5,533 research outputs found
Resilience and food security in a food systems context
This open access book compiles a series of chapters written by internationally recognized experts known for their in-depth but critical views on questions of resilience and food security. The book assesses rigorously and critically the contribution of the concept of resilience in advancing our understanding and ability to design and implement development interventions in relation to food security and humanitarian crises. For this, the book departs from the narrow beaten tracks of agriculture and trade, which have influenced the mainstream debate on food security for nearly 60 years, and adopts instead a wider, more holistic perspective, framed around food systems. The foundation for this new approach is the recognition that in the current post-globalization era, the food and nutritional security of the world’s population no longer depends just on the performance of agriculture and policies on trade, but rather on the capacity of the entire (food) system to produce, process, transport and distribute safe, affordable and nutritious food for all, in ways that remain environmentally sustainable. In that context, adopting a food system perspective provides a more appropriate frame as it incites to broaden the conventional thinking and to acknowledge the systemic nature of the different processes and actors involved. This book is written for a large audience, from academics to policymakers, students to practitioners
The Implementation of E-Commerce Consumer Option Rights (Khiyar) in Realizing Transaction Justice: A Study of Maqasid Al-Shariah
This article aims to reveal the optimization of option rights in realizing or stopping e-commerce transactions to achieve justice due to several problems in e-commerce transactions, including no meeting of two people who transact and no goods at that time. The results of the study reveal that the component of option rights (khiyar) focuses on an option due to damage/defect, where the damage can harm or oppress the parties, and the right to vote is a preventive alternative so that the parties feel comfortable and justice is realized in every transaction. Likewise, in the maqashid al sharia analysis, option rights (khiyar) have a very strategic role in maintaining the interests, transparency, benefit, and willingness of both parties to conduct transactions and protect them from harm and loss for all parties. This shows concern for justice in transactions as an effort for the common good to protect the rights of the parties. Strengthening regulations through laws and regulations needs to be carried out as a preventive effort to prevent acts of bad faith by one of the parties to provide a sense of security in transactions between the parties
The nexus between e-marketing, e-service quality, e-satisfaction and e-loyalty: a cross-sectional study within the context of online SMEs in Ghana
The spread of the Internet, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic have given impetus to online shopping in Ghana and the subregion. This situation
has also created opportunities for SMEs to take advantage of online marketing technologies.
However, there is a dearth of studies on the link between e-marketing and e-loyalty in terms
of online shopping, thereby creating a policy gap on the prospects for business success for
online SMEs in Ghana. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the relationship
between the main independent variable, e-marketing and the main dependent variable, e-loyalty, as well as the mediating roles of e-service quality and e-satisfaction in the link between
e-marketing and e-loyalty. The study adopted a positivist stance with a quantitative method.
The study was cross-sectional in nature with the adoption of a descriptive correlational design.
A Structural Equation Modelling approach was employed to examine the nature of the
associations between the independent, mediating and dependent variables. A sensitivity
analysis was also conducted to control for the potential confounding effects of the
demographic factors. A sample size of 1,293 residents in Accra, Ghana, who had previously
shopped online, responded to structured questionnaire in an online survey via Google Docs.
The IBM SPSS Amos 24 software was used to analyse the data collected. Positive
associations were found between the key constructs in the study: e-marketing, e-service
quality, e-satisfaction and e-Loyalty. The findings from the study gave further backing to the
diffusion innovation theory, resource-based view theory, and technology acceptance model.
In addition, e-service quality and e-satisfaction individually and jointly mediated the
relationship between e-marketing and e-loyalty. However, these mediations were partial,
instead of an originally anticipated full mediation. In terms of value and contribution, this is the
first study in a developing economy context to undertake a holistic examination of the key
marketing performance variables within an online shopping context. The study uniquely tested
the mediation roles of both e-service quality and e-satisfaction in the link between e-marketing
and e-loyalty. The findings of the study are novel in the e-marketing literature as they
unearthed the key antecedents of e-loyalty for online SMEs in a developing economy context.
The study suggested areas for further related studies and also highlighted the limitations
Modelling, Monitoring, Control and Optimization for Complex Industrial Processes
This reprint includes 22 research papers and an editorial, collected from the Special Issue "Modelling, Monitoring, Control and Optimization for Complex Industrial Processes", highlighting recent research advances and emerging research directions in complex industrial processes. This reprint aims to promote the research field and benefit the readers from both academic communities and industrial sectors
An exploration of adherence and persistence in overactive bladder and other long-term conditions
Background and aims
Overactive bladder is a common, bothersome, and chronic condition associated with
symptoms of urinary urgency, incontinence, increased daytime micturition frequency and
nocturia. Despite exerting a significant burden on quality of life, adherence, and persistence
behaviours with OAB are particularly poor in comparison with other long-term conditions.
The aims of the present work were to explore themes relating to medicine-taking
behaviours in OAB and other long-term conditions and to suggest ways to improve them.
Methods
A systematic literature review was undertaken to understand the current landscape of
qualitative work exploring adherence and persistence with OAB patients. A qualitative study
involving 1:1 semi-structured interviews was conducted with OAB patients to explore the
context and drivers for adherence and persistence behaviours using thematic analysis. A
comparative analysis was then undertaken with qualitative papers exploring medicinetaking behaviours in a chronic bowel condition, type II diabetes, and multimorbidity to
explore the themes identified in the OAB study for convergence and divergence in other
conditions and to contextualise the learnings from the former study.
Results
The systematic literature review revealed a gap in the literature of qualitative exploration of
adherence and persistence behaviours in OAB patients. The OAB study found a range of
drivers for non-adherent behaviours including a perceived lack of treatment efficacy, side
effects, unclear instructions, and drug and condition hierarchies, as well as the rich context
within which these themes sit. The comparative analysis study supported the findings of the
OAB study demonstrating evidence of key themes transcending across conditions, including a perceived lack of treatment efficacy and side effects, as well as nuances associated with
the OAB experience.
Conclusions
The present work has identified key drivers for non-adherent behaviours in OAB patients
and sets out a number of recommendations categorised within the World Health
Organisation’s 5 dimensions of adherence. These include addressing the poor understanding
and illness perception of OAB by patients and others, by improving the provision and
availability of information, as well as the work of patient support groups; scrutiny on the
support within primary care to OAB patients before and after diagnosis; and the
encouragement of realistic expectations of the condition and treatment with mindful use of
prescriber’s language at the point of prescribing. The present work has further highlighted
the utility of conceptual models of adherence such as COM-B and the NCF in understanding
medicine-taking behaviours in the context of OAB
The Metaverse: Survey, Trends, Novel Pipeline Ecosystem & Future Directions
The Metaverse offers a second world beyond reality, where boundaries are
non-existent, and possibilities are endless through engagement and immersive
experiences using the virtual reality (VR) technology. Many disciplines can
benefit from the advancement of the Metaverse when accurately developed,
including the fields of technology, gaming, education, art, and culture.
Nevertheless, developing the Metaverse environment to its full potential is an
ambiguous task that needs proper guidance and directions. Existing surveys on
the Metaverse focus only on a specific aspect and discipline of the Metaverse
and lack a holistic view of the entire process. To this end, a more holistic,
multi-disciplinary, in-depth, and academic and industry-oriented review is
required to provide a thorough study of the Metaverse development pipeline. To
address these issues, we present in this survey a novel multi-layered pipeline
ecosystem composed of (1) the Metaverse computing, networking, communications
and hardware infrastructure, (2) environment digitization, and (3) user
interactions. For every layer, we discuss the components that detail the steps
of its development. Also, for each of these components, we examine the impact
of a set of enabling technologies and empowering domains (e.g., Artificial
Intelligence, Security & Privacy, Blockchain, Business, Ethics, and Social) on
its advancement. In addition, we explain the importance of these technologies
to support decentralization, interoperability, user experiences, interactions,
and monetization. Our presented study highlights the existing challenges for
each component, followed by research directions and potential solutions. To the
best of our knowledge, this survey is the most comprehensive and allows users,
scholars, and entrepreneurs to get an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse
ecosystem to find their opportunities and potentials for contribution
Corporate Social Responsibility: the institutionalization of ESG
Understanding the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm performance as it relates to industries reliant on technological innovation is a complex and perpetually evolving challenge. To thoroughly investigate this topic, this dissertation will adopt an economics-based structure to address three primary hypotheses. This structure allows for each hypothesis to essentially be a standalone empirical paper, unified by an overall analysis of the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance. The first hypothesis explores the evolution of CSR to the modern quantified iteration of ESG has led to the institutionalization and standardization of the CSR concept. The second hypothesis fills gaps in existing literature testing the relationship between firm performance and ESG by finding that the relationship is significantly positive in long-term, strategic metrics (ROA and ROIC) and that there is no correlation in short-term metrics (ROE and ROS). Finally, the third hypothesis states that if a firm has a long-term strategic ESG plan, as proxied by the publication of CSR reports, then it is more resilience to damage from controversies. This is supported by the finding that pro-ESG firms consistently fared better than their counterparts in both financial and ESG performance, even in the event of a controversy. However, firms with consistent reporting are also held to a higher standard than their nonreporting peers, suggesting a higher risk and higher reward dynamic. These findings support the theory of good management, in that long-term strategic planning is both immediately economically beneficial and serves as a means of risk management and social impact mitigation. Overall, this contributes to the literature by fillings gaps in the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance, particularly from a management perspective
Structured Dynamic Pricing: Optimal Regret in a Global Shrinkage Model
We consider dynamic pricing strategies in a streamed longitudinal data set-up
where the objective is to maximize, over time, the cumulative profit across a
large number of customer segments. We consider a dynamic probit model with the
consumers' preferences as well as price sensitivity varying over time. Building
on the well-known finding that consumers sharing similar characteristics act in
similar ways, we consider a global shrinkage structure, which assumes that the
consumers' preferences across the different segments can be well approximated
by a spatial autoregressive (SAR) model. In such a streamed longitudinal
set-up, we measure the performance of a dynamic pricing policy via regret,
which is the expected revenue loss compared to a clairvoyant that knows the
sequence of model parameters in advance. We propose a pricing policy based on
penalized stochastic gradient descent (PSGD) and explicitly characterize its
regret as functions of time, the temporal variability in the model parameters
as well as the strength of the auto-correlation network structure spanning the
varied customer segments. Our regret analysis results not only demonstrate
asymptotic optimality of the proposed policy but also show that for policy
planning it is essential to incorporate available structural information as
policies based on unshrunken models are highly sub-optimal in the
aforementioned set-up.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figure
A Decision Support System for Economic Viability and Environmental Impact Assessment of Vertical Farms
Vertical farming (VF) is the practice of growing crops or animals using the vertical dimension via multi-tier racks or vertically inclined surfaces. In this thesis, I focus on the emerging industry of plant-specific VF. Vertical plant farming (VPF) is a promising and relatively novel practice that can be conducted in buildings with environmental control and artificial lighting. However, the nascent sector has experienced challenges in economic viability, standardisation, and environmental sustainability. Practitioners and academics call for a comprehensive financial analysis of VPF, but efforts are stifled by a lack of valid and available data.
A review of economic estimation and horticultural software identifies a need for a decision support system (DSS) that facilitates risk-empowered business planning for vertical farmers. This thesis proposes an open-source DSS framework to evaluate business sustainability through financial risk and environmental impact assessments. Data from the literature, alongside lessons learned from industry practitioners, would be centralised in the proposed DSS using imprecise data techniques. These techniques have been applied in engineering but are seldom used in financial forecasting. This could benefit complex sectors which only have scarce data to predict business viability.
To begin the execution of the DSS framework, VPF practitioners were interviewed using a mixed-methods approach. Learnings from over 19 shuttered and operational VPF projects provide insights into the barriers inhibiting scalability and identifying risks to form a risk taxonomy. Labour was the most commonly reported top challenge. Therefore, research was conducted to explore lean principles to improve productivity.
A probabilistic model representing a spectrum of variables and their associated uncertainty was built according to the DSS framework to evaluate the financial risk for VF projects. This enabled flexible computation without precise production or financial data to improve economic estimation accuracy. The model assessed two VPF cases (one in the UK and another in Japan), demonstrating the first risk and uncertainty quantification of VPF business models in the literature. The results highlighted measures to improve economic viability and the viability of the UK and Japan case.
The environmental impact assessment model was developed, allowing VPF operators to evaluate their carbon footprint compared to traditional agriculture using life-cycle assessment. I explore strategies for net-zero carbon production through sensitivity analysis. Renewable energies, especially solar, geothermal, and tidal power, show promise for reducing the carbon emissions of indoor VPF. Results show that renewably-powered VPF can reduce carbon emissions compared to field-based agriculture when considering the land-use change.
The drivers for DSS adoption have been researched, showing a pathway of compliance and design thinking to overcome the ‘problem of implementation’ and enable commercialisation. Further work is suggested to standardise VF equipment, collect benchmarking data, and characterise risks. This work will reduce risk and uncertainty and accelerate the sector’s emergence
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