Rationale For Decisions Research Articles

Situational Leadership's Role in Shaping Teacher Autonomy Support in Tongren City, China

This study investigates the relationship between school leaders' situational leadership practices and the autonomy support afforded to teachers. The profile of respondents includes a diverse group of teachers varying in sex, years of service, and highest educational attainment. The assessment of situational leadership practices reveals that these practices are generally perceived as effectively implemented. Differences in the assessment based on sex, length of service, and educational attainment were found to be statistically insignificant. Teachers' perceptions of autonomy support were also generally positive, particularly in areas such as responsive teaching and providing rationale, although there is room for improvement in minimizing control and pressure. There are not significant differences found in the perceived autonomy support based on sex, length of service, or educational attainment. The correlation analysis shows a nuanced relationship between situational leadership practices and autonomy support. The study concludes that while overall situational leadership practices do not significantly correlate with general autonomy support, specific practices can influence certain dimensions of autonomy. Recommendations include improving communication, fostering a supportive environment, increasing opportunities for teacher autonomy, and providing clear rationales for decisions. These insights aim to enhance leadership development programs and contribute to creating a more empowering educational environment for teachers.

The challenges of being imperfect: how do judges and prosecutors deal with sentencing disparity.

Legal decision-making aspires to be objective, a principle regarded as foundational to justice, public trust, and the legitimacy of legal outcomes. However, this ideal is often challenged by the reality of human judgment, which is influenced by subjective factors such as emotions, biases, and varying cognitive strategies. This paper investigates the psychological challenges faced by legal professionals in the context of sentencing, drawing on data from studies involving judges and prosecutors in Slovenia. Through workshops, interviews, and focus groups, the research highlights substantial inconsistencies in sentencing practices, even for similar offences. These disparities reveal the limits of objectivity within the judicial process, prompting legal professionals to reflect on the systemic and individual factors driving variability. The analysis focuses on how judges and prosecutors react to these discrepancies, examining a range of emotional and psychological responses-including the rationalization of decisions, the pursuit of consistency through personal "sentencing codes," and reliance on collegial input to cope with the absence of formal guidelines. The analysis draws on concepts from cognitive dissonance theory, deliberate ignorance, emotional labour, and personality types to explore how professionals reconcile the ideal of objectivity with the imperfections of human judgment. It highlights the profound emotional toll that discrepancies in sentencing can take on decision-makers and how these emotional reactions influence their professional identity and approach to justice. By contextualising these findings within the sociology of emotions, this paper emphasises how the emotional realities of legal professionals shape their responses to perceived failures and impact their capacity to deliver justice. Ultimately, this study aims to foster a deeper understanding of the human aspects of judicial decision-making, underscoring the need for systemic reforms to mitigate disparities, provide support, and promote consistency in sentencing practices.

A methodology for deciding on well seal options for abandonment

The energy transition to achieve net zero anthropogenic CO 2 emissions will require permanently sealing and abandoning wells or boreholes drilled for many different purposes, including: underground CO 2 storage; hydrogen storage; geothermal energy extraction; site characterization for radioactive waste repositories; and hydrocarbon extraction. It is necessary to objectively decide what sealing materials, combination of materials and methods of emplacement are optimal for a given well sealing project, taking into account the properties of lithologies penetrated, the physical and geochemical conditions around the well, the geometry of the well, and characteristics of well engineering. A workflow that would allow for a structured approach to designing well seals during well decommissioning and a set of complementary tools that will enable an informed, structured, transparent and traceable process for designing a well decommissioning sealing solution for a particular well in a given geological environment is presented in this paper. The tools include: (1) a database of Features Events and Processes; (2) a decision tree for evaluating different well sealing options and for documenting the rationale for decisions; (3) an approach for comparing options using multiple decision trees; (4) and a suite of simplified numerical models to inform judgements.

Treatment approaches to horses with acute diarrhea admitted to referral institutions: A multicenter retrospective study.

This study aimed to describe and compare therapeutic approaches for horses with acute diarrhea in different geographic regions worldwide. Clinical information was retrospectively collected from diarrheic horses presented to participating institutions between 2016 and 2020, including fluid therapy on admission, antimicrobial drugs, probiotics, anti-endotoxic medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, gastroprotectants, digital cryotherapy, and toxin-binding agents. Seasonal and geographic differences were investigated. 1438 horses from 26 participating hospitals from 5 continents were included. On admission, 65% (926/1419) of horses were administered a fluid bolus. Antimicrobial drugs were administered to 55% (792/1419) within the first 24 hours of admission, with penicillin and gentamicin being the most used combination (25%, 198/792). Horses with leukopenia (OR: 2.264, 95%CI: 1.754 to 2.921; P<0.001) or meeting systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria (OR: 2.542, 95%CI: 1.919 to 3.368; P<0.001) had higher odds of being administered antimicrobial drugs. Other treatments administered included probiotics (15%, 215/1438), polymyxin B (13%; 187/1438), pentoxifylline (8%; 118/1438), gastroprotectants (44%; 626/1419), digital cryotherapy (34%; 489/1435), plasma transfusion (13%; 182/1410) and toxin-binding agents (36%; 515/1438). Due to the retrospective nature of the study, the rationale for treatment decisions was unavailable, and associations with survival could not be evaluated. Treatments varied between hospitals from different geographic regions. Prospective clinical trials are required to evaluate the effects of various treatments on survival.

Heatmap analysis for artificial intelligence explainability in diabetic retinopathy detection: illuminating the rationale of deep learning decisions.

The opaqueness of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms decision processes limit their application in healthcare. Our objective was to explore discrepancies in heatmaps originated from slightly different retinal images from the same eyes of individuals with diabetes, to gain insights into the deep learning (DL) decision process. Pairs of retinal images from the same eyes of individuals with diabetes, composed of images obtained before and after pupil dilation, underwent automatic analysis by a convolutional neural network for the presence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), output being a score ranging from 0 to 1. Gradient-based Class Activation Maps (GradCam) allowed visualization of activated areas. Pairs of images with discordant DL scores or outputs within the pair were objectively compared to the concordant pairs, regarding the sum of activations of Class Activation Mapping (CAM), the number of activated areas, and DL score differences. Heatmaps of discordant pairs were also qualitatively assessed. Algorithmic performance for the detection of DR attained 89.8% sensitivity, 96.3% specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.95. Out of 210 comparable pairs of images, 20 eyes and 10 eyes were considered discordant according to DL score difference and regarding DL output, respectively. Comparison of concordant versus discordant groups showed statistically significant differences for all objective variables. Qualitative analysis pointed to subtle differences in image quality within discordant pairs. The successfully established relationship among objective parameters extracted from heatmaps and DL output discrepancies reinforces the role of heatmaps for DL explainability, fostering acceptance of DL systems for clinical use.

Burden of Non-Protocolized Patient Transport Outside of Response Area on a Rural Emergency Medical Services System

Objectives Transport destination decisions by prehospital personnel depend on a combination of protocols, judgment, patient acuity, and patient preference. Non-protocolized transport outside the service area may result in unnecessary time out of service and inappropriate resource utilization. Scant research exists regarding clinician rationale for destination decisions. Methods We retrospectively reviewed one year of scene transports by a single rural, hospital-based emergency medical services (EMS) system. We collected dispatch, patient demographic, primary impression, and transport data from prehospital records and matched them to emergency department (ED) data. We characterized rationale for transport decisions and compared rates of hospital admission and specialist consultation in the ED as surrogates for decision appropriateness. Results We reviewed 2,223 patient transports, 281 of which were transported out of the service area. The most common reasons for out-of-area transport were patient preference NOT related to prior medical care (40%) and clinician judgment (24%). Admit rates were highest for per protocol (85%) and patient preference related to prior medical care (67%) groups and lowest for no explanation (41%) and clinician judgment (47%) groups. Rates of in person specialist consultation in the ED were highest in per protocol (69%) and clinician judgment (47%) groups and lowest in no explanation (23%) and patient preference NOT related to prior medical care (30%) groups. Clinician judgment was less predictive of admission and specialist consultation for non-trauma and pediatric patients than for all patients. Median time out of service was more than twice as long for out-of-area transports (140 min) compared to patients transported to the nearest facility (62 min). For out-of-area transports discharged from the ED without specialty consultation (n = 104), ambulances traveled an additional 52 miles/patient compared to theoretical transport to nearest facility. Conclusions Unit out of service time more than doubled for non-protocolized transports outside of the service area and rationale for destination decisions variably predicted admission and specialist consultation rates. Patient preference NOT related to prior medical care and, in pediatric and non-trauma populations, clinician judgment, were less predictive of admission and specialist consultation. Transport guidelines should balance rationale for transport destination and patient characteristics with resource preservation, especially in low-resource systems.

How to conduct an integrative mixed methods meta-analysis: A tutorial for the systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence.

This article is a guide on how to conduct mixed methods meta-analyses (sometimes called mixed methods systematic reviews, integrative meta-analyses, or integrative meta-syntheses), using an integrative approach. These aggregative methods allow researchers to synthesize qualitative and quantitative findings from a research literature in order to benefit from the strengths of both forms of analysis. The article articulates distinctions in how qualitative and quantitative methodologies work with variation to develop a coherent theoretical basis for their integration. In advancing this methodological approach to integrative mixed methods meta-analysis (IMMMA), I provide rationales for procedural decisions that support methodological integrity and address prior misconceptions that may explain why these methods have not been as commonly used as might be expected. Features of questions and subject matters that lead them to be amenable to this research approach are considered. The steps to conducting an IMMMA then are described, with illustrative examples, and in a manner open to the use of a range of qualitative and quantitative meta-analytic approaches. These steps include the development of research aims, the selection of primary research articles, the generation of units for analysis, and the development of themes and findings. The tutorial provides guidance on how to develop IMMMA findings that have methodological integrity and are based upon the appreciation of the distinctive approaches to modeling variation in quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The article concludes with guidance for report writing and developing principles for practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk of treatment-related toxicity from EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer.

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are effective for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR-mutation, while their toxicity profiles are non-negligible and inconsistent. This study aimed to assess the toxicity intensity and profiles of different EGFR-TKIs in NSCLC patients with EGFR-mutation. This random-effect Bayesian framed network meta-analysis (NMA) only included exclusively randomized clinical trials with demonstrated evidence on safety of EGFR-TKIs in NSCLC patients with EGFR-mutation. Pooled odds ratios and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) were calculated to depict the toxicity map of EGFR-TKIs. This review included 23 randomized clinical trials incorporating 7,006 patients and 11 treatments: erlotinib, gefitinib, icotinib, afatinib, dacomitinib, osimertinib, furmonertinib, aumolertinib, pemetrexed-free chemotherapy (PfCT), pemetrexed-based chemotherapy (PbCT) and placebo. Overall, chemotherapy and second-generation EGFR-TKIs exhibited higher toxicity. A toxicity sequence according to the likelihood of causing grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) was identified as follows: PfCT > PbCT > afatinib > dacomitinib > erlotinib > aumolertinib > gefitinib > furmonertinib > osimertinib > placebo > icotinib. For discontinuation due to AEs, among EGFR-TKIs, icotinib and afatinib demonstrated best and second-best safety profiles according to pooled odds ratios and SUCRA. Regarding specific toxicity, EGFR-TKIs demonstrated variable toxicity intensity and different predominate toxicity spectrums. This is the first study to depict the difference in toxicity of EGFR-TKIs in a population with EGFR-mutant NSCLC. In general, osimertinib and icotinib were associated with favorable safety compared with other EGFR-TKIs. Difference in safety between the third-generation EGFR-TKIs was also first investigated comprehensively. Furthermore, this review elaborated the varied predominate spectrum and ranked the toxicity of EGFR-TKIs for providing toxicity rationale for treatment decisions.

Secondary School Athletic Trainers' Experiences Managing Workplace Organizational-Professional Conflict.

Athletic trainers (ATs) face organizational-professional conflict (OPC), often surrounding return-to-sport decisions. To prioritize patient safety and establish a healthy work environment, OPC must be mitigated, yet few researchers have determined how ATs manage conflicts with stakeholders. To explore ATs' experiences with OPC in the secondary school setting. Qualitative study. Telephone interviews. Sixteen ATs (9 females, 7 males; age = 43 ± 11 years; years certified = 17 ± 9; years in their current positions = 9 ± 6). We digitally recorded telephone interviews and had them professionally transcribed. Data saturation guided recruitment efforts and was met. To ensure rigor and trustworthiness of the data, we completed basic member checks along with multiple-analyst triangulation. We analyzed the qualitative data using an interpretive phenomenological approach. Four themes emerged effective communication, professional relationships, stakeholder education, and professional experience. Participants used effective communication described as frequent, open, and direct, during interactions with stakeholders to manage OPC. Organizational-professional conflict was reduced when ATs built professional relationships with stakeholders centered on trust and respect. Participants used stakeholder education as a primary strategy for managing OPC by educating stakeholders about prognosis and return-to-sport timelines postinjury and providing rationale for decisions made. Additionally, years of experience served as a mitigating factor of conflict, in that as ATs gained experience and confidence, they perceived less OPC. Participants suggested various interpersonal relationship development strategies that can be implemented to manage OPC, especially when starting a new position or building rapport with stakeholders. Specifically, educating various stakeholders on reasons for clinical decisions via effective communication and developing strong professional relationships built on mutual respect assisted in avoiding OPC. Since professional experience appears to alleviate conflict, OPC management strategies should be taught during professional preparation and used early during transition to autonomous practice.

Design and cohort characteristics of TRACK, a prospective study of hyperkalaemia management decision-making.

Guideline-recommended hyperkalaemia management includes dietary potassium (K+) restriction, bicarbonate correction, diuretics and K+ binders with dose reduction of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors as a last resort. The extent to which these recommendations are implemented is uncertain, as real-world data on hyperkalaemia management are limited. The Tracking Treatment Pathways in Adult Patients with Hyperkalemia (TRACK) study is a multinational, prospective, longitudinal study that is being conducted to address this knowledge gap. We report the design and baseline cohort characteristics of this real-world study of hyperkalaemia management decision-making. This study enrolled participants within 21days of an episode of hyperkalaemia in four European countries (UK, Spain, Germany, Italy) and the USA. During the 12-month follow up, data collected will include participant and healthcare provider characteristics (specialty and practice setting), hyperkalaemia treatment objectives and strategies, rationale for management decisions and indicators of response and patient-reported perceptions of their hyperkalaemia treatment. The enrolled cohort includes 1330 participants, mean age 68years, of whom 31% were women. At baseline, 6% reported heart failure, 55% chronic kidney disease, 29% both and 9% neither. Most participants (57%) were taking an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin receptor blocker or angiotensin receptor/neprilysin inhibitor at baseline. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist use was lower (14%). The prospective TRACK study will shed light on practitioners' hyperkalaemia management decision-making and assess the impact of their decisions on hyperkalaemia recurrence. Understanding practitioners' underlying thought processes will facilitate efforts to improve hyperkalaemia management.ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05408039.

Understanding the rationales and information environments for early, late, and nonadopters of the COVID-19 vaccine

Anti-vaccine sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic grew at an alarming rate, leaving much to understand about the relationship between people’s vaccination status and the information they were exposed to. This study investigated the relationship between vaccine behavior, decision rationales, and information exposure on social media over time. Using a cohort study that consisted of a nationally representative survey of American adults, three subpopulations (early adopters, late adopters, and nonadopters) were analyzed through a combination of statistical analysis, network analysis, and semi-supervised topic modeling. The main reasons Americans reported choosing to get vaccinated were safety and health. However, work requirements and travel were more important for late adopters than early adopters (95% CI on OR of [0.121, 0.453]). While late adopters’ and nonadopters’ primary reason for not getting vaccinated was it being too early, late adopters also mentioned safety issues more often and nonadopters mentioned government distrust (95% CI on OR of [0.125, 0.763]). Among those who shared Twitter/X accounts, early adopters and nonadopters followed a larger fraction of highly partisan political accounts compared to late adopters, and late adopters were exposed to more neutral and pro-vaccine messaging than nonadopters. Together, these findings suggest that the decision-making process and the information environments of these subpopulations have notable differences, and any online vaccination campaigns need to consider these differences when attempting to provide accurate vaccine information to all three subpopulations.

Postoperative Recovery in the Youngest: Beyond Technology.

Measuring and interpreting vital signs in pediatric patients recovering from anaesthesia, particularly those up to 36 months old, is challenging. Nurses' decision-making regarding the level of monitoring must balance patient safety with individualized care. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of critical care nurses and registered nurse anesthetists regarding their experiences and actions when making decisions about vital sign monitoring for children in post-anesthesia care units (PACUs). A qualitative study utilizing the critical incident technique was conducted. Interviews were performed with a purposeful sample of 17 critical care nurses and registered nurse anaesthetists from two hospitals. Nurses reported that the rationale for decisions concerning the need for vital sign monitoring in children was both adequate and inadequate. Actions were taken to adjust the monitoring of vital signs, optimizing conditions for assessment and ensuring the child's safe recovery. The complexity of accurately monitoring children makes it challenging for nurses in the PACU to adhere to guidelines. Evidence-based care and safety are compromised when technology has limitations and is not adapted for paediatric use, leading to a greater reliance on experience and clinical assessment. This reliance on experience is crucial for reliable assessment but also entails accepting greater risks.

Medication Reconciliation as Part of Admission Management-A Survey to Improve Drug Therapy Safety in a Urology Department.

Complete medication reconciliation during hospital admission is the rationale for further treatment decisions. A consecutive, controlled intervention study was conducted to assess discrepancies in medication reconciliation performed by nurses of the Urology Department compared to the Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) established by pharmacists. This study included pre-intervention (control group, CG), nursing training as a pharmaceutical intervention, and post-intervention (intervention group, IG) groups. The discrepancies were classified as "Missing" (not recorded but taken), "Added" (additionally recorded) "Strength" (incorrect documented dosage), "Intake" (incorrect intake time/schedule), "Double" (double prescription), and "Others" (no clear assignment). Additionally, high-risk drug subgroup discrepancies were particularly prevalent and were evaluated. Training success was compared concerning discrepancies in the CG and IG. Generally, the percentage of discrepancies per patient found was lower in the IG than in the CG (78.1% vs. 87.5%, significantly). The category most identified was "Missing" (IG, 33.3% vs. CG, 35.2%). Overall, a discrepancy of 7.4% each (discrepancies: IG, 27 vs. CG, 38) was determined for high-risk drugs while "Missing" occurred (77.8% vs. 52.6%, out of 7.4%). Despite nursing training only partially reducing discrepancies, the implementation of medication reconciliation using BPMH by pharmacists could improve the process, especially for high-risk drugs.

Sex differences in human performance.

Sex as a biological variable is an underappreciated aspect of biomedical research, with its importance emerging in more recent years. This review assesses the current understanding of sex differences in human physical performance. Males outperform females in many physical capacities because they are faster, stronger and more powerful, particularly after male puberty. This review highlights key sex differences in physiological and anatomical systems (generally conferred via sex steroids and puberty) that contribute to these sex differences in human physical performance. Specifically, we address the effects of the primary sex steroids that affect human physical development, discuss insight gained from an observational study of 'real-world data' and elite athletes, and highlight the key physiological mechanisms that contribute to sex differences in several aspects of physical performance. Physiological mechanisms discussed include those for the varying magnitude of the sex differences in performance involving: (1) absolute muscular strength and power; (2) fatigability of limb muscles as a measure of relative performance; and (3) maximal aerobic power and endurance. The profound sex-based differences in human performance involving strength, power, speed and endurance, and that are largely attributable to the direct and indirect effects of sex-steroid hormones, sex chromosomes and epigenetics, provide a scientific rationale and framework for policy decisions on sex-based categories in sports during puberty and adulthood. Finally, we highlight the sex bias and problem in human performance research of insufficient studies and information on females across many areas of biology and physiology, creating knowledge gaps and opportunities for high-impact studies.

Explainable paper classification system using topic modeling and SHAP

The exponential growth of academic papers necessitates sophisticated classification systems to effectively manage and navigate vast information repositories. Despite the proliferation of such systems, traditional approaches often rely on embeddings that do not allow for easy interpretation of classification decisions, creating a gap in transparency and understanding. To address these challenges, we propose an innovative explainable paper classification system that combines Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) for topic modeling with explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques. Our objective is to identify which topics significantly influence the classification outcomes, incorporating Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) as a key XAI technique. Our system extracts topic assignments and word assignments from paper abstracts using latent semantic analysis (LSA) topic modeling. Topic assignments are then employed as embeddings in a multilayer perceptron (MLP) classification model, with the word assignments further utilized alongside SHAP for interpreting the classification results at the corpus, document, and word levels, enhancing interpretability and providing a clear rationale for each classification decision. We applied our model to a dataset from the Web of Science, specifically focusing on the field of nanomaterials. Our model demonstrates superior classification performance compared to several baseline models. Ultimately, our proposed model offers a significant advancement in both the performance and explainability of the system, validated by case studies that illustrate its effectiveness in real-world applications.

Environmental governance in Pakistan: Perspectives and implications for the China-Pakistan economic corridor plan

Environmental governance (EG), climate-resilient development, and environmental sustainability are interlinked phenomena. It is in this context that an evaluation of Pakistan's EG was carried out in order to establish policy insights into the environmental sustainability of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Plan 2017–2030. A questionnaire survey approach (targeting various stakeholder groups), using a multi-criteria decision analysis of ‘Best’ and ‘Worst’ method and an integrated EG framework were used. An important finding is that responsiveness was ranked as best and equity as worst EG themes for CPEC sustainability. Similarly, criteria transparency is considered to be the best aspect and criteria access to information/knowledge the worst. Other aspects scoring highly included e.g. monitoring and evaluation; stakeholder's communication and collaboration in governance processes; mechanisms to ensure that means and rationales of decisions making are transparent for eco-friendly development under the CPEC Plan; stakeholders' input integration in planning and policy implementation; stakeholders capacity building to deal with environmental and CC concerns of CPEC development. Criteria scoring poorly included e.g., effective mechanisms to resolve conflicts between federal and provincial Environmental Protection Agencies and implementation of environmental laws in letter and spirit, as well as marginalized stakeholders' participation in the decision-making process. In this context, the Government needs to establish an effective EG system to ensure environmentally friendly and climate-resilient development (CRD) in the country.

A Comprehensive Framework for Pathology Classification Bridging Precision and Interpretability

Pathology classification is an indispensable component of medical diagnostics, facilitating accurate disease identification, prognosis determination, and treatment planning. However, the increasing complexity and heterogeneity of pathological manifestations pose significant challenges to traditional classification methodologies. This abstract presents a novel framework that integrates advanced machine learning techniques with domain-specific expertise to enhance the precision and interpretability of pathology classification. Our framework adopts a multi-modal approach, leveraging diverse data sources including histopathological images, clinical records, genomic profiles, and molecular biomarkers. Through feature fusion and dimensionality reduction techniques, we effectively capture intricate patterns and latent relationships embedded within the data, enabling robust classification across diverse pathological conditions. Furthermore, interpretability is prioritized through the incorporation of explainable AI methodologies, facilitating the identification of salient features and decision rationales underlying classification outcomes. This ensures transparency and trustworthiness in the diagnostic process, empowering clinicians to make informed decisions and refine treatment strategies. Validation of our framework across various pathological contexts demonstrates superior performance compared to conventional approaches, exhibiting high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Moreover, its modular architecture facilitates customization and scalability, accommodating evolving diagnostic needs and emerging technological advancements. In conclusion, our proposed framework represents a significant advancement in pathology classification, offering a synergistic blend of computational sophistication and clinical relevance. By seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technologies with domain knowledge, it holds promise for revolutionizing diagnostic practices and improving patient outcomes in the realm of precision medicine.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE TOTAL FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVE ADEQUACY OF THE CENTRAL BANK: TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN

International foreign exchange reserves are widely acknowledged as a global medium of exchange that possesses a readily available characteristic. Official public assets, which are foreign assets kept and organized by the monetary authorities of countries, serve as a complement to foreign exchange reserves. Adequate levels of foreign exchange reserves are necessary for nations to meet their payment commitments and sustain the stability of their currency. The primary rationale for the Central Bank's decision to maintain liquid foreign exchange reserves is to establish a safeguard against any speculative assaults or fluctuations in the trade balance. The primary objective of this research was to ascertain the many elements that influence the sufficiency of the aggregate foreign exchange reserves in Azerbaijan and Turkey. The article examined the sufficiency of the gross foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CBAR) and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) based on the ideal reserve ratios recommended by the IMF. Following an extensive examination of theoretical and conceptual literature, this study aims to assess the sufficiency of the Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves held by the CBAR and CBRT. The proposed optimal reserve ratios are utilized to elucidate the reserve adequacy of these countries, while considering the theoretical relationship between the variables. To achieve this objective, a logit regression analysis was conducted using the data spanning from 2012 to 2022. The results indicate that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between interest rates and the overall adequacy of foreign exchange reserves. Considering the influence of interest rates on economic stability and financial performance, this outcome is anticipated. Furthermore, it was shown that the exchange rate variable exhibited a statistically significant negative impact on the preceding period. The present empirical study offers an overview of the various elements that influence the sufficiency of the aggregate foreign exchange reserves of Azerbaijan and Turkey. The findings of this study offer crucial insights to decision makers regarding the variables that must be considered when overseeing foreign exchange reserves.

Factors affecting architectural decision‐making process and challenges in software projects: An industrial survey

AbstractSoftware architecture plays a fundamental role in overcoming the challenges of the development process of large‐scale and complex software systems. The software architecture of a system is the result of an extensive process in which several stakeholders negotiate issues and solutions, and as a result of this negotiation, a series of architectural decisions are made. This survey study aims to determine the experiences of the software industry experts with respect to architectural decision‐making, the factors that are effective in decision‐making, and the technical and social problems they encounter. An online questionnaire‐based survey was conducted with 101 practitioners. The responses were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Analysis of responses revealed that the majority of the participants prefer to document some or all of the architectural decisions taken and to store these documents in web‐based collaboration software. Decisions are usually made by teams of two or three, and discussion‐based approaches (brainstorming and consensus) are adopted. In the software architecture decision‐making process, “major business impact” is the most challenging situation. Information sharing and keeping track of decisions and decision rationale are areas in need of improvement as identified by most participants. From the participants' feedback and their answers to open‐ended questions, we concluded that the software architecture decision‐making process has an important role in the industry. Our key findings are that decisions made in the architectural decision‐making process are taken by teams and generally all decisions are documented. In projects where decisions are made by a single person, peer pressure is found to be significantly different from pressure in projects where decisions are made by the group. This is an indication that as the number of people in the decision‐making process increases, the disagreements also increase.

Communicating Study Design Trade-offs in Software Engineering

Reflecting on the limitations of a study is a crucial part of the research process. In software engineering studies, this reflection is typically conveyed through discussions of study limitations or threats to validity. In current practice, such discussions seldom provide sufficient insight to understand the rationale for decisions taken before and during the study, and their implications. We revisit the practice of discussing study limitations and threats to validity and identify its weaknesses. We propose to refocus this practice of self-reflection to a discussion centered on the notion of trade-offs . We argue that documenting trade-offs allows researchers to clarify how the benefits of their study design decisions outweigh the costs of possible alternatives. We present guidelines for reporting trade-offs in a way that promotes a fair and dispassionate assessment of researchers’ work.