Using data from 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in mainland China from 2006 to 2019, we employ a double difference (DID) model and a spatial double difference (SDID) model to estimate the impact of the High-speed Railway (HSR) on the income gap between urban and rural residents, as well as its spatial spillover effects. Our research reveals several key findings. Firstly, the introduction of high-speed railways helps to narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents within local areas, but its spatial effects can lead to an increase in the income gap in neighboring provinces. Secondly, from a spatial perspective, intermediate variables such as industrial structure, education, science and technology, and foreign trade can also contribute to balancing the income gap between urban and rural residents, although the impact of population mobility is not significant. Thirdly, further analysis of the spatial effects demonstrates that education plays a significant role in balancing the income gap both within the local province and neighboring provinces. Additionally, adjustments in industrial structure, advancements in science and technology, and foreign trade have stronger spillover effects in reducing the income gap among neighboring provinces compared to their impact at a local level.

Using the United Nations’ Online Services Indicator (OSI) as a benchmark, the study analyzes Jordan’s e-government performance trends from 2008 to 2022, revealing temporal variations and areas of discontent. The research incorporates diverse testing strategies, considering technological, organizational, and environmental factors, and aligns with global frameworks emphasizing usability, accessibility, and security. The proposed model unfolds in three stages: data collection, performing data operations, and target selection using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM). Leveraging web crawling techniques, the data collection process extracts structured information from the Jordanian e-government portal. Results demonstrate the model’s efficacy in assessing accessibility and predicting web crawler behavior, providing valuable insights for policymakers and officials. This model serves as a practical tool for the enhancement of e-government services, addressing citizen concerns and improving overall service quality in Jordan and beyond.

Urbanization plays a crucial role in facilitating the integration of population growth, industrial development, economic expansion, and energy consumption. In this paper, we aim to examine the relationships between CO2 emissions and various factors including economic growth, urbanization, financial development, and energy consumption within Pakistan’s building sector. The study utilizes annual data spanning from 1990 to 2020. To analyze the cointegration relationship between these variables, we employ the quantile autoregressive distributed lag error correction model (QARDL-ECM). The findings of this research provide evidence supporting the presence of an asymmetric and nonlinear long-term relationship between the variables under investigation. Based on these results, we suggest the implementation of tariffs on nonrenewable energy sources and the formulation of policies that promote sustainable energy practices. By doing so, policymakers and architects can effectively contribute to minimising environmental damage. Overall, this study offers valuable insights that can assist policymakers and architects in making informed decisions to mitigate environmental harm while fostering sustainable development.

The major goal of decisions made by a business organization is to enhance business performance. These days, owners, managers and other stakeholders are seeking for opportunities of modelling and automating decisions by analysing the most recent data with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). This study outlines a simple theoretical model framework using internal and external information on current and potential clients and performing calculations followed by immediate updating of contracting probabilities after each sales attempt. This can help increase sales efficiency, revenues, and profits in an easily programmable way and serve as a basis for focusing on the most promising deals customising personal offers of best-selling products for each potential client. The search for new customers is supported by the continuous and systematic collection and analysis of external and internal statistical data, organising them into a unified database, and using a decision support model based on it. As an illustration, the paper presents a fictitious model setup and simulations for an insurance company considering different regions, age groups and genders of clients when analysing probabilities of contracting, average sales and profits per contract. The elements of the model, however, can be generalised or adjusted to any sector. Results show that dynamic targeting strategies based on model calculations and most current information outperform static or non-targeted actions. The process from data to decision-making to improve business performance and the decision itself can be easily algorithmised. The feedback of the results into the model carries the potential for automated self-learning and self-correction. The proposed framework can serve as a basis for a self-sustaining artificial business intelligence system.

The study explores the relationship between authentic leadership, psychological capital, and work engagement among educators in the Makhado Municipality. The primary aim was to assess how authentic leadership influences educators’ psychological capital and examine how psychological capital impacts work engagement. A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing a survey-based approach to collect data from a sample of educators across 15 primary schools within the Makhado Municipality. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the data and test the relationships between authentic leadership, psychological capital, and work engagement. Results indicate that authentic leadership has a significant positive influence on the psychological capital of educators. In turn, psychological Capital was found to have a strong positive impact on work engagement, suggesting that educators who perceive their leaders as authentic are more likely to experience higher levels of psychological well-being and engagement in their work. This study contributes to the literature on leadership and educator well-being by demonstrating the value of authentic leadership in promoting a supportive work environment that enhances educators’ psychological capital and engagement. The educational management and policy implications emphasize the need for leadership development programs that foster authentic leadership behaviors to improve educator performance and overall school effectiveness.

With the continuous development and rapid progress of Internet technology, the technology of “Internet +” has been widely used in almost all walks of life, including education. The new learning mode of “Internet + education” is changing learners’ learning habits, and this learning mode has become a hot issue that scholars pay attention to. Although there is much research on blended learning, the research on the influencing factors of blended learning in Chinese private colleges and universities is limited. In this paper, the questionnaire was designed based on the theory of planning behavior and the technical acceptance model theory, and distribute these questionnaires to undergraduates at Harbin Cambridge University, a private university in China, and 162 valid questionnaires were collected. Analysis was performed by multiple linear regression and structural equation model method. It is found that college students’ blended learning effect is positively correlated with perceived usefulness, interactive behavior, and learning acceptance, while perceived ease of use and learning atmosphere have no significant influence on the learning effect. This study further found that perceived usefulness and interactive behavior can influence the effect of blended learning through the mediating effect of learning acceptance. The results of this study provide a new idea for the study of blended learning; that is, students will know how to improve the effectiveness of blended learning, and also provide a valuable reference for teachers to solve the problem of how to improve the quality and effectiveness of blended classroom teaching.