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Enhancing total factor productivity through digital transformation is a crucial pathway for the high-quality development of manufacturing enterprises. This research aims to investigate the impact mechanisms of manufacturing enterprises’ total factor productivity in the context of digital transformation.

Using the data from 536 Chinese listed manufacturing enterprises from 2018 to 2021, this research divides digital transformation into two dimensions (i.e. digital transformation breadth and digital transformation depth) and examines their impacts on total factor productivity as well as the mediation effects of innovation capability and reconfiguration capacity.

It is found that digital transformation breadth, digital transformation depth and their interaction can positively affect manufacturing enterprises’ total factor productivity. The innovation capability and reconfiguration capacity of manufacturing enterprises act as mediators between digital transformation breadth and total factor productivity, as well as between digital transformation depth and total factor productivity.

This study is one of the first attempts to investigate the impact mechanisms of manufacturing enterprises’ total factor productivity from the perspective of digital transformation breadth and depth.

This chapter provides a comprehensive examination of financial technology (fintech) firms, exploring their background, features, products and services. Framed within the themes of financial innovation, disintermediation and disruption, the chapter examines the transformative impact of fintech on the financial industry. Fintech firms leverage advanced technology to offer innovative financial solutions, such as mobile payment systems, robo-advisors and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, thereby enhancing accessibility and efficiency in financial services. The regulatory environment is highlighted, noting that while traditional banks are heavily regulated, fintech firms often operate with more flexibility, raising potential concerns about regulatory arbitrage and associated risks. The continued evolution of fintech, driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and data analytics, holds significant potential for further transforming the financial industry. This chapter sets the stage for ongoing exploration of fintech's implications and future developments.

This study aims to test the non-linear impact of overall productive capacity on organizational sustainability for the Next-11 countries. It also includes the moderating role of environmental, social and governance (ESG).

The panel auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) method with pooled mean group (PMG) specification is applied to analyze the relationship between productive capacity and organizational sustainability for the period 2000 to 2023.

The study finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between productive capacity and organizational sustainability, where increased capacity initially boosts sustainability but decreases it beyond an optimal point. ESG’s role is beneficial, moderating the impact from an inverted U-shaped relationship to a U-shaped relationship. The official exchange rate (OER) and energy transition (ENTR) show a negative impact on organizational sustainability.

Some of the weaknesses of this study might be hinged on the fact that the study targeted Next-11 countries only. This can be extended for other emerging economies. Second, the directional impacts are partial and monotone, but the U-shaped and inverted U-shaped impacts indicate the more complicated tendency of regional development, which needs further examination.

The research delivers innovative insights into how ESG moderates the quadratic relationship between productive capacity and organizational sustainability for N-11 countries. Further, this study has also considered how OER and ENTR determine organizational sustainability.

This study aims to investigate the influence and impact mechanism of capital tax incentives on firm innovation.

This study employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method, in conjunction with the exogenous impact of accelerated depreciation (AD) pilot policy. This study selects Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2017 as the research sample.

Firstly, AD exerts a substantial positive effect on the quantity and quality of the innovation output of firms, and the positive impact results primarily from heightened investment in fixed assets, particularly, machinery and equipment. Secondly, the influence of the policy is pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, mature enterprises, less capital-intensive enterprises and non-high-tech industries, which all exhibit strong innovation incentives. Lastly, the tax incentive policy significantly stimulates firm innovation in the short term, but its long-term impact on innovation incentives lacks statistical significance.

This study highlights the significance of capital tax incentives in facilitating the innovation process in firms.

The core objective of this research is to bridge the notable knowledge gap regarding the interplay between individual company supply chain resilience, digitalization and broader logistics performance metrics. This involves a close examination of how digital practices and mindsets contribute to both proactive and reactive supply chain resilience, as well as the impact on overall logistics performance and the logistics performance index (LPI).

This investigation was carried out through a study of medium-high technology Turkish manufacturing companies, paying particular attention to their engagement with digital technologies. A comprehensive analysis of multi-source data from 403 Turkish manufacturing companies was conducted using path analysis via structural equation modeling, aiming to elucidate the dynamics between these variables.

The study unveiled a markedly negative correlation between supply chain resilience and logistics performance within the context of developing nations such as Turkey. It further illuminated how different facets of digitalization distinctly influence the nexus between proactive and reactive supply chain resilience and overall logistics efficiency in these regions. Notably, a digital mindset was found to weaken the association between proactive resilience and the LPI while exacerbating the adverse effect of reactive resilience on the LPI.

The findings highlight the critical nature of strategic digital adoption and integration for bolstering supply chain resilience and logistics performance, particularly spotlighting the textile sector in developing countries. However, the study’s focus on Turkish manufacturing companies might limit the generalizability of the findings across different contexts and industries.

By underscoring the importance of digital integration in improving supply chain and logistics operations, this research suggests pathways for enhancing economic stability and growth in developing nations, ultimately contributing to broader societal well-being.

This study contributes novel insights into the complex relationship between supply chain resilience, digitalization and logistics performance, particularly in the context of developing economies. Its examination of the differential impacts of digitalization dimensions on this relationship offers valuable perspectives for academics, industry professionals and policymakers aiming to optimize supply chain strategies in the face of global challenges.

Environmental emissions are increasing in the urban areas. Much of the emissions arise from public procurement activities given that public sector firms are major customers to many supplying firms. Given the tremendous contribution, this study aims to examine the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms through assessing the impact of urban environmental governance, government environmental communication and organizational environmental governance.

Data for the study were collected in a single time period from central procuring and disposing entities (public sector firms) in the urban areas. A sample of 105 public sector firms in were used. One procurement officer and one member of the contracts committee were the key informants in the study. AMOS SPSS version 26 was used to obtain the results for the structural model and measurement model, respectively.

The findings indicate that the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms is significantly influenced by government environmental communication, organizational environmental governance and urban environmental governance. Urban environmental governance significantly influences organizational environmental governance. Urban environmental governance fully mediates the relationship between government environmental communication and public sector firms’ adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices. Also, urban environmental governance and organizational environmental governance mediate the relationship between government environmental communication and adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices.

This study examined the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms. However, the study was conducted in a public procurement setting rather than a private sector procurement setting. Also, the study examined the impact of government environmental communication on public sector firms’ adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices ignoring the impact of internal communications made within the public sector firms on environmental issues.

This study examined the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms. Freight logistics in public sector procurement has not been given significant attention in earlier research. Emphasis is placed on sustainable public sector procurement ignoring other aspects that would help curb environmental emissions that may arise during and after the delivery of public procurement requirements.

This paper aims to study the effect of different Ni content on the microstructure and properties of Sn-0.7Cu alloy. Then, the spreading area, wetting angle, interface layer thickness and microstructure of the soldering interface was observed and analyzed at different soldering temperatures and times.

Sn-0.7Cu-xNi solder alloy was prepared by a high-frequency induction melting furnace. Then Sn-0.7Cu-xNi alloy was soldered on a Cu substrate at different soldering temperatures and times.

It was found that Ni made the intermetallic compounds in the Sn-0.7Cu solder alloy gradually aggregate and coarsen, and the microstructure was refined. The phase compositions of the solder alloy are mainly composed of the ß-Sn phase and a few intermetallic compounds, Cu₆Sn₅ + (Cu, Ni)₆Sn₅. The maximum value of 12.1 HV is reached when the Ni content is 0.1 Wt.%. When the Ni content is 0.5 Wt.%, the wettability of the solder alloy increases by about 15%, the interface thickness increases by about 8.9% and the scallop-like structure is the most refined. When the soldering time is 10 min and the soldering temperature is 280 °C, the wettability of Sn-0.7Cu-0.2Ni is the best.

It is groundbreaking to combine the change in soldering interface with the soldering industry. The effects of different soldering temperatures and times on the Sn-0.7Cu-xNi alloy were studied. Under the same conditions, Sn-0.7Cu-0.2Ni exhibits better wettability and more stable solder joint stability.

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.

Construction safety is a crucial aspect that has far-reaching impacts on economic development. But safety monitoring is often reliant on labor-based observations, which can be prone to errors and result in numerous fatalities annually. This study aims to address this issue by proposing a cloud-building information modeling (BIM)-based framework to provide real-time safety monitoring on construction sites to enhance safety practices and reduce fatalities.

This system integrates an automated safety tracking mobile app to detect hazardous locations on construction sites, a cloud-based BIM system for visualization of worker tracking on a virtual construction site and a Web interface to visualize and monitor site safety.

The study’s results indicate that implementing a comprehensive automated safety monitoring approach is feasible and suitable for general indoor construction site environments. Furthermore, the assessment of an advanced safety monitoring system has been successfully implemented, indicating its potential effectiveness in enhancing safety practices in construction sites.

By using this system, the construction industry can prevent accidents and fatalities, promote the adoption of new technologies and methods with minimal effort and cost and improve safety outcomes and productivity. This system can reduce workers’ compensation claims, insurance costs and legal penalties, benefiting all stakeholders involved.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt in Bangladesh to develop a mobile app-based technological solution aimed at reforming construction safety culture by using BIM technology. This has the potential to change the construction sector’s attitude toward accepting new technologies and cultures through its convenient choice of equipment.

Pigments, as essential colorants, are extensively used in industries such as coatings, inks and plastics. However, the dispersibility of pigments during application critically affects their performance. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance pigment dispersion to improve their application performance. This paper aims to offer valuable insights into the enhancement of pigment dispersion.

Drawing upon existing research on pigment dispersion, this study synthesizes key achievements into two main categories: pigment dispersion mechanism and pigment dispersion technology.

Concerning pigment dispersion mechanism, the article summarizes the three pivotal processes and their respective mechanisms: wetting, dispersion and stabilization. In addition, research advances in computational modeling and structure–activity relationship studies are introduced. Regarding pigment dispersion technology, the paper reviews technological advancements in the utilization of surfactants, solid solution preparation, application of potential pigments, manufacture of pigment derivatives and encapsulation of polymer materials.

Understanding the dispersion mechanism and dispersion technology is instrumental in guiding pigment dispersion practices. Effective application of these principles can enhance pigment performance and expand their application scope.