The relationship between transport infrastructure and accessibility has long stood as a central research area in regional and transport economics. Often invoked by governments to justify large public spending on infrastructure, the study of this relationship has led to conflicting arguments on the role that transport plays in productivity. This paper expands the existing body of knowledge by adopting a spatial analysis (with spillover effects) that considers the physical effects of investment in terms of accessibility (using distinct metrics). The authors have used the Portuguese experience at regional level over the last 30 years as a case study. The main conclusions are as follows: i) the choice of transport variables matters when explaining productivity, and more complex accessibility indicators are more correlated with; ii) it is important to account for spill-over effects; and iii) the evidence of granger causality is not widespread but depends on the regions.

Students from different cultures possess varying levels of skills in learning, remembering, and understanding concepts. Some terms and their explanations may seem easy for one group of students but difficult for another. Therefore, delivering educational content that aligns with student’s learning capabilities is a challenging task based on cultural orientations. This study addresses the learning challenges by developing a Thesaurus Glossary E-learning (TGE) framework method. This study introduces the TGE method which is a multi-language tool with visual associations that adapts to students’ capabilities. It also examines cultural differences and native languages, particularly aiding Arab Native to visualize appropriate terms (thesaurus) and their explanations (glossary) based on students’ learning capabilities. TGE learns from students’ term selection behavior and displays terms at a simple or advanced level that matches their learning ability. Additionally, TGE demonstrated its effectiveness as an e-learning tool, accessible to all students anytime and anywhere. The study analyzed 314 records related to student performance, out of which 114 students were surveyed to evaluate the effectiveness of the TGE method. This work presents TGE as a novel e-learning tool designed to enhance conceptual thinking within the context of modern educational practices during the digital transformation. TGE is based on artificial intelligence algorithms and associative rules that simulate the human brain, establishing logical connections between related key terms and sketching associations among diverse facets of a situation. An experiment was conducted at a private university in the Sultanate of Oman to assess the effectiveness of the proposed TGE tool. TGE was integrated with selected subjects in information systems and used by the students as a resource for e-learning methods and materials. The results show that 85% of students who used TGE improved their performance by 19%. We believe this work could establish a new smart e-learning teaching method and attract modern and digital universities to enhance student learning outcomes linked with conceptual thinking.

The WRKY gene family plays a very diverse role in plant growth and development. These genes contained an evolutionarily conserved WRKY DNA binding domain, which shows functional diversity and extensive expansion of the gene family. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide comparative analysis to investigate the evolutionary aspects of the WRKY gene family across various plant species and revealed significant expansion and diversification ranging from aquatic green algae to terrestrial plants. Phylogeny reconstruction of WRKY genes was performed using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method; the genes were grouped into seven different clades and further classified into algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, dicotyledons, and monocotyledons subgroups. Furthermore, duplication analysis showed that the increase in the number of WRKY genes in higher plant species was primarily due to tandem and segmental duplication under purifying selection. In addition, the selection pressures of different subfamilies of the WRKY gene were investigated using different strategies (classical and Bayesian maximum likelihood methods (Data monkey/PAML)). The average dN/dS for each group are less than one, indicating purifying selection. Our comparative genomic analysis provides the basis for future functional analysis, understanding the role of gene duplication in gene family expansion, and selection pressure analysis.

This study investigates the interaction between audit firms and key audit matters (KAMs) to measure their impact on financial reporting quality in Palestine, thereby enriching the discourse on financial reporting. A descriptive statistical method was used to analyze the audit reports of listed Palestinian firms from 2018 to 2022. A methodology that scrutinizes the clarity and informativeness of KAMs across different audit firms and KAM types, the research investigates how audit procedures and risk assessments contribute to the comprehensibility of KAM disclosures. The findings highlight a significant disparity in the readability of KAMs attributable to audit firm selection, with the non-Big Four firms exhibiting distinct approaches. This understanding, gathered through multivariate analysis, offers valuable contributions to the ongoing discourse on financial reporting quality, emphasizing the essential role of audit firms in shaping the effectiveness of audit reports and KAM disclosures.

Public open spaces, such as squares, parks, and sports fields, serve as crucial hubs during and after disasters, fostering a sense of normalcy and community, promoting social cohesion, and facilitating community recovery. Additionally, they offer opportunities for promoting physical and mental well-being during such crises. This study aims to enhance the responsiveness of public open spaces to disasters by prioritizing disaster resilience in their planning and design. This study consists of two main stages. Firstly, a literature review is conducted to explore the current trends in research on public open space planning and design and the incorporation of disaster resilience. Results indicate that the primary focus of the current research on planning and designing public open spaces centers around sociocultural, psychological, environmental, and economic benefits. There is limited emphasis on integrating disaster resilience into public open space planning and design, leading to a lack of clear guidance for planners and architects. The emphasis on disaster resilience in public open space planning and design mainly began after 2010, with a notable increase observed in the last six years (2017–2023). This emphasis notably centers on climate change impacts, followed by floods, and then earthquakes. Secondly, drawing on the pivotal role of public open spaces during disasters, the importance of urban planning and design, and the existing gap in incorporating disaster resilience in current research on public open space planning and design, this study develops a novel framework for enhancing public open spaces’ responsiveness to disasters through resilient urban planning and design, based on four main disaster resilience criteria: multifunctionality, efficiency, safety, and accessibility. The insights gleaned from this study offer invaluable guidance to planners, architects, and decision-makers, empowering them to develop public open spaces that can effectively respond to various circumstances, ultimately contributing to bolstering community resilience and sustainability.

This research aims to comprehensively investigate contemporary practices and factors influencing global tax avoidance and evasion through a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis. This study methodology uses SLR with bibliometric analysis to map this research trend. Relevant literature was collected and systematically analyzed to identify key themes, methodologies, and findings regarding tax avoidance and evasion. The study’s findings identify various tax avoidance practices, including profit shifting, transfer pricing strategies, and the use of tax havens by multinational corporations. The report also highlights various forms of tax evasion, such as money laundering and illicit financial flows. Key factors influencing tax behavior are ethical considerations, government policies, economic factors, and corporate governance practices. This analysis highlights the complex interactions between these factors in shaping tax practices globally. The study’s conclusions show that effective tax governance requires a multifaceted approach integrating ethical standards, a strong regulatory framework, and international cooperation. Ethical corporate behavior and transparent reporting are essential in promoting tax compliance and fairness. This study emphasizes the critical role of policymakers in designing and enforcing tax policies that discourage aggressive tax planning while encouraging economic growth and equality. Recommendations from these findings are to increase transparency in multinational operations, strengthen international tax cooperation, and improve global tax administration capabilities. In addition, increasing taxpayer education and awareness can foster a culture of compliance and ethical tax practices. Future research should prioritize longitudinal studies and case-specific analyses to deepen understanding and develop targeted interventions to address tax avoidance and evasion challenges.