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The objective of this research is to propose an immersive framework that integrates virtual reality (VR) technology with directives international safety training certification bodies to enhance construction safety training, which eventually leads to safer construction sites.

The adopted methodology combines expert insights and experimentation to maximize the effectiveness of construction safety training. The first step was identifying key considerations for VR models such as motion sickness prevention and adult learning theories. The second step was developing a game-like VR model for safety training, with multiple hazards and scenarios based on the considerations of the previous step. After that, safety experts evaluated the model and provided valuable feedback on its alignment with international safety training practices. Finally, the developed model is tested by senior students, where the testing format followed the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) working safely exam structure.

An advanced immersive VR safety training model was developed based on extensive lessons learned from the literature, previous work and psychology-informed adult learning theories. Model testing – through focus groups and hands-on experimentation – demonstrated significant benefit of VR in upgrading and complementing traditional training methods.

The findings presented in this paper make a significant contribution to the field of safety training within the construction industry and the broader context of immersive learning experiences. It also fosters further exploration into immersive learning experiences across educational and professional contexts.

This research paper aims to empirically explore how stock market investors’ perceptions are affected by extreme climatic events like El Nino and floods in Malaysia.

This study uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the empirical data gathered through a questionnaire survey involving 273 individual investors from Bursa Malaysia between January and June 2019.

Results reveal that companies’ efforts, especially for agriculture and plantation-based industries, to adapt to climate change risk at the production, business and stock market levels significantly impact investors’ behaviour and investment decisions. Moreover, stock market investors’ climate change knowledge shows a significant moderating effect on corporate climate change adaptation initiatives and investors’ decisions to invest in Malaysian agricultural and plantation industry stocks.

This research has significant implications for practice and policy, as it measures the stock market investors’ level of awareness about climate change events and explores the companies’ strategies to reduce climatic risks to their business model.

This study shows the way to adjust the climate change information in the stock market investment decision to improve market efficiency and sustainable stock exchanges initiative.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the pioneer one to provide a comprehensive link between climate change events and business performances at production level, business level and stock market levels by drawing inferences from empirical data on investors’ behaviours. This study also added value in investment theories and financial literature by observing the climate change as an important factor to determine the investors’ decisions in the stock market.

This study aims to focus on the main materials used in consolidation processes of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather binding.

For each material, chemical structure, chemical composition, molecular formula, solubility, advantages, disadvantages and its role in treatment process are presented.

This study concluded that carboxy methyl cellulose, hydroxy propyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, nanocrystalline cellulose, funori, sturgeon glue, poly vinyl alcohol, chitosan, chitosan nanoparticles (NPs), gelatin, aquazol, paraloid B72 and hydroxyapatite NPs were the most common and important materials used for the consolidation of illuminated paper manuscripts. For the leather bindings, hydroxy propyl cellulose, polyethylene glycol, oligomeric melamine-formaldehyde resin, acrylic wax SC6000, pliantex, paraloid B67 and B72, silicone oil and collagen NPs are the most consolidants used.

Illuminated paper manuscripts with leather binding are considered one of the most important objects in libraries, museums and storehouses. The uncontrolled conditions and other deterioration factors inside the libraries and storehouses lead to degradation of these artifacts. The brittleness, fragility and weakness are considered the most common deterioration aspects of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather binding. Therefore, the consolidation process became vital and important to solve this problem. This study presents the main materials used for consolidation process of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather bindings.

Many tourism academics have investigated the linkages between tourism, power and space; few have specifically addressed the profound links between tourism and geopolitics. In view of the restrictive assumptions of the linear framework used in the earlier studies, and hidden asymmetries present in the time series data. Against this backdrop, the study tries to find out how tourists may respond differently to favourable and unfavourable shocks in geopolitical risk (GPR).

In order to capture this asymmetric nature of the problem, the study employs the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to evaluate data from 2001Q1 to 2019Q4.

The results show that both positive and negative shock to GPR does not produce results of equal magnitude. A positive shock to GPR has a more detrimental effect on foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) than a beneficial effect a negative shock produces. Besides this, the present study also looks at the effect of other macro-economic variables on FTA. An ascend in the real effective exchange rate (REER) i.e. appreciation of the domestic currency has an unfavourable impact on foreign visitor arrivals, while an increase in world gross domestic product amplify it. The results of the study are robust to alternative measures of the control variable.

The study is significant for policymakers in understanding the short and long-run implications of GPR on FTA in India. The present study can assist policymakers, and destination managers to manage the external and internal risks and minimise the consequences of geopolitical threats on the Indian tourism industry. Consequently, destination managers can utilise the study's findings in calibrating their operations and designing crisis marketing strategies within the geopolitical dynamics of the Indian state.

The study tries to find out how tourists may exhibit distinct reactions to positive and negative disturbances in GPR. The study provides first-hand evidence of how GPR impacts tourism demand. The paper also includes the existing body of literature related to GPR factors and their effect on tourist influx, specifically in the framework of the Indian tourism sector.

This study explores the connection between intellectual capital (IC) components and the competitive advantage (CA) of the hospitality sector in Jordan through the mediating role of service innovation as well as the moderating role of big data analytics capabilities.

Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from the hospitality sector with a sample of 402 respondents. Data were analysed using SmartPLS, a bootstrapping technique was used to analyse the data. The mediating effect for service innovation and the moderating effect for big data analytics capabilities were performed.

The results showed that the proposed moderated-mediation model was accepted because the relationships between the constructs were statistically significant. The results of the data analysis supported a positive relationship between human capital, structural capital and relational capital and the CA as well as a mediating effect of service innovation. The findings confirmed that there is a moderating relationship for big data analytics capabilities between service innovation and CA. The results illustrate the importance of IC and service innovation in enhancing CA in the Jordanian hospitality sector in light of the big data analytics capabilities.

This cross-sectional study provides a snapshot at a given moment in time, a methodological limitation that affects the generalisation of the limitation's results, and the results are limited to one sector.

This research developed a theoretical model to incorporate IC components, service innovation, big data analytics capabilities and CA. This paper offers new theoretical and practical contributions that add value to the innovation and CA literature by testing the moderated-mediation model of these constructs in the hospitality sector which has been greatly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study is distinguished from other studies by highlighting the role of IC and service innovation in enhancing CA as service innovation contributes to the formation of many organisational advantages in the Jordanian hospitality sector.

Most research on tax evasion focused on microeconomic variables revolving around perceptions and decisions of individual taxpayers. However, a new wave of research is now investigating the role of macroeconomic variables in inducing tax evasion. This study adds to the limited studies in this new direction of research. Previous studies found that inflation, low gross domestic product (GDP) growth and gross fixed capital formation causes recession, increases unemployment, raise interest rates, hurts both domestic and foreign direct investments. This study examined the relationship between these variables and estimated tax evasion in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The study adopts a correlation research design with 2,300 data points collected from 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, tax to GDP ratio, gross fixed capital formation per GDP and the GDP annual growth report from each country for the period 2011–2020 was retrieved. Generalised least square regression technique was employed to analyse the data due to the presence of heteroskedasticity in the model and random effect was utilized based on the Hausman test. To avoid misspecification and biased result; therefore, all relevant test was conducted including the multicollinearity test.

The results indicate that GDP annual growth and gross fixed capital formation have a significant negative impact on estimated tax evasion in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings further indicate a negative but insignificant relationship between inflation and estimated tax evasion in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study concludes that both GDP annual growth rate and gross fixed capital formation negatively influence estimated tax evasion and the policy implications in the African continent were discussed.

The new findings on the effects of GDP annual growth, growth fixed capital formation and inflation on estimated tax evasion provide novel knowledge that is currently lacking in the current literature, specifically Sub-Saharan African continent.

As a little research has been conducted to understand the factors influencing users’ intentions to adopt blockchain-based telemedicine (BBT), it is important to investigate BBT acceptance as incorporation of blockchain technology can solve telemedicine-related issues. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing behavioral intentions (BI) to adopt BBT.

An integrated model comprising the constructs taken from technology–organization–environment framework, technology acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and theory of planned behavior based on their relevance to the context and the objectives of the study has been used for this research. A quantitative approach has been used to test the hypotheses, for which the data was collected from 324 respondents through a self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling has been used to test the hypotheses.

The results of the study show that relative advantage, perceived usefulness, trust and perceived ease of use have a significant impact on BI to adopt BBT, whereas regulatory support, subjective norms and facilitating conditions do not have any significant impact on the same.

As the concept of BCT in Pakistan is at its nascent stage and literature regarding this technology’s adoption is also limited, researchers and scholars can apply it to several other fields in Pakistan. For example, this study can be extended to explore the factors influencing blockchain adoption in areas such as education, logistics, transportation, finances and management. This research only considers the direct effects of constructs on BI to adopt BBT and does not consider any mediation and moderations constructs. Future researchers can also study the influence of mediation and moderation constructs on BI to adopt BCT.

Although studies on the acceptance of telemedicine exist, there is a gap concerning the acceptance of BBT, which the current study helps to bridge. From a practical standpoint, the current study makes a highly valuable contribution toward understanding acceptance factors for BBT projects, leading to help policymakers devise policies to promote telemedicine.

The pandemic's health and social issues have significantly altered the character and manner of teaching and learning in higher education across the country. The use of technology to replace or integrate face-to-face learning with online learning has become a necessary requirement for promoting and continuing learning processes. Furthermore, integrating technology is a goal of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to make teaching and learning more innovative and sophisticated. This paper is based on a systematic review grounded in a synthesis of research papers and documents analyzing the current status of teachers' pedagogy through online learning modes in the context of Pakistan.

Through content analyses of academic studies in higher education and reflection on the online teaching experiences, this study discusses how students' learning is associated with teachers' teaching approaches in the modern era of digitalization and innovation.

The review and analysis suggest that online teaching is not viewed as an innovative phenomenon; rather, teachers simply teach their traditionally designed face-to-face courses through the use of technology. The paper suggests that transforming teachers' pedagogical insight to make online learning sustainable is an urgent need for higher education.

The analysis provides a basis for consideration of teacher learning and quality education (SDG #4) to fulfill the nation’s agenda for sustainable development. The analysis helps educators and administrators in higher education institutions reflect on their policies and practices that have short- and long-term effects on students' learning outcomes.

This study aims to address the noted gap in comprehensive overviews detailing the developmental trajectory of Islamic finance (IF) as an interdisciplinary academic field.

The study introduces a unique approach using the combined methodologies of co-word analysis and main path analysis (MPA) by examining a broad collection of IF research articles.

The investigation identifies dominant themes and foundational works that have influenced the IF discipline. The data reveals prominent areas such as Shariah governance, financial resilience, ethical dimensions and customer-centric frameworks. The MPA offers detailed insights, narrating a journey from the foundational principles of IF to its current challenges and opportunities. This journey covers harmonizing religious beliefs with contemporary financial models, changes in regulatory landscapes and the continuous effort to align with broader socioeconomic aspirations. Emerging areas of interest include using new technologies in IF, standardizing global Islamic banking and assessing its socioeconomic effects on broader populations.

This study represents a pioneering effort to map out and deepen the understanding of the IF field, highlighting its dynamic evolution and suggesting potential avenues for future academic exploration.

This study is intended to analyze the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, technological innovation, renewable energy consumption and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions in emerging economies.

The present study adopts the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique for the annual data collection of Vietnam from 1990 to 2020.

The results of the study unveil that renewable energy consumption, the interaction between renewable energy consumption and ICT infrastructure and financial development have significant predictive power for carbon dioxide emissions. In the long term, renewable energy consumption, export and population growth reduce CO2 emissions, whereas the interaction between renewable energy consumption and ICT infrastructure and financial development increases CO2 emissions, while ICT infrastructure does not affect emissions. In the short run, changes in ICT infrastructure contribute to carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam. In addition, changes in renewable energy consumption, financial development, the interaction between ICT infrastructure and renewable energy consumption and population growth have a significant effect on CO2 emissions. Notably, technological innovation has no impact on CO2 emissions in both the short and long run.

The current study provides new insights into the environmental effects of ICT infrastructure, technological innovation, renewable energy consumption and financial development. The interaction between renewable energy consumption and ICT infrastructure has a significant effect on carbon dioxide emissions. The paper suggests important implications for setting long-run policies to boost the effects of financial development, renewable energy consumption and ICT infrastructure on environmental quality in emerging countries like Vietnam in the coming time.