The aim of this study was to elucidate the expected moderating effect exerted by institutional owners on the intricate correlation between the characteristics of boards of directors and the issue of earnings management, as gauged by the loan loss provisions.The sample encompassed all the banks listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period between 2010 and 2022, representing a total of 151 observations. The results derived from the examination clearly demonstrate that the institutional owners have a key impact on augmenting the monitoring tasks and responsibilities of the boards of directors across the study sample. The results revealed the fundamental role of such owners in strengthening the supervisory tasks carried out by boards of directors in Jordan. A panel data model has been used in the analysis. The results of this study show that the presence of the owner of an institution has a discernible moderating role in the banks' monitoring landscape. Indeed, their presence strengthens the monitoring tasks of the banks’ boards by underscoring the quest to restrict the EM decisions. Interestingly, the results support the monitoring proposition outlined by agency theory, which introduced CG recommendations as a deterrent tool to reduce the expectation gap between banks' owners and their representatives.

This study introduces a novel Groundwater Flooding Risk Assessment (GFRA) model to evaluate risks associated with groundwater flooding (GF), a globally significant hazard often overshadowed by surface water flooding. GFRA utilizes a conditional probability function considering critical factors, including topography, ground slope, and land use-recharge to generate a risk assessment map. Additionally, the study evaluates the return period of GF events (GFRP) by fitting annual maxima of groundwater levels to probability distribution functions (PDFs). Approximately 57% of the pilot area falls within high and critical GF risk categories, encompassing residential and recreational areas. Urban sectors in the north and east, containing private buildings, public centers, and industrial structures, exhibit high risk, while developing areas and agricultural lands show low to moderate risk. This serves as an early warning for urban development policies. The Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution effectively captures groundwater level fluctuations. According to the GFRP model, about 21% of the area, predominantly in the city's northeast, has over 50% probability of GF exceedance (1 to 2-year return period). Urban outskirts show higher return values (> 10 years). The model's predictions align with recorded flood events (90% correspondence). This approach offers valuable insights into GF threats for vulnerable locations and aids proactive planning and management to enhance urban resilience and sustainability.

Historically, women have faced progressive and persistent obstacles and prejudices preventing them from fully participating in and receiving recognition for scientific research in academia. In Panama, local gender studies specifically targeting the area of academia are scarce. However, to close the gender gap, this article tries to uncover the realities of women academics who dare to research and do science in Panama, beyond statistics. A virtual survey was distributed from May to August 2023, in which 921 academics (45% men and 55% women) affiliated with public universities in Panama were surveyed. Through an empirical analysis from a gender perspective, participants’ attitudes and perceptions on the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on research, the quality of higher education in Panama, the dissemination and transmission of knowledge, and research as an adjuvant to higher education were revealed. Findings reiterate the gender bias and underrepresentation of women in Panamanian public universities and the lack of commitment to their capacity building, research, and dissemination of results. It also confirmed that, despite the covid-19 pandemic and its negative effects in all areas, the importance and recognition of scientific research were highlighted, allowing women academics to excel competitively and take advantage of new opportunities in their career development.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of online education in primary education has exhibited an upward trajectory. Relative to traditional learning environments, online instruction has evolved into a pivotal pedagogical modality for contemporary students. Thus, to comprehensively comprehend the repercussions of environmental changes on students’ psychological well-being in the backdrop of prolonged online education, this study employs an innovative methodology. Founded upon three elemental feature sequences—images, acoustics, and text extracted from online learning data—the model ingeniously amalgamates these facets. The fusion methodology aims to synergistically harness information from diverse perceptual channels to capture the students’ psychological states more comprehensively and accurately. To discern emotional features, the model leverages support vector machines (SVM), exhibiting commendable proficiency in handling emotional information. Moreover, to enhance the efficacy of psychological well-being prediction, this study incorporates an attention mechanism into the traditional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture. By innovatively introducing this attention mechanism in CNN, the study observes a significant improvement in accuracy in identifying six psychological features, demonstrating the effectiveness of attention mechanisms in deep learning models. Finally, beyond model performance validation, this study delves into a profound analysis of the impact of environmental changes on students’ psychological well-being. This analysis furnishes valuable insights for formulating pertinent instructional strategies in the protracted context of online education, aiding educational institutions in better addressing the challenges posed to students’ psychological well-being in novel learning environments.

This study evaluated the development and validation of an integrated operational model for the Underground Logistics System (ULS) in South Korea’s metropolitan area, aiming to address challenges in urban logistics and freight transportation by highlighting the potential of innovative logistics systems that utilize underground spaces. This study used conceptual modeling to define the core concepts of ULS and explored the system architecture, including cargo handling, transportation, operations and control systems, as well as the roles of cargo crews and train drivers. The ULS operational scenarios were verified through model simulation, incorporating both logical and temporal analyses. The simulation outcomes affirm the model’s logical coherence and precision, emphasizing ULS’s pivotal role in boosting logistics efficiency. Thus, ULS systems in Korea offer prospects for elevating national competitiveness and spurring urban growth, underscoring the merits of ULS in navigating contemporary urban challenges and championing sustainability.

The urban fringe – the zone lying between urban areas and the countryside, - offers valuable opportunities for commercial and residential development as well as for recreational activities, but it is often characterised by a number of land use problems and environmental conflicts. Within the UK, the urban fringe can be seen as a contested and dynamic space, yet for almost 70 years statutory town planning policies for the urban fringe have been largely concerned with containment designed to stop urban encroachment into the countryside. However, in 1970s a number of experimental urban fringe management projects were established around town and cities within the UK, culminating in the creation of the Groundwork projects, and here the focus was on a wider and more flexible approach, and more specifically on providing a range of opportunities for recreation, and to attempt to reconcile environmental conflicts. This paper explores the evolution of Groundwork, and more specifically focuses on two Research Questions namely, what was the initial rationale and aims of Groundwork? and secondly what is its current focus and future direction?