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Describes a non‐contact optical sensing technology called C3D that is based on speckle texture projection photogrammetry. C3D has been applied to capturing all‐round 3D models of the human body of high dimensional accuracy and photorealistic appearance. The essential strengths and limitation of the C3D approach are presented and the basic principles of this stereo‐imaging approach are outlined, from image capture and basic 3D model construction to multi‐view capture and all‐round 3D model integration. A number of law enforcement, medical and commercial applications are described briefly including prisoner 3D face models, maxillofacial and orofacial cleft assessment, breast imaging and foot scanning. Ongoing research in real‐time capture and processing, and model construction from naturally illuminated image sources is also outlined.

We have succeeded in capturing porcine 3D surface anatomy in vivo by developing a high‐resolution stereo imaging system. The system achieved accurate 3D shape recovery by matching stereo pair images containing only natural surface textures at high (image) resolution. The 3D imaging system presented for pig shape capture is based on photogrammetry and comprises: stereo pair image acquisition, stereo camera calibration and stereo matching and surface and texture integration. Practical issues have been addressed, and in particular the integration of multiple range images into a single 3D surface. Robust image segmentation successfully isolated the pigs within the stereo images and was employed in conjunction with depth discontinuity detection to facilitate the integration process. The capture and processing chain is detailed here and the resulting 3D pig anatomy obtained using the system presented.

The traditional methods have difficulty to inspection various types of copper strips defects as inclusions, pits and delamination defects under uneven illumination. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an optimal real Gabor filter model for inspection; however, improper selection of Gabor parameters will cause the boundary between the defect and the background image to be not very clear. This will make the defect and the background cannot be completely separated.

The authors proposed an optimal Real Gabor filter model for inspection of copper surface defects under uneven illumination. This proposed method only requires a single filter by calculating the specific convolution energy of the Gabor filter with the image. The Real Gabor filter’s parameter is optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO), which objective fitness function is maximization of the Gabor filter’s energy average divided by the energy standard deviation, the objective makes a distinction between the defect and normal area.

The authors have verified the effect with different iterations of parameter optimization using PSO, the effects with different control constant of energy and neighborhood window size of real Gabor filter, the experimental results on a number of metal surface have shown the proposed method achieved a well performance in defect recognition of metal surface.

The authors propose a defect detection method based on particle swarm optimization for single Gabor filter parameters optimization. This proposed method only requires a single filter and finds the best parameters of the Gabor filter. By calculating the specific convolution energy of the Gabor filter and the image, to obtain the best Gabor filter parameters and to highlight the defects, the particle swarm optimization algorithm’s fitness objective function is maximize the Gabor filter's average energy divided by the energy standard deviation.

The purpose of this paper is to use selected discussions appearing on the talk pages of the Wikipedia entry on the Vietnam War to shed light on how the wider epistemological context of this online encyclopaedia affects the nature of debate about sources and subsequently how this knowledge could be used to improve information literacy instruction.

My broad approach to the study of the Wikipedia talk pages on the Vietnam War is qualitative in nature and explores the debate over sources through a textual analysis.

Although much of the debate over sources is conducted without acrimony, the level of analysis one finds in the talk pages is rather shallow while the attention of individual contributors is not overly concentrated.

There have been few studies of individual Wikipedia entries and their talk pages, rather the focus of most of the literature has been on a broad overview of the entire encyclopaedia or a concentration on a set of entries for a particular topic area.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to global supply chains (SCs), affecting the production, distribution, and transportation of goods and services. To mitigate these disruptions, it is essential to identify the barriers that have impeded the seamless operation of SCs. This study identifies these barriers and assesses their impact on supply chain network (SCN).

To determine the relative importance of different barriers and rank the affected industries, a hybrid approach was employed, combining the best-worst method (BWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). To accommodate the inherent uncertainties associated with the pandemic, a triangular fuzzy TOPSIS was used to represent the linguistic variable ratings provided by decision-makers.

The study found that the airlines and hospitality industry was the most affected by the barriers, accounting for 46% of the total, followed by the healthcare industry (23%), the manufacturing industry (19%), and finally the consumer and retail industry (17%).

This study is limited to the four critical industries and nine identified barriers. Other industries and barriers may have different weights and rankings. Nevertheless, the findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in SC management, aiding them in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on their operations and enhancing their resilience against future disruptions.

This study enhances understanding of COVID-19’s impact on SCN and provides a framework for assessing disruptions using multi-criteria decision-making processes. The hybrid approach of BWM and TOPSIS in a fuzzy environment is unique and offers potential applicability in various evaluation contexts.

This essay raises the following question “Does economics have an ethical component?”. In this regard, Mayer finds that two distinct perspectives have unique and continuing significance: the instrumentalist and the personalist. The first, he says, traces its origins to the very beginnings of economics as a discipline, has dominated economic thought ever since, and denies there is a place for ethics in the science of economics. The second is of more recent origin, has been far less influential in shaping economic thought, and insists that economics indeed has an ethical component because economic affairs are human affairs. Mayer states that John Paul II has contributed to the development of the personalist perspective by insisting that humans are more than mere instrumentalities in the process of production. They are human persons first and foremost, with a moral agency which they bring with them to the workplace and the marketplace.

Throughout sport, the incidence of commercial sponsorship is increasing and shows no signs of slowing. This case study examines the negative consequences that can arise when a corporate stadium naming rights partner (Enron) becomes embroiled in financial and ethical controversies and how its collapse affected the team that uses the stadium for its home games (Major League Baseball's Houston Astros). It examines public relations strategies and tactics the Astros used to disassociate themselves from Enron and to recapture public support.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if customer delight is possible when the service encounter result may not be successful. Such a scenario is increasingly likely with the experiential, sticky and unpredictable nature of many competitively based experiential encounters where one side wins and the other loses.

Across four studies using both field and panel data, this research provides a framework to evaluate how firms can still create customer delight even if the result of the encounter is unpredictable or possibly negative. Further, the authors combine qualitative data, structural equation modeling and experimental design to test the models across four competitively based experiential contexts.

Findings indicate that firms can create delight through a variety of antecedent variables, including employee expertise, servicescape, social congruence and atmosphere. Neither importance of winning nor expectations for a win significantly alter the relationships of these antecedents in creating delight. Further, evidence from this research indicates that both feelings of nostalgia and geographic self-identity enhance delight’s effect on behavioral intentions, while geographic self-identity also enhances delight’s effect on customers’ evangelizing to others.

This research extends the field’s understanding of the customer delight construct, sticky vs smooth encounters, as well as providing guidance to both practitioners and academics on new possibilities in the delight realm.

This research provides insights for practitioners on how to maximize customer emotions aside from surprisingly disconfirming customer expectations, as well as leaning into different tactics to influence the customer that are not outcome based.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to evaluate customer delight in competitively based experiential encounters where the encounter result is unpredictable and possibly negative.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an environment of high uncertainty and caused major disruptions in supply chains. The new normal that has emerged during the pandemic is leading to a need to identify new solutions to improve supply chain crisis management in the future. Practitioners require adapted recommendations for solutions to implement. These recommendations are laid out in this paper.

A combination of a systematic literature review (SLR), qualitative semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey of supply chain practitioners is applied. The interviews provide insights into supply chain practitioners' views of their approaches and, together with the solutions proposed in the literature, provide future recommendations for action for supply chain managers.

During the pandemic, companies experienced disruptions in supply, production and demand, as well as interruptions in transportation and distribution. The majority of the solutions proposed in the literature, coincide with the opinions of practitioners. These include collaborative risk management, real-time monitoring and information sharing, supply network management, scenario planning and “what-if” simulations.

Although the number of interviews conducted and questionnaires completed is limited, they still serve to supplement the SLR with important practical insights and recommendations.

This paper presents a review of recent academic literature focusing on the impact of Covid-19 on supply chains and the existing solutions to mitigate that impact and manage future crises. It has been expanded to include industry perspectives and experiences. The findings of this study present recommended practices and strategies for better managing supply chains during a crisis.