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The purpose of this paper is to study likelihood ratio order for mixture and its components via their Glaser’s functions for weighted distributions. So, some theoretical examples using exponential family and their mixtures are presented.

First, Glaser’s functions of mixture and its components for weighted distributions in different scenarios are computed. Then by them the likelihood ratio order is investigated between mixture and its components.

The authors find conditions for weight functions under which the mixture random variable is between of its components in likelihood ratio order.

Results are obtained for weight function in general. It is well known that the some special weights are order statistics, up and down records, hazard rate, reversed hazard rate, moment generating function, etc. So, the results are valid for all of them.

This paper aims to investigate the difference between the impacts of indicators of trade barriers (TBs) on bankrupt enterprises (BEs), new enterprises (NEs) and other enterprises (OEs).

The paper has used a multiple-step approach. At the first stage, the initial data has been collected from interviews with 164 top managers of SMEs in West Azerbaijan in Iran during two periods of 2013–2015 and 2017–2019. At the second step, multiple correspondence analysis has been used to summarize the relationships between variables and construct indices for different groups of TBs. Finally, the generalized structural equation model method was used to examine the impact of export barriers.

The results showed that the political legal index is the main TBs for BEs and NEs, but it had a more significant impact on BEs; the financial index was the second major TBs factor for BEs, while OEs did not have a problem in performance index, and the financial index was classified as a minor obstacle for them. All indicators of marketing barriers (except production index) had a negative and significant effect on all enterprises; the most important TBs for NEs was the information index.

The results indicated that if enterprises have a strong financial system and function, they can lessen the impact of sanctions and keep themselves in the market.

In this chapter, the author attempts to sketch the phenomenon of internationalization as manifested in the literature on academic mobility. Internationalization is commonly seen as a process contributing to the quality in higher education while academic mobility is often regarded as the most critical dimension of this process. By providing a review of the literature on internationalization and mobility, the chapter highlights rationales for inbound and outbound mobility for higher education systems and institutions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It further portrays how Georgia – a small country in the Caucasus and a member of EHEA responds to the global phenomenon employing several reforms, support schemes, and institutional initiatives. Lastly, reflecting on current trends and policies, the author attempts to map the prospects for internationalization of Georgian higher education. This chapter offers a promising area for comparative and international research on internationalization and contributes to the literature on academic mobility in Europe.

This paper responds to several calls for a cross-national comparative study of immigrant entrepreneurship throughout the longstanding discourse of this phenomenon. This study aims to comparatively analyze the nature of immigrant enclave entrepreneurship among one immigrant community across three different jurisdictional contexts (UK, Denmark and Norway) based on comparative ethnographic methods of inquiry.

The data was collected in person from April 2022 to June 2023 by the researchers to identify the similarities and differences of migrant entrepreneurial activities in three immigrant enclaves (Manchester, Oslo and Copenhagen). Comparative ethnographic narrative analysis methods and template analysis approaches were combined to analyze interviews, observations and secondary published data.

This study examines spatiality, sectoral occupation and market orientation for comparative analysis. Through detailed analysis, it uncovers the spatiality and nuances in market demands and sectoral similarities across diverse regulatory environments. Notably, it identifies traditional migrant sectoral occupations shared across regions and its relevance to immigrant enclaves.

This scholarly contribution explores immigrant entrepreneurship in various national contexts, emphasising their engagement in neglected and low-value sectors within immigrant enclaves. The study addresses the influence of the host economy’s conditions on immigrant entrepreneurs, impacting their strategic orientation and the extent of their “embeddedness”. It responds to the theoretical gap in immigrant entrepreneurship literature by conducting a cross-national investigation across countries, extending the comparative dimension to Norway and Denmark. The research employs a unique design focusing on a specific immigrant group and emphasizes spatial contexts, sectoral proliferation and market orientation within immigrant enclaves, offering insights into the mixed embeddedness perspective and the broader environmental forces shaping migrant entrepreneurial activities in the UK and Scandinavia.

This paper describes fabric inspection system aided by computer vision to detect and classify defects in circular knitted fabrics using different common texture-recognition methods, including co-occurrence matrices, the discrete Fourier transform, wavelets, Gabor, and clustering. The images of the fabrics were broadly classified into six classes: cracks, holes, vertical stripes, horizontal stripes, soil freckles, and defect-free. One hundred and twenty images (256 gray level and 100 dpi) containing 20 images of defect-free fabrics (rib 1x1) as well as 100 images corresponding to five different categories were used. In general, one-half of the images in each category were employed for training and the remaining images were used for testing.

The application of the clustering method applied in this work was found to be highly promising at identifying defects in knitted fabrics. With an overall success rate of 91.6%, the clustering method has a higher efficiency value than all of the other methods. In the case of the wavelet and Gabor methods, the results are acceptable. However, the overall success rates of the co-occurrence matrix and Fourier transform methods in recognizing defects in knitted fabrics are not acceptable.

In reliability studies, interests in discrete failure data came relatively late in comparison to its continuous analogue. Also, discrete failure data arise in several common situations. So, in this paper the authors try to study some reliability concepts such as reversed variance and reversed mean residual life functions based on discrete lifetime random variable.

Supposed T be a non‐negative discrete random variable, then based on reversed residual random variable T_k^*=(k−T|T≤k), some useful and applicable relations and bounds are achieved.

In this paper, the authors study the reversed variance residual life in discrete lifetime distributions, the results of which are not similar to the continuous case. Its relationship with reversed mean residual life and reversed residual coefficient of variation are obtained. Also, its monotonicity and the associated ageing classes of distributions are discussed. Some characterization results of the class of increasing reversed variance residual life, which is denoted by IRVR, are presented and the upper bound for reversed variance residual life under some conditions is obtained.

There are many situations where a continuous time is inappropriate for describing the lifetime of devices and other systems. For example, the lifetime of many devices in industry, such as switches and mechanical tools, depends essentially on the number of times that they are turned on and off or the number of shocks they receive. In such cases, the time to failure is often more appropriately represented by the number of times they are used before they fail, which is a discrete random variable.

All the results based on discrete reversed residual lifetime, such as the relationships among reversed mean, variance and coefficient of variation residual lifetime and also their monotonicity ageing classes, are new.

The purpose of this paper is to explore emerging trends in the content of codes of ethics of US Fortune 100 and Global 100 corporate web sites through a longitudinal study.

The web sites of the 200 companies were surfed and the relevant documents of the codes of ethics were extracted to separate text files. The computer files were then mined using the customized developed software and each ethical keyword was counted. The number of filed codes of ethics was 95 for both the 100 US‐based and the 100 Global‐based companies.

In addition to the content analysis of the ethic codes of the studied groups and finding high‐frequency ethical keywords, the results of this study indicate a convergence of the contents. Moreover, the results also show that the ethical codes are now more readily available on corporations’ web sites; that is a sign of higher level of disclosure of ethical codes compared to that in 2006. Finally, this research proposes some hypotheses to explain the changes from 2006 to 2009.

Many smaller corporations and start‐up companies can benefit from the results of this study by comparing their codes of ethics with those of the major US and global companies, using key ethical phrases that are discussed here. Moreover, US companies wanting to establish new subsidiaries in other countries can also take advantage of the results of this study. They can find out what are the common dissimilarities between American corporates and other international firms, from ethical point of view, when they want to reach a uniform code of ethics.

Longitudinal study of the content of codes of ethics can help in encouraging firms to give consideration to ethical issues. This research is the first attempt to study the ethical standards adopted by the major US and global corporations, before and after the global financial crisis.

This study analyses the content of codes of ethics of the world's top firms and compares Fortune 500 and global 500 companies, considering the frequency of ethical keywords on their codes. It also compares the similarities and differences and indicates whether the content is divergent or convergent. The study also shows how the disclosure of codes of ethics has changed in the time‐span of research.

The purpose of this paper is to print a thermolabile drug-containing tablet using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique and analyze its mechanical, pharmaceutical and environmental feasibility using a variety of tests.

Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is the thermally-sensitive drug impregnated into polyvinyl alcohol excipient using ethanol-water mixture and printed by an FDM printer by varying three parameters without using any external stabilizing agent. Afterward, Taguchi analysis has been performed on these parameters to recognize the significant factors and interactions. Besides this, a regression model has been obtained based on the dissolution data. Various thermo-mechanical and pharmaceutical tests have been carried out to confirm the feasibility. Finally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis has been carried out to compare it with the existing tableting method by considering the environmental impacts.

The dissolution profile was found to follow the Korsmeyer-Peppas model, where the drug release occurred both by dissolution and erosion. Further, the infill percent has been found as the most significant parameter. The characterization tests and imaging outputs proved the fidelity of this attempt. Finally, the three-dimensional printed method was found to be more environmentally sustainable than the existing conventional tableting process.

LCA on a printed tablet is a one-of-a-kind attempt. Thus, this research attempt delivered another approach to print personalized tablets at a temperature lower than prescribed temperatures with required release behavior and can contribute toward the quest of sustainable personalized medication.

Using broad definitions of sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior, identifying key elements of these types of consumer behavior and differentiating between spirituality and religiosity, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a research model.

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify elements of the research constructs. Literature on sustainable business practices was particularly important. Once elements were identified, measures used in previous consumer behavior research were used to collect data from 116 undergraduate students enrolled in marketing and management classes at a major university located in the southwestern USA.

Results indicate that the level of a consumer’s spirituality affects both sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior. In addition, the model predicts that the level of a consumer’s religiosity has no impact on non-sustainable consumer behavior, and this prediction is verified by the study results.

As it is important for businesses to conduct sustainable business practices, it may also be beneficial to consumers to practice sustainable behavior. A significant predictor of this sustainable consumer behavior is spirituality, and it is important to distinguish spirituality from religiosity.

Sustainable consumer behavior is more thoroughly described. Also, religiosity and spirituality are delineated. Finally, for the first time, the separate and distinct impact of religiosity and spirituality on sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior is assessed.