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The triangular intuitionistic fuzzy number (TIFN) is very useful for expressing ill-known quantity. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new method for multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problems, in which the attribute values are the TIFNs, the attribute weights are completely unknown and the weights of decision makers are given by linguistic variables.

A new method is given to rank TIFNs based on the weighted possibility mean and standard deviation of TIFNs. The weighted Minkowski distance of TIFNs is defined by using the weighted lower and upper possibility means of TIFNs. The weights of experts are determined in terms of the voting model of intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS). The weights of attributes can be objectively determined through utilizing the information entropy defined by weighted Minkowski distance of TIFNs. Through integrating the attribute weights and expert weights, the collective comprehensive ranking values of alternatives are obtained and used to rank the alternatives.

The stock selection example and comparison analysis show the validity and applicability of the method proposed in this paper.

The paper presents a new ranking method of TIFNs and defines the weighted Minkowski distance of TIFNs. The weights of experts are determined in terms of the voting model of IFS. The weights of attributes can be objectively determined through utilizing the information entropy. The proposed method can greatly enhance the flexibility and agility of decision-making process.

Metamodels are widely used to replace simulation models in engineering design optimization to reduce the computational cost. The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel sequential sampling strategy (weighted accumulative error sampling, WAES) to obtain accurate metamodels and apply it to improve the quality of global optimization.

A sequential single objective formulation is constructed to adaptively select new sample points. In this formulation, the optimization objective is to select a sample point with the maximum weighted accumulative predicted error obtained by analyzing data from previous iterations, and a space-filling criterion is introduced and treated as a constraint to avoid generating clustered sample points. Based on the proposed sequential sampling strategy, a two-step global optimization approach is developed.

The proposed WAES approach and the global optimization approach are tested in several cases. A comparison has been made between the proposed approach and other existing approaches. Results illustrate that WAES approach performs the best in improving metamodel accuracy and the two-step global optimization approach has a great ability to avoid local optimum.

The proposed WAES approach overcomes the shortcomings of some existing approaches. Besides, the two-step global optimization approach can be used for improving the optimization results.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of consumer purchase intention (CPI) of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) in the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

This study proposes a research model of the antecedents of CPI on CBEC in BRI countries. Study participants were consumers with CBEC shopping experience in BRI-associated countries (n = 278). Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model.

Trust has the greatest effect on CPI, while perceived security has the least effect. In addition, in BRI-associated countries, in contrast to the previous study, product presentation was found to have a significant positive influence on CPI in CBEC. Platform simplicity and logistic service have a significant positive influence on CPI.

These findings offer important implications for CBEC. Consumers' trust in product providers has the greatest impact on CPI. Simplicity, timely shipment tracking and the fast delivery speed of the platform will increase CPI. The results suggest a highly successful tactic for enhancing consumers' perceptions of product authenticity and interest. Finally, this study provides insights into BRI.

This study contributes to the literature on CBEC. It explores the multilevel (i.e. product presentation, platform simplicity, logistic service, perceived security, and trust) determinants of CPI on CBEC. The study provides insights into the determinants of CPI in BRI countries.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what drives firms’ choice between exploration alliances and exploitation alliances by examining the role of organizational slack and its interaction with market uncertainty.

An empirical study is conducted based on 1,614 alliances formed by 581 US biotechnology firms, and the hypotheses are tested using a zero-inflated multilevel Poisson model.

The results indicate that firms’ strategic choice to pursue exploration or exploitation alliances is a reflection of organizational intention and adaptation to environmental turbulence. More specifically, firms with more financial slack tend to form more exploration alliances and fewer exploitation alliances. However, under high market uncertainty, firms with financial slack tend to establish more exploitative partnerships and avoid exploration collaborations.

This paper contributes to the literature on exploration–exploitation alliances, which tends to fall short of providing an understanding of why organizations pursue such alliances. By identifying the impact of organizational slack and its interaction with market uncertainty, this study shows that organizations are able to respond to environmental change, and those with capabilities are likely to craft their strategic choice configurations based on their own characteristics.

Ecotourism is a sustainability approach that has emerged as an alternative to the negative environmental impacts of tourism, where natural, cultural and historical values are used as sources. Ecotourism is a nature-based tourism activity that ensures the sustainability of natural resources and promotes the economic development of local populations. It also preserves sociocultural values and protects the ecological system for future generations. However, if ecotourism is well-controlled, it can positively affect nature, natural life, local people and the local and national economy. This study highlights the importance of ecotourism for sustainability in the tourism industry. It examines ways to deal with the ecotourism phenomenon. In this direction, the study defines the concepts of ecological tourism and sustainability. It describes the general characteristics of ecotourism and sustainable tourism and the developing and potential environmental impacts associated with them. The study highlights that any tourist activity that does not have a sustainable quality cannot be long-term and will increase awareness on this topic.

Data integration is to combine data residing at different sources and to provide the users with a unified interface of these data. An important issue on data integration is the existence of conflicts among the different data sources. Data sources may conflict with each other at data level, which is defined as data inconsistency. The purpose of this paper is to aim at this problem and propose a solution for data inconsistency in data integration.

A relational data model extended with data source quality criteria is first defined. Then based on the proposed data model, a data inconsistency solution strategy is provided. To accomplish the strategy, fuzzy multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach based on data source quality criteria is applied to obtain the results. Finally, users feedbacks strategies are proposed to optimize the result of fuzzy MADM approach as the final data inconsistent solution.

To evaluate the proposed method, the data obtained from the sensors are extracted. Some experiments are designed and performed to explain the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The results substantiate that the solution has a better performance than the other methods on correctness, time cost and stability indicators.

Since the inconsistent data collected from the sensors are pervasive, the proposed method can solve this problem and correct the wrong choice to some extent.

In this paper, for the first time the authors study the effect of users feedbacks on integration results aiming at the inconsistent data.

This chapter uses a case study approach to examine an innovative corporate social responsibility (CSR) program designed to engage and motivate employees. MGM Resorts International, one of the largest casino gaming corporations, debuted the “Inspiring Our World” program in 2012 and continues to use it as a guide for the company’s CSR efforts. This chapter looks specifically at the program’s internal efforts to involve employees in CSR actions and considers how a program of this sort can benefit the corporation via employee engagement. It also discusses the important role that HR managers can take in facilitating such a program to ensure it has the best chance at success.

Smart manufacturing is the prime gripper for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Smart manufacturing systems (SMSs) largely determine how smart manufacturing evolves in technical and organizational dimensions and how it realizes values in products, production or services. SMSs are growing rapidly and receiving tons of attention from academic research and industrial practice. However, the development of SMSs is still in its fancy, and many issues wait to be identified and solved, such as single point failures, low transparency and ineffective resource sharing. Blockchain, an emerging technology deriving from Bitcoin, is competent to aid SMSs to conquer troubles due to its decentralization, traceability, trackability, disintermediation, auditability and etc. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the blockchain applications in SMSs, seek out the challenges faced by blockchain-enabled SMSs (BSMSs) and provide referable research directions and ideas.

A comprehensive literature review as a survey is conducted in this paper. The survey starts by introducing blockchain concepts, followed by the descriptions of a literature review method and the blockchain applications throughout the product life cycle in SMSs. Then, the key issues and challenges confronting BSMSs are discussed and some possible research directions are also proposed. It finally presents qualitative and quantitative descriptions of BSMSs, along with some conclusions and implications.

The findings of this paper present a deep understanding about the current status and challenges of blockchain adoption in SMSs. Furthermore, this paper provides a brand new thinking for future research.

This paper minutely analyzes the impacts that blockchain exerts on SMSs in view of the product life cycle, and proposes using the complexity science thinking to deal with BSMSs qualitatively and quantitatively, including tackling the current major problems BSMSs face. This research can serve as a foundation for future theoretical studies and enterprise practice.