greenhouse, in which a sole sensor node usually covers a large part of cultivating area, seems to have a profound need of improvement in order to resolve those problems, in that the assumption of thermal uniform condition, which is adequate for a sole sensor node system, cannot be ensured in some cases. In this study, the qualitative concept of the new control variable—the degree of uniformity—is suggested as an indicator to seek ways of enhancing the crop yield and its quality based on the multiple sensor nodes system with a wireless sensor network. In contrast to a conventional monitoring system, for which a newly suggested concept of qualitative variable cannot be estimated at all, the multiple sensor nodes-based thermal monitoring system can provide more accurate and precise sensing, which enables the degree of uniformity to be checked in real-time and thus more precise control becomes possible as a consequence. From the analysis of the results of the experiment and simulation, it is found that the crops in plastic vinyl houses can be exposed to a serious level of non-uniform thermal condition. For instance, the temperature difference in the longitudinal and widthwise direction is 3.0 °C and 6.5 °C, respectively for the case of 75 × 8 m dimension greenhouse during a typical winter season, and it can be hypothesized that this level of non-uniformity might cause considerable damage to crop growth. In this paper, several variants of control systems, within the framework of the multiple sensor nodes system, is proposed to provide a more thermally-stable cultivating environment and the experimental verification is carried out for different scales of test greenhouses. The results showed that a simple change of heating mode (i.e., from a hot air- to a hot water-based heating system) can bring about a significant improvement for the non-uniformity of temperature (more or less 80%), and an additional countermeasure, with local heat flux control, can lead to a supplementary cut of non-uniformity up to 90%. Among the several variants of local heat flux control systems, the hydraulic proportional mass flow control valve system was proven to represent the best performance, and it can be hypothesized that the newly suggested qualitative variable—the degree of uniformity—with the multiple sensor nodes system can be a good alternative for seeking enhanced cultivating performance, being higher crop yield and better quality along with energy cost saving.

A Functional Resonance Analysis Method Driven Resilience Quantification for Socio-Technical Systems

Due to the continuous increment in complexity of the socio-technical systems, decision makers call for new methods which are able to support timely as well as accurate decision-making related to resilience management. The current methods tend to be polarized on: efficiency-thoroughness forcing decision makers in making decisions on the base of resource availability instead of the problem to be solved. This paper presents a new fast-forward, cost-effective, and thorough enough framework to quantify resilience of a complex socio-technical system. The approach extends the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) with a numerical method for the quantification of the analysis (Q-FRAM). In particular, it has been extended and operationalized the qualitative concepts of functional variability and dumping capacities into a method in which key performance indicators are derived from the model and aggregated into four indicators representing the FRAM resilience cornerstones (anticipate, respond, monitor, learn) through a bottom-up hierarchical approach. Finally, the four indicators are composed in a unique system resilience index that expresses the total variability present in the system at instant t . A numerical example of the use of the framework is provided together with a validation based on a comparison of the proposed approach with the current landscape.

PGI19 A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR ADULT ULCERATIVE COLITIS PATIENTS

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms including rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and increased number of bowel movements. Regulatory bodies encourage the use of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) in UC, understanding that certain unobservable concepts can only be measured via PRO. A conceptual model was created to highlight concepts of importance to UC patients and inform PRO measurement. Qualitative concept elicitation interviews (N=43), that supported the development of the Ulcerative Colitis Patient-Reported Outcomes (UC-PRO), were conducted with adult UC patients with intact colons until saturation was reached. Real world data (RWD) was analyzed from a Disease Specific Program with data from 101 Gastroenterologists and 688 UC patients. This was used to determine the most commonly used therapies, side effects, administration procedure considerations, and treatment consequences. A targeted literature search was then conducted on qualitative and PRO literature to better understand caregiver impact, with final concepts selected by frequency of occurrence and importance to patients. The model was divided into treatment and disease sections, as seen in a previous Crohn’s disease model. Treatment-related information gathered from RWD was connected to the disease section. The disease portion contains 2 symptom domains (GI and extraintestinal) and 6 disease impact domains (daily activities, physical functioning, work productivity, social functioning, emotional functioning, and sexual functioning), aggregating information from qualitative interviews. Treatment and disease aspects were linked to caregiver impact to provide a single conceptual model. There are numerous symptoms and impacts for this patient population. A comprehensive PRO measurement strategy including a disease-specific measure of symptoms such as the UC-PRO and a measure of impacts such as a productivity questionnaire may be needed to fully capture the impact of disease and treatment from the patient’s perspective.

Some Maclaurin Symmetric Mean Aggregation Operators Based on Cloud Model and Their Application to Decision-Making

The cloud model (CM) is an important tool to describe qualitative concept by the quantitative method, and the Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) can capture the interrelationship among the multi-inputs and it can generalize most of existing operators. In this paper, we firstly convert the uncertain linguistic variables (ULVs), which are easily used to express the qualitative information, to CM. Then, we combine the MSM with the CM, and propose the cloud MSM (CMSM) operator and cloud weighted MSM (CWMSM) operator. In addition, we explore some of their desirable features and develop a new approach to deal with some multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problems under the uncertain environment based on the proposed operators. Finally, by comparing with other approaches, an illustrative example is arranged to demonstrate the usability of the proposed method.

Managing Women With Obesity in Pregnancy: Scope of Practice in the Wake of the Obesity Epidemic [23N

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a complex chronic disease affecting increasing numbers of reproductive aged women. Despite ongoing research efforts, many knowledge gaps remain when caring for women with obesity in pregnancy. Currently, there is no clearly defined, comprehensive standard of care for pregnant women with obesity. Consequently, obstetrical care providers have developed different approaches. In this study, we explored these approaches and how management of women with obesity differs from that of normal weight patients. METHODS: Qualitative concept maps were generated through individual in-depth mapping sessions with obstetricians (n=7) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Concept maps were analyzed thematically and major themes and sub-themes used to inform survey development. Institutional ethics approval was obtained. RESULTS: Overall, seven dominant themes emerged from our thematic analysis: 1) Obstetricians define obesity differently; 2) Communication with patients with obesity should be “direct” and “honest”; 3) Understanding fetal wellbeing is more challenging in patients with obesity in both the pre-natal and intra-partum period; 4) Obstetricians recommend induction of labor for large for gestational age fetuses but not maternal obesity; 5) Women with obesity have abnormal labor; 6) Obstetricians expect more complications, alter their surgical approach, and adjust their threshold for Cesarean deliveries in patients with obesity; and 7) Education and knowledge translation about obesity in pregnancy is inadequate. CONCLUSION: Concept mapping provided insights into how present-day obstetrical care is affected by obesity. This information has led to the development of a quantitative survey for obstetricians that will more broadly assess practice patterns for the management of women with obesity in pregnancy.

An uncertain target-oriented QFD approach to service design based on service standardization with an application to bank window service

This article proposes an uncertain target-oriented QFD approach to service standardization-based service design with an application to bank window service, based on a probabilistic interpretation of weighting information. On the one hand, the proposed approach performs computations solely based on the order-based semantics of linguistic labels and comparisons of linguistic profiles, without needing to quantify the qualitative concepts. It can thus guarantee the robustness of QFD and easy of use in practice. On the other hand, the proposed approach sets uncertain targets for customer needs (WHATs) and service standards (HOWs) by competitors’ uncertain service performance on WHATs and HOWs, and conducts satisfactory-oriented competitive analysis from the perspective of uncertain target-oriented decision analysis. Moreover, the proposed approach is applied to an empirical case study of window service design based on service standardization in the Shanghai Branch of Bank JT. The results show that the bank should pay more attention to “Service specifications”, “Service providing specifications”, and “Service evaluation and improvement standards”. Industry feedback shows that the results are consistent with service acceptance and provide valuable insights to the service standardization in the bank. Comparisons with existing studies show that our proposed approach is comparable with existing studies.