In today's competitive and complex business environment, achieving business excellence requires a combination of effective methodologies and strong leadership to drive and sustain organizational transformation. Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a proven methodology for improving operational efficiency, relies on effective leadership for successful implementation and lasting impact. This study examines how the integration of Lean, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management (TQM) shapes leadership strategies that enhance organizational agility, resilience, and responsiveness to market dynamics. It highlights the crucial role of leadership in fostering collaboration, optimizing resource utilization, and cultivating a culture of continuous improvement. The study introduces the Structured Lean Leadership Framework as a strategic tool to develop the leadership capabilities essential for LSS success, addressing challenges such as weak leadership commitment, resistance to change, and communication barriers. Through the application of the DMAIC framework, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Voice of Customer (VOC) analysis, the research aligns LSS with business objectives, customer needs, and sustainability goals. Additionally, it explores how combining LSS with Agile methodologies can improve operational efficiency, governance, and innovation, helping organizations better navigate future challenges. This research offers valuable insights for executives, practitioners, and researchers, supporting leadership development, data-driven decision-making, and long-term value creation. Future studies should focus on validating the Structured Lean Leadership Framework, exploring Agile-LSS integration in regulated industries, and examining the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on LSS and leadership.

Micro-mobility has the potential to address first -mile challenges, improving transit accessibility and encouraging public transit usage. However, users’ acceptability of modal integration between various micro-mobility options and public transit remains largely unexplored in the literature. Our study investigates the user behavior for first-mile options, focusing on four alternatives: walking, bicycling, motorcycling, and bus, to access urban mass rapid transit (UMRT) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Based on data collected from 1380 individuals, a Nested Logit Model (NLM) was proposed to analyze the determinants of users’ acceptability under each access mode option as well as evaluate further impacts of shifts in access mode choice on vehicle-kilometer traveled and emissions. The analysis shows that the availability of access modes might increase UMRT use by 47.83%. While this increase further generates additional vehicle-kilometer traveled due to the increase in park-and-ride users, this is offset overall by the large number of motorcycle users shifting to UMRT. Under the most optimistic scenario, modal integration for transit-access trips leads to an average reduction of 17.7% in net vehicle-kilometer traveled or 14.5% in net CO₂ emissions or 10.9% in NO_x from private vehicles. Our findings also imply that the introduction of parking fees for bicycling- or motorcycling-access trips, while impactful, does not significantly change UMRT choice. Therefore, the pricing schemes should be a focus of parking planning surrounding stations. Finally, a number of policy suggestions for parking planning and first-mile vehicles are presented.

Root turnover is a key process of terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle, which is of great significance to the study of soil carbon pool changes and global climate change. However, because there are many measurement and calculation methods of root turnover, the results obtained by different methods are quite different, and the current research on root turnover of forest ecosystem on the global regional scale is not sufficient, so the change law of root turnover of global forest ecosystem is still unclear. By collecting literature data and unifying the calculation method of turnover rate, this study integrates the spatial pattern of fine root turnover of five forest types in the world, and obtains the factors affecting fine root turnover of forest ecosystem in combination with soil physical and chemical properties and climate data. The results showed that there were significant differences in fine root turnover rate among different forest types, and it gradually decreased with the increase of latitude; the turnover rate of fine roots in forest ecosystem is positively correlated with annual average temperature and annual average precipitation; fine root turnover rate of forest ecosystem is positively correlated with soil organic carbon content, but negatively correlated with soil pH value. This study provides a scientific basis for revealing the law and mechanism of fine root turnover in forest ecosystem.

One of the main concerns in computer science today is integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) into manufacturing processes. This trend could influence a country’s strategy and policy development regarding technological infrastructure. However, despite extensive research on the implementation of IoT in manufacturing, no study has yet focused on the growing research interest in this topic. Based on 2487 papers indexed in the Scopus database between 2013 and 2023, this bibliometric review examines current trends and patterns in IoT research in manufacturing. The literature was selected and screened using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. Data visualization was created using VOSviewer. The results show a notable increase in research papers centered around IoT in manufacturing. The findings reveal patterns and trends in IoT research publications in the manufacturing sector, author collaboration networks, country collaboration networks, and both established and newly trending topics surrounding IoT in the manufacturing industry.

The existing ample literature studied the factors for adopting computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs) by internal and external auditors, frequently ignoring their impact on the quality of audits and companies’ efficiency. This study delivers new evidence on the kinds of CAATs utilized by internal auditors, examines their adoption impact on corporate sustainability, and studies the moderating impact of company characteristics. This study used data from internal auditors in Ethiopia gathered using a survey, and the study hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The study found a moderate utilization of CAATs by internal auditors in executing their activities. The result also revealed a highly positive impact of internal auditors’ CAAT utilization on fraud discovery in the acquisition process. The study found that the intensity of this relationship is impacted by the companies’ characteristics of management commitment. However, the size and type of the company are not impacting it. This study finding complements prior studies and helps practitioners make decisions that can improve CAAT utilization in internal audit functions for a high level of companies’ sustainability.