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The manufacturing sector is witnessing the need to continuously improve overall performance by eliminating inefficiencies in the supply chain. The adoption of lean concepts to address wasteful or non-value-adding activities in the supply chain is crucial. This article determines key factors of lean supply chain management (LSCM) for continuous improvement in the manufacturing sector.

The methodology comprises three steps. The first step identifies critical factors of LSCM in manufacturing from prior research and a series of expert consultations. Critical factors are identified and validated that industries can leverage to attain their lean goals. The second step uses the decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to determine the causal relationship among the factors. DEMATEL analysis categorizes factors into cause and effect, which will assist industry personnel in decision-making. The third step involves further data analysis to visualize the importance of the most critical factors. It develops a machine learning (ML) model in the form of a decision tree that helps in assessing the factors into cause or effect groups via a threshold value of expert ratings.

IT tools, JIT manufacturing and material handling and logistics form the most critical factors for LSCM implementation.

The analysis from DEMATEL and ML together will be beneficial for manufacturing practitioners to improve the supply chain performance based on the identified factors and their criticality towards LSCM implementation.

Climate change-induced weather changes are severe and frequent, making it difficult to predict apparel sales. The primary goal of this study was to assess consumers' responses to winter apparel searches when external stimuli, such as weather, calendars and promotions arise and to develop a decision-making tool that allows apparel retailers to establish sales strategies according to external stimuli.

The theoretical framework of this study was the effect of external stimuli, such as calendar, promotion and weather, on seasonal apparel search in a consumer's decision-making process. Using weather observation data and Google Trends over the past 12 years, from 2008 to 2020, consumers' responses to external stimuli were analyzed using a classification and regression tree to gain consumer insights into the decision process. The relative importance of the factors in the model was determined, a tree model was developed and the model was tested.

Winter apparel searches increased when the average, maximum and minimum temperatures, windchill, and the previous day's windchill decreased. The month of the year varies depending on weather factors, and promotional sales events do not increase search activities for seasonal apparel. However, sales events during the higher-than-normal temperature season triggered search activity for seasonal apparel.

Consumer responses to external stimuli were analyzed through classification and regression trees to discover consumer insights into the decision-making process to improve stock management because climate change-induced weather changes are unpredictable.

This research aims to propose a model for the complex decision-making involved in the ecological restoration of mega-infrastructure (e.g. railway engineering). This model is based on multi-source heterogeneous data and will enable stakeholders to solve practical problems in decision-making processes and prevent delayed responses to the demand for ecological restoration.

Based on the principle of complexity degradation, this research collects and brings together multi-source heterogeneous data, including meteorological station data, remote sensing image data, railway engineering ecological risk text data and ecological restoration text data. Further, this research establishes an ecological restoration plan library to form input feature vectors. Random forest is used for classification decisions. The ecological restoration technologies and restoration plant species suitable for different regions are generated.

This research can effectively assist managers of mega-infrastructure projects in making ecological restoration decisions. The accuracy of the model reaches 0.83. Based on the natural environment and construction disturbances in different regions, this model can determine suitable types of trees, shrubs and herbs for planting, as well as the corresponding ecological restoration technologies needed.

Managers should pay attention to the multiple types of data generated in different stages of megaproject and identify the internal relationships between these multi-source heterogeneous data, which provides a decision-making basis for complex management decisions. The coupling between ecological restoration technologies and restoration plant species is also an important factor in improving the efficiency of ecological compensation.

Unlike previous studies, which have selected a typical section of a railway for specialized analysis, the complex decision-making model for ecological restoration proposed in this research has wider geographical applicability and can better meet the diverse ecological restoration needs of railway projects that span large regions.

The equipment resale price plays an important role in calculating the optimum time for equipment replacement. Some of the existing models that predict the equipment resale price do not take many of the influencing factors on the resale price into account. Other models consider more factors that influence equipment resale price, but they still with low accuracy because of the modeling techniques that were used. An easy tool is required to help in forecasting the resale price and support efficient decisions for equipment replacement. This research presents a machine learning (ML) computer model helping in forecasting accurately the equipment resale price.

A measuring method for the influencing factors that have impacts on the equipment resale price was determined. The values of those factors were measured for 1,700 pieces of equipment and their corresponding resale price. The data were used to develop a ML model that covers three types of equipment (loaders, excavators and bulldozers). The methodology used to develop the model applied three ML algorithms: the random forest regressor, extra trees regressor and decision tree regressor, to find an accurate model for the equipment resale price. The three algorithms were verified and tested with data of 340 pieces of equipment.

Using a large number of data to train the ML model resulted in a high-accuracy predicting model. The accuracy of the extra trees regressor algorithm was the highest among the three used algorithms to develop the ML model. The accuracy of the model is 98%. A computer interface is designed to make the use of the model easier.

The proposed model is accurate and makes it easy to predict the equipment resale price. The predicted resale price can be used to calculate equipment elements that are essential for developing a dependable equipment replacement plan. The proposed model was developed based on the most influencing factors on the equipment resale price and evaluation of those factors was done using reliable methods. The technique used to develop the model is the ML that proved its accuracy in modeling. The accuracy of the model, which is 98%, enhances the value of the model.

This study aimed to understand the agri-entrepreneurial traits of undergraduate university students using machine learning (ML) algorithms.

This study used a conceptual framework of individual-level determinants of entrepreneurship and ML. The Google Survey instrument was prepared on a 5-point scale and administered to 656 students in different sections of the same class during regular virtual classrooms in 2021. The datasets were analyzed and compared using ML.

Entrepreneurial traits existed among students before attending undergraduate entrepreneurship courses. Establishing strong partnerships (0.359), learning (0.347) and people-organizing ability (0.341) were promising correlated entrepreneurial traits. Female students exhibited fewer entrepreneurial traits than male students. The random forest model exhibited 60% accuracy in trait prediction against gradient boosting (58.4%), linear regression (56.8%), ridge (56.7%) and lasso regression (56.0%). Thus, the ML model appeared to be unsuitable to predict entrepreneurial traits. Quality data are important for accurate trait predictions.

Further studies can validate K-nearest neighbors (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) models against random forest to support the statement that the ML model cannot be used for entrepreneurial trait prediction.

This research is unique because ML models, such as random forest, gradient boosting and lasso regression, are used for entrepreneurial trait prediction by agricultural domain students.

Machine learning (ML) analytical tools are increasingly being considered as an alternative quantitative methodology in management research. This paper proposes a new approach for uncovering the antecedents behind product and product–service innovation (PSI).

The ML approach is novel in the field of innovation antecedents at the country level. A sample of the Equatorian National Survey on Technology and Innovation, consisting of more than 6,000 firms, is used to rank the antecedents of innovation.

The analysis reveals that the antecedents of product and PSI are distinct, yet rooted in the principles of open innovation and competitive priorities.

The analysis is based on a sample of Equatorian firms with the objective of showing how ML techniques are suitable for testing the antecedents of innovation in any other context.

The novel ML approach, in contrast to traditional quantitative analysis of the topic, can consider the full set of antecedent interactions to each of the innovations analyzed.

The primary objective of this research is to provide a precise interpretation of the constructed machine learning model and produce definitive summaries that can evaluate the influence of investor sentiment on the overall sales of non-fungible token (NFT) assets. To achieve this objective, the NFT hype index was constructed as well as several approaches of XAI were employed to interpret Black Box models and assess the magnitude and direction of the impact of the features used.

The research paper involved the construction of a sentiment index termed the NFT hype index, which aims to measure the influence of market actors within the NFT industry. This index was created by analyzing written content posted by 62 high-profile individuals and opinion leaders on the social media platform Twitter. The authors collected posts from the Twitter accounts that were afterward classified by tonality with a help of natural language processing model VADER. Then the machine learning methods and XAI approaches (feature importance, permutation importance and SHAP) were applied to explain the obtained results.

The built index was subjected to rigorous analysis using the gradient boosting regressor model and explainable AI techniques, which confirmed its significant explanatory power. Remarkably, the NFT hype index exhibited a higher degree of predictive accuracy compared to the well-known sentiment indices.

The NFT hype index, constructed from Twitter textual data, functions as an innovative, sentiment-based indicator for investment decision-making in the NFT market. It offers investors unique insights into the market sentiment that can be used alongside conventional financial analysis techniques to enhance risk management, portfolio optimization and overall investment outcomes within the rapidly evolving NFT ecosystem. Thus, the index plays a crucial role in facilitating well-informed, data-driven investment decisions and ensuring a competitive edge in the digital assets market.

The authors developed a novel index of investor interest for NFT assets (NFT hype index) based on text messages posted by market influencers and compared it to conventional sentiment indices in terms of their explanatory power. With the application of explainable AI, it was shown that sentiment indices may perform as significant predictors for NFT sales and that the NFT hype index works best among all sentiment indices considered.

This study aims to compare machine learning models, datasets and splitting training-testing using data mining methods to detect financial statement fraud.

This study uses a quantitative approach from secondary data on the financial reports of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the last ten years, from 2010 to 2019. Research variables use financial and non-financial variables. Indicators of financial statement fraud are determined based on notes or sanctions from regulators and financial statement restatements with special supervision.

The findings show that the Extremely Randomized Trees (ERT) model performs better than other machine learning models. The best original-sampling dataset compared to other dataset treatments. Training testing splitting 80:10 is the best compared to other training-testing splitting treatments. So the ERT model with an original-sampling dataset and 80:10 training-testing splitting are the most appropriate for detecting future financial statement fraud.

This study can be used by regulators, investors, stakeholders and financial crime experts to add insight into better methods of detecting financial statement fraud.

This study proposes a machine learning model that has not been discussed in previous studies and performs comparisons to obtain the best financial statement fraud detection results. Practitioners and academics can use findings for further research development.

With so many placement opportunities around the students in their final or prefinal year, they start to feel the strain of the season. The students feel the need to be aware of their position and how to increase their chances of being hired. Hence, a system to guide their career is one of the needs of the day.

The job role prediction system utilizes machine learning techniques such as Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector machines (SVM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to suggest a student’s job role based on their academic performance and course outcomes (CO), out of which ANN performs better. The system uses the Mepco Schlenk Engineering College curriculum, placement and students’ Assessment data sets, in which the CO and syllabus are used to determine the skills that the student has gained from their courses. The necessary skills for a job position are then extracted from the job advertisements. The system compares the student’s skills with the required skills for the job role based on the placement prediction result.

The system predicts placement possibilities with an accuracy of 93.33 and 98% precision. Also, the skill analysis for students gives the students information about their skill-set strengths and weaknesses.

For skill-set analysis, only the direct assessment of the students is considered. Indirect assessment shall also be considered for future scope.

The model is adaptable and flexible (customizable) to any type of academic institute or universities.

The research will be very much useful for the students community to bridge the gap between the academic and industrial needs.

Several works are done for career guidance for the students. However, these career guidance methodologies are designed only using the curriculum and students’ basic personal information. The proposed system will consider the students’ academic performance through direct assessment, along with their curriculum and basic personal information.

This study explores the extent of undergraduate students' engagement in interdisciplinary learning experiences across their academic journey and its potential correlation with elevated levels of self-efficacy in learning. Furthermore, the research investigates how the clarity of career decisions and future goals contributes to the perception of relevance, value and alignment of interdisciplinary learning experiences among undergraduate students.

Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire in a longitudinal survey administered annually to undergraduate students at a university in northern Taiwan over four waves from 2018 to 2021. The sample analyzed for this study consisted of 123 undergraduate students who willingly and continuously participated in the research throughout the specified period.

The results showed that self-efficacy within interdisciplinary learning experiences could be classified into three clusters: high efficacy, moderate efficacy and fluctuating efficacy. The determinants influencing these clusters include career decisions and years spent in university. Undergraduate students who have determined their career decisions and are in their latter two years of undergraduate studies demonstrate higher self-efficacy in interdisciplinary learning. Conversely, students who have yet to determine their career decisions exhibit a fluctuating pattern of self-efficacy across the three interdisciplinary learning categories.

Two key limitations of this research include a small sample size and a confined university-specific context, potentially constraining the applicability of the results to a broader population.

This study contributes to the interdisciplinary learning experience in higher education by explaining the significance of undergraduates' self-efficacy and career-related factors. Whereas most research has focused on the effects of self-efficacy, this study investigated the factors that influence undergraduates' self-efficacy.