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Purpose: This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to explore the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector, emphasizing the breadth and depth of research in this dynamic field through science mapping.

Need for the Study: The advancement of AI within the financial sector heralds a significant transformation, altering the traditional methodologies financial entities utilize to confront industry-specific hurdles and seize opportunities.

Methodology: The investigation spans articles from the Web of Science databases, covering a total of 295 documents indexed in WoS from 1997 to 2023, highlighting the rapid growth in scholarly output particularly in recent years. This growth mirrors the technological advancements in AI and its expanding applications in financial domains such as risk management, decision-making, and auditing.

Findings: The chapter aims to identify leading researchers, journals, organizations, and countries in AI finance research, investigate geographical research focuses, uncover key keywords and research clusters, and delve into the conceptual, social, and intellectual foundations of primary research publications.

Practical Implications: Despite its strengths, the study provides valuable insights and a foundation for future research to explore alternative metrics and qualitative content analyses, aiming to offer deeper insights into the impact of AI on finance.

The aim was to investigate the effect of normal load on the tribological performance of laser cladded FeCoCrMoSi amorphous coating, which might choose the appropriate normal load for the friction reduction and wear resistance.

A FeCoCrMoSi amorphous coating was prepared on 45 steel using laser cladding, and the tribological performance of obtained coating under the different normal loads was investigated using a ball-on-disk tribometer.

The FeCoCrMoSi amorphous coating is composed of M₂₃C₆, Co₆Mo₆C₂ and amorphous phases, where the M₂₃C₆ hard phase enhances the coating hardness to increase the wear resistance and the Co₆Mo₆C₂ with the vein shape forms the strong mechanical interlock to play the role of friction reduction. The average coefficients of friction of containing amorphous FeCoCrMoSi coating under the normal loads of 3, 4 and 5 N are 0.68, 0.65 and 0.53, respectively, and the corresponding wear rates are 17.7, 23.9 and 21.9 µm3•N⁻¹•mm⁻¹, respectively, showing that the appropriate normal load is beneficial for improving its friction reduction and wear resistance. The wear mechanism is composed of adhesive wear, abrasive wear and oxidative wear, which is attributed to the high hardness of amorphous coating by the amorphous phase.

The FeCoCrMoSi amorphous coating was first applied for the improvement of 45 steel, and the effect of normal load on its tribological performance was investigated.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2024-0304/

The purpose of this paper is to analyze research trends on “Wearable devices in textile filed” from 2010 to 2023 and determine the important keywords, nations and journals associated with this topic.

Utilizing journal literature on wearable devices from the 2010 to 2023 Web of Science (WoS) database, this study employs VOSviewer, biblioshiny of the R software package and the specialized software CiteSpace to generate knowledge graphs for measuring retrieval outcomes.

The research on wearable devices integrated into textiles between 2010 and 2023 can be divided into three stages: initial slow progress, subsequent rapid advancement and final slow progress, indicating a general rise in the quantity of published material. The terms “fabrication,” “wearable electronics” and “design” are closely linked in this field. China is the most globally networked country in this field, according to the World Collaboration Map. NANO ENERGY ranked first in the number of articles published in journals, with 18 articles and 1,151 citations.

The study identified the present state and research trends in the field of “Wearable devices in textile filed,” offering valuable information for researchers to enhance their understanding of the field’s progress.

Just transition is a fundamental concept for supply chain management but neither discipline pays attention to the other and little is known about how supply chains can be orchestrated as socioecological systems to manage these transitions. Building from a wide range of just transition examples, this paper explores just transition to understand how to move beyond instrumental supply chain practices to supply chains functioning in harmony with the planet and its people.

Building from a systematic review of 72 papers, the paper identifies just transition examples while interpreting them through the theoretical lens of supply chain management, providing valuable insights to help research and practice understand how to achieve low-carbon economies through supply chain management in environmentally and socially just ways.

The paper defines, elaborates, and extends the just transition construct by developing a transition taxonomy with two key dimensions. The purpose dimension (profit or shared outcomes) and the governance dimension (government-/industry-led versus civil society-involved), generating four transition archetypes. Most transitions projects are framed around the Euro- and US-centric, capitalist standards of development, leading to coloniality as well as economic and cultural depletion of communities. Framing just transition in accordance with context-specific plural values, the paper provides an alternative perspective to the extractive transition concept. This can guide supply chain management to decarbonise economies and societies by considering the rights of nature, communities and individuals.

Introducing just transition into the supply chain management domain, this paper unifies the various conceptualisations of just transition into a holistic understanding, providing a new foundation for supply chain management research.

Considering the impact of significant economic and political events, this study investigates the return spillovers and connectedness among eight West African currencies from March 31, 2010, to March 28, 2024. It aims to enhance understanding of the interdependencies within the West African foreign exchange market, providing insights into the region’s risk management and diversification opportunities.

Using the time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) method, this study analyzes daily exchange rate returns to capture the dynamic spillover effects and connectedness among the selected currencies. This approach identifies key transmitters and receivers of return shocks, reflecting the evolving interactions among the currencies over time.

The results show that the Sierra Leonean Leone, Cape Verdean Escudo, and West African CFA Franc are significant net transmitters of return shocks. At the same time, the Ghana Cedi, Nigerian Naira, Gambian Dalasi, Guinean Franc, and Liberian Dollar are net receivers, with the Gambian Dalasi being the most affected. These findings suggest relatively low regional spillover connectedness, offering favorable diversification opportunities.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the interconnectedness of West African currencies, contributing to the limited literature on this region. The findings have practical implications for investors and policymakers in managing foreign exchange risks and designing interventions to stabilize the market.

The purpose of this study is to examine the audit efficiency and timeliness of Big 4 auditors relative to non-Big 4 auditors, where audit efficiency is defined as the auditor’s ability to conduct an audit more quickly or with fewer resources while still achieving effective outcomes.

The authors use audit report lags (also referred to as audit delay) as a proxy for audit timeliness and efficiency, controlling for audit quality and audit fees (audit input). The authors use a propensity-score matching (PSM) approach to construct a pseudorandom sample in which each non-Big 4 client is matched with a similar Big 4 client based on their characteristics and audit quality, to control for potential endogeneity related to self-selection bias in this setting.

The authors find that non-Big 4 auditors are associated with shorter audit delays than Big 4 auditors. Additional analysis of the matched sample reveals that non-Big 4 auditors charge lower fees than Big 4 auditors do after controlling for the Big 4 premium. These findings do not support the notion that Big 4 auditors conduct audits more efficiently than non-Big 4 auditors do.

These results could be of interest to the management of public firms, audit committees, investors and regulators; provide valuable insights into the performance of audit firms in varying client environments; and contribute to a better understanding of audit timeliness and efficiency.

This paper aims to regulate the oil retention rate and tribological properties of pored polytetrafluoroethylene (PPTFE) using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based oil gel.

PPTFE was first prepared by using citric acid (CA) as an efficient pore-making agent. Subsequently, PVA and chitosan solution was introduced into the pores and experienced a freezing-thawing process, forming PVA-based gels inside the pores. Then, the PPTFE/PVA composite was impregnated with polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200), yielding an oil-impregnated PPTFE/PVA/PEG200 composite.

It was found that the oil-impregnated PPTFE/PVA/PEG200 composite exhibited advanced tribological properties than neat PTFE with reductions of 53% and 70% in coefficient of friction and wear rate, respectively.

This study shows an efficient strategy to regulate the tribological property of PTFE using a PVA-based oil-containing gel.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2024-0432/

This study aims to investigate the impact of the oil crash during the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, energy and the environment in MENA countries, with and without fiscal policy, in a global context.

This study applies a Global Vector Autoregressive (GVAR) model for 47 countries from 2006Q1 to 2021Q3. The sign restriction method is used to identify the oil shocks originating from the COVID-19 crisis.

Empirical evidence shows that without fiscal interventions, MENA countries experienced a decline in output growth, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions due to lower oil prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the oil price shock on inflation varied across the region. Economic growth and inflation rates in MENA countries turn positive when the member states implement expansionary fiscal measures to stimulate economic activities during the pandemic. Hence, fiscal policy played a crucial role in supporting the economy and preventing a severe recession during COVID-19 in the MENA region. However, expansionary fiscal measures increased energy consumption and air pollution.

The findings help policymakers better cope with the outbreak of deadly pandemics in the coming years. It improves our understanding of the role of fiscal policy in boosting economic efforts and reducing the adverse environmental impact of increased government spending.

This paper enhances the current body of literature by investigating how fiscal policies implemented by the MENA countries help mitigate the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, it enables us to analyze the impact of fiscal support on energy consumption and the environment during an oil shock influenced by global uncertainty, lockdowns, and supply chain disruptions.

This paper aims to study the influence of different seal structure parameters and working conditions on the air-oil two-phase flow characteristics and leakage characteristics of the seal cavity in the bearing cavity of the aero-engine spindle bearing tester.

In this paper, the VOF method and RNG k-ε turbulence model are used to explore the flow characteristics and leakage characteristics of the labyrinth seal cavity of an aero-engine spindle bearing tester under the condition of air-oil two-phase flow.

The distribution of the lubricating oil is related to the sealing clearance and the air-oil ratio. The amount of oil leakage increases with increasing of sealing chamber clearance, air-oil ratio and inlet velocity and decreases with increasing curvature and speed. The amount of air leakage increases with sealing clearance and inlet velocity.

In comparison to the pure air-phase flow field, the air-oil two-phase flow field can more accurately simulate the lubricating oil flow in the sealing chamber.

Drought is the primary disaster that negatively impacts agricultural and animal husbandry production. It can lead to crop reduction and even pose a threat to human survival in environmentally sensitive areas of China (ESAC). However, the phases and periodicity of drought changes in the ESAC remain largely unknown. Thus, this paper aims to identify the periodic characteristics of meteorological drought changes.

The potential evapotranspiration was calculated using the Penman–Monteith formula recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, whereas the standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI) of drought was simulated by coupling precipitation data. Subsequently, the Bernaola-Galvan segmentation algorithm was proposed to divide the periods of drought change and the newly developed extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition to analyze the periodic drought patterns.

The findings reveal a significant increase in SPEI in the ESAC, with the rate of decline in drought events higher in the ESAC than in China, indicating a more pronounced wetting trend in the study area. Spatially, the northeast region showed an evident drying trend, whereas the southwest region showed a wetting trend. Two abrupt changes in the drought pattern were observed during the study period, namely, in 1965 and 1983. The spatial instability of moderate or severe drought frequency and intensity on a seasonal scale was more consistent during 1966–1983 and 1984–2018, compared to 1961–1965. Drought variation was predominantly influenced by interannual oscillations, with the periods of the components of intrinsic mode functions 1 (IMF1) and 2 (IMF2) being 3.1 and 7.3 years, respectively. Their cumulative variance contribution rate reached 70.22%.

The trend decomposition and periods of droughts in the study area were analyzed, which may provide an important scientific reference for water resource management and agricultural production activities in the ESAC. However, several problems remain unaddressed. First, the SPEI considers only precipitation and evapotranspiration, making it extremely sensitive to temperature increases. It also ignores the nonstationary nature of the hydrometeorological water process; therefore, it is prone to bias in drought detection and may overestimate the intensity and duration of droughts. Therefore, further studies on the application and comparison of various drought indices should be conducted to develop a more effective meteorological drought index. Second, the local water budget is mainly affected by surface evapotranspiration and precipitation. Evapotranspiration is calculated by various methods that provide different results. Therefore, future studies need to explore both the advantages and disadvantages of various evapotranspiration calculation methods (e.g. Hargreaves, Thornthwaite and Penman–Monteith) and their application scenarios. Third, this study focused on the temporal and spatial evolution and periodic characteristics of droughts, without considering the driving mechanisms behind them and their impact on the ecosystem. In future, it will be necessary to focus on a sensitivity analysis of drought indices with regard to climate change. Finally, although this study calculated the SPEI using meteorological data provided by China’s high-density observatory network, deviations and uncertainties were inevitable in the point-to-grid spatialization process. This shortcoming may be avoided by using satellite remote sensing data with high spatiotemporal resolution in the future, which can allow pixel-scale monitoring and simulation of meteorological drought evolution.

Under the background of continuous global warming, the climate in arid and semiarid areas of China has shown a trend of warming and wetting. It means that the plant environment in this region is getting better. In the future, the project of afforestation and returning farmland to forest and grassland in this region can increase the planting proportion of water-loving tree species to obtain better ecological benefits. Meanwhile, this study found that in the relatively water-scarce regions of China, drought duration was dominated by interannual oscillations (3.1a and 7.3a). This suggests that governments and nongovernmental organizations in the region should pay attention to the short drought period in the ESAC when they carry out ecological restoration and protection projects such as the construction of forest reserves and high-quality farmland.

The findings enhance the understanding of the phasic and periodic characteristics of drought changes in the ESAC. Future studies on the stress effects of drought on crop yield may consider these effects to better reflect the agricultural response to meteorological drought and thus effectively improve the tolerance of agricultural activities to drought events.