Abstract
This paper explores the main challenges and barriers to VR/AR adoption and categorizes common activities performed with these technologies, explaining each specific factor affecting them. After reviewing literature on metaverse retailing, channel strategies, VR/AR technologies, and user experiences, a conceptual framework was developed. Data from the Voice of the Consumer: Digital Survey (20202024) in over 20 countries was analyzed, using Pearson's correlation, factor analysis, and multiple linear regressions. The results point that key challenges for VR/AR adoption include security, privacy, content, price, headset-free experiences, digital fatigue, and poor experiences. Gaming is the most common VR/AR activity, while metaverse retailing activities like shopping and virtual try-ons have fewer users. Practical considerations drive metaverse retailing, unlike gaming, which is mainly hedonic. Privacy concerns, safety risks, poor experiences, and lack of knowledge surprisingly increase VR/AR usage for metaverse retailing, indicating informed consumers or threshold characterization of these variables. Additional insights were found for tourism, hospitality, and gaming activities. Theoretical implications, insights, and potential actions for retailers and tech companies are discussed, along with limitations and suggestions for further research.

Abstract
Decred is a cryptocurrency with its own blockchain and has several similarities with bitcoin but implements a governance model that resembles a company with thousands of investors. These stakeholders invest their coins, receive the right to direct the project as they see fit and are rewarded for doing so. Everyone else not invested may use the coin as means of exchange, trading it for goods or services or consuming other services provided by the blockchain as the digital notary. This paper investigates how Decred project created its own version of money and implemented security measures to improve governance and remove trusted third parties from money issuance and e-voting. This topic is particularly relevant to understand how blockchain technologies improve governance and avoid the tyranny of the majority. In order to reach our goal, we use multi-agent simulation and statistical modelling to verify to what extent Decred is capable of providing a predictable, scarce, trustworthy digital asset. We show that Decred increased blockchain security with its hybrid proof-of-work+proof-of-stake (PoW + PoS) security mechanism, making an attack more expensive. © 2025 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Abstract
In many e-commerce platforms user communities share product information in the form of reviews and ratings to help other consumers to make their choices. This study develops a new theoretical framework generating a bipartite network of products sold by Amazon.com in the category musical instruments, by linking products through the reviews. We analyze product rating and perceived helpfulness of online customer reviews and the relationship between the centrality of reviews, product rating and the helpfulness of reviews using Clustering, regression trees, and random forests algorithms to, respectively, classify and find patterns in 2214 reviews. Results demonstrate: (1) that a high number of reviews do not imply a high product rating; (2) when reviews are helpful for consumer decision-making we observe an increase on the number of reviews; (3) a clear positive relationship between product rating and helpfulness of the reviews; and (4) a weak relationship between the centrality measures (betweenness and eigenvector) giving the importance of the product in the network, and the quality measures (product rating and helpfulness of reviews) regarding musical instruments. These results suggest that products may be central to the network, although with low ratings and with reviews providing little helpfulness to consumers. The findings in this study provide several important contributions for e-commerce businesses' improvement of the review service management to support customers' experiences and online customers' decision-making.

Abstract
This study investigates the daily price patterns and behavioral similarities among cryptocurrencies, focusing on two key research questions: (1) Do cryptocurrency prices vary consistently throughout the day? (2) Can cryptocurrencies be meaningfully grouped based on their behavioral patterns? Using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs), we analyze the opening, closing, high, and low prices of a broad range of cryptocurrencies. The findings reveal that while opening prices exhibit uniform patterns, closing, high, and low prices show more complex, multi-component behaviors, reflecting diverse market dynamics throughout the day. Consensus clustering identifies four distinct cryptocurrency clusters, each demonstrating unique price behaviors, challenging the notion of cryptocurrencies as a homogeneous group. The results suggest that cryptocurrencies behave as differentiated financial products, influenced by factors such as volatility, adoption, and technology. These findings contribute to the understanding of cryptocurrency market dynamics and have implications for investment strategies, risk management, and regulatory approaches. © 2025 The Author(s). Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Abstract
Accurately determining someone's personality is complex and often requires lengthy questionnaires, which are subject to social desirability bias, or a great amount of users' interactions with the system. Also, most existing research focuses on broader personality dimensions rather than more granular personality traits, which better characterize a person. In this work, we propose to implicitly acquire the users' granular personality traits using mobile short-duration serious games, in < 5 min and in a single play interaction, namely cautiousness and achievement-striving as concept proof, to replace personality questionnaires. Two platform mobile games were developed, one for each trait, Which Way and Time Travel, respectively. Then, an experiment with real participants (n = 100) was conducted. Time Travel proved to be capable of detecting achievers (get all coins, diamonds, and better scores), while Which Way couldn't effectively measure cautiousness, although following hard paths could be related to less cautious persons. As expected, significant correlations with other personality traits were also found (15 out of 30), such as anger, modesty, excitement seeking, and adventurousness. Contrary to other types of (serious) games, the results show short-duration mobile minigames are a viable way of unobtrusively determining the users' granular personality, being the path to replacing personality questionnaires.

Abstract
Background/Objectives: Boccia is an attractive and growing adapted sport. For approximately 30 years, this parasport was played together by male and female athletes, a fact that recently changed, to our best knowledge, without scientific support. Hence, this study aimed to analyse the relationship between gender participation and performance in Boccia international-level events. Methods: For data collection, four specific international-level Boccia events between 2012 and 2018 were selected as partials were available in the official competition websites (2708 partials, which represent a total of 32,496 ball throws). Results: We found that partials won by male athletes systematically increased between 2012 and 2018 but tended to stabilize between 2017 and 2018, contrary to females, with a growing trend from 2016 onwards. No differences were observed, considering the players' gender and the type of partials (adjusted, balanced, and unbalanced) in the Boccia classes BC1, BC2, and BC3. In BC4 differences were found, but with little variance or low association level (Cramer's Phi coefficient of 0.114). Conclusions: The results emphasize that based on performance, both men and woman can play Boccia together. Although, if the focus of separating genders in Boccia is toward growing and effective female participation and equal success and reward opportunities, this study highlights as a good perspective aiming regular practice of physical activity, exercise, and sport in people with disabilities, promoting their quality of life.