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Given the growing prevalence of gun control policies in service settings, this study aims to investigate how the adoption of a gun control policy by a service business influences consumers’ evaluations of the service business.

Three experiments were conducted to examine how the adoption of a gun control policy by a service business influences consumers’ brand favorability of that service business and how value congruence (i.e. the alignment between a consumer’s own personal values and perceptions of the brand’s values) is the underlying mechanism.

This study documents several major findings. First, the authors find that the adoption of a gun control policy by a service business increases consumers’ brand favorability. Second, the authors highlight a boundary condition to this effect, such that a gun control policy actually decreases consumers’ brand favorability for people high (vs low) in support for gun rights. Third, the authors show that value congruence is the psychological process underlying these effects. Fourth, the authors generalize the focal effects to a real-world brand and demonstrate that the adoption of a gun control policy increases brand favorability for consumers low (vs high) in patronage behavior of the brand. Finally, the authors find that a pioneer brand strategy in the adoption of a gun control policy significantly increases brand favorability, whereas a follower brand strategy in the adoption of such a policy is less effective.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to provide critical insight to service businesses as to how their position regarding guns influences consumers’ evaluations of the service business.

This paper aims to propose a new nonlinear function estimation fuzzy system as a novel statistical approach to estimate nanofluids’ thermal conductivity.

A fuzzy system having a product inference engine, a singleton fuzzifier, a center average defuzzifier and Gaussian membership functions is proposed for this purpose.

Results indicate that the proposed fuzzy system can predict the thermal conductivity of Al₂O₃/paraffin nanofluid with appropriate precision and generalization and it also outperforms the classic interpolation methods.

A new nonlinear function estimation fuzzy system was introduced as a novel statistical approach to estimate nanofluids’ thermal conductivity for the first time.

Standard economic theory predicts that any increase in public spending is accompanied by a rise in inflation in an economy. This paper presents empirical proof that prices do not always rise with an increase in public expenditure but only up to a certain threshold level. The primary aim of this paper is to unearth the government size-inflation nexus in India for the period from 1971 to 2019.

The logistic STAR (smooth transition autoregression) model is employed to unravel the government size-inflation nexus for the Indian economy from a non-linear perspective.

The finding of our study confirm the non-linear relationship between the size of the government and inflation in India. The estimated threshold level for government size is precisely found to be 9.27%. The size of the government exerts a negative influence on inflation until it reaches the optimal or threshold level. Any further increase in the size of government beyond this threshold level would result in a rise in inflation.

The findings have implications for the conduct of fiscal policy. Policymakers can increase government spending in a regime of small government size without having any inflationary impacts by generating revenues from taxes and other sources instead of relying much on the central bank. In the regime of a large-sized government, adhering strictly to the discipline in the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies would help curb inflation and enhance growth synchronously, hence alleviating any loss of welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is an attempt to revisit the government size-inflation nexus in India from a non-linear perspective using the Smooth Transition Autoregression (STAR) model for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the criteria weights of outsourcing and their key role in ranking outsourcing suppliers.

A new hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach merges three tools, namely, decision making trial and evaluation (DEMATLE), fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) and ordinal/cardinal data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. Afterwards, experts’ opinions were gathered from a Pipe and Fittings company. Finally, their opinions were incorporated in three-stage approach for outsourcing suppliers’ selection.

The findings of this study show that among the selective criteria for outsourcing, business development, focus on basic activities and order delays are the three most important criteria. Also, the proposed approach ranks suppliers to facilitate decision making for selection.

The number of suppliers, selection criteria and the number of members of the respondents’ team have been identified as some of the limitations of the present study.

The study has significant and practical implications for the managers and for the organizations which have to choose top suppliers, particularly in the case of dealing with numerous and qualitative/quantitative criteria.

This paper proposed a new three-stage approach that incorporates outputs of previous as inputs of next stage to increasing results accuracy. Also, it showed that by incorporating results of FANP method into DEA model, key role of experts’ opinions as a qualitative and quantitative criteria can be caused by increasing flexibility of decision process.

The main purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive review and critical insights of the application of fuzzy methods in modeling, assessing and understanding the various aspects of green and sustainable supply chains (SSCs).

The present study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis of 252 research articles. This study employs various tools such as VOSviewer version 1.6.10, Publish or Perish, Mendeley and Excel that aid in descriptive analysis, bibliometric analysis and network visualization. These tools have been used for performing citation analysis, top authors' analysis, co-occurrence of keywords, cluster and content analysis.

The authors have divided the literature into seven application areas and discussed detailed insights. This study has observed that research in the social sustainability area, including various issues like health and safety, labor rights, discrimination, etc. is scarce. Integration of the Industry 4.0 technologies like blockchain, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) with the sustainable and green supply chain (GSC) is a promising field for future research.

The authors' contribution primarily lies in providing the integrated framework which shows the changing trends in the use of fuzzy methods in the sustainability area classifying and consolidating green and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature in seven major areas where fuzzy methods are predominantly applied. These areas have been obtained after the analysis of clusters and content analysis of the literature presenting key insights from the past and developing the conceptual framework for future research studies.

The study uses VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR)-structural equation modeling (SEM) to construct benchmarks for service providers and evaluate a multimethodology practice in the Internet industry.

The data were collected using a survey based on an email/interview with 444 Internet users participating. SEM obtained coefficient values by way of customer expectations for Internet service providers. The authors normalized coefficients and integrated them into the VIKOR method for ranking competitors in the Internet industry.

VIKOR-SEM revealed that network and information quality and security/privacy significantly positively impact customer trust while network and information quality and customer trust significantly positively affect Internet users' value perceptions. Customer services do not affect customer trust, while security/privacy and customer services have no significant influence on customer value perceptions. Though customer services and Internet users' trust and value perceptions directly, significantly and positively affect their commitments, the quality of network and information and security/privacy indirectly, significantly and positively influence customer commitments.

The study was in the Internet industry of Iraq. The results cannot be accurate for the other countries and the service sectors. The researchers/managers can adopt the model in other service sectors to test the multimethodology.

VIKOR-SEM evaluated the changes in customer expectations and service providers in the Internet industry.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performances of three inhibitors in controlling corrosion of local mild steel products in distilled water and a simulated salt solution.

Corrosion inhibition of mild steel was investigated using electrochemical techniques. Untreated and inhibitor treated specimens were fully immersed in two test solutions, distilled water and the simulated solution of 2.0 wt.% NaCl and 1.0 wt.% Na2SO₄.

During full immersion in the simulated salt solution, sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate was not effective at all, resulting in even higher corrosion rates than that of the untreated specimens. Sodium benzoate was effective for three days only. Dicyclohexylamine nitrite was the most effective of them all, keeping its effectiveness for as much as 20 days. When the specimens were immersed in distilled water, all three inhibitors were effective during the 60 days of immersion while dicyclohexylamine nitrite and sodium benzoate treated specimens performed better than those treated with sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate.

The objective of this research was to investigate the performances of three inhibitors – sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate (inorganic) at 10 mM concentration, dicyclohexylamine nitrite (organic) and sodium benzoate (organic) at 100 mM concentration – in controlling the corrosion of local mild steel products fully immersed in two test solutions, distilled water and the simulated salt solution. All three inhibitors are film forming and anodic type inhibitors. According to the authors' literature review, this study is original and will add value to the studies of inhibition of steel corrosion under similar environments.

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the existing literature on the blood supply chain (BSC) from a network design perspective and highlight the research gaps in this area. Moreover, it also aims to pinpoint new research opportunities based on the recent innovative technologies for the BSC network design.

The study gives a comprehensive systematic review of the BSC network design studies until October 2021. This review was carried out in accordance with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). In the literature review, a total of 87 studies were analyzed under six main categories as model structure, application model, solution approach, problem type, the parties of the supply chain and innovative technologies.

The results of the study present the researchers’ tendencies and preferences when designing their BSC network models.

The study presents a guide for researchers and practitioners on BSC from the point of view of network design and encourages adopting innovative technologies in their BSC network designs.

The study provides a comprehensive systematic review of related studies from the BSC network design perspective and explores research gaps in the collection and distribution processes. Furthermore, it addresses innovative research opportunities by using innovative technologies in the area of BSC network design.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performances of two inhibitors in controlling corrosion of steel products in industrial and marine atmosphere.

Corrosion rates were determined by weight loss measurements. At certain periods of atmospheric exposure, the (disc shape) specimens were retrieved and studied by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometry surface analysis techniques.

Both inhibitors were effective against corrosion of steel in the early stages of the atmospheric exposure (for about two months). With further exposure to the atmosphere, their inhibition effectiveness deteriorated and was totally lost within four months. Analysis of the specimens before exposure showed that the inhibitor film was thin for both treatments, and the unexposed treated surface for both inhibitors appeared similar to the untreated unexposed specimen surface. Characterization of the specimens at different exposure periods showed fewer corrosion blisters on dicyclohexylamine nitrite- and sodium benzoate-treated surfaces than on untreated specimens.

The objective of this study was to characterize the surfaces of the steel products produced locally during their exposure to the industrial and marine atmosphere of the Arabian Gulf region after being treated by sodium benzoate and dicyclohexylamine nitrite in controlling the corrosion of local mild steel products. According to the literature review, this study is original and will add value to the studies of inhibition of steel corrosion under similar environments.

Plant materials continue to play a major role in primary health care as therapeutic remedies in many developing countries. Medicinal herbs contain physiologically active principles that over the years have been exploited in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments as they contain antimicrobial properties. This paper aims to determine the antibacterial activity of Iranian endemic plants.

Antibacterial activities of ethanol extract and essential oil of ten Iranian folklore herbs including Heracleum lasiopetalum Boiss., Hypericum scabrum L., Thymus daenensis Celak., Ziziphora teniur L., Echiophora platyloba L., Dracocephalum multicaule Benth., Kelussia odoratissima Mozff., Mentha longifolia Hudson., Achillea kellalensis Boiss. and Arnebia euchroma (Royle.) Johnston. were investigated against Yersinia enterocolitica PTCC 1151 by agar disc diffusion and serial dilution assays.

Most of the extracts and essential oils showed some antibacterial activity against the tested bacteria with the diameter of inhibition zone ranging between 9 and 16 mm. Of the plants studied, the most active extracts were those obtained from essential oil of H. lasiopetalum fruits and ethanol extract of A. euchroma roots. The MIC values for active extract and essential oil ranged between 0.039 and 0.156 mg/ml.

The results obtained appeared to confirm the antibacterial potential of the plants investigated.

The essential oil <0.039 mg/ml of H. lasiopetalum fruits could be used as natural antibacterial agent Y. enterocolitica in the food preservation and human health.