Search Results (1,264)

This study investigates the complex relationship between the performance of logistics and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, drawing upon the multi-methodological framework of combining econometrics with state-of-the-art machine learning approaches. Employing Instrumental Variable (IV) Panel data regressions, viz., 2SLS and G2SLS, with data from a balanced panel of 163 countries covering the period from 2007 to 2023, the research thoroughly investigates how the performance of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) is correlated with a variety of ESG indicators. To enrich the analysis, machine learning models—models based upon regression, viz., Random Forest, k-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machines, Boosting Regression, Decision Tree Regression, and Linear Regressions, and clustering, viz., Density-Based, Neighborhood-Based, and Hierarchical clustering, Fuzzy c-Means, Model-Based, and Random Forest—were applied to uncover unknown structures and predict the behavior of LPI. Empirical evidence suggests that higher improvements in the performance of logistics are systematically correlated with nascent developments in all three dimensions of the environment (E), social (S), and governance (G). The evidence from econometrics suggests that higher LPI goes with environmental trade-offs such as higher emissions of greenhouse gases but cleaner air and usage of resources. On the S dimension, better performance in terms of logistics is correlated with better education performance and reducing child labor, but also demonstrates potential problems such as social imbalances. For G, better governance of logistics goes with better governance, voice and public participation, science productivity, and rule of law. Through both regression and cluster methods, each of the respective parts of ESG were analyzed in isolation, allowing us to study in-depth how the infrastructure of logistics is interacting with sustainability research goals. Overall, the study emphasizes that while modernization is facilitated by the performance of the infrastructure of logistics, this must go hand in hand with policy intervention to make it socially inclusive, environmentally friendly, and institutionally robust. Full article

This study empirically examines how information technology (IT) governance and digital financial transformation interact to influence economic sustainability performance. The research instrument used in the current study is a questionnaire survey. The data were collected from different government authorities in Oman. The study used convenience and snowball sampling to collect the data. Online questionnaire platforms, such as Google Forms, were used to collect data for the current study. The data collected for the current study were from 104 respondents. The results indicate that IT governance has a significant positive effect on digital financial transformation. Further, digital financial transformation has effectively and significantly enhanced the level of economic sustainability performance. However, IT governance does not have a direct effect on economic sustainability performance; rather, it has an indirect effect on economic sustainability performance through the mediating effect of digital financial transformation. These findings provide actionable implications for policymakers and practitioners to enhance awareness and integration of governance across different aspects in the context of digital financial transformation. The present study contributes to the literature and offers a unique perspective to the existing body of knowledge by highlighting the importance of IT governance as a key driver for digital financial transformation and economic sustainability performance. Full article

Building a resilient and efficient supply chain system is critical for sustaining firm operations in an increasingly uncertain global environment. This study examines whether the firm-level exposure to industry-wide robot penetration mitigates firm-level supply chain risks. By adopting Bartik’s instrumental variable approach to decompose industry-level robot data to the firm level (from the International Federation of Robotics, IFR), and using a novel text-mining-based supply chain risk index, constructed via a tailored “supply chain risk” dictionary, to quantify sentences containing both keywords from firms’ annual report MD&A sections, we apply a fixed effects model, and find that robot adoption significantly reduces supply chain risk by enhancing firms’ discourse power and improving supply chain coordination. The effect is more pronounced in firms with higher capital intensity, greater international exposure, stronger regulatory oversight, and better ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance. By integrating automation adoption with supply chain risk management, this study extends the literature on production economics and supply chain resilience. Our findings reveal that industrial robots, beyond enhancing productivity, function as a risk-mitigating technology that strengthens supply chain stability and operational continuity in volatile global production networks. Full article

Intergovernmental transfers play a crucial role in shaping the fiscal position of local governments, especially in countries where municipalities, such as those in Poland, exhibit a high dependence on central funding. Recent reforms and the increasing reliance on discretionary revenues transferred from the central budget have motivated a closer examination of how these instruments influence local fiscal sustainability. This article analyses how different types of transfers—general subsidies and targeted grants—affect the fiscal sustainability of Polish municipalities across several dimensions, including autonomy, solvency, efficiency and economic resilience. Using panel data, five sets of models test the crowding-out effect, developmental impact, pro-cyclicality, fiscal discipline, and fiscal replacement mechanisms. Results show that general subsidies crowd out local tax revenues, particularly in less developed municipalities, while targeted grants strengthen the tax base in rural areas. Transfers have mixed effects: targeted grants strongly stimulate investment and support local development but tend to increase debt; general subsidies weaken local tax capacity and reduce fiscal autonomy, although they improve short-term fiscal discipline. In municipalities with limited fiscal independence, transfers act as short-term compensatory tools, fostering dependence on state aid rather than self-reliance. A macroeconomic crowding-out effect also appears, as higher transfers reduce private sector resources. Regarding fiscal discipline, equalization and compensatory subsidies decrease debt levels, whereas targeted grants can raise debt in urban municipalities with co-financing obligations. General subsidies show fiscal replacement effects, substituting local revenue sources. The findings provide insights for designing transfer systems that balance financial support with incentives for local autonomy and sustainable development. Full article

Financial accounting manipulation (FAM) remains a persistent concern in emerging Asian markets, yet existing studies typically assess firm resilience, market valuation, and institutional governance separately. This study addresses this gap by examining how the Resilience Factor (RF), Market Valuation (VAL), and Country Governance Index (CGI), along with their interaction effects, shape FAM. Using a panel dataset of 4303 non-financial firms across 17 Asian countries from 2012 to 2023 (51,636 observations), the analysis employs an Instrumental Variable–Two-Stage Least-Squares (IV-2SLS) approach to address endogeneity related to simultaneity and omitted variable bias. The results show that financially resilient firms are more prone to manipulation, market valuation reduces manipulation incentives, and stronger country governance constrains manipulation. Moreover, valuation moderates the governance–manipulation relationship, suggesting complementary monitoring roles between markets and institutions. Robustness checks across regions, industries, and the COVID-19 period confirm the findings. The study contributes to agency and institutional theory by highlighting how firm-level and country-level mechanisms jointly influence manipulation, offering policy implications for regulators and investors in Asian capital markets. Full article

Gender mainstreaming in social work education requires moving beyond policy commitments to ensure that gender perspectives are meaningfully integrated into teaching and learning. This study examines how gender-responsive pedagogy is implemented in a Spanish public university and how these practices relate to students’ self-efficacy for gender-sensitive social work. A sample of 166 undergraduate students completed validated measures of gender-responsive teaching, self-efficacy, and institutional climate. The instruments demonstrated strong psychometric performance. Results indicate that while gender-related content is incorporated into curricula, practice-oriented and participatory pedagogies are less consistently used. Students reported high confidence in gender knowledge and attitudes but lower confidence in applied skills. Teaching methods, rather than content coverage, showed the strongest associations with self-efficacy. Institutional reforms at the degree and course levels were positively linked to teaching practices and student outcomes, whereas governance-level changes showed weaker associations. These findings highlight the importance of aligning institutional commitments with pedagogical innovation to advance gender equality in social work education. Full article

Modern civil engineering structures, such as footbridges, are increasingly susceptible to vibrations induced by human activities, emphasizing the importance of accurately assessing crowd-induced loading. Developing realistic load models requires detailed insight into the underlying crowd dynamics, which in turn depend on the coordination between individuals and the spatial organization of the group. A deeper understanding of these human–human interactions is therefore essential for capturing the collective behaviour that governs crowd-induced vibrations. This paper presents a vision-based trajectory reconstruction methodology that captures individual movement trajectories in both small groups and large-scale running events. The approach integrates colour-based image segmentation for instrumented participants, deep learning–based object detection for uninstrumented crowds, and a homography-based projection method to map image coordinates to world space. The methodology is applied to empirical data from two urban running events and controlled experiments, including both stationary and dynamic camera perspectives. Results show that the framework reliably reconstructs individual trajectories under varied field conditions, applicable to both walking and running activities. The approach enables scalable monitoring of human activities and provides high-resolution spatio-temporal data for studying human–human interactions and modelling crowd dynamics. In this way, the findings highlight the potential of vision-based methods as practical, non-intrusive tools for analysing human-induced loading in both research and applied engineering contexts. Full article

Digitalization has reshaped economic systems worldwide, yet its distributional consequences remain uneven and raise new challenges for sustainable development. China, where digital infrastructure has expanded rapidly, provides a critical setting to examine these effects and their implications for sustainable and inclusive growth. Using a balanced panel of 285 prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2023, this study constructs a text-based index of digital infrastructure from government work reports and applies two-way fixed effects, instrumental variables, nonlinear models, placebo tests, heterogeneity analysis, and spatial Durbin models. The results show that digital infrastructure significantly widens the urban–rural income gap, with the effect becoming increasingly convex as digital development deepens. Two mechanisms drive this pattern: the concentration of innovation resources in urban areas, which crowds out rural R&D, and a modest degree of wage-structure polarization. Spatial spillovers also matter; digital development in neighboring cities partially offsets local inequality by enhancing interregional connectivity and knowledge diffusion. These findings provide city-level causal evidence on the unequal distributional impacts of digitalization in large emerging economies and highlight the need for sustainability-oriented digital governance, inclusive innovation systems, and regionally coordinated strategies to prevent digital infrastructure from reinforcing structural disparities. Strengthening these policies is essential for achieving more sustainable urban–rural integration in the digital era. Full article

Monitoring the complex, three-dimensional flow within centrifugal compressor diffusers remains a major challenge due to geometric confinement, high rotational speeds, and strong unsteadiness near surge and stall. This review provides a comprehensive assessment of contemporary instrumentation strategies for diffuser flow characterization, spanning pressure, temperature, velocity, vibration, and acoustic measurements. The article outlines the standards governing compressor instrumentation, compares conventional probes with emerging high-resolution and high-bandwidth sensor technologies, and evaluates the effectiveness of pressure- and temperature-based diagnostics, optical methods, and advanced dynamic sensing in capturing diffuser behavior. Case studies from industrial compressors, research rigs, and high-speed experimental facilities illustrate how sensor layout, bandwidth, and synchronization influence the interpretation of flow stability, performance degradation, and surge onset. Collectively, these examples demonstrate that high-frequency pressure and temperature probes remain indispensable for instability detection, while optical techniques such as PIV, LDV, and PSP/TSP offer unprecedented spatial resolution for understanding flow structures. The findings highlight the growing integration of hybrid sensing architectures, digital acquisition systems, and data-driven analysis in diffuser research. Overall, the review identifies current limitations in measurement fidelity and accessibility while outlining promising paths toward more robust, real-time monitoring solutions for reliable centrifugal compressor operation. Full article

Based on panel data from 274 prefecture-level cities in China (2011–2022), this study employs a peer effects model to examine three questions: whether peer effects exist in sustainable rural development, what mechanisms underlie them, and which regions are imitated. It thereby offers a new perspective on the endogenous drivers of rural development. The main findings are as follows. Baseline regression results confirm a significant positive peer effect on rural sustainable development. This result remains robust after a series of tests addressing endogeneity and robustness, including the replacement of explanatory variables, data indentation, exclusion of provincial capitals, placebo tests, and instrumental variable estimation. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that central and western regions are more inclined to learn from other cities in the process of sustainable rural development, whereas the eastern region leans more toward innovation. After the Rural Revitalization Strategy was introduced in 2017, regions have actively explored new rural development models, leading to a decline in the peer effects coefficient compared to the pre-2017 period. Mechanism analysis indicates that both learning-based imitation and competitive imitation serve as channels for peer effects in rural sustainable development. A region’s own development experience does not suppress peer effects. Economically more developed regions are more likely to become imitation targets. Moreover, performance pressure on local officials and the degree of competition among prefecture-level cities strengthen the peer effects. After reclassifying peer groups based on economic structure and geographical location, results show that in the process of rural sustainable development, local governments primarily learn from other regions within the same province that share similar economic structures and are geographically proximate. Based on these findings, this paper proposes differentiated policy recommendations to support sustainable rural development. Full article

Erythropoiesis is a multistage process critical for red blood cell production and systemic oxygen transport. It is tightly regulated, and recent advances have highlighted the pivotal regulatory roles of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), particularly microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), in governing both physiological and pathological erythropoiesis. These ncRNAs have roles in the fine-tuning of the classical transcriptional and post-transcriptional control. This review explores the complex landscape of the non-coding RNome in erythroid differentiation, maturation, and function. We summarize how specific miRNAs influence erythroid lineage commitment, hemoglobin switching, iron metabolism, and cellular morphology, as well as their modulation by environmental and pathological cues. We also discuss emerging evidence on lncRNAs regulating chromatin remodeling, alternative splicing, apoptosis, enucleation, and erythroid-specific gene expression. These insights suggest that ncRNAs are instrumental orchestrators of erythropoiesis and accordingly, potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in anemia and related hematologic disorders. Full article

This study examines whether strengthened prudential supervision reduces the marginal influence of internal governance mechanisms on the performance of Saudi banks during the Vision 2030 reform period. Using a panel of ten listed Saudi banks from 2018 to 2024, governance measures are hand collected to align with Saudi Central Bank definitions, focusing on insider ownership and board independence. To address endogeneity arising from performance persistence and reverse causality, two-step system generalized method of moments with collapsed lagged internal instruments and Windmeijer-corrected standard errors are employed. The results reveal that insider ownership and board independence are statistically and economically insignificant for accounting performance and market valuation, whereas lagged performance remains the dominant predictor. Hansen J and Arellano–Bond AR(2) diagnostics support instrument validity, and robustness checks using alternative estimators and variable specifications produce consistent findings. The results suggest that in contexts where prudential oversight is comprehensive and consistently enforced, internal governance mechanisms may provide limited incremental monitoring value. However, they do not imply that boards or insiders are irrelevant during crises or when enforcement is uneven. Therefore, refining supervisory tools and disclosure practices should be prioritized over imposing additional structural mandates on boards or ownership configurations. Full article

The 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property remains the cornerstone international instrument governing the restitution of cultural objects in peacetime. This article critically assesses the extent to which the Convention still fulfils its objectives more than five decades after its adoption. Through a legal and analytical examination of its core provisions, national implementation practices and selected judicial decisions, the study identifies several structural weaknesses that limit its effectiveness. These include the use of broad and indeterminate language, the lack of enforcement mechanisms, significant divergences between domestic legal frameworks and persistent challenges relating to provenance, scope, non-retroactivity and the interpretation of good faith. The article further discusses the extent to which States have attempted to mitigate these shortcomings through complementary legislative, judicial and diplomatic measures. It concludes that although the Convention retains important symbolic and normative value, its operational limitations continue to impede the effective recovery of cultural heritage. The article argues that a carefully designed amendment process, coupled with strengthened bilateral or regional cooperation, could enhance the Convention’s future implementation. Full article

This study examines the role of public procurement of artificial intelligence (AI) as a catalyst for transformative change in State functions. Building on the concept of transformative law, it argues that law should not merely regulate technological innovation but actively guide and shape it in accordance with democratic values and the rule of law. Within this framework, public procurement emerges as a strategic instrument for (re)structuring the very configuration of public governance and institutions. This analysis highlights key legal issues surrounding the procurement of AI, starting with the premise of its dual function: on the one hand, as a tool for optimising acquisition procedures and, on the other, as the object of acquisition itself. Among the most pressing issues analysed are the definitions of algorithmic legality and accountability, the asymmetry of expertise between public authorities and private suppliers, and the regulatory complexity that characterises the field, especially in light of the recently adopted EU AI Act. Finally, this study conceptualises the public procurement of AI as a form of legal infrastructure, capable of securing systemic and enduring transformations for the State and its institutions. Full article

In a context of environmental and socio-economic challenges, metropolitan areas represent a fundamental territorial scale for addressing cohesion, competitiveness, and sustainability, key priorities in European territorial development. Accessibility to services is crucial, as it reflects the right to full citizenship, particularly in territories where attractive urban centres coexist with peripheral areas. Balancing these dynamics is a major challenge for metropolitan governance and planning, especially in Italy, where Metropolitan Cities (MCs) have been institutionalised for over a decade. This paper examines spatial structure, accessibility, and governance through a comparative analysis of three Italian MCs in the Po Valley macro-region, a polycentric system along the Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network. Despite overall interconnections, the MCs display different settlement and accessibility patterns. The Metropolitan City of Turin is selected as a case study for its territorial diversity, metropolitan-mountainous character, misalignment between administrative and functional boundaries, and accessibility limitations. The research examines current planning instruments and governance-government arrangements of the case study in addressing these challenges. Findings, framed within the decadal review of Italian MCs, emphasise the need for greater coordination between plans, policies and programmes, combined with strengthened inter-municipal collaboration and territorial representation, to support a multi-level governance framework capable of coherent, effective, and balanced metropolitan development. Full article