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Product-service systems (PSSs)’s popularity has expanded significantly throughout recent years. The purpose of this paper is to integrate products and services to achieve functional results that augment the offering’s value. Nevertheless, the intangibility of services hinders the diffusion of PSSs: services are characterized by imprecisions and ambiguities that render the assessment and prioritization of customer requirements problematic. An inadequate evaluation of the latter leads to an inconsistent PSS design that results in the customer dissatisfaction.

To address these concerns, the paper proposes an approach integrating the quality function deployment for product-service systems (QFDforPSS) method with Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgments. This approach was tested at a manufacturer in the medical sector seeking to improve his market stance through a PSS model.

Although the case study is based on a limited sample, the results achieved highlight the importance of the flow of information between the PSS provider and the customers (i.e. the PSS receivers) in the healthcare sector. The proposed approach can facilitate the company in collecting information even in the case of incomplete answers to surveys and questionnaires providing a practical method to handle the uncertainty due to incomplete data.

The study represents one of the first applications of the PSS approach in the healthcare sector, introducing a novel integration of easy-to-use management tools to augment the understanding of customer needs and expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if business and public administration have distinct identities based on perception of curriculum areas.

PROSCAL, and algorithm for multidimensional scaling was used.

Business and public administration faculties have different identities based on their perceptions of curriculum areas.

Relied on a maximum likelihood probability approach. The study should be replicated using other psychometric techniques, or be extended to other disciplines.

Public administration is empirically validated as distinct from business administration and political science. Care must be taken when borrowing ideas from either field, though results indicate that communicating with business administration would be easier due to the shared space.

It is one of the few (if not the only) papers using PROSCAL. It is one of the first to mathematically determine if groups were understanding and processing stimuli similarly enough to be compared.

In the present work, the thermal insulation characteristics of multilayered mittens were studied in different airflow conditions.

In this study, the thermal behavior of four groups of mittens consisting of one two-layer and three three-layer mittens containing nonwoven wadding materials with various weights and thicknesses was investigated during the exposure to airflows with different speeds. In order to evaluate the correlation between the heat transfer rates of different mittens with the human perception of cold, a set of pair-comparison tests was performed using Thurstone's law of comparative judgment.

The analysis of the results revealed that by an increment in the weight and the thickness of the wadding material, the thermal protection performance of mittens improves. Moreover, in the presence of airflow and by increasing its speed, due to the forced convective heat loss, the outer surface temperature of the mittens decreases and therefore the conductive heat transfer rate rises. This fact leads to the transfer of higher quantity of body warmth to the environment and thus feeling of coldness. According to the results, there was a proper correlation between the subjective perception of cold and the heat transfer rate of mittens. The statistical analysis of the results clarified that the effect of mitten's structural parameters and the airflow speed on the thermal protection behavior of mittens are significant at the confidence range of 95%.

Mitten is one of the important personal protective clothing, especially in cold environments. Thus, the thermal resistance of them has a prominent role in the protection of the hands and fingers from cold and frostbiting.

The Flemish Examination Centre designed an intervention to establish a professional learning community on the topic of writing assessment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of this intervention and explain how this intervention succeeded in establishing a professional learning community.

A mixed method design was used to answer the research questions. Quantitative analysis of comparative judgement data provided insight into the effects of the intervention. More specifically was analysed whether examiners judged more in line after the intervention. Qualitative analysis of the conversations within the intervention served to examine how interdependent examiners behaved in the professionalisation exercises and to gain insight into how a professional learning community was established.

The analysis showed that the intervention of the Flemish Examination Centre facilitated the formation of a professional learning community. This was visible in the quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis showed that highly interdependent activities were helpful in establishing the professional learning community.

This study shows that interactions of high interdependence are beneficial to facilitate professional learning communities.

This study shows that the assessment data can guide a well-thought out design of interventions to establish professional learning communities among assessors. Assessment data can be a guidance for supportive group constellations and discussions to improve assessment practices. The key in this regard lies in the level of interdependence that is created among participants.

This paper aims to study the optical properties of woven fabrics.

The current study was carried out to objectively evaluate the luster of a group of woven fabrics with different weave structures and weft densities, with the aid of a goniophotometer. The results obtained from the objective luster measurement were validated by a set of pair comparison subjective tests using Thurstone’s law of comparative judgment.

The proper correlation with the R² value of more than 0.96, between subjective and objective tests, confirmed the reliability and accordance of objective results with the human perception of luster. Statistical analysis of the luster results clarified that the effect of fabric structural parameters such as weave structure and weft density are significant at the confidence range of 95 per cent. The highest luster index was achieved for the twill 3/1 weave structure and the lowest luster belonged to the plain pattern. In addition, an increase in the density of the fabric leads to better luster. Moreover, it was concluded that the surface roughness affects the luster. A rise in the roughness value of the woven fabric causes reduction in its luster property.

Optical properties of woven fabrics, which are mainly attributed through the measurement of luster, are important for qualifying the aesthetic characteristics of the fabrics with various weave structures. Bearing in mind the influence of fabric surface properties on the aesthetic features of cloths, obtaining information in this field is a guide for selecting the suitable fabric for various end uses.

In this study the authors aim to outline new ways of information extraction for automated valuation models, which in turn would help to increase transparency in valuation procedures and thus contribute to more reliable statements about the value of real estate.

The authors hypothesize that empirical error in the interpretation and qualitative assessment of visual content can be minimized by collating the assessments of multiple individuals and through use of repeated trials. Motivated by this problem, the authors developed an experimental approach for semi-automatic extraction of qualitative real estate metadata based on Comparative Judgments and Deep Learning. The authors evaluate the feasibility of our approach with the help of Hedonic Models.

The results show that the collated assessments of qualitative features of interior images show a notable effect on the price models and thus over potential for further research within this paradigm.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first approach that combines and collates the subjective ratings of visual features and deep learning for real estate use cases.

Expert assessment of organized crime (OC) group capabilities is often the basis for national threat assessments; it is rare, however, for variations in collective expert opinions of OC success factors to be systematically evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in how 150 criminal intelligence experts from a variety of national and organizational backgrounds sort and organize perceived attributes for OC group success.

The paper uses the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sleipnir framework as a foundation for a Q-sort survey regarding the characteristics of OC group success. The survey was delivered to over 150 criminal intelligence specialists at a national conference in 2011. Descriptive statistics, seemingly unrelated regression, and biplots reveal different aspects of survey responses.

Results show that perceptions of the ingredients for OC group success both vary by nationality and by analysts’ level within the hierarchy of the law enforcement structure (local, state, national). These differences are marked; particular characteristics are viewed as differentially important for the perceived success of OC groups. Furthermore, the results suggest that there are shared and structured differences in perceptions of OC group success characteristics.

The survey has identified distinct differences between the characteristics for OC group's success perceived by analysts in the USA, Canada, and beyond. Furthermore, the organizational level of the analyst (local, state, national) shapes the perceptions of success factors. It is possible variations identified merely reflect differentials in training and experience, i.e. different organizational perceptions of the same problem. That aside, the patterning of results seem likely to be based to some degree on external factors linked to OC group operations, and not just on individual characteristics of the surveyed intelligence professionals.

The current research raises a number of questions regarding the confidence that should be placed in OC group assessments. The research has highlighted areas of professional dissonance that were not apparent from the RCMP Sleipnir research alone. Causes of the dissonance in assessments, and connections of these variations to both intelligence analysts’ experience, training, and organizational ethos; and to OC group capabilities, seem deserving of additional attention.

Expert intelligence analyst interpretation of OC group capability is central to most national risk and threat assessments, yet the assessment processes themselves are rarely examined. This is a unique survey of over 150 intelligence personnel that highlights significant differences in perceptions of OC groups, differences that raise questions about how the authors evaluate the OC threat.

Construction projects are susceptible to cost and time overruns. Variations from planned schedule and cost estimates can result in huge losses for owners and contractors. In extreme cases, the viability of the project itself is jeopardised as a result of variations from baseline plans. Hence new methods and techniques which assist project managers in forecasting the expected variance in schedule and cost should be developed. This paper proposes a judgment‐based forecasting approach which will identify schedule variances from a baseline plan for typical construction projects. The proposed forecasting approach adopts multiple regression techniques and further utilises neural networks to capture the decision‐making procedure of project experts involved in schedule monitoring and prediction. The models developed were applied to a multistorey building project under construction and were found feasible for use in similar construction projects. The advantages and limitations of these two modelling process for prediction of schedule variance are discussed. The developed models were integrated with existing project management computer systems for the convenient and realistic generation of revised schedules at appropriate junctures during the progress of the project.

Managers often use positioning models to understand the perceptual structure of markets and make strategic plans. The objective of this paper is to improve strategic planning by suggesting how positioning models can be used to understand, measure, and manage brand uncertainty. A theoretical framework is developed by unifying the results of studies conducted in several disciplines and this framework is used to document the effects of brand uncertainty on brand perceptions and performance. An experiment that empirically establishes the utility of Multiscale in measuring brand uncertainty is designed and conducted. Its results are favorable. A consideration of the limitations of conventional positioning methods leads to the conclusion that, for marketplaces where brand uncertainty exists, such methods provide erroneous and incomplete information. Ways are suggested in which the information provided by Multiscale can be used to improve the breadth and quality of marketing plans.