Critical space assets require continuous monitoring to prevent potential losses. Auxiliary satellites protect these assets by observing and tracking approaching targets. Although observation satellites can make rapid autonomous onboard decisions, they face challenges due to limited computational capacity. The two mainstream command and control methods currently available do not meet the demands of onboard decision-making. Highly procedural decision-making methods require extended decision times, while rapid-response intuitive or heuristic methods carry significant error risks. To address this, this paper proposes a multi-granularity decision-making method for optical space surveillance satellites. First, multi-granularity relative orbit determination algorithm models and multi-granularity impulsive orbit manoeuver algorithm models were developed. Based on these models, a granularity selection method for sequential three-way decisions is proposed. In non-emergency situations, fine-granularity models are preferred to conserve fuel, while in emergency situations, coarse-granularity models are used to enhance decision-making speed and reduce positional deviations caused by the manoeuvering game. In random multi-scenario tests, the proposed method demonstrates lower average terminal positional deviations and fuel consumption compared to single-granularity (highly procedural or rapid-response) and random-granularity methods.

Design rationale is the justification behind a product component, often captured via written reports and oral presentations. Research shows that the structure and information used to communicate and document rationale significantly influence human behavior. To better understand the influence of design rationale on engineering design, we investigate the information engineers and designers include in design rationales in written reports. Eight hundred and forty-six pages of student engineering design reports from 28 teams representing 116 individuals were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach and compared across project types. The rationales from the reports were coded inductively into concepts and later applied to five industry reports consisting of 218 pages. The findings reveal a spectrum of rationales underpinning design decisions. Grounded in the data, the feature, specification and evidence (FSE) framework emerged as a feature-based and low-effort capture approach. We discuss the need to improve design communication in engineering design, through structuring rationales (i.e., using the proposed FSE framework or other representations) and improving technical writing skills. Lastly, by enhancing design rationale communication and documentation practices, significant benefits can be realized for computational support tools such as automatic rationale extraction or generative approaches.

Any system health work must look at decision-making because decisions propagate throughout a system, shaping system dynamics. Usually, human decision-making is conducted from an individualist, objectivist perspective. What happens when we use an approach based on the radical relationality of Radical Participatory Design and Relational Design? This is the fourth paper in a series of papers which introduced Radical Participatory Design in the first two papers and Relational Design in the third paper. In this fourth paper, we explore the decision-making dynamics in Radical Participatory Design and Relational Design projects.

We use the term political ecology to speak about the power dynamics within any ecological system – a geographical population, a community, an ecosystem, and so forth. We analyze the political ecologies of individualist decision-making models. Then we explore how to embody a relational ontology within decision-filled human ecosystems and how a relational way of being changes decision-making. Referring to biology, we discuss ingredients for relational decision-making – relationality, emergent design principles, and autonomy. Those ingredients can lead to emergent and symbiotic design. Emergent design refers to design that emerges from consistently following a few basic principles. Symbiotic design occurs over time when deeply, relationally embedded entities retain autonomy and indirectly evolve to create a design that would not have occurred through an intentional design process. We then introduce Radical Biocracy as a type of decision-making model where decisions are not deliberated by groups or team members but emerge from the relationally autonomous choices and actions of individuals.

The policy-making process for health financing in most places lacks equity, failing to adequately consider the voices of ordinary citizens, residents, and especially those facing significant disadvantage. Procedural fairness is about addressing this imbalance, which requires a recalibration of power dynamics, ensuring that decision-making incorporates a more diverse range of perspectives. In this comment, we highlight the important contributions made by the report ‘Open and inclusive: Fair processes for financing universal health coverage’ in furthering the understanding and importance of procedural fairness in health financing decision-making especially as it relates to the three sub-functions of financing – revenue raising, pooling, and purchasing. We also argue for the importance of conceptual clarity – especially as to the added value of procedural fairness vis-à-vis accountability – and critically review the proposed framework for procedural fairness, emphasising the role of voice as the linchpin to advancing equity in influence.

In this special issue titled ‘Sustainability and SMEs: Opening the black box’, we compile eight articles that dissect the multifaceted relationship between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and sustainability. This special issue promoted interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the design, management, organisation, and reporting of sustainable actions in the context of SMEs. Stemming from the need to apply different theoretical and analytical lenses to the study of sustainability in SMEs than in large corporations, each paper provides unique insights into the formal and informal approaches, drivers, barriers, and enablers of sustainable practices in SMEs. The collection not only furthers the dialogue on the role of SMEs in sustainable development but also paves the way for future research directions and practical applications in this dynamic and still underexplored field.

Durable mechanical circulatory devices are commonly used to support children and adolescents in end-stage heart failure. However, these patients remain at high risk of acute medical complications, which may lead to significant impairment in functional capacity, altered quality of life, or death. We explore the incorporation of adolescent directives into medical decision-making in this scenario through a clinical case vignette.

Over the last decades, modeling and simulation have become central methods in engineering design. Today’s technologies enable previously unachievable levels of sophistication and accuracy. However, if decision-makers are unaware of the confidence they can place in models and simulations (M&S), they either fail to leverage their potential by not involving them in processes or make judgments based on unreliable results. Assessments to evaluate M&S exist, but factors that enable decision-makers to have confidence and improve acceptance of using M&S need to be researched in more detail. Therefore, a literature review analyzing design requirements and an online survey to measure factors associated with confidence were conducted. As a result, the survey identified nine predictors of confidence: (1) capability, (2) history, (3) validity, (4) reliability and (5) accessibility of the model. Further, (6) integrity and (7) competence of the modeler, as well as (8) trusting nature and (9) risk awareness of the stakeholder were identified. Having confidence in M&S results significantly increases the reliance on them and leads to better-informed decision-making. Therefore, based on the findings, a framework and an initial application model were developed. The results were initially evaluated and are described.

When skeletal dysplasias are suspected in the prenatal period, investigation, counseling, and management become especially challenging. By better understanding the complex forces at play and parental values, prenatal health care providers may improve the ways in which they counsel patients to improve the decision-making process under conditions of significant uncertainty, including in cases of prenatally suspected skeletal dysplasia.

This paper outlines the evolution of decision-making spaces through selected instantiations, analyzing the role of design in their utility and identifying preliminary patterns in spatial layout. It builds on the combination of two research fields: A) Decision support systems and B) Creative Spaces. The paper aims to take a first step towards combining these two existing research fields by focusing on the spatial design aspects that foster the convergent aspect of creativity and to provide guidance for further research on the design of decision-making spaces.