The state delivery of affordable and sustainable housing continues to be a complicated challenge in Africa, and there is a need to encourage private sector participation. As a result, this study examines the risks associated with private sector participation in affordable housing and supporting infrastructure investment and the strategies towards mitigating the risks from an Afrocentric perspective. The evidence from a systematic literature review was coupled with the opinion of an international expert panel to address the paper’s aim and provide recommendations for developing improved housing and supporting infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review outcomes and the qualitative data from the panel discussion were analysed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that market dynamics, land supply and acquisition constraints, cost of construction materials, unsupportive policies, and technical and financial factors constitute risks to affordable housing in the region. Mitigation strategies include leveraging joint efforts, strengths, and resource bases, increasing access to land and finance for private sector participation, developing a supportive government framework to promote an enabling environment for easy access to land acquisition and development finance, local production of building materials, research and technology adoption. In line with the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 targets and principles, reforms are required across the housing value chain, involving the private sector and community. Application of the study’s recommendations could minimise the risks of affordable housing delivery and enhance private sector participation.

The soundscape studied has gained increasingly frequent attention across multiple disciplines, especially in tourism and leisure domain. While it has already indicated a unique soundscape provides dynamic and memorable tourism experiences, a clearly mapped perspective across different segmentations of soundscapes, both natural and acoustically created, remains missing. Therefore, a comprehensive mapping and review of soundscape studies is imperative to understand its implications for potential inbound tourism research in future. This article aimed to explore potential soundscape studies by assessing trends and developments in recent decades (2013–2023). We applied a bibliometric approach, using a PRISMA framework and under NVivo 12 Plus, VOSViewer, and Biblioshiny-R-Studio software as analytical tools. Significant yield discoveries showed that tourism soundscape research is undergoing steady growth, as evidenced by quantity of publications and citation trends. Single and multi-country international collaborations characterized by soundscape outreach research playing an influential role were highlighted. We identified multiple research themes, such as anthropogenic noise and music heritage, and pointed out how we approached this research from two perspectives: environmental/natural and manufacturing/acoustics. In our review, several keywords and predominant themes were identified, which suggested soundscape studies have recently become an increasingly popular topic in tourism research. The broad spectrum of key themes, such a tourism, tourists, sustainability, areas, and development perspectives, are evidence points of significant diversity in these topics. Most importantly, our research offers significant theoretical and conceptual implications for future direction of soundscape studies. We identified three originality main focus domains in soundscape tourism research: urban and natural environments, technological advancements, and tourists’ perceptions and behaviors.

Tourism plays a crucial role in driving economic development, and there is a growing demand to integrate sustainability into the sector, particularly in the financial practices of governments. This study introduces the Quintessence Sustainable Tourism Public Finances (QSustainableTPF) model, which combines five established financial models commonly used in the tourism industry. The research aims to identify statistically significant relationships between these models and assess their impact on sustainability and financial performance in tourism. A quantitative methodology was employed, with data collected from financial reports and budget documents of both local and central governments, along with a survey of 2099 citizens and visitors conducted during the 2023–2024 period. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS and AMOS, incorporating exploratory factor analysis (EFA), reliability testing using Cronbach’s alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings underscore the essential role of public finance in supporting tourism sustainability, particularly through transparent budgetary practices, efficient allocation of resources, and targeted investment in local tourism initiatives. The analysis reveals key insights into the benefits of financial transparency, citizen-centred budgeting, and the promotion of innovation in tourism finance. The interconnectedness of the five models highlights the importance of responsible public financial management in fostering tourism growth, enhancing investment, and ensuring long-term financial sustainability in the sector. The study offers practical implications for policymakers, advocating for the adoption of transparent and innovative financial practices to boost tourism development. It also recommends further research to broaden the scope across different regions, integrating additional public finance dimensions to strengthen sustainable tourism growth.

The cars industry has undergone significant technological advancements, with data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping its operations. This study aims to examine the revolutionary influence of artificial intelligence and data analytics on the cars sector, particularly in terms of supporting sustainable business practices and enhancing profitability. Technology-organization-environment model and the triple bottom line technique were both used in this study to estimate the influence of technological factors, organizational factors, and environmental factors on social, environmental (planet), and economic. The data for this research was collected through a structured questionnaire containing closed questions. A total of 327 participants responded to the questionnaire from different professionals in the cars sector. The study was conducted in the cars industry, where the problem of the study revolved around addressing artificial intelligence in its various aspects and how it can affect sustainable business practices and firms’ profitability. The study highlights that the cars industry sector can be transformed significantly by using AI and data analytics within the TOE framework and with a focus on triple bottom line (TBL) outputs. However, in order to fully benefit from these advantages, new technologies need to be implemented while maintaining moral and legal standards and continuously developing them. This approach has the potential to guide the cars industry towards a future that is environmentally friendly, economically feasible, and socially responsible. The paper’s primary contribution is to assist professionals in the industry in strategically utilizing Artificial Intelligence and data analytics to advance and transform the industry.

The use of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) has led to several opposing legal opinions regarding their violations of international law. The responsibility of the state, individuals, and corporations as producers, designers, and programmers is all being taken into consideration. If the decision to kill humans without “meaningful human control” is transferred to computers, it would be hard to attribute accountability for the actions of AWS to their corporations. Consequently, this means that corporate actors will enjoy impunity in all cases. The present paper indicates that the most significant problem arising from the use of AWS is the attribution of responsibility for its violation. Corporations are not subject to liability for the legitimate use of weapons under international law. The main problem with corporate responsibility, according to article 25 (4) of the Rome Statute, is that the provision only relates to individual criminal responsibility and that the ICC shall only have jurisdiction over natural persons. Nevertheless, corporations may be held accountable under aspects of international law. The paper proposes a more positive view on artificial intelligence, raising corporations’ accountability in international law by historically linking the judging of business leaders. The article identifies aiding and abetting as well as co-perpetration as the two modes of accountability under international law potentially linked to AWS. The study also explores the main ambiguity in international law relating to corporate aiding and abetting of human rights violations by presenting the confusion on determining the standards of these 2 modes of liability before the ICC and International ad doc Tribunal. Moreover, with the new age of war heavily dependent on AI and AWS, one cannot easily and precisely ascertain who must be held accountable for war crimes because of the unanticipated facts in decision-making combined with the aiding or abetting of violations of international law. International law prioritizes the goal of ending impunity for the individual and largely neglects the need to achieve the same goal for corporate complicity. In sum, progress to regulate the use of AWS by corporate actors could be enormously helpful to the cause of ending impunity.

Women play a pivotal role in national development, and it is essential for every country to harness their skills to promote economic growth and comprehensive development. The purpose of the current study is to analyze and evaluation the impact of the most recent legislatives and legal reforms in the Saudi Arabia laws in the women’s empowering and economic growth. In addition, the research method is used is analyzing laws, regulations, and reports documents related to women rights in Saudi Arabia to clarify its impact on the women’s empowerments and economic developments. The study’s results indicate a significant and positive impact of recent legal and legislative reforms in Saudi Arabia on women’s empowerment and economic growth. Legal reforms have expanded employment opportunities and fostered entrepreneurship among women, resulting in increased workforce participation and a rise in women-owned businesses. Social empowerment has been enhanced through greater autonomy and improved access to education and vocational training, equipping women with competitive skills. Additionally, reforms have facilitated women’s participation in governance that creating a safer and more equitable environment. These changes have contributed positively to the economic incomes and diversification that reflecting the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom to enhance women’s empowerment and ensure the sustainability of reforms to achieve the ambitious goals of the Kingdome Vision 2030.