The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for societal progress and planetary health. However, it remains unclear whether universal patterns exist in how nations pursue these goals and whether key development areas are being overlooked. Here, we apply the product...

Purpose Combining the punctuated equilibrium theory with the faultline theory, the purpose of this paper is to focus on member change of strategic core role holders in teams. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the model using data from 30 National Basketball Association teams covering...

Preventive healthcare aims at reducing the likelihood and severity of potentially life-threatening illnesses by protection and early detection. The level of participation to preventive healthcare programs is a crucial factor in terms of their effectiveness and efficiency. This paper provides a...

This paper presents a location and pricing model for a retailer that sells a homogeneous product to maximize profit in a competitive environment. Specifically, the retailer is to locate a given number of stores and simultaneously to determine the mill price charged at each open store. We assume...

This study implies the causality-in-variance test newly developed by Hafner and Herwartz (2006) to investigate the volatility spillovers between domestic equity and bond markets in the G7 and BRICS countries. The empirical result shows that there is ethier unidirectional or bidirectional...

Biodiesel is a promising renewable alternative to fossil energy. Biodiesel production from low-cost feedstock involves an essential pretreatment step – esterification of free fatty acids (e.g. oleic acid), for avoiding soap formation and catalyst deactivation. Sulfuric acid modified zirconia...

The preserved greengage is a favorite dried fruit in China. In processing preserved greengages, the drying of salted greengages is a key and energy-consuming process. Traditionally, the drying of salted greengages mainly relies on natural sun drying and requires about 48 days. In this study, an...

An irreversible cycle model of a solar-driven Brayton heat engine is established, in which the heat losses of the solar collector and the external and internal irreversibilities of the heat engine are taken into account, and used to investigate the optimal performance of the cycle system. The...