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 distress of commercial companies is considered one of the most critical stages leading to the liquidation and termination of the business. This danger increases in the context of poor management, stagnation, and the occurrence of crises and external circumstances that affect the company’s ability to cope. Rules regarding financial restructuring of distressed commercial companies may be regarded as the most prominent legal framework adopted by Emirati, Kuwaiti and French legislators to address the instability and distress of commercial enterprises and to provide solutions to mitigate the risk of bankruptcy and liquidation. It is a preventive measure aimed at reaching an agreement between the debtor and creditors to resolve the disturbances or difficulties faced by the company, which may affect its obligations to others. Therefore, financial restructuring is considered a mean of prevention and rescue for commercial companies, and the success of this rescue is linked to the debtor’s cooperation and seriousness in overcoming such issue.

Molan, an intangible cultural heritage of the Zhuang nationality in China, faces a crisis due to traditional communication and inheritance models. In the digital era, leveraging advanced digital technology is crucial for revitalizing this ancient heritage. From a communication theory perspective, this paper uses field investigation and applies the classic 5W communication model by Lasswell to deeply analyze the crisis facing Molan culture. Integrating the media evolution theory of Levinson, it explores the benefits and methodologies of digital dissemination for ancient intangible cultural heritage and proposes a digital communication model. The paper emphasizes adopting the PGC (Professional Generated Content) + UGC (User Generated Content) production model and strictly adhering to the “Content is King” principle. It advocates for models such as “Social Media + Molan,” “Short Video + Molan,” and “Algorithm + Molan” to enhance communication effectiveness. These viewpoints aim to revitalize and preserve Molan culture in the digital age.

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.