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Normal-weight obesity (NWO), characterized by normal body mass index (BMI) but excess body fat, is a potential contributor to chronic diseases. This study aims to assess the relationship between this phenomenon and some metabolic factors in a population of Iranian employees.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on Iranian employees from the baseline data of Employees Health Cohort Study, Shiraz, Iran. Anthropometric measures, including weight, height, waist circumference and percentage of body fat, were obtained from the cohort database. The participants were divided into three groups: healthy, normal-weight obese and overweight/obese. Metabolic variables including blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, liver function enzymes and metabolic syndrome were assessed in relation to the study groups.

A total of 985 participants aged 25–64 years were included. Males with NWO had significantly higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels compared to the healthy group in the fully adjusted model. Also, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was significantly lower among females with overweight/obesity than healthy group when adjusted for age and energy intake. Furthermore, after adjusting for age and energy intake, both genders in the overweight/obese group showed significantly elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while this was not observed for the NWO group. Lastly, metabolic syndrome was more prevalent in NWO as well as overweight/obesity.

These findings further encourage identification of excess body fat, even in normal-weight individuals, to prevent chronic metabolic diseases. Special attention should be paid to subgroups with sedentary occupations, as they may be at increased risk for NWO-related health issues.

Implementing big data analytics (BDA) for supply chain ambidexterity (agility and adaptability) and green supply chain (GRSC) presents various organizational challenges. These include leveraging BDA capabilities to balance agility and adaptability, integrating this combined approach with GRSC and aligning these efforts to enhance firm performance. This study explores the associations between BDA, supply chain agility and adaptability, GRSC and their impact on firm performance.

Incorporating a resource-based view and contingency theory, we developed a research framework and validated it with data from 355 Chinese firms. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The findings demonstrate that BDA capabilities had direct impact on supply chain agility and adaptability, GRSC and firm performance. Moreover, the combination of supply chain agility and adaptability affected GRSC; which in turn significantly influenced firm performance. Supply chain agility and adaptability mediated the relationship between BDA capabilities and GRSC. Additionally, GRSC mediated the relationship between BDA capabilities, supply chain agility and adaptability and firm performance.

This study offers both a theoretical and empirical examination of the relationships between BDA capabilities, supply chain agility and adaptability, GRSC and firm performance. By assessing the direct and mediating effects of these factors on China’s industrial sector, it presents new theoretical and practical insights into BDA and GRSC, thereby enhancing the value of the existing literature.

The increasing demand for fashion-augmented reality (FAR) in online fast fashion shopping has the potential to reduce soil and water pollution. Hence, it is vital to understand the success factors that influence consumers’ intention to use FAR (IAR) and actual usage of FAR (UAR) to enhance its adoption.

By incorporating the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, this study examined the influence of success factors on IAR, the effect of IAR on UAR and the mediating role of IAR in the relationship between success factors and UAR. In total, 803 responses were collected from Indonesia using a cross-sectional approach. Data were examined using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Their findings revealed that perceived enjoyment, perceived service value and facilitating conditions significantly influenced IAR and UAR. However, the impacts of perceived functional benefits, lifestyle compatibility and perceived trust were insignificant. Nevertheless, the IAR has a significant influence on UAR. Finally, the IAR mediates the relationships among perceived enjoyment, perceived service value, facilitating conditions and UAR.

This study provides valuable insights for practitioners to develop marketing strategies and improve consumer perceptions of FAR, particularly in emerging economies. One limitation of this study is that it exclusively examined young consumers and restricted the examination to specific aspects of consumer behaviour.

Integrating the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and partial least squares structural equation modelling provides a comprehensive understanding of the underlying dynamics and sheds light on the success factors that drive consumer IAR into UAR and contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 12 by reducing soil and water pollution.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are highly concerned about every aspect of their international performance (IP) due to their limited resources. However, the literature has not given equal attention to every necessary aspect and has left some fields unexplored. Moreover, different approaches to assessing SME IP have made the literature even more fragmented. This research aims to identify the gaps in the research context and assessment methods of this concept.

A systematic literature review and a thematic analysis method are employed to review 272 journal papers published in high-quality journals.

By extracting six contexts in which the concept of international performance of SMEs has been analyzed, this study integrates the research themes with geographical domains and highlights which contexts require more attention. Moreover, this study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of this concept’s operationalization methods, illustrating the level of fragmentation and differences in the literature. Following the presentation of an enriched future research agenda, this study guides scholars on the current gaps and needs for research in specific contexts and domains while providing suggestions for a more cohesive assessment of the concept.

This study is the first to systematically review the research concerning the foreign performance of firms with less than 500 employees, extract their research context, illustrate uninvestigated fields and provide helpful suggestions about the concept’s operationalization method based on a comprehensive review of the extant assessment methods.

Climate change has led to a rise in the frequency, intensity and scope of droughts, posing significant implications for businesses. This study examines the impact of local community drought levels on audit pricing. Additionally, it explores the moderating effects of high-tech industries, auditor busyness and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to rigorously test the research hypotheses. The quantitative phase of the study utilizes a sample of 1,278 firm-year observations from Iran’s capital market. For the analysis of the quantitative data, ordinary least squares regression with clustered robust standard errors is used. Additionally, this research supplements its quantitative findings with qualitative evidence obtained through semi-structured interviews with 19 Iranian audit partners.

The results suggest that firms operating in provinces facing severe droughts experience notably higher audit fees. Furthermore, the positive relationship between drought and audit fees is weakened when auditors are busy, local community concern regarding the drought crisis is high or the firm operates within high-tech industries. These findings are supported by a range of robustness checks and qualitative evidence gathered from the field.

This research contributes to the growing literature on climate change by examining the influence of local community drought levels on audit pricing within an Iranian context. Additionally, our study sheds light on how high-tech industries, auditor workload and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis moderate the relationship between drought and audit fees. Importantly, our study pioneers in providing mixed-methods evidence of the association between drought severity and audit fees.

This study conducts an analysis of the interplay between governance quality, environmental expenditure of the government, and pollution emissions (measured as CO2 emissions) within the BRIC economies.

Utilizing the FMOLS model and marginal effects, we investigate the influence of governance quality and environmental expenditure on environmental quality (CO2 emissions) over the period 1996–2020. We took data for Brazil, Russia, India and China. We excluded South Africa due to its due to its small economic size relative to other BRIC economies, sluggish industrial growth and deteriorating foreign trade which gives contrast outliers to our data.

Results indicate that government investments in environmental protection contribute to a reduction in CO2 emissions. However, the effectiveness of these expenditures is contingent upon the quality of governance. This underscores the significance of robust governance for realizing meaningful reductions in air pollution through environmental spending. Further, increase in GDP per capita and the industrial sector's share of GDP are associated with a significant rise in CO2 emissions across BRIC economies. Conversely, FDI and trade openness exhibit a negative impact on CO2 emissions, with this effect gaining greater resilience when accounting for governance factors.

Like any other studies, the present study also suffers from some limitations. First, besides air quality, environmental quality encompasses multiple dimensions and various characteristics such as water purity, noise pollution, open space access, visual effects of buildings etc. But the present study included only CO2 (air quality) as a proxy of environmental quality due to various problems of data and methods. Second, CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission, which is the dependent variable in our model, is actually influenced by various quantitative and qualitative (both natural and man-made) factors. We included only nine independent variables. However, we could not include many variables due to lack of consistent data. Third, this study included only four countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) and excluded South Africa which is a member of the BRICS block due to its economic size, sluggish industrial growth and deteriorating foreign trade which gives contrast outliers to our data set of the four BRIC countries. Therefore, the future research may be carried out by addressing those issues for better understanding of the environmental problems, governance and policies thereon.

(i) Establish environmental governance committees – The four BRIC countries including South Africa should form a committee comprising government, civil society, and private sector representatives for comprehensive oversight and collaboration in environmental governance. (ii) Invest in capacity building for environmental institutions – Allocate resources to enhance environmental institutions' capacity through training, data improvement, and enforcement strengthening. (iii) Implement green procurement policies – Encourage green procurement in government agencies to drive demand for eco-friendly products and services, promoting sustainable practices. (iv) Incentivize green technology development – Offer tax credits or subsidies to stimulate green technology adoption, including renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. (v) Promote sustainable urban development – Prioritize sustainable urban strategies like public transportation investment and green space promotion to mitigate urbanizations' environmental impacts. (vi) Enhance cross-border cooperation – Foster collaboration on transboundary environmental issues among four BRIC nations including South Africa, including joint research and policy responses. (vii) Promote green finance and investment – Mobilize green finance to support sustainable development projects through instruments like green investment funds and bonds.

This study distinguishes itself by offering a unique analysis of both individual and combined effects of governance and environmental expenditure on environmental quality. Additionally, it encompasses various dimensions of governance, an aspect rarely explored in the BRIC countries.

This study aims to explore the strategic integration of Sharia-compliant and environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focused investments within global equity portfolio optimization frameworks, with a particular emphasis on variance minimization and dynamic rebalancing techniques.

The research uses historical data from Sharia-compliant, ESG-focused and conventional equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Advanced mean-variance optimization methodologies via quadratic programming are employed, encompassing static optimization with and without a 50% cap on individual asset weights, dynamic optimization with monthly rebalancing and rolling window optimization.

Portfolios integrating Sharia-compliant investments frequently outperform those composed solely of conventional equity ETFs. Dynamic optimization with monthly rebalancing achieved the highest Sharpe ratio (1.3708) and demonstrated enhanced portfolio resilience during market turbulence, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharia-compliant investments showed substantial allocations during key periods, with weights reaching up to 100% in the first half of 2020. In contrast, ESG-focused investments exhibited more limited and sporadic allocations, reflecting a more opportunistic role in the portfolio.

The findings reaffirm the critical role of Sharia-compliant investments in well-diversified, risk-conscious portfolios while also providing nuanced insights into the more selective integration of ESG-focused assets. The results offer practical guidance for portfolio managers seeking to integrate ethical and sustainable investment principles within advanced portfolio optimization frameworks, particularly when focusing on minimizing variance and dynamically responding to evolving market conditions.

The study contributes to the growing body of literature on ethical and sustainable investments, demonstrating that it is possible to balance ethical considerations with robust financial performance. The research underscores the potential for Sharia-compliant investments to play a significant role in global portfolios, potentially fostering greater financial inclusion and cross-cultural understanding in the investment community.

This research provides novel insights by focusing on Sharia-compliant investments within non-Muslim countries, an area that has been relatively underexplored. It also compares the outcomes of static, dynamic and rolling optimizations, highlighting the dynamic interplay between ethical investment principles and financial performance.

There is a general assumption that the early involvement of the contractor contributes to value in construction projects. While early contractor involvement (ECI) may improve the value, some studies identify challenges with ECI. This paper aims to identify the main parameters that can be used to determine the optimal time for contractor involvement and examine how these parameters can be used by clients to develop a systematic method for finding the optimal timing for involvement.

Literature studies, interviews, workshops and focus-group meetings identified six main parameters essential for developing a method to determine the ideal timing for ECI.

The six identified parameters are activity, complexity, criticality, technical competencies, relational competencies and uncertainty. These parameters can be used to identify the gap between the available competency in the project team and the needed competency to perform an activity.

Although clients have ways to identify the optimal time for contractor involvement, these ways are mainly subjective and based on in-house practice. By evaluating these six parameters, a more systematic and objective method for early involvement can be developed.

This study aims to investigate the potential link between prior-year banking performance and a change in the number of board of directors’ meetings in the current year and understand how changes in board meetings might impact subsequent bank performance.

The sample is drawn from 42 banks in Bangladesh from 2011 to 2019, and the data are analyzed using multivariate regressions. Potential endogeneity concerns are addressed using the entropy balance matching approach.

This study presents two key findings: first, the change in the number of board meetings in a year is influenced by bank performance in the last year, where poor performance leads to more meetings, and second, an increase in the number of board meetings contributes to enhanced bank performance.

This is one of the few studies to explore the reasons behind changes in the board of directors’ meeting behavior and whether such changes benefit banks. The results highlight that a decline in bank performance prompts the board to meet more often, and this proactive response helps banks overcome the poor performance problem. Thus, this study underscores the significance of the board’s adaptive behavior in tailoring the number of meetings according to the bank’s specific circumstances.

This study aims to propose a cloud platform architecture considering information sharing based on blockchain to realize the security and convenience of enterprise information sharing in the automotive supply chain.

A bilateral matching model considering enterprises information contribution stimulates information sharing and improves the efficiency and quality of supply and demand matching. Three smart contracts are used to complete the information sharing process and match supply and demand in the automotive supply chain.

The system is tested on the local Ganache private chain, and the decentralized web page is designed based on the architecture prototype.

Solve the problem of information island in automobile supply chain.