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Expert Systems — which forms a small part of Artificial Intelligence — presents opportunities for the retailer, with applications to such areas as buying, merchandising, warehousing and distribution, and retail operations. The authors suggest that senior management in retailing should be aware of the changes taking place and evaluate the impact of these changes in order better to plan their future competitiveness.

IN 1846, Charlotte Brontë was attempting to find a publisher for the sisters' first book—a selection of their poems. It was a bad time for poetry. In the earlier years of the century it had flourished remarkably with the rise of Scott and Byron, whose popularity brought record sales, but by the 1840s the demand had declined, and while prose fiction had a reasonable market, poetry was unwanted. Even the arch‐publisher of Victorian poets, Edward Moxon, was not keen to undertake the Poems (1844) of the established Elizabeth Barrett, and showed some reluctance even in the publication of Wordsworth. By 1848 Charlotte had come to appreciate ‘that “the Trade” are not very fond of hearing about poetry, and that it is but too often a profitless encumbrance on the shelves of the bookseller's shop’. It is little wonder, therefore, that of 1846 she later wrote: ‘As was to be expected, neither we nor our poems were at all wanted…. The great puzzle lay in the difficulty of getting answers of any kind from the publishers to whom we applied.’

What is the future for retail software? David Freestone's view is that suppliers will continue to orientate their software towards specific merchandise areas and types of retailer, instead of trying to be all embracing. And more retailers will make their own systems available to others.

The centre was one of several used recently for visits by small groups of the 36 members of the course during a week which was devoted to engineering. The Engineering Industry Training Board's office in Newcastle, acting on behalf of the Engineering Careers Information Service, was responsible for organising the programme with Des Hall, the course leader, and Janet Smith, a senior lecturer from the Polytechnic, lending advice and help.

The ability to characterise highly conducting objects, that may also be highly magnetic, by the complex symmetric rank–2 magnetic polarizability tensor (MPT) is important for metal detection applications including discriminating between threat and non-threat objects in security screening, identifying unexploded anti-personnel landmines and ordnance and identifying metals of high commercial value in scrap sorting. Many everyday non-threat items have both a large electrical conductivity and a magnetic behaviour, which, for sufficiently weak fields and the frequencies of interest, can be modelled by a high relative magnetic permeability. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned idea.

The numerical simulation of the MPT for everyday non-threat highly conducting magnetic objects over a broad range of frequencies is challenging due to the resulting thin skin depths. The authors address this by employing higher order edge finite element discretisations based on unstructured meshes of tetrahedral elements with the addition of thin layers of prismatic elements. Furthermore, computer aided design (CAD) geometrical models of the non-threat and threat object are often not available and, instead, the authors extract the geometrical features of an object from an imaging procedure.

The authors obtain accurate numerical MPT characterisations that are in close agreement with experimental measurements for realistic physical objects. The assessment of uncertainty shows the impact of geometrical and material parameter uncertainties on the computational results.

The authors present novel computations and measurements of MPT characterisations of realistic objects made of magnetic materials. A novel assessment of uncertainty in the numerical predictions of MPT characterisations for uncertain geometry and material parameters is included.

It is a measure of the problem of records control that branches of Lloyds Bank produce 30.5 million vouchers a month. On top of this is an array of wider documentation as defeating in bulk as it is complex in analysis. This paper follows the problem through the development of central control and assesses the place for the archivist in the management of documentary waste, and the benefit of his work for the historian.

Blockchain technology offers numerous venues for supply chain applications and research. However, the connections between specific blockchain features and future applications have been unclear to date in its evolution. The purpose of this study is to fill this void.

The authors advance the understanding of blockchain in supply chain management by providing a new research framework built on unique blockchain features as applied across core supply chain functions.

This study’s framework is a feature-function matrix that integrates four overarching supply chain functions (i.e. supplier management, logistics, production processes and customer management) with nine blockchain features (i.e. traceability/provenance, accessibility, visibility, immutability, distributed/shared ledger, validity, peer-to-peer transacting, pseudonymity and programmability). This study’s feature-function framework is supported by a structured, systematic review of reviews using PRISMA methods. The authors use the framework to present a future blockchain research agenda in supply chain management.

The authors provide a new blockchain feature/supply chain function framework and provide a structured path for future research.

This study explores how introducing a permissioned blockchain in a supply chain context impacts accountability relationships and the process of rendering an account. The authors explore how implementing a digital transformation impacts the governance of network transactions.

The authors mobilize 28 interviews and documentary analysis. The authors focus on early blockchain adopters to get an insight into how implementing a permissioned blockchain can transform information sharing, coordination and collaboration between business partners, now converted into network participants.

The authors suggest that implementing a permissioned blockchain impacts accountability across three levers, namely through the ledger, through the code and through the people, where these levers are interconnected. Blockchains are often valued for their ability to enable transparency through the visibility of transactions, but the authors argue that this is an incomplete view. Rather, transparency alone does not help to satisfy a duty of accountability, as it can result in selective disclosure or obfuscation.

The authors extend the conceptualizations of accountability in the blockchain literature by focusing on how accountability relationships are enacted, and accounts are rendered in a permissioned blockchain context. Additionally, the authors complement existing work on accountability and governance by suggesting an integrated model across three dimensions: ledger, code and people.

This study aims to evaluate the drivers influencing the integration of distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) in the Nigerian construction industry to provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors that shape the adoption and utilization of this transformative technology within the sector.

This objective was achieved through a quantitative research approach, utilizing a structured questionnaire to systematically gather data from various stakeholders in the Nigerian construction sector. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, alongside inferential statistical techniques like the Kruskal-Wallis H-test, the Shapiro-Wilk test and exploratory factor analysis.

The most highly ranked drivers for DLT within the construction industry are security and fraud resistance, traceability and transparency, government support, compliance and reporting and trust building. Further analysis unveiled five distinct factors of application areas, namely: technological and operational drivers, economic and financial drivers, regulatory and government drivers, collaborative and stakeholder drivers and environmental and sustainability drivers.

The practical implications emphasize the need for construction industry stakeholders to focus on security, transparency and trust-building when considering DLT adoption. This study also offers valuable insights for investors and technology providers seeking opportunities in the Nigerian construction sector.

This study sheds light on the factors most critical for DLT adoption in the Nigerian construction sector. Unlike previous research, this study pinpoints security and fraud resistance, along with traceability and transparency, as the most influential drivers. This highlights the Nigerian construction industry’s particular vulnerability to fraud and its emphasis on clear audit trails.