Priority Ranking Research Articles

Geospatial Analysis for Tectonic Assessment and Soil Erosion Prioritization: A Case Study of Wadi Al-Lith, Red Sea Coast, Saudi Arabia

An investigation into tectonics and erosion reveals that they play an important role in causing uplifting, valley incision, and soil erosion. The analysis of drainage basins at different scales is irreplaceable in the development of sustainable plans, particularly in arid regions. Morphotectonics and morphometric characterization analyses are very effective methods for defining the evolution of different landforms, current-day tectonic activity, and hydrological and morphological signatures of basins under investigation. The reorganization of critical drainage basins and sub-basin risk priority ranking are essential for effective and accurate sustainable plans for drainage basin management and water resources. In this study, the coupling of geospatial techniques and statistical strategies was used to examine the tectonic activity and priorities in terms of soil erosion for 15 sub-basins of Wadi Al-Lith along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Two effective models, namely, the relative tectonic activity model and the weighted sum analysis model, were applied for examining each geomorphological and hydrological characteristic based on an analysis of the morphotectonics and morphometric parameters. Regarding the relative tectonic activity model, the 15 sub-basins were classified into three classes of tectonic activity: low, moderate, and high. Sub-basins 5, 6, 13, and 15 were considered to be in class 1 (high relative tectonic activity). On the other hand, the weighted sum analysis model assigned the sub-basins into three different ranks: low-, moderate-, and high-soil-erosion priorities. The current study’s results suggest that sub-basins 5, 6, 10, 13, and 15 were recorded within the high-soil-erosion zone and highly relative tectonic activity, covering approximately 53.52% of the total sub-basin areas. The relative tectonic activity and weighted sum analysis models proved their validity in the risk studies, which will be very useful for decision makers in various fields, including natural resources and agriculture.

Selection of the Most Effective Augmented Reality Application for English Education

Efforts to take advantage of the opportunities offered by advancing information technologies to make the process of learning and teaching English more effective are increasing every day. One of the information technologies that has begun to be used in different fields of education and whose popularity is increasing day by day is Augmented Reality (AR) technology. This study aims to provide information about the general concept of AR technologies, to identify the application areas and examples of AR technology in education and English education, to identify and classify the difficulties encountered in teaching English, to make recommendations for AR technology applications that can solve the difficulties identified in English teaching, to present the priority rankings and importance levels of the identified difficulties, and to decide on the most effective AR technology application that can solve the identified difficulties. In the scope of the study, the difficulties encountered in teaching English are divided into four different classes: difficulties arising from students, education system, materials, and teachers. It has been determined that the difficulties arising from students have the most impact on teaching English. Among the nine solution proposals that could solve the problems in teaching English, the "virtual character wandering in the classroom" application has been identified as the most effective solution proposal. Since there are a limited number of studies on the use of AR in English education in the literature, it is expected that this study will fill the gap in the literature and will contribute to academicians and application developers, and be a source of inspiration for future research.

Patent bibliometrics in spinal deformity: the first bibliometric analysis of spinal deformity's technological literature.

Bibliometric analyses have gained popularity for studying scientific literature, but their application to evaluate technological literature (patents) remains unexplored. We conducted a bibliometric analysis on the top 100 most-cited patents in scoliosis surgery. Multiple databases were queried using The Lens to identify the top 100 scoliosis surgery patents, which were selected based on forward patent citations. These patents were then categorized into 8 groups based on technological descriptors and assessed based on various factors including earliest priority date, year issued, and expiration status. The top 100 most-cited patents included technology underlying anterolateral tethering and distraction systems (n = 11), posterior tethering and distraction systems (n = 23), posterior segmental bone anchor and rod engagement systems (n = 29), interbody devices (n = 10), biological and electrophysiological agents for scoliosis treatment and/or improved arthrodesis (n = 8), intraoperative arthroplasty devices (n = 5), orthotic devices (n = 12), and implantable devices for non-invasive, postoperative alterations of skeletal alignment (n = 2). Seventy-five patents were expired, 21 are still active, and 4 were listed as inactive. The late 1970s and early 2000s saw increased numbers of patent filings. Demonstrated trends showed no meaningful correlation between patent rank and earliest priority date (linear trendline y = 0.2648x - 477.27; R2 = 0.0114), while a very strong correlation was found between patent rank and citations per year (power trendline y = 118.82x--0.83; R2 = 0.8983). Patent bibliometric analyses in the field of spinal deformity surgery provide a means to assess past advancements, better understand what it takes to make a difference in the field, and to potentially facilitate the development of innovative technologies in the future. The method described is a reliable and reproducible technique for evaluating technological literature in our field.

Research on the problems and countermeasures of environmental design of rural residential areas based on deep learning model

Abstract This paper first starts by analyzing the environmental design problems of rural settlements and constructs an evaluation system of environmental design indicators of rural settlements based on the AHP-TOPSIS-POE model. Then the index weights are calculated by using the hierarchical analysis method, the priority ranking of index weights is realized by the TOPSIS method, and the feedback analysis of index evaluation is carried out based on POE theory. Finally, the validity of this paper’s index system is verified and analyzed with the example of a new rural construction and several rural residential area environmental design schemes. The results show that humanistic respect, square space and landscape greenery have weights of 0.5819, 0.5434 and 0.4463, respectively, in the environmental design of rural residential areas, and the index system can rank the advantages and disadvantages of environmental design solutions, and then provide effective environmental design solutions to improve villagers’ happiness.

A translational roadmap for transcranial magnetic and direct current stimulation in stroke rehabilitation: Consensus-based core recommendations from the third stroke recovery and rehabilitation roundtable

Background and Aims: The purpose of this Third Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR3) was to develop consensus recommendations to address outstanding barriers for the translation of preclinical and clinical research using the non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and provide a roadmap for the integration of these techniques into clinical practice. Methods: International NIBS and stroke recovery experts (N = 18) contributed to the consensus process. Using a nominal group technique, recommendations were reached via a five-stage process, involving a thematic survey, two priority ranking surveys, a literature review and an in-person meeting. Results and Conclusions: Results of our consensus process yielded five key evidence-based and feasibility barriers for the translation of preclinical and clinical NIBS research, which were formulated into five core consensus recommendations. Recommendations highlight an urgent need for (1) increased understanding of NIBS mechanisms, (2) improved methodological rigor in both preclinical and clinical NIBS studies, (3) standardization of outcome measures, (4) increased clinical relevance in preclinical animal models, and (5) greater optimization and individualization of NIBS protocols. To facilitate the implementation of these recommendations, the expert panel developed a new SRRR3 Unified NIBS Research Checklist. These recommendations represent a translational pathway for the use of NIBS in stroke rehabilitation research and practice.

Crowdsourcing priorities: a new participatory ex-ante framework for crop improvement

Demand-led approaches to crop breeding involve ranking priorities across different disciplines and stakeholder categories, but the implications of decisions made during varietal development are frequently understood only years later. Breeding teams must work a priori to rank crop improvement priorities and product concepts considering the context of the current, and ideally future, environmental, production and market conditions that a variety will be entering upon release. We propose PEEP (Participatory Ex-antE framework for Plant breeding), a new ex-ante framework, as a methodological tool for priority setting in plant breeding. PEEP leverages two elements: the usage of a heterodox methodological approach and the strong emphasis on the participation of knowledge-rich stakeholders. PEEP ranks crop improvement impacts based on a heterogenous set of environmental, social, and economic benefits and it employs a recursive and tailored multi-stakeholder approach to relate crop improvement impacts and product concepts. PEEP builds on the need to engage technical as well as practical knowledge and utilizes a tailored engagement strategy for each knowledge-rich stakeholder involved. The outcome is an assessment that ranks crop improvement impacts and breeding product concepts according to designed set of criteria. PEEP is scalable, gender inclusive, and crop agnostic. The results of PEEP are ex-ante recommendations for breeding teams in National Agriculture Research centers (NARs) and CGIAR centers alike. This methods manuscript describes the theoretical foundations of PEEP and its four phases of implementation.

밥상공동체종합사회복지관 활성화 방안 연구

This research aims to identify and prioritize factors to promote Bapsang Community Social Welfare Center. For this purpose, we adopt Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is the most widely used decision-making method. Four factors (Welfare Facilities, Programs, Exchange and Network-building, Support Policies) and 20 items were analyzed for priority, and the major findings are as follows. First, the four higher-order factors were ranked in priority in the order of: (1) Exchange and Network-building, (2) Support Policies, (3) Programs and (4) Welfare Facilities. Second, the overall priority rank of the items were: (1) Collaboration among the stakeholders (2) Greater policy support from the federal and local government (3) development and maintenance of Bapsang Community’s resources (4) Services that cater to individual member’s wants, (5) information exchange between the Babsang community and the administrative welfare centers. The academic implications of this research are that it identifies and prioritizes factors that have not been discussed in past literature as factors to promote Bapsang Community Welfare Center.

Accounting for the annual variability when assessing non-point source pollution potential in Mediterranean regulated watersheds

The characterization of non-point source pollution at the watershed scale difficult owing to its distributed nature combined with the lack of suitable measurements for validation. This study proposes the classification of land within a Mediterranean watershed according to its potential source of non-point pollution, considering interannual precipitation variability and dam regulation effects. For this purpose, the potential non-point pollution index (PNPI) developed by the Italian Environmental Protection Agency was modified to include annual local precipitation behavior, named local annual PNPI (APNPI). PNPI and APNPI were computed for the Guadalquivir River (Spain), which has a drainage surface of 57,500 km2 and is highly regulated by >60 reservoirs. The results reflect the vulnerability along the Guadalquivir River in terms of the spatially variable non-point pollutant nature of its contributing watersheds. The annual average nitrate concentration values on the southern side exceeded the average value on the northern side by almost five times and showed a statistically significant power fit with the PNPI, with an R2 of 0.65. Long-term available nitrate data (1981/82–2006/07) on a monthly scale at the outlets of some watersheds allowed us to rank priority pollutant source areas within the watershed. The power fits between the annual average nitrate loads and the APNPI (R2 = 0.51–0.99) were statistically significant, which validated the utility of adding the variability of precipitation at an annual scale as a dynamic factor in the index. The APNPI can constitute a simple dynamic classification index for assessing the relative risk of non-point source pollution across a large area, especially in data-scarce situations.

Analytic hierarchy process-based optimal load scheduling framework in an islanded distribution network

This paper proposes an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based optimal load scheduling (AOLS) framework in an islanded distribution network to schedule power among prioritized loads under limited generation conditions. The scheduling problem is solved in two stages: in the first stage, AHP is used to determine the priority ranking of loads by assigning weights that are calculated based on the relative importance of loads and their attributes; in the second stage, optimal load scheduling is implemented by minimizing the total cost of load curtailment, subjected to network constraints and security limits. The scheduling problem is solved in four different cases by varying the total power generation using General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) to supply power to the loads in the order of priority. Taking the modified IEEE 34 node distribution network as an example, a simulation study is performed to show that the total cost of load curtailment according to AOLS is 18.51%, 24.86%, 28.65%, and 31.54% less than that of optimal load scheduling framework with equal weightage to all loads (OLSEW) in cases 1, 2, 3 & 4, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed AOLS framework.

Shared travel demand forecasting and multi-phase vehicle relocation optimization for electric carsharing systems

ABSTRACT Electric shared mobility is flourishing in urban transportation. However, the problem of uneven vehicle distribution and untimely vehicle charging hampers user trip experience and system operation efficiency. To overcome these challenges, this study proposed a multi-phase vehicle relocation optimization approach for one-way station-based carsharing systems. In phase one, a micro-level shared travel demand forecasting model was developed to capture the number of orders in the short-term future. In phase two, stations were divided into different categories based on the results of user travel demand forecast. In phase three, the minimization of driving mileage and carbon emissions was taken as the optimization objective, and a solution method combining Gurobi solver and charging priority ranking was designed. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed model and algorithm were comprehensively validated through a case study using real passenger orders and geographic data from the city of Shanghai, China.

Automatic Extraction of Research Themes in Epidemiological Criminology From PubMed Abstracts From 1946 to 2020: Text Mining Study.

The emerging field of epidemiological criminology studies the intersection between public health and justice systems. To increase the value of and reduce waste in research activities in this area, it is important to perform transparent research priority setting considering the needs of research beneficiaries and end users along with a systematic assessment of the existing research activities to address gaps and harness opportunities. In this study, we aimed to examine published research outputs in epidemiological criminology to assess gaps between published outputs and current research priorities identified by prison stakeholders. A rule-based method was applied to 23,904 PubMed epidemiological criminology abstracts to extract the study determinants and outcomes (ie, "themes"). These were mapped against the research priorities identified by Australian prison stakeholders to assess the differences from research outputs. The income level of the affiliation country of the first authors was also identified to compare the ranking of research priorities in countries categorized by income levels. On an evaluation set of 100 abstracts, the identification of themes returned an F1-score of 90%, indicating reliable performance. More than 53.3% (11,927/22,361) of the articles had at least 1 extracted theme; the most common was substance use (1533/11,814, 12.97%), followed by HIV (1493/11,814, 12.64%). The infectious disease category (2949/11,814, 24.96%) was the most common research priority category, followed by mental health (2840/11,814, 24.04%) and alcohol and other drug use (2433/11,814, 20.59%). A comparison between the extracted themes and the stakeholder priorities showed an alignment for mental health, infectious diseases, and alcohol and other drug use. Although behavior- and juvenile-related themes were common, they did not feature as prison priorities. Most studies were conducted in high-income countries (10,083/11,814, 85.35%), while countries with the lowest income status focused half of their research on infectious diseases (47/91, 52%). The identification of research themes from PubMed epidemiological criminology research abstracts is possible through the application of a rule-based text mining method. The frequency of the investigated themes may reflect historical developments concerning disease prevalence, treatment advances, and the social understanding of illness and incarcerated populations. The differences between income status groups are likely to be explained by local health priorities and immediate health risks. Notable gaps between stakeholder research priorities and research outputs concerned themes that were more focused on social factors and systems and may reflect publication bias or self-publication selection, highlighting the need for further research on prison health services and the social determinants of health. Different jurisdictions, countries, and regions should undertake similar systematic and transparent research priority-setting processes.

Sewer networks monitoring through a topological backtracking

The interest in wastewater monitoring is always growing, with applications mainly aimed at detection of pollutants and at the environmental epidemiological surveillance. However, it often happens that the strategies proposed to manage these problems are inapplicable due to the lack of information on the hydraulics of the systems. To overcome this problem, the present paper develops and proposes a topological backtracking strategy for the optimal monitoring of sewer networks, which acts by subrogating the hydraulic information with the geometric ones, e.g., diameter and slope, thus not requiring any hydraulic simulation. The topological backtracking approach aims at evaluating an impact coefficient for each node of the network used to face with the problems of sensor location and network coverage for purposes related to the spread of contaminants and pathogens. Finally, the positioning of the sensors for each monitoring scheme is addressed by a priority rank, based on the efficiency of each sensor in terms of network coverage with respect to a specific weight (e.g., length, flow). The main goal is to design a monitoring scheme that provide the required coverage of the network by minimizing the number of sensors with respect to specific measurement threshold value.The results show the effectiveness of the strategy in supporting the optimal design with the topological-based backtracking approach without the necessity of performing hydraulic simulations, with great advantage in terms of required data and computational time.

Expert Agreement towards the Orang Asli Community Learning Center Model Based On the Local Environment: Analysis of the Fuzzy Delphi Method

The purpose of this study is to obtain the agreement and opinion of experts towards the framework of the Orang Asli Community Learning Center model based on the local environment. This study has used Fuzzy Delphi method as well as using a 7 Likert-scale to collect feedback from 11 experts in various fields of education at public universities in Malaysia. A total of 5 main elements and sub-item elements of the questionnaire were given to experts for evaluation. Data was analyzed using triangular fuzzy number and position (ranking) with each element of the model is determined using defuzzification process. The results of the analysis of expert agreement and consensus have been shows that the agreement value is at a good level. This shows the elements of The Community Learning Center model has received good expert approval. The elements are arranged according to the priority (ranking) that has been agreed by experts.

Information Security Awareness Raising Strategy Using Fuzzy AHP Method with HAIS-Q and ISO/IEC 27001:2013: A Case Study of XYZ Financial Institution

XYZ financial institution is a government institution that receives and processes transaction reports from banks and remittances, so its data classification is very confidential. However, during the Work from Home (WFH) policy in the Covid-19 pandemic, XYZ financial institution has received many spam/phishing attacks. Hence, this incident shows that some employees need an awareness of information security. The research offers a different Information Security Awareness (ISA) questionnaire using the Human Aspects of the Information Security Questionnaire (HAIS-Q) and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 as focus areas. The research uses the theory of Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior (KAB) to determine the dimensions that need improvement and priority ranking using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Furthermore, the research conducts a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to explore the root causes of employee behavior. The FGD results show that there are still employees who do not know about information security, such as password combinations and length, so limited knowledge affects employees’ attitudes and behaviors. The research results from 34 respondents show that the employees’ information security awareness level is in the moderate category (78.8%). They still need to increase their awareness of information security, especially in managing passwords, using email and the Internet, and reporting incidents. Recommendations have been prepared to improve the dimensions and areas that have yet to be categorized as good. In the future, the ISA questionnaire is expected to be used in other organizations.

Benchmarking quality characteristics for road-mapping sustainability of higher educational institutes and capping Indian portfolio

PurposeEducational policies, integrated practices, obliged strategies and notable benchmarks are always required by the higher educational institutions (HEIs) for operating business ventures into competent boundaries and to preside toward the overall new business density. The same are needed to be evaluated based on student's concerns for road-mapping sustainability. Accordingly, authors conducted present study to identify crucial quality characteristics (measures) under the origins of HEIs based on student's concerns using qualitative medium under Indian economy. The study is presenting critical dimensions and quality characteristics, which are seeking by the students for selecting HEIs for their studies.Design/methodology/approachKano integrated-Grey-VIKOR approach is utilized in present study for road-mapping sustainability based on the determination of priority index and ranking. The study utilized three segments of methodology, where in the first segment, Kano technique is implicated to define priority index of quality characteristics. In the second segment, grey sets theory is implicated to capture the perceptions of the respondents. In the third segment, VIKOR technique is implicate to rank the HEIs.FindingsThe findings of the study will assist administrators in planning the prominent strategies that can embrace performance traits under HEI, which in turn will participate in growth and development of an economy. The findings have revealed “PPCS, ICMC, TSTR, PICM, AFEP, IMIS as Attractive performance characteristics,” “IEAF, OIAR, INET as One dimensional performance characteristics,” “QTCS, PORE, SIRD as Must-be performance characteristics” and “PQPE, PCTM as Indifferent performance characteristics.” Additionally, “Professional and placement characteristics of institute” is found as the most significant measure inspiring students for admiring engineering institutes. It is found that “Observance of institutional affiliation and recognition” and “Infrastructure, classroom management and control methods” are found as the second significant measures. “Patterns of question papers and evaluation medium” and “Personal characteristics of teacher and management” are found as the least competent characteristics admiring stakeholders for selecting HEI.Originality/valueThe present study can assist administrators in drafting refined policies and strategies for practising quality outputs by HEI. The study suggested critical quality characteristics, which in respond will aid in attracting more number of students toward educational institutes. A study under Indian context is demonstrated for presenting critical facts and attaining higher student's enrolment rates.

PENENTUAN PRIORITAS PERBAIKAN JEMBATAN PADA JARINGAN JALAN PROVINSI JAWA TIMUR MENGGUNAKAN METODE INTEGRASI AHP-TOPSIS (Studi Kasus: Wilayah UPT. PJJ. Kediri)

Infrastructure plays an important role in terms of supporting the country’s development because it supports the people’s mobility to get around, thereby pushing economic growth. Bridges are infrastructure capable of controlling traffic flow so bridge maintenance is important to the economy run well. The problem is the current condition, post-pandemic, there has been an increase in mobility in several public spaces, requiring adequate facilities and infrastructure. However, the addition of bridge infrastructure is currently not a top priority because there is a reduction in the amount of the budget. This study aims to determine the priority of bridge repair by weighting criteria using the AHP method and ranking priorities using the TOPSIS method. The criteria used in determining bridge repair priorities are the condition value of the bridge, the degree of saturation value and the condition value of strategic areas. In this study, the respondents were from 10 bridge experts. The results of the AHP analysis show that the value of the condition of the bridge has a weight of 0,572, the value of the degree of saturation has a weight of 0,146 and the value of strategic areas has a weight of 0,282. All of these weights will be used as input in the preference calculation using the TOPSIS method. Based on the calculation results of the TOPSIS method it was concluded that the Kalipucung II Bridge has the highest priority in terms of bridge repair with a preference value of 0,992 while the lowest priority belongs to Koang Baru with a preference value of 0,046. There are two bridges with the same ranking, namely Sukerejo I and II with a preference value of 0,518.

Priority setting to support a public health research agenda: a modified Delphi study with public health stakeholders in Germany

BackgroundResearch priority setting (RPS) studies are necessary to close the significant gap between the scientific evidence produced and the evidence stakeholders need. Their findings can make resource allocation in research more efficient. However, no general framework for conducting an RPS study among public health stakeholders exists. RPS studies in public health are rare and no such study has been previously conducted and published in Germany. Therefore, we aimed to investigate which research topics in public health are prioritised by relevant stakeholders in Germany.MethodsOur RPS study consisted of a scoping stage and a Delphi stage each split into two rounds. Firstly, we invited members of the German Public Health Association to gather expert insights during two initial workshops. Next, we defined the relevant stakeholder groups and recruited respondents. Thereafter, we collected research topics and assessment criteria with the respondents in the first Delphi round and aggregated the responses through content analysis. Finally, we asked the respondents to rate the research topics with the assessment criteria in the second Delphi round.ResultsIn total, 94 out of the 140 invited public health organisations nominated 230 respondents for the Delphi study of whom almost 90% participated in both Delphi rounds. We compiled a comprehensive list of 76 research topics that were rated and ranked by several assessment criteria. We split the research topics into two types, substantive research topics and methodological-theoretical research topics respectively, to ensure the comparability among the research topics. In both types of research topics—substantive research topics and methodological-theoretical research topics—the respective top five ranked research topics hardly differed between public health researchers and public health practitioners. However, clear differences exist in the priority ranking of many (non-top priority) research topics between the stakeholder groups.ConclusionsThis research demonstrates that it is possible, with limited resources, to prioritise research topics for public health at the national level involving a wide range of pertinent stakeholders. The results can be used by research funding institutions to initiate calls for research projects with an increased relevance for health and/or scientific progress.

Exploring the practicality of circular economy through its associates: A case analysis-based approach

Until now, much of the research on the circular economy (CE) has focused on the theoretical aspects of the diffusion and adoption (D&A) of CE. In the vast CE literature, comprehension of the practicality of implementation of CE through the D&A of CE Principles, R-Strategies, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an integrated manner with CE associates was missing. Therefore, this study attempts to analyse the integrated approach of D&A in CE practises using the lenses of CE associates. This study addresses the gap by examining CE enterprises featured in yearbooks from Young Global Leaders Circular Economy (YGL CE) published in 2018 and 2019. The study drew inspiration from previous research on the associates of CE and their interactions. The study explored the prominent CE Principles, R-strategies, and SDGs traced from YGL CE documented cases. Besides, we explored the significance and interactions of associates identified and documented in the CE theoretical review study of 2010–2019 literature, focusing on their practical applications. The study analysed qualitative case data from 102 CE enterprises using the lenses of CE associates. Additionally, the study ranked CE associates in the order of their adoption to help practitioners identify the most or least adopted, besides diffused associates, that could be incorporated into their business models to gain a competitive advantage by offering consumers a new value proposition with tweaking. Multiple qualitative and quantitative statistical tools were applied, including Content Analysis and Weighted Average Priority Ranking. Finally, the study revealed that SDG 12, sustainable consumption and production, is the most prominent SDG, while Reduction and Recycling are the most prominent R-Strategy and Circulating products besides materials (at their highest value) is the most prominently adopted CE principle among enterprises. The study, at last, illustrated a comprehensive operational framework based on emerging trends and significant CE associates that practitioners can imbibe to create an equitable ecosystem for the transition to CE with insufficiently considered slow-moving five R-strategies, four CE business actions, and Raw material, Risk, and Barrier management.

RISK-ORIENTED MANAGEMENT OF PORTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONCESSION PROJECTS

The subject matter of research in the article is the models and methods of risk management in the process of implementing concession projects within the port activities. The goal of the work is to develop a risk management model for the implementation of concession projects in the port to improve the efficiency of port activities and ensure the competitiveness of port services. The following tasks are solved in the article: analysis of international and national experience in reforming the port industry, consideration of the essence of the project-oriented approach in port management, determination of the relevance of the implementation of public-private partnership projects on the example of concession projects in the port, analysis of risks arising from the project management of ports within the concession, identification of concession project stakeholders, proposal of a classification model for risk distribution among project stakeholders, prioritization of risks based on the probability of their occurrence, identification and significance of negative consequences, development of a risk assessment model for port production in concession projects. The following methods are used: project management methods, failure mode and effects analysis method, risk management theory, quality management methods. The following results were obtained: based on analytical research of the world and Ukrainian experience in the operation of transport hubs, it was proved that an effective mechanism for increasing the competitiveness of ports is the implementation of reform principles based on project management methodology. It has been established that the most common type of port activity improvement is the implementation of concession projects. It is noted that in the process of managing a concession project, certain risks arise that require assessment. The stakeholders of the concession project are identified and a classification model for the distribution of risks between them is proposed. A model of risk-based port management in concession projects has been developed based on the failure mode and effects analysis method taking into account the determination of the risk priority rank. Conclusions. To increase the competitiveness of ports, it is proposed to develop and implement concession projects in port activities based on the project management methodology, the implementation of which can increase the efficiency of port services. There are risks in the management of port activities within a concession project. It is proposed to distribute them among stakeholders and determine the probabilities of occurrence, identifying risks, assessing the significance of their impact on the quality of port services. Based on the proposed risk assessment model, taking into account the determination of the priority rank, it is shown that the greatest risk is associated with the implementation of customs formalities and the danger of the port water area.

Redefining Cancer Research Priorities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in the Post-COVID-19 Global Context: A Modified Delphi Consensus Process.

The post-COVID-19 funding landscape for cancer research globally has become increasingly challenging, particularly in resource-challenged regions (RCRs) lacking strong research ecosystems. We aimed to produce a list of priority areas for cancer research in countries with limited resources, informed by researchers and patients. Cancer experts in lower-resource health care systems (as defined by the World Bank as low- and middle-income countries; N = 151) were contacted to participate in a modified consensus-seeking Delphi survey, comprising two rounds. In round 1, participants (n = 69) rated predetermined areas of potential research priority (ARPs) for importance and suggested missing ARPs. In round 2, the same participants (n = 49) rated an integrated list of predetermined and suggested ARPs from round 1, then undertook a forced choice priority ranking exercise. Composite voting scores (T-scores) were used to rank the ARPs. Importance ratings were summarized descriptively. Findings were discussed with international patient advocacy organization representatives. The top ARP was research into strategies adapting guidelines or treatment strategies in line with available resources (particularly systemic therapy) (T = 83). Others included cancer registries (T = 62); prevention (T = 52); end-of-life care (T = 53); and value-based and affordable care (T = 51). The top COVID-19/cancer ARP was strategies to incorporate what has been learned during the pandemic that can be maintained posteriorly (T = 36). Others included treatment schedule interruption (T = 24); cost-effective reduction of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality (T = 19); and pandemic preparedness (T = 18). Areas of strategic priority favored by cancer researchers in RCRs are related to adaptive treatment guidelines; sustainable implementation of cancer registries; prevention strategies; value-based and affordable cancer care; investments in research capacity building; epidemiologic work on local risk factors for cancer; and combatting inequities of prevention and care access.