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The pulp and paper industry has significant sustainability implications and necessarily requires a careful consideration of direct and lower-tier suppliers for effective sustainable supply chain management. This paper utilized an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews of experts in the Chinese pulp and paper industry to unearth the factors that highly influence multi-tier supply chain sustainability. A Technological-Organizational-Environmental (TOE) and Human-Organizational-Technological (HOT-fit) based theoretical framework was employed to classify the identified factors. Then, an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based methodology was applied to determine the relative importance of the factors. A comparison analysis of the relative importance of the factors as determined by the experts in the focal companies, Tier-1 suppliers and Tier-2 suppliers of the Chinese pulp and paper industry is presented. The results show that institutional and technological factors are most critical to actualizing multi-tier supply chain sustainability. Thus, the study outcomes present relevant theoretical and practical implications for the managers and practitioners in the pulp and paper industry on how to facilitate multi-tier supply chain sustainability for increased competitiveness. Furthermore, this study provides guidelines for other industries as well and sets the stage for subsequent theorization and exploration of multi-tier supply chain sustainability for expected performance gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a smart model for palletising as main intra-logistics task for product-on-pallet distribution, and its development in Logistics 4.0 framework aligned to Industry 4.0. The model is developed in holonic paradigm as a 2-layer Holonic Logistics Execution System (HLES) in semiheterarchical topology. Scheduling of logistics activities and allocation to resources are optimised for global efficiency on compact time periods. The logistics model virtualises physical entities: resources, pallets and orders as holons implemented with digital twin software, and categories of task workloads: resource health monitoring, dispatching and tracking pallet orders, re-assigning jobs at resource failure, which grants reality-awareness and robustness. Global workload optimisation uses Constraint Programming as decision making technology with ILOG optimiser engine as situation-specific solver tool in SaaS cloud model, and delegate multi-agent system (MAS) technology for intelligence distribution. The optimised objective function is a combination of palletising cost weighted by robot speed limits and pallet storage cost in payable stocks. The main constructs are exemplified and validated on a real-life structure with multiple palletising resources in which programmable logic controllers (PLC) coordinate locally the parallel execution of order holons according to their globally optimised sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many centuries, paper is the main material for recording cultural achievements all over the world. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is an essential analytical tool for the structural analysis of paper and pulp chemistry. This review article introduced recent technical and scientific reports in terms of IR spectroscopy in the paper science and application, where interest had increased during the last couple decades (2000–2022). Five parts were described according to the application of IR spectroscopy: the analysis of cellulose and its derivatives, estimation the date of documents, identification the origins of fiber or paper, specification the chemical and physical properties of paper, and characterization the new materials of paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of sales promotions that are featured in store flyers distributed by prominent retailers and their capacity to attract consumers to their establishments. A distinctive conceptual framework is introduced that scrutinizes the influence of ethically-minded consumer behavior, digital citizenship/literacy, and a retailer's orientation toward environmental sustainability and explicit ecological concerns. A quasi-experimental design was used to formulate four distinct scenarios from a possible set of eight, stemming from the combinations of three variables: 2 Retailer Positioning (green vs. without explicit ecological claims) × 2 Flyer Mediums (paper vs. digital) × 2 Discount Levels (5% discount vs. 30% discount). Through an online survey, a sample of 269 responses was garnered to gauge consumer reactions to these store flyers, evaluating their attitudes and receptiveness. The findings suggest that attitudes toward paper flyers were more favorable when presented by non-green retailers compared to their green counterparts. This can be attributed to a perceived inconsistency between a green brand positioning and the use of paper flyers. Furthermore, the propensity to transition to digital flyers was notably stronger for green retailers compared to non-green retailers, but this inclination was most pronounced when higher discounts were offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) is celebrating its fifth decade of publication and is committed to publishing research papers that make significant contributions to the field of information systems. The journal's editors have an inclusive understanding of the field and aim to reflect and shape its growth and evolution. Over the years, JMIS has published papers on various topics, including the economics of IS, strategic deployment of IT, design research, neuroscience in IS research, behavioral cybersecurity, health informatics, and AI-human collaboration. The journal also recognizes its responsibility to support the well-being of society and explores the societal impacts of IT-driven change. The current issue features papers on topics such as the use of body-worn cameras in policing, technological innovation, crowdfunding, chatbots, sentiment analysis, cloud storage and security breaches, cybersecurity risk management, software architecture, and turnover of IT professionals. [Extracted from the article]

In the current strategy, a highly sensitive and fast one-step colorimetric assay for trace determination of Cu2+ in water is presented. The planned assay was based upon the use of varnish polish-modified filter paper printed with 2-[5-(2-hydroxy-5-sulfophenyl)-3-phenyl-1-formazyl] benzoic acid monosodium salt, commercially named zincon. Under optimal conditions, the designed assay readily recognised the formation of blue–purple-coloured Cu–ZI chelate in less than 10 min. The proposed probe was able to detect Cu2+ in the concentration range from 0.04 to 10 μg/mL (6.34 × 10−1 to 1.59 × 103µM), with low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.01 μg/mL (1.59 × 10−1 µM). The LOD was 10-fold lower than the allowable level for Cu2+ in drinking water set by WHO legislation. The assay was applied for Cu2+determination in water with acceptable recoveries (89.6–102.1%) and precision (<3%). Therefore, the proposed sensing assay might be considered as a potential rapid and low-cost candidate for total determination and speciation of Cu2+in water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of the International Journal of Production Research, focuses on the 'Carbon Neutrality' and 'SCM'. Nine articles have been selected for this special issue, and they cover various aspects to understand the manifestation of 'Carbon Neutrality' in supply chains, and to further illuminate how to achieve 'Carbon Neutrality' with supply chain innovation. This editorial provides a brief overview of the research domain, then introduces each article in the context of the state-of-the-art and highlights the contributions of selected papers to the field. Finally, the research perspectives are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medication prescription procedures were reviewed at psychiatric residential treatment centers (RTC), and a quality improvement project was conducted in order to implement integrated electronic medical records (EMR) and computerized provider order entry (CPOE). To assess the impact of preexisting prescribing practices on RTCs, surveys were sent anonymously to current and past providers of regional and local RTCs. The surveys assessed the impact of the prescribing protocol on workflow, the frequency of medication errors, the impact such errors had on patient care, the overall provider satisfaction, and the discrepancies between electronic and paper charts. Current providers were then re-surveyed after implementing the integrated CPOE system in May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round of provider survey results revealed that the majority of staff (n = 10, 70%) observed frequent medication errors and were largely dissatisfied with the current medication ordering and administration process (n = 10; 70%). Incident Response Improvement System (IRIS) reports revealed the most common medication errors were omissions, incorrect dosing, and incorrect medications administered. After the initiation and implementation of the CPOE, staff satisfaction increased with the process (n = 14; 50%) noting that medication errors were less frequent than before (n = 14; 50%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) can be modified to be used as a coating on food paper packaging. Previous research on PVA/CNF composites showed a low viscosity, which impacted their performance on the coating paper process. To overcome this problem, a thickening agent, such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), is needed. In this work, the effect of CMC on PVA/CMC/CNF nanocomposites was investigated by varying the concentrations of CMC with PVA/CMC and CNF ratio of 80:20 and 90:10. The nanocomposites were characterized by their physical and tensile properties which could affect their coating performance. Moreover, the coating process was conducted on paper and the performances of the coated paper were studied. The results showed that the increase in CMC concentration led to an increasing viscosity and good zeta potential, suggesting good dispersion. Moreover, the addition of CMC improved the tensile properties of PVA/CMC/CNF nanocomposites. However, SEM analysis of PVA/CMC-1:CNF (80:20) revealed the occurrence of agglomeration which might influence the performance of the coated paper. Interestingly, PVA/CMC-1:CNF (80:20) had an excellent water resistance, with the lowest Cobb60. Moreover, the addition of CMC 1 wt% increased WVTR, which remained lower than the blank sample. Meanwhile, PVA/CMC-2:CNF (80:20) demonstrated the best performance in the oil absorption and tearing resistance test. In summary, the addition of CMC can effectively improve the physical and tensile properties of the PVA/CMC/CNF, as well as the barrier properties and tear strength of the PVA/CMC/CNF coated paper. The results demonstrate the potency of this material as a coating for food packaging paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predatory publishing is the unethical and dishonest behavior of publishers who take advantage of researchers by charging them too much money and not providing good editing and peer-review services. Scholars, publishers and policymakers are seeking solutions to combat predatory publishing, which has become a major academic problem. This research paper provides a bibliometric analysis of the citation patterns and trends in the predatory publishing literature. The study analyzed the 100 top-cited papers on predatory publishing and provided insight into the types of documents, journals, authors, and countries that contributed to this field. The average citation per paper in the top 100 selected publications was 53.67. Open-access publications received a significantly higher average citation per paper than subscription-based papers. "Article" was the major type of document published, followed by "Notes," "Reviews" and "Editorials." Nature and Learned Publishing were the journals that contained the highest number of top-cited articles. J. Beall and D. Moher authored the highest number of papers, while A. Grudniewicz had the highest average citation per paper. USA and Canada were the top countries in these top-cited publications. This study will be beneficial to the all the stakeholders who may be interested in this area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]