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Humans now enjoy a better life because of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has a significant impact on the creation of smart cities. Modern applications based on big data, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, and deep learning require extensive use of complex computational solutions. Thus, the following problems arise: (1) what are smart cities? (2) what is AI? (3) How is AI used in smart cities? To respond to this problem, the following objective was set: to map how AI is used in smart cities. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology based on a narrative analysis of the literature was used. It is concluded that AI and smart cities are complementary technologies that can assist cities in tackling difficult issues including public safety, transportation, energy management, environmental monitoring, and predictive maintenance. This chapter’s findings, while broadly applicable, offer valuable insights into the Gulf region’s unique context, where rapid urbanization and technological adoption intersect with cultural and environmental considerations. The integration of AI in smart cities presents a promising avenue for the Gulf region to address its specific challenges and leverage its economic and infrastructural strengths, thereby contributing to the broader goals of innovation, development, prosperity, and well-being as envisioned in the region’s Vision 2040 initiatives.

One of the most innovative materials available today is polyester resin, which finds application in a wide range of industries, including consumer products, automotive, aircraft, marine, construction, sports and renewable energy, due to its impressive mechanical properties and low cost. In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in the development of polyester resin composites. This paper aims to provide an overview of the recent advances in the field of polyester resin composites.

The review introduces the properties of polyester resins and the fabrication techniques used to prepare polyester resin composites. It provides an overview of the reinforcement materials such as fibers and nanoparticles that are commonly used to enhance the properties of the composites. Recent advances in the use of fillers such as nanocellulose, graphene and carbon nanotubes are also discussed. This work highlights the latest developments in the functionalization of polyester resin composites, which aims to improve the properties of the composite materials for specific applications in diverse fields such as aerospace, biomedical and energy. It highlights how collaborations worldwide, business and academia are working together to advance polyester resin composite technologies.

The study emphasizes how urgent it is to adopt sustainable practices, which, in turn, is driving research into polyester resins that are recycled and biobased to create a circular economy. Constant advancements open up new possibilities for application development and improve performance, such as nanotechnology and smart materials. Furthermore, businesses are being revolutionized by sophisticated production processes like 3Dimensional printing and Internet of Things integration, which enable mass customization and real-time monitoring. These partnerships advance the sector and encourage the use of polyester resin composites in environmentally friendly applications. The remarkable mechanical, thermal and chemical capabilities of polyester resin composites are highlighted, showcasing their importance in a range of applications.

The study is a major step toward a sustainable tomorrow since it highlights the potential of polyester resin composites to build a more durable and environmentally friendly future. This review paper summarizes the recent advances in the development of polyester resin composites, highlighting their potential for advancing technologies in various fields. The knowledge gained from this review paper will undoubtedly aid researchers in designing novel polyester resin composite materials with tailored properties for specific applications.

The deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) in higher education institutions is beneficial and critical for attaining sustainable campus goals. However, various barriers hamper the adoption of the technology, and unless these challenges are identified, formulating tailor made solutions to boost deployment will be challenging. Thus, this study aimed to identify the barriers to the deployment of PV in the public university sector in South Africa.

A critical review of the literature was conducted to identify the factors that negatively impact PV deployment. By screening the barriers identified from the literature using a conceptual framework, the barriers that were considered relevant to deployment within a university context were selected. Thereafter, the selected barriers and additional barriers recommended by panellists were verified through a three-round Delphi survey. The factors were either accepted or rejected as barriers in the sector based on the factors' mean score and interquartile range values.

The study observed that 12 barriers hamper PV deployment in the public university sector. The findings indicated that the top five barriers were the lack of incentives, lack of green building targets, lack of financial resources, high initial cost, and lack of clear policy direction. However, the study found that deployment was not hindered because there was resistance to change or uncertainty of recouping investment costs. The deployment was also not hindered because there was a lack of demand from electricity end-users or a lack of suitable installation space.

Given the lack of empirical studies on the subject in the region, the present study contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying the significant barriers that impede PV deployment in the public university sector. Furthermore, insight is provided on measures that relevant stakeholders can take to motivate and support universities to deploy the technology further.

This study aims to investigate redundant information in mandatory non-financial reports (NFRs) demanded by regulators, focusing primarily on overlapping disclosures in a new Indian sustainability reporting (SR) framework.

The study sample comprised NIFTY100 listed entities that published SR voluntarily during 2021–2022. The authors used content analysis and cosine similarity techniques to conceptually compare redundancy in SR disclosures with non-financial disclosures.

The findings reveal an information overlap in SR disclosure with other NFRs disclosures. The disclosures of Directors’ Report have higher cosine similarity scores at the firm level with SR, followed by the Management Discussion and Analysis report, Corporate Governance report and Corporate Social Responsibility report. The additional analysis reveals that qualitative disclosures and disclosures comprising governance factors overlap more in SR.

Policymakers should look to establish relevant disclosure guidelines in the SR system, and thereby, shed light on fundamental issues to enhance future SR framework reforms.

The study highlight the need for integration and amendment in the disclosure guidelines of NFRs to improve the overall transparency of the reports.

Previous studies have examined the redundancy in annual reports and SRs from the point of view of overlapping information. To the best author’s knowledge, this is possibly among the first studies to offer insights into the repetition of disclosures required by regulators in statutory NFRs based on environmental, social, and governance factors through the lenses of the institutional theory.

This study aims to explore the tower crane safety factors (TCSFs) that influence tower crane safe operations (TCSOs) in modular integrated construction (MiC). It evaluates how the adoption of these factors contributes to achieving TCSOs and promoting sustainable practices (SPs) within MiC.

To achieve this aim, the study employed a systematic search to ensure a comprehensive collection of variables. Additionally, it conducted a questionnaire survey involving professionals and utilized a brainstorming technique to categorize the different variables. Finally, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the relationship between TCSOs and SPs.

The results of measurement models indicated strong convergent and discriminant validity, with each observed variable correlating well with its latent variable. Moreover, a significant positive correlation between TCSOs and SPs was evidenced by a path coefficient (β = 0.755) and a p-value of <0.05. Lastly, the structural model revealed that the independent variables strongly influence the dependent variable (i.e. SPs) by 57%, underscoring safety's pivotal role in advancing sustainability within MiC projects. These findings provide empirical evidence that improving tower crane safety can directly enhance sustainable practices, offering a dual benefit of increased safety and sustainability for the construction sector.

This study makes a unique and previously undiscovered contribution to the field by identifying the TCSFs in MiC and employing a novel approach by utilizing PLS-SEM to create a unique mathematical model. It offers valuable insights into the relationship between TCSFs, TCSOs and SPs, thus contributing to methodological advancements within Safety Science and providing a foundation for future research and practical implementation in the construction industry.

This paper explores the direct relationships between market orientation (MO), knowledge management orientation (KMO), innovative capability (IC) and supply chain resilience (SCRES). Moreover, the indirect effects of both MO and KMO on SCRES through IC are also examined.

A theoretical model developed from the extant literature was empirically validated through a cross-sectional survey of 195 manufacturing firms in Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The study found that there are positive and significant direct effects of MO and KMO on IC. KMO and IC have positive and significant effects on SCRES, while the positive relationship between MO and SCRES is non-significant. Furthermore, the results indicate that the effects of both MO and KMO on SCRES are partially mediated by IC.

Empirical evidence is provided on the antecedents of SCRES in a developing economy in the context of COVID-19. Moreover, a multidisciplinary model incorporating marketing, knowledge management and innovation literature to explain the SCRES phenomenon is validated. Further, the partial mediating role of IC is examined and confirmed.

Several chaotic system-based encryption techniques have been presented in recent years to protect digital images using cryptography. The challenges of key distribution and administration make symmetric encryption difficult. The purpose of this paper is to address these concerns, the novel hybrid partial differential elliptical Rubik’s cube algorithm is developed in this study as an asymmetric image encryption approach. This novel algorithm generates a random weighted matrix, and uses the masking method on image pixels with Rubik’s cube principle. Security analysis has been conducted, it enhances and increases the reliability of the proposed algorithm against a variety of attacks including statistical and differential attacks.

In this light, a differential elliptical model is designed with two phases for image encryption and decryption. A modified image is achieved by rotating and mixing intensities of rows and columns with a masking matrix derived from the key generation technique using a unique approach based on the elliptic curve and Rubik’s cube principle.

To evaluate the security level, the proposed algorithm is tested with statistical and differential attacks on a different set of test images with peak signal-to-noise ratio, unified average changed intensity and number of pixel change rate performance metrics. These results proved that the proposed image encryption method is completely reliable and enhances image security during transmission.

The elliptic curve–based encryption is hard to break by hackers and adding a Rubik’s cube principle makes it even more complex and nearly impossible to decode. The proposed method provides reduced key size.

Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as one of the significant transformative technologies in today’s business world. This technology overlays digital information and virtual objects onto the real world, and it is viewed in smartphones, tablets, and AR glasses. It enhances user experience, facilitates interactive learning, and provides real-time information or supports customers to make decisions. This chapter tries to find the impact of AR on customer’s experience and willingness to buy furniture evidence from the manufacturing concern. Cross-sectional study was conducted with the help of a structured questionnaire. The data have been collected from 384 respondents who have exposure towards AR. Further, correlation analysis is employed to find the relationship and also regression analysis is used to check the influence level. The findings of the research reveal that most of the respondents found that AR very much useful in checking the furniture placement in home, and also it has helped respondents to make purchase decisions. Positive correlation was found between AR and customer’s experience and willingness to buy furniture. The study further finds that there is a significant impact of AR on customer’s experience and willingness to buy furniture. The findings of the study strengthen business organisations to effectively utilise AR to improve customer’s experience and willingness to buy furniture.

This study quantitatively investigates the impacts of digital and learning orientations on supply chain resilience (SCR) and firm performance (FP), aiming to fill the gaps in understanding their specific impacts in the context of Industry 4.0 developments and supply chain disruptions.

This study utilized survey techniques and structural equation modelling (SEM) to gather and analyse data through a questionnaire based on a seven-point Likert scale. Hypotheses were formulated based on an extensive literature review and tested using Amos software.

The study confirms SCR’s significant impact on FP, aligning with existing research on resilience’s role in organizational competitiveness. This study uncovers the nuanced impacts of digital and learning orientations on SCR and FP. Internal digital orientation (DOI) positively impacts SCR, while external digital orientation (DOE) does not. Specific dimensions of learning orientation – shared vision (LOS), open-mindedness (LOO) and intraorganizational knowledge sharing (LOI) – enhance SCR, while commitment to learning (LOC) does not. SCR mediates the relationship between DOI and FP but not between DOE and FP.

This research focuses on digital and learning orientations, recommending that future studies investigate other strategic orientations and examine the specific contributions of various digital technologies to SCR across diverse contexts.

The empirical findings emphasize the significance of developing internal digital capabilities and specific learning orientations to enhance SCR and FP, aligning these initiatives with resilience strategies.

This study advances knowledge by distinguishing the impacts of internal and external digital orientations and specific learning dimensions on SCR and FP, offering nuanced insights and empirical validation.

The socio-emotional wealth (SEW) framework and the resource-based theory (RBT) offer two valuable perspectives on innovation dynamics within family firms. Through the SEW lens, family firms may prioritize preserving their traditions and core values, potentially resisting the adoption of new technologies and modern business methods. In contrast, RBT suggests that family firms can gain a competitive edge by harnessing and nurturing their unique resources and capabilities, such as collective experiences, market reputation, and established networks, to foster innovation and secure a strong market position. By integrating these two perspectives, family firms can achieve sustainable competitive advantages by balancing the tensions between tradition and innovation. This comprehensive approach allows them to innovate while preserving their SEW, ensuring long-term success in the ever-evolving business landscape.