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Auditor choice and Audit Fees in Family Firms: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange
Get PDFPurpose - The main aim of this paper is to examine auditor choice and audit fees in family firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange.
Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses set are tested by analysing all firms except financial firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange for the period of 10 years, using a sample of 1,050 firm-year observations. Probit and ordinary least squares regression (OLS) is used to investigate the associations proposed in the research hypotheses.
Finding - Our findings show that in family firms, in contrast with non-family firms, the large auditor is less often selected as the firm’s auditor. The findings also show that family firms pay higher fees for their audits in comparison with non-family firms and show that the choice of large auditor reduces the relationship between family ownership and audit fee. The additional analysis shows that choosing industry specialist auditors is less likely in family firms compared to non-family firms.
Practical implications – The importance of this research is in the increased awareness for researchers and users about family ownership and the selection of auditors and audit fees in the emerging market capitalization of Iran. This research contributes to the accounting literature by providing empirical evidence of the effects of family control and ownership on audit pricing and auditor choice in a developing economy context. Also, this research can provide a new route for research on this issue in developing countries, e.g., Iran.
Originality/value - These findings were discovered by means of the financial data in the particular environmental conditions of Iran which differ from features and conditions for institutional investors in developed countries
Enhancing Community Resilience in Arid Regions: A Smart Framework for Flash Flood Risk Assessment
Get PDFThis paper presents a novel framework for smart integrated risk management in arid regions. The framework combines flash flood modelling, statistical methods, artificial intelligence (AI), geographic evaluations, risk analysis, and decision-making modules to enhance community resilience. Flash flood is simulated by using Watershed Modelling System (WMS). Statistical methods are also used to trim outlier data from physical systems and climatic data. Furthermore, three AI methods, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Nearest Neighbours Classification (NNC), are used to predict and classify flash flood occurrences. Geographic Information System (GIS) is also utilised to assess potential risks in vulnerable regions, together with Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) methods. The decision-making module employs the Classic Delphi technique to classify the appropriate solutions for flood risk control. The methodology is demonstrated by its application to the real case study of the Khosf region in Iran, which suffers from both drought and severe floods simultaneously, exacerbated by recent climate changes. The results show high Coefficient of determination (R2) scores for the three AI methods, with SVM at 0.88, ANN at 0.79, and NNC at 0.89. FMEA results indicate that over 50% of scenarios are at high flood risk, while HAZOP indicates 30% of scenarios with the same risk rate. Additionally, peak flows of over 24 m3/s are considered flood occurrences that can cause financial damage in all scenarios and risk techniques of the case study. Finally, our research findings indicate a practical decision support system that is compatible with sustainable development concepts and can enhance community resilience in arid regions
Exploring the association between attitudes towards wife beating and intimate partner violence using a dyadic approach in three sub-Saharan African countries
Get PDFObjective: The present study examines the association between attitudes towards wife beating and intimate partner violence (IPV) using a dyadic approach in three sub-Saharan countries. Setting: We use data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey cross-sectional studies which were conducted between 2015 and 2018 in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Participants: Our sample comprised 9183 couples who also had completed the information on the domestic violence questions and our variables of interest.
Results: Our results indicate that women in these three countries are generally comparatively more inclined to justify marital violence than their husbands or partners. In terms of IPV experience, we found that when both partners endorsed wife beating, the risk of experiencing IPV was twice as likely after controlling for other couple-level and individual factors (OR=1.91, 95% CI 1.54–2.50, emotional violence; OR=2.42, 95% CI 1.96–3.00, physical violence; OR=1.97, 95% CI 1.47–2.61, sexual violence). The risk of IPV was also higher when the women alone endorsed IPV (OR=1.59, 95% CI 1.35–1.86, emotional violence; OR=1.85, 95% CI 1.59–2.15, physical violence; OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.51–2.22, sexual violence) than when the men alone were tolerant (OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.13–1.75, physical violence; OR=1.43, 95% CI 1.08–1.90, sexual violence).
Conclusions: Our findings confirm that attitudes towards violence are perhaps one of the key indicators of IPV prevalence. Therefore, to break the cycle of violence in the three countries, more attention must be paid to attitudes towards the acceptability of marital violence. Programmes tailored to gender role transformation and promote non-violent gender attitudes are also needed
Breaking the Invisible Chains with Policy: How Insurance Companies Can Help End Human Trafficking in the Hotel Industry
Get PDFHuman trafficking in the hotel industry represents a hidden threat that demands decisive action. Despite public commitments, the sector's initiatives remain inconsistent, and a wave of lawsuits imposes both financial and reputational risks. Through analysis of relevant legislation and case law, the article demonstrates hotels’ potential liability as venues enabling trafficking. However, inconsistent self-regulation and lawsuits reveal limited progress. The authors advocate for insurance companies to play a pivotal role in combatting human trafficking in the hotel industry by strategically adjusting coverage provisions. They trace the historical influence of insurers on the trajectory of slavery when 18th century British insurers’ actions contributed to the rise of abolitionism and argues that similar private regulation today can incentivize hotels’ proactive measures against trafficking. The article proposes that insurers possess diverse tools, including exclusions, premium adjustments, auditing, and loss prevention, to compel action rather than complacency. Mandated self-insured retentions can also hold hotels financially accountable for their negligence. However, relying solely on pricing alterations faces challenges due to market competition and inconsistent judicial rulings on liability exclusions. Ultimately, addressing this complex issue requires a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach. Government fines and prosecutions can further incentivize self-disclosure and cooperation, while publicized settlements can promote transparency and empower consumers to make informed choices for hotel venues. This combined framework can transition hotels from passive enablers to active contributors in the fight against human trafficking, fulfilling their duty of care and catalyzing meaningful progress against human exploitation
Sustainable Edge Node Computing Deployments in Distributed Manufacturing Systems
Get PDFThe advancement of mobile internet technology has created opportunities for integrating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and edge computing in smart manufacturing. These sustainable technologies enable intelligent devices to achieve high-performance computing with minimal latency. This paper introduces a novel approach to deploy edge computing nodes in smart manufacturing environments at a low cost. However, the intricate interactions among network sensors, equipment, service levels, and network topologies in smart manufacturing systems pose challenges to node deployment. To address this, the proposed sustainable game theory method identifies the optimal edge computing node for deployment to attain the desired outcome. Additionally, the standard design of Software Defined Network (SDN) in conjunction with edge computing serves as forwarding switches to enhance overall computing services. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in reducing network delay and deployment costs associated with computing resources. Given the significance of sustainability, cost efficiency plays a critical role in establishing resilient edge networks. Our numerical and simulation results validate that the proposed scheme surpasses existing techniques like shortest estimated latency first (SELF), shortest estimated buffer first (SEBF), and random deployment (RD) in minimizing the total cost of deploying edge nodes, network delay, packet loss, and energy consumption
The Impact of Digital Learning Technology on Higher Education Students’ Mental Health
Get PDFDigital Learning Technology has transformed the landscape of higher education from myriad perspectives, students and practitioners to the institutions and management in which they all claim a stake. From the early days of computers being used for administrative purposes to the current era of virtual classrooms and online learning, digital technology has revolutionised the way students access and engage with education. However, the impact of digital technology on Higher Education (HE) student mental health and well-being has received relatively less attention, compared to engagement levels amongst learners (Bond et al. 2020). The aims of this chapter are to examine the origins of digital technology in higher education, its present state, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of digital technology in higher education with a focus on its impact on student mental health and wellbeing. Ultimately, it aims to provide recommendations on how higher educational institutions could utilise digital technology to mitigate the negative impacts on students' mental health and wellbeing
The nature of intellectual disabilities and its relationship to intellectual disability nursing
No full textThis chapter explores the nature and various manifestations of intellectual disabilities, along with its relationship to intellectual disability nursing. It commences by describing in some detail the term intellectual disabilities, along with some of the criteria that are used in determining its presence, and this leads us to define the term. This is sometimes difficult, as the term means different things to different people – not only in the United Kingdom, but also internationally. Furthermore, it will be shown that the term has different meanings between the many health and social care professionals, service agencies and other disciplines involved in supporting people with intellectual disabilities. Next, the chapter outlines some of the important issues surrounding its incidence and prevalence
Overdose Prevention Centres, Safe Consumption Sites, and Drug Consumption Rooms: A Rapid Evidence Review
Get PDFThis rapid review on overdose prevention centres (OPCs) aims to collate and summarise existing evidence. It describes the impact of OPCs on individuals who use drugs, communities, and public health.
This is to support decision making and understanding of service provision for health departments, potential providers, researchers, and elected officials (1). This document also covers some practical matters of running a service including day-to-day matters, costs, and any cost savings from their operation. We conclude with information on evaluation; services should be robustly evaluated
“Mundane” performance: theatre outdoors and earthly pleasures
No full textThis paper seeks to reclaim the literal meaning of the word “mundane,” to propose a “mundane” theatre, which, rather than being “humdrum or dull,” is more positively “belonging to the earthly world.” Rather than the theatrum mundi that imagines the world as a stage or that aspires to present the earth or cosmos in its entirety on stage, it seeks a form that engages audiences with belonging to the earthly realm as its substantive material affect. It draws on a United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded project, “Outside the Box: Open-Air Performance as a Pandemic Response,” which commissioned a season of curated, outdoor performance works for Exeter in July and August 2021. Grounded in the authors’ experiences of five performance commissions, audience evaluation and wider interviews with artists and local authorities, we identify the ways in which the practical programme of case study works produced what we describe, positively, as “mundane” performance, thereby prompting pleasure in ecologically sensitive practices, grounded by earth and rediscovering of place, expressive of corporeal interconnectedness, engaged with materiality and revealing earth as that which remains paradoxically concealed. In their openness to the world, these performances remain a map of interconnected drafts, rather than finished or reproducible works. These kinds of mundane performance, for which we advocate, answer and react to what they find in and about nonhuman nature in the moment but also have the capacity to bring earthly concerns to light within those responses. Glimpses of another—extraordinary, perhaps—life quality emerge as possible in mundane performance
A novel smart framework for optimal design of green roofs in buildings conforming with energy conservation and thermal comfort
Get PDFThe rise in greenhouse gas emissions in cities and the excessive consumption of fossil energy resources has made the development of green spaces, such as green roofs, an increasingly important focus in urban areas. This study proposes a novel smart energy-comfort system for green roofs in housing estates that utilises integrated machine learning (ML), DesignBuilder (DB) software and Taguchi design computations for optimising green roof design and operation in buildings. The optimisation process maximises energy conservation and thermal comfort of the green roof buildings for effective parameters of green roofs including Leaf Area Index (P1), leaf reflectivity (P2), leaf emissivity (P3), and stomatal resistance (P4). The optimal solutions can result in a 12.8% increase in comfort hours and a 14% reduction in energy consumption compared to the base case. The ML analysis revealed that the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system is the most appropriate method for predicting Energy-Comfort functions based on effective parameters, with a correlation coefficient greater than 97%. This novel smart framework for the optimal design of green roofs in buildings offers an innovative approach to achieving energy conservation and thermal comfort in urban areas