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This paper proposes a novel method for human hands tracking using data from an event camera. The event camera detects changes in brightness, measuring motion, with low latency, no motion blur, low power consumption and high dynamic range. Captured frames are analysed using lightweight algorithms reporting three-dimensional (3D) hand position data. The chosen pick-and-place scenario serves as an example input for collaborative human–robot interactions and in obstacle avoidance for human–robot safety applications.

Events data are pre-processed into intensity frames. The regions of interest (ROI) are defined through object edge event activity, reducing noise. ROI features are extracted for use in-depth perception.

Event-based tracking of human hand demonstrated feasible, in real time and at a low computational cost. The proposed ROI-finding method reduces noise from intensity images, achieving up to 89% of data reduction in relation to the original, while preserving the features. The depth estimation error in relation to ground truth (measured with wearables), measured using dynamic time warping and using a single event camera, is from 15 to 30 millimetres, depending on the plane it is measured.

Tracking of human hands in 3 D space using a single event camera data and lightweight algorithms to define ROI features (hands tracking in space).

The gradual implementation of blockchain technology in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms facilitates safer, transparent and quick access to funds without having to deal with the more complex and costly processes of banks. Beyond that, the purpose of this paper is to examine trust-enhancing heuristics that show a need for blockchain to assist in monitoring and bad loan recovery.

This study examines 909 lending decisions by 303 finance students on a mock P2P site. Each participant was asked to make three lending decisions. The loan applications were identical with the exception of a female or male photo (vs an icon) and reports of having raised half the loan in either 2 or 11 days (vs 7).

Investors who have experienced financial trauma are more likely to herd and lend higher amounts to loan applicants that are highly trusted by other lenders. This effect is more pronounced for male investors lending to highly trusted female loan applicants.

Blockchain can compensate for behavioral biases and improve monitoring by helping track digital money transactions and assisting in bad loan recovery efforts.

This study is the first behavioral experiment to examine herding in P2P lending. The findings complement and corroborate those by Gonzalez and Komarova (2014, 2015) and emphasize the need for blockchain to assist beyond trusted records and safe transfers of funds.

The 2008 and 2020 crises reinvigorated discussions on the need to deepen financial inclusion through fintech. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending facilitates pro-social direct lending to less “bankable” strangers while providing returns to at-times less experienced lenders. Information asymmetries and credit risk are substantial, and previous research finds suboptimal heuristics in for-profit lenders (Gonzalez, 2022). This study examines further the role of gender to facilitate “doing well while doing good”.

This study examines 663 pro-social lending decisions by finance students on a mock P2P site. Testimonials were used to condition participants towards pro-social decision-making. Each participant was asked to make three lending decisions. The three loan applications were identical except for a female or male headshot (vs a control icon), and a randomly assigned difference in the trustworthiness or popularity of the male vs female loan applications among other lenders. Loan popularity is reported as a lower number of days needed to fund half the identical loan amount requested in the three loan applications (3 vs 11 days for headshot applications, and 7 days for control one).

Self-recognition in similar-age borrowers is more pronounced for lenders who have experienced financial trauma. Second, male lenders report higher confidence in their financial literacy and cash collateral. Third, cash collateral increases lending only to female borrowers. Fourth, higher perception of one's financial literacy increases confidence only when lending to females.

This is the first study to examine the role of gender, financial literacy, identification with borrowers, and collateral perception in pro-social P2P lending.

This paper intends to compare the sustainability reporting (SR) in three different national and institutional contexts, namely Italy, Brazil and USA, and aims to investigate whether companies show a different approach to SR depending on the institutional setting where they operate.

To reach this goal, a sample of 150 reports was content-analyzed through a methodology based on a coding process which overcomes part of the limitations in previous works.

Results observed a relationship between the SR and the characteristics of institutional contexts, thus suggesting that while there is a general acceptance and use of international SR standards and initiatives, the content is influenced by and shaped on the characteristics of the national institutional context. In other words, although a widely diffused base of data and information can be found in the SR of companies in different contexts, the accent is put on specific issues which reflect the political, cultural, religious, legal and otherwise defined institutions in the national system.

Using the institutional theory the paper demonstrated that institutional contexts is one of the drivers of contents of sustainability reports.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending facilitates direct online lending and aims to provide financial inclusion and investment returns. Lender goals range from for-profit to pro-social and objective information is limited, which highlights the need to examine heuristics.

This study examines 1,347 lending decisions by finance students on a mock P2P site. Testimonials were used to randomly condition the financially literate lenders towards for-profit or pro-social decision-making. Each investor evaluated three loans. The three loan applications were identical except for a female or male headshot (vs an icon) and random reports of 50% funding for the female or male loan in 3 days (vs 11 days for opposite gender and 7 for icon). Previous research surveys students on a mock platform (Gonzalez, 2020) and reports similar heuristics and lifelike decisions in student and general population samples (Gonzalez and Komarova, 2014).

Lenders randomly conditioned towards pro-social lending state lower trust in borrowers. However, pro-social investors state lower risk in P2P lending and higher financial literacy. Second, pro-social investors are more confident when lending to borrowers highly trusted by other lenders, especially if the popular loan applicant is female. Third, pro-social conditioning increases lending to male applicants when the popular loan applicant is female. Fourth, pro-social investors who have experienced financial trauma have greater confidence in bad loan recovery.

This is the first study of heuristics in pro-social vs for-profit P2P lending. In addition, it shows that testimonials can effectively condition lending goals and affect trust and risk perceptions.

The purpose of this study is to highlight how the digitalization of a public university through a structured Business Process Management (BPM) approach allows for a significant performance improvement, even in a bureaucratized context not inclined to process thinking.

The used research methodology centers on a single case study conducted at an Italian public university. The selected process has been examined and redesigned within the BPM lifecycle framework. The AS-IS and TO-BE state, i.e. before and after the organizational change, have been modeled according to BPMN2.0 notation and evaluated through quantitative and qualitative techniques.

The authors first carried out a literature review to identify pertinent performance indicators suitable for assessing a BPM project within a public organization. Secondarily, applying the BPM framework to the case study enabled significant improvements in the quality of the process. Third, the authors analyzed the impact on people and the organization and how to soothe the transition to a digitalized process.

The study’s findings can contribute to the existing body of knowledge on BPM as a digitalization approach in the public sector. The case study is the first of its kind in the higher education context. Its value also resides in highlighting the efficacy of using BPM as a guiding tool for making organizational and technical decisions during the implementation phase within the specific context of this paper.

Block chain technology (BCT) has emerged as a promising solution for the co-ordination and aid mechanism issues in the context of humanitarian supply chain (HSC). However, implementation of BCT in HSC discerns several barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and model the block chain implementation barriers in the context of HSC.

In the present study, 14 potential barriers to BCT adoption in HSC have been identified through literature survey. The survey comprises white papers, pilot studies, conference proceedings and journal articles. Further, the identified barriers were finalised in consultation with a team of experts. The team comprised experienced stakeholders working in the humanitarian domain and BCT development. The barriers were categorised into four (technological, organisational, exogenous and economic) perspectives adopting the kappa statistics. Further, the barriers were prioritised using fuzzy best worst method (FBWM) approach. Later, sensitivity analysis was performed to check the robustness and viability of the model.

The findings from the study indicate that the barriers, such as “data privacy, ownership, and security issues” (B1), “funding issues and cost complexity” (B3) and “technological complexities” (B8), are relatively more influential. The HSC stakeholders and BCT developers are required to identify the safety mechanism against the misuse of victim’s data. The funding issues and technological complexities are interrelated and need synergetic cooperation between blockchain developers, donors, humanitarian organisations (HOs) and other HSC stakeholders. Further, “lack of awareness and understanding among stakeholders” (B6) and “interoperability, collaboration and cross-pollination among HOs” (B5) were identified as least influential barriers to BCT adoption in HSC.

In literature, limited study has been observed on determining barriers to BCT implementation. A more systematic method and statistical confirmation is necessary to establish further new confronting barriers. This study is limited to Indian context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is first of its kind to use an FBWM approach for prioritising the barriers to BCT adoption in the context of HSC. The study provides potential barriers to BCT and categorises them into four different perspectives, along with their degree of influence.

This paper examines how the institutional distance between immigrants' country of residence and country of origin, as well as the regulative and normative aspects of institutions in immigrants' country of residence, social context variables and individual psycho-behavioural factors, condition immigrants' entrepreneurial motivation (i.e. mainly by necessity, by a combination of necessity and opportunity, or mainly by opportunity), which is in contrast to the previous literature on immigrant entrepreneurship that mainly focuses on micro-level factors.

By using hierarchical linear regression models to test our hypotheses, the authors analyse 468 first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs settled in 31 European countries using data from the European Working Conditions Survey (6th EWCS; Eurofound, 2015 database) combined with other datasets to derive the macro-level variables (i.e. the Doing Business Project; Hofstede et al., 2010).

The authors find that distance in the normative aspects of institutions harms entrepreneurial opportunity motivation. At the same time, however, opportunity motivation is likely to benefit from both the normative aspects of institutions that reduce locals' opportunity motivation and the distance in the regulative aspects of institutions.

This article analyses immigrant entrepreneurship in Europe, which has been under-examined in the extant literature, and takes into account the micro-, meso- and macro-level factors affecting the entrepreneurial motivation of immigrants in Europe. This analysis responds to the need already highlighted by previous research to include not only micro-level factors but also meso- and macro-level factors in the analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship (Aliaga-Isla and Rialp, 2013).