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This study aims to examine the impact of corporate governance (CG) on anti-corruption disclosure (A-CD), paying particular attention to the FTSE 100. Notably, it examines how board and audit committees’ characteristics affect the quantity and quality of anti-corruption disclosure.

Data from FTSE 100 firms, spanning the period from 2014 to 2020, were analysed using the regression of the Poisson fixed effect and GEE analyses.

The findings show that gender diversity, audit committee expertise and the independence of the audit committee are positively associated with both quantity and quality of anti-corruption disclosure. Notably, no statistically significant relationships were identified between anti-corruption disclosure and factors such as board size, role duality or board meetings.

The findings provide valuable insights for decision-makers and regulatory bodies, shedding light on the elements that compel UK companies to enhance their anti-corruption disclosure and governance protocols to alleviate corruption and propel efforts towards ethical behaviour.

This study makes a notable contribution to the sparse body of evidence by examining the influence of board and audit committee attributes on anti-corruption disclosure subsequent to the implementation of the UK Bribery Act in 2010. Specifically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study assesses for the first time the impact of board and audit committee mechanisms on both the quantity and quality of anti-corruption disclosure.

This paper aims to study implicitly the mediating role of entrepreneurial coaching between TQM soft practice and firm performance.

The data was gathered from 160 Tunisian-certified companies. The direct and indirect effect between TQM soft practice, entrepreneurial coaching and firm performance are shown using the structural equation modeling. It was performed using SPSS 20 software and AMOS 20 software.

First, TQM practices have a positive effect on entrepreneurial coaching. Second, entrepreneurial coaching has a positive effect on firm performance. Third, TQM soft practices have a positive effect on firm performance. So, entrepreneurial coaching may implicitly mediate the relationship between TQM soft practice and firm performance.

This paper helps the practitioner to understand how entrepreneurial coaching ensure TQM soft practice implementation and how entrepreneurial coaching affects firm performance.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper presents an innovative approach since it is among the first research study that treats the relationship between entrepreneurial support and TQM soft practice implementation and especially the relationship between entrepreneurial coaching and the success of the TQM soft practices implementation.

This paper aims to investigate the prepared modified alkyd and poly(ester-amide) (PEA) resins as antimicrobial and insecticide binders for surface coating applications.

Salicylic diethanolamine and 4-(N, N-dimethylamino) benzylidene glutamic acid were prepared and used as new sources of polyol and dibasic acid for PEA and alkyd resins, then confirmed by: acid value, FT-IR and 1H-NMR. The coating performance of the resins was determined using measurements of physico-mechanical properties. The biological and insecticide activities of the prepared resins were investigated.

The tests carried out revealed that the modified PEA and alkyd enhanced both phyisco-mechanical and chemical properties in addition to the biological and insecticide activities. The results of this paper illustrate that the introduction of salicylic diethanolamine and 4-(N, N-dimethylamino) benzylidene glutamic acid within the resin structure improved the film performance and enhanced the antimicrobial activity performance of PEA and alkyd resins.

The modified alkyd and PEA organic resins can be used as biocidal binders when incorporated into paint formulations for multiple surface applications, especially those that are exposed to several organisms.

Modified alkyd and PEA resins based on newly synthesized modifiers have a significant potential to be promising in the production and development of antimicrobial and insecticide paints, allowing them to function to restrict the spread of insects and microbial infection.

The present study aims to focus on the possibility of developing new eco-friendly azo dyes with good colouristic application properties, exhibiting biological and pharmacological activities.

Coupling of 4-hydroxycoumarin with a variety of aromatic diazonium salts of 2-aminothiazole, 2-aminobenzothiazole, 4-aminoantipyrine, 4-aminoacetophenone, adenine sulphate, a-naphthylamine and sulphadimidine to produce novel azo dyes. The compounds were fully characterised using spectroscopic and analytical methods. All of the compounds were tested for their antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities. The prepared dyestuffs were dyed on polyester fabrics and subsequently their dyeing properties, light, washing, perspiration, rubbing and sublimation fastness were determined.

The spectroscopic data of the synthesised compounds have provided decisive evidence that such compounds exist in the solid state as the azo-dike to form C and in solution in equilibrium tautomer forms A, B and D. The prepared dyestuffs are suitable for either heat transfer printing or traditional printing on polyester and nylon 6 fabrics. The prints obtained from the dyes possess high colour strength, as well as good overall fastness properties. Also the synthesised compounds exhibit good biological and pharmacology activity.

Synthesis of these seven azo dyes for textile dyeing had never been reported previously.

The dyestuffs derived from 4-hydroxycoumarin are reasonable azo disperse dyestuffs giving good all round fastness properties on polyester fabrics.

Production of less expensive and new eco-friendly dyes exhibit antimicrobial and anticancer activity.

It provided a potentially simple way to synthesize novel coumarin azo-dyes exhibit good biological and pharmacology activity and also exhibit good overall fastness properties.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of strategic leadership (SL) on business operational resilience (OR) in the hotel industry in Egypt, namely, during and after the pandemic. This investigation also aimed to explore the mediating function of crisis response strategies (CRSs) and organisational e-readiness (Oe-R) in this relationship.

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire as the primary data collection method. Using partial least squares structural equation simulation (PLS-SEM), the study used a comprehensive sample that targets the general managers of all five-star hotels in Egypt.

Results indicated that SL has a positive impact on CRSs and Oe-R. Furthermore, the results reveal a positive influence of Oe-R on both CRSs and hotel OR. On the other hand, CRSs do not influence hotel OR. The findings showed that CRSs fully mediate the link between SL and OR. However, CRSs do not serve as a mediator between Oe-R and OR. Furthermore, the findings showed that Oe-R partially mediates the link between SL and both OR and CRSs.

The study yields unique and valuable theoretical and practical insights to guide hotel leaders and managers towards adaptive recovery and resilience in turbulent and crisis-ridden environments by demonstrating that the combined mediating function of CRS and Oe-R is more effective in strengthening the relationship between SL and OR.

This study represents a pioneering investigation that establishes a correlation between SL and OR, either through direct or indirect means. The research examines the involvement of CRSs and Oe-R as collaborative mediators in this relationship. Previous studies undertaken in the hotel industry and service sector have not investigated this specific element.

Recently, deep learning (DL) has been widely applied in various aspects of human endeavors. However, studies have shown that DL models may also be a primary cause of data leakage, which raises new data privacy concerns. Membership inference attacks (MIAs) are prominent threats to user privacy from DL model training data, as attackers investigate whether specific data samples exist in the training data of a target model. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a method for defending against MIAs and protecting data privacy.

One possible solution is to propose an MIA defense method that involves adjusting the model’s output by mapping the output to a distribution with equal probability density. This approach effectively preserves the accuracy of classification predictions while simultaneously preventing attackers from identifying the training data.

Experiments demonstrate that the proposed defense method is effective in reducing the classification accuracy of MIAs to below 50%. Because MIAs are viewed as a binary classification model, the proposed method effectively prevents privacy leakage and improves data privacy protection.

The method is only designed to defend against MIA in black-box classification models.

The proposed MIA defense method is effective and has a low cost. Therefore, the method enables us to protect data privacy without incurring significant additional expenses.

The financial system plays an essential role in facilitating the intermediation process for economic growth. Policymakers stress on achieving a well-developed and regulated financial system to achieve economic development and resiliency. Using data from the State of Qatar, this paper aims to examine the impact of financial development indicator on economic growth; the impact of financial development indicator on hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon sector; the impact of Islamic banking on hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon economic growth.

The research uses quarterly data from 2007 to 2019 and adopts autoregressive distributed lag cointegration techniques to test the long- and short-run dynamic relationship between various measures of financial development and economic growth.

The results present evidence of long-term cointegration between overall financial development indicator and economic growth. Furthermore, the authors document the existence of long-term relationship between financial development and nonhydrocarbon sector. However, there is a lack of evidence on the long-run relationship between financial development and the hydrocarbon sector. Notwithstanding, Islamic banking contributes to overall economic development, as well as to the nonhydrocarbon sector.

This paper offers policymakers with insights to evaluate measures to diversify the economy. It also assists decision-makers in promoting Islamic finance, particularly to the banking sector as a vital contributor to economic growth.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to evaluate financial development and economic growth for the case of Qatar in light of recent developments in Islamic finance.

THIS PAPER presents a study of the performance characteristics of finite width stationary externally pressurized rectangular bearings. Two types of bearings are considered, namely, the plain and initially tilted pad bearings. The bearings were lubricated by using incompressible fluid. The study includes:

To identify transitional palliative care (TPC) interventions for older adults with non-malignant chronic diseases and complex conditions.

A systematic review of the literature was conducted. CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase and Pubmed databases were searched for studies reporting TPC interventions for older adults, published between 2002 and 2019. The Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool was used for quality appraisal.

A total of six studies were included. Outcomes related to TPC interventions were grouped into three categories: healthcare system-related outcomes (rehospitalisation, length of stay [LOS] and emergency department [ED] visits), patient-related outcomes and family/carer important outcomes. Overall, TPC interventions were associated with lower readmission rates and LOS, improved quality of life and better decision-making concerning hospice care among families. Outcomes for ED visits were unclear.

Positive outcomes related to healthcare services (including readmissions and LOS), patients (quality of life) and families (decision-making) were reported. However, the number of studies supporting the evidence were limited.

Studies examining the effectiveness of existing care models to support transitions for those in need of palliative care are limited. This systematic literature review identified and appraised interventions aimed at improving transitions to palliative care in older adults with advanced non-malignant diseases or frailty.

As public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become preferred and veritable approach to deliver affordable housing, the seemingly lack of understanding of the significant factors that impact on success has become a notable setback. This study aims to delineate significant factors that can support decisions in affordable PPP public housing delivery.

Largely, a questionnaire survey was adopted to elicit insights from practitioners, policymakers and experts to develop an evaluative decision support model using an analytical hierarchy process and multi-attribute utility technique approach. Further, an expert illustration was conducted to evaluate and validate the results on the housing typologies.

The results revealed that energy efficiency and low-cost green building materials scored the highest weighting of all the criteria. Furthermore, multi-storey self-contained flats were found to be the most preferred housing typology and were significantly influenced by these factors. From the model evaluation, the scores on the factors of sustainability, affordability, cultural values and accountability were consistent across all typologies of housing whereas that of benchmarking, governance and transparency were varied.

The decision support factors captured varied dimensions of key factors that impact on affordable PPP housing that have not been considered in an integrated manner. These findings offer objective and systematic support to decision-making in affordable PPP housing delivery.