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Risk factors for population relocation as a result of severe catastrophes are increasing on a global scale. The frequency of catastrophic weather events is rising, infrastructure is getting older, the population is expanding, and urbanization is increasing. This study explores the influencing factors of livelihood, vulnerability, and livelihood resilience of climate-induced displaced people in developing countries, particularly in South Asia. A mixed-method approach comprising a systematic review and a narrative review has been applied in this study. A systematic review guided by PRISMA has been used to identify the relevant documents and the extracted information has been described through a narrative review approach. This study reveals that climate-induced displaced people are generally vulnerable to maintaining their livelihood, but there are a few exceptional cases where displaced people could diversify their livelihood strategies. The major influencing factors of their livelihoods are riverbank erosion, loss of assets and properties, food insecurity, seasonal hunger, low access to finance, and low job opportunity. This study argues that climate-displaced people have a long struggle to enhance their livelihood resilience, but it is a challenging task for them, particularly at the household level. The major influencing indicators under adaptive, absorptive, and transformative capacities of livelihood resilience are income and food access, agricultural and non-agricultural assets, sensitivity, climate variability and hazards, basic services, social safety nets, and institutional participation. Appropriate governance in the structural and non-structural transformation of livelihood capitals can enhance the livelihood resilience of climate-induced displaced households. In the case of Bangladesh, the coastal and Riverine Island communities are the key victims of climate-induced hazards, so they migrated frequently to reduce their vulnerability and enhance livelihood resilience. The study recommends ensuring transparency and accountability, proper coordination among stakeholders for promoting the resettlement, disaster-resilient housing and infrastructure, and Khas land (government-owned land) to the displaced people can enhance their livelihood resilience.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While rapid increase in demand for foods but limited availability of croplands has forced to adopt input-intensive farming practices to increase yield, there are serious long-term ecological implications including degradation of biodiversity. It is increasingly recognised that ensuring agricultural sustainability under the changing climatic conditions requires a change in the production system along with necessary policies and institutional arrangements. In this context, this chapter examines if climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can facilitate adaptation and mitigation practices by improving resource utilisation efficiency in India. Such an attempt has special significance as the existing studies have very limited discussions on three main aspects, viz., resource productivity, adaptation practices and mitigation strategies in a comprehensive manner. Based on insights from the existing studies, this chapter points out that CSA can potentially make significant contribution to enhancing resource productivity, adaptation practices, mitigation strategies and food security, especially among the land-constrained farmers who are highly prone to environmental shocks. In this connection, staggered trench irrigation structure has facilitated rainwater harvesting, local irrigation and livelihood generation in West Bengal. However, it is necessary to revisit the existing approaches to promotion of CSA and dissemination of information on the design of local adaptation strategies. This chapter also proposes a change in the food system from climate-sensitive to CSA through integration of technologies, institutions and policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on higher education (HE) across the globe, including in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi HE system is going through an abrupt transition and transformation to cope with the crisis. This chapter is based on data collected from teachers and students of Bangladeshi public and private HE institutions regarding teaching and learning during the COVID-19 lockdown. In Bangladesh, some universities switched to online distance teaching and learning quickly during this period, and others lagged behind in this regard. Teachers and students from both groups of public and private universities participated in the study, including those who attended online teaching and learning activities and those who did not participate. This chapter highlights both teachers’ and students’ perspectives regarding students’ future preparedness for participating fully in the changing landscape of HE, especially technology-enhanced teaching and learning. Understanding these perspectives of teachers and students is important to address the digital divide and social justice issues in the policy and practice. Within the HE sector in Bangladesh, it is especially vital while transforming its education system and adapting emerging technologies to address the challenges of education in future emergencies.

This study examines how resource dependency affects municipal budgetary process; specifically, it investigates how politically aligned resource sharing between different levels of government along with clientelism interferes with the budgetary process of municipal organizations in developing countries.

The paper adopts a qualitative approach to study two municipal organizations in Bangladesh. The qualitative data are collected from semi-structured interviews with key organizational members. Besides, the study also relies on various publicly available documents and the Local Government Acts to complement the interview data.

The findings of the study divulge dependence on partisan aligned nonprogrammable government funds poses significant problems for municipal organizations in carrying out their budgetary process. Clientelism and informal negotiations of incumbent political leaders are found to play a vital role in such resource sharing decisions. The consequent uncertainties in getting funds have the potentials of interrupting the budgetary process at the organizational level. In some cases, budgets do not appear to be useful as a management tool for guiding organizational activities.

Like other qualitative studies, the results of these case studies are not generalizable because their interpretations are highly dependent on the context of the research sites.

Despite the limitation of a case study research, the results of this study are useful to deepen our understanding of how uncertainty in resource sharing creates clientele behavior and interferes with the organizational budget. Such an understanding helps practitioners and policymakers devise a sound resource sharing mechanism for effective delivery of municipal services on a sustainable basis.

This study provides insight into how precarious central government transfers and clientelism interfere with local governments' budgetary process.

The way theory is used and developed in qualitative research has been a controversial issue, since theory provides a filter through which qualitative data are interpreted, and the “story” is told. This paper aims to present a study of the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) that demonstrates the impact a different theoretical lens has on the selection and interpretation of events, the story that is produced, and the unique view of the role of accounting within its social context.

This paper examines two possible interpretations of the FDB's role under the magnifying glass of Llewellyn's five levels of theorising and the world‐view of the researchers.

An analysis of the use of theory and the level of theorising brings to light the difference theory makes to the story that unfolds. On the one hand, accounting is seen as a tool of a repressive system, an example of the outworking of a grand theory, and on the other hand, while no grand theory is overtly employed, the FDB is viewed as a unifying catalyst for the coexistence of two apparently contradictory social institutions.

This interpretation of the role and effect of theory in qualitative research is unique and contestable, but forms part of the debate that is a necessary part of the advancement of academic knowledge.

Llewellyn's claim that higher level theory develops from lower levels of theorising is challenged, and the assertion is made that grand theory is employed not as the culmination of a theoretical hierarchy, but because of the presence of a preconceived world‐view which informs the choice of theory at every level.

Employee knowledge is an essential contributor to managing supply chain ambiguities and supply improvement. The current research examined green technology (GT) implementation and knowledge management (KM) processes toward knowledge worker supply performance (KWSP). The present study postulates that GT implementation's positive impacts on the KM process and KM process lead to improved KWSP based on employee knowledge contribution.

To accomplish the research objective, the data were taken from those production houses that are utilizing GT. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed in Zhengzhou city, and feedback was received (343). The feedback data were studied through partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). fsQCA is used to analyze improving the multiple configurational paths of KWSP.

The study revealed that GT implementation is positively associated with the KM process, and KM processes substantially influence the improvement of KWSP. The consequence of fsQCA demonstrated that various combinations improve supply chain performance. The study combines certain dimensions of GT implementation with the KM process, revealing that supply chain performance improved based on knowledge sharing in manufacturing firms.

This study guides decision-makers and academics on using the knowledge process associated with GT to improve supply chain performance. Moreover, future researchers should use information technology in supply houses and compare the result with the literature to generalize the results better.

The asymmetric technique assists in differentiating the connections that are not directly investigated by the traditional symmetric method. The study covers and identifies various approaches that can be used in manufacturing firms to improve the supply chain process and employee satisfaction. The study combines the two techniques to understand supply performance based on knowledge sharing in manufacturing firms.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical approximate technique to solve nonlinear conservative oscillator based on the He’s energy balance method (improved version recently presented by Khan and Mirzabeigy). The method is illustrated by solving double well Duffing oscillator.

The Duffing equation with a double-well potential (with a negative linear stiffness) is an important model of a mass particle moving in a symmetric double well potential. This form of the equation also appears in the transverse vibrations of a beam when the transverse and longitudinal deflections are coupled (Thompsen, 2003).

The approximate solutions obtained by the present technique have good agreement with the numerical solution and also provide better results than other existing methods.

The results are more accurate than those obtained by other existing methods. The relative errors obtained by the present paper are less than those obtained by other existing methods. Therefore, the present technique is very effective and convenient for solving nonlinear conservative oscillator.

This study aims to assess both internal and external factors that impact consumer attitudes and intentions with regard to the purchase of non-deceptive counterfeits. More specifically, this study examines the impact of integrity, brand consciousness, performance risk and social risk on the attitude and in turn on the purchase intention of consumers towards non-deceptive counterfeits.

A total of 679 valid responses from the university students in two different Gulf countries, namely, Oman (264) and Qatar (415) were gathered through a self-administered structured questionnaire and analysed through partial least square‐structural equation modeling.

All the predictors of consumer attitude appeared significant in both country samples except integrity. However, brand consciousness appeared insignificant in the sample of Oman. In addition, Purchase intention towards the non-deceptive counterfeits was significantly predicted by attitude and subjective norm in both samples.

In the domain of non-deceptive counterfeit literature, the findings of the study will substantially add value. Particularly, in the Gulf country context, the impact of internal psychological and external risk factors on the attitude and purchase intention of non-deceptive counterfeits will enhance the insights of existing literature and extend and proof the robustness of the theory of reasoned action.

Leveraging the mindfulness theory and the social exchange theory, this study examines the influence of perceived leader mindfulness (PLM) on turnover intentions (TOI) of non-family employees (NFEs) working in family firms. The study investigates whether the above relationship is mediated by employee perceptions of leader–member exchange quality (LMX quality) and their affective commitment (AC).

A conceptual framework is proposed that hypothesizes inverse relationship between PLM and TOI, which is posited to be mediated by both LMX quality and AC. The hypotheses are tested through survey data collected from 254 NFEs working in various family-owned businesses in Malaysia. The data analyzed through partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicate that PLM has a positive influence on both LMX quality and AC. Moreover, PLM has a strong negative affect on TOI. In terms of results of mediation analysis, it appears that two mediation hypotheses out of four are significant, that is mediating effect of AC between PLM and TOI and LMX quality between PLM and AC. However, the mediating role of LMX quality between PLM and TOI and the sequential mediation hypotheses were both non-significant.

The findings of the study imply is that to ensure retention of qualified and talented NFEs, mindfulness of family firm leaders plays a significant role in ensuring lower TOI. Furthermore, such a goal is better achieved by ensuring that such employees are supported through leadership that leads to their development of better LMX quality and AC towards the organization. The study however is limited, as other potential exogenous variables that may influence TOI were not considered.

Losing employees that join a firm and acquire valuable skills and experience is a significant concern for family firms that are known for discriminating between employees related to the owners and outsiders. This study presents evidence for owners and managers of family firms that by focusing on mindful behavior and working towards developing better LMX quality and AC of NFEs, the organization can reduce TOI of such employees.

This study contributes to the under-researched and fragmented literature on relationships between PLM among NFEs and TOI of such individuals working in family firms. Moreover, this appears to be the first study that investigates mediating roles of and LMX quality and AC among NFEs in the above relationship.