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The credit of agricultural product quality and safety reflects the ability of the main actors involved in the supply chain to provide reliable agricultural products to consumers. To fundamentally solve the problem of agricultural product quality and safety, it is worth studying how to make the credit awareness and integrity self-discipline of the supply chain agriculture-related subjects strengthened and the role and value of credit supervision given full play. Starting from the application of blockchain in the agricultural product supply chain, this paper aims to investigate the main factors affecting the credit regulation of agricultural product quality.

Using the DEMATEL-ISM (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory–interpretative structural modeling) method, we analyze the credit influencing factors of agricultural quality and safety empowered by blockchain technology, find the causal relationship between the crucial influencing factors and deeply explore the hierarchical transmission relationship between the influencing factors. Then, the path analysis in structural equation modeling is utilized to verify and measure the significance and effect value of the transmission relationship among the crucial influencing factors of credit regulation.

The results show that the quality and safety credit regulation of agricultural products is influenced by a combination of direct and deep influencing factors. Long-term stable cooperative relationship, Quality and safety credit evaluation, Supply chain risk control ability, Quality and safety testing, Constraints of the smart contract are the main influence path of blockchain embedded in agricultural product supply chain quality and safety credit supervision.

Credit supervision is an important means to improve the ability and level of social governance and standardize the market order. From the perspective of blockchain embedded in the agricultural supply chain, the regulatory body is transformed from the product body to the supply chain body. Take the credit supervision of supply chain subjects as the basis of agricultural product quality supervision. With the help of blockchain technology to improve the effectiveness of agricultural product quality and safety credit supervision, credit supervision is used to constrain and incentivize the behavior of agricultural subjects.

The United Nations (UN) is globally acknowledged for its unique role as a convening platform to address humanitarian, peace, security and sustainable development challenges. However, it is not often associated with technological innovation. Blockchain technology, an innovation that emerged in the late 2000s, has generated animated discussions that are led, in the most part, by private sector institutions. A dearth of literature highlights the innovative blockchain projects supported by UN entities. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of blockchain innovations supported by UN entities and explore opportunities for future studies.

This paper used an exploratory case study approach with the purpose of providing a broad perspective of blockchain innovations undertaken by UN entities in the quest to meet sustainable and equitable development across the world.

This study found 25 blockchain projects by 13 UN entities in 19 countries. The geographical spread of the case studies revealed that two studies have global jurisdiction, five studies in Africa, three in Europe, four in Latin America and the Caribbean and 11 in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. Of the 19 countries, three had two projects each. Two countries had three projects and the rest had one project each. Of the 13 UN entities, three dominated with UNICEF (part of six projects), UNDP (part of 10 projects) and WFP (part of four projects). Finally, the 25 projects were divided among three categories of blockchain use cases, as defined by UN guidance documents. Five case studies focused on immutable record keeping, five on transfer of value and 15 on smart contracts.

This study offers a unique overview of blockchain efforts within UN entities. It provides a platform for future studies to reveal implicit assumptions, contrasting explanations and casual connections.

Climate change is a problem that concerns all of us. Despite the information produced by organizations such as the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices and the United Nations, only a few cities have been planned taking into account the climate changes indices. This paper aims to study climatic variations, how climate conditions might change in the future and how these changes will affect the activities and living conditions in cities, specifically focusing on Mexico city.

In this approach, two distinct machine learning regression models, k-Nearest Neighbors and Support Vector Regression, were used to predict variations in climate change indices within select urban areas of Mexico city. The calculated indices are based on maximum, minimum and average temperature data collected from the National Water Commission in Mexico and the Scientific Research Center of Ensenada. The methodology involves pre-processing temperature data to create a training data set for regression algorithms. It then computes predictions for each temperature parameter and ultimately assesses the performance of these algorithms based on precision metrics scores.

This paper combines a geospatial perspective with computational tools and machine learning algorithms. Among the two regression algorithms used, it was observed that k-Nearest Neighbors produced superior results, achieving an R² score of 0.99, in contrast to Support Vector Regression, which yielded an R² score of 0.74.

The full potential of machine learning algorithms has not been fully harnessed for predicting climate indices. This paper also identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each algorithm and how the generated estimations can then be considered in the decision-making process.

This paper aims to present a comprehensive overview of the emergence and significance of digital payments, focusing on their impact on competitiveness and the need for policy interventions. In addition, it explores the design of policies that promote the adoption of digital payments, highlighting the benefits they offer to providers and users.

The paper examines the technological advances that have driven the growth of digital payment systems. It identifies key requirements for successful adoption and discusses the associated risks, along with potential strategies to mitigate these risks.

The findings emphasize the importance of responsible implementation and safeguarding the well-being of end users to fully realize the benefits of digital payment adoption. Understanding the inherent risks and establishing effective risk mitigation mechanisms are crucial. This necessitates the development of appropriate infrastructure to support the provision of digital payment services.

More research is needed to gain deeper insights into how emerging global trends in financial technology should be analyzed and understood by policymakers, service providers and users.

The findings of this study can guide policymakers, private sector managers and consumers in comprehending the effects of emerging digitalization trends and determining their adoption responses accordingly.

This paper stands out as one of the few research contributions that provide comprehensive and actionable policy recommendations to facilitate a smooth transition to a digital payments ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.

The increasing growth of urbanisation, especially in developing countries, coupled with affordable housing leakages, may thwart achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 (sustainable cities and communities). Studies regarding affordable housing leakages and their aftermath to Goal 11 in one study are scarce in Malaysia. The study investigated Malaysia's low-cost housing (LCH) leakages and their aftermath to Goal 11 and proffered measures to achieving Goal 11 and its targets. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The researchers covered four of Malaysia's major cities via a qualitative approach. The study used 40 participants via semi-structured virtual interviews, and saturation was achieved. The study adopted a thematic approach for the collected data and honed them with secondary sources.

Findings group Malaysia's LCH leakages into government/agencies/departments in housing, housing developers/building contractors and client/building owners' root causes in Malaysia's context. It shows a threat from Malaysia's LCH leakages to achieving Goal 11 and proffered measures to enhance achieving Goal 11. Achieving Goal 11 will strengthen and improve Malaysia's many SDGs accomplishments because of their link.

Apart from proffering measures to mitigate long-standing issues (leakages) in Malaysia's LCH delivery from achieving Goal 11, findings will stipulate the accomplishment of other SDGs related to housing delivery.

The purpose of this study was to develop a suitable module for digital conservation of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants (MPs) used by tribal communities living in the Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh, Central India.

The research used a qualitative approach to gather the data of MPs through the use of literature review and field survey. Based on the acquired data, a prototype digital learning system was constructed and assessed. This study used digital learning technologies to assess the requirements for transmitting traditional knowledge of important MPs used by tribal communities so that people can absorb and conserve them.

Over time, the focus on the digital conservation of traditional MP’s knowledge has progressively increased globally. Despite the rise in this field of study, information technology methods to preserve and distribute traditional knowledge of MPs have remained a few. When adopting digital learning to maintain traditional knowledge of MPs, it was discovered that it would be necessary to engage with relevant knowledge keepers, use multimedia, and provide content in local languages.

This study helps in conservation of important MP species that are having biologically important therapeutic compounds meant for treating various ailments. Older generations of various tribal communities mainly hold traditional knowledge of important MPs, and unless it is preserved, it will perish along with its caretakers.

It is worth looking at a digital platform that can help future generations to maintain traditional knowledge of MPs, as it is a dynamic and ever-changing, it must involve a digital tool for its future conservation. Current methods for maintaining traditional knowledge of MPs were ineffective and constrained by space and time.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation follows a structured approach called define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC). Earlier research about its application in emergency healthcare services shows that it requires organizational transformation, which many healthcare setups find difficult. The Kotter change management model facilitates organizational transformation but has not been attempted in LSS settings till now. This study aims to integrate the LSS framework with the Kotter change management model to come up with an integrated framework that will facilitate LSS deployment in emergency health services.

Two-stage Delphi method was conducted by using a literature review. First, the success factors and barriers of LSS are investigated, especially from an emergency healthcare point of view. The features and benefits of Kotter's change management models are then reviewed. Subsequently, they are integrated to form a framework specific to LSS deployment in an emergency healthcare set-up. The elements of this framework are analyzed using expert opinion ratings. A new framework for LSS deployment in emergency healthcare has been developed, which can prevent failures due to challenges faced by organizations in overcoming resistance to changes.

The eight steps of the Kotter model such as establishing a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating a vision, communicating the vision, empowering others to act on the vision, planning for and creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements and producing still more change, institutionalizing new approaches are derived from the eight common errors that managers make while implementing change in the institution. The study integrated LSS principles and Kotter’s change management model to apply in emergency care units in order to reduce waste and raise the level of service quality provided by healthcare companies.

The present study could contribute knowledge to the literature by providing a framework to integrate lean management and Kotter's change management model for the emergency care unit of the healthcare organization. This framework guides decision-makers and organizations as proper strategies are required for applying lean management practices in any system.

The proposed framework is unique and no other study has prescribed any integrated framework for LSS implementation in emergency healthcare that overcomes resistance to change.

Blockchain is a disruptive technology that has matured to deliver robust, global, IT systems, yet adoption lags predictions. The authors explore barriers to adoption in the context of a global challenge with multiple stakeholders: integration of carbon markets. Going beyond the dominant economic-rationalistic paradigm of information system (IS) innovation adoption, the authors reduce pro-innovation bias and broaden inter-organizational scope by using technological frames theory to capture the cognitive framing of the challenges perceived within the world’s largest carbon emitter: China.

Semi-structured interviews with 15 key experts representing three communities in China’s carbon markets: IT experts in carbon markets; carbon market experts with conceptual knowledge of blockchain and carbon market experts with practical blockchain experience.

Perceived technical challenges were found to be the least significant in explaining adoption. Significant challenges in five areas: social, political legal and policy (PLP), data, organizational and managerial (OM) and economic, with PLP and OM given most weight. Mapping to frames developed to encompass these challenges: nature of technology, strategic use of technology and technology readiness resolved frame incongruence that, in the case explored, did not lead to rejection of blockchain, but a decision to defer investment, increase the scope of analysis and delay the adoption decision.

Increases scope and resolution of IS adoption research. Technological frames theory moves from predominant economic-rational models to a social cognitive perspective. Broadens understanding of blockchain adoption in a context combining the world’s most carbon emissions with ownership of most blockchain patents, detailing socio-technical challenges and delivering practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners.

Technical advantages embraced by blockchain, such as distributed ledger, P2P networks, consensus mechanisms and smart contracts, are highly compatible with addressing the security issues of transferring and storing judicial documents and obtaining the feedback and evaluation of judicial translation services in cases with foreign elements. Therefore, based on this, a consortium blockchain-based model for supervising the overall process of judicial translation services in cases with foreign elements is proposed.

Some judicial documents are required to be translated when there are language barriers in cases with foreign elements. The purpose of this paper is expected to address security issues, which is ignored, in the process of translating judicial documents.

The experimental results show that the model constructed in this paper can effectively guarantee the security and privacy of transferring and storing translated judicial documents in cases with foreign elements, and realize the credibility and traceability of feedbacks and evaluations of judicial translation services. In addition, the underlying network communications is stable and the speed for processing data can meet the requirements of practical application.

The research in this paper provides an innovative scheme for judicial translation services in cases with foreign elements. The model constructed is conducive to protecting the security of the transfer and storage of judicial documents and improving the efficiency and modernization ability of hearing cases with foreign elements.

The authors extend the literature on decoupling by analyzing the microlevel effects of institutionalized practices within the framework of international standards. This study investigates the specific informal management practices that decision-makers embrace in order for organizations to achieve ISO 9001 certification without all regulations being adopted and followed according to the standard's original design and purpose.

As the basis for its research framework, this paper adopts the neo-institutional theory. The research employs the comparative case study method and draws its data from a sample of 21 ISO 9001:2008 certified organizations in Bulgaria.

The results show ambivalent behavior toward the ISO 9001 standard's formal requirements. This behavior is expressed through targeted noncompliance with (certain) regulations and procedures regarding top management commitment, as well as documented information which are formally adopted within the organization and certified as complying with the standard.

The study has implications for future research into decoupling, organizational learning, and standardization. In terms of limitations, the authors examined the process of decoupling from a micro perspective in Bulgaria only. Noncompliance with international standards such as the ISO 9000 may exhibit specific regional or national characteristics.

Findings from this research encourage the International Standards Organization to respond to previous calls for revising the formal structure of ISO 9000 and other international management standards by considering a more flexible and liberal point of view.

As opposed to previous studies which have explored decoupling from a macro perspective, this study focuses on how the internal constraints imposed by the standard's universal requirements are being mitigated at a micro level. That is, the authors provide a detailed account of the specific informal management practices which managers (deliberately) adopt in order to achieve certification without fully integrating the formal criteria imposed by international standards (e.g. ISO 9001).