Smart electric meters play a pivotal role in making energy systems decarbonized and automating the energy system. Smart electric meters denote huge business opportunities for both public and private companies. Utility players can manage the electricity demand more efficiently whereas customers can monitor and control the electricity bill through the adoption of smart electric meters. The study examines the factors affecting the adoption intention of smart electric meters in Indian households. This study draws a roadmap that how utility providers and customers can improve the smart electric meters adoption. The study has five independent variables (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, environmentalism, and hedonic motivation) and one dependent variable (adoption intention). The sample size for the study is four hundred and sixty-two respondents from Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The data was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results of this study have confirmed that performance expectancy, environmentalism, and social influence have a significant impact on the intention of adopting smart electric meters. Therefore, utility providers can improve their strategies to attract more customers to adopt smart electric meters by focusing more on the performance of smart electric meters and by making them environmentally friendly. This research offers meaningful insights to both customers and utility providers to make energy systems decarbonized and control energy consumption.

Demographic policy is one of the key tasks of almost any state at the present time. It correlates with the solution of pressing problems in the economic and social spheres, directly depends on the state of healthcare, education, migration policy and other factors and directly affects the socio-economic development of both individual regions and the country as a whole. Many Russian and foreign researchers believe that demographic indicators very accurately reflect the socio-economic and political situation of the state. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that for the progressive socio-economic development of any country, positive demographic dynamics are necessary. The main sign of the negative demographic situation that has developed in modern Russia and a number of countries, primarily European, is the growing scale of depopulation (population extinction). The purpose of this work was to analyze the existing demographic policy of Russia and compare demographic trends in Russia and other countries. The work uses methods of statistical data analysis, comparison of statistical indicators of fertility, mortality, natural population decline, migration, marriage rates in Russia and the Republic of Srpska, methods of retrospective analysis, research of the institutional environment created by the action of state and national programs “Demography”, “Providing accessible and comfortable housing and public services for citizens of the Russian Federation”, “Strategy of socio-economic development for the period until 2024”, Presidential decrees, etc. Research has shown that despite measures taken to overcome the demographic crisis, Russia’s population continues to decline. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation (Rosstat), as of 1 January 2023, 146.45 million people lived in Russia. By 1 January 2046, according to a Rosstat forecast published in October 2023 the country’s population will decrease to 138.77 million people. To solve demographic problems in the Russian Federation, a national project “Demography” was developed and approved. The government has allocated more than 3 trillion rubles for its implementation. However, it is not possible to completely overcome the negative trend. The authors proposed a number of economic and ideological measures within the framework of agglomeration, migration, and family support policies that can be used within the framework of socio-economic development strategies and national programs aimed at overcoming the demographic crisis.

Poverty, as a phenomenon, remains an obstacle to global sustainable development. Although a universal malaise, it is more prevalent in underdeveloped countries, including Nigeria. However, because of its devastating impacts on the Nigerian economy, such as increasing death rates, high crime rates, insecurity difficulties, threats to national cohesion, and so on, successive administrations have implemented poverty alleviation programs to mitigate the consequences of this disease. Worryingly, despite a multiplicity of projects and massive human and natural resources invested to match global standards, Nigeria remains impoverished. The curiosity at how these programs fail, either because of implementation hiccups or because elites’ wealth and power influence these programs spurred the paper to assess poverty alleviation policies and elitist approaches in Nigeria. The study employed the desk study approach, as it examined secondary sources such as books, journals, articles, and magazines. Its theoretical underpinning was the elite theory. The paper discovered that several factors such as corruption, the elitist nature of the policies which in disguise reflect public interests, lack of continuity, lack of coordination and monitoring system, misappropriation of public resources, and others, led to the poor performances of government in alleviating poverty in Nigeria. The paper concludes that, while the rate of poverty index in Nigeria rises year after year, poverty alleviation efforts in Nigeria have had little or no influence on the Nigerian economy, since most of these projects are purely reflective of the elites’ interests rather than the masses. Therefore, the paper recommends that for there to be a reduction in poverty incidence in Nigeria, a holistic developmental approach should be adopted, the policies formulated and implemented should sync with the needs of the citizens, and quality and viable programs should be sustained and financed irrespective of change in government; public accountability should be instilled; proper coordination and monitoring system should be domesticated, etc.

This study discusses prospects and challenges facing start-up entrepreneurs in language and culture-related tourist attractions in Lombok, Indonesia. Data were collected by observing the operations of tourism entrepreneurs and interviewing the owners, workers, clients, and authorities in the industry. The data were analyzed using a mixed method where tourism sales over one year of business experience were quantitatively analyzed and where prime causes leading to profits and losses were qualitatively explicated. The findings identify six prospective opportunities and five challenges in sustainably establishing language and culture-related tourist attractions as core entrepreneurial businesses. This study enriches our understanding of what micro and small entrepreneurs experience at the early stages of business start-ups and how they respond to uncertainties facing them. The study also provides readers with an understanding of the prospects and the challenges facing small tourist-related entrepreneurs in operations at early start-up stages and serves as a reminder to small businesses about the potential challenges in their business operations. The article also recommends viable management plans to refer to as contingency strategies for probable future challenges. Furthermore, this study attempts to fill a gap in the literature on start-up entrepreneurship in language and culture-related tourist attractions.

This study adapts traditional service blueprint methodologies for technology-driven coopetition networks, where companies simultaneously collaborate and compete. Integrating insights from service science, we developed an enhanced service blueprint framework with three key components: the cyber frontstage Lane for digital interactions, the physical backstage Lane for physical operations, and the support stage lane for supporting processes. Empirical validation in the Portuguese stone sector demonstrated the framework’s effectiveness in identifying network dysfunctions and its ease of use for industry professionals. Feedback highlights its relevance in capturing the complexities of modern digital coopetition and managing interactions and resources. This research underscores the necessity of updating service blueprint methods to optimize service delivery and value co-creation in digitally evolving sectors.

To achieve the electrification of private vehicles, it is urgent to develop public charging infrastructure. However, choosing the most beneficial type of public charging infrastructure for the development of a country or region remains challenging. The municipal decision’s implementation requires considering various perspectives. An important aspect of energy development involves effectively integrating and evaluating public charging infrastructure. While car charging facilities have been thoroughly studied, motorcycle charging facilities have been neglected despite motorcycles being a vital mode of transportation in many countries. The study created a hybrid decision-making model to evaluate electric motorcycle charging infrastructure. Firstly, a framework for evaluating electric motorcycle charging infrastructure was effectively constructed through a literature survey and expert experience. Secondly, decision-makers’ opinions were gathered and integrated using Bayesian BWM to reach a group consensus. Thirdly, the performance of the alternative solutions was evaluated by exploring the gaps between them and the aspiration level through modified VIKOR. An empirical analysis was conducted using examples of regions/countries with very high rates of motorcycle ownership worldwide. Finally, comparative and sensitivity analyses were conducted to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed model. The study’s findings will aid in addressing municipal issues and achieving low-carbon development objectives in the area.

This article examines how financial technology determines bank performance in different EU countries. The answer to that question would allow banks to choose their development policy. The paper focuses  on the main and most popular bank services that are linked to financial technology. A SWOT analysis of FinTech is also presented to show the benefits and drawbacks of FinTech. FinTech-based services are very diverse and are provided by financial  firms and banks alike. This paper looks at the financial technology provided by banks: internet usage (internet banking), number of ATMs, credit transfers in a country, percentage of the population in a country holding a debit or credit card and whether that population has received or made a digital payment. Using the multi-criteria assessment methods of CRITIC and EDAS, the authors analysed and compared the countries of the European Union and the financial technology used in them. As a result of the application of these methods, the EU countries under consideration were ranked in terms of the use of financial technology. Subsequently, three banks from different countries with different levels of the use of financial technology were selected for the study. For these banks, financial ratios of profitability were calculated to characterise their performance. Correlation and pairwise regression analyses between the banks’ profitability ratios and financial technology were used to assess the relationship and influence between these ratios. The main conclusion of the study focuses on the extent to which financial technology influences the performance of banks in the selected countries. It is likely that further research will try to take into account the size of the country’s population when analysing all financial technologies. Researchers also needed to find out what influence financial technologies have on the such financial indicators as operational efficiency (costs), financial stability, and capital adequacy.

Color visually communicates the product’s flavors to consumers and further influences their taste perception. This study explores the perceived taste of tea beverages caused by the logo’s principal colors, using hand-shaken tea beverages in Taiwan as an example. To identify the linkage between the logo color and tea tastes, this study divides the taste of tea beverages into four categories: sweetness, freshness, bitterness, and astringency. Then, the 69 tea beverage logos are allocated into the 14 color sections in the CIELAB color space according to their primary colors. The Correspondence Analysis method is employed to visualize the relationships between the logos and the perceived tastes. The tea tastes are then mapped into the color sections in the CIELAB color space. The analysis results reveal that the sweetness links to logos in the Warm Scheme colors (hue angle from 0 to 59 degrees). The fresh taste is bound with the logo with the Cool White Scheme colors (hue angle from 90 to 149 degrees and brightness >80). Finally, the bitter and astringent tastes link to the logo colors in the Cold Black Scheme colors (hue angle from 60 to 89 degrees, 150 to 329 degrees, and brightness <25). This study expands the color and taste association literature from general food to tea beverages. Our obtained empirical results can be applied to hand-shaken beverage companies to select principal colors for designing logos and packages that align with tea beverages’ perceived tastes to convey brand recognition accurately.