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The purpose of this report is to help the reader understand the difference between independent contractors and employees. Employers use independent contractors for many reasons, including cost, seasonal fluctuations, temporary assignments or highly skilled services. Independent contractors are different from employees in that they usually are not eligible for benefits such as health insurance or paid time off, are not covered by workers’ compensation insurance and are responsible for submitting their own income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. However, someone does not become an independent contractor just because he or she is labelled that way, is not offered certain benefits or because her or his income taxes are not with held. In fact, not even the signing of a contract or agreement ensures that the independent contractor will not be classified as an employee by a government agency or the courts. The ultimate test to determine whether some one is an employee or an independent contractor is the degree of control an employer exercises over that individual’s work.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the most relevant issues related to the impact of financial restatements in the dynamics of financial markets and identify several research gaps to be investigated in future research.

The methodology is based on a systematic review of the literature described by Tranfield et al. (2003). The final sample includes 47 academic papers published from 1996 to 2019.

Papers in this domain discuss three main topics: how the market prices the announcement of a financial restatement; how financial restatements affect the announcing firm’s cost of capital and how financial restatements affect firms’ reputation. There are several issues to explore in future research, including whether financial restatements affect the dynamics of financial markets in Europe, whether the market fully and promptly assimilates the information content of a restatement, the role of financial analysts’ information disclosures in this process or how regulators may improve the way they provide investors with timely information about firms’ restating problems.

There is always some degree of subjectivity in the definition of the keywords, search strings and selection criteria in a systematic review. These are all important aspects, as they delimitate the scope of the study and define the sample of papers to be reviewed.

The answers to the research questions identified in this paper may provide regulators with information to improve financial accounting and reporting standards and strengthen investors’ confidence in accounting information and the dynamics of financial markets.

This paper systematically reviews the relevant literature exploring the connection between financial restatements and the dynamics of financial markets. It contributes to the academic community by identifying several research questions that may impact the theory and practice related to accounting quality and capital markets.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the service quality (SQ) of property managers of shopping complexes in Ibadan with a view to improving management practice.

Primary data were used for the study through questionnaire administration. Ibadan was stratified into five axes using existing major roads where shopping complexes were highly concentrated. From each axis, 33, 65, 48, 64 and 66 shopping complexes were identified (Oyo State Ministry of Land, Housing and Survey, 2017), and the systematic sampling technique (20 percent) was adopted to select 57 out of 276 shopping complexes and 192 (10 percent) out of 1919 occupiers of the shopping complexes in the study area. In total, 157 occupiers responded to the questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using mean ranking and stepwise multiple regression.

This study found that professionalism, tangible, assurance and empathy dimensions of SQ were rated fair, whereas reliability and responsiveness dimensions were rated poor. Also, stepwise multiple regression analysis predicted 78.5 percent overall SQ of property managers, and assurance, professionalism and empathy dimensions contributed significantly to the overall SQ. Hence, reliability and responsiveness dimensions of SQ need to be improved. It is expected that the findings of this study will help property managers to understand the role of various dimensions of SQ for enhanced property management practice.

The study is one of the few studies that assessed the SQ of property managers of shopping complex with a view to improving its management practice.

This study aims to assess the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy and sustainable performance, in addition to exploring the mediating role of green innovation in this connection. Moreover, age, size and membership in a Protected Designation of Origin are incorporated as control variables to increase the precision of the relationships examined.

A conceptual model was created to meet the intended research objectives and then validated using partial least squares structural equation modeling with primary data obtained from a survey administered to 196 Spanish wineries, which took place between September 2022 and January 2023.

The study findings indicate that the implementation of an ESG strategy has a positive and significant relationship with the sustainable performance of wineries. In addition, green product and process innovation appear to partially mediate this relationship.

The sample size (196 wineries) limits the generalizability of the findings to the population under study, which suggests caution in their interpretation. In addition, the cross-sectional design of the study prevents from observing dynamic changes over time.

This research significantly advances the understanding of ESG strategy through a holistic view of its relationship with the sustainable performance of the wine industry. Indeed, it fills a critical gap in the academic literature, as ESG strategy has been scarcely explored in the wine industry setting, despite the specific environmental and social challenges faced by this sector. Furthermore, it pioneers the investigation of green innovation as a mediating factor in the relationship between ESG strategy and sustainable winery performance, providing new findings that can shape strategic management practices in the wine sector.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons behind the persistent preference for printed content among Arabic-speaking library patrons in Jordan. Specifically, this study highlights the availability of reading materials in print, electronic and audible formats in Arabic as an intervening factor shaping reading behavior. More broadly, it aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how language preference can impact reading format preferences.

This study’s research design revolves around understanding reading format preferences among registered members of Jordan’s largest and oldest private library. This approach involved the examination of secondary library user survey data collected from N = 313 of its patrons in 2022. To gain a greater understanding of the preference for printed materials, this study conducted semistructured interviews over the phone with n = 31 participants of the library’s survey.

The findings of this study indicate a strong preference for print books among Arabic-speaking library patrons in Jordan. However, the availability of content in electronic and audible formats in Arabic, their preferred reading language, emerged as a potentially significant factor in the persistent preference for printed reading materials.

This study offers new insights into the specific role that the availability of content in Arabic, and possibly languages other than English, may play in shaping reading format preferences. By shedding light on this aspect of reading behavior, this research offers valuable information for libraries and publishers seeking to cater to the needs and preferences of Arabic readers.

This study aims to assess the influence of partial and simultaneous substitution of fat and sodium by hydrolyzed collagen and mix of herbs (MH) in chicken hamburgers, on the physical properties and proximal composition.

Five formulations were developed: (1) HCON–without adding collagen and MH; (2) C25M25–adding 25% of collagen and 25% of MH; (3) C25M50–adding 25% of collagen and 50% of MH; (4) C50M25–adding 50% of collagen and 25% of MH and (5) C50M50–adding 50% of collagen and 50% of MH. Chicken hamburgers were analyzed by proximal composition, sodium content, collagen and color analysis. The influence of treatments on texture profile, cooking performance and lipid oxidation of chicken hamburger was also investigated.

There was reduction in lipid and sodium for modified formulations compared with the HCON. There was great influence for some parameters, such as luminosity, cooking performance and texture profile. The formulation C50M50 showed the best cooking performance when compared to the others.

The formulation adding 50% of collagen and 50% of MH showed the highest yield and water retention (WR), with the least reduction in diameter and shrinkage, as well as presenting the best indexes of the texture profile and the lowest oxidation index, being recommended as the best combination of fat and sodium replacement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issues of accountability, social responsibility and law related with local action groups (LAGs) to achieve local economic and sustainable development.

The literature review justifies the conceptual frame of the issues under discussion. Thus, on the one hand, the LEADER+ programme system statistics were used and, on the other hand, the Portuguese Government and European Union laws, regulations and official documents were used.

LAGs represent civil society in its various aspects and interests, assuming many times as privileged partners of the State, strengthening the rights of individual citizens against the political and economic power. Also, the LAGs as partners have specific local conditions, such as historical, social and cultural identities, governance and geography, that should be equally considered.

The results of the paper show accountability limitations, but the LAG is developed as a source of indispensable and fundamental information for the decision‐making process of local sustainability.

LAGs sometimes, forgetting their real purpose, follow socially responsible practices, often, to apply the strict compliance with the law, regulations and norms, even if social responsibility strategies are arguably recognized as crucial to promote economic success, social and life quality, and environmental sustainability.

The challenges of local development in which the citizen, firms, entities and policy makers are merged need sophisticated and comprehensive strategies and socially responsible best practices to promote the welfare of the society.

This paper identifies case studies that highlight different strategic approaches to recognize the importance of the LAGs in the implementation of sustainable policies and social responsibility strategies. Also, different levels of accountability, social responsibility and law are applied and promoted by LAG.

Global and local processing is part of human perceptual organisation, where global processing helps extract the “gist” of the visual information and local processing helps perceive the details. Individual differences in these two types of visual processing have been found in autism and ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Virtual reality (VR) has become a more available method of research in the last few decades. No previous research has investigated perceptual differences using this technology.

The objective of the research is to threefold: (1) identify if there is association between ADHD and autistic traits and the performance on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF) task, (2) investigate practical effects of using VR drawing tools for research on perceptual experiences and (3) explore any perceptual differences brought out by the three-dimensional nature of the VR. The standard ROCF test was used as a baseline task to investigate the practical utility of using VR as an experimental platform. A total of 94 participants were tested.

Attention-to-detail, attention switching and imagination subscales of autism quotient (AQ) questionnaire were found to be predictors of organisational ROCF scores, whereas only the attention-to-detail subscale was predictive of perceptual ROCF scores.

The current study is an example of how classic psychological paradigms can be transferred into the virtual world. Further investigation of the distinct individual preferences in drawing tasks in VR could lead to a better understanding of individual differences in the processing of visuospatial information.