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Optimizing material handling within the factory is one of the key problems of modern assembly line systems. The purpose of this paper is to focus on simultaneously balancing a robotic assembly line and the scheduling of material handling required for the operation of such a system, a topic that has received limited attention in academia. Manufacturing industries focus on full autonomy because of the rapid advancements in different elements of Industry 4.0 such as the internet of things, big data and cloud computing. In smart assembly systems, this autonomy aims at the integration of automated material handling equipment such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to robotic assembly line systems to ensure a reliable and flexible production system.

This paper tackles the problem of designing a balanced robotic assembly line and the scheduling of AGVs to feed materials to these lines such that the cycle time and total tardiness of the assembly system are minimized. Because of the combination of two well-known complex problems such as line balancing and material handling and a heuristic- and metaheuristic-based integrated decision approach is proposed.

A detailed computational study demonstrates how an integrated decision approach can serve as an efficient managerial tool in designing/redesigning assembly line systems and support automated transportation infrastructure.

This study is beneficial for production managers in understanding the main decisional steps involved in the designing/redesigning of smart assembly systems and providing guidelines in decision-making. Moreover, this study explores the material distribution scheduling problems in assembly systems, which is not yet comprehensively explored in the literature.

Prior research identifies free cash flow (FCF) as one source of agency problems between managers and shareholders. Managers of firms with high FCF and of low growth opportunity tend to invest in marginal or even negative NPV project and use income increasing discretionary accruals to camouflage the effects of non‐wealth‐maximizing investments. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the value relevance of earnings and book value and the effect of agency problem caused by FCF, on the value relevance of earnings and book value. As predicted, results show that earnings and book value are value relevant and agency problem caused by FCF, reduces the value relevance of earnings and book value. However, the effect is not stable across sample years Firms with FCF agency problem do not have lower earnings (book value) coefficient than other firms in year 2002 (2004). Investigation into specific event that may have driven the difference in result is subject to further research.

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between the financial expertise of the chief financial officer (CFO) and concerns about corporate governance.

Consistent with prior research, the authors used four variables, including certified public accountant (CPA) certification, Master of Business Administration degree, age of CFO and length of CFO tenure, to measure CFO’s financial expertise. The authors hypothesize a negative association between CFO expertise and concerns about corporate governance.

Regression analysis revealed that the CPA certification is negatively associated with governance concerns at a significant level. The results suggest that stakeholders show less concerns about a company’s corporate governance mechanism when the CFO has a CPA certification. In particular, the results support the recommendation by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that a CFO of a public firm should have a CPA certification.

The study is important in the following ways. First, the study delivers new evidence on the link between CFO financial expertise and corporate governance. This contributes to the CFO financial expertise literature and the corporate governance literature. Second, according to Standard and Poor’s, equity index investing has grown more popular over the past 30 years. The study delivers useful information to index investors who invest in S & P SmallCap 600 Index. Third, regulators have put a large amount of resources to discover ways to strengthen firms’ corporate governance. Thus, the results should be of interest to policy makers who design and implement guidelines on corporate governance mechanisms.

Living with physical hazards is an everyday issue for the people of Bangladesh because different seasons bring different kinds of uncertainties. Sometimes traditional knowledge and practices (Alam, 2007) help them to adjust to these conditions; in some occasions, these hazards turn into catastrophic disasters causing deaths and bringing unbearable damages in different sectors. In addition to the tangible damages incurred due to hazards, in most of the cases, these hazards injure the internal social organizations at different levels (for example, household, community, and institutional) and affect their assets. Thus, the community resilience is greatly weakened, which makes people susceptible to upcoming hazards. Scientists suggest that climate change-induced threats and uncertainties in the forms of erratic rainfall patterns that result in drought conditions and sometimes floods, abnormal foggy conditions, change in the wind direction and the characteristic patterns of seasons, anomalies in the temperature regimes, and the occurrence of cyclones will bring new dimensions to existing situations. These natural hazards, temperature rises, and sea level rise–induced inundations will contribute to the breakdown of the traditional systems of living; they also bring change in topographical factors (for example, flooding), biophysical factors (changes in the crop yields, runoff, risks of the spread of infectious diseases, changes in the vegetation pattern), and socioeconomic factors (per capital income, health, education, population density) (World Bank, 2001).

The present study sets out to examine the effect of auditor's report and audit firm size on the value relevance of accounting information of the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2008–2017.

The study includes a sample of 1,530 firm-year observations drawn from the listed companies, and the research hypotheses were analyzed using multivariate regression model based on panel data.

The findings reveal that auditor's report and audit firm size are positively and significantly correlated with two indicators of the value relevance of accounting information including value relevance of earnings and book value per share. Also our results exhibit robustness to the alternative measure of auditor's attributes.

As far as we know, this is the first study to analyze the association between auditor's attributes and value relevance of accounting information in emerging capital markets, thereby generating certain implications for investors, managers, capital market policy makers and audit profession regulators in general and those in emerging markets in particular.

Our findings have implications for policy makers, regulators, managers and investors. Our evidence on the positive association between auditor's size and value relevance of accounting information should help policy makers and regulators which they improve value relevance of accounting information and financial reporting by integrating small audit firms and setting up larger audit firms.

A rise in the value relevance of accounting information deserves further attention while drawing investment, selling the stocks of existing firms and increasing investor's decision-making ability. The way how auditor's attributes can promote the value relevance of accounting information is still open to new research.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate mentoring behaviours in a public medical school in Malaysia and examine factors associated with those mentoring behaviours. The study is important because effective mentoring promotes the personal and professional growth of mentees.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with a population of 632 medical students. The authors used the Mentor Behaviour Scale (MBS) to measure four domains of mentoring behaviour: mentoring relationship structure, engagement, autonomy support and competency support. The authors evaluated the scoring of these domains as high, moderate or low scores.

A total of 508 (80.4 per cent) medical students in Years 2–5 participated in this study. Mentoring relationship structure, engagement and competency support were perceived as moderate scores, whereas autonomy support was perceived as a low score. Students in the early phases of study had better attitudes regarding mentoring behaviours. More frequent meetings and longer duration of meetings were significantly associated with better attitudes towards mentoring behaviour.

This paper evaluates contemporary mentoring behaviours in a Malaysian public medical school and contributes to non-western literature on mentoring. These behaviours were reflected in the four domains of the theory-based MBS.

The purpose of the paper is to showcase the significant achievements of Egypt's scientists in the 20th century across various fields of study such as medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, math, geology, astronomy and engineering. The paper highlights the struggles and successes of these scientists, as well as the cultural, social and political factors that influenced their lives and work. The aim is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and make their own contributions to society by presenting these scientists as role models for hard work and dedication. Ultimately, the paper seeks to promote the importance of science and its impact on society.

The purpose of this review is to present the scientific biographies of Egypt's most distinguished scientists, primarily in the field of Natural Sciences, in a balanced and comprehensive manner. The work is objective, honest and abstract, avoiding any bias or exaggeration. The author provides a clear and concise methodology, including a brief introduction to the scientist and their field of study, an explanation of their major contributions, the impact of their work on society, any challenges or obstacles faced during their career and their lasting legacy. The aim is to showcase the important achievements of these scientists, their impact on their respective fields and to inspire future generations to pursue scientific careers.

The group of outstanding scientists in 20th century Egypt were shaped by various factors, including familial upbringing, education, society, political and cultural atmosphere and state support for scientific research. These scientists made significant contributions to various academic disciplines, including medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. Their impact on their communities and cultures has received international acclaim, making them role models for future generations of scientists and researchers. The history of these scientists highlights the importance of educational investments and supporting scientific research to foster innovation and social progress. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals, preserving Egypt's scientific heritage and honouring the scientists' outstanding accomplishments.

The encyclopedia preserves Egypt's scientific heritage, which has been overlooked for political or other reasons. It is a useful tool for a variety of readers, including students, instructors and education professionals, and it offers insights into universally relevant scientific success factors as well as scientific research methodologies. The encyclopedia honours the outstanding scientific accomplishments of Egyptian researchers and their contributions to the world's scientific community.

The practical implications of this paper are several. First, it highlights the importance of education, family upbringing and societal support for scientific research in fostering innovation and social progress. Second, it underscores the need for continued funding and support for scientific research to maintain and build upon the accomplishments of past generations of scientists. Third, it encourages young people to pursue scientific careers and make their own contributions to society. Fourth, it preserves the scientific heritage of Egypt and honors the contributions of its outstanding scientists. Finally, it serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals seeking to understand the factors underlying scientific success and research methodologies.

The social implications of the paper include promoting national pride and cultural identity, raising awareness of the importance of education and scientific research in driving social progress, inspiring future generations of scientists and researchers, reducing socioeconomic disparities and emphasizing the role of society, politics and culture in shaping scientific researchers' personalities and interests.

The paper's originality/value lies in its comprehensive documentation of the scientific biographies of Egypt's most prominent scientists in the 20th century, providing unique insights into the factors that contributed to their development and their impact across various academic disciplines. It preserves Egypt's scientific heritage and inspires future generations of scientists and researchers through the promotion of educational investments and scientific research. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for education professionals seeking to understand scientific success factors and research methodologies, emphasizing the importance of supportive and inclusive environments for scientific development.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.

The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.

There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.

Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.

This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.

This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.

This study aims to establish a model for rapid and accurate emotion recognition in restaurant online reviews, thus advancing the literature and providing practical insights into electronic word-of-mouth management for the industry.

This study elaborates a hybrid model that integrates deep learning (DL) and a sentiment lexicon (SL) and compares it to five other models, including SL, random forest (RF), naïve Bayes, support vector machine (SVM) and a DL model, for the task of emotion recognition in restaurant online reviews. These models are trained and tested using 652,348 online reviews from 548 restaurants.

The hybrid approach performs well for valence-based emotion and discrete emotion recognition and is highly applicable for mining online reviews in a restaurant setting. The performances of SL and RF are inferior when it comes to recognizing discrete emotions. The DL method and SVM can perform satisfactorily in the valence-based emotion recognition.

These findings provide methodological and theoretical implications; thus, they advance the current state of knowledge on emotion recognition in restaurant online reviews. The results also provide practical insights into intelligent service quality monitoring and electronic word-of-mouth management for the industry.

This study proposes a superior model for emotion recognition in restaurant online reviews. The methodological framework and steps are elucidated in detail for future research and practical application. This study also details the performances of other commonly used models to support the selection of methods in research and practical applications.