Search results

Improved production with quality, safety, and security is the biggest challenge of the food industry. Modern technologies, including robotics and automation systems, can help to cope with such issues. This chapter gives a brief view of robotics and automation for the sustainable food industry along with packaging, warehousing, distribution, marketing, and consumer services. It describes the recently implemented solutions of robotic automation in different supply chain operations and various food commodities. The benefits of robotic and automation technology for perishable and semi-perishable items have also been covered. The present research may assist the food industry professionals, supply chain managers, and academicians in implementing automation and robotics in the food industry.

The main aim of the existing study is to assess work-home interaction which is a challenge to human resource management (HRM).

The existing research is primary in nature. The sample size of the study is 285. The responses obtained from structured questionnaire. The qualitative data collected from secondary sources. For quantitative analysis various statistical tools have been applied, namely, Cronbach Alpha test, Correlation analysis and Regression analysis. The variables understudy was work environment, training opportunities, career opportunities, pay structure and technology factors.

As the recent pandemic continues to spread, all institutions should essentially remain alert and adaptable to new circumstances. HRM was essential throughout the pandemic, but now more than ever HR professionals must go above and beyond to meet the demands of organizations. The purpose of this study was to illuminate some of the most significant HR concerns that have surfaced in the aftermath of recent pandemics.

Employees' perspectives on work and life have shifted as a result of the added stress brought on by pandemic. So, businesses should provide crucial care to their workers' spirits and also HR professionals should pay close attention to their concerns and address the same thoughtfully.

The research adds to the current literature by illuminating the additional HR difficulties that have emerged in the wake of the global epidemic. More research may reveal additional significant HR difficulties, but these are a good place to start.

This study aims to reduce carbon emissions and minimize waste in the event of disruptions in a short and fast-food perishable such as fruits, vegetables, packaged food items, etc. supply chain through optimal investment in green and preservation technologies.

This study utilized a Hessian matrix approach to optimize decision variables with an objective to maximize the profit function.

The study demonstrates that investing in both green and preservation technology within a short and fast-food supply chain is highly beneficial for decarbonization and waste reduction and it leads to profit maximization. It has been shown with the help of a numerical experiments with investment in both green and preservation technology that total profit is 3.09% higher than without investment made in either technology.

This study aids the industry in achieving food sustainability by minimizing waste of perishables and also minimizes carbon emissions which is essential for environmental protection. It assists industries in determining the optimal investment in preservation technology to minimize waste and in green technology to reduce emissions, thereby maximizing profits.

The current study formulates an inventory model that helps in decarbonization and waste reduction in food supply chain with the consideration of machine learning, demand disruption, preservation technology investment, screening of purchased items, waste disposal, a double triangular distribution deterioration rate, green technology investment, carbon emissions from various supply chain activities, carbon tax policy and fuel price variation over time for perishable food products in a two-warehouse system.

This study endeavors to comprehend the impact of perceived risks and coping strategies on tourists' inclination to participate in virtual tourism.

Employing a quantitative methodology and the protection motivation theory (PMT), an online survey was administered to 215 foreign tourists with an awareness of security concerns in Iran. The collected questionnaire data underwent statistical analysis using SPSS and structural equation modeling analysis via SmartPLS software.

The findings reveal that perceived severity and vulnerability exert a significant positive influence on the likelihood of embracing 360 VR. Additionally, the positive effect of perceived response efficacy in using 360 VR on adoption intention was confirmed. Notably, perceived self-efficacy in using 360 VR does not significantly affect adoption intention. Finally, the results showed that negative media coverage, unlike the mental image of the destination, has a positive effect on 360 VR adoption intention.

Extending PMT with 360 VR in tourism risk management allows for more effective risk communication. By immersing tourists in VR simulations, stakeholders can educate them about potential threats, empowering them to navigate risks confidently. This reduces anxiety and enhances travel satisfaction. Moreover, VR integration across sectors promotes a collaborative and proactive approach to risk mitigation within the tourism industry.

This research extends PMT to understand 360 VR adoption in tourism. It investigates how perceived security risks (severity and vulnerability), coping strategies (response efficacy and self-efficacy), negative media and destination image influence tourists' intention to use 360 VR experiences. The findings offer valuable insights for destination marketers in addressing perceived security risks and promoting 360 VR adoption.

The authors investigated whether remote learning and its associated factors affect students’ adoption of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Blue Jeans and other conference applications.

The study used a quantitative design; data were collected by surveying B-school students in Hyderabad using a questionnaire prepared adopting the validated scales. About 33 items were used to measure nine reflective constructs: remote learning, performance expectancy, adoption behavioral intention, institutional support, ecological acceptance, habit formation, hedonic motivation, attitude towards conference apps and social influence. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out, and hypotheses were tested using IBM SPSS and AMOS version 28.

A 61% variance in students’ adoption behavioral intentions and a 37% variance in students’ attitude towards conference apps are accounted for by remote learning, performance expectancy, institutional support, ecological acceptance, habit formation, hedonic motivation and social influence. The exogenous constructs of institutional support, environmental acceptance, habit formation and social influence are statistically significant and influence students’ adoption and behavioral intentions toward conference applications. The attitude towards conference apps fully mediated the relationship between students’ adoption behavioral intentions and performance expectancy. However, the constructs of environmental concern, social influence and habit formation are partially mediated. This study provides empirical evidence that attitude towards conference apps, environmental acceptance, performance expectancy, institutional support, habit formation and social influence are the key predictors of remote learning and students’ adoption of and conference applications.

This study was limited to the B-schools of Hyderabad city, an Indian metro. To encourage students to adopt remote learning through conference apps, academicians should appropriately illustrate the idea of remote learning. To enable students to learn while on the go, educational institutions should offer intuitive applications with enhanced reading layouts. Second, since internet access is required for remote learning, this study is crucial for service providers. To make it simpler to obtain educational resources, the internet should be more widely accessible. Third, since technology is linked to remote learning, this type of study is essential for the education sector since devices need to be developed.

The pandemic has caused restructuring of the educational system, necessitating new strategies for distance and virtual learning for teachers. In the future, teachers will adopt techniques centered around the use of virtual platforms, social media and video production. The government should establish sufficient infrastructure to facilitate online education and assist instructors in becoming more knowledgeable and proficient in the use of technology, especially when creating, executing and assessing online instruction.

The purpose of this study is to determine how beneficial it is to use online/remote learning with Zoom, BlueJeans, Microsoft Teams and other conference software in particular. Both the online/remote learning method itself and the learners' capacities and capabilities for adjusting to new normal scenarios should be developed in educational environments.

Researchers have widely explored and associated corporate social responsibility with firm success. Measuring the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), service quality, corporate reputation, and brand preference by drawing on the stakeholder theory in healthcare industry and developing countries remains a substantial research gap.

Based on quantitative research and convenience sampling, data for the study were collected from 320 patients who have undergone treatments in 5 different private hospitals in Tehran, Iran. We analyzed the data using the Smart PLS 3.0 structural equation modeling technique.

The survey revealed that service quality and CSR are positively linked with corporate reputation, leading to brand preference in the healthcare sector. In addition, the mediating role of brand reputation in the relationship between corporate social responsibility, service quality and brand preference were confirmed.

The survey was performed in the context of the healthcare industry; however, additional studies are necessary to extrapolate the results to other fields, such as education and food. This research helps guide policymakers, administrators, healthcare managers, and researchers by highlighting the contribution and role of service quality, corporate social responsibility, and corporate reputation in achieving a hospital’s performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study also extends research in the diverse literature by examining the relationship between CSR, service quality, corporate reputation, and brand preference by illustrating the stakeholder theory in the context of the healthcare sector.

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the ethical framework and decision-making in clinical dementia research, and to analyze and discuss the ethical challenges and issues that can arise when conducting clinical dementia research.

Informed consent is the most scrutinized and controversial aspect of clinical research ethics. In clinical dementia research, assessing decision-making capacity may be challenging as the nature and progress of each disease influences decision-making capacity in diverse ways. Persons with dementia represent a vulnerable population deserving special attention when developing, implementing, and evaluating the informed consent process. In this chapter, particular attention will be given to vulnerability categories and how these influence decision-making capacity. Ethical frameworks with a pragmatic contour and implication are needed to protect vulnerable patients from potential harms and ensure their optimal participation in clinical dementia research.

In addition, this chapter analyses important ethical challenges and issues in clinical dementia research. If handled thoughtfully, they would not pose insuperable barriers to research. But if they are ignored, they could slow the research process, alienate potential study subjects and cause harm to research participants. Ethical considerations in research involving persons with dementia primarily concern the representation of the interests of the participants with dementia and protection of their vulnerabilities and rights.

A core set of ethical questions and recommendations are drawn to aid researchers, institutional review boards and potential research participants in the process of participating in clinical dementia research.

This paper aims to study the flow and heat transfer inside a wavy enclosure filled with Cu-water nanofluid under magnetic field effect by parallel implemented meshfree approach.

The simulation has been carried out for a two-dimensional model with steady, laminar and incompressible flow of the nanofluid filled inside wavy enclosure in which one of the walls is sinusoidal such that the amplitude (A = 0.15) and number of undulations (n = 2) are fixed. A uniform magnetic field B₀ has been applied at an inclination angle γ. The governing equations for the transport phenomena have been solved numerically by implementing element-free Galerkin method (EFGM) with the sequential as well as parallel approach. The effect of various parameters, namely, nanoparticle volume fraction (φ), Rayleigh number (Ra), Hartmann number (Ha) and magnetic field inclination angle (γ) has been studied on the natural convection flow of nanofluid.

The results are obtained in terms of average Nusselt number calculated at the cold wavy wall, streamlines and isotherms. It has been observed that the increasing value of Rayleigh number results in increased heat transfer rate while the Hartmann number retards the fluid motion. On the other hand, the magnetic field inclination angle gives rise to the heat transfer rate up to its critical value. Above this value, the heat transfer rate starts to decrease.

The implementation of the magnetic field and its inclination has provided very interesting results on heat and fluid flow which can be used in the drug delivery where nanofluids are used in many physiological problems. Another important novelty of the paper is that meshfree method (EFGM) has been used here because the domain is irregular. The results have been found to be very satisfactory. In addition, parallelization of the scheme (which has not been implemented earlier in such problems) improves the computational efficiency.

This paper aims to derive criteria for a strategic selection of learning management system (LMS) after making an analysis of the feedback data collected from learners and academic counselors in open and distance learning (ODL) to evaluate their perceptions. This analysis hints at the need to implement a learning management system (LMS) in ODL. Selecting an appropriate LMS can prove to be a strategic approach for ODL in achieving self-reliance and competitiveness.

Research design includes qualitative design intended to discuss the features, advantages and attributes of different popular LMSs and compare them. In addition, the quantitative design (a questionnaire-based online feedback) to analyze the perceptions of the learners and academic counselors in order to know their e-learning needs has also been used. Results have been exhibited in tabular/graphical formats for easy comprehension and enhanced understanding.

Findings of the study suggest that availability of plethora of LMSs in the market, which also include open source (OS) LMSs, makes the decision- making as regards selection of an appropriate LMS strategically crucial requiring adequate consideration of every aspect such as cost, quality, usage, capacity, budget and most importantly priorities and objectives.

This study will help educational administrators and decision-makers in ODL for building a quality civilized life and empowered society by removing the constraints related to financial problems, disabilities, time, geographical conditions and many others in bringing education to the doorstep of every willing learner. The technical details of LMS, however, were intentionally kept simplified to achieve the objective and provide easy comprehensibility for the reader with little technical background, which might be a limitation of this study.

This study highlights that ODL has tasted success with optimum exploitation of different technological advancements in its transformational expedition from conventional learning to innovative e-learning and to the newest adaptive e-learning system. The huge potential of LMS, in providing learners and educators in ODL with an effective web-based learning system incorporating almost all the academic activities, has attracted organizations for using it not only for imparting education to learners but also for providing appropriate trainings to their human resources.

This study proposes an objective assessment model to evaluate the performance of internal and external capabilities of firms. It facilitates firms to invest appropriate resources to cultivate the organizational capability necessary to meet the requirements of the performance indicators.

This study integrates the concepts of resource-based theory, the organizational capability concept, and conduct a performance analysis to the four perspectives of the BSC by implementing the fuzzy set theory and data employment analysis.

The findings show that the appropriate strategies help allocate available resources and capabilities during the different product life cycle, which provides practical guidelines for firms to achieve sustaining competitive advantage.

The selected factors were focused on four resources and capabilities rather than all possible factors.

An objective assessment model was created based on internal and external competitive performance efficiency in this research field. This model facilitates the ability of the top management to make decisions for resource allocation that will enhance firm's performance.