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The purpose of this paper is to design an Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture-based Diabetic Retinopathy Detection Scheme (DRDS) proposed for identifying Type-I or Type-II diabetes and to specifically advise the Type-II diabetic patients about the possibility of vision loss.

The proposed DRDS includes the benefits of automatic calculation of clip limit parameters and sub-window for making the detection process completely adaptive. It uses the advantages of extended 5 × 5 Sobels operator for estimating the maximum edges determined through the convolution of 24 pixels with eight templates to achieve 24 outputs corresponding to individual pixels for finding the maximum magnitude. It enhances the probability of connecting pixels in the vascular map with its closely located neighbourhood points in the fundus images. Then, the spatial information and kernel of the neighbourhood pixels are integrated through the Robust Semi-supervised Kernelized Fuzzy Local information C-Means Clustering (RSKFL-CMC) method to attain significant clustering process.

The results of the proposed DRDS architecture confirm the predominance in terms of accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. The proposed DRDS technique facilitates superior performance at an average of 99.64% accuracy, 76.84% sensitivity and 99.93% specificity.

DRDS is proposed as a comfortable, pain-free and harmless diagnosis system using the merits of Dexcom G4 Plantinum sensors for estimating blood glucose level in diabetic patients. It uses the merits of RSKFL-CMC method to estimate the spatial information and kernel of the neighborhood pixels for attaining significant clustering process.

The IoT architecture comprises of the application layer that inherits the DR application enabled Graphical User Interface (GUI) which is combined for processing of fundus images by using MATLAB applications. This layer aids the patients in storing the capture fundus images in the database for future diagnosis.

This proposed DRDS method plays a vital role in the detection of DR and categorization based on the intensity of disease into severe, moderate and mild grades. The proposed DRDS is responsible for preventing vision loss of diabetic Type-II patients by accurate and potential detection achieved through the utilization of IoT architecture.

The performance of the proposed scheme with the benchmarked approaches of the literature is implemented using MATLAB R2010a. The complete evaluations of the proposed scheme are conducted using HRF, REVIEW, STARE and DRIVE data sets with subjective quantification provided by the experts for the purpose of potential retinal blood vessel segmentation.

Technology is vital to capturing and managing knowledge, but it's not a panacea.

A SEMI‐AUTOMATIC swarf processing plant, bought from Christy and Norris Ltd. in 1966 by Hoburn Aero Components Ltd. at a total cost of £11,000 is said to have paid for itself within three years and is now saving £4,500 per annum. Hoburn process about 3½ to 4 tons of swarf a week containing sulphonated cutting oil which is recovered at the rate of about 1,400 gallons a month.

This paper reports the panel discussion on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in our lives. This discussion was held at the Digitization of the Individual (DOTI) workshop at the International Conference on Information Systems in 2019. Three scholars (in alphabetical order: Ting-Peng Liang, Lionel Robert and Suprateek Sarker) who have done AI- and robot-related research (to varying degrees) were invited to participate in the panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Manuel Trenz.

This paper introduces the topic, chronicles the responses of the three panelists to the questions the workshop chairs posed and summarizes their responses, such that readers can have an overview of research on AI and robots in individuals' lives and insights about future research directions.

The panelists discussed four questions with regard to their research experiences on AI- and robot-related topics. They expressed their viewpoints on the underlying nature, potential and effects of AI in work and personal life domains. They also commented on the ethical dilemmas for research and practice and provided their outlook for future research in these emerging fields.

This paper aggregates the panelists' viewpoints, as expressed at the DOTI workshop. Crucial ethical and theoretical issues related to AI and robots in both work and personal life domains are addressed. Promising research directions to these cutting-edge research fields are also proposed.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become prioritized goals of business, such as hiring more women and racial minorities. This study adds to the body of research regarding the value of diversity in organizations by examining the relationship between diversity at the workforce level and the financial performance of the organization. The empirical results of prior research have provided mixed results, finding mainly positive, but also negative, and nonsignificant relationships (Sharma et al., 2020; Vlas et al., 2022). The purpose of this study is to examine the current employment status of women and racial minorities in top US companies, then analyze if a correlation exists between a company’s profit margin and its percentage of women and racial minority employees and managers.

This study examined the top 200 companies in the Fortune 500 companies; these are the largest companies by revenue in the USA. Companies were ranked according to each variable (% of women employees, % of racial minority employees, % of women managers and % of racial minority managers) and then divided into equal quartiles. The mean profit margin for the top quartile was compared with the mean profit margin for the bottom quartile. T-tests were used to determine whether significant differences in profit margin exist between companies. This methodology of comparing top and bottom quartiles was developed in prior studies.

Fortune 200 companies have an average of 40% women and also 40% racial minorities in their workforce. Both women and racial minorities account for a smaller percentage of managers. Women account for 34% of managers, while racial minorities account for 29%. There is a significant positive relationship between profit margin and two of the variables. Companies with 45% or more women managers have a significantly higher profit margin than companies with the lowest percentages of women managers. Companies with 48% or more racial minority employees have a significantly higher profit margin than companies with the lowest percentages of racial minority employees. These findings are in-line with the existing body of research that has found mixed impacts of diversity on firm performance (cf. Hoobler et al., 2018; Leung et al., 2022) and draws attention to the need to consider the impact of gender and racial diversity on firms at various management levels within the firm to better understand the impact that increasing diversity has on firm performance (cf. Curado et al., 2022).

This paper adds to the body of knowledge by assessing the current status of women and racial minorities in top US companies and, then, analyzing if a correlation exists between a company’s profit margin and the number of women and racial minority employees and managers. Findings provide companies with further incentive to maintain DEI as a prioritized goal.

The paper is focused on the numerical modelling of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and metallic nanoparticle.

A full‐wave solution of the field problem is modelled in terms of an integral equation where the unknown is the displacement current. For treating nanoparticles having sizes smaller than the relevant wavelength, particular care is devoted to the choice of the discrete representation of the unknown in view of the condition number of the resulting linear system of equations.

A critical analysis of the issues to be considered for developing a proper numerical model of the problem is presented. Specifically, it is shown that the electric field inside the nanoparticle is not purely irrotational, as usually assumed in the widespread models based on the electrostatic approximation.

The proposed formulation is applied for the first time to the problem of evaluating the interaction between electromagnetic fields and metallic nanoparticle.

Given the lack of research on the nomological validity of tourism destination consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) constructs incorporating core, well-established constructs from the travel and tourism discipline, this research investigates the influence of venturesomeness as a moderator in a model with destination image, satisfaction, and overall CBBE as antecedents of return intentions.

The study uses online panel data of past visitor to the sea-side destination of Corpus Christi, Texas. A sample of 210 residents in Texas and surrounding states was employed to estimate the hypothesized effects through partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Results demonstrate the predictive effects of destination CBBE dimensions on tourists' revisit intention, with the significant moderation effects of venturesomeness through its influence on tourist satisfaction.

Findings provide general support to the nomological validity of the proposed model, highlighting the role of satisfaction as a central dimension to explain destination loyalty, the limitations of generic scales to investigate tourism destination contexts, and the incorporation of consumers' psychographics and lifestyle variables on destination CBBE.

Destination marketers should develop segmentation strategies to target travelers with psychographic profiles that are more responsive to the factors that foster CBBE.

This research provides insights on the nomological validity of a CBBE model by evaluating its integration with a context-specific theoretical domain, which is a condition to increase the explanatory scope of theoretical relations and claims in intermediate theory, and to move the research field forward.

This paper is concerned with the challenge posed by the management of customer relationships in services. The focus is on banks, although similar service businesses (with long‐term customers) may be expected to encounter like challenges. The relationship approach for businesses is discussed and is judged to be quite fundamental with wide‐ranging implications. The paper considers the appropriateness of the relationship approach for retail banking given the prerequisite conditions suggested by the literature. The personal banker strategy is considered as a means to implementing the relationship approach in retail banking. Empirical findings from a study examining the role of personal bankers in New Zealand are presented. It is concluded that a relationship strategy can be a double‐edged sword: implemented well it can have the desired effects; implemented badly it can have a negative impact that will leave the organization with more problems than if they had done nothing at all.

Agile manufacturing is a new and revolutionary way of manufacturing and assembling products. It is the next logical step in the evolutionary chain of manufacturing technologies, following on the heels of its predecessors, craft production, mass production, and lean production. This paper explains what agile manufacturing is, and what needs to be done to successfully pave the way for its implementation. Successful implementation requires changes in five areas: government regulation, business cooperation, information technology, reengineering, and employee flexibility. The potential benefits of successfully implementing agile manufacturing are much too great for an organization to overlook, as are the potential consequences of failing to implement it. Though many organizations have made strides toward implementing agile manufacturing, there is much work that needs to be done. Corporations need the backing of strong infrastructure to make agile manufacturing successful. This will require cooperation between government and business.

MAKE no mistake about it, when a government enacts legislation it does so firmly believing that the new law is in the best interests at least to the majority of the population it is supposed to serve. (This may not be wholly true in some dictatorial regimes, but it holds for democracies.) So it is a pity when, as happens far too frequently, the effect differs from or sometimes is completely opposed to the aims in the minds of the legislators.