IoT‐enabled services in online food retailing

The present study aims at understanding the application of Internet of Things (IoT) in online food retailing, influencing purchase frequency of ready‐to‐eat food products. The research is empirical in nature in which an internet based consumer survey was conducted to collect 329 valid responses on PAN India basis. This research comprehensively investigated, shortlisted, and finally selected the factors of consumer involvement and decision making using IoT in online food retailing. The binary logistic regression model revealed that the factors relative advantage, best deals, availability and information, consumer satisfaction, and channel efficiency significantly influences the consumer purchase frequency for ready‐to‐eat food products at various stages in online food retailing. The understanding, extrapolation, and proper management of these factors will help online food retail players in implementing IoT enable services effectively in their retail formats to gain consumer confidence.     

India and the US as enduring global partners: An assessment

This paper examines the nature of India and the US relations. The relations between two the states have improved in the post?/11 era. The willingness of the US to provide India political support at the regional and global level is one aspect that resulted in changing the nature of that relationship. Second, growing defense ties both in conventional and nonconventional sectors fundamentally galvanized the nature of that relationship. This paper further analyzes the geopolitical compulsion of both states to counter various state and non‐state actors' threats such as China's increasing maritime presence in the Indian Ocean region and terrorism. Moreover, this discussion argues about the political, strategic, commercial aspects of the strategic partnership till date. Much part of this paper analyzes what is the nature of this relationship and how it developed?     

Participation in social forestry re-examined: a case-study from Bangladesh

Bangladesh has enthusiastically launched social forestry projects that make grandiose promises of seeking local community involvement and participation in the management of forest resources. This study examines the functioning of the Chandra Agroforestry Research and Demonstration Project to evaluate the actual extent and nature of popular participation it entails. After discussing the project and its locale, the methodology of the study is described as an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected in the period February-August 1994. The theoretical framework was based on a modified version of Zaman's framework that uses prevalence and opportunity as the indicators of participation. Analysis of prevalence indicators reveals that professional foresters make all major decisions for the project without consulting the farmers involved. The government also has sole responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the project, and the farmers are skeptical that the government will allow them to profit from the benefits arising from the project. Analysis of opportunity indicators shows that the project is not decentralized, cooperative and collaborative linkages have not been made, project flexibility has been sacrificed to bureaucracy, and the incentives promised to the farmers have not materialized. It is concluded that the participation of local residents in the Chandra project has been insignificant but that the project has succeeded in reducing 1) the historical distrust and conflict between forestry officials and local farmers, 2) encroachment on government lands, and 3) the rate of deforestation. In addition, the project has given participating farmers a sense of security.     

Cross‐border analysis of China– Pakistan Economic Corridor development project and local residence quality of life

China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a megaproject, which directly and indirectly benefits the local community of two countries, namely, Peoples' Republic of China and Pakistan. The purpose of current research is to investigate the impact of CPEC development on the quality of life of local residents in China and Pakistan. We intend to investigate the perceptions of local community related to CPEC development, as policymakers of both countries argue the CPEC to be equally beneficial for the people of China and Pakistan. To test the proposed hypotheses, we collected primary data through a research survey conducted in Pakistan and China. In total, 410 Chinese respondents and 480 Pakistani respondents were included in the study. Most of the hypotheses were supported in both studies showing the positive attitude of the people of both communities towards CPEC project. Specifically, the perceived impact of CPEC has shown a significant effect on employment and quality of life in both samples. This research provides important suggestions and recommendations.     

Antecedents of task performance: An examination of transformation leadership,team communication,team creativity,and team trust

Higher education requires best leaders and collaborative environment to stimulate staff and student because of facing more challenges and to make the educational institutions remain relevant in a competitive global context. Considering the fruitful academic outcome, ideal leadership style and collaborative work are essential among teachers and students. Therefore, an empirical study was performed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership and team communication on task performance. The proposed model was verified by quantitative study to clarify the complex relationship between predicators and outcomes. Research data were collected from a sample of 273 master students from the University of Science and Technology of China. The collected data were examined through partial least square analysis technique. The results suggested that team perception of transformation leadership has positive effect on team communication and team trust to measure high task performance. In addition, team communication has positive effect on team trust, whereas team trust has a significant effect on team creativity, which enhances the task performance.     

Distribution of HLA-DQA1, polymarker, CSF1PO, vWA, TH01, TPOX, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, and D5S818 alleles in East Bengali and West Punjabi populations from Indo-Pak Subcontinent

Blood samples were collected from 115 individuals residing in the Pakistani state of West Punjab and 81 Bengali individuals residing in the state of East Bengal, India. These samples were analyzed for the loci HLA-DQA1, PM (LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and GC) and eight short tandem repeats: CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, vWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, and D5S818. Departures from Hardy-Weinberg (HWE) were observed in Punjabi population at LDLR, THO1, D13S317, D5S818, and D16S539 and at CSF1PO and THO1 in Bengali population.     

Technology and economic development: the case of Taiwan

In this paper it is argued that Taiwan succeeded in developing by deviating from the currently popular ‘Washington Consensus’ strategy in specific ways. In particular, it developed investment strategies that have now reached a crucial ‘Schumpeterian’ phase. This has important implications for high and information technology sectors. Following Schumpeter we assume that innovation in specific firms can have economy‐wide effects. Models based on this idea can be shown to have multiple equilibria. The idea of a positive feedback loop innovation system or POLIS is formalized by picking an appropriate sequence of equilibria over time. It is shown that POLIS has empirical relevance by applying the formal model to an actual economy. Recent financial crisis in many Asian countries, most notably South Korea, seems to have reversed the conventional wisdom regarding the East Asian ‘miracle’. This paper applies the concept of a POLIS to show that neither the current view that the miracle was a mirage nor the earlier contrarian view that the growth was a result of factor accumulation only is correct. Ultimately technological transformation—in particular the creation of a positive feedback loop innovation system is what makes the difference between sustained growth and gradual or sudden decline. Although various problems remain in both the real and the financial sectors, the successes of Taiwan in building the preconditions for an innovation system are worth examining. Upon careful examination of Taiwan's system of innovation within the above Schumpeterian model it is found that of all the ‘miracle’ economies Taiwan has the best chance of building a POLIS in the near future. Because of Taiwan's strength in building a POLIS, the PRC can also benefit from continuing contact with Taiwan through trade and FDI from Taiwan.