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This study presents the development of a supply chain (SC) observatory, which is a benchmarking solution to support companies within the same industry in understanding their positioning in terms of SC performance.

A case study is used to demonstrate the set-up of the observatory. Twelve experts on automatic equipment for the wrapping and packaging industry were asked to select a set of performance criteria taken from the literature and evaluate their importance for the chosen industry using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. To handle the high number of criteria without requiring a high amount of time-consuming effort from decision-makers (DMs), five subjective, parsimonious methods for criteria weighting are applied and compared.

A benchmarking methodology is presented and discussed, aimed at DMs in the considered industry. Ten companies were ranked with regard to SC performance. The ranking solution of the companies was on average robust since the general structure of the ranking was very similar for all five weighting methodologies, though simplified-analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was the method with the greatest ability to discriminate between the criteria of importance and was considered faster to carry out and more quickly understood by the decision-makers.

Developing an SC observatory usually requires managing a large number of alternatives and criteria. The developed methodology uses parsimonious weighting methods, providing DMs with an easy-to-use and time-saving tool. A future research step will be to complete the methodology by defining the minimum variation required for one or more criteria to reach a specific position in the ranking through the implementation of a post-fact analysis.

Analysts expect reduced bank earnings as a result of the impact of the increase in bad loans. Banks have strategically created high provision coverage ratios allocating large funds for possible deterioration in asset quality. Given the expected faster growth and recovery in the bank lending sector, investors have always been interested in banking stocks, despite the waves of non-performing assets (NPAs) and recessionary influences. Historical references reiterate that the banking stocks have been better performers in their returns compared to the capital markets.

The study aims to examine the impact of key accounting variables on the stock prices of Indian banks in the panel data framework.

The current study explores the impact of accounting variables on the market prices of shares. After the study, it may be concluded that earning per share (EPS), return on equity (ROE), capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and net interest margin (NIM) have an incremental impact on the prices of banking stocks, and the current ratio (CR) and NPAs have a detrimental impact on them.

Studying their impact on stock prices is the most convenient fundamental analysis that could be conducted on the stock prices of the banks.

To provide insights into the association of the accounting and regulatory variables there is a severe limitation in the quantity of the literature available. This study has attempted to build a relationship between the accounting and regulatory variables and the stock prices of banking stocks, to help investors with some reliable methods to estimate the stock prices in the future.

This study aims to measure and further compare the countries in terms of the achievement in the degree of financial inclusion over the study period and between income groups considering 26 nations from Asia for the period 2013-2017.

While measuring the degree of financial inclusion, the study prepares an index using weighted arithmetic mean and the inverse of the Euclidean distance method. Further, comparison between the study period and between the income groups has been made using the dependent samples t-test as well as the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and independent samples t-test, respectively.

The study extends empirical insights by laying out the ranks for the countries considered for each of the study periods individually as well as in terms of mean financial inclusion scores for the study period. Further, comparison in terms of mean financial inclusion scores shows significant differences between the income groups, whereas the differences between the study periods turn out to be non-significant.

Less availability of intended variables over time restricts the predictive capability of sketching the phenomena in a true sense and claims further an exhaustive research to pursue in the future.

With the declining trend except for 2016-2017 in the achievement of financial inclusion scores over time, the study suggests emphasizing the initiatives targeted to include the excluded within the ambit of the formal financial system, which somehow seems unstable.

The novelty of the study lies in the portrayal of a measure that seems representative of the scale for development with deeper insight.

India is the first country to have mandated compulsory corporate social responsibility (CSR) spends through changes in its legislative framework. Focus has thus shifted from the “why” to the “how” of CSR and, therefore, a shift in the “locus” of CSR responsibility from the “influencer” chief executive officer toward the “implementer” CSR professionals. The purpose of this paper is to study the role of management education in developing individual competencies among the implementers and impacting effective CSR implementation.

This paper, using a case study design, studies the role of management education in developing individual competencies among the implementers and impacting effective CSR implementation. Building on theoretical frameworks, this paper carries out an exploratory research of an Indian business school’s management education program for development practitioners. It uses qualitative inputs gathered from relevant stakeholders of the program to understand the role of management education in facilitating the paradigm shift in CSR in the Indian context.

The paper finds that the program has impacted outcomes at three levels, namely through developing key individual CSR-related competencies; impacting participants’ professional performance; and organizational impact in effective CSR implementation.

The case study provides a roadmap to business schools for designing and implementing programs for CSR professionals.

Extant research in the Indian context is silent on key competencies required for CSR implementation and also on the role of management education in developing the same. Such competencies can ensure the efficiency of the expected large CSR spends by private corporates under the new legal requirements and alter the country’s social development path.

This study aims to offer a research overview of circular food waste management, covering key themes and trends. It analyses state-of-the-art research in this field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This study outlines bibliometric analysis from a sample of 349 articles with VOSviewer and SciMat software to identify research trend topics.

The findings reveal a substantial amount of interest in this field. The main research topics relate to the recovery processes and valorisation of food waste and its conversion into renewable and cleaner materials or energy sources, towards circularity. However, these processes require consideration of social aspects that facilitate their implementation, which are currently under-researched.

Companies can target their circular food waste management by considering three key aspects. Firstly, the establishment of closer and more sustainable relationships with various stakeholders; Secondly, a regulatory framework and the support of institutions are both required for the correct implementation of circularity. Finally, what is not measured does not exist. It is therefore necessary to establish indicators to measure both the level of development of circularity in waste management and the fulfilment of the established objective.

This bibliometric analysis looks at the application of circularity principles in food waste management from a holistic perspective, considering different areas of knowledge.

This study reviews the extent of application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the construction industry.

A thorough literature review (based on 165 articles) was conducted using Elsevier's Scopus due to its simplicity and as it encapsulates an extensive variety of databases to identify the literature related to the scope of the present study.

The following items were extracted: type of AI tools used, the major purpose of application, the geographical location where the study was conducted and the distribution of studies in terms of the journals they are published by. Based on the review results, the disciplines the AI tools have been used for were classified into eight major areas, such as geotechnical engineering, project management, energy, hydrology, environment and transportation, while construction materials and structural engineering. ANN has been a widely used tool, while the researchers have also used other AI tools, which shows efforts of exploring other tools for better modelling abilities. There is also clear evidence of that studies are now growing from applying a single AI tool to applying hybrid ones to create a comparison and showcase which tool provides a better result in an apple-to-apple scenario.

The findings can be used, not only by the researchers interested in the application of AI tools in construction, but also by the industry practitioners, who are keen to further understand and explore the applications of AI tools in the field.

There are no studies to date which serves as the center point to learn about the different AI tools available and their level of application in different fields of AEC. The study sheds light on various studies, which have used AI in hybrid/evolutionary systems to develop effective and accurate predictive models, to offer researchers and model developers more tools to choose from.

The purpose of this research aimed to identify the risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and determine their prevalence and characteristics in a semi-urban community in Thailand.

The survey was designed to determine the type and prevalence of risk factors for NCDs among populations in semi-urban areas in the Takianleurn subdistrict of Nakhonsawan, Thailand. A stratified random sampling design was used to select 352 subjects, aged over 15 years and living in this region. Data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed to show frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-squared, prevalence rate and prevalence rate ratio with significance indicated by p-value < 0.05 and confidence interval 95 percent.

The implications for the future study are as follows: (1) a comparative study between rural and urban or rural and semi-urban or urban and semi-urban should be studied to understand how risk factors cause NCDs and (2) Participatory action research should be introduced to assess the effectiveness of the decrease in NCDs risk factors management in the community.

(1) To scale up public health interventions measures to promote and prevent NCDs should be focused on behavioral risk factors of NCDs such as eating habits, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. (2) Health promotion and disease prevention for decrease in NCDs should consist of reducing alcohol consumption and enhancing healthy eating habits and (3) To manage unmodified risk factors such as age, gender, educational level, etc. should be focused on surveillance and physical health examination yearly.

The results revealed a prevalence of NCDs of 14.8 percent. The main unmodifiable risk factors affecting NCD prevalence were gender, age, low level of education and poverty; behavioral risk factors included not eating enough fruit and vegetables, high alcohol consumption, a high-fat fast-food diet and smoking.

The prevention of NCDs requires more focus on changing the eating behavior of high-risk groups and providing easily accessible health care information and services. The entire family should be involved in the process of maintaining good health and disease prevention for all family members.

This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the laser engineered net shaping (LENS) process in an attempt to provide the reader with a deep understanding of the controllable and fixed build parameters of metallic parts. The authors discuss the effect and interplay between process parameters, including: laser power, scan speed and powder feed rate. Further, the authors show the interplay between process parameters is pivotal in achieving the desired microstructure, macrostructure, geometrical accuracy and mechanical properties.

In this manuscript, the authors review current research examining the process inputs and their influences on the final product when manufacturing with the LENS process. The authors also discuss how these parameters relate to important build aspects such as melt-pool dimensions, the volume of porosity and geometry accuracy.

The authors conclude that studies have greatly enriched the understanding of the LENS build process, however, much studies remains to be done. Importantly, the authors reveal that to date there are a number of detailed theoretical models that predict the end properties of deposition, however, much more study is necessary to allow for reasonable prediction of the build process for standard industrial parts, based on the synchronistic behavior of the input parameters.

This paper intends to raise questions about the possible research areas that could potentially promote the effectiveness of this LENS technology.

Technological innovation has been changing the tourism industry precipitously and making the holiday experience more enjoyable and easier than before. The purpose of this study is to identify the current and future changes by the machine learning (ML) system as artificial intelligence in the hospitality industry.

This study has a descriptive research approach because building knowledge on technology and applying this knowledge to a tourism research are still new extensions in social studies, especially in tourism.

This research shows the value of using ML in the quality of data, features and algorithms besides stating the difficulties of data analysis in hospitality. This research also provides a comparison of automated ML techniques and the use of a robot for customer services in the hotel.

This research contributes to the tourism and technology literature by shedding light on the use of ML in tourism advancement to predict future business conditions, revenue, challenges and also to identify the current trend of tourist demand.

This study aims to describe survivors of stroke circumstances, issues with providing care for survivors of stroke and services expected by caregivers and survivors of stroke.

A qualitative research design was conducted in Singburi Province. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, focus groups and participatory observations. Semi-structured in-depth interview guides, quality-of-life scale and depression scale were used to collect data from survivors of stroke, their caregivers, health personnel, local governors and village health volunteers. Naturalistic research tradition was used for qualitative data analysis and descriptive statistics for quantitative data analysis.

The majority of survivors of stroke had hemiplegic limb and severe deficits in their activities of daily living. Caregivers were family members, and they often developed depression. Issues with providing care to stroke survivors included lack of knowledge about stroke and home care, inadequacy and discontinuity of care and the shortage of stroke care personnel in the community. A stakeholder's expected stroke services included the provision of effective continuing care, community participation in care and enhancing the village health volunteer's capacity.

This study illustrated the stroke service systems in rural Thai communities. The study's findings could be applied when planning future research using community participation to test a model of care for stroke survivors to promote better outcomes and be responsive to the needs of stroke survivors, especially those who are disabled.