Delay is the leading challenge in completing Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects. Delay can cause excess costs, which reduces company profits. The relationship between subcontractors and the main contractor is a critical factor that can support the success of an EPC project. The problematic financial condition of the main contractor can cause delay in payments to subcontractors. This research will set a model that combines the system dynamics and earned value method to describe the impact of subcontractor advance payments on project performance. The system dynamics method is used to model and analyze the impact of interactions between variables affecting project performance, while the earned value method is applied to quantitatively evaluate project performance and forecast schedule and cost outcomes. These two methods are used complementarily to achieve a holistic understanding of project dynamics and to optimize decision-making. The designed model selects the optimum scenario for project time and costs. The developed model comprises project performance, costs, cash flow, and performance forecasting sub-models. The novelty in this research is a new model for optimizing project implementation time and costs, adding payment rate variables to subcontractors and subcontractor performance rates. The designed model can provide additional information to assist project managers in making decisions.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has become paramount, offering unparalleled value propositions and unparalleled consumer experiences. This study delves into the transformative impact of five AI activities on brand experience and consumer-based brand equity within the retail banking landscape of Lebanon. Employing a quantitative deductive approach and a sample of 211 respondents, the research employs structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The findings underscore the significant influence of four AI marketing activities on brand experience, revealing that factors such as information, accessibility, and customization play pivotal roles, while interaction has a less pronounced effect. Importantly, the study unveils that brand experience acts as a partial mediator between AI marketing activities and consumer-based brand equity. These revelations not only illuminate pathways for retail banks in Lebanon to refine their AI strategies but also underscore the importance of leveraging AI-driven marketing initiatives to bolster customer equity, acquisition, and retention efforts in an increasingly competitive market age.

E-commerce plays an important role in many organizations and businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although the body of scientific knowledge carries significant research in addressing the main drivers and challenges of e-commerce among SMEs, the Saudi market was untouched, especially after the official Saudi government classification of SMEs back in December of 2016. Therefore, this study aims to explore the most common factors and challenges of SMEs when utilizing e-commerce in Saudi Arabia. It focused on Jeddah City as the second-largest city and the main seaport of the country. This research is based on a quantitative survey carried out among 63 firms, due to the difficulty in reaching a larger number of participants who had dedicated time and budget. The examined factors were collected from the literature and classified using the Technology, Organization, and Environment Model (TOE). Out of 63 firms, only six were adopting e-commerce. This led us to focus more on the challenges that hindered the remaining 57 from utilizing e-commerce. The analysis results uncovered the status of e-commerce among a sample of Saudi SMEs and showed that the knowledge and awareness level of e-commerce potential for businesses play a significant factor in reaching this incredibly low number.

Paraffin wax is the most common phase change material (PCM) that has been broadly studied, leading to a reliable optimal for thermal energy storage in solar energy applications. The main advantages of paraffin are its high latent heat of fusion and low melting point that appropriate solar thermal energy application. In addition to its accessibility, ease of use, and ability to be stored at room temperature for extended periods of time, Nevertheless, improving its low thermal conductivity is still a big, noticeable challenge in recently published work. In this work, the effect of adding nano-Cu₂O, nano-Al₂O₃ and hybrid nano-Cu₂O-Al₂O₃ (1:1) at different mass concentrations (1, 3, and 5 wt%) on the thermal characteristics of paraffin wax is investigated. The measured results showed that the peak values of thermal conductivity and diffusivity are achieved at a wight concentration of 3% when nano-Cu₂O and nano-Al₂O₃ are added to paraffin wax with significant superiority for nano-Cu₂O. While both of those thermal properties are negatively affected by increasing the concentration beyond this value. The results also showed the excellence of the proposed hybrid nanoparticles compared to nano-Cu₂O and nano-Al₂O₃ as they achieve the highest values of thermal conductivity and diffusivity at a weight concentration of 5.0 wt%.

Interest in the impact of environmental innovations on firms’ financial performance has surged over the past two decades, but studies show inconsistent results. This paper addresses these divergences by analyzing 74 studies from 1996 to 2022, encompassing 4,390,754 firm-year observations. We developed a probability-based meta-analysis approach to synthesize existing knowledge and found a generally positive impact of environmental innovations on financial performance, with a probability range of 0.85 to 0.97. Manufacturing firms benefit more from environmental innovations than firms in other industries, and survey-based studies report a more favorable relationship than those using secondary data. This study contributes to existing knowledge by providing a comprehensive aggregation of data, supporting the resource-based view (RBV) and the Porter hypothesis. The findings suggest significant policy implications, highlighting the need for tailored incentives and information-sharing mechanisms, and underscore the importance of diverse data sources in research to ensure robust results.

The paper examines the motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI was initially designed to address China’s overcapacity and promote economic growth in both China and in countries along the “Belt” and “Road” through infrastructure investment and industrial capacity cooperation. It took into account China’s strategic transition in its opening-up policy and foreign policy to pay more attention to the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Central and West Asia when facing greater strategic pressure from the United States in East Asia and the Pacific region. More themes have been added to the initiative’s original framework since its inception in 2013, including the vision of the BRI as China’s major solution to improve international economic cooperation and practice to build a “community of shared future for mankind”, and the idea of the Green Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy and commercial banks have dominated investment and financing for BRI projects, which explains the root of the problems and risks facing the initiative, such as unsustainable debt, non-transparency, corruption and low economic efficiency. Measures taken by China to tackle these problems, for example, mitigating the debt distress and improving debt sustainability, are unlikely to make a big difference anytime soon due to the tenacity of China’s long-held state-driven investment model.