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In this paper we test two recently developed liquidity measures the Return-to-Turnover (hereafter RtoTR) proposed by Florackis et al. (2011) and Return-to-Volume (hereafter RtoV) recommended by Amihud, 2002 , for 386 companies listed on the Pakistani Stock Exchange (PSX). Our data is obtained from January 2005 to December 2019. We firstly show the Amihud, 2002 ratio has limited ability to distinguish illiquidity from size effects in asset pricing. Second, the Florackis et al. (2011) measure has distinct features to overcome the limitations of the Amihud, 2002 ratio in the PSX. Our results show that the Capital Asset Pricing Model cannot completely account for the significant RtoV premium. However, this weak evidence for the existence of this premium disappears when Fama–French or Carhart alphas are considered as measures of risk-adjusted performance. This suggests that the RtoTR price impact ratio is more effective in the PSX compared to the RtoV ratio. Our findings suggest that both trading frequency and trading cost are significant factors in examining the returns. The RtoV ratio has a negative correlation with the market capitalization, which suggests that small stocks are inherently illiquid.

Despite the well-documented mixed results of hedging on firm value, empirical evidence of why hedging reduces firm value is rare. Theory suggests that hedging can increase firm value by reducing bankruptcy cost and volatility, although it can also decrease firm value through a manager’s utility maximization. This study explores the reduction of market dependence and the over-investment hypothesis that results in decreasing firm value. By studying UK domiciled oil and gas companies, we found that capital expenditure accompanied by hedging reduces firm value, although capital expenditure itself increases firm value. This effect is pronounced when capital expenditure is made by firms with foreign operations, suggesting that hedging reduces the effect of the market’s monitoring role and, therefore, capital expenditure with hedging tends to be perceived as over-investment. This paper is one of the first studies that empirically examine the reduction of market dependence and over-investment through hedging.

Nanotechnology is starting the characterization, fabrication, and possible applications of numerous materials at the Nano-scale. Over the last few eras, nanomaterials provide a platform for researchers from diverse arenas due to the high surface-to-volume ratio and other novels, and new significant belongings. Zinc oxide nanoparticles are receiving diverse biomedical applications because of their distinctive antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, antifungal, antileishmanial, anti-larvicidal, wound healing, anticholinergic, and anti-diabetic properties. Different physical and chemical approaches have been used to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles, but these methods cause ecotoxicity and are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, there is a need for more eco-friendly, cost-effective, and safe methods. Such biogenic Zinc oxide nanoparticles offer more advantages over other physiochemically synthesized methods. In this review, we have summarized the recent literature for the understanding of the green synthesis of Zinc oxide nanoparticles, their characterization, and their various biomedical applications.

Influenza virus is a major cause of seasonal epidemics and intermittent pandemics. Despite the current molecular biology and vaccine development, influenza virus infection is a significant burden. Vaccines are considered an essential countermeasure for effective control and prevention of influenza virus infection. Even though current influenza virus vaccines provide efficient protection against seasonal influenza outbreaks, the efficacy of these vaccines is not suitable due to antigenic changes of the viruses.This review focuses on different live-attenuated platforms for influenza virus vaccine development and proposes essential considerations for a rational universal influenza virus vaccine design.Despite the recent efforts for universal influenza virus vaccines, there is a lack of broadly reactive antibodies' induction that can confer broad and long-lasting protection. Various strategies using live-attenuated influenza virus vaccines (LAIVs) are investigated to induce broadly reactive, durable, and cross-protective immune responses. LAIVs based on NS segment truncation prevent influenza virus infection and have shown to be effective vaccine candidates among other vaccine platforms. Although many approaches have been used for LAIVs generation, there is still a need to focus on the LAIVs development platforms to generate a universal influenza virus vaccine candidate.

Background and Aim: Dementia psychological and behavioral symptoms are significantly associated to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Clinical profile and characterization of Alzheimer’s disease patients might assist in evolution, diagnosis, and better treatment of the disease. The present study aimed to evaluate the behavioral manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Methodology: This multi-centered cross-sectional study was carried out on 96 Alzheimer’s disease patients in the department of Psychiatry Lahore General Hospital and Psychiatry unit, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, Pakistan for duration of six months from 1st July 2021 to 30th December 2021. Alzheimer’s disease patients with lower and higher Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) scores (≤25 and 26-50 respectively) were enrolled. The patient’s demographic details and clinical information were gathered. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for the evaluation of dementia severity whereas severity varies from mild 27-21 to severe ≤10. Demographic details, AD pharmacological treatments, psychotic breaks presence, AD diagnosis, treatment of concomitant diseases, and extrapyramidal symptoms such as hypokinesia, fluctuating cognition, tremors, etc. were secondary outcomes. Results: Of the total 96 AD patients, 44 (45.8%) had higher and 52 (54.2%) had lower BPSD scores. About 62 (64.6%) were women and 34 (35.4%) were male patients. The overall mean age was 79.6±8.4 years. The majority of the patients had a BPSD score at inclusion and the incidence of psychotic out breaks was reported in 19 (19.8%) patients. The prevalence of symptoms such as depression, delusions, lack of concentration, lack of cooperation, and tremors was 41 (42.5%), 33 (34%), 52 (54.6%), 34 (35.9%), and 52 (54.6%) respectively. Psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and delirium were significantly prevalent in patients with high BPSD scores whereas Apathy and tearfulness-like emotional symptoms were predominated in lower BPSD patients. ADAS-non cognitive score and MMSE were adversely related (p=0.0314), signifying BPSD and cognitive impairment correlation. Appetite changes and lack of concentration were prominently associated with MMSE (p=0.035 and 0.052). Conclusion: Our study found a higher prevalence of non-cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Also, BPSD and cognitive impairment are significantly associated with AD. ADAS-non cognitive is a useful assessment tool. Keywords: Behavioral Manifestation, Alzheimer’s disease, Cognitive Impairment

Background and Aim: Parkinson’s disease's common symptoms are anxiety and depression and play a determinant role in the quality of a patient’s life. Numerous studies identified several risk factors but very few investigated the specific risk factors associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). The objective of the present study was to assess the depression and anxiety among Parkinson’s disease patients, prevalence, risk factors, and impact on life’s quality. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 78 Parkinson’s disease patients at the department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences LGH Lahore, Pakistan and Div HQ hospital, Mirpur AJK in collaboration with Neurology department for the duration from 15 May 2021 to 15 November 2021. All the patients were assessed for anxiety and depression. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Holmes and Rahe scale were used for the evaluation of staging and severity among Parkinson’s disease patients. Clinically diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients aged between 25 and 85 years and stages 1 to 4 on the H-Y scale were enrolled. Patients with movement disorders other than PD, atypical Parkinson's, deep brain stimulation (DBS), visual loss, and secondary Parkinsonism were excluded. Ethical approval was taken from the institutional ethical committee. Depression and anxiety impact on life quality were assessed using World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF. Results: Of the total 78 Parkinson’s disease patients, the prevalence of depression and anxiety was 26 (33.3%) and 32 (41.03%) respectively. About 40 were male and 38 were female patients. The overall mean age was 67±5.9 years. The young population was more susceptible to anxiety and depression was significantly higher in females. The depression and anxiety overlap were in 19 (24.4%) patients. The UPDRS and H-Y scale variance accounted for depression 34.5% and anxiety 38.9%. The severity and advanced disease stage were depression independent predictors whereas younger age and severity were anxiety main predictors. Overall, anxiety and depression had adverse impacts on life quality of Parkinson’s disease patients. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety were found in 33.3% and 41.03% of current Parkinson's disease patients, respectively. Depression and anxiety are relatively common in Parkinson's disease. The main risk factors for developing depression were female gender, low socioeconomic status, and a history of depression. Anxiety was associated with a young age and a history of anxiety. Both had a negative effect on one's quality of life. Keywords: Depression, Anxiety, Risk factors, Prevalence

Background and Aim: The acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPDs) as an independent diagnostic entity have become a subject of nosological debate. Numerous studies considered these psychosis as schizophrenia variants or mood disorders leading to diagnostic instability. The present study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and diagnostic stability in acute and transient psychotic disorders. Methodology: A total of 45 acute and transient psychotic disorders diagnosed patients were investigated at Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences LGH Lahore and Psychiatry unit, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar Pakistan for six months duration from 1st June 2021 to 30th November 2021. All the patients with ages ranging from 17 to 65 years fulfilling ATPDs criteria as per ICD-10 were enrolled. The written informed consent form was taken from the patients’ relatives. Patients with drug intoxication, psychotic illness history, brain disorders, mental retardation, and those taking regular antipsychotic treatment were excluded. Patients were followed up for one month and three months and diagnosis was reevaluated after each follow-up. During the follow-up period, global functioning, clinical manifestations, and quality of life were all evaluated on a regular basis. Results: Of the total 45 ATPD diagnosed patients, male and female patients were 18 (40%) and 27 (60%) respectively. Overall mean age was 29.7±7.9 years. After one month follow-up, the prevalence of ATPD, mood disorder, and schizophrenia was 39 (86.7%), 4 (8.9%), and 2 (4.4%) respectively. After 3 months follow-up, the incidence of diagnosed ATPDs, schizophrenia, and mood disorder were 36 (80%), 5 (11.1%), and 4 (8.9%) respectively. About 36 (80%) patients retained ATPDs whereas diagnosis of psychotic disorders changed in 9 (20%) patients. Conclusion: The acute and transient psychotic disorder was diagnostically stable entity. Patient’s sizable proportion of ATPDs initial diagnosis changed to Schizophrenia-related disorders representing early manifestations. Keywords: Acute and Transient Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia, Diagnostic Stability

Purpose Despite the importance and prevalence of corporate political activities in modern organizations, there remains limited insight on the potential relationship between political contributions and companies’ risk-taking activities. This study aims to examine the relationship between monetary political contributions of firms and corporate risk-taking activities in the context of unstable political and economic environments. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a two-step system GMM estimation to investigate the subject using a cross-country sample of 307 firms from 22 countries covered over 2002–2017. In line with previous studies, the authors control for various corporate governance mechanisms, firm-level factors and country-level characteristics. Findings The findings demonstrate that firms that make monetary political contributions exhibit lower levels of risk as measured by different proxies for risks, namely, systematic, idiosyncratic and total risk. Practical implications The results suggest that political contributions can be a useful mechanism to mitigate risk exposure. Also, the use of different risk measures and other factors for robustness fosters a better understanding of political connectedness in a more contextualized and dynamic manner. Originality/value This study seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding corporate strategy, political connectedness and corporate risk-taking by using actual monetary political contributions as an explicit measure of political connection. This study furthers scholarly understanding on the dynamics of corporate political activities using political contributions in monetary terms as a measure of political connectedness and its impact on risk-taking. Furthermore, the authors explore this topic using insights from nonmarket strategy literature and studies on political contributions.

The event study methodology, which is gaining recognition in the business and marketing disciplines, is a technique used to capture the impact of significant events and announcements at the firm level and country level. Originating from the finance and economics disciplines, and being widely used in the finance literature, the method has recently attracted the attention of business and marketing researchers, particularly in the aftermath of Covid-19, which has adversely affected all kinds of businesses across the world. The event study methodology can be implemented to measure the impact of a major corporate announcement (e.g. new product development) or a significant event on corporate financial performance, profitability, and market valuation over a specific event window, such as a few days (a short window) or a few years (a long window). In this article, we provide a detailed explanation of the step-by-step procedure for implementing the event study methodology in STATA, using Covid-19-related death announcements from the United States, France, Spain, Italy, China, and the United Kingdom. We also provide STATA commands that can be used by researchers when implementing the event study methodology.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the use of the WhatsApp instant messaging as a source of learning for postgraduate students enrolled in Master of Health Profession Education. Study Design: Mixed Method Study. Setting: University of Lahore. Period: January 2017 to January 2018. Material & Methods: Eighteen students filled the questionnaire after giving informed consent. This was followed by eight individual interviews of students consenting for interview. Results: The findings of the research suggest that the use of WhatsApp instant messaging may assist students in learning as it fosters a social constructivist environment. This environment supported students in reinforcing various concepts by enhancing interaction within the groups, among teachers as well as assimilation of the content material shared. Conclusion: WhatsApp is perceived to be an acceptable supplementary application for educational purposes, if used appropriately.

More than 2000 different cryptocurrencies are currently available in business and FinTech applications. Cryptocurrency is a digital payment system that does not rely on banks to verify their financial transactions and can enable anyone anywhere to send and receive their payments. Crypto mining attracts investors to mine and gets some coins as a reward for using the cryptocurrency. However, hackers can exploit the computing power without the explicit authorization of a user by launching a cryptojacking attack and then using it to mine cryptocurrency. The detection and protection of cryptojacking attacks are essential, and thus, miners are continuously working to find innovative ways to overcome this issue. This chapter provides an overview of the cryptojacking landscape. It offers recommendations to guide researchers and practitioners to overcome the identified challenges faced while realizing a mitigation strategy to combat cryptojacking malware attacks.

Smart cities assure the masses a higher quality of life through digital interconnectivity, leading to increased efficiency and accessibility in cities. In addition, a huge amount of data is being exchanged through smart devices, networks, cloud infrastructure, big data analysis and Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the various private and public sectors, such as critical infrastructures, financial sectors, healthcare, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, these sectors require maintaining certain security mechanisms to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of personal and critical information. However, unfortunately, organizations fail to maintain their security posture in terms of security mechanisms and controls, which leads to data breach incidents either intentionally or inadvertently due to the vulnerabilities in their information management systems that either malicious insiders or attackers exploit. In this paper, we highlight the importance of data breaches and issues related to information leakage incidents. In particular, the impact of data breaching incidents and the reasons contributing to such incidents affect the citizens’ well-being. In addition, this paper also discusses various preventive measures such as security mechanisms, laws, standards, procedures, and best practices, including follow-up mitigation strategies.

Background and Aim: Burn injuries patients generally suffer from various psychological and mental disorders especially in lower socio-economic groups. It can adversely affect their wellbeing and health. Proper consultation and clinical diagnosis need to be carried out on burns injuries patients from the early critical phase to rehabilitation phase recovery. The current study's aim was to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in burn patients in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 82 attempted burn suicides, adult patients in Khattak Medical Center Peshawar, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar and Divisional Headquarter hospital, Mirpur AJK for duration of six months from June 2020 to December 2020. All the patients admitted with suicides burns were of either gender and had ages above 15 years. The convenience technique was used for sampling. The patients’ demographic details such as psychiatric illness, self-immolation act motivation, burn injury depth, burn total body surface area, inhalation injury, hospitalization duration, and mortality was recorded on pre-designed proforma. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age of all 82 patients was 28.9±5.2 with an age range of 14 to 55 years. Of the total, 66 (80.5%) were female while 16 (19.5%) were male. In this study, the most frequent suicidal attempt was made by the marital conflicted patients 50 (61%) followed by love affair failure 8 (9.7%). An overall mean of 53.6±19.6 was observed for total body surface area affected with a range of 15-100%. The hospital duration mean was 8.2±5.9 with a range of 1-38 days. Young, married, and rural area illiterate housewives were the most common self-inflicted/suicide burn injuries. The prime cause of such injuries was getting married. The mortality rate was found at 82.3%. Conclusion: Our study concluded that patient’s well-being and mental health could be severely affected by burn injuries. Prevalent depression was noted among severe burn injuries patients. Depression related to deformity could be prevented with early grafting, wound management, proper splinting, coping ability, intense physiotherapy, and long-term rehabilitation. Keywords: Burn; Depressed mood, Psychiatric morbidity, Posttraumatic stress disorder

Our study explores the relationship between tourism and globalization (both overall, and in terms of three sub‐indices, namely economic, social, and political globalization) in the United States (US) using monthly data from January 1995 to December 2017. We employ the quantile‐on‐quantile (QQ) regression technique for our analysis. The sample period of the present study allows the separate examination of the relationship between globalization and tourism both before the global financial crisis (1995–2007) and after (2008–2017). The findings suggest that in the US during the precrisis era, all the globalization indices and tourism are positively bidirectionally related. During the postcrisis period, all globalization indices positively affect tourism, but tourism has a negative effect on economic and political globalization. The theoretical and policy implications of the empirical findings are discussed.

Notwithstanding the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, influenza virus infection still represents a global health concern in terms of hospitalizations and possible pandemic threats. The objective of next-generation influenza vaccines is not only to increase the breadth of response but also to improve the elicitation of an effective and robust immune response, especially in high-risk populations. To achieve this second objective, the administration of adjuvanted influenza vaccines has been considered. In this regard, the monitoring and characterization of the antibody response associated with the administration of adjuvanted vaccines has been evaluated in this study in order to shed light on the kinetic, magnitude and subclass usage of antibody secreting cells (ASCs) as well as of circulating antigen-specific serum antibodies. Specifically, we utilized the DBA/2J mouse model to assess the kinetic, magnitude and IgG subclass usage of the antibody response following an intramuscular (IM) or intraperitoneal (IP) immunization regimen with AddaVax-adjuvanted bivalent H1N1 and H3N2 computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen (COBRA) influenza recombinant hemagglutinins (rHAs). While the serological evaluation revealed a homogeneous kinetic of the antibody response, the detection of the ASCs through a FluoroSpot platform revealed a different magnitude, subclass usage and kinetic of the antigen-specific IgG secreting cells peaking at day 5 and day 9 following the IP and IM immunization, respectively.

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine whether the work locus of control is a moderator of the relationship between counterproductive behavior at work and work stressors. Methods: To investigate this relationship, 346 full-time working adults employed at Nishter hospital Multan and Allied hospital Faisalabad were surveyed during the period from January 2019 to January 2020via three checklist questionnaires. Using hierarchical regression analysis, both main and moderator effect were tested in order to determine whether work locus of control influence employee’s tendencies engage in counterproductive behavior in response to work stressors. Results: Shows that the work locus of control interacts significantly with work stressors in predicting counterproductive behavior at work, suggesting that the work locus of control is an important variable to consider when studying productive behavior at work. The implications of these findings and ideas for future research are discussed. Conclusion: CWB has a detrimental effect on organizations and individuals related with the organization; therefore, organizations should be attentive of the probable influences influencing employee participation in CWB. Keywords: Counterproductive behavior at work, Deviations in the workplace, Location of control in the workplace, Stress at work, Personality

This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility, corporate innovation, and corporate performance in developing countries. Firm level governance and corporate social responsibility data for 150 companies from 12 developing countries were collected from Datastream and Bloomberg for 2014–2019. The results show that in the context of developing countries there is no significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate innovation. Our findings raise concerns about the level of R&D investments and commitment to corporate social responsibilities in developing economies.

Applying recently developed Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) spillover index, this paper investigates the oil–stocks returns and volatility connectedness with weekly data between January 14, 2000 and March 31, 2017. For the purpose of robustness, we have both used WTI and Brent oil prices. Sensitivity of overall spilover index is also examined using different lag‐structures and different forecast horizons. The empirical results are qualitatively similar either when WTI or Brent oil prices are used to examine the spillover amongst series under consideration. Specifically, the spillover index value for WTI and Brent, respectively, is 71.60 and 72.32%. We show that total spillover connectedness, as measured by a rolling‐window approach, has dynamic and volatile characteristics in returns and volatility series across major markets. Last but not least, we find from the net spillover analysis that NYK, SPTSX, IBOV, MICEX, SENSEX, Shanghai, TOP40 and WTI stock markets are net receiver of return spillover, whereas SPX, DAX, UKX, FTSEMIB and CAC40 are the net contributors.

Objectives: To determine the risk factors of depressive disorders and health related quality of life among adult patients of depression presenting at psychiatric OPD clinic of Aziz Fatima Hospital Faisalabad. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Psychiatric OPD clinic of Aziz Fatima Hospital Faisalabad Pakistan. Period: 1st August 2019 to 31st December 2019. Material & Method: 150 patients for the screening of depression Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) was used. For measuring health related quality of life World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Brief) was used. Results: It was found that out of 150 patients with depressive disorder 104(69.3%) were female and 46(30.7%) were male patients. Findings of the study assessed that depressive disorder not only impacts on the patients' mood but it also impairs the individuals overall perception of their general health, physical health, psychological wellbeing, social relationship and also distorted perception of their surrounding psychosocial environment. Conclusion: Depressive disorder is common in patients visiting psychiatric OPD clinic and findings of study suggested that age, education level, socio-economic status, death of parent at early age, unemployment, workplace issues, parental separation, loss of partner and family history of depression are important demographic variables which plays the role of significant risk factor for depression and impairs the quality of life among depressive patients.

This study was carried out for the investigation of the Late Permian Wargal limestone at Kafar Kot Chashma area, Khisor Range to determine its suitability as an aggregate that is used in road construction and civil structures with the help of geological engineering testing. The results of geological engineering testing of Wargal limestone samples show the tolerable values of all standard engineering parameters including the Loss Angles Abrasion value (23.37%), Aggregate impact (16.8%), Crushing value 13.1%, Unit weight 1.67, Soundness (1.007%), Specific gravity (2.70), Water Absorption (0.48%), Flakiness Index (6.5%), Elongation value (7.1%), Coating of bitumen (> 95%), stripping of bitumen (

This paper empirically investigates whether cryptocurrencies might have a useful role in financial modelling and risk management in the energy markets. To do so, the causal relationship between movements on the energy markets (specifically the price of crude oil) and the value of cryptocurrencies is analysed by drawing on daily data from April 2013 to April 2019. We find that shocks to the US and European crude oil indices are strongly connected to the movements of most cryptocurrencies. Applying a non-parametric statistic, Transferring Entropy (an econophysics technique measuring information flow), we find that some cryptocurrencies (XEM, DOGE, VTC, XLM, USDT, XRP) can be used for hedging and portfolio diversification. Furthermore, the results reveal that the European crude oil index is a source of shocks on the cryptocurrency market while the US oil index appears to be a receiver of shocks.

Soil mercury (Hg) and its bioaccumulation in food crops have attracted widespread concerns globally due to its harmful effects on biota. However, soil mercury fractionation, bioavailability, and the major factors predicting its transfer and accumulation in soil-wheat-systems have not been thoroughly explored. Twenty-one (21) soil samples collected throughout China with a wide spectrum of physico-chemical characteristics were contaminated with HgCl

In recent years, massive development in the malware industry changed the entire landscape for malware development. Therefore, cybercriminals became more sophisticated by advancing their development techniques from file-based to fileless malware. As file-based malware depends on files to spread itself, on the other hand, fileless malware does not require a traditional file system and uses benign processes to carry out its malicious intent. Therefore, it evades conventional detection techniques and remains stealthy. This paper briefly explains fileless malware, its life cycle, and its infection chain. Moreover, it proposes a detection technique based on feature analysis using machine learning for fileless malware detection. The virtual machine acquired the memory dumps upon executing the malicious and non-malicious samples. Then the necessary features are extracted using the Volatility memory forensics tool, which is then analyzed using machine learning classification algorithms. After that, the best algorithm is selected based on the k-fold cross-validation score. Experimental evaluation has shown that Random Forest outperforms other machine learning classifiers (Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression, K-Nearest Neighbor, XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting). It achieved an overall accuracy of 93.33% with a True Positive Rate (TPR) of 87.5% at zeroFalse Positive Rate (FPR) for fileless malware collected from five widely used datasets (VirusShare, AnyRun, PolySwarm, HatchingTriage, and JoESadbox).

The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of how macro (country)—level dynamic capabilities (DC), such as government environmental policies, legal and market requirements, and techn...

Prior studies on big data analytics have emphasized the importance of specific big data skills and capabilities for organizational success; however, they have largely neglected to investigate the use of cross-functional teams’ skills and its links to the role played by relevant data-driven actions and business performance. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and on the data collected from big data experts working in global agrifood networks, we examine the links between the use of big data-savvy (BDS) teams’ skills, big data-driven (BDD) actions and business performance. BDS teams depend on multidisciplinary skills (e.g., computing, mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and business domain knowledge) that help them to turn their traditional business operations into modern data-driven insights (e.g., knowing real time price changes and customer preferences), leading to BDD actions that enhance business performance. Our results, raised from structural equation modelling, indicate that BDS teams' skills that produce valuable insights are the key determinants for BDD actions, which ultimately contribute to business performance. We further demonstrate that those organisations that emphasise BDD actions perform better compared to those that do not focus on such applications and relevant insights.

Environmental innovation is regarded as an essential tool to achieve the Paris Climate Conference agreement and Net Zero by 2050. Despite the extensive studies on the determinants of environmental innovation in developed countries, little attention has been paid to developing countries despite their dominance of emissions and different institutional characteristics. This paper fills the gap in the literature by investigating the determinants of environmental innovation in developing countries. In addition, the paper examines the role of national culture, an informal institutional factor, as a potential determinant of environmental innovation. Using 10,764 firm-year observations for a sample of 15 developing countries from 2015 to 2019, we find that environmental innovation is mainly driven by the demand-pull factor, rather than the technology-push factor, in developing countries. In addition, certain national cultural dimensions such as masculinity and long-term orientation enhance environmental innovation, while other dimensions such as power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence reduce it. The paper makes a theoretical contribution by extending the Porter Hypothesis towards institutional theory to include informal institutional factors (i.e. national culture) as a determinant of environmental innovation. The finding also suggests a rethink of policy in developing countries to focus more on demand-pull factors to promote environmental innovation.

The employment of renewable resources and their association with the real economy’s growth in mitigating the problem of carbon emission risk has been debated in the literature in a specific group of countries and regions. However, their relations and effects for a better sustainable energy transmission would need further research works in an international context. Motivated by that reason, this study contributes to the ongoing literature by revisiting the effects of renewable energy consumption, electricity output, and economic activities on carbon risk using a global sample of 219 countries over the period of 1990–2020. Using GMM estimation, simultaneous quantile, and panel quantile estimations; the study finds supportive findings showing that the higher the countries with renewable energy consumption and electricity output the better the capacity those countries can mitigate the environmental degradation by reducing the amount of total carbon emission over time. However, those relations are changed when using system GMM approaches, implying the role of FDI inflows and the difference in income groups in the selected sample countries. This can be intuitively explained that emerging countries might give more priority to the economic growth receiving FDI inflows from more advanced economies and balancing the trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection, while the developed economies with their advantages in green technologies and financial flexibility might have higher advantages in acquiring a sustainable transition and maintaining the real economy’s growth without significant trade-off concerns. Finally, the study provides important policy implications and avenues for further research.

This paper investigates the connectedness, in time and frequency domain, between daily returns series of crude oil and petroleum products for the period 2003/01/11-2018/03/12. In doing so, we have applied DY (2012) and BK (2018) spillover method. The overall spillover index value obtained from DY (2012) method is 62.29% and from BK method index value fluctuates with frequency. Further empirical evidence shows that the total connectedness, in time and frequency domain, as measured by a rolling-window approach, has dynamic and volatile characteristics. Our overall results show that there is a high level of partial contemporaneous relationship between jet fuel, heating oil, US gasoline as well as diesel. Furthermore, results from the Wavelet multiple correlations and cross-correlation show that heating oil act as a leader for a short time horizon, whereas gasoline at medium and longer time scale. The results from the DY spillover analysis suggest that among the series analysed heating oil has the highest contribution to others, which is confirmed across frequencies by BK spillover method (and the Brent contributes least to others at all frequency bands). These findings have important implications for a wide range of market participants, including investors, hedge funds, speculators, as well as for energy policy, with different temporal horizons.

Acute poisoning is one of the most common causes of poisoning worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of death. It is either accidental or suicidal and causes a high mortality and morbidity. It is more common in males due to prolonged occupational exposure. The objective of this study is to find the pattern of acute poisoning and its relation with demographic variables in the emergency department of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad.This cross-sectional study was carried out on patients of acute intoxication brought to the emergency department of Ayub Teaching Hospital in the year 2017-18. Data was analyzed by SPSS-16.0 and presented as tables and figures. Chi-square test was applied at 5% level of significance.A total of 76 patients, 48 (63.16%) females and 28 (36.84%) males were included during the period. Mean age was 24.12±9.058 years. Thirty-nine (51.32)% cases belonged to rural areas and 37 (48.68)% were from urban areas. Cases of medicinal poisoning were 25 (32.89%) followed by 19 (25%) cases of organophosphate poisoning. Most cases of poisoning 36 (47.4%) were presented in the night shift. Thirty-one (40.79%) cases were brought to the hospital within 1-2 hours of incident. Cases of intentional poisoning were 51 (67.11%) while 25(32.89%) were due to accidental poisoning.Females within the age group 21-35 belonging to rural areas were more prone to poisoning. The common type of poisoning is medicinal poisoning. Most patients were presented to the emergency in the night shift within 1-2 hours of intoxication.

This paper examines the relationship between sustainability targets and their impacts on corporate environmental innovation. Using data over the period 2009-2018 on 202 companies from BRICS countries, covering firm-level governance, social responsibility and sustainability this paper examines firm-level sustainability targets, and incentives encourage managers to engage in more environmentally friendly activities. Using panel data probit regression, and after controlling for country-level governance and institutional factors, the study finds that embedding environmental targets in corporate strategy does encourage corporate managers to design and develop eco-friendly products and services, and such firm-level commitments at the top motivates managers to promote, market, and label environmentally friendly products. The findings call for greater emphasis on aligning executive compensation with sustainability targets rather than focusing too much on short-term accounting and market-based measures of firm performance.

Mercury (Hg) contamination and accumulation in food crops is a global threat posing potential health risk to humans. However, Hg phytoavailability in soil-pepper system and its influencing factors largely remain unknown. In this study, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to grow peppers using 21 Chinese agricultural soils with varied soil properties and aged Hg levels. Mercury concentration in pepper leaves and fruits ranged from 0.021 to 0.057 mg kg−1 and 0.005–0.022 mg kg−1 respectively, while fruit Hg content in three soils (Anhui, Hubei, Beijing) exceeded the safety limit. Fruit Hg concentration was better positively correlated with soil Mg(NO3)2-extractable Hg content (r = 0.7, P

This paper proposes a model to explain what makes organisations ethically vulnerable. Drawing upon legitimacy, institutional, agency and individual moral reasoning theories we consider three sets of explanatory factors and examine their association with organisational ethical vulnerability. The three sets comprise external institutional context, internal corporate governance mechanisms and organisational ethical infrastructure. We combine these three sets of factors and develop an analytical framework for classifying ethical issues and propose a new model of organisational ethical vulnerability. We test our model on a sample of 253 firms that were involved in ethical misconduct and compare them with a matched sample of the same number of firms from 28 different countries. The results suggest that weak regulatory environment and internal corporate governance combined with profitability warnings or losses in the preceding year increase organisational ethical vulnerability. We find counterintuitive evidence suggesting that firms’ involvement in bribery and corruption prevention training programmes is positively associated with the likelihood of ethical vulnerability. By synthesising insights about individual and corporate behaviour from multiple theories, this study extends existing analytical literature on business ethics. Our findings have implications for firms’ external regulatory settings, corporate governance mechanisms and organisational ethical infrastructure.

This paper studies the relationship between executive compensation and corporate performance of global energy companies. Data from 121 listed energy companies from 2010 to 2019 were collected for empirical analysis. The results show that in the energy industry, executive compensation has a significant positive impact on corporate performance, which is consistent with agency theory, tournament theory and social network theory. In addition, we found that cash incentives are more useful than equity incentives for senior executives. Therefore, we recommend that energy companies establish a reasonable compensation incentive system to address agency issues in the sector.

This study explores the determinants of corporate cash holdings in the Chinese context. As one of the largest developing countries in the world, China offers an interesting opportunity to explore the role of corporate governance, and ownership structure in explaining corporate cash holdings. Owing to the unique economic problems in the developing and emerging economies, this study aims to investigate whether the research findings on developed countries could be generalized globally. Applying fixed-effects estimations on a sample of 115 Chinese firms listed between 2012 and 2016, we find that the level of corporate cash holdings has a significantly negative relationship with leverage, bank debt, non-cash liquid assets and managerial ownership. In particular, cash flow volatility, investment opportunity and dividend have a significantly positive relationship with cash holdings levels. These findings are consistent with the majority of the existing studies carried out in the Western context. We also find that firm size, cash flow, board independence and ownership concentration have a significant influence on the level of corporate cash holdings. Our study contributes to the finance literature and we offer new insights into the relationship between corporate governance and corporate cash holdings in the Chinese context. Some of the findings on the developed countries could be generalized to a wider context. Further, the unique relationship between corporate governance and cash holdings in the Chinese context provides empirical insights for further research.

Internet of Things (IoT) comprises of large number of smart devices that can exchange sensed data by availing online services. Smart devices can directly interact with the human beings for sensing the healthcare parameters and transmitting to a central repository. During the data exchange, it is mandatory to secure the messages between sender and receiver to handle the malicious human based attacks. For providing secure communication, a number of signature-based schemes are explored in literature but smart devices need more lightweight operations by ensuring desired security strengths. The main problem during signature based approaches is the computational overhead due to large real numbers required for signature and verification processes. This paper presents a light weight shortened complex digital signature algorithm for providing secure communication between smart devices in human centered IoT. We have used less extensive operations to achieve signature and verification processes like human beings do signatures on legal documents and verify later as per witness. We have also presented a multi-option parameter selection to use a signature-verification pair of expressions at particular index by adopting the common practice of human beings for using different signatures as per document criticality level. It enhances the security strength to guard against traffic analysis attacks. We have developed an experimental setup where a number of cell phones and smart devices are considered for secure communication using existing and proposed digital signature schemes. Results demonstrate the supremacy of our scheme as compared to preliminaries.

This paper examines corporate governance (CG) and corporate accountability practices in the African context, by focusing on the case of Kenya. Our data comprises a combination of 29 semi-structured interviews, field observations and archival evidence. We reveal how western-originated CG and accountability reforms are constrained or subverted by a vigorous neo-patrimonial regime. The Kenyan corporate sector has well defined legal-rational structures, including an elaborate corporate sector regulatory framework, professionals (i.e. accountants and auditors) and corporate boards. In contrast, however, informal networks and patronage interfere with the nomination and work of non-executive board members, thereby hindering the possibility of an independent monitoring of executive management. A conflictual and inadequately resourced regulatory framework plays a more symbolic than an effective regulative role in enforcing CG and accountability practices. We also find a widespread rent-seeking culture that significantly hinders the exercise of corporate accountability. Furthermore, external auditor independence is problematic due to conflicts of interest and the auditors’ dependence on advisory fees, thereby favouring a clientelist association with auditee firms. Overall, our findings reveal that CG and accountability practices, while ostensibly present in Kenya, are largely ineffective due to the influence of neo-patrimonial realities on the mind-set and actions of corporate actors.

This study examines evidences of executive reactions to say-on-pay (SOP) votes in terms of strategic policies which could affect firms' long-run growth and eventual survival. We employed an unbalanced panel data from 1932 firms taken from four countries in the Anglo-Saxon economy, covering time periods when different forms of SOP were implemented in these countries. Using Limited Information Maximum Likelihood (LIML) estimator to gauge the simultaneous determination of SOP votes and firm strategic policies, we find that, in line with shareholders preferences, US firms had increased capital expenditure ratio; Australian and US firms had reduced reliance on debt financing; US managers had shifted focus on current rather than long-term profit, but evidences emerged from other countries are unclear. Corroborations also suggest that excess liquidity was shunned by Canadian shareholders, but the reactions of their company executives were overly disproportionate. UK firm policies did not appear to have been affected by SOP, and vice versa. Overall, the varying effects of SOP votes on firms' strategic policies might be ascribed to either the adoption of a specific SOP practice or the effectiveness of the board.

This paper contributes to burgeoning research concerning the relationship between boardroom gender diversity and corporate innovation. The paper deploys a multi-theoretical framework comprising insights from the upper echelons, resource-dependency, and institutional theories, and the Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework. We test a panel dataset for 472 multinationals in 21 emerging economies, covering nine years (2009-2018). Our findings reveal that gender diversity is positively associated with corporate innovation. We also find that local factors such as national norms, cultural values, and country-level institutional quality influence boardroom gender diversity, level of investment in research and development (R&D), and corporate innovation. The paper concludes by providing policy and managerial recommendations on how to promote firm R&D within emerging markets contexts.