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This study aims to explore the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on exports of goods and services, logistics performance, environmental management system (ISO 14001) certification and quality management system (ISO 9001) certification in top affected Asian countries of India, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

A novel grey relational analysis models’ approach is used to examine the inter-relationship between COVID-19 economic growth and environmental performance. Moreover, the authors applied a conservative (maximin) model to investigate which countries have the least intensifying affected among all of the top affected COVID-19 Asian countries based on the SS degree of grey relation values. The data used in this study was collected from multiple databases during 2020 for analysis.

Results indicate that the severity of COVID-19 shows a strong negative association and influence of COVID-19 on the exportation of goods and services, logistics performance, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications in all the six highly affected countries during a pandemic outbreak. Although the adverse effects of COVID-19 in exporting countries persisted until December 31, 2020, their magnitude decreased over time in Indonesia and Pakistan. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Pakistan showed comparatively better performance among the six top highly affected Asian countries due to its smart locked down strategy and prevents its economy from severe damages. While India and Iran export drastically go down due to a rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

The research findings produce much-required policy suggestions for leaders, world agencies and governments to take corrective measures on an emergent basis to prevent the economies from more damages and improve their logistics, environmental and quality performance during the pandemic of COVID-19.

This study develops a framework and investigates the intensifying effects of COVID-19 effects on economic growth, logistics performance, environmental performance and quality production processes.

This research is motivated by the increasing need for international interactions during the gradual recovery of the tourism industry. By recognizing the paucity of research on cultural closeness and accommodation categories, this research aims to illuminate the influencing mechanisms of psychological closeness and travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property while booking an accommodation.

The authors employ a mixed-methods approach, including an experiment and semistructured interviews.

Results show that hosts’ higher cultural identity congruence leads to travelers’ higher willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property. Psychological closeness mediates the positive effect of cultural identity congruence on travelers’ willingness to book. The authors further explore the moderating role of room types (entire room vs. private room) and find that the mediation effect is stronger for booking an entire room.

The current research underlines the importance of cultural identity congruence and accommodation type on travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property and psychological closeness.

Stainless-steel electromagnetic shielding (EMS) fabrics are widely applied as protective materials against electromagnetic interference (EMI). However, these fabrics primarily shield electromagnetic waves through reflection, which can lead to the formation of resonance effects that severely compromise their protective capabilities and potentially cause secondary electromagnetic pollution in the external environment.

In this paper, carbon nanotube fibers are added via spacing method to replace some stainless-steel fibers to impart absorbing properties to stainless-steel EMS fabric. The shielding effectiveness (SE) of the EMS fabrics across various polarization directions is analyzed. Additionally, a spacing arrangement for the carbon nanotube fibers is designed. The EMS fabric with carbon nanotube fibers is manufactured using a semi-automatic sample loom, and its SE is tested using a small window method test box in both vertical and horizontal polarization directions.

According to the experimental data and electromagnetic theory analysis, it is determined that when the spacing between the carbon nanotube fibers is less than a specific distance, the SE of the stainless-steel EMS fabric significantly improves. The fabric exhibits stable absorbing properties within the tested frequency range, effectively addressing the issue of secondary damage that arises from relying solely on reflective shielding. Conversely, as the spacing between the carbon nanotube fibers exceeds this distance, the SE diminishes. Notably, the SE in the vertical polarization direction is substantially higher than that in the horizontal polarization direction at the same frequency.

This study provides a new path for the development of high-performance EMS fabrics with good wave-absorption characteristics and SE.

This paper aims to investigate the preparation of AlN and Al₂O₃, as well as the effect of nano-AlN and nano-Al₂O₃, on friction and wear properties of copper-steel clad plate immersed in the lubricants.

Nano-AlN or nano-Al₂O₃ (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 Wt.%) functional fluids were prepared. Their tribological properties were tested by an MRS-10A four-ball friction tester and a ball-on-plate configuration, and scanning electron microscope observed the worn surface of the plate.

An increase in nano-AlN and Al₂O₃ content enhances the extreme pressure and anti-wear performance of the lubricant. The best performance is achieved at 0.5 Wt.% of nano-AlN and 0.3 Wt.% of nano-Al₂O₃ with PB of 834 N and 883 N, a coefficient of friction (COF) of approximately 0.07 and 0.06, respectively. Furthermore, the inclusion of nano-AlN and nano-Al₂O₃ particles in the lubricant enhances its extreme pressure performance and reduces wear, leading to decreased wear spot depth. The lubricating effect of the nano-Al₂O₃ lubricant on the surface of the copper-steel composite plate is slightly superior to that of the nano-AlN lubricant, with a COF reaching 0.07. Both lubricants effectively fill and lubricate the holes on the surface of the copper-steel composite plate.

AlN and Al₂O₃ as water-based lubricants have excellent lubrication performance and can reduce the COF. It can provide some reference for the practical application of nano-water-based lubricants.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2023-0255/

This paper aims to build a novel model and approach that assist an aircraft MRO procurement and overhaul management problems from the perspective of aircraft maintenance service provider, in order to ensure its smoothness maintenance activities implementation. The mathematical model utilizes the data related to warehouse inventory management, incoming customer service planning as well as risk forecast and control management at the decision-making stage, which facilitates to alleviate the negative impact of the uncertain maintenance demands on the MRO spare parts inventory management operations.

A stochastic model is proposed to formulate the problem to minimize the impact of uncertain maintenance demands, which provides flexible procurement and overhaul strategies. A Benders decomposition algorithm is proposed to solve large-scale problem instances given the structure of the mathematical model.

Compared with the default branch-and-bound algorithm, the computational results suggest that the proposed Benders decomposition algorithm increases convergence speed.

The results among the same group of problem instances suggest the robustness of Benders decomposition in tackling instances with different number of stochastic scenarios involved.

Extending the proposed model and algorithm to a decision support system is possible, which utilizes the databases from enterprise's service planning and management information systems.

A novel decision-making model for the integrated rotable and expendable MRO spare parts planning problem under uncertain environment is developed, which is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming model.

The purpose of this paper is to examine borrowing capacity (BC) of government-owned firms and whether real earnings management (REM) activities moderate the sensitivity of firm BC to government ownership.

A simultaneous equation analysis is applied to study 210 Tunisian non-financial firms over the 2001–2014 period.

The empirical results provide substantial evidence indicating that government-owned firms have higher BC and significant REM than other firms; the relationship between government ownership and firm BC is partially moderated by REM activities.

The findings imply that the implicit credit guarantee of government is not necessarily the unique determinant of firm BC and highlight the role of lenders in monitoring discretionary real transactions in government-owned and protected firms. These implications should be taken in to account by public sector policy makers. In particular, the findings predict that the current government accounting reform in Tunisia on the basis of IPSAS will, probably, improve information quality, but it is still insufficient to control real activities in public institutions.

This study extends a growing research stream on the relationship between BC and government ownership by focusing on the moderating effect of REM on this relationship and by considering the endogeneity issue. The findings provide evidence that government-owned firms use REM practices to improve their BC. Examining these practices in developing countries provides an opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of their public sector reforms and their effect on a firm’s performance and financing decisions.