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While recent technological advancements have enabled improved performance in warehouse operations, companies still struggle with eliminating errors such as incorrect/damaged items or the wrong quantity sent to customers. Such errors result in inefficient resource use, costly returns handling, and customer dissatisfaction. Despite the importance of errors, current knowledge of the underlying causes is limited. This paper addresses the gap by investigating error causes through a relatively new technology - intelligent video analysis (IVA), an additional tool for analysing warehouse operations. A multiple case study involving companies that have implemented IVA in their outbound warehouse operations (i.e. order picking, packing, and sorting) was conducted. This study is the first to investigate implementations of IVA, offering novel empirical insights into error root causes. It shows how many errors reported by customers are actually not made by humans in outbound warehouse operations but are attributable to faulty customer claims, inbound warehouse operation errors, and malfunctioning technology. This study offers interesting insights into the interaction of various technical, organisational, and human factors, thereby contributing to the literature on sociotechnical systems and the human-centric Industry 5.0. Finally, the study outlines a way forward for managers to address and further reduce errors occurring in warehouse operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of Security Operations Centers (SOCs) by organisations as a part of their cyber security strategy has led to several studies aiming to understand and improve SOC operations. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no systematic literature review on the challenges faced by SOC analysts or on metrics for measuring analysts performance. To this end, we conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) in accordance with the guidelines for undertaking SLR and analyzed papers published on SOCs between 2008 and 2018. We provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced by SOC analysts and of the metrics suggested in the literature for measuring analysts performance. In addition, we present a mapping between the challenges and existing performance metrics showing how the effectiveness of an analyst in addressing a particular challenge could be measured. We also discuss the drawbacks of the existing metrics and suggest directions for improvement. Our findings will enable SOC analysts and managers, as well as the academic community to gain a better understanding of the challenges impeding the performance of SOC analysts, and how analysts performance could be measured and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital transformation is rapidly changing in-store service settings. This paper explores how frontline employees experience and cope with technology-related challenges. Based on a qualitative approach and the use of observations and interviews, this research advances our understanding of how such coping is performed in retail stores and how it contributes to defining employees' work experiences. The paper shows that employees engage in multiple coping practices; involving different forms of problem-solving, but also more proactive coping activities through which employees reconstruct their work. Moreover, the findings improve our understanding of how coping activities contribute to shaping retail work; thus illustrating how employees' in-store work practices are altered as they cope with new technology. The paper demonstrates that the organizational support that employees receive (e.g. available IT support, opportunities to learn from co-workers) is crucial to how technology-related coping is performed and experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional arts and crafts originate from people's daily life and are closely related to their life. Traditional crafts have a long history, a wide variety, and are world-famous. With the development of society and the diversification of folk factors, the competition of traditional technology is becoming increasingly fierce. The legacy process must be updated in addition to the inherited legacy process. However, from the perspective of contemporary reality, due to the influence of specific external objective factors, especially the influence of western culture, traditional folk art materials and crafts face certain difficulties in the process of inheritance, development and innovation, which seriously hinders the development of folk art materials and crafts, mainly due to the huge impact of western culture and commercial culture. Therefore, this paper pointed out the problems in the current material technology by analysing the value, opportunities and challenges of material technology in folk art, and put forward some innovative strategies for the inheritance of material culture by studying the inheritance methods and necessity of material technology culture, so as to improve the inheritance effect of material technology. According to the nearest neighbour propagation clustering algorithm, the degree of ownership and support for the inheritance of material and technology culture were gradually rising; among them, the degree of belonging of cultural heritage has increased by 1.1 in the whole process, while the degree of support for cultural heritage has increased by 0.65 in the whole process. The cultural inheritance effect and process emphasis after innovation strategy were better than those before innovation. The cultural inheritance effect after innovation strategy was 11.7% higher than that before innovation, and the process emphasis was 11.5% higher than that before innovation. In a word, the inheritance of the material technology culture of folk art would help to expand the influence of folk art and improve its competitive position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new urbanization mode, smart cities provide a way to achieve the mutually beneficial situation of both economic development and environmental protection. As such, the question of whether and how smart-city construction can promote the high-quality development of urban economies is worth considering. By measuring the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 233 cities in China from 2004–2019, this paper adopts the national pilot smart cities of China as a quasi-experiment and constructs a time-varying DID model to explore the direct, dynamic, and heterogeneity influence of smart-city construction on GTFP. The results indicate the following: (1) Smart-city construction can significantly promote the urban GTFP, which is mainly caused by the progress of green technology, and the effect is robust after a series of robustness tests; (2) smart-city construction can contribute to GTFP improvement primarily through accelerating technological innovation, promoting industrial upgrading, and realizing resource allocation optimization; and (3) smart cities that are larger in scale, have a higher administrative rank, and lie in eastern regions have stronger positive effects on GTFP. This study aims to contribute to the promotion of urban sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Wide Web and the advancement of computer technology in the 1960s and 1990s respectively set the ground for a substantial and simultaneous change in many facets of our life, including medicine, health care, and medical education. The traditional didactic approach has shifted towards more dynamic and interactive methods, leveraging technologies such as simulation tools, virtual reality, and online platforms. At the forefront is the remarkable evolution that has revolutionized how medical knowledge is accessed, disseminated, and integrated into pedagogical practices. The COVID-19 pandemic also led to rapid and large-scale adoption of e-learning and digital resources in medical education because of widespread lockdowns, social distancing measures, and the closure of medical schools and healthcare training programs. This review paper examines the evolution of medical education from the Flexnerian era to the modern digital age, closely examining the influence of the evolving WWW and its shift from Education 1.0 to Education 4.0. This evolution has been further accentuated by the transition from the static landscapes of Web 2D to the immersive realms of Web 3D, especially considering the growing notion of the metaverse. The application of the metaverse is an interconnected, virtual shared space that includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) to create a fertile ground for simulation-based training, collaborative learning, and experiential skill acquisition for competency development. This review includes the multifaceted applications of the metaverse in medical education, outlining both its benefits and challenges. Through insightful case studies and examples, it highlights the innovative potential of the metaverse as a platform for immersive learning experiences. Moreover, the review addresses the role of emerging technologies in shaping the post-pandemic future of medical education, ultimately culminating in a series of recommendations tailored for medical institutions aiming to successfully capitalize on revolutionary changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the interrelation between technological innovation (TI) and trade friction (TF) by applying the bootstrap rollingwindow full- and subsample Granger causality test from China in a sample from January 2002 to December 2021. Results show that the influence of TI on TF is twofold. On the one hand, TI is a push for TF. This finding is consistent with the ‘income effect’, which postulates that TI leads to more TF by affecting the income of other countries. On the other hand, TI has a negative influence on TF. This result confirms the ‘substitute effect’, implying that TI can benefit consumers by providing more high-quality and cheaper products. In turn, TF can hinder TI by reducing exporters’ profits. Based on these findings, governments should coordinate their efforts toward innovation and trade policies. At the same time, firms should master core technology and develop their high-performance products to avoid the risk of TF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore whether the over-reliance on political resources hampers corporate technological innovation and the role of environmental regulation in mitigating the adverse effect. A simplified theoretical framework is proposed to combine political ties, environmental regulations, and corporate innovation. Then, based on the data for listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry, our empirical results show that political relations have negative impacts on both patent licensing and R&D investment, indicating the existence of a political resource curse in listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry. The transmission mechanisms include mitigating market competition and inducing overinvestment, but increasing the rent-seeking motivation is not a channel through which political connections negatively affect corporate innovation. Further empirical analysis demonstrates that environmental regulations help eliminate the curse effect of political ties on technological innovation at the firm level in China, through increasing market competition and reducing overinvestment. The findings of this paper provide insights for optimizing environmental regulation policies, which are conducive to inducing technical innovation in politically connected enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the versatile usage and applications of chromium compounds in the industry worldwide, the chromium ions are present in the major effluents from a broad range of industries. Cr(VI) which is highly hazardous and carcinogenic poses a serious threat to the our ecosystem and human health even at very low concentration limits. Cr(III) ions are also toxic to aquatic life, but they are less harmful than Cr(VI) ions. Therefore, detection and analysis of the toxic Cr(VI) and Cr(III) ionic species in waste water are an utmost important area of research. Various chemical reagents and the different methods which require expensive instrumentation used in the past for detection and determination of the non-biodegradable Cr(VI) ions suffer from serious limitations. The present review summarises the use of spectrophotometric methods of determination of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) ions from aqueous solutions with high sensitivity, selectivity, accuracy and at lesser costs. The use of chemical reagents such as diphenylcarbazide (DPC) and several other dye-based reagents for spectrophotometric determination of hazardous Cr ions in water samples is discussed. Additionally, the use of DPC reagent in developing advanced technologies such as microfluidic detection system, microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) and 3D printed device with online spectrophotometric detection system for onsite monitoring of water samples is elucidated. Different methods for selective speciation and preconcentration of Cr(VI) ions prior to spectrophotometric determination in water samples with very low concentrations (as low as ppb) of Cr ions are also described. The emerging trends in detection and determination of carcinogenic Cr(VI) ions involving the use of novel and innovative technologies and different categories of nanomaterials are also elucidated in the present review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What determines Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows remains a primary concern of economists and policy makers; yet the uncertainty surrounding FDI theories and empirical approaches has created ambiguity regarding the determinants of FDI. This paper applies Leamer's (1983, 1985) traditional Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) as well as the Sala-I-Martin modified form of EBA to identify the robust determinants of FDI using cross-sectional data (averaged for the period of 1985-2016) covering 103 emerging and developing countries. We consider 33 potential economic, political and institutional determinants. To address concerns about multicollinearity, the VIF restriction specifies that only estimates with VIF below five are reported. The results show that all variables of interest are fragile determinants of FDI when using traditional EBA. Yet, when applying the Sala-i-Martin EBA, nine robust variables are revealed. Some policy implications are discussed. Highlights What determines Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows remains a primary concern of economists and policy makers; yet the uncertainty surrounding FDI theories and empirical approaches has created ambiguity regarding the determinants of FDI. It is a common practice in the fields of economics and finance to report the most 'appealing' or convenient regression or regressions after an extensive search and data mining, given that the 'true' model is unknown. This paper applies traditional Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) as well as the Sala-i-Martin modified form of EBA to identify the robust determinants of FDI. We demonstrate that what is important is not the significance or otherwise according to one regression equation but rather the robustness or fragility of the variables in the sense that the sign and significance do not change over a large number of regressions selected according to a predetermined procedure. Policy makers would be able to understand the importance of the major determinants of FDI mentioned in the paper and take steps to formulate policies that encourage and attract more FDI. Such determinants could include market size, making regulations more international trade friendly and investing in the nation's human capital. Further, research and development facilities could be developed to provide a basis for technological advancements which would attract more FDI inflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution promises to transform contemporary societies. Similarly, emerging technologies are affording countless new applications that assure an overall and widespread improvement of living standards. At the same time, their potential misuse has sparked concerns. In particular, the possibility of terrorist organizations adopting such technologies has dominated the scholarly debate. Consequently, there is a growing literature that deals with the motivational and technical factors potentially underlying the malevolent resort to emerging technologies. Enthusiasm for emerging technologies is, however, only one side of the coin. The last decade has, indeed, witnessed a re-emergence of forms of Neo-Luddism. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of these developments is still lacking. This paper investigates and maps the main debates and dynamics in the Anti-Technology Movement in order to understand the rationale behind—and the prospects of—this resurgence. In doing so, it focuses on two radical fringes, namely the Insurrectionary Anarchist Milieu and the Radical Environmentalist Milieu. The paper argues that, although based on different narratives and end goals, these milieus share a similar commitment and operational approaches as well as a marked apocalyptic millenarian thinking that has set them on an escalatory path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health organisations have adopted technologies since the 1960s, but only after the Industry 4.0 were such technologies systematized and organised under the H4.0 acronym. The pace at which digital information and communication applications have been developed in recent years challenge healthcare managers to choose assertively those with the largest potential impacts on their operations. In this paper, we propose using value stream mapping, a technique from the lean healthcare (LH) toolbox, to guide the choice of H4.0 digital applications that are more likely to support the improvement of value flows in healthcare organisations. We propose a three-step method, starting with mapping current and future value streams of the process under analysis, gathering data from team members on the indicated kaizen bursts and H4.0 digital applications, and finally assessing and ranking H4.0 digital applications that best support improvements and comply with attributes that characterise successful technological innovations. Our propositions are illustrated through a case study conducted in the sterilisation unit of a large public university hospital. Our findings indicate that three H4.0 digital applications should be prioritised to support the improvement of the value stream under analysis. Our method combines the simplicity of LH with more sophisticated solutions brought by H4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As most outcropping and shallow mineral deposits have been found, new technology is imperative to finding the hidden critical mineral deposits required for the renewable energy transition. One such seismic technique, called ambient noise tomography (ANT), has shown promise in recent years as a low cost and low environmental impact passive method of three-dimensional (3D) imaging of shear-wave velocity structure of the Earth. Over the last twenty years the method has been well-established in academia to image crustal and regional scale geological features but has seldom been used at the mineral exploration deposit-scale. In this paper we show the application of seismic ANT at an IOCG deposit in South Australia under more than 750 m of sedimentary cover. A 100-site survey in a 10 by 10 grid with site spacing of 1 km, using 3-component nodal seismometers with a natural-frequency of 5 Hz, was conducted over a two-week period. Data were inverted to generate a 3D velocity model to a depth of 2 km. When compared to drillholes in the survey area, the tomographic model delineates cover sequence lithologies and the depth of crystalline basement. A velocity anomaly in the basement has characteristics of a potential IOCG deposit and is aligned with a gravity anomaly due to brecciated haematite. The results of the paper indicate that ANT is a useful tool for deep cover mineral exploration that can potentially expedite the discovery of new deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of designing English textbooks based on the concept of the metaverse and using the new term TechBoox, which is a combination of Technology and Boox (modified from book with a greater emphasis on box as a spatial concept). To achieve this goal, this study documents the creation of TechBoox by a group of 23 pre-service English as a Foreign Language teachers in their teacher training program, who have converted learning content and materials from elementary English paper and digital textbooks into a three-dimensional metaverse platform. Thereafter, the research analyzes the participants’ perceptions and experiences regarding TechBoox ideation and creation. This is done through a qualitative case study approach with refleciton papers and semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest, on the one hand, that TechBoox has the potential to overcome the limitations of the static and two-dimensional nature of traditional textbooks through constructability for enhanced immersion, as well as experiential learning via direct participation in avatar movements. On the other hand, the study identifies the technological limitations of the concept in generating immersive content, access devices, potential distractions, and the novelty effect, which highlights the important role of teachers in the metaverse. Based on the findings, this study highlights the critical role of teacher training initiatives of emerging technology integration in language eudcaiton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the evolution of zooming and its impact on human perception, blending historical analysis with concepts from enaction and ecological psychology. The paper traces the advancement of magnifying tools from ancient lenses to modern optical instruments, highlighting their transformative role in extending human capabilities to perceive beyond natural limits. Central to this exploration are Zoomable User Interfaces (ZUIs), which exemplify the integration of perceptual theories into technological innovation. ZUIs are presented not just as tools but as interactive platforms that embody enactive and ecological principles, enabling users to engage dynamically with multi-scale digital environments. This approach challenges traditional views of perception, emphasizing an active, embodied experience that aligns with our cognitive abilities, opening up new perceptual agencies. The paper concludes by exploring future possibilities in virtual reality and multimodality, suggesting new directions for zoom technologies to enrich human perceptual experiences. This work offers a narrative that underscores the continuous human quest to enhance our understanding and interaction with the world, marking the expansion of human perception and interaction with our environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The virtual agglomeration of manufacturing realises the ubiquitous connection and efficient allocation of technological innovation resources, and becomes a new driving force for improving the technological innovation efficiency of enterprises and building a strong manufacturing country. This paper constructs a theoretical framework to investigate the impact of the specialised and diversified virtual agglomeration of manufacturing on the efficiency of enterprise technological innovation. This paper uses the adjusted location entropy and the Herfindahl-Hirschman index to measure the level of specialised and diversified virtual agglomeration of manufacturing. Using Chinese manufacturing data (2008–2021), empirical tests confirm that the specialised and diversified virtual agglomeration of manufacturing can improve the efficiency of enterprise technological innovation. Additionally, the mechanism test results show that the specialised virtual agglomeration of manufacturing improves the technological innovation efficiency of enterprises through competition and knowledge spillover, and the diversified virtual agglomeration improves the technological innovation efficiency of enterprises through knowledge spillover. However, the effect of specialised virtual agglomeration of manufacturing on the efficiency of enterprises` technological innovation will be adjusted by the age of enterprises. These results are pivotal for understanding the realistic path of virtual agglomeration of manufacturing to improve the technological innovation efficiency of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeMethodology/approachFindingsResearch implicationsPractical implicationsOriginality/value/contribution of the paperThere is no doubt that technology impacts organizational processes and key performance. However, the success of an organization is influenced by the openness and willingness of staff to accept a specific technology. This study focuses on B2B marketing employees and aims to determine employee readiness and acceptance of new technology based on the impact of technology characteristics on employee perceptions with an ensuing effect on technology readiness and technology acceptance.This study employed the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, and made use of views pertaining to Technology Readiness Index (TRI), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Task-Technology Fit (TTF). Thus, the study investigated the impact of functionality, reliability, compatibility, and innovative features on perceived technological usefulness, task-technology fit, and trust in technology, and, further, their influence on technology readiness and technology acceptance. An online questionnaire was employed to collect data from B2B marketing employees in China working in companies that introduced at least one new technology for work purposes in the last 24 months. Based on a convenience sampling method, 450 valid questionnaires were collected. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data.Functionality, reliability, compatibility, and innovative features had significant positive effects on perceived technological usefulness and task-technology fit. Functionality, reliability, and compatibility had significant positive effects on trust in technology. Among the four technology characteristics, the strongest influence was recorded in the case of compatibility on task-technology fit, while innovative features represented the only variable that displayed a non-significant relationship with an employee perception and trust in technology. Task-technology fit had significant positive impacts on perceived technological usefulness, trust in technology, technology readiness, and technology acceptance. Perceived technological usefulness and trust in technology displayed significant positive effects on technology readiness and technology acceptance. Among the three B2B marketing employee perceptions, the strongest relationship was the one between task-technology fit and trust in technology. Technology readiness had a significant positive influence on technology acceptance. Mediating effects were also computed, with indirect effects complementing the direct ones. Task-technology fit partially mediated the effects of functionality, reliability, compatibility, and innovative features on trust in technology. Trust in technology partially mediated the effects of task-technology fit on technology readiness and technology acceptance. Technology readiness partially mediated the effects of perceived technological usefulness and trust in technology on technology readiness. Innovative features, displaying a non-significant effect on trust in technology, had an indirect effect on it through task-technology fit.This study proposes a new research vein on B2B marketing employee technology adoption by investigating technology readiness and technology acceptance as dependent variables, as well as the impact of the former on the latter. Moreover, this research defined B2B marketing employee perceptions as perceived technological usefulness, task-technology fit, and trust in technology by combining two theories, TAM and TTF and arguing the importance of trust in technology in explaining employee behavior regarding technology usage. Trust in technology could compensate for lack of technology and build positive expectations about the effects of technology use, thus, acting as a trigger to adopt technology. Additionally, the selection of the characteristics of technology had as roots user perceptions, thus, integrating the two research streams on the impact of technology found in the literature, the user-centered and the technology-centered.B2B marketing managers can make use of the research findings by making sure that an implemented technology renders benefits connected to functionality, reliability, compatibility, and innovative features, as all of them were perceived by B2B marketing employees to be useful, supportive in meeting job requirements and being prerequisites of trust in technology. Managers should emphasize the matching between job requirements and technology features as compatibility, task-technology fit, and trust in technology showed the strongest connections. If employees understand that technology helps them in doing their jobs, they will build trust in technology and will be open to engage with technology and adopt it.The paper proposes a new avenue of exploring technology usage behavior. To this aim, the paper presents a model built on SOR, adding to the literature a different perspective. The stimuli (S) were technology characteristics built from the literature to match the four independent variables of TRI, namely optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity. The organism variables (O) were drawn from TAM, adapting perceived usefulness from the model perceived, from TTF making use of task-technology fit, and adding trust in technology to these two in order to form employee perceptions on new technology. TAM and TTF were combined to document the appropriateness to use task-technology fit over perceived ease of use, moving the focus from the effort entailed to use the technology onto the matching between a job requirement and the technology. As responses (R), technology readiness and technology acceptance were used, combining dependent variables used in TRI and TAM. It is probably for the first time that these two variables are investigated so comprehensively in the same model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What constitutes good intelligence is best understood by practitioners but has not been explored through empirical analysis and in the context of a digital age. This paper presents the first research inside all the agencies that form the Australian National Intelligence Community exploring how they are impacted by big data. Intelligence is often opaque to outsiders, yet understanding the characteristics of good intelligence is important to societies that rely on intelligence agencies for national security. This paper reflects the previously unheard perspectives of members of the agencies that form the Australian National Intelligence Community – where there is a significant empirical gap. Semi-structured interviews with 47 participants explored the impact of big data on intelligence and decision-making in Australia. This paper finds that intelligence must meet the following characteristics, many established in historical literature, in order to be considered good intelligence; (i) timely, (ii) purposeful, (iii) actionable, (iv) accurate, (v) provides value-add for an intended audience, and, (vi) is unbiased. This article explores and unpacks each of these characteristics of good intelligence and finds they remain critical in a big data era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes this shift in the relationship between China and the United States, focusing in particular on the role of American corporations in shaping US geopolitical strategies with regard to China. Once aggressive promoters of economic integration with China, these firms now defend policies designed to block the growth of Chinese firms in Western markets and protect America's lead in critical emerging technologies. The current tension between the US and China, we argue, reflects, in part, a dispute for control over technical progress in these key areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the licensing of a product innovation in a duopoly by means of two-part tariff contracts composed of fixed-fee payments combined with per-unit or ad-valorem royalties. When the licensor is a firm within the industry (internal licensor), it licenses the innovation to its competitor by using a pure ad-valorem royalty, and welfare is reduced because the royalty has anticompetitive effects on market performance. On welfare grounds, fixed-fee predominates over per-unit royalty licensing, but has the disadvantage that firms sometimes fail to reach an agreement. A simple regulatory rule is then proposed for a second-best optimal policy on product innovation licensing. However, when the innovator is outside the industry (external licensor), it never uses ad-valorem royalties. Also evaluated is the value of the innovation for an internal and an external innovator, and licensing by both innovators under Bertrand competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brushless direct current motors have gained popularity among the emerging technologies due to their increased efficiency, speed of operation, and density of flux. This paper presents a novel technique for controlling the speed of the brushless direct current motor by using hybrid algorithms. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is combined with the Takagi Sugeno adaptive fuzzy interference system and gravitational search algorithms to analyze the speed control of the brushless DC electric motor (BLDC) motors. The proposed model has designed multiple outputs prototype for BLDC motor with Takagi Sugeno fuzzy logic. Since the adaptive fuzzy logic system has three outputs, the final output is evaluated as the average value of all the outputs using the LMS algorithm. The speed control of the Brushless DC motor has also been analyzed using a combination of the gravitational search algorithm and the PSO algorithm. The motor parameters taken under consideration for the analysis have been tabulated. The different results obtained at the end of this study have been demonstrated through graphs and tables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain, an emerging technology benefits the new technological world from its features such as immutability, transparency, and decentralization. The diversity of its domain is from e-commerce, health care, real estate, and enterprise to NFT markets, voting and digital currency trading. The underlying blockchain features make auditing blockchain applications a challenging task. In this paper, we thoroughly analyze the general challenges faced in blockchain forensics, application-specific challenges, and challenges with respect to public and private blockchains. The aim of this paper is to highlight the challenges faced during the forensics of blockchain-based applications. For this, we took a healthcare system, introduced a contract vulnerability in it, and defined two scenarios for attack depending on that vulnerability. One that allows an attacker to make a malicious transaction directly and the other in which the attacker first gives itself access and then adds malicious transactions. The attacks are generated just to analyze the difficulty level of forensics in blockchain applications. To achieve our goal, we performed log analysis for both scenarios and specified the challenges faced during the analysis. Our experiment shows that due to some blockchain-specific features such as anonymity, identification of malicious entities in the system sometimes becomes a hectic challenge. This research benefits the auditors by highlighting the forensics challenges and auditing issues so they can work on these areas to identify the attackers and illegal data modifications accurately in blockchain applications. Experimental results confirmed that our proposed technique enabled efficient forensics investigation of events inside blockchain-based healthcare applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy security is among the top security concerns of the 21st century requiring technological answers. However, the technological innovations adopted often not only serve to ensure adequate energy access and stable flow of energy, but also foster specific visions of socio-economic and techno-political orders and security. This paper tweaks the analytical lens of sociotechnical imaginaries, in which desired futures are connected to social and technical elements in concrete cases by adding a focus on identity formation and ontological security to the analytical model. Zooming in on the Baltic Sea Region, the paper traces sociotechnical imaginaries tied to the desired future of energy sovereignty through coal and nuclear energy in Poland and the bright future of energy independence through a liquified natural gas terminal in Lithuania. Nationally embedded understandings of how (in)security can be managed through technological innovation and how the desired national energy visions can be attained in the process highlight the importance of ontological security concerns. In tracing those themes, the paper combines a historical view with developments since the mid-2010s in Polish and Lithuanian energy discourse and analyzes the mainstream energy security imaginaries as envisioned by political elites. The study draws on speeches of key political figures, official documents concerning energy planning as well as semi-structured interviews. The analysis highlights how the study of energy innovation in the Baltic Sea Region can contribute to the conversation between critical security studies and science and technology studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to critically analyse the development dichotomies and socio-ecological concerns inherent in a controversial megaproject in Kerala – the Semi High-Speed Rail Corridor, also known as the Silverline Project – through a political ecology lens. The mainstream discourses of development in an extractivist political economy focus on economic growth and technological advancement without a critical social and ecological security assessment. Megaprojects are presented as dream projects and symbols of modernity, even when fragmentation and degradation of socio-ecological systems are apparent. The paper explores the multiple strategies used by the State to legitimising the project, which includes overriding or diluting the regulatory framework for conservation, greenwashing, manipulative reductionism etc. It argues that an inclusive development discourse should go beyond perceiving environment and development as a binary opposition and thrive for a critical and reflexive conceptualisation and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of industrial Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is the basis for the high-quality development of China's economy. Sci-tech finance affects industrial TFP through screening and allocation mechanism, governance mechanism, and integration mechanism. Based on provincial panel data from 2009 to 2016, this paper constructs a comprehensive index of regional Sci-tech finance and explores the impact of Sci-tech finance on industrial TFP from two perspectives: differences in financial development levels and transmission paths. The results show that Sci-tech finance has a significant role in promoting the industrial TFP, but this promotion needs to meet certain financial development conditions. In high-level financial development areas, the promotion effect is significant. It is not linear. The effect is a threshold effect with the diminishing marginal efficiency. Sci-tech finance mainly promotes industrial TFP through boosting the industry's scientific and technological innovation capacity. Policies and channels of Sci-tech finance to support science and technology innovation are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning Support Systems (PSS) research has explored ways to improve PSS use and embeddedness. However, there is little knowledge of how unplanned changes during implementation impact outcomes. This paper answers the question, 'How can drift influence PSS implementation and use?' It applies the concept of drift (changes in new technology, user behaviour, and/or existing practice during ICT implementation) to explain how PSS users (GIS specialists, planners) initiate unplanned changes during implementation and use. Following a qualitative approach, we investigate a PSS implementation case study in Rwanda – the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) methodology – to establish the role of drift in PSS use and embeddedness. Our study reveals that a) user understanding and perception of PSS can initiate drift during implementation and use, and b) drift can influence outcomes of PSS use or embeddedness. This study confirms the role of drift in PSS use and embeddedness in Rwanda's spatial planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors review the literature on last mile delivery logistics within commercial and humanitarian supply chains from 2010 to the end of 2021. The scope of the last mile, including last mile logistics, last mile distribution, and last-mile mile delivery, is covered. A unifying terminology of the major concepts in this field and a bibliometric analysis are provided. Based on the analysis, the authors further classify and discuss the literature into three clusters: humanitarian relief, commercial logistics, and emerging technologies. Within each generated cluster, research gaps and current trends are identified. Future research directions are suggested based on this literature review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of financial technology (Fintech) has greatly impacted the financial landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in recent years. The impact on bank funding and economic growth in the region cannot be ignored. This paper examines the extent to which Fintech has affected bank funding and economic growth in the region by utilizing data from 56 banks across 19 SSA economies between 2010 and 2020. The analysis was conducted using a covariance-based structural equation modeling method. The results show that Fintech disruptions have triggered an increase in equity funding for banks, while having negligible effects on deposit and long-term debt financing. The study also outlines that Fintech's limited size within the financial system has ultimately restricted its effects on economic growth in SSA. Furthermore, the study did not find evidence of Fintech mediating the impact on economic growth via the bank funding channel, suggesting that SSA banking systems are capable of resisting Fintech disruptions for financial stability. Overall, these findings highlight the resilience of bank funding structures to Fintech disruptions, emphasizing the importance of prudent funding management and continued investment in Fintech for sustained economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, as Fintech continues to evolve and grow, policymakers should remain vigilant and monitor its impact on the financial system and economic growth in the region. By understanding the implications of Fintech on bank funding and economic growth in SSA, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on the potential benefits and challenges of technological innovations in the financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospects and challenges of boundary-spanning public value co-creation are one of the quintessential features of public management in the current age of complexity. This paper argues that boundary-spanning takes on a heightened salience in multilevel jurisdictions where actors must not only navigate the horizontal contours of inter-organizational relations but also vertical tiers of jurisdiction in pursuit of joint action. Drawing insights from the multilevel governance literature, and using Canada's recent Innovation Superclusters Initiative as case study, the paper sheds some light on how public managers and policy entrepreneurs navigate strategically across boundaries in federal and other multitiered systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investment in capital, new technology, and agricultural techniques has not been considered an endeavor worthwhile in a medieval economy because of a lack of strong property rights and no incentive on the part of lords and barons to lend money to or grant rights to peasant farmers. Therefore, the medieval economy and standards of living at that time often have been characterized as non-dynamic and static due to insufficient investment in innovative techniques and technology. Paul Baran's concept of the economic surplus is applied to investment patterns during the late medieval, mercantile, and early capitalist stages of economic growth in England and the UK. This paper uses Zhun Xu's Baran Ratio concept to try to develop general trends to demonstrate and reinforce other historical accounts of these times that a productive and sufficient level of public and private investment out of accumulated capital income, taxation, and rents does not have a real impact on economic per capita growth until around the 1600 s in Britain. This would also be about the time of capitalism's ascent as the dominant economic system in England. Even then, dramatic increases in investment and economic growth do not appear until the late 18th Century when investment more consistently becomes more than one hundred percent of the level of the domestic economic surplus and takes in government spending. The types of investment, threshold amounts of investment out of profits and rents along with government spending seem to matter when it comes to a growth path raising GDP per capita and national income per capita to higher levels. Although much of this knowledge perhaps is embodied in current historical accounts, the Baran Ratio nicely summarizes and illustrates the importance of levels of investment to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unfolding of the digital transformation, often associated with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has been attracting increasing attention in diverse academic disciplines. The related research has already populated several special issues that represent important guideposts for future studies on the topic. However, a paper collection with an 'Industry and Innovation' perspective, dealing with how firms behave, innovate, and perform in the new industrial paradigm, is still missing. This special issue aims to fill this gap. The six research articles investigate how firms face digital transformation from three different angles, looking at its determinants, the patterns of its unfolding, and its techno-economic effects. The variety of the theoretical backgrounds, data sources, and empirical methodologies, along with the originality and managerial/policy relevance of their results, make the special issue a privileged point of view to investigate the new industrial paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the climate challenge requires proactive policies that spur innovation in the renewable energy sector, various countries commit vastly different levels of support for renewable energy R&D. This paper addresses the question why this may be the case. Specifically, the objective is to analyse the determinants of government support to renewable energy R&D in the European Union (EU), and, in doing this, we devote particular attention to the question of whether the level of this support tends to converge or diverge across EU Member States. The investigation relies on a data set of 12 EU Member States and a bias-corrected dynamic panel data estimator. We test for the presence of conditional β-convergence, and the impacts of energy dependence and electricity regulation on government R&D efforts. The findings display divergence in terms of government support to renewable energy R&D, and this result is robust across various model specifications and key assumptions. The analysis also indicates that countries with a low energy-import dependence and deregulated electricity markets tend to experience lower growth rates in government renewable energy R&D. The paper ends by discussing some implications of the results, primarily from an EU perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study of North Xiazhu Village in China examines how algorithmic practices and the construction of physical and symbolical places mutually shape and constitute one another in the context of a new phenomenon: livestreaming villages. Such villages have emerged as a result of the widespread popularity of social media featuring algorithmic recommendations. Algorithmic practices—defined as users' individual or collective strategies and actions in response to the algorithmic mechanisms that distribute traffic—have become key variables in the place-making of livestreaming villages. By analyzing how algorithmic practices are formed, implemented, shared, organized, and interwoven with place-making, this paper seeks to examine how the traditional village of North Xiazhu has transformed into a livestreaming village. Meanwhile, this paper seeks to broaden our understanding of the social opportunities facilitated by new technologies, recognizing the constitutive role of algorithmic practices in the making of places and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dynamic complementary interaction between investment in technological capability and investment in specific innovation projects based on a decision model of innovation, using Vietnamese MSME data. The empirical results show that firm size, technological capability and current specific R&D investment have a positive impact on innovation. Firm age was positive but not significant, implying that conscious technological effort may be more important for innovation than passive learning by doing. The combination of significant economies of scale and technological capability imply that government assistance for firms with low technological capability maybe important, but government assistance is shown to be either insufficient or ineffective. Results from this paper suggest that government policy aimed at facilitating increases in firm size and providing technical extension services would be more constructive than merely providing R&D subsidies to MSMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a unique and powerful bottom-up methodology for social innovation promoting and securing Sustainable development goals (SDG's) in a wide variety of social innovation contexts founded on a bottom-up approach : it identifies four sustainable development enabling factors, (SDEFs) that make social innovation contributions to sustainability in all its forms. We Employ three level (micro, meso, macro) model of social Innovation. In the first four sections of the paper, we show how the SDEF's constitute social innovation success factors at the micro level, underpinning in ancient history, the enduing success of the Silk Road network of trade and, in recent history we reveal their role underpinning entrepreneurial innovation clusters bottom up. Yje concluding section shows how social innovation achievements implementing the SDEFs at the micro level can inform successful expansion into new contexts via adaptation and exaptation at the meso level and top-down facilitation at the macro level.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting innovative capabilities in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) is crucial if African countries are to progress in terms of being active in the Global Value Chain (GVC) and achieve inclusive development. Enhancing innovative capabilities in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been identified as strategic to Nigeria tapping into the GVC and deepening industrial sustainable development. Despite increasing awareness that enhanced innovative capabilities can foster the integration of SMEs into the GVC, there still exists scanty evidence of SMEs' innovative capabilities, especially in the ICT sector and software sub-sector in Nigeria. This paper broadly explores SMEs' innovative capabilities in the ICT–Software Incubator sub-sector in Lagos metropolis. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand what limits SMEs' innovative capabilities and the kinds of government support required to mitigate the effects of these factors. The study used 200 SMEs and 10 key incubator hubs operating in the sub-sector as a case study as well as in-depth interviews with the owners/managers. Our findings show that there is improvement in the software sector's knowledge and development and its value chain in the country; most businesses copy innovative concepts from abroad, adopting about 30% local innovation content due to the high demand for foreign software innovations by clients; overall most incubation hubs are underperforming in their core services to incubating firms; and poor educational infrastructure, brain drain and poor support from the government are key challenges facing the sector. We recommend a strong peer review among the innovation hubs and a check on the brain drain in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-industrial period, traditional Chinese enterprises are facing the awkward situation of being 'big but not strong', with their core technologies being controlled by others. The digital transformation of enterprises has not only reshaped business models and industrial boundaries, but also boosted the high-quality development of China's economy. This paper reviews the existing literature and discovers that digital technology promotes enterprise production efficiency through cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and innovation. Based on the data of listed manufacturing companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2009 to 2017, this paper constructs a differences in differences (DID) model to empirically study the relationship between digital transformation and production efficiency. The results revealed that the implementation of digital transformation plays a significant role in promoting economic benefits and the results of the lag regression method are still robust. Based on this, combined with the actual situation of Chinese enterprises, this paper proposes countermeasures and suggestions to promote the development of enterprise digital transformation. The conclusion is of great significance for Chinese enterprises to occupy a dominant position in the new wave of global industrial revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The innovation literature increasingly addresses grand challenges and transformative change. However, the issue of to what extent transformative change can build upon the resources, actors and institutions of existing innovation systems has not received sufficient attention. Against this background this paper aims to advance our understanding of the geographies and continuities of transformative change, by exploring the role of regional innovation systems in mission-oriented innovation. Based on an in-depth case study of electrification of ferries in Western Norway, the paper finds that the accomplishment of the mission was in large part due to the fact that it created new regional economic opportunities and built upon and mobilized existing regional resources, actors and structures. This mission re-orientation of an existing regional innovation system was characterized by (a) limited contestation, low complexity and low uncertainty about the technological battery-driven solutions pointed at, (b) multi-actor and multi-scalar agency and finally (c) asset modification of strong and pre-existing RIS structures, institutions and regulatory context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional innovation policy, and related research, are being pressurized to transform by today's grand societal challenges. Our paper acknowledges the efforts of authors in this field to address this pressure and addresses how new emergent framings of innovation policy can be operationalized in practice. We explore how co-generative research can help achieve this and share the case of a think tank in the Basque Country (Spain) which we describe as a hybrid space because of the way researchers and policy makers work together. The case is then used to revisit the methodology that researchers have used for co-generation (action research for territorial development) and to upgrade this methodology with a new concept, an action research think tank. The final discussion goes beyond action research and the case study, to look at how co-generation can improve learning processes between policy makers and researchers in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design is the act of transforming an existing situation into a preferred one. Taking this broad definition of design, the paper analyzes the process of grassroots innovations from a design perspective in the three phases of idea generation, experimentation, and implementation. The sample is chosen from award-winning grassroots innovations identified by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). The different factors involved in each phase of design have been examined. The results indicate that most of the innovations which win awards belong to the mechanical innovations category and have application in the farming or agriculture sector. The innovations are designed using material resources from the surroundings of the innovators while personal savings often make up the necessary finance required to develop the innovation at the idea stage. Next, the different formal institutions involved in the experimentation stage providing technical and financial assistance for further design and development of innovations are also examined, to find that mostly technical institutions are involved in providing validation and modification services to the grassroots innovations. As diffusion of innovation is the preferred condition, the paper finds that most of the award-winning innovations are diffused through a market-based channel in which the innovator owns the manufacturing unit while in some cases the innovations are licenced to another entrepreneur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the digital transformation impacts many sectors of the economy, actors in the construction industry—and more specifically in megaproject initiatives—have to adapt to new technologies and processes. Megaprojects are commonly undertaken to build essential infrastructures such as roads, dams, buildings, or even smart cities or districts, and usually involve complex and hybrid organizational forms. Moreover, digitalization transforms megaprojects, presenting megaproject teams with opportunities, but also challenges. This conceptual paper explores the characteristics of heterarchical megaproject ecologies in order to identify ways to address the impacts of the current digital transformation. Our aim is to analyze how a heterarchical form of governance contributes to transforming the management of innovation. While heterarchies can lead to severe dysfunctions, we propose strategies to manage them, paying specific attention to the governance of a common-pool-resource scenario, network roles, knowledge articulation and learning. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a renewed conceptualization of megaproject governance and to propose a conceptual framework that can be used to study the management of innovation in empirical megaproject settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key aspects of digitalization brought by Industry 4.0 is driven by the Internet of Things. Perhaps, the most interesting component of digital transformation is Augmented Reality. Augmented reality is merging the digital and physical worlds in the same experience. This new technology is accepted and applications are initiated in various areas including manufacturing. The main usage area in manufacturing is planning, execution, and verification of the assembly and maintenance operations. Likewise, augmented reality is used in the training of inexperienced people and to guide them by remote expert support. However, the augmented reality application selection, especially for non-technology savvy manufacturing organizations is challenging. Detailed and time-consuming analyses are required to understand the key features to compare and select the most suitable augmented reality application. In this paper, the most critical nine augmented reality software selection criteria are identified. To help organizations to apply such criteria and make a selection that is most suitable for the enterprise, a multi criteria decision-making approach is suggested. The suggested method is based on a fuzzy spherical number. The complex proportional assessment method is used to calculate the rankings. Therefore, the suggested method is called SF-COPRAS. Moreover, the detailed definition of augmented reality features and terminologies is explained. Several augmented reality use-case scenarios are discussed for manufacturing organizations on their Industry 4.0 initiatives. This paper aims to guide decision makers on their augmented reality software selection journey. The offered framework aims to save time for investigating augmented reality solution features systematically and objectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on action research. Topics include research projects ranges from the improvement of learning through pedagogical innovation, improvement of teachers' counselling self efficacy, school improvement, and leadership development; and development of gamification through the curriculum enhancing the students' empowerment, feelings of success, and learning outcomes.

As technology progresses, organisations must understand where to direct their value-creating efforts to achieve or sustain competitive advantage. This is even more true in the case of emerging technologies, where innovative activities often focus on achieving a technology promise while overlooking a set of technological, operational, organisational and user-related problems that must be overcome before the technology can fulfil this promise. Through an innovative application of text-mining, this paper develops a practical methodology to identify a range of problems related to a technological field in an unsupervised manner, that may benefit firms, researchers and policymakers. We apply the methodology to the field of blockchain and compare it to traditional literature reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects that mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have had on different types of co-presence, which the existing literature considers to be central for science and innovation. Drawing on a regional analysis of COVID-19 restrictions in Germany, it links specific mobility restrictions to concrete impacts on co-presence, differentiating between co-presence in organizations, dynamic temporary co-presence, and the local 'buzz'. It highlights that co-presence at workplaces and conferences was resilient to restrictions but that the detrimental effects on the 'local buzz' may have been substantial and long-lasting. In conclusion, it cautions against the severe effects of placing restrictions on the education system. Subsequently, the discussion links the reported disruptions of co-presence to the potential effects of the pandemic on preconditions for innovative processes and economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the perspective of the innovation value chain, this paper divides the technological innovation of new energy enterprises into research and development and results transformation stages, uses the panel data of listed Chinese new energy enterprises from 2016 to 2021 to test the impact of urban digital economy development on the two-stage innovation efficiency, and examines the moderating role of organizational inertia and entrepreneurship on the relationship between the two. The study found that the development of the digital economy has significantly improved the efficiency of enterprises' two-stage innovation, but its role in promoting the stage of research and development is more obvious; Organizational inertia and entrepreneurship have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the two; Further research found that there are regions, urban class and population size, and enterprise nature differences in the impact of digital economy development on the efficiency of two-stage innovation of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economics of Innovation & New Technology is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The automated process for dental caries detection draws increasing attention with the technological innovation in machine learning methods. This is a core issue in dental diseases especially in the detection of caries as it leads to serious health ailments. This paper takes an effort to adequately segment and identify dental diseases. There are four main steps. The preprocessing technique uses binary histogram equalization which increases the texture region visibility for the caries detected on dental images. The novel technique of segmentation with Curvilinear Semantic Deep Convolutional Neural Network (CSDCNN) is proposed in this paper. The segmentation is followed by the proposed Inception resnetV2, which acts as the classification technique to determine the caries in dental images. The proposed segmentation algorithm is used to determine a dental degree of membership. The inception is brought out with different scales of information, which relates to various input images as data. An examination of the x-ray images will detect the impact of illness on a tooth. Particularly for the segmentation and classification mission, we deemed four diseases: dental caries, periapical infection, periodontal, and pericoronal diseases. Based on the number of input functional parameters, the Inception resnetV2 classifies different image categories effectively. The proposed Inception resnetV2 has become the most effective tool in machine learning to solve problems like image classification with a high order of accuracy. The average accuracy of the device proposed is 94.51%. This provides higher classification accuracy when compared to other existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]