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This study aims to investigate the impact of customer perceptions of Augmented Reality (AR) attributes such as augmentation, interactivity and vividness on attitudes towards AR mobile apps, virtual product and behavioural intentions. Also, the mediation role of customer engagement in the effect of perceptions of AR attributes on attitudes and behavioural intentions is examined using the Theory of Interactive Media Effects.

The study used a cross-sectional design. A total of 456 valid data were collected from the Millennials and Generation Z cohorts using purposive sampling. The conceptual framework was assessed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Partial Least Squares-Multi Group Analysis (PLS-MGA).

The research revealed that customer perceptions of AR features such as augmentation, interactivity and vividness significantly influenced customer engagement, leading to favourable attitudes towards both the AR mobile app and the Virtual product as well as behavioural intentions. Furthermore, the study substantiates the role of customer engagement as a mediator in the relationship between customer perceptions of AR attributes and both attitudinal and behavioural outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate the significance of perceived augmentation as an antecedent to customer engagement and the mediating role of customer engagement on the influence of perceptions of AR attributes on attitudinal and behavioural intention.

This chapter overviews and briefly presents the literature concerning women and science from the field of feminist science studies (FSS). A major and time-consuming challenge encountered during the process of this review was organising the highly varied subtopics into meaningful categories. For the sake of easy understanding, we begin the study by describing the field of science and technology study (STS) and then we move on to discuss the origin of FSS and major strands of intersection between science and feminist epistemology.

Metaverse is an immersive technology that has transformed the way we connect, interact, and work, providing massive opportunities for different sectors. The prevailing trends in the metaverse encompass various aspects such as multi-user virtual environments facilitating real-time interaction between users and digital objects, the utilization of virtual and augmented reality (AR) technology to generate immersive and captivating experiences, social and gaming encounters, virtual currencies, data, and analytics for personalization and targeting of experiences, live streaming, e-commerce, and other related developments. AR is a key component of the metaverse. Because of its increased accessibility and interactivity, AR has the potential to operate as a bridge between the present and the future. AR superimposes the virtual objects in the real environment, enabling mixed-reality experiences that enable users to have immersive experiences.

This chapter examines the role of AR in metaverse platforms. It navigates through the multifaceted platforms within the metaverse and underscores its transformative potential in various sectors, fueled by the demand for remote working tools and the growing embrace of Web 3.0 technologies. It also explores the technical elements of integrating AR, providing a comprehensive explanation of how AR-enabled devices like glasses, headsets, and smartphones are used to generate immersive user experiences.

This study aims to investigate the tendency that Malaysian consumers will choose the recombinant collagen-like protein (RCLP) from bacteria as an alternative source of collagen in their consumption and the determinants of the consumer acceptance.

Quantitative approach is adopted in the study. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression are used to analyze primary data collected from a survey.

The likelihood of consumers choosing RCLP as an alternative source of collagen is higher among elderly and females. The choice is significantly influenced by the idea that the collagen should support maqasid al-syariah, approved by national Islamic body, should clear on the ingredients used and could boost local economic activities in the future.

An ethical halal policy should be outlined as the guiding principles to the potential producers of RCLP.

An alternative source of collagen using bacteria as proposed is not yet being introduced in Malaysian industry, and the analysis on probability that consumers will accept this new sourced collagen product is using primary data from survey.

The already-strained vaccine supply chain (VSC) of the expanded program for immunization (EPI) require a more robust and structured distribution network for pandemic/outbreak vaccination due to huge volume demand and time constraint. In this paper, a lean-agile-green (LAG) practices approach is proposed to improve the operational, economic and environmental efficiency of the VSC.

A fuzzy decision framework of importance performance analysis (IPA)–analytical hierarchy process (AHP)–technique for order for preference by similarity in ideal solution (TOPSIS) has been presented in this paper to prioritize the LAG practices on the basis of the influence on performance indicators. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to check the robustness of the presented model.

The derived result indicates that sustainable packaging, coordination among supply chain stakeholders and cold chain technology improvement are among the top practices affecting most of the performance parameters of VSC. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the priority of practices is highly dependent on the weightage of performance indicators.

This study's finding will help policymakers reframe strategies for sustainable VSC (SVSC) by including new management practices that can handle regular immunization programs as well as emergency mass vaccination.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that proposes the LAG framework for SVSC. The IPA–Fuzzy AHP (FAHP)–Fuzyy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) is also a novel combination in decision-making.

Each individual needs to be vaccinated to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the shortest possible time. However, the vaccine distribution with an already strained supply chain in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will not be effective enough to vaccinate all the population in stipulated time. The purpose of this paper is to show that there is a need to revolutionize the vaccine supply chain (VSC) by overcoming the challenges of sustainable vaccine distribution.

An integrated lean, agile and green (LAG) framework is proposed to overcome the challenges of the sustainable vaccine supply chain (SVSC). A hybrid best worst method (BWM)–Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking According to COmpromise Solution (MARCOS) methodology is designed to analyze the challenges and solutions.

The analysis shows that vaccine wastage is the most critical challenge for SVSC, and the coordination among stakeholders is the most significant solution followed by effective management support.

The result of the analysis can help the health care organizations (HCOs) to manage the VSC. The effective vaccination in stipulated time will help control the further spread of the virus, which will result in the normalcy of business and availability of livelihood for millions of people.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to explore sustainability in VSC by considering the environmental and social impact of vaccination. The LAG-based framework is also a new approach in VSC to find the solution for existing challenges.

An integrated intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) modelling-based framework for examining the performance analysis of a packaging unit (PU) in three different stages has been proposed.

For the series and parallel configuration of PU, a mathematical model based on the intuitionistic fuzzy Lambda–Tau (IFLT) approach was developed in order to calculate various reliability parameters at various spreads. For determining membership and non-membership function-based reliability parameters for the top event, AND/OR gate transitions expression was employed.

For 15%–30% spread, unit’s availability for the membership function falls by 0.006442%, and it falls even more by 0.014907% with an increase in spread from 30% to 45%. In contrast, for 15%–30% spread, the availability of non-membership function-based systems reduces by 0.007491% and further diminishes. Risk analysis has presented applying an emerging approach called intuitionistic fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis (IFFMEA). For each of the stated failure causes, the output values of the intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid weighted Euclidean distance (IFHWED)-based IFFMEA have been tabulated. Failure causes like HP1, MT6, FB9, EL16, DR23, GR27, categorized under subsystems, namely hopper, motor, fluidized bed dryer, distributor, grader and bin, respectively, with corresponding IFFMEA output scores 1.0975, 1.0190, 0.8543, 1.0228, 0.9026, 1.0021, were the most critical one to contribute in the system’s failure.

The limitation of the proposed framework lies in the fact that the results obtained for both reliability and risk aspects mainly depend on the correctness of raw data provided by the experts. Also, an approximate model of PU is obtained from plant experts to carry performance analysis, and hence more attention is required in constructing the model. Under IFLT, reliability parameters of PU have been calculated at various spreads to study and analyse the failure behaviour of the unit for both membership and non-membership function in the IFS of [0.6,0.8]. For both membership- and non-membership-based results, availability of the considered system shows decreasing trend. To improve the performance of the considered system, risk assessment was carried using IFFMEA technique, ranking all the critical failure causes against IFHWED score value, on which more attention should be paid so as to avoid sudden failure of unit.

The livelihood of millions of farmers and workers depends on sugar industries. So perpetual running of these industries is very important from this viewpoint. On the basis of findings of reliability parameters, the maintenance manager could frame a correct maintenance policy for long-run availability of the sugar mills. This long-run availability will generate revenue, which, in turn, will ensure the livelihood of the farmers.

Mathematical modelling of the considered unit has been done applying basic expressions of AND/OR gate. IFTOPSIS approach has been implemented for ranking result comparison obtained under IFFMEA approach. Eventually, sensitivity analysis was also presented to demonstrate the stability of ranking of failure causes of PU.

Due to the introduction of new vaccines in the child immunization program and inefficient vaccine supply chain (VSC), the universal immunization program (UIP), India is struggling to provide a full schedule of vaccination to the targeted children. In this paper, the authors investigate the critical factors for improving the performance of the existing VSC system by implementing the next-generation vaccine supply chain (NGVSC) in India.

The authors design a fuzzy multi-criteria framework using a fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (FAHP) and fuzzy multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (FMOORA) to identify and analyze the critical barriers and enablers for the implementation of NGVSC. Further, the authors carry out a numerical simulation to validate the model.

The outcome of the analysis contends that demand forecasting is the topmost supply chain barrier and sustainable financing is the most important/critical enabler to facilitate the implementation of the NGVSC. In addition, the simulation reveals that the results of the study are reliable.

The findings of the study can be useful for the child immunization policymakers of India and other developing countries to design appropriate strategies for improving existing VSC performance by implementing the NGVSC.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first empirical study to propose the improvement of VSC performance by designing the NGVSC.

The objective of this research is to examine the connections between mindfulness, psychological empowerment and the manifestation of ostracism in the workplace, particularly instigated ostracism, among university professors.

The study relies on data from 746 professors from a renowned university located in northern India. The researchers utilized pre-established scales to measure latent variables, and a seven-point Likert scale for evaluation purposes. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM.

The results indicate a positive correlation between mindfulness and psychological empowerment, explaining 42.20% of its variance. Additionally, a negative correlation between psychological empowerment and workplace ostracism is observed, accounting for 1.70% and 5.20% of their variances, respectively. These findings suggest associations but do not imply causality, highlighting the need for further research to explore these relationships.

Its focus on university professors limits the study’s insights from a specific region, potentially affecting the findings' generalizability. Future research should encompass a broader demographic and geographic range to enhance the applicability and relevance of the results across diverse academic contexts.

This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting a correlation between mindfulness and perceived psychological empowerment among university professors. It also suggests a potential association between psychological empowerment and reduced perceptions of the workplace and instigated ostracism. These preliminary findings, while not indicative of causality, could inform future research and the development of policies promoting mindfulness and empowerment in academic environments.

This study examines the correlations between mindfulness, psychological empowerment and ostracism within academic settings. It uniquely highlights the positive correlation between mindfulness and psychological empowerment and how this relates to reduced perceptions of workplace ostracism among university faculty. These findings suggest that universities could enhance work environments by focusing on these areas, potentially enriching higher education management practices.