Financial literacy seems to be more important and focused than ever. Several recent studies have found that Portugal is at bottom of the table compared to the Eurozone countries regarding financial literacy. As it’s a key factor in the development of a country, it appears to be crucial to understand what people know about financial matters when they complete compulsory schooling. With a sample of 296 Portuguese students who enrolled in the polytechnic higher education system for the first time, we studied if they understand simple concepts related to financial issues (such as loans), as well as whether they are aware of the risk of not recovering the money invested that is embedded in some of the most talked-about and common financial products that are available in the market. This last objective seems to be relevant since a lot of fraudulent schemes involving teenagers, young adults, and financial markets have emerged in recent years. From the results, some disturbing conclusions can be drawn. For instance, more than two-thirds of the sample do not know what Euribor is (similar result regarding Spread). About a third of the simple do not understand inflation’s consequences. 16,9% do not know what term deposits are, and derivative products and saving certificates are seen as very alike regarding the risk they represent. Students who chose a business-related course as their first choice when applying showed a higher level of financial literacy, although it is still low compared to what one would expect.

The goal of this paper is to provide an overall presentation of corruption as occupational fraud building on the findings of an empirical study conducted in Greece. As uncertainty leads to increased levels of corruption, Greece was chosen due to the prolonged period of uncertainty the country faces, caused by the 2010 financial crisis and followed by the Covid pandemic crisis. 400 questionnaires reviewing corruption perception were gathered and analyzed by gender, age, marital status, education level, position, occupation, and monthly income, as well as urban vs rural area of residence. The findings of the study were compared with and critically evaluated against those of the previous studies for Greece. Respondents in age group 36-49 believe that if appropriate measures are taken it is possible to tackle corruption in the public sector, in contrast to people aged 18-35 who disagree completely. Residents of rural areas do not consider corruption to be a serious problem and are more willing to whistleblowing (in contrast to residents of urban areas). The study findings have important practical implications in the context of designing effective corruption reduction policies.

Following the seminal paper on Optimum Currency Areas (OCA) by Mundell (1961) a wealth of literature has been published on the business cycles synchronisation and its main determinants. This work provides a systematic review of this research field both at country-level synchronization and regional level. The paper aims to evaluate the contribution of the related literature’s methodologies to the measurement of the business cycle and the estimation of the level of synchronization. The discussion of the collected papers is expected to substantially assist researchers, practitioners, and policy makers keen to employ themselves in the area of business cycles synchronisation.

Macrophages are a type of white blood cells that can exist in two different functional states, known as M1 and M2. M1 macrophages secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines that can promote tumor growth and metastasis, whereas M2 macrophages secrete anti-inflammatory cytokines that can inhibit tumor progression. This phenomenon, referred to as macrophage polarization, has been implicated in the development and progression of cancer. Furthermore, macrophage polarization is currently being investigated in the context of COVID-19 severity. It is believed that M1 macrophages may contribute to the excessive inflammation observed in severe COVID-19 cases, while M2 macrophages may confer protection against the disease. Hence, comprehending the role of macrophage polarization in both cancer and COVID-19 has the potential to enhance treatment strategies for both conditions.

The Public Welfare Foundation of a listed company is a non-profit organization with independent legal personality. It is established and funded by a listed company. The purpose of establishing a foundation for a listed company is generally to carry out charitable activities and make important contributions to charitable causes. However, due to the special power separation model, the autonomy of the foundation is poor, and there may be serious agency conflicts, ultimately leading to listed companies becoming beneficiaries of the foundation's charitable activities. We have found from the perspectives of commercial credit, sales, and cooperative relationships that social responsibility initiating organizations (listed companies) can obtain potential benefits from social responsibility fulfilling organizations (listed company public welfare foundations) in supply chain commercial relationships, that is, listed companies that establish public welfare foundations have good supply chain commercial relationships. When a listed company and a public welfare foundation have a close relationship in terms of fund donation, decision-making, business, and naming, the public welfare foundation has a strategic preference in selecting project names, project service areas, project beneficiaries, and project service areas. It prioritizes the interests of the listed company, enabling the listed company to obtain better supply chain business relationships.

In China, the land arrangement behavior of over 160 million rural-urban migrant workers is closely related to the optimal allocation of rural land resources and sustainable development of urban and rural areas. Although previous studies show that social capital affects migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior, few empirical studies reveal the relationship between them, and the corresponding interventions remain unclear. Using survey data collected in Henan Province, China, and a multinomial logit model, this study empirically analyzes the mechanism behind the impact of social capital on migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior from the perspective of social capital. Results illustrate that social capital has a significant impact on the land arrangement behavior of migrant workers. The behavior is significantly correlated with the scale of migrant workers’ urban social networks, the degree of urban social trust, and urban belonging. More social capital in urban areas indicates a higher tendency for migrant workers to abandon their land contracting rights and become permanent urban residents. This study reveals the mechanism of social capital affecting migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior and provides a reference for decision-making with respect to guiding migrant workers’ land management behavior for other countries facing similar social problems.

Credit markets around the world are undergoing digital transformation which has led to the rise in FinTech and BigTech lending. FinTech and BigTech lending is the provision of credit by FinTech and BigTech providers who have more capital, cutting-edge IT systems, worldwide recognition, greater online presence and are able to handle more big data on computers and mobile phones than traditional banks. FinTech and BigTech lending is growing in importance, but the determinants of FinTech and BigTech lending have received little attention in the literature. This study investigates the determinants of FinTech and BigTech lending. The study focused on the effect of financial inclusion and financial development on FinTech and BigTech lending. Using data for 18 countries from 2013 to 2019 and employing the difference-GMM and 2SLS regression methods, the findings reveal that financial inclusion and financial development are significant determinants of FinTech and BigTech lending. Financial development is a positive determinant of FinTech and BigTech lending while financial inclusion has a significant effect on FinTech and BigTech lending. Also, FinTech and BigTech lending lead to greater banking sector stability and also poses the risk of rising nonperforming loans. There is also a significant positive correlation between financial development and FinTech and BigTech lending. These findings add to the emerging literature on the role of FinTech and BigTech in financial intermediation. This research is significant because it provides insights into the role of financial inclusion and financial development in the digital transformation of credit markets.

Alternative bio actively chemicals may be found in natural goods and traditional herb medications, but only a few plant-information formulations have been rigorously studied and verified for their potential as medicinal therapies. The study of plant-derived elements' immunomodulation capabilities and their ability as provoke the immune system as combat various elemental disorders like cancer is, nonetheless, a promising area in current therapeutics information on plant-derived chemicals. This research showed how network pharmacology may be applied as define and validate natural individual elements or more complicated preparations as prospective cancer therapies information on their various aim capabilities in this research. We give a summary of the present state of understanding on network pharmacology, with a particular emphasis on various technical methods and their implications for cancer treatment.

The aim of this article is to model a negotiation between shareholders in high-technology-risk industries and local residents on the safety investments to be implemented. The methodology used is a Nash bargaining model, with a DE curve representing shareholders' dividend demands and an NS curve representing the safety demands of local residents' associations. The model is used to determine the level of safety investment required. One of the main results is that the estimation of a higher accident risk is accompanied by both a higher safety investment and a higher dividend payout. The most obvious implication of this result is that it is undoubtedly necessary to give greater weight to local residents in investment decision-making, in order to improve the well-being of all stakeholders.

Based on the empirical data of 6110 listed export companies in China from 2010 to 2019, this paper studies the impact of China's economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index on the profitability of listed companies from the specific perspective of export companies, and analyzes the moderating effects of different factors on this impact. The results show that China's EPU index has a significant negative impact on the profitability of listed export companies, and the increase in R&D investment and wage returns will aggravate this negative impact. In addition, listed export enterprises with different enterprise characteristics have different responses to EPU. State-owned enterprises and enterprises located in coastal areas are relatively less negatively affected by EPU.

This paper investigates the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s employment and gender disparity with a longitudinal dataset spanning the pandemic. We exploit the regional intensities of social vulnerability and temporal variation to implement the difference-in-differences (DID) estimation. The results indicate that the pandemic and its associated lockdowns generate a significant and negative impact on women’s employment but not on men’s employment. Moreover, a counterfactual analysis using pre-pandemic data further supports the causal nature of the documented relationships. The evidence suggests that economic downturns caused by public health emergencies, unlike previous economic recessions, have a greater impact on women, and differentiated policies should be designed.

Consideration of optimal commodity storage with different discount rates. Finding that, even with a lower discount rate than private storage, optimal government-financed storage may not narrow price fluctuations compared with optimal privately financed storage because a government has to choose a probability of buffer stock failure greater than zero to economize on storage costs that could conceivably become very large. There is no presumption that government financed storage would be larger, with narrower intervention bands and more stable prices, than with privately-financed storage. The welfare enhancing effect of government financed storage compared to private storage is therefore indeterminate.

This study simultaneously tests Wagner’s law on one hand and Keynes proposition on the other hand related both government spending and output in Ivory Coast that experiencing long run economic growth and widened deficit. That challenges the country’s fiscal sustainability. With annual data from 1980 to 2020, results show that Wagner’s law holds, the elasticity of government spending to output is greater than one. There is bidirectional causality between government size and output validating Keynesian idea that public expenditure is an exogenous factor and a policy instrument for increasing national income. Wagner law and public deficit can justify Ivorian over-indebtedness.

The implementation of environmental protection strategy necessarily requires mapping the amount of capital stock of environmental infrastructure. Through the Weibull distribution function and hyperbolic age-decreasing efficiency model, the provincial environmental infrastructure capital stock in China from 1980 to 2018 is measured cautiously, and its spatial dynamics with the generated pollutants is analyzed using the center of gravity method. It is found that: the spatial distribution of environmental infrastructure capital stock is uneven, and the unevenness in the east-west direction is greater than that in the north-south direction, but the unevenness in the east-west direction is narrowing while the north-south direction is widening; the spatial and temporal distribution of environmental infrastructure capital and environmental pollution vary greatly, and the spatial management of environmental pollution is less accurate.

As an important part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) inspection, face diagnosis is significant in judging the rise and fall of viscera and essence and diagnosing and treating diseases. Cancer is a serious disease that endangers human life and health. Face diagnosis can play a great role in diagnosing and treating tumors, but this approach has not achieved the expected effects due to the lack of research. Herein, we summarized the research regarding facial expression, color, shape, and state, demonstrating that facial diagnosis is significant in diagnosing and treating tumors. We also propose that facial diagnosis must be combined with computer technology to realize the objectification of facial diagnosis as soon as possible to play a greater role in diagnosing and treating tumors.

Nanomaterials have shown great potential in anti-tumor applications and are currently the focus of research. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges encountered in oncology treatment and how nanomaterials are being utilized to overcome these obstacles. The authors discuss the limitations of conventional treatments, including limited efficacy, side effects, and toxicity issues. They highlight the importance of early tumour diagnosis and personalized treatment plans, as well as the need for innovative therapeutic approaches such as targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy. The article primarily focuses on how nanomaterials can be engineered to achieve specific recognition and aggregation within tumour tissues through surface modifications involving targeting molecules such as antibodies, peptides, and receptor ligands. This surface modification technique facilitates improved targeting in the targeting of photodynamic therapy, while minimizing harm to normal tissues. The authors also discuss the potential and future prospects of nanomaterials in tumour therapy, including breakthroughs in their application, biosafety concerns, biocompatibility issues, preparation processes, clinical translation challenges, interdisciplinary cooperation, international exchange, relevant regulations and ethical guidelines. Overall, this review highlights the substantial potential of nanomaterials in oncology treatment, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of safety concerns to ensure their safe and effective application. The authors conclude that strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation and international exchange will contribute to the healthy development of nanomaterials in oncology treatment.

Tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) proteins consist of over 80 proteins, the majority of which exhibit E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. E3 ligases have a critical role in various cellular processes by specifically recognizing and ubiquitinating substrate proteins to promote their proteasomal degradation or alter their activities. Numerous studies have indicated that TRIMs are involved in carcinogenesis through various mechanisms. However, the regulatory mechanisms delimitating TRIMs’ function as E3 ligases has not yet been specifically addressed in a previous review article. In this review, we focus on recent advancements in understanding how certain TRIMs function solely as E3 ligases during cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis. We comprehensively summarize the target proteins of TRIMs involved in disordered signaling pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin, PI3K/AKT, NF-κB, p53, ERK, and STAT3, as well as those regulating the cell cycle and glycolysis. Following ubiquitination modification by TRIM E3 ligases, these target proteins either undergo proteasome-mediating degradation, maintain steady levels, or get activated/inactivated. This review provides a foundation for the development of E3 ligase-based cancer treatments.

Historically, increased credit union competition in Idaho and Montana has caused commercial banks to offer higher deposit rates to savers and lower loan rates to borrowers. Data are collected for the second quarter of 2018 to examine whether that pattern still holds true. Unlike prior studies, empirical results indicate that credit union competition no longer exerts statistically reliable impacts on deposit rates or loan rates in this northern Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Potential contributing factors include bank and thrift consolidation in recent years, the low interest rate environment prevailing during the late 2010s, and greater emphasis on non-interest forms of intermediary competition in the banking markets that comprise this regional economy.

Previous literature shows that the price-discovery ability of options market varies substantially over time. Using data of Shanghai Stock Exchange 50 exchange-traded fund options, this paper shows that options prices contribute relatively less to price discovery during low-sentiment periods, but the price-discovery ability of options market remains unchanged during high-sentiment periods. These results suggest that change in aggregate investor sentiment is an important source of the time variation in options’ price discovery ability. Moreover, the options market experiences greater bid-ask spreads when investor sentiment is lower, supporting a “transaction costs mechanism.” This paper fulfills related literature on the time variation in options’ price-discovery ability.

Innovation has received a great attention in the creative industries literature. We propose in this study a bibliometric method to examine the literature on innovation in creative industries (ICI). A file of 656 manuscripts published on ICI between 1998 and 2022 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection for analysis. The results highlight the evolution of study volume, authors, affiliated institutions and countries, author networks, keyword co-occurrences, and keyword networks. The study also includes a thematic map that highlights four types of research: driving themes (e.g., digital technology, cultural innovation, performing arts, product innovation, innovation management); core and cross-cutting themes (e.g., creativity, digitization, technology, copyright); emerging themes (e.g., gender, artificial intelligence, sustainability); and specialized and peripheral themes (e.g., gender, blockchain, digital music). We finally conclude by proposing future perspectives and a research agenda in this area.