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The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for data analytics where everything is grey in nature and the associated uncertainty is considered as an essential part in data collection, profiling, imputation, analysis and decision making.

A comparative study is conducted between the available uncertainty models and the feasibility of grey systems is highlighted. Furthermore, a general framework for the integration of grey systems and grey sets into data analytics is proposed.

Grey systems and grey sets are useful not only for small data, but also big data as well. It is complementary to other models and can play a significant role in data analytics.

The proposed framework brings a radical change in data analytics. It may bring a fundamental change in our way to deal with uncertainties.

The proposed model has the potential to avoid the mistake from a misleading data imputation.

The proposed model takes the philosophy of grey systems in recognising the limitation of our knowledge which has significant implications in our way to deal with our social life and relations.

This is the first time that the whole data analytics is considered from the point of view of grey systems.

A dynamic retailing format is emerging in metropolitan cities across the USA: the underground mall (UGM). The UGM is a place of trade where a cluster of socially networked buyers (i.e. potential customers) and sellers (i.e. retailers) meet face‐to‐face in a private setting (i.e. in the seller's garage or in a neighborhood clubhouse) for the purpose of trade. This study seeks to detail how this unique retailing format operates and examines factors influencing consumption within this gray market.

Two theories were utilized in developing a framework for data collection: gray markets and market embeddedness. Data were collected via in‐depth interviews with 16 UGM shoppers. The data were analyzed and interpreted according to the protocol for phenomenology.

A combination of diverse retailing and socialization benefits drives the gray market of the UGM. Retailing benefits include a wide variety of vendors and products, unique items, convenience, a personalized shopping experience, and a comfortable shopping context. Socialization benefits include strengthening interpersonal relationships and building connections within one's community.

This study makes an important contribution to the gray marketing literature. The findings illustrate that a combination of diverse retailing and socialization benefits, not price, drives this particular gray market.

This research is original to the gray market, market embeddedness, and retailing literatures within the field of marketing. The findings of this study suggest that consumer motives for shopping in the gray market of the UGM are more hedonic than utilitarian in nature.

This study initially aims to identify the barriers to the big data analytics (BDA) initiative and further evaluates the barriers for knowing their interrelations and priority in improving the performance of manufacturing firms.

A total of 15 barriers to BDA adoption were identified through literature review and expert opinions. Data were collected from three types of industries: automotive, machine tools and electronics manufacturers in India. The grey-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was employed to explore the cause–effect relationship amongst barriers. Further, the barrier's influences were outranked and cross-validated through analytic network process (ANP).

The results showed that “lack of data storage facility”, “lack of IT infrastructure”, “lack of organisational strategy” and “uncertain about benefits and long terms usage” were most common barriers to adopt BDA practices in all three industries.

The findings of the study can assist service providers, industrial managers and government organisations in understanding the barriers and subsequently evaluating interrelationships and ranks of barriers in the successful adoption of BDA in a manufacturing organisation context.

The paper is one of the initial efforts in evaluating the barriers to BDA in improving the performance of manufacturing firms in India.

As universities advance towards a new data-informed, intra-institutional collaboration paradigm, new roles and services are continuously added to academic library routines. This changing context that exerts considerable stress upon library organizations to prove their value and contributions to student progress is leading the community to start questioning the utility, scope and prospects of patron data collection practices. The study sought library science postgraduate students’ viewpoints about the adequacy and utility of current library use data collection practices in Greek academic libraries. It also aimed to investigate the value, relevance and priority of the integration of library usage data with the rest of university information systems (e.g. learning analytics) along with associated practical and ethical considerations, and advocacy aspects.

Mixed-methods, Web-based survey distributed to postgraduate students during a seminar designed to familiarize them with trends in academic library use data capabilities.

Participants acknowledged that neither policies nor procedures are currently adequate to expand and interconnect their data pools to campus information systems. They were opposed to disclosing personally identifiable patron activity data to faculty, while their opinions were divided as to the use of student activity monitoring technology. Nevertheless, they made several comments on how to mitigate the community's considerations around the implementation of this new data management philosophy in the library and were optimistic about the benefits this development could entail for library visibility and student progress.

Results of this first-time research in the Greek higher education context, revelatory of potential road blockers to upgrading the library use data collection practices, can be of significant value to both curricula developers and university decision-makers who seek ways to prepare the ground for the successful implementation of new operations.

The purpose of this paper is to forward specific policy proposals permitting greater sharing of health data across multi-level government agencies with the purpose of improving rapid identification of bioterrorist attack or disease epidemics while protecting patient privacy.

A systematic literature review searched the following keyword phrases: knowledge sharing in the public sector, raw data sharing, interagency information systems, federal data sharing technology network and network theory on five primary databases.

The volunteer nature of data sharing must evolve through public health policy to permit interagency data access agreements while minimizing privacy infringement. A multi-level information infrastructure network linking agencies tasked to develop medical countermeasures is recommended.

This study optimizes the health data collection process to create a medical countermeasure network, demonstrates the utility of operationalizing data metrics for a US federal agency and advances meaningful use of electronic medical records.

This paper explores the collaborative dynamics and dimensions within a virtual multi-cultural and interdisciplinary workplace. The study focusses on the use of online communication technologies to enhance social inclusion and networking within academia.

This study uses an autoethnographic approach to draw on the personal experiences of a team of four scholars, including three early-career researchers and a senior scholar. Their reflections on their academic positionality and the institutional constraints reveal both the strengths and vulnerabilities of collaborating in a virtual workplace.

The findings offer insights into the complexities of navigating social dynamics, such as delegating responsibilities, organising meetings across various time zones and encouraging continuous collaboration, inclusivity and effective communication during an extensive timeline. As a result, their experiences revealed that a virtual workplace culture with similar and different attributes to a “normal” workplace emerged.

The paper demonstrates how to create an effective and inclusive virtual workplace by exemplifying best practices in academia and providing practical guidance for individuals and institutions based on honest, co-produced autoethnographic reflections of the authors’ lived experiences.

The goal of this work is to propose guidelines for the Information Technology (IT) companies in Brazil to implement the concepts of Industry 4.0.

This research study used inductive method, exploratory and descriptive research, and a bibliographic search was performed, besides using a qualitative research as field research. The IT professionals of companies in Brazil were used as the research university.

With the advances of technology and the advents of industrial revolutions, the profile of professionals and the relationship between employees and companies have been altered, fact that was demonstrated in the field research, making it possible to highlight: the knowledge degree of managers about the theme, it means, the perception of what Industry 4.0 is; how the organizations have already been adjusting to the new industrial revolution; the main challenges for this adjustment; the relevance for clients and opponents; among other discoveries. Therefore, companies must adapt to the new market demands, by improving their processes, investing in new technologies and training their employees.

Actions for implementing Industry 4.0 in IT companies were proposed, such as understanding its organization, defining in which area of the business model the organization intends to make/have changes, discovering tendencies and developments that will have influence over the organization when applying the concepts of Industry 4.0, overcoming the major challenges and adhering to new technologies.

With the contribution toward the organization, it is expected that this study can fulfill the demands of clients and provide cost, personnel and time savings the best way possible. For the academy, the contribution lies in presenting a research study with a new theme and with focus on IT.

Non-value adding activities or waste have been a major challenge for the construction industry. Researchers worldwide have investigated how such activities can be reduced or overcome in the industry. However, much has not been done regarding waste in the production process of building blocks. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the various waste in sandcrete blocks production process (SBPP). The study also aims to find out the causes of the waste and their impacts on the factory performance.

To achieve the aims of this study, a qualitative study was conducted in five sandcrete blocks firms in Minna. Physical observation and interviews were the main instruments used for data collection. The data obtained were analyzed through content analysis. Samples of blocks (low standard only) were also taken to the laboratory for compressive and porosity tests. Thereafter, questionnaires were administered to other sandcrete blocks producers in six firms. The essence of this was to investigate the applicability of the identified waste in other factories in the study context and for further data analysis.

Typical forms of waste in SBPP are excessive stocking of sand and cement, long distance covered from the store to the mixing or production location, excessive quantity or over design of materials and over vibration or compaction of the newly produced blocks. It is anticipated that adoption of lean concepts, tools and techniques in the production of sandcrete blocks will help to eradicate the identified waste in the process and stimulate a future state value stream mapping (VSM). The practicality of the expected future state VSM is presently being investigated by one of the five firms in the study context.

The findings of the study mainly provide further insights on the various process waste in Nigerian sandcrete blocks production.

The study provides knowledge on how lean thinking can be adopted to identify and reduce waste in SBPP. Such knowledge may be beneficial to the present and prospective sandcrete blocks producers. The study also provides insight on how the overall cost of production of sandcrete blocks and the quantity of CO₂ that is being released into the atmosphere in the production process can be reduced. The VSM in the proposed framework also serves as a tool that can be globally adopted for waste identification by producers of other forms of blocks such as bricks.

This paper satisfies all the tenets of originality as it has not been previously published and all the information obtained from other studies have been duly referenced. The study is also original as it is first in the study context to propose for a lean framework that can be used to reduce waste in SBPP.

Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of violence against children. The different disciplines involved in the sectors of national child protection systems rely on separate discourses and terms; definitions are sometimes rather general or implicit, and operationalizations of important elements are rare. The various terms in use – child maltreatment, child abuse and neglect, child endangerment, children at risk, children in need, etc. – speak of the variety, not only of concepts, but also of practices. With respect to the latter, definitional issues are also issues of the scope and thresholds of intervention. This chapter provides an overview of major terms and definitional approaches to violence against children and identifies eminent differences between them. Findings from several studies on the Swiss child protection system, including the first multi-sectorial national survey on agency responses to child maltreatment, illustrate how professionals use definitions and the consequences of having multiple definitional concepts for documenting reported cases. We conclude by advocating for a consensus-based interdisciplinary process of developing shared definitions of violence against children.

The purpose of this paper is to explore post‐international strategic alliance (ISA) establishment processes by exploring the interrelationships surrounding utilization as a resource coordinating activity, two communication dimensions (four communication factors) as the antecedents of utilization, and the implications of utilization for ISA performance.

Based on the mail and e‐mail surveys, the structural model is analyzed by using LISREL. The moderating effects of cultural sensitivity and host government interference on the relationship between utilization and international alliance performance are measured by a moderated multiple regression. The mediating effect of utilization is also examined.

Three of the four communication factors (all except for informal communication) affect the effective utilization of the resources contributed by each ISA partner. Utilization contributes to the achievement of each ISA partner's objectives. Utilization is also found to fully mediate the relationships between the three significant communication factors (formal, two‐way, and participative) and ISA performance.

The study suggests the practical and academic importance of implementing and researching the resource coordinating activities after an ISA has established to successfully manage ISA operation.

The concept of utilization is introduced and empirically tested to investigate the post‐formation alliance process and how the process affects ISA performance.