bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing the impact of adherence to Non-pharmaceutical interventions and indirect transmission on the dynamics of COVID-19: a mathematical modelling study
Authors: Iyaniwura Sarafa A. ,   Department of Mathematics and Institute of Applied Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Rabiu Musa , David Jummy F. , Kong Jude D. ,   School of Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa,   Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,   Canadian Centre for Diseases Modeling (CCDM), York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,   Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC), York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,   Laboratory for Applied and Industrial Mathematics (LIAM), York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Published: October 2021

Adherence to public health policies such as the non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented against COVID-19 plays a major role in reducing infections and controlling the spread of the diseases. In addition, understanding the transmission dynamics of the disease is also important in order to make and implement efficient public health policies. In this paper, we developed an SEIR-type compartmental model to assess the impact of adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions and indirect transmission on the dynamics of the disease. Our model considers both direct and indirect transmission routes and stratifies the population into two groups: those that adhere to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and those that do not adhere to the NPIs. We compute the control reproduction number and the final epidemic size relation for our model and study the effect of different parameters of the model on these quantities. Our results show that there is a significant benefit in adhering to the COVID-19 NPIs.
Les toitures de terre cuite du haut Moyen Âge dans l’Orléanais : présentation du corpus et premiers essais de restitution
Authors: Jesset Sébastien
Published: October 2021

Tegulae, imbrices, tuiles-antéfixes et probables
briques-chéneaux pour la couverture, auxquels se joignent modillons et
briques pour les corniches sont les six grandes catégories couramment
rattachées à la toiture du haut Moyen Âge en Orléanais. Si les tegulae et imbrices produites du vie au
xe siècle par les potiers-tuiliers de la
lisière sud-ouest de la forêt d’Orléans (Saran, Ingré) sont maintenant
fréquemment retrouvées à Orléans et dans sa périphérie, permettant
d’éclairer à la fois la typologie, les modes de production, la
commercialisation/diffusion et la mise en œuvre, la question reste
largement ouverte concernant les hypothétiques briques-chéneaux, les
modillons ou tuiles-antéfixes, ces deux derniers illustrés par de très
rares découvertes souvent anciennes. Les briques plates lisses ont
quant à elles des usages sans doute tout aussi variés que leurs
morphologies/modules. L’amélioration notable des connaissances de la
typologie et la multiplication des contextes de découvertes permettent
de rouvrir le dossier de la toiture du haut Moyen Âge avec toutes ses
composantes.
Geology and Architectural Conservatism in the Hellenistic Fountains of Corinth and Perachora
Authors: Landon Mark
Published: October 2021

La géologie des terrasses naturelles sur lesquelles est installée la ville antique de Corinthe favorise l’essor d’un type de fontaine bien spécifique: la fontaine Peirènè en est l’exemple le mieux connu. Celle-ci est une réponse directe et évolutive aux conditions géologiques locales… L’imitation de Peirénè par plusieurs fontaines corinthiennes à l’époque hellénistique peut être interprétée comme la marque d’un conservatisme architectural délibéré, voire comme un souci d’antiquaire, dans la mesure où des éléments de la fontaine la plus ancienne étaient copiés même dans des environnements géologiques où ils ne présentaient plus aucun avantage fonctionnel. Parmi les exemples, on citera la fontaine Glaukè, le complexe de l’Asklépiéion de Corinthe, et surtout la fontaine de Pérachora qui applique le plan et les caractéristiques de Peirènè dans un contexte complètement inadapté. Nombre de particularités de la fontaine de Pérachora peuvent s’expliquer par la volonté des architectes de dupliquer autant que possible la forme et les techniques utilisées pour Peirènè, malgré leur inadaptation aux conditions géologiques locales.
Installations hydrauliques et usages de l’eau en Ibérie
Authors: Sánchez López Elena H.
Published: October 2021

Les structures liées à la gestion de l’eau sont bien connues en péninsule ibérique depuis la Préhistoire, mais c’est à partir de l’âge du Fer que les structures hydrauliques se multiplient, identifiées dans des contextes coloniaux autant que locaux. Dans ce deuxième cas, les éléments les plus habituels sont les citernes collectives situées dans une zone centrale ou facilement accessible de l’établissement, comme à Castellet de Bernabé (Valence) et Estinclells (Lérida), un modèle hérité des systèmes de gestion hydraulique de l’étape précédente ; mais il existe aussi des citernes privées, comme au Cerro de la Cruz (Almedinilla, Cordoue). Au-delà de l’approvisionnement en eau, une autre question intéressante est celle de la fonction de cette eau. En dehors de sa logique utilisation pour garantir la vie des populations, elle était aussi indispensable pour nombre des activités économiques pratiquées par les habitants de ces établissements.
Gestione e uso deII’acqua ad Himera
Authors: Vassallo Stefano
Published: October 2021

Dans les études sur les établissements de la Sicile antique de l’époque archaïque à l’époque hellénistique les problématiques liées au thème de l’eau ont été trop souvent sous-évaluées ou prises en considération seulement, ou surtout, par l’étude d’éléments tangibles et vérifiables liés à l’eau comme les citernes, puits, aqueducs, systèmes de distribution et conteneurs en céramique. Il n’est pas facile de mesurer avec les méthodes archéologiques courantes la prise en compte de cet élément dans les dynamiques des habitats antiques. Cet article veut partir du point de vue hydraulique pour tenter de comprendre dans quelle mesure les habitants de la ville grecque d’Himère ont tenu compte des besoins et des contraintes liés à l’eau dans le choix du site, dans l’organisation des fonctions de la polis, dans les aspects les plus ordinaires de la vie quotidienne ou dans la gestion des activités productives. L’auteur s’appuie sur les recherches des cinquante dernières années pour dresser un premier tableau de la gestion des ressources en eau dans la ville d’Himère en mettant l’accent sur l’approvisionnement, le stockage et l’utilisation de cet élément précieux.
Hydraulic Mortars in the Imperial Residence
Authors: Schmölder-Veit Andrea , Thiemann Laura , Henke Felix , Schlütter Frank
Published: October 2021

Supply and management of water on the Palatine Hill in Rome played an immanent role for settlements, especially for maintenance of the imperial palace. In the presented project fountains, reservoirs and supply pipes were analysed. Most of them can be dated back to Domitian’s building program and were remodeled at least until the 4th century AD Many fountains were provided with multiple layers of hydraulic mortar. 55 samples were examined including several scientific methods, such as polarized light microscopy, XRD/DTA or sieve analysis. In general most of the samples show a very similar composition. This demonstrates the homogeneity of the building material and the continuity of mortar technology that was used over centuries for different purposes at the imperial workshops on the Palatine: Low-fired crushed ceramics, maybe wasters from the imperial brickyards, and volcanic‚ ‘Pozzolane Rosse’ sands quarried near Rome were constantly used until at least the 3rd century AD In addition two different types of mortar, used in different areas and at different periods, could be identified. This homogeneity and partial correlation between microscopically established groupings and archaeological categories prevent reliable chronological conclusions.
Elaborazioni tecniche dell’opera cementizia nel “Lazio del Calcare” nella tarda età repubblicana: l’opus signinum e Segni
Authors: Cifarelli F.M. , Smith C.J. , Colaiacomo Federica , Kay S.J. , Ceccarelli Letizia , Panzieri Camilla
Published: October 2021

Beginning with a general overview of the arguments and the various problems, this paper, while paying particular close attention to the historical sources, discusses various examples of signina opera conserved within the city of Segni which date around the 2nd century BC. One of these is a large pool discovered by the excavations of the Segni Project in the area of Prato Felici, in the higher part of the city. The other structures are a large circular pool on the acropolis, behind the temple of Juno Moneta and a further structure identified in the area known as the Temple of Hercules. Finally, are also discussed other examples of similar structures which have been identified in the surrounding territory, and which demonstrate the diffusion of the construction technique and the different models adopted.
Arethusa and Kyane, Nymphs and Springs in Syracuse: Between Greece and Sicily
Authors: Bouffier Sophie
Published: October 2021

The paper will examine the examples of Arethusa and Kyane, two springs situated in Syracusan territory that knew some fame in antiquity. According to legend, the first one, Arethusa, a nymph in the retinue of Artemis, was a Peloponnesian native who crossed the seas to escape the Olympian Alpheius River’s lust. Once aground on Ortygia, later the heart of the Corinthian colony of Syracuse, she was transformed into a spring by her patron goddess, and the river who followed her poured its waters into her streams, establishing an eternal link between the Greek motherland, and Sicily, land of Greek diaspora. For her part, Kyane was a native nymph who witnessed the abduction or rape of Kore by the god Hades, who punished her by changing her into a spring. Both were integrated into Greek cultural and religious heritage and have thus crossed the boundaries of their adopted island. As early as the end of the 6th century BCE, Arethusa is frequently mentioned in ancient literature, from Pindar, probably the first author to name her, down to Imperial Latin writers, and even their Byzantine successors. She is one of the most popular figures of ancient literature regarding nymphs. As both springs were undoubtedly places of worship, they were both instruments of fertility of the land and of Syracusan women. The paper will highlight the material and symbolic role they play in Syracusan culture, and in relationships between motherland and colony, as well as the Hellenic koine.
Le Roman d’un Nègre à la recherche d’un titre, suivi d’un post-scriptum, dix ans après
Authors: Little Roger
Published: October 2021

René Maran revient à plusieurs reprises sur le titre du roman qui, dans son édition définitive, s’appellera Un homme pareil aux autres. Longtemps, il portait le titre Le Roman d’un Nègre et cette étude, publiée d’abord en 2013 dans la revue Présence africaine, retrace les variations à partir des débuts de ce projet, en 1920, jusqu’à la version définitive, tout en y ajoutant en post-scriptum une mise à jour qui tient compte des manuscrits devenus accessibles depuis.
Distance Education in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Çetinkaya Ahmet , Kırık Ali Murat
Published: October 2021

As the COVID-19 disease rapidly transmitted through interpersonal contact, it required people to avoid physical contact. Almost all countries in the world have suspended the education of children and youth, a highly active network, and switched to online education to reduce the spread of the virus. Distance education, unlike the traditional education system, has a structure that does not require students to be on a campus or be in the same environment with instructors. As the global epidemic broke out, the distance education system was reviewed, and a new education order started to be established. Students, parents, and teachers found themselves in a situation they were not used to before. In this study, the advantages and disadvantages of distance education are analyzed, hybrid and hybrid-flexible (hyflex) models are examined, the educational changes during the pandemic period as well as the anticipations of the post-pandemic period are reviewed, and lastly, future educational solutions are proposed.
Digital Transformation of Consumer Engagement by Sustainable Communication Tools
Authors: Genel Zeynep
Published: October 2021

The Sustainable Development Goals by United Nations is one of the leading challenges of our world today. The common goal is to achieve a globally collaborative sustainable movement for reducing the harmful effects of climate change and its social consequences. Technology, communication, and collaboration are the pivot components of these targets and the continuing discussion of sustainable communication. Within this scope, the chapter discusses the role of sustainable communication for creating communicative action in the aspect of marketing communications. The chapter explains the role of packaging in terms of building emotional bond between the brand and consumer and offers a new communication perspective building brand purpose by using new technology-based packaging systems by giving some examples. The chapter aims to contribute to studies on Marketing 5.0 and sustainable communication beside starting a discussion for professionals on focusing the role of eco-friendly and communicative packages.
Enriching Course Content in University With New Media Technologies and Neuro Education
Authors: Koç Nur Emine , Yengin Deniz , Bayrak Tamer
Published: October 2021

Avoiding technology is the same as staunching the flow of daily life, because it has become a part of our lives. Understanding of media has begun to change as technological tools have taken over daily life to such an extent. The individual, the smallest circle of this change ring, has also started to differentiate in terms of needs and expectations, so education has become the element that needs to be changed most. Classical teaching methods does not appeal to the students anymore. Neuro education and eye tracking methods are pioneer methods to be used in education. By the help of new media, students can visualize the information they have been learning and have a quick understanding of the information they get in the lectures. In this study, the effects of the spread of new media technology in education and how the old understanding of students and teachers are reshaped and adapted to this technology has been explored.
Saving Digital Citizenship From the Epistemic Divide
Authors: Maulana Ikbal
Published: October 2021

Social media has eased the burden of people exercising their citizenship, such as engaging in public discourse or even mobilizing themselves for political causes. This technology was once expected to make society more democratic. However, its massive utilization in political contestation has led to the massive spread of disinformation, which further causes political polarization. The internet gives people the opportunity to cross-check information, and social media enables them to find clarification and reduce misunderstanding. However, the will to power is stronger than the will to truth, causing massive informational manipulation to attract followers and informational attack to denigrate opponents. Just as the running of democracy needs appropriate institutions, healthy citizenship also requires well-designed media that can improve deliberation and ease assessing and countering disinformation. A virtual version of citizen assembly is needed to lure people to more fruitful digital citizenship and distance them from unbridgeable polarization.
The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Video Game Consumption in Turkey
Authors: Özkent Yasemin
Published: October 2021

Different precautions such as quarantine, social distance, and hygiene applications have been taken around the world to prevent the spreading of the virus during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these precautions brought many sectors to a halt, digital-based platforms have been used more actively. The pandemic changed daily work, leisure, education, and the time spent with families and how people distribute their time on these items. The interest toward digital games increased as the result of COVID-19 quarantine. As people spent more time at home, they tended to play games to socialize. This study aims to evaluate the changes and tendencies in the consumption of video games during the pandemic period in Turkey. Accordingly, the consumption of online video games in 2020 was analyzed through comparing with 2019. As a result, it was detected that more time and money was spent during the pandemic period on the digital game sector which was also important before.
Ecological, Political, and Social Impacts of Climate Change in the Large Water Basins of Central Asia
Authors: Altın Ahmet , Altın Süreyya
Published: October 2021

Central Asia is a term that defines a very large region including Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, North-West China, and Mongolia, known as the Land of Turks. The water needs of the population within the borders of Central Asia are met by more than 6000 lakes of various sizes and rivers pouring into these lakes. Climate change, which has been heavily felt in the region in the last 50 years, negatively affects water resources and human life in large lake basins. In this study, how the water resources in the large lake basins in Central Asia, especially in the Aral and Balkhash basins, are affected by climate change and how the climate change scenarios will develop were investigated. In addition, conflicts caused by the use and sharing of water between the countries have been identified, and the effects of these conflicts on social life, especially migration, have been discussed.
Water Resources in Chile
Authors: Lozano Parra Javier , Garrido Velarde Jacinto , Aguirre Ignacio
Published: October 2021

This study quantifies the current and future soil water balance in a spatially distributed way for the whole of Chile and establishes what biomes will be the most affected by variations in water resources. The study of water resources reveals that 90% of surface Chile will reduce its soil water resources in the future if greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere does not stop. The most disadvantaged biomes are the forests, where soil water availability could decrease an average of 100 mm/year. Desert biomes could not perceive the hydrological imbalances; however, it is expected its surface increases.
Towards a Sustainable Circular Economy
Authors: Ruiz-Peñalver Soraya M. , Rodríguez-Antón José M.
Published: October 2021

The circular economy (CE) is a new paradigm that helps create convergence into a more sustainable society. This chapter shows the main findings of a systematic literature review examining the state of the art of the business concept of sustainability and CE and how scholars have focused on the implementation of circular and sustainable principles in sectors and firms. The main findings show a lack of consensus on definitions related to CE, creating confusion among firms. Final findings also show the challenges that businesses face and the main obstacles that explain why some organisations fail in the transition. Additionally, this review helps to highlight the main research gaps on the topic to encourage sustainability and circularity among firms. Whilst there are an increasing number of papers related to circularity and supply chains, few papers concern with dematerialising products and services. Another gap is the lack of quantitative studies measuring the impact of transitioning to sustainable and circular economies.
Redefining Smart Cities, Urban Energy, and Green Technologies for Sustainable Development
Authors: Gedikli Ayfer , Taş Cihan Yavuz , Taş Nur Billur
Published: October 2021

Increasing greenhouse effects and global warming have been threatening the environment. Cities have directed their development strategies towards smart policies aiming to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through sustainable environment and energy resources. Therefore, it became a very critical strategy to redefine urban energy sources and apply green technologies in all means of city lives for sustainable cities and reaching Sustainable Development Goals. In this chapter, background information for the role of cities in climate change and environmental pollution globally will be explained. Then a theoretical framework for smart cities and their important features focusing on technology innovation, smart governance, energy efficiency, waste management, as well as green buildings, smart grid-smart lighting, and smart mobility will be analyzed. Finally, sustainable development policy suggestions for sustainable plans and programs at the urban level within the current legislative framework will be put forth.
Sustainable Socio-Intercultural Development
Authors: Vargas-Hernández José G.
Published: October 2021

This chapter has the objective to explain and analyze the issues, problems, concerns, and tendencies related to the sustainable socio-intercultural development. The analysis departs from the assumption that the nature of a sustainable socio-intercultural development system should be based on the common socio-cultural values and public understanding to strengthen the sustaining practices of governance. The method employed is the reflective approach based on an analytical review of the theoretical literature and empirically derived current practices in communities, governments, and organizations. The analysis concludes that the implementation of a sustainable socio-intercultural socioeconomic and environmental development needs to be supported by a well-designed institutional governance. To achieve this, a commitment on the practice of effective community economic growth and socio-environmental sustainable development is required.
The Douro Demarcated Region
Authors: Lousada Sérgio António Neves , Tabau Cátia , Leite Eduardo , Carvalho Andreia
Published: October 2021

This chapter seeks to understand the motivations that lead companies to internationalize and how they do it since this has been a constant challenge for business research. For this purpose, a descriptive research was conducted with a qualitative strategy applied on different companies in the wine sector. International trade is a Portuguese tradition that started and reached its peak in the 16th century with the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries, which justifies this study. The wine industry, particularly in the Douro Region, has also always been closely linked to foreign trade and has even benefited from a historic trade agreement with the United Kingdom. The empirical results show that companies are practically born international. The size of the domestic market was the main justification for the demand for external markets. The constant evolution of markets and industries generates opportunities and potential threats to which companies must be able to respond.
The Link Between Climate Change and Digitization of Archives in South Africa
Authors: Netshakhuma Nkholedzeni Sidney
Published: October 2021

This chapter assesses the link between climate change and digitisation of archives in South Africa. The study found linkage between flooding, fire, and digitization of archives in the sense that records required long-term preservation to be accessible. The chapter focuses on converting paper-based records into digital platforms as a strategic role to prevent records from damage. Heritage institution such as the National Archives of South Africa is in the forefront of the preservation of archives in South Africa. It is their national mandate to preserve archival materials and make them accessible to various stakeholders. The success of digitization is dependent on the organisation strategy. This means that partnership, privacy, copyright need to be considered. The research found that most of the heritage institutions in South Africa lack digitization strategy, which led to loss of institutional memory.
A Gig Worker-Centric Approach for Efficient Picking and Delivery of Electric Scooters
Authors: Kumar Rajeev
Published: October 2021

Electric scooter rental companies such as Bird and Lime rely on gig workers to recharge their scooters. This paper discusses some of the limitations of the compensation schemes of these companies and the processes that these companies utilize to pick and deliver electric scooters. These limitations are discussed from the perspective of a gig worker. In the proposed approach, gig workers provide their schedule, capacity, and travel requirements to the app and the app then assigns the scooters (or delivery stations) to the gig workers. Two integer programming models, which minimize the overall effort necessary to collection and deliver scooters are presented. Numeric experiments that show the potential productivity gains from the proposed approach over the existing approach are presented. The main objective of this research is to present analytical methods that can be utilized to increase the productivity of the system, reduce the revenue uncertainty of gig workers, and thus make the job of a charger more attractive.
Business Analytics in Sport Talent Acquisition
Authors: de la Torre Rocio , Calvet Laura O. , Lopez-Lopez David , Juan Angel A. , Hatami Sara
Published: October 2021

Recruitment of young talented players is a critical activity for most professional teams in different sports such as football, soccer, basketball, baseball, cycling, etc. In the past, the selection of the most promising players was done just by relying on the experts’ opinion, but without a systematic data support. Nowadays, the existence of large amounts of data and powerful analytical tools have raised the interest in making informed decisions based on data analysis and data-driven methods. Hence, most professional clubs are integrating data scientists to support managers with data-intensive methods and techniques that can identify the best candidates and predict their future evolution. This paper reviews existing work on the use of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning methods in talent acquisition. A numerical case study, based on real-life data, is also included to illustrate some of the potential applications of business analytics in sport talent acquisition. In addition, research trends, challenges, and open lines are also identified and discussed.
Feasibility of Hybrid PSO-ANN Model for Identifying Soybean Diseases
Authors: Ji Miaomiao , Liu Peng , Wu Qiufeng
Published: October 2021

Soybean disease has become one of vital factors restricting the sustainable development of high-yield and high-quality soybean industry. A hybrid artificial neural network (ANN) model optimized via particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, which is denoted as PSO-ANN, is proposed in this paper for soybean diseases identification based on categorical feature inputs. Augmentation dataset is created via Synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) to deal with quantitative insufficiency and categorical unbalance of the dataset. PSO algorithm is used to optimize the parameters in ANN, including the activation function, the number of hidden layers, the number of neurons in each hidden layer and the optimizer. In the end, ANN model with 2 hidden layers, 63 and 61 neurons in hidden layers respectively, Relu activation function and Adam optimizer yields the best overall test accuracy of 92.00%, compared with traditional machine learning methods. PSO-ANN shows superiority on various evaluation metrics, which may have great potential in crop diseases control for modern agriculture.
Information Acquisition, Persuasion, and Group Conformity of Online Tribalism
Authors: Meng Jie
Published: October 2021

Though empirically some research suggests the linkage of better communication effect with active users' presence, no existing clues are found on the user activeness at the micro level to contribute to the virtual community's aggregate-level health and vitality. This paper models the interpersonal communication process via a multi-agent, self-reasoning model. It considers each agent’s information value and conformity value, two key constructs adopted in this paper. This paper adopts simulated experiments to identify active users based on individuals’ behavioural characteristics, screen out typical users of different activeness levels, and reveal causalities among the outcomes. The findings show that users' activeness determines the information vitality and influence of information dissemination and substantially impacts the dynamics of user-groups. The author concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological contributions and pinpoints these findings for marketers to improve online customer relationship management.
The Effect of Culture on Performance Expectancy, Intention, and Trust in Mobile Payment Adoption
Authors: Nguyen Tuan Anh , Dick Martin , Nguyen Binh Thi Thanh , Vu Giang Le Quynh , Nguyen Luan Thi Bich , Le Hiep Dinh
Published: October 2021

This study aims to investigate the role of culture at an individual level in the context of m-payment adoption. Specifically, it examines the effect of uncertainty avoidance and collectivism based on the Hofstede cultural dimensions on three important constructs in technology adoption as well as m-payment adoption which are performance expectancy, behavioural intention and consumer trust. The data was collected in Vietnam which ranked first in m-payment development worldwide in 2019 to test the hypotheses. The findings confirmed the significant impact of cultural variables in the context of mobile payment adoption. The positive and significant impacts of performance expectancy on behavioural intention and consumer trust, and consumer trust on behavioural intention are also confirmed which are aligned to previous studies. This research contributes to the body of literature of not only m-payment adoption, but also the impact of culture in m-payment adoption in particular and technology adoption in general.
An Empirical Study of Consumer Attitude Toward Adoption of Online Food Ordering App
Authors: Khandelwal Utkal , Singh Trilok Pratap
Published: October 2021

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the adoption of online food ordering app and the degree of influence of each factor on consumer attitude with moderating effect of technical barriers. This research proposed a conceptual model aimed to test the attitude towards online food ordering app. Relationships among constructs were tested on the basis of 514 surveys collected in India and analyzed with the structural equation modeling approach of partial least squares path modeling. Findings established the positive relationship between effort expectancy (EF), performance expectancy (PE), perceived social norms (PSN), perceived complexity (PCL), perceived compatibility (PCT), perceived relative advantage (PRA), perceived risk (PR) and Attitude towards online food ordering app (ATT). In addition, TB plays a significant moderating role in the relation between PE, PCL, PCT, PR, and ATT. However, no significant moderation effect was found in the relation between EF, PSN, PRA, and ATT.
Leveraging Financial Inclusion Through Technology-Enabled Services Innovation
Authors: Dwivedi Rajeev , Alrasheedi Melfi , Dwivedi Pradeep , Starešinić Berislava
Published: October 2021

The majority of the Indian population is not getting the advantages of inclusive growth and development in India, referred to as financial inclusion and has become a challenge for the Indian economy. The paper aims to investigate the use of available technology-enabled financial services and their role for financial inclusion in the current COVID 19 situation and the reaching rural and semi-urban India. The research is based on the in-depth analysis of the government policies and Fintech in the light of India's situation during COVID 19. The study reveals that the government showed the intent by opening a vast amount of banking accounts (411 million accounts) for financial inclusion in around six years. With radical changes in mobile subscribers and 4G, Internet, and Smartphone growth, India is close to achieving financial inclusion with full potential. However, significant change and development can be attained only if the government provides and motivates citizens to adopt the innovation services for financial inclusion.
Effect of Big Data Analytics in Reverse Supply Chain
Authors: Behera Ajay Kumar , Mohapatra Sasmita , Mahapatra Rabindra , Das Harish
Published: October 2021

The main purpose of this paper is to know about the recent status of big data analytics (BDA) on various manufacturing and reverse supply chain levels (RSCL) in Indian industries. In particular, it emphasises on understanding of BDA concept in Indian industries and proposes a structure to examine industries’ development in executing BDA extends in reverse supply chain management (RSCM). A survey was conducted through questionnaires on RSCM levels of 330 industries. Of the 330 surveys that were mailed, 125 completed surveys were returned, corresponding to a response rate of 37.87 percent, which was slightly greater than previous studies (Queiroz and Telles, 2018).The information of Indian industries with respect to BDA, the hurdles with boundaries to BDA-venture reception, and the connection with reverse supply chain levels and BDA learning were recognized.
Effect of Supply Chain Coordination on Performance
Authors: Kocoglu Ipek , Keskin Halit , Cemberci Murat , Civelek Mustafa Emre
Published: October 2021

Research on supply chain management (SCM) focuses on “what” factors of a supply chain enable firms to achieve high performance. It examines the effect of two strategically important pillars: supply chain relationships or capabilities. However their isolated investigation leads to a limited understanding of “how” they can be combined to increase firm performance. In this study we argue that beyond their direct effects the relational and the capability-based determinants of a supply chain have a network of indirect relationships that concurrently and differentially affect firm performance. Building on the relational and resource-based views we develop a serial-mediation model examining the mediating effects of trust in supply chain and collaborative advantage (i.e. relational determinants), and supply chain agility and coordinated supply chain (i.e. capability-based determinants) of SCM. Through the use of hierarchical linear regression analysis we show that trust, agility and collaboration act as serial mediators that carry the indirect effect of coordination to firm performance.
Evaluating Agricultural Food Supply Chain Resilience in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Xu Wenping , Xiong Shu , Proverbs David
Published: October 2021

With the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural food supply chains (AFSC) have suffered from unprecedented challenges and disruption. AFSC must possess extremely high levels of resilience when confronted by the pandemic. In this study, we have identified six important resilience criteria and eighteen sub-criteria of AFSC in the context of the COVID-19. The research presents the conceptual mixed multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technology to prioritize the resilience criteria based on understanding their interrelationships. Results identify three essential resilience criteria, namely “coordination and collaboration in the supply chain”, “efficiency”, and “strategic management” and the top five key sub-criteria as “velocity”, “visibility”, “continuity management”, “connectedness”, “collaborative planning and replenishment”. The framework proposed in this study contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding towards building resilience within AFSC, and has the potential to be extended to other types of supply chains in response to COVID-19.
Ambidextrous Learning in Buyer-Supplier Relationships
Authors: Atkins Ryan , Yurova Yuliya , Gudi Arvind , Ruppel Cynthia
Published: October 2021

Achieving competitive advantage in a dynamic environment requires firms to exploit their current capabilities and explore new opportunities through innovation. Organizational learning theory refers to these two types of focused learning activities as exploitation and exploration, and jointly as ambidextrous learning. Suppliers can play an important role in the learning process. This research focuses on the role of strategic and operational information sharing between buyers and suppliers in promoting ambidextrous learning. Based on a survey of supply chain managers in U.S. manufacturing firms, the findings indicate that sharing operational information promotes exploitative performance, while sharing strategic information promotes exploratory performance. Both exploitative and exploratory performance improvements positively relate to the buyer’s financial performance, but these relationships are moderated by the buyer’s product innovation strategy. Exploratory performance is particularly important for firms pursuing a high innovation strategy to maximize financial performance.
A New Novel Hybrid Dynamic Color Segmentation Model for Road Signs in Noisy Conditions
Authors: Abdel Qader Akram
Published: October 2021

Image segmentation is the most important process in road sign detection and classification systems. In road sign systems, the spatial information of road signs are very important for safety issues. Road sign segmentation is a complex segmentation task because of the different road sign colors and shapes that make it difficult to use specific threshold. Most road sign segmentation studies do good in ideal situations, but many problems need to be solved when the road signs are in poor lighting and noisy conditions. This paper proposes a hybrid dynamic threshold color segmentation technique for road sign images. In a pre-processing step, the authors use the histogram analysis, noise reduction with a Gaussian filter, adaptive histogram equalization, and conversion from RGB space to YCbCr or HSV color spaces. Next, a segmentation threshold is selected dynamically and used to segment the pre-processed image. The method was tested on outdoor images under noisy conditions and was able to accurately segment road signs with different colors (red, blue, and yellow) and shapes.
An Assessment of Incorporating Log-Logistic Testing Effort Into Imperfect Debugging Delayed S-Shaped Software Reliability Growth Model
Authors: Ahmad Nesar , Ahmad Aijaz , Farooq Sheikh Umar
Published: October 2021

Software reliability growth models (SRGM) are employed to aid us in predicting and estimating reliability in the software development process. Many SRGM proposed in the past claim to be effective over previous models. While some earlier research had raised concern regarding use of delayed S-shaped SRGM, researchers later indicated that the model performs well when appropriate testing-effort function (TEF) is used. This paper proposes and evaluates an approach to incorporate the log-logistic (LL) testing-effort function into delayed S-shaped SRGMs with imperfect debugging based on non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP). The model parameters are estimated by weighted least square estimation (WLSE) and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) methods. The experimental results obtained after applying the model on real data sets and statistical methods for analysis are presented. The results obtained suggest that performance of the proposed model is better than the other existing models. The authors can conclude that the log-logistic TEF is appropriate for incorporating into delayed S-shaped software reliability growth models.
Fault Localization With Data Flow Information and an Artificial Neural Network
Authors: Jo Jun-Hyuk , Lee Jihyun , Jaffari Aman , Kim Eunmi
Published: October 2021

Fault localization is a technique for identifying the exact source code line with faults. It typically requires a lot of time and cost because, to locate the fault, a developer must track the execution of the failed program line by line. To reduce the fault localization efforts, many methods have been proposed. However, their localized suspicious code range is wide, and their fault localization effect is not high. To cope with this limitation, this paper computes the degree of fault suspiciousness of statements by using an artificial neural network and information of the executed test case, such as statement coverage, execution result, and definition-use pair. Compared to the approach that uses only statement coverage as input data for training an artificial neural network, the experiment results show higher accuracy in 15 types of faults out of 29 real fault types in the approach that the definition-use pair included.
Analysis of Environmental Governance Expense Prediction Reform With the Background of Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Wu Xiaohui
Published: October 2021

In this paper, Artificial Intelligence assisted rule-based confidence metric (AI-CRBM) framework has been introduced for analyzing environmental governance expense prediction reform. A metric method is to assess a level of collective environmental governance representing general, government, and corporate aspects. The equilibrium approach is used to calculate improvements in the source of environmental management based on cost, and it is tailored to test the public sector-corporation for environmental shared governance. The overall concept of cost prediction or estimation of environmental governance is achieved by the rule-based confidence method. The framework compares the expected cost to the environment of governance to determine the efficiency of the cost prediction process.
An End-to-End Bidirectional Authentication System for Pallet Pooling Management Through Blockchain Internet of Things (BIoT)
Authors: Long Wen , Wu C. H. , Tsang Y. P. , Chen Qiyang
Published: October 2021

Pallet pooling is regarded as a sustainable and cost-effective measure for the industry, but challenging to advocate due to weak data and pallet authentication.In order to establish trust between end-users and pallet pooling services, we propose an end-to-end, bidirectional authentication system for transmitted data and pallets based on blockchain and Internet-of-things (IoT) technologies. In addition, secure data authentication fosters the pallet authenticity in the whole supply chain network, which is achieved by considering the tag, location, and object-specific features. To evaluate the object-specific features, the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) approach is adopted to match key-points and descriptors between two pallet images. According to the case study, it is found that the proposed system provides a low bandwidth blocking rate and a high probability of restoring complete data payloads. Consequently, positive influences on end-user satisfaction, quality of service, operational errors, and pallet traceability are achieved through the deployment of the proposed system.
Exploring the Barriers in Developing Social Innovation and Sustainopreneurship in Sri Lanka
Authors: Perera J. , Abeysekera R.
Published: October 2021

The interconnection between innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development is a subject of immense concern these days, as society considers answers leading to sustainable development. Further, Social Innovations play a significant role in the development of Sustainopreneurship in the context of sustainable development. Given this context; this study investigates the barriers in developing the Social Innovation and Sustainopreneurship barriers in Sri Lanka. The study used the multiple case study method, and data were collected via in-depth interviews with fifteen Sustainopreneurs in Sri Lanka. The study's findings reveal several barriers in developing Social Innovations and Sustainopreneurship as; a) competition arises from non-sustainable businesses, b) lack of government support, c) high prices, and d) people’s attitude towards Social Innovations and Sustainopreneurship. Due to the dearth of research conducted on this area, this study contributes to the Social Innovations and Sustainopreneurship literature. The recommendations provide useful information for future strategic developments to practitioners and policymakers.
Self Confidence and the Cognitive Styles among the Secondary School Students in Sri Lanka
Authors: Liyadipita L. A. M. H. P.
Published: October 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine secondary school students' self-confidence in terms of cognitive style. The dependent variable was self-confidence and independent factors were gender and cognitive styles. The study used a descriptive survey and the sample consisted of 400 students in grade 11. Data was collected using the Cognitive Style Inventory and the Self-confidence Inventory and was analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. Data were analyzed using Two Way ANOVA with a 52-factorial design. The most important influence of cognitive style and gender on secondary school pupils' self-confidence was shown to be substantial. The double interaction impact of cognitive style and gender on secondary school students' self-confidence was discovered to be substantial. School teachers should organize classes by employing active teaching strategies, suitable teaching tactics, and aiding students in developing academic self-confidence. Lectures, workshops, and seminars should be provided to students who are falling behind owing to poor cognitive style selection.
Nexus between Work Stress and Employee Turnover Intention: Study of Non-Managerial Female Employees in Apparel Industry of Sri Lanka
Authors: Lakshani K. M. G. S. , Weerasinghe T. D.
Published: October 2021

Current study examines the nexus between work stress and turnover intention of non-managerial female employees in apparel industry, Sri Lanka to bridge the lacuna in up-to-date body of knowledge with more precise empirical evidence from the context. Five companies representing the whole industry, were selected from Katunayake Free Trade Zone, Sri Lanka from which the primary data were collected via a questionnaire survey. A standard questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 320 non-managerial female employees. Random sampling technique was used to select a representative sample. Correlation, independent sample t-test and One-way ANOVA were applied to analyse the collected data and to test the advanced hypotheses. In the analysis demographic differences do not come out as significant in predicting for turnover intention, except the education level and level of work experience. However, it is found that, non-managerial females in the apparel industry experiencing higher job demands and negative work relationships are more likely to leave. Further, a greater extent of work control, clarity of job role, management support & colleagues support will increase the chances of employees staying. Thus, non-managerial females who are open to higher work stress are at a higher risk of leaving than other employees. Findings revealed that less experienced and less educated employees are more likely to leave than other females. Moreover, practical and theoretical implications are emphasized in the present study.