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The present study aims to evaluate the effect of climate change on the flood hazard potential in the Kelantan River Basin using current and future scenarios.

The intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) was used to estimate the current 50- and 100-year return period 24-h design rainfall, and the climate change factor (CCF) was used to compute the future design rainfall. The CCF was calculated from the rainfall projections of two global climate models, CGCM1 and CCSM3, with different pre-processing steps applied to each. The IDF data were used in the rainfall-runoff-inundation model to simulate current and future flood inundation scenarios.

The estimated CCF values demonstrate a contrast, whereby each station had a CCF value greater than one for CGCM1, while some stations had a CCF value of less than one for CCSM3. Therefore, CGCM1 projected an aggravation and CCSM3 a reduction of flood hazard for future scenarios. The study reveals that topography plays an essential role in calculating the CCF.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine flood projections in the Kelantan River Basin. It is, therefore, hoped that these results could benefit local managers and authorities by enabling them to make informed decisions regarding flood risk mitigation in a climate change scenario.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the board of directors effectiveness (BODE), financial determinants, Takaful-specific determinants and the Takaful firms’ financial stability are related to the Shari’ah Supervisory Board’s quality (SCQ).

Using hierarchical regression analysis, the authors examine the determinants of financial stability of Takaful insurance and the authors test the moderator role of SCQ over 2016–2022 on a sample of 19 listed Takaful firms in 10 countries in the Middle East and South Asia region.

The findings reveal that SCQ negatively moderates the positive relationship between BODE, the Takaful model, diversification strategy, solvency, liquidity and Takaful financial stability. Shari’ah governance plays a crucial role in improving the financial soundness and the Shari’ah compliance of Takaful insurance.

This paper includes two main limitations. The results are restricted to the Middle East region and South Asia and may not be generalized to other areas. The study presents data from only 19 Takaful firms.

This kind of investigation is of immense relevance to enhance the understanding of governance and soundness of Takaful companies. Furthermore, it serves as a guide to the recruitment of Shari’ah board members, the choice of Takaful model and appropriate strategy to increase its financial stability.

This research studies the financial stability of Takaful insurance and the moderating role of SCQ, unlike the majority of other works that focus on financial performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine the key factors that influence the housing preferences of young civil servants in Malaysia.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 400 respondents who fulfilled the eligibility criteria of civil servant working in Malaysia aged between 20 and 40 years, and currently renting a house, or staying with friends, immediate family or relatives. Data were analysed via exploratory factor analysis and Pearson correlation.

The results reveal that financial capability is the factor that most strongly influences the housing preferences of young civil servants, followed by neighbourhood and location. Young civil servants are highly inclined to consider the monthly repayment amount as the most important issue when deciding to buy a house. Furthermore, they prefer to buy a house in a neighbourhood that ensures high security and protection against crime.

Housing developers should develop affordable housing in suitable neighbourhoods and locations to match homebuyers’ preferences to avoid a mismatch between housing demand and supply, which is obviously one of the greater risks of unsold homes.

Given the lack of focus on this precise research sample (i.e. young civil servants), the study is justified in terms of its originality, as it examines a specific cohort by focussing on the correlations of location, financial capability and neighbourhood with housing preferences of young civil servants in Malaysia. These insights are invaluable, as this group has not been the specific focus of research.

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of institutional ownership on the relationship between board gender diversity and earnings management (EM) among listed firms in East African Community (EAC) partner states.

The study used a sample of 71 firms listed in the EAC partner states over 2011–2020. Data were handpicked from the individual firm's audited annual financial reports. Based on the results of the Hausman test, the study used the results of the fixed-effect regression model to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the results, the study employed an alternative measure of EM and two additional econometric techniques, including the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and the system generalized method of moments (GMM).

The empirical findings revealed that female directors improve the board's effectiveness in monitoring managerial roles. Specifically, the results showed a significantly negative relationship between the proportion of women in the corporate board and EM (as measured by discretionary accruals (DAs)). The findings further revealed an inverse relationship between the proportion of institutional ownership and EM. Finally, the results further demonstrated that institutional ownership enhances the role of board gender diversity in mitigating EM among listed firms in the EAC.

The findings of this study may be useful to managers, investors and regulators in assessing the role of institutional ownership and women's participation on corporate boards as a strategy for alleviating unethical manipulation of earnings.

The findings of this study contribute to the growing concern on gender inequality, especially the marginalization of women from the paid labor force and decision-making. The findings highlight the importance of having more women in the corporate board since this may help in mitigating corporate fraud. Similarly, the findings highlight the importance of institutional ownership as a corporate governance (CG) tool.

Previous studies have reported mixed empirical results on whether board gender diversity mitigates EM. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to fill the existing gap by exploring whether institutional ownership moderates the relationship between board gender diversity and EM among listed firms in the EAC.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of family control on the association between related party transactions (RPTs) and different forms of accrual-based earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM), analyzing the effect of board characteristics on the possible association.

This paper studies a sample of Italian non-financial listed firms over the 2014–2019 period, by GLS regression models, controlling for the fixed effects of the company's sector of operation and the year.

Results indicate a different association between RPTs and earnings management (EM) in family and non-family firms. They point out that family firms use RPTs in association with downward AEM and REM perpetrated by abnormal discretionary expenses as well as a substitute of REM via abnormal production costs. For non-family firms, findings indicate only a substitution effect between RPTs and AEM. Furthermore, CEO duality, board gender diversity and the presence of the family on the board positively moderate the association between RPTs and, respectively, REM implemented through sales manipulations, downward AEM and upward AEM.

This study suggests that the socioemotional wealth (SEW) differently affects the relationship between RPTs and EM, according to the form of the latter. It also points out family firms' heterogeneity in earnings manipulations, by providing evidence of the moderating role of board characteristics on the association between RPTs and the various forms of EM.

The purpose of this paper is to review and examine three of the most common corrosion characterization techniques specifically on Sn-Zn solders. The discussion will highlight the configurations and recent developments on each of the compiled characterization techniques of potentiodynamic polarization, potentiostatic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).

The approach will incorporate a literature review of previous works related to the experimental setups and common parameters.

The potentiostatic polarization, potentiodynamic polarization and EIS were found to provide crucial and vital information on the corrosion properties of Sn-Zn solders. Accordingly, this solder relies heavily on the amount of Zn available because of the inability to produce the intermetallic compound in between the elements. Further, the excellent mechanical properties and low melting temperature of the Sn-Zn solder is undeniable, however, the limitations regarding corrosion resistance present opportunities in furthering research in this field to identify improvements. This is to ensure that the corrosion performance can be aligned with the outstanding mechanical properties. The review also identified and summarized the advantages, recent trends and important findings in this field.

The unique challenges and future research directions regarding corrosion measurement in Sn-Zn solders were shown to highlight the rarely discussed risks and problems in the reliability of lead-free soldering. Many prior reviews have been undertaken of the Sn-Zn system, but limited studies have investigated the corrosive properties. Therefore, this review focuses on the corrosive characterizations of the Sn-Zn alloy system.

The recent trends of managing how to achieve communication in a safe cyberspace have attracted the particular attention from scholars worldwide. The strategic initiative of having an active organization of communication pathways is required for further scholarly elaboration to enable a subsisting safe community in cyberspace. An example of the challenges is the issue of trust in information or questionable issues denoting lack of detail and clarity. Thus, this obviously refers to a dubious circumstance that needs to explain the situation on addressing the critical issue of trust-based quality information. To respond to such an apparent situation, this paper aims to critically explore the insightful value of trust in information as essential element of quality assurance. Such arranged strategy would enable individual capacity and accountability in achieving the efficient communication management for a safe cyberspace.

The study attempted a critical review of recent literature by analysing peer-reviewed articles from journals, books, proceedings and book chapters related to theme of communication management for safe cyberspace.

The finding reveals that the strategic approach of enabling effective communication management for safe cyberspace is actualized through advancing trust-based quality information.

This paper aims to contribute towards enhancing communication management for safe cyberspace by addressing issues relating to trust that would lead to the quality of information.

The efficiency-enhancing and performance-boosting benefits of lean six sigma (LSS) practices have been advocated in both academia and industry. However, their mediating and moderating effects remain unclear and the impact of LSS practices is underdeveloped in the Chinese context. Therefore, by focusing on publicly listed companies in China, this study aims to investigate whether, how and when LSS practices link to organizations’ innovation and financial performance.

Data from 66 Chinese publically listed companies spanning a period of 25 years (2000–2024) was analyzed using the difference-in-difference method which compared the changes in outcomes over time between a treatment group and a control group.

This research found that LSS practices are positively related to firm-level outcomes including innovation and financial performance. The authors also confirm the mediating effect of operational capability on these relationships. Moreover, the empirical evidence suggests that implementing the quality management systems (QMS) standard, ISO 9001, moderates the relationships between LSS practices and innovation and financial performance such that these relationships are stronger for firms in organizations with higher maturity levels in implementing the standard.

This study sheds light on LSS theory and offers valuable recommendations for lean managers on how to leverage LSS practices to improve their innovation and performance capabilities.

This research provides novel insights into the influence of LSS practices on firm-level outcomes such as the level of innovation and financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to theoretically propose and empirically validate how and when LSS practices influence firm outcomes by introducing the mediating mechanism of operational capability and the boundary condition of QMS standards.