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The purpose of this study is to use recent US legislative activity surrounding changes to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/Clean Air Act in 2010, which changes the practice of environmental policy of a firm, and the unique setting of Utility industry to examine the relationship between a firm’s voluntary accounting disclosure and environmental performance.

This study features hand-collected data of environmental disclosure and examines its relation with environmental performance. To address the endogeneity problem, a difference-in-differences test with propensity score matching is performed to study the impact of policy change on environmental disclosure.

The findings of this study show that measures of environmental performance have a significant and positive association with a firm’s voluntary disclosure. The results from difference-in-differences test show that adjustments in environmental performance after regulatory change have a causal and positive effect on a firm’s voluntary disclosure.

The findings support theories of signaling and voluntary disclosure that better-performing firms provide more information disclosure of their environmental performance.

The findings show real adjustments in firm environmental performance and consistent voluntary disclosure around the enactment of environmental legislation, which may have important implications for environmental rule making bodies and management about the effectiveness of their regulations.

This study is among the first to examine the causal relationship between environmental performance and disclosure within the context of recent changes in US environmental regulation. This study also provides the Utility industry experiment with difference-in-differences test to tackle endogeneity in the relation between performance and disclosure.

Increasing physical activity can reduce obesity risk among adolescents. This study analyses how behaviours, ethnicity and various sociocultural characteristics may influence the likelihood of engaging in active commute and other healthy activities. The authors analyse data from the 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey. The sample included US Hispanic high school students from 9th to 12th grade. Quasi-Poisson regression was used to understand the association between 24 possible variables and the number of days physically active at least 60 minutes per day. This study will present findings by race and ethnicity: non-Hispanic whites and blacks, as well as Hispanics. The research findings uncover that walking is the most predominant physical activity among Hispanics, especially from school to home, which indicates engagement in active transportation. This study shows the need for tailoring physical activity and health programmes by race and ethnicity. Interventions that encourage active commute can be effective for adolescents to achieve physical activity guidelines – at least 60 minutes per day.

This chapter provides an overview of the findings and chapters of a thematic volume in the International Perspectives on Education and Society (IPES) series. It describes the common dataset and methods used by an international research team.

The chapter synthesizes the results of a series of country-level case studies and cross-national and regional comparisons on the growth of scientific research from 1900 until 2011. Additionally, the chapter provides a quantitative analysis of global trends in scientific, peer-reviewed publishing over the same period.

The introduction identifies common themes that emerged across the case studies examined in-depth during the multi-year research project Science Productivity, Higher Education, Research and Development and the Knowledge Society (SPHERE). First, universities have long been and are increasingly the primary organizations in science production around the globe. Second, the chapters describe in-country and cross-country patterns of competition and collaboration in scientific publications. Third, the chapters describe the national policy environments and institutionalized organizational forms that foster scientific research.

The introduction reviews selected findings and limitations of previous bibliometric studies and explains that the chapters in the volume address these limitations by applying neo-institutional theoretical frameworks to analyze bibliometric data over an extensive period.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

Service oriented architecture (SOA) is increasingly adopted by many sectors, including healthcare. Due to the nature of healthcare systems, there is a need to increase SOA adoption success rates as the non‐integrated nature of healthcare systems is responsible for medical errors that cause the loss of tens of thousands of patients per year. Although numerous factors affect SOA success, these have not been explored and analysed yet, especially in the area of healthcare. This highlights a literature void and thus the purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors (CSFs) influencing SOA implementation in healthcare.

The authors critically review the literature and identify individual factors that may form CSFs for SOA implementation in healthcare. In doing so, they synthesise and propose a conceptual model of SOA CSFs in healthcare. The conceptual model is tested in the practical arena using a qualitative research methodology that is based on a case study strategy.

The empirical findings verify the proposed model and reveal that an additional SOA CSF in healthcare does exist. It is also revealed that the proposed model helped the case organization to successfully implement an SOA solution.

The implications that derive from this article are important for both theory and practice. At a practical level, the paper delivers a model that can be used as a decision‐making tool by professionals when they implement SOA solutions in healthcare. At a theoretical level, the proposed model extends the body of knowledge on this area and opens new avenues for research. From another point of view, it is suggested that further research is required on this area as the proposed conceptual model was tested only through a single case study. Thus, multiple case studies or other types of research strategies should be used to better test the proposed model.

This work is original and focuses on CSFs related to SOA implementations in healthcare organizations. The work can be considered as novel as it identifies and classifies SOA CSFs for solutions that have been developed in the area of healthcare.

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied to the analysis of ceramics and glass materials. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations on the subject that were published between 1977‐1998. The following topics are included: ceramics – material and mechanical properties in general, ceramic coatings and joining problems, ceramic composites, ferrites, piezoceramics, ceramic tools and machining, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, applications of ceramic/composites in engineering; glass – material and mechanical properties in general, glass fiber composites, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, and applications of glasses in engineering.

This study aims to investigate the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the libraries of the top 100 universities in the world to provide a model for Web 2.0 application in academic library websites.

Data were collected from the universities’ library websites for three months based on a Web 2.0 checklist. The list of universities was extracted from Webometrics Ranking of World Universities in 2015.

The research shows the priorities of these universities in their use of Web 2.0 tools include social networks and mashups at the most (94.5 per cent), followed by RSS (91.2 per cent) and social tagging (82.4 per cent) and other tools with lower priorities. Moreover, it revealed the most common applications of these tools in the mentioned websites followed by their objective evidences in different libraries. The results indicate that the total Web 2.0 application in the libraries of the top 100 universities was below average (40.23 per cent). Finally, the model for Web 2.0 application in academic library websites was designed.

The focus of this study is on the value and application of each tool in the websites and demonstrate a clear model to apply in other library websites. The model for Web 2.0 technologies application in academic library websites has not been designed and pictured before.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is becoming a crucial health problem worldwide. Continued and high-speed mutations of this virus result in the appearance of new manifestations, making the control of this disease difficult. It has been shown that well-nourished patients have strong immune systems who mostly have short-term hospitalization compared to others. The purpose of this study is to review the major nutrients involved in the immune system reinforcement and to explain nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19.

In this review paper, the mechanistic role of nutrients in boosting the immune system and the nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19 patients were discussed. Papers indexed in scientific databases were searched using antioxidants, COVID-19, inflammation, immune system, macronutrient, micronutrient and probiotic as keywords from 2000 to 2022.

Because of the adverse effects of drugs like thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and hypercholesterolemia, a balanced diet with enough concentrations of energy and macronutrients could increase the patient's durability. The inflammatory cytokines in a vicious cycle delay patients’ rehabilitation. The main mechanistic roles of micronutrients are attributed to the downregulation of virus replication and are involved in energy homeostasis. Dysbiosis is defined as another disturbance among COVID-19 patients, and supplementation with beneficial strains of probiotics helps to exert anti-inflammatory effects in this regard. Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

This study examines how formal and cultural management control systems (MCSs) are used to support the promotion of gender equality through a case study of a Japanese bank.

A case study was adopted to investigate the use of formal and cultural MCSs in promoting gender equality. Primary data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with managers experienced in promoting gender equality. Then, the data were analysed by reading the interview answers repeatedly and coding interviewees' comments to generate themes.

The findings indicate that both formal and cultural MCSs can be critical aspects in promoting gender equality. The use of cultural MCS fostered norms and cultures over time that enhances the process of formal MCS to achieve gender equality. Formal MCS was also designed and utilised under the constructed norms and cultures to promote gender equality. Furthermore, the use of formal MCS contributes to shaping norms and cultures that encourage gender equality by controlling and discussing the process of promoting gender equality.

This study clarifies how formal and cultural MCSs can be used to promote gender equality, which is an unresolved issue in Japanese companies. Mechanisms for companies in male-dominated societies are also provided to promote gender equality in terms of MCSs.