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An emerging line of research examining the role of numerological superstition in the capital market shows that it has significant impact on investor behavior (Bhattacharya, Kuo, Lin, & Zhao, 2018; Hirshleifer, Jian, & Zhang 2018). However, to the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.

Chinese culture views 6 and 8 as lucky numbers. Using Chinese publicly traded firms, the authors examine the relation between investors’ numerological superstition and corporate financial reporting behavior.

The results suggest that firms reporting lucky earnings-per-share (EPS) numbers ending with 6 or 8 are more likely to engage in earnings management. These firms also raise more capital through seasoned equity offerings in the following year; however, they do not have more capital investments. Instead, their controlling shareholders siphon a significant amount of capital through related party transactions. Overall, the findings suggest that managers collude with controlling shareholders to manage earnings by exploiting the superstitious beliefs of minority shareholders.

To the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.

Independent directors are important corporate decision participants and makers. Based on the Chinese cultural background, this paper interprets the listing order of independent directors as independent directors’ status, exploring their influence on the corporate research and development (R&D) behavior.

This paper studies A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2018 as the sample. The main method is ordinary least square (OLS) regression. We also use other methods to deal with endogenous problems, such as the firm fixed effect method, change model method, two-stage instrumental variable method, and Heckman two-stage method.

(1) Higher independent directors’ status attribute to more effective exertion of supervision and consultation function, and positively enhance the corporate R&D investment. The increase of the independent director’ status by one standard deviation will increase the R&D investment by 4.6%. (2) The above effect is more influential in firms with stronger traditional culture atmosphere, higher information opacity and higher performance volatility. (3) High-status independent directors promote R&D investment by improving the scientificity of R&D evaluation and reducing information asymmetry. (4) The enhancing effect of independent director’ status on R&D investment is positively associated with the firm’s patent output and market value.

This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between the independent directors’ status and their duty execution from an embedded cultural background perspective. The findings of the study enlighten the improvement of corporate governance efficiency and the healthy development of the capital market.

Intuitionistic linguistic fuzzy information (ILFI), characterized by linguistic terms and intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs), can easily express the fuzzy information in the process of muticriteria decision making (MCDM) and muticriteria group decision making (MCGDM) problems. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of aggregation operators (AOs) and applications of ILFI.

First, some meaningful AOs for ILFI are summarized, and some extended MCDM approaches for intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables (IULVs), such as extended TOPSIS, extended TODIM, extended VIKOR, are discussed. Then, the authors summarize and analyze the applications about the AOs of IULVs.

IULVs, characterized by linguistic terms and IFSs, can more detailed and comprehensively express the criteria values in the process of MCDM and MCGDM. Therefore, lots of researchers pay more and more attention to the MCDM or MCGDM methods with IULVs.

The authors summarize and analyze the applications about the AOs of IULVs Finally, the authors point out some possible directions for future research.

International student enrollment has experienced dramatic increases on U.S. campuses. Using a national dataset, the study explores and compares international and domestic students’ incoming and post-training levels of motivation to lead, leadership self- efficacy, and leadership skill using inverse-probability weighting of propensity scores to explore differences between the two samples. Unweighted findings suggest that international and domestic students enter programs similarly across in many ways, and leave the immersion program with similar gains. However, a matched-sample comparison suggests that international students’ growth was statistically different in ethical leadership skills, affective- identity motivation to lead, and leadership self-efficacy. Discussion focuses on the benefits of leadership development to international students why campuses could build partnerships between units that serve international students and leadership educators to facilitate a more inclusive campus.

This article examines the impact of population age structure on the real exchange rate. Data on a panel of 22 OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries over 1980–2015 period are used to estimate the empirical model. Using fixed effect model the paper finds that different age cohorts have a significant influence on the real exchange rates in the sample countries. The results are mostly consistent with the theoretical framework discussed in the paper and also with the findings of previous studies in this area. These results have important policy implications given the fact that the population is ageing in almost all the OECD economies these days.

This study aims to analyze the development direction of track geometry inspection equipment for high-speed comprehensive inspection train in China.

The development of track geometry inspection equipment for high-speed comprehensive inspection train in China in the past 20 years can be divided into 3 stages. Track geometry inspection equipment 1.0 is the stage of analog signal. At the stage 1.0, the first priority is to meet the China's railways basic needs of pre-operation joint debugging, safety assessment and daily dynamic inspection, maintenance and repair after operation. Track geometry inspection equipment 2.0 is the stage of digital signal. At the stage 2.0, it is important to improve stability and reliability of track geometry inspection equipment by upgrading the hardware sensors and improving software architecture. Track geometry inspection equipment 3.0 is the stage of lightweight. At the stage 3.0, miniaturization, low power consumption, self-running and green economy are co-developing on demand.

The ability of track geometry inspection equipment for high-speed comprehensive inspection train will be expanded. The dynamic inspection of track stiffness changes will be studied under loaded and unloaded conditions in response to the track local settlement, track plate detachment and cushion plate failure. The dynamic measurement method of rail surface slope and vertical curve radius will be proposed, to reveal the changes in railway profile parameters of high-speed railways and the relationship between railway profile, track irregularity and subsidence of subgrade and bridges. The 200 m cut-off wavelength of track regularity will be researched to adapt to the operating speed of 400 km/h.

The research can provide new connotations and requirements of track geometry inspection equipment for high-speed comprehensive inspection train in the new railway stage.

This study aims to assess the efficiency of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) countries in achieving sustainable development by analyzing their ability to convert resources and technological innovations into sustainable outcomes.

Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), the study evaluates the economic, environmental and social efficiency of BRICS countries over the period 2010–2018. It ranks these countries based on their sustainable development performance and compares them to the period 2000–2007.

The study reveals varied efficiency levels among BRICS countries. Russia and South Africa lead in certain sustainable development aspects. South Africa excels in environmental sustainability, whereas Brazil is efficient in resource utilization for sustainable growth. China and India, despite economic growth, face challenges such as pollution and lower quality of life.

The study’s findings are constrained by the DEA methodology and the selection of variables. It highlights the need for more nuanced research incorporating recent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical shifts.

Insights from this study can inform targeted and effective sustainability strategies in BRICS nations, focusing on areas such as industrial quality improvement, employment conditions and environmental policies.

The study underscores the importance of balancing economic growth with social and environmental considerations, highlighting the need for policies addressing inequality, poverty and environmental degradation.

This research provides a unique comparative analysis of BRICS countries’ sustainable development efficiency, challenging conventional perceptions and offering a new perspective on their progress.

One of the issues currently being discussed around the globe, and especially in the tourism industry, is revisit intention. This study uses a bibliometric analysis strategy based on the Web of Science (WOS) database to examine the literature on revisit intention.

In this study, a sample of 482 articles was analyzed. The R programming language was used to process the data and graph the results.

The results found the occurrence of publications by year, publication source information and authors, journals, countries, institutions, thematic maps, current trends of topics in hospitality and tourism toward revisiting intention, and the most cited papers in revisit intention. This study highlights the importance of revisiting intention in the hospitality and tourism industry. The bibliometric analysis helps to set the research agenda on revisit intention.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to present an empirical evaluation of revisit intention using inclusive mapping.

This study examines the osteoconductive and healing capabilities of locally implanted synthetic hydroxyapatite (sHAp) derived from eggshells in the central incisor sockets of rats.

Toxicity experiments were conducted in vitro and in vivo, to testify the safety dosage of sHAp. Around 24 mature male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats had their upper central incisors extracted. The rats were placed into three groups of eight rats each: Group 1: the sockets of extracted central incisors were left unfilled (control), Group 2: filled up with commercially available hydroxyapatite (HAp) and Group 3: implanted with sHAp locally retrieved from eggshells. After extraction, four rats from each group were sacrificed at 2nd and 4th weeks. Maxillary tissue sections were obtained and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichome (MT) staining. Anti-osteocalcin (OCN) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were used primary antibodies for immunohistochemistry (IHC) special labeling.

The results showed that the locally implanted sHAp was non-toxic and safe in cell lines (human osteoblast and fibroblast) and animals. Histological analysis of H&E, MT and IHC showed that the sockets treated with locally implanted sHAp from eggshells were filled with new bone tissue of comparable thickness to other groups.

This unique technique uses locally implanted eggshell-derived sHAp with osteoconductive characteristics. In an in vivo model, sHAps increased OCN and PCNA expression to improve bone repair.

The paper uses foundation models to integrate the green approach in Logistics 5.0. Such integration is innovative in logistics and leads to a more sustainable and prosperous future. By harnessing the power of foundation models and incorporating sustainable principles, this paper can systematize the logistics industry’s environmental framework, increase its social responsibility and ensure its long-term economic viability.

Generalizing environmental sustainability goals requires a multi-layered innovation approach incorporating corporate philosophy, products, processes and business models. In this paper, this comprehensive approach is not just a strategy but a necessity in the current global context. This paper uses the sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) method, crucial for achieving explicit environmental, social and economic impacts.

Artificial intelligence, especially foundation models, can contribute to green logistics by optimizing routes, reducing packaging waste, improving warehouse layouts and other functions presented in the paper. At the same time, they can also consider social, economic and governance goals.

Artificial intelligence algorithms present challenges such as high initial investment, regulatory compliance and technological integration.

The paper contains implications for developing environmentally sustainable logistics, which is currently one of the most significant challenges. The framework presented can apply to logistics companies.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study sustainability in logistics. The framework is entirely original and not present in the literature. It is essential to help design and implement innovative logistics approaches.