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Consumers often prefer sustainable goods and services but fail to follow through with purchases that reflect these espoused values. The green intention–outcome gap is studied in many contexts but has yet to inform deathcare decisions. Industry reports suggest that most Americans prefer sustainable deathcare options, yet unsustainable corpse dispositions dominate the market. The purpose of this paper is to understand how history informs this phenonea.

This study looks to the past – using historical narrative analysis of deathcare trends and influential intermediaries – to understand the future of sustainable deathcare and the prospective role that marketers can play in bridging the gap between decedents’ preferences and survivors’ purchase outcomes.

Historical ritualization, medicalization and commercialization have resulted in the monopolization of traditional deathcare services. Mortuary professionals remain unresponsive to consumer preferences for sustainable alternatives.

Socioeconomic shocks can allow humanity to reflect and transition from consumerism to sustainability. COVID-19 has led to greater awareness of self-mortality, and death has become less taboo. The slow market penetration of sustainable deathcare services suggests a lack of communication between a decedent and their survivors. Marketing scholars need to help marketing practitioners bridge the preference-outcome gap.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is amongst the first to examine how history informs the sustainable action–outcome gap for deathcare preferences in a post-COVID environment and the role that marketers can play in perpetuating change.

This paper aims to address the critical labor shortage in the food industry by exploring the potential of 3D food printing technology as a strategic solution. The study investigates how 3D food printing can enhance productivity, reduce labor costs, and offer innovative applications in various sectors of the food industry.

The research employs a comprehensive review of existing literature and case studies to analyze the current state of labor scarcity in the food industry and the technological advancements in 3D food printing. The paper also assesses the technical, operational, regulatory, and ethical challenges of 3D food printing and provides strategic recommendations for stakeholders.

3D food printing technology presents a viable solution by automating labor-intensive tasks, enhancing labor efficiency, and enabling customized food production. The technology’s potential benefits include improved productivity, reduced operational costs, and the ability to meet personalized nutritional needs. However, the adoption of 3D food printing faces challenges such as high initial costs, maintenance requirements, and scalability issues. Additionally, regulatory and consumer acceptance hurdles need to be addressed.

Policymakers are encouraged to support the development and adoption of 3D food printing through funding and clear regulatory frameworks. Business leaders should consider strategic investments in 3D printing technology and training programs to harness its benefits. Technology developers must focus on advancing the capabilities and user-friendliness of 3D food printers. Addressing these aspects can help the food industry overcome labor scarcity and achieve long-term sustainability and efficiency.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of 3D food printing technology as a strategic response to labor scarcity in the food industry. It contributes to the existing body of knowledge by highlighting the potential of 3D food printing to revolutionize food production and offering practical recommendations for its adoption and integration.

This study aims to question the psychiatric framework currently adopted by governments toward the traditional plants of great cultures, stigmatized by the paradigm of the unfounded psychiatric doctrine and to propose the need for a change of outlook.

Documentary research of the “black history” of coca. Documentary research on academic contributions to the revaluation of coca.

This brief chronicle of the coca leaf in history, duly documented, proves that its medicinal and energetic prestige was proven and praised by the naturalistic and experimental medicine of the 19th century, a precedent buried by the psychiatric pathologizing version that invented “drug addictions” without any experimental support.

Psychiatry can be revealed as the authoritarian and unpunished inquisition of the 20th century, in its arbitrary pathologizing version of coca leaf consumption and in most of its professional work. A scientific revolution is taking place (Kuhn, 1962), given that the psychopathological paradigm does not respond to the facts surrounding coca leaf consumption and virtues. The medical perspective must replace the negative psychiatric perspective that the law maintains

The author concludes that the way out would be to denounce before the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations, with evidence in hand, the fraud in the 1950 UN Commission on Coca Report, due to concealment on information.

Taking advantage of the hygienic and medicinal virtues of plants stigmatized by psychiatry, such as the coca leaf, would put an end to an omnipresent war and give way to peace in the producing areas.

The questioning of the psychiatric frame of reference adopted by governments to deal with coca leaf consumption has led to the “war on drugs.”

The transcript provides an overview of the development of the field and changing paradigms in this regard.

The transcript was developed in the context of a United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) project on the history of disaster risk reduction (DRR).

The transcript traces the initial discussions of how the At Risk book was conceived and presents new dimensions and challenges within the field.

The interview highlights the importance of the need to document the transitions, developments and paradigm changes in the field over time.

Many firms have adopted different methodologies such as lean management to increase customer satisfaction. This is because they need to respond to customer demands for improved products and responsive service. This study aims to evaluate the influence of soft lean practices (SLP) on business performance in the service sector.

Out of 702 questionnaires distributed to various service companies in Zimbabwe, 260 valid responses were received. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationship among the factors of the proposed model.

The implementation of SLP leads to improvement in the business performance of the service companies. However, the impact of SLP on business performance is mainly indirect, mediated by customer satisfaction.

The research focused on the implementation of SLP in the service industry of a developing country; hence, the results obtained may require further investigations before generalization to other countries with different sociocultural contexts is made.

Most previous studies focused mainly on the implementation of the technical lean practices in the manufacturing industry without properly acknowledging the importance of SLP. This research investigates the importance of SLP in the service sector and further explores the mediatory role of customer satisfaction on business performance. The findings also validate the service-profit-chain theory.

This paper aims to analyze the socioeconomic impacts of infectious diseases based on uncertain behaviors of social and effective subsystems in the countries. The economic impacts of infectious diseases in comparison with predicted gross domestic product (GDP) in future years could be beneficial for this aim along with predicted social impacts of infectious diseases in countries.

The proposed uncertain SEIAR (susceptible, exposed, infectious, asymptomatic and removed) model evaluates the impacts of variables on different trends using scenario base analysis. This model considers different subsystems including healthcare systems, transportation, contacts and capacities of food and pharmaceutical networks for sensitivity analysis. Besides, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is designed to predict the GDP of countries and determine the economic impacts of infectious diseases. These proposed models can predict the future socioeconomic trends of infectious diseases in each country based on the available information to guide the decisions of government planners and policymakers.

The proposed uncertain SEIAR model predicts social impacts according to uncertain parameters and different coefficients appropriate to the scenarios. It analyzes the sensitivity and the effects of various parameters. A case study is designed in this paper about COVID-19 in a country. Its results show that the effect of transportation on COVID-19 is most sensitive and the contacts have a significant effect on infection. Besides, the future annual costs of COVID-19 are evaluated in different situations. Private transportation, contact behaviors and public transportation have significant impacts on infection, especially in the determined case study, due to its circumstance. Therefore, it is necessary to consider changes in society using flexible behaviors and laws based on the latest status in facing the COVID-19 epidemic.

The proposed methods can be applied to conduct infectious diseases impacts analysis.

In this paper, a proposed uncertain SEIAR system dynamics model, related sensitivity analysis and ANFIS model are utilized to support different programs regarding policymaking and economic issues to face infectious diseases. The results could support the analysis of sensitivities, policies and economic activities.

• A new system dynamics model is proposed in this paper based on an uncertain SEIAR model (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Asymptomatic, and Removed) to model population behaviors;

• Different subsystems including healthcare systems, transportation, contacts, and capacities of food and pharmaceutical networks are defined in the proposed system dynamics model to find related sensitivities;

• Different scenarios are analyzed using the proposed system dynamics model to predict the effects of policies and related costs. The results guide lawmakers and governments' actions for future years;

• An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is designed to estimate the gross domestic product (GDP) in future years and analyze effects of COVID-19 based on them;

• A real case study is considered to evaluate the performances of the proposed models.

A new system dynamics model is proposed in this paper based on an uncertain SEIAR model (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Asymptomatic, and Removed) to model population behaviors;

Different subsystems including healthcare systems, transportation, contacts, and capacities of food and pharmaceutical networks are defined in the proposed system dynamics model to find related sensitivities;

Different scenarios are analyzed using the proposed system dynamics model to predict the effects of policies and related costs. The results guide lawmakers and governments' actions for future years;

An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is designed to estimate the gross domestic product (GDP) in future years and analyze effects of COVID-19 based on them;

A real case study is considered to evaluate the performances of the proposed models.

The objective of this study is to address this central question: “What role do ICTs play in reducing poverty?”

First, in this study, we defined poverty in terms of its roots within health, economic development and education. Then, we conducted a systematic review of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) literature. From our analysis, we proposed a series of subsidiary questions and in-depth answers about the impact of ICTs on alleviating health-related, economic and educational causes of poverty.

This study observed positive effects of ICTs on healthcare, economic and educational dynamics and concluded that the development of more advanced infrastructure and greater access to such technology can amplify that impact.

This article explains how applications of ICT across sectors can substantially enhance quality of life and give people an opportunity to take control of their health-related, economic and educational futures. This study uniquely affords an integrative analysis of research and new thought about how to integrate key ICTs for more effective initiatives and investments to reduce poverty.

Administrative processes play a crucial role in various sectors, often contributing to cost overruns and delays. While lean concept has been extensively applied in many industries, there is a recognized need for further research on the integration of lean in administrative processes. To address this research gap, this study aims to systematically analyse the implementation of lean in administrative processes, providing a sector-wise comparison to explore its prospects for the construction industry.

A systematic literature review was conducted by adapting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method. Eighty-six research papers are subjected to descriptive and content analysis on different tools applied in lean integrated administrative processes in health care, education, public administration and other sectors.

The research study reveals common lean tools irrespective of sector. Moreover, specific tools used for a particular sector are analysed. Out of the various lean tools and techniques, value stream mapping, 5S and Kaizen are highly acknowledged tools in every sector of lean intervention. Furthermore, ECRS is applied explicitly in the education sector. Furthermore, it is noted that Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers (SIPOC), 5whys, load levelling and control charts are identical to administrative processes in lean health care. Furthermore, Spaghetti charts and Kaikaku are only adapted to administrative processes in the public administration sector, and causal loop diagrams are used explicitly in administrative processes in the construction sector.

This study contributes to research by developing a guideline to design lean intervention for a lean-integrated administrative process in any sector which still needs to be transformed into lean. Hence, this study will be a cornerstone for incorporating lean principles for administrative processes in construction sector.

Augmented reality (AR) is revolutionizing the tourism and hospitality industry by offering immersive experiences as well as creating more engaging, informative and accessible travel experiences that attract tourists from around the globe. From virtual tours and immersive historical site recreations to navigation assistance and cultural education, AR technology is transforming the way we explore and interact with the destinations. This study aims to identify benefits, risks, tools and techniques of AR in the tourism and hospitality literature.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review to answer six research questions. The authors also identified 33 primary studies, dated from January 2010 to February 2024 and coded them via a thematic analysis. Related studies were obtained through searching in Web of Science and Scopus.

The results identified nine themes for benefits, eight themes for risks/disadvantages and four tools and applications-related themes. Through the thematic analysis, the major benefits of AR in the tourism and hospitality were found to be differentiated travel experiences, improved performance of tourism value chain, more effective marketing efforts of tourism businesses, enhanced tourists’ engagement, enhanced performance of tourism destinations, stimulated behavioral intentions, tourist empowerment and providing more value, interactivity and integrity. Furthermore, eight risks were identified: physical, privacy and security, social, service failure, technical, psychological, managerial, information and knowledge gaps. The authors also recognized four tools and applications-related themes, namely, AR-enabled tools, AR applications, AR-enabled apps and AR-based techniques.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review provides the first systematic exploration of the existing literature on usage of AR in the context of tourism and hospitality value chain.

A learning-focused culture promotes creativity, innovativeness and the acquisition of novel insights and competencies. The study aims to explore the relationship between human resource development (HRD) practice and employee competencies using organizational learning culture as a mediating variable.

Data were collected from 828 employees of 37 health care institutions comprising 24 (internationally-owned) and 13 (indigenously-owned). Construct reliability and validity was established through a confirmatory factor analysis. The proposed model and hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation modeling.

Data supported the hypothesized relationships. The results show that training and development and employee competencies were significantly related. Career development and employee competencies were significantly related. Organizational learning culture mediates the relationship between training and development and employee competencies. However, organizational learning culture did not mediate the relationship between career development and employee competencies.

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s health care focus and cross-sectional data.

The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers to policy makers and stakeholders of health care institutions in developing system-level capacities that promote continuous learning and adaptive learning cultures to ensure sustainability and competitive advantage.

By evidencing empirically that organizational learning culture mediates the relationship between HRD practices and employee competencies the study extends the literature.