Impact of environmental factors on the growth kinetics and mycotoxin profiles of Alternaria spp. in oat grains.

Effects of temperature on biofiltration of ammonia-containing waste gas: Removal efficiency, nitrous oxide generation, and microbial communities.

The aim of the study was to determine the specifics of the formation and transformation of the foreign policy positions of the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) based on a comprehensive analysis of the climate communications and public diplomacy in the global context. Using the methods of discourse analysis, content analysis, and comparative analysis, the author studied materials for the period 2015-2023, including international agreements, national strategies, and policy documents. On this basis, the dominant narratives, rhetorical strategies, and value orientations that shaped the unique international positions of the United States as a technological leader and the EU as a normative force were identified. The study results revealed significant differences in strategic approaches: The US focused on technological innovations, competitive advantages, and economic opportunities, while the EU emphasised the values of multilateral cooperation, collective responsibility, and inclusive dialogue. It was found that the transformation of public narratives and communication strategies correlated with changes in political administrations in the US and institutional reforms in the EU, which was reflected in the change in rhetoric, priorities, and mechanisms for implementing climate policy. The study demonstrated a significant evolution of the approaches of both actors to the construction of international subjectivity and the establishment of global leadership through the prism of climate discourse. The key points of convergence and divergence of the foreign policy positions in the context of multilateral diplomacy and global governance were identified. The influence of climate discourse on the formation of the international image and geopolitical status of the studied actors, as well as its role in the realisation of the strategic interests in the international arena, was substantiated. Tendencies towards increased competition between the US and the EU for global leadership in climate policy and its impact on the transformation of the world order were identified.

Knowledge management (KM) is increasingly recognized as a critical enabler of sustainable entrepreneurship (SE), particularly for resource-constrained startups. This study conducts a systematic literature review of 76 articles (1651 cumulative citations) at the intersection of KM and SE, focusing on how KM is deemed to support startups in achieving sustainability. The descriptive analysis delineates publication trends, citation patterns, geographical distributions, and methodological orientations, while the content analysis identifies three dominant thematic clusters: (1) KM’s role in fostering innovation and sustainable competitive advantage, (2) sustainability practices linking green orientation to firm performance, and (3) entrepreneurial orientation driving adaptive KM in startups. Guided by the Antecedent-Mediator-Moderator-Consequence (AMMC) framework, KM emerges as a strategic orchestrator that aligns knowledge sharing, acquisition, creation, and application with sustainable objectives through adaptive resource reconfiguration. KM operates as an antecedent and mediator of sustainability outcomes, suggesting that startups prioritize direct KM implementation over contextual adaptations. These practices simultaneously advance economic, social, and environmental dimensions while catalyzing innovation, strategic governance, and organizational resilience across sustainability-driven, social-purpose, and technology-intensive ventures. However, existing KM frameworks often fail to address the specific challenges faced by startups. This study proposes a research agenda to adapt a KM framework explicitly aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, integrating digital tools and dynamic capabilities to guide SDG-driven performance metrics within startups’ agile knowledge routines. The study offers practical insights for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and educators, emphasizing the strategic importance of KM in driving sustainable growth and innovation in competitive markets, especially for startups.

How can firms leverage responsible artificial intelligence to build competitive advantages? The role of supply chain justice and complexity

Phosphorus application changes the competitive status between legume and grass species in a desert steppe.

The synergy of organizational justice, knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior among university lecturers.

Study on the effects of high-load induced EPS accumulation and Thiothrix introduction on the performance and microbial community evolution in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR).

Empowering leadership and employee innovation through knowledge sharing: The moderating role of psychological resources in South Korea's high-technology firms.

Shift of nitrogen metabolism drives the evolution of multidrug resistance in wastewater microbiomes under long-term fluoride stress.

Knowledge and key factors driving successful market acquisition of shopping apps: Market strategies in China

In an era marked by volatility, digital disruption, demographic change, and continuous organisational transformation, the ability of firms to compete increasingly depends on the quality of their human capability. While leadership scholarship has long recognised the importance of higher-order cognition, human resource management has given comparatively less explicit attention to thinking competence as a strategic capability that can be cultivated through talent systems, learning architectures, performance processes, and organisational culture. This paper argues that expert, critical, strategic, and systems thinking should be understood not merely as desirable individual traits, but as strategic human resource capabilities that enable organisations to attract, develop, deploy, and renew talent in ways that support sustained adaptability and performance. Drawing on the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory, organisational learning, and leadership research, the paper develops a framework for embedding thinking capability within HR strategy and practice. The paper shows how higher-order thinking can be advanced through recruitment and selection, leadership development, succession planning, performance management, employee voice, diversity and inclusion, and HR (Human Resource) information systems. In doing so, it repositions HR not as an administrative support function, but as a central architect of organisational adaptability, change readiness, and long-term capability development. The paper contributes to strategic HRM (Human Resource Management) by conceptualising thinking competence as a developable and institutionalisable dimension of workforce and leadership capability, with implications for talent management, organisational resilience, and competitive advantage.

Customer experience extends beyond the scope of basic service standards and is increasingly recognized as a strategic asset that influences both operational efficiency and long-term profitability, while also playing a critical role in establishing competitive advantage. This study aims to examine the components of customer experience, experience-centric service, service quality, customer satisfaction, and revisit intention, to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of customer experience, experience-centric service, service quality, customer satisfaction, and revisit intention, and to propose a new model for creating the customer service experience for the hotel in the context of Nakhon-Chai-Bu-Rin Provincial Cluster, Thailand. A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing both descriptive and inferential statistical metho ds. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied for path analysis. Data were collected via an online survey administered through Google Forms, targeting a purposive sample of 400 Thai and international guests who had utilized hotel services at least once in the last 3 years (2023-2025) within the Nakhon-Chai-Bu-Rin Provincial Cluster in Thailand. The 67 items of observable variables were used to analyse the model. The fit index values in model testing consist of: X2 /Df = 2.249, GFI = 1.000, CFI = 0.936, NFI = 0.892, TLI = 0.923, RFI = 0.869, RMSEA = 0.056, and RMR = 0.014, all are considered to pass the criteria. The findings led to the development of a new model for enhancing customer service experience in this context, comprising five key components: customer experience, experience-centric service, service quality, customer satisfaction, and revisit intention. The new model also demonstrates statistical consistency with the empirical data, confirming that five key factors have a statistically significant direct impact on customer experience. It can increase satisfaction that leads to revisit intention and hotel sustainable revenue. Nonetheless, individual hotels must assess their specific capacities and contextual factors when implementing this model.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the most transformative technologies of the twenty-first century, reshaping economies, industries, and societies. The rapid development of large language models, multimodal systems, cloud infrastructures, and intelligent agents has elevated several organizations to the forefront of this technological revolution. Among them, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, NVIDIA, and Microsoft have established themselves as influential architects of the intelligent era through their distinctive contributions to research, hardware, software ecosystems, and enterprise applications. This editorial examines the historical evolution, strategic roles, organizational functions, competitive advantages, and future trajectories of these five leading companies. Particular attention is devoted to their technological innovations, commercial ecosystems, ethical considerations, and long-term visions. Through SWOT analysis, the article evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by each organization in an increasingly competitive environment. The study further explores the emergence of agentic AI, robotics, personalized intelligence, and artificial general intelligence (AGI), which are expected to define the next phase of technological advancement. Despite differences in organizational philosophy and business models, these companies share a common mission of expanding the capabilities of intelligent systems and integrating AI into healthcare, education, hospitality, finance, transportation, and scientific discovery. Their collaborations and rivalries are likely to determine the pace and direction of innovation over the coming decades. Understanding these organizations provides valuable insights into the technological forces that are shaping the future of humanity and the emergence of a new intelligent civilization.

Regulated industries occupy a unique position within modern economies. Organizations operating in sectors such as utilities, energy, telecommunications, transportation, healthcare, financial services, and infrastructure management must simultaneously pursue growth, innovation, operational excellence, and stakeholder value creation while complying with extensive regulatory requirements. This dual responsibility creates a complex leadership challenge: organizations must remain adaptive and competitive in rapidly evolving markets while maintaining compliance, transparency, and accountability within highly structured regulatory environments. This article examines strategic business transformation as a critical mechanism through which regulated enterprises achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Rather than viewing regulation solely as a constraint on organizational flexibility, the study argues that regulatory environments can serve as catalysts for innovation, operational modernization, stakeholder trust, and long-term strategic differentiation. Enterprises that successfully align transformation initiatives with governance requirements often develop stronger organizational capabilities than competitors operating through compliance-focused approaches alone. The article explores the relationships among leadership, governance, digital transformation, organizational culture, risk management, customer-centricity, and stakeholder alignment. Particular attention is given to the role of executive leadership in navigating uncertainty, managing institutional complexity, and fostering organizational adaptability during large-scale transformation efforts. The study further examines how technological innovation, workforce development, operational resilience, and strategic agility contribute to sustainable enterprise performance within regulated environments. Building upon these discussions, the article proposes an Integrated Leadership Framework for Strategic Transformation in Regulated Markets. The framework connects governance, innovation, resilience, customer value creation, stakeholder trust, and organizational learning into a unified model capable of supporting long-term competitiveness. The article concludes that strategic transformation is no longer an optional initiative for regulated enterprises but a leadership imperative that determines organizational relevance, adaptability, and sustained success.

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the impact of financial regulation, and specifically of parachute payments, in professional men’s football. The research asks the question: Should the parachute payments to clubs relegated from the English Premier League to the Championship in football be reformed? The research considers the impact on competitive balance and competitive intensity in the Championship. Findings show that there is a tendency for football clubs to use the payments to subsidise rather than reduce their wage spend as intended with the payments. This element of abuse of payment intent has an effect on promotion, play-off and relegation places and on the competitive balance of the league but without that element, contrary to previous research, the effect of parachute payments is not significant for the league as a whole. The research contributes to our understanding of parachute payments in two ways. First, it looks at the extent to which football clubs in receipt of parachute payments (financially) abuse the system, adding a critical new dimension to current academic literature on parachute payments. Second, it builds on existing research by using regression analysis to create counterfactual leagues to show the impact of parachute payments themselves and of the abuse element on sporting outcomes. The conclusions are that parachute payments do not need to be abolished to increase competitive balance in the Championship but they are in need of reform to reduce the competitive advantage gained by the both the current amount and duration of payments and element of abuse.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a customer-oriented product development methodology that translates customer requirements into engineering characteristics for designing high-quality products and services. Traditional QFD relies heavily on expert judgment, manual evaluation, and subjective decisionmaking, which often lead to inconsistencies, increased development time, and limited adaptability to rapidly changing customer expectations. Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Data Analytics, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) have introduced data-driven approaches that enhance the efficiency and accuracy of Quality Function Deployment. This paper proposes a datadriven intelligent QFD framework that integrates customer feedback analytics, sentiment analysis, machine learning, and predictive modeling to automatically capture the Voice of the Customer (VoC) and transform it into engineering design requirements. The proposed framework combines structured and unstructured customer data collected from surveys, product reviews, social media platforms, and online feedback systems to generate intelligent House of Quality (HoQ) matrices. Comparative evaluation demonstrates that the proposed approach significantly improves customer requirement prioritization, decision-making accuracy, product quality, development efficiency, and customer satisfaction compared with conventional manual QFD techniques. Furthermore, the framework enables continuous learning from evolving customer preferences through intelligent analytics and automated recommendation mechanisms. The proposed research contributes to modern quality engineering by bridging traditional Quality Function Deployment methodologies with AI-powered data intelligence, thereby supporting customer-centric product innovation, strategic decision-making, and sustainable competitive advantage in intelligent manufacturing and service industries.

Integrating comammox into anammox-dominated one-stage mainstream partial nitrification/anammox: nitrifier niche regulation and nitrite partitioning.

Purpose The employability of postgraduate students remains a critical concern in higher education, as postgraduate programs, particularly at the doctoral level, traditionally focus on disciplinary and research competencies. This leads to a lack of adequate preparation for employment, especially for non-academic roles. This study examines the long-term impacts of an authentic service-learning program on trainees' professional lives, with a particular emphasis on academia. This addresses the need for insight into the long-term impacts of initiatives that enhance postgraduate programs with opportunities for students to acquire transferable competencies prior to entering employment. Design/methodology/approach We adopted a narrative inquiry approach to investigate the impacts of a sustained, authentic-learning-based outreach program (GK-12). To explore trainees' experiences, we used a qualitative questionnaire followed by in-depth narrative interviews. A six-step inductive thematic analysis generated over twenty initial themes across different narratives, subsequently refined into nine primary themes. Findings Authentic service-learning experiences in the GK-12 program produced profound and lasting impacts on postgraduate trainees' professional development and career trajectories. These included developing a lasting commitment to outreach and social responsibility, clarifying professional goals, enhancing cultural agility, and building portfolios and communication skills that gave them a competitive advantage in securing employment in academia and industry. Originality/value This study provides a novel, empirically grounded understanding of the long-term impact of authentic service learning on postgraduate professional development. It addresses a critical gap in the literature on postgraduate employability from the participants' perspectives and highlights that authentic learning environments are active ingredients in fostering relevant and transferable skills beyond traditional disciplinary knowledge.

The predominance of Aβ42 fibrils in parenchymal plaques of Alzheimer's disease (AD), despite the higher abundance of Aβ40 capable of coaggregation with Aβ42, remains an open question of the disease. We postulate that the molecular chaperone Bri2 BRICHOS, an endogenous substoichiometric inhibitor of Aβ aggregation, may contribute to this mystery. Using atomistic replica-permutation discrete molecular dynamics simulations, we investigated the modulatory effects of BRICHOS on the fibril growth of both Aβ42 and Aβ40 by comparing their self- and cross-seeding processes. Aβ42 fibrils exhibited a higher fibrillization rate and greater thermal stability than Aβ40 fibrils, consistent with their higher amyloidogenicity. Both Aβ42 and Aβ40 fibrils were capable of efficiently cross-seeding the aggregation of the other variant, with fibril growth pathways determined by the seed morphology rather than the type of incoming monomer. However, BRICHOS showed a pronounced competitive advantage over Aβ40 monomer for binding Aβ40 fibril, thereby effectively capping the growth of Aβ40. The same effect, albeit much weaker, was also observed for Aβ42 fibrillization. This differential inhibition provides a possible mechanistic explanation for the scarcity of Aβ40 in fibrillar form in the AD brain despite its greater abundance and capability for cross-aggregation. Our findings highlight the combined influence of intrinsic fibril properties and selective environmental modulators in shaping amyloid deposit composition, providing new insights into AD pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies.