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This study aims to offer a hybrid stand-alone system for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations (CS), an emerging power scheme due to the availability of renewable and environment-friendly energy sources. This paper presents the analysis of a photovoltaic (PV) with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) algorithm, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a battery storage scheme incorporated for EV CS in a stand-alone mode. In previous studies, either the hydrogen fuel of SOFC or the irradiance is controlled using artificial neural network. These parameters are not controlled simultaneously using an ANFIS-based approach. The ANFIS-based stand-alone hybrid system controlling both the fuel flow of SOFC and the irradiance of PV is discussed in this paper.

The ANFIS algorithm provides an efficient estimation of maximum power (MP) to the nonlinear voltage–current characteristics of a PV, integrated with a direct current–direct current (DC–DC) converter to boost output voltage up to 400 V. The issue of fuel starvation in SOFC due to load transients is also mitigated using an ANFIS-based fuel flow regulator, which robustly provides fuel, i.e. hydrogen per necessity. Furthermore, to ensure uninterrupted power to the CS, PV is integrated with a SOFC array, and a battery storage bank is used as a backup in the current scenario. A power management system efficiently shares power among the aforesaid sources.

A comprehensive simulation test bed for a stand-alone power system (PV cells and SOFC) is developed in MATLAB/Simulink. The adaptability and robustness of the proposed control paradigm are investigated through simulation results in a stand-alone hybrid power system test bed.

The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the ANFIS algorithm in a stand-alone hybrid power system scheme.

This research aims to explore the role played by Ijara-Murabaha Sukuk in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) that adheres to Shariah principles into Pakistan’s oil sector. It focuses on the difficulties faced by the country in terms of payment for oil procurement. It highlights the recent collaboration with ARAMCO, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, to establish the Gwadar Refinery Project. This project aims to enhance oil production, reduce costs and increase storage capacity.

Data was collected from 379 investors who participate in Ijara-Murabaha Sukuk through a questionnaire designed to evaluate how trade finance solutions, sustainability practices, transparency measures and governance structures impact FDI that comply with Shariah principles. The study also considers the moderating role of market conditions on these factors. Smart PLS 4 software was used to analyze their influence on creating an environment conducive to Shariah-compliant FDI.

The findings reveal that if the company prioritizes shariah-compliant foreign direct investment over conventional due to underlying productive activities ensuring economic growth as well as strong compliance mechanisms ensuring transparency, the multifaceted challenges associated with oil procurement, circular deficit, foreign exchange reserves and transparency problems can be solved. The groundbreaking analysis from this study will guide the major stakeholders while developing policies to convert the most expensive and massive budget deficit sector into a contributing sector of the economy.

This is a pioneering study on the application of Ijara-Murabaha Sukuk to resolve the problem of circular deficit of oil sectors of Pakistan by issuing 51% Ijara Sukuk for enhancing the capacity for the storage of oil and producing the oil from imported crude oil. 49% murabaha sukuk for importing crude oil. Successful implementation of the Shariah-compliant ARAMCO project can open the door to foreign direct investment for Pakistan and the other third economies, meeting the “Reducing Poverty of SDGs.”

This study aims to assess the nexus among output growth, renewable energy consumption, financial development and environmental quality (EQ) in the presence of non-renewable energy consumption for India using annual time series data for the period 1980–2021.

To conduct an econometric analysis, this study uses the augmented autoregressive distributed lag (AARDL) model, which offers the benefit of simultaneously estimating both long-run and short-run estimators. Furthermore, this study uses the Toda-Yamamoto (1995) test and the Breitung and Candelon (2006) test to explore causal relationships in both time and frequency domains (FDs), aiming to understand the dynamic associations between variables.

Using the AARDL model, the authors found that initially, with an increase in output growth, EQ deteriorates, but once output growth reaches a threshold level, EQ improves. Likewise, this study found that financial development enhances EQ. Furthermore, the authors found a unidirectional causality from the load capacity factor (LCF) to output growth, renewable energy consumption and non-renewable energy consumption in the case of time domain analysis, and no feedback causality was documented. In the FD causality approach, this study reveals a causality nexus from LCF to output growth, financial development and renewable energy consumption at low, middle and high frequencies.

The findings highlight the need for targeted policies to balance economic growth and environmental sustainability in India. Policymakers should promote green technologies and enhance renewable energy use to mitigate the initial negative impact of output growth on EQ. The positive role of financial development suggests that encouraging green financing and sustainable investments can further improve environmental outcomes. The Indian economy needs to prioritise sustainable growth in its financial sector by aligning it with ongoing transformative processes for sustainable development. To achieve the sustainable development goals pertaining to EQ, the Indian economy must diminish its reliance on fossil fuels. In addition, the government of India must provide financial assistance to environmental organisations to foster the LCF.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the dynamic nexus among financial development, output growth, renewable energy consumption and EQ proxied by LCF within the Indian context in the presence of non-renewable energy consumption. Likewise, this study uses the LCF to assess environmental sustainability in India, offering a comprehensive evaluation by integrating both supply and demand dimensions. From a policy perspective, this study highlights the significance of fostering sustainable economic growth, implementing environmentally conscious banking policies, and adopting diversified and ecologically friendly strategies. These policy directions are essential for conserving ecological resources and fostering a more sustainable and resilient development trajectory for India.

The concept of online shopping has been in vogue for the past two decades and is on the rise. Even developing countries like Pakistan are using electronic platforms to buy and sell goods and services, and the trend has been increasing ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the expectancy-disconfirmation theory, this study aims to test the e-service quality (E-SQ) and e-customer satisfaction (ECS) linkage with the mediating roles of functional values (FVs) and hedonic values (HVs).

The data have been collected from 298 customers of AliExpress and Daraz e-commerce platforms and analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM).

The results of the study showed a significant positive relationship between E-SQ and ECS and indirect linkage through FVs and HVs have also been established.

E-commerce platforms, particularly in Pakistan, should place a strong emphasis on FVs by providing accurate product details, user-friendly navigation, transparent pricing and streamlined transactions. Customers' trust and confidence will increase if they have a smooth and effective online purchasing experience. Customer satisfaction may be influenced by regular platform functionality and usability changes.

The use of functional and HVs is considered to be a novel factor in testing the relationship between E-SQ and ECS.

Female entrepreneurship remains a critical issue around the globe, particularly in developing economies where they confront various challenges during self-employment. This paper aims to investigate essential opportunities and challenges for Afghan women’s home-based enterprises (WHBEs) that may impact the decision of female entrepreneurs to establish a venture.

The study interviewed women home-based enterprise owners through a predesigned questionnaire to identify the main opportunities and challenges. The Delphi and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is employed to analyze casual relationships of the main obstacles confronting WHBEs.

The findings indicate that women home-based enterprise owners utilize substantial opportunities, such as family support and balancing home and business tasks. Challenges include cause and effect groups, while lack of access to finance, insecurity, social restrictions and limited access to digital platforms belong to the cause group. Notably, limited markets, lack of professional knowledge and legal limits have links with the effect group. However, among the identified challenges, legal restrictions remain the highest obstacle, while the lack of access to finance is the lowest challenge in women’s home-based enterprise context.

The cultural and legal barriers that still exist in Afghanistan have made it difficult for researchers to contact female entrepreneurs.

This study fills the gap in investigating casual relationships in an under-researched stream of disadvantaged entrepreneurship, i.e. the WHBE context of female entrepreneurship. It generates value for researchers interested in female entrepreneurship and international organizations that empower women and promote gender equality in developing economies.

This study aims to investigate the effects of thermal buoyancy and flow incidence angles on mixed convection heat transfer and vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted circular cylinder. The focus is on understanding how varying these parameters influences the vibration amplitudes in both the x and y directions and the overall heat transfer performance.

The research involves a numerical simulation of thermal fluid-structure interactions by integrating rigid-body motion equations with heat and fluid flow solvers. The cylinder operates at a lower temperature than the mainstream flow, and flow incidence angles range from 0° (opposing gravity) to 90° (perpendicular to gravity). The methodology is validated by comparing the results with established data on VIV for a cylinder vibrating in one direction under thermal buoyancy effects.

The study reveals that, without buoyancy (Ri = 0), increasing the flow angle from 0° to 90° decreases the vibration amplitude along the x-direction (A_x) while increasing it along the y-direction (A_y) across various reduced velocities (U_r). When buoyancy effects are introduced (Ri = −1), A_x peaks at specific U_r values depending on the flow angle, with significant variations observed. The maximum increase in A_x at Ri = −1 is over 15 times at U_r = 9 for a 0° angle, and A_y shows a more than 10-fold increase at U_r = 8 for a 30° angle. Additionally, adjusting the flow angle results in up to an 8% increase in the mean Nusselt number at Ri = −1.

This research provides novel insights into the combined effects of flow incidence angles and thermal buoyancy on VIV and heat transfer in an elastically mounted cylinder.

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether audit committees (ACs) influence corporate social responsibility (CSR) outputs.

A structured literature review of 57 archival studies on the influence of ACs on CSR outputs was conducted. According to a stakeholder–agency theoretical framework, the AC variables were structured as follows: presence, composition and resources, incentives and diligence. CSR is mainly divided into CSR performance, CSR reporting and CSR assurance.

Previous studies have mainly focused on AC composition and CSR reporting. There are indications that AC composition and CSR performance and assurance are positively linked. Moreover, AC resources, incentives and diligence increase CSR reporting.

This study stresses the need for linking AC composition with sustainability, the inclusion of moderator and especially mediator variables and addressing endogeneity concerns via advanced regression models.

This paper reports the first literature review on the interaction between AC and CSR. It presents the main variables that have been included in previous studies, the limitations of these studies and useful recommendations for future research, business practice and regulators.

This study aims to investigate the nexus among environmental, social and governance disclosure quality (ESGDQ), corporate governance (COG) and corporate social responsibility strategy (CSRS) in the context of ASEAN, a developing market. Furthermore, carbon emission (CAE) has been considered as a moderation component for the CSRS–ESGDQ link.

With strict selection criteria, five countries in the ASEAN region (ASEAN-5) were selected as the research sample frame, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using the Thomson Reuters Eikon database, the initial sample included 4,735 listed companies in ASEAN-5. After a rigorous screening process, there were a total of 683 companies in the final sample with the 2018–2022 intervals.

By using maximum likelihood structural equation modeling, the finding indicates that COG and CSRS have a favorable effect on ESGDQ in the ASEAN-5 context. Furthermore, CAE plays an outstanding moderation role in the CSRS–ESGDQ link. The fundamental accounting standards are also identified as having an impact on ESGDQ.

The research points up the dominant role of internal components (i.e. COG, CSRS and CAE) and government factor (i.e. fundamental accounting standards) for the sustainable value (i.e. ESGDQ) of firms in ASEAN-5, a developing market. Thus, firm headers should inspect the performance of these internal components at a crucial interval to enhance their environmental, social and governance (ESG) behaviors and make them more sustainable. Furthermore, governments in ASEAN-5 should pay attention to developing areas that have low CAE and have a favorable influence on national sustainable development goals.

The findings of the research provide some social implications by pointing up important factors influencing sustainability practices, and understanding how ESG practices can be improved in developing countries.

The research enlarges ESG documentation by specifying the influences of internal components and government factor, as well as providing actual proof from developing regions. In addition, this study identifies the effectiveness of CAE as well as its moderating role in this context.

Given the substantial contribution of intangible assets to firms’ overall valuation in the present knowledge-based era, this study aims to explore how these non-physical assets influence the effectiveness of ESG disclosure in reducing carbon intensity (CI).

This study focuses on the S&P 500 firms for the period 2015–2016 to 2022–2023 to study the overall impact of ESG disclosure on CI and investigate the differential impact of the same based on firms’ intangible assets by applying the system generalized method of moments (GMM) and two stage least squares (2SLS) regression models.

This study finds that overall, there is a significant negative impact of ESG disclosure on CI. However, the impact of ESG disclosure on CI varies based on firms’ intangible assets. In particular, ESG disclosure leads to significant mitigation of CI for firms with high intangible assets, while the same relationship becomes insignificant for the firms with low intangible assets.

Given the extant ESG literature that largely focuses on its financial outcome, this study makes a novel contribution by studying the impact of ESG disclosure on a sustainability parameter, that is CI in the context of the US. Moreover, this research adds deeper insights into the strategic importance of intangible assets in enhancing corporate sustainability performance.

The study focused on the influence of internal environmental communication on organizational environmental governance and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices and the mediating role of organizational environmental governance on the relationship between internal environmental communication and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices.

A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used. The population used consisted of the central procuring and disposing entities. An actual sample size of 105 public sector firms in the central procuring and disposing entities category was used. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), SMART PLS version 4.0.1.8 and AMOS SPSS v26.

The findings show the relevancy of internal environmental communication in the achievement of organizational environmental governance and adoption of green inbound logistics practices. Further, organizational environmental governance mediates the link between internal environmental communication and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices. However, a partial mediation effect is observed, implying that both internal environmental communication and organizational environmental governance play significant roles in enhancing the adoption of green inbound logistics practices.

The study examined internal environmental communication, organizational environmental governance and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices in a public sector procurement setting. The role of proactive internal environmental communication, proactive external environmental communication, organizational environmental governance and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices in both the public and private sector procurement settings needs to be examined.

Further, the study examines internal environmental communication, organizational environmental governance and the adoption of green inbound logistics practices in a public sector procurement context. Green logistics research is much more pronounced in the third-party logistics firm context. Further, existing research takes a holistic approach when examining the green logistics concept. Whereas the green inbound logistics and green outbound logistics form the green logistics concept, the green inbound logistics concept is much more common in the public procurement settings although no significant attention has been given to it in the existing research.