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This article aims to examine the effects of financial access and ethnic fragmentation on women’s political representation. It also highlights the interactive effect of financial access and ethnic fragmentation on women’s political representation, a consideration that has been addressed only theoretically in previous research.

Utilizing the robust long-term estimators with augmented mean group (AMG) developed by Eberhardt et Teal (2010) provides robust estimators while addressing potential issues of cross-sectional dependence and panel heterogeneity. The sample consists of 36 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries over the period 1990–2022.

We find that improved financial access reduces disparities in women’s political representation. However, this beneficial impact is impeded by ethnic fragmentation, which exacerbates income disparities and undermines the efficacy of financial inclusion. Robustness tests validate these findings – indicating that to effectively enhance women’s political representation, governments must promote more inclusive financial initiatives for women and strengthen ethnic inclusion in financial policies.

Further studies could examine another form of structured fragmentation, such as discrimination, to assess the nature of its effects on women’s political representation.

The robustness tests confirm these findings, suggesting that policymakers should prioritize the development of inclusive financial initiatives tailored for women and integrate ethnic diversity considerations into financial policies to foster greater female political representation.

The study highlights a critical socio-economic challenge: while enhanced financial access can mitigate gender disparities in political representation, its effectiveness is hindered by ethnic fragmentation. This underscores the necessity for socially inclusive policies that not only expand financial inclusion for women but also strengthen ethnic cohesion, thereby fostering equitable and sustainable political participation across diverse communities.

This article provides novel insights by empirically investigating how financial access and ethnic fragmentation impact women’s political representation, addressing a gap in existing theoretical research. The study reveals that while improved financial access can reduce gender disparities in political representation, its effectiveness is significantly undermined by ethnic fragmentation. This interaction effect highlights the necessity for tailored policies that not only enhance financial inclusion for women but also address ethnic disparities to achieve meaningful improvements in political representation.

Existing studies have focused on shoppers’ characteristics, highlighting a gap in research in terms of considering e-retailers’ characteristics. Accordingly, this study aims to map e-retailer characteristics and their effect on (a) satisfaction and regret and (b) the intentions to write a review and repurchase intention. Moreover, this research also explores the role of confirmation as a moderator.

The present paper utilises a hierarchical regression technique and structured equation modelling to test the conceptual framework with 400 responses. The hypotheses were tested with shoppers of two leading e-commerce firms, namely Amazon and Flipkart.

This study highlights several differences in the characteristics of e-retailers and their impact on buyers’ satisfaction and regret. Furthermore, a few discrepancies are observed in the case of shoppers’ post-purchase behavioural intentions to write reviews and repurchase intention.

Based on the findings, the research presents implications for e-retailers, including Amazon and Flipkart.

This study aims to investigate the effect of regulatory pressure on discretionary capital management measured with the discretionary loan loss provisions (DLLP) in public (PuBs) and Private (PrBs) banks in Tunisia. Three variables are used to proxy the regulatory capital constraints: (1) the change in capital requirements, (2) the beginning of the year capital ratio (3) and the end of year adjusted capital ratio.

To address our objective, we provide in a first step the DLLP estimation as done by Shantaram and Steven (2021). Then, in a second step based on hand-collected panel data on the 12 commercial Tunisian banks, linear dynamic model with interaction variables is conducted to discriminate between PuBs and PrBs behavior. The generelized method of moment (GMM) estimation is applied to show if the PuBs and PrBs behave differently to regulatory capital pressures. For robustness check, the discriminant analysis and the nonlinear probit and logit models are considered in a third step.

The three capital constraints affect differently the discretionary behavior of Banks. First, an increase in capital requirements makes PrBs under pressure to reduce their DLLP, which is not the case for PuBs. Second, a low capital ratio at the beginning of the year makes strong pressure on PuBs to reduce their DLLP. Third, neither PrBs nor PuBs decrease their DLLP to improve the end of year-adjusted capital ratio. The discretionary behavior of PrBs is influenced by pressures to appear well-capitalized while the behavior of PuBs is influenced by pressure to enhance their capital positions. These results are well strengthened by the discriminant analysis and the nonlinear probit and logit model investigations.?

A few studies examined incentives based on the regulatory theory in Tunisian banks and were carried out within static linear models. Contrary to Elleuch and Taktak (2015) who tested the regulatory incentives following the publication of the (IMF, 2002), this paper tests, within linear dynamic model and nonlinear model, the effect of national prudential rules on capital management between 2006 and 2016.

The purpose of this study is to advance the application of pulverised cow bone ash (PCBA) as a partial replacement of cement in soil stabilisation for the production of bricks. The study investigated the impact of PCBA substitution on the characteristic strength of clay bricks under variant curing media.

Dried cow bones were pulverised, and an energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence test was conducted on PCBA samples to determine the chemical constituents and ascertain the pozzolanic characteristics. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and PCBA were blended at 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0% of cement substitution by mass to stabilise lateritic clay at 10% total binder content for the production of bricks. The binder-to-lateritic clay matrixes were used to produce clay bricks and cylinders for compressive and splitting tensile strength tests, respectively.

The study found that PCBA and OPC have similar chemical compositions. The strength of the clay bricks increased with curing age, and the thermal curing of clay bricks positively impacted the strength development. The study established that PCBA is a suitable substitute for cement, up to 25% for stabilisation in clay brick production.

Construction stakeholders can successfully use a PCBA-OPC binder blend of 1:3 to stabilise clay at 10% total binder content for the production of bricks. The stabilised clay bricks should be cured at an elevated temperature of approximately 90°C for 48 h to achieve satisfactory performance.

The PCBA-OPC binder blend provides adequate soil stabilisation for the production of clay bricks and curing the clay bricks at elevated temperature. This aspect of the biomass/OPC binder blend has not been explored for brick production, and this is important for the reduction of the environmental impacts of cement production and waste from abattoirs.

Three-dimensional bioprinting (3D bioprinting) is used for repairing and regenerating living tissues due to its ease of use, cost-effectiveness and high precision in fabricating. Owing to their high biocompatibility, natural hydrogels are widely used as scaffold materials in bioprinting. However, the mechanical properties and low printability of hydrogels present a challenge. This study aims to introduce a composite hydrogel that exhibits excellent mechanical, biological and printability properties simultaneously.

Alginate (Alg), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and nanohydroxyapatite (nHA) as suitable materials for 3D printing were used. Effect of material content and pre-crosslinking on various properties of these materials were investigated. Both quantitative and qualitative experiments were conducted to validate the biomaterial ink’s printability, its rheological characteristics, as well as its biological and mechanical properties.

Based on the analysis of the obtained experimental results from all mentioned tests, a hydrogel with a composition of 4% Alg, 2% CMC and 2% nHA with the pre-crosslinking process was selected as the preferred option. The results demonstrated that the selected material has good cell adhesion, wettability, degradation rate and 93% cell viability. Furthermore, compared to the composition of 4% Alg–2% CMC, the chosen material exhibited a 52% improvement in printability and a 55% improvement in compressive modulus.

A significant challenge in the field of 3D bioprinting is the development of scaffolds that possesses optimal mechanical, biological and printability characteristics simultaneously, essential for attaining tissue-like properties. Hence, this paper explores a novel nanocomposite hydrogel that demonstrates promising outcomes across all these aspects simultaneously.

The present work aims to prepare biocomposites blend based on linear low density polyethylene/ starch without using harmful chemicals to improve the adhesion between two phases. Also, the efficiency of essential oils as green plasticizers and natural antimicrobial agents were evaluated.

Barrier properties and biodegradation behavior of linear low density polyethylene/starch (LLDPE/starch) blends plasticized with different essential oils including moringa oleifera and castor oils wereassessed as a comparison with traditional plasticizer such as glycerol. Biodegradation behavior forLLDPE/starch blends was monitored by soil burial test. The composted samples were recovered then washed followed by drying, and weighting samples after 30, 60, and 90 days to assess the change in weight loss. Also, mechanical properties including retention values of tensile strength and elongation at break were measured before and after composting. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to evaluate the change in the morphology of the polymeric blends. In addition to, the antimicrobial activity of plasticized LLDPE/starch blends films was evaluated using a standard plate counting technique.

The results illustrate that the water vapor transition rate increases from 2.5 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ for LLDPE/5starch to 4.21 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ and 4.43 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ for castor and moringa oleifera respectively. Also, the retained tensile strength values of all blends decrease gradually with increasing composting period. Unplasticized LLDPE/5starch showed highest tensile strength retention of 91.6% compared to the other blends that were 89.61, 88.49 and 86.91 for the plasticized LLDPE/5starch with glycerol, castor and M. oleifera oils respectively. As well as, the presence of essential oils in LLDPE/ starch blends increase the inhibition growth of escherichia coli, candida albicans and staphylococcus aureus.

The objective of this work is to develop cost-effective and environmentally-friendly methods for preparing biodegradable polymers suitable for packaging applications.