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Extant literature suggests that the difficulty associated with the interpretation of macroeconomic news announcements by the market in general in different economic environments, might be the reason why most studies do not find any significant relationship between real-sector macroeconomic variables and financial asset returns. This paper aims to use a different approach to measure macroeconomic news. The objective is to examine if a different measure of a macroeconomic news variable, constructed from media coverage of the same, significantly affects hedge fund returns.

The authors use a news index for unemployment, which is a real-sector variable, constructed from newspaper coverage of unemployment announcements and examine its impact on hedge fund returns.

Contrary to the other studies that examine the impact of macroeconomic news on hedge fund returns, the authors find that media coverage of unemployment news announcements significantly affects hedge fund returns.

Overall, this paper demonstrates that the manner in which the market interprets macroeconomic news announcements in different economic environments is probably a more relevant factor for hedge funds and is more likely to impact hedge fund returns. In conjunction with variables – constructed from media coverage of unemployment news announcements – that factor in the manner of interpretation, it is found that surprises also matter for hedge fund returns. This is an important consideration for hedge fund managers as well.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of media coverage of macroeconomic news announcements on hedge fund returns and finds significantly different results with real-sector macro variables.

This study integrates previous research on the intention to use Airbnb to determine which antecedents provide a parsimonious explanation.

Meta-analyses based on 61 samples estimate how 8 antecedents are associated with the intention to use Airbnb. Subsequent analyses utilize meta-analyses to estimate a regression model to simultaneously estimate the relationship between the antecedents and the intention to use Airbnb. Relative weight analysis then determined each antecedent’s utility.

A parsimonious model with only four antecedents (hedonic motivation, price value, effort expectancy and social influence) was nearly as predictive as the full eight-antecedent model. Ten moderating variables were examined, but none were deemed to consistently influence the relationships between the antecedents and the intention to use Airbnb.

Relatively few measures (i.e. four) effectively explain customers’ intentions to use Airbnb. When these measures cannot be readily influenced, alternatives are also presented. Implications for the travel industry are considered and straightforward approaches to increasing users are presented.

This is the first integrative review of customers’ intentions to use Airbnb. We integrate what is currently known about customers’ intentions to use Airbnb and then provide a robust model for Airbnb use intentions that both researchers and practitioners can utilize.

This study aims to investigate the influence of wall curvature in a semicircular thermal annular system on magneto-nanofluidic flow, heat transfer and entropy generation. The analysis is conducted under constant cooling surface and fluid volume constraints.

The mathematical equations describing the thermo-fluid flow in the semicircular system are solved using the finite element technique. Four different heating wall configurations are considered, varying the undulation numbers of the heated wall. Parametric variations of bottom wall undulation (f), buoyancy force characterized by the Rayleigh number (Ra), magnetic field strength represented by the Hartmann number (Ha) and inclination of the magnetic field (γ) on the overall thermal performance are studied extensively.

This study reveals that the fluid circulation strength is maximum in the case of a flat bottom wall. The analysis shows that the bottom wall contour and other control parameters significantly influence fluid flow, entropy production and heat transfer. The modified heated wall with a single undulation exhibits the highest entropy production and thermal convection, leading to a heat transfer enhancement of up to 21.85% compared to a flat bottom. The magnetic field intensity and orientation have a significant effect on heat transfer and irreversibility production.

Further research can explore a wider range of parameter values, alternative heating wall profiles and boundary conditions to expand the understanding of magneto-nanofluidic flow in semicircular thermal systems.

This study introduces a constraint-based analysis of magneto-nanofluidic thermal behavior in a complex semicircular thermal system, providing insights into the impact of wall curvature on heat transfer performance. The findings contribute to the design and optimization of thermal systems in various applications.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are widely used by utility companies during the production and distribution of oil, gas, chemicals, electric power, and water to control and monitor these operations. A cyber attack on a SCADA system cannot only result in a major financial disaster but also in devastating damage to public safety and health. The purpose of this paper is to survey the literature on the cyber security of SCADA systems and then suggest two categories of security solutions.

The paper proposes the use of secure socket layer/transport layer security (SSL/TLS) and IP security (IPsec) solutions, implemented on the test‐bed at the University of Louisville, as the optimal choices when considering the level of security a solution can provide and the difficulty of implementing such a security measure. The paper analyzes these two solution choices, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and present details on efficient ways of implementing these solutions.

The SSL/TLS solution to the protocol security using public domain toolkits such as OpenSSL may provide a fast, effective, and economical solution. However, the SSL/TLS protocol and its implementation toolkits have their limitations so this approach may need another enhancement.

IPsec can be used to provide IP‐level security in addition to SSL/TLS.

The use of these enhanced security approaches in SCADA systems should effectively reduce the vulnerability of these critical systems to malicious cyber attacks, and thereby potentially avoiding the serious consequences of such attacks.

The economic development of Bangladesh is heavily reliant on the banking industry, yet it faces numerous hurdles, including liquidity issues, capital shortages, non-performing loans, inefficiencies and so on. Therefore, this study investigated the performance and efficiency of scheduled banks (state-owned, private commercial, foreign commercial and specialized banks) operating in Bangladesh.

The research was conducted using secondary data from annual reports of banks. The CAMELS rating system and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods were employed to measure the performance and efficiency of banks, respectively.

In the overall bank rankings, results revealed that foreign commercial Standard Chartered Bank and state-owned Sonali Bank Limited came in first and last position, respectively. Among the four categories of banks, foreign commercial banks were the best performer, while state-owned banks were the worst. Only two banks, i.e. Citibank NA and HSBC Bank, were scale efficient while the remaining banks were inefficient. In terms of performance and efficiency, state-owned and specialized banks were deemed wanting.

This study proposes recommendations to the policymakers that could lead to more effective tactics for improving the banking industry's performance and efficiency.

As far as the authors are concerned, this study presents empirical evidence on the performance and efficiency of different types of banks and explores comparisons among them, which has never been done to this extent in the country before.

India has the largest public distribution system (PDS) in the world, working through over five million fair price shops (FPS) to distribute food grains among its beneficiaries at a subsidized rate. In this paper, the authors study the inventory system of Indian FPS. The system involves a distributor, who is solely responsible for the replenishment of the FPS. In a real-world scenario, the distributor is subjected to random supply and transportation disruptions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and minimize the impacts of such disruptions.

In this paper, the authors adopt a simulation-based technique to explore the impacts of various traits of disruptions like frequency and duration on the FPS inventory system. A simulation model for the Indian FPS is developed and the impacts of disruptions are investigated by a case study.

The authors use a simulation-based optimization technique to suggest a simple managerial change that can lead to a minimization of inventory shortage up to 60 per cent and system cost up to 21 per cent over the existing practice.

The present study addresses the FPS inventory system of Indian PDS, which is by its nature unique and has not been considered by any other previous literature. The findings of this study will be of particular interest to the policy-makers to build a more robust PDS in India.