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The weaning period is a crucial stage in the growth and development of the infant and child. The timing of weaning, the choice of foods, their methods of preparation, and how weanlings are fed, all affect the outcome. The commercial preparation of weaning foods and the fortification of some traditional foods are seen by some as the most sustainable and cost‐effective means of alleviating micronutrient deficiencies among infants and children. This may be true in industrialized countries, but the same cannot necessarily be said of poor, developing countries. Demonstrates that, even in poor communities, it is possible to combine scant food resources in a cost‐effective way to formulate multimixes which would meet energy, protein and micronutrient needs, without fortification. Proposes that such approaches can be used in community nutrition education programmes to help reduce childhood malnutrition and in emergency feeding programmes.

Describes chromium’s importance in nutrition and health, pinpointing its sources in diets and facts about its absorption in humans. Outlines the body’s ability to store chromium and the function of the element. Reports on current recommendations of safe and adequate levels of intake. The symptoms of chromium deficiency are discussed as are the toxic effects of too high an intake. Concludes with recommendations for required further research.

Taiwan’s hotel industry was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the effect of strategic choices by Taiwanese international tourist hotels before and during the pandemic environments.

A data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist methodology is used in this study to provide a mechanism to assess Taiwanese hotel strategy performance. Changes in the productivity and performance of Taiwanese international tourist hotels were analyzed in the periods before and during the pandemic to uncover insights useful should a similar crisis occur in the future. Panel data were obtained from the annual report of international tourist hotels published by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau from 2017–2020. Two groups of hotels were analyzed in this study: city hotels and scenic hotels.

The findings of this study reveal that chain hotels tended to perform better than independent hotels in both city and scenic areas during the global pandemic. Specifically, the crisis caused a substantial decline in productivity and profitability for international tourist hotels in Taipei City during the COVID-19 period. Compared to city hotels, findings also indicate that most international tourist hotels in scenic areas were able to maintain better productivity, including larger-sized scenic hotels.

The DEA-based analysis provides unique and valuable insights for hotel firm leaders on how to better identify and make strategic choices when responding to future crises.

Operational excellence (OpEx) is a direction toward learning and developing an excellent culture in all aspects of an organization. To reach this culture, revolutionizing activities using industry 4.0 (i4.0) technologies might be a significant empowering tool. This study aims to identify the challenges and benefits of both concepts and investigate their interrelationship to be considered in applying industry 4.0 technologies toward operational excellence.

The challenges and benefits of OpEx and i4.0 are identified and finalized by reviewing the literature. The causal relations between the considered factors are extracted using the fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method. Then, the analytical network process (ANP) is applied to determine the importance and weight of the factors (challenges and benefits of OpEx and i4.0) according to the constructed network.

The findings illustrated a strong network structure between the factors. First, the causal factors included OpEx and i4.0 challenges, while the OpEx challenges also affected the i4.0 challenges. Both group challenges had a significant effect on OpEx and i4.0 benefits. This means that challenges are the causal factors to be considered in the alignment of i4.0 toward OpEx. Among the OpEx challenges, lack of strategic planning and proper infrastructure were the main influential factors. In contrast, lack of government support and undeveloped business models were identified as the main challenges of i4.0.

OpEx and i4.0 concepts are reviewed and their pros and cons are studied. Previous studies determined an interaction among these concepts. However, from a practical viewpoint, the relation between the challenges and benefits of i4.0 and OpEx was studied for the first time for their alignment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of knowledge creation (KC) process on customer relations management (CRM) in Palestinian commercial banks, taking into consideration which factors of KC process support the CRM system.

The study uses a quantitative research design wherein questionnaires have been used to collect data from 345 respondents in the Palestinian banking sector. Research hypotheses have been tested using multiple regression analysis.

The findings unveil that socialisation and combination processes have a positive impact on CRM. In contrast, internalisation process negatively affects CRM system, but outsourcing knowledge does not significantly affect CRM.

Past studies empirically validated the success of CRM adaptation in the context of different industries. This study provides a new conceptual model which validates the influence of KC on CRM in the banking sector. It also affirms the integral role of KC in supporting CRM from an emerging country perspective like Palestine.

This study offers new insights into creating of knowledge by employees in supporting CRM. It will encourage future scholars to further explore the key dimensions of the KC process for a more detailed investigation at a workplace. This study suggests that banks’ directors and employees should behave in a social manner to support relationship with customers. This study also suggests facilitating knowledge from different resources in innovative ways, through encouraging creative thinking from experiences, using technology in sharing knowledge, focussing on appropriate training to resolve customers' problems and disseminating new knowledge among employees.

This study expands the body of knowledge on KC process in supporting CRM from an emerging country perspective. This study validates the influence of KC on CRM in the Palestinian banking sector. This sheds light on the integration of these two concepts.