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Because of the various advantages of reinforcement learning (RL) mentioned above, this study uses RL to train unmanned aerial vehicles to perform two tasks: target search and cooperative obstacle avoidance.

This study draws inspiration from the recurrent state-space model and recurrent models (RPM) to propose a simpler yet highly effective model called the unmanned aerial vehicles prediction model (UAVPM). The main objective is to assist in training the UAV representation model with a recurrent neural network, using the soft actor-critic algorithm.

This study proposes a generalized actor-critic framework consisting of three modules: representation, policy and value. This architecture serves as the foundation for training UAVPM. This study proposes the UAVPM, which is designed to aid in training the recurrent representation using the transition model, reward recovery model and observation recovery model. Unlike traditional approaches reliant solely on reward signals, RPM incorporates temporal information. In addition, it allows the inclusion of extra knowledge or information from virtual training environments. This study designs UAV target search and UAV cooperative obstacle avoidance tasks. The algorithm outperforms baselines in these two environments.

It is important to note that UAVPM does not play a role in the inference phase. This means that the representation model and policy remain independent of UAVPM. Consequently, this study can introduce additional “cheating” information from virtual training environments to guide the UAV representation without concerns about its real-world existence. By leveraging historical information more effectively, this study enhances UAVs’ decision-making abilities, thus improving the performance of both tasks at hand.

This study aims to investigate the effect of top management team (TMT) stability on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Chinese firms and the moderating effects of state ownership and managerial ownership on this relationship.

An empirical analysis based on the ordinary least square regression model is conducted using Chinese A-share listed firms that engaged in OFDI from 2008 to 2021.

TMT stability has a positive effect on firms’ OFDI. Moreover, state ownership significantly strengthens the positive relationship between TMT stability and OFDI, while managerial ownership weakens this positive relationship.

The findings help firms to effectively retain TMT talents and promote the smooth internationalization of firms, thereby enhancing their long-term development capabilities and competitive advantages.

This study expands the investigation of the factors influencing OFDI at the micro level of the TMT, providing valuable decision-making insights for firms.

The purpose of this study is to prepare a new adsorbent activated carbon immobilized on polystyrene (ACPS) for uranium (VI) and thorium (IV) removal from an aqueous solution. Activated carbon (AC) was derived from biochar material by chemical activation to increase the active sites on its surface and enhance the adsorption capacity. Activated carbon (AC) was immobilized on polystyrene (PS) to improve the physical properties and facilitate separation from the working solution. A feasibility study for the adsorption of uranium (VI) and thorium (IV) on the new adsorbent (ACPS) has been achieved. Adsorption kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamics models of the adsorption process were used to describe the reaction mechanism.

Activated carbon was synthesized from biochar charcoal by 2 M H₂SO₄. Activated carbon was immobilized on the pretreatment polystyrene by hydrothermal process forming new adsorbent (ACPS). Characterization studies were carried out by scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. Different factors affect the adsorption process as pH, contact time, solid/liquid ratio, initial concentration and temperature. The adsorption mechanism was explained according to kinetic, isothermal and thermodynamic studies. Also, the regeneration of spent ACPS was studied.

The experimental results showed that pH and equilibrium time of the best adsorption were 6.0 and 60 min for U(VI), 4.0 and 90 min for Th(IV), (pH_PZC = 3.4). The experimental results fit well with pseudo-second order, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich models proving the chemisorption and heterogenous adsorption reaction. Adsorption thermodynamics demonstrated that the adsorption process is exothermic and has random nature of the solid/liquid interface. In addition, the regeneration of spent ACPS research showed that the adsorbent has good chemical stability. According to the comparative study, ACPS shows higher adsorption capacities of U(VI) and Th(IV) than other previous bio-adsorbents.

This study was conducted to improve the chemical and physical properties of bio-charcoal purchased from the local market to activated carbon by hydrothermal method. Activated carbon was immobilized on polystyrene forming new adsorbent ACPS for eliminating U(VI) and Th(IV) from aqueous solutions.

This study aims to determine the impact of corporate digital transformation on the audit opinions of auditors in A-share nonfinancial listed companies in China. It also examines how corporate internal control and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure levels moderate this effect. This study fills a gap in the literature by investigating the impact of digital transformation on business performance, especially in the Chinese context, where digital transformation is rapidly progressing. This study also offers practical guidance for practitioners on whether and how to undergo a digital transformation and enhance their internal governance and social responsibility practices.

This study uses a sample of 2,637 Chinese A-share nonfinancial listed companies from 2009–2022, after excluding firms with ST, ST* or PT status; negative revenue; and missing data for three or more consecutive years. Digital transformation index data is collected from firms’ annual reports, and the other microlevel data from the Wind and CSMAR databases. The authors winsorize the data at 1% for outliers, resulting in 17,305 firm-year observations. This study uses fixed-effects logistic regression with clustered robust standard errors to analyze the binary dependent variable. This study also performs various robustness checks, such as probit model, multilevel fixed effects model and IV 2SLS estimations, to confirm the validity of the results.

This study reveals that digital transformation leads to standard unqualified audit opinions, meaning that companies that invest more in digital technologies and capabilities has more tendency to receive standard unqualified audit opinions, which signify the reliability and credibility of their financial reporting. This study also finds that corporate internal control and CSR disclosure levels positively moderate the effect of digital transformation on audit opinions. This study further conducts heterogeneity analysis and shows that the positive effect is originated by the state-owned enterprises, firms audited by non-Big4 auditing firms, firms with high internal control levels and firms with low CSR disclosure levels. The results are robust to different econometric methods.

This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on how digital transformation influences audit quality and credibility and how internal governance and social responsibility practices strengthen this influence. This study also has practical implications for practitioners by providing advice on whether and how to pursue a digital transformation and improve their internal governance and social responsibility practices. This study demonstrates its originality by reviewing the existing literature from three theoretical perspectives: stakeholder, signaling and reputation, and identifying the research gap that the study addresses. This study also compares its findings with previous studies and discusses the implications and limitations of its research. This study also proposes directions for future research based on its findings.

This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control.

This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables.

The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms.

This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency.

Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of venture capital (VC) in supporting corporate growth and innovation through participation in private placements. While VC provides essential financial support to companies, it remains unclear whether this involvement serves a strategic investment role or a purely financial one. This study seeks to elucidate the role of VC by analyzing changes in the price discount of private placements following VC participation.

The authors take the private placement events of China A share listed companies from April 2005 to January 2023 as the sample, and examine the influence of VC subscriptions on price discount rate.

VC subscriptions to private placements increase information asymmetry, consequently raising the discount rate. This relationship is influenced by the transaction characteristics and information environment. Specifically, VC subscriptions further elevate the discount rate when VC are geographically dispersed from the issuers, possess industry expertise in the issuers’ sector, allocate raised funds for asset restructuring or non-digital investments and when the issuers are in their growth stages. Moreover, the positive correlation between VC subscriptions and the discount rate is more pronounced under conditions of lower internal control quality and weaker external media supervision. Higher discount rates in VC-subscribed private placements result in lower R&D investment and investment efficiency by the issuers, leading to larger-scale VC sell-offs and ultimately diminishing the market and financial performance of the issuers.

The issuers should diligently assess the behaviors and motives of VC and selectively choose issuance targets and methods to manage risks associated with price deviations in private placements. Additionally, this study recommends that regulatory authorities develop a more detailed regulatory framework that considers transaction characteristics and the information environment. This strategy should help optimize external regulatory measures like media coverage and protect the interests of small and medium-sized investors.

This study extends research on the “name chasing” motive and certification effect of VC in private placements, enriches the literature on the mechanisms forming discount rates and provides insights for refining regulatory policies on private placements.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between emergency response times and crash severity in New York City, focusing on spatial disparities and their implications. It examines how these disparities impact disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly regarding traffic safety and emergency service accessibility.

The research uses comprehensive spatial analysis techniques, including hotspot mapping, network analysis for travel time modeling, local bivariate correlation analysis and service area calculations. It maps crash data alongside emergency facility locations, considering peak-hour traffic. The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) is integrated to evaluate socioeconomic factors influencing accessibility. This approach provides a nuanced understanding of how emergency response times correlate with crash severity at the census block level, accounting for socioeconomic disparities.

This study reveals significant disparities in emergency response times across New York City. In high-poverty, predominantly minority areas, response times are 2–3 min longer than average, correlating with a 15% increase in severe injury rates. Over 20% of neighborhoods show correlations between response times and crash severity, with positive linear (5.51%), negative linear (10.72%), concave (2.44%) and convex (2.80%) relationships. Blocks with positive linear relationships have a mean ADI rank of 3.918. During peak hours, 69.7% of Manhattan blocks show negative relationships, the highest among boroughs.

This research highlights spatial justice issues in urban emergency response systems, emphasizing the need for localized, data-driven planning and infrastructure adjustments. By integrating the ADI, the multifaceted approach reveals the complex dynamics of socioeconomic factors and emergency service accessibility that have not yet been investigated in diverse urban communities.

Unverified information avoidance behavior refers to the conscious effort made by individuals to avoid consuming information that has not been verified by credible sources. This behavior is essential in preventing the spread of misinformation that can hinder effective public health responses. While previous studies have examined information avoidance behavior in general, there is a lack of research specifically focusing on the avoidance of unverified information during health crises. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring factors that lead to social media users’ unverified information avoidance behavior during health crises, providing novel insights into the determinants of this protective behavior.

We based our research model on the health belief model and validated it using data collected from 424 individuals who use social media. The proposed model was tested by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach.

Our results indicate that individuals’ government social media participation (following accounts and joining groups) affects their health beliefs (perceived severity and benefits of information avoidance), which in turn trigger their unverified information avoidance behavior.

Our study contributes to the current literature of social media crisis management and information avoidance behavior. The implications of these findings for policymakers, social media platforms and theory are further discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the twin transition of textile firms operating in an industrial district. The twin transition comprises two interconnected but distinct processes: the sustainable transition and the digital transition. The study specifically considers sustainability goals in terms of the triple bottom line and digitalization as the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. The study aims to understand how the characteristics of Italian districts influence the choices related to the twin transition and how it affects textile industrial firms.

The author conducts a multiple-case study involving five firms of industrial textile district of Prato.

The results show the relationship between the characteristics of the district, such as fragmentation of the supply chain, lean manufacturing, territorial proximity and attachment to origins and traditions and the sustainable goals and I4.0 technologies adoption. Moreover, the study proposes a framework for twin transition. Market and technology drive the process in which sustainability represents the aim, I4.0 serves as enablers and the relevant outcome is the implementation of the business model innovation.

These findings offer valuable insights for textile firms, policymakers and stakeholders seeking to navigate the complexities of twin transition.

The study contributes to the broader topic of twin transition. In particular, it links the particular context represented by the industrial district in which the textile firms operate to their conduct, and the two interconnected and distinct processes, sustainable transition and digital transition, with the business model innovation topic.

Numerous studies have been conducted on psychological empowerment's effects on individual and organizational outcomes. This research study investigates the effects of emotional intelligence (EI) on psychological empowerment (PE) directly and indirectly through digital leadership (DL) in higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan.

This study investigates the academic authorities' capacity to follow the EIs in identifying the PE from Pakistan's HEIs. The researchers have applied a survey questionnaire to collect quantitative cross-sectional data. To conclude, the researchers used 427 useable cases to get the results.

Based on the structural equation model (SEM), the results reveal a positive and significant effect of EIs, subscales like self-regulation (SR), self-awareness (SA), self-motivation (SM) and social skills (SS), on DL and PE. Besides, DL positively and significantly affects PE. Finally, DL mediates the association of SR, SA, SM and SS with PE.

This research can bring a new vision in exploring the policy to the higher authorities for the educational sector to have better direction and interpretation of EIs, DL and PE to develop new measures of positive and proactive attitudes in the organization. The results support developing DL practices toward digital transformation among HIEs.

This study contributes significantly by presenting valuable empirical insights for HEIs leaders. Importantly, it introduces a construct mediating the role of DL, effectively addressing the remaining gaps in the literature.