Identifying and Ranking Processes Influencing Career Path of Knowledge Employees

Experts believe that the essentials for the effective use of knowledge employees and their retention in an organization are to develop the necessary motivators for knowledge workers in different domains. In the meantime, the transparency and vividness rate of career paths are among the most significant extrinsic motivators that play an undeniable role in enhancing the motivation of knowledge workers. Hence, this study identified the processes that influenced the career path management of knowledge workers and ranked them based on a descriptive–exploratory inquiry. The statistical population of this study included qualitative and quantitative phases. The statistical population of the qualitative phase consisted of university experts, as well as pundits in human resources management, and knowledge employees in the Tehran Municipality shaped the population of the quantitative phase. The data were collected through library and field studies (semi-structured interviews with experts and a 7-point Likert questionnaire). The content analysis method was employed for the qualitative analysis of the data, and the multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach with the grey numbers theory was used for the quantitative analysis of the data. Overall, the qualitative phase gave rise to five influencing factors in the career path management of knowledge employees. Likewise, the findings of the quantitative phase revealed that the empowering processes, with a utility coefficient of 0.271, enjoyed the highest priority and the structural process, with a utility coefficient of 0.125, had the least priority among the processes influencing the career path management of knowledge workers.

The Effectiveness of the State Duma Women — Deputies of the VII Convocation of the Russian Federation According to the Rating “Utility Coefficient of the State Duma Deputies” in Comparison with the CIS Countries

In this article, the author examines the problems of women’s participation in politics based on an analysis of the gender composition of the deputy corps of the State Duma of the VII convocation, and also compares their activity and effectiveness with male deputies on the basis of the rating “The coefficient of utility of State Duma deputies” compiled by the deputy club since 2017 d. The data of the integral rating, consisting of four indices, make it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the activities of female deputies and to identify the cause-and-effect relationships of this. The article also identifies the main trends in gender policy in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and compares the representation of women in government.

Effects of protein-containing additives on pasta quality and biological value

The present work includes results on enrichment of pasta, a mass-consumption product, with protein. Meat products, legume (Leguminosae L.) flour and plant protein isolates were used as protein-containing additives. The content of protein and essential amino acids in the additives makes them promising for improving the biological value of pasta. We studied effects of the additives on raw gluten and wheat flour starch properties, pasta dough rheo- logical characteristics, and finished product quality. As a result, the following optimal amounts of the additives were established: 15% by weight of flour for meat, 10% by weight of the mixture for pea and lentil flour as well as plant isolates, and 7.5% by weight of the mixture for soy flour. The enriching components added in pasta dough were found to have a positive effect on pasta quality. These increased protein content by 1.59–8.19%, biological value by 6–16%, utility coefficient of amino acid composition by 0.2–0.26, protein digestibility by pepsin by 11–24%, and daily pro- tein intake level by 31.4–12.5%.

Quality-adjusted time without symptoms or toxicity (Q-TWiST) of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with fruquintinib in a phase II clinical trial.

765 Background: In a randomized phase II trial of mCRC patients who have failed at least 2 lines of standard therapy, fruquintinib has demonstrated superior progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) benefits over placebo. We further assessed the between-treatment difference of quality of life (QoL) using a Q-TWiST analysis, to elucidate the trade-off between adverse events and treatment benefits. Methods: Mean PFS and OS were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. OS in Q-TWiST analysis was partitioned into 3 health states: TOX (time with toxicity before progression), TWiST (time without symptoms or toxicity) and REL (time from progression until death). The algorism of Q-TWiST is the sum of the mean durations for the 3 health states, with each state weighted by its respective utility coefficient. The 95% confidence intervals of mean are calculated with z method and the standard error is generated by bootstrap method. The relative Q-TWiST gains of > = 10% and > = 15% are considered as a clinically important and clearly clinically important, respectively (Revicki, 2006). Results: A total of 71 patients were included in this post-hoc analysis. The 47 patients of fruquintinib arm had significant longer PFS, compared with the 24 patients in the placebo arm (mean: 5.0 vs. 2.2 months, difference [95% CI]: 2.8 [1.4, 4.3]). The benefit of OS was numerically superior (mean: 8.6 vs. 6.9 months, difference [95% CI]: 1.7 [-0.5, 4.0]). Patients treated with fruquintinib showed numerically longer overall Q-TWiST (mean: 5.8 vs. 4.4 months, difference [95% CI]: 1.4 [-0.1, 2.9] than those received placebo with the relative gain of 20.3% over OS, assuming the utility during TOX/REL period is 0.5 and that during the TWiST is 1.0. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the Q-TWiST gain may range from -0.7% to 41.2% at various utility assignments. Conclusions: In this phase II trial, mCRC patients treated with fruquintinib had clearly clinically important QoL benefit. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm this finding. Clinical trial information: NCT02196688.

QTWIST analysis in the RECOURSE trial.

698 Background: RECOURSE showed that treatment with trifluridine/tipiracil in patients in patients (pts) with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer was associated with significantly improved survival vs placebo. As quality of life (QoL) was not captured in the trial, other methods were used to evaluate potential impact on QoL. Methods: We used the QTWIST method, i.e. quality-adjusted TWIST (time without symptoms of disease or toxicity), to explore survival adjusted for QoL with trifluridine/tipiracil vs placebo in the RECOURSE population. QTWIST incorporates a trade-off between time spent with treatment-related adverse events versus improvement in progression-free survival, and combines an estimate of the mean duration of each health state (TOX, TWIST, and RELAPSE [REL]), weighted by a utility coefficient, into a global QTWIST score. TOX represents time with grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events that are expected to impact QoL (i.e. nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue/asthenia, anorexia, febrile neutropenia) before progression, TWIST represents time without symptoms or toxicity; and REL represents time from progression (as defined in the RECOURSE trial) until death. We applied a utility coefficient of 1 for TWIST and values of 0.5 for TOX and REL. A sensitivity analysis varied the utility coefficients for TOX and REL from 0 to 1. Results: 798 pts (533 trifluridine/tipiracil vs 265 placebo) were included with median follow-up time of 11.8 mo. The between-group difference in the global QTWIST score was 1.5 mo (95% CI, 1.49–1.52) in favor of trifluridine/tipiracil. Using varying utility coefficients for TOX and REL from 0 to 1 as a sensitivity analysis, the between-group difference in the global QTWIST score ranged from 1.3 to 1.7 mo, always in favor of trifluridine/tipiracil. Conclusions: The median overall survival benefit observed with trifluridine/tipiracil vs placebo in RECOURSE was 1.8 months. Consistently, patients' QoL as evaluated by QTWIST showed that quality-adjusted survival with Lonsurf is significantly improved by 1.5 months vs placebo. Clinical trial information: NCT01607957. [Table: see text]