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This study examines how technological innovation (TECIN) and human capital development (HCD) combine to impact industrial productivity (INPR) and competitiveness in Africa.

The study used secondary data covering the period from 1996 to 2021 on 36 African countries, in a panel data framework of fixed effect and generalized method of moments techniques.

The study found that while TECIN negatively affected INPR in Africa, HCD exerted a strong positive influence. The interaction of TECIN and HCD showed a joint positive impact on INPR, emphasizing the role of human capital in mitigating transitional productivity loss tied to new technology assimilation. The results also showed positive individual and combined effects of TECIN and HCD on industrial competitiveness in Africa.

The findings therefore compel the need for implementation of policies that can simultaneously advance TECIN and strengthen HCD for sustainable industrial development in Africa. Governments in African countries need to allocate more resources to research and development to foster home-grown technologies, revamp educational curricula to align with industry needs and emphasize practical skills training, and facilitate technology transfer partnerships to enhance technological capabilities and INPR.

Although previous studies acknowledge the importance of TECIN and HCD for enhancing INPR and competitiveness in Africa, there is a noticeable lack of comprehensive studies that investigated the interplay between TECIN and HCD for industrialization gains.

Many researchers and analysts are interested in evaluating the performance of a system with a network structure as a decision-making unit. In this regard, fuzzy network data envelopment analysis (FNDEA) is a noticeable and worthy method for evaluating the efficiency of a system with fuzzy data. Based on the structure of a fuzzy network system, which consists of at least two serial stages, an intermediate factor has an output nature for the first stage and an input nature for the second stage. Hence, it is inappropriate to allocate the same weight for each stage using this factor. Unfortunately, contrary to real-world conditions, all previous conventional FNDEA studies have considered the same role for intermediate factors to linearize or simplify models. For the first time, this study attempts to determine the upper and lower bounds of the overall efficiencies of a fuzzy two-stage series system and its subprocesses with unequal intermediate product weights.

The proposed model remains in its original nature as a complex combinatorial problem in the nonlinear programming category of NP-hard problems. A genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized as a metaheuristic algorithm, and a novel hybrid GA-FNDEA algorithm is presented to solve the problem.

The findings of the study outlined several theoretical contributions and practical implications, including as compensatory property of DEA, determining upper and lower bounds, improving efficiency in nonlinear systems, reducing computational burden, enhancing evolutionary algorithms and retaining real-world conditions.

Contrary to real-world conditions, all previous conventional FNDEA studies have considered the same role for intermediate factors to linearize or simplify models. For the first time, this study attempts to determine the upper and lower bounds of the overall efficiencies of a fuzzy two-stage series system and its subprocesses with unequal intermediate product weights.

This study aims to analyze the distribution of novelty among scholarly papers in the field of library and information science (LIS) in China. Specifically, this study explores the distribution of novelty of papers in various journals, research topics and different periods. It is possible to understand the characteristics of LIS research in China and what factors have influenced it.

This paper collects articles published in Chinese library science journals indexed by the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index from 2000 to 2022. The BERTopic model is used based on abstracts of the papers and to obtain the topic of each paper. Based on the combination innovation theory of reference pairs cited by focal papers, novelty scores of all papers are calculated. Next, this paper analyzes the novelty of papers under different topics. Finally, this paper analyzes the differences in author collaboration patterns across various topics, aiming to explain how these differences relate to the novelty of papers from a collaborative perspective.

This study shows that archival research topics have lower novelty than papers on journal evaluation and patent technology in Chinese LIS. Research papers in this field are gradually becoming more novel over time. Papers on different topics and with varying degrees of novelty exhibit distinct author collaboration patterns, with low-novelty topics more frequently featuring solo authorship, while high-novelty topics tend to involve a higher percentage of inter-institutional collaboration.

This study investigates the novelty characteristics of research papers on different topics in the field of LIS in China. The authors’ contribution includes visualizing research hotspots and trends in the field and analyzing authors’ collaboration patterns at the level of research topics, thereby providing new perspectives on the factors affecting the novelty of these papers.

This paper aims to present a systematic review of the latest scientific literature, in the context of pediatric orthopedics, on the development by additive manufacturing of anatomical models, orthoses, surgical guides and prostheses and their clinical applications.

Following the current guidelines for systematic reviews, three databases (Elsevier Scopus^®, Clarivate Web of Science^TM and USA National Library of Medicine PubMed^®) were screened using a representative query to find pertinent documents within the timeframe 2016–2023. Among the information, collected across the reviewed documents, the work focused on the 3D printing workflow involving acquisition, elaboration and fabrication stages.

Following the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the authors found 20 studies that fitted the defined criteria. The reviewed studies mostly highlighted the positive impact of additive manufacturing in pediatric orthopedic surgery, particularly in orthotic applications where lightweight, ventilated and cost-effective 3D-printed devices demonstrate efficacy comparable to traditional methods, but also underlined the limitations such as printing errors and high printing times. Among the reviewed studies, material extrusion was the most chosen 3D printing technology to manufacture the typical device, particularly with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review which annotates, from a more engineering point of view, the latest literature on the admittance of the clinical application of additive manufacturing (and its effects) within typical pediatric orthopedic treatments workflows.

The study aims to estimate the short- and long-run effects of monetary policy on residential property prices in South Africa. Over the past decades, there has been a monetary policy shift, from targeting money supply and exchange rate to inflation. The shifts have affected residential property market dynamics.

The Johansen cointegration approach was used to estimate the effects of changes in monetary policy proxies on residential property prices using quarterly data from 1980 to 2022.

Mortgage finance and economic growth have a significant positive long-run effect on residential property prices. The consumer price index, the inflation targeting framework, interest rates and exchange rates have a significant negative long-run effect on residential property prices. The Granger causality test has depicted that exchange rate significantly influences residential property prices in the short run, and interest rates, inflation targeting framework, gross domestic product, money supply consumer price index and exchange rate can quickly return to equilibrium when they are in disequilibrium.

There are limited arguments whether the inflation targeting monetary policy framework in South Africa has prevented residential property market boom and bust scenarios. The study has found that the implementation of inflation targeting framework has successfully reduced booms in residential property prices in South Africa.

This study aims to investigate the effect of powder recycling on the microstructure of plasma-sprayed Ni625-WC composite coating and to verify the feasibility of Ni625-WC powder recycling by comparing the corrosion resistance of the coatings in high-temperature and pressure CO₂ environment.

Recycling powder is an efficient way to improve the utilization rate of metal powder during plasma spraying. The plasma-sprayed Ni625-WC composite coatings with original powder (OC) and recovered powder (RC) were analytically compared by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance of the Ni625-WC composite coatings was characterized in a self-designed high-temperature and pressure autoclave by an electrochemical workstation.

The results showed that there is massive M₂₃C₆ in OC and acicular M₂₃C₆ in RC. The WC particles in RC are more uniformly distributed, and the area ratios of WC particles to Inconel 625 matrix are 2.37% higher than OC. RC showed high corrosion resistance, and the recycling of Ni625-WC powder is feasible.

The feasibility of Ni625-WC powder recycling was verified from the microstructure evolution and electrochemical behavior of the coatings.

The cable inspection robot is essential in maintaining bridge cables. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the maintenance methods of bridge cables. It summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the critical structures of the external overall frame, intermediate adhesion device, attachment mechanism and driving method of the cable inspection robot. Finally, it discusses the challenges the cable inspection robot faces and the direction of future research.

This paper summarizes the research progress of the cable inspection robot and details the advantages and disadvantages of critical structures such as the external frame, intermediate adhesion device, attachment mechanism, driving method and safe return device of the robot. Finally, it points out the future direction of cable inspection robots, including lightweight design, hybrid design, multi-robot cooperative work, multi-technology integration and intelligent cable inspection digital twin model.

The cables are the main load-bearing components of a bridge, and their safety is crucial. However, subjected to varying loads and environmental influences over a long period, cables are prone to damage, threatening the bridge’s stability. Cable inspection robots can comprehensively detect and repair cable damage, significantly improving efficiency and safety.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current research on cable inspection robots, enabling readers to have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the critical structures and key technologies of cable inspection robots and providing scientific references for researchers working on cable inspection robots.

Brand interaction on social media increasingly involves brands openly praising their competitors. This paper examines the impact of selecting a praising target based on company size in brand-to-brand praise, such as praising a smaller competitor versus a larger competitor, on consumers’ evaluations of the praiser.

Three online survey experiments using Sina Weibo as the stimuli were conducted to analyze the brand evaluation of brand-to-brand praising. Data were collected via Credamo.

Praising a smaller competitor leads to an increased evaluation of the praiser brand compared to praising a larger competitor. The perceived competence mediates the influence of relative brand size on praiser brand evaluation. Additionally, the praiser brand’s gender moderates the influence of relative brand size on the praiser brand evaluation, with a notable enhancement observed only for the masculine praiser brand.

This paper suggests several avenues for future research. First, future research can examine how companies tailor praise content based on the recipient size. Second, future studies can consider the role of competition type, brand development potential and the perceptual differences between competitor sizes. Third, we encourage future research to examine whether certain brand personalities benefit more from praising smaller competitors and extend our study’s scope to non-food industries to generate more generalizable results. Lastly, future studies can look into the conditions where a praised brand should respond to public praise and the potential of such interactions to boost consumer favorability.

This study offers valuable insights for brand managers to boost customers’ perception of brand competence and brand evaluations through interactive marketing on social media. Brand managers are recommended to direct their praise towards smaller competitors to maximize the positive impact. Additionally, our study highlights the pivotal role of brand gender in effective brand-to-brand communication strategies. Notably, masculine brands can particularly benefit from praising smaller competitors. Overall, considering factors like company size and brand gender is crucial for crafting effective brand-to-brand praise strategies that can enhance brand competence perceptions and evaluations, ultimately fostering loyalty and sales.

This study offers rich social implications regarding customers’ attitudes toward brand-to-brand praise on social media. Zhou et al. (2022) showed that brands praising competitors can significantly enhance consumer preference compared to other communication forms. Furthermore, this paper investigates how observing different types of brand-to-brand praise impacts consumer brand evaluations, such as praising larger or smaller competitors. We found that consumers preferentially evaluate brands that praise smaller (vs larger) competitors, and this effect is particularly salient for masculine brands.

This study provides valuable insights about enhancing customer evaluations of praiser brands through brand-to-brand praising on social media, points out the underlying mechanism and identifies a boundary condition.

This study aims to clarify influencing factors of overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China and accurately predict whether these enterprises have overcapacity.

Based on relevant data including the experience and evidence from the capital market in China, the research establishes a generic univariate selection-comparative machine learning model to study relevant factors that affect overcapacity of new energy enterprises from five dimensions. These include the governmental intervention, market demand, corporate finance, corporate governance and corporate decision. Moreover, the bridging approach is used to strengthen findings from quantitative studies via the results from qualitative studies.

The authors' results show that the overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China is brought out by the combined effect of governmental intervention corporate governance and corporate decision. Governmental interventions increase the overcapacity risk of new energy enterprises mainly by distorting investment behaviors of enterprises. Corporate decision and corporate governance factors affect the overcapacity mainly by regulating the degree of overconfidence of the management team and the agency cost. Among the eight comparable integrated models, generic univariate selection-bagging exhibits the optimal comprehensive generalization performance and its area under the receiver operating characteristic curve Area under curve (AUC) accuracy precision and recall are 0.719, 0.960, 0.975 and 0.983, respectively.

The proposed integrated model analyzes causes and predicts presence of overcapacity of new energy enterprises to help governments to formulate appropriate strategies to deal with overcapacity and new energy enterprises to optimize resource allocation. Ten main features which affect the overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China are identified through generic univariate selection model. Through the bridging approach, the impact of the main features on the overcapacity of new energy enterprises and the mechanism of the influence are analyzed.

Social commerce (s-commerce) offers community-based platforms that facilitate customer-to-customer interactions and the development of customers' social shopping-based experience. While prior research has addressed the role of customer engagement (CE) in boosting s-commerce-based sales and performance, insight into the effect of s-commerce attributes on CE remains tenuous. Addressing this gap, this study examines the role of specific s-commerce attributes (i.e. community, collaboration, interactivity and social dynamics) on CE, which is, in turn, proposed to impact customers' repurchase- and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention.

A web-based survey was deployed to target users of a popular s-commerce platform, Etsy.com. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was, then, used to analyze the survey data collected from 390 users.

The results reveal that the four examined attributes positively affect CE. The findings also demonstrate CE's positive effect on customers' repurchase- and eWOM intention.

Though CE has been identified as a key s-commerce performance indicator, little remains known about the role of specific s-commerce attributes in driving CE, as, therefore, explored in this research. Specifically, the authors examine the role of s-commerce-based community, collaboration, interactivity and social dynamics on CE. Their analyses also corroborate that CE, in turn, drives customers' post-purchase (i.e. repurchase/eWOM) intention. Managerially, our findings can be used to develop more engaging s-commerce platforms.