It is critical for urban and regional planners to examine spatial relationships and interactions between a port and its surrounding urban areas within a region’s spatial structure. This paper seeks to develop a targeted framework of causal relationships influencing the spatial structure changes in the Bushehr port-city. Hence, the study utilizes Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs), a computational technique adept at analyzing complex decision-making processes. FCMs are employed to identify concepts that act as drivers or barriers in the spatial structure changes of Bushehr port-city, thereby elucidating the causal relationships within this context. Additionally, the study evaluates these concepts’ relative significance and interrelationships. Data was collected through interviews with ten experts from diverse backgrounds, including specialists, academics, policymakers, and urban managers. The insights from these experts were analyzed using FCMapper and Pajek software to construct a collective FCM, which depicts the influential and affected concepts within the system. The resulting collective FCM consists of 16 concepts, representing the varied perspectives and expertise of the participants. Among these, the concepts of management and planning reform, economic growth of the city-port, and port development emerged as the three most central concepts. Moreover, the effects of all influential concepts on the spatial structure change in Bushehr port-city were evaluated through simulations conducted across four different scenarios. The analysis demonstrated that the system experiences the most significant impact under the fourth scenario, where the most substantial changes are observed in commercial and industrial growth and the planning of port-city separation policies.

This study delves into the dynamic landscape of pension funds in Colombia, examining both its current research status and practical implications. Understanding the state of pension systems is crucial for individuals' financial security and a country's overall economic stability, especially given factors such as an aging population and evolving socio-economic dynamics. By comprehensively analyzing scholarly publications on Colombian pension funds using the Scopus database, this research sheds light on key trends and contributors shaping policy formulation and financial planning. The analysis covers a period from 1987 to 2023, identifying 71 relevant articles through keyword searches and filters. Various metrics, including publication trends, citations, international collaboration, and authorship dynamics, were quantitatively assessed. The results reveal an annual growth rate of 5.37%, with research articles comprising 81.69%, review articles 7.04%, and other formats like books, book chapters, and conference papers making up 11.27% of the total documents. Notably, countries such as the UK, the USA, Spain, and Colombia emerge as key contributors to the literature. Among authors, Mesa-Lago, L., stands out as a significant figure, with one of the earliest publications on the topic. The findings underscore the growing importance of pension funds in Colombia, particularly in the context of fund performance research amid financial crises. The prevalence of international collaboration suggests a global interest in understanding and contributing to the development of Colombian pension systems. Furthermore, the study identifies research gaps, particularly in areas concerning the socio-economic impact of pension policies, providing a roadmap for future investigations. Policymakers, financial practitioners, and researchers can leverage these insights to inform strategic decision-making and address critical challenges in optimizing pension fund management in Colombia.

The objectives achieved in the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on fossil fuels have caused, in recent years, a growing importance on sustainability in companies in order to reduce Environmental, social and economic impacts. This study is focused on understanding how the variation in West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices affects the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and therefore the companies included in it, and vice versa. The research aims to examine the statistical properties of both indices, using fractional integration methods, the fractional cointegration vector autoregressive (FCVAR) approach and the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) technique. The results warn of a change in trend, with the application of extraordinary measures being necessary to return to the original trend, while the analysis of cointegration and wavelet analysis measures reflect that an increase in those adopted based on sustainability by the different companies that make up the index imply a drop in the price of crude oil.

The main objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between increases in freight costs and inflation in the markets due to the increases reflected in the prices of the products in some economies in destination ports such as the United States, Europe, Japan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and South Korea. We use fractionally integrated methods and Granger causality test to calculate the correlation between these indicators. The results indicate that, after a significant drop in inflation in 2020, probably due to the confinement caused by the pandemic, the increases observed in inflation and freight costs are expected to be transitory given their stationary behavior. We also find a close correlation between both indicators in Europe, the United States and South Africa.

Introduction: Chatbots are increasingly utilized in education, offering real-time, personalized communication. While research has explored technical aspects of chatbots, user experience remains under-investigated. This study examines a model for evaluating user experience and satisfaction with chatbots in higher education. Methodology: A four-factor model (information quality, system quality, chatbot experience, user satisfaction) was proposed based on prior research. An alternative two-factor model emerged through exploratory factor analysis, focusing on “Chatbot Response Quality” and “User Experience and Satisfaction with the Chatbot.” Surveys were distributed to students and faculty at a university in Ecuador to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis validated both models. Results: The two-factor model explained a significantly greater proportion of the data’s variance (55.2%) compared to the four-factor model (46.4%). Conclusion: This study suggests that a simpler model focusing on chatbot response quality and user experience is more effective for evaluating chatbots in education. Future research can explore methods to optimize these factors and improve the learning experience for students.

Researchers need to seek the opinions of individuals about what they think related to neuromarketing and its applications. This study is intended to reveal the conceptual perception of neuromarketing. In this context, a comparative analysis was designed for university students studying in social sciences and health sciences due to the interdisciplinary nature of neuromarketing. Thus, it was investigated in which areas the conceptual perception of neuromarketing was higher and how it was perceived at the same time. Survey method was used to collect data. The relevant literature was scanned to determine the questions in the survey, and previous studies in this field were taken into account. Accordingly, the survey consists of two parts. In the first part, there are 6 questions to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants. In the second part, 14 questions were included to determine the conceptual perception of neuromarketing. The questions to the participants were evaluated with a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = disagree strongly to 5 = agree strongly). It was concluded that there were 499 valid surveys (n = 499). As a result, it was seen that participants in social sciences and health sciences differed significantly in the conceptual perception of neuromarketing (p = 0.000). It was found that the perception level of social sciences is higher than health sciences.