Learning from experience to improve future infrastructure public-private partnerships is a focal issue for policy makers, financiers, implementers, and private sector stakeholders. An extensive body of case studies and “lessons learned” aims to improve the likelihood of success and attempts to avoid future contract failures across sectors and geographies. This paper examines whether countries do, indeed, learn from experience to improve the probability of success of public-private partnerships at the national level. The purview of the paper is not to diagnose learning across all aspects of public-private partnerships globally, but rather to focus on whether experience has an effect on the most extreme cases of public-private partnership contract failure, premature contract cancellation. The analysis utilizes mixed-effects probit regression combined with spline models to test empirically whether general public-private partnership experience has an impact on reducing the chances of contract cancellation for future projects. The results confirm what the market intuitively knows, that is, that public-private partnership experience reduces the likelihood of contract cancellation. But the results also provide a perhaps less intuitive finding: the benefits of learning are typically concentrated in the first few public-private partnership deals. Moreover, the results show that the probability of cancellation varies across sectors and suggests the relative complexity of water public-private partnerships compared with energy and transport projects. An estimated $1.5 billion per year could have been saved with interventions and support to reduce cancellations in less experienced countries (those with fewer than 23 prior public-private partnerships).

Four alloys based on niobium and containing about 33wt.%Cr, 0.4wt.C and, in atomic content equivalent to the carbon one, Ta, Ti, Hf or Zr, were elaborated by classical foundry under inert atmosphere. Their as-cast microstructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, energy dispersion spectrometry and while their room temperature hardness was specified by Vickers indentation. The microstructures are in the four cases composed of a dendritic Nb-based solid solution and of an interdendritic NbCr₂ Laves phase. Despite the MC-former behavior of Ta, Ti, Hf and Zr usually observed in nickel or cobalt-based alloys, none of the four alloys contain MC carbides. Carbon is essentially visible as graphite flakes. These alloys are brittle at room temperature and hard to machine. Indentation shows that the Vickers hardness is very high, close to 1000HV_10kg. Indentation lead to crack propagation through the niobium phase and the Laves areas. Obviously no niobium-based alloys microstructurally similar to high performance MC-strengthened nickel-based and cobalt-based can be expected. However the high temperature mechanical and chemical properties of these alloys remain to be investigated.

This study investigated the students’ perceptions of a self-paced fitness program that is integrated with SitFit, a fitness tracker that measures body inclination during sit-up exercises, and their acceptance of digital innovation in physical education. The data was gathered from a survey of 1001 Thai undergraduates. Results revealed that attitudes toward using the technology and the perceived ease of use were important predictors of behavioral intention to use the sit-up fitness tracker. consistent with previous TAM studies. Subsequently, SitFit was developed based on exercise principles and expert advice to enable users to exercise more effectively while reducing injury risk.

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.

This report intends to enhance the reviews on leadership literature by conducting a bibliometric study on 198 publications focused on transformational leadership research. These papers were published in the Scopus database between 1997 and 2023. Employing quantitative bibliometric analysis, the study aims to identify both current and prospective research trajectories pertaining to transformational leadership issues. To the best of our current understanding, there exists no scholarly investigation that examines the bibliographic data pertaining to transformational leadership domains. Therefore, this work represents a distinctive and original contribution to the existing body of literature. This study additionally offers a comprehensive examination of the patterns and paths inside a visual and schematic framework for the investigation of this subject matter. This may facilitate researchers in comprehending the prevailing patterns and prospective avenues for research, so empowering future authors to carry out their investigations with greater efficacy. There exists a number of underexplored themes or subjects pertaining to transformational leadership matters, such as knowledge sharing, leadership styles, digital transformation, innovative work behavior, competitive advantage and digital transformation. This discovery offers useful insights into the heterogeneous nature of this area across multiple disciplines.