• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.7-21
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• 2021

Purpose: Modern globalization and Western markets saturation has catalyzed the growth of culinary globalization into developing countries. The question was whether fast food consumers in frontier markets of Sub-Saharan Africa (Zimbabwe), either upholds national gastronomic tendencies in terms of consumer ethnocentrism and buy local or they adopt global fast food brands. Demographic consumer profiles were also analyzed as antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism. Research design, data and methodology: A sample size of 400 fast food-adult consumers was surveyed in the City of Harare. Data was captured on SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS). Hypothesis testing was done using sample t test (H₁), logistic regression (H₂) and multiple regression (H₃, ₄, ₅) analysis. Results: Consumer ethnocentrism in Zimbabwe was marginally above average and no statistically significant relationship between the levels of consumer ethnocentrism and adoption of foreign fast food brands was noted. Age had an inverse relationship; income had a positive association whilst gender had no statistical significance with consumer ethnocentrism. Conclusions: Despite the Zimbabwean consumers being marginally ethnocentric, international restaurateurs should invest in the Zimbabwean fast food market since their nature of being foreign has got an exotic appeal to the Zimbabwean consumers thereby enhancing their likelihood of success.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.315-335
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• 2023

Limited studies are available on the mathematical estimates of the compressive strength (CS) of glass fiber-embedded polymer (glass-FRP) compressive elements. The present study has endeavored to estimate the CS of glass-FRP normal strength concrete (NSTC) compression elements (glass-FRP-NSTC) employing two various methodologies; mathematical modeling and artificial neural networks (ANNs). The dataset of 288 glass-FRP-NSTC compression elements was constructed from the various testing investigations available in the literature. Diverse equations for CS of glass-FRP-NSTC compression elements suggested in the previous research studies were evaluated employing the constructed dataset to examine their correctness. A new mathematical equation for the CS of glass-FRP-NSTC compression elements was put forwarded employing the procedures of curve-fitting and general regression in MATLAB. The newly suggested ANN equation was calibrated for various hidden layers and neurons to secure the optimized estimates. The suggested equations reported a good correlation among themselves and presented precise estimates compared with the estimates of the equations available in the literature with R²= 0.769, and R² =0.9702 for the mathematical and ANN equations, respectively. The statistical comparison of diverse factors for the estimates of the projected equations also authenticated their high correctness for apprehending the CS of glass-FRP-NSTC compression elements. A broad parametric examination employing the projected ANN equation was also performed to examine the effect of diverse factors of the glass-FRP-NSTC compression elements.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.141-146
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of the present study was to determine how long superior screws alone or in combination with posterior placement of metaglene screws protruding and penetrating into the scapular spine in reverse total shoulder arthroplasty affect the strength of the scapular spine in a fresh cadaveric scapular model. Methods: Seven fresh cadaver scapulas were allocated to the control group (short posterior and superior screws) and seven scapulars to the study group (spine base fixation with a four long screws, three with both long superior and long posterior screws). Results: The failure load was lower in the spine fixation group (long screw, 869 N vs. short screw, 1,123 N); however, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p>0.05). All outside-in long superior or superior plus posterior screws failed due to scapular spine base fracture; failures in the short screw group were due to acromion fracture. An additional posterior outside-in screw failed to significantly decrease the failure load of the acromion spine. Conclusions: The present study highlights the significance of preventing a cortical breach or an outside-in configuration when a superior or posterior screw is inserted into the scapular spine base.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.375-382
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• 2022

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between bone density measurements obtained using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and morphometric parameters of bone determined by histomorphometric analysis. Materials and Methods: In this in vivo study, 30 samples from the maxillary bones of 7 sheep were acquired using a trephine. The bone samples were returned to their original sites, and the sheep heads were imaged using CBCT. On the CBCT images, gray values were calculated. In the histomorphometric analysis, the total bone volume, the trabecular bone volume (referred to simply as bone volume), and the trabecular thickness were assessed. Results: Statistical testing showed significant correlations between CBCT gray values and total bone volume (r =0.537, P =0.002), bone volume (r =0.672, P<0.001), and trabecular thickness (r =0.692, P<0.001), as determined via the histomorphometric analysis. Conclusion: The results indicate a significant and acceptable association between CBCT gray values and bone volume, suggesting that CBCT may be used in bone densitometry.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.91-94
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• 2023

According to most experts and health workers, a living creature's body heat is little understood and crucial in the identification of disorders. Doctors in ancient medicine used wet mud or slurry clay to heal patients. When either of these progressed throughout the body, the area that dried up first was called the infected part. Today, thermal cameras that generate images with electromagnetic frequencies can be used to accomplish this. Thermography can detect swelling and clot areas that predict cancer without the need for harmful radiation and irritational touch. It has a significant benefit in medical testing because it can be utilized before any observable symptoms appear. In this work, machine learning (ML) is defined as statistical approaches that enable software systems to learn from data without having to be explicitly coded. By taking note of these heat scans of breasts and pinpointing suspected places where a doctor needs to conduct additional investigation, ML can assist in this endeavor. Thermal imaging is a more cost-effective alternative to other approaches that require specialized equipment, allowing machines to deliver a more convenient and effective approach to doctors.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-46
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between characteristics of social media sites (SNS) and the intention of Pakistani tourists to visit South Korea while determining the role of usefulness, interestingness, and involvement of tourists. Research design, data and methodology: A research model was developed through the previous research, and the questioner-based survey was conducted on Pakistani tourists visiting Korea. The survey data was collected by following multiple hypotheses: the relationship between SNS tourism information and perception of SNS, the relationship between SNS perception and intention to visit, and adjustment of involvement in the relation between tourism information characteristics, and SNS perception. We used SPSS and AMOS24.0 statistical tools to analyze the hypothesis testing data. Results: Based on the data analysis, the study found that the characteristics of SNS have a positive effect on intention to visit via users' perception like usefulness and interestingness. The involvement has a moderating effect between SNS characteristics and users' perception. In the group with high involvement, the degree of influence of the quality factor of SNS on user perception was greater than in the group with low involvement. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that traveler's involvement has a moderating effect on the relationship between SNS characteristics and visit intention for Pakistani travelers visiting Korea. It shows that practitioners or researchers should establish and operate SNS strategies in consideration of user involvement.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2023

Grain size in sheet metals in one of the main parameters in determining formability. Grain size control in industry requires delicate process control and equipment. In the present study, effects of grain size on the formability of steel sheets is investigated. Experimental investigation of effect of grain size is a cumbersome method which due to existence of many other effective parameters are not conclusive in some cases. On the other hand, since the average grain size of a crystalline material is a statistical parameter, using traditional methods are not sufficient for find the optimum grain size to maximize formability. Therefore, design of experiment (DoE) and artificial intelligence (AI) methods are coupled together in this study to find the optimum conditions for formability in terms of grain size and to predict forming limits of sheet metals under bi-stretch loading conditions. In this regard, a set of experiment is conducted to provide initial data for training and testing DoE and AI. Afterwards, the using response surface method (RSM) optimum grain size is calculated. Moreover, trained neural network is used to predict formability in the calculated optimum condition and the results compared to the experimental results. The findings of the present study show that DoE and AI could be a great aid in the design, determination and prediction of optimum grain size for maximizing sheet formability.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

Purpose: The primary purpose of this research is to understand the potential influence of various factors, namely, pharmacies' recommendations, families' and friend recommendations, price, country of origin, and past experience, on the purchasing decision of nonprescription medicines in the Jordanian context. Research design, data, and methodology: A survey was conducted among 220 Jordanian consumers through a self-administered questionnaire. Further, the authors utilized the mall intercept method as a convenience sampling technique to recruit the respondents who shop at different pharmacies. The data were analyzed using various statistical techniques, such as frequency and percentage for describing the demographics of the sample, Cronbach's alpha for testing the reliability of the data, skewness and kurtosis to check the normality of data, and further, multiple regression using SPSS version 25 was performed for examining the hypotheses. Results: The findings revealed that pharmacists' recommendation, recommendations from friends and family, and price positively influenced consumers' purchase decisions of OTC medicines in Jordan, whereas consumers' past experience and country of origin had no influence on consumers' purchasing decisions of OTC medicines. Conclusions: The paper examines the influence of various factors on customers' purchase decisions of OTC medicines, draws conclusions, and makes recommendations. Also, research limitations are mentioned.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

Knowledge of minimum horizontal stress (S_hmin) is a significant step in determining full stress tensor. It provides crucial information for the production of sand, hydraulic fracturing, determination of safe mud weight window, reservoir production behavior, and wellbore stability. Calculating the S_hmin using indirect methods has been proved to be awkward because a lot of data are required in all of these models. Also, direct techniques such as hydraulic fracturing are costly and time-consuming. To figure these problems out, this work aims to apply the long-short-term memory (LSTM) algorithm to S_hmin time-series prediction. 13956 datasets obtained from an oil well logging operation were applied in the models. 80% of the data were used for training, and 20% of the data were used for testing. In order to achieve the maximum accuracy of the LSTM model, its hyper-parameters were optimized significantly. Through different statistical indices, the LSTM model's performance was compared with with other machine learning methods. Finally, the optimized LSTM model was recommended for S_hmin prediction in the well logging operation.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.345-357
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• 2023

This research investigates the relationship between the information quality, service quality, and system quality of lodging apps and the users' expectations, level of satisfaction, and intent to continue using them. For this objective, 418 respondents participated in a survey. To evaluate the hypotheses, the collected data were examined using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 statistical software. This study constructed a model using information quality, service quality, system quality, expectancy, satisfaction, and intention to continue using the pre- and post-use relationship of users of accommodation applications. The results of testing the hypotheses indicated that system quality had no significant effect on expectancy, system quality and service quality had no significant effect on satisfaction, and all other hypotheses had significant effects. The conclusion of this research is that the app's system quality, including access speed, access barriers, and privacy, does not satisfy pre- and post-use expectations. In addition, the system quality and service quality of the application have little effect on the app's satisfaction. The information quality of the application has a considerable impact on expectation confirmation and satisfaction, expectation confirmation has an impact on satisfaction, and expectation confirmation and satisfaction have an impact on intention to continue using.