Organisational competitiveness hinges on the strategic integration of digital transformation (DT), emerging skills (ES), and organizational health (OH) to foster sustainable performance. Despite the pivotal role of these variables, limited research investigates their interplay in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia. This study addresses this gap by empirically examining how MSMEs navigate challenges and opportunities amid the digital transformation landscape. Specifically, the research probes the intermediary function of the synergistic integration between DT and ES, influencing organisational performance (OP) moderated by OH. Utilizing a validated questionnaire, a three-month convenience sample involved 120 MSME managers. Partial least squares structural equation modelling analysis was employed to assess hypotheses. Findings indicate a significant relationship between DT, ES, and OH, with DT influencing OP. Interestingly, ES alone does not impact OP. Structural equation modelling reveals OH as a mediating variable between DT, ES, and OP. While the proposed model is preliminary, offering avenues for further research, this study underscores the importance of emerging skills in the MSME sector, contributing to a nuanced understanding of organisational competitiveness dynamics.

The wet saturated flue gas discharged by coal-fired utility boilers leads to a large amount of low-temperature waste heat loss. Inorganic ceramic membrane is acid-base resistant and has strong chemical stability. It is an ideal material for recovering low-temperature waste heat from flue gas. The experiment of waste heat recovery of flue gas was carried out with inorganic ceramic membrane as the core, and the characteristic parameters of low-temperature flue gas at the tail of the boiler were analyzed; taking 316 L stainless steel as the comparative object, the strengthening effect of inorganic ceramic film on improving heat recovery power and composite heat transfer coefficient was discussed. The results show that the waste heat recovery of flue gas is mainly the evaporation latent heat recovery of water, accounting for about 90%; circulating water is used as cooling medium, and the waste heat recovery capacity of flue gas is stronger; compared with circulating water, when air is used as the cooling medium, the effect of inorganic ceramic membrane flue gas waste heat recovery is more significant, and the enhancement coefficient is as high as 9; increasing the flue gas flow is helpful to improve the heat recovery power and composite heat transfer coefficient; at the same time, inorganic ceramic membrane can also recover condensate with high water quality. The results of this paper can provide a reference for the application of inorganic ceramic membrane in flue gas waste heat recovery.

We report on the measurement of the response of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye to enhanced local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) using a plasmonic-active nanostructured thin gold film (PANTF) sensor. This sensor features an active area of approximately ≈ 2.5 × 10¹³ nm² and is immobilized with gold nanourchins (GNU) on a thin gold film substrate (TGFS). The hexane-functionalized TGFS was immobilized with a 90 nm diameter GNU via the strong sulfhydryl group (SH) thiol bond and excited by a 637 nm Raman probe. To collect both Raman and SERS spectra, 10 μL of R6G was used at concentrations of 1 μM (6 × 10¹² molecules) and 10 mM (600 × 10¹⁴ molecules), respectively. FT-NIR showed a higher reflectivity of PANTF than TGFS. SERS was performed three times at three different laser powers for TGFS and PANTF with R6G. Two PANTF substrates were prepared at different GNU incubation times of 10 and 60 min for the purpose of comparison. The code for processing the data was written in Python. The data was filtered using the filtfilt filter from scipy.signals, and baseline corrected using the Improved Asymmetric Least Squares (ISALS) function from the pybaselines.Whittaker library. The results were then normalized using the minmax_scale function from sklearn.preprocessing. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to capture the topography of the substrates. Signals exhibited a stochastic fluctuation in intensity and shape. An average corresponding enhancement factor (EF) of 0.3 × 10⁵ and 0.14 × 10⁵ was determinedforPANTFincubated at 10 and 60 min, respectively.

As digital technologies continue to shape the economy, countries are faced with increasing scrutiny in the use of digital transformation to aid productivity and improve performance. In South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Small and medium-sized businesses’ (SMEs’) uptake of digital technologies, as many businesses had to shift their operations online and adopt new digital tools and technologies to solve the challenges posed by the pandemic. This has led to an increased focus on digital transformation mechanisms among South African firms. Therefore, the study examines the effect of digital transformation on the productivity of firms using cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) (2020). The survey was based on firms and is a representative sample of the private sector in the South African economy and covers a wide variety of business environment themes, such as infrastructure, competitiveness, access to finance, and performance indicators. We found that digital transformation improved productivity of South African firms. Furthermore, empirical findings are reassuring robust to the IV-2SLS and quantile regression model, size of business, sectoral and provincial analysis. Finally, we recommend that policy makers should develop and implement initiatives to improve digital infrastructure, including high-speed internet access and reliable connectivity, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Historically, transportation projects and urban mobility policies overlook the dimension of social sustainability, mainly focusing on economic and environmental criteria. This neglect, seen enhanced in the Global South, leads to long travel times, growing congestion, reliance on motorcycles, high traffic accident rates, and limited access to public transport, jobs, and urban facilities, especially for the more vulnerable population. In light of these issues, this paper proposes the Social Sustainability of Urban Mobility (SSUM) approach as an analytical framework that assesses the state of social sustainability in urban mobility by applying a Systematic Literature Review where three gaps were found. First, by tailoring the SSUM approach to the context of the Global South, it is possible to address the population-focused gap in urban mobility. Second, in the literature review, a theoretical gap defining social sustainability in urban mobility and its three primary categories has yet to reach a consensus among practitioners and academics. Finally, more empirical research should be conducted to discuss methodological aspects of operationalizing the SSUM approach through the three main categories: accessibility, the sustainability of the community, and institutionality. The SSUM approach promotes implementing a sustainable urban agenda that builds inclusive, equitable, and just cities in urban mobility.

This review focuses on ferrites, which are gaining popularity with their unique properties like high electrical resistivity, thermal stability, and chemical stability, making them suitable for versatile applications both in industry and in biomedicine. This review is highly indicative of the importance of synthesis technique in order to control ferrite properties and, consequently, their specific applications. While synthesizing the materials with consideration of certain properties that help in certain methods of preparation using polyol route, green synthesis, sol-gel combustion, or other wise to tailor make certain properties shown by ferrites, this study also covers biomedical applications of ferrites, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), drug delivery systems, cancer hyperthermia therapy, and antimicrobial agents. This was able to inhibit the growth of all tested Gram-negative and positive bacteria as compared with pure ferrite nanoparticles without Co, Mn or Zn doping. In addition, ferrites possess the ability to be used in environmental remediation; such as treatment of wastewater which makes them useful for high-surface-area and adsorption capacity due heavy metals and organic pollutants. A critical analysis of functionalization strategies and possible applications are presented in this work to emphasize the capability of nanoferrites as an aid for the advancement both biomedical technology and environmental sustainability due to their versatile properties combined with a simple, cost effective synthetic methodology.