Researchers at Stanford University in the USA identified the world's Top 2% of Scientists based on data from the Scopus database. This study recognized leading scientists across various sub-fields, ranking them by the sm-subfield-1 (ns) indicator. A total of 174 distinguished scientists from 25 countries were highlighted, with a notable concentration from the USA. Harvard University was a leader, producing top scientists in 16 sub-fields. Among the 174 recognized, four are Nobel Prize Laureates, and two have received the Fields Medal. Ten scientists authored the most frequently cited papers across categories in the Web of Science, including the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). Professor Georg Kresse authored the most cited paper in three Web of Science categories: multidisciplinary materials science, applied physics, and condensed matter physics. The study further analyzed GDP and population metrics for each top scientist by sub-field. Seventy of the 174 scientists have consistently maintained their top rankings over the past five years.

Regional cooperation stands as a key strategy to address intense economic competition and formidable local governance challenges. Successful regional collaborations are typically founded on the basis of institutional similarity, which also serves as the starting point for a multitude of related theoretical studies. Consequently, the regional cooperation within the context of institutional conflicts has been overlooked. This paper aims to explore the process of regional cooperation against the backdrop of conflicts, using the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a case study and analyzing it from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge. The article posits that conflicts can stimulate interactions among various actors, foster the generation of local knowledge, and propel specific cooperative practices. Moreover, local and central governments, grounded in local knowledge and universal managerial insights, continuously authenticate and propagate local innovations, establishing guiding policies and, consequently, producing rational knowledge. The accumulation of such knowledge has not only strengthened civilian cooperation but also facilitated broader collaborative efforts. The study reveals that despite the GBA’s remarkable achievements in cooperation, challenges persist: on the one hand, there are issues with the government’s process of rational knowledge production and the quality of knowledge itself; on the other hand, excessive governmental dominance may suppress the production and application of local knowledge. Therefore, refining the knowledge production mechanism is especially critical. The findings of this paper uncover the mechanisms of regional cooperation amidst institutional conflicts and deepen our understanding of regional collaboration and cross-border governance.

The initiation of tapering, sparked by heightened inflation in the United States, reverberates across global markets, with notable implications for Indonesia. This study delved into the nuanced impact of tapering on Sharia-compliant stocks in both Indonesia and Malaysia. The rationale behind selecting Sharia stocks for analysis lies in their composition, featuring companies boasting low debt-to-asset and equity ratios, thereby positing robust resilience in the face of the Federal Reserve’s implementation of tapering. Employing a time series dataset with a weekly sampling period spanning from January to September 2022, the analysis adopted the Error Correction Model (ECM) within a multiple regression framework to circumvent potential spurious regression pitfalls. The results of this study indicate that the impact of tapering off policy in Indonesia has a positive impact in the short term and long term, while in Malaysia it tends to be insignificant in the short term and has a positive impact from the US 10-year bond yield variable and a negative impact from US 1-Year Treasury Bills. This result is interesting because it differs from the general theory. The causal factors include the agility of the Indonesian central bank in maintaining the benchmark interest rate spread with the Fed, the economic stability of both countries, and the increasing trend of coal, with Indonesia being one of the largest producers of the commodity. Investors, in navigating these intricate dynamics, may find strategic insights derived from this research invaluable for shaping their investment decisions. while government policymakers may use them as a reference for shaping policies related to Sharia stock investments, including the incorporation of artificial intelligence.

Accounting can be regulated using either a principle-based or rule-based approach; however, profit determined for taxes purposes is invariably subject to rigorous regulation, permitting minimal flexibility. Entities are strongly motivated to utilize same or highly similar tax figures for financial accounting and tax purposes, as it reduces costs and effort. Nevertheless, this form of tax-book conformity frequently results in decreased financial reporting quality, as proven by prior studies. In numerous jurisdictions, governments are developing simplified accounting systems that utilize figures established by accounting regulations, as this facilitates accurate tax calculations and enables entities to optimize efforts and expenses in preparing financial statements. However, these systems result in lower-quality financial statements, which consequently reduce transparency and makes decision-making. more complicated and less accurate. This study examines a specific example from Hungary where a simplified accounting system was introduced in conformity with tax regulations; nonetheless, the principle of true and fair view was replaced by standardization and uniformity. The research investigates if this tradeoff is acceptable as organizations utilizing this legislation (qualifying entities) are those whose scale suggests that such simplification will not significantly compromise public interest. The study reveals that in Hungary, smaller entities typically do not make significant changes to determine their taxable earnings. The introduction of this system is justifiable given the regulations available for smaller organizations. 

Comparative studies of national values are becoming increasingly important in the context of contemporary globalization processes. An essential condition for the shaping of national values in learners is the enrichment of pedagogical technology with components of digital technology. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in the current study. The purpose of this research is to examine the efficacy of mobile learning in shaping the national values of prospective teachers. The experiment included 180 participants. Diagnostics of the levels of national values formation in the initial stage confirmed the assumption about the low formation of national values among teacher candidates and, consequently, the need for targeted work on their formation. This study demonstrates that significant advances in students’ national values have occurred following the introduction and testing of mobile learning with experimental group (EG) participants to shape national values. The data from this study can serve as the basis for creating strategies for shaping the national values of learners in universities and as a methodological basis for adapting mobile learning for the shaping of national values.

The northern territories of Russia need high-quality strategic digital changes in the structure of the regional economy. Digitalization and the introduction of digital technologies in the medium term will be able to transform economic relations in the old industrial and raw materials regions of the North, improve the quality of life of local communities. The growth of digital inequality among the regions under study leads to disproportions in their socio-economic development. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a methodology for assessing the level of development of the digital infrastructure of the Russian northern regions, including classification of an indicators system for each level of digital infrastructure, calculation of an integral index and typology of the territories under study. The objects of the study were 13 northern regions of the Russian Federation, the entire territory of which is classified as regions of the Extreme North and equivalent areas. The methodology made it possible to determine the level of technical, technological and personnel readiness of the northern regions for digitalization, to identify regions with the best solutions at each level of digital infrastructure development. The analysis of the results in dynamics helped to assess the effectiveness of regional policy for managing digitalization processes. As a result, the authors came to the conclusion that increasing the competitiveness of northern regions in the era of rapid digitalization is possible through investments in human capital and the creation of a network of scientific and technological clusters. The presented approach to assessing the development of individual levels and elements of digital infrastructure will allow for the diagnosis of priority needs of territories under study in the field of digitalization. The results of the study can form the basis for regional policy in the field of sustainable digital development of Russia.