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This study aims to explore the gap between research and practice on supply chain risks due to COVID-19 by exploring the changes in global emphasis on supply chain risk research.

This work designed a research framework to compare the research of supply chain risks before and during the COVID-19 pandemic based on machining learning and text clustering and using the relevant publications of the web of science database.

The results show that scholars' attention to supply chain crisis has increased in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, but there are differences among countries. The United Kingdom, India, Australia, the USA and Italy have greatly increased their emphasis on risk research, while the supply chain risk research growth rate in other countries, including China, has been lower than the global level. Compared with the pre-pandemic period, the research of business finance, telecommunications, agricultural economics policy, business and public environmental occupational health increased significantly during the pandemic. The hotspots of supply chain risk research have changed significantly during the pandemic, focusing on routing problem, organizational performance, food supply chain, dual-channel supply chain, resilient supplier selection, medical service and machine learning.

This study has limitations in using a single database.

This work compared the changes in global and various countries' supply chain risk research before and during the pandemic. On the one hand, it helps to judge the degree of response of scholars to the global supply chain risk brought about by COVID-19. On the other hand, it is beneficial for supply chain practitioners and policymakers to gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain risk, which might provide insights into not only addressing the supply chain risk but also the recovery of the supply chain.

The initial exploration of the changing extent of supply chain risk research in the context of COVID-19 provided in this paper is a unique and earlier attempt that extends the findings of the existing literature. Secondly, this research provides a feasible analysis strategy for supply chain risk research, which provides a direction and paradigm for exploring more effective supply chain research to meet the challenges of COVID-19.

The aim of this paper is to solve the toxic and harmful problems caused by traditional volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) and to analyze the effect of the layered structure on the enhancement of the volatile corrosion inhibition prevention performance of amino acids.

The carbon dots-montmorillonite (DMT) hybrid material is prepared via hydrothermal process. The effect of the DMT-modified alanine as VCI for mild steel is investigated by volatile inhibition sieve test, volatile corrosion inhibition ability test, electrochemical measurement and surface analysis technology. It demonstrates that the DMT hybrid materials can improve the ability of alanine to protect mild steel against atmospheric corrosion effectively. The presence of carbon dots enlarges the interlamellar spacing of montmorillonite and allows better dispersion of alanine. The DMT-modified alanine has higher volatilization ability and an excellent corrosion inhibition of 85.3% for mild steel.

The DMT hybrid material provides a good template for the distribution of VCI, which can effectively improve the vapor-phase antirust property of VCI.

The increased volatilization rate also means increased VCI consumption and higher costs.

Provides a new way of thinking to replace the traditional toxic and harmful VCI.

For the first time, amino acids are combined with nano laminar structures, which are used to solve the problem of difficult volatilization of amino acids.

The aim of this study is to undertake a systematic analysis of the supply chain literature to uncover the changes and patterns of international cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this study, the information on supply chain-related publications in the Web of Science (WOS) database is analyzed using statistical techniques and visual approaches. The focus is on the five countries with the highest number of supply chain publications, accounting for approximately 70% of global publications. This in-depth analysis aims to provide a clearer understanding of the cooperation patterns and their impact on the supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the study reveal that the growth rate of international cooperation in supply chain research during the COVID-19 pandemic is higher compared to the 5-year and 10-year periods before the pandemic. This suggests that the pandemic has not hindered international cooperation in the field, but instead has increased collaboration. In terms of international cooperation patterns, the findings indicate that China and the USA have a strong partnership, with China being the largest partner for the USA and vice versa. The UK's largest partner is China, India's largest partner is the UK and Italy's largest partner is also the UK. This implies that trade, rather than the pandemic, is a determining factor in supply chain research.

This study examines the patterns of international cooperation in supply chain research during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing insights into the changes and mechanisms of international cooperation in this field. Moreover, the results of this study may offer practical benefits for supply chain operators and managers. By providing a deeper understanding of the international cooperation patterns in the field, this research could contribute to the recovery and growth of the global supply chain.

This study's analysis of the impact of crisis events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on international cooperation in supply chain research contributes to the theoretical development of the field. Additionally, by examining how academia responds to emergencies, it provides valuable insights for operations and supply chain managers in their pursuit of more effective supply chain management.

This study provides a preliminary examination of the international cooperation patterns of supply chain research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a novel and early contribution to the existing literature, helping to expand upon current understanding in the field and provide a more comprehensive perspective. Furthermore, this study offers a practical analysis strategy for future supply chain research, fostering progress and growth in the field.

This study examines the firm-level financial consequences caused by supply chain disruptions during COVID-19 and explores how firms' supply chain diversification strategies, including diversified suppliers, customers and products, moderate the negative effect on firm performance.

Based on data drawn from 222 publicly traded firms in China, the authors use event study methodology to estimate the effects of supply chain disruptions on the financial performance of affected firms. Regression analyses are conducted to examine the moderating effects of supply chain diversification.

Firms affected by supply chain disruptions during COVID-19 experienced a significant decline in shareholder value in two weeks and a subsequent decrease in operating performance in one year. Diversified suppliers, customers and products act as shock absorbers to alleviate the negative effects. Further regression shows a substitution effect between customer and product diversification. Cross-industry comparisons reveal that service firms experienced more loss than manufacturing firms. Customer diversification mitigates the adverse effects of supply chain disruptions for both manufacturing and service firms. Supplier diversification exerts a noteworthy role in manufacturing firms, while product diversification is beneficial for service firms.

The study provides empirical evidence on the magnitude of financial consequences of supply chain disruptions during COVID-19 in both the short term and long term and enriches the current understanding of how to build resilience from the supply chain diversification perspective.

The possibility function-based grey clustering model has evolved into a complete approach for dealing with uncertainty evaluation problems. Existing models still have problems with the choice dilemma of the maximum criteria and instances when the possibility function may not accurately capture the data's randomness. This study aims to propose a multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering model that blends grey and randomness to overcome these problems.

First, the skewed grey cloud possibility (SGCP) function is defined, and its digital characteristics demonstrate that a normal cloud is a particular instance of a skewed cloud. Second, the border of the decision paradox of the maximum criterion is established. Third, using the skewed grey cloud kernel weight (SGCKW) transformation as a tool, the multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering coefficient (SGCCC) vector is calculated and research items are clustered according to this multi-stage SGCCC vector with overall features. Finally, the multi-stage skewed grey cloud clustering model's solution steps are then provided.

The results of applying the model to the assessment of college students' capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship revealed that, in comparison to the traditional grey clustering model and the two-stage grey cloud clustering evaluation model, the proposed model's clustering results have higher identification and stability, which partially resolves the decision paradox of the maximum criterion.

Compared with current models, the proposed model in this study can dynamically depict the clustering process through multi-stage clustering, ensuring the stability and integrity of the clustering results and advancing grey system theory.

Extensive macro- and micro-economics research has been conducted on China's tax reform, which replaced business tax with value-added tax (VAT). However, existing studies have not clarified the reform's impact on firm-level investment decisions. Hence, this study explored the effect of replacing business tax with VAT on firms' investment efficiency.

The study used 2010–2018 data from China's A-share listed companies and a difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the effect of the reform on firm-level investment decisions.

The authors found that China's tax reform has improved investment efficiency in underinvested firms, increased liquidity and decreased the level of reliance on external financing. The tax reform had a greater effect on investment efficiency in firms with lower liquidity and higher external financing reliance. Its effect was also more significant among non-state-owned and small companies.

This study fills the aforementioned research gap by exploring the effects of China's tax reform, thus providing a theoretical reference and a basis for policymaking.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the 3D printability of a multimaterial, fully self-supporting auxetic structure. This will contribute to expanding the application of additive manufacturing (AM) to new products, such as automotive suspensions.

An experimental approach for sample fabrication on a multiextruder 3D printer and characterization by compression testing was conducted along with numerical simulations, which were used to support the design of different auxetic configurations for the jounce bumper.

The effect of stacking different auxetic cell modules was discussed, and the findings demonstrated that a one-piece printed structure has a better performance than one composed of multiple single modules stacked on top of each other.

The quality of the 3D printing process affected the performance of the final components and reproducibility of the results. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to further study component fabrication optimization to achieve a more reliable process.

This research work can help improve the manufacturing and functionality of a critical element of automotive suspension systems, such as the jounce bumper, which can efficiently reduce noise, vibration and harshness by absorbing impact energy.

In previous research, auxetic structures for the application of jounce bumpers have already been suggested. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, in this work, an AM approach was used for the first time to fabricate multimaterial auxetic structures, not only by co-printing a flexible thermoplastic polymer with a stiffer one but also by continuously extruding multilevel structures of auxetic cell modules.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in consumer behaviour, which has had a cascading effect on consumer-centric logistics. As a result, this study conducts a focused literature review of pandemic-related consumer behaviour research to address two research questions: 1) what are the pandemic's direct effects on consumer consumption behaviour, with an emphasis on changes in their basic and psychological needs? and 2) what are the consequences of behavioural changes on consumer-centric logistics?

The scientific procedure and rationales for systematic literature review (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol and the theory, context, characteristics and methodology (TCCM) framework were adopted as a guideline to map, refine, evaluate and synthesise the literature. A total of 53 research articles were identified for further analysis.

Using Maslow's hierarchy of human needs as a theoretical guide, this review synthesises the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on consumer behaviour into four categories: abnormal buying behaviour, changes in consumer preferences, digitalisation of shopping behaviour and technology-related behaviour. Furthermore, four consumer-centric logistics propositions are proposed based on the four aspects of consumer behavioural changes.

This study outlines the significant behavioural changes in consumers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and how these changes impact consumer-centric logistics, with implications for managing consumers' involvement in logistics and pointing out future research directions.

Stainless-clad bimetallic steels (SCBS) are widely investigated in some extremely environmental applications areas, such as polar sailing area and tropical oil and gas platforms areas, because of their excellent anticorrosion performance and relatively lower production costs. However, the properties of SCBS, including the mechanical strength, weldability and the anticorrosion behavior, have a direct relation with the manufacturing process and can affect their practical applications. This paper aims to review the application and the properties requirements of SCBS in marine environments to promote the application of this new material in more fields.

In this paper, the manufacturing process, welding and corrosion-resistant properties of SCBS were introduced systematically by reviewing the related literatures, and some results of the authors’ research group were also introduced briefly.

Different preparation methods, such as rolling composite, casting rolling composite, explosive composite, laser cladding and plasma arc cladding, as well as the process parameters, including the vacuum degree, rolling temperature, rolling reduction ratio, volume ratios of liquid to solid, explosive ratio and the heat treatment, influenced a lot on the properties of the SCBS through changing the interface microstructures. Otherwise, the variations in rolling temperature, pass, reduction and the grain size of clad steel also brought the dissimilarities of the mechanical properties, microhardness, bonding strength and toughness. Another two new processes, clad teeming method and interlayer explosive welding, deserve more attention because of their excellent microstructure control ability. The superior corrosion resistance of SCBS can alleviate the corrosion problem in the marine environment and prolong the service life of the equipment, but the phenomenon of galvanic corrosion should be noted as much as possible. The high dilution rate, welding process specifications and heat treatment can weaken the intergranular corrosion resistance in the weld area.

This paper summarizes the application of SCBS in marine environments and provides an overview and reference for the research of stainless-clad bimetallic steel.

Past research often relies on linear relationship assumptions from the perspective of managers when studying the relationship between attribute performance and satisfaction. However, this study extracts tourists’ online reviews to explore asymmetric relationships and identifies island tourism satisfiers, hybrids and dissatisfiers.

The research uses 3,523 reviews from Tripadvisor to examine Langkawi Island’s tourist satisfaction. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) machine-learning approach, penalty–reward contrast analysis and asymmetric impact-performance analysis (AIPA) were employed to extract and analyse the data.

Langkawi’s dissatisfiers included “hotel and restaurant”, “beach leisure”, “water sport”, “snorkelling”, “commanding view”, “waterfall”, “sky bridge walk”, “animal show”, “animal feeding”, “history culture”, “village activity” and “duty-free mall”. Amongst these, five were low performers. Hybrids encompassed “ticket purchasing”, “amenity” “traditional food market” and “gift and souvenir”, all of which were low performers. Only one attribute was categorised as a satisfier: “nature view” which performed exceptionally well.

This study provides recommendations to enhance tourist satisfaction and address tourist dissatisfaction. The elements requiring immediate attention for enhancement are the five low-performance dissatisfiers, as they represent tourists’ fundamental expectations. Conversely, the satisfier or excitement factor (i.e. nature views – mangroves and wildlife) could be prominently featured in promotional materials.

This research constitutes an early endeavour to categorise attributes of island tourism into groups of satisfaction, hybrid or dissatisfaction based on user-generated data. It is underpinned by two-factor and three-factor theories.