Marsh Funnel is the practical method to measure viscosity of drilling fluids. Nanoparticles may be added to drilling fluids to reduce skin friction, reduce energy consumption, and increase life cycle of drilling equipment for an energy efficient environment in oil and gas industry. The discharge time is the only measured parameter during operation. However, it is possible to measure the funnel volume discharge rate and the corresponding time from which it may be possible to determine some additional rheological parameters such as yield point, apparent viscosity and plastic viscosity of drilling lubricants. In this study, a new approach is introduced for mathematical modelling of the discharge flow rate in the Marsh Funnel using a deformable control volume representation of continuity equation. Accurate calculation of discharge rate is the fundamental parameter for determining other rheological properties of complex non-Newtonian fluids particularly when nanoparticles are added for enhancing lubrication or for protecting shale against instabilities. Results of the present mathematical modelling is compared with some experimental available measurements of Newtonian fluid in the Marsh Funnel and explained.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether culture has an impact on justifications for tax cheating, and if there is, indeed, a rationale for justifying this behavior. Design/methodology/approach World surveys (V201) were used to measure justifications for tax cheating in 39 countries. Hofstede’s culture dimensions were used as a measurement scale for the relevant cultural aspects that could have an impact on tax cheating. Findings The results show that individualism and power distance increase the justification, while masculinity and uncertainty avoidance decrease the justification for tax cheating. Accordingly, when budgeting for tax revenues, governments need to consider the cultural dimension in their risk assessments for tax evasion. Originality/value The findings of this research provide some implications for legislators and policymakers. For example, they need to give more consideration to their respective society’s cultural dimensions and to the structure of their communities when they are imposing taxes. Legislators need to put more effort toward convincing people why it is necessary to impose and/or increase certain taxes, how society benefits directly and indirectly and why action needs to be taken when these taxes are not paid.

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Progress in financial inclusion has played a major role in economic development and poverty reduction. However, the environmental impact of financial inclusion calls for urgent implementation of environmental strategies to mitigate climate change. Financial inclusion forces the policies of developed countries to advance and not affect the present and future development of developing countries. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the direct effects of information and communication technology (ICT) usage on environment as well as its moderating role on the association between financial inclusion and environmental degradation for six oil exporting countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait, Canada, and the United States), using annual panel data from 1995 to 2019. We also analyze the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon for the entire sample, as well as the role of energy consumption and population. Employing the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) with fixed effects, this study supported the existence of EKC phenomenon here as linkage amid human development index and carbon intensity. We find that energy consumption significantly increases carbon intensity. The empirical results showed that the application of internet- and mobile use as indicators of ICT usage lead to environmental preservation in the six oil exporting economies. Also, we observe that financial inclusion has mitigating effects on pollutant emissions, contributing to environmental preservation. Interaction between ICT usage and financial inclusion jointly reduces carbon intensity in all quantile distributions. A robustness check using an alternative proxy of the financial inclusion also confirms that ICT usage significantly and negatively moderates the association between financial inclusion and carbon intensity. Based on the findings of this study, the selected oil exporting countries should integrate financial inclusion with environmental policies to reduce carbon intensity.

In the modern era of globalization, natural resources have become an important factor in shaping a sustainable future; however, the evidence on the role of globalization in reducing the adverse environmental impacts of natural resources is relatively scarce. The current study explores the dynamic interaction between energy consumption, economic development proxied through the human development index, population, natural resources, globalization, and ecological footprint under the core idea of the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT). This research applies panel data for the period from 1999 to 2018 in nine countries with the highest oil production (Brazil, Canada, China, Iran, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the United States). The results of this study are based on the panel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR). Empirical findings foundthat economic development, energy consumption, population, and natural resources contribute to increased environmental degradation, while globalization seems the main source of environmental sustainability. Concerning the indirect impacts of globalization, expanded interaction and integration among oil-producing countries helped to inhibit ecological footprint; nevertheless, natural resources complicate the design of a sustainable future by promoting environmental degradation. Additionally, a bidirectional causality relation was discovered between population, energy consumption, globalization, and ecological footprint; however, the panel Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test results revealed a unidirectional causality association from economic development to ecological footprint and from natural resources to ecological footprint. Our findings shed new light on the criticality of globalization in achieving environmental sustainability by providing cleaner practices that will prevent rent-seeking.

Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) and Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) are well known transportation problems. The problems can be seen in all the industries that involves goods distribution and transportation scheduling. Finding the shortest distance with respect to the given constraint contribute highly to save money and energy consumption. This paper investigates the possibility of creating a cellular application that can provide an instant routing plan through a simple heuristic (Clarke and Wright) in order to avoid the usage of more complicated approaches as metaheuristics and exact methods that normally taking very long CPU time.

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