ABSTRACT
Face recognition has become essential as a convenient biometric-based solution for a plethora of different consumer electronics applications, including access control systems, intelligent environments, smartphone authentication systems and so on. Early in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the widespread use of face masks, which become essential for containing the outbreak. The masks cause a visible alteration in facial appearance, covering almost the 50% of the human face. In this work, an image similarity technique is applied to assess the difference between two images of the same face wearing or not wearing a face mask. Cosine Similarity measure-based Algorithm (CSA) was used to objectively infer the difficulties that modern facial recognition algorithms, based on deep learning techniques, encounter when dealing with a masked face. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Purpose>In light of the recent dynamics, this paper aims to explore the last mile (LM) of e-commerce retailers. Two research questions are developed (1) What firm characteristics are critical in LM practices? and (2) How do LM practices differ based on the identified critical firm characteristics?Design/methodology/approach>Data were collected via 10 interviews with e-commerce executives, as well as a survey on 200 e-commerce firms in different retail sectors in Sweden.Findings>“Firm Size” and “Sales Channel-Mix” appear to be the top critical firm characteristics in LM practices. While last mile delivery (LMDe) was found to vary more based on sales channel mix than firm size, the opposite occurs for last mile back-end fulfilment (LMBF). Moreover, last mile consumer steering (LMCS) was found to vary only with sales channel-mix. Unexpectedly, primarily store-based retailers capitalize on their stores while offering competitive remote services;they hence compete indirectly with their existing store network.Originality/value>While most prior work has focused on LMBF and LMDe for strategizing, the consumer-steering aspect seems to have been a missing link. This study develops an integrated framework for LM strategy planning, incorporating LMCS, LMBF and LMDe. New aspects such as the environment, specialization and inventory management are included. The findings provide insights for executives when strategizing, undertaking competition analysis and positioning the firm.
ABSTRACT
Contact tracing is a particularly important part of health care and is often overlooked or forgotten up until right when it is needed the most. With the wave of technological achievements in the last decade, a digital perspective for aid in contact tracing was a natural development from traditional contact tracing. When COVID-19 was categorized as a pandemic, the need for modernized contact tracing solutions became apparent, and highly sought after. Solutions using the Bluetooth protocol and/or Global Positioning System data (GPS) were hastily made available to the public in nations all over the world. These solutions quickly became criticized by privacy experts as being potential tools for tracking. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) has pushed the global economy and humanity into a disaster. In their attempt to control this pandemic, the governments of all the countries have imposed a nationwide lockdown. Although the lockdown may have assisted in limiting the spread of the disease, it has brutally affected the country, unsettling complete value-chains of most important industries. The impact of the COVID-19 is devastating on the economy. Therefore, this study has reported about the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on various industrial sectors. In this regard, the authors have chosen six different industrial sectors such as automobile, energy and power, agriculture, education, travel and tourism and consumer electronics, and so on. This study will be helpful for the policymakers and government authorities to take necessary measures, strategies and economic policies to overcome the challenges encountered in different sectors due to the present pandemic.