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Abstract: The studies reported here examined differences in user behaviour when presented with a low-fidelity paper prototype compared to fully operational product, and evaluated the effectiveness of different types of enhanced labelling of controls. In the first study with a paper prototype, 30 users of high-pressure washers were asked to choose the settings of the temperature control for different cleaning objects, comparing standard with information-enriched control labelling. In the second study, 34 users operated a real high-pressure washer with different forms of control labelling. The results of both studies provided evidence for some benefits of an information-enriched control labelling over traditional temperature-centred controls labelling. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the data of the two studies suggested that low-fidelity paper prototypes may have to be used with caution. Therefore, designers need to be aware that the behavioural effects induced by different design modifications may be overestimated when using paper prototypes. The implications of the findings are discussed within the framework of an enlarged concept of fidelity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since 1971, no major currency has a formal link to a commodity. For the first time in history, every currency is wholly irredeemable, not as a temporary expedient but as a permanent matter. Monetary economists have generally treated irredeemable paper money as involving negligible real resource costs compared with a commodity currency. To judge from recent experience, that view is clearly false as a result of the decline in long-term price predictability. a key question for the future is, What if any substitute for a commodity standard will emerge as a long-term anchor for the price level? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Price-taking behavior is the bedrock of much market theory. How might such behavior emerge? Addressing that old but still intriguing question, this paper uses a money commodity to denominate all rates of exchange and substitution. Out of equilibrium, some rates differ between agents, thereby driving trade. The simplest form of trade is bilateral; it needs no broker, center or supervisor. Yet, under broad conditions, that elementary institution can take the economy to competitive equilibrium. Proving convergence, this paper invokes minimal hypotheses as to agents' behaviors, competences and deals. Moreover, agents may make boundary choices, appreciate relatively few commodities, choose within general domains and deploy non-smooth preferences. Convex analysis provides the chief tool kit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses points contained in the research papers of mathematician L.V. Kantorovich. There is little in either the Soviet or the Western literature in management, planning, or economics available in 1939 that could have served as a source for the ideas in this paper, in the concrete form in which they were presented. From its own internal evidence, the paper stands as a highly original contribution of the mathematical mind to problems which few at that time would have perceived as mathematical in nature-on a par with the earlier work of von Neumann on proportional economic growth in a competitive market economy, and the later work of Dantzig well known to readers of Management Science. Recently Kantorovich has published a book, "Economic Calculation of the Best Utilization of Resources," in which it is proposed that linear programming methods be applied in nationwide planning for the Soviet economy. This has already given rise to a lively debate in Russian economic and planning periodicals.

The article describes the colonial monetary standard in Massachusetts in the 1600s. It discusses the establishment of a commodity standard in 1640 and the official prices of commodities in Massachusetts during the 1600s. The article details the development of the paper-money standard in 1690. It comments on the topics covered by most recent studies of the monetary system of the American colonies. The establishment of a mint in Boston in 1652 is reported. By 1737 the price of silver had risen. In 1750, the Massachusetts Assembly restored specie payments. The article also considers the objections to the continuation of paper-money issues.

This special issue is a result of the enthusiastic response to the initiation of a new industry paper track at the 2020 International Symposium on Computer Architecture, as we could not accept all the great submissions to that track.1 We are excited to share our interest in commercial products with many industry colleagues who answered our call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opening of the Sraffa archive has allowed the production of credible narratives of the development of Sraffa’s thought based on documentary evidence. The archive is complex, especially in the case of the papers relating to Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (PCMC), but the author’s paperwork helps guide us through the development of his ideas, affirming the causal relationship between thought and archive. The complex interrelationships between materials in the archive make a painstaking, scholarly approach necessary, but rewarding, allowing authors to use material of high evidential value to corroborate the cases they are making. The archive has primarily been used by historians of economic thought. However, as the material contextualises PCMC it may also be useful to those working on economic theory from a Sraffian perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research was to evaluate a polymeric system, including biopolymers, as a multi-component material coating on paperboard for bread. The main aim of the research was to create a humidity-controlling packaging material. This means that the packaging material should contain filler which will absorb water or water vapour from the bread. The ideal packaging should have high barrier qualities against water vapour, enabling the possible release of water from the product (to maintain proper humidity inside the packaging). The preliminary storage tests made of the bread confirmed that the freshness of a product kept in a climatic chamber in RH = 70% was the highest. To summarise, the obtained packaging should maintain the required humidity (in the case of bread, the optimal humidity is 70%) within the packaging to keep the bread fresh after more than 72 h of storage. A "sandwich" form of (multilayer) packaging was indicated as a solution to this problem. The main objective of this packaging was to obtain two paper layers and one starch layer to increase water absorption from the bread. It was also important to obtain a thin, external hydrophobic layer to decrease the water vapour transmission rate of the packaging (WVTR). A number of ''sandwich" packaging types were prepared, consisting of two sheets of paper with an external aquaseal coating and an internal starch coating (with a NaCl filler). The covered ''sandwich" papers were then used to create packaging that could be used for the bread storage tests. The study results confirmed that the bread stored for 72 h in the "sandwich" packaging was found to be fresher than the same product stored in commercial paper packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for customer intelligence to create value in marketing has highlighted the significance of the research focus of this paper. Customer intelligence, which is defined as understandings or insights resulting from the application of analytic techniques, plays a significant role in the survival and prosperity of enterprises in the knowledge-based economy. In this light, the paper has developed a framework of customer intelligence to support marketing decisions through the lens of knowledge-based theory. The proposed framework aims at supporting enterprises to identify the right customer data for the right customer intelligence corresponding with the right marketing decisions. In this light, four types of customer intelligence are clarified including product-aware intelligence, customer DNA intelligence, customer experience intelligence, and customer value intelligence. The applications of customer intelligence are also elucidated with relevant marketing decisions to maximize value creation. To illustrate the framework, an example is presented. The importance and originality of this study are that it responds to changes in customer intelligence in the age of massive data and covers multifaced aspects of marketing decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignin is the by-product of pulp and paper industries and bio-refining operations. It is available as the leading natural phenolic biopolymer in the market. It has chromophore functional groups and can absorb a broad spectrum of UV light in range of 250–400 nm. Using lignin as a natural ingredient in sunscreen cream, transparent film, paints, varnishes and microorganism protection has been actively investigated. Both in non-modified and modified forms, lignin provides enhancing UV protection of commercial products with less than a 10% blend with other material. In mixtures with other synthetic UV blockers, lignin indicated synergic effects and increased final UV blocking potential in compare with using only synthetic UV blocker or lignin. However, using lignin as a UV blocker is also challenging due to its complex structure, polydispersity in molecular weight, brownish color and some impurities that require more research in order to make it an ideal bio-based UV blocker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is the analysis of the changes in Indian agriculture during the pandemic. The following research questions were put forward: What is the diversification of the Indian agriculture and rural economy in terms of COVID-19?; What is the percentage change in overall agricultural commodities production, in farm-gate prices for commodities in agriculture and the allied sector and in the availability of agri-inputs? The theoretical part of the paper depicted the following issues: India's role in global farming; rural economy issues, economic recovery, and the agricultural sector in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic. The studies that were conducted include: documentation, statistical, comparative, and dynamics analysis. The results showed that the Indian agriculture and rural economy in terms of COVID-19 had different tendencies. With businesses across all industries forced to shut down, the economy ground to a halt. Even while farming operations were spared during the lockdown's early stages, the agricultural value chain nonetheless experienced widespread disruptions. This was devastating to the rural Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring the transparency of machine learning models is vital for their ethical application in various industries. There has been a concurrent trend of distributed machine learning designed to limit access to training data for privacy concerns. Such models, trained over horizontally or vertically partitioned data, present a challenge for explainable AI because the explaining party may have a biased view of background data or a partial view of the feature space. As a result, explanations obtained from different participants of distributed machine learning might not be consistent with one another, undermining trust in the product. This paper presents an Explainable Data Collaboration Framework based on a model-agnostic additive feature attribution algorithm (KernelSHAP) and Data Collaboration method of privacy-preserving distributed machine learning. In particular, we present three algorithms for different scenarios of explainability in Data Collaboration and verify their consistency with experiments on open-access datasets. Our results demonstrated a significant (by at least a factor of 1.75) decrease in feature attribution discrepancies among the users of distributed machine learning. The proposed method improves consistency among explanations obtained from different participants, which can enhance trust in the product and enable ethical application in various industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the journal helps many of its authors to achieve commercial success. "Nature Biotechnology" believes that they bring research out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Many of these authors were asked to assess how their work had been commercialized over the past ten years through the number of respondents. Getting a product into the marketplace is just one measure of a successful research program and conversely, the work featured in papers which received few citations can sometimes turn into commercial gold.

This paper examines the relationship between commodity index returns and the Office of Financial Research Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI). Utilizing the S&P GSCI and its five sub-indices (agriculture, livestock, energy, industrial metals, and precious metals), we find that the causal relationship between financial market stress and commodity index returns is conditional on the sample period examined and the methodology employed. We also note that stress in financial markets has a negative relationship with commodity index returns during low commodity return states; however, during high commodity return states, financial market stress exhibits a positive relationship with commodity index returns. Our findings highlight the importance of considering a time-varying framework for analyzing commodity return dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which current academic research has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples is a pressing issue. As described in the paper 'Traditional Foods and Medicines and Mounting Chronic Disease for Indigenous Peoples Worldwide', prior meta-analyses of extant literature have noted that "elevated CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have negatively affected cultivars of various commercial crop species resulting in serious chronic disease consequences for human beings". This paper notes that there is a "dearth of information on the changing nutrition (protein, micronutrients, bioavailability) of wild plants and animals, which constitute from 40% to 80% of Fourth World peoples' diet and sources of medicine" which "suggests the need for further research". The effects of elevated carbon-based gases in the atmosphere may impact on the nutritional value of consumable plants and animals and consequently directly affect the health of indigenous peoples and other peoples in the world dependent on commercially cultivated foods and medicines. As part of this call for further research, this paper seeks to investigate the extent to which current academic literature has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples. Gaining a clear picture of the state of such research will help to determine the particular vulnerabilities of distinct peoples from these changes, develop strategies tailored to assist indigenous peoples in mitigating any effects and determine any insights their káhlaculture based lifeways may present for adaptation to the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels for humanity generally. A mixed methods analysis of relevant literature was conducted for this investigation, providing an overview of findings on the large scale social and ecological effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and reviewing the extent to which current academic research has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples specifically. In order to review current findings from research about this, a mixed methods analysis of relevant literature was undertaken, providing a holistic overview of findings and the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon-based gas levels on indigenous communities. The findings from this provide an overview of the wider ecological and human health effects of rising atmospheric carbon-based gases and insights into where further research is required to address current gaps in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China superseded Japan as the world's second-largest economy and Germany as the world's biggest exporter of merchandise. As its economic expansion is continuing, China makes efforts to identify and exploit new sources of growth and development. In this respect, China has launched and promoted its Belt and Road Initiative since 2013. The goals of the paper are to briefly describe the Belt and Road Initiative and to illustrate the Chinese economic pragmatism in this case. The authors achieved the objectives of the paper by using a quantitative method. The information was gathered through a comprehensive literature review from various sources of secondary data. The paper demonstrates the Chinese economic pragmatism in launching, developing and supporting the Belt and Road Initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays choosing the right packaging system is becoming increasingly challenging, mainly due to the pressure to meet dynamically changing customer needs. In order to remain competitive, the types of unit loads handled by companies are changing more and more frequently, which means that the choice of the ideal packaging system is also becoming increasingly important. The packaging of products influences the efficiency of logistics operations and the cost of running the system, whose role is becoming increasingly important. As a result of the detailed literature analysis presented here, it is concluded that no framework has been developed to date that provides an adequate answer to the choice of the optimal packaging system in different circumstances. The methods used in practice focus on a few narrow areas and ignore many relevant aspects. In this paper, we present the testing options for the packaging management system we have developed, the building blocks of the system and their role in the testing process. In addition, the basic process of one type of testing, namely the selection of the optimal packaging system for a new product type, is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the focus and changing nature of measuring academic accounting research quality. The paper addresses contemporary changes in academic publishing, metrics for determining research quality and the possible impacts on accounting scholars. These are considered in relation to the core values of interdisciplinary accounting research ‒ that is, the pursuit of novel, rigorous, significant and authentic research motivated by a passion for scholarship, curiosity and solving wicked problems. The impact of changing journal rankings and research citation metrics on the traditional and highly valued role of the accounting academic is further considered. In this setting, the paper also provides a summary of the journal's activities for 2018, and in the future. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on contemporary data sets, the paper illustrates the increasingly diverse and confusing array of "evidence" brought to bear on the question of the relative quality of accounting research. Commercial products used to rate and rank journals, and judge the academic impact of individual scholars and their papers not only offer insight and visibility, but also have the potential to misinform scholars and their assessors. Findings: In the move from simple journal ranking lists to big data and citations, and increasingly to concerns with impact and engagement, the authors identify several challenges facing academics and administrators alike. The individual academic and his or her contribution to scholarship are increasingly marginalised in the name of discipline, faculty and institutional performance. A growing university performance management culture within, for example, the UK and Australasia, has reached a stage in the past decade where publication and citation metrics are driving allocations of travel grants, research grants, promotions and appointments. With an expanded range of available metrics and products to judge their worth, or have it judged for them, scholars need to be increasingly informed of the nuanced or not-so-nuanced uses to which these measurement systems will be put. Narrow, restricted and opaque peer-based sources such as journal ranking lists are now being challenged by more transparent citation-based sources. Practical implications: The issues addressed in this commentary offer a critical understanding of contemporary metrics and measurement in determining the quality of interdisciplinary accounting research. Scholars are urged to reflect upon the challenges they face in a rapidly moving context. Individuals are increasingly under pressure to seek out preferred publication outlets, developing and curating a personal citation profile. Yet such extrinsic outcomes may come at the cost of the core values that motivate the interdisciplinary scholar and research. Originality/value: This paper provides a forward-looking focus on the critical role of academics in interdisciplinary accounting research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a discussion of a paper that examined exchange risk. The author notes that the main argument set forth in the paper is related to portfolio management and maintaining purchasing power in situations where inflation is ignored and too much home currency is included in the portfolio. The author comments that while this situation is possible, it is not a necessary outcome. The author notes that the commodities in the portfolio play a more significant role in determining how the portfolio performs than is stated in the paper.

Purpose: The paper investigates if relocation of goods at supermarkets, practised to boost sales, bothers customers and improves financial results of the stores. To explore this, a questionnaire-based poll was run, using questions, such as "Do you mind if commodity is not permanently in the same place?", or "While searching, do you buy anything you did not indend to buy?". Various relations are also observed. For instance, are opinions on product relocation related in any way to age of customers? The study suggests most customers are not satisfied with changes in product location, yet the practices lead to higher sales. It turns out the business principle - only satisfied customers spend more - may not be so true. In the study, some new questions also arose and were evaluated, such as the question "Which management activities have a positive effect on customers?". Methodology/Approach: The paper relies on statistical testing, specifically on the chi-square test of independence and a test of differences in the relative frequency of occurrence of diverse phenomena. Real, empirical data are utilized. Findings: The analysis showed that most customers dislike looking for goods, and many of them buy items that they did not intend to purchase. Thus, a paradox occurs when entrepreneurs dissatisfy customers, yet they register higher profits. Research Limitation/Implication: The results concern a specific scientific field - microeconomic behavioural patterns at supermarkets. Originality/Value of paper: The research presented in this paper is focused on the Czech Republic where it has not been undertaken to date. Work of this kind is not cited in the scientific literature, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews findings from recent literature on the trade effects of Aidfor- Trade (AfT) which has now begun to examine the impact of this aid on services trade in a significant departure from only looking at merchandise trade and investment. The paper also discusses the major transmission channels for the trade-enhancing effects of AfT and considers both direct and spill-over effects of AfT on services trade. Recent work suggests that AfT allocated to services activities may be effective in enhancing services exports of small value exporting countries, which is a significant finding from the perspective of the objective of AfT disbursement. It also provides scope for export diversification, global value chain (GVC) integration and enhancing firm productivity in recipient countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the determination of riboflavin and thiamine in the best-selling types of 13 raw and 8 commercial monofloral and multifloral honeys originating from Serbia. It was found that there is a difference in average riboflavin and thiamine content between raw and commercial honey, as well as between different honey floral varieties. The results showed that forest, meadow and oregano honey had a significantly higher content of both B vitamins compared to acacia, linden and lavender honey. On the other hand, a very low content of riboflavin and thiamine was found in honeydew honey. Among the commercial products, royal jelly was the richest in thiamine and riboflavin, followed by forest honey. In general, the quality of all of the commercial honey samples regarding these vitamins was lower than that of the raw domestic honeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary policy could be seen as a policy motivation for the attainment of economic development, through its production facilitating mechanism. One of the crucial indices of economic development is life expectancy which is a direct outcome of the standard of living. The relatively low life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa continued to receive attention in economic literature owing to its devastating effect on the affected economies. In this paper, the effect of monetary policy on life expectancy, in the region, is examined. The study covers 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2017. The paper uses panel co-integration and System GMM model in its estimation. The result establishes that, although an expansionary monetary policy is relevant in controlling life expectancy, its level of impact is not strong; monetary policy is less effective. Fiscal policy, environmental quality (CO2) and standard of living, on the other hand, are found to be more effective in the determination of the life expectancy with environmental quality appearing as a dominant factor. The study, therefore, recommends, among others, that monetary policy should be made relevant to economic transactions on goods and services that bother on health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comments on the paper Pricing a Product Line, by Shmuel Oren, Stephen Smith and Robert Wilson published in this issue of the Journal of Business. According to the commenter, the paper provides an important beginning for research on product line pricing. Although the paper does not attempt to explore the fundamental existence questions, it does formulate an important but limited problem about pricing a special type of product line. This problem involves the optimal price schedule for a series of products that differ in their cost of production. Some products have higher variable costs, while other shave higher fixed costs. It is assumed that consumer utility is only a function of the quantity of the product consumed and no other characteristics on which the product may differ. The commenter notes that in general the elegant way in which the paper models the product line pricing problem provides its greatest contribution. Nevertheless, it is a contribution to show when a product-line problem can be simplified. Furthermore, it is better to solve a simplified problem than to solve no problem at all. In this respect, according to the commenter, the paper provides an excellent foundation for future research.

The interconnected issues of commodity price fluctuation, unemployment and balance of trade developments are of critical importance in times of globalization. The present paper addresses these issues in terms of a monetary dependent economy macro model that applies to a large class of emerging market economies that export their primary products. However, there exists a manufacturing sector that produces non-traded goods using imported capital goods as an input. Moreover, in such an emerging economy, the stocks of primary commodities constitute a widely used financial asset, among other assets. Thus, the price of these primary commodities behaves as an asset price, which has significant implications for the nature of the interlinkage between the real sector and the financial sector of the economy. In an absence of any capital account transactions, and under a fixed exchange rate regime, the paper examines the effects of supply shock, devaluation, capital flow and fiscal policy on major macro variables, including terms of trade, the stock of primary commodities and real money balances. The result points to the contractionary implications of devaluation, while an exogenous increase in food production produces favorable macroeconomic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]