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This study aims to give a glimpse of the existing blockchain applications across industries and add to a complete knowledge of the blockchain’s properties.

Systematic literature review is used as the research strategy for this investigation and other aspects of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses framework have been incorporated to create a scholarly publications evaluation of the blockchain-based application in the financial arena and its future. The research looks at 86 studies published between 2018 and 2022.

There has been a steady but noticeable increase in the study of blockchain’s potential in many application domains over the past few of years. This rising tendency illustrates the newness and potential of blockchain technology, as well as the increasing attention from academics. According to the findings, blockchain is an appropriate solution for processing transactions using cryptocurrencies; nevertheless, it still has significant technical issues and limits that require to be exploring and solving before it can be considered a viable option. It is therefore, necessary to have a high level of reliability for payments and confidentiality, in addition to maintaining the anonymity of nodes, to stop assaults and efforts to disrupt transactions in the blockchain.

This study has several important theoretical and practical implications. First, it adds to the body of knowledge on blockchain and Fintech, focusing on the transaction side. While much blockchain research has focused on how the technology may affect strategic choices, this study has shed light on its potential from the perspective of financial reporting. Second, by highlighting the importance of the demand for the prompt identification of losses, this work adds to the body of knowledge on the factors that influence transaction frauds involving paper money. Additionally, by establishing the link between transparency and virtual transactions, the author backs up the asymmetric responses of investors to different investment possibilities. It looks at the evolution of financial technology (Fintech) and shows how it can be used to take the advantage of unique opportunities.

The study is different and novel from the previously published literature on this topic mainly because of its comprehensiveness, as it revolves around all industrial and commercial areas. The three main lines of research have been outlined, namely, classifying the many blockchain-based innovations that will alter the financial landscape in many industries; identifying whether these industries are a good fit for blockchain’s wealth creation potential; and directing researchers by outlining prospective study pathways.

The novelty addressed here is undertaken by using tailor-made and fully characterized starch nanoparticles (SNPs) having a particle size ranging from 80 to 100 nm with a larger surface area, biodegradability and high reactivity as a starting substrate for cadmium ions and basic dye removal from wastewater effluent. This was done via carboxylation of SNPs with citric acid via esterification reaction using the dry preparation technique, in which a simple, energy-safe and sustainable process concerning a small amount of water, energy and toxic chemicals was used. The obtained adsorbent is designated as cross-linked esterified starch nanoparticles (CESNPs).

The batch technique was used to determine the CESNPs adsorption capacity, whereas atomic adsorption spectrometry was used to determine the residual cadmium ions concentration in the filtrate before and after adsorption. Different factors affecting adsorption were examined concerning pH, contact time, adsorbent dose and degree of carboxylation. Besides, to validate the esterification reaction and existence of carboxylic groups in the adsorbent, CESNPs were characterized metrologically via analytical tools for carboxyl content estimation and instrumental tools using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphological analysis.

The overall adsorption potential of CESNPs was found to be 136 mg/g when a 0.1 g adsorbent dose having 190.8 meq/100 g sample carboxyl content at pH 5 for 60 min contact time was used. Besides, increasing the degree of carboxylation of the CESNPs expressed as carboxyl content would lead to the higher adsorption capacity of cadmium ions. FTIR spectroscopy analysis elucidates the esterification reaction with the appearance of a new intense peak C=O ester at 1,700 cm⁻¹, whereas SEM observations reveal some atomic/molecules disorder after esterification.

The innovation addressed here is undertaken by studying the consequence of altering the extent of carboxylation reaction expressed as carboxyl contents on the prepared CESNPs via a simple dry technique with a small amount of water, energy and toxic chemicals that were used as a sustainable bio nano polymer for cadmium ions and basic dye removal from wastewater effluent in comparison with other counterparts published in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the notion of the Liability of Outsidership (LoO) in multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) operations, following Johanson and Vahlne's (2009) revision of the Uppsala model. This study seeks to identify the sources of outsidership and the strategies used by MNEs to overcome these liabilities, providing a comprehensive overview for practitioners, academics and policymakers.

This paper studies firm-level operations and investigations of foreign direct investment by MNEs. By synthesising existing research and theoretical frameworks, this study identifies key dimensions and determinants of LoO and offers insights into its implications for international business strategy. This paper’s approach ensures a holistic understanding of the concept, drawing from diverse sources to present a well-rounded perspective.

This study reveals two broad themes in the literature: firm-specific factors, such as market entry decisions, managerial attributes and business nature, and country-specific factors, including economic, social and political conditions. The authors highlight critical insights into these factors and identify successful strategies that MNEs use to become embedded in local networks.

The insights from this study will aid academics and researchers in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the LoO and identifying future research directions. Additionally, this study will assist MNE leaders and managers in understanding the key dynamics of foreign markets and the critical factors to consider in their internationalisation strategies.

This study discusses LoO in MNEs by offering a holistic overview to identify the sources of outsidership and the strategies used by MNEs to overcome these liabilities. This paper highlights key gaps and areas for future research and proposes practical strategies that MNEs can adopt to overcome outsidership, thereby serving as a valuable resource for both practitioners and policymakers.

The main goal of this paper is to present a synthetic multiple criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) methodology for assessing the enterprise digital maturity with linear Diophantine fuzzy (LDF) setting.

This paper utilizes the presented LDF generalized Dombi operator to aggregate assessment information of experts. The developed combined weight model through merging the rank sum (RS) model and symmetry point of criterion (SPC) method is used to ascertain the comprehensive importance of criterion. The evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) approach based upon regret theory (RT) is presented to achieve the sorting of candidate enterprises.

Firstly, the proposed method has strong stability. Secondly, the proposed method takes into consideration the psychological behavior of experts during the decision-making process which further enhances the rationality of the decision results. Finally, the proposed method integrates expert and criterion weight determination models which provides a practical evaluation framework for assessing the digital maturity of enterprises. The research outcomes confirm that the proposed approach fails to resolve the decision problems with unknown weight information flexibly, but also reflect the psychological behavior of expert in decision process. The presented weight approach also provides a rational algorithm to ascertain the weight more accurate.

A composite LDF group decision-making approach is presented by aggregating the proposed generalized Dombi operator, combined weight model and the EDAS model, which make the outcome more reasonable. Sensitivity analysis and comparison study are conducted to reflect the superiority of the proposed approach.

Based on affective events theory, this research attempted to investigate how negative gossip about organizational change drives employees to experience negative emotions and direct their aggression toward customers.

We conducted a scenario-based experiment (Study 1) and a multiwave field survey (Study 2) to test our hypotheses.

The results show that (1) negative emotions mediate the relationship between change-related negative gossip and displaced aggression toward customers; (2) perceived organizational constraints strengthen the relationship between change-related negative gossip and negative emotions; (3) future work self-salience weakens the relationship between change-related negative gossip and negative emotions; and (4) change-related negative gossip has a strengthened (weakened) indirect effect on displaced aggression via negative emotions when employees have high perceived organizational constraints (future work self-salience).

The study expands research on organizational change and displaced aggression and provides practical implications for managing organizational change.

The purpose of this study is to develop organic food consumption experience (OFCE) scales based on structural/functional theory.

In the first step, the construct and item generation of OFCE were developed by a literature review, and 58 items were created for the item pool. In the second step, qualitative interviews were used to evaluate and maintain 35 items. In the third step, an online survey collected 543 valid samples to test reliability and validity with exploratory factor analysis in phase 3A. The AHP method was also used to confirm the construct and items in phase 3B. In the final step, 1,017 valid samples were collected by face-to-face survey to test the formal scale with confirmatory factor analysis.

This study defines OFCE as the internal and subjective responses that result from a series of interactions between consumers, the shopping environment and organic food. Meanwhile, six dimensions are named: organic food quality, store interactions, organic certification, convenience concerns, health benefits, caring for family and sense of responsibility. In addition, there are significant differences between organic food businesses and consumers regarding their perceptions of OFCE.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies to develop OFCE scales. In addition, the results of the study can potentially help organic food marketers develop new promotion strategies.

Drought is the primary disaster that negatively impacts agricultural and animal husbandry production. It can lead to crop reduction and even pose a threat to human survival in environmentally sensitive areas of China (ESAC). However, the phases and periodicity of drought changes in the ESAC remain largely unknown. Thus, this paper aims to identify the periodic characteristics of meteorological drought changes.

The potential evapotranspiration was calculated using the Penman–Monteith formula recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, whereas the standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI) of drought was simulated by coupling precipitation data. Subsequently, the Bernaola-Galvan segmentation algorithm was proposed to divide the periods of drought change and the newly developed extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition to analyze the periodic drought patterns.

The findings reveal a significant increase in SPEI in the ESAC, with the rate of decline in drought events higher in the ESAC than in China, indicating a more pronounced wetting trend in the study area. Spatially, the northeast region showed an evident drying trend, whereas the southwest region showed a wetting trend. Two abrupt changes in the drought pattern were observed during the study period, namely, in 1965 and 1983. The spatial instability of moderate or severe drought frequency and intensity on a seasonal scale was more consistent during 1966–1983 and 1984–2018, compared to 1961–1965. Drought variation was predominantly influenced by interannual oscillations, with the periods of the components of intrinsic mode functions 1 (IMF1) and 2 (IMF2) being 3.1 and 7.3 years, respectively. Their cumulative variance contribution rate reached 70.22%.

The trend decomposition and periods of droughts in the study area were analyzed, which may provide an important scientific reference for water resource management and agricultural production activities in the ESAC. However, several problems remain unaddressed. First, the SPEI considers only precipitation and evapotranspiration, making it extremely sensitive to temperature increases. It also ignores the nonstationary nature of the hydrometeorological water process; therefore, it is prone to bias in drought detection and may overestimate the intensity and duration of droughts. Therefore, further studies on the application and comparison of various drought indices should be conducted to develop a more effective meteorological drought index. Second, the local water budget is mainly affected by surface evapotranspiration and precipitation. Evapotranspiration is calculated by various methods that provide different results. Therefore, future studies need to explore both the advantages and disadvantages of various evapotranspiration calculation methods (e.g. Hargreaves, Thornthwaite and Penman–Monteith) and their application scenarios. Third, this study focused on the temporal and spatial evolution and periodic characteristics of droughts, without considering the driving mechanisms behind them and their impact on the ecosystem. In future, it will be necessary to focus on a sensitivity analysis of drought indices with regard to climate change. Finally, although this study calculated the SPEI using meteorological data provided by China’s high-density observatory network, deviations and uncertainties were inevitable in the point-to-grid spatialization process. This shortcoming may be avoided by using satellite remote sensing data with high spatiotemporal resolution in the future, which can allow pixel-scale monitoring and simulation of meteorological drought evolution.

Under the background of continuous global warming, the climate in arid and semiarid areas of China has shown a trend of warming and wetting. It means that the plant environment in this region is getting better. In the future, the project of afforestation and returning farmland to forest and grassland in this region can increase the planting proportion of water-loving tree species to obtain better ecological benefits. Meanwhile, this study found that in the relatively water-scarce regions of China, drought duration was dominated by interannual oscillations (3.1a and 7.3a). This suggests that governments and nongovernmental organizations in the region should pay attention to the short drought period in the ESAC when they carry out ecological restoration and protection projects such as the construction of forest reserves and high-quality farmland.

The findings enhance the understanding of the phasic and periodic characteristics of drought changes in the ESAC. Future studies on the stress effects of drought on crop yield may consider these effects to better reflect the agricultural response to meteorological drought and thus effectively improve the tolerance of agricultural activities to drought events.

This study aims to assess the feasibility of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processing using as-received gas-atomized spherical Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) powder (17–68 µm), compared to literature methods that sieve to a narrow size range (<40 µm).

The research involves single track and layer printing, process optimization and subsequent heat treatment and magnetic annealing. The experimental approach includes conducting systematic printing trials to assess the impact of various parameters on printed track and layer quality, and refining printing parameters through iterative testing. Heat treatment and magnetic annealing are applied to achieve the desired magnetic properties.

A minimum linear energy density of 0.10 J/mm is required for continuous track formation, with track width largely unaffected by varying linear energy densities. An optimal hatch spacing of approximately 42% overlap avoids layer defects, with 0.10 mm spacing suitable for layer thicknesses between 30 and 80 µm. A stable processing window for energy density (EA) of 0.6–1.0 J/mm² was identified, allowing cuboid printing despite some discontinuous tracks, indicating potential fusion issues. Maximizing volumetric energy density (EV) within this range correlates positively with part density, achieving 92% density, coercivity of 490 kA/m and remanence of 496 mT. Post-treatment, density increased to 96%, coercivity to 582 kA/m and remanence to 544 mT.

This study fills a significant gap in LPBF literature for NdFeB by using the original wider size range of spherical powder without sieving, demonstrating improved cost-effectiveness, material efficiency and build efficiency. These findings offer practical recommendations for addressing the challenges related to LPBF processing of NdFeB powder.

The Soybean Producer Subsidy Policy (SPSP), an agricultural support policy enacted in China within the past few years, is designed to optimise crop planting structure. This study analyses the impact of SPSP on the crop planting structure in terms of absolute and comparative incomes and elucidates the mechanisms involved.

Utilising balanced county-level panel data from 966 counties in China’s major soybean-producing regions, spanning from 2008 to 2021, we investigate the impacts of SPSP on crop planting structure by applying a difference-in-difference (DID) model.

The findings reveal several crucial insights. First, SPSP optimises the crop planting structure in Northeast China, primarily through an expansion in the area sown to soybeans and a simultaneous reduction in the area sown to maize. Second, the impacts of SPSP gradually strengthen over time but begin to weaken by 2021. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effects of SPSP are most pronounced in Eastern Inner Mongolia, followed by Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. Finally, SPSP incentivises farmers to expand soybean sown areas by improving absolute rather than comparative incomes from soybean cultivation.

Addressing structural contradictions within China’s food supply chain necessitates the adjustment of support policies for different crops to mitigate market distortions. Establishing a holistic agricultural support system encompassing various crops could promote sustainable agricultural practices in the future.

Our findings are valuable for policy makers in China and globally who aim to establish support systems for regional linkages that include a variety of crops.

This study aims to develop a low-cost additive-subtractive hybrid machine equipped with reverse scanning to fabricate high-precision dental surgical guides. The major focus of developing the hybrid additive manufacturing technology is to achieve clinical precision of dental tools at an affordable price.

The designed machine consists of a self-developed vat-photopolymerization-based 3D printer that can fabricate dental surgical guides. The 3D printer is integrated with a self-developed 3D scanner that will analyze the fabricated part and evaluate the dimensional discrepancies. Based on the data provided by the scanner, the integrated secondary milling process will successfully machine the part to meet the clinical precision and standard.

The efficacy of the newly developed hybrid machine is demonstrated with the fabrication of complex part, lower and upper dental surgical guides with the mean dimensional deviations of 198.1, 136.6 and 117.9 µm, respectively. The integration of the secondary scanning and machining system successfully enhanced the mean dimensional deviation of upper and lower guides by 11.88% and 28.75%, respectively. Furthermore, this study also benchmarked the dimensional accuracies achieved by this low-cost technology with the high-end commercial 3D printers. The overall cost of the machine is evaluated to be $2,399.

This paper proposes a novel hybrid additive manufacturing process with integrated reverse scanning and machining modules to fabricate high-precision dental guides. The developed machine is a low-cost alternative to the existing high-end commercial counterparts. The developed machine has the potential to make endodontic treatments more affordable.