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1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 29 November 2022

Yung-Ting Chuang and Ching-Hsien Wang

The purpose of this paper is to propose a mobile and social-based question-and-answer (Q&A) system that analyzes users' social relationships and past answering behavior, considers…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a mobile and social-based question-and-answer (Q&A) system that analyzes users' social relationships and past answering behavior, considers users' interest similarity and answer quality to infer suitable respondents and forwards the questions to users that are willing to give high quality answers.

Design/methodology/approach

This research applies first-order logic (FOL) inference calculation to generate question/interest ID that combines a users' social information, interests and social network intimacy to choose the nodes that can provide high-quality answers. After receiving a question, a friend can answer it, forward it to their friends according to the number of TTL (Time-to-Live) hops, or send the answer directly to the server. This research collected data from the TripAdvisor.com website and uses it for the experiment. The authors also collected previously answered questions from TripAdvisor.com; thus, subsequent answers could be forwarded to a centralized server to improve the overall performance.

Findings

The authors have first noticed that even though the proposed system is decentralized, it can still accurately identify the appropriate respondents to provide high-quality answers. In addition, since this system can easily identify the best answerers, there is no need to implement broadcasting, thus reducing the overall execution time and network bandwidth required. Moreover, this system allows users to accurately and quickly obtain high-quality answers after comparing and calculating interest IDs. The system also encourages frequent communication and interaction among users. Lastly, the experiments demonstrate that this system achieves high accuracy, high recall rate, low overhead, low forwarding cost and low response rate in all scenarios.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a mobile and social-based Q&A system that applies FOL inference calculation to analyze users' social relationships and past answering behavior, considers users' interest similarity and answer quality to infer suitable respondents and forwards the questions to users that are willing to give high quality answers. The experiments demonstrate that this system achieves high accuracy, high recall rate, low overhead, low forwarding cost and low response rate in all scenarios.

Article
Publication date: 7 May 2024

Yifeng Zhang and Min-Xuan Ji

The aim of this study is to discern the role of digital finance in driving rural industrial integration and revitalization. Specifically, it intends to shed light on how the deep…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to discern the role of digital finance in driving rural industrial integration and revitalization. Specifically, it intends to shed light on how the deep development of digital finance can contribute to the optimization and transformation of the rural industrial structure. The research further explores the particular effects of this financial transformation in the central and western regions of China.

Design/methodology/approach

This research studies the influence of digital finance on rural industrial integration across 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020. Utilizing the entropy weight method, a comprehensive evaluation index system is established to gauge the level of rural industrial integration. A two-way fixed effects model, intermediary effect model, and threshold effect model are employed to decipher the relationship between digital finance and rural industrial integration.

Findings

Findings reveal a positive relationship between digital finance and rural industrial integration. A single threshold feature was identified: beyond a traditional finance development level, the marginal effect of digital finance on rural industrial integration increases. These effects are more noticeable in central and western regions.

Originality/value

Empirical outcomes contribute to policy discourse on rural digital finance, assisting policymakers in crafting effective strategies. Understanding the threshold of traditional finance development provides a new perspective on the potential of digital finance to drive rural industrial integration.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Hanyue Yang, Heng Li, Guangbin Wang and Dongping Cao

Within the labor-intensive construction industry characterized by distinctly structural shortages in the labor force worldwide, efficient and effective migration of construction…

Abstract

Purpose

Within the labor-intensive construction industry characterized by distinctly structural shortages in the labor force worldwide, efficient and effective migration of construction workers across regions is critical for the smooth operation of construction activities. This study aims to investigate how the interregional migration patterns of construction workers are impacted by the disparities in both employment opportunities and environment amenities between the origin and destination provinces.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the push and pull theory and the archival data on 13,728 migrant construction workers in China, descriptive analyses are first performed to characterize the interregional migration patterns of the investigated construction workers. Combining regional data in the National Bureau of Statistics of China, this study uses hierarchical regression modeling techniques to empirically test the relative importance of the employment-related and environment-related factors in driving the interregional migration of construction workers after controlling for the effects of related economic and geographic factors.

Findings

The results provide evidence that the interregional migration of construction workers is principally driven by the disparities in employment opportunities while disparities in environment amenities (including climate comfort disparity, medical service disparity and educational service disparity) generally play much fewer substantive roles. With regard to the impacts of employment opportunities, the results provide evidence that compared with the disparity in job market size, the disparities in job income and industry development level are more significantly relevant factors, which positively pull and adversely push the interregional migration flows, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to a deepened understanding of how workers specifically balance their employment and amenity needs to make temporary migration decisions in the “laggard” labor-intensive construction industry. This study also adds to the literature on population migration by characterizing the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of the workers' migration activities. The findings hold important practical implications for construction organizations and policymakers for effectively managing the mobility of migrant construction workers.

Originality/value

The extant literature on migrant construction workers has primarily focused on the consequences of international migration and the generalization of empirical findings on population migration mechanisms in other domains to the construction industry is substantially limited by the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of their migration activities. In addressing this gap, this study represents an exploratory effort to quantitatively characterize the interregional migration patterns of construction workers in the labor-intensive construction industry and examines the roles of employment opportunity and environmental amenity in driving interregional migration.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2023

Zhongzhu Chu and Xihui Chen

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence migrant workers' household registration transfer willingness at both individual and urban levels and to provide…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence migrant workers' household registration transfer willingness at both individual and urban levels and to provide empirical evidence on adjusting the household registration system to accommodate economic development and migrant workers' imbalances.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a hierarchical nonlinear model and examines individual and urban influencing factors of migrant workers' household registration transfer willingness, based on the data from China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) and the Urban Statistical Yearbooks.

Findings

This paper shows that: (1) multi-factors, such as age, education, marital status, household demographics, industry and migrant workers' contract coverage, have significant effects on migrant workers' household registration transfer willingness; (2) The urban public service equalization indicators, such as regional economic, educational resources, medical care and ecological quality, have significant effects on migrant workers' willingness to transfer household registration; (3) The heterogeneity of migrant workers' willingness to transfer household registration is significant in central, eastern and western China.

Research limitations/implications

The authors provide a fresh perspective on population migration research in China and other countries worldwide based on the pull–push migration theory, which incorporates both individual and macro (urban) factors, enabling a comprehensive examination of the factors influencing household registration transfer willingness. This hierarchical ideology and approach (hierarchical nonlinear model) could be extended to investigate the influencing factors of various other human intentions and behaviors.

Originality/value

Micro approaches (individual perspective) have dominated existing studies examining the factors influencing migrant workers' household registration transfer willingness. The authors combine individual and urban perspectives and adopt a more comprehensive hierarchical nonlinear model to extend the empirical evidence and provide theoretical explanations for the above issues.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2023

Ji Kai, Ming Liu, Yue Wang and Ding Zhang

Nucleic acid testing is an effective method of accurate prevention and control and a key measure to block the spread of the epidemic. However, the fraud in nucleic acid testing…

Abstract

Purpose

Nucleic acid testing is an effective method of accurate prevention and control and a key measure to block the spread of the epidemic. However, the fraud in nucleic acid testing occurred frequently during epidemics. This paper aims to provide a viable scheme for the government to strengthen the supervision of nucleic acid testing and to provide a new condition for the punishment for the negative act of the government and the upper limit of the reward for nucleic acid testing institution of no data fraud.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper formulates an evolutionary game model between the government and nucleic acid testing institution under four different mechanisms of reward and punishment to solve the issue of nucleic acid testing supervision. The authors discuss the stability of equilibrium points under the four distinct strategies and conduct simulation experiments.

Findings

The authors find that the strategy of dynamic reward and static penalty outperforms the strategies of static reward and static penalty, dynamic reward and static penalty, static reward and dynamic penalty, dynamic reward and dynamic penalty. The results reveal the appropriate punishment for the negative act of the government can enhance the positivity of the government's supervision in the strategy of dynamic reward and static penalty, while the upper limit of the reward for nucleic acid testing institution of no data fraud cannot be too high. Otherwise, it will backfire. Another interesting and counterintuitive result is that in the strategy of dynamic reward and dynamic penalty, the upper limit of the penalty for data fraud of nucleic acid testing institution cannot be augmented recklessly. Otherwise, it will diminish the government's positivity for supervision.

Originality/value

Most of the existing evolutionary game researches related to the reward and punishment mechanism and data fraud merely highlight that increasing the intensity of reward and punishment can help improve the government's supervision initiative and can minimize data fraud of nucleic acid institution, but they fall short of the boundary conditions for the punishment and reward mechanism. Previous literature only study the supervision of nucleic acid testing qualitatively and lacks quantitative research. Moreover, they do not depict the problem scenario of testing data fraud of nucleic acid institution regulated by the government via the evolutionary game model. Thus, this study effectively bridges these gaps. This research is universal and can be extended to other industries.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 November 2023

Shuchuan Hu, Qinghua Xia and Yi Xie

This study investigates firms' innovation behaviour under environmental change. Therefore, it examines the effect of trade disputes on corporate technological innovation and how…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates firms' innovation behaviour under environmental change. Therefore, it examines the effect of trade disputes on corporate technological innovation and how product market competition moderates this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This research tests the hypotheses using the fixed effects model based on panel data of publicly listed enterprises in China from 2007–2020.

Findings

The empirical results validate the positive association between trade disputes and corporate research and development (R&D) intensity as well as the U-shaped relationship between trade disputes and radical innovation. Additionally, the moderating effect of product market competition is verified: a concentrated market with less competition flattens the U-shaped curve of radical innovation induced by trade disputes; as the market becomes more concentrated and less competitive, the U-shaped relationship eventually turns into an inverted U.

Originality/value

First, this study contributes to the corporate innovation and trade dispute literature by expanding the environmental antecedents of technological innovation and the firm-level consequences of trade disputes. Second, this study enriches the theoretical framework of the environment–innovation link through an integrated perspective of contingency theory and dynamic capabilities view. Third, instead of the traditional linear mindset which had led to contradictory results, this study explores a curvilinear effect in the environment–innovation relationship.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2024

Mohd Mustaqeem, Suhel Mustajab and Mahfooz Alam

Software defect prediction (SDP) is a critical aspect of software quality assurance, aiming to identify and manage potential defects in software systems. In this paper, we have…

Abstract

Purpose

Software defect prediction (SDP) is a critical aspect of software quality assurance, aiming to identify and manage potential defects in software systems. In this paper, we have proposed a novel hybrid approach that combines Gray Wolf Optimization with Feature Selection (GWOFS) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) for SDP. The GWOFS-MLP hybrid model is designed to optimize feature selection, ultimately enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of SDP. Gray Wolf Optimization, inspired by the social hierarchy and hunting behavior of gray wolves, is employed to select a subset of relevant features from an extensive pool of potential predictors. This study investigates the key challenges that traditional SDP approaches encounter and proposes promising solutions to overcome time complexity and the curse of the dimensionality reduction problem.

Design/methodology/approach

The integration of GWOFS and MLP results in a robust hybrid model that can adapt to diverse software datasets. This feature selection process harnesses the cooperative hunting behavior of wolves, allowing for the exploration of critical feature combinations. The selected features are then fed into an MLP, a powerful artificial neural network (ANN) known for its capability to learn intricate patterns within software metrics. MLP serves as the predictive engine, utilizing the curated feature set to model and classify software defects accurately.

Findings

The performance evaluation of the GWOFS-MLP hybrid model on a real-world software defect dataset demonstrates its effectiveness. The model achieves a remarkable training accuracy of 97.69% and a testing accuracy of 97.99%. Additionally, the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) score of 0.89 highlights the model’s ability to discriminate between defective and defect-free software components.

Originality/value

Experimental implementations using machine learning-based techniques with feature reduction are conducted to validate the proposed solutions. The goal is to enhance SDP’s accuracy, relevance and efficiency, ultimately improving software quality assurance processes. The confusion matrix further illustrates the model’s performance, with only a small number of false positives and false negatives.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-378X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 April 2024

Muhammad Zubair Mumtaz

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In…

Abstract

Purpose

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

Findings

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Research limitations/implications

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

Practical implications

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

Originality/value

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.

Details

Agricultural Finance Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-1466

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2023

Qian Yang, Xukang Shen, Yanhui Song and Shiji Chen

This paper aims to explore the citation aging pattern of Library and Information Science (LIS) and further investigate the impact of interdisciplinary citation on the aging of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the citation aging pattern of Library and Information Science (LIS) and further investigate the impact of interdisciplinary citation on the aging of scientific literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The study examines LIS journal articles published between 2016 and 2020. Articles were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) and were organized using Scopus's discipline classification system. Citation aging patterns within LIS are described using literature aging indicators. The study examines the effect of interdisciplinary citations on the literature aging pattern by comparing the half-life of LIS literature and the median age of interdisciplinary citations.

Findings

The study results show that the citation aging rate of LIS in the last five years has been slow, and the rate of slowing down is decreasing. Interdisciplinary citations are sourced from various disciplines, focusing on computer science, social sciences and business. The proportion of self-citations is declining. The Reference Diversity Index (RDI) increases from 0.690 to 0.724 between 2016 and 2020. Currently, the median age of interdisciplinary citations is higher than the LIS's half-life. It has a diminishing effect on the citation aging rate. But the median age of interdisciplinary citations is decreasing. The interdisciplinary citation may contribute to the literature aging rate in the future. The effect of interdisciplinary citation on literature aging needs to be judged dialectically.

Research limitations/implications

This study still has some limitations. Due to the wide variety of citation journals in LIS, there is no database to cover all journals, so it is impossible to match all citation journals with disciplines. Therefore, it is still feasible to analyze interdisciplinary citations based on the two-eight principle for large-scale data. This approach necessarily sacrifices some of the precision of the study. However, the results of this paper can still be helpful for the development of the discipline. In addition, LIS is a discipline with solid cross-cutting properties, and this paper concludes only with this interdisciplinary discipline in mind. It is necessary to test the applicability of the findings to other disciplines.

Originality/value

The study explores the impact of interdisciplinary citation on literature aging from a professional communication perspective. The results reveal underlying reasons for the aging of scientific literature. These findings further enrich the study of the effect of interdisciplinary communication.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 April 2024

Gökhan Yılmaz and Ayşe Şahin-Yılmaz

Artificial intelligence is one of the most significant and active fields of study in the last few years. Artificial intelligence-derived robotic technologies known as chatbots are…

Abstract

Purpose

Artificial intelligence is one of the most significant and active fields of study in the last few years. Artificial intelligence-derived robotic technologies known as chatbots are gaining interest from both academic and industry sectors. By analyzing the development and patterns of research on the chatbot phenomena within the tourism field, this study seeks to develop a theoretical framework for the interaction between chatbots and tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

The Web of Science (WoS) database’s 33 articles on chatbots related to travel and hospitality were examined between 2019 and 2024 using VOSviewer software for bibliometric and thematic content analysis.

Findings

Research on chatbots for tourism and hospitality appears to be in its early stages. The factors influencing tourists' intentions to use chatbots have been thoroughly researched; the attitudes, perceptions and behavioral intentions of destinations, travel agencies and restaurant patrons regarding chatbots were examined, and it was found that the quantitative research approach was dominant. In addition, the majority of the studies are based on a particular theory or model.

Originality/value

This is one of the first attempts to directly comprehend and depict the interconnected structures of studies on the interaction between chatbots and tourism through the use of network analysis. Furthermore, the study’s findings can offer academics a comprehensive viewpoint and a reference manual for more accurate assessment and oversight of the chatbot-tourism interaction. Regarding the lack of research on the topic and the fragmented structure of the studies that exist, it is imperative to provide both a comprehensive overview and a roadmap for future investigations into the usage of chatbots in the travel and hospitality sector.

Details

Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4217

Keywords

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