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Objective: Pathogens can be transmitted to banknotes due to the personal unhygienic habits. The aim of study was to find the possible pathogens on the banknotes circulating in the market and also to present their antibacterial resistance and their various virulence factors using genotypic and phenotypic methods., Methods: A total of 150 samples of bank-notes were randomly collected between August 2017 and March 2018. VITEK systems were used for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing respectively. Antimicrobial resistance genes (mecA, van, extended-spectrum β-lactamase [ESBL] and carbapenemases) and staphyloccoccal virulence genes (staphyloccoccal enterotoxins [SEs], pvl, and tsst-1) were determined using with real-time PCR., Results: Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), Enterococcus spp., Gram-negative enteric bacteria, non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria and Candida spp. were detected 48%, 54.7%, 56%, 21.3%, 18.7%, and 4%, respectively. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci and ESBL producing Gram-negative were found 46.8%, 1.3%, and 28.7%, respectively. Pvl, tsst-1, and SEs genes were found in a 2.8/4.9%, 1.4/1.2%, and 100/ 87.8% of the S. aureus/CoNS strains, respectively. The sea gene was found the most common enterotoxigenic gene. blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX-M-2, blaCTX-M-1, blaKPC, and blaOXA-48 were found 55.8%, 46.5%, 41.2%, 18.6%, 18.6%, and 18.6%, respectively in Gram-negative strains., Conclusions: These results is very important to highlight hygienic status of paper currencies. This can be considered as an indication that banknotes may contribute to the spread of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, we may need to start using alternative products instead of banknotes., (©The Author 2020. Published by Sociedad Española de Quimioterapia. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).)

The Panama Papers comprise one of the most recent influential leaks containing detailed information on intermediary companies (such as law firms), offshore entities and company officers, and serve as a valuable source of insight into the operations of (approximately) 214,000 shell companies incorporated in tax havens around the globe over the past half century. Entities and relations in the papers can be used to construct a network that permits, in principle, a systematic and scientific study at scale using techniques developed in the computational social science and network science communities. In this paper, we propose such a study by attempting to quantify and profile the importance of entities. In particular, our research explores whether intermediaries are significantly more influential than offshore entities, and whether different centrality measures lead to varying, or even incompatible, conclusions. Some findings yield conclusions that resemble Simpson's paradox. We also explore the role that jurisdictions play in determining entity importance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Paper currency is used for every type of commerce and plays an important role in the life of human beings. However, the combination of its widespread use and constant exchange make paper currency a likely agent for disease transmission. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the microbial load and safety of Ethiopian paper currencies collected from some food vendors in Jimma town., Methods: Standard microbiological methods were used for the enumeration of various microbial groups, isolation and characterization of pathogenic bacteria and their growth potential in selected weaning foods. A total of 100 samples of Ethiopian paper currencies, consisting of five denominations, from street food venders, hotels and cafeterias in Jimma town were collected aseptically. Sterile cotton swabs moistened with buffered peptone water solution were used for swabbing and the swabs were separately soaked into 10 ml sterile buffered peptone water solution., Results: Mean microbial counts of Aerobic mesophilic bacteria, Staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and Aerobic bacterial spores were (log CFU/cm2) 6.32, 4.43, 3.14, 2.98 and 3.78, respectively. However, mean counts of Yeasts and Moulds were below detectable levels. There was statistically significant variation (p<0.05) among the mean counts of microbes isolated from samples of paper currencies. The predominantly isolated microbial groups were Staphylococcus spp. (34.06%) followed by Bacillus spp. (31.88%), Enterobacteraceae (13.39%), Micrococcus spp. (9.55%) and Streptococcus spp. (9.03%). Overall, 25% and 10% of the samples were positive for S. aureus and Salmonella spp, respectively. In challenge study, Salmonella spp. and S. aureus reached the infective dose within 12 to 18 hours of inoculation., Conclusion: Thus, paper currencies could be considered as one of the possible vehicles for transmission of disease causing microorganisms. Poor handling practices and personal hygiene of the food vendors could contribute to the observed microbial counts. Thus, it calls for awareness development on the potential risks associated with poor handling of paper currencies at all level of the food establishments.

A longer life brings opportunities for older adults and their families as well as for their communities. Commercial businesses can be successful in innovating on these opportunities and achieving business expansion when they better understand the market dynamics and spectrum of older adults as consumers and view them more as assets rather than as burdens to society. While there is no "typical" older adult consumer, some traits, characteristics, and physical realities may be more common, including those related to family and community, the shopping experience, brand marketing and packaging, food and nutrition, and health. The opportunities of longer life are impacted by health and underscore the importance of positive, healthy aging-related behaviors like good nutrition and active lifestyles. Healthy aging also requires a sustained commitment and action from country leaders to formulate evidence-based polices--like systematic nutrition screening and intervention-and healthcare workforce training and education that can strengthen and support an active aging population. In addition, governments should consider engaging commercial businesses to help set sustainable policies that can advance products for older adults. Finally, governments should set national and local goals to incentivize commercial business development and investment in public-private partnerships to improve quality of care, promote healthy aging, and impact outcomes for noncommunicable diseases, ultimately benefitting population health for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries.

The development of information technologies and the Internet and the commission of criminal acts in this new environment leads to the emergence of transnational, high-tech crime. Competent bodies for the fight against crime are hindered in achieving results by the traditional division into national jurisdictions, while there are no such restrictions for perpetrators. Cyber activities cause great damage and consequences to natural or legal persons, illegally appropriate financial resources and protected data. The specificities of high-tech crime require the specialization of state authorities because in the fight against crime, individual rights, privacy and freedoms of individuals must not be jeopardized. The aim of this paper is to show how the legislation of the European Union (EU) and the activities of its institutions improve the prevention, investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and build capacities in the judiciary. Harmonization of domestic law with EU law in the field of combating cybercrime is provided for in Chapter 24 of the "Justice, Freedom, Security" negotiations. In answering the question of what are the legal aspects of combating cybercrime in the EU, historical-comparative, content analysis and deductive methods were used.

The global consensus on sustainable development and environmental cooperation has prompted the promotion of trade in environmental goods (EGs) for green growth. This study delves into the diversity of EGs trade patterns, using decomposed environmental technology similarity indicators to reveal the technological drivers. Linking innovation indicators to trade performance in EGs provides new insights into the determinants of inequality in environmental governance cooperation. Based on an extended gravity model, we empirically analyze their impact on bilateral EGs trade flows among 176 countries over the period 2002-2019. The study finds that (1) the global EGs trade network presents a "core-periphery" structure, with increased network density and participation of developing countries. (2) Technology similarity contributes significantly to EGs trade. Compared to competition, technology complementarity has a greater impact on EGs trade flows. (3) The influence of technology similarity varies across trade patterns and product complexity explains the mechanisms, with technology complementarity promoting more trade in high-complexity products, mainly concentrated in the trade from Northern countries, while technology competition greatly promotes the export of low-complexity products from the South. (4) Technology similarity helps to overcome information barriers in EGs trade, and its trade-enhancing effects exhibit geographical regionalization. The findings offer empirical evidence on the technological drivers of EGs trade and provide policy implications for fostering inclusive global environmental governance and enhancing the competitive advantages of Southern countries, fostering more opportunities for green growth., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: This study aimed at implementing lean six sigma to evaluate the productivity and manufacturing waste in the production line of a paper company Methodology/Approach: The study is a case study in nature. The method illustrates how lean six sigma (LSS) is used to evaluate the existing production process in a paper production company with focus on productivity and manufacturing waste. The study considered a real-time problem of customer’s dissatisfaction. The gathered data is based on machine functionality (up time, down time and cycle time); materials and labour flow at every process stages of the production line. The optimization of the production process was based on lean tools like value stream mapping, process cycle efficiency, Kaizen, 5S and pareto chart Findings: Based on lean six sigma application, it was discovered that the present production performance was below standard and more manufacturing wastes were generated. The present productivity and manufacturing wastes are reported as low process cycle efficiency (23.4 %), low takt time (4.11 sec), high lead time (43200sec), high number of products not conforming to six sigma values, high down time (32.64 %) and excess labour flow (33). After the implementation of the lean six sigma tools for certain period of time, there are lots of improvements in the production line in terms of all the parameters considered. Research Limitation/ Implications: The study has demonstrated an application of lean six sigma in the case of solving real-time problems of productivity and manufacturing wastes which have a direct implication on customer’s satisfaction. The lesson learned and implications presented can still be further modeled using some lean based software for validity Originality/Value: The study has contributed to the body of knowledge in the field of LSS with focus to process based manufacturing, unlike most literature in the field concentrate more on discrete based manufacturing.

Using the value-added method in the global input-output framework, embedded carbon transfers between economies are measured. Then, the international embedded carbon network (IECN) models are constructed and analyzed to reveal the real pattern of the IECN. Influential factors of the IECN are further explored with Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP). The main findings are as follows: first, the IECN has the characteristics of small world and scale-free. Developed economies led by the USA have high centrality indicators and always occupy the core position in the network; the network position of China and India has risen significantly with different network characteristics. Second, the subgroup relationships of the carbon network implied by international trade are becoming more and more complex and diverse, economies' participation in the global carbon chain is gradually increasing, and the number of edge nodes are decreasing. Third, the results of QAP analysis show that in addition to the negative impact of geographical distance on embedded carbon transfers between economies, inter-country trade agreement relations, differences in industrial structure, energy intensity, environmental regulation, economic size, and population size have a positive impact on embedded carbon transfers between economies. These findings can provide important practice implications for the global carbon neutrality., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In recent decades, global forecasts show that the demands for freshwater, energy, and food have been affected by population growth, economic development, international trade, and increasing urbanization and food diversity. Moreover, cultural changes and other phenomena have adversely affected the water, energy, and food (WEF) resources demand. Consequently, climate change adverse impact, which is an undesirable phenomenon, will be increased at a staggering rate. Numerous studies have emphasized that the lack of integrated and systematic management strategies threaten these indispensable resources' ability to meet growing demand. In many countries, the security of WEF resources, which is related to each other, has become three non-traditional security challenges that overshadow these communities' development. Before realizing the importance of interactions between these three vital resources, the management strategies were typically used for one source, which was completely independent of the other two. Since these strategies did not consider the interactions between the three systems, the applied strategies' results were sometimes contradictory. Also, due to the lack of attention to these three sectors' vital connections, the competition level among these systems has been increased. Therefore, in recent years, the study of the complex interactions and connections between these resources has led to the emergence of a new term called WEF nexus in the scientific communities. Most studies about the WEF nexus have only described the current situation or, ideally, analyzed several predetermined scenarios. However, the adopted approach should be able to analyze different scenarios and be efficient and robust enough to develop a variety of strategies and utilize them for macro-policies. In this study, after reviewing the complex interactions between the WEF systems, it was tried to introduce a novel paradigm for the WEF nexus, which concentrates on expanding the possible space of WEF nexus., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

The construction of trade power and green low-carbon transformation are common high-quality development goals for countries worldwide. The depth of the environmental provisions contained in different countries' intercountry trade agreements and the implicit carbon data of intercountry trade are accurately measured based on the textual analysis of trade agreement rules, and it is empirically found that enhancing the depth of the environmental provisions contained in trade agreements can significantly reduce CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade. The capacity of intercountry green technology cooperation to strengthen the internal environmental governance capacity of countries and to enhance carbon productivity is an important transmission mechanism. The effect of the environmental provisions in different types of trade agreements on reducing trade-implied carbon is obviously heterogeneous; the higher the level of correlation with carbon emissions is, the stronger the effect of trade agreement provisions, and that effect is more significant in developed countries and in the reduction of foreign carbon emissions that are embedded in export products. In this paper, the impact of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements on trade-implied carbon under the same framework is directly studied, which not only advances the measurement of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements and expands the research field on the scope of influence of existing trade agreements but also fully accounts for the role of the effectiveness of environmental provisions in different contexts and provides a theoretical basis for the optimization of future environmental provisions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China has significantly increased trade in countries along the Belt and Road (B&R). Since most of these countries are developing and emerging economies, the pressure to reduce carbon emissions poses a leading challenge for them. Carbon productivity has become a key indicator for assessing the degree of low-carbon development, as it can link economic development with CO 2 emission reduction. However, few studies have investigated how international trade affects carbon productivity. Based on panel data from 43 countries along the B&R during 2001-2019, this paper uses a system GMM model to explore the impact of international trade on carbon productivity. Then, we divide the 43 countries in the sample into two groups according to their income levels to compare the different effects of international trade on carbon productivity. The results show that, first, the carbon productivity of the examined B&R countries has an overall increasing trend, and there is a significant heterogeneity of carbon productivity among countries with different income levels. Second, the effects of international trade, export, and import on carbon productivity are all significantly positive, and export's effect is higher than import. In the high-income group, carbon productivity is more likely to be improved by trade than in the middle (low)-income group. Third, economic development level, urbanization, and energy productivity are positively associated with carbon productivity, while CO 2 per capita and government size inhibit carbon productivity improvement. Insight into the impact of international trade on carbon productivity provides theoretical support for B&R countries to better leverage foreign trade activities to achieve a green economy., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In the context of increasing global resource and environmental problems, it is of great practical significance to accurately test the impact of various factors on energy use efficiency for maintaining national energy security and formulating relevant policies. This paper measures firms' total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) using the two-stage stochastic frontier method within the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework, leveraging data from listed firms in China spanning 2010 to 2022. Employing the establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply the staggered differences-in-differences (DID) and stacked DID methods and analyze the impact of FTZs on firms' TFEE. The results show that the establishment of FTZs significantly promotes the improvement of firms' TFEE, and it has a greater promotion effect on heavily polluting, non-manufacturing, state-owned, private, and small-scale firms. The results of the mechanistic analysis showed that the promotion effect of FTZs on firms' TFEE is mainly realized through three channels: increasing government subsidies, reducing the financing constraint effect, and encouraging the technology innovation effect. Furthermore, industry-level decomposition results indicate that the surge in industry energy efficiency primarily results from improvements within firms rather than inter-industry variations. This paper's results propose that countries can enhance energy efficiency by progressively endorsing the implementation of FTZs., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The concept of sustainability in the context of human resource management (HRM), or more precisely, green HRM, has significantly transformed in recent years. Human resources are an important and valuable asset of a firm. In this research, green HRM is concentrated on the areas where HRM is held accountable for the company's sustainability initiatives. The research examines the effects of green HRM on organizational performance in China while considering the mediating roles of green innovation (GI), green employee behavior (GEB), and organizational culture. The data was gathered from 316 HR specialists working in various Chinese manufacturing businesses to meet the study's goals. A self-administered questionnaire utilizing the preexisting scale is used to obtain the data (detail is provided in Table 1). The smart PLS 4 structural equation modeling approach is applied for the data analysis. The study results indicate that green HRM practices influence green innovation (GI), green culture (GC), and green employee behavior (GEB). Furthermore, results also suggest that GI, GC, and GEB influence the organization's sustainable performance (SP). The research has several theoretical, methodological, and practical ramifications for many stakeholders, including the Chinese security exchange commissions, firms' senior management, academics, and HR specialists., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: Cigarette price increases reduce smoking prevalence but as a tobacco control policy are undermined by the availability of lower cost alternatives such as hand-rolling tobacco. The aim of this descriptive study is to explore time trends in the price of manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, and in the numbers of people who smoke these products, over recent years in the UK., Settings and Participants: UK., Outcome Measures: Trends in the most popular price category (MPPC) data for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco from 1983 to 2012 adjusted for inflation using the Retail Price Index, and trends in smoking prevalence and the proportion of smokers using hand-rolling tobacco from 1974 to 2010., Results: After adjustment for inflation, there was an increase in prices of manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco between 1983 and 2012. Between 1974 and 2010, the prevalence of smoking fell from 45% to 20%, and the estimated total number of smokers from 25.3 to 12.4 million. However the number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco increased from 1.4 to 3.2 million, and MPPC cigarette price was strongly correlated with number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco., Conclusions: Although the ecological study design precludes conclusions on causality, the association between increases in manufactured cigarette price and the number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco suggests that the lower cost of smoking hand-rolling tobacco encourages downtrading when cigarette prices rise. The magnitude of this association indicates that the lower cost of hand-rolling tobacco seriously undermines the use of price as a tobacco control measure., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Green innovations are the most critical factor in promoting environmental sustainability worldwide. Trade can speed up the adoption of green innovations by facilitating the transfer of information, skills, and technology. However, trade policy uncertainty can create significant challenges for businesses investing in eco-innovations, leading to increased risk, reduced investment, and slower progress toward sustainable technologies. Recently, a growing number of researchers have shown their interest in finding the factors that can impact green innovations, but none have investigated the influence of trade policy uncertainty on green innovations in the USA and China. In addition, none of the past studies has relied on the nonlinear assumption. This analysis fills these gaps by examining the nonlinear impacts of trade policy uncertainty on eco-innovations in China and the USA over 2000Q1-2021Q4 by employing a nonlinear ARDL model. The finding reveals that a positive shock in trade policy uncertainty results in a decrease in green innovation in the USA and China, while a negative shock in trade policy uncertainty leads to an increase in green innovation in the USA over the long run. The nonlinear models also indicate that a positive shock in trade policy uncertainty harms green innovation in both the USA and China in the short run. The robustness of these results is confirmed by the NQARDL model, which confirms that an upsurge in trade policy uncertainty lowers green innovation in most quantiles in the USA and China in the short and long run. Conversely, negative shocks in trade policy uncertainty stimulate green innovation at most quantiles in both China and the USA, in the short and long run. Thus, policymakers need to consider the potential impact of trade policies on eco-innovations and work to create stable and predictable trade environments that support the growth of renewable technologies and other sustainable solutions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In recent years, experts and academics in the environmental management field have developed an interest in the factors and evaluation techniques that influence corporate environmental investment decisions. However, there are substantial differences between studies employing the most recent evaluation methodologies and those that use indicator systems. To explore the mechanisms that influence corporate environmental investment, this study investigated the determinants of environmental investment through the perspectives of firm, board, chair, and chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics using a machine learning approach. Based on a large-scale data sample from Chinese-listed companies, the results indicated that the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model had an accuracy of up to 97.63%, thus performing the best. Additionally, the model that used SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to interpret XGBoost showed that a company's sales performance was the most important factor that influenced environmental investment, followed by CEO tenure, board independence, board gender diversity, chair academic experience, and the company's level of internationalization. Furthermore, when examining the sample of heavily polluting enterprises, sales, board gender diversity, CEO tenure, chair academic experience, board independence, and chair-CEO duality, all were found to play crucial roles in predicting environmental investment. Overall, this study aids in evaluating the factors that influence corporate environmental investment decisions and provides policymakers and practitioners with a machine learning approach for use when assessing these factors., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The environmental goods and services industry consists of the activities that generate products and services to monitor, avoid, restrict, reduce, or repair environmental risk and decrease non-renewable energy resource usage. Although the environmental goods industry does not exist in many countries, mainly developing countries, through international trade, its impacts are reaching developing countries. This study examines the impact of environmental and non-environmental goods trade on emissions in high and middle-income countries. For empirical estimation, the panel ARDL model is applied using the data from 2007 to 2020. The results indicate that importing environmental goods decreases emissions while imports of non-environmental goods increase the emissions in high-income countries in the long run. It is found that imports of environmental goods in developing countries decrease emissions in both the short and long run. However, in the short run, the imports of non-environmental goods in developing countries have an insignificant impact on emissions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The economic and environmental consequences of bad banking practices have aroused much attention. In China, banks are at the center of shadow banking activities through which they avoid regulation and support environmentally unfriendly businesses such as fossil fuel companies and other high-pollution enterprises. In this paper, we study the impact of bank's engagement in shadow banking activities on its sustainability by using annual panel data of Chinese commercial banks. The result shows that bank's engagement in shadow banking activities has a negative impact on its sustainability and the negative impact of bank's engagement in shadow banking activities is more pronounced for city commercial banks and unlisted banks which are less regulated and lack corporate social responsibility (CSR). Furthermore, we explore the underlying mechanism of our findings and prove that bank's sustainability is impeded because it transforms high-risk loan into shadow banking activities which are less regulated. Finally, by using difference-in-difference (DiD) approach, we find that bank's sustainability improved after the financial regulation on shadow banking activities. Our research provides empirical evidence that the financial regulation on bad banking practices is beneficial for bank's sustainability., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Given the critical importance of green technology implementation (GTI) is important for production process improvement and an eco-friendly environment. The present study investigates the connection between GTI and the knowledge management (KM) process to minimize manufacturing risk. This research also validates that an assured combination of green implementation and KM can lead to minimizing manufacturing risk. The sample data (153) was taken from those manufacturing companies that utilize green technologies. Smart PLS 3.2.9 analyzes the relationship between certain variables of GTI and the KM process. Furthermore, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used for a combined configurational approach to examine manufacturing risk minimization. The study's outcome validated that green implementation positively correlated with KM to minimize production risk. fsQCA approach, KM, and green implementation outcome indicated that production risks are minimized. This study contributes to bridging research gaps in the literature and advances understanding of the interrelationship between green implementation and KM processes to minimize manufacturing risk. In addition, research is vital to combine direct and configurational methodologies to highlight two distinct facets of green implementation and the KM process for minimizing manufacturing risk., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The age-long debate between SME-growth nexus has ignored environmental sustainability, as evident by many previous empirical studies. However, the pivotal role of SMEs and their undeniable dominance in the business landscape of Africa presents itself as a potential instrument for leading sustainability advocacy on the African continent. The study investigates whether credit flows from the private sector and government-owned enterprises to small and medium enterprises guarantee growth and environmental sustainability using data from World Bank Databases for 35 African countries from 2006 to 2019. Results from the econometric analysis show that domestic credit flowing from the private sector and government-owned enterprises to SMEs leads to significant growth with greater impact at lower quantiles in the case of Africa. On the issue of environmental sanctity, credit flowing from the private sector to SMEs counteract the adverse effect of SMEs activities on the environment, while credit flowing from government enterprises intensify the negative effect of SMEs activities on the environment in the case of Africa. Furthermore, renewable energy significantly reduces environmental decay more efficiently in upper quantiles while natural resource rents aggravate environmental decay only for African countries in the lower quantiles. Policy recommendations are proffered in the manuscript within the ambit of the study findings., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Because of the environmental consequences of manufacturing activities, the general public, industry, and academia are becoming more aware of sustainable manufacturing (SM), which incorporates environmentally friendly manufacturing processes while emphasizing overall triple bottom line (TBL) performance in manufacturing. This article employs various text mining techniques and bibliometric analysis including cluster analysis, Pearson coefficient and research landscape to conduct an extensive investigation on SM with a focus on the TBL, in which the research content of SM with the TBL is reviewed and discussed systematically from a wide angle and with reduced bias. In this study, three new indicators about the ratios of the number of scientific papers between social, environmental, and economic dimensions of SM are devised to show the weight and level of importance of dimensions in SM, covering scientific papers from 30 years. The findings from this study indicate that the influential power of SM varies across the three dimensions, with a particular emphasis on the social dimension of SM from various countries, implying a current state of imbalance status in TBL for SM, at the same time, the economic and environmental dimensions share similar research topics and academic emphasis in SM. Based on these findings, recommendations based on sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) are made to increase the social influence of SM. This article firstly reveals the individual status of the social dimension and the situation of unbalanced TBL in SM, providing sustainable suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of SM and achieving balanced TBL regarding the SDGs., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A new route perspective measure based on the global value chain (GVC) distinguishes the embodied emission transfer destinations while concurrently considering the transfer process and GVC embedding position. This study applies this measure to reassess the characteristics of China's foreign trade embodied emissions and their impacts on global emissions. The results show that: (1) China's domestic embodied emission exports are mainly concentrated in manufacturing and dominated by final goods exports and simple GVC routes. China primarily imports foreign emissions via simple GVC routes. (2) The embodied emission intensity of China's exports is much higher than that of its imports, and China's expansion in imports indirectly promoted global emission reduction. (3) China's foreign trade increases global emissions with a waning trend, while GVC-related trade reduces global emissions. Additionally, it is feasible to reduce global emissions by adjusting China's bilateral trade structures with different countries. We conclude that China's GVC-related trade has increased, but exports through complex GVC tend to be the resource-input type. We emphasize that China needs to actively participate in globalization and upgrade its GVC to step off the low-end locking predicament in global production and cope with the multiple pressures of global and domestic emission reduction and stable development., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Journals are the most important vehicles for sharing research results. Some countries (such as Brazil, Chile and Portugal) are underrepresented in terms of originating papers published in top Information Systems journals. This theoretical paper aims to provide a roadmap signposting the key elements for a paper to meet the criteria for publication in the top Information Systems journals. Ten dimensions for critically reviewing Information Systems papers were identified in the literature. Considering the importance of having a paper published in a top journal, for both the author and for the institution to which he is affiliated, this paper might be used by researchers wishing to submit papers to top journals, as well as by editors and reviewers who might benefit by reflecting on the standards adopted in peer review systems.

This paper aims, on the one hand, to investigate the impact of innovation on economic diversification in 11 oil-abundant MENA countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen) over the period 1996-2019 using the Arellano-Bond difference GMM estimator and, on the other hand, to reveal how much the level of economic diversification will increase if MENA oil exporters will have innovation rates similar to that of a successful diversifier like Canada. The main findings emphasize the importance of innovation in promoting economic diversification in MENA oil-exporting countries; the level of innovation-led economic diversification increases at a greater pace in GCC countries than in their non-GCC counterparts. The results also show that governance, human development, domestic credit to private sector, and economic freedom positively and significantly affect economic diversification in MENA oil exporters, while oil rents negatively affect economic diversification in these countries. Moreover, the results confirm the effectiveness of the joint impact of governance index and oil rents in boosting economic diversification in oil-rich MENA countries. The results also reveal that the rate of improvement in economic diversification brought by replacing MENA oil exporters' innovation rates with those of Canada is 1.77% (for every 1% increase in innovation). Based on that, one can say that increasing the rate of innovation in MENA oil-exporting countries does accelerate the pace of economic diversification., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The study mainly focuses on identifying the links between corporate social responsibility disclosure activities and green bond investment performance utilizing GDP growth as a moderating variable in Morocco. The research is based on a unique technique combining a thorough literature review, market data analysis, and interviews with a vast spectrum of green bond market players. The data from 2015 to 2019 for the 450 Moroccan enterprises has been utilized to produce CSR and GDP growth rates based on a serial criterion. The data demonstrate that the more firms publicly disclose their CSR initiatives, and the better the financial outcomes. The relationship between CSR disclosure and green bond investment seems to be tempered by GDP considerably, while the effect of CSR on green bond investment Tobin's Q is dramatically lowered. As a consequence of the benefits that the business stands to get from CSR disclosure, legislators are moving in the direction of ensuring a long-term market. Overall, the issue of green bonds has a good influence on firms, may contribute to environmental development, encourages CSR and value creation, and helps to attract investors to some level. The research provided light on a strategy to measure CSR disclosure indices for emerging markets like Morocco. The results recommend that the business's management pay more attention to CSR disclosure activities owing to the positive advantage their firm may gain and suggest policymakers maintain a stable economic background for a sustainable market., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The topmost challenge for Indian manufacturing industries is to reduce the pace of energy intensity to deal with environmental degradation and climate change problems. In this light, we examine the firm-specific determinants influencing energy intensity of Indian manufacturing firms and suggest measures to minimize the energy intensity. To do so, we use aggregate firm-level data ranging between 2010 and 2021 and employ panel quantile regression. We found that the determinants, namely LI, RMPMI, PMI, and OI, have a statistically positive and significant impact on energy intensity. Other factors such as RMSSI, PATI, TDI, SI, and LNTA were found to show mixed results. Besides, we observed RMPMI as the most dominant factor driving energy intensity among Indian manufacturing firms. The findings of this paper endorse effective policymaking pertaining to energy intensity for Indian manufacturing firms and necessitates the modifications in energy conservation regulations., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study extends the foundations of the natural resource-based view (NRBV) by introducing a mediation-moderation framework by analyzing the influence of green intellectual capital (GIC) on both green innovation performance (GIP) and environmental performance (EP) while simultaneously considering the mediating role of green absorptive capacity (GAC) and the moderating influence of the green innovation climate (GICL). The data for this study was gathered from a sample of 575 participants employed within small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') manufacturing firms. This dataset was utilized to evaluate the proposed model; this study uses the PLS-SEM approach to comprehensively examine the complex interactions among these variables. This model adds to the theoretical understanding of NRBV and enhances its practical applicability. The findings of this study reveal a positive relationship between GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP within organizations. Furthermore, our investigation reveals a positive correlation between a GICL and the relationships involving GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP. Importantly, this research introduces a novel perspective by clarifying the complex relations among these variables and highlighting the positive correlation between a GICL and the relationships involving GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP. This novel approach enhances the theoretical understanding of NRBV and its practical applicability in fostering GIP and EP within manufacturing SMEs operating in Pakistan., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With increasing environmental degradation, green finance and green innovation have attracted the attention of policymakers and industries. However, the impact of green finance on corporate green innovation is still unexplored. Based on signal theory, this study analyzes the mixed effect of green finance on green innovation in enterprises. We use data from 31 provinces (333 cities in total) in China in 2021 and use a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method. Green finance factors include green credit, green bond, green investment, green insurance, and green subsidy. Our research findings are as follows: Firstly, green innovation in businesses is not a product of a single antecedent situation but rather the interaction of several antecedent conditions. Green insurance and green subsidy are the core prerequisites for high green innovation in enterprises, and green credit plays an auxiliary role. Secondly, when there is a lack of green insurance, green bonds and green subsidies play a key role, leading to a high level of green innovation in businesses. Thirdly, the impact of various antecedents on the level of green innovation performance in enterprises is asymmetric. Policymakers should fully leverage the effect of green subsidy signals and minimize the risks of green innovation by expanding financing channels. Our findings enrich the literature on green innovation and finance and provide beneficial practical insights for green innovation in enterprises., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Over the past three decades, industrial innovations and technological advancements have changed business dynamics, adversely devastating the overall environment. As a result, our oceans have been severely affected due to climate change and global warming. To address this issue, this study investigates the factors that cause ocean CO 2 using a sample of 44 countries over 2012-2021 and explores a dynamic and causal relationship between economic growth, ocean carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and control variables relating to the ocean industry. This study finds that increasing economic activity tends to increase ocean carbon emissions. The results support the evidence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis suggesting an inverted U-shaped association between ocean emissions and real income for the sample countries. Moreover, this study reports that ocean health index, maritime container transport, trade of fishery and ocean species, aquaculture production and marine species, and employment rate in the fishery processing sector are the significant factors of ocean CO 2 . Region-wise analyses suggest that real income positively influences ocean emissions and confirm the evidence of the EKC hypothesis in European sample countries but these relationships have an insignificant effect in Asia and the Pacific and the American regions. Furthermore, a short-run unidirectional panel causality flows from the production of aquaculture and other species to RD&D, from OHI and GDP to trade of fishery and other species, and from OHI to employment rate in the fishery sector. Likewise, bidirectional causality runs from energy consumption and maritime transport to ocean CO 2 in the long term. Regarding the long-run causal association, the results determine that all of the estimated coefficients of the lagged error correction terms are statistically significant which explains that they are crucial in the adjustment process as they deviate from the long-run equilibrium., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Achieving sustainable development necessitates proactive measures to mitigate the economy's negative impact on environmental standards. A new empirical association between renewable energy patent innovation and net international trade on carbon emissions in ASEAN countries from 1990 to 2021 is presented, along with its significance. Using present panel data techniques, this study investigates the connections between these factors. Second-generation cointegration and unit root tests, as well as a novel method of Moments Quantile Regression, are used in the econometric procedure. Compared to standard quantile regression, this method is more resistant to outliers and provides an asymmetric relationship between the variables. The findings show that trade increases carbon emissions in countries with medium to high emissions, that patent innovation contributes to increasing emissions, and that renewable energy mitigates carbon emissions in countries with low to medium emerging economies. Our results are consistent with other specifications, including quantile regression canay (Canay 2011), fully modified, dynamic, and fixed effect regressions, proving the EKC hypothesis. These countries need to prioritize greener products and adopt advanced manufacturing technologies to reduce carbon emissions from consumption. However, as prosperity increases, it also leads to higher consumption-based carbon emissions, worsening ecological damage in the region. Implementing policies like trade synchronization and increasing investment in patent innovations are proposed in this study to lower the current level of carbon emissions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: Digital journal created a new development pattern. We use journal APP as an example to analyze how to migrate the journal content to Internet and other kind of media. Based on the case study of GQ and other fashion magazines, through text analysis, control experiments, in-depth interviews and other research methods, the authors analyzed the differences and connections between the iPad App and print edition of magazines, discussed the approaches towards operation of new media, offered the tendency of mobile device platform development for China’s periodical publications. Design/methodology/approach: control experiment. Findings: The authors give a stance that the print edition of periodical publication will being alive still, and conclude that journal APP and printed version can be mutually beneficial and achieve a win-win state. And we believe that the journal APP is good at advertising propagation, which will accelerate the development of journal APP in such the information age, and such kind of media can integrate many information with variety of media forms. Research limitations/implications: Because of the limitation of technology, the authors only have the experiment on fashion magazine, which might to some degree simplify the issue under discussion. Practical implications: According to the conclusion of a series of experiments, we can imply the future of the media, and give the suggestion of both paper version and ipad version of the journal. Social implications: Since people can not live without media and media has to develope with the help of public, we have to give the new way of both sunrise media and sunset media. Originality/value: Based on the case study of GQ and other fashion magazines, through text analysis, control experiments, in-depth interviews and other research methods, the authors analyzed the differences and connections between the iPad App and print edition of magazines, discussed the approaches towards operation of new media, offered the tendency of mobile device platform development for China’s periodical publications.

We quantify the criticality of the world's 1300 most important ports for global supply chains by predicting the allocation of trade flows on the global maritime transport network, which we link to a global supply-chain database to evaluate the importance of ports for the economy. We find that 50% of global trade in value terms is maritime, with low-income countries and small islands being 1.5 and 2.0 times more reliant on their ports compared to the global average. The five largest ports globally handle goods that embody >1.4% of global output, while 40 ports add >10% of domestic output of the economies they serve, predominantly small islands. We identify critical cross-border infrastructure dependencies for some landlocked and island countries that rely on specific ports outside their jurisdiction. Our results pave the way for developing new strategies to enhance the resilience and sustainability of port infrastructure and maritime trade., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

This study investigates the relationship between COVID-19 and the adoption of green supply chain management practices (GSCM) in the Pakistani e-commerce industry. It also assesses the impact of these practices on ecological sustainability across three dimensions and explores the role of big data analytics (BDA) in enhancing them after the pandemic. The research utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling to evaluate data and test hypotheses. The research sample was composed of 390 managers operating within Pakistan's e-commerce industry. The study's preliminary findings reveal that COVID-19 has positively influenced the adoption of GSCM practices, which are moderated by BDA. Implementing GSCM has a positive impact on the perceived environmental and social resilience of e-commerce enterprises, but no significant effect on their perceived economic resilience. Additionally, GSCM acts as a mediator in the relationship between the impact of COVID-19 and the perceived environmental and social resilience of e-commerce firms, but not for economic resilience. This research focuses on Pakistan's e-commerce industry and investigates how COVID-19 affects the adoption of eco-friendly supply chain practices. It measures the impact of these practices on ecological sustainability using three dimensions. The study also examines how BDA can improve the adoption of GSCM in e-commerce, offering new insights into sustainability during and post-pandemic. The results recommend that the e-commerce industry can use BDA and GSCM practices to improve e-commerce sustainable performance. This is initial research that integrates COVID-19 impact, BDA, GSCM practices, and e-commerce sustainability in a single framework that was overlooked previously., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Technological advancement and innovations not only transformed businesses but also optimize numerous functional areas of financial services. Besides, green finance and fintech are also essential tools to achieve sustainable development agendas. Thus, it is imperative to document the evidence that how conducive such factors are to achieve 2030 sustainable development goals. The study, in this regard, is aimed to scrutinize innovation, green finance, financial technologies, and ESG factors altogether in order to determine their effectiveness on sustainable development in Gulf countries in the time span of 2000-2020. The study opts for methods of moments quantile regression (MMQR) and claim that green finance, green innovation, and fintech helps in achieving sustainable development goals. However, among ESG factors, social and governance role is negative in the sampled economies. Findings are interesting for policy makers and government institutions because it assists them to improve governance evaluation system and classification standards so that countries may no longer experience hindrance when indulging in sustainable development actions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The study investigated "Building Ecological Civilization: the Importance of Promoting Green Investments by Chinese Companies" to examine the complex connections between the factors affecting Chinese businesses' ecological performance (EP). An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is used in the study to analyze the impact of green investments (GI), the policy environment (PE), government support (GS), public awareness and perception (PAP), and technological capability (TC) on companies' earnings per share (EPS). The results show a strong correlation between GI and EP, indicating that businesses' growing use of green initiatives is essential for raising environmental sustainability. The study also shows that PE, TC, and EP have an inverse relationship, indicating the need for more supportive governmental policies and regulations and the effective adoption and implementation of green technologies. The interaction of GS and PAP significantly reduces the ecological impact of green investments, highlighting the significance of citizen involvement and the role of government in advancing ecological civilization. The findings also demonstrated that green investments, policy environments, public perception, and technology influence the ecological performance of businesses. They also demonstrate statistical robustness with low p-values. This information is essential for developing policies that support an ecological civilization, which is necessary for China and globally in light of the current climate crisis., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Internal auditing has been an elementary and powerful component of corporate governance in business strategies. It is highly acknowledged as an important business control system in the realm of quality management. Business performance does not come by itself; it needs plenty of aids and capabilities. Existing studies have investigated the business performance with fewer outcomes in corporate sustainability, firm, and environmental performance. We present analysis and validated improvised hypothesis through structural equation modeling (SEM), using analysis of a moment structures (AMOS), on empirical evidence gathered from 304 Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) in Top Multinational Companies of Pakistan (TMCP). In this paper, we examine the role of internal audit functionality as an influencing factor via corporate governance in corporate sustainability, firm performance, and environmental performance. Moreover, business quality and performance are maintained using functions such as interests of shareholders, personnel and finance. Results suggest that internal audit functionality and corporate governance significantly influence corporate sustainability, firm performance, and environmental performance. Additionally, CEOs and top managers of TMCP are advised to concentrate on internal audit functionality with a mediating role of corporate governance that in turn encourages corporate sustainability, firm performance, and environmental performance., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In recent years, addressing the issue of carbon emissions has gained significant attention in the field of environmental sustainability. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the interplay between eco-innovation, international trade, energy productivity, and consumption-based carbon emissions in the context of the BRICS economies. Using data spanning the period from 1990 to 2020, we employ advanced methodological techniques to overcome challenges associated with cross-section dependency, non-stationarity, and heterogeneity. The results of our study provide compelling evidence of a long-term cointegrating association between eco-innovation, energy productivity, economic growth, imports, exports and consumption-based carbon emissions. The results reveal that eco-innovations, exports, and energy productivity are associated with reductions in CO 2 emissions. Conversely, imports and GDP growth contribute to higher CO 2 emissions. Our findings have significant implications for policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders involved in shaping environmental policies and sustainable development strategies. The observed negative correlations between eco-innovation, exports, energy productivity, and consumption-based carbon emissions offer a clear channel for mitigating environmental pollution. By prioritizing and promoting eco-innovation initiatives, encouraging sustainable exports, and enhancing energy productivity, policymakers can effectively reduce carbon emissions and foster sustainable economic growth., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)