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The purpose of this study is to identify crucial sustainability assessment criteria in the context of international port sector.

Data collection was based on a questionnaire survey from 135 managers and supervisors at major international ports in Taiwan, including Keelung, Taichung and Kaohsiung. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to identify crucial sustainability assessment criteria at ports.

A total of 31 important sustainable assessment criteria were adapted from previous studies in terms of environmental, economic and social issues. Results revealed that social issues with respect to staff job security and safety were ranked as the most important sustainability assessment criteria, followed by environmental protection when handling cargo, facilitation of economic activities, port traffic accidents prevention and cargo handled safely and effectively. In contrary, respondents revealed their less importance in the criteria, namely, mitigating light influence on neighboring residents, considering the arrangement of vehicles when constructing port transportation system, avoiding using unpolluted land in port area and hiring minority groups and consulting interests groups when making port projects. Four sustainability assessment dimensions were identified, namely, environmental material, economic issue, environmental practices and social concerns.

The research findings indicated that economic issue was deemed as the most important dimension of sustainability assessment criteria from a port operator’s perspective, followed by environmental practices, social concerns and environmental material. Practical implications for port sustainability assessment were discussed in this research.

Although a majority of previous studies on sustainability assessment have been discussed, there is still a lack of investigation of sustainability assessment in the context of port sector. This study not only develops sustainability assessment attributes but also highlights the important criteria of sustainability assessment. Further, this study identified four crucial sustainability assessment factors, which provide helpful information for port corporations to identify important criteria and policy of sustainability assessment.

This paper aims to investigate bank credit policies and uncover yacht building finance assessment factors from bank credit policies toward the yacht industry.

This study’s questionnaire attempts to identify survey respondents’ degrees of awareness through difference analysis, and then uses entropy weighting and gray relational analysis to discover priority ranking order of bank credit assessment considerations from the perspective of Taiwan’s banking sector.

The research findings show that yacht builders have to review their ship financing application methods and improve shortcomings to meet banks’ credit granting requirements.

Banks emphasize yacht builders’ repayment ability to protect their depositors and shareholders.

This paper aims to propose a technique based on cognitive assessments to quantify identified operational risks from the perspective of container shipping or logistics system administrators. The results derived from the risk quantification could be used to prioritize risks as well as support the decision-making process in risk prevention and mitigation.

This paper identified container shipping operational risks (CSORs) from a logistics perspective. A multivariate risk evaluation mechanism by fuzzy rules Bayesian network (FRBN) was established. An improved two-level parameter set based on the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) was used to support the input extraction process. By feeding cognitive assessments into the model, the identified risks are evaluated based on their utility values. An illustration example and a sensitivity analysis were carried out to justify and validate the proposed model.

The highest positions in the prioritized list of CSORs in the case study are dominated by risks in the physical flow with the first three are piracy and terrorism, force majeure and port congestion. The results derived from the case study with the satisfaction of all pre-defined axioms proved the feasibility and illustrated the functionality of the proposed risk assessment and prioritization technique.

Controlling risk is irrefutably a significant issue of container shipping and logistics management because of the inconsistency of risk definitions and the involvement of uncertainties. The proposed risk evaluation mechanism and the identified list of CSORs could be beneficial in system management, decision-making and reliability performance.

Container shipping is a crucial component of the global supply chain that is affected by a large range of operational risks with high uncertainty, threatening the stability of service, manufacture, distribution and profitability of involved parties. However, quantitative risk analysis (QRA) of container shipping operational risk (CSOR) is being obstructed by the lack of a well-established theoretical structure to guide deeper research efforts. This paper proposes a methodological framework to strengthen the quality and reliability of CSOR analysis (CSORA).

Focusing on addressing uncertainties, the framework establishes a solid, overarching and updated basis for quantitative CSORA. The framework consists of clearly defined elements and processes, including knowledge establishing, information gathering, aggregating multiple sources of data (social/deliberative and mathematical/statistical), calculating risk and uncertainty level and presenting and interpreting quantified results. The framework is applied in a case study of three container shipping companies in Vietnam.

Various methodological contributions were rendered regarding CSOR characteristics, settings of analysis models, handling of uncertainties and result interpretation. The empirical study also generated valuable managerial implications regarding CSOR management policies.

This paper fills the gap of an updated framework for CSORA considering the recent advancements of container shipping operations and risk management. The framework can be used by both practitioners as a tool for CSORA and scholars as a test bench to facilitate the comparison and development of QRA models.

Container liner shipping companies started expanding their business by investing in container port terminals in the late 1990s. This market entry results in an extensive presence of vertically integrated liners and terminals. This study aims to explore the competition effects of this vertical integration trend based on a regional (European) analysis. In particular, it extracts lessons from the European Commission (EC) cases on the competition effects of vertical integration. The critical analysis of the cases examined at the institutional level intends to reach conclusions on whether liner–terminal vertical integration harmed or advanced competition in the relevant markets and/or the extent that there is a need to revise the current policy practices.

This study critically assesses the EC’s decisional practices in port container terminal vertical mergers in the last 25 years (1997–2021). Based on a literature review comparing maritime and competition economists' perspectives, it reviews the types of mergers examined, the methodology followed for relevant market definition and calculation of market shares and the estimated competition effects. The Hamburg–Le Havre area is the port range used as a case study for comparing the decisional practice with actual market developments. These container ports serve the greatest consuming market of final and intermediate goods in Europe and are gateways to Central and Eastern Europe.

The assessment identifies a need for expanding the investigation as a precondition for reaching conclusions on both the anti- and pro-competitive effects. First, only a limited number of transactions have been notified to the EC. Second, the empirical research identified a gap in this process, as there were no decisions (phase I) on vertical mergers between 2008 and 2016. Third, the exante assessment has not applied a phase II in-depth analysis to any case due to the absence of competition concerns. Finally, due to the absence of complaints, there is a lack of any ex post assessment of the effects of vertical integration.

This assessment is important for understanding the current and emerging features of intra-port and inter-port competition and the potential effects that the continuation and expansion of liner companies' vertical integration strategies will have along maritime supply chains. It also contributes to the broader discussion on liner companies' strategies, such as the research and policy-making efforts around the globe to understand the impact of both vertical and horizontal integration.

These discussions are critical for a diversity of businesses that use liner shipping services or provide facilities and services to container shipping lines or ports. They are important for the interests of customers and consumers as they could inform any needed re-visiting of competition policy to protect from the dominance of any market developments that would lead to conditions limiting competition. Expanding analysis on the competition effects of non-notified mergers would help a better understanding of market changes.

Enhancing competition and limiting monopolies is valuable from a consumer's perspective. This is more so in the case of maritime trade that serves the needs of societies. The study contributes by generating a better understanding of how decision-makers have worked towards that direction and what realignments are worthy.

There are no previous comprehensive reviews and analyses of the ways that policy-makers at the regional level have addressed the competition effects of vertical integration strategies of liner shipping companies when enhancing competition is valuable from a consumer perspective. Comparing maritime economists and competition, the study, via its literature review, also offers a comparison of maritime and competition perspectives on these competition effects, allowing positioning of how effective decisional-making practices have been.

Current assessment models in education have focused solely on measuring knowledge and fail to address the goals of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) for a well-rounded, future-proof education. While SDG4 emphasizes quality education, traditional assessments do not account for the diverse skills and intelligence learners possess. This gap between assessment and the needs of SDG4 presents a conundrum for educators: How can we develop assessment strategies that encompass multiple intelligences and prepare learners for the future while ensuring the delivery of quality education as outlined by SDG4? This paper aims to propose integrated assessment strategies as a solution, examining their effectiveness in assessing multiple intelligences and supporting the future-proofing agenda within quality education.

The study used a qualitative research design. Interviews were held up to saturation point with 60 teachers and students purposively selected from schools in ten provinces across the country. Data from interviews were analysed using thematic network analysis. The data were complemented by documentary analysis from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Zimbabwe documents which included Curriculum Frameworks and policy documents as well as a systematic literature review.

Results indicated that integrated assessment systems provide an avenue for testing deeper learning and help students acquire competencies needed in the world of work, such as problem-solving and teamwork. However, certain conditions mitigate against the effective implementation of integrated assessment in schools.

This study uses the use of a qualitative research methodology, hence the generalizability of results in other settings may not be possible. The data collected from the research findings was manually coded and analysed. However, coding the data manually allowed the researchers to be fully immersed in the emerging themes enriching the study with additional data. This means that in-depth data engagement was ensured.

The paper concludes that integrated assessment provides authentic assessment which prepares learners for the future. The study recommends that the government should redress the teaching-learning environment in schools for effective implementation of integrated assessment systems so that not only one regime of intelligence is tested and future-proofing of quality is guaranteed.

The research contributes to increasing the motivation to deliver quality education by investing in integrated evaluation systems.

Distinguishing between autism characteristics and trauma-related symptoms may be clinically challenging, particularly in individuals who have experienced early traumatisation. Previous studies have described a risk that trauma-related symptoms are misinterpreted and/or misattributed to autism. This study aims to describe and explore assessment strategies to distinguish autism and early traumatisation in the case of a young woman with mild intellectual disability.

A clinical case study outlining assessment strategies, diagnostic decision-making and initial intervention.

A multi-informant interdisciplinary assessment using multiple assessment tools, together with a comprehensive review of records from previous assessments and contacts with various services, was helpful in distinguishing between autism and trauma. This included specific assessment tools for autism and trauma. Autism characteristics and trauma-related symptoms appeared to interact, not merely co-occur.

The current case demonstrates that diagnostic overshadowing may occur for autism in the context of early trauma. The case further highlights the importance of not ascribing trauma-related symptoms to autism, as service provision and treatment need to take account of both. Overlooking autism in individuals who have experienced early traumatisation may result in a risk that intervention and care are not appropriately adapted, which may involve a risk of exacerbating trauma symptoms.

Over the past decade, a growing number of institutions of higher education have added leadership studies as a formal academic program of study. In many instances, however, students have not been included as partners or stakeholders in the design and delivery of leadership education, and student motivation and retention have subsequently suffered (O’Donovan, Rust, & Price, 2016). This application brief describes a new program, Student Assessment Fellows, which aimed to address these concerns by involving a small group of students in several capacities during the reshaping of a university’s leadership program. Through this program, students learned basic tenets of leadership pedagogy and educational program assessment and used both skill sets to author a proposal to restructure the existing academic program. This article reviews the development and design of the program, recommendations from the first cohort, and recommendations for other colleges and universities looking to increase student involvement in educational assessment processes.

At the substantive level, there exists a gap in knowledge about the position of security risk management (i.e. SRM) during the terminals’ operations and management; particularly when there is potential for deliberate anti-security acts. Correspondingly, the purpose of this paper is a need for more practical research to find out the justification for the existence of the SRM and different techniques for its appropriate execution on these logistics infrastructures principally with due regard to the potential requirements in the near future.

Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are used in this study incorporating fuzzy set theory and risk assessment matrix to achieve the research objective.

A designed SRM framework tailored for Qalhat liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) terminal in Sultanate of Oman was established to manage the security threats which can be resulted from any probable terrorist attacks.

The limited numbers of experts for the purpose of the addressed SRM are causing challenges in data collection.

The pressures for enhanced attention to critical infrastructure security have fostered new challenges for petrochemical seaports and terminals (PSTs). These tendencies dictate to maintain comprehensive security regimens that can be integrated with national and international strategies to support the country’s security against terrorism.

The development of the security risk factor table model in the case of Qalhat LNG Terminal.

In order to solve the problem of inaccurate calculation of index weights, subjectivity and uncertainty of index assessment in the risk assessment process, this study aims to propose a scientific and reasonable centralized traffic control (CTC) system risk assessment method.

First, system-theoretic process analysis (STPA) is used to conduct risk analysis on the CTC system and constructs risk assessment indexes based on this analysis. Then, to enhance the accuracy of weight calculation, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) and entropy weight method are employed to calculate the subjective weight, relative weight and objective weight of each index. These three types of weights are combined using game theory to obtain the combined weight for each index. To reduce subjectivity and uncertainty in the assessment process, the backward cloud generator method is utilized to obtain the numerical character (NC) of the cloud model for each index. The NCs of the indexes are then weighted to derive the comprehensive cloud for risk assessment of the CTC system. This cloud model is used to obtain the CTC system's comprehensive risk assessment. The model's similarity measurement method gauges the likeness between the comprehensive risk assessment cloud and the risk standard cloud. Finally, this process yields the risk assessment results for the CTC system.

The cloud model can handle the subjectivity and fuzziness in the risk assessment process well. The cloud model-based risk assessment method was applied to the CTC system risk assessment of a railway group and achieved good results.

This study provides a cloud model-based method for risk assessment of CTC systems, which accurately calculates the weight of risk indexes and uses cloud models to reduce uncertainty and subjectivity in the assessment, achieving effective risk assessment of CTC systems. It can provide a reference and theoretical basis for risk management of the CTC system.