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PurposeRecently, traditional financial institutions are facing strong competition from disruptive innovators (Fintech firms) forcing them to increasingly invest in new IT solutions to maintain their competitive edge. However, there are still advantages that traditional financial institutions enjoy, of which the primary one may be reputation. Surprisingly, the firm reputation link to use intention has not received much attention in the literature, prompting this research. The purpose of this study is to examine the firm reputation link to use intention in the context of mobile banking.Design/methodology/approach The results are based on a survey of 783 participants in Vietnam.FindingsThe study confirmed that reputation plays an important role in promoting use intention for mobile banking. Additionally, perceived risk and trust are also linked to perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease-of-use (PEOU).Originality/valueThis study is among the first to link perceived risk and trust to PU and PEOU in a mobile banking context. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, the study adds to the literature by connecting two separated research themes: technology adoption and reputation. It also suggests avenues for both traditional banks and Fintech firms to set their business strategies to enhance their reputation or collaborate for mutual benefits.

BACKGROUND: The effects of the environment and genotype in the coffee bean chemical composition were studied using nine trials covering an altitudinal gradient [600–1100 m above sea level (a.s.l.)] with three genotypes of Coffea arabica in the northwest mountainous region of Vietnam. The impacts of the climatic conditions on bean physical characteristics and chemical composition were assessed. RESULTS: We showed that the environment had a significant effect on the bean density and on all bean chemical compounds. The environment effect was stronger than the genotype and genotype-environment interaction effects for cafestol, kahweol, arachidic (C20:0), behenic acid (C22:0), 2,3-butanediol, 2-methyl-2-buten-1-ol, benzaldehyde, benzene ethanol, butyrolactone, decane, dodecane, ethanol, pentanoic acid, and phenylacetaldehyde bean content. A 2 °C increase in temperature had more influence on bean chemical compounds than a 100 mm increase in soil water content. Temperature was positively correlated with lipids and volatile compounds. With an innovative method using iterative moving averages, we showed that correlation of temperature, vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and rainfall with lipids and volatiles was higher between the 10th and 20th weeks after flowering highlighting this period as crucial for the synthesis of these chemicals. Genotype specific responses were evidenced and could be considered in future breeding programmes to maintain coffee beverage quality in the midst of climate change. CONCLUSION: This first study of the effect of the genotype–environment interactions on chemical compounds enhances our understanding of the sensitivity of coffee quality to genotype environment interactions during bean development. This work addresses the growing concern of the effect of climate change on speciality crops and more specifically coffee. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Cassava and maize are widely grown in the Northern mountainous regions of Vietnam. By applying huge amount of mineral fertilizers and promoting monocropping, the farmers have hugely contributed to soil degradation with as direct consequence to the decline of crop yield by unsustainable management practices. Legume-based intercropping system, one of the most widespread agroecology practices, have been widely promoted by scientists and the local authorities in Northern Vietnam because of their numerous advantages: better use of land, economic benefit, diminishing soil erosion, and also gradually increasing soil N content through biological nitrogen fixation as well as mulching legume residues. Nevertheless, the upland farmers have no idea about the use of commercial rhizobial inoculants and their potentials. This study aimed at assessing the needs to promote such rhizobial inoculants in the 2 districts in Yen Bai province of Vietnam, where cowpea is intercropped with cassava and maize. Our results showed that the natural nodulation of cowpea was really low at different soil characteristics and slope categories. There are indigenous rhizobial strains in the soils but it is not sufficient for them to form effective symbiosis with cowpea. Unfortunately, there is no valid commercial inoculant product on the markets in Vietnam until now, it is imperative to develop effective rhizobial inoculants for grain legumes for Vietnam, as well as in the whole South East Asia. There are markets for private companies willing to open new business on such activities. The presence of commercial inoculants on the markets would help in sense of agroecology to improving soil health and building sustaining agricultural systems in this zone.

This paper introduces the notion of an entropy measurement for populations of candidate solutions in evolutionary algorithms, developing both conditional and joint entropy-based algorithms. We describe the inherent characteristics of the entropy measurement and how these affect the search process. Following these discussions, we develop a recognition mechanism through which promising candidate solutions can be identified without the need of invoking costly evaluation functions. This on-demand evaluation strategy (ODES) is able to perform decision making tasks regardless of whether the actual fitness evaluation is necessary or not, making it an ideal efficiency enhancement technique for accelerating the computational process of evolutionary algorithms. Two different evolutionary algorithms, a traditional genetic algorithm and a multivariate estimation of distribution algorithm, are employed as example targets for the application of our on-demand evaluation strategy. Ultimately, experimental results confirm that our method is able to broadly improve the performance of various population-based global searchers.

The incorporation of e-business models into e-government applications is an additional approach in building the citizen-centric strategy. The value chain analysis is used to prove that the additional approach can overcome the weaknesses of the main current approaches such as the one-stop service centers and customer management relationship. However, this incorporation is challenged due to the differences between governments and businesses. The value chain analysis assists to find out solutions, which are specialization into a single or group of related services and commercialization allowing the participation of the private sector in carrying e-government initiatives, in order to create the sufficient pre-conditions for integration of e-business models. In other words, government transformation in which commercialization and specialization are the essential parts is the first step to integrate e-business models into e-government applications.