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Demand forecasts are a key component of planning efforts and are crucial for managing core operations. This study aims to evaluate the use of several machine learning (ML) algorithms to forecast demand for residential construction in Jordan.

The identification and selection of variables and ML algorithms that are related to the demand for residential construction are indicated using a literature review. Feature selection was done by using a stepwise backward elimination. The developed algorithm’s accuracy has been demonstrated by comparing the ML predictions with real residual values and compared based on the coefficient of determination.

Nine economic indicators were selected to develop the demand models. Elastic-Net showed the highest accuracy of (0.838) versus artificial neural networkwith an accuracy of (0.727), followed by Eureqa with an accuracy of (0.715) and the Extra Trees with an accuracy of (0.703). According to the results of the best-performing model forecast, Jordan’s 2023 first-quarter demand for residential construction is anticipated to rise by 11.5% from the same quarter of the year 2022.

The results of this study extend to the existing body of knowledge through the identification of the most influential variables in the Jordanian residential construction industry. In addition, the models developed will enable users in the fields of construction engineering to make reliable demand forecasts while also assisting in effective financial decision-making.

The purpose of this study is to explore the awareness, perception and attitude of consumers from Georgia toward smart, active and intelligent packaging of food products.

This study is based on a quantitative research method using a survey questionnaire tool to gather data from consumers in Georgia.

The scope of the sample is restricted to only one developing country. Yet, the research results are still significant in creating knowledge about innovative food packaging from different country contexts and to understanding the acceptance of intelligent active packaging by consumers.

Intelligent packaging facilitates companies with their sustainability efforts by reducing waste and environmental impact. It increases the desirability of products as responds to customer demands and leads to consumer satisfaction. Intelligent packaging can increase trust in bioproducts; for example, it is possible to track and check or monitor the origin of a product and prove that the product producer has really manufactured a bioproduct.

The study contributes to the discussion of the applicability and use of packaging with enhanced features in the food industry. In this respect, the performed pilot study fills the gap in the packaging literature by investigating consumers’ perspectives on intelligent packaging in Georgia – a non-EU, post-soviet, developing country.

This article aims to clarify the concepts used to understand, analyze and improve a patient’s progress through a health service system. A patient pathway describes plans and intentions. Within it, we distinguish between the clinical pathway of decisions and interventions and the care pathway of supportive activities. As a patient pathway is implemented, it turns into a patient journey of what is done, what happens to a patient’s medical condition and what is experienced and felt. We introduce “patient journey disruption” (PJD) as a concept describing the events that need to be prevented from happening to accomplish integrated, coordinated and seamless care.

The method used in this paper is concept analysis. First, an expert steering group worked to refine the concept of PJDs; second, an analysis of similar concepts from related fields was done to root the concept into existing theories, and third, semi-structured interviews with professionals and patients were done to test the concept of PJDs in the home care context.

PJDs are agency-based harmful events in the execution of the care pathway that deviate the patient journey from what can be reasonably expected. PJDs are management failures, which is why they should be studied by healthcare operations management (HOM) and service science scholars with the intention to find ways to prevent them from happening.

This study has limitations, including presenting conceptual ideas and preliminary results that are only indicative.

We believe that the introduction of the concept of PJDs into the literature provides a new, systematic way of approaching the different shortcomings in our healthcare production systems. Moreover, by systematically identifying different PJDs, interventions can be designed and targeted more appropriately.

Managerial challenges regarding healthcare processes have been studied but have not been well defined. The concept of PJDs is an original, well-thought-out definition.

Civil service workers are valuable resources for any nation and play a crucial role in driving their country’s economic development. Per the supervisor, this research examines the impact of mindfulness, proactive personality, and career competencies on employee job performance. The study also analyzes the effects of career adaptability and identity on this aspect.

To test the model of this study, questionnaires were administered to a sample of 500 civil service employees whose career-based knowledge and skills were measured in various cities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan.

Mindfulness and career competencies significantly impact supervisor-rated task performance, whereas a proactive personality does not substantially relate to supervisor-rated task performance. Research indicated that the two hypotheses about mediation were accepted. However, career adaptability does not play a significant role in the link between mindfulness and how well a supervisor rates task performance. Regarding moderation, career identity did not significantly moderate the relation between proactive personality and supervisor-rated task performance. However, the other two moderate hypotheses have been proven to be significant.

The findings offer compelling support for career construction theory (CCT) in this study area by analyzing the connections related to career adaptability and identity within the framework. In the future, researchers can build on this model by adding theories like conservation of resources (COR), looking into possible moderators that might change specific pathways in this network of relationships and using longitudinal designs to find stronger causal relationships.

Considering the evolving workplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study offers fresh perspectives on the post-COVID situation, understanding and integrating various variables. For future studies, more variables can be explored in this model with the expansion of sample size and change of context.

This paper aims to develop an alternative perspective on marketing informed by service scholarship to resolve marketing’s challenges as a discipline and practice.

This paper is conceptual and builds on the ongoing debate regarding marketing’s challenges and on service research to develop a new alternative marketing perspective and model, which could contribute to reforming marketing.

An analysis of the current understanding of marketing showed that the discipline’s myopic focus on activities, which disregards what marketing is as a phenomenon, is the primary reason for the prevailing problems and failure to reform marketing. Based on research into service logic (SL), the paper demonstrates that a higher level view of service can be characterized as the provision of help to the users of goods and services to ensure that these goods and services deliver meaningful assistance in their lives and work. This suggests that the ultimate objective for marketing is to make firms meaningful to the users of their goods and services.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, since this paper is the first to conceptually develop a perspective on marketing and a corresponding model informed by service scholarship, more conceptual and empirical research is necessary. Developing the new meaningfulness-based perspective and model for marketing brings a new approach to the process of resolving marketing’s current troubled situation.

The meaningfulness approach to marketing enables customer-centered marketing strategies to be implemented. Such strategies include both demand-stimulating and demand-satisfying programs.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to examine marketing’s troubled situation from a service research and SL perspective.

This paper aims to evaluate the accessibility of digital information systems as a key usability attribute in information retrieval by users with visual impairment (VI), to inform development of accessible information systems.

This study used a cross-sectional survey design based on the quantitative research paradigm. Data was collected from 117 students with visual impairments from selected public universities in Kenya, using a semi-structured questionnaire adapted from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

This study revealed that gender did not influence screen reader compatibility, alternative format preferences, perceptions of accessible content or digital library navigability. Instead, type of visual impairment, prior assistive technology (AT) training and digital library use frequency significantly impacted these attributes. Blind students reported positive experiences, favouring alternative formats, and expressed positive views on accessible content while those with low vision faced more challenges. Prior training in assistive technology and frequent digital library use resulted in higher screen reader compatibility and better navigability. Increased digital library use was linked to access to alternative content for those with prior assistive technology training.

This study contributes to the existing literature on accessibility of digital information systems for users with visual impairments. Further research is needed to explore other factors that may influence the accessibility of digital systems, such as the design of user interfaces as well as an evaluation of accessibility of digital systems for other categories of disabilities such as hearing impairment, physical impairment, autism and intellectual disability, among others.

The findings of this study have practical implications for the design and development of digital systems such as digital libraries. Developers can leverage findings of this study to enhance compatibility of digital platforms with screen readers and provide alternative formats and accessible content. User-centred design principles can be used to create interfaces that are easy to navigate and friendly to users with visual impairments. Training programmes on assistive technology should be provided to users to enhance their skills and confidence in using digital systems.

This study contributes towards design and creation of navigable systems that are compatible with screen readers. The study also points out the importance of creating more inclusive and usable digital environments for persons with visual impairments.

This study aims to bring together the available scattered knowledge about teaching and learning in Living Labs within higher education, and to explore their potential for supporting students’ sustainability-oriented transformative learning.

A literature review was conducted, applying a realist approach. A sample of 35 articles was analyzed qualitatively, mapping the data according to the realist constructs “context,” “intervention,” “mechanism” and “outcome” and using the constant comparison method for data analysis.

This study identified multiple characteristics of teaching and learning in sustainability-oriented Living Labs, namely, two socio-physical teaching and learning contexts, two pedagogical approaches as interventions therein, four learning processes as (potential) mechanisms and six sustainability-related learning outcomes. Two main challenges were also identified.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that brings together the scattered results from previous studies into a comprehensive description of characteristics and challenges of teaching and learning in Living Labs as sustainability-oriented learning spaces in higher education. The findings can support educators in making scientifically grounded informed choices for teaching and learning in Living Labs and inform future empirical studies to examine when, how and why certain characteristics of teaching and learning in Living Labs, as identified in this study, can support sustainability-oriented transformative learning in higher education.