This paper contributes to the understanding of how flexibility in the number of members in a decision-making committee in a multistage project can enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the decisions taken. While most projects typically employ a fixed number of decision makers, the paper demonstrates the advantages of adjusting the committee size according to the project’s varying complexity at different phases of the project. In particular, we show that allowing for flexibility in the size of a committee increases the likelihood of reaching a correct decision under the unanimity rule. We analyze this issue when the decision maker’s competence is independent of the state of nature and when it is not. The results are compared to those under the simple majority rule.

The urgency of urban health in Indonesia is very worrying because most of Indonesia’s population now lives in urban areas with minimal supporting infrastructure. That prompted this study to analyze the government’s response to the healthy city development plan in the new capital city. This study uses a qualitative approach that focuses on thematic analysis. It helps check official government documents related to healthy city development plans. The relevant documents that were found were in the form of regulations. This regulation is Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 3 of 2022 concerning the National Capital (Ibu Kota Negara, IKN). This official document was coded by maximizing the analysis tool, namely NVivo 12 Plus. This study succeeded in mapping several bare references in the healthy city development plan for the new capital city by the Indonesian government. Some of these primary references include the healthy city model (World Health Organization, WHO), the healthy city strategy (Cardiff), and (Vancouver). All of these primary references aim to improve the quality of life of residents in cities through city development that focuses on health. However, there are several challenges that the Indonesian government may face in the future, including problems with air pollution, environmentally friendly transportation, and the provision of green public spaces, health facilities, universal health services, and other infrastructure. This all requires adequate capacity and budget plans, including ensuring transparency in budget management. This study also encourages collaboration between the government, the private sector, and civil society to support the development of healthy cities that run well and sustainably.

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.

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.

Countries employ various strategies to strengthen their soft power through education, public campaigns, mandatory service, and community involvement, essential for building a well-informed, prepared, and resilient citizenry. In Indonesia, the Civic Awareness for State Defence (CASD) program is designed to instil state defence awareness among citizens. This study introduces the Indonesia State Defence Index (SDI), a novel metric grounded in theoretical constructs such as national identity, nationalism, patriotism, and national pride. Differentiating from previous indices, our SDI employs advanced methodologies including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to enhance measurement accuracy. Unlike earlier approaches that used traditional aggregation methods, our use of PCA ensures the reduction of dimensions for each state defence indicator, thereby guaranteeing that only the intended dimensions are measured. Utilising data from the State Defence Survey conducted by the Indonesian Ministry of Defence from 1 March to 26 June 2024, we aim to measure and benchmark SDI values across Indonesian regions, thereby elucidating the civic awareness profile in the context of state defence. The refined SDI provides critical insights for policymakers, highlighting regions that require focused interventions to bolster state defence preparedness.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the imperative of physical distancing has underscored the necessity for telemedicine solutions. Traditionally, telemedicine systems have operated synchronously, requiring scheduled appointments. This study introduces an innovative telemedicine system integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable asynchronous communication between physicians and patients, eliminating the need for appointments and providing round-the-clock access from any location. The AI-Telemedicine system was developed utilizing Google Sheets and Google Forms. Patients can receive dietary recommendations from the AI acting as the physician and submit self-reports through the system. Physicians have access to patients’ submitted reports and can adjust AI settings to tailor recommendations accordingly. The AI-Telemedicine system for patients requiring daily dietary recommendations has been successfully developed, meeting all nine system requirements. System privacy and security are ensured through user account access controls within Google Sheets. This AI-Telemedicine system facilitates seamless communication between physicians and patients in situations requiring physical distancing, eliminating the need for appointments. Patients have round-the-clock access to the system, with AI serving as a physician surrogate whenever necessary. This system serves as a potential model for future telemedicine solutions.

This study aims to identify factors related to the impact of social capital on happiness among multicultural families using the 2019 Community Health Survey, which represents the South Korean population. The study utilized data from the 2019 Korea Community Health Survey, and the study participants, aged 20 years or older, included 3524 members of multicultural families from a total of 229,099 adult households. The study found a significant difference in happiness scores across different age groups (t = 57.00, p < 0.01). Based on the median value of happiness, significant relationships were found with the independent variables: Physical Environment of Trust (t = −5.13, p < 0.001), Social Networks (t = −5.51, p < 0.001), and Social Participation (t = −5.47, p < 0.001). Happiness was found to have a positive correlation with the Physical Environment of Trust (r = 0.12, p < .001), Social Participation (r = 0.11, p < 0.001), and Social Network (r = 0.13, p ≤ 0.001). In contrast, Age (r = −0.13, p ≤ 0.001) and Stress (r = −0.14, p ≤ 0.001) showed negative correlations with happiness (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). The analysis identified a positive community physical environment (t = 3.85, p < 0.01), increased social networks (t = 4.27, p < 0.01), and higher social participation (t = 6.88, p < 0.01) as significant predictors of happiness. This model suggests that the explanation power is 15%, which is statistically significant (R² = 0.15, F = 57.72, p < 0.001). This study highlights the influence of social capital on the happiness of multicultural families living in Korea. Given the increasing number of multicultural families in the country, strategic interventions aimed at enhancing social networks and participation are necessary to promote their happiness.

Relational database models offer a pathway for the storage, standardization, and analysis of factors influencing national sports development. While existing research delves into the factors linked with sporting success, there remains an unexplored avenue for the design of databases that seamlessly integrate quantitative analyses of these factors. This study aims to design a relational database to store and analyse quantitative sport development data by employing information technology tools. The database design was carried out in three phases: (i) exploratory study for context analysis, identification, and delimitation of the data scope; (ii) data extraction from primary sources and cataloguing; (iii) database design to allow an integrated analysis of different dimensions and production of quantitative indicators. An entity-relationship diagram and an entity-relationship model were built to organize and store information relating to sports, organizations, people, investments, venues, facilities, materials, events, and sports results, enabling the sharing of data across tables and avoiding redundancies. This strategy demonstrated potential for future knowledge advancement by including the establishment of perpetual data updates through coding and web scraping. This, in turn, empowers the continuous evaluation and vigilance of organizational performance metrics and sports development policies, aligning seamlessly with the journal’s focus on cutting-edge methodologies in the realm of digital technology.